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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 Barminco and Barrick sign a mining service contract agreement, Teck releases its 2019 sustainability report and COVID-19’s impact.

Alamos Gold is turning to both modern robotics and older innovations to access deep ore from its Young-Davidson mine in Ontario. The mine has produced gold on-and-off since 1935 and Alamos Gold is seeking to extend its mine-life by an additional 14 years through increasing automation, ore-bin capacity and skipping efficiency. The project centrepiece is a railroad turntable, a device that repositions engines from one track to another, which the company adapted from a 19th Century innovation to streamline development.

Until she retired last October, Samantha Espley spent most of her career in Sudbury in engineering and mining, working at Vale for 30 years. Along the way Espley learned that political savvy, an openness to different opportunities and a willingness to invest in the community were essential. Now, CIM President-Elect, Espley has some guidance to offer young mining professionals eager to show their initiative.

Teck Resources released its 2019 sustainability report and announced its plan to reduce carbon emissions by 33 per cent over the next decade. The company also updated its sustainability strategy, which includes eight themes such as climate change, responsible production and biodiversity and reclamation. The updated strategy and report include specific measures to meet Teck’s broader goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

The world of mining is feeling the impact of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19:

PDAC announced that the PDAC 2020 attendee from Sudbury who tested positive for COVID-19, was not infectious during the convention. The association is recommending that conference attendees still monitor for signs and symptoms of the virus as a precaution.

Kinross Gold closed its Toronto office and sent all employees home after one of its employees tested positive for COVID-19. The company will be thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the office while employees work from home until at least March 20.

On Friday afternoon, CIM announced that the Vancouver CIM 2020 Convention would be cancelled as part of the effort to help slow the spread of the virus. The decision follows the announcement that AusIMM would be postponing its Underground Operators Conference scheduled for later this month and that the Saskatchewan Mining Supply Chain Forum would be pushed from April to October.

This week the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) recorded its largest one-day decline ever and fell 12 per cent as a result of fear over the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The drop affected every sector, and all 229 companies on the S&P/TSX Composite Index, an index of about 70 per cent of the TSX’s total market capitalization, fell. According to the CBC, the 1761-point drop lowered the index to 12,508, the biggest drop since Black Monday in October 1987.

Pretium Resources has updated its Brucejack mine plan and adjusted its mineral resource and reserves after further drilling at the mine’s Valley of Kings deposit. The company has lowered the deposit’s mineral reserve grade from 13.8 grams per tonne to 8.8 grams per tonne, a 36 per cent decrease from its 2019 reserve grade, and has decreased its net present value by 42 per cent. Pretium has updated the total proven and probable mine reserve estimate at Brucejack mine to 4.2 million ounces of gold from 15.7 million tonnes grading at 8.4 grams per tonne.

According to Northern Ontario Business, Barminco and Barrick have signed a multi-million dollar mining services contract for Barminco to provide underground contract mining at Barrick’s Hemlo Mine in Ontario. Per the letter of intent, the Australia-based mine contractor will cover development, production and haulage for the mine over three years.

Kirkland Lake Gold announced it will shutter two gold projects, its Cosmo mine and Union Reefs processing plant, in Australia’s Northern Territory by the end of March, as reported by Reuters. The company will be letting go approximately 250 workers as the company declared the two operations to be non-core assets.

Barrick Gold announced that the proposed expansion to its Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic will add 20 years to the mine’s life. According to Barrick president and CEO Mark Bristow, the expansion would cost an initial investment of $1.3 billion but increase exports by an estimated $22 billion at a gold price of $1,500 per ounce.

Vale announced it will create an audit committee to supervise its board of directors in preparing the company’s internal audit activities, internal controls, financial statements and more. According to Vale, the audit committee will act as the company’s “third line of defense” in supervising corporate integrity and compliance with laws, policies and regulations. Vale has appointed two of the three proposed members of the committee, one of whom is currently acting as an independent board member for the company.

Nova Scotia’s provincial government will create a priority cleanup list for the 69 abandoned mines located on crown land by the end of 2020, as reported by the CBC. The province is currently doing preliminary cleanup work on two mines in Montague and Goldenville, which has an estimated cost of $48 million. The province’s Department of Lands and Forestry will evaluate the remaining 67 mines in terms of their risk to human and environmental health to determine the cleanup order, of which cost estimates are to be determined next year.

That’s it for this week’s recap, remember to stay safe and wash your hands! If you’ve got feedback, you can always reach us at editor@cim.org. If you’ve got something to add, why not join the conversation at our Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn pages? Like your recap with a few more gifs? Check out our mining news recap stories on our Instagram.