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‘Movement’ detected at South African mine where dozens suspected dead, but no search operation yet – by Gerald Imray (National Post/Associated Press – June 27, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African authorities have detected “movement” underground at a shuttered gold mine where they believe at least 31 illegal miners died in a suspected gas explosion last month, raising the very slim possibility that there may be survivors, officials said.

Officials also said it’s likely that there were more illegal miners underground than initially thought and the death count will be higher than 31. But a search operation at the disused Virginia gold mine in the central city of Welkom has not yet been launched because of the dangerously high levels of methane gas still present in the mine, which means there could be more explosions.

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Should Big Oil Get Into The Lithium Business? – by Irina Slav (Oil Price – June 26, 2023)

https://oilprice.com/

In March 2021, Schlumberger announced a pilot project led by its subsidiary Schlumberger New Energy. The project was supposed to test a new method of extracting lithium much more quickly and efficiently.

Also in 2021, a joint venture between All-American Lithium and an Occidental Petroleum subsidiary received a package of patents for new lithium extraction technologies and processes.

Fast-forward three years and Exxon has also joined the lithium show. The supermajor last month said it had acquired drilling rights for an area in Arkansas with the potential for substantial lithium reserves. Big Oil is quietly going into lithium.

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Opinion: The energy transition Ontario really needs is to nuclear – by Lawrence Solomon (Financial Post – June 9, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

When you factor in its reliability, nuclear is cheaper than solar or wind, which are available only intermittently

If Ontario wants to keep its lights on and its economy stable, it needs to abandon the fantasy that wind and solar power can make a meaningful contribution to its energy needs. In the absence of untapped hydroelectric sites, the provincial government’s determination to outlaw fossil fuels in pursuit of an all-electric society means Ontario has no choice but to go nuclear.

Large-scale wind and solar have never been competitive, despite the narrative since the first Earth Day in 1970 that plummeting costs eventually would see them overtake fossil fuels. Today, a half century later, wind and solar in Ontario remain two to four times as expensive as nuclear, four to eight times as expensive as hydroelectricity, and 10 to 20 times as expensive as fossil fuels would be in a free market.

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Deep-sea mining and species survival – by Craig Guthrie (Mining Magazine – June 21, 2023)

https://www.miningmagazine.com/

A battle raging between conservationists and miners which already spans from the desert-like plains of Nevada to the frozen tundra of the Sami in Scandinavia, has found a new flashpoint – a remote, expansive region of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.

Scientists from Britain’s Natural History Museum (NHM) said in May that as a result of compiling all the records from expeditions to the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ, which has been targeted for mineral exploration, they estimate over 5,000 yet-to-be-named species are thriving among the polymetallic nodules resting there.

The revelation has ignited a fresh wave of claims and counter-claims between conservationists striving to protect those newfound species and miners who say minerals from the ocean’s depths are essential for mankind’s shift away from fossil fuels.

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Column: Global exchange copper stocks sink to 15-year lows – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 7, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) – There’s a renewed scramble for copper sitting in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses. Headline LME copper stocks have slid from 100,100 tonnes to 77,050 over the last three weeks despite almost 30,000 tonnes of arrivals.

What’s arriving is just as quickly turning around and going out again. Available tonnage stands at just 31,900 tonnes, enough to supply the global market for around 11 hours. Unsurprisingly, the stocks raid has ignited LME time-spreads, the benchmark cash-to-three-months period closing Monday valued at a backwardation of $31 per tonne. It’s the highest premium for cash since November last year.

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Saudi’s PIF emerges as lead bidder for $2.5 billion Vale base metals stake – by Staff (Mining.com – June 20, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is leading the bid to acquire a $2.5 billion stake in Vale’s nickel and copper operations, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The report said PIF might strike the deal for a roughly 10% stake through a joint venture it set up in January with Ma’aden, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

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Mining companies betting on autonomous technology to make dangerous jobs safer – by Amanda Stephenson (CBC News Calgary/Canadian Press – June 25, 2023)

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

Powerful tech allowing companies to remove human labour from underground work

Forget about the canary in the coal mine — experts say the day is coming when there won’t even be a need for a human. The global mining industry has come a long way since the days when coal-blackened miners would carry a bird underground with them in hopes its distress would alert them to the presence of toxic gases.

Today, companies are employing everything from driverless haul trucks to remote-controlled and robotic drilling machines to remove human labour from some of their most hazardous operations.

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Mining association launches regulations to diversify mostly ‘male and white’ industry – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – June 22, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Protocol hopes to attract more women, newcomers and minorities

Canada’s largest mining association has announced new regulations that its members must follow to tackle issues such as sexual harassment, bullying and gender discrimination at a time when the industry is finding it difficult to attract workers.

Through its equity, diversity and inclusion protocol, the Mining Association of Canada, whose nearly 60 members including Barrick Gold Corp. and Teck Resources Ltd., hopes to attract more women, newcomers and minorities in a sector that’s “male dominated” and “homogeneously white,” the association said.

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Treaty 9 Nations press ahead with lawsuit on mine development – by Staff (Timmins Today – June 24, 2023)

https://www.timminstoday.com/

Communities want “dual decision-making regime” established to govern traditional territories

Northern Ontario Business – Attempts by government to expedite mining-related development in the Ring of Fire have prompted a lawsuit against the Crown by 10 First Nations in northwestern Ontario and the Far North.

After threatening legal action last April, a coalition of Indigenous communities in the Treaty 9 territory will challenge, what they claim is, “unilateral decision-making” by Canada and Ontario to spur development with their consent on their traditional territories in the James Bay region.

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Failed insurrection in Russia shows how fragile the global social fabric is, which will support long-term gold prices – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – June 25, 2023)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market is starting the week on a slightly positive note, and while it may not be catching a major safe-haven bid after a 24-hour insurrection in Russia, analysts said that gold should remain a vital portfolio diversifier in times of heightened uncertainty.

The gold market remains under the critical psychological level at $1,950 an ounce after mercenaries with the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched an armed rebellion and marched to within 200 kilometers of Moscow during the weekend.

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Where Does Wagner Get Its Money? How Russia’s Mercenaries-Turned-Rebels Earned Millions From Contracts And Mining Deals. – by Ana Faguy (Forbes Magazine – June 25, 2023)

https://www.forbes.com/

The Wagner mercenary group shifted from assisting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to briefly rebelling against President Vladimir Putin this weekend, a dramatic shift after the group and its owner—oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin—amassed power and reportedly earned hundreds of millions of dollars by securing Russian government contracts, capitalizing on other nations’ natural resources and backing unstable regimes.

The Wagner Group has offered security services to scores of weak and war-torn African and Middle Eastern countries, and companies allegedly linked to Prigozhin generated $250 million from natural resources in those nations in the four years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an investigation from the Financial Times found.

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Chile Details Its National Lithium Strategy – by Catherine Osborn (Foreign Policy – June 23, 2023)

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The country’s moves are being closely watched amid the global scramble for critical minerals.

When Chilean President Gabriel Boric announced preliminary plans for a national lithium strategy in April—one that would increase government participation in the lucrative sector—details were scarce. Investors gained some clarity last week when the Chilean government released a 33-page document that expands upon its initial pledges with specific timelines and targets.

Chile is currently the world’s second-largest producer of lithium, a critical mineral that is used in electric car batteries and key to the global green energy transition.

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Miners must limit environmental impacts – King – by Esmarie Iannucci (MiningWeekly.com – June 26, 2023)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Australia’s mining and downstream processing companies will need to move to a more sustainable footing in order to benefit from the future demand for critical minerals, federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said on Monday.

“We know the road to net zero runs through Australia’s resources sector. But we must do more to help Australians understand that the resources sector provides significant economic benefits to our country, as well as opportunities to share the benefits with First Nations communities and regional communities,” King said in a speech to the World Mining Congress in Brisbane.

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The lunatic left hijacked the environment for anti-capitalist ends – by Conrad Black (National Post – June 24, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

Destroying the economy in the name of climate change is their obsession

The recent fog that settled briefly on many northeastern cities from Ottawa to Philadelphia as a result of unusually extensive forest fires in Quebec and northern Ontario led to the predictable conscription of this freakish event as further evidence of the need to assault the oil and gas industry and ratchet up the cost of living of practically everyone.

This is part of the self-assigned Canadian mission of saving the planet from the capitalists. There is never much of a respite from outbursts of delusional absurdities of the climate extremists. I’m not a climate denier but I am a resolute and vociferous opponent of hare-brained, self-punitive, instant cures for problems whose causes, proportions, and possible solutions are not fully known to us.

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How to Eat Like a 19th Century Colorado Gold-Miner (Atlas Obscura – June 3, 2022)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/

A confluence of cross-cultural foodways fed a series of Colorado’s mining booms, and can still be tasted across the state today.

In 1857, newspapers from Texas to Maine resounded with breaking news from the Mountain West: the Rocky Mountains boasted “immense quantities…[of] gold, silver, and precious stones,” read the New York Herald. There was gold and silver to be won, and prospectors with dreams of striking it rich headed west.

Dozens of ”boom-towns” sprang forth almost overnight to accommodate the Gold Rush of 1858 and the Silver Boom of 1879. These mining towns developed their own distinct culture, with rules (often broken), customs (sometimes violent), and an aesthetic still visible in much of the state’s historic architecture.

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