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Quebec Mining

RNC, private equity firm Waterton Global form nickel-focused partnership – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – March 22, 2017)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Canadian miner Royal Nickel Corp (RNC) has joined forces with private equity firm Waterton Global Resource Management (WGRM) to buy, develop and operate nickel assets.

The companies on Wednesday announced that they had inked a joint venture (JV) accord that will result in Waterton buying a 50% stake in RNC’s Dumont nickel project, in Quebec, for C$30-million in cash. The transaction values Dumont – billed as one of the world’s largest undeveloped nickel deposits – at about C$60-million.

RNC and Waterton have also agreed to inject $17.5-million each into the newly established limited partnership that will own Dumont, support its advancement to development, as well as to acquire other high-quality nickel assets globally. The JV entity’s objective is to establish a pure-play nickel company with multiple projects operating in stable jurisdictions.

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NEWS RELEASE: RNC Minerals Announces Joint Venture With Waterton To Acquire, Develop And Operate Nickel Assets

http://www.rncminerals.com/

TORONTO, March 22, 2017 /CNW/ – RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX) (“RNC” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a joint venture arrangement (the “JV Arrangement”) with Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP and Waterton Mining Parallel Fund Onshore Master, LP (collectively, “Waterton”). Pursuant to the terms of the JV Arrangement, Waterton has agreed to acquire 50% of RNC’s interest in the Dumont Nickel Project for US$22.5 million (C$30 million) in cash, implying a value of C$60 million for 100% of the asset.

RNC and Waterton will also inject US$17.5 million (for a total of US$35 million) into a newly established limited partnership (the “JV Entity”) that will own Dumont, support its advancement to development, and acquire high quality nickel assets globally.

The JV Arrangement provides for a unique structure within the resource sector and sets forth a partnership between an innovative mining private equity firm and a leading nickel executive team to create and unlock value within the nickel industry. The JV Entity’s objective is to establish a pure play nickel company with multiple projects operating in stable jurisdictions.

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Eastern Canada attracting the most mining exploration dollars: S&P report – by Nelson Bennett (Business Vancouver – March 14, 2017)

https://www.biv.com/

British Columbia can still brag about how beautiful it is, but in terms of drawing investment in mineral exploration, it may no longer be as attractive as it once was. Recent reports offer the mining and exploration sectors some optimism that a four-year-long bear market has ended, although projections are that exploration spending in 2017 will be flat.

Canada has been leading the way in exploration spending, accounting for 14% of the global budget, according to S&P Global’s recent Worldwide Mining Exploration Trends report. But much of that new spending appears to be going to Ontario, Quebec and mining’s new darling – Saskatchewan. B.C. appears to have fallen out of favour with those holding the exploration purse strings.

Of the investment in exploration in Canada during 2016, 41% was in Ontario and Quebec, with gold exploration accounting for 50%. That is telling, because B.C., not Ontario, is the province with the largest significant gold deposits, according to an SNL Metals & Mining report last year.

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Life in Labrador iron ore scene – by Daniel Gleeson (Mining Journal – March 1, 2017)

http://www.mining-journal.com/

The latest bulletin came from Alderon Iron Ore (CN:ADV), which published the results of a preliminary economic assessment on the Rose deposit, part of its 75%-owned Kami project, in western Labrador. This followed close on the heels of Champion Iron (CN:CIA) updating its own Bloom Lake project economics and Rio Tinto’s (LN:RIO) majority-owned Iron Ore Company of Canada announcing plans to push ahead with its C$79 million (US$59 million) Wabush 3 project.

There is an obvious reason all three of these companies have chosen now to come out with their news: the iron ore price. Hovering around a two-and-a-half year high – at just over US$90 per tonne – the 62% Fe price has confounded analyst expectations in the first two months of the year.

This has allowed all three companies to set out business plans at much higher prices than they would have done a year earlier when a tonne of ore was changing hands at a level closer to US$50. For Alderon, this is a real coup, allowing the company to announce what it calls a “reboot of the Kami project”.

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Matt Manson our Mining Person of the Year – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – March 1, 2017)

http://www.northernminer.com/

There’s something to be said for being first. And Matt Manson, The Northern Miner’s choice as Mining Person of the Year for 2016, bears the distinction of guiding Stornoway Diamond through a daunting, decade-long journey to open Quebec’s first diamond mine — Renard — in the province’s remote Otish Mountains.

Along the way, through two industry downturns and without a major mining company as partner, Manson capably managed virtually every aspect of the mining game: property acquisition and company consolidation; grassroots exploration; feasibility studies and mine permitting; project financing; mine and infrastructure construction; community relations; building and leading a workforce; production ramp-up; and product marketing.

Manson, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, earned a B.Sc. degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1987, and came to Canada to pursue graduate studies and complete a PhD at the University of Toronto in 1996.

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[Integra Gold] A PDAC deal in the making? – by Richard Roberts (Mining Journal – February 28, 2017)

http://www.mining-journal.com/

Confidence in the exploration potential around and under a seemingly robust looking Lamaque gold project, and in further potential cost cuts, could be the trigger for a more imminent move on circa-C$380 million takeover target Integra Gold (TSXV: ICG).

The Quebec-focussed gold developer’s share price is not exactly on fire at present, reaching C87c earlier this month and currently at 79c. It was trading at 52c back in December when the sector took a pre-Christmas break. Integra has since bounced up like others and reaction to this week’s updated Lamaque preliminary economic assessment (PEA) could strengthen ahead of a further resource “update” that takes into account 105km of drilling last year.

Multi-national gold miner Eldorado Corp bought 15% of Integra at C28c/share back in August, 2015. It has interests in Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Romania and Brazil, but is missing a decent gold asset in its backyard.

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IOC going ahead with Wabush 3 mine, construction to begin in spring – by Jacob Barker and Geoff Bartlett (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – February 23, 2017)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

The Iron Ore Company of Canada says the long-awaited Wabush 3 mining project in Labrador West will be going ahead. The new pit comes with a $79-million investment and should increase the ore output by about five million tonnes per year.

Clayton Walker, chief executive officer and president, said it should also extend the life of the mine by 12 years. “We’re really excited about the announcement,” Walker said on Thursday afternoon.

The new pit will rely on much of the existing infrastructure but construction is expected to create about 70 jobs, according to Walker. The Wabush 3 extension was put on hold last May, with IOC citing poor production and sales performance over the previous year.

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Quebec takes aim at foreign takeovers with new watchdog group – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – February 22, 2017)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

MONTREAL — In the wake of several high-profile takeovers of Quebec companies, such as Rona Inc. and Cirque du Soleil, the provincial government is implementing new measures aimed at promoting the growth of local businesses while maintaining corporate head offices in the province.

Premier Philippe Couillard’s government said Tuesday it would set up a watchdog group to monitor the risks of Quebec-based companies being subject to a sale or hostile takeover offer as well as advise the government on the capital needs of local companies as they grow. It also said Investment Quebec, the government’s investment arm, would step up efforts to educate business owners about the merits of dual-class share structures as a way to fend off unwanted suitors.

“Our objective really is to make sure that we have in place measures that are realistic and that favour the growth of local companies,” provincial Finance Minister Carlos Leitao said in an interview. “It’s not a defensive measure. It’s not to say ‘Thou shall not buy Quebec companies.’ That’s not the point. The point is that local companies have access to financing if they want to grow. And often that’s an obstacle.”

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Quebec suspends Copper One claims – by Staff (Mining Journal – January 31, 2017)

http://www.mining-journal.com/

A legal stoush is brewing since the government of Quebec last week suspended Copper One’s (CN:CUO) Rivière Doré claims in the Lac Barrière area near Val-d’Or.

Quebec’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MERN) issued a statement last week announcing it would suspend Copper One’s claims, prompting the company to “pursue all its legal rights”.

The company said it was “very surprised” by the timing of events, having received MERN’s draft notice of suspension on January 20, granting 15 days to comment. However, MERN announced the official suspension on January 26.

Copper One president and CEO Scott Moore said it appeared MERN’s action was due to a press conference held by members of the Algonquins of Barrière Lake (ABL) denouncing Quebec’s Mining Act as illegal and unconstitutional.

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#DisruptMining competition dangles another karat in front of staid gold mining industry – by Rick Spence (Financial Post – January 16, 2017)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Back in the day, big businesses and small businesses rarely interacted. What could a small business have or know that could possibly interest multi-national know-it-alls?

Money, distribution and influence were the assets that mattered then. But today the key currency is innovation. Smaller existing companies know they must either become masters of technology and shifting markets, or they’ll become a statistic. So now we see more of them grasping for innovation expertise by partnering with startups, sponsoring incubators, and even holding hackathons. They need innovation partners with one foot in the future.

Case in point: #DisruptMining, an innovation competition designed to bring solutions to the hard-pressed mining industry. The desire for change comes from Vancouver-based Goldcorp, the world’s fourth-largest gold producer. But the catalyst is Integra Gold, a junior explorer in Vancouver.

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New CEO at IOC in Labrador City as company shuffles management – by Jacob Barker (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – January 09, 2017)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

‘Organizational changes are an ongoing part of the business,’ a company spokesperson said

There’s been a shuffle in management at the Iron Ore Company of Canada in Labrador City. That’s according to internal documents CBC has obtained laying out “organizational changes.”

The announcement is attributed to new IOC president and CEO Clayton Walker who said he was with the company for 60 days when it was sent out on January 6th. The company’s chief operating officer, Thierry Martel, also signed off on the document.

“We are going to learn from the past and build upon our success,” the document reads. “The first step will be changing the organizational structural to allow us to better engage with our employees and manage our assets.”

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Idled Canadian iron ore mine charged with $30K fine over pollution – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – December 21, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

Wabush Mines, an iron ore operation in Canada’s western Labrador that has been shut since 2014, will have to pay a Cdn$30,000 (about $22K) fine for polluting the environment, a Newfoundland and Labrador provincial court has ruled.

The verdict follows the company’s guilty plea last week to offences including failing to perform acute-lethality sampling of effluent and failing to notify an inspector following a deposit out of the normal course of events.

In practical terms, that means Wabush Mines didn’t test the mine’s surroundings to determine whether there was any amount of waste being released that could harm rainbow trout. The company also failed to let an inspector know there was an unusual amount of deposit. All this happened in May 2015.

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How federal politicians sheltered asbestos industry – by Jennifer Wells (Toronto Star – December 21, 2016)

https://www.thestar.com/

Has the phrase “better late than never” ever stood on a weaker truss than the Government of Canada’s decades-late decision to ban the manufacture, use, import and export of asbestos?

Successive federal governments — Liberal and Conservative — provided political shelter to companies mining chrysotile asbestos in Quebec, going so far as to fund the Chrysotile Institute whose purpose was to defend aggressively this particular type of asbestos as distinctly less hazardous than other forms of the magic mineral.

(A paper published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2008 called this argument “redolent of the tobacco industry’s playbook on light cigarettes.”) Occasionally, a politician would step out of line, only to be yanked back into asbestos-supporting formation.

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[Qubec Mining] “I would be surprised [if] someone [could] … raise capital right now to develop a uranium project until you know how this … will be settled” – by Staff (Mining Journal – December 20, 2016)

http://www.mining-journal.com/

Junior Strateco Resources’ (US:SRSIF) looming C$200 million (US$150 million) court case against the Quebec government is expected to set the precedent for other uranium hopefuls.

Strateco is suing the provincial government for investment losses and punitive damages after its Matoush uranium project was blocked following years of preliminary work.

Strateco spent an average $20 million a year on Matoush between 2006-2012, The Globe and Mail reported, on the basis that uranium exploration and mining were allowed in Quebec.

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Osisko raises $14 million for Québec exploration – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 14, 2016)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Osisko Mining has raised $14 million in exploration funds through a private placement of flow-through shares. Dundee Securities Ltd. was the sole agent in connection with the offering.

The funds will be used for exploration expenses at the company’s properties in Québec.

In addition to its Québec properties, Osisko has properties in the Larder Lake mining division, including the Jonpol and Garrcon deposits on the Garrison property, the Buffonta past-producing mine, and the Gold Pike mine property. The corporation also holds interests and options in a number of additional properties in Northern Ontario.

In July, Osisko conducted a 20,000-metre drill program at its Garrison property, located 100 kilometres east of Timmins.

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