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British Columbia Mining

B.C. rejects open-pit mine in caribou habitat. Is this a shift for endangered species? – by Ainslie Cruickshank (The Narwhal – January 10, 2023)

The Narwhal

Southern mountain caribou in B.C. are increasingly rare. Rarer still is a mine project rejected under the province’s environmental assessment process. Yet, that’s just what happened to the Sukunka coal mine proposed by Swiss mining giant Glencore in the Peace River region of northeast B.C.

The mine — which would have operated over a lifespan of 20 years and generated 1.5 to 2.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal each year from six open pits — was soundly rejected in December, primarily due to its impacts on the endangered Quintette caribou herd.

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A Canadian mining giant has long been fighting U.S. pollution rules. Now Montana is on its side – by Francesca Fionda (The Narwhal – January 9, 2023)

The Narwhal

The intricacies of how big corporations lobby government bodies can be hard to untangle. But at a recent environmental review board meeting in Montana, those efforts were in plain sight. For years, Canadian mining giant Teck Resources has been fighting against U.S. water standards, which target pollution flowing from its Elk Valley coal mines in southeast B.C. downstream to the Kootenai watershed in Montana and Idaho.

Those standards were approved by the Montana’s Board of Environmental Review in 2020. It was a process the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency commended “for collaborating with multiple stakeholders for over five years.” The state’s adopted standards were based on “sound science” specific to Lake Koocanusa, the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in its approval.

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First Nations challenge B.C. mineral claim regime in court – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver- December 15, 2022)

https://biv.com/

Requiring notification on claims would have big impact on exploration: AME

The principal of free, prior and informed consent embedded in UNDRIP must apply to mineral claims in B.C., First Nations will argue in court – something that has the mining and exploration industry in B.C. worried.

First Nations, environmental groups and mining and exploration industry associations are in court today seeking intervenor status in a case that could have wide-ranging implications for mineral exploration in B.C., as well as the federal government’s critical minerals strategy, should the case succeed.

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What happens when electrification and reconciliation collide? (Indigenous Success – December 7, 2022)

https://www.indigenoussuccess.ca/

New study shows 54 percent of global mining projects are located on Indigenous territories. Finding a collaborative path forward has never been more important.

What happens when the energy transition and Indigenous rights collide? The transition to a low-emissions, electrified future requires vast quantities of minerals, including lithium, copper and iron. However, a new study found that 54 percent of mining projects for these transition minerals are located on or near Indigenous peoples’ lands.

According to The Conversation, 85 percent of the world’s lithium, 75 percent of magnesium, 66 percent of copper and 57 percent of nickel reserves overlap with Indigenous peoples’ lands. As demand for these minerals is projected to grow significantly in the coming years, it is important that Indigenous peoples have a say in where and how they are extracted. Charting a collaborative path forward is critical.

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Teck’s new CEO looks to tap cash from coal to fuel copper expansion – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Teck Resources Ltd.’s new chief aims to leverage his company’s booming coal business to get bigger in copper and become a “significant” miner of the metal behind the global energy transition.

“We’re so focused on copper just because of the critical role that the metal is going to play in decarbonization through electrification,” Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Price said in his first interview since taking the top job in September. “It’s really the cornerstone of what we’re doing.”

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Teck Resources’ oilsands exit will allow it to lean into ‘low-carbon metals,’ says CEO – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – October 27, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Miner sells its 21.3% stake in Fort Hills oilsands site to Suncor for $1 billion

Teck Resources Ltd. announced its long-telegraphed exit from Alberta’s oilsands Thursday, in a deal to sell its 21.3 per cent stake in the Fort Hills project to Suncor Energy Inc. for $1 billion.

Fort Hills, the most recently constructed oilsands mine located north of Fort McMurray, Alta., has been plagued by a series of operational and market glitches that restricted it from full production since operations started in 2018. When the deal goes through, Suncor will own a 75.3 per cent stake in the project with France’s TotalEnergies SE holding the remainder.

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Doubts downstream: Residents of Libby, Mont., have heard selenium from Canadian coal mines isn’t a threat. But trust in industry is hard to come by after hundreds here died from minerals contaminated with asbestos. – by Joel Dryden and Rob Easton (CBC News – October 19, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

Walking the streets of Libby, Mont., on a hazy September day, it’s not uncommon to hear the cough of a local resident. The picturesque, blue-collar town about an hour southwest of the Canada-U.S. Border in Montana’s north was once bustling with jobs thanks to nearby vermiculite mines. The work helped line locals’ wallets with steady pay. And lined their lungs with toxic asbestos dust.

Years of remediation have helped make the town of about 2,700 safe again following what government officials called the worst case of industrial poisoning of a community in American history. But residents are still struggling to rebuild after hundreds died, and approximately 2,400 have been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases.

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Centerra extends Mount Milligan mine by four years to 2033 – by Jackson Chen (Canadian Mining Journal – October 4, 2022)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Centerra Gold (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU) has provided an updated life of mine plan for its Mount Milligan mine located in central B.C. that would extend the open pit mining and milling operation by four years to 2033. The updated life of mine plan (LOM) incorporates an increased mineral reserve base compared to 2021 year-end calculations.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Mount Milligan deposit is estimated to contain proven and probable reserves totalling 246.2 million tonnes at 0.37 g/t gold and 0.18% copper, containing approximately 2.9 million oz. of gold and 1 billion lb. of copper. These reserves were classified as approximately 30% proven and 70% probable on a tonnage basis.

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Opinion: Unleash the Montney: Canada’s world-class gas field is waiting to be tapped – by Heather Exner-Pirot (Financial Post -September 29, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

The Montney Formation is a gift from the gods. But in Canada, it may well remain a geological marvel instead of an economic one

Straddling the B.C.-Alberta border lies the most valuable Canadian resource you’ve never heard of: the trillion-dollar Montney Formation, a giant gas field the size of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia combined. Its potential is huge but its future is uncertain. With the federal government’s proposed emissions cap, it may remain a sleeping giant.

The Montney Formation is a colossus, bigger even than the U.S.A.’s renowned Marcellus field, which helped set off the shale revolution. Largely overlooked before the innovation of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling made it economically viable to exploit, it is now tapped to supply the nascent west coast LNG industry.

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Standard Lithium retools operations after short seller’s attacks – by Ernest Scheyder (Yahoo Finance/Reuters – September 7, 2022)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

Standard Lithium Ltd is trying to become the first new U.S. source of lithium for electric vehicle batteries in decades, a bullish target fueled in part by technical and engineering changes the company is making in response to accusations that its technology does not work.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Standard is among a wave of companies, including mining major Rio Tinto Ltd, trying to use direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/new-lithium-technology-can-help-world-go-green-if-it-works-2022-04-07 to supply the battery metal to the EV industry.

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Giga Metals, Mitsubishi to jointly develop Turnagain nickel deposit in Canada – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 15, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Junior Giga Metals (TSX-V: GIGA) and global trading and investment firm Mitsubishi Corporation agreed on Monday to form a joint venture company, Hard Creek Nickel Corp, to develop the Turnagain nickel-cobalt deposit in northern British Columbia.

As part of the deal, Mitsubishi will acquire a 15% equity interest in the joint venture firm for C$8 million ($6.2m) cash. Giga will receive an 85% equity interest in Hard Creek in exchange for contributing all related assets for the Turnagain project, its core asset. It will also be the project administrator.

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ROM installs germ-destroying copper to keep patrons safe – by Christine Sismondo (Toronto Star – August 16, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

B.C. company Teck partnered with TTC, ROM and other high-traffic public spaces to make surfaces safer.

The vast majority of folks headed into the new “Fantastic Beasts” exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will probably be so excited about all the magical creatures they’re about to see that they’ll completely miss a little bit of wizardry at the entrance.

To be fair, since it looks like an ordinary pair of door handles, it’s pretty easy to miss. The door handles do have a superpower, though, namely, the ability to kill germs and viruses in the blink of an eye. It isn’t actually magic. It’s science. The handles are made of copper, a metal with antimicrobial properties.

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A 72-year mining opportunity at KSM – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – August 5, 2022)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Following the 33 years of surface mining outlined in a recent prefeasibility study, the KSM project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle would still have enough resources to support an additional 39 years of underground mining, according to a new preliminary economic assessment prepared for Seabridge Gold Inc.

In early July, Seabridge published the results of a prefeasibility study for an open-pit mining operation at KSM that would produce an average of more than 1 million ounces of gold, 3 million oz of silver, 178 million pounds of copper and 4.2 million lb of molybdenum annually for 33 years.

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Teck CEO Don Lindsay to retire after 17 years amid record returns – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – July 28, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Lindsay will be replaced by CFO Jonathan Price

Teck Resources Ltd. chief executive Don Lindsay announced his retirement after 17 years at the helm of one of Canada’s leading mining companies. During Lindsay’s tenure, Teck delivered “record financial and operational results and returned significant capital to shareholders,” the Vancouver-based company said in a press release on July 26.

Under Lindsay, who was appointed CEO in 2005, the diversified miner also built a strong copper pipeline and marked the start of its ambition to rebalance its portfolio towards metals as opposed to coal and oilsands operations.

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American environmentalists take aim at B.C. mines – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver- July 14, 2022)

https://biv.com/

Environmental groups want tailings ponds in B.C. banned

American environmental groups are taking aim at B.C.’s “industrial gold rush” and calling on President Joe Biden to call on the Canadian government to ban tailings dams.

Four American environmental groups are pointing to a report commissioned by the BC Mining Law Reform and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust that analyzes the risks of tailings pond failures in B.C. They are zeroing in on two mines in particular – one already in operation, Copper Mountain in southern B.C., and one proposed, the KSM mine in northwestern B.C.

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