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Just How Eco-Friendly Are Lab-Created Diamonds? – by Rob Bates (JCK Online.com – March 29, 2019)

JCK Online.com

I’ve looked at tons of company pages about the eco-impact of lab-grown diamonds, and I’ve noticed one thing: Very few talk about the eco-impact of lab-grown diamonds. Instead, most of them talk about the eco-impact of mined diamonds and why lab-grown diamonds compare favorably.

Man-made diamond companies regularly call their product “eco-friendly” and “sustainable.” It’s now become a basic part of the lab-grown pitch, a way of letting consumers know they are not just getting a cheaper product but a meaningful one (though price remains the driver, most say). Reporters often print these claims, uncritically. And with concern about climate change clearly on the rise, that could prove a potent positioning.

Yet, these claims are rarely examined—and terminology is often extremely fuzzy. Charlotte Vallaeys of Consumer Reports notes that a term like “environmentally friendly” has no real definition and “could mean whatever the company wants it to mean.”

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Cannabis fad mows down Canada’s junior mining sector – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 2, 2019)

http://www.mining.com/

A growing interest in Canada’s emerging cannabis sector, which spiked after recreational use of marijuana was legalized in October, is sucking investment away from mining and hitting juniors hardest, a new study shows.

According to BDO Sherif Andrawes, investments in Canadian cannabis companies increased from C$43 million to C$770 million from the first half of 2016 to the same period in 2017, a massive surge year on year. In contrast, total mining companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX-V dropped 25% from 2017 to 2018.

“Industry investors traditionally attracted to the junior mining space now have a secondary option. Valuations are higher and forecast demand for the product is being touted in the billions,” the report says.

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Commodity prices, investment poised to extend upswing – by Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – March 29, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – A rebound in commodities prices and investment is poised to extend in coming months as the sector gets its traditional boost during the final stages of the global economic cycle along with other drivers.

While some investors worry about a possible recession, commodities are due to benefit from an expected U.S.-China trade deal, tightening oil supply and potential short-covering in beaten-down U.S. grain futures.

The 19-commodity Thomson Reuters/Core Commodity CRB Index, which has rebounded 10 percent from an 18-month low touched at the end of last year, should also get further support from easier monetary policy that has lifted all financial markets, analysts and traders said.

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Detour Gold appoints new CEO (Timmins Daily Press – April 2, 2019)

https://www.timminspress.com/

Article Submitted.

Detour Gold Corporation — owner of the Detour Lake mine, 300 kilometres northeast of Timmins — has announced the appointment of Michael (Mick) McMullen as chief executive officer and director of the company effective May 1.

McMullen has more than 25 years of international experience in the mining industry, with an accomplished background in all aspects of mining, including exploration, permitting, mine development, financing, operations, product sales, and asset acquisition and divestments as well as the debt and equity markets.

He has managed multiple operations (open pit and underground mines) across multiple jurisdictions. His experience covers a range of commodities, including copper, gold, iron ore and PGMs (platinum group metals).

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Vale shares jump on iron prices despite losing certifications, asset freeze (Reuters U.S. – April 1, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian miner Vale SA said on Monday it failed to obtain stability certificates for 13 dams under review following the rupture of another dam in January that killed hundreds, although its shares rose on strong global iron ore prices.

The world’s largest iron ore miner also disclosed in a securities filing on Monday that a court had frozen an additional 1 billion reais ($258.42 million) in assets over potential damages related to the evacuation of its Vargem Grande dam.

Despite the disclosures, Vale shares jumped to their highest point since the Jan. 25 disaster, rising 3.6 percent to 52.79 reais.

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Rachel Notley, Jason Kenney channel glories of past premiers in battle for Alberta’s economic soul – by Geoffrey Morgan (Financial Post – March 30, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

CALGARY — Jason Kenney, running to be Alberta’s next premier, is lunching on a salad at the Blackfoot Diner, a popular truck stop eatery just outside Calgary’s downtown, but offering red-meat economic policy proposals to his base in historically conservative Alberta.

While the province’s demographics and leanings are changing, and some of his United Conservative Party’s social policy proposals have met with staunch opposition and protests, his core economic promises of reducing corporate taxes, eliminating carbon taxes, and reducing regulatory timelines to encourage new investment are finding some currency as the economy sputters.

He is no ideologue, he says, highlighting that he agrees with his rivals in the NDP on “the strategic importance” of petrochemical diversification and he doesn’t want to “upset the apple cart” of gas-to-plastics projects in the province.

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Baffinland CEO makes a case for mine expansion – by Derek Neary (Nunavut News – March 31, 2019)

Nunavut News 

A proposed railway and many more cargo ships are the major concerns Baffinland Iron Mines’ CEO Brian Penney is hearing about in relation to the miner’s phase two expansion proposal, which would increase shipping to 12 million tonnes per year.

Penney said there’s misconceptions that the railway would reduce jobs for Inuit. He said there are only three or four existing Inuit truck drivers who go back and forth on the tote road from the mine to the port. However, Inuit represent close to 40 per cent of truck drivers at the mine site and the number of trucks at Mary River will rise dramatically if phase two proceeds.

“Anyone that drives a truck is going to be trained on driving trains,” the CEO said. “Inuit employment is only going to grow at Baffinland under all scenarios… we’re going to continue to build skills within the communities, to build skills that will make the workforce of the future for Baffinland. And hopefully someday Baffinland will be run by Inuit, totally.”

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Secret Coal Plants Reveal China’s Strategy of the ‘Green’ Mirage – Joshua Philipp (The Epoch Times – March 31, 2019)

https://www.theepochtimes.com/

Despite its claims that it would reduce coal use, the Chinese regime has quietly renewed its construction of coal-fired power plants.

The findings were based on recent satellite images showing that the regime has resumed construction on dozens of coal-fired power plants, according to Deutsche Welle. The new construction was exposed in a new report from the Global Energy Monitor, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club

As Deutsche Welle notes, this goes against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) own measures in 2012 and 2013 to allegedly slow the growth of its coal industry; and goes against its promise to cap coal consumption. It notes that the CCP has also been putting cash behind more coal-fired plants abroad.

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SNC-Lavalin reshuffles leadership ranks, restructures amid poor performance – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – March 29, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Amid the political furor dominating news headlines, SNC has been suffering through its own, separate business drama

As the political furor over whether SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. received special treatment from the Prime Minister dominates national headlines, the Montreal engineering and construction company has been suffering through its own, separate business drama — reshuffling much of its executive lineup this year in the face of losses and mishaps.

On Thursday, the Montreal-based engineering company announced an official restructuring of its business, and made three leadership changes adding to earlier turnover in its ranks.

The company framed the changes as an attempt to “de-risk” its business by consolidating certain business segments. It follows several damaging mishaps, including the loss of a $350-million contract in Chile earlier this month, and a cloud that moved over its oil and gas business particularly in Saudi Arabia, both of which led to major writedowns and earnings revisions.

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Canada shouldn’t ratify new trade deal until steel, aluminum tariffs end: Steelworkers – by Kerri Breen (Global News – March 31, 2019)

https://globalnews.ca/

The head of Canada’s steelworkers’ union says the federal government should refuse to ratify the new North American trade deal until U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum have been lifted.

Ken Neumann told The West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson that Ottawa needs to “draw a line in the sand” on the matter. It’s been nearly a year since the Trump administration imposed a 25 per cent tariff on imports of steel from Canada and 10 per cent on aluminum.

The measure prompted the Canadian government to impose $16.6 billion in retaliatory tariffs on American goods such as whiskey and washing machines.

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New report gives thumbs up to Indigenous employment in Nunavut mines – by Hilary Bird (CBC News North – April 1, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/

Agnico Eagle Mining described as doing things right when it comes to training and retaining Indigenous workers

A new report from the Conference Board of Canada says employers looking to hire and keep northern Indigenous employees could learn from a Canadian gold mining company, Agnico Eagle Mines.

The study, Working Together: Indigenous Recruitment and Retention, was put together by researchers with the board’s centre for the North. Researchers interviewed dozens of corporations, public sector employers and Indigenous employees and found many employees often don’t apply for jobs because of a lack of education, life skills and housing support.

When it comes to Indigenous employment in mining, Nunavut is the front runner. Ninety-seven per cent of Nunavut residents who work in the industry in the territory are Indigenous. In the Northwest Territories, it’s 52 per cent.

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Ontario, Manitoba, N.B. and Saskatchewan may see spike in pump prices Monday as climate-change levy takes effect – by Shawn McCarthy (Globe and Mail – April 1, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadians in four provinces should expect to see a spike in pump prices Monday – the most visible sign of the federal government’s carbon tax that is meant to spur reductions in greenhouse gas emissions but at the same time has sparked a political storm.

As of April 1, the Liberal government’s climate-change levy takes effect in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, four jurisdictions that do not have provincial carbon pricing plans.

The tax kicks in at $20 for each tonne of carbon-dioxide emissions associated with the fuel, rising to $50 a tonne by 2022. That’s expected to immediately add 4.5 cents on a litre of gasoline and 5.5 cents on diesel, rising by 2022 to 11.6 cents and 13.7 cents, respectively.

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Mining North Works ‘demystifies’ the industry – by Terry Dobbin (Nunavut News – March 31, 2019)

Nunavut News

This is a guest op-ed written by the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines.

Mining is working for Nunavut, and the proof is in the pudding, as they say. Today we are seeing more and more Nunavummiut finding meaningful jobs in mining. We are seeing Nunavut mining business on the rise and more mining taxes and royalties flowing to public and Inuit governments than ever before.

But that doesn’t mean we can sit back and relax. More opportunities are available and we want Northerners to learn how to seize them. Our mines are looking for more Nunavummiut to take well-paying and interesting jobs. They’d like to do more business.

To help them achieve that – and to help people learn more about just how mining works for Nunavut and how they might become involved in it – the Chamber of Mines has launched a public awareness initiative named Mining North Works! A big goal of the Mining North Works program is to “demystify” mining. Another is to attract people into mining jobs.

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COLUMN-Australia is enjoying a windfall commodities boom, but it won’t last – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – March 29, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE, March 29 (Reuters) – The good news for Australia is that it can expect a flood of cash from resource exports this fiscal year because of rising exports and relatively strong prices for iron ore, coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The bad news is this windfall is unlikely to be sustained for long, and export earnings are likely to fall in four of the five years after the current 2018/19 fiscal year.

The risk for Australia is that its politicians will be tempted to lock in permanent tax cuts and spending measures based on a likely temporary windfall, especially given the expected federal general election in May.

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Gold train hunter strikes GOLD with discovery of priceless 500-year-old renaissance wall art – by Stuart Dowell (The First News – March 4, 2019)

https://www.thefirstnews.com/

A Polish explorer who spent years hunting for a Nazi gold train has finally struck gold following the discovery of 24 priceless renaissance wall portraits dating back 500 years.

Piotr Koper made his sensational discovery after finding the portraits hidden behind the plastered walls of a palace he was renovating in the village of Struga near Wrocław.

The construction entrepreneur and lover of local mysteries was carefully lowering the remains of a dome that once covered the palace ballroom when he noticed fragments of paintings under old plasterwork.

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