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 Quebec denying additional funding for Northvolt’s battery plant under development near Montreal, Ascot Resources pursuing $40 million to restart its Premier gold project and Fireweed Metals reporting germanium and gallium byproducts at its Macmillan Pass project. 

General Motors and TSX-listed Lithium Americas Corp. announced a joint venture on Oct. 16 to develop the Thacker Pass lithium carbonate project in Nevada, with GM investing US$625 million for a 38 per cent stake in the project. Lithium Americas will contribute US$387 million for 62 per cent ownership and will manage the project. This investment follows GM’s earlier US$320 million investment in Lithium Americas and will support the mine’s construction, with a final investment decision expected by year-end. 

Construction of Calibre Mining’s Valentine gold mine in Newfoundland and Labrador is more than 81 per cent complete, with the company reporting an increase in estimated capex from $653 million to around $744 million due to contractor performance issues. Despite this, the project remains on track for first gold production in the second quarter of 2025. The company also lowered its 2024 production guidance to between 230,000 to 240,000 ounces of gold following underperformance at its operations in Nicaragua and Nevada.  

NextStar Energy has begun producing battery modules at an automobile battery plant in Windsor, Ontario, that is jointly owned with Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, as reported by The Globe and Mail. The $5 billion plant is expected to eventually generate 49.5 gigawatt hours of battery capacity annually, which is sufficient to power 450,000 electric vehicles, and will create 2,500 jobs when fully operational. The project is set to receive over $15 billion in performance incentives from both the provincial and federal governments. 

The Quebec government has stated it will not provide additional funds or give up its investment guarantees amid negotiations to save Northvolt’s battery plant project near Montreal, as reported by The Canadian Press. Goldman Sachs, a major Northvolt shareholder, is considering reinvesting due to concerns about potential losses and has requested additional aid from Quebec beyond the $500 million from Investissement Québec. Meanwhile, Northvolt has obtained a temporary funding deal to stay afloat while pursuing a larger financing package, which could exceed US$300 million.  

Ascot Resources is aiming to raise at least $40 million to advance its Premier gold project in B.C., which suspended operations just months after its first gold pour on April 20, as reported by Mining.com. The financing plan includes a US$11.3 million loan from main creditors and a private share placement that could yield up to $42 million. In September, Ascot placed the project on care and maintenance due to delays in developing the Premier Northern Lights and Big Missouri deposits, requiring additional funding to complete further mine development.  

Fireweed Metals has included germanium and gallium byproducts in its recent mineral resource estimate for the MacMillan Pass zinc-lead-silver project in Yukon. The estimate stated an indicated mineral resource of 614,800 kilograms of germanium and 412,900 kilograms of gallium from 56 Mt of ore with a germanium grade of 10.98 grams per tonne and 7.38 grams per tonne of gallium. In August 2023, China imposed export controls on some gallium and germanium products for national security reasons, requiring exporters to obtain permission.   

Northern Graphite will temporarily shut down the Lac des Iles processing facility in Quebec from November 2 this year to January 6, 2025, to conduct maintenance and increase the mill’s throughput in response to increased demand for natural graphite sourced outside of China. The facility’s capacity will increase to 25,000 tonnes of natural graphite per year, up from a range of 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes. The company will supply its customers from inventory and third-party sources amid the shutdown. 

St Barbara is evaluating the design approach for its Cochrane Hill gold project in Nova Scotia after completing successful ore sorting trials, as reported by Canadian Mining Journal. The company is considering transporting the sorted ore to the proposed 15-Mile mill, which will be located around 70 kilometres by road from Cochrane Hill. St Barbara is also conducting a feasibility study for a pumped hydro energy storage facility at the closed Touquoy mine, and plans to explore similar initiatives at the 15-Mile and Cochrane Hill sites. 

During the summer, the N.W.T. government committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 in a budget-related document, with Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek confirming the commitment on Oct. 16, as reported by CBC News. However, the N.W.T. will require significant federal assistance to fulfill its commitment due to its outdated energy system. 

A U.S. Geological Survey-led study estimates that the Smackover Formation, located in southwestern Arkansas, holds between five and 19 million tonnes of lithium reserves. If this reserve is recoverable, it could surpass global lithium demand for car batteries projected for 2030 by more than nine times, according to the authors. The research, which combined water testing and machine learning, indicated that lithium could be extracted from brines co-produced during oil and gas production, offering a valuable resource from what is typically considered as waste. 

Fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) operations can deeply impact the mental health and personal lives of mining workers, resulting in emotional disconnection from family and increased stress due to long periods of separation, as reported by Mackenzie Patterson for the September/October issue of CIM Magazine. To better support workers, Francisco Valenzuela, a safety advisor at Imperial Oil, believes that companies should encourage open dialogues about mental health, create community support systems and offer accessible resources. Addressing the unique challenges of FIFO work requires industry-wide awareness and a commitment to enhancing the well-being of both workers and their families. 

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?