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China squeezes Western militaries with export ban on weapons metal – by Annie Lee and Mark Burton (Australian Financial Review – August 16, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

Singapore | China is tightening its grip over global critical mineral supplies by placing export controls on antimony, a metal used widely in ammunition and other military applications that has surged in price this year.

The country will apply the restrictions to antimony and antimony-related materials from September 15 to safeguard national security, a statement from the Ministry of Commerce said. That adds to earlier controls on other critical minerals including gallium and germanium, which have set off alarm bells in Washington.

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‘Massive investments’ coming for Far North infrastructure, says Ford – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 12, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Province set to announce news on Ring of Fire road infrastructure in September

It may be curtains for the Terrace Bay pulp mill under the AV Group flag, but Premier Doug Ford suggested late last week bigger and better developments are in store for northwestern Ontario.

Ford was in Thunder Bay at the LiUNA Local 67 training centre on Aug. 9 to drop $17 million from the province’s Skilled Development Fund toward training and facility upgrades to support the mining, construction, energy and forestry industries. Agnico Eagle Mines pocketed $10 million for training partnerships with Matachewan First Nation, Taykwa Tagamou Nation and Moose Cree First Nation.

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Chinalco Is Said to Eye Stake in Biggest Philippine Copper Mine – by Pei Li, Cliff Venzon and Elffie Chew (Bloomberg News – August 16, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Aluminum Corp. of China is considering investing in what is set to be the Philippines’ largest gold and copper mine as part of its efforts to boost its global footprint, according to people familiar with the matter.

The state-run Chinese company known as Chinalco may acquire a stake worth around $2 billion in Indophil Resources Phils. Inc., which owns Sagittarius Mines Inc., the people said, asking not to be identified because discussions are private.

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Coal mining degraded 35% of native land cover in India’s central coal belt – by Simrin Sirur (India Mongabay.com – August 16, 2024)

https://india.mongabay.com/

A new study capturing how coal mining transforms land use over time demonstrates the challenges in restoring this land upon mine closure – an important aspect of a just transition as India plans to move away from coal.

Three functional coal mines in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh degraded 35% of the area’s native land cover, the study, conducted by researchers from various institutes, found. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Environmental Science in July.

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Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow hints at retirement in 2026 – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 13, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive officer Mark Bristow is raising the possibility that he may retire in 2026. Mr. Bristow took over as CEO in 2019 after Toronto-based Barrick acquired Randgold Resources Ltd., the Africa-focused mining company he founded and ran for about two decades.

Hard-nosed, detail-oriented and outspoken, the South African is one of the most driven executives in the mining industry. At Barrick, he has stickhandled multiple difficult situations, including patching up multiyear mining contract spats with the governments of Tanzania and Papua New Guinea.

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BHP launches Indigenous partnership plan in Canada – by Staff (Mining.com – August 11, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

BHP is taking another step in its commitment to build strong, respectful and mutually beneficial relationships with Indigenous communities with the launch of the Canada Indigenous Partnership Plan (CIPP).

This approach has been central in BHP’s development of the Jansen potash mine in Saskatchewan, where it started building relationships with local Indigenous groups surrounding the site almost a decade before construction began. First production is expected in 2026.

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Mining regulatory regime called ‘appalling, insulting, discriminatory’ by lawyer for five communities – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business –  August 12, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Six Northern Ontario First Nations are challenging the province’s Mining Act in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, arguing it is unconstitutional and overrides their treaty and Charter equality rights.

The leaders of Apitipi Anicinapek Nation, Aroland First Nation, Attawapiskat First Nation, Fort Albany First Nation, Ginoogaming First Nation, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug filed a notice of application with the court on Aug. 9.

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Chinese mining firm subsidiary disputes Ottawa’s review of Peruvian gold mine deal – by (CP24.com/Canadian Press – August 11, 2024)

https://www.cp24.com/

A subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned mining firm says Canada is wrongly considering a national security review in its agreement to purchase a gold and copper mine in Peru.

In May, Vancouver-based Pan American Silver Corp. announced an agreement worth almost US$300 million to sell its stake in Peru’s La Arena gold mine to Jinteng (Singapore) Mining, a subsidiary of China’s Zijin Mining Group. Pan American said then that the agreement was “subject to customary conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.”

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Serbian Police Disperse Protesters Opposed To Lithium Mining (Radio Free Europe – August 11, 2024)

https://www.rferl.org/

BELGRADE — Serbian police have removed protesters opposed to lithium mining from two railway stations in the capital, Belgrade, where they were blocking train traffic.

Riot police used shields to disperse the protesters at the Prokop and Novi Beograd railway stations at around 5.30 a.m. on August 11, participants told RFE/RL.

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Securing America’s Critical Minerals: A Policy Priority Conundrum – by Ansel Bayly and Sarah Tzinieris (The Diplomat – August 8, 2024)

https://thediplomat.com/

Critical minerals sit at the intersection of three policy objectives for the United States – and at times the security, economic, and climate aims are in direct contradiction.

“When I think about climate change, I think jobs,” U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said. His landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) embodies this idea, tying together U.S. climate and industrial policies with a vast array of subsidies aimed at sparking a green manufacturing boom. Built into these subsidies are mechanisms to secure U.S. supply chains and to shore up domestic manufacturing, which has atrophied in recent decades, strategic priorities that Biden inherited from his predecessor, Donald Trump.

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Gold Fields to buy Canadian miner Osisko in $1.57 billion cash deal – by Felix Njini and Nelson Banya (Reuters – August 12, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Gold Fields Ltd has agreed to acquire Osisko Mining for C$2.16 billion ($1.57 billion), it said on Monday, barely two years after an attempt to buy another Canadian miner was scuppered by a rival offer.

The Johannesburg-based gold producer will pay C$4.90 per share, a 55% premium to Osisko’s Aug. 9 trading price, it said in a statement. The deal will help the South African producer expand its presence in the Americas region, where it already has mines in Chile and Peru.

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Ottawa’s restrictions on foreign investment put Canada’s mining sector at risk – by Loui Anastasopoulos (Globe and Mail – August 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Loui Anastasopoulos is chief executive of the Toronto Stock Exchange and global head of capital formation of TMX Group.

It’s an unfortunate truth: Canada is facing economic challenges, including weak growth and productivity, stemming from declining investment in our key industries. The investment shortfall is particularly acute in the mining sector, where Canada’s proud and prominent legacy of global leadership is under serious threat.

In addition to stifling macroeconomic factors and high interest rates, sudden shifts in government policy have created uncertainty around capital raising for mining companies. And the most recent federal policy directive on foreign investment into Canada’s critical mineral companies has the potential to be the most harmful yet.

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First Nations declare opposition to nuclear waste project – by Mike Stimpson (NWO News Watch – August 7, 2024)

https://www.nwonewswatch.com/

A deep geological repository would be bad news for the environment and people of Northwestern Ontario, according to the AKRC.

SIOUX NARROWS – The Township of Ignace has said yes to a nuclear waste repository project, but five First Nations in the Lake of the Woods area say no way.

Storing nuclear waste between Ignace and Dryden would endanger the region’s ecosystem and violate their rights as Indigenous peoples, according to a declaration from the Anishinaabeg of Kabapikotawangag Resource Council (AKRC).

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It’s past time for the Trudeau government to follow through on its promise to stop exporting this polluting energy source – by Jennifer Cole (Toronto Star – August 10, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Every summer wildfires devastate communities. Last summer it was Kelowna, B.C., this year it’s Jasper., Alta. And yet, Canada still exports coal, a fossil fuel contributing to climate change and wildfires.

According to researchers, the ferocity and frequency of wildfires are exacerbated by the effects of human-caused climate change and the burning of the above-mentioned fossil fuels.

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Time for the climate insanity to stop – by Conrad Black (National Post – August 10, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

We have been racing to destroy our standard of living to avert a crisis that never materialized

We must by now be getting reasonably close the point where there is a consensus for re-examining the issue of climate change and related subjects.

For decades, those of us who had our doubts were effectively shut down by the endless deafening repetition, as if from the massed choir of an operatic catechism school, of the alleged truism: “98 per cent of scientists agree …” (that the world is coming to an end in a few years if we don’t abolish the combustion engine).

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