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Canada should be a mining superpower, too – by Heather Exner-Pirot (MacDonald-Laurier Institute – June 16, 2025)

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This article originally appeared in The Hill Times.

Being a mining superpower isn’t just about mining the most. It’s also about having the ability to supply the material needs of our allies in a reliable and secure manner.

As the world’s second-largest country, Canada, in theory, has the world’s second-largest mineral bounty. But we also have difficult geography and burdensome processes. In the past few decades, we’ve punched well below our weight, losing market share across a variety of critical minerals and products. Canada has unfulfilled mining potential.

The silver lining is that as our allies and trading partners look to secure their raw material needs—for the digital economy, the energy transition, defence supply chains, you name it—Canada still has vast untapped reserves that it can develop to satisfy those needs. With just 41 million people, we have more than we could ever use ourselves.

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Opinion: We need a grand bargain to unlock Canadian prosperity – by Ken Coates (Business In Vancouver – June 16, 2025)

https://www.biv.com/

A new era of resource development must start with full Indigenous engagement and a bold federal commitment to shared prosperity

There aren’t many absolute truths in Canadian public life, but there are some. Here’s a few on that short list: First Nations people require — and deserve — far greater economic opportunities, Canada’s economic prosperity rests on the cautious but timely development of natural resources, and the current rate of government spending cannot be maintained.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new government engages provincial and territorial counterparts seeking to fast-track major development projects, First Nations, Métis and Inuit warn that unchecked development, undertaken without Indigenous involvement and approval, must be stopped in its tracks.

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Chevron joins oil majors in US lithium production push – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 17, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Chevron USA, a subsidiary of Chevron Corporation, became on Tuesday the latest oil major to enter the lithium market in the United States with the acquisition of lease rights to about 125,000 net acres in northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas.

The company secured the lithium-rich acreage from TerraVolta Resources and East Texas Natural Resources but did not disclose financial details. “This acquisition represents a strategic investment to support energy manufacturing and expand US-based critical mineral supplies,” Chevron New Energies president Jeff Gustavson said.

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Yukon Supreme Court approves sale of Minto mine to Selkirk First Nation – by Caitrin Pilkington (CBC News North – June 16, 2025)

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

Deal puts First Nation ‘in the driver’s seat’ over what happens on its traditional territory

On Friday, the Yukon Supreme Court approved the second half of the Minto mine sale to Selkirk First Nation (SFN), marking a major milestone in the First Nation’s control of activities on its own land. Minto mine, a gold and copper mine about 240 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse on SFN land, was abandoned by previous owners Minto Metals Corp. in May 2023 and PricewaterhouseCoopers has acted as receiver. .

In September, the First Nation acquired the tangible assets at the site, such as buildings and equipment, for $5.3 million. As of this week, it now has approval to buy mineral claims and leases that grant the right to extract minerals, for $740,000. The sale is expected to close in the coming days.

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‘Free, prior, and informed consent’ never amounted to a First Nations veto – by Chris Sankey (Financial Post – June 14, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

First Nations have just as much interest in seeing major development projects that benefit our communities go ahead as industry and government

Last week, Justice Minister Sean Fraser apologized for saying that the duty to consult First Nations on infrastructure projects “stops short of a complete veto.” The apology came in response to a letter from Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who expressed concern about plans to fast-track infrastructure projects, citing the principal of “free, prior, and informed consent” enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

For decades in this country, Indigenous rights have been trampled upon and trust has been lost. Years of negligence has caused our people not to trust the process and to second guess commitments made by government and industry.

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Mali court orders Barrick operations to be handed over to provisional administrator – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – June 17, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Mining Corp. ABX-T is set to lose control of its Malian operations after a local court ordered a state-appointed administrator to temporarily take over the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine. The Bamako Commercial Tribunal’s ruling Monday follows months of tension between Toronto-based Barrick and Mali over a new fiscal agreement for the massive gold mine in the West African country.

The court named Soumana Makadji, a former health minister in Mali, as the administrator of the mine for the next six months. The Bamako Commercial Tribunal did not respond to a request for comment.

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Why the CEO of the company planning a huge Canadian uranium mine is optimistic about Mark Carney – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Saskatoon Star Phoenix – June 16, 2025)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

‘Carney recognizes the resource strength that Canada has,’ said Leigh Curyer

As Prime Minister Mark Carney looks to pass legislation to fast-track major projects, the chief executive of the company planning Canada’s largest uranium mine currently under development in northern Saskatchewan is hoping its project will be a beneficiary.

Leigh Curyer, chief executive of Vancouver-based NexGen Energy Ltd., which is working to develop the $2-billion Rook I Project in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan’s Far North, said he’s optimistic about Carney’s plans to turn Canada into an “energy superpower” and speed up development of major projects.

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Ivanhoe cuts guidance as restart begins on Congo copper mine – by Jacob Lorinc, James Attwood and Martin Ritchie (Financial Post/Bloomberg News – June 12, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Shares of the Canadian mining company were down 6%

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. executives told investors on Thursday it’s too soon to provide output guidance for its massive copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo after seismic activity last month caused flooding deep underground.

The company held a call after slashing its 2025 output guidance for its Kamoa-Kakula complex even after restarting parts of the flood-hit operation. Chief executive Marna Cloete said Ivanhoe can’t offer guidance for 2026 or 2027 in light of the incident.

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Canada’s rush for new resource projects can’t happen without First Nations’ support: grand chief – by Ozten Shebahkeget (CBC News Manitoba – June 16, 2025)

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

‘Nothing will happen unless the First Nations … say it will’: Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak grand chief

Some First Nations leaders and citizens in Manitoba say they’re concerned by the province’s recent push to create new energy, trade and resource extraction projects in the north. Shortly after the Liberals won a minority government in last April’s federal election, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew sent a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney to pitch five major resource projects in the province that could be fast-tracked.

At the top of Kinew’s list was a project he called the “One Canada Trade Corridor,” which would create a potential hub for critical minerals and fossil fuel exports through northern Manitoba’s Port of Churchill to diversify Canada’s trade relationships.

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Ontario nuclear plan could boost uranium mining – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – June 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Ontario is preparing to expand its nuclear energy capacity to meet rising electricity demand, a move that could support uranium consumption and create opportunities for critical-mineral development. The Energy for Generations plan, released this month, sets out Ontario’s integrated long-term strategy to modernize the grid, expand transmission and guide power supply as demand is expected to rise by 75% by 2050.

The framework aligns with previously announced nuclear spending, including Ontario Power Generation (OPG)’s $20.9 billion (US$15 billion) commitment for small modular reactors, and could encompass 10,000 megawatts (MW) of additional nuclear capacity.

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Israel’s Endgame in Iran: Collapse, Not Containment – by Paulo Aguiar (Geopolitical Monitor – June 15, 2025)

https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/

In the intensifying standoff between Israel and Iran, it is not the visible concern over uranium enrichment that defines the underlying strategic logic, but rather a deeper structural confrontation between state systems. What outwardly presents itself as a dispute over nuclear technology is, in essence, a clash between two irreconcilable strategic imperatives:

Israel’s pursuit of regional preeminence and regime security, and Iran’s quest for deterrence and geopolitical autonomy. The nuclear file functions less as a genuine threat vector and more as a legitimating framework: a narrative instrument used to justify military and political actions that serve broader, unstated objectives.

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Gold digger: How Rob McEwen crowdsourced his way to a motherlode — and changed mining forever – by Ray Sharma and Aniket Patel (Toronto Star – June 14, 2025)

https://www.thestar.com/

The Entrepreneurs is an occasional series that will profile Canadian innovators and the lessons to be derived from their stories. This week it’s Rob McEwen, chairman and CEO of McEwen Mining and founder of Goldcorp which merged with Newmont Mining in 2019.

Silicon Valley didn’t invent the hackathon. A Canadian gold miner did — and made millions. Rob McEwen understood something most mining executives missed: gold’s true rarity makes conventional approaches obsolete.

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Canada to mine more amid geopolitical tensions: former minister Bill Morneau – by Frank Chen(South China Morning Post – June 14, 2025)

https://www.scmp.com/

Former finance minister says Canada has a stake in the US-China discussions, particularly when it comes to export controls over rare earths

Canada’s new government will invest more in mining at a time when the country’s economy and manufacturing sector are facing “challenges” related to China’s curbs on rare earth exports, Bill Morneau, former Canadian finance minister, told the Post.

“One of the challenges for Canada is that we will need to increase our own mining,” Morneau, who was in office between 2015 and 2020 under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, said in Shanghai on Friday. “The initiative by new [Prime Minister] Mark Carney is to advance the ability to get big projects done. Certainly, mining is one of the critical ones,” Morneau explained.

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Maps Show Russian Territory China Could Annex Amid FSB ‘Suspicion’ – by Isabel van Brugen and John Feng (Newsweek Magazine – June 9, 2025)

https://www.newsweek.com/

Russia fears China could annex part of its Far East region, including the port city of Vladivostok, and beyond, according to a leaked document from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

The eight-page internal FSB document, obtained by The New York Times, reveals that despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s outward projection of warm ties with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, he fears Beijing is “trying to encroach” on Russian territory.

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G7 to collaborate on critical mineral supply chains – by Mark Rendell (Globe and Mail – June 17, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The leaders of the Group of Seven countries have provisionally agreed to work together to rapidly develop global supply chains for critical minerals in an effort to reduce their reliance on China for key industrial inputs.

The G7 countries will establish an “action plan,” with the aim of setting standards for critical minerals markets and providing funding for new mines and downstream processing facilities, according to a draft document seen by The Globe and Mail.

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