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Could the DRC become the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age? – by Jason Mitchell (BNE Intellinews – December 7, 2023)

https://intellinews.com/

Perhaps no country has more to gain from the ‘clean’ energy transition than the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which sits atop some of the world’s biggest copper, cobalt, coltan and lithium reserves.

The planet’s cobalt reserves total 7.6mn tonnes of which the DRC has 3.5mn tonnes, followed by Australia with 1.4mn tonnes and Indonesia with 600,000 tonnes, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). In 2022, the DRC produced an estimated 130,000 tonnes of the metal, or 70% of the world’s production (Indonesia, in second place, produced only 10,000 tonnes).

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News Release – G2 Goldfields’ Statement on Regional Geopolitical Affairs (December 8, 2023)

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A message to our shareholders regarding the recent actions by the Government of Venezuela

TORONTO, Dec. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — G2 Goldfields Inc. (“G2” or the “Company”) (TSXV: GTWO; OTCQX: GUYGF) wishes to provide context and comments regarding the recent actions of the Venezuelan Government with respect to Guyana’s Essequibo District. G2 is developing its high grade OKO gold project in Guyana and has been operating in Guyana since 2019.

Additionally, the management team of G2 have led the discovery, construction, and development of the $225 million USD Aurora Gold Project in Guyana, now one of South America’s largest operating gold mines, and have been active investors in Guyana since 1996.

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Newmont pours 8,000th gold bar at Musselwhite mine – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – December 6, 2023)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The world’s largest gold miner, Newmont has announced another milestone at its Musselwhite mine, in Ontario – 5 million ounces of precious metal production

The world’s largest gold miner, Newmont (NYSE: NEM; TSX: NGT), has announced another milestone at its Musselwhite mine, in Ontario, where it has poured the 8,000th gold doré bar since the operation started with commercial production in 1997.

The mine, one of the world’s largest producers of the metal in Canada and globally, has churned out more than five-million ounces of gold in the last 25 years.

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‘Gold is about fear, not greed’: Why the yellow metal is up 40% in four years – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – December 6, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Gold hit its highest price ever this week, but observers say it’s what lies ahead that’s most interesting

Gold has dominated headlines this week after the precious metal surged to its highest ever price — US$2,135 per ounce — for a brief period on Dec. 3, but observers will tell you they are more interested in the days ahead as opposed to the record itself.

“I am not getting into something that happened in 90 seconds,” said David Rosenberg, an economist and founder of the firm Rosenberg Research & Associates Inc., referring to the record-setting price. “It was nothing fundamental and nothing worth talking about. What’s more important is the direction for the gold price from here now that we are flirting with the all-time high.”

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Op-ed: Everyone loses as London’s High Court rules for LME in nickel case – by Alex Godell (Mining.com – December 7, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

In March of 2022, a crisis transpired on the London Metal Exchange. It revolved around a colossal short position that one market participant amassed in nickel, betting that the price would fall. Instead, it surged. The resulting liabilities were so staggering that the whole exchange was at risk of collapse. To prevent implosion, the LME retroactively annulled several trades.

Elliott Associates, a US-based hedge fund, brought a lawsuit against the LME claiming that the exchange acted unlawfully in cancelling those transactions. Jane Street Global Trading also sued for damages.

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Canadian miners seek to evade Ottawa’s crackdown on Chinese investment in critical minerals – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 8, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A Canadian miner is proposing moving its headquarters outside of Canada in an attempt to skirt a national security review that would have allowed the federal government to block its financing deal with an opaque China-based critical minerals company.

Montreal-based SRG Mining Inc. in July announced a tentative deal worth $16.9-million to sell a 19.4-per-cent stake to Carbon ONE New Energy Group Co. Ltd. (C-ONE), even though Ottawa last year announced a virtual ban on the acquisition of Canadian mining companies by China-based enterprises, because of national security concerns over the superpower’s dominance in critical minerals.

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Science North CEO says changes made to manage capital projects after audit of Go Deeper project – by Kate Rutherford (CBC News Sudbury – December 08, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Provincial auditor general says cost of model mine project has tripled from original $5 million

The CEO of Science North said changes have been made at the science centre to take into account recommendations from the provincial auditor general’s probe of their Go Deeper project at Dynamic Earth.

Ashley Larose wants the public to know that while the budget has grown, the project is not operating at a deficit and all policies were followed in the development of the model mine at Dynamic Earth in Sudbury, Ont. Larose said the auditor’s report is based on information provided by the organization.

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Trudeau’s eco ego stifling investment in Canada – by Lorne Gunter (Toronto Sun – December 5, 2023)

https://torontosun.com/

Why does it seem that every time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault have a big environmental announcement to make — that affects the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Alberta workers and small businesspeople — they make those announcements outside the country?

The latest example was Guilbeault’s release of stringent new methane emission regulations announced Monday. Did he proclaim them in downtown Calgary or in one of Alberta’s large natural gas fields, where billions of dollars of investment and thousands of well-paying jobs could be affected?

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Opinion: Diamonds may be forever but diamond mines aren’t. N.W.T. needs to find a replacement fast – by Darrell Beaulieu, Paul Gruner and Heather Exner-Pirot (Financial Post – December 6, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Premier and cabinet need to make clear N.W.T. is open for other kinds of mining and will ease investors’ way

Although it wasn’t much noticed in the rest of Canada, the Northwest Territories had an election last month. Worn down by a series of crises, people voted for change: about half of the MLAs-elect are new. They picked a hard time to get into government.

Compared to what’s coming next, COVID-19 and record-breaking wildfires might not look so bad. The territory’s diamond mining industry, which represents over a quarter of its GDP, is coming to its natural end. And as things stand there is no plan to replace it.

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Navajo Nation faces possible new threats after decades of uranium mining – by Kate Holland and Tenzin Shakya (ABC News – December 7, 2023)

https://abcnews.go.com/

A Canadian company is working to move forward with uranium extraction.

Just miles from the site of the 1979 Church Rock Mill spill, the largest nuclear disaster in American history, uranium extraction operations could resume near the Navajo Nation. Now, Navajo leaders say the health and prosperity of their community could be in even further jeopardy.

A Canadian company is working to move forward with uranium extraction, an industry that has a lengthy history around the Navajo Nation. “The pursuit of happiness for us is to be able to live in our communities without fear from the impact of radiation and uranium,” said Teracita Keyanna, who grew up near an abandoned uranium mine in New Mexico. “It’s been really scary, just being a mom in this area.”

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Arrests and attacks: tracking China’s illegal mining in African countries – by Smruthi Nadig (Mining Technology – December 6, 2023)

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

While Africa makes billions from Chinese investment in its mineral-rich countries, exploitation and illegal mining activities have become part of the deal.

China’s massive metals industry can only maintain its size using imported minerals, frequently from limited suppliers. As part of its Belt and Road Initiative, the country has actively invested in mining assets in Africa and Latin America, and is beginning to engage in overseas refining and downstream facilities.

Many countries have welcomed this with open arms. Africa’s mining and mineral extraction industries, especially in countries like Nigeria, Namibia and Ghana, have attracted billions of dollars from China, one of the continent’s biggest participants. The vast reserves of cobalt, lithium, copper, and other minerals essential to modern technology production have attracted investment and operations in several African countries.

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OPINION: Canada moves to the forefront in the new age of nuclear power – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – December 6, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

From one global climate conference to the next, nuclear power has been politely shunned as the world’s environmental elite remain divided about including it in the mix of energy solutions needed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century. That is, until now.

The current COP28 conference under way in Dubai marks a sea change. The atom’s rehabilitation as a necessary ingredient in the quest for a net-zero world got a major boost on Saturday when 22 countries, including Canada, called for a tripling of global nuclear power capacity by 2050.

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Construction of northern Michigan copper mine could kick off in 2024 – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 5, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Highland Copper hopes to hit mine production in the Keweenaw Peninsula at peak copper demand

Copper is known as the metal of electrification. Highland Copper holds ample reserves in a historic mining district in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that could address a looming supply shortage of the metal that’s used in electric vehicles and alternative sources of power.

With two multi-billion-pound copper projects located at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula, CEO Barry O’Shea said his Quebec and Michigan-based company could be stepping into project funding and a construction decision by 2024 to start a three-year build.

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Nornickel expects palladium and platinum shortage to widen this year – by Vladimir Basov (Kitco News – December 4, 2023)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – In its recent research report released today, Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, said that it has revised the 2023 palladium market deficit from -0.2 Moz to -0.9 Moz.

The company added it has reviewed the secondary supply of palladium from +9% growth down to 15% fall, while slightly lower than expected primary production from North America will be offset by weaker electronics demand. As for the platinum market, Nornickel expects it to flip into the fundamental deficit this year.

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Mining Giant Vale Says China Can’t Control the Price of Iron Ore – by Mariana Durao and Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – December 5, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — China may be the world’s biggest buyer of iron ore, but even that powerful position doesn’t mean that Beijing can succeed in dictating prices for the steelmaking ingredient, said the head of No. 2 producer Vale SA.

The comments by Vale Chief Executive Officer Eduardo Bartolomeo come as China has appeared to ramp up its decades-long struggle to wrest more power over the iron ore market from Vale and its two Australian rivals, BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group, which together dominate global production.

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