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 Barrick forming a leadership team in preparation for a spinoff of its North American assets, 1911 Gold filing a preliminary economic assessment for a Manitoba gold project and McEwen advancing its Stock mine in Ontario.

Agnico Eagle will purchase a roughly 14 per cent stake in Cascadia Minerals, Mining.com reported. The investment will help fund work at Cascadia’s Carmacks copper-gold project in Yukon. The companies will also collaborate on regional gold and copper exploration in Yukon’s Stikine terrane, with Agnico funding Cascadia’s exploration programs over an initial three-year period under a partnership that includes potential earn-in agreements.

Construction of Skeena Gold & Silver’s Eskay Creek gold-silver project in British Columbia is nearly halfway complete, with initial production expected in the second quarter of 2027. The updated capital cost for the project is US$659 million, up US$99 million from the 2023 definitive feasibility study estimate of US$560 million.

Paladin Energy is facing a legal challenge from the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) over environmental approval of its Patterson Lake South uranium project, Mining Weekly reported. MN-S claims the Saskatchewan provincial government failed to properly consult them before approving the project’s environmental impact statement (EIS) in February. They have also requested an interim injunction to prevent Paladin from carrying out any activities based on the EIS decision until a ruling is issued.

Barrick Mining has formed a new executive team to lead its North American operations as it plans to spin off those assets, Bloomberg reported. The spinoff would comprise Barrick’s stakes in its Nevada and Dominican Republic joint ventures with Newmont, along with its Fourmile project in Nevada. The team will include seven positions, including Tim Cribb as chief operating officer and Wessel Hamman as chief financial officer.

1911 Gold has filed the technical report for the preliminary economic assessment of its fully owned, past-producing True North gold project in Manitoba. The report, prepared by AMC Mining Consultants, outlined a pre-production capital cost of $59.2 million and projected annual production of approximately 58,114 ounces of gold over an 11-year mine life. The company is preparing to begin production in the first half of 2027.

McEwen Inc. said on March 12 that development of its Stock underground gold mine at the Fox complex in Ontario remains on schedule and within budget, Northern Ontario Business reported. First gold is expected in mid-2026, with commercial production by 2027. The company is also advancing the Grey Fox project at the complex, targeting a combined annual output of 75,000 to 90,000 ounces of gold once the Grey Fox and the Stock mines come online.

The start of commercial production at Equinox Gold’s Valentine gold mine in November 2025 marked a major turning point for Newfoundland and Labrador’s gold mining sector, which had seen limited gold production for decades, Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco reported for CIM Magazine. The large-scale operation is now ramping up towards nameplate capacity, which it is expected to reach in the second quarter of this year. The mine is projected to produce approximately 150,000 to 200,000 ounces of gold in 2026.

New artificial intelligence-driven environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting software is reshaping how mining companies manage compliance and risk by replacing time-consuming processes with automated and integrated data collection systems, Kristen Frisa reported for CIM Magazine. Traditional reliance on spreadsheets and paper records can slow reporting and limit data visibility, while modern platforms help to streamline ESG and operational data, improve accuracy and create audit trails.

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?