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Tensions with First Nations threaten to delay nuclear waste facility – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – June 17, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The eight-reactor Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, ranks among the world’s largest nuclear power plants. With four more in the early planning stages, it might become larger still. But for the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), behind its engineering grandeur lies a painful history – which it has described as one “of exclusion.”

Its people were not consulted before the plant’s construction during the 1970s and 80s, which resulted in quantities of radioactive waste stored within what they regard as their traditional territory. Nor did they see many of the economic benefits that flowed to neighbours.

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Sprott explains the new copper supercycle – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – June 13, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The following is an abridged version of the copper supercycle as explained by Sprott in its current monthly report.

A new copper supercycle is emerging, built on several rising geopolitical and market trends, including electrification, national security concerns, environmental policy, supply constraints and deglobalization. In combination, these are a powerful catalyst for copper demand.

The prior commodities supercycle that started two decades ago was driven by China rejoining the global economy, leading to mass industrialization and the urbanization of hundreds of millions of people. The current copper supercycle is far more global in reach, has many more demand sectors, and is entwined with the national security of many countries.

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Gold looks good again next week as both Wall Street and Main Street turn bullish – by Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News – June 14, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – After last week’s price action was dominated by Friday’s news from China and the employment report, precious metals markets were squarely focused on inflation data and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path this week.

After kicking off the week trading at $2,293.70 per ounce during the Sunday evening Asian session, spot gold broke above the $2,300 level about two hours before the North American market open, and that level held throughout the rest of the week’s roller coaster ride.

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Orano at Risk of Losing Niger Uranium Mine Sought by Russia – by Katarina Höije (Bloomberg News – June 15, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Orano SA could lose the right to mine uranium at one of the largest deposits in the world by June 19 after Niger rejected the French nuclear company’s plan for developing the asset.

The move comes as Russia’s seeks to take over mining assets in the West African country controlled by the French company, Bloomberg reported on June 3. Niger’s Paris-allied president was overthrown in a coup last July, the latest in a string of military takeovers in the region that has seen strongmen spurn ex-colonial power France and forge closer ties with Moscow.

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The Big Nickel scandal of 1916 – by John Sandlos (Canadian Mining Journal – June 16, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

In 1854, the land surveyor A.P. Salter noticed the needle on his compass wiggle in strange way, a signal that the bedrock on which he stood contained a huge deposit of nickel (one of the few ferromagnetic minerals that affects the orientation of old-school magnetic compasses).

Owing to its remoteness, Salter’s discovery was ignored at the time and soon forgotten. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the Sudbury basin in the early 1880s brought an influx of newcomers and a transportation link to the region.

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Brazil joins race to loosen China’s grip on rare earths industry – by Melanie Burton and Fabio Teixeira (Reuters – June 17, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE/RIO DE JANEIRO, June 17 (Reuters) – Mining giant Brazil has big ambitions to build a rare earths industry as Western economies push to secure the metals needed for magnets used in green energy and defence and break China’s dominance of the supply chain.

Working to its advantage are low labour costs, clean energy, established regulations and proximity to end markets, including Latin America’s first magnet plant which would provide a ready buyer for the metals. But low rare earths prices, technical challenges and nervous lenders pose challenges to the Latin American nation’s hopes to propel itself into the world’s top five rare earths producers.

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Opinion: Kashmiri Sapphires Set To Dazzle The World Again – by Shantanu Guha Ray (NDTV.com – February 26, 2024)

https://www.ndtv.com/

A decade after a 19.88-carat Kashmir sapphireshattered auction records in Geneva, the potential return of the priceless gems from the strife-torn region to global markets is on the horizon.

The cushion-shaped sapphire, known as the Star of Kashmir, surprised buyers in 2013 with a sale price of nearly $3,483,017 (approximately ₹ 20 crore). Now, officials claim that more peacock blue-coloured sapphires will be mined in the Paddar region, one of the most inhospitable terrains in the bordering state.

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Serbia set to give green light to Rio Tinto lithium mine – by Marton Dunai, Alec Russell, Harry Dempsey and Alice Hancock (Financial Times – June 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Exploitation of one of the world’s largest deposits of the metal would boost Europe’s electric vehicle industry

Serbia is preparing to give Rio Tinto the green light to develop Europe’s largest lithium mine two years after Belgrade called off the project, paving the way for a significant boost for the continent’s electric vehicle industry.

President Aleksandar Vučić said that “new guarantees” from the Anglo-Australian miner and EU looked set to address Serbia’s concerns over whether necessary environmental standards would be met at the Jadar site in the west of the country.

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Mining the Northwest: Thunder Bay stakes its claim as a mining supply hub – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 14, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Labour and skill gaps, suitable land availability are challenges listed in city’s latest mining readiness strategy

Thunder Bay is out to build its brand as a mining supply hub. Four years after tabling its first Mining Readiness Strategy, the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) revealed the findings from an updated version last month, informed by a survey of industry stakeholders last year.

Northwestern Ontario has always been a precious and base minerals grocery store to the world. Much of the activity surrounding that sector has always flowed, many times sight unseen, through Thunder Bay.

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The former Afghan soldiers turning to gem mining to survive – by Kern Hendricks (Al Jazeera – August 18, 2023)

https://www.aljazeera.com/

In remote Nuristan province, some who lost their jobs after the Taliban takeover are now working in artisanal mines to support their families amid a struggling economy.

Nuristan, Afghanistan – Like a crack of thunder, a deep blast echoes down a tree-lined valley a few kilometres from Parun, the capital of the northeastern Afghan province of Nuristan. At the base of a rocky hillside, smoke and chunks of rock spew from the mouth of a low tunnel. Some of the debris reaches the edge of a glassy river which runs through a small valley, causing ripples on the water’s surface.

Sheltering to one side of the tunnel entrance is Abdul Qader Abid. As the final pieces of shrapnel clatter to a standstill, he squints into the darkness of the tunnel. Rising, he wraps a green shawl around his mouth and nose, and heads into the billowing dust. There’s a payday glimmering in the rubble, and he’s eager to find it.

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Federal minister bullish on Greater Sudbury’s future – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – June 12, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Jonathan Wilkinson says city in a position to provide critical minerals but also process them to help make batteries for electric vehicles

The Nickel City is in a great position to benefit from the push for greener transportation, not only by supplying the ingredients for batteries but also by hosting plants to process them, according to Canada’s energy and natural resources minister.

“For a community like Sudbury, which is an historic mining town, I think that critical minerals are an enormous opportunity,” said Jonathan Wilkinson during a visit to the city on Monday. “It’s an opportunity for mining, yes, but it’s also an opportunity for great manufacturing jobs.

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Former Air Canada manager wanted in gold heist to turn himself in, lawyer says – by Katie Nicholson (CBC News Toronto – June 14, 2024)

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

Simran Preet Panesar wanted in connection with multi-million dollar airport robbery

The former Air Canada manager wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for his alleged role in the largest gold heist in Canadian history is preparing to turn himself in, according to his lawyer.

Simran Preet Panesar is wanted on charges including theft over $5,000 in connection with the April 2023 theft of more than $20 million in gold from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. Panesar is “very confident in the Canadian justice system,” his lawyer, Greg Lafontaine said in a statement to CBC News. “When this prosecution is over, he will have been absolved of any wrongdoing.”

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A plan to mine lithium could eradicate a Nevada flower. Is extinction just the cost of green energy? – by Matthew Rozsa (Salon.com – June 13, 2024)

https://www.salon.com/

Botanists express alarm that a rare plant, the Tiehm’s buckwheat, won’t survive where a lithium mine is planned

Botanist Jerry Tiehm, the curator of herbarium at the University of Nevada Reno, discovered the plant that now bears his name more than 40 years ago. It was early in his career, and Tiehm was driving through a remote central Nevada canyon while collecting samples to study.

He was unaware at the time that it was an unknown species until a different expert informed him that the yellow, white and green plant was something altogether new. Indigenous to a tiny patch of land no larger than 10 acres in area, the new plant was named Tiehm’s buckwheat after its discoverer.

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Deadly and Wildly Profitable, Uranium Fever Breaks Out – by Geoffrey Morgan and Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – June 12, 2024)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The radioactive metal’s price is up 233%, revealing the speed at which the world is embracing nuclear power once again.

Along the western edge of Canada’s Saskatchewan province, by a bend in a lake ringed by endless stands of black spruce, a small outpost has been carved out of the forest to mark what just might be the hottest new mining project on Earth today. It is a desolate, unforgiving spot.

Even in April, the snow is still caked hard to the ice that coats the lake. Bone-chilling winds howl day and night. And there are no towns or villages or, for that matter, signs of life at all — beyond the occasional black bear or wolf — within a 50-mile radius.

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Nevada Copper shareholders face loss of investment as Elliott Investment circles to provide emergency bankruptcy funding – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – June 12, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Nevada Copper Corp. shareholders are poised to lose their entire investment, with the struggling Canadian miner seeking bankruptcy protection, and hoping to secure emergency financing from U.S. hedge fund Elliott Investment Management.

The Vancouver-based company has struggled for years to ramp up production at its Pumpkin Hollow copper mine in Nevada. Earlier this year, the company told investors it was a going-concern risk and was running a dangerously high debt load against a dwindling cash position. As of the end of March, Nevada Copper held only US$300,000 in cash, had a working-capital deficit of US$115.4-million, and total debt of approximately US$262-million.

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