Republic of Mining

Drill rigs turning for gold, palladium discoveries on Superior’s North Shore – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 14, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Exploration boom in the northwest continues for precious, industrial and ‘green’ metals

Gold and palladium exploration continues to dominate activity along the north shore of Lake Superior.

A mix of junior miners are either securing an initial foothold in northwestern Ontario, drilling off deposits, or approaching environmental and regulatory milestones in advancing their projects toward production.

Sudbury’s Manitou Gold is picking up the pace of exploration at its Goudreau Project, outside Dubreuilville. Since raising $5 million in financing last month, the company boosted its drill program from 10,000 metres to 30,000 metres.

What Pandora’s switch to synthetics means for NWT diamond mines – by Ben Andrews (Cabin Radio – May 13, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://cabinradio.ca/

The world’s largest jewellery maker has sparked a debate about ethical mining and the Northwest Territories’ struggling diamond industry is at the centre.

he diamond industry is defending the ethics of mined diamonds after Danish company Pandora announced last week it would use only lab-grown products. Pandora said a combination of renewables and offsets will make its synthetic diamonds carbon-neutral.

Global jewellery organizations responded to Pandora’s announcement in a joint news release arguing the company had smeared natural diamonds by presenting the “misleading narrative” that lab-grown diamonds are an “ethical” alternative to gems pulled from the ground.

Fortuna faces pushback from retail investors on merits of proposed Roxgold $1.1-billion acquisition – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 14, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. is facing some resistance from its significant retail shareholder base on the merits of its proposed $1.1-billion takeover of Roxgold Inc. ROXG-T +2.71%increase, raising doubts about whether the deal will succeed.

Vancouver-based Fortuna on April 26 announced a friendly agreement to acquire Toronto-based Roxgold in an all-stock transaction. On the day the deal was announced, Fortuna’s shares sank by 18 per cent.

Investors’ main concerns include silver specialist Fortuna straying out of its main bailiwick by buying a gold miner, the Americas-focused company increasing its risk profile by buying assets in risky West Africa, and the steep 40-per-cent premium being paid.

China EV makers’ targeting Western markets has ‘tremendous implications” for metal mix – by Staff (Mining.com – May 13, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://www.mining.com/

China, the country leading global sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs), not only will maintain its market position accounting for half of all expected global NEV during the next decade, but it may also do a grand entrance into western markets.

This is according to London-based market analyst CRU, whose recent EV report states that local sales will be driven in part by government policy – such as mandating a minimum quota of NEV sales for automakers – but also by increased consumer demand as NEV prices continue to decline and the availability of high-quality models increases.

“The Chinese government has announced clear plans to raise NEV sales to 20% of the automotive market by 2025, and 50% by 2035, and as time goes on, these look more and more achievable,” the document reads.

Peak demand? More like a supply crisis propelling oil to US$100 – by Eric Nuttall (Financial Post – May 12, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://financialpost.com/

Eric Nuttall: OPEC will soon exhaust its spare capacity and U.S shale lacks the ability to significantly grow in the years ahead

The world stands on the cusp of an oil supply crisis. Years of insufficient investment in offshore mega-projects combined with the end of U.S. shale hyper growth and a recent shift by global supermajors to preferentially invest in alternative energy over traditional hydrocarbons have resulted in an oil industry that lacks the ability to meaningfully grow its production in the years ahead.

Why does this matter when we read headlines every day prophesizing the end of oil due to the imminent mass adoption of alternatives such as hydrogen and electric cars?

This is our energy reality: the world is nowhere near peak oil demand. Global population growth of 1.2 billion people over the next 20 years combined with decades’ long runway for alternatives to reach critical scale mean that oil demand will grow for years to come.

Some analysts say ‘not so fast’ when asked whether this is a new supercycle – by Henry Lazenby (Northern Miner – May 13, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://www.northernminer.com/

Economists are tracking a broad economic recovery across the globe that appears to be gathering momentum and commodity prices are trading at healthy-to-stratospheric levels amid recovering demand from the Covid-19 pandemic, escalating geopolitical tension between the world’s industrial juggernaut China and key mining nations like Australia, and circumstantial supply-side issues.

On May 12 iron ore prices surged to a record US$237.57 per tonne and copper broke out of a decade-long rut on May 7, as metal for delivery in July gained 3.2%, with futures trading at a record US$4.75 per lb. (US$10,470 per tonne) on the Comex market in New York, compared with the 2011 record of US$4.50 lb. (US$10,190 tonne).

Unprecedented infrastructure-focused stimulus packages add a new layer of incremental demand growth to already generally bullish commodity fundamentals, and in recent quarterly conference calls the world’s mining majors boasted of record revenues, cash flow and returns to shareholders.

Without Laurentian’s scholars, Sudbury’s history will be lost – by Dieter K. Buse (Sudbury Star – May 14, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Column: Over the past 60 years, our most important contribution has been to fill in the empty map of a region largely unknown to the rest of the country

In the present irresponsible dismantling of a university, history as an English program has been kept, but the Francophone component destroyed and the graduate programs terminated.

As a member of that bilingual department, operating with much mutual respect, in 1970/71 we fought to establish the graduate program. During my decades at LU — I retired from meetings and marking but not research and writing in 2005 — the History Department was the only Laurentian graduate program that passed its mandated seven-year review, or process of accreditation, every time.

Yet, due to low enrolment, without considering quality and hardly any cost (frequently we taught grad courses for free), the insolvency axe wielders chopped part of its core.

Biggest Lithium Miner Gears Up to Tap Major Lode From Old Cars – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – May 12, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest lithium miner wants to extract more of the battery metal from old cars as demand surges and aging electric vehicles are traded in.

Albemarle Corp. is making investments and partnering with automotive equipment manufacturers on the recycling effort, which it calls “critical” to its future growth.

The miner is part of a growing list of companies looking to grab a share of the market for recovered battery materials as lithium supplies show signs of tightening.

DR Congo’s diamond hub loses lustre as hardships bite – by Marthe Bosuandole (AFP/Yahoo News – May 13, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://news.yahoo.com/

Two hours by dirt road from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s diamond hub Mbuji-Mayi, life is hard for freelance miners.

On the way to Lupatapata, abandoned maize fields attest to a decline of the region’s once thriving agriculture sector.

The town has no major market, no maize depot, just a “mini-market” for diamonds where middle men wait to name their price for the precious stones, standing behind makeshift counters.

Opinion: Now do you see the value of pipelines? – by Mark Milke and Lennie Kaplan (Financial Post – May 14, 2021)

May 14, 2021

https://financialpost.com/

As energy transition expert Vaclav Smil has pointed out repeatedly,
attempts to design “hypothetical road maps outlining complete
elimination of fossil carbon from the global energy supply” are
“nothing but an exercise in wishful thinking that ignores
fundamental physical realities.”

There’s nothing like real life as a corrective to Disney-like musings, where fantasies are concocted absent any connection to reality.

The latest example comes from the ransomware attack against Atlanta-based Colonial Pipelines, which ships 100 million gallons of refined fuel daily. Colonial was hacked and extorted by an entity known as DarkSide.

It locked the company out of its own network, which affected its ability to move fuel through its 5,500-mile pipeline network, which stretches from Houston to Linden, New Jersey. As of this writing, Colonial’s four main pipelines were just slowly coming back on line.

Saskatchewan Indigenous companies to explore SMR investments – by David Giles (Global News – May 12, 2021)

May 13, 2021

https://globalnews.ca/

Three Saskatchewan Indigenous-owned companies have signed an agreement to pursue small modular reactor (SMR) investments.

Kitsaki Management, Athabasca Basin Development and Des Nedhe Group say they are in a position to support this emerging technology from construction to operation and maintenance.

Sean Willy, CEO of Des Nedhe Group, said their companies have supported uranium mining in northern Saskatchewan since the 1980s and they want to make sure their voices are heard in this “new and exciting technology.”

Nunavut economy grows despite global pandemic – by David Venn (Nunatsiaq News – May 11, 2021)

May 13, 2021

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Nunavut was one of two Canadian jurisdictions to have its economy grow in 2020, as the country’s gross domestic product fell 5.3 per cent, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.

The territory’s GDP increased 3.5 per cent in 2020 – the most of any territory or province in the country, with Yukon trailing with a 1.1 per cent increase – according to the report published Monday.

Economic growth in Nunavut was supported by a healthy year for the gold and silver mining sector, which grew by 23 per cent, and iron mining, which grew by 34 per cent.

Judge allows DNR review of mining rules near Boundary Waters to move forward – by Jimmy Lovrien (Duluth News Tribune – May 12, 2021)

May 13, 2021

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

Minnesota regulators will review the state rules for copper-nickel mining within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness after a judge on Wednesday upheld an agreement allowing for the review and dismissed a challenge by Twin Metals, which is proposing such a mine in that watershed.

Judge Laura Nelson in State District Court in St. Paul remanded the issues to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources so it could “institute appropriate administrative proceedings to consider and make findings and issue an order regarding the alleged inadequacy” and that Twin Metals’ motion to dismiss “fails.”

The order allows a November agreement between the DNR and environmental group Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness to proceed. In that, the state agency agreed to review its 1993 non-ferrous, or non-iron, mining rules to determine if it can actually protect the BWCAW from copper-nickel mining pollution in the Rainy River Watershed.

With the Line 5 shutdown order, the U.S. spurns Canada’s energy needs again – by Lawrence Martin (Globe and Mail – May 13, 2021)

May 13, 2021

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer won’t back off. Rather than show flexibility toward Canada in the confrontation over the vital Line 5 pipeline, she’s treating the good neighbour as badly as Donald Trump did, prompting a showdown.

She’s ordered the shutdown of the Enbridge Inc. line that passes through her state and supplies almost half the fuel needs of Ontario and Quebec. She threatened Tuesday to seize the profits of Enbridge if it doesn’t comply. It says it won’t.

This line has been in operation for 67 years without a leak into the Straits, but that doesn’t cut it with the uncompromising governor, a rising Democratic Party star. She alleges it is in ill-repair and could cause a horrific spill.

Sanctioned Israeli Billionaire Cost Congo $2 Billion, Group Says – by Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg News – May 12, 2021)

May 13, 2021

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The Democratic Republic of Congo lost out on nearly $2 billion in revenue by selling mining and oil assets to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, according to a coalition of Congolese and international organizations that urged the government to review the deals.

Companies owned by Gertler, who is under U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption in Congo, stand to gain a further $1.76 billion in the next 20 years from copper and cobalt projects in the country, said the coalition known as Congo Is Not For Sale. Gertler, who is close friends with former Congolese President Joseph Kabila, denies all wrongdoing and has never been charged with a crime.

“The coalition calls on Congolese authorities to end their silence on this matter and take urgent measures to ensure that Congo’s mineral wealth benefits the DRC Treasury and its people,” the group said in a report Wednesday.