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Sudbury Basin

Merging two Sudbury nickel projects could pave a path to production – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 25, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

SPC Nickel cuts deal with Vale to combine nickel deposits in Sudbury basin

A Sudbury exploration outfit has taken a great leap forward toward establishing itself as the city’s next nickel miner. SPC Nickel has struck a “cooperation agreement” with mining giant Vale to consolidate ownership of two adjacent nickel and copper deposits —SPC’s undeveloped West Graham and Vale’s Crean Hill 3 — into an advanced exploration project.

The junior miner is calling the deal a “transformational growth opportunity” for a one-time private company that went public two years ago with the objective of becoming the next nickel mining player in the Sudbury camp.

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Earthquake related to mining activity at Garson Mine: Earthquakes Canada – by Mia Jensen (Sudbury Star – January 23, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Magnitude 2.8 earthquake is ‘small,’ official says

Earthquakes Canada said a 2.8-magnitude earthquake felt across Greater Sudbury on Sunday was related to mining activity in Garson Mine. According to the organization’s website, the rumbling was “lightly felt” across the city at around 2:17 p.m. on Jan. 22.

Seismologist Allison Bent said Earthquakes Canada received nearly 200 online reports of shaking throughout the entire region, with the effects strongest in the epicentre near the Garson mine. A map of those reports indicates that some residents felt the effects from as far as Skead, Onaping and Nairn Centre.

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The Drift: Sudbury  distributor shining a light on underground mining – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – January 20, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

X-Glo North America’s LED rope lighting enhancing safety across the North

In nearly two decades in mining supply sales, Don Bertrand has visited plenty of underground operations where the lighting was OK at best.

But a little over 10 years ago, he hit upon a product that illuminates underground spaces better than anything else he’s encountered, and now he’s spreading the gospel to mines across the continent. X-Glo North America sells its proprietary LED rope lighting to clients in the mining, tunnelling, and oil and gas sectors.

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The Drift: Magna Mining on the fast track to put former Inco mine back into production – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 5, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury mine development company hits high-grade mineralization at Crean Hill mine property

Magna Mining is taking an aggressive pace in looking to put a former Inco nickel and copper mine back into production.

The Sudbury exploration and mine development company keeps reporting high-grade hits from a drilling program at the former Crean Hill Mine, acquired by Magna last fall.

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NOBA 2022: Nadia Mykytczuk is the Innovation Award winner – by Casey Stranges (Northern Ontario Business- January 3, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

MIRARCO chief’s research into biowaste may be game-changer in race to secure EV battery infrastructure

According to researcher Nadia Mykytczuk, Sudbury is ready to play a leading part in the global story about electric vehicles (EV).

As auto manufacturers lock up supply chains, and countries position themselves as viable trading partners, the Nickel City has the resources and necessary tools to transition into a hub for EV technology.

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Sudbury: Going deeper will mean mining longer in Sudbury, Ont. (CBC News Sudbury – January 2, 2023)

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

The Onaping Depth project will be 2,500 metres below the existing Craig Mine

To extend its Sudbury, Ont., mining operations to 2040, Glencore plans to go very deep underground. The mining giant expects its $1.3-billion Onaping Depth project to be fully operational by 2025.

The new mine is being built around 2,500 metres below the former Craig Mine, which shut down in 2009.

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The Drift: Sudbury mining camp remains active with explorers – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – December 14, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

New sources of nickel and platinum keep the drills turning this winter

Nickel and base metals continue to drive exploration in the Sudbury mining camp with a handful of junior miners preparing for winter drill programs.

Magna Mining, the redevelopers of a decommissioned INCO property near Whitefish, reported some high-grade nickel hits this week from its first drilling program at the former Crean Hill Mine. The Sudbury junior miner acquired the shuttered underground mine last month and launched a maiden 2,000-metre program this fall.

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USW: Canada lags protecting miners from diesel particulate – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – December 11, 2022)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Canada allows miners to be breathe more diesel particulate — much more — than the U.S. EU, or Australia, so Steelworkers Local 6500 launch campaign to push for much lower exposure limit

United Steelworkers Local 6500 and several industrial health advocates in Sudbury have launched a new campaign to clear the air and make it easier to breathe in underground mines.

The effort is aimed at reducing the amount of allowable diesel particulate that exposes thousands of miners to carcinogenic levels of particulates in the mining industry.

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Opinion: A generational economic opportunity for Sudbury, Northern Ontario – by Viviane Lapointe (Sudbury Star – December 15, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury MP says Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy is a roadmap to creating significant wealth and sustainable jobs for Northern Ontario

As many of you may know, I was born in Elliot Lake, the proud daughter of a miner. Representing Sudbury, I can tell you it still runs through my veins.

Mining has always been one of Canada’s economic cornerstones. Today, this sector matters more than ever. There is growing global appreciation that a cleaner, net-zero global economy cannot be achieved without mineral extraction. Specifically, critical minerals. They are the building blocks for a green and digital economy. They are the building blocks for the future.

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The Drift: Sudbury mine developer seeks to extract untapped critical minerals – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 23, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Magna Mining completes acquisition of former Inco mine with growth plans afoot in the Sudbury camp

Sudbury is historically known for nickel. But there remain hundreds of millions of tonnes of overlooked and valuable mineral commodities left behind by mining activity over the decades.

An upstart mining company with ambitions to be Sudbury’s next producer is seizing on an opportunity to bring a former INCO mine back into production, possibly by the end of next year.

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‘It makes no sense for Canada’: Industry rebuffs idea of joining an OPEC-like alliance for nickel – by Gabriel Friedman and Naimul Karim (Financial Post – November 21, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Canada’s nickel producers are hoping to differentiate their products as cleaner and purer

Mining industry veteran Mark Selby has for years been telling anyone who would listen that the production of nickel — a metal key to batteries and the energy transition — was getting so concentrated in just a few countries that a cartel-like organization to control supply was inevitable.

A slide in the PowerPoint deck he’s shown at investment conferences since 2019 predicted an “ONEC” — the Organization for Nickel Exporting Countries — consisting of Indonesia, the Philippines and Russia, the top three nickel producers.

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News Release: Vale and GM Sign Long-Term Nickel Supply Agreement in Canada Critical to North American EV Supply Chain (November 17, 2022)

TORONTO and DETROIT, Nov. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Vale Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Vale S.A., and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), announced today they have signed a term sheet for the long-term supply of battery grade nickel sulfate from Vale’s proposed plant at Bécancour, Québec, Canada. This agreement secures for GM a supply of nickel sulfate from a U.S. free-trade partner to support its fast-growing EV production needs in North America.

Under terms of the agreement, Vale will supply battery grade nickel sulfate, equivalent to 25,000 metric tons per year of contained nickel, for use in GM’s Ultium battery cathodes, which will power a broad portfolio of electric vehicles including the Chevrolet Silverado EV, Blazer EV and Equinox EV, the Cadillac LYRIQ, the GMC Sierra EV, and the GMC HUMMER EV Pickup and SUV. The amount of contained nickel is sufficient to supply approximately 350,000 EVs annually. Deliveries are targeted to commence in the second half of 2026.

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Magna plans drilling at Denison nickel-copper project after ‘considerable’ resource estimate – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – November 8, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Magna Mining (TSXV: NICU) says its first resource for its Denison nickel, copper and platinum group metals project in Ontario’s Sudbury basin shows “significant potential.”

Magna is exploring the restart of a past-producing underground mine and the development of an open-pit operation to the site, also known as Crean Hill. As well, Magna owns the advanced-stage Shakespeare, a similar project in the same region. Denison’s indicated resource for both underground and open pit totals more than 31 million tonnes, Magna said.

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From mine site to pollinators paradise – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – November 7, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Jenny Fortier and Northern Wildflowers plying their expertise to help regenerate mine sites

Jenny Fortier’s booth at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference got a lot of double takes last June.Nestled in amongst the technology experts and equipment manufacturers at the Toronto mining tradeshow, Fortier’s display stood out for its distinctly un-mining-like look and messaging.

A butterfly landing on a purple coneflower, with the company name, Northern Wildflowers, emblazoned across its promotional banner, doesn’t exactly scream “mining.”

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Mining company Glencore plans for new furnace in Sudbury, Ont. (CBC News Sudbury – November 3, 2022)

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

The current furnace was built in 1978 and one of the oldest of its kind in the world

Mining giant Glencore plans to have a new furnace at its Sudbury operations by 2026. The project is expected to cost more than $100 million.

The company’s current electric furnace was built in 1978, which makes it one of the longest-running furnaces of its kind in the world, according to Peter Xavier, vice-president of Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations.

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