Chromium/Platinum Group Metals – Page 3

What’s to become of Sault Ste. Marie’s ferrochrome plant? Wait for the bidding war to settle, says Noront CEO – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – September 10, 2021)

September 10, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Chromite production plans, smelter plan in limbo until new ownership takes control of Noront’s Ring of Fire metal assets

Ask Alan Coutts what’s to become of a proposed ferrochrome processing plant for Sault Ste. Marie and the president of Noront Resources gives a straightaway answer.

“That will ultimately be a question that will be answered by the new owners.” Noront selected Sault Ste. Marie in 2019 is its preferred location for a high-tech smelting operation, settling on a brownfield site at Algoma Steel.

Wyloo hikes bid for Ring of Fire explorer Noront Resources, trumps BHP offer – by Naill McGee (Globe and Mail – August 31, 2021)

August 31, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd. has bumped up its offer for Noront Resources Ltd., trumping BHP Group Ltd.’s bid, and in a highly unusual move is proposing to keep the struggling Ring of Fire exploration company as a publicly traded entity.

Since May, Toronto-based Noront has been the subject of a takeover tussle between Australian private equity firm Wyloo and BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, which is also based in Australia.

Both are extremely well funded. BHP’s market valuation is US$165-billion. Wyloo is backed by Andrew Forrest, founder and chair of Fortescue Metals Group, and one of the richest individuals in Australia.

Ferrochrome is part of the green revolution – Glencore – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – August 6, 2021)

August 6, 2021

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore views the ferrochrome market as being particularly strong currently. “We’ve seen very healthy ferrochrome prices and good cash generation in that business,” Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said.

In response to Mining Weekly during a media conference following the company’s presentation of record half-year results, Nagle highlighted ferrochrome’s good fortune as being driven by the very strong global production of stainless steel, in which it is a key ingredient.

Fiscal stimulus has boosted demand for white goods and the like, and stainless steel and its ferrochrome twin have provided the necessary innards to meet that demand.

Zimbabwe bans chrome ore exports to boost ferrochrome industry – by MacDonald Dzirutwe (Nasdaq.com – August 3, 2021)

August 4, 2021August 4, 2021

https://www.nasdaq.com/

HARARE, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe has banned the export of raw chrome with immediate effect in a bid to support the domestic ferrochrome industry, minister of information Monica Mutsvangwa said on Tuesday.

The southern African country holds the second-largest known chrome ore reserves after South Africa, which in October last year announced it was imposing a chrome ore export tax to boost local ferrochrome producers.

Mutsvangwa told reporters after a cabinet meeting that Zimbabwe had 22 operating chrome smelters, which could soon face insufficient feedstock if chrome mining capacity did not increase.

ChromeSA fails to win ear of Competition Commission in controversial export tax row – by David McKay (MiningMX.com – June 21, 2021)

June 21, 2021

Home 2024

SOUTH Africa’s chrome ore industry has failed in its attempt to win an exemption from the Competition Commission that would have enabled it to discuss alternatives to an export tax controversially proposed by Cabinet last year.

The export tax is intended to boost the country’s ferrochrome industry which uses chrome ore supply. However, ChromeSA says it will only have short-term benefits and could potentially backfire in the long run.

It argues that alternative chrome ore producers have an excess supply that could be brought to bear in the wake of uncompetitive South African material. The majority of South African chrome ore exports are to China which it uses for its own ferrochrome sector.

South African ferrochrome furnaces need to regain competitive advantage, warns Roskill – by Simone Liedtke (MiningWeekly.com – June 15, 2021)

June 15, 2021

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The South African ferrochrome industry has benefitted from recent events in China, which commodity research consultancy Roskill says has removed significant global capacity through the closure of small furnaces.

While higher-cost furnaces in southern China have been able to fill the short-term gap, the demand expectations will require South African plants to remain operational throughout this year.

Taking this into account, Roskill predicts that the benchmark price for the third and fourth quarters of this year will maintain a premium to the South African cost structure.

Wyloo Metals would put proposed Sault ferrochrome plant under the microscope, if successful in bid for Noront Resources – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 7, 2021)

June 7, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/ Australian mining investor focused on mining, processing nickel for Ontario’s electrical vehicle manufacturers The prospective Australian buyer for Noront Resources won’t make any immediate shifts in strategy in the Far North mineral exploration camp should it acquire the Toronto junior mining company. But it will reassess the location of a proposed ferrochrome processing plant …

COMMENT: Could China’s ferro-chrome futures be a game-changer? – by Jon Stibbs and Siyi Liu (Metal Bulletin – March 23, 2021)

March 24, 2021

https://www.metalbulletin.com/

The Shanghai Futures Exchange’s plans to list ferro-chrome futures, potentially this year, will bring welcomed hedging opportunities and may weaken the dominance of China’s stainless steel mills in the ore and alloy markets, participants told Fastmarkets.

While no definite date or specifications of the ferro-chrome futures have been announced, Fastmarkets asked participants what changes these contracts might bring to their businesses and if they could be a game-changer in the traditional pricing mechanism for the chrome ore and ferro-chrome markets.

Indeed, many ferro-chrome producer sources in China hold positive expectations because these financial derivatives would provide hedging opportunities to better control their production costs, especially in purchasing seaborne chrome ore.

A road to the Ring of Fire is ‘everything.’ Railway? Not so much – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 22, 2021)

February 22, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Noront Resources exploration boss digs into the details of the 2021 exploration year

The mineral endowment in the Ring of Fire appears to be vast, deep, rich and long-lasting.

As compelling as the geological picture is of the world-class base and precious metal deposits in the Far North exploration camp, 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, all anyone wants to talk about is, what’s happening with the access roads?

It’s a topic of discussion too with Noront Resources, the leading mine developer in the James Bay lowlands. “The road is everything,” said Ryan Weston, the company’s vice-president of exploration, at a recent web gathering of the Sudbury Prospectors and Developers Association.

“Without the road there’s no Ring of Fire development, which means there’s no exploration.”

KWG forging ahead with Ring of Fire railroad – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – February 7, 2021)

February 8, 2021

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Capreol native and veteran railroader Tony Marquis came out of retirement to take on a project he believes could “give a real kickstart to rail in Northern Ontario.”

Marquis is now in charge of constructing a rail route to the Ring of Fire, as newly appointed head of Canada Chrome Corporation, a subsidiary of KWG Resources.

“When KWG spawned this new company they staked claims from the Ring of Fire to an area just outside of Nakina, by the Aroland First Nation,” said Marquis. “The claims are on an esker that basically comes straight down, so that’s how the railroad would be built, right upon the esker.”

Australian mining investor takes controlling position in Ring of Fire mine developer – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 8, 2020)

December 8, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Western Australia’s intense interest in the exploration and mining potential of northwestern Ontario has now stretched north into the Ring of Fire.

Noront Resources, the leading mine developer in the James Bay region, landed a new “cornerstone” strategic partner in Wyloo Metals Pty., the mining division of Tattarang, one of Australia’s largest private investment groups.

They take over from Resources Capital Fund (RCF) as Noront’s biggest shareholder at nearly 38 per cent. Wyloo invests in operating mines and exploration projects in mostly nickel, copper, platinum group metals and potash in Western Australia.

Environmentalists in Ontario’s Ring of Fire: Inconvenient Truths – by Stan Sudol (December 1, 2020)

April 1, 2021December 2, 2020

A recent commentary linking Neskantga’s water crisis to the proposed Ring of Fire mining development in Northwestern Ontario’s Far North made little sense except to further delay environmental assessments (EAs) for vital road infrastructure and enormous economic opportunities for the region’s impoverished Indigenous people.

First and foremost, the fact that Neskantaga – with an on-reserve population of slightly less than 300 people – has not had potable water for an astonishing 25-years is a national disgrace.

Almost 150 years ago, Canada was small little country of around five million people and was able to build the longest railroad in the world, at that time, from Ontario to British Columbia, through some of the harshest geography on the planet in less than five years – 1880-1885.

And yet today, a G-7 country with a $2 TRILLION economy is unable to fix ALL the broken water systems in First Nations’ communities across the country in a similar time-period?

Not only does this reflect on the incompetence inside the federal government but it also damages the country’s international reputation and demonstrates Trudeau’s “reconciliation mantra” as nothing but pious hypocrisy.

Chain reaction: virus darkens future of Albania’s chromium miners – by Briseida Mema and Emmy Varley (Agence-France Presse/Yahoo News – November 10, 2020)

November 11, 2020

https://au.news.yahoo.com/

With mountains of chromite piling sky high on the docks of the port behind him in the Albanian city of Durres, logistics manager Henri Kurti explains the hold up.

“When China and America have problems, we have even bigger problems in Bulqize,” he says, referring to the region to the east where the blue-grey metal is mined before being shipped around the world.

As the coronavirus pandemic rocks international commerce, knock-on effects are being felt in poor corners of the world like Albania, where chromium miners have nowhere to sell their goods due to a drop off in purchases from China.

SA chrome industry at odds over Govt. tax ore exporters say only suits Glencore, Samancor – by Brendan Ryan (MiningMX.com – November 5, 2020)

November 5, 2020

Home 2024

CHROMESA is at odds with both the South African government and the country’s major integrated producers of chrome ore and ferrochrome – Glencore and Samancor – over the proposed tax on chrome ore exports.

That became clear at a presentation by Chrome SA to financial media on Thursday during which Assore GM, Alistair McAdam, confirmed the integrated producers “believe such a tax will be beneficial to themselves and will not be detrimental to us as exporters”.

This is despite the fact that Glencore and Samancor are also exporters of chrome ore to China which is the prime target of the proposed tax which the South African exporters would have to pay themselves and then claw back in increased prices from their Chinese customers.

Sudbury column: Time to reignite Ring of Fire – by Erin O’Toole (Sudbury Star – February 24, 2017)

August 27, 2020

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Please note that this column was written in Feb/2017. However, it shows that Erin O’Toole, newly elected federal Conservative leader of the opposition has an indepth understanding of the Ring of Fire and its economic importance to Ontario and the entire country. – RepublicOfMining.com

The Ring of Fire has been heralded as not only a world-class deposit of chromite but also the only known deposit in the entire western hemisphere. Currently, all of North America’s stainless steel manufacturing is supplied by Asian and African sources. Canada has a unique opportunity to become a global leader in chromite mining and potentially revitalize manufacturing with proudly Canadian minerals.

According to a recent study by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, the current projected value of the Ring of Fire is more than $60 billion with known deposits significant enough to sustain a century of mineral development. Yet, after more than a decade of mineral exploration activity and findings of rich resources, no infrastructure has been developed.

The Wynne government recognized this potential enough to request $1 billion in infrastructure funding from the Government of Canada in 2014. But in the three years since, they have never provided the necessary plan to secure the funding. The Wynne and Trudeau governments have since allowed the Ring of Fire to all but go up in smoke.