Archive | Nickel

Glencore shutters Quebec mines; operations in Sudbury continue – by Staff (Sudbury Star – March 27, 2020)

March 27, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Glencore, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Quebec Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Glencore said Thursday its Raglan nickel and Matagami zinc operations in Quebec will be on care and maintenance for the next three weeks. Nickel from Raglan is shipped to Glencore’s Sudbury operations, where it is processed. Operations in Sudbury will continue to run.

“The government of Quebec has ordered all non-essential businesses to close in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. Accordingly, our Raglan (nickel) and Matagami (zinc) operations in Quebec will be on care and maintenance for the next three weeks,” Glencore said in a statement. “In Ontario, the government has issued a similar decree, but mining has been designated an essential business and therefore our assets can continue to operate.”

The company said it is halting operations at its smaller mines around the world due to government restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus but added its larger operations were not materially impacted. Continue Reading →

Mincor crowns Kambalda district projects as highest grade nickel sites – by Salomae Haselgrove (Australian Mining – March 25, 2020)

March 25, 2020 in Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining, International Media Resource Articles, Nickel

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Mincor Resources has confirmed a 132 per cent increase to its nickel sulphide reserves in the Kambalda district, Western Australia.

Its reserves are now sitting at 65,400 nickel tonnes, which announcement was concurrent to the completion of Mincor’s definitive feasibility study (DFS) for its nickel restart plan.

The DFS confirmed the potential of Mincor nickel operations to become a five-year operation, producing 63,000 tonnes of recovered nickel-in-concentrate. Continue Reading →

Federal judge hands Twin Metals major win in fight over mining near Boundary Waters – by Jennifer Bjorhus (Star Tribune – March 17, 2020)

March 18, 2020 in Copper, International Media Resource Articles, Mining Conflict and Opposition, Minnesota Duluth Complex and Iron Range, Nickel

http://www.startribune.com/

Copper-mining opponents assailed the decision as a “slap in the face.”

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has dealt a significant blow to environmental groups fighting to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from copper-nickel mining in Minnesota.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled that the Trump administration acted within its authority when it reissued two mineral leases for the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in 2018.

The Obama administration had previously denied the company’s request to renew its two leases to mine on 5,000 acres of public land in Superior National Forest after the U.S. Forest Service concluded that copper mining so close to the Boundary Waters was too risky, and it could cause “serious and irreparable harm” to an “irreplaceable wilderness area.” Continue Reading →

No plans to shutter Vale or Glencore operations in Sudbury due to COVID-19 – by Harold Carmichael (Sudbury Star – March 18, 2020)

March 18, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale has no plans to curtail or suspend its Greater Sudbury-area operations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“There has been no discussion of suspending operations in our North Atlantic Operations other than Voisey’s Bay and that there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 amongst Vale employees to date,” Vale spokeswoman Danica Pagnuti said Tuesday. “In terms of Vale’s efforts to address COVID-19, since late January Vale has been taking all necessary measures to support the prevention of the COVID-19 at its sites. “

Pagnutti said a technical crisis committee and another executive committee were created to manage the actions resulting from this pandemic. To ensure everyone’s safety, all worldwide non-essential business trips have been cancelled or postponed until further notice, and the same approach is being taken for events. Continue Reading →

Vale ramping down operations at Voisey’s Bay (CBC News Newfoundland-Labrador – March 17, 2020)

March 17, 2020 in Aboriginal and Inuit Mining and Oil/Gas, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Newfoundland and Labrador Mining, Nickel, Vale

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Safety of remote Indigenous communities top of mind, company says

Brazilian mining giant Vale is placing its Labrador nickel mine under “care and maintenance” protocols for the next four weeks amid concerns about COVID-19.

The remote mine, just south of Nain on the northern coast of Labrador, has about 900 workers on site. It is accessible only by air, and has employees from all over Canada.

No employees have tested positive for the virus, but the company said it was taking steps to keep it that way. Continue Reading →

ALX encouraged by nickel, copper mineralization at Falcon project in Saskatchewan – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – March 17, 2020)

March 17, 2020 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector, Nickel, Saskatchewan Mining

https://www.mining.com/

ALX Resources (TSXV: AL) intersected nickel and copper mineralization in the second hole of the 2020 drilling program at its Falcon nickel project located in the northern Athabasca region of Saskatchewan, Canada.

In a media statement, ALX explained that its second drill hole on the V-1 conductive target proximal to the historical Currie Lake deposit area completed to a depth of 108 metres intersected sulphide mineralization beginning at a depth of 47.03 metres continuing to 67.89 metres.

“The presence of nickel and copper mineralization in hole FN20-002 has been confirmed by the use of a portable X-ray fluorescence device on the drill core, which is currently being logged and sampled,” the media brief reads. Continue Reading →

JPMorgan Reaped $100 Million as China Squeezed Niche Nickel Market – by Alfred Cang, Jack Farchy and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – March 11, 2020)

March 12, 2020 in International Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Nickel Laterites

https://www.bloomberg.com/

JPMorgan Chase & Co. made about $100 million trading nickel last year, according to people familiar with the situation, as it benefited from a price spike on the back of a Chinese-led supply squeeze.

The blowout year in nickel underscores JPMorgan’s growing dominance in a corner of the commodities markets that rivals have retreated. The bank has become the go-to financier for big deals in base metals, from the Chinese nickel purchases that sparked last year’s price surge, to hedging transactions for carmakers, which need the metal for electric-vehicle batteries. A spokesman for JPMorgan declined to comment.

Nickel, usually a niche market dominated by stainless steel mills, became the world’s hottest metal in 2019 when prices jumped by two-thirds in a matter of months. Continue Reading →

Global nickel production to decline significantly in 2020 – Fitch Solutions – by Simone Liedike (MiningWeekly.com – March 6, 2020)

March 6, 2020 in Asia Mining, International Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Nickel Laterites

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Research agency Fitch Solutions expects global nickel production to decrease significantly over the course of this year, as major producer Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban comes into effect.

The ban in Indonesia was announced in September 2019, bringing it forward to go into effect from January this year instead of January 2022. As a result, Fitch expects global nickel ore production to decrease by 60% year-on-year to 269-million tonnes this year.

This compares with the agency’s previous forecast of 15% growth in global nickel ore output this year. Production growth in the Philippines, where some currently suspended mines will become operational again as the country aims to plug the supply gap caused by the Indonesian export ban, will offset the lower Indonesian output to some extent. Continue Reading →

Canada Nickel expands Crawford holdings (Mining.com – March 4, 2020)

March 6, 2020 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Junior Exploration Sector, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Timmins

https://www.mining.com/

Shortly after releasing a maiden resource for its wholly-owned Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project near Timmins, Ontario, Canada Nickel (TSXV: CNC) has announced an agreement with Noble Mineral Exploration to acquire one additional property and entered into option agreements on five additional holdings nearby.

“Given our demonstrated success at Crawford, this transaction provides us the larger footprint to fully develop Crawford, along with additional exploration targets, which can potentially host nickel-cobalt deposits that are similar to Crawford,” Mark Selby, Canada Nickel’s chairman and CEO, said in a release.

The company has agreed to pay Noble C$500,000 and issue 500,000 of its shares to acquire the 49-sq.-km Crawford Annex holding with a further option to acquire up to an 80% interest in five additional target areas within a land package covering 706 sq. km. Continue Reading →

Who knew? Timmins has world’s 12th biggest nickel sulphide resource – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 2, 2020)

March 2, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Timmins

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Canada Nickel Company posts maiden resource for Crawford Project

Only days after its start of trading on the TSX-Venture Exchange, Canada Nickel Company posted the first resource calculation for its sole property in northeastern Ontario.

The Toronto base metal explorer claims its sitting on the 12th largest resource of nickel sulphide in the world. The company released a “maiden resource” of the higher grade core from its Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project, 40 kilometres north of Timmins, on Feb. 28.

Crawford contains a measured and indicated nickel resource of 600 million tonnes, grading 0.25 per cent nickel, with inferred resources of 310 million tonnes, grading 0.23 per cent. Continue Reading →

UPDATE 1-Russia’s Nornickel warns of coronavirus risks, reports leap in profit (Reuters U.S. – February 26, 2020)

February 27, 2020 in Europe Mining, International Media Resource Articles, Nickel, Norilsk Nickel

https://www.reuters.com/

MOSCOW, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) said on Wednesday it expected uncertain times ahead in two of its key markets — nickel and copper — as the coronavirus outbreak continues to disrupt both demand and supply.

The company, which reported 2019 net profit up 95% compared to the previous year, said the outbreak, which originated in China, made the future health of these markets hard to predict.

“The Chinese government restrictions on mobility, extended work holidays and mandatory closures have imposed a significant disruption to the supply chain and already had a significant impact on end consumption,” Nornickel said, referring to nickel markets. Continue Reading →

Vale hiring blitz draws a crowd – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – February 26, 2020)

February 26, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Copper Cliff may have experienced its first-ever traffic jam on Tuesday as hundreds of people flocked to the hamlet for the Vale hiring pop-up.

More than a thousand hopeful applicants attended the employment event on day one, which saw the mining company recruiting for underground miners; supervisors; tradespeople; equipment technicians; engineers; technologists; and support staff.

Traffic was backed up at one point to the arena and it took nearly 40 minutes to reach the Copper Cliff Club from Jube’s Bar + Grill. Most people spent another 45-60 minutes waiting in line in the cold, just to enter the building. Continue Reading →

Tesla’s China surprise big blow for cobalt, nickel price bulls – by Frik Els (Mining.com – February 19, 2020)

February 20, 2020 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Metals and Manufacturing, Nickel, Nickel Laterites

https://www.mining.com/

Long-suffering cobalt bulls were dealt another blow on Wednesday after reports that the world’s largest electric carmaker is shifting some production of its most popular model away from batteries that contain nickel and cobalt.

In a surprise move, China’s top battery manufacturer CATL will supply Tesla with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for its Model 3 production at its newly built $2 billion factory outside Shanghai.

The Model 3 is Tesla’s most popular, and the US-made version uses the company’s nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) cathode chemistry. Most other automakers favour nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode chemistries. Continue Reading →

Sudbury’s iconic Superstack easing into retirement – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – February 19, 2020)

February 19, 2020 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Nickel, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

One of two new, smaller stacks already in operation

The long plumes that used to flow from the Superstack in Copper Cliff have been reduced to wisps as the mega chimney nears retirement and two mini versions take over.

You could call it a passing of the baton, although in this case it’s more like breaking one really big one in half. In fact, each of the replacement stacks is closer to a third of the size of the original.

The Superstack stretches 1,250 feet in height and is more than 100-feet-wide at its base. The new stacks are much slimmer and top out at 450 feet. Lights now adorn the shorter towers and one is already emitting puffs of smoke. Continue Reading →

‘Transformation’ is in the air at Vale – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 12, 2020)

February 13, 2020 in Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Iron Ore, Mining Environmental Accidents, Pollution, Tailing Dams and Abandoned Mines, Nickel, Nickel Laterites, Ontario Mining, Sudbury Basin, Vale

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Electric vehicle market, carbon neutral plans, environmental safeguards part of Sudbury miner’s current and future operations

The thrust of Dino Otranto’s presentation was on the transformational challenges ahead for base metal mining giant Vale to create a business that’s sustainable in the Sudbury basin for generations to come.

But the opening image he flashed to a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce lunchtime crowd on Feb. 11 was of the Brumadinho tailings dam break at Vale’s Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine in Brazil on Jan. 25, 2019. It was the company’s second major dam breach in that country in four years.

The man-made environmental catastrophe at Brumadinho produced a toxic mudflow that swept away the company’s offices, and houses, farms and roads in a nearby village, and contaminated a major river system. Continue Reading →