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Gold mining’s potential in West Africa – by Scarlett Evans (Mining Technology – October 25, 2024)

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

West Africa is a major gold mining hub, but political instability and illegal mining activities are preventing its full development.

Global gold prices are surging, surpassing $2,700/oz this month, already up by more than a fifth compared with 2023.

In this landscape, gold hubs across the world are working to formalise their mining sectors, capitalising on the rising demand and boosting investments, driven, a GlobalData report says, by “growing demand for safe-haven assets”.

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Meliadine gold mine: The ‘largest hotel’ in Nunavut – by Arty Sarkisian (Nunatsiaq News – October 21, 2024)

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Mine has more employees than the population of many Nunavut hamlets

Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine gold mine has approximately 1,500 employees. That’s about half the size of the population of nearby Rankin Inlet and slightly more than Clyde River. But only about 700 people live and work on the site at all times, which is still more than the populations of Grise Fiord, Resolute Bay and Chesterfield Inlet put together.

The mine’s employees live side by side in what they call the “biggest hotel in Nunavut” and their collective efforts produce about one gold brick a day that is roughly the size of a loaf of bread.

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Massive lithium deposit found across southeastern US could end reliance on imports – by Shane Galvin (New York Post – October 23, 2024)

https://nypost.com/

A new geological survey has discovered enough lithium to meet global demand for the next six years. The study, led by the United States Geological Survey, discovered between 5 million and 19 million tons of lithium reserves in a rock formation in the southern part of the continental US, Fox Business reported.

Scientists derived samples from the Arkansas portion of the Smackover Formation – which spans six states from Florida’s Gulf Coast, through parts of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and stretching across Texas.

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Investing in oil and gas still important, IEA deputy head tells Calgary crowd – by Amanda Stephenson (Halifax City News – October 22, 2024)

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CALGARY — Investments in oil and gas production are important and must continue in tandem with increased investment in renewable and clean technologies, the deputy head of the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Mary Burce Warlick made the comments in Calgary, the corporate heart of Canada’s oil and gas sector, just a week after the Paris-based IEA released its most recent forecast for global energy demand.

The IEA said in that forecast that demand for all three fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — is set to peak by the end of this decade. It also predicted a potential oversupply of both oil and liquefied natural gas in the second half of the 2020s.

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[Niger Mining] Orano suspends operations at Arlit (World Nuclear News – October 24, 2024)

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

Major financial difficulties facing SOMAÏR, the operator of the Arlit uranium mine in Niger, have led to the decision to suspend its activities from the end of October.

The French company said the financial difficulties which have been facing its 63.4%-owned subsidiary since July 2023 – when then-President of Niger Mohamed Bazoum was deposed in a coup d’état – have continued to grow. Niger’s border with Benin, through which uranium concentrates produced at Arlit are exported – has remained closed since the events of July 2023.

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Column: Electric vehicles prove a bumpy ride for battery metals – by Andy Home (Reuters – October 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Electric vehicles (EVs) were supposed to supercharge demand for metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Yet prices for all three EV battery inputs have fallen to such bombed-out levels that producers are curtailing output and deferring new projects.

This is partly a problem of oversupply. Explosive price rallies in 2021 and 2022 resulted in too much new production capacity being brought online too quickly. But it is also a problem of demand.

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Miners are razing forests to meet surging demand for metals and minerals, report says – by Victoria Milko (Associated Press – October 23, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Whether it’s digging for metals and minerals for cellphones and electric vehicles or coal for power generation, mining around the world has skyrocketed since 2000, causing widespread destruction of tropical forests, degrading the environment and displacing Indigenous and local communities, the World Resources Institute says in a report released Wednesday.

The analysis highlighted that from 2001 to 2020, the world lost nearly 1.4 million hectares (3,459,475 acres) of trees due to mining — an area roughly the size the country of Montenegro. Nearly a third were in tropical primary rainforests. Protected areas were also damaged.

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Mali threatens to let Barrick mine permit lapse over dispute – by Katarina Höije, Diakaridia Dembele and William Clowes (Bloomberg News – October 25, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Mali’s military government has threatened to take back Barrick Gold Corp.’s Loulo mine concession when the current permit expires in 2026, amid an escalating dispute over how to divide the economic benefits from operations in the country.

Mali is considering letting the permit for Loulo lapse when it expires in February 2026, Finance Minister Alousseni Sanou said in an Oct. 18 letter sent to Barrick’s chief executive officer Mark Bristow, and seen by Bloomberg. Mali “reserves the right not to renew the operating permit” and invited Barrick to talks on the mine’s “transition phase” starting later this month, Sanou wrote.

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Teck cuts copper forecast again as it encounters more problems at anchor QB2 mine in Chile – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 25, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. has cut its full-year copper forecast yet again owing to setbacks at multiple mines, including at its giant QB2 copper operation in Chile. Vancouver-based Teck said on Thursday that its 2024 copper production will be between 420,000 tonnes and 455,000 tonnes, about 6.5 per cent lower than predicted.

The downgrade was driven in part by issues with its haul trucks at its Highland Valley mine in British Columbia, including labour availability and problems with its autonomous system. Teck also cut its guidance for the QB2 mine in Chile, reducing its forecast by 6 per cent to roughly 205,000 tonnes.

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Who will pay for Ontario’s radioactive past? – by Aya Dufour (CBC News Features – October 15, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/

One northern remediation project illustrates the complexity of the issue

If not for the fences and the signs, nothing’s obviously threatening about the radioactive waste that has plagued Nipissing First Nation for decades. It looks like sandy soil peppered with small rocks. Behind the benign appearance, however, are niobium and other naturally occurring radioactive materials that were left behind by a defunct mining operation dating back to the early days of the Cold War.

With the company long gone and the Ministry of Mines busy remediating and monitoring the other 5,865 abandoned mining projects in Ontario, the waste has just sat there for 67 years.

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Diamond Hall of Fame: The CTF Pink Star Diamond – by Jill Newman (Only Natural Diamonds – February 16, 2022)

https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/

Meet the world’s most expensive jewel ever sold at auction.

The Pink Star Diamond shattered every price record when Sotheby’s sold it for a staggering $71.2 million in April 2017 at a Hong Kong auction. It’s the single most expensive diamond or jewel sold at auction.

At 59.60 carats (about the size of a strawberry), the fancy vivid pink internally flawless diamond has none comparable in size and quality. So how can you assess a price for something that is essentially priceless?

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Marie Antoinette Linked 300 Carat Diamond Necklace For Sale(Salon Prive Magazine – October 19, 2024)

https://www.salonprivemag.com/

A spectacular 300-carat diamond necklace with connections to Marie Antoinette’s infamous affair heads to Sotheby’s auction, expected to fetch millions.

In a stunning revelation that has sent ripples through the world of high-end jewellery and historical artefacts, Sotheby’s has announced the upcoming auction of an extraordinarily rare and historically significant 18th-century diamond jewel.

This magnificent piece, weighing approximately 300 carats and valued at an estimated 1.6 to 2.4 million Swiss francs (£1.4 to £2.1 million), has made its first public appearance in half a century.

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Liability trial for BHP in Samarco dam collapse begins in London – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 21, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, NYSE: BHP) faces a potential $47 billion payout in damages over the 2015 Mariana Dam disaster in Brazil, believed to be country’s most catastrophic environmental incident, as a lawsuit against the miner kicked off on Monday in London’s High Court.

The trial, expected to last up to 12 weeks, will determine whether BHP is legally responsible for the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The structure failure caused a massive flood that claimed 19 lives, destroyed villages and severely polluted water sources for local communities. The dam was owned by Samarco, a joint venture between BHP and Brazilian mining giant Vale.

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Baffinland cuts 10% of workforce to focus on Steensby rail – by Samuel Wat (CBC News North – October 19, 2024)

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

Mining company will reduce amount of iron ore shipments out of Milne Inlet

Baffinland Iron Mines is laying off 10 per cent of its workforce in Nunavut due to weak iron ore prices. Senior adviser Paul Quassa said the company is diverting its resources to the $5.7-billion railroad from the Mary River Mine south to Steensby Inlet.

“We would be rationalizing our equipment and supplies… and reducing the number of permit fronts to concentrate folks on the Steensby authorization,” he said.

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World’s Top Ruby Mine in Mozambique Stormed After ‘Fake’ Notice – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – October 20, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

About 300 people on Sunday invaded a pit at Gemfields Group Ltd.’s ruby mine in Mozambique, which accounts for about half the world’s supply of the stones, executive officer Sean Gilbertson said. Two people were shot and injured by police, he said.

A crowd of about 500 people later gathered at a village near the Montepuez ruby mine in northeastern Mozambique intending to enter the mine, Gilbertson said by text message.

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