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In search of the elusive green nickel premium – by Andy Home (Reuters – July 24, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) – BHP Group’s ambition to create a green nickel hub in Western Australia is on hold after the world’s largest listed miner announced the entire division will go on care and maintenance later this year.

The company has invested $3 billion since 2020 to turn Nickel West into a major supplier of nickel sulphate for use in electric vehicle (EV) batteries. A supply deal with Tesla Inc. was signed in 2021 for what BHP pronounced was “one of the most sustainable and lowest carbon emission” brands of nickel in the world.

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Insight: Western miners push for higher metals prices to ward off Chinese rivals – by Ernest Scheyder and Pratima Desai (Reuters – July 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

SALMON-CHALLIS NATIONAL FOREST, Idaho – The only U.S. cobalt mine sits fallow in the northern Idaho woods, a mothballed hunk of steel and dirt that is too expensive for its owner to operate because Chinese rivals have flooded global markets with cheap supplies of the bluish metal used in electric vehicle batteries and electronics.

Jervois Global, which dug the mine into the side of a nearly 8,000-foot (2,400-meter) mountain, watched helplessly last year as cobalt prices plunged after China’s CMOC Group opened the Kisanfu mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, pushing global production of the metal to an all-time high.

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Construction begins on Sudbury’s newest mine – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – July 19, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Development on phase one of Magna Mining’s Crean Hill project now underway

On an old brownfield site west of Sudbury, earth-moving equipment has started carving out the early structure of what will eventually become the city’s newest nickel-copper mine.

Work on Magna Mining’s Crean Hill project, located about a 30-minute drive west of Sudbury, got underway in mid-July. A warm, sunny afternoon on July 18 gave company executives the perfect opportunity to show off their development plans to a group of visitors.

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Canada Nickel outlines new million-tonne nickel resource near Timmins – Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 19, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

BHP’s pain in mothballing Australian nickel mines is Canada Nickel’s gain, says CEO Mark Selby

Bad news for global miner BHP is great news for Canada Nickel and its ambitious plan to roll out a series of nickel projects in the Timmins area over the next decade, including a new one-million tonne resource south of the city.

“One hundred per cent,” said Canada Nickel CEO Mark Selby in a recent interview with CRUX Investor in reacting to the blue sky opportunity he sees for his company on the news that BHP is shutting down its Western Australian nickel projects until 2027, blaming plummeting metal prices and world oversupply of nickel.

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Vale to create a new open-pit mine in Sudbury – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – July 18, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Stobie project is expected to cost $205 million over the next four years and could be a model for future projects in the basin

Vale Base Metals has announced it is going to rejuvenate the historic Stobie Mine property with the creation of a new open pit mine. And the work will be carried out using several local contractors who will employ USW Local 6500 members to carry out the work.

Gord Gilpin, director of Ontario Operations for Vale Base Metals, said the new mine will be a significant four-year project carried out at a cost of more than $200 million.

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BHP joins the lengthening list of nickel price casualties – by Andy Home (Reuters – July 16, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s nickel production surge is crushing competitors and challenging the West’s ambitions of diversifying its critical metals supply chains. Australia’s BHP Group is the latest victim of a two-year price slump, which has seen London Metal Exchange three-month nickel tumble from an all-time high of $55,000 per metric ton in March 2022 to $16,650.

The world’s largest listed miner has announced it is suspending its Western Australia nickel operations from October. The decision was well flagged and probably made easier by the loss of feed from Wyloo Metals’ Kambalda mines, which were placed on care and maintenance in May, also due to low prices.

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Sudbury’s Stobie Pit Mine getting new life above ground (CBC News Sudbury – July 17, 2024)

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

Vale has partnered with First Nations, Steelworkers and an operator to start an open-pit mine at old site

What’s old is new. Vale Base Metals announced Wednesday it will start operations at an open-pit mine at the site of the old Stobie Mine in Greater Sudbury.

The $205 million project will be a partnership between Vale, Thiess Mining, United Steel Workers and local First Nations. It’s expected to produce 300,000 tonnes of ore, primarily nickel and copper, by the end of 2024. The previous Stobie Mine operated underground from 1914 to 2017, though it also began as an open pit mine in 1890.

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Germany’s Scholz Plans Serbia Lithium Deal After Rio Ruling – by Michael Nienaber and Petra Sorge (Bloomberg News – July 17, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to visit Serbia this week to secure supplies of lithium that are critical for the nation’s energy transition and auto industry, according to people familiar with the matter.

Scholz probably will be in Belgrade on Friday to sign an agreement with Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic and cabinet ministers, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details aren’t final.

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After another boom and bust, where next for lithium? – by Andy Home (Reuters – July 11, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) – Lithium boom has turned to lithium bust over the last two years as a wave of new supply overwhelms weaker-than-expected demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

The CME contract for lithium hydroxide has collapsed from a 2022 high of $85,000 per metric ton to $11,930. The CME carbonate contract was above $40,000 when it began trading in July 2023 and has since slumped to $12,850.

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BHP to Shut Australia Nickel Business as Glut Upends Market – by Paul-Alain Hunt, Thomas Biesheuvel, and Mark Burton (BloombergBNN News – July 11, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — BHP Group Ltd. will close its loss-making nickel business in Australia until at least early 2027, after a global glut of the metal spread havoc through the market.

The company will place its Nickel West business on “care and maintenance” from October due to low prices of the metal used in electric-vehicle batteries, it said in a statement Thursday. It will also halt the development of its West Musgrave nickel mine.

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World would need 55 per cent more copper mines to meet EV transition goals: study – by Theresa Balocating (National Post – July 12, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

‘I think there’s a disconnect between, what the intentions are to meet the global warming challenges and the reality of the materials that are going to be required’

The transition to greener, more sustainable transportation is impracticable as copper mine production cannot keep up with the rising global demand for electric vehicles, according to a new study.

“I think there’s a disconnect between, what the intentions are to meet the global warming challenges and the reality of the materials that are going to be required,” said Dr. Lawrence Cathles, an earth and atmospheric sciences professor at Cornell University.

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Glencore warns of nickel job losses unless labour costs controlled – by Brad Thompson, Tom Rabe and James Hall (Australian Financial Review – July 12, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

Global mining heavyweight Glencore says the future of its nickel and cobalt operations in Australia will hinge on keeping a lid on labour and energy costs and access to infrastructure.

In what shapes as another blow to Anthony Albanese’s critical minerals ambitions, Glencore warned it was closely monitoring the situation and the future of its Murrin Murrin mine in Western Australia, which employs about 1500 people and is the nation’s biggest source of cobalt.

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Bolivian President Alleges Failed ‘Coup’ Attempt All About Lithium – by Alex Kimani Oil Price.com – July 7, 2024)

https://oilprice.com/

Last week, a significant political crisis unfolded in Bolivia after soldiers led by Army Commander General Juan José Zúñiga engulfed the Bolivian government palace using armored vehicles, calling to “restore democracy and free political prisoners.”

The attempted coup lasted only a few hours with leftist President Luis Arce quickly installing a new brass who called off the troops. However, the authenticity of the coup has come into question, with former president and Arce’s onetime mentor Evo Morales claiming it was staged in a bid to strengthen Arce’s position, “Lucho lied and deceived the Bolivian people and the entire world with this kind of coup or self coup,” Morales said in a speech on Sunday, referring to Arce by his nickname.

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BHP’s Nickel West closure could mark end of Australian nickel industry, analyst says – by Emily JB Smith and Ethan French (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – July 11, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

The closure of mining giant BHP’s nickel operations in Western Australia will have ripple effects far and wide and could signal “the end of the Australian nickel industry”, according to a prominent mining analyst.

BHP announced yesterday it would begin suspending operations at the Kwinana nickel refinery in Perth, the Kalgoorlie smelter and its major mines at Mt Keith and Leinster in the state’s Goldfields from October. BHP said market conditions were to blame for its decision to either redeploy or offer redundancies to 1,600 of its frontline workers, while hundreds more contractors would be impacted.

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Canadian critical mineral shares fall after tighter M&A criteria – by Divya Rajagopal (Reuters – July 8, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO, July 8 (Reuters) – Shares of Canadian companies that mine critical minerals such as copper and uranium fell on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)on Monday as investors assessed the potential impact of Canada’s announcement last week that it would restrict large mergers and acquisitions in the sector.

Last Thursday, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne cleared London-listed Glencore’s takeover of the coal unit of Teck Resources under strict conditions after taking into account the “net benefit” that the deal would carry for Canadians.

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