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Northwest First Nation wants to bring a stop to mine road construction – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 23,2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Cat Lake seeks injunction to halt First Mining Gold’s access road, pending judicial review

A northwestern Ontario First Nation in close proximity to First Mining Gold’s Springpole Project is heading to court, seeking to stop construction of an access road to the proposed mine site.

Cat Lake First Nation imposed a mining moratorium in 2023 on all mining-related activity within its traditional territory, which includes the Vancouver mine developer’s open-pit project.

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B.C.’s multimillion-dollar mining problem – by Francesca Fionda, Jeffery Jones and Chen Wang (Globe and Mail/The Narwhal – February 24, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The true cost of cleaning up mine pollution in B.C. is growing, a Globe and Mail-Narwhal investigation has found – and if disaster strikes, taxpayers could be stuck with an even bigger bill

When John Morris Sr. is asked where the sacred sites on the Taku River are, his answer comes easily. “This whole place is sacred,” the 84-year-old Elder says. In the spring, all five species of North American salmon fight the current to spawn. In the summer, bright orange salmon berries speckle the landscape.

Mr. Morris, a member of the Douglas Indian Association in southeast Alaska, said his grandparents, aunt, uncle and parents always reminded him that everything they needed was provided by the land there.

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Critical minerals mining, conservation in Ontario’s Far North can go hand in hand: Mushkegowuk director – by Maija Hoggett (Northern Ontario Business/Timmins Today – February 22, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The feasibility study approved for the James Bay national marine conservation area

KASHECHEWAN — The proposed national marine conservation area (NMCA) continues to make a splash on the James Bay coast. The feasibility study for the NMCA was formally accepted Feb. 21, allowing the project to move on to the next steps, which include negotiating with Parks Canada.

“We’re going to continue doing engagement on the feasibility study … that we have done, make sure everybody understands that has any questions. If there’s any changes to be done, we will alter and do some editing,” said Lawrence Martin, Mushkegowuk Council’s lands and resources department director.

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Newmont to sell six non-core assets in Canada, Australia – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 22, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Newmont Corp (NYSE: NEM) said on Thursday it plans to sell six non-core assets, including its Éléonore mine in Quebec, the Musselwhite and Porcupine mines in Ontario, the Coffee project in the Yukon Territory and its 70% stake in the Havieron joint venture with Greatland Gold (LON: GGP) in Western Australia.

The world’s largest gold miner, which completed the acquisition of Newcrest Mining in November, said that proceeds from the transactions will be used to cut debt. The company, which had $8 billion in debt at the end of 2023, has set a near-term debt-reduction target of $1 billion.

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IAMGOLD boosts gold resources at Gogama mine project – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 20, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Construction wrapping up with first gold production at Côté deposit set for March

The future looks bright at IAMGOLD’s Côté Gold Project, an open-pit mine development outside Gogama that’s on track to start initial production next month. The Toronto gold company released an updated mineral estimate on Feb. 15 of its two deposits at Côté that shows there’s more gold to be mined at the open-pit mine development.

Côté is located roughly halfway between Sudbury and Timmins, just off Highway 144. The company maintains Côté is Canada’s soon-to-be third largest gold mine. Construction is almost at an end with first gold production beginning in March. The Côté operation will gradually begin the ramp-up toward full commercial production sometime this summer.

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First Quantum gets financial boost from Chinese company after Panama production pause – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – February 22, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Receiving a US$500-million prepayment from a Chinese shareholder

A Canadian miner is receiving a US$500-million prepayment from a Chinese shareholder with hopes of strengthening its balance sheet after its key copper mine in Panama was forced to stop production late last year. In return, Toronto-based First Quantum Minerals Ltd. will annually supply Jiangxi Copper Corp. with 50,000 tonnes of copper for three years from its Kansanshi mine in Zambia. The Canadian miner will also have to pay interest on the prepayment, the company said.

The Panamanian government ordered First Quantum to shut down its lucrative copper mine in December following protests from environmentalists and a Supreme Court order that annulled a mining contract the company had signed with the country.

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Iron ore boom of the 2000s repeating – this time with critical metals – by James Cooper (Northern Miner – February 22, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

A headline published in The Age back in July 2003 reads: “[Andrew] Forrest has a grand $1.2bn plan for tiny Perth mining company.” That company was called Allied Mining and Processing and you’ve probably never heard of it. But from small roots this tiny outfit grew into one of Australia’s largest listed companies with a market cap exceeding A$88 billion.

Twenty years ago, Andrew (Twiggy) Forrest renamed this micro-cap stock to Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG). The rest is history, but it was quite the story behind Twiggy’s road to immense wealth. Fortescue was perhaps the single biggest success story from the last mining boom. A stock that grew from a measly A2¢ per share back in 2003 to more than $10 a share just five years later.

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B.C. scraps plans to amend legislation that would give First Nations more say over public land – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – February 22, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The B.C. government has scrapped its plans to amend the Land Act in the spring legislative session, changes that would have allowed joint decision-making with Indigenous communities about public land, after a hasty public consultation process prompted a widespread backlash.

“This touched a nerve,” said Nathan Cullen, Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, who announced the policy retreat on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting. “The path that we are on is the path that we will maintain. The pace at which we do it is an important issue that was raised by hunting and fishing organizations, by resource groups – and we listened.”

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New York Diamond Dealers Upbeat Amid Tight Supply – by Joshua Freedman (Rapaport Magazine – February 22, 2024)

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Demand is slow, but India’s import freeze is still having an impact.

Retail restocking is slow after a decent but not record-breaking holiday. The diamond market is uncertain about the rest of the year, and while inflation has eased, interest rates remain high. Yet despite the sluggishness on the demand side, New York dealers are reporting firm pricing on the local and Indian markets. This is mostly because there aren’t enough diamonds coming out of India; the inventory surplus that froze the market in 2023 has abated.

The market is soft in general, but particularly in round, D to Z goods, said Nilesh Sheth, president of New York-based polished supplier Nice Diamonds. Fancy shapes and colors are still moving well, he noted. In this context, “we are only adding items available at attractive prices,” Sheth revealed.

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First Quantum launches US$1B bought deal as Panama closure pushes miner to the brink (Canadian Press/Ottawa City News – February 21, 2024)

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TORONTO — First Quantum Minerals Ltd. said it will raise roughly US$1 billion through a bought deal offering and use the proceeds to repay debt and bolster its liquidity as it says its operations could be threatened by the closure of its Cobre Panamá mine.

The deal is being underwritten by a syndicate led by RBC Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs, where the underwriters have agreed to purchase 121,680,000 common shares of First Quantum at a price of C$11.10 each.

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Why there’s no silver bullet for the nickel pickle facing the Albanese government – by Rhiannon Shine (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 22, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

When miners first struck nickel in Western Australia’s dusty outback in the late 1960s, it kickstarted a rollercoaster ride that brought the likes of Harold Holt and Andrew Forrest to town. So exciting was the revelation of nickel in Kambalda, 60 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie, the prime minister came to town to join the party.

“It is an important national asset,” Mr Holt declared from the Goldfields mine site in 1967.Today it is seen as not only important but critical – due to its use in the batteries needed for the global energy transition.Two years ago, the price of nickel reached a dizzying height of around $76,000 (US$50,000) per tonne.

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Expert says green energy proponents have ‘delusions of grandeur’ – by David Staples (Edmonton Journal – February 16, 2024)

https://edmontonjournal.com/

Had enough of advocates for green energy technology who promise the sun and the moon in terms of efficiency and cost savings only to have this new tech crap out the moment it’s needed most?

Fed up with an armada of state-of-the-art electric buses where none of the buses work nearly as well as promised and at least half of them are broken down in the garage at any given time?

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Turkey suspends search for SSR Mining employees who went missing after landslide – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 20, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A rescue effort to find nine employees of SSR Mining Inc. who went missing after a landslide at a gold mine in Turkey last week has been suspended, as authorities try to prevent an environmental catastrophe.

On Feb. 13, a landslide slammed into SSR Mining’s Çöpler mine in Turkey, hitting the company’s onsite heap leach gold processing plant. Despite a search and rescue effort involving more than 400 members of Turkey’s national disaster relief agency, the missing workers have not been found.

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Australia gives nickel a quick fix, but surgery of global industry needed – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – February 19, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Australia is throwing a lifeline to its under pressure nickel mining sector, but the solution on offer is more of a band aid than the needed major surgery, the carving of the global nickel industry into green and dirty.

Resources Minister Madeleine King placed nickel on the critical minerals list, a move that allows the industry to access some of the A$4 billion ($2.7 billion) of federal government funding aimed at promoting minerals vital to energy transition.

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First Nation warns of ‘ecocide’ as spring melt poses risk to tailings pond at Yukon mine site – by Julien Gignac (CBC News North – February 16, 2024)

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

Calling it an impending crisis, the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation says problems have been in plain sight

The Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation is warning spring melt could cause the tailings dam at the abandoned Mount Nansen mine in central Yukon to overflow or breach, and send a toxic slurry into the environment. The company managing the site, however, says a dam breach is unlikely — though it could be at risk of overflowing.

Little Salmon Carmacks Chief Nicole Tom calls it an emergency, and compared it to the 2014 Mount Polley mine disaster in B.C. that saw roughly 25 million cubic metres of water and tailings effluent flow into surrounding waterways. It was the largest tailings spill in Canadian history.

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