From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   $67 Billion of Rare Minerals Is Buried Under One of the World’s Biggest   
   Carbon Sinks   
   By Vipal Monga, Sept. 28, 2023, WSJ   
   The pace of the global transition to electric vehicles depends on the future   
   of a remote region in Canada known as the Ring of Fire.   
      
   Located underneath a distant, swampy expanse of spruce forests and meandering   
   rivers in Northern Ontario that is cut off from major roads, the Ring of Fire   
   is seen by industry and government officials as one of the world’s most   
   important untapped    
   sources of nickel, copper and cobalt—metals essential for making the   
   batteries that power electric vehicles.   
      
   But the precious commodities are buried under a vast ecosystem of peat bogs,   
   known by local groups as “the breathing lands,” that hold more carbon per   
   square foot than even the Amazon rainforest. Digging them up could trigger the   
   release of more    
   greenhouse gas than Canada emits in one year, turning one of the earth’s   
   biggest carbon sinks into a major source of emissions, say climate advocates.   
      
   A debate over how, or whether, to tap in to this mother lode, located more   
   than 700 miles Northwest of Toronto, has touched off a fight between mining   
   companies, climate advocates, and indigenous groups as demand for cleaner   
   energy and electric vehicles    
   has surged worldwide.   
      
   “If I have to hop on a bulldozer myself, we’re going to start building   
   roads to the Ring of Fire,” said Doug Ford, the leader of the province of   
   Ontario, which recently signed deals with automakers Volkswagen and Stellantis   
   to build battery-making    
   factories in the province.   
      
   Opponents warn that disturbing the area could have far-reaching consequences.   
      
   “We are threatening to destroy so many forests and peat lands that eat the   
   carbon out of the atmosphere. The impact could be catastrophic,” said Kate   
   Kempton, a lawyer representing indigenous groups that are suing the Ontario   
   government to halt    
   development in Northern Ontario, including in the Ring of Fire, unless the   
   groups agree to it. Canada has signed onto the United Nations declaration   
   which says the country must consult with and get “free prior and informed   
   consent” from indigenous    
   peoples for decisions and projects that affect their communities.   
      
   The Ring of Fire was formed almost three billion years ago, a 1,900-   
   square-mile area larger than the state of Rhode Island. Shifting tectonic   
   plates cracked the continent and mineral-rich magma oozed up from the   
   Earth’s core. Later, a retreating ice    
   sheet left sodden, boggy terrain that covers what metal-industry analysts have   
   estimated to be tens of billions of dollars worth of minerals.   
      
   In 2007, prospectors discovered rich veins of nickel, copper and chromite, a   
   mineral used to make stainless steel that is found mainly in South Africa.   
   Mining marketers named the area after the famous Johnny Cash song, because the   
   mineral deposits in the    
   area showed up as a red crescent in magnetic images.   
      
   The find sparked a rush by North American mining companies such as   
   Toronto-based Noront Resources and Cleveland, Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs,   
   enticed by what the mining industry hailed as an unusually rich mineral   
   bounty.     
      
   Development stagnated, however, due to the high cost of developing the region,   
   and because the area was inaccessible by road. Frustrated by the slow pace,   
   particularly of the biggest nickel deposit, called Eagle’s Nest, Australian   
   billionaire Andrew    
   Forrest bought a stake in Noront through his mining company, Wyloo Metals. He   
   beat out the world’s biggest miner by market value, BHP Group, in a bidding   
   war and acquired Noront in a deal that closed in 2022 for $500 million—a   
   358% premium.   
      
   The Eagle’s Nest deposit is “the most valuable nickel deposit,   
   undeveloped, in the world,” said Forrest in a recent interview. “We’re   
   not going to be able to switch off fossil fuels, which will and are destroying   
   the planet, unless we have    
   abundant supplies of nickel.”   
      
   Wyloo estimates that, along with the nickel that it owns in the Ring of Fire,   
   the deposits of platinum, palladium, copper and chromite could be worth $67   
   billion.   
      
   As EV production has increased, demand has surged for such metals, which are   
   key components in manufacturing electric vehicles and military equipment.   
   Nickel, especially, has been in great demand: Last year, global nickel use   
   totaled 3.16 million metric    
   tons, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a research firm. By 2035,   
   the amount of nickel needed to keep up with global demand will almost double   
   to 6.20 million tons.   
      
   Projects like the Ring of Fire represent a new era for the mining industry.   
   Long considered a dirty and often unfortunate legacy of the industrial   
   economy, mining has taken on a green sheen. Extraction is an essential   
   component of the global movement    
   toward electrification, analysts say.   
      
   The U.S. military is encouraging Wyloo’s Canadian subsidiary to apply for a   
   grant program that supports a U.S. effort to build a supply chain for the   
   materials needed to make batteries and military equipment, and loosen   
   China’s grip on the market,    
   according to people familiar with the discussions. The U.S. military is trying   
   to build up a domestic supply of critical minerals to ensure the U.S. isn’t   
   beholden to geopolitical rivals such as China and Russia.   
      
   “Canada could be the world’s number one supplier of critical minerals if   
   they get it right now,” said Simon Moores, chief executive of Benchmark   
   Mineral Intelligence.    
      
   The Eagle’s Nest deposit is located under an 840-foot-long pond named Hockey   
   Pond. Wyloo geologists estimate there could be 20 million tons of reserves of   
   ore from which the nickel and other metals will be refined.   
      
   To reach it, engineers plan to tunnel 5,300 feet beneath the spongy peat bog,   
   as deep as more than three Empire State Buildings. The company has proposed   
   using wind and solar energy to power operations, using electric vehicles in   
   the mine to reduce    
   emissions, and burying its tailings—the industrial waste from mining—to   
   keep the above-ground scale of the mine as small as possible.    
      
   One company executive described the mine’s proposed footprint relative to   
   the surrounding wilderness as “a pinprick on the back of an elephant.”   
      
      
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