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Glencore News Release: Raglan opens new mine (February 27, 2024)

NUNAVIK, QC, Feb. 27, 2024 /CNW/ – Raglan Mine is pleased to officially inaugurate Anuri Mine, from its Sivumut mining project, which has been under development for over ten years. This event marks an important milestone in the pursuit of its mining operations in Nunavik and highlights its ongoing commitment to the local communities that welcome its operations.

Anuri is one of the largest mining investments in Quebec in the last decade. It is anticipated that it will lengthen Raglan Mine’s life of operations for at least 20 years.

“We expect that our mining activities, initially forecast to last 25 years, will be significantly extended thanks to the Anuri mine. This is a huge success for our 1,400 employees, our Inuit partners and our business partners,” says Pierre Barette, Vice President.

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Canadian gold miner agrees to sell itself to Chinese company in possible test of Ottawa policy – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – February 26, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Yintai Gold to buy Osino Resources for $368 million

Ottawa’s policy of preventing Chinese companies from investing in Canadian-listed firms may be put to the test after Vancouver-based Osino Resources Corp. agreed to be bought by Yintai Gold Co. Ltd. for $368 million.

Yintai’s main interest in Osino seems to be the latter’s gold project in central Namibia. The Twin Hills Gold project is expected to have a 13-year mine life with average gold production of more than 169,000 ounces per year, according to a third-party study. The project is expected to generate about US$1.5 billion with a relatively low cost of about $365 million to build the mine.

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Canada’s SRG Mining plans move to the Middle East to avoid national security review – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 26, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s SRG Mining Inc. is planning on moving to the Middle East in an attempt to skirt a Canadian national security review into a key financing deal with China-based Carbon ONE New Energy Group Co. Ltd.

Last summer, when Montreal-based SRG announced that China’s C-One was buying a 19.4-per-cent stake for $16.9-million, it warned the deal would be scrutinized by Ottawa on national-security grounds. Late in the year, SRG flagged that it was looking at redomiciling the company, and on Monday said in a press release that it plans on relocating to the United Arab Emirates, where it will have “expanded strategic optionality.”

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What to expect in 2024 after diamond sector’s price plunge – by Paul Zimnisky (Mining.com – February 25, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

It’s been a tough ride for the diamonds sector since rough prices hit an all-time high in the first quarter of 2022. Last year rough prices fell 15-20% according to the Zimnisky Global Rough Diamond Price Index. Prices are now down about 25% from their early 2022 high.

So what happened to cause prices to tumble? The pandemic years brought generational volatility to diamond supply. In 2020, production dipped to the lowest levels since the 1990s. A recovery in 2021 through 2023 ensued. However, the new “normal” for output is still some 15-30 million carats below pre-2020 levels.

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The ‘critical minerals’ bubble has seemingly burst. What does it mean for Australia’s geopolitical strategies? -by Lian Sinclair and Neil Coe (Australian Strategic Policy Institute – February 26, 2024)

https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/

Early 2024 has not been kind to investors in critical minerals. Media outlets across Australia have run with headlines talking of ‘crash’, ‘crisis’ and ‘collapse’, with many blaming China and Indonesia for the slump— especially in nickel prices. This is in stark contrast to the extreme bearishness in 2022 and 2023.

Alarmingly, some players are using this ‘crisis’ to call for government bailouts and softer regulation. Others, including Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia Madeleine King, are pushing for global green mining standards and a premium price for nickel produced with higher environmental standards.

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France’s $1.6 Billion Uranium Deal With Mongolia Faces Delays – by Ilya Arkhipov, Samy Adghirni and Francois de Beaupuy (Bloomberg News – February 22, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A $1.6 billion uranium mining deal between France and Mongolia that is part of French efforts to diversify supplies to power its fleet of nuclear reactors is running into political hurdles.

A debate about protecting strategic resources in Mongolia risks delaying the finalization of the agreement until after elections in June, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. Progress has also been hampered after the Asian country’s chief negotiator stepped down, a third person said, meaning the deal had to be redrafted.

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Dubreuilville gold mine one of the ‘highest grade, fastest growing deposits in the world’ – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 23, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Discovery of more high-grade zones at Island Gold could mean longer mine life for Alamos Gold

Gold reserves and resources have increased at the Island Gold Mine, outside Dubreuilville, for the eighth consecutive year. Island Gold continues to be Alamos’ catalyst of growth as the Toronto gold company released its end-of-2023 mineral reserves and resources for its operations in Canada and Mexico.

Alamos reported a 16 per cent increase in reserves and resources to 6.1 million ounces at Island Gold, which was acquired by the company in 2017.

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Why this miner predicts Europe will demand green nickel – by Hans van Leeuwen (Australian Financial Review – February 26, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

London | As the nickel market maelstrom engulfs project after project, Perth-based mining CEO Todd Ross is betting his company, ASX-listed Nordic Nickel, can withstand the tempest.

The $17.5 million minnow has two tenements in Finnish Lapland, and is still in the early stages of exploration. Ross expects the market shake-out will eventually carve world demand into two tracks – a “bifurcation” between Chinese and European demand that will ultimately benefit Nordic Nickel.

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Unearthing tension: Sand runs the world, but most don’t realize the conflict it generates – by Matthew Rozsa (Salon.com – February 25, 2024)

https://www.salon.com/

Sand is the second-most commonly used resource on Earth and its environmental and social impacts are massive

As William Blake famously wrote, “To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower” is to “Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour.” But as innocuous, ubiquitous and just plain mundane sand can be, it can also be the source of significant conflict and violence while often being extracted to the detriment of our planet.

When the term “conflict mineral” is used, people often think of precious stones like rubies or valuable fuels like coal. Certainly the industry of mining those rocks is fraught with controversy and peril, yet even the most seemingly ubiquitous minerals can serve as the source of conflict. But is sand really in the same category as cobalt and blood diamonds?

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Alberta regulator will hear Australian company’s revived plan for a controversial coal mine – by Emma Graney (Globe and Mail – February 23, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Alberta’s energy regulator will consider controversial applications to explore a new coal mine in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, ruling the project is excluded from a government-mandated ban on exploration approvals. The decision announced on Friday applies to a set of permit applications for exploratory activities by Northback Holdings Corp. at Grassy Mountain, on the site of an old mine that closed about five decades ago.

Northback, formerly Benga Mining Ltd., is a subsidiary of Australian mining giant Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. Benga’s application for an open-pit mine on the land was rejected by a joint federal-provincial panel in June, 2021, because of environmental concerns.

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Nickel faces existential moment with half of mines unprofitable – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – February 26, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Many of the world’s biggest nickel mines are facing an increasingly bleak future as they wake up to an existential threat: a near limitless supply of low-cost metal from Indonesia. With roughly half of all nickel operations unprofitable at recent prices, the bosses of the largest mining companies last week sounded a warning that there was little prospect of a recovery.

The potential collapse of nickel mining from Australia to New Caledonia comes at a time when western governments are scrambling to secure the supply chains needed to decarbonize the global economy. But in an ironic twist, Indonesia’s coal-fired nickel output is pricing out greener metal that’s so far failed to command a market premium.

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Thousand Bagger in Uranium Mining – by Tom Humphreys (The Big Score – February 24, 2024)

https://www.thebigscore.com/

Stephen B. Roman led Denison Mines from 8.5 cents to $87 per share in 13 years, tussled with prime ministers, and dominated the INSANE 20th century uranium business. This is his story.

Rage filled Stephen Roman’s stout frame as he stormed Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson’s office in 1965. Exploding over a ruined $700 million uranium contract, Roman hurled “son of a bitch” at Pearson, who would later quip that Roman was a relic, lagging “fifty years behind the apes.”

It wouldn’t be Roman’s last battle with a prime minister. His improbable rise from tomato picker to mining king is a tale of grit and the dramatic turns in 20th century uranium mining. Pope John Paul II even blessed Roman’s sprawling Toronto estate. Merging business, politics, and the biggest uranium mine, this is how Stephen Roman built an empire.

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Detecting Lab-Grown Diamonds That Deceive – by Jennifer Heebner (Rapaport Magazine – February 26, 2024)

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As Guy Borenstein gears up for Stuller’s Bench Jeweler Workshop in March, there’s one hot topic that will be addressed for the fifth consecutive year: synthetic diamonds. There’s no shortage of available equipment to detect lab-grown diamonds. According to the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), there are about 40 instruments on the market that aim to discover natural versus synthetic diamonds.

“Five years ago, I asked attendees how many were screening for lab-grown diamonds [LGDs] and one hand went up,” says the director of gemstone procurement for the Lafayette, Louisiana-based manufacturer. That number has grown as the years passed, but “the majority are still not checking,” he adds.

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Metallurgical coal is the commodity world’s quiet performer – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – February 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 22 (Reuters) – When looking at the commodities used to make steel, iron ore gathers the bulk of headlines given its strong link to the perceived health of China’s economy. But metallurgical coal is also a key input, and this fuel has quietly been a top performer in the energy commodity space in recent months.

Australia dominates the seaborne market for metallurgical coal, accounting for more than half of global volumes, and about three times the shipments of the next biggest exporter, the United States. The price of Australian metallurgical coal, also known as coking coal, on the Singapore Exchange ended at $315 a metric ton on Wednesday.

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Indonesia to wipe out global nickel rivals, warns French miner Eramet chief – by Harry Dempsey and Sarah White (Financial Times – February 24, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

South-east Asian country’s low-cost production of metal vital to electric cars has made traditional suppliers uncompetitive, says Christel Bories

Indonesia’s low-cost nickel suppliers will wipe out rivals in the next few years, cementing the country as the world’s dominant producer of the metal vital to electric car batteries, the head of French miner Eramet has warned.

The south-east Asian nation could end up accounting for more than three-quarters of the world’s highest class of pure nickel in five years from now, Christel Bories told the Financial Times, with radical consequences for competitors elsewhere.

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