International laws prohibit the trade of diamonds from countries in conflict, but for now, it is impossible to be certain of the origin of the precious stones. A Polish laboratory has found the solution.
Could the diamond in your engagement ring come from a country in conflict, like Russia? Not legally, and there is now a technology developed by a European project in Poland that could prevent it from happening illegally in the future.
Russia has captured two of Ukraine’s four lithium deposits since it launched its all-out invasion in 2022, potentially depriving Kyiv of a key economic resource.
On January 11, Russia claimed to have seized control of Shevchenko, a rural settlement in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The settlement sits on top of one of Ukraine’s biggest lithium deposits.
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Bart Édes is a professor of practice at the Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University, and a distinguished fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He is the author of Learning from Tomorrow: Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption.
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is apparently in an expansionist mood. Coercing Canada to become part of the United States through “economic force” is not the only such threat he has made. Mr. Trump has also revived his idea of taking over the self-governing Danish territory of Greenland, which during his first term he had mused about buying. On Jan. 7, Donald Trump Jr. travelled to Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, to bring attention to his father’s expressed wish to take over the world’s largest island.
Russia’s Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and a major producer of refined nickel, on Friday said it plans to sell everything it produces in 2025, despite challenging conditions in the metals markets.
Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, though restrictions against Moscow have prompted some Western companies to avoid buying Russian metal and complicated payment flows, leading Nornickel to redirect sales to Asia.
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Lundin Mining Corp. is selling two aging European mines for up to US$1.52-billion to Swedish mining company Boliden AB as it improves its balance sheet and raises cash to fund its South American copper growth strategy.
Vancouver-based Lundin is set to receive US$1.37-billion in cash when the deal closes, with an additional US$150-million to come if copper and zinc prices trade above certain levels over the next couple of years.
Norway has paused its controversial plans to mine the seabed in Arctic-reaching territorial waters after the Socialist Left Party (SV), a small left-wing environmentalist group, secured an agreement to delay the initiative in exchange for supporting the national budget.
The government had intended to issue its first deep-sea mining exploration licenses in early 2025. Under pressure from the SV, preparatory work has been now slowed, with the government highlighting that it would continue work on environmental impact assessments and regulatory frameworks.
(Kitco News) – With 100 tons in gold purchases in 2024, the central bank of Poland has become the number one sovereign buyer of the yellow metal. But the country is not alone, as the Russia-Ukraine war has forced the Czechs, Serbs, and Hungarians to also bolster their reserves.
While the focus for much of the year was on China’s massive central bank gold purchases – and then on their move to the sidelines as prices hit record highs – the nations of Eastern Europe have quietly emerged as the biggest buyers of the precious metal, and the biggest back stoppers of the gold rally.
The European Union (EU) has called out the behavior of Kimberley Process (KP) chair Ahmed Bin Sulayem at the most recent plenary, as well as the meeting’s failure to address a long-standing concern.
The union was disappointed that the plenary, which took place from November 11 to 15, failed to address the implications of the Russian war against Ukraine on the global rough-diamond sector for the third year, it said Monday. The omission has a detrimental impact on the credibility of the KP and on the reputation of natural diamonds, undermining consumer confidence, the EU explained.
Russian State-funded private military company (PMC) Wagner Group is one of the greatest beneficiaries of illicit gold trading, a new report published by the World Gold Council (WGC) shows.
According to the report, penned by former UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, estimates suggest the PMC earned more than $2.5-billion from illicit gold mining since the invasion of Ukraine alone, which has been funnelled back into the Russian war machine.
Russia is temporarily limiting exports of enriched uranium to the US, creating potential supply risks to utilities operating American reactors that generate almost a fifth of the country’s electricity.
The Russian government didn’t provide details of the restrictions or their duration in a Friday statement on Telegram. Utilities tend to make purchases well in advance, so any impact is unlikely to be immediate.
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The humble bird, which was employed until 1986, represents an important part of mining history
Never mind the gas—it was automation that got them in the end. Throughout much of the 20th century, chirping canaries were staples of the coal mining industry. As coal miners descended into the earth—entering a harsh environment often home to poisonous gases like carbon monoxide—they would bring the yellow birds along as safety mechanisms.
Because carbon monoxide is clear and odorless, miners needed a method for detecting a leak before it killed them. In the mine, a canary’s collapse let workers know there was poisonous gas in the air and gave them some warning time to evacuate.
Niger has called on Russian firms to directly invest in uranium and other natural resource production, following the collapse of relations with former colonial ruler France and the eviction of French nuclear giant Orano from the country
Niger’s recent diplomatic shift away from France towards Russia has marked a turning point in the nation’s resource management strategy, particularly concerning its abundant uranium reserves.
Following the military coup in July 2023, which resulted in the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s military junta has been taking increasingly bold steps to redefine its international partnerships, especially in the critical mining sector.
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George Christidis is the interim chief executive of the Canadian Nuclear Association. Heather Exner-Pirot is the director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
Advocates of nuclear energy tout its environmental and economic benefits, but there are also compelling geopolitical reasons to pursue nuclear.
Energy security concerns have thrust nuclear forward as a critical solution for many countries traditionally dependent on, or integrated with, Russian nuclear energy and gas supplies. Their desire to disentangle their energy systems from Russia presents Canada the opportunity to use its nuclear expertise and supply chain to contribute to European energy security.
Geopolitical challenges, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China-US competition, elections and the war in Israel, significantly impact the global supply chain, especially critical raw materials vital for traditional industries, defence, high-tech sectors, aerospace and green energy.
Democracies rely on essential critical raw materials such as nickel, lithium and aluminium. The market for critical minerals has doubled to over $320 billion in the last five years and is expected to double again in the next five.
Velta LLC unveiled a groundbreaking method for titanium production, marking a significant departure from the traditional Kroll method established in 1940.
Renowned for its exceptional tensile strength, lightweight nature, biocompatibility, and resistance to extreme temperatures, titanium is highly valued across various industries. Despite its advantages, the environmental toll and the lack of adaptability of traditional production methods have long been limitations. Ukraine boasts one of the world’s most abundant titanium reserves, critical to its economy but recently compromised by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
“The war has had an extremely negative impact on Ukraine’s titanium industry. However, we’ve already invested more than $7 million and continue attracting investments, which are now at the stage of negotiations. We saw an opportunity to rethink how titanium is produced. The result is so innovative, it deserves to be an element of its own.” — Andriy Brodskyy, founder and CEO, Velta LLC
