Twitter

Canada Mining

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

Wildsight says Alberta should learn from B.C.’s mining mistakes – by R McCormack (East Kootenay News – May 21, 2025)

Home Page

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) recently approved exploratory drilling for a controversial mining project in the Crowsnest Pass, and Wildsight says Alberta should have learned from B.C.’s struggles with mining pollution.

The Grassy Mountain mining project, owned by Northback Holdings, is an open-pit mine proposed to go ahead on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains at the site of a formerly abandoned coal mine. The project was originally rejected in 2021 due to widespread opposition and potential damage to agriculture, ecosystems and watersheds.

Read more

Opinion: Canada can fast-track critical minerals and dodge US tariffs – by Phillip Mackey (Northern Miner – May 21, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

This year’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual convention will be remembered not just for the discussions that took place in Toronto that first week of March. It also coincided with Canada’s unveiling of strong responses to United States President Donald Trump’s unfair tariffs on Canadian goods – including critical minerals.

Word at the convention was that mining and metallurgy projects in gold, base metals and rare earths are starting to attract investor attention. The 2025 convention also put Canada in the spotlight, and the federal government took the opportunity to announce that the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) would be extended for two years – great news for the mining industry.

Read more

Premier Danielle Smith says Alberta won’t allow open-pit mines, pleasing environmental groups – by Stephen Tipper (Calgary Herald – May 20, 2025)

https://calgaryherald.com/

Smith also said she hopes that people would have an open mind about mining

Two Alberta environmental groups are praising Premier Danielle Smith’s comments on banning open-pit mining, just days after the provincial energy regulator approved a coal exploration program for a contentious project in the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies.

The premier said on her weekend radio program that the province has heard “loud and clear” that Albertans do not want mountaintop removal or strip mining. “They’re concerned that when you do that, it exposes the rock face to when it rains, selenium getting into the water system. So we’ve put a policy in place — you can’t do these things,” said Smith.

Read more

Scientists Found a Massive Copper Deposit That Could Change the Future of Energy – by Darren Orf (Popular Mechanics – May 19, 2025)

https://www.popularmechanics.com/

Located along the border of Chile and Argentina, the Filo del Sol copper deposit has been under investigation for years for potentially being one of the largest copper deposits in the world. And that makes sense, considering this deposit is nestled along the Atacama Desert—long known for its immense copper reserves due to its location in the Andes and its placement within the eastern portion of the Ring of Fire.

However, a new initial mineral resource estimate completed earlier this month suggests that the companies in charge of mining this area—the U.S.-based Lundin Mining and BHP—may have stumbled upon five times more metal than they bargained for. According to a statement from Lundin Mining, the new assessment estimates the presence of up to 13 million tonnes of copper, 907,000 kilograms (32 million ounces) of gold, and 18.6 million kilograms (659 million ounces) of silver.

Read more

Alberta regulator approves controversial coal exploration applications at Grassy Mountain – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – May 16, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Alberta Energy Regulator this week approved applications for coal exploration, drilling and water diversion at a site called Grassy Mountain in the south of the province – a decision some opponents vow to fight.

Thursday’s ruling by the AER is the latest development in a long-running battle over reviving the defunct metallurgical coal mining industry in the Crowsnest Pass, which has pitted neighbours and communities against one another. While approval to reopen an old mine on the site remains a long way off, this decision brings it one step closer.

Read more

‘A total surprise’: Municipalities unprepared for uranium exploration in their backyard – by Frances Willick (CBC News Nova Scotia – May 20, 2025)

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

Leaders say they need more information and education about the issue

Some municipal leaders are feeling unprepared and uninformed after learning their regions could become home to the first uranium exploration in Nova Scotia in almost 45 years.

On Wednesday, the Nova Scotia government issued a request for exploration proposals at three sites it believes have uranium deposits. The three sites include areas near Louisville in Pictou County, East Dalhousie in Annapolis County and Millet Brook in Hants County. “It’s a total surprise to us,” said Robert Parker, warden of Pictou County.

Read more

Uranium added to Nova Scotia critical minerals list as province seeks exploration – by Keith Doucette (Canadian Press/CBC Nova Scotia – May 14, 2025)

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

Potential exploration sites are in Pictou County, Annapolis County and Hants County

The Nova Scotia government added uranium to its list of priority critical minerals on Wednesday and issued a request for exploration proposals at three sites the province says have known deposits of the heavy metal.

Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says the government hopes to reap economic benefits from the exploration in the future, although a department official said any potential mining project could be “decades” away.

Read more

Canada could unlock C$1.1tr GDP boost by fast-tracking resource projects, think-tank says – by Staff (Mining Weekly – May 16, 2025)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Canada could add as much as C$1.1-trillion to its economy by 2035 if it accelerates investment decisions on more than 500 energy, mining and infrastructure projects, according to a new report by the Public Policy Forum.

The ‘Build Big Things’ report, released on Thursday, offers a policy playbook aimed at boosting Canada’s sluggish productivity and countering global competition in critical minerals and energy. It calls for regulatory reform, streamlined permitting, expanded Indigenous participation and a national strategy to accelerate project approvals.

Read more

Could thorium be the world’s next great source of fuel? – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – May 16, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

“Rabbits sometimes make mistakes or grow lazy. That’s when the tortoise seizes its chance.” That’s how a scientist from China recently described the Asian giant’s progress in using thorium — a silvery-white radioactive metal that’s more abundant in the earth’s crust than uranium — to generate power.

Xu Hongjie reportedly used the folklore saying in a closed-door meeting at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in April to suggest China had overtaken the United States in this specific field, according to the South China Morning Post. But could thorium really be used as a viable source for fuel in the near future or even replace uranium in nuclear reactors? Here’s what you need to know.

Read more

OPINION: Too long has the Toronto Stock Exchange been shrunken and battered. No more – by Bryce C. Tingle (Globe and Mail – May 15, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Bryce C. Tingle is the N. Murray Edwards Chair in Business Law at the University of Calgary’s faculty of law. His book Hard Lessons in Corporate Governance was shortlisted for the Donner Prize.

Canada has been shaken out of its complacency by the actions of the Trump administration over the past 100 days. As this country considers how it can compete against a suddenly antagonistic southern neighbour, some consideration should be given to the woeful state of our public markets.

The Toronto Stock Exchange, long the crown jewel of Canada’s financial system, has shrunk almost by half in terms of the number of operating companies it supports. Most of the missing companies have gone to the U.S. In the terminology we generally use for businesses, the TSX is being badly outcompeted by the U.S.

Read more

Expert tells U.S. senators Canada is a key ally on critical minerals – by Kelly Geraldine Malone (Canadian Press – May 14, 2025)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

WASHINGTON – An expert in critical minerals told U.S. senators Wednesday that Canada will be a key ally in efforts to reduce America’s reliance on Chinese supply — after President Donald Trump spent months claiming the United States doesn’t need anything from its northern neighbour.

Gracelin Baskaran, director of critical minerals security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., told the Senate finance committee that the U.S. only has 1.3 per cent of the world’s rare earths. “The uncomfortable truth is we are not going to do this alone,” she said.

Read more

Trump keeps saying the U.S. doesn’t need Canada’s stuff. We asked experts if he’s right – by Jordan Gowling (Financial Post – May 13, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Here’s a look at eight Canadian exports and whether they are essential to America

In his Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney last Tuesday, President Donald Trump repeated his refrain that the U.S. doesn’t need or want anything Canada produces, listing off a litany of goods he said his country would rather make itself. But can the U.S. really do without our stuff?

We checked with economists and industry experts to see just how much the U.S. relies on eight of our biggest exports, and whether Trump is right in thinking they can go it alone. rump made it clear during his meeting with Carney that the U.S. does not want Canadian-made vehicles. “We want to make our own cars, we don’t really want cars from Canada,” said Trump. “At a certain point, it won’t make economic sense for Canada to build those cars.”

Read more

Pan American Silver shareholders give cool reception to proposed $2.1-billion acquisition of MAG Silver – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 13, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Pan American Silver Corp. has reached a friendly arrangement to buy its Canadian competitor MAG Silver Corp. in a US$2.1-billion stock-and-cash deal that has not gone down well with shareholders. Vancouver-based MAG’s sole producing asset is its 44-per-cent share in the Juanicipio silver mine, which is located in Mexico, and majority-owned and operated by Britain-incorporated Fresnillo PLC.

Founded by financier Ross Beaty, Pan American is one of the biggest silver producers on the planet with a portfolio of 10 mines in seven countries. The Vancouver-based company expanded its footprint considerably a few years ago when it bought a suite of South American mines from Canada’s Yamana Gold Inc.

Read more

A fork in the road: As bifurcation hits the global uranium industry, the secure path leads to Canada: – by Sergey Sukhankin (MacDonald Laurier Institute – May 7, 2025)

Home

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has forever changed global commodities markets. The economic sanctions subsequently imposed on Russia exposed multiple risks related to (over)reliance on a single or dominant suppliers of critical materials (Sukhankin 2024a). The European Union (EU) was hit particularly hard thanks to its decades-long reliance on Russia’s inexpensive commodities. The EU’s dependence also made it vulnerable to external pressure and blackmail.

The “Russia sanctions” fallout has revealed a much bigger problem. While natural resources will continue to be used as a geopolitical weapon in the unfolding East-West rivalry, the focus is likely to shift from hydrocarbons to critical minerals in the medium-term. This trend is visible in China’s series of decisions (2023–25) to restrict exports of several types of critical metals and technologies (Shivaprasad, Lv, and Jackson 2024) that are instrumental for innovation and technological sectors of Western economies.

Read more