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How Sahel states ditched Western mining interests – by Antonio Cascais (DW.com – February 14, 2025)

https://www.dw.com/en/

Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso no longer orient themselves towards France or Western business interests. As demand for raw materials grows, this pivot may have significant consequences for Europe’s mineral supply.

Despite their citizens being among Africa’s poorest, Mali, Niger,and Burkina Faso boast mineral riches beyond the dreams of most nations. All three Sahel countries have sizable gold deposits, and minerals increasingly important for renewable energy production.

Mali has gold, oil, and gas, and recently opened two lithium mines. Niger’s natural resources include uranium, tin, oil, phosphates, and gold. Burkina Faso is one of Africa’s largest gold producers, but also has copper, zinc, manganese, and phosphates.

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The country that helped build Quebec’s aluminum industry now threatens its survival – by Frédérik-Xavier D. Plante (Globe and Mail – February 18, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Arvida aluminum bridge, completed in 1950 as the first of its kind anywhere, stands as a tribute to a symbiotic relationship. Crossing a branch of the Saguenay River, its elegant arch faces the Shipshaw II Power Station.

This is no coincidence, says Lucie Morisset, Canada Research Chair in Urban Heritage, given the link between the aluminum industry and the abundant hydroelectric power in Quebec. “It’s not the labour that determines the production costs of aluminum, it’s not even the bauxite,” she said, referring to the material from which aluminum is extracted. “It’s the energy costs to produce it.”

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New claim-staking process an ‘existential’ threat to mining in B.C., lobby group warns – by Vaughn Palmer (Vancouver Sun – February 14, 2025)

https://vancouversun.com/

Government process adds months of consultation to process after 2023 court decision

VICTORIA — The NDP government’s new policy of consulting First Nations before registering mineral claims threatens the survival of the mining industry, says the Association for Mineral Exploration. The association issued the warning in a letter to Mines Minister Jagrup Brar as the province prepares to implement the new court-ordered consultation framework on March 26.

“The association and its board do not endorse the current mineral claims consultation framework,” association chair Trish Jacques wrote last week. “This is an existential crisis for our industry and has the potential to materially harm our members.

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DeepDive: How mining became Canada’s surprising new engine of economic growth – by Philip Cross (The Hub – February 17, 2025)

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Mining is an increasingly rare success story in Canada’s economy. While most public commentary focuses on the economic threat from Donald Trump, Canada’s chronic slow economic growth, and stagnant exports, mining’s buoyancy is a reminder that Canada still can be a beacon for investment and successfully compete in global markets as well as a strategic industry in an era of economic and geopolitical competition.

This DeepDive essay provides an overview of recent developments in Canada’s mining industry. It documents mining’s expanding output, incomes, and jobs, fuelled by the recent surge of investments and export demand for most metals and minerals.

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[Evalyn Walsh McLean/Hope Diamond] The Lady and the Diamond – by Gary Cohen (Vanity Fair – August 1997)

https://archive.vanityfair.com/

On Saturday, April 26, 1947, the temperature in Washington, D.C., crept toward 70 degrees, and the magnolias and azaleas were in bloom. Taking little pleasure in the gorgeous weather, however, were those in a somber parade of the city’s most prominent citizens, which included a senator, a newspaper publisher, and even a Supreme Court justice.

They were paying a last visit to their friend Evalyn Walsh McLean, for almost 50 years one of the most exuberant and eccentric figures of Washington society. A stunning figure even into old age, with her tiny waist and chic dresses from Paris couture houses, Evalyn had also been the city’s most extravagant hostess. Her parties had sometimes featured three orchestras and as many as 2,000 guests, among whom were the president, Cabinet members, and diplomats.

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In Ukraine, a potential arms-for-minerals deal inspires hope and skepticism – by Samya Kullab and Hanna Arhirova (Associated Press – February 16, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

KIROVOHRAD REGION, Ukraine (AP) — The mineral ilmenite is extracted from mounds of sand deep in the earth and refined using a method that summons the force of gravity, resulting in a substance that glimmers like a moonlit sky.

Ukraine boasts vast reserves of ilmenite — a key element used to produce titanium — in the heavy mineral sands that stretch for miles along the country’s embattled east. Much of it, as with all of Ukraine’s critical minerals industry, is underdeveloped because of war as well as onerous state policies.

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China slows rather than halts copper smelting’s breakneck growth (Bloomberg News – February 16, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The Chinese government is getting serious about constraining the blind expansion of copper smelters, although its new policy is likely to pause rather than stop development. Eleven ministries signed an order last week to limit capacity in the world’s biggest copper industry, by tying expansions to whether companies also control enough ore supply to feed their smelters.

As China imports most of its feedstock, and ore has gotten scarcer anyway, it’s a condition that’s unlikely to be met by the vast majority of firms. But there could be wiggle room in how the policy is implemented.

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How Canada supplied uranium for the Manhattan Project – by Peter C. van Wyck (CBC Documentaries – January 10, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/

Ore mined in the Northwest Territories was transported to Port Hope, Ont., then used to develop the bombs that

In the past couple of years, the public imagination has been taken up with all things nuclear — the bomb, energy and waste. The film Oppenheimer recasts the story of the bomb as a Promethean and largely American narrative, while the series Fallout depicts a post-nuclear world. Russia has repeatedly emphasized its readiness for nuclear conflict. Nuclear energy has been regaining popularity as a hedge against climate change.

And yet, the story of Canada’s nuclear legacy — and our connection to the bombs that the U.S. military dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands in an instant — is rarely told.

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Column: Tariff threat opens up transatlantic rift in copper pricing – by Andy Home (Reuters – February 12, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

US President Donald Trump hasn’t yet imposed import tariffs on copper but the market is already pricing in the likelihood that the red metal will be next on the list after aluminum and steel.

The arbitrage between the CME and the London Metal Exchange (LME) contracts has blown wider in recent days, with the CME premium exceeding $1,000 per metric ton earlier this week. Given that LME three-month copper is currently trading around $9,400 per ton, the transatlantic gap implies the market is expecting a 10% tariff at the very least.

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[BHP and Canada] Up and Down Under – by Trevor Cole (Globe and Mail/Report on Business Magazine – February 18, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Why Mike Henry, the Canadian CEO of the world’s biggest mining company, is investing big in Canada

No one should have been surprised, five years ago, when Mike Henry rose to the top of the Australian mining giant BHP. When it comes to mining, Canadians have some game, and the University of British Columbia alum had built a 30-year career touching every aspect of the industry, from marketing to technology to operations.

What might have opened some eyes is how decisively the understated Henry, who’d been at BHP since 2003, moved to change things up. He eliminated BHP’s complicated dual listing on the London and Sydney exchanges, boosting the company’s ability to make acquisitions.

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Rio Tinto clears final hurdles for $6.7B Arcadium Lithium buy – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 14, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto has secured all regulatory approvals to proceed with its $6.7 billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, with the transaction set to close in early March.

The US-based lithium producer confirmed on Friday that Australia, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and the United States have approved the deal under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

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Severe Cyclone Makes Landfall Near Australia’s Iron Ore Hub – by Keira Wright and Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News/Financial Post – February 13, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Severe Cyclone Zelia has made landfall near Australia’s iron ore export hub, bringing heavy rainfall and damaging wind gusts, with the system threatening big mines and crucial rail links as it tracks inland.

(Bloomberg) — Severe Cyclone Zelia has made landfall near Australia’s iron ore export hub, bringing heavy rainfall and damaging wind gusts, with the system threatening big mines and crucial rail links as it tracks inland.

The powerful cyclone crossed the coast to the east of Port Hedland, the nation’s biggest iron ore export harbor, packing very destructive wind gusts of up to 290 kilometers (180 miles) per hour near its center, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Winds that strong flatten structures and buckle power lines.

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STLLR Gold wants to shake its money maker at a Timmins tailings site – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 13, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto company sifting through Hollinger mine waste looking for leftover gold

A Matheson-area gold mine developer wants to sift through the tailings of the historic Hollinger Mine in Timmins to look for leftover gold.

STLLR Gold is heralding its Hollinger tailings project as a “gamechanging” and “strategic” opportunity that the Toronto company believes can yield significant amounts of untouched gold that can be reprocessed very cheaply and deliver some cash.

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Are critical minerals trump card in US-China chip showdown? – by Francesca Price (S&P Global – February 13, 2025)

https://www.spglobal.com/

On Dec. 3, 2024, China’s Ministry of Commerce implemented export bans on key semiconductor materials, including gallium and germanium, to the US. While these minerals had already been subject to existing export restrictions introduced in July 2023, this is the first time China has specifically targeted the US.

To date, US legislation has focused on strengthening the downstream part of the semiconductor supply chain, leaving US technologies vulnerable to upstream supply chain disruption.US-China tensions centered on semiconductors and critical minerals are apt to continue rising as each government deploys the levers at its disposal, including restrictions on the upstream supply of materials key to the chip sector.

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Proposed bill would bar state permitting of copper-nickel mines near Boundary Waters – by Jimmy Lovrien (Duluth News Tribune – February 13, 2025)

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Past federal protections against mining in the BWCAW watershed face challenges.

ST. PAUL — Minnesota legislators have introduced a bill to bar copper-nickel mines from developing within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The bill seeks to ban mining on state-owned land within the Rainy River Watershed and bar the state from permitting any mining or mineral exploration in that watershed.

Mining is banned in the BWCAW, but environmentalists fear, and a federal government study released under President Joe Biden said, that tainted runoff from mining activities outside the wilderness’ boundaries but within the same watershed could harm the downstream wilderness area.

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