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In Potential Russia Sanctions Removal, Diamonds Illustrate the Complexities – by Brad Brooks-Rubin (Just Security – April 10, 2025)

https://www.justsecurity.org/

Amid intense uncertainty and speculation about the future of sanctions related to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, companies across all sectors are beginning to imagine what a future of sanctions relief may mean for them.

One of those sectors is that of mining and sales of natural diamonds, which is navigating a number of major challenges, only some of which are directly or indirectly connected to business involving Russia. In any case, what happens in the diamond industry related to Russia could be particularly instructive for other sectors because of its exposure to Western consumers, the physical capability of tracing the product along the supply chain from beginning to end, and its experience with mechanisms intended to improve and promote standards for responsible business.

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America’s long Arctic love affair is culminating in Trump’s designs on Greenland – by Peter Harmsen (Globe and Mail – April 2, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Peter Harmsen is a journalist and the author of Fury and Ice: Greenland, the United States and Germany in World War II.

The historically minded among us may have sensed a certain déjà vu this weekend when U.S. President Donald Trump talked to NBC News about the role military force could play in gaining control of Greenland, currently an autonomous territory of long-time ally Denmark: “I don’t take anything off the table.”

After all, in 1940, when the Americans were slowly waking up from their isolationist slumber to side with the Western democracies in the struggle against fascism, they took a break from this grand mission to threaten Canada and Britain with armed might to keep Greenland to themselves.

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Why UK is close to becoming only G7 nation without steel production ability – by Rishabh Sharma (Business Standard – March 31, 2025)

https://www.business-standard.com/

The United Kingdom, once the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, now faces a major crisis in its steel industry. British Steel has announced plans to close its two blast furnaces and steelmaking operations in Scunthorpe, a move that threatens up to 2,700 jobs and marks the end of more than 160 years of steel production in the town.

The company, owned by China’s Jingye Group, has cited financial losses of £700,000 per day as well as economic pressures including tariffs and rising environmental costs. The decision has been met with strong criticism from trade unions, who have described it as “devastating”.

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Column: Europe’s future metals strategy hindered by current crisis – by Andy Home (Reuters – March 31, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

The European Commission has identified 47 strategic projects which it hopes will kickstart the region’s critical minerals sector and reduce its dependence on imports, particularly from China. But even as European policymakers work to build a future industrial base, they are facing a crisis in the region’s existing metals sector.

Chinese over-capacity and high energy prices have accelerated the long-term decline of European steel and aluminum production. The latest threat, however, is coming from the United States. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, particularly the increased tariff on aluminum imports, risk displacing a flood of metal into Europe.

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EU selects 47 strategic projects to secure critical minerals access – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 25, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The European Union (EU) has published its first list of strategic projects strengthening the local extraction, processing, and recycling of 14 of the 17 materials it deems critical for its energy transition and security.

The selection of the 47 projects mark a key step in implementing the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which sets targets for 2030, including extracting 10% of the EU’s annual consumption, processing 40%, and recycling 25% of these essential materials.

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OPINION: Trump is right to fear a Canada-Europe team-up. But Canada must rise to the challenge first – by Aaron Burnett (Globe and Mail – March 28, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Aaron Burnett is a German-Canadian geopolitics and security analyst based at Berlin’s Democratic Strategy Initiative.

The spectre of a deeper trade relationship between Canada and Europe keeps U.S. President Donald Trump up at night – if his latest social-media rant threatening higher tariffs on both is any clue.

And that means, all the more, that Canada must seek closer ties to Europe. Mr. Trump is a man who defers to strength and bullies the weak. If a Canada-Europe team-up strikes such a raw nerve, then that means it’s the right move.

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Spain eyes boom in ‘neglected’ strategic mining sector – by Valentin Bontemps (CBS 19 News – March 20, 2025)

https://www.cbs19news.com/

Spain is aiming to tap its unexplored strategic mining resources as the European Union urgently seeks to ramp up production, but local resistance could frustrate the government’s plans. The European mining heavyweight has 2,600 mines generating 3.5 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in annual revenue and is the second-largest EU producer of copper and magnesite, but sector specialists believe its potential is largely untapped.

“Spain possesses huge wealth in its subsoil” and “must continue investigating” to quantify it, said Ester Boixereu, a geologist and natural resources specialist at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain.

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Putin Allies Woo Trump with Rare Earth Mineral Deposits – by Brendan Cole and John Feng (Newsweek Magazine – March 19, 2025)

https://www.newsweek.com/

Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin has said he is wants to ramp up exploration of rare earth reserves in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine, hinting that “foreign partners” may be brought into the fold amid the Trump-drive thaw.

Potanin, who owns the metallurgical giant Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) and like most oligarchs in Russia, has close links with President Vladimir Putin, said there are many resources in Russia which remain unexplored.

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In a world rattled by Trump, Greenland’s election finds itself in a curious place: centre stage – by Paul Waldie (Globe and Mail – March 10, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It’s hard to imagine that a regional election involving 41,000 voters selecting 31 MPs would merit much international attention. But all eyes will be on Greenland on Tuesday when voters across the island elect a new parliament and grapple with the question of sovereignty.

Ever since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January, Greenland’s future has been thrown into question. Mr. Trump has demanded that the U.S. annex the ice-covered territory, which has been part of Denmark for centuries.

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Greenlanders say no to Trump as rare earths loom over coalition talks – by Jakob Weizman (Politico Europe – March 12, 2025)

https://www.politico.eu/

Election throws up surprise result as independence from Denmark remains tough to define.

Greenland had a message for Donald Trump as islanders went to the polls this week: thanks, but no thanks.

The U.S. president’s repeated noises about acquiring the vast Arctic island — not ruling out military force or economic coercion — were rejected at the ballot box, as a party that denounced Trump’s ambitions came out on top.

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The Cornish miners taking on China in global race for minerals – by Ben Cooke (The Times – March 13, 2025)

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/

There are plans to mine the ‘Cornish alps’ reserves for use in EVs and the energy system, but not everyone is so bullish about their viability

“This area is affectionately known as the Cornish alps,” says Neil Elliot, pointing at a spike-shaped mound in the hills above St Austell. “The peaks round here are all man-made. They’re waste left over from the old china clay mines.”

The mines are mostly closed now, put out of business by competition from Brazil, but Elliot is part of a new rush for the riches in this landscape. If your kitchen has a granite work surface, you can probably see those riches for yourself. The tiny brown flecks in Cornwall’s granite contain a mineral for which the world has a sudden and ravenous appetite: lithium.

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What’s so special about Ukraine’s minerals? A geologist explains – by Munira Raji (The Conversation – March 10, 2025)

https://theconversation.com/

Ukraine’s minerals have become central to global geopolitics, with the US president, Donald Trump, seeking a deal with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to access them. But what are these minerals exactly and why are they so sought after? Ukraine is often recognised for its vast agricultural lands and industrial heritage, but beneath its surface lies one of the world’s most remarkable geological formations, the “Ukrainian Shield”.

This massive, exposed crystalline rock formed over 2.5 billion years ago, stretches across much of Ukraine. It represents one of Earth’s oldest and most stable continental blocks. The formation has undergone multiple episodes of mountain building, the formation and movement of magma and other change throughout time.

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Trump, Zelenskyy nix minerals deal – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – February 28, 2025)

Global mining news

United States President Donald Trump and his Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy cancelled a mineral rights and security agreement at the White House on Friday after a news conference degenerated into a rare spectacle of raised voices and name-calling.

The deal would have been a showpiece for Trump’s transactional presidency and another sign of the resource nationalism that’s swept the globe in recent years as countries transition away from fossil fuels. The scrubbed signing comes as overt U.S. support for Nato declines and Trump pushes for a stronger European role in its own defence.

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Putin Dangles Rare Earths Deals for U.S. in Russia and Occupied Ukraine (New York Times – February 24, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

In an interview broadcast on Monday, President Vladimir Putin said U.S. companies stood to profit in Russia, but suggested a Ukraine peace deal was still far off.

President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday said American companies could do lucrative business deals in Russia and even help mine rare earths in Russian-occupied Ukraine, further amplifying the Kremlin’s message to President Trump that there was money to be made from a better relationship with Moscow.

Mr. Putin, in an interview with Russian state television that was released late Monday, said that Russia had an “order of magnitude” more rare earth metals than Ukraine and that Moscow was “ready to work with our foreign partners, including the Americans,” in developing those deposits.

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US, Ukraine ramp up talks on minerals deal during envoy trip – by Daryna Krasnolutska and Alberto Nardelli (Bloomberg News – February 21, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Ukrainian and US negotiators are seeking to move past the breakdown in transatlantic relations this week to finalize a deal on critical minerals, a person with knowledge of the talks said.

Two days after President Donald Trump hectored President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “dictator” who needed to move quickly on a peace deal, Ukrainian officials are discussing the minerals issue with US special envoy Keith Kellogg during a visit to Kyiv, the person said on condition of anonymity as talks take place behind closed doors.

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