Republic of Mining

Canada’s mining industry poised to benefit from clean technology – by Patricia Mohr (Vancouver Sun – August 18, 2020)

August 18, 2020

Patricia Mohr is adviser to the Task Force for Real Jobs, Real Recovery, and a former vice-president and economics and commodity market specialist at Scotiabank.

Opinion: Exciting opportunities are opening up for base metals and ‘critical minerals’ after a period of lacklustre financial performance.

In future years, after we’ve finally got past the pandemic, Canada’s resource industries will play an important role in achieving a strong economic recovery for Canada, according to the Task Force for Real Jobs, Real Recovery, convened by Resource Works of Vancouver.

Exciting opportunities are opening up for Canada’s base metals and “critical minerals,” after a period of lacklustre financial performance.

‘Stars have aligned for gold’: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire takes $500-million stake in Barrick – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 18, 2020)

August 18, 2020

https://financialpost.com/

Over the years, Buffett has disparaged gold as both a store of value and an investment

Sprott Inc. chief executive Peter Grosskopf has long fielded the same question while talking up gold to investors: Why does famed investor and multibillionaire Warren Buffett, the so-called Oracle of Omaha, hate the yellow metal? Grosskopf may never have to answer the question again.

On Friday afternoon, after years of trashing gold as an investment, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. revealed it had switched course and purchased 20.9 million shares in Toronto-headquartered Barrick Gold Corp. in a transaction worth an estimated US$563.5 million at the end of the second quarter.

“I think that now he seems to have come around to the fact that he can be comfortable with gold as a store of value,” said Grosskopf, whose company specializes in precious metals investment. “I think people are finally realizing it’s a legitimate part of a portfolio.”

1000s of Korean laborers still lost after WWII, Cold War end – by Kim Tong-Hyung (Associated Press – August 11, 2020)

August 18, 2020

https://apnews.com/

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Shin Yun-sun describes her life as a maze of dead ends.

The South Korean has spent many of her 75 years pestering government officials, digging into records and searching burial grounds on a desolate Russian island, desperately searching for traces of a father she never met.

Shin wants to bring back the remains of her presumed-dead father for her ailing 92-year-old mother, Baek Bong-rye. Japan’s colonial government conscripted Shin’s father for forced labor from their farming village in September 1943, when Baek was pregnant with Shin.

Noront samples Ring of Fire’s gold potential – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Nickel, chromite mine developer would entertain precious metal joint venture partner

Waiting years for a Ring of Fire access road to be built into the remote James Bay region has provided some unintended benefits for Noront Resources.

One advantage to babysitting a massive 156,352-hectare nickel and chromite-rich property is that there’s ample time and opportunity to better understand what else is beneath the surface..

With construction on a 300-kilometre North-South road expected to begin in the middle of 2021, kicking off a four-year build, Noront has been biding its time running a regional exploration program that’s turned up two promising gold and nickel prospects.

Could Lithium Shortage Scupper Accelerating Sales Of Electric Cars? – by Neil Winton (Forbes Magazine – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.forbes.com/

Politicians have decreed that Europeans must embrace electric cars, and to make sure, they are trying to force early retirement for internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles. But a shortage of a key battery component, lithium, might scupper that plan and force carmakers to return to the drawing board.

Experts say current supplies of lithium are adequate for the current electric car global market share of about 2.6% and probably will keep pace with the expected growth towards 14% in Europe by 2025. But after that demand will outstrip supply and likely halt the predicted powerful acceleration in electric car sales.

Some politicians, activists and enthusiasts experts expect battery-electric vehicle (BEV) sales to reach close to 50% of the global market by 2030, but lithium supplies are unlikely to come close to matching that required battery demand.

Technology in mining is important; people are more important – by Peter Marrone (Yamana Blog – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.yamana.com/blog/

Peter Marrone is the Executive Chairman of Yamana Gold.

In recent years, there has been a drive to digitize and automate in the mining industry. Mining, according to this construct, is behind the times with few recent innovations of significance.

And as deposits become ever harder to find, the industry must embrace twenty-first century technology with great haste or risk irrelevance or ruination. To this I say: not so fast. Automation, digitization, and other forms of technology are important, to be sure.

However, a singular focus on technology without also recognizing that there has to be a focus on people overlooks an important part of what makes a mining enterprise successful.

Coal’s Days May Be Over in the U.S. – by Justin Fox (Bloomberg News – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Last year, there were 38 days when U.S. utilities got more electricity from hydroelectric, wind and solar generation than from coal, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

So far this year, according to the IEEFA and my own crunching of U.S. Energy Information Administration data, it’s already 122 — including every day in the month of April and all but three in May.

In the summer months, higher electricity demand and decreased production from wind turbines and dams give coal a seasonal boost, but expect renewables to start outgenerating it again in the fall.

Red Lake fire under control, mining activities resume – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.miningweekly.com/

The forest fire that had been active in the area south of the town of Red Lake, Ontario, is under control and the evacuation order for the municipality has been rescinded, allowing mining activity to resume.

Gold mine developer Pure Gold, which is developing a mine near Red Lake, reported on Monday that power and access had been restored to site and it was transitioning to a full resumption of mine activities.

Surface and underground inspections also confirmed that there was no damage to infrastructure or equipment at the mine site. The company reported that temporary shutdown had no material impact on its development schedule with first gold pour expected in the fourth quarter.

Barrick Gold’s stock soars more than 10% after Buffett’s Berkshire reveals stake – by Maggie Fitzgerald (CNBC.com – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.cnbc.com/

Barrick Gold’s stock popped 10.5% on Monday after legendary investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed a stake in the gold miner’s stock.

Berkshire added a $562 million position in Barrick Gold in the second quarter, according to SEC filings Friday.

While the position is small for Berkshire — which owns more than $89 billion in Apple stock — the conglomerate is the 11th largest shareholder of the gold mining company, according to FactSet.

World-first mining standard must protect people and hold powerful companies to account – by Deanna Kemp, John Own and Nick Bainton (The Conversation – August 17, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://theconversation.com/

This month, the first global standard to prevent mining catastrophes was released, following the tragic collapse of a tailings dam in Brazil last year which killed 270 people.

People living near or downstream from a mine deserve to know they’ll be safe. While the standard requires mining operators to act transparently, it’s being rolled out without independent oversight. And it’s not clear how communities – many of them vulnerable – will be supported to understand mining projects and their implications.

The standard comes at a time when public visibility of the mining industry is at a low. The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted movement globally, making it harder for outside experts, journalists, investors and regulators to monitor what’s happening on the ground.

CEO Of DeepGreen Metals Talks Mining Nickel From The Seafloor — CleanTechnica Interview – by Johnna Crider (Clean Technica – August 15, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://cleantechnica.com/

DeepGreen is a deep-sea mining company with a vision of a zero-carbon, circular economy. Its goal is to source metals with the least environmental and societal impact. I noticed the company when its social media marketer added me to a Twitter list.

DeepGreen Metals has an interesting name and it caught my attention more when I checked out its profile and was graciously offered the opportunity to interview the CEO, Gerard Barron.

I find the world of minerals, metals, and gemstones a fascinating one, and DeepGreen’s story using a technique with minerals to extract base metals for batteries really piqued my curiosity.

As gold soars, Daniela Cambone says goodbye to Kitco News (Kitco News – August 14, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – After 12 years at Kitco Media, the last seven as editor-in-chief of Kitco News, Daniela Cambone will be leaving the news mega site for a new venture.

“When Kitco News launched over a decade ago, Daniela was the first member of the news team. Her passion, energy, integrity and outstanding reporting helped put Kitco News at the forefront of the precious metals markets coverage with over six million engaged investors per month.

There is no better news anchor bringing the global precious metals and mining conversation through her masterful delivery,” Kitco Media director John Dourekas said in a statement.

Sudbury column: ‘We cannot allow our country to be taken for granted’ – by Marc Serre (Sudbury Star – August 14, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Marc Serre is the Liberal MP for Nickel Belt.

Right now, we see countries around the globe collaborating to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.

In a time where we should be leaning on one another to start the economic recovery of our regions safely and gradually, it is disappointing to see the U.S. implement unjustified tariffs on Canadian aluminum once again.
This will directly impact more than 10,000 workers on the manufacturing side and countless more in secondary related industries. The protection of lives and communities should be the top priority for both countries, instead of waging a trade dispute.

I’m an Indigenous woman who works in Alberta’s oil sands – and I can speak for myself – by Estella Pederson (Globe and Mail – August 15, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Estella Pederson is a member of Cowessess First Nation. She currently resides and works in Fort McMurray.

To hear it from oil sands critics, politicians and activists, Indigenous people in the oil sands are a contradiction. Surely, they cannot exist. Or if they do, they are surely victims of a predatory resource industry, or are colonized sellouts. So I thought I’d share my own story.

I’m an Ojibwe woman. Life was very hard growing up. I was brought up in an abusive environment, and my family was mostly dependent on government assistance for income.

I ran away from home several times as a teenager to escape this lifestyle. I did complete high school although there were only a handful of other Indigenous students in my graduating class. Most of my Indigenous peers quit at middle school.

Why California’s Climate Policies Are Causing Electricity Blackouts – by Michael Shellenberger (Forbes Magazine – August 15, 2020)

August 17, 2020

https://www.forbes.com/

Millions of Californians were denied electrical power and thus air conditioning during a heatwave, raising the risk of heatstroke and death, particularly among the elderly and sick.

The blackouts come at a time when people, particularly the elderly, are forced to remain indoors due to Covid-19.

At first, the state’s electrical grid operator last night asked customers to voluntarily reduce electricity use. But after power reserves fell to dangerous levels it declared a “Stage 3 emergency” cutting off power to people across the state at 6:30 pm.