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Northern Prospectors Association supports proposed mining legislation – by Brad Sherratt (Kirkland Lake Northern News – April 21, 2025)

https://www.northernnews.ca/

The president of the Northern Prospectors Association says his organization is supportive of legislation that was introduced by the province, legislation that is designed to speed up the process for mineral development and resource projects.

On April 18, the Ford government introduced the “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025.” According to a media release from the province, if passed, the legislation would cut the red tape and duplicative processes that have held back major infrastructure, mining and resource development projects, including in the Ring of Fire.

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Diamond industry in crisis as Trump tariffs rock market – by Leslie Hook (Financial Times/Financial Post – April 15, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Traders warn of ‘standstill’ as shipments through Antwerp drop 85%

Diamond traders are warning that the US$82-billion industry has “ground to a halt” because of Donald Trump‘s tariffs and the global trade war, with shipments through the gem-trading hub of Antwerp down to about one-seventh of usual levels.

Trump’s sweeping tariffs include a 10 per cent levy on diamond imports as well as proposed variable “retaliatory” duties by country of origin, even though many other minerals, such as gold and copper, are excluded from the measures.

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Surging gold stocks lift mining’s top 50 companies above tariff chaos – by Frik Els (Mining.com – April 21, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Two weeks into the second quarter, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, up $79.7 billion so far in 2025. The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies remains almost $400 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022.

This snapshot was taken at the close of trading on April 17 and not at the start of Q2 as usual to avoid some of the market distortions brought on by the chaotic weeks following Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs. This flatters the index to some extent as gold stocks rode the coattails of the record setting bullion price and almost all big names regained some ground after the severe sell-off during the first week of April.

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BACKROADS BILL: Cycling through Cobalt’s mining legacy – by Bill Steer (Village Report – April 19, 2025)

https://www.villagereport.ca/

In the heart of Northern Ontario lies a town with a story etched into rock. Once a booming silver capital, today Cobalt is drawing attention for its rich heritage—and a new idea to explore it by bike

Cobalt has been a target or source of a number of Back Roads Bill stories. Why? Through AI it said, “Back Roads Bill, through Village Media, often explores Cobalt and its history, particularly focusing on its artistic and environmental connections. He has documented the town’s rich history, including the influence of artists who were drawn to Cobalt and its landscape, as well as the impact of mining on the environment.”

Hmmm… AI knows everything, right? There was a literary review, could this be true? Most recently, there was the story of how artists once looked at the silver town through their creative eyes in Cobalt artists and the environment (check the archive of Back Roads Bill’s work for Village Media at the bottom of this column). and a podcast on the same.

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Is Canada the new mecca for raw materials? – by Insa Wrede (DW.com – April 19, 2025)

https://www.dw.com/en/

China is halting the export of certain critical raw materials that are essential for future technologies and the defense industry. It’s a move that will hit the US and the EU hard. Could Canada fill the gap?

The New York Times reported recently that the Chinese government was to halt exports of six rare earth elements that are refined entirely in China. It will also cease to export certain specialized powerful rare earth magnets currently manufactured almost exclusively in China, which is responsible for 90% of global production.

The raw materials and specialized magnets are key for high-tech sectors such as the manufacture of cars, robots, and military equipment like drones and missiles.

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U.S. action led to reopening of Toronto-listed company’s tin mine in Congo, Trump adviser says – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – April 17, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Trump administration obtained help from Rwanda to secure a rebel retreat and allow Toronto-listed Alphamin Resources Corp. to reopen a shuttered tin mine in eastern Congo, a U.S. official says.

Massad Boulos, senior Africa adviser to President Donald Trump, said the Rwandan move was a “good faith” gesture in response to U.S. concerns about private mining investments, which he relayed in his eight-day trip to Africa this month.

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EU Decoded: Is the EU losing the geopolitical race for critical raw minerals? – by Mared Gwyn Jones (Euro News – April 22, 2025)

https://www.euronews.com/

The EU wants to cut reliance on powers like China for mineral supplies by the end of the decade. As geopolitical tensions boil, EU Decoded asks whether the bloc can keep up with its competitors. World powers are scrambling to get ahead in the race for the minerals needed to produce new technologies such as microchips, solar panels and electric cars.

US President Donald Trump has invoked wartime powers to boost American production, and has contemplated the use of economic, military and diplomatic force to gain access to Canada, Greenland and Ukraine’s mineral wealth.

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Trump Fast-Tracks 10 Mineral Projects: Perpetua’s Stibnite Gold to Boost U.S. Antimony – by Saptakee S (Carbon Credits – April 22, 2025)

https://carboncredits.com/

The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) took a major step to speed up approvals for domestic mineral production. In response to President Trump’s executive order, Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, the Council named 10 mining projects that will now benefit from a faster, more transparent federal permitting process.

These projects, targeting minerals like copper, antimony, lithium, and potash, have been granted FAST-41 status. This designation falls under a 2015 federal initiative that streamlines permitting for major infrastructure projects. The White House confirmed more projects will be added soon.

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Canada’s Rare Earth Opportunity: Can Canada Dethrone China’s Global Dominance? – by Jimmy Peterson (Top News – April 21, 2025)

https://topnews.in/

In an era defined by supply chain volatility, geopolitical friction, and the race for technological supremacy, the global demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has taken on strategic urgency. Following China’s latest move to impose export controls on a host of critical rare earth materials—minerals integral to advanced electronics, electric vehicles, and defense systems—the West has been forced to accelerate its search for reliable alternatives.

Enter Canada: a nation with vast mineral reserves, a robust mining heritage, and the potential to challenge China’s rare earth monopoly—if it can overcome significant hurdles.

China’s Export Controls Reshape the Strategic Minerals Market

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Putin, Trump and the Arctic prize: Why a peace deal in Ukraine could change everything – by Donna Kennedy-Glans (National Post/MSN.com – April 2025)

https://www.msn.com/

Arctic nations are shoring up their security and sovereignty in the Far North. It’s even a ballot box issue in Canada. But what’s quietly unfolding in the Russian Arctic also warrants our full attention; the stakes are higher than one might expect.

Russia’s Arctic is resource-rich; the remote region has vast reserves of hydrocarbons, immense deposits of rare earth minerals and metals and provides access to the Northern Sea Route along Russia’s northern coast, a far shorter shipping route between Asia and Europe.

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Trump’s steel, aluminum tariff impacts start to build 1 month in – by Ian Bickis (Canadian Press/Global News – April 21, 2025)

https://globalnews.ca/

The costs and chaos being caused by metal tariffs are starting to build up after a month in effect, and there’s little hope they’ll be removed in the foreseeable future. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum on March 12, raising significant concerns for a sector that exported around $35 billion of metal to the U.S. last year.

It’s still not clear how much higher the tariffs will push consumer prices and translate into reduced demand, but industry insiders say the risks are building. The aluminum tariffs alone add about $3,000 to the cost of an F150 truck, Aluminum Association of Canada CEO Jean Simard said. Add in the steel tariffs, and auto tariffs, and it means about $12,000 more in input costs.

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What should Canada do with the critical minerals Donald Trump wants? – by Sharif Hassan (Canadian Press/Calgary Herald – April 19, 2025)

https://calgaryherald.com/

U.S. trying to ‘soften us up’ for deal on important resources, says University of Calgary expert

An ongoing trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump’s hunger for critical minerals have brought Canada’s rich mineral deposits into the spotlight, with federal and provincial politicians promising to accelerate natural resource projects.

Interest in the country’s critical minerals surged after Trump started musing about annexing Canada, experts say, and grew as the president’s global trade war intensified. “This is now a domestic conversation about how we treat natural resources or natural resource development projects here in Canada,” said Elizabeth Steyn, a mining and finance law expert at the University of Calgary.

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Barrick exits Alaska with Donlin Gold sale – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – April 22, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

To sell its 50% stake in the 39-million-oz gold project to Paulson and Novagold for $1 billion.

After nearly two decades of exploration, engineering, and permitting, Barrick Gold Corp. has sold its 50% joint venture ownership of the world-class Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska to hedge fund billionaire John Paulson and Novagold Resources Inc. for $1 billion in cash.

“The Donlin agreement allows Barrick to exit the Donlin Gold Project at an attractive valuation, while allowing NOVAGOLD and Paulson to pursue the development of the project,” Barrick Gold President and CEO Mark Bristow said in an April 22 statement announcing the sale.

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The New Great Game: How the race for critical minerals is shaping tech supremacy – by Shaz Merwat (Royal Bank Wealth Management – April 16, 2025)

https://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/

Bedrocks of a Fourth Industrial Revolution

Minerals are the bedrock of any industrial economy. From steel to copper to aluminum, they lay the foundation of economic, civil, and defence infrastructure. And increasingly, a growing cohort of minerals underlie the critical components of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution — an era of disruptive technological forces driven by human-machine interaction across research, manufacturing and an ever-expanding data economy.

In this new age, the demand for that cohort of “critical minerals” will be driven by a growing use of semiconductors and data processing machines, increased adoption of battery technologies and new energy sources, and advancements in defence and aerospace technologies.

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OPINION: Trump’s approach to China is backfiring – and that puts all investors at great risk – by David Rosenberg (Globe and Mail – April 22, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

“Everybody wants to make a deal and if they don’t want to make a deal, we’ll make the deal for them. We’re the one that really sets the deal, and that’s what we’ll be doing.” – President Donald Trump, April 17, 2025

How’s that for instilling confidence? If you don’t make a deal with us, we’ll make a deal for you. Wasn’t that deal supposed to have been arranged when tariffs were imposed on some 180 countries on April 2, what the White House dubbed “Liberation Day?” It got kiboshed by a 90-day reprieve because investors got “yippy,” as the President put it. So, it looks like the S&P 500 is really the final arbiter of what happens here because despite all Mr. Trump’s bravado, it was a slide in the stock market that seemed to give him cold feet.

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