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Canadian Media Resource Articles

Inside the U.S. deep-sea mining ‘gold rush’ Kenza Bryan, Camilla Hodgson and Harry Dempsey (Financial Post – May 19, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Trump’s EO on undersea minerals has encouraged mining companies, but critics say it will damage the environment

In a vast storage room at a nickel plant in Hachinohe, northern Japan, a group of men in suits and hard hats are squatting on the floor admiring a row of trays. One contains a jet-black, rubble-like ore, which crumbles to dust when handled. In another, there are bright cubes of metal, which they are examining enthusiastically.

These men, traders from commodities powerhouses Mitsubishi Corporation and Glencore PLC, as well as managers from Chinese and Korean metals groups and the Japanese battery producer Panasonic Energy, have been assembled by the Canadian mining group The Metals Company (TMC).

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‘A total surprise’: Municipalities unprepared for uranium exploration in their backyard – by Frances Willick (CBC News Nova Scotia – May 20, 2025)

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

Leaders say they need more information and education about the issue

Some municipal leaders are feeling unprepared and uninformed after learning their regions could become home to the first uranium exploration in Nova Scotia in almost 45 years.

On Wednesday, the Nova Scotia government issued a request for exploration proposals at three sites it believes have uranium deposits. The three sites include areas near Louisville in Pictou County, East Dalhousie in Annapolis County and Millet Brook in Hants County. “It’s a total surprise to us,” said Robert Parker, warden of Pictou County.

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Ford government denies bill to speed up development will override environmental and Indigenous concerns – by Kristin Rushowy and Noor Javed (Toronto Star – May 18, 2025)

https://www.thestar.com/

Premier Doug Ford has said Bill 5 is needed to speed up much-needed investments and projects especially as the province tries to weather ongoing economic threats from the U.S. Endangered species will be at further risk under a new bill environmental groups also say gives the government too much power to fast-track mining and infrastructure projects anywhere it wants.

Premier Doug Ford has said Bill 5 is needed to speed up much-needed investments and projects — like the Ring of Fire mineral site in the north, or even a plan to potentially tunnel under Highway 401 to ease traffic congestion in Toronto — especially as the province tries to weather ongoing economic threats from the U.S.

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Canadian Ingenuity: Anyox, the ghost of a mining town in the mountains – by Susanna McLeod (Kingston Whig – August 08, 2024)

https://www.thewhig.com/

Distant from roads or rail lines, the copper mine in northwestern British Columbia was accessible only by ship. Established in the early 1900s, the mining town of Anyox was a thriving hub of production and home comforts until the collapse of the copper market during the Great Depression. The company had no choice. The Anyox camp was abandoned in 1935.

Demand for copper flourished in the mid-1800s, and industry responded with surveys and new mines. In 1889, explorations in the Boundary Range of the Coastal Mountains and the temperate rainforest revealed copper at a remote location off Portland Canal, near Observatory Inlet.

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Lecce touts Ontario’s mining strategy as key to energy security and economic self-reliance – by Barbara Patrocinio (QP Briefing – May 16, 2025)

https://www.qpbriefing.com/

“Our job is to be bold,” Lecce said. “We’re not just exporting minerals. We’re exporting a model for how a modern, secure, and sovereign economy can look in the 21st century.”

In an interview marking mining week, Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce says Ontario is poised to become a global “clean energy superpower,” and he’s betting big on critical minerals, faster permitting timelines, and more domestic processing to get there.

Lecce outlined his vision for the province’s resource sector, which he described as essential not only to creating tens of thousands of jobs, but also to defending Canada’s economic sovereignty.

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Cameco CEO says Carney supportive of nuclear energy industry as uranium demand grows – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Financial Post – May 16, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Speedy development of resource projects could be crucial for Canada’s uranium industry

The chief executive of the world’s largest uranium miner believes Prime Minister Mark Carney will be supportive of Canada’s nuclear industry as it looks ahead to meet growing demand. Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. chief executive Tim Gitzel said the federal government needs to be interested in growing nuclear energy and hopes that will happen under Carney’s leadership, based on past dealings with the prime minister.

Carney and Gitzel met previously amid a joint deal between Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. to buy Westinghouse Electric Co. in 2023. At the time, Carney was chair and head of Transition Investing at Brookfield.

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B.C. mining sector calls for streamlined permitting – by Adam Campbell (Business In Vancouver – May 15, 2025)

https://www.biv.com/

MABC projects $90B in short-term economic activity from mines under construction

B.C. must accelerate mining permitting to remain competitive and retain investment amid a tense political landscape. That was one of the key messages Michael Goehring delivered at the Mining Association of BC’s (MABC) annual Greater Vancouver Board of Trade address last week.

The CEO of MABC said he was pleased to see the creation of the Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals last November, and the introduction of legislation earlier this month aimed at speeding up approvals for major projects. These are important steps, he said, and perhaps indications that the current government is choosing to focus more on economic growth.

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Tungsten prices hit 12-year high as China tightens export controls – by Staff (Mining.com – May 15, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

European tungsten prices have surged to their highest level since 2013, driven by China’s tightening grip on critical mineral exports.

The price of ammonium paratungstate (APT)—a key intermediate used in tungsten metal production—has climbed to $400 per metric ton unit (mtu) on the European spot market, marking an 18% jump since February, according to Reuters.

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Uranium added to Nova Scotia critical minerals list as province seeks exploration – by Keith Doucette (Canadian Press/CBC Nova Scotia – May 14, 2025)

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

Potential exploration sites are in Pictou County, Annapolis County and Hants County

The Nova Scotia government added uranium to its list of priority critical minerals on Wednesday and issued a request for exploration proposals at three sites the province says have known deposits of the heavy metal.

Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton says the government hopes to reap economic benefits from the exploration in the future, although a department official said any potential mining project could be “decades” away.

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Ice roads are a lifeline for First Nations. As Canada warms, they’re disappearing. (Grist.org – May 15, 2025)

https://grist.org/

Indigenous peoples are navigating the slow collapse of winter roads — and an even slower pace of help.

It was the last night of February and a 4×4 truck vaulted down the 103-mile winter road to Cat Lake First Nation in northern Ontario, a road made entirely of ice and snow. Only the light of the stars and the red and white truck lights illuminated the dense, snow-dusted spruce trees on either side of the road. From the passenger seat, Rachel Wesley, a member of the Ojibway community and its economic development officer, told the driver to stop.

The truck halted on a snow bridge over a wide creek — 1 of 5 made of snow along this road. It was wide enough for only one truck to cross at a time; its snowy surface barely 2 feet above the creek. Wesley zipped up her thick jacket and jumped out into the frigid night air. She looked at the creek and pointed at its open, flowing water. “That’s not normal,” she said, placing a cigarette between her lips.

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Canada could unlock C$1.1tr GDP boost by fast-tracking resource projects, think-tank says – by Staff (Mining Weekly – May 16, 2025)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Canada could add as much as C$1.1-trillion to its economy by 2035 if it accelerates investment decisions on more than 500 energy, mining and infrastructure projects, according to a new report by the Public Policy Forum.

The ‘Build Big Things’ report, released on Thursday, offers a policy playbook aimed at boosting Canada’s sluggish productivity and countering global competition in critical minerals and energy. It calls for regulatory reform, streamlined permitting, expanded Indigenous participation and a national strategy to accelerate project approvals.

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Could thorium be the world’s next great source of fuel? – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – May 16, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

“Rabbits sometimes make mistakes or grow lazy. That’s when the tortoise seizes its chance.” That’s how a scientist from China recently described the Asian giant’s progress in using thorium — a silvery-white radioactive metal that’s more abundant in the earth’s crust than uranium — to generate power.

Xu Hongjie reportedly used the folklore saying in a closed-door meeting at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in April to suggest China had overtaken the United States in this specific field, according to the South China Morning Post. But could thorium really be used as a viable source for fuel in the near future or even replace uranium in nuclear reactors? Here’s what you need to know.

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OPINION: Too long has the Toronto Stock Exchange been shrunken and battered. No more – by Bryce C. Tingle (Globe and Mail – May 15, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Bryce C. Tingle is the N. Murray Edwards Chair in Business Law at the University of Calgary’s faculty of law. His book Hard Lessons in Corporate Governance was shortlisted for the Donner Prize.

Canada has been shaken out of its complacency by the actions of the Trump administration over the past 100 days. As this country considers how it can compete against a suddenly antagonistic southern neighbour, some consideration should be given to the woeful state of our public markets.

The Toronto Stock Exchange, long the crown jewel of Canada’s financial system, has shrunk almost by half in terms of the number of operating companies it supports. Most of the missing companies have gone to the U.S. In the terminology we generally use for businesses, the TSX is being badly outcompeted by the U.S.

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Northern Ontario First Nations fear uphill battle to preserve rights as Bill 5 speeds through legislature – by Aya Dufour (CBC News Sudbury – May 16, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/

Ford government says it’s cutting ‘red tape’ to speed up resource development projects

Bill 5 is a broad piece of legislation that has implications for mining development, endangered species, archeology and Indigenous peoples. It’s part of the Ford government’s “plan to protect Ontario” by cutting “the red tape that has held back major infrastructure, mining and resource development projects.”

The bill was tabled a few weeks ago and is now slated to be examined by a standing committee at Queen’s Park, whom Friends of the Attawapiskat river founder Michel Koostachin is set to address in the coming weeks. “There’s not going to be any consultations whatsoever with this bill,” said Koostachin.

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Expert tells U.S. senators Canada is a key ally on critical minerals – by Kelly Geraldine Malone (Canadian Press – May 14, 2025)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

WASHINGTON – An expert in critical minerals told U.S. senators Wednesday that Canada will be a key ally in efforts to reduce America’s reliance on Chinese supply — after President Donald Trump spent months claiming the United States doesn’t need anything from its northern neighbour.

Gracelin Baskaran, director of critical minerals security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., told the Senate finance committee that the U.S. only has 1.3 per cent of the world’s rare earths. “The uncomfortable truth is we are not going to do this alone,” she said.

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