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

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

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

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Newcrest Rejects Newmont’s $17 Billion Takeover Offer – by James Fernyhough (Bloomberg News – February 15, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Newcrest Mining Ltd. rejected an initial $17 billion takeover bid by US rival Newmont Corp., with the Australian miner’s interim CEO saying the company was “worth a lot more.”

It did offer some hope to its suitor, however, by indicating it’s prepared to provide access to its books on a non-exclusive basis. The all-shares deal would have been the largest globally this year and created the world’s biggest gold miner.

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Exploitation Of Illegal Nickel Mines In Indonesia – OpEd – by Silvanah (Eurasia Review – February 19, 2023)

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Indonesia has abundant natural resources, especially nickel. Nickel is the raw material for making electric vehicle batteries. Electric vehicles are predicted to be low in emissions or environmentally friendly.

Developed countries are currently competing to produce electric vehicles. Indonesia is not left behind with big plans to form a company producing electric vehicle batteries. This has attracted the interest of foreign mining companies including China to enter and explore for nickel in Indonesia.

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Iron ore remains the Pilbara’s sturdy trunk, but greener roots are starting to emerge – by Mark Foreman (Australian Broadcasting Corp. – February 18, 2023)

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

Iron ore looks set to continue its surge in 2023 but the rise of green energy is creating massive opportunities for the Pilbara. Rare earth minerals, lithium, wind and solar are just some of the emerging commodities setting the pace in one of WA’s most productive regions.

Pilbara Development Commission chief executive Terry Hill said the changing landscape was exciting for the region. “One of the really significant changes in the region of the last few years is the diversification in the range of exploration and mineral projects,” Mr Hill said. “One of the ones that is going to come through really strongly this year, and will be at the forefront of growth for the next few years is green energy.”

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Teck Resources is exploring spin-out of steelmaking coal operations – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – February 17, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. is exploring a spin-out of its steelmaking coal division, or other ways to exit its largest business, as part of a strategic shift to mining metals that will power a greener economy.

Vancouver-based Teck, the country’s largest coal producer, said on Thursday it is “evaluating alternatives for its steelmaking coal business, including the possible spin-out of an interest in that business to its shareholders.” The announcement came after Bloomberg reported the company could announce a transaction as early as next week.

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Hidden camera reveals false claims some retailers make during diamond sales – by Katie Pedersen, Jeremy McDonald, Katie Swyers, Rosa Marchitelli (CBC News – February 17, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/

While shopping undercover at some of Canada’s top jewellers, Marketplace journalists came across sales pitches filled with false claims and inconsistent diamond grading reports, all of which could lead consumers to question whether they got what they paid for.

Last year, Canadians who purchased a diamond ring spent on average just over $4,300, according to Edahn Golan Diamond Research & Data Ltd. Marketplace journalists posed as secret shoppers to capture the sales pitch on hidden camera at three of Canada’s most popular value retail jewelry chains: Peoples Jewellers, Ben Moss Jewellers, and Michael Hill, visiting three locations for each retailer in Ontario and Alberta.

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Indonesia’s uncertain climb up the nickel value chain – by Kyunghoon Kim (The Interperter/Lowy Institute – February 20, 2023)

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/

Demand for is driving domestic and foreign direct investment in the country’s minerals sector. But caution is needed.

Indonesia has historically had limited success with industrial policy. That may now be changing, with recent interventionist policies targeting the nickel sector suggesting initial success in developing downstream segments of the value chain. So successful have these industrial policies been that the government is planning to target other minerals in a similar fashion, despite the objections of major trading partners.

After a period of liberalisation following the Asian financial crisis, Indonesia saw strong economic nationalism emerge again in the late 2000s. Nationalistic policies have been particularly strong in the natural resource sector.

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Nevada’s vast lithium deposits offer economic opportunity, difficult decisions – by Daniel Rothberg (The Nevada Independent – February 19, 2023)

https://thenevadaindependent.com/

Nevada, as with other arid parts of the globe such as Chile and Argentina, is awash with lithium. The soft, silvery white mineral is in high demand as a key component of batteries used to power electric vehicles in the transition away from fossil fuel-based economies.

For years, state officials have positioned Nevada as the central node in the domestic lithium supply chain, a place to extract, recycle and market the metal. But the new increasing demand — how it plays out and where mining is permitted — could have major consequences for local communities, the environment, public land and the management of a critical resource: water.

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Concerns, Impatience Over Mining World’s Seabeds (Voice of America/Agence France-Press – February 19, 2023)

https://www.voanews.com/

UNITED NATIONS — The prospect of large-scale mining to extract valuable minerals from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, once a distant vision, has grown more real, raising alarms among the oceans’ most fervent defenders.

“I think this is a real and imminent risk,” Emma Wilson of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, an umbrella organization of environmental groups and scientific bodies, told AFP. “There are plenty of stakeholders that are flagging the significant environmental risks.”

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Alberta miner replaces Chinese investor that Ottawa barred from owning Canadian assets – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – February 16, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Lithium Chile regrets losing ‘an incredible shareholder,’ COO says

Lithium Chile Inc., one of three Canadian miners affected by Ottawa’s snap decision to block Chinese investment in critical minerals, said the order has been satisfied, although it regrets losing an “incredible shareholder” that supplied valuable expertise.

Chengze Lithium International Ltd. had purchased a 19.4 per cent stake in Lithium Chile, making it one of the Calgary-based company’s largest shareholders. Chengze sold its shares to Gator Capital Ltd., a Toronto-based firm that focuses on investment consulting and asset management. The transaction was completed for about $34.5 million, or 91 cents per share.

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Russia and China Have a Stranglehold on the World’s Food Security – by Alan Crawford, Frank Jomo, Elizabeth Elkin and Matthew Bristow (Bloomberg News – February 19, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The cargo trapped for months at the Dutch port of Rotterdam was so precious that the United Nations intervened to mediate its release. The World Food Programme chartered a ship to transport it to Mozambique, from where it’s being taken by truck through the interior to its end destination, Malawi. It’s not grain or maize, but 20,000 metric tons of Russian fertilizer, and it can’t come soon enough.

About 20% of Malawi’s population is projected to face acute food insecurity during the “lean season” through March, making the use of fertilizers to grow crops all the more vital. It’s one of 48 nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America identified by the International Monetary Fund as most at risk from the shock to food and fertilizer costs fanned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Magna investing $470 million to build new Ontario battery assembly plant, retool factories – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – February 15, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Will build a 500,000 square foot factory in Brampton, Ont., to help Ford keep up with surging demand for its F-150 Lightning

Canada’s biggest maker of automobile parts is set to assemble batteries for Ford Motor Co.’s F-150 Lightning pickup trucks — the electric version of the best-selling vehicle in North America and perhaps the most hotly anticipated EV since Teslas hit the market more than a decade ago.

Magna International Inc. said Feb. 15 that it will invest $470 million to build a 500,000 square foot factory in Brampton, Ont., to help Ford keep up with surging demand for its F-150 Lightning and also to retool five existing factories in the province. Aurora-based Magna said the expansion will create more than 1,000 jobs.

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Glencore posts record profit for 2022, warns of higher mining costs (Sudbury Star/Reuters – February 16, 2023)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Company announces a payout of $7.1 billion to its investors on Wednesday, as high oil and coal prices helped it to post a record annual profit

Glencore announced a payout of $7.1 billion to its investors on Wednesday, as high oil and coal prices helped it to post a record annual profit, but it said the rising costs of producing minerals could dent future earnings.

In preliminary 2022 results, the miner and trader said it cut net debt to $75 million at the end of the year from $6 billion at the end of 2021.

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