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B.C.’s 14 operating mines could shrink to just five in 20 years, report warns – by Nelson Bennett (BIV/Alaska Highway News – October 17, 2020)

https://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/

B.C. has a serious carbon leakage problem that could see the mining industry here shrink over the next 20 years, and emissions from mining rise in other countries, a new report by the Mining Association of (MABC) warns.

It warns that B.C.’s 14 operating mines could shrink to just five by 2040. When carbon taxes were first introduced in B.C. by the Liberal government, they were generally supported by B.C.’s mining industry.

But the industry expected other competing jurisdictions would likewise implement carbon pricing. Most didn’t. Moreover, the NDP ended carbon tax neutrality, in which increases in carbon taxes are offset with decreases in other taxes.

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Clash of the dynasties: Legal showdown looms over Lang Hancock’s multi-billion dollar iron ore tenement – by Aja Styles (Sydney Morning Herald – September 3, 2020)

https://www.smh.com.au/

The end game in a historic feud over Western Australia’s iron ore throne looks set to begin as the Pilbara’s biggest mining dynasties prepare to clash in the Supreme Court.

The historic showdown will unearth the 1960s business dealings of late mining magnate Lang Hancock relating to the multibillion-dollar Hope Downs iron ore tenement in what is shaping up to become the state’s biggest civil court case.

On the one side is Mr Hancock’s daughter and the richest woman in Australia, Gina Rinehart, coupled with her company Hancock Prospecting. On the other are the heirs of Mr Hancock’s business partner, Peter Wright, and the descendants of a third Pilbara mining pioneer, Don Rhodes.

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Arizona: A Resurgence of Gold Exploration – by Phil Gracin (The Deep Dive – October 17, 2020)

https://thedeepdive.ca/

Arizona has a history of mining extending back to the 18th century. The Spanish, who along with Mexico controlled much of what is today the southwestern United States, concentrated more on silver mining but traded with the regional indigenous peoples who brought them gold – something which the church was interested in.

Most gold mining occurred in the 20th century and was mostly placer gold with some lode deposits as well, and the recovered gold is more likely to be a byproduct from copper mining operations. Arizona is often called the Copper State because two-thirds of copper produced in the US comes from this area.

Unlike its neighboring state of Nevada, Arizona was never a significant destination for gold exploration. However, since the late 1700’s Arizona has mined approximately 17 million ounces of gold. What makes Arizona compelling is that gold has historically been found throughout the state, even if much of it has been a by-product of copper mining.

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Kinross Gold Corp. considers selling gold mines in Americas, doubling down on West Africa and Russia – by Niall McGee and Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – October 17, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Kinross Gold Corp. is considering selling its gold mines in North and South America, moving its primary stock listing to London, and doubling down on its portfolio of assets in Russia and West Africa, according to three sources familiar with the discussions.

Kinross’s management believes selling its mines in the Americas and redomiciling its African and Russian business to London would make the remaining parts more valuable than they would be if all the assets were kept inside one business unit, the sources said.

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the individuals because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the information, which is confidential.

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Clean Energy Can’t Have Dirty Roots – by Ketan Joshi and Antony Loewenstein (Foriegn Policy – October 15, 2020)

https://foreignpolicy.com/

Securing human rights in the supply chain of critical minerals is vital for a green future.

On the face of it, the recent news that California will ban the sale of petrol cars in 2035 and favor electric vehicles is a positive development toward a greener, safer, and more sustainable world. And yet this announcement brings as many questions as answers, not least whether electric vehicles really are the best and easiest solution to the climate crisis.

The reality is far more complicated. The electrification of transport and the construction of new clean energy like solar are vital components of curing the carbon problem. But they come with their own novel and potentially show-stopping environmental and ethical costs, and these must urgently be grappled with by those of us who call for climate action at a rapid rate.

Everyone who expected climate policy to cool in the year of COVID-19 has been sorely disappointed. A flurry of announcements is increasing as the end of the year approaches, mostly relating to either general climate ambition, the accelerated deployment of mature technologies, or innovation to create new ones.

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Diamonds Snapshot: Seven small diamond producers and explorers to watch – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – October 15, 2020)

https://www.northernminer.com/

The Covid-19 pandemic has choked off revenue for diamond producers and funding for diamond juniors for much of the year. But with the diamond trade slowly starting to reopen and buyers and sellers adjusting to life under the pandemic, some companies outside of the big two – De Beers and Alrosa – have proven to be resilient. Here’s a look at seven small diamond producers and explorers that are soldiering on.

Gem Diamonds

Gem Diamonds‘ (LSE: GEMD) Letseng mine in Lesotho, known to host large, high-quality Type II diamonds, has continued to deliver exceptional diamonds this year, with 12 diamonds larger than 100 carats recovered to date. The latest stones included a 442-carat diamond Type II stone in August, and 233-carat and 166-carat Type II white diamonds in September.

Production at the Letseng open-pit mine was suspended for 30 days early in the pandemic, but resumed in late April. On the sales side, Gem has been successful in adopting flexible tender processes to continue diamond sales during travel restrictions associated with the pandemic. Its average sales price for the first half of 2020 was US$1,707 per carat on 43,384 carats sold.

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Australia’s Key EV Potential Beyond Elon Musk and Tesla – by Priscila Barrera (Australia Investing News – October 14, 2020)

https://investingnews.com/

Battery metals investors around the world continue to talk about the news, plans and ideas discussed at Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Battery Day in September.

The California-based automaker led by Elon Musk unveiled plans to reduce battery cell and pack costs with one main goal in mind: building a US$25,000 electric vehicle (EV).

Musk announced on stage that Tesla will be building a cathode facility in Texas, and will be sourcing its raw materials from North America. He also said the company has rights to lithium-rich clay operations in Nevada, which it could potentially use to secure supply of that raw material.

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Mountain Province’s diamond output up despite virus disruptions – by Cecillia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 16, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Mountain Province Diamonds (TSX: MPVD), which holds a 49% stake in the remote Gahcho Kué mine, saw production at the operation jump by 30% during the third quarter from the previous three months as crews adjust to covid-19 protocols.

The company churned out a total of 9.88 million tonnes of ore and waste material in the three months to Sep. 30, compared to the 6.84 million tonnes mined during the second quarter of the year.

The figure, however, is about 16% lower than the 11.7 million tonnes the Northwest Territories diamond mine produced in the same period last year.

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As nations clamor for ex-China rare earths supplies, Lynas urges cash support – by Anthony Barich (SP Global – October 14, 2020)

https://www.spglobal.com/

A Lynas Corp. Ltd. executive said state and federal governments need to put up “cold, hard cash” for the company’s A$500 million processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, amid broader concerns around proposed foreign investment reforms and a greater focus on ex-China supply chains.

During an Oct. 14 Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum presentation in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Lynas Vice President of Upstream Kam Leung laid out the “challenges” of developing downstream processing in the state, including higher input costs and higher capital costs, particularly linked to labor, and the “tyranny of distance” of vast trucking expanses.

Leung said government funding was needed for often complex and high-cost downstream processing to be globally competitive, given what he cited in his presentation as an “increasing focus on resilient critical minerals supply chains” among Australia, Europe, India, the U.S. and Japan.

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Battery Chat with Parri #1: Prof. Arumugam Manthiram (Nickel Institute – October 15, 2020)

https://nickelinstitute.org/

Prof. Arumugam Manthiram, a renowned professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has contributed substantially to the field of energy storage with his research having great impact on the scientific community. In this chat, Prof. Manthiram shares his research path briefly, his perspective on current research performed on high-nickel cathodes, and a glimpse of his future research directions.

Prof. Arumugam Manthiram currently holds the Cockrell Family Regents Chair in Engineering #5 and is the Director of the Texas Materials Institute.

With over 800 publications and 69k citations, his recent papers in Nature Energy and Nature Communications have been accessed by almost 60,000 people. Working on a wide range of high-nickel cathode materials for Li-ion batteries (among other topics), Prof. Arumugam Manthiram’s group recently performed a very interesting comparative study on various high nickel-containing cathode compositions: NMA-89 (89 refers to 89% nickel content) to NMC-89, NCA-89, and Al-Mg co-doped NMC (NMCAM-89).

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Barrick Gold gets good news in Papua New Guinea – by Peter Kennedy (Resource World – October 15, 2020)

https://resourceworld.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. [ABX-TSX; GOLD-NYSE] received some good news on Thursday October 15 when Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said Barrick and its Chinese joint venture partner Zijin Mining can continue to operate the Porgera gold mine.

According to published reports, the announcement follows talks in Port Moresby, the Papua New Guinea capital, and coincides with the release today of Barrick’s third quarter 2020 production results, which were largely in line with expectations.

Barrick shares were virtually unchanged on the news, easing 0.86% or $0.32 to $36.89 on volume of 2.25 million. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $41.09 and $17.52.

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Ottawa orders security review of Chinese state-owned Shandong’s bid for Canadian miner TMAC Resources – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 16, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ottawa is ordering a formal national security review of state-owned Chinese miner Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd.’s proposed acquisition of TMAC Resources Inc., injecting more uncertainty into a deal that had already generated a national debate about sovereignty in Canada’s Far North.

In May, Shandong proposed an all-cash acquisition of TMAC for $1.75 a share, valuing the Toronto-based junior gold miner at $207.4-million, or about 4 per cent more than its market price at the time. Shareholders of TMAC voted overwhelmingly in favour of the deal in June and it received regulatory approval in China.

The enhanced security review by the federal government, which comes at a time of increased tension between China and Canada, raises doubts about whether the transaction will be successful, and at the very least pushes out the timeline for it to close to the first quarter of next year.

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Slave Geological Province Corridor to go ahead after First Nation leaders pull brakes over summer (CBC News North – October 14, 2020)

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

The government of the Northwest Territories and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation have “reset” their relationship and have agreed to move forward with the $1.1-billion Slave Geological Province Corridor project.

The project in part would see a 413-kilometre, two-lane, all-season road built between mineral-rich areas northeast of Yellowknife and western Nunavut.

The idea is to create new economic opportunities that benefit both territories. The road would connect Nunavut to Canada’s highway system and link up to a potential deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean.

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South Korea seeks to exit Africa mining JV despite rising nickel demand – by Man-su Choe (Korean Investors – August 26, 2020)

http://www.koreaninvestors.com/

State-run Korea Resources Corp. has embarked on a plan to sell its stake in a loss-making nickel mining joint venture in Madagascar, Africa, after the ruling Democratic Party put forward a motion to ban the cash-strapped institution’s direct investment in overseas projects.

The planned sale, announced early this month, would mean South Korea’s exit from one of the world’s three-largest nickel mines, at a time when demand for nickel, a core raw material for rechargeable batteries, is on the rise from the burgeoning electric vehicle (EV) industry.

Korea Resources has pumped 2.2 trillion won ($1.9 billion) in the joint venture (JV), Ambatovy, since acquiring a 33% stake in the venture in 2006.

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How a city lives with HUGE hole in the ground (PHOTOS) – by Yekaterina Sinelschikova (Russia Beyond The Headlines – October 15, 2020)

https://www.rbth.com/

The city of Mirny has just one attraction – an incredible hole in the ground, which can be seen from space. Possibly the most famous hole in Russia, this moderately sized pit freaked some Reddit users out, leading to thousands of bewildered comments, such as: “Love the airport that just ends at the mine. Overshoot your runway a bit? Yeah, that’s the end of your vacation.”

On the edge of the mind-boggling quarry there indeed sits a city – Mirny. It’s situated in the biggest and most barren region of the country – Yakutia (or Sakha Republic, as you may also know it), a huge landmass that occupies a fifth of the country’s territory, but is inhabited by less than a million people.

The city of Mirny itself has 35,000 inhabitants and they’re there mainly for one reason: diamonds. In fact, they’re why the city was built in the first place.

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