United States Mining – Page 17

UM graduate student learns deeper history of Anaconda Smelter Stack – by Staff (NBC Montana – March 25, 2023)

March 27, 2023

MISSOULA, Mont. — A University of Montana Ph.D. student set out to study superfund cleanup in Anaconda, and her conversations with residents often turned to the smelter stack in town. Megan Moore interviewed residents and looked into how memories can offer more insight into mining legacies and cleanup. She found that in Anaconda, people often talked about the 585-foot smelter stack, which closed in 1980.

“I think there’s a tension between some community members about the stack, and that’s something that came through in our interviews and surveys. But what really was important was that people are very connected to it, often in different ways, but it’s something that should be paid attention to here in Anaconda and in other communities,” Moore told NBC Montana.

Newmont Gets Newcrest Data Access in Gold Takeover Tussle – by Jacob Lorinc, Yvonne Yue Li and Harry Brumpton (Bloomberg News – March 22, 2023)

March 27, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Newmont Corp. has gained partial access to the corporate books of Australian rival Newcrest Mining Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter, a sign that the US company could make a revised offer to seal what would be the world’s largest gold takeover.

Newmont is undertaking limited due diligence on Newcrest weeks after management of the Melbourne-based miner dismissed a $17 billion proposal from the world’s top bullion producer, according to people who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public.

The US should get serious about mining critical minerals for clean energy – by Saleem H. Ali (Nature.com – March 21, 2023)

March 27, 2023

https://www.nature.com/

Green technologies cannot advance without a secure supply of essential metals.

We are living in a time of a mineral impasse. Crucial green technologies, including solar panels, wind turbines and electric-vehicle batteries, require increasing amounts of metals, such as lithium, copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese and rare-earth elements.

Yet the current US administration is in a bind. The climate movement, a core part of President Joe Biden’s base, wants clean energy and electric cars. But it doesn’t want mining of the minerals required — certainly not close to home.

I’m an underground miner making as much as $160,000 a year without a college degree. The job saved my life. – by Aaron Mok (Business Insider – March 26, 2023)

March 27, 2023

https://www.businessinsider.com/

Cory Rockwell’s Tik Tok channel: @coryrockwell

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cory Rockwell, a 38-year-old underground miner at Nevada Copper, a copper mine based in Yerington, Nevada. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Growing up in Los Angeles, I knew I didn’t want to work in the Hollywood entertainment industry. Now, I’m an underground miner — and the job saved my life. During my 20s, I was lost and had no idea what I wanted to do.

Copper fever on the Keweenaw – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 13, 2023)

March 15, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Canadian mine developer wants to fast-track two Northern Michigan deposits into production on Superior’s south shore

A Quebec exploration company is making moves toward developing a copper mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Highland Copper has two deposits situated at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula, on the south shore of Lake Superior, and is looking to fast-track them into production in the next few years.

In laying out its strategy last week, the Longueuil, Que.company said it will decide by early 2024 whether to greenlight construction of its Copperwood Project, the first and smaller of its two deposits.

Rio Tinto keeps working to build Indigenous support for Resolution mine – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – March 7, 2023)

March 8, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

HOUSTON, March 7 (Reuters) – Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.AX)(RIO.L) said it remains committed to building more support from an Indigenous group that opposes its Resolution mine project in Arizona, which could supply a quarter of America’s copper needs depending on the outcome of a court case.

Resolution is key to the Anglo-Australian mining giant’s future as the project would produce more than 40 billion pounds of copper for the green energy transition. But that copper sits below the federally owned Oak Flat Campground, a place some Apache consider home to deities.

Mining guru Ken Hoffman says U.S. Inflation Reduction Act has ‘changed everything’ for industry – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post- March 6, 2023)

March 6, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Canadian mining industry on course for transformative expansion in next decade

The United States Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will act as a powerful tonic for the mining industry, especially in Canada, setting it on course for a transformative expansion in the next decade, according to Ken Hoffman, head of battery raw materials at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and one of the most influential voices in the industry.

“It’s changed everything,” Hoffman said of the IRA as he delivered the first keynote speech at this year’s Prospectors and Developers Association Conference in Toronto on March 5.

Critical Minerals Pushed by GOP Wary of Biden Climate Policies – by Kellie Lunney (Bloomberg – February 28, 2023)

March 1, 2023

https://about.bgov.com/

House Republicans, leery of Democrats’ climate policies, are pushing an alternative agenda: reducing US reliance on foreign-sourced critical minerals for everything from green energy to military equipment.

“This country would be in dire straits” if adversary nations stopped selling the US critical minerals, Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, said in an interview. “We need to move on this, and keep the safety and security of this country in the palm of our own hands.”

NEWS RELEASE: USGS makes $5 million available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for mine waste research (February 14, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/earth-mri

https://www.usgs.gov/programs/mineral-resources-program

Projects will support data collection needed to evaluate mine waste as a potential source of critical minerals

RESTON, Va. — The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is soliciting proposals for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 grants to collect data on mine waste. This new competitive program is supported by investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI). Interested state geological surveys can apply online at GRANTS.GOV under funding Opportunity Number G23AS00160.

Applications are due by April 12, 2023. More information on how to apply can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity available at grants.gov. 

Metals are the new oil — with all the geopolitical and environmental complications – by Daniel F. Runde (The Hill – February 11, 2023)

February 14, 2023

https://thehill.com/

For good or for ill, metals are the new oil. We need more “rare earths” and “everyday earths” to build the technologies of the future and make real a carbon transition. The geopolitics around mines, minerals, and the processing of metals are heating up. For that reason, the U.S. needs a more sophisticated strategy to ensure that the U.S. and our allies have access to mines and minerals.

The amount of minerals needed for a carbon transition will require a vast expansion of mining and the processing of minerals. For example, given current technologies and techniques, we will need to increase the production of cobalt and lithium by 40 times for the electric batteries needed to move from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles.

Mining law has barely changed since 1872. Can Congress agree on a fix? – by Blanca Begert (Grist.org – February 9, 2023)

February 10, 2023

https://grist.org/

This year has already brought some unusual setbacks for mining companies, thanks to the Biden administration. On January 26, the administration dealt a possibly fatal blow to Twin Metal Minnesota’s decades-long effort to reopen a nickel and copper mine near the Boundary Waters, the most visited wilderness area in the country.

A few days later, the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the proposed Pebble Mine, invoking the Clean Water Act to halt a gold and copper mine near one of the world’s largest spawning grounds for salmon in Alaska.

[Florida] The Phosphate Industry Needs Additional Regulations – by Glenn Compton (Bradenton Times – February 05, 2023)

February 9, 2023

https://thebradentontimes.com/

Glenn Compton is the Chairman of ManaSota 88, a non-profit organization that has spent over 30 years fighting to protect the environment of Manatee and Sarasota counties.

The Myakka River is an Outstanding Florida Water (OFW) and must not be further polluted. More than 22,000 acres of land have the potential to be mined for phosphate in the Myakka River Basin. Phosphate companies have an interest in at least 22,375 acres of land in the Myakka River Basin not yet approved for mining.

In 1985, the Legislature of Florida adopted the Myakka River Wild and Scenic Designation and Preservation Act (Section 258.501, Florida Statutes), which designated a 34-mile segment of the Myakka River within Sarasota County as a “Florida wild and scenic” river.

Is Newmont’s blockbuster gold deal ushering in a return to growth for growth’s sake? – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – February 7, 2023)

February 9, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Analysts wonder if Newmont’s $17-billion bid for Newcrest will create a company too large for its own good

Newmont Mining Corp.’s US$17-billion bid for Australia’s Newcrest Mining Ltd. would be the largest merger in the history of the gold mining sector, so Newmont chief executive Tom Palmer’s splash over the weekend naturally has prompted lots of questions.

But one simple query kept coming up as analysts studied the proposal. Why? Specifically, is Newmount, already the world’s largest gold miner, seeking to get bigger merely for the sake of increasing scale?

Mammoth gold miner in the making after Newmont’s $17bn bid for Newcrest – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 6, 2023)

February 7, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM)(TSX: NGT), the world’s largest gold producer, is seeking to build a global gold superpower by approaching Australia’s no.1 miner of the yellow metal, Newcrest Mining (ASX, TSX: NCM), with a $17 billion takeover offer.

If successful, the deal would be one of the biggest in Australian history, though initial feedback from analysts and shareholders suggests that Newmont will have to improve its bid.

US mine production value rises 3.8% to $98 billion in 2022 — USGS – by Staff (Mining.com – February 2, 2023)

February 3, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

US mines produced approximately $98.2 billion in nonfuel mineral commodities in 2022, an estimated $3.6 billion (~3.8%) increase over the 2021 revised total of $94.6 billion, the US Geological Survey announced Thursday.

This information comes from the 28th annual USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries report released January 31 by the USGS National Minerals Information Center.