Free Republic

A former American diplomat who served as a U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been arrested and accused of secretly serving as an agent of Cuba’s government, according to The Associated Press. Officials say Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested in Miami on Friday on a criminal complaint. According to sources, more details about the case are expected to be made public at a court appearance Monday. One of the two people who came forward with the complaint said the Justice Department case accuses Rocha of working to promote the Cuban government’s interests.

Archaeologists conducting surveys of retreating ice patches have found perishable artefacts associated with ancient mining activities. The study, published in the Journal of Field Archaeology, reports that the researchers have found over 50 perishable artefacts near Goat Mountain and the Kitsu Plateau, located in northern British Columbia, Canada. Among the artefacts are stitched containers made from birch bark, wooden walking staffs, intricately carved and beveled sticks, an atlatl dart foreshaft, and a boot crafted from stitched hide. According to the researchers: “Most of the perishable artefacts were manufactured from wood, including birch bark containers, projectile shafts, and walking staffs. Of...

An American retired lawyer and university professor was caught on camera on Tuesday shooting dead two climate change protesters in Panama. Kenneth Darlington, 77, appeared before a judge in the town of La Espiga on Wednesday afternoon, and after a two-hour hearing was remanded in custody. Eliécer Plicett, a lawyer for the two victims, both of them teachers, said Darlington was being charged with murder and illegal possession of a gun, TVN Noticias reported. Darlington was seen on Tuesday, in front of a large number of photographers and television crews, walking up to a road block on a section of...

KEY POINTS: * A copper deficit is set to inundate global markets throughout 2023, fueled by increasingly challenged South American supply streams and higher demand pressures. * Copper is a leading pulse check for economic health, and the red metal’s squeeze could be an indicator that global inflationary pressures could worsen, and subsequently compel central banks to maintain their hawkish stances for longer. ***************************************************************************************** A copper deficit is set to inundate global markets throughout 2023 — and one analyst predicts the shortfall could potentially extend throughout the rest of the decade. The world is currently facing a global copper shortage,...

An elderly American has been arrested after a gunman was caught on camera walking up to environmental protesters blocking a Panamanian highway Tuesday and blasting two of them to death. Disturbing footage showed a man with gray hair and glasses casually approaching the blockade on the Pan-American Highway and waving his finger while arguing with the demonstrators — before pulling out a gun and opening fire. Other footage showed people standing around bodies in the road in the Chame sector west of Panama City as well as the gunman being cuffed and led to a squad car. Police later shared...

In accordance with section 506A(a)(3)(B) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(3)(B)), I am providing advance notification of my intent to terminate the designation of the Central African Republic, the Gabonese Republic (Gabon), Niger, and the Republic of Uganda (Uganda) as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). I am taking this step because I have determined that the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the eligibility requirements of section 104 of the AGOA. Specifically, the Government of the Central African Republic has engaged in gross violations...

Grab your popcorn, because there’s a full-speed, head-on collision between the left’s competing interests coming, and it’s fixing to be gory. From an item that appeared in The Wall Street Journal at the end of September: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...

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam plans to restart its biggest rare-earths mine next year with a Western-backed project that could rival the world's largest, according to two companies involved, as part of a broader push to dent China's dominance in a sector that helps power advanced technologies. The move would be a step toward the Southeast Asian country's aim of building up a rare-earths supply chain, including developing its capacity to refine ores into metals used in magnets for electric vehicles, smartphones and wind turbines. As an initial step, Vietnam's government intends to launch tenders for multiple blocks of its Dong...

China’s exports of two rare minerals essential for manufacturing semiconductors fell to zero in August, a month after Beijing imposed curbs on sales overseas, citing national security. China produces about 80% of the world’s gallium and about 60% of germanium, according to the Critical Raw Materials Alliance, but it didn’t sell any of the elements on international markets last month, Chinese customs data released on Wednesday showed. In July, the country exported 5.15 metric tons of forged gallium products and 8.1 metric tons of forged germanium products. When asked about the lack of exports last month, He Yadong, a spokesperson...

Tens of millions of people — more than live in the entire state of Florida — are now exposed to toxic water runoff from metal mining, a new study has found. The report lays bare the devastating impacts that can follow a reckless transition to 'green' energy, compounding the ecological damage wrought by over 150 years of drilling and mining for fossil fuels. The researchers found that 23 million people worldwide, as well as 5.72 million in livestock, over 16 million acres of irrigated farmland and over 297,800 miles worth of rivers have been contaminated by mining's toxic byproducts seeping...

President Joe Biden’s commitment to his green energy agenda, with Electric Vehicles (EVs) at the forefront, without first securing a fierce American supply chain is likely to cede United States economic power to its biggest adversary, China. The United Auto Workers (UAW) are now striking against the top three automakers, General Motors (GM), Ford, and Stellantis. The union has continuously asked for a contract that ensures security for auto workers amid Biden’s EV push which, if not coupled with an ambitious manufacturing agenda, may eliminate millions of U.S. jobs.

A lithium deposit discovered in a volcanic crater along the Nevada-Oregon border may hold up to 40 million metric tons of the rare metal — possibly the largest ever in the world, which could have a massive impact on the electric vehicle industry, according to a new study. The deposit hidden within the McDermitt Caldera is estimated to hold between 20 million and 40 million metric tons, which would be nearly double the current record of about 23 million metric tons found over the summer beneath a Bolivian salt flat, researchers reported in Science Advances. It would also greatly boost...

25 refrigerators. That’s how much the additional electricity consumption per household would be if the average US home adopted electric vehicles (EVs). (Article cross-posted from International Man.) Congressman Thomas Massie—an electrical engineer—revealed this information while discussing with Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, President Biden’s plan to have 50% of cars sold in the US be electric by 2030. The current and future grid in most places will not be able to support each home running 25 refrigerators—not even close. Just look at California, where the grid is already buckling under the existing load. Massie claims, correctly, in my view,...

The U.S. is turning to a much-criticized source as it races to secure supplies of battery metals to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles. To do so, it is homing in on cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s informal mining sector, where miners, sometimes including children, often work with no safety equipment in dangerous, hand-dug mines. Congo supplies around 70% of the world’s cobalt, a key metal in the lithium-ion batteries used in EVs, with about a third of that coming from these so-called artisanal miners. The U.S. Agency for International Development said earlier this year that it...

Joe Biden just solidified Russia’s near-monopoly on global uranium production. Using the Antiquities Act of 1906, Biden declared a national monument on 1 million acres of uranium-rich Arizona land, rendering hundreds of uranium deposits unmineable. America spends $1 billion annually on Russian uranium. U.S. nuclear reactors use uranium that comes from the Russian nuclear company Rosatom, which also supplies missile fuel to Russia’s military. Domestic uranium production has bipartisan support, as did the ban on Russian oil and gas imports in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Senate last week added an almost-unanimous amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act...

President Joe Biden will sign a proclamation on Tuesday establishing a new monument at Arizona’s Grand Canyon, protecting nearly 1 million acres of public land that some Native American tribes consider sacred grounds. . . . The move will also prohibit new uranium mining claims. Some local Mohave County leaders support protecting the land but opposed the ban on mining, citing the $29 billion worth of uranium deposits it holds.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is setting out Monday on a Western swing aimed at showcasing his work on conservation, clean energy and veterans’ benefits as he seeks to draw an implicit contrast between his administration’s accomplishments and former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles. Biden’s first stop will be the Grand Canyon, where he’s expected to announce plans for a new national monument to preserve more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) and limit uranium mining. After Arizona, he will travel to New Mexico and Utah. The Democratic president will be in Albuquerque on Wednesday and will talk about...

The Biden administration is considering designating a million acres of land surrounding the Grand Canyon as a new national monument, which would bar uranium mining in the area. The move comes after years of lobbying by local Native American tribes and environment advocates for beefed-up protections against uranium mining in areas surrounding the second-most popular national park in the country.

MAGNOLIA, Ark.—Slipping a handgun into his belt, the mayor of this small town hopped out of his 1995 Ford pickup and went in search of further evidence of a new energy boom. On the other side of freshly painted gate, Mayor Parnell Vann pointed out a squat blue spire of valves, bolts and pressure gauges attached to a long-dormant well—a telltale sign someone means to bring it back to life. On the thick-wooded back roads, crisscrossing fields where oil drillers gave up long ago, Vann found two more similar wells that day. These days, companies in the area aren’t looking...

Global cobalt demand soared with the advent of cell phones and laptop computers. It exploded with the arrival of electric vehicles and now is skyrocketing in tandem with government EV mandates and subsidies. Cobalt improves battery performance, extends driving range and reduces fire risks. Demand will reach stratospheric heights if governments remain obsessed with climate change and Net Zero. States and nations would have to switch to electric cars, trucks, buses and tractors; end coal and gas electricity generation; convert gas furnaces, water heaters and stoves to electricity; and provide alternative power for windless, sunless periods. Electricity generation would triple...