Republic of Mining

Woman who helped discover the Klondike – by A.J. Roan (North of 60 Mining News – June 30, 2023)

July 6, 2023

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

For over a century, the men of the Discovery enjoyed the reputation, renown, and riches; now, Kate Carmack will be remembered too.

Tales of the original Klondike discoverers that opened the floodgates for tens of thousands of stampeders to make their way North in search of gold often forget a First Woman of the Yukon that supported them through the challenging times of the early 20th century.

A person of quiet stoicism and dutiful integrity, this figure weathered a time where the fairer sex saw anything but fair treatment; she was Shaaw Tláa – a Tagish First Nation woman who was a member of the party that discovered gold in the Klondike in 1896 – or as history recalls her, Kate Carmack.

Minto Metals hasn’t paid mining royalties in two years, says Yukon gov’t – by Ethan Lang (CBC News North – July 4, 2023)

July 6, 2023

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

Territory takes company to court, saying it owes close to $2.5M from abandoned mine

The Yukon government says Minto Metals, which abruptly abandoned its mine near Pelly Crossing, Yukon, in May, hasn’t paid mining royalties in two years.

That would be a direct breach of Yukon mining legislation. Under the territory’s Quartz Mining Act, any mine that falls within the Act’s jurisdiction — like Minto’s former copper mine — must pay an annual royalty on profits that exceed $10,000. The percentage depends on the profit, but starts at three per cent.

Stellantis, LG reach new EV battery plant deal for up to $15-billion in subsidies from Ottawa, Ontario – by Adam Radwanski and Laura Stone (Globe and Mail – July 6, 2023)

July 6, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Stellantis NV STLA-N and LG Energy Solution have reached a new deal with the federal and Ontario governments for as much as $15-billion in subsidies for their electric-vehicle battery factory in Windsor, bringing an end to a months-long saga in which the companies halted construction on the project while they pushed for greater financial backing.

The agreement was announced by Stellantis late Wednesday afternoon through a press release. It was subsequently confirmed by Ottawa in a statement issued by Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Construction of the plant will resume immediately, according to Stellantis.

Australia forecasts brutal lithium price correction as output surges – by Frik Els (Mining.com – July 4, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

The lithium market has been in turmoil with dramatic price swings over the last five years as demand from electric cars take off and global supply growth struggles to keep up.

In its quarterly report released on Monday, the Australian government said it expects spodumene prices to decline slightly from an average of $4,368 a tonne in 2022 to average $4,357 a tonne in 2023 as the precipitous decline from record spot prices in the second half of last year take time to feed into long-term supply contracts.

Forrest makes a ‘whatever it takes’ bet on clean nickel – by Brad Thompson (Australian Financial Review – July 5, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://www.afr.com/

Billionaire Andrew Forrest is rewriting history in nickel-rich Western Australia, returning to the scene of his biggest career heartbreak as the owner of Mincor Resources. He is willing to invest “whatever it takes” to become a global force in nickel via his private investment vehicle, Wyloo Metals, in a sector where BHP leads the way in terms of Australian output.

Dr Forrest famously backed Anaconda Nickel in the late 1990s, building it up from nothing before things went badly wrong at the Murrin Murrin mine out in bush near Leonora. He lost some skin and reputation before exiting as chief executive in 2001.

Indigenous in Argentina appeal to Pope Francis amid mining protests – by Eduardo Campos Lima (Crux Now – July 5, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://cruxnow.com/

SÃO PAULO – Two weeks after the northwestern Jujuy province in Argentina approved a broad constitutional reform, indigenous communities and labor unions, supported by an official arm of the Argentine bishops’ conference, are demonstrating against it and demanding its revocation.

Groups of protesters have been blockading roads and marching against the legal changes, which they say put in danger their right to occupy traditional lands, their access to water, and their right to manifest against the government.

Coal miners would be protected from black lung disease under proposed silica rule – by Robert Benincasa (Georgia Public Broadcasting – July 5, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://www.gpb.org/

The Labor Department is proposing a new rule limiting miners’ exposure to silica — a toxic dust created by cutting into rock that has been linked to a recent epidemic of severe black lung disease among coal miners.

“The purpose of this proposed rule is simple: prevent more miners from suffering from debilitating and deadly occupational illnesses by reducing their exposure to silica dust,” Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Chris Williamson said in a statement. The move comes after decades of regulatory inaction highlighted in an NPR/FRONTLINE investigation in 2018.

Mining the Northwest: How Northern Ontario’s first lithium mine and refinery project could come together – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – July 4, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Avalon Advanced Materials gets back on the hop in striking partnership deals, expediting government approvals to feed the electric vehicle industry

Zeeshan Syed claims Avalon Advanced Materials is out to create a “catalytic event” in selecting a site in Thunder Bay to place Ontario’s first proposed lithium processing refinery. After years of much talk and little action, the Toronto-based junior miner took a great leap forward in June with the announcement that a former forest products mill site in the city’s north end is the spot for a lithium hydroxide conversion plant.

Avalon also introduced a joint venture partnership with Antwerp-headquartered Sibelco, a deal that brings $63-million to the table to bring Separation Rapids, its Kenora-area lithium deposit, into production by late 2025, early 2026.

When It Comes to Rubies, Is Mozambique the New Star? – by Nazanin Lankarani (New York Times – July 2, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/

The $34.8 million auction price for a gem discovered in the East African country has the jewelry industry buzzing.

Rubies are like caviar: Their origin is an important part of their market value. Until a month ago, anyone interested in buying a big ruby knew with certainty that Myanmar, formerly called Burma, produced the most valuable stones.

For eight centuries the gems in a deep red shade known as “pigeon’s blood” found in the legendary Mogok mines had reigned supreme, attracting prices far higher than rubies from Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam or East African countries such as Madagascar, Tanzania and Kenya.

Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen? – by Victoria Milko (Associated Press – July 3, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://apnews.com/

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The International Seabed Authority — the United Nations body that regulates the world’s ocean floor — is preparing to resume negotiations that could open the international seabed for mining, including for materials critical for the green energy transition.

Years long negotiations are reaching a critical point where the authority will soon need to begin accepting mining permit applications, adding to worries over the potential impacts on sparsely researched marine ecosystems and habitats of the deep sea.

Beijing jabs in US-China tech fight with chip material export curbs – by Amy Lv and Brenda Goh (Reuters – July 4, 2023)

July 5, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, July 4 (Reuters) – Companies caught out by China’s decision to restrict exports of two metals widely used in semiconductors and electric vehicles were racing to secure supplies on Tuesday as some industry suppliers worried that curbs on rare earth exports could follow.

Monday’s abrupt announcement of controls from Aug. 1 on exports of some gallium and germanium products has ramped up a trade war with the United States and could potentially cause more disruption to global supply chains.

NEWS RELEASE: WYLOO TO ACQUIRE MINCOR RESOURCES AND BECOME A MAJOR NICKEL SULPHIDE PRODUCER (July 5, 2023)

July 5, 2023

• Wyloo now owns 90.87% of Mincor’s shares.
• On completion of its on-market takeover offer at close of trading today, Wyloo will own more than 90% of Mincor’s shares and will proceed to the compulsory acquisition of Mincor.
• This transformative acquisition will turn Wyloo into an integrated nickel producer, with high-grade nickel production from Kambalda feeding a future downstream processing plant in Kwinana.
• Kambalda is set to be reinvigorated as Wyloo invests in the exploration and assessment of the Kambalda and Widgiemooltha Domes.
• Combined with its Canadian assets, Wyloo’s nickel portfolio now boasts an impressive combination of production, processing, development and exploration projects – all in the tier one jurisdictions of Australia and Canada.

Labs of luxury: Quality diamonds are now being made by technicians, but can a synthetic gem replace the allure of the real thing? – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – July 22, 2022)

July 5, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The biggest challenge for lab-grown diamond producers is finding and hiring enough skilled scientists and technicians to make them quickly and reliably enough in quality and quantity to meet orders

Earlier this year, Frédéric Arnault, the lanky twentysomething head of LVMH’s Tag Heuer brand and potential heir to the Paris-based luxury empire, presented a novelty at the Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva that would have been previously unthinkable for a company dealing in the real and rare: a 350,000-Swiss-franc ($470,000) timepiece featuring diamonds grown in a laboratory.

The glitzy little number, named the Carrera Plasma, is the most expensive product in the 160-year history of Swiss-based Tag Heuer. It boasts a 44-millimetre sandblasted aluminum case set with 48 diamonds and a rhodium-plated brass base dial covered with a single block of polycrystalline diamond.

Freedom is the reason Canada must be cherished, not cancelled – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – June 28, 2023)

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023

https://nationalpost.com/

The 1867 Project is an eye-opening collection of essays that dig down into mainstream Canadian negativism and expose most of it as the product of twisted ideologies and misunderstandings

The 1867 Project challenges and rejects anti-Canadian identity politics and issues a call for national ideological renewal.

As our troubled nation approaches another Canada Day — the 156th anniversary of Confederation — the celebration is always at risk of being overtaken by people, ideologies and movements that portray Canada’s heritage as a national embarrassment, the product of colonialism, racism, genocidal tendencies, cultural repression and conflict, a place where statues of historical figures deserve to be toppled.

Why the world finds itself in a Greenland ‘gold rush’ – by Isabeau van Halm (Energy Monitor – July 3, 2023)

July 4, 2023

https://www.energymonitor.ai/

Melting ice in Greenland is exposing the country’s critical mineral resources. Mining companies, governments and billionaires are all eyeing the largely underexplored wealth.

Ice loss from Greenland hit a new record this year. The latest report from the European Space Agency shows that ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica has increased fivefold since the 1990s due to climate change. The receding ice is exposing Greenland’s rich mineral resources. Still largely unexplored, companies and governments are now eyeing mining in Greenland, including for the critical minerals needed for the energy transition.

The Artic has long been of geopolitical significance. Areas with vast mineral deposits can be found in north-east Asia, and northern Canada has large reserves of nickel, copper, cobalt and rare earths, among others. Both Russia and China are building nuclear-powered icebreaker ships that are able to mine the Arctic. In 2019, former US President Donald Trump said he wanted to buy Greenland.