Nickel – Page 3 – Republic of Mining

Government regulatory duplication slowing progress in the Ring of Fire – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 27, 2023)

January 27, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Ring of Fire Metals CEO Steve Flewelling seeks balanced, faster approach to advance Far North nickel project

Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson wants to avoid government duplication with the provinces in regulations and permitting in order to bring new critical mineral mines into production quicker. So does Ring of Fire Metals CEO Steve Flewelling.

But when it comes to proposed mine development in the James Bay region, Wilkinson insisted last month that no shortcuts will be taken in safeguarding the environment, protecting fragile peatlands, and in respecting the rights of Indigenous people and communities near any proposed mine site.

Feds slap 20-year mining ban on land near Boundary Waters – by Dan Kraker (MPR News – January 26, 2023)

January 27, 2023

https://www.mprnews.org/

The U.S. Department of the Interior issued a 20-year mining moratorium Thursday on 225,000 acres of federal land near the Boundary Waters, dealing a further blow to the proposed Twin Metals mine near Ely, Minn. and other potential mines for copper, nickel and precious metals within the watershed of the canoe wilderness area.

The decision is the latest milestone in a long and contentious tug of war over mining near the popular wilderness area that has spanned more than six years and three presidential administrations.

Location of ferrochrome smelter still up in the air, says Ring of Fire Metals CEO (CBC Sudbury – January 27, 2023)

January 27, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

‘One thing I can say for sure is we are committed to placing that facility in northern Ontario’

While Sault Ste. Marie was identified in 2019 as the preferred site for a ferrochrome facility, Ring of Fire Metals, which owns several of the mineral deposits about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, says its still considering its options.

We first heard the words ‘Ring of Fire,’ connected to mining back in 2010. Now, 13 years later, the project hasn’t made much progress and has instead been marked by delays. The company that owns several of the mineral deposits northeast of Thunder Bay is now called Ring of Fire Metals.

Ring of Fire development begins with a road, Sudbury audience is told – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – January 26, 2023)

January 27, 2023

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

CEO of Ring of Fire Metals also says mineral-rich area contains minerals coveted for the growing electric vehicle market

While chromite for the steel industry has been a major focus of developing the Ring of Fire in the province’s far north, the area is also rich in other minerals coveted for the growing electric vehicle market.

“We’re a firm believer that the Ring of Fire hosts multiple nickel deposits, not unlike Sudbury,” said Stephen Flewelling, CEO of Ring of Fire Metals, in a virtual presentation to a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Thursday.

Merging two Sudbury nickel projects could pave a path to production – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – January 25, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

SPC Nickel cuts deal with Vale to combine nickel deposits in Sudbury basin

A Sudbury exploration outfit has taken a great leap forward toward establishing itself as the city’s next nickel miner. SPC Nickel has struck a “cooperation agreement” with mining giant Vale to consolidate ownership of two adjacent nickel and copper deposits —SPC’s undeveloped West Graham and Vale’s Crean Hill 3 — into an advanced exploration project.

The junior miner is calling the deal a “transformational growth opportunity” for a one-time private company that went public two years ago with the objective of becoming the next nickel mining player in the Sudbury camp.

SPC and Vale consolidate Sudbury nickel/copper deposits – by Mariaan Webb (Mining Weekly – January 24, 2023)

January 25, 2023

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Canadian junior SPC Nickel and diversified miner Vale’s Canada subsidiary have announced that they will consolidate their adjacent and contiguous West Graham and Crean Hill 3 nickel and copper deposits, in the Sudbury mining camp of Ontario.

The agreement grants SPC Nickel the right to acquire a 100% interest in the surface and mineral rights of the Crean Hill 3 property. In consideration, certain rights and royalties will be extended to Vale across the combined project.

Doug Ford pledges to turn Ontario into ‘auto manufacturing powerhouse’ driven by minerals from Ring of Fire – by Kris Ketonen (CBC News Thunder Bay – January 23, 2023)

January 24, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Premier discusses Ontario’s critical mineral strategy, plans for EV production during ROMA speech

Companies that want to extract Ontario’s critical minerals to make EV batteries will also need to open factories in the province, Premier Doug Ford said Monday.

Speaking at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association’s (ROMA) annual general meeting, Ford said northern Ontario boasts deposits of 34 of the “most critical minerals the whole world wants.” “Everyone’s here wanting to get the minerals,” Ford said. “I have one condition.

Vale weighs offers for stake in base metals business – by Madeleine Bruder (World News Era – January 10, 2023)

January 10, 2023

https://worldnewsera.com/

Vale has received multiple bids for a stake in its base metals business after talks with parties from carmakers to sovereign wealth funds, its chief executive said, as he predicted the division could become “even bigger” than the Brazilian mining group itself.

Eduardo Bartolomeo said “non-binding offers” had been made for the slice of up to 10 per cent of the unit, which produces materials vital for the energy transition and is being carved out as a standalone entity separate from Vale’s main iron ore operations.

Nickel market faces new shock as ‘Big Shot’ boosts metal output – by Alfred Cang, Jack Farchy and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – January 2023)

January 10, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

The billionaire at the center of last year’s nickel short squeeze is planning a major shift in his production mix, in a move that could reshape global supply dynamics and inject fresh volatility into the battered nickel market.

Xiang Guangda’s Tsingshan Holding Group Co. is seeking to profit from an unusually large premium in the price of refined nickel metal – the type that is deliverable on exchanges in London and Shanghai – over the intermediate forms that Tsingshan supplies for battery manufacturing, according to people familiar with the matter.

Electric vehicles: investors bank on China demand in plan to revive Australian nickel and cobalt refinery – by Eric Ng (South China Morning Post – January 9, 2023)

January 9, 2023

https://www.scmp.com/

A consortium of Hong Kong and European private investors are spending more than US$1 billion to revive a mothballed nickel and cobalt refinery in Australia by turning mining waste into lucrative materials for electric-car batteries.

They aim to turn the Yabulu refinery in Queensland into one of the world’s top 10 producers of refined nickel within 18 months to benefit from sustained demand and high prices for the metals, said Richard Petty, a Hong Kong-based businessman and one of the nine investors in the group.

Column: New year, new nickel market after LME’s 2022 meltdown? – by Andy Home (Reuters – January 8, 2023)

January 9, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) – March 2022 will go down in the history books as the moment the global nickel market broke down. The London Metal Exchange’s (LME) six-day suspension of nickel trading plunged the global supply chain into pricing darkness.

The LME contract is the anchor around which producers, users and traders price a spectrum of nickel products, from refined metal to ferronickel to the new stream of sulphate heading for electric vehicle batteries.

The Drift: Magna Mining on the fast track to put former Inco mine back into production – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 5, 2023)

January 5, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Sudbury mine development company hits high-grade mineralization at Crean Hill mine property

Magna Mining is taking an aggressive pace in looking to put a former Inco nickel and copper mine back into production.

The Sudbury exploration and mine development company keeps reporting high-grade hits from a drilling program at the former Crean Hill Mine, acquired by Magna last fall.

Tarnished nickel is determined to stay – by Jennifer Cole (Toronto Star- January 4, 2023)

January 5, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/

Despite its diminished consumer shine, the nickel is determined to stay

In 2016 the financial group Desjardins suggested the Canadian nickel should be abolished. The gradual increase in the cost of living and decreased buying power of small coins made the nickel worthless to the consumer. And yet over five years later and the five-cent coin is hanging in there. Why is perplexing?

Once upon a time, way back in the middle of the last century, the coin found prestige and use at the five-and-dime store — the equivalent of today’s Dollar Store. Household items, toys and candy were all within the price point of the nickel.

(Part 1 of 2) Accent: Northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire can save province’s auto sector – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – December 17, 2022)

January 3, 2023

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

However, unjustified opposition from environmentalists, complicated First Nations politics and incompetent provincial bureaucrats stand in the way

The isolated, nickel-rich Ring of Fire, located 550 km northeast of Thunder Bay, is the centerpiece of Ontario’s Critical Mineral Strategy. Discovered in 2007, this developing mining camp is going to save southern Ontario’s auto sector.

Automobiles and associated parts are Ontario’s largest exports and second largest nationally, after the oil sector. Over the past century, hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in manufacturing activity have established the province as Canada’s economic powerhouse.

(Part 2 of 2) Accent: Ontario has moral obligation to develop Ring of Fire – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – December 19, 2022)

January 3, 2023

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

We must provide the West with sustainably sourced critical minerals to stop global warming

In 2014, after spending about $550 million to buy, further explore and develop their Ring of Fire properties, Cliffs Natural Resources left the province in disgust due to the inability of both levels of government to build a road into the camp.

They sold their project at a steep discount to Noront Exploration (now Ring of Fire Metals) for around $27 million. Have the federal and provincial ministries of environment not learned a painful lesson from that ordeal? We got a second chance when Wyloo Metals – which has enormous financial clout — bought Noront and yet I fear we are blowing it again.