Republic of Mining

Nevada has the most abandoned mines in the nation. Why is it taking so long to seal them? – by Amy Alonzo (Nevada Independent – January 4, 2024)

January 4, 2024

The state needs hundreds of millions of dollars to seal roughly 50,000 hazardous, abandoned mines. At current funding levels, it will take another century.

Rob Ghiglieri pauses his walk across a dusty hillside on the outskirts of Virginia City to look at a tangled web of footprints weaving in circles around the ruins of the abandoned Forman Shaft. Once a massive, seven-story-tall structure, it boasted some of the deepest shafts in the West. Decades later, the shaft remained an accessible open pit plunging hundreds of feet into the ground.

The Forman Shaft has since been closed off — visitors can still drive to the site and wander around, but the entrance has been covered by a massive steel grate. Ghiglieri, administrator of the Nevada Division of Minerals, said he still worries when he sees so many footprints around old mine sites.

Barrick considering new takeover offer for First Quantum, report says – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 4, 2024)

January 4, 2024

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is reportedly considering a fresh takeover bid for embattled Canadian copper miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd., after making an earlier approach in the middle of last year.

According to a report on Wednesday, Toronto-based Barrick contacted some of First Quantum’s biggest shareholders late last year to ascertain their interest in a takeover. Barrick would need their support in the event of a transaction.

Ontario chiefs seek halt to online mining claim-staking – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 3, 2024)

January 3, 2024

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Chiefs of Ontario resolution calls for year-long moratorium pending review

Indigenous leaders in Ontario are calling for a moratorium on the virtual staking of mining claims while they review the process to ensure that impacted First Nation communities are being properly consulted.

In a resolution passed last November during the organization’s annual fall assembly, the Chiefs of Ontario say the Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS) puts pressure on First Nations to participate in potential mineral development opportunities while also reducing the amount of land available for land claim settlements that are already underway.

Barrick sounds out First Quantum holders on possible bid – by Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Alfred Cang (Bloomberg News – January 3, 2024)

January 3, 2024

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Barrick Gold Corp. has spoken with some of First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s major investors to gauge their support for a potential takeover, after the sudden closure of its flagship mine left the Canadian copper producer reeling and wiped out more than half its market value.

Barrick chief executive officer Mark Bristow approached some of First Quantum’s largest investors late last year, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified as the talks were private. It wasn’t immediately clear if Barrick has made a fresh approach to First Quantum, and there’s no guarantee it will make a formal offer.

2024 belongs to an offbeat pairing — uranium and gold – by Alisha Hiyate (Mining.com – January 2, 2024)

January 3, 2024

https://www.mining.com/

As demand for EV and base metals is expected to slow along with global growth in 2024, two very different metals are likely to stand out from the commodity pack: gold and uranium.

Gold, prized throughout human history, is virtually indestructible. That means most of the over 6.7 billion oz. of the metal the World Gold Council estimates has ever been mined is kicking around somewhere, whether as a wedding ring or in a 400-troy-oz. gold bar stored behind blast-proof gates at the ultra-secure Fort Knox gold vault in Kentucky.

Board recommends against proposed mining road in central Yukon – by Caitrin Pilkington (CBC News North -January 3, 2024)

January 3, 2024

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

TMM Goldcorp Inc.’s proposed road west of Pelly Crossing could be bad for caribou, says YESAB

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board (YESAB) is recommending against a proposed mining road in central Yukon, citing concerns about potential adverse effects on caribou in the area.

TMM Goldcorp Inc. first submitted the proposal for the Casino-Rude Project in March 2023. The road would be built in a forested area about 100 kilometres west of Pelly Crossing, Yukon, or 380 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse.

EU adds Russia’s biggest diamond-mining company and CEO to sanctions list – by Mared Gwyn Jones (Euronews – January 3, 2024)

January 3, 2024

https://www.euronews.com/

PJSC Alrosa, which is owned by the Russian state, accounts for over 90% of all Russian diamond production, representing a highly valuable revenue stream for the Kremlin.

The EU said Wednesday that Alrosa and its CEO Marinychev had been added to the list of sanctioned persons and entities for “actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.” “The company constitutes an important part of an economic sector that is providing substantial revenue to the government of the Russian Federation,” it added.

Agnico Eagle invests $23M for 12% of Canada Nickel – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – January 2, 2024)

January 3, 2024

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) made a $23.1-million investment in the recent flow-through offering from Canada Nickel Company (TSXV: CNC; OTCQX: CNIKF). Agnico acquired 19.6 million units at a price of $1.18 per unit for a total consideration of slightly more than $23.1 million. This gives Agnico a non-diluted equity interest in Canada Nickel of 12% or 15.6% on a partially diluted basis.

Canada Nickel raised a total of $34.7 million. Each unit consists of one flow-through share and 0.35 of one flow-through share purchase warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to purchase an additional common share at a price of $1.77 any time prior to Dec. 29, 2026, or the expiry date.

Northeastern Ontario nickel miners not threatened by flood of the metal from Indonesia – by Kate Rutherford (CBC News Sudbury – January 03, 2024)

January 3, 2024

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

Environmentally sound production increasingly important factor in sourcing the critical mineral

Low nickel prices partly attributed to a flood of the metal coming onto the market from Indonesia aren’t deterring nickel miners in northeastern Ontario from moving forward in the coming year.

The price of nickel per pound was hovering around $7.42 US on January 1, 2024 compared to just under $14 a year prior. Paul Fowler is vice president of Magna Mining which owns the Shakespeare mine near Espanola and the Crean Hill mine near Whitefish.

Two approaches we could take here at home to ease the world’s critical mineral shortages – by David Olive (Toronto Star – January 3, 2023)

January 3, 2024

https://www.thestar.com/

Canada is the world leader in financing mineral exploration across the planet. It’s just that about 57 per cent of that money, or $10.5 billion in 2022, was invested abroad, David Olive writes.

It’s commonly assumed in Canada that we are laggards at critical mineral production. There are a couple of new approaches we could take in helping the world ease its critical mineral shortages.

They are a new continental “corridor” extending from Canada to Chile of critical mineral producers that share common values. And second, we need a new model of financing the junior mining companies that make up most of Canada’s mining sector, account for most mine discoveries — and are starved for capital. First, though, Canada is not, in fact, a laggard.

Society Watch: Across the globe, indigenous rights are being trampled in lithium goldrush – by Mark Hillsdon (Reuters – January 2, 2024)

January 3, 2024January 3, 2024

https://www.reuters.com/

January 2 – Lithium has been called the new white gold, a mineral seen as key to global decarbonisation, thanks to its use in lithium-ion batteries and their role powering EVs. But mining the mineral is proving controversial, as indigenous groups question what they stand to gain in the push for a just energy transition.

Standing outside the Palace of Justice in Buenos Aires, Olmos Desiderio feels betrayed. “We have been let down by the government for the last five hundred years, since colonisation,” he says. “Indigenous people are not properly consulted.”

Italian Grading Lab Warns of Synthetic-Diamond Scam – by Leah Meirovich (Rapaport Magazine – December 26, 2023)

January 3, 2024January 3, 2024

Home

Italian gemological lab Gem-Tech has warned the trade that a number of lab-grown diamonds circulating in the country are being sold as natural.

Three stones were submitted to the lab accompanied by certificates from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) stating they were natural, Gem-Tech said last week. Gem-Tech weighed the stones and found them to be nearly identical to those recorded on the GIA certificates.

After subway e-bike blaze, Toronto fire chief shares tips to avoid battery fires (CBC News Toronto – January 2, 2023)

January 3, 2024

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

Lithium ion battery fires increased nearly 90% in 2023: Toronto Fire

Toronto’s fire chief is sharing safety tips to avoid fires sparked by lithium ion batteries after a subway train was evacuated when an e-bike caught fire on Sunday.

A man suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the fire at Sheppard-Yonge subway station around 3 p.m. Sunday, which filled several subway cars with smoke. No one else was injured and trains were moving through the station again about an hour later.

Why India Is Buying 5 Argentine Lithium Mines – by Nitin Kumar (Rediff.com – January 2, 2024)

January 2, 2024

https://m.rediff.com/

India is close to striking a deal to acquire five lithium blocks for exploration and development in Argentina with the negotiations entering “final stages”, a senior official said, even as the country is engaged in talks with other nations rich in critical minerals.

The agreement will be signed between the Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL) — a joint venture company focused on identifying, acquiring, developing, processing and making commercial use of strategic minerals in overseas locations for supply in India — and Catamarca Minera Y Energética Sociedad Del Estado (CAMYEN), a State-owned mining and energy company in the Argentine province of Catamarca.

How reconciliation is tied up in the Ring of Fire – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 31, 2023)

January 2, 2024

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In remote Ontario, Marten Falls First Nation hopes to move past more than 100 years of subjugation, as it opens the door to critical minerals development and an all-season road that will change their lives

As crazy hectic as your life may be, it likely doesn’t hold a candle to that of Bruce Achneepineskum. He is chief of Marten Falls First Nation, an extremely remote Anishinaabe community on the banks of the Albany River in Ontario’s far north, about 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. As chief, Mr. Achneepineskum wears many hats. He oversees his council. He’s a mentor, a spiritual figure, an artist and a fire marshal. He’s a father of two grown children from his first wife, and of a 17-month-old boy with his current partner.

The needs in Marten Falls are immediate and stark. There is a severe shortage of homes. A boil-water advisory has been in place for 18 years. There are endemic social problems that never seem to go away – youth suicide, alcoholism and opioid addiction.