Australian firms are edging closer to breaking China’s production stranglehold on the rare minerals used in the world’s critical defence systems, electric vehicles and clean energy transition.
Companies like Iluka Resources, Lynas Rare Earths, and several lithium miners are already refining, or close to producing, the minerals needed for the batteries, electric circuitry and high-strength magnets that underpin the globe’s green energy transition.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
James Bay explorers cash in to carry out studies on road, power and innovation projects
Ottawa wants Canada to be the lead dog when it comes to developing and expanding its critical minerals value chain. That’s why the federal government is ponying up $43.5 million to advance road, power and research projects in Quebec.
Mining proponents on the eastern side of the James Bay region and northern Quebec were the recipients this week of a stream of program funding through the federal government’s critical minerals strategy. Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson delivered the news on Feb.6.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to turn Canada into the 51st state was real, fresh annexation concerns were sparked. However, not everyone is in a total panic.
“Trudeau is not a fool. He’s been at this for a long time, and he’s not going to make a statement even in this context that he doesn’t think is going to get out to the media and public,” said Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “This was not an ‘Oops I got caught moment,’ this was a statement he was prepared to make.”
Like a thunderclap followed by a jag of lightning—that’s how suddenly the desire to be engaged, and to receive the requisite sparkling diamond, struck me. From that moment, my husband and I became jewelry-obsessed. While he plunged headfirst into the labyrinth of 4Cs and the Diamond District, I agonized over every design detail—right down to the precise curvature of the prongs that would cradle my diamond.
Yet, for all our meticulous deliberations, one possibility never crossed our minds: a lab-grown diamond. We were traditionalists, and tradition dictated a mined stone. (Plus, if I’m really being honest, we were a little snooty about it.)
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to take over Canada to gain access to its critical-minerals riches underlines how much the U.S. depends on this country for its immense resource needs.
Mr. Trudeau made the comments about Mr. Trump’s motivations for annexing Canada on Friday to hundreds of business executives, trade experts and union representatives who gathered in Toronto to try to figure out how to boost growth and attract new investment in the face of continuing tariff threats on Canadian imports.
‘Canada is sovereign, Canada will choose its own destiny, thank you very much,’ one minister said
TORONTO — Federal cabinet members stressed Friday there will be “no messing” with the Canada-U.S. border, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested that President Donald Trump is serious about making this country the 51st state to secure Canada’s critical mineral reserves.
Transport Minister Anita Anand and Employment Steve MacKinnon said the overwhelming mood in the country is to stand firm on Canada’s independence, regardless of pressure from Trump’s threatened 25-per-cent tariffs.
Environmental remediation jobs will be plentiful after base metal mine closes in late 2026
TIMMINS – Glencore is open for business even as the Kidd Mine site closes. That was the message at the Timmins Chamber’s State of Mining lunch, where Kidd Operations general manager Dawid Myburgh laid out the site’s successes in the last 58 years and the early stages of its closure plans.
The Kidd Mine is slated to close at the end of 2026. Myburgh laid out the opportunities and work left to do as the closure takes place. “We haven’t in our studies found an economically viable way to go on,” he said. “It’s not a farm. Every time we take something out, it doesn’t grow out, so it’s a normal part of mining and it’s something that, as a team we’re looking at being proud of how we do it.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/
Simon Fraser University research survey indicates fast-tracking of project no guarantee of success
The mining industry is applauding the British Columbia government’s decision to fast-track permits for several projects amid the ongoing U.S. tariff threat, but research suggests economic factors have been behind long delays for many other proposals.
Simon Fraser University associate professor Rosemary Collard says research shows that regulatory fast-tracking of mining projects is no guarantee that they will all materialize. She’s the co-lead author of a recent study of 27 B.C. mining projects granted environmental assessment certificates since 1995 and projected to open by 2022, showing that most failed to open on time.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an economic summit on Friday that he believes U.S. President Donald Trump is sincere in his desire to annex Canada and that this stems from the American leader’s interest in gaining access to this country’s critical minerals, a source said.
Mr. Trudeau made the comments to an audience of about 200 business leaders, trade experts and union executives in Toronto who have gathered to map out ways to boost economic growth and attract new capital investment in the face of the looming threat of U.S. protectionism.
Tungsten hasn’t been mined commercially in the U.S. since 2015, the nation counting China as its biggest source
The phone has been ringing off the hook for Lewis Black after China imposed export controls on tungsten, a niche metal mined by his firm that’s crucial to weapons manufacturing.
The chief executive officer of North America’s Almonty Industries Inc. said his customers are in a “state of disbelief” following Beijing’s move on Tuesday, one of a suite of measures announced as a riposte to tariffs placed on Chinese goods by the Trump administration.
The Philippine Congress could ratify a bill banning raw mineral exports as soon as June, the Senate leader said on Thursday, a plan that investors warn could lead to mine closures.
Congress is on a break after this week and sessions resume in June, but Senate President Francis Escudero hopes there would be a bicameral committee meeting with members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to tackle the bill. “I’m hoping it will be done during the break so we can ratify it when sessions resume,” Escudero said in a briefing.
https://www.mining-technology.com/
The increase is primarily attributed to the Reko Diq copper-gold project in the Chagai district of Balochistan, Pakistan.
Canadian miner Barrick Gold has reported a 23% increase in its overall proven and probable gold reserves, reaching 17.4 million ounces (moz) at the end of 2024. This rise is primarily attributed to the Reko Diq copper-gold project in the Chagai district of Balochistan, Pakistan.
The company’s attributable proven and probable gold reserves stood at 89moz at 0.99 grams per tonne (g/t) in 2024, up from 77moz at 1.65g/t in 2023. This year-on-year increase was driven by the conversion of Reko Diq’s copper-gold resources into mineral reserves, contributing 13moz of gold at a grade of 0.28g/t on an attributable basis, after the completion of the feasibility study.
Last year, a report by the United States Institute Of Peace (USIP) emphasized the importance of the United States government engaging in the African critical minerals sector if it is to diminish its dependence on China and fortify its national security and foreign policy interests.
The report outlines practical steps that the United States can take to build mineral partnerships with African countries in a bid to diversify its supply chains and strengthen peace and security on the continent. Africa is home to an estimated 20% of global copper and aluminium reserves, 50% of manganese and cobalt, 90% of platinum group metals, 36% of chromium, as well as considerable lithium, uranium, gold and rare earths.
If you don’t want “O Canada” downgraded from an anthem to a land acknowledgement, then Canadians need to work with First Nations to fight back against Trump. Unfortunately, that’s not the approach that some on Canada’s political right are proposing.
While the proposed tariffs from the U.S. administration are on pause for now, the reaction to them was still revealing. Here’s how the National Post’s editorial board framed the problem: “Industries like mining and fishing […] are increasingly refashioned by governments into welfare and ‘reconciliation’ initiatives, repelling private investment that would have brought prosperity to the country as a whole.”
M23 rebels’ advance in mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo puts green minerals rush in the spotlight.
The conflict playing out in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have sed vital mines in a lightning advance, spotlights the global race for access to critical minerals and the risk to local populations.
The race for minerals needed for renewable technologies – including coltan, lithium, cobalt and nickel – is set to ramp up this year as Europe and North America compete to secure access and break China’s grip on the supply chain.
