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Junior Exploration Sector

Australia announces A$100m commitment to junior mining exploration – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – May 5, 2021)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Australian Resources Minister Keith Pitt on Wednesday announced a A$100-million funding boost for exploration, extending the junior minerals exploration incentive (JMEI) for another four years in a move to attract new investors.

The JMEI, which allows eligible companies to access tax incentives, encourages companies to explore for resources in untapped areas of Australia. To date, it has supported 85 junior exploration companies, half of which are headquartered in Western Australia.

“We need to ensure that we have a continuous investment pipeline for development across regional Australia,” said Pitt. “Our successful, stable and secure resources sector is underpinned by our world-class junior explorers.”

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BCSC halts trading in Valorem, one of four miners targeted in apparent pump-and-dump scam – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 4, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The British Columbia Securities Commission has halted trading in Valorem Resources Inc., one of four small Canadian mining companies targeted this year by an apparent international “pump and dump” ring that has caused stock market chaos.

The provincial securities regulator said it made the decision to halt trading in the Canadian Securities Exchange-listed exploration company after its share price ran up by 62 per cent and its volume jumped by 238 per cent.

The increases followed “unsubstantiated statements” about Valorem on a website called The Financial News.

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US Department of Energy provides funds for First Cobalt’s Iron Creek project – by Staff (Northern Miner – April 2021)

https://www.northernminer.com/

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute is giving Toronto-based junior First Cobalt (TSXV: FCC; US-OTC: FTSSF) US$600,000 over two years for research on mineral processing techniques for the company’s Iron Creek copper-cobalt project in Idaho.

The funding, matched by the company, will be spent on “identifying more efficient and environmentally friendly methods to process cobalt ore from pyrite material,” First Cobalt announced in a press release, and will be part of a “collaborative research effort” with the Colorado School of Mines’ Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy (KIEM).

Trent Mell, First Cobalt’s president and CEO, said the company plans to build an underground mine and processing facility at Iron Creek and “can take advantage of new and emerging technologies that reduce waste material coming out of the mine and reduce the amount of energy required to process the ore.”

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Cobalt hunter eyes Gowganda, Elk Lake for processing hub – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 26, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Battery Mineral Resources posts resource estimate of cobalt and silver deposit

Battery Mineral Resources (BMR) has come out of the shadows to post a first-time resource for a cobalt and silver property, southwest of Gowganda.

The low key Vancouver-based explorer, formerly known as Fusion Gold, released a maiden resource of more than a million pounds of cobalt at its McAra Project, according to an April 22 news release.

As the largest claims holder in the historic Gowganda-Cobalt silver mining camp, BMR thinks there’s enough mine potential among its nine exploration properties clustered in this area to consider establishing a processing plant.

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Ontario budget boosts funding for exploration, mine rescue – by Kelsey Rolfe (Northern Miner – April 27, 2021)

https://www.northernminer.com/

The Ontario government is launching a new program to fund junior exploration in the province and upping financial support for the Ontario Mine Rescue program.

The province’s 2021 budget, which laid out the initiatives, was tabled on March 24 and was passed on April 26. The document sets out $23 billion in spending targeted at bolstering the provincial economy, and $16.3 billion for health-related measures. Ontario projected a $38.5 billion deficit in 2020-21, which it expects to slowly reduce to eventually reach $20.2 billion in 2023-24.

As part of the government’s plan to increase jobs and economic activity in northern Ontario, the budget set out $5 million over the next two years for the new Ontario Junior Exploration Program (OJEP).

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Proposed mining threatens Grassy Narrows First Nation’s long struggle for environmental justice – by Megan Youdelis, Faisal Moola, Justine Townsend and Jonaki Bhattacharyya (Toronto Star – April 24, 2021)

https://www.thestar.com/

Indigenous peoples have been stewarding their lands and waters for millennia, and there is increasing legal recognition that Indigenous and treaty rights must be a fundamental consideration in how such lands are governed.

Yet, under Ontario’s online prospecting system, anyone can register a mining claim on Indigenous territories for a paltry $50 per parcel — without ever visiting the territory, let alone having obtained the consent of the Indigenous people who live there.

Ontario insists that under provincial mining regulations, it can award mining claims and permit mining exploration and extraction against the will of Indigenous communities.

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Regulators to take steps against short selling – by Kelsey Rolfe (CIM Magazine – April 23, 2021)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Canada is making changes to curb the practice of predatory short selling, a thorn in the side of junior mining companies

In the wake of growing concern from public companies, Canadian regulators have turned their attention to tightening the rules that govern short selling.

Short sellers – investors who bet against public companies by borrowing shares and immediately selling them with the expectation the price will drop so they can repurchase at a lower value – serve an important price-discovery role in the public market and have even unearthed cases of fraud and corporate malfeasance.

But experts say Canada’s lax regulations around the practice have allowed “short and distort” campaigns (spreading negative rumours about a company to artificially drive its value down) and other abusive forms of short selling to flourish in the country.

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Kirkland Lake Gold prepared to sink multi-millions in northeast exploration (Northern Ontario Business – April 22, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gold miner takes ownership stake, sign option agreements with Orefinders Resources, Mistango River Resources

Kirkland Lake Gold has taken an ownership position in two gold exploration sister companies in the Kirkland Lake camp and is prepared to spend up to $120 million on exploration.

In what’s being framed as a strategic partnership and a potential joint venture opportunity, Kirkland Lake Gold is acquiring a 9.9 per cent interest in Orefinders Resources and Mistango River Resources. Both junior companies are under the direction of Stephen Stewart.

Orefinders is sending 24.4 million common shares Kirkland Lake Gold’s way in return for more than $2.4 million.

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Burned investor’s ‘pump and dump’ experience raises questions about IIROC – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 22, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

About three weeks ago, Robert Edington saw a post on the internet about Graycliff Exploration Ltd. and thought it sounded promising. The Financial News website claimed the small mining exploration company was sitting on $500-million in gold reserves and that its shares were set to jump by 500 per cent.

After watching the price of Graycliff shares run from 80 cents to $2.50 over about 10 trading sessions, Mr. Edington jumped in. “I decided to make a play on April 12,” he said. “It dropped like a rock only hours later.”

Mr. Edington, a semi-retired physician who lives in Peterborough, Ont., now realizes he was likely the victim of a “pump and dump.” In such schemes, con artists acquire shares in a thinly traded stock, and then spread false information that “pumps” up the price and volume.

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B.C. Indigenous nation opposes mineral exploration in culturally sensitive area – by Brenna Owen (Toronto Star/Canadian Press – April 17, 2021)

https://www.thestar.com/

VANCOUVER – A mineral exploration company with provincial permits to work in Tahltan territory in northwestern British Columbia is treading on sacred grounds, an elected leader in the nation’s government says.

Vancouver-based Doubleview Gold Corp. is developing claims in an area north of Telegraph Creek that occupies an important place in Tahltan oral histories, said Chad Norman Day, president of the Tahltan Central Government. There’s “no way” the Tahltan would ever support a mine there, he said.

“The Sheslay area was a major village site in pre-contact times and even nowadays we have many elders who were born in the Sheslay area. Many of our ancestors are buried out there,” Day said in an interview.

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Tories slammed for allowing gold mining claims in Grassy Narrows as mercury cleanup stalls – by Robert Benzie (Niagara Fall Review – April 13, 2021)

https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/

The Progressive Conservatives are under fire after revelations of a new gold rush in Grassy Narrows First Nations territory even though suspected mercury dumps have yet to be cleaned up.

In the wake of a front-page Star investigation by Sheila Wang that found a dramatic increase in gold mining claims at the Grassy Narrows First Nation recently, the Tories conceded the mercury contamination dating back to the 1960s “must be properly addressed.”

“Indigenous communities are assessing the extent and location of mercury contamination, using funding approved by the English and Wabigoon Rivers Remediation Panel from the $85-million trust,” government house leader Paul Calandra said Tuesday.

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First Nation and junior mining company reach exploration accord – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 26, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Aroland First Nation issues permit, gives consent to exploration on traditional lands by Silver Spruce Resources

Aroland First Nation and junior miner Silver Spruce Resources have signed an agreement to approve of exploration activities in northwestern Ontario.

The Indigenous community is issuing a permit to the Bedford, Nova Scotia company to do exploration on its Melchett Lake property, which sits within Aroland’s traditional territory. This is a separate agreement outside of any provincial permitting process.

According to the company’s website, Melchett Lake contains a mineral belt with several occurrences of zinc, lead, copper, silver, and gold. Silver Resources has other early-stage exploration projects in Mexico.

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Norilsk, Russia is closer to Thunder Bay than one might think – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 26, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Discovery of massive sulfides considered a breakthrough at Clear Air Metals’ Thunder Bay North project

The proponents behind a plan to build a high-grade palladium mine north of Thunder Bay are pressing the reset button. But with good reason.

Exploration drilling by Clean Air Metals at its Thunder Bay North project recently hit massive sulfide material at one of its deposits, 40 kilometres north of the city. In a recent news release, the Thunder Bay-based junior mining company is calling this a “potential gamechanger.”

The company has been drawing comparisons between the geology of Thunder Bay North to that of Norilsk, a prolific mining area in Russia’s High Arctic that’s been in production for more than a century. It’s considered one of the world’s richest and most minerally well-endowed mining camps.

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Firm sets hopes on discovering second major nickel deposit – by Andrew Autio (Timmins Daily Press – March 23, 2021)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Grid Metals drilling 100 km south of Timmins

The head of a junior mining company believes a second significant nickel deposit in the area is a distinct possibility. Grid Metals Corp will soon begin a drilling program at its property in Bannockburn Township, approximately 27 kilometres west of Matachewan.

The Toronto-based company’s focus is on the exploration and development of high-demand battery metals for the automotive industry and growing electric vehicle market. They currently have three projects in the works.

The Bannockburn Nickel Project, located approximately 100 kilometres south of Timmins, has actually been owned by Grid since 2003, when it was acquired from Outokumpu Mining.

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Crestview Exploration touted by misleading stock promotion campaign in Germany – by Naill McGee (Globe and Mail – March 20, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Crestview Exploration Inc., the Calgary gold company targeted with a phony stock promotion campaign that kicked off an RCMP-led fraud investigation in Canada last spring, was recently the subject of a similarly misleading promotional push in Europe.

Last month, a German stock promotion website called Pennystocks.de blasted out a series of posts to its subscribers touting shares in Crestview.

Written in German, the posts contained a litany of false statements, exaggerations and half truths about the tiny exploration-stage company, which trades for pennies on the Canadian Securities Exchange and the Frankfurt Exchange.

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