Republic of Mining

RCMP seeking to resolve Coastal GasLink pipeline crisis without resorting to ‘police enforcement’ – by Geoffrey Morgan (Financial Post – January 8, 2020)

January 8, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY – Senior RCMP officers are in contact with First Nations protestors opposed to the $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline, trying to negotiate a way for construction work on the natural gas pipeline to resume in north-central British Columbia.

“Or priority is to engage with CGL, Indigenous communities and government to facilitate a resolution without police enforcement,” RCMP Cpl. Madonna Saunderson said in an emailed statement, adding that the force’s senior commander “has already been in direct contact with representatives of all these stakeholder groups, including the Hereditary Chiefs.”

Over the weekend, a breakaway group of hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs that oppose the natural gas pipeline asked the RCMP to “refrain from interference” in the dispute over the project that will link gas fields near Dawson Creek to the $40-billion LNG Canada export project in the coastal community of Kitimat.

Indonesia approves environmental study for battery-grade nickel plants: minister – by Fransiska Nangoy and Wilda Asmarini (Reuters U.S. – January 8, 2019)

January 8, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia has approved environmental impact studies for factories to produce battery-grade nickel chemicals in Morowali, Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said on Wednesday.

The approval will allow investors, such as China’s stainless steel giant Tsingshan Group, to continue the construction of their high-pressure acid leaching plants in Morowali, Central Sulawesi.

There are at least five of these plants being built in Indonesia currently as the government seeks to use its nickel resources to create an integrated industry, including production of nickel chemicals used in car batteries and the building of electronic vehicles.

Critical minerals and the UK: 5 things to know – by Umar Ali (Mining Technology – January 7, 2020)

January 8, 2020

https://www.mining-technology.com/

A recent report from the UK Office of Science and Technology states that while the UK is dependent on imported critical minerals for a number of sectors there is no specific strategy for their supply, a worrying thought considering the implications of recent trade wars. We take a look at five talking points from the report.

The UK has no specific critical mineral strategy

Critical minerals are used to create products of strategic importance for many UK sectors, but the UK has no specific critical minerals strategy and no single department has responsibility for policy regarding these important materials.

Speaking at a conference in May 2019, Mineral Products Association CEO Nigel Jackson said: “Mineral products make an important contribution to the UK economy and underpin almost every aspect of our way of life, from our homes, schools and hospitals to the transport and energy infrastructure we take for granted.

The Trudeau Liberals will have to live with being in breach of a UN declaration they should never have adopted – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – January 8, 2020)

January 8, 2020

https://nationalpost.com/

According to an ancient political proverb, governments that pander to the globalist sword fighters at the United Nations run a grave risk of getting their policy necks lopped off. And so, as prophesied, that object now rolling across the Canadian West toward Ottawa is the Trudeau government’s self-righteous 2016 decision to wrap its arms around UNDRIP — the 2007 United Nations United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

With Canada now signed on to the United Nations’ feel-good indigenous agenda, UN operatives are back and claiming, as is their practice, that Canada is failing to live up to the full meaning of the declaration, which among other things requires Ottawa and the provinces receive full agreement from Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development.

Through a subgroup called the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the UN has drafted a two-page decision calling on Canada to “immediately cease” construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, to “immediately suspend” construction on the Site C dam in British Columbia and to “immediately halt” all work on the Coastal Gas Link LNG pipeline.

Philippine nickel output seen growing at about 8% a year (Business World – January 8, 2020)

January 8, 2020

BusinessWorld

NICKEL production is expected to increase by over 8% a year in the next few years despite policy uncertainty that could limit project development, Fitch Solutions Macro Research said in a report.

“We expect Philippine production to continue rising over the coming years although high levels of policy uncertainty could constrain project development, posing downside risks to our forecasts. We forecast nickel production to average 8.6% year-on-year growth over 2020-2028,” Fitch Solutions said in its industry trend analysis published Jan. 8.

It said that the Philippines will regain its spot as the mineral’s top producer due to Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban, which took effect this year. Indonesia hopes to accelerate the establishment of domestic smelters to capture more value than the current practice of exporting ore.

Rise of the robots in Northern Ontario? Not so much, study says – by Mary Katherine Keown (Sudbury Star – Janaury 8, 2020)

January 8, 2020

https://www.thesudburystar.com/

Automation is the new buzzword in many mining circles these days and a new report by the Northern Policy Institute is shedding light on how the advent of robotic technologies could impact the economy in Northern Ontario.

Some say automation could result in increased productivity, income and standards of living; however, others are concerned new technologies could accelerate the pace of change and bring unprecedented occupational disruption and unemployment.

The impact of automation could be profound, the NPI says. It changes the nature of work and the demand for skills, and it benefits some workers while putting others at risk. The report also mentions that the substitution of jobs by robots raises concerns about the government’s ability to collect taxes.

Dalian iron ore futures hit over 5-month closing high on restocking demand (Reuters U.S. – January 7, 2020)

January 8, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING (Reuters) – Iron ore futures in China surged to their highest close in over five months on Wednesday, on hopes of strong restocking demand from mills ahead of local holidays.

The most active May contract for iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped as much as 2.85% to 685 yuan ($98.69) per ton in morning trade, before settling up 2.1% at 680 yuan, the highest close since Aug. 2.

“Steel mills in south and east China are restocking actively before the upcoming Spring Festival holiday… but inventories at northern mills are still at relatively low level,” Tianfeng Futures wrote in a note.

Gold Steadies With Iran Jitters Easing; Palladium Tops $2,100 – by Elena Mazneva and Justina Vasquez (Bloomberg News – January 8, 2020)

January 8, 2020

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

(Bloomberg) — Gold prices stabilized after paring earlier gains amid signs that both sides in the U.S.-Iran hostilities wanted to pull back from the brink of conflict. Palladium rose to a fresh record above $2,100 an ounce.

Iran apparently intended to avoid U.S. casualties when it launched more than a dozen missiles at U.S.-Iraqi airbases in retaliation for an American airstrike that killed a top Iranian general, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. Earlier, gold jumped above $1,600 for the first time in almost seven years after the attack boosted demand for the metal as a haven asset.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that “All is well!” He is expected to make a statement later Wednesday.

‘A huge opportunity’: Alberta oilfields could give rise to lithium industry fuelled by electric cars – by Amanda Stephenson (Calgary Herald/Financial Post – January 6, 2020)

January 7, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

It’s long been known that Alberta’s historic oil and gas-producing Leduc Reservoir is rich in lithium deposits

Calgary-based E3 Metals wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the work of Elon Musk. The natural resources company, which was founded in 2016, has developed a patented ion-exchange extraction technology that produces purified lithium concentrate from the light metal that occurs naturally within the province’s oilfield brines.

The company’s goal is to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide that can be used in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries — the same type of batteries that power the electric cars made by Musk’s company, Tesla Inc.

“It wasn’t because of Tesla, but it was because of what Tesla did,” E3’s president and CEO Chris Doornbos said, on the inspiration for his company’s technology. “They took a concept, which was an electric vehicle, and turned it into something that could be a mainstream vehicle . . . and therein lies an opportunity.”

Copper output slumps at Codelco, BHP’s Escondida in November – by Dave Sherwood and Fabian Cambero (Reuters U.S. – January 7, 2020)

January 7, 2020

https://www.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Copper output slumped at Chile’s state miner Codelco and BHP’s sprawling Escondida mine in November, according to Chile state copper agency Cochilco, amid a turbulent month of riots and mass protests that rocked the mineral-rich South American nation.

Cochilco said output at Codelco, the world’s largest copper miner, plummeted 11% in November over the same month in 2018 to 155,200 tonnes. Production at BHP’s Escondida, the globe’s largest copper mine, fell 1.5% to 103,200 tonnes.

The Collahuasi copper mine in northern Chile, a joint-venture between Anglo American Plc and Glencore Plc, nonetheless saw its November production jump 9.7%, to 56,700 tonnes, the agency said.

Top 50 biggest mining companies – by Frik Els (Mining.com – January 3, 2020)

January 7, 2020

https://www.mining.com/

MINING.COM’s ranking of the world’s 50 largest mining companies based on market value show a revived industry entering the 2020s, but with diverging fortunes for certain subsectors.

At the end of 2019, the MINING.COM TOP 50 had a combined worth within shouting distance of $1 trillion after adding more than $150 billion in market capitalization over the course of the year.

The top 7 now make up more than half the value of the sector’s top tier, as Swiss giant Glencore’s $10 billion annual drop in market cap is more than offset by the gains for the biggest benefactors of palladium’s record run – Norilsk and Anglo American.

Marathon palladium deposit could be mineable – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 6, 2020)

January 7, 2020

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Generation Mining economic study estimates 14-year production life

A base metal deposit outside the town of Marathon has the potential to be an open-pit mine. Toronto’s Generation Mining is placing a 14-year mine life on its Marathon Palladium and Copper Project after releasing the results of a favourable preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

The company bills the deposit as North America’s largest undeveloped platinum group metal (PGM) mineral resource.

Once known as the Marathon PGM property, the 22,000-hectare parcel of land is 10 kilometres from the community near the north shore of Lake Superior, and has seen a plenty of exploration activity over the years by a succession of companies.

After deliberately turning itself into a climate-change martyr, Canada needs some basic common sense – by Gwyn Morgan (Financial Post – January 7, 2020)

January 7, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

For all the economic, social and national unity pain inflicted, our sacrifices will have no perceptible impact on global climate change

It’s been almost three decades since delegates from 172 countries, meeting at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, adopted the Climate Change Convention. U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data show that since then the Earth’s temperature has risen an average of 0.03 degrees Celsius per year.

At that rate, the planet will warm 2.4 degrees by 2100. That’s a sizable amount over 80 years but it’s certainly not the “climate emergency” needed to galvanize people into making life-altering sacrifices like giving up cars or air travel or switching to “eco-friendly” food.

The answer to every climate activist’s prayer came in the form of 17-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg. Her transformation to the world’s pre-eminent climate-change warrior began with Fridays spent demonstrating outside the Swedish Parliament and gaining the attention of financially capable fellow warriors.

Canada is on an economic road to nowhere – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – January 7, 2020)

January 7, 2020

https://business.financialpost.com/

Who’s going to look after Canada’s economic wellbeing for the next five years? Canada slips and there’s nobody to catch it, not Parliament or other levels of government. The Liberals spent five years variously pandering to environmental, regional or anti-capitalist interests. Now in a minority position, the situation will worsen.

The country’s governance, like a 100-car pile-up, is a tangled mess that is transiting out of the free enterprise system every year.

The Liberals have adopted a soak-the-rich taxation approach and swallowed whole the green’s concocted “Climate Change Emergency.” As a result, Canada has missed out on what The Economist labelled the recent, half-decade global “jobs boom.”

Gold soars to near seven-year high as Middle East tensions flare – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 7, 2019)

January 7, 2020

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Gold traded near a seven-year high on Monday as investors sought a traditional safe-haven investment amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

Gold futures traded as high as US$1,580 an ounce on Monday, the highest level since April, 2013, before closing at US$1,568.60. They are up US$45 an ounce already this year.

Prices have climbed almost 3 per cent since a U.S. drone strike killed General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Quds Force, an elite military and intelligence unit responsible for foreign operations, in Bagdhad on Friday. Gen. Soleimani was seen as the chief architect of Iran’s increasing military presence in the Middle East, and a growing threat to U.S. security.