Red Lake

http://business.financialpost.com/

Junior miner Rubicon Minerals Corp. has slashed its gold resources by an astounding 88 per cent, confirming the company will go down as one of the worst Canadian mining meltdowns in years.

The stock plunged 64 per cent on Monday, closing at 5 cents, as this news crushed any remaining investor confidence in the formerly high-flying company. Rubicon has hired financial advisors to try to salvage value for shareholders, but there is little confidence that they will succeed.

“We’re very disappointed, as management and the board, at what’s transpired,” interim chief executive Michael Winship said on a conference call.

Toronto-based Rubicon was one of the hottest junior mining stories of the past decade, but the company made fatal errors while developing its Phoenix gold project in Ontario’s Red Lake camp.

Read more

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Even before its meltdown, investors watching Rubicon Minerals Corp. could see some troubling warning signs.

Everything seemed fine on the surface. The company said in April that it was on track for first gold production at its Phoenix project in Northern Ontario in mid-2015. And in June, it did indeed pour its first gold.

Yet at the same time, Toronto-based Rubicon was saying very little in what should be a busy period. Its second quarter financials, which were filed to SEDAR in August with a press release, showed the company spent tens of millions more than expected in the quarter, leading some analysts to wonder what was going on. Sources said they had trouble getting detailed answers from the company.

Read more

http://www.cbc.ca/

New strategy required for gold extraction, Lakehead postdoctural fellow says

The news of a temporary closure at the Rubicon Minerals mine in Red Lake, Ont., came unexpectedly to one mining economist at the Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Mining at Lakehead University.

The shutdown of the mine is leaving 330 workers without a job in the northern Ontario town with 5,000 residents.

In a paper highlighting key mining developments, Karl Skogstad said the Rubicon mine was one of the more promising projects in northern Ontario.

“That came as a bit of a surprise to me,” Skogstad said. “That was one of the two projects that we said, ‘this is going to open, you know, relatively on schedule, and it’s doing well.'”

The volatile price of gold is presenting challenges to companies such as Rubicon, he added.

Read more

https://www.cim.org/en.aspx

Last fall Goldcorp’s Red Lake mine was organized conventionally, with teams reporting to supervisors who in turn reported to a general foreman. With a wicket system in place, employees arriving for their shift lined up to receive their assignment from their supervisor for the day, taking them to different parts of the mine. It was a hierarchical approach that managers had determined was less than ideal.

To build the foundation for a more employee-driven organization, Red Lake management chose to reorganize operations into 14 different cells – or business units – each comprising between 10 and 15 members. Each cell is assigned dedicated resources that include equipment, labour and support of organizational structures. And each one handles its own accounting and metrics.

“Essentially, we set up each cell to act as an independent small business,” says Bob MacDonald, operations manager at Red Lake. “Collectively, we get to learn from the best practices of each unit, and independently, each unit is best equipped to deal with its own unique operating conditions. It’s a win-win.”

The planning process for the new organizational structure took three months, carried out by a team made up of a general foreman and a technical services representative as well as Trevor Krawchyk, Goldcorp’s operations excellence manager. They also worked closely with daily supervisor and technical teams to revise and fine-tune every aspect of the plan.

Read more

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

The Municipality of Red Lake wants to build more housing so workers at the local mines can live in the community. A housing shortage is one reason that hundreds of contractors commute to their jobs.

Red Lake’s economic development officer said much of the land in the municipality is already staked for mining claims — meaning it can’t be built on. “Well, it might look open to the naked eye but, in truth … we cannot develop up here,” Bill Greenway said.

Mining company Goldcorp is currently building 10 homes, with another 40 planned for a subdivision. But that is just a start on what’s needed, Greenway said The cost of servicing a building lot on bedrock is in the tens of thousands of dollars, he noted.

“Infrastructure costs are probably the biggest detriment to development here, because you’re usually looking at using explosives to actually embed water, sewer lines,” Greenway said. Finding a solution to the housing shortage would make it easier for Ron Parks to attract staff to his Tim Horton’s store.

“The main problem here is they have a hard time finding a place to live,” Parks said.

Read more

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Northwestern Ontario mining community struggles to keep up with booming economy

A strong economy, stable population and lots of jobs sounds like a dream come true for many communities — but the mining town of Red Lake has almost zero unemployment and is starving for workers.

Red Lake’s economic development officer figures the roughly 80 people in the community who are out of work “just don’t have the skills, or can’t work,” Bill Greenway said. “So, there’s zero unemployment here.”

The town — located about 600 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay — also struggles with millions of dollars leaving the community every year. Hundreds of contractors work in Red Lake. Many of them commute to work and, instead of living in Red Lake, they live in a bunkhouse operated by Goldcorp. That means they do not pay property taxes.

“You appreciate that the fly-in-fly-out workers are important,” Greenway said. “[But] their income leaves with them.” He said a priority is getting contractors and miners to actually move to Red Lake, which has a population of about 5,000.

Read more

http://www.cbc.ca/thunderbay/

Northwestern Ontario mining town’s unemployment rate is nearly zero

A community founded on immigration is once again attracting new residents from around the world. Almost a century after miners from around the world rushed to Red Lake to work in its booming gold mines, the community still needs workers to keep its economy going.

“Immigration was really extremely significant because had we not had immigrants coming to work in the area, the mining would actually not be here,” said Michelle Alderton, who works at the Red Lake Heritage Centre. “We would not have an economy.”

Today, Red Lake welcomes people like Gabriela Jiminez. She came from Mexico with her husband, who found work at a mine. Jiminez said her family is comfortably settled in.

“My husband is now getting all those toys that the people like to have here,” she said. “And, I think that’s enough for us for summertime. [We] just go outside and do whatever.” Jiminez said she is proud to be part of a growing number of immigrants moving into Red Lake, a town of 5,000 people.

Read more