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Junior miner shows more nickel to be had in the Sudbury basin – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 19, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

SPC Nickel posts maiden mineral estimate on West Graham Project

An emerging Sudbury nickel mining company has posted a first-time mineral estimate of its deposit in the Sudbury basin. SPC Nickel released a maiden estimate of its West Graham Project on Jan. 17, one of two deposits on its Lockerby East nickel and copper property in an area which has seen previous mining operations.

The company said in the news release that West Graham has the potential to be developed quickly as a low-cost, open-pit operation in its initial stages of mining. But with more exploration, West Graham has huge mineral upside at depth.

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BHP’s warning on battery minerals is striking – by James Thomson (Australian Financial Review – January 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

Demand from the energy transition was supposed to underpin strong prices for nickel and lithium. But the battery minerals slump appears to be entering a new phase.

The most interesting word in BHP’s December quarter operations update can be found on page 14 – “structural”. That’s how the mining giant describes the changes ripping through the nickel sector, and threatening the viability of its Nickel West project in Western Australia.

“The nickel industry is undergoing a number of structural changes and is at a cyclical low in realised pricing,” BHP said. “Nickel West is not immune to these challenges. Operations are being actively optimised, and options are being evaluated to mitigate the impacts of the sharp fall in nickel prices.” BHP also said it would consider whether it needed to take a writedown on the value of the Nickel West asset.

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Vale going remote in Sudbury to make mining safer – by Staff (Sudbury Star – January 17, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Among other steps, it has opened its Integrated Remote Operating Center that services its five underground mines in Sudbury

Vale Base Metals Limited and Epiroc Canada have signed a deal to develop, test and use what they call ‘groundbreaking’ techniques to make mining safer.

Vale said it plans to use Epiroc’s technology and digital advances in underground technology to remove employees from the rock face, production drilling areas and ground support locations in support of safe and efficient mining activities.

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Surging exchange stocks pile the pressure on nickel – by Andy Home (Reuters – January 17, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Nickel was the worst performer among the London Metal Exchange’s (LME) base metals last year by some margin as the market priced in a wave of new Indonesian supply.

Indonesia’s mined production rose by 29.2% year on year in the first 10 months of 2023, according to the International Nickel Study Group. Nickel demand is rising fast thanks to its use in electric vehicle batteries but nowhere near the pace of supply growth.

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‘No recent discussions’ on Sudbury mining merger, says Vale operations boss – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 15, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gord Gilpin says companies discussing ‘strategic alternatives’ are part of ‘normal course of business’

Vale’s head of Ontario base metal operations, Gord Gilpin, is tamping down media speculation of a potential merger with Glencore, its crosstown mining neighbour in Sudbury.

Gilpin issued a Jan. 12 notice to its employees — Clarification of Synergy with Glencore — that it’s business as usual and no talks are underway.

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Conservative leader promises to speed approvals for new mines – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – January 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Pierre Poilievre also says Sudbury and its minerals have a big role to play in providing clean energy

Pierre Poilievre took advantage of the bracing conditions in Sudbury on Saturday to stress his plan for cheaper heating bills, as well as take some shots at his main political rival, who recently returned from a vacation in Jamaica.

“While Justin Trudeau flies around in a taxpayer-funded private jet, burning fuel and passing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, he punishes people for heating their homes,” said the Conservative leader, against the backdrop of an Axe the Carbon Tax billboard on Lorne Street. “He is a high-tax, high-carbon hypocrite.”

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Alamos Gold to acquire Quebec-focused junior Orford Mining in all-share deal – by Bruno Venditti (Northern Miner – January 15, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Alamos Gold (TSX: AGI; NYSE: AGI) announced on Monday that it will acquire Quebec-focused junior Orford Mining (TSXV: ORM) in an all-share transaction valuing the company at $24 million or 10¢ per share.

Alamos already owns 27.5% of the company’s shares. If the acquisition is approved by Orford shareholders at a meeting scheduled for March, they will receive 0.005588 of an Alamos share for each Orford share held.

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Merger talks about the Sudbury mining camp long overdue, says industry watcher – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 12, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Stan Sudol sees synergies and cost savings if Glencore and Vale form mining joint venture in the Sudbury basin

Vale Base Metals chairman Mark Cutifani’s remarks this week to Reuters new agency about a pursuing a business combination between his company and Glencore in the Sudbury basin has mining analyst Stan Sudol wondering, “What took them so long?”

The Sudbury-raised and Toronto-based owner of the Republic of Mining website is a keen observer of the global nickel industry and of the Sudbury camp. Now is the “perfect time” for a business combination between Sudbury’s two largest miners, and one that’s long overdue, he said.

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Canada Nickel secures strategic investment from Korea’s Samsung SDI – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 12, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada Nickel Company Inc. (CNC-X) chief executive Mark Selby sees the potential for a major mining company to buy the firm after it attracted yet another strategic investment from a global power player.

Toronto-based Canada Nickel on Friday announced an US$18.8-million equity financing from Korean electric car battery maker Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. The funds will be used to develop an Ontario electric vehicle battery minerals mine that Canada Nickel hopes to have in production before the end of the decade.

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Conversion facility with links to massive Dumont Nickel project planned for Quebec – by Emma Jarratt (Electric Autonomy Canada – January 11, 2024)

https://electricautonomy.ca/

NiVolt Technologies says it has mixed hydroxide precipitate production capabilities and is scouting locations for a hydrometallurgical facility in Quebec

A new hydrometallurgical conversion facility to process nickel concentrate may be coming to Quebec. The news comes from an announcement by NiVolt Technologies of successful production testing and advancement of a project feasibility study.

NiVolt is a portfolio company of Kinterra Capital, a Toronto-based private equity firm. Kinterra recently closed a US$565-million battery metals mining fund. Its holdings include a stake in the Dumont Nickel project, located about 60 kilometres north of Val-d’Or.

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Australia is ‘no longer competitive’ in nickel: producer – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review -January 11, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

The biggest nickel producer on the ASX says Australia is no longer competitive in the sector and its miners will never attract a so-called green premium for their product.

Nickel Industries managing director Justin Werner issued the dire warning with more than 1000 jobs in the balance in Australia after a plunge in nickel prices and forecasts Indonesia will flood the market with supply for years to come.

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BMI lowers outlook for nickel price – by Marleny Arnoldi (Mining Weekly – January 11, 2024)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Research firm BMI has revised downward its nickel price forecast for this year to $20 000/t from $20 600/t as the market remains in a supply glut. Simultaneously, weak Mainland Chinese demand and a limited growth outlook across major markets will place a cap on prices.

Nevertheless, BMI foresees some support from the weakening of the dollar throughout this year, which will prevent prices from falling back to pre-pandemic levels.

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New push to combine Glencore, Vale mining assets in the Sudbury basin – by Darren MacDonald (CTV Northern Ontario – January 11, 2024)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

The news service Reuters is reporting that the long dreamed of merger of Vale and Glencore mining assets in Sudbury basin could happen this year. “Talks for a Sudbury tie-up have been on and off since 2006, when annual savings were put at more than $500 million, with a number of options being touted for the mining and processing operations in the area,” the Reuters story said(opens in a new tab).

Brazil-based Vale purchased the former Inco for $19.6 billion in 2006. Talk of combining efforts in the area have surfaced from time to time, and an official with the company raised the issue recently, according to the Reuters story.

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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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Battery Metal Price Plunge Is Closing Mines and Stalling Deals – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – January 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A meltdown in some of the most-hyped energy-transition metals is wreaking havoc across the mining world, stalling projects, scuppering deals and triggering a scramble for cash that promises to reverberate through the industry for years.

Lithium — the ultra-light metal used in electric-vehicle batteries — has plunged more than 80% from a late-2022 record, as the market whiplashed from shortage fears to a mountain of surplus inventories. Nickel and cobalt have also tumbled, weighed down by an influx of new production amid concerns that the shift to EVs may not be as smooth and quick as predicted.

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