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Sabina says yes to building a gold mine in western Nunavut – by Jane George (CBC News North – September 13, 2022)

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

‘A milestone decision for the company,’ says CEO and president Bruce McLeod

Nunavut is set to see a third operating gold mine in 2025 with Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.’s recent decision to move ahead on building its Goose gold mine.

Sabina’s CEO and president, Bruce McLeod, called the Sept. 7 construction announcement “a milestone decision for the company,” adding it was exciting “to formally commit to becoming a significant Canadian gold producer.” The Goose mine is located about 400 kilometres south of Cambridge Bay and lies 172 kilometres away from Sabina’s marine laydown facility in Bathurst Inlet.

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Indonesia Has Lost More Tropical Forest to Mining Than Anywhere – by Sheryl Tian Tong Lee (Bloomberg News – September 18, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Four countries accounted for 80% of tropical forest loss due to industrial mining, study finds.

(Bloomberg) — More than half the tropical deforestation caused by industrial mining in the last two decades took place in Indonesia, according to a new study.

The researchers, whose paper was published Sept. 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), overlapped the geographic coordinates of industrial mines with forest loss data from 2000 to 2019, focusing on 26 countries.

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The bullish case for LNG, a reliable energy source investors should tap into – by David Rosenberg and Brendan Livingstone (Financial Post – September 9, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

‘Over the next decade plus, we see strong growth in LNG — and all that goes with it’

The Russia-Ukraine war is bringing to the forefront the importance of energy security, which has been neglected in recent years as supply exceeded demand and governments felt increased political pressure to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

However, with households confronting much steeper energy bills, which are at risk of rising further as winter approaches, the focus has shifted back towards providing reliable energy solutions at favourable costs.

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OPINION: Global mining companies searching for ESG-friendly commodities look at mid-tier Canadian producers as acquisition targets – by Andrew Willis (Globe and Mail – September 12, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A handful of Canadian mid-tier miners spent the past few decades bringing major copper and nickel projects into production. They aren’t getting long to enjoy the fruits of their labours.

Merger and acquisition activity is picking up in mining, as cash-rich global companies snap up smaller producers of metals that are essential to an electrified economy. Analysts predict targets in the next round of acquisitions will include domestic companies that have producing mines around the world, including Champion Iron Ltd., Copper Mountain Mining Corp., First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Hudbay Minerals Inc. and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.

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Ivanhoe, Gecamines kick off construction at Kipushi zinc mine in DRC – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 12, 2022)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF) and Congo’s state mining company Gécamines have begun construction activities at the historic Kipushi underground zinc-copper mine, which they plan returning to production by late 2024.

In a breaking-ground ceremony, the companies’ joint venture, Kipushi Corporation, said pre-production capital cost, including contingency, was estimated in $382 million.

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Charging up lithium mines in Canada – by Eric Niemi (Canadian Mining Journal – September 2, 2022)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

The world is starting to see the beginning of a transformational phase in mining especially as it comes to lithium, a new hot commodity. While lithium has been used in some ceramics and glass, lubricating greases, continuous casting fluxes among others, its demand is growing with the rise of electric cars that use lithium-ion batteries.

In fact, electric vehicles, are now responsible for 71% of global demand for lithium, according to Natural Resources Canada. Before the battery rush over the past decade, lithium carbonate prices have been notoriously volatile. However, the winds are beginning to change in response to new demand from the green technology and automotive sectors.

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The Energy Transition Could Be Derailed By A Looming Copper Shortage – by Haley Zaremba (Oil Price – September 07, 2022)

https://oilprice.com/

“Think of copper as a common carrier, so to speak, of decarbonization. It is literally the wiring that connects the present to the future,” writes Nathaniel Bullard, BloombergNEF’s Chief Content Officer.

While many of us imagine renewable energies to be just that – infinitely renewable, with no use of finite resources – the reality is that solar planes, wind turbines, energy transmission infrastructure, batteries for energy storage, and motors for your electric cars and electric bicycles all rely on metals that are not infinitely sourceable.

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A mining icon returns to find Thor Lake a working mine – by Ollite Williams (Cabin Radio – September 4, 2022)

https://cabinradio.ca/

The man who first discovered rare earths by a lake east of Yellowknife returned last month to the working mine that has since developed.

Gren Thomas, an occupant of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame since 2009, is best known for his role in the diamond discovery that established the NWT’s Diavik diamond mine in the 1990s.

However, in the 1970s, his first major breakthrough in the territory was the discovery of various minerals at Thor Lake, some 100 km east of the territorial capital. Thomas flew back to Thor Lake in August, his first visit in a decade, to see what is now the Nechalacho mine, Canada’s first producer of rare earths and an operating mine since 2021.

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Chileans reject Boric’s new constitution which could have put Canadian mining operations at risk – by Marisa Coulton (Financial Post – September 6, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Business will continue as usual for Canadian mines based in Chile — at least for now

Chileans on Sunday overwhelmingly voted against President Gabriel Boric’s proposed constitution, which sought to implement environmental regulations that may have impacted Canadian mining operations in the region. Sixty-two per cent of Chileans voted to reject the constitution, and 38 per cent voted to accept it, with 99 per cent of ballots counted.

The proposal prioritized human rights and the environment in stark contrast to its market-focused predecessor that was written during the reign of Augusto Pinochet. Had the document been approved, it could have put Canadian mining interests in the region at risk, according to the 2022 Latin America Mining Risk Index by Americas Market Intelligence (AMI).

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Retrieving metals from the Ring of Fire through the value chain into battery vehicles has always been Noront Resources vision – by Kevin Vincent (Mining Life – September 6, 2022)

https://mininglifeonline.net/

There’s a heightened excitement about the Ring of Fire and the company in the center of the crosshairs is elevating its cautious optimism. That optimism is fueled by the Ontario government’s decision to appoint a Mines Minister, George Pirie, with a specific mandate to develop the Ring of Fire.

Ryan Weston, VP of Exploration at Wyloo Metals – the biggest player in the Ring of Fire, says the mandate is not a huge surprise. “Obviously, when you hear Doug Ford campaigning in this most recent election and talking a lot about the Ring of Fire and critical minerals, he wants to go from mines to electric vehicle batteries. He’s got two major investments coming on the battery production side that have been announced in the last six months. So, he wants the full spectrum of value there from mining.”

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Centerra cuts ties with CEO after operational stumbles and seizure of biggest mine – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 6, 2022)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian gold miner Centerra Gold Inc. is replacing its chief executive officer, Scott Perry, after the company was forced to sell its biggest gold mine at a large discount to the government of Kyrgyzstan and suspend production at another mine in Turkey.

The Toronto-based gold miner announced Tuesday that Mr. Perry had stepped down and that Paul Wright, a director with Centerra, will assume the CEO position on an interim basis, while the company looks for a permanent replacement.

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Standard Lithium retools operations after short seller’s attacks – by Ernest Scheyder (Yahoo Finance/Reuters – September 7, 2022)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

Standard Lithium Ltd is trying to become the first new U.S. source of lithium for electric vehicle batteries in decades, a bullish target fueled in part by technical and engineering changes the company is making in response to accusations that its technology does not work.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Standard is among a wave of companies, including mining major Rio Tinto Ltd, trying to use direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/new-lithium-technology-can-help-world-go-green-if-it-works-2022-04-07 to supply the battery metal to the EV industry.

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Exploring the Hudson Bay Lowlands – by Chris Brackley (Canadian Geographic – August 19, 2022)

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Canadian Geographic’s cartographer explores the many facets of the Hudson Bay Lowlands, one of the world’s most significant wetlands

I first truly noticed the Hudson Bay Lowlands while I was creating a map that was focused on North America’s land cover. I was choosing colours for each land cover type — adding various greens for forests and yellows for cropland. But this time, instead of colouring wetlands green, I chose turquoise, a hue that reflected the space they occupy between aquatic and terrestrial environments.

A turquoise that really popped. And then: bam! It appeared. A massive swath of wetlands in northern Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, the like of which exists nowhere else in North America. I had found the Hudson Bay Lowlands.

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Life on the line: Facing down governments and industry, this First Nation makes a promise: There’ll be no development in the Ring of Fire without its consent – by Logan Turner (CBC News Interactives – September 12, 2022)

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

Clayton John Moonias reaches through a heavy morning fog to grab the net he set days earlier. As he lifts the line out of the water, Moonias flashes a knowing look to his son Landon, who’s seated up front, and pulls in the first of nearly a dozen Lake Sturgeon he’ll harvest that morning.

His family has fished these waters along the Attawapiskat River in remote northern Ontario for generations. For him and others from Neskantaga First Nation, the sturgeon are a way of life.

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Opinion: Laurentian must be more than a mining university – by Dr. Dieter K. Buse (Sudbury Star – September 10 2022)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury and northeastern Ontario need a full university, not a technical college disguised as ‘the mining university’

Re: ‘Opinion: Laurentian must turn its legacy into a new vision for the future,’ (bit.ly/3L0ARkQ) Aug. 29:

The opinions expressed in this article are misguided and ill-informed. Sudbury and northeastern Ontario need a full university, not a technical college disguised as “the mining university”. With due respect for Nadia Mykytczuk’s capabilities as a researcher and head of Mirarco (the Laurentian University research centre focused on mining), she takes much too narrow a perspective on rebuilding the university.

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