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Miners navigate high risks, ransoms in West Africa – by Trish Saywell (Northern Miner – December 16, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Mali’s military government is trying to arrest the CEO of the world’s second-largest gold company while the junta in Niger has tightened its stranglehold on a French state-owned uranium mine. African dictators are ratcheting up the risk for Western miners.

A combination of resource nationalism, coups and jihadist-linked terror is making West Africa an increasingly difficult region to navigate for Western mining companies. On Monday, Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) warned that it will suspend operations at its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali if shipments of gold remain blocked.

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Premiers push Ottawa to build Northern infrastructure after Arctic foreign policy – by Nick Murray (Canadian Press – December 15, 2024)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

OTTAWA – Canada’s Northern premiers are pitching the federal government to dip into its defence budget as a way to bolster Arctic infrastructure and help meet the NATO spending target in the process.

The calls come after Canada released its new Arctic foreign policy earlier this month, which committed to promoting investment in a wide range of sectors — including critical mineral development, transportation and energy — but didn’t specifically make funding commitments in those areas.

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Opinion: I don’t agree with what Luigi Mangione is accused of doing. But I do understand why people are praising it – by Justin Ling (Toronto Star – December 16, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

As a political statement, Luigi Mangione’s manifesto is not particularly interesting. It is about as mundane as the locale where it was discovered: in the backpack of a 26-year-old hiding in a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Mangione is accused of plotting and carrying out the early morning assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare. In Mangione’s eyes, at least according to his manifesto, Thompson was just a totem of an industry that has “gotten too powerful.” “Frankly,” he declared,” these parasites simply had it coming.”

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Opinion: When resource companies leave a toxic mess, First Nations are stuck with the consequences – by Tanya Talaga (Globe and Mail – December 14, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation Elder Jimmy Johnny no longer fishes in the waters that generations of his family members have relied on since memories are remembered.

This past summer, 68 dead fish were found in beautiful Haggart Creek, downstream from the site of an environmental disaster that occurred on June 24 at Victoria Gold Corp.’s Eagle Gold mine, on the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun traditional territory, near Mayo in central Yukon.

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Column: Critical metals will be a key battleground in US-China trade war – by Andy Home (Reuters – December 17, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

It’s clear that critical minerals will be China’s weapon of choice in its escalating trade war with the United States. Every time Washington imposes new restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor chips to China, Beijing responds by tightening controls on exports of the critical inputs for chip manufacturers.

A third clamp-down on China’s semiconductor industry has drawn a swift response in the form of a full ban on exports of Chinese gallium and germanium to the United States. Exports of antimony, used in photovoltaic glass, are now also banned in what looks like a riposte to US tariffs on Chinese solar panels.

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Mining the Northwest: Opportunities abound for new Musselwhite owner to grow gold resources, shave costs – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – December 13, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Vancouver’s Orla Mining looks to fine-tune operations at the remote northwestern Ont. mine while putting money into the drill bit

Orla Mining may be new to the mining scene in Ontario, but the Musselwhite gold mine is not new to them. The Vancouver company’s pending acquisition of the remote northwestern Ontario underground mine from Newmont probably sent more than a few people scurrying to Google last month to dig into the details of the expanding seven-year-old outfit.

Unlike other mining newcomers to the region, Orla isn’t buying a broken operation that was mismanaged and in dire need of cash-infused resurrection. Musselwhite is one that, by all accounts, is well-run operation that no longer fit into Newmont’s ambitions to invest in so-called Tier 1 assets.

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Nova Scotia quietly advancing pursuit of critical mineral development – by Taryn Grant (CBC News Nova Scotia – December 12, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

The deals come on heels of critical mineral strategies released last year from both N.S. and Ottawa

Nova Scotia has struck a deal with Ottawa to help with the pursuit of growing the critical minerals industry, which some say is essential for supporting clean energy goals. Shortly before calling a snap election this fall, Premier Tim Houston’s cabinet signed an order-in-council that refers to funding from Ottawa “for the development of critical mineral potential in Nova Scotia.”

The province did not answer questions about the deal during the campaign. Following the Progressive Conservative win last month, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables said the province has signed two agreements with Natural Resources Canada.

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Grid Metals, Teck Resources team up to explore nickel sulphide project in Manitoba – by Staff (Mining.com – December 12, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Battery metals explorer Grid Metals (TSXV: GRDM) will team up with Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B) to advance the Mawka nickel-copper-PGM (platinum group metals) project in southeastern Manitoba.

Under an option agreement entered on Thursday, Teck can acquire up to a 70% interest in the project by spending C$15.7 million on the project and making staged cash payments totalling C$1.6 million to Grid Metals.

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Lawmakers push critical mineral status for copper, a major Arizona export, which would mean green energy tax breaks and less regulation – by Grace Monos (Cronkite News – December 12, 2024)

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WASHINGTON – Roughly 70% of copper produced in the U.S. comes from Arizona. Electric vehicles, solar panels and power cables can’t be produced without it, and for the first time last year, the U.S. government added copper to a list of critical materials.

But that designation in July 2023 only applied to a list kept by the Department of Energy. The U.S. Geological Survey maintains a separate list of critical minerals that comes with tax breaks and speedier permitting. So far, copper hasn’t made the cut. That may soon change under a measure promoted by Arizona lawmakers that sailed through the House recently.

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Canada Weighs Export Taxes on Uranium, Oil If Trump Starts Trade War – by Brian Platt (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada is examining the use of export taxes on major commodities it exports to the US — including uranium, oil and potash — if incoming President Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose broad tariffs.

Export levies would be a last resort for Canada, according to officials familiar with the discussions inside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. Retaliatory tariffs against US-made goods, and export controls on certain Canadian products, would be more likely to come first, said the people.

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Gold price faces strong headwinds ahead of Federal Reserve meeting – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – December 13, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – After testing resistance at $2,700 at the start of the week, gold is once again on the back foot as stubborn inflation takes its toll on expectations surrounding the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle.

The precious metal received a much-needed boost earlier this week as investors reacted to news that China’s central bank resumed buying gold. After a six-month break, data from the People’s Bank of China showed it purchased five tonnes of gold in November.

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Long-term demand outlook for platinum is robust, ongoing question mark over supply – by Martin Creamer (Mining Weekly – December 13, 2024)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The long-term outlook for platinum from a demand perspective is pretty robust. The question, once again, is whether supply will be adequate to meet it. “In terms of automotive demand, we can’t overlook that the drivetrain is going to continue to electrify.

“It’s just the pace of that electrification that is quite difficult to predict as things stand at the moment,” World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) research director Edward Sterck commented to Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview.

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Quebec and N.L. put aside decades of bad blood to ink new hydro power deal – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – December 13, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador are vowing to put aside decades of bad blood over the Churchill Falls hydropower station, cementing what they’re calling a historic deal that will see them invest and work together on future electricity development worth tens of billions of dollars.

Under an agreement in principle that was unveiled Thursday in St. John’s by premiers François Legault and Andrew Furey, Quebec would secure a key source of power. Newfoundland would win significantly more revenue for its existing power generation and clinch a partner with deep pockets and technical know-how for three new production projects along Labrador’s Churchill River.

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Global scramble for critical minerals fuelling protectionism – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Northern Miner – December 12, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

A growing wave of protectionism is sweeping across 72 nations, as governments scramble to secure access to critical minerals essential for strategic industries, new research by global risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft shows. The study reveals a surge in state intervention not seen in Western democracies since the early 20th century, driven by concerns over national security and supply chain stability.

Verisk Maplecroft’s Resource Nationalism Index (RNI), which measures protectionism and interventionism in the energy and mining spaces across 198 countries, highlights a sharp increase in protectionist policies over the past five years. The trend is most pronounced in Europe and North America, where geopolitical tensions and a fractured global landscape are reshaping economic practices.

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Will Alaska mining surge under Trump 2.0? – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – December 6, 2024)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

President-elect vows to maximize Alaska’s mining potential; an aligned Congress swings political pendulum in industry’s favor.

With an incoming president that favors “reshoring” over “friendshoring” the nation’s critical mineral supply chains and a Congress positioned to pass permitting reform and other mining-related legislation that has stalled in one chamber or the other for more than a decade, America’s mining sector is poised for growth following the outcome of the Nov. 5 election.

“We are going to have a federal government – with the Senate, with the House, with the White House – that’s going to be fully backing our mining industry,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said during a Nov. 6 impromptu address to a group of attendees at the Alaska Miners Association annual convention in Anchorage.

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