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Osisko Metals consolidates Bathurst Mining Camp – by Trish Sayell (Northern Miner – November 30, 2017)

In the last year, newly minted Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: BWMXF) has picked up over 50,000 hectares in New Brunswick’s Bathurst mining camp, the third largest volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) camp in the world.

“We’ve been scouring the base metal space looking for new opportunity,” Jeff Hussey, the junior’s president and CEO, told analysts and investors during a presentation at Red Cloud’s recent annual fall conference. “We’re trying to get a cluster of deposits within a 25-30 km trucking distance that would feed a central concentrator.”

The company’s focus is on zinc, a base metal whose price has doubled to about US$1.43 per lb. over the last twelve months, and one which Hussey knows well after spending 20 years at Noranda, including a stint working at the Brunswick No. 12 mine in the Bathurst camp.

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Orefinders consolidates prospective Shining Tree district, in Ontario’s famed Abitibi – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – December 1, 2017)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Orefinders Resources has entered into agreements for a series of three acquisitions of adjoining properties from two individual landholders and from private company Premet.

Orefinders said in a press release on Thursday that it views the Shining Tree District as a significantly underexplored and a not well understood region of Ontario’s Abitibi, which holds great potential for a district scale mining camp.

Orefinders’ Shining Tree consolidated land package now includes 67 claims and 14 patented leases covering over nearly 2 348 ha, which makes the company a significant mineral landholder in the region.

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Mining as a nation-builder: CEMI among six groups forming supercluster to bring clean Canadian mining expertise to the international market – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – December 1, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

For six mining groups in Canada that have joined together, including one in Sudbury, mining is a nation-building exercise they want to take to the world. The hope is by joining together, they can qualify for government funding to help them support the mining industry on a holistic level.

Sudbury-based Centre for Mining Innovation (CEMI) is among the group that are pursuing a $200 million funding initiative to move their supercluster forward. Titled Clean, Low-energy, Effective, Engaged and Remediated (CLEER), to compete for funding though the federal government’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative.

The are many reasons for bringing this supercluster together, explained Charles Nyabeze, director, government affairs for CEMI, all of them go back to making mining in Canada more competitive, cleaner, diverse and showing the public the importance of mining to the nation’s economic stability.

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Indonesia eyes global playing field with state mining conglomerate – by Wataru Suzuki (Nikkei Asian Review – November 30, 2017)

https://asia.nikkei.com/

JAKARTA — The day began with dozens of Indonesian government officials and state mining executives shuffling in and out of marathon meetings at one of Jakarta’s oldest hotels. By late afternoon Wednesday, they had opened a new chapter in the country’s efforts to revitalize the mining sector.

Indonesia Asahan Aluminium, a state-owned aluminum refiner known as Inalum, was transformed into a holding company that controls nonferrous metal producer Aneka Tambang, coal company Bukit Asam and tin miner Timah. The government’s 65% stake in each of the three listed companies has been transferred to Inalum. The remaining shares will remain publicly traded.

The shift is designed to create a national mining champion that can compete with global giants like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. The news conference that followed the deal offered an early glimpse of how the strategy will play out.

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Turkey launching smart coal strategy, energy minister says (Daily Sabah – December 1, 2017)

https://www.dailysabah.com/

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak said the government’s basic principle has been to act with smart, rational strategies in all the processes of coal, indicating that they were launching a “smart coal strategy.”

Speaking at the opening of the 2nd Coal Action Plan Workshop Thursday, Minster Albayrak said that domestic coal is of great importance to reduce external dependence on energy.

Meanwhile, he also said that the domestic car is an important source to be evaluated with regard to employment and added value. “In all the processes of coal, our basic principle has been to act with smart and rational strategies,” the minister said with regards to the smart coal strategy.

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Remote First Nation celebrates construction of all-season bridge – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 19, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Span at North Caribou Lake First Nation will offer community year-round access

A new bridge constructed at North Caribou Lake First Nation will eliminate the community’s reliance on winter roads and provide year-round access. The span, which crosses the Weagamou Lake narrows, connects the community to Pickle Lake via the Northern Ontario Resource Trail (NORT).

Launched 12 years ago under the winter alignment process, the project cost $5.1 million and was funded by the federal government.

“Our Elders have asked for the Wa-Pik-Che-Wanoog bridge for years because they have witnessed the effects of climate change in our territory and knew how it would influence life in our community. The winter roads can be dangerous, and two pieces of heavy equipment have gone through the ice while trying to maintain them,” said Chief Dinah Kanate in a release.

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A global work in process: Sudbury’s Laurentian-based MERC releases progress report into far-reaching Metal Earth project – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – December 1, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Multiple disciplines, many researchers, scientists, industry players and $104 million have come together to create one of the most comprehensive studies into the metal riches of the Earth. And once it’s completed, the organization overseeing it says it will revolutionize how mining companies seek out metal deposits, and all the data will be free and public.

Harold Gibson, director of the Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC), gave a presentation on Nov. 29 to the Sudbury Geological Discussion Group of the latest findings of the Metal Earth project.

It’s an international project to help researchers, scientists and industry understand the processes of how and where metals appear in the planet’s crust and to make mineral exploration more accurate.

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Zimbabwe to miss out on energy mineral spend despite regime change – by Brendan Ryan (MiningMX – November 30, 2017)

http://www.miningmx.com/

WHILE Zimbabwe has the geological resource base to step up production of lithium the political risk in the country is still so great it is highly unlikely any investment for new lithium mines will flow to Zimbabwe despite the recent regime change.

That was the dominant view from a webcast conference organised by the Investing in Mining Indaba which assessed the potential for African countries to cash in on rising demand for “energy minerals” – in particular cobalt and lithium.

Zimbabwe is currently the largest producer of lithium in Africa accounting for some 6% of world supply which it produces mainly as a by-product from other mining operations such as tin.

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Meet the woman drumming up resistance against mining companies and future typhoons in the Philippines – by Sophie Morlin-Yron (The Ecologist – December 1, 2017)

https://theecologist.org/

SOPHIE MORLIN-YRON talks to activist and former Philippine environment secretary Gina Lopez about banning open-pit mines, battling climate change and winning the 2017 Seacology Prize

Comprising some 7,000 islands in the tropical Western Pacific, the Philippines prides itself as one of the most biodiverse places on earth. Among the archipelago’s many endemic species are several flying frogs, the Philippine mouse deer and the endangered Philippine eagle, also called the monkey-eating eagle.

Its atolls and turquoise waters hide natural treasures too. For example, the spectacular Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a World Heritage Site, is 130,028 hectares of beautiful lagoons and coral islands where rare birds and marine turtles come to nest.

“We are a country of beautiful volcanoes, mountains, rivers, and corals. It’s absolutely spectacular,” says Regina ‘Gina’ Lopez, who was the winner of the 2017 Seacology Prize in recognition of her environmental advocacy, which among many other things has led to a ban on open-pit mining.

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Bisbee: a copper town first, last and always – by Tom Beal (Arizona Daily Star – July 10, 2011)

http://tucson.com/

Bisbee was the most prosperous city in the new state of Arizona on Feb. 14, 1912. It retained its rough edges, however, and celebrated statehood in true mining-camp style – setting off 48 sticks of dynamite in a mining hole near its downtown.

Next year’s centennial festivities will mimic that raucous salute – with a decrease in firepower necessitated by Homeland Security concerns. Copper mining ceased in Bisbee more than 30 years ago, but it remains the best place to envision what life was like in an Arizona mining town 100 years ago.

Its handsome Main Street, lined with substantial brick buildings, looks much the same as it did then. That streetscape was new when its residents celebrated statehood. Disastrous fires in 1907 and 1908 had leveled the wooden buildings in Tombstone Canyon.

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[Arizona Copper Mining History] Bisbee Deportation of 1917 (Wiki)

https://en.wikipedia.org/

The Bisbee Deportation was the illegal kidnapping and deportation of about 1,300 striking mine workers, their supporters, and citizen bystanders by 2,000 members of a deputized posse on July 12, 1917. The action was orchestrated by Phelps Dodge, the major mining company in the area, which provided lists of workers and others who were to be arrested in Bisbee, Arizona.

The arrested were first held at a local baseball park before being loaded onto cattle cars and deported 200 miles (320 km) to Tres Hermanas in New Mexico. The 16-hour journey was through desert without food or water. Once unloaded, the deportees, most without money or transportation, were warned against returning to Bisbee.

As Phelps Dodge, in collusion with the sheriff, had closed down access to outside communications, it was some time before the story was reported. The company presented their action as reducing threats to United States interests in World War I in Europe.

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[Copper Mining History] Deportation ‘17: A Film About a Film in Bisbee, Arizona

Deportation ’17: A Film About a Film in Bisbee from Lone Protestor on Vimeo.

https://www.facebook.com/bisbee17/

July 12, 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the Bisbee Deportation, where over a thousand striking miners were rounded up by the mining company, forced onto cattle cars and deported to the New Mexico desert. As a film crew comes to Bisbee to make a documentary about the Deportation, the whole town gets into the act.
The documentary Bisbee ’17 will be produced by 4th Row Films and is directed by Robert Greene.

The following is from Amazon.com: Bisbee, Arizona, queen of the western copper camps, 1917. The protagonists in a bitter strike: the Wobblies (the IWW), the toughest union in the history of the West; and Harry Wheeler, the last of the two-gun sheriffs. In this class-war western, they face each other down in the streets of Bisbee, pitting a general strike against the largest posse ever assembled.

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Lundin Mining stock drops as Chile production outlook is cut – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 1, 2017)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shares in Lundin Mining Corp. fell the most in more than six years after the company cut its near-term production forecast at its flagship copper mine in Chile.

In a news release late on Wednesday, the Toronto-based miner said production at its Candelaria operation will be about 20 per cent lower in 2018 than previously indicated. Lundin is encountering production problems because of a recent rock slide, which has led to pit wall instability at the mine site. The base metals company said it is taking a “more conservative approach” to mining the deposit over the near term.

Candelaria is by far Lundin’s highest-producing asset. In the quarter ending Sept. 30, it accounted for about 62 per cent of Lundin’s revenue. In 2014, Lundin paid about $2-billion (U.S.) to acquire an 80-per-cent share in Candelaria from U.S. base-metals giant Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

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Canadian Zinc hopes to start production at Prairie Creek mine in 2020 – by Randi Beers (CBC News North – December 1, 2017)

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

The Canadian Zinc Corporation believes production could start at Prairie Creek Mine by August 2020. This is according to results of a feasibility study commissioned by the company, which was released Oct. 31.

The study, put together by mining consulting firm AMC Mining Consultants, estimates the Prairie Creek mine could pull in $1.2 billion over its 15-year mine life and create 330 full-time jobs in the Dehcho region.

All of this is dependant on two major things, according to Alan Taylor, chief operating officer of Canadian Zinc. The company must get final approval to build an all-season road to the mine — which is at an advanced stage of construction already — and it must raise the money needed to both build the road and revive the mine.

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How to Mine Cobalt Without Going to Congo – by Anna Hirtenstein (Bloomberg News – December 1, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Almost 9,000 miles from the dusty Congo savanna, miners have hit on an entirely new source of cobalt — the rare mineral at the heart of the electric-car boom. And not only can they take coffee breaks, when they take a break, they can grab a donut at Tim Hortons.

Scientists working for American Manganese Inc., located in the suburbs of Vancouver, have developed a way to produce enough of the bluish-gray metal to power all the electric cars on the road today without drilling into the ground: by recycling faulty batteries.

It’s one of many technologies that entrepreneurs are patenting to prepare for a time when electric cars outnumber polluting petrol engines, turning the entire automotive supply chain upside down in the process. Instead of radiators, spark plugs and fuel injectors, the industry will need cheap sources of cobalt, copper and lithium.

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