Tag Archives: Ontario

Wajax bolsters Industrial Parts and Engineered Repair Services divisions with Beta acquisitions

Wajax Corporation says it has acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Ontario-based Beta Fluid Power Ltd and Beta Industrial Ltd, further expanding its Industrial Parts and Engineered Repair Services offering.

Beta Fluid is a leading regional supplier of hydraulic and pneumatic equipment for use in the industrial, mining and construction sectors. It also offers hydraulic and pneumatic maintenance, repair and replacement services, including mobile services. Beta Industrial provides a wide range of on-site facility repair and maintenance services to local and regional customers. Together Beta Fluid and Beta Industrial employ a team of approximately forty-two full-time employees.

“Since 1997, the Beta team has developed a reputation for dependability and excellent customer service, and we are very pleased to welcome them to the growing Wajax family,” Iggy Domagalski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wajax, said. “Through acquisitions such as Beta, and our recently completed Polyphase Engineered Controls acquisition in Alberta, we continue to execute our Industrial Parts and Engineered Repair Services growth strategy, adding sought-after technical capabilities and expanding the services we offer to customers across the country. We look forward to further additions to our Industrial Parts and Engineered Repair Services portfolio as we continue to develop our acquisition pipeline.”

Wajax is one of Canada’s longest standing and most diversified industrial products and services providers, operating an integrated distribution system that provides sales, parts and services to a broad range of Canadian customers in sectors such as mining.

Autonomous equipment commissioning ramps up at Côté gold project

IAMGOLD has released its latest quarterly results, highlighting the significant progress it has made on its majority-owned Côté gold project in northeastern Ontario, Canada.

The company is the majority owner and operator of Côté, with the next biggest stake owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining. Côté has a mine life of 18 years, and will produce an average of 365,000 oz/y over this term. Some 236 Mt of ore will be mined, along with 568 Mt of waste, with an average processed grade of 0.96 g/t Au.

In the latest results, IAMGOLD said the project was estimated to be 85.7% complete as of the end of June. Since commencement of construction, $2.23 billion ($1.56 billion at the 70% held by IAMGOLD) of the planned $2.965 billion ($2.08 billion at 70%) of project expenditure has been incurred.

Autonomous operations have been incorporated into the Côté mine design with a focus on early operations readiness. The Autonomous Control Room equipped for Caterpillar Command for hauling was completed in mid-September and the project achieved a major milestone in January with the initial deployment of the autonomous 231 t Cat 793F CMD haul trucks working with Toromont Cat. On January 22, the mine saw the safe operation of a full load, haul, and dump cycle using autonomous dump trucks.

During the June quarter 2023, up to seven Cat 793F haul trucks have begun operating in autonomous mode and a total of 14 haul trucks have been commissioned. Autonomous drilling with two Epiroc Pit Vipers began in this quarter, with a third nearing commissioning completion. In total, the company is expected to operate six autonomous Epiroc Pit Viper 231 blasthole drill rigs, complemented by two Epiroc D65 SmartROC crawler rigs, which will be remote operation ready.

In addition it will deploy electric Caterpillar hydraulic shovels – namely two 6060FS units, AC-powered via tethered cable.

The company said owner mining has progressed well with nearly 1.1 Mt mined in the June quarter. The stockpile has approximately 2 Mt of material on track to the target build-up of 5 Mt by the end of the year. The IAMGOLD mine operations team started operating 24/7 effectively in July.

The project timeline remains in place, with production expected to commence in early 2024.

Avalon Advanced Materials and Metso sign MoU on lithium hydroxide production plan

Avalon Advanced Materials Inc has signed a memorandum of understanding to create a strategic partnership with Metso aimed at establishing terms to develop a lithium hydroxide production facility to process lithium mineral concentrates that are essential for the North American electric vehicle (EV) battery value chain.

Avalon intends to deploy Metso’s technology to construct and operationalise a full-service lithium processing facility at the company’s recently acquired Thunder Bay, Ontario industrial site.

Upon completion of the project, Avalon says it will be the first vertically integrated lithium producer in Ontario, while ensuring Canada’s EV battery manufacturing base has a stable, proximate and long-term supply of this resource.

“Metso’s platform and technological solutions perfectly complement Avalon’s vision to complete an integrated lithium value chain in Ontario, predicated on innovative process solutions,” Zeeshan Syed, President of Avalon, said. “We view Metso as an integral part of this rapidly growing sector, and a foundational partner in developing internationally best-in-class processing capabilities that are environmentally sustainable, allowing Avalon to meet the soaring demand for battery-grade lithium.”

The non-binding MoU stipulates:
• The pursuit of a definitive agreement to establish a lithium hydroxide processing facility in Thunder Bay;
• Avalon to license Metso technology and solutions to produce lithium hydroxide cathode materials to serve the EV market;
• Allow Metso to conduct testing and engineering work across Avalon’s portfolio of critical-mineral projects, including the company’s flagship deposit at Separation Rapids near Kenora, Ontario; and
• The parties anticipate reaching a definitive agreement on or before September 1, 2023.

Metso’s sustainable next-generation production and processing technologies are being deployed internationally by governments and clean-energy producers in order to address and deliver the necessary supply required by the emerging EV battery industry, Avalon says.

Avalon’s strategic partnership with Metso is a first in Canada, and is a significant step towards helping the company execute on its vertically-integrated business strategy – and, in turn, entrench Ontario’s position as an advanced manufacturing hub serving not only North America, but the world.

Mikko Rantaharju, Head of Hydrometallurgy at Metso, said: “Metso is looking forward to partnering with Avalon and be part of its long-term vision to be a mid-stream supplier in the lithium hydroxide space. We are aligned with Avalon’s vision of the future and proud to play a key role in technology supply and advancement into clean energy solutions.

”We are also extremely excited to be partnering with the first Ontario conversion facility with Metso’s technology. The innovation advantages of the alkaline process allow for elimination of the use of potentially harmful chemicals such as sulfuric acid and comparatively reduces overall solid waste and emissions, making it environmentally friendlier and overall, safer for workers and local surrounding communities.”

Avalon is a Canadian mineral development company focused on vertically integrating the Ontario lithium value chain. The company is currently developing its Separation Rapids lithium deposit near Kenora, while continuing to advance other projects in its portfolio, including its 100%-owned Lilypad spodumene-cesium-tantalum project near Fort Hope, Ontario.

In additional to extraction activities, Avalon is executing on its key strategic objective of developing Ontario’s first midstream lithium hydroxide processing facility, a vital link bridging the gap between upstream lithium production and downstream EV battery manufacturing.

For battery minerals, Metso provides sustainable technology and equipment for the entire production chain, from the mine to battery materials and black mass recycling with project scopes ranging from equipment packages to plant deliveries.

New Gold achieves 15% fuel saving at Rainy River thanks to Cascadia Scientific solution

New Gold has been leveraging Cascadia Scientific’s Terrain solution at its Rainy River operation in gold-silver mine in Ontario, Canada, as part of its plan to optimise operations at the open-pit operations.

In the company’s just released ESG report, New Gold highlighted that the Heat Mapping module of Terrain, designed to avoid excessive fuel burn, improve operator safety, and reduce equipment maintenance costs and greenhouse gas emissions, has proven itself when used on 13 of its haul trucks.

“In August 2022, Rainy River installed the Cascadia heat mapping system in 13 of its haul trucks,” the company said. “This technology, which identifies ‘hot spots’ along the haul route, allows Rainy River to identify the areas of inefficiency and rectify them.”

Between August and December, the program supported an average fuel savings of 15%, equivalent to just over 2.7 million tonnes of CO2e, New Gold said.

Terrain is made up of tools to visualise haul roads to target interventions that reduce fuel use, GHG emissions and accelerated equipment wear. Cascadia Scientific combines high-accuracy fuel consumption data with measurements of road grade, vehicle speed, position, motion and altitude to construct visual representations of haul road networks. This helps the company continuously supports clients in identifying and correcting hot spots to maximise efficient and productive operation, it said.

Vale, Epiroc planning for automation shift with battery-electric loaders at Creighton

The industry has been told continuously that there are plenty of synergies between automation and electrification when it comes to loading and haulage, yet the hard evidence of this complementary nature has not yet surfaced. That could be about to change if a trial at Vale’s Creighton mine in Sudbury, Ontario, proves successful.

Vale has been a key electrification partner for mining OEMs and service providers, testing out a whole host of battery-electric equipment from light utility vehicles to 42-t-payload trucks at its deep mines in Sudbury. This builds on its experience of running diesel-electric Kiruna trucks since the mid-1990s at the Coleman mine (also in Sudbury).

The miner has also commenced trials on surface with battery-electric trucks and is set to commence trolley assist operations at its massive Carajas iron ore mining complex in Minas Gerais, Brazil, later this year.

The variety of testing the company has carried out – in terms of the types of mining operations, vehicle setups, charging methods and electrical infrastructure – means it can be considered an electrification pioneer.

Now, it is looking to combine this experience with its knowledge of autonomous loading operations – again an area of the technology space it is considered a leader in.

In partnership with Epiroc, a battery-electric and automation project is in the planning stages at Vale’s Creighton underground mine.

The two companies commissioned four Epiroc ST14 Battery Scooptram and two MT42 Battery trucks at the operation in preparation for the deepening of the mine in the December quarter of 2022. Full-scale operation is ramping up with a first charging bay already commissioned and new ones coming in the next months, a Vale spokesperson told IM.

“The next steps will be to leverage the autonomous capability of those battery-electric scoops to enable operations between shifts depending on the application at the mine,” the spokesperson said.

Vale has previously said it will transition to an all-electric fleet at Creighton as part of its plans to develop the orebody down to circa-3km below surface.

Gowest engages Dumas for Bradshaw gold deposit restart

Gowest Gold has engaged Dumas Contracting Ltd, part of STRACON SA, in a four-year contract to assist with the restart of operations at the Bradshaw gold deposit, in Timmins, Ontario.

Dumas has already begun moving equipment to the site and is rapidly ramping up the mobilisation process, with both Gowest and Dumas targeting the resumption of underground work in April.

Dumas is a leading, full-service mining contractor specialising in mine construction and development, production mining and engineering. It is the primary contractor working at numerous mines throughout the Americas, including several in northern Ontario, Gowest said.

Currently, Bradshaw contains a NI 43‐101 indicated resource estimated at 2.1 Mt grading 6.19 g/t Au for 422,000 oz of gold, and an inferred resource of 3.6 Mt grading 6.47 g/t Au for 755,000 oz of gold. Further, based on the prefeasibility study produced by Stantec on June 9, 2015, Bradshaw contains probable reserves (using a 3 g/t Au cutoff and a gold price of $1,200/oz) of 1.8 Mt grading 4.82 g/t Au for 277,000 oz of gold.

Dan Gagnon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gowest, said: “We are extremely pleased to have Dumas, with their extensive experience and focus on safety, as our long-term partner in restarting mining activities at Bradshaw. At the same time, now that we have the significant financial support of several of our major shareholders, we are also quickly advancing on several related fronts. This includes hiring personnel, mobilising equipment, ordering consumables and other preparations to ensure Bradshaw’s success as the next new gold mine in the Timmins camp.”

The first underground work will focus on the development and production of the initial bulk sample area (East Zone), the development of ventilation infrastructure, as well as the development of a ramp to expand and access new ore zones, Gowest says.

The company is also working towards finalising an agreement for milling Bradshaw’s ore, working with several parties to determine the optimal approach for handling the gold concentrate.

Canada Nickel progresses carbon capture and storage test work for Crawford

Canada Nickel Company Inc says the latest test work on material from its Crawford project, in Ontario, Canada, supports the incorporation of carbon capture and storage into the develoment.

The company has devised an In-Process Tailings (IPT) Carbonation process, which, it says, is a novel method for accelerated carbon capture and storage that it believes has transformative potential.

The latest test work conducted at Kingston Process Metallurgy (KPM) confirmed that existing process streams can be used for IPT Carbonation, which the company believes should allow it to be timely and cost effectively engineered and incorporated into the project flowsheet.

Crawford is hosted in ultramafic rock, which naturally absorbs and sequesters CO2, according to the company, with the potential to actively capture and sequester carbon being a key consideration in Canada Nickel’s acquisition of the 42 sq.km of target ultramafic rocks in the Timmins area.

Canada Nickel has developed an active process that uses tailings as generated in the milling process and injects a concentrated source of CO2 for a brief period of time. This process, IPT Carbonation, fixes CO2 geologically while the tailings are still in the processing circuit, rather than after they have been finally deposited.

The company believes that, given its relative simplicity, this process could be scaled up with availability of concentrated (rather than atmospheric) sources of CO2, with the CO2 potentially delivered by downstream processing of Crawford concentrates, a wide range of industrial processing activities, green hydrogen production, or carbon capture facilities.

Canada Nickel said: “The process demonstrates the potential to produce NetZero Nickel™ and NetZero Cobalt™ for the electric vehicle industry, NetZero Iron™ and chromium for the stainless steel industry and generate substantial carbon credits during the process. The company believes that the need for a concentrated source of CO2 for this process and the substantial CO2 capture and storage capacity potential of its ultramafic land position could form the basis for an entire Zero Carbon Industrial Cluster in the Timmins-Cochrane region.”

The latest results from further lab-scale testing at KPM confirmed that a blend of tailings expected to be produced by Crawford and thickened to an expected operating tailings density could be successfully carbonated with the IPT Carbonation process, the company said. This is a significant result to demonstrate the process at higher solids densities as the pulp density and the tailings residence time will be a key driver of the process capital and operating costs, it explained.

The testing also attempted to understand what ultimate carbon capture potential is possible and the test resulted in 37 t of CO2 captured per tonne of nickel – 34 t of that amount was captured within 25 hours. The 37 t figure is believed to represent a potential maximum and there is no certainty that such amount could be achieved in commercial operation, the company said.

As a result of these results, the integrated feasibility study for the project is expected to be delivered in the June quarter of 2023. This delay, the company says, has no impact on the overall timeline to production, with Canada Nickel continuing to target receipt of permits by mid-2025 with construction to follow.

Mark Selby, Chair and CEO of Canada Nickel, said: “We believe the Crawford project has the potential to be a case study in how critical minerals are developed in Ontario and Canada. Crawford is poised to support the energy transition through the large-scale production of critical minerals, including nickel and cobalt, and to become the sole North American producer of chromium, while also supporting the country’s climate objectives through large-scale carbon capture and storage.”

The company believes the successful incorporation of IPT Carbonation could also potentially allow a portion of its project capital expenditures to become eligible for the carbon capture and storage refundable investment tax credits of 37.5% to 60% from 2022-30 and 18.75% to 30% from 2031-40 announced in the 2022 federal budget documents in Canada.

Selby added: “We look forward to continuing our positive momentum in 2023 as we complete this integrated feasibility study for Crawford, continue to successfully advance the Crawford permitting process, work with our recently appointed financial advisors to advance its overall financing package and aggressively advance our recently acquired Texmont property with its potential for near-term production. We are also excited by our successful tests of the regional exploration potential at Reid, Deloro, Sothman and Reaume which, as they are hosted in the same mineralisation as Crawford, offer the same potential for integrated carbon capture and storage – setting the stage for a Zero Carbon Industrial Cluster in the Timmins-Cochrane region.”

Alamos’ Island Gold mine keeps giving up its goods

The latest drill intercepts from Alamos Gold’s Island Gold Mine in Ontario, Canada, have continued to showcase the potential of an asset that already has a more than 17-year mine life ahead of it, John McCluskey, President and Chief Executive Officer, says.

On the same day as releasing an assortment of promising drill intercepts outside of the existing reserves and resources – namely 110.17 g/t Au over 7.79 m, 97.21 g/t Au over 5.05 m and 525.28 g/t Au over 2.33 m – McCluskey continued to highlight the credentials of an asset that had just 1.8 Moz of mineral reserves and resources, and production around the 100,000 oz/y mark when it was acquired by Alamos in 2017 in a $620 million all-share deal for mine owner Richmont Mines.

“We’re now looking at one of the biggest, most profitable underground gold mines in Ontario,” he told IM in a meeting in London this week. “That is a far cry from what the market saw when we first acquired the company. We have since more than tripled the reserve and resource base and continue to build confidence in adding further ounces.”

The Phase 3+ Expansion Study released earlier this year outlined a 2,400 t/d shaft-supported operation with average annual gold production of 287,000 oz, starting in 2026 upon completion of the sinking and equipping of a 1,373-m-deep shaft. This represents a 22% increase from the previous Phase 3 study and a 121% increase from the mid-point of 2022 production guidance of 130,000 oz.

McCluskey confirmed this week that pre-sinking activities at the expansion project had been completed by contractor Redpath, going down to 42 m depth (pictured). He expected full sinking activities to start up next year in line with the above guidance.

The addition of a shaft connected to low-carbon intensity grid power in Ontario will support higher mining rates with a smaller mobile fleet of haul trucks resulting in significantly lower diesel consumption at Island, according to the company. This is expected to drive a 35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the mine life.

While the current plan at Island is to sink down to circa-1,400 m, the company made the decision to acquire a hoisting plant for the expansion that could operate down to depths of 2,000 m. This is an indication of the undefined potential at the mine, according to McCluskey, who admitted the shaft could be sunk to even deeper depths should drilling results justify this.

“It would not require too much more engineering or money to extend the shaft below the circa-1,400 m level, so that is something we will continue to weigh up as we conduct further drilling,” he said. “The Island story continues to grow and we continue to see a very profitable future at what will become one of the lowest cost underground mining operations in the province.”

Newmont Porcupine racing towards start up of state-of-the-art water treatment plant

Newmont’s Porcupine mine has hoted Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, on site, alongside members of his cabinet, to announce its new state-of-the-art water treatment plant at the Canadian mine.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, Newmont made a $160 million investment into the new plant, which will benefit the entire ecosystem and surrounding watershed through the collection, treatment and return of impacted water. Provincially, this plant will have among the lowest effluent discharge limits within the mining sector, the company claims.

The investment, Newmont says, demonstrates how industrial and environmental interests can be aligned, and is a strong example of the company’s commitment to sustainable and responsible mining.

Newmont anticipates that construction of the plant will be completed before year end and begin discharging in 2023. Once operational, the plant will return up to 13 million cu.m of treated clean water to the Mattagami, Frederickhouse and Upper Kapuskasing watersheds.

The company said: “After more than a century of mining in Timmins, the next phase of operations at Porcupine is an opportunity to support regreening the region, significantly improve site water management and support the local watersheds while maintaining employment and economic benefits for Northern Ontario communities, local First Nations and the government.”

Since 1910, the historic Porcupine mining district has produced more than 67 Moz of gold, with the modern Porcupine mine being the largest employer in Timmins, with more than 1,200 employees and contractors, the company says.

Dawid Pretorius, General Manager for Newmont Porcupine, said: “Investments like the new water treatment plant that we are announcing today are only made possible by the steadfast commitments of our employees, all levels of government and our Indigenous communities and partners. I would like to thank all involved for their dedication to upholding our reputation as an industry leader in safe, sustainable and responsible mining.”

Epiroc and Rokion battery-electric machines reduce costs at Evolution’s Red Lake ops

Evolution Mining’s efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 are already being witnessed at its Red Lake Operation (RLO) in Canada, where the company is pursuing fleet replacement and energy efficiency gains through deepening its partnerships with Epiroc and Rokion.

The pacts with the two battery-electric vehicle (BEV) service providers also extend to operational changes Evolution is making via fan timers for underground ventilation at RLO.

In partnership with Epiroc, Red Lake has taken the opportunity to leverage its offering of conversion kits to transform diesel-powered loaders easily and seamlessly to battery-electric driven operation, it said. RLO has ordered two of the converted diesel-powered Scooptram ST1030 machines for deployment underground with the first one delivered at the start of December 2021. The site has also ordered two Scooptram ST14 battery-electric loaders that are designed based on the diesel ST14 version, which are scheduled for delivery in 2022. This order was announced last year by Epiroc.

The Red Lake team has also purchased three Rokion electric light vehicles – two R100s and an R400. They have been risk assessed in the field, have dedicated charge stations and are capable of online data capture and storage, the company said.

Rokion says the R100 series includes a four-passenger crew truck and a two-passenger utility truck, with both models built on the same frame dimensions and available in ramp-ready configurations. The R400 platform, meanwhile, is able to accommodate three passengers in a utility vehicle setup or up to 12 in a passenger crew variant.

“The electric fleet brings the opportunity to save on maintenance, cooling and ventilation costs with reducing expenditures related to diesel and power usage,” Evolution Mining says.

“This cost saving and energy efficiency has similarly been seen in the recent changes to the underground ventilation fan timers, which are vital in clearing the drives, post blasting of headings. After assessing the timer programming, the functionality of the fan timer switch was altered so that operators can run them when needed rather than running automatically at irrelevant times.”