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Centerra extends Mount Milligan mine by four years to 2033 – by Jackson Chen (Canadian Mining Journal – October 4, 2022)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Centerra Gold (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU) has provided an updated life of mine plan for its Mount Milligan mine located in central B.C. that would extend the open pit mining and milling operation by four years to 2033. The updated life of mine plan (LOM) incorporates an increased mineral reserve base compared to 2021 year-end calculations.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Mount Milligan deposit is estimated to contain proven and probable reserves totalling 246.2 million tonnes at 0.37 g/t gold and 0.18% copper, containing approximately 2.9 million oz. of gold and 1 billion lb. of copper. These reserves were classified as approximately 30% proven and 70% probable on a tonnage basis.

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Ukraine accuses Russia of pushing for change to Kimberley Process, amid call for ‘conflict diamonds’ label (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 5, 2022)

https://www.abc.net.au/

Ukraine has accused Moscow of trying to protect Russian gems from being branded “conflict diamonds” by pushing its ally Belarus to the top of an international diamond certification body.

Some members of the Kimberley Process (KP) — an international scheme implemented in 2003, consisting of a coalition of governments, industry and civil society that certifies diamonds — have called for diamonds from Russia, the world’s top producer by volume, to be labelled “conflict diamonds”.

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Sulawesi islanders grieve land lost to nickel mine – by Eko Rusdianto Mongabay.com – October 6, 2022)

https://news.mongabay.com/

WAWONII ISLAND, Indonesia — The coconut palm has been a source of food and identity for centuries among the people of Wawonii Island. In the local language wawo means above and ni’i is the word for coconut — Wawonii is an island crowned by coconuts. “Now it has become a mine,” said Abdul Latif, a farmer born here in Roko-Roko village. “Wawonii should just be renamed.”

Like many areas of Indonesia’s nickel-rich Sulawesi region, Wawonii is caught in the tension between international demand for green energy and the need to preserve landscapes. Indonesia accounts for both some of the world’s largest reserves of nickel and its third-largest tropical forests.

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Australia could grab 20% of the world’s lithium refining by 2027 – by James Fernyhough (Bloomberg News – October 3, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Australia is poised to grab a fifth of the world’s lithium hydroxide refining capacity within five years as demand grows for battery metals that bypass China, Canberra said in a report.

China produces more than 80% of the world’s lithium hydroxide, a processed form of the in-demand metal, according to the International Energy Agency. However, several companies are building refineries in Australia that would turn locally-mined lithium ore into battery-grade chemicals.

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Column: Third European smelter closure compounds zinc conundrum – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 6, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Europe’s energy crisis is taking a rising toll on the region’s industrial capacity with another zinc smelter going into care and maintenance. Glencore (GLEN.L) is curtailing production at its Nordenham plant in Germany citing “various external factors affecting the business and wider European industry.”

It’s the third West European zinc smelter to close over the last year as operators struggle to cope with surging power prices. Smelting has turned out to be the weakest link in the global zinc supply chain this year, creating pockets of extreme tightness in the physical market.

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‘Good Samaritan’ bill aims to allow cleanup of abandoned, leaking mines – by Emilee Miranda (Cronkite News – September 30, 2022)

https://news.azpm.org/

A bill in Congress could help Arizona clean up old mines.

Arizona could have as many as 100,000 abandoned mines, many leaching toxic minerals into the state’s waterways, but state environmental officials said cleanup has been hampered by the fear of litigation.

That’s why Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Misael Cabrera was testifying Thursday in support of a proposed federal “good Samaritan” law aimed at addressing the issue. The bill would let organizations step in and clean up long-abandoned mines without fear of the legal liability that could have attached to their now-absent owners.

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When it comes to Canada’s EV dominance, less may be more – by David Olive (Toronto Star – October 1, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

The existing Canadian EV supply-chain infrastructure might have sufficient momentum to provide enormous economic benefit without immediate additional public funds, David Olive writes.

“Batteries are fast becoming the engines of the global economy,” say the authors of a report this month that urges Canada to accelerate its progress in a new industry that will define the 21st-century clean-energy economy more than most.

The energy and economic analysts who prepared the report, called Canada’s New Economic Engine, believe Canada can become a global leader in developing, manufacturing and exporting advanced electric vehicle (EV) technology, with an emphasis on the ever-more-sophisticated batteries that power EVs.

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Baffinland gets a green light to continue mining in Nunavut, saving more than 1,000 jobs – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – October 5, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

The federal government approved Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s request for a bigger extraction limit at its mine on Baffin Island, avoiding the firing of more than 1,000 workers who had been told they would lose their jobs this month unless their employer was given permission to ramp up production.

Baffinland, owned by private equity firm Energy and Minerals Group and steel giant ArcelorMittal SA, sent the termination notices at the end of July, putting pressure on regulators to make a decision on its request to increase its extraction limit of iron ore to six million tonnes from the original allowance of 4.2 million tonnes.

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Surging coal, lithium prices can’t stem sell-off in top 50 mining stocks – by Frik Els (Mining.com – October 5, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Volatility on metal and mining markets continued in the third quarter with copper losing sight of record prices hit in March, gold’s bounce back sputtering, lithium doubling in price year to date, coal surging to unprecedented levels, potash advancing to a 14-year peak and uranium experiencing the best market since Fukushima.

The MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners lost $134 billion – based on primary exchange share price movements converted into US dollar – over the course of the third quarter and are now worth $1.22 trillion.

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Gold prices sees solid selling pressure as U.S. economy created 263K jobs in September – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – October 07, 2022)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market has dropped into negative territory, and tested support above $1,700 an ounce following stronger-than-expected labor market data.

Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said 263,000 jobs were created in September. The data beat expectations economists were forecasting job gains of around 248,000. At the same time the unemployment rate fell sharply to 3.5%, down from August’s reading at 3.7%. Economists were expecting the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.

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Nickel primed for another price bounce amid fears of Russian nickel ban – by Tim Treadgold (Small Caps – October 6, 2022)

https://smallcaps.com.au/

Nickel is unlikely to soon test its all-time high of US$50,000 a tonne reached earlier this year when a Chinese billionaire was caught in a spectacular short squeeze, but there are early signs of conditions developing which point to a price bounce.

The major issues with nickel are reliability and quality of supply, with both stoking a slow-burning fire under a metal once used mainly in the production of stainless steel but increasingly as an ingredient in batteries.

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France Mulls New Uranium Plant to Cut West’s Reliance on Russia – by Francois de Beaupuy (Bloomberg News – October 7, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — French state-controlled uranium producer Orano SA is considering growing its capacity to enrich the radioactive ore into nuclear fuel by almost 50% as Western governments and utilities seek to reduce their reliance on Russia since its attack on Ukraine.

The war is “reviving the urgency” to raise Western uranium-enrichment capacity to avoid potential shortages, Orano said, according to a statement of France’s public debate committee. The cost of the capacity extension from 7.5 million to 11 million so-called separative work units at its plant in central France is estimated at 1.3 billion euros ($1.3 billion).

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U.S. steps away from flagship lithium project with Buffett’s Berkshire – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – October 5, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

Oct 5 (Reuters) – In a February meeting with mining executives, President Joe Biden laid out an aggressive goal for the United States to produce more of its own minerals for the electric vehicle revolution in ways that respected the environment.

A “big part” of those efforts, the president said, was a plan by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc to filter lithium from superhot geothermal brines swirling beneath California’s Salton Sea, something that had never been done before.

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The changing democratic tide – by Conrad Black (MSM.com/National Post – October 1, 2022)

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/

“But countries such as Germany, which shut down much of its nuclear and coal generating capacity to clamp its national lips around the gas pipe from Russia, is now, as former U.S. President Donald Trump and many others warned, paying for its energy vassalage to the Kremlin.”

There is now a clearly discernible international movement away from the fiscal indulgence of the faddish left and the collective self-blame of the majority across much of the democratic world.

Following the overwhelming and almost bloodless victory of democratic free enterprise over international Marxism in the Cold War, there was a commendable absence of gloating in the West, but rather a gradually more absurd and complacent experimentation with an idealized political fantasy land.

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The case for low-grade sulfide nickel deposits – by Richard (Rick) Mills (A Head Of The Herd – October 4, 2022)

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Nickel deposits come in two forms: sulfide or laterite. About 60% of the world’s known nickel resources are laterites, which tend to be in the southern hemisphere. The remaining 40% are sulfide deposits. The main benefit of sulfide ores is that they can be concentrated using the fairly simple flotation technique.

There is no such technique for nickel laterites. The rock must be completely molten or dissolved to enable nickel extraction. As a result, laterite projects require large economies of scale at higher capital costs to be viable. They are also generally much higher cash-cost producers than sulfide operations.

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