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Saskatchewan Mining

Trudeau visits rare earth element processing plant in Saskatoon – by Kelly Geraldine Malone (Canadian Press/CTV News – January 16, 2023)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

SASKATOON – Justin Trudeau pressed Saskatchewan’s government on its record for clean energy projects after Premier Scott Moe expressed disappointment he was not made aware of the prime minister’s visit to a rare earth elements processing plant.

“There’s work to be done on encouraging the government of Saskatchewan to see the opportunities that companies, and indeed, workers, are seeing in ΓǪ cleaner jobs, in the opportunities for cleaner energy projects,” Trudeau said Monday after a tour through the Vital Metals facility in Saskatoon.

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BHP to start recruiting hundreds to operate world’s largest potash mine in Saskatchewan – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post- January 1, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Planning to hire 600 people in 2023, with large portion of workforce drawn from local community

Seasons change, and so does the weather, but one thing remains constant in Saskatchewan: BHP Group Ltd. keeps pressing forward with Jansen, a $7.5-billion project 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon that will be the world’s largest potash mine once completed.

With billions of dollars spent in the past decade, the company has already built two mine shafts and is planning for first potash production in 2026.

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K+S Potash Canada gearing up for increased capacity at Bethune mine – by Pat Rediger (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – November 16, 2022)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

Although the grand opening of the K+S Potash Canada (KSPC) mine in Bethune was greeted with cheers from across the province in 2017, there are still plenty of reasons to celebrate as the company plans to continue increasing production at the facility over the coming decades. KSPC is targeting to one day reach four million of tonnes of potash production per year, which is double the current production from the mine.

KSPC is in the midst of a feasibility study which will lay the framework for future milestones of growth and timelines for the Bethune mine. Sam Farris, president of KSPC, said this process will enable the company to become a world-class potash producer and future leader in climate change responsibility while sustainably feeding the growing world’s population.

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Moe government could end up in court with First Nations over resource development – by Jeremy Simes (Regina Leader Post – October 22, 2022)

https://leaderpost.com/

As Premier Moe aims to assert provincial jurisdiction over resources, First Nations say he is missing a key piece of history.

Standing at a podium inside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building earlier this week, Onion Lake Cree Nation Councillor Bernadine Harper held up a feather and shared a piece of history.

Oral teachings, she said, have long stated that traditional lands were never meant to be surrendered once the treaty was signed. Instead, they were to be shared, to the depth of a plow, in exchange for assistance when in need.

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‘Saviour for the world:’ Saskatchewan fills resource gaps caused by war in Ukraine – by Kelly Geraldine Malone (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – October 23, 2022)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

With its stable and established resource and agriculture sector, the province has found itself in a position to help fill the global gap caused by the war.

Cameco Corp. is in a position to grow, the president of the Saskatoon-based Uranium giant recently told investors, because a “geopolitical crisis has hit our market” with Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Tim Gitzel was speaking earlier this month after the company announced it had partnered with Brookfield Renewable Partners to acquire Westinghouse Electric, a nuclear power plant equipment maker.

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Cameco pivots off volatile uranium market with big bet on Westinghouse – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – October 12, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Cameco is investing $2.2 billion for a 49% stake in Westinghouse Electric, which services nuclear reactors

Decarbonization could end up as a boon for nuclear power, which is capable of generating lots of energy while releasing no carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

But as of today, there are still plenty of headwinds for uranium producers such as Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. So on Tuesday, chief executive Tim Gitzel did something that he hopes will make it easier to push through those headwinds: Cameco said it would invest $2.2 billion for a 49 per cent stake in Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse Electric Co., which services nuclear reactors, diversifying Cameco away from the volatile uranium market.

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Is Saskatchewan eyeing its own ‘sovereignty act’? Province slams federal green laws and says it’s ‘Drawing the Line’ – by Jeremy Nuttall (Toronto Star – October 12, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

Assessing the cost of federal environmental regulations at $111 billion, Premier Scott Moe’s government says it’s preparing legislation to ‘clarify and protect’ its constitutional rights.

Tension between some Prairie provinces and the federal government flared again Tuesday as Saskatchewan released a report alleging the federal government’s climate-change plans will cost the province $111 billion by 2035.

In a statement, Premier Scott Moe said his government would “take steps to protect” the province’s families, businesses and jobs.

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Nutrien’s new CEO Ken Seitz has a lot on his plate – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 11, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In some ways, Ken Seitz, the new chief executive of fertilizer giant Nutrien Ltd., is in an enviable position. As long as he doesn’t get fired, he’ll be ahead of his two predecessors, Mayo Schmidt and Chuck Magro, both of whom were shown the door in the past year and a half.

And as a former miner himself, Mr. Seitz commands a natural respect from the thousands of men and women who work a kilometre underground in Nutrien’s six potash mines in Saskatchewan, some of which have been in operation since the late 1960s.

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Sask. could be crucial in the nation’s electric vehicle industry — if Canada acts, report says – by Dayne Patterson (CBC News Saskatoon – September 14, 2022)

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

Province is home to 2 rare earth processing plants

If Canada acts now, it could be a competitor in the electric vehicle battery supply chain, boosting the economy and adding jobs — and Saskatchewan could play a pivotal role.

That’s according to a report released Wednesday by Clean Energy Canada alongside the non-profit Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing, looking at Canada’s potential in the electric vehicle sector. The report says that sector could add up to 250,000 jobs by 2030 and $48 billion to the economy each year.

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Sask. projecting $1.04B surplus amid rising resource revenues – by Stefanie Davis and Brendan Ellis (CTV News Saskatchewan – August 23, 2022)

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/

Saskatchewan is projecting a $1.04 billion surplus for 2022-23, with a large bump from non-renewable resource revenues projected. That figure is a $1.51 billion improvement from budget forecasts, which projected a $463 million deficit for the year.

“A strong economy and higher resource prices have meant a significant improvement in the province’s finances. That means we can balance the budget, pay down debt and help Saskatchewan people with the rising cost of living,” Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said.

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Bidding war for Canadian uranium explorer UEX hots up – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – August 10, 2022)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The bidding war for that has erupted for Canadian uranium exploration junior UEX is heating up, with Denison Mines improving its offer, leaving fellow-suitor Uranium Energy Company (UEC) disappointed with UEX delaying its shareholder vote. UEX shareholders would have voted on UEC’s bid on Tuesday, but the company’s board had moved that meeting to August 15, following Denison’s amended offer.

Denison has offered to acquire UEX for 0.32 shares for every UEX share held, representing an implied purchase price of C$0.51 a share. Denison states that the acquisition proposal represents a 7% premium to the price implied by the amended agreement between UEX and UEC, and a 9% premium to the 20-day volume weighted average price implied by the amended UEC agreement.

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Trudeau doesn’t like the opposition to his fertilizer plan – by Brian Lilley (Toronto Sun – August 9, 2022)

https://torontosun.com/

It’s always interesting to hear Liberals accuse others of stoking division when that seems to be their bread and butter. This week it was Liberal MP Lloyd Longfield, a backbencher from Guelph, who was chosen to be the face of a column on fertilizer that accused opponents of the Trudeau government’s plan of stoking division for political gain.

He, and the government he serves, might want to look in the mirror. If you haven’t heard, the Trudeau Liberals want Canadian farmers to reduce their emissions from fertilizer, specifically nitrous oxide emissions, to 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

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Uranium developer Denison says Phoenix feasibility field test is fully permitted – by Vladimir Basov (Kitco News – August 8, 2022)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Denison Mines (TSX: DML) announced today it has received a License to Possess, Use, Store and Transfer a Nuclear Substance from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for the In-Situ Recovery Feasibility Field Test planned for the Phoenix uranium deposit at the company’s 95% owned Wheeler River project.

Denison Mines said that the receipt of this license, together with the previously announced approval from the Saskatchewan Minister of Environment, means that the Feasibility Field Test (FFT) is fully permitted to proceed as per the company’s plans.

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Nutrien makes Ken Seitz its third chief executive in less than three years – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 8, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Seitz takes the helm while Nutrien is benefiting from the tailwind of some of the most favourable market conditions in years

Nutrien Ltd. named Ken Seitz as its next chief executive — the third person to hold the position since April 2021. Seitz had been acting on an interim basis since January, when the Saskatoon, Sask.-based fertilizer giant abruptly announced the termination of its second chief executive in less than a year without providing any context for either exit.

Unlike his predecessors, Seitz takes the helm while Nutrien is benefiting from the tailwind of some of the most favourable market conditions in years, as potash and other fertilizer prices are highly elevated as a result of supply constraints primarily caused by the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine.

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Nutrien CEO says Ukraine war will drive product demand for years – by Amanda Stephenson (Canadian Press/Global News – August 4, 2022)

https://globalnews.ca/

Saskatoon-based fertilizer giant Nutrien Ltd. surged to all-time high profits in the first six months of 2022 as the war in Ukraine destabilized agriculture markets and heightened global food security fears.

The Canadian company, which is the largest fertilizer producer in the world, raked in US$5 billion in profits in the first half of the year as crop input prices soared to multi-year highs.

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