Re: Don’t forget Re: Trudeau government doing spadework on minerals crucial to economy-Noront
posted on
Dec 06, 2019 11:12AM
NI 43-101 Update (September 2012): 11.1 Mt @ 1.68% Ni, 0.87% Cu, 0.89 gpt Pt and 3.09 gpt Pd and 0.18 gpt Au (Proven & Probable Reserves) / 8.9 Mt @ 1.10% Ni, 1.14% Cu, 1.16 gpt Pt and 3.49 gpt Pd and 0.30 gpt Au (Inferred Resource)
The US is very aware of Noront as part of their critical minerals list.....
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The Department of the Interior today published a list of 35 mineral commodities considered critical to the economic and national security of the United States. This list will be the initial focus of a multi-agency strategy due in August this year to implement President Donald J. Trump's Executive Order to break America's dependence on foreign minerals
At the direction of Secretary Zinke, on February 16, 2018, Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey published a draft list of 35 critical minerals under Executive Order 13817. A report summarizing the methodology for compiling the list and background information can be found here.
Today, after consideration of the 453 public comments received, the Department of the Interior decided that the methodology used to draft the list remains valid and finalized the original list of 35 critical minerals in the Federal Register.
“The expertise of the USGS is absolutely vital to reducing America’s vulnerability to disruptions in our supply of critical minerals,” said Dr. Tim Petty, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.
The list includes aluminum—used in almost all sectors of the economy; the platinum group metals—used for catalytic agents; rare-earth elements—used in batteries and electronics; tin—used as protective coatings and alloys for steel; and titanium—overwhelmingly used as a white pigment or as a metal alloy. A full list of the 35 mineral commodities follows.
This list of critical minerals, while “final,” is not intended as a permanent designation of criticality, but will be a dynamic list updated periodically to represent current data on supply, demand, and concentration of production, as well as current policy priorities.
Under the Executive Order, the Commerce Department is responsible for organizing the interagency responses into a final report which is due Aug. 16, 2018, to the President. The report will include:
This report will, as appropriate, include analyses and strategies to strengthen and sustain the supply chains for all minerals, and analyses and strategies targeted to minerals deemed critical based on this 2018 analysis. For example, because the permitting of minerals development activities is administered under existing mineral disposal laws and regulations, any recommendations to improve permitting processes for critical minerals will improve permitting processes for all minerals administered under the same laws and regulations by the Bureau of Land Management and other Federal land management agencies..
The full list of critical minerals includes the following—click a mineral’s name to find relevant statistics and publications:
Under the Executive Order, these commodities qualify as “critical minerals” because each has been identified as a non-fuel mineral or mineral material that is essential to the economic and national security of the United States, that has a supply chain vulnerable to disruption, and that serves an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for the economy or national security.
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Under chromium as of sept 2019....
Chromium (Cr) has a wide range of uses in metals, chemicals, and refractories. It is one of the Nation's most important strategic and critical materials. Chromium use in iron, steel, and nonferrous alloys enhances hardenability and resistance to corrosion and oxidation. The use of chromium to produce stainless steel and nonferrous alloys are two of its more important applications. Other applications are in alloy steel, plating of metals, pigments, leather processing, catalysts, surface treatments, and refractories.
AlbChrome, a chromium ore and ferrochromium producer in Albania, announced it would keep operations shuttered at two ferrochromium furnaces following a period of maintenance. AlbChrome cited low ferrochromium prices and an oversupply as reasons for the extended shutdown (CRU Group, 2019a).
Noront Resources Ltd. (Canada) entered into a 5-year option agreement with Algoma Steel Inc. (Canada) to lease a brownfield property in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, for the construction of a ferrochromium plant that will process chromite ore from its Ring of Fire deposits. According to the agreement, the lease can be renewed for a period of 99 years (Noront Resources Ltd., 2019).
Walsin Yantai Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. (China) entered into an agreement with Primetals Technologies Ltd. (United Kingdom) for the design and construction of a new stainless-steel combination plant that can convert stainless steel billet into finished products, including stainless steel straight bars, bars-in-coil, and wire rod. The expansion project was expected to begin in late 2020 (CRU Group, 2019b; Primetals Technologies Ltd., 2019).