Global Lithium raises alarm over potential foreign takeover – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 8, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s Global Lithium Resources (ASX: GL1) is seeking to postpone its upcoming annual shareholder meeting until March next year due to concerns over a potential breach of foreign ownership rules.

The West Perth-based developer fears that Chinese national and minority shareholder Liaoliang “Leon” Zhu is attempting to gain control of the firm and its assets located near Kalgoorlie by joining the board and reducing the number of directors.

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US Election: what a Trump or Harris victory means for critical minerals – by Caroline Peachey (Mining Technology – November 4, 2024)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Both candidates have pledged their support for mining and recognise the strategic importance of critical minerals for the energy transition and national security.

In the most anticipated political event of the year, the 2024 US presidential elections will see Kamala Harris and Donald Trump battle for America’s vote on 5 November. It is an extremely tight race. Polls are predicting a “knife-edge” result, with outcomes in seven swing states set to decide who will become the next US president.

Both candidates have pledged their support for mining and recognise the strategic importance of critical minerals for the energy transition and national security. Here, Mining Technology looks at how critical minerals policy could be impacted by the election outcome.

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NEWS RELEASE: NORWAY HOUSE CREE NATION IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT IT HAS PURCHASED THE MINAGO NICKEL PLATINUM GROUP ELEMENTS PROJECT FROM FLYING NICKEL MINING CORP. (November 1, 2024)

Economic Benefits of over $700M and Approximately 500 Direct Jobs for Manitoba First Nations  

The Chief and Council of Norway House Cree Nation (NHCN) has been working with Flying Nickel for 4 years to advance this project. The NHCN purchase of the project was supported by 99% of all Flying Nickel shareholders in the Special Meeting held on October 21, 2024.

Chief Larson Anderson of NHCN confirms that “By taking full control with 100% ownership and management, we can drive this project forward, focus on the environment, maximize employment, and build economic opportunities for our people.”

The Minago Project is located on the NHCN Resource Management Area, 107 km north of Grand Rapids and 450 km north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, adjacent to Highway 6. The Minago project property comprises 94 mining claims, covering 192.36 km2, and two mining leases, covering 4.25 km2 along with the core storage and management facility in Grand Rapids.

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Ontario chamber boss bullish on Sudbury, Northern Ontario – by Hugh Kruzel (Sudbury Star – October 28, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

‘What is produced here is essential to our economic future,’ Daniel Tisch Echevarría says, referring to the mining sector

Northern Ontario and Sudbury are keys to the province’s economic prosperity, the president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce says. Daniel Tisch Echevarría made the observations last week during the 129th annual general meeting of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

“When you sit in Toronto you see a lot of data,” Tisch said. “When asked if businesses across the province are confident in themselves they say yes.

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Opinion: For European automakers, China goes from gift to threat – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – October 31, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

China, the world’s biggest market for just about everything, was a boon for Europe’s biggest car companies, especially the German ones. Many of them formed local joint ventures and made fortunes as wealthy Chinese spurned cheapo domestic brands and snapped up Volkswagens, Mercedes, BMWs and other European and American showroom delights.

As recently as 2020, foreign brands’ share of total Chinese auto sales (gasoline, diesel, hybrid and fully electric) was nearly two-thirds. Today, it’s 37 per cent – and falling. China is no longer the gift that keeps on giving. Homegrown Chinese cars, notably the electric ones, are moving up the quality and value chain fast and sending the foreign nameplates packing.

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Nevada lithium mine wins final approval despite potential harm to endangered wildflower – by Scott Sonner (Associated Press – October 24, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

RENO, Nev. (AP) — For the first time under President Joe Biden, a federal permit for a new lithium-boron mine has been approved for a Nevada project essential to his clean energy agenda, despite conservationists’ vows to sue over the plan they insist will drive an endangered wildflower to extinction.

Ioneer Ltd.’s mine will help expedite production of a key mineral in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles at the center of Biden’s push to cut greenhouse gas emissions, administration officials said Thursday in Reno. Acting Deputy Interior Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis said bolstering domestic lithium supplies is “essential to advancing the clean energy transition and powering the economy of the future.”

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Massive lithium deposit found across southeastern US could end reliance on imports – by Shane Galvin (New York Post – October 23, 2024)

https://nypost.com/

A new geological survey has discovered enough lithium to meet global demand for the next six years. The study, led by the United States Geological Survey, discovered between 5 million and 19 million tons of lithium reserves in a rock formation in the southern part of the continental US, Fox Business reported.

Scientists derived samples from the Arkansas portion of the Smackover Formation – which spans six states from Florida’s Gulf Coast, through parts of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and stretching across Texas.

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Column: Electric vehicles prove a bumpy ride for battery metals – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Electric vehicles (EVs) were supposed to supercharge demand for metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Yet prices for all three EV battery inputs have fallen to such bombed-out levels that producers are curtailing output and deferring new projects.

This is partly a problem of oversupply. Explosive price rallies in 2021 and 2022 resulted in too much new production capacity being brought online too quickly. But it is also a problem of demand.

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Lithium Americas revamps Thacker Pass deal with GM in new US$625M JV – by Blair McBride (Northern Miner – October 16, 2024)

Global mining news

Shares in Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC; NYSE: LAC) jumped by 20.2% on Wednesday after it announced anew, US$625-million joint venture agreement with General Motors for its Thacker Pass project in northern Nevada.

Under the deal that the developer calls the largest ever by a U.S. original equipment manufacturer in a lithium project, GM is to acquire a 38% stake in Thacker Pass for US$625 million in cash and letters of credit. The JV deal replaces the US$330 million in second tranche equity investment from GM announced in January 2023, and is in addition to the US$2.3 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

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Lithium stocks ‘one deal away’ from going on a tear: E&P – by Alex Gluyas (Australian Financial Review – October 15, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

Australian lithium stocks are just one deal away from a resurgence as investors face a shrinking pool of miners to invest in after Rio Tinto’s $9.9 billion takeover of Arcadium, according to E&P Financial.

The broker said Rio’s landmark deal, which capitalised on the collapse in lithium prices, could trigger a wave of institutional money into the stocks as investors speculate on the next takeover target. “Rio’s acquisition of Arcadium feels like bottom of the cycle M&A,” wrote E&P analyst Adam Martin in a report to clients.

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Rio Tinto’s real prize: Arcadium’s lithium extraction technology – by Ernest Scheyder and Clara Denina (Reuters – October 11 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Rio Tinto’s $6.7 billion buyout of Arcadium will give it a suite of lithium filtration technologies that are poised to revolutionize how the metal is produced for the electronics and electric vehicle industries.

Arcadium’s expertise in so-called direct lithium extraction (DLE) is the real prize for Rio, analysts said, and vaults it into contention with Eramet, Sunresin, Exxon Mobil and others aiming to make the technology commonplace in coming years.

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Will the Ottawa fund one Northern Ontario lithium refinery or four? Wilkinson plays coy – by Lindsay Kelly (Sudbury.com – October 11, 2024)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Federal minister says Canada must pick up the pace of critical minerals development, without cutting environmental corners

Canada needs to speed up the pace of mining-related development if it wants to be a critical minerals leader on the global stage. That was the message from federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson during an Oct. 9 appearance in Sudbury.

Speaking at the 2024 Conference of Mining Regions and Cities, hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Wilkinson noted Canada’s global ranking in the top five producing countries for 13 major minerals and metals, including palladium, gold, platinum and nickel.

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Rio Tinto buying Arcadium in US$6.7-billion bet on lithium – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Rio Tinto PLC is buying lithium producer Arcadium Lithium PLC in a big bet on the electric-vehicle battery metal in the midst of a vicious bear market.

The Anglo-Australian major is paying US$5.85 a share for U.S.-based Arcadium, a premium of 90 per cent to Friday’s close, in an all-cash transaction worth US$6.7-billion. The boards of both companies are in favour of the deal. Lithium prices have crashed in recent years owing to China flooding the market and a slowdown in electric-vehicle sales.

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Rio Tinto to be among top three lithium miners with Arcadium acquisition – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – October 7, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Rio Tinto has made an approach for Arcadium Lithium, the two sides confirmed on Monday, following market speculation over the weekend, and as the sector begins turning its attention back to growth.

The move would position Rio as one of the world’s largest lithium miners, behind only US-based Albemarle and Chile’s. This would happen because the acquisition would hand Rio Tinto lithium mines in Argentina and Australia, as well as processing facilities in the US, China, Japan and the UK.

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Mining the Northwest: Ottawa drops $14 million to help move critical minerals to market – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 7, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Four northwestern Ontario mining proponents snag funding for road, transmission line and engineering work

Four copper and lithium mine developers in northwestern Ontario, collectively, will be pocketing almost $14 million in federal funding to build access roads and power lines into their future mine sites.

Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson delivered the news in Thunder Bay, Oct. 7, that $13.8 million is earmarked for five mining-related projects – including two with Sudbury’s Frontier Lithium – that will facilitate the mining and movement of these critical minerals for processing and eventually to the electric vehicle supply market.

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