Republic of Mining

Philippines Looks To Replicate Indonesia’s Nickel Market Success – by Ag Metal Miner (Oil Price.com – February 20, 2023)

February 23, 2023

The Stainless Monthly Metals Index (MMI) rose 5.82% from January to February as the nickel price index lost upward momentum. Nickel prices returned sideways in the short term after finding a peak in January. Since the price has not bounced high enough to confirm an uptrend, downside risk may increase.

Meanwhile, volume levels appear at least partially responsible for current stainless and nickel price action. Overall buyer volume has continued to decline since January. This comes after a much more substantial loss of liquidity in 2022. Now, the rally has not only lost momentum, but there is enough volatility in the market for nickel prices to have no clear market direction at all.

General Motors Digs Into Mining Business to Lead Race for EV Metals – by David Welch (Bloomberg News – February 17, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg Businessweek) — General Motors is trying to speed ahead in the race for metals underpinning the industry’s shift to electric cars. The US automaker is competing for a stake in Vale’s base metals unit, people familiar with the matter said this month. A deal may give GM access to the Brazilian mining giant’s copper and nickel resources that are key to making EV batteries.

GM has made several such wagers recently, buying equity while rivals mostly sign supply deals. Last month, it bought a $650 million stake in Lithium Americas to help develop Nevada’s Thacker Pass mine, which may support output of as many as 1 million EVs a year.

Impact Assessment Agency opens up public comments on contentious highway that will lead to First Nations, Ring of Fire – by Matteo Cimellaro (National Observer – February 22, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Public consultations are now open to determine if a highway leading to two First Nations in northern Ontario will require a federal environmental assessment.

The proposal to the Impact Assessment Agency from Webequie and Marten Falls First Nations was accepted and public comments will be accepted until March 23. The proposed highway will begin 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay and will cross the Attawapiskat River. It could end up being anywhere between 117 kilometres and 164 kilometres long.

Clean nickel or cheap nickel? You can’t have both – by Anthony Milewski (Northern Miner – February 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.northernminer.com/

Nickel price trends have become hard to predict. Ever since the London Metals Exchange (LME) crash, in March 2022, and the subsequent canceled trades, a number of banks pulled out and took with them the Exchange’s liquidity. Nickel prices on the LME have since become so volatile that suppliers no longer view them as representative of nickel’s market value.

Today, most of the nickel being sold – particularly by the Chinese – is direct to producers and at prices based on nickel sulphate and therefore disconnected from the disgraced LME. It’s possible that the LME may eventually recover.

Workers Are Dying in the EV Industry’s ‘Tainted’ City – by Peter Yeung (Wired Magazine – February 28, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.wired.com/

In Indonesia, sickness and pollution plague a sprawling factory complex that supplies the world with crucial battery materials.

AFTER DAYBREAK, THE village of Labota begins to shudder with the roar of motorbikes. Thousands of riders in canary yellow helmets and dust-stained workwear pack its ramshackle, pothole-ridden main road, in places six or seven lanes wide, as it runs along the coast of Indonesia’s Banda Sea. The mass of traffic crawls toward the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, better known as IMIP, the world’s epicenter for nickel production.

“This is a tainted city,” says Sarida, a woman in her forties buying cough medicine at a roadside pharmacy. Only her eyes are visible; the rest wrapped in a face mask, hijab, and burqa. Behind her, a factory belches out brown plumes as thick as a skyscraper.

4 things you need to know about lithium pegmatites – by Denedikt Steiner (Mining IR – December 11, 2018)

February 23, 2023

https://miningir.com/

Have you recently entered the lithium and battery metals space? Have you invested in a lithium pegmatite project and are wondering if your project is superior to those of your competitors?

In light of the recent ‘lithium boom’, I was asked by several interested parties what I consider the most important aspects in locating lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites and associated tin (Sn) mineralisation. Whilst geological parameters are the obvious ones to discuss first, I believe that overall tonnage, geomechanics and mineral processing, are of equal importance, particularly at early reconnaissance and drilling/ evaluation stages.

Why Africa bleeds diamond revenues – by Neusa e Silva (DW.com – February 20, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.dw.com/en/

Africa holds mineral wealth with diverse commodities that are sought after the world over. In the diamond industry, local communities miss out on profits despite multilateral certification measures.

In diamond-rich parts of Africa, the revenue generated from mineral extraction does little to improve quality of life for the people who live in those countries, with Botswana being the only exception. Instead of uplifting communities through mineral riches, many people find themselves stuck in a vicious cycle of exploitation and abuse.

New emergency bid to appeal, block huge Nevada lithium mine – by Scott Sonner (Associated Press/ABC News – February 21, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://abcnews.go.com/

RENO, Nev. – Conservationists are seeking an emergency court order to block construction of a Nevada lithium mine after a U.S. judge directed a federal agency to revisit part of its approval of the plans but allowed construction to go forward in the meantime.

Four environmental groups want U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Reno to temporarily halt any work at a subsidiary of Lithium Americas’ mine near the Oregon border until they can appeal her ruling earlier this month to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Why has a Canadian company partnered with the tiny island of Nauru to fast-track deep-sea mining? – by Joanna Chiu (Toronto Star – February 21, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/

Brown-black discharge gushed out of a pipe from a hulking ship, dispersing murky clouds of sediment into the international waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The scene, captured in a video that’s garnered international attention, turned a spotlight to a controversial Canadian company that is poised to become the first in the world to extract critical metals from the ocean floor — with the help of a tiny island in Micronesia.

Teck Resources to spin off coal business, end Keevil family control – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – February 22, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. launched a sweeping restructuring on Tuesday by announcing plans to spin off its coal business and end the founding Keevil family’s six-decade run at the helm of the country’s largest base metals miner.

Vancouver-based Teck is asking shareholders to approve hiving off its steelmaking coal mines in British Columbia into a new company called Elk Valley Resources Ltd. Teck valued its offspring at $11.5-billion and will list Elk Valley on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The parent will focus on increasing copper production at mines in North and South America, and be renamed Teck Metals Corp.

Tesla scales back German battery plans, won over by U.S. incentives – by Victoria Waldersee (Reuters – February 22, 2023)

February 23, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

BERLIN, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has begun assembling batteries in Germany but will focus cell production in the U.S. in light of Inflation Reduction Act incentives, the company said, making it one of the first firms to declare a strategy shift prompted by the package.

The U.S. electric-vehicle maker is also preparing to produce cell components such as electrodes, some of which will be sent from its site in Gruenheide in the state of Brandenburg, to the United States, Tesla said on Wednesday.

Ending the toxic trail of small-scale gold mining (UN Environment Programme – February 15, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://www.unep.org/

https://www.planetgold.org/

Strapped together by tape and frayed ropes, wooden logs demarcate the mineshaft’s entrance, a hole in the ground no larger than a metre square. A young man nearby cranks a lever, kickstarting some generators. The steady hum of the machinery blends with the creaking of a pulley system, drowning out the sounds of the gentle breeze blowing through the mining site, located in Paracale, north Philippines.

A young man tied to a harness begins his descent down the pit and deep beneath the planet’s surface, his headlamp the only visible source of light. Upon reaching the bottom of the cramped mineshaft, he pulls out a small chisel and hammer and begins chipping away at the rock.

Queen’s Park provides stimulus funding in the hunt for much-needed critical minerals – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – February 16, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Ontario Junior Exploration Program offers exploration funding for junior miners

There’s a looming global crunch for high-tech metals to feed the electric vehicle industry and not enough mines currently in production to meet that increasing demand.

To incentivize more exploration in Ontario, the provincial government announced in Sault Ste. Marie that it has invested $5.8 million to help a handful of exploration companies hunt for critical metals like nickel, copper, cobalt and lithium. The funding will be delivered through the Ontario Junior Exploration Program (OJEP) as part of a special critical minerals stream, launched in 2021.

4 Predictions for the Diamond Market in 2023 and Beyond – by Michelle Graff (National Jeweler – February 15, 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://nationaljeweler.com/

Experts and Editor-in-Chief Michelle Graff share views on natural diamond prices, lab-grown supply, and diamond jewelry sales in 2023.

Much to many people’s surprise, 2021 was a banner year for diamond jewelry sales and the party did not slow down as much as expected in 2022. So, what will this year hold?

I consulted industry analyst Paul Zimnisky and De Beers’ 2022 Diamond Insight Report as well as reporting from around the trade to make predictions about diamond supply, demand and consumer behavior in 2023 and beyond.

1. Natural diamond price and supply

In the Courts: First Nation takes B.C. government to court over Brucejack mine – by Dustin Godfrey (Business In Vancouver – February 2023)

February 20, 2023

https://biv.com/

The Tsetsaut/Skii km Lax Ha Nation is taking the province to court claiming the government failed in its duty to consult with the First Nation regarding a mining company’s acquisition of a mine in its territory, and has failed to work with the mine’s new owners and the nation to continue negotiations of a benefit-sharing agreement.

Newcrest Mining Ltd. (TSX:NCM) announced in late 2021 its interest in acquiring Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX, NYSE:PVG) and the Brucejack gold mine. The First Nation, also referred to as the TSKLH Nation, had been in negotiations with Pretium regarding a benefit-sharing agreement.