Archive | Ontario Mining

Northern link to Ring of Fire road inching along – by Grant Cameron (Daily Commercial News – May 29, 2020)

May 29, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining, Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

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The prospect of a road into the resource-rich Ring of Fire area in northern Ontario has been on the drawing board for 15 years, but the project appears to finally have some legs as the Conservative government is partnering with two First Nations communities to move a northern link of the project along.

“We’re working with First Nations partners to move this project forward and build legacy infrastructure that will bring economic prosperity to the region,” Energy, Northern Development and Mines Minister Greg Rickford said in a statement to Daily Commercial News.

“Our government made a commitment to open-up the incredible resources located in the Ring of Fire, and we’re keeping that promise.” He said the previous Liberal government’s approach to the project included a decade of talk, with more than $20 million invested and no shovels in the ground. Continue Reading →

OPINION: Critical mineral supply chains essential for economic development opportunities – by Don Bubar (Northern Ontario Business – May 27, 2020)

May 28, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Lithium, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Security of critical minerals supply has now become a major concern for government in light of the COVID-19 disruption to global supply chains. A North American solution is required to reduce reliance on China as a sole source of supply of many of our critical minerals.

North America does not have the full supply chains needed for many new technologies – such as electric vehicles, energy storage, sensor and data processing applications) and pharmaceuticals – although we do have all these minerals in the ground.

Northern Ontario is blessed with resources of many of these critical minerals, often referred to as “technology metals,” including all the elements needed in lithium-ion battery technology. Continue Reading →

Red Lake gold discoverer inks exploration agreement with First Nations – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 26, 2020)

May 28, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining, Red Lake

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Great Bear Resources establishes working relationship with Lac Seul, Wabauskang

Vancouver gold exploration player working in the Red Lake camp signed an exploration agreement with two area First Nation communities.

The agreement involving Great Bear Resources, Wabauskang First Nation and Lac Seul First Nation establishes a formal protocol of how the communities can communicate and engage with the junior mining company on the exploration activities taking place on the communities’ traditional territories.

Great Bear is running a major exploration program on one of the most coveted properties in the Red Lake mining district. Its Dixie Project, 25 kilometres south of town, covers more than 9,100 hectares of claims extending for more than 22 kilometres. In the last two years, numerous high-grade gold discoveries have been made. Continue Reading →

Junior miner dives into Thunder Bay-area platinum, palladium project: Clean Air Metals kicks off two years of exploration drilling near Lac des Iles Mine – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 25, 2020)

May 26, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Ontario Mining, Platinum Group Metals

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A rechristened junior mining company is taking its first stab at exploring for platinum and palladium on a property halfway between Thunder Bay and the Lac des Iles Mine.

Clean Air Metals began its first round of drilling last week on its Thunder Bay North Project, roughly the same time the Thunder Bay company began trading for the first time on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Thunder Bay North Project is located 60 kilometres southeast of Impala’s Lac Des Iles Mine and 40 kilometres northeast of the city. Highway 527 cuts through the western portion of the project area. Continue Reading →

Canada Nickel discovers PGM zones at Crawford – by Carl A. Williams (Northern Miner – May 21, 2020)

May 22, 2020 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector, Nickel, Ontario Mining

Global mining news

Canada Nickel Company (TSXV: CNC) has discovered two new palladium-platinum zones and extended nickel mineralization at its wholly owned Crawford nickel-cobalt project located in the Timmins-Cochrane mining camp, 40 km north of Timmins, Ontario.

Discovery holes drilled in the East zone at the property have doubled the strike length of the nickel mineralization, while partial assays from a third hole have extended the PGM zone on the Main zone, the company reports.

“Crawford just keeps getting bigger and better as we move forward,” Mark Selby, the company’s chairman and CEO, said in an interview. “It’s pretty amazing that after we’ve already drilled off the eleventh largest nickel-sulphide resource globally, that with our first step-out holes from this anomaly we get the best nickel intersection and best palladium-platinum intersection to date.” Continue Reading →

The Impact Assessment Agency must consider meaningful engagement with First Nations and the public as regional assessment planning forges ahead. – by Brady Reid (Policy Options – May 22, 2020)

May 22, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Ontario Mining, Ontario’s Ring of Fire Mineral Discovery

Policy Options – Institute for Research on Public Policy

Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” is a disputed deposit of minerals within Treaty 9 territory of Northern Ontario. Prior to the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Feb. 11, 2020, Jonathan Wilkinson, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced that a regional assessment of potential mining operations for the Ring of Fire will be undertaken.

A key aspect of the regional assessment will be to “work with the Province of Ontario, Indigenous groups, federal authorities, non-government organizations and the public to determine the appropriate activities, outcomes and boundaries of the regional assessment,” according to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, which posted the announcement on its website.

On top of the exacerbated risk that First Nations in Northern Ontario face from the spread of COVID-19, the ability of communities that may endure direct, devastating negative impacts from development near Ontario’s Ring of Fire to engage in future planning processes may now be further constrained. Continue Reading →

Kirkland Lake Camp Gold Production Hits Almost 42 Million Ounces to Date (December 2019)

May 21, 2020 in Gold and Silver, Kirkland Lake, Ontario Mining

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The Abitibi is the largest Archean greenstone belt in the world. It’s roughly 150 km wide and stretches from just west of Timmins in Ontario for about 650 kms. to Chibougamau, Quebec. The Kirkland Lake camp stretches from Matchewan on the western side, through the town of Kirkland Lake to the Ontario/Quebec borber where the lengendary Kerr/Addison mine – the biggest historic gold producer in the camp – was found beside Larder Lake.

By the end of 2019, the Kirkland Lake camp had produced approximately 41, 550,000 ounces of gold from 36 mines historic mines. Only the Macassa Mine, owned by Kirkland Lake Gold and the Young Davidson Mine, owned by Alamos Gold Inc. are currently producing.

This makes the camp the second richest in Ontario after the Timmins region which has produced about 76 million ounces of gold by Dec/2018 and the third most productive in Canada, the national number two spot going to the Val d’Or/Rouyn-Noranda camp next door in the province of Quebec which has produced 72 million ounces of gold to date (Dec/2019). Continue Reading →

Rubicon Minerals seeks to bury a dubious past: Red Lake mine developer suggests name change at upcoming shareholders meeting – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 19, 2020)

May 20, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining, Red Lake

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A Red Lake mine builder is pondering a name change. Shareholders of Rubicon Minerals will be asked to consider a new name for the company letterhead – Battle North Gold Corporation – at the June 22 annual general meeting.

The name of the proposed mine could also change from the Phoenix Gold Project to the Bateman Gold Project, the township where the development is located.

In a May 19 release, Rubicon said the name change provides a “fresh perspective” on the accomplishments made in over last three and a half years. Continue Reading →

Hemlo Explorers to put its stamp on the North Shore – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 15, 2020)

May 19, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Canadian Orebodies rebranding and gearing up for “aggressive field season” in 2020

A Toronto junior miner exploring for gold on the north shore of Lake Superior is rebranding to pay tribute to the vision of its late president.

Canadian Orebodies is changing its name to Hemlo Explorers, effective at the start of trading on the TSX Venture Exchange May 20.

“In changing our name to Hemlo Explorers Inc., we pay homage to the late Gordon McKinnon, the company’s founding president and CEO, and his father Don McKinnon, the company’s inaugural Chairman and co-discoverer of Hemlo,” said Fraser Laschinger, the company’s chief financial officer, in a May 15 statement. Continue Reading →

Quebec gold miner looks to process ore in Timmins: Monarch Gold studying Glencore’s Met Site for possible toll milling job – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 14, 2020)

May 14, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining, Quebec Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A Montreal gold mine developer is eyeballing Glencore’s Metallurgical Site (Met Site) near Timmins to process its ore.

Monarch Gold is bringing its Wasamac property in western Quebec into production and had been looking at toll milling options on both sides of the border.

In a May 14, Monarch announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Glencore Canada for the potential use of the Kidd concentrator to treat ore mined from the Wasamac deposit, 15 kilometres west of Rouyn-Noranda. Continue Reading →

Base metals, gold exploration kicks into high gear, north of Timmins – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 6, 2020)

May 7, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Junior Exploration Sector, Nickel, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A junior mining startup company has raised more than $4.4 million to go exploring for base metals on its property near Timmins.

Growing investor interest in the fledgling exploration outfit and its Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide property, 40 kilometres north of the city, prompted Canada Nickel Company to upsize its flow-through share financing offering last month.

Helmed by renowned nickel developer Mark Selby, Canada Nickel is a spinoff of Noble Mineral Exploration, the latter being the owners of a sizeable swath of land, next to the Kidd Creek Mine Complex. Continue Reading →

Northern Ontario First Nations want pause to mining permits until COVID-19 subsides – by Jorge Barrera (CBC News Indigenous – April 30, 2020)

April 30, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector, Ontario Mining

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/

Northern Ontario First Nations want the province to put a hold on mining exploration permits and pause the operation of a system that allows for the remote staking of mining claims while they deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Neskantaga Chief Chris Moonias said all the band resources of his community of 300 people, which sits about 400 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, are stretched thin on COVID-19 prevention and preparation work.

“Right now we are in the middle of a pandemic and pretty much my staff is all hands on deck dealing with this,” said Moonias. “We don’t have the tools, the resources to look at permits. We are not like the government that has many different departments.” Continue Reading →

Sudbury: Expect more earthquakes as mines dig deeper, Vale says – by Casey Stranges (CBC News Sudbury – April 27, 2020)

April 28, 2020 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Mining giant Vale says seismic activity around its Sudbury-area mines is likely linked to its deep drilling operations, and it’s a possibility that more incidents will follow.

Natural Resources Canada recorded two earthquakes last week. A 3.6 MN (magnitude) tremor hit Creighton Mine Thursday morning, and a 3.0 MN quake forced Garson Mine to stop operations Friday night and all day Saturday.

According to Natural Resources Canada’s website, it’s unlikely that any quake that registers below 5 MN would cause damage above ground, though tremors were felt as far away as Lively. Continue Reading →

Nickel prices on a roller-coaster ride – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – April 25, 2020)

April 27, 2020 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Nickel Laterites, Ontario Mining

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

With so many factors at play around the world, the price of nickel is heading back up after looking to drop below the US $5 a pound mark just a few weeks ago.

The COVID-19 pandemic, of course, has shuttered economies and cut into global demand for nickel. At the same time, Indonesia has banned the export of nickel ore, which will tighten supplies and affect large nickel purchaser China.

On Friday, nickel closed at $5.50 a pound, close to the average world price of nickel in March, which was $5.40 a pound. About three months ago, however, nickel was selling for almost $6.50 a pound. Continue Reading →

Record gold production at the Sugar Zone Mine: Harte Gold working on post-COVID plan for mine restart – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 17, 2020)

April 24, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Harte Gold’s Sugar Zone Mine posted its best quarter of gold production in its short history. In releasing its first quarter results on April 17, the Toronto-based mid-tier miner said its now-mothballed White River operation recorded 8,597 ounces for the first three months of this year. That’s up seven per cent from last year’s fourth quarter and 42 per cent better than the third quarter.

The company mined 51,705 tonnes of ore during the quarter, yielding an average grade of 5.50 grams per tonne. Sugar Zone entered commercial production in early January 2019.

The pandemic pushed Harte into suspending mining operations in late March. Senior managers are working on a plan to resume operations once a restart decision is made. Continue Reading →