A mayor in southwestern Alberta is hoping for an immediate meeting with Premier Danielle Smith to discuss a coal project his community has voted in favour of being built. “The sooner the better,” said Crowsnest Pass Mayor Blair Painter. “Let’s do this.”
Residents of the municipality, which saw its last coal mine close four decades ago, voted 72 per cent “yes” to a simple referendum question: “Do you support the development and operations of the metallurgical coal mine at Grassy Mountain?”
MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY – Mountain View County has approved a request by Calgary-based E3 Lithium Ltd. for an option to purchase the land at the former Dyck Gravel Pit east of Highway 2.
In a news release issued Thursday, E3 Lithium Ltd. said the site southeast of Olds will be used for the company’s Clearwater Project’s Central Processing Facility. The property is “well situated for infrastructure, including accessible utilities and roadways, to support E3 Lithium’s development of the first commercial lithium facility in Western Canada.”
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Martin Turenne, chief executive officer of FPX Nickel Corp. FPX-X is wired as an optimist. In the mining industry, you have to be, because the timelines are agonizingly long and the odds are often heavily stacked against you.
Mr. Turenne hopes to have a nickel mine and refinery in production at its Baptiste project in central British Columbia by the end of the decade. The grand plan is to supply nickel for Canada’s nascent electric vehicle battery industry. The early estimate to build what could eventually be a top 10 nickel operation globally is $2.6-billion.
https://www.mining-technology.com/
The divestment of stakes may ease First Quantum’s financial strain after the closure of its Panamanian copper mine due to protests.
Japanese trading company Mitsui has placed the highest bid for around a 20% share in Canadian mining giant First Quantum Minerals‘ Zambian Sentinel and Kansanshi copper mines for roughly $2bn (Y308.82bn), reported Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The bid surpasses a competing offer from Saudi Arabia’s Manara Minerals Investment. The potential deal’s terms are still under negotiation. The company could opt for an alternative buyer or retain its assets.
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BHP Group Ltd. chief executive Mike Henry says Canada must speed up mine permitting, or it risks losing out to its global rivals in attracting investments in critical minerals. Melbourne-based BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, already has significant operations in Canada. It is building a massive new potash mine in Saskatchewan called Jansen with the total capital expenditure pegged at $20-billion.
Mr. Henry, who is Canadian, said in an interview that while BHP clearly already has an affinity for Canada, based on its investment track record, the slow pace of obtaining mining permits is a big problem.
Advance polls for Crowsnest Pass residents were held on Tuesday for a proposed coal mine at Grassy Mountain. In September, the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass announced a non-binding referendum vote would take place asking, “Do you support the development and operations of a metallurgical mine at Grassy Mountain?”
The topic has caused a divide in the community. “Coal mining built the Crowsnest Pass,” said Bonnie Castellarin with Citizens Supportive of Crowsnest Coal. “At that time, it was a very thriving community and as the mines closed, it has definitely hurt our community.”
https://www.northernminer.com/
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump made two picks for key posts in his administration last week that signal he’s serious about rolling back environmental regulations and speeding up permitting for oil and gas as well as mining projects – a policy that could put pressure on Canada to do the same.
Trump, who has repeatedly promised the U.S. will “drill baby, drill” for fossil fuels, named Lee Zeldin, a former congressman from New York, as his pick on Nov. 11 to head up the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin has promised to roll back “left-wing” regulations while also protecting the environment. He’s endorsed Trump’s call to use the EPA to pursue U.S. “energy dominance” and economic growth.
(Bloomberg) — Canada’s federal government is extending a national security review of Paladin Energy Ltd.’s acquisition of Fission Uranium Corp., further delaying a deal that was supposed to close in September.
Australia’s Paladin Energy said Tuesday it received a notice from Canada’s industry ministry that the government’s review period for the transaction, proposed in June, will be extended until Dec. 30. The company also warned that the deal could fall apart.
In Alberta, we’ve always proudly told the world about the advantages and attractiveness of investing here. We speak about low taxes, abundant resources, and a highly skilled and motivated workforce. It’s a great story, but as families in communities across the province look for ways to pay their bills, the story needs to be backed by strong public policy.
A shadow looms over what should be a critical element of our mining sector, steelmaking coal. In Alberta, steelmaking coal has immense potential for development. This development can be done responsibly – our laws demand it.
Uranium is making a comeback thanks to a renewed focus on nuclear energy as a climate crisis solution. Canada, rich with high-grade deposits, could become a nuclear “superpower”. But can its potential be realised?
Leigh Curyer had been working in uranium mining for nearly two decades when he noticed a striking shift. In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan badly damaged the world’s view of nuclear power, and the price for the heavy metal – a critical component for nuclear fuel – cratered.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Ross Beaty flipped the laptop around and pointed its camera to the sea. “That’s a whale-watching boat,” the veteran mining entrepreneur said from Bowen Island near Vancouver. “There’s been a whole whack of humpback whales here yesterday and today.” Beaty sounded excited, and why not? He’s got a history of drawing out big things from the deep.
Since 2017 as chairman, he’s built Equinox Gold into a nearly 1-million-oz. annual producer with a $3.5-billion market value. Its latest mine, Greenstone in Ontario, poured first gold in May and is ramping up to 400,000-oz. a year capacity.
Trump is placing energy as a priority. This will automatically increase the size and importance of Western Canada’s oilpatch
Donald Trump’s landslide victory has shaken Canadians and rattled the loonie, but on balance will be beneficial for the country, notably its natural resource sectors.
Trump has promised to impose tariffs on trading partners, but Canada’s biggest exports will spared for two reasons. First, the countries’ resource sectors are integrated as a result of cross-ownership and mutual supply chains that have been built over decades. So are their automotive industries. These binational oil and auto partnerships are the cornerstone of both economies.
(Bloomberg) — Most of the world’s top gold miners have seen their shares surge this year as bullion prices hit repeated record highs. Not Barrick Gold Corp.
Missed production targets, higher operational costs and political turbulence at mines in Africa and Asia have investors turning increasingly sour on the world’s second-biggest gold producer. On Thursday, Barrick posted gold output that missed analysts’ estimates for the 11th straight quarter.
For a few days in mid-September, Halifax, Nova Scotia, became the world’s centre for geochemical expertise when the International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage (ICARD) convened there. Given the interruption caused by the global pandemic, and that the conference happens only every three years, this was the first in-person event since 2018’s meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, so there was a lot of ground to cover.
And the ground has shifted. Charles Dumaresq, vice-president of science and environmental management at the Mining Association of Canada, noted in the opening day panel that a series of high-profile tailings dam failures has trained the attention of regulators, operators and the broader public on the geotechnical risks associated with mines and legacy sites, which has the potential to divert resources away from addressing geochemical concerns.
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George Christidis is the interim chief executive of the Canadian Nuclear Association. Heather Exner-Pirot is the director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
Advocates of nuclear energy tout its environmental and economic benefits, but there are also compelling geopolitical reasons to pursue nuclear.
Energy security concerns have thrust nuclear forward as a critical solution for many countries traditionally dependent on, or integrated with, Russian nuclear energy and gas supplies. Their desire to disentangle their energy systems from Russia presents Canada the opportunity to use its nuclear expertise and supply chain to contribute to European energy security.
