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Biden’s Road to Clean Energy Meets West Virginia Coal Country (Bloomberg News – May 4, 2021)

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/

Gerald Lucas, 69, is a former coal miner and federal mine inspector who now gives public tours underground at the Beckley, W.Va., Exhibition Coal Mine, a working mine that ceased operations in 1953. He describes it as a fun job that allows him to share his decades of experience with visitors.

Lucas’s career change is becoming more common among West Virginians as the rural state of 1.8 million moves toward a new economy in which coal is no longer king. The state, which had a poverty rate of 16% in 2019, has long felt the effects of coal’s decline.

West Virginia lawmakers occupy key perches on Capitol Hill as President Joe Biden introduces a sweeping infrastructure and climate package—the $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan—and pledges to revitalize coal country.

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Tiny hummingbird stops construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline in B.C. for 4 months – by Amy Judd (Global News – April 26, 2021)

https://globalnews.ca/

Work on the Trans Mountain’s pipeline construction has now been stopped for four months after the discovery of hummingbird nests during tree cutting.

Members of the Community Nest Finding Network (CNFN) alerted federal wildlife officers in early April over concerns workers on the Trans Mountain pipeline in Burnaby were not complying with the Migratory Birds Convention Act.

According to the CNFN, on April 12, officers saw the felling of a tree with a hummingbird’s nest in it and as a result, Environment and Climate Change Canada issued the stop-work order until Aug. 21.

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Planning for Northern Link Road environmental assessment begins in the Ring of Fire area – by Logan Turner (CBC News Thunder Bay – May 4, 2021)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

The environmental assessment (EA) process for the third and final proposed road project in northern Ontario that will connect remote Matawa First Nations to the provincial highway network and create a road to the proposed Ring of Fire mineral development is underway, as of May 4.

Marten Falls and Webequie have begun to consult First Nations and other stakeholders and draft the terms of reference — essentially the work plan for the EA — for the Northern Link Road, a proposed two-lane, all-weather 120-kilometre road that will connect with two other proposed roads in Treaty 9 Territory: the Webequie Supply Road and the Marten Falls Community Access Road.

“We are leading the planning and assessment of this project to ensure that environmental risks to our traditional ways of life are thoroughly assessed and mitigated,” Chief Bruce Achneepineskum of Marten Falls First Nation said in a press release.

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Interview – CEMI CEO Doug Morrison: “The delay in getting approval for mining projects is almost all related to environmental impact” (Global Business Report/Mining.com – April 28, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

The industry response to the Brumadinho dam disaster, including the Global Tailings Standard, will hopefully prevent such tragic events in the future. However, it is important to examine how a catastrophe of this scale, at a facility owned by one of the five biggest mining companies in the world, could reoccur after a similar failure — Samarco, in 2015.

Doug Morrison, CEO of the Centre of Excellence for Mining Innovation (CEMI), said the industry must recognize that the increasing delay in getting approval for mining projects is almost all related to environmental impact.

Moreover, the failings at Brumadinho and Samarco were the result of a flawed approach to tailings management, Morrision said in an interview with the Global Business Reports:

GBR: What led CEMI to consider a new approach to the issue of tailings management?

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CIM 2021: Anglo CEO Cutifani urges miners to ‘create the future’ – not be a victim of it – by Alisha Hiyate (Canadian Mining Journal – May 3, 2021)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

“45% of the world’s economic activity is driven by the mining sector…
compared to agriculture’s footprint – which takes up 50% of the world’s
habitable land – mining only takes up 0.04%.”

Tasked with talking about the role of mining in society as part of the opening plenary at this year’s virtual CIM convention, Anglo American (LSE: AAL) chief executive Mark Cutifani didn’t mince words.

With a world population of 7.6 billion that’s growing toward 9 billion, “the simple fact is that the world cannot survive without mining and our contribution to literally every aspect of modern life,” Cutifani said.

Cutifani noted that other critical sectors, including energy, food production, construction, transportation, renewables infrastructure and communications all rely on mining.

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A tale of three countries: how Czechia, Germany, and Poland plan to ditch coal – by Kira Taylor (EURACTIV.com – May 4, 2021)

https://www.euractiv.com/

For decades, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic have been at the heart of Europe’s so-called “lignite triangle” which produces most of the continent’s coal-based electricity. But with climate change now a top political priority, the priority is shifting to renewables.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres says all OECED countries must phase out coal by 2030 at the latest in order to comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The European Union’s objective, agreed by EU leaders in December 2019, is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. That means Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic – the top three coal burners in Europe – are coming under growing pressure to transition to clean energy.

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The Drift: New identity, leader guide mine supply group into next chapter – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – May 3, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

MineConnect is taking a pan-northern approach to promoting mining in the North

Marla Tremblay is a doer. As far back as her economic development days in North Bay in the mid- to late 2000s, she’s had a knack for making things happen and deftly juggling multiple projects at once.

Between writing funding proposals and crafting strategic plans, she’ll happily coordinate the office potluck, drawing up a detailed list of what everyone’s bringing to the party.

“I’m that person,” Tremblay chuckled. “I’m the mother hen. I’m the one who’s organizing the details.” A long record of success doing what she does best made her the ideal candidate to become the next executive director of MineConnect.

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Supplying the green wave – by Toby Sparwasser Soroka (Corporate Knights – May 3, 2021)

https://www.corporateknights.com/

Last summer, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced he would be issuing “giant contracts” to mining companies capable of supplying Tesla with nickel in an “environmentally sensitive” way. “Please mine more nickel,” he asked bluntly.

By October, Tesla was in talks with Vale, the world’s largest producer of the mineral, about securing sustainable nickel from its Canadian mines to power Tesla’s electric vehicle batteries.

No firm definition of “environmentally sensitive” was given, but as minerals become increasingly critical to a low-carbon future, attention around how those minerals are extracted and produced is growing sharply.

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Pandora says laboratory-made diamonds are forever – by Jonathan Josephs (BBC.com – May 4, 2021)

https://www.bbc.com/

The world’s biggest jeweller, Pandora, says it will no longer sell mined diamonds and will switch to exclusively laboratory-made diamonds.

Concerns about the environment and working practices in the mining industry have led to growing demand for alternatives to mined diamonds. Pandora’s chief executive, Alexander Lacik, told the BBC the change was part of a broader sustainability drive.

He said the firm was pursuing it because “it’s the right thing to do”. They are also cheaper: “We can essentially create the same outcome as nature has created, but at a very, very different price.”

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BCSC halts trading in Valorem, one of four miners targeted in apparent pump-and-dump scam – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 4, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The British Columbia Securities Commission has halted trading in Valorem Resources Inc., one of four small Canadian mining companies targeted this year by an apparent international “pump and dump” ring that has caused stock market chaos.

The provincial securities regulator said it made the decision to halt trading in the Canadian Securities Exchange-listed exploration company after its share price ran up by 62 per cent and its volume jumped by 238 per cent.

The increases followed “unsubstantiated statements” about Valorem on a website called The Financial News.

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NEWS RELEASE: Environmental Assessment Planning Begins on Proposed Northern Road Link (Webequie First Nation and Marten Falls First Nation – May 3, 2021) Proponent First Nations Issue Notice of Commencement of the Terms of Reference

THUNDER BAY, ON, May 3, 2021 /CNW/ – Marten Falls and Webequie First Nations are pleased to announce that the Environmental Assessment process is ready to begin on the Northern Road Link. The official Notice of Commencement for the Terms of Reference (ToR) will be released on Tuesday May 4, 2021.

The Northern Road Link project is a proposal to build a 120km road that will run north south in a remote part of Northern Ontario, north-west of Thunder Bay. The project would connect two other proposed road development projects; the Webequie Supply Road (WSR) and the Marten Falls Community Access Road (MFCAR); providing the First Nations with access to the Ring of Fire mining development area as well as the provincial highway system.

Says Chief Achneepineskum of Marten Falls First Nation; “This Notice of Commencement is a significant milestone for our First Nations and one that has taken over 10 years to materialize. We share a common vision with Webequie to change how development occurs in our traditional territory. Today, we are leading the planning and assessment of this project to ensure that environmental risks to our traditional ways of life are thoroughly assessed and mitigated, and that opportunities for First Nations people are maximized.”

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Gold potential for White River miner becoming wider in scope – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 30, 2021)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Harte Gold prepares to launch aggressive summer exploration program to find new deposits

Harte Gold anticipates making more gold discoveries this year at its huge Sugar Zone property, near White River.

The Toronto gold miner provided an update on the “overhauled” regional exploration strategy for its massive, but relatively underexplored, 81,287-hectare property, 30 kilometres northeast of the town.

“There are several reasons to be excited about the potential for new discoveries,” said Dave Schonfeldt, Harte’s vice president of exploration, in an April 28 news release, with “no shortage of highly prospective targets” extending into a part of the property that’s a considerable hike from the Sugar Zone Mine.

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Cleaning up abandoned mines can help environment, create jobs in Appalachia – by Joseph Pizarchik (Kentucky.com – April 29, 2021)

https://www.kentucky.com/

Thousands of miles of streams across the country are running orange, contaminated by highly acidic water draining from abandoned coal mines.

Rather than supporting local economies, these abandoned sites and their pollution render water supplies and more than 850,000 acres of land unusable, while posing a risk of flooding and mudslides that could devastate entire towns.

All told, abandoned mine lands are an American infrastructure crisis. But, like many infrastructure problems, we can turn these liabilities into job-creating opportunities with investment at the scale of the problem.

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Forgotten chain of Alaska mining history – by A.J. Roan (North of 60 Mining News – April 30, 2021)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

After the United States’ purchase of Alaska, and before the boom brought on by the Klondike Gold Rush, a small island just off the Alaska Peninsula would have gold-bearing quartz discovered, inevitably booming a small trade hub known as Delarov, or as it came to be known, Unga.

As it stretches like a broken bridge from the continent of North America to the continent of Asia, many forget the large chain of islands that occupies an area of 6,821 square miles and extends nearly 1,200 miles westward from the Alaska Peninsula to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, is in fact inhabited and even a part of the great northern state.

The Alaska Peninsula and 167 named Aleutian Islands, extending more than 1,000 miles off Southwest Alaska form a border between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea.

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Not enough Canadians know how important the oilsands are – by Philip Cross (Financial Post – April 30, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

The boreal footprint of the oilsands is less than 10 per cent of the 11,000
square kilometres Quebec flooded to build its hydro power. Yet Quebec
politicians ritually denounce Alberta’s “dirty oil” while ignoring the environmental damage of their own self-styled “clean hydro.”

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has just released a paper of mine on the oilsands and Canada’s economy. Many Canadians outside the prairie provinces have trouble understanding — or accepting — that Alberta’s oilsands are still enormously important to our economy.

The $8.3 billion of new investment in the oilsands last year represented 4.5 per cent of all Canada’s business investment in 2020 and was four times the capital spending undertaken by the auto manufacturers whom eastern-Canadian politicians continue to lionize and subsidize.

The oilsands now dominate Canada’s crude oil production, with 70 per cent of total output, and the recent investments mean production will continue to grow.

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