(Bloomberg) — The Canadian firm behind the world’s only physical uranium fund said hedge funds and family offices are driving up demand for the radioactive metal used to fuel nuclear reactors.
The Sprott Physical Uranium Trust has itself been on a buying spree, bolstering its stockpile by 45% in four weeks after snapping up 8.1 million pounds of the commodity as prices surged.
(Reuters) – U.S. mining companies are blasting proposals in Congress that would set royalties for copper, lithium and other minerals extracted from federal land, with executives saying the measures would hurt domestic production of the building blocks for solar panels, electric vehicles and other green technologies.
The House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee added language to the proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation spending measure last week that would set an 8% gross royalty on existing mines and 4% on new ones. There would also be a 7 cent fee for every ton of rock moved.
https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/
Agnico Eagle wants to build a gold and copper mine north of Larder Lake, near the Quebec border, and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada is inviting public feedback.
The agency said it has accepted the initial project description for the Upper Beaver Gold Project and wants the public and Indigenous groups to review the project description and provide comment. The agency will compile a summary of issues to present to the mining company.
(Bloomberg) — A number of gold deals have been announced in recent years during the annual industry gathering in Denver, including 2018’s takeover of Randgold Resources. This year, the buzz is focused on consolidation potential among mid-tier producers, according to one precious-metals veteran.
“There was a lot of gossip around the bar last night about what might be announced this morning,” said David Garofalo, who ran Goldcorp before it was gobbled up by Newmont Corp. and now heads Gold Royalty Corp. “That’s been the custom here.”
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The imposition of a tax on the export of chrome ore would be high risk and the gain from such an intervention would likely be eroded fairly quickly by the high cost of electricity, which is the real problem.
Chrome SA’s Alistair McAdam and Paul Anderson of Genesis Analytics highlighted this summary when they spoke to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview on Monday. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)
TAIPEI — Electronic hardware manufacturers are sweating as prices for rare-earth metals surge amid soaring demand and simmering tensions between the U.S. and China, the world’s most important source of these vital materials.
For Max Hsiao, senior manager of an audio component maker based in Dongguan, China, the squeeze is coming from a magnetic alloy known as praseodymium neodymium. The price of the metal, which Hsiao’s company uses to assemble speakers for Amazon and laptop maker Lenovo, has doubled since June last year to around 760,000 yuan ($117,300) a ton this August.
Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, Zambia, is buckling under billions of dollars in debt, and its new President has a plan to get out from underneath it: stop borrowing so much, and mine harder.
Hakainde Hichilema was elected last month—a triumph that followed five failed attempts at the presidency, and a 2017 spell behind bars for “treason” after the tycoon failed to give way to the motorcade of now–former President Edgar Lungu.
Reeling from a crushing shortage of semiconductor chips for vehicles, carmakers also face another looming crisis: producing enough batteries to drive the global pivot towards electric vehicles.
The supply of metals like cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel needed for batteries is already shaky, and soaring demand for the hundreds of millions of batteries in the coming decades is likely to trigger shortage and high prices.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
A speculative rally fuelled by Reddit is juicing the price of uranium and investments with exposure to the commodity, leaving investors and companies alike wondering how long the run will last.
The Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, an exchange-traded investment that tracks the price of uranium, rose by 15.5 per cent on Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shares of uranium miner Cameco Corp., which have rallied 55 per cent since late August, ended the day flat after being up by 8 per cent at one point. Another producer, Denison Mines Corp., rose by 3 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Afghan Taliban has established a new interim government. The next test for them is how to lead war-torn Afghanistan out of economic difficulties and diplomatic isolation. Can Afghanistan’s rich mineral resources help the Taliban rebuild the country?
Afghanistan is indeed rich in mineral resources, but the country’s economy remains underdeveloped. The Taliban has welcomed the international community to invest in Afghanistan, especially in mineral resources.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to reduce Canada’s oil sector emissions starting in 2025 looks unlikely to slow the growth of crude production, environmental activists and oil companies say, raising questions about how effectively the pledge will help meet the country’s goals to slow climate change.
Trudeau is in a close race with the Conservatives, and some voters are demanding decisive climate action https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/canadas-infernal-summer-puts-climate-change-forefront-election-2021-09-01.
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp Chief Executive Mark Bristow spent years burnishing his reputation as an aggressive dealmaker, but he says now he is focused on new mines that he hopes will boost profit and the company’s sagging stock price.
The strategy eschews the acquisition appetite that made Barrick what it is today and instead pins the company’s growth on exploration projects in Egypt, Nevada, Guyana and elsewhere.
Plans to start mining the Moon as early as 2025 have received a boost, with NASA granting a research team from the University of Arizona $500,000 to develop a swarm of robots able to mine, excavate and even build simple structures on the surface of our world’s natural satellite.
The robots, to be constructed and trained on Earth, will at first receive instructions from operators on this planet, but the goal is to make them fully autonomous, the university said.
A record number of activists working to protect the environment and land rights were murdered last year, according to a report by a campaign group. 227 people were killed around the world in 2020, the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year, the report from Global Witness said.
Almost a third of the murders were reportedly linked to resource exploitation – logging, mining, large-scale agribusiness, hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure.
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The Town of Marathon is out to make a good impression. A proposed open-pit palladium mine project is undergoing scrutiny through an environmental assessment (EA) process this fall and the north shore community of 3,300 is determined to show its support for the mining industry.
A government-appointed environmental review panel is scheduled to arrive in Marathon this week for a site visit. Marathon Mayor Rick Dumas said when they do they’ll see lawn signs displaying Marathon Supports Mining and other demonstrations of support for Generation Mining and its Marathon Project.
