Ramaco Resources Acquires Commercial Development Rights for Revolutionary Coal-to-Products Process

Business Wire
Wed, November 1, 2023 




SHERIDAN, Wyo., November 01, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following years of collaborative work, Ramaco Resources Inc. formally acquired a patent from the U.S. Department of Energy’s leading research institution, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), for the commercial development of a revolutionary coal-to-products technology. The patented process uses coal as feedstock to help create vehicle batteries, construction and infrastructure materials, and a wide range of consumer products.

The process converts coal and coal-related mining waste into high-quality, affordable carbon nanosheets, also known as graphene. Carbon nanosheets are atomically thin pieces of carbon that can be used to improve the strength of composite materials like concrete, as well as in the performance of battery electrodes, such as those used in defense technologies and electric vehicles.

"These characteristics make carbon nanosheets a unique candidate for the batteries and concrete composites we use today," said Christopher Matranga, an NETL researcher who developed the technology with colleagues Fan Shi and McMahan Gray.

Carbon nanosheets are of growing strategic importance to the national economy and defense. This month China announced restrictions on its export of graphite on national security grounds, a material to which carbon nanosheets serve as a lab-created alternative.

The NETL technology makes the large-scale production of carbon nanosheets in a simple one-reactor process with a high product yield. Using inexpensive domestic coal as the base manufacturing feedstock also makes the economics more attractive, as opposed to more expensive feedstocks such as petroleum. The new technology brings the manufacturing costs in line with other specialty carbon materials used to enhance building materials.

Additionally, it is conceivable that the coal-related waste housed in mine impoundments could also be used to make nanosheets, which offers additional opportunities to manufacture useful products from this waste.

"Using this novel carbon nanosheet technology, we will be able to pursue a variety of higher value commercial applications of coal," said Randall Atkins, Ramaco’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "This specific technology will help us focus on innovations for batteries applications, building and construction materials and a wide range of electronic devices. We look forward to working with our partners at NETL on this and other exciting carbon products made from coal."

NETL and Ramaco have been longstanding partners. In June 2018, NETL and Ramaco signed a cooperative research and development agreement to discover new uses for coal. NETL researchers have also collaborated with Ramaco to take advantage of coal-derived carbon nanosheets to improve the performance of cement composites.

About Ramaco Resources, Inc.

Ramaco Resources, Inc. is an operator and developer of high-quality, low-cost metallurgical coal in southern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. Its executive offices are in Lexington, Kentucky, with operational offices in Charleston, West Virginia and Sheridan, Wyoming. The Company currently has three active mining complexes in Central Appalachia and one mine not yet in production near Sheridan, Wyoming. Contiguous to the Wyoming mine it operates a research and pilot facility related to the production of advanced carbon products and materials from coal. In connection with these activities, it holds a body of roughly 50 intellectual property patents, pending applications, exclusive licensing agreements and various trademarks. For more information about us, please visit our website at www.ramacoresources.com.

About National Energy Technology Laboratory

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231101187898/en/

Traders and banks strike deals in Russian metals as taboo fades

Bloomberg News | October 29, 2023 | 

London Metal Exchange. (Image by HM Treasury, Flickr.)

Nearly two years since the invasion of Ukraine, a handful of western banks and traders from Citigroup Inc. to Trafigura Group are increasingly willing to enter new deals for Russian metals, seizing opportunities for profit while competitors hold back.


The deals show how some traders are navigating the thicket of sanctions and other restrictions on Russia in order to keep its natural resources flowing, amid conflicting messages from western capitals about whether they want companies to handle Russian commodities. At a time when many are struggling to make money in metals trading, deals involving Russian supplies are one of the few areas where it’s possible to make a solid profit, according to the head of one trading house, speaking privately.

There are no blanket restrictions from western governments on trading Russian metal, and the deals don’t involve those companies that are under US or European sanctions. However, the status of Russian material has been a fraught subject in the metals world, as many western buyers pulled back — resulting in a sharp increase in sales to Asia — while rival producers lobbied unsuccessfully to have even non-sanctioned supplies banned by the LME.

Now, a period of uncertainty over the legal and moral status of dealing in Russian metal is giving way to greater stability 20 months after the invasion of Ukraine.

Among the trading houses, Trafigura has actively sought new deals to buy and sell Russian metal, according to people familiar with the matter, as it moves to steal a march on rival Glencore Plc — which remains a major buyer of Russian aluminum but has said it won’t do new business in the country.

And on the London Metal Exchange, financial firms including Citi and Squarepoint Capital LLP have been buying large volumes of the Russian aluminum that now dominates the exchange’s stockpiles.

The top metal traders have adopted varying stances. Glencore said in March 2022 that it would “not enter into any new trading business in respect of Russian origin commodities,” although it retains a large long-term contract to buy aluminum from United Co. Rusal International PJSC. The company has also continued to buy copper from Russia and to supply alumina to Russia since the war broke out, according to trade data.

“These transactions form part of contracts that were in place before the war in Ukraine broke out and is in line with our policy regarding Russian business activities that was put in place at the end of March 2022,” a spokesman said. “Glencore has undertaken no new business activities with Russian companies since the outbreak of the war.”

Trafigura, on the other hand, has actively sought new deals in the Russian metals industry, according to several people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are sensitive. It struck a term deal to buy over 100,000 tons of copper from MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC and has also been buying significant quantities of nickel from the Russian company, making it one of the mining giant’s largest customers, the people said.

Trafigura struck an agreement to buy nearly 200,000 tons of aluminum from Rusal this year, in a direct challenge to Glencore, separate people familiar with the matter said.

The trader also is bidding to win a long-term contract to buy the zinc ore that will be produced by the vast Ozernoye mine in Siberia, which is due to start production in the next few months and set to be one of the world’s largest zinc mines once it is producing at full capacity, other people said. Other companies seeking to buy from the mine include Swiss trading house Open Mineral, as well as two Chinese companies, one of the people said.

IXM, the third-largest metals trader behind Glencore and Trafigura, does not do any business inside Russia, chief executive Kenny Ives said in a recent interview. “Do we buy Russian metal outside of Russia? Yes we do. And I plan on continuing buying Russian metal outside of Russia provided we’re able to and our competitors are doing the same,” he said.

Meanwhile, Red Metal AG, a Swiss trading company that had been a significant buyer of Russian copper, has now wound down that business, according to Managing Director Milan Popovic. “Red Metal AG has completely terminated all contracts with Russian suppliers and the last delivery we received was on September 6, 2023,” he said, adding that the company would now focus on other countries including Serbia, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan.

There is a similar variation in policies in the banking industry. Very few banks are willing to finance the purchase of Russian metals directly from a Russian company, according to traders and bankers, out of concerns ranging from potential exposure to sanctions to logistical difficulties and ethical and reputational issues.

But once Russian metal has been delivered on to the LME, some banks have in recent months been increasingly willing to buy it — arguing that there is a difference between financing a trade involving a Russian entity and buying metal via the world’s main exchange.

For example, Citi has been one of the most active buyers of Russian aluminum on the LME in recent months. The bank had until recently been avoiding metal produced by Rusal, Bloomberg reported in August, but is now happy as a major participant on the LME to take delivery of Russian metal if it comes via the exchange.

Other major banks in the metals markets that have adopted a similar stance include ICBC Standard Bank Plc and Macquarie Group Ltd., both of which are willing to finance Russian metal if it has been delivered on to the LME, according to people familiar with the matter.

It’s not just banks that are buying Russian metal on the LME: hedge fund Squarepoint bought about 50,000 tons of aluminum, the large majority of it Russian, as a bet on the market, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

The purchases are underpinning the market for Russian aluminum, at a time when some of Rusal’s competitors had warned that the LME risked being flooded by Russian metal that nobody would buy. In a consultation a year ago, the LME considered and rejected that argument: it ultimately decided to keep accepting Russian metal.

Still, some banks are taking a more cautious stance. Bank of Montreal, for example, won’t finance Russian metal at all, according to a person familiar with the matter. If the bank’s traders are allocated warrants for Russian metal in the LME’s settlement system, they immediately re-sell them, the person said.

The press services for Rusal, Norilsk Nickel and the Ozernaya Mining Company did not respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for Trafigura, Citi, ICBC Standard Bank, Macquarie and BMO all declined to comment. Open Mineral, which is backed by United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, does its Russian business through an entity in the UAE, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Guatemalans Participate in Historic National Strike to Defend Democracy

BLOG ENTRY
31 October 2023
Val Croft
Communications Lead
MINING WATCH CANADA 

Guatemalans are entering a fifth week of a national strike, with hundreds of thousands across the country taking to the streets in an effort to uphold the most basic tenets of democracy.

Progressive presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo resoundingly won August’s national election, but his future as the next president of Guatemala is being challenged. Arévalo ran on an anti-corruption platform promising to repair and restore key democratic institutions capable of curbing rampant corruption that have been gutted under current President Alejandro Giammattei. Now, Attorney General Consuelo Porras – whose office only a decade ago under different leadership successfully prosecuted a former dictator for genocide – is leading the charge to overturn the election results and prevent the peaceful transfer of power set for January 14, 2024.

Attorney General Consuelo Porras is using a corrupt judiciary to issue rulings aimed at stripping Arévalo’s Semilla Party of its legal status, initiate criminal proceedings against those involved in the electoral process, and undermine the results of the 2023 general election. In September, she ordered a raid on the offices of the Supreme Electoral authority (Guatemala’s top body overseeing elections), where prosecutors illegally took possession of sensitive election materials – a move denounced by the Organization of American States who, alongside many other international observers, deemed the election to be free and fair. On October 31, the Supreme Electoral authority officially closed the election season, marking the results official.

An alliance of Indigenous authorities from across the country, led by the 48 Cantones of Totonicapán, the Indigenous Mayoralty of Sololá, and the Xinka Parliament, among others, called an indefinite national strike on October 2 to respond to these attacks on democracy. The strike has the backing of unions, students, farmers, medical professionals, human rights organizations, and many others from civil society, all united in their call for the election results to be respected and for the immediate resignation or removal of Attorney General Porras, Rafael Curruchiche (head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Against Impunity - FECI), Cinthia Monterroso (prosecutor with FECI), and Judge Fredy Orellana.

Strike organizers are clear that the protests are not in support of any one political party, but are rather in defense of democracy itself and the right to self-determination.

Guatemala has undergone a strong authoritarian regression over the last four years. Guatemala’s judiciary has been transformed, now stacked with judges and prosecutors more focused on criminalizing those who speak out against corruption than reigning it in. Supreme Court justices are now several years beyond their term limit, a situation that many from civil society say is undermining democracy. According to Amnesty International, “about 60 prosecutors, judges, magistrates, journalists, communicators and human rights defenders have had to leave the country due to the number of unfounded prosecutions they face because of their participation in the fight against impunity and corruption in the country.” Journalists are being jailed and efforts to criminalize social protest are mounting.

#GuateResiste ✊🏽Ha llegado el momento de sacar a los corruptos

"No solo se roban el dinero del pueblo, se roban nuestros ríos, se roban los lagos y ahora se están robando las elecciones", dijo @BernardoCaal2 ex preso político por defender el río Cahabón de Alta Verapaz, ante una… pic.twitter.com/ZPY8QKHz3z 

— Prensa Comunitaria Km169 (@PrensaComunitar) October 13, 2023

Tweet above: Bernardo Caal, a political prisoner who spent 7 years in jail for defending the Cahabón River from hydroelectric dams speaks to a crowd outside the Public Prosecutor’s office, saying “First they take our money, then our rivers and lakes, now they’re trying to steal our elections.”

Among strike organizers is the Xinka Parliament, who is also in the midst of a court-ordered consultation on the Canadian-owned Escobal mine (for more see below). Xinka Parliament President Aleisar Arana said in a recent interview with El Faro that while the primary objective of the national strike it to achieve the resignation of Attorney General Porras and others, the strike surfaces broader issues around dignity and respect for self-determination: “An important right for us is the right to consultation [prior to the approval of mining projects]. We have to consult any decision with our people and carry out what the population communicates to us. In our culture, this is the fundamental principle of guiding by obedience.”

Attacks against protestors are growing. On October 28, 2023, Noe Gómez – a Xinka leader, human rights defender, and active participant in the pro-democracy protests – was killed. The Xinka Parliament is denouncing his murder and calling for an investigation.

Attorney General Consuelo Porras is also doing her part to increase risk for protestors, calling the national strike illegal and urging the national police to use force to remove protestors. In August, the Interamerican Human Rights Commission issued precautionary measures for president-elect Bernardo Arévalo and vice-president-elect Karin Herrera Aguilar, calling for the State to protect their rights to life and personal integrity following the publication of assassination plans. Amnesty International has issued an urgent action, denouncing that “the government and the Constitutional Court have issued statements and decisions that jeopardize the right to peaceful protest and could lead to the use of force against demonstrators” and urging the Guatemalan authorities to guarantee the right of peaceful assembly.

As a member of the Americas Policy Group, MiningWatch has expressed concern regarding attacks on democracy and the political crisis in Guatemala.

For more information:Amnesty International Canada calls for protection of the right to protest in Guatemala

Articles

 El Faro, “While under Threat, Electoral Tribunal Considers Protecting Semilla until Inauguration,”

Al Jazeera “Guatemala’s Indigenous leaders take to the streets in nationwide protests”

NISGUA | 10 points to understand the political crisis and national strike in Guatemala

WAYS TO TAKE ACTION:

Donations to the Peaceful Resistance

Longstanding efforts to protect land and exert self-determination continue, even as this historic strike to protect democracy pulls attention and focus. Members of the Peaceful Resistance of Jalapa, Jutiapa and Santa Rosa have been actively joining the national strike at the time time as they organize to maintain two encampments on either side of the Canadian-owned Escobal mine in southeastern Guatemala – encampments they’ve kept up 24 hours a day, seven days a week since 2017 to prevent mining operations without their consent.

While a 2017 Constitutional Court order suspended operations at the Escobal mine (owned by Pan American Silver since 2019 when the Canadian company acquired Tahoe Resources), it was the encampments that first succeeded in stopping operations. The camps are powerful, visual proof of the widespread opposition to the Escobal mine and continue to be a strategic point for grassroots organizing. The Resistencia is under increasing pressure and is raising funds that can be used to more readily address emergency situations that arise.

→ Donate to their Emergency Support Fund, making sure to put “Peaceful Resistance” in the notes section for the donation.

Write to the Canadian Embassy

While the Canadian Embassy has denounced on social media the September raid on the TSE office and has made general calls for the respect of democratic norms, it has been largely silent in the face of such extreme attacks on democracy. MiningWatch’s close ally, the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network, is urging people to write to the Canadian Embassy to demand a stronger response and sanctions against actors threatening democracy in the country. Amnesty International has also issued an urgent action in an effort to protect the rights of Guatemalans to peacefully protest. Please sign on and share with your networks.


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All you need to know about Ghana’s Akosombo Dam spillage

The Akosombo Dam has long been a crucial source of power for Ghana. However, the effects of climate change have pushed water levels beyond the dam’s operating capacity

November 01, 2023 by Stanley Kwabla Arku

Photo: Yaw Osei Adutwum/X

Ghana is reeling from the severe consequences of the Akosombo Dam spillage, a crisis that has displaced thousands of Indigenous people and sparked urgent calls for a thorough investigation.

What actually was the reason for the spillage? The Akosombo Dam, with its staggering 150 billion cubic meters storage capacity and a maximum operating level of 276 feet, has long been a crucial source of hydroelectric power for Ghana. However, the effects of climate change have caused a significant increase in rainfall, pushing water levels beyond the dam’s maximum operating capacity. Faced with the risk of dam failure, the spillage exercise commenced on September 15, initially at a discharge rate of 183,000 cubic feet per second (cfs/day), which was later increased on October 9 due to the continued rise of the water level.

The impact on communities

The spillage has had a devastating impact on the Indigenous people residing along the Volta River downstream, with the town of Mepe being the hardest-hit community. Initial reports indicated that 8,000 individuals were displaced across eight communities, but the numbers have since skyrocketed to an alarming 31,000 as of October 19. Families have been uprooted from their homes, losing their belongings and sources of livelihood overnight.

The spillage has also had a profound impact on education in the region. Schools have been forced to close, leaving pupils and students without access to education. The interruption in learning could have long-term consequences for the affected children, depriving them of their right to education and hindering their future prospects.

What should be done? It is hugely evident that urgent action is needed to address the plight of the displaced communities.  The government must accelerate efforts in providing immediate assistance, including temporary shelter, food, clean water, and medical aid, to alleviate the suffering of affected communities.

Furthermore, efforts should be made to restore and rebuild the affected areas, ensuring that the Indigenous people can regain their livelihoods and rebuild their lives.

The Akosombo Dam spillage serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of communities living near major dams and the urgent need for comprehensive disaster management plans. It is imperative for the government and relevant authorities to develop strategies to mitigate the risks associated with dam operations and protect the well-being of Indigenous people. As Ghana grapples with the aftermath of this disaster, it is crucial to learn from the experience and take proactive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

History of the Akosombo Dam

The Akosombo Dam, also known as the Volta Dam, is a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority.

The primary purpose of the Akosombo Dam was to provide electricity for the aluminum industry. The Akosombo Dam is the largest single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana. The dam is significant for providing both Togo and Benin’s electricity, although the construction of the Adjarala Dam (on Togo’s Mono River) hopes to reduce these countries’ reliance on imported electricity. The dam’s original electrical output was 912 megawatts (1,223,000 hp), which was upgraded to 1,020 megawatts (1,370,000 hp) in a retrofit project that was completed in 2006.

In May 1960, the Ghana government called for tenders for construction of the hydroelectric dam. In 1961, an Italian consortium, Impregilo which had just completed the Kariba Dam, won the contract. In 1961, the Volta River Authority (VRA) was established by Ghana’s Parliament through the passage of the Volta River Development Act. The VRA’s fundamental operations were structured by six board members with Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as chairman.

The construction of the Akosombo Dam resulted in the flooding of part of the Volta River Basin and its upstream fields, and in the creation of Lake Volta which covers 3.6% of Ghana’s total land area. Lake Volta was formed between 1962 and 1966 and necessitated the relocation of about 80,000 people, who represented 1% of the population. People of 700 villages were relocated into 52 resettlement villages two years prior to the dam’s completion; the resettlement program was under the direction of the VRA.

The last time the Akosombo Dam community experienced flooding as a result of a controlled spillage of the dam was in 2010.

Stanley Kwabla Arku is a journalist with Pan African Television.

People Power and Pushback: First Quantum’s Stock Price Plummets Amidst Massive Protests in Panama

Photo: Panama Vale Más Sin Minería, Twitter

BLOG ENTRY
1 November 2023
Val Croft

MINING WATCH CANADA
Communications Lead

A deal to allow operations to continue at one of the world’s biggest copper mines, high in the Panamanian mountain rainforest, is in limbo. Country-wide protests erupted last week in response to the announced deal and now the government says it’ll put the issue to a national referendum. Is this a new form of democratic accountability, or a government ruse to defuse massive public opposition?

Panama’s rainforests play a central role in the health of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, a cluster of protected areas and biodiversity hotspots stretching from southern Mexico to Panama. Smack in the middle of that protected area in Panama, however, is a massive open-pit copper mine owned by the Canadian company First Quantum Minerals.

The Cobre Panamá mine, run by First Quantum’s subsidiary Minera Panamá in the Donoso protected area, has long faced strong opposition locally and across the country. Communities have denounced widespread environmental harm and water contamination from mining operations at the country’s only active industrial mine site. Demands for clean-up and a cessation of activities have the strong backing of social movements organizing to protect the country’s rich biodiversity and prevent Panama from becoming “another mining country.”

Panama’s topography and its narrow, megadiverse territory – which includes more than 500 rivers – makes it highly vulnerable to the tremendous environmental and social harms of industrial mining.

President Laurentino Cortizo’s government is trying to change that, however. In spite of a 2017 Supreme Court ruling finding the Cobre Panamá mining concession unconstitutional – but allowing it to continue operating in legal limbo – the government entered into contract negotiations with the Canadian company to increase royalty payments and extend the life of the open-pit copper mine. Last week, the government announced that a deal had been finalized to extend the mine’s life for another 20 years, sending Panamanians into the streets in record numbers, in the face of violent police repression, to denounce the contract and demand it be annulled. Multiple court challenges have since been filed on the basis that the law that authorized the contract is unconstitutional.

Organizations like the Centro de Incidencia Ambiental - CIAM (the Centre for Environmental Advocacy) and Panama Vale Más Sin Minería (Panama is Worth More without Mining) – a coalition of conservation and environmental organizations, along with educators, workers, health care professionals, youth groups, Indigenous and small farmer communities – are in the streets denouncing the contract. For several years, they have called for a moratorium on all concessions and permits for metal mining throughout the country and the immediate cancellation of the 103 mining applications currently on file.

Despite facing police repression including dozens of arrests and tear gas attacks, demonstrations continue this week throughout the country.

Amidst this impressive display of citizen pushback, several things have happened in quick succession. The Panamanian government announced on October 20 that it would put the issue to a vote in a binding referendum scheduled for December 17. Immediately, organizations like Panamá Vale Más Sin Minería and CIAM denounced the move, arguing the referendum is a political tactic to punt the issue ahead a few months in the hopes that people aren’t so organized.

Ese referéndum de Nito es una trampa. Quiere desmotivar a la gente hasta el 17/12/23. Pareciera que quiere un mes para descansar y ponerse galano. El pueblo está en la calle. Él busca tiempo y salirse con la suya. EL PUEBLO HA SIDO CLARO. ¡NO AL CONTRATO MINERO! #PanamáSinMinería pic.twitter.com/Dt2L4tP6ea 

— Panamá Vale Más Sin Minería (@sinmineria) October 30, 2023

Tweet above: The organization Panamá Vale Más Sin Minería speaks out against the announced referendum, saying that it’s merely a trick to buy time and demobilize strong organizing efforts that have been clear in their demands. “The consultation is in the streets! The people are in the streets! We don’t want a mining contract.”

Panama’s electoral college has since said conditions are not ripe to hold a fair referendum in December, leaving the issue in a legal standoff as the Minister of the Interior presents a bill before Congress to mandate the referendum. Uncertainty over the mine’s future sent First Quantum Minerals’ stock price plummeting by 39% this week.

The government has since declared a moratorium on all future mining activity, but has done nothing to address the strong demands from civil society that the contract for the Cobre Panamá copper mine be cancelled.

Efforts to open up Panama to transnational mining

The current government has made mining a priority, promoting it as a pillar of the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government awarded special privileges to the mine to keep operating in spite of clear health risks and the deaths of several workers. The country has been working to create an institutional framework to allow for large-scale, transnational mining projects, while also opening up several tracts of protected land to mining concessions without meaningful consultation.

For its part, First Quantum Minerals is strongly promoting the massive open-pit copper mine within the context of the energy transition, arguing that it is needed to serve the market for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure. Communities say this framing is part of a larger “greenwashing” of the energy transition. Keith Green, country manager for Cobre Panama, claimed in an interview following the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), “Panama can make a significant contribution to meet this global demand for cleaner energy through the Cobre Panamá mine.”

But as protests continue this week, Panamanians across diverse sectors are stating clearly: “Panama is Worth More without Mining.”

Miner First Quantum faces rocky road as Panama protesters dig in

By Valentine Hilaire and Divya Rajagopal

November 1, 2023

View of the Cobre Panama mine, of Canadian First Quantum Minerals, in Donoso, Panama

REUTERS/Aris Martínez/File Photo 

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Battered Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is bracing for a rocky road ahead as Panama moves to strike down its contract to operate one of the world's largest copper mines.

Panama's shock decision on Sunday to call a binding vote on whether to scrap the mine's recently struck 20-year contract sparked a sell-off in Vancouver-based First Quantum shares. Investors wiped out about C$8.35 billion ($6 billion), or 48%, from the company's market value this week, registering doubts about First Quantum's ability to operate its crown jewel.

President Laurentino Cortizo's decision to call the referendum followed days of protests by thousands of people over concerns the contract is too favorable to First Quantum, involved corruption, and that the mine is harmful to the environment.

First Quantum on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to the rule of law with the objective of benefiting Panama. First Quantum and its local unit Minera Panama declined to comment further.

The government is also promoting a bill in Congress to overrule the law enacting the contract and ban all future concessions. Panama's top court has also agreed to consider six lawsuits challenging the contract.

The stakes are high for both First Quantum and Panama's economy. A decision to cancel the Cobre Panama mine's contract could slow Panama's GDP growth from an anticipated 6% in 2023 to just 1% without the mine in operation on an annualized basis
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The mine, which accounts for approximately 5% of the country's GDP and supports more than 49,000 direct and indirect jobs, is Panama's second-largest revenue source after the Panama Canal.

The odds of Panama losing its investment-grade rating would rise significantly if the contract is revoked, J.P Morgan warned on Tuesday. Despite that risk, protests calling for the contract's termination persist.

Panama should not be "sold for a few cents," said protester Adriana Linares. "People on the street have a very clear objective, which is to strike down the approved contract."

The government has not commented on whether the mine must cease production if the contract is rejected.

A spokesperson for Canada's Global Affairs department, in an email to Reuters, said Canada has consistently advocated for a resolution that benefits all Panamanians and is monitoring the situation.

The mine, which opened in 2019, accounts for 1% of global copper production and cost $11 billion to build. It is considered important to the global energy transition because of its long life of at least 20 years, with copper being an important metal in making electric-vehicle batteries.

NOT FOLLOWING ANY PLAYBOOK

At least half a dozen analysts downgraded the stock this week.

"This process is not following any playbook that we have seen before." said Jackie Przybylowski, a mining analyst with Bank of Montreal.

The number of workers per shift has been reduced at the mine due to food shortages prompted by road blockades and protests, Michael Camacho, a leader of the mine's workers union told Reuters.

Panamanians are set to elect a new president and renew the seats of Congress and local governments in May 2024.

"The timing has been highly unfavorable," former Finance and Economy Minister Frank De Lima told Reuters, adding the scenario could be different if it was not for the upcoming election.

Most presidential candidates backed the approval of a contract during its negotiations. Members of the ruling party currently hold the majority of the seats in Congress, and backed the new contract.

Independent lawmaker Juan Diego Vasquez, who did not support the contract, told Reuters the ongoing demonstrations show "Panamanians have understood well the damage that having bad lawmakers can do," adding the protests will influence the outcome of next election.

Another independent lawmaker, Edison Broce, told Reuters that open-pit metal mining is damaging to Panama's environment, and it should focus on boosting its tourism industry.

Broce is vouching for an orderly and gradual complete shutdown of the mine, as "costs of mining outweigh its benefits."

($1 = 1.3875 Canadian dollars)

Panama’s investor-friendly image at risk from anti-mining rage

Bloomberg News | October 31, 2023 |

Since Monday, protests against the contract have led to clashes between protesters and the police and the closure of major roads across the country. 

(Reference image courtesy of Time)

Panama’s reputation as an investor-friendly haven is at risk from attempts to shut a giant Canadian-owned copper mine, the latest case of a commodities project triggering social unrest in Latin America.


Faced with an explosion of popular rage that paralyzed the country last week, the government caved to protesters’ demands for a referendum on whether to scrap a multibillion dollar deal with First Quantum Minerals Ltd., which it had approved just days earlier.

Panama has been one of Latin America’s biggest success stories this century, transformed by a economic boom that has given it a standard of living similar to Poland’s, and a financial center whose glass skyscrapers resemble Miami’s.

Foreign investors were drawn by its dollarized economy, English-speaking business elite and, until recently, by its predictable rules. But that may change.

“This definitely affects us as a safe place for investment,” said Frank de Lima, a former finance minister. “We are talking about the biggest private investment ever in Panama, and almost at the level of the Panama canal expansion. There’s not legal security or investment security.”

First Quantum shares plunged 28% on Monday, as investors priced in the possibility that the company might lose its biggest source of revenue. Panama’s dollar bonds due in 2036 fell 1.4 cents on the dollar to 95.7 cents, according to indicative pricing data by Bloomberg.

Tear gas and rocks

First Quantum’s troubles are playing out in a country led by one of the most pro-business governments in the region. But faced with growing disorder and with a general election half a year away, President Laurentino Cortizo was pressured into calling for a referendum.

It failed to quell the protests. On Monday evening, demonstrators in the capital launched rocks and fireworks toward congress and ripped down barricades, while police fired tear gas back. Some businesses boarded up their windows, while graffiti tags such as “no to mining” and “Panama is not for sale” were sprayed on walls throughout the city.

Demonstrator Patricia Miranda, 30, held a sign saying “without water there is no beer”, and explained that her biggest concern is water contamination.

“We’ve been living years of corruption, lockdowns and pandemic mismanagement. This is about the mine, but also all the corruption,” she said.

Oil and mining projects face increased hostility across Latin America, a major source of commodities producer from iron ore to soybeans, over concerns about environmental damage. In August, Ecuador’s voters backed referendums to close a major oil project in the Amazon and also restrict gold and copper mining.

Gustavo Petro won Colombia’s 2022 election on a pledge to halt new oil exploration contracts, while Mexico nationalized its lithium deposits and froze new hydrocarbon licenses for private investors. In Brazil, mining has come under greater scrutiny from environmental authorities and has been met with public opposition after two deadly dam disasters since 2015.

Loss of faith

Panama’s economy has expanded at an average annual rate of more than 6% over the last two decades, one of the fastest rates in the Americas, led by public works projects and real estate. But the loss of faith in the country over its treatment of the mine may make those growth rates harder to sustain, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

“If the contract is revoked we think that the probability that Panama loses its investment grade rating in the short term rises significantly, as lower trust in the country’s institutional framework would likely drive in lower investment and lower medium-term growth,” JPMorgan strategist Steven Palacio wrote in a note.

Panamanians were already angry about corruption, rising living costs and high unemployment. The mine deal was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, according to former finance minister de Lima, who is an opponent of the government.

The protests have been backed by labor unions, environmental campaigners and students, among others.

Opposition lawmaker Walkiria Chandler D’Orcy said the call for a referendum isn’t enough to stop the protests. She said the deal is unconstitutional and demanded its repeal.

On Monday, the electoral court said it couldn’t hold the referendum until congress passed a law. The government then said it planned to introduce a bill to enable the vote.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court is considering two suits to declare the First Quantum deal unconstitutional.

Panama holds general elections on May 5, with Cortizo ineligible for a second term due to a rule against consecutive terms. Cortizo’s Revolutionary Democratic Party is likely to do poorly, according to polls.

Former President Ricardo Martinelli, another pro-business politician who presided over soaring growth when he led the country from 2009 to 2014, is ahead with more than 40% support, even though he spent time in jail on corruption charges.

Deficit ceiling

If the country does vote to revoke the mining contract in the Dec. 17 referendum, the government will need to figure out how to fill a large hole in its fiscal accounts.

First Quantum’s mine produces about 1.5% of all the world’s copper output, and provides the government with revenue equivalent to about 0.9% of gross domestic product. Without those funds, Panama will likely breach its deficit ceiling of 3% of GDP, said Ramiro Blazquez, head of research and strategy at BancTrust & Co. in Buenos Aires.

First Quantum’s CEO Tristan Pascall said on a call with investors last week that the company is aware of the protests and will work harder at communicating the benefits that mining can provide to communities in Panama.

Earlier this year, Fitch Ratings said a deal between the government and First Quantum over royalty and tax payments would make the mine the nation’s largest tax contributor after the Panama canal.

Fitch rates the county BBB-, one notch above junk, while Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings rate it two notches above.

The vote threatens “permanent lost revenues” and the government doesn’t appear to have a plan B for its budget in that event, said Siobhan Morden, head of Latin America Fixed Income Strategy at Banco Santander SA.

That puts the nation’s investment grade credit rating “at serious risk”, she said.

(By Michael McDonald and Zijia Song)

First Quantum shares down 50% as Panama Congress committee OKs referendum

Cecilia Jamasmie | November 1, 2023 | 

Cobre Panama is the biggest foreign investment in the Central American nation, supporting over 40,000 jobs. (Image courtesy of Minera Panama.)

Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo has cleared the first hurdle to fast-track a bill that would allow the country to hold a referendum on the controversial 20-year contract with Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM).


After 10 months of negotiations between the parties, the country inked in October a multi-billion dollar deal with the miner, letting it operate its flagship Cobre Panama copper mine for the next 20 years.

The decision, which ended years of legal uncertainty was signed into a law last week, triggering a series of violent protests across Panama City, the capital.

Shares in the company have fallen a shocking 50% this week as uncertainty over the future of its key asset prompts investors to reduce their exposure. The stock closed at C$16.07 on Tuesday and was last changing hands at C$13.89 on Wednesday morning in Toronto.

Source: Google Finance.

Protestors claim the new contract was fast-tracked with little public input or transparency and want its immediate cancellation. They have also made corruption allegations against lawmakers.

In response, Cortizo announced the country would hold a referendum on whether to revoke the controversial contract on December 17. The President’s move was stopped in its tracks, with Panama’s electoral court saying it was unable to hold a nation-wide vote on the issue, because that would require congress to first pass a law.

A legislative committee approved the bill late on Tuesday, clearing the first hurdle for the proposal to become a law. Bill 1110 revokes the controversial Law 406 between and also bans the granting of future mining concessions in Panama.

The bill has now been sent to the plenary for general debate, where it will require a majority vote in two separate sessions for definitive approval.
Special sessions to fast-track bill

In its first public statement since Cortizo’s referendum announcement, First Quantum said that “unconstitutionality challenges” have been brought against Law 406, which approves the revised mining concession contract for the Cobre Panama mine.

The Toronto-based company noted that the Supreme Court of Justice agreed to hear two of such challenges.


“First Quantum has always been an advocate of Panama and its people and is committed to the rule of law with the objective to achieve benefits the country,” it said in the statement.

The company said its giant copper mine contributes almost 5% of Panama’s GDP, makes up 75% of the country’s export of goods and has created at least 40,000 jobs, directly and indirectly.

“We believe in this project and its potential and welcome the opportunity to have constructive dialogue with the people of Panama about its future,” First Quantum said.

Panama’s Congress has convened special sessions for today and Thursday, ahead of a public holiday in the Central American country on Friday.

First Quantum shares extend slide, company says committed to rule of law

Reuters | October 31, 2023 | 

Cobre Panamá operation. (Image by First Quantum Minerals).

Shares in Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals fell 17% on Tuesday, adding to the previous day’s steep fall, as the uncertainty over the future of its key Panama copper mine encouraged investors to cut their exposure.


President Laurentino Cortizo said on Sunday Panama would hold a referendum to decide whether to scrap a contract with First Quantum’s local unit following days of protests by thousands of people opposed to the open pit copper mine project.

In its first public statement, First Quantum said on Tuesday that “unconstitutionality challenges” have been brought against Law 406, which approves the refreshed mining concession contract for the company’s Cobre Panama mine.

The company said currently two such challenges have been admitted to be heard by the Supreme Court of Justice in the country.

“First Quantum has always been an advocate of Panama and its people and is committed to the rule of law with the objective to achieve benefits the country,” the company said in the statement.

In early trades, First Quantum shares were down 17.3% at C$16.6, while the broader Canadian share index was flat.

First Quantum said last week the enactment of Law 406 marks the final step in revising the legal framework for the Cobre Panama mine.

(By Arunima Kumar, Mrinalika Roy and Divya Rajagopal; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Jonathan Oatis)

Panama electoral court says it can’t hold a mine referendum

Bloomberg News | October 30, 2023 | 

The Cobre Panama mining complex includes two open pits, a processing facility, two power plants and a port. (Image courtesy of Cobre Panama.)

Panama’s electoral court said it can’t organize a referendum over a flagship copper mine owned by First Quantum Minerals Ltd., as requested by President Laurentino Cortizo on Sunday, because that would require congress to first pass a law.


“At this moment, there are no conditions to organize the intended popular consultation,” the electoral authority said in a statement Monday, also citing logistics and other legal reasons that prevent the organization of a referendum.

The government on Monday afternoon said it planned to introduce a bill to congress on the referendum.

In its statement, the authority highlighted that preparing the referendum would imply an additional effort to organizing the May 5 general election, when the country will elect its president and legislators.

Panama’s dollar bonds pared losses, with notes due in 2036 slumping 1.4 cents to 95.7 cents on the dollar after trading lower early in the day, according to indicative pricing compiled by Bloomberg. The debt was the worst performer in emerging markets Monday.

First Quantum shares closed 28% lower, the biggest drop in 26 years, a day after Cortizo said that a national vote on the mine will be held Dec. 17 in an effort to quell mass civil unrest over the project.

The call for a referendum cast into doubt the future of one of the world’s biggest and newest copper mines. Cobre Panama has become the center of political debate as the future supply of copper has become a hot topic worldwide.

The electoral court’s statement put in question whether there will be a referendum. That prompted Roger Tejada, a high-ranking official, to prepare legislation that would allow the referendum to take place on December 17, according to a post by the government on X.

The mining contract was going to have a major impact on fiscal accounts, producing the equivalent of 0.9% of GDP in revenues for the government. Without those funds, Panama will likely breach its deficit ceiling of 3% of GDP, said Ramiro Blazquez, head of research and strategy at BancTrust & Co. in Buenos Aires.

(By Michael McDonald)

QUE INC. FAIL

Stornoway Diamond files for bankruptcy for second time, stops operations at Quebec site

Stornoway is owned by Osisko Gold Royalties, Investissement Québec, pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and TF R&S Canada Ltd.

Nicolas Van Praet - The Globe and Mail | October 27, 2023

Stornoway’s Renard diamond mine, in north-central Quebec. (Image courtesy of Stornoway Diamond.)

Stornoway Diamond Inc. is filing for bankruptcy protection for the second time in four years as the miner struggles to deal with volatile pricing on global markets.


The privately-held company said Friday it is immediately suspending operations at its Renard site in Northern Quebec while it plots a path forward. About 75 employees will work on maintaining equipment and other assets for a return to operations, the company said.

Renard is Quebec’s first and only diamond mine, opened in 2017.

“The growing uncertainty of the diamond price in the short and medium term, coupled with the significant and sudden drop in the price of the resource on the world market, have had a major impact on the Company’s long-term financial situation,” Stornoway said in a statement.

“This was in part due to the halt in the import of rough diamonds to India and by the global geopolitical climate.”

India is the world’s biggest cutter and polisher of diamonds. Stornoway has been hit hard in the past when the market has been flooded by smaller and lower-quality stones because smaller diamonds account for a significant portion of its production by weight.

The company said it has launched a process to file for bankruptcy protection under Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in a bid to restructure and turn around its finances. It is seeking investment and sale proposals.

Stornoway Diamond dealt another blow

Stornoway is owned by Osisko Gold Royalties, Investissement Québec, pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and TF R&S Canada Ltd.

Stornoway built Renard, its main asset, in Quebec’s Otish Mountains, a range of hills north of Lac Mistassini, in the summer of 2016 with a C$946-million financing package.

The construction came in under budget and five months ahead of schedule, igniting hopes that it would lead to other resource development in the province’s vast northern territory. But the project suffered some early snags, notably in the fall of 2017, when Renard diamonds were found to be breaking in processing at a higher frequency than the company expected.

Stornoway fixed the breakage, but that and other production and pricing problems forced the company to go to its lenders and key stakeholders in 2018 for additional funds and loan flexibility because it could not generate positive free cash flow. The year after, Osisko and other creditors took control of Stornoway after it filed for bankruptcy protection.

Burkina Faso targets bigger royalties as gold production drops

Bloomberg News | October 27, 2023 | 

Bissa mine in Burkina Faso. Image: Nordgold

Burkina Faso has revised its mining code to enable it to take more in royalties in boom times after gold production fell.


The West African nation increased the minimum royalty rate for spot price above $1,500 an ounce to 6% from 5%, the military government said in a decree seen by Bloomberg. The rate will rise to 6.5% for spot higher than $1,700 to $2,000 and further to 7% for spot above $2,000, it said.

Gold output in one of Africa’s biggest producers dropped 13% to 58.2 tons in 2022, according to government data. At least five mines closed down amid deteriorating security followed by two coups that year.

While the stake the state can take in mining operations is regulated by stability clauses, there are no such provisions for royalties, which apply to all existing and new contracts.

A spokesperson for Endeavour Mining Plc, Burkina Faso’s largest gold producer, declined to comment. Miners in the country, including Iamgold Corp. and Nord Gold SE, are faced with a constantly volatile security situation as the ruling junta battles a mounting Islamist insurgency. Military leader Colonel Ibrahim Traore came to power in September 2022 after toppling the regime of fellow soldier Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who seized power in January of the same year.

Traore’s pledge to restore control over territories lost to the militants has seen attacks by armed actors continue unabated.

International partners such as the US and France have suspended aid and budgetary assistance following the coups.

(By Katarina Hoije and William Clowes)

The energy chief trying to get the UK to speed up carbon capture

Bloomberg News | October 28, 2023 | 

Spirit Energy’s North and South Morecambe gas fields. (Image by Centrica Plc).

Centrica Plc boss Chris O’Shea is on a mission to show the UK government that it needs to rapidly speed up carbon capture projects, which could become crucial if the country is to reach its net zero ambitions.


The company’s aging Morecambe gas site, off the west coast of England, wasn’t selected for a support scheme this summer that’s backed by billions of pounds of government funding. Even after that disappointment, the energy business still plans to start burying carbon emissions from its own gas processing site nearby around early 2025.

The idea is to prove viability and then fully commercialize the operation, selling the carbon storage service to other industries. That will require about £1 billion ($1.2 billion) of investment, as well as government backing which O’Shea says isn’t moving fast enough.

Carbon capture and storage, or CCS, involves taking CO2 emissions, transporting them to a site — usually an old oil and gas field — and burying them.

It’s controversial, with critics saying it can help to extend the life of fossil fuels that should be winding down faster. It’s also expensive, and there’s a risk of environmental damage from leakage at storage sites.

But CCS remains in focus as a decarbonization tool because of slow global progress in reducing emissions. In the UK, worries about energy security and fuel prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government to issue new permits for oil and gas production in the North Sea. Other policy shifts have also raised questions about the UK’s ability to meet green targets, particularly its 2050 net zero goal.

Centrica’s CCS plans are centered on Morecambe in the Irish Sea, operated by joint venture Spirit Energy. Over the past four decades, Spirit Energy says the field has pumped out enough gas — more than 6.5 trillion cubic feet — to fill Scotland’s famous Loch Ness 25 times over.

Centrica currently expects to continue production until the end of the decade, having previous planned to stop in the mid-2020s.

The platforms there — mazes of pipes, bridges and rigging dotted with workers in bright orange overalls — are inextricably linked to the era of dirty energy that the world is trying to put behind it. But carbon storage, once it comes online, will give the facilities a new function.

Chief executive O’Shea, who’s out to prove a point, describes the project as “truly huge.”

“It can store more carbon dioxide molecules than there are grains of sand in the Sahara desert,” he said in an interview during a recent visit to the site. “We need to speed up timelines massively, but we also need the support of government.”

The plan for Morecambe looks straight forward. Gas will contine to flow and be brought onshore for processing. Then, rather than venting the CO2 from the production, a pipeline will bring it back offshore in a “closed loop system” that allows simultaneous injection and extraction.

While Morecambe didn’t get support under the UK CCUS program, it already has a carbon storage license. And Centrica owns all the assets — the terminal, the pipeline — so it can press ahead with capturing its own emissions. (CCUS is a related concept, where CO2 is reused — the “U” in the acronym — rather than stored.)

The next stage is getting other industries involved, and heavy emitters, like the cement industry located in Britain’s Peak District, have signed up. But that means much more infrastructure investment, and it’s where government funding and support comes in.

“What you’ve really got is this kind of chicken and egg thing, which is who builds a pipeline across from the cement industry to Morecambe, from the emitters to Morecambe? And how do we make that work? ” O’Shea said. “The government, regulators have got to realize that you’ve got to be making decisions quickly because it can usually take you two years to do the engineering.”

Spirit Energy estimates the project could store more than 5 million tons of CO2 per year at the start, rising in time to 25 million tons.

“Overall, the evidence is clear that the UK would have minimal chance of reaching net zero by 2050 without employing CCUS,” Esin Serin, a policy fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, wrote in a recent blog. But it “should be part of, not an excuse to delay, an overarching push for clean technologies,” she said.

The government has said CCUS will play a “critical role” in the move to net zero. There are currently more than 90 carbon capture and storage projects planned, enough for about 94 million tons of CO2 per year — equivalent to more than a quarter of total UK emissions, according to the UK’s CCS Association.

Yet, only a few industrial clusters have been selected across England and Scotland in a bid to kick start the industry.

Bas Sudmeijer, managing director and partner at the Boston Consulting Group, says the UK strategy has some benefits, but it “comes with trade-offs on pace.”

“It remains to be seen what model is ultimately most successful,” he said. “But the first CCUS Final Investment Decisions have now been taken in both Europe and the US, whereas in the UK that is not yet the case.”

The UK government has committed £20 billion for early deployment of CCS technology, including a £1 billion CCUS infrastructure fund. But though the underlying technology has been around for decades, high capital costs remain an issue.

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security said the government is committed to further development of carbon capture, utilization and storage.

“Everybody’s trying to do their best — the government, regulators, businesses,” said Jon Butterworth, CEO of grid operator National Gas Transmission Plc. But the UK needs a network to capture, transport and store carbon, and the issue needs a “bigger conversation.”

(By Priscila Azevedo Rocha and Elena Mazneva)

Ottawa’s interim plan to regulate large resource projects causing confusion for Ring of Fire stakeholders

Niall McGee - The Globe and Mail | October 30, 2023 | 

The Eagle’s Nest nickel-copper-PGM project in northern Ontario’s Ring of Fire region. (Image courtesy of Noront Resources.)

The federal government’s plan to continue to regulate major resource projects despite a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that says those powers are largely unconstitutional is creating confusion and uncertainty in Ontario’s Ring of Fire.


A significant Indigenous stakeholder is making a plea for regulatory certainty, while a major mining company is warning that Canada’s weak standing on the global critical-minerals stage will only get worse.

The Supreme Court said earlier this month that the federal government’s broad-based environmental reviews around large mines and major infrastructure associated with those mines are unconstitutional. Ottawa must limit its oversight to certain defined areas clearly defined in the Constitution, the court said, such as fisheries, the bird population, species at risk and certain Indigenous rights.

The decision means that the provinces and territories have primary jurisdiction over regulating mining projects.

Since the ruling from the Supreme Court was in a reference case, one in which a province asked for an opinion, it is non-binding, but governments historically take such rulings seriously.

This week the federal government reiterated that because of the ruling, it intends to introduce legislation to change the 2019 Impact Assessment Act that will limit its oversight over resource projects. But Ottawa has not provided details on when that will happen and what the new regime will look like.

Companies with projects that are already subject to federal impact assessments are now facing major unknowns. The federal government said Thursday it will look at each individual case and determine whether it has jurisdiction over it or not.

Situated in Ontario’s far north, the undeveloped Ring of Fire is one of Canada’s highest-profile critical minerals projects and one of the projects most affected by the uncertainty. Three Ring of Fire road proposals are going through federal impact assessment studies.

Marten Falls, a remote First Nations community located 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, is involved in two proposals – leading one of the studies on a road project in the Ring of Fire corridor and co-leading another with Webequie First Nation.

The division of regulatory powers between the federal and provincial governments over the Ring of Fire “has to be clarified,” Marten Falls Chief Bruce Achneepineskum said in an interview.

His community has been working on one of the federal impact assessments for four years, and has been toiling for almost as long on an additional federally mandated regional assessment study on the Ring of Fire.

The regional assessment has been “daunting,” he said, given the huge demands on the community to provide large amounts of data and respond to countless requests around environmental impacts.

Amid confusion over whether some of the bureaucracy was even needed in the first place, Mr. Achneepineskum stressed the importance of timeliness around a massive resource project that could bring significant economic benefits to the community.

But rather than both levels of government working together to clarify the regulatory system in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, they appear instead to be on a “collision course,” he said.

Earlier this week, Ontario applied for judicial review around two large resource projects that are going through the Federal Impact Assessment system. The legal move is an attempt to prevent the federal government from making any further decisions in the areas the Supreme Court has deemed unconstitutional.

The federal government, however, is not backing down. Steven Guilbeault, the federal Environment Minister, said in a news conference on Thursday that the Ring of Fire is “clearly a federal area of jurisdiction,” as he vowed to assert Ottawa’s powers, particularly when it comes toIndigenous land.

Ontario’s legal moves, he said, are a “waste of time,” and something that “will only delay the approval of these projects.”

Both the Supreme Court ruling and the subsequent dispute between Ottawa and Ontario over resource jurisdiction is creating consternation at Ring of Fire Metals, the Australian-owned company hoping to build a nickel mine that could one day feed Canadian battery metals plants.

“It just brings more uncertainty,” said Kristan Straub, chief executive of Ring of Fire Metals. “Specifically at a time when Canada is trying to position itself, and we’re failing to position ourselves, as a safe, reliable supplier of critical minerals.”

Mr. Straub is particularly concerned about the federal government, indicating it may still exert discretionary powers over “designated projects” – large-scale resource projects – even though Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner expressly said Ottawa doesn’t have any constitutional powers in that area.

Earlier this week, Ottawa said it was pausing the environment minister’s power on new designated projects, but stopped short of saying it would do so permanently. Instead, the government said that consideration of new designated-project requests could potentially resume once amended legislation is in place.

“I don’t even think that there’s an ability to understand where the government is positioning themselves,” Mr. Straub said.

Last year, Australian resources giant Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd., which is controlled by billionaire Andrew Forrest, bought Canada’s Noront Resources Ltd. (now Ring of Fire Metals). The company’s Eagle’s Nest project was discovered in 2006 and has been held out repeatedly as Exhibit A for the languid pace of mining development and red tape in Canada.

Robin Junger, who is a partner of Indigenous law and environment with McMillan LLP, said the federal government’s primary focus should be moving forward with new legislation to rewrite fundamentally the Impact Assessment Act, rather than limping along with “unconstitutional legislation,” which opens it up to more legal challenges by the provinces.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is a more profound denunciation of the federal scheme than the government seems to be accepting,” he said.

Australian mining red tape hurts its global investment case, says Hancock

RED TAPE ARE REGS TO PROTECT US, THE WORKERS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Reuters | October 31, 2023 | 

BHP’s Western Australia iron ore operation. (Image courtesy of BHP).

Australia’s slow pace of mining approvals is diminishing its attraction as a global investment destination, Hancock Prospecting, owned by Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart, said on Tuesday.


Hancock joins BHP Group and Rio Tinto in flagging red tape around mining projects as hurting Australia’s drive to secure major investment into its minerals industry.

“The current policy environment, duplication of processes, overreach from all departments and delays to approvals is negatively impacting new investment into the mining industry and is reducing Australia’s competitiveness in the international resource sector,” said Hancock.

The comments came as privately held Hancock Prospecting recorded a 13% fall in profits to A$5.04 billion ($3.2 billion)in the financial year 2023, mostly from its Roy Hill iron ore operations in Western Australia.

That was a smaller drop than Australia’s other big miners BHP, Rio and Fortescue whose profits fell by between a quarter and a third over the period amid weaker prices for the steel-making ingredient.

Roy Hill accounted for more than half of Hancock’s profits after tax at $2.7 billion, on record shipments of 63.3 million tonnes of iron ore.

Hancock has been busy diversifying its portfolio this year.

Earlier this month it amassed a 19.9% stake in lithium miner Liontown Resources, thwarting its planned buyout by top global lithium maker Albemarle. Last week, Hancock took a near blocking stake in lithium developer Azure Minerals, which had just agreed to be taken over by Chile’s SQM.

Hancock also completed a buyout of Warrego Energy in February, securing exposure to Western Australian gas assets that could offer low cost gas to its iron ore operations, and said it was looking to grow its footprint in the agricultural sector.

($1 = 1.5743 Australian dollars)

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

THE BIG MINERS SAY THIS SAME CRAP IN EVERY JURISDICTION