‘You’re always a drill hole away from an immense discovery’: Pirie – by Nicole Stoffman (Timmins Daily Press – June 10, 2024)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Ontario Minister of Mines excited by new prospects in the region

Timmins MPP George Pirie, Ontario’s minister of mines was engrossed in conversations with three promising junior mining operations in the Prospector’s Tent at the 2024 Canadian Mining Expo on Thursday, June 6. “That’s what excites me about the mining industry,” Pirie told the Daily Press before heading off to give the Ontario State of Mining Address. “You’re always a drill hole away from an immense discovery.”

According to the Ministry of Mines, the Timmins-Porcupine gold camp is the largest producer of gold in Ontario. Last year Ontario allocated $6 million to support junior minors (who explore mining deposits), bringing the province’s total investment in their junior mining program to $35 million since 2021.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Fueling the Future: Sudbury conference focuses on critical minerals – by Hugh Kruzel (Sudbury Star – June 5, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Those who attended also talked about the supply chain to deliver them

Once again, Cambrian College was the site of the BEV In-Depth: Mines to Mobility conference. This third annual conference, held last week, gathered players in the Battery Electric Vehicle future of Ontario to listen, learn and exchange ideas.

“It is a natural fit for us – and Sudbury – to step forward into this future,” said Shawn Poland, Cambrian’s vice president of External Partnerships, Strategic Enrollment. “Cambrian and other Sudbury institutions can play an important role in research and development.”

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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.

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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.”

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Mining skills shortage looms as Ontario gears up for EV boom – by Darius Snieckus (National Observer – June 4, 2024)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Ontario’s mining industry risks a shortfall of over 3,500 skilled green-collar workers by 2040, unless it jump-starts education and training for the new generation of technicians needed as Canada’s critical minerals-hungry electric vehicle (EV) sector gears up this decade, according to a new strategy report unveiled by the government.

The province last week launched its Critical Minerals Talent Strategy, a multi-department initiative developed by the government’s Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) to head off this employment bottleneck as mining deepens its focus on extracting the cobalt, lithium, nickel and other materials key to manufacturing EV batteries.

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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.

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Mineral processing plant will bring hundreds of jobs, business opportunities to Sudbury area – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – May 29, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

First-of-its-kind $800-$900 million facility, processing Ring of Fire nickel, will give Wyloo an edge in electric battery manufacturing

Hundreds of jobs and economic development opportunities will be created in the region when Wyloo Canada builds its multi-million-dollar minerals processing plant in the City of Greater Sudbury.

Announced on May 29, the facility will be the first in Canada to process nickel sulphate and nickel-dominant precursor cathode active material (pCAM) — minerals needed to make the batteries used in electric vehicles.

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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.

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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.

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