Canadian Mining Journal June 2020 by The Northern Miner Group

C A N A D A

’

F I R S T

M I N I N G

P U B L I C A T I O N

closure GETTI NG S OME

A T CL UF F

L A K E

POST-CLOSURE LAND USE HUDBAY’S SNOW LAKE STRATEGY SASKATCHEWAN BASE METALS & GOLD

JUNE 2020 | www.canadianminingjournal.com | PM # 40069240

OUR IRON WILL WAS TO

REDUCE FUEL CONSUMPTION BY 8%*

SO YOUR IRON WILL BE

EVEN MORE EFFICIENT. DONE AND DONE. INTRODUCING THE EX2600-7. See all the improvements at HitachiConstruction.com/EX2600-7.

*Comparison of Cummins engine configuration against EX2600-6.

CANADIANMINING

JUNE 2020

O.5

JOURNAL

RECLAMATION & CLOSURE 11

ost ine co res the costs of two different s o e reconto rin methods – straight slope recontouring and geomorphic reclamation.

CMJ 22 CMJ s e s with eff rsh e

•

ro h ir n on the e o tion of best practices for closure and post-closure land use.

ow r no n d is ettin the site of the for er ff e r ni C A N A Dine IAN N G J OnUs R th N A L sc in M IsN Itchew sin re d for tr nsfer c to the province.

THE PRAIRIES 14

oo t so e of the o d nd se et s ro ects ein d nced in s tchew n

oes for the o d t now

etro n d ric nts disc sses how iners can avoid costly unplanned shutdowns of equipment through the use of criticality lists.

New Britannia mill. CREDIT: HUDBAY MINERALS

DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITORIAL | Reframing mining as a ‘temporary land use.’ 5 LAW | ich rd w n nd nnon e ne of ennett ones disc ss the rowin legal uncertainty for miners operating abroad, illustrated by the Araya v Nevsun Resources case. 6 CSR & MINING | ro n rns nd ne h rch of et ositi e disc ss how to n e the ris s to co nit he th nd s fet d rin the coron ir s nde ic 8 UNEARTHING TRENDS | EY’s Thibaut Millet shares ideas on the tr nsfor tion of wor th t needs to h en s co nies d t to the nde ic 9 FAST NEWS | Updates from across the mining ecosystem. 32 ON THE MOVE | r c in e ec ti e Canada’s mining sector.

n e ent nd o rd ch n es in

ABOUT THE COVER

he site of the for er ff in northwest s tchew n

e r ni

ine

CREDIT: ORANO CANADA.

Coming in August Canadian Mining Journal’s annual Top 40 issue, our New Mining Technology supplement, plus a feature report on heavy equipment.

For More Information

www.canadianminingjournal.com JUNE 2020

Please visit www.canadianminingjournal.com for regular updates on what’s happening with Canadian mining companies and their personnel both here and abroad. A digital version of the magazine is also available at www.digital.canadianminingjournal.com

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

FROM THE EDITOR JUNE 2020 Vol. 141 – No. 5

CANADIANMINING Reframing mining as a ‘temporary land use’ Alisha Hiyate

he field of mine closure has changed dramatically over the past few decades, with vast improvements in the technical aspects of closure, financial assurance and community engagement. But the field is far from finished evolving. Case in point is the Social Aspects of Mine Closure Research Consortium. Established in 2019, the consortium is an industry-university research collaboration with the University of Queensland in Australia that aims to challenge accepted industry norms around mine closure. That includes going beyond current industry best practices and placing people at the centre of closure. Industry partners include Anglo American, BHP Billiton, MMG, Newcrest, Newmont, Oceana Gold and Rio Tinto. In March, the consortium released a report on the repurposing of mine sites after closure. Aiming to enhance the industry’s contribution to sustainable development, it reframes mining as a “temporary land use.” (The report, Mining as a temporary land use: industry-led transitions and repurposing, is available at https://www.mineclosure.net.) The researchers developed a global database of repurposing cases building on the S&P Global Market Intelligence database, relevant literature and other public information. Ultimately, they put together a database of 141 cases around the world. The research, focused on finding cases of a sub-set of those projects led by industry, found that post-mining land use and associated economies have become a priority in mine lifecycle planning. What is interesting is that even with the greater importance being placed on post-mining land use, there is very little public data available on the topic, especially compared to data on abandoned and historical mines. “The little information available about repurposing from company websites may reflect a focus on rehabilitation over repurposing, but also that barriers to repurposing exist (either imaginative or practical),” reads the report. “Where we did find examples of repurposing, we nonetheless found it difficult to access detailed information about the social, regulatory, financial processes that enabled repurposing.” As such, the report can only represent the start of research into this field, but the authors did make some interesting observations. First, there were very few cases of repurposing relative to the thousands of closed mines that exist around the world. Of repurposing cases that it did find, the most common land uses were community and culture; conservation and ecosystem services; non-intensive recreation; education and research; and construction. Of the 141 cases identified, 47 of the projects were led by industry, with companies with long-life mines more likely to lead this type of investment. That association is notable, as it implies that mines become part of the community in a real and tangible way, given a long enough time span for the mining company to “put down roots.” While many of the more common post-mining land uses, such as hiking trails or wildlife habitat, are not economic drivers, given the report’s finding that economic diversification is a growing focus for companies, communities and governments, we expect to see income-generating uses gain prominence. These discussions can be challenging (see our interview with mine closure expert Jeff Parshley on page 22), but with all stakeholders motivated to see positive post-mining outcomes, we are excited to see CMJ the innovative new possibilities they generate in future. 4 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

225 Duncan Mill Rd. Suite 320, Toronto, Ontario M3B 3K9 JOURNAL Tel. (416) 510-6789 Fax (416) 510-5138 www.canadianminingjournal.com Editor-in-Chief Alisha Hiyate 416-510-6742 ahiyate@canadianminingjournal.com Twitter: @Cdn_Mining_Jrnl

CMJ •

•

News Editor Magda Gardner CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL mgardner@canadianminingjournal.com Production Manager Jessica Jubb jjubb@glacierbizinfo.com Art Director Barbara Burrows Advisory Board David Brown (Golder Associates) Michael Fox (Indigenous Community Engagement) Scott Hayne (Redpath Canada) Anthony Moreau (Iamgold) Gary Poxleitner (SRK) Manager of Product Distribution Jackie Dupuis 403-209-3507 jdupuis@glacierrig.com Publisher & Sales Robert Seagraves 416-510-6891 rseagraves@canadianminingjournal.com Sales, Western Canada George Agelopoulos 416-510-5104 gagelopoulos@northernminer.com Toll Free Canada & U.S.A.: 1-888-502-3456 ext 2 or 43734 Circulation Toll Free Canada & U.S.A.: 1-800-387-2446 ext 3505 Group Publisher Anthony Vaccaro Established 1882

Canadian Mining Journal provides articles and information of practical use to those who work in the technical, administrative

and supervisory aspects of exploration, mining and processing in the Canadian mineral exploration and mining industry. Canadian Mining Journal (ISSN 0008-4492) is published 10 times a year by Glacier Resource Innovation Group (GRIG). GRIG is located at 225 Duncan Mill Rd., Ste. 320, Toronto, ON, M3B 3K9. Phone (416) 510-6891. Legal deposit: National Library, Ottawa. Printed in Canada. All rights reserved. The contents of this magazine are protected by copyright and may be used only for your personal non-commercial purposes. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is prohibited. To make use of any of this material you must ﬁrst obtain the permission of the owner of the copyright. For further information please contact Robert Seagraves at 416-510-6891. Subscriptions – Canada: $51.95 per year; $81.50 for two years. USA: US$64.95 per year. Foreign: US$77.95 per year. Single copies: Canada $10; USA and foreign: US$10. Canadian subscribers must add HST and Provincial tax where necessary. HST registration # 809744071RT001. From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Phone: 1-800-387-2446 ext 3505; Fax: 403-245-8666 ; E-mail: jdupuis@jwnenergy.com Mail to: Jackie Dupuis, 2nd Flr. 816–55th Ave. N.E. Calgary, Alberta T2E 6Y4. We acknowledge the ﬁnancial support of the Government of Canada.

www.canadianminingjournal.com

LAW

Legal uncertainty increasing when doing business abroad By Richard B. Swan and Gannon G. Beaulne

ritrean plaintiffs have won a narrow but important preliminary victory at the Supreme Court of Canada in a lawsuit alleging a Canadian mining company with Eritrean operations was complicit in human rights abuses abroad. Canadian resource companies should take note, as the case could have broad implications that include more litigation risk, more limited opportunity to defeat weak claims in a case’s early stages, and an area of increased focus in M&A risk assessment and diligence. The Supreme Court released its decision in Araya v Nevsun Resources Ltd earlier in 2020. The judges split 5 to 4, with vigorous dissenting opinions. But the majority held that the plaintiffs could sue Nevsun in Canada for alleged complicity in forced labour at the Bisha mine in Eritrea, owned 40% by an Eritrean state entity and 60% by Nevsun (through subsidiaries). Araya is part of a global trend. That trend’s arc is a growing willingness to allow claims by foreign residents for alleged harm abroad to proceed in companies’ home jurisdictions. Traditional constraints imposed by private law, including tort law and domestic rules dealing with interactions of multiple states’ laws, have in the past tempered transnational corporate accountability claims. Though much uncertainty remains, Araya and other Canadian, U.K., and U.S. developments show that traditional constraints are being tested.

The Araya Saga

In 2014, Eritreans sued in British Columbia related to alleged prior work at the Bisha mine. They claimed the Eritrean military service had conscripted them into forced labour, seeking remedies against Nevsun in B.C. for breaches of customary international law (“CIL”), a body of internationally accepted norms barring human rights abuses, including forced labour. Since no court had yet endorsed direct liability for CIL breaches, Nevsun asked the B.C. court to strike out the claims at an early stage. But a slim Supreme Court majority let the claims proceed, ﬁnding that a Canadian company could be liable in Canada for CIL breaches abroad. Despite this result, much remains unclear. No court has yet ruled on the claims’ merits. The judges at each level applied a lower standard than would apply at trial, without the beneﬁt of evidence. Araya now returns to B.C. for discovery and other pretrial steps.

JUNE 2020

A Global Trend

Araya is not the ﬁrst or last case of its kind. It is one of a small cohort of cases raising similar issues for Canadian resource companies with direct or indirect operations or investments abroad. Other Canadian cases raising similar interactions involving multiple states are Garcia v Tahoe Resources Inc and Choc v Hudbay Minerals Inc. Araya reflects a growing willingness of some courts to let transnational corporate accountability claims proceed. In a similar transnational case across the Atlantic, Vedanta Resources Plc v Lungowe, the U.K. Supreme Court accepted in a pollution negligence case that a U.K. parent company could owe a duty of care in tort law to third parties affected by a foreign subsidiary’s operations. Later, leave to appeal to the U.K. Supreme Court was granted in a similar case, Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell Plc. In contrast, the U.S. has a statutory but narrow approach. 28 U.S. Code § 1350 permits civil remedies for international law abuses, but whether U.S. courts should take jurisdiction in overseas matters remains controversial.

Legal Uncertainty

After Araya, the door may have opened a bit wider for transnational corporate accountability claims against Canadian resource companies. Canada’s highest court has now recognized – for the first time – that breach of CIL claims can survive motions to strike (if properly pleaded). Practically, that is significant in itself. Defending those claims may take longer and cost more. We will have to wait, however, to see how such claims fare at hearings with evidence, and how judges react to and interpret Araya. Meanwhile, resource companies may see more claims by foreign residents for alleged human rights abuses abroad. Canadian companies doing business in other countries may wish to review with their lawyers what tools are available to help assess and monitor international law issues involving their subsidiaries, contractors, partners, suppliers, and others. For example, companies may wish to consider, and evaluate with their lawyers, corporate social responsibility policies, including any benefits – and, critically, possible exposure – that those policies could represent. These developments also underscore the importance of risk assessment and diligence in M&A. CMJ RICHARD B. SWAN is a partner and co-head of the Litigation Department at Bennett Jones in Toronto, where GANNON G. BEAULNE is an associate.

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

CSR & MINING

Community health and safety in the new world of COVID-19 By Carolyn Burns and Jane Church

ince the middle of March, COVID-19 has forced mining companies all over the world to make hard decisions about their operations. Companies, governments, and communities have weighed the risk of mining activity contributing to the spread of the virus against the economic and social impacts of suspending operations. Several operations around the world were placed on care and maintenance, because the risk of spreading the virus was deemed greater than the impacts of suspension. These operations focused on limiting activities that require gathering or movement of people. This included both open pit and underground mining, processing (milling, leaching, etc.) and the transportation of goods and services. In March, Voisey’s Bay in Labrador ramped down after community leaders expressed concern about the impact of employees travelling to the remote area. Voisey’s Bay is accessible only by air and almost half of the 800 employees are from Inuit and Innu communities in Labrador. By April, Vale, the operator, announced it would extend the care and maintenance period for up to three months. A Vale spokesman said the company does not want to play a part in introducing the novel coronavirus to Labrador, where Innu and Inuit communities already face serious health and social challenges: “We felt this was drastic action we needed to take with people at the forefront,” the spokeman told CBC in March. The Nunatsiavut government issued a statement that commended Vale for its decision “in light of concerns being expressed by beneficiaries of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement with the large numbers of workers from other parts of Canada flying to and from the mine site.” Other sites have maintained operations because the company in collaboration with government and community leaders believe they can manage the spread of the virus and the economic and social impact of suspending operations would present greater risks to all stakeholders. For example, the Tahltan Nation and Newcrest Mining decided together to keep the Red Chris mine in British Columbia operational. Early on, the community and company made changes to the roster and implemented health screening measures on site. Other sites that have decided not to suspend operations have made changes based on community input, such as Diavik and Gahcho Kué in the Northwest Territories. Both sites continue to operate, but employees from local Indigenous communities were sent home on leave. 6 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

Controls to manage the risk of COVID-19 present their own risks to communities. A sudden loss of income for employees and contractors can threaten food security and housing stability, and cause stress and anxiety that leads to increased domestic violence and substance abuse. These examples illustrate the many factors that influenced the initial response to COVID-19. As we navigate through a COVID-19 world where risks to workers and communities still remain high, these factors must play a central role in our decisions related to mining activity. A community health and safety risk assessment provides companies, community leaders, and governments with a process to make informed decisions to limit both the spread of COVID-19 and the social impacts of suspending operations. A community health and safety risk assessment includes three main steps. 1 Identify the potential risks to community health and safety. The most obvious risk is that employees and contractors spread COVID-19 in the community. This could have significant impacts on mining affected communities, especially, for those with a higher rate of pre-existing conditions or where the health care systems are ill-equipped to respond to a pandemic. However, the controls to manage this risk (physical distancing, shelter in place, shutting operations) present their own risks to communities as well. A sudden loss of income for employees and contractors can threaten food security and housing stability, and cause stress and anxiety that leads to increased domestic violence and substance abuse. Where there is a history of conflict and trauma, communities are more likely to feel the negative impacts associated with physical distancing and increased control on their movements. The best way to identify risks is to discuss them with community members themselves. 2 Determine the severity and likelihood of those risks. To assess the severity and likelihood of these risks to community health and safety jointly consider with local stakeholders the following issues: www.canadianminingjournal.com

What is the current health status of the community? How vulnerable are community members? What is the health baseline of the community (for example, percentage of elderly residents, prevalence of pre-existing conditions)? Are the community and government able to respond effectively to the spread of COVID-19? What is the testing capacity? Can this be scaled? How many hospital beds and ventilators are readily available? Is there capacity for contact tracing? How effectively can the mining operation limit the spread of COVID-19 among their employees? How many employees are there? Is there space for social distancing? What are the hygiene facilities like within the camp (accommodations, mess, washrooms)? Can the site operate on a reduced labour force? How effectively can the mining operation limit the spread between employees and communities? How many employees live in the community? What are the main contact points between employees and non-employees? Can these be limited? What are the local economic or social impacts if mining is suspended or employees are sent home? Will there be loss of income, benefits, or other social supports? Are there programs in place to subsidize these losses (such as CERB,

JUNE 2020

small business funding)? How accessible are these programs? What can governments and companies do to mitigate the impacts of lost income? 3 Develop controls to manage the risks. These controls might include ramping down mining operations; limiting contact points between employees and local communities; paying local employees who are on leave; supporting local employees and contractors to access government subsidized and programs; and supporting community members to access food, social supports, and mental health services. A realistic and effective risk assessment must include representatives from the company, government and community. Communicating and collaborating are crucial for mining companies to develop an effective approach to responding to COVID-19. By doing so, we can minimize risks to the business, employees and local communities in the short-term and contribute to stronger, long term relationships with stakeholders. CMJ CAROLYN BURNS is director of operations at NetPositive, a non-profit that works with diverse stakeholders to help local communities see sustained positive outcomes from mining. JANE CHURCH is a co-founder and director of collaboration with NetPositive.

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

UNEARTHING TRENDS

A return-to-site strategy should be about transformation as much as it is transition By Thibaut Millet

rganizations across Canada face a new duality of safely transitioning their workforce back to physical locations while reimagining the future of work and business. But health and safety aren’t new to the sector – these were priorities long before COVID-19 and have only been amplified as companies look to adjust to a new normal. Some companies have suspended operations, while others continue to work where possible. Regardless, until a permanent medical solution to COVID-19 becomes available, the unique working conditions in mines undoubtedly creates challenges as employees work in tightly packed areas, travel to remote locations, and eat and sleep in communal spaces. Risks may also be heightened for surrounding communities, where local workers commute to and from. While companies have been implementing stringent policies to follow health and safety recommendations to help minimize the spread of infection as employees return to work, tactics such as personal protective equipment, physical distancing, health self-assessments, temperature screening and travel limitations are not long-term solutions. With no end to the impact of COVID-19 in sight, companies will have to build out a stronger health function within their overall Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) framework that drives a trusted transition and future-focused transformation. Having a detailed workplace health strategy can help protect workers and their communities, ensure regulatory compliance, protect reputation and maximize organizational success. This should build on and expand current measures, monitoring and feedback mechanisms to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. Some of the immediate considerations include: Return in phases: Physical distancing requirements mean it won’t be possible to bring back all employees to the office at once. Companies must assess their operational needs and determine priority skillsets, set staggered schedules, new rosters and rethink roles.

The landscape is still very fluid. Active scenario planning can help anticipate changes in health and safety risks and the necessary compliance requirements to keep operations running should they emerge.

Be agile to respond to changes:

There may be employees who do not feel comfortable returning to work due to family Prepare for employee absenteeism.

8 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

or underlying health issues, pushing onsite roles and responsibilities to others who may not be familiar with new tasks. Providing adequate training and upskilling those who are stepping in to fill gaps will help minimize risk. Invest in technology enablers. Developing frontline applications for health checks, screening, fitness-for-work monitoring, supplemented by a central platform to automate processing, medical surveillance, analytics and case management can help mitigate the risks of contamination, while providing tools to manage more robust health practices and to inform decisions.

It’s not enough to focus on the near term. Companies must consider how they’ll work differently in the future. Preparing and adapting to these shifts creates an opportunity for reinvention of the workplace in a sector where a culture revamp is necessary to attract and retain new talent. Employees across industries will be coming out of the pandemic with new behaviours and mindsets, as well as new proven models. Companies will have to be flexible and open to new ways of working, offer opportunities to expand current skillsets and enable employees through digital technology. Actioning a strategic return to office plan can aid in creating a healthy and safe work environment for current employees while transforming the workplace to accommodate a new talent pool. Investing in a long-term transformation for the new ways of working will require a look back at lessons learned to reimagine health and safety and strengthen business continuity plans to build resilience and better respond to future crises. There will be a number of best practices that come out of this — companies cannot waste the opportunity to identify what health and safety measures should be stopped and what should continue. As businesses prepare to return to work, the role that leaders play is critical. Organizations need to demonstrate that they’re making strategic and operational decisions to improve the health and well-being of their employees. Doing so with empathy, patience and transparency will help to secure employee trust and build an optimal work environment during the transiCMJ tion and for future transformation. THIBAUT MILLET is a Partner at EY Canada focused on transforming clients’ Health, Safety and Environment practices. For more information on return to work, visit www.ey.com/en_ca/covid-19.

www.canadianminingjournal.com

FAST NEWS

Updates from across the mining ecosytem

• COMMINUTION |

Metso introduces new crushing and screening plant concepts

etso has introduced two new solutions for crushing and screening plants: flexible FIT stations and smart Foresight stations. These two units are intended to provide significant resource and time savings for mines. “We have the experience in delivering crushing and screening plants with over one hundred installations globally,” said Guillaume Lambert, VP of crushing systems at Metso, in a release. “We also understand the needs of customers today in the evolving industry. That is why we are using our legacy and expertise to introduce these modularized crushing stations that focus on capex reduction and shorter lead times.” The new stations offer flexible solutions, which bring ease of maintenance and time savings for operations. The flexible FIT stations and smart Foresight stations provide unique benefits. The FIT stations are designed with a focus on speed and flexibility. There are two stations to select from: a recrushing station and a jaw station. The steel structures are supplied in modules that fit easily into containers for transportation. This also reduces on-site welding requirements and allows for quicker startup. Container delivery reduces delivery time by up to 25%; erection time is also reduced by up to 15%. The Foresight stations are equipped with smart automation technology, which

• MINERAL ID |

Metso’s Foresight MP cone crusher station with scalping screens. CREDIT: METSO

includes Metso’s Metrics and VisioRock, level sensors and crusher variable-frequency drive (VFD). These features enable optimized crusher speeds, preventative maintenance and optimized production levels of up to 6,000 tons per hour. The cone crusher station features a scalping screen.

New features in EZ-ID software from Spectral Evolution

pectral Evolution’s EZ-ID mineral identification software is now able to match unknown samples to three libraries of over 1,100 minerals for instant identification in the field. EZ-ID running on one of Spectral Evolution’s field spectrometers, such as the oreXpress, oreXplorer, or oreXpert, allows users to unmix minerals in a sample using match regions to focus on specific absorption features. Now, the match regions of interest can be saved as pre-sets for comparison when looking for similar minerals. Other EZ-ID features include scalars, which provide additional information on geological formation, crystallinity changes, alteration pattern shifts and geochemical conditions

JUNE 2020

Both stations come with Metso equipment and technology for maximum productivity. Metso offers equipment and services for the sustainable processing and flow of natural resources in the mining, aggregates, recycling and process industries. CMJ

as well as the ability to create a custom library from known samples with the Custom Library Module software. The optional conversion of ASD files (a type of temporary backup file) for use with EZ-ID allows users to save their existing libraries and databases. EZ-ID works through the DARWin SP Data Acquisition software interface with all Spectral Evolution spectrometers and spectroradiometers. Established in 2004, Spectral Evolution manufactures laboratory and handheld portable spectrometers, spectroradiometers and spectrophotometers. CMJ

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

FAST NEWS Updates from across the mining ecosytem

Caterpillar launches MineStar Edge management platform

• SOFTWARE |

EV ready. EV proven.

MacLean Full-Fleet Electrification The MacLean EV Series™ integrates best-in-class battery technology to deliver a safe and proven alternative to diesel engine propulsion in underground mining, right now.

• Zero DPM • Low heat • Reduced ventilation • Low maintenance • Low noise

CANADA | MEXICO | PERU | SOUTH AFRICA | AUSTRALIA

Battery power engineered for life underground.

10 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

aterpillar has added the MineStar Edge platform to its Cat MineStar Solutions offering to align with the way that mining operations manage their businesses. Edge creates an operational ecosystem for mining companies: rather than having data in individual silos, Edge brings visibility to the entire operation and enables managers to see how activities early in the process impact those further down the value chain. MineStar Edge leverages cloud computing and recent technology advancements, such as data fusion, machine learning and artificial intelligence and automates data collection for greater accuracy. “MineStar Edge makes it possible to measure, manage, analyze and improve the entire mining operation,” Sean McGinnis, MineStar Solutions product manager, said in a release. “Yet the design makes Edge cost effective even for smaller operations – with the capability to scale up as needed. This platform will grow with Caterpillar and our customers.” Because Edge is delivered as a cloud-based, subscription managed application, it reduces costs of deployment, service and training. Caterpillar takes care of all office-based deployment, support, updates and upgrades. Customers select an offering by role, function or task – paying only for those functionalities they need. Edge enables supervisors to access information from a computer or tablet with an internet connection; they receive the information in near-real-time. “In early deployments of Edge Equipment Tracking and Production Recording, we saw the mines achieve significant gains,” Ryan Howell, commercial manager at Cat MineStar Solutions, added. “We estimate that sites currently using paper reporting systems will be able to increase production by 20% to 30%. For mines using production recording technology, Edge will increase accuracy, and, through the use of cloud technology, reduce system support tasks for the customer.” Equipment Tracking provides consistent information on each asset, including data on location and movement, velocity, payload, cycle times and fuel level as well as hour meter readings and time utilization. Supervisors can view scheduled and unscheduled downtime along with operational stoppages. Production Recording pairs with Equipment Tracking to deliver an accurate and automated near-real-time solution that measures and reports on every aspect of the load-haul-dump cycle. It provides accurate, reliable and actionable data with no operator input required, eliminating the risk of incorrect data entry. With Edge, in-cab displays are also available for operators to help improve payload compliance and material selection. CMJ

www.canadianminingjournal.com

RECLAMATION & CLOSURE

CostMine compares the costs of two different reclamation methods

RECONTOURING

FOR CLOSURE By Krista Noyes

here are many factors to consider when planning the costs of final reclamation and closure. Re-contouring the slopes of heap leach pads, waste rock storage areas, or tailings facilities is just one of those. CostMine recently completed a study to compare the costs of a straight slope reduction and a geomorphic reclamation. Straight slope recontouring uses a bulldozer to excavate horizontal cuts into the stockpiled material and then cast material down the face of the slope starting at the top of the stockpile. The process is repeated until the desired final slope is achieved. Figure 1 (see page 12) shows how a bulldozer would make horizontal cuts starting at the point of the final desired crest. At a point approximately halfway down the slope, all of the material being moved is rehandled material. The end result of a straight slope recontour is that the stockpile has a straight line topography. This could look very unnatJUNE 2020

ural in many environments, but is often the method used when a stockpile has reached the edge of a permitted area. With this method, the cost of planned long-term or even perpetual monitoring and maintenance is high due to the erosion potential. The geomorphic reclamation method creates a more natural-looking final landscape that blends into the local topography and minimizes erosion by mimicking the natural adjacent terrain. The costs for perpetual monitoring and maintenance are reduced or eliminated by using this method, which could balance the initial difference in the costs of recontouring this way. Of course, the distance that material must be moved is greater for a geomorphic result because the material is not cast directly downslope, making the costs of geomorphic reclamation greater. Material from deeper cuts will be moved to the adjacent extension. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

RECLAMATION & CLOSURE

Final Crest

Initial Crest

Initial Slope Angle Cut Thickness

Excavated Material

Final Slope

Re-handled Material

Angle of Repose

Final Slope Angle

FIGURE 1 Re-contouring â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Excavation Details

Preserving Resources and Cleaning Up Legacies SLR provides expert solutions to unlock, restore and maximize our clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; assets. We help plan sites for closure throughout all project phases to enhance asset values and reduce environmental liability. SLR restores historical sites to allow long-term sustainable use whilst minimizing our clients costs.

www.slrconsulting.com June 2020 Mining Journal 7W_x_4.5714H_V3.indd 1

12 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

5/19/2020 7:23:24 AM

www.canadianminingjournal.com

TABLE 1 33° final slope (cost per 30 metres of face width)* Cast Slope Face

Original Crest Non-geomorphic Final Crest

Original Slope Face Final Slope Face Non-geomorphic Cast Slope Face Original Crest

Stockpile Height (metres)

75 metre (straight slope reduction)

75 metre (geomorphic slope reduction)

$7,697

$7,898

$7,740

$7,946

$7,920

$8,145

Underlying slope (degrees)

*more options are available in the full report.

TABLE 2 19° final slope (cost per 30 metres of face width)*

Excavated Material

Stockpile Height (metres)

Non-geomorphic Final Crest

Geomorphic Re-contouring Plan – Crest

Cast Slope Face

Straight slope recontouring minimizes the amount of material moved and maximizes the efficiency of the bulldozer, while the geomorphic contouring will demand more from the dozer for the top half of the slope. Once the slope recontouring reaches the halfway point on either method, the dozer is no longer excavating previously placed material. Below are samples of the cost comparisons CostMine did for straight slope and geomorphic slope reduction for a 75-metrehigh stockpile with various underlying slopes. The cost difference gradually increases as the underlying slope increases. In this example, there is a 2.6-2.8% difference. The difference in costs increases to an 11.9% difference for a stockpile with a 19° final slope, 16° underlying slope, and a 100-metre-high stockpile height (30-metre face width). Knowing the estimated costs for final reclamation can help make important decisions when placing material in stockpiles. The footprint of the placed material and the height of the stockpile have significant impacts on the final closure costs. CMJ Krista Noyes is a cost analyst/geologist with CostMine, publisher of Mining Cost Service and part of the Glacier Resource Innovation Group, based in Spokane, Wash. She can be reached at knoyes@glacierrig.com. Scott Stebbins of Aventurine Engineering provided the figures and cost model engineering used in this article. CostMine publishes the Reclamation Cost Guide as well as the Reclamation Cost Estimator software tool. The complete guide – including the detailed tables for various scenarios regarding slope and equipment are available for purchase from CostMine (www.costmine.com).

JUNE 2020

100 metre (geomorphic slope reduction)

$63,210

$70,381

Underlying slope (degrees) 2

FIGURE 2

100 metre (straight slope reduction)

$81,121

$90,615

$214,903

$242,013

*more options are available in the full report.

Environmental impacts are mitigated. Closure is planned from the start. Communities are bettered. Together we can create a legacy of value.

We thrive on challenges golder.com

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

HUDBAY GOES FOR THE GOLD AT

Snow Lake One-third of the miner’s revenue will come from precious metals by 2022 By Alisha Hiyate

udbay Minerals’ 777 mine and Flin Flon mill in Manitoba will be closing in 2022, but that same year, investments in another mine in the province – Lalor near Snow Lake – will begin to pay off in a big way. The 90-year-old base metals company is in the middle of transitioning its Lalor mine into one that derives the majority of its revenue from precious metals. Thanks to this shift, by 2022, Hudbay estimates 33% of its overall revenue will come from gold and silver, up significantly from 18% in 2019. Copper, the company’s main focus, will continue to generate more than half of its revenues – 52% in 2022 vs. 58% in 2019. Peter Kukielski, Hudbay’s president and CEO, says the company’s Snow Lake gold strategy can be traced back to 2007, when it discovered Lalor, a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit that hosts gold and silver as well as copper and zinc. “Lalor was put into production in 2014, but as we started drilling deeper, we discovered that there was a zone with higher gold content,” Kukielski told CMJ in an interview in late May. The discovery inspired the company to purchase the 1,500 t/d New Britannia gold mine and mill, located 16 km east of Lalor, in 2015, for $10 million. Hudbay plans to refurbish the mill to process gold-rich Lalor ore by 2022. The New Britannia mill will recover 93% of the

14 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

gold in Lalor ore, compared with 53% at Hudbay’s existing Stall 3,800 t/d base metals mill. “(Our gold strategy is) highly reliant on our completing the New Britannia mill refurbishment over the course of this year and next,” said Kukielski, who was appointed as interim president and CEO of Hudbay in mid-2019 before winning the job permanently in January. “But we’re very confident that we’ll do it and we’ve prefunded it with a gold prepay so that we can continue to spend on the New Britannia refurbishment no matter what the environment looks like.” That “environment” is one of consider-

able uncertainty thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. But while the pandemic has pushed down base metals prices, it has lifted precious metals, underscoring their countercyclical nature and allowing Hudbay to fully fund the New Britannia refurbishment with a forward sale of gold announced in early May. The US$115-million gold prepay arrangement is based on gold forward curve prices averaging US$1,682 per oz. Under the deal, the company will deliver a total of 79,954 oz. gold in 2022 and 2023, representing 25% of Lalor’s forecast production for those two years. www.canadianminingjournal.com

THE PRAIRIES

e HudBay Minerals’ Lalor mine, in Manitoba. CREDIT: HUDBAY MINERALS

“The purpose of the prepay was to prudently fund the mill refurbishment with the right balance between protecting our balance sheet while preserving upside for gold in the future,” Kukielski said. “We felt that securing the funding while the gold price was high and base metals prices were low was a very prudent way of making sure we could execute regardless of what happens in the pandemic environment.” And although base metals prices have suffered as a result of the pandemic, Kukielski says he is extremely bullish on base metals over the longer term – in particular, copper. JUNE 2020

14-17_CMJ Jun2020_HudBay.indd 15

“Copper demand has been impacted by the pandemic, there’s no doubt. But at the same time, the world’s objectives of decarbonization can ony be supported through more electrification and copper is a key ingredient of that,” he says. Snow Lake gold strategy Hudbay released the details of its initial Snow Lake plan last February. With the New Britannia mill refurbishment completed by the end of 2021, the company projected a near doubling of its gold production in Manitoba to 140,000 oz. per year for 10 years. After completing additional drilling and

technical studies, the company released its updated mine plan this March. The updated plan extends the mine life to 18 years with gold production of 150,000 oz. per year at all-in sustaining costs of US$655 per oz. The New Britannia mill will handle gold-rich ore, producing copper as a byproduct, while the Stall mill continues to receive zinc-rich ore, producing gold as a byproduct. In addition to refurbishing the New Britannia mill, Hudbay plans to build a 6.8-km pipeline corridor between it and the Stall mill to the southeast to transport tailings, copper concentrate and reclaim water. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

2020-06-15 10:05 AM

THE PRAIRIES Proven and probable reserves at Lalor stand at 15 million tonnes grading 0.74% copper, 3.8% zinc, 4.2 g/t gold and 28 g/t silver. The updated plan incorporates feed from satellite gold deposits – the WIM zone 15 km north of New Britannia and the 3 Zone at the past-producing New Britannia mine – starting in 2030. The WIM zone adds probable reserves of 2.5 million tonnes grading 1.63% copper, 0.25% zinc, 1.6 g/t gold and 6.3 g/t silver, while the 3 Zone contains probable reserves of 662,000 tonnes grading 4.21 g/t gold. This year, Hudbay will be focused on executing its updated Phase 2 plan, released in March. But the company will also be working on phase three, which will look at a potential expansion of the New Britannia mill capacity as well as converting more resources to reserves. “One of the key elements of the strategy revolves around the high level of success we had in converting resources to

reserves,” Kukielski says. “Because we’re fairly conservative, our conversion rate was between 80% and 90%.” Currently, the company has 1.3 million oz. gold in inferred resources at Snow Lake, he adds. At the historic conversion rate, that would mean another million ounces that could be converted to reserves. “That provides for a very interesting business going forward,” Kukielski says. Satellite gold deposits in the Snow Lake region, such as Birch and the New Britannia deposit, could also provide feed for the New Britannia mill and further extend the mine life, with the nearby 1901, Watts and Pen II base metals deposits also having potential. Pandemic e ect Hudbay’s Manitoba operations have been mostly unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic thanks to very low rates of the virus in the province. In fact, the performance of the Manitoba operations in the first quarter of the year was exceptional, says Kukielski. The quarter saw record mine production at Lalor (up 8% from the previous quarter) and record throughput at

HudBay Minerals president and CEO Peter Kukielski. CREDIT: HUDBAY MINERALS

the Stall concentrator (up 19%). “Through all of this, the guys have managed to keep the operations up and running and their performance through the first quarter was extraordinary. We are so proud of them and what they’ve achieved in the last few months,” Kukielski says. However, the company’s Constancia open pit copper mine in Peru, where the virus is more widespread, did see a shutdown of just over two months beginning in late March. The government gave the

CUSTOM BUILT PLANTS FOR SHOTCRETE, CRF, RCC & CTB

931-388-0626 16 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

•

PUGMILLSYSTEMS.COM

•

Columbia,TN www.canadianminingjournal.com

go-ahead to restart operations on May 14 and full production has resumed with about half of the workforce. “We started operations by processing ore from the stockpiles rather than starting to mine because mining requires additional personnel – so we’re doing it progressively and working very carefully with suppliers to make sure our supply chain is strong and we won’t see any interruptions as a result,” Kukielski said. “We believe the workforce restrictions will continue to be a bottleneck, but we have adequate ore inventory – we don’t need to start mining for another few weeks. Then we’ll progressively bring mining personnel back to site. We’re just being very cautious as to how we do that.” Guidance for the year for Hudbay’s Manitoba operations is unchanged (18,000-22,000 tonnes copper, 105,000125,000 tonnes zinc and 110,000-135,000 oz. gold-equivalent), but guidance for Constancia (previously 80,000-95,000 tonnes copper, 45,000-55,000 oz. goldequivalent and 1,300-1,600 tonnes molybdenum) was suspended in March and won’t be updated until the release of

the company’s second-quarter financials. Kukielski says the company has rigorous protocols in place for people coming to the mine, which is located in southern Peru’s Chumbivilcas province. These include isolation before transport and a “quick test” for the virus during isolation. That’s followed by a standard test from health authorities if the quick test is positive. “Nobody goes to site without first being isolated in Cusco or Arequipa for a week, tested and then mobilized to site, following which they’re segregated for another 14 days.” The company says it hasn’t had any coronavirus cases at any of its sites. There have been reports of cases at Constancia by Human Rights Without Borders, however, Hudbay says those results were based on quick tests, and that follow up testing with higher-accuracy molecular tests did not confirm any infections. Litigation While its current operations appear to be on track, Hudbay is in court trying to move its US$1.9-billion Rosemont copper-molybdenum project in Arizona forward. The

project is currently on hold after the U.S. Forest Services’ approval of the project of June 2017 was overturned in July 2019 by the U.S. District Court for Arizona. Appeals by Hudbay and separately, by the Department of Justice, are ongoing. Kukielski says the court will likely render its decision sometime next year. “We remain highly confident that we will prevail and that Rosemont ultimately will come back on track. In the meanwhile, we’ve got to go through the litigation through our appeal.” The company is also involved with another piece of litigation stemming from alleged human rights abuses by security personnel at the Fenix nickel project in Guatemala against Indigenous communities. Hudbay owned the project between 2008 and 2011. Kukielski says there’s not much he can say about the case while it’s before the courts. “Our position is unchanged in that the facts don’t support the plaintiffs’ claims,” he said. “We’re sympathetic to the conditions in which the claims live, but we disagree with the statements and we’ll defend our case rigorously.” CMJ

YOUR CRUSHER SPECIALISTS

SINCE 1965

Complete heavy machining and fabricating facilities utilizing the latest CNC machine tools and CAD/CAM technology Babbitt service up to 120 inch diameter (Crushers, Mill and Hydro bearings) Complete service and repairs to all Mining Equipment Remanufacturers of all makes and sizes of Jaws, Cones, Gyratory Crushers and Hammer Mills complete with warranty Manufacturers of the Birdsboro-Buchanan line of Jaw Crushers

YES,

we are stillness busi open for & service ly p p to su ds e e n r you

249 Toronto Avenue, Oshawa, Ontario Canada L1H 3C2 T: 905.579.9721 F: 905.434.6878 www.prengineering.com

JUNE 2020

PR-Engineering_revJune20.indd 1

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

2020-04-21 12:45 PM

precious & practical Spotlight on Saskatchewan gold and base metals

Saskatchewan hosts a diverse wealth of minerals, ranging from potash to uranium, and even diamonds. Here, we spotlight recent news from active gold and base metals projects in the province – which consistently ranks as one of the world’s top mining jurisdictions. BASE METALS Foran Mining

Foran Mining recently released a prefeasibility study on its McIlvenna Bay zinc-copper project in east-central Saskatchewan, 65 km west of Flin Flon, Man. The study outlined a nine-year mine life and annual production of 89.2 million lb. zinc and 27.9 million lb. copper, in addition to 1,7312 oz. gold and 492,667 oz. silver. With a preproduction capex of 18 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

only $261 million, the underground operation has an after-tax net present value of of $147 million and an internal rate of return of 19.2%. The study used a discount rate of 7.5%. While the study was positive, the timing of its release could have been better. The news came out on Mar. 12, the same day the TSX fell by 12% – on coronavirus fears. Timing notwithstanding, for president and CEO Patrick Soares, the PFS is just the beginning – “More than 16 mines have opened in Flin Flon over its 90 year history – each of those mines doubled in

size from intial reserves to close,” Soares says. “We have an initial nine-year mine life but we believe like most of the mines here, that will continue to grow.” That said, Soares notes that even at depressed spot prices in mid-May when he spoke to CMJ, the project would be cash flow positive to the tune of about $40 million annually. The next step for Foran is to find a partner to help it take McIlvenna Bay to the feasibility stage. The company had been planning to release a feasibility study this year that www.canadianminingjournal.com

THE PRAIRIES

l Foran Mining

RockRidge Resources

would include toll processing at HudBay Mineralsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 777 complex in Flin Flon. However, as the study came nearer to completion the team realized that tailings facilities in Flin Flon were full and it would be less expensive to build a mill onsite and build a dry-stack tailings facility. Rather than delay the release of the study, which would require additional work to meet feasibility level requirements, the company chose to release the study as a prefeasibility with onsite processing and a dry-stack tailings scenario. Probable reserves at McIlvenna Bay JUNE 2020

Forum Energy

are 11.3 million tonnes grading 4.01% zinc, 1.14% copper, 0.54 g/t gold and 20.97 g/t silver. The majority of resources are contained within two lenses of the volocanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit that, together, average 18 metres thick. While the company has been focused on McIlvenna Bay, Soares says there are three existing deposits with historic resources that warrant more drilling: Bigstone, Balsam and the smaller Hanson deposit. Soares notes that VMS deposits tend to occur in clusters and Foran has barely

MAS Gold

Left: Foran Miningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s McIlvenna Bay project. CREDIT: FORAN MINING

Above: The team at Janice Lake, including Rick Mazur, president and CEO of Forum Energy, and Ken Wheatley, VP exploration (fourth and fifth from the right). Rio Tinto personnel include Chris Pettman and Robert Phillips (6th and 7th from right) and Craig Hupaelo (10th from right). CREDIT: FORUM ENERGY

scratched the surface in terms of regional exploration. The Thunder zone discovery in 2015, near Balsam, returned two intercepts of better 100 metres grading 2% copper. CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

THE PRAIRIES

RockRidge Resources

Also in located in the Flin Flon camp is the Knife Lake project, where RockRidge Resources released its first resource last August. The project, 130 km northwest of Flin Flon, hosts an indicated resource of 3.8 million tonnes grading 1.03% copper equivalent of using a 0.4% cut-off (or 0.83% copper, 0.17% zinc, 3.7 g/t silver, 0.1 g/t gold, and 82 ppm cobalt) totalling 70 million lb. copper equivalent. Inferred resources add 7.9 million tonnes at 0.67% copper equivalent (0.53% copper, 0.15% zinc, 2.4 g/t silver, 0.08 g/t gold, and 53.1 ppm cobalt) for 117 million lb. copper equivalent. Murchison Minerals The near-surface deposit is Murchison Minerals’ Brabant-McKenzie interpreted to be a remobilized VMS deposit is located 175 km northportion of a presumably larger east of La Ronge, in north-central “primary” VMS deposit. The Saskatchewan. mineralized zone is about 15 In 2018, the junior released a resource metres thick with an average for the deposit outlining 2.1 million indihorizontal width of 300 metres. At Rockridge Resources’ Knife Lake project. cated tonnes in two zones (Upper and It has been traced along 4,000 CREDIT: ROCKRIDGE RESOURCES Lower) averaging 7.08% zinc, 0.69% copmetres of strike. per, 0.49% lead, 0.23 g/t gold and 39.6 RockRidge optioned the project from Eagle Plains Resources g/t silver (or 9.98% zinc equivalent). Inferred resources add 7.6 in 2018. million tonnes across the two zones averaging 4.46% zinc, 0.57% copper, 0.19% lead, 0.1 g/t gold and 18.42 g/t silver (or 6.29% zinc-equivalent). Earlier this year, Murchison tested five high-priority targets at the property, drilling 11 holes totalling 2,618 metres. In March, the company announced a high-grade copper-zinc discovery at its Main Lake target, 10 km south of Brabant-McKenzie. The discovery hole hit a copper rich upper zone, which cut 3.6 metres of 0.83% copper, 0.61% zinc, and 11.8 g/t silver, starting at 140 metres depth. The hole also intersected a zinc-rich lower zone, cutting 6.6 metres of 0.09% copper, 1.62% zinc, and 41 g/t silver, starting at 170 metres depth.

Rio Tinto A CCURA TE REA L TI ME MEA S UREMENT OF P RODUCTI ON & I NV ENTORY

TRA DE CERTI F I ED TO 0 .1 %

Exceptional stability in dusty environments Stainless steel construction for long term reliability in corrosive environments Above stringer design facilitates installation on all conveyors

Improved commercial certainty & port efficiency

Leading the way in precision conveyor belt scales abetterweigh@tdmicronic.com www.tdmicronic.com

20 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

In northern Saskatchewan, Rio Tinto is exploring the Janice Lake sedimentary copper-silver project in the Wollaston copperbelt. Highlights from last year’s drilling at the project, located 55 km southeast of Cameco’s Key Lake uranium mill, included a hole at the Jansem target that cut 5 metres of 1.32% copper and 3.42 g/t silver within a longer 51.8-metre interval grading 0.57% copper and 1.5 g/t silver (starting at 116 metres depth). Rio Tinto is earning up to an 80% interest in Janice Lake by spending $30 million over 7 years. It signed an option agreement last May with Forum Energy, which optioned project from Transition Metals. The major met its obligations for the first 18 months of the agreement by spending $3.7 million last year on work that included 21 drill holes totalling 5,209 metres. The company is planning 2,000 metres of drilling this year. Drilling at the Jansem and Janice targets have returned copper mineralization at good grades and continuity over significant thickness, starting at surface. Jansen is currently around 650 www.canadianminingjournal.com

Far left: Core at Foran Mining’s McIlvenna Bay project. CREDIT: FORAN MINING

Left: MAS Gold president and CEO Ron Netolitzky. CREDIT: MAS GOLD

SSR Mining metres long by 200 metres wide with thicknesses of up to 66 metres. The Janice target is so far 1.2 km long by 400 metres wide, with thicknesses of up to 66 metres intersected in drilling. Both targets are open along strike and at depth.

GOLD MAS Gold

MAS Gold has a large land package in the LaRonge gold belt, about 60 km west of SSR Mining’s Seabee and Santoy gold mines. Ron Netolitzky, MAS Gold president and CEO, believes the belt to be underexplored and high potential. “We feel that the La Ronge gold belt has a lot of gold occurrences,” says Netolitzky, who has many years of experience in gold and uranium exploration in Saskatchewan going back to the 1960s. “They’re commonly very high grade but very rarely have any of these projects been drilled to any depth.” With most drilling averaging less than 100 metres, Netolitzsky, a Canadian Mining Hall of Hame inductee, notes there’s enormous opporunity for expansion. “A lot of the gold deposits in Saskatchewan, they weren’t discovered at the turn of the century or way back, a lot of them really started off in the ’70s and ’80s when the first serious work went on in some of these belts.” In March, MAS Gold unveiled its first resource for the North Lake deposit, part of its Preview North project. The near-surface deposit hosts 14.1 million inferred tonnes grading 0.92 g/t gold for 417,000 oz. gold, using a cutoff grade of 0.45 g/t gold. That adds to a small, but high-grade resource outlined at the company’s nearby Greywacke North deposit in 2016. The deposit has indicated resources of 255,000 tonnes grading 9.92 g/t gold for 81,500 oz., plus 59,000 inferred tonnes at 7.42 g/t gold for 14,100 oz. The company’s objective is to build resources totalling 1 million oz. gold in deposits within a 10-15 km radius for processing at a central mill. The junior is trying to raise some funds for a summer drill program of about 3,000-4,000 metres across several projects. Netolitzky says work at Greywacke North has been paused for several years due to legal disagreements with a JV partner that went through receivership. However, the company believes those will be resolved soon and is ready to get back to work there. JUNE 2020

SSR Mining is exploring the Fisher property, 125 km east of La Ronge, adjacent to its Seabee gold mine. The miner is optioning the project from Taiga Gold under a deal signed in 2015. Since then, SSR has completed more than $10 million worth of work on the property, including 79 drill holes totalling 31,070 metres. SSR is spending $5 million this year on Fisher with the objective of compiling a resource estimate. SSR can earn an interest of up to 80% in the project, which is located in the Pine Lake greenstone belt. Recent drill highlights include a 2.3-metre interval of 13.74 g/t gold, including 0.5 metre of 55.5 g/t gold, in a new discovery made at the Yin zone, adjacent to the boundary with the Seabee mine. In May, SSR signed an option on another nearby property, Taiga’s Leland gold project, 23 km southwest of the Seabee mine. CMJ

Target to develop over a million ounces of gold resource by consolidating a portfolio of properties in a geologically potent La Ronge Gold Belt, Saskatchewan, Canada.

GREYWACKE NORTH PROJECT

Defined Resource

2 4

PREVIEW NORTH PROPERTIES NORTH LAKE

Defined Resource

MILLION + OUNCES GOLD RESOURCE TARGET

PREVIEW NORTH PROPERTIES POINT DEPOSIT

GREYWACKE CENTRAL, SOUTH & LYONS ZONE

Exploration Stage

JOE PROSPECT, THIS & THAT PROSPECT, DUCK SHOWINGS & OTHER

Exploration Stage

Exploration Stage Recent Drilling

masgoldcorp.com CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

RECLAMATION & CLOSURE

hat happens

after mining? The possibilities and pitfalls of planning for post-mining land uses

Mining operations create a lot of wealth while they are operating, but what is left behind after closure? CMJ spoke with Jeff Parshley, SRK Group Chairman, in May about recent trends in mine closure. Jeff, who draws on over 35 years of environmental and mine closure experience, discussed the challenges of closure and how companies and communities are repurposing land for other uses after mining. Canadian Mining Journal: You’ve been involved with mine closure for three decades. What are some of the big changes in the field that you’ve seen over the span of your career? When I started doing closure e Parshley work in the early 1990s, the state of Nevada had just introduced two new laws regarding mine closure, and some other jurisdictions around the world were also developing new mine closure requirements. Most of those were not quite as detailed as what Nevada had, but we were all getting started and recognizing the importance of it. What we hadn’t done much of at that time was actually trying to close mines, so it was a decade of discovery. We made mistakes and had a number of successes, and as a result, we were better prepared for what 22 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

we faced at that beginning of the 2000s, which was the mineral commodity price slump that occurred before the supercycle. During that period, there were a number of bankruptcies around the world that left mines unclosed without an operator to close them and in many cases without enough money and financial assurance to allow the government to close them properly. That was probably the biggest learning at the beginning of the 2000 decade – we realized that although we had spent the ’90s trying to understand the process and the cost of mine closure, our estimates for financial assurance were woefully inadequate. As a result of that, there was a revision of laws in the United States at the federal level and state level in a number of instances. Foreign jurisdictions also made similar changes. Those legal revisions continue today in many developing nations, including recently Kazakhstan. www.canadianminingjournal.com

The Eden Project in the U.K., an eco-park developed in a reclaimed china clay pit, opened in 2001 PHOTO: EMILY BARNES, ISTOCKIMAGES.COM

CMJ: When did the concept of designing for closure come into practice?

As an industry, we P had talked about designing for closure as early

Jeff Parshley

as the late 1980s, but I don’t think a true design for closure process really came into being until the mid-to-late part of the last decade (2000s). During the supercycle, there were a lot of capital projects and people realized we couldn’t just design something now and worry about how to close it later. It became part of the design process. I worked on a number of capital projects during that period and as the closure team, we were given a seat at the table with the designers. In fact, a number of designs ended up getting modified as a result of issues that we pointed out with respect to how we were going to close certain facilities.

CMJ: Part of mine closure is planning for post-closure

land use. How has that practice evolved over the years?

You have to start with the end in mind. That means you have to understand what you’re trying to accomplish

JUNE 2020

with closure, what that site is going to look like, what it’s going to be used for early in your closure design process. The Nevada regulation in 1990 stated that the operator had to include in their closure plan a discussion of the post-mining land use and that was probably the first real specific requirement related to that. The process of determining post-closure land use has evolved over the last 30 years as well. Early on, it was primarily the mining company that made that determination. They stated this is how we’re going to leave the site and as long as it met the basic requirements for physical and chemical stability and public safety, it was pretty much accepted. More recently, the discussion surrounding the socioeconomic transition of communities dependent on these mines has really taken over as the focus. It’s a difficult discussion and one that we’re still struggling to understand as an industry. There are tools out there that various groups have developed, and in all of those, there is a discussion of the need to incorporate the desires of the other stakeholders in the process.

CMJ: What does that collaborative process of figuring out the post-mining land use look like? In each case, what’s viable and what’s desirable can be P different. The process starts with identifying all possible post-mining land uses and then identifying the physical aspects

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

RECLAMATION & CLOSURE that are required to meet a particular post-mining land use – that could be water quality criteria, physical stability and public safety issues. Then we start eliminating alternatives that are just not possible. Usually we do that before we get involved in significant stakeholder engagement, but at that point we go to the stakeholders and start discussing with them what the post-mining land uses might be, what they desire. Sometimes you find things that we hadn’t considered. Sometimes they will want something we’ve already eliminated for a particular reason. At the end of the day, you usually end up with more than one post-mining land use simply because many mine sites are very large and you can’t develop the whole site for one thing, or a particular land use is only suitable in certain areas of the site. So, it tends to be post-mining land uses. One of the biggest challenges we’ve seen with this concept of socioeconomic transitioning is that the salaries paid by the mining industry are always above the national average – usually significantly so – and it doesn’t matter if it’s a developed nation or a developing nation. As a consequence, you’re not simply losing jobs, you’re losing very good paying jobs and trying to replace that economic benefit is difficult and, in many cases, impossible.

Top left: Solar panels at the former Kidston mine, in Australia. CREDIT: GENEX POWER

Bottom left: A waste dump resloping at a gold mine. Top right: Copper leach pond at an abandoned copper mine, currently under state management.

CMJ: How does a mine site’s proximity to a community

CREDIT: SRK

affect the potential uses of the land after closure?

Obviously the closer to a community, the more likely P there will be a desire to use the site for something that would benefit the community following closure. Where mines are very close to communities, sometimes the buildings get converted into other businesses, such as turning large process buildings into manufacturing facilities. When they are remote, the typical economic land use development is more likely recreational areas or green energy projects. The Kidston mine in Queensland, Australia, is a great example of that. They’re using microhydro power and other green energy alternatives and developing that as a commercial project with the assistance of the government. That’s a very remote site, but it’s putting power back on the national grid and providing employment for some people.

CMJ: You mentioned some examples where infrastructure that was built to support the mining operation is incorporated into post-closure plans. How common is that?

It really depends on the context. At a very remote site, the infrastructure may have less value than when it’s close to a community. If you built transmission lines, or a power plant to support the mining operation, that infrastructure could easily be incorporated into the national power grids at closure and there are examples where that’s happened. Obviously roads and transportation infrastructure can potentially be used as well. The Eden Project in the U.K. is an interesting example of 24 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

how pits can be used – they developed a scientific research centre in an old pit. Some of the old coal mines in what was formerly East Germany have been redeveloped as recreational lakes very successfully. The challenge with the infrastructure you leave behind is always who is going to maintain it and who is going to operate it. So, if you leave a power plant behind, do you also have to leave the capacity in the local community to maintain and operate it? And there has to be an economic market to keep it funded as well.

CMJ: What other innovative post-mining land uses have you seen?

The most common things we see are energy where you P have a large area that’s disturbed where you can build solar farms, wind farms, microhydro. Mining companies con-

sume a lot of power so there’s usually significant energy transmission infrastructure leading out to the mines that can be reversed with a power generation facility after the mine closure. A very common request that we see it to turn the site into a mining research centre. And there are examples where mines have become part of mining research facilities or university test mines – but there’s only so many of those that the world can support. In unique environments, the opportunity to create environmental research centres is really interesting and entirely feawww.canadianminingjournal.com

sible and viable, for example, in unique climate situations associated with glaciers or high altitude ecosystems. Having a disturbed site where you could do research on how to restore damage done to those types of environments is a very reasonable approach.

CMJ: The footprint of mine sites

is now bigger than ever. You mentioned that means multiple uses of the land after mining – are there other implications for how these sites can be repurposed?

The other thing that good practice encourages is progressive closure or progressive reclamation – you can begin the closure process and that will give you an idea of how effective the methods you’ve selected are going to be for closure. And another thing that drives the review of closure plans on a regular basis, particularly since the mid-2000s, is the need for all publicly traded companies using Canadian or U.S. GAAP or IFRS standards, to report their liabilities, including their closure liabilities, to shareholders every year. That process has raised the level of understanding of the need to stay on top of the closure plan and how it’s costed.

CMJ: Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share

regarding some of the ongoing challenges for the industry around mine closure?

When you scale up mining P operations, you’re also scaling If you look back at the last three decades of mine closure, up the closure process as well as the costs of closure. P we’ve come a long way. Most of that has been the result In terms of post-mining land use, in areas where there is very of applying good, sound scientific and engineering principles to steep topography, one of the things that gets left behind are large areas that are relatively flat. They could support post-mining land uses that wouldn’t have been possible before the mine was built because of the topography. Some good examples of that would be the tops of waste rock dumps or tailings impoundments or heap-leach pads – in steep mountainous terrain they can generate large areas of flat ground. Assuming there are no physical or chemical stability issues, there’s an opportunity there for other types of development – anything from agricultural development to a commercial development. A few years ago I was at a mine in Ghana where they had done direct revegetation on a gold tailings impoundment using native crops, both for food and commercial purposes. They had closed a tailings impoundment during the operation and they decided they would try doing this because it was a request from the community. It was a significant plantation and it was clearly sustainable. The communities were working with the mining company and actually had taken a great deal of the responsibility for management of that part of the facility and the crops being grown. Again, that was a very small part of the site.

CMJ: Things can change between the time the closure

plan is first envisioned and the time it’s implemented. How do companies handle the need to have a solid plan for closure while staying flexible?

the challenges we run into and the scientific process of testing hypotheses and understanding what works and what doesn’t work. I suspect we’ll continue to see advancements as technology develops, but where I really feel that the mining industry has the opportunity to improve what we do in closure is on this issue of socioeconomic transitioning. It’s a more difficult challenge in many ways. We can’t always engineer or science our way around those challenges, but it is something that has become more of a focus for the industry. Another challenge that’s somewhat related is the issue of what’s referred to as an attractive nuisance. For example, there still are valuable commodities in the ground after mine closure for someone who can do it on a smaller scale, particularly artisanal miners. The danger is that they could go into a pit or an underground mine after it’s closed and put themselves in harm’s way. Not only that, if they try to access what they perceive as a valuable commodity in a closed facility, they may damage the very measures that were put in place to protect the environment. For example, if they determine that there is value in a tailings impoundment that they can extract, they may dig through a cover that was designed to keep water out of the tailings and create an environmental problem downstream. The challenge is this is happening even on active mine sites and it can’t be controlled in many of those situations let alone after closure. So, I think this is one of the challenges that we don’t have an answer for yet. CMJ

I can’t think of a single instance in my 30 years where a P mine closure plan didn’t change through the operation. Just like a mine design changes over time, the closure plan needs to be reevaluated on a regular basis as well. Most jurisdictions with good practice mine closure governance frameworks require a periodic review of closure plans no less than every five years. As mines operate, they get new data, they’ll have a better sense of the stability of the mine waste material, the chemistry of that material. So, there’s a great deal of information that is collected during the operation that can help with revisions to the mine closure plan. JUNE 2020

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

RECLAMATION & CLOSURE

Cluff Lake READY FOR FINAL CLOSURE

After 14 years of monitoring, Orano looks to transfer former uranium site back to the province By Alisha Hiyate

etween 1980 and 2002, the Cluff Lake mine in northwest Saskatchewan produced more than 62 million lb. of uranium concentrate, with the site also producing gold between 1984-88. After a planning process that included extensive public engagement, the site, which once hosted four open pits and two underground mines, was decommissioned and reclaimed between 2004 and 2006. Ongoing environmental monitoring shows that the decommissioning was successful, with water quality meeting objectives, radiation levels within the regional background range, and fish, animals and plants harvested on site safe for consumption. For operator Orano, the success of the

26 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

site’s reclamation is a point of pride, especially as the project, located 855 km north of Saskatoon in Treaty 8 territory, was the first uranium mine to be subject to modern-era decommissioning and reclamation standards introduced in the late 1990s. “The Cluff Lake project marks an important transition in uranium mining,” said Diane Martens, former health, safety and environment project manager at Orano Canada in an email. “At the beginning of the operations phase, Cluff Lake did not have the full benefit of decommissioning lessons learned in Canada as no previous uranium mine had been successfully decommissioned and standards for decommissioning were in their infancy. The Cluff Lake project may be considered

the first decommissioned uranium mine site of its era in Saskatchewan.” Now that the site has been proven to be chemically and physically stable by 14 years of post-closure monitoring, Cluff Lake is poised for another first. Orano has applied to transfer control of the site to the province under Saskatchewan’s Institutional Control Program. Introduced in 2007, the regulation is one of the first formal programs to be developed that spells out the conditions under which responsibility for a closed mine site can be transferred back to the hosting jurisdiction. “The program provides an end state for operators, protects the public from the cost of closed mines through the establishment of funds, and provides the government www.canadianminingjournal.com

with assurance that any remaining liabilities with a closed site are well understood, monitored, and if necessary, remediation undertaken,” Martens says. Cluff Lake will be the first major uranium mining site to be transferred to the province – so far only the Contact Lake gold mine and several satellite sites of the historic Beaverlodge operation (mined between 1952 and 1982 by Crown corporation Eldorado Resources) have been transferred. As part of the transfer, Orano will provide funds for the long-term monitoring and maintenance of the site and an assurance fund to cover costs related to unexpected events. Martens says a decision is expected in 2021 or 2022, with JUNE 2020

the approval of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and the Saskatchewan ministries of Environment and Energy and Resources.

The Cluff Lake site, in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca basin, is located near the Alberta border, along a historic travel route to Uranium City. Far left: The rehabilitated Claude mining area.

Reclamation program The reclamation and rehabilitation program at Cluff Lake took five years of planning and regulatory approvals (19992004), after which the work was carried out in 2004-2006. Martens puts the overall cost of reclamation in the millions of dollars. The overall focus of the work was to get the site to a state of long-term site stability without the need for active care. The original environmental assessment (EA) for the Cluff Lake project was completed in 1978 and the EA for

decommissioning was completed in 2003. In the years between those assessments, there were many other EAs and regulatory approvals completed due to changing mine plans, including the incorporation of new ore deposits. As such, the closure plans also had to be adapted throughout. Rehabilitation work conducted at the site included decommissioning and removing all buildings, including a mill complex; backfilling mined out pits or

CREDIT: ORANO CANADA

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

RECLAMATION & CLOSURE converting them to pit lakes; and planting more than 650,000 local trees and shrubs. Underground mine entrances were also closed off and blended into the environment. The tailings in the tailings management area were consolidated into a solid mass, covered with a dry cover (local glacial till), with the cover contoured and planted with grasses native to area. The water removed from the consolidated tailings was treated prior to release. The cover is a simple till cover, which is preferred over a complex cover, such as one with a low-permeability cap, because simple till covers are expected to improve over time with less intervention. “At decommissioning, layers of till were placed over the tailings to isolate the placed tailings from the surface and provide a medium for vegetation growth,” Martens explains. “Diversion ditches were constructed and the cover surface graded so that fresh water would preferentially run around the tailings area or overtop of the till cover. The tailings have a low permeability, that is, they were prepared so that it is difficult for water to flow through.” As the tailings contain contaminants including uranium and radium, the decomissioned tailings area was designed to limit the amount of snow and rain infiltrating the tailings in order to control the release of contaminants. “The ultimate goal of decommissioning was to remove, minimize, and control contaminant transport so that concentrations in the environment would remain well below a threshold of concern,” Martens says. “In general, predicted peak concentrations of containments from decommissioning remain below concentrations experienced during operations when site and process water was treated in water treatment plants and met quality criteria prior to discharge.” Ongoing monitoring has shown the success of the decommissioning. “There is a small lake down gradient and metres away from tailings area, and there has been no evidence of groundwater contaminant transport to this lake to date,” Martens says, noting that tailings were placed starting in the 1980s. Asked how rehabilitation of a uranium mine site differs from rehabilitation at a gold or base metals mine, Martens says the big28 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

The DJ open pit, left, and milling area, right, in 2001, before decommissioning began. CREDIT: ORANO CANADA

gest difference may be with perceived risk. Although radiological safety is well understood and managed, it can dominate interest and concern. “Like other mines, uranium mines have a poor history with legacy (previously abandoned) mines and people tend to remember past mining practices,” Martens says. “Modern uranium mines are well managed and decommissioned; the Cluff Lake footprint is safe, both now and into the future, for land uses and therefore requires no restricted access. Communicating this safe and stable state of the decommissioned footprint and to have that message confidently received is a challenge that Orano is working on.” Monitoring While Orano hasn’t maintained a fulltime presence at the site in 2013, monitoring of groundwater and surface water chemistry, and groundwater levels continues, as do geotechnical inspections (for erosion, for example). Martens says groundwater and surface water quality is monitored by collecting samples from designated locations in lakes and streams. “The chemistry results from wells, lakes, and streams that are near and downstream of past mining and milling areas are compared to reference locations that have no past or present influence from mining and milling activities to quantify the differences, potential trends, and confirm the continued safety of potential land users.” Those samples are collected once a year by a small crew that travels to site, while geotechnical inspections are carried out biennially by a third party crew. The Cluff Lake site has benefitted from continuity of ownership. Known as Orano since early 2018, the company was formerly known as AREVA Resources, and before that, as Cogema and AMOK.

Martens, who began working with Orano (AREVA at the time) at a greenfield uranium site in Nunavut in 2008 got involved with the Cluff Lake decommissioning project in 2016. Since then, she’s been sorting through the rich history of Cluff Lake, including stories of how the project shaped the lives of former employees, contractors and community members. “During community meetings I often learn more about Cluff Lake history, lots of stories about the recreation club and the Raven’s Nest – an onsite gathering place and bar.” At its height, the Cluff Lake mine employed more than 300 people. Now, the site’s main users are the public, which can access the site for hunting, fishing, camping and berry picking. The closest community geographically is Fort Chipewyan, Alta., and the closest communities by all-season road are the Clearwater River Dene First Nation and La Loche, Sask., at about 250 km away and located within the Homeland of the Metis. “Member families of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation are also known to have historic and current use of the Cluff Lake area and Traditional Resource User cabins are maintained nearby,” Martens says. As the project lead shepherding Cluff Lake through the latest stage of closure and eventually back into the hands of the province, Martens says the most enjoyable part of the process has been in integrating the technical and social aspects of closure. “The most satisfying part of my job is weaving together the pieces into a whole – interdisciplinary thinking, working with the team to listen to and integrate community interests, and getting a clear vision of what CMJ came before and what comes after.”

Note: Diane Martens left Orano Canada shortly after this interview to work with another company.

www.canadianminingjournal.com

EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE & REPAIR

CONDITION CRITICAL

How criticality lists can help prevent unplanned shutdowns By Gord Susinski

reventing unexpected shutdowns is a priority for any mining organization. By being proactive and using criticality lists, there is an opportunity to reduce the frequency of unplanned downtime. But when shutdowns do occur, there needs to be a root cause failure analysis investigation into why. Often the first priority is to get the machinery back up and running as quickly as possible, replacing the failed component and reducing downtime. This approach seems the most sensible in the short term, but to ensure the problem does not

JUNE 2020

happen again, there needs to be a root cause analysis. Which component failed? Why did it fail? Could it have been prevented? These questions all need to be asked and answered, as soon as possible. Criticality lists Prevention is much better than a cure. The most expensive failures are those that happen without notice, but proactive maintenance can help mitigate against this.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE & REPAIR

IT’S TOUGH TO EXTEND DRAIN INTERVALS TO 750 HOURS BUT NOT FOR DURON™

Owned or used under license.

30 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

It can be difficult to proactively analyze and maintain all equipment; therefore, a criticality list is crucial. This works by breaking down each machine or piece of equipment into a category of importance. The simplest criticality lists have four brackets. The first bracket is absolutely crucial, if this component breaks, the entire operation stops. A good example is a feed conveyor in a mining site. If this fails, it can cause the entire operation to shut down. The second category is slightly less crucial but if this equipment stops working it will be expensive to repair and replace and may impact production. The third and fourth brackets are not as crucial and you can likely still run without them or they are redundant. Proactive maintenance should place a higher priority on the first two brackets, finding those critical pieces of equipment and ensuring they are well monitored and maintained. For instance, a crucial $5,000 bearing can easily result in $5 million of lost income if not maintained correctly. Therefore, this equipment needs to be monitored and proactively maintained. To ensure these components are looked after, those managing them should seek technical support, whether that is the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), the lubricant manufacturer or the filter supplier, if so equipped. A comprehensive proactive maintenance program can prevent unplanned downtime and maintenance stops. When a heavy-duty lubricant is used alongside a used oil analysis program in a comprehensive maintenance plan, managers can be confident that their proactive approach is helping them run an efficient site. Used oil analysis Conducting a used oil analysis program over time and at regular intervals allows experts to map trends effectively, which will identify fluctuations in results so mechanical problems can be isolated and fixed quickly at a relatively low cost. Undertaking used oil analysis should always be supported by recommendations from the equipment’s Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), as well as advice from technical experts – particularly if you are considering extending drain intervals. Any deviations from the OEM recommendations could void a warranty and result in expensive repair costs. www.canadianminingjournal.com

A proactive maintenance program will not only help to keep the equipment reliable, but also keep equipment working longer between maintenance periods, making it a cost-effective solution for ensuring components run at peak performance. Individual pieces of equipment are always vulnerable to wear and tear, but if maintenance issues are ignored, they could lead to a catastrophic failure that requires larger and more expensive repairs. Learning from failures When failures happen, there is an opportunity to learn from them and use that knowledge to attempt to prevent similar failures in the future. Where possible, you should involve your suppliers. The technical service teams will have vast experience and most likely will have encountered the problem before. They can advise on what has gone wrong and the measures that need to be put in place to prevent it. Training is also crucial. As the adage goes, you don’t know what you don’t know. Suppliers like Petro-Canada Lubricants’ technical services team are always willing to help and share information. The team has vast expertise and experience in the mining industry and conducts technical training and education on a variety of topics – from the fundamentals of lubricants to specific equipment questions, and often can solve problems through the experience of the team. Prevention is always the goal. However, every issue can’t always be anticipated, so when shutdowns occur, it’s vital to ensure you learn from them. CMJ

With DURON protecting your engine you could achieve drain intervals* of up to 750 hours in even the most demanding of operations. That’s the kind of drain intervals we call tough. And it’s all proven in the real world with ﬁeld testing on tough jobs like yours. We’ve talked tough. Now we’ve proven it.

THE TOUGHER. THE BETTER.™

– Gord Susinski is Senior Technical Service Advisor, Petro-Canada Lubricants. Gord provides technical services expertise for Petro-Canada Lubricants mining customers across Canada and has more than 30 years of experience in the industry.

Proactive maintenance should place a higher priority on the first two brackets, finding those critical pieces of equipment and ensuring they are well monitored and maintained. For instance, a crucial $5,000 bearing can easily result in $5 million of lost income if not maintained correctly. Therefore, this equipment needs to be monitored and proactively maintained. To ensure these components are looked after, those managing them should seek technical support, whether that is the OEM, the lubricant manufacturer or the filter supplier. JUNE 2020

HEAVY DUTY DIESEL ENGINE OILS

FIND OUT MORE. THE SOONER. THE BETTER. DURONTHETOUGHERTHEBETTER.COM *Extending drain intervals should always be undertaken in conjunction with an oil analysis program.

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

JUNE 2020 | VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 5

ON THE MOVE

Executive, Management and Board Changes in Canada’s Mining Sector

TOP MOVES IN THIS ISSUE

MANAGEMENT MOVES » Ruben Verzosa, the CEO of Arcpacific Resources, has passed away after a brief illness. » Adam Coulter has been named VP of exploration with ATAC Resources; Andrew Carne is also joining the company as VP of corporate and project development. » Peter Kuhn has been named interim CEO of Blue Star Gold, replacing Steve Wilkinson. » Joel Ray is now chief engineer with BMC Minerals. » Sam Ash is now president and CEO of Bunker Hill Mining, replacing John Ryan. Ryan will continue to serve as a director. » Joseph Ovsenek has been appointed president, CEO and chairman of Central Timmins Exploration. » Samantha Espley is the 2020-2021 CIM president, succeeding Roy Slack. Anne Marie Toutant will be the 2022-2023 CIM incoming president elect. » Brian Howlett is now president and CEO of Copper Reef Mining. » Armando Alexandri has stepped down as COO of Core Gold.

32 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

» Paul Smith has been named COO of Deep-South Resources with Jean-Luc Roy appointed to the chief expertise officer role. » Patrick Harford has been named VP of business development with Essex Minerals. » John Carlesso is now CEO of FenixOro Gold (formerly American Battery Metals), following Jeremy Poirier’s resignation. » Dale Verran has been appointed CEO of Fortune Bay. Wade Dawe will step down as CEO, but continue as chairman. » Rob Henderson has been appointed president and CEO of Great Panther Mining, replacing Jeffrey Mason, the company’s interim CEO, who will continue to provide consulting services. Meghan Brown has also joined as VP of investor relations. » Dan McCormack is now exploration manager with Hemlo Explorers. » Bruno Lemelin has been promoted to the role of senior VP of operations and projects with Iamgold and Oumar Toguyeni to the role of senior VP of international affairs and sustainability.

Benoit La Salle Benoit La Salle is now president, CEO and a director of Maya Gold & Silver, replacing Noureddine Mokaddem. La Salle has over 20 years of experience with the development and operation of mining projects in West Africa. He founded gold producer Semafo and is involved with a number of mining companies as a board member and investor.

James Gowans James (Jim) Gowans has been appointed to the board of Marathon Gold. Gowans has over 30 years of experience in the areas of mineral exploration, project studies as well as mine construction and operations. Between 2016 and 2018, he was president and CEO of Arizona Mining. He is also a director of Trilogy Metals, New Gold and Cameco.

Jacques Perron Jacques Perron has been named president and CEO of Pretium Resources. Perron was most recently president, CEO and a director of Thompson Creek Metals until its 2016 acquisition by Centerra Gold. Perron has over 35 years of mining industry experience in both technical and operational roles. He is a director of the Canadian Mineral Industry Education Foundation.

» Sherry Dunsworth, Marathon Gold’s senior VP of exploration, has left the company.

» Christina McCarthy is now VP of corporate development for New Oroperu Resources.

» Evan Spencer has been appointed interim president and CEO of Nevada Copper following Matt Gili’s departure.

» Tony George has been appointed chief project officer at NexGen Energy, for its Rook 1 project.

BOARD ANNOUNCEMENTS » Michael Luzich has joined Amerigo Resources as a director.

was not nominated for re-election to the board, but will remain as an advisor.

» Rui Botica Santos has joined the board of Ascendant Resources with Guillermo Kaelin stepping down as a director.

» Ron MacDonald has joined the board of Central Timmins Exploration, with Wes Roberts stepping down as a director. Neville Dastoor will remain a director but will no longer be chairman.

» Fabio Ribeiro has joined the board of Aura Minerals. » Bill Harper, director and chairman of the audit committee of Benton Resources, has passed away. » John Percival has joined the board of advisors of Bam Bam Resources. » Dave Dicaire has been appointed to the board of Bluestone Resources with Jim Paterson stepping down as a director. » Rita Adiani has been appointed to the board of Brixton Metals. Carl Hering

» Rui Feng has stepped down as CEO of New Pacific Metals but will remain a director. Mark Cruise, previously New Pacific’s COO, has been named CEO. » Adam Knight is now technical services manager of Northern Vertex Mining. » Binyomin Posen has been appointed CEO and CFO of Pacific Iron following the resignations of Joel Freudman as president and CEO and Carlyn Dahl as CFO. » Albert Contardi has been named CEO and a director of Pima Zinc, replacing Brian Stecyk who has resigned. » Flavio Fuentes Olivares is now manager, legal and permitting for Rio2’s Fenix gold project and Edgardo Briones Landauro has been named construction manager for the project. » Alan Day has joined Smooth Rock Ventures as president, CEO and a director. » Galen McNamara has been appointed CEO of JUNE 2020

» Jamie Lavigne has joined the board of Colibri Resource with Paul Bartos stepping down as a director. » Naomi Johnson has joined the board of Copper Lake Resources with Gary O’Connor stepping down. » Jose Vizquerra has resigned from the board of Discovery Metals. » James Harris is now a director of Essex Minerals with Chris Andrews and Wilson Su stepping down.

Summa Silver, replacing Hani Zabaneh, who will remain a director. » Richard Wilson is now president, CEO and a director of Surge Exploration, replacing Tim Fernback. » Lorne Warner is now the president, CEO and a director of Tarachi Gold. » Tony Giardini is now president and CEO of Trilogy Metals, succeeding James (Jim) Gowans, who will remain a director. » Lisa Maxwell has been appointed senior VP of corporate development with Western Magnesium. » Rodney Ireland, a director of Xander Resources, is also now the company’s CEO, following Dwayne Yaretz’s resignation; Yaretz will remain a director and corporate secretary. » Kenny Choi has been appointed CEO of Yukoterre Resources, following the resignation of Rene Bharti.

» Randall Chatwin has been appointed to the board of Fremont Gold, replacing Paul Reynolds.

» Geoff Schellenberg is now on the board of Origen Resources; Jerry Bella has resigned as a director.

» Chip Richardson is now a director of Fuse Cobalt.

» Darin Wagner has resigned from the board of Palamina Corporation.

» Hannah Jin is now a director of Gold Lion Resources with Oliver Friesen stepping down from the board; Friesen will remain CEO and corporate secretary. » Aleem Nathwani has been appointed to the board of Gold Rush Cariboo. John Dyer has resigned as CFO and a director. » David Garofalo is now chairman of Great Panther Mining’s board. Joseph Gallucci and Alan Hair have also joined the board. » Glenn Ives has joined the board of Kinross Gold. » Lars-Eric Johansson, Daniel Major and Eric Krafft are now on the board of Leading Edge Materials with Michael Hudson, Mark Saxon and Filip Kozlowski stepping down. » Jim Wiesenberg and Neil Foran have joined the board of Margaret Lake Diamonds. Darryl Sittler and Buddy Doyle have resigned as directors. » Wenhong Jin is joining the board of Margaux Resources. » Robert Taub has been appointed chairman of the board of Maya Gold & Silver.

» Elias Levy and Yaakov Eizicovics are now on the board of Pacific Iron Ore with Joel Freudman and Damian Lopez stepping down as directors. Freudman will remain president and CEO on a transitional basis. » Daniel Nauth and David MacMillan are joining the board of Pima Zinc; Conan Taylor has resigned as a director. » Al Fabbro is now a director of ProAm Explorations. » Luis Azevedo is now a director of Serabi Gold with Felipe Swett stepping down. » Gary Nassif and Jonathan Hill have been appointed to the board of Stratabound Minerals. Michael Page has resigned as an independent director. » Michael Konnert has stepped down from the board of Tarachi Gold. » Robert Clarke has resigned from the board of Teldar Resource. Daniel James Maskell has joined the board and is now also CFO, succeeding Kulwant Sandher. » Oliver Andrews has joined the board of Thor Explorations.

» Guylaine Daigle is now a director of Monarch Gold; Michel Baril and Guy Bourassa have stepped down.

» Andre Gauthier has joined the board of Typhoon Exploration with Leo Patry stepping down as a director.

» Mary Ritchie has been appointed to the board of Morien Resources.

» Libby Mounsey and Stewart Findlay are now on the board of West African Resources with Simon Storm and Mark Connelly retiring as non-executive directors.

» Richard Gillard has resigned from the board of New Carolin Gold. » Elaine Dorward-King has joined the board of Novagold. » Anthony Milewski has been appointed a director of NxGold. Richard Patricio has resigned from the board but will remain an advisor.

» Henri Gélinas and Jérome Gendron have been appointed as directors of Yorbeau Resources, with Gélinas also appointed chairman. Pierre Éloi Talbot, Gérald Riverin, and Amit Gupta have stepped down. CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY Tailings expansion project. Clean water diversions. 313 ML/year less water treated. Think of the savings

Cylinder Repair Seals, Kits & Cylinder Repair Parts For Mining Equipment.

Visit srk.com

STOCKED FOR SAME DAY SHIPPING!

BARRIE, ONTARIO MONTREAL, QUEBEC T 800.665.7325 | F 800.565.6990 T 800.565.6534 | F 800.263.9533 barrie@HerculesCA.ca montreal@HerculesCA.ca Online Ordering www.HerculesCA.ca

resourceful | experienced | worldwide

DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS IN 2020

List in the Canadian Mining Journal’s Professional Directory

COST AS LOW AS $250.00 PER ISSUE

CONTACT:

Robert Seagraves 416-510-6891 Fax: 416-447-7658 rseagraves@canadianminingjournal.com

ADVERTISERS INDEX Golder

..................................................

................................................

Hercules Sealing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

.............................................

Hitachi Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

.......................

MacLean Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

..................................

MAS Gold Corp.

.........................................

........................................

macleanengineering.com

....................

Orano Canada

........................................

............................

PR Engineering

........................................

oroanocanada.com

duronthetougherthebetter.com

Pugmill Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

......................................

Sandvik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

...................................

SLR Consulting

.........................................

........................................

masgoldcorp.com

nationsdrillingandblasting@gmail.com

Petro Canada Duron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 & 31 .........................................

herculesca.ca

hitachiconstruction.com/EX2600-7

Nations Drilling & Blasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 ...........................................

golder.com

prengineering.com

pugmillsystems.com

rocktechnology.sandvik slrconsulting.com

SRK Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . srk.com

TD Micronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

............................................

34 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

tdmicronic.com

www.canadianminingjournal.com

NORTHERNMINER.COM/CMS2020 #CMS2020

THANK YOU Presented by

TO OUR VALUED SPONSORS

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PARTNERS

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

PRESENTING SPONSORS

BRONZE SPONSOR

MEDIA PARTNERS

SANDVIK DD422iE - BATTERY ONE MILLION METERS DRILLED - ZERO EMISSIONS ELECTRIC. AUTOMATIC. EFFICIENT. SANDVIK DD422IE. Sandvik DD422iE is the mining industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first highly automatic development jumbo with a revolutionary electric driveline system, engineered to meet your needs for improved safety, increased productivity and reduced emissions. Customers around the world are developing their mines with the Sandvik DD422iE. Mines have drilled over one million meters and trammed over 2,500 kilometers with the Sandvik DD422iE, all while emitting no harmful DPM, NOx or CO2 particulates. Sandvik DD422iE is the proven productive solution for intelligent, emission-free underground development.

ROCKTECHNOLOGY.SANDVIK

Canadian Mining Journal June 2020

Articles inside

Condition critical: How criticality lists can help prevent unplanned shutdowns

What happens after mining?

Precious & practical: Gold and base metals in Saskatchewan

Hudbay goes for the gold