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Barrick fighting PNG move to grant Porgera lease to state-backed miner – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 28, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD) said it would challenge the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government reported move to grant a 20-year lease for the Porgera gold mine to a state-backed firm.

The world’s second-largest gold producer and its Chinese partner, Zijin Mining, are embroiled in a dispute with Prime Minister James Marape, who in April rejected their application for a lease extension.

The companies temporarily halted operations in response. They also served Marape with a dispute notice arguing the refusal of the Porgera license extension violated a bilateral investment treaty between PNG and Australia.

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NEWS RELEASE: Legal Action Launched Against Ontario’s Omnibus Bill 197 (August 31, 2020)

Defending the health and prosperity of communities and the environment

Toronto, August 31, 2020 – In the wake of the passage of Ontario’s controversial Bill 197, a legal challenge against the legislation has been commenced by Earthroots; Canadian Environmental Law Association; Ontario Nature; Cooper Price, a 16-year old activist; and Michel Koostachin, who was born and raised in Attawapiskat.

These parties have jointly filed an application for judicial review that asks the Divisional Court to issue declaratory relief and other remedies in relation to the omnibus legislation, which overhauls the Environmental Assessment Act and amends other provincial laws.

“Bill 197 holds true to an insidious pattern of environmental deregulation that reflects neither the values nor the long-term interests of Ontarians who understand the importance of a healthy environment,” says Caroline Schultz, Ontario Nature’s Executive Director.

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NEWS RELEASE: MATAWA CHIEFS COUNCIL REJECTS THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT BILL 197 CROWN TACTICS TO ‘TAKE UP THE LAND’ AND ACCESS THE RESOURCES AND WEALTH OF THE NORTH (August 28, 2020)

http://www.nan.on.ca/

Thunder Bay, ON– Following the passing of Bill 197 – Ontario’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act on July 21, 2020 which has instituted strategic revisions to the Environmental Assessment Act and weakened the requirements of Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to oversee and monitor the environmental impacts of resource extraction authorized by the Ministries of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and Energy, Northern Development and Mines (ENDM)—the Matawa Chiefs Council issued this statement today rejecting the Ontario Crown’s tactics to unlawfully access the wealth of the north:

At the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Ontario government declared a black-out on environmental reporting requirements and now the big reveal is the stripping of all ‘red-tape’ for the mining, forestry and energy industries who are eyeing the resources of the North. The Ontario government has used the cover of COVID-19 to make legislative, regulatory and policy changes that attempt to diminish the obligations of Ontario to honour the constitutionally-protected Inherent Aboriginal and Treaty Rights of First Nations across Ontario.

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EU sounds alarm on critical raw materials shortages – by Michael Peel and Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – August 2020)

https://www.ft.com/

Brussels/London – The EU’s over-reliance on imports of critical raw materials threatens to undermine crucial industries and expose the bloc to supply squeezes by China and other resource-rich countries, the European Commission will warn member states this week.

Shortages of elements used to make batteries and renewable energy equipment could also threaten the bloc’s target of becoming climate neutral by 2050, a report by the Brussels executive will say.

The document is part of an urgent focus in Europe on security of imports of vital goods, as the coronavirus pandemic triggers transport disruption and growing tensions between western capitals and Beijing.

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Venezuela Fuels Amazon Gold Rush With Petrodollars Drying Up – by Fabiola Zerpa (Bloomberg News – August 31, 2020)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — U.S. sanctions and a collapsing oil industry are prompting Venezuela to step up its push into gold mining, including in protected areas of the Amazon.

The amount of land used for mining has more than tripled since March last year, according to a study by local non-profit Wataniba. Activity is poised to accelerate further after the authorization in April of new lots in five rivers.

Venezuela already has a thriving illegal gold industry that devastates waterways, forests and indigenous communities and funds violent armed groups.

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Doctor Copper: this Canadian mining company explains how the red metal fights COVID-19 – by Don Lindsay (World Economic Forum – August 28, 2020)

https://www.weforum.org/

Don Lindsay is the President and Chief Executive Officer, Teck Resources.

For more than 10,000 years, copper has played numerous critical roles in human civilization. The red metal’s pliability, conductivity and durability have seen it used in everything from early tools to plumbing to modern electronics.

In fact, copper is now so ubiquitous that the health of the copper market is often a predictor of the health of the economy overall – a fact that’s earned it the nickname “Doctor Copper”.

Today, as the world grapples with a pandemic, it turns out that the Doctor has an important part to play in healthcare, thanks to an unusual property that makes the metal a coronavirus killer.

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Falling production, increasing demand push nickel prices to a nine-month high – by Darren MacDonald (CTV News Northern Ontario – August 27, 2020)

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/

SUDBURY — Following Telsa’s Elon Musk recent call for the world to produce more nickel, prices for the metal reached US$6.85 a pound this week, up from US$5 in March and their highest level since November 2019.

In addition to expected demand for nickel as more electric cars are built, a story on the website Mining.com said nickel production has been falling, adding pressure to prices.

“The Lisbon-based International Nickel Study Group reports global mined nickel fell 7.7 per cent in June compared to the same month last year, which still counts as something of an improvement from the sharp falls in April and May,” the story said.

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PH gov’t losing mineral resources to black market – by Madelaine B. Miraflor (Manila Bulletin – August 28, 2020)

https://mb.com.ph/

The Philippine government has been losing billions of money as the bulk of the country’s mineral production from small-scale mining – mainly gold – are still being sold straight to the black market, a Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) research showed.

The government think tank made this assumption largely on the basis that small scale miners sell their gold to the informal sector instead of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

But PIDS also said there is still no way for the government to measure the contribution of small-scale mining to the economy because most of its output is leaked through the black market.

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Mining industry yet to fathom scale of battery raw material challenges – Friedland – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – August 28, 2020)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

While global electric vehicle (EV) sales are back to a healthy growth trajectory, significant investment in mining capacity is required if EVs are to become anything more than a niche market, says mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland’s Clean TeQ Holdings.

The TSX- and ASX-listed company owns the construction-ready Sunrise nickel/cobalt/scandium project in New South Wales, Australia, and will require just under $2-billion to bring the project to fruition.

Nickel and cobalt, in particular, face substantial raw material challenges, at a time when EV sales growth is expected to drive unprecedented demand for these metals.

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Gold may be the ‘king of bling’, but is it overbought? As prices surge, so do costs for miners – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 27, 2020)

https://financialpost.com/

For years, Clive Johnson, chief executive of B2Gold Corp., was frustrated by all the investors and analysts who looked at his company, noticed more than half its gold came from the Fekola mine in Mali, and discounted the value of the whole enterprise as too risky.

“We were stuck between three and four dollars forever, despite the success of Fekola, which drove me crazy,” Johnson told the Financial Post.

But times have changed and so have attitudes towards gold mining companies now that the spot price of gold has surged 22 per cent since March, near to an all-time high above US$1,900 per ounce.

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Saskatchewan building rare earth processing plant, capitalizing on emerging industry – by Anna McMillan (Global News – August 27, 2020)

https://globalnews.ca/

Construction has begun on a facility expected to put Saskatchewan at the fore of an emerging industry in the mining sector.

The province has invested $31 million to build a rare-earth element processing facility in north Saskatoon, owned and operated by the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC).

“In the future, rare-earth elements are going to play a major role in powering the 21st century,” Premier Scott Moe said at a news conference on Thursday.

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Copper price to extend rally on “signs of Chinese panic buying” – by Frik Els (Mining.com – August 27, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

Copper once again cleared the psychologically important $3 a pound level on Thursday on the back of falling inventories, booming Chinese demand and pandemic hit supply from South America, the US and Africa.

Copper for delivery in December trading on the Comex in New York exchanged hands for $3.0120 a pound ($6,605 a tonne) in morning trade, bringing gains for 2020 to more than 8% and a mouthwatering 52% since the covid-19 lows struck in March.

A new report from Roskill suggests the rally in copper – which has surprised many with its speed – has further to go.

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Trudeau’s ‘brutal’ attempt to use COVID to push his green agenda – by Rex Murphy (National Post – August 27, 2020)

https://nationalpost.com/

The only settled and unchanging characteristic of the global warmist brigade is their overt, continuous and super-hyped hostility toward the oil and gas industry. And in no country is that hostility more manifest than in Canada.

Global Warming Inc., and all its fronts and allies, have made protesting against Canadian oil and gas its full-time occupation. They protest, blockade, clog the courts, propagandize and fundraise against Alberta oil and gas, in particular, and have done so now for three decades.

They have effectively choked the industry’s growth and have hindered the export of our great resource by halting the construction of pipelines that are needed to bring the product to markets outside Canada and the United States.

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Sudbury column: Time to reignite Ring of Fire – by Erin O’Toole (Sudbury Star – February 24, 2017)

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Please note that this column was written in Feb/2017. However, it shows that Erin O’Toole, newly elected federal Conservative leader of the opposition has an indepth understanding of the Ring of Fire and its economic importance to Ontario and the entire country. – RepublicOfMining.com

The Ring of Fire has been heralded as not only a world-class deposit of chromite but also the only known deposit in the entire western hemisphere. Currently, all of North America’s stainless steel manufacturing is supplied by Asian and African sources. Canada has a unique opportunity to become a global leader in chromite mining and potentially revitalize manufacturing with proudly Canadian minerals.

According to a recent study by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, the current projected value of the Ring of Fire is more than $60 billion with known deposits significant enough to sustain a century of mineral development. Yet, after more than a decade of mineral exploration activity and findings of rich resources, no infrastructure has been developed.

The Wynne government recognized this potential enough to request $1 billion in infrastructure funding from the Government of Canada in 2014. But in the three years since, they have never provided the necessary plan to secure the funding. The Wynne and Trudeau governments have since allowed the Ring of Fire to all but go up in smoke.

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Gogama mine developer to go on hiring binge in late 2021 – by Maija Hoggett (Northern Ontario Business – August 21, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

A new gold mine in the area will mean new training opportunities for post-secondary schools, new jobs, and new opportunities for contractors.

IAMGOLD’s Côté Gold Project, which is a joint venture with Sumitomo Metal Mining, announced it received approvals to start construction at its Gogama site last month.

This week, IAMGOLD president and CEO Gord Stothart was the featured speaker for the Timmins Chamber’s State of Mining, which was held virtually. The open-pit mine will be serviced by a fleet of autonomous haul trucks and drills.

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