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Rio Tinto’s Turquoise Hill takeover in doubt as Quebec’s securities regulator studies fairness of side deal negotiated with dissidents – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 7, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. is postponing its shareholder vote on Rio Tinto PLC’s proposed takeover of the Canadian copper company yet again, as Quebec’s securities regulator considers whether a side deal negotiated with dissident shareholders is legal, injecting even more uncertainty into the market.

London-based Rio last week said it had reached an agreement with Pentwater Capital Management LP and SailingStone Capital Partners LLC, under which they would be paid out 80 per cent of the takeover amount being offered to all Turquoise Hill shareholders and, after a ruling from an arbitrator, the remaining 20 per cent, plus interest, and potentially much more.

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Aluminum-based material can scrub CO2 from coal-fired power plants’ exhaust – by Staff (Mining.com – November 6, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

An international team of researchers is proposing the idea of using aluminum formate – a metal-organic framework (MOF) – to remove carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants’ exhaust before the greenhouse gas reaches the atmosphere.

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, the research group explains that MOFs have exhibited great potential for filtering and separating organic materials—often the various hydrocarbons in fossil fuels—from one another.

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How To Make Mining A Magnet For TikTokers – by Judith Magyar (Forbes Magazine – November 1, 2022)

https://www.forbes.com/

Getting young people interested in adding value to society through the mining industry is something Marcelo Santos, General Manager of Digital Technologies, Nexa Resources thinks about a lot. Besides supervising, implementing, and maintaining the company’s computing needs, Santos’ role is to attract and retain the right talent to keep operations running smoothly. Not only that – his team must be agile and skillful enough to successfully navigate the monumental changes facing the industry.

“We have to make mining more attractive to the TikTok generation,” said Marcelo Santos, General Manager of Digital Technologies, Nexa Resources, at SAP’s recent International Conference for Mining and Metals. “These are people with university degrees who can change the world.”

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Column-Canada slams the door on China in critical minerals race – by Andy Home (Reuters – November 4, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

The Canadian government this week ordered Chinese companies to divest their holdings in three Canadian-listed junior mining companies planning to develop lithium deposits.

The ban comes within days of Canada announcing a tougher policy on investment in the minerals sector by state-owned entities, particularly those from China, which dominates the processing of key energy transition metals such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths.

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Barrick CEO sees few decent deals in ‘fragmented’ gold industry – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – November 3, 2022)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s top executive says he’s on the hunt for more gold deals — there just aren’t many appealing choices.

The world’s No. 2 bullion producer is keeping “a sharp outlook for M&A opportunities,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said Thursday in his company’s third-quarter earnings report, though those that could pass the company’s strict investment criteria “are few and far between.”

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Cochrane-area cesium explorer willing to stand its ground against Ottawa – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – November 4, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Power Metals and Hong Kong partner plan to appeal federal divestment order

A junior miner searching for cesium and lithium in northeastern Ontario said its Hong Kong financing partner intends to appeal a Canadian government order to pull its investment from the critical minerals exploration project.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual Power Metals said of its ongoing exploration drilling at its Case Lake Project site, 80 kilometres east of Cochrane, near the border with Quebec.

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Ontario Mines Minister Pirie targets red tape for Ring of Fire – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – November 4, 2022)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Ontario Mines Minister George Pirie, a 35-year mining industry veteran before his election in June, says he plans to consider cutting project red tape “fairly shortly” while encouraging more federal investment in the Ring of Fire.

Pirie, who served as head of Placer Dome Canada in the years before of its acquisition by Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) in 2006, says Ontario has potential to displace the foreign output of some minerals needed in the multi-trillion-dollar global transition to clean energy. But projects can’t take 12 to 15 years for approval.

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Federal government’s economic update includes mining natural resources to fuel green economy – by Lindsay Richardson (APTN News – November 3, 2022)

https://www.aptnnews.ca/

Canada is officially moving from “rebalancing” to “rebuilding” post-COVID-19, according to Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and mining natural resources will play a significant role in making it happen.

During the reveal of Canada’s Fall Economic Statement (FES), Freeland told the House of Commons the next few years will be a “historic” opportunity for Canada to build an economy that “works for everyone.”

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Energy crisis the inconvenient consequence of demonizing the oil and gas industry – by Rex Murphy (National Post – November 3, 2022)

https://nationalpost.com/

What did Joe Biden and others like him — including in Canada — expect to happen?

Joe Biden, the Wise, as history must record him, has recently brought his fabled wit’s lacerating whip to “big oil.” Thank you, Joseph.

Naturally the sage of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is enraged beyond simple anger that the price of oil and gas has risen staggeringly, that half of Europe is in a dictator’s energy hammerlock, and that his so-called Middle East allies are rebuking his teary-eyed pleas to increase oil production. He is, as the paradoxical idiom has it, “beside himself.”

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Beijing accuses Canada of ‘suppressing Chinese companies’ – by Steve Chase and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 4, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Beijing is accusing Canada of “suppressing Chinese companies” by forcing three of its state-controlled corporations to sell their stakes in Canadian critical minerals businesses.

On Wednesday, Ottawa ordered Chinese state-owned companies to immediately divest their interests in three Canadian critical minerals companies. The federal government had faced an avalanche of criticism earlier this year for allowing too much investment from the Asian superpower in Canada’s domestic mining sector.

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Gold Fields target Yamana catches eyes of Agnico Eagle, Pan American – by Helen Reid and Mrinalika Roy (Reuters – November 4, 2022)

https://www.reuters.com/

Nov 4 (Reuters) – Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd (AEM.TO) and Pan American Silver Corp (PAAS.TO) swooped in with a joint bid for Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) on Friday, in an attempt to scupper Gold Fields’ (GFIJ.J) planned acquisition of the Canada-listed gold miner.

The cash and stock offer, valuing Yamana at around $4.8 billion, would see Agnico and Pan American split Yamana’s mines between them. Yamana shareholders would receive $1.0406 in cash, 0.0376 of an Agnico Share and 0.1598 of a Pan American Share for each share held.

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Federal government moves to cut China out of Canadian critical mineral industry – by Mia Rabson (Canadian Press/CBC News Politics – November 2, 2022)

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

China a dominant player in critical minerals refining and processing battery cell components

After a national security review, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne is ordering three Chinese resource companies to sell their interests in Canadian critical mineral firms. Champagne’s order comes less than a week after he said Canada would be limiting the involvement of foreign state-owned companies in the industry.

Critical minerals and metals, such as lithium, cadmium, nickel and cobalt, are essential components of everything from wind turbines and electric cars to laptops, solar panels and rechargeable batteries.

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Pure Gold’s Red Lake mine poised to go on the selling block – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 2, 2022)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

CCAA court documents show mine supply and service companies owed $16 million

With only a $260,000 cash balance at the end, insolvent Pure Gold Mining has started the process of finding a new buyer or deep-pocketed investor for its Red Lake mine and mill operation.

Facing an “imminent” cash crisis, unable to raise any outside financing, and plagued by “operational challenges,” the Vancouver mining company called a halt to operations Oct. 24 and was granted creditor protection by the B.C. Supreme Court under the Companies’ Creditor Arrangement Act on Oct. 31.

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China’s Rare Earth Metals Monopoly Could Be Coming to an End – by John Feng (Newsweek – November 2, 2022)

https://www.newsweek.com/

After decades of geopolitical tensions over access to oil, the transition to clean energy is setting up a global competition over another natural resource: rare earth elements.

The 17 metals, which aren’t scarce but are hard to find in economically viable concentrations, are significant to greening economies of the future and the defense industrial base of the United States and others.

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For Latin America, Will Booming Lithium Bring Competition—or Collaboration? – by David Feliba (Americas Quarterly – November 2, 2022)

Americas Quarterly

Increasing global demand for the mineral could benefit countries with the world’s largest reserves.

BUENOS AIRES – Nearly 55% of the world’s lithium deposits lie in Latin America’s lithium triangle, the swath of territory encompassing Chile’s and Argentina’s northern regions and Bolivia’s southwest.

But as hopes of a windfall from increased electric vehicle production rise, anxieties are rising too over which country will come out on top—or whether cooperation between the three can help secure more advantageous deals.

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