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Battery metal prices driven down by slowing Chinese EV demand – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Post/Financial Times (October 18, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Lithium, cobalt and nickel prices tumble as ‘irrational exuberance’ wears off and surge in supply hits markets

Prices for key battery materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel have sharply fallen this year as electric-vehicle sales in China cool off and a surge in supply hits the market.

Since the start of the year, lithium prices have fallen almost 70 per cent and nickel prices have dropped by 40 per cent, while the cobalt market is in a glut with prices hovering slightly above record lows, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Ltd., Refinitiv Ltd. and Argus Media Ltd.

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Canada Nickel aims to build world’s second largest nickel mine in Timmins – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 12, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Feasibility study for Crawford Project shows 41-year mine life, with more projects likely to come

If Canada Nickel Company’s Crawford Mine Project becomes a reality by 2027, Timmins will have the second largest nickel mine in the world.

CEO Mark Selby took the wraps off the company’s long-awaited feasibility study, describing the details behind proposed a 41-year open-pit mine life for its Crawford Project, located 40 kilometres north of a northeastern Ontario city that’s more widely known as one of the best gold mining districts on the globe.

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Inside the battle over the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario – by Liam Casey (CP24 – 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?”

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INSG forecasts a third consecutive year of nickel surplus – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 5, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Global nickel production will outpace demand to the tune of 239,000 metric tons next year, according to the International Nickel Study Group (INSG). It will be the third consecutive year of excess supply and the surplus will be the largest yet.

The INSG, which held the second of its twice-yearly meetings in Lisbon this week, estimates the market was in a 104,000-metric ton surplus last year with the figure set to rise to 223,000 metric tons this year.

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BHP braces for Indonesian supply surge as nickel hits two-year low – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – October 5, 2023)

https://www.afr.com/

BHP says electric vehicle manufacturers are not yet willing to pay a “green premium” to recognise the sustainability credentials of nickel mined in Australia, at a time when surprisingly large volumes of Indonesian nickel have dragged down prices for the metal to a two-year low.

BHP’s chief development officer Johan van Jaarsveld said the company would maintain a policy of only investing in the sort of “sulphide” nickel geology that occurs in Australia and Canada, but was bracing for more nickel supply growth from Indonesian miners working in “laterite” geology.

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Ring of Fire nickel could supply half million cars – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Press – 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.

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Nornickel begins extraction of ore 2km deep (Green Car Congress – October 3, 2023)

https://www.greencarcongress.com/

Nornickel, Russia’s leading metals and mining company, has begun extraction at the Glubokaya (Deep) shaft of the Skalisty (Rocky) mine, reaching depths of 2 kilometers. This move will enable Nornickel to substantially boost extraction of the most valuable and rich ore.

To initiate the extraction, the company connected two independent vertical shafts—the ventilation and skip-hoist. The connection was achieved at a depth of 1,943 meters. This integration facilitated the mine’s essential infrastructure and initiated its primary ventilation system. No one in the Eurasian mining industry has ventured this deep before, Nornickel said.

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

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

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Ring of Fire Metals CEO responds to environmental concerns – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Daily Press – 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.

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Pentagon gives mine developer $20M to find nickel in Michigan – by Garret Ellison (M Live.com – September 20, 2023)

https://www.mlive.com/

WASHINGTON, D.C., — The federal government has awarded more than $20 million to a mine developer which is exploring for nickel deposits in Michigan and Minnesota.

On Tuesday, Sept. 12, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded a grant to Talon Metals, which is accelerating its hunt for nickel along a geologically unique region that includes parts of Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

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Difficult decisions to open a new all-electric mine in Sudbury – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – September 13, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Glencore’s new Onaping Depth mine will need an underground refrigeration system and smaller diameter tunnels to keep the costs down

The process of going from diesel-powered underground mining to battery-electric mining is now a foregone conclusion for most Northern Ontario mine operators, but there are going to be plenty of growing pains.

That was one of the messages that came out of the Global Mining Guidelines Group forum held in Sudbury on Sept. 12 to examine the job of converting underground mines to full battery electric operations.

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Lithium, Nickel Miners Get $110 Million Boost From US Defense Department – by Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – September 12, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Albemarle Corp. and Talon Metals Corp. are getting about $110 million in new US government funding to support the expansion of domestic mining of lithium and nickel, two metals critical to the nation’s energy transition.

Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, will get $90 million to help support the miner’s planned reopening of its Kings Mountain, North Carolina lithium mine. Nickel miner Talon Metals will get $20.6 million to advance exploration of its Tamarack Intrusive Complex in Minnesota. The agreements, under the Defense Production Act, were announced Tuesday by the Defense Department.

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Mining company loses bid to revive Minnesota copper, nickel project – by Clark Mindock (Reuters – September 7, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

Sept 7 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge has rejected a bid by a subsidiary of Chilean mining company Antofagasta Plc(ANTO.L) to restore canceled mineral leases for a proposed $1.7 billion Minnesota copper and nickel mine, which the Biden administration had blocked over concerns it could pollute a major recreational waterway.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday dismissed Twin Metals’ 2022 lawsuit, which challenged the U.S. Interior Department’s decision earlier that year to cancel leases for an underground mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The project would have been one of the biggest U.S. sources of metals needed to build electric vehicle batteries and other clean energy technologies.

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

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