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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Ford heads to First Ministers meeting with Ring of Fire, pipelines, and nuclear at top of agenda -by Barbara Patrocinio (QP Briefing – June 2, 2025)

https://www.qpbriefing.com/

In a letter sent out in May to the Prime Minister, Ford said the number one priority was the Ring of Fire, including critical mineral mining projects and the infrastructure needed to support them (all-season roads, electricity transmission lines, etc.).

As Premier Doug Ford heads into this Monday’s first ministers meeting, he says his message is clear: It’s time to build pipelines, nuclear plants, and roads into the Ring of Fire.

“This is an opportunity of a lifetime,” Ford said, speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park last Friday about his priorities. “No provincial government has ever given the Indigenous communities across the province what we’re proposing now. They will thrive, they will prosper.”

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Bolivian court pauses Chinese, Russian lithium deals – by Staff (Northern Miner – June 2, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Bolivia’s plans to emerge as a major lithium producer have hit an impasse after a local court ordered the suspension of two major extraction deals signed last year valued at more than $2 billion, according to media reports.

The contracts were signed in 2023 and 2024 respectively with China’s CBC consortium, which includes battery manufacturer CATL, and Russia’s Uranium One Group, a subsidiary of state nuclear firm Rosatom, as revealed by various publications including Bolivia-based El Deber.

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N.S. minister could override owners who don’t want uranium exploration on their land – by Taryn Grant (CBC News Nova Scotia – May 29, 2025)

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

Tory Rushton says negotiations between companies, landowners would have to happen before he’d intervene

If a Nova Scotia landowner doesn’t want uranium exploration to happen on their property, does no mean no? Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton has confirmed that he could step over property owners to let companies hunt for uranium, but he said he isn’t keen to do so.

“Right now we’re encouraging landowners and the researchers to have the conversations, that’s where it needs to start,” Rushton told reporters Thursday following a cabinet meeting in Halifax. Earlier this year, the Progressive Conservative government lifted a long-standing ban on uranium exploration and extraction.

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Column: South Africa’s 2025 draft mineral bill requires revisions to attract investment – by Staff (Mining.com – June 2, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The draft Mineral Resources Development Bill, 2025 has been released for public comment. Interested parties have until 13 August 2025 to submit written comments. The Draft Bill was approved by the Cabinet last week together with a Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy.

The statement by the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources on Cabinet’s approval of the Draft Bill indicated, among other things, that that the strategic objective of the Draft Bill includes ensuring policy and regulatory certainty and enhancing investor confidence; and reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies and improving turnaround times for mining rights, permits and regulatory approvals.

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Carney and Ford show two different paths for ‘unleashing’ Canada’s economy – by Tanya Talaga (Globe and Mail – May 31, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The governments of Ontario and Canada are both moving to fast-track development in the Ring of Fire region – but they are going about it in very different ways.

According to a May 23 letter from Canada’s Privy Council Office obtained by The Globe and Mail, Canada has invited Mushkegowuk Council Grand Chief Leo Friday to Ottawa to “consult and cooperate” on proposed legislation around projects identified to be in the national interest. It says new legislation is coming in early June that would facilitate regulations and development by creating a new Major Projects Office.

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Diamond mining industry cracks under pressure – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 28, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The global diamond industry is undergoing a rapid and unprecedented collapse, according to tech entrepreneur and academic Leanne Kemp, though some industry analysts argue that while the downturn is severe, it is not terminal.

Plunging revenues, halted operations and growing doubts about diamonds’ cultural and economic relevance are just some of the symptoms cited by Kemp, who insists the industry isn’t just slumping. She said it’s “disassembling”.

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Ontario ends the Ring of Fire ‘consultation’ quagmire to finally get it done – by Randall Denley (National Post – May 29, 2025)

https://nationalpost.com/

We already know people who live on traditional lands in the north are unlikely to welcome mining. They shouldn’t be able to veto it

Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants to break up the status quo of process, endless consultation and delay that has bogged down major infrastructure project approvals in the province. It’s about time. Ford’s Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, aims to speed things up by creating “special economic zones” that would exempt big projects from many municipal and provincial rules.

The bill would allow cabinet to designate those zones and decide what rules apply. It can take a big club to break up the status quo. Bill 5 is certainly such a club, and no one swings one quite like Ford. This is his “Get It Done” mantra in action.

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Nutrien plans new West Coast port infrastructure, eyes sites in U.S. and Canada – by Kate Helmore and Jason Kirby (Globe and Mail – May 29, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Nutrien is planning to build a major terminal at a Pacific Northwest port and is eyeing sites in the U.S. and Canada, according to chief executive officer Ken Seitz. The Saskatchewan-based fertilizer giant is searching for a deep-water port with rail infrastructure that can handle bulk potash exports for fast-growing markets in the Indo-Pacific, including China, India and Japan, Mr. Seitz said in an interview.

Regulations, taxes and approval timelines will influence the company’s decision about whether to choose the U.S. or Canada. “I just want to make sure the downstream infrastructure and the associated regulatory environment continues to be one conducive to us,” he said.

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Last-minute changes to Ontario mining bill are not good enough, First Nations say – by Liam Casey(Canadian Press – May 29, 2025)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

TORONTO – Last-minute changes to a controversial Ontario mining bill are not good enough and ignore a central plea to work together on drafting legislation, First Nations said Thursday.

Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, said the province should scrap Bill 5 and write a new law alongside Indigenous leaders that would allow for shared prosperity.

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Frontier feasibility lifts PAK lithium reserves by 37%  (Northern Miner – May 29, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Frontier Lithium said a definitive feasibility study for the $943-million capex PAK project in northern Ontario boosted reserves by 37%.

The study, which calculates a net present value of $932 million based on a discount rate of 8%, provides a “robust basis” for Frontier to target a final investment decision within two years, according to a statement issued Thursday.

Frontier is making progress on project financing and has started the permitting process, which should also be completed by mid-2027.

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Opinion: The EV fantasy is running out of juice fast – by Kenneth Green (Financial Post – May 29, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Companies are pausing investments, not because of tariffs but because demand isn’t growing nearly as fast as hoped

The vision of an all-electric transportation sector, shared by so many policy-makers across Canada, is fading fast. The latest failure to charge is Honda’s recent announcement, citing lack of demand, that it will postpone a $15-billion electric vehicle (EV) project in Ontario for two years.

Compounding the hurt, it will move some of its EV production to the United States, partly in response to the Trump tariff wars. The focus on tariffs may be misdirection, however, concealing failures in the electrification agenda that have been evident for years, certainly well before Trump’s tariffs.

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Doug Ford offers amendment to First Nations on mining bill but vows to speed development through ‘economic zones’ – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – May 29, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ontario Premier Doug Ford – facing opposition from First Nations over a bill allowing “special economic zones” where mines or other projects could be exempt from any provincial law – is pledging to include provisions for similar Indigenous-led zones but still vowing to pass his controversial legislation.

Bill 5, which has sparked warnings of protests from First Nations leaders who say they have not been consulted, is aimed at accelerating Ontario’s sluggish mine approval process, particularly in the remote northern Ring of Fire region. The government says critical mineral reserves there are key to Ontario’s future economic resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs.

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US Supreme Court rejects Apache appeal to block Rio Tinto’s Resolution mine – by Staff (Mining.com – May 27, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The US Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear an appeal by the Apache Stronghold seeking to block the development of the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona. The mine is a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP.

The advocacy group comprising members of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists challenged a lower court decision that permitted a federal land swap, allowing the mining companies to acquire sacred Apache land for the project.

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Barrick asks Mali to resume talks over mining dispute as court decision over control looms – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 27, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Mining Corp. ABX-T is asking Mali to resume talks to end a bitter dispute that threatens to wrest away control of its massive gold mining operations in the country. The Canadian miner was forced to shut down its Loulo-Gounkoto complex in January amid an escalating fracas with Mali over dividing the economic benefits.

On June 2, a Mali court is expected to rule on whether to grant the government the authority to take over the mine after hearing submissions last week from Barrick. “Barrick believes there is no basis – either in law or in practice – for the day-to-day operations at Loulo-Gounkoto to be handed over to a court-appointed interim administrator,” the company said in a release on Monday.

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Gold will reach $4,000/oz, silver will hit $40/oz toward year-end as global turmoil resumes – BoA’s Blanch – by Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News – May 27, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The current correction in precious metals prices is the result of lowered near-term geopolitical instability, but gold and silver will both post further gains in the second half of 2025, according to Francisco Blanch, head of global commodity and derivatives research at Bank of America Securities.

“We’ve been calling for $3,500 gold for the first half of this year,” Blanch said in an interview with CNBC. “We got there, and we feel the market’s going through a correction right now that could last a few months. We’re still bullish longer term. We think longer term, maybe into the second half or into 2026, we’ll breach $4,000 per ounce, but we’re going through a correction because some of the extreme uncertainty that we’ve witnessed in recent months seems to be fading.”

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