Republic of Mining

Manono Lithium-Tin Project (Mining Technology – March 9, 2021)

October 31, 2022

The Manono Lithium-Tin Project is an open-pit mining development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in central Africa. It is estimated to be one of the largest lithium-rich LCT (lithium, caesium, tantalum) pegmatite deposits in the world.

AVZ Minerals currently holds a 65% interest in the property while the remaining stake is held by Dathcom Mining, a joint venture between AVZ Minerals and La Congolaise D’Exploitation Miniere of the DRC Government. AVZ Minerals reached an agreement to acquire an additional 10% equity in the project for $15.5m in September 2020.

It’s Better to Mine the World’s Rainforests Than Farm Them – by David Fickling (Washington Post/Bloomberg – October 31, 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

As if the world’s rainforests didn’t have enough problems to contend with, even the transition to zero-carbon power is threatening to level them. Industrial mining ate up 3,265 square kilometers (1,260 square miles) of tropical forest between 2002 and 2019, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Some 80% of that total happened in just four countries: Indonesia, Brazil, Ghana and Suriname.

With the COP27 climate conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh next week expected to increase the focus on the climate needs of developing countries, that’s raised concerns that there isn’t enough land to manage a shift away from fossil fuels.

How big coal companies avoid cleaning up their messes – by Josh Saul, Zach Mider and Dave Mistich (Cap Radio.org – October 29, 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://www.capradio.org/

Miles Hatfield was walking into his dining room when he felt the wooden floor give way. His legs dropped hip-deep into water that had pooled under the brick house in the green hills of eastern Kentucky where he had lived for the past 40 years, trapping him in his own floor.

Hatfield, a retired coal miner, raised two boys in the house a few miles from the West Virginia border and added on five rooms as his family grew. But the red water running off from the nearby Love Branch coal mine had turned his backyard into a marsh, ruined his septic system, and finally sucked him through his floor three years ago.

The Lithium Market Is Hotter Than Ever and Traders Are Moving In – by Mark Burton, Archie Hunter and Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – October 29, 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — When the oil market liberalized in the 1970s, a group of commodity trading buccaneers led by the infamous Marc Rich made fortunes by connecting buyers and sellers and surfing the price swings of this newly tradable commodity. Half a century later, some of Rich’s spiritual descendants are hoping to pull off a similar trick in lithium.

A vital component in most electric-vehicle batteries, lithium is becoming one of the world’s most important commodities. Prices have soared to unprecedented levels as demand forecasts keep growing, leaving automakers scrambling to secure future supplies.

Ottawa cracks down on foreign state-owned investments into Canadian critical minerals industry after facing criticism it went too easy on China – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 29, 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The federal government is tightening the rules to make it considerably harder for foreign state-owned firms to invest in Canadian critical-minerals companies, after it faced harsh criticism earlier this year for allowing too much Chinese investment into domestic resource firms.

Effective immediately, transactions involving investments by state-owned firms into Canadian critical-minerals companies will only be approved on an “exceptional basis,” the government of Canada said in a release.

Poland building its first nuclear power plant is ‘A clear message to Russia: We will not let them weaponize energy any longer’ (Associated Press/Fortune Magazine – October 29, 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://fortune.com/

Poland has chosen the U.S. government and Westinghouse to build the central European country’s first nuclear power plant, part of an effort to burn less coal and gain greater energy independence.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said late Friday on Twitter that Poland would use the “reliable, safe technology” of the Westinghouse Electric Company for the plant in Pomerania province near the Baltic Sea coast. The exact location remains to be identified.

Latin America Is Becoming China’s Backyard – by Juan Cortinas and Peter Schechter (Brink News – October 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://www.brinknews.com/

Growing economic needs, Chinese ambition, and hard cash are giving China a stronger and stronger foothold in Latin America. The underlying reasons for China’s success include China’s domestic demand for Latin American agriculture and mining and raw materials, and the U.S.’s inability to take a concerted interest in the region, along with the political turmoil in Washington.

The old idea, enshrined in the Monroe Doctrine, that Latin America is “America’s backyard,” over which it could dominate, has been relegated to the dustbin of history.

The Monroe Doctrine Has Been Replaced

It is hard not to be impressed by the extent of China’s growing economic footprint in the region.

OPINION: The climate hypocrisy of rich countries – by Bjorn Lomborg (Globe and Mail – October 31, 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Every year, global climate summits feature a parade of hypocrisy, as the world’s elite arrive on private jets to lecture humanity on cutting carbon emissions.

But this November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt will offer even more breathtaking hypocrisy than usual, because the world’s rich will zealously lecture poor countries about the dangers of fossil fuels – after themselves devouring massive amounts of new gas, coal and oil.

Tesla held discussions over taking stake in Glencore – by Leslie Hook and Harry Dempsey (Financial Times – October 31, 2022)

October 31, 2022

https://www.ft.com/

Talks over buying up to 20 per cent of miner reflect carmakers’ concerns over supplies of battery metals

Tesla held talks with Glencore about taking a stake in the Swiss commodities group, in a sign of how global carmakers are seeking to build ties with the mining industry to secure materials needed for the rollout of electric vehicles.

Preliminary discussions about Elon Musk’s electric car and battery maker buying 10-20 per cent of Glencore began last year, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Canadian resources coveted by Asian superpower – by Nelson Bennett (Business In Vancouver – October 26, 2022)

October 27, 2022

https://biv.com/

As China’s “wolf warrior diplomacy” has strained Sino-Canadian relations in recent years, there is a growing sentiment in Canada that it’s time to rethink Canada’s relations with China and look for better trade partners.

“We should continue to trade, but we should avoid strategic vulnerabilities in our supply chains and our economies more broadly,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a recent speech at the Brookings Institute.

Teck Resources’ oilsands exit will allow it to lean into ‘low-carbon metals,’ says CEO – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – October 27, 2022)

October 27, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Miner sells its 21.3% stake in Fort Hills oilsands site to Suncor for $1 billion

Teck Resources Ltd. announced its long-telegraphed exit from Alberta’s oilsands Thursday, in a deal to sell its 21.3 per cent stake in the Fort Hills project to Suncor Energy Inc. for $1 billion.

Fort Hills, the most recently constructed oilsands mine located north of Fort McMurray, Alta., has been plagued by a series of operational and market glitches that restricted it from full production since operations started in 2018. When the deal goes through, Suncor will own a 75.3 per cent stake in the project with France’s TotalEnergies SE holding the remainder.

Mining the Northwest: Charged up lithium explorers move toward mine production – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 26, 2022)

October 27, 2022

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Green Tech Metals buys out partner, Rock Tech Lithium firms up European supply chain

A pair of lithium junior miners in northwestern Ontario are making moves to consolidate ground and firm up its supply chain to feed the downstream electric vehicle manufacturers.

Australia’s Green Technology Metals is dissolving a joint venture partnership with Ardiden to acquire the remaining 20 per cent stake in its Ontario lithium properties. The deal worth (Australian) $18.5 million gives Green Tech full control of three lithium holdings including Seymour, located just outside of Armstrong, that the company is touting as a mine development.

Will Africa’s metals boom suffer the same curse as oil? (The Citizen/AFP – October 26, 2022)

October 27, 2022

https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/

Mechanical diggers are hard at work in the bleak landscape of the Moanda open-cast mine in Gabon, using giant jaws to rip out manganese and then dump the ore into trucks with a crash.

“We’re lucky here in Moanda. We find it about five to six metres (about 18 feet) below the surface,” said manager Olivier Kassibi, whose mine yields 36 tonnes of manganese each day.

Greenstone builds on a good-neighbour philosophy – by Alexandra Lopez-Pacheco (CIM Magazine – October 14, 2022)

October 27, 2022

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

When fully built and commissioned in the first half of 2024, Greenstone Gold Mines, located in northwestern Ontario – a 60-40 partnership between Equinox Gold and Orion Mine Finance Group – will be one of Canada’s largest gold mines.

Located in the municipality of Greenstone, some 250 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay – an area that was home to numerous underground mines from the 1930s to the 1970s – the US$1.225 billion project is expected to produce an average of 366,000 ounces of gold annually over its 14-year mine life. Its all-in sustaining cost is calculated to be US$803 per ounce, putting it in the lower third of the industry average.

How the DRC became the battleground of a proxy war over precious resources – by Andres Schipani (Financial Times – October 27, 2022)

October 27, 2022

https://www.ft.com/

Local and foreign-backed forces are waging a deadly offensive in the mineral-rich heart of Africa

Some residents of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo simply call it la guerre sans fin — the war without end. One morning in August, Abigael Bahati felt it in her skin as she searched for cassava leaves close to the village of Kanombe.

“I was hungry and I had gone to look for food but I was caught,” says the 28-year-old mother of an 18-month-old baby. “They took me away and raped me,” she recalls, adding that others fled in fear of their lives.