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 Teck getting its environmental approval for the Highland Valley Copper extension project, Prime Minister Mark Carney linking critical minerals to increased NATO spending commitment and Torex Gold buying Reyna Silver. 

Carney’s controversial Bill C-5, which can fast-track major mining and development projects by streamlining federal approval processes, was passed unamended by the Senate on Thursday, as reported by CBC News. The legislation, supported by both Liberals and Conservatives, allows some projects to bypass federal laws like the Impact Assessment Act and Indian Act. Indigenous leaders criticized it for inadequate consultation and potential rights violations. Carney has pledged to personally engage Indigenous communities and emphasized the bill’s role in building a stronger Canadian economy amid trade tensions with the United States. 

Iamgold’s Côté Gold mine near Gogoma, Ont., achieved its nameplate throughput of 36,000 tonnes per day on June 21, less than 15 months after its first gold pour in March 2024, as reported by Mining Weekly. The company’s processing plant sustained this rate over 30 days, following steady ramp-up since March.  

Teck Resources is considering expanding germanium production and is in talks with Canada and the U.S. about funding, as reported by Reuters. The discussions come as countries increasingly seek to diversify their critical minerals supply chains, particularly for the technology and defense sectors. China, which supplies more than half of the world’s refined germanium, recently restricted exports to the U.S. Teck’s germanium, a byproduct of zinc concentrate from its Red Dog operations in Alaska, is refined in B.C. at its Trail operations and most of it is shipped to the United States. Canada’s germanium exports to the U.S. are currently tariff-free under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.  

In other Teck news, the company has secured an environmental assessment certificate from B.C. for its Highland Valley Copper mine life extension, which will extend operations from 2028 to 2043. The project, west of Logan Lake, will expand the existing open pit and upgrade infrastructure. Construction will cost at least $1.5 billion and create around 2,900 construction jobs and about 1,500 direct jobs following the construction phase. The expanded mine will produce about 900 million tonnes of additional ore. 

Canada has agreed to raise defense spending to five per cent of gross domestic product over 10 years, as reported by CBC News. That translates to about $150 billion per year, although some spending on extracting, processing and exporting Canada’s critical minerals already counts toward that five per cent. A review of the plan is expected in 2029. 

Torex Gold is acquiring Vancouver-headquartered junior Reyna Silver for around $36 million in cash through a court-approved arrangement. The deal grants Torex immediate access to Reyna’s exploration projects, including the Batopilas and Guigui silver projects in Mexico. The transaction requires shareholder, court and regulatory approvals and is expected to close after a special meeting in August.  

Magna Mining has been awarded up to $500,000 in funding from the Ontario government’s Critical Minerals Innovation Fund, which will be used for metallurgical work to improve precious metal recoveries at its Crean Hill nickel-copper-platinum group metals project in Sudbury, Ont. Alongside Crean Hill, Magna currently operates the McCreedy West copper mine, also in Sudbury, and intends to restart multiple mining operations and expand copper and nickel production in Sudbury over the coming three to four years.  

Alamos Gold shared its new 20-year life-of-mine plan for its Island Gold district in Ontario, combining the Island Gold underground and Magino open pit mines into one long-life operation, as reported by Mining Weekly. The plan forecasts average gold production of 411,000 ounces per year from 2026 over 12 years, dropping to an average of 306,000 ounces per year over the full mine life. The project’s Phase 3+ expansion is slated for completion in the second half of 2026, with shaft development now at 92 per cent of its planned final depth. 

Modern mining safety has advanced through improved protocols, technology innovations and smarter emergency systems, as reported by Mehanaz Yakub for the May issue of CIM Magazine. Companies like TopVu, Newtrax, and SafeSight have introduced technologies that help prevent accidents through collision avoidance and proximity detection, improve emergency response with personnel tracking and location data, and keep people out of hazardous areas during emergencies by deploying drones and robots.  

Researchers found that cement can be produced locally in the Northwest Territories using regional raw materials and mine tailings, as reported by Tijana Mitrovic for the May issue of CIM Magazine. Currently, any cement used in the territory needs to be transported long distances by truck, typically from Edmonton. The locally made cement meets commercial standards, has the potential to slash carbon dioxide emissions by about 25 per cent compared to imported cement and would lower mine construction costs. 

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