In a scene out of a horror movie, Alberta residents got emergency texts during their recent extreme cold spell, warning of rolling blackouts and a possible failure of the grid. Ironically, Alberta is Canada’s energy capital known for its massive oil and gas reserves.
As temperatures plummeted to -40°, the province had to borrow an emergency 150 megawatts of power from neighboring Saskatchewan.
Aaron, who lives in Calgary, Alberta, braved the cold temperatures to explain a potential solution that involves adding nuclear as a base load power source.
As Canada’s population soars, its productivity and infrastructure must catch up. The Great White North must get its act together and develop logical solutions quickly.
From Discovery to Construction, Mining Projects Require Patience
Mining continues to be a significant source of tax revenue and job creation for the Canadian economy, but projects are taking longer and longer to be approved.
The time it takes to discover, explore, conduct environmental studies (as well as others), and construct a mine has risen to 15.7 years, according to S&P Global. This is terrible news for a nation rich in natural resources like Canada. And as Canadians continue to go abroad to find new mining assets, the risks are increasing, in large part due to the threat of resource nationalism.
Even for one of the world’s largest mining companies, Rio Tinto, it is a tall order to move a project from discovery to production…
27 Years Later, Rio Tinto Presses Go
Construction in Guinea is set to begin after decades of setbacks and false starts, including lawsuits and Rio Tinto’s attempt to sell the project. What is hailed to become the world’s largest mining project, estimated at $20 billion to bring online, will include nearly 600 kilometers of rail and port development.
Rio Tinto’s many partners and the project’s remoteness all played a role in the various delays. The partnership is between Rio Tinto, the Guinean government, five Chinese companies, and two others…
The one positive is it will spread the capital expenditures across many partners, but will be the most challenging project Rio Tinto has ever embarked on.
The lesson here is simple: Mining can be a long slog. Rio Tinto likely didn’t think it would take 27 years when they repurchased the concessions in 1997. Before investing, investors need to understand their end game. Most of us don’t have decades to wait, let alone several years.
Companies Scramble to Deploy Conversational AI
The days of speaking to an actual human for customer support may be numbered. Unlike previous basic NLP versions, 2024’s conversational artificial intelligence is expected to mimic natural human interaction closely. For investors, this will create a wide range of opportunities. According to Amropali Shetty, in The Future of Conversational AI from yellow.ai,
“The global conversational AI market size to grow from USD 6.8 billion in 2021 to USD 18.4 billion by 2026, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21.8% during the forecast period.”
Few sectors present that kind of growth rate potential…
Suppose this tech continues to evolve as quickly as platforms like CHAT GPT did in 2023… In that case, humans will soon start having lifelike conversations with machines, and machines will begin having lifelike discussions with themselves!
Is Deep-Sea Mining Ethical?
Norway is poised to become the first nation on earth to begin the contentious practice of commercial-scale deep-sea mining. Mining has long been a target of Greenpeace and other environmental groups, and countries are racing to find new sources of strategic minerals, with some looking to the ocean. As we literally move into uncharted waters, the definition of a mining project may soon change.
The deep sea is home to rocks known as nodules, which contain minerals critical to the green revolution, including lithium, scandium, and cobalt.
Located at a depth of 3,000 metres, Norway has opened up an area the size of Ecuador for commercial deep-sea mining. With parts of the ocean littered with rare and precious metals, some argue it was only a matter of time before countries authorized mining companies to collect the nodules; however, it is unknown what effect removing millions of tons of material from the ocean floor will have on ecosystems.
