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Nickel

The Drift: ‘Landmark’ project to boost Vale’s nickel production by 10,000 tonnes annually – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – October 14, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

South Mine expansion called key link in supply of critical minerals for EV production

Vale’s $945-million expansion of its South Mine near Sudbury will be a key driver in the production of critical metals for the province’s battery electric vehicle (BEV) industry and ensure continued local operations for years to come.

That was the word from Deshnee Naidoo, Vale’s executive vice-president of base metals, who was on hand at the company’s Copper Cliff Complex on Oct. 13 to officially mark the opening of the mine expansion.

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Vale’s base metals chief vows to turn around underperforming Sudbury nickel mines – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 13, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The head of Vale SA’s base metals group is vowing to turn around its poorly performing Canadian nickel operations, as the Brazilian mining giant makes a play for a bigger piece of the fast-growing EV-battery-minerals market.

Vale entered the Canadian nickel market in 2006 when it paid $19.4-billion to acquire Inco Ltd., a company that had mined the critical mineral in Sudbury for a century.

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Ford: Mine expansion opening ‘a fabulous day’ for Ontario – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – October 13, 2022)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Premier was on hand in Sudbury for the official opening of Phase 1 of Vale’s Copper Cliff Mine Complex South Mine, which breathes new life into the shuttered mine and will double ore production at the site, creating 270 new jobs

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said today he was impressed that mining giant Vale has spent $945 million to bring an old mine “back to life,” saying the project was a key part of the province’s critical minerals strategy.

The premier was in Sudbury for the official opening of the Phase 1 expansion to Vale’s Copper Cliff Complex South Mine, a project that connected the South Mine operation to the North Mine creating the new Copper Cliff Mine Complex.

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New Vale Canada mine in Sudbury worth almost $1 billion – by Staff (Sudbury Star – October 13, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Premier Doug Ford among those to celebrate opening of Copper Cliff Complex South Mine Project

Vale Canada Limited on Thursday officially opened the initial phase of its CDN$945 million Copper Cliff Complex South Mine Project in Sudbury.

“This first phase of the Copper Cliff Mine Complex South Project enhances our supply of low-carbon nickel and other critical minerals and adds to the long-term sustainability of our Sudbury operations,” Deshnee Naidoo, executive vice-president of Vale’s Base Metals business, said in a release. “The successful delivery of this project is a major accomplishment for Vale and great news for Sudbury and the Province of Ontario.”

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Australian miner bails on Quebec rare earth projects amid First Nation resistance – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – October 13, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Vital Metals bills itself as Canada’s first rare earth producer and decision to ditch projects could be significant

Australia’s Vital Metals Ltd. walked away from two Quebec-based projects earlier this week due to objections from the Kebaowek First Nation, the latest evidence that maximizing Canada’s potential to be a player in the energy transition will require a more sophisticated relationship with Indigenous communities.

The Sydney-based company had signed an $8-million agreement with Montreal-based Quebec Precious Metals Corp. (QPM) in August last year to acquire 68- and 100-per-cent interests in the Kipawa and Zeus rare earth projects situated in Quebec’s Témiscamingue region, about 90 kilometres northeast of North Bay, Ont.

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Mining company says Timmins could supplant Sudbury as global nickel capital – by Darren MacDonald (CTV News Northern Ontario – October 6, 2022)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

Deposits being explored in the Timmins area could become major source of high-quality nickel for the electric car battery market. That’s the word from officials with Canada Nickel, which is working on developing its Crawford deposit.

It’s also excited about another find, the Reid Property, located 16 kilometres southwest of Crawford, or 37 kilometres northwest of Timmins. Mark Selby, Canada Nickel CEO and director, told a news conference this week that deposits in the area have the potential to become one of the largest sources of nickel for EV batteries in the world.

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Nickel primed for another price bounce amid fears of Russian nickel ban – by Tim Treadgold (Small Caps – October 6, 2022)

https://smallcaps.com.au/

Nickel is unlikely to soon test its all-time high of US$50,000 a tonne reached earlier this year when a Chinese billionaire was caught in a spectacular short squeeze, but there are early signs of conditions developing which point to a price bounce.

The major issues with nickel are reliability and quality of supply, with both stoking a slow-burning fire under a metal once used mainly in the production of stainless steel but increasingly as an ingredient in batteries.

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The case for low-grade sulfide nickel deposits – by Richard (Rick) Mills (A Head Of The Herd – October 4, 2022)

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Nickel deposits come in two forms: sulfide or laterite. About 60% of the world’s known nickel resources are laterites, which tend to be in the southern hemisphere. The remaining 40% are sulfide deposits. The main benefit of sulfide ores is that they can be concentrated using the fairly simple flotation technique.

There is no such technique for nickel laterites. The rock must be completely molten or dissolved to enable nickel extraction. As a result, laterite projects require large economies of scale at higher capital costs to be viable. They are also generally much higher cash-cost producers than sulfide operations.

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Talon Metals drills record nickel-copper intercept at Tamarack – by Staff (Mining.com – September 22, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Talon Metals (TSX: TLO) has received more encouraging results from drilling at its Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in Minnesota, including assays for 17 holes drilled on the western side of the Tamarack resource area between 2021-2022 that demonstrated the continuity and thickness of the high-grade massive sulphide zone.

The new drill holes extended the resource from 320 metres from northwest to southeast. One hole (21TK0380) returned a record intercept of 23.44 metres grading 6.04% nickel and 2.85% copper in the Main zone.

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Canada lags behind world nickel producers, says mining exec – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – September 19, 2022)

https://www.sudbury.com/

The rest of the world is speeding up production of nickel and nickel refineriess to take advantage of the Battery Electric Vehicle market

Nickel mining executive Johnna Muinonen told mining leaders in Sudbury Monday that Canada has fallen behind in nickel production compared with other countries in the world and she said there are some concerns in the Canadian nickel mining industry that need to be addressed before other countries in the take advantage of the growing demand for the metal.

Muinonen is president of Dumont Nickel, Magneto Investments LP. Along with being a professional engineer (P.Eng) Muinonen has spent more than 20 years as a mining executive and in operational management in nickel mining, including nine years with Vale.

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[Luca Giacovazzi] Meet the Forrest young gun who shot down BHP – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – September 16, 2022)

https://www.afr.com/

Luca Giacovazzi is a rising star in the Andrew Forrest business empire and boss of Wyloo Metals which stared down BHP in the bidding war for green minerals deposits in Canada.

Wyloo Metals wunderkind Luca Giacovazzi has made a lot of money for Andrew Forrest since making his first big pitch to the iron ore billionaire, and he might end up costing BHP plenty.

Giacovazzi, then just 27, called his first presentation slide pack Nickel: Get its mojo back in what was a risky move given Forrest’s painful memories from his Anaconda Nickel venture.

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BHP Weighs Boosting A$8.4 Billion Bid for OZ Minerals – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Vinicy Chan (Bloomberg News – September 16, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — BHP Group Ltd. is considering raising its A$8.4 billion ($5.6 billion) offer for OZ Minerals Ltd., people familiar with the matter said, as the world’s top miner seeks to boost its exposure to metals needed for the green-energy transition.

Melbourne-based BHP may increase its A$25 per share bid for OZ Minerals as soon as this month, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. It wasn’t immediately clear by how much BHP would increase its offer, or whether OZ Minerals would agree to any renewed proposal from BHP.

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Canada can build an electric vehicle industry worth $48B a year — but it must act now: report – by Don Pitts (CBC News Business – September 14, 2022)

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

Canada needs a strategy quickly in order to capitalize on payoffs in jobs and economic growth

As climate change shows its growing destructive power in floods and droughts worldwide, even strong advocates for the transition from using fossil fuels to battery-powered electric vehicles know EVs won’t be enough to fix the problem.

But as the North American auto show opens to glitz and fanfare, a new report from two reputable Canadian research groups says that Canada has a brief window to be a major player in transforming an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually into something more climate friendly — and to make money doing it.

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U.S. step up Russian aluminium, nickel imports since Ukraine war – by Eric Onstad (Reuters – September 7, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) – The European Union and United States have ramped up buying key industrial metals from Russia, data showed, despite logistical problems spurred by the war in Ukraine and tough talk about starving Moscow of foreign exchange revenue.

The metal shipments highlight the West’s difficulty in pressuring Russia’s economy, which has performed better than expected and seen its rouble currency surge as buoyant oil revenue has helped offset the impact of sanctions.

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Tesla looking at Sudbury for possible electric battery plant: Report – by Staff (Sudbury Star – September 5, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Tesla officials have scouted Sudbury as a possible home for a factory that would build electric batteries or battery materials, Electric Autonomy Canada reports. In an online story, Electric Autonomy Canada said Tesla went on a site-scouting expedition in Ontario and Quebec during a trip to visit Vale Canada last month.

“Multiple sources with knowledge of the matter, but not authorized to speak, told Electric Autonomy that, earlier (last) month, high-level Tesla employees visited Vale Canada operations in Sudbury, Ont., just ahead of the Mercedes-Volkswagen announcements (in August).

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