The Northern Miner’s most clicked stories of 2021

As 2021 draws to a close, we take a look at the top ten most-clicked stories on our website from Jan. 1 to Dec. 10. The stories demonstrate a keen interest in base and battery metals.

No. 1: Editorial: Friedland: ‘It’s copper, copper, copper, copper, copper, copper…’

By Trish Saywell (April 19, 2021)

Whether you are a Robert Friedland fan or not, you can’t disagree with his conclusions that, as the world transitions from hydrocarbons (oil and gas) and moves toward electrification and greener energy sources, metals like copper will be more important than ever before. In fact he described copper in the medium term as a “national security issue” as countries around the world will have to scramble to lock-in supply. “We know that the change is coming,” he warned, “but it takes a long time to change the entire supply chain. It takes a long time to really electrify the world economy but it’s going to happen. It’s an enormous undertaking, nothing easy about it. And it will really enhance the position of a lot of the world’s miners as people realize that mining is a basic industry, because it’s basic, and the whole transformation will rely on the miners.” He calls miners heroes.

No. 2: New Found Gold advances Queensway project in Newfoundland

By Trish Saywell (March 19, 2021)

Earlier this year New Found Gold said it plans to double its 2021 drill program to 200,000 metres and eight rigs at its flagship Queensway project in Newfoundland, 15 km west of Gander. Six drill rigs are now turning on the high-grade gold project and that number will increase to eight before the end of March.

The 1,500 sq. km project, adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway, is divided by Gander Lake into Queensway North and Queensway South. Queensway North, the more advanced of the two, has high-grade gold targets along the Appleton and JBP faults, including the Keats zone, which the company discovered in November 2019 when its drillers intersected 19 metres grading 92.9 grams gold per tonne at a depth of 75 metres in hole NFGC-19-01.

No. 3: Top Ten U.S.-based mining companies

By Northern Miner Staff (July 23, 2021)

Mining in the United States has played a significant role in the country’s development. The Northern Miner presents its annual top-ten list of the largest U.S.-based mining companies ranked by market capitalization, as of July 7. The data was compiled by our sister company, MiningIntelligence. The top ten were: Freeport McMoRan; Newmont; Southern Copper; Albemarle; Mosaic; Cleveland-Cliffs; Alcoa; MP Materials; Black Hills; and Hecla Mining.

No. 4: Battery Metals Snapshot

By Magda Gardner (April 2, 2021)

As the world moves away from fossil fuels, battery metals are in high demand, especially with a shortage of supply from low-geopolitical risk jurisdictions. For instance, earlier this year, Canada announced its Critical Minerals List, with 31 minerals that are key to the country’s economy, are available in Canada and are expected to play an important role in moving to a low-carbon future. These include cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel. The companies featured: Canada Nickel; Cypress Development; First Cobalt (since rebranded Electra Battery Materials); Lithium South Development; Neo Lithium; Nickel 28 Capital; United Lithium; Vital Metals.

No. 5: Kirkland Lake Gold’s Detour Lake on course to be a world-class gold mine, says CEO Tony Makuch

By Carl A. Williams (May 13, 2021)

Kirkland Lake Gold plans to transform its Detour Lake mine in northern Ontario into one of the world’s largest and most profitable good mines, says Tony Makuch, the company’s president and CEO.

There is a much larger and higher-grade deposit at Detour Lake than is reflected in the project’s current mineral resource, he said in an interview. “We see significant growth potential in the project’s mineral endowment, which, combined with a new mining plan, will lead to a significant increase in production and improved unit costs compared with the past operation of the mine.”

No. 6: Canada’s Top Ten royalty and streaming companies by market cap

By Northern Miner Staff (June 25, 2021)

Royalty and streaming companies have grown in number and popularity over the years. Here are the top ten royalty and streaming companies headquartered in Canada ranked by market capitalisation as of June 3 and compiled by Mining Intelligence. The companies were: Franco-Nevada; Wheaton Precious Metals; Osisko Gold Royalties; Labrador Iron Ore Royalty; Sandstorm Gold; Maverix Metals; Altius Minerals; Nomad Royalty; Metalla Royalty and Streaming; and EMX Royalty.

No. 7: Base and Battery Metals Snapshot: Eight companies pursuing critical minerals

By Magda Gardner (February 19, 2021)

Amidst a growing move towards electrification and emerging concerns about the sourcing of raw materials, base and battery metals exploration and development assets in North America are on investors’ radar screens. Below, we provide an overview of eight companies in the space. The snapshot featured: Canada Nickel; Dore Copper; First Cobalt; Fuse Cobalt; Graphite One; Manganese X Energy; QC Copper & Gold; Rokmaster Resources.

No. 8: CRU World Copper Conference: Friedland on the new world order

By Trish Saywell (April 14, 2021)

Robert Friedland, the founder and executive co-chairman of Ivanhoe Mines gave a keynote presentation at this year’s virtual CRU World Copper Conference. Filmed from his home in Singapore on April 13, the billionaire spoke about what the electric future will look like and what needs to happen to the supply chain to get there. He also called copper a “national security issue.” What follows is a transcript of his comments.

No. 9: Goldman Sachs calls copper ‘the new oil’

By Trish Saywell (April 16)

In a new report on copper, global investment bank Goldman Sachs says meeting the Paris climate goals and supporting the green transition away from fossil fuels and towards electrification will see a surge in copper demand and forecasts a long-term supply gap of 8.2 million tonnes of the metal by 2030, the “highest on record” and “twice the size of the gap that triggered the bull market in copper in the early 2000s.”

The authors — Nicholas Snowdon, Daniel Sharp and Jeffrey Currie — estimate that by 2030, copper demand from green electrification “will grow nearly 600% to 5.4 MT in our base case and 900% to 8.7Mt in the case of hyper adoption of green technologies.”

No. 10: USA Rare Earth outlines domestic mine-to-magnet strategy

By Trish Saywell (January 7, 2021)

Since founding privately held USA Rare Earth three years ago, Pini Althaus has focused on turning his vision of creating a secure supply of rare earth elements in the United States a reality. The New York-based CEO is equally determined to establish REE separation and processing capability in the U.S. and build manufacturing facilities for magnets containing the critical elements that are used in everything from American Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets to electric vehicles and wind turbines.