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All aboard Europe’s lithium bandwagon – by Hans van Leeuwen (Australian Financial Review – August 9, 2020)

https://www.afr.com/

London | A gang of Perth mining juniors is clambering aboard Europe’s lithium bandwagon, shrugging off the global price doldrums and betting that European governments and car makers will deliver an electric vehicle and battery bonanza.

The fundamentals for a European lithium boom seem in place. Coronavirus has put barely a dent in the European car makers’ sales of, and ambitions for, electric vehicles – and soon they will need more battery-ready lithium than the world can supply.

Meanwhile, the pandemic has steeled the Continent’s resolve to shuck off its dependence on China for lithium supplies. And that’s revved up the European Union’s drive to support mines and processing plants – the missing links in a fully domestic supply chain.

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Noront CEO expects no delays in Ring of Fire road construction and mine start – by Ian Ross – Northern Ontario Business – August 13, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Federal regional review of Far North mineral development will have no bearing on pace of progress, says Alan Coutts

Ottawa’s new region-wide approach to Far North development shouldn’t interfere with Noront Resources’ timetable to put the first mine in the Ring of Fire into production by the middle of 2025, said the company CEO.

Alan Coutts said he has no reason to believe that the federal Regional Assessment process will delay the start of operations at the Eagle’s Nest Mine based on his conversation with Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan.

“In talking to Minister O’Regan, we’re being led to believe this could get done over a two-year period.”

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Arctic mine signs giant copper contract with a green touch – by Thomas Nilsen (The Barents Observer – August 12, 2020)

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en

Nussir aims at becoming the world’s first fully electrified underground mine, with zero emission of CO2.

Preparing for production could start later this year and the first shipments of concentrate by 2022 as the mining company this week announced the deal with the German smelter.

“It emphasizes the importance of moving towards the green economy, with a clean production cycle and encourages recycling of copper,” Nussir writes in a press release explaining why Aurubis won the fierce competition.

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Star Diamond and Rio Tinto to face off in court – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 12, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

A Canadian court has ruled that Star Diamond (TSX: DIAM) has grounds to take its legal fight with Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) to court over their joint Star-Orion South project in north-central Saskatchewan, but said the junior faces an “uphill battle.”

Judge Grant Currie said the Saskatoon-based company may struggle to prove that Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (RTEC) improperly exercised its options to obtain a majority ownership stake in the proposed diamond mine.

The legal row involves a 2017 agreement under which Rio Tinto’s subsidiary would spend $75 million in phases to acquire 60% of the Star-Orion South diamond project.

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Ontario’s deficit to hit record $38.5-billion in 2021, as Finance Minister declares recession – by Laura Stone (Globe and Mail – August 13, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Ontario’s deficit will balloon to a record $38.5-billion in 2021, almost double the size predicted in March, and Finance Minister Rod Phillips declared the province is in a recession as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Progressive Conservative government released its first-quarter financial report on Wednesday, which revealed it will now spend $30-billion on its economic recovery plan, up from $17-billion announced in March.

The document says the province’s gross domestic product declined by 2 per cent in the first quarter, with economists predicting it will fall by 6.6 per cent by the end of the year.

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The uranium giant stirs – by Leon Louw (Why Africa – August 12, 2020)

https://www.whyafrica.co.za/

With the price of uranium on the up, and demand expected to increase substantially in the next few years, Namibia’s spectacular uranium deposits are back in the news.

Several large uranium projects that were put on ice after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, are being revived and looks as attractive as they did ten years ago.

Australian mining company Bannerman Resources recently completed the Scoping Study for their Etango Uranium project, which is said to be the world’s largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the world. Etango will be a conventional open pit and heap leach processing operation with an initial throughput of eight million tonnes per annum (8Mtpa).

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OPINION: Lashing out at critics won’t revive Alberta’s oil sands. What’s needed is action – Editorial Board (Globe and Mail – August 13, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Jason Kenney sat down with The Globe and Mail’s editorial board for a wide-ranging session shortly after he was elected Premier of Alberta last year. When asked about some international investors starting to shun the oil sands, Mr. Kenney declared it was a passing fad, the “flavour of the day.” It’s been a long day.

The oil sands have become a global climate-change lightning rod, the bitumen of northeastern Alberta called the “tar sands” and branded the dirtiest oil anywhere. The image is unfair, but it has become a reality that Alberta and Canada must address.

It seemed less pressing in years past, when it was only a few Hollywood stars helicoptering aghast over oil sands mines.

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Mushkegowuk Grand Chief raises concerns about new law that changes environmental assessment process (CBC News Sudbury – August 13, 2020)

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

As exploration activity starts up again in the mineral-rich Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, a First Nations group is raising concerns about recent legislative changes to environmental assessment they say erode their rights.

After being shut down due to COVID-19, Noront Resources is ramping up its search for new gold and nickel deposits.

During the pandemic, the provincial government pushed through Bill 197, called the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act. It included 20 pieces of legislation, including changes to the province’s building code act and the environmental assessment act.

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‘Last great buying opportunity’: Gold price can dip below $1,700 this year before resuming its path towards $15K – Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates – by Anna Golubova (Kitco News – August 12, 2020)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) After taking a major step back from its massive summer rally with a temporary drop below $1,900 an ounce on Tuesday, gold attempted to recover.

But the price pullback might not be over, according to Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates managing partner Leigh Goehring, who is not ruling out seeing $1,500-$1,700 levels this year.

A corrective pullback was widely expected as gold prices rose incredibly fast in a very short period of time. The precious metal managed to breach its 2011-high of $1,920 an ounce, rise above $2,000 and make new record highs above $2,050 an ounce all in under three weeks.

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Ferrochrome business remains solid, world still requires large amount of it – Glasenberg – by Martin Creamer (Mining Weekly – August 11, 2020)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The ferrochrome business remains solid and there is still a large amount of ferrochrome required in the world.

Unfortunately, most of the production occurs in ferrochrome plants in China, while South Africa continues exporting chrome ore and moving a large amount of it to China owing to South Africa not being competitive in respect of electricity prices.

Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg pointed this out in response to a question put to him by Mining Weekly during a media conference following last week’s presentation of half-year results in which the marketing division of the London- and Johannesburg-listed company outperformed with adjusted earnings before interest and tax of $2-billion, allowing the company to raise full-year guidance to the top end of its long-term range of $2.2-billion to $3.2-billion.

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Perfect Storm To Keep Blowing Into Next Year For Iron Ore Miners – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – August 11, 2020)

https://www.forbes.com/

A perfect storm of reduced supply and rising demand which has driven the price of iron ore to more than $110 a ton is forecast to keep blowing into next year.

Despite repeated forecasts that the price of the steel-making material is overdue for a correction the latest reading of the iron ore market is for the price to be higher for longer thanks largely to supply and demand effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brazil, one of the world’s biggest iron ore producers, has seen its mining industry buffeted by the public health crisis which has crimped exports while China, the biggest consumer, has lifted imports to meet high demand caused by government economic stimulus to counter the effects of Covid-19.

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58 per cent of Americans oppose President Trump’s tariff on Canadian aluminum, survey suggests – by Jim Bronskill (Globe and Mail – August 11, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A new opinion survey suggests U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to slap a tariff on Canadian raw aluminum is garnering poor reviews on both sides of the border.

In a web survey conducted by polling firm Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, 58 per cent of American respondents said they disagreed with the 10-per-cent import tax.

In what comes as less of a surprise, 90 per cent of Canadians who took part in the survey objected to the White House’s tariff.

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Hudbay Minerals posts $51.9m loss, cuts Peru guidance – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 12, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

Canadian miner Hudbay Minerals (TSX, NYSE: HBM) posted a $51.9 million loss in the three months to June 30, as an eight-week suspension of its Constancia copper mine in Peru weighed on the results.

The Toronto-based company revised down its production targets for its Peruvian operations to 65,000-75,000 tonnes of copper and 25,000-35,000 ounces of precious metals. Hudbay had earlier forecast 80,000-95,000 tonnes of copper and 45,000-55,000 ounces of gold for 2020.

The new guidance also reflects the change in Pampacancha production start date to early 2021 from the second half of this year.

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Laurentian researchers work to see if mine tailings ponds can help treat cancer (CBC News Sudbury – August 11, 2020)

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

A group of researchers in Sudbury say early results of their studies are showing promising results in a potential way to treat cancer.

Gerusa Senhorinho, a postdoctoral fellow at Laurentian University in Sudbury, says she and other researchers have been having a closer look at mine tailings water — from both active and abandoned mines — to see if it can be used to treat cancer.

The work has been ongoing since 2012. Senhorinho says they’ve been collecting water samples from property owned by Glencore. They’re also working to get samples from some of the 5,000 abandoned mine sites across the province.

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OPINION: Trump’s aluminum tariffs have Glencore’s prints all over them – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – August 12, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

When President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the U.S. primary aluminum industry was on its deathbed. Undercut by Canadian producers that relied on cheap and clean hydroelectricity to power modern smelters, and unable to compete with subsidized Chinese imports, the U.S. industry had shrunk to five plants operating below capacity.

Tariffs Mr. Trump imposed on Canadian raw aluminum imports in 2018 bought the U.S. industry some time, but not enough to fix its fundamentals. When the tariffs were lifted last year – as part of a good-faith gesture aimed at securing ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement – it was only a matter of time before U.S. aluminum producers began to clamour for their renewal.

Last week, Mr. Trump answered their pleas, proving that the most protectionist U.S. president in modern history never really intended to honour the spirit or the letter of the USMCA, which went into force barely a month ago.

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