Republic of Mining

Trudeau pushes ahead on fertilizer reduction as provinces and farmers cry foul – by Brian Lilley (Toronto Sun – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

Provincial agriculture ministers are expressing frustration with the Trudeau government over plans to effectively reduce fertilizer use by Canada’s farmers in the name of fighting climate change.A meeting of federal and provincial ministers wrapped up in Saskatoon on Friday with several provinces saying they are disappointed.

The federal government is looking to impose a requirement to reduce nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizers saying it is a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. While the Trudeau government says they want a 30% reduction in emissions, not fertilizer, farm producer groups say that at this point, reducing nitrous oxide emissions can’t be done without reducing fertilizer use.

Ford adjusts its EV strategy as supply shortages jeopardize sales targets – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 21, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://financialpost.com/

Ford said it will use lower performance batteries for select models in order to meet its electric-vehicle targets

Ford Motor Co. said it will use lower performance batteries for select models in order to meet its electric-vehicle targets, the latest example of how global ambitions to cut greenhouse gas emissions are colliding with the reality of supply chain constraints.

The Detroit-based automaker currently offers two versions of the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning — a standard version and a vehicle with extended range. The latter are powered by lithium-ion batteries that use the nickel, cobalt, and manganese (NCM) chemistry that has become an industry benchmark, and the standard versions use lower performance NCM batteries.

Pirie encouraged by conference – by Andrew Autio (Timmins Daily Press – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.timminspress.com/

George Pirie was left inspired by the natural of beauty and warm hospitality of Newfoundland, as well as the prospects of getting the long awaited Ring of Fire project up and running after a recent national conference.

Pirie, Ontario’s new minister of Mines and MPP for Timmins, was on his first official business at the annual Energy and Mines Ministers Conference, in St. John’s July 7-8. It brings together government ministers from across Canada, both provincial and territorial, as well as federal, to discuss matters and priorities of the mining and energy sectors.

The commodity supercycle is already crashing, blunting Canada’s growth and bruising the TSX – by Tim Kiladze and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A sharp reversal in commodity prices – hitting everything from copper, to crude oil, to wheat – is sapping investor enthusiasm for the resource sector and dismantling predictions of a supercycle that would immediately reshape the global economy.

As in many speculative booms, rising interest rates are largely to blame for the pullback. But investors are equally culpable, after they fell for age-old commodity price hype – no matter how many times they’ve already been burned.

De Beers living the high life with Russian rival Alrosa out the picture – by SAm Lewis (Professional Jeweller – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.professionaljeweller.com/

Diamond mining company De Beers Group is still benefitting from the sanctions placed upon its biggest rival. The financial gain De Beers is seeing from the war in Ukraine becomes clearer every month as it releases more data about the company’s production and revenues.

De Beers’ biggest rival internationally is Alrosa, a Russian state-owned diamond miner that has been hit hard by the sanctions placed upon it by governments like the UK and US.

Federal funding now available to 20 states & Navajo Nation for abandoned mine clean up – by Shondiin Silversmith (Tucson Sentinel- July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/

More than 20 states and the Navajo Nation can now apply for $725 million in funding for abandoned mine lands projects to help communities that have suffered environmental hazards and pollution caused by coal mining.

“Through this program, we are investing in coal communities through job creation — including for current and former coal workers — and economic revitalization, all while addressing harmful environmental impacts from these legacy developments,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a press release.

Mark Selby has CO2-eating rocks in Timmins – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 20, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Canada Nickel provides proof that its Crawford Project can sequester carbon

Canada Nickel Company CEO Mark Selby often points out that the rocks of his ultramafic-hosted nickel deposits, north of Timmins, spontaneously soak up carbon dioxide (CO2) when exposed to air.

Now the Toronto-based junior mining company is providing the lab results to back up his claim. For a couple of years, Selby has been pitching its Crawford Project and the Timmins area as an up-and-coming district for the North American electric vehicle sector to source a domestic large-scale and low-carbon supply of nickel.

Return to coal or reinvent itself? The simmering feud over an Alberta mining town’s future – by Kyler Zeleny (Globe and Mail – July 24, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Crowsnest Pass has not had an operational coal mine for 40 years. Now the struggling community is divided over whether to embrace the resource to save itself

For decades, John Kinnear and his family proudly mined coal from the towering mountains that form the border between Alberta and British Columbia. As a local historian in the nearby community of Crowsnest Pass, he has seen the bounty that coal brought for generations of families.

But he also knows how the country – and world – has soured on the dusty black commodity buried deep within the Rockies, and he has come to understand that point of view. Recently, when he visited Line Creek, a Teck Resources coal mine to the community’s west, he was struck by the desolation left in its wake.

Ten financial actors own half of the world’s oil, gas, coal emissions – study – by Staff (Mining.com – July 24, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.mining.com/

Ten financial actors with the most influence on the fossil fuel economy own 49.5% of potential emissions from the world’s largest energy firms, a recent study has found.

In a paper published in the journal Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, researchers from Canada, France and New Zealand take a deep look into the CU200, which are the 200 Carbon Underground firms that own 98% of global fossil reserves in the form of oil, gas, or coal.

As Pope Francis visits Canada, the Church may be too belatedly sorry – by Rosie DiManno (Toronto Star – July 25, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.thestar.com/

And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those that trespass against us.
The Lord’s Prayer

There is apology and, just as powerful, there is forgiveness.

Pope Francis will repent for the Catholic Church, for all the sins that were visited upon Indigenous people over a century of residential school harm. I hope the Holy Father, and the church he leads, will also receive mercy, if not absolution.

Because forgiveness is a state of divine grace. It is why Catholics go to confession, also known as reconciliation or penance — acknowledgment of our sinfulness.

Explainer: Price surge prompts regulators to peer into commodity hinterland – by Huw Jones and Pratima Desai (Reuters – July 18, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) – Spikes in energy and grain prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, coupled with the suspension of nickel trading on the London Metal Exchange in March due to a disorderly market have prompted regulators to take a closer look at the commodities sector.

WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS?

There are many. A surge in food and energy prices has pushed inflation to the highest levels in decades, piling financial strain on households and political pressure on regulators.

Europe’s Power Crunch Cuts Zinc and Aluminum Capacity in Half – by Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – July 20, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Europe has lost about half of its zinc and aluminum smelting capacity within the past year, and a further surge in power prices could knock more plants offline over winter, the region’s biggest metal producers warned.

Eurometaux, which represents miners, smelters and fabricators employing 500,000 people in Europe, is underscoring the risks that lie ahead for the industry as the European Union urges member states to cut gas usage to avert a drastic escalation of the region’s energy crunch over the winter months.

UK launches first critical minerals strategy – by Jacqueline Holman (SP Global – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.spglobal.com/

The UK government has released its critical minerals strategy, which sets out how the country will secure critical mineral supply chains to ensure the energy transition, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng said July 22.

The strategy aims to accelerate growth of the UK’s domestic capabilities, collaborate with international partners and enhance international markets to make them more responsive, transparent and responsible, Kwarteng said in the foreword of the strategy report.

Ford Secures Batteries to Build 600,000 EVs a Year by 2023 – by Keith Naughton and Gabrielle Coppola (Bloomberg/Windsor Star – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://windsorstar.com/

(Bloomberg) — Ford Motor Co. says it has secured enough battery supply to build more than half a million electric vehicles annually by late next year, a quantum leap above the 27,140 battery-powered cars it sold in the US last year.

The automaker has signed contracts with suppliers representing 60 gigawatt hours of annual battery capacity, enough to build 600,000 EVs a year, it said in a statement Thursday. Those suppliers include China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, as Bloomberg previously reported.

Labs of luxury: Quality diamonds are now being made by technicians, but can a synthetic gem replace the allure of the real thing? – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – July 22, 2022)

July 25, 2022

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The biggest challenge for lab-grown diamond producers is finding and hiring enough skilled scientists and technicians to make them quickly and reliably enough in quality and quantity to meet orders

Earlier this year, Frédéric Arnault, the lanky twentysomething head of LVMH’s Tag Heuer brand and potential heir to the Paris-based luxury empire, presented a novelty at the Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva that would have been previously unthinkable for a company dealing in the real and rare: a 350,000-Swiss-franc ($470,000) timepiece featuring diamonds grown in a laboratory.

The glitzy little number, named the Carrera Plasma, is the most expensive product in the 160-year history of Swiss-based Tag Heuer. It boasts a 44-millimetre sandblasted aluminum case set with 48 diamonds and a rhodium-plated brass base dial covered with a single block of polycrystalline diamond.