Canadian Media Resource Articles – Page 2

Hollywood should get the facts and show respect to Indigenous peoples – by JP Gladu (Toronto Star – June 27, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

A celebrity with few, if any connections to Canada gets 100 times more coverage than a First Nations chief speaking on behalf of her community.

In recent years, Canada has become a touchpoint for Hollywood stars eager to demonstrate their environmentalist props. Motivated by commitments to sustainability, while publicly declaring support for Indigenous peoples, celebrities like Leo DiCaprio, Neil Young, Mark Ruffalo and Jane Fonda feel free to lecture Canadians about both environmental matters and their treatment of Indigenous peoples.

Infatuation with stardom means Hollywood pronouncements receive outsized media attention. A celebrity with few, if any connections to Canada, let alone to Indigenous communities, gets 100 times more coverage than a First Nations chief speaking on behalf of her community.

Global recession fears wreak havoc on industrial metals, but industry better poised for long downturn, strategists say – by Nial McGee (Globe and Mail – June 27, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Fears over a pending global recession are causing carnage in the industrial metals market, but the sector is better prepared than in the past to withstand a prolonged downturn, strategists at Morgan Stanley say.

Nickel, tin, zinc, and metallurgical coal and copper all tumbled last week and are trading far from their peaks. Copper is down 25 per cent from its all-time high of US$5.02 a pound reached in March. Tin has lost 44 per cent of its value in the same timeframe to trade at US$26,985 a ton.

In energy-strapped Europe, coal gets a Greek encore – by Derek Gatopoulos (Associated Press/Toronto Star – June 25, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

KOZANI, Greece (AP) — At Greece’s largest coal mine, controlled explosions and the roar of giant excavators scooping up blasted rock have once again become routine. Coal production has been ramped up at the site near the northern Greek city of Kozani as the war in Ukraine forced many European nations to rethink their energy supplies.

Coal, long treated as a legacy fuel in Europe, is now helping the continent safeguard its power supply and cope with the dramatic rise in natural gas prices caused by the war.

Mining firms poised to lead capital raisings: TSX CEO (Sudbury Star/Reuters – June 28, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Mining companies seeking to accelerate exploration of scarce critical minerals are set to lead capital raisings in Canada this year, the chief executive officer of the Toronto Stock Exchange said on Monday, as sectors such as technology take a back seat amid market volatility.

A big source of capital for the critical minerals sector this year is coming from large corporations like BHP Ltd and Rio Tinto, which are throwing their weight behind junior miners to help expedite exploration projects.

OPINION: Mistakes were made: Why Germany may freeze in the dark this winter – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – June 24, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

If the West can use sanctions and embargoes as weapons of war against Vladimir Putin’s Russia, so can Russia – in retaliation. And that is precisely what is happening.

In recent weeks, Russia, the main supplier of Europe’s imported natural gas, has been making it more difficult – even impossible – for European clients to buy its gas. First it demanded payment in rubles, not dollars or euros; Moscow ended deliveries to Bulgaria, Finland and Poland, allegedly for their refusal to pay in rubles.

Sabina moves closer to kick-starting western Nunavut gold mine – by Jane George (CBC News North – June 22, 2022)

June 23, 2022

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

Goose mine could be open by 2025 in territory’s Kitikmeot region

By 2025, Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region could see a new gold mine enter into production, Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.’s Goose gold mine. The company has been working toward opening a mine in its Back River project for at least a decade.

Sabina plans to make the decision soon about advancing its project to production, said company vice-president Nicole Hoeller. “We wanted to have our financing in place before,” Hoeller said.

Hudbay ends Flin Flon era with closure of 777 mine – by Jackson Chen (Canadian Mining Journal – June 22, 2022)

June 23, 2022

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) has announced that mining activities at the 777 zinc-copper mine in Flin Flon, Man., have concluded after the reserves were depleted following 18 years of steady production. Closure activities at the mine have commenced, and employees and equipment are transitioning to the company’s operations in Snow Lake.

“777 was a state-of-the-art mine that represented the pinnacle of a century of shared success for Hudbay and Flin Flon,” stated Peter Kukielski, Hudbay’s president and CEO, in a news release. “Though the closure of 777 marks the end of a mining era in Flin Flon, we will continue with exploration activities in the region.

The new Atlantic Canada exploration boom – by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco (CIM Magazine – June 14, 2022)

June 23, 2022

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

Gold, clean-energy metals and even salt offer the promise of a bright future

Canada’s Atlantic region is experiencing a mining exploration rush the likes of which has not been seen in the area since the 1990s boom that followed the discovery of the nickel-bearing deposit at Newfoundland’s Voisey’s Bay. Once again, Newfoundland and Labrador is leading the way with more than 100,000 mineral claims staked in 2021 – the second largest annual claims total in the province’s history after 1995.

This time, the majority of exploration companies descending on the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are looking for gold instead of nickel. A handful of others, however, are not setting their sights on the precious metal but on critical minerals and metals that are vital for decarbonization of modern technologies.

BHP pivots toward ‘future-facing’ commodities with Saskatchewan potash project – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – June 20, 2022)

June 23, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In building the world’s largest potash mine in Saskatchewan, BHP CEO Mike Henry looks to heal old wounds and pivot the global giant away from oil and gas

Chief Bryon Bitternose was driving north across the Saskatchewan prairie this week toward two white towers that pierce the landscape – twin elevator shafts that mark the site of what will soon be the world’s largest potash mine. He took a phone call and started laughing.

The source of his amusement? Being asked to sketch the George Gordon First Nation’s history with Melbourne-based global commodities giant BHP Group Ltd. BHP-N, owner of the Jansen mine taking shape near his reserve. Mr. Bitternose chuckled as he said, “The relationship didn’t start real well. We first met in court.”

1911 Gold begins tailings reprocessing at True North complex in Manitoba – by Jackson Chen (Canadian Mining Journal – June 23, 2022)

June 23, 2022

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

1911 Gold (TSXV: AUMB; OTC: AUMBF) has begun tailings reprocessing operations at the True North complex at Bissett, Man., where it expects to process between 170,000 and 190,000 tonnes of historical tailings this year to recover approximately 3,500 to 4,000 oz. of gold.

Early in 2022, the company completed a sampling program to characterize the grade, thickness, grain-size and moisture content of the tailings in the targeted resource blocks to quantify the expected gold recovery.

Mining company promotes copper in public spaces to kill bacteria at PDAC (CBC News Sudbury – June 22, 2022)

June 22, 2022

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

Copper has properties that stops bacteria from reproducing

A Vancouver-based mining company wants to see copper in more public spaces due to its antimicrobial properties. Teck Resources Limited will make that pitch to delegates at the on-line portion of the Prospectors and Developers Association Conference in Toronto, June 28th and 29tt.

The company has started to work with hospitals, daycares and public transit authorities to install copper on surfaces that are touched frequently. Catherine Adair, the company’s manager of community development, said many studies have found copper kills 99.9 per cent of harmful bacteria within two hours.

Junk Science Week: Net Zero Edition — Vaclav Smil: Why net-zero 2050 really won’t work – by Vaclav Smil (Financial Post – June 21, 2022)

June 22, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Complete decarbonization of the global economy is only conceivable at the cost of unthinkable economic retreat

How will we deal with unfolding climate change? There is now a widespread consensus that we need to do something to prevent many highly undesirable consequences. But what kind of action, what sort of behavioural transformation would work best?

For those who ignore the energetic and material imperatives of our world, those who prefer mantras of green solutions to understanding how we have come to this point, the prescription is easy: just decarbonize — switch from burning fossil carbon to converting inexhaustible flows of renewable energies.

Opinion: Using crops to feed cars, not people, is reprehensible as war and climate-related food shortages intensify – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – June 18, 2022)

June 22, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Sometime next year, as the food-price crisis evolves into a food-availability crisis, we may have to choose between feeding our cars and feeding the world’s poor. So far, feeding cars, SUVs and trucks is winning.

Canada, the United States, Europe and other agriculture-rich regions are devoting ever-increasing amounts of their crop land to the feedstock that produces ethanol (made from corn or sugar cane) and biodiesel (generally from canola, soy, sunflower oils and animal fats).

A commodity war is brewing; there is not enough copper to meet growing demand – Abrdn’s Minter – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – June 22, 2022)

June 22, 2022

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The world could be on the cusp of a commodity war as nations worldwide continue to grapple with growing demand and falling supply of important base metals and critical minerals.

In a recent interview with Kitco News, Robert Minter, Director of ETF Investment Strategy at abrdn, said that investors need to hold some gold as a core asset in their portfolios; however, he added that now is also the time to load up on other commodities, particularly base metals.

Internal DND study calls green technology minerals 21st-century ‘oil weapon’ – by Chris Arsenault and Philippe Le Billon (CBC News Business – June 20, 2022)

June 21, 2022

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

Skyrocketing demand for copper, lithium and rare earths sparks geopolitical race, worrying environmentalists

Minerals needed to power the green transition from fossil fuels could become “the 21st-century version of the ‘oil weapon,'” warns an internal study commissioned by Canada’s Department of National Defence.

There is widespread agreement among scientists that drastic cuts in fossil fuel consumption are needed to stave off catastrophic climate change — and a transition to electric cars, wind and solar power form key pillars of this shift.