GM TO INVEST US$650M IN LITHIUM AMERICAS FOR THACKER PASS DEVELOPMENT / 3 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM
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2023 is ‘likely to surprise’ as much as 2022, finds White & Case
‘Trudeau-pian’ policy drives mining investment away, says Poilievre ROUNDUP
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| Opposition leader lays out his alternative resource strategy
BY HENRY LAZENBY
he opening day of the Association of Mineral Exploration (AME) Roundup conference in Vancouver saw some political sparks fly as federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and Conservative Party firebrand Pierre Poilievre delivered remarks. The opposition leader said that the limelight-loving Liberal leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has squandered the opportunity over the past eight years to build an alternative supply chain able to service the emerging electric vehicle market and so-called energy revolution. “Instead, miners today face permitting delays ranging from five to 25 years, according to official government information, higher taxes increased red tape and governmental obstacles that drive production down and pollution up,” Poilievre said at the event on Jan. 23. “That has been the effect of Trudeau-pian policy on mining and manufacturing.” It means Canada imports batteries from countries like China, which burns coal in their production, defeating the purpose of driving an electric car. He said the recent federal government announcements of new EV production capacity and battery precursor mineral processing plants opening were coming a little too late. Canada ranks sixth in the world for lithium reserves, Poilievre said. “And the last two years on record, we did not produce a tablespoon of lithium here in Canada, even while production has exploded worldwide.” (For the record, there has been some lithium production at the Tanco mine, owned by China’s Sinomine, in Manitoba during this period; and production is set to start at Sayona Mining [ASX: SYA] and Piedmont Lithium’s (NASDAQ: PLL; ASX: PLL) North American Lithium project in Quebec this year.) “We have the third largest reserves of oil anywhere on earth, but we’re still importing 130,000 barrels of oil from overseas every single day, supporting foreign dictators and sending our money to them when we could be keeping it here,” he said. Poilievre also pointed to Canada’s natural gas potential being
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre at Roundup. HENRY LAZENBY
undermined by stifling policy. “We have the sixth biggest natural gas resources globally; 1,300 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are
right beneath our feet. We cannot export a single solitary cubic foot of that gas overseas because we do not have liquefaction facilities.” Poilievre suggested the lack of liquefaction facilities was not to blame on the industry. “When Trudeau took office, fifteen proposals for natural gas liquefaction were on his desk — zero have been built, not one. Meanwhile, the Americans have built six; the Qataris are selling more liquefied gas than ever. The Germans built an import facility for natural gas in 194 days, and Canada has been unable to build a single export facility in the past eight years.” Poilievre continued his criticism of Canada’s mineral policy, saying
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| Industry survey flags inflation, geopolitics as top concerns ahead of ESG RISK
I
BY HENRY LAZENBY
nflation and geopolitics have overtaken ESG as the biggest concerns for 2023, while energy costs, shifting supply chains, and climate-related regulation and activism still worry firms. Despite shared concerns, there is surprisingly little agreement on the economic outlook, how market players will respond, or what will be the pervasive theme for the year ahead. These are chief among the conclusions of the seventh annual survey of industry participants by legal services firm White & Case. The report, released on Jan. 26, draws on the reflections of 156 senior decision-makers. Among the key insights from the report, 18% of respondents cited inflationary cost pressures as the largest risk (up from 4% in 2022), followed by geopolitics (16%). This is a marked change from 2022, where ESG dominated the perceived risks — 24% compared to 11% in 2023 — as other pressures have grown in importance. Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the imposition of zero-Covid measures in China, the markets faced a perfect storm of competing pressures which is unlikely to subside entirely in 2023. Survey respondents expect costs to remain higher for longer despite signs of relief, with high energy costs coming in fourth for respondents among the most significant risks for 2023. Trade tensions will also likely increase inflationary pressures for endusers, feeding into operating expenses and markets more generally. Amid uncertainty in the industry, the December quarter saw a decade-high number of mergers and acquisitions, nearly matching the total volume of deals for the preceding three-quarters of last year, according to the report. Mining companies continue to make acquisitions and investments, knowing that whatever turbulence they face today, the material demands of the energy transition
CANACCORD REVEALS TOP GOLD PICKS: ENDEAVOUR, KINROSS AND PROBE / 2
and the risk of supply deficits are stark. The report’s author, White & Case partner Rebecca Campbell, who leads the firm’s Global Mining & Metals Industry Group, noted the prominence of EV supply chain concerns in the survey responses. Copper and lithium ranked materially higher as the likely big winners in 2023, with battery minerals and base metals as probable areas for consolidation. “It seems that everything EV-linked is perceived to be where the opportunities are for 2023,” Campbell wrote. When it comes to the development of energy transition metals, end-users are expected to play a far bigger role in financing the development of energy transition minerals in 2023, with 41% of respondents citing end See SURVEY / 5 PM40069240