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How Gulf states are putting their money into mining – by Harry Dempsey and Chloe Cornish (Financial Times – March 31, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Hungry to diversify their economies beyond fossil fuels, Middle Eastern powers are investing in the resources needed to produce clean energy

In the summer of 2023, Rothschild bankers working for Zambia’s government were close to finalising a shortlist of buyers for a prized copper mine.

Mopani, a troubled but rare asset formerly owned by resources giant Glencore, had drawn offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars from big names in the mining world eager to gain access to a metal that is crucial to clean energy technologies of the future.

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Sudbury letter: Mining exploration in Ontario dying – by Peter Best (Sudbury Star – March 28, 2024)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Re: ‘Ford government ignoring mine exploration sector,’ March 26.

Mr. Chitaroni’s opinion column is too timid and politically correct to properly represent the dire state of Ontario’s junior mining sector.

The Ford government has more than ignored this sector. Rather, it has abandoned it to the economy-killing, perfectly legal, consult and accommodate and UNDRIP claims of First Nations and their big city lawyers.

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Why Ontario can’t afford to ignore juniors in the next budget – by Gino Chitaroni (Northern Miner – March 22, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Without a doubt, one of the most important challenges facing the next generation is global warming and the need to decarbonize the transportation sector. This can only happen with the sustainable development of new mines that produce the copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium and other critical minerals that can be found throughout northern Ontario’s rich geology.

However, it is the junior exploration sector that has traditionally found economic mineral deposits that are sold to majors who have the financial capacity to build new mines. This important and vital part of the mining ecosystem is largely being ignored by the Ontario government.

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Alberta could have a wealth fund like Norway’s if Ottawa stopped picking its pockets – by Bill Bewick (National Post – April 2, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

Unlike Alberta, Norway is not forced to subsidize lower-productivity European nations

Gerald Butts recently repeated a common but misguided refrain when he posted a photo of the growth in Norway’s pension fund with the comment that, “Every time I’m in Norway I think this could have been Alberta.” Albertans who are used to such outbursts call this “Norwailing.”

You’d think someone who spent so many years as a senior adviser to the prime minister would understand the three large differences between these two oil-rich jurisdictions.

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First Quantum executives get pay increases despite company’s woes – by Niall McGee and David Milstead (Globe and Mail – March 29, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The senior executive team at Canadian copper miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd. got substantial compensation bumps and favourable performance reviews in a year the company was forced to shut down its biggest mine, and its stock lost more than half its value.

Late last year, Vancouver-based First Quantum shuttered the Cobre Panama mine after Panama’s Supreme Court declared its mining contract was unconstitutional. The giant copper mine in Panama accounted for about half of First Quantum’s revenue.

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Alamos Gold to buy Argonaut Gold in all-share deal valued at $325 million – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – March 27, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Merger and acquisition activity in the mining sector is picking up as Alamos Gold announces its plan to buy Argonaut Gold in an all-shares transaction valued at $325 million.

The two companies announced the friendly acquisition on Wednesday before the North American equity market open. Under the agreement, Argonaut shareholders will receive 0.185 shares of Alamos and one share of a spinoff company.

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Baltimore Bridge Collapse Will Likely Block Coal Exports for Weeks – by Josh Saul (Bloomberg News – March 26, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The collapse of a major Baltimore bridge Tuesday is likely to shut down the port’s coal exports for as many as six weeks and block the transport of up to 2.5 million tons of coal, said Ernie Thrasher, chief executive officer of Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC.

The US exported about 74 million tons of coal last year, with Baltimore the second-largest terminal for the commodity. Plugging up a major coal hub threatens to disrupt global energy supply chains that have finally begun to work out the kinks left over from pandemic slowdowns.

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Federal watchdog finds Canadian firm ‘contributed to use of forced labour’ in China – by Steven Chase (Globe and Mail – March 27, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A watchdog created by the federal government to probe corporate wrongdoing abroad says Vancouver-based Dynasty Gold Corp DYG-X has contributed to the use of forced labour at a mine in Xinjiang, China, and is asking Ottawa to cut off future trade support for the company.

Its investigative findings were released Tuesday in the first final report issued by the Canada Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) since it opened its doors to receive complaints in March, 2021.

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Feds to review Kinross’ Great Bear gold project – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 26, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Federal Impact Assessment Agency launching environmental assessment of Red Lake pit plans

One of Red Lake’s next generation of gold mines is undergoing federal scrutiny. In a March 22 notification, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) has determined that a federal impact assessment of Kinross Gold’s Great Bear Project is warranted.

The agency said its opinion is based on a review of the detailed project description for the mine project and the comments received from Indigenous communities, federal authorities, provincial ministries and the public. Kinross proposes to build an open-pit mine, 23 kilometres southeast of Red Lake, not far off Highway 105. The Toronto-headquartered gold miner finalized its acquisition of the very promising gold project in February 2022.

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America’s lithium laws fail to keep pace with rapid development – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – March 25, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

March 25 (Reuters) – Washington’s drive to make the United States a major global lithium producer is being held back by a confusing mix of state regulations that are deterring developers and hampering efforts to break China’s control of the critical minerals sector.

Across Texas, Louisiana and other mineral-rich states, it’s unclear who owns the millions of metric tons of lithium locked in salty brines underneath U.S. soils, how the battery metal should be valued by regulators and who ultimately should pay to process it into a form usable by manufacturers.

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Forced-labour watchdog cites B.C. mining company, which says claims are nonsensical – by Dylan Robertson (B.C. CTV News/Canadian Press – March 26, 2024)

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/

Ottawa’s corporate-ethics watchdog says a Vancouver-based mining company has allowed forced labour to occur at its gold mine in the Xinjiang region of China, even though the firm lost control of the project before the alleged slavery took place.

The company cited, Dynasty Gold Corp., says it’s being tarnished by baseless allegations on timelines that make no sense, but ombudsperson Sheri Meyerhoffer said companies are responsible for holdings they jointly control. The finding Tuesday is the first determination the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise has made since the office was created by the Liberals in 2018.

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Signet Says Shoppers Getting Wiser on Falling Lab-Grown Prices – by Joshua Freedman (Rapaport Magazine – March 21, 2024)

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Deep discounting by independent jewelry, especially on lab-grown, impacted Signet’s average transaction value in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended February 3, Drosos explained.

The retailer’s sales fell 6% year on year to $2.5 billion during the period, it reported Wednesday. The average transaction value slipped 0.6% in North America and slumped 10% in other regions as the jeweler sold some of its prestige watch locations.

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Cleveland Cliffs gets part of $6 billion funding to slash emissions in industrial facilities – by Rick McCrabb (Dayton Daily News/Associated Press – March 25, 2024)

https://www.daytondailynews.com/

Middletown steel plant among projects that will slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

MIDDLETOWN — Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works is expected to receive a major investment up to $500 million to overhaul the ironmaking systems and install a new environmentally friendly system.

The 100% hydrogen-ready, flex-fuel direct reduction plant will be directly coupled to two electric melting furnaces to produce iron with nearly zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) office.

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Canada’s next big problem could be copper theft. Here’s why – by Jamie Casemore (National Post – March 26, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

Bell Canada is sounding the alarm over copper theft especially in Ontario, New Brunswick and Quebec. Here’s what to know

A major Canadian telecommunications company is calling upon the government for enhanced security protocols to address the growing problem of copper theft.

Bell Canada recently announced that it had installed aerial alarms to fight against and protect communications infrastructure from being tampered with, as thieves, especially since 2022, have been breaking into telecommunications substations to steal copper cables.

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How science may assist green metals exploration efforts – by Staff (Mining.com – March 26,2024)

https://www.mining.com/

A recent paper in the journal Science Advances sheds new light on how concentrations of metals used in renewable energy technologies can be transported from deep within the earth’s interior mantle by low-temperature, carbon-rich melts.

The article details how an international team led by Isra Ezad, a postdoctoral research fellow at Australia’s Macquarie University, carried out high-pressure and high-temperature experiments creating small amounts of molten carbonate material at conditions similar to those around 90 kilometres depth in the mantle, below the earth’s crust.

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