CIM Magazine May 2021 by CIM-ICM Publications

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MAY 2021 | MAI 2021

feature

36 Diamond versus diamond Even though man-made diamonds have the potential to satisfy our appetite for sparkle, they may never rock the mined-diamond industry

By Carolyn Gruske

technology

41 An eye underground New digital measuring tools are simplifying geotechnical engineering in challenging environments By Matthew Parizot

project profile

44 Hitting the reset button Trevali restarted the shuttered Caribou mine with a new lease on life By Kylie Williams

23 the current Big ambitions for small footprints USNC Power targets the mining sector as a key adopter of nuclear reactors By Robert Hiltz

4 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

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MAY 2021 | MAI 2021

in each issue 8 Editor’s letter 9

President’s notes

tools of the trade 10 The best in new technology Compiled by Mehanaz Yakub

developments 12 Sustainability-linked loans a new frontier for responsible mining By Kelsey Rolfe

16 Teck pleads guilty to Elk Valley water pollution charge By Matthew Parizot

18 British Columbia unveils mining innovation roadmap By Mehanaz Yakub

next steps 20 Work-integrated learning placements such as co-ops give students experience and networking opportunities that can be leveraged during job searches By Tijana Mitrovic

columns 26 Developing a tailings storage facility scorecard makes comparing and communicating risks clear and efficient By Karen Chovan

education and training 28 Formal agreements between mining companies and First Nations communities lay the foundations for positive relations and future jobs

By Kristen Frisa

30 Mining schools and training organizations are using virtual education to help professionals upgrade skills and credentials By Carolyn Cooper

32 New course puts mining law in the context of business, climate change and Indigenous concerns By Carolyn Gruske

34 ArcelorMittal Mining Canada CEO Mapi Mobwano talks with CIM Magazine about training employees and broadening the talent pool By Carolyn Gruske

contenu francophone 47 Table des matières 47 Lettre de l’éditeur 48 Mot de la présidente histoires 49 La grève de l’amiante,

mining lore 58 Unhealthy working conditions

and low wages led asbestos miners to launch a strike that left a lasting legacy in Quebec’s history By Mehanaz Yakub

précurseur de la révolution Des conditions de travail insalubres et des salaires de misère ont mené les mineurs d’amiante à organiser une grève qui laissera dans l’histoire du Québec un héritage indélébile Par Mehanaz Yakub

article de fond 50 Il y a diamant et diamant Si les diamants de synthèse suffisent à satisfaire notre goût marqué pour les brillants, ils ne domineront jamais l’industrie traditionnelle d’extraction des diamants Par Carolyn Gruske May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 6

editor’s letter

The essentials

usually take a bit of space in this column each spring to note the energy pulsing through the Montreal office of CIM National. As I write, we are just days away from our our first online CIM Convention + Expo. No less energy has been expended on bringing this event together than with our in-person conferences. Given the novelty of so much of this year’s format, it has probably been one of the more demanding ones to create, coordinate and execute. But this has all been done remotely, and so the usual thrum of activity that is palpable each year in the office has been channelled only through our monitors. The hub that CIM headquarters normally is with growing stacks of boxes of books, programs, magazines, awards, gifts, booth materials and promotional items all to be sent off on shipping day is now just an abstract organizational idea. The pandemic and the stated preference of many CIM National staffers to work a hybrid remote/in-office model has meant that our existing office has much more space than we need. And so, ironically, the formerly busy centre of operations is the place I come to on the weekend to pack up my desk and files because there is just too much to do at the home office on the weekdays to spare a trip downtown. The impending moving day has me sorting through over a decade of professional artifacts, boxing what is essential, recycling whatever possible and pitching the rest into the bin. The process should be informed by the reality that we have managed to continue to create our publication remotely without any of this material at hand. The “paperless office,” however, is a mindset that is hard to maintain when confronted by years of catalogued work. There are files stowed in the drawer that bring a flood of feelings that are hard to square with their subject matter. How could I know the red folder marked “Strategic Mine Planning” would have me nostalgic for the coming birth of my first child.

This issue’s cover USNC Power's design for a small modular nuclear reactor Courtesy of USNC Power

2020 National Magazine Awards: B2B Prix du magazine canadien: B2B

8 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Thankfully not all items are so evocative. Many of them come from past conferences of CIM and others. Promotional pieces with limited utility have to go. Branded notebooks that slip into a blazer pocket are indispensible. Conference proceedings on USB keys are keepers, as are the companion programs with their turned corners and notes — they outlast the conference apps. (One of the key features of our online event is that the technical presentations will be available on the CIM Academy so they can be viewed on-demand and consulted as needed.) Finally, our “Wall of Fame” with paper print outs of group photos of CIMers cutting loose on the dancefloor at our annual Komatsu Gala had to be carefully removed and preserved for its new home. Ideally when this time comes around next year, we will be gearing up for an in-person event in Vancouver and much of the spring buzz will have come to the new office. By then we will also have insight on the successes of this year’s virtual conference — a perspective we have not had before. And with that we can build upon the best aspects of online events to complement the in-person experience and preserve the most compelling features of both so that the value of these gatherings endure long after they are over.

Ryan Bergen, Editor-in-chief editor@cim.org @Ryan_CIM_Mag

Editor-in-chief Ryan Bergen, rbergen@cim.org Managing editor Michele Beacom, mbeacom@cim.org Section editors Carolyn Gruske, cgruske@cim.org; Matthew Parizot, mparizot@cim.org Editorial intern Samuel Haughton, shaughton@cim.org Contributors Karen Chovan, Carolyn Cooper, Kristen Frisa, Pierre Gratton, Robert Hiltz, Tijana Mitrovic, Kelsey Rolfe, Kylie Williams, Mehanaz Yakub Editorial advisory board Mohammad Babaei Khorzhoughi, Vic Pakalnis, Steve Rusk, Nathan Stubina Translations Karen Rolland Layout and design Clò Communications Inc., www.clocommunications.com

Advertising sales Dovetail Communications Inc. Tel.: 905.886.6640; Fax: 905.886.6615; www.dvtail.com Senior Account Executives Janet Jeffery, jjeffery@dvtail.com, 905.707.3529 Christopher Forbes, cforbes@dvtail.com, 905.707.3516 Edyta (Edith) Dhillon, edhillon@dvtail.com, 905.707.3525 Subscriptions Online version included in CIM Membership ($197/yr). Print version for institutions or agencies – Canada: $275/yr (AB, BC, MB, NT, NU, SK, YT add 5% GST; ON add 13% HST; QC add 5% GST + 9.975% PST; NB, NL, NS, PE add 15% HST). Print version for institutions or agencies – USA/International: US$325/yr. Online access to single copy: $50. Copyright©2021. All rights reserved.

Published 8 times a year by: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum 1250 – 3500 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West Westmount, QC H3Z 3C1 Tel.: 514.939.2710; Fax: 514.939.2714 www.cim.org; magazine@cim.org

ISSN 1718-4177. Publications Mail No. 09786. Postage paid at CPA Saint-Laurent, QC. Dépôt légal: Bibliothèque nationale du Québec. The Institute, as a body, is not responsible for statements made or opinions advanced either in articles or in any discussion appearing in its publications.

Printed in Canada

James Hodgins

president’s notes

An honour to serve

s this is my last President’s Notes, I want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for supporting me and, more importantly, for supporting CIM. Your membership matters. Thank you to all the businesses that stepped up as corporate patrons and as sponsors during this incredibly difficult year. Traditionally, our annual convention has been the main income source to support the entire institute. So, when CIMBC20 was cancelled due to COVID-19 last year, your generosity was critical to CIM. As such, CIM is over the pandemic hump and we have moved on and going with the “virtual” flow. I hope you were able to catch our Convention from May 3 to 6, but if not, you can still access the events on demand on the convention platform. We had some practice with virtual events leading up to CIMVTL21 with a symposium, some workshops and lots of webinars. Our members have joined us live for these online events, and have tapped into the wealth of virtual content available on

CIM Academy to advance their professional development. Pat yourself on the back for coming along on the learning curve. I’m going to end my tenure by saying I am very grateful to CIM for the opportunity to be president. This has been an exciting and humbling experience, to lead such an impressive organization into its 122nd year of existence. We’ve been around for almost as long as Canada has been a nation! I’m so proud of CIM for the tremendous resilience shown over our long history and this past year in particular. We have come out far stronger for weathering adversity. Here are some highlights of the year’s accomplishments: • We have a new strategic plan to take us into the future with confidence. • We’ve built stronger relationships with Canadian mining companies and we have spread awareness of CIM’s value to industry. • We’ve bolstered our branches and student chapters and we have reinvigorated our diversity and inclusion efforts. • We have launched a new Health and Safety Society. • We have strengthened a key pillar within CIM with our Global Mining Guidelines group, which is developing new best practices documents. • We’ve refreshed our mineral resources and reserves reporting and evaluation guidelines. • We’ve scoped out a new digital mining game with our partner, Science North, and aided by CIM Foundation, to further engage society in our industry. • We’ve hosted several events to further our members’ technical knowledge. And we’ve done it all virtually! Let’s continue to grow and learn together as part of OneCIM. As members of CIM, we are on rock solid footing to get through any challenge and come out stronger. At the start of my presidency, I commented that mining is a community like no other. I still stand behind that. Miners (the juniors to the majors), processors, the supply and services sector, academics, government and advocates are all part of a special club that’s more like a huge family than anything else. “We’re all friends around the Wrekin,” as my Welsh relatives would say in a traditional toast. Thank you for letting me represent you. A special thank you to Angela Hamlyn and her team, and my CIM Council members for their extraordinary vision, leadership and commitment. I’ve worked with so many great people in the National office, the societies, committees and branches, not to mention all the advocacy groups and other technical and mining industry organizations here in Canada and around the world. Stay safe and healthy with your families.

Samantha Espley CIM President May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 9

tools of the trade Courtesy of ExcelSense

Self-cleaning cameras

Courtesy of Benetech

ExcelSense’s ToughEye-1700 self-cleaning camera is compact and lightweight in design and uses Power over Ethernet to eliminate the need for extra power cables. The ToughEye-1700’s self-cleaning function “brings reliable visibility into mining, regardless of the environment at the pit or the mill, leading to increased safety, higher productivity and lower equipment damage or maintenance,” ExcelSense CEO Nima Nabavi said. The company developed a patented process that uses an active micro-renewable optical layer that prevents the bonding of contaminants, such as mud or dust, on the camera lens and safely removes it without causing damage. According to ExcelSense, the process eliminates the need for fluid refills, compressed air or any other maintenance and upkeep. “One of the useful features of 1700 is that you can trigger a self-cleaning cycle through software. You don’t actually need a physical wire to control self-cleaning, [instead] you can send a network command,” said Nabavi.

Cleaner conveyors The Benetech BXS5 cleaner is a secondary conveyer belt cleaning solution that can remove the remaining 30 per cent of residual material left on the belt beyond the head pulley that a primary cleaner cannot clear up. The BXS5 cleaner has overlapping individual blades that are self-adjusting via a pneumatic tensioner to ensure blade-to-belt contact. The tensioner is automated by a control panel to maintain optimal positions and pressures throughout the blade’s lifespan. The blades are available in either tungsten carbide or ceramic. depending on the type of material requiring cleaning. “In addition to keeping the belt much cleaner, the BXS5 reduces housekeeping hours and maintenance, minimizes belt mistracking and damage, and extends the life of any operation’s greatest asset, the conveyor belt itself,” said Greg Bierie, Benetech’s sales and technical marketing specialist.

The AFP2525 Automatic Filter Press by FLSmidth is designed to eliminate water waste by providing mining operators with a filter solution that can reuse between 85 and 95 per cent of processed water, reducing a mine’s fresh water intake by more than 70 per cent. According to the company, the filter press can lower costs for sourcing fresh water. “As we look to the future of mining, we are dedicated to the development of digital and innovative solutions tied to sustainable productivity,” Todd Wisdom, director of tailings at FLSmidth said. “This means offering customers the required technological solutions to move towards zero-emissions mining processes by 2030, with a specific focus on water management.” Since the AFP2525 has quick plate pack removal system, cloth changes and plate maintenance are completed outside of the filter, safety risks reducing when the filter is active.

10 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Courtesy of FLSmidth

Environmentally friendly filters

Compiled by Mehanaz Yakub

C.D. (‘LYN) ANGLIN Principal Consultant, Anglin & Associates

EBE SCHERKUS Former President and COO Agnico Eagle Mines Limited

JAMES BUDAC Metallurgist

JAMILE CRUZ Founder and CEO, I&D 101

MONICA OSPINA Founder and Director, OTrade

NATHAN ASHCROFT Strategy and Business Development Leader, Stantec

DISTINGUISHED LECTURERS 2020-2021 THE PROGRAM The CIM Distinguished Lecturers program started in 1968 and has continuously provided a lineup of individuals who have shared their knowledge with the mining community for over ﬁve decades.

at www.cim.org, where you can beneﬁt from the ever-growing pool of expertise that the program has to offer.

Every year, the lecturers are elected by their peers through the CIM Awards program and hold the title for a complete season (September to June).

HOW IT WORKS

CIM is privileged to count more than 260 of the industry’s ﬁnest as its lecturers. Because the motto “once a lecturer, always a lecturer” deﬁnes our pride and dedication in ensuring that the learning curve is endless, a complete list of past lecturers is available

For more information, contact: Dist_lecturer@cim.org | 514.939.2710 ext: 1344

The Distinguished Lecturers program is offered to 41 CIM Branches, 10 Technical Societies and 12 Student Chapters. Universities can also request a lecture.

Lecturers are available for your online events. To book a Distinguished Lecturer visit: https://www.cim.org/request-a-lecturer/

Proudly sponsored since 1972 by the CIM Foundation, whose continuous support and generosity allows the CIM Distinguished Lecturers Program to connect CIM members with leading industry expertise. The CIM Distinguished Lecturers program is owned and operated by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

Knowledge is power. CIM empowers you.

Developments Sustainability-linked loans a new frontier for responsible mining Newmont has tied its US$3 billion credit facility to its ESG performance, potentially setting a trend for miners to back up their talk of sustainability In late March, Newmont Corp. converted its existing credit facility to link it to the company’s sustainability performance, making it part of what experts say is a growing trend in sustainable finance. The company’s US$3-billion facility now includes a feature that will adjust the interest rate on drawn balances based on Newmont’s sustainability performance as measured by MSCI's and S&P Global’s ratings. Whenever the company receives an updated ESG score from either agency, it will be required to update its facility. “By linking… our sustainability performance with our financial performance, we are holding ourselves accountable to delivering on both, as now they are clearly linked,” said Nancy Buese, Newmont’s chief financial officer, in an email to CIM Magazine. Going forward, if Newmont achieves the highest rating with each agency – a AAA rating with MSCI or a rating of 90 or higher with S&P Global – the company will experience a reduction of 0.05 per cent interest on its draw balances; the second highest ratings with both (AA or 88 to 89) will net it a 0.025 per cent reduction. If the company falls to a BBB or an 81 to 82 point score, its interest rate will increase 0.025 per cent, and any scores below BB or 80 will increase the interest rate by 0.05 per cent. “The positive or negative performance scale of impact based on our ratings is significant,” Buese said. MSCI currently gives Newmont an A rating in its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, considering it “average” among 33 companies in the precious metals industry. S&P rates the company 85 out of a possible 12 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Courtesy of Newmont

By Kelsey Rolfe

Newmont CEO Tom Palmer says the company’s sustainability-linked credit facility is a way to “hold [themselves] accountable” for their ESG performance score of 100, ranking it in the top three companies of the 53 miners it evaluates. The new credit facility, which is an amendment and extension of an existing facility the company executed in 2019, will expire in March 2026. “By aligning our financial performance and our ESG performance, we are holding ourselves accountable to delivering on our purpose to create value and improve lives through responsible and sustainable mining,” said president and chief executive officer Tom Palmer in a March 30 press release. Sara Alvarado, executive director at the Institute for Sustainable Finance at Queen’s University, said in an email that while she wasn’t familiar with the specifics of Newmont’s facility, she called

it a “reflection of positive transition developments” in the company’s governance and strategy. “Once you link sustainability performance measures to loan pricing, all of the data, disclosures, [greenhouse gas] reduction targets, audit and risk management would come together, which is quite encouraging,” she said. “[This] type of sustainability-linked [facility] would serve not only to determine the pricing mechanism applied to the bank loans themselves, but, importantly, as an incentive to achieve those sustainability targets.” Sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) are loan instruments that encourage borrowers to achieve certain ESG objectives through pricing mechanisms that make

developments borrowing terms more or less favourable, usually by a fraction of a percentage. “The goal is to incentivize things that would have a slightly shifted business case that [would then] open up potential, or to just broadly align incentives,” said Jonathan Hackett, managing director and head of the sustainable finance group at BMO Capital Markets. Unlike green, social and sustainable bonds, which have also started to grow in popularity, sustainability-linked credit facilities do not exist to finance a specific project and can be drawn on for any corporate need. Newmont is one of the first mining companies in the world to execute an SLL. In 2019, Spanish mining company Atlantic Copper – whose sole shareholder is Freeport-McMoRan – executed a €25 million SLL. ESG ratings firm Vigeo Eiris evaluates the company’s ESG performance on a yearly basis to determine the facility’s annual interest rate. (Atlantic Copper also announced a €19 million green loan at the time, which would go toward financing six green projects.)

“For our company, the signing of this agreement represents a very significant step in our sustainability path,” Atlantic Copper managing director Javier Targhetta said in a press release at the time. “It is our priority to carry out our productive activities with extreme care for the environment.” Russian aluminum producer Rusal also signed a US$1 billion ESG-linked preexport finance facility in October 2019, with sustainability performance targets linked to improving its environmental impact and sustainability practices. Russia-headquartered precious metals miner Polymetal secured a US$75-million SLL in September 2019 with Société Générale, which marked its second time executing a sustainability linked facility. Newmont’s announcement came amid a rush of corporations across various sectors rolling out SLLs. In its 2020 full-year results in February, Enbridge Inc. announced it had entered a $1-billion, three-year SLL with terms that will allow the company to reduce its borrowing costs if it “achieves an interim threshold on its ESG goals.” Singapore-based global

investment manager GLP closed its first SLL of US$658 million in late February, with an incentive mechanism tied to its Sustainalytics ESG risk rating. The company committed to improving its score, which will help it lower the interest rate on its draws. And in early March, Italian electricity and gas company Enel Group also reported it had signed a €10-billion, five-year SLL, which it said was the largest ever sustainability-linked credit facility. That activity is representative of the growing momentum in SLLs, Hackett said. The loans are still a relatively young method of financing but have increased rapidly over the roughly five-year period they have been around. “They’ve increased in popularity over that time, going from a handful to pretty rapid adoption,” he said, adding that “2020 was a slower year than anticipated, mainly because of the dynamics around refinancing and new financings during COVID where people were avoiding opening up their facility if they had any reason not to, just because of the interest rates and credit terms banks

May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 13

but internally as well. “It helps actually align employees [with] the idea that [sustainability] isn’t secondary or different thing than the job you’re doing, that actually it’s part of your job and is part of how the company is evaluated by the outside world and therefore there are financial repercussions, both from the loan… but also indirect repercussions like increased cost of capital, decreased cost of capital as you’re able to more effectively attract investors.” However, a December 2020 report on alternative financing in the mining industry from European law firm FieldFisher pointed out SLLs lack a regulatory framework that can guarantee loans qualify as truly sustainability-linked, and setting performance targets requires careful consideration to ensure they are sufficiently ambitious. Greenwashing is something Olaf Weber, the University of Waterloo’s research chair in sustainable finance and

a professor at the university’s school of environment, enterprise and development, also highlighted as an area of concern for these facilities. “Really the main thing is whether these types of products are [actually] good from an environmental point of view or a sustainable point of view; it really depends on the criteria,” he said. “Given the good reputation of [Newmont], it might be good, but it’s [in] the details.” Hackett said that’s one of the “dominant questions” his team addresses when acting as the structuring agent for SLLs, by pressure-testing a company’s targets. “One of the questions is, what does standing still against these metrics mean? Does it mean you’re falling behind and we need to have more challenge and ratcheting performance levels, or does it reflect where we are in development of these areas?” he said. “The big question we ask is, would this stand up to the scrutiny of ‘is it greenwashing?’” CIM

Courtesy of Osisko Mining

were offering during those times. But especially now, with a backlog of people re-examining their positions, this is a very popular topic with many of our clients as they look at not only has the product become better understood and more widely used, but [how] sustainbility and ESG have become significantly more prominent in financial markets.” According to a December 2019 blog by Hackett’s colleague John Uhren, head of sustainable finance, products and strategy at BMO Capital Markets, SLLs “touched down” in Canada in 2019 after gaining traction among European, Asian and American investment-grade companies. Data from BloombergNEF found that SLLs were the fastest-growing part of the sustainable finance sector in 2018, surging 677 per cent to reach US$36.4 billion in issuance. Hackett said SLLs help companies communicate their ESG objectives not only to investors and other stakeholders,

Osisko Mining releases Windfall economic assessment On April 7 Osisko Mining released the results of its new preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Windfall gold project located in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region of Quebec. Prepared by BBA Inc., the study outlines an underground mine with an 18year life and an after-tax net present value of approximately $1.5 billion with a five per cent discount rate and an assumed gold price of $1,500. “The sum of our work to date outlines the very strong base-case for a significant and highly profitable new gold mine in Quebec,” Osisko CEO John Burzynski said. Osisko has been steadily conducting exploration programs for the project, with its most recent drilling program running from January to March and October to December in 2020. The results provided a mineral resource estimate that included an indicated resource of 1,013,000 ounces of gold from 5.5 million tonnes grading at 9.4 grams per tonne, as well as a measured resource of 135,000 ounces of gold from 521,000 tonnes grading at 8.1 grams per tonne. The completed Windfall operation will mine from three different deposits 14 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Osisko is planning to start first production at Windfall in 2024. over a strike length of 2,300 metres, going down to a depth of around 1,500 metres. The PEA uses a long-hole open stoping mining method with an expected production rate of 3,100 tonnes per day, processed in a plant located on site, with an average annual production rate of 238,000 ounces. Overall, the study estimates an initial capital cost of $544 million, a unit operating cost of $121.76 per tonne milled

and an all-in sustaining cost of US$610 per ounce of gold. Burzynski said the results of the PEA are positive, but that the estimates are also conservative, and that further drilling results will be incorporated into a definitive feasibility study (DFS) expected to be released in early fall. “In the next 12 months, we are focused on completing drilling, the DFS, optimizing the capital program and

Courtesy of Ivanhoe Mines

developments operating plans, and securing project financing as we advance our goal to move the project to first production in 2024,” he said. – Matthew Parizot

Ivanhoe ups hydropower at Kamoa-Kakula Ivanhoe Mines reported on April 26 that the Kamoa-Kakula copper project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo would receive a boost to its renewable power supply thanks to a planned upgrade to Turbine 5 at the Inga II hydropower complex. Ivanhoe Mines Energy DRC signed a memorandum of understanding with the DRC’s state-owned power company La Société Nationale d’Electricité (SNEL) to upgrade the turbine. The planned upgrade to the turbine will raise its output by an estimated 162 megawatts, part of which will go towards powering the project, with any excess added to the national power grid. According to executive co-chairman Robert Friedland, the turbine upgrade will be crucial to the ongoing development of the Kamoa-Kakula project. “A long-term, sustainable supply of electricity is essential to Ivanhoe’s vision to develop Kamoa-Kakula into one of the world’s largest copper projects and doing it in an environmentally, ethically and socially responsible manner.” The publicprivate partnership between Ivanhoe Mines and SNEL began with a similar upgrade of the Mwadingusha hydropower plant, which is nearing completion and promises to generate 78 megawatts of power for the first two phases of copper production at KamoaKakula, according to Friedland. Combined, this means a projected 240 megawatt output from both plants. Further, Ivanhoe claims that the Inga II upgrading can be accomplished at a significantly reduced cost per megawatt generated compared to the Mwadingusha plant. Friedland also stated that “the supply of reliable hydropower is critical to Kamoa-Kakula achieving its goal of becoming the world’s ‘greenest’ copper mine and being among the world’s lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of copper produced.” The Inga II hydropower plant is located on the Congo river, the deepest and one of the longest rivers in the world, with large rapids and water-

Ivanhoe said the lack of a sufficient power supply limited the company’s ability to access Kamoa-Kakula’s inferred resources. falls that make it ideal for harnessing the power of water to produce sustainable energy. Besides the environmental efficacy of the upgrades, Friedland also highlighted that the partnership promises to support local communities in the DRC. Félix Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo commented that, “Partnerships such as the one between SNEL and Ivanhoe allow us to inject additional capacity into our electrical grid and improve the living conditions of Congolese citizens by increasing their access to electricity. At the same time, the additional power that will be generated will allow Kamoa-Kakula to [benefit] its mining products in the DRC. This will create additional revenue for the country, as well as employment opportunities for our people. As the host country and as a shareholder of Kamoa Copper, the DRC sees this local value creation as a strategic imperative.” Finally, Friedland indicated that the upgrade will be crucial to the KamoaKukala project itself. According to him, the lack of sufficient power has limited the mine’s ability to fully capitalize on the site’s indicated resources of 83.7 billion pounds of copper from 1.4 billion tonnes grading at 2.7 per cent. He concluded that “we are fortunate to be operating in the DRC, which is blessed with incredible hydropower potential. Hydropower, being clean, reliable and sustainable, is the best energy solution to support our long-term development priorities as we continue to look for ways to

reduce our impact on the environment, provide meaningful and long-lasting benefits to the communities in which we operate, and produce the copper the world urgently requires.” As reported in Ivanhoe Mines’ comprehensive integrated development plan from Sept. 8, 2020, the definitive feasibility study of the project indicated that Kamoa-Kakula complex could reach production of more than 800,000 tonnes of copper a year, becoming the world’s second largest copper mine. – Samuel Haughton

FROM THE WIRE Compiled by Samuel Haughton

Northwest

Copper

has

named

James Lang as its new chief geosci-

entist. Dr. Lang has over 37 years of experience in the global minerals industry, and previously spent 16 years with Hunter Dickinson where he was the technical team leader on multiple large, advanced exploration and economic-stage development programs. Kore Mining announced the appointment of Liz Monger as vice-president, investor relations. Monger has 25 years of investor relations, communications and compliance experience and was most recently the manager of investor relations and corporate secretary at Midas Gold from June 2011 to January 2021.

May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 15

Teck pleads guilty to Elk Valley water pollution charges Teck Coal Limited will face a $60 million fine for selenium, nitrate and calcite discharges from its steelmaking coal operations in British Columbia On March 26, Teck Resources announced that its subsidiary, Teck Coal Limited, pleaded guilty to two charges under the federal Fisheries Act relating to discharges of selenium, nitrate and calcite from its steelmaking coal operations into the Elk Valley watershed. Teck was first charged back in 2012, when it was discovered that waste rock from the company’s Fording River and Greenhills coal operations were leaching pollutants into the region and causing significant negative effects to local aquatic wildlife. Under the plea, Teck will pay a total of $60 million for the two charges, the largest fine ever paid under the Fisheries Act. Teck will not face charges related to further pollutant discharges from 2013 to 2019. In an open letter, Teck CEO Don Lindsay apologized for the effects of the discharges. “We sincerely apologize and take responsibility for the impacts of these discharges,” Lindsay wrote. “Everyone at Teck is committed to responsible mining that protects the environment. Which is why, over the nine years since, we have worked hard to solve this challenge and ensure the watershed is sustained for the long term.” Teck, in collaboration with the provincial government, the Ktunaxa Nation, scientists and local communities, developed its Elk Valley Water Quality Plan – a long-term strategy aimed at reducing the amount of pollutants discharged into and presently in the watershed. Thus far, Teck has constructed two water-treatment facilities in the region, which combined treat up to 27.5 million litres of water per day. Two additional treatment facilities are expected to begin operating in 2021 and, combined, filtering another 27 million litres of water per day. Teck has also been researching other methods to reduce the amount of selenium released from its operations, such as using geo-synthetic covers to reduce water percolating through waste rock 16 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Courtesy of Teck Resources

By Matthew Parizot

Teck has constructed two water treatment facilities in Elk Valley, with two more to begin operations in 2021, as part of its Elk Valley Water Quality Plan. and diverting clean water away from the waste rock. In October 2020, Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a direction under the Fisheries Act to Teck, requiring the company to proceed with these methods, as well as the installation of a 200-hectare geo-synthetic cover trial in the Greenhills Creek drainage by Dec. 31, 2030. Teck estimates these measures will cost between $350 million to $400 million over 10 years. Despite the investment from Teck, there is still significant work to be done to improve the water quality at Elk River. According to the company’s 2020 Environmental Monitoring Committee report, the number of Westslope Cutthroat Trout in the upper Fording River declined significantly between fall 2017 and fall 2019. (An investigation into the cause of this decline was scheduled to be concluded in late 2020 and a final report of the findings will be published in early 2021.) Additionally, selenium, nitrate and sulphate totals were found to be above compliance levels numerous times at its Fording River and Line Creek operations in 2019. In a statement released on Mar. 26, the Ktunaxa Nation Council stressed the importance of the Elk Valley to its community. “There have been significant impacts to wuʔu (the water) in Qukin ʔamaʔkis (Elk Valley) due to coal mining, and those impacts continue to grow today with

Teck Coal Limited’s operations,” said the letter. “This case, the charges laid, and the fines assessed, are steps in acknowledging the harm that has been and continues to be done to ʔamak ȼ wuʔu (the land and water) by development impacts done without Ktunaxa consent.” “[To] the Ktunaxa First Nation, whose territory we operate on, and to our communities in the Elk Valley, we deeply regret these impacts and we apologize,” Lindsay said. “You have my commitment that we will not waver in our focus on addressing this challenge and working to ensure that the environment is protected for today and for future generations.” CIM

Kirkland Lake updates Detour Lake mine plan On March 31, over a year after its $4.9 billion purchase of Detour Gold, Kirkland Lake Gold announced a new life-of-mine plan for its Detour Lake gold mine, promising higher annual production and lower costs. Kirkland Lake announced its purchase of Detour Gold back in November 2019, with Kirkland Lake president and CEO Tony Makuch citing Detour Lake’s “excellent fit” for the company alongside its other two assets – the Macassa and Fosterville mines – located in northern Ontario. A large part of that fit was the

Courtesy of Kirkland Lake Gold

developments

Under the new life-of-mine plan, Detour Lake will operate for 22 years until 2042. operation’s exploration potential, which, according to Makuch, has so far been successful. “A key factor driving our interest in acquiring Detour Lake was the belief that we could substantially grow [its] mineral reserves through extensive drilling,” Makuch said in the recent announcement. “With continued drilling success, we anticipate transitioning to a much larger pit design as we grow our mineral reserve base leading to further increases in production at better unit costs.” A 2018 technical report from Detour Gold gave the mine an after-tax net present value of $3.448 billion, with a five per cent discount rate, and a mine life of 22 years, running from 2018 to 2040. Proven and probable mineral reserves came in at 16.044 million ounces from 516.9 million tonnes grading at 0.97 grams per tonne and an average annual production of 659,000 ounces. Additionally, life-ofmine capital expenditure and operating expenditure were listed at $2.519 billion and $11.78 billion respectively, with average all-in sustaining costs of $1,171 per ounce sold. The 2021 life-of-mine plan maintains its 22-year span, though continuing into 2042 rather than 2040, and comes with an after-tax net present value of $3.792 billion, with a five per cent discount rate. The mine’s updated proven and probable reserves now total 13.821 million ounces from 447.4 million tonnes grading at 0.96

grams per tonne. Annual production, however, is expected to increase significantly, ranging between 680,000 and 720,000 ounces over the next five years before reaching 800,000 ounces per year in 2025. Costs are expected to be lowered as well, with capital expenditure and operating expenditure coming in at $3.621 billion and $8.69 billion respectively. All-in sustaining costs will average around $821 per ounce sold. For Makuch, the possibilities for Detour Lake are massive. “The 2021 [life-of-mine plan] represents an important interim report on our progress advancing the Detour Lake mine…,” he said. “Based on the new mine plan, Detour Lake is poised to become Canada’s largest gold producer and, with the potential for substantial growth in mineral reserves as our drilling programs continue, could very well become one of the largest and most profitable gold mines in the world.” – Matthew Parizot

Evolution Mining to buy Battle North Gold for $343 million Evolution Mining announced on March 15 that it has agreed to purchase all Battle North Gold’s issued and outstanding shares for $2.65 per share, acquiring the Bateman gold project and

expanding its claim at its Red Lake complex in western Ontario. The deal is valued at around $343 million and represents a 46 per cent premium over Battle North’s latest closing price on March 12. In 2019, Australia-based Evolution entered into a deal with Newmont Goldcorp to acquire the Red Lake complex, which included the Red Lake, Campbell and Cochenour mines, for US$375 million. The company said it was committed to investing US$100 million more on existing operations and an additional US$50 million in exploration by 2023. “The acquisition [of the Bateman gold project] provides Evolution with an opportunity to expand our footprint in the region and create value by leveraging the infrastructure of the two operations,” said Evolution’s executive chair Jake Klein. He added that the company hopes to boost its processing capacity and aspires to produce more than 300,000 ounces of gold per year at Red Lake. Battle North, formerly known as Rubicon Minerals, had trouble developing its Bateman (previously known as Phoenix) underground gold project. The Torontobased company rushed the mine into production in 2015, without completing a feasibility study or having adequate geological understanding of the deposit. A January 2016 revised resource estimate for the site showed the project’s indicated reserves falling from 1.13 million ounces from 4.12 million tonnes grading at 8.52 per cent to just 106,000 ounces from 492,000 tonnes grading at 6.73 per cent. The mine’s operations were suspended and new management was brought in while the company was put under creditor protection. Since then, Battle North has been working to put its mine back into production. In a feasibility study of the project published in 2021, the company estimated its proven and probable mineral reserves at 635,000 contained gold ounces from 3.56 million tonnes grading at 5.54 grams per tonne. The project is estimated to also have an all-in sustaining cost of US$865 per ounce of gold and is expected to produce around 74,000 ounces of gold per year over its eight-year mine life. According to Battle North’s president and CEO George Ogilvie, the deal is the right step forward to create value at the Bateman Gold project and will deliver the best outcomes for shareholders. May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 17

Lundin Mining Corporation is pleased to announce the appointment of Karen Poniachik and Jack Lundin to the company’s board of directors. Poniachik is currently the director of Columbia University’s Global Centers, Santiago and served as Chile’s Minister of Mining from 2006 to 2008. Lundin is currently the CEO and a director of Bluestone Resources and was involved in the development of Lundin Gold’s Fruta del Norte Gold Mine in southern Ecuador, where he served as the project superintendent.

Courtesy of Battle North Gold

The Bateman gold project, then known as the Phoenix project, was suspended in 2016 after a revised resource estimate lowered its mineral reserves significantly.

British Columbia unveils mining innovation roadmap The roadmap will guide mining industry to develop a mining innovation hub and support environmental, social and governance practices By Mehanaz Yakub Courtesy of Pretium Resources

“We believe that there are unique and undeniable merits to combining the Red Lake assets of Battle North and Evolution and this transaction reduces development and execution risk,” said Ogilvie in a statement. “Evolution is a highly regarded mining company with a demonstrated ability to successfully operate internationally.” Battle North shareholders will vote on the transaction in May and the deal is expected to close by the second quarter of 2021. – Mehanaz Yakub

Kirkland Lake Gold announced that Natasha Vaz has been promoted to the role of COO after having served as senior vice-president, technical services, technology and innovation. Jennifer Wagner has been promoted to executive vice-president, corporate affairs and sustainability, and has been with the company since 2015. Jason Neal will be joining Kirkland Lake as executive vice-president. Neal most recently served as president and CEO of TMAC Resources. Danielle Dimitriov has been announced

as the new CFO of Iamgold. Dimitrov joins Iamgold from Sprott Capital Partners, where she is partner, investment banking. Dimitrov also brings over 15 years of governance experience with the Canadian Securities Administrators, Ontario’s Mining Advisory Group and several mining companies. Pierre Julien has been selected as

the incoming president of CIM. He is the founder of Lincoln Strategic and ORE+PROS, two mining industry service providers. Prior to forming Lincoln Strategic, he was the president and CEO of Norcast Castings Inc., and was also the president of Outotec North America.

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Over 280 particpants from mining, government, environmental and Indigenous groups took part in the consultation process for the roadmap. The Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC) has launched a Mining Innovation Roadmap that will outline ways to improve global competitiveness, environmental sustainability and resilience in the province’s mining industry. Following a recommendation from the B.C. Mining Jobs Taskforce report, which was released in December 2018, the association received a $1 million grant from the provincial Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources

to create the roadmap, with over 280 participants from mining, government, environmental and Indigenous groups taking part in the consultation process. “The roadmap examines the whole life cycle of mining from exploration to reclamation and focuses on innovation to achieve smart mining with exportable higher-value products and services, such that B.C. can be an integral part of supply chains worldwide,” said Alan Winter, former B.C. innovation commissioner.

developments Michael Goehring, president and CEO of MABC said in a livestreamed media conference that the roadmap will provide the industry and stakeholders with a new platform and vision to accomplish four primary goals: establish B.C. as a leader in mining innovation, advance regulations that will support innovations, leverage B.C.’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) advantage and build the workforce for future mines. In addition to those four goals, the roadmap lists 18 action items, which will be lead by the MABC with support from the provincial government, universities and industry groups and given time frames of between one to five years. To help transform the province into innovation leaders, the roadmap recommends setting up an early engagement process for new technologies progress more quickly through the development stages and ensure all risks are identified in advance. The roadmap sets out to establish an innovation hub that will foster collaboration and connection between the mining industry and other technology sectors. Additionally, the roadmap proposes building an innovation mine – using Sudbury’s NORCAT Underground Centre as an example – that could provide an environment where new technologies can be tested and commercialized at a faster rate and where safety and environmental-awareness training can take place. Regulations are necessary to facilitate emerging mining innovations, and the roadmap calls for the government and industry to work together to develop a code of practice for permitting new technologies and a risk-based regulatory framework that ensures innovations and new technologies get an appropriate level of review – one tha corresponds to their associated levels of risk and how ready they are for the commercial market. In a post-pandemic economy, the mining sector is expected to play a vital role in the economic revival of B.C., as prices and demand for minerals and metals surge, said B.C. Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Bruce Ralston. But as global economies focus on transitioning to cleaner, low carbon futures, a mine’s social licence to operate and investment opportunities are heavily linked with best ESG practices. “We have taken steps to strengthen health, safety and environmental compli-

ance, to improve permitting and to advance reconciliation, distinguishing us as leaders in the growing global environmental, social and governance investment movement,” said Ralston. The province already has some of the world’s least-intensive mining operations when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions and easy-access to clean electricity. However, the roadmap suggests that B.C. can contribute to responsible and sustainable mining by encouraging the industry to report on its sustainability performance and by identifying the challenges that make it difficult to meet climate objectives and finding solutions to them. It also outlines the importance of Indigenous participation in developing local environmental stewardship programs, which will increase the number of Indigenous people involved in monitoring mining, exploration and miningaffected areas. According to the roadmap, as mining operations ideally shift to more digital, autonomous and electrical operations, a

mining workforce that is inclusive, diverse and skilled will be necessary to ensure that B.C.’s mining sector stays globally competitive The recommendations provided by the roadmap under its goal of building a better workforce for the future include: reviewing the current mining workforce vulnerability index to determine the gaps in the labour market, developing occupational profiles for future jobs, promoting mining innovations and employment opportunities in order to engage and attract youth to the sector and creating customizable training plans for workers that can be applied to local communities. “Mining is critical to our economic recovery. New mines and mine extensions will deliver thousands of new jobs, more revenue for public services and advance economic reconciliation with Indigenous nations,” Goehring said. “B.C. has some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions-intensive mines and smelters in the world, providing the minerals and metals the world needs for a low carbon future.” CIM

Alamos seeks US$1 billion from Turkey over halted mining project

processing stage to separate gold from the extracted ore” and that it has committed to the reforestation of the 354 hectares to be cleared. Despite this, and what it claims are attempts to work cooperatively with the Turkish government to build public support, the project has remained grounded, with Turkey also refusing to renew Alamos’s forestry license in October 2020. The company went on to note that it has “invested over US$250 million in Turkey, unlocked over a billion dollars worth of project value, and contributed over US$20 million in royalties, taxes and forestry fees to the Turkish government.” The US$1 billion figure, it claims, represents the value of their Turkish assets. “[Alamos] has worked in Turkey to the highest standard of conduct with respect to social and environmental best practices,” Alamos president and CEO John A. McCluskey said. “Despite this effort, the Turkish government has given us no indication that relief is in sight, nor will they engage with us in an effort to renew the outstanding licences. We are hopeful that the arbitration process will bring about the engagement that we have sought from the Turkish state, and lead to an equitable resolution to this impasse.” – Samuel Haughton

Canadian mining company Alamos Gold Inc. announced in a press release on April 20 that two of its Netherlandsbased subsidiaries would be seeking US$1 billion from the Republic of Turkey through an investment treaty claim. The claim pertains to Alamos’s Kirazli project located on Turkey’s Biga mountain range that was placed on hold in October 2019 when Turkey failed to renew the company’s mining license. The initial delay came amidst significant public backlash to the project. Approximately 5,000 people joined protests against the project in August 2020, with activists and opposition party lawmakers claimed that Kirazli would have a number of negative environmental consequences, including the potential contamination of the soil and water of a nearby water reservoir with cyanide, as well as deforestation on a scale potentially threatening to wildlife and ecosystems. Alamos has pushed back strongly against these and other claims from activists, emphasizing in an online pamphlet that “cyanide is only used in the

May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 19

NEXT STEPS

Learning to get a job on the job Work-integrated learning placements such as co-ops give students experience and networking opportunities that can be leveraged during job searches By Tijana Mitrovic

or students who are willing to invest their time and go the extra mile, entering a co-op program and pursuing co-op placements can give them an edge during and after their degree. A 2020 study by Statistics Canada found that 75 per cent of students who had work experience related to their field of study during postsecondary education were employed full-time three months following graduation, compared to 61 per cent and 48 per cent of students who had work experience unrelated to their field of study or no work experience during postsecondary, respectively. According to a 2018 Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) case study, students with work-integrated learning (WIL) experience may also feel more prepared to enter the workforce than their peers. Co-op programs differ among postsecondary institutions, but generally include placements lasting anywhere from four to 16 months. Students have the chance to contribute to projects such as mechanization and maintenance planning, metallurgical studies, geotechnical assessments and more. Co-op placements are also often paid positions, meaning that participating students can then use their earnings to cover education and other costs. Brent Lievers, a mechanical engineer and associate professor at Laurentian University’s Bharti School of Engineering in Sudbury, said he encourages students to take advantage of opportunities to get experience while they are in school. “When I’m promoting co-op to students, I tend to emphasize three benefits to them,” he explained. “They’re getting experience in their field, it is a networking opportunity in the sense that they’re going to meet and work with people in their field… and the positions are well paid. When they graduate, that’s going to be a feather in their cap and it’s going to set them apart from their peers and set them up for success.” Beyond the attractiveness of work experience itself, students who are familiar with the realities of mining operations, specifically remote and fly-in-fly-out operations, stand out to prospective employers. “[It] demonstrates a commitment to the field,” explained Lievers. “It is not uncommon for mining companies to pass over A+ students with no experience in order to hire students with a lower GPA but who do have experience, just because they do know what they’re getting into in the mining industry.” Julian McGreevy, a Vancouver-based geotechnical engineer at engineering consulting firm BGC Engineering, said that consulting co-op placements can be helpful for students to experience multiple work environments in mining. “While it’s different work than what a mining company typically does inhouse, [it’s] a good opportunity to see what consultants who

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HR INTERVIEW: MASAKI MIYOSHI

Masaki Miyoshi is a campus talent acquisition lead at Teck Resources. CIM: What is Teck’s experience with hiring its co-op students? Miyoshi: Teck’s co-op program [is] a key source of attracting and hiring talent for the organization. It provides a foundation and pipeline for supervisors to identify highpotential new graduates and supports students in developing real-world work experience.

CIM: What has the company noticed in hiring new graduates who have co-op or other work-integrated learning (WIL) experience? Miyoshi: Teck has a long history of hiring new graduates who have WIL experience because they have consistently proven to be work-ready. Work experience is a key criteria for making hiring decisions. Having co-op experience also shows that a candidate is a good fit for the organization, adding an additional layer of certainty.

CIM: What advice would you give students seeking to leverage their WIL experience when job searching? Miyoshi: Try to get the most out of your WIL experience by taking initiative and ownership of your work term such as looking beyond the day-to-day tasks assigned to you. Be curious by learning more about the business and ask good questions of your supervisor and colleagues. Seize opportunities to contribute more or in different ways – such as supporting social events or community service. Remember, a manager can teach employees to do any tasks. What they can’t do is instill innate curiosity and motivation.

CIM: What would you say is one of the best ways to stand out to potential employers? Miyoshi: Be prepared. Research a company first and then ask questions about areas you are genuinely interested in learning more about. Aim to learn something new while having an enjoyable conversation. Chances are the person who you are networking with is not in a position to hire you in a role that you are looking for; however, they do have the ability to connect you with someone who is. If you leave a positive impression, they are more likely to be motivated to help you. – Tijana Mitrovic

Employment status during post-secondary education (PSE) Employed during PSE: 68.8*

31.2

Not employed during PSE: 47.6

52.4

Job related to field of study: 74.6**

25.4

Job not related to field of study: 60.5

39.5

100

per cent Students who found full-time work within three months of graduating from PSE

Students who had no full-time work within three months of graduating from PSE

* significant at the one per cent level. Excludes graduates that returned to school between 2012 and 2016. ** significant at the five per cent level. Excludes graduates that returned to school between 2012 and 2016. work for the mining company do,” he explained. “We focus on providing services to our clients to help solve their problems. For students, that can sometimes be fully in the office but usually we do try to get them into the field [to] get some of that experience that’s really important early in their careers.” Co-op experience not only adds to students’ resumés but can also be a chance for them to explore different roles within the industry and have a clearer idea of what jobs they want to pursue out of school. Students can work in open-pit and underground mines, do remote work or consulting and see first-hand what they enjoy. Ryan Montpellier, MiHR executive director, said that after participating in the organization’s Gearing Up WIL program for the mining industry, “students [indicated] that their work placement was a great introduction to mining, and helped them narrow down their studies for a potential career in mining.” Figuring this out while still in school means that students can be more confident in applying for a particular role and avoid ending up in one they do not enjoy. Some companies use co-op placements to “test drive” students and see how they perform or fit on the team in case they want to hire them after graduation. According to Montpellier, companies that participate in Gearing Up often try to hire their co-op students as full-time workers after graduation. In responding to a survey about the program, “several employers... said the student they hired for work-integrated learning still works for them,” he explained.

In the instances when students do not immediately find work with their placement employer, that does not rule out opportunities arising from that work-term cropping up in the future. “Even if it doesn’t lead exactly to a job with that company, they’re meeting people in their field,” said Lievers. “[Mining] is a very small, close-knit community. The people that they work with are going to recommend them for jobs, they’re going to act as references – those people may move to other companies and open up opportunities for them in the future.” Co-op placements and industry experiences let students understand the real scope of what they have studied in the classroom. By encountering problems in real-life mining situations, Lievers said students can better understand the connection between theoretical lessons and real-world applications. “What they’re learning just makes so much sense to them and is much more concrete or less abstract than it would have been before they had that experience,” he said. That realization is something McGreevy experienced firsthand. “When I was a summer student 10 years ago, I came back after the term of working and everything in class made a lot more sense,” he said. “There’s that real practical side of mining, which is hard to understand unless you’ve really seen the scale of it. [Students] can really put into context what’s being taught.” Co-op experiences are powerful things to highlight in future job applications. According to a 2016 Business Council of Canada survey, 32 per cent of large private-sector employers in Canada May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 21

An exploration of work, learning, and work-integrated learning in Canada using the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults, May 25, 2020

next steps

expect “at least one year of relevant full-time experience for entry-level positions.” As part of BGC Engineering’s hiring team, McGreevy confirmed that experience is an advantage. “Some people will come out with four months of experience from their undergrad, some might have up to 16 months depending on how they’ve done their co-op,” he explained. “A year of experience is a lot. [Those students] have seen a lot more and there are more things you can throw them on to right away.” When job searching, students should highlight their co-op experiences in resumés and cover letters. Students can also highlight soft skills developed on the job, such as teamwork, communication and collaboration, as well as specific technical expertise. “Clear descriptions [of your responsibilities] on your resumé is where the real advantage is,” said McGreevy. “Adding

in that detail in your cover letter, explaining what you want to do, why you’re applying to the company you’re applying to, what it is about that company, what it is about the work that they’re doing – all of those things are very helpful. If we can better understand who you are and why you want to work with us and what you want to do, it makes it easier for us to understand where there’s a fit.” CIM

next Steps Throughout 2021, our Next Steps series will cover topics focused on early career and professional development to help mining students and recent graduates build their future. If you have any suggestions, reach out to us at editor@cim.org.

RECENT GRADUATE INTERVIEW: GUY STYSIS

Recent graduate interview: Guy Stysis Guy Stysis studied chemical engineering at McGill and graduated in 2020. After an internship in the mining industry, he and Anthony Laye, a software engineering graduate, cofounded Rokulo, a mineral processing and mining technology start-up that offers a fully automated conveyor belt ore monitoring solution

CIM: What led you to start Rokulo? Stysis: When I was looking for internships in 2018, I saw on McGill’s internship database that there was a position at this mining company, Stornoway Diamonds. Stornoway had just opened the Renard mine in northern Quebec and I jumped at the opportunity. That’s how I got into the mining industry and when I was there, I would question everything around me. When I was doing so, [I noticed that] there were a lot of inefficiencies and areas of opportunity for the industry at large. Specifically, what I noticed was that [optimizing the crushing] process is very hard to do because there’s no way to track how things are happening. My idea was to develop a camera system that can effectively analyze all the passing ore in real time. It wasn’t at all with the intention of starting my own company; it was really me with my engineering student excitement, [trying to] take something out of the laboratory, out of the classroom, and implement [it] in a real industrial setting. My [internship] supervisors were very open to it and said, ‘Let’s make this your second summer project so you can work on it.’ Then, when I came out of the job and went back to McGill, I realized that it could actually be a real business opportunity that I could use to advance many mining companies across the world. Three years have passed since then and now I’m still running Rokulo, getting ready to commercialize the technology.

escape the nine-to-five job but in reality, you’re signing up for much more, maybe a 7:00 a.m. to midnight job. [Although] you become your own boss, responsibilities don’t go anywhere. Your [clients become your boss] and you have to answer to more people in a different manner. It’s really about expectations versus reality. In terms of rewards, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing something that started off [as] an idea [turn] into a product that is used by many people and that’s running somewhere 24/7/365. It’s very nice to see your ideas become a reality.

CIM: What would you tell students or new graduates who are thinking of starting their own business? Stysis: The first thing [is to] make sure that you’re actually going to be solving a real problem for someone. [Talk] to 10 people that could be your potential clients and start understanding what you’re actually trying to resolve and what are the requirements. At the end of the day, you shouldn’t be falling in love with a product but with the solution [for a problem] that you’re going to be solving. In 2021, the time is perfect for entrepreneurship. There are so many resources available. If you’re looking for investments, they’re out there. If you’re looking for help, there are all these accelerators, university programs [and] people that will help and join your efforts.

CIM: What advice would you give to students who are about to graduate and start their careers and who are job searching? Stysis: Once you get interview offers, people think that they

CIM: What have been some of the challenges and rewards you have experienced while starting and running Rokulo? Stysis: You sign up for a lot more work, a lot more responsi-

have to act a certain way or say certain things to get the job... I think it’s very fundamental to be yourself, even though that’s very cliché. At the same time, evaluate the company you’re applying to… During the interview process really ask questions about their culture. Try to be somewhere where your personality and your goals will be a match.

bility than I thought it would be. You think you’re trying to

– Tijana Mitrovic

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Courtesy of USNC Power

USNC Power hopes that a small modular reactor (SMR) that is being constructed in Deep River, Ontario, will be the prototype for units that mining companies will use to power operations in remote, northern locations.

Big ambitions for small footprints USNC Power targets the mining sector as a key adopter or nuclear reactors By Robert Hiltz

ecarbonizing mines, particularly in Canada’s North, is a tricky prospect. Diesel is the best and often only option for power. That is where the promise of small modular reactors (SMRs) comes in. These scaled-down nuclear reactors, designed to be far less complex than typical fission reactors, are built in one location, then they are shipped in pieces and offer plenty of potential upsides to remote mines that operate without access to the broader power grid. A source of electricity and heat that emits no carbon dioxide and, in some cases, can run for 20 years without refuelling is the sort of thing that might solve a heap of problems all in one go. But there are also huge hurdles to overcome. First the technology must be proven safe and viable, then perhaps the biggest hurdle arrives: getting the public to accept the construction of new nuclear reactors. Safety issues, and concerns about the possibility of the longterm environmental damage associated with nuclear accidents and storage of nuclear waste make nuclear adoption a difficult concept for people to accept. This is even more apparent in areas with remote mining projects, where general environmental trepidation overlaps with the right of Indigenous communities to ensure their public safety and the legal requirement for

consultations with those same Indigenous communities before projects can proceed. SMRs have been around in some form for decades – nuclearpowered submarines and other warships are powered by what are essentially SMRs – but few have been put to industrial use. Most civilian uses of nuclear power plants are mega infrastructure projects, focused on delivering electricity to huge populations. There are those, however, who are hoping to find a market for small civilian applications and eyeing the mining industry in particular as the place where SMRs can make an inroad.

Pilot project ramping up USNC Power, the Canadian subsidiary of Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., is getting ready to break ground in Deep River, Ontario, for the Global First Power Project with a proof-ofconcept reactor set up at the Chalk River Laboratories – the home to Canada’s first nuclear power plant and a nuclear research site since 1944. Its SMR has been designed specifically with the mining industry in mind. USNC Power vice-president of corporate development Ken Darlington said the company’s SMRs – trademarked as MMRs, Micro Modular Reactors – were sized and conceived from the beginning with remote mines as potential customers. May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 23

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Courtesy of USNC Power

“We’re specifically focused on the mining industry’s smaller requirements. Between five and 50 megawatts electrical is kind of our sweet spot, which is sized well for most mining operations, as well as medium to large, remote communities,” explained Darlington. USNC Power is currently in stage three of a four-stage review and construction process of its commercial demonstration project. The first SMR will be a five megawatt reactor. The company expects it to be commissioned in 2025, and up to full operations in 2026, according to Darlington. Darlington said USNC, along with Ontario Power Generation, has invested $20 million in the project to date. The majority of the funding is already in place through Global First A kernel of uranium fuel is encapsulated by three layers of carbon- and ceramic-based materials that prevent the release of radioactive fission products. This industry-standard particle is called tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) Power (GFP), a partnership between fuel and is about the size of a poppy seed. TRISO fuel particles are then further encapsulated in a dense silicon USNC and Ontario Power Generation. carbide matrix to create USNC’s fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel pellets. The FCM pellets are “As a first-of-a-kind project, there stacked within graphite fuel blocks, which form the core of the USNC’s Micro Modular Reactor. are non-repeatable costs to bring Canada’s first SMR into service. GFP is currently pursuing fedTo understand what makes the USNC version of a reactor diferal funding to support the goals articulated by the federal ferent from a typical reactor, it is important to understand why government’s recently announced SMR Action Plan and typical reactors fail. Meltdowns, the most critical type of failure, ensure that Canada continues to lead on SMR development,” are caused when the fission reaction inside the reactor gets out Darlington said. of control and the fuel reaches a critical temperature. In many In mid-April, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories announced it reactors, even when the reactor is de facto shutdown, as much as had successfully produced the proprietary nuclear fuel pellets seven per cent of the reactor’s operating power is still being gendesigned by USNC to power the reactor. erated in just heat. So, even if a reactor with a malfunctioning “Collaborating with CNL in achieving this milestone is a signif- cooling system is shutdown, it can still reach a critical stage – a icant step towards enabling Canadian production of fully ceramic meltdown. USNC Power president Mark Mitchell explained that microencapsulated (FCM) fuel for use in our Micro Modular Reac- when the fuel melts, the fission products inside the fuel are tors,” said Mitchell. “This achievement demonstrates the readi- released and you have a serious nuclear accident on your hands. ness of the FCM technology for deployment and furthers Canada’s USNC Power believes the newly produced ceramic fuel source position as a leading innovator in the nuclear industry.” can enable the company to get around that problem. The FCM has nodules of nuclear fuel dispersed throughout it. The Chalk River Safety concerns reactor is also a gas-cooled reactor, getting it away from one of One of the advantages of the proposed USNC Power design is the key failure points in typical reactors, the water pumps. its lifespan, as it was designed to function for 20 years without Mitchell said, the reactors are designed in a way that breaks refuelling. This lines up well with the typical lifespan of a mine. the chain reaction typical in nuclear accidents. It also means that nuclear fuel doesn’t need to be transported at “We use fuel that can go to much higher temperatures, it’s a regular intervals to a mine, and waste doesn’t need to be shipped ceramic fuel,” said Mitchell. “Even if you remove all cooling and out. The reactor gets shipped in, then after 20 years, is shipped the reactor just heats up with these fission products, we out again, with its spent fuel. The reactor itself takes up a space designed it with low-energy density and passive-cooling paths of about a racquetball court. [so] that the temperature never gets high enough that the fuel is This approach reduces the frequency of nuclear material actually affected.” being transported around the country. Beyond that, it provides The reactor itself has no moving parts, so there is no possibilpredictability of power availability, particularly in the North. As ity for something like a water pump failure as in a typical nuclear the effects of climate change are more greatly felt, seasonal ice plant, Mitchell said. He added that is what makes it possible for roads are increasingly at risk, making regular diesel shipments USNC Power’s design to be what is known as an EPZ [emergency to remote mines difficult. planning zones] zero reactor. EPZs are the American term referThe carbon reduction possibilities at a mine are what makes ring to the evacuation radius required around a nuclear plant if it quite interesting. Instead of relying on diesel generators, a an accident occurs. EPZ zero means that the radius is zero and remote mine that uses an SMR, could meet its need for 20 no evacuation is required. megawatts of power and displace about one billion litres of fuel Whether the reactor would actually get an EPZ zero rating is – the equivalent of about three million tonnes of carbon diox- an open question, however. According to Queen’s University ide emissions. professor and director of the Queen’s Institute for Energy and

Courtesy of USNC Power

the current “You’re delivering renewable energy to the job sites in a much more flexible way. And it would operate fuel cells [by producing hydrogen], which even today is a lot closer to operating a generator. Then you’re getting electricity or maybe directly running engines on your trucks or excavators,” he said.

Convincing arguments Even assuming everything goes well with the Chalk River SMR, that is only the start of the process of getting reactors into northern mines. There is still the hard work of getting people on board with the idea of SMRs dotting the landscape in remote areas. Nuclear power is a very polarizing issue, Darlington acknowledged. There are strong USNC’s reactors are being designed so that they will not need refueling over the course of their lifetimes. arguments both for and against it, and The plan is that when the reactor is decommissioned and removed from the site, the spent fuel will also be shipped out. there are people who are solidly in the proor the anti-nuclear camps. Environmental Policy Warren Mabee, international regulations “In the middle is where a lot of people just want to underregarding SMRs are still in development. Mabee said the Inter- stand, ‘Why is this different? Why do you keep saying this is national Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is in the process of work- safer? How do I know my community is going to be safe?’ and ing out what sort of planning zones should apply to SMRs. they need to understand why that is – and the way you do that “While the proponents may describe these as zero EPZs, polis through engagement,” he said, adding this is why the comicy might not treat them in the same way,” Mabee said. pany is serious about doing its due diligence in explaining its Mabee sums up where the IAEA is at so far like this: “The sci- technology first to the community of Chalk River and then to ence is not yet in, and it is very unlikely that any SMR would be other communities the company hopes to place its reactors in deployed without some scaled EPZ set up around them.” after that. Mabee, however, is skeptical SMRs will see widespread use, Advantages for mining particularly in mining, in large part due to the public reception The benefits to mine electrification are there, but there are of the technology and science. possibilities beyond just the electricity. Reactors also produce “There’s a whole lot of public education that needs to happen heat that can be harnessed for certain refining processes, in par- before people are going to be comfortable taking these sorts of ticular steam for extracting oil from the oil sands. The heat could facilities on,” Mabee said. also be used for simply heating buildings and the mine itself, as “These reactors ultimately are using a decaying source of needed. The reactors can also be used to produce hydrogen. radioactivity – it’s uranium, or maybe thorium that is decaying – These all, according to Mitchell, improve the value proposition. and we’re using it as an energy source. And that is potentially “Electrification begets more electrification,” he said. “It’s got dangerous, I think that Canadians will have a hard time just a virtuous cycle. You get so much more for your effort when you accepting them willy nilly, I think that they could be an important start electrifying mines. You can get a lot of savings, your pro- part of our energy future,” Mabee said, “but I don’t think that ductivity can go up and so on.” we’re going to see them in any old location across the landscape.” Darlington added that SMR-produced energy “can be a In fact, Mabee thinks it is unlikely that mines would operate hybrid. You may use some of the energy to produce electricity, their own SMRs, even if they got the public buy-in needed to supyou may use some for process heat.” Other heating applications, port the building of one. such as ventilation heating, could also be part of the equation. “I think that the likeliest applications are that governments “We’re not trying to predict every way this could benefit like the government of the Northwest Territories, or the gov[mining companies]. I think that there are a lot of people who ernment of Nunavut decide to invest in one of these, put it are really well placed, thinking really hard about that aspect,” somewhere where they control it, and either use it to distribute said Mitchell. “But this [SMR] is kind of an enabler.” power out to industrial sites, mines and things like that, or to He added that SMR-generated power makes possible more communities.” on-site ore processing because of greater power availability, and If governments find themselves in favour of reactors, it might could even allow for direct thermal processing using the heat be because they judge the possible environmental benefits to from the reactor. outweigh the potential environmental harm. According to a “There could be other alternatives, which we’re not really recent report from EnviroEconomic and Navius Research, SMRs focused on today, which could make a big difference in the future,” could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by an average 14 he said. megatonnes per year in the industrial sector by 2050. From 2035 These reactors are also capable of producing hydrogen, to 2050, SMR adoption could see a cumulative reduction of 216 which could be used in hydrogen power cells, which have their megatonnes of GHG emissions. That is the equivalent of three own interesting applications, Mabee added. million cars coming off the road in the country. CIM May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 25

Courtesy of Karen Chovan

A new tool in the tailings risk management arsenal By Karen Chovan

Risk Assessment for Tailings Management, CIM Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1

n the last decade, there has been a growing demand for transparency with respect to tailings storage facilities (TSF) as well as a need for a means for comparative evaluation of TSF at different sites and among different owners. However, tailings management systems and their risks are very complex, often misunderstood, frequently miscommunicated and sometimes mismanaged as a result. In fact, senior management, mining operators and other stakeholders who are not involved in TSF management often do not have the technical background to appreciate the complexity of TSF risks. TSF come in a variety of sizes, types and designs – each as unique as the sites on which they lie. As such, understanding, evaluating, comparing and communicating the risks of TSF infrastructure and systems do not come easy. Complicating matters further, there are a wide variety of strategies to do so within the technical tailings design community. To help address these challenges, I joined a team of experienced engineers to develop an evaluation process that could be consistently applied to any type of TSF. The process includes a semi-empirical method to estimate an annual probability of failure that is then combined with a quantitative evaluation of the consequences of failure to produce an objective and detailed assessment of the risk. Risk is based on both probability of failure (POF) and consequence of failure, and this is perhaps the most widely miscom-

Risk ratings chart based upon proposed risk evaluation process municated and misunderstood aspect of tailings management. For example, the very informative Global Tailings Portal contains information on over 1,800 TSF, including their owners, locations, heights, volumes, construction types and potential consequence of failure ratings. Key focus areas on the portal are the type of construction and the associated consequence rat-

TSF Risk Primer For people who are not involved in the details of design and management of TSF, here are a few relevant phrases and points to facilitate better understanding of typical risk communications: The Factor of Safety (FS) is often used as an indicator of TSF stability, and regulators often specify that a facility meet minimum FS values. The FS for different scenarios is determined through a series of stability analyses, the results of which are heavily dependent on the assumed material characteristics and geometry of the foundation soils, the embankment and the contained tailings. The analyses also assume distributions of stresses and pressures within the TSF based on the height of tailings and the water level within the TSF at various points in time. In other words, the actual FS will vary slightly over time with changing conditions in the field as the TSF are raised, tailings deposited, water levels vary, and consolidation. For a particular FS, the probability of failure (POF) can range several orders of magnitude, depending on how well the actual field conditions and material characteristics correspond to the assumptions of the stability analyses. Field conditions and material characteristics are often heterogenous as opposed to the homogeneous conditions assumed in stability analysis and design. As such, uncertainties or discrepancies can accumulate quickly. Sources of uncertainty and discrepancy include insufficient site investigation and material testing, variable foundation conditions, variations in the materials used for construction, non-uniform construction techniques, etc. The list is long. This fact is well understood by practitioners of TSF design and is the reason that technical review should be incorporated into design, comprehensive quality assurance and that quality control should be incorporated into construction, and that adequate instrumentation and monitoring should be incorporated into operation. The consequences of failure are not considered in the determination of the FS or POF. They are determined under the assumption that a TSF fails and releases some percentage of the contained tailings and water, regardless of its FS or POF. Consequences are evaluated on several aspects, typically including, and not limited to, potential injury or loss of life, environmental damage, relations with local stakeholders, reputation and social licence to operate, as well as the financial impact. The risk rating of a TSF is the product of the probability of failure and the consequence of failure. The product of the two aspects automatically combines infrastructure-specific elements (i.e., POF based on the FS and level of uncertainty associated with the TSF) and system-based elements (i.e., water management and downstream consequences). – Karen Chovan

26 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

columns ings. However, nowhere in this compilation is there information about the POF. It is left to the user to interpret the data, where many will view the list of “extreme or high-consequence” facilities as high risk and could result in owners being viewed as irresponsible for imposing high risks on downstream stakeholders. In fact, through comprehensive design and strong governance and management systems, many of these facilities could have a very low POF making them low to medium risk overall. The evaluation tool targets the basis of risk mitigation and first addresses how well the system is understood, and the quality of investigations, testing and analyses performed to gain that understanding. It includes consideration of the site climate, surface hydrology, subsurface hydrogeological and geological conditions, as well as all the materials used in construction and those contained in the TSF. Next the design elements are reviewed, considering the scope of the system (i.e., foundation conditions, embankment, tailings deposition, water management) and the rigour and appropriateness of the design and analyses completed, including stability, water balance and climate change considerations, as well as the level of expert review. Quality and management of construction, controls and oversight, and the extent to which the infrastructure was built according to design, and then the quality of the operational, monitoring, management and governance systems are also reviewed along with the actual performance of the facility. In total, 45 criteria are rated and scored according to level of practice and are tallied with a final rating of high, good, average or poor. Based on semi-empirical relationships previously derived by others, the level of practice and factor of safety is utilized to determine an annual probability of failure value and rating. Taking this rating and cross referencing it with the consequences of failure rating (determined separately), the risk rating is determined.

The outcome of the evaluation is three-fold: 1. The owners and TSF management team develop an appreciation of the robustness of the TSF (in terms of design, construction and operation), the level of uncertainty and where improvements can be made to reduce the probability of failure, and therefore risk. 2. The owners gain an understanding of the level of risk associated with their facilities and specific infrastructure. Because the analyses are based on a consistent methodology, it can be used to comparatively evaluate the TSF portfolio and then prioritize and target specific areas of uncertainty or deficiency across the portfolio. 3. The outputs provide visual snapshots (see figure, opposite page) of the portfolio of risk associated with a TSF portfolio, in a way that is comparable to other enterprise risks, to help with communications to non-tailings practitioners. Evaluation and communication of tailings management risks is not an easy task. It is a topic of great debate and concern within the tailings design and management professional network. The new evaluation tool is a proposed solution to help alleviate this challenge by improving internal communication and documentation of the risks of critical infrastructure and facilitating transparent risk-based decision-making. Moreover, the tool allows detailed actions to be taken in the pursuit of reducing risks associated with tailings storage facilities. CIM For anyone interested in reading more, see “Risk Assessment for Tailings Management” published in the CIM Journal, Vol 12, No. 1. Karen Chovan is the Founder of Enviro Integration Strategies Inc., focused on creating value and reducing risks in the mining sector. Website: https://www.envirointegration.com

Geostatistical Mineral Resource Estimation and Meeting the New Regulatory Environment: Step by Step from Sampling to Grade Control This course is designed according to the latest regulations on public reporting of Mineral Resources. It aims at showing how state-of-the-art statistical and geostatistical techniques help answer the requirements of those regulations in an objective and reproducible manner. A particular emphasis is put on understanding sampling and estimation errors and how to assign levels of estimation confidence through the application of resource classification fundamentals. In addition to a solid introduction to mining geostatistics, this course provides a comprehensive overview of industry best practices in the broader field of Mineral Resource estimation. INSTRUCTORS Georges Verly, Wood, Canada and Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada • DATE September 20 – 24, 2021

Strategic Mine Planning with New Digital Technologies, Risk Management and Mineral Value Chains At the time of a continuing rebound of metal markets, learn how the application of new digital technologies can add substantial value to strategic mine planning and asset valuation. The new technologies and related tools integrate technical risk management while capitalizing on the synergies amongst the elements of mineral value chains through their simultaneous optimization – from mines to products to markets. INSTRUCTORS Roussos Dimitrakopoulos, McGill University, Canada and Ryan Goodfellow, Newmont, USA • DATE September 29 – October 1, 2021. THIS COURSE MAY BE OFFERED VIRTUALLY.

May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 27

Courtesy of Minodahmun Development

Generating hope while teaching mining skills Formal agreements between mining companies and First Nations communities lay the foundations for positive relations and future jobs By Kristen Frisa

Minodahmun Development is training Indigenous workers for future mining jobs in Ontario's Ring of Fire region.

he mining industry is notoriously in need of workers. Indigenous communities, especially those in the more remote regions of Canada, have suffered the effects of low employment rates for decades. Given those two realities, it seems natural that partnerships have begun to form to train members of Indigenous communities to fulfill roles in the mining sector, even if, historically, relationships between those who want to explore and mine the land and those who are the traditional inhabitants of the land have been tenuous at best. One key aspect of these partnerships has been skills development and training for community members. Often excluded from educational opportunities in the trades because of their remote locations, some Indigenous communities have created their own training programs. By developing partnerships with universities, seeking funding from government programs for skills training and partnering with mining companies themselves, these communities are successfully upskilling members for employability in mining operations. Mining companies are seeing benefits of partnerships, too, through harmonious relationships and access to local skilled labour for their operations.

Training close to home A prime example is the agreement forged between Greenstone Gold Mines and Minodahmun Development. Part of the highly anticipated mining operations in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region, Greenstone and Minodahmun have committed to working together to plan mining development and operations, and train workers from local Indigenous communities. Currently, the company’s Hardrock project located just south of Geraldton, Ontario, is in the tree-cutting stage of operations, as construction is scheduled to begin later in this year. Minodahmun, which resulted from a long-term relationship agreement signed in 2019 with Greenstone, is a 100 per cent First Nation-owned partnership created by Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek First Nation (AZA), Aroland First Nation and Ginoogaming First Nation. The corporation was formed expressly for the purpose of maximizing Indigenous participation in mining. 28 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Minodahmun CEO John Glover said the agreement with Greenstone gives Indigenous workers priority access to jobs. It also takes on some of the responsibility to fund worker training. “The mine doesn’t plan to have a camp for the life of the project so they’re really relying on local people to be their workforce,” said Glover. Minodahmun is developing a series of training programs that will help community members prepare for some of the estimated 600 construction jobs and 550 operations jobs Greenstone will create. The first program offering, beginning with the course Readiness and Essential Skills for Employment Training (RESET), ran its inaugural term in the fall of 2020. The second phase of the program will include pre-trades courses that will put participants on the path to apprenticeships, and a third phase will work to get individuals into work placements. Minodahmun has also partnered with Confederation College in Thunder Bay and Oshki-Wenjack (a Thunder Baybased post-secondary training institute for Indigenous learners founded by the Nishnawbe Aski Nation) to provide various upskilling opportunities, including a security guard course and an AZ commercial truck driver’s course. AZA’s implementation coordinator Mason Shawayahamish said the programs have already started to generate excitement and hope in a community that has not had many job opportunities in recent years. “We’re starting to build our capacity and help our members to achieve employment, but not just in basic positions,” he said. “You want to see your membership work their way up or start at higher positions.” Glover agreed that the program will be a win for everybody. “There’s a labour shortage in this area, and lots of skilled people who are looking for opportunities right in the community.” Jeffrey Goodchild has taken advantage of two courses offered through Minodahmun already. Previously a seasonal firefighter, Goodchild was looking for an opportunity for full-time work. “As soon as I got my AZ, I got offers to work here [in the general area area],” he said, and with Glover’s help he has secured a position as a truck driver in Thunder Bay. Still, he hopes to work at Greenstone when jobs open up, and will seek pre-apprenticeship training when it becomes available.

education and training Working together Like Minodahmun, Waubetek Business Development is a corporation representing the interests of multiple First Nations communities who are negotiating with mining companies. Waubetek, which serves 27 First Nations communities in northern Ontario, was tasked with building economic opportunities for them. In 2019 it teamed up with Rio Tinto, Sudbury’s Laurentian University and the federal government to create a new Centre for Excellence for Indigenous Mineral Development. The centre’s mandate is to help provide tools for communities to better understand the mining industry, including creating a Mining 101 training program to support communities as they engage with companies who seek to develop on their lands. Being located on Laurentian’s campus means the centre has access to the school’s mining-focused departments and programs as well as experts who teach mining-related courses. Rio Tinto, which contributed $1 million in funding over five years to the centre, has been active in engaging First Nations partners throughout North America, most recently in its dealings with the Cheslatta Carrier Nation in British Columbia. In 2020, the Cheslatta Carrier Nation signed the New Day Agreement with Rio Tinto, a deal that had been in progress since 2012. The agreement’s purpose is to build a fresh partnership, after Alcan (now Rio Tinto) forced community members from their homes in 1952 in order to build the Kenney Dam that would power the company’s Kitimat aluminum smelter. The agreement supports the Cheslatta community, as well as Rio Tinto’s hydroelectric operations, through training, employment and business opportunities. It also supports community members who want to take part in environmental stewardship of the mine’s operation. Instruction will take place at a training centre located on Cheslatta’s traditional territory and will deliver trades courses, as well as safety, driver training and marine skills training for participants. (Rio Tinto currently engages barge and marine services from Cheslatta members.)

Providing a path for success Training workers close to their homes is an important factor in many of the agreements being forged. Community members with the motivation and skills to build new careers can be stymied by the distances they have to travel to earn skills credentials. Local programs create economic growth and stability by providing opportunities to learn, then apply newly acquired education at nearby jobs. Australia-based Newcrest Mining signed a new impact, benefit and co-management agreement with the Tahltan Central Government in April 2020, which includes provisions for the development and funding of training programs geared towards creating employability in British Columbia’s Red Chris mine. “Newcrest works closely with the Tahltan Central Government to train and upskill Tahltan people to help meet our production and technical engineering requirements at Red Chris mine,” said a company spokesperson. According to the Tahltan Central Government’s 2020 Industry Review, Newcrest is one of seven companies that have agreed to hire graduates of the organization’s no-cost Dease Lake Bootcamp courses, which teach a wide range of in-demand skills ranging from food safety to fork-lift driving to traffic control to hoisting and rigging. Newcrest is plan-

ning to be in the area for a long time as the company hopes to take the mine underground when the current open-pit mine is exhausted, in about ten years’ time. At that point, Newcrest hopes to train Tahltan workers on the block caving method of mining. Newcrest estimates that in addition to signing contracts for logging, firewood, and aircraft de-icing services with Indigenous-owned businesses, it directly employs about 220 Tahltan people, and noted that about half of apprentices at Red Chris are Tahltan community members. Tahltan training programs got an additional boost in February of 2021, when the Industry Training Authority (ITA) – a B.C. provincial government agency – signed a memorandum of understanding to increase sponsorship funding for community members looking to gain apprenticeships in the trades. Community-based sponsorships allow candidates to log hours towards earning credentials – a common roadblock to trades training in remote and rural communities. Both programs are supported by the Tahltan Central Government’s OnTrack initiative, an online tool that matches candidates with employment opportunities.

Meaningful participation By gaining a fulsome understanding of mining and the skill sets that support the industry, Indigenous governments and workers are forging a path that will help bring opportunities and economic stability to their communities, while helping to responsibly extract resources from their traditional lands. In turn, mining companies are extending their support and resources into the Indigenous communities. In the case of Rio Tinto, the company has worked to provide the region surrounding its B.C. operations with services such as medical care and even grocery delivery. These partnerships represent an important step in a long journey forward, but they are still new, and outcomes are far from guaranteed. Some of the partnerships require considerable financial involvement from communities for training and even the purchase of mining equipment. (A recent example of this is a memorandum of understanding between Canada Nickel and the Taykwa Tagamou Nation for mine fleet financing at the Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulfide project.) If mining development were to discontinue, it is not clear who would bear losses, and whether skills training would be applicable to other work within the communities. As large and complex as they are, delays and cancellations of mining developments are not uncommon. In April, some Ring of Fire operations were put on hold thanks to a dispute between the Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Neskantaga First Nations and the federal government over the First Nations’ input on a regional impact assessment of the effects of mining development in the James Bay lowlands. Even when mines progress as planned, it remains to be seen if the social and ecological costs that come with resource extraction balance out with the economic benefits of partnership agreements and promised jobs. With more Indigenous communities signing more agreements with mining companies, the hopes are high that the industry is finally on a better path forward in terms of Indigenous relations and that Indigenous community members will finally start to financially benefit from extractive activities that take place on their traditional lands. CIM May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 29

Courtesy of Davide Elmo

The new classroom: Davide Elmo, an associate professor at UBC’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, delivers an online lecture from his office.

COVID-19 delivers lessons in long-distance learning Mining schools and training organizations are using virtual education to help professionals upgrade skills and credentials By Carolyn Cooper

hen the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada last March, mining schools and other training organizations were faced with the immediate challenge of how to adapt in-person classes to online platforms. After more than a year of lockdowns, educators have learned a lot about delivering virtual training. That promises to have longterm benefits for the industry, allowing students and mining professionals to more easily access crucial training and credentialling remotely, no matter where they are residing or working. “The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of educational technology and the ability to deliver a curriculum in a virtual environment without impacting the quality of the material,” said Joanne MacLellan, dean of the Schools of Skilled Trades Training, Engineering Technology, and Safety and Environmental Studies at Cambrian College in Sudbury. The school’s mining engineering technician and technology diplomas have always been taught in-person, but are “currently offered in a blend of synchronous, virtual theory delivery, reinforced by on-campus hands-on labs to develop and 30 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

demonstrate the practical skills,” said MacLellan, noting that labs were modified to allow for COVID-19 protocols such as physical distancing. The college is currently considering how to offer programs post-pandemic, and plans to “re-assess what learning must take place in person, in a lab, and what courses, with appropriate technology and software, can be delivered virtually in a faculty-led manner.” The Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) offered several e-learning programs pre-pandemic, enabling it to swiftly shift programs to virtual platforms. MiHR’s Mining Essentials work-readiness training program for Indigenous peoples, designed as a classroom, activity-based program, has also transitioned to a blended online and physically distanced classroom format, explained MiHR executive director Ryan Montpellier. MiHR’s new Indigenous Awareness Training program will be delivered fully online by summer 2021. “The three-week training program focuses on providing learners with the foundational skills and competencies needed to enter the mining workforce,” said Montpellier.

education and training Reaching out across the world Offering access to the mining industry was also the motivation behind the executive microcertificate program launched last November by the Bradshaw Research Initiative in Minerals and Mining (BRIMM) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The multi-module program, called Mineral and Exploration Economics for a Sustainable Future, is built on a customized platform for professional education. “It was apparent a lot of people were having a pretty tough time, so [we thought] ‘Why don’t we offer a course to people who have lost their jobs and who are looking for something to help them transition into a new career in mining?’” explained John Steen, BRIMM director and associate professor at UBC’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering. “We offered it for free and had 500 people interested, of which about 200 finished the course. From that we thought, ‘Wow, everybody’s very comfortable now [taking classes] online.’” Courses are still being added to the program, including those with more technical training. Steen believes greater acceptance of virtual credentialling will open access to all levels of industry jobs. “There are a lot of people out there who have a real desire to get into the industry, and not necessarily in Vancouver or Toronto. They’re in South America [and] Central Africa,” he said. “The idea that they can have a study experience at UBC through their laptop is miraculous. And these are some of our best students, they’re just so engaged. That’s the miracle of the internet, you can reach people who really want to make a difference in how they’re living and their job opportunities.” High-level skills training does not have to feature expensive technology or other barriers that would make online learning difficult for students to access, said Steen. “You don’t need to go all the way to virtual reality to get big improvements in the learning experience,” he explained. “There’s a lot of [education technology] which is actually quite simple and straightforward. I do exercises like project management simulations with my undergrad courses, and there are a lot of simulations out there now, it’s just an exploding space.”

Microcredentials and continuous learning As well as opening opportunities for remote students, online microcertificates are a cost-effective and easy way for mining professionals to update essential skills and credentials. “Professionals need continuous development and ways to distinguish themselves from the rest by holding credentials. Microcredentialling is a way to learn in short sprints and still gain credentials for a set of relevant skills,” said Nicole Tardif, program co-ordinator for Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines in Sudbury. “Laurentian is starting to embark on microcredentials. The Goodman School of Mines is launching a mineral resources industry leadership certificate program in September 2021 for its current students that will soon be adapted for professional development learning through microcredentials.” The school currently offers professional development certificates in project management and environmental remediation virtually, and Tardif said the latter program will remain online. The key to industry adoption of online training post COVID19 will ultimately be the quality of the programing, and educa-

tors have learned a lot about what makes a good online program. Tardif noted, for example, that engineering professors have found creative ways to teach technical skills and engage students through a mix of pre-recorded videos explaining lab procedures, virtual field trips featuring guest lectures from industrial collaborators, and live training and tutorial sessions via Zoom to demonstrate software.

Long-term changes UBC’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering taught its masters of engineering courses remotely in the winter 2020 semester, with positive results. “Some of the courses that students take as part of the MEng may remain online for 2021 winter even if UBC moves back to in-person teaching,” said associate professor Davide Elmo. “Different instructors have different online teaching styles and preferences, but synchronous lectures appear to be better than asynchronous ones,” he said. “If we want professionals to take courses in their spare time, then the issue is how to keep students engaged online and interact with peers and instructors by watching an asynchronous video.” “The key takeaway in my mind regarding virtual delivery is that to be effective, faculty must realize that the virtual medium is not the same as the in-person experience, and adjust the delivery accordingly,” said MacLellan. “Cambrian invested several years ago in the Teaching and Learning Innovation Hub, an incubator to help our faculty try out new methods and approaches to teaching. It’s been integral to helping us pivot to theory being delivered online, and in the past year there’s been a significant amount of learning happening by the faculty regarding this new medium, with ongoing training and new tools to make the delivery of material more effective.” Most schools expect demand for online education to continue. “I think the move to online or remote learning is a permanent shift with a number of potential variations,” said MacLellan. “Although there will be some face-to-face training that still occurs in the future, to be competitive the market, including [at] Cambrian, will need to offer online training with asynchronous and synchronous options. We’ll need to invest in and embrace simulation software and determine a way to recognize the skills that people in the industry have developed from non-traditional pathways to facilitate the ability of individuals to obtain recognized credentials.” Montpellier agreed that a mixed delivery model is likely the way forward. “We anticipate the use of online/remote learning to remain prevalent, as it provides opportunity for learners who live and work in remote locations and were not able to take some in-person training,” he said. That is good news for the industry, said Steen, especially as demand increases for skilled mining professionals. “We’re at a unique time when the industry is growing and changing very quickly – the rates have changed in the adoption of new technologies, automation, the use of data, and we’re going to be in a position of massive skills shortage in a few years,” he explained. “In the absence of a whole lot of people rushing into mining, you’ve got to upskill the people you already have, and you can’t take them off site because you need them. That means virtual learning, and microcredentials based on ‘What do I need to know next month?’ I just don’t think we’re going back. It’s the perfect storm that’s arrived and we’re going to see a lot more of this very quickly.” CIM May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 31

Courtesy of Imperial Metals

More than just the legal perspective New course puts mining law in the context of business, climate change and Indigenous concerns By Carolyn Gruske

t is not often that mining professionals consider going to law school, but the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law is hoping its latest course offering will draw in mining recruits. The faculty of law is now accepting registration for a newly created mining law and sustainability program. The five-week, “executive learning” course designed for people in the mining sector – not lawyers – which will be taught for the first time in September, is a fully online and asynchronous offering requiring approximately a 30-hour commitment from students. At the end of the program, students will receive a certificate from Allard Law and, according to course co-creator Daniela Chimisso dos Santos, a deeper appreciation for the key issues “most critical to the mining agenda, which is first and foremost Indigenous Peoples and their perspectives, cultures and traditions, and how that needs to be interwoven with business decisions. Secondly, it’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), specifically the business and human rights agenda. And also, climate change, as well as anticorruption.” Course co-creator Chastity Davis, stressed that participation by Indigenous People is a vital part of the curriculum, and that students will hear from Indigenous lawyers, chiefs and business leaders, including Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars (speaking about Mount Polley), Tŝilhqot’in National Government Tribal Chairman Joe Alphonse (addressing Taseko Mines’ proposed New Prosperity mine) and Catherine Blackstock, who is both Gitxsan and a hereditary chief known as Geel (speaking about what it means to be a hereditary chief). “It’s a wonderful opportunity for this industry to connect with those leaders… Because there are negotiations and agendas in place when mining companies go to communities, so they may not have that opportunity to have the type of discussions Daniela and I were able to foster. We didn’t have that agenda of ‘we’re here to build a mine in your community,’” explained Davis.

Course structure The course is built around five modules. It opens with an introduction to the business of mining and the national and international legal and regulatory frameworks that shape the industry. That is followed by an examination of Indigenous law and legal traditions. After that come three modules that look at 32 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

The Mount Polley tailings dam breach will be one on the subjects presented in the mining law and sustainability course at UBC's Peter A. Allard School of Law. the business and legal issues that are specific to various phases in the life of a mine: the exploration stage, the development and operation of a mine, and the closures of a mine. Each module will have three separate lessons that follow the same pattern. The first lesson will address the main business issue on the agenda. The second related lesson will be the Indigenous perspective on the issue. The third will cover topics related to human rights, climate change and anticorruption. The lessons will include video interviews with people who have direct and personal experience with the topics. For example, a co-counsel for the Eritrean plaintiffs in the Nevsun Resources human rights case and a representative of the Mining Association of Canada, will both share their perspectives with the students about what the case means for the future of the mining industry.

Core business issues Both Davis and Chimisso dos Santos believe that mining companies should have specialists on the payroll who deal with what were formally the “non-core” issues of human rights, anticorruption practices, climate change and Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives. “It’s no longer good enough to just have an Indigenous relations department. Every employee has to know it. Just as with anticorruption. Everybody has to know about that,” said Davis. “One of the most important parts for us is the interweaving of these issues in every single business decision… These issues cannot be relegated to a CSR expert or somebody that is aside from the core business. These are issues core business needs to deal with. Every single professional in mining needs to be aware of how these issues impact their decisions,” said Chimisso dos Santos. “I think that in the environment we are in in 2021, this course encourages and leads the way to elevate the industry and bring it up to a level where it needs to be,” added Davis. CIM

SYMPOSIUM 2021 • VIRTUAL JUNE 14-16, 2021

REGISTRATION IS OPEN! The objectives of the Symposium are to share recent knowledge and research developments and to discuss common practices to find solutions that reconcile resource exploitation and environmental protection.

FEATURING:

4 3 20 4 1

SYMPOSIUM THEMES:

Innovative technical program themes

Tailings management

Keynote presentations from world class experts

Mine site restoration

High quality technical program presentations

Prediction of quality and water treatment

Short courses

Responsible development and mining innovation

Career award celebration

Follow CIM for more details and updates:

Courtesy of ArcelorMittal Mining Canada

Building up the cornerstone of the mining industry ArcelorMittal Mining Canada CEO extolls the virtues of training employees and broadening the talent pool By Carolyn Gruske

Mapi Mobwano, president and CEO.

api Mobwano has been president and CEO of ArcelorMittal Mining Canada for less than a year, having only been appointed in November 2020 (although he spent a year as acting CEO). Still, in his short time at the helm of the company that operates one of the largest open-cast mines in the country, an iron pelletizing plant in Port-Cartier, Quebec, as well as a private sea port and railway, he is already planning to move the business into the future when it comes to employee training and the use of technology to advance learning. Mobwano believes that training is vital, not just for ArcelorMittal, but for the mining industry as a whole.

CIM: How important is it for companies to provide employee training? Mobwano: It is extremely important to be able to keep your people competent and to keep them competitive. You have to continue providing training to your people: health and safety, vocational training, as well as technical skills and leadership [skills]. Training is the very cornerstone of sustaining the mining industry. In the mining industry, both across Canada and across the world, there is a tendency for companies to poach employees from each other – from the small pool of workers. Big companies like us, and even the industry in general, should really consider sustaining the pool of competency instead of creating a certain level of scarcity because we are getting workers from the same group. When you bring people into the mines, they come in kind of raw. They need to learn the mining game. I think we should continue investing in training.

CIM: When you talk about training, you break it into three categories: health and safety, technical skills and leadership. Let’s start with technical skills. What is the best way to impart technical knowledge? Mobwano: For technical people, the approach is, first of all, to be up to date with the changing trends. On the maintenance side, 34 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

for example, there are always new diagnostics that are coming into the market, new methods of troubleshooting, and so on. There are new improvements in parts components. One of the techniques is to partner with your suppliers, your OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], to provide technical coaching. They come to your place. They coach your people on the job. One of the training programs that we run with a partner – we call it a white gloves program – is just academic coaching. When we say white gloves, it means their hands aren’t supposed to get dirty. Technical people from some of our suppliers come and support our guys in terms of transferring the skills. Our Working Together program is a form of continuous improvement where you get our technical people with our supplier’s technical people to brainstorm improvements based on data that we have. Also, with our mineral processing division, for example, we do support some CEGEP [pre-university] training that we provide in-house.

CIM: What type of training teaches leadership skills? Mobwano: There is ArcelorMittal University, which is an online university that gives various types of training. [The courses] range from leadership skills and management to legal aspects and financial modelling. It really has quite a variety. One important emphasis is to impart the skill of motivating people, influencing people and leading people. Apart from the formal training program that we have, we do have a mentoring and coaching program as well where we identify our high-talent employees and they get allocated mentors and coaches. We found that having that proximity to a mentor in the group helps in terms of imparting leadership skills.

CIM: How do you evaluate employees? Mobwano: We have a detailed performance management program and high-potential evaluation system. We call it “HiPo.” During the year, leaders need to refer their subordinates, and through this process, there is a set of questions

education and training used to identify people and we follow them through the performance management system. Those who are identified as high potential and who meet the criteria, get selected for further leadership training.

CIM: What do you do to ensure everybody stays current with their health and safety training? Mobwano: For us, health and safety is non-negotiable. When you are working in the mines, you expect people to lead in terms of health and safety. In terms of the basic health and safety training, we teach people to identify the risks and make sure that they have the necessary controls in place [to shut down equipment]. We also have a training program to show the caring part about safety, because safety is not just about providing instructions but also about really demonstrating care from a leadership point of view and taking time to explain to people why certain things need to be in place, why their lives need to be protected. It is a mix of safety leadership and also the technical side of safety. When employees are hired, there is an onboarding period, where they will spend more than 25 or 30 per cent of the time in safety training. After that, it is basically refreshers. If we are running a working-at-height course, for example, every employee who is working in an environment where working at height is required will go through the program on an annual basis to get their permit validated. We have a tracking system that will validate the permit of the different employees and those whose permits expire will get a reminder through either the system or through their manager or supervisors about attending training programs.

CIM: Do you encourage employees to get outside certification or training (such as taking an MBA course)? Mobwano: We do. Currently, we reimburse 100 per cent of external training fees that are linked to employees’ current and core jobs, and up to 90 per cent for things that could help them for future career developments within the group. As part of the development program, all those things are identified in conversations with their respective managers to identify what kind of training would be required. If I wish to do an MBA, for example, I talk to my supervisors. They check the relevance and see if it is going to be reimbursed by the company, then there is a formal approval process that is followed.

CIM: Are there skills you’d like to see your employees learn? Mobwano: For us, first we want to see any skill that will support us in maintaining our social licence to operate. Naturally, that includes the appreciation of the environment and the neighbouring communities. We know a decision by an individual can easily cause long-term damage to the environment or the communities. In any course, that has to be a strong element. What is also driving us is that we are looking for anything that will prepare us for digital transition. We know the industry is really catching up in terms of digitalization and new technologies will require this kind of skill set. We would be looking for any graduate program or technical program that would integrate in someway digital transformation. We are also looking for programs about energy efficiency and renewable energy – anything that can help us transition along

the decarbonization process and into green energy. These are the areas we are focusing on, obviously on top of the leadership side of things and new ways to improve how we deal with people. Something the mining industry never paid attention to in the past is mental health, and courses that teach people to appreciate that mental health exists and the need to take care of our people. Also, courses focusing on diversity. This is also training that we like having because we’ve seen, from various communities and working in various jurisdictions, that diversity is important for us.

CIM: When you think of the mining engineer of the future, what type of employee do you envision? Mobwano: It will not be the type of mining engineer I was when I came out of university. You have to think about how you put a mix of different disciplines together to create a suitable mining engineer of the future. Mining engineers will have to look at data science now that there is a lot of data that we collect and now that we do a lot of forecasting with numerical modelling. We don’t want to transform mining engineers into data scientists, but they should have a fair knowledge of modelling that will help them when they do their scenario planning. We used to say mining engineers were generalist engineers. They need a bit of everything: geology, rock engineering and a bit of metallurgy. They need a bit of electrical engineering to understand the functioning of electrical circuits. I think we should continue along those lines and add to the skills they have and add data science and more appreciation of information systems. Respect for the environment has always been part of the discipline, but they need to apply it in the new digital world. They shouldn’t get a notification after an event happens. They need to have predictability in everything they do. They should be able to see all the scenarios and what is the most likely outcome and reduce variability and increase certainty. They should not be fighting disasters but actually avoiding them. For me, that’s where mining engineering should be going. There are many places where mining is considered as a dirty job. We need to change that perception because society needs what we do. Society needs iron. Society needs different minerals to make sure we function and those minerals are mined. The responsibility of miners is that we do it in a way that makes mining co-operate with all the other activities and industries.

CIM: How do you see training evolving at ArcelorMittal? Mobwano: We need to do a lot of e-learning and computerbased training. We still had a lot of physical-presence training. Obviously, with COVID happening, it forced us to think differently. Despite COVID-19 in 2020, we were still able to offer over 115,000 hours of training to our employees, in comparison to 2019 when we gave 180,000 hours. We need to make sure that we migrate more into e-learning but also to make sure we keep the training relevant and up to date, taking into account those areas I mentioned about digitalization, new technologies, diversity, licence to operate and health and safety. We really need to keep up to date with the training using new immersive technology where employees can really be into a situation without necessarily being there – the whole virtual set-up. We need to be moving into those areas. It’s a journey. We need to make sure our people stay up to date. CIM May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 35

Courtesy of De Beers Group

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feature

Diamond versus diamond Even though man-made diamonds have the potential to satisfy our appetite for sparkle, they may never rock the mined-diamond industry By Carolyn Gruske

t was just a single word, but by deleting one adjective from a federal guideline, a U.S. government agency redefined an elemental form and forced a North American retail industry – and its customers – to come to a new understanding of one of its oldest and most traditional products, diamonds. That change created even more uncertainty for a segment of the mining industry that is already prone to cyclical highs and lows. The deleted word was “natural.” Prior to the change in 2018, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Jewelry Guides – which the agency produces to help structure the market for precious metal, pewter, diamond, gemstone and pearl products – described diamonds as “natural stones that are formed of pure carbon crystallized in the isometric system, as long as they have been symmetrically fashioned with at least 17 polished facets. In addition the stones must have a hardness of 10, a specific gravity of about 3.52 and a refractive index of 2.42.” The change came about after a San Francisco-based company that produces synthetic diamonds, The Diamond Foundry, lobbied the agency and argued that what mattered was the optical, chemical and physical properties of the gem, not its origins. The FTC agreed, although it did so with one condition: a qualifier had to be used before the word diamond to indicate the stone’s manufactured origin. Companies that sell diamonds that are not naturally produced or mined need to clearly indicate that, or face penalties. While the rules about what is and what is not a diamond have been clarified by government edict, that same level of clarity is not yet evident in what lab-created or factory-grown or manmade or cultured diamonds mean for the future of the mineddiamond industry. That will come down to the consumer. As jewellery buyers become more familiar with the manufactured version of the gemstone, which sell at a lower price-per-carat than their mined counterparts, the question then becomes will shoppers be enticed to forego the mystique and allure of naturally produced stones for the ability to buy bigger and flashier sparklers for the same price? And if diamonds become more of a commodity item, how does the mined-diamond industry compete? At this point, it may be too soon to come up with a definitive answer, but it is certainly time to start asking the questions.

Replicating nature At their very basic, diamonds are carbon atoms arranged in groups of eight in what is known as a cubic crystal structure or diamond lattice. Diamonds can also contain tiny (typically up to 0.05 per cent) amounts of other trace elements such as nitrogen or boron. It is these trace elements that produce coloured diamonds. Boron, for example, creates grey or blue stones. Nitrogen is responsible for tones ranging from a very light-yellow tinge

(considered to be undesirable in a white diamond) to brilliant canary yellow (which is highly prized as a coloured stone). Diamonds form anywhere from 150 to 750 kilometres below the surface of the Earth and are transported upward in volcanic eruptions of magma. Just a fraction of them find their way near enough to the surface to be extracted. Technology, however, has provided a more reliable source. Although research into the diamond synthesizing process was being conducted in Sweden and the Soviet Union as early as the 1940s, it was not until 1954 when the first credited man-made diamond was produced in a General Electric facility in Schenectady, New York. The company’s “Project Superpressure” research team built a press that could generate and maintain pressures of 100,000 atmospheres at temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees Celsius for long periods of time. Diamond crystal seeds placed in iron sulfide and subjected to the high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) treatment turned into small, brown diamonds. The “first credited” designation is important to note because two years earlier, another U.S.-based company, Union Carbide, produced two small diamonds using a different method. Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) involves much lower temperature and pressure – conditions that had skeptics doubting the veracity of Union Carbide’s claims, which eventually caused the company to abandon the project. HPHT and CVD remain the two techniques used to produce factory-created diamonds, even though the output that modern facilities can create are leaps and bounds beyond the size and types of diamonds created in the 1950s.

Counting carats and creating colour Today, diamond production has moved away from research labs into large-scale factories. New York-based ALTR Group, for example, operates an 80,000-square-foot facility in India that produces, cuts (with robots), polishes and mounts lab-created diamonds into jewellery. Company president Amish Shah said ALTR produces 300,000 carats per year – with 90 per cent of stones over 0.7 carats – and production is expected to double in both 2022 and 2023. ALTR primarily uses CVD reactors to grow the stones. ALTR’s factory houses reactors, which are round vacuumseal chambers. Small, highly polished diamond seeds (which measure between eight and 20 millimetres) are placed in the chamber and exposed to a mix of gases including carbon-containing methane. “When we start raising the temperature in this chamber, the gas is split and the carbon gets excited. At a certain temperature, this carbon starts bonding as a lattice with the diamond seed at the bottom of the chamber and the diamond starts growing layer by layer,” said Shah. May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 37

Courtesy of Gemological Institute of America Inc.

In total, those 111 million carats had an estimated production value of US$9 billion to US$9.5 billion, with the two carat or larger stones accounting for 40 to 45 per cent of that total value. Medium-sized stones were 30 to 35 per cent of the value, small stones were worth 20 to 25 per cent of production value, and the largest segment by carat weight, industrial diamonds, was worth only three per cent. In comparison, the report stated that “in 2020, lab-grown diamond production reached six to seven million carats, with 50 per cent to 60 per cent of it manufactured in China using highpressure high-temperature technology. Chemical vapour deposition technology is gaining share, with India and the U.S. emerging as major production centres.” As the availability of lab-created diamonds rose, their prices dropped, and the gap between the prices for mined diamonds and lab-created ones widened. Bain & Company reported that in Q4 2017, the retail price for a lab-created one-carat VS G-coloured stone was approximately 65 per cent of the price of a mined stone of similar quality. In Q4 2020, it was only 35 per cent.

Retail market

In HPHT synthesis, a press applies extremely high pressures and temperatures to a central growth chamber that contains the necessary ingredients. This results in synthetic diamond crystals with combinations of cubic and octahedral faces. The resulting product is a diamond covered in a dark polycarbonate layer which is cut away with a water-jet laser to reveal a white gemstone. If a white stone has too much of a yellowish tinge, ALTR can “mature” the stone via an HPHT treatment to permanently improve the colour. The company also produces coloured diamonds, including blues, yellows and pinks, and HPHT comes into play here as well. While CVD-created diamonds are diamonds, they do not grow in quite the same way natural stones do, explained James Shigley, distinguished research fellow at the Carlsbad, California-based Gemological Institute of America. He said that HPHT produces diamonds with more of a natural-like structure: ones with both octahedral and cube faces. CVD diamonds are grown as flat layers, resulting in a rectangular flattened plate. “When you cut a stone, the upper surface of the plate is generally the table facet of the diamond, so you have a limited tableto-culet distance in the CVD diamond, just by the way it is grown,” said Shigley. Essentially, this means a CVD rough stone would have to be larger than an HPHT one to cut the same size round, brilliant diamond.

Production figures Despite ALTR’s reported production and growth, the output of the lab-created diamond industry is relatively tiny compared to that of the mined-diamond industry. The Global Diamond Industry 2020-21, Bain & Company’s authoritative report on the industry, notes that 111 million carats were mined in 2020, with 41 per cent of the production going into the industrial diamond market. Of the remainder, seven per cent represented large stones (two carats or larger), 18 per cent was medium-sized stones (0.4 to 2.0 carats) and 34 per cent of production was small stones (less than 0.4 carats). 38 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Lightbox is De Beer’s own brand of CVD-produced diamond jewellery. It sells products based on the diamond price of US$800 per carat, which makes a basic three-pronged pair of 14K gold stud earrings, with a total diamond weight of one carat US$1,250. Blue Nile, a well-known U.S.-based online retailer that sells finished jewellery and both mined and manufactured loose stones, offers a three-pronged 14K gold pair of mined-diamond earrings with one-carat total diamond weight for US$2,300. Blue Nile’s diamonds are I in colour and I1 in clarity. The diamonds in Lightbox’s earrings have a very good cut, are near colourless with a VS clarity – a much higher quality stone. “A key difference between lab-grown diamonds and natural diamonds is their value proposition,” said David Johnson, head of corporate communications for De Beers Group, which is 85 per cent owned by Anglo American. “Our research indicates that consumers see lab-grown diamonds as being suitable for fashion jewellery at an accessible price point and for less emotionally significant occasions than you would choose a natural diamond for… [W]e have seen more and more lab-grown companies position the product as fashion jewellery, with average prices declining. This trend is expected to continue and follow a similar trajectory to other lab-grown gems such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires, which now retail for around 10 per cent of the value of their natural counterparts and are sold almost exclusively as fashion jewellery.” In Canada, an increasing number of retail jewellery stores are offering pieces featuring created diamonds. And not just in fashion pieces like pendants and bracelets, but in the mainstay of the industry: bridal sets. Even the venerable Maison Birks has plans to add lab-created diamond jewellery to its display cases and has struck a deal with ALTR.

The price of luxury Still, experts question whether lab-created stones will really make inroads in the bridal and significant gift-giving segments like milestone birthdays and anniversaries. People making selfpurchases may be an easier audience to win over, if they just want the largest, most sparkling value for their dollar. Even the millennial generation, which is often positioned as a group that likely would not purchase diamonds, still wants a mined engage-

feature

Ecological claims and sustainability Beyond the price, one of the reasons why consumers, especially younger ones, say they would consider lab-created diamonds is that they are not weighted with the “blood diamond” and environmental stigmas the natural diamond industry has worked hard to shake. Yet, it is a sector with its own liabilities. Mass-produced diamonds coming out of factories that are powered by coal-fired plants have their own footprint. ALTR is investigating the possibility of solar or wind generation capabilities in the hope of one day being carbon neutral. Lightbox located its factory in Portland, Oregon, in part because of the availability of hydroelectric power. The Diamond Foundry proclaims that it is certified as a zero-carbon producer and uses power from hydro generation. So, just as carbon emissions for each diamond mine are different, there is no one carbon footprint or sustainability rating for lab-created diamonds. Additionally, the lab-created diamond industry is essentially unregulated, whereas depending on the national jurisdiction, mining tends to fall under regulatory scrutiny. The mined-diamond industry also has experience with certification schemes and processes, such as the Kimberley Process or the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) certification. One body that has been paying attention to the claims made by diamond growers is the FTC. In its Green Guides, it sets out what claims can and cannot be made. Specifically, it advises that “advertisers must have a reasonable basis for any environmental benefit claims they make for their products.” It also states that advertisers must qualify their claims adequately to avoid deception.

Future exploration trends: coloured diamonds and superdeeps While the production of factory-grown diamonds has been ramping up, the opposite trend is happening in the mined-diamond world. Since the peak years of 2017 and 2018, worldwide production of naturally produced diamonds has been falling at a rate of approximately five per cent per year, according to the Bain report. In 2020, that drop was 20 per cent – or 28 million carats – although most of that decline was due to COVID-19related closures. Russia, Canada, Botswana and Australia experienced the biggest declines. In Canada, both the Ekati and Renard mines were temporarily shut down due to the pandemic. With the closure of Australia’s Argyle mine in November 2020 and mines in Canada reaching their end of mine life, the future of the industry can start to look a bit uncertain. “There’s a significant amount of production that’s going to be coming out of the supply chain because of the Argyle mine closure. Look at Diavik, which is one of the big mines in the North-

Courtesy of Gemological Institute of America Inc.

ment ring, said Paul Zimnisky, a New York-based diamond industry analyst. “What I see anecdotally is girls in that generation don’t want to admit that they want a natural diamond, but they want a natural diamond at the end of the day. I’ve looked at the psychology of luxury and of engagement ring gift giving and there is human signaling in it. There is psychological study of this. If you are giving a diamond engagement ring, it has to be a certain price point that makes it meaningful in the sense of it being a sacrifice.” He added that currently, the average engagement ring purchased in the United States falls into the US$4,000 to US$6,000 range. In CVD synthesis, microwaves split apart the hydrocarbon molecules fed into the reactor. These fragments migrate down to the colder diamond seed and attach to the growing diamond surface. west Territories. There’s probably only four or five years of production left there. It’s going to be very difficult to replace those assets,” said Zimnisky. Additionally, in March, De Beer’s Victor mine, in Ontario, entered what the company called “the next phase of closure following the appointment of Golder as the prime contractor who will take on the remaining demolition and site rehabilitation.” By the end of 2020, De Beers had demolished 65 per cent of the site’s infrastructure and rehabilitated 40 per cent of the site. “I think the reason the industry has had problems in the last decade is because the market was oversupplied. You had high prices, which made new exploration development enticing, but by the time that new supply came online, the market was becoming oversupplied,” explained Zimnisky. “I think that with the nature of this business, there’s a long lead time. It could take 15 or 20 years after discovery is made to put a mine into production. You can’t really be nimble with turning it on and off, depending on where prices are.” Those lead times, plus the expense of exploration, are just some of the reasons that junior explorers have cooled on diamond exploration, said John Kaiser, editor of Kaiser Research Online, an information platform for Canadian and Australian listed companies involved in exploration and mining and home to the KRO Diamond Resource Center. “There hasn’t been a very significant, rewarding discovery in the past decade, and the criteria that people have gotten used to, which is high micro-diamond counts indicating a high grade, was kind of destroyed when Peregrin Diamonds [which initially returned a high micro-diamond count at Chidliak] ended up being bought by De Beers for $115 million cash. That was after $100 million had already been sunk into the Chidliak project, which was a classic grassroots discovery all the way through the preliminary economic assessment which suggested a value of $450 million.” According to Kaiser, Chidliak suffered through a number of problems starting with what he describes as a “botched” early-stage assessment, some low-grade bulk sampling results “which crashed the market,” a funding partner that walked away from the diamond project, a downturn in the diamond market and the loss of faith of the investors. Besides Chidliak, Kaiser pointed to other situations at Canadian mines that have made investors leery, including breakage problems at Renard, which led to Stornoway Diamond’s subsequent bankruptcy, and the low grades at Star Diamond Corp.’s Fort à la Corne mineral dispositions. May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 39

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Courtesy of De Beers Group

Kaiser explained that unlike gold veins, for example, which are easy to grade and determine resource estimates on, diamonds are much more challenging, requiring multiple steps including finding the kimberlite, drilling and collecting samples to test for micro diamonds, more drilling to establish the internal geology of the kimberlite (“because kimberlites aren’t just one big eruption”), getting a macro grade prediction and bulk sampling. The cost of doing all that, he said, is somewhere in the order of $20 million to $30 million, which is a substantial outlay for a junior, especially one without a larger partner. With costs running that high, the industry has been shunning deposits with small, low-grade diamonds that originate in the Earth’s lithosphere. Instead, the preference is for Type IIa diamonds - also know as "CLIPPIR" diamonds (Cullinanlike, large, inclusion-poor, pure, irregular In 2020, miners extracted 111 million carats of diamonds from the Earth, with nearly 66 million carats and resorbed) or Type IIa diamonds that being jewellery-grade stones. In contrast, between six and seven million carats were manufactured for the get their start anywhere between 400 and jewellery trade that same year. 700 kilometres below the Earth’s crust. Superdeeps, as they are also known, tend to be larger and they are perceived as ‘fun’ and ‘fashionable,’ cost less than natucoloured, often blue. They are also worth a lot of money with sin- ral diamonds, and are seen as good for a self-purchase item as an gle diamonds selling for millions or tens of millions of dollars. alternative to apparel or leather goods.” There did seem to be a The problem is finding them, explained University of Alberta cap on how much people would pay for fun and fashion as seven research fellow Karen Smit, who is based in South Africa. out of 10 indicated they would spend no more than $1,000 for a “The goal of our industry as a whole is to try and refine our piece of jewellery featuring lab-grown diamonds. exploration models so that we’re better able to find superdeep For those in the mined-diamond industry like Smit who have diamonds. It’s just that we don’t know how to target for those made it their life’s work to study diamonds, it is evident that there deposits specifically.” is a place for factory created stones, just as the survey suggests. Lucara’s Karowe mine in Botswana is one that produces “As a geologist, I prefer natural diamonds because they can superdeeps, including two diamonds over 1,000 carats and 19 tell us something about the earth. They’re an interesting, natuthat were over 300 carats. In comparison, Smit said, “HPHT can ral sample that we can use to study our planet. And for that reagrow 100 carat rough diamonds…but certainly HPHT diamonds son, I would love to have a natural diamond as jewellery because are getting larger. CVDs as well. In the last decade, there’s been it represents something to me.” almost an exponential growth in size of CVD diamonds.” In contrast, she said other people may appreciate man-made While lab-created producers might not be able to evenly com- stones for being examples of technological innovation and scienpete with giant-sized superdeep producers, there is one particu- tific endeavours. She also pointed out that while people have lar area they reign supreme: melee diamonds and small-sized budgets, especially younger people, they still have the desire for stones. Used as accents, melee diamonds are less than 0.2 carats luxuries. “They still want to wear nice jewellery, and I think synand can be as small as 0.001 carats. thetics are good options. I certainly don’t think we need to scorn “The vast majority of synthetic diamond production is very them because they aren’t going away. We just have to accept tiny stones, which end up being cut stones that are one one- them and adapt to them. We have to find their place.” hundredth of a carat. I mean stones that you would see as side Similarly, Shah also believes that as long as consumers can stones,” said Shigley. choose between lab-grown and mined, the entire jewellery industry benefits. Finding a place “Our competition is travel. Our competition is luxury prodDespite the FTC saying factory-grown diamonds are real, ucts: handbags, shoes, dresses. Our competition is electronics. We today’s consumers seem to have a slightly different perception. need to work together so that [our potential customer] doesn’t In March, De Beers released the results of a survey that asked end up buying her a tablet on her birthday,” said Shah. “Let’s focus 5,000 Americans what they thought about the man-made on the bigger picture of a bigger, better jewellery industry. The stones. The result was that even though “47 per cent of con- worst we can do is fight within the industry and confuse the cussumers did not agree with the statement that lab-grown dia- tomer because we know what happens to confused customers: monds are ‘real’, consumers will still consider acquiring them as they go buy something else.” CIM

Courtesy of Exyn Technologies

The use of autonomous drones allows geotechnical engineers to map dangerous or inaccessible areas underground.

An eye U underground New digital measuring tools are simplifying geotechnical engineering in challenging environments By Matthew Parizot

nderground mining inherently comes with its own unique set of challenges. Drilling and blasting can cause the structure of the rock to become unstable, so constant geotechnical monitoring is key to avoiding potential hazards or injuries. The underground environment, often dark and humid with areas that are unsafe for employees to enter, can make getting an accurate picture of the mine difficult. However, the mining industry has fully entered the digital age, and new tools are being developed that can offset the potential geotechnical obstacles present in underground mining. Artificial intelligence systems capable of autonomous mapping of hazardous areas, monitors that function even as the earth shifts around them and handheld on-the-spot structural analysis are just some of the tools in the modern geotechnical engineer’s toolbelt.

Seeing around corners Aerial drones have become advantageous throughout mining operations. Underground, LiDAR-equipped drones are flown by pilots to create an accurate digital twin of the mine, which can provide critical information on the state of the overall mine structure. Unfortunately, operating a drone hundreds of metres below the surface presents a challenge when it comes to maintaining a connection between existing communications infrastructure, including GPS. Even as mines are installing Wi-Fi networks underground, stope blasting can create areas that are inaccessible or dangerous for employees to enter and that might not be covered by the network. This was the issue facing Canadian miner Rupert Resources at its historic Pahtavaara gold mine in northern Finland. The mine had been under care and maintenance since its previous owner, Lappland Goldminers, declared bankruptcy in 2014, and Rupert needed an up-to-date model of the mine to plan for a potential May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 41

42 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Courtesy of Elexon Mining

restart. The company went to Philadelphia-based autonomous robot system expert Exyn Technologies for help. “The situation with Rupert, this is a mine that was in care and maintenance, and essentially they were trying to get a better understanding of the state of the mine,” said Exyn CEO Nader Elm. “With any mine, there’s only so much data you can gather with humans and past technologies. They’ve done that, but they needed a much higher detailed, higher fidelity understanding of the asset they owned.” To accomplish this, Exyn employed drones equipped with the company’s ExynAI software platform, which uses artificial intelligence to allow drones to fly on autonomous missions without requiring a pilot to fly it or constant communication with an operator. The wireless markers provide detailed tilt and tilt direction data to get a better understanding of underground The drone can produce 3D point movement. cloud maps of the area combined with any data from additional sensors, such as an accelerome“We’re mining below an historic and closed open pit, underter or a gravitometer. The data can then be automatically standing the subsidence interactions and extents between the exported to analysis software (Exyn recently announced a part- underground mine and surface is important” said senior site nership with Sandvik to integrate ExynAI with OptiMine, Sand- geotechnical engineer Corey Kamp. “Subsidence behaviour we vik’s analytics suite). see on site is typically gradual, however we need to monitor the Elm compares it to how people generate a sense of their own deformation rates and the extents need to be well understood.” environment inside their heads. New Gold found that most traditional subsurface monitor“In terms of figuring out where we are, we rely on our eyes ing instruments rely on a wired connection, which can be a lot but all our other senses are providing information to our deformed during ground movement, resulting in lost data and brains to figure out: ‘I’m sitting. I’m leaning this way. This is lost expenses to replace the instrument. In order to solve this my room. This is where I am in the room.’ And so on. We’re issue, New Gold partnered with SRK Consulting, who reached mimicking what you and I are unconsciously doing in our out to Elexon Mining to trial its Geo4Sight system of wireless brains and that’s basically what we’re building in a robotics subsurface monitors at the site. system.” Geo4Sight consists of a chain of battery-powered nodes At Pahtavaara, the drone was able to map 30 stopes. Using spaced underground at regular intervals (maximum five the information generated by the drone, in combination with metres) that communicate with each other wirelessly. Due to data collected during a car-mounted tour of the access drifts, the measuring units present on each node, factors such as tilt Exyn produced a complete map of the mine in four days. data, pore pressure data and more can be determined as well as key information for predicting ground movement. Tracking subsidence “[It’s] very interesting the data you can get. It’s tilt data, The geological impacts of underground mining are not which allows you to directly obtain the dip and the dip direcalways contained underground. Caving mining methods can tion,” Elexon mining engineer Andrés Aguirre said. “That’s very cause deformation and subsidence of the ground surface. To important because inside each marker… you have three optimize production paths, development and surface infra- accelerometers and three magnetometers. That means you can structure is typically situated close to the mining area. How- get the data in three axes. You can get the orientation of the ever, detailed knowledge of the subsidence limits – a gradual movement, that’s why you can get the dip and dip direction… sinking of the ground – on the surface is unknown until mining Sometimes with traditional technologies, it’s complicated to advances, which can present a risk to infrastructure above- see what the direction of the real movement is. That is very ground and future planning for surface operations. Therefore, it important in mining.” is critical to monitor the subsidence evolution to mitigate Elexon’s platform was created for use in deep subsurface adverse safety and economic impacts. monitoring, but New Gold and SRK trialled the product close to When New Gold began production underground at its New the surface. The Geo4Sight markers, multipoint borehole extenAfton mine west of Kamloops, British Columbia, it installed a someters (MPBX) and wired time-domain reflectometers (TDR) comprehensive array of instrumentation to monitor subsidence were installed in three holes, while the fourth contained only on surface from the block cave mining underground. the markers and a TDR.

Courtesy of RockMass

geotechnical information and monitoring form.” Four years later, Marshall and Gallant met Shelby Yee and started RockMass to commercialize the technology, henceforth known as the AxisMapper. “As a geoengineer myself, I had done a lot of the mapping manually,” said Yee, now co-founder and CEO of RockMass. “Most people in mining are doing this type of mapping using a compass and pen and paper. When Dr. Marshall and Dr. Gallant showed me their technology that could streamline this entire process to save tons of time and get more meaningful data, it seemed like something that would definitely be valuable for the industry.” The AxisMapper is a handheld mobile data-collection device designed to work in underground environments. It uses a LiDAR scanner alongside an industrial inertial measurement unit, comprised of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and magnetometer, that allows it to scan a rock feature from a distance and determine its orientation regardless of how the device is held. The AxisMapper generThe AxisMapper facilitates mobile structural data collection for geotechnical engineers. ates a point cloud of the feature, which is passed through the algorithm to deterAccording to Kamp, the results of the trial showed that the mine its structural orientation. The user can georeference the Geo4Sight delivered accurate ground movement data that lined data immediately, make edits or add image annotations to it up with the deformation seen on surface, even in areas that before exporting it as a detailed data set to use in a dedicated were no longer readable with conventional instrumentation. analytics program. The TDR cables were deformed beyond their monitoring limits, All-in-all, RockMass says that doing the analytics on site can resulting in lost data, but the data collected by the wireless result in significant time savings for engineers. MBTX and Geo4Sight markers were able to compensate. “As we’re talking to all sorts of different mine sites across According to a case study later released by SRK, New Gold con- the world, we are seeing a personnel shortage throughout the tinued to use the markers alongside its other instruments to industry. Maximizing management for geotechs or geologists monitor subsidence at New Afton. or whoever is using the AxisMapper is valuable,” said geotech“The worth and success of the trial was around the specific nical sales manager Jessica Andrew. “Therefore, by completing application for close to near surface… From the mine’s perspec- a task that has to happen every day for them as efficiently as we tive, we always want to continue to be innovative and use can and capturing the quality of data that we are able to capwhat’s available out there to try and understand or ground ture, it makes their whole process from start to finish four to six deformation and understand risks from planned mining activi- times faster.” ties,” he said. RockMass sees its product as the next step towards the digital transformation of geotechnical engineering. Instant analysis “There’s a trend [where] people in mining like to be critical When the geotechnical monitoring needs to be done in per- of themselves, saying things like, ‘Oh, we’re so far behind. No son, it can be a cumbersome task. Geotechnical engineers using one adopts technology, et cetera.’ I don’t really see it that way at pen, paper and their trusty Brunton compass to record data on all,” RockMass vice-president business development Don specific rock features underground can spend too much valu- Toporowski said. “What I see is a strong trend towards digitizaable time to complete their daily tasks and encounter potential tion, and most of that until recently has been focused on particsafety risks if they have to approach newly excavated rock. ular software that helps people visualize what the mine looks Technological solutions such as using photos and stationary like in three dimensions… But one of the things that was missLiDAR measurements exist, but can have issues with price, ing and hindering progress to full digitization is the actual data accuracy and human error. to build those visualizations. Our tool is one of the first that In 2012, Queen’s University associate professor Joshua Mar- allows them to acquire the data so they can make those models shall and then-PhD candidate Marc Gallant set out to simplify as soon as possible. You simply point it and shoot. You can carry the process. They developed an approach they called “axis map- the thing around easily.” ping,” which they defined as “an algorithm that accurately and For geotechnical engineers working in challenging environautomatically estimates an axis map [stereonet] of an environments, this digital transformation of the field could make their ment based on sensor measurements collected by a mobile plat- jobs much easier. CIM May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 43

Courtesy of Trevali Mining

Low zinc prices and escalating costs were just two of the factors that caused Trevali Mining to put the Caribou mine into care and maintenance.

Hitting the reset button Trevali restarted the shuttered Caribou mine with a new lease on life By Kylie Williams

n mid-November 2020, Marie-Claude Dumont, senior operations manager at Trevali Mining’s Caribou zinc-lead-silver mine in northern New Brunswick, “dusted off the life-ofmine plan” for the operation the company had shuttered nine months earlier. With zinc prices on the rise and a faint light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, Dumont and her team ran the numbers to assess the feasibility of restarting the mine. The models looked good, and with a healthy hedging deal in place, Trevali moved swiftly to announce the restart of the mine on Jan. 15, 2021. By March 6, the first ore was at the surface and delivered to the stockpile, 20 days shy of a year since Trevali announced the temporary suspension of mine operations.

Just plodding along Trevali bought the Caribou underground mine and mill complex in late 2012. (The mine originally began as an open pit in 1970.) It is one of about 46 mineral deposits with defined tonnage in the northern New Brunswick’s Bathurst mining camp that, together with another hundred mineral occurrences, make up one of Canada’s great mining camps. After completing some underground work, Trevali declared commercial production at the mine in July 2016 and resumed production of zinc and lead concentrates with silver as a by-product. Between July 2016 and March 2020, the mine produced 279 million pounds of zinc, 102 million pounds of lead and 2.8 million ounces of silver. Before Trevali decided to put the mine into care and maintenance in March 2020, several factors were causing the produc44 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

tion costs at Caribou to inch upwards: the fleet was due for refurbishment, ore recovery was difficult and underground operations challenging, labour was expensive compared to Trevali’s operations in other countries, and freight costs were “just going through the roof,” said Trevali president and CEO, Ricus Grimbeek. “If you’re not putting the volume through the mill, then suddenly your fixed costs just eat you up,” Grimbeek said. “There were a couple of things that we couldn’t control at that stage like the benchmark treatment charges that were just short of $300 a tonne, an all-time high.” (The benchmark treatment charge is a set rate for the pricing of zinc concentrate smelting contracts between mining firms and smelters around the world.) Then, in March 2020, the pandemic hit and zinc’s price dropped about US$0.30 in two months to less than US$0.85 per pound. With the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 and poor forecasts for the price of zinc, Trevali announced a temporary suspension of operating activities at Caribou on March 26.

“A hot care and maintenance” “It’s one of the toughest decisions to put an operation into care and maintenance,” said Grimbeek, “I spoke to the premier of the province back then, before this happened, because I know the impact that these types of decisions have upon not just the people that work there, but also the communities.” Caribou closing was an additional blow to northern New Brunswick. Glencore had previously announced that its

All photos courtesy of Trevali Mining

project proﬁle

Clockwise from top left: In 2021, Trevali expects its cost to produce one pound of zinc to be approximately US$0.90 per pound; after disposing of its entire mining fleet in 2020, Trevali contracted Redpath Mining Contractors and Engineers to supply and run the needed equipment; before restarting, Trevali performed some preventive maintenance, including replacing the ball mill liners. May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 45

Brunswick smelter would be decommissioned in November 2019. It had operated in the area since 1966. About 350 workers were employed at the Caribou mine before the decision to switch to care and maintenance. All but 11 workers were let go with severance packages, some who had been at Caribou since the restart of the mine five years earlier. Of the 11 that remained, three were responsible for maintaining the dewatering system. “We call it a hot care and maintenance because we knew we were going to restart,” said Grimbeek, “We’re not putting it into a cold care and maintenance, flooding the mine and doing all that stuff. We knew we were going to restart this because we could see the potential.” Although production costs were high before the temporary shut-down, Grimbeek knew that the zinc price would recover and focused on the positives, including the “amazing” Caribou ore deposit and surrounding underdeveloped deposits, a skilled workforce, as well as a supportive community and provincial government. Caribou also has the only mill in the area and the capacity to process more ore than Caribou can produce.

Trevali worked with its union to offer positions in the mill to previous workers and, because many had retired or taken positions elsewhere, worked through the collective agreement to reassign roles and fill the gaps with new hires. Dumont estimates that about half of the 250-strong workforce on-site in March 2021 are familiar faces returning to work at Caribou. However, hiring over 200 people during a pandemic was “a bit of a struggle,” said Dumont. Thankfully, many of the workers were local, but those from out-of-province needed to self-isolate for two weeks, following provincial guidelines. Trevali also applied for a deviation from the province and worked with the local hospital to facilitate pre-employment medical checks and COVID-19 testing on the weekends. “[The province] wanted to make sure we were doing things right,” said Dumont. “They made sure we had a plan in place. It didn’t really stop us from getting the people here, but it maybe slowed it down a little bit from what we thought in the beginning.” Before restarting the mill, Trevali also took the time to do some preventive maintenance, such as replacing the ball mill liners.

Driving the decision to reopen Several vital elements fell into place at the end of 2020 that informed Trevali’s decision to reopen Caribou, most notably the recovering zinc price and the signing of a 21-month fixed-pricing arrangement with a Glencore affiliate for a significant portion of the mine’s forecasted production. “As we predicted, the price recovered,” said Grimbeek, “It went back to US$1.30 at the back end of last year. At that stage we went back and negotiated a hedge for the zinc price at US$1.25 for 80 per cent of the production at Caribou for two years.” The agreement for the period from March 2021 to December 2022 will reduce Trevali’s exposure to commodity price fluctuations. The Glencore affiliate has agreed to purchase 115 million pounds of payable zinc. Trevali is also potentially looking to enter into fixed-pricing arrangements for both lead and silver. “You never know,” Grimbeek said, “Something like COVID could take a long time, so that’s why we wanted to hedge just to get Caribou back on its feet and do what we need to do to get the costs down.” At the same time, Dumont and her team worked on alternative plans for reducing costs, finding better logistic chains, lowering energy costs and exploring new processing options. With some of these efficiencies in place and others still in progress of being implemented, Trevali expects to reduce costs from US$1.24 per pound of zinc produced before going to care and maintenance to almost US$0.90 per pound in 2021. Based on Dumont’s models, the Trevali board approved the reopening of Caribou in January 2021.

Ramping up again With the decision made to restart, Trevali still had several major obstacles to overcome: no trucks and no workers in a world still struggling through a pandemic. Trevali disposed of its aging fleet of scoops and trucks in March 2020, so, in December 2020, it put out to tender for a company to supply people and equipment to run the underground workings at Caribou. Ontario-based Redpath Mining Contractors and Engineers was selected and approved by the board in January. 46 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

December 2022 and beyond In March 2021, Trevali increased its total measured and indicated mineral resources estimate for Caribou and released 2020 year-end numbers of 12.52 million tonnes grading 6.52 per cent zinc, 2.47 per cent lead, and 73.25 grams per tonne silver. The management team continues to assess opportunities to extend the current mine plan by including material from Trevali’s nearby Restigouche and Halfmile projects. There is plenty of ore still in the ground: Caribou’s mine life was six years, according to the company’s May 2018 technical report. But, for now, Trevali is focused on the current 21month operation plan. At Caribou, the company is mining two ore zones about two kilometres below the surface: the North Zone that it began mining before care and maintenance, and a new East Zone under development. Due to the stope dimensions and nature of the orebody, Trevali expected to transition to a top-down stope mining method for the East Zone in April 2021. At the surface, Trevali is planning a two-metre dam raise to accommodate the tailings generated through December 2022. Additional storage will be needed beyond that date. Trevali is also studying a new oxidized leaching processing methodology pioneered by FLSmidth to produce zinc metal rather than concentrate including re-treating tailings to recover gold. “Currently, our recovery of zinc is about 80 per cent when we do it really well,” said Grimbeek. “If we do it with a different process, we believe we can get our recoveries closer to 92 to 93 per cent. That makes a huge difference: it goes straight from ore to zinc metal, not a concentrate that needs to be smelted, so that cancels our treatment charge.” With this ability to create a zinc oxide that can be used directly to make batteries, Grimbeek is talking to the government about opportunities to build a factory that makes zinc oxide batteries in northern New Brunswick. “If we can turn our ore into a material that can go into batteries, it would be great for the region,” said Grimbeek. “And if the prices stay where they are, I cannot see that we’d ever shut it down before the end of mine life.” CIM

lettre de l’éditeur

SECTION

francophone MAI 2021

47 Lettre de l’éditeur 48 Mot de la présidente histoires 49 La grève de l’amiante, précurseur de la révolution Des conditions de travail insalubres et des salaires de misère ont mené les mineurs d’amiante à organiser une grève qui laissera dans l’histoire du Québec un héritage indélébile Par Mehanaz Yakub

L’essentiel

haque printemps, j’occupe un peu d’espace dans cette rubrique pour parler de l’effervescence qui anime le bureau national de l’ICM à Montréal. Alors que j’écris ces lignes, nous sommes à quelques jours seulement du lancement de notre événement phare, le congrès annuel et salon commercial l’Expo de l’ICM, qui se tiendra pour la première fois cette année en virtuel. Nous avons investi tout autant d’énergie dans l’organisation de cet événement en ligne que pour nos congrès en présentiel. Étant donné le caractère novateur du format que nous utilisons cette année, je dirais même que les critères de création, de coordination et d’exécution font probablement partie des plus exigeants jusqu’ici. Mais tout s’est fait à distance, aussi le bouillonnement habituel à cette époque de l’année au bureau ne s’est fait ressentir qu’au travers de nos écrans. Le centre opérationnel que représente généralement le siège de l’ICM, parsemé de piles de cartons remplis de livres, de programmes, de magazines, de prix, de cadeaux, de matériaux pour les kiosques et d’articles promotionnels en attente d’être expédiés, n’est plus qu’une idée abstraite dans l’organisation du congrès. La pandémie, associée à la préférence exprimée par de nombreux membres du personnel du bureau national de l’ICM de continuer à travailler en suivant un modèle hybride alliant travail à domicile et au bureau signifie que l’on dispose désormais de bien plus d’espace que nécessaire dans nos bureaux. Ainsi, ironiquement, l’ancien espace en ébullition est désormais le lieu où je viens le week-end débarrasser mon bureau et récupérer mes dossiers, car j’ai bien trop à faire à mon bureau à la maison pendant la semaine pour me permettre un trajet jusqu’au centre-ville. Le jour du déménagement étant imminent, je trie des décennies d’artefacts professionnels, emballe ce qui est essentiel et recycle ce qui peut l’être. Le reste part à la poubelle. Je tiens à préciser que nous avons continué de créer notre publication à distance sans aucun de ces supports à portée de la main. Le concept de « bureau électronique » est cependant un état d’esprit difficile à maintenir, après avoir basé notre travail pendant des années sur de la documentation papier. En voyant les dossiers stockés dans le tiroir de mon bureau, un flot émotionnel m’envahit, difficilement conciliable avec le thème de ces derniers. Comment aurais-je pu imaginer qu’un dossier rouge sur lequel est noté « Planification stratégique des mines » me rendrait si nostalgique, car il correspond à la période de la naissance de mon premier enfant ? Heureusement, tous les dossiers ne sont pas si évocateurs. Nombre proviennent d’anciens congrès de l’ICM ou autres. Je vais devoir me séparer d’articles promotionnels ne présentant que peu d’utilité. Les carnets de l’ICM, qui rentrent si facilement dans la poche d’une veste, sont indispensables. Je garderai les comptes rendus de conférences stockés dans des clés USB, de même que les programmes complémentaires aux pages écornées et noircis de notes, qui survivront aux applications du congrès (l’une des grandes caractéristiques de notre événement en ligne est que les présentations techniques seront disponibles sur le site de la CIM Academy, ce qui permettra de les consulter à la demande). Enfin, il nous a fallu retirer avec précaution notre « mur de la renommée » pour l’amener dans nos nouveaux locaux, cet immense panneau couvert de photos de groupe de tous les membres de l’ICM se laissant aller sur la piste de danse lors du gala annuel de Komatsu. Dans l’idéal, l’année prochaine à la même époque, nous serons en pleins préparatifs de notre congrès à Vancouver, et l’effervescence aura lieu cette fois-ci dans nos nouveaux bureaux. D’ici là, nous nous serons aussi fait une idée du succès de notre événement virtuel, un point de vue qui nous était jusqu’ici inconnu. Avec cette perspective nouvelle, nous pourrons nous appuyer sur les meilleurs aspects des événements en ligne afin de compléter l’expérience en personne et de préserver les caractéristiques les plus intéressantes des deux options, pour nous assurer que la valeur de ces deux types de rencontres perdure bien après la fin de l’événement. Ryan Bergen, Rédacteur en chef editor@cim.org @Ryan_CIM_Mag

James Hodgins

mot de la présidente

Ce fut un honneur de vous servir

oici arrivée l’heure de mes dernières notes en tant que présidente de l’ICM. Je profite donc de cette occasion pour vous remercier toutes et tous de m’avoir soutenu et, plus important encore, d’avoir soutenu l’ICM. Votre adhésion à l’institut est précieuse. Merci à toutes les entreprises qui nous ont apporté leur soutien en tant que mécènes et commanditaires pendant cette année extrêmement difficile. Habituellement, le congrès annuel de l’ICM est la principale source de revenus qui permet de subvenir aux besoins financiers de l’intégralité de l’institut. Ainsi, lorsque le congrès CIMBC20 a dû être annulé en raison de la pandémie de COVID-19 l’année dernière, c’est votre générosité qui a sauvé l’ICM. Vous nous avez permis de traverser la tourmente de la pandémie, et d’embrasser le mouvement « virtuel ». J’espère que vous avez pu participer à notre congrès virtuel du 3 au 6 mai. Si toutefois vous n’avez pas pu y prendre part, sachez que tous les événements sont disponibles à la demande sur la plateforme du congrès. Dans les mois qui ont précédé le CIMVTL21, nous avons pu tester notre capacité à gérer des événements virtuels en organisant un symposium, des ateliers et de nombreux séminaires Web. Nos membres ont participé en direct à ces événements en ligne, et ont pu exploiter la myriade de contenu virtuel que contient la CIM Academy (l’académie de l’ICM) pour approfondir leur perfectionnement professionnel. Vous pouvez être fiers d’avoir contribué à cette courbe d’apprentissage. 48 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Je terminerai mon mandat en exprimant ma reconnaissance à l’ICM pour m’avoir donné la possibilité d’être sa présidente. Diriger une organisation si exceptionnelle dans sa 122e année d’existence a été une expérience passionnante et une grande leçon d’humilité. Nous existons depuis presque aussi longtemps que le Canada est un pays ! Je suis si fière de l’ICM pour sa résilience exceptionnelle tout au long de l’histoire, et en particulier durant l’année qui vient de s’écouler. Face à l’adversité, nous ressortons plus forts. Voici quelques-uns des accomplissements collectifs de l’ICM durant l’année : • Nous avons un nouveau plan stratégique qui nous aidera à nous projeter en toute confiance dans l’avenir. • Nous avons renforcé nos relations avec des sociétés minières canadiennes et avons sensibilisé l’industrie à la valeur de l’ICM pour le secteur. • Nous avons soutenu nos sections et sections étudiantes et avons intensifié nos efforts en matière de diversité et d’inclusion. • Nous avons lancé une nouvelle société, la société de la santé et de la sécurité. • Nous avons renforcé un pilier essentiel de l’ICM avec notre Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG, le groupe sur les directives mondiales en matière d’exploitation minière), qui élabore des documents dédiés aux pratiques exemplaires. • Nous avons rafraîchi nos lignes directrices relatives à la divulgation et l’évaluation des ressources et réserves minérales. • Nous avons envisagé une nouvelle version numérique des jeux miniers canadiens avec notre partenaire Science Nord, et avec le soutien de la fondation de l’ICM (FICM), afin de mobiliser davantage la société dans notre industrie. • Nous avons organisé plusieurs événements pour approfondir les connaissances techniques de nos membres. Et nous avons fait tout cela virtuellement ! Au titre d’Un ICM pour tous, continuons d’évoluer et d’apprendre, ensemble. En tant que membres de l’ICM, nous sommes sur une assise remarquablement solide qui nous permet de surmonter toutes les difficultés et d’en ressortir plus forts. Au début de ma présidence, je déclarais que le secteur minier est une communauté unique. Je suis toujours de cet avis. Les sociétés minières (petites et grandes), les industries de transformation, le secteur des services et de l’approvisionnement, les universitaires, le gouvernement et les défenseurs font tous partie de ce club particulier qui ressemble plus à une grande famille qu’à autre chose. Comme diraient mes parents gallois en portant un toast traditionnel, we’re all friends around the Wrekin. Merci de m’avoir laissé vous représenter. Je souhaite tout particulièrement remercier Angela Hamlyn et son équipe, ainsi que les membres du conseil de l’ICM pour leur vision, leur leadership et leur engagement exceptionnels. J’ai travaillé aux côtés d’une myriade de formidables personnes au bureau national, dans les sociétés, les comités et les sections, sans oublier tous les groupes de défense et les autres organisations techniques et du secteur minier au Canada et dans le monde entier. Prenez soin de vous et de vos proches.

Samantha Espley présidente de l’ICM

HISTOIRES La grève de l’amiante, précurseur de la révolution Par Mehanaz Yakub

e 14 février 1949, alors que l’horloge sonne minuit, près de 2 000 travailleurs de la mine Jeffrey prêts à commencer une grève emplissent les rues normalement silencieuses de la petite ville d’Asbestos, au Québec. Plus tard en cette matinée de Saint Valentin, 3 000 autres mineurs de la mine Thetford voisine se joignent à la marche, et à ce qui deviendra l’un des conflits de travail les plus longs et brutaux de l’histoire de la province. Depuis la fin du XIXe siècle, le Québec, et particulièrement la ville d’Asbestos, jouissent du statut de plus grands producteurs et exportateurs d’amiante, ce minéral dont la ville tire son nom en anglais. L’amiante est alors beaucoup utilisé pour l’isolation, l’insonorisation et l’ignifugation. À l’époque, des sociétés américaines et canadiennes telles que Johns-Manville, Asbestos Corp. et Flintkote implantent leurs opérations autour des Cantons de l’Est. Les mineurs francophones, quant à eux, font leur travail consciencieusement, mais un rapport d’investigation publié par le journaliste Burton LeDoux en mars 1948 révèle des vérités troublantes. Les mineurs décèdent de silicose, une affection due à l’inhalation de poussières d’amiante. M. LeDoux accuse dans son rapport le gouvernement provincial, dirigé par le Premier ministre du Québec Maurice Duplessis et son parti de l’Union nationale, ainsi que les employeurs des mines pour leur imprudence et le déni continu du problème. Les révélations de l’article déclenchent l’entrée en action du syndicat des mineurs d’Asbestos. Le syndicat est affilié à la confédération des travailleurs catholiques du Canada (CTCC), désormais appelée la confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), un groupe de coordination des syndicats dont le secrétaire général Jean Marchand deviendra le chef de file de facto de la grève. Le syndicat entame des négociations avec les propriétaires des mines. Il réclame une augmentation du salaire horaire de 15 cents, l’octroi de primes pour le travail de nuit, le week-end et les jours fériés, la participation syndicale à un système de gestion conjoint des mines et, plus important encore, des mesures pour améliorer la sécurité des mineurs en limitant leur exposition aux poussières d’amiante. Les sociétés refusent, les tensions augmentent, et les négociations se retrouvent face à une impasse. Alors que le tribunal s’apprête à imposer une procédure arbitrale aux deux parties, les mineurs, pensant que leur cause est perdue d’avance, votent pour commencer une grève. Les sociétés américaines bénéficient du soutien du Premier ministre Duplessis, qui s’oppose aux syndicats et accorde des faveurs aux investissements étrangers en promouvant le faible coût des ressources naturelles de la région et de la maind’œuvre. Il déclare la grève illégale et envoie la police provinciale pour arrêter les grévistes. Toutefois, les grévistes se voient accorder une importance croissante et reçoivent l’appui des locaux et d’activistes, d’intellectuels et de la presse à Montréal. Gérard Pelletier, journaliste du quotidien francophone Le Devoir, assure la 49 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

couverture de la grève et présente la situation critique des grévistes sous un jour très empathique. Pierre Elliot Trudeau, cofondateur et rédacteur à Cité Libre, commente également les événements avec beaucoup de compassion. Il publiera plus tard un ouvrage sur l’importance de la grève de l’amiante, déclarant qu’elle marque la naissance du nationalisme moderne au Québec. L’Église catholique, qui a beaucoup de pouvoir et d’influence sur la société québécoise à l’époque et est généralement un allié de taille du gouvernement, prend le parti des grévistes en leur envoyant de la nourriture et de l’argent. Dans un sermon, l’archevêque de Montréal Joseph Charbonneau fait entendre son soutien aux grévistes. « La classe ouvrière est victime d’une conspiration visant à les écraser, et quand il y a une conspiration pour écraser la classe ouvrière, c’est le devoir de l’Église d’intervenir. Nous valorisons les gens plus que le capital », déclare-t-il. La grève se poursuit pacifiquement jusqu’à ce que la société Johns-Manville embauche des travailleurs de remplacement (les « briseurs de grève ») pour relancer les travaux à la mine et augmente même leur salaire dans l’espoir d’amadouer les grévistes et de les inciter à revenir travailler. Pour empêcher les travailleurs de remplacement d’atteindre les mines, les grévistes font usage de la violence. Un mois après le début de la grève, les mineurs déclenchent une explosion sur une voie ferrée menant à l’usine. Ils capturent des officiers de police et les battent jusqu’à ce qu’ils perdent connaissance. Armée de gaz lacrymogènes et de fusils, la police essaie de disperser les piquets de grèves en tirant des balles d’avertissement dans l’air. Le 5 mai, les grévistes barricadent les mines pour empêcher les travailleurs de remplacement d’entrer et érigent des barrages routiers à l’entrée et la sortie de la ville. Le jour suivant, la police provinciale riposte. Elle arrête environ 180 mineurs en grève et les roue de coups. Après les arrestations, le syndicat décide qu’il est temps de trouver un compromis et les mineurs acceptent de mettre fin à leur grève en juillet. Après presque cinq mois de conflit, les gains matériels pour les mineurs sont insignifiants. Ils reçoivent une augmentation de leur salaire horaire de cinq cents, et nombre d’entre eux perdent leur emploi, notamment l’archevêque que l’on contraint à démissionner et qui part pour la Colombie-Britannique. Rien n’est fait non plus pour atténuer les préoccupations des mineurs concernant l’insalubrité de leur travail en raison de l’inhalation des poussières d’amiante. Pourtant, la grève de l’amiante ouvre les yeux des citoyens et les met face à la réelle lutte des classes qui subsiste au sein de la province, ainsi qu’à l’exploitation et la répression qui prédominent dans le gouvernement de M. Duplessis. Les travailleurs ont peut-être perdu la bataille, mais plusieurs acteurs se mobilisent et s’unissent pour une cause. La grève à la mine d’Asbestos marque le début d’une transition sociopolitique et culturelle imminente dans la société québécoise, et est un précurseur de la Révolution tranquille qui se prépare. ICM

50 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Avec l’aimable autorisation de De Beers Group

article de fond

Les diamants : naturels ou de synthèse ? Si les diamants de synthèse suffisent à satisfaire notre goût marqué pour les brillants, ils ne domineront jamais l’industrie traditionnelle d’extraction des diamants Par Carolyn Gruske

l a suffi d’un mot. En supprimant un adjectif dans une directive fédérale, un organisme gouvernemental américain a redéfini une forme élémentaire et a contraint le secteur de la vente au détail d’Amérique du Nord, ainsi que ses clients, à revoir leur compréhension de l’un de ses produits traditionnels parmi les plus anciens et les plus traditionnels, les diamants. Ce changement a engendré une incertitude encore plus marquée pour un volet de l’industrie minière déjà enclin aux cycles haussiers et baissiers. « Naturel », voilà le terme qui a été supprimé. Avant cette modification en 2018, les Jewelry Guides (les guides des bijoux) de la Federal Trade Commission (FTC, la commission fédérale américaine du commerce), que l’organisme publie pour structurer le marché des métaux précieux, de l’étain, des diamants, des pierres précieuses et des perles, décrivaient les diamants comme des « pierres naturelles formées de carbone pur cristallisé dans le système isométrique, à condition qu’elles aient été façonnées symétriquement avec au moins 17 facettes polies. En outre, les pierres doivent avoir une dureté de 10, une densité relative d’environ 3,52 et un indice de réfraction de 2,42 ». Le changement est survenu après que The Diamond Foundry, une société de San Francisco qui fabrique des diamants de synthèse, a fait pression sur l’organisme gouvernemental en stipulant que seules les propriétés optiques, chimiques et physiques de la pierre précieuse comptaient, pas leur origine. La FTC a accepté cette modification, à la condition qu’un qualificatif soit utilisé après le terme « diamant » afin de préciser l’origine de la fabrication de la pierre. Les sociétés vendant des diamants qui ne sont pas produits ou extraits de manière naturelle doivent l’indiquer clairement, sous peine de sanctions. Si les règles relatives à ce qui caractérise un diamant naturel ou de synthèse ont été clarifiées par le décret gouvernemental, ce même niveau de clarté n’est pas encore évident concernant les implications pour l’industrie d’extraction des diamants de ces pierres créées en laboratoire, fabriquées en usine, naturelles ou de culture. Ce sont les consommateurs qui décideront. Les acquéreurs de bijoux commencent à se familiariser avec la version fabriquée de cette pierre précieuse, dont le prix au carat est inférieur à son homologue obtenu par extraction minière. Toutefois, la question est de savoir si les acheteurs seront encouragés à renoncer au mystique et à l’allure des pierres naturelles au profit de diamants de synthèse, plus gros et plus brillants, pour le même prix. Par ailleurs, si les diamants deviennent un produit de base, comment l’industrie diamantifère peut-elle rester compétitive ? Il est trop tôt pour donner une réponse définitive à ce jour, mais il faut indéniablement poser ces questions.

Imiter la nature Dans leur forme la plus basique, les diamants sont des atomes de carbone organisés en groupes de huit dans ce que l’on appelle une structure cristalline cubique ou en maille. Les diamants peuvent également contenir des quantités infimes (généralement jusqu’à 0,05 %) d’autres éléments traces tels que de l’azote ou du bore. Ce sont ces éléments traces qui produisent les diamants colorés. Le bore, par exemple, crée des pierres aux nuances grises ou bleutées. L’azote crée des tons allant de nuances de jaune très clair (ce que l’on considère indésirable dans un diamant blanc) à jaune canari brillant (très prisé dans une pierre colorée). Les diamants se forment à une profondeur de 150 à 170 kilomètres sous la surface de la Terre et sont transportés vers la surface par des éruptions volcaniques de magma. Seule une fraction de ces diamants arriveront jusqu’à la surface et seront extraits. La technologie offre cependant une source plus fiable. Des recherches sur le processus technologique permettant de synthétiser les diamants ont été menées en Suède et en Union soviétique dès les années 1940. Toutefois, ce n’est qu’en 1954 que le premier diamant de synthèse est fabriqué par un centre de General Electric à Schenectady, dans l’État de New York. L’équipe de recherche du Project Superpressure de la société avait construit une presse pouvant générer et maintenir des pressions de 100 000 atmosphères à des températures supérieures à 2 000 degrés Celsius sur de longues périodes. Les germes cristallins du diamant placés dans du sulfure de fer et soumis à un traitement à haute pression et haute température (HPHT) se sont transformés en petits diamants de teinte marron. Il est important de noter que, malgré les honneurs accordés à GE en tant que « pionnier » dans ce domaine, une autre société américaine, Union Carbide, avait produit deux ans auparavant deux petits diamants à l’aide d’une méthode différente. Le dépôt chimique en phase vapeur (DCPV) implique une température et une pression bien inférieures. Ces conditions avaient empli de doutes les plus sceptiques, qui avaient peine à croire la véracité des allégations d’Union Carbide, et la société avait finalement abandonné le projet. Le HPHT et le DCPV restent les deux techniques utilisées pour produire des diamants fabriqués en usine, même si la capacité de production des installations modernes est considérablement supérieure à la taille et aux types de diamants créés dans les années 1950.

Compter les carats et nuancer les couleurs Aujourd’hui, la production de diamants s’est éloignée des laboratoires de recherche et se fait désormais en usines à grande May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 51

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Gemological Institute of America Inc.

produit des diamants dont la structure est plus naturelle, c’està-dire avec des faces à la fois octaédriques et cubiques. Les diamants fabriqués par DCPV poussent en couches plates, résultant en une plaque aplatie et rectangulaire. « Quand on taille une pierre, la surface supérieure de la plaque est généralement la table du diamant, donc la distance entre la table et la colette dans le diamant fabriqué par DCPV est limitée, tout simplement de par la manière dont il a été cultivé », indiquait M. Shigley. Ceci signifie essentiellement que la pierre brute issue du DCPV devra être plus grosse qu’une pierre issue du traitement HPHT pour tailler un diamant brillant et rond de la même taille.

La production en chiffres

Avec la synthèse par HPHT, une presse applique de très hautes pressions et températures dans une cuve de croissance qui contient les ingrédients nécessaires. Ceci entraîne la formation de cristaux de diamants synthétiques, qui présentent des faces à la fois cubiques et octaédriques. échelle. Le groupe ALTR basé à New York, par exemple, dirige une installation de près de 7 500 mètres carrés (m2) en Inde qui produit, taille (à l’aide de robots), polit et sertit des diamants de laboratoire sur des bijoux. Le président de la société, Amish Shah, indiquait qu’ALTR produit 300 000 carats par an (dont 90 % des pierres font plus de 0,7 carat), et la production devrait doubler en 2022 et 2023. ALTR utilise principalement des réacteurs à DCPV pour cultiver les diamants. L’usine d’ALTR abrite des réacteurs internes, des cuves rondes hermétiques à vide. De petits germes de diamants très polis (mesurant entre 8 et 20 millimètres) sont placés dans la cuve et exposés à un mélange de gaz, notamment du méthane contenant du carbone. « Lorsqu’on commence à mesurer la température dans cette cuve, le gaz se divise et le carbone se trouve dans un état d’excitation. À une certaine température, le carbone commence à se lier comme une maille au germe de diamant au fond de la cuve, et le diamant commence à pousser couche par couche », indiquait M. Shah. Le résultat est un diamant couvert d’une couche de polycarbonate foncé, laquelle est retirée à l’aide d’un laser à jet d’eau pour révéler la gemme blanche. Si une pierre blanche a une teinte trop marquée de jaune, ALTR peut donner à la pierre une nuance plus « mature » à l’aide d’un traitement HPHT afin d’améliorer de manière permanente la couleur. La société produit aussi des diamants colorés, notamment dans les tons bleutés, jaunes et roses. Le HPHT entre également en jeu à ce moment-là. Si les diamants créés par DCPV sont bien des diamants, ils ne se développent pas de la même façon que les pierres naturelles, expliquait James Shigley, chercheur universitaire distingué au Gemological Institute of America (GIA, l’institut américain de gemmologie) situé à Carlsbad, en Californie. Selon lui, le HPHT 52 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Malgré la production et la croissance communiquée par ALTR, le rendement de l’industrie des diamants de laboratoire est relativement modeste par rapport à celui de l’industrie d’extraction des diamants. The Global Diamond Industry 2020-2021, le rapport faisant autorité dans l’industrie publié par Bain & Company, indique que 111 millions de carats ont été extraits en 2020, parmi lesquels 41 % de la production est destinée au marché des diamants industriels. Quant au reste, 7 % sont de grosses pierres (2 carats ou plus), 18 % des pierres de taille moyenne (de 0,4 à 2 carats) et 34 % des petites pierres (moins de 0,4 carat). Au total, ces 111 millions de carats ont une valeur de production estimée entre 9 et 9,5 milliards de dollars américains. Les pierres de deux carats ou plus grosses représentent entre 40 et 45 % de cette valeur totale. Les pierres de taille moyenne représentent entre 30 et 35 % de la valeur, les petites pierres entre 20 et 25 % de la valeur de la production, et le plus grand segment par carat métrique, les diamants industriels, ne représentent que 3 % de la valeur. Par comparaison, le rapport expliquait que « la production de diamants de laboratoire a atteint six à sept millions de carats en 2020, dont 50 à 60 % étaient fabriqués en Chine à l’aide de la technologie de traitement haute pression et haute température. La part de la technologie de dépôt chimique en phase vapeur commence à augmenter, l’Inde et les États-Unis émergeant en tant que centres de production importants ». À mesure qu’augmentait la disponibilité des diamants de laboratoire, leurs prix baissaient et l’écart entre les prix des diamants naturels et des diamants de laboratoire grandissait. Comme l’indiquait Bain & Company dans son rapport, au quatrième trimestre 2017 (T4 2017), le prix de vente d’un diamant de laboratoire d’un carat très légèrement inclus (VS, de l’anglais very small inclusion) de couleur grise était d’environ 65 % celui d’une pierre de qualité identique issue de l’extraction. Durant le T4 2020, ce prix était de 35 %.

Marché de détail Lightbox est la marque de De Beers pour ses propres bijoux en diamants produits par DCPV. La société vend des produits en fonction d’un prix du diamant fixé à 800 dollars américains par carat. Ainsi, une paire de boucles d’oreilles à trois pivots de type dormeuse en or de 14 carats, avec un poids de diamant total d’un carat, vaudra 1 250 dollars américains. Blue Nile, un détaillant américain en ligne renommé qui vend des bijoux finis ainsi que des pierres en vrac issues de l’extraction ou de laboratoire, propose une paire de boucles d’oreilles à trois pivots en diamant et en or de 14 carats, avec un diamant d’un poids total d’un carat issu de l’extraction, pour 2 300 dollars américains.

Les diamants de Blue Nile sont de catégorie I en couleur et I1 en pureté. Les diamants des boucles d’oreilles proposées par Lightbox ont une très belle taille, sont pratiquement incolores et ont une pureté de catégorie VS, une pierre de bien meilleure qualité. « La grande différence entre les diamants de laboratoire et les diamants naturels réside dans leur proposition de valeur », expliquait David Johnson, directeur des communications en entreprise pour le groupe De Beers, détenu à 85 % par Anglo American. « Nos recherches montrent que les consommateurs perçoivent les diamants de laboratoire comme totalement adaptés à la bijouterie fantaisie à un tarif accessible et pour des occasions moins importantes sur le plan émotionnel que celles pour lesquelles on choisirait un diamant naturel… [On] constate que de plus en plus de sociétés proposant des diamants de laboratoire présentent le produit comme un bijou fantaisie, avec des prix moyens en baisse. Cette tendance devrait se poursuivre et suivre une trajectoire identique à celle des autres gemmes de laboratoire tel que les rubis, les émeraudes et les saphirs, qui sont aujourd’hui vendus pour 10 % de la valeur de leurs homologues naturels, presque exclusivement comme bijoux fantaisie. » Au Canada, un nombre croissant de commerces de détail d’articles de bijouterie proposent des bijoux créés avec des diamants de synthèse. Ceci ne s’applique pas seulement à des articles fantaisie comme les pendants et les bracelets, mais aussi aux parures de mariage, le pilier de l’industrie. Même la vénérable Maison Birks prévoit d’ajouter des bijoux créés avec des diamants de laboratoire dans ses vitrines, et elle a conclu un marché avec ALTR.

Le coût du luxe Toutefois, les experts se demandent si les pierres de laboratoire parviendront à percer dans le domaine des parures nuptiales et des cadeaux pour des occasions tels que des anniversaires et des célébrations importantes. Les personnes faisant des achats personnels pourraient être plus faciles à convaincre si elles souhaitent acquérir un bijou de grande valeur pour le meilleur rapport qualité/prix. Même la génération Y, souvent présentée comme un groupe peu susceptible d’acquérir des diamants, préférait une bague de fiançailles ornée d’un diamant naturel, déclarait Paul Zimnisky, analyste de l’industrie du diamant basé à New York. « Il est intéressant de constater que si les jeunes femmes de cette génération ne veulent pas admettre qu’elles préfèrent un diamant naturel, c’est indéniablement ce dont elles rêvent en fin de compte. J’ai étudié la psychologie des produits de luxe et des bagues de fiançailles offertes en cadeau, et la signalétique humaine est bien présente. Des études psychologiques ont été menées sur le sujet. Offrir une bague de fiançailles en diamant naturel implique un certain niveau de prix qui la rend importante dans le sens où elle constitue un sacrifice. » Il ajoutait qu’actuellement, le prix moyen d’une bague de fiançailles achetée aux États-Unis se trouvait dans la gamme des 4 000 à 6 000 dollars américains.

Arguments écologiques et développement durable Au-delà du prix, l’une des raisons pour lesquelles les consommateurs, et particulièrement les plus jeunes, indiquent envisager les diamants de laboratoire, est que ces derniers n’ont pas à supporter la stigmatisation inhérente aux « diamants de la guerre » et aux répercussions sur l’environnement dont l’indus-

Avec l’aimable autorisation de Gemological Institute of America Inc.

article de fond

Avec la synthèse par DCPV, les hyperfréquences divisent les molécules d’hydrocarbure envoyées dans le réacteur. Ces fragments migrent au fond de la cuve vers le germe de diamant plus froid et se fixent sur la surface croissante du diamant. trie du diamant naturel essaie de se détacher. Pourtant, ce secteur a aussi un impact. La production en masse de diamants provenant d’usines alimentées par des centrales à charbon a une empreinte environnementale considérable. ALTR étudie les possibilités d’utiliser l’électricité solaire ou éolienne dans l’espoir, un jour, d’atteindre la neutralité carbone. Lightbox a installé son usine à Portland, dans l’État de l’Oregon, car cette région bénéficie d’un approvisionnement intéressant en énergie hydroélectrique. La société The Diamond Foundry proclame qu’elle est certifiée producteur sans émissions de dioxyde de carbone, et qu’elle utilise de l’énergie hydroélectrique. Ainsi, tout comme les émissions de dioxyde de carbone propres à chaque mine sont différentes, l’empreinte carbone et les critères de durabilité ne sont pas identiques pour tous les diamants de laboratoire. En outre, l’industrie des diamants de laboratoire n’est pas réglementée, alors qu’en fonction de chaque juridiction nationale, l’exploitation diamantifère a tendance à être soumise à un contrôle réglementaire. L’industrie d’extraction des diamants naturels a également l’expérience des programmes et procédures de certification tels que le processus de Kimberley aux fins du commerce international des diamants bruts ou l’Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA, l’initiative pour l’assurance d’une extraction minière responsable). La FTC fait partie des organismes qui prêtent attention aux revendications des producteurs de diamants. Dans ses Green Guides (les guides écologiques), elle définit les arguments qui peuvent être utilisés ou pas. Spécifiquement, elle recommande aux « annonceurs d’avoir une base raisonnable pour toute revendication concernant les bienfaits pour l’environnement de leurs produits ». Elle établit également que les annonceurs doivent qualifier de manière adéquate leurs revendications afin d’éviter les supercheries.

Les futures tendances d’exploration : diamants colorés et superprofonds Si la production de diamants de laboratoire ne cesse d’augmenter, la tendance opposée se produit dans le monde de l’extraction de diamants naturels. Depuis les années d’abondance en 2017 et 2018, la production mondiale de diamants naturels a chuté à un taux d’environ 5 % par an, comme l’indique le rapport de Bain. En 2020, ce déclin était de 20 % (ou 28 millions de carats), bien que la majeure partie du déclin soit attribuable aux May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 53

Avec l’aimable autorisation de De Beers Group

En 2020, 111 millions de carats de diamants ont été extraits par des sociétés minières, dont près de 66 millions de carats étaient destinés à la bijouterie. Par comparaison, entre six et sept millions de carats ont été fabriqués en laboratoire pour le secteur de la bijouterie cette même année.

fermetures liées à la COVID-19. La Russie, le Canada, le Botswana ou l’Australie ont connu les plus forts déclins. Au Canada, les mines Ekati et Renard ont été temporairement fermées en raison de la pandémie. Avec la fermeture de la mine australienne Argyle en novembre 2020 et de mines au Canada atteignant leur fin de vie, l’avenir de l’industrie semble incertain. « Une grande part de la production va sortir de la chaîne d’approvisionnement en raison de la fermeture de la mine d’Argyle. Prenons par exemple Diavik, l’une des grandes mines des Territoires du Nord-Ouest. Il ne reste probablement plus que quatre ou cinq années de production. Le remplacement de ses actifs s’annonce très difficile », déclarait M. Zimnisky. En outre, la mine Victor de De Beers, en Ontario, est entrée en mars dans ce que la société appelle « la prochaine phase de fermeture après la désignation de Golder en tant qu’entrepreneur principal qui se chargera de la démolition restante et de l’assainissement du site ». À la fin de l’année 2020, De Beers avait démoli 65 % de l’infrastructure et réhabilité 40 % du site. « Selon moi, l’industrie a rencontré des problèmes au cours des dix dernières années en raison d’un marché saturé. Les prix élevés rendaient le développement attirant, mais au moment où 54 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

arrivait ce nouvel approvisionnement, le marché saturait », expliquait M. Zimnisky. « La nature de ce domaine fait que le délai d’approvisionnement est relativement long. Après la découverte, il faut parfois envisager entre 15 et 20 ans pour qu’une mine entre en phase de production. On ne peut pas vraiment décider de la mettre en service puis de suspendre les opérations en fonction des cours. » Ces délais d’approvisionnement, auxquels viennent s’ajouter les dépenses liées à l’exploration, font partie des raisons pour lesquelles les petites sociétés d’exploration ont diminué leurs activités d’exploration des diamants, indiquait John Kaiser, rédacteur de Kaiser Research Online, une plateforme d’informations pour les sociétés canadiennes et australiennes cotées en bourse menant des activités d’exploration et d’exploitation minière et abritant le KRO Diamond Resource Center (le centre de ressources en diamants KRO). « Il n’y a eu aucune découverte importante et rémunératrice ces dix dernières années. En outre, les critères auxquels sont habitués les investisseurs, à savoir un nombre élevé de microdiamants à haute teneur, ont été annihilés lors du rachat de Peregrine Diamonds par De Beers pour 115 millions de dollars au comptant, après que 100 millions de dollars ont déjà été injectés dans le projet Chidliak, une découverte importante

article de fond classique menant jusqu’à une évaluation économique préliminaire qui suggérait une valeur de 450 millions de dollars. » D’après M. Kaiser, Chidliak a rencontré un certain nombre de problèmes, à commencer par ce qu’il qualifie d’évaluation préliminaire « bâclée », de résultats d’échantillonnage massif en vrac de faible teneur « qui ont contribué à l’effondrement du marché », d’un partenaire de financement qui s’est retiré du projet diamantifère, d’un ralentissement économique dans le marché des diamants et d’une perte de confiance chez les investisseurs. Outre Chidliak, M. Kaiser indiquait d’autres situations dans des mines canadiennes qui ont rendu les investisseurs hésitants, notamment des problèmes d’abattage à la mine Renard menant ultérieurement à la banqueroute de Stornoway Diamond, et des faibles teneurs dans les concessions minières de Fort à la Corne de Star Diamond Corp. M. Kaiser expliquait que, contrairement aux filons aurifères par exemple, dont la teneur et les estimations de ressources sont faciles à déterminer, les diamants sont bien plus complexes et requièrent multiples étapes. Il faut notamment trouver la kimberlite, forer et recueillir les échantillons pour effectuer les essais à la recherche de microdiamants, réitérer le forage pour définir la géologie interne de la kimberlite, « parce que les kimberlites ne se résument pas à une simple grande éruption », obtenir une prévision de la macroteneur et procéder à l’échantillonnage massif. Le coût de cette approche, indiquait-il, est de l’ordre de 20 à 30 millions de dollars, ce qui représente un investissement considérable pour une petite société minière, notamment si elle n’est pas en partenariat avec une plus grande société. Avec des coûts aussi élevés, l’industrie évite les gisements de petits diamants à faible teneur qui se trouvent dans la lithosphère terrestre. La préférence est plutôt accordée aux diamants CLIPPIR (de l’anglais Cullinan-like, large, inclusion poor, pure, irregular, resorbed) ou de type IIa, que l’on trouve à des profondeurs allant de 400 à 700 kilomètres sous la croûte terrestre. Les diamants superprofonds, tels qu’on les appelle également, ont tendance à être plus gros et plus colorés, souvent dans les teintes bleutées. Ils ont également une grande valeur monétaire. De fait, un seul diamant se vend pour des millions ou des dizaines de millions de dollars. Le problème est de les trouver, expliquait Karen Smit, chercheur universitaire de l’université de l’Alberta, et basée en Afrique du Sud. « L’objectif de notre industrie dans son ensemble est d’essayer de perfectionner nos modèles d’exploration de manière à ce que l’on soit mieux préparé pour trouver des diamants superprofonds. Le problème est que l’on ne sait pas comment cibler spécifiquement ce type de gisements. » La mine Karowe de Lucara au Botswana fait partie de celles qui produisent des diamants superprofonds, y compris deux diamants de plus de 1 000 carats et 19 de plus de 300 carats. En comparaison, expliquait Mme Smit, « la HPHT permet de développer des diamants bruts de 100 carats… Toutefois, les diamants créés par HPHT deviennent plus gros, tout comme ceux créés par DCPV. Au cours de la dernière décennie, on a observé une croissance presque exponentielle dans la taille des diamants fabriqués par DCPV ». Si les producteurs de diamants de laboratoire ne peuvent pas encore faire concurrence à égalité avec les producteurs de diamants superprofonds gigantesques, ils règnent cependant en maîtres dans un domaine particulier, celui des mêlées et des

pierres de petite taille. Utilisées comme ornements, les mêlées font moins de 0,2 carat et peuvent atteindre 0,001 carat. « La vaste majorité de la production de diamants de synthèse concerne de minuscules pierres qui servent souvent de pierres de taille d’un centième de carat. En d’autres termes, des pierres que l’on considère comme subsidiaires », indiquait M. Shigley.

Trouver sa place Si la FTC affirme que les diamants de laboratoire sont bien réels, les consommateurs semblent avoir une perception légèrement différente aujourd’hui. En mars, De Beers publiait les résultats d’une étude dans laquelle était demandé à quelque 5 000 Américains ce qu’ils pensaient des diamants de synthèse. Le résultat a montré que, bien que « 47 % des consommateurs ne considèrent pas les diamants de laboratoire comme de vrais diamants, ils étaient prêts à en acheter car ils constituent une option plaisante et à la mode, moins onéreuse que les diamants naturels, et considérée comme une bonne alternative pour un achat personnel au lieu d’un vêtement ou d’articles en cuir ». Les personnes interrogées ont cependant fait mention d’un plafond qu’ils étaient prêts à payer pour un article plaisant et à la mode. Sept personnes sur dix ont indiqué ne pas souhaiter dépenser plus de 1 000 dollars pour un bijou orné de diamants de laboratoire. Pour les personnes travaillant dans l’industrie de l’extraction de diamants comme Mme Smit, dont l’étude des diamants constitue l’œuvre de toute une vie, il est évident que les pierres fabriquées en laboratoire ont bien leur place, comme le suggère le sondage. « En tant que géologue, je préfère les diamants naturels car ils nous apprennent des choses sur la Terre. Ce sont des échantillons intéressants et naturels que l’on peut utiliser pour étudier la planète. C’est pour cette raison que j’aimerais beaucoup avoir un bijou orné d’un diamant naturel car pour moi, cela représente quelque chose. » En revanche, elle reconnaissait que d’autres personnes peuvent apprécier les pierres de synthèse pour leurs qualités en tant qu’exemples d’innovation technologique et d’initiatives scientifiques. Elle faisait également remarquer que même si tout un chacun a un budget, et particulièrement les jeunes, l’attirance pour les produits de luxe ne change pas. « Tout le monde souhaite porter de beaux bijoux, et les diamants de synthèse constituent de bonnes options. Ne les méprisons pas car ils ont leur place aujourd’hui et ne sont pas prêts de disparaître. Il faut simplement les accepter et les adapter. Il faut leur trouver une place. » De la même façon, M. Shah est d’avis qu’à partir du moment où les consommateurs peuvent choisir entre les diamants naturels et de laboratoire, les profits sont indéniables pour le secteur de la joaillerie. « Notre concurrence, ce sont les voyages, les produits de luxe comme les sacs, les chaussures, les robes, ou encore l’électronique. Nous devons travailler main dans la main pour que [notre client potentiel] ne finisse pas par offrir à son être cher une tablette pour son anniversaire », déclarait M. Shah. « Concentrons-nous sur le contexte plus global d’un secteur de la joaillerie plus vaste et plus prospère. La pire chose que nous pouvons faire est de nous battre au sein même de l’industrie et de perturber le consommateur, car on sait bien ce qu’il advient des consommateurs perturbés : ils vont acheter autre chose. » ICM May 2021 • Mai 2021 | 55

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MINING LORE The inspiration for revolution By Mehanaz Yakub

58 | CIM Magazine | Vol. 16, No. 3

Courtesy of the Public Archives of Canada

hen the clock Montreal. Gerard Pelletier, struck midnight a journalist for the Frenchon February 14, language newspaper, Le 1949, the normally quiet Devoir, covered the strike streets of the small town of and shined a very sympaAsbestos, Quebec, were thetic light on the workers’ packed with nearly 2,000 plight. Pierre Elliot Trudeau workers from the Jeffrey also commented on the Mine who were ready to go events with sympathy as coon strike. Later that Valenfounder and editor of Cité tine’s Day morning, 3,000 Libre, and later edited a more miners from the book on the Asbestos strike, neighbouring Thetford The striking miners fought to guarantee their safety from toxic asbestos dust present highlighting its importance Mine joined the walkout, in the mines, among other demands. as the birth of modern Queand what followed was one bec nationalism. of the longest and most brutal labour disputes in the province’s The Catholic Church, which held a great deal of power and history. influence over Quebec society at the time, was usually a Since the late 19th century, Quebec, and especially Asbestos, strong ally for the government, but chose to support the strikwas the largest producer and exporter of the eponymous mineral. ers by sending them food and money. During one of his serAsbestos was popularly used for insulation, soundproofing and mon speeches, the Archbishop of Montreal, Joseph fireproofing, and American and English-Canadian owned compa- Charbonneau, vocalized his support for the strikers and said, nies, such as Johns-Manville, Asbestos Corp., and Flintkote all set “The working class is the victim of a conspiracy aimed at up operations around Quebec's Eastern Townships. crushing them, and when there is a conspiracy to crush the Meanwhile, the French-speaking miners did their jobs duti- working class, it’s the Church’s duty to intervene. We value fully, until an investigative report by journalist Burton LeDoux, people more than capital.” published in March 1948, unveiled some haunting truths. Miners The strike proceeded peacefully until Johns-Manville hired were dying of silicosis, a lung disease caused by breathing in replacement workers to resume operations at the mines and asbestos dust. LeDoux blamed the provincial government, led by even raised their wages in an effort to coax some strikers back to Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale work. In order to prevent the replacement workers from reachparty, and the mine employers for their recklessness and contin- ing the mines, the strikers turned to violence. A month into the uous denial of the problem. strike, the miners set off an explosion at a railway track. They The information from the article sparked the Asbestos min- captured police officers and beat them unconscious. Police ing union into action. The union was affiliated with the Cana- responded with tear gas and warning shot gunfire to break up dian Catholic Confederation of Labour (CTCC), an umbrella picket lines. On May 5, the strikers barricaded the mines to pregroup for unions, whose secretary-general Jean Marchand vent the replacement workers from entering and blocked roads would later become the de facto leader of the strike. The union in and out of town. The following day, the provincial police retalentered contract negotiations with the mine owners, and iated by arresting around 180 strikers, beating several of them in demanded a 15 cent hourly wage increase, bonuses for night, the process. weekend and holiday work shifts, a joint management system After the arrests, the union decided it was time to reach a that the unions could participate in and, most importantly, compromise and the miners agreed to stop striking in July. improvement to the safety of the workers by eliminating their Despite almost five months of conflict, the material gains for the exposure to asbestos dust. miners were not much. They received a mere five-cent per hour The companies refused, and negotiations were at a deadlock salary raise, and many of them lost their jobs. Archbishop Charas tensions mounted. The two sides were going to be forced into bonneau resigned and was reassigned to a nunnery in British arbitration by law, but the miners believed it would be a losing Columbia. The miners’ health concerns over asbestos inhalation battle and voted to go on strike instead. were not addressed at all. The American-owned companies were backed by Premier Although the workers lost the fight, the Asbestos strike Duplessis, who opposed trade unions and favoured foreign opened people’s eyes to a clear class struggle within the province investments by promoting the province’s inexpensive natural and the exploitative and repressive nature of Duplessis’s governresources and cheap labour force. He declared the strike illegal ment. Several actors were mobilized to unite for a cause. The and sent provincial police to stop it. strike at Asbestos was the beginning of a socio-political and culBut the strikers were gaining momentum and unprecedented tural shift in Quebec society, precursor to the Quiet Revolution support from locals and activists, intellectuals and media in that was to come. CIM

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