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Tariff battle set to escalate this week with U.S. levies on Canadian steel and aluminum – by Clare O’Hara (Globe and Mail – March 10, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The U.S. says 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum are still set to take effect on Wednesday, a move that would escalate the trade war between the two countries that President Donald Trump launched last week.

Mr. Trump initiated 25-per-cent tariffs on all Canadian goods last Tuesday, with energy and critical minerals facing a 10-per-cent tariff. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quickly retaliated with 25-per-cent tariffs on $30-billion worth of imported goods from the U.S., rising to $155-billion if the U.S. levies aren’t lifted.

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BC mineral exploration continues to slide – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – March 5, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Mining is a cornerstone of British Columbia’s economy – employing roughly 40,000 workers, paying C$1.1 billion ($760 million) in taxes, and contributing C$11.2 billion ($7.7 billion) to the province’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, the mineral exploration investments needed to advance the next generation of B.C. mines are on the decline.

Mineral exploration spending fell to $552 million in 2024. According to data collected by Ernst & Young for its annual British Columbia Mineral and Coal Exploration Survey, this marks the second consecutive year of declining mineral exploration.

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Dubai’s Meteoric Rise to Global Diamond Hub – by Avi Krawitz (Rapaport Magazine – February 18, 2025)

New Home

The Emirati city’s central location and favorable business conditions have helped push it to prominence as a trading center.

Amid the frantic schedule of Dubai Diamond Week in November, executives of KGK Group casually welcomed visitors to their new diamond and jewelry office. Nestled on the 51st floor of Almas Tower, home of the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE), the 1,200-square-meter space has a spectacular view of the Jumeirah Lakes Towers district and the ever-rising Dubai skyline.

KGK, a Mumbai-based manufacturer, expanded its presence in Almas to accommodate the distribution of polished diamonds from its non-Indian manufacturing facilities. Its factories in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa account for 50% to 60% of the company’s production, says vice chairman Sanjay Kothari.

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Exclusive: Trump seeks minerals refining on Pentagon bases to boost US output, sources say – by Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters – March 10, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

March 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump aims to build metals refining facilities on Pentagon military bases as part of his plan to boost domestic production of critical minerals and offset China’s control of the sector, two senior administration officials told Reuters.

The move is one of several planned for an executive order Trump could sign as soon as Wednesday after he told the U.S. Congress last week he would “take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA.”

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Nickel miners dig up Indonesia’s Gebe Island despite Indigenous and legal opposition – by Jaya Barends (Mongabay.com – March 11, 2025)

Mongabay – Conservation News

GEBE ISLAND, Indonesia — Abdul Manan Magtiblo watched the excavator dump a piece of Gebe Island into the back of a truck. Barely a thicket remained on the buzz-cut upland above Umera village as the vehicle drove off to the nearby port.

“That’s the PT Bartra Putra Mulia [BPM] nickel mine,” Manan, the village chief, told Mongabay Indonesia. Locals like Manan say life has become harder since 2020, when the company began operating here on Gebe, a remote island of fewer than 6,000 people in the Halmahera Sea, on Indonesia’s Pacific rim.

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U.S. markets slide after Trump signals economic pain ahead – by Tim Kiladze and Darcy Keith (Globe and Mail – March 11, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Growing fears that U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to endure a recession to combat American trade deficits is sending stock market investors into panic mode, with the S&P 500 Index, the U.S. benchmark, extending its slide after wiping out all its gains since the U.S. election in November.

Over the weekend, Mr. Trump warned that his plan to bring more manufacturing back to the United States could lead to a “period of transition” – a gentle way of saying economic pain. Neither he nor his cabinet members walked the commentary back on Monday, and investors kept dumping stocks.

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World’s biggest miners cut back on exploration investment – by Camilla Hodgson (Financial Times – March 9, 2025)

https://www.ft.com/

Reduction comes despite surge in spending on search for metals crucial to energy transition since 2020

The world’s biggest mining groups have cut back spending on exploration in the past two years as inflation, higher interest rates and lower commodity prices have stalled the market. That has come in spite of a flurry of spending this decade on the search for copper and lithium, metals crucial for the energy transition.

Total exploration spending fell for the second consecutive year in 2024, sliding 6 per cent to $12.5bn, after rising in the years following the pandemic, according to S&P Capital IQ. Yet investment in lithium exploration has risen every year since 2020, and had jumped 360 per cent to $1.1bn in 2024 compared with four years previously.

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Ontario First Nation leaders tell resource companies not to negotiate with provincial Métis group (CBC News Sudbury – March 5, 2025)

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

The Métis Nation of Ontario rejects allegations that it’s not a legitimate rights holder

Ontario First Nation leaders used this week’s Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference to demand that resource companies not negotiate with the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO).

They say the Métis group has no legitimate right to be consulted on projects on their lands or to benefit from such projects – an allegation the MNO rejects. “There are no historic Métis in our territories,” said Jason Batise, the executive director of the Wabun Tribal Council.

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The future for nuclear is bright, but only if we learn lessons of the past – by Erin O’Toole (Financial Post – March 5, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Canada was the third country to achieve nuclear fission, but our history is littered with cautionary tales and cost overruns

As Canada prepares to meet its growing energy needs, there is no longer debate about the central role nuclear will play.

Critics have become converts in what is being called the “nuclear renaissance,” but before we break ground on the next generation of reactors, Canadian policymakers must answer one crucial question: Who bears the risk for cost overruns, and how do we prevent them in the first place? If we fail to get this right, we will struggle to expand nuclear power precisely when we need it most.

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Why critical minerals are a bargaining chip in the Canada-U.S. trade war – by Aya Dufour (CBC News Sudbury – March 06, 2025)

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

Canadian mining interests say U.S. has few options as China dominates supply chains

Over history, gold and silver coins have been major trade darlings, and can still spur investor frenzy depending on how they’re faring in markets. But as industries and economies deepen their dependence on critical minerals, these metals appear to be becoming as valuable as any commodity or currency.

Last week, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aimed to sign a minerals deal with the U.S. in hopes of securing longer-term support during the war against Russia. But the Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump was cut short and any deal put on hold as the two, along with the U.S. vice-president, got wrapped up in a fiery exchange.

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Rio Tinto creates lithium unit after completing $6.7B Arcadium deal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 6, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto has officially completed its $6.7 billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium, which will become Rio Tinto Lithium. The newly formed unit will take control of Rio’s $2.5 billion Rincon project in Argentina but will not include the mining giant’s Jadar lithium project in Serbia.

The acquisition of Arcadium, announced in October, marks Rio’s largest deal in more than a decade. It positions it among the world’s largest lithium miners, trailing only US-based Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) and Chile’s SQM.

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Growing port in Manitoba gives more access to international markets amid U.S. trade uncertainty – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Saskatoon StarPhoenix – March 5, 2025)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

Arctic Gateway Group plans to double the amount of critical minerals shipped out of the Port of Churchill

As reliable Canadian access to the United States continues to be uncertain, one group is continuing its efforts to give the country’s shippers more options for selling their goods.

Arctic Gateway Group LP, which owns and operates the Port of Churchill in northern Manitoba, said it plans to double the amount of critical minerals, specifically zinc concentrate, that will be shipped out of the port. It also announced plans to triple the port’s critical mineral storage capacity.

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Opinion | Trumps hunger for critical minerals is an opportunity for a made in Canada solution – by Flavio Volpe (Toronto Star – March 4, 2025)

https://www.thestar.com/

Canada faces a direct economic sovereignty challenge from U.S. President Donald Trump. The spectre of general tariffs and the weaponization of U.S. federal investments loom over Canada’s integrated manufacturing sector.

Canada should take this moment not just to defend itself but to set some of its own terms. We need a bold strategy focused on critical mineral extraction and processing capacity. Canada holds some of the world’s most valuable untapped resources that could rebalance our economic leverage in North America.

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Panama’s US$10 billion copper mine faces tough road to restart – by Michael McDonald (Bloomberg News – March 03, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino flew over the nation’s flagship copper mine this week, getting a good look at the idled project — and raising investor hopes for a restart of the US$10 billion operation.

It was a “truly impressive” sight, Mulino told reporters in Panama City on Thursday as he vowed to explore “novel ideas” for the mine ordered shut in late-2023 after an eruption of environmental protests and political turmoil.

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With province facing tariffs, new OMA study finds Ontario exported $42B in mineral exports to U.S. in 2023 – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – March 5, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

A new report published by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), supported by Ontario’s Ministry of Mines, reveals Ontario’s domestic mineral exports—minerals and metals extracted in the province—were valued at $64 billion in 2023, making up over a quarter of Ontario’s total exported goods.

Ontario’s mineral exports to the United States totaled $42 billion, including $5.7 billion from critical minerals such as platinum group metals, nickel, copper, uranium and zinc. Fifty-Seven per cent of all Ontario’s critical mineral exports went to the United States.

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