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US Forced Labor Ruling on Indonesian Nickel Could Backfire – by Cullen Hendrix (The Diplomat – September 23, 2024)

https://thediplomat.com/

The Department of Labor’s recent forced labor determination could push Jakarta into further dependence on China and Chinese firms.

On September 10, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) added Indonesian nickel to its list of goods produced by child or forced labor. Nickel is a critical mineral with applications in steelmaking, aircraft engines and turbines, and perhaps most prominently in renewable energy and vehicles, where it is one of the key components of nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion batteries.

This listing highlights the dominance of Indonesia’s nickel sector by Chinese firms and deals yet another blow to the country’s aspirations to secure a critical minerals-specific free trade agreement (CMS-FTA) with the United States.

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Nickel market no longer afraid of losing Russian supply – by Andy Home (Reuters – September 17, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Russian president Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that Moscow should consider capping exports of nickel in retaliation for Western sanctions has been greeted with a collective shrug by the market.

The London Metal Exchange three-month price has managed a weak bounce through the $16,000-per metric ton level but the momentum is already fading. This is a far cry from February 2022, when Russia first invaded Ukraine. Fears that metal from Russian giant Norilsk Nickel might have sanctions imposed generated a monster rally in 2022 that morphed into a full-blown meltdown of the LME nickel market.

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Coloured gemstones: Historic emerald mine returns to life – by Arthur Tassell (Mining Review – September 20, 2024)

Mining Review (Home)

The Gravelotte emerald mine, which was in operation from 1929 to 2002 and was reportedly the world’s biggest emerald mine in its heyday, is once again in production, albeit initially on a very small scale. The company behind the revival of the mine is LSE-listed junior GEM Resources (previously URA Holdings). ARTHUR TASSELL recently spoke to its CEO, DR BERNARD OLIVIER, to learn more about the operation, which is South Africa’s only producing emerald mine.

The mine is located near the town of Gravelotte in Limpopo Province, approximately 50 km west of Phalaborwa and close to the well-known Consolidated Murchison antimony/gold mine. The emeralds are primarily found in biotite schist, which is part of the Gravelotte formation.

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New chief of flood-prone northern Ontario First Nation asks for patience with long-delayed relocation – by Erik White (CBC News Sudbury – September 16, 2024)

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

Federal government says meeting 2029 target for move ‘would be a challenge… but still stands’

The new chief of Kashechewan First Nation says he ran for office to make sure the flood-prone northern Ontario community can finally move to higher ground.

Hosea Wesley previously served six years as deputy chief of the Cree community on the James Bay Coast and was in that position in 2019 when an agreement was reached with the federal government to move Kashechewan within 10 years.

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Western nations join forces to break China’s grip on critical minerals – by Jamie Smyth, Myles McCormick and Harry Dempsey (Financial Times – September 22, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Coalition of 14 governments announces financing network for projects to provide raw materials required by tech industry

Western nations are directing their development finance and export credit agencies to work with private industry to support critical minerals projects, in a drive to break China’s chokehold over a sector that is essential for high-tech industries.

The Minerals Security Partnership, a coalition of 14 nations and the European Commission, will unveil a new financing network at an event in New York on Monday as they try to ramp up international collaboration and pledge financial support for a huge nickel project in Tanzania, backed by mining company BHP.

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US closer to greenlighting ioneer’s Nevada lithium mine – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 19, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cleared on Thursday one of the final regulatory hurdles for ioneer’s (ASX: INR) Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada, a project that would be a key supplier of the electric vehicle battery metal to the local auto industry.

The proposed lithium mine, about 225 miles (362 km) north of Las Vegas, contains one of the largest sources of lithium in North America. It could produce enough of the metal to power nearly 370,000 electric vehicles per year.

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A Copper M&A Frenzy Masks Big Miners’ Hesitation to Build – by Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – September 19, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — In the dusty, treeless outback of Southern Australia, a brand new mining camp is home to a hundred workers, putting in 12-hour days, two weeks at a time. Dozens of trucks are scattered across the vast acreage, mounted with towering rigs drilling more than 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) underground. All are focused on the hunt for one of the world’s most coveted minerals: copper.

Oak Dam, discovered by BHP Group geologists in 2018, is a glimmer of hope for Chief Executive Mike Henry, who sees global copper demand doubling over the coming decades as the energy transition takes hold, and wants his company to produce more of it.

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Osisko Metals seeks financing partner on huge Gaspé copper project in Quebec – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – September 19, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: OMZNE) is advancing the giant Gaspé copper project in Quebec with an economic study planned for February amid efforts to land a 20% partnership with provincial financing agency Investissement Québec.

“No promises, but they’re interested in the project, and for us it would be ideal to get IQ as a partner,” CEO and chairman Robert Wares said in an interview. “That would be a big boost, and as partners obviously they can help us fund the whole project to a final investment decision.”

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Laurentian on its way to repairing reputation, says new president – by Heidi Ulrichsen (Northern Ontario Business – September 18, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

‘We’re on the right path’: It has been nearly two years since Laurentian University exited insolvency restructuring, and the university’s new president says LU has come a long way

Laurentian University has come a long way to repairing damage to its reputation in the nearly two years since it exited insolvency restructuring in late 2022, said the university’s new president. Lynn Wells, who became Laurentian’s 12th president and vice-chancellor in April, sat down for a one-on-one interview with Sudbury.com this week.

She also spoke about the many daunting tasks she has ahead of her to a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce audience on Sept. 17, as well as a meeting of Laurentian’s senate held the same day.

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The opportunity in gold stocks ‘is as compelling as any we’ve seen in the history of the gold market’ – Goehring & Rozencwajg – by Jordan Finneseth (Kitco News – September 19, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold has been on an absolute tear in 2024, hitting record high after record high and surpassing a price of $2,600 per ounce for the first time in history after the Fed shocked markets with a 50 bps rate cut. But as many precious metals investors can attest, gold stocks have been left behind.

“As we write, gold has surged past the $2,500 mark for the first time in history, an event that would seem to herald a golden age for gold stocks,” wrote analysts at Goehring & Rozencwajg. “Yet paradoxically, these stocks have seldom been cheaper. What underlies this dissonance, and what might it portend for the future?”

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Death Threats and Detained Pop Stars: Inside Serbia’s Lithium Battle – by Kate Aronoff (The New Republic – September 19, 2024)

https://newrepublic.com/

The mining giant Rio Tinto is moving ahead with a novel form of lithium extraction in Serbia’s Jadar Valley. Powerful governments want to see it succeed. But critics say it could contaminate drinking water for a third of the population.

On her way to sing at a birthday party last month, Croatian pop star Severina Vučković was stopped and questioned about her political views by Serbian authorities. Around the same time, Aleksandar Matković started receiving death threats on Telegram.

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Quebec won’t fund graphite mine project tied to Pentagon; locals claim ‘victory’ – by Joe Bongiorno (Canadian Press/CTV News Montreal – September 19, 2024)

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/

After years fighting against the opening of a mining project with ties to the Pentagon, Louis Saint-Hilaire is breathing a sigh of relief.

That’s because this week, the Quebec government rejected the mining company’s application for public funding, a decision Saint-Hilaire says reflects the will of many of the people who live near the proposed site in the Laurentians region. “It’s a big victory for us, but it’s not a total victory,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

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A gold mining town in Congo has become an mpox hot spot as a new strain spreads – by Sam Mednick (Associated Press – September 19, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

KAMITUGA, Congo (AP) — Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter’s grave. The 1-month-old died from mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral.

In her first visit to the cemetery, she wept into her shirt for the child she lost and worried about the rest of her family. “When she was born, it was as if God had answered our prayers — we wanted a girl,” Wisoba said of little Maombi Katengey. “But our biggest joy was transformed into devastation.”

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Thousands rally at Queen’s Park to demand action on mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows First Nation – by Sarah Law (CBC News Thunder Bay – September 18, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/

Demands for northwestern Ontario community include compensation, respect for traditional land, remediation

Thousands marched to Queen’s Park in Toronto on Wednesday to demand action to help people in Grassy Narrows First Nation, a northwestern Ontario community that has faced decades of mercury contamination.

The Walk for Mercury Justice was the culmination of River Run 2024, a grassroots movement to address the poisoning that has impacted about 90 per cent of the population of Grassy Narrows, also known as Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek.

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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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