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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Feds prepared to use revenue from $90B of tariffed products to help steel, aluminum industries: MP – by Elaine Della-Mattia (Sault Star – June 4, 2025)

https://www.saultstar.com/

The federal government will meet with the Canadian Steel Producers Association Thursday to develop ways on how the government can best help the steel industry. Sault Ste. Marie MP Terry Sheehan, co-chair of the all-party steel caucus, said he organized the meeting “which is more important now than ever” to pin down the best ways to help the industry.”

“We’re still sticking with the fight, protect, build, model,” Sheehan told The Sault Star. The meeting, which was planned before U.S. President Donald Trump signed the orders to double the tariffs of steel and aluminum, was designed to discuss the liquidity problems in the industry, including at Algoma Steel.

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Inside the ambitious Indigenous-led plan to protect northwestern Ontario’s “Breathing Lands” – by Susan Nerberg (Canadian Geographic – June 04, 2025)

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On the western shores of James and Hudson bays, a group of Omushkego Cree nations have been working to protect both water and land

You can’t blame Sam Hunter for not being in the mood for a boat ride. Rain is pelting the hamlet of Peawanuck, and the northeasterly wind coming in from Hudson Bay sweeps the coastal lowlands of northern Ontario. “I don’t like this weather,” Hunter says from underneath a furrowed brow, even as he and his German shepherd puppy, Niska, make their way by ATV from his house to the boat launch on the Winisk River.

There’s no one there to brag about how good the fishing had been upstream, no one to lament how the thawing permafrost downstream is tearing apart the riverbank, leaving the bank swallows to search for new homes. And there is no one around to debate the merits of a proposal to formally protect the tawich, the coastal area with its tidal marshes, mudflats and rivers, and the sea beyond, to which Hunter and others from Weenusk First Nation are inextricably linked. There is only the voice of the river.

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Mount Etna erupts, unleashing lava – and possibly hidden minerals – by Staff (Mining.com – June 3, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano, erupted this week in a spectacular display, sending plumes of ash and gas high into the Sicilian sky and captivating onlookers with one of its most dramatic outbursts in years.

The eruption originated from the volcano’s southeast crater, where a combination of a white ash plume and a grey cloud, resulting from a crater collapse and subsequent avalanche, produced a powerful pyroclastic flow. While pyroclastic flows are highly dangerous due to their heat and mobility, the event occurred in an uninhabited area.

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Blackwater Mine, Canada’s Newest Gold and Silver Mine Officially Open (Nation Talk – June 2, 2025)

https://nationtalk.ca/

Vancouver, British Columbia – Artemis Gold Inc. (“Artemis Gold” or the “Company”) announces that Blackwater Mine, Canada’s newest gold and silver mine, was officially opened in a ceremony at the mine site today.

B.C. Premier David Eby, along with Jagrup Brar, Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals, Acting Chief June Baptiste of the Lhoosk’uz Dené Nation, and Chief Charlie Williams (represented) of Ulkatcho First Nation, attended the event. Other attendees included representatives of Indigenous and municipal governments, industry associations, business partners, contractors and other stakeholders.

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The US Badly Needs Rare Minerals and Fresh Water. Guess Who Has Them? – by Christopher Pollon (The Walrus – June 3, 2025)

The Walrus

As China tightens its grip on critical resources, Trump eyes Canada’s riches

Rain fell for the first time on the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet in August 2021, seen by scientists as a foreboding precedent for sea level rise and the planet. But not everyone was alarmed. The melting of ice caps began exposing virgin ground for mining, including what has been touted as some of the largest deposits of rare earth elements, or REEs, in the world.

REEs are a group of seventeen metals with remarkable magnetic, electrochemical, and luminescent properties. They give a smartphone its computing power and electric cars their batteries. They are necessary to make powerful permanent magnets needed by both wind turbines to generate energy efficiently and laser-guided missile systems to stay on target.

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‘Unleashing a reckoning’: Ford government set to pass Bill 5 – by Jessica Smith Cross (The Trillium – June 2, 2025)

https://www.thetrillium.ca/

Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa was ejected from the legislature for accusing the premier of lying about the bill

Indigenous people rallied at Queen’s Park Monday afternoon, demanding the Ford government “kill Bill 5.” Inside, MPPs debated the government’s move to time-allocate the bill, which will speed it through the legislative process and curtail debate.

Bill 5 would give the provincial cabinet the power to designate an area a “special economic zone,” and then exempt selected proponents and projects from requirements under any provincial law or regulation, including bylaws of municipalities and local boards, that would otherwise apply.

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Interview: Barrick CEO talks slimming gold portfolio – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – June 3, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

When Barrick Gold took over Randgold in 2019, its marketing dropped Gold from the name to reflect wider interests like copper and appeal to new investors. But it didn’t bother to change its registered moniker. Gradually, the Gold crept back in. Now, the Gold has been guillotined, like a statement Barrick Mining (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) means business this time.

“Most of the gold companies sort of have grasped at the opportunity to talk about copper,” CEO Mark Bristow said in an interview with The Northern Miner in May. “But we actually pointedly said, ‘if you really want to be a big player in the gold business, it makes a whole lot of sense to focus on these big assets.’”

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Algoma Steel CEO says 50% tariffs threaten viability in the U.S. – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – June 3, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Algoma Steel Group Inc. chief executive Michael Garcia says 50-per-cent tariffs on Canadian steel imports could make the company’s U.S. business unviable. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he intends to double tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50 per cent from 25 per cent, effective on Wednesday.

His original tariffs, which were put in place in March, were framed around the need to protect the country’s national security. Mr. Trump says the higher tariffs are now necessary to eliminate any threat of foreign steel making its way into the U.S. market. They apply to all its imports of the metals, not just those from Canada.

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A single potash project is saving Saskatchewan from stagnation – by Ty Thiessen (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – June 3, 2025)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

Today, BHP’s Jansen potash mine singlehandedly drives Saskatchewan’s economy in spite of, and not because of, provincial policy.

Saskatchewan’s premier has been keen to share indicators of this province’s economic health. We’re told that Saskatchewan is “leading the nation.” The government reports that Saskatchewan had Canada’s second highest economic growth last year, and that “many sectors” contributed.

Not only did few sectors contribute to that growth, but a whopping 72 per cent of it came from BHP’s Jansen potash project. Since 2022, more than two-thirds of Saskatchewan’s economic growth was spending on the Jansen mine. Without this project, Saskatchewan’s economy would’ve been dead last in 2024.

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First Nations warn Doug Ford to fix mining bill or face backlash – by Rob Ferguson (Toronto Star – June 3, 2025)

https://www.thestar.com/

With the Progressive Conservative majority set to pass the bill later this week, about 300 protesters from across the province gathered in front of the building to voice concern about the “special economic zones” it will create.

Premier Doug Ford is running out of time to fix his controversial Bill 5 — which fast-tracks mines and infrastructure developments — before it ignites a summer of unrest, First Nations leaders warned Monday.

With the Progressive Conservative majority set to pass the bill later this week, about 300 protesters from across the province gathered in front of the building to voice concern about the “special economic zones” it will create, bypassing local and provincial rules to speed development in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

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Delegates to Sudbury conference remain bullish on electric vehicles – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – May 31, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury and Canada will benefit because it has the minerals needed to build electric batteries, they say

Despite the code orange threat level emanating from south of the border, delegates attending the BEV In Depth conference said on Thursday they remain optimistic about an electrified future. Steve Gravel, manager of the Centre for Smart Mining at Cambrian R&D, said until recently, the market for industrial battery-electric vehicles has been “red hot, especially in underground mining.” While it has cooled a bit, it is still a booming field.

“When you’re not pumping diesel exhaust into the mining environment, there are a lot of gains to be made around ventilation provision and things like that,” he said. “Some operators think they have more power when they’re in the muck pile, for example. They’re really good pieces of equipment.”

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Gold finds support as economic woes and tariff tensions rekindle safe-haven demand – by Naeem Aslam (Kitco News – June 2, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

Gold prices are on the rise once again as a cocktail of weak U.S. data and intensifying trade tensions revives investor appetite for safe-haven assets. The metal, often seen as a barometer of market anxiety, responded positively to the disappointing ISM manufacturing PMI data released on Monday.

The reading came in at 48.5—below the forecast of 49.3 and slightly lower than April’s 48.7—underscoring the fragility of the U.S. industrial sector. The sub-50 reading marks continued contraction in manufacturing activity and raises concerns that economic momentum in the U.S. is decelerating more rapidly than anticipated.

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Bill 5 will slow down, not speed up development, native leaders warn (Canadian Press/Sudbury Star – May 31, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Robinson Huron chiefs urge the provincial government to scrap the legislation and start over

Native leaders in northeastern Ontario are joining others in calling on the Ford government to scrap Bill 5, a proposed law that seeks to speed up the development of large projects such as mines. In a release, the Robinson Huron chiefs said Bill 5, Protecting Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025, is “a direct threat to the lands, jurisdiction, and sovereignty of First Nations within the Robinson Huron Treaty territory.”

“Ontario needs our permission — not just consultation, but consent,” Gimma Dean Sayers, spokesperson for the Robinson Huron Treaty chiefs and a member of the Robinson Huron Waawiindamaagewin Political Working Group, said in a release.

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Quebec premier calls new Trump tariff threats on steel and aluminum ‘completely unjustified’ – by Annabelle Olivier (CBC News Montreal – June 01, 2025)

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

Tariff increase from 25 to 50% ‘will be catastrophic for our industry,’ says steel producers association

Quebec Premier François Legault is calling U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat on Canadian steel and aluminum producers “completely unjustified.”

He made the remark in a post on X, after Trump announced his intention to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent next Wednesday. “If he goes ahead with this tariff increase, it will harm our economy, as well as the American economy,” Legault wrote in French.

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Pay attention: The world of mining is changing – by Don Duval (Canadian Mining Journal – May 28, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The global mining industry continues to build momentum and prepares itself for what appears to be a remarkable technological transformation. Executives are facing unprecedented pressure to find sustainable and creative methods to drive shareholder value and enhance productivity while improving the safety of the workforce — all during a time of global political instability, low commodity prices, and a generation of new workers that are motivated by non-traditional incentives.

This transformation is not only reshaping the landscape of employment and skill requirements for mine workers, but also it is reframing the relationship between the external technology ecosystem and global mining operators.

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