Republic of Mining

BHP to expand nickel operations to meet soaring demand – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 3, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) will make a final investment decision on a major expansion of the processing plant at its Mt. Keith nickel mine in Western Australia as it invests further in battery metals to meet expected soaring demand.

Nickel is a key component for EVs cathodes, and the world’s no. 1 miner sees nickel demand growing faster than anticipated due to a spike in the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), as governments commit to decarbonizing their economies and set end dates for combustion engine sales.

“We believe that over 2020 to 2030, overall nickel demand will grow at 5% compound annual growth rate, and that nickel-in-battery demand will grow at a rate of 21% CAGR,” BHP Nickel West president Eddy Haegel told the annual Diggers and Dealers conference on Tuesday.

Porcupine camp aimed to impress hosting 1923 mining engineers conference – by Karen Bachmann (Timmins Daily Press – July 30, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.timminspress.com/

Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum.

And what, pray tell, occupied the hearts and minds of Porcupine residents during the summer of 1923 – if you answered with a “who cares?”, then don’t bother finishing the article – if you want to know, keep on reading.

This should tell you just how rich the area was when it came to gold: teamsters and labourers working on the road between Timmins and the Paymaster Mine (the Back Road, or Gold Mine Road as we know it today), reported finding excellent samples of high grade gold in the rock they were using from the mine dump as the top dressing for the new road.

The government had struck a deal with the mine to use their waste rock to finish the work; workers were thrilled to find some pretty spectacular samples in their carts and on the road itself.

How ‘blood mineral’ traders in Rwanda are helping fund Congo rebels – and undermining global supply chains – by Geoffrey York and Judi Rever (Globe and Mail – August 4, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

New evidence from a United Nations report and a high-profile investor arbitration case is casting a spotlight on Rwanda’s role in sophisticated smuggling networks that extract gold and coltan from Congolese conflict zones and funnel the strategically important minerals illicitly into the global supply chain for consumer products such as cellphones, computers and jewellery.

The smuggling is also fuelling military and human-rights abuses in Central Africa, while damaging the region’s corporate-supported efforts to regulate the minerals trade, the evidence suggests.

Experts have been aware of the smuggling for many years, but fresh details from UN researchers and filings in the case have revealed how these networks are flourishing in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), even as governments claim to be cleaning up the underground trade.

Vancouver-based miner’s deep sea mining request may force moratorium from international authority – by Gwynne Dyer (London Free Press – August 1, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://lfpress.com/

A month ago, it seemed to be just another tale of ruthless miners and desperate poor people conspiring to wreck the environment while distant regulators failed to get a grip. But it turns out to be more complicated than that, and rather more hopeful.

The mining company is DeepGreen, and the poor people are the 11,500 inhabitants of Nauru, a tiny independent island in the Western Pacific.

The regulators are the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN agency that governs the seabed in areas beyond the reach of national laws (i.e. most of the planet).

Line 5 pipeline between U.S. and Canada could cause ‘devastating damage’ to Great Lakes, say environmentalists – by Samantha Beattie (CBC News Canada – August 3, 2021)

August 4, 2021

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

An aging pipeline that carries oil along the bottom of the ecologically sensitive and turbulent Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet, is in such a state of disrepair it could burst at any moment and cause catastrophic damage to the Great Lakes, environmentalists warn.

Line 5, a 1,000-kilometre-long pipeline owned by Calgary-based Enbridge, carries up to 540,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids a day from Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ont., where it is shipped to other refineries in Ontario and Quebec.

It’s at the centre of a politically charged dispute between Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who’s ordered what she calls the “ticking time bomb” to be shut down, and Canadian officials, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who’ve sided with Enbridge in insisting it’s safe to keep running.

Sudbury Accent: Wolf Lake supporters worry about its future – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – July 31, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

They want it to become a park, but the area is also home to promising mine exploration

There’s a smoky haze overhead and the remains of an old cabin near our tent. Neither really detracts from this visit to Wolf Lake, arguably still the most scenic location in the Sudbury area, not to mention its most ecologically significant.

In some ways they only enhance the experience. I have never seen a sun so diffuse and orange, for instance, nor do I remotely mind — being a cabin dweller myself — finding traces of a rudimentary abode in the bush.

They do prove, however, that Wolf Lake is not quite so pristine or isolated as one might think, or wish to be the case. It has been inhabited in the past, and it won’t escape an ill wind of the present.

BHP was rebuffed twice by Noront’s biggest shareholder before making takeover bid – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 31, 2021)

August 4, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BHP Group Ltd. had designs on Ring of Fire exploration company Noront Resources Ltd as early as the spring, but on two occasions its plans were stymied by Wyloo Metals Ltd., Noront’s biggest stakeholder.

Melbourne-based BHP on Tuesday made a $0.55 a share takeover offer for Noront, obliterating a previous $0.315 approach by fellow Australian company Wyloo Metals.

A regulatory filing this week shows that BHP first approached Toronto-based Noront in April with a proposal to acquire a 9.9 per cent stake in the company.

Zimbabwe bans chrome ore exports to boost ferrochrome industry – by MacDonald Dzirutwe (Nasdaq.com – August 3, 2021)

August 4, 2021August 4, 2021

https://www.nasdaq.com/

HARARE, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe has banned the export of raw chrome with immediate effect in a bid to support the domestic ferrochrome industry, minister of information Monica Mutsvangwa said on Tuesday.

The southern African country holds the second-largest known chrome ore reserves after South Africa, which in October last year announced it was imposing a chrome ore export tax to boost local ferrochrome producers.

Mutsvangwa told reporters after a cabinet meeting that Zimbabwe had 22 operating chrome smelters, which could soon face insufficient feedstock if chrome mining capacity did not increase.

First Nation and gold junior miner set the ground rules for exploration – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 29, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

First Mining inks exploration agreement with Animakee Wa Zhing #37 on drill program near Sioux Narrows

A Vancouver mine gold developer has signed a mineral exploration agreement with a northwestern Ontario First Nation.

First Mining Gold entered into the agreement with Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation (AWZ 37) with an upcoming drilling program scheduled at the company’s Cameron Gold Project, just east of Sioux Narrows and 80 kilometres southeast of Kenora.

The 528-square-kilometre property is within the traditional territory of AWZ 37. The agreement between the company and the community sets out the framework for communication and cooperation for exploration activities that could involve hauling away an old ore pile on the property for processing elsewhere.

Copper price: After China ban, Australia had no problem finding new concentrate buyers – by Frik Els (Mining.com – July 29, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

Copper was an early victim of the increasingly fraught relations between Canberra and Beijing and Chinese imports of concentrate have fallen off a cliff since November last year under a ban that was never made official.

Australia is the fourth-largest producer of copper concentrates globally. The country produced 3.5 million tonnes last year, with just under half of that exported.

Unlike the iron ore market, where the countries’ steel mills and iron ore miners are joined at the hip, Australian concentrate only made up some 5% of Chinese imports. China was Australia’s no. 1 customer, however, and in the past sucked in more than half the country’s exports.

China escalates plans to crush Australian iron ore industry – by David Llewellyn-Smith (News.com.au – July 28, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.news.com.au/

On Tuesday on the Australian Stock Exchange, large iron ore miners drove prices to record highs.

This feat came about because of two factors. Iron ore is trading just off record highs and the Australian dollar is much lower than it ever has been during such previous booms. This has led to record fat margins for miners.

But, even as this trade hits new highs, there are clear signs that good times are on notice. Indeed, China is determined to crush iron ore prices in both the short-term and the long, and there are good reasons to conclude that it will succeed sooner rather than later. There are three reasons why.

Cobalt company collaborates with Timiskaming First Nation on medicinal, edible plant study – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 28, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

First Cobalt partners on Indigenous community initiative to assess long-term impacts of industrial contamination on wild plants

The Toronto mining company that’s overhauling a metals refinery outside the town of Cobalt has launched a unique environmental and community initiative with an area First Nation.

First Cobalt is working with Timiskaming First Nation on a two-year study to assess the historic impact of settlement, logging, mining and industrial processes on the ecosystem in the former Cobalt mining district.

Specifically, this tag-team study is examining the long-term impact on medicinal plants and mushrooms in this area of the Timiskaming region.

Nunavut’s mining industry now significantly outpacing the N.W.T.’s (CBC News North – July 29, 2021)

July 30, 2021

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

Nunavut’s mining industry has hit a significant milestone — it’s now projected to be worth more than the N.W.T.’s.

According to the NWT & Nunavut Chamber of Mines, there are opposing trends at work. Nunavut’s mineral production has been expanding, while the N.W.T.’s has been shrinking.

“Nunavut is on a strong growth track,” said Ken Armstrong, chamber president, in a statement. “Unfortunately, in the N.W.T., we are seeing the pattern of decline that economists have been predicting.”

EV Batteries Won’t Be Enough to Save the Mining Industry – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – July 30, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Rio Tinto Group’s decision to push the button on a project in Serbia to produce lithium for electric vehicle batteries is a sign of how the mining industry is working to embrace the transition to net-zero emissions.

It’s also emblematic of just how difficult that transition is going to be. The company said Tuesday it will commit $2.4 billion to the Jadar project, which will produce lithium carbonate as well as boric acid, a material used in cockroach poison and high-strength magnets, with an aim to produce 58,000 metric tons of lithium a year starting in 2026.

Lithium is undoubtedly a boom market. Demand will increase from around 400,000 tons last year to around 2 million in 2030 as electric cars start to take over from gasoline, according to BloombergNEF.

Uranium demand rising while supply remains uncertain: Cameco – by Andrea Jennetta (S&P Global – July 29, 2021)

July 30, 2021

https://www.spglobal.com/

Demand for uranium is growing at the same time supply is becoming less certain, said Cameco President and CEO Tim Gitzel July 28.

“Since 2011, about 1.6 billion pounds of uranium have been consumed in reactors, and only about half of that or 800 million pounds have been placed under long-term [utility] contracts,” Gitzel said in a second-quarter earnings call. “This has led to a growing wedge of uncovered uranium requirements,” he said.

“We’re also seeing increased demand for uranium from financial funds and junior uranium companies,” Gitzel said.