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Quebec Mining

Plan Nord bears fruit: Provincial initiative has been a key support for new Quebec projects – by D’Arcy Jenish (Canadian Mining Journal – October 2018)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

In December 2014, financially strapped Cliffs Natural Resources announced the closure of its Bloom Lake iron mine – putting some 600 miners out of work and casting a dark cloud over the nearby town of Fermont, Que, located near the Quebec-Labrador border some 400 km north of Sept-Iles.

But one year later, the town’s fortunes took a turn for the better. Quebec Iron Ore (QIO), a subsidiary of Montreal-based Champion Iron, bought the mine, a railway spur line and dozens of mineral claims for the rock bottom price of $10.5 million.

By February of this year, QIO put Bloom Lake back into production – and 450 miners back to work – thanks in no small part to direct and indirect support from the Quebec government under its Plan Nord initiative.

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‘Winter is coming’: Labour dispute at aluminum smelter drags into 10th month as industry outlook darkens – by Gabriel Freidman (Financial Post – October 25, 2018)

https://business.financialpost.com/

For the 1,000 workers locked out almost a year ago, tariffs and trade wars are making the future even more uncertain

Snowflakes fell early Wednesday morning along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in Bécancour, Quebec, where Jennie Vallé-Boucher is one of about 1,000 workers from an aluminum smelter, who is preparing to spend a second winter on the picket line.

In January, Alcoa Corp., which owns 70 per cent and operates the Bécancour smelter, locked out its unionized workers in a labour dispute that continues to boil over even as a cloud of uncertainty has settled over Canada’s aluminum industry.

One thing is clear, however: If and when the lock out ends, market conditions are unlikely to be the same as when it started. In the nearly 10 months that have passed since the dispute erupted, the U.S. enacted 10 per cent tariffs on aluminum imports, which remain in place despite negotiating a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.

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The End of a Once Mighty, Still Deadly Industry: the Canada Letter – by Ian Austen (New York Times – October 19, 2018)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Canada’s positions on issues like same-sex marriage, immigration and, most recently, recreational marijuana have given it a reputation for progressiveness. But the government’s announcement this week that it was banning asbestos, a potent cause of cancer, came decades after many other nations took the step.

For more than a century, asbestos was a ubiquitous miracle fiber. Sprayed on the steel structure of buildings and inside ships, it suppressed fires. It was found in a type of home insulation and in roofing tiles, and was used to seal heating ducts.

Asbestos was mixed with concrete to make pipes, woven into flameproof fabrics, and made into gaskets, building supplies and a variety of industrial goods. But inhaling even small quantities of its fibers could be deadly.

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Canada’s ban on asbestos to take effect but mining residues are exempt – by Mia Rabson (Financial Post – October 17, 2018)

https://business.financialpost.com/

CANADIAN PRESS – OTTAWA — Canada’s new asbestos ban will not prevent companies in Quebec from sifting through the waste left over from decades of mining asbestos to look for magnesium.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is set to announce the new regulations on Thursday in Ottawa after cabinet gave the nod of approval to them at the end of September.

The regulations, which will take effect at the end of the year, bar the import, sale or use of processed asbestos fibres and products containing them, as well as consumer products that have more than trace amounts of asbestos. They also forbid the manufacture of products using processed asbestos fibres.

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McGill receives $5-million gift from noted Canadian geologist Bob Wares (McGill University News – September 26, 2018)

https://www.mcgill.ca/

Donation will support Faculty of Science and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences

As an entrepreneurial geologist, Bob Wares, (BSc’79, DSc’12), became a mining rock star when he discovered one of Canada’s largest gold deposits in the Abitibi region of Quebec. Now, he is bringing that Midas touch to his alma mater in the form of a landmark $5-million gift that will support research programs, fellowships, innovative research, a lecture series and outreach efforts in McGill University’s Faculty of Science, with a particular focus on his home department, Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS).

The gift will provide immediate impact for students and faculty in five targeted areas:

– the Wares Science Innovation Prospectors Fund, designed to support innovative, high-risk research by funding up to four promising projects a year from researchers across the Faculty of Science;

– a Recruitment and Outreach Coordinator Fund, supporting the activities of a coordinator to liaise with CEGEPs and high schools in an effort to attract more students to EPS studies at McGill;

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SoftBank moves to lock up lithium, the lifeblood of electric cars – by Minoru Satake (Nikkei Asian Review – September 24, 2018)

https://asia.nikkei.com/

TOKYO — SoftBank Group is on the hunt for natural resources, particularly the lithium needed for electric car and smartphone batteries.

Demand is expected to surge as more electric vehicles hit roads worldwide. Competition for battery materials is stiff, with Apple rushing to secure supplies of cobalt. And SoftBank considers lithium a priority, as it looks to build a stronger foundation for its other investments, like ride-hailing companies.

In June, SoftBank enlisted the chairman of trading house Mitsui & Co., Masami Iijima, to serve on its board as an outside director. A SoftBank executive said the move was made to “facilitate our future efforts to secure resources.”

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Kirkland Lake Gold raises stake in Osisko Mining – Staff (Northern Miner – September 19, 2018)

http://www.northernminer.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL) has boosted its ownership in Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) from 8.58% to about 13.61%.

The mid-tier gold producer reported it has invested about C$25 million to acquire 14.71 million Osisko shares at $1.70 apiece, bringing its total shares in the company to 32.63 million.

Kirkland Lake’s president and CEO, Tony Makuch, said the strategic investment increases its ownership interest in northwestern Quebec’s Urban Barry area, which he believes “has become a new, highly prospective mining camp in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone belt.”

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Canada’s Aluminum Valley grapples with U.S. tariffs – by Emma Jacobs (Market Place.org – September 17, 2018)

https://www.marketplace.org/

Canada’s Aluminum Valley is a two-hour drive north of Quebec City, in the region of Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean. Five aluminum smelters along a 50-mile stretch of the Saguenay River account for almost half of Canada’s aluminum production.

This has residents here following negotiations between Canada and the United States over a new North American Free Trade Agreement especially closely, with hopes an accord will clear the way to lifting tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in place since June.

The first smelter opened in this region in 1926 was built by Americans, attracted by plentiful hydroelectricity. The adjoining company town was named Arvida, after industrialist Arthur Vining Davis. The structures from the Arvida smelter are still part of the large Jonquière Complex, which includes two of the smelters and a refinery.

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NEWS RELEASE: Wallbridge Announces $3.9 Million Strategic Investment by Eric Sprott (September 14, 2018)

http://www.wallbridgemining.com/

Toronto, Ontario – September 14, 2018 – Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX:WM, FWB: WC7) (“Wallbridge” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has closed a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) through the issuance of 30,000,000 units of the Company (each a “Unit”) for gross proceeds of $3,900,000. Eric Sprott, through 2176423 Ontario Ltd., a corporation which is beneficially owned by him, was the sole purchaser of the Offering.

“We are pleased to have a gold investor such as Eric Sprott as one of our large shareholders. Eric is very familiar with high grade gold deposits in the world and Fenelon obviously fit that bill,” stated Marz Kord, President & CEO of Wallbridge. “On behalf of all Wallbridge shareholders, we welcome Eric’s support in our drive to make Fenelon Gold to be the first high grade operating mine in this emerging belt in Northwestern Quebec.”

Under the terms of the Offering, the Units were issued at a price of $0.13 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a “Common Share”) and a one-half Common Share purchase warrant. Each whole Warrant (a “Warrant”) will entitle the holder to acquire one additional Common Share (a “Warrant Share”) for a period of twenty-four (24) months from the closing date at an exercise price of $0.20 per Warrant Share.

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Simmering Alcoa Labor Dispute Morphs Into ‘Clash of the Titans’ – by Sandrine Rastello and Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – September 11, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Workers of the Alcoa Corp.-controlled Becancour smelter in Quebec stand guard under umbrellas outside the gates. Whenever a vehicle approaches, a pair scurries to take down the driver’s details and make sure there’s no scab laborer in disguise.

The ritual, witnessed on a rainy August morning, has become part of life at the aluminum plant since January, when the company locked out more than 1,000 employees represented by the United Steelworkers union. The entrance is also where tensions have flared as the conflict, which started over pensions and recruitment rules, turned into a deadlock.

For Pittsburgh-based Alcoa, the dispute has resulted in a production decline at the plant, adding to pressures resulting from U.S. aluminum tariffs that have hit its three smelters in Canada. The company is now seeking deeper changes — including reduced payrolls — to make the plant more competitive. For their part, workers say they’ve already made concessions and are fighting to retain seniority rights.

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Meet the Canadian miner that plans to shake up the nickel industry – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 25, 2018)

https://business.financialpost.com/

If Royal Nickel Canada succeeds, it would show how Chinese demand for raw materials can stimulate the expansion of Canadian mining

To hear Mark Selby tell it, the Canadian nickel industry is actually an “oligopoly,” in which a few large companies control the smelters, and grab an outsized share of the profits.

Selby, chief executive of Toronto-based Royal Nickel Corp., which is raising money to build a mine in Quebec, thinks he can break that pattern.

On Thursday, his company announced it has devised a way to reverse-engineer a product that resembles nickel pig iron — a lower grade, cheaper form of the metal derived from ores found in tropical areas.

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Quebec government opens vault for mining project: Chibougamau iron, vanadium deposit attracts $248 million in provincial funding – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 23, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The Quebec government is dropping a combined $248 million to assist a major mining project, processing plant and port improvements in the central part of the province.

The provincial government is providing $185 million in financial assistance to BlackRock Metals of Montreal to support the development of an open-pit mine of iron, vanadium and titanium near Chibougamau in the Nord-du-Québec region.

The funding is earmarked toward setting up a secondary processing plant in the Grande-Anse section of the industrial port area of Saguenay.

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NEWS RELEASE: VanadiumCorp applauds the Government of Québec $248 million investment in the BlackRock Metals project and the development of the Grande-Anse Sector

VANCOUVER, Aug. 22, 2018 /CNW/ – VanadiumCorp Resource Inc. (TSX “VRB”) (the “Company”) applauds the announcement made yesterday in Saguenay, Quebec, Canada outlining investment in the Blackrock Metals project. VanadiumCorp owns 100% of the Lac Dore Vanadium Project adjacent to Blackrock Metals permitted mining project near Chibougamau, Quebec, Canada.

News release below from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Science and Innovation and Minister responsible for the Digital Agenda:

The Government of Québec is providing a total of $185 million in financial assistance to BlackRock Metals to support the construction of an open pit mine of iron, vanadium and titanium near Chibougamau, in the Nord-du-Québec region. This financial assistance is also aimed at setting up a secondary processing plant in the Grande-Anse sector of the industrial port area of Saguenay.

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A Town Named Asbestos Once Produced Most of the World’s Asbestos Supply – by Sarah Laskow (Atlas Obscura.com – August 9, 2018)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/

Asbestos mining in Canada stopped only in the past decade.

HIDDEN IN OLD BUILDINGS AND under streets, asbestos—once thought of as a “miracle mineral”—is always lurking. Though today it might seem like a relic of the past, under new rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. government could approve new uses of asbestos in consumer products going forward, reports Fast Company.

There are still places where asbestos mining is a notable industry: Canada’s asbestos mines—including the mine at Asbestos, Quebec, once the largest in the world—only closed within the last 10 years, and in Russia, the town of Asbest is still a major center of asbestos production.

Asbestos has many strange properties and has been incorporated into manmade products going back thousands of years. Manufactured, it often comes into human environments as a textile or a dangerous powder, but in nature it appears as six different types of natural silicates.

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Rio Tinto considers float of Canadian iron ore business-sources – by Clara Denina (Reuter U.S. – August 9, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Rio Tinto, the world’s second largest listed mining company, is exploring a public listing of its Iron Ore Company of Canada business, banking and industry sources said, as it focuses on boosting revenue from its flagship Australian assets.

Iron ore, which accounts for most of Rio’s profit and is used in making steel, has provided healthy margins for years but the outlook is uncertain as major buyer China is expected increasingly to rely on recycling rather than importing raw material.

Following a commodity price crash in 2015, Rio put a string of assets on the block, mostly in coal, to decrease its debt load. In iron ore, its push to refocus has meant concentrating on Australia’s Pilbara region, where it has lower costs and higher grades.

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