The annual mining & exploration review northern 2024-2025
Copper’s place in the search for clean energy
Lessons from Tahltan Nation and their return to affluence
SRC advances metal smelting technology
Grid Metals looks to develop a critical minerals hub in southeastern Manitoba
Unlimited data | Unlimited Wi-Fi
Stay connected with customers and employees on Saskatchewan’s largest LTE and Wi-Fi networks, and access the fastest speeds on our 5G network.
› Unlimited Canada-wide or Canada, U.S., and Mexico data usage with Business Unlimited plans*
› No data overage charges
› Unlimited text messaging in Canada, the US, and most of the Caribbean
› Business Unlimited 75 Plans include 1 GB of U.S. Data
It’s the wireless solution your business needs.
› Flexible, competitive wireless plans built with your needs in mind
› Free unlimited Wi-Fi
sasktel.com/businessvip
* Data speeds are reduced to a maximum of 2 Mbps once the full-speed data amount is reached.
• Emergency medical services with approved litter kits
• Power line and pipeline surveys and inspections
• Movie and still camera platforms and props
• Oil, gas and mineral exploration
• Specialty long-line service
• Animal telemetry tracking
• Environmental surveys
• Fuel handling/supply
• VIP and crew transportation
• Power line construction
• Forest fire suppression
• Drill moves (seismic and diamond)
• Live animal capture (Net gunning)
• Seismic surveys
• Aerial crane
Asbestos exposure is the number one cause of work-related deaths in Saskatchewan.
Asbestos was commonly used in homes built before 1990. More than 3,000 building materials and other products contain asbestos, such as vinyl floor tiles, window putty and duct coverings. When tiny asbestos fibres are airborne, they can get into the lungs and cause severe damage over many years.
If you think there is a risk of asbestos, test for it to protect yourself and your co-workers.
Manitoba has the critical minerals the world needs to build the clean energy economy. The clean energy transition and national security will require more mineral activity, and we expect demand to double by 2040. Manitoba is the place for responsible mining, and we are opportunity ready as a trusted partner to countries all around the world.
At this November’s Central Canada Mineral Exploration Convention, our government launched Manitoba’s new Critical Mineral Strategy. Below are a few key elements within this strategy that demonstrate our new approach to expediting and executing on these opportunities.
Our way in Manitoba is with high standards of Indigenous engagement –meaning we will work faster to notify communities sooner when mineral development is being proposed. We are also looking at bringing in revenue sharing opportunities for Indigenous Nations, skills training, and employment so communities can benefit directly. Along with this new strategy, we announced a new Mining Advisory Council to support Indigenous engagement and help us implement this work.
Our way in Manitoba is faster – we are streamlining our permitting process and setting up a single desk Critical Minerals Office so business can access what they need to advance projects faster. Additionally, our government’s new mandate to prioritize hydro grid connections for economic projects will help us get projects running faster than other jurisdictions.
Our way in Manitoba is with clean electricity – due to our abundance of lowcost, clean, affordable hydroelectricity, industry partners that set up in Manitoba can meet their economic and ESG targets. This massively reduces the cost and carbon footprint of all mining activities.
Our way in Manitoba is with skilled trades and a skilled workforce – more mining development means more quality local jobs. We’re invested in partnering with business, labour, post-secondary institutions, and training providers to promote careers in the mining sector.
Our way in Manitoba is at the centre of it all – Manitoba is strategically located in the middle of the continent, with links to the US and Mexico, the Atlantic Trade Corridor, and the Asia Pacific Trade
Corridor. We have our own deep-water seaport at the Port of Churchill, and Manitoba is connected to the tri-modal inland port and Foreign Trade Zone of CentrePort Canada. Anywhere minerals need to go, we can transport them via sea, land or air.
We also know that exploration drives investment in our economy, and we also announced an additional intake of up to $2 million in funding through the Manitoba Mineral Development Fund. This fund strategically supports economic development and mining projects that create Indigenous partnerships, increase local employment, and stimulate investment in northern Manitoba. Since 2020, $14.7 million has been provided to 90 projects, which has leveraged over $128 million in private sector capital and generated over 660 jobs and 128 community and Indigenous partnerships.
For these reasons, Manitoba is ready. We are ready for collaboration, for business, and for industry to thrive. With this new strategy and investments in this sector, we are ensuring Manitoba is ready to benefit from our critical mineral advantage and meet the demands of the future. ✘
When it comes to critical minerals, Saskatchewan has what the world needs – whether it’s established minerals such as potash and uranium or emerging ones like lithium, helium, copper, or rare earth elements (REEs).
The Fraser Institute has ranked Saskatchewan first in the country and in the top three globally for mining investment attractiveness in each of the last three years. This is owing to the province’s abundant resources, progressive incentive programs, business-friendly regulatory system, and accessible geological information.
In recent years, numerous companies have made the decision to invest in Saskatchewan and advance critical minerals proj-
ects. This includes Foran Mining Corporation, which recently committed to moving its McIlvenna Bay copper-zinc project toward production, in the province’s northeast. Foran has begun mine construction and is aiming to start production in 2026.
In southeast Saskatchewan, Arizona Lithium is drilling wells for its first commercial production facility at the Prairie Lithium Project. A pioneer in this sector, the company is testing application of direct lithium extraction technologies and is targeting commercial-scale production by 2025.
North American Helium (NAH) continues to be a leader in southwest Saskatchewan, having recently opened its ninth helium purification facility in the province. NAH has invested
approximately $500 million in Saskatchewan, helping the province progress toward its 2030 Helium Action Plan goal – to produce 10 per cent of global helium supply.
These companies are three of many undertaking important exploration and development work in Saskatchewan for critical minerals, which are a crucial part of global economies transitioning to cleaner forms of energy and technology.
To get to this stage, these companies have taken advantage of Saskatchewan’s competitive incentive programs. Among them are the Targeted Mineral Exploration Incentive (TMEI), the Critical Minerals Processing Investment Incentive (CMPII), and the Saskatchewan Critical Minerals Innovation Incentive (SCMII).
The TMEI has a yearly $4 million funding pool for drilling of hard rock minerals anywhere in Saskatchewan. Eligible companies can receive a 25 per cent grant on eligible drilling costs, up to $50,000 per year for uranium or up to $150,000 per year for all other hard rock minerals.
The CMPII and SCMII support value-added processing and commercial innovation projects in 11 emerging critical minerals found in the province: aluminum, cobalt, copper, gallium,
helium, lithium, magnesium, natural graphite, nickel, REEs and zinc. Successful applicants to the CMPII will receive transferable Crown royalty and freehold production tax credits valued at 15 per cent of eligible costs, up to a maximum of $75 million of credits per project. The complementary SCMII offers a maximum of $5 million in transferable royalty credits per project, but at a higher 25 per cent of eligible costs.
Saskatchewan is also on track to become a North American leader in the processing of REEs. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) has begun producing these valuable minerals at a commercial scale out of its new Saskatoon processing facility. The SRC is on track to reach 40 tonnes of production of rare earth metals per month by 2025.
The global push for critical minerals is on. As populations increase and people around the world look to these valuable resources to meet their needs, Saskatchewan is growing to meet that demand.
Choose Saskatchewan for your next big investment.
To find applications and more information about our mineral incentive programs, go to www.investsk.ca/sectors/mining-critical-minerals. ✘
“The Critical Mineral Processing Investment Incentive has been fundamental in the success of the development of the Prairie Lithium Project.”
Zach Maurer, Executive Director at Arizona Lithium
Saskatchewan has Canada’s top mineral incentives for exploration and development of your next project.
The Targeted Mineral Exploration Incentive has a yearly $4 million funding pool for exploration drilling of all hard rock minerals anywhere in Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan’s Mineral Exploration Tax Credit is 30 per cent, the most competitive rate in Canada.
The Saskatchewan Critical Minerals Innovation Incentive and Critical Minerals Processing Investment Incentive offer transferable royalty tax credits on innovation and processing projects for 11 critical minerals.
By Jerry Asp
“We claim the sovereign right to all the country of our tribe – this country of ours which we have held intact from the encroachments of other tribes, from time immemorial, at the cost of our own blood. We have done this because our lives depended on our country. To lose it meant we would lose our means of living and therefore our lives.”
– Declaration of the Tahltan Tribe, 1910
Situated in northwestern British Columbia, Tahltan territory extends from the Coast Mountains in the west to the lower part of the Yukon Boreal Forest in the north to the Cassiar Mountains range in the east to the headwaters of the Nass, Skeena, and the Stikine rivers in the south. As Tahltan People, we are proud, fierce defenders of our territory and resources.
What’s more, our people have always been entrepreneurs and, before contact with Europeans, we enjoyed great affluence. We capitalized on our location and established ourselves as middlemen between the Coastal and Interior Nations. Along with firs, fish, and dried berries, Tahltans traded obsidian, jade, and copper, which we mined in our territory.
The situation changed so dramatically after contact that when I started the Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) in 1985, we had 98 per cent unemployment in the winter and 65 per cent unemployment in the summer on our reserves. Approximately 80 per cent of our members were on welfare. We also had serious alcohol and drug problems, a high suicide rate, and very low educational standards.
By 2006, things had changed for the better. We had zero per cent unemployment in the summer and five per cent in the winter. Our suicide rate dropped to zero, and we had very few people on welfare. Last year alone, we had 56 high school graduates and 18 college and university graduates. In 2019, we graduated our first mining engineer and, today, we have at least 12 students enrolled in accredited apprenticeship programs.
What made all the difference in our Nation’s return to affluence is that we developed our people along with our resources.
Back in 1988, when we negotiated our first Tahltan Participation Agreement with the Golden Bear mine, one of their representatives said to us: “We think that you Tahltans are being unreasonable.” Pat Edzerza, then Band Manager of the Iskut Tahltans, replied, “You, the resource developers, are taking away our way of life. We only ask that you replace it with something equitable. I don’t think that this is being unreasonable.”
The Tahltan Nation was able to negotiate favourable terms in that first Participation Agreement (a predecessor to the Impact Benefit Agreement) because before we even started negotiations, we set the parameters by writing the Tahltan Resource Development Policy. This Policy states:
Before a resource development project can commence within Tahltan Tribal Territory, it will be necessary for the developer and the Tahltan Tribal Council to enter into a project participation agreement that encompasses the following elements and basic principles:
1. Assurance that the development will not pose a threat of irreparable environmental damage;
2. Assurance that the development will not jeopardize, prejudice, or otherwise compromise the outstanding Tahltan aboriginal rights claim;
3. Assurance that the project will provide more positive than negative social impacts on Tahltan people;
4. Provision for the widest possible opportunity for education and direct employment-related training for Tahltan people in connection with the project;
5. Provision for the widest possible employment opportunities for Tahltan people with respect to all phases of the development;
6. Provision for substantial equity participation by Tahltans in the total project;
7. Provision for the widest possible development of Tahltan business opportunities over which the developer may have control or influence; and
8. Provision for the developer to assist the Tahltans to accomplish the objectives stated above by providing financial and managerial assistance and advice where deemed necessary.
If resource developers and the Tahltan Tribal Council can reach agreement embracing the points noted above, then we believe that Tahltans, the developers, and all other Canadians will enjoy equitable benefits from each resource development undertaken and there will be business harmony within Tahltan traditional tribal territory.
Further to this, in 2003, we held a three-day workshop on the potentials of mining in Tahltan territory. From this forum, the Tahltans developed a mining strategy.
1. Send a signal that Tahltan people are supportive of mining and mineral activity on their land under conditions that such activities are respectful of Tahltan concerns and lead to a fair distribution of costs, benefits, and risks to implicated parties.
2. Facilitate Tahltan participation in mining and mineral activities – not only through direct and indirect employment, but also in terms of overall management/co-management as well as the broad perspective of seeing a fair distribution (considering all participating interests) of all benefits, costs, and risks.
3. Ensure that the broad range of concerns raised in the “Seven Questions to Sustainability” are addressed, in particular the health/social/cultural and environmental implications of mining/mineral activity; and
4. Ensure that in the future, mining and mineral activities in Tahltan Traditional Territory is a win-win for all implicated interests – the Tahltan people, mining/mineral interests, governments, and others.
Our report, Out of Respect, was released on January 28, 2004 at the Cordilleran Roundup in Vancouver. A full copy of this report can be found at www.iisd.org.
The importance of ensuring meaningful employment opportunities for Tahltans in mining carried out in our territory is not always appreciated by our people. At a recent Annual General Assembly, a Tahltan member commented, “I’m not happy with the mining agreements since all we get is a few jobs.”
I checked into it and, at the time, at the Red Chris Mine alone, we had 164 employed workers. This didn’t include support workers employed by the TNDC or employment from other contractors. Workers at the Mine made an annual average wage of $80,000 to $120,000. Doing the math shows that Tahltan wages were in the $15 to $16 million range from this one project alone.
Today, the mining and exploration projects in our Territory altogether contribute approximately $30 million in wages and another $65 million in contracts annually to Tahltan members.
What brought home to me the great change that has occurred in our Nation since the early ’80s was a trip taken last November by three young Tahltan women employed by the Red Chris Mine. They took a 10-day tour of Indonesia and Thailand, sending home photos every day. When they arrived back for their next two-week rotation at the mine, it was evident that they had had a great time when one of the young women commented, “I had to come back to work to rest up from my vacation.”
Why is this significant? Because had this been 1985, those same young women would probably have been stuck on the Reserve, with two to three children each, waiting for their next welfare cheque; instead, they were travelling the world with money they had earned and planning for the future on their own terms.
1. Know what you want from a resource developer before you enter into an agreement;
2. Know what you don’t want;
3. Look to developing your people along with your resources;
4. Understand that you don’t have to accept every deal or potential opportunity that comes along; and
5. Use top professionals that you can trust as your advisors, including lawyers, accountants, and engineers.
It is not a great mystery how the Tahltan Nation retook control over its land and resources – it was a step-by-step process. And if the Tahltans can do it, any Indigenous Nation can do it. ✘
The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) was thrilled to welcome 26,926 participants to Toronto for the best business, investment, and networking opportunities in the mineral exploration and mining industry. With more than 1,100 exhibitors, including governments, companies, and leading experts from around the world, PDAC 2024 was one of the largest events in the association’s history.
“PDAC 2024 carried forward the convention’s 92-year legacy, serving as the premier venue for unveiling new trends, technological innovations, and industry discussions,” said Ray Goldie, PDAC president. “Once again, PDAC was proud to showcase a rich array of programming including capital markets, Indigenous relations, student and early career development, and sustainability.”
Keynote speakers included Jakob Stausholm, CEO, Rio Tinto; Michael Stanley, Mining Lead, The World Bank; Denise John
son, group president, Resource Industries Caterpillar Inc.; and Wojtek Wodzicki, the Lundin Group Vicuña exploration team.
The convention provided a venue for dialogue between industry and government. PDAC’s leadership seized the opportunity to underscore the important role public policy has in supporting the competitiveness of Canada’s mineral sector.
“Canada is poised to lead the green transition as the supplier of choice for responsibly sourced critical minerals,” said Goldie. “It is imperative we bolster our critical mineral wealth, and we cannot ignore the foundations of our mineral industry. PDAC’s closing call to our federal government is that it must renew the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit that is set to expire this month.”
Thank you to everyone who participated in PDAC 2024, including our volunteers, speakers, sponsors, and participants. We look forward to welcoming you back March 2-5, 2025 for PDAC 2025.
Visit www.pdac.ca/convention for more information. ✘
Contact our team to ensure your next project is safe, successful, and on time.
majorcanada@majordrilling.com 1-204-885-7532
Don’t miss the world’s premier mineral exploration and mining convention
2-5 5
PROSPECTORS & DEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Up to 30,0 00 attendees 700+ hours of programming
1,100+ exhibitors Delegates from 130+ countries
Meet investors & senior execut ives Unrivaled networking pdac.ca/convention | Toronto, Canada
By Kelsey James
Vale Base Metals’ Manitoba Operations have been mining high-grade nickel sulfide ore in Thompson for nearly 70 years, and the operation’s team is busy laying the groundwork for another 70 years of mining in northern Manitoba.
“It’s an exciting time for mining in Thompson and Manitoba. We’re making big investments in our operation, and making new discoveries in our region, while making mining more welcoming and accessible to everyone,” says Stacy Kennedy, Director of Manitoba Operations for Vale Base Metals.
Vale Base Metals is one of the world’s largest producers of high-quality nickel and an important producer of copper and responsibly sourced cobalt, with operations in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Indonesia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Its mission is to safely deliver the critical minerals essential to the world’s energy transition, while improving life and transforming the future.
In Thompson, the company currently operates two underground mines, T1 and T3, which feed ore to a concentrator
that prepares it for shipping and further processing in Ontario.
Vale Base Metals aims to be a leader in environmentally responsible and sustainable mining. Last year, Vale’s operations, including those in Manitoba, met a big milestone when they became ISO 14001:2015 certified, meaning they meet the international standard for industrial environmental management.
Thompson’s environmental management strategy includes proactively remediating and re-using waste materials from mining to reduce its footprint and costs, as well as a robust water quality management system.
“We take our responsibility for our watershed seriously,” Kennedy says. “Every step, we make sure the water that flows through our property goes back into the environment as clean as it came in.”
One of Thompson’s major growth projects has been the Thompson Mine Extension Project, a $150 million investment in the future of Thompson’s T3 mine. The electrical, mechanical, and ventilation upgrades will help them improve production in the
most active areas of the mine and build the business case for much larger investments.
But Thompson’s exploration team is also looking beyond its main mine sites, executing on an ambitious exploration campaign to learn more about the opportunities in the broader region surrounding Thompson.
“The Thompson Nickel Belt has been mapped extensively closer to the surface,” Kennedy says. “But there’s more to be discovered at depth. We’re investing heavily into expanding our knowledge of very promising orebodies in the area, with a lot of promising results.”
One of the operation’s biggest priorities is to grow its local workforce and make sure northern Manitobans have an opportunity to benefit from the wealth that mining creates. Vale Base Metals is Thompson’s biggest single employer, directly employing more than 700 people along with the contractors and vendors that support the operation. In Manitoba alone, Vale contributed $271 million in labour income over the last three years, and their average salary is more than double the provincial average.
“We have great, lifelong opportunities in mining,” Kennedy notes. “Lots of our leaders here started underground as miners and built amazing careers. A job in mining can be a lifechanging opportunity.”
Last year, Manitoba launched its Miners in Training curriculum, now called the Next Generation program. The program offers six weeks of training in Vale’s dedicated underground training area, helping new hires with no industrial or mining experience build a foundation for a safe and successful career as underground miners, with a particular focus on women entering the industry.
Hiring events like Walk-in Wednesday also help open the industry to a variety of local candidates, where anyone could
come in off the street, résumé in hand, and interview with one of the operation’s hiring managers.
“It means that anyone with the drive to try something new has the chance to build a life with us,” Kennedy says.
Thompson, known as the “Hub of the North,” is named after John F. Thompson, chairman of International Nickel (INCO).
The company discovered its main ore body in 1956 and, from there, operations and the rest of the community grew around that finding. You can still see signs of Thompson’s mining heritage throughout the community, and the mine continues plays a big role in community life. The operation invested nearly $750,000 into community initiatives last year, including part of a $2 million investment over four years toward Thompson’s new aquatic facility.
“We’re really privileged to have great relationships with our local government, with recreational clubs and community groups, and with our Indigenous partners in Thompson,” Kennedy says. “Most of our employees live and work in Thompson, and I’m proud to see how much they’re engaged with community life. You can find our employees leading helping out everywhere in the community.”
Now, Kennedy and the Manitoba team are working to honour the Indigenous heritage of Thompson, and the Treaty 5 territory where they operate. This year, Vale Base Metals signed a new exploration agreement with the neighbouring Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation, creating a mutually beneficial relationship with the community and the company’s exploration program – one that commits to a larger relationship agreement in the future.
“Mining has a big role to play in reconciliation in Manitoba,” Kennedy says. “This is a historic agreement, and long overdue.”
For more information about Vale Base Metals and the company’s Thompson operations, visit www.vale.com/basemetals, or read it’s Journey Together community reports at https://www.vale.com/journey-together-reports. ✘
While “critical” or “strategic” metals like lithium and rare earth elements (REEs) have grabbed recent headlines, volatile pricing has delivered challenging markets for long-term investors.
Forecasting the demand growth for these critical metals with small markets has required a bet on the success and the timing of various emerging technologies, including electric vehicles. While the importance of the energy transition hasn’t wavered, early forecasts overestimated the pace of change, such that long-term optimism for cleaner energy has not yet buoyed the subdued prices for lithium, nickel, REEs, or cobalt.
In contrast, it’s easy to be consistently positive about copper, particularly when the demand and price growth is viewed over years and decades, not weeks and months. The irreplaceable role copper plays in our current energy infrastructure ensures an investment in copper is a proxy for growing global energy demand
and rising standards of living, regardless of the pace of the energy transition.
As we look ahead, the role of copper in the transition to clean energy and electric mobility cannot be overstated – solar power requires approximately five kilograms of copper per kilowatt capacity and a hybrid car around 35 kilograms. Demand for copper is estimated to grow by around 300 per cent off an already large base, as the world moves toward clean energy.
Global copper discovery and development has not kept pace to meet this growing demand. The multi-year fall in equity funding for low market-cap explorers suggests the risk of a sustained copper shortfall is not close to a resolution.
North America has a long geological history that has delivered many world-class
copper mining districts. The need for a cleaner future, combined with a rapidly growing global population, at a time of unprecedented geo-political uncertainty means the discovery of copper and other metals in North America has rarely been more important.
There are many companies making investments toward copper discovery and development in North America. From Arizona to Alaska and Newfoundland to British Columbia, many tens of companies and many hundreds of earth scientists are working to identify mineable projects.
T2 Metals Corp is one of several companies active in the Flin Flon district of Manitoba and Saskatchewan – a wellendowed copper, zinc, and gold mineralized region within central Canada – with a long and rich mining history.
T2 Metals’ Sherridon project, with sub-
stantial past production, historical copper resources, road and rail access, and support from the local First Nations community, is delivering key milestones following renewed and sustained investment.
As North America continues to explore and develop its copper resources, it’s essential to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability. Companies like T2 Metals are taking responsible and inclusive approaches so the region can ensure a prosperous future while protecting its natural resources. Manitoba and Saskatchewan’s access to low-carbon hydro-electric power is a great advantage for the future production of sustainable copper.
The T2 Metals team and our investors look forward to making a significant contribution to supplying metals for new energy and transport. ✘
The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is reinventing the traditional method of mixing and manufacturing metals with innovative advancements in metal smelting technology – an integral part of SRC’s minerals-tometals Rare Earth Processing Facility, which is anticipated to be fully operational in early 2025.
SRC’s advancements in metal smelting are two-fold: focusing on safety, while operating and consistently producing commercial-grade rare earth metals.
“SRC is taking the human element away from working in front of the 1,100° Celsius furnace, allowing someone to instead control the automatic mixing instruments developed in-house from a safe distance,” says Dr. Muhammad Imran, Vice-President of the Rare Earth Elements (REE) Division at SRC.
Thanks to a $3-million investment from Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan), engineers in SRC’s REE Division designed and manufactured an automatic stirring instrument that mixes the molten liquid until the metals have reached commercial-grade purity. The stirring instrument is unique because it delivers two kinds of stirring patterns, mimicking how the earth rotates on its own axis as well as around the sun, with the earth representing the mixing instrument and the sun representing the centre of the furnace.
The instrument moving around the furnace in a tight, constant
motion kickstarts the chemical process as more rare earth oxides are added to the mixture. The continuous motion helps avoid sludge formations inside.
“It stirs, as well as moves across the whole vessel, in a very confined space at very high temperatures,” Dr. Imran says. “This is the unique intellectual property that SRC has developed.”
Ensuring consistency throughout the smelting process results in the production of commercial-grade metals. If the process encounters variables, the end product fails to meet the recovery and purity targets.
“If the process conditions are not set right, if the temperature is not within the given range and sludge forms, you miss out on recovering the REEs,” Dr. Imran says. “You don’t convert all of the rare earth oxides into metals and that leads to downgrades in purity.”
SRC’s Rare Earth Processing Facility is capable of producing neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) metals with 99 per cent purity, something Dr. Imran says would be at risk if the smelting process was left to the manual process.
With semi-automation already steering the mixing process, similar technology is being adopted by SRC to measure, add, and track the time rare earth oxides spend in the smelter.
In order to produce the metals needed to manufacture perma-
nent magnets, Dr. Imran says rare earth oxides are added to the mixture at precise intervals, something that would be difficult to track manually.
“The system automates the process of feeding the rare earth oxides into the furnace and lets the furnace operators know when the oxides have reduced to metal,” Dr. Imran says. “This requires incredible precision and is difficult for individuals to replicate.”
Dr. Imran explained that once the rare earths are added to the furnace, metals are produced within three to four hours. Imran says eventually SRC’s goal is to automate the extraction process as well.
“To achieve the end goal of producing pure metals from REEs, the crux of the operation depends on manufacturing a consistent end product,” Dr. Imran says.
When SRC first embarked on developing Canada’s first Rare Earth Processing Facility in 2020, the scope involved a monazite processing unit and solvent extraction unit. Since then, global market volatility around REEs proved to be more unstable over time.
“This forced SRC to think, how can we innovate?” Dr. Imran says. “We started to look into the possibilities of improving our operations, reducing operating costs, and looking at how SRC could withstand market volatility.”
Originally, this automated stirring instrument and smelting equipment wasn’t in the project scope. But now, as the processing facility nears completion, the addition of this technology increases the safety of the facility by removing the operator from standing in front of the smelter. At the same time, this increases the productivity of the smelting process, ensuring consistency throughout, which results in the purest metals possible.
The automation advancement in the metal smelting unit is just the latest innovation from SRC’s research and development team. In 2023, SRC successfully designed and manufactured proprietary, commercial-scale solvent extraction cells for its Rare Earth Processing Facility, adding Saskatchewan to only a handful of jurisdictions in the world with this capability.
SRC’s solvent extraction fabrication facility also adopted a unique plastic welding technique to manufacture its separation cells for its facility – something not widely used, but a trade that’s growing in the construction sector.
Once fully operational, SRC’s Rare Earth Processing Facility will act as the pilot light for a rare earth hub in Saskatchewan. Equipped with its three-stage, fully integrated process, including monazite processing, proprietary solvent extraction and metal smelting components, the facility will be producing enough rare earth metals to power half a million electric vehicles a year. ✘
In a new report, the Canada Climate Law Initiative highlights areas where major mining companies of Canada could improve their oversight of climate-related risks
The Canadian mining industry has gone to great lengths in recent years to improve its governance of climaterelated risks and overall sustainability. Still, there are several areas where major mining companies in Canada have room for improvement.
Canadian mining companies are behind on performance targets for greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions under the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) standards, with only 60 per cent of companies reaching target levels.
Credible targets and metrics, dependable board oversight, integrated climate strategies, adequate risk management, and consistent and comparable disclosures should now be a standard part of business for mining companies in Canada. But major mining companies are well placed to accomplish more.
A new guide from the Canada Climate Law Initiative outlines current and proposed future Canadian securities law disclosure requirements, accounting standards, and obligations that may impact mining companies.
Under increased regulatory scrutiny – and mounting pressure from investors and consumers – there’s a need for Canadian mining companies to improve their climate-related disclosures and governance. Firms which are proactive stand to benefit.
“Improving the quality and transparency of disclosures can increase investor confidence and help avoid accusations of greenwashing. This can go a long way in boosting the Canadian mining sector’s reputation and help build better relationships with communities of interest,” according to legal scholar, Helen Alexandra Joan Tooze, in the 44-page Guide.
Furthermore, mining companies must be able to provide details on how the board of directors and management are overseeing climate-related risks and opportunities.
“While mining is essential for the transition to net-zero emissions, Canadian mining companies and their boards must also play an important role by adopting effective climate governance practices. This guide helpfully outlines climate-related risks mining companies currently face, and will likely experience in the future as regulators, and the public, demand more from the industry,” says Sara Ghebremusse, Cassels Brock Chair in Mining Law and Finance at Western University, Faculty of Law.
In the new guide, the Canada Climate Law Initiative expands on five areas that large, established mining companies in Canada should strive for, including greater consideration for local community impacts, improving circular operations to reduce waste, and setting more detailed targets and clear plans to achieve them.
Download the guide here: https://ccli.ubc.ca/resource/ unearthing-a-greener-future-digging-deeper-into-effectiveclimate-governance-in-the-canadian-mining-sector/.
The Canada Climate Law Initiative (CCLI) provides businesses and regulators with climate governance guidance so they can make informed decisions toward a net-zero economy. Powered by the nation’s top expertise, we engage with boards of directors and trustees to ensure businesses understand their legal duties with respect to climate change. Our legal research allows us to stay one step ahead in a rapidly transforming policy landscape.
CCLI is supported financially by family foundations and is led by Professors of Law at the University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. ✘
“Improving the quality and transparency of disclosures can increase investor confidence and help avoid accusations of greenwashing. This can go a long way in boosting the Canadian mining sector’s reputation and help build better relationships with communities of interest.”
By Shannon Walker
At its core, ethical mining rests on the assumption that mining companies will implement and abide by clear policies to guarantee the safety and wellbeing of all workers. Provincial, territorial, and national laws and regulations create a complex framework for mines in Canada to operate under. Maintaining compliance and a high standard of ethical behaviour requires being alerted to any wrongdo-
ing or compliance concerns at every site before they can manifest into larger safety issues.
Through the Safe, Healthy, and Respectful Workplaces Protocol, the Mining Association of Canada works to bridge territorial gaps in regulations and raise the standard for ethical mines across the
country. Commitments and Accountability, Safety and Health Management Systems, Psychological Safety and Respectful Behaviour, Training, Behaviour, and Culture, Monitoring and Reporting, and Physical Safety and Health Performance are highlighted as core pillars with a set standard of conditions for mining companies to adhere to.
Even with comprehensive regulations in
Having an anonymous outlet, such as a whistleblower hotline, is the answer for many companies that need an alternative feedback mechanism to regular internal HR checks.
place, wrongdoing can still fly easily under the radar, especially when multiple employees are involved or covering for each other, or if the issue is condoned or conducted by supervisors or upper management. In these situations, it can be extremely intimidating for any one employee to step forward and speak up about the issue at hand, even if they know it is wrong. When these issues go unreported or are swept under the rug due to insufficient protections for reporters, ethical issues can plague mining sites, leading to unsafe conditions and hostile work environments.
As suggested, when it comes time to speak up about a workplace issue, feeling safe and secure in the act of speaking up is paramount. Not every employee
will feel comfortable bringing concerns to their manager, especially if that person is implicated in the incident they are reporting. Alternatively, these employees may be encouraged to go to HR; however, this can also be uncomfortable, hard to access, and insecure for employees, causing them to avoid reporting altogether.
Having an anonymous outlet, such as a whistleblower hotline, is the answer for many companies that need an alternative feedback mechanism to regular internal HR checks.
When thinking about making an incident report or effectively “blowing the whistle” on a workplace issue, many people picture a hotline. These phone systems are one of the more traditional reporting systems and are reliable methods for quickly bringing issues forward.
However, with more emphasis put on digital platforms in every industry, having an omnichannel system that also utilizes email and web intake forms can make your system more accessible for all employees at all times.
Where possible, secure platforms that maintain anonymity for the reporter are vital elements of whistleblower reporting systems. Having a protocol in place that ensures the right people are notified of an incident report and that it is escalated according to severity will also be crucial for maintaining employee confidence in the system.
When implementing a new process at a mining site or even across multiple sites, top-down training will be essential
to ensure everyone is comfortable and aware of how to use the reporting system. Within training, management and supervisors should aim to achieve the following:
• Every employee knows how to use the tool effectively.
• Employees feel comfortable using the tool without fear of retaliation.
• Any privacy concerns around employee anonymity and data collection are addressed.
• Have a system in place to audit employee reports and collect data around usage rates, response times, and common concerns brought forward.
During training, companies should focus on promoting a speak-up culture, which encourages employees to bring forward concerns, either anonymously
or to supervisors, no matter how big or small. Promoting a speak-up culture happens over time, and often requires supervisors to lead by example.
One preventative measure you can put in place to ensure people are further encouraged to speak up is an anti-retaliation policy. This policy will effectively outline that no employee can be reprimanded, ostracized, or retaliated against for speaking up against wrongdoing that they witness. In a perfect world, every reporting employee can stay anonymous. However, should anything happen that reveals the identity of an employee, they should not fear their employment or status in the workplace.
Working toward ethical mines nationwide is an ongoing effort. Implementing mechanisms to facilitate on-site and off-site reporting that employees feel
safe utilizing is paramount for addressing concerns efficiently. Remember, the importance of comprehensive training when enforcing the use of whistleblower hotlines. Ultimately, the strength of a mining company’s ethical practice hinges on its ability to listen to and act upon the concerns of its workforce, making whistleblowing not just a mechanism for reporting but a foundational element for ethical governance and sustainable success in the mining sector.
Shannon Walker is the founder of WhistleBlower Security Inc. (WBS) and executive VP of Strategy at Case IQ. WBS provides ethics, compliance, and loss prevention hotlines, along with IntegrityCounts, a proprietary case management platform for organizations globally. Walker frequently speaks around the world on whistleblowing, ethics, corporate culture, and diversity. ✘
Cosa Resources is a Canadian uranium exploration company operating in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. The portfolio comprises roughly 216,000 ha across multiple projects in the Athabasca Basin region, all of which are underexplored, and the majority reside within or adjacent to established uranium corridors like those that host Cameco’s currently producing Cigar Lake and McArthur River Mines, and IsoEnergy’s Hurricane Deposit.
Cosa’s award-winning management team has a long track record of success in Saskatchewan. In 2022, members of the Cosa team were awarded the AME
Colin Spence Award for their discovery of IsoEnergy’s Hurricane deposit, currently the world’s highest grade indicated resource for uranium. Prior to forming Cosa, management also led teams or had integral roles in the discovery of Denison Mines’ Gryphon deposit and 92 Energy’s Gemini Zone and held key roles in the founding of both NexGen and IsoEnergy.
Cosa remains active across several of its high-priority eastern Athabasca exploration projects, and the team remains committed to delivering the next discovery of a tier-1 uranium asset in Saskatchewan. Cosa’s primary focus through 2024 was initial drilling at the Ursa Project, which captures over 60 kilometres of strike
length of the Cable Bay Shear Zone, a regional structural corridor with known mineralization and limited historical drilling. Cosa views the Cable Bay Shear Zone as the last remaining eastern Athabasca corridor to not yet yield a major discovery, and the team believes this is primarily due to a lack of modern exploration. Modern geophysics completed by Cosa in 2023 identified multiple highpriority target areas at Ursa characterized by conductive basement stratigraphy beneath or adjacent to broad zones of inferred sandstone alteration – a setting that is typical of most eastern Athabasca uranium deposits.
Initial drilling at Ursa deployed a revised drilling strategy during the winter 2024 campaign, which successfully intersected encouraging structure and alteration in the middle to lower sandstone. Additional work in the summer of 2025 included the use of ambient noise tomography (ANT), a passive-seismic survey that has only recently been successfully deployed within the Athabasca Basin yet has been proven as an effective tool for identifying zones of hydrothermal alteration at depth. In October 2024, Cosa completed a second drill program at Ursa where the first drill hole to target an ANT derived target area successfully intersected
a zone of basement hosted radioactivity below a zone of significant sandstone alteration and structure – features that are typical of the eastern Athabasca unconformity model (Cigar Lake, Hurricane).
Cosa intends to return to Ursa for the winter of 2025 to follow up on these results and begin testing initial kilometrescale ANT anomalies.
Cosa is also actively generating drill targets at several of its other eastern Athabasca projects. The Orion project is northeast of Ursa and captures the southern end of the Larocque trend (home to the Hurricane Deposit) where it is intersected by the Cigar Lake trend. Existing drilling immediately west of Orion (at Orano’s Parker Lake project) has intersected sandstone structure and alteration, and weak mineralization at the unconformity. Airborne geophysics completed at Orion has identified a kilometre-scale sandstone hosted conductivity anomaly over structurally complex basement. Cosa has recently completed an ANT survey over the Orion target area to advance the project towards drill testing in 2025. The team also intends to prioritize first-pass drilling of modern geophysical anomalies at the Aurora project, which is just 16 kilometres east of Cameco’s Key Like Uranium Mill and is prospective for the discovery of a near-surface, open-pit amenable uranium deposit proximal to existing infrastructure. ✘
Our fleet of Bell 212, Bell 407, Bell 206L3 and Bell 206B Helicopters are ready to work!
Alamos Gold’s Lynn Lake Project is expected to bring long-term value to Manitoba with a 17-year mine life. This includes new economic growth in northern Manitoba and long-term job opportunities all supported by a long-life project with a low greenhouse gas emission intensity.
The momentum has been building, as evidenced by the project’s exploration program that has continued to spark the team’s enthusiasm in the past year. They see great potential in this large and underexplored greenstone belt that has yet to be realized.
It’s why Alamos increased its 2024 exploration budget for the Lynn Lake Project by 65 per cent more than the year prior, now totaling $11.6 million (up from $7 million).
A significant highlight of Alamos’ updated Feasibility Study, published in 2023, was the 44 per cent boost in the Lynn Lake Project’s Mineral Reserve, up from its 2017 Feasibility Study. This was based on positive exploration results from its Gordon and MacLellan deposits.
The study also showed that the project will be a larger operation, with a higher annual rate of production, a low-cost profile, and an overall more robust operation compared with the 2017 study.
Alamos’ technical team is gearing up to release the results of a study this year, which will incorporate the Burnt Timber and
Linkwood satellite deposits into the project. The last results, at the end of 2023, reported that Burnt Timber and Linkwood contained inferred mineral resources totaling 1.6 million ounces grading 1.1 g/t Au (44 mt).
“We see excellent potential for this to be converted into a smaller, higher-quality mineral reserve which could be incorporated into the Lynn Lake Project, given its proximity to the planned mill,” says Scott Parsons, Vice President of Exploration for Alamos Gold. “The results of this study will be another value driver as upside to our 2023 Feasibility Study.”
In addition to drilling, the Alamos team is currently utilizing a combination of geological, geophysical, and geochemical techniques to inform exploration targeting. Included in this, for example, is 15,500 metres of drilling focused on the conversion of mineral resources to mineral reserves at the Burnt Timber and Linkwood deposits.
The team uses 3D geological models to visualize the gold deposits. These models are constructed by utilizing data collected from drill holes, including interpretation of geological domains, alteration domains, and structural controls. This is used in conjunction with gold assays and multi-element geochemistry to model the distribution of gold within the deposit, which allows for detailed evaluation of the extent, grade, and economic viability of the mineral deposit.
The team also continues to evaluate and advance a pipeline of prospective exploration targets within the 58,000-hectare Lynn Lake Project property. This includes evaluating the potential
for mineral resources at Maynard, an advanced stage greenfield target.
Parsons notes that this dedication to a robust exploration program is not just unique to Manitoba but is company wide. He and his team have built a broad-based exploration program that has demonstrated upside across all of Alamos’ assets in Canada and Mexico. In fact, Alamos’ global mineral reserves have increased for five consecutive years between 2018 to 2023. This is why Alamos increased its global exploration budget this year to its largest-ever, totaling $62 million.
Finally, Parsons states, that Lynn Lake Project fits well with Ala-
mos’ outlook on expanding production in Canada while lowering costs.
With the development of the Lynn Lake Project, Alamos has the capacity to increase its total gold production to over 900,000 ounces per year. Initial production from the Lynn Lake Gold Project is expected as early as the second half of 2027.
Alamos’ other growth opportunity is the Puerto Del Aire Project located within the Mulatos District in Mexico. Additionally, in September 2024, Alamos published its updated guidance announcing a company-wide increase in production guidance for the years 2025 to 2026 by over 20 per cent. The increase was driven by the acquisition of Argonaut Gold’s Magino Mine located in Ontario and adjacent to Alamos’ Island Gold Mine. ✘
By Ian Fraser P.Geo., CEO, VP Exploration, Director
Fathom Nickel Inc. (Fathom) is an exploration and development company focused on advancing two historic magmatic nickel sulphide deposits within the province of Saskatchewan. Fathom’s Albert Lake and Gochager Lake projects have historic deposits hosting nickel-copper-cobalt plus PGEs (platinum group elements). Fathom has demonstrated through a very methodical exploration approach that in addition to the known historic deposits, both projects have tremendous upside potential to host significantly larger, and additional magmatic nickel sulphide deposits.
The 90,000+ ha Albert Lake project is host to the famous, historic Rottenstone deposit / mine. 1965-1969 production yielded small tonnage (~26,000 tonnes) but very high grades; 3.3 per cent Ni, 1.83 per cent Cu and 9.63 g/t 3E
(palladium+platinum+gold)1. The historic Rottenstone deposit/mine, initially deemed to be ~50,000 tons in size, is not an isolated occurrence but an indication of an open, dynamic and large magmatic nickel sulphide system. Fathom is the first company in an exploration history dating back to 1929 to prove this concept.
At Albert Lake Fathom has drilled 82 drillholes amounting to 13,488 metres drilled, collected 6,178 soil samples, conducted mapping and prospecting programs, flown a high-resolution MAG survey over the entire property, flown a focused AirTEM survey in the historic deposit / mine area, and has conducted multiple follow-up surface ground TDEM and Gravity surveys, and immediate follow-up borehole electromagnetic (BHEM) surveys upon completion of each drillhole. Exploration has
led to three significant new discoveries on the property. 1) The Rottenstone deposit and the new south extension occur within the hanging wall of a northeast trending shallow dipping fault. There is supporting evidence for a footwall extension of the original Rottenstone deposit but to date the Company has not confirmed this extension. 2) Approximately 500 metres west-northwest of the Rottenstone deposit, Fathom discovered the 300+-metre Bay-Island Trend. Rottenstone-like mineralization, with lower overall metal tenors and grade, on average two to three per cent Ni-tenor compared to the very-high Ni-tenor averaging eight to 10 per cent at Rottenstone. The Bay-Island Trend remains open in all directions. 3) The Tremblay-Olson Nic5 discovery approximately two kilometres south-southwest of Rottenstone. Fathom has defined a four-square-kilometre very robust, multi-element soil geochemical anomaly (Mg, Cr, Ni-CuCo-Pd-Pt+Au). Individual soil samples assayed as high as 1.21 g/t 3E. Rottenstone-like ultramafic rock has been identified by drilling. Drillhole AL24077 intersected 3.19 metres of Rottenstonelike host rock that returned Ni-tenor values averaging 10 to 12 per cent. The drillhole suggests the host ultramafic rock has undergone sulphide saturation and Fathom believes, validates the
robust soil geochemical anomaly. Multiple, shallow BHEM conductors remain untested within the Tremblay-Olson –Nic5 area.
The 23,000+ ha Gochager Lake property is host to the historic Gochager Lake deposit; 4.3M tons, 0.29 per cent Ni and 0.08 per cent Cu2 defined in 19661968. Fathom has drilled 16 drillholes amounting to 5,549 metres drilled, collected 1,885 soil samples, collected 622 rock grab and rock chip samples, conducted mapping and prospecting, flown a high-resolution Drone MAG survey, performed surface TDEM surveys, a test Gravity survey, and BHEM surveys in all drillholes drilled.
Fathom has expanded to depth, and along strike, the boundaries of the historic Gochager Lake deposit and the deposit remains open for expansion in all directions. Drilling has defined numerous, steeply oriented, very conductive, high-grade Ni-sulphide breccia chutes and veins within a variable-texture gabbro which is consistently mineralized with disseminated Ni, Cu, Co bearing sulphides. Fathom recognizes there is a substantial Co credit associated with the Ni-Cu mineralization. It is not uncommon to have Co values >2,000 ppm when Ni values are two to three per cent Ni. Drillhole GL24016 exemplifies the nature of mineralization within the variable-textured gabbro; notably: 151.00-287.19m, 0.31 per cent Ni, 0.10 per cent Cu, 0.03 per cent Co; including: 167.05-220.54m, 0.61 per cent Ni, 0.19 per cent Cu, 0.05 per cent Co; including:
186.50-189.44m, 2.43 per cent Ni, 0.55 per cent Cu, 0.19 per cent Co3. Surface mapping has expanded the variable-texture gabbro along strike to the northeast a minimum 600 metres. Soil geochemistry results define robust, multi-element soil anomalies (Mg, Cr, Ni-Cu-Co) with up to 1,650 ppm Ni in-soil that suggest a much greater geochemical footprint for the Gochager Lake deposit area. Soil anomalies coincide with Drone MAG defined anomalies over a strike of three to four kilometres.
Ten kilometres southeast of the Gochager Lake deposit occurs the Mal Lake nickel occurrence. Historic drilling in 1967 produced Ni-Cu values comparable to Gochager Lake deposit; notably, drillhole JCM-3; 7.90m, 1.12 per cent Ni, 0.24 per cent Cu3. Fathom was able to pXRF4 scan historic Mal Lake drill core available in the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources Precambrian Geological Laboratory in La Ronge, SK and successfully demonstrated the Mal Lake Ni-occurrence also has a substantial Co credit associated with the Ni-Cu mineralization. The similar host lithologies, the similar Ni:Cu ratio + Co at Gochager and Mal Lake suggests a potential common source to Gochager and Mal Lake which if correct has substantially increased the exploration potential at the Gochager Lake project.
The exploration success achieved to date at both projects has put the Company in a very good position to deliver on its exploration goal of demonstrating that the province of Saskatchewan, like Mani-
toba and Quebec, can also host worldclass magmatic nickel sulphide deposits.
Notes
1. The reliability of the historical data and resource estimate presented here cannot be confirmed by the author, nor can the assumptions, parameters and methods used to prepare the estimates. The estimate is not considered NI43-101 Compliant by the definition of a “mineral resource” and further work is required to verify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource. Furthermore, records suggest (Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index 0958) that some of this historical resource has been exploited making a delineation of this mineral resource impossible. Fathom Nickel is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource.
2. The Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Index (SMID #0880) reports drill indicated reserves of 4,262,400 tons grading 0.295 per cent Ni and 0.081 per cent Cu mineable by open pit. Fathom cannot confirm this resource estimate, nor the parameters and methods used to prepare the reserves estimate. The estimate is not NI43-101 compliant and further work is required to verify this historical drill indicated reserve.
3. Drillhole thicknesses are not true thicknesses.
4. pXRF readings are sensitive to spot location and is NOT a proxy for assay results. ✘
In the early 1970s, while Paul Villgren was working as an industrial technical sales representative, specializing in mining supplies and equipment. He noticed a significant gap in the market while he was working in northern Ontario, where very few companies were focused on selling wire rope, chain, and rigging supplies and services. Motivated by this opportunity, Villgren founded Sling-Choker Manufacturing Ltd. in 1975 in Sudbury, Ontario, a key mining area. Initially, Sling-Choker produced wire rope slings for the mining and construction industries and chokers for the forestry sector. Soon, the company expanded to also manufacture nylon and chain slings.
Sling-Choker quickly gained a reputation as a comprehensive source for rigging supplies and solutions, and recognizing the need for more specialized industrial products, the inventory was expanded to include products for the mining and construction industries. As the company continued to grow the rising demand from out-of-town customers necessitated additional locations. This growth has expanded the company to 14 manufacturing locations across Canada, with a product catalogue now exceeding over 320 pages. Today, Sling-Choker has strategically placed branches in Ontario, Québec, and Manitoba. Each branch boasts manufacturing capabilities and
Sling-Choker sets itself apart with exceptional customer service, a wide range of expertise in various product lines, and an understanding that continued success requires investment in its employees.
a dedicated sales team, allowing them to develop specialized product lines and expertise tailored to the local market needs while leveraging the group’s collective knowledge.
Sling-Choker primarily offers lifting, rigging, and inspection services as a traditional rigging shop. Each branch also focuses on products and services to serve their markets, from products for the cellular tower market, fall-arrest repairs and servicing, safety and workplace training, and overhead crane installation and servicing. To better serve its customers, Sling-Choker has formed strategic partnerships with reputable industry brands like Bridon-Bekaert, Crosby, Columbus McKinnon, Apex Tools, Kito, Vulcan, Polydeck, Selene Plastic Bags, Rezplast, and more. These partnerships, along with the ability to produce custom slings, ensure Sling-Choker can meet any project’s needs.
“Crane rope designs have become more sophisticated, incorporating multi-strand, compacted, and plastic components, replacing the simpler 6x25 or 6x36 constructions,” explains Kane Butcher, General Manager at Sling-Choker (Hamilton) Ltd. “We work with our manufacturers to match the right rope to the right application, demonstrating that operational cost savings can often be more economical than upfront costs.”
Despite the rise in online sales of rigging products, SlingChoker sets itself apart with exceptional customer service, a wide range of expertise in various product lines, and an understanding that continued success requires investment in its employees.
Butcher emphasises the importance of recognizing every team member’s value in contributing to Sling-Choker’s success.
“By working as a team, we can provide outstanding quality and service, and we greatly appreciate the positive feedback from our customers,” says Butcher. Reflecting on nearly five decades of service, Butcher nostalgically recalls the early days of the company. “Back then, companies had ample staff, allow -
Sling-Choker has strategically placed branches in Ontario, Québec, and Manitoba. Each branch boasts manufacturing capabilities and a dedicated sales team.
ing for strong customer relationships and loyalty. Today, with minimal staff and an influx of inconsistent imported products, multitasking is the norm. While we offer global products, we select them based on quality and suitability.”
Sling-Choker holds the distinction of being the longestserving member of the Web Sling and Tie Down Association (WSTDA) for 45 years. The company values its membership, appreciating WSTDA’s role in setting industry standards.
“The WSTDA brings together resources from all stakeholders to develop the standards we rely on as an industry,” Butcher says. “By adhering to these standards for raw materials, threads, and finished products, we ensure market safety.”
Looking ahead as Sling-Choker celebrates their 50th anniversary in 2025, they plan to continue their growth and adapt to evolving market conditions while sharing its quality and expertise with customers. ✘
Grid Metals is focused on both copper/nickel and lithium projects in the Bird River Greenstone Belt, approximately 150 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
The MM copper/nickel project is a highpotential belt-scale copper/nickel project with a significant resource already identified. The belt, a former nickel pro-
ducer, is a direct analogue of the Ring of Fire district in northwestern Ontario, and Grid successfully consolidated all the copper/nickel deposits and occurrences in the belt in 2023. With the belt consolidation complete, Grid has taken a comprehensive view on exploration. The company plans to complete a fully funded airborne geophysics program this fall, along with a fully funded drill
program to test the potential of a fourkilometre copper trend that sits approximately eight kilometres southeast of the Mayville deposit. The drill program will largely focus on the historical copperrich New Manitoba deposit at the southeastern end of the four-kilometre trend.
Currently, the MM project captures approximately 50 million tonnes of
pit-constrained copper/nickel/PGE resources. The project comprises two discrete mineral trends: (1) the Makwa Domain, which includes several nickel-rich disseminated magmatic sulfide deposits, and (2) the Mayville Domain, which hosts high tenor, copper-dominant, disseminated sulfide mineralization. The company has set the dual goals of increasing the current open pit resources to +75 Mt and adding new high-grade massive sulfide discoveries. If successful, the project would support Manitoba’s first new critical metals mining hub in many decades.
At the Donner lithium project, an Advanced Exploration Permit has been received, subject to the posting of a reclamation bond. This will allow Grid to complete a bulk sample at site and
to move quickly into full mine permitting once lithium prices recover. Grid has a lease on a gold mill within trucking distance that can be reconfigured to process lithium-bearing ore and a tollmilling agreement with the producing
Tanco mine that sits 30 kilometres from our Donner lithium project.
The MM and Donner properties are in the traditional territory of the Sagkeeng First Nation, with whom Grid Metals has an exploration agreement in place. ✘
Porcupine Opportunities Program Inc. (POP) is celebrating its 50th year of operation in 2024. As we reflected on this, we felt it was important to recognize the individuals who helped make the organization a success over the last five decades and to recognize some of the key milestones.
POP was started in 1974 by a group of parents who wished to provide an opportunity for their children, who were experiencing disabilities, to live and work in or near their homes. With their own money and donations from community, the group purchased 27 acres of land on the south side of Porcupine Plain and moved a two-room schoolhouse to the site. They set up a working area in one room, storage and an admin office in the second room, and a small woodworking shop in the basement. This formed POP’s infrastructure to start providing services and to support nine individuals.
Initial operations were largely built around income from Canada Manpower grants, while other income came from building grain bids for local farmers and the Co-op. The new beginnings of what would later become the main revenue source for the agency – core box production for mining companies – was also established. However, without a steady operating revenue, the organization was starting to falter by the end of the 1970s.
In 1983, Karl Kwiatkowski, POP’s manager, orchestrated the transition from the parent group to a community-based board of directors. Base operating revenue was provided by the provincial government through the Ministry of Social Services. Over two dozen organizations were represented at the initial meetings with some groups agreeing to sit on the board and others offering support.
Over the years, financial circumstances and changes in local organizations gradually reduced the number of organizations involved in the agency. Currently, only the Town of Hudson Bay and RM of Kelvington still appoint board members, while other board members are appointed at large.
From the early beginnings, POP continued to grow and expand its programming. Key milestones included:
• Construction of current day program, workshop, and administrative office on Church St. in the early 1980s
• The initiation of residential services in 1985 with the rental of
a three-bedroom home from Saskatchewan housing to support individuals in semi-independent living
• Construction of POP’s first group home on 1st Avenue in 1988 (Playtondale), with two more group homes being added in 1998 on Cooper Street (ABM) and on Katherine Avenue (Glenwood) in 2012.
• Building of two independent living residences, the first in 2004 and the second in 2012. These suites house four and five individuals respectively and were attached to two of the group homes. The agency also purchased a four-bedroom home in 2010 to provide additional supported living spaces for participants additions to the business programming. Through this time, POP also included set-up of a laundromat and business offices in 1991, the purchase of a four-plex apartment building in 1994, and the addition of SARCAN recycling depots in Porcupine Plain in 1997 and Hudson Bay in 2008.
• 2018 addition of dunnage line for Weyerhaeuser.
• 2022 construction began on the 3,500-square-foot expansion to the workshop.
Today, Porcupine Opportunities Program Inc. has grown to be an integral part of the local communities in Porcupine Plain and Hudson Bay. The agency currently supports approximately 30 participants supported by 60 full- and part-time staff. Programming for participants continues to evolve and now includes two-day programs (Porcupine Plain and Hudson Bay), a senior’s program, and an expanded workshop that produces core boxes for the mining sector, dunnage for the lumber industry, and various outdoor furniture, planters and other wood products for the public. Most recently, the agency has expanded its supported employment program with the expansion of service in its laundromat. A gift store that features products produced by local and regional artisans, a selection of Filipino Food, and POP Day Program-produced crafts was opened in 2019. In 2023, Tid Bits, another supported employment endeavour, began creating individual frozen entrees and desserts in our inspected kitchen to sell at the store Bits ‘n Pieces.
THANK YOU!
Founding Parent Group: Anne and Mike Kuzek; Sophie and Nick Kwiatkowski; Mavis and Mike Belchamber: Audrey and
Don Leepart; Elsie and Joe Dobrowski; Mabel and Fred Seafoot; Phillipena and Herman Heine; Kathy and James Jamieson: and Marg Kraft
Founding Board of Directors: Fred Seafoot, Herman Heine, Anne Kuzek, Mike Kuzek, Nick Kwiatkowski, Jim Jamieson, Kathy Jamieson. Other community contributors include John and Dorothy Gunderson, Merlin and Elaine Olson, and Marie Szylowski.
Porcupine Opportunities Program is celebrating 50 years supporting individuals experiencing disability through residential and vocational supports, with a big part of the vocational program being the production of core boxes for mining companies and drillers.
The agency has several individuals in its program who have been involved in core box production from the very early days. Of these, Byron Jamieson has been particularly engaged with this work.
Byron joined POP in 1974 and continues to this day working at the age of 68. He’s in exceptionally good health and has no interest in retirement.
When Byron started, he was one of the first men to start with woodworking. At that time, the shop produced wishing wells, rocking horses, and planter boxes of all shapes and sizes. (Our shop still builds these custom items, along with picnic tables, when time permits.) From there, he progressed to building core boxes and is now the main man responsible for strapping, binding, and stacking the core boxes and preparing them for shipment to our valued customers.
Byron loves visiting with his family. One of Byron’s favourite summer activities is going to the Calgary Stampede, which he has attended numerous times while visiting his brother, who resides in Calgary. Byron is a great community supporter. He especially loves the annual sports day and parade, proudly taking a front seat and waving the flag on the POP float – when he’s not leading the parade playing his drum. Byron also enjoys the annual car show held every July in the community. During
Current Board of Directors: Tracy Slobodian, Tony Lau, Pat Morvik, Mary Ryhorski, Bonnie Hoffus, Mark Orendi (Town or Hudson Bay appointee), Agnes Ewen (R.M. Kelvington appointee). (If you are interested in becoming a director on the board, please reach out to one of our current directors)
Porcupine Opportunities Program Inc. wants to thank all former and current staff for their dedication and support to all who have called or call Porcupine Opportunities Program Inc. their home over the last 50 years. ✘
his leisure time, Byron enjoys latch hooking (rugs) and making lap blankets which he donates to seniors in the Red Deer Nursing Home in Porcupine Plain. Byron also enjoys playing crib and going to church on Sundays.
Byron is enormously proud of what he does and quite possessive about his spot within the production line, getting quite irritated if someone else uses his station. He has a strong work ethic and is always ready and willing (and most often insistent) that he be allowed to work if we need to put in extra time to fill an order.
Production Manager Lenard Pelletier had this to say about Byron: “Byron is a hard-working farm boy. He has a job, and he gets it done. We enjoy having him in the shop.”
Overall, Byron has played and continues to play a major role in our agency and in our core box production. His work, along with the comradery experienced as part of the shop team, is an important part of his world. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to provide him with this experience and would like to thank our industry partners for their continued support of our agency through core box sales. ✘
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
