Will Africa’s metals boom suffer the same curse as oil? (The Citizen/AFP – October 26, 2022)

https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/

Mechanical diggers are hard at work in the bleak landscape of the Moanda open-cast mine in Gabon, using giant jaws to rip out manganese and then dump the ore into trucks with a crash.

“We’re lucky here in Moanda. We find it about five to six metres (about 18 feet) below the surface,” said manager Olivier Kassibi, whose mine yields 36 tonnes of manganese each day.

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How the DRC became the battleground of a proxy war over precious resources – by Andres Schipani (Financial Times – October 27, 2022)

https://www.ft.com/

Local and foreign-backed forces are waging a deadly offensive in the mineral-rich heart of Africa

Some residents of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo simply call it la guerre sans fin — the war without end. One morning in August, Abigael Bahati felt it in her skin as she searched for cassava leaves close to the village of Kanombe.

“I was hungry and I had gone to look for food but I was caught,” says the 28-year-old mother of an 18-month-old baby. “They took me away and raped me,” she recalls, adding that others fled in fear of their lives.

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Scientists want to produce cosmic mineral to replace REEs in industrial magnets – by Staff (Mining.com – October 23, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Engineers at Northeastern University have patented a process to accelerate the production of a mineral known as tetrataenite, whose magnetic properties make it a leading candidate to replace magnets made of rare earths.

Tetrataenite is not found in nature—at least, not on earth. It is only found in meteorites. This means that making the cosmic mineral requires manipulating the atomic structures of its iron and nickel components by arranging them into a crystal structure that resembles tetrataenite, thus speeding up a natural process that would take millions of years on our planet.

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As Ontario joins clean energy talks, federal minister Wilkinson looks to streamline project approvals – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – October 25, 2022)

Global mining news

Ontario has joined a country-wide consultation process to hammer out energy and mining strategies for transitioning to clean power using critical minerals, Canada’s natural resources minister said on Tuesday.

The province joins nine other provinces and territories who’ve already signed up for the ministry’s Regional Energy and Resource Tables or said they will soon join the effort, Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said. Quebec and Alberta have been delayed by leadership changes but should agree, leaving out one prairie province for now.

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Idaho cobalt mine is a harbinger of what’s to come – by Kylie Mohr (High Country News – October 21, 2022)

https://www.hcn.org/

A new venture near Salmon signals an uptick in hardrock mining across the West.

Idaho’s Cobalt Belt is a 34-mile-long desirable stretch of ore tucked under the Salmon River Mountains that’s considered “globally significant” by mining companies. And miners are interested in that cobalt: a hard, brittle metal used in electric vehicle batteries. On Oct. 7, Australia-based Jervois Global opened the only cobalt mine in the U.S. there to much fanfare.

The new mine, which will be at full operating capacity in 2023, is part of a burgeoning Western mineral rush. These modern prospectors are focused on so-called green metals like cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel and rare earth elements that are used in clean energy applications.

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Australian miner bails on Quebec rare earth projects amid First Nation resistance – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – October 13, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Vital Metals bills itself as Canada’s first rare earth producer and decision to ditch projects could be significant

Australia’s Vital Metals Ltd. walked away from two Quebec-based projects earlier this week due to objections from the Kebaowek First Nation, the latest evidence that maximizing Canada’s potential to be a player in the energy transition will require a more sophisticated relationship with Indigenous communities.

The Sydney-based company had signed an $8-million agreement with Montreal-based Quebec Precious Metals Corp. (QPM) in August last year to acquire 68- and 100-per-cent interests in the Kipawa and Zeus rare earth projects situated in Quebec’s Témiscamingue region, about 90 kilometres northeast of North Bay, Ont.

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Rio Tinto, Ottawa to invest $737-million in titanium and scandium project in Quebec – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 11, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Rio Tinto Group and the federal government are planning to invest a combined $737-million to modernize a large Quebec metals processing plant that could see the giant Anglo-Australian miner dramatically cut its emissions and become one of the first North American producers of the critical metal titanium.

Rio Tinto, one of the world’s biggest mining companies, said in a release Tuesday it will invest up to $515-million into the Sorel-Tracy, Que., facility over the next eight years. Ottawa is planning to kick in as much as $222-million for the project over the same time frame.

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US opens new cobalt mine as EV battery needs grow – by Claire Bushey and Aime Williams (Financial Times – October 7, 2022)

https://www.ft.com/

Recently passed climate law boosts incentives for electric cars with domestic materials

The first new US cobalt mine to open in decades is ramping up production in Idaho, buoyed by the carmakers’ increasing demand for battery raw materials and legislation designed to foster a battery supply chain.

The mine is located in the state’s Salmon River Mountains at 8,000ft above sea level. Owned by Australia’s Jervois Global, chief executive Bryce Crocker said it will reach full production in February, extracting 2,000 tonnes of the bluish ore a year. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was scheduled for Friday.

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When it comes to Canada’s EV dominance, less may be more – by David Olive (Toronto Star – October 1, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

The existing Canadian EV supply-chain infrastructure might have sufficient momentum to provide enormous economic benefit without immediate additional public funds, David Olive writes.

“Batteries are fast becoming the engines of the global economy,” say the authors of a report this month that urges Canada to accelerate its progress in a new industry that will define the 21st-century clean-energy economy more than most.

The energy and economic analysts who prepared the report, called Canada’s New Economic Engine, believe Canada can become a global leader in developing, manufacturing and exporting advanced electric vehicle (EV) technology, with an emphasis on the ever-more-sophisticated batteries that power EVs.

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The scramble for rare earths carries big geopolitical risks – by Misha Glenny (Financial Times – September 26, 2022)

https://www.ft.com/

But without these metals there are limited solutions to our planetary problems

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated just how inadvisable over-dependence on a single supplier can be. Russia’s dominance in the European gas market turned into a geopolitical nightmare in the space of a few weeks.

Just imagine if a single country provided you with 90 per cent of your needs for essential commodities. Now imagine how you’d feel if that country was China. Actually, we don’t need to use our imagination because that is exactly the reality for Europe’s galloping consumption of rare earth metals.

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Forget rare earths, boron is the critical mineral to track – by Frik Els (Mining.com – September 15, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Rare earths have captured the imagination of the broader public: The 17 elements served as the basis of a top-selling video game, provided a plot point for a popular Netflix drama, sparked a drawn-out WTO dispute and were used to slam Barack Obama.

Even Kim Jong-Un has a finger in the pie. Boron, not so much. But boron’s not boring. Far from it. It shares many of the family traits of rare earths and it’s also close to mineral du jour lithium.

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Sask. could be crucial in the nation’s electric vehicle industry — if Canada acts, report says – by Dayne Patterson (CBC News Saskatoon – September 14, 2022)

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

Province is home to 2 rare earth processing plants

If Canada acts now, it could be a competitor in the electric vehicle battery supply chain, boosting the economy and adding jobs — and Saskatchewan could play a pivotal role.

That’s according to a report released Wednesday by Clean Energy Canada alongside the non-profit Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing, looking at Canada’s potential in the electric vehicle sector. The report says that sector could add up to 250,000 jobs by 2030 and $48 billion to the economy each year.

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Canada can build an electric vehicle industry worth $48B a year — but it must act now: report – by Don Pitts (CBC News Business – September 14, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/

Canada needs a strategy quickly in order to capitalize on payoffs in jobs and economic growth

As climate change shows its growing destructive power in floods and droughts worldwide, even strong advocates for the transition from using fossil fuels to battery-powered electric vehicles know EVs won’t be enough to fix the problem.

But as the North American auto show opens to glitz and fanfare, a new report from two reputable Canadian research groups says that Canada has a brief window to be a major player in transforming an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually into something more climate friendly — and to make money doing it.

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A mining icon returns to find Thor Lake a working mine – by Ollite Williams (Cabin Radio – September 4, 2022)

https://cabinradio.ca/

The man who first discovered rare earths by a lake east of Yellowknife returned last month to the working mine that has since developed.

Gren Thomas, an occupant of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame since 2009, is best known for his role in the diamond discovery that established the NWT’s Diavik diamond mine in the 1990s.

However, in the 1970s, his first major breakthrough in the territory was the discovery of various minerals at Thor Lake, some 100 km east of the territorial capital. Thomas flew back to Thor Lake in August, his first visit in a decade, to see what is now the Nechalacho mine, Canada’s first producer of rare earths and an operating mine since 2021.

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The Drift: Temiskaming cobalt, nickel refinery will be an $800M venture – by Staff (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – September 9, 2022)

https://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Facility will produce enough battery-grade material to support manufacturing of 250,000 electric cars a year

The price tag to build a Temiskaming battery materials industrial park will be in the neighbourhood of $720 million to $850 million.

Electra Battery Materials announced the results of a scoping study this week that crunched the economic numbers of the proposed development situated between the town of Cobalt and Temiskaming Shores. The property hosts the former Yukon refinery, which is being upgraded and expanded.

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