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Canadian Media Resource Articles

First Quantum to shut Ravensthorpe nickel mine – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Northern Miner – April 29, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) has decided to close its Ravensthorpe nickel operation in Western Australia. The ceasing of operations at the mine this week will cut around 330 jobs, Australia’s ABC News reported on Monday, citing a company statement.

“Despite our best efforts to maintain operations by transitioning to a new operating strategy that involved ceasing mining activities, processing stockpiles and altering its approach to production, the site is incurring significant current and projected losses,” First Quantum said in a separate statement.

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Experts warn about potential risks of foreign investment in Arctic mining – by Natalie Pressman (CBC News North – April 26, 2024)

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

With minimal Canadian investment, mining companies have few options

Some representatives of the federal government and northern mining experts are issuing a warning about the risk of foreign investment in Arctic mining.

During a panel at the Nunavut Mining Symposium Thursday, representatives from the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), the RCMP and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) discussed foreign companies’ interest in Canadian northern mining, and what that could mean for Arctic security.

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OPINION: Copper is the new oil and Big Mining sees the metal as its lifeblood – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 27, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Australia’s BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, considered a bid for smaller player Anglo American about five years ago. BHP coveted only Anglo’s copper, and was put off by the prospect of dismantling a highly complex company to nail the prize. So it passed.

Big mistake. Copper since then has become the new oil, and no big mining house can prosper without the metal considered critical to the transition to a low-carbon future. Everyone wants copper and the price is soaring as supply proves incapable of meeting demand.

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The decline and fall of Canada – by John Ivison (National Post – April 30, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

A state’s citizens must have the will for it to exist in the world. Has there been any moment in Canada’s history when that will has been weaker?

In his classic A Short History of the World, H.G. Wells asked why the Roman Empire grew, and why it so completely decayed. He concluded that it grew because the idea of citizenship held it together, creating a sense of privilege and obligation and a willingness to make sacrifices in the name of Rome.

However, the failure to explain itself to its increasing multitude of citizens, or invite their co-operation, led to the demise of its collective mission.

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Top Glencore Shareholders Favor Keeping Coal Over Spinoff – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – April 29, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Several of Glencore Plc’s largest shareholders believe that the company should retain its coal assets, according to people familiar with the matter, throwing a proposed spinoff into doubt.

Glencore, the world’s largest shipper of thermal coal with a market capitalization of about $73 billion, had said it intended to spin the business off within two years of closing a deal to buy the steelmaking coal assets of Teck Resources Ltd.

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Washing away the climate lunatics – by Conrad Black (National Post – April 27, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

Canada at risk of turning into Europe

I have written here and elsewhere countless times before of the dangers of responding prematurely to alarmist concerns about climate change. Dr. Benny Peiser of the British Global Warming Policy Foundation spoke to the Friends of Science Society in Calgary earlier this month, warning that Europe’s extremist net zero carbon emission policies may get to Canada even though they are now running into extreme problems in Europe.

The North American media has not much reported on the widespread and often violent farmer protests in Europe, which has caused every government that has been put to the test to scale back their aggressive climate change policies.

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OPINION: Canada needs to have a plan for the U.S., no matter who becomes president. That starts with making us matter more – by Edward Greenspan, Janice Gross and Drew Fagan (Globe and Mail – April 27, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It’s not just about Donald Trump. It’s about us, the indispensable ally that has allowed ourselves to dwindle into dispensability. That Canada’s neighbour is turning its back on the liberal values and internationalism that propelled the United States up the Billboard charts of world powers over the past century-and-a-half – that’s on the Americans.

We don’t get a vote, after all. That we are less consequential in the face of rising American nationalism and fragmenting geopolitics, however – that’s on us. We have become inward-looking, too. When our long-time allies, such as Germany, Japan and Korea, come seeking our resource-rich assistance with their energy insecurities, we demur.

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BHP’s $39 Billion Copper Play Was Years in the Making – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – April 27, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — When Mike Henry took over as chief executive officer of BHP Group in 2020, the world’s biggest mining company had lost its swagger. Bruised by a series of painful missteps and a run-in with activist Elliott Investment Management, the Anglo-Australian behemoth was kicking crucial decisions down the road, and increasingly aware that its reliance on fossil-fuel-heavy commodities could start turning investors away.

Detail-focused and exacting, Henry didn’t fit the stereotype of the hard-charging and charismatic mining executive that the industry so often turned to for its leaders. But he moved quickly and methodically, and within 20 months BHP had announced the most dramatic shakeup since its creation two decades earlier.

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Anglo American rejects “opportunistic” $39bn takeover bid from BHP – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 26, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Anglo American (LON: AAL) has rejected a $39 billion takeover offer from BHP (ASX: BHP) conditional to the target company divesting its platinum and iron ore businesses in South Africa.

BHP’s unsolicited offer “significantly undervalued” the 107-year-old mining company and would be “highly unattractive” to its shareholders, Anglo said on Friday in a response widely expected by analysts. “The BHP proposal is opportunistic and fails to value Anglo American’s prospects,” Anglo chairman Stuart Chambers said in the statement.

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Bombardier also granted exemption from Canadian sanctions on Russian titanium – by Steven Chase and Robert Fife (Globe and Mail – April 26, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc. says it too has been granted an exemption from Canadian sanctions targeting Russian titanium that could interfere with its business in Canada.

Based in Montreal, Bombardier is the second aerospace company to be identified as having obtained a waiver from Canadian sanctions targeting Russian titanium maker VSMPO-AVISMA Corp., one of the world’s largest producers of the rare metal. Airbus was the first.

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On Lithium’s Frontier, Miners Are Betting on a Greener Second Act – by Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – April 25, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Against the arid, red dirt of the Australian Outback, the Mount Holland lithium mine emerges to approaching visitors as a colossal grey-tinged crater, with trucks the size of houses edging along its steep inclines.

An expanding site at the heart of the world’s top lithium-producing region, the A$2.6 billion ($1.7 billion) operation is emblematic of the plentiful additional supply of the battery material currently weighing on global prices, much of it from this neighborhood. Despite bullish long term forecasts, the metal has been languishing near two-year lows as demand fails to keep pace.

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BHP makes US$39-billion offer for rival Anglo American in bid to create world’s biggest copper producer – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 26, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Global mining companies’ lunge for copper, a critical transition metal to a low-carbon future, has intensified with BHP Group Ltd.’s unsolicited proposal to buy rival Anglo American PLC for about US$39-billion ($53-billion). Competing offers are expected.

The offer marks a return to the megadeals that transformed the mining industry in the first and second decades of this century. If successful, it would be the biggest takeover since Glencore PLC’s US$90-billion merger with Xstrata, which owned Canada’s Falconbridge nickel miner, in 2013.

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Equinox Gold buys out Orion for almost US$1B as it readies Greenstone for first gold Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – April 24, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX; NYSE-AM: EQX) is buying partner Orion Mine Finance’s 40% stake in their new Greenstone gold mine in Ontario for US$995 million in cash and shares as it prepares to pour first gold.

The purchase includes US$745 million in cash and 42 million shares valued at US$250 million. It was announced late on Tuesday after Australia’s Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) said it was no longer considering buying a stake in Greenstone from Orion. Equinox said it would fund the purchase through a new US$500-million loan and a US$260-million bought-deal equity financing.

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World’s Biggest Energy Traders Are Returning to Metals Markets – by Archie Hunter, Jack Farchy and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – April 24, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Some of the world’s biggest energy trading companies are returning to metals, years after getting burnt in the notoriously difficult markets. Vitol Group, Gunvor Group and Mercuria Energy Group are among the traders building out their metals teams, as they look to deploy capital generated by record profits.

The shift comes as forecasters turn increasingly bullish on copper, aluminum and other metals, where long-anticipated production shortfalls are starting to take shape. Many commodities houses also see strong links between metals usage and power markets — another growth area for traders.

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Trudeau and Ford unveil Honda’s plan to build four new factories in Ontario – by Robert BenzieQueen’s Park and Rob Ferguson (Toronto Star – April 25, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

The Japanese automaker will have an electric vehicle factory and auto assembly plant in a region where they have been making gasoline-powered cars and trucks since 1986.

This Honda accord is worth a cool $15 billion. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday that Honda will build four new factories in Ontario, producing 240,000 electric vehicles as the Japanese auto giant expands its footprint.

Fuelled by $5-billion in public money, the expansion will create 1,000 new jobs at Honda, which already employs 4,200 people in Alliston, plus thousands of spinoff positions in parts production and construction of the new facilities.

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