Friday, April 08, 2016 3:13:35 PM
GWA.V Gowest Gold Traderfan This ones for you! Great article on the Onterio permitting process.
Approval process going too slow for Gowest
By Len Gillis
Thursday, April 7, 2016 11:11:07 EDT PM
image:
Greg Romain, the president and CEO of Gowest Gold, a junior mining company, challenged the Timmins business community on Thursday be more pro-active in getting government to speed up the mine permitting and consultation process. Romain complained that a snails-pace permitting process will hurt Ontarios mining industry.
Greg Romain, the president and CEO of Gowest Gold, a junior mining company, challenged the Timmins business community on Thursday be more pro-active in getting government to speed up the mine permitting and consultation process. Romain complained that a snails-pace permitting process will hurt Ontario’s mining industry.
TIMMINS - The Timmins man in charge of the Gowest Gold mining project in Timmins has challenged the city’s business community to do something about the slow pace of permitting.
Gregory Romain, the president and CEO of Gowest was the guest speaker at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce lunch event Thursday.
Gowest is a junior gold exploration company working to develop the North Timmins Gold project located roughly 35 kilometres north of the built-up area of Timmins. The project, which is part of the well-known Bradshaw gold venture, has more than 400,000 indicated ounces of gold and more than 750,000 ounces inferred.
Romain told the chamber lunch crowd he is confident the property will eventually become a mine, but there was clear frustration in his voice as he spoke of the permitting process.
Permitting is the process where mining companies submit comprehensive work plans and outlines in order to get approval from numerous government ministries and agencies. In many cases this can require months, sometimes years of research and produce thousands of pages of paperwork.
As he noted that spring is almost here along with the arrival of golf season, Romain drew a parallel between golfing and mining. He said it would seem that things are pretty straightforward until you end up in the sand trap, which he said is like the “permit trap” in mining.
“It’s a place where sometimes you question whether you’re ever going to get out,” Romain quipped. He said the permitting requirements are reasonable and community consultations are a must, but he said he is concerned about the process and timing.
He said on the Bradshaw Gold property, baseline studies were carried out in 2009 and yet here in April 2016, Gowest is still waiting for two final permits, which are in review.
He also said Ontario’s record in the area of permitting and consultation is poor.
“The process has become far too complex and time consuming and should be of grave concern to all of you,” told the audience.
He said a recent write-up by the Fraser Institute indicated that Ontario ranks last in Canada for permitting.
Romain challenged the business community to take action on the issue.
“I think it is incumbent on you as business people to pressure both the provincial and federal governments to come up with a process immediately that will address the concerns of all stakeholders,” said Romain.
“It is very difficult to put the onus on the proponent — in this case the mining companies — to figure out a solution, especially small juniors like ours. It’s hard to raise money and then you’re trying to multi-task all this. It’s really complicated.”
“It’s my concern that if things keep up the way they are going, there will be fewer and fewer mines built and exploration will continue to drop off, which is not good for the community,” said the man who grew up in Timmins and graduated from O’Gorman High School before obtaining a degree at Ryerson University.
Romain said mines create sustainable jobs for the mining supply companies as well as a reliable tax base for their host community.
He has an ally in Timmins Mayor Steve Black who also took part in the lunch event. Black described one of the key concerns in the process is that it is not the same for every company.
“What you heard today is the permitting and consultation process and lack of standardization in terms of timelines for both of those processes, continues to be a challenge, not just for Gowest but for mines throughout Northern Ontario,” said the mayor.
He said this is something Timmins will continue to lobby for. Black said he spoke to several mining executives at the recent prospectors convention in Toronto, where he was reminded that it used to be a five-year process in Ontario from the point where minerals were discovered to the point where a mine would go into operation.
“Most of them feel that now it is a 10- to 15-year process and that is damaging to the industry as a whole. You always need to be developing that next wave of mines,” he said.
As older mines shut down, Black said the hope is that the new prospects will become new mining operations that create new jobs.
“The issue right now is that when a company walks in, they don’t know what they’re walking into, in terms of a consultation process, what the requirements are they have to fulfil. It changes mine-to-mine and operation-to-operation and depending on the area you’re dealing with. It is something we believe should be standardized going forward and hopefully the upper levels of government put that in place,” said Black.
Aside from that, Black said the Gowest project itself “was really great news” for Timmins.
Romain was pleased to say the project is well positioned to succeed.
“Geologically speaking, the project is situated along the Pipestone Fault, north of famous Porcupine-Destor Fault where 70 million ounces of gold has been mined over the last 100 years,” said Romain.
“We believe the Pipestone Fault in turning out to be a new gold trend.”
He also revealed that the grade of gold mineralization so far shows an average of five grams per tonne, which he said is easily above both national and international standards.
Romain said the layout of the mineralization shows a property best suited to a shallow depth underground mining, as opposed to pit mining. He said the first development stopes would occur at about the 45-metre level.
Romain also revealed that a pre-feasibility study (PFS) was completed last summer on the Bradshaw deposit. Gowest had signed a letter of agreement with Kidd Operations for milling Gowest based on 1,500 tonnes per day. He said it turns out that the mining rate would be close to 800 tonnes per day.
“We didn’t have enough tonnage to feed Kidd mill, but they were very good with us and they believed in what we were doing.”
Romain said there are still other options in the city where Gowest can use contract milling.
The company has experimented with ore-sorting technology that allows crushed rock, containing arsenopyrite, passing by on a conveyor belt to be X-rayed. Romain said there is a very strong association between arsenopyrite and gold. He said if arsenopyrite is not detected in the X-ray, the rock sample is automatically pushed aside.
“Results have shown that we can reject over 50% of the waste rock before the material is shipped to the mill. The effect is that we lower our cost by shipping less waste and we effectively double the gold rate being processed at the mill,” Romain explained.
Going forward for 2016, Romain said his priorities are to get his final operating permits approved and to get milling contracts for more bulk sampling of Gowest ore
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/bullboard/v.gwa/gowest-gold-ltd#5BtbkMku4Ta5csZp.99
Approval process going too slow for Gowest
By Len Gillis
Thursday, April 7, 2016 11:11:07 EDT PM
image:
Greg Romain, the president and CEO of Gowest Gold, a junior mining company, challenged the Timmins business community on Thursday be more pro-active in getting government to speed up the mine permitting and consultation process. Romain complained that a snails-pace permitting process will hurt Ontarios mining industry.
Greg Romain, the president and CEO of Gowest Gold, a junior mining company, challenged the Timmins business community on Thursday be more pro-active in getting government to speed up the mine permitting and consultation process. Romain complained that a snails-pace permitting process will hurt Ontario’s mining industry.
TIMMINS - The Timmins man in charge of the Gowest Gold mining project in Timmins has challenged the city’s business community to do something about the slow pace of permitting.
Gregory Romain, the president and CEO of Gowest was the guest speaker at a Timmins Chamber of Commerce lunch event Thursday.
Gowest is a junior gold exploration company working to develop the North Timmins Gold project located roughly 35 kilometres north of the built-up area of Timmins. The project, which is part of the well-known Bradshaw gold venture, has more than 400,000 indicated ounces of gold and more than 750,000 ounces inferred.
Romain told the chamber lunch crowd he is confident the property will eventually become a mine, but there was clear frustration in his voice as he spoke of the permitting process.
Permitting is the process where mining companies submit comprehensive work plans and outlines in order to get approval from numerous government ministries and agencies. In many cases this can require months, sometimes years of research and produce thousands of pages of paperwork.
As he noted that spring is almost here along with the arrival of golf season, Romain drew a parallel between golfing and mining. He said it would seem that things are pretty straightforward until you end up in the sand trap, which he said is like the “permit trap” in mining.
“It’s a place where sometimes you question whether you’re ever going to get out,” Romain quipped. He said the permitting requirements are reasonable and community consultations are a must, but he said he is concerned about the process and timing.
He said on the Bradshaw Gold property, baseline studies were carried out in 2009 and yet here in April 2016, Gowest is still waiting for two final permits, which are in review.
He also said Ontario’s record in the area of permitting and consultation is poor.
“The process has become far too complex and time consuming and should be of grave concern to all of you,” told the audience.
He said a recent write-up by the Fraser Institute indicated that Ontario ranks last in Canada for permitting.
Romain challenged the business community to take action on the issue.
“I think it is incumbent on you as business people to pressure both the provincial and federal governments to come up with a process immediately that will address the concerns of all stakeholders,” said Romain.
“It is very difficult to put the onus on the proponent — in this case the mining companies — to figure out a solution, especially small juniors like ours. It’s hard to raise money and then you’re trying to multi-task all this. It’s really complicated.”
“It’s my concern that if things keep up the way they are going, there will be fewer and fewer mines built and exploration will continue to drop off, which is not good for the community,” said the man who grew up in Timmins and graduated from O’Gorman High School before obtaining a degree at Ryerson University.
Romain said mines create sustainable jobs for the mining supply companies as well as a reliable tax base for their host community.
He has an ally in Timmins Mayor Steve Black who also took part in the lunch event. Black described one of the key concerns in the process is that it is not the same for every company.
“What you heard today is the permitting and consultation process and lack of standardization in terms of timelines for both of those processes, continues to be a challenge, not just for Gowest but for mines throughout Northern Ontario,” said the mayor.
He said this is something Timmins will continue to lobby for. Black said he spoke to several mining executives at the recent prospectors convention in Toronto, where he was reminded that it used to be a five-year process in Ontario from the point where minerals were discovered to the point where a mine would go into operation.
“Most of them feel that now it is a 10- to 15-year process and that is damaging to the industry as a whole. You always need to be developing that next wave of mines,” he said.
As older mines shut down, Black said the hope is that the new prospects will become new mining operations that create new jobs.
“The issue right now is that when a company walks in, they don’t know what they’re walking into, in terms of a consultation process, what the requirements are they have to fulfil. It changes mine-to-mine and operation-to-operation and depending on the area you’re dealing with. It is something we believe should be standardized going forward and hopefully the upper levels of government put that in place,” said Black.
Aside from that, Black said the Gowest project itself “was really great news” for Timmins.
Romain was pleased to say the project is well positioned to succeed.
“Geologically speaking, the project is situated along the Pipestone Fault, north of famous Porcupine-Destor Fault where 70 million ounces of gold has been mined over the last 100 years,” said Romain.
“We believe the Pipestone Fault in turning out to be a new gold trend.”
He also revealed that the grade of gold mineralization so far shows an average of five grams per tonne, which he said is easily above both national and international standards.
Romain said the layout of the mineralization shows a property best suited to a shallow depth underground mining, as opposed to pit mining. He said the first development stopes would occur at about the 45-metre level.
Romain also revealed that a pre-feasibility study (PFS) was completed last summer on the Bradshaw deposit. Gowest had signed a letter of agreement with Kidd Operations for milling Gowest based on 1,500 tonnes per day. He said it turns out that the mining rate would be close to 800 tonnes per day.
“We didn’t have enough tonnage to feed Kidd mill, but they were very good with us and they believed in what we were doing.”
Romain said there are still other options in the city where Gowest can use contract milling.
The company has experimented with ore-sorting technology that allows crushed rock, containing arsenopyrite, passing by on a conveyor belt to be X-rayed. Romain said there is a very strong association between arsenopyrite and gold. He said if arsenopyrite is not detected in the X-ray, the rock sample is automatically pushed aside.
“Results have shown that we can reject over 50% of the waste rock before the material is shipped to the mill. The effect is that we lower our cost by shipping less waste and we effectively double the gold rate being processed at the mill,” Romain explained.
Going forward for 2016, Romain said his priorities are to get his final operating permits approved and to get milling contracts for more bulk sampling of Gowest ore
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/bullboard/v.gwa/gowest-gold-ltd#5BtbkMku4Ta5csZp.99
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