Twitter

Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications

Marathon reconnects with its harbour – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 13, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

North shore town puts plans in motion for mixed-use port and recreational development

Marathon is reclaiming its waterfront. Generations ago, the sights, sounds and smells of most working harbours were not the kind of places that attracted strollers and tourists.

Marathon’s history was no different. Industrialization pushed the original town centre inland, away from the natural harbour on the north shore of Lake Superior and the landscape that provided inspiration for the Group of Seven artists in the 1920s.

Read more

The Drift: Sudbury mining camp remains active with explorers – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 14, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

New sources of nickel and platinum keep the drills turning this winter

Nickel and base metals continue to drive exploration in the Sudbury mining camp with a handful of junior miners preparing for winter drill programs.

Magna Mining, the redevelopers of a decommissioned INCO property near Whitefish, reported some high-grade nickel hits this week from its first drilling program at the former Crean Hill Mine. The Sudbury junior miner acquired the shuttered underground mine last month and launched a maiden 2,000-metre program this fall.

Read more

What happens when electrification and reconciliation collide? (Indigenous Success – December 7, 2022)

https://www.indigenoussuccess.ca/

New study shows 54 percent of global mining projects are located on Indigenous territories. Finding a collaborative path forward has never been more important.

What happens when the energy transition and Indigenous rights collide? The transition to a low-emissions, electrified future requires vast quantities of minerals, including lithium, copper and iron. However, a new study found that 54 percent of mining projects for these transition minerals are located on or near Indigenous peoples’ lands.

According to The Conversation, 85 percent of the world’s lithium, 75 percent of magnesium, 66 percent of copper and 57 percent of nickel reserves overlap with Indigenous peoples’ lands. As demand for these minerals is projected to grow significantly in the coming years, it is important that Indigenous peoples have a say in where and how they are extracted. Charting a collaborative path forward is critical.

Read more

KWG still pursuing the Ring of Fire Holy Grail, hoping a railway is the solution (Mining Life – December 15, 2022)

https://mininglifeonline.net/

“It was nice to emerge from the fog we’d been in due to COVID in in the last two and a half years”, stated Moe Lavigne, Vice President of Exploration and Development for KWG Resources while opening his presentation during the CEN CAN Expo in Thunder Bay in September 2022. Moe was invited to bring the audience up to speed on where KWG is and where they are going in the Ring of Fire mining region.

KWG Resources primary chromite holdings are located on several parcels of land in the Koper-McFaulds Lake area, one of the most dynamic parcels located in the Ring of Fire. Its most hopeful property is the Black Horse Project. This past October, KWG bought the property they had under option which contains its largest chromite resource, the Black Horse property.

Read more

USW: Canada lags protecting miners from diesel particulate – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – December 11, 2022)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Canada allows miners to be breathe more diesel particulate — much more — than the U.S. EU, or Australia, so Steelworkers Local 6500 launch campaign to push for much lower exposure limit

United Steelworkers Local 6500 and several industrial health advocates in Sudbury have launched a new campaign to clear the air and make it easier to breathe in underground mines.

The effort is aimed at reducing the amount of allowable diesel particulate that exposes thousands of miners to carcinogenic levels of particulates in the mining industry.

Read more

Ontario Mines Minister George Pirie Continues Building Bridges in Ring of Fire Territory (Mining Life – December 14, 2022)

https://mininglifeonline.net/

There’s a sense of progress on all sides that the resource-rich Ring of Fire region of Northern Ontario is on the brink of a breakthrough. Ontario’s new Mines Minister George Pirie has been tasked by Premier Doug Ford with getting the Ring of Fire across the finish line.

Minister Pirie was the keynote speaker at the Central Canada Mining Expo held recently in Thunder Bay. Pirie brings more than three decades of mining experience to the portfolio but his core strength in his new role, is a deep and personal commitment to ensuring that First Nations communities share in the Ring of Fire’s extraordinary economic benefits.

Read more

Opinion: A generational economic opportunity for Sudbury, Northern Ontario – by Viviane Lapointe (Sudbury Star – December 15, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury MP says Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy is a roadmap to creating significant wealth and sustainable jobs for Northern Ontario

As many of you may know, I was born in Elliot Lake, the proud daughter of a miner. Representing Sudbury, I can tell you it still runs through my veins.

Mining has always been one of Canada’s economic cornerstones. Today, this sector matters more than ever. There is growing global appreciation that a cleaner, net-zero global economy cannot be achieved without mineral extraction. Specifically, critical minerals. They are the building blocks for a green and digital economy. They are the building blocks for the future.

Read more

Yukonomist: The past, present and future of mining and the Yukon economy – Part 2 – by Keith Halliday (Yukon News – December 11, 2022)

https://www.yukon-news.com/

Last week, Part 1 of this column looked at the past and present of Yukon mining as well as two game changers that could be powerful tailwinds for the Yukon’s biggest private-sector industry: geopolitics and climate change.

Allies from Berlin to Washington are clamouring for secure supplies of critical minerals from locations that are secure, stable and blessed with high environmental and social standards such as the Yukon.

Read more

There will be no environmental shortcuts taken in the Ring of Fire, says federal minister – Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 9, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Ottawa and the provinces must work together to expedite the regulatory and permitting processes that bring new mines into production in a timely way.

But federal approvals for this industrial developments won’t be granted at the expense of cutting corners from an environmental perspective and in a manner that disrespects the rights of Indigenous people and communities.

Read more

Railveyor system hauls over 10 million tonnes at Agnico Eagle mine – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 6, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury mining supplier achieves milestone at Quebec mine

Sudbury’s Rail-Veyor® Technologies Global Inc. is proud to announce that the Railveyor™ TrulyAutonomous system operating at the Agnico Eagle Goldex mine in Val d’Or, Quebec, has hauled over 10 million tonnes of ore since installation and commissioning was completed in 2018.

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited announced in July 2022 that 1 million ounces of gold has been processed from the Goldex mine since 2013.

Read more

‘They see stability and calm here’: Canada looks like a good place to invest to some EV producers – by Gabriel Friedman (Sudbury Star – December 5, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Canada offers ‘stability, predictability and the rule of law,’ says Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne

The electric vehicle transition in North America kicked off nearly a decade ago with Tesla Inc. chief executive Elon Musk moving at breakneck speed, but now it’s shifting to a different phase: the slow and boring chapter in which automakers take months — or years even — to decide where to build their EV operations.

That may be a good thing for Canada as it seeks to grow its auto sector. “It’s clear that energy security, food security and supply chain resiliency is top of mind to leaders around the world,” Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said at a press conference on Dec. 5 in Germany, where he was meeting with Volkswagen AG and other automakers. “Canada is in many respects the answer.”

Read more

Canada must have ‘control’ of its critical minerals supply: Trudeau – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 5, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

PM: Creating secure battery minerals supply chains ensure Canada’s reliability as an international partner

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made no apologies for cracking down on Chinese investment in Canadian mining projects that produce the coveted critical minerals needed to power the clean energy economy.

In a Dec. 5 news conference showcasing Canada’s first full-scale electric vehicle plant at General Motor’s CAMI Assembly complex in Ingersoll, Trudeau emphasized the importance for Canada to have “control” of its own sources of critical minerals, like nickel and lithium, and the downstream processing facilities that produce the battery-ready material used in electric vehicle production.

Read more

Yukonomist: The past, present and future of mining and the Yukon economy, Part 1 – by Keith Halliday (Yukon News – December 4, 2022)

https://www.yukon-news.com/

The Geoscience 50th Anniversary conference recently took place at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre. Chatting with old friends and meeting new ones was a lot of fun. It was fascinating to hear about new mining technology and mineral discoveries made since the last in-person Geoscience way back in the before times.

And it was heartwarming to meet the children and grandchildren of Yukon geologists, diamond drillers and mining lawyers who are now starting their own careers in the business. I’d last seen some of these young Yukoners on the minor soccer fields of Whitehorse. They are now, literally, the future of Yukon mining.

Read more

‘We are truly sorry’: Ontario apologizes for role in McIntyre Powder experiment – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – November 30, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Province acknowledges its role in debunked practice during Nov. 30 delivery in Legislative Assembly

With miners and family members looking on, the Province of Ontario officially apologized Wednesday for its role in exposing underground hard rock miners to aluminum dust during their work in Northern Ontario over a span of nearly four decades.

The Nov. 30 address delivered on a promise House Leader Paul Calandra made last spring that the province would acknowledge its failure to protect miners who were forced to inhale McIntyre Powder as a condition of employment — a practice that was endorsed by the government of the day and later proven to be not only useless, but harmful.

Read more

How the Natural Diamond Industry Supports Canada’s Last Frontier – by Grant Mobley (Only Natural Diamonds – November 28, 2022)

https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/

Diamond miners in Canada are prioritizing giving back to the community

Jonas Sangris remembers a time before diamonds were discovered in Canada. He was the Chief of the Dene First Nation, an indigenous group in Canada’s far north. It was the early 1990s, and metals mining was the prevalent industry that was soon to disappear, leaving a substantial economic void in the community.

Jonas recalls approaching the community elders at that time and expressing concern for the impending economic issues, to which the elders calmly replied, “don’t worry, something will come up.” A year later, diamonds were discovered. This discovery would transform the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Read more