(Bloomberg) — Chinese investment can’t be the solution for cash-strapped Canadian miners seeking financial backing, according to Canada’s natural resources minister.
“We need to be working to solve access to capital issues, but the answer cannot be investment from Chinese state-owned industries,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday in an interview.
The mantra? Our fossil-fueled based transportation system needs to be 100% electrified, and the switch must be made from oil, gas, and coal-powered power plants to those which run on solar, wind and nuclear energy. If we have any hope of cleaning up the planet, before the point of no return, a massive decarbonization needs to take place.
This has to involve a colossal boost in the production of mined metals, including lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel for lithium-ion batteries used in EVs, renewable energy grid storage and consumer electronics; copper for electric vehicle motors, charging stations and renewable energy plants; silver for solar panels and EVs.
U.S., Canada partner to reduce dependence on China by supporting mining, processing and recycling projects
The United States has “no better partner than Canada” as it seeks to build out a global critical minerals supply chain, says undersecretary of economic growth Jose Fernandez.
“Our partnership with Canada in this space is frankly second to none,” he said after speaking at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto on March 4.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
More than 90 top business leaders and chief executive officers, representing some of Canada’s largest companies, are putting their names behind a campaign to increase Canadian pension plan investments in domestic businesses, an initiative that has drawn strong opposition from some of the country’s largest pension fund managers.
The executives supporting the campaign – who come from industries that include auto parts, oil and gas, airlines, telecommunications, banking and grocery retail – made their case in an open letter sent Wednesday to federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and her provincial counterparts. The letter urges the politicians to “amend the rules governing pension funds to encourage them to invest in Canada.”
London | The nickel turmoil of last year may blow over more quickly than previously expected, according to Macquarie’s 44-year veteran nickel watcher Jim Lennon, as unexpectedly high Chinese demand and potentially slower Indonesian growth rebalance the market.
Mr Lennon has just returned from a visit to China that has triggered a “major change” to Macquarie’s forecasts for nickel – a market in which prices nose-dived by almost 50 per cent last year, and which many analysts still expect to be stuck in the doldrums this year.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Consultations continue with northern Ontario First Nations who are opposed to mining activity in the remote Ring of Fire region. The Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations are the only two in the region to voice support for road and mining projects, while others such as the Neskantaga, Grassy Narrows, Wapekeka, and Big Trout Lake First Nations oppose the projects due to environmental concerns.
“We need community support and for us to be ready for mining development and large projects in our area,” said Marten Falls First Nation chief Bruce Achneepineskum on Tuesday at a Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) seminar. “It’s all part of what we call meaningful participation and taking the lead on these large scale projects. (In the past) we were treated as minorities without significant say on our traditional lands.”
LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) – An Indonesian nickel producer has for the first time ever applied to have its metal listed as a good delivery brand on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Indonesia has rapidly emerged as the new powerhouse of global nickel production but until now has not produced the metal in the high-purity form traded on either the LME or the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
That will change if PT CNGR Ding Xing New Energy gets the official nod for its “DX-zwdx” brand of full-plate nickel cathode. It is likely to do so since the LME is fast-tracking new nickel listings as part of its recovery plan after the market meltdown in 2022. The policy appears to be paying off for the exchange with stocks and trading volumes rising.
China on Sunday announced a 7.2% increase in its defense budget for the coming year, up slightly from last year’s 7.1% rate of increase. That marks the eighth consecutive year of single-digit percentage point increases in what is now the world’s second-largest military budget. The 2023 figure was given as 1.55 trillion yuan ($224 billion), roughly double the figure from 2013.
Along with the world’s biggest standing army, China has the world’s largest navy and recently launched its third aircraft carrier. According to the U.S., it also has the largest aviation force in the Indo-Pacific, with more than half of its fighter planes consisting of fourth or fifth generation models.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
SRG Mining Inc. has called off its financing deal with a privately held Chinese company, after Canada’s Industry Minister publicly chastised the miner for trying to skirt a national security review related to the agreement.
Last summer, China-based Carbon One New Energy Group Co. Ltd., also known as C-One, proposed buying a 19.4-per-cent stake in SRG’s Lola graphite project in West Africa for $16.9-million. For the first few months after the deal was announced, Montreal-based SRG told its investors that the deal was subject to a national-security review by the Canadian federal government.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
No news from Ottawa on critical infrastructure funding for key northern bridge and access road
Sudbury’s Frontier Lithium has attracted a heavyweight partner in Mitsubishi Corporation to develop its massive PAK lithium project in northwestern Ontario.
On the opening day of the PDAC mining show in Toronto, Frontier Lithium announced a definitive agreement with Mitsubishi to establish a joint venture partnership for both its proposed $US576-million fully integrated mine and a lithium chemicals conversion refinery.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/
Junior mining companies struggle to raise money as prices for nickel, lithium, graphite sink
For almost a century now, players from across the mining industry — big or small, Canadian or international — have been gathering in Toronto annually to talk about capital, technical innovations, and market trends.
This year’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention is no different, with some of Canada’s critical mineral explorers hoping to close deals that will help overcome a tough year in the capital markets.
As the world’s largest mining conference unfolds in Toronto, a Canadian company is facing a complaint about a proposed copper mine in Ecuador. The complaint against Vancouver-based Solaris Resources Inc. by an association of Indigenous communities is asking the British Columbia Securities Commission to investigate the company for allegedly failing to give shareholders a complete picture of the strong public opposition and legal risks facing its planned mine in southern Ecuador.
Meanwhile on Monday, Ecuador President Daniel Noboa pitched his country as the next mining destination at the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference. He indicated attracting foreign mining investment is a priority for his administration.
https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/
According to the Wildlands League website, a non-profit conservation group, the number of mining claims in the Ring of Fire has increased by over 28% since September 2022. The claims now cover approximately 626,000 hectares, nearly 10 times the size of the city of Toronto.
As of December 2023, there were 33,074 mining claims in the area according to the Ontario ministry of mines. As of September 2023, Juno Corp., a Toronto based mining company is the largest claim holder with more than 17,000 mining claims covering approximately 333,000 hectares. The company holds exploration drilling permits at two sites.
(Bloomberg) — Across the US and allied countries, owners of left-for-dead uranium mines are restarting operations to capitalize on rising demand for the nuclear fuel.
At least five US producers are reviving mines in states including Wyoming, Texas, Arizona and Utah, where production flourished until governments soured on the radioactive element following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
https://dianefrancis.substack.com/
On October 17, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) celebrated its tenth anniversary with great fanfare in Beijing. Vladimir Putin and the head of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime attended, along with leaders from 130 countries.
There were speeches and banquets to celebrate President Xi Jinping’s flagship initiative. He delivered a grand speech and claimed huge success, but numbers tell a different story. Another gigantic Chinese real estate conglomerate last week filed for bankruptcy in a Hong Kong court. The economy is slowly tanking, sinking under massive real estate and government debts. (See my Beijing’s Bubble Bursts, Part 1 and Part 2.)
