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Yukon government, creditor take disputes over Wolverine mine to Supreme Court of Canada – by Jackie Hong (CBC News North – June 7, 2021)

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

The Yukon government and a biotech company that loaned money to the now-bankrupt owner of the Wolverine mine have taken their disputes over who gets what’s left of the mine’s assets to the country’s highest court.

The territorial government, represented by the minister of energy, mines and resources, as well as Welichem Research General Partnership filed separate notices of application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada on May 4.

The files were opened on May 27, although the Supreme Court of Canada has yet to decide on whether it will actually hear either case.

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As Germany Acknowledges Its Colonial-Era Genocide in Namibia, the Brutal Legacy of Diamond Mining Still Needs a Reckoning – by Steven Press (Time Magazine – June 10, 2021)

https://time.com/

Steven Press is the author of Blood and Diamonds: Germany’s Imperial Ambitions in Africa, available from Harvard University Press.

Between 1904 and 1908, Germany’s military and leadership oversaw the killing of at least 80,000 Africans in what is now the independent country of Namibia. On May 28, Germany apologized. Declaring his country’s past violence in Namibia “genocidal,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also pledged $1.3 billion in aid to Namibians, whose capital, Windhoek, still has a prominent street named after Otto von Bismarck.

The German apology is a commendable step and important precedent. But its parameters are inadequate, and one reason why may be embedded in your family’s heirloom engagement ring.

Millions of carats in diamonds have been exported from Namibia since 1908. These same sparkling stones have a dirty history tied to German colonial rule. Right now, official statements about Germany’s debt to Namibia do not account for those gemstones at all.

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U.S. must work with allies to secure electric vehicle metals -White House – by Trevor Hunnicutt and Ernest Scheyder (Financial Post/Reuters – June 8, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

WASHINGTON — The United States must work with allies to secure the minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries and process them domestically in light of environmental and other competing interests, the White House said on Tuesday.

The strategy, first reported by Reuters in late May, will include new funding to expand international investments in electric vehicles (EV) metal projects through the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, as well as new efforts to boost supply from recycling batteries.

President Joe Biden’s administration will also launch a working group to identify where minerals used in EV batteries and other technologies can be produced and processed domestically. It was not immediately clear what that meant for existing EV minerals projects.

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Keystone XL pipeline project scrapped in blow to Canada’s energy plan – by JAMES KELLER, JEFFREY JONES AND KELLY CRYDERMAN (Globe and Mail – June 10, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

TC Energy Corp. is terminating the Keystone XL pipeline, ending a project that appeared to have run out of options after Joe Biden pulled its permit as one of his first official acts as U.S. President.

The Calgary-based company’s decision on Wednesday formally ends a 13-year regulatory odyssey that saw the proposed pipeline blocked twice by former president Barack Obama and revived by his successor Donald Trump.

The project’s cancellation is a significant blow to Alberta, whose economy has struggled in the face of constrained pipeline access and whose government bought an ownership stake last year.

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EDITORIAL: Green groups against renewable energy (Las Vegas Review-Journal – June 8, 2021)

https://www.reviewjournal.com/

It’s become apparent that radical environmentalists aren’t just waging war on fossil fuels, they’re against virtually any energy development at all. This deserves more attention, particularly given the rush by Democrats in Nevada and other states to impose renewable mandates.

Last week, the Biden administration announced it would seek to protect Tiehm’s buckwheat, a wildflower found only in a remote area of western Nevada, under the Endangered Species Act.

The decision came after the Center for Biological Diversity threatened the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management with legal action.

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NUNAVUT MINING: De Beers considers carbon-neutral diamond mine near Iqaluit – by Ezra Black (Nunavut News – June 8, 2021)

https://www.nunavutnews.com/

De Beers has set an ambitious goal to make the Chidliak Project its first carbon neutral diamond mine. Consequently, the company is looking to build a low-impact operation using renewable energy and cutting-edge technology.

The project is located on the Hall Peninsula of Baffin Island, approximately 200 kilometres south of Pangnirtung and about 120 kilometres from Iqaluit.

Due to the large number of kimberlite pipes – carrot-shaped geologic formations that often contain diamonds – De Beers is looking to design the operation using high-tech mining techniques, according to De Beers spokesperson Terry Kruger.

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Sparking up the Ring of Fire – by D’Arcy Jenish (Canadian Mining Journal – June 8, 2021)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Progress on infrastructure in remote region offset by opposition from several First Nations, environmental groups

Once there were many. Now there are just two. The discovery in 2008 of vast deposits of nickel, copper, chromite, platinum and palladium in the Ring of Fire, in Ontario’s remote Far North, fuelled dreams of fabulous wealth and unleashed a predictable stampede to stake claims.

More than 35 junior mining companies laid claim to a piece of this crescent-shaped, mineral-rich formation, which, by some estimates, spans 5,000 sq. km. Even once mighty Cliffs Natural Resources of Cleveland jumped in with grand plans to invest $3.3 billion to a build a mine, a processing facility and a transportation corridor of 300-plus km to the CN rail line at Nakina.

But Cliffs was later forced to file for bankruptcy protection. Exploration money dried up. The dreams of future wealth evaporated as the prospects of production receded ever further into the future. And one by one, all those juniors exited, leaving just two Toronto-based companies still standing – Noront Resources and KWG Resources.

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World needs Congo copper to kick fossil fuels, Friedland says – by James Attwood, Erik Schatzker and Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg News – June 8, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

An African nation emerging from decades of conflict and corruption holds the key to greening the global economy.

That’s the view of mining magnate Robert Friedland, whose Kamoa-Kakula venture just started producing copper in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After scouring 59 countries over more than three decades, the Canadian billionaire says Congo has the world’s best deposits of the metal used in everything from electric cars to solar panels and power grids.

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Moody’s flags significant ESG risks to mining with new ratings – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 8, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Ratings agency Moody’s has released new environmental, social and governance (ESG) issuer profile and credit impact scores for the global metals and mining sector, which could negatively impact companies lagging behind.

They come on the heels of the agency’s ESG scores for a range of corporate issuers, utilities and US governments earlier this month and for sovereign issuers published in January.

With the ongoing transition to green energy set to boost demand for key materials including copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium, many miners have trumpeted their green credentials. Companies, however, have not been assigned scores for their undertakings nor for how they would impact their risk exposure, until now.

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Biden Administration Moves to Unkink Supply Chain Bottlenecks – by Katie Rogers and Brad Plumer (New York Times – June 8, 2021)

https://www.nytimes.com/

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday planned to issue a swath of actions and recommendations meant to address supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and decrease reliance on other countries for crucial goods by increasing domestic production capacity.

In a call on Monday evening detailing the plan to reporters, White House officials said the administration had created a task force that would “tackle near-term bottlenecks” in construction, transportation, semiconductor production and agriculture.

The officials also outlined steps that had been taken to address an executive order from President Biden that required a review of critical supply chains in four product areas where the United States relies on imports: semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, pharmaceuticals and their active ingredients, and critical minerals and strategic materials, like rare earths.

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Deep in Queensland’s coal country, one community is grappling with what the future holds – by Jess Davis (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – June 7, 2021)

https://www.abc.net.au/

As you drive south-west from Mackay towards the small inland community of Clermont, you pass through stunning burnt-orange sorghum crops and past rock formations bursting from the ground before entering deep into coal country.

Convoys delivering giant machinery that takes up both lanes slow the trip down. The machinery is heading towards the open-cut mines that are the lifeblood of these communities. And seemingly never-ending trains rattle on the tracks that skirt the road, carrying the precious black cargo to the port and out to sea.

Some stereotypes hold true; the roads are full of men and women in high-vis orange shirts driving white utes. For the past 35 years, Rhonda Bleakley and her husband have been keeping those utes going from the helm of a petrol station and fuel distributorship in Clermont.

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Glencore preparing to go deeper than deep at Timmins’ Kidd Mine – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – June 8, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Feasibility study to be start on another expansion to world’s deepest base metal operation

After 55 years, the world’s deepest base metal mine looks to still have some life yet.

Glencore Canada is spending US$44 million on drilling and a feasibility study in preparing for another deep mine expansion at Kidd Mine near Timmins Kidd’s current life of mine runs out at the end of 2023 but Glencore management and technical staff have been working to extend it.

Known as Mine 5, Glencore said they’ve put 89,000 metres of drilling into the ore body and have queued up a new round of 87,000 metres once safety protocols are put in place.

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Russia brings back largest global uranium project – by Polina Leganger Bronder (The Barents Observer – June 8, 2021)

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/

Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev has instructed Rosatom to submit a plan for the resumption of uranium mining in Yakutia.

Rosatom, the state corporation specializing in nuclear power, in 2017 suspended the development of Yakut uranium deposits but is now ordered to resume mining in the region by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Yuri Trutnev.

News online RBC reported that Tutnev announced his nudge towards Rosatom at a meeting on the efficiency of the utilization of minerals and the conduction of geological exploration in Yakutia on June 2nd.

The latest time at which the license freeze can be upheld is 2025, however, the process of revoking the license suspension is already on its way.

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Inside the battle to own a prized nickel deposit in Ontario’s remote Ring of Fire – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – June 8, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

Wyloo Metals, backed by an Australian iron ore magnate with deep pockets, is looking to buy Noront Resources for its prospective nickel as a carbon transition play

As the world stumbles towards a decarbonized future, moving sideways and planting false steps at times, Luca Giacovazzi says he knows one thing: The transition is good for Northern Ontario’s nickel.

In a story that is still unfolding, in late May, Luca Giacovazzi, head of Australia-based Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd, announced he was prepared to invest roughly $133 million to buy Noront Resources Inc. — the Toronto company that’s spent years trying to develop a new mining district near the James Bay Lowlands of northern Ontario, called the Ring of Fire.

Cut off from all-season roads connecting to the rest of the province, the Ring of Fire has always faced long odds of becoming a mining area.

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Copper boom: how clean energy is driving a commodities supercycle – by Neil Hume and Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – June 8, 2021)

https://www.ft.com/

Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a rare commodity in the modern resources industry: a high-grade copper mine that one day could produce enough metal to satisfy more than 5 per cent of China’s annual demand.

Surrounded by small villages, the mine employs around 7,000 workers and has its own road for trucks to carry rock to a nearby smelter. The company is also upgrading a 40-year-old hydropower station on the Congo River to provide electricity to run the mine.

The first phase of the $2bn project began operating in May, more than four years after the last big copper mine of similar scale, MMG’s Las Bambas, in Peru, came online.

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