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Nickel

Post Noront takeover, Wyloo gets to work on Ring of Fire assets: Exclusive interview – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – June 29, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Wyloo Metals made a big splash last year with its battle against Australian behemoth BHP for control of Ring of Fire junior Noront Resources. The private, Western Australia-based company, owned by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Tattarang investment group, outlined its vision for Noront’s high-grade nickel-copper-PGM Eagle’s Nest project early on.

The miner plans to build a net-zero mine that would process the nickel in-province and create a ‘future metals hub’ while awarding $100 million worth of contracts to First Nations-owned businesses and establishing a training and employment centre for northern and Indigenous communities.

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Nickel mining is key for electric vehicles. Experts say the industry can be greener (CBC Radio – June 25, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/

Making the most of already mined elements can help meet future demand while reducing carbon emissions

Greg Dipple wants to turn the waste from nickel mines into large-scale carbon sinks. The idea, which he has developed over two decades, would help reduce the environmental impact of mining for metals that are highly sought after for electric vehicle batteries.

“We can see a pathway towards nickel mining in the future where it produces a net positive environmental benefit from the context of greenhouse gases,” said Dipple, a professor at the University of British Columbia and founder of Carbin Minerals, an environmental services company.

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Canadian explorer continues to advance project’s copper-nickel-cobalt plus PGM, clean energy potential (Mining Weekly – June 20, 2022)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

With significant demand and potential in Canada for high-grade palladium, platinum, rhodium, copper, nickel and cobalt, Canadian North Resources Inc. (CNRI) is at late-stage exploration and development of its mining property in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, in Canada, namely the Ferguson Lake project.

The company, which owns 100% of the project, has a mandate to create shareholder value from the advancement of its Ferguson Lake project, which holds substantial resources of copper (0.46-billion indicated and 0.95-billion inferred pounds), nickel (0.32-billion indicated and 0.55-billion inferred pounds) and cobalt (37-million indicated and 62-million inferred pounds) plus palladium (1.08-million indicated and 2.12-million ounces) and platinum (0.18-million indicated and 0.38-million inferred ounces).

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Column: LME nickel lawsuits are about principle as much as money – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 9, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) – The London Metal Exchange’s (LME) nickel nightmare continues. U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management and trading house Jane Street are suing the exchange for $456 million and $15.3 million respectively over its handling of the nickel market meltdown in March.

The LME suspended trading in its nickel contract at 0815 UK local time on March 8 after the price exploded to $101,365 per tonne. It also cancelled all trades between midnight and the market halt.

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The Drift: Glencore makes battery vehicle order from MacLean Engineering – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – June 16, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Onaping Depth mine project will be an all-electric underground operation at production start in 2024

Glencore’s deepest new mine in the Sudbury Basin will be populated by electric vehicles from MacLean Engineering.

MacLean’s battery electric mining vehicles (BEVs) were chosen to be one of the mobile equipment suppliers of fleet vehicles for Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations and its Onaping Depth mine project, now under construction.

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How Russia’s War Is Putting Green Tech Progress in Jeopardy – by Paul Hockenos (Yale Environment 360 – June 16, 2022)

https://e360.yale.edu/

The European Union relies heavily on Russia to supply nickel and other metals for electric vehicle batteries and other renewable technologies. War-related price increases and shortages of these metals could hinder Europe’s drive to sharply cut emissions by 2030 and beyond.

Volkswagen might as well hang a “sold out” sign on the doors of its European and U.S. factories. The world’s second-largest manufacturer of electric automobiles announced last month that any plug-in ordered after May won’t find its way to customers’ garages before 2023.

The German carmaker’s sales of nearly 100,000 battery electric models in the first quarter landed it behind only Tesla, but far from the pace needed for the 700,000 it planned to roll off its assembly lines this year. And Tesla, too, like almost all other EV carmakers, says it is highly unlikely to hit 2022’s sales targets.

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Greater Sudbury ‘the epicentre for mining,’ mayor says – by Staff (Sudbury Star – June 16, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

City has ‘critical minerals, a strong industrial base and a highly skilled workforce’

Many people know Greater Sudbury as a relatively small northern Ontario mining community, but it is also a community that should be on everyone’s radar, city officials say.

Nearly 80 Sudbury-based companies were showcasing themselves as global leaders at the annual conference of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada. It is North America’s largest mining industry event and wrapped up Wednesday in Toronto.

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Timmins suggested at Mining Expo to be a potential hotbed for nickel – by Andrew Autio (Timmins Daily Press – June 10, 2022)

https://www.timminspress.com/

‘We believe we’re on the verge of unlocking an entire nickel district here’

Mark Selby not only believes in Canada Nickel Company’s much-anticipated Crawford Project, he feels the Timmins area could see several more major deposits discovered in the coming years. Selby, the company’s chairman and CEO, was one of the speakers on Day 2 of the 2022 Canadian Mining Expo.

A series of presentations were made by mining industry companies and stakeholders in the ballroom of the McIntyre Community Complex in Schumacher, in addition to the hundreds of booths, displays, demonstrations, and networking opportunities inside and out.

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Canada mining push puts major carbon sink and Indigenous lands in the crosshairs – by Spoorthy Raman (Mongabay.com – June 2, 2022)

https://news.mongabay.com/

Since the last ice age, wide rivers have meandered toward the southern shores of Hudson Bay in Canada, to join its salty waters. On their way, they’ve created swaths of wetlands, filled with carbon-packed peat bog. The Cree Indigenous people who have lived here for millennia call these peatlands Yehewin Aski, or “the Breathing Lands,” for they believe these wetlands act as the lungs of Mother Earth.

“It’s such a watery landscape,” says Lorna Harris, a peatland ecosystem scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. “Every peatland is connected to every other peatland that is next to it, which is then connected to the streams, which go to the rivers downstream, all the way down to Hudson Bay and James Bay.”

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The Drift: Sudbury has the solution for Canada’s mine waste problems – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 31, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mining innovation CEO proposes $17.3-million biotechnology centre to advance environmentally sustainable mining

One of the mining industry’s biggest financial and environmental liabilities can be turned into a huge resource opportunity, said Sudbury environmental microbiologist Nadia Mykytczuk.

Canada’s mining sector generates more than 650 million tonnes of tailings every year from its 200 operations and spends over $10 billion for the ongoing treatment of this waste, not to mention about 10,000 abandoned mines that’s managed by government.

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How battery electric vehicles will help make mining cheaper – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – May30, 2022)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Mining industry finds that apart from the environmental benefit of electric vehicles, there is an economic payoff as well

Using battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Northern Ontario mines is not just a nod toward being more environmentally tuned in, it is also something that makes good economic sense.

That was part of the message from Sudbury mining executive Peter Xavier who was a speaker last week at Sudbury’s first ever municipal conference to examine the importance of BEVs. Xavier, who is Vice President of Glencore’s Integrated Nickel Operations in Sudbury, said the company is finding it has to go to greater depths to find and recover new sources of nickel.

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Glencore suspends production at Raglan mine in Nunavik after workers strike – by Naimul Karim (Northern Miner – May 30, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Production at Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) Raglan nickel mine at Nunavik has been suspended as hundreds of unionized workers went on strike for the first time in 25 years on the night of May 27.

Nearly 98% of the 630 workers from the United Steelworkers Union, Local 9449, voted in favour of a strike in late May citing issues including the use of subcontractors, deteriorating labour relations as well as a lack of respect. The strike was enforced on May 27 after negotiations between the parties amidst a government mediator failed to break the impasse.

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Sudbury miners look to fill the critical minerals demand and supply void – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – May 30, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Looming battery electric vehicle demand has Glencore on a metals recycling kick

As much as Ontario is ready to reap the rewards of the anticipated boom in battery electric vehicles (BEV) in the next 10 years and beyond, the move to go green is not as rosy as it might seem.

That was revealed during the two-day BEV conference held at Science North in Sudbury to explore the future of the BEV industry. On the first day of the conference, it was revealed the province has a virtual treasure trove of all the right minerals — nickel, lithium, cobalt, and copper — right here in Northern Ontario.

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Conference highlights Sudbury’s role in green transportation – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – May 27, 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Mines electrifying own fleets while supplying ingredients for broader battery market

As they produce the material to electrify traffic on highways and streets, mining companies are increasingly using the same green technology to power their own subterranean fleets.

“We have a responsibility to keep pace with what is happening above-ground,” said Alex Mulloy, BEV program lead with Vale, at a conference Wednesday that drew together a wide range of players in the growing EV scene. Projected on a screen behind him in the Vale Cavern at Science North was a massive green haulage truck the company recently acquired for use at a local operation. It weighs 42 tonnes, but can run without a drop of diesel.

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The Drift: Could Sudbury be a global leader in ‘green’ mining? – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 25, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto’s Bactech Environmental and Sudbury’s MIRARCO want to mine nickel, cobalt and iron the natural way

Sudbury may be on the cusp of an innovative new phase in its 40-year regreening effort. What an army of volunteer tree planters once accomplished to reforest a barren landscape, blackened by a century of nickel roasting and smelting, now a swarm of microscopic bugs could provide in an environmentally friendly solution to clean up a massive amount of mined waste rock while recovering valuable minerals in the process.

BacTech Environmental Corp., a Toronto green technology company, is pulling a proven technology out of mothballs to relaunch it in Sudbury to “liberate” millions of dollars worth of battery-grade metals out of mine tailings through a proprietary bioleaching process.

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