BEIJING/MELBOURNE, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Rare discounts offered by Chinese battery giant CATL (300750.SZ) to automakers have accelerated a plunge in lithium prices, and the market is set to drop a further 25% with supply growth outpacing demand, analysts and traders say.
After a frenzied rush by electric vehicle makers to secure raw materials over the past two years, which drove prices for lithium carbonate up more than six-fold and spodumene up nearly ten-fold, the bubble has burst.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Glencore Sudbury INO’s $350,000 donation to Cambrian College will be ‘transformative gift’ in advancing BEV innovation
Growing up, Matteo Neville was the kind of kid who spent his time taking apart motors and engines just so he could figure out how they worked.
He was fascinated by robotics and technology, electronics and programming, so when he decided to return to school as a mature student, he was immediately drawn to Cambrian College’s mechatronics program.
https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/
Our annual review on the state of mining in Ontario must highlight the Ontario Mining Association (OMA). The voice of the mining industry in Ontario was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province. It is one of the longest serving trade organizations in Canada.
OMA has a long history of working with governments and communities to build consensus on issues that matter to the mining industry and to the people of Ontario. Chris Hodgson (CH) is the president of OMA. He leads all OMA activities and represents the association publicly.
BHP (ASX: BHP), the world’s largest miner, is hoping to expand its investments in Argentina’s copper sector, where it already has a presence through its 9.9% stake Canada’s Filo Mining (TSX: FIL), the junior developing the Filo del Sol copper-gold-silver project straddling the border with Chile.
Company representatives met with the San Juan’s governor on Tuesday to discuss possible investments in the minerals-rich province, which is recognized a safe mining destination due to the support to mining activities by both authorities and locals.
There’s an old adage for commodities that says, “the cure for high prices is high prices.” The inverse is true as well. In fact, I often heard this phrase when I worked in the oil industry.
At the same time, I often heard people say “But this time is different. This time there is no easy cure.” I heard that in 2008 when oil prices first topped $100 a barrel. Many people were predicting $200 a barrel. But a funny thing happened. Those high oil prices caused a recession, which reduced demand, which reduced prices.
Danielle Smith’s pre-election budget includes $68 billion spending plan and $2.4 billion surplus
Alberta’s first provincial budget under Premier Danielle Smith shows the government’s coffers will be buoyed once again by deluge of resource revenue, estimated to reach $18.4 billion in 2023 — the second highest resource bonanza in the province’s history.
The province will end the current fiscal year with a slightly smaller surplus of $10.4 billion than was projected in November, as energy prices softened and the new premier increased spending in recent months.
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
THE owners of the only producing lithium mine in the country are preparing to invest $176 million to build a new concentrator in Manitoba, which may be a precursor to an even larger investment in the province.
Tantalum Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd., which owns the lithium Tanco Mine near Lac du Bonnet, has already begun preliminary work on the site and is in discussions with neighbouring Sagkeeng First Nation. Consultants are preparing the information needed to apply for permits.
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The regulatory uncertainties and inability of the industry to transparently, quickly and efficiently apply for mining and prospecting rights in a corruption-free manner has had severe investment consequences, Minerals Council South Africa states in its Facts & Figures Pocketbook 2022.
This is glaringly evident in exploration, which, the Minerals Council adds, has virtually ground to a halt. In 2022, the mining sector spent a mere 9% of what it did during the commodity price peaks of 1990 and 2006 – and then overwhelmingly on brownfields exploration in existing licence areas and minutely in new unexplored greenfields areas.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
‘We are operating in a very, very difficult capital market regime right now for mining companies’
Mining companies hoping to transform exploration projects in the N.W.T. into producing mines are looking to tap into the billions of dollars the federal government announced last year to spur the development of the country’s critical minerals industry.
The federal government earmarked $3.8 billion in funding for critical minerals development in its 2022 budget. In December it released a strategy that set out broad goals for how that money will be spent.
https://www.northernminer.com/
When it comes to tax and junior mining, there have always been a few hold-your-breath moments. The first is at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention every March in Toronto. We congregate at the largest mining conference in the world, nervously packing a reception hall to hear from the finance minister on whether the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) will be extended.
Fortunately, in 2018, the METC was extended for five years – the first multi-year renewal since the policy was created in 2000. But prior to that, we were on a razor’s edge every year, waiting to hear the fate of a tax policy that has been so crucial to Canadian mining.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
$10-million Go Deeper expansion project will be ‘transformational’ for Sudbury tourist attraction
A premier Sudbury tourist attraction is undergoing a major renewal this year, one that its CEO calls “transformational,” both for the city and for the mining and tourism industries.
Go Deeper is a $10-million, multi-year construction and development endeavour to modernize Dynamic Earth, the sister attraction to Science North. The plan involves new construction at the Big Nickel Road site, as well as additional programming and educational materials that will be accessed by users across Northern Ontario and Canada.
House Republicans, leery of Democrats’ climate policies, are pushing an alternative agenda: reducing US reliance on foreign-sourced critical minerals for everything from green energy to military equipment.
“This country would be in dire straits” if adversary nations stopped selling the US critical minerals, Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, said in an interview. “We need to move on this, and keep the safety and security of this country in the palm of our own hands.”
Signs that China is re-focusing its attention on environmental regulation have injected fresh volatility into commodity markets, as traders position for the potential return of intermittent crackdowns amid the economy’s reopening.
Ore-processing operations in China’s top lithium production hub, Yichun, were ordered to halt output as investigators probed alleged environmental infringements at lithium mines, Bloomberg reported.
Just before CIM Magazine went to press, Wesdome Gold Mines announced that its company president and CEO, and our primary source for this article, Duncan Middlemiss, had resigned. Middlemiss’s resignation follows on the release of the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 production results and 2023 guidance, which was issued on January 17, 2023.
The report was a difficult one for the company. Beyond the delays at Kiena that Middlemiss notes in our profile, Wesdome’s main producer, Eagle River in Ontario, underperformed due to “the variability of the Falcon Zone, which negatively impacted our ability to accurately forecast near-term production” and production in Q4 fell short of expectations, partially because of “severe snowstorms hindering [Wesdome’s] ability to truck the high-grade ore to the mill.”
Production has resumed in China’s Yichun, “Asia’s lithium capital”, after a government investigation into illegal mining activity last week temporarily halted production in the local lithium industry.
Some lepidolite mines restarted mining activity on Monday, according to Chinese media outlet Cailian. Soon after news of the production resumption emerged, the shares of leading lithium producers with mines in Yichun rose slightly on Tuesday. Shenzhen-listed Anshan Heavy Duty Mining Machinery, for instance, rose 2.25 per cent.
