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Nations Rising – A story of Nisga’a strength – by A.J. Roan (North of 60 Mining News – May 2, 2025)

 

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

For Entire Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqpCmlUfwwo

New documentary tells the story of overcoming oppression to reclaim home and power, enabling future generations to thrive.

For more than a century, the Nisg̱a’a people of Northern British Columbia’s Nass Valley fought to reclaim their land, their rights, and their voice, a long journey brought to life in Nations Rising – A Nisg̱a’a Story, which weaves the tale of history, culture, resilience, and modern self-determination into a living portrait of a nation rising anew.

Long before modern boundaries were drawn, the Nass River valley of northwestern B.C. served as a gathering place for many Indigenous peoples, a basin of life where rivers, forests, and mountains sustained generations.

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Rio Tinto weighs up rare earths market – by Kristie Batten (Mining.com – May 1, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto is weighing a move into rare earths and other critical minerals as it responds to shifting global market dynamics and trade tensions. Following the company’s annual general meeting in Perth on Thursday, chief executive Jakob Stausholm said the board had discussed rare earths this week and would take a “serious look” at their potential role in Rio Tinto’s portfolio.

Stausholm said that as the company continues to optimize its iron ore operations in the Pilbara and advances developments like the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, it’s also reshaping its aluminum, copper, and lithium businesses to support the energy transition.

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Mining In Canada: Critical Minerals Exploration – Revival of Thompson nickel belt: Drilling into Manitoba’s untapped potential – by Misty Urbatsch (Canadian Mining Journal – May 1, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Misty Urbatsch is the CEO, president, and director of Core Nickel Corp.

Core Nickel Corp. (CSE: CNCO) is quickly gaining traction as an emerging exploration company targeting high-grade nickel sulfide systems in northern Manitoba. Since listing in late 2023, the company has raised $3.9 million in capital, secured nearly $0.5 million in non-dilutive government funding, launched multiple drill programs, and initiated airborne surveys across key assets — all while firmly establishing itself in the globally significant Thompson Nickel Belt.

The company’s exploration efforts are centered on the Thompson Nickel Belt, the world’s fifth-largest nickel belt and a globally significant source of high-grade nickel sulfide. Though more than five billion lbs. of nickel have been mined from the region, large portions of the belt remain underexplored using modern geological and geophysical techniques.

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Opinion: Oil and gas, not cars, still pay Canada’s bills, and critical metals are soon to follow – by Patricia Mohr (Financial Post – May 2, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Energy exports are almost two and a half times the value of exported cars, and critical minerals are coming on fast

Times haven’t changed as much as many people seem to think. Canada’s vast resource potential still generates both big economic opportunities and important diplomatic leverage in our relations with the United States and others. With our small domestic consumer market, we still owe much of our prosperity and influence to the export of commodities and resource-based manufactures.

Despite recent rhetoric, Canada has long been and still is an “energy super-power.” We are the world’s fourth-largest producer of crude oil and a trusted member of the West’s nuclear-fuel supplier group. With effective resource management and huge potential in liquefied natural gas (LNG), our global role in energy will only expand in coming years.

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The future for Alaska mining is golden – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – May 2, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Record gold prices and rising production are expected to push Alaska’s 2025 gold output value north of $3.4 billion.

With the gold shattering the $3,000-per-ounce ceiling without hesitation and Alaska mines poised to break above the 1-million-oz mark this year, the future of Alaska’s mining sector is golden. This combination of record gold prices and production positions Alaska’s mining industry to crush all previous records this year when it comes to the value of the minerals and metals produced in the state.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) calculates that Alaska’s mining operations produced $4.7 billion of non-fuel minerals – gold, zinc, silver, lead, and aggregate products – in 2024. Adding the coal produced for in-state power plants bumps this total up to roughly $4.8 billion.

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Alamos Gold sees mine expansion on the horizon at Dubreuilville – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 1, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto gold miner takes big-picture outlook at Island Gold after first quarter results fail to impress markets

Completion of the multi-million-dollar expansion at Alamos Gold’s Island Gold mine, outside Dubreuilville, is on track for the first half of 2026.

The gold potential at the prolific high-grade underground mine is key to the Toronto company’s three-year strategy to become a million-ounce-per-year producer, combining its mines in Northern Ontario and Mexico with another on the way in Manitoba.

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With Minerals Deal, Trump Ties Himself to Future of Ukraine – by Kim Barker (New York Times – May 1, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The text of the agreement, made public by Ukraine’s government, made no mention of the security guarantees that Kyiv had long sought.

The minerals deal signed by the United States and Ukraine on Wednesday could bring untold money into a joint investment fund between the two countries that would help rebuild Ukraine whenever the war with Russia ends. But Ukraine’s untapped resources that are the subject of the deal will take years to extract and yield profits. And those could fail to deliver the kind of wealth that President Trump has long said they would.

It is not yet clear how the nine-page deal, the text of which Ukraine’s government made public on Thursday, will work in practice. Many specifics need to be worked out, but the deal will set up an investment fund, jointly managed by Kyiv and Washington.

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Brazil low-cost lithium production: A potential global reference, but internal challenges may delay progress – by Leticia Simionato (Fastmarkets.com – May 2, 2025)

https://www.fastmarkets.com/

“Brazil can be seen as a low-cost reference compared with other global spodumene producers. We compete very well with several geographies: better costs due to geological issues, cheaper labor and electricity… There’s a list of factors that makes us competitive, ” Vinicius Alvarenga, chief executive officer of Companhia Brasileira de Lítio (CBL), told Fastmarkets in an interview.

CBL currently produces 45,000 tonnes per year of spodumene concentrate, of which 30,000 tonnes is exported – mainly to China – while 15,000 tonnes are used in the company’s own refinery, which produces around 2,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Half of the produced LCE is exported and half is used domestically. Additionally, CBL is currently working on a project to increase mining production to 100,000 tpy of spodumene and expand its chemicals production to 6,000 tpy of LCE.

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Casino Mining defends heap leach plan as distrust of gold extraction method lingers – by Gabrielle Plonka (CBC News North – May 01, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Company vice-president says Casino would have ‘significant differences’ from the Eagle gold mine

The heap leach facility at the Casino mine will be different from the one that failed last summer at the Eagle gold mine in the Yukon, according to the mining company. The Casino mine — which is still in the environmental assessment phase — is 300 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse via Carmacks, on what the company says is one of the largest copper-gold deposits in Canada.

Shena Shaw, Casino Mining’s vice-president of environmental and community affairs, gave a presentation at the Association of Yukon Communities’ annual general meeting on April 25.

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Spotlight: Ontario projects to watch – by Staff (Northern Miner – May 1, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Ontario is among the world’s top 10 mining jurisdictions and is rich in base and precious metals as well as a suite of critical minerals. Here’s a look at eight companies with interesting projects to watch.

Canada Nickel

Canada Nickel expects to receive final permits and make a construction decision on its Crawford nickel sulphide project before the end of this year.

Crawford, 42 km north of Timmins, contains the second-largest nickel reserves in the world with 1.72 billion proven and probable tonnes grading 0.22% nickel, 0.013% cobalt, 0.014 gram palladium per tonne, 0.009 gram platinum, 6.44% iron, 0.57% chrome and 1.61% brucite.

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Pentagon’s AI metals program goes private in bid to boost Western supply deals – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – May 2, 2025)

https://www.msn.com/

(Reuters) -A U.S. government-created artificial intelligence program that aims to predict the supply and price of critical minerals has been transferred to the control of a non-profit organization that is helping miners and manufacturers strike supply deals.

Launched in late 2023 by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Open Price Exploration for National Security AI metals program is an attempt to counter China’s sweeping control of the critical minerals sector, as Reuters reported last year.

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Algoma Steel CEO asks Carney to ‘immediately engage’ with Trump on steel tariffs – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 1, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Algoma Steel Group Inc. chief executive Michael Garcia is appealing to Prime Minister Mark Carney to “immediately engage” with the Trump administration about dropping punishing tariffs on imports of Canadian steel. Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based Algoma is under significant strain owing to the 25-per-cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on March 12.

The Canadian steelmaker is directly bearing the costs of the tariffs because it is importer of record in the United States, and it has largely been unable to pass on the costs to its customers. The little under three weeks the company was subject to the tariffs during the first quarter cost it $10.5-million. The U.S. market accounts for about half of Algoma’s revenue.

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Opinion | Let’s judge Ontario’s mineral development by what is protected — not just extracted – by Constance O’Connor (Toronto Star – May 2, 2025)

https://www.thestar.com/

In the Speech from the Throne, the Ford government once again promised to expedite mineral development in the area that mining companies are calling the Ring of Fire in the far north of the province. It then followed up before the Easter long weekend with Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025.

This bill leans hard into the rhetoric of the need to slash laws governing everything from endangered species protections to resource development in a way that promises plenty of chaos — and not much clarity — as everyone from First Nations to businesses tries to sort through its far-reaching implications.

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Vale’s Strategic Alternatives for Nickel Assets in 2025 – by John Zadeh (Discovery Alert – April 30, 2025)

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Market Challenges and Future Outlook

Brazilian mining giant Vale S.A. faces critical decisions regarding its nickel operations amid a complex global market landscape dominated by oversupply pressures and shifting demand dynamics. The company’s strategic review of its nickel portfolio, initiated in early 2025, reflects both short-term operational challenges and long-term optimism about nickel’s role in the energy transition.

This report synthesizes Vale’s current challenges, strategic options, and the broader market forces shaping its decisions, with a focus on Indonesia’s disruptive production growth and the evolving electric vehicle (EV) sector.

What Challenges Is Vale Facing in the Nickel Market?

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What is deep-sea mining and why is Donald Trump suddenly so interested in it? – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – April 30, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Canadian company stands to gain from U.S. president’s thirst for critical minerals

An executive order signed by United States President Donald Trump last week could potentially challenge existing global norms linked to deep-sea mining as he tries to reduce his country’s reliance on China for critical minerals. Trump’s order lists several instructions to speed up the start of seabed mining, such as expediting reviews of mineral exploration licences and commercial permits in areas “beyond national jurisdiction.”

The move was lauded by Vancouver-based Metals Co. Inc. (TMC), which has exploration rights in two areas of the Pacific Ocean and has been evaluating U.S. locations since 2019. On Tuesday, it applied for two additional exploration licences and one commercial recovery permit.

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