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Goodwill Ambassador impressed by Norilsk Nickel’s environmental initiatives (Modern Diplomacy – May 27, 2021)

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A group of different speakers at the Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel’s sustainability event were delighted with the Nordic manufacturer’s environmental initiatives.

UN Goodwill Ambassador Vyacheslav Fetisov noted the large volume of investments in the fight against climate change and environmental initiatives.

“Nornickel was one of the first to embrace the modern challenges of climate change and start working in this direction. I often visit Norilsk, most recently a couple of months ago. Once again, I am convinced that the Company has a long-term business vision. And it is already being implemented.

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Make climate policy in legislatures, not courts – by Bjorn Lomborg (Financial Post – May 25, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

Climate court cases undermine democracy, harm the poor and sidetrack us from smarter ways to fix the climate

Despite intense climate worries, electorates have been unwilling to spend the trillions needed to cut emissions dramatically. That is why climate campaigners have increasingly pursued a new strategy: forcing climate policy through courts.

Across the world, the UN now counts at least 1,550 such climate cases in 38 countries, including several in Canada, often filed by young people invoking a fear for their future.

Unfortunately, such cases undermine democracy, harm the poor and sidetrack us from smarter ways to fix the climate.

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NEWS RELEASE: Noront Resources Adopts Shareholder Rights Plan (May 27, 2021)

TORONTO, May 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Noront Resources Ltd. (TSXV: NOT) (“Noront” or the “Company”) announces that it has adopted a shareholder rights plan (the “Rights Plan”) effective May 26, 2021.

The Rights Plan is designed to ensure that all Noront shareholders are treated fairly in connection with any take-over bid and to protect against “creeping bids” for the outstanding common shares of Noront (the “Common Shares”) through purchases exempt from applicable take-over bid rules.

Subject to the terms of the Rights Plan, in the event that rights become exercisable under the Rights Plan, holders of the rights (other than the acquiring person and its related parties) will be permitted to exercise their rights to purchase additional Common Shares at a 50% discount to the then prevailing market price of the Common Shares. Pursuant to the Rights Plan, one right attaches to each issued and outstanding Common Share.

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Barring Canadians from U.S. COVID shots petty, wrong – by Licia Corbella (London Free Press – May 27, 2021)

https://lfpress.com/

In the U.S., COVID-19 vaccine supply outstrips demand. In Canada, it’s the reverse. That’s why it made sense and warmed Canadians’ hearts to have our U.S. neighbours offer surplus vaccines nearing expiration to us.

It’s a great story, but not necessarily for the federal government — which likely sees Canadians streaming to the U.S. for doses of charitable U.S. vaccines as a sign of a slow vaccine rollout and failure.

“This is all about saving human lives,” said James McNeely, spokesperson for the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Mont., adding, “COVID doesn’t stop at the border.”

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Yukon UNESCO World Heritage bid shifts focus from Gold Rush to colonialism (CBC News North – May 25, 2021)

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

Three years after withdrawing a bid to become a UNESCO World Heritage site, a local committee in Dawson City, Yukon, is trying again — this time shifting focus from mining and the Klondike Gold Rush to the experience of colonialism by First Nations.

“Tr’ondëk-Klondike as a site tells an exceptional story that reflects Indigenous peoples’ — Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in peoples’ —experience and adaptation to what we know as the phenomenon of European colonialism,” said Lee Whalen, of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation’s heritage department.

“So under the criteria for World Heritage, we are illustrating a significant stage in human history.”

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Timmins nickel project could be a 25-year producer – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 26, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Canada Nickel releases preliminary economic assessment of Crawford property

Canada Nickel Company said its Crawford project has enough resources in the ground, north of Timmins, to be a globally important open-pit mining player for at least 25 years.

The Toronto junior miner released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for a proposed US$1.9-billion operation involving two separate pits with a scalable processing plant that could grow to a 120,000-tonne per day operation.

They’re also talking about using electric and autonomous vehicles and equipment to reduce the amount of diesel consumed and minimize their carbon footprint.

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BHP is in talks with Nutrien on giant potash mine – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – May 26, 2021)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

BHP Group is in talks with Nutrien Ltd. about a potential partnership in its massive Canadian potash venture as the world’s biggest mining company moves closer to a final decision on the project.

The two companies are discussing multiple options, including Nutrien becoming the operator and selling the potash through its existing channels, or the Canadian company taking a stake in the Jansen mine, according to people familiar with the matter.

There is no guarantee the talks will lead to a deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private.

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From hot stock to bust, will Nemaska Lithium rise again? – by Martin Patriquin (Financial Post – May 26, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

MONTREAL • About 1,000 kilometres from Montreal, in the Precambrian expanse of Quebec’s north, is the world’s second-largest deposit of one of its most sought-after minerals.

In 2009, Nemaska Lithium announced its intention to harvest its namesake mineral with all the gut-busting blarney usually reserved for gold rushes and oil strikes.

To investors, the company touted itself as “your next Canadian lithium supplier,” promising to deliver 300 jobs and $4.1 billion in revenues over its minimum 18-year lifespan.

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Biggest copper mining project in decades begins production – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 26, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) has begun producing copper concentrate at its Kamoa-Kakula project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) months ahead of schedule as the metal continues to trade close to all-time highs.

Kakula, the first mine planned at the concession, is initially forecast to generate 3.8 million tonnes of ore a year at an average feed grade “well in excess of 6% copper” over the first five years of operation, the company said.

Ivanhoe and partner Zijin Mining said first ore was introduced into the concentrator plant on May 20 to perform initial hot commissioning tests on the ball mills and other processing equipment.

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‘A regime change in gold’: This is why gold price is last to surge on inflation trade – portfolio manager – by Anna Golubova (Kitco News – May 25, 2021)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) The gold market was one of the last assets to rise on inflation fear headlines, and that is because there has been a regime change in the precious metal market, said Portfolio Wealth Advisors president and CIO Lee Munson.

Investors shouldn’t rush to buy gold because they fear a crisis or hyperinflation. For gold, it is now all about the central bank’s expansion of the balance sheet, Munson told Kitco News, adding that gold will rise to $2,200 before the Federal Reserve starts raising rates.

“I don’t buy gold for a crisis. I buy it because when there’s a crisis, and I think the central banks are going to print money like there’s no tomorrow, that’s the time when I want to have a larger holding of gold,” he said.

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Scientists raise proliferation concerns over nuclear plans in New Brunswick – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – May 26, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Canadian government’s financial support for a proposed reprocessing facility for nuclear waste in New Brunswick undermines global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, a group of U.S. nuclear non-proliferation experts and former government officials says.

Moltex Energy, a small, privately held company based in Saint John, plans to build a nuclear power plant in New Brunswick by the early 2030s. It would recycle spent fuel from Canada’s CANDU reactors (including NB Power’s Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station), and reprocess the waste in a 300-megawatt reactor called the Stable Salt Reactor-Wasteburner (SSR-W).

Moltex received a combined $50.5-million from the federal Strategic Innovation Fund and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) in March.

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A Viable Alternative to Chinese Minerals Hegemony – by Duggan Flanakin (Townhall.com – May 26, 2021)

https://townhall.com/

Prompted by a worldwide chip shortage already impacting automobile production, President Biden in February signed an executive order directing a 100-day broad review of supply chains for critical materials for semiconductors and large-capacity batteries, including rare-earth elements. It builds on analyses, reports and executive orders initiated several years ago by the Trump Administration.

The stark truth that this review should highlight is that the U.S. and its Western allies have been left behind at the starting gate in a race only China seems to have realized was taking place.

The Chinese began building their now-dominant supply chain decades ago. The U.S. has been 100% net import reliant on rare-earth elements, with 80 percent of those imports sourced from China.

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Biden looks abroad for electric vehicle metals, in blow to U.S. miners – by Ernest Scheyder and Trevor Hunnicutt (Financial Post/Reuters – May 25, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

U.S. President Joe Biden will rely on ally countries to supply the bulk of the metals needed to build electric vehicles and focus on processing them domestically into battery parts, part of a strategy designed to placate environmentalists, two administration officials with direct knowledge told Reuters.

The plans will be a blow to U.S. miners who had hoped Biden would rely primarily on domestically sourced metals, as his campaign had signaled last autumn, to help fulfill his ambitions for a less carbon-intensive economy.

Rather than focus on permitting more U.S. mines, Biden’s team is more focused on creating jobs that process minerals domestically into electric vehicle (EV) battery parts, according to the people.

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Iron ore tycoon pleads with west to mend its relationship with China – by Jamie Smyth (Financial Times – March 24, 2021)

https://www.ft.com/

Australia’s richest man has implored politicians to reject Trumpian populism and rebuild the west’s fractured relationship with China to avoid damaging the global economy and environment.

Andrew Forrest, founder of Fortescue, the world’s fourth biggest iron ore miner, accused populist politicians of dividing people, ripping nations apart and destroying humanity’s ability to leave the world in a better place than they found it.

If asked by the Australian government, he would play a role in helping to heal the worst breakdown in diplomatic relations between Beijing and Canberra in generations, he told the Financial Times in an interview.

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This Arctic mine is a warning the world must heed – by Laura Paddison (Wired Magazine – May 26, 2021)

https://www.wired.co.uk/

Eric Ootoovak remembers a time when the icy waters north of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic were teeming with narwhals. The mythical-looking sea creatures are woven into the culture of Inuit hunters like Ootoovak, who have caught these marine mammals for millennia, eating their meat, blubber and skin, which are packed with vitamins Inuit rely on to get through the long, dark winters.

“The narwhals used to be abundant, by the thousands, and we don’t see that today,” says Ootoovak, the chair of the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization, based in the Inuit hamlet of Pond Inlet on northern Baffin Island.

Things changed when the huge Mary River open pit iron ore mine started operations on Baffin Island in 2014, bringing dust, trucks and ships. Narwhal numbers dropped off, says Ootoovak, along with fish and seals.

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