Republic of Mining

Trump Promised a Coal Comeback But America’s Miners Need an Energy Revolution – by Josh Eidelson (Bloomberg News – August 25, 2020)

August 25, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Bobby Stevens’s backup plan for his backup plan encountered an obstacle a few months ago.

In March the coronavirus pandemic closed the Kentucky government building where he was set to take his commercial driver’s license test, which he started studying for after he got dismissed by his second coal company in a year, where he’d started working after the first one went bankrupt.

The bankruptcy of coal giant Blackjewel LLC, which terminated Stevens and about 1,700 other workers in four states, made international news last summer when some of them blocked railroad tracks in Harlan County, Ky., over unpaid wages.

Do any Liberals still support Canadian resources? – by Brad Wall (National Post – August 25, 2020)

August 25, 2020

https://nationalpost.com/

If properly supported, Canada’s resource sector and Canadian agriculture will be leaders in the recovery

Were there an official committee of the federal cabinet constituted of those members who were fiscally conservative, economy-focused and supported the Canadian resource sector, they might only need an e-bike built for two to accommodate in-person meetings.

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino may be one of them and, hope against hope, the new finance minister may take the other seat.

Only after watching her approach to trade and, more recently, Western alienation, did I come to this view.

Rio Tinto bosses lose bonuses over Aboriginal cave destruction (BBC News – August 24, 2020)

August 25, 2020

https://www.bbc.com/

Mining giant Rio Tinto has cut the bonuses of three executives over the destruction of two ancient caves in Australia.

In May, the world’s biggest iron ore miner destroyed the sacred Aboriginal sites in Pilbara, Western Australia. The company went ahead with the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters despite the opposition of Aboriginal traditional owners.

They were among the oldest historic sites in Australia. The caves showed evidence of continuous human habitation dating back 46,000 years. Rio Tinto’s chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques will lose a total of £2.7m.

Alberta’s GDP will be hardest hit in 2020, expected to drop by 11.3 per cent: Conference Board of Canada report – by Dustin Cook (Edmonton Journal – August 24, 2020)

August 25, 2020

https://edmontonjournal.com/

Alberta’s economy will be the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic nationally this year, with the province’s GDP expected to plunge by 11.3 per cent, the Conference Board of Canada projects.

The province has been dealt a double whammy between the pandemic and the sharp decline in oil prices, with both taking a toll on the economy, states a provincial outlook report released by the research firm Monday morning.

But chief economist Pedro Antunes said not all is grim. Alberta is expected to have the largest GDP expansion across the country in 2021, with an estimated increase of 7.9 per cent as economic activity rebounds and global oil demand rises.

CEMI details bid for $40 million in federal funding – by Colleen Romaniuk (Sudbury Star – August 22, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Sudbury-based Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation has started completing its full application for $40 million in federal funding to support its new networking and innovation accelerator program.

On Aug. 20, the organization hosted an online webinar and information session, detailing its progress in the application process and the requirements for participation in the Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA) Network project.

If the federal government approves the full application, the project is expected to launch in January 2021.

BHP to fund Canada’s Midland nickel exploration – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 24, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

Canadian junior Midland Exploration (TSX-V: MD) said on Monday it had struck a new funding deal with a subsidiary of BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) for nickel exploration activities in the northern part of Quebec.

BHP’s unit Rio Algom Limited will fund 100% of Midland’s exploration for the battery metal within the Nunavik territory up to C$1.4 million ($1.06 million), on an annual basis, for a minimum of two years.

The objective, the junior said, is to identify, test and develop high-quality exploration targets towards the discovery of new significant nickel deposits within the targeted area.

A resource-less approach: Attacks persist, but Canada has nothing to replace the economy it denigrates – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – August 21, 2020)

August 24, 2020

http://resourceclips.com/

“Very disheartened,” the Mining Association of Canada expressed more than usual frustration as another resource project faced another unexpected setback. This one caused special pain since it resulted from Bill C-69, which the industry group had controversially supported.

MAC did so thinking the bill would fix problems associated with the federal environmental act of 2012. But the association had also supported Ottawa back then, before becoming disillusioned with the legislation’s implementation. Could there be a pattern here?

MAC expressed its most recent discouragement on August 20 after federal environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced Teck Resources’ (TSX:TECK.A/TSX:TECK.B) Castle coal proposal would face a federal review under the Impact Assessment Act in addition to the provincial review already underway.

A Dow buy signal says Warren Buffett’s gold stake came too late for the precious metal – by George Manessis (CNBC.com – August 18, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.cnbc.com/

Gold had its best day since April on Monday, but market history says it may be time to bet against the precious metal.

A surprising development helped to propel gold higher: long-time gold naysayer Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed a big stake in gold miner Barrick Gold. While Buffett has dismissed gold as a shiny, useless “cube” in the past, Berkshire’s bet could signal that even it sees value in gold as a market and inflation hedge.

But don’t read too much into the 2.5% one-day gain. Stocks — in particular the Dow Jones Industrial Average — may prove to be a better bet in the short-term, according to information from hedge fund trading tool Kensho.

Trump Administration Said to Turn Away From Pebble Mine Support – by Ari Natter and Reade Pickert (Bloomberg News – August 23, 2020)

August 24, 2020

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

(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration is planning to block the controversial Pebble Mine in southwestern Alaska that’s recently drawn opposition from certain powerful Republicans, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The project, which has known deposits of copper, gold and other metals, is located in an area that drains into Bristol Bay, home to the world’s most productive wild salmon fishery.

Conservationists, local activists and fishing operations have fought the project for years, but blocking the project would be a reversal for the Trump administration.

Kinross Gold eyes LSE listing as miner looks to tap wider range of investors – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 24, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Kinross Gold Corp. is eyeing a listing on the London Stock Exchange that could attract European investors who may be more comfortable than its North American base with the company’s considerable exposure to frontier markets.

Paul Rollinson, chief executive of Kinross, said in an interview that while the company has no current plans to list on the LSE, and hasn’t done a cost analysis yet, it will pay close attention to how fellow Canadian miner Yamana Gold Inc. fares with its upcoming listing on the London exchange.

“If there’s something there, we can be a fast follower, if at the margin it makes sense,” Mr. Rollinson said.

OPINION/MIDDENDORF: China’s Belt and Road Initiative now threatens Canada – by J. William Middendorf (Providence Journal – August 22, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.providencejournal.com/

J. William Middendorf, a resident of Little Compton, served as Secretary of the Navy during the Ford Administration. His recent book is “The Great Nightfall: How We Win the New Cold War.”

Known as Hope Bay in Nunavut, Canada and 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it is a 50-by-15 mile stretch of property consisting of a 2,000-ton per day gold ore processing plant, air strips, roads, fuel storage facilities, power plants and administrative buildings and a wharf extending half a mile in the now often ice free Arctic Ocean. Negotiations now underway would make it the property of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

Suspicious Canadians see the wharf as capable of being enlarged into a major dock capable of accommodating icebreakers, submarines and surface war ships of the Peoples’ Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and believe it could become the northern equivalent of Chinese military and economic development in the disputed islands of the South China Sea.

Gold fuels rally in junior mining that has the TSX Venture on fire – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 21, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://financialpost.com/

Gold exploration and early stage companies in other sectors are fuelling a massive rally at the TSX-Venture exchange, which has come roaring back after hitting rock bottom earlier this year when the coronavirus pandemic froze most economic activity.

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Indexhas more than doubled to 739.5 on Thursday, after dropping to a 10-year low of 358.04 in early March.

Much of the surge has been driven by investors’ newfound interest in all things gold, including junior gold companies, which are suddenly back in vogue as the price of bullion sits near an all-time high, trading near US$1,951 per ounce as of Thursday afternoon.

Elon Musk Is Going To Have a Hard Time Finding Clean Nickel – by Mark Burton, Libby Cherry and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – August 21, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk promises a “giant contract” with the miner that can supply nickel for Tesla Inc. batteries at low cost with minimal environmental impact, yet the industry’s messy track record may make that deal difficult to clinch.

Recent accidents such as a diesel spill in Arctic Russia and a burst waste pipeline in Papua New Guinea suggest the industry will struggle to meet Musk’s request for a large quantity of the metal produced in an “efficient” and “environmentally sensitive” way.

As the world’s most-valuable carmaker extends manufacturing arms to China and Germany, its billionaire owner may have to rely increasingly on the biggest supplier of nickel: Indonesia.

Review: Worn by Tools and Time is a beautifully produced history of metal mining in Wales – by Jon Gower (Nation Cymru – August 22, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://nation.cymru/

The time frame of the metal-mining endeavours chronicled in this beautifully-produced book reach way, way back into prehistory. Around 2000 BC the copper mine at Ross Island in Ireland ran out of metal which provoked a widespread hunt for new sources.

As a consequence therefore, in the Early Bronze Age, some of the earliest metal mines in Britain opened in Mid Wales, with stone hammers and wedges used to open up the earth.

They found metals other than copper such as tin and by the time the industry was modernised, with the creation of an institution called the Society of Mines Royal in 1568, silver was being successfully sought in a range of places such as Cwmystwyth, Goginan and Cwmerfyn.

Mines, Minerals, and “Green” Energy: A Reality Check – by Mark P. Mills (Manhattan Institute – July 9, 2020)

August 24, 2020

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As policymakers have shifted focus from pandemic challenges to economic recovery, infrastructure plans are once more being actively discussed, including those relating to energy.

Green energy advocates are doubling down on pressure to continue, or even increase, the use of wind, solar power, and electric cars. Left out of the discussion is any serious consideration of the broad environmental and supply-chain implications of renewable energy.

As I explored in a previous paper, “The New Energy Economy: An Exercise in Magical Thinking,”[1] many enthusiasts believe things that are not possible when it comes to the physics of fueling society, not least the magical belief that “clean-tech” energy can echo the velocity of the progress of digital technologies. It cannot.