Archive | Canadian Media Resource Articles

Endeavour Mining CEO Sebastian de Montessus is our Mining Person of the Year for 2020 – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – February 18, 2021)

February 18, 2021 in Africa Mining, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Northern Miner – Mining Person of the Year Award

Global mining news

Completing two major acquisitions in one calendar year is a significant achievement by any measure but to do so in the midst of a pandemic makes it even more remarkable – which is one of the reasons why we have chosen Endeavour Mining CEO Sebastian de Montessus as our Mining Person of the Year for 2020.

Last March – just as Covid-19 started turning the world upside down – Endeavour announced the friendly acquisition of Semafo in an all-share deal valued at US$716 million – adding two cornerstone mines (Boungou and Mana in Burkina Faso) to its already sizeable portfolio of mining operations in West Africa.

The deal made Endeavour not only the largest gold producer in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso but the largest gold producer in all of West Africa, with more than 1 million oz. of gold production a year. Continue Reading →

Nickel, graphite to benefit from explosive growth in battery storage market – by Richard (Rick) Mills (Kitco News – February 17, 2021)

February 18, 2021 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Nickel Laterites

https://www.kitco.com/

The challenges most countries are facing right now are daunting. Not only do they need to have a plan for recovering from covid-19, the supply chains that have been interrupted or broken by the virus have to be repaired.

On top of the covid crisis there is a climate crisis, and for lack of a better term, a “technology” crisis. Governments must make funding available for 5G networks so that businesses are not left behind as the world moves more into digitization and automation which require robust internet and cellular infrastructure.

The fossil-fueled based transportation system needs to be electrified, and the switch has to be made from oil, gas and coal-powered power plants to those which run on solar, wind and thorium-produced nuclear energy. If we have any hope of cleaning up the planet, before the point of no return, a massive decarbonization needs to take place. Continue Reading →

Copper prices hit 8-year high on pandemic-induced government spending and tightening supplies – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 18, 2021)

February 18, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

If 2020 was the year for gold, 2021 is shaping up to be the same for copper.

Copper futures hit an eight-year high on Wednesday, trading as high as US$3.84 a pound on the CME. The industrial metal is being driven higher by rebounding global demand, a tightening supply picture and speculative bets tied to copper’s promise as a green-energy constituent of a low-carbon future.

New highs in the price of copper come after the metal hit multiyear lows early in the pandemic, as investors feared COVID-19 would devastate the world economy. But since then, copper has defied the naysayers, rising by more than 80 per cent. Continue Reading →

As Texas winter storm shows, hurling public money at renewable energy is pure folly – by Rex Murphy (National Post – February 18, 2021)

February 18, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Climate Change, Carbon Taxes and ENGOs

https://nationalpost.com/

The Wall Street Journal editorialized that “Texas’s overreliance on
wind power left the grid more vulnerable to bad weather. Half of
the wind turbines froze last week, causing wind’s share of electricity
to plunge to 8 per cent from 42 per cent … there wasn’t sufficient baseload
power from coal & nuclear to support the grid.”

It is time that the brand of environmentalism that travels under the cloak of global warming apocalypse drops its halo.

Environmentalism, the brand, Global Warming the banner, is pure politics. GW partisans are as hard and as cynical and as manipulative as the most corroded politicians.

GW is not about what it says it’s about. It is hardball against the world that most of us appreciate. Continue Reading →

China eyes rare earth export curbs for US defense – FT – by Staff (Mining.com – February 16, 2021)

February 17, 2021 in Asia Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Metals and Manufacturing

https://www.mining.com/

China is looking into curbing the exports of rare earth minerals that are crucial to US defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin for the manufacture of sophisticated weaponry and F-35 fighter jets, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Industry executives said government officials had asked them how badly companies in the US and Europe would be affected if China restricted rare-earth exports during a bilateral dispute, FT reported.

China currently accounts for 70% of global production of rare earths, controlling 90% of the $4 billion global market. Continue Reading →

Osisko continues to grow ‘world-class’ Windfall deposit (Canadian Mining Journal – February 17, 2021)

February 17, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Quebec Mining

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) has released an updated resource estimate for its Windfall gold deposit in Quebec, which, according to CEO John Burzynski, “places Windfall among the best high-grade development projects globally.”

Measured and indicated tonnes now total 6 million tonnes at 9.6 g/t gold, for 1.9 million gold oz. and inferred resources add 16.4 million tonnes at 8 g/t gold, for an additional 4.2 million gold ounces across all categories now total 6.1 million oz.

When compared with the prior resource from February 2020, measured and indicated tonnes increased by 47%, alongside an increase in grade, which was previously 9.1 g/t gold. Similarly, inferred tonnes grew by 13% while the grades are now at 8 g/t gold, compared to 8.4 g/t previously. Cut-off grades are unchanged at 3.5 g/t gold. Continue Reading →

Gold price remains near session lows, sees little reaction to January Fed minutes – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – February 17, 2021)

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

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market remains near session lows even as the Federal Reserve signaled that it will continue to maintain its ultra-loose accommodative policies as uncertainty continues to dominate economic growth, according to the minutes of last month’s monetary policy meeting.

“Participants agreed that the path of the economy depended significantly on the course of the virus and progress on vaccinations.

Many participants remarked that the pandemic continued to pose considerable risks to the economic outlook, including risks associated with new virus strains, potential public resistance to vaccination, and potential difficulties in the production and distribution of vaccines,” the minutes said. Continue Reading →

Nunavut mine says it’s not allowed to harm Inuit harvesting – by Beth Brown (CBC News North – February 17, 2021)

February 17, 2021 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canada Mining – North of 60, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Iron Ore

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

In the wake of last week’s blockade, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation says it has heard the call to slow down plans to expand production at the Mary River mine.

“It’s unfortunate that they felt they had to go to those extremes to be heard,” said Udloriak Hanson, Baffinland’s vice-president of community and sustainable development, about the protesters who blockaded the mine’s airstrip and trucking road for a week.

Baffinland wants to double the mine’s output from six to 12 million tonnes of iron ore by building a railway and increasing shipping through a narwhal habitat. The protesters say that would damage the environment, and affect their harvesting rights. Continue Reading →

Western USA: treasure chest for the nation – by Ellsworth Dickson (Resource World – February 16, 2021)

February 17, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, United States Mining

https://resourceworld.com/

West of the Mississippi, historically, there have been huge metal discoveries and staking rushes such as the Comstock Lode and the 1849 California Gold Rush.

In more recent years, Vancouver`s Chester Millar pioneered the heap leach gold recovery process in southeastern California at Glamis Gold’s successful Picacho Gold Mine – a technology now commonly used everywhere.

Today, the Western USA continues to be one of the world’s important mineral producers and a favourite destination for Canadian investment for its prospectivity, secure mineral tenure and ease of access (not counting the temporary COVID-19 restrictions for Canadians with US projects). There are far too many companies to cover; we can only hit a few highlights. Continue Reading →

BHP’s outlook, record dividend fuel supercycle talk – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 16, 2021)

February 16, 2021 in BHP Billiton, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Commodity Super-Cycle and Decline, Iron Ore

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) reinforced talks of a new supercycle on Tuesday by rewarding investors with a record $5.1 billion first-half dividend and forecasting a “very constructive” outlook for the commodities market fundamentals, as the global economy begins to rebound from covid-19.

The world’s largest miner said first-half profit jumped by 16%, hitting a seven-year high, as demand from top metals consumer China helped boosting iron ore prices by 70% in 2020, to a recent nine-year high of $176.90 a tonne.

That is well above the cost of roughly $10 to $20 a tonne most global miners spend in extracting the steel-making commodity, according to WSJ.com estimations. Continue Reading →

PDAC welcomes proposed flow-through legislation (MiningWeekly.com – February 12, 2021)

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

https://www.miningweekly.com/

In December, the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) welcomed the federal government’s draft legislative proposals to protect jobs and save operations within the junior mining exploration sector and other flow-through share issuers, by extending the timelines for spending the capital they raise through flow-through shares.

The mineral exploration and development sector is a crucial component of the Canadian economy, generating significant economic and social benefits, particularly for northern and remote communities all across the country, says PDAC president Felix Lee.

“This proposed legislation will help provide the necessary support for the industry, contribute to its recovery, and allow us to help kick-start Canada’s economic recovery in 2021,” he adds. Continue Reading →

Red Lake renaissance: After a decade of decay, historic Ontario gold district bouncing back – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 16, 2021)

February 16, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Ontario Mining, Red Lake

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

When Australia’s Evolution Mining Ltd. took over the Red Lake gold mine in Northwestern Ontario in early 2020, it found busted equipment, manually operated mine shafts and demoralized employees. Formerly owned by Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc., the operation was in a shambles.

“This mine was lost within the Goldcorp portfolio,” Evolution chief executive officer Jake Klein said. “It was a tough place to work. It never met its budget or forecast. It never got allocated capital. Exploration development was starved. It was kind of a spiral of negativity.”

Now the Melbourne-based company is trying to turn the mine around, investing hundreds of millions to mechanize, improve and tweak the operation – and protect hundreds of jobs in the process. Continue Reading →

‘It’s freakishly cold’: Deep freeze slams North American energy sector – by Geoffry Morgan (Financial Post – February 16, 2021)

February 16, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Oil and Gas Sector-Politics and Image

https://financialpost.com/

CALGARY – A deep freeze is roiling electricity markets in more than a dozen U.S. states, leading to record-setting prices for electricity and natural gas, knocking oil production off line and shutting down some of North America’s largest refineries.

“It’s freakishly cold,” said Eric Fell, a senior natural gas analyst with Wood Mackenzie in Houston, where record cold temperatures and snow have blanketed the city, caused rolling power outages, shut down refineries and sent both natural gas and electricity prices soaring.

The polar vortex has led to freezing temperatures in every county in Texas, the largest energy-producing state in the U.S., and caused massive disruptions across the North American energy complex, triggering power outages as far south as Mexico. Continue Reading →

Canadian economy gets jolt from surging commodities – by Matt Lundy (Globe and Mail – February 15, 2021)

February 16, 2021 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Commodity Super-Cycle and Decline

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Canadian economy is getting a timely assist this winter from a broad-based upswing in commodity prices, helping to soften the blow from the second wave of COVID-19 and spurring talk of another “super cycle” in key resources.

From lumber to iron ore, soybeans to canola, just about everything has clawed back to prepandemic prices or multiyear highs. Excluding energy, a Bank of Canada commodity price index has surged 36 per cent from April, taking it close to a record.

Even oil is looking up. Ten months after it tumbled into negative pricing, the U.S. benchmark has rallied to around US$60 a barrel, just as production climbs in Alberta. Continue Reading →

Stunning NASA photo shows ‘gold’ Peruvian Amazon rivers, but there’s a dark backstory – by Jack Guy (CTV News – February 11, 2021)

February 16, 2021 in Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining/Mercury Problems, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver, Latin America Mining, Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution, Tailing Dams and Abandoned Mines

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

All that glitters is not gold, the saying goes, as proven by a new photo taken from the International Space Station (ISS).

What appear to be rivers of gold running through the Amazon rainforest in Madre de Dios state in eastern Peru are in fact prospecting pits, likely left by independent miners, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory, which published the photo taken by one of its astronauts.

The pits are normally hidden from view to those on the ISS, but stand out in this shot due to reflected sunlight. The image shows the Inambari River and a number of pits surrounded by deforested areas of muddy spoil. Continue Reading →