Timmins continues to realize development By Kevin Vincent
H
e’s the man in the middle. As the current mayor of Timmins, George Pirie is in the crosshairs of the enormous activity happening in the massive Abitibi mining region. In early June, Mayor Pirie broke the news that Glencore Canada’s Kidd Operations had confirmed they would be spending $50 to $60 million on an 18-month feasibility study to potentially extend the life of the Kidd Creek zinc-copper mine with the development of what they tentatively call Mine 5 – the fifth massive orebody at the Timmins-based mining complex. “Anybody who knows anything about mining knows that this is a very aggressive time frame. Eighteen months to do that type of study is very aggressive, and $50 to $60 million tells you that Glencore is committed to the orebody and the people of Timmins.” Coupled with the big news in November of 2020 that Timmins’ Mayor George Pirie had worked with longtime friend Tony Makuch of Kirkland Lake Gold to relocate the majority of their Toronto corporate staff to Timmins where they are establishing a Canadian Operations Centre, and a slew of exciting exploration stories since he took office, it is easy to say that Pirie is overseeing the biggest economic boom in Timmins in more than 50 years.
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Pirie has a lot to be excited about. The list includes Kirkland Lake Gold’s Canadian Operations Centre, the likely extension of the Kidd Creek mine life, Canada Nickel’s exciting Crawford Township project, Moneta Porcupine’s near-term startup east of Timmins, Galleon Gold’s near-term PEA and IAMGOLD’s Côté Gold project south of the city.
land that we sit on right now has untold
The former President and CEO of Placer Dome Canada says exciting niobium deposits in Chapleau and south of Moosonee are also enormous opportunities for the city and region.
they’ve got a program scheduled for
When it comes to the region’s potential, Pirie is a huge advocate of the work being done by the local resident geologist Zeinab Azadbacht.
Pirie is genuinely excited about
“Perhaps the most significant announcement that was made during the last six months was the fact that the new regional geologist in the Porcupine is focusing on rare earths and that’s a significant change from the priorities of the past which were focused on precious metals and base metals.”
had a very positive PEA and we know
Pirie says it’s an incredibly important announcement, because the future of the world’s economy is going to be based on electric locomotion. “Battery technology and rare earths are critical for that to happen, rare earth elements. China controls them right now and the opinion of our regional geologists, the
potential to unlock the secrets of these rare earth elements, particularly within, I believe, the Kapuskasing structure.” Almost on cue, there was a discovery 20 miles just west of Otter Rapids that found lithium and rare earth elements. “It’s got a significant geological signature with it, and I know the fall of this year and we’re really looking forward to those results. It’s a significant change in focus for our region.”
Canada Nickel. “Canada Nickel sits just directly to the north of us and you’ll be very well aware of the fact that they’ve it’s early days, but these are very, very good numbers. “We know this resource just north of Timmins will only grow. We know that they’ve already got chrome with nickel, and copper as well is there. And this resource is just going to get bigger. “Why are we tied into this focus on rare earths? Because of course this rock is hosted in serpentine, the serpentine will absorb carbon. So, there’s an opportunity here now to produce nickel with zero carbon emissions. If you were listening to me at the FONOM conference, May 18, you heard me talk about the potential of what that means – producing nickel in a carbon
