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WYLOO NEWS RELEASE: Canada’s First Downstream Battery Materials Processing Facility to be Built in Sudbury (May 29, 2024)

GREATER SUDBURY, May 29, 2024 – Wyloo has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Greater Sudbury to secure a parcel of land to build a downstream battery materials processing facility. The new facility will fill a critical gap in Canada’s electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain by establishing Canada’s first mine-to-precursor cathode active material (pCAM) integrated solution.

Wyloo CEO Canada Kristan Straub said the facility would provide the missing piece in Canada’s aspirations to develop a domestic EV battery supply chain, by producing low-carbon nickel sulphate and nickel-dominant pCAM, key ingredients for EV batteries.

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Mining billionaire Forrest urges China to demand greener nickel – by Joe Leahy, Nic Fildes and A. Anantha Lakshmi (Financial Times – April 7, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Australian magnate points finger at ‘irresponsible’ standards for processing in Indonesia

Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has called on China to demand higher environmental standards from its global supply chain, particularly its companies conducting nickel processing in Indonesia, an industry he accused of “complete environmental irresponsibility”.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Forrest — the chair and largest shareholder of Fortescue Metals Group — said electric vehicle manufacturers should be wary of Indonesian nickel, which he said was being extracted at immense cost to the environment.

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Proponents see northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire opposition melting like ice roads – Colin McCelland (Northern Miner – April 4, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Construction timelines remain fuzzy but proponents are still optimistic two and half years into studying roads to serve the Ring of Fire critical minerals region in northern Ontario.

Three all-season roads totalling 362 km are planned for the area 540 km northeast of Thunder Bay. The main highway would start at the end of a forestry road north of Aroland First Nation and the village of Nakina and head to the Ring of Fire. One branch would run to the Marten Falls First Nation to the east while another would connect to the Webequie First Nation to the west.

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PDAC: Faster permitting key to advancing critical mineral projects, panel warns – by Blair McBride (Northern Miner – March 6, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Governments must help cut permitting and production timelines if Canada is to produce enough minerals to reach net zero goals by 2050, says the CEO of Ring of Fire project developer Wyloo Metals Canada.

“There are a lot of projects near to approval. The big ask is the shortening of the time frame,” Kristan Straub, CEO of Wyloo Metals Canada said on Monday at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention in Toronto.

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Ontario poised to become community builders in the Ring of Fire – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 5, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Province doubles down on Far North roads, infrastructure during PDAC week

The Ontario government is prepared to jump into the community infrastructure construction business for those First Nations already on board with mine development in the Ring of Fire. Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations signed a Community Development Agreement with the province at the PDAC mining show in Toronto, March 5.

No monetary figures were included in a news release but a general list of “shovel-ready infrastructure projects” deemed eligible to receive provincial support included health and training facilities, recreation centres, grocery stores, upgrades to nursing stations, commercial buildings and labour force development programs.

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PDAC 2024: First Nations manage tricky work of Indigenous consultation on Ring of Fire road – by Blair McBride (Northern Miner – March 5, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Consultations continue with northern Ontario First Nations who are opposed to mining activity in the remote Ring of Fire region. The Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations are the only two in the region to voice support for road and mining projects, while others such as the Neskantaga, Grassy Narrows, Wapekeka, and Big Trout Lake First Nations oppose the projects due to environmental concerns.

“We need community support and for us to be ready for mining development and large projects in our area,” said Marten Falls First Nation chief Bruce Achneepineskum on Tuesday at a Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) seminar. “It’s all part of what we call meaningful participation and taking the lead on these large scale projects. (In the past) we were treated as minorities without significant say on our traditional lands.”

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Passing though the Ring of Fire: Recent developments – by Atherine Hercus (Canadian Mining Journal – March 2, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

According to the Wildlands League website, a non-profit conservation group, the number of mining claims in the Ring of Fire has increased by over 28% since September 2022. The claims now cover approximately 626,000 hectares, nearly 10 times the size of the city of Toronto.

As of December 2023, there were 33,074 mining claims in the area according to the Ontario ministry of mines. As of September 2023, Juno Corp., a Toronto based mining company is the largest claim holder with more than 17,000 mining claims covering approximately 333,000 hectares. The company holds exploration drilling permits at two sites.

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Forrests forced to prop up struggling nickel business as prices slide – by Peter Ker and Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – February 6, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

The billionaire Forrest family has tipped another $31 million into its privately held Australian nickel business amid expectations it will burn cash and face an impairment.

Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s private Wyloo vehicle paid more than $700 million to acquire Mincor Resources last year, but has already been forced to announce closure of the mines following a significant slump in the nickel price. Mincor was also affected by product quality issues linked to higher than expected arsenic levels in the nickel ore.

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OPINION: End the runaround on the Ring of Fire – by Editorial Board (Globe and Mail – January 25, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

More than 16 years have passed since a small mining company discovered a rich nickel deposit in a remote part of northern Ontario and christened the region with a name that has stuck: the Ring of Fire.

Successive governments and companies have touted the potential of the region, entranced by optimistic estimates of tens of billions of dollars of minerals – including those critical to electric vehicle battery production – buried in the wetlands.

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Ring of Fire Metals CEO provides update – by Austin Campbell (SNnewswatch.com – January 24, 2024)

https://www.snnewswatch.com/

Businesses and organizations from Thunder Bay and throughout the North heard a presentation from Ring of Fire Metals CEO Kristan Straub at the Italian Cultural Centre on Jan. 23.

THUNDER BAY — Kristan Straub provided an update on the proposed Eagle’s Nest mining project on Tuesday at the Italian Cultural Centre. The chief executive officer of Ring of Fire Metals delivered a presentation describing how far the project has come.

Ring of Fire Metals is the Canadian subsidiary of Australian company, Wyloo Metals. One concern about the Eagle’s Nest project is the fact that it is being built on treaty-protected lands, meaning any development in the region needs to happen in consultation with and approval from surrounding First Nations communities.

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Wyloo Metals CEO gives update on Ring of Fire mining projects, though First Nations resistance continues – by Michelle Allan (CBC News Thunder Bay – January 23, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Some First Nations still opposed to development as need for critical minerals grows

As the demand for critical minerals grows, the CEO of the main company involved in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire says it’s developing a nickel deposit that could be producing minerals for two decades.

Wyloo Metals CEO Kristan Straub gave the update Tuesday in a speech to business leaders in Thunder Bay, where he outlined the company’s plans for the Ring of Fire and discussed how his company is engaging with First Nations in the region now and into the future. “[Eagle’s Nest] is Canada’s best opportunity for a new nickel sulphide deposit,” Straub said.

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Forrest shuts WA mines as nickel dominoes tumble – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – January 22, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

Billionaire Andrew Forrest is shutting the West Australian nickel mines his private company, Wyloo, bought for $760 million six months ago, bowing to the supply glut that has crashed nickel prices and triggered the loss of around 1000 jobs across WA.

The mines near Kambalda will go into care and maintenance from May 31 amid a steep decline in nickel prices that Australia’s producers have blamed on a glut from China-backed operations in Indonesia. Dr Forrest wants to see a shake-up of the 147-year-old London Metals Exchange, which does not distinguish pricing for nickel material produced under high environmental, social and governance standards in Australia, and what he calls dirty nickel mined from Indonesia.

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Comparison of Attawapiskat, Webequie and Marten Falls First Nations in Ring of Fire – by Stan Sudol (RepublicOfMining.com – January 10, 2024)

This column first appeared on the website LAW360 Canada which gives news and analysis on legal developments including litigation filings, case settlements, verdicts, regulation, enforcement, legislation and corporate deals. https://www.law360.ca/ca/

Columnists representing Attawapiskat, on Ontario’s James Bay coast – 500 kms north of Timmins – have recently written some op/ed pieces on the Ring of Fire. These columns that have left out some basic facts about the mineral-rich region, whose traditional territories the nickel/copper/chromite deposits are on, and previous industrial developments that might be considered inconvenient truths.

The Hudson Bay Lowlands is about the size of Norway and without a doubt plays a key role in capturing carbon emissions. Roughly 10, 000 people live in small First Nations communities like Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Kashechewan or regional service towns like Moosonee and Churchill, Manitoba. During the 1930s, two railroads were constructed to Moosonee and Churchill, while their collective and cumulative impacts on the ecosystem was insignificant.

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How reconciliation is tied up in the Ring of Fire – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 31, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In remote Ontario, Marten Falls First Nation hopes to move past more than 100 years of subjugation, as it opens the door to critical minerals development and an all-season road that will change their lives

As crazy hectic as your life may be, it likely doesn’t hold a candle to that of Bruce Achneepineskum. He is chief of Marten Falls First Nation, an extremely remote Anishinaabe community on the banks of the Albany River in Ontario’s far north, about 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. As chief, Mr. Achneepineskum wears many hats. He oversees his council. He’s a mentor, a spiritual figure, an artist and a fire marshal. He’s a father of two grown children from his first wife, and of a 17-month-old boy with his current partner.

The needs in Marten Falls are immediate and stark. There is a severe shortage of homes. A boil-water advisory has been in place for 18 years. There are endemic social problems that never seem to go away – youth suicide, alcoholism and opioid addiction.

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March: Updates on critical mining in northern Ontario – by By Norm Tollinsky (Canadian Mining Journal – December 21, 2023)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

When George Pirie, Ontario’s mines minister, closes his eyes and imagines what a resurgent northern Ontario mining industry will look like five years from now, he might see new nickel mines in Sudbury and Timmins, a battery industrial park in Cobalt, haul trucks transporting nickel concentrate on the recently completed road from the Ring of Fire, and multiple lithium mines and processing facilities in northwestern Ontario.

It is a good bet that much of the scenario will indeed materialize. The drills are confirming that the resources are there, the environmental assessments are progressing, and meetings with battery manufacturers and the automobile industry are resulting in offtake agreements.

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