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Flash Crash Shows Why It’s Tough to Be Bullish on Gold Right Now – by Eddie Spence, Akshay Chinchalkar and Yvonne Yue Li (Yahoo Finance/Bloomberg – August 9, 2021)

https://finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — Gold’s swift drop to the lowest since March has highlighted a tough truth for the precious metal — there’s a growing list of reasons to be gloomy.

While Monday’s flash crash was exaggerated by a combination of technical factors and poor liquidity, the initial trigger remains true — strong U.S. jobs data showed the world’s largest economy is well on its way to recovery.

That sets the stage for the tapering of stimulus by the Federal Reserve, potentially removing one of the key drivers that helped send gold to a record last year.

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Abandoning oil and gas a utopian impossibility, Alberta’s premier says – by Janet French (CBC News Edmonton – August 9, 2021)

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

Alberta’s premier says it’s impossible for people living in a cold, northern climate like Canada to abandon fossil fuels, despite the dire conclusions of an international climate change report.

While the United Nations’ Secretary General said the report should sound a “death knell” for coal and fossil fuels, Premier Jason Kenney said demand for the subterranean fruits of this oil-rich province isn’t going anywhere.

“The notion that we can shut off a major, industrialized economy with the flick of a switch is patently unrealistic,” Kenney told reporters at a news conference at an Edmonton brewery on Monday.

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Chinese iron ore demand slips as steel curbs bite – by Michael Smith (Australian Financial Review – August 19, 2021)

https://www.afr.com/

China’s iron ore imports have fallen for the fourth consecutive month by volume, in the latest sign that Beijing’s restrictions on steel output are sapping demand for Australia’s most valuable export commodity at a time when Scott Morrison is betting on a quick economic recovery.

China’s demand for iron ore is also being clouded by growing concerns about the impact of its worst COVID-19 outbreak since early last year, inflationary pressures and a slowing manufacturing sector on its economic recovery.

While analysts attributed earlier decreases to supply issues from Australia and Brazil, they said on Monday that the latest trade data indicated the Chinese government’s directive to lower steel production was starting to filter through to iron ore volumes.

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It’s time to end the US steel and aluminum tariffs – by Marc L. Busch (The Hill – August 9, 2021)

https://thehill.com/

In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Sec. of Commerce Gina Raimondo said that U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs had done the trick. Folks were back to work, and producers had increased output.

What about the threat that Europe will increase its retaliation by year’s end if the Biden administration doesn’t end the tariffs? Raimondo said the U.S. is willing to deal but that “to simply say ‘no tariffs’ is not the solution.” Actually, it is.

Raimondo’s statement is the stuff of negotiations. After all, the U.S. isn’t going to start its talks with the European Union (EU) by unilaterally disarming.

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MINING TOURISM: From Magical Towns to colorful cities, discoveries await you in Guanajuato – by Lydia Carey (Mexico News Daily – August 9, 2021)

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/

With 32 states and 5,800 miles of gorgeous coastline, urbanscapes and quaint colonial towns — in regions that each have their own special cuisine, distinct accents and beautiful biodiversity — Mexico has so many destinations worth visiting, it can be hard to know where to start.

I’ve gotten to know Guanajuato well during my 13 years in the country, and it still has nooks and crannies I have yet to explore. Tourists who head right to the state’s most famous attraction — the city of San Miguel de Allende — miss out on the plethora of places and activities the state has to offer.

By far, one of the state’s biggest and best destinations is Guanajuato city. As you approach, the multicolored facades of the houses creeping up the mountains glitter in the sunshine.

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Federal government rejects Grassy Mountain coal project in Alberta – by Joel Dryden (CBC News Calgary – August 6, 2021)

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

The proposed Grassy Mountain coal project in southwestern Alberta has been rejected by the federal government nearly two months after a review panel denied a provincial application for the project.

On Friday, federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said he had rejected the project in light of the review panel’s report and after a review of additional available information.

“The Government of Canada must make decisions based on the best available scientific evidence while balancing economic and environmental considerations,” Wilkinson said in a release.

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U.S. Sanctions on Belarus Potash Leave Out Nation’s Sole Seller – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – August 10, 2021)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Potash buyers fretting over U.S. sanctions on Belarus’s state-owned producer, which controls about a fifth of the global market for the crop nutrient, might not need to panic right away.

The penalties announced on Monday target Belaruskali OAO, which ships much of its products to China, India and Latin America, along with more than a dozen companies with ties to President Alexander Lukashenko.

Yet Belarusian Potash Co., in which Belaruskali owns a 48% stake and which is the sole handler all of the country’s potash exports, wasn’t included in the sanctions list.

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NEWS RELEASE: Noront Files Directors’ Circular in Support of BHP’s All-Cash Offer for Noront and Recommends Shareholders Accept the Offer (Noront Resource – August 9, 2021)

TORONTO, Aug. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Noront Resources Ltd. (TSXV: NOT) (“Noront” or the “Company”) today announced that it has filed a directors’ circular (the “Directors’ Circular”) in connection with the proposed acquisition of Noront by BHP Western Mining Resources International Pty Ltd (“BHP” or the “Offeror”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BHP Lonsdale Investments Pty Ltd. (“BHP Lonsdale”).

The Transaction

As announced on July 27, 2021, Noront entered into a definitive Support Agreement pursuant to which BHP has made a take-over bid to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Noront (the “Noront Shares”) for C$0.55 per Noront Share in cash (the “Offer”). The total equity value of the transaction is C$325 million (based on 100% of the fully diluted shares outstanding).

The cash consideration of C$0.55 per Noront Share (the “Offer Price”) represents a premium of 129% to Noront’s unaffected closing price of C$0.24 on May 21, 2021, the last trading day prior to the date that Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd. (“Wyloo”) first publicly announced its intention to make an offer for Noront, and is C$0.235 per share, or 75%, higher than the C$0.315 per share proposed by Wyloo in its announcement on May 25, 2021.

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These Canadian stocks benefit from U.S. electric vehicle pledge – by Scott Barlow (Globe and Mail – August 10, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

U.S. President Joe Biden and the major U.S. automakers have pledged to set a target for electric vehicle sales of 50 per cent of total purchases by 2030, highlighting the steady (and heavily subsidized) trend toward decarbonized and electrified developed world economies.

The global research team at Bank of America Securities is attempting to identify the biggest corporate beneficiaries of the electrification movement, recommending stocks across industry sectors and including a significant number of Canadian companies.

BofA strategist Thomas Thornton, in a recent research note, raised his 2025 EV sales forecasts from 4.5 per cent to 7 per cent of total sales; by 2030, he now expects EVs to account for 20 per cent of total sales, up from 12.5 per cent.

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With free education, Congo’s child miners swap hammers for books – by Ange Kasongo (Reuters – August 9, 2021)

https://news.trust.org/

KIPUSHI, Democratic Republic of Congo, Aug 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – S queezed on to benches and on the floor, the Congolese students of Kipushi Primary School did not complain that they only had a few, battered textbooks to share – just down the road, hundreds of less fortunate children were working in open-pit mines.

Enrolment at the school – named after the town of 174,000 people, which is dominated by its copper, zinc and cobalt mines – has risen by 75% to 1,400 students since the Democratic Republic of Congo introduced free primary education in 2019.

“The difficulties are there but free education is a good thing because getting kids to study back then was a headache,” said Maloba Mputu Stany, principal of the school in the eastern province of Haut-Katanga.

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Indigenous Leaders: Tina Sheridan looks to lift up Indigenous entrepreneurs – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 6, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Founder of CreeQuest Corp. has Canada-wide ambitions for her Indigenous mining services company

The motivation behind Tina Sheridan’s journey into entrepreneurship is quite simple and stark.

“Hunger and poverty,” said the founder and president of CreeQuest Corp, a company she grew from a side hustle into a full-service, Indigenous-owned mining service company over a 10-year span. CreeQuest and its partners have put 120 people to work, more than half being women and close to half are Indigenous.

“If you experience hunger and poverty in any way and you have an opportunity and an open door to make a change, and if you have the confidence and take the leap and do it, then good things can happen,” said Sheridan, a member of Taykwa Tagamou Nation (TTN).

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Chilean lawmakers postpone vote on controversial mining royalty bill – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 4, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Chile’s senate has postponed for almost three weeks a vote on an opposition-sponsored bill that could hike taxes on miners by up to 75% depending on the price of copper, the country’s main export.

The bill, first introduced in 2018, calls for a 3% royalty on sales of over 12,000 tonnes of copper productions a year and 50,000t/y of lithium.

Half the funds obtained from the royalty would go into a convergence fund to finance regional and communal development projects. The other half would directly finance projects to mitigate, compensate or repair environmental impacts from mining activity in communities near mining projects.

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Ferrochrome is part of the green revolution – Glencore – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – August 6, 2021)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified mining and marketing company Glencore views the ferrochrome market as being particularly strong currently. “We’ve seen very healthy ferrochrome prices and good cash generation in that business,” Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said.

In response to Mining Weekly during a media conference following the company’s presentation of record half-year results, Nagle highlighted ferrochrome’s good fortune as being driven by the very strong global production of stainless steel, in which it is a key ingredient.

Fiscal stimulus has boosted demand for white goods and the like, and stainless steel and its ferrochrome twin have provided the necessary innards to meet that demand.

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Afghanistan’s $1000 billion worth of natural assets in Taliban’s custody – by Najibullah Lalzoy (The Khaama Press News Agency – August 5, 2021)

https://www.khaama.com/

Afghanistan is rich geography when it comes to mines and natural resources. Some of these mines are ready to be excavated while others are being mined illegally. So we can surely claim that this geography still possesses a vast amount of intact mines and natural resources which amount to nearly $3 trillion.

Based on a geological investigation conducted ten years ago in the US, it has been estimated that the total worth of Afghanistan’s mines and natural resources is USD1000 billion.

The most important natural resources of Afghanistan are as follow, gold, silver, and plutonium, a vast amount of uranium, tantalum, bauxite, natural gas, salt, metal stone, copper, silver, chromium, tin, talc, sulfur, coal, barite, and zinc. Since there is a scarcity of these resources around the world, they have attracted special attention of the globe to Afghanistan.

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Platinum Slumps to Seven-Month Low as Virus Spread Saps Demand – by Ranjeetha Pakiam (Bloomberg News – August 5, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Platinum dropped to a seven-month low as the spread of the coronavirus dents the outlook for industrial commodities, while a Federal Reserve official indicated the central bank is on course to taper stimulus.

The metal used in catalytic converters fell for a third day as the spread of the delta strain punctures the narrative of a rapid global recovery. China is facing a growing outbreak that’s prompted analysts to review economic growth projections, while case numbers are climbing from Tokyo to Sydney and in parts of the U.S.

Platinum has tumbled more than 20% from this year’s peak in February as a computer-chip shortage curbed auto production, and increasing electric-car sales cloud the medium-to-long term consumption outlook.

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