chamber of mines news briefs – week of september 27, 2010 · an oral presentation only....

Chamber News Briefs 1

Chamber of Mines News Briefs – April 26 - 27, 2016

[Note: News headlines are hyperlinked to their stories in this document.]

Aboriginal News ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo' ................................................................................................ 1

Nunavut News ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Muskox on the increase at Nunavut’s Devon Island: new survey ............................................................ 2 Nunavut’s deputy minister of environment quits, acting DM takes over ................................................ 3 Management plan on the way for western Nunavut caribou .................................................................. 4 Draft land use plan fails to protect Nunavut marine mammals, say territory's hunters .......................... 5 Premier Taptuna appoints acting deputy minister ................................................................................... 6

NWT News..................................................................................................................................................... 6 'A lot of sour grapes if you ask me' ........................................................................................................... 6

Resource Development and Energy News .................................................................................................... 8 Transparency and Accountability for Lab-Grown Diamonds .................................................................... 8 Continual improvement dramatically reduces water consumption at De Beers Sudbury sample treatment centre ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Western Nunavut gold project’s greatest impact could be on caribou .................................................... 9 TMAC’s Nunavut gold mine moves closer to start-up in 2017 ............................................................... 10 CAT chairman pours cold water on mining rally ..................................................................................... 11

ABORIGINAL NEWS

Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo'

NPR - April 24, 2016

Rebecca Hersher

Confused about the word Eskimo?

It's a commonly used term referring to the native peoples of Alaska and other Arctic regions, including Siberia, Canada and Greenland. It comes from a Central Algonquian language called Ojibwe, which people still speak around the Great Lakes region on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. But the word has a controversial history. (Editor's note: And that's why it's not used in the stories on Greenland that NPR has posted this week.)

People in many parts of the Arctic consider Eskimo a derogatory term because it was widely used by racist, non-native colonizers. Many people also thought it meant eater of raw meat, which connoted barbarism and violence. Although the word's exact etymology is unclear, mid-century anthropologists suggested that the word came from the Latin word excommunicati, meaning the excommunicated ones, because the native people of the Canadian Arctic were not Christian.

But now there's a new theory. According to the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, linguists believe the word Eskimo actually came from the French word esquimaux, meaning one who nets snowshoes. Netting snowshoes is the highly-precise way that Arctic peoples built winter footwear by tightly weaving, or netting, sinew from caribou or other animals across a wooden frame.


But the correction to the etymological record came too late to rehabilitate the word Eskimo. The word's racist history means most people in Canada and Greenland still prefer other terms. The most widespread is Inuit, which means simply, "people." The singular, which means "person," is Inuk.

Of course, as with so many words sullied by the crimes of colonialism, not everyone agrees on what to do with Eskimo. Many Native Alaskans still refer to themselves as Eskimos, in part because the word Inuit isn't part of the Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia.

But unless you're native to the circumpolar region, the short answer is: You probably shouldn't use the word Eskimo.

NUNAVUT NEWS

Muskox on the increase at Nunavut’s Devon Island: new survey

"A record high"

Nunatsiaq News - April 25, 2016

Lisa Gregoire

There are a lot of muskoxen on Devon Island in Nunavut’s High Arctic — so many that the Government of Nunavut’s environment department will likely recommend that the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board increase the harvesting quota there.

With the help of local spotters from Resolute and Grise Fiord, Morgan Anderson, a GN wildlife biologist, conducted a nine-day aerial “abundance and distribution” survey of Devon Island in late March.

What the survey found was kind of surprising. After counting 837 muskoxen, they are estimating about 2,000 live on the island.

The previous estimate for Devon Island, from a 2008 survey, was only 513 muskoxen.

“It was pretty exciting,” Anderson said April 19. “I mean even if you go just by the number we actually saw, that’s a record high.

“So we’ll definitely be sitting down with the communities and talking about that. I believe the TAH [total allowable harvest] on Devon is 15, which we can definitely increase.”

But spotters weren’t just looking for muskox on Devon Island — located south of Ellesmere Island and east of the community of Resolute Bay.

To help gather information for an upcoming management plan, the surveyors were also on the lookout for Peary caribou.

They saw only 14 Peary caribou — not much of a change from 2008 when aerial spotters counted 17 Peary caribou on Devon.

The Peary caribou, which roam the High Arctic islands, are the smallest North American caribou, with an estimated population of about 13,000 adults, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, or COSEWIC.

But Anderson said wildlife experts don’t have definitive information about the Peary caribou range and migratory patterns because they tend to live in small groups across a huge, expanse of territory, partly due to scarce food sources.

Some animals stick to certain islands, she said, but some migrate around the Arctic islands.

“It’s hard to tell because some of the areas are visited so infrequently and surveyed so infrequently,” Anderson said.


“Grise Fiord and Resolute both have a really good understanding of what the caribou do in the areas they harvest from but there’s a lot of other areas that are too remote for any of us to have a reliable idea of what’s going on there.”

COSEWIC at one point designated the Peary caribou as “endangered” because of a massive die-off in the mid-1990s related to ice events which made it hard for the caribou to feed.

But that status was upgraded in 2015 to “threatened,” meaning that Peary caribou are considered more sustainable now, but remain in need of a recovery strategy and management plan.

A draft of that recovery strategy, which Ottawa and the territories have been working on since 2011, is expected to be ready for final consultations this spring and a release in 2017.

But until then, High Arctic hunters and trappers organizations have been careful to limit their caribou harvesting.

Right now, there are no quotas on Peary caribou harvesting in Nunavut and only beneficiaries can hunt them.

Both the Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord HTOs have been careful over the years to place voluntary restrictions and moratoriums in areas where caribou are scarce, Anderson said.

“It’s been very instructive to a lot of communities who are now struggling with this issue, like on Baffin, to have examples where communities have essentially lead conservation efforts,” Anderson said.

“It’s really great working with Resolute and Grise,” she added. “They are very on the ball and very concerned about their wildlife.”

Anderson said the team flew nine days straight over Devon Island with no weather delays — which is rare.

They invited youth, elders and other hunters to come on board as spotters. Those spotters, while airborne, offered anecdotes about where they’d hunted in the past or seen certain animals over the years — providing a crucial context for understanding local wildlife.

Having completed the Devon Island survey, Anderson was switching gears last week to polar bears: a multi-year population estimate for the Gulf of Boothia and M’Clintock Channel area.

Rather than collar bears like they used to — a practice rarely done in Nunavut anymore because it’s considered too invasive and potentially harmful — biologists intend to gather information through biopsy darting.

This will see them shooting the polar bears from helicopters with a dart that captures a small bit of the polar bears’ DNA for analysis. The dart then immediately falls out and can be collected.

Nunavut biologists will also conduct an aerial survey of the Beverly caribou core calving grounds in June.

The Beverly herd, located in the Kivalliq, “have shown a potential declining trend,” says a project description submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

Nunavut’s deputy minister of environment quits, acting DM takes over

Gabriel Nirlungayuk leaves the GN, Simon Awa to serve as acting deputy minister


Gabriel Nirlungayuk has quit as deputy minister of the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Environment to take a job outside government, Premier Peter Taptuna said April 25. Simon Awa will fill in as acting deputy minister.

“Mr. Gabriel Nirlungayuk has tendered his resignation, and has since taken another position outside of government,” Taptuna said in a news release.


At the same time, Taptuna appointed Simon Awa as acting deputy minister.

Awa is no stranger to the environment department. He served as deputy minister for most of the years between 2004 and 2010, and now serves as Nunavut’s chief negotiator for devolution.

Awa will continue to serve in the chief devolution negotiator position, Taptuna said.

The news release did not give the date of Nirlungayuk’s resignation and did not describe his new job.

Nirlungayuk has served as the environment department’s deputy minister since July 21, 2014. Prior to that appointment, he served as Director of Wildlife and Environment at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

“I’d like to thank Mr. Nirlungayuk for his service to the department and wish him success in his new position,” Taptuna said.

The GN’s environment department found itself at the centre of a political controversy last month, when the department revealed that it had changed its position on the creation of protected areas for caribou calving grounds within the draft Nunavut Land Use Plan.

At a technical hearing held by the Nunavut Planning Commission March 7 in Iqaluit, the GN’s environment department, was represented by its assistant deputy minister, Stephen Pinksen, who made an oral presentation only.

Management plan on the way for western Nunavut caribou

Dolphin and Union caribou herd's numbers fall by roughly 50 per cent in 20 years.


A management plan is in the works for the Dolphin and Union caribou herd, known in Inuinnaqtun as the Kiilinirmi Tuktuutait, whose range covers areas in western Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Surveys show that in 1997 there were 27,948 animals in the Dolphin and Union herd, but, by 2007, these numbers had dropped to 21,753. A draft estimate from 2015 shows only 14,730 in the herd.

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife first designated the Dolphin and Union caribou of “special concern” in 2004 — and in 2015 the NWT government listed it as a “species of risk.”

Now, by March 2017, Environment and Climate Change Canada wants to see a management plan in place for the Dolphin and Union herd, which the governments of the NWT and Nunavut will approve through their relevant wildlife management boards.

That’s according to a document presented last week in Cambridge Bay to the mayors of western Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region.

The Dolphin and Union caribou, which have short noses with short wide hooves, migrate between Victoria Island and the mainland areas of the NWT and Nunavut.

Sea ice is an important part of their habitat, as they migrate from winter grounds on the mainland to calving grounds on Victoria island.

Among the threats to the Dolphin and Union caribou: year-round marine traffic — which could prevent migration and increase the risk of drowning — predation by wolves, overhead flights for mining exploration, vegetation change and an increase in parasites and insects due to climate change.

Currently, there is no mandatory harvest reporting.

The management plan under consideration calls for more research, communication, and, if the caribou herd’s numbers continue a downward trend, actions could include a ban on commercial hunts, a non-quota limitation of hunting only bulls and possible restrictions on industry activities that affect caribou.

GN wildlife biologists recently collared 20 more caribou from the Dolphin and Union caribou herd with satellite devices to show more about their migration, calving, post-calving and survival rates.


Cambridge Bay’s Ekalututiak hunters and trappers had recommended in 2014 that only 25 caribou from the Dolphin and Union herd be collared — the Government of Nunavut originally wanted to collar 50 female caribou.

The collars, light devices equipped with radio transmitters, show where the caribou go. If the collars cease to send signals, this provides information about whether the animals have drowned while crossing the ice or died on the land through predation or hunting.

To adopt the management plan for the Dolphin and Union caribou herd, the GN will seek approval from Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

Draft land use plan fails to protect Nunavut marine mammals, say territory's hunters

‘Every time the shipping starts, the sea mammals move,’ says chair of Chesterfield Inlet HTO

CBC News - April 26, 2016

Sima Sahar Zerehi

Hunters across Nunavut are calling on the Nunavut Planning Commission to protect waterways populated by walrus, seal and beluga from increased shipping traffic as it drafts the territory's first land use plan.

The Planning Commission recently hosted a technical meeting to gather input from stakeholders on how to balance the needs of industry, local communities and the environment when it comes to the territory's marine areas.

Coastal communities in the territory's Kivalliq region say they are severely impacted by increased shipping and want greater protection for their waterways in the land use plan.

"Every time the shipping starts, the sea mammals move," said Barnie Aggark, the chair of the Chesterfield Inlet Hunters and Trappers Organization.

The draft plan does not contain restrictions on shipping through Chesterfield Inlet.

Aggark said in the past the community would see approximately three to five ships annually in their waterways, en route to the hamlet of Baker Lake.

"But since Meadowbank (mine, located 75 kilometres north of Baker Lake) has started, it's increased a lot more each year," said Aggark.

"They started off with about 25 to 30 ships, but today, we see between 40 to 50 ships pass by."

Harder to find seals

Aggark said that during shipping season, it's become much more difficult for local hunters to find seal in the region, as evidenced by an Arctic College workshop held last year, where participants signed up to learn how to make kamiit, or sealskin boots.

"The hunters couldn't even provide enough sealskin because there was nothing to hunt," said Aggark. "They actually had to order some sealskin from out of the community.

"If it was 10 years ago, the fur they needed probably could have been filled the same day."

The numbers of beluga in local waters has also decreased, according to Aggark, leading to a "tough situation" for locals who rely on the Arctic whales for food.

Chesterfield Inlet is also concerned about other risks associated with increased shipping, such as an oil spill.


"We live heavily off seafood so that worries us," said Aggark. "We don't have anything in Chester in place to try and help keep the spill contained until the Coast Guard come in."

The Kivalliq Wildlife Board, representing hunters and trappers from various hamlets in Nunavut, wants the territory's land use plan to designate Chesterfield Inlet as a special management area, placing limits on the volume of ships permitted to travel through the inlet each year.

Walrus habitat at risk

Similar concerns are being echoed in the hamlet of Coral Harbour, where many residents rely on meat hunted from local walrus populations.

"There's not much walrus right now as they used to be," said Moses Nakoolak, the chair of the Coral Harbour Hunters and Trappers Association, who added that increased shipping traffic is to blame for driving the populations away.

Beluga protection plan must include Inuit input, says Nunavut Tunngavik

"It's very important, because it's our meal mostly every day."

The Kivalliq Wildlife Board is asking for restrictions on shipping near Coates, Southhampton and Walrus Islands, which are located near Coral Harbour, as well as asking for shipping routes to be moved to the south of Coates Island rather than between Coates and Southampton Island.

Although the draft land use plan "provides direction to regulatory authorities to mitigate impacts on walrus haul-outs," the Kivalliq Wildlife Board wants greater protection, calling for a prohibition on mining, exploration, and related activities at walrus haul-out sites, and asking for marine shipping traffic to maintain a minimum distance of 20 kilometres from these sites.

Premier Taptuna appoints acting deputy minister

News Release - April 25, 2016

Premier Taptuna today appointed Mr. Simon Awa as Acting Deputy Minister of Environment. Mr. Awa also retains his duties as chief negotiator for devolution.

Mr. Gabriel Nirlungayuk has tendered his resignation, and has since taken another position outside of government.

“I’d like to thank Mr. Nirlungayuk for his service to the department and wish him success in his new position,” said Premier Taptuna.

NWT NEWS

'A lot of sour grapes if you ask me'

Former cabinet minister dismisses criticism of his appointment to Fortune board of directors

Northern News Services - Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Shane Magee

David Ramsay is defending his appointment to the Fortune Minerals board of directors less than six months after leaving cabinet.

The former minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment has been under fire in recent days for accepting the job, which some have viewed as a potential conflict of interest. Ramsay said he has done nothing wrong.


"I'm going to be unapologetic here, the letter of the law was followed," Ramsay said in response to criticisms from David Connelly, investor and owner of consulting firm Royale Enterprises Ltd., who penned a guest comment on the issue in today's Yellowknifer.

"It's a lot of sour grapes if you ask me."

Ramsay established his own consulting business, RCS Ltd., after being defeated in the fall election.

Connelly, who declined to comment for this story - pointing to his guest comment instead - stated nonetheless that guidelines for former ministers aimed at preventing potential conflicts of interest after leaving office are too weak and should be revised.

Legislation prohibits former ministers from joining corporations they've had "significant official dealings" with for a year after leaving office, commonly called a cooling off period.

However, exemptions allow the conflict of interest commissioner to rule on appointments.

"You can drive an ore truck through the current exemptions process and it does the NWT, the GNWT and industry no favours," stated Connelly. "To the average person it stinks. It stokes distrust and disrespect."

The appointment was given the green light in early March after Ramsay sought advice from the NWT conflict of interest commissioner David Phillip Jones. The commissioner is an arms-length government officer who investigates potential conflicts.

"If it were necessary for me to do so, I approve your accepting the appointment to the board of directors of Fortune Minerals now, prior to the expiration of the 12-month transition period," wrote Jones, who is also a lawyer, in a letter Ramsay had provided to another media outlet.

While he is allowed to sit on the board, it came under the condition he not lobby current cabinet ministers or GNWT officials on behalf of Fortune until the so-called 12-month cooling off period ends.

"The exemption appears to bend the Conflict of Interest guidelines and raise questions about their effectiveness," Connelly wrote.

Connelly questioned why the commissioner only seemed to rely on information provided by Ramsay about whether he had "significant dealings" with Fortune as minister.

The commissioner's letter states Ramsay had told Jones he had made no decisions as minister that particularly affected Fortune Minerals or its operation.

Ramsay met with the company about twice per year to get updates on its progress during his term, according to the letter. In his interview with Yellowknifer, he reiterated he had no official dealings with the company beyond receiving updates.

Ramsay said he understands he can't in anyway reach out to the GNWT during the cooling-off period.

There are a number of things he can do, such as finding other investors, talking to aboriginal governments and promoting the opportunity, he said.

Fortune's planned NICO mine near Whati would extract gold, cobalt, bismuth and copper.

Fortune touted Ramsay's former role as minister of the "preeminent mining portfolio" in a news release announcing his appointment April 18.

Ramsay was minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment for four years until he was unseated in the territorial election last fall. He also had served as transportation minister before a cabinet shuffle moved that portfolio to Tom Beaulieu. While ITI works to promote the territory as a place for industrial development, it isn't responsible for enforcing regulations.

Fortune minerals was trading at 13 cents a share yesterday - up from eight cents Friday.

Interview requests with the conflict commissioner last week and this week were not returned.


RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ENERGY NEWS

Transparency and Accountability for Lab-Grown Diamonds

JCK Magazine - April 25, 2016

In a world where technological and scientific innovations come at an increasingly rapid rate, facing the future can bring both excitement and apprehension. Think, for instance, of the debates around transparency and ethics triggered by genetic modification.

Similarly, the fine jewelry industry today finds itself needing to develop new protocols and guidelines for discussing lab-grown diamonds. Some purveyors of synthetic diamonds claim that their stones, created in a lab, are “more ethical” than natural mined diamonds, a marketing claim that does not reflect the reality of the thriving fair-trade diamond business.

In addition to accuracy in marketing statements, full disclosure and traceability must drive the conversation around man-made diamonds, with the main goal being one of accountability and protection of buyers’ investments.

“An even more fundamental issue is one of proper identification and transparency of the product itself,” says gem expert Bill Boyajian, who is a graduate gemologist, former president of the Gemological Institute of America, and founder and CEO of Bill Boyajian & Associates, Inc.

The jewelry industry has been forced to contend with look-alike diamond imitations since time immemorial. Today, to facilitate greater transparency, some leaders in the gem industry have begun to advance tools that pave the way for a new paradigm. “For example, Gabriel & Co. has maintained a serialized tracking system for all of its fine diamond jewelry pieces,” Boyajian says.

Just as the Kimberley Process protects the integrity of an ethically compliant supply chain, companies that manufacture and sell lab-grown diamonds—all the way through to the retail jewelers that display them in their showcases—need to embrace the same goals of visibility and awareness.

Continual improvement dramatically reduces water consumption at De Beers Sudbury sample treatment centre

News Release - April 25, 2016

With more than a quarter million lakes and over 100,000 km of rivers, Ontario has billions of cubic metres of fresh water, but for the team at De Beers’ Sudbury Treatment Centre, minimizing water use is a top priority.

The facility processes prospecting samples collected by the De Beers Canada Exploration team in their search to discover the company’s next Canadian diamond mine. It’s staffed by a team of two full-time employees supported by eight part-time contract workers.

In what can be a water-intensive process, numerous modifications have been made since the plant originally opened nearly 20 years ago. In 2002, about 38% of the water used in the process was fresh water while 62% recycled. Now, less than 5% of the water consumed is fresh water and 95% is recycled water drawn from the 320 cubic meter outside settling pond. Any water released from the treatment centre must meet strict discharge criteria.

“Just because we have plenty of water available, we don’t want to be wasteful,” explained Dwayne Thomson, Treatment Plant Manager. “So, now, for every 1,000 litres of water used in the plant, only 50 litres is fresh water.”

Thomson said the drive to continually improve environmental processes at the centre is closely aligned with De Beers’ corporate philosophy of sustainable development and zero harm to people and the environment.


Western Nunavut gold project’s greatest impact could be on caribou

Final hearing for Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.'s Back River proposal underway in Cambridge Bay


Jane George

CAMBRIDGE BAY — The health of caribou: that’s what a positive recommendation from the Nunavut Impact Review Board board on the Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.‘s Back River gold mine project in western Nunavut could depend on.

Sabina’s scaled-down gold mining project, known as Hannigayok in Inuinnaqtun, is under environmental scrutiny at the final environmental hearing taking place before the NIRB in Cambridge Bay April 25 to April 30.

There would no overlap with caribou during “sensitive” periods, Matthew Pickard, Sabina’s vice president for the environment and sustainability, said April 25.

But the Beverly caribou herd would migrate near the mine during the summer and fall. For this herd, mild habitat loss and disruption would be expected, along with a possible reduction in reproductivity, he said.

The Beverly herd lost half its population between 1994 and 2011, while numbers of the Bathurst caribou herd are in free-fall, according to a 2015 survey, which said this herd, half-a-million strong 30 years ago, may now have shrunk to as few as 16,000 animals.

During its April 25 presentation, Sabina presented many monitoring programs and 12 actions designed to reduce impacts on caribou. The actions include shutting down mining activities if caribou come close to the mining complex.

Participants gathered at the Luke Novoligak community hall to listen to Sabina include representatives from the governments of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Canada, as well as organizations that include the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and the Yellowknife Dene First Nation.

Sabina plans to build open pit and underground mines at its Goose property, located 400 kilometres south of Cambridge Bay and 520 km north of Yellowknife, which will operate for at least 10 years.

To support Back River, Sabina wants, among other things, to build a 157-km winter road from the Goose site to a marine laydown area at Bathurst Inlet, a smaller version of the now-discarded Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Proposal.

Although a feasibility study last May showed that a large $695-million mine could produce a good return, Sabina said it would be hard to raise that kind of money, so it trimmed down the size of the project, removing its George deposit, located closer to caribou grounds.

But discussions April 25 at the NIRB hearing show Sabina has still environmental concerns to overcome if it wants to move ahead with its mine: What happens to the fish that live under frozen ponds underneath the winter road? Will they be affected by the noise of trucks passing overhead twice an hour? And what about the caribou in the Bathurst and Beverly herds?

As for other wildlife, Sabina’s “terrestrial environment” document says there would be “no significant project or cumulative effects” for birds, grizzly bears and muskoxen, although there could be disturbance to due to noise, potential loss of habitat, reproduction and vehicle incidents — and at least one wolverine den would have to be relocated.

Sabina, which acquired the project from previous owners in 2009, submitted its project proposal for Back River to the NIRB in June 2012 and a Final Environmental Impact Statement in late 2015.


A year ago the NIRB rejected a request from Sabina to exempt some early development work from the environmental review of the Back River project.

For 2016, only a “small field program,” from $7 to $11 million, is planned.

The future of the project, whose three-year construction could not start, at the earliest, until 2017, also depends on its receiving a water license from the Nunavut Water Board.

On April 26, the NIRB will continue to hear from — and question — Sabina on other aspects of the Back River project and from intervenors including the GN and federal departments.

TMAC’s Nunavut gold mine moves closer to start-up in 2017

Doris North project breezes through regulatory hearings for expanded mine project


Jane George

CAMBRIDGE BAY — In early 2017, Nunavut may welcome its second operating gold mine.

But TMAC Resources Inc. still needs to learn if Nunavut regulators will allow it to operate an expanded Doris North gold project at Hope Bay over six years instead of two.

The company expects to receive a decision from the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Nunavut Water Board on the project certificate amendment by the end of May.

“We don’t presume they will approve the amendment,” said Alex Buchan, TMAC’s director of community relations, after Nunavut Impact Review Board hearings held April 12 to April 14 in Cambridge Bay.

But, judging from the comments made during the hearings, there was little serious criticism of TMAC’s plans, with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association supporting the larger and longer-term gold mine project, located roughly 90 kilometres south of the western Nunavut town of Cambridge Bay on Inuit-owned land.

The mine will be worth millions to the KIA, if TMAC’s bigger plans progress: The KIA will receive one per cent of the value of all gold produced at Hope Bay, estimated at $960 million over 10 years, through what’s called a “net smelter royalty” — or about $69.5 million over six years, according to information presented at the hearings.

The KIA will also receive $1 million a year to offset land management, environment permitting and the implementation of the Inuit Impact and Benefits Agreement.

If regulators approve the project certificate amendments, the Doris North mine will also see $61.8 million in jobs and contacts over six years.

As for the onsite mine jobs, 344 by 2018, TMAC will try to fill these locally, Buchan said: Priority will be given to Kitikmeot Inuit, then to Inuit from other regions, then to all other residents of the Kitkmeot region.

“There are lots of long-term non-Inuit who have roots in this region,” Buchan said. “So it’s good for Inuit and the region to hire them.”

By the end of this month, there will be 180 people on site at the Doris North camp.

In 2016, TMAC plans to install and commission its mill and expand the power plant there. The company also wants to stockpile ore and 55,600 ounces of gold and develop the underground mine network.

But to operate over a six-year period, TMAC needs that amended project certificate for Doris North, which was originally issued to Miramar Mining Corp. in 2006.


Newmont Mining Corp. acquired the project certificate when the company bought Miramar in 2007, expecting to start mining in 2012, but then backed out and put the property into care and maintenance. TMAC took over the project in 2013.

Overall, recent hearings on TMAC’s request for the NIRB amendment were positive:

• the KIA said any remaining technical issues “can be successfully resolved through continued cooperation” between KIA and TMAC;

• Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada said it has “identified mechanisms beyond the NIRB process through which our remaining concerns can be addressed;”

• the Government of Nunavut, which wanted the project-related shipping season to end Oct. 15, noted TMAC has already agreed to limit shipping to the open water season; and,

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada said it would continue “to ensure appropriate mitigation and monitoring programs are implemented.”

Buchan said the Doris North project’s much smaller footprint is a “huge advantage in the regulatory process,” when compared to other Nunavut mine projects like Baffinland’s Mary River iron mine or Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine, which include open-pit mining.

During the technical review, TMAC only had to respond to 65 questions — a much smaller number than faced by Areva Canada’s proposed Kiggavik uranium mine, which the NIRB determined last year “should not proceed at this time.”

TMAC is already looking ahead to expanding its future operations in Hope Bay at the Madrid and Boston deposits on the 80-km Hope Bay deposit.

These will be subject to a new environmental assessment, with a public consultation on these plans to take place May 2 in Cambridge Bay.

CAT chairman pours cold water on mining rally

"It is not clear at this time that the current prices are either sustainable or sufficient"

Mining.com - April 22, 2016

Frik Els

With sales and operations at the ends of the earth, few companies are in a better position to take the pulse of the global economy and the resource sector in particular than Caterpillar.

The world's number one heavy equipment manufacturer has been hit hard by the decline in mining and construction – sales are down more than $20 billion from its 2012 peak.

On Friday the Peoria, Illinois-based giant had to cut 2016 revenues forecasts again and now sees sales $2 billion lower at between $40 billion to $42 billion.

The mining industry make up 19% of CAT's total sales (quarrying and aggregates account for another 10%) and worldwide sales to the sector dropped 25% in March on a rolling 3-month average basis compared to last year.

March was the 40th month in a row there were fewer buyers of the company's machines (although the rates of decline are slowing).

With the release of its full year earning in January Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman said the company hasn't seen any signs of improvement and was reluctant to predict a bottom for the industry.

Three months on and Oberhelman remains just as bearish, pouring cold water on hopes the bottom of the cycle has been reached:


“Commodity prices improved from their recent lows, but excess supply remains. It is not clear at this time that the current prices are either sustainable or sufficient to drive increased demand for equipment.

"Mining customers continued to focus on improving productivity in existing mines and reducing their total capital expenditures, as they have for several years."

chamber of mines news briefs – week of september 27, 2010 · an oral presentation only....

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