KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A Trump administration official said Thursday the United States is in talks with conflict-plagued Congo on developing its mineral resources under a deal the Congolese president has said could help make his country safer.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos, did not provide details of the potential deal following talks with Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa, but he said it could involve “multibillion-dollar investments.”
https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/
A vital investment to meet growing demand and enhance everyday life
It is no exaggeration to say that we could not survive in a modern society without critical minerals; they are found in hundreds of things we use everyday from cell phones and laptops to tea kettles and toothpaste.
Manufacturing, construction, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and clean technologies are just a few examples of the industries that are dependent on this sector, which is set to have a global market value of US$770 billion by 2040.
B.C.-based pH7 Technologies is piloting a new heap leaching technology to recover copper from low-grade ores
Agrowing demand for copper worldwide is fuelling companies like pH7 Technologies to find ways to extract copper and other critical minerals from low-grade ore, tailings and mine waste. The Vancouver-based company is currently developing a process that uses heap leaching to recover copper from sulfide ores, like chalcopyrite, whereas traditional heap leaching is usually confined to oxide ores.
Mohammad Doostmohammadi, the company’s CEO and founder, who has a master’s degree in chemical engineering and has worked as a mining engineer, said in an interview with CIM Magazine that sulfide ores, which are low-grade and expensive to extract, represent 80 per cent of copper deposits worldwide.
In Niger, a local company has been granted a license to mine copper. Meanwhile, military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso aim to reduce dependence on foreign mining companies and diversify their economies.
Niger wants to boost its economy and expand its mining industry by mining copper in the Agadez region. The country granted a permit to national firm Compagnie Miniere de l’Air (Cominair SA). “Niger is continuing its programme of diversifying mining production” with a move that “marks its entry into the restricted circle of countries producing this strategic mineral,” according to a statement from Niger’s military government, which took power following a July 2023 coup.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Sahel regional program in neighboring Mali, said the concession is part of Niger’s strategy to reduce its reliance on foreign companies for mineral extraction.
Workers form the soon-to-close Mt Isa underground copper mine in Queensland are being redeployed as part of Glencore’s firm commitment to remaining a key player in the state.
The second largest copper producer in Australia, the Mount Isa copper mine has been a feature of the Australian copper landscape since 1924. The mine is scheduled to close in July, but Glencore has been staunch in its determination to see its foothold in the region remain steady.
https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/
A shared vision for North America’s Arctic could help thaw relations; Greenland and minerals may be keys to securing the North.
While relations between Canada and the United States may be the coldest ever recorded, the leaders of both nations have a common vision that could help defrost tensions – investing in the strategic and resource-rich North to help ensure North American security and prosperity as we progress deeper into the 21st century.
“Our government will strengthen Canada’s Arctic security, bolster partnerships with our closest Allies, unleash the North’s economic potential, and reaffirm reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples,” Mark Carney said as he was preparing to travel to Nunavut just four days after being sworn in as Canada’s new prime minister.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Canadian Steel Producers Association is calling on the federal government to immediately erect new trade barriers against foreign dumping to help domestic producers better compete in their home market in the face of U.S. tariffs.
Canadian steelmakers are highly dependent on the U.S. market and are now desperately trying to win more business at home where demand outstrips production. But domestic producers often have to compete with foreign competitors engaging in dumping – selling product at artificially low prices in order to gain market share. At its most egregious, the practice can drive Canadian steelmakers out of the market entirely.
China placed export restrictions on key rare earth elements on Friday as part of its sweeping response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, potentially squeezing supply to the U.S. and the West of minerals vital to everything from defense to electric cars.
China produces around 90% of the world’s refined rare earths, a group of 17 elements used across the defense, electric vehicle, clean energy and electronics industries. The United States imports most of its rare earths, and most come from China.
Bismuth prices surged to all-time highs on the European spot market in March, a more than six-fold rise since January, as China’s export controls squeeze supplies of the mineral used in atomic research, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
China in February announced plans to impose export controls on five key metals — tungsten, tellurium, molybdenum, indium and bismuth — in response to US President Trump’s import tariffs. Bismuth is a scarce industrial metal that has characteristics similar to lead, but is non-toxic, and the industry is currently developing uses for replacing lead.
“The Americans are waking up to the reality that they are dependent on China for critical minerals, and they need an alternative,” Lecce said. “Ontario is the answer.”
A day before President Trump is poised to announce tariffs that experts say will harm the economy in both countries, Ontario’s Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce went to D.C. trying to position the province as Washington’s most reliable partner.
“The Americans are waking up to the reality that they are dependent on China for critical minerals, and they need an alternative,” Lecce said. “Ontario is the answer.” Minister Lecce attended the SAFE Summit in Washington, a meeting with the global leaders in energy, transportation and supply chain.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Peter Harmsen is a journalist and the author of Fury and Ice: Greenland, the United States and Germany in World War II.
The historically minded among us may have sensed a certain déjà vu this weekend when U.S. President Donald Trump talked to NBC News about the role military force could play in gaining control of Greenland, currently an autonomous territory of long-time ally Denmark: “I don’t take anything off the table.”
After all, in 1940, when the Americans were slowly waking up from their isolationist slumber to side with the Western democracies in the struggle against fascism, they took a break from this grand mission to threaten Canada and Britain with armed might to keep Greenland to themselves.
When wife of the president of Sierra Leone – Mrs Fatima Bio joined a strike action by workers from Koidu Limited Mining Company (KLMC) in protest against the company, her detractors wasted no time in condemning her action, as attention seeking or misuse of her privileged position as the First Lady.
Irrespective of her position as First lady, those who know Fatima Bio believe that she did so as a citizen and daughter of the soil. As for those who don’t know, Fatima grew up on the foothills of the very hills that are being blasted daily by the mining company. Fatima grew up around the Koquima and Boroma environs of Sefadu.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Argentine President Javier Milei, who took office two years ago in a chainsaw-wielding campaign against big government, has slashed inflation by nearly two-thirds after gutting public spending and halting money printing to finance the deficit.
His Incentive Regime for Large Investments of more than $200 million (C$285 million), known by its Spanish acronym RIGI, offers 25% corporate income tax instead of 35%, plans regulatory stability for 30 years and, in a major shift, allows external arbitration over disputes.
The Town of Pincher Creek is looking into whether a plebiscite could be held during the October municipal election to gauge public sentiment on the proposed Grassy Mountain coal mining project. The idea was introduced by deputy mayor Wayne Oliver during the March 24 council meeting.
Oliver put forward a notice of motion requesting that administration investigate the feasibility of holding an informational plebiscite, similar to the one Crowsnest Pass held last year. However, he suggested holding it in conjunction with the upcoming municipal election.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
The project was approved more than a decade ago. Hunters say a lot has changed since then
Baffinland Iron Mines is now looking at 2026 as a start date for its proposed expansion to an iron ore mine in Nunavut, but local hunters are calling for the project to be reassessed before it can go ahead. The mining company wants to ship iron ore from its existing Mary River mine, by building a railway south to a proposed port at Steensby Inlet.
It’s a plan that was approved by the federal government in 2012. For years, it was put on the back burner with Baffinland favouring a railway to be built from the mine north to Milne Inlet — an option it said would be less costly. That was rejected by the federal government in 2022, causing Baffinland to switch back to the Steensby Inlet track.
