Lithium in SK, Part 36: EMP Metals gets Sask Critical Minerals Program support, permits, and starts construction on Viewfield demo plant.
Also:
About that CEO letter to Build Canada Now…
Drilling rig report sees busier northwest Saskatchewan
Pipeline Online Podcast launches today
The Pipeline Online Podcast launches Jan. 20, with Brian Zinchuk and Bronwyn Eyre as co-hosts. The inaugural guest will be former Saskatchewan Minister of Finance, as well as Minister of Industry and Resources Eric Cline re his book Squandered: Canada’s Potash Legacy, and dig deep into royalties. Should they ever be changed, not just for potash, but oil and other commodities?
My cohost, Bronwyn Eyre, is former Saskatchewan Attorney General and Minister of Justice. But more significantly, she was Minister of Energy and Resources for four years. She’s been in the room where it happened, so to speak.
Assuming everything works, you should be able to watch it live at 1 p.m., Saskatchewan time, on:
- X here: https://x.com/Pipeline_Online
- Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pipelineonlineca
- LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianzinchuk/recent-activity/all/
It will be recorded and posted to YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more, where you will be able to subscribe and follow on your favourite podcast app.
The plan is to do this twice a month. It might not be a regular schedule, but we’ll do as best we can.
Also:
Cenovus, Vermilion and Whitecap sign on to support new Oil and Gas 20 and 30 high school courses
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 1722 times…
What did 1722 Alberta wind turbines have in common? 0.007 per cent output at noon on Sunday
But hey! At that very moment, at noon, solar’s output was less than 10 per cent!
The number was so low that if you enter those numbers into your Windows calculator app (0.39 megawatts / 5476 megawatts), it will give you the scientific notation of 7.121986851716581e-5.
That’s right – the percentage was in scientific notation, because normal numbers don’t go that low. And this is after many, many billions spend on wind.
I keep asking: Why are we throwing away what we know works, for what we know absolutely does not work?
Electricity is the very oxygen of our economy. When you have lots of oxygen to breathe, no problem. The very second you run out – big problem. And we are entrusting our very lives with technology that continually completely collapses in a widespread basis. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 49 times (the number of Alberta wind farms) shame on me. And fool me 1722 times (the number of Alberta grid-scale wind turbines) … well, you get the idea.
Also:
Digging deep on the lithium and potash Crown land sale – a 97:1 ratio on land prices, just 30 miles apart
Critical minerals incentives
Lithium in SK, Part 31: Critical Mineral Incentives implemented. Lithium and helium, as well as other critical minerals, are impacted. There’s a lot going on in the lithium space right now, and more stories to come.
The story includes the full press conference, as well as a video from Arizona Lithium showing an animation of the process.
Also: A search committee has been struck to look for a new head of the Alberta Energy Regulator. Sounds like there might be some politics involved. Prior to his stint as CEO of the Alberta Energy Regulator, Laurie Pushor was Saskatchewan Deputy Minister of Energy and Resources from 2015-2020.
Critical minerals, railways and helium
Expanded mineral exploration incentive drives increased investment in Saskatchewan, says Sask Gov’t Did you know someone found some gold in northern Saskatchewan?
The latest developments in the lockout at Canada’s two biggest railways – a minute-by-minute timeline
Trevor Rose Podcast: Greg Robb, CEO of Helium Evolution, which is active in southern Saskatchewan.
Asleep at the switch
There’s a lot going on in Saskatchewan’s lithium sector these days. I’ll have several stories soon. This is a rather significant one:
Apparently our federal government is asleep at the switch, because our economy is about to come crashing down on us and they’re in la-la land, allowing the entire rail sector to shut down in less than 24 hours.
In Quebec, it’s not just hydro electricity these days.
Boralex announces the closing of a $95 million financing for the Témiscouata II wind farm in Quebec
This lithium thing in Saskatchewan is getting real, while U of C sees the light
Lithium in SK, Part 29: Arizona Lithium begins drilling commercial production wells near Torquay
If Arizona Lithium is successful, we will hopefully start producing commercial lithium in Saskatchewan next year. That’s an entirely new resource industry, producing jobs, taxes and royalties.
These are exciting times. EMP Metal and ROK Resources (Hub City Lithium) are doing their pilot plant testing in Estevan. I’ll have a story on that soon. A third company is also at this moment drilling lithium wells in southeast Saskatchewan, and I expect to have a story on that later in the summer. Hopefully today’s story on the start of commercialization is just the first of many!
Please note the early part of the story credits the work done by Ben Rostron, the Saskatchewan Geological Survey, and Gavin Jensen, without which it is unlikely much of anything like this would be happening today. And that is why that recent announcement of $10 million for further research by the survey is so critical.
And also note – every single service company working on this project, as far as I’m aware, works in oil and gas. Without the oil and gas industry, we would not have the start of a lithium industry.
Also:
I’ve written the biographies for the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show awards. I haven’t been posting them here because it’s a bit too much insider baseball, but if you’ve driven around any oilfield and seen a bent pumpjack, you can credit this man, Paul Cheung. He and his partners literally changed the Saskatchewan landscape. And along the way he’s owned oil companies, drilling rig companies, and a service rig company.
Finally:
In an incredibly stupid move, the University of Calgary, headquarters of the Canadian oilpatch, stopped new intakes into its petroleum engineering program. Three years later, they realized how dumb that was and reopened the program. Funny thing, I was just talking to some people last week about how dumb this was. Could you imagine if the University of Saskatchewan got rid of its agriculture program? Or UBC got rid of forestry? These are the very foundations of each of those province’s economies. And Alberta has the third largest petroleum reserves ON THE PLANET. But nope, don’t need any more petroleum engineers.
University of Calgary looks to relaunch oil engineering program after hiatus.
About bloody time
Six years ago, they scratched dirt on TMX. Finally, FINALLY, it is nearing completion, and expected to enter service May 1.
The original pipeline was built over 65 years ago with equipment that largely didn’t even have hydraulics, and absolutely did not have computers, GPS, laser measurement or anything else like that. And they did it in 16 months.
Also:
Brian Zinchuk on Evan Bray Show: Multilateral wells, oil royalties, TMX pipeline, lithium, helium and more
Carbon and lithium
Working through the periodic table:
Lithium in SK, Part 27: Lithium Bank sells Estevan area land to unnamed buyer
Those Lloydminster folks aren’t too happy about the carbon tax.
Nor are a bunch of other people happy about the carbon tax.
And regarding hydrogen and carbon in the form of methane and other natural gas liquids,
Pembina closes Alliance Pipeline deal with Enbridge
As a note, The Alliance Pipeline runs right through Saskatchewan. I started work on it three weeks after my May, 1999 wedding. I was the only guy on my road bore crew of 12 married once! Most were on their second marriage, a few on their third, one I think on his fourth. At that point you walk into a bar, find a woman you don’t like, and give her your house.
In six weeks, it’ll be 25 years for us. So that pipeline project has some meaning for me.
Lithium development in Saskatchewan is getting serious
Lithium in SK, Part 26: Enter the big boys: 70-year-old Denison Mines buys into Grounded Lithium’s Kindersley project
Lithium rights – making sure we all make money
A few years ago I realized that there was serious potential for a big conflict between various rights holders of oil, gas, helium, lithium and geothermal. So I started asking hard questions about it. Last year, the Ministry of Energy and Resources got many of the players in a big room with a pile of staff from various ministries to try to sort it all out. This story is a follow up to that process. Note there seems to have been some movement on the helium front last fall which I was not aware of. It will likely end up as a separate story soon.
Also, apparently the royalty for lithium is pegged at 3 per cent.
Lithium in SK Part 25: Primacy of rights, revisited
A lot more news to come on the lithium front. Keep your eyes peeled.
Lithium in Saskatchewan – getting closer to commercialization
Enough of this writing about wind and solar collapsing! Time to get back to some energy stories!
Lithium in SK, Part 24: Hub City Lithium releases preliminary economic assessment for Viewfield project. If it works out, after-tax payout projected in 2.4 years.
Prairie Lithium had some announcements this month and I hope to catch up with them shortly. They released a similar sort of thing. Grounded Lithium had a similar release last summer. That means three players are getting closer to commercialization. As I keep saying, this could be the cusp of a multi-billion dollar industry for Saskatchewan. I sure hope so.
Whatever you think of electric vehicles, someone’s going to make money making those batteries. So we might as well put some of that money in our pockets in Saskatchewan.
And on that front, Ford cut a shift from its F-150 Lightning plant. I sent Ford a long list of questions about how Lightnings perform in -35 C. Let’s see if they respond. What do you think?
IF EVs are all the rage…
Why aren’t lithium prices soaring? Pipeline Online columnist and U of R professor Jim Warren wonders.
(On this note, there were several recent developments in the lithium and helium space in Saskatchewan in recent weeks. Watch for upcoming stories.)
And drilling is just starting to get going in the new year, with Just eight rigs drilling in Saskatchewan on Jan. 2
Full interview with Scott Moe on Saskatchewan’s year in energy
Saskatchewan’s Year in Energy: Premier Scott Moe, 2023: Full Interview
If you didn’t have a chance to see this interview posted in four pieces before, here is the full year-end interview between Premier Scott Moe and Pipeline Online editor and owner Brian Zinchuk
Also, Premier Scott Moe’s social media folks posted the Pipeline Online story about the carbon tax on Saturday:
Saskatchewan families can say so long to paying the carbon tax on home heating beginning on Monday!https://t.co/y2ZC7fLaSN
— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) December 30, 2023
That bill there is directly from my father’s Jan. 2023 bill, when the carbon tax was still $50 per tonne. In April, it’ll be $80 a tonne. Without getting into too much detail, the shop that was connect to his natural gas is no longer. Thank God.
It was rather entertaining to read some of the comments, like suggesting my 80-year-old father should pay for upgrading the heating on his home (with only his meager CPP and OAS). Because every 80 year old will see a return in 10 years on such an investment. Certainly.
Another suggested he must be in a high income bracket – nothing could be further from the truth. Or that Trudeau’s climate action cheques must be enough to compensate.
True believers, those.
Anyhow, happy new year, everyone! And if you live in Saskatchewan and have SaskEnergy or SaskPower for home heating, happy no more carbon tax, on that, at least, year!
Lithium, helium, and conclusion of Moe interview
Saskatchewan’s Year in Energy: Premier Scott Moe, 2023: Part 4: Lithium, Helium, Conclusion
In the last year, two lithium companies are working on pilot projects for lithium commercialization. North American Helium increased its number of helium processing facilities from three to seven. Royal Helium, having just completed its first helium processing site in Alberta, may develop its Climax, Saskatchewan properties next.
Lithium land sale in Saskatchewan
Lithium in SK, Part 23: November Crown land sale shows expanding positions
Interestingly, the heart of some of the action is precisely where the heart of the Saskatchewan Bakken boom action took place.
Remember, this entire lithium adventure is being done with oilfield service companies and workers.
Lithium in SK: Arizona Lithium moving towards commercialization with pilot plant
Lithium in SK, Part 22: Arizona Lithium is running its pilot plant for Torquay project, elaborates on commercialization plans for 2025.
Whatever you have to say about electric vehicles, the phone or laptop you’re reading this on has a lithium battery. And all the services being used to develop this in Saskatchewan are oilfield services companies.
Billions for batteries
Trudeau continues on his billions for batteries announcement track. This time, Maple Ridge, B.C. Maybe he ran out of places in Ontario and Quebec?
And Greta pleads not guilty to protest-related charges. Because of course, she did. Everything she does is for the good of the planet, after all.
They’re just not that into Saskatchewan anymore…
Crescent Point Energy increases in size by a third with purchase of Montney player Hammerhead Energy Inc. for $2.55 billion. The company is in the hunt again, but its focus is Alberta, not Saskatchewan.
This is significant news. I’ve been saying for a while that Crescent Point has lost interest in Saskatchewan, and any day now we can expect the company to sell off its assets here. Note that both Shaunavon and Weyburn have rinks called “Crescent Point Place” and the lounge at the Estevan rink is similarly named. I pointed out in the story the company for a brief time was Saskatchewan’s largest oil producer. They did over 20 acquisitions (actually closer to 30, I believe), most of them in Saskatchewan, creating many millionaires and making a lot of people rich. But these days it is readily apparent their interest is elsewhere. The only references to Saskatchewan were, at the top of the list of highlights, that this deal “Transforms company into a Montney and Kaybob Duvernay focused E&P with complementary long-cycle assets in Saskatchewan.”
Also noteworthy – with this announcement they are increasing the Alberta proportion of their capital expenditure to 80%, up from the 70% from just a few weeks ago. It wasn’t that long ago, it was more like 95% in Saskatchewan.
So if you want to know why our drilling rig count is down so much, why $80 to $90 oil doesn’t have activity shooting up in this province – here’s your answer.
Also, Guilbeault says no more carbon price carve outs on his watch, as Tory motion fails.
And some nutjobs attacked a painting, in London, again. But since there’s glass over paintings now to protect them from paint, these folks used hammers.
If someone’s going to make billions in the lithium world, maybe we in Saskatchewan should put some of that in our pocket. One of the three active lithium explorers in Saskatchewan is moving closer to commercialization. This is a video I did showing what’s going on. Lots of cool shots of earthmovers.
Poilievre will push LNG, SMRs, hydro dams and continued oil production
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took some time to speak about energy during his keynote speech to the Conservative national policy convention in Quebec City on Sept. 8. In those comments, he spoke about natural liquefaction extensively, as well as small modular reactors, hydroelectricity, tidal power and oil production. He mentioned more wind power, but did not speak of solar power generation. He also referred to producing minerals for electrification in Canada instead of China. This was an oblique reference to lithium, without actually mentioning lithium.
If you didn’t catch it – Steven Guilbeault crashed the Conservative policy convention in Quebec City. He wondered if Pierre Poilievre believed in climate change. Here’s some of what he had to say.
Alberta’s E3 Lithium might be first out of the gate with a pilot lithium plant, but several are in the works for Saskatchewan. And E3’s stated lithium concentration is 74.5 mg/L, while at Coleville, SK, Grounded Lithium also reports 74 mg/L. Arizona Lithium says they have up to 172 mg/L at Torquay. Hub City Lithium says it has concentrations of up to 259 mg/L at Viewfield (Stoughton). From Canadian Press: Alberta enters global lithium race with opening of first extraction pilot project.
A geologist I know once told me “All things being equal, Alberta has better rocks (than Saskatchewan).” Perhaps that’s true for oil, but it could be the inverse for lithium. Time will tell.
And from the Associated Press – Apparently the Germans figure they can get rid of fossil fuel heating. This, in a nation that doesn’t get much sun or wind, but had been building solar and wind facilities like crazy while shutting down all its nuclear plants. To quote C-3P0, “This is madness!”