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OPINION: The folly of Ontario’s nuclear power play – by Mark Winfield (Globe and Mail – February 7, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Mark Winfield is a professor of environmental and urban change at York University and co-chair of the faculty’s Sustainable Energy Initiative. He is also co-editor of Sustainable Energy Transitions in Canada (UBC Press, 2023).

The Ontario government’s announcement last week of its intention to pursue the refurbishment of the Pickering B nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Ontario between Toronto and Pickering represents a strategic triumph for the provincially owned Ontario Power Generation utility. The project would significantly reinforce the utility’s already dominant position in the province’s electricity system.

How well the decision serves the interests of Ontario residents, taxpayers and electricity ratepayers, and advances the sustainable decarbonization of the province’s electricity system, is another question altogether.

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INTERVIEW: Let’s get real about EVs’ environmental impact, rare metal expert says – by Sei Matsumoto (Nikkei Asia – February 2, 2024)

https://asia.nikkei.com

Decades needed to find cost-effective clean energy tech: Tokyo University’s Toru Okabe

TOKYO — As the world embraces electric vehicles as a solution to carbon dioxide emissions, there is too little discussion of the environmental harm associated with the metals needed to build them, says one of Japan’s foremost researchers in the field.

“EVs are supposed to be environmentally friendly, but they are causing environmental problems, and that is a reality that is probably difficult for companies to say if they are aware of it,” Toru Okabe, a professor and the director of the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Industrial Science, told Nikkei.

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China’s Tougher Coal Mining Rules Could Threaten Supply Again (Bloomberg News – February 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Stricter regulation of Chinese coal mines to reduce fatalities could raise the risk of renewed supply disruptions and higher prices in the world’s biggest market for the fuel.

A string of disasters over the last 12 months, including 53 deaths in a landslide at an open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, has refocused the authorities on accident prevention. More than 2,000 investigations into mine safety were conducted last year. From May 1, the penalties for breaches will include forced closures and fines of up to 20 million yuan ($2.8 million).

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Chile’s mining sector needs 34,000 new professionals by 2032 – report – by Staff (Mining.com – February 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The mining industry in Chile, the world’s top copper producer and second-largest lithium producer, will need more than 34,000 new workers by 2032, according to a study released this week.

The report by the CCM-Eleva Alliance, a joint initiative between the Mining Council and Fundacion Chile, analyzed workforce trends and challenges of 27 mining and supplier companies in the country, representing 96% of the sector.

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OPINION: Canadian pension funds must invest more in the domestic resource sector – by Frank Guistra and Pierre Lassonde (Globe and Mail – February 6, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Frank Giustra is chief executive officer of Fiore Group. Pierre Lassonde is chair emeritus of Franco Nevada Corp.

The global race to secure critical minerals for our green future is on, and sadly, Canada is very much at risk of losing the plot.

In the past 20 years Canada has lost almost all of its mining giants, including Inco, Alcan, Falconbridge and Noranda, to multinationals – and along with them the head office and research and development talent pool. Inco, for example, was at one point the top battery technology expert in the world.

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State of Michigan could invest in Canadian mining company’s copper project – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 5, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Highland Copper in the running for US$50-million development grant

A Canadian company with a copper mine project in northern Michigan is in the running for a substantial subsidy from the State of Michigan.

Highland Copper Company announced the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has proposed a US$50-million grant for its Copperwood mine project in the Upper Peninsula. The money would come from the Strategic Site Readiness Program. But it’s not a done deal. Final approval still has to come from the state’s Application Committee in both the Michigan legislature’s house of representatives and senate.

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Asia-Pacific’s mineral exporters face bumpy ride amid China’s ‘sputtering demand’, property woes – by Biman Mukherji (South China Morning Post – February 6, 2024)

https://www.scmp.com/

China’s property woes following the liquidation of embattled developer Evergrande have raised concerns of slower demand for raw materials from the world’s leading metal producer and weigh on suppliers across the Asia-Pacific.

China accounts for more than half of the world’s minerals demand for metals production, and the property sector and infrastructure are two of the largest segments fuelling demand for products like steel, copper and aluminium.

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Forrests forced to prop up struggling nickel business as prices slide – by Peter Ker and Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – February 6, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

The billionaire Forrest family has tipped another $31 million into its privately held Australian nickel business amid expectations it will burn cash and face an impairment.

Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s private Wyloo vehicle paid more than $700 million to acquire Mincor Resources last year, but has already been forced to announce closure of the mines following a significant slump in the nickel price. Mincor was also affected by product quality issues linked to higher than expected arsenic levels in the nickel ore.

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Vietnam should seize a ‘rare’ opportunity to take on China – by Tim Culpan (Japan Times/Bloomberg – February 6, 2024)

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/

Vietnam’s hopes of becoming a production hub to rival China are showing momentum. A big boost will come as the nation leans into its untapped reserves of rare earths, even as it struggles to find traction in new sectors such as electric vehicles.

Over the past decade, the country has built a beachhead in manufacturing, ranging from cars to electronics. Computers and accessories are now the largest export, surpassing textiles and footwear. The expansion of foreign assemblers like Foxconn Technology Group, GoerTek and Luxshare Precision Industry mean that Apple products like Macs and AirPods are made locally.

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Angola’s diamond sparkle brightened by new De Beers deal – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – February 6, 2024)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) ­– Diamond mining and marketing company De Beers is to collaborate with Angola on opportunities to increase diamond production, support alluvial mining sector and enhance social development for the benefit of Angola’s citizens.

De Beers on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Angola’s National Mineral Resource Agency, Angola’s State-owned Endiama diamond company, and Angola’s State-owned Sodiam diamond trading company, to support these objectives.

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Old Tyrone a mining utopia in wartime – by Robert L. Conley (Silver City Daily Press – February 5, 2024)

https://www.scdailypress.com/

Known today for their vast resources of copper ore, the Little Burro Mountains of Grant County were first famous for their deposits of turquoise. For countless generations, until interrupted by non-Indigenous visitors, Native Americans operated shallow mines to extract the decorative blue-green stone.

The name of the first white man to discover turquoise here is unknown, but it is said that anyone who entered the area before the early 1870s was never seen alive again. The Apache were thought to blame. But by 1879, prospectors had staked out workable claims and, perhaps due to safety in numbers, were less prone to disappearing. The turquoise found here, just a dozen or so miles southwest of Silver City, was judged to be at least equal with the stones from the best mines in Persia — and good enough to gift President McKinley during his tour of New Mexico in 1901.

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Billions of litres of water are used yearly by Quebec’s mining and metal industry, data reveals – by Jaela Bernstien and Naël Shiab (CBC News Climate – February 2, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/

Advocates hope more transparency will help towns struggling with water shortages

Quebec has lifted the veil of secrecy around the province’s biggest water users, revealing that billions of litres of water are withdrawn yearly by the mining and metal industry, along with pulp and paper manufacturing.

The data dump, which includes records going back a decade, also lists golf clubs, ski hills, water bottling plants and food processors among the companies that are withdrawing tens of millions — sometimes hundreds of millions — of litres in a year.

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‘The wind just died down’: Lithium miners try to hold on as prices slump – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – February 6, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Falling prices hurting investor appetite and threaten to crush exploration

Miner Paul Cowley decided two years ago to shift his focus to lithium from gold when his company acquired the mineral rights for multiple small claims containing the light metal in central Alberta.

Given lithium’s skyrocketing prices and investors pouring money into companies associated with the metal needed to power electric-vehicle batteries, the chief executive of TSX Venture-listed Indigo Exploration Inc. thought it was the perfect time to make the move.

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OPINION: Canada’s huge bet on the EV battery industry demands a jolt of reality – by Andrew Coyne (Globe and Mail – February 2, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

When it comes to the green transition, let no one say the Trudeau government is unwilling to put other people’s money where its mouth is. Why, in just one sector, a sector of a sector really – making batteries for electric vehicles – the government has put $44-billion at risk: one of the “big bets” on Canada’s industrial future of which it likes to boast.

In fact, that $44-billion (I’m using the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s figures here, rather than the official estimate of $38-billion) is for just three factories: $14.4-billion to persuade Volkswagen to make batteries in St. Thomas, Ont., $16-billion to induce Stellantis (the former Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot SA) to open a plant in Windsor, and $7.3-billion to lure Swedish battery maker Northvolt into suburban Montreal. (The remainder, on the PBO’s calculations, is the revenue cost of exempting these subsidies from the usual tax.)

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Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos-backed startup discovers large-scale copper deposit in Zambia – by Sam Meredith (CNBC.com – February 5, 2024)

https://www.cnbc.com/

KoBold Metals, a California-based metals exploration company backed by billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, said it has discovered a vast copper deposit in Zambia.

The rare discovery of a large-scale copper deposit could help in the global race to secure a supply of materials critical to the energy transition. Copper is in high demand due to its use in renewable energy and electric vehicles.

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