January 25th, 2024 - The Mine Wire

GOVERNMENT

DAVOS AND A MAJOR COMMITMENT FROM ICMM

The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos likely needs no introduction. With the who’s who of government and business attending, the world watches to see what topics are front and center. There were four themes this year. The most relevant being “a long-term strategy for climate, nature and energy” of which you can watch the sessions here.

In response, ICMM, a platform representing about 1/3 of the global mining industry committed to taking actions that will halt their negative impact on biodiversity by 2030 and support a nature positive future. They laid out a 5 point plan to achieve this:

1. Protect and conserve pristine areas of our natural environment: No mining or exploration in World Heritage Sites and respect all legally designated protected areas.

2. Halt biodiversity loss at our operations: Achieve at least no net loss of biodiversity at all mine sites by closure against a 2020 baseline.

3. Collaborate across value chains: Develop initiatives and partnerships that halt and reverse nature loss throughout supply and distribution chains.

4. Restore and enhance landscapes: Around operations through local partnerships, including with Indigenous Peoples, land-connected peoples and local communities.

5. Catalyze wider change: Acting to change the fundamental systems that contribute to nature loss and fostering opportunities for nature’s recovery.

Certainly the mining industry is essential for the lofty energy transition targets that many countries around the globe have set. These commitments will help ensure that local populations, the general public and regulators stay supportive of the mining operations that are needed for this transition while also protecting the environment for future generations.

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ARE YOU TAKING ADVANTAGE OF GOVERNMENT INCENTIVES IN CANADA?

Over $3.8 billion is currently being made available to mining companies of all sizes in Canada. Government relations firms like S&A can help companies leverage this unique opportunity. Governments of Ontario and Canada in particular are advanced in their offerings.

The following programs are a few of the many current and growing opportunities for interested mining firms:

• Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund - funding of up to $300M per project for energy and other infrastructure investments at a mining site.

• Critical Minerals Traceability Project (CMTP) - offers $675,000 per project for commercial-stage pilot traceability projects.

• Strategic Innovation Fund - Critical Minerals Stream - funding of $10M per project and above. 

Companies looking to develop their critical minerals business should be setting a government partnership and funding support strategy now.

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KEEPING AN EYE ON GOVERNMENT DECISIONS

With many forecasting significant demand for metals into the foreseeable future, governments are all over the place with their policies. Here are some of the notable moves this week:

• 🇧🇼 Botswana, De Beers Approve $1 Bn Deal In World's Top Diamond Mine. The investment will turn the open pit mine into an underground operation, extending the life of the mine by 20 years. Diamond mining accounts for 1/3 of Botswana’s annual GDP.

• 🇲🇽 Mexican President López Obrador has protected a total of 43 natural areas in 23 Mexican states creating uncertainty for the mining sector as it relates to projects in the country.

• 🇪🇨 Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa took steps to tighten security at mines and ports in a state of emergency due to a rise in gang violence.

• 🇳🇿 New Zealand’s Minister of Resources, Shane Jones, says the government is keen to see more activity in the mining sector. New fast-track consenting legislation will allow projects like a large gold mine in Central Otago to go ahead more quickly.

• 🇹🇷 The Turkish government plans to invest about $3.3 billion USD in 47 specific projects in the country, largely through funding state energy company Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO). Another $70 million USD will go to Turkish Coal Enterprises, a key player in domestic coal production.

• 🇵🇱 Poland which generates about 70% of its energy from coal, has signaled that it plans to phase out coal in the future. With approval from the International Atomic Energy Agency to construct nuclear power plants and with the first build starting in 2026, it looks like nuclear will play a big role in Poland’s energy future.

• 🇷🇸 Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic indicated that he wanted to have further talks with Rio Tinto about a lithium project in the country. Australian-Serbian actress turned-activist Bojana Novakovic, has led the charge in putting pressure on the government to reconsider mining projects.

• 🇨🇩 Felix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is pushing for a new deal with China, given that he feels the original agreement in 2008 didn’t provide much benefit to the country.

• 🇵🇰 🇰🇼 Pakistan and Kuwait set up a $1 Billion Fund to explore minerals in Pakistan.

• 🇬🇧 Britain will establish a body to identify risks to critical imports, as part of its strategy to make supply chains more resilient against global shocks.

• 🇨🇦 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed over control of resource-rich Arctic lands to the government of the predominantly Inuit territory of Nunavut, in what was billed as the largest land transfer in Canada's history.

• 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia is making moves all over the place. They launched a $182M mineral exploration incentive program. They got commitments from EV Metals and European Lithium to build processing facilities in the Kingdom. They are actively recruiting interest from Aussie and other miners with estimates of $2.5 Trillion worth of minerals in the country. Meanwhile other countries like Brazil and Thailand are negotiating their own deals with the Saudi’s to bring investment to their own countries.

MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

• Swedish battery maker Northvolt is looking to source cobalt, used to make chemicals for electric vehicle batteries, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

• Meanwhile, Lamborghini licenses MIT’s Cobalt-free organic battery tech which it helped fund.

• Samsung invests $18.5M in Canada Nickel. A continued trend of large companies in the electric vehicle supply chain making investments to help secure future demand needs.

• Stellantis to invest an undisclosed sum in French sodium-ion battery maker Tiamet. The company claims it can produce competitive batteries without lithium and replace it with fare more abundant sodium.

• The world’s largest uranium miner, Kazatomprom, warned that it’s likely to fall short of its production targets over the next two years, sending uranium spot prices to 15 year high’s. This caused other uranium stocks in the sector to pop!

• American Lithium sees Peru project value triple to $5 billion. Despite an initial surge, Lithium prices continue to be a downward drag on sector related stocks.

• Solaris secures C$130m in private placement from Zijin. The investment immediately got a reaction out of Canada’s opposition party Conservatives, asking the Liberals to stop selling control of its Country’s mines.

• Grupo Mexico weighs bid for First Quantum’s Las Cruces mine in southern Spain. The process to sell the mine was initiated in December 2023.

• Alamos Gold announces acquisition of Orford Mining including the Qiqavik Gold Project. Alamos Gold is up almost 9% this past year and over 205% the last 5.

• Both First Quantum and Wyloo Metals are shutting down nickel mining operations in Australia due to a significant slump in prices. The Financial Times posits that electric vehicles will not deliver a super-cycle for mining as we see a downward trend in pricing.

SCIENCE & RESEARCH

COULD LIGNITE COAL & COAL ASH BE A SOURCE FOR RARE EARTH ELEMENTS?

Rare earth elements (REEs) are back in the news with China recently restricting the exporting of rare earth tech months after having placed export restrictions on the strategic metals gallium and germanium. China has a choke hold on production with 90% of refined output. Needless to say, given the critical role these minerals play in the supply chains of everything from batteries to cell phones to weapons systems, this gives China a card to play in its strategic rivalry with the United States.

The thing is, is that rare earths are not actually rare, but are uncommon in mineable concentrations. Therefore, innovative approaches are required to make these lower grade deposits economically viable and thus expand domestic reserves through unconventional means. We’ve seen other extractive industries transform what were once thought to be unrecoverable resources into major strategic assets through technological innovation. The shale revolution and the Canadian oil sands come to mind.

One potential unconventional source of REEs is lignite coal and coal ash. Coal ash is the remanence of coal that has been burned and lignite is a very abundant but low-grade coal that is used exclusively for thermal generation. Historically it was common to mix the ash with water and form a slurry that was then stored in ponds. There are 1000’s of these ponds across the United States.

Researchers at the University of North Dakota and the University of West Virginia have each received an $8 million grant to study the possibility of recovering and refining REEs from lignite coal. The two programs are vying for a further $120 million to build a demonstration facility. The scale that will be required is already evident with 200 tons of coal yielding a few 5 gallon buckets of the minerals, but because the recovery process actually upgrades the lignite making it a superior fuel or to be able to be used in producing carbon-based products such as graphene and graphite which are used in batteries, it is economically viable. Additionally, coal slurry is already in a processable form, eliminating the need for intensive and costly mining operations. Also, because these REE’s aren’t in hard minerals, they don’t have to be dissolved with concentrated acids, but can be extracted with far milder solvents making the process less environmentally harmful.

Of course, recovering the REE’s is only part of the value chain; refining infrastructure must also be built out, which is an extremely complex process. Also getting industries of this type to scale takes time and significant investment, but given the importance these elements have in so many critical industries and the current reliance the United States has on its major strategic rival for sourcing them it will continue to attract government subsidies and private investment.

Guest Author - Cole Robillard

MINING BITS

• ⛑️Vale going remote in Sudbury to make underground mining safer. Using Epiroc’s technology it can remove employees from the rock face, production drilling areas and ground support locations.

• 🦠Could zombie viruses be buried deep in the permafrost in the Arctic? Could miners accidentally unleash one of these strains? Seems like a Hollywood movie plot to us.

• 🇨🇦 Canada’s Federal research agency hopes AI can boost Canada’s critical-minerals sector by leveraging AI to help run experiments more quickly, and commercialize new materials faster.

• 🇦🇺 Meanwhile the Australian government has announced it will invest $22 million in three research projects intended to grow Australia’s critical minerals industry.

• 🏆 We love that Forbes recognizes Mining as one of the best 5 sectors to invest in for 2024. We couldn’t agree more!

• 🦇 That tune coming from an old mine in B. C.? It’s probably a bat, singing a love song.

• 📸 A photography exhibition in Britain, “Titled Last Man Standing”, has recorded some of the last surviving former miners at three coalfields.

• 🚘Watch 11 of the most dangerous and expensive mining expeditions in the world.

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