United States Mining – Page 18

Nebraskans Are Sitting on Strategic Metals. Is Mining a Patriotic Duty? – by Dionne Searcey (New York Times – February 2, 2023)

February 3, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/

ELK CREEK, Neb. — In this rural part of Nebraska, county-board agendas include moratoriums on solar farms and some residents scowl when they pass the handful of wind farms that have sprouted. But the idea of a new mine that could help power the transition to renewable energy has received broad support.

The tenor of these quiet flatlands, where deer bounce across gravel roads and neon sunsets scream across the long horizon, would change dramatically if mining for metals like niobium, scandium, titanium and rare earths begins.

Grid Expert: Replacing Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant with Renewables ‘Can’t Be Done’ – by Carl Wurtz (Globe California – January 28, 2023)

January 30, 2023

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To go 100% renewable would drive electricity prices four to five times higher

With recent legislation limiting the lifetime of California’s last remaining nuclear power plant to eight more years, the debate about replacement power has once again been thrust to the forefront of environmental concerns: will higher emissions after the shutdown of Diablo Canyon doom California’s efforts to meet climate targets?

Though generating electricity with nuclear power produces no CO2, California agencies believe the answer is “no.” Every five years the California Air Resources Board (CARB) develops a plan to determine what sources will be needed to deliver clean electricity to 30 million customers.

A Copper Mine Could Advance Green Energy but Scar Sacred Land – by Clifford Krauss (New York Times – January 27, 2023)

January 27, 2023January 27, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/

Tribal groups are fighting an Arizona project whose backers say increasing the supply of copper, crucial to batteries, would reduce fossil-fuel use.

SUPERIOR, Ariz. — As Wendsler Nosie finished his evening prayers sitting before a mesquite fire, a ceremonial yucca staff festooned with eagle feathers by his side, he gazed sternly toward a distant mesa where mining companies hope to extract more than a billion tons of copper.

That mine could help address climate change by helping the United States replace fossil fuels and combustion engines with renewable energy and electric cars. But to Mr. Nosie, a former chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, it’s the latest insult in a bitter history.

OPINION: Electric vehicles versus oil and gas – the new fault line among U.S. states – by Gus Carlson (Globe and Mail – January 21, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Gus Carlson is a U.S.-based columnist for The Globe and Mail.

The push by a group of state lawmakers in Wyoming last week to introduce a bill banning the sale of electric vehicles by 2035 elicited as many sarcastic snickers as concerned frowns.

Even the backers of the bill admitted the effort was mostly symbolic, a supportive nod to the state’s oil and gas industry – a huge job-creation machine and revenue generator. And even if the proposed bill becomes law, its six Republican authors concede it will be difficult to enforce and unlikely to make an impact.

U.S. strikes at China with EV battery deal – by David Iaconangelo (E & E News – January 20, 2023)

January 23, 2023

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The U.S. moved this week to counter China’s control over production of electric vehicle batteries at a time of widespread concerns over global shortages of key minerals and labor abuses in African mines.

In a memorandum of understanding Wednesday, the State Department pledged to help build an EV battery supply chain in Congo and Zambia. The department and other U.S. agencies will offer technical assistance to the two countries, cooperate on feasibility studies and explore opportunities in the sector for U.S. companies, according to the MOU.

The U.S. imports uranium from Russia. What if sanctions end that? – by Steven Mufson (Washington Post – January 21, 2023)

January 23, 2023

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

If sanctions are imposed on Rosatom, Russia’s civilian nuclear firm, it could cut off exports of uranium to the U.S. and European nuclear industry. What would be the impact?

Russia’s state-owned nuclear power conglomerate, Rosatom, is suspected of supplying the Russian arms industry with components, technology and raw materials for missile fuel, The Washington Post reported Friday. The military goods were sent to more than half a dozen major weapons makers, aiding Moscow’s continuing assault on Ukraine.

That has elevated prospects that the United States, and possibly the European Union, might place sanctions on Rosatom, which exports uranium for use in nuclear reactors.

Biden’s Green Energy Bank Races to Leverage $394 Billion to Scale Cleantech – by Zahra Hirji and Ari Natter (Bloomberg News – January 17, 2023)

January 18, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — An obscure arm of the US Energy Department is racing against the clock to leverage as much as $394 billion to speed the country’s fight against climate change.

Mostly sidelined by the Trump administration, the agency’s Loan Programs Office has been revived under President Joe Biden and armed with more money following the passage last year of the country’s landmark climate law. But the office’s window of opportunity to support innovative low-carbon technologies could be short, with two years left in Biden’s term and no guarantee that a future president will prioritize it.

North America’s Top Mining CEOs Anticipate Turbulent Year Ahead – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – January 10, 2023)

January 11, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Top executives from North America’s biggest metals producers are bracing for a turbulent 2023 marked by recession, geopolitical risks and an uncertain investment climate that could change the face of mining.

The year “is going to be seen as the start of serious change — in the way mines operate and are held accountable,” Barrick Gold Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said in an interview.

US, allies should disconnect rare earths supply chain from China — report – by Staff (Mining.com – January 3, 2023)

January 11, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

A recent report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy suggests that policymakers in the United States and allied countries should start bolstering raw materials supply chains to reduce the country’s dependence on rare earths from China.

The dossier notes that the China Rare Earth Group, a merger of three of China’s state-owned enterprises into one mega-conglomerate, controls up to a quarter of global mineral-bearing rare-earth elements.

A Canadian mining giant has long been fighting U.S. pollution rules. Now Montana is on its side – by Francesca Fionda (The Narwhal – January 9, 2023)

January 10, 2023

The Narwhal

The intricacies of how big corporations lobby government bodies can be hard to untangle. But at a recent environmental review board meeting in Montana, those efforts were in plain sight. For years, Canadian mining giant Teck Resources has been fighting against U.S. water standards, which target pollution flowing from its Elk Valley coal mines in southeast B.C. downstream to the Kootenai watershed in Montana and Idaho.

Those standards were approved by the Montana’s Board of Environmental Review in 2020. It was a process the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency commended “for collaborating with multiple stakeholders for over five years.” The state’s adopted standards were based on “sound science” specific to Lake Koocanusa, the Environmental Protection Agency wrote in its approval.

Mine Tales: Arizona features many mines with diverse geology, mineralogy -by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com – January 8, 2023)

January 9, 2023

https://tucson.com/

Arizona has the distinction of many mine sites that have diverse geology and mineralogy. Located 20 miles southwest of Tucson, the Sierrita Mine, currently operated by Freeport-McMoran, is one of the largest copper molybdenum mining operations worldwide.

It was originally prospected in 1895, however, it was not until 60 years later that its value as a disseminated porphyry copper deposit was determined by Harrison Schmitt, who recommended its development to the Duval Sulphur and Potash Co., which in turn brought it into large scale production in 1959.

Tesla faces higher lithium prices as supplier amends deal – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – January 3, 2023)

January 5, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Tesla Inc. is set to pay more for the lithium that powers its electric vehicles after a supplier amended their deal amid a relentless price rally of the metal.

Piedmont Lithium Inc. will now supply an increased 125,000 metric tons of lithium concentrate to the EV giant starting in the second half of this year through the end of 2025, according to a statement Tuesday. Unlike prior agreements where prices are locked in, Piedmont’s deal with Tesla relies on a floating mechanism based on market prices, according to the statement.

One Way Ore Another: Abandoned-Mine Hunting in Arizona by 4×4 – by Jay Kopycinski (Motortrend.com – January 2, 2023)

January 5, 2023

https://www.motortrend.com/

The Route 66 area in northwestern Arizona is rich in mining history, so we took five 4x4s on an off-road adventure to visit a few old mine sites.

Here’s something you might not know: The Route 66 area in northwestern Arizona is rich in mining history. Something else: 4x4s are required to access some of the old, abandoned mine sites.

With that in mind, we set out to explore a few old mine sites that were prolific in the past. Our method of conveyance was five well-equipped 4x4s. Our group consisted of three modified Lexus SUVs, a trick Toyota Tacoma pickup, and a modded Jeep Wrangler.

In The Mojave Desert, California, The Rebirth Of America’s Only Rare Earth Mine – by David Sadler (Globe Echo – January 3, 2023)

January 3, 2023

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On the road that leads from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, through the Mojave Desert, the place goes unnoticed, between some Joshua trees, after the borders of the State of California. Five years ago, the Mountain Pass mine, bankrupt and abandoned, had only eight employees. Now it’s a beehive.

At the bottom of a 150-meter chasm, a Caterpillar truck, which seems very small, climbs up from the rocks: the monster weighs more than 100 tons. It is crushed in a crusher, then lifted by water, which makes it possible to isolate a precious ore, which is then roasted and chemically treated with salt water.

Get tough with Canada over cross-border mining contaminants, First Nations tell U.S. – by James McCarten (Canadian Press/CP24.com – December 11, 2022)

December 12, 2022

https://www.cp24.com/

In a city of pinstripes and partisan power brokers, Mike Allison sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s in the wrong place — and he knows it. “I shouldn’t be here,” the denim-clad Indigenous elder suddenly says, fighting tears beneath the brim of his trademark cowboy hat.

“I should be out on the land, working with my kids, teaching them values. I should be teaching them kids how to work with the environment, not fight for it.” Instead, the Upper Similkameen Indian Band councillor is in a downtown D.C. boardroom, gearing up for a second day of meetings with State Department officials, bureaucrats, diplomats and members of Congress.