Archive | Ontario Mining

Battery electric in mining here to stay: Panel of experts talk future and challenges of emerging technology at Sudbury event – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – January 18, 2019)

January 18, 2019 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Education and Innovation, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The transition to battery electric vehicles in mining is well underway, but there remain technology issues that need to be addressed, said a panel of industry leaders in Sudbury, Jan.17. The discussion on electric vehicles brought a packed house to the Sudbury chapter of the Canadian Institute of Mining monthly general meeting at Science North.

The panel included Shane Wisniewski, general manager of mining projects at Glencore; Brian Huff, chief technology officer of Artisan Vehicles; Mike Mayhew, mine superintendent of Kirkland Lake Gold; Raphael Tiangco, superintendent of mobile fleet management at Vale; and Maarten van Koppen, senior project engineer at Goldcorp.

The panelists agreed that battery technology is the way of the future for deep hardrock mining, citing everything from cost savings, durability and health and safety. Tiango related his experiences underground when diesel was the dominant energy source. Continue Reading →

Miners waiting for higher nickel, metals prices – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – January 18, 2019)

January 18, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Europe Mining, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Stan Sudol Columns/Media References and Appearances

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

The prices of nickel and other metals prices will recover, especially when more electric vehicles are built, mining analysts say. When they do, work at Levack Mine’s Morrison deposit will resume. Until then, KGHM Sudbury will keep the deposit in a care and maintenance mode, company officials say.

“It was very difficult,” Steve Dunlop, KGHM Sudbury general manager, said about meetings with employees held Wednesday to break the news. “Our concern is certainly with our employees. We are a fairly tight family. All of our workers have 10-plus years and the staff (members) have also been with us for quite a long time. It was very difficult.”

Slumping world nickel prices have prompted KGHM Sudbury to halt production at its Morrison deposit, putting an estimated 120 employees out of work as of late March when the mine goes into care and maintenance mode. A total of 87 of the affected 120 employees are members of United Steelworkers Local 2020. Continue Reading →

Northern Superior moves forward with projects in Ontario and Quebec – by Staff (Mining.com – January 17, 2019)

January 17, 2019 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining

http://www.mining.com/

Northern Superior Resources (TSX-V: SUP) issued a press release this week stating that it is ready to move forward with both its TPK gold-silver-copper project located in northwestern Ontario and its Lac Surprise gold project located in Quebec.

The Sudbury-based company said it expects to start drilling at the Ti-pa-haa-kaa-ning property, known for its initials TPK, by mid-February, following the completion of an option/joint venture agreement with Yamana Gold (TSX: YRI) (NYSE: AUY) at the tail end of 2018.

The massive Ontario mine site, which occupies 442,669 hectares and sits 15 kilometres west of the Ring of Fire, is considered to host the largest gold grain-in-till dispersal aprons in North America, with drill core intersections yielding up to 25.9g/t gold over 13.5m. Continue Reading →

KGHM to shutter Sudbury-area mine – by Staff (Sudbury Star – January 17, 2019)

January 17, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Europe Mining, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Blaming a long slump in metals prices, mining company KGHM on Wednesday announced it was shuttering its Levack Mine’s Morrison Deposit, throwing more than 100 people out of work.

“This is not an easy situation for the employees and families impacted,” general manager Steve Dunlop said in a release. “We are a small company and we all know each other quite well. This announcement hasn’t been a surprise for many of our people as this is a cyclical industry and we have been openly working with them on solutions to our financial challenges at Morrison — but that certainly doesn’t make this any easier.

“We were really hoping the mining sector would have recovered by now.” KGHM, a Polish-owned company, said the commodities market has been struggling and slow to recover, which is putting immense financial pressures on resource-based companies around the world and locally — as witnessed by cutbacks with other local operators in the past year. Continue Reading →

Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Mineral Development set up – by Staff (Sudbury Star – January 16, 2019)

January 16, 2019 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Ottawa will pump more than $3.4 million into Manitoulin Island to establish a Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Mineral Development.

The goal of the Centre for Indigenous Mineral Development is to enhance the participation of the Indigenous people in the mines industry, as well as to assist industry and government through information sharing and best practice protocols with Indigenous engagement, federal officials said in a release Tuesday.

Access to information will help employers and prospective employees fill or secure jobs, and facilitate networking and business development opportunities. The FedNor funding will support five initiatives that, among other things, will enable Waubetek Business Development Corporation to establish and operate a Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Mineral Development for four years. Continue Reading →

Sudbury sees spike in international delegations: Mining innovation drawing business travellers to community – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – January 15, 2019)

January 15, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The City of Greater Sudbury’s long history in mining is starting to have an effect on travel numbers, according to the city’s development corporation.

Over the past year more delegates have been coming to the city to not just meet and speak with companies and executives, but look at how the region has tackled mining as a whole, from prospecting and technology, to remediation and knowledge gathering.

“The numbers are increasing because Sudbury has a global reputation for being a mining innovation centre,” said Scott Rennie, project manager for Northern Ontario exports, Greater Sudbury Development Corporation in an interview. Continue Reading →

Sudbury Accent: Lots done, lots still to do, top biologist John Gunn (Living With Lakes Centre) says – by Donald Macdonald (Sudbury Star – January 12, 2019)

January 14, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Mining Education and Innovation, Mining Environmental, Water Shortage and Land Reclamation/Revegetation Issues, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

John Gunn is a fisheries biologist who has for the past 25 years studied the effects of acid rain, climate change, and a variety of other environmental factors on coldwater fish communities. As the director of the Living with Lakes Centre in Sudbury and Canada Research Chair in Stressed Aquatic Systems, he is now leading a team of researchers in the study of the effects of multiple stressors on Shield ecosystems.

He is also investigating the recovery processes that operate once stressors are removed. Lakes near Sudbury, are particularly important for the recovery studies. Emissions of air pollutants in this area have declined by about 90 per cent in recent decades and many aquatic systems are beginning to recover. Here, he takes time to answer The Star’s 10 questions.

Forests are often described as the lungs of the planet, and freshwater as its lifeblood. Sudbury has plenty of both, although the former was missing for quite a while. Can you talk a bit about the relationship between the two and how regreening has benefited our lakes and rivers? Continue Reading →

Vale in it for the long haul, says COO: Ricus Grimbeek talks future of nickel mining – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – January 11, 2019)

January 11, 2019 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Copper, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The mining industry is rapidly moving toward digital technology, and Sudbury could be at the heart of it with careful planning, said Vale’s Ricus Grimbeek. The chief operating officer for Canada, the U.K, and Asian refineries was the guest speaker at a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce President’s Luncheon Series on Jan. 10 at the Radisson hotel.

His message was clear: Vale has a decades-long plan to stay in the region, as well as help the city become the global hub of digital mining as it transforms the industry.

“I was talking to somebody and they said they thought there was maybe five good years of mining left here, and asked what I thought and I said, no,” he said. “They asked if it was less or more.” For Vale, he said the mining company is looking at at least 20 to 30 more years of production in the basin alone. Continue Reading →

A record year for Kirkland Lake Gold: Production, expansion at Macassa has northeast miner poised for growth in 2019 and beyond – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 9, 2019)

January 11, 2019 in Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Kirkland Lake, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold announced record levels of annual and quarterly production from its mines in northeastern Ontario and Australia. The Toronto-based global miner said total 2018 production at its three cornerstone mines was a record 723,477 ounces, up 21 per cent from the 596,405 ounces from the previous year.

Each of three achieved record annual production last year, including 356,230 ounces at Fosterville in Australia, 240,126 ounces at Macassa in Kirkland Lake, and 58,633 ounces at the Taylor Mine near Matheson.

The Holt Mine, also near Matheson, produced 67,770 ounces for the year. Total production in the fourth quarter of 2018 reached 230,993 ounces, 28 per cent higher than the previous record of 180,155 ounces achieved in the third quarter of last year. Continue Reading →

Sudbury’s future exciting — and electric — Vale COO – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – January 11, 2019)

January 11, 2019 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

When asked recently if he thought Sudbury could expect another five good years of mining, the answer Ricus Grimbeek gave was ‘no.’ It wasn’t, however, because the chief operating officer for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations feels activity will dry up sooner than that.

“I had my poker face on,” he told a crowd gathered for a Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Thursday. “I believe there’s an amazing future here in Sudbury for the next couple of decades, not just the next five years.”

Driving that confidence is an expected boom in electric vehicles, which require copper and nickel for their batteries. Grimbeek, who hails from South Africa but now lives in Sudbury, said part of the reason he joined Vale was the opportunity “to absolutely impact the climate-change work we need to do as a society.” Continue Reading →

Kirkland Lake council reminds province of its campaign pledge to share resource revenue – by Eric White (CBC News Sudbury – January 10, 2019)

January 10, 2019 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Ontario Mining

https://www.cbc.ca/

PCs pledged between $20 and $30 million in resource revenue for northern communities

Resource revenue sharing was a hot topic for provincial leaders swinging through the north during the Ontario election last spring. The NDP pledged to give all $41 million in annual provincial mining tax revenue to First Nations.

The Progressive Conservatives promised to give First Nations, cities and towns in the north a cut of the provincial revenue from all resource industries, worth between $20 and $30 million every year.

“They’re going to get a fair percentage of the revenues and we’re going to look out for the people of the north,” now Premier Doug Ford said in an interview with CBC during the 2018 election campaign. Continue Reading →

Former Sudbury Falconbridge General Manager/President Gord Slade passes away (Sudbury Northern Life – January 9, 2019)

January 9, 2019 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Northern Ontario History, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.sudbury.com/

Gord Slade was a community leader

Gord Slade, a Sudbury community leader and philanthropist, died Jan. 8, just a few weeks before his 90th birthday.

Slade, a graduate of McGill University (1951), retired from Falconbridge Ltd. after 32 years of service in 1984. He held the post of president of the Canadian Nickel Division and general nanager, Sudbury Operations, after serving in areas of increasing responsibility.

In an interview for the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame, Slade said, “My objective was to be a shift boss, make $10,000 a year and be as well liked as my dad.”

After retirement, Slade worked as a mining consultant and continued to participate on the boards of several mining corporations.

He was a leader in the Canadian Institute of Mining (Sudbury Branch chair, and vice-president for District 3), and was a recipient of the CIM Fellowship Award (1997). Continue Reading →

Court ruling to grant First Nations a much bigger cut of resources royalties in Ontario – by Sean Fine (Globe and Mail – January 5, 2019)

January 9, 2019 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Ontario Mining

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Forty thousand members of 23 First Nations communities in Northern Ontario have been receiving $4 a person each year from the Crown for ceding rights over a resource-rich territory about the size of France under 1850 treaties.

The Indigenous groups filed a court challenge against the Crown, saying the $4 annuity did not reflect the spirit of the treaties. And now a judge – after an exhaustive examination of the history of the treaties – has ruled that the signatories intended that the annuities should grow to allow the First Nations to share the growth in revenues governments receive from resource companies in the territory.

Wiikwemkoong Chief Duke Peltier, who was involved in the case, said the ruling shows that the courts are pushing government to “place our people back to the way we once were, that is as true partners in the development of this country, living together in harmony.” He described the $4 annuity as barely enough to buy a coffee in Toronto. Continue Reading →

Sweet success: The road to production was a long one, but it was not enough to sour Harte Gold on its Sugar Zone project – by Virginia Heffernan (CIM Magazine – January 07, 2019)

January 7, 2019 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining

http://magazine.cim.org/en/

From early financing to final permitting, nothing about advancing the Sugar Zone project in northern Ontario to production has been easy or expedient. So the opening of the mine in October – the province’s first high-grade gold mine in a decade – was especially poignant for Harte Gold’s management and employees.

The operation near White River is expected to produce less than 50,000 ounces in 2019 but annual production will grow to 75,000 ounces by 2020 and average 106,000 ounces from then on as throughput expands. By mid-November, mill throughput had reached the initial target of 575 tonnes per day (tpd) and Harte expected it would reach commercial production and complete the tailings management facility and paste fill plant by the end of 2018.

Harte and former partner Corona Gold began exploring Sugar Zone 20 years ago, just after the Bre-X scandal decimated the junior mining market. They spent a decade outlining an NI 43-101 compliant, high-grade resource of almost one million tonnes grading about 10 grams per tonne (gpt) gold. But the project had trouble gaining traction. Continue Reading →

First Nations win annual payment case – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – December 27, 2018)

January 4, 2019 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining

https://www.saultstar.com/

SUDBURY – First Nations in Northern Ontario have a won a lawsuit that will require federal and provincial governments to pay them higher annuities.

“It feels great,” said Mike Restoule of the Nipissing First Nation near North Bay, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of 21 First Nations in the Robinson-Huron treaty area. “We heard the court ruling and it came down in our favour, but I don’t really have details,” he said.

“I find that the Crown has a mandatory and reviewable obligation to increase the treaties’ annuities when the economic circumstances warrant,” wrote Justice Patricia Hennessy in her decision. “The economic circumstances will trigger an increase to the annuities if the net Crown resource-based revenues permit the Crown to increase the annuities without incurring a loss.” Hennessy said the two sides need to sit down and negotiate new terms. Continue Reading →