Republic of Mining

Seabed Mining Will Help Break China’s Grip on Critical Minerals – by Tom LaTourrette (Real Clear World – November 18, 2023)

February 28, 2023February 28, 2023

https://www.realclearworld.com/

Tom LaTourrette is a senior physical scientist and interim director of the Community Health and Environmental Policy program at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. The views expressed are the author’s own.

China dominates global supply chains for nearly all critical mineral resources. Especially important are elements such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper, and the rare earths that power decarbonization technologies such as batteries, electric motors, and turbines. The rapidly increasing demand for these minerals has rekindled interest in extracting polymetallic nodules from the deep seabed.

China controls the supply of these resources through extraction, either within its borders (especially in the case of rare earths) or through ownership of critical foreign mineral resources (for example, cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Mount Isa celebrates 100 years of mining history and outback life in north-west Queensland – by Emily Dobson, Zara Margolis and Larissa Waterson (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – February 22, 2023)

February 25, 2023

https://www.abc.net.au/

Mount Isa, one of Queensland’s longest-running mining towns, has this week turned 100. Founded on the land of the Kalkadoon people, it is renowned for mine stacks that rise from red-dirt country at the foothills of the Selwyn Ranges. But as locals celebrate a rich and varied past, many look toward a future where the town’s lifeblood is sustained by more than mining.

A chance discovery

On February 22, 1923, John Campbell Miles and his horses stopped to camp during a journey through the arid Queensland outback to the Northern Territory. Curiosity led the prospector to a particularly large outcrop where he knapped off a piece of rock that, according to his writings, he instantly recognised “contained mineral from its weight”.

What On Earth: As EV batteries consume more lithium, report warns against increased mining of it – by Jason Vermes (CBC Radio – February 25, 2023)

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whatonearth/

Reducing reliance on personal vehicles, more public transit can cut emissions faster: author

The growing need for lithium — a mined metal used in batteries to power electric vehicles (EVs) — could have significant international environmental and social impacts if the U.S. doesn’t reimagine its transportation policy, according to a recent report.

Lithium, listed as a “critical mineral” by several governments and agencies, is an integral part of the transition away from fossil fuels. While demand is exploding because of EVs, it’s also used in batteries for energy storage systems, and smaller products like smartphone and e-bike batteries.

GMS: Wyloo hopes to integrate Ontario-based Ring of Fire nickel supply chain – by Henry Lazenby (Northern Miner – February 24, 2023)

February 25, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Multinational Wyloo Metals has reiterated its commitment to establishing an Ontario-centric integrated critical minerals supply chain, CEO Luca Giacovazzi told The Northern Miner’s recent Global Mining Symposium.

The privately-held Australian company, part of billionaire Andrew Forrest’s business empire, has made an early commitment to see the nickel and concentrate produced out of its Eagle’s Nest project in Ontario’s emerging Ring of Fire (RoF) nickel-chromite mining camp processed and beneficiated in Canada.

How Australia became the world’s greatest lithium supplier – by Royce Kurmelovs (BBC.com – November 10, 2022)

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023

https://www.bbc.com/

As demand soars for electric vehicles and clean energy storage, Australia is rising to meet much of the world’s demand for lithium. While this helps reduce the need for fossil fuels, it raises another question – how can we source lithium sustainably?

Roughly a three-hour drive south of Perth, Western Australia, off the South Western Highway and behind the historic mining town of Greenbushes, the land beyond the town’s primary school falls away to reveal a deep, grey scar.

This is the site of an old tin mine known as the Cornwall Pit. At roughly 265m (870ft) deep, the terraced wall of the pit represents a century’s worth of work that began in 1888 when a pound of tin was lifted out of a nearby creek. When the surface-metal was scoured from the landscape, methods changed eventually giving way to open-cut mining in the host pegmatite vein – an igneous rock with a coarse texture similar to granite.

Agnico Eagle raising the gold production bar in the Abitibi – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 21, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mine expansion at Detour Lake and Kirkland Lake figure prominently in gold production plans

There are more ounces to be pulled from the Abitibi gold belt, says Agnico Eagle. The Toronto gold company maintains it can produce more than two million ounces out of this region of northeastern Ontario and western Quebec by 2025, an area where Agnico got its start in the late 1950s. Agnico has five mines within this 32,000-square-kilometre area.

In a Feb. 17 conference call with analysts, Agnico management said it believes 2023 is an exciting year to advance a pipeline of projects and start to expand production at its existing operations while keeping production and total costs down to a low of $800 an ounce.

Having nickel in Timmins ‘extremely attractive’, says CEO – by Maija Hoggett (Timmins Today – February 23, 223)

February 23, 2023

https://www.timminstoday.com/

‘We think we’re in the early phase of unlocking an entire nickel district’

A mine developer says Timmins is in the early phase of unlocking a nickel district. Canada Nickel CEO Mark Selby gave an update on its Crawford Project today at the Timmins Chamber’s State of Mining event.

Crawford is a proposed open-pit mine 40 kilometres north of the city. It’s slated to be a zero-emission operation. “This would be one of the largest nickel sulphide mines globally. Based on the scale of the resource that’s there it has the potential to be even larger.

Morningstar crowns world’s top lithium stock plays – by Tom Richardson (Australian Financail Review – February 23, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.afr.com/

Lithium investors are hoping a retreat in lithium carbonate prices in China has passed after a torrid February for the ASX’s green energy darlings. The sector leaders, including Pilbara Minerals, Mineral Resources, Allkem and IGO Ltd, all firmed on Thursday as investors monitor the collateral damage to lithium demand from China’s decision to end electric vehicle subsidies for consumers from the start of this year.

Lithium carbonate prices in China fell 7500 yuan ($1595) to a one-year low of 410,000 yuan a tonne on Wednesday and have shed around 30 per cent from highs in November 2021.

A critical look at critical minerals – by Philippe Tortell, Nadja Kunz, Allen Edzerza, Dave Porter (Policy Options – February 21, 2023)

February 23, 2023

Policy Options

Canada needs to modernize its mining legislation and draw on Indigenous leadership to truly achieve its global mineral ambitions.

In late 2022, the federal government released its much-anticipated critical minerals strategy. This is the latest in a series of national plans aimed at securing minerals vital for renewable energy, electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies.

The strategy aims to position Canada as a globally significant supplier of copper, nickel, lithium and other elements whose demand is expected to increase over the coming decades.

Australian explorers rush to join Canada’s lithium boom – by Tim Treadgold (Small Caps – February 23, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://smallcaps.com.au/

The call of Canada is being heard clearly by Australian lithium hopefuls, with some of the best-known names from the Aussie mining boom heading north to ride a wave driven by the US Government’s trade protection policies.

Ken Brinsden, the key man in growing Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) from penny dreadful to $13 billion member of the ASX’s top 50, is the leading Australian lithium export as chairman of the Quebec-focussed Patriot Battery Metals.

First Quantum halts copper processing in Panama as dispute spirals – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 23, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) said on Thursday it had halted ore processing operations at its giant Cobre Panama copper mine, in the latest escalation of a dispute with Panama’s government over tax and royalty payments.

Negotiations between the Toronto-based miner and the country’s government over a new contract for the mine turned sour in December, when the President announced a plan to halt the operation.

Stacy Kennedy first woman appointed as permanent head of Vale Manitoba Operations – by Ian Graham (Thompson Citizen – February 22, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Vale’s Manitoba Operations will be permanently overseen by a woman for the first time come March 1, when Stacy Kennedy takes over the top job in Thompson.

Kennedy, who has previously served as interim general manager of Manitoba Operations and interim mine manager, inherits the role from Gary Annett, who is returning to his home of Sudbury, Ontario, where he will continue to work for the company, said a Feb. 22 Vale Canada press release. “I’m really excited to be taking on this role at a time when there’s a real shift happening in the mining industry,” said Kennedy in a press release.

Lithium Royalty Corp. plans $150-million IPO to boost investment in mines – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – February 23, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Five-year-old Lithium Royalty Corp. is going public with a planned $150-million-plus stock sale, raising money to fund the mines that feed a rapidly growing battery industry.

Lithium Royalty filed the paperwork on Wednesday for an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange, after tapping institutional investors for approximately $130-million and profitably investing in 27 projects.

The world’s biggest miner is ready to plant more flags in ‘highly desirable’ Canada – by Naimul Karim (Yahoo Finance/Financial Post – February 22, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

A little over a year ago, Melbourne-based BHP Group Ltd., the world’s largest miner, bowed out of the highly publicized bidding war with Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals Pty. Ltd. for a nickel project in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region.

The tug of war between the two Australian miners over a Canadian asset included multiple bids over almost half a year before Wyloo’s $616.9-million bid in December 2021 led to the takeover of Noront Resources Ltd. — and with it the much talked about Eagle’s Nest project in northern Ontario.

BHP brings forward Jansen Stage 2 studies – by Mariaan Webb (Mining Weekly – February 21, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Diversified miner BHP is speeding up work at its Jansen potash mine, in Canada, as the group sees an attractive entry opportunity for supply in lower-risk jurisdictions amid increased geopolitical uncertainty.

The company, which previously bought forward first production at Jansen Stage 1 from 2027 to the end of 2026, on Tuesday confirmed that the feasibility study for Stage 2 would be completed a year earlier than previously planned.