New mine at N.W.T.’s Pine Point still 6 years away, company says – by Carla Ulrich (CBC News North – February 9, 2024)

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

It’s been almost 4 decades since the former mine at Pine Point was abandoned

There could be a new Pine Point mine operating in the N.W.T. in about six years, according to the company behind the project — and many South Slave residents are looking forward to it. There hasn’t been an operational lead and zinc mine at Pine Point in almost four decades when the former mine and neighbouring community closed down and were abandoned.

The site, located between Hay River and Fort Resolution., N.W.T., is currently in the development phase. Last winter, Osisko Metals completed a five-year drilling program on site to determine the mineral resources.

Read more

Glencore blocked from expanding McArthur River Mine port facility in High Court ruling – by Roxanne Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Byrne (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 7, 2024)

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

A group of native title holders from the McArthur River region in the Northern Territory has won a High Court battle to prevent the expansion of an open cut mine on the Gulf of Carpentaria.

A dispute between three native title holders — Mr Friday, David Harvey and Thomas Simon — and Mount Isa Mines, a subsidiary of Glencore which operates the McArthur River Mine, began in 2013 when the mining giant applied for a mineral lease to construct a new dredge dumping area.

Read more

US Sanctions Russian Metals Magnate Sviblov and Gold, Zinc Firms – by Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The US imposed sanctions on Russian mining magnate Vladislav Sviblov and several mining companies connected to him, including one that’s developing one of the world’s largest zinc mines.

The sanctions are the latest move against the Russian metals and mining sector, and come after the UK imposed sanctions against Sviblov last month. Sviblov emerged as a significant player in the Russian metals scene in recent years, buying up several mid-sized gold companies, as well as building what was set to be one of the world’s largest zinc mines at Ozernoye in Siberia.

Read more

Solidifying Mount Isa’s mining future – by Tom Parker (Australian Resources and Investment – November 9, 2023)

Home

With Glencore set to downsize Mount Isa in 2025, what is the way forward for the North West Minerals Province?

Glencore’s recent announcement that its Mount Isa copper operations and Lady Loretta zinc mine would close in 2025 sent shockwaves through the Queensland mining industry.It signalled the end of two of Australia’s most iconic mining operations, which have supported the world with a sustainable supply of copper, lead, zinc and silver for up to 60 years.

In the wake of Glencore’s announcement, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced a $50 million support package for the Mount Isa region and those affected by the impending closure.

Read more

Pine Point Mining Ltd. says new lead-zinc mine on course for 2029 opening – by Amanda Rumbolt (NNSL.com – November 9, 2023)

Front Page

The proposed lead-zinc mine at Pine Point is moving along as planned, according to the company behind the new project. Town council received an update during its council meeting on Oct. 30 from Andrew Williams, the environmental manager for Pine Point Mining Limited (PPML).

PPML is a joint venture between Osisko Metals and Appian Natural Resources Fund. Appian announced it had purchased a 60 per cent stake in the project for $100 million over four years this past February. Williams’ presentation to council indicated that the mine’s life is expected to be 12 years with construction scheduled to begin in late spring of 2028. Operations are expected to begin one year later and is set to last until 2040.

Read more

World will stop without copper but price not reflecting upcoming needs – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – November 6, 2023)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Copper and zinc mine development company Orion Minerals is well placed to take advantage of the projected copper shortfall in the second half of this decade with its portfolio of short lead-time, quality assets and exploration potential, S2Research analyst Simon Hudson-Peacock stated on Monday.

Globally, there are very few copper projects of similar quality that are as advanced along the value curve with secured funding, as is the ASX- and JSE-listed Orion, with its 750 000 t of declared compliant copper equivalent mineralisation, Hudson-Peacock pointed out in the October 6 analysis.

Read more

Cornish Metals starts dewatering UK tin mine – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 26, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Cornish Metals (LON, TSX-V: CUSN) has kicked off work to dewater a past-producing tin mine at its South Crofty project in southwest England.

The Canadian miner said that water pumped from the old mine will be treated at its newly-built $8.5 million plant, at a rate of up to 25,000 cubic metres per day. It will then be released into the Red River, which meets the sea at Godrevy in St Ives Bay.

Read more

Old mining camp mineral-rich, but ‘we need an operator’ – by John Chilibeck (Hamilton Spectator/Daily Gleaner – October 23, 2023)

https://www.thespec.com/

New Brunswick politicians are not getting all that excited about a new drilling and exploration program in the Bathurst area, despite the hint it could one day become a mining powerhouse again.

New Brunswick politicians are not getting all that excited about a new drilling and exploration program in the Bathurst area, despite the hint it could one day become a mining powerhouse again.

On Monday, Canadian Metals Inc. announced exploration plans on multiple properties near the old Bathurst Mining Camp where zinc, copper and lead were mined for more than a half century up until 2013. The historical operations enriched Bathurst and created scores of jobs.

Read more

[Alaska Mining] Ambler road decision now expected by mid-2024 – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 24, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

The Department of Interior (DOI) of the US has once again delayed the release of the record of decision (RoD) for the Ambler road project, which will give access to untouched deposits of copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold in north-western Alaska.

The resolution on Trilogy Metals’ (TSX, NYSE: TMQ) and South32’s (ASX, LON, JSE: S32) proposed 340-km (211-mile) road from the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) to the Dalton Highway is now expected on the second quarter of 2024. As of last week’s status report, the DOI was promising a decision by the end of the year.

Read more

Osisko cofounder Wares praises private equity, scolds debt financiers, nips NIMBYism – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – May 16, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Osisko Metals (TSX: OM; US-OTC: OMZNF) is part of a rising trend tapping private equity to help build projects, but it’s wary of the growing role of “predatory” debt financing.

Appian Capital Advisory, a London-based private equity firm with mining projects valued at US$3.6 billion, is investing $25 million for a quarter of Osisko’s Pine Point zinc-lead mine in the Northwest Territories.

Read more

Column: Zinc treatment charges jump after 2022 smelter bottleneck – by Andy Home (Reuters – April 12, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) – The zinc market was defined by smelter woes last year with global refined metal production dropping by 4.1% relative to 2021, according to the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG).

It was the sharpest fall in world zinc output since 2009, a year of massive disruption caused by the global financial crisis and ensuing collapse in industrial metal prices. Zinc usage was also weak last year, sliding by 3.3% from 2021 levels as China’s construction sector, a major user of the metal in the form of galvanised steel, struggled to regain lost momentum.

Read more

Mount Isa celebrates 100 years of mining history and outback life in north-west Queensland – by Emily Dobson, Zara Margolis and Larissa Waterson (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 22, 2023)

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

Mount Isa, one of Queensland’s longest-running mining towns, has this week turned 100. Founded on the land of the Kalkadoon people, it is renowned for mine stacks that rise from red-dirt country at the foothills of the Selwyn Ranges. But as locals celebrate a rich and varied past, many look toward a future where the town’s lifeblood is sustained by more than mining.

A chance discovery

On February 22, 1923, John Campbell Miles and his horses stopped to camp during a journey through the arid Queensland outback to the Northern Territory. Curiosity led the prospector to a particularly large outcrop where he knapped off a piece of rock that, according to his writings, he instantly recognised “contained mineral from its weight”.

Read more

Remaining staff to be terminated as receivership approved for Caribou mine – by Shane Magee (CBC News New Brunswick – January 10, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

A British Columbia judge approved an order Monday to place Trevali Mining (New Brunswick) Ltd. in receivership later this month, resulting in the termination of remaining Caribou mine employees.

Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick granted the order after a hearing in Vancouver on Monday. The company will be placed in receivership at 11:59 p.m. PT on Jan. 24. Receivership allows secured creditors to recover what they’re owed when a company defaults on its payments.

Read more

Assets from Yukon’s bankrupt Wolverine Mine up for quick sale – by Anna Desmarais (CBC News Canada North – January 4, 2023)

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

Mine in southeastern Yukon operated from 2011 to 2015

Bits and pieces of the Yukon’s defunct Wolverine Mine are now up for grabs, as the company that owns the assets prepares for a quick sale.

Welichem Equipment, a B.C. biotech company, owns most of the mine’s assets, including a zinc mill, 10-megawatt diesel plant and a turnkey mine camp for 250 workers. Welichem rented the mining equipment to Yukon Zinc Corporation, the company that operated the mine before abandoning it.

Read more

Column: Tin must tame its wildness to meet coming demand surge – by Andy Home (Reuters – December 6, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – The world is going to need another 50,000 tonnes of tin per year by 2030 to meet a looming surge in demand, according to the International Tin Association (ITA).

Tin is an often overlooked critical mineral, commonly associated with the humble tin can, even though packaging today accounts for only 12% of global usage. Almost half the tin consumed every year is now used as a solder in circuit boards.

Read more