Republic of Mining

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)

September 12, 2022

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.”

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

September 12, 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.

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

September 12, 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.

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

September 12, 2022

Home

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.

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)

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.

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

September 12, 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.

Canada’s new oil is battery power — but Trudeau must act now – by Joanna Kyriazis and Brendan Sweeney (Toronto Star – September 10, 2022)

September 12, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

To realize this once in a generation opportunity — with up to 250,000 jobs to be had — the federal government must launch a national battery strategy dealing with everything from our raw materials to EV assembly

Batteries are evolving. No longer just something that needs changing in your TV remote, batteries are fast becoming the engines of the global economy. In a decade’s time, chances are it won’t be gas that powers your car — it will be a battery.

The battery is the most valuable part of an EV, and by 2030, the International Energy Agency predicts we could see a hundred times more EVs on the road than there were in 2020.

The Race for US Lithium Hinges on a Fight Over a Nevada Mine – by Daniel Moore (Bloomberg News – September 5, 2022)

September 12, 2022September 12, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The high-desert mountain pass overlooking alfalfa fields and RV parks doesn’t look like a battleground that will shape the country’s clean energy future.

But when the rock samples here are pulverized, pulled apart and mixed with chemicals, they yield a metal increasingly seen as white gold: lithium, a critical ingredient for batteries used in electric vehicles, solar energy storage, and consumer electronics.

‘Treated as guinea pigs’: Ontario miners await apology after being forced to inhale McIntyre powder – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – September 9, 2022)

September 12, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Former miners were forced to inhale an aluminum powder in Ontario between 1943 and 1979 that is now linked with Parkinson’s disease

In the late 1970s, a 20-year-old Roger Genoe would try to sneak through the tunnels of an Ontario uranium mine to avoid a room where he and other workers were forced to inhale an aluminum powder that was supposed to be a preventive step against silicotic lung disease.

“They would catch you and send you back there. If you didn’t go you would get penalized,” Genoe, now 66, said on Thursday during a conference call by the New Solutions journal that featured former miners who were forced to inhale McIntyre powder in Ontario between 1943 and 1979, when authorities were trying to tackle the rise in cases of silicosis.

U.S. step up Russian aluminium, nickel imports since Ukraine war – by Eric Onstad (Reuters – September 7, 2022)

September 12, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) – The European Union and United States have ramped up buying key industrial metals from Russia, data showed, despite logistical problems spurred by the war in Ukraine and tough talk about starving Moscow of foreign exchange revenue.

The metal shipments highlight the West’s difficulty in pressuring Russia’s economy, which has performed better than expected and seen its rouble currency surge as buoyant oil revenue has helped offset the impact of sanctions.

Breaking through Trudeau’s obfuscation on LNG – by Derek H. Burney (National Post- August 30, 2022)

September 12, 2022

https://nationalpost.com/

So, let’s try to get some things straight. About the time Vladimir Putin chose to invade Ukraine, Canada decided to veto Énergie Saguenay’s proposed LNG export facility in Northern Quebec, a project intended to enable exports to Europe.

One month later, the natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson said, “Our European friends and allies need Canada and others to step up.” He added “They are telling us they need our help in getting out of Russian oil and gas in the short term.”

The Drift: Temiskaming cobalt, nickel refinery will be an $800M venture – by Staff (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – September 9, 2022)

September 12, 2022September 12, 2022

https://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Facility will produce enough battery-grade material to support manufacturing of 250,000 electric cars a year

The price tag to build a Temiskaming battery materials industrial park will be in the neighbourhood of $720 million to $850 million.

Electra Battery Materials announced the results of a scoping study this week that crunched the economic numbers of the proposed development situated between the town of Cobalt and Temiskaming Shores. The property hosts the former Yukon refinery, which is being upgraded and expanded.

Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill get serious, ink biding takeover deal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 6, 2022)

September 6, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO) has inked a definitive arrangement with Turquoise Hill Resources (TSX: TQR) to buy the 49% of the Canadian miner it doesn’t already own for $3.3 billion.

The global miner noted Turquoise Hill’s board had unanimously recommended the C$43 per share cash offer and said it would not increase bid despite pressure from minority shareholders.

Ontario’s top auto sector minister heading to Korea, Japan to drum up more EV and battery investments – by Mehanaz Yakub (Electric Autonomy Canada – September 2, 2022)

September 6, 2022

https://electricautonomy.ca/

Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade is heading to Asia next week to meet with several key global automakers and battery manufacturers, with a goal of further building the province’s evolving auto and electric vehicle sector.

In an interview with Electric Autonomy Canada, Fedeli says the trip will begin in South Korea, where he will meet with “several prospects” to help expand Ontario’s EV supply chain. Fedeli would not name who these prospects will be, but says that the government has been meeting with them for “some months” and they are companies they “hope to land” in Ontario soon.

Pressure is on to start mining the deep sea. Is it worth it? – by Lisa Johnson (CBC News Climate – September 4, 2022)

September 6, 2022

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

Vancouver-based The Metals Company wants to be 1st to mine sea floor for critical minerals

A battle is brewing over the future of the ocean floor that pits the fate of this little-known ecosystem against humanity’s demand for critical minerals — and a Vancouver company is leading the charge.

The Metals Company (TMC), formerly known as DeepGreen Metals, wants to mine potato-sized rocks known as polymetallic nodules, which contain metals in demand for electric vehicles, solar panels and more.