The Northern Miner December 10 2018 Issue

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ROB MCEWEN: ANSWERS CRITICS OF US$90M OFFERING / 5 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM

SPECIAL FOCUS

EXPLORATION PROJECTS TO WATCH

Milestones on the horizon for juniors chasing hot prospects / 9–15

DELIVERING QUALITY EXPERTISE GLOBALLY ACROSS THE ENTIRE MINING LIFE CYCLE

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DECEMBER 10–23, 2018 / VOL. 104 ISSUE 25 / GLOBAL MINING NEWS · SINCE 1915 / $3.99 / WWW.NORTHERNMINER.COM

Flin Flon mining to stop in 2021, Hudbay memo says

Nighthawk explores regions near Colomac in NWT GOLD

| Drills ‘vast, unexplored potential’ north of Yellowknife

BASE METALS

| Efforts to find more ore failed BY TRISH SAYWELL tsaywell@northernminer.com

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espite its best efforts, the “most likely scenario” is that in 2021, mining operations will cease in Flin Flon, Man., an internal memo to employees at Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) says. While the company has extended the life of its 777 mine from 2019 to 2021, the memo notes, its efforts to find new sources of ore from 777 “did not turn out as we hoped.” That means that the Flin Flon mill will also cease operations, the memo states, and the “most likely outcome is that the zinc plant will also close in 2021. “We have to be honest: after mining for 90 years in the Flin Flon area, we now know that we won’t have an anchor mine to replace 777 and sustain operations in Flin Flon the same way they are today,” Robert Assabgui, vice-president of Hudbay’s Manitoba business unit, wrote to staff. “In 2022, with only Lalor ore available, the zinc plant will have only 50% of the feed that it has today. It is unlikely we will be able to technically or commercially operate the plant at this reduced throughput.” The 777 zinc-copper-gold-silver mine began commercial production in 2004. The company said it is working to figure out what this means for jobs, but doesn’t have all the answers yet. “I can tell you that we know there will be a need for more people at Stall mill and Lalor mine,” Assabgui said. See HUDBAY / 2

A drill rig at Nighthawk Gold’s Indin Lake gold property in the Northwest Territories.   NIGHTHAWK GOLD

BY TRISH SAYWELL tsaywell@northernminer.com

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ince it kicked off this year’s 32,500-metre drill program in March, Nighthawk Gold (TSX: NHK; US-OTC: MIMZF) has continued drilling at the Colomac and Grizzly Bear gold deposits, which, along with its Goldcrest gold deposit, make up the Colomac project’s inferred resource of 2.61 million contained oz. gold in 50.3 million tonnes grading 1.62 grams gold per tonne. But the company has also spent a lot of time drilling several of

its regional gold deposits and showings to build on what it says is a gold camp with vast, underexplored potential in the Indin Lake greenstone belt of the Northwest Territories, 200 km north of Yellowknife. “This past year a little over half of our drill metres were outside Colomac on our larger land package,” Michael Byron, Nighthawk’s president and CEO, says in a telephone interview. “The whole concept of why we consolidated the Indin Lake belt was to demonstrate that it is a gold camp at its very early stages of exploration and evolution.” So far, Nighthawk’s most exciting regional targets on the

property are Treasure Island, 11 km northwest of Colomac; Leta Arm, 15 km southwest of Colomac; and Damoti Lake, 28 km south of Colomac. The company drilled 16 holes (4,000 metres) at Treasure Island this year — the first drilling there since the company intersected several shallow, high-grade gold intercepts in 2011. All 16 holes intersected mineralization, with visible gold in 14 of them. Highlights include 46.3 metres grading 3.31 grams gold per tonne from 118 metres downhole, including 21.8 metres of 6.23 grams

PM40069240

See NIGHTHAWK / 6

FORTUNA SILVER: NEARS PRODUCTION AT LINDERO / 16

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2018-12-04 9:34 PM


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