Twitter
Boston-Bay-Mines-Announcement

OPINION: Quebec has a lot riding on Rio Tinto’s green-aluminum project – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – April 24, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Since Rio Tinto bought Canada’s Alcan in 2007, the Anglo-Australian mining giant has been good at making big promises, but slow to fulfill them. This is especially proving to be the case with its plan to produce zero-carbon aluminum.

The Quebec aluminum operations that Alcan built up over more than 80 years until its US$40-billion takeover by Rio Tinto remain among the world’s most profitable. Rio’s eight wholly and jointly owned smelters in the province mostly rely on cheap and emissions-free hydroelectric power from dams that Alcan itself built, providing a competitive and environmental advantage over U.S., Chinese and Russian rivals that use coal-based electricity.

Read more

In Portugal’s Rural North, Communities Are Resisting Lithium Mining – by Marta Vidal and Diana Takacsova (New Lines Magazine – April 24, 2024)

https://newlinesmag.com/

The remarkable heritage and ecology of Barroso are at risk amid an EU push to secure minerals for a ‘green transition’

As the sun begins its gradual descent in the mountains of Barroso, in northeast Portugal, it casts golden hues upon the region’s vast pine and oak forests. The air fills with the gentle hum of bees collecting nectar from the heather that blankets the rugged landscape in swaths of vivid purple and pink.

August is the peak season for honey, when the heather is in full bloom. Carlos “Libo” Goncalves is as busy as his bees. After taking his horses up the oak-studded hills that surround the village of Covas do Barroso, he dons his protective gear and hurries to the hives he has spread across his village’s common lands.

Read more

Chinese Nickel Billionaire Boosts Australian Miner in Indonesia – by Eddie Spence and Alfred Cang (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A little-known Australian company is becoming the Western face of a Chinese nickel behemoth. In under a decade, Nickel Industries Ltd. has gone from a relatively small miner to the world’s sixth-biggest producer of a metal used in products from batteries to stainless steel.

Riding a Chinese-led boom in Indonesia’s nickel sector, it owns or has stakes in five plants in the country that churn out more of the commodity than household names like BHP Group Ltd.

Read more

UK puts its defense industry on ‘war footing’ and gives Ukraine $620 million in new military aid – by Vanessa Gera and Sylvia Hui (Associate Press – April 2024)

https://apnews.com/

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The U.K. prime minister said Tuesday the country is putting its defense industry on a “war footing” by increasing defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade, and pledged to send arms worth 500 million pounds ($620 million) to Ukraine.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the increase as the “biggest strengthening of our national defense for a generation.” “In a world that is the most dangerous it has been since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent,” Sunak said at a news briefing alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a visit to Poland. “As our adversaries align, we must do more to defend our country, our interests and our values.”

Read more

Pre-election budget goodie to fund Berens River bridge and road – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 22, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Infrastructure project would bring permanent road to Indigenous communities and connect lithium deposits to markets

Ottawa appears willing to put some significant funding dollars behind the long-overdue Berens River bridge and road project in northwestern Ontario.

Yet it still remains a mystery on how much is being allocated to this key piece of Indigenous-led infrastructure project that will link seven remote communities to the provincial highway system for the first time and allow a lithium mine development company to connect to the marketplace.

Read more

Honda makes multibillion-dollar deal to build electric vehicle factory in Ontario: sources – by Alex Ballingall and Robert Benzie (Toronto Star – April 23, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Honda has agreed to establish a new, multibillion-dollar electric vehicle operation in Ontario, according to government sources.

OTTAWA — Japanese automaker Honda has agreed to establish a major new, multibillion-dollar electric vehicle operation in Ontario, according to federal and provincial government sources.

The deal is expected to be announced Thursday at Honda’s existing factory in Alliston, north of Toronto, where the company will reveal plans to bring a “massive project” to Ontario for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, batteries and other components, government sources with knowledge of the situation told the Star.

Read more

Canada and allies considering trade measures against China and Indonesia over manipulation of nickel market, Freeland says – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 24, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada and its allies are weighing taking trade action against China and Indonesia in the nickel market, as the two Asian countries tighten their collective grip in the critical mineral.

Indonesia has gone from supplying 7 per cent of the global output of nickel to 55 per cent in the past decade, with much of that new production controlled by China-based mining companies with ties to the authoritarian Beijing government.

Read more

Our celebrity PM is getting attention for all the wrong reasons – by Diane Francis (Financial Post – April 23, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Electing high-profile, but incompetent, candidates such as Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump reduced the status of their respective countries on the world stage

In 2015 and 2016, Canadians and Americans both elected an incompetent celebrity who lacked the credentials to govern. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former U.S. president Donald Trump both reduced the status of their respective countries on the world stage.

But Trudeau has also damaged Canada’s economy, housing market and health-care system, while increasing taxes and racking up huge amounts of debt, earning him derision from experts and pundits on both sides of the border.

Read more

Canada’s planned capital gains tax hike may choke mining startups, dealmakers say – by Divya Rajagopal (Reuters – April 22, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO, April 22 (Reuters) – Canada’s capital gains tax hike for wealthy individuals and corporations in last week’s federal budget risks turning away investments from mineral exploration by reducing incentives, the country’s leading stock exchange operator and dealmakers told Reuters.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government proposed increasing the share of capital gains subject to taxation to two-thirds for individuals with annual investment profits greater than C$250,000 ($181,752), companies and trusts, as it seeks to raise revenue to fund public programs.

Read more

Poland ready to host US nuclear weapons, Duda says – by Brad Press (The Hill – April 22, 2024)

https://thehill.com/

Polish President Andrzej Duda says Poland is ready to host U.S. nuclear weapons, saying the topic was one of frequent discussions between Warsaw and Washington.

Duda told Polish tabloid Fakt in an interview published Monday that Russia is increasingly militarizing the Kaliningrad province between Poland and Lithuania and has relocated tactical nuclear weapons to ally Belarus. “I must admit that when asked about it, I declared our readiness,” the Polish president said of talks with U.S. officials.

Read more

Are lab-grown diamonds as sustainable as advertised? – by Leah Sarnoff (ABC News – April 23, 2024)

https://abcnews.go.com/

Over 60% of lab-grown diamonds are produced in China and India.

The natural diamond industry has been fueled by a glittering marketing strategy for decades, but is the sustainability of modern, lab-grown diamonds as clear-cut as consumers believe?

Since De Beers Group’s 1940s “a diamond is forever” advertising campaign, dubbed by Advertising Age as the “slogan of the 20th century” in 1999, the natural diamond industry exploded into a multi-billion-dollar industry and cemented itself into modern culture.

Read more

US advances review of Nevada lithium mine amid concerns over endangered wildflower – by Scott Sonner (Associated Press – April 23, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The Biden administration has taken a significant step in its expedited environmental review of what could become the third lithium mine in the U.S., amid anticipated legal challenges from conservationists over the threat they say it poses to an endangered Nevada wildflower.

The Bureau of Land Management released more than 2,000 pages of documents in a draft environmental impact statement last week for the Rhyolite Ridge mine. Lithium is a metal key to the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles — a centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s “green energy” agenda.

Read more

OPINION: Tesla layoffs bring the entire electric-vehicle industry into question – by Gus Carlson (Globe and Mail – April 20, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Talk about an inconvenient truth. After months of trying to explain away the gathering clouds over the electric-vehicle sector as the usual growing pains of an emerging market, the EV faithful swallowed a bitter pill this week when Tesla finally blinked.

The market and spiritual leader of EVs said it will lay off more than 10 per cent of its work force, more than 14,000 people, because of slowing global demand. The company’s deliveries have dropped for the first time in four years, and unsold inventory has swelled to almost 50,000 vehicles.

Read more

New bans on Russian metals mean China will buy low and sell high to supply the U.S., Europe, and UK – by Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News – April 19, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Last Friday at midnight, the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) enacted the most comprehensive limitation on Russian exports to date: a ban on all Russian metal produced after April 12. The move was made to bring the LME into compliance with the latest U.S. and U.K. sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The goal is to prevent Russia from being able to profit from the export of metal produced by companies such as Rusal (aluminum) and Nornickel (nickel) which help the country fund its ongoing military operations in Ukraine.

Read more

Nickel resources grow at Timmins exploration site – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 19, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Aston Minerals endowed with both gold and nickel deposits at its Edleston Project

A promising new nickel sulphide project in the Timmins area is growing in size and tonnage. Aston Minerals has released a new mineral estimate of its two deposits at its Edleston Project, showing a 44 per cent bump in the indicated nickel and cobalt resource over last year’s calculation.

The Australian company is carrying out technical work to determine if its leading Bardwell deposit can be economically mined. Edleston, situated 60 kilometres south of Timmins, is similar to Canada Nickel’s Crawford Project, north of the city, in that it’s a huge tonnage but low-grade ore property.

Read more