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Canada Mining

Opinion: No, Trump isn’t out to get our resources. It’s worse than that – by Doug Saunders (Globe and Mail – March 14, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

One popular theory about Donald Trump’s seemingly random acts of economic punishment and threats of imperialistic conquest is that they’re part of a calculated resource grab. In this view, the U.S. President is engaged in a plan to seize rare and valuable sources of underground wealth for the enrichment of his country and its companies.

After all, most of the places Mr. Trump is targeting with threats of annexation or abandonment, including Ukraine, Greenland and Canada, are known for having a lot of potentially valuable resources.

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Trump family fortune began in a Canadian brothel-hotel – by Fakiha Baig (Canadian Press/Bloomberg – March 13, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

In one of history’s little-known ironies, the Maple Leaf country pushing back against Donald Trump’s annexation bid is also host to a tiny, remote restaurant and brothel that helped launch the U.S. president’s family fortune more than 100 years ago.

To find it, look west. Way west. On a quiet, remote trail in British Columbia near the Yukon boundary sits a wooden facade resembling the brothel and restaurant Trump’s grandfather built at the turn of the century.

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The Impact of Trump Tariffs on US-Canada Minerals and Metals Trade – by Tom Moerenhout (Center on Global Energy Policy Columbia – March 12, 2025)

https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/

In an escalation of trade tensions, Donald Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50 percent this week. This increase would have been in response to Ontario’s 25 percent surcharge on electricity exports to the United States. The threat rattled markets and several major indices continued to decline after the announcement, increasing fears of a recession[1]. [MRR1]

While Trump has at least temporarily backed down from the plan to raise the tariff to 50%, the 25% aluminum and steel import tariffs are still a big blow to North American supply chain interdependency and resilience. The following Q&A discusses the impact of Trump’s tariffs on US-Canada minerals trade and its ripple effects on supply chains, prices, and policy.

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Trump threatens to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum after Ontario electricity surcharge – by Antoine Trépanier and Stephanie Taylor (National Post – March 11, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

The latest outburst from the American president appears to have been triggered by tariffs imposed by Ontario Premier Doug Ford

OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will impose a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, up from his previous 25 per cent threat, starting on Wednesday. If Canada does not reverse its retaliation and “immediately” remove its dairy tariffs, he said he will “significantly” increase tariffs on cars coming from Canada to the United States on April 2.

“(That would) permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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Canadian miners flocking to the ASX – by Kristie Batten (Mining.com – March 6, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The Australian Securities Exchange is experiencing an influx of Canadian producers seeking dual listings. There has been a trickle of dual listings on the ASX since 2018,, but the trend has significantly accelerated following Canadian uranium developer NexGen Energy (TSX: NXE), adding an Australian listing in 2021.

Capstone Copper’s (TSX: CS) ASX listing in February 2024, however, seemed to have open the floodgates, with a further four Canadian mining companies initiating the listing process since.

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The future for nuclear is bright, but only if we learn lessons of the past – by Erin O’Toole (Financial Post – March 5, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Canada was the third country to achieve nuclear fission, but our history is littered with cautionary tales and cost overruns

As Canada prepares to meet its growing energy needs, there is no longer debate about the central role nuclear will play.

Critics have become converts in what is being called the “nuclear renaissance,” but before we break ground on the next generation of reactors, Canadian policymakers must answer one crucial question: Who bears the risk for cost overruns, and how do we prevent them in the first place? If we fail to get this right, we will struggle to expand nuclear power precisely when we need it most.

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PDAC: Trade war seen fast-tracking mine approvals – by Frederic Tomesco (Northern Miner – March 5, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Could the escalating trade war with the United States unwittingly spur Canadian authorities to cut approval times for much needed mines and natural-resource projects? Some investment bankers think so. Citing “national emergency” reasons, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday slapped 25% import tariffs on most Canadian goods and 10% on energy and minerals.

That prompted Canada to retaliate with $30 billion worth of duties against its biggest trading partner. Another $125 billion worth of Canadian levies are set to come in about three weeks after the government consults with industry, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

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Advocate raises concerns about Indigenous exclusion during mining conference session – by Sam Laskaris (Windspeaker – March 6, 2025)

https://windspeaker.com/

With a focus on lands, resources, energy, critical minerals, climate policy and reconciliation, Katherine Koostachin has spent the past 15 years advancing Indigenous priorities. Koostachin, a member of Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, says there are troubling gaps in Canada’s dealings with Indigenous peoples.

Koostachin was a speaker March 3 at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference in Toronto. The PDAC conference is considered the world’s premier mineral exploration and mining convention.

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Toronto exchange’s mining dominance under threat as explorers exit – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – March 03, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Toronto’s claim as the world’s top mining hub is under threat as exploration companies leave Canada and listings dwindle on the nation’s resource-heavy stock exchange.

Canada’s once-thriving mining industry is facing challenges to its decades-old model, in which explorers and developers woo investors with promises of mining breakthroughs and established producers feed on their success, swallowing them in lucrative takeovers. Industry consolidation has reduced head offices and eliminated listings, companies find it harder to attract investors, and government rules on foreign investment have become more restrictive.

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Outraged by Toronto mining convention, protestors disrupt opening day proceedings – by Alex Flood (Timmins Today – March 4, 2025)

https://www.timminstoday.com/

Mining Injustice members blocked the northside entrance to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for 30 minutes during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention on Sunday

TORONTO – The world’s largest mining convention is well underway inside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, but outside, a lively protest denouncing the companies for their alleged unethical roles with international excavation projects has taken shape.

The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is expected to bring tens of thousands of representatives from the global mining industry to the city’s downtown core between Sunday and Wednesday.

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PDAC: Canada, Australia risk falling behind in investment race, BHP boss says – by Frederic Tomesco (Northern Miner – March 2, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Canada and Australia could end up trailing emerging mining nations such as Argentina if their governments don’t speed up permitting and lower costs, BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) CEO Mike Henry warned.

Countries such as the United States, Argentina and Saudi Arabia are making “sizeable” efforts to reform their mining sector and attract capital, Henry said Sunday in Toronto. At the same time, established natural-resource powerhouses such as Canada and Australia have seen their global attractiveness erode.

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Exclusive: Canada to extend mineral exploration tax credit for two more years, minister says – by Divya Rajagopal (Reuters – March 2, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

March 2 – Canada will extend a tax credit on mineral exploration for two additional years as part of the government’s move to support investment in exploration projects, energy, and natural resources, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said on Sunday.

The mineral exploration tax credit is a capital market tool that offers investors a 15% tax credit to invest in flow-through shares of smaller mining companies. It was set to expire on March 31. Wilkinson said the extension is to ensure that the mining sector has the tools to raise capital for exploration projects.

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Attracting investment into Canadian mining projects – by Sasa Jarvis, Cory Kent and Sharon Singh (Canadian Mining Journal – February 25, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

With the globalization of investment dollars, the regulatory framework for a mineral exploration or mining project plays a key factor in the analysis both foreign and domestic investors make: Can a project get off the ground?

Will permits be obtainable on a timely basis or at all? Who can object and what does that mean? And, perhaps most importantly, will the process be predictable? A regulatory system that functions as a patchwork as opposed to being harmonized lacks certainty and risks alienating capital.

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As tensions rise, Canada to lean on U.S. for uranium enrichment – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – February 24, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump talks of waging a campaign of “economic force” to persuade Canada to join a political union with the United States, Ontario Power Generation is preparing to construct an American reactor at its Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. The reactor’s uranium fuel would be enriched at a facility in New Mexico, a new vulnerability U.S. administrations could exploit.

Canada’s 17 operating reactors are of the homegrown Candu design, which consume natural uranium. Canada possesses uranium in abundance and has long made its own fuel. But nearly all the reactors promoted for construction now require enriched uranium, which Canada can’t produce.

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After Chinese company divested from Calgary lithium firm, mystery firm stepped in – by Darryl Greer (Canadian Press/CBC News Calgary – February 20, 2025)

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

Application filed for order directing Gator Capital Ltd. to dispose of shares in Lithium Chile

The federal government is going to court to force a Toronto company to sell a $34-million stake in a Calgary-based lithium firm that it bought off a Chinese company.

The government had already deemed the previous Chinese owner’s investment in Lithium Chile Inc. to be harmful to national security, and it says in a Federal Court application that the new buyer has failed to co-operate with efforts to prove it isn’t owned or influenced by China’s government either.

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