Republic of Mining

Teck CEO Don Lindsay to retire after 17 years amid record returns – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – July 28, 2022)

July 28, 2022

Lindsay will be replaced by CFO Jonathan Price

Teck Resources Ltd. chief executive Don Lindsay announced his retirement after 17 years at the helm of one of Canada’s leading mining companies. During Lindsay’s tenure, Teck delivered “record financial and operational results and returned significant capital to shareholders,” the Vancouver-based company said in a press release on July 26.

Under Lindsay, who was appointed CEO in 2005, the diversified miner also built a strong copper pipeline and marked the start of its ambition to rebalance its portfolio towards metals as opposed to coal and oilsands operations.

Cameco forecasts new jobs, production at Saskatchewan mines (CBC Saskatchewan – July 27, 2022)

July 28, 2022

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

Quarterly earnings report touts new contracts, more jobs at McArthur River/Key Lake facilities

Saskatchewan’s uranium giant is expecting to add more northern Saskatchewan jobs and more cash to its bottom line this year.

Saskatoon-based Cameco, one of the largest uranium producers in the world, has issued its second quarter earnings report. It shows the company brought in $84 million in net earnings over a three-month period. According to president and CEO Tim Gitzel, the market has been positive in 2022.

Illegal Brazil gold tied to Italian refiner and Big Tech customers (Mining.com/Reuters – July 25, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Brazilian police allege an Italian refiner purchased gold from a trader sourcing it illegally in the Amazon rainforest region, according to police documents, and corporate disclosures show that refiner has supplied the precious metal to four of the world’s largest tech companies.

Public filings by Amazon.com, Apple, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet name the private Italian firm Chimet as a source of some gold used in their products. Tech companies often use small amounts of the metal in circuit boards for consumer electronics.

Madagascar: Four Illegal Gold Mines Suspended – by Josef Skrdlik (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project – July 25, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.occrp.org/en/

Madagascar authorities have suspended four illegal gold mining operations that were run by Chinese nationals on the Kamoro river in the northwest of the country – according to a statement by the Ministry of Mines and Strategic Resources released this week.

During the intervention, the police arrested individuals guarding the mines and confiscated a number of heavy machines, including dredgers, excavators and loaders. The organizers of the mining operations managed to flee the site.

Threat to Canadian electric vehicle industry dissipates with U.S. Senate deal – by Steven Chase (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A deal struck among Democrats in the U.S. Senate appears to have eliminated a threat hanging over the nascent electric vehicle manufacturing industry in Canada. An agreement announced late Wednesday between Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia gives the Democrats the votes they need to pass a key plank of U.S. President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

The deal would amend Mr. Biden’s climate and health bill and change the terms of tax credits for electric vehicles that as previously written would have only applied to autos assembled in the United States.

Curse the church if you will, but spare some consideration for this Pope and what he’s doing – by Rosie DiManno (Toronto Star – July 27, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

QUEBEC CITY—On that mild March evening in 2013, with tens of thousands jammed into St. Peter’s Square, all eyes looked anxiously toward the central balcony of the Basilica. Who would emerge?

And when Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped outside, from behind the velvet curtains, a murmur swept across the crowd, building into a crescendo. Who is that? Pope Francis. Pope who? Pope Francis, who’d taken his papal name from Francis of Assisi, for the saint’s gentleness and humility, for the Franciscan order’s plainness.

Opinion: The politics and precarious nature of travel in Northern Ontario – by Eric Boutilier (Sudbury Star – July 26, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Trudeau government is out of touch with the issues and deficiencies of intercity transportation in Canada

The familiar sound of a passenger train can once again be heard in areas of Northern Ontario that are served by VIA Rail Canada. The Crown corporation officially restored passenger rail services to pre-pandemic levels after more than two years of on-again, off-again, limited or indefinitely suspended train schedules.

Life appears to have returned to normal … at least for the time being. For those who require essential services in larger cities or access to remote regions of the province, there are now two frequencies a week on the Canadian and three between Sudbury and White River.

The rich world’s message to the poor: Fossil fuels for me but not for thee – by Bjorn Lomborg (Financial Post – July 27, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

The rich are choking off funding for any new fossil fuels in the developing world

The rich world’s fossil fuel hypocrisy is on full display in its response to the global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While the wealthy G7 countries admonish the world’s poor to use only renewables because of climate concerns, Europe and the United States are going begging to Arab nations to expand oil production, Germany is reopening coal power plants and Spain and Italy are ramping up African gas production.

So many European countries have asked Botswana to mine more coal it will have to triple its exports.

Lukas Lundin passes away at 64 – by Staff (Northern Miner – July 27, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.northernminer.com/

Lukas H. Lundin has died in Geneva at the age of 64, following a two-year battle with brain cancer. Lundin started his career in the international energy and mining sectors in the early 1980s working alongside his father, the late resource magnate Adolf H. Lundin.

He had a hand in founding, leading and building successful mining companies including: Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN), Lundin Gold (TSX: LUG) and Lucara Diamond (TSX: LUC). At Lundin Gold, which Lundin founded in 2014, he oversaw the development of Ecuador’s first large-scale modern gold mine, Fruta del Norte.

Lithium – Portugal’s white gold – by Paul Luckman (The Portugal News – February 18, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.theportugalnews.com/

Mining Lithium in Portugal is a very controversial subject, but there are some simple facts that can’t be ignored.

Sales and manufacturing of electric cars are growing. Governments want to ban petrol and diesel cars. Electric cars need batteries. Batteries need lithium. There isn’t enough lithium available to meet demand. Portugal has lithium.

The price of lithium has quadrupled in the last year. While Chile, Australia, Argentina, and China are home to the world’s highest lithium reserves, other countries also hold significant amounts.

Glencore’s 95-year-old copper smelter in Quebec is a prized asset. It should pay to clean up its act – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – July 19, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Any Canadian who grew up in a mining town knows of the trade-offs that come with relying on a single major employer involved in the metals business. For residents of Rouyn-Noranda, Que., the ups and downs of the commodities cycle have defined their town’s existence since prospector Edmund Horne staked the first copper claims in the region a century ago, leading to the 1922 founding of Noranda Inc.

The mining colossus, whose rise was intricately tied to Canada’s economic development, was eventually absorbed by Swiss-based multinational Glencore in 2013. But its name lives on in the town where it got its start.

Column: Where there’s muck there’s brass … and critical minerals – by Andy Home (Reuters – July 26, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) – Scandium sits in the shadows of the periodic table. Even by the esoteric standards of other critical minerals, the soft, silvery metal with the atomic number 21 is something of an enigma.

The global market is thought to be somewhere between 15 and 25 tonnes in size, but no one is very sure. Production is potentially a lot higher. It’s difficult to say, however, since much of it is in China and production is always as a by-product of other metals.

Race to Secure Battery Metals Heats Up as GM, Ford Ink Deals – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – July 26, 2022)

July 28, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Undeterred by the slowing global economy, buyers of key components in the powering of electric vehicles are stepping up efforts to lock in supplies, with two of the world’s biggest automakers signing direct deals with producers of so-called battery metals.

General Motors Co. announced three deals Tuesday for supplies of raw materials needed for its EV fleet. Less than a week ago, Ford Motor Co. revealed a list of suppliers of inputs ranging from Argentine lithium to Indonesian nickel — enough to build 600,000 EVs a year.

Sudbury’s economy humming along: Conference Board of Canada – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Sudbury’s economy is continuing to grow and by next year should be humming along at a better clip than was the case before COVID-19 applied the brakes. That’s the prediction of the Conference Board of Canada, which issued an outlook for the city this week.

“Sudbury’s GDP (gross domestic product) is set to rise by 3.9 per cent this year,” the economic think tank said. “The healthy gain of 2.7 per cent forecast for 2023 will finally lift the city’s economic output beyond pre-pandemic levels.” A key driver, the outlook notes, is the strong market for locally produced metals.

Canada’s oilsands look into use of nuclear power as ‘net zero changes everything’ – by Amanda Stephenson (Canadian Press/CTV News – July 17, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

CALGARY – The pressing global need to slash emissions in the face of a growing climate crisis is driving renewed interest in nuclear power — and few places more so than in Canada’s oilsands.

While the idea of using nuclear power to replace the fossil fuels burned in oilsands production has been bandied about for years, some experts say the reality could be just a decade or so away. On paper, at least, there is more potential to deploy small modular reactor (SMR) technology in the oilsands region of Alberta than anywhere else in the country.