Manitoba delegation touts province as spot for mining investment

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This article was published 08/03/2023 (943 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the second year in a row, Manitoba is trying to make its presence known in front of the 30,000 international attendees at the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference on this week in Toronto.

A Manitoba delegation including Economic Development, Investment and Trade Minister Jeff Wharton is at the conference touting the province as a wise destination for mining investment.

“Realizing our province’s critical mineral and precious metal potential benefits all Manitobans,” Wharton said in a statement.

Significantly more mineral development activity is taking place in the province these days with more that 60 mining and exploration companies currently investing in the province in various stages of development.

The province used the PDAC platform to announce $1.8 million in grants to the Mining Association of Manitoba Inc., Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Communities Economic Development Fund to support development and Indigenous participation and $1.7 million in the latest round of funding through the Manitoba Mineral Development Fund for Alamos as well as exploration companies 55 North (near Lynn Lake), Boreal Gold (near Flin Flon), Foremost Lithium (near Snow Lake) and Callinex Mines (also in the Flin Flon region).

Of those four Alamos is likely the furthest along. It is working at developing former gold mine sites in Lynn Lake.

This week Alamos received federal and provincial environmental licensing for the project that will include an open pit mine in Lynn Lake.

Rebecca Thompson, a spokeswoman for Toronto-based Alamos said, “The next step is updating our feasibility study which is expected to be completed during the first half of 2023.”

The company is still in negotiations with the First Nations in the region.

On Monday representatives from Alamos, Marcel Colomb First Nation and other stakeholders in that project participated in a well-attended panel discussion at PDAC called “Leveraging agreements for Indigenous economic inclusion: Practical implementation.”

Christian Sinclair, the former chief of Opaskwayak Cree Nation and a veteran in resource development agreements with First Nations, moderated the discussion. He has been working with Marcel Colomb to negotiate participation in the Alamos project.

Sinclair said getting the federal and provincial green light from the environmental perspective is a positive step for all the players.

“For First Nations, the foremost priority has always been environmental protection especially because of the ugly history in the past when there was no environmental safeguards,” he said.

Sinclair helped Marcel Colomb negotiate a joint venture agreement with a Saskatchewan company called Threeosix Industrial, who will bid on construction work when Alamos is closer to development.

“We want to make sure we are being proactive rather than re-active,” said Sinclair. “We’re looking to develop an relationship of mutual respect and ensure there will be employment training, business contracts, environmental protection and investment in the community.”

Sinclair said the band is close to finalizing another joint venture in relation to the Alamos project.

“We’re optimistic that we’ll come to a deal (with Alamos) that will position the band well for social economic spin-offs,” he said.

Thompson said that Alamos has budgeted $5 million for continued exploration at the Lynn Lake Project which the company believes has the potential for production of 800,000 ounces of gold per year.

“In addition,” she said, “Our 2023 focus will be on the continued evaluation and advancement of a pipeline of prospective exploration targets within the 58,000-hectare Lynn Lake Property.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca