Archive | Canadian Media Resource Articles

Hitting the reset button: Trevali restarted the shuttered Caribou mine with a new lease on life – by Kylie Williams (CIM Magazine – June 17, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, New Brunswick/Bathurst Zinc Mining Camp, Zinc, Lead and Tin

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

In mid-November 2020, Marie-Claude Dumont, senior operations manager at Trevali Mining’s Caribou zinc-lead-silver mine in northern New Brunswick, “dusted off the life-of-mine plan” for the operation the company had shuttered nine months earlier.

With zinc prices on the rise and a faint light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, Dumont and her team ran the numbers to assess the feasibility of restarting the mine. The models looked good, and with a healthy hedging deal in place, Trevali moved swiftly to announce the restart of the mine on Jan. 15, 2021.

By March 6, the first ore was at the surface and delivered to the stockpile, 20 days shy of a year since Trevali announced the temporary suspension of mine operations. Continue Reading →

Crowdfunding helps Cornish to establish a battery metals hub for the UK – by Vladimir Basov (Kitco News – June 21, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Europe Mining, Lithium

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Cornish Lithium, the innovative mineral exploration and development company based in Cornwall, UK, today announced that it has successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube raising £6 million (~$8.4 million) to progress its geothermal and hard rock projects in Cornwall and to create additional value for shareholders.

The company said it opened up the opportunity to pre-registered investors today at 9:00am and had raised it’s £6 million target within 20 minutes.

CEO & Founder Jeremy Wrathall said, “We are delighted with the support we have received to date for our latest crowdfunding round. The additional funding will be used to continue the progress towards our goal of creating a battery metals hub for the UK. Continue Reading →

Europe taking steps to cut reliance on China for raw materials – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – June 20, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Europe Mining

https://www.mining.com/

Speaking at the European Raw Materials Alliance Summit, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, rang the alarm bell regarding the EU’s dependence on third countries for 99 products – mostly raw materials – needed for the energy-intensive industries ecosystem.

Breton made a case point regarding rare earths supply, 98% of which are delivered to Europe from China, either raw or refined.

“It is not an enviable position to be in, but we are not alone: the US, Japan, the UK, Canada, Australia, India and others are rushing to address this vulnerability as well,” the commissioner said. Continue Reading →

Recent pullback in commodity prices divides analysts – by Tim Shufelt (Globe and Mail – June 21, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Commodity Super-Cycle and Decline

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The blistering run in resource prices has fizzled out over the past couple of weeks, raising doubts over whether a commodities supercycle is in the works.

What has been one of the hottest asset classes in the world coming out of the pandemic has run into a number of obstacles, including efforts by Chinese regulators to cool down commodity speculation, as well as a spike in the U.S. dollar.

The downturn has been widespread across precious metals, industrial metals, agricultural commodities and lumber, which has been an unlikely poster child of the commodity boom. Continue Reading →

Biggest shakeup in auto industry’s history chance for Canada to climb on top – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – June 19, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Metals and Manufacturing

https://financialpost.com/

‘I believe the automotive industry is thrown open to disruption like it’s never been thrown open before’

When U.S. President Joe Biden hopped behind the wheel of a new Ford Electric F-150 last month, he called it the future of the U.S. economy: “A union-made product, right here in America.”

For some Canadians, his words rang out like a wake-up call because in recent years, engines for the F-150, and other Ford vehicles, have been assembled in Windsor, Ontario.

Of course, electric vehicles like the new F-150 don’t have engines — they have batteries and motors. That’s why Stephen MacKenzie, president of Invest Windsor Essex, the local economic development corporation, is scrambling to attract battery manufacturers to the region. “We have automotives in our DNA,” said MacKenzie, “but things are changing.” Continue Reading →

Make up your mind, IEA. Is more oil good or bad? – by Mark Milke (Financial Post – June 18, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://financialpost.com/

After telling nations to stop investing in oil, the IEA is now pleading with the world’s most regressive regimes to open up their oil taps

What a difference a month makes. In May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) told the world that if the goal of “net zero” greenhouse gas emissions were to be met by 2050, governments needed to abide by 400 IEA “milestones,” including net zero emissions in the electricity sector by 2040, no new sales of vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2035, and building the equivalent of “the world’s current largest solar park roughly every day.”

The 400 utopian recommendations made clear the IEA’s view about the role of oil going forward: as little as possible, as soon as possible. As the IEA put it, these recommendations “include, from today, no investment in new fossil fuel supply projects.” Continue Reading →

‘Phenomenal riches’: Inside ReconAfrica’s aggressive stock promotion campaign – by Geoffrey York and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – June 21, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In the early days of 2020, few people were paying much attention to an obscure Vancouver-based oil company with an unproven project in little-known Namibia.

But around that time something happened that evidently piqued the interest of a securities regulator. On Jan. 14, shares in Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (ReconAfrica) rocketed up 40 per cent on volume that was nine times higher than the day before.

On Jan. 15, ReconAfrica said in a news release it could not think of any significant reason for the astonishing surge in trading. Continue Reading →

‘It was very shocking’: Mixed emotions in Crowsnest Pass following panel review of Grassy Mountain coal project – by Austin Lee (CTV News Lethbridge – June 18, 2021)

June 21, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Coal

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. — For many people living in the Crowsnest Pass, the proposed Grassy Mountain coal project presented an opportunity to get back to the region’s glory days.

However, a recent panel review found Benga Mining Limited’s Grassy Mountain Coal project is not in the public interest and has denied the provincial applications citing environmental concerns such as the impact on water quality, native trout species and biodiversity in the region.

For Crowsnest Pass Mayor Blair Painter, the report came as a shocking disappointment. “Our community was founded on coal. That’s what our community does and it has from day one,” said Painter. Continue Reading →

Why is gold down nearly $100 after Fed shakes up markets? – by Anna Golubova (Kitco News – June 17, 2021)

June 17, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) In just 24 hours, gold managed to lose nearly $100 after the Federal Reserve signaled higher inflation and updated its dot plot projections, showing a possibility of two rate hikes as soon as 2023.

The news triggered a surge in the U.S. dollar and a rise in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, which weighed heavily on gold. The precious metal’s plunge was intensified by technical selling as gold tumbled below the $1,800 and came close to testing critical support at $1,770-60.

The market zeroed in on the upward revision to the PCE inflation forecast for 2021, which was raised a full percentage point – from 2.4% in March to 3.4%. This comes after very strong inflation readings in April and May. Continue Reading →

Russia’s Nornickel uses digital tokens to fight illegal mining and trafficking of minerals – by Vladimir Basov (Kitco News – June 16, 2021)

June 17, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Europe Mining, Nickel, Norilsk Nickel

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Russian mining giant Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel and a major producer of platinum and copper, said that use of smart contracts in the company’s trading operations, where digital tokens are backed by the metals produced by the company, could help to fight illegal mining and trafficking of minerals, among other measures.

Nornickel delivered its suggestions during a roundtable dedicated to the fight against crime in the field of mining and circulation of minerals and precious metals.

The event was initiated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Customs Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The Russian side was represented by Nornickel. Continue Reading →

Aluminum industry faces big decarbonization challenges — report – by Staff (Mining.com – June 16, 2021)

June 17, 2021 in Aluminium/Bauxite, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs

https://www.mining.com/

A new report by Wood Mackenzie analyzes the challenges and opportunities that the future presents for aluminum, as the buildout of low-carbon energy supply and transmission will consume vast quantities of primary aluminum and associated alumina and bauxite.

Although such a forecast seems to be rosy, the market analyst says that the metal’s role in the green economy may be dampened by the fact that the industry will have to secure low-carbon power, which itself requires the use of low-carbon aluminium, among other metals.

“On a global basis, power accounted for close to 60% of greenhouse gas emissions relating to aluminum production in 2020,” the report reads, pointing out that the primary aluminum industry accounted for around 2.6% of global GHG emissions in 2020, of which 70% came from China. Continue Reading →

The U.S. has grand ambitions to conquer the global EV market — it can’t win without Canada – – by Ryan Castilloux (Financial Post – June 16, 2021)

June 17, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Copper, Graphite Mining, Lithium, Nickel

https://financialpost.com/

Ryan Castilloux is managing director of Adamas Intelligence, which provides research on strategic materials and minerals.

A US$174-billion U.S. plan to spur domestic production and sales of U.S.-made electric vehicles while bolstering domestic supply chains, from raw materials to parts, dovetails with allies Canada and Australia’s ambitions to become leading suppliers of raw materials to parts.

The plan is part of the massive US$2-trillion spending plan unveiled by U.S. President Joe Biden in March, that aims at creating millions of “good jobs,” rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, and positioning the U.S. to “out-compete China.”

From a raw materials perspective, there are four main facets of interest for the Canadian auto sector in the U.S.’s grand ambition to win the EV market. Continue Reading →

Ottawa to review all new and expanded coal mine projects over water contamination concerns – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – June 17, 2021)

June 17, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Coal

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ottawa will review all proposals for new or expanded coal mines with the potential to contaminate waterways with an element called selenium, marking the second major coal policy shift from the federal government in a matter of days.

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told The Globe and Mail in an interview that while selenium has always been an issue in coal mining, there is growing concern about the harm it causes.

Selenium washes out of waste rock from coal mines and can be toxic to fish populations, causing deformities and ruining their ability to reproduce. Continue Reading →

‘The Kuzbass is now just one big hole’: Siberian coal town residents on their failed effort to come to Canada – by Chris Brown (CBC News World – June 15, 2021)

June 16, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Coal, Europe Mining

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/

The view from the top of Alps Street, the high point in the Siberian city of Kiselyovsk, makes it seem like surrounding neighbourhoods are being swallowed up by a succession of giant black holes.

Nine open pit coal mines encircle this city of 90,000 people in Russia’s Kuzbass region, the epicentre of the country’s coal production, 3,700 kilometres east of the capital, Moscow.

Daily, bone-rattling explosions from the pits reverberate across the blackened landscape, shifting buildings off their foundations and leaving structures crumbling. The spontaneous combustion of coal byproducts dumped in areas adjacent to neighbourhoods engulf homes in noxious fumes. Continue Reading →

OPINION: How to avoid the mining sector’s perpetual ‘boom and bust’ – Alexandra Horwood (Globe and Mail – June 15, 2021)

June 16, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Alexandra Horwood is director, wealth management, portfolio manager, and investment advisor at Richardson Wealth Ltd.

For most of the bear cycle in mining stocks during the past decade, financial advisors have had the ability to lower their clients’ tax bills by triggering a capital loss.

But things have changed as mining stocks have been on a tear since gold became a haven at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – and advisors who serve Canadians invested in the mining sector should consider how to manage the windfall strategically.

Mining is a cyclical sector. It generates a lot of wealth for many people – including the jobs it creates in financial hubs like Toronto and Vancouver and the remote communities where the mines themselves are located. But along with the highs come the lows, and for investors, it’s important to be protected during these times of uncertainty. Continue Reading →