Fury, Bonterra, Quebec Nickel hit by Quebec wild fires
Fury Gold Mines Ltd. [FURY-TSX, NYSE American], Bonterra Resources Inc. [BTR-TSXV, BONXF-OTC, 9BR1-FSE] and Quebec Nickel Corp. [QNI-CSE] all said they have temporarily suspended operations in Quebec due to the threat posed by forest fires in the province.
Bonterra said it has stopped activities and evacuated safely all personnel following a directive by the Quebec government. Bonterra’s projects and infrastructure are located in Abitibi and Eeyou Istchee regions.
“The forest fire situation is exceptional, and Bonterra remains on the lookout for any development,’’ said Bonterra President and CEO Marc-Andre Pelletier. “The Barry and Gladiator camps and the Bachelor Lake mill complex are not currently in danger, but we continue to monitor the situation with the authorities,’’ he said.
Fury Gold Mines said it has paused all exploration activities at its Eau Claire project located in the Eeyou Istchee territory in the James Bay region.
Fury Gold Mines is the product of an October, 2020 transaction that saw Auryn Resources Inc. acquiring Eastmain Resources Inc. and forming Fury, a Canada-focused exploration and development company that is positioned in three prolific mining regions across the country.
Fury owns a 100% stake in the high-grade Eau Claire gold project which is situated on over 24,000 hectares in the Eeyou-Istchee/James Bay region. Eau Claire is one of five known deposits in the region with the largest of these, the Newmont Corp., [NGT-TSX, NEM-NYSE]-owned Eleonore mine, located 57 kilometres north of the Eau Claire project.
“As wildfires continue to threaten parts of the James Bay area, we are following the direction of local authorities and prioritizing the safety of our team,’’ said Fury CEO Tim Clark.
Meanwhile, Quebec Nickel said it has suspended field work at its Ducros nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE-gold project, which consists of 280 contiguous mining claims covering 15,293 hectares within the eastern portion of the Abitibi greenstone belt. The project is located about 80 kilometres northeast of Val-d’Or, Quebec.
The company said all Ducros personnel have safely relocated from the project’s base of operations in Lebel-sur-Quevillon to Val d’Or upon receiving an evacuation notice on June 2, 2023. “We will resume our field-based exploration work at Ducros when it is safe to do so,’’ the company said.
The announcement came after Troilus Gold Corp. [TLG-TSX, CHXMF-OTCQB] said Monday it has closed operations due to the closure of The Route due Nord ,which provides the only road access to its Troilus operations. “As a result, operations at the Troilus site have been suspended and staff have been withdrawn as a safety precaution,’’ the company said.
Troilus is a Quebec-focused exploration and early-stage development company. It is aiming for a mineral expansion and potential restart of the former gold and copper Troilus mine. The Troilus property is located northeast of the Val d’Or district, within the Frotet-Evans Greenstone Belt in Quebec.