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Canada Mining

A multibillion-dollar sale raises uncomfortable question for Canada: Is our mining industry in decline? – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 19, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

South African mining giant’s purchase of Osisko highlights how some of the country’s richest mines are now managed by companies with headquarters in Switzerland, Brazil, Australia and beyond

Canada’s mining industry let out a collective groan after the $2.15-billion sale earlier this week of Toronto-based Osisko Mining Inc., which owns one of the largest, highest-grade undeveloped gold deposits in the world.

Chief executive John Burzynski couldn’t complain about the outcome; everyone who invested made money, he said. But his original goal, when he started looking for a bonanza in Canada about two decades ago, was to build a new Canadian mining giant.

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Canada’s nuclear industry energized by successful refurbishment projects – by Sasha Istvan (MacDonald Laurier Institute – August 16, 2024)

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The recent success of Canadian nuclear power projects speaks volumes about the industry’s preparedness and competitiveness.

When you think about Canadian infrastructure projects, what are the first words that come to mind? Late and over budget.

Poor project management, regulatory hurdles, and market impacts make it nearly impossible to build any major project on time, and it’s a genuine surprise if something gets completed under budget. This doesn’t have to be the case: the Canadian nuclear industry is rewriting this narrative. Currently, two of Canada’s largest active infrastructure projects are in the nuclear sector – and they are on time and on budget.

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How Governments Impact the Global Mineral Supply – by Gregory Wischer & Lyle Trytten (Real Clear Energy – August 19, 2024)

https://www.realclearenergy.org/

Mineral demand is expected to grow significantly, with mineral shortages possible later in this decade. Governments are increasing this mineral demand with policies targeting the manufacture and deployment of mineral-intensive technologies like electric vehicles.

Governments impact the mineral supply too, through policies that grow, stifle, or moderate the mineral supply. They also inadvertently affect the mineral supply when government actions unrelated to the mineral industry result in public backlash against the industry.

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Revival of the Rockies’ once-prosperous coal industry clashes with those who say it will harm the land – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – August 19, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Grassy Mountain has become a battleground between those who see the economic benefits of coal development and those who warn about the risks to the environment

The wind rips across Grassy Mountain as the truck rumbles slowly along a crude track that, for decades, carried miners and coal around this part of the Crowsnest Pass, Alta. Remnants of the region’s coal industry, which dates back to 1900, litter the mountain; an old cart, twisty rusted metal, pockmarked buildings, weathered planks of wood and a mountaintop carved by decades of open-pit mining.

It’s also a battleground, pitting those who support coal development in the region against those who are firmly opposed. A lead proponent is Northback Holdings Corp., which owns a huge swath of land that was, until the 1960s, teaming with coal mines above and under the ground.

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Is Canada’s critical-minerals strategy a green shift or greenwashing? – by Thierry Rodon and Sophie Thériault (Policy Option – August 14, 2024)

Policy Options – Institute for Research on Public Policy

Indigenous and remote communities will bear the long-lasting ecological, social and cultural impacts of mining. This cannot be ignored.

Canada has followed the lead of many countries recently by adopting policies and measures to promote rapid development of its value chain for domestic critical minerals essential in clean energy technology.

Climate change, geopolitical and economic turmoil are leading governments to emphasize the need to secure a supply of critical minerals, such as lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements, to help decarbonize the economy through, for example, solar panels, wind turbines and electric-vehicle batteries.

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Alberta government feeds $5 million to Calgary-based lithium company preparing to build $2.4B facility – by Matt Scace (Calgary Herald – August 15, 2024)

https://calgaryherald.com/

A Calgary-based company that extracts lithium from old oilfields has received new funding from the Alberta government that it says will help the company bring its multibillion-dollar project to market. E3 Lithium Ltd. announced Thursday it has received $5 million from the provincial government — yet another round of government funding for the company that turns wastewater from oil and gas into lithium.

Countries across the globe, including Canada, have become increasingly focused on lithium extraction, a resource needed to facilitate greater adoption of electric vehicles and other technologies.

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Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow hints at retirement in 2026 – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 13, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive officer Mark Bristow is raising the possibility that he may retire in 2026. Mr. Bristow took over as CEO in 2019 after Toronto-based Barrick acquired Randgold Resources Ltd., the Africa-focused mining company he founded and ran for about two decades.

Hard-nosed, detail-oriented and outspoken, the South African is one of the most driven executives in the mining industry. At Barrick, he has stickhandled multiple difficult situations, including patching up multiyear mining contract spats with the governments of Tanzania and Papua New Guinea.

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Chinese mining firm subsidiary disputes Ottawa’s review of Peruvian gold mine deal – by (CP24.com/Canadian Press – August 11, 2024)

https://www.cp24.com/

A subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned mining firm says Canada is wrongly considering a national security review in its agreement to purchase a gold and copper mine in Peru.

In May, Vancouver-based Pan American Silver Corp. announced an agreement worth almost US$300 million to sell its stake in Peru’s La Arena gold mine to Jinteng (Singapore) Mining, a subsidiary of China’s Zijin Mining Group. Pan American said then that the agreement was “subject to customary conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.”

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Ottawa’s restrictions on foreign investment put Canada’s mining sector at risk – by Loui Anastasopoulos (Globe and Mail – August 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Loui Anastasopoulos is chief executive of the Toronto Stock Exchange and global head of capital formation of TMX Group.

It’s an unfortunate truth: Canada is facing economic challenges, including weak growth and productivity, stemming from declining investment in our key industries. The investment shortfall is particularly acute in the mining sector, where Canada’s proud and prominent legacy of global leadership is under serious threat.

In addition to stifling macroeconomic factors and high interest rates, sudden shifts in government policy have created uncertainty around capital raising for mining companies. And the most recent federal policy directive on foreign investment into Canada’s critical mineral companies has the potential to be the most harmful yet.

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A commodity rout is brewing, and Canada will be at the centre of any fallout – by Tim Kiladze (Globe and Mail – August 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A broad basket of commodity prices has been tumbling for months, fuelled by concerns about slower growth in the world’s two largest economies, though so far, the pain has been overshadowed by fears about the equity sector sell-off.

Should the commodity rout drag on, Canadians will have to pay attention, because the country’s resource-heavy stock market and economy will be at the centre of any fallout. Slumping commodity prices will also dampen the prospects for merger activity, which only recently came back to life.

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Status of the critical strategic minerals industry in Alberta – by Diane L.M. Cook (Canadian Mining Journal – August 6, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Critical strategic minerals are the building blocks for a green and digital economy. The six critical minerals that hold the most significant potential for Canadian economic growth are lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements. These minerals are used in the production of many products including electric vehicle batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines.

The Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy (CCMS) aims to help Canada in the global energy transformation by making Canada a clean energy and technology supplier of choice in a net-zero world. The CCMS is backed by $3.8 billion of funding announced in the federal government’s Budget 2022 and includes a 30% critical mineral exploration tax credit for targeted critical minerals.

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Canada hits surprise trade surplus on energy, gold exports – by Laura Dhillon Kane (Bloomberg News – August 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada unexpectedly recorded a $638 million trade surplus in June as an expanded crude oil pipeline and surging global demand for gold drove exports higher.

Economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected the country to record a trade deficit for the fourth month in a row, with a median estimate of $2.04 billion. Statistics Canada noted in Tuesday’s release the size of the surplus was “close to the typical bounds of monthly revisions,” having revised the previous month’s trade balance upward by about $320 million.

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Confusion and consternation on critical minerals – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – August 5, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

What started out as optimism two years ago when the federal government turned its eye to critical minerals, introducing a strategy, incentives and funding, and pledging faster permitting for mines, has turned into confusion and consternation.

In a classic case of ‘be careful what you wish for,’ the industry fears the government’s new attentions could actually end up hurting the sector.

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BHP, Lundin grab Filo in $3bn South American copper deal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 30, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Mining giant BHP (ASX, NYSE: BHP) and Canada’s Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) have teamed up to acquire South America-focused Filo Corp. (TSX: FIL), in a $3 billion (C$4.1bn) deal that hands them key copper assets in Chile and Argentina.

BHP and Lundin are forming a 50/50 joint venture that will have full ownership of the Filo del Sol prospect, which is located near the copper-rich Atacama Desert, straddling the border between Argentina and Chile. The partners will also own the large-scale Josemaría copper-gold-silver project, in the San Juan Province of Argentina, about 9 km east of the border with Chile.

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Canadian miner moves to UAE as Ottawa raises bar for foreign investment – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – July 30, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

‘The equity markets in Canada are tough at the moment,’ says CEO of Falcon Energy Materials

A Canadian graphite miner has moved its headquarters outside the country to attract new investment as the federal government raises the bar for certain foreign companies to buy into Canada’s critical minerals sector.

Falcon Energy Materials PLC — formerly known as SRG Mining Inc. — completed its move to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in early July, but it will continue to be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

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