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Canada Mining

Trudeau, Canada’s Premiers Spar Over Using Resources as Trade Weapon – by Brian Platt and Laura Dhillon Kane (Bloomberg News/Financial Post – January 15, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers of Canada’s provinces are in high-stakes talks over how far to go in using oil and other commodities as a weapon if the US starts a regional trade war.

(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers of Canada’s provinces are in high-stakes talks over how far to go in using oil and other commodities as a weapon if the US starts a regional trade war.

Trudeau is meeting with the leaders of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories in Ottawa on Wednesday, trying to get on the same page over how to respond if US President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his vow to impose 25% tariffs on all goods the US imports from Canada.

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In Namibia, a Canadian copper company leaves a legacy of toxic waste – by Geoffrey York and Samuel Schlaefli (Globe and Mail – January 15, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Sickness has been common for years in Tsumeb, where Dundee Precious Metals was the biggest employer for more than a decade. Tests have now found the soil is contaminated with arsenic and other heavy metals

In the citrus orchards above the Namibian town, workers often fall sick. They say they feel a burning sensation in their eyes and throats and a metallic taste in their mouths as the wind blows across from the copper smelter a few kilometres away.

“When the gas is coming from that side, we get headaches and dizziness, and sometimes you feel like you want to throw up,” says Festus Gawab, who has worked for three years on a citrus farm near Tsumeb, watering the orange and lemon trees.

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Mali starts seizing gold stocks at Barrick site, company memo says – by Fadimata Kontao and Portia Crowe (Reuters – January 13, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

BAMAKO/DAKAR Jan 13 (Reuters) – Mali’s government has begun enforcing a provisional order to seize gold stock at Barrick Gold’s Loulo-Gounkoto site, the Canadian miner said in a note to Malian staff, warning again that it may have to suspend operations at the complex.

The move suggests that Mali’s military-led authorities are not ready to back down in a standoff over a contract based on new mining rules as they push for a greater share of revenues from Western miners. “A provisional order to seize our existing gold stock was issued last week and the Malian government began its enforcement on Jan. 11,” Barrick said in the staff memo.

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Trudeau ‘wish list’ fell short for miners in green energy transition – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – January 7, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Cabinet ministers implemented few policies that addressed the challenges, miners say

Speaking to a group of mining industry professionals at a conference in early 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it clear what role he saw for their sector in the future. “The mining industry cannot only drive the clean (energy) transition, but profit from it,” he said.

Now, as Trudeau plans to exit as the federal Liberals’ leader after 12 years, many inside the mining sector are hopeful that their industry is already in the early stages of a revitalization, driven by exactly what Trudeau described years ago: cutting global carbon emissions will significantly increase demand for metals, which will lead to new investment in mining companies and greater government support.

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Canada aims to become world’s biggest uranium producer as demand soars – by Ilya Gridneff, Jamie Smyth and Camilla Hodgson (Financial Times – January 4, 2025)

https://www.ft.com/

Demand for emissions-free power and energy security mark a turnaround for the resource-rich

Canada is racing to become the world’s biggest uranium producer as prices for the radioactive metal surge in response to soaring demand for emissions-free nuclear power and geopolitical tensions threaten supplies.

Cameco, the country’s largest producer, said that production of uranium would jump by almost a third in 2024 to 37mn pounds at its two mines in the heartland of the country’s uranium industry in northern Saskatchewan.

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Barrick mine in Mali could be forced to close within a week, company says – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – January 6, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. says it will be forced to shut down its operations in Mali within a week if the military junta continues to restrict its gold exports from the West African country.

The Toronto-based company disclosed on Monday that the regime had imposed yet another restriction on the company’s operations by issuing an interim attachment order on its existing gold stock at its Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex.

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Uh Oh Canada – by Diane Francis (Substack – December 19, 2024)

https://dianefrancis.substack.com/

Canada has just joined a growing list of rich democracies that cannot get their political or economic act together. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on his way out. The electorate is fed up with financial problems, high taxation, and unscreened immigration. Similar political battles plague two other G7 nations, France and Germany.

All three governments sag because they prioritized social engineering and political correctness over enterprise and economic development. Their electorates are divided. Worse, the Europeans live in a dangerous region and wrestle with re-arming, a flood of Ukrainian refugees, and fending off Russian cyberattacks, sabotage, espionage, and political interference.

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Miners navigate high risks, ransoms in West Africa – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – December 16, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Mali’s military government is trying to arrest the CEO of the world’s second-largest gold company while the junta in Niger has tightened its stranglehold on a French state-owned uranium mine. African dictators are ratcheting up the risk for Western miners.

A combination of resource nationalism, coups and jihadist-linked terror is making West Africa an increasingly difficult region to navigate for Western mining companies. On Monday, Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) warned that it will suspend operations at its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali if shipments of gold remain blocked.

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Nova Scotia quietly advancing pursuit of critical mineral development – by Taryn Grant (CBC News Nova Scotia – December 12, 2024)

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

The deals come on heels of critical mineral strategies released last year from both N.S. and Ottawa

Nova Scotia has struck a deal with Ottawa to help with the pursuit of growing the critical minerals industry, which some say is essential for supporting clean energy goals. Shortly before calling a snap election this fall, Premier Tim Houston’s cabinet signed an order-in-council that refers to funding from Ottawa “for the development of critical mineral potential in Nova Scotia.”

The province did not answer questions about the deal during the campaign. Following the Progressive Conservative win last month, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables said the province has signed two agreements with Natural Resources Canada.

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Canada Weighs Export Taxes on Uranium, Oil If Trump Starts Trade War – by Brian Platt (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada is examining the use of export taxes on major commodities it exports to the US — including uranium, oil and potash — if incoming President Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose broad tariffs.

Export levies would be a last resort for Canada, according to officials familiar with the discussions inside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. Retaliatory tariffs against US-made goods, and export controls on certain Canadian products, would be more likely to come first, said the people.

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London Symposium: ‘Mining must move at the pace of business, not bureaucracy,’ Ontario’s Pirie says – by Colin McClelland and Henry Lazenby (Canadian Mining Journal – December 11, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Ontario’s bid to lead in the critical minerals boom in Canada is fuelled with funding increases and deregulation goals in a new mining code. Yet the province must still widen education and mining’s appeal, industry leaders said last week in London.

This year saw Iamgold start the $3 billion-capex Côté mine followed by Equinox Gold’s 400,000-oz.-a-year Greenstone gold mine as Queens Park counted around $44 billion promised by car makers such as Toyota and Stellantis for new battery plants and assembly lines. The developments coincided with efforts to quicken permitting and feed northern minerals to southern factories.

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Lundin sells European mines for up to US$1.52-billion to fund South American copper ambitions – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Lundin Mining Corp. is selling two aging European mines for up to US$1.52-billion to Swedish mining company Boliden AB as it improves its balance sheet and raises cash to fund its South American copper growth strategy.

Vancouver-based Lundin is set to receive US$1.37-billion in cash when the deal closes, with an additional US$150-million to come if copper and zinc prices trade above certain levels over the next couple of years.

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Coalspur Vista Coal mine expansion at odds with federal coal commitment: environmental advocate – by Natasha Bulowski (CTV News Edmonton – December 11, 2024)

https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s decision not to assess the impact of a massive thermal coal mine expansion is “cowardly” and “colossal backtracking” on Canada’s commitments to stop exporting this dirty fossil fuel, says an environmental advocate. On Dec. 6, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) decided Coalspur’s Vista Coal mine expansion in west-central Alberta will not be subject to a federal impact assessment.

“Over the last two years, we’ve seen zero progress on the thermal coal export ban, and now we’re seeing Canada move in the opposite direction by refusing to even assess the impacts of a major expansion of Canada’s largest thermal coal mine,” Julia Levin of Environmental Defence told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview.

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The Indigenous Economy Is About to Take Off – by Carol Anne Hilton (MACLEAN’S Magazine – December 3, 2024)

https://macleans.ca/

Carol Anne Hilton is the CEO and founder of Indigenomics Institute.

Reconciliation is becoming Canada’s biggest business story—and its greatest economic opportunity

In 2025, Indigenous communities across Canada will gain more control over their land and resources, opening up new opportunities for development, profit and reinvestment. The result will be a virtuous cycle in the Indigenous economy that’s going to make Bay Street stand up and pay attention.

We’ve seen this trend begin to play out for the past few years. In 2021, for example, seven Mi’kmaw communities obtained a 50 per cent share in Nova Scotia–based Clearwater, one of the largest seafood companies in North America, for $1 billion. Last year, the Haisla Nation in B.C. became the majority owner of Cedar LNG, a natural-gas export terminal and the largest Indigenous-owned infrastructure project in Canada.

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Lithium Argentina picks Switzerland as another China-backed junior flees Canada – by Blair McBride (Northern Miner – November 29, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Lithium Argentina is seeking to redomicile to Switzerland and change its name to Lithium Argentina AG following a corporate review and a new agreement with investor Ganfeng Lithium, the company said Friday.

The company decided Switzerland was the best jurisdiction on strategic, commercial and legal grounds, would provide expanded financing flexibility, and support its long-term growth plans. It also aims to move the Lithium Argentina group of companies’ operational headquarters to Buenos Aires.

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