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Horne Smelter shelves study and opts for ‘optimized’ environmental approach – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – June 11, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Canada’s only copper smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec is proposing a new approach to meet environmental targets. The Horne Smelter, part of Glencore Canada, processes 210,000 tonnes of copper and precious metals annually.

A 2022 study by Quebec’s public health body revealed the smelter exposed Rouyn-Noranda to harmful arsenic and cadmium levels for decades. The Quebec government required the company to reduce emissions substantially, though without a defined timeline. Glencore and provincial authorities have been negotiating over the years on emissions controls, although the company has reported steady progress.

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Critical metals and Canada will play a key role in the evolving global economy – IEFA Montreal Conference – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – June 11, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Geopolitical uncertainty remains at extreme levels, driving demand for safe-haven assets. However, a panel of economists and market analysts is not yet ready to give up on globalization, as they argue that the critical metals sector could introduce some stability into the global economy.

At the 2025 International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal, Quebec, Philippe Bourbeau, Co-Director of the International Institute of Economic Diplomacy and Professor at HEC Montréal, said that developing a reliable supply of critical metals may be the most important issue the world will face in the coming years.

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Gold surpasses euro as second-largest reserve asset: European Central Bank – by Staff (Mining.com – June 11, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Gold, driven by record purchases and surging prices, has overtaken the euro as the second most important reserve asset behind the dollar, says the European Central Bank (ECB).

According to ECB’s annual currency assessment published Wednesday, bullion made up about 20% of the global official reserves at the end of 2024, surpassing the euro’s 16%. The US dollar, meanwhile, maintained its large lead at 46% but continued to see steady declines.

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$30B in new investments needed to meet Canada’s critical mineral demand: report – by Jordan Omstead (The Canadian Press – June 12, 2025)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

TORONTO – A newly released report estimates Canada will need at least $30 billion in new capital investments by 2040 if it wants to meet domestic demand for the critical minerals key to a green economy transition. But the Canadian Climate Institute’s report says cutting back on environmental safeguards and Indigenous consultation to speed up those projects is likely to backfire.

The report released Thursday says those cutbacks can lead to delays later on, due to community opposition or litigation. The think tank’s latest report comes as the federal government, along with Ontario and British Columbia, face major pushback from First Nations and environmental groups to legislation intended to speed up mining project approvals.

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Trump says US gets rare earth minerals from China and tariffs on Chinese goods will total 55% – by DARLENE SUPERVILLE, JOSH BOAK, PAUL WISEMAN and DIDI TANG (Associated Press – June 11, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that China will make it easier for American industry to obtain much-needed needed magnets and rare earth minerals, clearing the way for talks to continue between the world’s two biggest economies. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses.

Trump’s comment on social media came after two days of high-level U.S.-China trade talks in London. Details remain scarce. Trump didn’t fully spell out what concessions the U.S. made. Beijing has not confirmed what the negotiators agreed to, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump himself have yet to sign off on it.

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Cyclic to open $25M rare earths plant in Canada – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Northern Miner – June 11, 2025)

Global mining news

Cyclic Materials, a Canadian startup backed by Amazon and Microsoft, is investing $25 million (C$34.2 million) to build a rare-earths recycling plant and research centre in Kingston, Ont., adding to the city’s existing rare earths processing facilities.

The company has developed proprietary technology that recovers rare earth elements from discarded products such as wind turbines and data centre hard drives. The new 13,006-sq.-metre Kingston Centre of Excellence will mark the company’s first commercial-scale “hub” processing unit, expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2026.

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Indonesia’s “Amazon of the Seas” threatened by EV nickel rush (Global Witness – June 12, 2025)

https://globalwitness.org/en/

Nickel mining has been expanding in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat, fuelled by the world’s demand for EV batteries – but Indigenous communities are campaigning to protect their home and its critical ecosystem

He hangs in the clear water, studying the blue below. Then he tilts his body forward, reaching down and kicking steadily, long spear before him. Soon, his white fins are just faint flicking shapes in the deep. Lindert Mambrasar, freediver and fisherman, does this again and again. An hour later, one glistening fish and then two are pulled off the tip of his spear by his friends waiting in the boat. It is more than enough for supper tonight.

Here, close to the shore of the island of Manyaifun and its sister island Batang Pele in the Raja Ampat archipelago, West Papua, the water is clean and the fish easy to spot. These thriving reefs have been called the “crown jewel” of the Coral Triangle – the name scientists have given this area of Southeast Asian seas that sustain the richest marine ecosystem in the world.

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Smuggled Out of France During a Bloody Revolution, Marie Antoinette’s Shimmering Pink Diamond Is Heading to Auction – by Eli Wizevich (Smithsonian Magazine – June 9, 2025)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/

The 10.38-carat gemstone, which carries an estimate of $3 million to $5 million, was owned by generations of European royalty

On the night of June 20, 1791, as the French Revolution raged in Paris, the French royal family donned disguises and started an ill-fated escape eastward toward Montmédy, where they expected to find protection among royalist troops.

Instead, they were recognized and arrested in the small town of Varennes-en-Argonne, roughly 30 miles from their destination. Revolutionaries hauled them back to Paris and confined them in the Tuileries Palace under armed guard.

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ArcelorMittal laying off 153 workers in Hamilton as Trump tariffs hammer the steel industry – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – June 12, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

ArcelorMittal is laying off steelworkers in Hamilton as part of a restructuring plan as the multinational steelmaker grapples with punishing metals tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a news release on Wednesday, ArcelorMittal Long Products Canada said it is shutting down its Hamilton wire drawing mill permanently and consolidating its operations in Montreal, leading to the loss of 153 jobs. Stephane Brochu, CEO of AMLPC, said in the release that the restructuring is necessary to ensure the sustainability of the company’s wire drawing business.

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Ring of Fire road reaches milestone – by Steve Cornwell and Jessica Smith Cross (The Trillium – June 12, 2025)

https://www.thetrillium.ca/

It comes at a time when tensions over the Ring of Fire have heightened over opposition to the province’s ‘special economic zones’ legislation

Webequie First Nation has released an environmental report on a road between its community and mineral deposits in the Ring of Fire, a key step toward opening the region to mining development.

The draft environmental assessment (EA) and impact statement (IS) is for one of three different stretches of a road link to planned mining operations in the region. Marten Falls has released the draft EA/IS report for the stretch of road that connects its community, and the two First Nations are jointly leading the process for the Northern Road Link that connects the other two stretches, and is running behind the other two regulatory processes.

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Barrick Mining removes Mali gold complex from 2025 output forecast, sources say – by Divya Rajagopal and Portia Crowe (BNN Bloomberg/Reuters – June 12, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

TORONTO/DAKAR — Barrick Mining has removed its Mali gold complex from its overall output forecast for 2025, four sources told Reuters, adding to fallout from a two-year dispute over new mining legislation aimed at boosting the West African country’s revenue.

Operations at the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex, one of the Canadian miner’s largest gold assets in Africa, have been suspended since January after the military-led government blocked gold exports by the world’s third-largest miner of the precious metal, detained staff and seized three metric tons of stock during separate negotiations over a new mining contract with Barrick.

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Indigenous leaders warn of ‘civil unrest’ ahead of key meeting on major project bill – by Palak Mangat (Parliament Today – June 11, 2025)

https://www.parliamenttoday.ca/

The feds’ Bill C-5 seeks to speed up project approvals to two years

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) national chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak slammed the Liberal government for wanting to ram through legislation aimed at fast-tracking the development of large projects, arguing Prime Minister Mark Carney is not off to a great “start” on reconciliation.

Nepinak was flanked by AFN B.C. regional chief Terry Teegee and B.C. First Nations Justice Council chair Kory Wilson to release the organization’s justice strategy on Wednesday. But much of her criticism was directed at Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s Bill C-5.

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Lab-Grown Diamonds are Upending the Market, but Natural Gems Still Reign in Beverly Hills – by Clara Harter (Beverly Hills Courier – June 10, 2025)

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Lab-grown diamonds, once dismissed as subpar yellowish stones, are now practically impossible to distinguish from their natural counterparts by look alone. And as more buyers are drawn to their affordability and eco-conscious appeal, synthetic stones are upending a market long defined by tradition and exclusivity.

Last year, 52% of American newlyweds used an engagement ring with a lab-grown stone compared to just 12% in 2019, according to an annual survey by The Knot. This boom in popularity has hit the natural diamond market hard. The price of mined stones has dropped around 26% since 2022, according to jewelry data analytics firm Tenoris. In 2024, De Beers, the biggest name in the natural diamond business, reported a 23% year-over-year decrease in revenue driven by a loss in demand for mined stones.

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Memory Lane: Broken bones and car bombs, the 1961 union raids – by Jason Marcon (Sudbury.com – June 11, 2025)

https://www.sudbury.com/

When the American-based United Steelworkers raided Mine Mill Local 598 in 1961, accusations of communism abounded and the tension in the city led to violent clashes, threats and widespread fear from city hall to the kitchen table

The dawn of the 1960s was a time of unrest across North America, with the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement, and the second-wave feminist movement fighting to make changes in society. Here at home in the late summer of 1961, we had a different kind of period of unrest, one of the labour kind, that would radically reshape the worker-workplace relationship, but also the relationships among co-workers.

“It was a period when the eyes of the world were on Sudbury,” reader Adam Spindler recalled. “Everyone was looking to the possible consequences of the strikes, the spread of labour unrest, and how to influence it, direct it, or control it — by fair means or foul.”

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Demand for energy to soar 44 per cent from now to 2050, OPEC head says – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – June 11, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

There is no oil demand peak on the horizon, the head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries says, taking aim at a “flip-flop” in policy from the International Energy Agency, which he says has undercut crucial investments in the oil and gas sector.

Haitham al-Ghais, the secretary-general of OPEC, said Tuesday at the Global Energy Show in Calgary that the group projects global oil demand will surpass 120 million barrels a day by 2050. “In our long-term projections, we see the forecast that global primary energy demand is going to increase by a staggering 44 per cent from now to 2050,” he said.

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