Twitter

Timmins

Lake Shore Gold’s future in Timmins is bright despite falling gold prices, CEO – by Sarah Moore (Timmins Daily Press – November 2, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

They may be the new kids on the block in the Timmins mining community, but Lake Shore Gold foresees an extremely prosperous future in the city.

“We see ourselves as being able to grow to be much larger,” Tony Makuch, CEO of Lake Shore Gold, said in an interview on Friday, “and to go from a junior producer to an intermediate to maybe a more senior producer” that is still producing gold in Timmins “and still being profitable even beyond the next five years.”

At a luncheon at the Dante Club on Friday afternoon, Makuch provided an update on the Lake Shore Gold operations at the Timmins West mining complex by Highway 101 west, and the Bell Creek mine in Porcupine.

As one of the newest gold mining operation in Timmins, Lake Shore Gold has produced almost 650,000 ounces of gold since going into full operation back in 2011. They hit a record last year, producing 185,000 ounces in 2014 alone.

Read more

Hollinger pit now operating 24/7 – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – October 30, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – An update to city council on the latest developments at the Hollinger open pit mining included the response to a fly rock the size of a “softball” coming over the berm and landing next to the water tower.

Don Burke, the new manager of the open pit, having recently moved to Timmins from Red Lake, explained the mine has taken measures in response to that incident.

He said they brought in a world-renowned blasting expert to offer additional direction and have introduced new protocols when blasting rock in “pioneering areas” of the mine.

Mayor Steve Black told Burke, “I am happy to see you have taken measures to prevent this from happening again but I don’t want to understate the seriousness and the concern that obviously us at city hall and residents did have in that regard.

Read more

[Liquid sulphur dioxide] Rail access was key to Calabrian choosing Timmins – by By Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – October 22, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Mayor Steve Black had a tangible example of some good news for Timmins Wednesday, when he made his first ever state-of-the-city address. Speaking at the Days Inn, as part of Small Business Week, the mayor was able to point to a table at the front of room where several American businessmen were sitting.

“As noted a few weeks ago, Calabrian Corporation will be opening a new liquid sulphur dioxide production facility in Timmins. The company hails from Texas and the site in Timmins is part of the Canadian expansion plans,” said Black, adding that he expects the businessmen are now becoming Blue Jays fans.

Calabrian is the leading producer of liquid sulphur dioxide in North America and has secured a five-acre site in the east end of Timmins to build a new plant. The mayor said he was pleased the Timmins Economic Development Corporation worked tirelessly to bring the company to Timmins.

“We are very pleased the company will create jobs and opportunities for local residents. Having a new mining supplier in our municipality is certainly welcome news,” said Black, who asked company representatives to stand and be recognized at the lunch event.

Read more

Timmins Museum marks 40 years of its own history – by Sarah Moore (Timmins Daily Press – October 7, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – There’s been scandal, engineering marvels and, of course, there has been gold — and the Timmins Museum has brought that rich history to life for the last 40 years.

The museum, which is now located on Second Avenue in the city’s downtown, has been operating since 1975. It was initially opened as a National Exhibition Centre in South Porcupine, one of only 23 in Canada, to house travelling exhibitions from across the country.

Four years after the centre was created, a community museum component was also added to showcase permanent collections spotlighting artifacts that told the story of the City of Timmins, specifically.

“The community had been looking for a museum since the early 1950s,” said Karen Bachmann, the director/curator of the Timmins Museum. “Pieces had already been collected by the chamber of commerce that at the time were being stored at the chamber, the fire hall in Porcupine, the vaults at city hall and in some people’s homes, so it brought together a lot of this stuff.”

Read more

Detour Gold finds silver lining in current economic climate – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – September 18, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The declining value of the Canadian dollar has actually been a great boost to Detour Gold and the mining supply sector in Timmins.

Those were among the revelations that came forward Thursday when Paul Martin, the president and chief executive officer of Detour spoke at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce lunch event.

Martin made reference to the fact the Canadian dollar, which was valued at 76 cents U.S. Thursday provided an unexpected benefit.

“The weak Canadian dollar, some people jokingly call it the Canadian peso, is a huge benefit for a company that sells its revenue in U.S. dollars,” Martin told the audience.

It has effectively dropped the price Detour has to pay to produce each ounce of gold. He said it this is a competitive edge for Detour that is not shared by U.S. gold producers, for example. The payoff for Northern Ontario and Timmins is significant, said Martin.

Read more

Mining For Gold Song- by Cowboy Junkies

Have a great Labour Day weekend everyone! – Stan Sudol (RepublicOfMining.com)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

The band was formed by three siblings from the Timmins entertainment family.
Another sibling, Cali, rose to fame as an actress on Ryan’s Hope. The Timmins
siblings are descendants of Noah Timmins, a mining prospector who founded
the Ontario [gold mining] city of Timmins. (Wiki)

Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alternative country/blues/folk rock band. The group was formed in Toronto in 1985 by Margo Timmins (vocalist), Michael Timmins (songwriter, guitarist), Peter Timmins (drummer) and Alan Anton (bassist).[1]

The Junkies first performed publicly at the Beverley Tavern and other clubs in Toronto’s Queen Street West, including The Rivoli. Their 1986 debut album, produced by Canadian producer Peter Moore, was the blues-inspired Whites Off Earth Now!!, recorded using an ambisonic microphone in the family garage.[1]

Read more

IAMGOLD silent as signs point to mining camp closing – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – August 19, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

GOGAMA – It appears IAMGOLD is shutting down its exploration camp in Gogama.

The Daily Press received unofficial word on Tuesday that the Côté Gold Project will be completely shut down by the end of the week. According to the source, some exploration at the site will be continuing for the time being, but after this Friday the mining camp will be closed, and a skeleton staff will continue to dismantle it next week.

The Daily Press subsequently contacted IAMGOLD to get confirmation.

When asked if the information was true, Cheryl Naveau, the company’s head of aboriginal and community relations for the Côté project, said she could not comment, but that IAMGOLD was planning a teleconference early next week.

The Côté Gold Project was initially proposed in 2012, and for the past few years has been conducting prospecting for a potential open pit mine with an expected ore production period of 15 years. No actual mining has taken place yet.

Read more

Ontario and Quebec communities banding together to counter Greenpeace’s messaging – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – August 12, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

Mayors from the member communities of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) met with representatives of communities in Northern Quebec, as well as the forestry industry and First Nations in Timmins on Tuesday afternoon.

The diverse group came together to discuss ways to counter the messaging of environmentalist groups about forest industry practices. Much of the discussion revolved around one group in particular: Greenpeace, which the Ontario mayors have already gone so far as to accuse of “eco-terrorism.”

“We decided as communities, industry stakeholders, and First Nations to talk about what the current issues are that affect us in Northern Ontario where we are under attack by environmental groups,” said FONOM president Al Spacek. “We feel strongly that it is a campaign of misinformation about how we conduct forestry in Northern Ontario. We know we adhere to the highest Canadian and provincial standards.

“We want to develop a strategy to get that message out, so we can defend our culture and the lifestyle we’ve been practising up here for generations very sustainably.”

Read more

Greenpeace responds to ‘eco-terrorist’ portrayal – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – June 12, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Greenpeace is fighting back after members of North Eastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) likened the environmentalist group to “eco-terrorism.”

During a press conference this week, the mayors of NEOMA member communities, including Timmins’ Steve Black, announced that they were banding together to fight environmental groups such as Greenpeace, which they believe are making it impossible to start new forestry products in the region.

Greenpeace has responded by denying any claims they are calling for a boycott of companies harvesting in the Boreal Forest.

According to Greenpeace spokesman, Richard Brooks, the group has a problem with just one major forestry company harvesting in the Boreal Forest, Resolute Forest Products, and they don’t even operate anywhere near Timmins. Resolute closed its Iroquois Falls paper mill late last year.

“I think it’s important to clarify that we are not against forestry, we’re not against logging, and we’re certainly not against jobs in the North,” said Brooks.

Read more

Joining forces against ‘eco-terrorism’ – by Ron Grech (Timmins Daily Press – June 10, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – Mayors from Northern Ontario and Quebec are banding together in a fight against they describe as the “negative impacts from environmental extremism.”

Forestry companies have been targeted by special interest groups like Greenpeace for harvesting within the Boreal Forest which spans across the country including much of Northern Ontario.

Hearst Mayor Roger Sigouin, Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis and Timmins Coun. Mike Doody, who is also chairman of the North Eastern Ontario Municipal Association (NEOMA) were among the leaders who attended a recent meeting in Ottawa involving mayors from 22 communities in Ontario and Quebec.

These three along with Timmins Mayor Steve Black held a press conference at city hall Tuesday to discuss their aim to raise awareness of what they feel is an attack on communities that rely on resource-based industries.

Read more

Timmins student recognized for cinematography work by Ontario Mining Association – by Alan S. Hale (Timmins Daily Press – June 1, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

He hasn’t even graduated high school yet, but Francis Huot has already two awards for filmmaking awards under his belt.

Last week, the École Secondaire Theriault student was in Toronto accepting a So You Think You Know Mining Award from the Ontario Mining Association for a short film he made. There were several different categories at the awards, but Huot was recognized for having the best cinematography out of all the videos submitted.

The video Huot is simple but impactful. The visuals of the two-minute-long video are a black-and-white montage of mining machinery and shafts inside GorldCorp’s Dome Mine in Timmins.

“We got permission to go down into the mine and take some shots,” explained Huot. “It was very cool. It’s not every day you get an opportunity to take shots like that.”

Read more

[Mining] Berm altering Timmins skyline – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – May 27, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – The landscape in the heart of Timmins is changing and with the arrival of spring, the change has become that much more obvious. Motorists travelling into downtown Timmins from the East End can now easily see the new rock berm rising in the west, behind Schumacher.

The berm is the work of Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines, which is installing it to surround the new Hollinger open pit mine. It is designed to lessen the impact of dust, noise and vibration that is expected to occur during the mining operations.

Work on the new berm is especially noticeable for anyone driving along Vipond Road in recent weeks.

Rick Dubeau, city councillor and chairman of the Hollinger Project Community Advisory Committee (HPCAC), referred to the change in his most recent community report. “You can see the skyline of the city drastically change as the berms are constructed,” he wrote.

PGM has indicated that the berm will be covered with earth and eventually landscaped once the mining work is done, sometime in the next eight or nine years.

Read more

‘Tragic [mining] milestone’ – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – May 26, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

BLACK RIVER-MATHESON – It appears Alexie Dallaire-Vincent may be the first woman to die on the job in an underground mine in Ontario. The 22-year-old tram operator at the SAS St. Andrew Goldfields Holt Mine, was killed Saturday afternoon, according to the Ontario Ministry of Labour

It was reported the woman, a native of the Kirkland Lake area, died from injuries after being struck by an ore-haulage car on the 925 level in that mine, located east of Matheson.

A number of local veteran mining inspectors and investigators reached by The Daily Press on Monday said they could not recall a previous incident in which a woman died on the job, working underground in an Ontario mine.

“I’m not sure, to be honest with you, but I do believe that is the case,” said Ministry of Labour district manager Pete Lefebvre, who is also a former mine rescue officer.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour communications office in Toronto could not confirm it, as the ministry does not keep gender-based statistics, said spokesman William Lin.

Read more

HISTORY: In 1923 Timmins already bustling – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – May 23, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – A few stories from the year 1923… let me first, however, set the mood. According to a number of news sites, some of the big news events for that year included the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb (in February), the eruption of Mt. Etna in Sicily, which left over 60,000-plus homeless (in June) and the Great Kanto earthquake that nearly flattened Tokyo (over 100,000 people were killed).

Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president of the United States after the death of President Warring Harding in August of that year – Harding had suddenly died while he was staying in the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Calif.

In Canada, William Lyon McKenzie King continued on as Prime Minister, and, overseas, a young Adolph Hitler led the Nazi Party in a failed coup d’état in Germany (known as the Beer Hall Putsch). On the popular culture scene, Time Magazine was launched (and is still in print today), women’s one-piece bathing suits were all the rage (woo-hoo!) and Agatha Christie cranked out another Hercule Poirot mystery (“The Murder on the Links”).

So while the Cotton Club opened in New York City, Pablo Picasso built the stage sets for Jean Cocteau’s production of “Antigone” and Albert the Duke of York married Elizabeth Rowes-Lyon (later known as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth), this is what was happening in the Porcupine in 1923…

Read more

No free rides for women in mining – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – May 7, 2015)

The Daily Press is the city of Timmins broadsheet newspaper.

TIMMINS – A woman with extensive mining engineering experience told an audience of Timmins business women on Thursday there are opportunities for more females in the mining industry. She said it is now up to women to seek out mining employment and go for it.

Sophie Bergeron, the underground manager at Hoyle Pond for Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines, has worked in mining in both Canada and South America. She was the keynote speaker at the Women in Business luncheon hosted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce on Thursday.

Bergeron’s education as a mining engineer set her off on a journey to Xstrata’s Raglan mine in far Northern Quebec, where she took on a number of jobs because she said she asked for them.

Women are still in a minority in mining and while Bergeron said the numbers are gradually improving, she urged women to seek out the jobs they want and to aggressively ask for those roles. Bergeron said many of the jobs she has worked at came about because she specifically asked to do those jobs.

She explained that in all experience, she was never offered a job in mine production department.

Read more