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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Western gold investors watching the Fed while Chinese demand dominates the market – Natixis’ Dahdah – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – May 4, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market has been holding significant gains since the start of the year, but the momentum behind the bullish drive has dried up as investors once again focus on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.

The gold market has been consolidating around $2,350 an ounce for the last three weeks as the Federal Reserve signals a reluctance to start a new easing cycle with inflation stubbornly elevated. However, one bank analyst said that U.S. monetary policy is becoming a secondary factor as Asian markets evolve from price-taking to price-setting.

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Anglo American rejects BHP’s new takeover offer, potentially ending one of industry’s biggest merger efforts – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – May 14, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BHP Group’s effort to become the world’s biggest copper miner ran into another roadblock after smaller rival Anglo American rejected BHP’s second takeover proposal. BHP on Monday said its new proposal represented a 15-per-cent increase to the opening share exchange offer. If the improved offer had been accepted, Anglo shareholders’ ownership of the enlarged group would have gone to 16.6 per cent from 14.8 per cent.

“BHP put forward a revised proposal to the Anglo American board that we strongly believe would be a win-win for BHP and Anglo American shareholders,” Mike Henry, the Canadian chief executive officer of BHP, said in a statement. “We are disappointed that second proposal has been rejected.”

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Miners seek exemption from Canadian tax hike to save equity deals – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – May 10, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Canada’s mining industry is pushing for an carveout to the federal government’s proposed increase to capital gains taxes, warning the hike will make it harder for junior miners to raise money to find new mineral deposits.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s new budget includes a measure to raise the capital gains tax inclusion rate to two-thirds from one-half. It applies to all gains made by corporations and trusts, and to individual taxpayers on gains over $250,000 in a year.

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Canada home to 5 of the world’s 10 most attractive mining jurisdictions – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – May 14, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

But it has plenty of room to improve in terms of regulatory policies, survey says

Canada is home to five of the top 10 most attractive mining jurisdictions in the world, but it has plenty of room to improve in terms of regulatory policies, according to a new survey conducted by the Fraser Institute. Utah and Nevada topped the latest ranking, with Saskatchewan, Quebec, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario all in the top 10. Saskatchewan was No. 3 for the second year in a row.

The analysis uses a combination of a region’s mineral potential and the policies it has in place to attract miners and is based on a total of 293 responses and 86 jurisdictions.

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CRMA: Rare earth elements a potential blindspot for EU policymakers and industry – report – by Amanda Stutt (Mining.com – May 13, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

When the European Union passed the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) into law it was a landmark accomplishment that will strengthen critical raw materials supply chains – but not without some foreseeable challenges, according to a new report published by Adamas Intelligence.

While the EU published its first list of Critical Raw Materials in 2011 (there were originally 14 inclusions), it took over a decade to conceive, rally political support for, and ultimately announce the CRMA in September 2022, Adamas notes.

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Junior Canadian miner Red Pine accuses former CEO of tampering with gold assay data – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 11, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Junior mining company Red Pine Exploration Inc. has accused its former chief executive of manipulating data on hundreds of its gold assays over the past decade, and says some of its resource estimates for its Ontario gold project are no longer valid.

The Toronto-based company first raised questions about its assays on May 1, saying it found inconsistencies in some of its drilling results pertaining to its Wawa gold project, and it was looking to work with an independent firm to determine the scope of the problem. On Friday, Red Pine said the inconsistencies stemmed from the “unauthorized manipulation of certain assay results” by the company’s former CEO.

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How Western Sanctions Are Strangling Putin’s Arctic Gas Ambitions – by Stephen Stapczynski (Bloomberg News – May 4, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Russia’s fortress economy has proved remarkably resilient to an onslaught of Western sanctions. Two years after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, it continues to fund a costly war and to prop up President Vladimir Putin. But there’s at least one spot where the pain is very real.

The Novatek PJSC-led Arctic LNG 2 facility, on the icy Kara Sea, is a key part of Moscow’s plans to boost exports and replenish coffers. For months now, it has been ready to ship liquefied natural gas to new markets, alternatives to the once-lucrative European pipeline trade.

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Botswana Vows to Protect Interests in Potential BHP-Anglo Deal – by Mbongeni Mguni (Bloomberg News – May 9, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi vowed to protect the country’s interests, including its 15% stake in diamond giant De Beers, should BHP Group Ltd. acquire Anglo American Plc.

Anglo, which rejected a BHP proposal valuing the mining company at about $39 billion, owns the other 85% of De Beers. Under the proposed deal, BHP — once a major diamond producer itself — said that De Beers would be put on a strategic review. Anglo, the only major miner with a big diamond business, has already been reviewing the future of units including De Beers.

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B.C. mining is having a moment, thanks to energy transition – Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – May 9, 2024)

https://www.biv.com/

Value of 17 critical mineral mine proposals in B.C. are ‘eye popping’ says mining association president
Mining has never been viewed as exactly environmentally friendly. Mines and miners have often been the target of NGOs for the impacts mining can have on water, land and Indigenous communities.

But because mining plays such an important role in the energy transition needed to address climate change, there is increasing support for mining by governments, First Nations and the general public. The need for critical minerals to supply the energy transition poses a huge opportunity for B.C., said Michael Goehring, president of the Mining Association of BC (MABC).

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Electric vehicle mandates mean misery all round – by Matthew Lau (Financial Post – May 9, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

A crunch is coming as Ottawa keeps pushing its 2035 ban on gas-powered cars even as the demand for EVs begins to sag

News of slowing demand for electric vehicles highlights the hazards of the federal government’s Soviet-style mandate that 100 per cent of new light-duty vehicles sold must be electric or plug-in hybrid by 2035 (with interim targets of 20 per cent by 2026 and 60 per cent by 2030 and steep penalties for dealers missing these targets).

The targets were wild to begin with. As Manhattan Institute senior fellow Mark P. Mills observed, Canadian-style bans on conventional vehicles and mandated switches to electric mean “consumers will need to adopt EVs at a scale and velocity 10 times greater and faster than the introduction of any new model of car in history.”

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OPINION: The economy we have taken for granted is not coming back – by Jeff Rubin (Globe and Mail – May 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Jeff Rubin is the former chief economist and chief strategist at CIBC World Markets. His latest book is A Map of the New Normal: How Inflation, War, and Sanctions Will Change Your World Forever, from which this essay is adapted.

In the early 1960s, only 4 per cent of countries were subject to economic sanctions imposed by either the United States or the United Nations, accounting for less than 4 per cent of global trade.

Today, 54 – a quarter of all the countries in the world – are subject to some form of sanctions, affecting almost a third of global GDP. And at the rate that sanctions are now being applied, it will soon be the majority of trade.

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Lab diamonds just won a battle, not the war – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 8, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

After a brief surge in diamond jewellery demand during the pandemic, diamond miners are now grappling with an oversupply that is forcing them to reduce the excess inventory. The prices of natural diamonds have dropped by almost 20% compared to a year ago, following a surge in 2022, but were higher ten years ago.

Anglo American’s De Beers, the largest diamond producer by value, has been cutting its output due to sluggish demand. Sanctions-ridden Russian miner Alrosa, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds by volume, stopped publishing sales data in early 2022, cut its output by 2.8% to 34.6 million carats last year.

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Nickel 28 fires founders on ‘serious misconduct’ that they deny – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – May 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Nickel 28 Capital Corp. said it has fired its founders, including chief executive officer Anthony Milewski, after an investigation uncovered “serious misconduct” — claims the ousted management team says are untrue and part of a years-long battle for control at the Canadian mining firm.

The nickel and cobalt producer removed Milewski, along with president Justin Cochrane and chief financial officer Conor Kearns, with immediate effect, it said Monday, after the board reviewed findings made by an independent special committee. The investigation found evidence the management team had breached their duties and repeatedly lacked judgment, the board said.

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Osisko Metals’ update reveals 3.2B lb red metal asset at Copper Mountain – by Staff (Northern Miner – May 6, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

A resource update for Osisko Metals‘ (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: OMZNE) Copper Mountain deposit in Quebec increases the copper-equivalent metal content by 30% over the previous estimate, making it the largest undeveloped copper asset in eastern North America, the company says.

The update puts the deposit at 495 million indicated tonnes grading 0.30% copper, 0.016% molybdenum, and 1.75 grams silver per tonne (0.37% copper equivalent), Osisko said in a news release Monday. That resource contains 3.2 billion lb. copper, 180 million lb. molybdenum, and 27.9 million oz. silver.

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Red Pine confirms Wawa gold assays after reported ‘inconsistencies’, stock rebounds – by Staff (Mining.com – May 6, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Red Pine Exploration (TSXV: RPX) said on Monday that investigations into past assay results from its Wawa gold project in Ontario found no evidence of inconsistencies, and that the company can rely on the validity of those results.

Last week, the Toronto-based gold junior issued a press release stating that it was withdrawing all previously reported assays from the Wawa project after discovering “inconsistencies” in certain results. A detailed investigation ensued.

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