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Batchawana Bay is big-time copper country to Sterling Metals – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 6, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Impressive drill hit has Toronto company talking about significant, untapped potential at historic copper mining camp, north of Sault Ste. Marie

Sterling Metals, a junior miner that’s probing around a former copper mining camp, north of Sault Ste. Marie, made an impressive hit on its very first drill hole this spring.

The Toronto exploration outfit pulled a lengthy core sample showing 359.3 metres of copper mineralization, grading 0.36 per cent, taken at its Soo Copper Project in the Batchewana Bay area, 80 kilometres north of the city. The discovery was made just 14 metres below surface. A shorter length of the core revealed 0.56 per cent over the first 75 metres.

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Gold sees price gains, silver soars to 13-year high – by Jim Wyckoff (Kitco News – June 6, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold prices are posting good gains and hit a four-week high in early U.S. trading Thursday. Silver prices are sharply up and hit a 13-year high. Risk appetite in the general marketplace is still shaky, which continues to produce safe-haven buying of gold and silver.

The charts have turned more bullish for both metals, which is also inviting the technical traders to the long sides. August gold was last up $18.50 at $3,418.10. July silver prices were last up $1.437 at $36.08. Asian and European stocks were mixed overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed to slightly higher openings today in New York.

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[Manitoba] Mines hit with production stoppages, reductions in face of wildfires – by Gabrielle Piché (winnipeg Free Press – June 4, 2025)

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Production and exploration at some Manitoba mines has ground to a halt as staff evacuate and wildfires rage. Hudbay Minerals paused operations at its gold and zinc mine at Snow Lake, it told investors on Wednesday. The underground mine has a daily mill capacity of 5,300 tonnes.

Most employees have left the area; the Town of Snow Lake was issued a precautionary evacuation notice on Tuesday. Essential Hudbay staff have remained to assist with emergency activities, the company said, adding the workers have been authorized by emergency services.

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Ontario passes controversial mining law as Doug Ford warns against blockades – by Liam Casey and Allison Jones (Canadian Press/CBC Toronto – June 4, 2025)

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

Proposed legislation has sparked an backlash from First Nations who say it tramples on their rights

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government has given itself the power to suspend provincial and municipal laws for chosen projects in areas it deems to have economic importance. On Wednesday afternoon, the province passed Bill 5, the so-called Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, which has sparked a firestorm of anger among First Nations.

The province has said the bill is needed to speed up large projects, particularly mines, in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. Jeers from dozens of First Nations members echoed in the legislature as the bill was passed into law. Ford did not show up for the final vote.

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The Brilliance of Botswana Diamonds – by Shelley Brown (Natural Diamonds – May 29, 2025)

https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/

Discover how the natural diamond industry helped transform the now thriving Southern African country with brilliant Botswana diamonds.

Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, is both the birthplace of modern humans over 200,000 years ago and brilliant diamonds billions of years before that. The discovery of the first significant deposit of diamonds in Botswana happened in 1967, just one year after the country gained independence from Britain.

At that time, it was the third poorest country in the world, with minimal infrastructure and an almost total void of formal education. The country’s founding president, Sir Seretse Khama, made it his mission to build a government with an ambitious economic development program centered around the country’s resources.

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How this new technology could change the way we mine copper – by Liz Dennett (Fast Company – June 4, 2025)

https://www.fastcompany.com/

Mining isn’t known for innovation. For more than a century, we’ve extracted copper using the same process: dig, crush, grind, leach, repeat. Meanwhile, demand has exploded, fueled by EVs, AI infrastructure, and the energy transition. That mismatch has created a bottleneck. We’re using yesterday’s tools to power tomorrow’s economy.

The conductive highway

Copper is the metal that moves energy. Literally, electrons don’t travel from solar panels to batteries—or from your laptop charger to the cloud—without it. Copper is the conductive highway that keeps the world’s electrons flowing. It’s in every EV, every wind turbine, and every data center.

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Carney calls U.S. 50% steel, aluminum tariffs ‘illegal’ – by Sean Previl (Global News – June 4, 2025)

https://globalnews.ca

Prime Minister Mark Carney called U.S. President Donald Trump‘s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports “illegal,” and said the federal government would take “some time” to consider its next steps.

Carney made the comments Wednesday hours after Trump’s executive order, which he signed Tuesday, went into effect for numerous countries including Canada, whose steel and aluminum industries demanded an “immediate” government response.

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EU adds 13 new critical mineral projects abroad – by Staff (Mining.com – June 3, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The European Union has selected 13 new strategic raw materials projects outside its borders as part of its push to secure critical mineral supplies.

The full list of new projects spans 13 countries: Canada, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Norway, Serbia, Ukraine, Zambia, New Caledonia, Brazil, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The initiative comes as the bloc seeks to reduce its reliance on China, which tightened export controls on rare earth magnets in April.

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Ford government passes contentious ‘special economic zones’ law – by Charlie Pinkerton (The Trillium – June 4, 2025)

https://www.thetrillium.ca/

Opposition efforts to prevent Bill 5 from passing couldn’t overcome Doug Ford’s PCs majority

Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have passed Bill 5, setting their controversial “special economic zones” legislation to become law in Ontario. Ford’s PCs voted on Wednesday to pass the legislation titled the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act. The bill which includes the new Special Economic Zones Act, only awaits Ontario’s lieutenant-governor’s royal assent sign-off.

The law will give the provincial cabinet the power to designate “special economic zones” where it could then exempt specific projects and proponents, like companies, from any provincial laws, regulations and local bylaws. Being provincial legislation, the requirements of federal laws would still apply.

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Ireland surpasses Canada in manufacturing – by Catherine Swift (Niagara Independent – May 20, 2025)

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It would be a welcome change to have something positive to write about the Canadian economy these days, but unfortunately the pickings are slim, and the news is relentlessly bad. A recent study by the National Bank of Canada just adds to the misery as it focusses on the decline of the Canadian manufacturing sector.

The study found that on some variables, Canadian manufacturing has some advantages as compared to other OECD countries for things such as affordable energy. Although energy prices have risen in Canada significantly because of the forced promotion of costly so-called “green” energy sources by governments, Canada is still blessed with major amounts of hydroelectricity in various parts of the country and a wealth of fossil fuel resources as compared with European countries.

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What to Know About China’s Halt of Rare Earth Exports – by Keith Bradsher (New York Times – June 3, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Since early April, China has stopped almost all shipments of critical minerals that are needed for cars, robots, wind turbines, jet fighters and other technologies.

China has suspended almost all exports since April 4 of seven kinds of rare earth metals, as well as very powerful magnets made from three of them. The halt has caused increasingly severe shortages that threaten to close many factories in the United States and Europe. Why are these metals so needed, why has China stopped exporting them and, crucially, what happens next?

What are rare earths?

There are 17 types of metals known as rare earths, which are found near the bottom of the periodic table. Most of them are not actually very rare — they are all over the world, though seldom in large enough ore deposits to be mined efficiently.

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Feds prepared to use revenue from $90B of tariffed products to help steel, aluminum industries: MP – by Elaine Della-Mattia (Sault Star – June 4, 2025)

https://www.saultstar.com/

The federal government will meet with the Canadian Steel Producers Association Thursday to develop ways on how the government can best help the steel industry. Sault Ste. Marie MP Terry Sheehan, co-chair of the all-party steel caucus, said he organized the meeting “which is more important now than ever” to pin down the best ways to help the industry.”

“We’re still sticking with the fight, protect, build, model,” Sheehan told The Sault Star. The meeting, which was planned before U.S. President Donald Trump signed the orders to double the tariffs of steel and aluminum, was designed to discuss the liquidity problems in the industry, including at Algoma Steel.

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Nationalisation, Sovereignty and Geopolitical Realignment in African Mineral Extraction: The case of West Africa – by Elio Brando (Italian Institue for International Political Studies – June 5, 2025)

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The global resource market is experiencing a sustained surge in demand for crucial minerals, such as gold, lithium, silver, bauxite, uranium, and cobalt. Two key forces are driving this trend: rising geopolitical and economic uncertainties, which are channelling increased investment in hard commodities, and the accelerating technological transition, which demands a significant expansion of mineral production and refinery.

Africa is bound to be deeply affected by current developments. The continent holds approximately 30% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, with individual nations possessing significant shares of specific resources. The global interest in precious minerals (such as gold, platinum, and silver) is paired by a rising demand for critical minerals such as lithium, graphite, cobalt, manganese, and bauxite.

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Coal miners backed Trump. He’s dismantled their safety net – by Bob Ortega, Curt Devine, Kyung Lah and Casey Tolan (CNN.com – June 4, 2025)

https://www.cnn.com/

OAK HILL, WEST VIRGINIA – After decades of mining coal deep below the mountains of West Virginia, David Bounds now struggles to carry a gallon of milk to the breakfast table without gasping for breath. The black lung disease that forced him to retire eventually may kill him, Bounds believes.

He’s proud of being a coal miner. But he doesn’t want anyone else to face his fate – or the myriad other dangers miners confront on the job. “It’s getting worse, and worse, and worse as I go along. I don’t want to see nobody in that shape, if it can be prevented,” he told CNN.

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Rio Tinto bets lithium will retain its battery metal crown – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 3, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – It’s a tough time to be a lithium producer as the light metal sinks under the weight of excess supply. Lithium hydroxide prices have collapsed by 90% from their 2022 peak and show no signs of recovery.

Multiple producers are now operating at zero or negative margins, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Even giants like Albemarle, the world’s largest producer of the battery metal, have been cutting costs and deferring new projects to weather the supply storm. Rio Tinto, however, is undaunted. The global mining house remains “consistent in its belief in the long-term outlook for lithium”.

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