Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals – Page 35

Canada needs to move quickly on production of critical minerals, IEA says – by Marieke Walsh and Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – February 2d, 2023)

February 3, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada needs to quickly ramp up production of critical minerals and play a global leadership role to defend against energy security crises triggered by countries that use fossil fuels as a weapon, said the head of the International Energy Agency.

During a government-organized panel discussion in Ottawa Wednesday, Fatih Birol warned that the energy shortages currently gripping Europe could be repeated as the world transitions to cleaner fuels, if Western countries do not increase the availability of rare earth minerals and develop friendlier sources of them.

Rare earth minerals could help in climate change fight, but mining raises environmental concerns: expert (CBC News Saskatchewan – January 31, 2023)

February 1, 2023

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

Vital Metals plant in Saskatoon will process rare earth elements mined in Northwest Territories

While rare earth minerals are now being touted as a key part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, there are environmental concerns in extracting these minerals from the ground, says an expert in environmental considerations around mining.

Demand is growing for rare earth elements — a group of 17 metallic elements that tend to occur in the same ore deposits and are used in batteries for everything from vehicles to smartphones.

How a Soviet nuclear site could be key to Europe’s EV market – by Ott Tammik (Bloomberg News – February 1, 2023)

February 1, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

On the edge of Sillamae, a town of just over 12,000 people in northeast Estonia, sits a grassy hill with a secret. It’s here, on the Baltic Sea coast close to the Russian border, where the past is buried. And it’s here, according to one company, where the future lies if Europe wants to loosen China’s grip on the supply of components to industries seen as critical to the continent’s economy.

The artificial mound covers a radioactive pond from when the town covertly processed uranium for the Soviet nuclear industry until 1989. Today, the adjacent facilities are home to oil and fertilizer storage terminals, but also the only major processing plant outside Asia for rare earth metals used in the automotive industry.

Junior miner looks to revive Kenora-area cobalt mine – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 31, 2023)

February 1, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Australian-listed High-Tech Metals zeros in on Werner Lake deposits

A pop-up junior mining company will take a fresh crack at putting a former Kenora-area cobalt mine back into production.

High-Tech Metals, an Australian-listed exploration company, recently closed its acquisition of the Werner Lake cobalt and copper project in a cash-and-share deal with multinational Global Energy Metals, according to a Jan. 23 news release.

The Future Battlefields: Rare Earth Elements – by Ariel Cohen (Forbes Magazine – January 26, 2023)

January 30, 2023

https://www.forbes.com/

Sweden’s state-owned mining enterprise LKAB may have given the West hope in its quest for energy independence and containing China. Two weeks ago, LKAB announced it had discovered nearly one million metric tons of rare earth elements (REE).

REEs include 17 elements that are vital for advanced batteries, lasers, electronics, and all emerging technology of the 21st century, including the energy transition.

Federal gifts for the nuclear and mining industries – by Mark Winfield (Policy Options – January 25, 2023)

January 27, 2023

Policy Options

The government needs a more transparent and evidence-based approach to decision-making when assessing choices for decarbonization.

Canada’s nuclear industry got an important pre-Christmas gift from the federal government in the form of the announcement of its decision not to conduct an assessment under the 2019 Impact Assessment Act of a proposed small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) at the Point Lepreau site in New Brunswick.

The Lepreau SMR proposal has been highly controversial, given its reliance on technologies where the performance, costs and risks are essentially unknown. Moreover, serious questions have even been raised about whether the project, intended to reprocess fuel from the Lepreau CANDU reactors, would violate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

‘Trudeau-pian’ policy drives mining investment away, says Poilievre – by Henry Lazenby (Northern Miner – January 23, 2023)

January 27, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

The opening day of the Association of Mineral Exploration (AME) Roundup conference in Vancouver saw some political sparks fly as natural resources minister, Jonathan Wilkinson and Conservative Party firebrand Pierre Poilievre delivered remarks.

The opposition leader made the point that limelight-loving Liberal leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had squandered the past eight years to build an alternative supply chain able to service the emerging electric vehicle market and so-called energy revolution.

How Is Your Phone Powered? Problematically. – by Matthieu Aikins (New York Times – January 23, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/

Siddharth Kara’s “Cobalt Red” takes a deep dive into the horrors of mining the valuable mineral — and the many who benefit from others’ suffering.

Cobalt, a mineral essential to the batteries of smart devices and electric vehicles — and therefore to the future — is haunted by a past of slavery and colonialism. The phone in your hand contains several grams of this element; some of it, as Siddharth Kara shows in “Cobalt Red,” was likely mined by people hacking away in toxic pits for subsistence wages.

Used as a source of blue pigment since antiquity, cobalt has joined blood diamonds and forced-labor shrimp as the latest bête noire of critics of globalization. Nearly half of the world’s reserves are found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a conflict-stricken country that has long been the site of a geopolitical scramble for strategic resources.

The Green Industrial Revolution: How Critical Mineral Mining Will Help Drive Canada’s Economic Growth and Reach Our Climate Goals – by Zayn Kalyan (January 20, 2023)

January 23, 2023

Zayn Kalyan is CEO of Infinity Stone Ventures

The Canadian Government announced the approval of Galaxy Lithium Canada’s James Bay Lithium Project in Quebec, a milestone in the development of domestic North American lithium production. The James Bay project is expected to produce approximately 5,480 tonnes of ore per day and employ 160 people on average once it’s in operation.

The approval is a significant win for the critical mineral mining industry in Canada and North America, and while clearly affirming the commitment of Canada to its climate change goals, it more importantly signals the critical nature of the energy transition in the fiscal and economic policies of western governments.

Can Ottawa get out of its own way to deliver on high-tech metals? – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Think tank analysts weigh in on federal critical minerals strategy

With the release of its Critical Minerals Strategy, Ottawa has officially jumped on the bandwagon in acknowledging that Canada can provide the world with the natural resources needed to make the transition to cleaner technologies and create net-zero economies.

Now the federal government must come up with a way to untangle the regulatory impediments to put new Canadian mines into production faster, according to a panel of experts in a MacDonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) webcast this week.

Congo president demands more from $6.2 billion China metals deal – by Jacqueline Simmons and Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg News – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi criticized a $6.2 billion minerals-for-infrastructure contract with China, saying the world’s largest producer of a key battery metal hasn’t benefited from the deal.

Congo, Africa’s second-largest nation by landmass, is flush with natural resources — including copper and cobalt that are major components in electric vehicles — but remains one of the world’s least-developed countries. Most of its minerals end up in China, which signed a landmark deal with Tshisekedi’s predecessor in 2008 to trade roads and buildings for the two metals.

Billions in new auto investment ‘just the beginning’ — Fedeli – by Dave Waddell (Windsor Star – January 18, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://windsorstar.com/

Ontario Minister of Economic Development Vic Fedeli is optimistic that landing the crown jewel of an electric battery factory in Windsor, as part of $16 billion in new automaker investments in the province over the past two years, represents just the beginning.

The transformation of the automotive sector is only in its infancy and Fedeli said Ontario is prioritizing building out the critical minerals mining and processing sector, landing a second battery plant and securing as much of the battery supply chain as possible.

Trudeau visits rare earth element processing plant in Saskatoon – by Kelly Geraldine Malone (Canadian Press/CTV News – January 16, 2023)

January 18, 2023

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

SASKATOON – Justin Trudeau pressed Saskatchewan’s government on its record for clean energy projects after Premier Scott Moe expressed disappointment he was not made aware of the prime minister’s visit to a rare earth elements processing plant.

“There’s work to be done on encouraging the government of Saskatchewan to see the opportunities that companies, and indeed, workers, are seeing in ΓÇª cleaner jobs, in the opportunities for cleaner energy projects,” Trudeau said Monday after a tour through the Vital Metals facility in Saskatoon.

‘Smoke and mirrors’: Northern miners call for more support for critical minerals – by Emily Blake (Canadian Press/CTV News – January 17, 2023)

January 18, 2023

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

YELLOWKNIFE – Mining companies with projects in the North say more federal support is needed following the release of Canada’s new critical minerals strategy, while some environmental advocates are wary of the potential impacts.

Several projects in the North focus on critical minerals — so-called because they are considered critical to Canada’s economy and strategic industries like clean technology — including zinc, copper, cobalt, bismuth, tungsten, uranium, and nickel. Canada’s first rare earth elements mine, Nechalacho mine owned by Vital Metals subsidiary Cheetah Resources, opened in the Northwest Territories in 2021.

China note! EU-member Sweden locates rare earth deposits – by Samuel Petrequin (Associated Press – January 12, 2023)

January 16, 2023

https://apnews.com/

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — The beginning of the end of Europe’s dependency on China for precious rare earth materials may lie buried deep under the rugged reaches of northern Sweden, well above the Arctic Circle.

Sweden’s iron-ore miner LKAB said Thursday it has identified “significant deposits” in Lapland of rare earth elements that are essential for the manufacture of smartphones, electric vehicles and wind turbines.