Republic of Mining

Congo president demands more from $6.2 billion China metals deal – by Jacqueline Simmons and Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg News – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi criticized a $6.2 billion minerals-for-infrastructure contract with China, saying the world’s largest producer of a key battery metal hasn’t benefited from the deal.

Congo, Africa’s second-largest nation by landmass, is flush with natural resources — including copper and cobalt that are major components in electric vehicles — but remains one of the world’s least-developed countries. Most of its minerals end up in China, which signed a landmark deal with Tshisekedi’s predecessor in 2008 to trade roads and buildings for the two metals.

Ottawa’s climate policy will prolong Indigenous poverty – by Dale Swampy (Financial Post – January 17, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://financialpost.com/

Many will be unable to pay the high cost of utilities and energy that will follow from the plan

Canada’s latest Environment and Climate Change report to the United Nations, submitted at the end of December, fails Canada’s Indigenous people yet again, consigning us to poverty, wiping out our path to prosperity and blocking our ability to bring traditional knowledge and wisdom to bear on protecting the land.
This is only the most recent instance in a long line of failures dating back hundreds of years. Proper consultation with Indigenous people before the report’s submission might have prevented that.

Chile Rejects $2.5 Billion Mine Project on Environmental Risks in Snub to Business – by Matthew Malinowski (Bloomberg News – January 18, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chile’s government rejected a $2.5 billion iron-ore project near a nature reserve in the north of the country on concern it would endanger local species, a victory for President Gabriel Boric’s green agenda that has business groups fuming.

A committee of government ministers on Wednesday voted unanimously against Andes Iron’s Dominga project, Environment Minister Maisa Rojas told a press conference, citing the “unique ecological value” of the area. Andes Iron, owned by the local Delano and Garces families, said it would appeal the decision in environmental tribunals.

BDC leads US$50M funding round for Calgary-based lithium company – by Amanda Stephenson (Canadian Press/CTV News – January 18, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/

A new fund launched in November by the Business Development Bank of Canada to help foster the growth of homegrown climate technology has made its largest investment yet.

The Crown corporation’s investment arm, BDC Capital, along with Vancouver-based Evok Innovations, recently co-led a Series A2 financing round that raised US$50 million in investment capital for Summit Nanotech, a Calgary-based lithium technology company.

Billions in new auto investment ‘just the beginning’ — Fedeli – by Dave Waddell (Windsor Star – January 18, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://windsorstar.com/

Ontario Minister of Economic Development Vic Fedeli is optimistic that landing the crown jewel of an electric battery factory in Windsor, as part of $16 billion in new automaker investments in the province over the past two years, represents just the beginning.

The transformation of the automotive sector is only in its infancy and Fedeli said Ontario is prioritizing building out the critical minerals mining and processing sector, landing a second battery plant and securing as much of the battery supply chain as possible.

Yamana Gold team in pursuit of a ‘big whale’ with launch of private capital mining venture – Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Yamana Gold Inc. founder Peter Marrone and the miner’s outgoing CEO Daniel Racine are launching a private equity-style venture, aimed at taking stakes in struggling mining companies with the view to turning them around for a big profit.

The pair, who will joined by a handful of other Yamana executives, plan to invest in early stage gold exploration companies, but the team will also consider taking much bigger bets on companies that already have mines in production.

First Nation can veto proposed B.C. coal mine as part of unique deal with developer – by Kyle Bakx (CBC News Calgary – January 18, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/

Agreement could change how natural resources projects are developed in Canada

A coal company and a First Nation in British Columbia have struck a rare deal to give the community the power to veto a proposed mining project, which could set a precedent for how natural resources projects are developed in Canada.

NWP Coal Canada and the Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it (YQT), also known as the Tobacco Plains Indian Band, describe the agreement as one of a kind and say it will give the First Nation the power to act as a “regulator and reviewer” of the company’s proposed $400-million Crown Mountain coal mine near Elkford, in the southeast part of the province.

Ontario has much at stake in Japan’s losing EV race – by David Olive (Toronto Star – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.thestar.com/

Japan has ceded its leadership in consumer electronics. It’s in no one’s interest it follow that path in autos, not least the Ontario communities with a stake, David Olive writes.

Japan is at risk of losing the race in all-electric vehicles (EVs). And that poses a danger for southern Ontario, with its three Japanese auto plants. Among the 35 models in Bloomberg’s latest ranking of the best performing EVs only three are Japanese vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest automaker, concentrates on hybrid vehicles, which it pioneered with the first gas-electric Prius a quarter of a century ago. As do most Japanese automakers.

After lithium mine approval, Ontario-based Cree want a seat at the table for environmental assessments of mining in the province – by Matteo Cimellaro (National Observer – January 18, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Lawrence Martin wishes the Cree nations on the western coast of James Bay had the same relationship with Ontario as the Eeyou Istchee have with Quebec.

Earlier this week, Ottawa approved a new lithium mine near the Eastmain Cree community in Quebec with caveats, including 271 environmental protections designed in conjunction with the project’s Indigenous neighbours.

Liberals’ ‘just transition’ a fist to the mouth of Canada – by Rex Murphy (National Post – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://nationalpost.com

A better name for the massive dislocation of the national economy and Canadian workers would be the ‘Great Disruption’

“When you start to think about it, it’s pretty extraordinary that we — (a) select group of human beings … are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet. … I mean, it’s so almost extraterrestrial to think about ‘saving the planet.’” — John Kerry at Davos.

What’s really, finally, at the heart of radical environmentalism?

An insatiable urge, an unslakeable lust to govern the lives, habits and choices of everyone — everyone — who does not think like them, who chooses not to see the world as they prefer them to see it, who questions their furious dogmas and resists their sprawling imperatives into every corner of every person’s real life.

Agnico invests $90M in exploring Nunavut – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Continuing a tradition of robust investments to unlock the enormous gold potential on its Nunavut properties, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. budgeted more than US$90 million on exploring this politically attractive and stable jurisdiction in Canada’s Far North during 2022.

Going into the year, Agnico already had an aggressive US$60.2 million exploration campaign budgeted for its three gold mine and regional exploration properties in Nunavut. Given the success of this work, by mid-year the company had decided to allocate another US$30 million to build resources and reserves in the territory.

‘Time for talk is kind of done’: Lisa Raitt on Canada’s natural resources strategy – by Hilary Punchard (Bloomberg News – January 19, 2023)

January 19, 2023January 19, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

The time for debating Canada’s natural resources strategy is over, and the country needs to start taking action to make sure it’s not left behind with the global renewable transition, according to Lisa Raitt, former minister of natural resources and former deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

“We (Canada) possess the natural resources that are going to be needed when we have the transition to a more decarbonized world and we also have, of course, plentiful oil and gas to get us to that decarbonized world as well,” Raitt said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg’s Jon Erlichman on Thursday.

How abandoned mines can become clean energy storage systems – Staff (Mining.com – January 17, 2023)

January 18, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

An international team of researchers has developed a novel way to store energy by transporting sand into abandoned underground mines. The new technique, called Underground Gravity Energy Storage (UGES), proposes an effective long-term energy storage solution while also making use of now-defunct mining sites.

In a paper published in the journal Energies, the scientists explain that UGES generates electricity when the price is high by lowering sand into an underground mine and converting the potential energy of the sand into electricity via regenerative braking and then lifting the sand from the mine to an upper reservoir using electric motors to store energy when electricity is cheap.

Chinese and Indonesian Workers Clash at Indonesian Nickel Plant – by Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat (The Diplomat – January 17, 2023)

January 18, 2023

https://thediplomat.com/

The violence, which resulted in the deaths of two workers, is likely to inflame anti-Chinese sentiment in the country.

Two workers were killed in clashes and rioting at an Indonesian nickel processing plant over the weekend, officials said yesterday. The demonstrations at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, ended in clashes between groups of Indonesian workers and foreign workers from China, leading to the deaths of two people, a Chinese and an Indonesian.

On Saturday, workers belonging to the National Workers’ Union (SPN) held a meeting with the company. During the meeting, the mass of SPN workers presented eight demands to the company, but no agreement was reached between the two parties at the meeting.

Deep seabed mining plans pit renewable energy demand against ocean life in a largely unexplored frontier – by Scott Shackelford, Christiana Ochoa, David Bosco and Kerry Krutilla (The Conversation – January 17, 2023)

January 18, 2023

https://theconversation.com/

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.

A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood, and the mining codes to sustainably mine these areas are in their infancy. A fierce debate is now playing out as a Canadian company makes plans to launch the first commercial deep sea mining operation in the Pacific Ocean.