Sudbury column: Geopolitics, global warming make the Ring of Fire as important as ever – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – June 8, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Construction of a road to the mine site needs to start now

Without a doubt, the Ring of Fire camp and its many strategic minerals that include nickel, copper, platinum group metals, chromite and titanium – just to mention a few as explorers have just scratched the proverbial surface – is the most important mining discovery in Canadian history. It may even exceed the legendary Sudbury Basin someday.

Discovered in 2007, the region is located approximately 450 km northeast of Thunder Bay in the isolated and vast peatlands of Hudson Bay, which itself is roughly the size of Norway but with only about 10,000 people. Contrary to fanatical ENGOs, sustainable mineral development and exploration practices will have minimal impact on the environment and provide the critical minerals needed to stop global warming.

Read more

Ten million trees really made a difference to Sudbury’s landscape – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – June 8, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

And about half those trees came from seedlings grown by Vale and its greenhouse in Copper Cliff

More than 10 million trees have been planted as part of Greater Sudbury’s regreening efforts, and Vale (formerly Inco) is responsible for nearly half of those seedlings. They started out tinier than a thumbnail, but 50 years later, the first trees that were planted are now soaring into the sky, covered in needles or leaves, and providing shade, nourishment and homes to all kinds of critters.

About five million of those seedlings got their start at the Vale greenhouse in Copper Cliff. A large group, including children from the nearby elementary school, gathered at the greenhouse on Thursday to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Read more

Communities on the Move: Sudbury’s mining landscape ‘never been more exciting,’ says exec – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – June 7, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Stakeholders champion city as leader in critical minerals production

The Sudbury Basin has been a mining hotspot for more than a century, but as demand grows for critical minerals like nickel, there’s never been a more exciting time for the industry than right now.

That’s according to Gord Gilpin, the director of Ontario operations for Vale Base Metals, who led off a Sudbury-themed panel discussion at the BEV In Depth: Mines to Mobility conference May 30 at Cambrian College.

Read more

Don’t underestimate world demand for Nickel, CEO says – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Press – June 7, 2024)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Mineral remains a resilient investment for both stainless steel and batteries: Selby

The ever-ebullient CEO of Canada Nickel Company, Mark Selby, is bullish on Nickel, despite Canadian’s growing skepticism about electric vehicles.

According to an April survey from AutoTrader, the number of Canadians interested in buying an EV fell from 68 per cent in 2022 to 46 per cent in 2024. People are concerned about inadequate charging infrastructure, the cars’ limited range, higher cost, and performance in cold weather.

Read more

NEWS RELEASE: Vale Base Metals Greenhouse Celebrates 50th Anniversary (June 7, 2024)

Sudbury, June 07, 2024 – Yesterday in Copper Cliff, representatives from Vale Base Metals and the community joined to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Vale Base Metals’ greenhouse. Over its long history, the greenhouse has been responsible for growing approximately 5 million seedlings within the City of Sudbury.

The Greenhouse opened on February 14, 1974, to provide a space to house tropical plants for use in displays and temperate plants for indoor and outdoor use. It also helped facilitate agricultural research, including studies on the effects of chemical growth on tailings and the germination of legumes for use in land reclamation.

Read more

Emerging Sudbury nickel-copper miner strikes milling deal with Glencore – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 5, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Magna Mining will extract, ship 20,000 tonne bulk sample to Strathcona mill

Sudbury upstart Magna Mining has signed a toll milling agreement with Glencore in preparation for early-stage test mining at its Crean Hill Project.

The nickel and copper mine development company issued a June 4 news release of its plans to transport a 20,000-tonne surface bulk sample across town to Glencore’s Strathcona mill to make into a concentrate material. The bulk sample is being extracted from a mineralized area at Crean Hill called the 109 Footwall Zone.

Read more

Mining tour allows Sudbury to show off expertise, technology – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – June 3, 2024)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Municipality and MineConnect team up to show off mining points of interest for out of town reporters and VIPs who attended the battery electric vehicle conference

The Sudbury-based MineConnect organization showed off during last week’s battery electric vehicle conference. MineConnect, in collaboration with the City of Greater Sudbury, hosted out-of-town mining journalists and others connected with mining and battery electric vehicles as part of the conference.

The mine supply and services association is a not-for-profit agency that represents hundreds of Northern Ontario businesses and services that provide supplies and support to every sector of the mining industry.

Read more

Low nickel prices exerting drag on Sudbury economy: Report – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 4, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Employment should surpass pre-pandemic peak next year, however, and construction seems to be picking up

Nickel prices are down and the residential market in Sudbury has cooled, but the city’s population is expected to keep growing and lower interest rates will eventually spur more housing starts, a new report predicts. “The slowing national economy and soft commodity prices foreshadow weakness in Sudbury, home of the Big Nickel,” states an economic outlook from the Conference Board of Canada.

Worries about the near-term prospects for electric cars and their nickel-consuming batteries, along with rising Indonesian supply, have “pummelled nickel prices,” the board states. “Prices peaked in March 2022 and were roughly half that in March 2024.”

Read more

Ring of Fire Road Needs to Start Construction Now Due to Geopolitics and Global Warming – Stan Sudol (June 1, 2024)

Without a doubt, the Ring of Fire camp and its many strategic minerals that include nickel, copper, platinum group metals, chromite and titanium – just to mention a few as explorers have just scratched the proverbial surface – is the most important mining discovery in Canadian history. It may even exceed the legendary Sudbury Basin some day.

Discovered in 2007, the region is located approximately 450 kms. northeast of Thunder Bay in the isolated and vast peatlands of Hudson Bay which itself is roughly the size of Norway but with only about 10,000 people. Contrary to fanatical ENGOs, sustainable mineral development and exploration practices will have minimal impact on the environment and provide the critical minerals needed to stop global warming. Australian miner Wyloo owns the Eagle’s Nest nickel/copper mine and various chromite deposits. Canadian owned Juno Corp is the other main explorer in the district and controls roughly 52 percent of the mine claims.

Read more

Wyloo Canada to build Ring of Fire facility in Sudbury (updated) – by Staff (Sudbury Star – May 29, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Wyloo CEO Canada Kristan Straub says the facility would provide the missing piece in Canada’s aspirations to develop a domestic EV battery supply chain

Wyloo Canada announced this morning that it plans to build a downstream battery materials processing facility in Sudbury. It will cost up to $900 million to build and will create several hundred jobs, officials said at the EDome this morning.

It will cost up to $900 million to build and will create several hundred jobs, officials said at the EDome this morning. Wyloo said it has an agreement with the City of Greater Sudbury to secure land to build the battery materials processing facility. The new facility will fill a critical gap in Canada’s electric vehicle battery supply chain by establishing Canada’s first mine-to-precursor cathode active material (pCAM) integrated solution.

Read more

WYLOO NEWS RELEASE: Canada’s First Downstream Battery Materials Processing Facility to be Built in Sudbury (May 29, 2024)

GREATER SUDBURY, May 29, 2024 – Wyloo has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City of Greater Sudbury to secure a parcel of land to build a downstream battery materials processing facility. The new facility will fill a critical gap in Canada’s electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain by establishing Canada’s first mine-to-precursor cathode active material (pCAM) integrated solution.

Wyloo CEO Canada Kristan Straub said the facility would provide the missing piece in Canada’s aspirations to develop a domestic EV battery supply chain, by producing low-carbon nickel sulphate and nickel-dominant pCAM, key ingredients for EV batteries.

Read more

Sudbury becomes a major nickel producer – by Ailbhe Goodbody (CIM Magazine – May 22, 2024)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

In this edition of Mining the Archives, we examine the development of Sudbury as a Canadian nickel hub, which later became an example of how pollution-impacted lands can be reclaimed successfully

The Sudbury Basin was formed by a meteorite impact approximately 1.85 billion years ago, which made mineral-rich magmas rise from deeper in the earth to create the valuable mineral resource deposits in the region.

Robert C. Stanley [CIM Bulletin, July 1927] stated that the first authentic discovery of nickel in the Sudbury district was recorded about 1856. “Sudbury was at that time the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, from which point construction was being pushed westward,” he said. “In the course of this work, a cutting was made which passed through an outcrop of copper ore that was later to be the Murray mine. Prospectors after copper immediately flocked into the surrounding country, and a very large number of claims were staked.”

Read more

Ontario beefs up supply chain funding for critical minerals – by Len Gillis (Sudbury.com – May 6, 2024)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Mines Minister George Pirie confirms additional funding will be added to the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund over the next three years to boost research into sustainable extraction of new metals required to support the battery electric vehicle industry

Ontario Mines Minister George Pirie said today Ontario is committed to strengthening the province’s critical minerals strategy in the global race to ensure there is a stable supply chain for battery electric vehicles by spending millions in new science and technology to help do that. He said the effort is already underway in Sudbury to develop new ways to procure more critical minerals.

Pirie said the Ontario government will be spending $15 million over the next three years to expand the Ontario Critical Minerals Innovation Fund (CMIF), which is a re-announcement of the funding increase that was announced as part of the Ontario budget earlier this year.

Read more

Nickel 28 fires founders on ‘serious misconduct’ that they deny – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – May 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Nickel 28 Capital Corp. said it has fired its founders, including chief executive officer Anthony Milewski, after an investigation uncovered “serious misconduct” — claims the ousted management team says are untrue and part of a years-long battle for control at the Canadian mining firm.

The nickel and cobalt producer removed Milewski, along with president Justin Cochrane and chief financial officer Conor Kearns, with immediate effect, it said Monday, after the board reviewed findings made by an independent special committee. The investigation found evidence the management team had breached their duties and repeatedly lacked judgment, the board said.

Read more

Column: Mining giants Vale, Glencore failing Greater Sudbury – by John Caruso (Sudbury Star – May 1, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

John Caruso is a Sudbury businessman and a concerned citizen.

Canada and Ontario are willing to sell off our non-renewable resources with little concern for the host community

There is something wrong with this picture: As our city moves toward some historic investments in quality-of-life assets, concerns are being raised regarding long-term debts being incurred and their impact on residential taxes.

I strongly believe that the planned investments in a new event centre and cultural hub at Tom Davies Square are critical investments in our ability to attract and retain population and economic growth.

Read more