Fortescue Metals Group/Wyloo Metals – Page 2

Mining claims have jumped 30% in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire area since 2022 – by Sarah Law (CBC News Thunder Bay – December 11, 2023)

December 11, 2023

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

More than 31,000 mining claims are now registered in the area, data shows

Mining claims staked in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire area have risen by 30 per cent since last year, according to online mining data from the provincial government. The crescent-shaped mineral deposit in the James Bay lowlands has been eyed as a critical source for Ontario’s burgeoning electric vehicle battery industry for years.

But surrounding First Nations say there hasn’t been proper consultation about mining projects on their territories. A number of rallies have been held at Queen’s Park in Toronto this year by members of the First Nations Land Defence Alliance, calling out the province’s free-entry mining system and demanding a meeting with Premier Doug Ford.

Area covered by mining claims in Ontario’s ‘Ring of Fire’ increased by 30 per cent in one year – by Krista Hessey (Global News – December 4, 2023)

December 5, 2023

https://globalnews.ca/

The so-called ‘Ring of Fire’ in Ontario’s far north is expanding in size as mining claims spike in the area. More than 31,000 mining claims have been registered to date, an increase of 28 per cent in a year, according to analysis by Wildlands League, a non-profit conservation group.

The rise in the number of mining claims coincides with more land being taken up by surface rights owners. The claims now cover 626,000 hectares of the remote northern landscape, up 30 per cent from September 2022. The area is now nearly 10 times the size of the City of Toronto or double the Greater Sudbury area, the group says.

Ottawa’s interim plan to regulate large resource projects causing confusion for Ring of Fire stakeholders – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 27, 2023)

October 27, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The federal government’s plan to continue to regulate major resource projects despite a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that says those powers are largely unconstitutional is creating confusion and uncertainty in Ontario’s Ring of Fire. A significant Indigenous stakeholder is making a plea for regulatory certainty, while a major mining company is warning that Canada’s weak standing on the global critical-minerals stage will only get worse.

The Supreme Court said earlier this month that the federal government’s broad-based environmental reviews around large mines and major infrastructure associated with those mines are unconstitutional. Ottawa must limit its oversight to certain defined areas clearly defined in the Constitution, the court said, such as fisheries, the bird population, species at risk and certain Indigenous rights.

Inside the battle over the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario – by Liam Casey (CP24 – October 10, 2023)

October 10, 2023

https://www.cp24.com/

On a rock-covered beach in the heart of the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, Alex Moonias gazes east, then north. All he sees is undisturbed land, water and air. Some 100 kilometres from where he stands, the province plans to build a road as part of its pledge to mine the area, which is said to be rich in metals needed for electric vehicle batteries.

Moonias, an elder from Neskantaga First Nation, and many in his community see the provincial government’s ambitions for the Ring of Fire as an existential threat to their way of life. “Mother Earth is hurting,” the 70-year-old says. “If a big needle is pushing into your body, how would you feel?”

Ring of Fire road projects are ‘sovereignty’ issue, says Anishinaabe documentary filmmaker – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 5, 2023)

October 5, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Thunder Bay’s Tony McGuire wades through the conflict and contradiction of Far North development

When Thunder Bay and Anishinaabe filmmaker Tony McGuire embarked upon a documentary project on the proposed roads to the Ring of Fire, he admittedly struggled with finding a focus. “We weren’t really sure how to tell the story.”

McGuire had been invited by the isolated communities of Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations to take on a lightning rod of a topic among Indigenous people, environmental groups, politicians and industry for the last 15 years.

Ring of Fire nickel could supply half million cars – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Press – October 4, 2023)

October 4, 2023

https://www.timminspress.com/

CEO remains bullish despite ‘ambitious timeline’

Even if the company aiming to begin mining the Ring of Fire meets its very ambitious production start date of 2030, it will still be “late in the game to capture the increase in the demand for nickel.” Wyloo Ring of Fire CEO Kristan Straub made the comment during a Sept 25 “State of Mining” presentation at the Dante Club hosted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.

The worldwide demand for nickel is so great, and the ability for Canada and North America to meet that demand so small, that Straub predicts the world will be moving towards substituting nickel by 2040.

Ring of Fire developer Wyloo Metals rebrands to Wyloo – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 27, 2023)

September 28, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Australian company decides to place its global mineral assets under one banner

Australia’s Wyloo Metals has again rebranded its mineral assets in Ontario’s Ring of Fire. The Perth-headquartered mine developer has decided to place its Canadian and Western Australian mine and exploration properties under the single banner of Wyloo.

Privately owned Wyloo acquired the assets of Toronto’s Noront Resources in April 2022, which comprises the Eagle’s Nest nickel project and its chromite properties, 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

$67 Billion of Rare Minerals Is Buried Under One of the World’s Biggest Carbon Sinks – by Vipal Monga (Wall Street Journal – September 28, 2023)

September 28, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/

A fight is brewing in Canada about how, or whether, to dig out materials essential for EV batteries that lie deep beneath vast peat bogs

The pace of the global transition to electric power depends on the future of a remote region in Canada known as the Ring of Fire.

Located underneath a distant, swampy expanse of spruce forests and meandering rivers in Northern Ontario that is cut off from major roads, the Ring of Fire is seen by industry and government officials as one of the world’s most important untapped sources of nickel, copper and cobalt—metals essential for making the batteries that power electric vehicles.

NEWS RELEASE: Ring of Fire Metals, Wyloo Metals, Mincor Resources combine to become major nickel player, “Wyloo” (Wyloo – September 27, 2023)

September 27, 2023

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Ring of Fire Metals, Wyloo Metals and Mincor Resources and will unify under the brand name Wyloo after becoming the largest pure-play nickel company outside of Russia. Wyloo Metals’ acquisition of Mincor Resources, completed last month, makes Wyloo a producer of high-grade nickel sulphide from its newly acquired Cassini and Northern Operations mines in Kambalda, Western Australia.

The new name also applies to Wyloo’s Canadian subsidiary, formerly Ring of Fire Metals, which owns the high-grade Eagle’s Nest project and the only material chromite resource in North America, in the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario, Canada.

Ring of Fire Metals CEO responds to environmental concerns – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Daily Press – September 27, 2023)

September 27, 2023

https://www.timminspress.com/

Says mining on high ground means minimal impact on peatlands

Kristan Straub provided an update on the development of the Eagle’s Nest Project within the Ring of Fire at a State of Mining luncheon at the Dante Club on Tuesday. Eagle’s Nest is an undeveloped high-grade nickel sulphide project and chromite deposit 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, and is set to be the first critical minerals deposit to be mined in the Ring of Fire region.

The Ring of Fire comprises 5,000 square kilometres, and is rich in critical minerals such as: high-grade nickel, copper, cobalt, platinum group elements and chromite. Critical minerals are so called because they have specific applications in industry and technology and have few substitutes. They are subject to geopolitical and environmental risk because they are geographically concentrated. The world’s biggest supplier of Nickel is Indonesia.

From ‘Ring of Fire’ to Mincor: Twiggy’s nickel dream drives Wyloo boss – by Simon Johanson (Sydney Morning Herald – September 3, 2023)

September 5, 2023

https://www.smh.com.au/

Ask Wyloo Metals boss Luca Giacovazzi, 31, if he’s a bit young to be four years into running a pure-play nickel miner that wrestled control of Canada’s fabled “Ring of Fire” basin from resources giant BHP, and he quips: “Don’t hold it against me.”

As head of Wyloo, Giacovazzi has the ear of mining magnate Andrew Forrest. The $1.5 billion mining and exploration company he has been building with strategic and capital creating deals since 2019 sits alongside Squadron Energy as a prize asset in Forrest’s private investment vehicle Tattarang.

Fortescue CEO Fiona Hick’s sudden departure raises eyebrows – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 28, 2023)

August 28, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) announced on Monday the unexpected departure of its chief executive officer Fiona Hick, who held the post for less than six months and who attended a corporate party on Saturday to mark the iron ore miner’s 20-year anniversary.

Hick, who was scooped up in November last year from oil and gas producer Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS), has been replaced by current chief operating officer for the iron ore division, Dino Otranto. The 49-year-old female executive made her name by pushing the Western Australia’s resource sector to address its sexual harassment and bullying issues while serving as president of the state’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy.

Wyloo will be mining more than nickel at Eagle’s Nest – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 17, 2023)

August 17, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Underground aggregate extraction for Ring of Fire road will deliver both practical and environmental solutions

The proposed Eagle’s Nest mine will “set a new benchmark for what mining could look like” in the Ring of Fire, said its Australian developer.

Luca Giacovazzi, CEO of Wyloo Metals and a director with Ring of Fire Metals (formerly Noront Resources), revealed some of their innovative engineering solutions last week at the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum, a leading industry bash held at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

Juukan Gorge owners PKKP and Fortescue negotiate land use deal – by David Prestipino (National Indigenous Times – July 13, 2023)

July 14, 2023

https://nit.com.au/

Fortescue Metals and PKKP Aboriginal Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding they hope will lead to join management of current and future projects on Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura lands. The PKKP holds native title over nearly 11,000sqm of sparsely populated land west of Karijini National Park, including FMG’s Eliwana mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The corporation was highly critical of Rio Tinto after the miner destroyed 46,000-year-old heritage-listed rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in May 2020, against the wishes of the PKKP people, who were unaware of the company’s intentions until it was too late.

The flame bearer: Kristan Straub, chief executive officer, Ring of Fire Metals – by Mehanaz Yakub (CIM Magazine – July 04, 2023)

July 14, 2023

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Kristan Straub’s path to becoming the newly appointed CEO of Ring of Fire Metals was influenced by both nature and nurture.

With both his maternal and paternal grandfathers working in the mining industry and living in Falconbridge in Greater Sudbury, the allure of the local mine, mill and smelter naturally captivated his interest as a boy.