Agnico Eagle expands stake in First Nordic to 13%
First Nordic is finalizing its acquisition of the Oijärvi gold project in Finland.
During 4Q 2012 and 1Q 2013, SGS will be integrating the wealth of expertise in their Toronto (Don Mills) analytical operations into the newly expanded SGS laboratories in Lakefield, northeast of Toronto, and Vancouver, BC. Both of these locations are world-renowned Minerals Services facilities. The planned integration will create large and diverse testing facilities that are key industry leading repositories of geochemical, metallurgical, mineralogical and environmental expertise, staffed by experts who are leaders in their specific fields.
This is part of SGS’ on-going North American growth strategy, which includes significant investments in excess of $25 million in Canada alone. In 2012, SGS has added 125,000ft2 of new laboratory space in Cochrane, Lakefield and Vancouver. This investment has also resulted in the creation of new jobs in SGS facilities across the country, where the company currently employs over 2000 professionals across all lines of business.
With the extensive growth SGS is experiencing worldwide, the Toronto facility can no longer keep pace with the required expansion and the decision has been made to close this operation. The new integrated facilities in Lakefield and Vancouver are better placed to be able to expand as business continues to grow. The Toronto staff are valued members of the SGS team and it is hoped that they will transition to the new facilities and take advantage of continued growth opportunities. SGS is very proud of its legacy of providing unparalleled geochemical analysis to the global exploration and mining industry from its Centre of Excellence facility in Toronto and this will continue in Lakefield and Vancouver.
The move will ensure that clients have access to a more comprehensive suite of services from an impressive range of expertise across many disciplines, all available under one roof. SGS clients will benefit from this integrated approach to their projects, resulting in better planning of testwork resources, projects progressing more quickly through each stage and thus faster speed-to-market. SGS is committed to ensuring that the transition is completed seamlessly with no disruption to quality of service, turnaround time or data reporting.
Facilities in Red Lake, Cochrane, Elko, Durango and Sudbury are also key gateways into the SGS laboratory network, providing a range of local analytical and preparation services. SGS also has an Advanced Systems business group, a Life Sciences laboratory and head office facilities in Toronto, all of which will remain open.
This integration will strategically support the growing needs of the global minerals industry and complement SGS’ unmatched geochemistry network of over 140 commercial, on-site and mobile laboratories, 12 metallurgical facilities and 5 mineralogy facilities. Of these sites, 5 labs are fully integrated GEMM (geochemistry, environmental, metallurgy, mineralogy) labs (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile and South Africa) and 3 provide integrated geochemistry-metallurgy services (Mexico, Peru and Russia).
Around the world, SGS offers a wide range of services to the minerals sector including geochemical analysis, resource calculation, mineralogy, metallurgy, advanced systems, water treatment and trade services. For further information regarding these and other SGS services, please visit www.sgs.com/mining.
