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Winnipeg Free Press
02-08-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba slides down mining sector investment attractiveness list: report
Manitoba's attractiveness to mining investors has dropped, a new report by a conservative think tank states. The keystone province made the Fraser Institute's top-10 list of most attractive jurisdictions for mineral endowment. However, the 2024 Annual Survey of Mining Companies — released earlier this week — places Manitoba 26th of 82 jurisdictions for investment attractiveness. A year prior, Manitoba ranked sixth of 86. The Tanco lithium mine near Lac du Bonnet. (Sinomine Resource Group / Free Press files) 'It's just a wake-up call that there are some outstanding issues that need to be addressed,' said John Morris, co-director of the Mining Association of Manitoba. Survey respondents cited increased concerns about Manitoba's community development conditions, political stability and uncertainty over what areas will be protected, the report reads. Morris said it aligns with what he's heard from junior firms that don't yet have operational mines. Hesitation stems, in part, from the New Democrats' 2023 promise to protect 30 per cent of Manitoba's lands and waters by 2030, Morris said. 'They do not know whether certain areas will become off limits for future mining projects,' he continued. 'If you're trying to plan a 30-year project … you will want to know in the early days whether where you're exploring is going to be put into a protected area or not.' Mine production often follows a decade of research and exploration, Morris noted. Policy interpretation of Manitoba's heritage resource permits and requirements is a long-standing issue, he added. Morris expressed confidence the industry's concerns will be addressed: 'Our association has a very good working relationship with the provincial government.' Politicians have touted Manitoba as the 'Costco of critical minerals,' referring to the variety of goods available at the big-box retailer. Manitoba has 30 of 34 minerals deemed critical. It has four active mines producing zinc, copper, gold, nickel, tantalum, cesium and lithium. Provincial mining minister Jamie Moses underscored the Fraser Institute report's timeline: the survey was conducted August-December 2024. Since the feedback window's tail end, the NDP has released a critical mineral strategy, opened a critical mineral office and a new gold mine, Moses said. (The Alamos Gold mine near Lynn Lake was being developed during the Progressive Conservatives' most recent reign.) 'Our government takes seriously the economic opportunity we have in our critical minerals sector,' Moses said. Environmental safety is also taken seriously, he said. He deferred to the province's environment minister when asked about a map or other means of transparency to show which areas will be conserved by 2030. There's been 'a lot of discussion' about the Seal River Watershed, Moses noted. Government and Indigenous leaders are pursuing a formal designation to turn the watershed, which is 50,000 square kilometres, into an protected area; it follows a year-long assessment. 'We know that we can do more than one thing at one time,' Moses said. 'That includes being able to advance mineral projects and also ensure that we have the right environmental sustainability approach.' Lauren Stone, PC finance critic, said the report shows the New Democrats have demonstrated they're 'anti-development and have created an anti-business rhetoric.' Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'Manitoba should be very concerned when we have almost equivalent the number of critical minerals here … to Saskatchewan.' Saskatchewan ranked seventh on the Fraser Institute's list for investor attractiveness. It touts 27 critical minerals within its borders. The 86-page report incorporates 350 responses from mining and exploration companies. Finland was crowned the top jurisdiction based on investment attractiveness. The Fraser Institute ranked every province and territory except for Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland and Labrador, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Yukon also ranked ahead of Manitoba in investment attractiveness, the report says. Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
29-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
Kinew cabinet uses order to dismiss appeals against Chinese miner's environmental licence
Wab Kinew's NDP cabinet has dismissed four attempts to appeal Manitoba's decision to let a Chinese-owned company continue mining critical minerals alongside a lake in eastern Manitoba's boreal forest. On July 16, Kinew's cabinet issued an order in council that allows Environment and Climate Change Minister Mike Moyes to dismiss appeals of an August 2024 decision to grant the Tantalum Mining Corp. of Canada a new environmental licence. Also known as TANCO, the Chinese-controlled company operates a cesium, tantalum and lithium mine at Bernic Lake, a small body of water located between Whiteshell and Nopiming provincial parks. The mine itself has operated on and off since 1929. The new environmental licence replaces one originally granted by the province in 1983. Sinomine Resource Group, which purchased the TANCO mine in 2019, applied for the new licence in order to continue mining ore and processing it at Bernic Lake — as well as to produce new forms of cesium at the site, once home to two thirds of the world's cesium deposits. The licence application did not include a proposal to drain Bernic Lake in order to create an open-pit mine, something the company mused about in a 2023 Globe and Mail story. There is a worldwide scarcity of cesium, a volatile element used in drilling fluids for oil and gas wells, medical imaging and maintaining time in atomic clocks, among other uses. During the licensing process, the province fielded 49 submissions about the application, mostly involving concerns about road safety and water quality downstream in the Bird River watershed, according to Manitoba Environment and Climate Change. The Kinew cabinet's order in council states those concerns were addressed during the licensing process. Four subsequent appeals involved the same concerns, prompting Moyes to propose dismissing them without holding public hearings, the order stated. "The issues raised by the appellants were similar to those raised during the public review period and were addressed during the environmental assessment process through licensing conditions," the order in council stated. The Kinew government did not make Moyes available for comment. In a statement, the minister repeated cabinet's assurance the concerns raised by the appellants have already been addressed. Dismissal not transparent or accountable: advocate Eric Reder, an environmental advocate who works as a campaigner for the Wilderness Committee, said this was not a transparent, responsible or accountable way for Manitoba to consider appeals under the Environment Act, even though he took no issue with the approval of the TANCO licence itself. Reder said the TANCO mine has a history of conducting its operations reasonably and properly, without creating excess waste outside of its Bernic Lake site. His issue is with the way Manitoba denies environmental appeals in general. He said the province does not name appellants or make their concerns public, does not respond to their concerns in a substantive manner and creates a hostile political environment for appeals in the first place. "The only recourse to appeal an Environment Act licence is to the same minister whose department issued the licence," Reder said. He suggested the province create an independent body to consider environmental appeals or hand that duty off to the arm's-length Clean Environment Commission. A spokesperson for Sinomine did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication. A spokesperson for the Bird River Cottage Owners' Association, several of whose members made submissions in opposition to the mine's new environmental licence, was not available to comment. In recent years, Kinew and his predecessor Heather Stefanson have touted Manitoba's critical mineral deposits as a strategic asset for the province. Nonetheless, the province has lagged behind most others when it comes to major mining, energy and forestry projects.
Business Insider
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Africa's largest lithium producer to ban concentrate exports by 2027
Zimbabwe will ban the export of lithium concentrates starting January 2027, as part of a broader strategy to boost local value addition in the mining sector. Zimbabwe will ban the export of lithium concentrates starting January 2027, as part of a broader strategy to boost local value addition in the mining sector, Mines Minister Winston Chitando announced on Tuesday. The move builds on the southern African nation's 2022 ban on raw lithium ore exports and shows its commitment to developing a domestic lithium processing industry. Most lithium miners operating in Zimbabwe, primarily Chinese companies, have been exporting concentrates to China for further processing. Chitando revealed that two lithium sulphate processing plants are currently under development: one at Bikita Minerals, owned by China's Sinomine Resource Group, and the other at Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, owned by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Reuters reported. Lithium sulphate is an intermediate product that can be further refined into battery-grade lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate, critical components in the battery manufacturing supply chain. "Because of that capacity which is now in the country, the export of all lithium concentrates will be banned from January 2027," Chitando said during a press briefing. Chinese firms bet big on Zimbabwe's lithium Zimbabwe, Africa's largest producer of lithium, a key mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, has emerged as a critical player in the global lithium market, especially after prices surged in 2021 and 2022. Although spot prices have since plunged by nearly 90% due to oversupply and weaker-than-expected EV demand, Chinese companies continue to invest heavily in Zimbabwe's lithium sector to secure feedstock for their domestic refineries. Leading firms such as Sinomine, Huayou Cobalt, Chengxin Lithium Group, Yahua Group, and Canmax Technologies have collectively invested over $1 billion in acquisitions and project development since 2021. Across the broader continent, lithium mining and exploration activity is gaining momentum in countries like Namibia, Mali, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). However, these projects are still small relative to the number of projects developed in the Americas, Australia and Europe.
