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[Coal Mining] Life today feels tough, but our ancestors faced harder battles – by Gabriela Bereghazyova (Slovak Spectator – September 24, 2024)

https://spectator.sme.sk/

In an age where millennials struggle with mortgages and the cost of living, it’s easy to romanticize the past.

Today, life is not a stroll through a rose garden. But for the purpose of a reality check, it is worth contrasting our current challenges with those of our ancestors who chose to pursue a brighter future in the New World just over a century ago.

Let’s take a look at what life was like for our ancestors at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Countless people in Slovakia, then Upper Hungary, lived in poverty. Their homeland did not offer them a way out of the vicious circle of destitution.

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Gold powers to another all-time high; silver bulls step on the gas – by Jim Wyckoff (Kitco News – September 24, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold prices are posting good gains in midday U.S. trading Tuesday and hit another record high of $2,675.70, basis December Comex futures. Silver prices are sharply up and hit a nine-week high. Safe-haven bids are boosting the two precious metals markets.

Technical charts are also bullish for gold and silver, which is inviting speculators to the long sides. December gold was last up $20.40 at $2,673.00 and December silver was up $1.20 at $32.295. The precious metals received some more bullish news today as China’s central bank lowered a key rate, the reserve requirement ratio for banks, by 0.5% in bid to support China’s stock and property markets.

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Metals security of supply depends on junior resource companies – by Rick Mills (Ahead of the Herd/Mining.com – September 19, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

A junior resource company’s place in the food chain is to acquire projects, make discoveries and hopefully advance them to the point when a larger mining company takes it over. Discoveries won’t be made if juniors don’t have boots on the ground, if they aren’t out in the bush poking around and breaking rocks.

Few exploration companies have the money or technical expertise to “go mining”. For many, the goal is to find a deposit that’s good enough to attract a major who will acquire the asset. Another pathway is for the junior to partner with a larger company. An option or joint venture (JV) agreement is a way for juniors to gain access to the financial and technical resources needed to build the mine.

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‘There will be nobody … monitoring the land’: Grand chief urges Ontario to meet – by Maija Hoggett (Timmins Today – September 20, 2024)

https://www.timminstoday.com/

‘Despite our best efforts to work with the province of Ontario, we have yet to see meaningful signals of their willingness to work with us’

If Ontario doesn’t come to the table soon, years of work to protect the land and water of the Far North are at risk. Mushkegowuk Council Grand Chief Leo Friday issued a statement today urging Premier Doug Ford to meet with their chiefs. They want the province to agree to immediately protect the coast of Western James Bay and southwestern Hudson Bay, and the North French River.

The ask isn’t for money, in 2022 the federal government committed $800 million to create up to four Indigenous-led conservation areas, including Mushkegowuk.

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Iron Ore Spikes as Beijing Takes Slew of Steps to Aid Economy – by Jake Lloyd-Smith (Bloomberg News – September 23, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Iron ore and copper rallied strongly after China unveiled a series of measures to boost growth and resurrect its beleaguered property market.

China, the biggest consumer of metals and the main driver of the fortunes of those who produce them, has been a constant source of bad news for commodity markets this year. A broad economic slowdown, combined with the crisis in the property sector, has seen metal prices slump and piled pressure on everything from steelmakers to copper smelters.

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OPINION: Canada’s mine decision was no rubber stamp – by R. Brent Murphy (Anchorage Daily News – September 23, 2024)

https://www.adn.com/

R. Brent Murphy is senior vice president for environmental affairs at Seabridge Gold.

Having spent my entire career at the intersection of mining and sustainability, I have grown accustomed to the widespread misinformation surrounding our industry. Unfortunately, it’s a reality my colleagues and I face daily on a global scale, and if we responded to every instance, we would have little time left for the work that truly matters.

However, the sheer level of inaccuracy and hypocrisy regarding the Substantially Started Determination, or SSD, status for our proposed KSM project in Brian Lynch’s recent commentary demands a response. First and foremost, Lynch’s commentary failed to acknowledge several key facts regarding our two decades of dedicated efforts and nearly CAD $1 billion of investments to responsibly advance the KSM Project.

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Face of Nutrien workforce changing after 65 years of potash production in Sask. – by Cole Davenport (CTV News Regina – September 20, 2024)

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/

Rocanville, Sask. – Driving into the tunnels of Nutrien’s Rocanville mine, the largest potash mine in the world by production volume, feels like driving down a lonely highway in the middle of the night. “In a day you’d probably put on anywhere between 100 and 150 kilometres just to see your people,” said Chris Machniak, a general foreman at the mine.

The silence of the tunnels is broken only by the subtle but noticeable crinkling sound of fresh-cut potash settling into its new position. That quiet is quickly replaced by the roar of machinery as you reach the heart of the operation.

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Diamonds aren’t forever: Botswana looks beyond mining – by Ben Payton (African Business – September 24, 2024)

https://african.business/

President Mokgweetsi Masisi basked in a moment of triumph on 22 August, as he unveiled the largest diamond discovered anywhere in the world for more than a century to an excited crowd of journalists and officials in Gaborone. “What?!” he exclaimed, his eyes popping with delight as he felt the weight of the stone. “I am lucky to have seen it in my time.”

The presentation of the second-largest diamond ever wrenched from the Earth appears to be the latest glittering chapter in Botswana’s success story. The stone, extracted from the Karowe mine by Canadian company Lucara, provides seemingly irrefutable evidence that the southern African nation remains a diamond superpower.

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Indonesia ‘blood nickel’ risks too grave to ignore – by Gabriel Collins, Morgan Bazilian and Simon Lomax (Asia Times – September 21, 2024)

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Manufacturers and investors should beware the reputational and operational risks of dealing in Indonesian nickel

Earlier this month, the US government sounded the alarm over the use of forced labor in the nickel mines of Indonesia.

The finding has major implications for the energy transition because large amounts of nickel are needed to produce electric vehicle (EV) batteries and other low-carbon energy technologies.

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Container fire under control at Port of Montreal – by Harry North (Montreal Gazette – September 23, 2024)

https://montrealgazette.com/

The fire, in a container with lithium batteries, produced enough smoke that the city asked residents to stay inside and close their windows.

Montreal’s fire department said late Monday it had contained a fire in a container at the Port of Montreal holding 15,000 kilograms of lithium batteries.

Some residents of the Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough were advised to stay in their homes Monday evening and close their windows as foul-smelling smoke filled the area. The city confirmed around 10:30 p.m. that the confinement advisory had been lifted and the air did not pose any danger to residents.

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Saskatoon set to take on China in production of critical minerals – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Saskatoon Star Phoenix – September 20, 2024)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

City will soon be home to a first-of-its-kind rare earth minerals processing facility in North America

Saskatoon will soon be home to a first-of-its-kind rare earth minerals processing facility in North America, one that can take on China’s dominance in a key part of the energy transition.

The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is constructing the plant, set to be fully operational in 2025, which will become the only one in North America able to process critical minerals into materials that can be used to create a range of products, including batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).

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Indian Jewelers Brace for a Boom – by Avi Krawitz (Rapaport Magazine – September 17, 2024)

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While global markets face recession, India is riding the wave of growth, with retailers aggressively expanding their operations

There’s a constant buzz about Turner Road, the upscale thoroughfare that passes through the heart of Mumbai’s trendy Bandra West neighborhood. Bandra has gained a reputation for attracting the city’s up-and-coming, be they tech execs, property moguls or Bollywood elites. They live, eat, drink, and socialize there. Turner Road is where they buy fine jewelry.

The street is lined with the full gamut of local jewelers, ranging from well-established family businesses to the more imposing chain stores.

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Grays Bay road and port could be $1B project, proponent estimates – by Jeff Pelletier (Nunatsiaq News – September 18, 2024)

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GN, West Kitikmeot Resources Corp. sign MOU at Nunavut Trade Show

The estimated cost of the proposed Grays Bay road and port project, which would connect resource-rich western Nunavut to the rest of Canada, has nearly doubled according to its proponent.

Brendan Bell, CEO of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp., provided a new cost figure to Nunatsiaq News after signing a memorandum of understanding to continue support for the project at the Nunavut Trade Show in Iqaluit on Wednesday. “I would estimate that it’s at least a billion-dollar undertaking at this point,” Bell said.

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Canada’s nuclear waste needs a forever home. Scientists may be close to finding one – by Marcus Gee (Globe and Mail – September 18, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada’s Candu nuclear reactors have been running for more than half a century. Ontario, home to all but one of the active reactors, gets about 60 per cent of its electrical power from nuclear, which has the benefit of producing next to no greenhouse gases.

To help meet climate targets while fulfilling the province’s electricity needs, the provincial government has announced plans to spend billions refurbishing an aging nuclear plant at Pickering, east of Toronto. It is part of a worldwide trend. After stagnating for years over worries about cost and safety that followed accidents in Chornobyl and Fukushima, nuclear power is getting a fresh look.

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Diamond Mining Losing Its Sparkle As Lab-Grown Market Share Rises – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – September 23, 2024)

https://www.forbes.com/

Tim Treadgold is an Australian journalist specializing in mining

The decline of diamonds as a store of wealth is accelerating as low-cost laboratory gems seize more of the market, eating into the share of mined stones and devaluing family heirloom jewelry.

Not a topic comfortable for the traditional diamond and jewelry industries, the latest financial analysis highlights the challenge caused by the shift from a high value, low volume business, to high volume/lower value. According to Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, lab-grown diamonds accounted for an estimated 14.3% of total diamond supply last year — 16 million carats versus newly-mined supply of 112 million carats.

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