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Greenland’s Inuit to use membership of Arctic commerce group to push pro-mining message – by Kevin McGwin (Nunatsiaq News – July 8, 2021)

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A group representing Greenland Inuit has joined the Arctic Economic Council separately from its parent organization, as Greenland seeks to address concerns that political opposition to mining radioactive minerals will hobble the development of other mining efforts. The country is hoping to grow its mining sector in hopes that it could supplement its fishing industry as a source of exports.

“Greenland, like other Arctic communities, is in an urgent need for diversifying its economic activities,” said Kuupik Kleist, an ICC-Greenland representative. “We are almost completely dependent on the export of fish, which makes the economy fragile and pushes the limits of resources.”

Founded in 2014, the Arctic Economic Council seeks to promote business opportunities in the region.

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OPINION: Will accountability ever come in the Catholic Church and the Canadian government? – by Tanya Talaga (Globe and Mail – July 9, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

It must feel as though the fury of hell has come to southern British Columbia, where scorching temperatures have broken records and giant fires have engulfed First Nations communities and cities already dealing with the devastating discovery of the remains of ancestors of those in the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation.

The open mourning, the coming together and the steps toward healing among the Tk’emlúpsemc – “the people of the confluence” of the North and South Thompson Rivers – is happening as smoke from the smouldering First Nations community of Lytton, just hours down the highway, blows into Kamloops.

And all this comes as the burning of Catholic churches continues, and statues of Sir John A. Macdonald, Egerton Ryerson and Queen Victoria fall across the country like dominoes.

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Gold explorers primed for ‘elephant-sized’ gold discoveries in Dubreuilville-Wawa area – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 9, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Mine construction, expansion and gold exploration revives historic northeastern Ontario gold mining camp

Gold miners and explorers are talking about discovering “elephant” deposits in the months and years to come in the Dubreuilville and Wawa area of northeastern Ontario.

The archean volcanic rocks of the Michipicoten greenstone belt seem to contain all the right geological ingredients to cook up massive new gold deposits in this historic mining camp that could rival the likes of Red Lake, Timmins, Kirkland Lake and Val d’Or.

Underground expansion is taking place at Alamos’ Island Gold Mine near Dubreuilville, surface construction is underway nearby for an open-pit operation by Argonaut Gold, and two exploration companies are finding gold at depth near some past-producing mines.

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It’s been 50 years since NASA’s Apollo 16 astronauts walked on Sudbury – by Colleen Romaniuk (Sudbury Star – July 9, 2021)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

They were here to train for their moon mission

This summer marks 50 years since NASA dispatched the Apollo 16 astronauts to Sudbury for field training ahead of their trip to the moon. Commander John Young and pilot Charles Duke, whose spacecraft would launch from Cape Canaveral less than a year later on April 16, 1972, teamed up with experts from Inco to study Sudbury’s impact crater and its unique geological structures.

NASA hoped that the field training, which took place from July 7 to 9, 1971, would prepare the astronauts for lunar surface experiments. It turns out, the excursion didn’t prepare them as much as they’d hoped.

“We were very interested, at the time, in trying to work up the geology of the moon. The great debate in the literature prior to our first moon landing was how much of the moon was formed by volcanic activity and how much of it was formed by impact structures,” said Michael Dence.

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Black swan inflationary event to trigger gold-buying panic in next 2-3 years – Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates – by Anna Golubova (Kitco News – July 8, 2021)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) Inflation is already here, but prices could rise significantly higher in the next several years, creating a gold-buying panic, according to Rozencwajg Associates managing partner Leigh Goehring.

“We already have 5% inflation. And it’s safe to say this 5% inflation will stick for the next six to 12 months. And then we could have a black swan event, and prices go significantly higher. Just like what happened back in the 1970s,” Goehring told Kitco News.

Governments around the world can’t continue to print massive amounts of money with no consequences. And these harmful negative effects will start to come into view as soon as next year, Goehring pointed out.

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Australia must weigh climate change in mine approvals — court – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 8, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s government has been ordered to consider risks carbon dioxide emissions pose to young people when approving new coal mines or expansions to existing ones, the federal court said on Thursday.

The case, brought by eight students and an octogenarian nun, centred on Whitehaven Coal’s planned expansion of an operation in New South Wales. The project aims at producing as much as 10 million tonnes a year of mostly metallurgical coal, used in steel-making.

While judge Mordy Bromberg had dismissed the original claim seeking to stop expansion of coal mine operations, Thursday’s judgement could set a precedent for all fossil fuel projects in Australia, the world’s second-largest coal exporter by volume.

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New Book Explores Appalachia’s Coal Mined Landscapes – by Robbie Harris (Radio IQ WVTF.org – July 8, 2021)

https://www.wvtf.org/

For more than a hundred years, coal from Appalachia helped power the nation and the world. But that’s changing as new forms of clean energy emerge. A new book documents the rise of coal and its eminent decline, when coal is no longer king.

Without coal, there might never have been an industrial revolution. But the new revolution in cleaner energy is clearly coming, so scientists from Virginia Tech and West Virginia University, set out to document everything they could find, regarding the coal economy of the past 2 centuries and a way of life that sustained communities.

“The title is, “Appalachia, Coal, Mined, Landscapes, Resources, and Communities in a New Energy Era.” Carl Zipper is professor emeritus in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences at Virginian Tech.

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KPMG NEWS RELEASE: Rising demand for ‘green’ metals renews growth optimism for Canadian mining companies (July 8, 2021)

For report: https://bit.ly/3qZTGKX

ESG, sustainability, and innovation key to growth prospects, KPMG in Canada report finds

TORONTO, July 8, 2021 /CNW/ – Rising demand for ‘green’ metals as the world transitions to clean energy is contributing to renewed optimism in the growth prospects for Canada’s mining industry, finds a new KPMG in Canada report, Risk and Opportunities for Canadian miners.

Minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel are critical to the green and digital transition now underway to achieve a below 2°C future. The production of minerals needed to deploy wind, solar, and geothermal power, as well as energy storage, is predicted to increase by nearly 500 per cent by 2050, according to the World Bank. Demand for lithium used in batteries, for example, including electric vehicles, is expected to expand by a factor of 30 by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The outlook for the mining industry is extremely positive,” says Heather Cheeseman, partner and Toronto mining leader, KPMG in Canada.

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OPINIONS: O’Regan’s relationship with mining lobby is too cozy – by Donna Ashamock and Ugo Lapointe (iPolitics.ca – July 7, 2021)

https://ipolitics.ca/

Donna Ashamock is an Eeyou/Inninew (Cree) member affiliated with Fort Albany First Nation and is co-chair of MiningWatch Canada. Ugo Lapointe is the Canada program coordinator at MiningWatch Canada and an adviser to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development’s 2019 audit of the protection of Canadian waters from mine effluents.

By recently co-signing a series of opinion pieces that ran across the country, federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan has crossed an ethical line.

In the letters, O’Regan joined the CEO of Canada’s largest mining lobby group to promote the interests of the very same industry the minister is supposed to regulate on behalf of all Canadians.

Under cover of the need to supply materials for a “green economy,” the letters use overstated rhetoric commonly employed by the Mining Association of Canada to further its interests in extracting more raw materials at the expense of alternative solutions.

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Coal aversion by Biden, environmentalists threatens transition to electric vehicles – by Haris Alic (Washington Times – July 8, 2021)

https://www.washingtontimes.com/

Coal — the longtime nemesis of the green movement — stands to play a significant role in America’s transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles by supplying rare-earth elements for high-tech batteries. The big question is whether President Biden and environmentalists will acquiesce.

Coal and its byproducts contain many of the critical minerals necessary to produce electric vehicle batteries. For instance, the top layer of rock and sediment under which coal lies contains rare earth minerals, such as neodymium, europium and terbium.

Those minerals are vital for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries and other household electronics, including iPhones and computer tablets. Even though the minerals are crucial for technology production, the sediment containing the minerals is often disposed of as refuse after coal is excavated.

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Going for gold in western Mali threatens human security – by FAHIRAMAN RODRIGUE KONÉ AND NADIA ADAM (Institute For Security Studies – July 8, 2021)

https://issafrica.org/

Uncontrolled artisanal gold mining in Kayes is damaging the environment and fuelling trafficking and local conflicts.

Mali’s artisanal gold mining sector regularly uses chemicals and dredges rivers, despite these practices being prohibited. The consequences for human health, environmental sustainability and local stability are dire.

The western region of Kayes is among the most severely affected. It produced an estimated 73% of the country’s 26 tons of artisanal gold in 2019 and generated US$1.23 billion.

Artisanal gold miners mostly use mercury and cyanide to separate gold from other minerals. Institute for Security Studies (ISS) research shows that these chemicals are smuggled into Mali from Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso and Senegal through illicit trafficking routes.

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(Updated) Environmental group claims legal victory over De Beers for mercury reporting failures – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 6, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Diamond miner contends mercury never used at Victor operation, chemical element is ‘naturally occurring’ in James Bay region

A victory in court against De Beers Canada “sets a precedent” on reporting and regulating mining pollution in Ontario’s Far North, according to an environmental law organization.

Ecojustice said its “eight-year struggle for accountability” from the global diamond producer came to an end when the company pleaded guilty in a Timmins courtroom last week to one count of failing to provide mercury monitoring data from pollution streaming from its Victor Diamond Mine in the James Bay region.

De Beers Canada operated the open-pit Victor diamond mine, 80 kilometres west of Attawapiskat First Nation, from 2008 to 2019.

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Why Canadian exports of the fuel of the ‘previous century’ continue to surge — for now – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 7, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

Even though Canadian thermal coal must be shipped halfway around the world, it remains marketable to Asian countries for several reasons

In mid-June, the federal Liberals announced what sounded like a one-two punch for Canada’s thermal coal sector.

Calling it the fuel of a “previous century,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government joined with other G7 countries and agreed Canada would no longer finance new thermal coal plants and mines abroad. Meanwhile, at home, his cabinet announced it would apply strict scrutiny to any proposed new thermal coal mines or expansion projects.

But phasing out Canada’s thermal coal sector won’t happen overnight. In fact, if anything thermal coal exports have grown over the past couple years, and may grow further as new markets open up in Asia.

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Glencore: life after Ivan Glasenberg (Swiss Info – July 6, 2021)

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/

In his closing days as Glencore boss last week, Ivan Glasenberg flew to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan for presidential meetings, oversaw the appointment of a new chair and found the time for one last deal, a buyout of the company’s partners in a huge Colombian coal mine.

Over almost two decades, the chief executive’s relentless work ethic, steely resolve and fierce competitive spirit have driven the company’s transformation from a privately owned commodity trader into a $58 billion (CHF53 billion) publicly listed natural resources giant.

“We built the fourth-largest mining company in the world in 20 years,” Glasenberg told the Financial Times last month.

Now, with the Glasenberg era over and the world turning its back on fossil fuels, his handpicked successor Gary Nagle and new chair Kalidas Madhavpeddi need to hit the ground running.

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Iconic South African Mines Are Ravaged Economy’s Unlikely Savior – by Prinesha Naidoo and Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – July 6, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The world’s deepest precious-metals mines, together with giant iron-ore and coal pits are providing an unexpected boon to a South African economy slowly recovering from its biggest contraction in a century.

Surging demand and prices for commodities including platinum-group metals, iron ore, manganese and coal are generating record mining-company profits and bolstering government revenue. That’s even as decades of dwindling output and investor reluctance to build new mines blights prospects for the industry.

“Last year, we were concerned about the lack of space to support the economy amid the severe hit from the pandemic,” Elna Moolman, a South Africa economist at Standard Bank Group Ltd., said in an interview.

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