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Zinc, Lead and Tin

[Alaska Mining] Ambler road decision now expected by mid-2024 – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 24, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

The Department of Interior (DOI) of the US has once again delayed the release of the record of decision (RoD) for the Ambler road project, which will give access to untouched deposits of copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold in north-western Alaska.

The resolution on Trilogy Metals’ (TSX, NYSE: TMQ) and South32’s (ASX, LON, JSE: S32) proposed 340-km (211-mile) road from the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects (UKMP) to the Dalton Highway is now expected on the second quarter of 2024. As of last week’s status report, the DOI was promising a decision by the end of the year.

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Osisko cofounder Wares praises private equity, scolds debt financiers, nips NIMBYism – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – May 16, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Osisko Metals (TSX: OM; US-OTC: OMZNF) is part of a rising trend tapping private equity to help build projects, but it’s wary of the growing role of “predatory” debt financing.

Appian Capital Advisory, a London-based private equity firm with mining projects valued at US$3.6 billion, is investing $25 million for a quarter of Osisko’s Pine Point zinc-lead mine in the Northwest Territories.

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Column: Zinc treatment charges jump after 2022 smelter bottleneck – by Andy Home (Reuters – April 12, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) – The zinc market was defined by smelter woes last year with global refined metal production dropping by 4.1% relative to 2021, according to the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG).

It was the sharpest fall in world zinc output since 2009, a year of massive disruption caused by the global financial crisis and ensuing collapse in industrial metal prices. Zinc usage was also weak last year, sliding by 3.3% from 2021 levels as China’s construction sector, a major user of the metal in the form of galvanised steel, struggled to regain lost momentum.

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Mount Isa celebrates 100 years of mining history and outback life in north-west Queensland – by Emily Dobson, Zara Margolis and Larissa Waterson (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 22, 2023)

https://www.abc.net.au/

Mount Isa, one of Queensland’s longest-running mining towns, has this week turned 100. Founded on the land of the Kalkadoon people, it is renowned for mine stacks that rise from red-dirt country at the foothills of the Selwyn Ranges. But as locals celebrate a rich and varied past, many look toward a future where the town’s lifeblood is sustained by more than mining.

A chance discovery

On February 22, 1923, John Campbell Miles and his horses stopped to camp during a journey through the arid Queensland outback to the Northern Territory. Curiosity led the prospector to a particularly large outcrop where he knapped off a piece of rock that, according to his writings, he instantly recognised “contained mineral from its weight”.

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Remaining staff to be terminated as receivership approved for Caribou mine – by Shane Magee (CBC News New Brunswick – January 10, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

A British Columbia judge approved an order Monday to place Trevali Mining (New Brunswick) Ltd. in receivership later this month, resulting in the termination of remaining Caribou mine employees.

Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick granted the order after a hearing in Vancouver on Monday. The company will be placed in receivership at 11:59 p.m. PT on Jan. 24. Receivership allows secured creditors to recover what they’re owed when a company defaults on its payments.

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Assets from Yukon’s bankrupt Wolverine Mine up for quick sale – by Anna Desmarais (CBC News Canada North – January 4, 2023)

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

Mine in southeastern Yukon operated from 2011 to 2015

Bits and pieces of the Yukon’s defunct Wolverine Mine are now up for grabs, as the company that owns the assets prepares for a quick sale.

Welichem Equipment, a B.C. biotech company, owns most of the mine’s assets, including a zinc mill, 10-megawatt diesel plant and a turnkey mine camp for 250 workers. Welichem rented the mining equipment to Yukon Zinc Corporation, the company that operated the mine before abandoning it.

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Column: Tin must tame its wildness to meet coming demand surge – by Andy Home (Reuters – December 6, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – The world is going to need another 50,000 tonnes of tin per year by 2030 to meet a looming surge in demand, according to the International Tin Association (ITA).

Tin is an often overlooked critical mineral, commonly associated with the humble tin can, even though packaging today accounts for only 12% of global usage. Almost half the tin consumed every year is now used as a solder in circuit boards.

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Shakeup at Metallum Resources as CEO departs – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 4, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Vancouver junior miner wants to put former Schreiber-area zinc mine back into production

The head of a junior mining outfit, with ambitious plans to put a former zinc mine near Schreiber back into production, has abruptly left the company. Vancouver’s Metallum Resources announced Oct. 3 that Kerem Usenmez has resigned as president, CEO and his seat on the board of directors.

In an Oct. 3 news release, the company said board chair Tony Wonnacott will step into the CEO’s role on an interim basis. Wonnacott was appointed chair back in July.

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Column: Third European smelter closure compounds zinc conundrum – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 6, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Europe’s energy crisis is taking a rising toll on the region’s industrial capacity with another zinc smelter going into care and maintenance. Glencore (GLEN.L) is curtailing production at its Nordenham plant in Germany citing “various external factors affecting the business and wider European industry.”

It’s the third West European zinc smelter to close over the last year as operators struggle to cope with surging power prices. Smelting has turned out to be the weakest link in the global zinc supply chain this year, creating pockets of extreme tightness in the physical market.

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Canadian-owned mining company and executives found guilty of involuntary homicide after Burkina Faso flood disaster – by Geoffrey York and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 14, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A Canadian-owned mining company and two executives at its zinc mine in Burkina Faso have been convicted of involuntary homicide in connection with a flooding disaster that killed eight mine workers.

The flooding, which followed a sudden torrential rainfall at the site in April, trapped the workers underground and led to a 66-day search that eventually found them dead, several hundred metres below ground, after 165 million litres of water had been pumped out of the mine.

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Ivanhoe, Gecamines kick off construction at Kipushi zinc mine in DRC – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 12, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF) and Congo’s state mining company Gécamines have begun construction activities at the historic Kipushi underground zinc-copper mine, which they plan returning to production by late 2024.

In a breaking-ground ceremony, the companies’ joint venture, Kipushi Corporation, said pre-production capital cost, including contingency, was estimated in $382 million.

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Troubled Trevali idles Canada mine, suspends Namibia expansion – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – August 22, 2022)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Financially troubled Trevali Mining has suspended operations at its Caribou mine, in Canada, and placed the expansion of its Rosh Pinah mine, in Namibia, on hold, as the miner filed for protection from its creditors.

Trevali was on Friday granted an initial order for protection from the British Columbia Supreme Court under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The zinc miner last week defaulted on a $7.5-million debt payment, having suffered several setbacks lately, including a flooding event that shuttered its Perkoa mine, in Burkina Faso, and low productivity rates and equipment availability at Caribou.

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Owner of Caribou Mine near Bathurst granted creditor protection (CBC New Brunswick – August 22, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

Trevali Mining says there’s no timeline for a potential restart of operations

The news just keeps getting worse for the Caribou Mine near Bathurst. After suspending operations last week, Trevali Mining Corp. has been granted creditor protection by the British Columbia Supreme Court on Friday.

On Monday, the company announced that trading of its shares had been halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Trading is also expected to be halted on three other exchanges as well.

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New Brunswick: Caribou Mine near Bathurst stops all production (CBC News New Brunswick – August 17, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

Mayor says news of layoffs is ‘disheartening’

The owner of the Caribou Mine in northern New Brunswick has suspended the extraction of all minerals at the site while it reviews its operations. Trevali Mining Corp. announced Tuesday it would explore all options for the future of the mine near Bathurst after reporting low productivity rates and a steep drop in revenue.

In an email Wednesday, Jason Mercier, Trevali’s director of investor relations, confirmed the decision to halt production. The news comes after the Vancouver-based company released its second-quarter financial results, which showed it recorded a 44 per cent decrease in revenue compared to the previous quarter.

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Column: Glencore’s smelter warning galvanises the zinc price – by Andy Home (Reuters – August 9, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) – The London Metal Exchange (LME) zinc price jumped to a six-week high last week after Glencore (GLEN.L) warned of the continuing margin squeeze on its European smelters. The commodities powerhouse idled part of its Portovesme smelter in Italy at the end of 2021 due to high power prices.

Europe’s power crunch has got much worse in the intervening months after Russia launched what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine at the end of February.

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