Republic of Mining

Europe relies on foreign raw materials to power its green and digital future. Now it wants to mine them at home – by David Meyer (Fortune Magazine – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

The European Union is keen to boost its green and digital ambitions, making them central to its coronavirus recovery plans. But there’s one big problem: raw materials.

Those rare-earth elements needed for the magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines? Some 98% of the EU’s supply comes from China. South Africa provides 84% of the platinum group metals needed for fuel cells and automotive catalysts.

And Europe’s supplies of lithium—critical for battery production and therefore for electric vehicles and renewable-energy storage—come mostly from Chile.

‘Dividends create a financial discipline’: Yamana’s Peter Marrone on how to run a gold company at the Global Mining Symposium – by (Northern Miner – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://www.northernminer.com/

Executive chairman and founder of Yamana Gold (TSX: YRI; NYSE: AUY), Peter Marrone, spoke on the second day of the Global Mining Symposium about the company’s assets, its strategy, and his views on the price of gold.

Marrone started his career practicing law in Toronto, focusing on corporate, security and international law and then became the head of investment banking at a major Canadian bank before founding Yamana in 2003.

In a wide-ranging interview with Northern Miner editor-in-chief Trish Saywell, Marrone explained how he made the jump from investment banking to mining, noting that it involved the sale of a mining project that he had been asked to handle by the bank.

BHP’s Road To Reduced Emissions Should Be Electric – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg Opinion) — As oil companies flesh out plans to cut carbon emissions, their peers in the mining sector risk being left behind.

BHP Group, Rio Tinto Group and Vale SA are already among the world’s largest emitters, thanks to the vast amounts of carbon spewed out turning their key product of iron ore into steel. Among producers with listings on major developed exchanges, only Royal Dutch Shell Plc sits higher than the big three miners in terms of so-called Scope 3 emissions.

(This describes pollution generated when a company’s products are used, such as when gasoline is burned in a car or steel is produced in a mill. It comprises the vast majority of total emissions in the resources sector.(1))

New data casts doubt on Trump’s basis for tariffs on Canadian aluminum – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – September 4, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://financialpost.com/

New data released on Thursday confirms that Canadian exports of primary aluminum to the U.S. had been declining for months when U.S. President Donald Trump announced in August he would reimpose 10 per cent tariffs.

The data undermines the factual basis for Trump’s tariffs, which he said were necessary because Canadian producers had flooded the U.S. market with aluminum, hurting the U.S. sector.

But on Thursday, the Washington International Trade Association hosted a panel discussion on the topic, in which opponents of the tariffs suggested that metal traders had exploited the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

North Baffin Inuit form new group to raise concerns about proposed mine expansion – by Meagan Deuling (Nunatsiaq News – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://nunatsiaq.com/

Leaders from five communities on northern Baffin Island are unifying as the North Baffin Group in the hope of having their concerns heard by a mining company and by an organization that is supposed to represent their interests.

If their concerns aren’t heard, the group warns Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. that its operations at the Mary River iron ore mine will not continue.

“This information has been the same since Baffinland started—work with the Inuit, you will succeed. If you try to work alone, you’re going belly up,” said Eric Ootoovak, the chair of the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization.

Mining schools in Timmins, Sudbury, say industry facing workforce shortage – by Sergio Arangio (CTV News Northern Ontario – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

TIMMINS — Administrators at Laurentian University and Northern College are saying the pressure is on to meet the looming demand for workers in the mining industry.

Industry reports show around 40 per cent of mine workers are set to retire by 2030, which Northern College’s training division head Christine Heavens said will heavily affect northern Ontario’s workforce.

“For our region alone, the mining sector workforce identified that they would require 2,819 trained workers over the next 10 years,” Heavens said.

The numbers are based on reports from the Far Northeast Training Board. The reports show the areas with the highest percentage of the workforce are in production, trades and sciences, which will be in high demand in the next decade.

EU adds lithium to critical raw materials list – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

The European Union has added lithium, used in batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), to a list of critical materials that it plans to support locally as part of a strategy to reduce reliance on imported supply.

The group of 27 nations will need about 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt for EV batteries and energy storage by 2050, analysts estimate. EU demand for rare earths, used in high-tech devices and military applications, is predicted to increase 10-fold over the same period.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the world’s increasing reliance on electronics and technology for remote work, education and communication.

The carbon vault: Industrial waste can combat climate change by turning carbon dioxide into stone – by Robert F. Service (Science Magazine – September 4, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://science.sciencemag.org/

In July 2019, Gregory Dipple, a geologist at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, hopped on a 119-seat charter flight in Yellowknife, Canada, and flew 280 kilometers northeast to the Gahcho Kué diamond mine, just south of the Arctic Circle.

Gahcho Kué, which means “place of the big rabbits” in the Dënësu̧łinë language of the region’s native Dené or Chipewyan people, is an expansive open pit mine ringed by sky-blue lakes. There, the mining company De Beers unearths some 4 million carats’ worth of diamonds annually.

But Dipple and two students weren’t there for gems. Rather, they were looking to use the mine’s crushed rock waste as a vault to lock up carbon dioxide (CO2) for eternity.

Conservative government would aim to erase deficit in a decade, Erin O’Toole says – by Bill Curry and Janice Dickson (Globe and Mail – September 4, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

New Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says the Liberal government’s recovery plan is too narrowly focused on a green economy and will leave out major employers in sectors such as energy, manufacturing and Canada’s small businesses.

In his first interview with a newspaper since winning the party leadership late last month, Mr. O’Toole outlined his economic priorities to The Globe and Mail in his Ottawa office, as he prepares for Parliament’s return and a possible fall election.

He said he wants to erase Canada’s deficit in about a decade if his party forms government, a timeline he said can be accomplished without giving credence to Liberal characterizations of a Conservative “bogeyman” who imposes deep spending cuts.

AI Start-Ups Are Tackling One of Mining’s Oldest Problems – by Libby Cherry (Bloomberg News – September 3, 2020)

September 4, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — In a small town near Lake Balkhash, a Kazakh gold miner is relying on artificial intelligence to predict when an ore mill is about to overload.

JSC AK Altynalmas teamed up with British tech start-up Intellisense.io, whose software uses sensors built into the plant to form a model of the grinding process and flag problems before they happen.

It’s an increasingly valuable feature as the company’s mines produce ore with lower levels of gold, putting additional strain on its processing operations.

Evolution Mining sees vast gold potential at Red Lake – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – September 2, 2020)

September 3, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Australian mine operator says new resource estimate and gold prospects should add decades of mine life

The Red Lake Mine complex has plenty more gold to be discovered, said its new Australian owners.

“We have not scratched the surface of Red Lake’s full potential,” said Evolution Mining’s chief operating officer Bob Fulker in a Sept. 1 webcast to Evolution’s investors, about recent discoveries that offer opportunity to dramatically increases production while maintaining a longer mine life.

Senior executives of the Sydney-headquartered mining company talked of the open-ended potential of the three-mine operation and the numerous exploration opportunities to grow the gold base inside their 457-square-kilometre property.

Trump Made a Promise to Save Coal in 2016. He Couldn’t Keep It – by Ari Natter and Will Wade (Bloomberg News – September 3, 2020)

September 3, 2020

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump spent more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds, rolled back environmental rules and tried to stop power plant closings to fulfill a vow he made to West Virginia coal miners in the 2016 campaign.

But nothing he’s done is rescuing the coal industry. Since Trump’s inauguration, U.S. coal production—after a slight uptick in 2017—is expected to be down 31% this year from 2016 levels.

By some estimates, more than five dozen coal-burning power plants have closed and although mining jobs remained steady before dropping this year, they didn’t increase.

Tesla’s nickel quest highlights metal’s environmental burden – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – September 1, 2020)

September 3, 2020

https://www.ft.com/

Waste linked to mining of key EV battery component threatens marine life

Elon Musk’s call for miners to dig more nickel for Tesla’s batteries faces its biggest test in Indonesia, where companies in the world’s top producing nation are planning to dump millions of tonnes of waste into the sea.

Mr Musk said on an earnings call last month that Tesla would give a “giant contract” to companies that could mine nickel “efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way,” in response to a question about the biggest constraint on the electric car maker he runs.

The chief executive’s remarks reflect a growing anxiety in the electric car industry over supplies of the industrial metal, which is vital for boosting the range of electric car batteries. Demand for nickel, which is also used in stainless steel, is expected to increase six-fold by 2030.

KGHM hires new superintendent as bid to revive Ajax mine ramps up (Kamloops This Week – September 2, 2020)

September 3, 2020

https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/

Investors in the former Ajax mine have hired a superintendent as they look to revive the controversial mining project.

Michal Wypych joins KGHM International as the company and partner Abacus Mining & Exploration Corporation intend to resubmit an environmental application to restart the mine.

In a Sept. 1 newsletter to investors, Abacus president and CEO Paul Anderson said that as the Ajax superintendent, Wypych’s duties will initially be focused on First Nations, community and governmental engagement in order to advance the project toward resubmitting the application to government.

NEWS RELEASE: Commission announces actions to make Europe’s raw materials supply more secure and sustainable (September 3, 2020)

September 3, 2020

Today, the Commission presents an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, the 2020 List of Critical Raw Materials and a foresight study on critical raw materials for strategic technologies and sectors from the 2030 and 2050 perspectives.

The Action Plan looks at the current and future challenges and proposes actions to reduce Europe’s dependency on third countries, diversifying supply from both primary and secondary sources and improving resource efficiency and circularity while promoting responsible sourcing worldwide.
The actions will foster our transition towards a green and digital economy, and at the same time, bolster Europe’s resilience and open strategic autonomy in key technologies needed for such transition.

The List of Critical Raw Materials has been updated to reflect the changed economic importance and supply challenges based on their industrial application. It contains 30 critical raw materials. Lithium, which is essential for a shift to e-mobility, has been added to the list for the first time.