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How Three Torontonians Trapped In A Mine Changed News Forever – by Adam Bunch (Toronto History – June 25, 2023)

 

https://torontohistory.substack.com/

It began with an ominous rumbling. Three men from Toronto were standing more than a hundred metres beneath the surface of Nova Scotia. They’d come to visit the Moose River quartz mine, having just leased it. But while they were down there inspecting the tunnels on that Easter Sunday in 1936, a distant noise caught their attention

The three men didn’t have a lot of experience with mining. Dr. David Robertson was chief surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children. Herman Magill was a lawyer who lived in Forest Hill. Alfred Scadding was their bookkeeper and timekeeper. They don’t seem to have realized how unsafe the mine was; it had long been out of service and only recently reopened. But even they knew that rumbling sound couldn’t be good. They ran.

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OPINION: There’s no alarm bell ringing – yet – for Canada’s economic emergency – by Editorial Board (Globe and Mail – June 24, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Welcome to Ontario, Canada’s Alabama. That’s not much of a marketing slogan, but it does capture the stakes of the massive productivity problem plaguing not just the province, but the entire country.

For decades, Canada’s productivity growth has lagged that of the United States. The problem has grown more dire since the pandemic, with this country’s real economic expansion not even keeping pace with population growth.

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Billionaire Miner Friedland Warns of a Copper ‘Train Wreck’ as Supply Stalls – by James Attwood and Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – June 26, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Copper is poised to follow other commodities upended by recent price surges as the mining industry struggles to expand ahead of accelerating demand, warns the man behind some of the world’s biggest mines.

Demand for critical raw materials is set to jump as nations mandate clean energy and transport while clambering to develop their own supply chains. But a combination of factors suggests supply won’t keep pace, according to billionaire Robert Friedland.

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Liberals come for Alberta oil workers with mistitled sustainable jobs act – by Rex Murphy (National Post – June 21, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

The title of the act is a lie. It is not about sustaining jobs. It is about killing jobs

Is it that they don’t know better? Or they simply do not care? It has to be both. The most arrogant, blundering government in modern times is fixated on devastating the most essential industry Canada has; on stopping the production of the most essential resource of the modern world. The resource that makes the world work: energy.

Everyday Albertans must be asking themselves, without hope of any reply, “What is it we have done to earn the enmity of this green cabal in Ottawa, so hypnotized by their delusional calling to save the world from global warming that they have now officially given us notice that they want to kill our most productive and central industry?

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Inside the Dangerous, ‘Wild West’ World of Guyana’s Pork-Knockers – by Emiliano Ruprah (Atlas Obscura – January 27, 2022)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/

Deep in the country’s interior, the global gold and diamond trade begins with back-breaking labor, environmental destruction, and uncertain profits.

GUYANA’S PORT CITY OF Bartica sits where the Cuyuni, Essequibo and Mazaruni rivers meet. It has long served as a launching point for gold and diamond miners—known as pork-knockers—on their dangerous journey into the wilderness in search of fortune. Nicknamed after the pickled peccary, or wild hog, they often eat, the pork-knockers scatter throughout the dense jungle in small mining outfits of a dozen or so people.

Countless pieces of jewelry gleaming in shop windows around the world have their origins here, in the back-breaking labor of the pork-knockers and other unsung participants in the global gold and diamond trades. This is their story.

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Largest Ruby Ever to Come to Auction Sells for Record-Breaking $34.8 Million – by Andy Corbley (Good News Network – June 23, 2023)

Good News, Inspiring, Positive Stories

Unearthed by miners in Mozambique last July, a 55.22-carat ruby has just sold for a record-breaking $34.8 million. Dubbed the Estrela di Fura in the country’s official language of Portuguese, it was cut and polished into a symmetrical shape of deep red down from its rough carat count of 101.

Sotheby’s, which handled the sale, described the stone as “exceedingly rare” and “the most valuable and important” ruby ever to go under the hammer. It was discovered in one of the mines of Canadian firm Fura Gems, whose CEO Dev Shetty said a stone of that size was “unprecedented”

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“A powerful path towards reconciliation”: How Indigenous voices can be heard in mining governance – by Florence Jones (Mining Technology – June 23, 2023)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

As the mining industry is called on to respect Indigenous rights, Florence Jones speaks to Nina Fouilloux to explore the ways in which Indigenous voices can be involved in mining governance.

Last month, UN special rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay, made a special visit to Canada. As global governments and transnational organisations explore the rights of First Nations peoples, industrial groups and companies too are analysing the ways in which their operations impact local communities.

Shareholders are increasingly aware of Indigenous rights as part of a wider push towards more environmentally and socially responsible mining. The industry has a dark history associated with the treatment of land traditionally inhabited by Indigenous communities, and involvement of Indigenous communities in mining governance could be a meaningful route to partial reconciliation.

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$1 billion SPAC deal shows how mining supply chains are breaking up – by Frik Els (Mining.com – June 22, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Appian Capital Advisory bought the Santa Rita nickel mine out of bankruptcy for $68 million and the Serrote copper-gold project for $40 million in 2018. The previous owners of the Santa Rita had already spent $1 billion building the mine and Appian splashed another $400m on the property bringing it into production.

Last week, the London-HQ company sold the two Brazilian properties for $1.065 billion, $65m of which is associated with a contemplated gold royalty on Serrote.

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DRIPA, mining and a glimmer of fool’s gold in British Columbia – by Merle Alexander (Business In Vancouver – June 22, 2023)

https://biv.com/

Merle Alexander is Heiltsuk-Tsimshian, and principal of the Indigenous law group at Miller Titerle + Co.

With the click of a button, any would-be millionaire takes their chance to strike it rich. The odds of success are extremely low, the wagers are typically made with other people’s credit and, seemingly, the house always wins.

The Crown is the house and greatest beneficiary, as they profit from highly taxed profit margins that ultimately exploit the gamer. The truth is, though, the Crown is dependent on the outcome and has itself become vested in gamers’ losses and successes.

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Lithium producers warn global supplies may not meet electric vehicle demand – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – June 22, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAS VEGAS, June 22 (Reuters) – Lithium producers are growing anxious that delays in mine permitting, staffing shortages and inflation may hinder their ability to supply enough of the battery metal to meet the world’s aggressive electrification timelines.

Once a niche metal used primarily in ceramics and pharmaceuticals, lithium is now one of the world’s most in-demand metals given aggressive EV plans from Stellantis (STLAM.MI), Ford (F.N) and other automakers.

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OPINION: The Ontario treaty deal is a game-changer for Indigenous rights – by Ken Coates (Globe and Mail – June 23, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ken Coates is a distinguished fellow and director of Indigenous affairs at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

The $10-billion settlement announced this week between the Robinson-Huron First Nations, Ontario and the federal government signals a tectonic shift in Indigenous-government relations that extends far beyond the large sum awarded in this specific case.

The financial settlement, compensating First Nations in northern Ontario for more than a century of being denied a just portion of revenues generated by development on traditional lands, is a major precedent that will be useful to Indigenous peoples in western Canada.

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The Mexican Mountain Town Feeding the International Crystal Market – by Dylan Taylor-Lehman (Atlas Obscura – May 18, 2021)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/

In Piedra Parada, amethysts are everywhere.

PIEDRA PARADA IS A SOMEWHAT obscure mountain town in the Mexican state of Veracruz that has carved out its own special corner of an international market. The region is known for its amethysts, a type of quartz crystal with color ranging from light to deep shades of purple, formed in sometimes impressive geometric shapes.

The men of Piedra Parada (“Standing Rock”) have mined these crystals for the past 70 years for buyers all over the world who covet them for both their beauty and purported metaphysical qualities. The stones from the town’s numerous mines and small excavations can be found at gem shows and in New Age stores around the world.

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Vale Sudbury opens door on its high-tech operations centre – by Len Gillis (Northern Ontario Business – June 22, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Hundreds of residents attend open house to see what the future holds for Sudbury’s largest mining company

Hundreds of Sudbury residents got a close-up look June 20 at how the largest mining and refining company in Sudbury is moving forward with new technology. The event was the annual Vale community open house, an event that had been cancelled for a couple of years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The venue was Vale’s North Atlantic operations headquarters building in Copper Cliff, also known as the former engineering building.

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‘Lithium mania’: How Canada’s energy transition push is changing mining industry’s rush for gold – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – June 23, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Scott Gryba grew up in a family of gold miners. His father headed four publicly listed gold companies, while his uncle made a living by discovering mining deposits and selling them for a profit.

Gryba, who is in his mid-40s, wants to follow suit. His day job involves analyzing the gold market for clients, but by night he turns into a prospector, researching hundreds of pages’ worth of geological reports of various land packages across Canada with hopes of finding the next big mining project.

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PM Modi’s Gift to First Lady Shines Spotlight on Surat’s Green Diamond Market – by Neha Choubey (Native Planet – June 23, 2023)

https://www.nativeplanet.com/

The world of gemstones has been revolutionized with a groundbreaking discovery in India. Scientists have successfully created a lab-grown green diamond, replicating the stunning beauty of nature’s gems. This remarkable achievement opens new doors in the world of jewelry and showcases the advancements in diamond synthesis technology.

The Rise of Lab-Grown Diamonds:

Over the past few years, there has been a surge in the popularity of lab-grown diamonds, primarily driven by their ethical and sustainable production methods. Recently, they made headlines when Prime Minister Modi presented a lab-grown diamond to First Lady Jill Biden.

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