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Latin America Mining

Panama’s High Court Prizes Ecosystems Over Copper Mining. The Impact? – by Ken Silverstein (Forbes Magazine – January 15, 2024)

https://www.forbes.com/

Panama’s Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a government copper contract with a Canadian company, triggering an ongoing ripple effect. On the surface, it may bode poorly for the renewable energy cause. However, after a little more digging — no pun intended — it may be a net plus for developing countries.

Raw materials such as copper, cobalt, and lithium are central to the renewable energy revolution — the construction of everything from windmills and solar panels to electric vehicle batteries. But producers dig for the natural resources in poorer countries while conglomerates potentially get rich by building high-value end products.

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Grupo Mexico weighs bid for First Quantum’s Spanish mine – by Jacob Lorinc, Dinesh Nair and Archie Hunter (Bloomberg News – January 11, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Grupo Mexico is among several firms considering bids to buy a Spanish copper mine from First Quantum Minerals Ltd., as the Canadian metals producer seeks to bolster its balance sheet after its flagship mine in Panama was ordered to shut down.

First Quantum initiated a process to sell its Las Cruces mine in southern Spain in December after the sudden closure of the Cobre Panama mine left the company facing financial uncertainty, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Las Cruces, one of First Quantum’s smallest operations, is valued at less than US$1 billion, the people said.

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Blinded, sexually assaulted, silenced: the war over lithium, Argentina’s ‘white gold’ – by Harriet Barber (The Guardian – January 11, 2024)

https://www.theguardian.com/

In the country’s ‘lithium triangle’ activists say Indigenous land protections have been removed and protests against mining violently repressed

The first time, they came at 2am and without a warrant. Rosa* was alone. She was gagged, her eyes covered, and her hands bound with a cable tie. “I was paralysed. I felt someone choking me,” Rosa recalls. “They called me a socialist, a whore. I was in my underwear; they touched me. One put his fingers inside of me.”

It was the night after widespread protests against sweeping changes to the constitution in Jujuy, a northern Argentine province. The reforms were approved in the early hours behind closed doors, affecting two articles: one limiting the right to demonstrate and the other modifying the right to Indigenous lands, with the undeclared aim of facilitating lithium mining.

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Is First Quantum a takeover target? Here we go again – by David Berman (Globe and Mail – January 6, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. has begun 2024 looking like a winning stock, but its early rebound may add another layer of risk to an investment that has been reeling from setbacks related to the company’s huge copper mine in Panama.

Just ask anyone who jumped on the rally by Laurentian Bank of Canada last July, in the hope of a bidding war for the struggling lender. By the time the bank announced six weeks later that no buyer had emerged, the shares were down nearly 30 per cent.

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Barrick considering new takeover offer for First Quantum, report says – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 4, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is reportedly considering a fresh takeover bid for embattled Canadian copper miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd., after making an earlier approach in the middle of last year.

According to a report on Wednesday, Toronto-based Barrick contacted some of First Quantum’s biggest shareholders late last year to ascertain their interest in a takeover. Barrick would need their support in the event of a transaction.

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Barrick sounds out First Quantum holders on possible bid – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Alfred Cang (Bloomberg News – January 3, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Barrick Gold Corp. has spoken with some of First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s major investors to gauge their support for a potential takeover, after the sudden closure of its flagship mine left the Canadian copper producer reeling and wiped out more than half its market value.

Barrick chief executive officer Mark Bristow approached some of First Quantum’s largest investors late last year, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified as the talks were private. It wasn’t immediately clear if Barrick has made a fresh approach to First Quantum, and there’s no guarantee it will make a formal offer.

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Society Watch: Across the globe, indigenous rights are being trampled in lithium goldrush – by Mark Hillsdon (Reuters – January 2, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

January 2 – Lithium has been called the new white gold, a mineral seen as key to global decarbonisation, thanks to its use in lithium-ion batteries and their role powering EVs. But mining the mineral is proving controversial, as indigenous groups question what they stand to gain in the push for a just energy transition.

Standing outside the Palace of Justice in Buenos Aires, Olmos Desiderio feels betrayed. “We have been let down by the government for the last five hundred years, since colonisation,” he says. “Indigenous people are not properly consulted.”

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Hunger for gold means the Amazon has reached ‘tipping point’ of mercury contamination from illegal mining – by Maya Fernandez (CBC News World – December 28, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/

Illegal gold mining in the Amazon has intensified, with one expert calling it a ‘transnational crime’

The rising value of gold worldwide has amplified illegal mining in the Amazon, where liquid mercury is being dumped in the Amazon River and causing scientists to warn that Indigenous communities and the environment could pay a far greater price.

Three weeks ago, Colombia, Brazil and the United States partnered up to destroy 19 illegal gold mining dredges in the Amazon Rainforest. According to Reuters, the dredges were producing about $1.9 million Cdn in gold.

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AngloGold Ashanti invests in G2 Goldfields as Guyana faces annexation threat – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – December 19, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU), the fourth-largest gold producer, is buying a stake in Guyana-focused G2 Goldfields (TSXV: GTWO; US-OTC: GUYGF) even as neighbouring Venezuela vows to seize the land where its main project sits.

Denver-headquartered AngloGold is paying $22.5 million for 11.7% of G2, AngloGold said on Tuesday. G2 plans to update its resource next year for the OKO project which lies 120 km west-southwest of the South American country’s capital city, Georgetown.

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Bolivia Takes a Key Step in Long Road to Tapping Vast Lithium Riches – by Sergio Mendoza and James Attwood (Bloomberg News – December 15, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Bolivia is cutting the ribbon on its first industrial-scale lithium plant, the dawn of what it hopes will be an export boom of the battery metal that could bring it back from the brink of economic crisis. It’s going to be a long road though.

In a ceremony Friday on the world’s largest salt flat, President Luis Arce will open the $100 million lithium carbonate facility, designed to churn out 15,000 metric tons a year to fuel electric vehicles in the global shift away from fossil fuels.

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The World’s Copper Supply Is Suddenly Looking Scarce – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – December 11, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A forecast surplus of copper going into 2024 has suddenly all but disappeared. The next couple of years were supposed to be a time of plenty for copper, thanks to a series of big new projects starting up around the world.

The expectation across most of the industry was for a comfortable surplus before the market tightens again later this decade, when surging demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure is expected to collide with a lack of new mines.

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News Release – G2 Goldfields’ Statement on Regional Geopolitical Affairs (December 8, 2023)

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A message to our shareholders regarding the recent actions by the Government of Venezuela

TORONTO, Dec. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — G2 Goldfields Inc. (“G2” or the “Company”) (TSXV: GTWO; OTCQX: GUYGF) wishes to provide context and comments regarding the recent actions of the Venezuelan Government with respect to Guyana’s Essequibo District. G2 is developing its high grade OKO gold project in Guyana and has been operating in Guyana since 2019.

Additionally, the management team of G2 have led the discovery, construction, and development of the $225 million USD Aurora Gold Project in Guyana, now one of South America’s largest operating gold mines, and have been active investors in Guyana since 1996.

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Mining Giant Vale Says China Can’t Control the Price of Iron Ore – by Mariana Durao and Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – December 5, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — China may be the world’s biggest buyer of iron ore, but even that powerful position doesn’t mean that Beijing can succeed in dictating prices for the steelmaking ingredient, said the head of No. 2 producer Vale SA.

The comments by Vale Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Bartolomeo come as China has appeared to ramp up its decades-long struggle to wrest more power over the iron ore market from Vale and its two Australian rivals, BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group, which together dominate global production.

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OPINION: How to trash a country: Panama vs. Canada’s First Quantum copper miner – by Greg Mills (Globe and Mail – December 5, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Greg Mills is director of the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation and has worked in Panama.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has been among those playing a supporting role in Panama’s rejection of Canadian copper mining giant First Quantum. In his latest environmental cause, the actor is offering support for the campaign against the continued operation of First Quantum’s mine.

Mr. DiCaprio got what he wanted. Last Tuesday, the Panamanian Supreme Court ruled that a contract enabling First Quantum to extend its operations in the Central American country was unconstitutional, and authorized a process to shut down the US$10-billion mine.

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More headwinds expected for miners as First Quantum faces shutdown in Panama – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – November 30, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Miners will need to focus more on building trust with local communities to retain their licence to operate, analysts say

As First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s lucrative copper mine faces a shutdown in Panama, some analysts warn that such events may occur more often as the energy transition away from fossil fuels focuses government and public attention on certain key metals.

Going forward, analysts say, miners will need to focus more on building trust with local communities to retain their licence to operate in their respective regions, especially in Latin America, which has abundant reserves of copper and lithium and whose leaders routinely gauge public opinion on mining-related issues.

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