The Northern Miner October 3 2022 Issue 20

CANADA’S PRAIRIES

Miners should hedge future carbon offset costs, execs say

only escalate

Critical needs could go unmet as talent pipeline runs dry

HUMAN RESOURCES | EV supply chain could add 250,000 jobs, $59B to economy by 2030

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE

Justas Canada is attracting key investments to build up its crit ical minerals infrastructure, a shortage of critical expertise could hinder the country’s lofty ambi tions.

A case in point is the burgeon ing battery hub of Bécancour, Que., where new developments could end up competing for skilled labour.

offers US$7,500 rebates for EV buyers. Only vehicles that are manufactured in North America, with a certain proportion of crit ical minerals and battery compo nents sourced in North America, are eligible for the incentive.

BY HENRY LAZENBY

Asthe energy revolution gath ers momentum, so too inten sifies the pressure from the investment community on min ers to create net-zero emissions operations that produce sustain able upstream products feeding the new green economy, a panel heard during the Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek, Colo. Sept. 13-16.

Jamie Keech, executive chair man of Vida Carbon Corp., told delegates there’s a pool of about US$39 trillion of capital that has been committed to de-investing from oil and gas.

“That money all has to go some where, and there’s tremendous pressure on capital allocators to put that money to more environ mentally friendly uses,” he said.

Keech noted that investors, lim ited partnerships and governments are in turn, applying that pressure on corporations, particularly in the mining space.

Even top investment funds such as Larry Fink’s Blackrock have said that if a company in their portfo lios didn’t have a carbon reduction strategy in place by 2030, then the finance taps are getting turned off.

“These materials and metals we’re mining are critical for the transition to a renewable and a netzero future. So, suppose you are a mining company involved with this transition and put a climate action strategy on top of that. In that case, you bet your bottom dol lar that large capital allocators will look at you instead of companies without such policies,” said Keech.

Karora Resources’ (TSX: KKR)

executive VP for corporate devel opment, Oliver Turner, stressed that the rise of the carbon credit market all boils down to reducing the cost of capital.

“If you are raising money from debt, you will have a reduced cost of capital if you abide by these principles and all that ties into the ESG theme. And I think the most important part of this must be the carbon credits and how those con tribute to achieving these goals and lowering the cost of capital,” he told the summit. “It’s lower ing dilution and creating higher returns for shareholders.”

Star Royalties’ (TSXV: STRR)

CEO Alex Pernin said the mar ket was developing exponentially.

According to Pernin, the mar ket is growing via two main driv ers — those companies that seek to comply with regulations and those seeking to voluntarily comply to improve their investability status from an ESG perspective.

“On the compliance side, the market is at a several US$100 bil lion level right now,” he told the summit.

“What’s more exciting to talk about,” said Pernin, “is voluntary growth. Five years ago, in 2017, the voluntary [sector] was a $200 mil lion market — very tiny. Two years ago, it doubled to about US$500 million and quadrupled to a US$2 billion market last year. So, in five years, this market has gone up 10 times, and then there’s an expec tation the market could balloon to US$30 or US$50 billion by the end of this decade.”

According to the panel, fossil fuels multinational Royal Dutch

Shell recently said it would require about 120 million tonnes in car bon credit offsets a year to be car bon neutral. That is about US$1.2 billion in investment from one company alone to offset its carbon emissions at today’s average car bon unit price.

“It’s unreal to have a single com pany expressing the need to buy half the carbon market in a given year,” Pernin said.

“Because of the level of demand for it, there’s a natural escalator, as you would expect, for carbon prices to come up. What’s interest ing with the carbon world is that these technological solutions we’ve discussed require higher pric ing based on the economic need. Not US$40 carbon but US$100 to US$150 [per tonne] pricing for it to be viable. And we need these prod ucts to be viable to meet the Paris Agreement targets,” he added.

Advice for miners

The panel offered advice for min eral explorers and miners, say ing compliance starts via physical emissions reduction at site by using new technologies such as electri fied and autonomous equipment and renewable energy sources to power operations.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that it’s becoming economical to do that versus the combustion engine counterparts,” Keech said. “You must offset what you can not reduce in emissions to be car bon neutral, and ultimately, to be net zero.”

Inventa Capital managing part

In that southern Quebec city, just east of Trois-Rivières, GM and Posco are planning to build a $400-million battery materi als production facility and Nou veau Monde Graphite (TSXV: NOU; NYSE: NMG) is advanc ing a spherical graphite purifica tion plant.

But from a human resources perspective, the skills that will be needed for those developments are hard to find across North America and if all three facil ities go into production at the same time there could be “seri ous issues,” said Philippe Legault, Nouveau Monde’s vice-president of human resources.

“Just to staff those plants will be a challenge. That could jeop ardize or put at risk our country’s capacity to embark on the EV rev olution. We have the resources but we don’t have the expertise to embark on that,” he told The Northern Miner in a phone inter view.

Nouveau Monde CEO Eric Desaulniers also flagged the issue at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto in June, when he said Nouveau Monde has had to rely on workers from China.

“The only big player is China,” Legault said. “Transforming this graphite concentrate into… spher ical graphite requires expertise that exists — and a process that exists — only in China. We’re currently developing our own process for the purification. That’s more on the chemicals [and] materials engi neering side of the conversation side than the mining engineers.”

It could be a challenge, Legault believes, for the North American EV industry to fulfill its poten tial after U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law in August the Inflation Reduction Act, which

“That’s good for the industry,” Legault said. “However, we have a lack of chemical engineers, pro cess engineers, materials engi neers… specifically for the critical minerals niche like for graphite and lithium.”

Looking at the industry as a whole and from the mining to the manufacturing stage, Legault believes more immigration of skilled individuals could help meet future needs. But if enough positions aren’t filled then projects could be delayed or even shelved.

To steer the mining industry in Canada towards a more prosper ous destination, Legault thinks it has to promote itself more effec tively, focus more on diversity and

Lithium, uranium, copper and more |

From left: Jamie Keech, executive chairman of Vida Carbon Corp, Karora Resources executive VP for corporate development Oliver Turner, Inventa Capital managing partner and co-founder Michael Konnert and Star Royalties CEO Alex Pernin. PHOTO BY HENRY LAZENBY

GM invests in Canadian lithium-ion battery recycler

QUEBEC | Lithion’s technology reduces GHG emissions, uses less water than mining

Korea’s LG taps three Canadian EV battery mineral suppliers

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

General Motors (NYSE: GM) is boosting efforts to secure lithium supplies, a crucial ingredient for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, by investing in Canadian battery recycling company Lithion Recycling Inc.

The move creates a partnership between the world’s second largest automaker and the Quebec-based company to pursue a circular bat tery ecosystem using Lithion’s technology. Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

The companies said that thirdparty lifecycle analysis shows that Lithion’s technology has a recov ery rate of over 95%. As it uses green energy, the technology and operations will reduce green house gas emissions by over 75% and water usage by over 90% com pared to mining battery materials, the companies said.

Unfazed by the slowing global economy, buyers of key components in the powering of EVs are stepping up efforts to lock in supplies.

GM is aggressively scaling bat tery cell and EV production in North America to reach its tar get of more than 1 million units of annual capacity by 2025. The auto maker also aims to eliminate tail pipe emissions from all of its new

light-duty vehicles by 2035.

“We are building a supply chain and recycling strategy that can grow with us,” Jeff Morrison, GM vice-president of global purchas ing and supply chain said in a statement.

In August, Ultium Cells, GM’s joint venture with LG Energy Solution, opened its first U.S. bat tery cell plant, with two additional plants under construction.

A fourth planned battery cell plant will bring GM’s projected total U.S. battery capacity to 160 GWh.

GM says the binding agree ments it has in place guarantee that all of its battery raw material needs will be met, allowing it to reach annual planned production of 2 million battery-powered cars per year by 2025. That is when GM will be ramping up production of about 30 electric models globally.

As the company moves forward, it will work to increasingly localize its battery material supply chain in North America, it said.

Lithion will launch its first com mercial recycling operations in 2023. The opening of this facility, with a capacity of 7,500 tonnes per year of lithium-ion batteries, will be followed in 2025 by the launch of Lithion’s first hydrometallurgi cal plant. TNM

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

LGEnergy Solution of South Korea has signed agreements with three Canadian suppli ers of minerals used in electric ve hicle batteries as it bets on North America to become a fast-growing market for zero-emission autos.

Toronto-based Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ: ELBM; TSXV: ELBM) and Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX: AVL), and Snow Lake Lithium (NAS DAQ: LITM) of Winnipeg will all supply materials to the global bat tery maker. The deals with Ava lon and Snow Lake, which both have advanced exploration stage projects, are non-binding. The announcements were all made in September, at the same time South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol met with Prime Min ister Justin Trudeau on Sept. 23 to discuss greater cooperation between the countries on critical minerals, among other areas.

Avalon is to ship battery-grade lithium hydroxide to LG starting in 2025 from a plant it is devel oping in Thunder Bay, Ont., the companies said. The commitment is for half of the plant’s production for at least five years.

Snow Lake Lithium has agreed to supply LG with lithium hydrox ide over 10 years after produc tion starts in 2025, the miner said. Based on the current resource, Snow Lake says its Thompson Brothers project, located about 690 km north of Winnipeg could produce 160,000 tonnes of 6% lithium spodumene per year over a decade, enough to power 5 mil lion electric vehicles.

well as a scoping study to identify the technologies and skills it will need, it said.

Electra will supply LG with 7,000 tonnes of battery-grade cobalt sulphate from 2023 to 2025 in a deal that could be valued at about US$63 million, considering cobalt sulphate traded this month at about US$9,000 per tonne, according to the Platts Index. The company owns North America’s only cobalt refinery, located in Temiskaming Shores, Ont., about 500 km north of Toronto and is set to start production next spring with cobalt sourced from Glencore (LSE: GLEN) and China Molyb denum from mines in the Demo cratic Republic of the Congo.

by far and The Economist notes Europe is the fastest transition ing region. Norway in particular, where nearly 90% of cars sold in 2021 were electric, is a leader.

Nonetheless, the United States alone has some 290 million mostly fossil fuel-powered vehi cles that will need to be replaced with EVs over the coming decades as environmental regulations bite and charging stations spread. Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts a US$53-trillion global market for EVs between today and 2050.

This company received 250 #/day of mineral ores, crushed, ground, pulverized them, extracted a concentrate that was sold to others or smelted to pour precious metal bars. This could be done on a toll basis or to write a formal engineering report.

The company also received solutions that held precious metals, precipitated the metals which were smelted to produce metal for sale. All solutions were further processed to remove hazardous constituents and then disposed of with a licensed waste disposal facility.

The company also purchased impure silver and gold and refined each for sale. It has Thum Cells and a power supply capable of refining 2000 Troy Ounces of silver per week, along with the laboratory equipment to support this production. It also has crystal washing gear and dryer to prepare the fine silver crystal for casting into bars in its MIFCO model 701 furnace.

Much equipment is available. Interested parties contact Roger at rsneusch@gmail.com or call him at 303-589-1782.

The company has not yet com pleted an economic study on the project, which hosts 11.1 million indicated and inferred tonnes grading 1% Li₂O in a resource that is compliant with U.S. SEC standards. Snow Lake says it has only explored about 1% of its 222.6-sq.-km site and is “confi dent that further exploration will increase estimates over the course of the next year.” Engineering and drilling studies are underway as

“These partnerships serve as a crucial step towards securing a stable key raw material sup ply chain in the region,” LG chief executive officer Youngsoo Kwon said in news releases on the three agreements.

“LGES will continue to ensure the steady delivery of our top-quality products, thereby fur ther advancing the global tran sition to EVs and ultimately to a sustainable future.”

While Kwon claims North America is the fastest growing EV market, statistics from the Interna tional Energy Agency show China registered the most EVs last year

Demand for critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements from the burgeon ing electric vehicle industry and zero emission power like solar is helping drive mining and refining ore projects. The Ontario govern ment released a critical minerals strategy this year to link the prov ince’s northern mining output with its southern manufacturing industries.

Avalon said it has four projects in advanced stages in lithium, tin, indium and rare earth elements tantalum, cesium and zirco nium. It is developing its Separa tion Rapids lithium project near Kenora in northwestern Ontario and the Lilypad cesium-tanta lum-lithium project near Fort Hope, Ont., about 500 km north of Thunder Bay.

“We are delighted to enter into this agreement with LGES to sup port our aspirations of establish ing the mid-stream processing capacity in Thunder Bay to take advantage of the many lithium resources that occur in northwest ern Ontario,” Avalon president Don Bubar said in a news release. “This creates a win-win for Ontar io’s economy in both the south and the north.”

A MINERAL PROCESSOR IN DENVER IS PLANNING TO SHUT DOWN BECAUSE OF CHANGING MARKET

CRITICAL MINERALS | Deals for cobalt, lithium signed as South Korean president meets with Trudeau

The GMC Hummer EV, an electric pickup with a capacity of more than 1,000 horsepower. MIKE MAREEN/ADOBE STOCK

Electra Battery Materials’ cobalt refinery in Ontario. ELECTRA BATTERY MATERIALS

Kim Dong Soo, senior VP of LG Energy Solution, and Electra Battery Materials’ CEO Trent Mell sign a supply agreement in Toronto. At centre is Chang-Yang Lee, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy. ELECTRA BATTERY MATERIALS/TWITTER

Top gold assays of the week Sept 16-23

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

Our TNM Drill Down feature highlights the top gold assays of the past week.

Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width, as identified by our sister company Mining Intelligence (www.miningintelligence.com).

Tempus Resources (TSXV: TMRR; ASX: TMR), Rupert Resources (TSXV: RUP) and Tombola Gold (ASX: TBA) scored the top gold drilling results for the week of Sept. 16-23 with projects in British Columbia, Finland and Australia, respectively.

Tempus Resources reported “outstanding” drilling results at its Blackdome-Elizabeth project 200 km north of Vancouver. The Perth, Australia-based compa ny’s drilling in the Elizabeth zone returned bonanza grade intersec tions of 310.7 grams gold per tonne over 1.1 metres for a grade x width of 326 in hole EZ-22-09. It also cut 11.75 grams gold per tonne over 2.3 metres from 102.45 metres depth, including 85.2 grams gold per tonne over 0.3 metre from 103.15 metres in hole EZ-22-11.

The results extend the high and bonanza-grade strike length for the Blue Vein site by 80 metres to approximately 180 metres, the company said in a news release. It plans to extend its drill program by 10 holes for a total of 40 and a length of 2,000 metres.

“Each of the holes intersected wide zones of sheared quartz vein ing with individual high-grade inter sections of up to 85 grams per tonne gold,” Tempus Resources president and chief executive officer Jason Bahnsen said in the release. “The high-grade Blue Vein gold mineral ization zone has now been extended to approximately 180 metres strike length with the overall thickness of the quartz vein structure increasing

TNM DRILL DOWN

Top gold assays of the week

RANK PROPERTY COUNTRY

WIDTH

DEPTH

DRILL

ID FROM (m) (m) (G/T

1 Elizabeth Canada Tempus Resources EZ-22-09 105.1 1.1 310.7 326 (ASX: TMR/TSXV: TMRR)

2 Rupert Lapland Finland Rupert Resources (TSXV: RUP) 122115 99.8 34.2 7.1 243

3 Golden Mile/ Australia Tombola Gold (ASX: TBA) MS22RC009* 26.0 14.0 16.2 227 Mt Scheelite

4 Huronian Canada Kesselrun Resources (TSXV: KES) 22HUR170 15.0 124.0 1.8 223

5 Aremu-Oko Guyana G2 Goldfields (TSXV: GTWO) OKD-121 467.1 3.7 58.0 215

6 Alice River Australia Pacgold Ltd. (ASX: PGO) ARDH051 168.0 24.0 8.0 192

7 Kat Gap Australia Classic Minerals (ASX: CLZ) FKGRC422* 37.0 10.0 16.2 162

8 Coyote Australia Black Cat Syndicate (ASX: BC8) 22CYRC0009* 172.0 9.0 19.2 173

9 Cue-Moyagee/ Australia Musgrave Minerals (ASX: MGV) 22MORC228* 17.0 4.0 29.9 120 Break of Day

10 Palmeto United States Smooth Rock

in apparent thickness as the drilling moves northeast.”

The 115-sq.-km Elizabeth zone is 35 km northeast of the former Bralorne gold mine, which pro duced 4.2 million ounces at a grade of 17.7 grams gold per tonne until 1971, Tempus said. An historic inferred mineral resource estimate from 2009 reported 206,000 oz. gold at 12.26 grams per tonne at the site. Tempus said it plans to issue a new resource estimate for its project during the first quarter of next year.

Toronto-based Rupert Resources reported that drill hole 122115 showed 34.2 metres of 7.1 grams gold per tonne (grade x width of 243) at its Ikkari gold discovery at the Rupert Lapland project in north ern Finland.

In addition, hole 122180 cut 32.5 metres of 2.2 grams gold per tonne from 571 metres down-hole

(500 metres vertical). The finding extends mineralization in the site’s east by roughly 110 metres in the downdip direction, beyond the lim its of the current resource estimate, Rupert Resources said in a news release. The intercept included 1 metre at 11.3 grams gold and 0.7 metre at 17.3 grams gold, it said.

The 634-sq.-km Ikkari site has a September 2021 resource esti mate of 49 million tonnes at 2.5 grams per tonne gold for 4 mil lion inferred oz. gold. The initial resource was posted within two years of the Ikkari discovery.

James Withall, Rupert Resources’ CEO, noted that data shows a coarse grind size with a potential 95% gold recovery rate for Ikkari ore, which will allow a low-emis sion, high-margin operation.

“Drilling has recommenced, focused on expanding the limits of

the Ikkari resource and at regional targets to demonstrate further opportunities in the emerging Cen tral Lapland gold belt,” Withall said.

Drilling at Tombola Gold’s Mt. Scheelite site, part of its Mt. Freda gold project, returned 14 metres at 16.22 grams gold per tonne (grade x width of 227) from 26 metres, including 4 metres at 51.89 grams gold and 2 metres at 83.9 grams per tonne gold from 28 metres in hole MS22RC009.

More drilling is planned in two months for the project, just west of the Gold Mile Complex in Clon curry, Queensland, of northern Australia, about 1,700 km north west of Brisbane. Tombola owns about 16 former mines in the area.

“The company’s focus remains very much on first gold produc tion in the December quarter, and importantly these results deliver

the potential for Mt. Scheelite to be a key contributor to the Golden Mile/Mt Freda operations in the future,” said Tombola Gold chair man and managing director Byron Miles in a news release.

The next objective is to complete an initial resource estimate for Mt. Scheelite, which is just 700 metres from the Golden Miles producing centres of Comstock and Sham rock, the company said.

Mt. Freda is expected to produce about 64,000 oz. of gold over an ini tial 30-month life of the mine from about 300,000 tonnes a year, Tom bola said. Golden Mile is expected to produce about 15,000 oz. of gold over an initial 20-month life.

Mt. Freda is an open pit mine that was operated by Diversified Mineral Resources in the 1980s with a head-grade of 5 grams gold per tonne. TNM

Glencore eyes adding lithium to its trading business

BATTERY METALS | Addition would come as supply tightens, prices soar

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Mining and commodities giant Glencore (LSE: GLEN) is said to be eval uating the addition of lithium to the suite of metals it trades, as the battery metal has become the driv ing force behind electric vehicles (EVs) and concerns over lack of supply continue to grow.

The Swiss company would ini tially include lithium in its zinc and copper business run by Jyothish George and Nick Popovic, two unnamed sources told Reuters.

Glencore does not own lithium mines, but ventured into the metal recycling business this year. In February, it joined forces with bat tery start-up Britishvolt to build a new recycling plant for lithi um-ion batteries in England.

Less than three months later, the firm announced a $200-million investment in Canada’s Li-Cycle Holdings (NYSE: LICY).

Glencore has a strong foothold

in other battery metals, produc ing cobalt, nickel and copper, as the global push toward a greener future is firing up demand for such metals, which the firm calls “com modities of the future”.

It has also embarked on the business of recycling these metals, partnering up in late January with Moroccan mining company Man agem. Together they will produce cobalt from recycled battery mate rials at a plant near Marrakech.

A month later, Glencore announced it would expand its Britannia Refined Metals plant in southern England, which has his torically been a leading re-user of lead-acid batteries found in com bustion-powered cars.

Soaring demand, lack of supply Lithium prices have soared to record highs this year as the amount of the metal used has almost quadrupled over the last decade. But the process for extract

ing lithium and a relative lack of investment have yet to catch up with the rising demand.

In late July, Tesla founder Elon Musk called for more investment in global lithium refining to ease short ages in battery materials, promising

lucrative returns to those who seize the opportunity. It’s “basically mint ing money,” he said.

While Chile and Australia remain the world’s top mined lith ium suppliers, China has more than half of all capacity for refining

it into specialist battery chemicals.

There are also growing concerns over Beijing’s dominance of refin ing and manufacturing capacity of the material as reliance on China is seen as a vulnerability amid global trade and political tensions.

Pink flamingoes at the Colorada salt flats near Altiplano, Bolivia. PICCAYA/ADOBE STOCK

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EDITORIAL

Juniors chart cautious path through rough terrain

The Northern Miner attended the Precious Metals Summit held in Beaver Creek, Colo., from Sept. 13 to 16, where explorers, develop ers and emerging producers of gold, silver, copper, and platinum group metals vied for investors’ atten tion amid a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.

THE VIEW FROM ENGLAND: COLUMN | Mining should measure its queue

Gladstone in 1898.

BY DR CHRIS HINDE Special to The Northern Miner

to: Privacy Officer, The Northern Miner, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Suite 320, Toronto, ON M3B 3K9.

BY HENRY LAZENBY

Despite gold being down nearly 3% over the week, companies were upbeat in their messaging as they sought to convince investors of their respec tive abilities to deliver shareholder value over the next six to 12 months.

However, given the difficulty in raising liquidity in the current envi ronment, cash management remains at the top of junior companies’ pri orities. The recent deterioration of value in the junior equity space could be a positive for royalty names on the acquisition front or consolidators looking for bargain deals.

Perhaps the best way to describe Precious Metals Summit 2022 is that if the companies are all boats floating at sea, when the tide ebbs, they all go down. Newmont’s announcement on Sept. 15, that it had decided to delay the Yanacocha sulphides project in Peru was quite telling of the industry’s general mood.

Newmont cited the unprecedented market conditions, including the continued Russian war in Ukraine, record inflation rates, rising prices for commodities and raw materials, prolonged supply chain disruptions and competitive labour markets for the decision — all factors that are also playing havoc with any junior developer’s established plans.

Nearly everybody appears to be pausing projects or talking about scaled-down exploration programs designed to conserve cash. Propo nents seek to achieve critical project milestones, but only to the degree that makes sense until the market is better positioned to reward equi ties for jobs well done. That’s not the kind of love investors are currently affording to companies — even those putting out good results.

Given the discounted valuations, lower equity prices, and ongoing inflationary pressures, juniors with healthy balance sheets will likely fare better in the next year. While many companies remain well funded for the next 12 months, perhaps one-third of the 32 companies The Northern Miner interacted with at the conference may need to turn to markets to raise money in the short term.

The big difference is those companies with grand narratives already shored up their coffers at the height of the market earlier this year before markets crashed in June and again in recent weeks. The handful who were able to secure financing earlier this year are financially set through the end of 2023.

Again, just as the majors set the tone when the tide started rising in 2018-19, they are the precursors of a more muted time in exploration and development activities as uncertainty pervades the market.

For the very reasons Newmont put the brakes on Yanacocha, compa nies are forced these days to use 30% and even 40%-plus contingencies for their projects’ economic plans. They need to account for volatile fac tors that could, in essence, go either way two or three years from now.

Enduring inflation, high interest rates, supply chain issues, and geopo litical tension contribute to increasing risk premiums investors require from miners.

That also applies to the most sophisticated resource investment funds. According to Sprott’s lead portfolio manager John Hathaway, to con tinue financing new projects via paper deals is too dilutive. A key take away from a keynote presentation by the investment guru at Beaver Creek was that companies should beware of shareholder dilution via continuous share placements at dismal valuations.

He believes dilution is the biggest threat to the industry’s investabil ity. Ballooning enterprise values and share registers do not necessarily equate to value creation.

Meanwhile, the best stories will continue to drive value through the drill bit.

Despite a tough market, junior explorers, developers, and producers continue to focus on executing their plans and delivering more value to shareholders via their exploration programs. Over the coming months, companies expect to update the markets with their remaining drill results from their 2022 exploration programs and provide resource updates on their projects. Through The Northern Miner’s interactions with compa nies, it quickly became apparent that they view adding ounces through exploration as one of the cheapest growth options at their disposal.

The summit also heard about ESG investing and how serious capi tal providers have become about it. While companies continue to focus their efforts on carbon reduction, a recurring theme revolves around the work done on the social front with a focus on Indigenous peoples, local communities, the local supply chain, and the local workforce. Through this work, companies hope to strengthen their social licence to operate and facilitate the permitting process for their projects, when applicable.

Confirming the general mood at the Precious Metals Summit, the fol lowing week’s Gold Forum Americas, which caters to the senior mem bers of the industry, was also described by analysts as ‘bearish,’ with gold having solidly fallen out of favour and copper stepping up as the metal du jour.

BMO Capital Markets metals and mining analyst Jackie Przybylowski noted the strong attendance of primary copper companies such as First Quantum Resources, Hudbay Minerals and Ivanhoe Mines. While not entirely new, the analyst saw the markedly increased importance of cop per or copper-gold assets as strategically crucial to gold miners. TNM

WeBritish are good at queuing, and most of us practice standing in line from an early age. This life time of training came to fruition during the four days leading up to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The Secretary of State for Culture, Michelle Donelan, has estimated that over 250,000 people queued (for an average of eight hours and up to 18 hours ) to see the Queen’s coffin as she lay in state at West minster Hall. At one stage there was even a queue to join ‘The Queue’ (as it became known).

The Queen’s lying-in-state had been planned for years. Royal deaths are covered under a general plan codenamed Operation Lion, with Queen Elizabeth’s funeral being first planned in the 1960s (under the codename Operation London Bridge). Plans have already been made for the funeral of King Charles III (under the codename Operation Menai Bridge).

Queues form when many peo ple want to do the same thing at the same time. They have been described (in 2016 by Profes sor Nick Haslam from the Mel bourne School of Psychological Sciences) as “a social norm, gov erned by unspoken rules pro moting efficiency and equality.”

Professor Haslam noted that queuing exists “because there is an imbalance between the sup ply and demand of services,” and that it “prevents people who are the loudest, the most devious, the most assertive or the biggest from gaining unfair advantage.”

The British have a long history of queuing at funerals, and the number filing past the Queen’s coffin is not likely to have been a U.K. record. Over 320,000 people saw our World War II Prime Min ister, Winston Churchill, lying in state for three days in 1965 (as part of our last state funeral), but the average wait then was only three hours. The final number might also be shy of the 305,000 who filed past the coffin of Queen Eliz abeth’s father George VI in 1952.

The queue is likely to have been similar to the 250,000 people who viewed the coffins of George V in 1936 and Edward VII (the eldest son of Queen Victoria) in 1910, and of Prime Minister William

At its longest, the queue to file past the Queen’s coffin stretched for 13 km and, after crossing the Thames at Lambeth Bridge, went along the south bank downstream past eight other bridges (West minster, Hungerford, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Millennium, South wark, London and Tower) before ending in a series of zig zags in Southwark Park.

The number of people joining this queue might not have been a record but the length, and dura tion, surely marks it out as unique (Guinness World Records is reported to be investigating). Most people that joined the queue did so out of respect for Queen Eliz abeth as a person, rather than for her rank or the sense of occasion. This is probably also true of those that filed past the coffins of George VI and of Queen Elizabeth’s first Prime Minister, Churchill.

Queues of any persuasion are a useful measure of supply and demand, and of the value placed on reaching the destination. Most queues are mundane, with people forming a line, patiently or other wise, for their chance to gain some thing that is rare, restricted or just good value. Queues become more interesting when they involve con siderable personal hardship, and the only reward is a fleeting oppor tunity to pay your unreciprocated respects to something, or someone.

Such queues are a valuable guide to the level of regard that the public has in the recipient.

Whether as an individual or as part of an industry grouping, we can play the game of assessing the length of our own theoretical queue. How would you, a particu lar mining company or the indus try as a whole, measure up against the standards set by the Queen for care (of subjects/friends/stakehold ers), reliability and responsibility?

Even if the relative answer is measured in a few kilometres, there is much to do. I suspect, however, that the theoretical public queue for the mining industry could be measured in metres. We need to at least get across that first bridge or we will be swept downstream. TNM

—Dr. Chris Hinde is a mining engineer and the director of Pick and Pen Ltd., a U.K.-based consulting firm. He previously worked for S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Metals and Mining division.

COMPANY INDEX

Better geoscience communication can solve the mining industry’s image problem

COMMENTARY | Engagement with public audiences can inspire youth, Indigenous communities to connect with mining

BY COURTNEY ONSTAD SPECIAL TO THE NORTHERN MINER

Society perceives mining as an industry aimed at pillag ing the Earth for its resourc es with no regard for the environ ment and the people it impacts.

However, most Earth scientists, especially young professionals, en tered this industry because of their passion for the Earth.

By no means is our indus try perfect, but over the past few decades, we have seen many posi tive advancements in our industry. Stronger environmental regula tions, increased stakeholder engage ment, adoption of environmentally friendly mining practices, and an awareness of the importance of crit ical and green energy minerals to Canada’s clean future demonstrate our desire to evolve.

Unfortunately, positive cases like these are not shown in mainstream news media. Instead, conflict-ori ented incidents are featured and impose a strongly negative view mining. With that said, what is the solution? How can we showcase the positives our industry has to offer? The answer is simple: geoscience communication.

Rooted in science communica tion, geoscience communication informs, educates, and raises aware ness of geoscience among non-ex perts. Outreach, public engagement, K-12 educational resources, pro fessional development workshops, geotourism/geo heritage, policy engagement, and knowledge trans lation are common approaches to communicating geoscience. I pro pose several options for engagement with public audiences to address our image problem.

The first opportunity for edu cating citizens on geoscience top ics originates in the K-12 education system. Young students entering universities are eco-friendly but perceive the mining industry as harmful to the environment. This stance is likely due to media cov erage, misinformation, and the absence of Earth sciences in their science curricula. As a result, we are losing out on a cohort of young green scientists who don’t consider mining a worthwhile career. How ever, if educators receive proper training and are provided tactile, societally relevant, and curricu lum-tied educational resources, they can inspire young scientists to join our industry.

Instead of explaining our indus try’s importance when defending ourselves in media when a dispute arises, why don’t we look upstream and tackle our image problem at the source? That would ensure the public receives a holistic under standing of our country’s current issues and how our industry can overcome these problems. We can gain public support by improving our engagement and using targeted communication.

There are also many venues for informal education across Can ada, with a significant presence of museums, national and provincial parks, geological surveys, sites of geologic wonder, and online plat forms. For example, GeoParks are an excellent platform for partner ing with Indigenous communi ties and highlighting their stories.

Educational resources developed for these forums could be inquiry and place-based, and co-cre ated with Indigenous communi ties. Storytelling has historical and

modern significance to Indige nous cultures and ties in well with the phrase Saxa loquuntur – Latin for “The stones speak” — which implies rocks tell a story. Braiding stories and cultural understand ings with traditional geoscience would allow for a richer and shared experience of the world.

Furthermore, place-based education encourages a strong relationship with surrounding landscapes and provides local con text to global events. By bringing relevant and engaging geoscience to these venues, we can create more opportunities for open dia logue surrounding complex soci etal issues, such as climate change and sustainable mining).

Remote communities are typ ically most impacted by land-use activities, yet many have limited possibilities for geoscience edu cation due to inadequate infra structure and less funding for educational resources. Even though research by the Canadian Teach ers’ Federation shows that 16.3% of K-12 students in every classroom have been identified as having a disability, there are minimal geo science educational opportunities tailored to such individuals. Tar geted geoscience communication towards those students and other under-represented groups could promote new insights for audiences previously unconsidered.

Tremendous potential exists for geoscientists to influence policy. Graduate students and professors are inarguably experts in their fields and lead innovative geoscience research, which should inform the approaches and technologies used in the mining sector. However, geoscientists in academia have lim ited opportunities to communicate with politicians. As a result, society doesn’t benefit from the research their taxpayer dollars fund. If we could create more opportuni ties for engagement, such as pol icy communication courses, and internships or fellowships at var ious government levels, we could bring research to the forefront of mining-related policies.

Imagine how our society could change if we valued geo-liter acy! Improving geoscience con tent in the K-12 education system would result in higher enrolment in post-secondary Earth science departments, meeting increasing demands for an innovative work force in an evolving industry. In addition, these young adults would be confident in engaging in geosci ence dialogue, resulting in greater support for land-use activities and meaningful civic engagement. Inte grating Indigenous ways of know ing with geoscience educational resources could establish strong connections with Indigenous com

munities. Trusting relationships are imperative for continued col laboration between the mining industry and Indigenous commu nities. Creating opportunities for researchers to communicate with politicians will encourage a future of evidence-based policies. Con sequently, this could promote more positions for geoscientists

in government (who are currently under-represented) to analyze the value of these policies. Finally, we can facilitate collaborative learning within families and social groups by communicating with the public and encouraging insightful conver sations.

While their efforts are laudable, most geoscience communication

initiatives in Canada are done by small not-for-profit organizations that produce tremendous results with inadequate resources. How ever, if government, industry, aca demic, and not-for-profit sectors collaborate and provide increased funding for geoscience commu nication initiatives, we can solve our image problem. In addition, geoscience literacy has implica tions for future relations between scientists, the public, Indigenous peoples, policy-makers, and the geoscience sector.

In this age of misinformation, it is time to support geoscience communication and its ability to unearth Canada’s resources and their role in driving our economy and national security.

TNM

Courtney Onstad is a PhD student in the Department of Earth Sciences at Simon Fraser University, studying geoscience communication in B.C., and won the 2021 Northern Miner scholarship, part of the YMP Scholarship Fund awards, for this essay. Her research focuses on how science communication theory can inform geoscience communication practice in informal educational settings. Courtney hopes to pursue a career which unites her passion for research and her love of bringing geoscience to the public.

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INSTEAD OF EXPLAINING OUR INDUSTRY’S IMPORTANCE WHEN DEFENDING OURSELVES IN MEDIA WHEN A DISPUTE ARISES, WHY DON’T WE LOOK UPSTREAM AND TACKLE OUR IMAGE PROBLEM AT THE SOURCE?

Courtney Onstad

West Africa emerges as a haven for gold miners

BY HENRY LAZENBY

Amid an ebbing of mining investment sentiment as project proponents big and small take a pause and wait out de cade-high inflation and high inter est rates, West Africa is an outlier, emerging as a region where mine construction timelines are met, builds get completed under budget and discovery potential beckons more investment.

The Northern Miner recently caught up with a handful of min eral explorers and miners attend ing the Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek, Colo. Even though West Africa has seen recent polit ical instability, including coups in Guinea late last year and in Burkina Faso in early 2022, and some areas (generally away from the mining operations) have seen insurgent fighting, each executive exuded a sense of business confi dence contrasting in some cases with the realities of doing business in North America and elsewhere in recent quarters.

In early September, Orezone Gold (TSX: ORE; US-OTC: ORZCF) became Burkina Faso’s newest gold producer after completing the Bomboré mine’s first gold pour under budget, on time, and with no lost time injuries, said president and CEO Patrick Downey.

“West Africa is where the min ing industry can still execute con struction plans as planned,” he said at the conference.

“In a short span of twenty months, we have successfully financed and constructed this greenfield project, and mined over 15.7 million tonnes of material, including 5.8 million tonnes of ore, while maintaining the health and safety of our workforce.”

While certain aspects of the US$153-million build lent them selves to faster construction — such as the plant not requiring a build ing enclosure which allows for ease of installation access — using con tractors familiar with the region was equally important.

“Supply chain transportation was crucial for us,” Downey said, adding the company put together a strong team and contracted engineering company Lycopodium, which has a track record of success there.

Downey said the company expects to achieve commercial pro duction in two to three months, following several weeks of con sistent production at 90% of the 14,000-tonne-per-day throughput while achieving 95%-plus recov eries. “We’ve already been up to 12,000 consistently over five to seven days,” said Downey.

Meanwhile, the company has

been conducting an exploration drilling program at the site, with results pointing towards a discovery.

“Because we were under budget, we went to our banks and showed them our drill results from 2018 to 2019 and what we would like to follow up on. But to keep a good schedule, we wanted to drill in 2022 because that will allow us to update the resources and reserves with a view towards an expansion and keep us on a driven value-added schedule,” said Downey.

The company recently reported the final results for the third phase program from P17S-NE along the P17 mineralized trend at its Bom boré mine.

Downey says the program was designed to better define the con tinuity of the repeat, folded highgrade granodiorite mineralized zones. The drill results continue to be very positive, and the downplunge continuity of the mineral ized zones at P17S has now been extended another 100 metres beyond the previous set of drill results. The mineralized zones remain open towards the surface and at depth over a strike exceed ing 300 metres. With the system still open, drilling continues inter cepting significant new mineraliza tion outside the current resource boundaries.

“We see a rapid transition into a resource and reserve update in the first half of 2023, including a fea sibility study update and getting into the early-stage engineering and construction for our Phase II expansion,” said Downey.

Bomboré has a significant under lying sulphide resource to support a more extensive second-phase expansion. A 77,000-metre infill and expansion drill program is ongoing.

Regional upside Meanwhile, Sarama Resources (TSXV: SWA; ASX: SRR) is work ing towards growing its existing multi-million-ounce resource at its Sanutura project in Burkina Faso, with its drill program of over 50,000 metres continuing to expose near-surface, high-grade gold.

CEO and managing director Andrew Dinning told The North ern Miner that drilling at the MM prospect at Sanutura confirmed the presence and continuity of previ ously defined shallow, higher-grade shoots. It has also intersected new high-grade oxide mineralization outside of the current resource.

Sarama’s latest drill results at Sanutura returned grades of over 20 grams of gold per tonne from just 30 metres depth.

The most notable intersections featured 7 metres grading 8.25 grams gold per tonne from 53 metres; 11 metres at 4.5 grams from 30 metres, including 1 metre at 20.2 grams gold; and 5 metres at 9.13 grams gold from 65 metres, which ended in mineralization.

“These results are significant for Sarama because they are expected to grow the current oxide component of the already large gold resource of 2.9 million ounces,” Dinning said.

The existing oxide resource com ponent makes up close to 1 million oz. of the total resource.

nificant exploration success oth ers have enjoyed in West Africa in recent quarters, particularly ASXlisted juniors, who he said have a better risk appetite than some North America-based counter parts.

Examples include the 4.2 million oz. exploration success at Predictive Discovery’s (ASX: PDI) Bankan gold project in Guinea, which had propelled it to a A$350-mil lion ($311.2 million) market cap explorer in recent months.

Dinning noted that at its height, Predictive’s share price jumped more than 2,000% since discover ing Bankan in 2020.

Another example is West Afri can Resources (ASX: WAF), which in the past year has been catapulted to a A$1.3-billion producer in Burkina Faso, with solid cash flow from unhedged gold production ramping up to 400,000 oz. per year by 2025.

“By comparison, Sarama’s mar ket value of around A$20 million represents a deeply discounted val uation for the project’s resource,” Dinning says.

“Even more so considering that the current drill program is antici pated to yield a significant resource increase.”

would prioritize follow-up drilling, including greenfield exploration drilling during the year’s second half.

Discovery potential

Another junior making material progress is Newcore Gold (TSXV: NCAU, US-OTC: NCAUF) which has just embarked on another 5,000 metres of diamond and reverse-circulation drilling at the 100%-owned Enchi gold project in southwest Ghana. The program is designed to follow up on discover ies made as part of a recently com pleted 90,000-metre drill program.

President and CEO Luke Alex ander said the next phase of drill ing would continue to focus on resource expansion at existing deposits, identifying higher-grade potential at depth, and also defin ing the broader potential for Enchi to host a long-life gold camp by drilling earlier stage targets.

Newcore has defined resources at four deposits at Enchi: Sewum, Boin, Nyam and Kwakyekrom. Alexander underlined that the 2020 to 2022 drilling campaigns had encountered strong results at previously drilled zones outside of the resource area, including Kojina Hill and Eradi, while also intersect ing high-grade gold at depth, out lining the potential to delineate underground resources.

The program also identified dis coveries via first-pass drilling on early-stage targets at Sewum South, Tokosea and the Sewum Ext. Paral lel Structure.

Results from the 90,000-metre drill program will be incorporated into an updated resource estimate expected later this year.

The project currently hosts a 1.4 million oz. inferred resource in 70.4 million tonnes grading 0.62 gram gold per tonne.

“Since we relaunched Newcore in mid-2020 with a renewed focus on exploration, we have not only retained strong alignment with shareholders through management and director’s 24% equity interest, but we have also built out a very strong institutional shareholder base that currently owns approxi mately 40% of the equity. We have completed two resource updates and a PEA, and we have now also completed the largest drill program ever on the project,” Alexander said.

CARBON from 1

ner and co-founder Michael Konnert said the price escalation piece was important for min ers starting the emissions reduc tion journey. “As the CFO of my company, I’m looking at the enormous future liability over the next 10, 15 to 20 years as prices per unit offset the increase.”

In his view, there are two solu tions. One is to work with a car bon offset company to purchase or secure long-term offtake cred its. “So, I can lock in my price of carbon over time. As a CFO, I look like a genius, right? You’re hedging that future price risk,” Konnert said.

While it is still a matter of see ing how the industry evolves, Pernin said he already sees novel ways of administering carbon off sets in the future.

“It will be quite creative, as, for example, the precious met als division might be able to tack on carbon credit streams to the operators. So, imagine you are a million-ounce producer, and you close a metals stream with us. We might, in future, be able to layer in some of these carbon credits so that not only is it an attractive source of capital for you, but you could also offset some of your production, which ideally acts to lower the cost of capital,” he added.

With drilling intersecting highgrade gold outside the resource and confirming the continuity in “highvalue” oxide zones, Dinning said that MM remains the economic focal point of the deposit, and it is encouraging that new shallow min eralization continues to be discov ered there.

Dinning said the latest results built upon the recently reported exploration success at the Obi prospect, where extensive, flat-ly ing mineralization with high-grade zones in oxide material was delin eated, suggesting a new geological model for target generation.

“The MM and Obi prospect drill results illustrate the potential for further additions to the already sig nificant oxide and transition com ponent of the project’s mineral resource,” he said.

Dinning underlined the sig

The Sanutura project is located just 60 km south of Endeavour Mining’s (TSX: EDV; ASX: EDV) 5-million-oz. Houndé mine, 120 km south of Fortuna Silver Mines’ (TSX: FVI; NASDAQ: FSM) highgrade 1 million oz.-plus Yaramoko mine and 140 km south of Endeav our’s 5-million-oz. Mana mine, highlighting the significant endow ment of the Houndé gold belt.

From a future development point of view, over 4 million oz. of gold — the bulk of which is within 150 metres of the surface — has been defined within a 6-km radius of the Sanutura project’s 2.5 million oz. Tankoro deposit, with Endeavour’s 1.5-million-oz. Bantou project situ ated immediately to the west.

The Tankoro deposit sits within an extensive mineralizing system that so far has been drill-defined for a semi-continuous strike length of 16 km. Potential exists to expand the resource at shallow depths in oxide material.

Notably, 80% of Tankoro’s ounces sit within the MM and MC prospects, providing a lot of scope to discover additional large highgrade zones, as Sarama recently demonstrated at the Obi prospect.

Dinning said the company

“Our multi-pronged explora tion approach delivered on the objectives we set at the start. We outlined near-surface resource expansion potential along strike at all four of our existing deposits, we achieved strong results from drill ing at previously drilled areas, we encountered high-grade intercepts at depth which outlined the poten tial for delineating underground resources, and we made three new greenfield discoveries.”

The executive said that Ghana is emerging as the sixth largest gold producer globally. “Look at what the major companies are doing in the country. You’ve currently got three of the top 10 largest gold pro ducers who have significant opera tions in the country” That includes Newmont (NYSE: NEM), which is in the process of investing another US$750 to US$850 million into the country, he said.

“That’s significant: One-fifth of their total production will come from Ghana. They could allocate capital to any country, any prov ince, or any jurisdiction on the planet. And Ghana is where they are investing their capital,” Alexan der said.

The next phase of drilling at Enchi is planned for later this fall. TNM

BEAVER CREEK | As delays and costs build elsewhere, mines are being built under budget and on time in the region

Orezone’s Burkina Faso country manager, Ousseni Derra and VP for project development, Ricardo Rodrigues holding the first gold doré bar from the Bomboré mine. OREZONE GOLD

Industry heavyweights weigh in on gold’s role amidst geopolitical strife

BY HENRY LAZENBY

Ina keynote presentation at the Precious Metals Summit that took place in Beaver Creek, Colo., from Sept. 13-16, delegates heard how gold is poised to play an increasingly important role in a changing global geopolitical land scape.

Incrementum AG managing partner and investment manager Ronald-Peter Stöferle told the sum mit that gold could be a monetary communication tool between vying political blocs. It could become re-monetized because of its highly liquid nature, its lack of counter party risk and its neutral asset status.

In conversation with John Hathaway, senior portfolio man ager at Sprott Asset Management, Stöferle noted how much the world had changed in the past 12 months.

“Last year, when you tried to shake hands, you were really like a brave guy. Now it’s normal again, thank God. But you know, we have a war in the middle of Europe. It’s 700 km from Vienna. So, it’s really there. As a result, we’re seeing the de-dollarization trend picking up momentum, which could benefit gold,” he said.

Stöferle co-authored the 2022 edition of the “In Gold We Trust” report, published in May, saying the world was fragmenting in realtime.

“We can see that Russia is the third largest gold producer and embracing the alliance with China, the largest gold producer and con sumer,” said Stöferle, noting that Iran has also joined the Eurasia-fo cused Shanghai Cooperation Orga nization.

“We’re seeing that the Saudis don’t pick up the phone anymore when Joe Biden calls.” he added.

“Those developments tell me that there’s quite a lot happening in the grand scheme of things, and I think currency reform sounds very gloomy. The reality is that if you understand monetary history, it happens every couple of decades.”

The bottom line is that in every

monetary transition period past, gold played a significant role Stöferle said. “I just don’t see any reason why it should be different the next time, especially with those countries that are now clearly the opponent of the Western world.”

In response, Hathaway said he didn’t necessarily disagree with Stöferle’s view but added he would expect a more profound crisis to force a change of this magnitude in the global trading currency.

“Russia is trying to price oil in terms of either roubles or gold, and they’re having success with China doing that,” Hathaway said, noting that movement away from the U.S. dollar. “An interesting question

would be to what extent that vol ume is sapping the dollar as a trad ing currency. Certainly, that’s the intent of Russia and China given their leverage concerning oil.”

Effective hedge Amid all the geopolitical tension, Stöferle said gold was doing pre cisely what it’s supposed to do. “It’s protecting your purchasing power. It’s a great hedge against inflation. It works really well in most other currencies. In Japanese yen terms, it’s up 15%.” He added that a “bru tal bull market” in the U.S. dollar is acting like a “big wrecking ball through markets.

“So, we’ve got the strengthening

of the U.S. dollar, we’ve got quan titative tightening, and we’ve got a pretty aggressive Federal Reserve. Now, last year, interest rates were at 0%. This year, we’re heading up to 4%. So, we’ve seen a pretty big move in rates. “It was a pretty tough environment we have seen in capi tal markets in general, with about US$50 trillion wiped out since the beginning of the year,” akin to the combined GDP of China and the U.S. Stöferle noted.

“I would say that that’s a huge tornado. And I think it would be naive to believe that gold can com pletely decouple from financial markets and go to US$2,500 per ounce or whatever.”

Stöferle said that stagflationary phases are a particular challenge for investors.

“The classic mixed portfolio consisting of 60% stocks and 40% bonds has a diversification prob lem in times of falling stock prices and simultaneously rising bond yields due to the positive correla tion between stocks and bonds. Therefore, it needs a diversifier for the portfolio,” he said.

“And that portfolio hedge is gold because gold has usually risen strongly in these phases.”

According to Stöferle, in the short term, the commodity mar kets look overbought. “As long as the Federal Reserve makes no move to leave the path of interest rate hikes, the general environment for risk assets will remain difficult.

A turnaround in monetary pol icy or the pressing of the monetary policy pause button by the Federal Reserve will give the starting signal for the next upward cycle,” he said.

Gold equities on sale Hathaway noted that there are op portunities, with bargains abound ing in gold equities.

“I think owning companies that are producing cash right now is pretty important. And I think, gen erally speaking, that the industry is pretty healthy,” Hathaway said.

With gold miners’ average all-in sustaining costs at around US$1,200

to US$1,300 per oz., at a US$1,700plus gold price, nearly everybody is making money.

“You could say the industry is a value trap, but Ronald and I both say there’s a pathway for gold trad ing much higher. And that’s not (reflected) in the gold stocks,” Hathaway said.

He added that the most consid erable risk when he and his team consider gold equities is dilution to shareholders. “And this industry has been so guilty of that,” he said.

One of Sprott’s greatest suc cess stories involved Corvus Gold (TSX: KOR; NASDAQ: KOR), which kept a clean capital structure with a tight share count, he added. “I think we raised something like US$80 or US$90 million over a long time. And it became a three or four-bagger.

“I think that’s a model that the junior companies need to under stand and go with. But broadly speaking, the stocks are the cheap est I’ve seen in 20 years, both on an absolute basis relative to S&P stocks and the gold price itself,” Hathaway said.

Meanwhile, Stöferle pointed out that passive investing had become one of the most critical trends affecting gold equities. “Everybody just bought ETFs where you don’t need an active manager. However, I think you will have to be much more active over the next couple of quarters. You will have to trade. The bear market rallies, you’ll have to short to get out in time; you have to behave completely differ ent compared to the last cycles,” Stöferle said.

The Incrementum manager added he believes gold would become less of a ‘satellite’ asset in the future.

“I think people will realize that it should be a core asset. It should be inflation protection in your port folio, but I think it’s just starting. When I’m talking to most econ omists and asset managers, they still think the inflation is transitory. There’s a lot of wishful thinking out there,” Stöferle said. TNM

inclusion and help counter its neg ative image as “dirty and danger ous.”

Eye on the critical supply chain prize

While mining jobs already pay well, the critical mineral industry poten tially offers a bonanza of jobs and economic development.

The recent report “Canada’s New Economic Engine,” written by Clean Energy Canada and the Tril lium Network for Advanced Man ufacturing, estimates that in a base scenario where the Canadian gov ernment offers minimal assistance, the country’s EV battery supply chain could support 60,000 direct and indirect jobs and contribute $12 billion to national GDP.

In the ideal scenario, with gov ernment support, full manufactur ing capacity used for EVs and the addition of new mines and invest ments, the battery supply chain could support almost 250,000 direct and indirect jobs and add $59 billion to the economy by 2030.

However, the authors note that Canada’s battery supply chain “isn’t

going to come together just because a few big pieces are in place” and lay out six actions that must be taken if the country is to reach its potential.

Among those actions are build ing a workforce and overcoming such challenges as labour short ages, an aging labour pool, and the distances separating where highskilled workers live from where battery supply chain opportunities exist.

“Canada must develop new strategies to engage and mobilize big populations of skilled workers to realize Canada’s EV battery sup ply chain potential and keep pace with this booming industry,” the authors write. “This includes efforts to make Canada a top destination for global battery talent, new strat egies to attract and retain workers within Canada, and support for workers being displaced from other sectors in the energy transition.”

Critical skills gap

When it comes to a more familiar critical mineral, nickel, Canada is meeting its skill needs and attract ing young engineers, says Mark Selby, CEO of Canada Nickel (TSXV: CNC; US-OTC: CNIKF). He attributes that to Canada’s his

tory and experience as a top nickel producer.

However, more skilled workers are needed in the mineral process ing realm.

“We’ll need a huge amount of processing capacity to be built in North America… [and] more downstream processing that we haven’t really done for 30 or 40 years but we need to develop [it] for the market in the coming decade,” he said. “We need a lot more metal lurgists, a lot more mineral proces sors, more people who know how to maintain process plants.”

One educational solution to that shortage is what Selby calls a “time-definite permitting process.”

Once a company knows a pro

cessing project will come online in three to five years, it could approach students who are entering post-sec ondary education and encourage them to pursue programs that will qualify them for the needed roles.

“[Otherwise], if it’s going to be… 10 years before these mines and processing plants show up then you’re just not going to get those students to take the risk with some thing as valuable as their educa tion,” Selby explained.

Attracting young professionals

From the perspective of a new entrant to the industry, drawing more young professionals to the critical minerals field involves the same issues facing the perception

of mining in general.

Tyler Sieben, a miner at New crest’s (TSX: NCM) Red Chris gold-copper open pit mine near Dease Lake, B.C., says that while many people are excited about the possibilities of EVs and zero-emis sion technologies, they don’t see their connection with mining.

“People are interested in those green tech careers,” said Sieben, who graduated from the University of Alberta’s mining engineering program in 2020. “[But they] don’t necessarily associate mining with a solution, they see it as a dirty, older industry. There’s work to be done to shift perceptions on where we get the lithium and cobalt from that we need to power our EVs.”

The industry, Sieben believes, needs to find new ways of mak ing critical minerals industry jobs enticing.

“[We need] more awareness of our critical minerals strategy and what goes into it. People don’t know that our rare earths mostly come from China. It’s in the same sense that people don’t just go into software because they like to code, they also do it because they want to invent an app that can change the world.”

TNM

BEAVER CREEK | Gold doing ‘what it’s supposed to’ as hedge against rampant global inflation

Gold cooling after a pour.

PHOTO BY HENRY LAZENBY

TALENT from 1

Nouveau Monde Graphite’s purification plant in Bécancour, Que. NOUVEAU MONDE GRAPHITE

Lacklustre interest among youth a big problem for mining

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE

As a career choice, mining has seen better times.

As they contemplate their careers and enter post-secondary education, the focus of young peo ple has been on anything but min ing, which, in fact, ranked last in a list of nine career sectors in an Aba cus Data poll conducted in 2021 with the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR).

“We had Abacus Data poll 3,000 youth across the country on perceptions of work in different sectors,” said Ryan Montpellier, executive director of MiHR. “Only 11% of youth polled identified that they would be likely to work in the mining industry. We struggle at a base layer trying to attract youth to careers in the sector.”

The poll also found that 70% of youth polled “definitely” or “prob ably would not” consider pursuing mining. Health care, high tech and arts and culture were the top three most desirable sectors on the list.

Montpellier, who calls the cur rently tight labour market in min ing “somewhat dire,” attributes the lacklustre interest in mining among young people to several factors.

One is that most mining jobs are in rural and remote areas where there aren’t enough people to sup port large, industrial projects.

“We’re seeing an exodus from rural Canada into more urban locations, where the mining jobs aren’t,” he said.

Another is that young peo ple associate mining with images that are out of touch with how the industry actually works.

“A lot of the feedback that we received from youth about careers in mining is that they just had no clue,” Montpellier said. “Mining is not in their backyard. Their per ceptions of careers in mining were dated. They were based on stereo types from TV shows. So, we need to change that. There’s a communi cations issue there.”

He also thinks the image of min ing presented to young people is too often only from an environ mental activist perspective.

“[The MiHR is] trying to link what we value in society with the minerals and metals that we need. Everything that we have, be it elec tric vehicles, cell phones, transpor tation… all of that happens with minerals and metals, and Canada is quite fortunate that we have access to a rich array of minerals and met

als. Our industry is extracting them in the most environmentally sus tainable and stringent jurisdiction in the world. Canada is the place to do that.”

Increasing demand

The waning interest in min ing comes at an awkward time as the industry will face increasing demand for labour and talent in the coming years.

The MiHR’s “Canadian Mining Labour Market Report”, published in 2020 said the mining industry will need about 79,680 new hires between 2020 and 2030 in its base line employment outlook scenario, and 113,130 in an expansionary scenario.

Most of those required new hires will be needed to replace workers retiring from the industry.

The extraction and milling sub-sectors of mining are pro jected to experience hiring gaps in all occupational categories, with the largest shortages forecast in trades occupations (830 jobs) and all other occupations (1,630 jobs).

Responding to that report, Montpellier said that for some in-demand occupations, the min ing world needs to increase its share of heavy equipment opera tors and mechanics.

But for more mining-specific roles, he said he believes the indus try needs to play a bigger role in helping the post-secondary edu cation system attract more future miners.

One way it’s trying to do that is with its National Youth Min ing Career Awareness Strategy to address perceptions about the industry and its “We Need Mining, Mining Needs You” campaign.

If efforts to draw more young people into the industry aren’t suc cessful, Montpellier said talent will have to come from outside of Can

ada, a switch from the country’s tra ditional reputation as an “exporter” of mining talent.

“We’ve had people come here to work and then they go home with that expertise. But maybe there is more we can do to keep them here,” he said.

Promoting mining for youth, diverse candidates

Although three generations of his family have worked in mining, recent geology graduate Pierre-Ol ivier Leroux can understand why many young people aren’t gravitat ing towards the industry.

What many youth today learn about mining reflects outdated per spectives, said Leroux, who gradu ated with a degree in geology from the University of Laval in Quebec City last May.

He now works as a mineral tech nology professor at Thetford Mines Cegep in Thetford, Que.

“When we hear about mining we hear about the vast amounts of money put into the projects and there’s always bad press about the environmental part. People have images from the 1970s and they think that things work the same way now but it’s not true,” he said.

In addition to the environment, proper work-life balance is also very important for millennials, even more than high salaries, Ler oux said.

That’s where he believes the industry can do more to meet the needs of future miners if the job entails going to the far north where the mines are.

“You really have to insist on how to accommodate someone who wants kids. It’s an issue. Not all young mining professionals are the same. The (companies) should work with those potential candi dates. They should ask them what would make them come here? But

it’s a hard one for sure,” he said.

Montpellier also acknowledges that the industry needs to do more to attract people of colour, Indige nous people, new Canadians and especially women.

“We know it’s a challenge,” he said, noting that a 2022 report from MiHR found women made up only 16% of undergraduate mining engi neering enrolments between 2016 and 2020. That puts the field in the bottom half of female represen tation in engineering, along with electrical, computer and mechan ical; although metallurgical and geological engineering had higher enrolment rates.

“You factor in the aging work force, remote mines, lack of diver sity — it leads to a perfect storm of an extremely tight labour market and a historically low unemploy ment rate in our sector,” he said. “I think part of the solution here is changing the culture of the indus try to make it more inclusive and open and attract more diverse tal ent. But also ensuring we’re attract ing more diverse talent into the university system as well.”

While representation of women in mining engineering in recent years is relatively low, progress has been made in recent decades.

Industry veteran Pat Dillon has witnessed important changes in her more than 32-year career in mining, which saw her become president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) from 2006 to 2008 and was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame in 2021.

She also serves as president and CEO of PDAC Mining Matters, an organization that has provided edu cational resources promoting min eral literacy to more than 800,000 students and teachers in Canada, in English, French and several Indige nous languages.

In a phone interview with The Northern Miner, Dillon noted that while mining disciplines have never attracted many female stu dents, women made up as little as 4% of students around 20 years ago.

“I know when I was at school studying geology there were women in the earth sciences geo logical program but there were very few in mining engineering,” she noted about her time at the Univer sity of Toronto, where she earned a B.Sc. in geology in 1974.

“I’m not going to sugar coat it. There’s a long, long way to go.”

Dillon says she’s encouraged

that the increasing representation of women in mining — however modest — will spur more women to enter the field because once they start seeing “like individuals” hav ing success, they’ll start to see a career in the industry as an option.

Scope of the problem

Educational data further bears out the declining interest in mining.

Between 2010 and 2020, enrol ment at all post-secondary levels across Canada for mining engi neering programs rose from a low of 1,227 students in 2010/2011 to a high of 2,049 in 2014/2015, accord ing to data from Statistics Canada. Enrolment then dipped to 1,311 in 2019/2020. Information for years preceding 2010 was not available.

Looking at the 2014 to 2020 period, Montpellier said a “clear pat tern of a decline in total enrolment” is evident in mining engineering, with enrolment falling by 42%.

Montpellier also noted that while mining engineering enrol ment declined in those years, more students were registering for other engineering fields.

StatsCan data shows that total enrolment numbers in engineering sat at 91,947 in 2010 and increased each subsequent year, reaching 131,613 in 2019/2020.

Although mining hasn’t had the lowest enrolment numbers out of all engineering fields — such as rel atively niche fields like agricultural or marine engineering — many thousands of fewer students are signing up for mining than con ventional fields like general engi neering, chemical, civil, electrical or mechanical.

Graduation numbers in mining engineering are even lower.

Between 2010 to 2019, the year with the lowest number of gradu ates was 2010 when 246 graduated. Numbers rose steadily to a high of 498 in 2016, then fell gradually to 393 in 2019.

With geological and earth sci ences, enrolment rates have been significantly higher than mining engineering. Between 2010 and 2020, enrolment climbed from 5,775 in 2010 to its decade peak of 6,696 in 2014/2015, before declining to its lowest level of 4,797 in 2019/2020.

The number of students who ended up graduating in those fields has been noticeably lower. The decade opened at its lowest grad uation level of 1,191, then climbed to 1,728 in 2017 before dipping to 1,386 in 2019.

HUMAN RESOURCES | ‘More diversity, accurate images’ of mining needed to draw young people

Pierre-Olivier Leroux, centre, leads an outing with his topometry class at the Adstock quarry, near Thetford Mines, Que., in September. PIERRE-OLIVIER LEROUX

“YOU REALLY HAVE TO INSIST ON HOW TO ACCOMMODATE SOMEONE WHO WANTS KIDS. IT’S AN ISSUE. NOT ALL YOUNG MINING PROFESSIONALS ARE THE SAME. THE (COMPANIES) SHOULD WORK WITH THOSE POTENTIAL CANDIDATES. THEY SHOULD ASK THEM WHAT WOULD MAKE THEM COME HERE?”

PIERRE-OLIVIER LEROUX TECHNOLOGY TEACHER AND RECENT GEOLOGY GRAD

Trevali CEO resigns after two managers convicted of involuntary manslaughter

BURKINA FASO | Exodus of Grimbeek, two senior executives come as TSX de-listing looms

Atlantic Lithium forecasts

in revenue from Ghana project

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Trevali Mining’s (TSX: TV) president and chief executive Ricus Grimbeek has left the company following a Burkina Faso court’s verdict that found two em ployees guilty of involuntary man slaughter.

The convictions are related to a tragic incident at the Canadian company’s Perkoa zinc mine in the west African nation caused by a flash flood in April, which trapped and killed eight miners.

South African Hein Frey was fined $3,000 and given a suspended 24-month prison sentence. Aus tralian Daryl Christensen, who worked for contracting company Byrnecut, was handed a 12-month suspended sentence and fined $1,500.

In addition to Grimbeek, who is the former head of Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Sudbury operations, Trev ali’s chief operating officer Derek du Preez and director Dan Isserow also resigned, the company said in a news release late on Sept. 16.

The struggling miner has also begun a court-approved sales pro cess for its 90% interest in the Rosh Pinah zinc-lead-silver mine, in

Namibia, and its fully owned Cari bou mine, in New Brunswick.

Unseasonal, heavy rainfall caused flash floods on Apr. 16 that left eight workers missing under ground at the Perkoa mine.

Trevali spent the next two months pumping out about 137 million litres of water. Equipment had to be imported from other countries, including Ghana and South Africa, raising questions about the company’s preparedness for disasters.

Operations at the underground mine, which produced about 316.2 million lb. of zinc in 2021, have been halted since the incident and Trevali has suspended its produc tion and cost guidance for 2022 for Perkoa.

Earlier in September, the Van couver-based company announced it was delisting from the Toronto Stock Exchange, effective Oct. 3 after close. The decision came after the company filed an applica tion for creditor protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Trading is also expected to stop on the Lima Stock Exchange, OTCQX and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. TNM

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

Atlantic Lithium (AIM: ALL), an Australia-based miner seeking to unlock electric car battery resources in West Africa, said its proposed operation in Ghana will gener ate nearly US$5 billion in revenue over its 12.5-year lifespan.

The Ewoyaa project, about 120 km west of the capital, Accra, has a net present value of US$1.3 billion at a discount rate of 8%, according to a prefeasibility study released on Sept. 22. The study pegs the inter nal rate of return at 244% and aver age annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortiza tion at US$248 million. Estimated free cash flow is US$2 billion.

However, the study lowered the project’s production estimate and increased its capex require ment. Ewoyaa now aims to pro cess 225,000 tonnes a year of 6% lithium spodumene concentrate beginning in the third quarter of 2024, the company said. That’s down from 300,000 tonnes a year previously because a coarser crushing unit is forecast to reduce recoveries to 62.5% from 68.5%.

The capital cost increases to US$125 million from US$70 mil lion because the company is bring ing processing in-house instead of contracting out, according to the study. Other costs included a lon ger high-voltage power line and inflation, the company said.

A 2-million-tonne-a-year dense media separation (DMS) plant will tap proven and probable reserves of 18.9 million tonnes at 1.24% lithium oxide. The project also hosts inferred resources of 9.6 mil lion tonnes at 1.19% lithium oxide.

“Ewoyaa benefits from sim ple mineralogy, low power and water consumption, a DMS-only process flow-sheet design, skilled workforce and proximity to oper ational infrastructure, including grid power, sealed road and deep-

sea port,” Atlantic Lithium interim chief executive officer Lennard Kolff said in a press release. “These fundamentals are arguably among the best in the world and enable a low carbon footprint project.”

On the study’s release, Canac cord Genuity Capital Markets kept its speculative buy rating on the stock, noting the capex increase for on-site crushing would keep oper ating expenses of US$278 a tonne in line with analysts’ estimates.

“Economic fundamentals re main attractive for the project, with only two major undeveloped hard rock projects [being] less cap ital intensive,” analysts Alexander Bedwany and Reg Spencer wrote in a note on Sept. 22. They cited Grota do Cirilo in Brazil and Gou lamina in Mali as the other two.

“The estimated construction time remains 12 months (in line with our current assumption),” they said. “While the (study) assumes a 12.5-year mine life, we strongly believe this will be extended as exploration activity leads to resource expansion and reserve conversion.”

The company, which also has two lithium concession applica tions pending in neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire, is riding the ris ing demand for electric car bat teries made with lithium. Auto manufacturers around the world are switching over from fossil

GoviEx Uranium feasibility projects 19-year

US$343M capex for Madaouela

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

GoviEx Uranium (TSXV: GXU) says its feasibility study for a mine in the West African country of Niger shows it may earn US$1.6 billion over its 19-year life.

Production is forecast at 50.8 million lb. of U3O8 over the life of the mine, averaging nearly 2.7 mil lion lb. a year, the Vancouver-based company said in a press release on Sept. 20.

GoviEx described the project, called Madaouela, as one of the world’s largest uranium resources, with 100 million lb. of U3O8 in measured and indicated mineral resources, plus inferred resources of 20 million pounds.

“The (feasibility study) confirms the strength of the Madaouela proj ect and its ability to deliver good economic results at a time when inflationary pressures are having a significant impact on the develop ment of new projects and operating mines,” GoviEx executive chair

man Govind Friedland said. “We maintain our projection to be able to start producing in 2025, subject to project financing.”

The open pit and underground mine has a price tag of US$343 mil

lion. Using a U3O8 price of US$65 per lb. and a molybdenum price of US$11 per lb., the after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) is estimated at US$140 mil lion and the internal rate of return at 13.3%.

The estimate of nearly US$1.6 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortiza tion is based on an average annual rate of US$82.6 million and net free cash flow of US$672 million, the company said.

The project has the poten tial to elevate Niger from near the bottom of the world’s main ura nium producers, which are led by Kazakhstan, Canada and Austra lia, according to the United States Energy Information Administra tion (EIA). Global production is shy of 50 million lb. a year, although some production data is withheld

fuels and countries are targeting zero-emissions goals to fight cli mate change.

Atlantic Lithium made a switch of its own a year ago, changing its name from IronRidge Resources and spinning off its gold interests — also focused on Africa — into a new unlisted company, Ricca Resources.

Ewoyaa’s operating costs include a discount of US$165 per tonne for byproducts such as feldspar, the study shows. It used a long-term average spodumene (SC6) price of US$1,359 a tonne while noting that equivalent grades have been as high as US$7,708 a tonne on the Pilbara Minerals BMX platform.

“Every US$100 a tonne increase in the SC6 price forecast results in an additional 9% increase to the post-tax net present value, high lighting the significant potential value uplift to the project,” Kolff said.

The project is supported by a US$103-million investment from Belmont, North Carolina-based Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ: PLL), a miner with projects in Ten nessee, Quebec and its home state.

“We are excited to continue advancing the Ewoyaa Lithium project through the next stages of studies and permitting towards production,” Kolff said. “The resource infill and extensional drilling program underway is nearing completion.” TNM

for corporate privacy, the EIA says.

“With two permitted mines in two mining-friendly jurisdictions, the backdrop of a strengthening uranium market, we are well posi tioned to become a uranium pro ducer,” GoviEx chief executive officer Daniel Major said, adding that the company also has “huge exploration potential upside.”

Madaouela hosts proven and probable reserves of 5.4 million tonnes grading 0.87 kg per tonne U3O8 and 123.1 parts per million molybdenum for 12.3 million lbs. uranium oxide and 664 tonnes molybdenum.

Measured resources at Mad aouela stand at 13.7 million tonnes grading 0.85 kg per tonne for 30.1 million lb., with indicated resources at 20.8 million tonnes grading 1.24 kg per tonne for 66.8 million lb. U3O8

GoviEx shares were trading at 23¢ in Toronto at press time, in a 52-week range of 21¢ and 52¢. The company has a market cap of $137 million.

The Perkoa zinc mine in Burkina Faso.

NIGER | Miner expects to start production as soon as 2025

GoviEx Uranium personnel at the Madaouela uranium property in Niger.

GOVIEX URANIUM

Atlantic Lithium’s Ewoyaa deposit in Ghana. ATLANTIC LITHIUM

Manitoba juniors look to capitalize on lithium fever

BY JAMES SNELL SPECIAL TO THE NORTHERN MINER

Withlithium prices at a record high — around US$71,000 a tonne for lithium carbonate — and demand for green technology surging, a cadre of exploration and develop ment companies is looking to Man itoba as a source for the essential battery metal — and governments are signalling their approval.

Snow Lake Lithium (NAS DAQ: LITM), which is drilling and expanding historical spodu mene pegmatite deposits on its 223.8-sq.-km Thompson Broth ers project in northwest Mani toba, is leading the charge. It plans to enter production by 2026 using the province’s 99% renewable hydroelectric power grid.

Since its 2022 drilling campaign began in January, Snow Lake has completed over 20,000 metres of drilling, tripling the amount of drilling that will be used in its next resource update. Drill hole GRP027 intersected spodumene-bear ing pegmatite from 39.4 metres to 69 metres. Spodumene content of the dyke is estimated at 20%. Assay results are expected in the fall.

In May, the company announced winter drilling results from the northeast extension of its Thomp son Brothers deposit, which contains multiple spodumene peg matite dykes. The best intercept was 1.49% Li2O (lithium oxide) over 34.5 metres starting from a depth of 233 metres. Another drill hole returned 1.52% Li2O over 18 metres, starting from 21 metres.

The project hosts a resource (compliant with U.S. SEC stan dards) of 11.1 million indicated and inferred tonnes grading 1% Li2O.

In late September, Snow Lake announced a non-binding agree ment with South Korea’s LG Energy to explore building a lith ium hydroxide processing plant in Winnipeg. The memorandum of understanding also includes a 10-year lithium supply agreement that would start in 2025.

The deal is part of a growing interest in Canada by EV and bat tery manufacturers. In August, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen signed cooperation agreements with the federal government to source lithium, cobalt, and other green technology materials.

Ahead of the announcement, CEO Philip Gross told The North

NATURAL RESOURCES

Trusted. Independent. Committed.

ern Miner in mid-September that Snow Lake was looking at develop ing a facility outside Winnipeg to process lithium concentrate into commercial grade lithium prod ucts — hoping to work with end users from start to finish.

“We are looking at building a plant there because there are no hydroxide plants in North Amer

Above: Snow Lake Lithium’s namesake project in Manitoba. SNOW LAKE LITHIUM

Left: Members of the Foremost Lithium team at the Jean Lake lithium project.

FOREMOST LITHIUM RESOURCES/TWITTER

ica today — and that’s what’s truly needed in the regional mar ket as part of the supply chain pro cess, alongside the lithium mined, to deliver on the promise of the electric vehicle and electrification movement.”

Gross, who says he meets regu larly with provincial government leadership, is trying to advance the project as quickly as possible to meet industry needs. However, the company has not yet completed any economic studies. At the same time as it works towards a resource update, it has also engaged consul tants to complete an initial assess ment and then prefeasibility study.

“We are doing all the envi ronmental baseline studies,” said Gross, as well as metallurgical and other studies. “The real value here is being able to bring product to market, so we are working fever ishly to achieve that. We’ve had between two and three drills work ing constantly.”

Brothers project. The company, with a 174-sq.-km land package, has many spodumene pegmatite showings and has been flying mag surveys combined with soil geo chemistry to delineate targets for winter drilling.

“There are a lot of magnetic lows out there,” said geologist and VP of exploration Mark Fedikow. “And you could spend a billion dol lars if you tried to drill all of them. So, what we have done is sampled the soils overtop of the mag lows. And we’ve come up with targets based on a mag low and anomalous mobile metal ion responses for lith ium, cesium, rubidium, and nio bium — the related elements.”

Foremost and Snow Lake strad dle a structure that controls spodu mene-bearing pegmatite deposits in the area, said Fedikow, add ing the companies freely exchange information. In 2021, Foremost was awarded a $300,000 Manitoba Mineral Development Fund grant to support its exploration.

“The main structure in the area that focuses the spodumene-bear ing pegmatite dykes is called the Crow Duck Bay Fault, and that fault is occupied by the Grass River,” he said. “So that is the focal point for the development of the pegma tite dykes as far as we can tell. Both Snow Lake Lithium and we strad dle that structure and have picked up properties in the area.”

Foremost is also financed for winter drilling, said Fedikow.

“We are just about ready to list on the NASDAQ,” he said.

Other active juniors

New Age Metals (TSXV: NAM) in partnership with Australia’s Min eral Resources Ltd. (ASX: MIN) recently announced the start of its first drill program at its Lithium One project, roughly 140 km north east of Winnipeg. The property is in the Winnipeg River pegmatite field, which hosts the Tanco pegmatite. The 1,000-metre planned drill pro gram will target a down-dip exten sion of the Silverleaf pegmatite, which has yielded samples of up to 4.33% Li2O.

Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire mining life cycle

Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire mining life cycle.

Manitoba’s lithium potential Currently there are at least six com panies actively exploring for lithium in Manitoba and one producer, said geologist Mostafa Fayek, director of the Earth Materials and Archae ometry Centre at the University of Manitoba. The Tanco mine in southeast Manitoba, operated by Sinomine Resource Group, a Chi nese company, is the only operating lithium mine in the province. Tanco produces cesium, tantalum and is known for its high grades, in the range of 2.7% lithium oxide.

“Now people have woken up to the fact that we need critical met als, and Manitoba and Canada are well endowed with them,” said Fayek, noting Tanco sits in a region replete with pegmatites enriched with lithium and other commercial elements – including uranium.

Silverleaf is a shallow dipping highly fractionated lithium-bear ing pegmatite that has been traced by shallow diamond drilling and trenching along strike for roughly 170 metres with a maximum width of about 30 metres.”

In July, Grid Metals (TSXV: GRDM) announced drill results from its 75%-held Donner Lake lithium property in southeastern Manitoba. Highlights from the final holes of the 18-hole program completed at the Northwest Dyke earlier this year included 7.3 metres averaging 1.17% Li2O, including 2.1 metres at 1.92%, 5.5 metres of 1.49% Li2O, including 3 metres at 2.41%, and 4.7 metres averaging 1% Li2O, including 1.7 metres at 1.57%. The dyke averages 4 to 8 metres wide and has been traced along 600 metres of strike length, and to depths of 50 to 250 metres. Toron to-based Lithium Royalty Corp. Holds 25% of Donner Lake. TNM

SGS IS THE WORLD’S LEADING INSPECTION, VERIFICATION, TESTING AND CERTIFICATION COMPANY WWW.SGS.COM/NATURALRESOURCES NAM.NATURALRESOURCES@SGS.COM James Snell is a natural resources journalist and former geological consultant based in Calgary.

Foremost Lithium (CSE: FAT) is in the middle of an explora tion program on properties adja cent to Snow Lake’s Thompson

EXPLORATION | Snow Lake Lithium, LG, exploring potential for lithium hydroxide plant in Winnipeg

As sentiment turns in favour of nuclear energy, Fission preps for Q4 feasibility

BY ALISHA HIYATE

Fission Uranium (TSX: FCU) discovered the Triple R ura nium deposit at its Patterson Lake South (PLS) project in Sas katchewan in 2012 — a year after the Fukushima nuclear plant disas ter in Japan decimated the uranium market.

But following a decade in the “wilderness,” uranium stocks are now finally on the upswing, bene fitting from growing recognition of nuclear energy’s place in limiting global temperature rises, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and countries’ looming net zero goals targeted between 2030 and 2050.

“A few years ago, you were always trying to convince people they should be contrarian and look forward, but they really couldn’t see their way out of the weeds,” said Fission CEO Ross McElroy in mid-September.

“When we talk to investors now, there is rarely anybody that I have to convince that nuclear’s the place to be and that it plays a key role in the energy mix and particularly in green energy.”

The Sprott Physical Uranium Trust Fund, launched in mid2021 has helped support uranium prices, while Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has stoked efforts to source the critical energy metal from friendly sources. Japan’s announcement that it will renew its investment in nuclear power, as well as similar moves from other countries, have solidified that pos itive sentiment.

This, just as the company pre pares to complete a feasibility study for the project by the end of the year.

It will build on a positive 2019 prefeasibility study that outlined a capex of $1.2 billion for an under ground mine with a life of 7.3 years. The operation would produce 11.3 million lb. U3O8 per year at low operating costs of US$7.18 per lb.

Despite its short mine life and large capex, the study forecast a 25% internal rate of return after taxes, using a long-term uranium price of US$50 per lb. The net pres ent value (at an 8% discount rate) was $702 million.

One major difference in the upcoming feasibility study will be a longer mine life. Based on a resource update released in September that incorporated 175 drill holes com pleted over the last three years, the mine life in the feasibility study is likely to be extended (by around two years, according to a recent research

note from Katie Lachappelle, a min ing analyst at Canaccord Genuity).

The update brought resources in the R840W zone into the indicated cat egory, which will bring a third zone into the mine plan, adding 11.2 mil lion lb. uranium oxide. It also bulked up the largest of the five zones at Tri ple R – R780E.

Indicated resources stand at 2.7 million tonnes grading 1.94% U3O8 and 0.61 gram gold per tonne for 114.9 million lb. U3O8 and 52,700 oz. gold. Inferred resources are 635,000 tonnes at 1.1% U3O8 for 15.4 million lb.

Overall, indicated resources rose by 21.3%, with only a small decline in grade (from 2.1% U3O8).

Another factor that will be incor porated into the feasibility study is the inflationary environment.

While high inflation has resulted in escalating price tags for large gold and copper mines under construc tion, McElroy said the project’s smaller footprint should temper the impact of inflation on PLS. “This is a small tonnes per day operation. There’s not a lot of steel and equip ment,” he said.

The expected timing of the start of construction three or four years down the road would also have to be considered.

The uranium price could also be higher. The previous study used a long-term price of US$50 per lb., although uranium was trading at around US$28 per lb. at the time.

While McElroy says that the cur rent price, at just above US$50 per lb., is still well below the incentive price, he believes the market will continue to improve.

“I think that the price of uranium is going to be right where [we] want it to be when this does become an operating mine,” said McElroy, who spoke from Europe shortly after attending the World Nuclear Symposium in London in Septem ber — an event he described as the most optimistic in his 15 years of attending.

The company has started the environmental assessment pro cess and is planning on a 36-month timeline for permitting. It hopes to start construction in 2026, followed by production in 2029.

It recently signed engagement and communication agreements with both the Buffalo River Dene First Nation and Ya’thi Néné Lands and Resources Office, which rep resents the Athabasca Nations and communities of the Nuhenéné.

Previous feedback from local First Nations communities resulted in

one major change in the proposed project – making it a fully under ground mine rather than open pit and underground as originally pro posed in a preliminary economic assessment.

“The local communities defi nitely prefer to see an underground mine as opposed to a surface, and we actually are in a position where you have the flexibility to mine it either way,” McElroy said. Although the deposit is shallow, starting at only 50 metres, open pit mining would have cost about $100 million more, he said, because two of the deposits are located under a lake and would require a berm to be constructed for access.

Development partners

While PLS, located about 150 km north of La Loche, Sask., appears to be a strong project, it won’t be cheap to build. As a junior with a sub-$500-million market cap, Fis sion is open to developing it on its own, or bringing in a strategic partner or larger mining company, McElroy says.

The company already has an offtake agreement for up to 35% of its production with Hong Konglisted CGN Mining. In a deal that closed in early 2016, CGN invested $82 million in Fission for a 19.99% equity stake. CGN is controlled by China General Nuclear Power Corp.

McElroy acknowledges that rela tions between Canada and China have chilled considerably since that deal. However, he still sees CGN as a good partner.

“There might be a bit more ten sion on an international basis between Canada and China, but on a company level between us and our Chinese partner, there’s no chilling of the relationship. We have a good, strong working rela tionship,” he said.

“The Chinese story still impresses me a great deal,” he added. “They’re one of the most aggressive builders of nuclear reactors worldwide — that was always a compelling story six years ago, and it’s still a compel ling story right now.”

CGN hasn’t sold shares since its initial investment, but its own ership has been diluted to around 14% as it hasn’t participated in sub sequent financings. The deal also gave it the right to nominate two members to Fission’s board, which was increased to nine members.

In 2012, Canada and China signed an agreement, supplement ing a 1994 Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy

agreement that allowed China to buy Canadian uranium. With uranium having been designated a critical mineral and the more adversarial relationship that has developed since then, it’s not clear whether this will change.

In a more near-term consider ation, there is potential to reduce costs at PLS by sharing infrastruc ture with NexGen Energy (TSX: NXE), which is developing its $1.3-billion Arrow project only 3 km away. NexGen has already started the permitting process for the project, which is located on the same trend as Arrow, and is expected to produce around 29 million lb. of U3O8 per year over 11 years. No formal discussions have taken place, however. McElroy also doesn’t rule out a merger between the companies — if it makes sense for Fission shareholders.

With the growing push for clean energy globally and the limited pool of uranium miners, McElroy believes PLS could attract a for ward-thinking, commodity agnos tic miner as an investor or acquirer.

“A uranium deposit like this is not entirely different than gold mining a vein-hosted, greenstone

belt mine, in fact they look very similar.”

Discovery potential

When Fission made its initial dis covery at PLS, located about 8 km southwest of the Athabasca Basin margin a decade ago, it set off a staking rush in a new region.

“Prior to our discovery, nobody thought there was any uranium in that area at all — it really wasn’t on anybody’s radar,” said McElroy, who shared The Northern Miner’s person of the year award in 2013 with then-Fission exec Dev Rand hawa for the achievement, and also received Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s Bill Den nis award for exploration success in 2014. “It really changed the whole focus of where people are looking and even how they were looking.”

With the PLS land package mea suring 310 sq. km — about five times the size of the island of Man hattan — McElroy believes there’s more to be discovered.

“The potential for more than one Triple R type deposit on our prop erty is pretty high, so we’ll start kicking off exploration again at some point.” TNM

URANIUM | PLS project in Saskatchewan boasted strong economics in 2019 PFS

The exploration camp at Fission Uranium’s Patterson Lake South project in Saskatchewan.

FISSION URANIUM

Barge drilling at Fission Uranium’s Patterson Lake South project. FISSION URANIUM

Foran Mining’s ambitous net zero plans for McIlvenna Bay attract investors

SASKATCHEWAN | Recent M&A shows copper projects in demand

BY KELSEY ROLFE SPECIAL TO THE NORTHERN MINER

Vancouver-based

Foran Min ing’s (TSXV: FOM) execu tive chairman and CEO Dan Myerson doesn’t want to build just one mine. He has designs on creat ing Canada’s next copper mining camp in the Prairies.

Foran has had a busy year as it advances the McIlvenna Bay cop per-zinc-gold project in Saskatche wan, which it says will be the world’s first zero-carbon operation. It released a positive feasibility study for the project in February that out lined a long-life underground mine producing 38.8 million lb. copper, 63.6 million lb. zinc, 20,000 oz. of gold and 486,000 oz. of silver annu ally for its first 15 years. It received its permits for an advanced explo ration decline to do bulk sampling for metallurgical testing, which Myerson told The Northern Miner has so far confirmed the company’s assumed mineralogy and metal lurgy for the project.

In July, the company inked a deal with Sandvik to supply it with an electric battery underground vehicle fleet. A month later it announced an investment from a major Canadian pension fund.

It has also put out a flurry of pos itive drill results over the course of the year. In June the company reported a near-mine discovery at its Tesla zone, where it encountered 200 metres of continuous massive and disseminated sulphides with 12.4 metres at 1.8% copper equiv alent, including 1.2 metres at 8.3% copper equivalent and 5.4 metres at 3.3% copper equivalent among its initial assay results. Also in June, it reported positive assay results from its Bigstone and Marconi sites, including an intercept of 21 metres at 3.6 % copper.

Myerson said the company has chosen to be aggressive with con tinued exploration to build its longterm project pipeline. “We’re trying to create the next copper mining camp in Canada. So to do that you have to start exploration now, and we’ve ramped that up,” he said.

Meanwhile, Foran is targeting

The camp at Foran Mining’s McIlvenna Bay polymetallic project in Saskatchewan. FORAN MINING

its flagship McIlvenna Bay, located along the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, for production in late 2024. The project has probable reserves of 25.7 million tonnes at 2.51% cop per equivalent.

According to the feasibility study, McIlvenna Bay has an aftertax net present value of close to $1.1 billion (at a 7% discount rate), an internal rate of return of 22% and a 4.5-year after-tax payback period at base case prices of US$3.50 per lb copper, US$1.20 per lb. lead and US$1,600 per oz. gold. The initial capital investment was pegged at $368 million with life-of-mine sus taining capital at $481 million.

Zero-carbon mine

The company’s ambitious goal of developing a zero-carbon mine has been made easier thanks to access to renewable hydropower through the provincial grid and a deposit that is amenable to underground mining — even though Myerson noted the company had the option

to mine it as an open pit for the first few years. Foran, which has a mar ket capitalization of $540 million, has since 2011 planned to offset its exploration emissions by purchas

ing carbon credits.

The Sandvik equipment order includes electric battery under ground drills, trucks and loaders for development and production,

which Myerson said would allow the company to save on ventila tion costs.

Vital Metals opens rare earths processing plant in Saskatoon on EV highway

SASKATCHEWAN | Facility further extends supply chain from Nechalacho mine in NWT

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

Australia’s

Vital Metals

(ASX: VML), the first pro ducer of rare earth miner als in Canada, opened during the third week of September a process ing facility in Saskatoon that will feed into the global demand for minerals used in electric vehicles.

processed metals to Schaeffler Group near Nuremberg, Ger many, to build electric motors for EVs, Vital said.

EXPLORING WESTERN CANADA’S UNTAPPED LITHIUM POTENTIAL

Focused on supplying lithium into the rapidly developing electricity-powered economy. We focus on lithium extraction from the production of subsurface brines, where Western Canada’s potential remains undeveloped.

The 3,000-sq.-metre plant will refine ore from Vital’s Nechalacho project in the Northwest Territo ries into a high-purity, mixed rare earth carbonate product, the com pany said. The mine, operated by Vital’s Yellowknife-based subsidi ary Cheetah Resources began pro ducing in June 2021.

The product will be exported to REEtec in Norway and to a United States unit of Halifax-based Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV: UCU; US-OTC: UURAF) for further refining into individual mag netic rare earth metals, Vital said. The agreement with REEtec pro vides for the option of supplying as much as 5,000 tonnes per year of rare earth oxides except cerium for a period of more than a decade.

In turn, REEtec will ship the

Schaeffler, a global automotive and industrial supplier with €13.9 billion in revenue last year, has developed its products in concept cars for EV markets in Europe, North America, China and India, including an experimental Audi model.

Vital’s interim chief executive officer Russell Bradford lauded the new plant’s role in the expanding rare earth supply chain at a cere mony on Sept. 20 with some 200 industry leaders and community and government officials.

“We are intensely proud of what everyone has achieved to date,” Bradford said in a news release.

“The foundations have been laid for a great future for all our stake holders to develop our rare earth business.”

The Tardiff zones of the Necha lacho deposit, located 110 km southeast of Yellowknife, contain an inferred resource of 1.3 mil lion tonnes at 2.2% total rare earth oxides at 0.3% neodymium oxide.

The bastnaesite subzone of the North T Zone has an indicated resource of 33,000 tonnes averag ing 7.8% light rare earth oxides for 2,574 tonnes of light rare earth oxides, according to the company. It calls it one of the world’s high est-grade rare earth projects.

Cheetah has its land use per mits and water licence for the Nechalacho project, according to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board (MVLWB), the reg ulatory authority of the N.W.T. The MVLWB classifies Nechala cho as a demonstration project. Vital acquired the near-surface resources at Nechalacho from Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX: AVL; US-OTC: AVLNF) in 2019. Avalon retains ownership of resources beneath 150 metres depth.

Vital is awaiting a mining licence for the Wigu Hill rare earths project in Tanzania, and has suspended exploration at the Nahouri gold project in Burkina Faso and the Aue cobalt project about 110 km southwest of Dres den, Germany, according to the company’s 2021 annual report.

TSX.V: GRD.V

By linking a ceremonial chain representing the global rare earth supply chain, Vital Metals CEO Russell Bradford (centre with tie) and guests officially unveiled Vital’s Saskatoon Rare Earth Processing Plant on Sept 20. VITAL METALS/BILL BRADEN

PRAIRIES SNAPSHOT: EIGHT COMPANIES TO WATCH

BY CARL A. WILLIAMS

Manitoba and Saskatchewan consistently rank top among the world’s premier jurisdictions for mining and mineral exploration. The following are eight companies with operations in the prairie provinces.

n APPIA RARE EARTHS & URANIUM

Toronto-headquartered Appia Rare Earths & Uranium (CSE: API; US-OTC; APAAF) is explor ing for rare earth elements (REEs) as well as gallium and uranium in Saskatchewan.

In July, Appia announced the completion of the first phase of its 2022 exploration and drill program on the 100%-owned Alces Lake high-grade REEs and gallium prop erty in the prolific Athabasca Basin area in the north of the province.

The company drilled 100 holes for a record metreage of 1,740.9 metres in a record time of four-and-a-half months on the 27-sq.-km property, which lies north of Lake Athabasca and the Athabasca Basin, about 34 km east of Uranium City and 135 km west of Stony Rapids.

The drilling, Appia said, included additional delineation drilling on the high-grade mineralization in the WRCB discovery, where a total of 37 holes were drilled, including previously undrilled monazite tar gets at Danny and Wilson/Wilson North (adjacent to WRCB), ini tial delineation drilling of 44 holes (7,344 metres) on discoveries at Magnet Ridge (formerly Augier) and Magnet Ridge West, and ini tial drilling on highly prospective anomalies at West Limb.

The new drilling at WRCB extended the trend of the REE mineralization by approximately 120 metres along strike for a total of 280 metres of strike-length min eralization, which remains open to the northwest and southeast, said Appia.

Frederick Kozak, the company’s president, noted in a July 26 press release that building on the team’s experience in 2021, the company got an early start in March on the 2022 drill program. “Kudos to the entire team of drillers, help ers, camp support and the geology team for this record accomplish ment,” he said. “Appia drilled more than double the 2021 metreage in less time than the previous year’s program. We have accomplished all of our initial phase drilling goals and now eagerly await assay results to plan the next phase of drilling.”

Appia Rare Earths & Uranium has a market cap of $16.6 million.

n BASELODE ENERGY

Baselode Energy (TSXV: FIND, US-OTC: BSENF) is a Canadian uranium exploration company looking for the next world-class deposit in the Athabasca Basin area of northern Saskatchewan.

Based in Toronto, the company holds 1,590 sq. km of highly pro spective land covering three proj ects in the area — Catharsis, Hook, and Shadow.

In September, Baselode an nounced assay results from an additional 28 drill holes of a com

pleted 22,500-metre diamond drill program on the ACKIO high-grade uranium discovery on Hook. The property encompasses 420 sq. km adjacent to the Athabasca Basin, approximately 40 km southeast of the McArthur River mine, 60 km northeast of the Key Lake uranium mill, and 16 km west of the all-sea son provincial highway 905 and powerlines.

Highlights from the drilling included holes AK22-034, which intersected 6.7 metres grading 0.41% uranium oxide (U3O8) start ing from 170.7 metres downhole, including 2.1 metres at 0.87% U3O8; AK22-035, which returned 7.3 metres at 0.54% U3O8 from 160.2 metres, including 4.1 metres at 0.66% U3O8; and AK22-036, which hit 16.5 metres at 0.16% U3O8 from 133 metres.

Baselode says that ACKIO mea sures more than 375 metres along strike, more than 150 metres wide, and is comprised of at least five separate zones, with mineralization starting as shallow as 28 metres and extending down to roughly 300 metres depth. The bulk of mineral ization at ACKIO, it says, occurs in the upper 200 metres and remains open to the west, south, and along the Athabasca sandstone uncon formity to the east and south.

Commenting in a Sept. 12 press release, James Sykes, the compa ny’s president and CEO, said that Baselode “was enthusiastic about confirming additional near-sur face, high-grade uranium miner alization in several drill holes at ACKIO,” with four of the reported drill holes (AK22-038, AK22-051, AK22-052, and AK22-058) having intersected uranium mineraliza tion starting at the glacial overbur den contact with bedrock.

“That’s as shallow as possi ble at ACKIO and very encour aging,” he noted. “There hasn’t been mineralization as shallow as these results reported in the Atha basca in the past few decades…

We believe ACKIO has significant upside potential, and we look for ward to planning the next phase of diamond drilling to discover more shallow, high-grade uranium min eralization.”

Baselode Energy has a market cap of $65.1 million.

n CALLINEX MINES

Callinex Mines (TSXV: CNX; US-OTC: CLLXF) is exploring for base and precious metals in the Flin Flon mining district of Manitoba.

The Canadian junior is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Pine Bay project, a district-scale land package containing four volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits over a 10 km-long trend that includes the high-grade Rainbow copper-zinc-gold-silver deposit, approximately 16 km east of the city of Flin Flon.

In September, Callinex an nounced the discovery of Alche mist, a new high-grade copper, zinc, gold, and silver bearing VMS deposit on the property. The com pany said that Alchemist sits at the base of the interpreted growth fault corridor that hosts six other deposits including the Rainbow deposit, approximately 1,420 me ters to the east.

The Alchemist discovery drill hole, ALC-11, intersected 2.3 metres grading 0.9% copper, 1.76% zinc, 0.22 gram gold per tonne, and 7.05 grams silver (1.78% cop per-equivalent) from 716 metres downhole. That hole was testing Anomaly B, a 600- by 400-metre highly conductive bore-hole pulse electromagnetic (BPEM) anom aly that sits within the centre of the mapped millrock at Millrock Mountain.

J.J. O’Donnell, Callinex’s explo ration manager, said in a Sept. 7 press release that the discovery “supports the newly proposed VMS system which has evolved since the discovery of the Rainbow deposit in August 2020,” adding that the new

discovery “is proof of concept that the property has the potential to host multiple new discoveries.”

Initial data indicates a steeply dipping/plunging system similarly defined at the Rainbow deposit.

The company announced pos itive results from drilling at Rain bow in mid-September, reporting what Callinex president and CEO Max Porterfield said were “some of the widest intervals and highest copper grades intersected” yet.

Hole PBM-177 cut 33.7 metres of 4.29% copper, 0.22 gram gold per tonne, 4.63 grams silver and 0.31% zinc (or 4.6% copper equiva lent) from 636.3 metres depth. The delineation drill hole at the depos

it’s Orange zone included shorter sections of 10.5 metres of 5.9% copper, 14.4 metres of 5% copper and 7 metres of 6.38% copper.

A step-out hole expanding the Yellow zone at Rainbow returned 11 metres of 2.43% copper, 0.24 gram gold per tonne, 5 grams sil ver and 0.89% zinc, or 2.98% cop per equivalent. The same hole then intersected the Orange zone, returning 11.7 metres of 2.44% copper, 0.22 gram gold, 4.36 grams silver and 0.36% zinc, or 2.76% copper equivalent.

Callinex Mines has a market cap of $41.2 million.

ON

NICKEL

Above: An aerial view of Grounded Lithium’s Kindersley project in southwest Saskatchewan. GROUNDED LITHIUM

SNAPSHOT from

n CANALASKA URANIUM

CanAlaska Uranium (TSXV: CVV; OTC: CVVUF) is a Cana dian project generator that holds interests in roughly 3,000 sq. km of land holdings in Saskatche wan’s Athabasca Basin, one of the world’s richest uranium districts. The company’s uranium proper ties include the Waterbury South, West McArthur, and Moon Lake South projects.

In August, the Vancouver-head quartered junior released assay results from its 2022 summer drill program on West McArthur, a joint venture with Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ). CanAlaska cur rently owns 78% of the JV and is the project’s operator.

The company said that the drill ing was focused on expanding a new discovery on the property.

Hole WMA067, it said, was the first to be drilled into a new base ment-hosted uranium discovery on the project and intercepted a high-grade intersection of 9 metres grading 2.4% uranium oxide (U3O8) from 906.5 metres down hole, including a higher-grade interval of 6 metres at 3.5% U3O8

That hole, said CanAlaska, was designed to test a strong conductor anomaly identified during the 2022 winter geophysical program, 6 km along strike to the southwest of the 42 zone on the property.

Commenting on the drill result in an Aug. 22 press release, Cory

Belyk, the company’s CEO, said that “This new discovery drillhole intersection has now been con firmed by assay results to be wide and high-grade,” and “is even wider than originally anticipated.”

He added that the “style and grade of mineralization is remi niscent of some of the best base ment-hosted uranium drillhole intersections encountered in the Athabasca Basin and at large ura nium deposits such as Eagle Point, Millennium and Arrow. Con firmation of width and grade of mineralization in this drillhole is an exciting achievement for CanAlaska, its shareholders, and the joint venture at a time when the world needs more high-grade ura nium deposits to be found to sup port future clean energy demand.”

CanAlaska Uranium has a mar ket cap of $52 million.

n FLYING NICKEL MINING

Vancouver-headquartered Fly ing Nickel Mining (TSXV: FLYN; US-OTC: FLYNF) is focused on advancing its 100%-owned Minago nickel sulphide project in the southern part of Manito ba’s Thompson nickel belt, 270 km south of the city of Thompson.

In September, the junior announced that Minago is expected to have an industry leading carbon footprint and could be lower than 99% of existing global nickel pro duction.

Flying Nickel said that, when in operation, the project is expected to produce 0.99 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per tonne of nick el-equivalent production over the life of mine, which it says is 97% lower than the industry average of 33.4 tonnes of CO2 in 2021.

The results, it said, are based on a study by Skarn Associates, a met als and mining ESG consultancy.

According to Flying Nickel, the carbon footprint estimate does not include the carbon offset expected to be provided from the process of spontaneous mineral carbonation from the tailings and waste rock, which is comprised largely of ser pentine rock that naturally absorbs CO2 when exposed to air.

John Lee, the CEO of Fly ing Nickel said in a Sept. 13 press release announcing the results of the study that the company “aims to be one of the world’s most envi ronmentally friendly nickel min ing companies, with the study demonstrating Minago being [in the] top 1% [for the] lowest carbon footprint that utilizes Manitoba’s hydroelectricity, trolley trucks and electric mine fleet.” He added that the clean nickel from the project is ideally suited for the high-perfor mance nickel batteries powering modern EVs.

Earlier in September, Flying Nickel reported initial diamond drill results from Minago from six holes (2,718 metres) drilled on the property this past winter. High lights included hole FN-22-003, which intersected 113.55 metres grading 0.41% nickel, 0.01% cop per, 0.006 gram gold per tonne, 0.033 gram platinum, and 0.096 gram palladium starting from 284.3 metres downhole.

That hole, the company said, was drilled to test the downdip

extension of nickel mineralization in the North Limb deposit beyond the previously drilled maximum depth of 250 meters from surface.

Flying Nickel Mining has a mar ket cap of $12.4 million.

n GROUNDED LITHIUM

Grounded Lithium (TSXV: GRD) is a Calgary-headquartered resource company focused on lith ium extraction from the produc tion of subsurface lithium brines.

In July, the Canadian junior announced that it had started drill ing its first 100%-owned test well in on the Kindersley lithium proj ect in western Saskatchewan. The well is located within the Prai rieSky Royalty’s (TSX: PSK) Brine Metallic and Industrial Minerals work permit.

Grounded Lithium said that the well, which will target key zones determined by its geological model, will enable it to earn nearby sections pursuant to the terms of the permit.

Commenting in a Sept. 12 press release, Gregg Smith, the compa ny’s president and CEO, said that it “took measured steps to build our current land position, capitalize the company and set the stage or foun dation from which to build,” add ing that it will now turn its attention “to delivering results from our field activities to further prove the value proposition of our Saskatchewan lithium brine project.”

According to Grounded Lith

Drilling at MAS Gold’s North Lake project in Saskatchewan. MAS GOLD

At NiCan Ltd.’s Wine nickel-copper project in Manitoba. NICAN LTD.

An aerial view of Callinex Mines’ Pine Bay project in Manitoba. CALLINEX MINES

SNAPSHOT from 14

ium, the test well’s design allows for an inexpensive and quick turn around to convert it to a produc ing well that will either service a field pilot and/or ultimately form part of a more comprehensive well portfolio that supplies feedstock to a commercial plant.

The test well, it said, will achieve a two-fold purpose: provide cur rent samples to test lithium con centrations at Kindersley, and confirm the reservoir quality and associated brine deliverability on a per well basis.

Grounded Lithium has a market cap of $14.8 million.

n MAS GOLD

MAS Gold (TSXV: MAS) is a Cana dian explorer focused on advanc ing its gold projects in the La Ronge gold belt of Saskatchewan.

The company operates six prop erties in the belt, including Pre view-North, Greywacke Lake, Preview SW, Contact Lake, Eliza beth Lake, and Henry Lake total ling 351.8 sq. km. These properties extend along the geologically pro spective La Ronge, Kisseynew and Glennie Domains that make up the La Ronge gold belt in the north-cen tral region of the province.

MAS currently has five advanced deposits including the North Lake, Greywacke North, Preview SW, Bakos (Contact Lake) and Point gold deposits.

In August, the Saskatoon-head quartered company released the remaining assays from 30 drill holes as part of its 2022 winter drill program on La Ronge. These included 22 holes from North Lake, four from Point, and four from the Previous SW property.

Highlights from the drill

ing included hole NL22-101 at North Lake, which intersected 3 metres grading 8.79 grams gold per tonne from 54 metres down hole, including 1 metre at 7 grams gold; RM22-060 on Point, which returned 4.9 metres of 3 grams gold from 48.5 metres, including 0.8 metre at 6.65 grams gold; and PR22-188 on Preview SW, which hit 1.6 metres of 13.4 grams gold from 142.6 metres, including 0.7 metre at 8.85 grams gold and 1 metre at 9.47 grams gold.

“We are extremely excited by the positive results we have received from our winter drill pro gram,” Darren Slugoski, the com pany’s chief geologist, said in an Aug. 9 press release announcing the results.

He added that NL22-101 “con firms a southern extension of the deposit as well as an additional potential high-grade zone. The results from the Point deposit demonstrate a strong potential for a significant upside with 295 metres of untested ground between the southern edge of the Point deposit and drill hole RM22-060.”

MAS Gold has a market cap of $14 million.

n NICAN

Recently listed on the TSX Ven ture Exchange, NiCAN (TSXV: NICN) is focused on developing nickel-copper exploration projects in known mineral belts in Can ada. These include the 56.8-sq.-km Wine property in the highly pro spective Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt of Manitoba, about 50 km southwest of Snow Lake, and the 24.6-sq.-km Pipy property, about 15 km north of Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) Thompson nickel mine.

In September, the Toronto-head

quartered junior released assay results from its first two drill holes at Wine. Hole 22-05 intersected three distinct zones of mineraliza tion, including 27.3 metres grading 2.01% nickel, 1.81% copper, 0.09% cobalt, 0.2 gram gold per tonne, and 0.28 gram palladium (2.61% nickel equivalent) starting from 43 metres downhole.

Hole Wine-22-02 cut four zones of mineralization including 2.8 metres grading 1.87% nickel, 0.64% copper, 0.08% cobalt, and 0.46 gram palladium (2.08% nickel equivalent) from 45.8 metres.

NiCAN said that these holes were part of its initial 17-hole, 1,600-metre diamond drill pro gram at Wine and were drilled to better understand the thickness and orientation of mineralization encountered in historic explora tion and as a guide to future drill ing on the property.

Commenting in a Sept. 8 press release announcing the drill results, Brad Humphrey, the com pany’s president and CEO, said that the drilling “was designed to improve our understanding of the Wine Occurrence, confirm the mineralization encountered in the historical drilling and determine the orientation of the mineralized body. Intersecting multiple zones containing high nickel equivalent values is very encouraging.”

The initial 2022 exploration of Wine also included an airborne geophysical survey, partial resa mpling of a historical drill hole, and downhole geophysical (elec tro-magnetic) surveys, with the initial drill results used to refine the geological model and to design the second phase of exploration on the property, said NiCAN.

NiCAN has a market cap of $12.5 million. TNM

“The reason we’re doing this is safety and to hit the goal of being carbon neutral by design, not buying [carbon] credits,” he said. “By doing this we also want to show that doing the right thing can generate superior invest ment returns, we will make more money at a lower cost than nor mal underground operations.”

That zero-carbon focus has attracted major investor dollars, including from Fairfax Financial Holdings last year and an over subscribed private placement earlier this year. In August, Foran announced a non-binding, exclu sive term sheet with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) Board that would see the pension fund invest $200 million toward advancing McIlvenna Bay. If the transaction goes through, it will consist of a $180-million con vertible secured instrument and a $20-million investment contin gent on the mine hitting a certain production threshold for 60 days in a row.

Foran said it expects they will finalize the deal in the third quar ter, pending due diligence from the pension fund and Foran securing a secured credit facility. Foran said the credit facility talks are “well advanced.”

After meeting those conditions and achieving commercial pro duction and permitting thresh olds, the OTPP’s investment will convert into a 19.99% equity interest in a subsidiary of Foran that holds McIlvenna Bay and its other properties.

Myerson said the agree ment with the OTPP will allow it to execute its long-term strat egy, even in the face of potential rough commodity markets.

“We wanted a partner with us… rather than just going to the equity markets and doing a mas sive raise, that’s not the way we want to run. We want to create a different type of mining com pany,” said Myerson.

“The challenge generalists have found with mining is the volatil ity of it. … It’s very important we have a strong shareholder base, and we have that with the likes of Fairfax and we have that with Ontario Teachers’. They’re all long-term focused investors that understand the potential here, and that these things just take time.”

The OTPP’s proposed invest ment in Foran is part of a grow ing cycle of investment deals and mergers and acquisitions in the copper space as investors and miners alike position themselves to take advantage of a future low-carbon economy.

Copper assets in demand Over the last few months, Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) has moved to acquire Canadian copper miner Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX: TRQ; NYSE: TRQ), giving it control of the mega Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mon golia. The company also inked a US$18-million deal with McEwen Mining (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX) subsidiary McEwen Cop per that gives Rio the ability to become a 60% joint-venture partner in the Elder Creek copper property in Nevada.

Exploration and development company Magna Mining (TSXV: NICU) scooped up Lonmin Can ada, the owner of the Denison nickel-copper-platinum-group metals project and Crean Hill, a past-producing nickel-cop per-PGM mine in Ontario, for $16 million. Mining giant BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) attempted a takeover of Oz Minerals (ASX: OZL), an

Australian copper producer, for US$5.8 billion, in an attempt to get control of the West Musgrave copper-nickel project in West ern Australia, but has so far been rebuffed.

Scotia Capital analyst Orest Wowkodaw and three other ana lysts wrote in an early Septem ber note to clients that they “are not surprised” by Rio and BHP’s recent unsolicited bids, and expect the mining sector is on the precipice of a new copper-fo cused M&A cycle.

“Cashed up miners, limited internal growth opportunities, shareholder pressure to re-bal ance asset portfolios toward ESG friendly commodities, a relatively unattractive risk-reward profile for constructing large scale proj ects… combined with discounted market valuations for produc ing assets appears to have set the stage for the next mining M&A cycle to get underway,” they wrote.

The Scotia Capital analysts noted that the western world’s 10 largest publicly traded non-pre cious metals companies gener ated $169 billion in cumulative free cash flow during the pan demic thanks to disciplined growth spending and higher commodity prices. Larger min ers have also signalled a “new openness” to investing in high er-risk jurisdictions given the dearth of opportunities in more stable mining regions, while the “marathon”-like time frames and major capital costs associated with bringing a major greenfield project from discovery to execu tion are less palatable.

They wrote that Foran and Arizona Metals (TSXV: AMC) along with producers First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM), Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN), Copper Mountain Min ing (TSX: CMMC), are among potentially “attractive targets” for M&A activity. Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM), Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN), Capstone Copper (TSX: CS), Altius Minerals (TSX: ALS) and Anglo Pacific Group (TSX: APY) were named as potential buyers and sellers. The analysts expect Antofogasta (LSE: ANTO), Vale (NYSE: VALE), Grupo Mex ico, Southern Copper (NYSE: SCCO) and Nexa Resources (NYSE: NEXA) to become asset or company acquirers, and wrote that Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) could be an acquirer or sell some assets.

Myerson said the company has seen interest from other min ers who hoped to take a strategic interest. “We didn’t want to do that,” he said, adding that doing so could risk slowing down McIl venna Bay’s development during bad markets. “There are times when the commodity markets are going to be bad, and that’s when you should be building.”

—Kelsey Rolfe is a Toronto-based freelancer who specializes in mining.

The camp at Baselode Energy’s Hook uranium project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. BASELODE ENERGY

Drilling at Appia Energy’s Alces Lake rare earth project in Saskatchewan. APPIA ENERGY CORP.

FORAN from 12

“IT’S VERY IMPORTANT WE HAVE A STRONG SHAREHOLDER BASE, AND WE HAVE THAT WITH THE LIKES OF FAIRFAX AND ONTARIO TEACHERS’.”

FORAN MINING’S EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND CEO DAN MYERSON

LIAMforum aims to connect values-driven Gen Z with mining sector

BY ALISHA HIYATE

Why is the mining indus try struggling to attract young people to replace the droves of older workers who are retiring?

Raziel Zisman, a partner at Whittle Consulting who leads its Sustainable Governance Initiative, believes it is because the industry has made little effort to speak to what really matters for young peo ple: purpose and values.

To that end, Zisman has put together the LIAMforum, an online conference on sustainable resource development starring a who’s who of mining, technology, think tanks, academia and government. The inaugural conference, scheduled for Oct. 3-7, will be free for all to attend, and aims to connect oppor tunities in mining with the values that drive youth.

The conference, which will be hosted by Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., will bring together over 90 diverse speakers ranging from former Anglo Amer ican (LSE: AAL) CEO Mark Cuti fani to Charissa Rujanavech, the creator behind Apple’s Liam and Daisy automated disassembly sys tems for iPhone recycling. Other speakers include Clive Johnson, Rob McEwen, Michelle Ash, and federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

The event will aim to help young people identify career paths in min ing and allow them to connect with people in multiple areas inside and outside of the industry, fostering networking and mentoring oppor tunities — and importantly, zero in on the sustainability questions fac ing mining.

Zisman was driven to action by the loss of his son Liam in January. Liam had been studying environ mental geoscience at Brock when he passed away at age 19. A child hood cancer survivor, Zisman and others who knew Liam describe him as bright, honest, and funny.

He spent time interning at The Northern Miner for several sum mers when he was in high school, helping out with everything from social media and industry research

to writing and audio editing. The “technically savvy” young man was “quick to learn new tools,” said mar keting specialist Mladen Kovacevic, who was one of his supervisors.

“He remains in my memory a really bright young man with a refreshingly quirky sense of humour,” who “brought energy and laughs to an otherwise typical office,” Kovacevic wrote in Liam’s online memorial book.

Former Northern Miner edi

tor-in-chief John Cumming recalls he took the unusual step of giv ing Liam a full workload, despite his young age, because he was so bright. “At first he reeled under the load, but he pulled himself together and soon had a major front page story for his efforts,” Cumming said. “He had a charming blunt ness about him, and as he shook my hand to say goodbye at the end of the internship, he said, ‘Well, I’ve learned that I definitely don’t want

to be a journalist!’”

Most of all, like many mem bers of the Gen Z cohort, Liam was values-driven, says Zisman, and aspired to help build a better, more just and environmentally responsi ble world.

It was this disconnect between his son’s values and the mining industry — in which Zisman has worked for over 20 years — that sparked the idea for the conference.

Zisman recalls how bored Liam was with industry events such as PDAC, and how the education sys tem is also failing to bridge the gap with industry.

“Universities are not connect ing kids with the world and say ing, guys, all these opportunities are open to you,” Zisman says. “Nobody’s addressing kids per se. Nobody’s asking them, what are your values?”

Meanwhile, the opportunities in mining are boundless: disciplines as far afield as archaeology and zoology interact with mining, says Zisman, who is also a lawyer and has a background in economics.

One of the LIAMforum speak ers, Gary A. Bolles, Chair for the Future of Work for Singularity University, will speak to the values disconnect. In a recent presenta tion, Bolles noted that society tells kids to forget about their values when they enter the job market, but there is a huge opportunity to con nect the value seeking with the jobs.

“There’s absolutely every reason to connect kids with a passion for improving the world, with a strong set of values for doing it correctly –we want those people in the indus try because 20 years from now they’ll be our new Mark Cutifanis, our new leaders,” Zisman said.

The mining industry is often accused of being slow to innovate — another turnoff for youth – but many of the participating speakers are young people who are doing “extraordinary” things.

“It gives you lots of hope,” Zis man said.

In addition to hosting the LIAM forum, Brock University, which doesn’t have any mining specific programs, will be developing a master’s degree program in sus

tainable resource development.

Zisman says Brock has been fan tastic to work with from the begin ning.

Participating faculty include the Dean of the Faculty of Math and Science, Ejaz Ahmed, who in an emailed statement said he was part of the discussions the university had with Zisman about the impact that a conference like LIAMforum could have on youth.

“The conference offers students, researchers, and practitioners at Brock and other institutions, expo sure to many areas related to sus tainable resource development through the eyes and the profes sional careers of 90+ speakers and panelists from a wide range of cor porate and academic entities,” Ahmed said. “We hope to inspire and educate the next generation of SRD leaders.”

Ahmed noted that Brock has strong earth sciences programs and faculty with expertise in a wide range of sustainable resource devel opment issues. The conference also coincides with the UNESCO Inter national Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022, with Brock being the only Cana dian University in a UNESCO Bio sphere Reserve.

In an emailed statement, Brock’s interim president and vice-chan cellor Lynn Wells said: “Brock has long been a leader in providing stu dents with opportunities to build on their in-class education and identify pathways to rewarding, successful careers. The LIAMforum and its diverse lineup of thought leaders will give the next genera tion of sustainable resource devel opment professionals the tools they need to enter the workforce ready for any challenge. We’re very proud to be supporting Raziel and the LIAMforum in this very worthy endeavour.”

The conference will cover four main themes: conceptualizing sus tainable development; breaking silos and working together towards a common good; empowering the next generation; and sustainable resource development education.

Check out the speakers and regis ter at https://www.liamforum.com.

Wyloo Metals rebrands Canadian business as Ring of Fire Metals

ONTARIO | CEO says province has an opportunity to be a leader in critical metals production

BY JACKSON CHEN

Wyloo Metals, which ear lier in the year acquired Noront Resources and its mining assets located in Ontar io’s emerging metals camp known as the Ring of Fire, has chosen Ring of Fire Metals as the new name for its Canada-based busi ness as exploration activities begin in the area.

“The name and branding was chosen to reflect the unique cul ture of the organization, while also paying homage to its Canadian roots and the region’s history. We highly value the rich history asso ciated with the Ring of Fire region, the importance of the region to

Canada’s critical minerals future, and all that Noront Resources had achieved before we came on board,” Wyloo Metals CEO Luca Giacovazzi commented.

Noront’s primary asset is the early-stage Eagle’s Nest project, which has been billed by Wyloo as the largest high-grade nickel dis covery in Canada since the Voisey’s Bay nickel find in the eastern prov ince of Newfoundland and Labra dor. The company previously said it hopes to start commercial produc tion in 2026 with the initial mine life at 11 years.

Giacovazzi went on to say that: “Ontario has a once-in-a-gener ation opportunity to become a world-leading hub for the pro

duction of the critical minerals the world needs to de-carbonize and we want to play our part in connecting the minerals in the north with the manufacturing might in the south.

“Ring of Fire Metals reflects the grit, determination, and unwav ering commitment to sustainable mining, and to giving back to local communities, that will help us achieve this goal.”

The new company name coin cides with the resumption of activity at Eagle’s Nest project, as well as broader exploration work across the region. Also part of the Noront portfolio of projects were world-class chromite depos its including Blackbird, Black Thor and Big Daddy.

“Eagle’s Nest is one of the high est-grade nickel-copper-platinumpalladium deposits in the world, and we’re also very excited about the potential of our other mineral opportunities across the Ring of Fire region,” said Stephen Flewel ling, acting CEO, Ring of Fire Met als.

Drilling is currently underway on the Eagle’s Nest property, with the aim of collecting detailed struc tural data to finalize infrastructure planning for the mine’s develop ment. At the same time, the com pany is refreshing the Eagle’s Nest mining, metallurgical and infra structure studies and assessing how the operation can be tied into Ontario’s first battery metals plant.

“We are also conducting a dia mond drill program on a number of our nickel targets, ground and airborne geophysical surveys over several of our 70 plus regional nickel targets and are collecting soil samples across other major structures,” Flewelling said. “Mov ing forward, we plan to keep the site open year-round and the next milestone on the exploration front is to finalize the scope of our win ter exploration campaign.”

The Esker site, which is a base for project and exploration teams located adjacent to the Eagle’s Nest deposit, recently re-opened after closing in September last year following the summer 2021 explo ration program.

EVENTS | Vitual conference hosted by Brock University takes place Oct 3-7

Liam Zisman, who passed away in January, was an environmental geoscience study at Brock University. LYNDSAY TURNER

MARKET NEWS

TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE / SEPTEMBER 19 –23, 2022

Stocks were pummelled over the Sept. 19-23 trading period as investors fled, fearing a global recession brought on in part by central banks raising interest rates to quell inflation.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 904.9 points or 4.7% to 18,480.98. The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index slid 3.7 points or 4.1% to 85.99, and the S&P/TSX Global Base Met als Index dropped 10.2 points or 6.6% to 144.2. The S&P/TSX Global Gold Index fell by 7.1 points or 3.1% to 222.7, and spot gold ended the week at US$21.10 per oz. lower, or 1.2%, at US$1,643.55 per ounce.

The largest drop by value among min ers was Teck Resources, which fell $4.25 to $39.75 after it reported its Elkview steel making coal operations in B.C. would be halted for as long as two months for repairs. The site’s third quarter output is likely to be reduced to between 5.5 million tonnes and 5.9 million tonnes compared with a previous estimate of as much as 6.2 million tonnes.

Wheaton Precious Metals fell $1.78 to close at $40.83 after several analysts at TD Securities, National Bank, Stifel Nicolaus and KeyCorp lowered their price targets for the stock. The company has 23 mines and 13 development projects across gold, silver, pal ladium and cobalt.

One of the top gainers by value was Tur quoise Hill Mining, which added 61¢ to close at $40.69 after a U.S Federal Court in New York dismissed a class action suit against the miner. Investment funds manager Pentwa ter Capital Management of Naples, Florida, had alleged Turquoise made false or mis leading statements about the progress of its Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongo lia. The suit was launched in 2020. The mine produced 60,800 tonnes of copper concen trate and 107,000 oz. of gold in the first half of this year, down by 26% and 59%, respec tively, compared to 2021’s first six months, company records show. Pentwater, which recently upped its stake in Turquoise Hill

TSX MOST ACTIVE ISSUES

VOLUME WEEK (OOOs) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Barrick Gold ABX 54268 20.82 19.37 19.66 0.67

Suncor Energy SU 47633 42.42 36.80 36.95 3.84

Lundin Mng LUN 23675 7.30 6.33 6.44 0.61

Kinross Gold K 17563 4.91 4.33 4.49 + 0.15

B2Gold Corp BTO 14774 4.49 4.04 4.06 0.35

First Quantum FM 10424 24.49 21.06 21.38 1.94

Argonaut Gold AR 9582 0.51 0.42 0.44 0.04

Marathon Gold MOZ 9020 1.06 0.85 0.90 0.17

Denison Mines DML 8870 1.71 1.44 1.45 0.22

New Gold NGD 8406 1.22 1.06 1.09 0.08

TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE / SEPTEMBER 19 –23, 2022

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index closed the Sept. 19-23 trading week at 578.06 points, down 51.99 points or 8.3% as mar kets reacted to the increasing likelihood of a recession.

Some juniors, including Northern Shield Resources, managed to buck the trend. Northern Shield shares rose 91.7% to end at 12¢ after reporting visible gold in a sample from its Root & Cellar project in southeast ern Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. The visible gold was found in a source boulder 140 metres west of the Eastern Conquest tar get. A previous sample taken from the boul der assayed 111.5 grams gold per tonne.

Northern Shield also reported option ing a new gold project in east-central New foundland. The 123-sq.-km Zuleika project is centred on a major fault splay off the Dover Hermitage Bay Fault zone, which is parallel to the Dog Bay Line on which New Found Gold’s Queensway project is located.

Rackla Metals gained 14¢ or 70% ending the week at 34¢. The company announced it has optioned the 288-sq.-km Astro prop erty in the Northwest Territories from Oro gen Royalties. The project, located along the Yukon border, expands Rackla’s exist ing holdings in the Tombstone gold belt within the Selwyn Basin. Based on Snowline Gold’s recent intrusive-hosted gold discov

ery at the Rogue project in the Yukon, Rackla sees opportunity for similar new finds in the Tombstone belt, where most exploration has targeted gossanous sedimentary rocks. Previ ous exploration identified outcropping gold mineralization along a 10-km-long struc tural corridor at Astro, with chip-channel ing results of up to 30 metres of 17.7 grams gold per tonne. For a 100% interest in Astro, Rackla will issue 120,000 shares, spend $250,000 on exploration over 12 months, and make further payments in cash or common shares equal to $382,000. Orogen will retain a 2.5% net smelter return royalty.

Lion One Metals fell 31¢ or 32% to 65¢ after announcing a $12.5-million bought deal financing. The offering consists of 16.2 mil lion units priced at 77¢ each, with each unit

TSX-V MOST ACTIVE ISSUES

VOLUME WEEK (OOOs) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Rover Metals ROVR 10827 0.03 0.00 0.02 0.01

Norden Crown NOCR 7016 0.11 0.03 0.04 unch 0.00

Pure Gold Mg PGM 6687 0.16 0.12 0.16 + 0.04

Anfield Energy AEC 6574 0.08 0.06 0.07 unch 0.00

Lion One Mtls LIO 6252 0.99 0.63 0.65 0.31

Silver Mount AGMR 5741 0.40 0.32 0.36 + 0.07

GoviEx Uranium GXU 4622 0.28 0.23 0.24 0.05

Sable Res SAE 4581 0.10 0.08 0.08 0.01

SOPerior Fert SOP.H 4559 0.05 0.03 0.04 + 0.01

MacDonald Mns BMK 4504 0.02 0.01 0.01 unch 0.00

U.S. MARKETS / SEPTEMBER 19 –23, 2022

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell an astonishing 1,232.01 points or 4% to 29,590.41 during the Sept. 19-23 trading week, while the S&P 500 fell 180.1 points or 4.7% to 3,693.23.

Finding value gainers was challenging in a dark week for markets as heightened geo political uncertainty, stubbornly high infla tion readings and briskly rising interest rates continued to rankle investors. Nexa Resources was among the few miners reg istering a gain this week, adding US20¢ per share to close at US$5.18 after ending the prior week on a 12-month low. On Sept. 14, Nexa announced the appointment of former Compañía Minera Antamina executive José Carlos del Valle as SVP for finance and as CFO starting Oct. 3. During his prior nineyear stint at Antamina, del Valle spear headed an enterprise-wide transformation and secured a US$1 billion syndicated loan. Nexa, on Sept. 12, also reported that a road blockade of its Atacocha San Gerardo open pit zinc mine in Peru had been resolved, and the operation resumed production. The company expects the stoppage to cost 400 tonnes of zinc production, but it expects to make up the difference, and its production guidance remains unchanged at 118,000127,000 tonnes this year.

Brazil-based Vale also eked out a gain this week, adding US6¢ per share to close at US$13.04. Brazil-based base metals exposed companies have fared well amid the blood bath that is North American markets, with investors favouring base metals in gen eral. During its investor days early in Sept., the company took pains to explain how it addressed the initiatives aimed at resetting the business for better performance and future replacement and resource growth opportunities. Vale’s strategic plans point towards a base metals business with mean ingful three-to-five-year growth potential (subject to execution and securing capex). Analysts also believe some form of separa tion of the base metals assets from the com

to 13.8%, has come out against Rio Tinto’s sweetened US$3.3-billion takeover offer for the 49% interest in Turquoise Hill it doesn’t already own.

One of the largest percentage gainers was Avalon Advanced Materials, which added 22% to close at 18¢ after it signed a deal with LG Energy Solution of South Korea to sup

TSX GREATEST PERCENTAGE CHANGE

VOLUME WEEK (OOOs) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE

Goldgroup Mng GGA 3407 0.03 0.00 0.03 +100.0

Avalon Advance AVL 3444 0.18 0.14 0.17 + 22.2

Condor Gold COG 9 0.47 0.00 0.44 + 8.8

Vista Gold VGZ 23 0.74 0.00 0.74 + 4.2

Niocorp Dev NB 409 1.09 1.01 1.05 + 4.0

Novo Res NVO 334 0.50 0.41 0.43 + 3.7

Titan Mining TI 156 0.59 0.41 0.57 + 3.6

Almaden Min AMM 29 0.30 0.00 0.30 + 3.5

Kinross Gold K 17563 4.91 4.33 4.49 + 3.5

Candente Coppr DNT 653 0.18 0.15 0.16 + 3.3

Monarch Mining GBAR 982 0.18 0.12 0.12 34.3

RTG Mining RTG 60 0.06 0.00 0.05 28.6

Scandium Intl SCY 1251 0.09 0.06 0.06 25.0

Black Iron BKI 861 0.10 0.08 0.08 20.0

NextSource Mat NEXT 217 2.85 2.29 2.31 17.8

Starcore Intl SAM 230 0.18 0.00 0.14 17.6

Gold Mountain GMTN 1621 0.20 0.15 0.17 17.5

Karnalyte Res KRN 95 0.29 0.22 0.25 16.7

Solaris Res SLS 511 7.07 5.72 5.80 16.4

Tanzanian Gold TNX 87 0.63 0.51 0.51 16.4

ply lithium hydroxide used in electric vehicle battery production. It was one of three agree ments LGES signed with Canadian suppliers for minerals used in batteries. The others are with Snow Lake Lithium and Electra Battery Materials, which is to supply refined cobalt.

LG Energy is banking on North American electric car sales to surge. TNM

TSX GREATEST VALUE CHANGE

VOLUME

(OOOs CLOSE CHANGE

Turquoise HIl TRQ 2230 40.69 + 0.61

SSR Mining SSRM 2202 18.45 + 0.16

Kinross Gold K 17563 4.49 + 0.15

Aura Minerals ORA 83 8.28 + 0.08

OceanaGold OGC 5621 2.08 + 0.06

Marimaca Cop MARI 69 3.28 + 0.04

New Pac Metals NUAG 209 2.87 + 0.04

Aris Gold ARIS 179 1.64 + 0.04

Niocorp Dev NB 409 1.05 + 0.04

Condor Gold COG 9 0.44 + 0.04

Teck Res TECK.A 9 39.75 4.25

Suncor Energy SU 47633 36.95 3.84

Teck Res TECK.B 7420 39.63 2.94

Cameco Corp CCO 6830 34.37 2.73

Lithium Amer LAC 3059 35.31 2.52

Agnico Eagle AEM 7817 53.09 2.24

First Quantum FM 10424 21.38 1.94

Newmont Corp NGT 870 56.15 1.83

Franco-Nevada FNV 1782 155.13 1.81

Wheaton Prec WPM 4611 40.83 1.78

including one common share and half a war rant. Each whole warrant has a strike price of $1.05 and can be exercised for 36 months.

Proceeds will be used at the company’s Tuvatu high-grade gold project in Fiji. The company recently reported a follow-up drill hole to a high-grade zone discovered in June. Hole TUDDH-608 cut 19.6 metres (11.9 metres true width) of 21.16 grams gold per tonne from 594.5 metres, including 16.2

TSX-V GREATEST PERCENTAGE CHANGE

VOLUME WEEK

CLOSE CHANGE

Nrthn Shield NRN 797 0.12 0.00 0.12 + 91.7

Rackla Metals RAK 85 0.34 0.00 0.34 + 70.0

Lightspeed Dis LSD.H 2 0.03 0.00 0.03 + 66.7

Waseco Res WRI 98 0.03 0.00 0.03 + 66.7

Transatlantic TCO 1282 0.04 0.02 0.03 + 66.7

Plata Latina PLA 12 0.03 0.00 0.03 + 50.0

Archon Mineral ACS 1 0.24 0.00 0.24 + 50.0

Academy Metals AM 8 0.30 0.00 0.30 + 50.0

Zacapa Res ZACA 360 0.25 0.18 0.25 + 42.9

Paleo Resource EFV 6 0.02 0.00 0.02 + 33.3

Centurion Mnls CTN 17 0.07 0.00 0.03 82.1

Hawkeye Gld&Di HAWK 2238 0.02 0.00 0.01 66.7

Aurcana Silver AUN 2925 0.01 0.01 0.01 50.0

Triumph Gold TIG 1261 0.05 0.00 0.03 50.0

District Mines DIG.H 23 0.06 0.00 0.05 44.4

GK Resources NIKL 63 0.11 0.00 0.09 43.3

Copper Road CRD 159 0.20 0.00 0.13 36.6

Portofino Res POR 1065 0.08 0.05 0.05 35.7

Getty Copper GTC 119 0.05 0.00 0.03 33.3

Grosvenor Res GVR 204 0.10 0.00 0.06 33.3

metres of 25.28 grams gold, expanding the high-grade zone 20 metres north and 15 metres below previously encountered miner alization. In June, the discovery hole TUG141 returned 75.9 metres of 20.86 grams gold per tonne from 443 metres depth, below the current resource. The project hosts indicated resources of 1.1 million tonnes grading 84.6 grams gold per tonne and 1.5 million inferred tonnes grading 9.7 grams gold. TNM

TSX-V GREATEST VALUE CHANGE

WEEK (OOOs) CLOSE CHANGE

Rackla Metals RAK 85 0.34 + 0.14

Electra Batt ELBM 414 4.12 + 0.14

Cypress Dev CYP 1308 1.23 + 0.11

Barksdale Res BRO 526 0.57 + 0.10

Academy Metals AM 8 0.30 + 0.10

Callinex Mines CNX 101 2.51 + 0.09

Goliath Res GOT 528 1.18 + 0.09

Archon Mineral ACS 1 0.24 + 0.08

Tudor Gold TUD 719 1.05 + 0.08

Barsele Min BME 295 0.39 + 0.08

Tanqueray Expl IPA 111 5.45 1.42

Western Alaska WAM 420 2.42 0.73

EnCore Energy EU 1428 3.39 0.66

IsoEnergy Ltd ISO 485 3.35 0.65

Rock Tech Lith RCK 514 2.63 0.59

New Found Gold NFG 441 4.51 0.59

Sigma Lithium SGML 119 33.46 0.57

Nouveau Monde NOU 135 7.21 0.56

Atlas Salt SALT 3918 2.30 0.47

Uranium Roylty URC 490 2.98 0.46

pany’s iron ore business remains likely. Meanwhile, Kinross Gold also counted among the value gainers this week, adding US2¢ per share to close at US$3.31 apiece. On Sept. 19, Kinross announced it would aim to buy back US$300 million of its shares before the end of this year. It added that it will allo cate 75% of excess cash to buybacks in 2023 and 2024. Kinross said the updated strat

egy stems from talks with Elliott Investment Management and an unspecified number of other investors. It also cautioned that buy backs in 2023 and 2024 are contingent on the company’s net leverage ratio remaining below the current level and stated the repur chases would be paused in the event of a rat ing downgrade, a significant drop in the price of gold, or major operational setbacks. TNM

Kinross

Coeur

Harmony

IAMGOLD*

Fortuna Silvr*

McEwen Mng*

MartinMarietta*

Arch Resources*

Alcoa*

Hecla

NEM 46188

2.46

40.50

NACCO

Endeavr

First

CONSOL

Suncor

DRDGOLD*

21931 2.15

1728 3.28

1845 2.35

39245

1921 320.05

2985 114.87 7.89

41151 35.51 6.95

NACCO Ind* NC 123 46.19 6.81

Franco-Nevada* FNV 2617 114.13 4.08

Mosaic* MOS 27582 48.53 3.67

Natural Res Pt* NRP 148 41.55 3.56

Suncor Energy* SU 23847 27.20 3.54

Southern Copp* SCCO 5938 43.45 3.23

Constant

are in the unique position of striving to go “green” and exceed ESG standards while providing the resources for the rest of the world to reach net-zero. The pace of change in how we mine has been exponential but much more is still needed.

on the success of

first Reimagine Mining symposium, this event will connect delegates

on the forefront of these changes. Topics to be discussed include: ESG,

De-carbonization, Digitization, and the role of New

who can shed light

mining’s big challenges and

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Douglas Silver, Mineral Economist, Keynote Speaker And Author Douglas began his career as an exploration geologist for Anaconda Minerals, one of the world’s largest copper mining companies. While there, he was a co-discover of the Silver Creek molybdenum deposit in Colorado. is success saw Douglas get promoted into the rst fully dedicated acquisition team where he began a forty-year career of investigating, valuing and purchasing assets. In 1987, Mr. Silver was a founding member and head of investor relations for Bond International Gold, which became one of the world’s largest gold mining companies. Bond Gold’s NYSE listing was the largest mining IPO in 1989. Douglas then established his private company, Balfour Holdings Inc, where he acted as a strategic advisor to global mineral companies by providing appraisals, valuations, due diligence, investor relations and M&A advice.

In 2003 he co-founded International Royalty Corporation, a TSX-listed company, and served as its Chairman and CEO. His team built IRC into the world’s fourth largest royalty company in under ve years. IRC was the largest mining-related IPO on the TSX in 2005 having raised C$190 million. Most of these funds went to purchase a royalty on the giant Voisey’s Bay nickel project, which represented the largest royalty transaction ever completed at that time. In 2010 the company was sold for C$749 million to Royal Gold. In 2011 he became a Portfolio Manager for Red Kite Management, a private equity rm, where he was responsible for sourcing, negotiating and closing investments. Subsequently, Red Kite spun out Orion Resource Partners in 2013. Douglas helped grow Orion into the world’s large mining private equity rm (managing ~US$9B) and directly managed the C$1.1 billion portfolio sale of Orion’s royalties and streams to Osisko Gold Royalties.

Mr. Silver retired from Orion in December 2020.

In 2018, Mr. Silver was inducted into the U.S. National Mining Hall of Fame. He holds an M.Sc. in Economic Geology from the University of Arizona and a B.A. in Geology and Zoology from the University of Vermont. He is also known for his philanthropic work with educators, women’s issues and industry non-pro t organizations. In 1989, Mr. Silver founded the Denver Gold Group, today the world’s most prestigious gold investment conference.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Chris Taylor, Advisor, Discovery Group

Mr. Taylor is a structural and economic geologist, and mining entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience with both producers and exploration companies. He was most recently CEO, President and Director of Great Bear Resources Ltd., which was acquired in February 2022 by Kinross Gold Corp. for $1.8B. Currently, Mr. Taylor is Chairman of TSX.V listed companies Kodiak Copper Corp. and Advisor to K2 Gold Corp. Prior to this, he was a geologist with Imperial Metals, Inc., a TSX.V company from 2004 to 2009. Mr. Taylor graduated with a Bachelor of Science honors degree in Earth Sciences in 2000, and a Master of Science degree in Structural Geology from Carleton University in 2003.

TSXV: NAM

DRILLING FOR

BUDGET

LITHIUM

PARTNERSHIP WITH

LARGEST LITHIUM PRODUCER

DEVELOP NAM’S

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Dr. Erin R. Bobicki, Associate Professor, Faculty Of Engineering - Chemical And Materials Engineering Dept., University Of Alberta

Dr. Erin R. Bobicki is an Associate Professor of mineral processing in the department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. Professor Bobicki’s research interests include microwave applications in mineral processing, comminution, bioreagent development, the rheology of complex mineral slurries, and value recovery from waste materials. She has worked as a researcher and plant metallurgist for Vale, as a Process Technology Development Engineer for Intel Corporation, and most recently was an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is currently commercializing microwave technology for the mining industry with Sepro Mineral Systems, and is a Founding Director of Aurora Hydrogen, a start-up developing technology for emission-free hydrogen production.

George Hemingway, Managing Partner, The Stratalis Group

George Hemingway serves as Managing Partner and head of the Innovation and Growth Practice at Stratalis, where he advises CEOs, Boards and heads of state on the future and how to conquer uncertainty. rough his work, he has collaborated with the world’s leading mining companies to set their future visions and re-imagine what is possible from industrial enterprises. His focus is on enabling leading companies to outperform in uncertain markets by moving to a future-focused strategy and through the challenging of long-held notions. He has pioneered the use of Futurecasting and uncertainty-based management with many of the leading mining companies and has helped set the vision for and execute multiple transformation e orts in the most challenging of areas, including in GHG reduction, tailings dams, underground safety and “Mine of the Future” programs.

George is considered one of the leading futurists in the mining industry and his work has won numerous awards, including the Robert E. Murray Innovation Award from SME, he has been named a 2021 Top 10 Technology Leader by Mining Global and a 2-time Mining Magazine award winner both for Innovation and Consulting. He is also a published monthly columnist and keynote speaker on the Future, Uncertainty and Transformation. George has keynoted at over 100 global forums (e.g., SME, NASA, S&P Global, Chief Strategy O cer Summit, e NYC Innovation Festival, Arti cial Intelligence & Automation Summit, Asset Management Summit, World Mining Congress (2014, 2016), Brazilian Mining Congress, EXPOSIBRAM Brazil, Mines & Money Americas, Mines & Technology, Future of Mining London & Denver, OMOC, ISARC, SME Finance Innovation, Fiatech, QuebecMin and at dozens of public and private organizations, ranging from the University of Toronto to Metso to BASF.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Theo Yameogo, Canada’s Mining & Metals Sector Leader, EY Canada

Dr. eo is a seasoned mining executive who built his experience and reputation in mining operations and professional services. He is a trusted advisor in mining business, mining engineering and geology. He currently focuses on enabling and fostering business transformation and technology adoption across the industry to support core business excellence and enterprise growth.

He is the sector leader for EY Americas & EY Canada Mining & Metals practice. Prior to his consulting experience, eo spent many years in mining operations, engineering consulting and mining contracting services. eo has been involved with many mining and metals companies for various transformation initiatives in Canada, the Americas, Africa and Australia.

Dr. eo is a registered Professional Mining Engineer in Ontario; he holds an MBA with Distinction from the University of Oxford, a Ph.D. and B.Eng. in mining engineering from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. In addition, he has a B.Sc. (with honors) in Applied Geophysics from the Université Cadi Ayyad in Marrakech.

PRESENTING SPEAKERS

Mark Appleby, President, CEO & Director, Tartisan Nickel Corp.

Mr. Appleby was appointed President and Chief Executive O cer and a member of the Board of Directors of Tartisan Nickel Corp. in December 2010. Mr. Appleby has over 30 years of experience in a variety of disciplines relating to investment banking, corporate nance and the capital markets. Mr. Appleby’s career began in 1983, where he served as an intern at Manulife in the equity and xed income departments. In 1987 he joined First Boston Canada Ltd., where he reached the position of Vice-President-Bond Trading. Subsequently, Mr. Appleby has worked as an investment executive with Scotia Mcleod Inc., and is co-founder of e Atlantis Group, a Company specializing in a variety of disciplines including the resource sector. Mr. Appleby was also a Director of Guyana Gold elds Inc. [TSX: GUY] for ve years.

Harry Barr, Chairman & CEO, New Age Metals

Mr. Barr has over 35 years of experience in the Mining Industry managing public companies. Currently Mr. Barr is the Chairman & CEO of New Age Metals and El Nino Ventures. He is also on the Board of Directors of both companies. Mr. Barr has created shareholder value by building teams to assist him in corporate nance, project acquisition, and exploration and development of mineral projects in 9 countries and 3 continents. As a CEO, he has guided his management teams to complete over 43 option joint venture agreements with major mining companies, and over 300 with mid-tier and junior mining companies. Mr. Barr and his team have raised approximately $300 million in non-broker private placements, other equity arrangements and option joint venture agreements.

PRESENTING SPEAKERS

Niko Cacos, President & CEO, Blue Sky

Mr. Cacos brings +30 years of executive level management and advisory expertise in the mineral exploration industry. He has worked with Grosso Group since inception and serves as a senior level executive for all the member companies. Mr. Cacos’ career includes administration, structuring and strategic planning for public companies. He currently serves as an o cer and director of a number of TSX Venture Exchange listed companies. He holds a Master of International Management degree from Heidelberg, Germany and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia.

Peter Dembicki, President, Chief Executive O cer & Director, Tier One Silver

Mr. Dembicki brings over 10 years of corporate nance and wealth management experience; dealing with high-net-worth individuals, corporations and institutional clientele. As a member of Canaccord Genuity, he structured and oversaw numerous multi-million dollar private, public and bought-deal nancings in the mining and natural resource sectors. Mr. Dembicki’s industry designations include: Canadian Securities Course (CSC), Conduct and Practices (CPH) and Wealth Management Essentials (WME). roughout his tenure at Canaccord, he continuously added to his compliance and education credits, positioning himself above the industry standards of continuing education. Mr. Dembicki is a Graduate from the University of Washington in Seattle, with a degree in Communications.

ADVANCING THE DASA URANIUM PROJECT

•

•

•

•

• supported by cash flow from the Company’s

• recently completed the box cut to access the planned

• Yellowcake deliveries to commence in

PRESENTING SPEAKERS

Christian Goulet, Pilote de systéme, Ministére de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles

Mr. Goulet joined the Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles in 2002 as a mapping technician. Shortly a er, he joined the GESTIM application team as a customer service representative. His knowledge of the system allowed him to join the development team in 2006. Since 2009, he has been a system administrator for GESTIM, working on the maintenance and development of the system.

Matt Halliday, P.Geo, President, COO & VP Exploration, Canada Cobalt Silver Works

Mr. Halliday graduated from Dalhousie University in 2007 where he majored in Earth Sciences then spent the next 13 years in exploration and as a resource geologist with Kirkland Lake Gold, First Cobalt and SGS Geostat. Matt is a member of the PGO and is a Quali ed Person for Exploration and Resource Development. Matt is passionate about opportunities in the Cobalt Camp and is focussed on developing world class projects in the silver and battery metals space.

Jean-Marc Lacoste, President & CEO, Monarch

Jean-Marc Lacoste earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from McGill University in Montreal. In 1993 Mr. Lacoste started a career in nance at the Montreal Stock Exchange where he worked for National Bank Financial and, subsequently, Merrill Lynch Canada. In 2000 he le Montreal for Toronto to join Northland Power, a wind power energy corporation, as Vice President of Acquisitions.

He returned to Montreal in 2002 where he joined the boards of a few public and private companies. From 2004 to 2010, he took a major role in Golden Goose Resources Inc. where he became President and CEO and COB. Mr. Lacoste has great leadership skills and will be a tremendous asset for Monarch Mining Corporation.

GMS SEGMENTS

SPEAKERS AND PRESENTATIONS FROM Q3 GMS

Recorded segments can be found at www.northernminer.com

SEGMENTS | SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

e Northern Miner Welcome Remarks

Anthony Vaccaro, President, e Northern Miner Group

Investor Presentation | Canada Silver Cobalt Works

Matt Halliday, President, COO and VP Exploration

Featured Speaker | Douglas Silver

Douglas Silver, Mineral Economist, Keynote Speaker and Author

Investor Presentation | Lomiko Metals

Vince Osborne, CFO

Gordana Slepcev, COO

Corporate Presentation | Mining Intelligence

Katja Freitag, Managing Director, Mining Intelligence

ought Leadership Presentation | SLR Consulting

ESG in Mining: How to make ESG meaningful

Discussing meaningful changes and trends in the mining industry that promote and improve ESG performance.

Moderator: Stephan eben, Managing Principal and Mining Sector Lead, SLR Consulting

Featured Speaker

George Hemingway, Managing Partner Head of Innovation Practice, Stratalis

Investor Presentation | Tier One SIlver

Peter Dembicki, President, CEO and Director

Investor Presentation | Golden Arrow Resources

Brian McEwen, VP Exploration and Development

Featured Speaker

Dr. Erin R. Bobicki, Associate Professor, University of Alberta (Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering)

Closing Remarks

Anthony Vaccaro, President, e Northern Miner Group

SEGMENTS | SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

e Northern Miner Welcome Remarks

Anthony Vaccaro, President, e Northern Miner Group

Investor Presentation | Stratabound Minerals Corp.

Kim Tyler, P.Geo, B.Sc., President, CEO, and Director

Investor Presentation | Global Atomic Corporation

Stephen G. Roman, Founder, Chairman, President and CEO

Investor Presentation | Torq Resources

Shawn Wallace, CEO and Chair

ought Leadership Presentation | Mining Exploration in Quebec: Why and How

Jonathan Lafontaine, Mining Exploration Activity Monitor, Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles

Christian Goulet, Pilote de système, Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles

James Moorhead, Resident Geologist, Ministère de l’Énergie et des ressources naturelles du Québec

Vincent Fréchette, Mining Engineer, Ministere de l’Energie

Investor Presentation | Monarch Mining Corporation

Jean-Marc Lacoste, CEO

Investor Presentation | New Age Metals

Harry Barr, Chairman & CEO

Investor Presentation | Northgold

Mitchell J. Vanderydt, P.Eng, MBA, CEO

Investor Presentation | Tartisan

Mark Appleby, President, CEO & Director

Investor Presentation | Blue Sky Uranium

Nikolaos Cacos, President and CEO

Featured Speaker

eo Yameogo, Canada’s Mining & Metals Sector Leader, EY Canada

Featured Speaker

Chris Taylor, Advisor to Discovery Group

Closing Remarks

Anthony Vaccaro, President, e Northern Miner Group

PRESENTING SPEAKERS

Jonathan Lafontaine, Mining Exploration Monitor, Ministére de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles

M Jonathan Lafontaine started his current role as the Mining exploration activity monitor for the ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles in August 2020. M Lafontaine graduated with a B.Sc. in geology from Laval University in 2001 including an academic exchange with the University of Alberta, and graduated with a M.Sc. in geology from the University of New Brunswick in 2007. He began his professional career in Saskatchewan for a uranium exploration and mining company and pursued professional interests as a geologist in New Brunswick, Quebec and Saskatchewan. Among his successes, he contributed to the discovery of the Matoush project, Quebec’s discovery of the year in 2008, which helped him convince the IAEA to now recognize it as a new deposit type. Between 2013 and 2020, he has assumed several di erent roles in the elds of corporate development and mining investments, and he managed technical committees in the eld of hydrogen standardization at both the international and Canadian levels for ISO and SCC respectively, with hydrogen a signi cant path in the eld in electri cation. Since the beginning of his career, he has been involved with several commodities and numerous projects representing the entire mineral development process. M Lafontaine is a registered professional in Québec, du New-Brunswick and Saskatchewan.

Brian McEwen, VP Exploration & Development, Golden Arrow Resources Corp

Mr. McEwen is a professional geologist with more than 30 years of exploration and production experience in open-pit and underground mining projects and operations. e extent of his experience is global in managing numerous projects in Canada, US, Europe, Asia, Africa and throughout Latin America. Mr. McEwen’s previous roles include more than a decade with MRDI (AMEC Peru) where he was responsible for project management, economic resource and reserve calculations for various precious and base metal companies worldwide, including BHP Billiton, CM Antamina, Teck, Hochschild and Phelps Dodge among others.

James Moorhead, Resident Geologist, Ministère de l’Énergie et des ressources naturelles du Québec

James Moorhead has worked since 1988 at the mining division of the Ministère de l’Énergie et des ressources naturelles du Québec, rst as a mapping geologist then as the resident geologist for the Val-d’Or o ce. Since 1995, he works as the scienti c advisor at the Direction de l’acquisition des connaissances géoscienti qes where he coordinates the yearly geoscienti c surveys, the ve year plans for these surveys and research projects with universities. He graduated with a bachelor and a master degrees in geological sciences from McGill University in 1983 and 1988.

Vince Osborne, Chief Financial O cer and Corporate Secretary, Lomiko

Vince Osbourne is Chief Financial O cer and Corporate Secretary of Lomiko Metals Inc. Vince is a senior nance and valuation professional with over 19 years of experience in all areas of nancial management and business partnering. Prior to joining Lomiko Metals, he held the role of Real Estate nance business partner for Sobeys, contributing to signi cant value creation through the Real Estate portfolio, strategic partnerships and leading the valuations and impairment functions for the organization. Vince Osbourne graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. Additionally, he holds the Chartered Business Valuator and Certi ed Management Accountant designation.

Stephen G. Roman, Founder, Chairman, President & CEO, Global Atomic Corporation

Stephen G. Roman is the founder, Chairman, President and CEO of Global Atomic Corporation, and was previously the President & CEO of TSX listed Harte Gold Corp. Mr. Roman has successfully identi ed, nanced, developed, and brought into commercial production many mining and oil and gas projects in the past 40 years and notably he was the founder, Co-Chairman and Director of Gold Eagle Mines Ltd., that was acquired by Goldcorp Inc. for $1.5 Billion in 2008.

Previously he was a Policy Advisor to the Minister of National Defence, Canada, spearheaded the privatization of two major petrochemical companies in Central Europe, was Director and VP Exploration of Denison Mines Limited and was instrumental in the initial creation and leadership of Gabriel Resources, Belo Sun Mining, Exall Energy, Silvermet and Polar Star Mining among others. Mr. Roman received the “Bill Dennis Award” for Canadian Mineral Discovery from the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) in March 2016.

PRESENTING SPEAKERS

Gordana Slepcev, Chief Operating O cer, Lomiko

Gordana Slepcev, M.Sc.P. Eng, is a Professional Mining Engineer with more than 25 years of global mining experience in developing, building and leading safe mining operations. Ms. Slepcev’s extensive experience spans multiple commodities, including gold, base metals, coal and industrial minerals. She brings considerable experience in mineral exploration, permitting, corporate and regulatory/ First Nations/ Indigenous relations, and project nancing to Lomiko. Before joining the Company, Ms. Slepcev held the position of COO for BMSI, a privately held company, where she was responsible for restarting the barite reprocessing facility, mitigating historical environmental impacts and overseeing EPCM contractors. She also formerly held the role of COO of Anaconda Mining, where she was responsible for the company’s operations and development of the Goldboro project. Ms. Slepcev graduated from the University of Belgrade with a M.Sc. and is the Chair of the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

Stephan Theben, Managing Principal and Mining Sector Lead, SLR Consulting

Stephan is a Managing Principal and Mining Sector lead for the Canadian operations. He has provided engineering and environmental services for over 25 years for mining and other projects in over 25 countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. His experience includes work with prefeasibility and feasibility studies, closure and remediation planning, EPCM, site construction, Environmental Assessments (EAs), management plans, environmental permitting and stakeholder consultation.

Kim Tyler, President, CEO and Director, Stratabound Minerals Corp.

Mr. Tyler is a mining and exploration professional with over 40 years of progressive management and executive experience in gold, base metals and industrial minerals with companies including Vale, Rio Tinto, Royal Oak Mines and Cominco Ltd. Mr. Tyler’s technical expertise, besides mineral exploration, includes mine operations management in both open pit and underground mining operations. Mr. Tyler is a Professional Geoscientist registered in both British Columbia and Ontario. He has worked within both junior and major mining and exploration environments.

Mitchell J. Vanderydt, P.Eng, MBA, CEO, Northgold AB

Mitch has 14 years’ experience in the metals and mining space, including 10 years as an engineering consultant focused on mining project development, followed by three years as a mining analyst at an investment bank in Toronto and more than one year in his current role of CEO at Northgold AB. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Western University in Canada, a P.Eng. License in Ontario, and a mining-focused MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto.

Shawn Wallace, CEO & Chair, Torq Resources

Mr. Wallace has been involved in all aspects of the mining industry, from mineral exploration and project management, to nancing, mergers & acquisitions and corporate development. Over the past 30 years, Mr. Wallace has been instrumental in building numerous high-quality mineral exploration, development and production companies, including co-founding Cayden Resources, which was acquired by Agnico Eagle Mines for $205M. Mr. Wallace is also Chair and Director of Coppernico Metals.

PRESENTING COMPANY PROFILES

Québec, rich in minerals and opportunities

Québec, it’s more than 200 000 active mining titles, 22 active mines, 32 mining projects, 2.66G $ in private mining investments and 11.91G $ in shipment value.

Québec has significant mining potential that accounts for one-fifth of Canada’s mineral production. The province produces and develops 17 metals and 12 non-metallic commodities, making it the most diverse resource base in Canada. Québec is the 1st Canadian province to adopt a plan for critical and strategic minerals and contributes to supplying these minerals, since it produces nickel, niobium and graphite, and mining projects are underway for lithium, vanadium, rare earths and tantalum.

Québec is one of the most attractive mineral jurisdictions in the world with a stable business environment and favourable to investments. We assist companies at all stages in the development of their mining projects. Thanks to hydropower, roughly 99% of our energy is low-cost, stably-priced, clean and renewable and we have a vast infrastructure network including roads, railways, ports and airports.

Québec is strategically located north-east of the United States with a year-long maritime access to Ontario and the american midwest through the St-Laurence Seaway. It is close to major population and industrial centres and has easy access to Europe and Asia thanks to its deep-water ports. Québec also works closely with associations representing the mining sector and with communities that host projects. These communities are natural project partners and work with the Government to develop the mining sector. The Government also promotes the mining sector by outlining the principles of sustainable development and best practices of social acceptability through initiatives such as the ECOLOGO certification.

SLR is a global leader in environmental and advisory solutions, with a team of 1,800 talented professionals delivering advice and support from a network of o ces in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and Africa.

With the increasing importance of environmental and related matters, SLR’s focus on environmental know-how, combined with strategic business acumen, o ers an attractive proposition for both clients and professionals.

Working on diverse and challenging projects, SLR specializes in the oil and gas, mining and minerals, infrastructure, built environment, industry, financial services and power sectors. Operating across 30 technical disciplines, SLR sta delivers on a wide range of both strategic and projectspecific issues to a growing base of business, regulatory and government clients.

Blue Sky Uranium Corp. (TSX.V: BSK; FSE: MAL2.F; OTC: BKUCF) is one of Argentina’s best-positioned uranium & vanadium exploration companies with more than 4,000 km2 (400,000 ha) of prospective tenements.

The Company’s mission is to deliver exceptional returns to shareholders by acquiring, exploring and advancing towards production a portfolio of uranium-vanadium projects, with an emphasis on near-surface deposits with the potential for near-term low-cost production. The Company follows international best practices in exploration, with a focus on respect for the environment, the communities, and the cultures in all the areas in which we work.

Global Atomic Corporation (www. globalatomiccorp.com) is a publicly listed company that provides a unique combination of high-grade uranium mine development and cash-flowing zinc concentrate production. The Company’s Uranium Division includes four deposits with the flagship project being the large, high-grade Dasa Project, discovered in 2010 by Global Atomic geologists through grassroots field exploration. With the issuance of the Dasa Mining Permit and an Environmental Compliance Certificate by the Republic of Niger, the Dasa Project is fully permitted for commercial production. The Phase 1 Feasibility Study for Dasa was filed in December 2021 and estimates Yellowcake production to commence by the end of 2024. Mine excavation began in Q1 2022.

Golden Arrow is a Vancouver-based explorer with a history of success in identifying, acquiring and advancing precious and base metal discoveries.

The Company is a member of the Grosso Group, a resource-focused management group that pioneered the mineral exploration industry in Argentina and has operated there since 1993. The Grosso Group, headed by Joseph Grosso, is credited with four exceptional mineral deposit discoveries, and has a highly-regarded track record for fostering strong relationships with communities and governments wherever it works. The Grosso Group leverages its vast network of local, regional and international industry contacts to support the exploration team as they search for quality resource opportunities.

Canada Silver Cobalt Works is a dual-focus precious metals and battery metals junior mining company with a valuable portfolio of critical energy metals projects based in safe and ecologically responsible jurisdictions. High-grade Silver deposits with Cobalt by-product. Battery Metals deposits with highgrade Nickel, Copper and Cobalt, as well as Platinum and Palladium. Re-2Ox processing technology for the environmentally compliant production of battery metals

Global Atomic’s Base Metals Division holds a 49% interest in the Befesa Silvermet Turkey, S.L. (“BST”) Joint Venture, which operates a modern zinc production plant, located in Iskenderun, Turkey. The plant recovers zinc from Electric Arc Furnace Dust (“EAFD”) to produce a high-grade zinc oxide concentrate which is sold to zinc smelters around the world. The Company’s joint venture partner, Befesa Zinc S.A.U. (“Befesa”) listed on the Frankfurt exchange under ‘BFSA’, holds a 51% interest in and is the operator of the BST Joint Venture. Befesa is a market leader in EAFD recycling, with approximately 50% of the European EAFD market and facilities located throughout Europe, Asia and the United States of America.

Golden Arrow advanced its Chinchillas Silver Project in Jujuy Province, Argentina, from discovery to development in just five years, and then successfully monetized the asset through a sale to SSR Mining. Golden Arrow now benefits from a significant equity interest in SSR Mining, providing upside potential and leverage to gold and silver. The Company is actively exploring in Chile and Argentina. With a pipeline of more than 180,000 hectares of high quality mineral projects at all stages of development, the Company is well positioned to define and develop exceptional new deposits.

PRESENTING COMPANY PROFILES

Lomiko Metals is a people-first company whose mission is to manifest a world of abundant renewable energy with Canadian and Quebec critical minerals for a solution in North America. Its goal is to create a new energy future in Canada by growing the critical minerals workforce, becoming a valued partner and neighbour with the communities in which it operates, and providing a secure and responsibly sourced supply of critical minerals. Lomiko holds a 100% interest in its La Loutre graphite development, located within the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg (KZA) First Nations territory in southern Quebec 180 kilometres northwest of Montreal. It is also working towards earning a 70% stake in the Bourier lithium project, located near Nemaska Lithium and Critical Elements south-east of the Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory in Quebec, in Canada’s lithium triangle that has historically housed lithium deposits and mineralization trends.

New Age Metals is a junior mineral exploration and development company focused on the discovery, exploration, and development of green metal projects in North America. The Company has two divisions: a Platinum Group Metals division and a Lithium/ Rare Element division.

The PGM Division includes the 100% owned, multi-million-ounce, district scale River Valley Project, one of North America’s largest undeveloped Platinum Group Metals Projects, situated 100 km by road east of Sudbury, Ontario. The Company completed a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Project in 2019 and, is fully financed to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in Q4-2022. In addition to River Valley, the Company owns 100% of the Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska and is working towards securing a option/ joint venture partner to help develop this road accessible drill ready project.

Stratabound Minerals Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company that is developing its advanced-stage flagship Fremont Gold Project in the Mother Lode Gold Belt of California. It has recently announced an updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate of 1.16M Indicated and 2.02M Inferred ounces of gold at 1.90 and 2.22 g/t gold respectively.

Additionally, Fremont also hosts three undeveloped gold occurrences across four kilometres of strike length along the prolific Mother Lode Gold Belt.

The Company is also advancing its pipeline of other early-stage gold exploration projects including the Golden Culvert, YT and McIntyre Brook, NB in Canada. Additionally, the Company holds two other projects both of which feature NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimates in the Bathurst Camp of New Brunswick including the Captain CobaltCopper-Gold Deposit.

Monarch Mining Corporation (TSX: GBAR) (OTCQX: GBARF) is a fully integrated mining company that owns four projects, including the Beaufor Mine, which has produced more than 1 million ounces of gold over the last 30 years. Other assets include the Croinor Gold, McKenzie Break and Swanson properties, all located near Monarch’s wholly owned 750 tpd Beacon Mill. Monarch owns 29,504 hectares (295 km2) of mining assets in the prolific Abitibi mining camp in Quebec that host a combined measured and indicated gold resource of 666,882 ounces and a combined inferred resource of 423,193 ounces.

The Lithium Division is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, where the Company is exploring for hard rock lithium and various rare elements such as tantalum and rubidium. Further Exploration plans for 2022 include continued mapping/sampling field program following up on prospective trends outlined in the magnetic data, and phase two drill program at Lithium Two Project. The company has a partnership with Mineral Resource Limited (MRL, ASX: MIN), a top global lithium producer to explore and develop the Company’s lithium project portfolio. The 2022 budget for the Company’s Lithium Division is $1.8 million.

Exploring early-stage projects in Peru with untapped potential. Tier One Silver’s primary focus is on its Curibaya and Hurricane Silver projects, where it is actively targeting highgrade silver, gold and copper mineralization.

Torq Resources is establishing itself as a leader of new copper and gold exploration in prominent mining belts in Chile. The Company is guided by responsible, respectful and sustainable practices in its pursuit of a landmark discovery.

Northgold AB is Swedish-listed gold exploration and development company advancing resource-stage projects in the Middle Ostrobothnia Gold Belt (MOGB) of Central Finland. Northgold’s shares trades under symbol “NG” on Stockholm’s Nasdaq First North Growth Market exchange.

Tartisan Nickel Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company whose flagship asset includes the Kenbridge Nickel Deposit near Kenora, Ontario. The Kenbridge Nickel Deposit (Sedar, September 17, 2020) hosts an updated measured and indicated resource estimate of 7.5 Mt of 0.58% nickel and 0.32% copper for a total of 95 Mlb of contained nickel. An additional 0.985 Mt at 1% Ni and 0.62% Cu (22 Mlb contained nickel) were calculated as inferred mineral resources. Pit constrained + out of pit Cu totals 53 Mlbs. Mineralization is open at depth and along strike. The Kenbridge Nickel Deposit is equipped with a 622m deep shaft. In the Republic of Peru, Tartisan owns the Don Pancho Zinc-Lead-Silver Project, just 9km from Trevali’s Santander mine.

Tartisan also owns equity stakes in: Eloro Resources Ltd. that is exploring the ISKA ISKA project, a Gold, Silver, Zinc and Lead target with a planned 2500m drilling program currently underway in the Potosi district, Bolivia, and the low-sulphidation epithermal La Victoria Gold/Silver Project in Ancash, Peru; Class 1 Nickel & Technologies Limited who are advancing the Alexo-Kelex Dundonald nickel project near Timmins Ontario; and Peruvian Metals Corporation who are operating a toll mill in Peru and announced an exploration and bulk sampling program on the high grade Gold-SilverCopper Palta Dorada project located in the Ancash Department of Peru.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PANEL

SLR is a global leader in environmental and advisory solutions, with a team of 1,800 talented professionals delivering advice and support from a network of o ces in Europe, North America, Asia-Paci c and Africa.

With the increasing importance of environmental and related matters, SLR’s focus on environmental know-how, combined with strategic business acumen, o ers an attractive proposition for both clients and professionals. Working on diverse and challenging projects, SLR specializes in the oil and gas, mining and minerals, infrastructure, built environment, industry, nancial services and power sectors. Operating across 30 technical disciplines, SLR sta delivers on a wide range of both strategic and project-speci c issues to a growing base of business, regulatory and government clients.

President and CEO

Mining Association of Canada (MAC)

Pierre Gratton was appointed President and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) on June 1, 2011. Based in Ottawa, MAC is the national organization for the Canadian mining industry. Its members are engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, re ning and semifabrication. Prior to his appointment to MAC, Pierre was President and CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC). From 1999-2008, Mr. Gratton served as Vice President, Sustainable Development and Public A airs for the Mining Association of Canada (MAC). In this capacity, he was instrumental in the development of Towards Sustainable Mining, MAC’s agship program that is gaining international recognition and adoption.

Kevin D’Souza Chief Sustainability O cer Resource Capital Funds

Kevin is a recognized professional and thought leader with 30 years of direct experience in responsible mining including Environment Social Governance (ESG) related issues, security management, and diversity & inclusion. Kevin is currently the Chief Sustainability O cer with Resource Capital Funds where he leads the full integration of ESG throughout the company’s investment processes. Kevin has a proven and successful track record focused on creating value through informed strategic planning, governance, and tactical operational implementation for numerous top, mid-tier, and junior mining companies. He has worked directly for or consulted to, numerous mining companies including many of the industry’s majors such as Barrick Gold, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Kinross, and De Beers and was recently the VP of Security, Sustainability & Environment for Centerra Gold.

Stephen Crozier

Vice President, Sustainability Noront Resources

Stephen Crozier is Vice President, Sustainability for Noront Resources. In his current role Stephen is responsible for indigenous engagement, community relations and permitting relating to Noront’s projects in the Ring of Fire. He is also responsible for government relations as it relates to the foregoing areas. Stephen has extensive experience in ESG-related mandates, including data collection and reporting, policy and program development and execution.

Jean-Marie Clouet

Corporate Director, Investor Relations Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

Mr. Clouet is Corporate Director, Investor Relations at Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.

Over the last 20 years, he has held various engineering, business development and managerial roles within Agnico Eagle, Glencore, Xstrata and Falconbridge. He holds a Master in Business and Administration (HEC Montreal) and a Masters of Engineering with Rock Mechanics (Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London, UK). He is a member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec.

Stephen Theben

Managing Principal & Mining Sector Lead SLR

Stephan is a Managing Principal and Mining Sector lead for the Canadian operations. He has provided engineering and environmental services for over 25 years for mining and other projects in over 25 countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. His experience includes work with prefeasibility and feasibility studies, closure and remediation planning, EPCM, site construction, Environmental Assessments (EAs), management plans, environmental permitting and stakeholder consultation.

ESG in Mining: How to make ESG meaningful Discussing meaningful changes and trends in the mining industry that promote and improve ESG performance.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28TH, 2022 | 11:30PM EST

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Pierre Gratton

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PANEL

THURSDAY SEPT. 29TH | 11:00AM EST

Mining Exploration in Quebec: Why and How

Québec, rich in minerals and opportunities Québec, it’s more than 200 000 active mining titles, 22 active mines, 32 mining projects, 2.66G $ in private mining investments and 11.91G $ in shipment value.

Québec has signi cant mining potential that accounts for one- h of Canada’s mineral production. e province produces and develops 17 metals and 12 non-metallic commodities, making it the most diverse resource base in Canada. Québec is the 1st Canadian province to adopt a plan for critical and strategic minerals and contributes to supplying these minerals, since it produces nickel, niobium and graphite, and mining projects are underway for lithium, vanadium, rare earths and tantalum. Québec is one of the most attractive mineral jurisdictions in the world with a stable business environment and favourable to investments. We assist companies at all stages in the development of their mining projects. anks to hydropower, roughly 99% of our energy is low-cost, stably-priced, clean and renewable and we have a vast infrastructure network including roads, railways, ports and airports. Québec is strategically located north-east of the United States with a year-long maritime access to Ontario and the american midwest through the StLaurence Seaway. It is close to major population and industrial centres and has easy access to Europe and Asia thanks to its deep-water ports. Québec also works closely with associations representing the mining sector and with communities that host projects. ese communities are natural project partners and work with the Government to develop the mining sector. e Government also promotes the mining sector by outlining the principles of sustainable development and best practices of social acceptability through initiatives such as the ECOLOGO certi cation.

Vincent Fréchette Mining Engineer

Mr. Frechette has graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mining Engineering from Laval University in 2010. He has been working for the Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles for more than 10 years now. One of his main responsibilities is to work closely with di erent mining companies in helping them navigate through Quebec’s mining Act, especially in getting extractions rights and other authorizations.

Christian Goulet

Mr. Goulet joined the Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles in 2002 as a mapping technician. Shortly a er, he joined the GESTIM application team as a customer service representative. His knowledge of the system allowed him to join the development team in 2006. Since 2009, he has been a system administrator for GESTIM, working on the maintenance and development of the system.

James Moorhead Senior Geologist Ministere de l’Energie

James Moorhead has worked since 1988 at the mining division of the Ministère de l’Énergie et des ressources naturelles du Québec, rst as a mapping geologist then as the resident geologist for the Val-d’Or o ce. Since 1995, he works as the scienti c advisor at the Direction de l’acquisition des connaissances géoscienti qes where he coordinates the yearly geoscienti c surveys, the ve year plans for these surveys and research projects with universities.

He graduated with a bachelor and a master degrees in geological sciences from McGill University in 1983 and 1988.

Jonathan Lafontaine Geologist Ministere de l’Energie

M Jonathan Lafontaine started his current role as the Mining exploration activity monitor for the ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles in August 2020. M Lafontaine graduated with a B.Sc. in geology from Laval University in 2001 including an academic exchange with the University of Alberta, and graduated with a M.Sc. in geology from the University of New Brunswick in 2007. He began his professional career in Saskatchewan for a uranium exploration and mining company and pursued professional interests as a geologist in New Brunswick, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

Among his successes, he contributed to the discovery of the Matoush project, Quebec’s discovery of the year in 2008, which helped him convince the IAEA to now recognize it as a new deposit type.

Between 2013 and 2020, he has assumed several di erent roles in the elds of corporate development and mining investments, and he managed technical committees in the eld of hydrogen standardization at both the international and Canadian levels for ISO and SCC respectively, with hydrogen a signi cant path in the eld in electri cation. Since the beginning of his career, he has been involved with several commodities and numerous projects representing the entire mineral development process. M Lafontaine is a registered professional in Québec, du New-Brunswick and Saskatchewan.

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