https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Canada is set to take a far more protectionist trade stance against China, as it teams up with the United States and other Western countries in a concerted effort to secure supplies of critical minerals that are key to a lower carbon future.
Since the early 2000s, China has directed its state-owned companies to invest abroad to secure long-term supplies of critical minerals and it has invested billions in Canada as part of that program.
https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/
The word cobalt came from kobold, a variant of the German word kobalos, a satyr and shape-shifter of Greek mythology who mocked the work of humans. By the Middle Ages, miners in the dark depths reported that touching the metal burned their fingertips, a sure sign that demons were watching them. And so the “demon metal” it became.
Cobalt – with a capital C – is synonymous with the silver rush of over a hundred years ago in northern Ontario. The town of Cobalt got its start when silver was discovered in 1903, and that mining rush outshone any gold rush in the previous 200 years.
(Bloomberg) — Democratic Republic of Congo could see about 10 new mines for metals key to powering the green-energy transition within four years, according to the director of the country’s mining registry.
About 500 of the nation’s mining permits are in advanced development and will soon lead to new projects for lithium and cobalt — battery metals driving the electric vehicle revolution — while mines for copper, tin, tantalum and tungsten will also be built, Jean Felix Mupande told a conference in the southeast city of Lubumbashi. Congo is already the world’s No. 1 cobalt producer and Africa’s biggest copper miner.
Oluwole Ojewale, Institute for Security Studies
For the full report: https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2022-05-03-research-paper-29-rev.pdf
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is rich in natural resources – its untapped deposits of minerals are estimated to be worth US$24 trillion. Gold, diamonds, cobalt and zinc are among them.
Another strategic mineral mined in the DRC is coltan – a name derived from “columbite-tantalite”. In 2021, the DRC’s coltan production amounted to an estimated 700 tonnes, making the Central African country the world’s largest coltan producer by far.
Mike Crabtree hopes Saskatchewan will serve as a catalyst for the rare earth elements industry. “The actual demand for rare earths is going to hockey stick literally over the next 10 years and Saskatchewan has the opportunity to be a major producer,” said Crabtree, president and CEO of the Saskatchewan Research Council.
Crabtree made his comments at Nutrien Tower in Saskatoon on a panel for Saskatchewan Mining Week. He said all 17 rare earth elements can be found in Saskatchewan. They are used in products such as cell phones, televisions, computers, vehicles and wind turbines.
The Fair Cobalt Alliance is aiming to raise $20 million by 2025 to help develop a responsible and fair supply of artisanally-mined cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo to harness the potential of this sector, with industry needing to back up its words with financial commitment, David Sturmes, the alliance’s Corporate Engagement and Strategic Partnerships Lead, told S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The FCA was set up in August 2020 to help bring about change in the DRC’s artisan mining sector and currently has 24 members, including Glencore, Google and Tesla. In April it launched an advisory board, which will provide and publish independent feedback on its approaches and strategy, as part of the FCA’s commitment to transparency.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Looming battery electric vehicle demand has Glencore on a metals recycling kick
As much as Ontario is ready to reap the rewards of the anticipated boom in battery electric vehicles (BEV) in the next 10 years and beyond, the move to go green is not as rosy as it might seem.
That was revealed during the two-day BEV conference held at Science North in Sudbury to explore the future of the BEV industry. On the first day of the conference, it was revealed the province has a virtual treasure trove of all the right minerals — nickel, lithium, cobalt, and copper — right here in Northern Ontario.
Move over, globalization. Step aside, on-shoring and re-shoring. Make room for friend-shoring — and its inevitable higher prices and geopolitical fallout, Heather Scoffield writes.
Move over, globalization. Step aside, on-shoring and re-shoring. Make room for friend-shoring — and its inevitable higher prices and geopolitical fallout.
The federal government’s recent decision to ban Huawei from Canada’s 5G network is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to exposing the pros and cons of realigning your economic policy to favour your friends and shun everyone else.
https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/
A new call for proposals by the federal government for critical minerals development has the support of many people in the industry. It’s called the Critical Minerals Research Development and Demonstration program (CMRDD) and it’s looking to infuse another $11 million worth of funding.
It’s part of $47.7 million announced in Budget 2021 for federal research and development. It will fund applications that demonstrate the ability to reduce energy and carbon intensity. The projects will also reduce the environmental footprint of processing, increase production and provide innovative advancements.
Global demand for energy transition resources creating huge opportunity for B.C. miners
In 2014, the Stephen Harper Conservative government rejected the New Prosperity mine project, said to be one of Canada’s largest undeveloped copper deposits.
Now, the Justin Trudeau government is so anxious to secure a domestic supply of critical minerals and metals, including copper, that it earmarked $3.8 billion in the recent federal budget to implement a new critical minerals strategy.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The need to secure new sources of metals for the energy transition amid sanctions on top producer Russia has increased the Africa risk appetite for major miners, who have few alternatives to the resource-rich continent.
Companies and investors are considering projects they may have previously overlooked, while governments are also looking to Africa, anxious to ensure their countries can procure enough metals to feed an accelerating net-zero push.
https://www.businesslive.co.za/
Facility is being revived to extract the metal that is used in technologies ranging from chips to electric vehicles
Sangdong — Blue tungsten winking from the walls of abandoned mine shafts, in a town that’s seen better days, could be a catalyst for South Korea’s bid to break China’s dominance of critical minerals and stake its claim to the raw materials of the future.
The mine in Sangdong, 180km southeast of Seoul, is being brought back from the dead to extract the rare metal that’s found fresh value in the digital age in technologies ranging from phones and chips to electric vehicles and missiles.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
The global nickel squeeze should turn the world’s critical mineral attention on this region, says mining columnist Stan Sudol
The big splash agreement that Elon Musk and his Tesla car company made last week with Brazilian miner Vale should have a ripple effect in the nickel-rich Sudbury basin and across Northern Ontario, according to a Toronto-based mining columnist.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to highlight the enormous potential of the Sudbury basin for clean, low-carbon nickel,” said Stan Sudol, owner of the Republic of Mining website, who heaped praise on the Tesla CEO.
Bernard Swiecki, research director at Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive
Research, said Canada has a “secret sauce” of ingredients that make it
particularly well suited for battery investment. Northern Ontario’s
“Ring of Fire” contains virtually all the critical minerals needed
to produce advanced vehicle batteries.
Stunned by Ford Motor Co.’s decision to invest $11.4 billion in electric vehicle assembly and battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky, Michigan in December created a $1 billion fund to lure new electric vehicle operations to Michigan.
An even bigger concern voiced by policymakers and local economic developers was that aggressive southern states were going to steal Michigan’s signature auto industry with huge financial incentives unless the state sweetened its economic development money pot.
Canada must ‘learn from other market-oriented liberal democracies,’ when it comes to the development of our critical mineral sector, says Conservative resources critic Greg McLean.
The federal government’s recent $3.8-billion budget proposal to develop Canada’s increasingly important critical minerals sector has been met with support from industry experts.
But David Billedeau, senior director of natural resources and environmental sustainability at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, says it’s still “the start of a very long journey—other countries are more advanced in this space than Canada, and we need to catch up.”
