Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

I know an engineer who says anything is possible if you throw enough money at it. The costs associated with the development of the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in Alaska come to mind when thinking in this vein.
 
The Pebble Partnership, a joint venture of Vancouver’s Northern Dynasty Minerals and Anglo American plc  of London, UK, is shepherding the US$5-billion project toward production. The deposit is estimated to contain 80.6 billion lb of copper, 107.4 million oz of gold, and 5.6 billion lb of molybdenum.
 
Pebble is a deposit worth going after even if it takes and investment of $400 million and more to conduct work programs, research and comparative studies so far. Move than $100 million has been spent on environmental and socio-economic studies, resulting in a 27,000-page environmental baseline document.
 
This year’s budget is $107 million to be spent on engineering studies to complete a project description. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper appeared to hit the right balance between environmental protection and mine development in the speech he delivered on April 14, 2012, at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia.
 
He highlighted the importance of Canada natural resource industries saying, “Mining alone is an important part of that, mining alone contributed $50 billion to GDP in 2011. We are already the world’s number-one potash producer, second for uranium, and a major global producer of most mineral and energy products.
 
“The mining industry in Canada is capital-intensive, high-tech and knowledge-based, and it produces well-paying jobs for more than 300,000 Canadians. constitutes more than a fifth of our exports and it has close to $200 billion dollars in assets throughout the world. As well, some 60% of the world’s exploration and mining companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
 
“In other words, in Canada, we know this industry very well.” Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Like most CMJ readers, I get a shiver up my spine at the thought of bonanza gold grades. So it was with excitement I read that Toronto’s Queenston Mining (Queenston.ca) had intersected 42.4 g/t Au at its Upper Canada property in Kirkland Lake, ON. Better yet, that was the grade over 5.5 metres.
 
Not all the grades at Upper Canada were as high. There was also 22.9 g/t over 6.6 metres, 13.2 g/t over 5.5 metres, 4.47 g/t over 37.2 metres and 4.40 g/t over 26.2. These results came for diamond drilling in the Upper L zone as well as the H, M & Q zones. Queenston says the results expand both the underground and pit potential of a large gold system.
 
A few high grade drill intersections do not a gold mine make, but Queenston has already outlined 1.96 million tonnes averaging 2.38 g/t Au in the indicated resource (uncapped) and 5.38 million tonnes at 4.55 g/t Au in the inferred category (uncapped). Together the resource contains an estimated 937,000 oz of gold that will be recovered by both open pit and underground mining. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Older CMJ readers will remember how the mining companies built remote projects in the middle of the last century. First they found and explored a deposit far from civilization. Next they made a development decision that included building a local town for the workforce. They moved their employees and their families into the town. When the ore ran out, the company moved on leaving the town with little or no economic basis for survival.
 
Thankfully, we now have better development model, one that does not abandon towns when mining ceases. Modern miners have invented what the Australians call FIFO, meaning fly-in/fly-out operations. We in Canada were pioneers in this practice. Workers are flown to the mine site for periods ranging from days to weeks. They are put up in modern accommodations, well fed, and given plenty of recreational opportunities. Then they fly out, returning to families and homes in usually in the south. Their families enjoy the amenities of city living including educational and employment opportunities. Such opportunities were lacking in small northern mining towns.
 
The FIFO model works well in developed countries, but it is not appropriate in undeveloped regions. Indigenous peoples in Africa and South America, for instance, do not want to leave their homes for extended periods or they wish to continue their traditional way of living. Canadian miners have again become leaders in the art of giving such people an economic or educational hand up without destroying their culture. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s current trip to China is touted as an opportunity to create partnerships between the two countries. One positive outcome has just been revealed: Canaccord Financial of Toronto and a Chinese bank plan to establish a Canada-China Natural Resource Fund and give it an initial endowment of US$1 billion.

The fund intends to:

•Invest in both public and private natural resource and energy companies or projects in Canada;

•Promote interaction and sustainable development among Chinese, Canadian and other nature resources companies, and’

•Create opportunities for substantial returns on investment (be profitable) through the strategic and market-oriented allocation of the fund’s capital. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Site Visit By Field Editor Marilyn Scales

A true partnership has been forged by Agnico-Eagle Mines and the Inuit of Baker Lake, Nunavut, one that treats the land with respect and provides a modern future for young members of the community. The elders have embraced Agnico’s vision of gold mining. They know mining will provide education, training and well-paying jobs for many years. And most importantly, they trust Agnico to be a responsible steward of their land.

The Meadowbank project offered many firsts for all involved. It is the first project Agnico has pursued in the Arctic. It is the first gold mine in Nunavut (and currently the only mine). It is the first to be developed on Inuit land. It is the first mine to be covered by a water compensation agreement, signed in April 2008 with the Kivalliq Inuit Association.

Agnico gained control of the Meadowbank deposit when it purchased Cumberland Resources in 2007. Cumberland had great success exploring the deposit in the previous decade. A pre-feasibility report was completed in 2000 and updated five years later. The takeover of Cumberland cost $710 million, but it increased Agnico’s gold reserves by 23%. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Miners rejoice! The Canadian government understands the enormous potential of developing natural resources in the Arctic.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his annual pilgrimage to the North this week, including a stop at Agnico-Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake, NU. He told miners and guests, “Development of the North’s awesome resource potential is a national economic challenge which could yield enormous national economic benefits. The primary beneficiaries will be Northerners themselves, but the wealth generated here will create jobs and opportunities for Canadians all across the country.”

Since the Harper government was first elected in 2006, it has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in development of the North. Some of the money has gone into the GEM geo-mapping program, better to understand where resources might be found. And this week the feds committed $230,000 over three years to support an office in Iqaluit for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

One the news releases that landed in my inbox last week made me wonder about the advancement of mineral processing technology. Is it going forward … or back?

The item in question came from a Canadian company testing a South American property for its zinc potential. The company and project shall remain nameless. What caught my eye was that the favourable results were obtained in a kiln. That made me wonder why hydrometallurgical methods were not being tested.

Anytime an ore is subjected to heating it gives off gases. The worst case scenario is the burning of sulphide ores and resulting clouds of SO2 and NOx responsible for widespread environmental damage. Such was the case in the early days of smelting nickel and copper ores from the mines near Sudbury, ON.

Fortunately today we have gas containment units, acid plants and various means of controlling particulate and other emissions. These technologies help protect the environment, but they come with certain costs and limitations.

Hydrometallurgical means of metal recovery does not produce such deleterious emissions. Methods have been adapted in recent history to leach almost every kind of ore imaginable and to create the purest metals. Hydrometallurgy is considered far cleaner than roasting ores. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Mining companies often speak of having a “social licence” to operate. This reflects the willingness of local communities to support their endeavours. The more the miner and the indigenous people talk, the better their understanding and ability to accommodate one another.

What sounds straightforward is often complicated by unrealistic expectations, earlier history, cultural rigidity and interference by third parties.

The latest company on the verge of losing its social licence is Vancouver’s Goldcorp, that operates the Marlin gold mine in Guatemala. The most recent report to examine Goldcorp’s record there was commissioned by the company in response to charges of human rights violations at the Marlin mine. The report concluded that the company had failed to respect the right of indigenous peoples in that country, but also had brought jobs, healthcare and education to the impoverished western highlands region. Goldcorp further insists that allegations of environmental problems are unfounded.

Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

I’ve been in the United States these last three weeks, and have been bombarded with news of British Petroleum’s uncontrolled oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. For readers who don’t already know, BP’s drill rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded and sank six weeks ago. All of the company’s efforts so far have failed to stem the spread of crude oil from 1,500 metres under the sea onto the coast of Louisiana. Large parts of the fishery on which so many coastal residents depend are closed. A recent report said cleanup workers are falling ill, and workers at rigs near the site of the doomed BP rig, are being sent home because of the noxious smell.

The wall-to-wall news coverage of BP’s woes on American TV has made the tailings ponds of Alberta’s oil sands producers fade into the background. The anti-tar-sands activists have been quieter than usual, perhaps stunned into silence by the spill in the Gulf. The spill is estimated to have released at least 475,000 barrels and perhaps over 1 million barrels of crude oil.

Worse, hurricane season is underway, and expectations are that it could be a very active season. No one knows how far the crude oil could be spread by high-velocity winds. Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

Not so long ago, say 10 years, the Chinese were thought of as a poor, insular nation, mysterious and of a peculiar political stripe. Now we must lay aside those notions and recognize that China is an economic powerhouse. Whatever remains of “communism” in that country is proving to have very capitalistic talents. Hence, the many foreign investments made in the last two years while the rest of the world suffered economic meltdown.

Here are a few of the investments made by Chinese investors outside that country in the past two years:   
 
-Aluminum Corp. of China (Chinalco) attempted to invest US$19.5 billion in Rio Tinto
-China Minmetals made a A$2.6 billion bid for Australian miner Oz MineralsChina Mining United Fund bought into Canadian juniors including

Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

“Money” was the word on the industry’s lips last week as the federal, British Columbia and Ontario governments brought outlined their spending plans for the future. A mining-friendly government helps keep our industry healthy, so let’s take a look at what we can look forward to.

First out of the gate on March 2 was the Throne Speech from Ottawa. In it the federal government promised to develop a clearer process for project approval and a commitment to both Northern development and Aboriginal Canadians.

The speech was lauded by Mining Association of Canada (MAC) president Gordon Peeling, who said, “These issues in today’s Speech from the Throne will enhance the contribution that the mining industry can make to all Canadians by improving the investment climate, bringing efficiency and clarity to our regulatory processes and strengthening our skilled workforce.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

ST. JOHN’S — The 66th Mines Ministers Conference was urged once again to take active measures in support of the Canada’s mineral industry. The plea came from the Canadian Mineral Industry Federation (CMIF), a group of 17 mining-related associations headed by the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).

First, the ministers were reminded of mining’s economic importance to Canada. It contributed $40 billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provided 351,000 jobs in 2008. There are an estimated 3,140 suppliers to the industry. The mining industry paid $11.5 billion in taxes and royalties to all levels of government. 

There are challenges ahead for the industry, and the CMIF brief addressed them.

1. Enhance commitment to the core mandate of natural resource ministers

 Many organizations, government departments and NGOs have adopted an aggressive anti-mining focus. It is critically important that Canada’s natural resource ministers maintain and enhance their dedication to economic development. In this sense, advocacy for infrastructure projects, for more open access to minerals, for northern development, and for tax incentives to encourage increased investment, among other objectives, remains fundamental.

Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of gold. It has been prized as decoration as long as humankind has been around. It makes a solid foundation for world banking. It has been fought over. It is the stuff of which legends are made. And gold is undeniably beautiful.

Most of the general public and the mineral industry snap to attention when gold is in the news. Reports of new gold finds are especially welcome. But they may be fewer and farther apart if the findings of Halifax’s Metals Economics Group (MEG) are accurate. (www.MetalsEconomics.com) 

MEG examined the costs of finding and acquiring gold reserves and found that overall the industry is not discovering new deposits fast enough to meet future production demand.

The report looked closely at major gold producers, those with an output of 450,000 oz or more in 2008. They overcame “… rising costs, equipment and labour shortages, electrical outages, wars, permitting hurdles, typhoons, political opposition, and other obstacles,” the report noted to replace reserves at twice the rate they are mining them. Most of these gains were made through acquisitions or upgrading existing resources due to the high gold price, not through grassroots discoveries.

Read the rest of this entry »

Marilyn Scales is a field editor for the Canadian Mining Journal, Canada’s first mining publication. She is one of Canada’s most senior mining commentators.

The following note was posted on the Canadian Mining Journal’s digital edition. It is federal Industry Minister Tony Clement’s reponse/spin to the heated controversy of funding mining research at the University of Toronto’s Lassande Institute (which also includes significant civil engineering programs) instead of focusing scarce resources at the previously established Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) at Laurentian.

Laurentian is located in the heart of Sudbury, Ontario, the richest mining district in North America and among the top ten most strategic mineral deposits in the world. There are no mines in downtown Toronto and most industry experts confirm that U of T’s mining programs are undersubscribed. In addition, having two major mining research centres in this province further dilutes the limited amount of mining research in Ontario. Tony Clement continues to refuse to give any funding to CEMI’s industry respected research programs while the provincial government and the mining sector has contributed approximately $20 million to the Laurentian institute.

During my research into a previous column – about turning Laurentian in the Harvard of the Mining Sector - many individuals who wanted to remain off the record, agreed that the most economic solution for postsecondary mining education and research in Ontario is to consolidate all programs at Sudbury’s Laurentian University. – Stan Sudol

Canadian Mining Journal

On June 7, I wrote about the new Lassonde mining innovation centre to be established at the University of Toronto, and how that announcement has residents of Sudbury, where the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) is located, angry at the snub. On behalf of the Hon. Tony Clement, Canada’s minister of industry, CMJ received the following letter.

“I feel it necessary to set the record straight. I think that everyone needs to be privy to some of the facts surrounding the spin to bring a bit more balance to the CEMI/Knowledge Infrastructure Program [KIP] story. Here are the facts.

“The government of Canada through KIP can only fund new projects that: a) submit a funding proposal; b) have a proposal that qualifies for funding within the program criteria (ex: the funds are used for building and renovation, not operations, and that the project will be completed by March 31, 2011); and c) have matching funds from either the province or the university or college. The KIP program can only match funds for renovation projects up to 50%. Read the rest of this entry »