Welcome back to your weekly mining news recap, where we catch you up on some of the news you may have missed. This week’s headlines include G7 ministers agreeing to a critical mineral plan to bolster the energy transition, Sayona’s new definitive feasibility report for its North American Lithium project and Anglo American receiving an environmental permit for the Los Bronces expansion.

Teck Resources has rejected two bids from Glencore this month, but the Switzerland-based miner has not backed down yet. The battle is set to continue until a crucial shareholder vote on April 26. Teck has repeatedly said that a deal with Glencore is not an option and that shareholders will be voting for Teck’s proposed separation plan of its base metal business and its steelmaking coal business, or to maintain the current state of affairs. Glencore is now appealing directly to Teck’s Class B shareholders, which have fewer votes than Class A shareholders, but own almost all the company’s equity. Glencore stated that its proposal will stand if Teck delays its shareholders meeting, or if Teck shareholders vote down the proposed Teck separation at the shareholders meeting.

Teck will not be short of alternative offers if shareholders approve its separation plan next week, according to the Globe and Mail and Reuters. Six major mining companies, including Vale, Anglo American and Freeport-McMoRan, are said to be interested in transactions with Teck Resources if the spinoff goes ahead.

G7 ministers agreed to a joint plan for the security of critical minerals, as reported by The National. The G7 stressed the importance of critical minerals as the demand for clean energy grows and the need to develop new mines and supply chains in a transparent and traceable manner to prevent economic and security risks.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the G7 pact aimed at weakening Russia’s influence on the nuclear energy market could provide an economic benefit to Canada, as reported by BNN Bloomberg. Wilkinson stated that countries in Europe are looking to reduce their reliance on Russian and Belarusian uranium and are looking for other sources, which may provide an opportunity for Canada, which is the world’s second-largest uranium producer.

On April 14, Sayona Mining released the results of the definitive feasibility study for its North American Lithium (NAL) mine in Quebec, including the nearby Authier lithium deposit. According to the study, NAL has an after-tax net present value of approximately $1.4 billion with an eight per cent discount rate and a 20-year life of mine. In March, the mine announced it had begun producing spodumene concentrate and would begin shipments in July.

A growing number of Indigenous leaders in Ontario are speaking out against the provincial government’s proposed changes to the Mining Act that would speed up the timelines for bringing mines into production. As reported by Northern Ontario Business, the Chiefs of Ontario — a coordinating body for the 133 First Nations in the province — voiced its support for the Matawa Chiefs Council’s recent formal submission to the province. The Matawa Chiefs Council called out the province for shirking its duty to consult First Nations and said the proposed changes would minimize the environmental oversight of mining operations. The Chiefs of Ontario echoed those concerns, arguing the proposal to make it easier for companies to obtain permits to recover minerals from mine waste and tailings would sidestep consultation obligations and allow mining to resume at roughly 295 decommissioned mines in the province without consultation.

Anglo American’s US$3 billion extension of its Los Bronces copper mine in Chile received an environmental permit from a committee of government ministers, the country’s environment ministry said on Monday. As Reuters reported, the project, located in the Andes Mountains and near Santiago, was first rejected by Chile’s Environmental Assessment Service (EAS) in April 2022. The approval came from a committee made up of the ministries of mining, agriculture, energy, economy and health, and chaired by the environment ministry, which isn’t part of the Chilean EAS but has review powers. Los Bronces has been criticized by environmental and social groups for its risk to a glacier in the area and the region’s water supply.

De Beers Group’s in-progress closure of the Victor mine in northern Ontario received the 2022 Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Award from the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Land Reclamation Association, as reported by Canadian Mining Journal. The company’s reclamation work has included shaping and sequential covering of the mine rock pads that had to be constructed to operate the mine, which is located in a wetland complex. Victor was in operation from 2008 to 2019 and progressive reclamation began in 2014. By the end of this year, it is expected to be the first diamond mine in Canada to complete active closure.

Vital Metals, the only rare earths producing miner in Canada, hit pause on construction at its processing facility in Saskatoon on Thursday to conserve cash, look for other funding sources and conduct a strategic review, the Canadian Press reported. Vital has been working on a calcine circuit to produce an intermediate rare earths oxide product, but it said it hasn’t been able to find a third party that would buy it at a price the company deems “commercially satisfactory.” The company also said a review of the economic viability of mining at its North T rare earths deposit in the Northwest Territories indicated that the operation’s scale and associated operating costs wouldn’t generate a profit.

West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. (WRLG) is acquiring Pure Gold Mining for $6.5 million, the companies announced Monday. Pure Gold, the owner of the PureGold mine in Red Lake, Ontario, entered Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act protection in October 2022 and put the mine on care and maintenance after encountering production problems and rising costs. The acquisition will see WRLG issue a one per cent secured net smelter royalty for its Madsen gold project to Sprott Resource Lending Corp., Pure Gold’s largest creditor, and make up to US$10 million in deferred consideration payments.

Assay results from Canada Nickel’s Texmont property south of Timmins, Ontario, indicate an expansion of high-grade, near-surface nickel mineralization, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. To date, Canada Nickel has drilled 39 holes totalling 9,696 metres, with nine drill holes demonstrating intersections of higher-grade mineralization, of above one per cent nickel. Chief executive officer Mark Selby said the company plans to deliver an initial resource and preliminary economic assessment for Texmont this year “as its near-term production potential is highly complementary to our large-scale Crawford and regional nickel sulfide project potential.”

Junior mining companies on the hunt for critical minerals have been buoyed by Canada’s critical minerals strategy, released in December, along with market interest, CIM Magazine freelancer Graham Chandler wrote in the March/April issue of the magazine. Exploration for critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements saw a significant boost in investment in 2022, reaching more than $200 million, well up from less than $35 million in 2020, according to figures from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

That’s all for this week. If you’ve got feedback, you can always reach us at editor@cim.org. If you’ve got something to add, why not join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram pages?