KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Pope Francis demanded Tuesday that foreign powers stop plundering Africa’s natural resources for the “poison of their own greed” as he arrived in Congo to a raucous welcome by Congolese grateful he was focusing the world’s attention on their forgotten plight.
Tens of thousands of people lined the main road into the capital, Kinshasa, to welcome Francis after he landed at the airport, some standing three or four deep, with children in school uniforms taking the front row.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Lithium Americas Corp. has landed a US$650-million financing with General Motors Co. that moves the Canadian lithium company closer to breaking ground on a massive lithium mine that should help alleviate a North American shortfall for the key battery metal.
Detroit-based GM is set to become the largest shareholder in Lithium Americas, with a stake of just under 10 per cent, and it will also be entitled to exclusive supplies of the lithium carbonate produced during the first 10 years of the mine’s operation.
WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 83-11 on Friday to authorize an 8% defense budget increase over fiscal 2022 levels. The FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act adds $45 billion to what the White House requested in its defense budget proposal.
The $858 billion NDAA — which includes roughly $817 billion in Defense Department spending — also includes a 4.6% pay raise for troops as well as billions of dollars in additional funding to help the Pentagon cope with inflation, expand capacity for the defense industrial base to produce major weapons systems and continue certain programs the Biden administration had sought to cancel.
LONDON, Jan 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In January 2019, a tailings dam from an iron ore mine burst near the southeast Brazilian town of Brumadinho, unleashing a deadly avalanche of muddy waste that killed an estimated 270 people.
The anniversary of the disaster – Jan. 25 – is a painful day for Angelica Amanda Andrade, whose sister Natalia died aged 32. “My life changed completely four years ago,” said Andrade, 28, a teacher who is campaigning for safer mining practices on behalf of her community.
British Columbia’s Tahltan Nation and Nisg̱a’a Nation announced Thursday that they have joined together in a new partnership that brings new life to a historic and centuries-old Peace Treaty, through the Treaty Creek Limited Partnership.
The partnership was announced on the final day of AME Roundup conference in Vancouver and will optimize the Nisga’a and Tahltan’s participation at the massive Seabridge KSM project.
Sweden’s state-owned mining enterprise LKAB may have given the West hope in its quest for energy independence and containing China. Two weeks ago, LKAB announced it had discovered nearly one million metric tons of rare earth elements (REE).
REEs include 17 elements that are vital for advanced batteries, lasers, electronics, and all emerging technology of the 21st century, including the energy transition.
https://www.afr.com/chanticleer/
Bullish new forecasts for lithium demand have coincided with setbacks to new supply projects. That’s ultimately good for prices, but not for the electric vehicle sector’s big ambitions.
It’s unlikely that many Australian investors are following the travels of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But his current trip to South America underscores a new front in the global race for arguably the world’s hottest commodity: lithium.
Scholz signed an agreement with Argentina that is designed to help German industry secure lithium supplies from the South American giant. On Sunday, he was in Chile – the world’s second-largest supplier of lithium after Australia – seeking a similar deal.
From Peru’s social unrest to Panama’s industry intervention, Latin America is becoming a trickier destination for big diggers.
Latin America has long been a favored destination for mining majors as a reliable source of metals, particularly copper. But increasingly, it’s becoming a trouble spot. From Chile’s tax hike to Peru’s social unrest and Panama’s intervention in a massive mine, all is not well.
The problem is clear enough. State infrastructure, pensions, education and health care were threadbare in much of the region even before a pandemic that exposed deep inequities.
To go 100% renewable would drive electricity prices four to five times higher
With recent legislation limiting the lifetime of California’s last remaining nuclear power plant to eight more years, the debate about replacement power has once again been thrust to the forefront of environmental concerns: will higher emissions after the shutdown of Diablo Canyon doom California’s efforts to meet climate targets?
Though generating electricity with nuclear power produces no CO2, California agencies believe the answer is “no.” Every five years the California Air Resources Board (CARB) develops a plan to determine what sources will be needed to deliver clean electricity to 30 million customers.
Jan. 28—POTTSVILLE — The history of anthracite coal in the southern fields usually goes something like this: Necho Allen discovers coal in 1790, igniting an economic engine that burns brightly for 150 years or so.
The black diamonds Allen’s campfire lighted while he slept atop Broad Mountain fueled the Industrial Revolution and remained a vital energy force through World War I and World War II.
Berlin trails global powers like China and the US in acquiring lithium, a key component in electric vehicle batteries. German Chancellor Scholz will address the issue on his trip to South America this weekend.
Roughly 57% of the world’s lithium deposits are found in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. Because it’s used in electric vehicle battery production, the natural resource is highly sought-after. Globally, the Chinese have invested billions to ensure their place at the front of the line. The US, too, is in a better position than its European partners.
https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/
A project decades in the making is taking a major step forward in providing state-of-the-art healthcare to the James and Hudson Bay area.
First Nations chiefs, community members and government officials gathered for a ground breaking ceremony at Northern College’s Moosonee campus Thursday, to celebrate that development is now underway to replace the area’s outdated regional hospital with a modern healthcare complex.
“Certainly a historic moment, a moment that everyone’s been waiting for for 25-plus years,” said Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA) CEO, Lynne Innes, in an interview the next day.
Mining giant Rio Tinto has apologised for losing a tiny radioactive capsule that went missing as it was being transported across Western Australia. An emergency hunt for the device, which is about the size of a pea, is under way along the 1,400km (870 mile) route.
The capsule contains a small quantity of radioactive Caesium-137, which could cause serious illness to anyone who comes into contact with it. That could include skin damage, burns or radiation sickness.
ISIS-K steps up threats and attacks as Beijing eyes oil and copper
Escalating threats from Islamist militants are casting doubt on the future of big-money Chinese mining projects in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas (CAPEIC) signed a 25-year oil extraction deal with the Afghan Taliban authorities for the Amu River oil field in northwestern Afghanistan. The company is expected to invest $150 million in the first year of the contract and $540 million over three years.
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
Responsible sourcing should be at the top of the agenda for multinationals. But many green technologies — which we advocate in our war on climate change — rely on the use of minerals sourced in high-risk areas with poor human rights records.
In the last 12 months, the world came out of a heightened state of pandemic panic and headed directly into climate crisis consciousness. Amid a tornado of messages predicting the end of the world, it’s no wonder that people are scrambling to find someone to blame. And predictably, big business makes an outsized climate catastrophe target.
Practically speaking, stakeholder expectations around safety, environmental management, decarbonisation and corporate responsibility have become increasingly difficult to navigate.
