Twitter

Quebec Mining

The odds are stacked against gold juniors like never before: Abitibi Royalties CEO – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – July 14, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

Huge hurdles are stacked against gold juniors in the quest to become a mine, says Abitibi Royalties’ CEO Ian Ball.

Ball, who spoke to MINING.com in March at PDAC in Toronto, was former President of McEwen Mining before moving onto Abitibi Royalties four years ago. During Ball’s tenure as CEO, the company’s stock has increased 3.1 times in value going from $3.27 per share to $10.44.

Ball sees a lot of headwinds in the industry. He does not see a significant gold price moves to the upside. Average gold grade is declining, which requires larger plants and more capital to move ore. Regulations are becoming more stringent. Productivity improvements are still lagging.

Read more

Cree see benefits from Quebec’s first diamond mine, built on their territory – by Kevin Dougherty (CBC News Canada – July 8, 2018)

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

Cree leaders negotiated to have guaranteed jobs, contracts and a share of the royalties from the Renard mine

Quebec’s first diamond mine — the $774-million, Stornoway Diamond Corp.’s Renard mine — sits on Cree territory, about 800 kilometres from Montreal in northern Quebec.

In operation since January 2017, the mine would not have happened without a unique agreement reached between the company and the Cree, who are guaranteed jobs, contracts and a share of the royalties, once the mine is profitable.

For more than a year now, the mine has been producing diamonds, some of which are sold at Montreal’s Birks jewellery store. They bear a fleur-de-lis inscribed by a laser, and come with a certificate that says they’re officially, “Diamants du Québec.”

Read more

Lithium is exploding but Canada’s distance from China has miners at a disadvantage – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 7, 2018)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Australia is in the midst of a lithium mine boom whereas Nemaska will be the first new lithium project in Canada in years, when construction is finished around 2020

This spring, Nemaska Lithium Inc’s chief executive Guy Bourassa returned to Canada from a trip to Asia, jet lagged and tired — and still months away from closing a deal to sell lithium from his company’s planned operations in Quebec to South Korean battery maker LG Chem Ltd.

“It seems to be taking longer than we expected,” Bourassa said in an April interview with the Financial Post. This week, Bourassa finally closed the deal. LG Chem will buy 7,000 tons per year for five years beginning in 2020, when his mine and conversion plant are expected to be operating.

A major stumbling block, he explained in an interview this week, which helped drag negotiations out for six months, was figuring out where to obtain the ‘market’ price for lithium.

Read more

Osisko Mining shareholders vote in favour of controversial stock-options package – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – June 29, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Osisko Mining Inc.’s shareholders voted in favour of a controversial stock-options package Friday, while its chief executive officer says the company intends to move away from options as a form of compensation over time.

Ahead of Friday’s annual general meeting, proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) advised shareholders of the junior mining company to vote against the package, citing concerns over its excessive cost, and criticizing the lack of performance-based criteria for receiving the options.

At Osisko, options are widely granted to officers, directors and employees, and often make up the lion’s share of compensation. For example, CEO John Burzynski made $3.15-million, with about $2.1-million in options, a $500,000 salary and a $590,000 bonus. Independent director Sean Roosen was paid $743,000 last year, $688,000 in options and a $55,000 cash fee.

Read more

Trump’s Trade War Looms Over a Canadian Town Built to Supply America – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – June 28, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Arvida, Quebec, is part of a cross-border ecosystem responsible for the metal in three out of four American cars.

If ever a town embodied U.S.-Canadian symbiosis, it’s Arvida, Quebec. Built by Americans, its giant smelter supplied most of the Allied forces’ aluminum in World War II and today makes metal used in Budweiser beer cans, Tesla and Ford cars and in AR15 rifles, part of the 2.5 million metric tons that Canada sends over the border each year.

But now this corner of French-speaking Canada is in America’s cross hairs after the Trump administration’s shock move to tax metal from its closest ally under the pretext of national security.

“When you want to kill your dog, you will say he has rabies,” Mayor Josee Neron said in an interview. “To see one person destroy all that in just a blink of an eye, I think it’s too bad.”

Read more

[Quebec Mining] Urban Barry gold camp gold explorers merge – by Esmarie Swanepoel (MiningWeekly.com – June 19, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

TSX-V-listed junior Bonterra Resources and Metanor Resources have struck a merger agreement to create an advanced Canadian gold exploration and development company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bonterra will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares in Metanor for C$0.73 in equity consideration, at an exchange ratio of 1.6039 Bonterra shares, for each Metanor share.

Following the acquisition, Bonterra shareholders will hold some 58% of the combined company with Metanor shareholders holding the balance.

Read more

Quebec backs aluminum, steel companies hit by U.S. tariffs – by Steven Chase (Globe and Mail – June 12, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Quebec is offering $100-million in loans and guarantees to steel and aluminum companies hit by recent U.S. tariffs, raising the possibility of trade complaints against Canadian firms.

Dominique Anglade, Quebec’s Economic Minister, told reporters in Montreal that the program came after aluminum and steel companies received feedback from clients who are not willing to pay the tariffs. “What they’re telling us is some of their contracts were cancelled,” she said, adding some had already slowed production.

Ten days ago, the United States imposed hefty tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports, characterizing shipments from Canada as a threat to national security. Over the weekend, the President threatened to impose 25-per-cent import taxes on foreign car and truck imports, a move that would devastate Canada’s auto industry.

Read more

Trudeau stops in Canada’s aluminum country before facing Trump on tariffs at G7 – by Andy Blatchford (CTV News – June 7, 2018)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

CANADIAN PRESS: SAGUENAY, Que. – Just before he headed to the G7 summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a stop in the heart of Canada’s aluminum country – where he repeated his pledge to try to convince Donald Trump that his heavy-handed tariff strategy is a big mistake.

Trudeau shook hands and posed for photos with locals inside a busy shopping mall Thursday as he campaigned in Quebec’s Saguenay region in support of a Liberal candidate running in an upcoming federal byelection. But there were global politics at play, too.

Saguenay has a significant connection to what will be a major point of debate for G7 leaders this week because the region is home to a big part of the country’s aluminum industry.

Read more

ICEBREAKING BULKER FOR CANADIAN ARCTIC MINE (The Motor Ship.com – June 6, 2018)

http://www.motorship.com/

Montreal-based Fednav has ordered a new icebreaking bulk carrier in Japan to sustain the year-round transportation requirements of Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine in northern Quebec, writes David Tinsley.

The 31,000dwt vessel has been contracted through trading house Sumitomo Corporation and will be built by Japan Marine United Corporation (JMU) at the Yokohama shipyard. The template for the project will be provided by Fednav’s 31,750dwt Nunavik, claimed to be the world’s most powerful icebreaking bulker when commissioned in 2014 from JMU’s Tsu yard.

Nunavik is in turn similar in design to the company’s 32,000dwt Umiak 1, delivered in 2006 by JMU predecessor Universal Shipbuilding. Both existing vessels support northern mining operations.

The newbuild will be of Polar Class 4 standard and, as with Umiak 1 and Nunavik, will offer a broader cargo carrying capability than that of a pure bulker. While ensuring a southbound flow of high quality nickel concentrates, she will also be used to transport a variety of supplies to the mining complex on northbound voyages, including equipment, machinery and dry and liquid consumables.

Read more

Osisko builds critical mass in Quebec – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – May 17, 2018)

http://www.northernminer.com/

In the first five months of the year, Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) released resource estimates for two projects in Quebec while keeping in step with an ambitious drill program that is the largest of its kind in Canada.

Earlier this month, Osisko unveiled its first resource estimate on its 100%-owned Windfall deposit, 115 km east of the town of Lebel-sur-Quevillon. Windfall is one of the highest-grade resource-stage gold projects in Canada.

The company outlined an indicated resources of 2.38 million tonnes grading 7.85 grams gold per tonne for 601,000 ounces of contained gold and inferred resources of 10.61 million tonnes grading 6.7 grams gold for 2.28 million oz. of gold, using a cut-off grade of 3 grams gold per tonne.

Read more

Stornoway shares recede on curbed production, sales forecasts – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – May 17, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian diamond miner Stornoway Diamond Corp. has cut its production and sales guidance for the year, putting pressure on its balance sheet at a critical time as it shifts operations at its Renard mine from open pit to below ground.

The shares fell 5 per cent to $0.54 in Toronto trading on Wednesday afternoon. Longueuil, Que.-based Stornoway said in a release it now expects to produce between 1.35 million and 1.4 million carats of diamonds this year, down from an initial forecast of 1.6 million carats.

The company also revised its expectation for carats sold, to between 1.2 million carats and 1.25 million carats from 1.6 million previously.

Read more

Canada / U.S. big players announce world’s first carbon-free aluminum smelting process – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – May 10, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

In an official event that included Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, Québec’s Premier, Philippe Couillard, and Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) announced the launching of Elysis, a joint venture company whose goal is to push towards commercial production a newly discovered, carbon-free aluminum smelting process.

At the event, executives from the companies involved explained that the innovative aluminum-making method produces oxygen and eliminates all direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional smelting process.

As an example, they said that, if fully implemented at existing aluminum smelters, the technology could eliminate the equivalent of 6.5 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada. This represents an amount roughly equal to taking nearly 1.8 million light-duty vehicles off the road.

Read more

Rio Tinto Tax Evasion Allegations Shouldn’t Scare Canadian Firms – by Peter Menyasz (Bloomberg News – May 7, 2018)

https://www.bna.com/

Companies shouldn’t be afraid to conduct legal tax planning, despite tax evasion allegations against a Canadian Rio Tinto subsidiary, practitioners said.

Vancouver-based Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. allegedly avoided as much as $470 million in taxes on its copper and gold mine in Mongolia, according to a watchdog group. But the company insists it is in compliance with Canadian law.

The discrepancy highlights the complex nature of interpreting tax law, which varies widely across countries, practitioners said. And tax avoidance is a major focus for countries, particularly as they look at how to treat multinational tech firms.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: Development of the Labrador Trough – Position of the Innu of the North Shore (April 13, 2018)

UASHAT MAK MANI-UTENAM, QC, April 13, 2018 /CNW Telbec/ – In response to yesterday’s announcement of a new partnership between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador with respect to the development of the Labrador Trough, the Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam and the Matimekush-Lac John Council wish to highlight the fact that the Labrador Trough is largely located within the traditional territory (Nitassinan) of the Innu of Uashat mak Mani-utenam and the Innu of Matimekush-Lac John, both of whom assert Aboriginal title and rights to the trough and the minerals found therein.

“Quebec and Newfoundland continue to live in a bygone era, one in which they believe it is still possible to disregard First Nations on their own territories.

Not only was Quebec just recently trying to sideline us from federal environmental assessments, but is now entering into partnership agreements that we are learning about after the fact.” Said Chief Mike McKenzie of the Innu Takuaikan Uashat mak Mani-utenam.

Read more

Ball, Couillard talk mining, roads – by David Maher (St. John’s Telegram – April 12, 2018)

http://www.thetelegram.com/

N.L. and Quebec seek to expand mining in Labrador Trough

Premier Dwight Ball and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard are sending a signal that the Labrador Trough is open for business for the mining industry.

The provinces entered an agreement on Thursday to send a signal that they aim to work together on jurisdictional and geological information. One of the goals is to eliminate jurisdictional squabbles over the Labrador-Quebec border that could delay mining the area.

“Both our jurisdictions are recognized as an attractive place to do business. What we want to do is make sure that we do a better job of sharing information,” Ball said.

Read more