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Canada Mining

Miners not ‘losing sleep’ over Trump’s tariff threat, but hope it can resolve permit delays – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – Febuary 18, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Ottawa needs to remind Trump that Canada’s critical minerals are more accessible to the U.S., miners say

Some Canadian miners say they won’t be “losing sleep” over the possibility of tariffs being levied by the United States on critical minerals due to the immense demand for them from Europe and other regions, but they do want Ottawa to use these “tense times” to quickly resolve the sector’s permitting troubles.

It takes about 10 to 15 years to build a mine in Canada today, given the time it takes to explore deposits, get the required permits, look for investments, build infrastructure in rural areas and figure out a profitable way to extract the minerals.

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DeepDive: How mining became Canada’s surprising new engine of economic growth – by Philip Cross (The Hub – February 17, 2025)

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Mining is an increasingly rare success story in Canada’s economy. While most public commentary focuses on the economic threat from Donald Trump, Canada’s chronic slow economic growth, and stagnant exports, mining’s buoyancy is a reminder that Canada still can be a beacon for investment and successfully compete in global markets as well as a strategic industry in an era of economic and geopolitical competition.

This DeepDive essay provides an overview of recent developments in Canada’s mining industry. It documents mining’s expanding output, incomes, and jobs, fuelled by the recent surge of investments and export demand for most metals and minerals.

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[BHP and Canada] Up and Down Under – by Trevor Cole (Globe and Mail/Report on Business Magazine – February 18, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Why Mike Henry, the Canadian CEO of the world’s biggest mining company, is investing big in Canada

No one should have been surprised, five years ago, when Mike Henry rose to the top of the Australian mining giant BHP. When it comes to mining, Canadians have some game, and the University of British Columbia alum had built a 30-year career touching every aspect of the industry, from marketing to technology to operations.

What might have opened some eyes is how decisively the understated Henry, who’d been at BHP since 2003, moved to change things up. He eliminated BHP’s complicated dual listing on the London and Sydney exchanges, boosting the company’s ability to make acquisitions.

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Barrick considering redomiciling to the U.S. and Trump could make it happen faster, says CEO Mark Bristow – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 14, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is considering redomiciling to the United States from Canada, and under a Donald Trump administration that could happen sooner rather than later, Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow told The Globe and Mail’s editorial board.

On Thursday, he mapped out several reasons why a move to the U.S. makes sense, including access to a more efficient marketplace, and the ability to attract a bigger pool of shareholders. Redomiciling to the U.S. could put Barrick in the S&P 500 index, which would attract automatic buying from scores of mutual funds and exchange traded funds that track indexes.

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Unlocking Canada’s mining potential – by David Hunter, Bernard Roth, and Mary Su (Canadian Mining Journal – February 12, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Strategies to attract investment in the sector

Canada is facing an investment and productivity crisis, and its onerous and lengthy regulatory approval processes are compounding the problem. There is a common misconception that shortening regulatory approval process timelines must come at the expense of environmental oversights and affected Indigenous groups.

Canadian regulatory approval processes can and should be implemented in a way that allows projects to proceed in a timely manner, without sacrificing necessary environmental requirements and Indigenous interests.

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Mining industry warns critical minerals stockpiles useless without processing plants – by Darius Snieckus (National Observer – February 13, 2025)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Government-backed strategic reserves of lithium, nickel, copper and other minerals and metals seen as key to Canada’s national security and its energy transition would be a non-starter without a cross-country network of processing facilities, mining sector executives said Tuesday.

Calls for an emergency stockpile of 34 critical minerals in Canada have grown in recent weeks as a way to reduce investment risk for mine developers and leverage against U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to annex the country for its wealth of natural resources.

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As Trump eyes Canada’s resources, Ottawa scrambles to form critical mineral plan B – by John Woodside and Darius Snieckus (National Observer – February 10, 2025)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to turn Canada into the 51st state was real, fresh annexation concerns were sparked. However, not everyone is in a total panic.

“Trudeau is not a fool. He’s been at this for a long time, and he’s not going to make a statement even in this context that he doesn’t think is going to get out to the media and public,” said Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “This was not an ‘Oops I got caught moment,’ this was a statement he was prepared to make.”

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Trudeau’s comments that Trump wants critical minerals highlights U.S. reliance on Canadian resources – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 8, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to take over Canada to gain access to its critical-minerals riches underlines how much the U.S. depends on this country for its immense resource needs.

Mr. Trudeau made the comments about Mr. Trump’s motivations for annexing Canada on Friday to hundreds of business executives, trade experts and union representatives who gathered in Toronto to try to figure out how to boost growth and attract new investment in the face of continuing tariff threats on Canadian imports.

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Trudeau suggests Trump’s serious about making Canada ’51st state’ to secure minerals – by Tom Blackwell (National Post – February 8, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

‘Canada is sovereign, Canada will choose its own destiny, thank you very much,’ one minister said

TORONTO — Federal cabinet members stressed Friday there will be “no messing” with the Canada-U.S. border, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested that President Donald Trump is serious about making this country the 51st state to secure Canada’s critical mineral reserves.

Transport Minister Anita Anand and Employment Steve MacKinnon said the overwhelming mood in the country is to stand firm on Canada’s independence, regardless of pressure from Trump’s threatened 25-per-cent tariffs.

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Donald Trump wants to annex Canada to gain access to its critical minerals, Trudeau says – by Steven Chase and Laura Stone (Globe and Mail – February 7, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an economic summit on Friday that he believes U.S. President Donald Trump is sincere in his desire to annex Canada and that this stems from the American leader’s interest in gaining access to this country’s critical minerals, a source said.

Mr. Trudeau made the comments to an audience of about 200 business leaders, trade experts and union executives in Toronto who have gathered to map out ways to boost economic growth and attract new capital investment in the face of the looming threat of U.S. protectionism.

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Canadian critical minerals companies not panicked by Trump tariff threat because of 10% carve-out – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 7, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s critical minerals sector would suffer a significantly less punishing blow from U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs compared with the broader Canadian economy if he moves ahead.

Mr. Trump earlier this week temporarily backed off from imposing 25-per-cent tariffs on most Canadian imports, but the risk remains high, with the possibility that he’ll follow through after the 30-day reprieve runs out.

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Municipal district scraps Grassy Mountain appeal after provincial coal rule changes – by Joel Dryden (CBC News Calgary – February 05, 2025)

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

Alberta government lifted ban on coal exploration in Eastern Slopes in late January

The reeve of a southwestern ranching community says the municipal district has cancelled its appeal of exploration applications tied to the Grassy Mountain site in southwestern Alberta. Ron Davis, reeve of the M.D. of Ranchland, said recent rule changes from the provincial government have upended the district’s arguments tied to its Alberta Court of Appeal case.

“Given that the government has changed the rules, our case didn’t seem like it had as much impact as we would like,” Davis said. In August 2024, Alberta’s top court allowed Ranchland’s appeal, with Justice Kevin Feth writing he found that “a serious, arguable issue [was] established” after the provincial energy regulator accepted applications from Northback Holdings, the company behind the Grassy Mountain mine project.

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Amid trade skirmish, Wilkinson raises eyebrows with pitch for closer ties with U.S. on critical minerals and energy – by Darius Snieckus (National Observer – February 5th 2025)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

The U.S. and Canada should “jointly invest” in North American critical minerals and energy megaprojects, Canada’s minister of energy and natural resources said Tuesday, raising eyebrows as Canada continues to grapple with the threat of punishing tariffs — and concerns the country could risk relinquishing total control of its natural resource wealth.

Such an alliance would aid the U.S. in reducing its reliance on rivals Russia and China for uranium, germanium, lithium and other next-generation energy materials, Jonathan Wilkinson said, while building on a “many decades-long” trade relationship between the U.S and Canada.

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Trump is firing up resource nationalism. But can Canada’s energy and mining sectors pivot away from the U.S.? – by Niall McGee, Emma Graney, Nicolas Van Praet and Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – February 6, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The threat of U.S. tariffs is firing up a brand of Canadian resource nationalism not seen in decades, inspiring a rallying call for this country to build more of its own energy, power and mining infrastructure. But executing on that plan will be no easy feat.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week backed off from immediately imposing tariffs on Canadian imports, but the risk remains high that he’ll follow through after a 30-day reprieve runs out. Amid this threat, Canada’s resource sector, most of which would be subject to a 10-per-cent tariff, is looking at diversifying away from the United States to insulate itself from more shocks that lie ahead.

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Trump tariffs include 10% carve-out for Canadian gas, power, minerals – by Killian Staines, Daniel Weeks, Kip Keen, Zack Hale, and J Robinson (S&P Global – February 2, 2025)

https://www.spglobal.com/

US President Donald Trump on Feb. 1 followed through on a threat to hit the nation’s three largest trading partners with steep tariffs. Energy imports from Canada — including oil, natural gas, electricity, coal, uranium, and critical minerals — were singled out, however, to be taxed at a lower rate of 10%.

Outside of the energy exclusions, Trump’s executive orders imposed 25% across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China. No energy-related exemptions were identified for Mexico or China. The new tariffs will take effect on Feb. 4.

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