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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Grassy Narrows First Nation to launch legal action against Ontario to mandate consultation on mining claims – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 11, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A Northern Ontario First Nation plans to launch a legal action against the province later this week aimed at requiring the mining industry to consult with the Indigenous people before staking claims.

Ontario’s free-entry system makes it easy for individuals and companies to file a claim online in return for a nominal fee. On Friday, Grassy Narrows will hold a press conference at Queen’s Park, announcing that it has served the province in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

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GoviEx Uranium has mining licence in Niger revoked, shares plummet – by Staff (Mining.com – July 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

GoviEx Uranium (TSXV: GXU) no longer has rights over the perimeter of the Madaouela mining permit following the Niger government’s decision on Thursday to withdraw its licence, dealing a big blow to the development of one of the world’s largest uranium projects.

The Vancouver-based uranium miner had feared that its licence could be revoked if mining could not start by July 3, 2024, a deadline set by Niger’s military leaders who came into power around this time last year.

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Canada’s Move to Protect Mining Sector Shields Takeover Targets – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – July 5, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada is making it harder for foreign firms to acquire its biggest mining companies, potentially taking some of the global industry’s attractive takeover targets off the table.

The Canadian government will only approve foreign takeovers of large Canadian mining companies involved in critical minerals production “in the most exceptional of circumstances,” according to the latest guidelines from Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

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OPINION: A birthright squandered: How potash firms got rich and Saskatchewan got poor – by Eric Cline (Globe and Mail – July 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Eric Cline is a lawyer and served 12 years as a cabinet minister in Saskatchewan. His second book, Squandered: Canada’s Potash Legacy (University of Regina Press), was released this spring.

Saskatchewan owns one-third of world potash reserves. That puts the province in an enviable position. The market for potash, necessary for fertilizer production, seems assured as long as a growing world population needs to eat. And one-third is a lot. To put that in context, Saudi Arabia, with only about 16 per cent of world oil reserves, dominates the world oil market.

It’s therefore not surprising that companies extracting Saskatchewan’s potash – Nutrien, Mosaic and K+S – make a lot of money. That’s all the more so recently, when Ukraine war sanctions against the potash producers Russia and Belarus sent the price of the commodity skyrocketing.

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FP Dealmakers: Critical minerals help drive dealmaking surge on Bay Street – by Barbara Shecter (Financial Post – July 8, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Mining at centre of more than half the equity and equity-linked deals this year

Higher commodity prices and the rise of electric vehicles made the mining sector the star of the show for Bay Street’s dealmakers in the first half of the year, with investors particularly hungry for stock and debt in companies supplying copper.

Ryan Latinovich, global head of metals and mining at RBC Capital Markets, said interest in the sector has come from both seasoned investors and those who haven’t been exposed to mining before.

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Sale of Teck’s steelmaking coal business to Glencore approved (CBC British Columbia/Canadian Press – july 6, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

Teck Resources said it expects to receive $9.5 billion from the sale, excluding closing adjustments

The last hurdle in Teck Resources Ltd.’s years-long effort to off-load its coal mining business and become purely a metals producer is cleared after the federal government approved the sale of the operation to Swiss commodities giant Glencore.

In a statement posted Thursday, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the green light comes with “strict” conditions and represents a “much narrower” transaction than Glencore’s hostile takeover attempt of Teck last year.

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Ottawa tightens rules for approving large mining deals involving critical minerals – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – July 6, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ottawa is making foreign investment in critical minerals more restrictive as the mining industry seeks capital to develop the raw materials that will be key to a low-carbon economy.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne approved Glencore PLC’s US$6.9-billion acquisition of Teck Resources Ltd.’s metallurgical coal-mining business on Thursday, attaching a series of conditions following a net-benefit review. Teck said the deal will free up billions of dollars to reward its shareholders and speed up development of its copper production.

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First Nation in Yukon calls for halt of mining on its traditional territory after Eagle gold mine accident – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 4, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A First Nation in Yukon is calling for a stop to mining in its traditional territory as uncertainty swirls over the scale of environmental damage caused by the failure of a gold processing plant.

Giant piles of cyanide-laced rocks collapsed June 24 at a heap leach facility at the Eagle gold mine in central Yukon operated by Victoria Gold Corp., triggering a landslide that likely released toxic cyanide into the environment.

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Blood nickel: What electric-vehicle hunger has wrought, and how Canada can help – by Mark Selby (Globe and Mail – July 4, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

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

Blood diamonds, blood cobalt, and now blood nickel. Governments leading the global shift toward electric vehicles promise cleaner cities and a new era of sustainable energy and improved resource usage.

But just as governments promote EVs on environmental grounds, manufacturers are forced to source nickel from a region enabling the wanton destruction of ecologically sensitive lands, reckless treatment of workers, and the fundamental deterioration of living conditions. There is only one solution to this problem: the world needs more Canadian nickel.

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Copper consolidation: How merging several operations in British Columbia’s Highland Valley created Canada’s largest copper mine – by Ailbhe Goodbody (CIM Magazine – July 02, 2024)

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

Copper was first discovered in British Columbia’s Highland Valley porphyry copper district in 1899, but production did not start until Bethlehem Copper Corporation’s property began operations in 1962.

Several other large-tonnage, low-grade copper operations were developed in the area, including Lornex Mining Corporation’s Lornex mine (controlled by Rio Algom) in 1972 and Highmont Mining and Teck’s Highmont mine in 1980.

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Vale Picks Mining Veteran Usmar to Lead Base Metals Turnaround – by Mariana Durao, Thomas Biesheuvel and Dinesh Nair (Bloomberg News – July 3, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Vale SA has selected veteran mining executive Shaun Usmar to take the helm of its base metals division as the Brazilian metals producer seeks to boost copper and nickel production, according to people familiar with the matter.

The board of the Rio de Janeiro-based company chose Usmar to head Vale Base Metals, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The appointment has yet to be confirmed and it’s possible things could change, one of the people said.

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Rio Tinto completes largest off-grid solar plant build in Canada’s north – by Staff (Mining.com – July 2, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) said on Tuesday its 100% owned Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) has successfully completed the installation of its 3.5 megawatt capacity solar power plant.

The project represents the largest off-grid solar power plant across Canada’s territories, the Australian miner said. The Diavik mine is located about 200 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, at the bottom of Lac de Gras.

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Canada needs a clearer and more co-ordinated mining strategy, and quickly – by John Turner, Krisztian Toth and Paul Blyschak (Globe and Mail – July 3, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

John Turner, Krisztian Toth and Paul Blyschak are lawyers at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. The views expressed herein are those of the authors.

After years of underwhelming policy support, our federal government has finally awoken to the vital importance of Canadian mining. The alarm bell has been the critical minerals race and its integral bearing on the green energy transition and high-tech applications (including artificial intelligence) and, by extension, national and international security.

But the lack of foresight has left policy makers scrambling. We must make up lost ground, quickly, and with minimal politicking, or we risk the entire energy transition.

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Judge hearing case on whether federal agency should order removal of mining waste from Elliott Lake properties – by Kate Rutherford (CBC News Sudbury – July 03, 2024)

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

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says remediation of properties outside its jurisdiction

Three Elliott Lake homeowners are being represented in federal court today and tomorrow by the Canadian Environmental Law Association. They’re asking a judge to order the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to compel the clean-up of mining waste from their properties.

The three all own properties where waste rock from Rio Algom uranium mines was used as fill under and around their homes when they were built in the 1970s. The homes all have higher than acceptable levels of radon gas and require special mitigation to keep them safe.

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Opinion: It’s time to abandon reckless EV mandates – by Dan McTeague (Financial Post – July 3, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Markets, i.e., Canadians, should determine the pace at which a new technology is adopted economywide, not government planners

Canada is not nearly ready for the wholesale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). That was the message of the letter I sent to every member of Parliament recently, urging them to drop the “Electric Vehicle Availability Standard” introduced by the Trudeau government late last year.

That’s the policy that mandates that all new vehicles sold in Canada must be electric by 2035. There is no way, considering the economic, technological and infrastructural realities of our country — and our world — where this is possible.

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