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The billion-dollar standoff: Alamos Gold versus Türkiye – by Gordon Feller (Canadian Mining Journal – April 15, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

An important mining dispute is playing out in The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is considered to be the world’s leading institution devoted to international investment dispute settlement. It has administered the majority of all international investment cases.

Almost all member states of the U.N. have agreed that ICSID should serve as the forum for investor-State dispute settlement — and they have encoded this into most international investment treaties, as well as in numerous investment laws and contracts. As of today, 165 countries have signed the ICSID Convention, with 154 of these having ratified it, thereby becoming contracting member states.

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Britain’s race to take control of its last major steel plant from Chinese owner – by Christian Edwards (CNN.com – April 16, 2025)

https://www.cnn.com/

Britain’s parliament is only recalled at times of national crisis. But when lawmakers were brought back from their Easter vacation last weekend, the cause was not a war, terror attack or the death of a monarch – but the potential closure of a steel plant in northern England.

The government said the owner of the British Steel complex in Scunthorpe, the Chinese company Jingye, was prepared to cancel orders for the raw materials needed to keep its blast furnaces burning, a step that would leave Britain unable to make virgin steel for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.

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How China Took Over the World’s Rare Earths Industry – by Keith Bradsher (New York Times – April 16, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

China seized mines and built factories. Japan took note and invested in Australia. But the United States did little despite concerns about control of supplies.

China shook the world in 2010 when it imposed an embargo on exports of crucial rare earth metals to Japan. Panicked Japanese executives appeared on television to warn that they were running out of the critical raw materials.

The embargo, prompted by a territorial dispute, lasted only seven weeks. But it changed the global supply chain for these metals. When the embargo was over, China took forceful control of its mineral bounty. Top officials in Beijing rooted out corruption, crushed smugglers and consolidated the industry under state control.

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Northwest ‘booming’ for mining – by Sandi Krasowski (The Chronicle-Journal – April 16, 2025)

https://www.pentictonherald.ca/

The Ontario Prospectors and Explorers Symposium is underway in Thunder Bay, where miners, prospectors, support and supply companies, laboratories and service companies have come together to network and share information and ideas.

Daniele Spethman, an exploration geologist and director of the Ontario Prospectors Association (OPA), is the co-ordinator of the conference that was hosted jointly by the OPA and the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association.

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‘We celebrate President Trump’: Why Trump could be a boon for this controversial Canadian seabed-mining firm – by Allan Woods (Toronto Star – April 17, 2025)

https://www.thestar.com/

U.S. President Donald Trump penchant for tariffs has signalled doom and gloom for many a Canadian company relying on trade partners and customers south of the border. But things are suddenly looking up for a controversial Vancouver-based firm that wants to mine the depths of the ocean floor for a resource it likens to “a battery in a rock.”

For The Metals Company and its scruffy-chic chief executive, Gerard Barron, Trump could be the disruptive catalyst flashing a long-awaited green light to begin retrieving potato-sized “nodules” that scatter the seabed and contain critical minerals that could be key to a clean-energy future.

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Opinion: B.C.’s critical mineral ambitions require focus and clearer policy – by Trish Jacques (Business In Vancouver – April 11, 2025)

https://www.biv.com/

With uncertainty clouding mineral claim processes, the B.C. government must address key issues to restore investor confidence in the critical minerals sector

British Columbia has introduced a framework for government to consult with First Nations before a mineral claim is issued—the very start of the mineral exploration process. The Mineral Claims Consultation Framework meets a deadline set by the B.C. Supreme Court in Gitxaala vs. British Columbia.

While its development took most of the 18 months set by the court, government eventually put forward a plan to consult First Nations for any impacts claim registration may have on their rights. This was a substantial effort, and the Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) is grateful to government for listening to some of its members’ key concerns.

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BHP warns of trade war fallout as it ramps up copper output (Bloomberg News – April 17, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

BHP Group Ltd. is warning U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff spree could trigger a global economic slowdown and challenge trade flows, as the world’s biggest miner posted a solid quarterly production performance for key commodities including copper and iron ore.

“Despite the limited direct impact of tariffs on BHP, the implication of slower economic growth and a fragmented trading environment could be more significant,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Henry said in a statement Thursday. “China’s ability to shift toward a consumption-led economy and for trade flows to adapt to the new environment will be key to sustaining the global outlook.”

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Nickel production disruption in Indonesia raises supply concerns (Mining Technology – April 15, 2025)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

A landslide occurred in a tailings area associated with PT QMB New Energy Materials in Indonesia’s Morowali Industrial Park.

Indonesia’s Morowali Industrial Park, a nickel-producing hub on Sulawesi Island, is facing a production halt and intensified scrutiny over nickel extraction methods following a landslide last month, reported Bloomberg.

The incident has raised concerns about the safety of high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) methods used in nickel extraction and the future of a critical supply source for the battery industry. While HPAL is cost-effective and less carbon-intensive, it produces nearly twice the tailings, requiring careful waste management to avoid production disruptions.

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Mining the Northwest: New federal leadership will make the Ring of Fire go, says Wyloo Canada CEO – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 17, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Kristan Straub senses political winds are shifting in favour of critical minerals mining

The Ring of Fire has been the garden of agony for mining companies ever since the discovery of nickel and chromite in the James Bay region in 2007-2008.

As glacial as the pace of progress has been, Wyloo Metals Canada CEO Kristan Straub said his company’s enthusiasm hasn’t waned for its Eagle’s Nest project. “We think this is probably one of the best times, if not the most prospective time we’ve seen yet, at least in my tenure here,” said Straub, who joined Wyloo from Glencore’s nickel exploration team in 2023.

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Mali shuts Barrick office and issues threats to key mine in tax dispute – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Mali’s military junta has closed Barrick Gold Corp.’s national office and threatened to seize control of one of its biggest gold mines in a further escalation of a protracted tax dispute, the Toronto-based company says.

Barrick says it negotiated an agreement with the Malian regime in February to resolve the dispute, but the deal has been blocked by a small group of individuals for “personal or political reasons.” The company’s long-term future in the West African country is now at risk, it said.

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Ukraine: What’s up with Europe’s largest lithium deposits – by Maryna Barba (DW.com – April 12, 2025)

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

Washington and Kyiv are still negotiating their rare earths agreement. But what do Ukrainians who live near potential mines think of it all?

In Polokhivske it’s as if time has stood still. Only a handful of people live here, its houses are abandoned and decrepit, stubbled fields as far as the eye can see. Things are no different in neighboring Kopanki, where nearly every house has been abandoned. The few people who live here tell DW that only one child was born in the village in 2024.

“I started working here in 1976,” says Volodymyr, a Kopanki retiree. “I was the four-hundredth worker in the collective and now there probably aren’t 100 people living here in the village. We only have funerals anymore, never any weddings, things aren’t like they used to be.”

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Exclusive-Trump supporter Prince reaches deal with Congo to help secure mineral wealth – by Jessica Donati and Sonia Rolley (Reuters – April 17, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Prominent Trump supporter Erik Prince has agreed to help Democratic Republic of Congo secure and tax its vast mineral wealth, according to two sources close to the private security executive, a Congolese government official and two diplomats.

The agreement, aimed at reaping more revenue from an industry marred by smuggling and corruption, was reached before Rwanda-backed M23 rebels launched a major offensive in January that has seen them seize eastern Congo’s two largest cities.

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Throne speech ignites outcry over Ford’s environmental rollbacks – by Abdul Matin Sarfraz (National Observer/Penticton Herald – April 2025)

https://www.pentictonherald.ca/

Despite years of public outcry and widespread criticism from experts and advocates over weakened conservation laws, the Ford government doubled down on its first day back in power — vowing to slash environmental oversight to fast-track mineral and infrastructure projects.

Critics warn the plan will gut crucial environmental reviews, provoke legal battles, spark First Nations resistance and further weaken protections already under strain.

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Rare earth stocks rally on signs Trump supports sector – by Matthew Griffin (Bloomberg News – April 17, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

U.S. stocks linked to rare earth metals and other critical minerals gained this week, getting a boost from signs that the Trump administration will favor a sector that’s become a flashpoint in the trade standoff between the U.S. and China.

Rare-earth magnet player USA Rare Earth Inc. has jumped 68 per cent this week as of 1:49 p.m. on Thursday. TMC The Metals Company Inc., a Vancouver-based company that’s seeking permission from the U.S. to gather critical metals at the bottom of the ocean, is up 55 per cent in the short trading week.

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Ontario to designate Ring of Fire a region of strategic importance – by Gary Rinne (SN NewsWatch.com – April 15, 2025)

https://www.snnewswatch.com/

In the Speech from the Throne, the Ford government promised ‘significantly streamlined permitting and approvals’ for critical mineral extraction

QUEEN’S PARK — The Ontario government plans to introduce legislation allowing it to designate areas containing critical mineral deposits, including the Ring of Fire, as regions of strategic importance.The commitment was made in the Speech from the Throne opening the new session of the legislature on Tuesday.

The government said the legislation will give it the authority to support the province’s economy and security interests by offering “significantly streamlined permitting and approvals” to developers that meet high operating, safety and environmental standards. It also promised the constitutional duty to consult with First Nations will be met.

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