Republic of Mining

Research priority #1: cheaper green fuels – by Bjorn Lomborg (Financial Post – June 29, 2022)

July 4, 2022

Innovation in green energy has been neglected for three decades

For three decades, climate campaigners have fought to make fossil fuels so expensive people would be forced to abandon them. Their dream is becoming reality: energy prices are spiralling out of control and will soon get even worse. Yet we are no closer to solving climate change.

Energy costs increased 26 per cent across industrialized economies last year and will rise globally by another 50 per cent this year. While western governments are blaming Russia’s war on Ukraine, prices were already rising because of climate policies designed to choke fossil fuel investment.

New Anglo strategy director excited by mining’s green energy transition – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – July 4, 2022)

July 4, 2022

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The newly appointed group director of strategy and business development of diversified mining company Anglo American on Monday singled out mining’s green energy transition in commenting on her excitement at her new appointment.

Helena Nonka, who is currently executive VP of corporate development for Norsk Hydro, takes up her Anglo position from October 1, bringing with her more than two decades of international experience, primarily in the natural resources industry.

Pro-China Agents Posed as Activists to Protest US, Canada Mines – by Margi Murphy (Bloomberg News – June 28, 2022)

July 4, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Pro-Chinese agents posed as concerned local residents on social media to try and spark protests over the opening of rare earth mines in the US and Canada, cybersecurity researchers said in a new report.

The fake Twitter and Facebook accounts were created to give China, the largest producer of rare earth minerals, a competitive advantage, cybersecurity research company Mandiant disclosed on Tuesday.

Imperial Oil joins E3 on pilot project to extract lithium in Alberta – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – June 23, 2022)

July 4, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Imperial Oil Ltd. has joined a pilot project to extract lithium in Alberta, lending its energy expertise in the quest to recover the critical mineral from a once-prolific oil formation.

Calgary-based Imperial said on Thursday that it is investing $6.35-million to acquire warrants in E3 Lithium Ltd., giving it a window into plans to pump what the companies hope will be lithium-rich brine from the aquifer under the sprawling Leduc formation.

Column: U.S. forms ‘friendly’ coalition to secure critical minerals – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 30, 2022)

July 4, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) – A metallic NATO is starting to take shape, though no-one is calling it that just yet. The Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) is in theory open to all countries that are committed to “responsible critical mineral supply chains to support economic prosperity and climate objectives”.

But the coalition assembled by the United States is one of like-minded countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany with an Asian axis in the form of Japan and South Korea.

Lithium plant developer zeros in on Thunder Bay refinery site – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 29, 2022)

June 29, 2022

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Avalon Advanced Materials making purchase offer on city property to start refinery construction by 2023

The developer of a much-anticipated lithium processing plant in Thunder Bay said he’s narrowed down his city-wide search to one property that fits the bill. But Don Bubar, president and CEO of Avalon Advanced Materials, isn’t disclosing the specific site just yet as his company is in the process of making a purchase offer to the property owner.

Bubar delivered an update on Avalon’s Separation Rapids Project in northwestern Ontario and its refinery plans for Thunder Bay with an online presentation at the Emerging Growth Conference last week. “It’s all coming together pretty nicely,” said Bubar.

Kinross Gold to publish Great Bear resource estimate with 2022 results – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 29, 2022)

June 29, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Kinross Gold (TSX: K) (NYSE: KGC) expects to declare an initial mineral resource for its recently acquired Great Bear gold project in Red Lake, Ontario, as part of its 2022 year-end results, it said in an update.

The gold miner, which paid $1.8 billion in cash and shares for Great Bear in a deal that closed in late February, said the estimate is predominantly in the inferred resource category, with some indicated resources.

Chinese bots spread disinformation about Canadian rare earths company in targeted attack, report alleges – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – June 28, 2022)

June 29, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A prominent U.S. cybersecurity firm is alleging that Chinese government-funded campaigns are spreading disinformation about Canadian rare earths miner Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. in an attempt to cement China’s dominance in the sector and crush Canadian ambitions.

Virginia-based Mandiant Inc., which was founded by former U.S. government security experts, said in a report that Toronto-based Appia and two other rare earth companies, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. and USA Rare Earth LLC, were targeted by an online network called Dragonbridge, a front for the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Post Noront takeover, Wyloo gets to work on Ring of Fire assets: Exclusive interview – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – June 29, 2022)

June 29, 2022

Global mining news

Wyloo Metals made a big splash last year with its battle against Australian behemoth BHP for control of Ring of Fire junior Noront Resources. The private, Western Australia-based company, owned by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Tattarang investment group, outlined its vision for Noront’s high-grade nickel-copper-PGM Eagle’s Nest project early on.

The miner plans to build a net-zero mine that would process the nickel in-province and create a ‘future metals hub’ while awarding $100 million worth of contracts to First Nations-owned businesses and establishing a training and employment centre for northern and Indigenous communities.

Alberta is flush with cash again — and it will change the race to replace Jason Kenney – by Graham Thomson (Toronto Star – June 29, 2022)

June 29, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

Alberta’s boom-bust economy is once again booming. It’s a sonic boom, really — one that is shattering records fiscally and promising to wreak havoc politically. The windfall will, among other things, fundamentally change the shape of the United Conservative Party’s race to replace Jason Kenney.

The numbers are staggering. A year ago, the Alberta government predicted it would collect $44 billion in revenue and run a whopping $18-billion deficit in the 2021-22 fiscal year.

MAC poll shows public support at all-time high for Canada’s miners – by Staff (Mining.com – June 28, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) released a new national poll that for the first time finds high levels of support for Canadian mining. The shift indicated increased understanding on the role Canada’s mining industry must play in producing the green technologies essential to a low carbon future.

For the past 12 years, MAC has worked with Abacus Data to assess public opinion on Canada’s mining sector. This year, support is at an all-time high, with 80% reporting that they have a positive feeling about miners in Canada and 78% saying they have a positive feeling about Canadian mining companies. Other highlights include:

Blog: The US is using a mine in Greenland to counter China – by Mia Bennett (Eye On The Arctic – June 27, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.rcinet.ca/

The U.S. has offered $657 million to develop the world’s northernmost mine in Greenland to counter China. Is it worth it?

In a remote fjord in northwest Greenland, an Australian company is scouting beneath a permafrost-laden beach for zinc. The price of the silvery element, which is used to galvanize other metals to prevent rusting, has doubled since March 2010 to nearly $2 a pound in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As a result, remote deposits of the commodity are now even more lucrative than they were 15 years ago, when Ironbark Zinc was formed in Perth, one of the world’s most remote cities, to tap resources in an extreme frontier.

What the ban on Russia’s gold imports means for its increasingly isolated economy – by Patricia Cohen (New York Times – June 27, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/

The decision over the weekend to ban the purchase of newly mined and refined gold from Russia is the latest effort by the United States, Britain and their allies to notch up the wave of sanctions concentrated on Russia in response to its four-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

The announcement, made as President Biden and other leaders from the Group of 7 nations gathered for meetings this week in Germany, builds on steps already taken to cut off Russia from the international financial system, deprive it of additional revenues that are helping fund its war in Ukraine and punish President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and wealthy business executives in his circle.

The critical need for a comprehensive strategy for North American energy independence – by Derek H. Burney (National Post – June 28, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://nationalpost.com/

If the Canadian and American governments want to seriously tackle inflation, the most sensible thing they could do is negotiate a comprehensive agreement to ensure energy independence for North America.

Bizarrely, the U.S. now seeks relief from Saudi Arabia even though President Joe Biden labelled the Kingdom a “pariah” during the 2020 campaign. His welcome-mat may not be royal. Similar overtures are being made to Venezuela and even Iran, when the most obvious option for access to more oil and gas lies on America’s northern border.

The pick of Ontario. A story of amethyst and adventure – by Bill Steer (Sudbury.com – June 22, 2022)

June 28, 2022

https://www.sudbury.com/

This week, Back Roads Bill stops at an amethyst mine on the way to the most westerly point in Ontario

It’s road trip time, again, and this time we are headed west, not to the oil patch, but to stand on the most western, surveyed boundary of Ontario. The outcome of this trip and the subsequent story remains to be told.

Along the way will gather more day trip information from provincial parks and nearby communities for another travelogue. On the way, though, there will be a stop for a cool souvenir from a Northwestern Ontario back roads repeated destination. So many times a story was warranted but this is the time one was written.