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Kidd copper spills in river in train derailment – by Sarah Moore (Timmins Daily Press – August 13, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

RAMORE – Crews are still working to clean up a potentially toxic spill in the White Clay River, near Ramore, after a train from a Timmins mine derailed on Thursday afternoon.

The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) confirmed that the train, which was carrying zinc and copper concentrate and bound for Englehart, originated from Glencore’s Kidd Operations Met Site.

The mine retrieves the concentrate at its facility on Highway 101, just outside of Timmins, in Hoyle, and ships it to its processing plants via the Ontario Northland Rail (ONR) freight line. The four-car train was travelling southbound along the White Clay River Bridge on Thursday, Aug. 11 when it derailed at approximately 12:30 p.m.

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Lake Shore Gold launches $80-million expansion – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – August 11, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Tahoe Resources Inc., the parent company for Lake Shore Gold in Timmins, is financially doing better than expected. The company this week reported its second quarter and six-month year-to-date financial results.

There are record levels for silver and gold production along with record levels of cash flow and revenue. Part of that reporting also revealed that second-quarter production volumes for Lake Shore Gold (LSG) were below last year’s numbers, because of some “minor operational issues.”

Regardless, the company said Timmins is still destined to play a significant role in the future. Already, the $80-million shaft expansion project is underway at LSG’s Bell Creek Mine and new jobs are being created. Lake Shore was acquired by Tahoe in April.

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Sunny economic outlook for Timmins – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – July 30, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Economic news for Timmins has been quite positive over the past few weeks, with a new manufacturing facility being built, the Dome Mine cancelling its plans to close, and the possibility of a Chinese basalt company considering opening a rock-insulation plant in the city.

The news has been so good, in fact, that national economists are beginning to notice. The Conference Board of Canada, an economic think tank, released a report on Thursday outlining the economic outlook for seven mid-sized cities in Canada: Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Rimouski, Lethbridge, Brandon, Red Deer, and Medicine Hat.

The report suggests the outlook for Timmins is very favourable. According to the think tank’s projections, the Timmins overall gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow by 1.9%. On top of that, job growth is expected to increase by 7.3% — almost completely offsetting a 7.4% drop in 2015.

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Timmins economy remains strong – by Thomas Perry (Timmins Daily Press – July 30, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Local residents can take some comfort in the Conference Board of Canada’s Mid-Sized Cities Outlook for 2016. That document, released this week, suggests Timmins’ economy will remain healthy this year, expanding by 1.9%, thanks to continued goods sector strength.

Timmins is one of two Ontario cities examined in the annual document that also looks at key indicators for Sault Ste. Marie, Brandon, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Prince George.

In an interview with our Alan S. Hale, Conference Board of Canada associate director Alan Arcand added job growth in Timmins is expected to increase by 7.3% — almost completely offsetting a 7.4% decline experienced in 2015.

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Dome Mine lives on … for now – by Thomas Perry (Timmins Daily Press – July 23, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – What does Canada’s longest-producing gold mine have in common with an American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer?

In addition to being the author of numerous literary gems, Mark Twain is famous for the quote: “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” It would seem that might also be true of the Dome Mine.

Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines, current owner of the last of the Porcupine Camp’s Big 3, announced in January it would be shutting down the Dome Mine at the end of July.

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Town marks 100 years since ‘Great Fire’ – by Sarah Moore (Timmins Daily Press – July 23, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – It’s been almost 100 years to the day since the Great Fire of 1916 swept through Northeastern Ontario, destroying towns, killing hundreds and leaving many more injured and displaced from their homes.

The deadly forest fire passed through the region on July 29, 1916, burning 2,000 square-kilometres from Cochrane to New Liskeard. A small group of citizens came together on Friday morning, at Ambridge Drive in downtown Iroquois Falls, to mark the occasion.

At the gathering, they unveiled a new plaque commemorating the fire and shared the little known history of the impact this devastating blaze had on the town all those years ago. Bill Allan, a retired educator in Iroquois Falls, took it upon himself to gather as much history as he could about the day when several small fires in the region combined in a deadly inferno.

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Timmins Dome Mine to continue to the end of 2016 and beyond – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – July 21, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

The surprise announcement on Wednesday by Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM) that operations will continue at the Dome Mine has been welcomed on many levels in Timmins.

It means the longest-running gold mine in Canada will continue to be just that as the Dome will soon be moving into its 107th year of operation. The news from PGM Timmins mines general manager Brendan Zuidema was passed to employees Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

It was a welcome change from the announcement Zuidema had to make back on Jan. 15 when the company had decided the Dome Mine underground operations would be shutting down for good. Back then, it was estimated the closing date would be the end of July 2016.

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First-hand account of the “romance of the Klondike” – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – July 16, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

Ah, the romance of the Klondike. Or perhaps more appropriately – ah, the romance of the Porcupine Gold Rush; venturing into the wilderness, armed with a canoe, a pick, and a dream! Well, as a good friend of mine reminded me, “it’s always romantic for those who were not there,” and he certainly was right.

Waltzing into the Porcupine back in 1908-1909 was no great picnic; the railway did not venture this way which meant walking and portaging with little stops along the way at halfway houses, a.k.a. “tents with airs above their station.” But why listen to me? Here is an excerpt from the diaries of Charles Auer, one of the early prospectors to the Porcupine – and I’ll wager big bucks he didn’t find the whole affair “romantic:”

– Friday, June 14th, 1 p.m. –

For the past two hours, we have been wind-bound about two miles north of the mouth of the Abitibi with a heavy sea driving directly on shore so that we will have to stay here until it lets up as we cannot weather the seas to get around a point about half a mile to the south.

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Miners recall use of black powder during employment – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – July 12, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Danny Hway vividly remembers the impact McIntyre Powder had on his father, Nicholas, who worked at Timmins’ McIntyre Mine for 47 years. At home, his dad wouldn’t speak of it, but he didn’t need to. His grim appearance at the end of every shift did the talking for him.

“He’d come home and his hands were black all the time, and any exposed skin was black,” Danny recalled. “He’d be coughing all the time and, blowing his nose, it was black all the time. He didn’t really want to talk about it — (that’s) life, right?”

Nicholas was one of thousands of miners across the North who were required to inhale the finely ground aluminum dust as a condition of their employment. But for him the stakes were higher than for most: preparing the powder for dissemination was his job.

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Detour gold mine spreading the wealth – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – July 6, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – The Detour Gold mine might be located close to Cochrane, but the company continues to be a vital source of revenue for the mining supply sector and employees in Timmins.

That was part of the message presented last week when Detour president and chief executive officer Paul Martin spoke to Timmins city council outlining the progress of the mine and plans for expansion at what Martin said is a “very economic and viable operation” where the cost of producing gold is at less than $900 per ounce.

If there was any doubt about the company’s economic impact on Timmins, Martin laid out the cold, hard numbers. He revealed there are 126 Timmins companies that provide goods and services to Detour Gold. “Over the last 18 months, we have purchased $60.5-million worth of supplies or contracting services from them,” Martin added.

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Timmins land reclamation hailed as model – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – June 30, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

More than 100 delegates attending the Canadian Land Reclamation Association’s (CLRA) conference being held in Timmins this week, ventured out of the meeting rooms at the McIntyre Arena to learn about the reclamation projects undertaken by Goldcorp and Glencore near the city.

The attendees at this year’s CLRA conference came from a variety of backgrounds. There were people from mining companies, government ministries, environment remediation consultants and more than a few university students and other academics. They came from all over the province and even from far away as Japan to learn what the mining industry in Timmins has done to try and clean up the environment

The conference is dedicated to discussing all the latest and greatest developments in the world of trying to return former mining facilities and tailings ponds to their natural state – or at least as close to it as possible.

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[Timmins] Reclamation sites to be showcased for delegates – by Sarah Moore (Timmins Daily Press – June 21, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – The successful reclamation of old mine sites in Timmins will showcased to visiting delegates next week as the Canadian Land Reclamation Association (CLRA) hosts its annual meeting and conference in the city.

Delegates from across the country will meet in Timmins for a four-day conference beginning Sunday. The discussions will surround the impact of mining on the natural environment as well as new research and developments that have been made in reclamation efforts nationwide. This is the second time the city has hosted the conference — the first being in 2009.

Jennifer Hargreaves, the Ontario chapter president of the CLRA and quality assurance coordinator at the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, said she is looking forward to the annual event and is pleased with the decision to host the conference in Timmins.

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Gowest gets go-ahead – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – June 17, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – The arrival of this sunny summer weather in Timmins this week brought some sunny news for Gowest Gold Ltd., which reached an important milestone for the new gold property it is promoting in Timmins.

Greg Romain, company president and chief executive officer, said the long permitting process is finally over. “Yeah, we got the last permit signed off yesterday. It has been a long time coming but we’re certainly happy about it,” the Timmins native said in an interview Thursday morning.

Gowest is a junior gold exploration company working to develop the North Timmins Gold Project located roughly 35 kilometres north of the built-up area of Timmins. The project, which is part of the well-known Bradshaw gold venture, has more than 400,000 indicated ounces of gold and more than 750,000 ounces inferred.

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Change at the top for Lake Shore Gold – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – June 14, 2016)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – Tony Makuch, who built up one of the newest gold mining ventures in Timmins, is leaving Lake Shore Gold to join another gold mining company.

While Makuch could not be reached for comment Monday, LSG confirmed that Makuch is moving to become the new chief executive officer of Kirkland Lake Gold (KLG), which operates the Macassa Mine, among others. A news release from Kirkland Lake Gold revealed that George Ogilvie had resigned as CEO and that Makuch, a former mine manager for that company, was moving into the top job.

“After careful consideration, the board of eirectors has determined that Tony is ideally positioned to lead Kirkland Lake Gold into the next stage of its development,” said Eric Sprott, chairman of the KLG board of directors, in the company news release.

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Open pit taking shape at Timmins mine – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – June 6, 2016)

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Development work on Goldcorp’s Hollinger open-pit mine in Timmins is progressing steadily, following ramp-up last October.

Goldcorp’s Brendan Zuidema, general manager of Porcupine Gold Mines (PGM), the Timmins-area division of Goldcorp, and Don Burke, general manager of the Hollinger Mine, visited city council in March to provide an update on the work done so far.

Progress is slowly becoming more visible, Burke said: the topography is levelling out and walls are starting to form inside the pit. “The pit is actually starting to look like a real pit, so things are progressing extremely well,” he said. Manpower has ramped up as well. The company now has 113 operational personnel and 42 contractors at the site. Maintenance staff numbers 44 employees and technical staff remains steady at 165 employees.

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