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Welcome back to your weekly mining news recap, where we catch you up on some of the news you may have missed. This week’s headlines include mining companies not meeting emissions targets, Orix Geoscience’s inclusive and diverse workforce and Major Drilling completes Canada’s longest diamond drill hole.

Let's begin the recap with a recap: B.C.’s Association for Mineral Exploration held its 37th annual Mineral Exploration Roundup conference in Vancouver last week with the theme of “Seeing the Unseeable.” The conference highlighted industry innovators working on limiting barriers to mineral exploration, such as using genomic tools or installing sensors to remotely and indirectly detect new deposits. Throughout the four-day event speakers also discussed the challenges of raising capital and building inclusive relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

In 2012, Shastri Ramnath and Ashley Kirwan, along with their friend Paige Giddy, founded Orix Geoscience, a geological consulting firm. Today, Orix has three offices and 63 employees, a workforce younger and far more diverse than the broader mining industry. Almost eight years later, Ramnath and Kirwan credit Orix’s success to its workforce and office culture, which goes beyond using women as a benchmark for diversity.

Amelia Earhart’s disappearance on her famed 1937 round-the-world flight continues to puzzle, though a clue in a mining company’s storage helped shed some light on the mystery. The airstrip where Earhart left for what would be the final leg of her round-the-world final voyage owed its existence to Placer Dome’s Bulolo gold mines in Papua New Guinea. The general manager of Guinea Airways, the airline operating aircraft for Bulolo, filed a report three weeks after the aviator’s disappearance. The file was found in the basement storage of Placer Dome Inc.’s Vancouver office over 50 years later.

Major Drilling Group announced that it had set a new record for the longest diamond drill hole in Canada at Osisko Mining’s Windfall property in the Abitibi region of Quebec. Denis Larocque, president and CEO of Major Drilling stated that, “we are proud of the hard work and expertise that our team has contributed along with Osisko Mining to reach this historic milestone in Canadian drilling.” The final length of the hole dubbed "Discovery 1" was 3,467 metres.

Another 80 salaried employees at Mosaic's Colonsay potash mine were laid off this week as the mine remains idled indefinitely due to weak market demand, according to Global News. Mosaic will keep 45 positions at the mine in order to conduct safety and regulatory checks in addition to minimal maintenance. The mine was initially shutdown in August 2019, which resulted in the layoff of about 340 hourly workers.

Nemaska Lithium further reduced its workforce by laying off 29 employees this week as the company hopes to continue its Whabouchi mining project. Nemaska Lithium said the layoff is part of an arrangement plan for its creditors and the Superior Court of Quebec, in accordance with the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. The company has been under creditor protection since late December 2019 and will have just over 30 employees once the reduction is complete.

Kirkland Lake Gold successfully acquired Detour Gold and its flagship Detour Lake mine after making a $4.9 billion offer in November 2019. Following the deal, Kirkland Lake hopes to increase production and improve costs at the Detour Lake mine, as well as continue exploration drilling within Detour’s land.

Equinox Gold and Leagold Mining successfully merged following a shareholder agreement – a transaction valued at $769.3 million. The Equinox-Leagold merger will add Leagold’s four mines in Mexico and Brazil to Equinox’s three mines in California and Brazil, and will result in a market capitalization of $1.75 billion. The merger will allow Equinox to hit its goal of one million ounces of gold production two years ahead of schedule.

Teck Resources’ CEO Don Lindsay is not sure that the Frontier oil sands mine will be built, regardless of whether the federal government approves the proposal, as reported by CBC. While a decision is expected by the end of February, Lindsay indicated that the project wouldn’t be profitable unless North American oil prices hit US$75 a barrel. In the same investor presentation, Lindsay also had choice words for Westshore Terminals Investment. According to Bloomberg News, Lindsay accused the shipping company of contaminating Teck’s metallurgical coal with thermal coal, forcing Teck to build its own terminal, which drove up capital costs.

McKinsey & Company released a report on climate risk and decarbonization, where it stated that global miners are failing to meet their Paris Agreement targets and climate goals. Companies have only recently begun setting emission reduction goals, which range from 0 to 30 per cent by 2030 and fall well below the Paris Agreement goal of a minimum 41 per cent decrease in emissions. The report illustrates several options to reduce emissions from mines, including on-site changes such as switching to lower-carbon electricity sources, electrifying gas equipment and trucks, as well as switching from diesel fuel to hydrogen.

Twenty years have passed since a tailings dam at the Aurul gold mine near Baia Mare, Romania, overtopped and released more than 100,000 cubic metres of cyanide-bearing solution into the nearby Tsiza River. The incident was the catalyst for the 2005 launch of the International Cyanide Management Code (ICMC), a program outlining best practices for cyanide management. There have been no major environmental incidents involving cyanide since Baia Mare, to which ICMC credits the industry’s diligence in following the code. As of 2020, 48 gold mining companies have signed on to the code.

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