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Sudbury Basin

Why Sudbury can be a critical minerals processing hub to the world – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 28, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mayor Paul Lefebvre pitches a compelling case to the Toronto corporate crowd to expand nickel processing capacity in the city

Sudbury has a strategic role to play in Canada’s natural resources security and economic sovereignty. Greater Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre delivered that message to an audience of corporate leaders and influencers at the Canadian Club Toronto, March 27, by inviting strategic partners and government funders to come north and invest in critical metals processing capacity in the city.

Lefebvre took part in a panel discussion that Canada is falling short in realizing its full potential due to the lack of investment in mid-stream processing that’s needed to feed the burgeoning battery, energy and defence sectors.

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Lots of mining left in Sudbury but there are challenges: Gord Gilpin – by Hugh Kruzel (Sudbury Star – March 21, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale’s director of Ontario Operations speaks to a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce luncheon

Sudbury has another hundred years of good mining left in its ore bodies but it will have to work to remain competitive in a difficult market for nickel, Vale’s director of Ontario Operations says. Gord Gilpin told the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce this week that Indonesia has flooded the world market with nickel, depressing the price of the mineral.

Gilpin made a parallel to the turbulent 1970s and 80s. “They (Indonesia) are the OPEC of nickel. They will set prices. We do expect it to balance out but in the short term, there is a surplus that is why pricing is under pressure.”

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Sudbury, Ont., mayor not fazed over what tariffs could mean for nickel mining – by Jonathan Migneault (CBC News Sudbury – March 21, 2025)

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

The U.S. only has one nickel mine and it would take years to start new ones

Sudbury’s mayor says he’s not worried that an ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States will hurt the city’s nickel exports to the south.

“I believe critical minerals, which obviously we are endowed with here in Greater Sudbury, play a role to maybe bridge that divide that we are currently living with the U.S. administration,” said Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre. “For them to realize the importance that they can’t source this in the U.S.”

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‘At Sudbury, we are nowhere near having found it all’ – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – March 18, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Magna Mining’s critical mineral transformation in the Sudbury Basin to create new wealth, jobs

From American President Donald Trump’s desire to take over Greenland and perhaps Canada, and his recent confrontation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as Premier Doug Ford’s determination to get Ring of Fire infrastructure built, the general public is now acutely aware of the strategic and geopolitical importance of critical minerals.

And yet, Canada’s largest critical mineral mining camp – the legendary Sudbury Basin, which has been in operation for slightly over 140 years and controlled by two of the world’s largest miners, Brazilian-based Vale and Swiss-owned Glencore – seems to have been largely ignored by the mainstream media.

Since both Vale and Glencore have historically controlled much of the land package in the region, few juniors have thrived.

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Build nickel sulfate processing capacity in Sudbury, mayor says – by Paul Lefebvre (Sudbury Star – March 18, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury and Canada’s supply of critical minerals could be our trump card in trade war with the Americans, Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre says

Sir Winston Churchill purportedly once quipped that one never wants to see “a good crisis go to waste.” Fortunately then for Ontario and Canada, we’ve got a whopper. Under President Trump, the United States is upending decades of partnership with Canada and many other allied nations.

American support for Ukraine is now apparently subject to the fledgling democracy providing $500 billion worth of rare earth as a “back payment” for U.S. military support.

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Mine tailings in Sudbury, across Canada worth billions – by Darius Snieckus (Sudbury Star/National Observer – March 18, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Waste not, profit much: toxic tailings in Canada could ’re-mined’ for billions of dollars in critical minerals, report says

Toxic tailings discarded at some 10,000 abandoned mines together with those currently being produced by 200 others in operation across Canada could hide a multi-billion-dollar market opportunity as demand for critical minerals explodes globally in the coming decades, a new study has concluded.

Tailings – a byproduct of large-scale mining operations – could be changed “from a liability into asset” by monetizing recovered minerals and metals from current waste for use in renewable energy technologies, data centres, and defence applications, said the report from Action Canada, a leader development programme.

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Lefebvre to lead delegation in tour of Korea, Japan in support of mining – by Tyler Clarke (Sudbury.com – March 4, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The trip has been in the planning stages since before the threat of U.S. tariffs, which took effect March 4, began looming

A delegation of approximately 10 local political and industry leaders have scheduled an April 7-11 tour of Korea and Japan, “to strengthen economic partnerships.” Mayor Paul Lefebvre announced the delegation during the 2025 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto on March 3.

“We were already planning this last year — this hasn’t happened overnight — but I think the timing couldn’t be better,” he told Sudbury.com on the eve of the United States imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports, which strengthens the need to diversify export markets. “It’s about diversifying.”

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Vale Base Metals chair hopes ‘cool heads will prevail’ in U.S.-Canada trade dispute – – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – March 10, 2025)

https://www.sudbury.com/

International nickel miner has contingency plans in place should U.S. nickel exports be halted.

It’s still too early in the U.S.-Canada trade dispute to determine what impact tariffs will have on Vale Base Metals’ U.S.-bound nickel shipments, given the rapidly changing situation, according to company chair Mark Cutifani. Cutifani’s hope is that federal and provincial parties can return to discussions to agree on a long-term solution.

“We hope that, from a political point of view, the U.S., Canada, Ontario can all come together and sort out what should occur and, at least once the rhetoric sort of settles down a little bit, we hope that cool heads will prevail and we’ll find solutions that work,” Cutifani told Northern Ontario Business in an interview.

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Ontario election: Make Laurentian University Ontario’s mining champion – by David Robinson (Sudbury Star – February 24, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

It’s one of David Robinson’s four pillars as the Green Party candidate for the Sudbury riding

My job as Sudbury’s Green candidate is to get climate change on your agenda and convince you it is part of a real economic development strategy for our city.

My job as your MPP would be to bring together political factions and leading institutions in the city in a unified campaign to get what Sudbury needs. No other candidate has the knowledge, experience or the proven record of working for Sudbury. No other candidate has the contacts and the respect in every corner of the city.

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First Nation near Sudbury to grow its presence in the mining sector – by Staff (Sudbury Star – February 13, 2025)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Atikameksheng Anishnawbek will receive $1 million from the federal government for two projects

A First Nation just west of Sudbury will receive a little more than $1 million in federal funding to strengthen its place in the mining industry and create new jobs.

Atikameksheng Anishnawbek will get $575,199 so its economic development corporation, Giyak Mashkawzid Shkagmikwe, can buy a new diamond drill. The drill will be owned by GMS and leased to its joint venture, Bagone’an JS Drilling Inc., for use in resource exploration and mine development.

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Tariffs and talk of annexation. Northern Ontario braces for Trump’s inauguration – by Jonathan Migneault (CBC News Sudbury – January 20, 2025)

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

A mining supply company based in Sudbury says it’s been preparing for potential tariffs for months

Ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president, a mining supply company based in Sudbury says it’s preparing for his promised tariffs on Canadian exports. Leading up to his inauguration, Trump has said he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian exports to the United States.

“This is not a fire drill. This is coming,” said Tas Mohamed, the CEO of Railveyor Technologies, a company that designs and builds automated rail systems to haul ore from mines. As soon as Trump was named the Republican nominee in the presidential race, Mohamed said she took action to reduce the potential impact of tariffs on her business.

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Magna Mining forks over a dollar for 30,000 hectares of Sudbury base metal properties – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 18, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Local mine developer swings its second major land acquisition deal in 2024

Sudbury’s newest and boldest miner, Magna Mining, continues to expand its footprint in the Sudbury basin. The junior mine developer has signed an asset acquisition agreement with NorthX Nickel to pick up a raft of former mine and exploration properties that hold some promising base metal potential.

And it’s a pretty sweet cash deal for Magna. One dollar. The properties, scattered all over the corners of the Sudbury basin, amount to about 30,000 hectares that Magna believes have significant upside based on the geology and the record of high-grade hits from drilling programs carried out by previous companies.

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Vale lays off staff as mining operations worldwide reckon with low nickel prices (CBC News Sudbury – December 11, 2024)

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

The company says it’s letting ‘non-operational’ staff go as it moves to a ‘decentralized structure’

Vale is cutting jobs throughout its global operations to remain competitive as the price of nickel continues to slump. The company is refusing to say how many of its Sudbury employees are included in this round of layoffs.

In a statement it says “people in non-operating roles” will be leaving as the mining giant moves towards a “new decentralized structure.”

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Vale to trim management staff in Sudbury and around the world – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – December 6, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Union says its members won’t be affected by the cuts

Vale Base Metals will be shedding some staff in Sudbury but as of now the downsizing seems isolated to management and will not impact the rank and file.

“We have been informed there is an internal, managerial reorganization, that is obviously resulting in job losses, as has been reported already,” said USW 6500 vice-president Ray Hammond. “But we have not been informed of who or how many people that affects.”

Hammond said the union has been given no indication that any of its workers are slated to lose their jobs. “We have not been informed of it affecting our membership in any way,” he said. “They’re still hiring, for us, and we still have new members going through training as we speak.”

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Science North celebrates premiere of Planting Hope: A Regreening Story – by Staff (Sudbury Star – November 30, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

The film brings to life Sudbury’s journey from a desolate landscape scarred by pollution to the vibrant, thriving region it is today

Science North has premiered its latest production, Planting Hope: A Regreening Story, a powerful documentary that celebrates the transformation and resilience of Greater Sudbury. The premiere at Dynamic Earth captivated audiences with the remarkable tale of one of the largest and most successful environmental reclamation projects in the world.

Through powerful imagery and inspiring stories, the documentary reveals how collaborative efforts, innovative regreening techniques and a shared commitment to the land have revitalized Greater Sudbury.

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