Republic of Mining

OPINION: Will Glencore Go from Predator to Prey in Mining M&A? – by Javier Blas (Bloomberg News – April 6, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.bloomberg.com/

With its offer to buy Teck, the world’s largest commodity trader may have also hung out a “for sale” sign visible to its only potential acquirer: BHP

Teck Resources Ltd.’s rejection of Glencore Plc’s $23 billion takeover bid was hardly the end of their dealmaking story. It was closer to the end of the beginning. In the next chapter’s plot twist, the buyer could very well become a seller in a transaction that reshapes the global mining industry.

By proposing to Teck that they spin off their coal assets and sell noncore businesses, Glencore’s decisionmakers knew they were doing more than configuring a new commodities giant. Unwittingly or not, they were also putting the “for sale” sign above their own company — a placard visible to the only company that has the potential interest and means to acquire them: BHP Group Ltd.

55.22-carat ruby heads to auction with US$30-million estimate (Jewellery Business – April 12, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.jewellerybusiness.com/

A record-breaking pigeon-red ruby is paced to fetch a pretty penny when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels this June.

Dubbed “Estrela de Fura” (“Star of Fura” in Portuguese), the 55.22-carat cushion-cut gem is the largest ruby ever brought to auction. The stone, which was cut from a 101-carat rough recovered in Mozambique by Toronto-based mining group, Fura Gems, carries a pre-show estimate of $40.4 million (US$30 million).

Mining the Northwest: ‘Diamond Dave’ strikes a chord with mines and exploration companies – by Graham Strong (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – April 12, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Thunder Bay-area’s dp Diamond Blades on the leading edge of core cutting and exploration services

A mystique has grown around the name “Diamond Dave” over the last 16 months or so. The man, Dave Pykari of dp Diamond Blades, said that he ran into many people at the recent PDAC mining conference in Toronto who were glad to put a face to the catchy name.

“When I introduced myself as Dave, they’d say, ‘Hey, nice to meet you.’ But when I introduced myself as Diamond Dave, they’d say, ‘Wow! Diamond Dave – I wanted to meet you!’ So this PDAC more than most was a really cool experience because of the positive changes we’ve made.”

Western premiers blast Lametti for suggesting Ottawa might ‘look at’ provinces’ power over natural resources – by Elizabeth Thompson (CBC News Political – April 11, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

Lametti told an AFN meeting he would examine calls to rescind Natural Resources Transfer Act

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and three western premiers are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to disassociate his government from comments made by his justice minister — who promised last week to “look at” a decades-old law that gives control over natural resources to the four western provinces.

“The federal government cannot unilaterally change the Constitution,” the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba said in a joint statement Tuesday. “It should not even be considering stripping resource rights away from the three Prairie provinces.

Glencore says Teck’s spun-off Canadian coal company would be a sitting duck for a foreign takeover – by Eric Reguly and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 12, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The pure coal company that Vancouver’s Teck Resources Ltd. plans to create will likely land in the hands of predatory foreign investors, delivering a blow to Teck’s efforts to keep those assets under full Canadian control, the chief executive officer of Switzerland’s Glencore PLC GLNCY +2.22%increase
says.

In an exclusive interview with The Globe and Mail on Tuesday, Gary Nagle said he is aware of several investors who are eyeing Elk Valley Resources, the coal company that Teck plans to form through a spinoff, all of them foreign.

Ford Motor Co. unveils details of plan to spend $1.8B in Oakville to produce electric vehicles (Canadian Press/CBC News Canada – April 11, 2023)

April 12, 2023

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

Oakville Assembly Complex set to begin producing electric vehicles in 2025

Ford Motor Co. has revealed some details of its plan to spend $1.8 billion on its Oakville Assembly Complex to turn it into an electric vehicle production hub in the latest commitment by an automaker transitioning towards an electric future.

The automaker said Tuesday that it will start retooling the Ontario complex in the second quarter of 2024 and begin producing electric vehicles in 2025.The transformation of the Oakville site, to be renamed the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex, will include a new 407,000 square-foot battery plant where parts produced at Ford’s U.S. operations will be assembled into battery packs.

Column: Zinc treatment charges jump after 2022 smelter bottleneck – by Andy Home (Reuters – April 12, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) – The zinc market was defined by smelter woes last year with global refined metal production dropping by 4.1% relative to 2021, according to the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG).

It was the sharpest fall in world zinc output since 2009, a year of massive disruption caused by the global financial crisis and ensuing collapse in industrial metal prices. Zinc usage was also weak last year, sliding by 3.3% from 2021 levels as China’s construction sector, a major user of the metal in the form of galvanised steel, struggled to regain lost momentum.

Province cutting diesel particulate levels in underground mines – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – April 11, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

New regulations to reduce emissions by 70 per cent of current levels come into effect in September

Underground miners will breathe a little easier this fall with the arrival of new provincial regulations requiring better ventilation in the workplace.

Announced on April 11, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development is introducing new legislation that lowers the acceptable level of diesel particulate that’s emitted by diesel-powered equipment underground.

Trudeau Liberals propose ripping up Constitution on oil, mining – by Brian Lilley (Winnipeg Sun – April 12, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://winnipegsun.com/

Two different chiefs asked Lametti to take away provincial responsibility for natural resources.

Is the Trudeau government looking to rip up the Constitution of Canada on the issue of natural resources like Alberta oil, Quebec timber or Ontario mining deposits? Based on a few brief words, made by Justin Trudeau’s Justice Minister David Lametti, the answer is yes.

“I obviously can’t pronounce on that right now, but I do commit to looking at that,” Lametti said. “It won’t be uncontroversial, I would say with a bit of a smile.” Controversial would be an understatement. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe was first out the gate with a statement.

B.C.’s mining rights claims system being challenged by province’s top court – by Justine Hunter (Globe and Mail – April 11, 2023)

April 12, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

British Columbia’s long-standing system for awarding mining rights is being challenged at B.C. Supreme Court this week in a judicial review that will test the strength of the province’s Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Two cases being heard together, brought by the Gitxaała and the Ehattesaht First Nations, argue that mining claims awarded under the Mineral Tenure Act violated the provincial government’s legal obligation to seek “free, prior and informed consent” before allowing development within the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples.

Glencore sweetens offer for Teck with $8.2bn cash incentive – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 11, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Glencore (LON: GLEN) is stepping up efforts to take over Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B)(NYSE: TECK) by adding on Tuesday a $8.2-billion cash component to its original $23 billion bid for Canada’s largest diversified miner.

The revised proposal gives Teck’s shareholders the option to receive cash instead of exposure to the companies’ combined coal portfolio, plus 24% of the combined metals-focused business. The Swiss miner and commodities trader’s original all-stock deal was to acquire Teck and then separate itself into two companies, with one unit holding assets in thermal and metallurgical coal, as well as oil, and the other containing its base-metals portfolio.

The Drift: Nickel remains a key exploration driver in the Sudbury basin – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 11, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Two junior miners look to breathe new life into dormant metal properties

Nickel remains the driving force in Sudbury’s mineral exploration scene. A pair of local junior miners with big ambitions to put two former mine properties into production are posting some encouraging exploration results.

Magna Mining reported high-grade nickel and copper drill hits from a diamond drilling program carried out last fall at its Crean Hill property on the west end of the Sudbury basin. The last of the assay results were released last month.

Mine Tales: Arizona’s minerals have proven vital in war and peace – by William Ascarza (Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com – April 9, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://tucson.com/

Arizona has many historical mining properties that have produced gold, fluorspar, vanadium and uranium. These minerals have proven vital to many industries during times of war and peace.

The state also has iron ore deposits found in its central parts, including the banded-iron formation northwest of Prescott composed of quartz-hematite-magnetite rock formed from oxygenated ocean water 1.7 billion years ago.

The EU is trying to sanction diamonds from Russia – by Jackie Northam (NPR.org – April 9, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.npr.org/

A large part of the world’s supply of diamonds comes from Russia. The U.S. and Europe may try to cut off the revenue the country is raising from the gems given the war in Ukraine.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Russia’s one of the world’s biggest diamond suppliers, and the sale of the product is an important source of revenue for the country. So far, the gems have not been subjected to the same kind of sanctions that the country’s oil and banking industries have faced. But NPR’s Jackie Northam reports there are efforts underway to change that.

Teck Mining Magnate Stands Between Glencore and Mega Deal – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – April 8, 2023)

April 11, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The fate of the biggest mining deal in more than a decade lies in the hands of a Canadian magnate who built a fortune on copper and coal.

Norman Keevil Jr., 85, is the controlling shareholder of Teck Resources Ltd., a mining company he built with his father nearly six decades ago. Today, the Vancouver-based firm produces copper and zinc from a handful of mines scattered across the Americas, and steelmaking coal from lucrative operations in Canada.