Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals – Page 36

The West needs to level the playing field to compete with China – by Anthony Milewski (Northern Miner – April 23, 2021)

April 26, 2021

https://www.northernminer.com/

Access to the raw materials of the new green economy is increasingly a high-stakes chess match along geopolitical lines dividing the East and the West. China controls access to the bulk of raw and midstream materials that the world needs for its transition to a low-carbon intensity economy. This control has become a critical vulnerability in the Western world’s emerging Industry 4.0 supply chains.

The mechanics of the emerging green economy rely on carbon friendly modes of transport such as electric vehicles, as well as mobile technology, energy storage, rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies fueling increased computing power, and renewable power sources — all made from mined materials such as nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium.

China’s drive to become the dominant commodity superpower started in the 1990s when it started opening up its economy to the world. The central government mandated unprecedented infrastructure spending, prompting the start of the commodity supercycle that lasted until late in the 2000s. In turn, the enormous demand for raw materials sparked a mining investment boom.

China is switching its investment focus in Africa from oil to minerals – by Jevans Nyabiage (South China Morning Post – April 25, 2021)

April 26, 2021

https://www.scmp.com/

The visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) earlier this year was indicative of a shift in Beijing’s lending and investment focus for Africa, according to analysts.

During his trip to Kinshasa in January, Wang promised that Beijing would write off loans to the Central African nation worth about US$28 million to help it deal with the impact of Covid-19 and provide US$17 million in other financial support.

He said also that China would fund infrastructure projects in the DRC, as it became the 45th country to sign up to the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s grand plan to boost interconnectivity and trade around the world.

Opinion: More U.S. mineral mining would blunt electric vehicle makers’ dangerous reliance on China – by Robert W. Chase (Cleveland.com – April 25, 2021)

April 26, 2021

https://www.cleveland.com/

MARIETTA, Ohio — In the 1970s, the harmful effects of an oil embargo shocked Americans. The sudden realization that we needed to take responsibility for our own energy future had quite an impact. Politicians responded accordingly.

Now we must address a huge new concern — the danger of becoming hostage to China for critically important industrial materials.

It’s only a matter of time. China is our leading supplier of minerals and metals, giving it great leverage over our supply chains for advanced technologies. Consider the possibility of waking to the news that China has cut off exports of electric-vehicle battery metals — lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and rare earth minerals.

Florida Toxic Waste Crisis Could Be Key to China Rare Earths Fight – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – April 6, 2021)

April 23, 2021

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

Leaks of wastewater at a former phosphate mine prompted evacuation orders and a state of emergency near Tampa recently amid fears that a pile of radioactive mine tailings could collapse. Believe it or not, U.S. President Joe Biden should have seen an opportunity wrapped in this crisis.

That’s because cleaning up the vast and neglected phosphogypsum stacks that dot Florida and other parts of the southeastern U.S. could help solve U.S. dependence on imported critical materials, all while removing the looming threat of environmental disaster from local residents.

Phosphogypsum is a byproduct of producing fertilizer from phosphate rock, with more than five metric tons produced for every ton of useful phosphoric acid. It’s worthless in its raw form thanks to concentrations of uranium, radium and other heavy metals that make it too radioactive for use as a soil improver or construction material — purposes for which it would otherwise be well-suited.

Here’s an inside look at Canada’s first rare earth mining project in the N.W.T. – by Liny Lamberink (CBC North – April 20, 2021)

April 22, 2021

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

Kyle Bayha says he’s been a minority at all of his past jobs. But for the last five weeks, the Délı̨nę, Northwest Territories man has been working at the Nechalacho demonstration project as an employee of Det’on Cho Nahanni Construction Corporation.

There, about 110 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife, the workforce is 80 per cent Indigenous he said. “Oh, it means lots,” he told reporters.

Cheetah Resources, which operates the project and owns the resources near the surface of the rare earth deposit, invited media for a tour of Nechalacho on Monday.

Greenland Minerals seeks talks with new gov’t over fate of rare earths project – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 21, 2021)

April 22, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s Greenland Minerals (ASX: GGG) said on Wednesday it was seeking to engage in talks with Greenland’s authorities over its Kvanefjeld rare earth project, as the newly-formed government opposes the development.

The uranium and rare earths-rich Arctic island has gained notoriety in the past two years following former US President Donald Trump’s offer to buy it.

The move sought to partly help address Chinese dominance of the rare earths market, as the nation accounts for almost 80% of the global mined supply of the elements used in everything from hi-tech electronics to military equipment.

Mining association says Canada’s rare earth support too modest to displace reliance on China – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – April 20, 2021)

April 20, 2021

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has welcomed several expanded and refined measures proposed in the 2021 federal Budget to support the establishment and growth of a domestic battery supply chain, but CEO Pierre Gratton said specific support targeting rare earth elements (REEs) was too modest and was insufficient to displace reliance on China.

Designed to support a domestic battery electric vehicle (BEV) supply chain, the Budget that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented on Monday proposed the expansion of the Strategic Innovation Fund – Net Zero Accelerator to C$8-billion, and introduced tax incentives.

“We need battery grade nickel, cobalt, lithium and graphite and we are pleased to see programmes and tax measures that we believe can support filling or expanding domestic production of these materials,” said Gratton.

East of Yellowknife, a new mine tries to be different – by Ollie Williams (Cabin Radio – April 19, 2021)

April 20, 2021

https://cabinradio.ca/

Nechalacho, the NWT’s first new metals mine in decades, is about to enter production. Its owners envisage a model of smaller-scale mining, Indigenous involvement, and environmental responsibility.

The mine, around 100 km east of Yellowknife, is the first Canadian producer of rare earth elements – minerals that, in small quantities, power key parts of vehicles (especially electric vehicles) and various green technologies.

Phase one of the mine is small by NWT mining standards, sustaining around 30 seasonal jobs. This summer, 600,000 tons of rock will be mined, of which around 100,000 tons is expected to be valuable.

NEWS RELEASE: 2021 Budget Doubles Down on Battery Electric Vehicle Supply Chain (Mining Association of Canada – April 19, 2021)

April 20, 2021

Modest First Steps on Rare Earths Insufficient to Displace Reliance on China

Ottawa, April 19th, 2021 – The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) welcomes several expanded and refined measures proposed in Budget 2021 to help position Canada for success on the “Mines to Mobility” pathway.

Designed to support the establishment and growth of a domestic battery electric vehicle (BEV) supply chain, Budget 2021’s proposed expansion of the Strategic Innovation Fund – Net Zero Accelerator to $8 billion, and the introduction of tax incentives and project scaling supports are important tools for success.

“To establish an end-to-end BEV supply chain in Canada, we need to expand the production and manufacturing of critical minerals in Canada,” said Pierre Gratton, President and CEO of MAC. “We need battery grade nickel, cobalt, lithium and graphite and we are pleased to see programs and tax measures that we believe can support filling or expanding domestic production of these materials.”

OPINION: Car companies face a chip problem. Soon China will hand them a cobalt problem that might trigger radical ownership moves – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 17, 2021)

April 17, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

U.S. President Joe Biden found out the hard way that supply chain obstacles are bad news for Corporate America. He moved fast to hand US$50-billion to the U.S. semiconductor industry after chip shortages began to shut down auto production.

The chip glitch was a wake-up call for car companies, which had been spoiled by the endless supply of everything they needed to keep their assembly lines rolling – steel, aluminum, copper, rubber, glass, plastic, electronics. Even when their purchasing managers squeezed prices, the supplies kept coming. America the bountiful!

What Mr. Biden and automakers may not fully realize is that the chip shortage may just be the start of their supply problems. That’s because all the auto biggies are converting their fleets to electric power, which essentially means they are becoming battery companies. The economic and strategic risks of this move are enormous.

Reshoring Canada group to advocate for less supply-chain reliance on risky countries – by Steven Chase (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2021)

April 15, 2021April 15, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Former Ontario economic development minister Sandra Pupatello and former federal industry minister Tony Clement are launching a new advocacy group to promote returning critical manufacturing to Canada and rebuilding supply chains so they don’t rely on increasingly risky countries such as China.

The venture, Reshoring Canada, aims to be a non-partisan repository and advocate of ideas to refashion supply chains to make them safer and more secure. It’s been in discussions with the U.S.-based Reshoring Initiative, led by retired U.S. industrialist Harry Moser.

The term “reshoring” refers to the practice of moving businesses operating abroad back to their original country.

First Cobalt’s man with the marketing plan – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 8, 2021)

April 12, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Michael Insulan appointed by cobalt processor to advance offtake strategy

First Cobalt wants to hit the ground running by the time its refurbished northeastern Ontario refinery is fired up by the fall of 2022. The Toronto cobalt processor has appointed Michael Insulan as its vice-president, commercial.

Based in Europe, his strategic priority will be to key in on major battery suppliers, the automotive sector and all things to do with the lithium-ion battery supply chain sector.

Insulan has nearly 20 years of experience in oil and gas, bulk commodities, base and minor metals, working for Royal Dutch Shell, CRU, and Eurasian Resources Group. The last four years, he’s become known as an industry expert on cobalt.

Opposition Wins Greenland Election After Running Against Rare Earths Mine – by Isabella Kwai (New York Times – April 7, 2021)

April 12, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/

Greenland’s left-wing environmentalist party, Inuit Ataqatigiit, won a victory in general elections on Tuesday after campaigning against the development of a contentious rare earths mine partly backed by China.

The party, which had been in the opposition, won 37 percent of the vote over the longtime incumbents, the center-left Siumut party.

The environmentalists will need to negotiate a coalition to form a government, but observers said their election win in Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark that sits on a rich vein of untapped uranium and rare earth minerals, signaled concerns from voters over the impact of mining.

U.S. Faces Uphill Climb to Rival China’s Rare-Earth Magnet Industry – by Alistair MacDonald (Wall Street Journal – April 11, 2021)

April 12, 2021

https://www.wsj.com/

West lags China on both supply and processing of materials key to electric cars and wind turbines

Businesses and governments across the West are gearing up to counter China’s dominance in a key component of modern technology: the magnet.

But the dozens of companies jostling for government support will struggle to establish a supply chain to rival China’s rare-earth magnet industry, which has a decadeslong head start and steadfast state support, analysts and executives say.

Powerful magnets made of rare-earth minerals are essential components in electric-vehicle motors, wind turbines and other technology. China mines over 70% of the world’s rare earths and is responsible for 90% of the complex process of turning them into magnets, analysts say. That dominance gives Beijing sway over makers of various fast-growing technologies.

Mining project in doubt after Greenland opposition wins elections (Yahoo Finance – April 7, 2021)

April 7, 2021

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

An environmentalist party has won snap elections in Greenland, throwing into doubt a controversial project to mine one of the world’s biggest deposits of rare earth metals.

Taking more than a third of the vote, the left-wing opposition Inuit Ataqatigiit party (IA) unseated the social democratic Siumut, which has governed Greenland for decades.

“Thank you to those who trusted us to work with the people in the centre for the next four years,” IA leader Mute Egede said after the results were announced.