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Freeport CEO says tariffs threaten to hinder US copper mining – by Jacob Lorinc (Financial Post/Bloomberg – June 10, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

The threat of US levies on copper imports has been a boon for Freeport-McMoRan Inc., with North America’s top producer cashing in on selling the metal at a premium. Still, the firm’s top boss warns that broader tariffs could hurt an industry President Donald Trump is trying to help.

“If global growth is disrupted, that could lead to an impact on copper prices,” chief executive officer Kathleen Quirk said in an interview at Freeport’s Phoenix headquarters. “Ironically, if we’re trying to build up the US copper industry, slowing GDP growth, and inflation, could put a lot of pressure on mines here.”

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Auto companies ‘in full panic’ over rare-earths bottleneck – by Kalea Hall (CBC News Windsor – June 09, 2025)

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

Industry’s efforts to find alternative magnet supplies have floundered

Frank Eckard, CEO of a German magnet maker, has been fielding a flood of calls in recent weeks. Exasperated automakers and parts suppliers have been desperate to find alternative sources of magnets, which are in short supply due to Chinese export curbs.

Some told Eckard their factories could be idled by mid-July without backup magnet supplies. “The whole car industry is in full panic,” said Eckard, CEO of Magnosphere, based in Troisdorf, Germany. “They are willing to pay any price.”

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Breaking down what’s in Ontario’s Bill 5, and why it’s controversial – by Marc Benoit (Cornwall Standard Freeholder – June 10, 2025)

https://www.standard-freeholder.com/

Ontario’s Bill 5 has been drawing a lot of attention and making headlines this spring. What’s in the bill that’s so concerning?

A new provincial law aimed at “unleashing” Ontario’s economy will also directly impact local governance, labour laws and environmental protections, which some say will open a “Pandora’s box of bad consequences.”

The bill, was granted royal assent on June 5 and is officially titled the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025. Bill 5 presents a comprehensive set of changes to various aspects of Ontario law, with major implications for the province. The new law amends several key pieces of legislation with the goal of fast-tracking economic development, specifically mining in key regions of the province, like the Ring of Fire located roughly 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

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Memory Lane: When the 1961 union raid nearly tore Sudbury in half – by Jason Marcon (Sudbury.com – May 28, 2025)

https://www.sudbury.com/

In 1961, Mine Mill Local 598 found itself the target of a raid by the United Steelworkers Union. Perhaps the most powerful union in Canada at the time, Mine Mill found itself fighting for its life and refusing to go down without a fight

There will probably never again be a labour struggle quite like the union war that was fought in Sudbury in 1961. It began as a division among the 17,000 members of the largest union local in Canada and ended by frightening and dividing an entire city. It was a conflict of ideals and loyalties: coworkers, friends, and even families were divided, fighting amongst each other. It was a war of particular passion and bitterness.

On Aug. 26, 1961, the national office of the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter Workers seized Local 598’s hall after executive member Tom Taylor publicly charged that meetings held by local President Donald Gillis during the summer of 1961 with the Canadian Labour Congress were actually a plot to secede from Mine Mill and deliver the local over to the United Steelworkers of America.

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Clock Ticks as U.S. and China Try to Undo Devastating Trade Curbs – by Ana Swanson (New York Times – June 10, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Officials from the world’s largest economies will try to strike a deal Tuesday to relax painful export restrictions that they have imposed on each other.

If the United States and China have succeeded at one thing this year, it is finding each other’s pain points. An initial clash over tariffs has grown in recent months into a competition over which country can weaponize its control over the other’s supply chains.

China has clamped down on global shipments of rare minerals that are essential to building cars, missiles and a host of electronic products. The United States has in turn paused shipments to China of chemicals, machinery and technology including software and components to produce nuclear power, airplanes and semiconductors. As the conflict has escalated in recent weeks, it has caused Ford Motor and other companies to suspend some of their operations.

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Carney lays out defence boost, says era of U.S. dominance over – by Steven Chase and Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – June 10, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada is too reliant on the United States for security as he announced a significant boost in military spending to meet NATO’s 2-per-cent military expenditure target this fiscal year, five years ahead of schedule.

Declaring that the U.S.’s predominant role on the world stage “is a thing of the past,” Mr. Carney said Canada must take matters into its own hands and work more closely with European allies. He said his government will increase the 2025-26 allocation for the Department of National Defence by $9.3-billion, on top of its existing budget of just under $40-billion.

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Two First Nations working on roads to Ring of Fire do not support new mining law – Liam Casey (Canadian Press/Financial Post – June 9, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

The legislation allows Ontario to suspend provincial and municipal laws by creating so-called special economic zones for certain projects

TORONTO — Two First Nations that signed deals with the provincial government to improve access to the Ring of Fire are speaking out against a new Ontario law that seeks to ease mineral extraction in the northern region.

Aroland First Nation Chief Sonny Gagnon said his community objects to the law known as Bill 5, which seeks to speed up development in the face of pressure from the United States. The legislation passed last week and allows Ontario to suspend provincial and municipal laws by creating so-called special economic zones for certain projects it chooses, such as new mines.

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Column: US aluminum tariffs threaten scrap clash with European Union – by Andy Home (Reuters – June 9, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

US President Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on aluminum imports heightens the risk of a full-blown scrap war with the European Union. Although they are supposed to be blanket tariffs with no exceptions or exemptions, there is one significant gap in the tariff wall.

Aluminum scrap is explicitly excluded on the grounds it constitutes a key raw material for US manufacturers. The Trump administration’s decision to lift aluminum tariffs to 25% effective the start of March has already caused US imports of recyclable material to rise.

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Batchawana Bay is big-time copper country to Sterling Metals – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 6, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Impressive drill hit has Toronto company talking about significant, untapped potential at historic copper mining camp, north of Sault Ste. Marie

Sterling Metals, a junior miner that’s probing around a former copper mining camp, north of Sault Ste. Marie, made an impressive hit on its very first drill hole this spring.

The Toronto exploration outfit pulled a lengthy core sample showing 359.3 metres of copper mineralization, grading 0.36 per cent, taken at its Soo Copper Project in the Batchewana Bay area, 80 kilometres north of the city. The discovery was made just 14 metres below surface. A shorter length of the core revealed 0.56 per cent over the first 75 metres.

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Gold sees price gains, silver soars to 13-year high – by Jim Wyckoff (Kitco News – June 6, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold prices are posting good gains and hit a four-week high in early U.S. trading Thursday. Silver prices are sharply up and hit a 13-year high. Risk appetite in the general marketplace is still shaky, which continues to produce safe-haven buying of gold and silver.

The charts have turned more bullish for both metals, which is also inviting the technical traders to the long sides. August gold was last up $18.50 at $3,418.10. July silver prices were last up $1.437 at $36.08. Asian and European stocks were mixed overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed to slightly higher openings today in New York.

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[Manitoba] Mines hit with production stoppages, reductions in face of wildfires – by Gabrielle Piché (winnipeg Free Press – June 4, 2025)

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Production and exploration at some Manitoba mines has ground to a halt as staff evacuate and wildfires rage. Hudbay Minerals paused operations at its gold and zinc mine at Snow Lake, it told investors on Wednesday. The underground mine has a daily mill capacity of 5,300 tonnes.

Most employees have left the area; the Town of Snow Lake was issued a precautionary evacuation notice on Tuesday. Essential Hudbay staff have remained to assist with emergency activities, the company said, adding the workers have been authorized by emergency services.

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Ontario passes controversial mining law as Doug Ford warns against blockades – by Liam Casey and Allison Jones (Canadian Press/CBC Toronto – June 4, 2025)

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

Proposed legislation has sparked an backlash from First Nations who say it tramples on their rights

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government has given itself the power to suspend provincial and municipal laws for chosen projects in areas it deems to have economic importance. On Wednesday afternoon, the province passed Bill 5, the so-called Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, which has sparked a firestorm of anger among First Nations.

The province has said the bill is needed to speed up large projects, particularly mines, in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. Jeers from dozens of First Nations members echoed in the legislature as the bill was passed into law. Ford did not show up for the final vote.

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The Brilliance of Botswana Diamonds – by Shelley Brown (Natural Diamonds – May 29, 2025)

https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/

Discover how the natural diamond industry helped transform the now thriving Southern African country with brilliant Botswana diamonds.

Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, is both the birthplace of modern humans over 200,000 years ago and brilliant diamonds billions of years before that. The discovery of the first significant deposit of diamonds in Botswana happened in 1967, just one year after the country gained independence from Britain.

At that time, it was the third poorest country in the world, with minimal infrastructure and an almost total void of formal education. The country’s founding president, Sir Seretse Khama, made it his mission to build a government with an ambitious economic development program centered around the country’s resources.

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How this new technology could change the way we mine copper – by Liz Dennett (Fast Company – June 4, 2025)

https://www.fastcompany.com/

Mining isn’t known for innovation. For more than a century, we’ve extracted copper using the same process: dig, crush, grind, leach, repeat. Meanwhile, demand has exploded, fueled by EVs, AI infrastructure, and the energy transition. That mismatch has created a bottleneck. We’re using yesterday’s tools to power tomorrow’s economy.

The conductive highway

Copper is the metal that moves energy. Literally, electrons don’t travel from solar panels to batteries—or from your laptop charger to the cloud—without it. Copper is the conductive highway that keeps the world’s electrons flowing. It’s in every EV, every wind turbine, and every data center.

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Carney calls U.S. 50% steel, aluminum tariffs ‘illegal’ – by Sean Previl (Global News – June 4, 2025)

https://globalnews.ca

Prime Minister Mark Carney called U.S. President Donald Trump‘s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports “illegal,” and said the federal government would take “some time” to consider its next steps.

Carney made the comments Wednesday hours after Trump’s executive order, which he signed Tuesday, went into effect for numerous countries including Canada, whose steel and aluminum industries demanded an “immediate” government response.

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