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Foran Mining is inching ahead at McIlvenna Bay. The company announced Feb. 15 that it had received its first permits from the provincial government to build an exploration decline at the project site.
The permits, issued by the Ministry of Environment and its Environmental Protection Branch, will allow Foran to build a ramp at the project site, located near Hanson Lake. The company plans to develop about a kilometre and a half into the earth as part of the ramp build, expecting it to reach the orebody itself.
Once the ramp is built, Foran plans to extract a bulk sample as large as 4,400 tonnes. That sample will be sent away for metallurgical testing and will allow Foran to start further drilling out of a new, underground base.
“The receipt of initial permits represents a significant milestone for the company as we continue to advance the McIlvenna Bay project towards full construction,” reads Foran’s announcement.
Contract work for earthworks, construction and land clearing have already been awarded for the project. The work will be done by a group called Hanson Lake Northern JV, which consists of three different organizations - Meath Park, Sask.-based CPI Construction, Saskatoon-based ThreeoSix Industrial and the Peter Ballantyne Group of Companies, an investment group owned by Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN).
"The construction of an exploration decline represents a significant key pre-construction project for Foran that will de-risk the timeline and capital costs to first production at McIlvenna Bay,” said Foran president and CEO Dan Myerson.
The company plans to release a feasibility study and start a new exploration campaign this year.
Snow Lake Lithium
Snow Lake Lithium is making headway, meeting with Manitoba cabinet ministers and Premier Heather Stefanson and ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City.
The CEO of the company, which is aiming to build and operate a what it describes as a “ fully renewable and sustainable” lithium mine near Wekusko Lake, met with Stefanson, investment and trade minister Cliff Cullen and natural resources minister Scott Fielding Jan. 25. Two weeks after that meeting, company executives rang the closing bell in New York. Snow Lake Lithium was listed on the exchange back in November.
"This important milestone represents the first step in achieving our mission of being the only fully renewable energy powered electric mine that can deliver zero carbon battery grade lithium to the electric vehicle market,” said company CEO and director Philip Gross.
The company fully owns over 55,000 acres at the Thompson Brothers property along the northeast arm of Wekusko Lake.
