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Quebec Mining

Momentum builds for Piedmont Lithium’s ambitious production plans as portfolio expands in Africa – by Amanda Stutt (Mining.com – August 18, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Piedmont Lithium (Nasdaq: PLL; ASX: PLL) this week acquired a 22.5% stake in Atlantic Lithium’s (ASX: A11) flagship Ewoyaa project in Ghana after committing $17 million to fund the project through its definitive feasibility study, adding an Africa asset to its expanding portfolio of operations.

It completed the second stage of the investment agreement signed in 2021. Under the deal, Piedmont can earn a 50% equity interest in Atlantic’s Ghanaian lithium portfolio, headlined by the Ewoyaa project. The first stage involved a $15 million investment into Atlantic, previously IronRidge Resources.

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Experts call for reforms as Quebec residents stake claims to prevent mining activity near their homes – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – August 15, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Quebeckers living outside big cities are taking the unusual step of buying mining claims on their own properties to shield them from commercial exploration, amid a new wave of interest in the province’s mineral potential.

Landowners in the towns of Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc, Saint Boniface and Shawinigan in Quebec’s Mauricie region have purchased 165 claims since April this year. Non-profit organizations have bought another 61, for a total of 226, according to Gilbert Guérin, president of a local group fighting mining development. And this is only one of many such hot spots.

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Corvette’s CV5 hosts significant lithium pegmatite resource – Patriot – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – July 31, 2023)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Lithium exploration company Patriot Battery Metals on Monday announced a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the CV5 deposit at Corvette, in Quebec, establishing it as the biggest lithium pegmatite mineral resource in the Americas.

With a resource of 109.2-million tonnes at 1.42% lithium oxide and 160 parts per million tantalum pentoxide for a total of 3.84-million tonnes of contained lithium carbonate equivalent, CV5 is also the eighth-largest lithium pegmatite resource globally.

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Agnico Eagle touts exploration success at Detour and Kirkland Lake – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 28, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto company sets record gold production in second quarter results

The Abitibi Gold Belt of northeastern Ontario and western Quebec continue to be the happy, high grade hunting grounds for Agnico Eagle. The seemingly never-ending gold potential of the Toronto miner’s Detour and Kirkland Lake operations were among the highlighted items in the company’s second quarter results released this week.

Agnico Eagle reported an adjusted profit of $322.4 million this week, up 11 per cent from a year earlier, on the back of record gold production of 873,204 ounces from its mines in Ontario, Quebec, Nunavut Territory, Mexico and Finland. Its all-in-sustaining cost is US$1.150 per ounce.

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Quebec copper mine builder is on the fast track in northern Michigan – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 27, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Highland Copper inks a mine development partnership deal with Kinterra Copper USA

A Quebec-based junior miner with a copper deposit in northern Michigan has brought aboard a deep-pocketed partner to advance it to production.

Longueuil-headquartered Highland Copper has entered into a joint venture with Kinterra Copper USA to bring cash and technical expertise to turn its White Pine North project into a mine. Kinterra made a cash payment of $30 million to take a 66 per cent ownership stake in the project. White Pine North is one of two copper projects owned by Highland. Copperwood is the other, located 60 kilometres (37 miles) to the southwest.

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Ottawa Valley graphite developer spies Quebec for processing plant – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 17, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Northern Graphite signs land deal for Baie Comeau port property

An Ottawa-based graphite company, with a deposit between North Bay and Ottawa, is purchasing land on the St. Lawrence River to build a battery anode manufacturing plant. Northern Graphite, which holds with Bissett Creek deposit located off Highway 17, signed a letter of intent with the city of Baie Comeau, Que. to purchase a 300-acre brownfield property for US$1.2 million.

Subject to securing financing and government approvals, the company wants to build a hub processing capable of processing 200,000 tonnes a year for its three graphite properties in Ontario, Quebec and Namibia. The intent is to supply anode material to lithium-ion battery manufacturing plants throughout North America.

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Rio hunts in the outback for lithium – by Elouise Fowler and Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – July 11, 2023)

https://www.afr.com/

Rio Tinto will redouble efforts to find hard rock lithium in the Western Australian outback, after confirming it would extend an exploration partnership near the town of Sandstone for the third time in two years. Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm has made no secret of the miner’s desire to increase exposure to the battery material.

Rio finalised the $US825 million ($1.2 billion) acquisition of the Rincon project – near Orocobre’s flagship Olaroz operations – in Argentina last year. The Ango-Australian mining major already produces lithium from waste rock at a Californian mine, and last year entered into partnership with Canadian spodumene producers in the Canadian province of Quebec.

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Patriot Battery Metals hits back at short-seller report – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 10, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Canadian lithium explorer Patriot Battery Metals (TSX-V: PMET) (ASX: PMT) refuted on Monday claims published in a short-seller report, stating the assertions made by Night Market Research were “factually inaccurate and misleading.” The short-seller said on July 6 it attributed Patriot’s stock price rally to promotion efforts with unnamed marketing outlets that other “Tier-1” developers would avoid.

“Patriot Battery Metals is a rare mining ‘unicorn’ – a lithium explorer ascending to a $2-billion valuation despite having acquired its core asset for $8-million only 16 months ago and lacking an established maiden resource,” the report said.

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Mining giant Rio Tinto dips toes in Canadian lithium projects in rare pursuit of EV metal – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – July 10, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Signs option agreement with two Canadian lithium companies

Rio Tinto Ltd., one of the world’s largest mining companies, doesn’t currently produce any lithium, but two agreements in as many months with Canadian companies suggest the giant is quietly exploring projects containing the metal that’s expected to play a key role in powering the energy transition away from fossil fuels.

Rio on July 10 signed an option agreement for about $115.7 million with Longueuil, Que.-based Azimut Exploration Inc., giving it the opportunity to own at least 75 per cent of the Corvet and Kaanaayaa lithium properties in Quebec’s Eeyou Istchee James Bay region.

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Rio Tinto invests $1.4-billion to expand Quebec aluminum manufacturing operations – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – June 13, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Rio Tinto PLC is investing $1.4-billion to expand its aluminum manufacturing operations in Saguenay, Que., breathing new life into the industrial centre after years of uncertainty.

The Anglo-Australian mining giant said Monday it will build out a smelter that uses lower-carbon AP60 technology at its Complexe Jonquière site, adding 96 new pots to the existing 38 and increasing capacity to about 220,000 metric tonnes of primary aluminum per year. Pots are deep shells lined with carbon and insulating bricks in which aluminum is made through electrolysis.

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Wildfires force miners to suspend operations in Eastern Canada – by Mathieu Dion (Bloomberg News – June 6, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Several mining companies have temporarily halted operations and exploration activities in eastern Canada as unprecedented wildfires rage. Iron Ore Co. of Canada, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto Group, is in the process of idling operations at the mine, concentrator and pellet plant in Labrador City, Newfoundland, because it can’t ship products out.

Its 418-kilometer (260-mile) Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway is suspended until at least Friday “due to fire and smoke hazards, as well as damage to our telecommunications infrastructure and power line along the track,” a company spokesperson said in an email.

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Winsome Resources inks deal to expand Adina lithium project footprint by half – by Blair McBride (Northern Miner – June 8, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Lithium explorer and developer Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1) announced Thursday the signing of an option agreement to expand its Adina lithium project in Quebec to 44 sq. km, a 50% increase, as it prepares for an initial resource this year.

The agreement would allow Winsome to acquire the 29 claims in the bordering Jackpot property and expand its total tenure in the James Bay area to more than 871.5 sq. km, the Perth-headquartered firm said in a release.

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Wildfires force miners in Quebec and Labrador to halt operations – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 6, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Mining companies operating in Canada’s Quebec continue on Tuesday to evacuate employees and halt exploration work as at least 164 forest fires tear through the province and Labrador West, including 114 considered out of control.

About 200 military personnel were on the ground on Tuesday morning, while the provincial government said an emergency order banning access to wooden areas remains in place. Patriot Battery Metals (TSX-V: PMET) (ASX: PMT) said it halted drilling and surface exploration field activities until the fire situation near its Corvette lithium project in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region improves.

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Quebec and Ontario signalling major lithium production developments – by Mehanaz Yakub (Electric Autonomy – May 30, 2023)

https://electricautonomy.ca/

As Canada races to solidify its EV supply chain, Quebec and Ontario are vying for investments and development of their lithium sectors

The Ontario government is aiming to establish an end-to-end electric vehicle supply chain in the province. This, it says, will help position Canada as a global contender in the rapidly expanding market for EV production and battery manufacturing.

To date, the province has successfully attracted automakers Volkswagen and Stellantis (along with LG Energy Solutions) to establish two battery cell manufacturing plants. Additionally, Belgium-based Umicore has invested $1.5 billion in setting up a cathode active material facility near Kingston.

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Ford strikes lithium deals as ‘near-shoring’ trend benefits Canadian miners – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – May 24, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Quebec’s nascent lithium mining industry has won a vote of confidence from Ford Motor Co., with the automaker signing an 11-year contract with Nemaska Lithium for future production from two planned facilities in the province.

Ford announced long-term supply agreements with Nemaska and four other lithium miners Monday at an investor conference, part of a strategy to dramatically increase electric-vehicle production over the next three years.

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