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COLUMN-European smelter cuts catch zinc looking the wrong way: – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 19, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) – The London Metal Exchange (LME) zinc price surged 26% last week to hit a 14-year high of $3,944.00 per tonne. The spark for the explosive rally was Nyrstar’s Oct. 13 announcement that it was reducing output by up to 50% at its three European smelters in the face of spiralling energy prices.

The panic spread when Glencore said it too was “adjusting production” across its European operations to reduce exposure to peak power pricing periods during the day. China’s power-related zinc supply problems were in the price. Europe’s weren’t.

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Exploration at Gogama-area gold mine project continues to build ounces – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 18, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

IAMGOLD’s Côté Gold Project has a satellite deposit with open-ended potential

The Toronto gold mine developer that’s building an open-pit mine near Gogama posted a first-time gold estimate on a neighbouring satellite deposit.

IAMGOLD has released a maiden resource that exceeds 5-million ounces of gold for its Gosselin Zone discovery, a deposit situated 1.5 kilometres northeast of where construction is currently taking place for the Côté Gold Mine, situated halfway between Sudbury and Timmins.

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Forrest v BHP may be start of green M&A fights – by James Thomson (Australian Financial Review – October 19, 2021)

https://www.afr.com/

BHP and Andrew Forrest’s battle over a small Canadian nickel hopeful isn’t going to be the last M&A fight sparked by the energy transition.

Tick. Tick. Tick. BHP has just five days to decide whether it wants to try to top Andrew Forrest’s offer for Canadian nickel hopeful Noront Resources, which won the backing of the minnow’s board on Monday night.

The smart money is on the Global Australian striking back, despite the full-court press Forrest has put on the Noront board. BHP chief executive Mike Henry is chasing future-facing commodities hard, and nickel, which is crucial to the production of batteries, is a prime target.

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What the energy transition may bring for five battery metals – report – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Northern Miner – October 18, 2021)

https://www.northernminer.com/

ING Economics has published a new report in which its experts predict what the energy transition might bring for five key metals: copper, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, and lithium.

Taking into consideration where different regions of the world stand when it comes to moving towards a low-carbon future where global warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, ING’s analysts developed three scenarios that they used as a background to assess the possible performance of battery metals.

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Global shortage of magnesium to cripple car industry – by Cecilla Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 19, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

The world’s top automakers face disruption from tight global supplies of magnesium, as China’s power crisis threatens availability of the key component used to make aluminum, Germany’s association of metals producers WVM said on Tuesday.

European magnesium stocks have been particularly affected by the lack of supplies from China, which has a near monopoly on the magnesium market, the association said in a letter to the German government. The worst part of this shortage is about to come, it noted.

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No. 1 uranium miner backs physical fund in nod to robust demand – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – October 18, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium miner, is backing a new uranium fund that aims to invest in the radioactive metal used to power nuclear reactors.

ANU Energy OEIC Ltd. was established as a fund to hold physical uranium as a long-term investment, with initial purchases financed from a $50 million investment by Kazatomprom, the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and United Arab Emirates-based fund manager Genchi Global Ltd., Kazakhstan’s national atomic company said in a Monday statement.

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Ring of Fire operator Noront warms to Wyloo takeover bid, but BHP looms – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 19, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Noront Resources Ltd. has agreed to a $391-million takeover from Australian private equity firm Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd., trumping an earlier bid from global giant BHP Group Ltd., but the minerals development company in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region is leaving the door open to a higher offer.

Backed by Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest, Wyloo first proposed buying Toronto-based Noront in May for 31.5 cents a share. Melbourne-based BHP, the world’s biggest mining company, upped the ante with a 55-cents-a-share bid in July, and Noront’s board supported it. But Wyloo came back in late August, offering 70 cents a share.

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Biden’s budget puts Canada’s auto sector in peril – by Brian Lilley (Sudbury Star – October 18, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Joe Biden’s pledge to support all things made in America could end up costing thousands of Canadian jobs in the auto industry. Budget legislation moving through the American Congress contains tax breaks for electric cars that could pretty much rule out future investments by automakers in Canada and cost tens of thousands of jobs.

The legislation would increase the incentive for buying an electric vehicle to $12,500 but only if the vehicle, and the battery that is in the vehicle, are both made in the United States.

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Wyloo Metals has inside track to acquire Ring of Fire’s Noront Resources – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – October 18, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Australian mine developer tables ‘superior’ proposal, BHP given five days to match

Wyloo Metals has tabled a “superior” offer over BHP’s in the bidding war to acquire Ring of Fire junior miner Noront Resources.

Wyloo, a Western Australian-based mine developer, announced it has reached an agreement with the Toronto company to acquire its nickel, copper, platinum group metals and chromite assets in the James Bay region.

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Metals head for record, zinc spikes as energy crisis hits supply (Bloomberg News – October 14, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Base metals surged, led by zinc which spiked to the highest since 2007 after European smelters became the latest casualties in a global energy crisis that’s knocking supply offline and heaping pressure on manufacturers.

Zinc rose as much as 6.9 per cent on the London Metal Exchange, and a gauge of six industrial metals rapidly closed in on an all-time high. Aluminum, one of the most energy-intensive commodities, is at the highest since 2008.

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Congo-Kinshasa: Child Miners – The Dark Side of the DRC’s Coltan Wealth – by Oluwole Ojewale (All Africa.com – October 18, 2021)

https://allafrica.com/

Laws and certification schemes aren’t protecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s most vulnerable – a fresh approach is needed.

Coltan is one of the world’s most vital minerals, and 60% of reserves globally are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Kivu province. In 2019, 40% of the global coltan supply was produced in the DRC.

The mineral is used in cell phones, laptops and other devices because of its particular ability to store and release electrical energy. As 5G technology grows, the demand for Congolese coltan will increase. But this is not good news for everyone in the DRC.

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Wild markets gatecrash London Metal Exchange Week party – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

This year’s London Metal Exchange (LME) Week was a subdued affair by comparison with past excess. Put on ice last year due to covid-19, the annual metals party returned in slimmed-down form with many opting for virtual over physical drinks. Analysts were in equally sober mood. Everyone’s still positive on the longer-term energy transition story but more immediately worried about China.

The debt problem faced by real estate developer China Evergrande Group is no Lehman Moment, to quote Bank of China’s head of commodity strategy Amelia Fu, speaking at the LME Seminar. But weakening Chinese property sales spell trouble for what is a big metallic demand driver.

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Canada Emerges as Cornerstone of North American Battery Supply Chain – by James Frith (Bloomberg News – October 19, 2021)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

A North American Battery Supply Chain Emerges

Hi all, James Frith here again this week. I want to look at how Canada is re-positioning itself to take advantage of the growing electric vehicle supply chain, after years of overlooking the battery industry.

Despite having all of the critical ingredients for lithium-ion batteries — nickel, cobalt, lithium, graphite — Canada doesn’t have any EV cell or component manufacturing; and it has only about 10% of the battery demand of the U.S.

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Australian Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals Beats BHP In Bidding War For Canada’s Noront – by Jonathan Burgos (Forbes Magazine – October 19, 2021)

https://www.forbes.com/

Noront Resources has agreed to accept the “superior” offer by Wyloo Metals—controlled by billionaire Andrew Forrest—in a deal that values the Canadian nickel miner at C$321 million ($260 million), trumping the offer from rival BHP Group.

Wyloo’s offer of C$0.70 a share represents a 27% premium to the C$0.55 bid made by BHP in July, the Toronto-based company said late Monday in a statement. BHP has five business days to match Wyloo’s offer, Noront said.

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Road to Ring of Fire is Green National Priority for Ontario and Canada – by Stan Sudol

The thunder from down under has been reverberating through Ontario’s Ring of Fire mining camp – located roughly 500 kms northeast of Thunder Bay – as Australian mining giants BHP and Wyloo Metals are fighting a bruising bidding war for Noront Resources. The junior exploration company owns the Eagle’s Nest nickel/copper potential mine as well as extensive world-class chromite deposits and other mineral-rich promising ground.

BHP is the largest mining company in the world, whose current CEO, Mike Henry, is a Canadian, while Wyloo Metals is owned by Fortescue Metals, founded by mining billionaire Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, and is the world’s fourth largest iron ore miner.

“Noront’s ROF land package hosts some of the most prospective mineral deposits in the world. These deposits have the potential to become Canada’s next great mineral district, supporting the production of future-facing commodities for multiple generations”, claimed a Wyloo Metals news release in August.

The entry of multi-billion-dollar mining corporations signals a proverbial “game-change” in the stalled Ring of Fire mining camp. Noront Resource was a struggling junior company that did manage to consolidate almost half of the valuable mineral claims in the camp but did not have the funds to do significant further exploration or to build their existing mine. Newly established and well-funded explorer Juno Corporation is the largest claim holder who after extensive aerial geo-physics surveys that showcased promising anomalies, is hoping to add to future discoveries.

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