Welcome back to your weekly mining news recap. At the end of the week, we’ll catch you up on the mining news from CIM Magazine and elsewhere you may have missed. In this week’s headlines: a 90-year-old mine is closing down, companies decry Albertan oil cuts, and Barrick Gold to get a new COO of North American operations.

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Hudbay Minerals’ 777 mine in the northern Manitoba town of Flin Flon will close in 2021 after 90 years of operation, the Winnipeg Free Press reported late last week. The closure will eliminate around 900 positions. Hudbay told employees that it would not be economically viable to keep operations going past 2021.

On Monday, Suncor voiced its disapproval of the Alberta government’s plan to reduce oil production in the province by 325,000 barrels of raw crude oil and bitumen per day as of Jan. 1. The company said in a statement it “believes the market is the most effective means to balance supply and demand and normalize differentials.” The planned production cuts have the oil sands industry divided: Husky Energy and Imperial Oil have also spoken out against the planned production cuts, but Cenovus Energy and Canadian Natural Resources support it.

Monarques Gold's feasibility study for its Wasamac project in Quebec reported the mine will have an average production of 142,000 ounces of gold per year for the next 11 years. The capex for the project amounted to $464 million, with about $230 million for the mill and tailings facility. It also showed a pre-tax internal rate of return of 23.6 per cent and estimated all-in sustaining costs of $826 per ounce. The feasibility study was completed by Roscoe Postle Associates and incorporated Rail-Veyor technology into the mining design.

On Tuesday, Teck announced its partner on the much-hyped Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project in Chile will be Japanese mining giant Sumitomo. The deal, worth US$1.2 billion, will see Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation acquiring a 30 per cent indirect interest in the Teck subsidiary that owns the project. Teck will own 60 per cent of the project, and Chilean state agency Enami will control the remaining 10 per cent.

Sudbury mining companies Vale and Glencore will team up to work on extending the life of Glencore's Nickel Rim South mine. The companies initiated a feasibility study that will review the economic and technical possibility of using Nickel Rim South's existing shaft and infrastructure, and additional underground infrastructure, to develop and mine deposits that are close to each other, including Vale’s Victor property and a shared deposit.

Deep sea mining company Nautilus Minerals is running into a string of problems, the Economist reported. Initially a hot prospect on the 2006 Toronto Stock Exchange, the Toronto-based company has struggled with the Papua New Guinea government and environmental groups; lack of capital for investment; and, most recently, the loss of a custom-made ship to another company.

Barrick Gold CFO Catherine Raw will assume the newly created role of COO for North America, after president of U.S. operations Michael Brown retires on Jan. 1. Raw, who joined Barrick in 2015, has served as the company’s CFO and executive vice-president since April 2016.

If you want to do some weekend reading, check out our feature on mine security in the digital age, which is now up on our website. From cryptominers to ransomware to hackers, here is what you need to know about cyber security in mining.

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