Twitter

Quarries must be close to Toronto’s development – by Norman Cheesman (Toronto Star – January 16, 2023)

https://www.thestar.com/

Proximity of aggregate to job sites is key. Pits can take up to 10 years to approve and are required to meet needs of Ontarians, says Norman Cheesman.

If you build it they will come … and if you don’t build it, they will come anyway. That’s the reality we face in Ontario.

After years of infrastructure neglect and increasing levels of immigration, will we be ready to welcome an additional four million people in this province by 2043? Will we be ready with the schools, hospitals, housing and other infrastructure we need to maintain vibrant communities?

Read more

The Trudeau Liberals are about to tell Alberta workers where to go – by Rex Murphy (National Post -January 4, 2023)

https://nationalpost.com/

Will there be a ‘just transition’ for Canadian farmers, too?

National Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson plans to introduce “just transition” legislation early this year to help workers in the oil and gas sector move into green energy jobs. Help?

Well, that’s one way to start the New Year. Send out a second-tier minister, working in concert with another second-tier minister, Seamus O’Regan, and an NDP consort, Charlie Angus, to announce a peremptory, arbitrary, unnegotiated shutdown of a greatly productive province’s principal industry.

Read more

Thunberg joins march on German village in protest against coal mine expansion (Reuters – January 14, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

LUTZERATH, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Around 6,000 protesters – including climate activist Greta Thunberg – marched through mud and rain to the German village of Luetzerath on Saturday, according to a police estimate, demonstrating against the expansion of an opencast lignite mine.

The clearing of the village in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia was agreed between RWE (RWEG.DE) and the government in a deal that allowed the energy giant to demolish Lutzerath in exchange for its faster exit from coal and saving five villages originally slated for destruction.

Read more

China note! EU-member Sweden locates rare earth deposits – by Samuel Petrequin (Associated Press – January 12, 2023)

https://apnews.com/

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — The beginning of the end of Europe’s dependency on China for precious rare earth materials may lie buried deep under the rugged reaches of northern Sweden, well above the Arctic Circle.

Sweden’s iron-ore miner LKAB said Thursday it has identified “significant deposits” in Lapland of rare earth elements that are essential for the manufacture of smartphones, electric vehicles and wind turbines.

Read more

Matheson gold builder sees open-ended potential – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 9, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Moneta Gold firms up its case for open-pit and underground operation with intensive 2023 drilling campaign

The president of Moneta Gold is predicting many “upside opportunities” for its flagship Tower Gold Project near Matheson. In a recent news release, Gary O’Connor reflected on 2022 being “an extremely rewarding year” for the company.

Moneta posted an updated gold resource estimate for Tower Gold and released a positive preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in September, making the economic case for an open-pit and underground mining operation.

Read more

North America’s Top Mining CEOs Anticipate Turbulent Year Ahead – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – January 10, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Top executives from North America’s biggest metals producers are bracing for a turbulent 2023 marked by recession, geopolitical risks and an uncertain investment climate that could change the face of mining.

The year “is going to be seen as the start of serious change — in the way mines operate and are held accountable,” Barrick Gold Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said in an interview.

Read more

US, allies should disconnect rare earths supply chain from China — report – by Staff (Mining.com – January 3, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

A recent report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy suggests that policymakers in the United States and allied countries should start bolstering raw materials supply chains to reduce the country’s dependence on rare earths from China.

The dossier notes that the China Rare Earth Group, a merger of three of China’s state-owned enterprises into one mega-conglomerate, controls up to a quarter of global mineral-bearing rare-earth elements.

Read more

Europe has avoided energy collapse. But is the crisis over? – by David McHugh (Associated Press -January 10, 2023)

https://apnews.com/

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Europe has dodged an energy apocalypse this winter, economists and officials say, thanks to unusually warm weather and efforts to find other sources of natural gas after Russia cut off most of its supply to the continent.

Natural gas suppliers in recent days have increased their stocks at a time when they’re usually being drawn down — an unexpected boost that has relieved fears of gas used to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories running out by winter’s end.

Read more

Canada’s First Quantum close to securing new deal for Panama copper mine – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – January 11, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Not ‘very far away’ from striking a deal with the Panama government, company says

Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd. said it isn’t “very far away” from striking a deal with the Panama government to ensure that it can keep its flagship copper mine alive.

The company has been negotiating a new contract for the rights of the Cobre Panama mine, situated about 120 kilometres west of Panama City, for about a year, stopping briefly on Dec. 16 after the Panama government halted discussions and announced plans to suspend Quantum’s operations.

Read more

India’s Foray Into the EV Battery Market Lacks Some Key Ingredients – by Swansy Afonso (Bloomberg News – January 10, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — As the world tries to wean itself off dependence on China for crucial battery materials, India is taking bold steps to position itself as an alternative in the electric vehicle supply chain.

The government has unveiled incentives of at least $3.4 billion to expedite its lagging adoption of EVs as Prime Minister Narendra Modi vows to reach net zero by 2070. The idea is that manufacturing the costliest component — batteries — locally will make the end product more affordable for the mass market and set the country up as a potential exporter, tapping into surging global demand.

Read more

OPINION: Trudeau’s real North America agenda is reacting to Biden’s industrial strategy – by Campbell Clark (Globe and Mail – January 11, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It was nice that U.S. President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, tacked a Three Amigos summit with Justin Trudeau onto meetings about Mr. Biden’s more pressing issue: the Mexican border.

The idea of a common North American agenda seems a distant thing for the Mexican and U.S. presidents, both of whom are so wrapped up in domestic politics that there hasn’t been a lot of room for continental friendship.

Read more

Ruling in Thacker Pass lithium mine case expected within months – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – January 5, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – A U.S. judge said on Thursday she will rule “in the next couple of months” on whether former President Donald Trump erred in 2021 when he approved Lithium Americas Corp’s (LAC.TO) Thacker Pass lithium mining project in northern Nevada.

The timeline further delays the company’s plans to build North America’s largest lithium mine even as Washington pushes to boost domestic production of metals crucial to the green energy transition and wean the country off Chinese supplies.

Read more

B.C. rejects open-pit mine in caribou habitat. Is this a shift for endangered species? – by Ainslie Cruickshank (The Narwhal – January 10, 2023)

The Narwhal

Southern mountain caribou in B.C. are increasingly rare. Rarer still is a mine project rejected under the province’s environmental assessment process. Yet, that’s just what happened to the Sukunka coal mine proposed by Swiss mining giant Glencore in the Peace River region of northeast B.C.

The mine — which would have operated over a lifespan of 20 years and generated 1.5 to 2.5 million tonnes of metallurgical coal each year from six open pits — was soundly rejected in December, primarily due to its impacts on the endangered Quintette caribou herd.

Read more

The race to mine mining waste – by John Lorinc (Corporate Knights – January 9, 2023)

https://www.corporateknights.com/

Could metal-eating bacteria that break down mining waste be key to sustainable battery minerals?

For generations, the topography of Sudbury, Ontario, has been brutally defined by towering slag heaps and vast orange-hued tailings ponds – the physical legacy of almost 140 years of nickel mining and smelting by resource giants like Inco and Falconbridge.

By 1910, in fact, Sudbury’s mines were supplying 80% of the world’s nickel. But by the late 20th century, the industrial fallout – corrosive air pollution, acid rain and a legacy of seemingly intractable contamination – revealed the extraordinary environmental cost of those resource riches.

Read more

Remaining staff to be terminated as receivership approved for Caribou mine – by Shane Magee (CBC News New Brunswick – January 10, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/

A British Columbia judge approved an order Monday to place Trevali Mining (New Brunswick) Ltd. in receivership later this month, resulting in the termination of remaining Caribou mine employees.

Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick granted the order after a hearing in Vancouver on Monday. The company will be placed in receivership at 11:59 p.m. PT on Jan. 24. Receivership allows secured creditors to recover what they’re owed when a company defaults on its payments.

Read more