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Indonesia’s Small Islands Pay the Price for Nickel Mining – by Firdaus Cahyadi (China Global South Project – November 11, 2024)

https://chinaglobalsouth.com/

The push for electric vehicles (EVs) promises a cleaner future, but the production of their batteries comes at a steep cost to Indonesia’s small islands. Nickel, a critical component in many EV batteries, has spurred mining activities that devastate local ecosystems and communities.

Nickel batteries—particularly Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM)—dominate the EV market, accounting for 60% of market share, according to the Global EV Outlook 2023. While alternatives like Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP) are gaining traction, the demand for nickel remains robust. In July 2024, global EV sales increased by 21% compared to the previous year, with Chinese-made vehicles leading at 800,000 units sold.

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Will we go back? Exploring the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck 49 years later – by Josh Berry (Fox 17 Online – November 10, 2024)

https://www.fox17online.com/

OTD in 1975: The SS Edmund Fitzgerald lost to the depths of Lake Superior

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It’s part of Michigan and midwest lore. Lost to the depths of the Great Lakes, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank on November 10, 49 years ago. We took a look back through the lens of a man who has laid eyes on the site himself.

“Because of the notoriety, because of the song from Gordon Lightfoot, everybody wants to know about the Edmund Fitzgerald,” said Ric Mixter. There aren’t many people better suited for answers on the wreckage than Ric Mixter. He’s published a 300-page book on the Fitzgerald, three documentaries, and a four-hour podcast.

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After Trump’s win, mining near BWCAW back in play – by Jimmy Lovrien (Duluth News Tribune – November 11, 2024)

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

In July, President-elect Trump vowed to reverse Biden’s mineral withdrawal on 225,000 acres of federal land in the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in “about 10 minutes.”

ELY — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to reverse the Biden administration’s 20-year mining ban on federal land within the same watershed as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, bolstering the hopes of copper-nickel mining industry supporters but worrying environmentalists who fear pollution to the downstream wilderness area.

The mineral withdrawal, which bans mining on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest until 2043, and non-renewal of key federal mineral leases to Twin Metals’ proposed copper-nickel mine effectively killed the company’s plan to build an underground mine and tailings-storage facility processing plant along Birch Lake, which flows into the BWCAW via the Kawishiwi River.

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Dubreuilville mines help drive record quarter for Alamos Gold – by Ian Ross (Timmins Today – November 12, 2024)

https://www.timminstoday.com/

Mineral growth opportunities abound as Magino Mine is absorbed into Island Gold operations

DUBREUILVILLE – Adding the Magino open-pit mine to the Alamos Gold stable helped the Toronto gold company post a record third quarter in a number of areas.

Across its mines in Northern Ontario and Mexico, Alamos posted a record 152,000 ounces of gold, up nine per cent from the previous quarter. That’s a reflection, the company said of the performance of its pair of Dubreuilville-area gold mines, Island Gold and Magino. Last week the company posted its financial results for the quarter ending Sept. 30.

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Trump victory good news for Canadian economy – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – November 13, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Trump is placing energy as a priority. This will automatically increase the size and importance of Western Canada’s oilpatch

Donald Trump’s landslide victory has shaken Canadians and rattled the loonie, but on balance will be beneficial for the country, notably its natural resource sectors.

Trump has promised to impose tariffs on trading partners, but Canada’s biggest exports will spared for two reasons. First, the countries’ resource sectors are integrated as a result of cross-ownership and mutual supply chains that have been built over decades. So are their automotive industries. These binational oil and auto partnerships are the cornerstone of both economies.

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Gold’s dramatic decline is not Trump-specific, silver demand from solar boosts long-term projections – Heraeus – by Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News -November 11, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold’s price decline since Trump’s electoral victory is as much about the party as it is the candidate, while global silver demand from the solar industry continues to rise as technology evolves and countries surpass their installation targets, according to precious metals analysts at Heraeus.

In their latest precious metals update, the analysts noted that historically, Republican victories have not been good for gold’s near-term prospects. “Gold dropped to $2,643/oz, the lowest price in 19 days, and the dollar strengthened as it became clear that Trump would return as US president,” they wrote.

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November on the Great Lakes is deadly. The Edmund Fitzgerald and many others bear witness – by Jenna Prestininzi (Detroit Free Press – November 8, 2024)

https://www.freep.com/

Beware of the “gales of November” on the Great Lakes this month, as singer Gordon Lightfoot warned, because this month has been particularly deadly for sailors on the lakes for hundreds of years.

Over the last two centuries, more than 70 ships have plunged to their demise on the Great Lakes during November. Some, like the iron ore carrier the Edmund Fitzgerald, went down and took the entire crew down with them.

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US judge narrows investor lawsuit against Rio Tinto over Mongolian mine – by Jonathan Stempel (Reuters – November 7, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Thursday dismissed some claims in a lawsuit accusing Rio Tinto and its former CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques of defrauding investors by concealing problems developing the $5.3 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan addressed recently added claims that Rio Tinto knowingly concealed how it would miss a deadline for “draw bell” blasting, a key milestone, while Jacques hid delays and associated cost overruns.

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Paladin Energy’s Fission deal in limbo as Ottawa probes national security implications of China influence – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 11, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Investors are unsure whether Australia-based Paladin Energy Ltd.’s proposed acquisition of Fission Uranium Corp. will succeed, as Ottawa conducts a make-or-break national security review on the transaction, with Chinese influence under scrutiny on both sides of the deal.

In June, Paladin reached a friendly agreement to buy Kelowna, B.C.-based Fission in an all-stock transaction worth $1.14-billion. Fission is developing the Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium project in the Athabasca Basin region of Saskatchewan, which is projected to eventually account for about 5 per cent of global supply.

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Barrick Falls Behind Rivals as No. 2 Miner Misses Boost From Bullion Boom – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – November 09, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Most of the world’s top gold miners have seen their shares surge this year as bullion prices hit repeated record highs. Not Barrick Gold Corp.

Missed production targets, higher operational costs and political turbulence at mines in Africa and Asia have investors turning increasingly sour on the world’s second-biggest gold producer. On Thursday, Barrick posted gold output that missed analysts’ estimates for the 11th straight quarter.

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Acid rock intelligence: An enormous amount of progress has been made over the last decades to predict and address water-related risks at mine sites – by Ryan Bergen (CIM Magazine – November 7, 2024)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

For a few days in mid-September, Halifax, Nova Scotia, became the world’s centre for geochemical expertise when the International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage (ICARD) convened there. Given the interruption caused by the global pandemic, and that the conference happens only every three years, this was the first in-person event since 2018’s meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, so there was a lot of ground to cover.

And the ground has shifted. Charles Dumaresq, vice-president of science and environmental management at the Mining Association of Canada, noted in the opening day panel that a series of high-profile tailings dam failures has trained the attention of regulators, operators and the broader public on the geo­technical risks associated with mines and legacy sites, which has the potential to divert resources away from addressing geochemical concerns.

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Lithium explorer forges bond with Indigenous development corporation – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 6, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Power Metals hands contract to Black Diamond Drilling to probe for high grade cesium

A Vancouver cesium and lithium exploration outfit has hired an Indigenous-owned drilling company for its latest campaign near the Quebec border. Power Metals announced it’s engaged Black Diamond Drilling Services to complete a third round of drilling at its Case Lake property, 80 kilometres east of Cochrane.

Black Diamond Drilling is a First Nation company-owned by the community of Apitipi Anicinapek Nation (ANN), formerly Wahgoshig First Nation, located near Matheson.

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Amid Upper Peninsula mining rush, tribe is still living with past pollution – by Kelly House (Bridge Michigan – November 7, 2024)

https://www.bridgemi.com/

KEWEENAW BAY — After years of uncertainty, Dione Price hopes her community may win a long battle to clean up century-old mining waste. Years of advocacy by partners including the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, where Price is environmental health manager for the tribal government, have resulted in a new plan to clean up the notorious Gay stamp sands, a waste pile visible from space that is smothering critical fish habitat in Lake Superior.

And 40 miles downstream, where yet more mining waste has washed ashore on the tribe’s reservation, native plants are eking out an existence on a scarred landscape thanks to the tribe’s habitat restoration efforts. “It’s promising,” Price said, a testament to how far the UP has come toward healing environmental harms caused by the mining industry.

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Opinion: Canada and the Three Seas Initiative: Energy security through nuclear co-operation – by George Christidis and Heather Exner-Pirot (Globe and Mail – November 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

George Christidis is the interim chief executive of the Canadian Nuclear Association. Heather Exner-Pirot is the director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Advocates of nuclear energy tout its environmental and economic benefits, but there are also compelling geopolitical reasons to pursue nuclear.

Energy security concerns have thrust nuclear forward as a critical solution for many countries traditionally dependent on, or integrated with, Russian nuclear energy and gas supplies. Their desire to disentangle their energy systems from Russia presents Canada the opportunity to use its nuclear expertise and supply chain to contribute to European energy security.

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Explainer: what Trump 2.0 means for the mining industry – by Caroline Peachey (Mining Technology – November 7, 2024)

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

With Donald Trump securing his return to the White House just hours after the polls closed, we explore what his second term could mean for the mining sector.

Former US President Donald Trump has been declared the winner of the 2024 US election, after surpassing the 270 votes needed to win the presidency and likely also the popular vote. Republicans also control the Senate, which they may even hold throughout 2024 having picked up West Virginia, Ohio and Montana from the Democrats, analysts from GlobalData TS Lombard predict.

Control of the House remains a toss-up, with a result potentially weeks away. The Democrats got a head start by flipping at least two seats in New York, although two seats in Pennsylvania may turn Republican. However, several states including Arkansas, California, Maine and Michigan remain battlegrounds.

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