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Critical mining was the highlight of 2022 – by Tamer Elbokl, PhD (Canadian Mining Journal – December 4, 2022)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

While the world recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, the year 2022 has been a good year for the “critical mining” sector in Canada supported by several announcements by the federal and provincial governments.

Developed in consultation with provincial, territorial, and industry experts, Canada now has a list of minerals it considers to be “critical.” Currently, it consists of 31 minerals; however, the list will be reviewed every three years and revised if needed.

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Outrageous! This is what gets gold to $3,000 in 2023, says Saxo Bank – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – December 6, 2022)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Global economic uncertainty and heightened geopolitical tensions will create a “worldwide war economy” that prioritizes domestic supplies and price caps, ensuring that inflation will remain persistently high through 2023.

Taken to its extreme, this scenario will be very good for gold, with Saxo Bank offering an “outrageous” forecast of $3,000 an ounce. “2023 is the year that the market finally discovers that inflation is set to remain ablaze for the foreseeable future,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at the Danish bank, said in the report.

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Heating up: Montreal company overcoming obstacles to build a lab-grown diamond market – by Marisa Coulton (Financial Post – December 6, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Philipe Henriques has always had reservations about the diamond industry. “I’m pretty sure a lot of us have seen the movie Blood Diamond,” the high school social studies teacher said.

The 2006 film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a diamond smuggler in civil war-era Sierra Leone, where warlords force captive men to sift for the precious stones through muddy water at gunpoint. “I don’t think it’s always like that,” he said. “But I still think there are a lot of injustices.”

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Glencore says this time is different for coming copper shortage – by Staff (Mining.com – December 6, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Glencore Plc added its voice to a chorus of miners warning of coming copper shortages, arguing that a “huge deficit” is looming for the crucial industrial metal.

Chief Executive Officer Gary Nagle said that while some people were assuming that the industry would lift supplies as it had in previous cycles to meet a forecast increase in demand driven by the energy transition, “this time it is going to be a bit different.”

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Lithium-Rich Argentina Presses US for Exception to Tap EV Tax Bonanza – by James Fernyhough, Yvonne Yue Li, Patrick Gillespie and Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – December 2, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The world’s fastest-growing lithium producer is lobbying hard to gain access to President Joe Biden’s new electric vehicle tax credits, despite Argentina not meeting the requirement of being a US free-trade partner. So far, it’s being rebuffed.

Designed to end China’s overwhelming dominance of the critical metals sector and passed in August, Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act has been welcomed as a landmark climate law that will boost EV manufacture and uptake in the US. But to qualify for the credits, it requires 80% of the battery metals in each vehicle to be “extracted or processed” in the US or a country with US free-trade agreement by 2027.

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Canada must have ‘control’ of its critical minerals supply: Trudeau – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 5, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

PM: Creating secure battery minerals supply chains ensure Canada’s reliability as an international partner

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made no apologies for cracking down on Chinese investment in Canadian mining projects that produce the coveted critical minerals needed to power the clean energy economy.

In a Dec. 5 news conference showcasing Canada’s first full-scale electric vehicle plant at General Motor’s CAMI Assembly complex in Ingersoll, Trudeau emphasized the importance for Canada to have “control” of its own sources of critical minerals, like nickel and lithium, and the downstream processing facilities that produce the battery-ready material used in electric vehicle production.

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Yukonomist: The past, present and future of mining and the Yukon economy, Part 1 – by Keith Halliday (Yukon News – December 4, 2022)

https://www.yukon-news.com/

The Geoscience 50th Anniversary conference recently took place at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre. Chatting with old friends and meeting new ones was a lot of fun. It was fascinating to hear about new mining technology and mineral discoveries made since the last in-person Geoscience way back in the before times.

And it was heartwarming to meet the children and grandchildren of Yukon geologists, diamond drillers and mining lawyers who are now starting their own careers in the business. I’d last seen some of these young Yukoners on the minor soccer fields of Whitehorse. They are now, literally, the future of Yukon mining.

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There’s a lithium mining boom, but it’s not a jobs bonanza – by Camila Domonoske (Nevada Public Radio – December 5, 2022)

https://knpr.org/

The town of Tonopah, Nev., was born out of a silver rush. A frantic race to extract a natural resource created a town of more than 10,000 people — for a while. Today, Tonopah is home to a little over 2,000 people. But there’s a new mining boom in town.

You can see it when you check in at the old Mitzpah Hotel, all faded glory, ghost stories and tales about Wyatt Earp. Above the cash register, next to a chandelier, a screen advertises a lithium exploration company. And forty minutes outside of town, Silver Peak lithium mine is in the process of doubling production.

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Mass Protests in Mongolia Decry ‘Coal Mafia,’ Corruption – by Julian Dierkes (The Diplomat – December 6, 2022)

https://thediplomat.com/

For the second time this year, Mongolians are protesting against the government in significant numbers. In April, protests seemed to primarily grow out of younger Mongolians’ disappointed expectations with the government.

Today’s protests were sparked by apparent revelations about grand corruption, involving coal deliveries by state-owned Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi, one of the country’s largest mining companies, to China.

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DR Congo: Miner Glencore pays $180m in latest corruption case – by Daniel Thomas (British Broadcasting Corporation – December 5, 2022)

https://www.bbc.com/

The Swiss-based mining company, Glencore, has said it will pay $180m (£147m) to the Democratic Republic of Congo to settle corruption claims. The agreement covers an 11-year period from 2007 to 2018.

It is the latest in a series of corruption cases which has seen Glencore agree to pay out more than $1.6bn in fines this year. In May it admitted bribing officials in several African nations including DR Congo (DRC). The Congolese government has told the BBC it is not commenting.

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Russian mercenaries accused of using violence to corner diamond trade – by Mary Ilyushina and Francesca Ebel (Washington Post – December 6, 2022)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

A Russian mercenary group that has gained international attention for its role in the war in Ukraine is also active in one of Africa’s poorest countries, using violence and extortion in an effort to corner its extremely lucrative diamond industry, according to a new report issued by European-based researchers.

Individuals linked to the Wagner Group, which is most infamous for its brutal tactics in eastern Ukraine, have set up a shell company in the Central African Republic (CAR) to secure and sell diamonds, say researchers from two groups, France-based All Eyes on Wagner and the London-based Dossier Center, sponsored by exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and European Investigative Collaborations, a network of news organizations.

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Canadians are now paying the price for past views on debt – by Russell Napier (Toronto Star – December 5, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

There is much pointing of fingers across the developed world as to who or what is to blame for the sudden dire economic conditions that confront us. Is the current malaise the result of the war in Ukraine and high oil prices?

Is it to do with the sudden and, to some, surprising appearance of inflation? In the United Kingdom some blame a risky “dash for growth” by a now deposed administration and of course there is always Brexit to blame for everything that goes wrong.

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GM converts Ontario plant to Canada’s first full-scale electric vehicle maker – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – December 5, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

The first electric delivery vans rolled off the line Monday at a General Motors Co. plant in Ingersoll, Ont., that has been making gas-powered vehicles for more than three decades. The CAMI assembly plant was retooled to make the BrightDrop Zevo 600, making it Canada’s first full-scale electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility.

GM received $259 million each from the Ontario and federal governments in April for the conversion and aims to manufacture about 50,000 EVs a year at the plant by 2025.

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Chinese Carmaker BYD Eyes Chilean Lithium Deals in Search for EV Fuel – by James Attwood, Yvonne Yue Li and Danny Lee (Bloomberg News – December 6, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chinese electric-car juggernaut BYD Co. is looking to get into the lithium business in Latin America and Africa after prices of the key battery component surged to “unreasonable” and “not healthy” levels.

BYD is scouring the world for lithium supplies, Executive Vice President Stella Li said in an interview Tuesday. In Chile, it’s in talks to enter into a mining project and is applying for permits to process the raw material into cathode for batteries. The automaker is also looking to invest in African lithium projects, although it’s detected infrastructure shortfalls there.

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Column: Tin must tame its wildness to meet coming demand surge – by Andy Home (Reuters – December 6, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – The world is going to need another 50,000 tonnes of tin per year by 2030 to meet a looming surge in demand, according to the International Tin Association (ITA).

Tin is an often overlooked critical mineral, commonly associated with the humble tin can, even though packaging today accounts for only 12% of global usage. Almost half the tin consumed every year is now used as a solder in circuit boards.

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