Republic of Mining

Mexico’s history — and perhaps its future — is written in silver – by Leigh Thelmadatter (Mexico News Daily – March 11, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/

For all the hype about “Aztec gold” in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, Mexico’s classic measure of wealth has been silver — and it may be its future. Prized equally on both sides of the Atlantic, Tenochtitlán overlords demanded the metal as tribute from places like Taxco, Guerrero, long before the Spanish arrived.

When conquistador Hernán Cortés entered the capital, Moctezuma hoped to placate him with gifts, including large quantities of gold and silver. However, the strategy backfired, making the Spanish more determined to take over. Although Mexico did (and does) have gold, its vast deposits of silver have been central to its history and economy since.

A “Minerals Club” Could Help Untie Us From Authoritarian Regimes, But Leaders Must Resist Nationalistic Impulses – by Christine McDaniel (Forbes Magazine – March 11, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.forbes.com/

US President Joe Biden and European Commission leader Ursula von der Leyen on Friday vowed “cooperation on diversifying critical mineral and battery supply chains.” Dialing down trade tensions with our allies is a welcome development. There has even been talk of a “Critical Minerals Club,” which could be a first step toward an efficient market for these sought-after minerals, while unwinding dependencies on authoritarian regimes.

Transitioning from hydrocarbons toward renewable energy sources like wind and solar, as well as lithium-ion batteries to run electric vehicles, is going to take a lot of critical minerals that we don’t have.

Resource firms move ahead with UNDRIP compliance as B.C. legal changes lag – by Chuck Chiang (Globe and Mail/Canadian Press – March 12, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

While British Columbia slogs through reforms to comply with a United Nations resolution on Indigenous rights, the private sector has been quietly embracing the benchmarks of its own accord.

B.C. lawyer Merle Alexander said he had worked on two deals between First Nations and resource companies in the past year, both complying in large part with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which B.C. committed to adopting in 2019.

Why critical minerals are such a big deal for Canada’s economy – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – March 10, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://biv.com/

There is still a role for Western Canada to supply Asia with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and longer-term opportunities for Canadian producers to supply Europe with hydrogen. But it’s critical minerals where Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson thinks Canada’s biggest opportunities lie in a world transitioning to cleaner energy sources.

“This really, if we get this right, is kind of a generational economic opportunity for this country,” Wilkinson said. “Not just extracting minerals, but processing and refining them here. Building the batteries, building the electric vehicles and other products. This is an opportunity for Canada to really have a very strong core of its industrial base underpinned by the work we’re doing in critical minerals.”

Inside the emerald mines that make Colombia a global giant of the green gem – by John Otis (NPR.org – March 11, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.npr.org/

MUZO, Colombia — Although he has helped transform Colombia’s emerald industry, long a source of violence and environmental damage, former U.S. diplomat Charles Burgess admits that he got into the business on a whim.

“I don’t have a mining background,” he told NPR during a recent tour of the mine he runs near the town of Muzo deep in the Andes Mountains. “I never in my wildest imagination thought I’d be working in any sort of business like this. But it’s been fascinating.” Burgess, 67, is president of the Muzo Companies Colombia that mine and export 85% of Colombia’s emeralds, helping to make the country the world’s largest producer of high-quality emeralds.

Royal Canadian Mint still foresees vital role as demand for coins inevitably declines – by Amanda Stephenson (CTV News/Canadian Press – March 10, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

CALGARY – Whether they’re rattling around in your car’s cup holder or have vanished permanently into the couch cushions, coins are easy to take for granted.So when the Royal Canadian Mint announced a round of layoffs last month at its Winnipeg facility, it was a reminder that the change jingling in our pockets doesn’t get there by magic.

Those loonies and toonies and quarters and dimes are produced by the Mint, a Crown corporation that produces all of Canada’s circulation coins out of one state-of-the-art facility in the Manitoba capital.

Indonesian farmers fight for their land in nickel mining boom (France24.com – March 13, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.france24.com/en/

Wawonii (Indonesia) (AFP) – Three women with machetes stood guard at their farm hilltop on Indonesia’s Wawonii Island, directing their blades towards the nickel miners working in the forest clearing below. “I pointed the machete at their faces. I told them: ‘If you scratch this land, heads will fly, we will defend this land to the death’,” said 42-year-old villager Royani, recounting a recent encounter with some of the miners.

The dig site is part of a huge rush to Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, by domestic and foreign enterprises to mine the critical component used in electric vehicle batteries.

OPINION: The violence consuming eastern Congo shows the bloody cost of energy transition – by Blaise Ndala (Globe and Mail – March 11, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Blaise Ndala is the author of the new novel, In the Belly of the Congo. This essay was translated from the French by Pablo Strauss.

One day in August, 1908, not long before the colony known as the “Congo Free State” was ceded to Belgium, a young aide-de-camp of King Leopold II named Gustave Stinglhamber made his way toward the wing in the Palace of Laeken where a friend of his worked.

Nearly a quarter-century earlier, the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 had granted the Belgian monarch control, in a personal capacity, of a newly formed colony 80 times the size of Belgium. As the two friends approached a window, Stinglhamber sat down on a radiator – only to leap back up. It was boiling hot. A custodian was summoned to explain.

Ukraine: The Battle For Soledar’s Salt Mines – by Oleksandr Miasyshchev (Eurasia Review – March 12, 2023)

March 13, 2023

Home

Serhiy (not his real name) remembers when the last load of salt left Soledar. “The last trucks left on May 16,” the 39-year-old miner told IWPR. “The very next day, a Russian air bomb fell near the administration building, tearing out the doors and windows. A colleague of mine was close to the explosion and survived, miraculously.”

Born and raised in Soledar, Serhiy has spent all his working life in the local landmark mine. The town in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk is home to Europe’s largest salt deposits: a vast, cavernous network of underground tunnels extending for about 200 kilometres that Russian forces, and the mercenary group Wagner in particular, targeted for economic and strategic purposes.

Canada bans Russian steel, aluminum imports as Joly raises ‘regime change’ in Moscow – by Dylan Robertson (CBC News/Canadian Press – March 10, 2023)

March 13, 2023

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

Canada is banning imports of Russian steel and aluminum as part of its sanctions regime, as Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly raises the possibility of regime change in Moscow. Joly made the remarks at a Friday press conference where she discussed the importance of maintaining a diplomatic presence in Moscow.

“We’re able to see how much we’re isolating the Russian regime right now — because we need to do so economically, politically and diplomatically — and what are the impacts also on society and how much we’re seeing potential regime change in Russia,” she said.

Why Russia Has Such a Strong Grip on Europe’s Nuclear Power – by Patricia Cohen (New York Times – March 11, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/

New energy sources to replace oil and natural gas have been easier to find than kicking the dependency on Rosatom, the state-owned nuclear superstore.

The pinched cylinders of Russian-built nuclear power plants that dot Europe’s landscape are visible reminders of the crucial role that Russia still plays in the continent’s energy supply. Europe moved with startling speed to wean itself off Russian oil and natural gas in the wake of war in Ukraine. But breaking the longstanding dependency on Russia’s vast nuclear industry is a much more complicated undertaking.

Russia, through its mammoth state-owned nuclear power company, Rosatom, dominates the global nuclear supply chain. It was Europe’s third-largest supplier of uranium in 2021, accounting for 20 percent of the total. With few ready alternatives, there has been scant support for sanctions against Rosatom — despite urging from the Ukrainian government in Kyiv.

Volkswagen picks Ontario for its first North American EV battery plant – by Adam Radwanski (Globe and Mail – March 13, 2023)

March 13, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Volkswagen Group will build its first North American battery factory in Southwestern Ontario, one of the biggest milestones to date in this country’s efforts to establish itself as a major player in electric-vehicle manufacturing.

The German auto-making giant said on Monday that it has chosen St. Thomas as the site for the facility, after considering locations in both Canada and the United States. It’s a decision that will make waves across the auto sector, especially given aggressive competition from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to compete for such investments.

PDAC reinforces importance of critical minerals – by Kelsey Rolfe (Canadian Mining Journal – March 9, 2023)

March 10, 2023

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

The increasing demand for critical minerals such as copper, zinc and cobalt factored prominently during the first day of the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s 2023 conference in Toronto. But a new report, released in time for the convention, forecast that junior and intermediate miners will face exploration budget challenges in 2023 that could slow the project pipeline for those metals.

During the conference’s commodities session on March 5, Randy Smallwood, chief executive officer of Wheaton Precious Metals, highlighted the drivers behind five commodities and potential headwinds facing each metal.

Change in federal assessment won’t slow pace in the Ring of Fire, says mines minister – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – March 10, 2023)

March 10, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Federal environment minister wants more Indigenous involvement in Far North industry impact assessment

Ottawa’s decision to scrap plans for a Ring of Fire regional assessment process won’t interfere with the province’s intentions to get new mines into production faster.

Provincial Mines Minister George Pirie said they have guarantees from the federal government that assessments for the proposed roads into the James Bay region to connect two remote communities to the Ontario highway system will not impact any timelines to put new mines into production.

Gold rallies on financial stability risks as investors rush to safety, analysts are watching inflation report, Fed reaction – by Anna Golubova (Kitco News – March 10, 2023)

March 10, 2023

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) The gold market posted an unexpected weekly gain on potential contagion risks from the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) meltdown.

The precious metal is once again the safe-have trade, with investors rushing in after Friday’s SVB collapse. California banking regulators moved quickly to close SVB Financial Group in what is the largest bank failure since the financial crisis.