Republic of Mining

New Vale Canada mine in Sudbury worth almost $1 billion – by Staff (Sudbury Star – October 13, 2022)

October 13, 2022

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Premier Doug Ford among those to celebrate opening of Copper Cliff Complex South Mine Project

Vale Canada Limited on Thursday officially opened the initial phase of its CDN$945 million Copper Cliff Complex South Mine Project in Sudbury.

“This first phase of the Copper Cliff Mine Complex South Project enhances our supply of low-carbon nickel and other critical minerals and adds to the long-term sustainability of our Sudbury operations,” Deshnee Naidoo, executive vice-president of Vale’s Base Metals business, said in a release. “The successful delivery of this project is a major accomplishment for Vale and great news for Sudbury and the Province of Ontario.”

GMS: Mining veteran Doug Silver on the ‘massive role’ of Canadians in global mining – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – October 11, 2022)

October 13, 2022October 13, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

Canadians may be a modest bunch, but when it comes to our importance in the global mining industry, we could stand to brag a little.

At The Northern Miner’s Q3 Global Mining Symposium in late September, Douglas Silver presented data showing Canada leads the world in exploration spending (US$800 million per year vs. US$530 million for runner-up Australia); in capital spending on mining (accounting for 35% of the total compared to 13% for Australia); and the number of listed mineral companies (more than 1,400 compared with 661 for Australia).

NWMO reveals concepts for Centre of Expertise in Ignace – by Clint Fleury (Northern Ontario Business – October 13, 2022)

October 13, 2022

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A $21-million Centre of Expertise will accompany deep geological repository for nuclear waste

IGNACE, Ont.— The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) has unveiled its newest project, a $21-million facility for scientists and experts to continue their research on nuclear waste management and a wide variety of disciplines.

The Centre of Expertise will be located in either Ignace or South Bruce, depending on which will of the two is selected as host community for the deep geological repository to house spent nuclear fuel.

[South Africa] Business appeals for swift resolution to Transnet strike, as miners lose R815m a day – by Terence Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – October 13, 2022)

October 13, 2022

https://www.miningweekly.com/

As the impasse between Transnet and its two recognised unions – the United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) – continues, organised business has called for a “swift, sustainable resolution”, as mining exporters warned that they were losing R815-million every day the strike continued.

In a joint statement, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) and Business Leadership South Africa rejected short-term solutions, such as temporarily increasing levies, which they said could have unintended consequences.

VIDEO: Deep-sea miner stock jumps after first seafloor collection since 1970s – by Staff (Mining.com – October 12, 2022)

October 13, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Shares in The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC) jumped on Wednesday after the company said it completed its first collection run of polymetallic nodules more than four kilometres below the surface of the Pacific ocean.

The Vancouver-based company said its production vessel, the Hidden Gem, collected an initial batch of seafloor nodules and transported it up a 4.3km-long riser system to the surface, “in what represents the first integrated system test conducted in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean since the 1970s.”

Australian miner bails on Quebec rare earth projects amid First Nation resistance – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – October 13, 2022)

October 13, 2022October 13, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Vital Metals bills itself as Canada’s first rare earth producer and decision to ditch projects could be significant

Australia’s Vital Metals Ltd. walked away from two Quebec-based projects earlier this week due to objections from the Kebaowek First Nation, the latest evidence that maximizing Canada’s potential to be a player in the energy transition will require a more sophisticated relationship with Indigenous communities.

The Sydney-based company had signed an $8-million agreement with Montreal-based Quebec Precious Metals Corp. (QPM) in August last year to acquire 68- and 100-per-cent interests in the Kipawa and Zeus rare earth projects situated in Quebec’s Témiscamingue region, about 90 kilometres northeast of North Bay, Ont.

Let’s get serious about a Putin-era strategy for energy, economy, climate: Freeland – by James McCarten (Canadian Press/CBC Politics – October 12, 2022)

October 13, 2022

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

Chrystia Freeland is in the U.S. this week for the annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF

Canada’s deputy prime minister urged the world’s democracies Tuesday to confront the hard economic truths of a perilous new world order and seek common cause in the shared values of prosperity, energy security, protecting the planet, and free and fair trade.

Chrystia Freeland delivered an eloquent obituary for the relative peace and stability of the 33 years between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Russia’s “barbaric violation” of Ukrainian sovereignty in late February of this year.

Rio Tinto, Ottawa to invest $737-million in titanium and scandium project in Quebec – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 11, 2022)

May 15, 2024October 13, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Rio Tinto Group and the federal government are planning to invest a combined $737-million to modernize a large Quebec metals processing plant that could see the giant Anglo-Australian miner dramatically cut its emissions and become one of the first North American producers of the critical metal titanium.

Rio Tinto, one of the world’s biggest mining companies, said in a release Tuesday it will invest up to $515-million into the Sorel-Tracy, Que., facility over the next eight years. Ottawa is planning to kick in as much as $222-million for the project over the same time frame.

Radiation Victims Seek Expansion of 32-Year-Old Compensation Act – by Carolyn Campbell (Daily Yonder – October 11, 2022)

October 13, 2022October 13, 2022

Home

Larry King crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair on the stone porch of his ancestral home in Church Rock, New Mexico. The Puerco River, which irrigates ranch land, is just beyond the fence. He breathes heavily, pushing his voice raspy. “I’m 65. I’m one of the younger, aging uranium miners who worked in the uranium mines. My lungs aren’t so good,” he says.

In addition to being a miner, his home borders the site of the largest radioactive spills in U.S history. In July 1979, a dam at the uranium mine broke, releasing over 94 million gallons of toxic waste into the river behind his house and into the fields and water table.

The quest to protect Hudson Bay’s unique coastline, one of Canada’s last, best wild places – by Ivan Semeniuk (Globe and Mail – October 11, 2022)

October 13, 2022October 13, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

This spectacular landscape is also a lens through which to view Canada’s conservation challenge

Sam Hunter was not prepared for what he saw one morning this past July when he stepped out of his cabin near the shore of Hudson Bay. It was a living tide of caribou – more than 3,000 large animals moving, grunting, foraging and otherwise fully occupying the landscape.

“There were so many. … They were so loud,” said Mr. Hunter, who lives in Peawanuck on northern Ontario’s Winisk River and has worked as a guide in the area for years. “It’s something that I haven’t seen since I was about 10 years old.” The timing could not have been better.

New bill introduced to bring the U.S. back to the gold standard to control gov’t spending and inflation – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – October 11, 2022)

October 12, 2022

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – One American politician proposes bringing stability back to the U.S. economy and its currency by introducing a new gold standard.

Last week, U.S. House Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) introduced the Gold Standard Restoration Act. The bill looks to peg the U.S. dollar to gold to address the growing inflation threat, massive deficit spending and instability within the U.S. monetary system.

“The gold standard would protect against Washington’s irresponsible spending habits and the creation of money out of thin air,” said Rep. Mooney in a statement.

In the search for the lithium that will power our future, these three women see a bigger lesson – by Dennis Wagner (Techxplore.com – October 10, 2022)

October 12, 2022

https://techxplore.com/

Three women trek into the barren Nevada desert, boots crunching down a wash until one of them stops at an overhang, pulls out a geology pick, and chips away a chunk of rock. Over the next few minutes, and during hours of interviews, they explain the relationship between this stone and the battery that powers your electric car.

They talk about prehistoric volcanoes, subterranean brine lakes, advanced technology and the mineral that is changing the future of our planet. Lithium. This curiosity of the periodic table is an element so sensitive it can’t be found alone in nature. The pure white metal, when exposed to air, promptly oxidizes and turns black.

‘Beginning of a great clash’: Controversy over Canada’s last copper smelter highlights bumpy green transition – by Marisa Coulton (Financial Post – October 7, 2022)

October 12, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Residents harbour a love-hate relationship with the plant that simultaneously nourishes and poisons their community

For years, the residents of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., a picturesque city of 42,000, some 630 kilometres northwest of Montreal, have contemplated the twin smokestacks that simultaneously nourish and poison their community.

The Horne smelter is owned by Baar, Switzerland-based energy giant Glencore PLC, and is believed responsible for higher rates of lung cancer in the region. It also contributes to lower birth weights, as well as higher rates of diabetes and heart disease, a recent provincial health study showed.

White House Weighs Ban on Russian Aluminum Over Ukraine War Escalation – by Joe Deaux and Jenny Leonard (Bloomberg News – October 12, 2022)

October 12, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The Biden administration is considering a complete ban on Russian aluminum — long shielded from sanctions due to its importance in everything from automobiles and skyscrapers to iPhones — in response to Russia’s military escalation in Ukraine.

The White House is eyeing three options: an outright ban, increasing tariffs to levels so punitive they would impose an effective ban, or sanctioning the company that produces the nation’s metal, United Co. Rusal International PJSC, according to people familiar with the decision-making.

How a Quebec graphite mine is dividing a community’s support for the EV revolution – by Neal Rockwell (Globe and Mail – October 9, 2022)

October 12, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Matawinie mine is part of a larger plan to make Canada into a manufacturing hub for lithium ion batteries. But some worry the project isn’t as clean as it claims to be

The Matawinie graphite mine, located about two hours north of Montreal, is a small part of an ambitious government plan to make Canada into a manufacturing hub for lithium ion batteries. Electric cars can’t function without somewhere to store electricity, the thinking goes, meaning this country needs battery supply chains if it hopes to stay relevant in a future without fossil fuels.

But the mine has not yet begun producing graphite at commercial scale. It is still in the early phases of construction and – like many Canadian resource projects – it is riven with controversy.