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Coal, the Dirtiest Fossil Fuel, Is Preparing for a Long Goodbye (Bloomberg News – March 23, 2024)

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(Bloomberg) — Follow Bloomberg India on WhatsApp for exclusive content and analysis on what billionaires, businesses and markets are doing. Sign up here. More than two years after climate negotiators first attempted to consign coal to history, the dirtiest fossil fuel is having a moment.

Thanks to a combination of China’s energy insecurity — pushing Beijing back to trusted power sources — plus rising Indian demand, the continued fallout from the war in Ukraine and faltering international programs to wean developing economies off fossil fuels, coal is proving remarkably resilient. Output hit a record last year, and producers are preparing for a future where they will be required for decades yet to balance renewable energy.

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Canadian miners desperately need domestic and allied capital – but so far, it’s China that’s filling the gap.- by Joseph Bouchard (MacDonald Laurier Institute – March 14, 2024)

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After more than a decade of aggressive efforts and development, China now stands tall as the largest mining producer and financier in the world, by some margin. It is the leading miner of 29 commodities including aluminum, coal, gold, magnesium, tin, phosphate, nitrogen, zinc, graphite, tungsten, rare earths, and other critical minerals.

Canada, which used to be a leading force despite its small demographic size and investment pool, is now at the bottom end of the global top 10 mineral producers. Still, China is looking to capitalize on the extent of Canada’s mining network nationally and around the world to advance its interests.

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As America falters, her foes are emboldened – by Derek H. Burney (National Post – March 26, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

Profound consequences loom for the United States and the world

Some believe that today’s turbulent world is moving closer to conditions eerily like those of the late 1930s. Authoritarian states — Germany, Italy and Japan — had then seized the advantage over irresolute western democracies who had adopted appeasement in futile attempts to prevent war.

Today’s U.S. administration seems unable to muster support from a bitterly divided and increasingly dysfunctional Congress for military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Roosevelt had similar challenges from an isolationist-inclined Congress during his second term.

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Gemfields warns of $2.8 million loss on write-down – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 22, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Precious gemstones miner Gemfields (LON: GEM) warned on Friday that it expects to swing to a loss of $2.8 million in 2023 from a $74.3 million profit the previous year due to a write-down in its platinum group metals investments, lower output and the cancellation of an emerald auction.

The London-based company, which has a 6.54% stake in South African platinum group miner Sedibelo Resources, said that plummeting prices for platinum group metals (PGMs) has affected its bottom line.

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Canada leads on critical minerals while the U.S. falters – by Barry Butterfield Nebraska Examiner – March 22, 2024)

https://nebraskaexaminer.com/

While the United States dawdles, Canada has quietly taken the lead in countering China’s grip on the global supply of critical metals. Both the United States and Canada have raised the alarm over China’s control of mineral supply chains, but only our northern neighbors are taking decisive action to do something about it.

It is not rocket science to figure out how to solve the crisis. Nor is it hard to tell whether a country is serious when it proposes a solution. Canada wants to slash the time it takes to get new mines up and running, and it’s zeroing in on streamlining regulatory review and improving its mine permitting process.

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This refurbished mine in Wales is the world’s ‘deepest’ hotel – by Vibhuti Pathak (Eastern Eye – March 22, 2024)

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The mine where the hotel is built was shut down and left empty in the 1900s.

The rugged peaks of Snowdonia National Park in Wales are a haven for hikers and nature enthusiasts. Lush valleys unfurl beneath dramatic mountains, promising breathtaking vistas and crisp mountain air. But for the truly adventurous, a different kind of escape awaits—an escape not into the wild, but deep beneath it. Nestled a staggering 1,375 feet underground, the Deep Sleep Hotel beckons slumberers with a unique proposition: the world’s deepest sleep experience.

You will forget the usual hotel lobby hustle. Here, check-in transforms into an Indiana Jones-esque prelude to your slumber. Helmets, headlamps, and sturdy boots replace room keys.

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Turks pile into the dollar, gold and stocks as 67% inflation savages ‘worthless lira’ – by Scott McLean, Anna Cooban and Ipek Yezdani (CNN Business – March 20, 2024)

https://edition.cnn.com/

Down a dimly lit alleyway tucked just inside Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, a few dozen men are packed together, shouting, waving, and frantically speaking on their phones, others nervously pacing. This “standing market” — a low-rent version of a chaotic stock exchange floor — is where Istanbul’s traders come to deal in precious metals and currencies. These days it’s dollars and gold they’re after. Turkish lira, not so much.

“Right now our money is almost worthless. Since people haven’t seen inflation fall, they don’t trust the Turkish lira anymore,” explained Adnan Kapukaya, a trader and market expert. Inflation in Turkey remains sky-high — official figures show prices rose 67% last month compared with February 2023, though unofficial estimates suggest the real number is more than 100%. And this despite the Turkish central bank hiking interest rates to an eye-watering 45% in January — up from a low of 8.5% a year ago.

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G7 Sanctions Will Harm Botswana’s Diamond Development, Officials Say – Avi Krawitz (Rapaport Magazine – March 20, 2024)

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The Group of Seven (G7) import restrictions targeting Russian diamonds will have a detrimental impact on Botswana’s diamond trade and may reverse the gains the country has made in recent years, government officials told Rapaport News.

The proposal to create a single-node location through which all diamonds should pass to verify G7 compliance would be a logistical nightmare for producer countries, Lefoko Moagi, Botswana’s minister of mineral resources, green technology, and energy security, said in an interview. “It creates added time in terms of processing our diamonds and it affects our beneficiation trajectory,” Moagi explained. “This may bring about added costs and unintended consequences that will affect the producer countries.”

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Ignace and nuclear waste organization ink ‘historic’ agreement – by Mike Stimpson (Northern Ontario Business – March 21, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The 80-page agreement restates the township’s commitment to a “willingness process” to determine whether Ignace supports being host to a repository for nuclear waste

IGNACE — The northwestern Ontario township on the shortlist for hosting nuclear waste storage has signed what it calls a “historic” agreement with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). A news release from Ignace stated, however, that the pact “in no way either guarantees that the Township will host a deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel or that a decision on willingness has been made.”

Mayor Kim Baigrie said Tuesday the people of Ignace “should be excited” about the agreement but added that whether the community should welcome the proposed repository in their area is “everyone’s choice.”

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EU to Keep Tabs on Norway Deep Sea Mining Efforts, Sefcovic Says – by John Ainger (Bloomberg News – March 21, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The European Union will monitor Norway’s progress in exploring the deep sea bed for potential mining of critical raw materials as the bloc seeks to reduce its dependence on China.

Norway is one of the first countries to formally authorize seabed mining activities in its waters after its parliament backed plans in January to prospect for minerals across 280,000 square kilometers (108,000 square miles) of its Arctic continental shelf.

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More investors push Glencore to keep coal post-Teck deal – by Clara Denina and Simon Jessop (Reuters – March 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) – A growing group of Glencore investors are keen for it to keep mining coal instead of spinning out the soon-to-be enlarged unit, with one eye on its financial outlook and another on the environmental benefits of keeping the fuel in-house.

Echoing a demand last week by activist Tribeca Investment Partners, investors said the polluting fossil fuel would be a lucrative option – for a decade or two at least – even as it is phased out in favour of renewable energy.

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It’s shameful that Canada has among the lowest and highest tuberculosis rates in the world – by Editorial Board (Toronto Star – March 22, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

The virtual elimination of TB in most of Canada reveals we can end the epidemic — if we want to. We just haven’t wanted to with it comes to Inuit communities.

In the 1940s, tuberculosis among the Inuit became a literal stigma: People infected were stamped with “TB” on their hands, a “scarlet letter” signifying that they needed to be separated from society.

They were therefore packed up, and, in a measure reminiscent of the residential schools, were forcibly removed from their homes and families and shipped south, to sanitoria and hospitals.

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British Columbia funds new extraction technology – by Staff (Mining.com – March 20, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The British Columbia government has invested C$850,000 ($630,000) from the province’s Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund in cleantech startup pH7 Technologies.

The funds will be used to support a pilot project to process 5,000 kg per day of raw materials into approximately 2,500 kg of extracted platinum group metals per year.

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Mining the Northwest: ‘Times are changing’ as Red Rock preps for lithium refinery – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 20, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Rock Tech Lithium expects to break ground on lithium conversion plant in 2025

The BMI Group said it’s spending millions to prepare and remediate the former Red Rock paper mill site to make it shovel-ready for new industrial use by 2025. The southern Ontario brownfield redeveloper chose the PDAC mining show to formally announce Rock Tech Lithium will be its anchor tenant built around a proposed lithium refinery.

The Canadian-German mining company’s Georgia Lake deposit is only 60 kilometres north of town, up Highway 11. “We believe in the north shore of Lake Superior,” said Peter Whitby, general manager of BMI’s Red Rock Developments subsidiary, in explaining their upcoming industrial and holistic community-building plans for the north shore town on Lake Superior.

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Barrick shuts down water supply after uranium found at copper mine in Zambia – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – March 20, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold says it has found uranium in the drinking water of an open section of its Lumwana copper mine in Zambia, forcing it to halt the water supply and switch to other water sources for its workers in the section.

The Zambian mine has become increasingly important to Barrick’s future. The Toronto-based company has announced plans for a US$2-billion expansion at Lumwana to create one of the world’s biggest copper mines, with construction to begin late this year and production from the project expected by 2028.

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