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No Stone Unturned: Unearthing the Gems of Africa – by Salon Privé (Salon Privé Magazine – August 2024)

https://www.salonprivemag.com/

Gemfields announces new book “No Stone Unturned” exploring real-life gemstone adventures in Africa over 60 years, written by Richa Goyal Sikri.

These narratives, vividly recounted by influential figures in the gem trade to the author Richa Goyal Sikri, showcase the dynamic and dramatic essence of the business. They also highlight significant historical moments related to notable gem deposits in Africa.

Each story vividly portrays the exhilarating highs and treacherous lows of the trade, offering an insightful glimpse into the vibrant journey of coloured gemstones from mine to market.

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Referendum on Outaouais mine to take place next year – by Emma Weller (CBC News Ottawa – August 27, 2024)

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

Lomiko Metals wants to build graphite mine about 80 km northeast of Gatineau

People living near the site of a proposed graphite mine in the Outaouais will get a chance to have their say in a referendum, but not for more than a year. An alliance of local municipalities announced on Sunday during a public information session in Chénéville, Que., that the vote will take place Nov. 2, 2025.

Chénéville is among the towns surrounding the proposed La Loutre site, located about 80 kilometres northeast of Gatineau. The alliance also includes Duhamel, Lac-Simon, St-Émile-de-Suffolk and Lac-des-Plages.

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The War in Congo That’s Uprooted 7 Million People: QuickTake – by Michael J. Kavanagh and Simon Marks (Bloomberg News – August 05, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — More than 7 million people have been displaced by violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, one of Africa’s most volatile regions, and fears have been simmering of a heightened conflict. President Felix Tshisekedi has accused his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame of supporting a rebel group known as M23.

Kagame denied the allegation and countered that Tshisekedi’s inability to control events in his own country poses a security risk to Rwanda. The acrimony escalated in early 2024, with the rebels expanding their territory around the trading hub of Goma and seizing control of key routes including those used to export tantalum, a key mineral in portable electronics.

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Gold still has plenty of room to run as hedge funds’ bullish bets hit 4-year high – Neils Christensen (Kitco News – August 26, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Hedge funds are starting to recognize the value of holding some gold and silver as money managers increase their bullish bets, according to the latest trade data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The CFTC’s disaggregated Commitments of Traders report for the week ending August 20 showed that money managers decreased their speculative gross long positions in Comex gold futures by 18,298 contracts to 222,142. At the same time, short positions rose by 2,908 contracts to 28,837.

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Ottawa to impose 100-per-cent tariff on Chinese-made EVs – by Pippa Norman and Marieke Walsh (Globe and Mail – August 27, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada said it will impose major tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products to protect a fast-growing domestic EV industry while joining forces with the United States and Europe against what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called China’s “unfair” trade approach.

On Monday, the federal government announced a 100-per-cent tariff on Chinese-made EVs, as well as a 25-per-cent tariff on steel and aluminum products from China – both of which will come into effect in early October. The EV tariff applies to some hybrid passenger cars, trucks, buses and delivery vans, and is in addition to a pre-existing import tariff of 6.1 per cent that already applies to Chinese-made EVs coming into Canada.

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[Yukon’s Eagle gold mine disaster] Troubled water – by Julien Greene (CBC News – August 24, 2024)

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

In June, Yukon’s Eagle gold mine saw what the territory’s mines minister is calling a “catastrophic failure”: the release of hundreds of millions of litres of toxic cyanide solution into the environment. For many local residents, it’s a wake-up call about the risks and costs of large-scale mining in the territory.

Steve Buyck walks a forest path framed by highbush cranberries, rosehips and Siberian Aster. Slung over his shoulder, a rifle. The bullet in the chamber is large enough to down a moose.

These days, however, hunting the animal doesn’t come so easily for him. Not far away from Buyck’s home, along the banks of the Stewart River in central Yukon, is the Eagle mine, the site of a “catastrophic” heap leach pad failure and cyanide spill in late June.

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‘We were expendable’: Downwinders from world’s 1st atomic test are on a mission to tell their story – by Suasn Montoya Bryan (Associated Press – August 25, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — It was the summer of 1945 when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan, killing thousands of people as waves of destructive energy obliterated two cites. It was a decisive move that helped bring about the end of World War II, but survivors and the generations that followed were left to grapple with sickness from radiation exposure.

At the time, U.S. President Harry Truman called it “the greatest scientific gamble in history,” saying the rain of ruin from the air would usher in a new concept of force and power. What he didn’t mention was that the federal government had already tested this new force on U.S. soil.

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EVs sales and production clash with market realities – by Derek Burney (National Post – August 27, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

High costs and low performance undermines green agenda

EV sales in North America face new market realities and automakers are shifting their production to meet actual, rather than anticipated demand. After being encouraged by government policy to invest tens of billions of dollars to transition to electric vehicles, companies are rapidly changing gears.

As Sam Fiorani, Vice President of AutoForecast Solutions observed in March, “Getting the first 10 per cent of the electric vehicle market is relatively easy with a good product and a market that wants that product. The next 90 per cent will be much harder to convert.”

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Gold bulls celebrate as Jackson Hole reinforces bets on rally – by Sybilla Gross and Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – August 26, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Gold’s record-setting rally above US$2,500 an ounce looks to have further to run as the U.S. Federal Reserve prepares to chop rates, traditional drivers such as lower yields return, and Western investors pile back in.

“Everybody thought the Fed was going to be the last to cut, but now they’re getting in line,” said Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, who recently went long on gold options for the first time in years. Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech — which promised rate cuts — was a watershed moment for bullion, according to Hatfield.

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Lithium mine closures just ‘tip of the iceberg’ – by Alex Gluyas (Australian Financial Review – August 26, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

The lithium sector is facing a wave of mine closures as prices for the battery material continue to decline despite some companies already delaying future projects.

UBS slashed its lithium price forecasts for the 2025 and 2026 calendar year by up to 23 per cent on Monday as it cautioned that not enough supply was being deferred, and global demand for electric vehicles was softening.

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Mining bosses issue M&A warning as forecasts of dealmaking boom mount – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Times – August 25, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Companies want commodities critical for clean energy such as copper that could drive deals

Mining bosses have warned against plunging into the mergers and acquisitions market and repeating mistakes of the past as forecasts mount that the industry is on the verge of a dealmaking boom.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm was the most outspoken as he hinted at the experience of his predecessor Tom Albanese, who was ousted from the top job in 2013 after an ill-fated acquisition.

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Yukon government curbs expectations of sale of contaminated Eagle gold mine – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 24, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The Yukon government is curbing expectations about a sale of the contaminated Eagle mine, saying that environmental remediation of the site is the main priority.

The open pit gold mine in central Yukon was placed into receivership earlier this month after an Ontario judge ruled that operator Victoria Gold Corp. wasn’t moving with enough urgency and lacked funding to remediate a major cyanide spill.

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Opinion: We are wasting $2 trillion a year chasing ‘green’ fantasies – by Bjorn Lomborg (New York Post – August 11, 2024)

https://nypost.com/

Despite much hype, the much-vaunted green energy transition away from fossil fuels isn’t happening. Achieving a meaningful shift with current policies turns out to be unaffordable. We need to drastically change policy direction.

Globally, we are already spending almost $2 trillion annually to try to force an energy transition. Over the past decade, solar and wind energy use have increased to their highest-ever levels. But it hasn’t reduced fossil fuels — on the contrary, we have added even more fossil fuels over the same time.

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‘Long tail’: Rail shutdown ends, but aftershocks ripple amid drawn-out ramp-up – by Christopher Reynolds (Canadian Press – August 25, 2024)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

Rail shutdown ends, but aftershocks persist

MONTREAL – The end of the shutdown at Canada’s two major railways came too late for the workers at Conifex Timber. Some 250 employees felt the impact when the company cut the operating schedule in half at its sawmill in Mackenzie, B.C., starting Monday — the day the work stoppage on the tracks wraps up.

Despite the relatively short rail standstill, Conifex’s reduction to one shift per day from two will last “for the foreseeable future,” said chief operating officer Andrew McLellan last week.

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Scramble for Critical Minerals Spurs an African Rail Revival – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – August 24, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Southern Africa’s railways are suddenly getting global attention and attracting billions of dollars in investment, with a race to secure copper supplies needed for the energy transition at its center.

From Angola on the continent’s west coast to Tanzanian on the east, governments and investors are readying to revive decades-old rail lines that have fallen into disrepair and build new ones. Much of the new demand for freight comes from the central African copperbelt that Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo share.

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