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The electric vehicle revolution is running out of steam – by The Editorial Board (Financial Times – April 10, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Governments need to work with carmakers to reduce the obstacles to adoption

Thousands of imported vehicles, many of them electric cars made in China, are clogging up European ports. Along with falling sales at Tesla and BYD, the world’s two biggest sellers of battery-powered vehicles, it is a sign of trouble for the crucial shift towards green transport in the 21st century.

It was not supposed to be like this. Elon Musk made Tesla the world’s most valuable carmaker and one of the “magnificent seven” US tech groups by outflanking incumbents in luxury EVs. BYD is among the companies that transformed the Chinese market by making low-priced EVs with official backing, and are now expanding overseas.

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Violent clashes in New Caledonia as nickel pact exacerbates tensions – by Patrick Decloitre (Radio New Zealand – April 10, 2024)

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/

Fresh clashes erupted on Tuesday in the suburbs of Nouméa between security forces and pro-independence protesters who opposed a nickel pact, offering French assistance to salvage the industry. The clashes, involving firearms, teargas and stone-throwing, went on for most of Tuesday, blocking access roads to the capital Nouméa, as well as the small towns of Saint-Louis and Mont-Dore.

For most of Tuesday, traffic on the Route Provinciale 1 (RP1) was alternatively opened and closed several times, including when a squadron of French gendarmes intervened to secure the area with long-range shot teargas.

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OPINION: Loan guarantees must allow for Indigenous ownership of oil and gas developments – by JP Gladu and Sharleen Gale (Globe and Mail – April 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Just as much-needed energy projects in the U.S. grind to a halt in years-long disputes with Indigenous peoples, Canada is finding its own more optimistic way forward.

An openness to Indigenous project ownership here is fast becoming a major international competitive advantage for Canada, as illustrated by a flood of deals happening across the country in the natural resource sector. It lowers project costs, mitigates conflict, reduces regulatory risk and creates spinoff opportunities for Indigenous nations to develop their own project-related supply chains.

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They need new homes, roads and schools. But Indigenous communities across Canada ‘can’t catch up’ thanks to staggering $349B infrastructure gap – by Robert Cribb (Toronto Star – April 10, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

In Cat Lake First Nation, there’s only ever enough money to build three new houses a year. For the community of 680 people northwest of Sioux Lookout, Ont., the level of federal infrastructure funding doesn’t come close to addressing the community’s long-standing struggles with housing disrepair, overcrowding and mould, says chief Russell Wesley.

New housing applications to Ottawa just keep piling up, Wesley says. Meanwhile, multiple families live together in some of the reserve’s already dilapidated homes. “We can’t catch up. We can never catch up.”

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US must boost Africa ties to secure key minerals, report says – by Felix Njini (Reuters – April 9, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG/WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. must boost commercial ties with African countries to curb reliance on China for supplies of critical minerals, a Washington-based think tank said on Tuesday.

“U.S. economic and national security depend on securing a reliable supply of critical minerals, including from Africa,” the United States Institute of Peace said in a report.

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Ideology masking as leadership killed the Canadian dream – by Gen. Rick Hillier (National Post – April 10, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

Enough of the gaslighting, evading, blaming and deluding. Canada needs to be made ours again

“This is not Canada,” is a phrase we hear far too often. It seems to come from every politician, from all levels. It’s exclaimed after every illegal demonstration, hate crime, blocked street, gang shooting, home invasion, car theft and emergency room horror story.

Those exclamations ring hollow as food bank lines stretch longer and as hopeless thousand-yard stares of good men and women grow more prevalent. While dreams of home ownership fade, shantytowns grow and our confidence in the future plummets. We hear the official inflation rate, but it bears little resemblance to our real-life experience. “This is not Canada” grates, harshly, especially when it comes from those who seem so out of touch with reality.

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How illegal mining is threatening imperiled lemurs – by Paul Tullis (National Geographic – March 19, 2019)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

A rush for Madagascar’s gemstones is exacerbating destruction of critical wildlife habitat.

AMBATONDRAZAKA, MADAGASCAR — Indris, at two feet tall the largest of Madagascar’s lemurs, are big sleepers. The primates awaken two or three hours after sunrise, forage for leaves high in the canopy during the day (amid frequent naps), and choose their spot for the night well before dark.

On our trek into the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor, a protected area known by its French acronym, CAZ, photographer Adriane Ohanesian, translator-guide Safidy Andrianantenaina, and I often heard their calls. The sound, a bit like someone blowing a trombone for the first time, can carry up to a mile through the dense forest.

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Gold price sets record for eighth session in a row – by Staff (Mining.com – April 9, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Gold extended its hot streak on Tuesday by setting yet another all-time high, fueled by strong buying momentum and widespread geopolitical risks.

Spot gold rose a further 0.7% to $2,354.88 per ounce by 10:25 a.m. EDT, after closing 0.4% higher on Monday. Earlier, it had reached $2,364.96 per ounce for an eighth straight session of record highs. US gold futures saw a larger gain of 1.2%, trading at $2,379.70 per ounce in New York.

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Could Sudbury’s mine waste feed the steel industry? – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 9, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Biomining company sees tonnes of iron waiting to be extracted from Sudbury tailings

A biomining company that’s rooting around Sudbury’s mine tailings insists there are multiple metal and commodity products waiting to be extracted. Toronto’s BacTech Environmental is filing a patent application for its unique and innovative bioleaching process that recovers valuable metals from mine waste while also cleaning up toxic industrial environments.

BacTech’s process has demonstrated it’s already capable of recovering nickel, copper and cobalt from mine tailings, but now there’s the potential to pull the iron out of the pile while also making a fertilizer product.

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BMO drops anti-coal policy amid Wall Street rebuke of ESG – by Amanda Albright (Bloomberg News – April 8, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

BMO Bank quietly dropped its policy restricting lending to the coal industry in late 2023, helping it avoid being labelled an energy “boycotter” in West Virginia. The change came to light Monday after West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore took a victory lap in an announcement of the financial firms it was adding to its boycott list, which doesn’t include BMO.

In late February, the bank received a warning that it could be put on a state list of companies that Moore’s office considers to boycott the fossil fuels industry. BMO is the U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-based Bank of Montreal.

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Sham defence review shows Canada will never meet its commitments to NATO allies – by John Ibbitson (Globe and Mail – April 9, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Liberal government’s defence policy update document, released Monday, confirms that Canada will remain NATO’s worst laggard, a national embarrassment.

The document, titled Our North, Strong and Free, calls for taking Canadian defence spending to 1.76 per cent of gross domestic product by 2029-30, well below the 2 per cent of GDP that all NATO countries, including Canada, have committed to. And that 1.76 figure is, to put it charitably, aspirational.

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Should alarm bells be louder for the NWT’s post-diamonds future? – by Ollie Williams (Cabin Radio – April 8, 2024)

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“The idea is not to be alarmist, but we also have to face some facts.” The Northwest Territories is about to start losing the diamond mines that drive a huge chunk of its employment and revenue. Yellowknife economist Graeme Clinton doesn’t think the territory and its residents necessarily understand that yet.

“I’m not sure if people get it,” he told Cabin Radio. In an attempt to change that, he has produced a paper – backed by the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines, the mining industry body for the North – and will present some findings to Yellowknife City Council on Monday.

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Vale walks away from exploration JV with Serabi Gold – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 8, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Brazil-focused miner Serabi Gold (LON: SRB) (TSX: SBI) said on Monday that Vale (NYSE: VALE) has decided to withdraw from a copper exploration alliance formed in May 2023.

The company, which also outlined progress in exploration at its Palito Complex in the country’s north, noted that it remains optimistic as there already are “a number of other groups keen to partner” with them. No names were provided in the statement.

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Federal minister says nuclear power is key part of renewable energy expansion – by Chuck Chiang (Canadian Press/City News Ottawa – April 6, 2024)

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VANCOUVER — The federal minister responsible for innovation and industry says Canada could be at risk of losing out on attracting green industries if it doesn’t consider all options for renewable electricity, which he says include nuclear power.

François-Philippe Champagne said in an interview with The Canadian Press that he considers nuclear power part of the renewable energy portfolio that needs to grow to support the country’s lean into “the economy of the 21st century.”

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Vietnam to Step Up Actions to Tame Gold Market, Combat Smuggling – by Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen (Bloomberg News – April 7, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Stabilizing the gold market has become a pressing issue for Vietnam with smugglers taking advantage of higher local prices to slip in the precious metal, leading to exchange rate distortions and weakness in the dong that’s hurting the economy.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and members of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council are among top authorities who have been urging for solutions in recent months.

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