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Gold price sharply higher following Israeli attacks on Iran – by Jim Wyckoff (Kitco News – June 13, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold prices are solidly up and hit a five-week high in early U.S. trading Friday, on strong safe-haven demand following the overnight Israeli attacks on Iran that are being called major. Silver prices are modestly up. August gold was last up $41.90 at $3,444.30. July silver prices were last up $0.095 at $36.39.

Risk aversion in highly elevated Friday amid the most severe military escalation between Israel and Iran in decades. Targeted Israeli airstrikes overnight killed several of Iran’s top generals and nuclear officials, paralyzing Tehran’s command structure and leaving the regime reeling. Israel said it is preparing for further military action.

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Danielle Smith faces raucous, angry town hall on Alberta’s coal policy – by Matthew Scace (Canadian Press/Financial Post – June 11, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Many in the crowd held small placards reading ‘lie’ and ‘false,’ raising them each time they disagreed

FORT MACLEOD — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful on Wednesday night from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province’s coal policy. About 500 people, dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta., for an event marked by heckling, competing applause and placards.

“If we are not prepared to look and find middle-ground solutions to allow for industries to proceed while reducing our environmental footprint, you’re going to find that different industries become the next on the hit list,” Smith said through a chorus of protesting voices and verbal jabs.

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How Can Canada Deliver On Its Renewed Natural Resources Ambition – TV Ontario’s The Agenda host Steve Paikin interviews Heather Exner-Pirot, Elena Cherney and Stan Sudol (June 12, 2025) https://www.tvo.org/theagenda

https://www.tvo.org/theagenda

The world may be changing rapidly, but one thing is not – its demand for natural resources, many of which Canada has supplied for generations. Oil, natural gas, metals and timber. And our new Liberal government seems to be embracing this country’s past as a provider of raw materials, as well as increasing numbers of Canadians.

But how can the government boost development while also balancing important modern considerations such as First Nations consultation and climate change?

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Canada Nickel sizes up new nickel deposit in Timmins – Staff (Northern Ontario Business – June 11, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mann West among a number of emerging deposits in the Timmins-Cochrane area

Canada Nickel hopes its Mann West deposit, northeast of Timmins, can rival the size and scale of its flagship Crawford nickel mine project.

The Toronto mine developer and explorer posted a first-time mineral resource estimate of more than two million tonnes of nickel for its Mann West nickel sulphide project. It’s shaping up to be another low-grade, big-tonnage type of nickel deposit in northeastern Ontario.

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Trump Mulls Using Defense Powers to Fund Rare-Earth Projects – by Joe Deaux, Jenny Leonard and Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Yahoo/Bloomberg – June 12, 2025)

https://finance.yahoo.com/

The Trump administration is developing a plan to use Cold War-era powers to prioritize and fund rare earth projects it deems critical to national security, people familiar with the matter said.

Officials are discussing using the Defense Production Act to tap financing, loans and other means for rare earths element-related projects, including mining, processing and other downstream technologies to bolster the US’s capability to build a domestic supply chain, the people said. A specific course of action or a timeline have yet to be finalized, the people said.

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Is The Lab-Grown Diamond Era Over?Diamonds giant De Beers Group recently announced the closure of its lab grown diamonds line. Is it a signal of a move back towards natural diamonds? – by Shreya Choudhuri (NDTV Lifestyle – June 13, 2025)

https://www.ndtv.com/

Are diamonds really forever? South African and British diamonds corporation, De Beers Group announced its decision to close its lab-grown diamonds (LGD) brand, Lightbox in May 2025. This has led to a shift of focus back to the OG natural diamonds within the industry and consumers. While a girl’s got to know all about her diamonds, but if you are living under a rock, LGDs are chemically produced diamonds that look just like naturally mined diamonds but cost a fraction of the latter.

According to Statista (Statista is a global data and business intelligence platform that specialises in compiling, gathering and visualising statistics and market research data), this move by De Beers is in sharp contrast to the lab-grown diamonds industry steadily growing over the past decade. However, in a statement released in their official website the company highlighted that Lightbox’s LGD’s have seen a fall in prices by 90 per cent at wholesale, since the brand’s inception back in 2018.

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The Ring of Fire: an abundance of metals, few juniors – by Richard Mill (Ahead of the Herd.com – June 12, 2025)

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Northern Ontario Business calls the Ring of Fire “the garden of agony” for mining companies ever since the discovery of nickel and chromite in the James Bay region in 2007-08:

Over the decades, the vast and open-ended mineral potential of the remote Ring of Fire has received its share of passionate lip service from Ottawa and Queen’s Park. But these two orders of government have also contributed to the lack of Far North development through apathy and inaction, arduous assessment processes, and diverging policies over how — or even if — resource extraction should take place in the James Bay lowlands.

The sclerotic pace of development though could be quickening, thanks to a change of federal government, new initiatives from the Doug Ford-led provincial government, and progress on roadbuilding that is being headed up by local First Nations. A promise of new mining infrastructure has brought a fresh wave of optimism from resource companies advancing deposits in the region, who see a new “area play” developing.

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China’s tight grip on rare earths shows little sign of weakening – by Evelyn Cheng, Anniek Bao and Sam Meredith (CNBC.com – June 13, 2025)

https://www.cnbc.com/

China’s dominance of the global rare earths supply chain won’t dwindle easily, even if Beijing decides to approve more export licenses through deals with Europe and the U.S. Three Shenzhen-listed Chinese companies this month said that Beijing approved their exports of magnets with rare earths — metals critical for cars, defense, semiconductors and other industrial products.

But another firm, Baotou INST Magnetic New Materials, said last month the export licenses can only be used for one shipment. In Europe, automotive industry groups have said that, in the case of magnets and heavy rare earths, long-term export licenses from China were only valid for a maximum of six months.

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Trump administration moves to lift Biden-era mining restrictions near Boundary Waters in Minnesota – by Steve Karnowski (Associated Press – June 12, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is moving to lift restrictions on copper-nickel mining that the Biden administration imposed near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota.

The decision, announced Wednesday by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, threw a lifeline to the proposed Twin Metals Minnesota mine near Ely. Democratic administrations have tried to kill the project because of what they called the threat of acid mine drainage into Boundary Waters, the country’s most-visited federally designated wilderness area.

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Hudbay starts demolition on long-disused smelter – by Eric Westhaver (Flin Flon Reminder – December 6, 2024)

https://www.thereminder.ca/

Almost 15 years after it was last used and nearly a century after it was first built, Hudbay has begun demolishing the company’s former smelter facility. Company representatives announced the work had begun during a public meeting at the Flin Flon Community Hall Nov. 27, detailing a plan that will take well over a year to complete.

Demolition work on some buildings part of the smelter complex began last month and is still ongoing. The anode building has been fully demolished, with demolition on the converter aisle currently underway. Hudbay representatives say they expect the converter aisle and furnace area all demolished by Christmas this year and material ready to be moved away by rail in early 2025.

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First Nation leaders, advocates rally in Thunder Bay, Ont., to demand Bill 5’s repeal – by Sarah Law (CBC News Thunder Bay – June 13, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

About 200 people flocked to MPP Kevin Holland’s office to voice concerns

Etched on a poster board the size of her body, Mary McPherson held up a pencil-drawn portrait of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.With dollar signs over his eyes, Ford is standing in front of a burned-down forest, holding a torn copy of the James Bay Treaty.

The artwork, McPherson said, is in response to Bill 5, controversial legislation which aims to fast-track development in the name of unleashing the province’s economic potential.”I’m really angry and scared for the future. I feel like already, this territory has experienced a lot of environmental harm as a result of resource extraction,” said McPherson, a member of Couchiching First Nation.

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South Africa’s mining industry faces stark declines amid global uncertainty – by Siphelele Dludla (Business Report – June 12, 2025)

https://businessreport.co.za/

The mining industry in South Africa continued to face bleak prospects after output plunged more than expected in April, signalling the continued sinking of the productive sectors of the economy. According to data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Thursday, mining production slipped by 7.7% year on year in April following a revised 2.5% decline in March.

This April reading was more than an expected 4.3% decline and pointed to the sixth consecutive month of downturn in the country’s sector.Jean-Pierre Terblanche, principal service statistician at Stats SA, said the decline was led by a fall in the production of platinum group metals (PGM) which contracted by 24.1% from a decline of 9.9% in March.

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Copper clash shows cracks in decades-old pricing system – by Julian Luk and Archie Hunter (Bloomberg News – June 12, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd. and Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. are locked in a commercial dispute over a major copper supply deal, exposing cracks in a decades-old pricing system as the market endures a severe shortage.

The two sides have failed to agree on the sales terms for concentrated copper ores that Teck will supply to Sumitomo’s smelter in Japan this year, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified due to the commercial sensitivity of the matter.

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Ford fires back at First Nation leader over opposition to Bill 5 – by Matt Prokopchuk (SN News Watch – June 13, 2025)

https://www.snnewswatch.com/

The Ontario premier’s comments came after Aroland chief Sonny Gagnon spoke out against the new law.

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford hit back at one of the First Nations leaders he has signed development agreements with over Indigenous opposition to Bill 5. Ford has repeatedly named Aroland Chief Sonny Gagnon and his community as among those who are on-side with further development in the province’s north, including the Ring of Fire.

The First Nation, located about 80 kilometres north of Greenstone, signed a “shared prosperity agreement” with the province for economic growth and infrastructure back in January that, among other things, would enable the eventual construction of roads into the Ring of Fire area.

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There was zero interest in Nova Scotia’s call for uranium exploration – by Taryn Grant (CBC News Nova Scotia – June 12, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

Premier Tim Houston says the province will keep pushing for more resources development

Nova Scotia’s whirlwind push to establish a uranium sector has yielded zero bids from companies interested in exploring for the critical mineral, a fact that left Premier Tim Houston unfazed Thursday and opponents of the industry relieved.

The Progressive Conservative government opened a request for proposals last month for exploration permits in three areas that the province says have uranium deposits. No one had come forward by the June 11 deadline. “That’s OK, we’re going to move forward,” Houston told reporters following a cabinet meeting.

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