https://www.nationalobserver.com/
Lawrence Martin wishes the Cree nations on the western coast of James Bay had the same relationship with Ontario as the Eeyou Istchee have with Quebec.
Earlier this week, Ottawa approved a new lithium mine near the Eastmain Cree community in Quebec with caveats, including 271 environmental protections designed in conjunction with the project’s Indigenous neighbours.
Quebec mine must adhere to 271 conditions, including measures to protect the environment
The federal government approved the construction of a lithium mine in northern Quebec, moving Brisbane, Australia-based Allkem Ltd.‘s project closer to the finish line, and moving Canada closer to being able to supply a highly sought metal that will be key to the energy transition.
Environment Minster Steven Guilbeault said Allkem’s Galaxy Lithium, which owns the project situated about 100 kilometres east of James Bay, and the Eastmain Cree community will need to adhere to 271 conditions, including measures to protect fish, birds, bats, wetlands, as well as lands and resources used by the Cree.
(Bloomberg) — Electric-vehicle makers are hoping that an imminent wave of lithium supply will bring relief for their expansion plans after a two-year squeeze, but the battery metal’s die-hard bulls warn of more pain to come if producers fail to deliver.
Rampant lithium demand has caught many forecasters by surprise, with booming global EV sales causing consumption to double over the past two years. With suppliers unable to keep pace, a blistering price rally sent the total spot value of lithium consumption rocketing to about $35 billion in 2022, up from $3 billion in 2020, according to Bloomberg calculations.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
It was nice that U.S. President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, tacked a Three Amigos summit with Justin Trudeau onto meetings about Mr. Biden’s more pressing issue: the Mexican border.
The idea of a common North American agenda seems a distant thing for the Mexican and U.S. presidents, both of whom are so wrapped up in domestic politics that there hasn’t been a lot of room for continental friendship.
(Reuters) – A U.S. judge said on Thursday she will rule “in the next couple of months” on whether former President Donald Trump erred in 2021 when he approved Lithium Americas Corp’s (LAC.TO) Thacker Pass lithium mining project in northern Nevada.
The timeline further delays the company’s plans to build North America’s largest lithium mine even as Washington pushes to boost domestic production of metals crucial to the green energy transition and wean the country off Chinese supplies.
They are the majority owners of Australia’s best lithium address, but now IGO Group and Chinese company Tianqi want to spend $136 million muscling into a second lithium province in Western Australia.
The companies, which have acted in partnership on lithium matters since late 2020, agreed to pay $136 million to acquire lithium explorer Essential Metals under a plan to get a foothold in the lithium production zone between Kalgoorlie and Norseman.
https://thenevadaindependent.com/
The interpretation of a 150-year-old mining law could be a part of whether a U.S. District Court judge upholds the federal government’s approval of a massive lithium mine — a project that has faced challenges from a local rancher, environmental groups and Native American tribes.
In legal briefs over the past two years, the mine’s opponents have challenged federal permitting of the planned Thacker Pass mine north of Winnemucca. Federal land managers, they argued, fast-tracked the project and did not adequately consider a number of issues in its environmental review — the mine’s footprint on wildlife habitat, groundwater, air quality and Indigenous sites.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Mr. Volpe said there is not yet sufficient infrastructure in place –
lithium production and battery production – to meet the earliest targets
for zero emissions without buying from China. “If we’re actually going
to meet those targets, we’re gonna meet them with Chinese batteries.
Maybe Chinese vehicles,” he said.
Business leaders are urging Justin Trudeau and his U.S. and Mexican counterparts to adopt more of a “Team North America” approach when they meet in Mexico City this week: to move beyond a growing list of disputes including energy, autos and dairy, and craft a continental plan for industries such as electric vehicles.
The Prime Minister, U.S. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will get together for the North American Leaders’ Summit on Tuesday to talk about boosting trade and investment and building a better supply chain to fuel the continent’s electric-vehicle production. It’s the 10th such meeting – also known as the Three Amigos summit – since they began in 2005.
Tesla Inc. is set to pay more for the lithium that powers its electric vehicles after a supplier amended their deal amid a relentless price rally of the metal.
Piedmont Lithium Inc. will now supply an increased 125,000 metric tons of lithium concentrate to the EV giant starting in the second half of this year through the end of 2025, according to a statement Tuesday. Unlike prior agreements where prices are locked in, Piedmont’s deal with Tesla relies on a floating mechanism based on market prices, according to the statement.
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A high-stakes, yearslong legal battle over a huge lithium mine planned in Nevada resumes Thursday with arguments from lawyers for the mining company, the U.S. agency that approved it and the rancher, tribes and conservationists fighting the project.
U.S. District Judge Miranda Du has refused twice over the past year to grant temporary injunctions sought by tribal leaders who say the mine site is on sacred land where their ancestors were massacred by the U.S. Cavalry in 1865.
Chinese companies that have made multimillion-dollar acquisitions in Zimbabwe will have to build lithium processing plants after the southern African nation banned the export of the metal in its raw form.
Companies must either set up local processing plants or provide proof of exceptional circumstances – and receive written permission from the government – before lithium can leave the country.
LOGAR, Afghanistan — Somewhere in the Logar mountains, overlooking the highway to Kabul, Asadullah Massoud trudged up to a four-story-tall cleft. Before him was a monochromatic pattern of gray stone, save for a seam of dull, almost-black rocks. “Look there. See that black line?” he said. “That’s chromite.”
An explosion thumped in the distance. Massoud looked up, but appeared unconcerned. “That’s not fighting. We’re mining with the open-surface method, putting explosives and going from hill to hill,” he said.
A shareholder rift over millions of dollars in executive pay at Snow Lake Resources (NASDAQ: LITM) is rattling the explorer’s plans to develop a lithium project in northwest Manitoba.
Management postponed a shareholder’s meeting today until January after an investors’ group that controls 42% of the company said it would try to vote out chief executive officer Philip Gross, chief operating officer Derek Knight and chief financial officer Mario Miranda.
It’s Rio Tinto’s turn to pull out the chequebook and summon a beauty parade, after BHP’s move on OZ Minerals. The big miner broke tradition this week when it took analysts through its technical backroom in Melbourne’s Bundoora and, in particular, talked up its lithium ambitions.
Knowing Rio’s on the prowl with its $15 billion cash wad (and more coming thanks to its huge free cash flow, with analysts tipping close to $US20 billion this year), resources investors and executives spent Wednesday trying different companies for a fit.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
To steal a phrase from supermodel Linda Evangelista, who wouldn’t wake up for photo shoots that paid less than $10,000 a day, investment bankers at global platforms such as RBC Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. don’t typically get out of bed to split a $1-million fee.
Yet RBC and Goldman – firms built for billion-dollar financings – put their muscle and brands behind a $23-million stock sale last month for junior miner Frontier Lithium Inc. The bought deal, initially pitched as a $20-million offering then upsized because of investor demand, earned the two lead dealers and four other banks just $1.1-million.
