Archive | Canadian Media Resource Articles

CIM 2021: Anglo CEO Cutifani urges miners to ‘create the future’ – not be a victim of it – by Alisha Hiyate (Canadian Mining Journal – May 3, 2021)

May 4, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

“45% of the world’s economic activity is driven by the mining sector…
compared to agriculture’s footprint – which takes up 50% of the world’s
habitable land – mining only takes up 0.04%.”

Tasked with talking about the role of mining in society as part of the opening plenary at this year’s virtual CIM convention, Anglo American (LSE: AAL) chief executive Mark Cutifani didn’t mince words.

With a world population of 7.6 billion that’s growing toward 9 billion, “the simple fact is that the world cannot survive without mining and our contribution to literally every aspect of modern life,” Cutifani said.

Cutifani noted that other critical sectors, including energy, food production, construction, transportation, renewables infrastructure and communications all rely on mining. Continue Reading →

BCSC halts trading in Valorem, one of four miners targeted in apparent pump-and-dump scam – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 4, 2021)

May 4, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The British Columbia Securities Commission has halted trading in Valorem Resources Inc., one of four small Canadian mining companies targeted this year by an apparent international “pump and dump” ring that has caused stock market chaos.

The provincial securities regulator said it made the decision to halt trading in the Canadian Securities Exchange-listed exploration company after its share price ran up by 62 per cent and its volume jumped by 238 per cent.

The increases followed “unsubstantiated statements” about Valorem on a website called The Financial News. Continue Reading →

Not enough Canadians know how important the oilsands are – by Philip Cross (Financial Post – April 30, 2021)

April 30, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://financialpost.com/

The boreal footprint of the oilsands is less than 10 per cent of the 11,000
square kilometres Quebec flooded to build its hydro power. Yet Quebec
politicians ritually denounce Alberta’s “dirty oil” while ignoring the environmental damage of their own self-styled “clean hydro.”

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has just released a paper of mine on the oilsands and Canada’s economy. Many Canadians outside the prairie provinces have trouble understanding — or accepting — that Alberta’s oilsands are still enormously important to our economy.

The $8.3 billion of new investment in the oilsands last year represented 4.5 per cent of all Canada’s business investment in 2020 and was four times the capital spending undertaken by the auto manufacturers whom eastern-Canadian politicians continue to lionize and subsidize.

The oilsands now dominate Canada’s crude oil production, with 70 per cent of total output, and the recent investments mean production will continue to grow. Continue Reading →

Deep-sea mining tests resume as lost robot rescued – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 30, 2021)

April 30, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Deep Sea Mining, Nickel

https://www.mining.com/

Belgium’s Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR) resumed on Friday tests that could lead to the mining of battery minerals from the Pacific Ocean floor after it managed to recover a robot stranded at a depth of thousands of metres.

The company reported Wednesday that its Patania II, a 25-tonne mining robot prototype, had uncoupled from a 5km-long (3.1 miles) cable connecting it to the surface.

The unit of Belgium’s DEME Group is with a group of European scientists to determine the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. They are working on GSR’s concession in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. Continue Reading →

Precious metals specialist Sprott takes over management of Uranium Participation – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 28, 2021)

April 30, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Precious metals specialist Sprott Asset Management LP is wading into the uranium industry by taking over the management of Uranium Participation Corp., betting the out-of-favour commodity will benefit from a broader societal push toward lower carbon emissions.

Founded in 2005, Toronto-based UPC is one of the few companies in the world that stockpiles physical uranium. Still, over the past few years, with uranium in a protracted bear market, the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company has struggled to attract investor interest and maintain large trading volumes.

Sprott Asset Management on Wednesday said it will pay about $14.5-million to reorganize UPC from a corporation into a trust. Sprott hopes to broaden the investor appeal of the uranium holding company by adding an additional stock listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Continue Reading →

The anti-Tesla: Ballard bets the day has finally come for tech Elon Musk called ‘mind-bogglingly stupid’ – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 28, 2021)

April 30, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles

https://financialpost.com/

As chief executive of Burnaby-based Ballard Power Systems Inc., the company that hopes to disrupt trucking, municipal transit buses, railways and shipping with its proprietary hydrogen fuel cell technology, Randy MacEwen has made countless sacrifices.

He spent this past Christmas quarantined in a guarded hotel suite in Shanghai for two weeks, doing burpees and calisthenics to pass the time — all the while waiting to venture into a country where, out of respect for the culture, he calls one of his closest business associates, “big brother.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time learning about the Chinese culture,” MacEwen told the Financial Post. Continue Reading →

Why the commodity supercycle narrative is overblown – by David Rosenberg and Ellen Cooper (Financial Post – April 30, 2021)

April 30, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Commodity Super-Cycle and Decline

https://financialpost.com/

Once the full picture of a divergent economic recovery becomes clear, commodities will likely fall from the stratosphere

It has been surprising to see just how far commodity prices have soared beyond what could be considered real economic growth. Much of the rebound has been a result of the base effects from the pandemic plunge, but there are other factors at play as well.

The largest is China’s stockpiling efforts, which seem to have peaked in most commodities. But there are secular changes to consider, including the greening of infrastructure, that could indeed result in strong bull markets for select commodities such as copper.

As a reminder, in past boom/bust cycles for the highly volatile commodities sector, we typically see bear markets bottom out when the Commodity Research Bureau index hits -15 per cent year over year, while bull markets peak around 24 per cent. Continue Reading →

Analyst confident massive Sask. [BHP] potash mine will be approved as deadline approaches – by David Shield (CBC News Saskatoon – April 28, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in BHP Billiton, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Potash/Phosphate, Saskatchewan Mining

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

While a final decision has not been given on a proposed large potash mine project in Saskatchewan, one financial analyst says he is quite confident it will be approved in the next few months.

Originally announced in 2010, BHP’s Jansen mine was once hailed as the largest potash project in the world. The site is located about 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon.

Low potash prices meant the company never gave the mine final approval. While production and service shafts have been dug, and are almost fully completed, BHP has yet to produce any mineral from the site. Continue Reading →

US Department of Energy provides funds for First Cobalt’s Iron Creek project – by Staff (Northern Miner – April 2021)

April 29, 2021 in Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Junior Exploration Sector, United States Mining

Global mining news

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute is giving Toronto-based junior First Cobalt (TSXV: FCC; US-OTC: FTSSF) US$600,000 over two years for research on mineral processing techniques for the company’s Iron Creek copper-cobalt project in Idaho.

The funding, matched by the company, will be spent on “identifying more efficient and environmentally friendly methods to process cobalt ore from pyrite material,” First Cobalt announced in a press release, and will be part of a “collaborative research effort” with the Colorado School of Mines’ Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy (KIEM).

Trent Mell, First Cobalt’s president and CEO, said the company plans to build an underground mine and processing facility at Iron Creek and “can take advantage of new and emerging technologies that reduce waste material coming out of the mine and reduce the amount of energy required to process the ore.” Continue Reading →

Vale mulls base metals spinoff to tap EV market – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 27, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper, Nickel, Nickel Laterites, Vale

https://www.mining.com/

Brazil’s Vale (NYSE: VALE), the world’s no.1 nickel producer, is evaluating a potential spinoff of its base metals division as part of the miner’s growing interest in the electric vehicles (EV) sector.

The company, which is said to be in talks with Tesla and other EV supply chain actors about securing nickel from its Canadian operations, is in the midst of expanding its Voisey’s Bay site in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Vale’s plans include adding an underground mine to the Voisey’s Bay complex, which will produce about 40,000 tonnes of nickel-in-concentrate per year. Continue Reading →

Copper, ‘the new oil,’ leads metals surge amid global economic rebound – by Tim Shufelt (Globe and Mail – April 29, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

With an economic boom of epic proportions fast approaching, the natural resources needed to fuel the global resurgence are facing intense demand pressures.

While prices have soared across the spectrum of commodity markets, including forest products and agricultural commodities, industrial metals have recently taken centre stage in financial markets.

These are materials at the heart of global construction and manufacturing, and collectively, their prices have risen by more than 75 per cent since bottoming out in March, 2020. “Copper is the new oil,” Goldman Sachs analysts declared in recent report. Continue Reading →

China’s energy actions speak louder than its climate pledges – by Patricia Adams (Financial Post – April 28, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in Asia Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Coal, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://financialpost.com/

China is hell-bent on increasing CO2 emissions to meet its often-stated strategic objective of world domination

Last week’s climate change summit, though advertised as a meeting designed to get 40 world leaders to make pledges to cut carbon dioxide emissions and save the planet, was more a trade negotiation of sorts, in which the West wants China to make firmer commitments on climate change and China wants to tie any new commitments to weakened trade sanctions and less complaining about its human rights record.

The West may well water down sanctions in exchange for Chinese commitments but all it will get from China in return is lip service. China is hell-bent on increasing CO2 emissions to meet its often-stated strategic objective of world domination. Continue Reading →

Jewelry and bullion sales prop up gold demand as investors flee gold ETFs– WGC – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – April 29, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Jewellery and Coins

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market went back to basics in the first quarter of 2021 as demand for jewelry and physical bars and coins supported a sharp drop in investment demand, according to the latest research from the World Gold Council (WGC).

In its quarterly Global Demand Trends report, the WGC said that physical demand for the precious metal totaled 815.7 tonnes, virtually unchanged compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. However demand was down 23% compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

In an interview with Kitco News, Juan Carlos Artigas, head of research at the World Gold Council, said that shifting demand in the gold market continues to demonstrate the precious duality as an important strategic asset. Continue Reading →

How a bout of even mild inflation could knock out the world’s ambitious plans for decarbonization – by Peter Tertzakian (Financial Post – April 28, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://financialpost.com/

The market battle between EVs and ICE vehicles may well be determined in the mines and oilfields of the world

The global economy is gaining momentum, even before the masks have come off the pandemic.

Unemployment rates are falling faster than expected in key countries, most notably the United States. Global GDP is being revised upwards to 6 per cent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook report.

Put simply, this means that after contracting 3.3 per cent in 2020, the global economy will be larger in 2021 than in the pre-pandemic days of 2019. It seems we are back on a fast-moving train (still diesel-powered), and it’s all happening before governments shell out a couple of trillion dollars on the clean energy transition. Continue Reading →

Copper surges toward US$10,000 as bulls bet on global rebound (Bloomberg News – April 27, 2021)

April 29, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Copper’s stunning rally toward all-time highs above US$10,000 is accelerating, with bulls swarming in to profit as stimulus measures, vaccine rollouts and climate pledges fuel a global recovery from the pandemic.

Copper extended gains to the highest in a decade on Tuesday as global growth underpinned a rally in metals markets ranging from aluminum to iron ore, which itself was approaching a new peak as steel prices surge.

Commodities are advancing toward the highs of the last supercycle, when prices spiked in the early 2000s on a jump in Chinese orders. Continue Reading →