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Jack Bickell Chairman of McIntyre-Porcupine Mines: The Man Who Built Maple Leaf Gardens in the 1930s

Video from: http://www.sportsnet.ca/

“You could say, without exaggerating, that Bickell was the cornerstone of the whole project.” – Conn Smythe on Bickell’s role in the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens

Canadian Mining Hall Fame: John Paris Bickell (1884 – 1951) Inducted in 2000

Most follow one path, but John Paris Bickell commanded several successful careers during his extraordinary life. He opened a brokerage firm at the age of 23 and was a millionaire by 30. In 1919, he left the investment business to become president and, later, chairman of McIntyre-Porcupine Mines, one of Ontario’s first and most important gold producers.

Bickell’s achievements went beyond the realm of business, as he had a keen sense of civic duty. During the Second World War, he was appointed by Lord Beaverbrook to Britain’s Ministry of Aircraft Production, where he served with the airplane supply board during the blitz. Upon his return to Canada, he assumed responsibility for Victory Aircraft, the federal agency that manufactured Lancaster bombers for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

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Gold from every drill hole: Gowest Gold drills, preps site for future Timmins mine – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 7, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gowest Gold found gold mineralization in all 23 drill holes from a recent exploration campaign at its future gold mine near Timmins. The Toronto-based mine developer is in the midst of driving a ramp to take a 30,000-tonne bulk sample at its Bradshaw Gold Deposit.

The company said the advanced drill program was designed to refine the geological model and the stope design in the upper part of the deposit where the sample will be extracted in the third quarter of this year. The 2,097-metre program produced some encouraging gold intercepts, including 7.70 metres at 8.26 grams per tonne (g/t), including 2.0 metre at 22.75 g/t gold.

“This gives us confidence in our resource model and with several holes intersecting gold grades higher than anticipated it supported our interpretation that the Bradshaw Deposit has room to grow and the potential to be a very successful gold mine,” said Gowest exploration director Jeremy Niemi in a July 7 news release.

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Goldcorp makes headway with plan to give Dome mine a new life – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 4, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Goldcorp (TSX:G) (NYSE:GG), the world’s number four bullion miner in terms of output, is moving forward with its Century project, which aims to extend the life its century-old Dome mine in Ontario.

The Dome mine received a death sentence in January 2016, when Goldcorp announced it was closing the operation in the summer due to weak bullion prices that nearly half the company’s share price over the previous year.

A few months later, however, the company literally stroke gold as it found indicated mineral resource of 4.5 million ounces and a gold inferred mineral resource of 0.9 million ounces (for a total of 5.4 million ounces) at what is now being called the Dome Century Project.

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A new century of mine production: Porcupine Gold Mines considers new pit in Timmins – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – June 29, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

As Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM)-Goldcorp’s mining reserves become more depleted in Timmins, the company is embarking on a new project to take its operations into the next century. The proposed Century Project would expand the original Dome open-pit operation, which was mined between 1996 and 2004, to the northeast, and operate for 10 or more years.

PGM’s Dome underground and Hollinger open-pit mines have limited resources left, and so the Century Project is a way for the company to extend its longevity in the Timmins camp, said Marc Lauzier, general manager at Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM)-Goldcorp.

“If we just stay with the one underground concept, then at some point we’ll disappear; we won’t survive,” he said. “If we want to be economically viable and if we want to continue to contribute to Timmins, we need projects like this to make that happen, and so this is just an example of some of the ideas we have to take PGM into a second century in the Timmins camp.”

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IAMGOLD secures Japanese partner to develop Gogama open-pit mine – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – June 6, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Miner inks $195-million joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Mining to develop Côté Project

IAMGOLD is teaming up with a Japanese mine developer to advance its Côté Gold Project toward the feasibility stage and eventually open-pit mining.

The Toronto-headquartered mid-tier miner announced June 5 that it’s signed a joint venture (J-V) agreement with Sumitomo Metal Mining of Tokyo in a $195-million partnership arrangement. Sumitomo buys itself a 30 per cent stake in the northeastern Ontario project.

IAMGOLD will hold majority ownership and will be the operator during development and once the Côté open-pit mine is in operation. This transaction is expected to close by the end of June. “It will enable us to move the project into development and to significantly diversify our production profile as a result of future production from our Canadian operations,” said IAMGOLD’s President and CEO Steve Letwin in a statement.

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Gowest aims to start production in 2018 – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – June 3, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Just 24 hours after taking his first trip underground in his first ever gold mine, Gowest president and CEO Greg Romain had some encouraging words for junior mining executives and exploration workers this week. “You’ve got to keep it up. Like, you can’t give up. It is a tough game, especially when you’re a junior.” Romain said Thursday at the big event Canadian Mining Expo.

Romain was one of several speakers invited to take part in the Investor’s Forum. He was there to tell the story of developing the Bradshaw Deposit, located just north of the built up area of Timmins on a parcel of land near Highway 655.

That’s where Romain was on Wednesday of this week, inspecting the latest work now that the company has completed its first blast and is ramping downwards with Cementation Canada as the contractor. The first blast to open the portal was on May 11.

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Tahoe investing big bucks in Timmins operations – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – June 1, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – It has been just over a year that Tahoe Resources Inc. came onto the mining skyline in Timmins and in that period the company has wasted no time moving forward. In fact Tahoe is poised to spend upwards of $350 million in the Timmins area this year alone.

That was part of the welcome news brought to the table Thursday afternoon by Mark Utting, Tahoe’s vice-president of investor relations. Utting was the keynote speaker at the Investor’s Forum held as part of the Big Event Canadian Mining Expo at the McIntyre Community Building.

He recalled that it was April 1 of last year that Tahoe moved in to acquire all the assets of Lake Shore Gold, the newest commercial gold mining company in the city, with operations at Bell Creek and the Timmins West mining complex.

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Bright future in Timmins mining presented at Expo – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – June 1, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Community leaders said Wednesday they’re confident that Timmins will be bouncing back with an upswing in mining exploration, mining supply activity and perhaps even more mining employment. The comments were made at the opening ceremony for the Big Event Canadian Mining Expo, which is on at the McIntyre Community Building property.

Hundreds of exhibitors are showcasing their products and services for mining heavy equipment, mining supply, mining exploration and mining education. Mayor Steve Black called out a welcome to the exhibitors to the City with a Heart of Gold and the city that he said is still ranked as the No. 1 district for mining exploration in Ontario.

“We’ve got a lot of good things going on,” said Black. “A lot of exciting projects are on the go, whether it’s the Borden project out in Chapleau with Goldcorp, the Dome’s century project, Gowest’s new operation, the list goes on.” Black said Timmins was built on the natural resources industry and that many of the city’s businesses thrive and survive because of the resources.

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Gold and Canada offer safe havens for investors – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – June 1, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Mining companies are looking to invest in Canada because it is a safe place to be, along with having with some of the best-qualified mining people in the world. And that’s all good news right now for gold mining.

That was part of the message this week from Judy Baker, the president and CEO of Argo Gold. She will be one the speakers at the Investor’s Forum, which is part of the Big Event Canadian Mining Expo on at the McIntyre Community Building this week. Baker spoke briefly Wednesday at the opening ceremonies of the Big Event and encouraged those in the crowd to take an interest in the forum.

“The junior mining companies need your support and your interest,” she said. “Without exploration activities we wouldn’t have mining development.” Argo Gold is an exploration company active in the Red Lake area and the Wawa camp.

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Gold is the new economic driver for Ontario mining – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – April 12, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

Ontario’s mining industry is making all the right moves to be more sustainable, more efficient and more profitable. But more can still be done, according to Chris Hodgson, president of the Ontario Mining Association.

Hodgson was guest speaker Wednesday at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce luncheon where he talked about the efforts the mining industry is taking to stay current with energy needs, environmental demands and workplace safety.

He said mining continues to be one the engines that still drives the Ontario economy and contributes to Ontario’s economic growth. “What has changed in Ontario in the last 10 years is that gold is now a larger contributor than nickel and copper. That’s new and it is a combination of the price of the commodities and the number of new discoveries of gold and the new investments around gold,” said Hodgson.

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Timmins launches assessment appeals against local mines – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – March 30, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

Timmins has taken steps to appeal the assessed values of all the major local mining properties to the Ontario Assessment Review Board (ARB), on the grounds that mining property assessments are just too low. This is being done on a “just-in-case” basis since the city is already in negotiations with the three big mining companies in town to reach some sort of a deal outside of the MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) assessment values and procedures.

Part of the reason is that in recent years MPAC has laid out new valuations for mining properties. In many cases means that MPAC is applying lower values to those properties. That means less tax money going into the city hall treasury.

MPAC has mentioned the term Economic Obsolescence (EO) in one of its studies relating to the gold mining industry to justify the need to provide lower valuations. “EO can be described as a form of depreciation or an incurable loss in value that occurs when influences external to an asset itself reduce the value of the asset,” said the study.

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Tahoe Resources reports strong gold production – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – March 11, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

Tahoe Resources Inc., which has significant gold properties in Timmins, said Friday it has enjoyed one of its strongest gold production performances, thanks in part to the newly acquired gold operations in Timmins.

Tahoe is the gold and silver mining company that took over Lake Shore Gold operations in Timmins nearly one year ago, at the end of March 2016. Although earnings were down for Q4, the company reported strong earnings and dividends for the past year.

In the latest financial statement released this week, it was revealed that probable mineral reserves at the Bell Creek and the Timmins West mines have both been cut back to new, lower numbers.

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Timmins Primero Black Fox Mine GM talks upcoming projects – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – February 9, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

Primero Mining Corporation is hard at work exploring its options when it comes to finding new gold deposits that will expand the life of their Black Fox Mine located outside of Timmins.

This year, the company will be pumping millions of dollars into surface and underground exploratory drilling, and has begun the permitting and First Nations consultation process on a new open pit mine called the “Froome Zone” which could double amount of ore the company extracts every day.

At the same time, another promising new project dubbed “the Grey Fox Mine” has been shelved for the foreseeable future. “There is a lot of potential to find a lot more gold in that area,” said Dan Gagnon, general manager of the Black Fox Mine. “We are a producer of 60,000 to 70,000 ounces (of gold) per year for the next couple year, and we have projects to bring us up to 100,000 ounces.”

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[Gowest Gold] Work progressing on Timmins ‘next new mine’ – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – February 4, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Work is progressing on the Gowest Gold property north of Timmins thanks in part to an influx of new cash from Pandion Mine Finance LP, a New York based investment firm.

Gowest Gold revealed in a news release this week that Pandion has delivered U.S. $5.6-million as part of a $17.6-million prepaid gold purchase deal with PGB Timmins Holdings, an investment vehicle owned by Pandion.

“In a nutshell, we received funding from a group out of New York to begin the advanced exploration on the Bradshaw Deposit,” Gowest president and CEO Greg Romain told The Daily Press on Friday.

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Automated vent system saving millions for Kidd Mine – by Sarah Moore (Timmins Daily Press – January 21, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Glencore’s Kidd Operations was recognized by the province for its energy conservation efforts on Friday morning at a presentation at the Timmins Museum.

Representatives from the mine joined Timmins Mayor Steve Black, Terry Young, vice-president of conservation and corporate relations with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault that morning to showcase Kidd’s new ventilation-on-demand system as an example of how utilizing government funding programs will reduce energy consumption and cut energy costs.

Kidd tapped into the government’s Industrial Accelerator Program in order to offset $5.6 million of the total $9 million required to transition to the fully automated underground ventilation system it now has today.

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