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First Nations lay claim to all critical minerals and rare earth elements in Saskatchewan – by Will McLernon (CBC News Saskatchewan – March 30, 2023)

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

Province’s new critical mineral strategy infringes on Inherent and Treaty rights: FSIN

First Nations are laying claim to all critical minerals and rare earth elements in Saskatchewan in light of the province announcing its new critical mineral strategy on Monday.

Saskatchewan has 23 of 31 critical minerals on the Canadian Critical Minerals List. The government’s strategy aims to increase Saskatchewan’s share of Canadian mineral exploration spending to 15 per cent and double critical minerals being produced by 2030. It also intends to grow Saskatchewan’s production of potash, uranium and helium in addition to establishing the province as a rare earth mineral hub.

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Ford signs nickel smelter deal with Vale Indonesia, Huayou (Nikkei Asia – March 31, 2023)

https://asia.nikkei.com/

Equity investments are part of $4.5bn development of Sulawesi block

JAKARTA — Ford Motor has signed a definitive agreement with the Indonesian unit of Brazilian mining giant Vale and Chinese battery materials producer Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt for joint investments in a nickel smelter project in Indonesia.

The three companies are making equity investments in the development of a high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) plant in Pomalaa Block, Vale’s nickel mining and processing complex on the southeastern part of Sulawesi island that broke ground in November. Vale earlier said that investments are estimated to reach up to 67.5 trillion rupiah ($4.5 billion) to develop the block’s mining operations and refinery.

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Go green or go broke — the Liberals’ new budget does both – by Rex Murphy (National Post – March 30, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

In politics, budgets are screenplays for movies that will never get made

Budgets, like Bidens, bore me. Like another in the fellowship of the great minds of our day, I pay no attention to monetary policy. Or to fiscal policy. And what is a budget but a massive tool of that latter? Budgets get as much attention from “communications advisers” — the most empty phrase and occupation of our time — as they do from … people who might know something about the economy. Most likely more. Besides, budgetary promises do not stand up in time, at all.

You want an example? Recall. In 2015, Justin Trudeau “looked straight at Canadians” (his phrase) and in that soft, hushed, mellow tone he struggles to adopt when he’s about to burst from the magma force of his urgent sincerity, promised — “being honest the way I always have” — that by 2019 (four years back for those who are counting), Canada would have a “balanced budget.”

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‘You’re not listening to us’: Some First Nations warn they will resist Ontario’s Ring of Fire development – by Isaac Phan Nay (National Observer – March 30, 2023)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Leaders from five First Nations in northern Ontario gathered at the province’s legislature Wednesday vowing to resist proposed mining development near their lands. “We will take a stand, whatever that looks like,” Wayne Moonias, chief of Neskantaga First Nation, said. “Enough is enough.”

Representing the Neskantaga, Grassy Narrows, Muskrat Dam, Wapekeka and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nations, the leaders and community members called for a meeting with Premier Doug Ford and warned they would continue to resist if Ontario allowed development near their lands without further consultation.

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Exclusive: Indonesian president pledges nickel mining clean up amid EV-led boom – by Gayatri Suroyo (Reuters – March 30, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

SOROWAKO, Indonesia, March 30 (Reuters) – Indonesia will improve monitoring of environmental standards for nickel mining, amid concerns over production of the metal which is increasingly used in electric vehicle batteries, the country’s President Joko Widodo told Reuters on Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country, which has the largest nickel reserves in the world, will step up scrutiny of mining and order companies to manage nurseries to reforest depleted mines, said the president, who is widely known as Jokowi.

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Canadian budget contains over $15 billion for clean technologies and critical minerals – by Colin McClelland (Mining.com – March 28, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Ottawa plans to spend C$21 billion ($15.4bn) over five years on clean technology in one of the main platforms affecting the mining industry contained in Tuesday’s annual federal budget.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the amount, including a 30% investment tax credit to boost clean-tech manufacturing, especially in the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain, could expand to C$80 billion ($59bn) by 2034.

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First Nations leaders removed from legislature after protesting mining development – by (The Trilliam – Aidan Chamandy – March 29, 2023)

https://www.thetrillium.ca/

It was the second time this month that leaders from the Neskantaga First Nation were at Queen’s Park to ask for a meeting with Premier Doug Ford.

Two First Nations leaders were removed from the Queen’s Park chamber on Wednesday after disrupting question period over what they say is a government trampling on their rights by speeding ahead with mining developments.

Neskantaga Chief Wayne Moonias and incoming chief Chris Moonias were sitting in the visitors’ gallery during question period when NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa asked Premier Doug Ford if the government would stop moving forward with its plans to develop the Ring of Fire over some First Nations’ objections.

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Marathon mine builder secures a copper customer in Glencore – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – March 27, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Offtake agreement will send Generation Mining’s copper concentrate for processing in Quebec

Generation Mining, the developers of a proposed open-pit mine near Marathon, has secured an international mining company to be the buyer of its copper concentrate. An offtake term sheet has been finalized with Glencore International AG.

According to the term sheet, Glencore will purchase an average of 50 per cent of the future mine’s total copper concentrate. The polymetallic copper concentrate also contains palladium, platinum, gold, and silver. The concentrate from Marathon will head to Glencore’s Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Que. for further processing.

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GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO STATEMENT: Ontario Responds to the Federal Government’s Budget 2023 (March 28, 2023)

OTTAWA — Today, Ontario’s Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy issued the following statement in response to the federal government’s Budget 2023:

“Our government appreciates the federal government working with us in a number of areas to help Ontario families, workers, and businesses. Together, we have attracted billions of dollars in investments, putting Ontario and Canada back on the map as an automotive powerhouse, including Volkswagen’s recent announcement that it has chosen St. Thomas as the new home of its first-ever offshore battery plant.

The Government of Canada’s 2023 budget provides significant support responding to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act with investment tax credits in clean electricity, including small modular reactors, and clean technology manufacturing and extraction of critical minerals.

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Federal budget could have big implications for Manitoba mining industry – by Jon Hendricks (CTV News Winnipeg – March 28, 2023)

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/

With an insatiable demand for lithium around the world, new tax incentives unveiled in the 2023 federal budget could have big implications for Manitoba’s mining industry. Lithium – the rare earth material that is a critical component in electric car batteries – can be found here in Manitoba.

“The projections for electric vehicle demand are through the roof, and there’s not enough lithium supply on the planet right now to supply it,” Dave Peck, with Grid Metals Corporation, told CTV News. It’s working with Sagkeeng First Nation to develop the new mines which it estimates are about two years away from being able to extract the material.

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OPINION EDITORIALS: Our View: Declare Minnesota what it is, a mining-friendly state (Deluth News Tribune – March 23, 2023)

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Of course Minnesota is a mining-friendly state. We’ve been successfully mining here for more than a century and a half, the industry fueling our state economy, propping up our schools, and defining us.

Minnesota mining has been credited for being a key to victory in two world wars. If it wasn’t for Minnesota mining, the bustle and activity at the port of Duluth-Superior, the largest on the Great Lakes, would be a shadow of itself.

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‘Worse than it ever was’: Why the Amazon’s largest isolated tribe is dying – by Jack Nicas (Irish Times – March 29, 2023)

https://www.irishtimes.com/

The illegal tin mine was so remote that, for three years, the large gash it cut into the Amazon rainforest had gone largely ignored. So when three mysterious helicopters suddenly hovered overhead, unannounced, the miners living there scrambled into the forest.

By the time Brazil’s environmental special forces team piled out, the miners were out of sight, but the mine’s two large pumps were still vibrating in the mud. The federal agents began dousing the machines in diesel fuel.

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Indigenous advocates say federal efforts to stop mining in the Black Hills fall short – by Graham Lee Brewer (NBC News – March 23, 2023)

https://www.nbcnews.com/

Indigenous activists praised a recent federal government proposal to ban new mineral exploration in a swath of South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest for 20 years but said it falls short by still allowing ongoing mining projects.

The U.S. Forest Service put forth a plan Tuesday to prohibit all new mineral exploration near one of the most contested sites in Indian Country, the Pactola Reservoir, the largest in the Black Hills. For generations, the Black Hills have been a focal point of Indigenous activism and the subject of a court battle over the federal government’s illegal seizure of the land in the late 1800s.

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Press Release-Mining Industry’s Role in Global Critical Minerals Supply Chain Prioritized in Budget 2023 (Mining Asssociation of Canada – March 28, 2023)

Ottawa, March 28th, 2023 – Today, the federal government has recognized the minerals and metals industry’s central role in enabling the transition to a net zero economy and building Canada’s future economy.

“Without mining, there are no electric vehicles, no clean power from wind farms, solar panels or nuclear energy, and no transmission lines,” stated Pierre Gratton, the Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) President and CEO. “Budget 2023 bolsters the ability of Canada’s mining sector to deliver for Canada and for the planet.”

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First Nations protesting Ontario’s accelerated mining development plans – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – March 29, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Five First Nations communities are planning to stare down Doug Ford in the Ontario Legislature Wednesday, alleging that the Premier is railroading through mining development without their consent.

Leaders of Neskantaga, KI, Grassy Narrows, Wapekeka and Muskrat Dam First Nations said in a statement they are converging on Queen’s Park with a message to Premier Ford that pushing through mining on their lands against their will, “courts conflict and violates their rights.”

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