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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Container fire under control at Port of Montreal – by Harry North (Montreal Gazette – September 23, 2024)

https://montrealgazette.com/

The fire, in a container with lithium batteries, produced enough smoke that the city asked residents to stay inside and close their windows.

Montreal’s fire department said late Monday it had contained a fire in a container at the Port of Montreal holding 15,000 kilograms of lithium batteries.

Some residents of the Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough were advised to stay in their homes Monday evening and close their windows as foul-smelling smoke filled the area. The city confirmed around 10:30 p.m. that the confinement advisory had been lifted and the air did not pose any danger to residents.

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Saskatoon set to take on China in production of critical minerals – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Saskatoon Star Phoenix – September 20, 2024)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

City will soon be home to a first-of-its-kind rare earth minerals processing facility in North America

Saskatoon will soon be home to a first-of-its-kind rare earth minerals processing facility in North America, one that can take on China’s dominance in a key part of the energy transition.

The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is constructing the plant, set to be fully operational in 2025, which will become the only one in North America able to process critical minerals into materials that can be used to create a range of products, including batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).

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Canada’s nuclear waste needs a forever home. Scientists may be close to finding one – by Marcus Gee (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s Candu nuclear reactors have been running for more than half a century. Ontario, home to all but one of the active reactors, gets about 60 per cent of its electrical power from nuclear, which has the benefit of producing next to no greenhouse gases.

To help meet climate targets while fulfilling the province’s electricity needs, the provincial government has announced plans to spend billions refurbishing an aging nuclear plant at Pickering, east of Toronto. It is part of a worldwide trend. After stagnating for years over worries about cost and safety that followed accidents in Chornobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power is getting a fresh look.

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New chief of flood-prone northern Ontario First Nation asks for patience with long-delayed relocation – by Erik White (CBC News Sudbury – September 16, 2024)

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

Federal government says meeting 2029 target for move ‘would be a challenge… but still stands’

The new chief of Kashechewan First Nation says he ran for office to make sure the flood-prone northern Ontario community can finally move to higher ground.

Hosea Wesley previously served six years as deputy chief of the Cree community on the James Bay Coast and was in that position in 2019 when an agreement was reached with the federal government to move Kashechewan within 10 years.

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US closer to greenlighting ioneer’s Nevada lithium mine – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 19, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cleared on Thursday one of the final regulatory hurdles for ioneer’s (ASX: INR) Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada, a project that would be a key supplier of the electric vehicle battery metal to the local auto industry.

The proposed lithium mine, about 225 miles (362 km) north of Las Vegas, contains one of the largest sources of lithium in North America. It could produce enough of the metal to power nearly 370,000 electric vehicles per year.

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A Copper M&A Frenzy Masks Big Miners’ Hesitation to Build – by Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – September 19, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — In the dusty, treeless outback of Southern Australia, a brand new mining camp is home to a hundred workers, putting in 12-hour days, two weeks at a time. Dozens of trucks are scattered across the vast acreage, mounted with towering rigs drilling more than 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) underground. All are focused on the hunt for one of the world’s most coveted minerals: copper.

Oak Dam, discovered by BHP Group geologists in 2018, is a glimmer of hope for Chief Executive Mike Henry, who sees global copper demand doubling over the coming decades as the energy transition takes hold, and wants his company to produce more of it.

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Osisko Metals seeks financing partner on huge Gaspé copper project in Quebec – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – September 19, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: OMZNE) is advancing the giant Gaspé copper project in Quebec with an economic study planned for February amid efforts to land a 20% partnership with provincial financing agency Investissement Québec.

“No promises, but they’re interested in the project, and for us it would be ideal to get IQ as a partner,” CEO and chairman Robert Wares said in an interview. “That would be a big boost, and as partners obviously they can help us fund the whole project to a final investment decision.”

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The opportunity in gold stocks ‘is as compelling as any we’ve seen in the history of the gold market’ – Goehring & Rozencwajg – by Jordan Finneseth (Kitco News – September 19, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold has been on an absolute tear in 2024, hitting record high after record high and surpassing a price of $2,600 per ounce for the first time in history after the Fed shocked markets with a 50 bps rate cut. But as many precious metals investors can attest, gold stocks have been left behind.

“As we write, gold has surged past the $2,500 mark for the first time in history, an event that would seem to herald a golden age for gold stocks,” wrote analysts at Goehring & Rozencwajg. “Yet paradoxically, these stocks have seldom been cheaper. What underlies this dissonance, and what might it portend for the future?”

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Quebec won’t fund graphite mine project tied to Pentagon; locals claim ‘victory’ – by Joe Bongiorno (Canadian Press/CTV News Montreal – September 19, 2024)

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/

After years fighting against the opening of a mining project with ties to the Pentagon, Louis Saint-Hilaire is breathing a sigh of relief.

That’s because this week, the Quebec government rejected the mining company’s application for public funding, a decision Saint-Hilaire says reflects the will of many of the people who live near the proposed site in the Laurentians region. “It’s a big victory for us, but it’s not a total victory,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

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Thousands rally at Queen’s Park to demand action on mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows First Nation – by Sarah Law (CBC News Thunder Bay – September 18, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Demands for northwestern Ontario community include compensation, respect for traditional land, remediation

Thousands marched to Queen’s Park in Toronto on Wednesday to demand action to help people in Grassy Narrows First Nation, a northwestern Ontario community that has faced decades of mercury contamination.

The Walk for Mercury Justice was the culmination of River Run 2024, a grassroots movement to address the poisoning that has impacted about 90 per cent of the population of Grassy Narrows, also known as Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek.

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Canada’s nuclear waste needs a forever home. Scientists may be close to finding one – by Marcus Gee (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s Candu nuclear reactors have been running for more than half a century. Ontario, home to all but one of the active reactors, gets about 60 per cent of its electrical power from nuclear, which has the benefit of producing next to no greenhouse gases.

To help meet climate targets while fulfilling the province’s electricity needs, the provincial government has announced plans to spend billions refurbishing an aging nuclear plant at Pickering, east of Toronto. It is part of a worldwide trend. After stagnating for years over worries about cost and safety that followed accidents in Chornobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power is getting a fresh look.

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Gold M&A Is Heating Up But Miners Are Pledging Discipline – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – September 18, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — With gold prices at a record high, mining companies are back hunting for deals while trying to reassure investors that they’ve learned from past mistakes of overspending.

There has been a flurry of activity in recent months, with Gold Fields Ltd.’s $1.6 billion purchase of Osisko Mining Inc. and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Centamin Plc. That has sparked speculation over what could be next, with signs that more companies are working to ink deals.

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Winsome Resources confirms Canadian lithium project’s potential – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 17, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s Winsome Resources  said a scoping study for its $259 million Adina lithium project in Quebec, Canada, has reinforced the asset’s potential as a capital-efficient mine with a 17-year productive life.

The company inked a deal in April to acquire the Renard diamond mine and plant in northern Quebec with the goal of repurposing the existing infrastructure for processing ore from Adina. The lithium explorer and developer bought itself in August an extra three months to decide whether it would buy the past-producing mine, and today’s announcement suggests it would move in that direction.

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Argentina’s Economic Crisis Thwarts Bid to Go Nuclear With Lithium Bounty – by Jonathan Gilbert (Bloomberg News – September 17, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Nuclear scientists eager to add value to Argentina’s lithium bounty are being stymied by the country’s notorious economic problems.

For decades, the nation’s world-renowned atomic researchers have toiled on projects in Buenos Aires and Bariloche in Patagonia. Now, with Argentina emerging as the fastest-growing producer of lithium needed for the global shift to electric energy, they’re working on innovations to convert the battery metal into something scarcer than gold: lithium-6 isotopes that have key nuclear applications.

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Yukon appeal court hears case over approval of Kudz Ze Kayah mine project – by Jackie Hong (CBC News North – September 16, 2024)

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

Lawyers representing Kaska Nation maintained Thursday that proper consultation did not happen

A major mining project in southeast Yukon, and whether Kaska Nation was properly consulted on it, was back in court last week — this time, in front of the Yukon Court of Appeal.

Lawyers representing Kaska Nation maintained Thursday that proper consultation did not happen on BMC Minerals’ Kudz Ze Kayah project and that a ruling from a lower court that found otherwise should be tossed. Lawyers for the attorney general of Canada, the Yukon government and the company, meanwhile, argued Friday that Kaska Nation’s appeal was without merit.

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