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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Nickel executives raise alarm over potential flood of Indonesian imports stemming from free trade agreement – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 22, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s new free-trade agreement with Indonesia is causing an uproar in the nickel industry, with some executives saying that Ottawa should be clamping down on the Southeast Asian country, instead of opening up the domestic market to a flood of cheap supply produced at questionable environmental standards.

Earlier this month, International Trade Minister Mary Ng announced the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which will see tariffs phased out on many goods between the two countries as of 2026. The trade deal had been in the works for several years. Canada already has no tariffs on imports of nickel from Indonesia.

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‘As much money out the door as they possibly can’: Biden administration keeps grants coming – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – December 18, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

The Biden Administration continues to announce major funding deals for many of Canada’s critical minerals companies

The United States government says it will provide a US$754-million loan to construct a synthetic graphite plant in Tennessee to Novonix Ltd., whose chief executive Chris Burns is based in Halifax, where it maintains its research labs, though it is publicly listed in Australia.

The loan is just one example of how U.S. President Joe Biden‘s administration’s focus on building out a North American critical minerals supply chain has often accrued to the benefit of Canadian-based companies, many of which have struggled to raise money on public markets in the face of moribund commodity prices.

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Looking ahead in B.C. and Yukon – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – December 16, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Recent strong gold and metal prices have many mine-makers looking to western Canada for opportunity

Seemingly, North Americans look to the west for opportunity. And when we in Canda look left, we see British Columbia and Yukon. Opportunities abound there for miners, so let us jump in. Where better to begin than with one of the world’s largest copper, gold, and silver resources all wrapped up in the Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) project belonging to Seabridge Gold.

With reorganization and a new focus on gold, the company bought what is now the KSM project from Placer Dome in 2000. The property is located 65 km northwest of Smithers, B.C. Exploration began in earnest in 2006, and by 2010 a prefeasibility study (PFS) was released estimating there were 8.5 million oz. of gold, 7 billion lb. of copper, and 133 million oz. of silver in the ground.

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Copper price: What’s in store for 2025 – by Frik Els (Mining.com – December 13, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Copper trading was febrile in 2024 attracting speculators well outside commodity circles who were desperate to connect the metal to what has become the ultimate market pump action – AI. AI data centers were going to do for copper what the energy transition and electric cars couldn’t, at least not in the short term.

Military spending was also hoisted up the flagpole of copper demand to see who saluted, according to chatbots. In May, Comex copper hit an all-time intraday high of nearly $5.20 a pound or $11,500 per tonne. Positioning went to such net lengths that dollar trading volumes scaled $100 billion (twice the Dow daily average) in one 24 hour period.

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Opinion: Canada needs swift reforms to lift its troubled mining sector – by Mark Selby (Globe and Mail – December 16, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Mark Selby is the founder and CEO of Canada Nickel Co.

Canada’s mining industry must overcome significant obstacles to unlock vast reserves of critical minerals essential to our modern economy. From securing development financing to navigating regulatory bottlenecks while competing against well-funded global players like China, bringing Canadian resources to market has never been so challenging.

The Canadian mining sector is teeming with projects stuck in the “Valley of Death” – the precarious stage between initial exploration success and full-scale production where many promising ventures fail to secure the backing needed to fund the years of permitting and engineering work required to begin production.

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Miners navigate high risks, ransoms in West Africa – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – December 16, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Mali’s military government is trying to arrest the CEO of the world’s second-largest gold company while the junta in Niger has tightened its stranglehold on a French state-owned uranium mine. African dictators are ratcheting up the risk for Western miners.

A combination of resource nationalism, coups and jihadist-linked terror is making West Africa an increasingly difficult region to navigate for Western mining companies. On Monday, Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) warned that it will suspend operations at its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali if shipments of gold remain blocked.

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Premiers push Ottawa to build Northern infrastructure after Arctic foreign policy – by Nick Murray (Canadian Press – December 15, 2024)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

OTTAWA – Canada’s Northern premiers are pitching the federal government to dip into its defence budget as a way to bolster Arctic infrastructure and help meet the NATO spending target in the process.

The calls come after Canada released its new Arctic foreign policy earlier this month, which committed to promoting investment in a wide range of sectors — including critical mineral development, transportation and energy — but didn’t specifically make funding commitments in those areas.

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Opinion: I don’t agree with what Luigi Mangione is accused of doing. But I do understand why people are praising it – by Justin Ling (Toronto Star – December 16, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

As a political statement, Luigi Mangione’s manifesto is not particularly interesting. It is about as mundane as the locale where it was discovered: in the backpack of a 26-year-old hiding in a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Mangione is accused of plotting and carrying out the early morning assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare. In Mangione’s eyes, at least according to his manifesto, Thompson was just a totem of an industry that has “gotten too powerful.” “Frankly,” he declared,” these parasites simply had it coming.”

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Opinion: When resource companies leave a toxic mess, First Nations are stuck with the consequences – by Tanya Talaga (Globe and Mail – December 14, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation Elder Jimmy Johnny no longer fishes in the waters that generations of his family members have relied on since memories are remembered.

This past summer, 68 dead fish were found in beautiful Haggart Creek, downstream from the site of an environmental disaster that occurred on June 24 at Victoria Gold Corp.’s Eagle Gold mine, on the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun traditional territory, near Mayo in central Yukon.

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Nova Scotia quietly advancing pursuit of critical mineral development – by Taryn Grant (CBC News Nova Scotia – December 12, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

The deals come on heels of critical mineral strategies released last year from both N.S. and Ottawa

Nova Scotia has struck a deal with Ottawa to help with the pursuit of growing the critical minerals industry, which some say is essential for supporting clean energy goals. Shortly before calling a snap election this fall, Premier Tim Houston’s cabinet signed an order-in-council that refers to funding from Ottawa “for the development of critical mineral potential in Nova Scotia.”

The province did not answer questions about the deal during the campaign. Following the Progressive Conservative win last month, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables said the province has signed two agreements with Natural Resources Canada.

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Grid Metals, Teck Resources team up to explore nickel sulphide project in Manitoba – by Staff (Mining.com – December 12, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Battery metals explorer Grid Metals (TSXV: GRDM) will team up with Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B) to advance the Mawka nickel-copper-PGM (platinum group metals) project in southeastern Manitoba.

Under an option agreement entered on Thursday, Teck can acquire up to a 70% interest in the project by spending C$15.7 million on the project and making staged cash payments totalling C$1.6 million to Grid Metals.

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Canada Weighs Export Taxes on Uranium, Oil If Trump Starts Trade War – by Brian Platt (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada is examining the use of export taxes on major commodities it exports to the US — including uranium, oil and potash — if incoming President Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose broad tariffs.

Export levies would be a last resort for Canada, according to officials familiar with the discussions inside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. Retaliatory tariffs against US-made goods, and export controls on certain Canadian products, would be more likely to come first, said the people.

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Gold price faces strong headwinds ahead of Federal Reserve meeting – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – December 13, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – After testing resistance at $2,700 at the start of the week, gold is once again on the back foot as stubborn inflation takes its toll on expectations surrounding the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle.

The precious metal received a much-needed boost earlier this week as investors reacted to news that China’s central bank resumed buying gold. After a six-month break, data from the People’s Bank of China showed it purchased five tonnes of gold in November.

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Quebec and N.L. put aside decades of bad blood to ink new hydro power deal – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – December 13, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador are vowing to put aside decades of bad blood over the Churchill Falls hydropower station, cementing what they’re calling a historic deal that will see them invest and work together on future electricity development worth tens of billions of dollars.

Under an agreement in principle that was unveiled Thursday in St. John’s by premiers François Legault and Andrew Furey, Quebec would secure a key source of power. Newfoundland would win significantly more revenue for its existing power generation and clinch a partner with deep pockets and technical know-how for three new production projects along Labrador’s Churchill River.

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Global scramble for critical minerals fuelling protectionism – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Northern Miner – December 12, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

A growing wave of protectionism is sweeping across 72 nations, as governments scramble to secure access to critical minerals essential for strategic industries, new research by global risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft shows. The study reveals a surge in state intervention not seen in Western democracies since the early 20th century, driven by concerns over national security and supply chain stability.

Verisk Maplecroft’s Resource Nationalism Index (RNI), which measures protectionism and interventionism in the energy and mining spaces across 198 countries, highlights a sharp increase in protectionist policies over the past five years. The trend is most pronounced in Europe and North America, where geopolitical tensions and a fractured global landscape are reshaping economic practices.

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