Province takes steps to boost mining industry

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This article was published 17/02/2023 (1180 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you ask anyone associated with the mining industry in Manitoba, they’ll say there is a positive new attitude coming out of the provincial government — a 180-degree difference, said one.

While that won’t translate into any new mines any time soon, it can have an impact on increased activity from exploration companies, and that is already in evidence.

In the meantime, the province has just hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to produce a mining and minerals strategy. The details of the contract are still being finalized but PWC has already started reaching out to industry players.

After former premier Brian Pallister basically cast the industry into the wilderness with massive cuts to the province’s geological survey — from 40 geologists 10 years ago to about seven today — it doesn’t seem like there is anyone who doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

That level of provincial interest translated into some of the weakest years of exploration in the province — although that has been picking back up the last year and a half — and produced a nosedive in Manitoba’s ranking in the Fraser Institute’s Survey of Mining Companies, from No. 2 in the world about 10 years ago to mid-30s rankings of late.

The Stefanson government’s commitment to the industry is now widely acknowledged — her appearance at last year’s PDAC (Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada) conference was the coming-out party of sorts — it is doubly helpful that it’s happening alongside the worldwide rush to find critical minerals like lithium to supply the global electrification process.

And it is also generally accepted that Manitoba has a significant resource of that mineral and more than a handful of companies are already spending millions of dollars doing exploration drilling.

“We are delighted to hear about the strategic plan and look forward to becoming engaged once things begin moving forward,” said John Morris, the executive director of the Mining Association of Manitoba, which represents the companies that own the few producing mines left in the province and their suppliers.

Responsibility for minerals and mining has just been moved from Natural Resources to Economic Development, Investment and Trade and while new minister Jeff Wharton gets familiar with the file, he’ll be at PDAC next month leading what is being characterized as a Team Manitoba delegation.

Wharton would not say much about targets or goals for the industry but even he said there are areas in which the government knows there needs to be improvements, including things like the permitting process.

“We have heard from the industry who say the process is very challenging,” Wharton said in an interview. “In some cases it takes several months or even years to get a permit. We know it is an area that needs to be focused in on.”

New Age Metals, a lithium exploration company (which also has a palladium project in Ontario) has been acquiring rights to work an increasingly large area of land in the southeast of the province.

New Metal has been working in the province since 2016 and CEO Harry Barr said they have a very good relationship with the province.

“They are understaffed and they’re trying to remedy that,” he said.

Asked which bottlenecks he thinks they should address, he said, “Manitoba is of the only provinces where you still have to physically stake claims. I don’t want to take work away from stakers but it’s tremendously expensive to hire helicopters and staking costs are way up.”

In many other jurisdictions there are digital map-staking technologies available. Wharton referred to that as low-hanging fruit.

One of the top priorities for PWC — at least it was a priority in the RFP (request for proposals) documents — will be speaking with people about the whole area of partnerships with Indigenous people whose traditional lands are being explored.

MaryAnn Mihychuk, a former NDP MLA and Liberal MP and the current head of the Manitoba Prospectors and Developers Association, said the province is way behind in this area despite the fact that other provinces have figured out how to do it properly.

“It is a huge issue,” she said. “We ignored what was happening even though there were hundreds of court cases saying we have to do something. But we’re excited about what’s going on now. We think it is an important part of getting Manitoba on track.”

Government-to-government revenue sharing with First Nations is happening in other provinces and that’s what Manitoba First Nations are looking for as well.

Christian Sinclair, the former chief of Opaskwayak Cree Nation, is working with Marcel Colomb First Nation to establish a partnership with Alamos Gold on a potential gold project in Lynn Lake.

He said there is plenty of education and work to do to make mineral exploration and production more palatable for First Nations.

He said environmental issues will always be first and foremost for First Nations, but when they are comfortable those concerns will be addressed there is lots to talk about.

“What are the socio-economic opportunities for First Nations?” he said. “Don’t mine the mine — mine the people. Life-of-mine projects can be very substantial for a First Nation with very little-to-no economic activity.”

A third-party produced strategic plan may not sound very exciting, but it is a hint that mining could once again become a growth industry in the province.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca