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Indigenous Affairs Minister is nowhere to be seen – by Jon Thompson (Ricochet Media – February 26, 2025)

https://ricochet.media/indigenous/

Greg Rickford’s opponents wanted the opportunity to debate him on the Ring of Fire mining development

Ontario’s election is entering the final stretch and Greg Rickford is nowhere to be found. The Kenora-Rainy River riding incumbent, who was most recently the minister of both northern development and Indigenous affairs, has not submitted to any media interviews or public debates. His NDP opponent finds it familiar.

When Rudy Turtle led the River Run demonstration to march on Queen’s Park in September, the former Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation) Chief was hoping to meet with the Minister and the Premier.

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Sibanye walks away from Rhyolite Ridge lithium project on weak prices – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 26, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

South African precious metals miner Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW)(NYSE: SBSW) has scrapped its planned investment in the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in the US state of Nevada, due in part to weak prices for the battery metal.

In 2021, Sibanye reached an agreement with Australia’s ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR) to form a joint venture for the project. The Johannesburg-based company was set to invest $490 million for a 50% stake, contingent on various conditions, including a final investment decision by its board.

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No harm from tailings, says McEwen Mining about First Nation allegations – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 26, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Matheson miner argues no share compensation arrangement exists with First Nation

Matheson gold producer McEwen Mining contends there’s no cause for concern regarding its mine waste tailings storage facility that a nearby First Nation claims is causing environment harm and is a human health risk.

In a news release, McEwen responded to a lawsuit that was launched this month by Apitipi Anicinapek Nation (AAN) against the Toronto gold company for allegedly violating an impact benefit agreement (IBA) between the two parties.

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Uncovering the history of Nova Scotia’s Black miners – by Francesca Fionda (The Narwhal – February 25, 2025)

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A researcher in Canada’s Atlantic region uncovers ‘striking’ similarities between the historic treatment of Black miners and modern-day attitudes toward immigrant labourers

Maurice Ruddick waited for nearly nine days near the bottom of a 4,300-metre-deep coal mine before he was rescued. An underground earthquake brought down ceilings and pillars and shifted debris into tunnels, trapping Ruddick and several other miners. Stuck in the darkness, with limited food and water Ruddick lifted his fellow miners’ spirits by leading them in prayers and song.

In 1958, Nova Scotia’s Springhill mine disaster killed 75 men and trapped dozens in the tunnels. The world kept vigil for survivors as they were slowly rescued. Ruddick, a descendant of enslaved Black people, was among the last miners to be brought back to the surface. A media circus followed and the survivors’ stories were broadcast around the world.

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Column: Massive Simandou mine can end Australia’s golden iron ore age, or start new one – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – February 25, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

The term gamechanger is often over used enough to be rendered meaningless, but the huge Simandou mine in the West African country of Guinea is going to be just that as its start up is set to rock the seaborne iron ore market.

The first cargoes from the project may arrive by the end of this year and it’s expected that it will ramp up to its full capacity of 120 million metric tons per annum fairly quickly. The four blocks of Simandou are impressive in their scale and infrastructure challenges, boasting a 620 kilometre (384 mile) rail line, a new port with dedicated trans-shipment vessels that will load bulk carriers offshore.

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[Saskatchewan Potash] Pink Gold – by Kate Helmore (Globe and Mail – March 1, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Trump said Canada has nothing the U.S. needs. When it comes to potash, the president couldn’t be more wrong

In Saskatchewan, 1,000 metres below the surface of the earth, in a cavern heated to a sweltering 27 C by geothermal energy, a machine is boring into the ground, searching for a compound that is critical to worldwide food production and crucial in Canada’s current trade battle with the United States. Launched just a few weeks ago, this boring machine is hooked up to a fibre-optic connection, and operated from a climate-controlled office on the surface.

This single tunnel, called a face, was sunk at a cost of $30-million. And it is just one in a network spread across six mines owned and operated by Nutrien Ltd. , Canada’s largest mining company and a major supplier of agricultural inputs worldwide. However, the company jewel – and a source of US$3-billion in net sales last year – was a single nutrient: potash.

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Congo offers US, Europe minerals in exchange for peace – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 24, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

In a bold diplomatic move, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has reportedly proposed granting the United States and Europe access to the country’s vast mineral resources — on the condition that they intervene to end the ongoing conflict ravaging the nation.

Speaking on Sunday, Presidential Spokesperson Tina Salama urged the US to “directly buy critical minerals” from Kinshasa rather than sourcing “looted” and “smuggled” resources through Rwanda. She extended the same appeal to Europe and other buyers, emphasizing that the DRC is the “true owner” of these valuable commodities.

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Putin Dangles Rare Earths Deals for U.S. in Russia and Occupied Ukraine (New York Times – February 24, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

In an interview broadcast on Monday, President Vladimir Putin said U.S. companies stood to profit in Russia, but suggested a Ukraine peace deal was still far off.

President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday said American companies could do lucrative business deals in Russia and even help mine rare earths in Russian-occupied Ukraine, further amplifying the Kremlin’s message to President Trump that there was money to be made from a better relationship with Moscow.

Mr. Putin, in an interview with Russian state television that was released late Monday, said that Russia had an “order of magnitude” more rare earth metals than Ukraine and that Moscow was “ready to work with our foreign partners, including the Americans,” in developing those deposits.

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Mining and the idea of Canada – by John Sandlos (Canadian Mining Journal – February 24, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

For me, every January begins with another trip through the key events of Canadian history since 1867, courtesy of a course I have taught for nearly 20 years at Memorial University of Newfoundland. As I write, I just stepped out of a class on Confederation, where we examine all the reasons that four tenuously related colonies decided to become the nation we call Canada.

As most teachers do, I covered off some key factors that produced a new political union: political gridlock and instability in the two Canadas (present-day Ontario and Quebec), fears of an attack from the U.S., dreams of a transcontinental nation, and the mania for railroads that might knit British North America together as a powerful, integrated industrial economy.

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First Nation says McEwen Mining breached agreement, owes almost $1M in unpaid shares – by Aya Dufour (CBC News Sudbury – February 24, 2025)

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

Apitipi Anicinapek Nation is taking the matter before an Ontario court

The Apitipi Anicinapek Nation (AAN) has launched a lawsuit against McEwen Mining Inc., alleging breach of contract and environmental damage.The lawsuit centres around an Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) signed in 2011 between AAN and Brigus, the then-owner of the Black Fox Mining Complex near Matheson, Ont.

IBAs are agreements between resource extraction companies and Indigenous communities intended to mitigate the impacts of development on traditional territories and ways of life. In this case, the IBA promised AAN financial compensation in the tune of 25,000 shares of the mining company annually.

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Equinox Gold to buy Calibre for $2.56B – by Staff (Northern Miner – February 24, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Equinox Gold  agreed to buy Calibre Mining  for about $2.56 billion in stock to become Canada’s second-largest gold producer. Calibre shareholders will receive 0.31 Equinox common share for each Calibre common share held immediately before the transaction, according to a joint statement issued Sunday. At closing, existing Equinox shareholders would own about 65% of the combined company’s outstanding shares, compared with 35% for their Calibre counterparts.

The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, sets the stage for the creation of a Canadian mining powerhouse with two low-cost assets under the same roof – Equinox’s Greenstone property in Ontario, which achieved commercial production in November and is one of the country’s largest open-pit mines; and Calibre’s Valentine mine, which is nearing construction completion.

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Ontario PCs pledge $500-million for critical minerals processing but spending questions loom – by Darius Snieckus (Hamilton Spectator – February 25, 2025)

https://www.thespec.com/

Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have pledged to set up a $500-million critical mineral processing fund to invest in “strategically located” facilities to develop the province’s vast resources of lithium, graphite, zinc, cobalt and other key minerals and metals.

The fund, a central economic plank in the party’s re-election platform released on Monday, is the biggest government pledge so far to build a network of refining facilities mining experts say are needed to ensure Canada reaps the benefits of producing minerals and metals important for the global energy transition.

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Detour Lake mine still shines as one of Agnico Eagle’s stars – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 24, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Underground mine construction activity planned for 2025, pending arrival of government permit

Agnico Eagle wants to grow its northeastern Ontario assets by more than 50 per cent as early as 2030. The leading Toronto gold company has a slew of development projects underway in Ontario, western Quebec and Nunavut, including the Detour Lake mine, northeast of Cochrane, where plans are afoot to drive production there to one million ounces a year.

Both the Detour expansion and the Upper Beaver mine project in the Larder Lake area are looked upon as two of Agnico’s catalysts for growth.

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As tensions rise, Canada to lean on U.S. for uranium enrichment – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – February 24, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump talks of waging a campaign of “economic force” to persuade Canada to join a political union with the United States, Ontario Power Generation is preparing to construct an American reactor at its Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. The reactor’s uranium fuel would be enriched at a facility in New Mexico, a new vulnerability U.S. administrations could exploit.

Canada’s 17 operating reactors are of the homegrown Candu design, which consume natural uranium. Canada possesses uranium in abundance and has long made its own fuel. But nearly all the reactors promoted for construction now require enriched uranium, which Canada can’t produce.

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How one community in Chile is blessed and cursed with lithium – by John Bartlett (NPR.org – February 23, 2025)

https://www.npr.org/

ATACAMA DESERT, Chile — At the top of a craggy path in Socaire, a hilltop village deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert, a black flag whips in the wind above Jeanette Cruz’s house. The desert sun has bleached it to a dark gray blur, but the defiance it represents remains strong.

Above each house in the village, shimmering in the evening sun, these black flags represent the Indigenous Lickanantay people’s resistance to the lithium mining that many say is tearing their communities apart. The lithium in the brine beneath the brilliant white Atacama salt flat, which stretches out across the valley floor, has become a global resource.

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