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 approval for a new British Columbia gold project, another adopter of the Towards Sustainable Mining guidelines and an investment in tailings management education. 

CIM has announced a new three-year strategic partnership with Rio Tinto. The partnership will focus on highlighting mining’s essential contribution to society, giving CIM members access to Rio Tinto’s expertise and resources and enhancing Rio Tinto’s technical capabilities and professional development. The partnership, announced Monday, began in January 2023 and will run for three years. 

A group of major copper producers plans to reduce direct and indirect emissions to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, as reported by Reuters. Members of the International Copper Association (ICA) include BHP Group, Codelco, Glencore, Freeport-McMoRan, JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation, KGHM and Teck Metals. The strategy to reduce emissions includes decarbonizing power supply, improving efficiency, and producing copper from scrap metal. 

Critical minerals such as copper, zinc, and cobalt were heavily featured at the annual PDAC convention in Toronto this week. The commodities session on March 5 examined the trends for five key commodities and the challenges mining companies may face as the demand for critical minerals increases alongside global decarbonization efforts, including budget challenges and supply instability. 

Also at PDAC, the federal government announced a $14-million investment in Canadian mining projects focused on producing minerals essential for electric vehicles in its effort to shift the battery supply chain away from China, as reported by Financial Post. The recipients were FPX Nickel, Search Minerals, E3 Lithium, Sherritt International, Geomega Resources and Prairie Lithium. The investment is the first part of approximately $200 million the federal government plans to invest into the development of domestic critical mineral projects. 

Mexico’s mining association Cámara Minera de México (Camimex) is the latest to adopt the Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, as reported by the Canadian Mining Journal. TSM standards provide responsible performance measurement protocols, focusing on responsible tailings management and community engagement along with the topics such as biodiversity conservation and water stewardship. The initiative, which was first launched in 2004, also aims to improve relationships between miners and local communities. 

Artemis Gold’s Blackwater project in British Columbia has received approval of its BC Mines Act permit and can now begin construction, as reported by Mining.com. The mine will be powered by the provincial hydro grid, which Artemis said will allow it to be one of the lowest greenhouse gas-emitting open-pit operations in the world. The Blackwater mine is predicted to be the Cariboo region’s largest gold mine development project in more than a decade and is expected to have an initial gold pour in the second half of 2024.  

Teck Metals and the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Applied Science announced a $4-million investment into a new tailings management professorship. The professorship will be housed within the university's Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering and will focus on providing opportunities for students to research and innovate tailings management as the demand for tailings engineers grows. 

Mining entrepreneurs showcased technologies that could streamline decarbonization in the industry to a panel of investors at the Canada Mining and Innovation Council’s (CMIC) ReThink Mining event during PDAC. The session included pitches for technologies such as surgical mining for narrow-vein deposits, sunlight-heated steam power and lower-energy comminution machinery. 

Metallurgist Brenna J. Y. Scholey spoke to CIM Magazine about her 34-year career in the mining industry. Scholey’s career has moved from the lab to the processing plant, the corporate office and the courtroom, giving her detailed knowledge of mining law, arbitration and consulting along with technical expertise. It is the first of our new Modern Miner series of articles, which showcase mining professionals from a range of backgrounds and highlight the ways they are leading, innovating and pushing the industry forward. 

Vale will contribute $1.6 million each to the Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation, and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO) and the University of Toronto to fund academic research, as reported by Northern Ontario Business and Mining.com. Announced at PDAC, Vale’s contribution to MIRARCO will boost its efforts to start a commercial-scale pilot plant that uses bioleaching and bioremediation processes to recover critical minerals from tailings. Its contribution to the University of Toronto will focus on decarbonization and the energy transition, including improving the commercial recovery of low-grade nickel from ultramafic ores. 

That’s all for this week. 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 on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram pages?