Canadian Mining Journal October 2019

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QUESTING FOR GOLD IN QUEBEC COOLING CANADA’S DEEP MINES

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OCTOBER 2019 | www.canadianminingjournal.com | PM # 40069240

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CANADIANMINING

OCTOBER 2019 VOL. 140, NO. 8

JOURNAL

MINING IN QUEBEC

14 The Osisko Mining team sets its sights on Windfall.

19 Highlights of gold exploration taking place across one of Canada’s

CMJ

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most mining-friendly jurisdictions.

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27 VENTILATION & COOLING 28 BBE Consulting outlines the changing

considerations around cooling as underground C A N A D I A N M I N I N G J O Umines R N Ago L deeper.

33 Stantec shares 3 ways to use water to cool your underground mine.

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35 EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE & REPAIR 36 How used oil analysis can be used to lower costs and improve equipment performance.

40 Tips from Hitachi on how to extend the life of your mining excavator.

DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITORIAL | The deep challenges of deeper mining.

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5 IN MY MIN(E)D | Retiring news editor Marilyn Scales bids readers a

fond farewell.

6 COMMENTARY | Don Langlois of DMC Mining Services discusses the

importance of mental health in the workplace.

8 CSR & MINING | Jane Church and Carolyn Bennet of NetPositive outline

how communities and miners can build a common vision and why the process is worth the effort.

In advance of the federal election in October, Sander Grieve says improvements to the regulatory environment and more infrastructure investments are needed to help the mining sector.

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11 UNEARTHING TRENDS | EY’s Quebec mining leader Patrick

Bertrand-Daoust on the improving environment for mining and metals companies in the province.

10 FAST NEWS | Updates from across the mining ecosystem.

www.canadianminingjournal.com OCTOBER 2019

ABOUT THE COVER

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Please visit www.canadianminingjournal.com for regular updates on what’s happening with Canadian mining companies and their personnel both here and abroad. A digital version of the magazine is also available at www.digital.canadianminingjournal.com

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

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FROM THE EDITOR OCTOBER 2019 Vol. 140 – No. 8

CANADIANMINING The deep challenges of deeper mining Alisha Hiyate

M

ines are getting deeper. As a consequence, the costs of ventilation and cooling, the time required to get workers to the face, and the distance required to transport ore to the mill are all increasing.

Some of the biggest recent trends in the industry have arisen in response to these challenges. For example, ventilation on demand and emission-free battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are being adopted to keep a lid on the cost of ventilation in underground mines. The introduction of BEVs also avoids adding the heat generated by diesel powered machines into an already high-temperature environment, potentially cutting the energy costs required for cooling.

And of course, the promise of automation is to one day remove workers from the inherent dangers of working underground.

Continuous mining – which has the potential to dramatically increase productivity by shortening or eliminating the lag time between each part of the drill-blast-muckground support cycle of underground mining – may also be part of the solution.

At the Future of Deep Mining conference in September, organized by the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI), Vale principal mining engineer Andy Charsley, noted that industry and OEM efforts to develop mechanical rock excavation technology are intensifying.

“We at Vale certainly see mechanical rock excavation having a future in deep mining, where we’ve got very deep mines that are hot, and broad horizontal extents where it takes time to get people out to them,” Charsley said.

Continuous mining machines already work well for rock of up to 150 MPa. In the near term, OEMs are focusing on machines that can handle slightly harder ore, such as sulphide ores, which have a rock strength of around 200 MPa, rather than harder, more challenging ores of 250-300 MPa, Charsley said.

Further into the future – and not unique to underground operations – the mining sector needs to grapple with waste and the opportunity to eliminate tailings before they are even produced, said Janice Zinck, director of green mining innovation at CanmetMining.

How? Through looking at the whole mining process holistically instead of considering mining, milling, and tailings disposal separately.

“The whole mine-to-mill integration is critical in terms of looking at opportunities around selective mining and waste recovery and intelligent recovery of the ore itself,” Zinck said. “A lot of these pieces are not standalone.”

Lastly, as we at CMJ, continue to cover the challenges, trends and innovations that are transforming the mining sector, we are preparing to wish a happy retirement to a colleague who has seen a lot of change over her 45 years as a mining reporter. I want to wish the very best to our news editor, Marilyn Scales. Marilyn has been a valuable resource to me since I joined the CMJ team nearly three years ago, and to our readers for the past four decades and more. It’s been a pleasure working with you, CMJ Marilyn – you will be missed!

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225 Duncan Mill Rd. Suite 320, Toronto, Ontario M3B 3K9 JOURNAL Tel. (416) 510-6789 Fax (416) 510-5138 www.canadianminingjournal.com Editor-in-Chief Alisha Hiyate 416-510-6742 ahiyate@canadianminingjournal.com Twitter: @Cdn_Mining_Jrnl

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News Editor Marilyn Scales CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL mscales@canadianminingjournal.com Production Manager Jessica Jubb jjubb@glacierbizinfo.com Art Director Barbara Burrows Advisory Board David Brown (Golder Associates) Michael Fox (Indigenous Community Engagement) Scott Hayne (Redpath Canada) Anthony Moreau (Iamgold) Gary Poxleitner (SRK) Manager of Product Distribution Jackie Dupuis 403-209-3507 jdupuis@jwnenergy.com Publisher & Sales Robert Seagraves 416-510-6891 rseagraves@canadianminingjournal.com Sales, Western Canada George Agelopoulos 416-510-5104 gagelopoulos@northernminer.com Toll Free Canada & U.S.A.: 1-888-502-3456 ext 2 or 43734 Circulation Toll Free Canada & U.S.A.: 1-800-387-2446 ext 3505 Group Publisher Anthony Vaccaro Established 1882

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IN MY MINE(D)

A tectonic shift 45 years in the making

By Marilyn Scales

OCTOBER 2019

Underground in 1980.

Courtesy: Marilyn Scales

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t is time for me to retire. I was 25 when CMJ hired me; now I am turning 70 on Nov. 4, and I have chosen the end of that month to call a halt. Forty-five years seems like a good run as an observer of an industry I am passionate about and that has become a large part of my life.

While retirement is a tectonic shift for me, I’m sure our geologist friends won’t be offering new theories about continental drift.

The first mine I visited was Sidbec Normines iron mine near Fermont, Que. It has come and gone, and iron ore production is coming back to that corner of the world. The first time I went to Saskatchewan I was underground at the Main mine in Flin Flon, Man. The first gold mine I visited was the old McIntyre mine in Schumacher, Ont.… I’m dating myself.

Some of our loyal readers probably weren’t born when I took up the pen – later to be computer. For those old enough to remember back to the mid-’70s, they will recall that women in mining were a novelty.

For a few years I was the only female at the Canadian Mineral Processors meeting in Ottawa every January. My streak was broken when Judy Erola, the federal junior minister for mining, addressed the assembly.

I was once told by the superintendent giving me a tour that I should tuck my hair up under my hard hat because the cage tender we were about to meet held to the old superstition that women in mines were bad luck.

Another time when I was investigating the No. 3 shaft project at the Dome mine, the sinking crew held to the same superstition. But they insisted the luck could be reversed if I joined them in the dry.

I can take the kidding because by and large Canadian miners are respectful. It has been a privilege to put into words the hard and challenging work they do.

The travel has been a bonus, too. I have seen parts of Canada east and west. I’ve seen the High Arctic, the peaks of the Andes Mountains, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom. As a guest at these projects, I was shown the ropes in a candid and informative manner.

Importantly, the 45 years I’ve spent observing the mining sector have been a time of positive change. No longer is environmental degradation tolerated. Today’s industry shares knowledge and benefits with Indigenous peoples in Canada and abroad. The recovery of gold remains a rich vein for

improvement. And computers, cell phones and all that now-indispensable technology has taken over our personal as well as working lives. We can tell more stories, more quickly to more people than ever before. That is especially true when we fire information into the cybersphere. Technical data is shared in more detail than was ever possible even 15 years ago.

(I mention this because in the late ‘70s a national courier service told me they didn’t deliver to Thompson, Man., and they would put my package in the snail mail. So much for timely arrival.)

Thanks to all our readers over the past 45 years for welcoming me at their projects and sharing with me all that was and is important to them. It has been a pleasure to know so many of you.

CMJ MARILYN SCALES can be reached at marscales@gmail.com.

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

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COMMENTARY

Mental Health: Digging deep to support those in need

By Don Langlois

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s a teen raised in northern Ontario, I always thought that being able to identify someone struggling with mental health would be easy. I pictured someone who appeared and behaved differently than someone who was “normal.” Admittedly, I wrongly thought mental health had a distinct “look” and that it would be obvious to identify. I would soon be reminded of my ignorance and face a situation that would forever change my perspective on who and what mental health looks like.

Of serious concern is the fact that anywhere between 30% and 80% of individuals who require assistance with their mental health simply don’t reach out (according to the World Health Organization). There are several reasons someone may be hesitant to ask for help, but stigma and discrimination fall high on this list, and lead to negative health and social outcomes for those affected.

And though we are gaining traction, the truth is, many people don’t know how to respond when we are concerned about a co-worker’s mental wellbeing. We worry about saying the wrong thing and have the perception that those in need want to be left alone to cope. These myths act as barriers to helping those we care about.

Making the case Mental health affects every workplace in Canada. As adults, we spend most of our waking hours at work. This environment can either have a positive or negative contribution to our mental health.

Both employers and employees benefit from a psychologically healthy workplace. Employers who adopt mental health programs achieve better outcomes with improvements in engagement, morale, productivity and employee satisfaction while minimizing the impact on absenteeism, presenteeism, long-term leaves of absence and workplace injuries.

Organizations often tout “people” as their most important asset, which means they should be addressing their most relevant workplace concern. At work more than anywhere else, addressing issues of mental health is vitally important. Seventy per cent of Canadian employees are concerned about the psychological health of their workplace, and 14% don’t think theirs is healthy at all. Such workplaces can take a detrimental personal toll as well as contribute to the staggering economic costs of mental health in our country.

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Both employers and employees benefit from a psychologically healthy workplace. Employers who adopt mental health programs achieve better outcomes with improvements in engagement, morale, productivity and employee satisfaction while minimizing the impact on absenteeism, presenteeism, long-term leaves of absence and workplace injuries.

These are reasons that provide incentive for leaders in organizations to act and implement strategic adjustments on how they would like to approach mental health at work. Even small changes can make a big difference to your workplace while reducing the impact on social services by making publicly funded mental health resources available to those who need it most. Re-allocating resources to more preventative actions will help your organization improve its approach to mental wellbeing and minimize challenges, such as stigma, that remain the most relevant barrier in addressing mental health. Your organization likely offer numerous options to help employees and their families manage the initial and ongoing phases of dealing with a mental health challenge. If not, a conscious effort to leverage these services and regularly communicate the scope of what is available to your teams can encourage someone who is struggling to reach out for help. The more we talk about mental health, the more our people will feel comforted in knowing “it’s OK not to be OK,” and that help is available.

A brighter outlook Since 2016, DMC Mining Services has made mental health its strategic health priority. Under the leadership of DMC’s vice-president of health and safety, we measured the necessary data to demonstrate the impact mental health had on our people and those who worked around them. We were not intimidated by the challenge and see that the benefits of www.canadianminingjournal.com

implementing strategies to support mental health are far, long lasting and real. We ourselves have experienced the challenges faced when workers had hit rock bottom and made a promise to leave every door open for our employees to receive timely access to the support they needed. We achieved a greater sense of empathy from our workforce, supervisors and other personnel who noticed signs of trouble and would quietly connect to our dedicated resource, who would then promptly reach out to help put a plan in place. Those who benefited from this support often became advocates for the program, transforming workplace culture from the inside.

We learned that the journey didn’t have to be difficult, costly and time intensive. We focused on providing our groups with tools, such as awareness sessions and mental health first aid, and encouraged an open and honest dialogue around mental health. The topic proved to be of interest to almost all of our colleagues; probably because we are all somehow connected to mental health.

Though we’ve come a long way and I am proud of our progress, we are only really beginning this journey. The evidence is clear; not unlike other heath conditions, early intervention is key. The sooner someone understands they need help and are connected to the right support system, outcomes improve significantly.

Final thought According to the World Health Organization, most of the world’s population (58%) spend one-third of their adult life at work trying to provide meaningful contributions while attempting to provide their families a good quality of life. Why shouldn’t this time be spent in a healthy environment that enables us to reach our full potential? Mining has a proud tradition of workplace safety and support, one where people look out for one another, making it a natural fit for mental health, which requires the same courage and compassion.

I’ve heard comparisons of mental health to a game of hideand-seek; those who struggle being the ones who are always so difficult to find. Though that’s partly true, I think we can all learn to be courageous enough to look in those harder to find spots, thus become better at “finding” them. To my friend Matt, and everyone else who has lost their journey to mental health, you will not be forgotten. To those of you who are fighting, you are not alone, you are important. Don’t give up, and believe you are capable of living a long and healthy life.

Remember, there is no health without mental health.

CMJ DON LANGLOIS is manager of occupational health, hygiene and CSR at DMC Mining Services.

He can be reached at don.langlois@dmcmining.com.

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CSR & MINING

Lessons learned from community-led visioning

By Carolyn Burns and Jane Church

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clear vision for the future can help communities create long-term social value from mining activities. A community vision clearly outlines the community’s environmental, social, economic, and political aspirations for the long term. In communities where mining is a part of the local economy, a vision helps to define how the benefits of mining can support community priorities. It can also ensure that mining activity does not adversely impact community priorities.

From a common vision, communities can create clear action plans. This common starting point also acts as a road map for different stakeholders like Indigenous and local governments, mining companies, community groups, provincial and federal governments to work together in partnership.

The process of building a common vision is not easy. It takes time, commitment from a wide range of stakeholders, patience, and resources. In this article we’ve included practical examples from across Canada that highlight common challenges, lessons learned, and tips for success. Despite the effort and inevitable challenges, these case studies show that the long-term payoff is worth it. As societal expectations of mining continue to grow, this work becomes even more important.

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It’s never too late to start, but don’t wait until closure Many communities begin a visioning and planning processes because they are facing looming changes to their economies. For example, Sudbury, Ont., was an early pioneer of the community planning approach when the price of nickel led to an industry decline in the 1970s. Facing a dwindling revenue base and a high dependency on one industry, the municipality embarked on a process of economic diversification. As part of this, in 1978, different stakeholders from government, business, academia, mining, and labour unions came together to define a vision for “Sudbury 2001.”

More recently, the closure of a smelter and refinery in Thompson, Man., another historic mining town, led to 500 lost jobs and sparked a participatory community planning process.

The Thompson Economic Diversification Working Group was formed in 2010 to develop an economic diversification plan.

The working group consisted of representatives from 10 stakeholder groups including the municipality, industry, provincial agencies, and Indigenous governments and associations.

In Sudbury and Thompson, the visioning and planning processes allowed stakeholder groups to manage the impact of 8 | CANADIAN

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changes in the local mining industry. However, some communities proactively launch a visioning and planning process before mining even starts. The Cree Nation of Nemaska (CNN) in Quebec has long been affected by hydro development and forestry activities. However, the development of the Whabouchi mine by Nemaska Lithium and growing mineral exploration nearby catalyzed the community to come together and plan for how mining would affect its future. By starting early, CNN is hoping to maximize the benefits from the mine and manage development in a way that is acceptable to the community.

Similarly, when the natural gas industry was in the exploration and planning phase near the city of Fort St. John, B.C., the municipality worked to understand the industry’s potential benefits and impacts and consult with the community. From there, a community plan was developed to set out a roadmap for the future and define needed programs. This provided a basis for discussions with companies to ensure that resource development activities and operations were in line with the community’s vision.

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Aim high By definition, a visioning process should look at the community’s ideal future. From there, everyone involved works to make it a reality. In addition to being aspirational, a broader scope is usually better. Often a visioning process within a mining-dependent municipality is focused on economic development and diversification (such as with Sudbury and Thompson). But community visions often also include: w Environmental priorities, such as for land use and management, restoration, climate change management; w Social priorities for education, health, culture, spiritual and religious, and community wellness; w Economic priorities; and w Political and governance priorities, regarding things like community representation and transparency for example.

In the Cree Nation of Nemaska, the community is taking a holistic approach, considering a wide range of topics and issues in its community planning process (from housing to education to land use and the environment). Taking a regional approach has also proven to be successful. When both Sudbury and Thompson widened their lens and looked at regional connection and economic development, they were able to build greater support across industries and higher levels of governments and connect with other municipalities and Indigenous groups. www.canadianminingjournal.com

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Leverage support Mining companies are typically well placed to support visioning and planning processes because they can leverage other resources and relationships. Nemaska Lithium has supported CNN’s planning process by making connections between CNN, the neutral facilitator (NetPositive, run by the authors), and provincial agencies, and participating whenever required. A clear vision and strategy can also set the foundation to connect with other regional priorities and funding opportunities.

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It will take time – so use that time to build relationships and trust Stakeholders should never let the time requirement put them off from participating because relationship building and creating a more inclusive process pays off in the long-term.

The working group in Thompson spent almost six months just to develop its terms of reference. While this was time consuming, it meant that the stakeholders involved were able to build relationships, share their concerns and interests, and develop trust. In the Cree Nation of Nemaska where mining is new, the community has put time into building the knowledge of the entire community, especially youth.

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Engagement and communication are critical Throughout the process it is vitally important to let the community and other stakeholders know what’s happen-

ing. Not everyone can be involved in the detailed process – but consistent, ongoing and transparent communications (via social media, local news, notices, etc.) ensure that a broad set of people feel connected and informed.

To make sure final documents don’t gather dust on a shelf, they should be publicly available and used as a source document for annual plans. In the Thompson and Fort St. John examples, the community plan is positioned at the centre of the municipality’s work. Mining companies should champion the community vision whenever possible and ensure that mining activity (including all community investment programs) are aligned with the vision. The final documents should be referenced regularly by all stakeholders and reviewed on a regular basis.

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Learn from others While every community is different, there are many examples to learn from and organizations that can help. For example, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has long supported community planning in Canadian communities and has also started sharing knowledge from mining communities in Canada, like Sudbury, Fort St. John, and Thompson, overseas through its CISAL project (www.fcmcisal.org/en). CMJ CAROLYN BURNS is director of operations at NetPositive, a non-profit that works with diverse stakeholders to help local communities see sustained positive outcomes from mining.

JANE CHURCH is a co-founder and director of collaboration with NetPositive.

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ConstruCtion AnD Mining serviCes

OCTOBER 2019

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

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LAW

Mining, the law and periodic accountability in Canada

By Sander Grieve

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y the time you read this, you will be inundated with federal election advertisements on television and pop-up ads on your favourite websites. The advertisements have been made by people who want you to decide who you think is honest, who is most like you, and even with whom you would most like to have a beer. But these are entirely unrelated to the real issues facing the Canadian mining community and the country today.

The real issues include: What will the next generation do for a living in Canada? Where we will sell what we make? Can we generate enough surplus wealth to provide for all Canadians?

How should we spend that surplus? This is the ‘vision thing’ that has been largely absent from our politics for a generation.

Without vision, we end up with political platforms that do not speak to the concerns of how to live, work, and raise a family – the kinds of things the mining economy supports in communities across the country. Vision means finding new systems to generate the ideas with substance that will allow people to see solutions to the real and complex problems that we face.

You might legitimately ask: How can the law help? How can the mining industry lead the way?

The regulatory environment impacts productivity Productivity in Canada is a real problem. It is impacting national prosperity and our ability to fund priorities, such as maintaining our health care system. While the average annual growth rate of labour productivity has been declining in a number of countries, our relative decline against the U.S. is most alarming. By 2012, the Canada-U.S. productivity gap was 24% with private sector productivity trailing that of the U.S. by 30%.

The regulatory environment is one factor impacting productivity. The president of Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd. said this in so many words last month. Satoshi Abe told the Canadian Press: “I think Canada itself creates significant barriers to new investment,” and that to become more attractive to additional investment, Canada needs “more certainty around its regulatory processes, which we are clearly lacking.” So, how do we talk about this big issue of productivity in mining?

The best example I have seen is in Australia, where the Productivity Commission within the Treasury Department exists to undertake research at the request of the government.

It does so on a variety of topics with a scope that covers all 10 | CANADIAN

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manner of industries. We have similar undertakings from time to time, but our efforts are more ad hoc against the scope and profile of the Productivity Commission.

In Australia, the government just asked the Productivity Commission to study regulations affecting business investment in the resources sector. The report, due in March 2020, will be the source of policy options for a country choosing to compete in the world. The mining sector greeted the review with enthusiasm as an opportunity to compete for investor dollars, retain effective oversight and risk based regulation while cutting unnecessary and duplicative regulations.

A similar initiative here would be a good start.

A commitment to critical infrastructure Infrastructure is a continuing challenge to development opportunities in mining and other industries.

Our industry associations raise it with the government regularly. The PDAC highlights some of the challenges of underserved environments. Capital costs can run up to 2.5 times higher for producing mines in remote locations, and operating costs 60% higher. Exploration projects more than 50 km away from a supply route suffer similar multiplication of costs.

The Quebec government started to wrestle with infrastructure needs through Plan Nord. The federal government proposes to join this effort through the Infrastructure Bank.

Industry needs government to move from announcements to projects to encourage development.

Developments are on hold. Despite almost 200 discoveries in the three territories, by territory 69-85% of these remain undeveloped. If the government is worried about the crisis in remote communities, these projects hold the keys to life-changing employment opportunities for people there. In many cases, infrastructure will make the difference for these projects.

When they arrive on your doorstep this fall, I hope you will ask candidates what they plan to do to after the election to make infrastructure a priority in regulation, law and policy.

Our mining sector deserves attention to help generate the tools to make more golden eggs, instead of just enjoying splitting the eggs up in a cloud of rhetoric which is unseemly to CMJ both egg and goose.

SANDER GRIEVE is a partner, head of mining, and co-head of the corporate department at Bennett Jones in Toronto.

www.canadianminingjournal.com

UNEARTHING TRENDS

Money is making a comeback in Quebec Patrick Bertrand-Daoust

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n recent years, it’s no secret that the mining and metals industry has struggled to capture the attention of investors and raise capital as the focus for many major miners has been tied to building out effective operations and less on growth and exploration. Little capital is dedicated to new innovation and risk taking has been limited, pushing capital in other directions.

Mining and metals companies have been competing for traditional capital with a new commodity: cannabis. Much of the capital that once went into the sector has changed course over to this new budding sector. The Canadian Securities Exchange reports that in 2018, cannabis companies raised close to $4 billion while mining and metals took home just $217 million.

Competition for capital continues to be problematic as companies turn attention from operations to growth — and need the investment to get them there. Some have turned to joint ventures and mergers as a source of new resources and funding, and others have looked to foreign investment. In a difficult financing environment, Canada has witnessed a rise in Chinese, often state-owned, capital and partnerships. But with a cloudy view of global economic growth and trade tensions, companies need to look to other options.

Canada and the mining and metals sector must think longterm and collaboratively. The Canadian Mineral Industry Federation recently proposed six recommendations that federal, provincial and territorial governments can action to help boost Canada’s ability to attract new mineral investment. Two especially ring true for the Quebec market.

The first is to provide effective and efficient regulation of the mining industry, appropriate access to prospective lands, and continued and expanded investments in remote infrastructure. And second, to invest in new exploration techniques and technologies, and provide financial support to catalyze private sector innovation investments to support progress in energy efficiency, environmental protection and business productivity.

Recommended support from the public sector, in tandem with greater intentions from miners to reallocate capital spending towards new projects and innovations, can help attract investor attention and rebuild global competitiveness. This summer we already witnessed improved capital movements

OCTOBER 2019

The Canadian Securities Exchange reports that in 2018, cannabis companies raised close to $4 billion while mining and metals took home just $217 million. coming out of Quebec, which are worth taking note. Here are a few examples: w Nemaska Lithium announced a foreign investor, the Pallinghurst Group, will help finance up to $600 million of its Whabouchi project. The project is to convert spodumene ore from its Whabouchi mine into value-added lithium salts, which can be used for rechargeable lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries. w Geomega raised $1.2 million in private share placement to build a demonstration plant for recycling rare earth elements from permanent magnets using a new processing technology that creates no acid waste – making it the first to do so in Canada. w Radisson Mining Resources announced funding of $6 million, including investment from Rob McEwan, to fund the exploration and development of its historic O’Brien gold mine.

It’s encouraging to see that local and foreign investors are seeing value in the Canadian market and are keen to put capital into fruitful projects, like Nemaska, Geomega, Radisson and others, that are meeting new demands for new materials for battery technologies, sustainable resources and high returns on gold. Despite continued hype for cannabis, it’s clear there’s still money in the market for mining and metals companies who can work collaboratively, think long-term and show fundamental value.

CMJ PATRICK BERTRAND-DAOUST is the EY Quebec Mining and Metals leader. He is based in Montreal. For more information, please visit ey.com/ca/mining.

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

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FAST NEWS • LITHIUM |

Updates from across the mining ecosytem

Veolia technology chosen for Toyota, Orocobre refinery

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eolia Water Technologies will provide a chemical processing plant featuring HPD evaporation and crystallization technologies designed to convert lithium carbonate into lithium hydroxide employed in the manufacturing of batteries that power electric vehicles.

Driven by their joint success in supporting the rapid evolution and adoption of electric mobility, Toyota Tsusho, part of the Toyota Group, and Orocobre, an Australia-based industrial chemicals company, along with their joint venture Toyotsu Lithium, awarded Veolia a comprehensive engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to build a new plant in Japan.

The Naraha facility is designed to convert 9,500 tonnes per year of technical-grade lithium carbonate into 10,000

t/y of purified, battery grade lithium hydroxide.

Thanks to low cost operations and strong demand from Japanese battery makers, lithium carbonate volumes have been steadily increasing since Toyota Tsusho and Orocobre first produced lithium in 2015 at their brine-based Olaroz lithium facility in northern Argentina.

To support this growth, the joint venture made one of the biggest investment decisions to raise output in the South American lithium market, and the new Naraha hydroxide plant that will process this increased feedstock capacity will be the first of its kind in Japan.

To demonstrate the feasibility of the process design, Veolia conducted laboratory testing and simulated key unit operations including clarification, ion exchange

purification, evaporation, crystallization, and precipitation at its Phillip J. Stewart Technology Center in Plainfield, Ill. The results of this work confirmed the design parameters, reduced the technical risks and boosted the project viability, resulting in the joint venture’s decision to invest in the plant, which was also supported by a grant from the Japanese government.

“We are pleased to be chosen by Toyota Tsusho and Orocobre to help them deliver the flagship Naraha project,” said Jim Brown, executive vice-president Veolia Water Technologies Americas, in a release.

“This award further consolidates Veolia’s position as the preferred technology supplier of cutting edge chemical processing solutions to global lithium producers and refiners.”

CMJ

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MINING JOURNAL

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Seabridge joins study of metals on fish

M

etal pollution is a global issue often caused by activities such as mining and smelting operations, industrial production and use, and domestic and agricultural applications of metal-containing compounds. Water that flows through sites contaminated with metals can dissolve and transport toxic levels of metals such as copper, zinc, iron etc. into local waterways, which can be harmful to fish and fish habitat. While many stakeholders and governments cooperatively work to mitigate the harmful effects of metal contamination, more information is needed to understand the impacts of low levels of metals and metal mixtures on fish health and other aquatic species.

Now Seabridge Gold and the Gitanyow Fisheries Authority (GFA) are collaborating on a project applying ‘omic’ approaches to learn more about the impact of heavy metals on aquatic ecosystems. This method will apply environmental DNA (eDNA) to the potential effects of Seabridge’s proposed KSM copper-gold mine 65 km northwest of Stewart.

The project is funded by Genome BC and GFA, under the leadership of Dr. Vicki Marlatt at Simon Fraser University. The team will develop and implement eDNA methods to detect the presence or absence of fish species in the Nass watershed. They will also examine the costs of using eDNA compared to tradi-

The MRC Rail Runner. CREDIT: SAFESIGHT EXPLORATION

both their field experience and innovative concepts to the table. The result has been the development of the MRC Rail Runner.

The MRC Rail Runner provides autonomous raise inspection using modern and tested technologies. This utility robot, installed on a MRC (mechanized raise climber) rail, climbs and performs a video inspection of the face or the entirety of the raise. The robot then returns to the operator in the nest with HD video of the MRC development work area. The resulting files are stamped with the capture date and time.

The MRC Rail Runner can be used at any time during the day, but is most beneficial after a blast to complete a face inspection without delay before work continues.

This transformational product improves safety and performance by decreasing worker exposure and increasing productivity.

SafeSight Exploration is an innovative company specializing in the application of the latest technologies in drone, LiDAR, and imaging technology to the mining sector. CMJ

OCTOBER 2019

The camp at Seabridge Gold’s KSM project in British Columbia. CREDIT: SEABRIDGE GOLD

tional, labour intensive visual or fish trapping surveys.

The project is also expected to contribute to a more thorough characterization of the baseline environmental and biological attributes of affected surface water before mining begins.

Seabridge has proposed development of its KSM project, where a preliminary feasibility study has suggested recovering 38.8 million oz. of gold and 10.2 billion lb. of copper.

CMJ

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13

MINING IN QUEBEC

Osisko

dream team sets its s

By David Godkin

B

ack in 2002, John Burzynski and Sean Roosen figured they’d paid their dues.

Burzynski had just finished up as country manager for Pangea Goldfields in Tanzania where he’d worked for nine years, and Roosen had worked for 14 years on contract across sub-Saharan Africa. Both men had been drilling off pre-existing mining camps they figured still had potential for good returns.

“This is what we intended to do in Canada in places people thought were

14 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

exhausted, looking for large tonnage, low grade material left behind,” Burzynski says. “Nobody was doing that until we came along.”

Enter geologist and minerals explorer Bob Wares who liked the approach.

Before long he, Burzynski and Roosen were poring over an exploratory database for Quebec, eventually settling on a 230-sq.-km section of land in the Malartic-Cadillac area. There, four old mines lay “sitting by the highway, with the east Malartic mill sitting right on

top,” Burzynski says.

Sold for a dollar by Barrick Gold the year before, a dormant mining camp other companies had worked and walked away from seemed like a daunting purchase for a new company with a couple hundred thousand dollars in the treasury, Burzynski mused. Despite their reservations, the newly formed Osisko Mining Inc. relieved the bankruptcy trustee of the property for $80,000.

“We then set to work on the surrounding land package, which by this time had www.canadianminingjournal.com

Sunrise at Osisko Mining’s Windfall gold project in Quebec.

CREDIT: OSISKO MINING

s sights on Windfall

showed us it really had the potential to be a very large mine,” Burzynski said. “People thought we were crazy.”

Today, Malartic hosts one of the biggest gold mines in Canada. Next step, though: relocate about a third of the town of Malartic at a cost of more than $180 million. Undeterred by the financial crisis, Burzynski and Roosen then raised $1 billion to build the Canadian Malartic mine and put it into production.

OCTOBER 2019

‘Osisko 1, meet Osisko 2’ In 2014, a failed hostile takeover bid by Goldcorp and an eventual $4.3-billion takeover by Yamana Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines saw $3 billion go out to shareholders. This came in the form of cash and shares spread across Yamana, Agnico Eagle and the newly named Osisko Gold Royalties, which retained a 5% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on Canadian Malartic.

“Over the next three to four years we’ve grown this into one hundred and thirty Osisko Gold royalties with a $2.3 billion market cap,” Burzynski says.

“We also kept a lot of our senior engineers, gold finders and top executives and relaunched Osisko Mining Inc.” Osisko’s new focus: a deposit 115 km east of the town of Lebel-sur-Quévillon acquired in 2015 from Eagle Hill Exploration, bearing the optimistic name Windfall and today Osisko’s flagship project. Windfall hosts an indicated resource of 2.4 million tonnes grading 7.85 g/t gold for 601,000 contained oz., and an inferred resource of 10.6 million tonnes grading 6.7 g/t gold for 2.3 million oz. gold, using a cut-off grade of 3 g/t gold. This resulted from nearly 600,000 metres of drilling completed by previous operators on the project since 1997, and 414,000 metres Osisko drilled between October 2015 and March 2018.

Osisko’s drilling program will reach the 1-million-metre mark once its resource work is completed at the end of this year, says Burzynski. Drilling is underpinned by a $100-million budget with an expected drop in spending in 2020 during the feasibility and permitting phases, prior to construction. The mine has a capex of $400 million, according to a 2018 preliminary economic assessment.

Also fresh in the mining industry’s memory is Osisko’s announcement in July of four new high-grade zones discovered at Windfall’s Lynx deposit named Triple Lynx.

“What we discovered was mineralization of an entire corridor sitting directly below the main Lynx zone,” Burzynski says. He suspects Triple Lynx houses additional mineralized zones. “It’s been the character of this deposit, much like Malartic, that it’s always given us a little bit more than we’ve anticipated.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

15

MINING IN QUEBEC Top: Drilling at Osisko’s Windfall gold project, 115 km from Lebel-sur-Quevillon, Que. Below: The ramp portal area at Windfall.

CREDIT: OSISKO MINING

Overseeing the 23 drills currently in operation (two underground) is Windfall project manager Louis Grenier. “Mainly, we’re focusing on Triple Lynx, working on the northeast extension and on one of the deepest sections of the Lynx.” It’s also one of the most challenging jobs at Windfall, says Grenier.

“You have to keep in mind that behind the 23 drilling operations is a large crew.

We have people in long-term planning who look at the resource and where we have to be in the next two to three months.” A second, shorter-term planning crew is responsible for day-to-day relationships inside the drilling crews.

“In early 2017 we also employed three different companies who know the proj-

ect is pretty large. We’re doing directional drilling at a depth of 2,000 metres and we’re confident each company has

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MINING JOURNAL

the capacity and experience to do that.”

Still, getting additional staff across most industries is hard, Grenier says. Osisko’s hope is that prospective employees will be intrigued by Windfall’s scope and its potential rewards. “Human resources is really, really important. We try to get them when they’re really young, train them and retain them as we go forward.”

More good news Something Osisko had been anticipating came in early August with a private placement of $34.5 million led by Canaccord Genuity – critical for the additional drilling needed to define the Triple Lynx’s high grade mineralization. That includes one hole that intercepted 12 metres grading 47 g/t gold, “which is tremendous for a discovery hole,” says Burzynski.

Much depends on commodity prices, of course. “I’m an eternal optimist in terms of the price of gold. Gold is higher than it’s ever been in Canadian dollars so most Canadian producers are seeing the best margins they’ve ever seen.”

Osisko plans to finish the resource work and feasibility at Windfall by this time next year, and complete the usual 12-month permitting and 12-month construction cycles. Then, Burzynski says, “we could be pouring gold by mid-2022.

At that point I would expect the price of gold to be where it is or higher.” (Gold www.canadianminingjournal.com

Core from Windfall, which is closing in on 1 million metres of drilling.

CREDIT: OSISKO MINING

was at US$1,512.90 per oz., or $2,017.20, in early September.)

Someone else buoyed up by the good news is José Vizquerra Benavides, former senior vice-president of Osisko Mining, now president and CEO of O3 Mining, a $99.9-million spinoff company overseeing all ancillary properties outside the Windfall camp. Among these are Ontario’s Garrison mine, the Marban property

west of the town of Val-d’Or and the James Bay portfolio formerly of Virginia Mines – all, says Benavides, overshadowed by Windfall’s success.

“Originally when we decided to buy all these companies and projects, we didn’t know which one was going to be the best one,” Benavides says. “But when we realized Windfall is a world class deposit we decided not to continue doing work in

the other properties.”

Well-capitalized with up to $25 million in cash and marketable securities, O3’s shift is now entirely towards ancillary properties Quebec, notably Alexandria Minerals’ key in Val-d’Or land package acquired in August.

“We essentially have the entire eastern side of Val-d’Or,” Benavides says. “The centre part is mostly Alexandria Minerals’ (projects) while on the western part we have Marban.

What excites Benavides most, however, is the Airport zone south of Val-d’Or, which Alexandria explored and tested in 2015 because of similarities to high grade gold-quartz veins in the nearby Triangle Zone, now being advanced by Eldorado CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

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CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

17

MINING IN QUEBEC Gold, and on which Osisko Gold Royalties has a 2% NSR royalty. “That is an exceptional area,” Benavides says.

“We’re actually looking into a brown field at the Airport Zone, rather than starting from zero. Between the companies we have acquired to date from Marban to Alexandria, $72 million has already been invested in the ground.”

More key than tech expertise: wisdom Much of the equipment smarts Osisko acquired in Windfall will be applied in the Airport zone. Of particular assistance: a handheld Vanta X-ray fluorescence energy dispersive spectrometer, or XRF analyzer. The portable XRF provides a comprehensive overview of mineral characteristics without undergoing

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18 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

Underground mapping at Osisko Mining’s Windfall gold project. CREDIT: OSISKO MINING

a full slate of laboratory assays, Grenier explained.

“You point it to the core, wait thirty seconds and you get a full range of major elements,” differentiating, he says, between the different lithologies, including porphyry dykes, felsic volcanics and intermediate-mafic rocks. “With all this information on hand you’re able to make the right descriptions and the right decisions.”

Much of the credit for this belongs to John Burzynski, Benavides says. “John never stops reading and because of this is on top of every single new technology in the world. He is a strategist and technically impeccable.” Osisko’s CEO “is not afraid to try something new, to give us different ways to explore and a chance to try them in the field,” he adds.

“And if any of us has a new idea, we can share it with him. We don’t have to argue much; if we have a strong argument to begin with, he’s willing to try it.”

What is Burzynski doing when he’s not focused on mineral exploration?

“More mineral exploration,” he chuckles.

That’s only partially true. In 2017, Burzynski led the extraction of a piece of Canadian history from the bottom of Lake Ontario. In 1959, the Avro Arrow was the first jet fighter designed and built in Canada – then promptly dumped by Ottawa in favour of the Bomarc missile program and an American jet fighter, the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo.

“It was a traumatic experience for the Canadian psyche. We pulled up one of the test models that is now on display at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. That’s us: explorers by day, CMJ explorers by night.”

www.canadianminingjournal.com

MINING IN QUEBEC

Midland Exploration’s Wilbob gold project in the Labrador Trough, in northern Quebec.

CREDIT: MIDLAND EXPLORATION

gold

By Alisha Hiyate

Questing for

in Quebec

W

ith its prolific gold mining history and mining-friendly policies, Quebec has earned its reputation as a great place to find gold.

The province has seen exploration spending climb from $2.6 billion in 2016 to $3.6 billion in 2018.

While the numbers for 2019 are expected to fall slightly, with the price of gold on the rise, the province could be in for another uptick in 2020.

OCTOBER 2019

Much of the exploration work is taking place in the famous gold camps of the Abitibi, but the James Bay region of Quebec, where Newmont Goldcorp’s Éléonore mine, Nemaska Lithium’s Whabouchi mine and Stornoway Diamond’s Renard mine are located, is also seeing a flurry of activity.

Here’s a look at some of the juniors that are working to find the province’s next mines.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

19

MINING IN QUEBEC ABITIBI GOLD BELT

+

Bonterra Resources Bonterra Resources is advancing three high-grade gold projects 200 km northeast of Val d’Or, in the Abitibi greenstone belt: Gladiator, Barry and Maroy.

In May, the company released an updated resource for the three deposits in the Urban Barry camp. Together, the deposits host 3.2 million indicated tonnes averaging 6.33 g/t gold for 643,000 oz. of gold and 6.2 million inferred tonnes averaging 7.04 g/t gold for 1.4 million oz.

Gladiator, the biggest of the three deposits, hosts 743,000 indicated tonnes at 8.46 g/t gold for 202,000 contained oz. gold and 2.7 million inferred tonnes at 9.1 g/t gold for 897,000 oz. Drilling at Gladiator has outlined the deposit along 1,600 metres of strike length, and to a depth of 1,100 metres.

The Barry deposit, which was mined as an open pit between 2008 and 2010, hosts 2.1 million tonnes grading 5.84 g/t gold for 385,000 indicated oz. and 2.7 million tonnes grading 5.14 g/t gold for 453,000 inferred oz.

The smaller Moroy deposit is located on the property of the former Bachelor Ore sample from Monarch Gold’s Beaufor mine.

CREDIT: MONARCH GOLD

20 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

Probe Metals’ 119-sq.-km Val-d’Or East gold project, which consists of the Pascalis, Courvan and Lapaska properties. CREDIT: PROBE METALS

gold mine, where the Urban-Barry mill also sits. The mill is the only permitted gold processing plant in the region. Bonterra is in the process of expanding its capacity to 2,400 t/d from 800 t/d.

Bonterra raised $32 million in a private placement in August.

+ Monarch Gold

Monarch Gold has several projects in the Abitibi camp, as well as the fully permitted Camflo and Beacon mills.

Its six advanced projects, including its flagship Wasamac project, hold a combined measured and indicated resource of 3.3 million oz. gold and an inferred resource totalling 1.1 million oz. Monarch’s other projects include the Beaufor mine, which was placed on care and maintenance in June, Croinor, Fayolle, McKenzie Break and Swanson. Monarch is planning a drill program at Beaufor to boost the mine’s high-grade resource.

In June, the company also acquired the Fayolle project from Hecla Mining and Typhoon Exploration. Recent drill results from a 586-metre exploration program at Fayolle include 4.9 metres of 40.5 g/t gold from 2.6 metres depth (including 1 metre of 132.01 g/t gold).

The company released a feasibility study on Wasamac in late 2018 that outlined an 11-year mine life and production of 142,000 oz. of gold per year. The projected capex is $464 million, and at US$1,300 per oz. gold, the project carries a post-tax internal rate of return of 18.5% and an NPV of $311.1 million.

+ Probe Metals

In early September, Probe Metals announced a doubling of resources at its Val-d’Or area projects.

Open pit resources in the measured and indicated category at Probe’s Vald’Or East property now total 13.5 million tonnes grading 1.69 g/t gold for 733,100 oz. gold. Underground measured and indicated resources add 1.1 million tonnes grading 3.91 g/t gold for 133,200 oz. Inferred open pit resources total 22.7 million tonnes grading 1.44 g/t gold for 1.1 million oz., while inferred underground resources come to 6.1 million tonnes grading 3.49 g/t gold for 679,600 oz. gold.

The resources are hosted in multiple deposits at Probe’s Val-d’Or East project.

Probe is examining different development option scenarios for Val-d’Or East, including developing the projects as satellite deposits feeding a central mill.

The company also has two projects in the area it is optioning from other companies: Monarch Gold’s Monique project and O3 Mining’s Cadillac Break East.

Probe recently updated the resource at Monique to 9.1 million inferred tonnes (open pit and underground) averaging 2.25 g/t gold for 661,400 oz.

+ Radisson Mining Resources

In July, Radisson Mining Resources released a new resource estimate for its O’Brien gold project in the BousquetCadillac mining camp between RouynNoranda and Val-d’Or that boosted both www.canadianminingjournal.com

structural model of O’Brien’s geology was completed based on historic and recent drill holes. The new model improves the company’s understanding of the project and has identified the main ore controlling structures.

Radisson is currently conducting a two-rig, 20,000-metre drill program at O’Brien and plans to begin underground exploration next year.

The past-producing O’Brien mine boasted a grade of 15.25 g/t gold during production from 1926 to 1957.

+ O3 Mining Drilling at Radisson Mining Resources’ past-producing O’Brien project. CREDIT: RADISSON MINING RESOURCES

its tonnage and grade.

Indicated resources at O’Brien now stand at 949,700 tonnes grading 9.48 g/t gold for 289,400 oz., while inferred resources stand at 617,400 tonnes grading 7.31 g/t gold for 145,000 oz.

As part of the resource update, a new

Formed in August, through a transaction between Osisko Mining, Chantrell Ventures and Alexandria Minerals, O3 Mining is focused on exploration in established gold camps in Ontario and Quebec. The resulting company’s Quebec properties include Cadillac Break and Marban.

In September, the junior began a three-rig, 50,000-metre drill program on its Val-d’Or properties with the goal of confirming, upgrading and expand-

ing existing resources in four properties across the Cadillac Break. Drilling started in the Bulldog zone, which returned 4.5 metres of 10.87 g/t gold (at 263 metres depth) in December 2018.

Existing resources at O3’s Val-d’Or projects total 2.1 million oz. gold in the measured and indicated category at 1.40 g/t gold and 1.1 million oz. gold in the inferred category at 2.95 g/t gold.

+ Amex Exploration

Amex Exploration has made several discoveries at its flagship Perron gold project, 110 km north of Rouyn-Noranda.

Perron has seen more than 27,000 metres of drilling this year, with another 15,000 planned before the year is through.

Amex has intersected gold in three different zones that stretch for 2.4 km of lateral strike along the Perron fault zone: the Eastern Gold Zone, the Gratien gold zone and Grey Cat zone.

Recent results from Grey Cat include 26.9 metres of 3.42 g/t gold from 243 metres depth (including 0.5 metre of CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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MINING IN QUEBEC Core from Amex Exploration’s Perron gold project.

CREDIT: AMEX EXPLORATION

134.16 g/t gold) and 28 metres of 1.26 g/t gold from 20 metres depth (including 1.1 metres of 17.91 g/t gold).

From the Gratien zone, recent results include up to 14.6 metres of 16.48 g/t gold (including 5 metres of 47.69 g/t) from a depth of 145 metres.

This year’s drilling is focused on expanding known gold zones, stepout drilling from mineralized showings, and establishing a maiden resource for the EGZ, which was discovered in late 2017.

Amex also has several other gold projects in Quebec.

After a recent investment in Amex, Eric Sprott holds about 8.5% of the company’s shares.

+ Yorbeau Resources

Yorbeau Resources has several base

metal projects with delineated resources across the Abitibi region, as well as the Rouyn gold deposit, which is under option to Iamgold.

Together, the Augmitto and Astoria deposits at Rouyn host 2.6 million tonnes grading 5.92 g/t gold for 497,820 oz. gold. The estimate was completed in 2011, but 24,000 metres of drilling completed in 2016-17 (by Kinross Gold) was never incorporated into the resource.

In January, Iamgold began a minimum

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Past mining at the Z87 open pit at the Troilus mine, which operated from 1996 to 2009.

CREDIT: TROILUS GOLD

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CHIBOUGAMAU

+ Troilus Gold

Northeast of Val-d’Or in the historic Chibougamau gold camp in the eastern end of the Abitibi gold belt, Troilus Gold is advancing its past-producing project of the same name.

The company is conducting a 40,000metre drilling campaign this year to expand and upgrade resources at its Troilus gold project. A preliminary economic assessment will follow.

Last year, Troilus released a resource estimate that outlined indicated resources (open pit and underground) of 121.7 million tonnes grading 0.87 g/t gold and 0.086% copper for 3.4 million oz. gold and 231.8 million lb. of copper. Inferred resources add 36.1 million tonnes at 0.88 g/t gold and 0.083% copper for 1 million

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MINING JOURNAL

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oz. gold and 66.2 million lb. of copper.

The former Troilus mine produced 2 million oz. gold and 70,000 tonnes of copper under Inmet Mining.

+

Northern Superior Resources In September, Northern Superior Resources began a 10-hole 3,000-metre drill program on its Lac Surprise property, 65 km south of Chibougamau.

The project adjoins the Nelligan project, held by Iamgold and Vanstar Mining Resources, and the drill campaign aims to confirm the extension of the Renard gold deposit from Nelligan onto Lac Surprise.

Iamgold is aiming to put together an initial resource for Nelligan this year. The company has reported recent drill results including 11 metres of 2.56 g/t gold (from 78.4 metres) and 73 metres of 1.09 g/t gold (from 120.5 metres).

Northern Superior also holds the Croteau Est and Wapistan projects in Quebec.

+

TomaGold Iamgold is also earning up to 75% of the Monster Lake project, 50 km southwest of Chibougamau, from TomaGold.

Iamgold released an inferred resource for Monster Lake last March of 1.1 million tonnes grading 12.14 g/t gold for 433,300 oz. contained gold.

TomaGold, which also holds five other gold projects in Quebec, intends to spin out its Monster Lake interest into a new company.

Eastmain Resources’ Clearwater project, which hosts the Eau Claire gold project.

CREDIT: EASTMAIN RESOURCES

million measured and indicated tonnes grading 6.18 g/t gold for 853,000 oz.

Inferred resources add 2.4 million tonnes averaging 6.53 g/t gold for 500,000 oz.

As it advances Eau Claire, Eastmain is continuing exploration nearby. In September, a 20-hole, 4,000-metre drill program was in progress at Clearwater, following up on promising trenching and channel sampling results within 14 km of Eau Claire.

Eastmain also holds 36.7% of the Éléonore South joint venture with Newmont Goldcorp and Azimut Exploration.

+ Benz Mining

In August, Benz Mining optioned Eastmain Resources’ Eastmain gold project,

in the James Bay region. Eastmain has indicated resources of 899,000 tonnes grading 8.19 g/t gold, 0.13% copper and 8 g/t silver for 236,000 contained oz. gold, 232,000 contained oz. silver and 2.6 million lb copper. Inferred resources add 579,000 tonnes grading 7.48 g/t gold, 0.16% copper and 8.2 g/t silver for 139,300 oz. gold, 152,000 oz. silver and 2 million lb. copper.

Benz plans to start exploration work, including drilling to update the resource and complete an economic assessment for the project, this fall.

The Eastmain project produced around 40,000 oz. gold at a grade of 10.58 g/t gold in the 1990s.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

JAMES BAY REGION

+

Eastmain Resources Farther north in Quebec in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, sits Eastmain Resources’ Clearwater property.

Clearwater hosts the high-grade Eau Claire gold project, for which the company released a preliminary economic assessment in May 2018. The study projected a preproduction capex of $175 million for an operation with a 12-year mine life and average annual production of 79,200 oz. gold. At US$1,250 per oz. gold, the after-tax IRR was pegged at 27%, the NPV at $260 million and average AISC at $746 (US$574) per oz.

Combining both open pit and underground resources, Eau Claire hosts 4.3 OCTOBER 2019

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

25

MINING IN QUEBEC Drilling at Sirios Resources’ Cheechoo gold project.

CREDIT: SIRIOS RESOURCES

+

Sirios Resources Sirios Resources is expecting a maiden resource estimate for its Cheechoo gold project, about 8 km south of the Éléonore gold mine, before the end of the year.

The high grade gold project has seen more than 62,000 metres of drilling.

Drilling earlier this year returned up to 6.8 metres of 25.5 g/t gold starting at 336 metres depth (including 0.8 metre of 187 g/t gold).

Initial metallurgical testing of Cheechoo ore has shown up to 97% gold recoveries through a combination of gravity and cyanidation.

Sirios also has several other precious metals projects, including three in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region: Amikap, Goldorak and Property 39.

+

Midland Exploration Prospect generator Midland Exploration has a couple dozen gold and base metal projects throughout Quebec, including active joint ventures with SOQUEM, Agnico Eagle Mines and Osisko Mining.

In April, BHP Billiton invested $5.9 million for a 5% stake in the company.

The proceeds were earmarked for copper exploration, including at Midland’s Mythril copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project in the James Bay region.

The project will see close to 10,000 metres of drilling this year. Drill highlights have included 9 metres of 1.34% copper, 0.69 g/t gold, 0.04% molybdenum and 9.54 g/t silver from 147 metres downhole, including a 3.7-metre interval of 3% copper, 1.59 g/t gold, 0.09% moly and 21.3 g/t silver.

Midland Exploration’s Mythril gold project, in the James Bay region. CREDIT: MIDLAND EXPLORATION

26 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

In August, Midland began a 1,000metre drilling program on its 100% owned Wilbob gold project, in the Labrador Trough, about 65 km west of Kuujjuaq, Que. Channel sampling at the Ants showing at Wilbob has returned up to 23.3 metres of 1.78 g/t gold and 10 metres of 3.19 g/t gold.

Midland is also advancing several projects in the Abitibi gold belt.

+ Azimut Exploration

Azimut Exploration has a strategic alliance with SOQUEM, a subsidiary of Ressources Québec, for exploration at six gold properties in the Eeeyou Istchee James Bay region and three copper-gold properties in the Nunavik region.

Azimut generates exploration targets based on the advanced processing of large geoscientific databases.

This summer Azimut and SOQUEM completed early stage exploration programs, including prospecting and sampling, at four gold projects under the alliance: Pikwa, Pontois, Galinée and Dalmas. Channel sampling at Patwon returned highlights of 7.1 metres of 9.52 g/t gold and 2 metres of 36.3 g/t gold.

The partners also conducted a $4-million exploration program on the copper-gold properties in Nunavik, with the objective of advancing the Rex-Duquet, Rex South and Nantais properties to the drilling stage.

CMJ www.canadianminingjournal.com

VENTILATION & COOLING P28 | How cooling in underground mines is changing

CREDIT: ANDRESR, ISTOCKIMAGES.COM

P34 | 3 ways to use water for cooling

27 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

www.canadianminingjournal.com

VENTILATION & COOLING

Cooling

CANADA’S MINES

A primer from BBE Consulting on the options for deep mines 28 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

www.canadianminingjournal.com

By Stephen Hardcastle

M

Underground spray chamber platform, part of the cooling system at Agnico Eagle Mines’ LaRonde gold mine.

CREDIT: AGNICO EAGLE MINES

OCTOBER 2019

ining deeper has always been synonymous with challenges. In 1905, 150 metres was considered deep for Canada; by 1935, this classification had been pushed to 1,500 metres, and today 3,000 metres is a more common benchmark. Elsewhere, mines greater than 4,000 metres are considered ultra-deep.

The “depth” challenges are functions of technology and economics. The technological limitations are typically greater rock stresses, adverse working environments and the overall logistics of transporting personnel, material and ore through the mine efficiently.

Ventilation is the prime method of controlling the working environment for both personnel and machinery. Providing equitable conditions year-round underground can be very costly with ventilation being responsible for anywhere from 40-80% of a mine’s energy consumption.

The fans driving air through the mines consume electricity; the winter heating of sub-zero air usually requires fossil fuels; and for deeper mines, there is the emerging need for summer cooling typically using electricity. However, there are various cooling options.

In Canada, the historic prime ventilation design driver came with diesel mechanization, this was most significant for the precious and base metal operations. The trends to employ larger mobile equipment working throughout a mine has led to some mines, by weight, handling 15 to 20 times more air than ore.

Associated power costs increase disproportionately the further distance that air has to descend from surface. There can be structural and cost limits that define the maximum size of the conduits the air travels through.

Efforts to limit how much air is required are a continual goal. Diesel equipment is becoming cleaner with respect to harmful emissions, tele-remote mining can remove the human exposure concern, plus better temporal and spatial ventilation management (aka ventilation on demand) can greatly improve air utilization. Today, a major impetus is towards replacing diesel equipment with battery

electric vehicles (BEVs), eliminating the recognized carcinogens in their exhaust emissions, and using more efficient motors, reducing the thermal energy transferred to the working environment.

Cooling concerns All these efforts can result in significant savings that will help ensure a sustainable mining industry. However, for deeper mines such as Vale’s Creighton mine, Glencore’s Kidd Creek, and Agnico Eagle Mines’ LaRonde, all nearing or beyond 3 km depth, heat becomes a more dominant design criteria.

Hot environmental conditions, if not appropriately controlled, can lead to heat stress and heat strain on both personnel and equipment with respective fatal and catastrophic effects. For mines in the Canadian shield, surface climate and depth are the prime determinant in the temperature of the air heading to the workplace. Auto compression can add nearly 10°C/km of depth to surface conditions. This could result in mid-summer dry temperatures reaching 60°C at the bottom of a 3 km fresh air delivery system. But there are modifying effects from water evaporation and heat transfer/thermal flywheel effects with the rock. Machinery heat and freshly broken or exposed rock can then add more heat en route to the workplace. Canada is also somewhat fortunate. Elsewhere in the world, mines can experience hot rock temperatures greater than 50°C at much shallower depths, or experience significant thermal water inflows at temperatures above 60°C. Although dry temperatures are part of the concern for worker productivity, the air cooling potential through the evaporation of sweat is far more important.

Most heat exposure management criteria are based on an evaporation measure which can be related back to humidity and humidex measures as given in weather forecasts.

The first line of defence against adverse hot thermal conditions is the removal of heat through ventilation. But this becomes increasingly ineffective as the air naturally heats up as it descends

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

29

VENTILATION & COOLING Shaft sinking heat rejection at Rio Tinto’s Resolution copper project in Arizona.

CREDIT: BBE

and passes through the mine. At a “critical depth,” it has no cooling capacity remaining and the air has to be rejuvenated through some method of cooling.

In Canada, depending on specific conditions, this critical depth could be reached as early as 1,700 metres, is likely to occur by 2,500 metres and can be almost guaranteed at 3,000 metres.

With an increasing number of existing mines and new projects reaching these depths, cooling will become more common place in Canada.

Cooling options Cooling is not new to Canada. Vale’s Creighton Mine has a natural heat exchange area at the bottom of its original open pit that dates back to the 1950s. It was originally designed to heat winter air,

but has since been able to supply an estimated 17 MW of natural cooling that has accommodated mining to 3 km. During its 20 years of operating late last century, the Polaris mine in the Arctic Circle required mechanical cooling to prevent the thawing of the permafrost orebody it was mining. Glencore’s Kidd Creek mine, starting in the 1990s, progressively introduced a natural passive cooling system followed by a conventional surface vapour compression system to maintain suitable working conditions to 3 km. Maritime potash mines have also used cooling to dehumidify their air. Today, in Canada, Agnico Eagle’s LaRonde mine is leading the way in regard to refrigeration. It is

reaching the third design horizon, whereby cooling will be required year-round to reach 3.25 km and deeper – this is even after allowing – 25°C winter air to enter the mine. Depending on the season, Agnico will operate a surface plant plus up to two underground plants at 2,600 metres and 3,100 metres below surface.

These three 3-km-deep mines start to indicate the diverse options and ingenuity that can be used to cool mine air, ranging from passive seasonal heat exchange through to mechanical cooling. Other options that the industry has considered but have yet to be proven as either guaranteed, or scalable, or economic and socially acceptable, or a combination thereof are seasonal “cold” energy storage in ice or another medium, and district cooling use lake water. Waste heat conversion is another opportunity, be it from the mining and milling process, including power cogeneration, or heat exchange from hot water and air streams.

Underground vs. surface options Ideally, one would like to cool the air as close as practicable to the point of need.

This would be underground, where the cooling wouldn’t be wasted on air that is not going to hot working areas. However, underground solutions are invariably more costly and complex to put in place.

Typically, mines tend to start with a surface cooling system, but as with Agnico Eagle’s LaRonde, this may not be appropriate in winter. Surface systems are usually much larger than an underground plant providing the same cooling to the underground workplace. They cool a larger volume of air, but are considerably cheaper to build and are less disruptive to production. It is these surface applications that should see the greatest potential to use alternate technologies to the long used mechanical vapour compression systems.

A hybrid system that BBE has used at

30 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

www.canadianminingjournal.com

Surface refrigeration plant in Brazil.

CREDIT: BBE

many mines is a split air conditioning system, it’s similar to residential applications but much larger. These systems use underground coolers to obtain the greatest positional efficiency but the cooling transfer medium (water) is supplied from

surface. Here the heat rejection side of the mechanical process can be readily achieved to atmosphere. Such systems have been applied to many South African platinum mines, Hecla Mining’s Lucky Friday mine and on the shaft develop-

ment of Rio Tinto’s Resolution project.

The main limitation to such systems is the depth to which chilled water can be circulated and the associated pipe size.

To date, BBE’s split systems have delivered cooling to a depth of 1,000 metres with plans to go to 2,000 metres.

There are two significant considerations for a refrigeration plant to be installed underground: a sufficient amount of air needs to be available to deliver the required cooling, and similarly, there has to be a appropriate volume to remove the heat from the cooling plant. For deep mines using BEVs, these considerations will play a major role in dictating the overall ventilation to be supplied from surface because more air may be required than for a shallower depth BEV mine. Another consideration for deep BEV mines is maintaining a perceptible airflow sufficient for the sweat-based evaporative cooling of workers. Hence mine ventilation infrastructure needs to

CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Due to their durability our ducts can be reinstalled many times.

We are proud to be the first in the world to offer our customers a service that allows them to recycle old ducts.

MECANICAD.CA OCTOBER 2019

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

31

VENTILATION & COOLING be designed with future demand considerations from the start.

New developments BBE has been designing and constructing mine cooling systems for over 25 years, they are continually improving our products to meet changing priorities. For example: moving toward more greenfield solutions, shifting away from permanent structures to prefabricated buildings that can be easily decommissioned; and using pre-assembled solutions that can be quickly assembled on-site plus moved to other locations. We also continue to explore alternate solutions. At a remote Australian mine, absorption waste heat based cooling has been used in association with the mine’s power generation.

In the future, this could be linked to small nuclear reactors. In South Africa, our systems have used off-peak power to generate ice, storing cooling to manage electrical peak usage and time of day energy unit costs.

We continue to seek and evaluate ways to optimize how cooling is supplied to mines. However, it can be challenge to replace or match conventional technology. A well designed mechanical plant will have a guaranteed performance and can generate 5 MW of cooling from 1 MW of electricity.

At some point, there will be a paradigm shift to include new technologies, however, with a risk averse industry it is hard to predict when this will occur. Also some solutions may not be suited to many sites. Every deep mine would welcome the free, natural, green 17-MW cooling facility that Vale’s Creighton mine enjoys, but the lead-time planning dating back 70 years would be hard to replicate.

The other important factor is the worker. Unfortunately, our current workforce may not be as young, fit, and healthy to be best suited for working in the heat. This is starting to be increasingly recognized in heat exposure management, and the result could be lower

temperature exposure limits. This could necessitate the introduction of cooling earlier at shallower mine depths, but it also underlines the importance of developing individual based strategies. These could include local cooling (AC vehicle cabs), personnel cooling, plus environmental and biometric predictive monitoring to help define potentially hazardous locations and whether the worker is at risk. Furthermore, even if the human was removed from the mine, equipment can have thermal operation limits.

Currently in Canada, there are several mines introducing refrigeration, or planning for an impending need. New deep mines are being also designed from the inception with cooling considerations.

Cooling is coming to Canada in a big way. BBE Consulting Canada is here to help.

CMJ – Stephen Hardcastle is the managing director of BBE Consulting Canada. He can be reached at stephenhardcastle@bbegroup.ca.

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VENTILATION & COOLING

It’s possible to use local resources to maintain adequate air temperatures underground.

CREDIT: STANTEC

3

ways to use water to cool your underground mine

I

By Kim Trapani

f you’ve ever been in an underground mine, you’ve felt the heat.

Underground mines can get very hot.

Why? There are three main factors: Geothermal heat in surrounding rock, heat from diesel or electrical equipment operating underground, and auto-compression of ventilation air – which warms as it’s pushed deeper into mines. Things get hot.

So, it’s important to keep underground mines cool for workers. No one appreciOCTOBER 2019

ates working in an oven. Here’s some background on how mines are generally cooled: Typically, chilled water is cooled in a large refrigeration chiller. Then, this chilled water is sprayed in a large chamber onto the incoming ventilation air, which cools the air. Alternatively, the chilled water can be pumped in a heat exchanger, and the ventilation air cools as it’s forced into the heat exchanger.

The cooled air can then be used to ventilate the mine.

Unfortunately, these refrigeration chillers can be expensive to operate, especially in remote areas, where the cost of electricity is at a premium. Due to their reliance on electricity, these systems can be a big contributor to the overall carbon emissions in the operation of a mine.

If you’re looking for a new solution to your mine heat problem, I have some ideas. Here are three innovative ways that you can keep your mine cool – all involv-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

33

VENTILATION & COOLING ing different sources or forms of water.

It’s possible to cool your mine in a sustainable way that’s also more affordable.

1. Lake water cooling Now let’s look at some alternate ways to cool your mine. If you’re considering this first innovative system – lake water cooling – a fun fact about water: it’s heaviest at 4ºC. If a lake is deep enough, you can find cool water at the bottom – even if the lake is frozen over. To avoid contamination, you can use a closed loop heat exchanger. This consists of an array of pipes at the bottom of the lake that transfers cooling to the mine’s cooling heat exchanger. So, as the water gets pumped around and into a heat exchanger, the mine’s ventilation air gets cooled down.

If this concept sounds familiar, you may have heard about it through the work of Enwave Energy Corp. in Canada.

Enwave uses this technology for both district heating and cooling in Toronto, via cold water from pipes in Lake Ontario.

Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, utilizes Enwave’s cooling system.

Here’s the thing: Lake water cooling has not yet been proven for mining.

Why? Well, the high capital cost of the system could be a reason, since it’s surprisingly expensive compared to refrigeration cooling – especially when you consider that the cooling system is mainly a bunch of pipes at the bottom of a lake.

Thankfully, the operating cost of the system is very low, so this concept could be an attractive solution for owners of remote mine sites dealing with carbon taxes or high electricity prices.

2. Seasonal thermal storage (aka ice stopes) Here’s a second alternative to cooling mines. Seasonal thermal storage refers to a system that transfers cooling from one season to another. It’s a fascinating idea, but it’s only applicable for countries with subarctic climates. Canadian mine owners can consider this system. Wouldn’t it be great to use all that winter snow to cool our mines in the summer?

A hospital in Sundsvall, Sweden, successfully tested this concept in 1999.

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mine closed in 1976. Ontario miners used it at Frood-Stobie, which operated from 1955 until 2017.

If the cost of the excavation is excluded, the capital and operating costs of an ice stope are significantly lower than conventional refrigeration cooling. Could this make sense for your mine?

A schematic of an ice stope that was used in the Frood-Stobie mine in Ontario until 2017. This system was used for heating the mine, but it could also be used for cooling.

CREDIT: KIM TRAPANI/STANTEC

Hospital workers stored winter snow in a pit, using sawdust to insulate the snow from the sun. The next summer, they used stored snow to meet all their cooling demands. Their biggest challenge?

Rainwater melting the snow.

In a mine, you can use underground excavations to store the snow – away from rainfall and solar radiation. Melt the snow as required in summer by spraying the cooling water onto it. Then, you use this chilled water to cool the mine ventilation air.

Interestingly, you can take this system a step further and use it to heat the ventilation air as well. You spray warm mine return water onto the cold intake air before it’s introduced underground.

When the water meets with the cold air, the air warms up and the water changes state into ice, which deposits at the chamber and can be stored for cooling later in the year.

In a mine, the old working areas that have been mined out are typically called ‘stopes.’ So, you can call this cooling (and heating) system an ‘ice stope.’

Historically, two Canadian mines have used ice stopes, but only for winter heating. Miners in Quebec used the system in Rouyn-Noranda from 1942 until the

3. Hot ground fissure water Here’s another technique: Use hot ground fissure water for cooling. Certain mines experience very high ground water temperature, which requires constant cooling so that miners can do their jobs.

For example, Resolution mine in Arizona deals with water temperatures that reach 80ºC, making it extremely challenging to mine.

For these sorts of mines, you can use absorption chillers to provide cooling.

Absorption chillers use heat instead of power – like in a conventional refrigeration system – to produce cooling. Since heat is freely available, the only power required is to pump the cooling fluids in the absorption chiller.

When you use ground water, cooling can be produced underground, right where people are working. This reduces the losses from moving cooling from surface to underground.

We don’t fully understand the economics and performance of this cooling system in mining. But my team is currently looking into its limitations and benefits, and I’m excited to learn more.

These three innovative cooling systems use local resources to maintain adequate air temperatures underground. All three systems have minimal operating costs, because the energy comes from either cool water at the bottom of a lake, snow (which is plentiful in subarctic climates), or hot fissure water that gets pumped to a treatment plant.

When considering cooling options for your underground mine, it’s important to be resourceful. Use the energy sources available on a mine site. Through creative thinking, you can find ways to cool your CMJ mine affordably and sustainably.

– Kim Trapani is a ventilation engineer at Stantec’s Sudbury offices. www.canadianminingjournal.com

P36

THE BENEFITS OF USED OIL ANALYSIS

P40

CREDIT: HITACHI.

Hitachi’s EX1200-7 mining excavator.

7 TIPS TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR EXCAVATOR

35 | CANADIAN

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www.canadianminingjournal.com

THE REAL WORLD

BENEFITS OF USED OIL ANALYSIS

By Ron LeBlanc, Sr.

D

ecreasing equipment downtime and its associated costs is a constant focus for owners and operators. Increasing efficiency and productivity is key to improving the business’s bottom line, meaning that equipment owners must reflect on equipment maintenance and design to secure efficiency gains. Along with factors such as idle time and the equipment design, there are also proactive measures that can help effectively schedule maintenance and prevent sudden equipment failure; one such measure is used oil analysis.

Regular used oil analysis could present the opportunity to extend oil drain intervals* by predicting engine wear throughout service life and highlighting maintenance needs before they have the potential to affect engine performance or become too serious and expensive to repair. By monitoring the levels of key properties in used engine oil, the impurities can reveal how and why machinery is wearing, as well as identifying the underlying reasons for wear.

A closer look at used oil analysis Extending oil drain intervals is only one of the benefits of used oil analysis. An effective program can help reduce unscheduled 36 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

downtime and improve equipment reliability, while extending vehicle life and reducing maintenance costs.

By closely examining the oil for traces of environmental contamination, including dust, dirt and waste, and system contaminants such as fuel, glycol (coolant) and soot, used oil analysis can identify the source of increased engine wear which can lead to equipment failure.

Measuring the level and concentration of these impurities can help detect how and why an engine is wearing and reveal the source or cause of the contamination. If monitored at regular intervals over time, fluctuations in analysis results can isolate minor mechanical problems so that they can be fixed quickly and cost effectively.

It must also be noted that any oil analysis should always www.canadianminingjournal.com

Dominion Diamond Mines’ Ekati mine, in the Northwest Territories.

CREDIT: DOMINION DIAMOND MINES

be supported by recommendations from the vehicle’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) manual, as well as advice from technical experts – this is extremely important when considering extending drain intervals. Any deviations from the OEM recommendations could void a warranty and result in expensive repair costs.

The process behind used oil analysis The process of used oil analysis typically consists of three simple steps: 1. Take an accurate sample – this is the most important step

in the process as incorrect sampling can result in inaccurate interpretation of the results and potential equipment damage

OCTOBER 2019

or failure. A clean, dry container suitable for holding used oil should be used, and the sampling point wiped clean with a rag before a small amount of oil is flushed to ensure no foreign contamination makes its way into the sample.

2. Submit sample to a used oil analysis laboratory – once

the sample has been taken, it should be submitted promptly to an oil analysis laboratory certified to perform the testing required. The laboratory will test in accordance with oil standards to provide accurate results and diagnosis in a report that can be sent by email or viewed online.

3. Interpret used oil analysis results – a technical services

advisor can help evaluate the results and provide mainteCANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

37

IT’S TOUGH TO EXTEND DRAIN INTERVALS TO 750 HOURS BUT NOT FOR DURON™

TM

Owned or used under license.

38 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

nance recommendations based on wear rates and the properties present in the sample as well as whether it is possible to extend oil drain intervals.

Used oil analysis in practice: Dominion Diamond Mines Canada’s first surface and underground diamond mine, Ekati, began production in October 1998. Dominion Diamond Mines owns and operates the Ekati mine, which is situated approximately 200 km south of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories. To date, the mine has produced approximately 80 million carats worth of diamonds.

Dominion’s Canadian diamonds are among the most responsibly sourced in the world as all certified diamonds are carefully selected and inscribed with Dominion’s Canadamark certificate number and trademark. This offers a unique assurance of diamond quality and a guarantee of a completely natural diamond that is free from any improvement treatments.

Aligned with this, Dominion manages a highly efficient operation, designed to minimize environmental impacts and integrate a responsible corporate approach across all aspects of the business.

Dominion Diamond’s operations battle extreme conditions with long, cold winters where temperatures can plunge to -40°C. Proving particularly challenging, the Ekati mine can only be accessed year-round by air, except for an ice road that is open for approximately two months each winter. With a fleet that exceeds more than 100 pieces equipment, ranging from Caterpillar haul trucks to loaders and dozers, Dominion needed to reduce frequent vehicle and equipment downtime and deliver quicker and easier cold start-up in the harsh Arctic conditions.

To increase day-to-day operational efficiencies, Dominion also needed an engine oil provider that could reduce maintenance costs, simplify its lubricant inventory and alleviate the impact on production due to cold-start difficulties.

Dominion Diamond Mines started working with DURON Ultra High Performance (UHP) 5W-40 oil in 2016, in partnership with Petro-Canada Lubricants’ (PCL) associate and fuel provider, Denesoline Corp., a northern Indigenous business based locally in Yellowknife.

The PCL team, comprised of both a technical service advisor and sales account manager, worked closely with the Ekati mine lubricant specialist, maintenance supervisors and reliability engineers to help understand the challenges being faced by Dominion to offer a personalized solution. After careful consideration, DURON UHP 5W-40 was trialed over a two-year period across the Dominion fleet, in addition to a series of value-added services, including used oil analysis.

Through the process of switching to DURON UHP 5W-40 in conjunction with a used oil analysis regime, Dominion Diamond Mines was able to extend drain intervals across its www.canadianminingjournal.com

Used oil analysis offers a vital method of predicting wear trends throughout service life and highlighting maintenance needs before they have the potential to affect the engine. By monitoring the levels of key properties in used engine oil, impurities can reveal how and why machinery is wearing down, as well as help identify the source of wear or damage.

With DURON protecting your engine you could achieve drain intervals* of up to 750 hours in even the most demanding of operations. That’s the kind of drain intervals we call tough.

And it’s all proven in the real world with field testing on tough jobs like yours. We’ve talked tough.

Now we’ve proven it.

THE TOUGHER. THE BETTER.™

vehicle and equipment fleets to result in $900,000 of potential savings over two years.

In addition to achieving considerable cost savings, Dominion was able to achieve an overall reduction in idle time for its mobile equipment and drastically improve fleet reliability during harsh Arctic winters by delivering excellent cold start capabilities. By offering Dominion an all-season premium performance oil, PCL was also able to optimize Dominion’s lubricant inventory.

Speaking to the success of the DURON trial in conjunction with used oil analysis, Yen Garcia, lubrication specialist at Dominion Diamond Mines said: “In the unique and challenging conditions at the Ekati mine, DURON has proven to be successful in increasing the reliability of our equipment.”

As a result of maximized vehicle performance, increased productivity and significant cost savings, Dominion has transitioned all equipment to DURON as its heavy-duty high performance engine oil of choice.

The importance of used oil analysis Used oil analysis offers a vital method of predicting wear trends throughout service life and highlighting maintenance needs before they have the potential to affect the engine. By monitoring the levels of key properties in used engine oil, impurities can reveal how and why machinery is wearing down, as well as help identify the source of wear or damage. Used oil analysis can therefore predict future maintenance and prevent imminent failures to reduce unplanned downtime.

For fleet owners and operators pursuing additional peace of mind when working in harsh or extreme climates, used oil analysis can provide reassurance that the oil is protecting vital engine components and bring to attention maintenance issues before they become too serious or expensive to repair.

CMJ

HEAVY-DUTY DIESEL ENGINE OILS

FIND OUT MORE. THE SOONER. THE BETTER.

DURONTHETOUGHERTHEBETTER.COM *Extending drain intervals should always be undertaken in conjunction with an oil analysis program.

– Ron LeBlanc Sr. is senior technical services advisor with Petro-Canada Lubricants. *Extending drain intervals should always be undertaken in conjunction with a used oil analysis program OCTOBER 2019

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

39

By Craig Steinhauser

W

orking every day in rough elements can cause grief for even the most durable excavators That’s why it’s critical to perform regular checkins and maintenance to extend the life of your excavator. A few extra minutes each day will not only help increase your machine’s durability, they will also improve its efficiency and reliability.

Maintain a clean cab 1maximize The cab and windows should always be clean in order to job site safety and productivity. Operators need good

visibility, and with a lot of wind and fine particles, it’s easy for those windows to be caked with dirt and dust.

Use an approved cleaning solution to wash windows. Not all windows are made with the same materials – even on similar models from the same manufacturer. Check each individual machine’s manual to be sure you are using a solution that’s compatible with your windows.

Once clean, make sure all windows are in place and intact – not gouged, cracked or seriously scratched. This type of damage can compromise a window’s integrity and increase its likelihood of breaking or shattering.

Clear the cab of any unnecessary clutter and materials. Get rid of loose spare parts or trash that could affect your ability to control the machine. You also never want items to get caught behind the seat, under pedals, or in any other location that can impede machine control.

Take care of the tracks 2be extremely To start, clean out the tracks daily. Muddy, rocky terrain can abrasive and will collect around the tracks, track

shoes, undercarriage and swing bearing. Clean-out is important because – if left in there – the accumulated mud hardens and accelerates the wear on the undercarriage and tracks and can cause roller damage.

You should also complete weekly checks of the tracks’ tension. Look for too much sag, which could damage the tracks or the rollers. See your operator’s manual for the correct track sag specifications and procedure.

7 WAYS TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR EXCAVATOR

Pay attention to alerts Fix damages immediately 4 Your excavator’s telematics are an important tool you should 3immediately.

Once you realize your excavator is damaged, take action utilize to increase the lifespan of your machine. If you ignore The longer you go without addressing it, the more wear and tear affects the machine – even on other components that aren’t broken. Repairing damages immediately helps mitigate additional maintenance costs you could otherwise incur.

Contact your authorized equipment dealer to discuss a complete machine inspection and repairs.

40 | CANADIAN

MINING JOURNAL

alerts, you’re missing one of the key advantages of telematics.

On Hitachi mining machines, you have connection to Hitachi’s Global e-Service. This online machine management system provides access to each on-site machine from a PC. With on-board sensors, diagnostic tools, real-time data and intelligent software, www.canadianminingjournal.com

TOP: Hitachi’s EX2600-7 mining excavator.

BELOW: The new Hitachi EX3600-7 excavator.

CREDIT: HITACHI

your machine 5tankRefuel After your shift, refuel the machine. Air in the system or the can result in synthetic moisture, which will water down

the fuel.

When refuelling, top-off your DEF tank with clean, filtered diesel exhaust fluid (if equipped). On excavators, the DEF tank is typically wider and shallower than on other machines. If you don’t top it off, it can swash around in the tank creating foam and clogging the system, which can generate diagnostic trouble codes and machine downtime.

In colder temperatures, keep water out of the fuel filter, so it does not freeze.

screen guards 6theInspect On equipment where present, inspect screen guards over windows and cab openings. Be sure they’re secure and in good condition. With such a wide range of materials such as sharp rocks and large pieces of debris, it’s important to keep those in top condition.

fire extinguishers and water tanks 7easilyInspect Be sure fire extinguishers and water tanks are operable and accessible. Check the water pressure of the tanks. You want to ensure your safety and the wellbeing of your coworkers.

R you can help ensure your excavator reaches its full potential.

Once you receive an alert, act on it. Merely reading the alert negates the purpose of having that valuable data at your fingertips. Contact your authorized dealer to discuss support options for telematics.

Another critical alert is conducted through fluid sampling.

Fluid sampling is essential to maximize uptime, limit downtime, and keep operating costs low.

OCTOBER 2019

Now that you have these tips to help extend your machine’s life, you might be adding up the time for these inspections.

Ground level inspections should not take longer than five to 10 minutes. Likewise, checking the tracks should also take an easy five to 10 minutes. By regularly inspecting your machine, you’ll know what to look for. This will also make it easier to notice when something is out of place.

Many more in-depth inspections can be done monthly, while some may be needed more often, depending on individual operating conditions. Review your owner’s manuals for inspection requirements and other maintenance tips. When in doubt, always check with your local dealer.

By performing basic upkeep and regular inspections, you can extend the life of your machine. Plus, a clean, efficient machine contributes to a better work environment, enhanced safety and increased productivity. Take pride in your machine.

Hitachi offers a variety of machines, such as the new EX3600-7, that are built to be efficient, reliable and durable.

Choose a machine that best fits your site’s needs and can also help you get the job done.

CMJ – Craig Steinhauser is the division manager of product support, Hitachi Construction Machinery – Americas.

CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL |

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