Twitter

Watch: Vale video provides details on dismantling of Superstack – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – May 22, 2025)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Project is expected to begin by mid-summer and last for roughly five years

A newly produced video by Vale Base Metals has provided details for the plan to dismantle Sudbury’s Superstack this summer. The stack became operational in 1972 and is regarded as an engineering marvel, said the video. The whole idea of the stack — built to a height of 1,250 feet — was to disperse sulphur dioxide emissions over a wider area of Northeastern Ontario, in response to growing voices of concern and dissent over the smelter pollution being produced by Inco (International Nickel Company) at the time.

In later years, Vale, the new owner of the company, launched the Clean AER (Atmospheric Emissions Reduction) Project at a cost of more than one billion dollars. The project was completed in 2018.

Read more

Ontario says First Nations key to Ring of Fire development despite Bill 5 opposition – by Fraser Needham (APTN News – May 22, 2025)

Home

Ontario’s minister of Indigenous relations insists development in what is known as the Ring of Fire area will not move ahead without major involvement from affected First Nations. “These projects cannot go ahead until or unless there is significant, substantial participation by First Nations communities and First Nations businesses,” Greg Rickford said this week on Nation to Nation.

But not all First Nations in Ontario are on board with Ring of Fire development and say the government has failed to properly consult them before making plans to open up the area in northern Ontario to mining companies.

Read more

Seafood magnate John Risley leads venture to build infrastructure in Canada’s Arctic – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – May 23, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Nova Scotia billionaire John Risley says Canada has neglected the Arctic for far too long, which has undermined the country’s economic prospects and put its sovereignty at risk. He’s betting he can light a fire for change.

Mr. Risley, who made his fortune with Clearwater Seafoods before turning to investments in MDA Space and green energy, has launched a new company called Arctic Economic Development Corp. (AECD). It’s aiming to spur large-scale growth in Canada‘s North, primarily north of the 60th parallel, by marshalling a wave of new capital, private-sector expertise, and partnerships with government and Indigenous Peoples such as the Inuit.

Read more

Gold is the safe-haven of choice with U.S. debt back in focus – by Daid Erfle (Kitco News – May 23, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

Late last Friday, Moody’s Investment Service joined all the other credit rating agencies in downgrading U.S. debt from Aaa to Aa1, limiting some super-safe money funds from investing in America. The move also signals the formerly risk-free U.S. debt market is no longer risk-free, and that gold is now the lone safe-haven of choice.

Following a healthy 11% correction from an extreme overbought all-time high at $3500, Gold Futures reacted in kind this week, moving above initial resistance at $3300. Geopolitical concerns, a growing sovereign debt crisis, and evidence of stagflation setting in during an ongoing trade war have been the principal drivers for gold becoming the safe-haven of choice.

Read more

The Economics of Deep-Sea Mining Don’t Add Up – by Victor Vescovo (Time Magazine – May 22, 2023)

https://time.com/

Deep-seafloor mining is a complex topic that leaves out a crucial starting point: mining the potato-sized rocks on the seafloor called “nodules” only yields four metals of any economic consequence: nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese. Since copper and manganese are plentiful on land, deep-seafloor mining is really all about nickel and cobalt. And, unlike many have tried to claim, you cannot in fact get meaningful amounts of rare earth elements from the seafloor.

In the early 2020s, deep-seafloor mining was advertised as a source of key metals for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. However, battery technology has moved dramatically forward with new chemistries that require no cobalt or nickel and instead use inexpensive iron, phosphorus, and sodium.

Read more

Juniors due for comeback in next year or two, says Canadian mining legend – by Staff (Mining.com – May 22, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

While younger investors continue to pour money into crypto and tech, junior mining companies—which have quietly driven the discovery of the world’s minerals—are often left behind. The disconnect today between the modern investment thesis and a legacy sector responsible for the foundational pieces of the economy can be seen as both a challenge and an opportunity, according to Canadian mining legend Jacques Bonneau.

The former geologist recently sat down with CrashLabs host Denis Laviolette to explain the important role junior miners play within the commodity space, and why they’ve mostly been left behind by the new generation of investors over the past decade.

Read more

First Nations leaders in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region demand Bill 5 be struck down – by Sarah Law (CBC News Thunder Bay – May 23, 2025)

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

Proposed provincial legislation aims to fast-track mining development

Rudy Turtle says the people of Grassy Narrows First Nation will never stop defending the land. In the case of Ontario’s Bill 5 — proposed legislation aimed at expediting development — he says “we’re not going to back down.”

“We need to continue to protect our environment and make sure that things are done properly,” said Turtle, former chief of Grassy Narrows. “Any changes that are made at any time, we have to really look at the pros and cons.”

Read more

289 miners trapped in shaft at South African gold mine (NBC News – May 23, 2025)

https://www.nbcnews.com/

South Africa‘s Sibanye Stillwater said Friday that efforts were under way to rescue 289 mine workers trapped underground at one of its shafts at the Kloof gold mine near Johannesburg. The workers were safe and gathered at an assembly point in the underground gold mine, one of the company’s deepest located around 60 km (37 miles) west of Johannesburg, it said.

It did not provide details on the incident, though a Sibanye spokesperson confirmed it had occurred in the mine’s Kloof 7 shaft, adding that all the miners were accounted for and the company was providing them with food.

Read more

As ‘smallest town in Canada’ empties out, former residents recall its vibrant past – by Sarah Smellie (Canadian Press/CTV News – May 22, 2025)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

ST. JOHN’S — A Newfoundland community that bills itself as the smallest town in Canada will soon be empty, and former residents say they’ll never forget their joyful years living there. Tilt Cove, N.L., was once home to a thriving copper mine that attracted workers and their families from all over Canada. Now the community is home to just four people, all of whom agreed earlier this year to relocate.

Shirley Severance was born in 1941 and grew up in Tilt Cove. She watched the town grow when the Maritime Mining operation reopened in 1957, and she watched it shrink again in 1967 when the mine shut down for good.

Read more

Canada needs an Arctic empire no matter the cost – by Geoff Russ (National Post – March 24, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

The region is coveted by the U.S., Russia and China

The Arctic is no longer a distant place of cold and danger, visited by few but mythologized by many. It is a vital front in the world of modern geopolitics and a prize that major world powers now hunger for.

Canada has one option and that is to build an Arctic empire and fully integrate the region into the country. The resources, land, and strategic importance of the vast area cannot be passively surrendered without an effort to secure it for Canada.

Read more

Column: US aluminum smelters vie with Big Tech for scarce power – by Andy Home (Reuters – May 22, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

It’s forty-five years since anyone built a primary aluminum smelter in the United States. When Alumax fired up the Mt Holly plant in South Carolina in 1980, the country’s tally of smelters rose to 33 with combined annual capacity of almost five million metric tons of aluminum.

Today that number has shrunk to six. Two are fully curtailed. Two, including Mt Holly, are running below capacity. Annual production has shrunk to 700,000 tons. Emirates Global Aluminium hopes to reverse the tide with a new plant in Oklahoma. It joins Century Aluminum, which was awarded federal funding by the Joe Biden administration for a new “green” low-carbon smelter somewhere in the Ohio/Mississippi River Basins.

Read more

First Nations leaders warn of confrontation over Ontario’s ‘special economic zones’ in omnibus bill – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – May 23, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

First Nations leaders are warning the Ontario government that passing a bill allowing it to designate “special economic zones” where mining or other development could be exempted from any provincial law will result in confrontations with Indigenous people.

Indigenous drumming and singing echoed through the corridors of Queen‘s Park on Thursday, as the Progressive Conservative government’s Bill 5 went before a legislative committee. First Nations chiefs and spokespeople from as many as 1,500-kilometres away in Ontario’s North told MPPs that they had not been consulted on the bill and warned it would trample on their treaty rights.

Read more

Friedland’s Ivanhoe Atlantic urges US to list iron ore as critical mineral – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com -May 21, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Mining billionaire Robert Friedland’s latest venture, Ivanhoe Atlantic, is reportedly lobbying the US government to add high-grade iron ore to the country’s list of critical minerals. The move aims to align with Washington’s broader push to secure materials essential for military manufacturing, as part of a national strategy to boost defence capabilities.

The company’s flagship project, Nimba in Guinea, is expected to churn out 2 to 5 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore late this year. Production is set to scale up to 25 million tonnes annually within seven years.

Read more

Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm to be replaced in a surprise move – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Rio Tinto PLC chief executive Jakob Stausholm is stepping down earlier than expected, with little explanation from the British-Australian mining giant about what motivated the decision.

London-based Rio is one of the world’s biggest mining companies with a market value of roughly US$106.5-billion. The company also has a significant footprint in Canada stemming from its acquisition of aluminum producer Alcan Ltd. in 2008.

Read more

‘This is not us together, this is Ontario by itself,’ says Wabun tribal council executive director – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 22, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Jason Batise: Indigenous blowback from Bill 5 might set back First Nations’ relations with mining industry

Under the right conditions, $3 billion in capacity-building funding from Queen’s Park would be welcomed by First Nations, said Wabun Tribal Council executive director Jason Batise, “but in this case, the nations can’t be bought that way.”

While the Ford government’s messaging this week — to triple funding through the Indigenous Opportunities Financing Program and expand the eligibility to include critical minerals, energy and pipeline development — was intended to be a positive one, the signal ultimately fell flat with Indigenous leaders, like Batise.

Read more