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Nickel

New boss at Vale – Dino Otranto – favours improved safety and being more competitive – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – December 5, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

“We have an abundance of ore here, one of the top three nickel-copper orebodies
in the entire world, right here. We haven’t really scratched
the surface of the potential of that orebody,” Dino Otranto said.

Dino Otranto, the new man at the helm of Vale Base Metals in Canada, said he is more than pleased with the level of commitment from Vale employees. He was equally overwhelmed at the level of innovation and technology being used to keep the company successful. Just as important, he said, is the critical need to be more competitive.

Otranto, who has a blue chip mining résumé stretching back to the early 2000s, is the new chief operating officer for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations and Asian Refineries. Prior to that, he was the company’s chief technology officer based in Toronto.

As he spoke recently from his office in Sudbury, Otranto said he had no plan to shake things up when he moved into his role earlier in 2019.

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Talon plans more copper-nickel exploratory drilling near Tamarack – by Jimmy Lovrien (Duluth News Tribune – December 4, 2019)

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Talon Metals has asked the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for permission to drill more exploratory borings at its Tamarack copper-nickel mining project near the Aitkin-Carlton county line. The request comes just after the DNR approved Talon’s plans to re-explore several of its existing borings.

On Nov. 22, Talon submitted an exploration plan with the DNR detailing plans to drill exploratory borings in bedrock at four sites on active state nonferrous metal mineral leases about 1/2 mile north-northeast to about 3.5 miles north-northeast of Tamarack.

The borings would be drilled using the diamond core drill method and be temporarily or permanently capped upon completion in accordance with Minnesota Department of Health regulations. The DNR has 20 days from the Nov. 22 submission to approve or deny Talon’s plan.

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Wolf Lake part of renewed focus on mining frontier – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – December 3, 2019)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

A junior miner heralding a “new frontier” in Sudbury exploration is poised to add claims around Wolf Lake to a vast property it has already staked in the Chiniguchi-Temagami area.

“This whole area northeast of Lake Wanapitei has never really been explored,” said Stefan Spears, chairman and CEO of Inventus Mining. “Everyone assumed it was too far away or assumed that it wasn’t part of the Sudbury environment.”

The Inventus property, dubbed Sudbury 2.0, lies about 40 kilometres northeast of Sudbury within the Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, an egg-shaped zone that stretches from Lake Wanapitei to Bear Island in Lake Temagami. The anomaly is comparable in both size and magnetic stamp to the Sudbury basin, suggesting a mineral trove may also exist below the rugged surface of this untapped twin.

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Positive spotlight shone on Thompson at Winnipeg mineral convention, says councillor (Thompson Citizen – November 27, 2019)

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

News that Vale Manitoba Operations could possibly spend $1 billion over five years to deepen Thompson mines in anticipation of a growing demand for nickel as a component of batteries for electric vehicles made Thompson the talk of November’s mineral exploration conference in Winnipeg.

Gary Eyres, head of Manitoba Operations, told attendees at the Central Canada Mineral Exploration Convention about the proposed investment, first revealed to members of the Thompson Chamber of Commerce at their Nov. 13 lunch meeting.

“Once we get approved – and I really am confident we will get this approval – we are looking at nearly $8 billion in economic benefit to the region over the next 25 years,” Eyres was reported as saying in the Winnipeg Free Press. Coun. Judy Kolada, who attended the convention, told her fellow councillors at the conclusion of their Nov. 25 meeting that Thompson was in the spotlight at the convention.

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Editorial: Thompson mining’s future looking brighter, but when? (Thompson Citizen – November 27, 2019)

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Although it wasn’t really that long ago that the mining industry was booming in Thompson – if you’ve lived here longer than 10 years, you experienced at least part of it – it might feel like it’s mostly been gloom and doom for a long time because, for the most part, it has.

The 2008 global recession, which was a bit delayed in arriving in Thompson, although eventually it did, was only first starting to be felt when Vale announced nine years ago this month that it had plans to shut down the smelter and refinery in Thompson for good.

At the time that it was first announced, the proposed shutdown date was 2015, though that was later pushed back three years, with operations ceasing about midway through 2018. A bit more than a year before that, Birchtree Mine was placed on care and maintenance status, resulting in the loss of more than 100 jobs.

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Nornickel to boost Taimyr mining by 75% to support the world’s shift to electric mobility – by Thomas Nilsen (Barents Observer – November 20, 2019)

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/

10-years strategic ambition for mining on the Arctic tundra is set to 30 million tonnes per year, the Russian metal-giant said at its annual capital markets day.

Nornickel, describing itself as «the world’s best Tier-1 mining resource», says its unique commodity basket gives the company the best position to support the world’s shift to clean energy mobility.

The announcement to boost production of core metals for battery production comes as the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates sales of electric vehicles (EV) to reach 44 million annually by 2030, up from about 2 million in 2018.

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Canada’s worst violent crime problem is in Thompson, Man. – by Shannon VanRaes (MACLEAN’S Magazine – November 19, 2019)

https://www.macleans.ca/

As the “Hub of the North” Thompson serves a regional population
of 55,000. The city’s airport is the second busiest in the province
and more than 40 remote communities—mostly First Nations and
Northern Affairs settlements—rely on Thompson for essential
services and commerce.

It’s the “machete kids” that worry Donnel Jonsson most. The property manager for Ashberry Place, a low-income apartment complex in Thompson, Man., has dealt with assaults, fires and even murder over the years. However, recent youth crime has him feeling unsafe, particularly along the city’s Spirit Way trail.

“Kids are going around and assaulting individuals walking the path, no reason why, they just come up to them and basically stab them or cut them across the face,” he says, pointing to a wooded section of trail below a 10-storey-high wolf mural.

This May, the city’s RCMP detachment indeed found itself investigating a stabbing spree that left five injured. In March, a machete-wielding home invader hacked a dog to death and in June, Thompson saw two stabbings and a machete attack in three days.

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Vale Manitoba operations to make case for $1-billion investment in Thompson mine (CBC News Manitoba – November 16, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/

It’s believed investment could expand mine’s lifespan by 25 to 30 years

The operators of the Vale nickel mine in Thompson, Man., are hoping a $1-billion investment could extend the mine’s life span by 25 to 30 years. Gary Eyres, head of Vale’s Manitoba operations, said the mine’s team has been stepping up its exploration efforts, including aerial and magnetic surveys, and believes there are large enough ore deposits to warrant the investment.

Eyres says he’s confident that somewhere along the Thompson nickel belt is the equivalent of another mine “just waiting to be found.” They want to be able to present their case for it in the next six to 12 months to the company’s owners in Brazil, Eyres said

“Everything that I’m doing at the moment and our teams here in Thompson are doing at the moment, is we’re focusing only on when this happens, rather than if it happens,” he said.

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Could there be a second Sudbury mining camp? – Staff (Northern Ontario Business – November 15, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Inventus Mining claims “breakthrough” that opens “new exploration frontier” in Sudbury Basin

An exploration company probing for nickel and other base metals on the outer fringes of the Sudbury Basin is claiming a “breakthrough” on one of its properties.

Inventus Mining Corp. said it’s found the same kind of rock formations on its Sudbury 2.0 property that’s known to host Sudbury’s “world class” nickel, copper and platinum group metals deposits.

In a Nov. 14 news release, Toronto-based Inventus heralds the “opening of a new exploration frontier” in the basin, based on the discovery of three offset dykes and a breccia belt more than 14 kilometres long.

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United States sitting out race to mine ocean floor for metals essential to electronics (CBS News – November 13, 2019)

https://www.cbsnews.com/

One of the most high-stakes races in history is underway, with colossal riches waiting for the winners. It’s a race to a little known frontier: the bottom of the sea. Around the world, thousands of engineers and scientists are in fierce competition to build the first undersea robot that can mine the ocean floor.

The explosion of interest in deep sea mining is driven by the demands of our high-tech economy. The deep ocean is the El Dorado that contains metals like nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements, essential for use in cell phones, supercomputers and electric cars. They’re also critical for a green future of solar and wind power.

Dozens of nations, including Russia and China, are racing to get there first. But not the United States. As Bill Whitaker reports, America must sit on the sidelines of this great treasure hunt. Whitaker’s report will be broadcast on the next edition of 60 Minutes, Sunday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on CBS.

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Vale Manitoba Operations head believes there is an ore body equivalent to a new mine near Thompson – by Ian Graham (Thompson Citizen – November 13, 2019)

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

A proposed $1 billion investment in Vale’s Thompson mines in the next five years could generate nearly $8 billion in economic activity over the next 45 years, the company’s head of Manitoba Operations told the Thompson Chamber of Commerce Nov. 13.

“What we’re looking at is exploring our ore bodies,” said Gary Eyres, estimating that the proposed investment would be equivalent to opening a new mine in Thompson and saying that it is possible another mine shaft could be excavated down to as far as 6,300 feet. Right now, mining areas extend down to 4,800 feet below the surface. “We haven’t found the end of the ore body yet. Somewhere close by, I believe, is the next Thompson mine.”

If the investment goes ahead, it would result in $7.9 billion worth of economic activity between now and 2065, $7.4 billion more than putting the mines on care and maintenance until 2043 would create. It’s also $5.4 billion more economic activity than would be generated by simply mining out the current areas of T1 and T3 by 2043.

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Column: Fizzing nickel distracts from the LME Week metals gloom – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – November 4, 2019)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – “Near the bottom or worse to come?” The title of CRU Group’s panel discussion last Tuesday neatly sums up the downbeat mood of this year’s London Metal Exchange (LME) Week, the annual gathering of the world’s metals industry.

This time last year the cocktail party chatter was all about President Trump and the escalating trade war with China. One year on and the Sino-U.S. stand-off is still tantalisingly suspended between deal/no-deal (delete according to personal preference).

Industrial metal markets have paid the price for this year-long showdown. Political deadlock has accentuated China’s manufacturing slowdown and further depressed an already struggling global automotive sector.

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Ontario renewed funding push for Ring of Fire roads as viability of venture questioned – by Niall McGee and Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – November 4, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Ontario government appealed to Ottawa this summer to split a $1.6-billion construction bill for roads into the Ring of Fire region, despite mounting evidence the minerals project in the province’s North isn’t economically viable.

Documents reviewed by The Globe and Mail show that Greg Rickford, Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, sent an e-mail in July to a number of federal ministers asking for Ottawa to kick in as much as $779-million to roughly match Ontario’s contribution.

As part of his business case for investing in the Ring of Fire, Mr. Rickford referenced a number of often-cited huge financial projections about the project that have no supporting evidence.

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Minnesota Supreme Court won’t take up copper-nickel mining rules – by Jimmy Lovrien (Duluth News Tribune – October 29, 2019)

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a challenge by environmental groups over the state’s copper-nickel mining rules.

Environmental groups argue the Department of Natural Resources’ rules regulating the mining of metals that do not contain iron — such as copper, nickel and other precious metals — were too vague and, therefore, unenforceable. The DNR maintains the rules were strong yet flexible.

But in August, Minnesota Court of Appeals unanimously upheld those rules, and called the DNR’s non-ferrous rules “valid.” Six environment groups had filed the original appeal, but only two groups, the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case after the Court of Appeals upheld the rules.

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Copper prices seen stifled by growth fears next year: Reuters poll – by Eric Onstad and K. Sathya Narayanan (Reuters U.S. – October 28, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON/ (Reuters) – Prices of copper and other industrial metals are expected to be capped next year as weak economic growth weighs on the market, a Reuters poll showed.

The London Metal Exchange index of six base metals has inched up only 1% so far this year, held back by worries about a possible global recession and a trade war between the United States and top metals consumer China.

But the average is deceptive, because sharp gains for nickel of over 50% cover the fact that half of the metals are in the red, with losses of up to 15%.

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