TV Ontario’s The Agenda host Steve Paikin interviews J.P. Gladu, Virginia Heffernan, Alishia Hiyate and Stan Sudol.
Ottawa’s Ring of Fire assessment process declared unconstitutional by Alberta court – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 16, 2022)
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Pro-oilsands First Nations calls non-binding decision a ‘victory for Indigenous rights’
The federal environmental and social assessment being applied in the Ring of Fire was declared unconstitutional by an Alberta court. And an Indigenous business organization in that province is “gratified” with the opinion.
Alberta’s Court of Appeal handed down a non-binding decision on May 10 that the Impact Assessment Act (IAA) is “legislative creep” that threatens the division of power between the federal and provincial government guaranteed in the Constitution.
JV Article: Hudbay Minerals’ long and successful history in Manitoba continues with its Lalor mine near Snow Lake – by Staff (Northern Miner – May 16, 2022)
The city of Flin Flon in Manitoba has a rich and storied history of mining that began when gold was discovered around Amisk Lake at the start of the 20th century — the first major discovery of gold west of Ontario since the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s.
The focus then shifted to base metals when, according to local legend, in 1915, a prospector named Tom Creighton discovered a massive copper-zinc orebody in the area. He registered the strike under the name Flin Flon after Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, a character from a science fiction novel published a decade earlier.
OPINION: So much for the electric vehicle revolution. You cannot make the machines without the metals that power them – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – May 13, 2022)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Any successful politician is adept at finding the one bit of good news floating in the ocean of despair, then gushing about it to try to drown our worries.
So it is with U.S. President Joe Biden. A few weeks ago, when the war in Ukraine was propelling gasoline and diesel prices ever higher – regular gas hit a record average of US$4.43 a gallon on Friday – he suggested that painful pump prices will speed the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), fear not. Voila – no more hard decisions about filling your SUV or feeding your kids.
Indonesia’s Jokowi meets Tesla’s Musk after nickel talks – by Stanley Widianto, Ed Davies, Norihiko Shirouzu, Gavin Maguire, Fransiska Nangoy and Kevin Krolicki (Mining.com/Reuters – May 15, 2022)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo met Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk on Saturday in Texas to discuss potential investments and technology, Indonesia’s government said in a statement.
The meeting between Musk and Widodo, better known as Jokowi, came after a round of working-level discussions on a potential investment in Indonesia’s nickel industry and supply of batteries for electric vehicles, Indonesian officials told Reuters.
Party leaders pressed on their stance on Ring of Fire development at FONOM conference – by Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles (North Bay Nugget – May 12, 2022)
Debate about the development of the Ring of Fire was noticeably absent during Tuesday’s Northern Ontario Leaders’ Debate at the Capitol Centre. National and local media had an opportunity to raise the issue with the party leaders following the debate hosted by the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM).
Conservative Leader Doug Ford left the building immediately after the debate. NDP leader Andrea Horwath acknowledged some topics were missing, however “we were respectful about what they wanted to put on the agenda.”
Mining Indaba: Robert Friedland: ‘World economy can’t change unless we develop a lot more mines’ – by Henry Lazenby (Mining.com – May 11, 2022)
Global mining personality and financier Robert Friedland has singled out Africa and the Arabian Shield as the venues where the world’s future-facing minerals and metals will be responsibly produced. “This is where humanity is going to make it or break it,” he told the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba currently underway in Cape Town, South Africa.
He points out that the large copper mines in Latin America are aging and declining in grade, requiring increasing amounts of fossil-fuel-derived energy to process ever-increasing tonnages to keep up with historical production.
Nunavut hunters urge Baffinland mine to stop icebreaking, citing narwhal decline (CBC News North – May 11, 2022)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Nunavut hunters and environmental groups say shipping activity from Baffinland’s Mary River mine is having a real and potentially lasting effect on narwhal numbers in the area.They’re calling on the mining company to, again, alter its shipping plans this year as a precaution.
In a letter to Nunavut regulators last week, the Pond Inlet-based Mittimatalik Hunters & Trappers Organization (HTO) says the abundance of narwhal summering in Eclipse Sound has been in steady decline in recent years and that Baffinland is responsible.
OPINION: Hi, my name is Canada. I’m an oil superpower – by Editorial Board (Globe and Mail – May 9, 2022)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Canada’s latest export data put a clear spotlight on just how big a role oil still plays in our country’s economy. Exports of all goods in March reached a new monthly record of $63.6-billion, Statistics Canada reported, surpassing the previous high of $58.7-billion, set in February.
The surge is powered by oil. Energy now accounts for more than a quarter of Canada’s exports, a level last hit in 2014, when crude prices were also on a tear. Back then, Stephen Harper was a vocal booster of the oil industry, and not much interested in talking about climate change.
Musk Back Talking Up Tesla Mining Aspirations – by Glenn Dyer (Share Cafe – May 11, 2022)
Elon Musk has again raised the idea that Tesla could buy a miner to speed up the supply of metals essential to the production of electric vehicles around the world. It’s not the first time Musk has made such a comment, but so far he has not done anything about it.
Just how that will speed up production was not explained by Musk who continues to try and assemble a group of investors and bankers to finance his $US44 billion takeover of Twitter. The EV industry is getting concerned that there may not be enough supply of lithium, nickel, copper and other metals to match demand later this decade.
How Canada hopes to buy its way on to the factory floor of the EV revolution – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – May 10, 2022)
Billions in government subsidies are going to keep automakers in the country — and so far it’s working
To the surprise of some, if not many, all five of the global automakers who assemble cars and trucks in Canada have committed to making electric vehicles and hybrids here — or “the cars of the future” in the words of federal industry minister François-Philippe Champagne.
The promises required billions of dollars of enticement from the federal and Ontario governments, but there’s no denying that the decision of Stellantis NV to retool its manufacturing operations in Windsor and Brampton to produce EV’s and hybrids signalled a change in the weather for Canada, a relatively high-cost producer which for decades has been losing auto investments to the southern United States and Mexico.
Pentagon asks Congress to fund mining projects in Australia, U.K. – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – May 11, 2022)
May 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Defense has asked Congress to let it fund facilities in the United Kingdom and Australia that process strategic minerals used to make electric vehicles and weapons, calling the proposal crucial to national defense.
The request to alter the Cold War-era Defense Production Act (DPA) came as part of the Pentagon’s recommendations to Congress for how to write the upcoming U.S. military funding bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act.
Authorities hope to reach survivors trapped in Canadian-owned mine in Burkina Faso – by Georgie Smyth (CBC News World – May 10, 2022)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/
The race to reach eight workers trapped in a flooded, Canadian-owned zinc mine in West Africa is making progress. Trevali Mining Corp. says access to its Perkoa Mine in Burkina Faso is improving after more than 32 million litres of water were pumped out of the shaft.
Workers became trapped more than 500 metres below the surface on April 16, after heavy rain caused flash flooding which breached two embankments outside the mine, said Trevali in a statement to CBC News on Tuesday. Sixteen other workers underground at the time were able to escape.
Candidates have differing opinions on mining’s future in Sudbury – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – May 12, 2022)
https://www.thesudburystar.com/
Green candidate says new jobs will come from supply and services, and research, not mineral extraction
With the PC rep absent there was plenty the remaining mainstream Sudbury candidates could agree upon, although the three did clash from time to time — particularly on the question of how much mineral extraction drives the local economy.
Both Jamie West, the NDP incumbent, and David Farrow, running for the Liberals, took exception to Green candidate David Robinson’s assessment of how significant the city’s signature industry is to its future prosperity.
Red Lake gold miner turns to Tony Makuch for help – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 7, 2022)
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
PureGold Mining hires former Kirkland Lake Gold CEO as technical advisor
A struggling Red Lake gold mining company has turned to a well-respected mining veteran and company builder for help to get back on track. PureGold Mining is bringing former Kirkland Lake Gold CEO Tony Makuch aboard as a technical advisor.
Barely a year into commercial production, the company is struggling financially and operationally to get the former Madsen Mine complex into top gear. The former president-CEO of Kirkland Lake Gold, who resigned that post in February, will provide input on mining activities, development strategies, exploration efforts and organizational efficiencies.