GoviEx Uranium (TSXV: GXU) no longer has rights over the perimeter of the Madaouela mining permit following the Niger government’s decision on Thursday to withdraw its licence, dealing a big blow to the development of one of the world’s largest uranium projects.

The Vancouver-based uranium miner had feared that its licence could be revoked if mining could not start by July 3, 2024, a deadline set by Niger’s military leaders who came into power around this time last year.

In a press release, the company said that the licence withdrawal “does not follow the procedure prescribed under the applicable mining code” in Niger, and it reserves the right to challenge the decision before the competent national or international jurisdictions.

Shares of GoviEx Uranium plummeted 41.2% to a 52-week low of C$0.50 by 2 p.m. ET on the latest development, dropping its market capitalization to C$38.3 million ($28.1m).

GoviEx also believes that the government’s decision to withdraw the mining rights for the Madaouela project will have a negative impact on the economic and social development of the region.

According to the World Nuclear Association, Niger is a top 10 uranium producer in the world and the second-largest producer in Africa. The ruling government currently has a 20% stake in GoviEx’s Madaouela project, which contains one of the largest uranium resources globally.

Madaouela development

The company first began operations in Niger in 2007, and since then has completed an unprecedented 650,000 metres of drilling to define its potential mineral resource and advance the project through periods of low uranium prices.

The project reached its feasibility stage in late 2022. The technical report estimated that the Madaouela project could host proven and probable reserves of 5.4 million tonnes grading 0.87 kg per tonne uranium oxide (U₃O₈) for 12.3 million lb. of U₃O₈.

With an expected cost of $343 million, the Madaouela project was poised for development and had started to advance despite the political changes in Niger on July 26, 2023. Production over the life of mine is forecast at 50.8 million lb. of U₃O₈, or nearly 2.7 million lb. a year.

Over the past year, GoviEx has received expressions of interest in excess of $200 million for project-related debt finance, started social and environmental due diligence with a prospective lender, updated its environmental and social impact assessment, commenced front-end engineering designs and initial ground works, including the construction of an access road and started exploitation.

As recently as last month, the company received its radiological certificate, which is a regulatory requirement prior to starting mining operations.

Niger’s moves

Since January, Niger has temporarily suspended the granting of new mining licences and also ordered an audit of the sector. Madaouela now represents the second high-profile uranium project that the self-appointed government has taken away.

In June, French miner Orano had its permit for the Imouraren project revoked. That project, also containing one of the world’s largest reserves, had its permit awarded in 2009 but has been put on hold by the company pending favourable market conditions.

Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the federal government wants to meet with Vale (NYSE: VALE) representatives to “demand” that the mining company compensate the families affected by the dam collapse in Brumadinho and Mariana, Minas Gerais, in 2015.

“Next week, we have to call Vale and demand that they pay for the damages that people have suffered,” said Lula in a speech during a ceremony announcing federal government investments in Pernambuco.

Lula has repeatedly criticized Vale for not paying compensation to the victims of the two dam collapses that killed a total of 289 people. Last week, he said the mining company was “dragging its feet.”

“To this day, the company has not paid the rights of the poor people,” Lula added.

The Brazilian President is expected to meet with Vale representatives next week.

Lawyers representing claimants taking legal action over the 2015 Mariana disaster filed an injunction last week against miners BHP (NYSE: BHP) and Vale for allegedly “trying to derail” a potential £36 billion ($46 billion) London lawsuit.

Vale, BHP and their joint venture Samarco presented Brazilian authorities with a $26.09 billion offer to settle reparations for the dam collapse earlier in June after Brazil rejected a previous offer.

For Brumadinho, a settlement agreement was reached in February 2021, two years after the dam collapsed.

Vale agreed to pay at least 37.68 billion reais ($6.85 billion) in collective damages. Nearly 1.3 billion reais ($240 million) was for direct reparations to the victims’ families.

Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) (TSX: K) has made an investment in Wyoming-focused explorer Relevant Gold (TSXV: RGC) with the purchase of 5.1 million shares at a price of C$0.30 apiece, for a total of C$1.53 million ($1.1m).

The shares acquired represent 9.9% of Relevant’s equity capital, and Kinross will have the right to increase its ownership by 19.9% as per a standard investor rights agreement. The transaction came with warrants to buy half the number of common shares at C$0.35 per share.

Shares of Relevant Gold traded 6.7% higher by 11:20 a.m. ET Thursday on the investment announcement, giving the Vancouver-based junior a market capitalization of C$20.4 million.

“Kinross’s strategic investment represents a strong vote of confidence in our team’s Wyoming exploration vision and ability to execute in the field- we are thrilled to welcome them as a major shareholder and strategic partner,” Relevant Gold CEO Rob Bergmann said in a news release.

He added that this investment marks “a key milestone” for the company as it looks to expand its technical depth, strengthen its corporate structure and bolster its treasury.

The Kinross investment is separate from the private placement that Relevant completed last month, under which it sold approximately 5.78 million units at C$0.25 per unit for proceeds of C$1.44 million. The units also contained one share and one-half warrant.

Proceeds from both placements will go towards exploration on the company’s mineral properties. Relevant currently holds five district-scale projects spread across two gold camps comprising more than 40,000 acres (161.9 sq. km.) in west-central Wyoming. 

Its flagship asset is the 38.8-sq.-km. Golden Buffalo project that historically produced 500 oz. of gold from a 20-metre trench. Drilling in 2022 produced 83.8 grams per tonne gold over 1 metre, with shear-hosted gold mineralization encountered in over half of the holes; rock chip also assayed up to 160 g/t gold.

Relevant’s team believes the Golden Buffalo shear zone, whose strike length was extended to approximately 800 metres, has mineralogy similar to that of the Abitibi region in Canada, which is known for its gold production.

Stocks in certain gold and copper producers are expected to gain this year even as a surge in the metals’ prices subsides, BMO Capital Markets says.

Investors may seek attractive catalysts for higher performance by Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD), Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) and Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), BMO mining analyst Jackie Przybylowski wrote in a note on Friday.

“We’re now seeing increasing expectations for copper and gold commodity prices to remain relatively flat,” Przybylowski said after a tour of investors in the United States and Canada. “Investors are increasingly confident that gold miners are managing cost inflation well and will generate strong free cash flows at current strong gold prices.”

Investors are moving into gold equities from bullion, and the gold price may increase while central banks increase purchases as the United States election approaches, the analyst said. Stockholders favour gold over copper partially because copper has fallen 12% to $4.32 per lb. since $4.93 per lb. on May 20, according to Mining.com.

Equity financing

The BMO analysis ties in with a larger view of mining equity capital raisings on the TSX and TSXV, which rose to C$6 billion in May. Those included Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) C$551 million, Iamgold’s (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) C$411 million and New Gold’s (TSX: NGD; NYSE: NGD) C$235 million. In April, the total was at C$4.6 billion.

The total market capitalization of the 2,682 mining companies listed worldwide increased 4.8% to $2.42 trillion in May, the highest since March 2022, from $2.31 trillion in April, according to S&P Global. Commodity price strength pushed the third consecutive month of increases, it said.

Gold financing rose for a fourth consecutive month in May to $701 million, up 93% from April, S&P said. Four of May’s biggest deals were for gold companies and projects. The total number of mining transactions fell to 230 from 237 in April. Ten deals were valued at more than $30 million each compared with six in April, it said.

Generalist funds are investing in Agnico Eagle, and in Kinross for its strong free cash flow leverage to current strong gold prices, BMO’s Przybylowski says. Kinross may benefit as the market recognizes quality in its assets and locations, she said.

Investors are split in their preferences for Barrick and Newmont (NYSE: NEM; TSX: NGT) and are sometimes pairing them in long/short trades, BMO said. They may waiting for the companies’ next financial reports for more information.

Gold

Gold ended the year’s second quarter at an average price of $2,338 per oz., the highest quarterly price average ever for gold, surpassing the first-quarter average of $2,074 an oz, according to Toronto-based Capitalight Research. The gold price could hit $2,800 per oz. this year though it may fall since the market has already factored in at least one US central bank interest rate cut, it said on Friday.

“It’s not clear that US debt problems, external geopolitical problems and tensions with China, for example, will dissipate any faster under a Trump presidency than under a Biden presidency,” Martin Murenbeeld and Chantelle Schieven wrote in a note. “US data released this week do not point to recession – rather, to a nice soft landing instead.”

Copper

In copper, investors are interested in M&A opportunities and how they can leverage holdings whether companies are buyers or targets, BMO’s Przybylowski said. Like in gold equities, investors are looking for company-specific action to guide them, she said

Lundin Mining’s (TSX: LUN) joint venture at the Josemaria project in Argentina is boosting market sentiment, while some investors expect First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) to restart its Cobre Panama mine by late this year or early 2025. Still, BMO sees First Quantum stock as relatively expensive on a risk/reward basis, the analyst said.

Overall, BMO says investors are more interested in growth and momentum stocks than value equities, ones that may be less expensive than they should be according to various measures.

“Investors remain cautiously supportive of growth and increased leverage to commodity prices, but continue to be concerned about major project cost overruns and changes to geopolitical risk profiles of various mining jurisdictions,” Przybylowski said. “Affordable capital returns can help to signal discipline and are appreciated as a balance or offset to growth.”

BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP), the world’s largest miner, is reportedly reducing by 20% short-term incentives offered for the 2023-24 fiscal year to all employees, the Australian Financial Review reported on Thursday.

The move, according to sources quoted by AFR, comes as BHP failed to meet its internal performance targets.

The company’s management attributed the reduction to failures in meeting cost and production goals in certain divisions, along with an incident that cost the life of a worker at its Saraji coal mine in Queensland in January, according to the article.

“The docking of incentives has upset some BHP employees who contacted the Australian Financial Review pointing to hiring freezes in some divisions that impacted the ability to hit targets and what they see as unrealistic internal goals,” the report said.

This is not the first time BHP has trimmed employee incentives across the globe. In 2019, the company reduced them by 20% due to a number of operational mishaps, such as a train derailment in Western Australia in November 2018 and a fatality – also at the Saraji coal mine – a month later.

Then chief executive Andrew Mackenzie saw his annual pay shrink by almost a quarter by the end of 2019, after other issues, including equipment failures at the Olympic Dam in South Australia and Escondida mines in Chile. 

Last year, CEO Mike Henry promised to step up safety measures across all operations following yet more fatalities.

BHP reported in February that profits for the first half of the year were impacted by a $2.5 billion impairment charge associated with its nickel business in Western Australia and a further another $3.2 billion in payments related to the Samarco dam disaster in Brazil.

The company revealed that it had disbanding certain global corporate teams as part of its cost-cutting measures.

Australian gold miner Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS) has secured a A$175 million ($118m) revolving debt facility, along with government grants, to fund its operations and recent acquisitions.

Top banks, including Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Natixis, and Westpac Banking, have agreed to back Ramelius.

The initial loan term is four years, with the option to extend it for an additional year. This new facility, which has not been utilized yet, is an increased replacement for the previous $100 million facility.

“While Ramelius has a strong balance sheet and we generate significant operating cash flow, we feel it is important to have the added financial flexibility, which this low-cost revolving debt facility provides us,” managing director, Mark Zeptner, said in the statement.

The announcement comes only a day after the company said that the Australian Retirement Trust Pty LTD had boosted its stake in Ramelius, increasing its voting power from 5.013% to 6.036%.

The gold producer acquired last month an 8.9% stake in rival Spartan Resources (ASX: SPR), which is developing the Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia.

Previously, it attempted to take over Canada-based Karora Resources (TSX: KRR), which owns the Beta Hunt gold mine and Higginsville gold operations in Western Australia. The parties ended talks with no agreement reached.

The company tried its luck again in May. This time, it disclosed a merger bid for Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) that had been in the works for month. Negotiations didn’t succeed and in the meantime, Westgold merged with Karora — Ramelius’ previous interest.

Shares in the company rose 1.6% on Thursday, closing at A$1.90 each. This leaves the gold miner with a market capitalization of A$2.17 billion (about $1.46 billion). 

Appian Capital Advisory LLP, the investment advisor to private capital funds that invest solely in the mining industry, announced Wednesday the appointment of Alyssa McAnney as head of legal, global mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Based in New York, McAnney will oversee the legal aspects of all mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and other strategic transactions. She will also support ongoing legal matters at Appian and its portfolio companies.

McAnney has extensive legal experience in debt finance, capital markets and M&A. Prior to joining Appian, she was the assistant general counsel at Newlight Partners LP, a middle-market growth equity firm. Before that, she worked in the M&A department at Kirkland & Ellis in New York and was an associate at Skadden Arps.

McAnney holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School.

“Alyssa has an excellent track record managing complex global legal matters and transactions for private equity firms and their portfolio companies,” Appian CEO Michael Scherb said in a statement.

“Her appointment further strengthens our legal functions and reflects our confidence and commitment to driving growth across the business. We are pleased to welcome Alyssa to Appian.”

Mining technology company Micromine announced that the full versions of its advanced cloud-native data management platform, Micromine Nexus, is now available at no cost to all Micromine customers.

This strategy underscores Micromine’s commitment to driving the next generation of mining efficiency by providing unfettered access to advanced data management tools, thereby empowering mining teams to achieve superior outcomes through enhanced collaboration and data integration across the exploration and mining value chain, the company said.  

“Mining data is not just information; it’s a critical asset that drives the success of exploration and mining operations. By including Micromine Nexus as a value-added offering for all Micromine clients, we are ensuring that every customer has access to the tools they need to manage their data effectively and efficiently,” Micromine’s Product Strategy Manager, Platform Kiril Alampieski said in a news release.  

“This move sets a new industry standard for data accessibility and reliability, underscoring our commitment to the industry and to making reliable, accessible data management a standard, not a luxury.” 

In support of this initiative, Micromine will be hosting data management webinars for mining professionals during August 2024.  

For more information about the Micromine Nexus offer or to sign up click here.  

Pure Energy Minerals (TSXV: PE) has partnered with American oilfield service company SLB (NYSE: SLB) to sustainably develop at scale lithium claims held by Pure Energy at its Clayton Valley lithium project in Nevada.

The Vancouver-based miner is exploring and developing the 9,450-hectare Clayton Valley project, the largest mineral land holdings in the area, which adjoins and surrounds on three sides the Silver Peak lithium brine mine operated by Albemarle.

The company also said it has received final permits from government agencies for the construction and operation of the demonstration plant, completion of plant construction and commencement of technical trials, which are ongoing.

SLB has deployed a demonstration plant onsite to test an integrated approach that combines subsurface expertise and surface engineering of advanced technologies, including direct lithium extraction (DLE) at the project, located in Esmeralda county.

The sustainable lithium production demonstration plant is five kilometers southeast of the town of Silver Peak, on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Pure Energy holds 950 BLM mineral claims in the Clayton Valley area.

The project received all necessary permits from the State of Nevada and the Nevada Division of Water Resources for the demonstration plant construction and water discharge in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Construction was largely completed by Q3 of 2023.

“SLB’s demonstration plant represents a significant step toward sustainable lithium brine production at scale,” Pure Energy Minerals CEO Joseph Mullin said in a news release.

“The ongoing technical trials at the facility give us increased confidence that SLB’s integrated approach is the future for lithium brine extraction in Clayton Valley and elsewhere,” Mullin added.

Royal Road Minerals (TSXV: RYR) announced on Wednesday that its 50% owned Saudi Arabian joint venture has been selected as the winning bidder, as part of a competitive licensing round, for the Al-Miyah copper and gold tender area.

This tender area consists of three contiguous exploration licences in Saudi Arabia’s Asir province, about 150 km northwest of the company’s Jabal Sahabiyah exploration licences, for which it was awarded the preferred bidder in January.

The licensing round for exploration licences was launched by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIMR) in early 2023. In August, Royal Road established a 50/50 partnership with Saudi Arabian investment holding company MIDU to bid on these exploration rights.

The new Al-Miyah licences cover approximately 234 km² of historic known copper and gold occurrences, hosted in upper Proterozoic age meta-volcanic and intrusive rocks within the prospective Nabitah-Tathlith belt.

Historic exploration

Historic exploration work was focused on volcanic massive sulphide deposits and was conducted by the French geological survey in 1969. This work, which comprised geological mapping, trenching and sampling, identified mineralized gossans at two prospect areas known as Al Miyah and Hishashat-al Hawi.

In 1979, Riofinex (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Zinc) conducted ground geophysics at the Al Miyah prospect and identified a 1.5-km-long and 200-metre-wide magnetic anomaly corresponding to a corridor of mineralized gossan. Historic samples returned up to 2.4% copper and 3.2 grams per tonne gold.

During field reconnaissance, Royal Road revisited the known potential at Al Miyah and Hishashat-al Hawi and identified new gossans, shear-zone and vein-hosted occurrences. Grab samples returned 5.9% copper and 1.3 g/t gold from gossan, and 1.2% copper and 1.1 g/t gold from a vein-hosted occurrence.

The team also completed a pXRF soil survey along a newly identified mineralized shear zone that was traced for approximately 1 km in strike length at the Hishashat-al Hawi prospect.

Drilling commitment

The company believes the exploration licences could host intrusion-related and structurally controlled copper and gold mineralization, with immediate exploration objectives evident along strike extensions to the Al Miyah magnetic corridor and along the newly identified shear zone at Hishashat-al Hawi.

As a result, it intends to conduct detailed field mapping and grid-based auger soil sampling across both known prospect areas and new target areas, as well as utilizing its drone-borne hyperspectral scanner, magnetometer and radiometer, with a view to identifying drill targets before the end of 2024.

“It’s been 45 years since exploration work was conducted at Al-Miyah. Commodity focus and our understanding of exploration geology has changed profoundly since then,” Royal Road CEO Dr. Tim Coughlin said in a news release.

“Our team have identified immediate copper and gold potential at known historic occurrences and at new prospects throughout the licence areas.”

The tender was a merit-based process, subject to a proposed exploration program, minimum expenditure commitments and the provision of a performance financial guarantee, to be provided by a recognized Saudi Arabian financial institution, Royal Road said.

The company added that it has committed $3.9 million in exploration activities for the first two years, which will be results dependent, subject to surrender of the performance financial guarantee. It will be eligible for MIMR reimbursements of up to $1.1 million per exploration licence.

Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX: WDO) says drill results expanded three underground zones at its Eagle River mine in northern Ontario as it considers extending its production life.

In the Six Central zone, drilling extended the high-grade zone 150 metres to the east near infrastructure, the company said on Wednesday. Drill hole 758-E-456 cut 3.3 metres grading 71.7 grams gold per tonne from 278.2 metres depth. Hole 758-E-463 returned 3 metres at 93.7 grams gold from 270.5 metres downhole.

At the Falcon 311 zone, exploration and delineation drilling confirmed continuity of high grades and expanded this recently discovered zone in the volcanic rocks west of the mine diorite, Wesdome said in a release. Hole 857-E-52 cut 5 metres grading 33 grams gold from 248.1 metres depth.

In the 300 zone, infill and delineation drilling confirmed mineralization within the resource shapes, the company said. Hole 1153-E-01 returned 8.7 metres grading 39.7 grams gold from 25.3 metres downhole.

“This year’s exploration program at Eagle River is expanding the existing resource base of known zones and identifying targets near existing infrastructure,” president and CEO Anthea Bath said in the release. “In the coming months, our objective is to integrate results from this drill program with recently initiated asset optimization studies to potentially extend mine life.”

Wawa

The mine, near Wawa northeast of Lake Superior, produced 87,799 oz. gold last year, 71% of the company’s total output. Eagle River has a 1,200-tonne per day mill. Wesdome bought nearly 11% of Angus Gold (TSXV: GUS) in January. Angus holds the Golden Sky project next to Eagle. Wesdome also has the Kiena mine near Val-d’Or, Quebec. which produced 35,536 oz. last year.

Wesdome lowered costs during the first quarter by tapping higher grades at Eagle River and Kiena, a trend that was expected to continue in the following three months. Management in May repeated their full-year guidance at 160,000 to 180,000 oz. and said the year’s second half would be driven by planned higher grades from Kiena.

Shares in Wesdome Gold Mines gained 5.3% by early-afternoon Wednesday in Toronto to C$11.74 apiece, valuing the company at C$1.8 billion. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$6.51 to C$11.96.

Underground

The company says it’s spending nearly C$10 million this year on underground exploration at Eagle River, including expansion, infill and delineation drilling.

The Six Central Zone, discovered last year, is located close to existing infrastructure and at relatively shallow depths of 600 to 750 metres. About 10,280 metres over 39 holes were drilled in this year’s first half with an additional 28 holes planned for the rest of the year, the company said.

Crews have measured the zone’s plunge at 180 metres and its strike at 145 metres based on a 3-D model completed last year. Drill results show its potential for growth and converting its resource to a reserve at year end, Wesdome said.

Falcon 311

The company drilled 8,140 metres in the year’s first half at the Falcon 311 zone across 44 holes. An additional 20 holes are planned this year, mostly focused on extending the zone to surface and infill drilling for resource conversion.

The zone extends at least 250 metres along plunge and nearly 115 metres along strike. There’s potential for the zone to expand down plunge and extend to surface, similar to the adjacent Falcon 7 zone discovered in 2019, Wesdome said.

Drilling this year at the 300 Zone has reached 8,050 metres over 28 holes and 25 more holes are planned through December. They are to be roughly split testing the zone to depth, and infill drilling for resource conversion. New platforms on the 1201 level allow drilling to previously inaccessible areas, the company said.

Vancouver-based Saga Metals and Rio Tinto Exploration Canada have worked out an option and potential joint venture for Saga’s Legacy lithium project in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, in northern Quebec.

Under the option agreement, Rio Tinto can acquire an initial 51% interest in Legacy over a period of four years. A cash payment of C$410,190 will be made to Saga on or before August 11, 2024. It will then spend approximately C$9.6 million during the four years, including C$1.7 million in the first 20 months of the agreement. Payments of C$68,365 per year (C$273,460 in total) will be made to Saga and an additional C$225,000 to the property vendors, an amount owned by Saga.

Rio can earn an extra 25% in Legacy, bringing its interest to 75% over the following five years after the initial four years. The company will have t o spend approximately C$34.2 million at the project during the five-year period.

Rio Tinto Exploration will act as operator with the advice of a technical committee made up of members from each partner.

“This marks a significant milestone in the company’s development and creates a non-dilutive pathway for the necessary capital to properly explore our Legacy lithium project over the coming years,” states Mike Stier, CEO and director of Saga. “We look forward to partnering with Rio Tinto and hope to have a long and fruitful relationship for many years to come.”

The Legacy property covers 342.43 sq. km. in what Saga says is an underexplored area known to contain LCT-bearing pegmatitic lithium showings. It lies within Quebec’s Plan du Nord, where the province proposes to develop northern infrastructure.

This year, the Legacy property will see the establishment of a base camp, lithological and structural geological mapping, and a suite of geophysical surveys, high-resolution imaging and spectral analysis.

Saga also controls the Radar vanadium and Double Mer uranium properties in eastern Labrador, and the North Wind iron ore property in west-central Labrador.

Gem Diamonds (LSE: GEMD) has announced the recovery of a 123.2-carat type II white diamond at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho. This is the eighth greater than 100 diamond found at the operation in 2024, the company said.

Type IIa diamonds are the most valued and collectable precious gemstones, as they contain either very little or no nitrogen atoms in their crystal structure. Boart diamonds are stones of low quality that are used in powder form as an abrasive.

The prolific Letšeng mine is one of the world’s ten largest diamond operations by revenue. At 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, it is also one of the world’s most elevated diamond mines. 

The Letšeng mine is famous for the production of large, exceptional white quality diamonds, making it the highest dollar per carat kimberlite mine in the world, Gem Diamonds said.

When Stephen Stewart first joined the mining world in the early 2000s, he stepped into an industry facing a yawning generational talent gap.

Hoping to meet similar-aged peers, Stewart, who’s now chairman of Canadian exploration and development company The Ore Group, realized he might need to start his own organization. His lightbulb moment led him to get involved with the Young Mining Professionals networking group. Originating out of Vancouver, Stewart helped establish it in Toronto in 2015.

“Back in the day, I looked around and realized everyone was either heading to retirement or had stories older than my entire career!” he said in an interview. “So, starting YMP was partly about self-preservation.”

In 2017, Stewart and Anthony Moreau, CEO of American Eagle Gold (TSX: AE) co-founded the Young Mining Professionals (YMP) Scholarship Fund. Now in its sixth year, the scholarship attracts 23 sponsors offering 45 scholarships ranging between C$1,000 and C$10,000, including a C$5,000 award by The Northern Miner to an exceptional mining student.

Other top-tier opportunities with major miners are available such as a C$10,000 award by Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), C$10,000 by Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX), and several C$5,000 awards each by Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX), O3 Mining (TSXV: OIII), Alamos Gold (TSX: AGI; NYSE: AGI), B2Gold (TSX: BTO, NYSE-A: BTG) and Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC), among others.

For the industry

Barrick has been the fund’s staunchest supporter since its inception, Stewart noted. Driven by a ‘by the industry for the industry’ mindset, the broad industry backing amplifies the fund’s financial capacity and enhances its ability to connect students with real-world mining opportunities, Stewart noted.

The YMP Scholarship Fund has grown to nearly C$250,000 this year from just C$12,000 in its first year, and up from C$200,000 last year. In the beginning, it was supported by a few companies and personal contributions from industry leaders.

This year’s YMP Scholarship application process is already open, with a closing date set for Aug. 31. Following the deadline, applications will be reviewed by volunteers who ensure the scholarships are awarded to the most deserving candidates.

About 3,000 students applied for the 45 scholarships offered last year.

Competing for talent

The talent gap is the mining industry’s “number one concern,” Stewart says, pointing out that addressing this issue is critical for the aging industry’s future. Mining faces competition for talent from other sectors like technology that are often more appealing to youth. Initiatives like the YMP Scholarship Fund help connect young people with an industry that badly needs them, he said, offering not just financial support, but learning and mentorship opportunities with companies.

Many of the scholarships target students in mining programs, while others are available specifically to women, Indigenous students, new Canadians or residents of a region or province. Applicants are selected based on a combination of academic achievement, extracurricular activities, and submissions such as essays demonstrating innovative ideas and a commitment to the mining industry.

Applicants who are not successful scholarship recipients are automatically enrolled in a Mining Lottery sponsored by YMP Toronto, Sprott and Resource Talks, who will award six C$500 prizes to students.

The YMP Scholarship Fund, a registered Canadian charity offering tax receipts to donors, is always open to new sponsors both for this year’s program and future years. Companies and individuals interested in sponsoring a scholarship are encouraged to email scholarships@youngminingprofessionals.com.

Chilean miner Antofagasta (LON: ANTO) has kicked off this week work to install a second concentrator at its Centinela copper mine in the country’s north, which will add 144,000 tonnes a year to the company’s overall production. 

The $4.4 billion project is already 14% advanced, the company said, adding that this week they have begun blasting in the sector where the new facility and support infrastructure will be built.

“Nueva Centinela represents the group’s confidence in copper as a fundamental material for the global energy transition, where Chile is called to be a leading country,” Antofagasta’s chief executive officer, Iván Arriagada, said in the statement. 

“The project is already promoting regional employment and the development of local suppliers, which is essential for this investment to be a relevant contribution to the region and its inhabitants,” Arriagada said.

First movements of material have also begun in the area where the new thickened tailings will be located. According to Antofagasta, this technology minimizes the requirement for fresh water and maximizes its recovery.

The Centinela mine has been using this kind of waste storage since the beginning of its operation and it will be replicated in Nueva Centinela, the company said.

The expansion project, approved in December, also includes increasing the current molybdenum plant’s capacity and a new development of the Esperanza Sur pit, with the introduction of new autonomous trucks. 

Antofagasta said that Nueva Centinela will incorporate other advanced technologies, such as high pressure grinding rolls, crushers that operate with large rollers and a system that will optimize the grinding process and reduce energy consumption, especially when treating harder ore. It also includes a low-friction belt of more than six km, in length to connect the crushing area and the concentration plant.

The Centinela mining complex, located in Chile’s Antofagasta region, was created in 2014 from the merger of the Esperanza and El Tesoro mines. It produces copper concentrates containing gold and silver, using a milling and flotation process, among other innovative processes.

Centinela’s second concentrator is expected to start operations in 2027 and more than 13,000 people will work at the peak of the project’s construction, which will extend the mine’s useful life for 30 more years. 

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) is looking to build two new 5.25-megawatt (MW) solar farms on Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory, as the Australian miner works to secure a more sustainable power supply for the region beyond mining.

Rio Tinto’s Gove site in Australia’s Northern Territory has been supplying the global aluminum industry with bauxite for more than 40 years. The bauxite is shipped internationally as well as being used to supply the Queensland Alumina Limited and Yarwun refineries in Gladstone, Queensland. These refineries produce alumina as feedstock for Rio Tinto’s Australian aluminum smelting operations and for sale on the international market.

Bauxite mining operations in the Gove Peninsula are expected to end later this decade and work is already underway to support the closure of the operation and rehabilitation of the refinery, mine site and tailings facilities.

The two solar farms will be built on Gumatj and Rirratjingu country, the largest Traditional Owners groups who are signatories to the RTA Gove Traditional Owners Agreement. The solar farms will be built on Rio Tinto leases following agreements with the Traditional Owner groups on the location of the facilities.

The solar farms will help underpin a low-carbon future for the Gove community after mining operations cease, towards the end of the decade, Rio said.

Scotland-based mobile modular power provider Aggreko has been engaged to construct, own and operate the solar farms for Rio Tinto for up to 10 years, beginning construction in July 2024 and with completion scheduled for early 2025. The two sites will have a combined capacity of 10.5MW.

“The Gove solar project is part of our shared vision with traditional owners to leave a positive legacy for the Gove Peninsula communities after bauxite mining ceases,” Rio Tinto Gove operations’ acting general manager Shannon Price said in a news release.

“We’re excited to work with the Gumatj and Rirratjingu clans to provide an opportunity to secure alternative electricity generation assets on their country and to discuss opportunities to commercialize energy infrastructure in the future,” Price said.

“We are working in partnership with the Northern Territory government and traditional owners to ensure a smooth transition of leased land and town assets and infrastructure as Rio Tinto prepares to stop mining at Gove later this decade.”

According to Rio, the group is committed to helping to plan for the region’s future, which includes providing options for reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable infrastructure.

“The solar farms are also part of our ongoing commitment to decarbonize our business. Once operational, they are expected to reduce annual CO₂e emissions at our Gove operations by up to 17%,” Price said.

“We intend for these farms to underpin sustainable power for the region beyond mining.”

When complete, the solar farms are expected to reduce the region’s annual diesel consumption by about 20%, or 4.5 million litres a year, and lower annual carbon emissions by over 12,000 tonnes, which is the equivalent of taking 2,800 internal combustion engine cars off the road, Rio estimates.

Glencore (LON: GLEN) has reportedly abandoned plans to sell its stake in Kazakhstan’s mining company Kazzinc after potential buyers failed to match its valuation of the zinc, lead and precious metals producer.

The company has now sent a termination letter to the bidders, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News, asking not to be identified.

Kazzinc, in which Glencore holds a 70% interest, operates a vast network of mines, concentrators, and metal finishing plants throughout Kazakhstan. It was established in 1997 following the consolidation of three major non-ferrous metals companies in eastern Kazakhstan, the majority of which were government-owned. Magna has reached an agreement with Glencore to process a bulk sample from the surface of Crean Hill.

Glencore has also resumed plans to offload the Kazzinc-operated Vasilkovskoye gold mine, according to the report, having cancelled a previous sale about seven years ago.

Chief executive Gary Nagle has carried out Glencore’s previous boss Ivan Glasenberg’s strategy of streamlining the company by divesting smaller and challenging assets.

Glencore put up its stake in Peruvian zinc and silver miner Volcan for sale last year and inked a deal in May to sell it to Transition Metals, a subsidiary of Integra Capital.

While zinc prices have seen a boost this year due to supply constraints, the metal’s future prospects are uncertain due to its heavy reliance on the struggling construction sector.

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO) is investing A$18.5 million ($12.4m) to increase its stake in Australia’s Sovereign Metals (ASX: SVM) (LON: SVML), which is advancing the Kasiya rutile-graphite project in Malawi.

The move by the world’s second largest miner will boost its shareholding in Sovereign to 19.76%, as it continues to raise its exposure to battery minerals.

The investment builds on a previous deal one year ago, when Rio Tinto spent A$40.4 million ($27m) to take an initial 15% interest in the owner of the world’s largest rutile and second largest flake graphite deposit.

The Kasiya orebody contains 1.8 billion tonnes at 1% rutile and 1.4% graphite, resulting in 17.9 million tonnes of contained natural rutile and 24.4 million tonnes of contained graphite.

Rio Tinto’s further investment represents another significant step towards unlocking a major new supply of low-carbon footprint natural critical minerals, the miners said in the statement.

Sovereign managing director Frank Eagar said the company has made significant progress in advancing Kasiya over the last year, thanks to Rio’s involvement. This includes the successful launch of a pilot phase in May.

Rio not only is one of Sovereign’s top shareholders, but also offers the Australian junior support and guidance on the technical and marketing aspects of the Kasiya project through a joint committee set up by the two companies.

The mining giant already produces titanium dioxide from rutile at its operations in Madagascar, South Africa and Canada. Titanium is used in solar panels, paint and aircraft because of its ability to withstand temperature extremes.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) said on Tuesday its 100% owned Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) has successfully completed the installation of its 3.5 megawatt capacity solar power plant.

The project represents the largest off-grid solar power plant across Canada’s territories, the Australian miner said. The Diavik mine is located about 200 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, at the bottom of Lac de Gras.

The new 6,620-panel facility is expected to generate 4.2 million kilowatt-hours of solar energy annually, reducing diesel consumption at Diavik by one million litres per year and cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2,900 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, Rio said, adding that this is comparable to removing 630 cars from the road each year.

The solar power plant will provide up to 25% of Diavik’s electricity during closure work, with commercial production at the mine expected to end in 2026 and closure to run until 2029. The facility is equipped with bi-facial panels which generate energy from direct sunlight, and also from the light that reflects off the snow that covers Diavik for most of the year.

The solar project complements a wind power plant at Diavik, which has been operating since 2012 and is the largest wind power installation in Canada’s North, having generated over 195 million kilowatt-hours of electricity since activation, Rio said.

“The largest off-grid solar power plant in Canada’s North is our latest commitment to the environment we live and work in, and will improve the energy efficiency of our operations at Diavik,” Matthew Breen, the mine’s chief operating officer, said in the statement.

The project was supported by C$3.3 million in funding from the government of the Northwest Territories’ Large Emitters GHG Reducing Investment Grant Program. It is the first project in NWT to benefit from funding from the program, which sets aside a portion of carbon tax paid by large operations such as Diavik for projects that commit to GHG reduction in the territory.

Northwest Territories’ Minister of Infrastructure Caroline Wawzonek said completion of the largest off-grid solar plant in Canada’s northern territories signals potential for leadership in the renewable energy sector in and by the North.

“The government of the Northwest Territories is proud to have contributed to the project through the Large Emitters GHG Reducing Investment Grant program, which provides funding to industry to reduce emissions as part of our made-in-the-NWT approach to the federal carbon tax,” Wawzonek said.

Construction began in February 2024, contracted to Whitehorse-based Solvest Inc. and the Indigenous-owned Tłıchǫ Investment Corporation, with support from Diavik.

Diavik is also working with the government of the Northwest Territories and community partners to determine how its renewable energy infrastructure can best benefit the region following closure.

German investment firm Deutsche Balaton (DB) announced on Tuesday it has slightly upped its equity stake in Skeena Resources (TSX: SKE) by acquiring 10,500 shares at an average price of C$7.049143 per share.

The shares acquired represent 0.1% of Skeena’s outstanding shares. Prior to the transaction, DB held approximately 10.9 million of 10.25% of the Canadian miner’s share capital.

Shares of Skeena Resources had risen to a 52-week high of C$7.67 late in the afternoon. By market close, it traded 4.2% higher at C$7.65 apiece, for a market capitalization of C$694.6 million.

The news follows Skeena’s announcement last week of a $750 million financing package for the Eskay Creek mine project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle. This funding, the company said, gives it the financial flexibility to reboot what was once the highest-grade gold mine in the world.

Its restart date has been targeted for 2027, with anticipated annual production of 320,000 oz. gold over a 12-year life. According to a definitive feasibility study, the open pit mine has an after-tax net present value (at 5% discount) of C$2 billion and an after-tax internal rate of return of 43%.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) announced Tuesday that its Indonesian subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia (PT-FI), has completed construction of its new Manyar smelter in Gresik. Commissioning operations have also begun at the plant.

FCX said it expects the new smelter will begin producing copper cathodes in the coming months and continues to target full ramp up by the end of 2024, which is in line with previous expectations.

The miner also announced that on July 2, PT-FI received approval from the Indonesian government to export copper concentrates and anode slimes through December 2024, when full ramp-up of the new processing facilities is expected. PT-FI will continue to pay export duties on copper concentrates during the smelter ramp-up period pursuant to Indonesian regulations, it said.

The company’s prior concentrate and anode slime export licences expired on May 31, 2024, and PT-FI did not export any copper concentrates or anode slimes during the month of June.

“We are pleased to announce this important milestone for our new smelter in Indonesia,” chairman Richard Adkerson and CEO Kathleen Quirk said in a joint statement.

“Our team executed this large and complex project extremely well and is prepared to deliver the ramp-up to full production safely and efficiently. The completion of the project positions PT-FI as a fully integrated producer in Indonesia, providing a foundation to extend its long-term operating rights.”

As a result of the delay in obtaining PT-FI’s export licence, Freeport now expects a portion of its second-quarter production to be shipped in future periods. It expects consolidated sales for Q2 2024 to be approximately 5% below the April 2024 guidance of 975 million lb. of copper and 30% below its guidance of 500,000 oz. of gold.

Consolidated unit net cash costs for Q2 2024, which were previously estimated at $1.57 per lb. of copper, are currently estimated to approximate $1.77 per lb. for the quarter, principally reflecting lower byproduct credits as a result of the delay in shipments, Freeport said, adding consolidated average copper realization for the second quarter is expected to approximate $4.45 per lb.

The Phoenix, Arizona-based miner also said it is reviewing its sales guidance in connection with its routine quarterly forecast updates and does not currently expect a material change to its annual 2024 copper volume guidance.

BBA Consultants has been hired to begin engineering and baseline studies in preparation for the Frotet underground gold project adjacent to the past-producing Troilus gold-copper mine 100 km north of Chibougamau, Quebec.

Kenorland Minerals (TSXV: KLD), the current operator and holder of a 4% net smelter return royalty on the project, updated recent events at the project. Frotet is 100% owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Canada.

BBA has been engaged to develop a scoping study that will assist with permitting an exploration decline at Frotet and a preliminary cost estimate prior to application. Development of an underground exploration decline will facilitate year-round drilling to define the Regnault gold deposit with a resource estimate anticipated by late 2025. Baseline studies are included in the contract.

The Regnault deposit is a greenfield discovery made by Kenorland and Sumitomo in 2020. Since then, 220 drill holes totalling 100,721 metres have been drilled. The property has a network of forestry road and a crossing over the Route du Nord in the southwest part of the property. A power transmission line, which served the Troilus mine, also crosses the property.

The deposit is hosted within quartz-calcite stockwork vein systems, and pyrite is the dominant sulphide mineral with gold mineralization. Visible gold has been logged in several high-grade veins.

Late last month, Kenorland reported exceptional gold grades, including:

• 24.16 g/t gold over 4.7 metres, including 261.20 g/t over 0.4 metre;
• 31.09 g/t gold over 1.9 metre, including 103.50 g/t over 0.6 metre;
• 16.11 g/t gold over 4.5 metres, including 164.70 g/t over 0.4 metre;
• 5.08 g/t gold over 11.10 metres, including 106.90 g/t over 0.4 metre;
•  17.71 g/t gold over 2.9 metres, including 153.70 g/t over 0.3 metres.

There were several other short intervals of roughly 45 g/t, 73 g/t and 22 g/t gold.

American Eagle Gold (TSXV: AE) has made significant strides at its NAK project in west-central British Columbia, highlighted by the discovery of copper-bearing porphyry outcrops within the newly defined IP Embayment zone.

This area, previously overlooked and not drilled extensively, emerged as a priority target following an induced polarization (IP) survey conducted in 2024. The survey identified a distinct area of interest characterized by anomalous copper-in-soil geochemistry and a break in the typical IP chargeability pattern surrounding the Babine porphyry stock.

Field teams confirmed the presence of three separate porphyry outcrops in the IP Embayment zone, marking a potentially significant discovery. This zone has now been prioritized for further exploration and drilling efforts due to its promising geophysical and geochemical characteristics.

Drilling activities, particularly in drill hole NAK24-19 targeting the western margin of the zone, have intersected disseminated and vein-hosted chalcopyrite mineralization below 700 meters depth. This mineralization is comparable to that observed in other targeted zones like the North and South zones of the project, indicating substantial continuity of mineralization across different areas of the property.

The ongoing 2024 drill program aims to expand upon and better define these mineralized zones, including connecting historical North and South zones with additional drilling. This strategic approach is supported by previous drilling results, which have shown high-grade copper-gold mineralization extending beyond historical depths.

Exploration activities at NAK started in the 1960s, focusing primarily on shallow depths through drilling and various geological and geochemical surveys. Recent drilling efforts conducted in 2022 and 2023 by American Eagle suggest the presence of multiple zones of mineralization at varying depths within the wider NAK property, some displaying significantly higher grades than historically encountered.

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) has announced the completion of construction and the restart of the Kipushi mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which produces zinc, copper, lead and germanium.

The news comes 100 years after the mine first began operations and 31 years after it was placed on care and maintenance.

According to the company, the first ore was delivered to the Kipushi concentrator on May 31, with the first concentrate produced on June 14.

Kipushi has set its 2024 production guidance at between 100,000 and 140,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate.

The Kipushi zinc production capacity is expected to average 278,000 tonnes per annum over the first five years, making Kipushi the world’s fourth-largest zinc mine.

Ivanhoe said offtake agreements for Kipushi’s high-grade zinc concentrate have been signed with both CITIC Metal Group and Trafigura. Further offtake agreements are expected to be signed in the coming months.

Financing facilities totaling $170 million provided by CITIC, Trafigura and First Bank DRC have also been arranged, with $50 million drawn to date, Ivanhoe said.

“Returning the historic Kipushi mine to production alongside our DRC state-owned JV partner Gécamines marks a century after Kipushi’s first operations,” Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedland said in a news release. “The rebirth of the mine is a major and state-of-the-art achievement for our operations team, the people of the DRC and the local community in Kipushi town.”

“With the construction and first concentrate milestones delivered substantially ahead of schedule, Kipushi will be one of the world’s leading producers of high-grade, low-emissions zinc and associated metals,” Friedland said.

Kipushi Corporation SA (KICO) is 68% owned by Kipushi Holding, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines, with the remaining 32% owned by Gécamines.

ABB has launched the Do More With Digital campaign aimed at highlighting opportunities for the process industries to realize their full potential through digital transformation.

Leveraging its deep ties across pulp and paper, mining, metals and cement, the Swedish tech giant believes there is significant opportunity to continue equipping these sectors with advanced industry-specific solutions, “driving their digitalization journey and allowing them to accelerate their adoption curve in a shorter timeframe.”

While these industries will continue to be enhanced through technology development using the likes of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), data analytics, machine learning (ML), cloud and edge computing, they are also considered hard-to-abate due to the volume of production, location of operations, energy and heat chemistry, and many other factors, ABB said.

World Economic Forum reports that digital solutions can accelerate net zero in high-emission industries, delivering up to 20% of the total reduction that the International Energy Agency says is needed by 2050. ABB said it will leverage its experience in industrial software development, and its 140 years of heritage across multiple industries to guide customers on their digitalization journeys.

The company has supported with the deployment of digital solutions such as advanced process control (APC), energy management systems (EMS), and manufacturing execution systems (MES). These have evolved from original packages to become variations used for distinct industries, with their own tools and libraries, and remain the foundation for advanced technology progression.

Customers recognize that they are at different stages of their digitalization journey often with starters (those embedding digital for the first time), stallers (those piloting a new advanced solution, often with a start-up) or scalers (those moving to the next level, perhaps with a technology company). ABB is currently working across this ecosystem to jointly design and develop new solutions for current and future needs.

“Adoption of advanced digital technologies is still much slower than one might expect in the process industries,” said Sanjit Shewale, global business line manager for digital, ABB Process Industries, in a press release, noting that “customers are facing new challenges in proving and scaling up solutions that will drive real, transformative change.

“However, there are opportunities for all parties to use technologies to retain knowledge of processes in their business as people retire or move on in shorter timeframes than was typical in the past. Through co-creation, there is the chance to show more and do more for positive investment decisions that quickly result in unprecedented levels of energy management, efficiency, sustainability, safety and service,” Shewale said.

Partnerships also exist for initiatives to accelerate the adoption of digital solutions to help industries meet their goals on net-zero emissions. One such example is real-time data transmission using cloud-based software integrated with ABB systems, the group noted.

In the mining industry, digitalization is empowering companies to address their most pressing challenges around environmental impact, safety and economic volatility. ABB’s industry-leading digital solutions leverage IoT, AI and data analytics to optimize energy management, reduce carbon emissions, and integrate renewable energy sources.

An example of this success is Boliden’s Aitik copper mine in Sweden. The miner collaborated with ABB to develop a digital twin of their grinding circuit, allowing them to test and optimize an advanced process control strategy in a virtual environment before implementation. This resulted in significant benefits including reduced energy consumption and improved process stability, demonstrating the power of digitalization for optimizing complex mining processes.

“The mining industry is crucial to modern economic development, yet it faces significant challenges in areas like safety, productivity, and environmental impact,” said Max Luedtke, global business line manager, mining, ABB Process Industries.

“At ABB, we recognize these complexities. Do More With Digital represents a vital step forward in the mining sector’s digital transformation journey. By embracing advanced digital solutions, mining companies can unlock a new era of operational excellence and safety through remote monitoring, and even contribute to a more sustainable future through real-time data-driven decision making.”

After gaining good momentum in the first half of the year, the gold market could see a rangebound performance from its current levels in the second half, according to the World Gold Council.

The conclusion was reached following an analysis of the four main drivers of gold, namely: opportunity cost, economic expansion, risk and uncertainty, and momentum. WGC’s analysis used “expected” rather than “observed” values for each of the driver used (see graph).

In this context, a rangebound return suggests that the gold market is fairly efficient and broadly reflects the available market information, the Council said, noting that it’s not the first time it has described a similar anticipated outcome for gold.

Also, given that gold is already up by more than 10% this year and consensus suggests a similar result for the full year, it reiterates that gold – supported by contributions from other sectors – can perform well even when rates remain as expected.

Even if current market expectations prevail, gold still has a chance to outperform in H2 2024 if Western flows pick up, the WGC report said, pointing to the low retail investment demand and ETF inflows during H1.

Gold’s strong performance, despite the absence of strong Western flows, suggests that, unlike previous periods when gold broke record highs, the market is still not saturated and could see another leg up, it stated.

Conversely, in the event that central bank demand drops drastically, rates remain high for longer and Asian investor sentiment flips, we could then see a pullback in the second half, the WGC warned.

Read the full report here.

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) is said to be in negotiations with workers at its Oyu Tolgoi operation in Mongolia to prevent a strike at one of the world’s largest copper-gold mines.

The threat of a labour action, first reported by Reuters, follows a significant wages cut earlier this year, which triggered a strike in May. 

The world’s second largest miner said that changes to Mongolia’s Labour Law, effective from the beginning of 2022, had prompted it to recalculate employee salaries.

Rio Tinto began underground mining operations at Oyu Tolgoi in March 2023. The company is now in the process of ramping up production to reach an annual output of around 500,000 tonnes of copper per year, on average, from 2028 to 2036.

Oyu Tolgoi is expected to become the world’s fourth-largest copper mine by 2030, operating in the first quartile of the copper equivalent cost curve, according to Rio Tinto.

The company has been extracting ore from the massive Oyu Tolgoi open pit since 2011.

The cost of building new copper mines has significantly increased over the years. In 2000, the average capital needed for a new copper mine sat between $4,000-5,000 to produce a tonne of copper. By 2012, this had risen to $10,000 per tonne, and recent analyses pegged current costs to up to $44,000 per tonne of production.

This is why Rio Tinto has repeatedly said it prefers developing and expanding copper mines over acquiring new ones to achieve its goal of producing one million tonnes of the metal annually within the next five years.

Reported talks between Rio Tinto and Oyu Tolgoi come at a time when wage negotiations at Chile’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, are ongoing.

Endeavour Mining (TSX, LON: EDV) has poured its first gold at the new Lafigué mine in Côte d’Ivoire only 21 months after it began construction, which is ahead of the planned start date and on budget.

Lafigué is the fifth project Endeavour has completed in West Africa and it is expected to produce between 90,000 and 110,000 gold ounces annually at a “sector-leading” AISC (all-in sustaining cost) of between $900 — $975 per ounce in financial year 2024.

Gold production is slated to increase to about 200,000 ounces in financial year 2025, the company backed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris said.

“We discovered Lafigué for a cost of $31 million, equivalent to an industry-low discovery cost of just $12 per ounce of measured and indicated resources,” chief executive Ian Cockerill said in the statement.

Cockerill noted that the achievement, coupled with the inaugural gold pour at the Sabodala-Massawa expansion earlier in April, marked the culmination of Endeavour’s investment and expansion efforts initiated in the second quarter of 2022.

“We believe this level of value creation is repeatable in West Africa, and we have already identified the Assafou deposit on the Tanda-Iguela property in Côte d’Ivoire, where we have delineated a top tier resource and another potential cornerstone asset,” Cockerill said.

The news injects some positivity into Endeavour Mining’s recent history, which was tainted by the firing earlier this year of former president and chief executive officer Sébastien de Montessus for serious misconduct.

It also follows accusations of misrepresentation over the sale of two African gold mines, Wahgnion and Boungou in Burkina Faso, as the fallout from the tenure of the ousted executive continues.

The announcement comes only a day after reports of a cyanide spill at Ity gold mine, Endeavour’s second-biggest operation, located in southern Côte d’Ivoire.

Endeavour’s London-traded shares jumped slightly on the news and were trading 0.12% higher at 1,724p by 1:30 p.m. local time. This leaves Endeavour Mining with a market capitalization of £1.39 billion ($1.76bn).

Tech venture capitalists invest in startups and get to call them unicorns. 

Startups like Juicero, famous for $700 a pop “smart” chopped fruit squeezers and being one of Silicon Valley’s dumbest moments, Wag! (oh? you have a dog walking app that sends updates on the frequency and consistency of pet number 2s? – here’s $300 million) and In-Real-Life or IRL, a chat app made for bot to bot communication.

The official definition of a unicorn is a startup with a $1 billion valuation while still a private company. There are more than 1,500 unicorns globally and a variety of investment products that track them.              

Your humble correspondent felt that the mining industry deserves a similar category of company. 

Mining has been starved of cash for years and telling unicorn chasers you are “literally sitting on a gold mine” appears to be a less compelling story to the minds of smart money than saying “we’re going to create an exchange where the shitcoin company A is mining can be swopped for the shitcoin company B to Z is mining” – and call it effective altruism.  

This year copper grabbed the mainstream imagination and became the next big investment thing for a short but glorious moment. It seemed apt that the first MINING.COM list of unicorns should be based on the bellwether metal.

It’s nothing like the Silicon Valley unicorn index because copper is not created out of thin air like Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, hot air like Nvidia’s current valuation or by charging cleaning fees like AirBnB.

The MINING.COM Unicorn Index does not compare mining apples with tech apples, or for that matter Juicero’s Sweet Roots (carrot, beet, orange, lemon and apple) with Spicy Greens (pineapple, romaine, celery, cucumber, spinach, parsley and jalapeño).   

Neither is the MDC.CUI there to show that the money invested in startups like Yik Yak, a mobile app for college students to chat with others within a five mile radius that eliminates needless face to face campus interactions, is a waste of money compared to keeping the globe’s lights on.

Or to say that the $1.7 billion Quibi burned through to prove short form videos featuring expensive Hollywood actors had zero chance of going viral is less of a worthy endeavour than building a copper mine that transforms the fortunes of an entire country.   

Or that the $189 million splashed on Quirky, a crowdsourcing platform for new product inventions like the Stem that sprays juice directly from citrus fruit, could have been better spent on the key ingredient for decarbonisation. 

The MDC.CUI was created to say, and let’s stick to the theme, investing in copper makes the juice worth the squeeze even after the squeeze has been squoze. 

Or put another way, investing in copper is what made every aspect of modern life possible (including robot pizza delivery by Zume worth $2.3 billion before going bust). 

The MDC.CUI is a ranking of miners that produce more than $1 billion worth of copper each year. 

At today’s price of $4.41 per pound, or $9,730 a tonne there are 23 and only 23 companies that make the list, producing 12.1 million tonnes annually, or more than half the world’s copper. When copper was hitting all time highs in May the ranking had all of 26 entrants. 

In a world where a graphics card maker’s market cap is not more than twice that of the 100 hundred most valuable mining companies and the yearly money spent on crypto startups (yes, even after FTX, Celsius, BlockFi, the list is long) are not factors more than budgets for copper exploration, the MDC.CUI index would feature 100s of companies.

To be fair there is already a copper unicorn involved in mining. Chaired by a former chancellor of the exchequer UK-based Copper “was created to offer institutional investors a safe entrance into the world of digital assets.” 

Oh, the irony. 

UK-based mineral explorer Fulcrum Metals (LON: FMET) announced Monday that its wholly owned Canadian subsidiary has agreed to acquire a 100% interest in the Charlot-Neely Lake, South Pendleton and Snowbird uranium projects in Saskatchewan, covering 114.81 square kilometres. 

Upon exercising an option agreement on June 28, 2024, Fulcrum has paid a cash consideration of C$60,000 for full ownership of the three projects. Last fall, it paid C$5,000 in cash to obtain the option on these projects.

This transaction takes the company one step closer to a definitive agreement with Terra Balcanica Resources Corp. over the sale of all of its uranium projects totalling over 590 square kilometres, Fulcrum said in a news release.

Fulcrum also has three gold projects in Ontario: the Big Bear project situated over the western end of the Schreiber-Hemlo greenstone belt, the Jackfish Lake project, and the Tully project, located 25 kilometres northeast of Timmins, Ontario.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) will install carbon-free aluminum smelting cells at its Arvida smelter in Québec, Canada, using the first technology licence issued by the ELYSIS joint venture.

This investment will support the ongoing development of the breakthrough ELYSIS technology and allow Rio Tinto to build expertise in its installation and operation, the Australian miner said.

Rio Tinto will design, engineer and build a demonstration plant equipped with ten pots operating at 100 kiloamperes (kA). The plant will be owned by a new joint venture in which Rio and the government of Québec, through Investissement Québec, will invest C$235 million ($179 million) and C$140 million ($106 million), respectively as partners, for a total investment of C$375 million ($285 million).

This facility will use the same technology that has been successfully demonstrated at the ELYSIS industrial research and development center in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Rio said, adding that this pilot operation will be a critical step in the full-scale industrialization of the ELYSIS technology.

The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 2,500 tonnes of commercial-quality aluminum per year without direct greenhouse gas emissions, with first production targeted by 2027. It will be located adjacent to the existing Arvida smelter, allowing the use of the current alumina supply and casting facilities.

“This investment will further strengthen Rio Tinto’s industry-leading position in low-carbon, responsible aluminum in North America with our hydro-powered smelters and our recycling capacity,” Rio Tinto aluminum chief Jérôme Pécresse said in the statement.

“Becoming the first to deploy the ELYSIS carbon-free smelting technology is the next step in our strategy to decarbonize and grow our Canadian aluminum operations,” Pécresse continued.

“In addition to delivering even lower-carbon primary aluminum for our customers, this investment will allow Rio Tinto to build its expertise on installing and operating this new technology, while the ELYSIS joint venture continues its research and development work to scale it up to its full potential.”

ELYSIS joint venture partner Alcoa will have the option to purchase from Rio Tinto a portion of the aluminum produced over the first four years at the Arvida demonstration plant through an offtake agreement.

“ELYSIS is a truly disruptive technology for the industry, and it’s thanks to Quebec expertise that we are the first in the world to produce GHG-free aluminum,” Québec’s Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Pierre Fitzgibbon said.

“This is a technological innovation with unprecedented benefits for our aluminum sector, which remains an undisputed world leader.”

The joint venture is continuing its research and development program to scale up the ELYSIS technology and has completed the construction of larger prototype 450 kA cells at the end of an existing potline at Rio Tinto’s Alma smelter. ELYSIS has begun commissioning these industrial prototype cells, with the start-up sequence set to begin in 2024.

B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO) (NYSE American: BTG) has taken up a 9.99% equity position in Prospector Metals (TSXV: PPP) after purchasing approximately 5.6 million shares in the Canadian junior for a total investment of just over C$900,000.

The shares were priced at C$0.163 each, which is 16.4% higher than its market close price of C$0.14 on Friday. For the day, the market capitalization of Prospector Metals ended at C$7.1 million.

In relation to the B2Gold investment, TSX-listed Troilus Gold (TSX: TLG) has the right to purchase some 4.77 million additional shares at the same offer price to maintain a 19.9% ownership. This right will be valid for 10 business days.

Proceeds from the investment will be used for exploration and development of the company’s ML project in Yukon. The property covers 47.6 km² of the Tintina gold belt, and is located approximately 80 km from Dawson City and 25 km northeast of the former Brewery Creek gold mine.

“We are excited to have B2Gold as a keystone shareholder in Prospector Metals and our team is looking forward to their technical input on our flagship ML project, Yukon,” Prospector CEO Rob Carpenter said in a news release.

“This investment and technical partnership will allow Prospector to advance the ML project more efficiently and it represents an endorsement of our exploration philosophy and targeting methods,” he said.

According to Prospector’s website, the ML property hosts one of the few remaining Tombstone-style intrusions in the Yukon that has not been systematically explored with no significant work completed since 2008. As such, no modern intrusion-related gold exploration models have been applied to ML despite the presence of a diagnostic geochemical signature.

Previous exploration focused on well-exposed gold-copper-tungsten skarn mineralization proximal to syenite intrusions, but little work was completed within the intrusions. The company believes there are over two dozens of known high-grade gold surface occurrences that have never been tested.

So far, Prospector has taken hold of C$12 million worth of historical geological data that includes 6,700 metres of drilling over 117 holes, with results highlighted by 3.53 g/t gold and 0.29% copper over 56.39 metres.

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) announced Friday the publication of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Sector Guidance: Metals and Mining.

TNFD’s new sector guidance and metrics will help companies to accelerate their implementation of ICMM’s nature commitments and will enable mining and metals companies to identify, assess, manage and disclose “nature related issues”, ICMM said.

An additional 96 organizations to sign on brings the total number of companies already committed to disclose their material nature-related issues to investors and other stakeholders based on the TNFD recommendations to 416. Drawn from over 50 jurisdictions, the publicly listed companies represent over $6 trillion in market capitalization, an increase of 50% since the TNFD’s Early Adopter announcement in January.

ICMM is TNFD’s official piloting partner for the mining and metals sector, and has collaborated with 13 companies and cross-sector partners including NGOs to develop TNFD’s sector guidance and reporting metrics.

This material supports mining and metals companies implementing TNFD’s wider framework in managing the nuances that are unique to the sector, as they work on integrating nature-related issues into their governance, strategic planning, risk management and disclosures, it said.

“As a Taskforce Member and early adopter of TNFD, and as a member of ICMM, we were pleased to play an active role in the development of the Sector Guidance for Metals and Mining, representing another important milestone in the progression of TNFD and a significant contribution to the Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 15,” Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad said in a news release.

“Our sector has an important synergistic association with nature and as a sector we have a great opportunity to be an enabler of positive change bringing together NGO partners, community and regional stakeholders and academic institutions to drive measurable actions on the ground,” Wanblad said.

In January, ICMM’s 24 members, which represent around one-third of the global sector, committed to taking urgent action on nature, setting out a series of actions across their direct operations, value chains, wider landscapes and creating the conditions required to achieve systems transformation.

This includes disclosing material nature-related impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities for operations in priority locations by 2026 and the most material value chain categories or issues by 2030. TNFD’s new resources launched Friday will help to support this enhanced level of disclosure. Mining and metals companies have been reporting on their impacts on biodiversity for decades, this guidance goes much further to capture how their interactions with nature impacts businesses, ICMM said.

“We must acknowledge that mining activities have contributed to nature loss, but ICMM members are demonstrating how responsible mining can play a leading role in creating a nature positive future,” ICMM CEO Rohitesh Dhawan stated.

“ICMM’s January commitments were the first collective sector approach to nature launched so far – one that we hope will provide learnings and guidance for other companies in the sector, and indeed other industries,” Dhawan said. “TNFD’s new sector guidance and metrics can help companies to accelerate their implementation of these commitments, and their wider nature positive efforts.”

Victoria Gold (TSXV: GCX) faces charges after a heap leach pad (HLP) accident this week at its Eagle mine in Yukon caused a landslide and potential cyanide leak, the second landslide this year, the government said Friday.

The charges relate to water management at Eagle under Yukon environmental rules and usually carry fines. “They’re before the courts so I’m a little hesitant to comment anymore,” Will Tewnion, compliance director with the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, said.

Operations were suspended at Eagle, Yukon’s only producing gold mine after the company reported on Monday that a failure at its HLP caused an accident and spill that damaged infrastructure. Victoria shares plunged 84% this week, now valuing the company at C$77.8 million. The mine is about 375 km north of Whitehorse.

Investigators have yet to determine the full extent of the damage at Eagle. At the media briefing, they couldn’t say how much contaminated water from the landslide is being contained, how much contaminated water was released and how much cyanide was in the HLP ore at the time of the accident. It’s also unclear how much, if any, contaminated water escaped the property.

The company has a C$104 million security posted with the territory as a potential cleanup fund. But Victoria Gold faces looming debt payments of C$232.5 million as of March 31 that cloud the company’s future with its sole asset closed for the time being.

Victoria hasn’t responded to requests for comment.

Second landslide

The territorial government also confirmed that the incident was the second landslide to occur at the site since January, when a smaller failure happened at the ore stockpile that wasn’t being leached, Kelly Constable, the department’s director of mineral resources, said at the same briefing.

Further details weren’t available on how close the January landslide was to the accident on Monday, Constable said.

A previous accident at Eagle in March 2021 caused a 17,000-litre spill of concentrate intended for the HLP, but Victoria Gold CEO John McConnell said at the time the spill was cleaned up and put back into the containment area, CBC reported. The company was fined C$460 for the spill.

Asked by The Northern Miner about what two such accidents in three years says about the strictness of the inspection regime, Tewnion said that from an enforcement perspective, such issues are dealt with progressively.

“The company has faced charges previously,” he said. “If we went there, and there was a minor infraction, we would address it, perhaps do an inspection report. If it’s a recurring problem it might escalate to inspectors ordering them to do something. If it continued, it would lead to formal charges.”

Constable said it wasn’t clear yet if the company cleanup fund would be enough to cover costs. The heap leach pad can hold up to 90 million tonnes of ore, according to a Victoria Gold technical report. but officials couldn’t say how much of it cascaded down a slope at the site.

One week for water results

Water samples to test potential cyanide contamination were taken from different sites at Eagle on Monday, including at the control pond near the HLP, a containment dam and a natural spring near the mine.

The samples were sent to a laboratory in Burnaby, BC, and results are expected in five to seven days, Russell McDiarmid, head of major mines with the department, said at the briefing.

Containment dams at Eagle appeared to be holding water that leaked from the HLP, as observed by inspection officers dispatched to Eagle.

A cursory review of underground wells suggests drinking water is safe to consume in the community of Mayo, about 75 km southwest of Eagle, Dr. Shobit Maruti, Yukon’s acting chief medical officer of health, said.

“The likelihood that the drinking water in Mayo is affected is extremely unlikely,” he said. “We have supported the village operators to take samples and also send them down south for testing.”

But more evidence is needed to determine water quality in streams near Eagle and not enough information has been gathered to issue public advisories.

The government is working closely on water testing with the nearby First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun (FNNND), which is doing its own testing.

‘Dire situation’

In a statement posted on Facebook on Monday, the FNNND expressed deep concern with the potential environmental effects of the heap leach failure.

While laboratory results will still take a few more days, cyanide contamination of creeks could be evident sooner if there are suddenly dead fish, said Cord Hamilton, who identified himself as an engineer affiliated with FNNND.

“It’s beyond doubt there’s been cyanide released,” he said. “First Nations are dismayed and angry. This is a catastrophe unfolding before us. We want to see a higher-level response. We know more is coming. Makeshift dams aren’t the answer. Real significant action is required.”

White River First Nation (WRFN) chief Bessie Chasse said the First Nation is also alarmed by the potential downstream impacts of the accident. The WRFN is about 290 km southwest of Eagle, near the border with Alaska.

“Too often with mines like Faro, Mount Nansen, Minto and Yukon Zinc we have seen companies complain about slow regulatory processes, and then leave massive environmental issues behind them, that Yukoners and all taxpayers have to suffer the consequences of,” she said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

“The Yukon government is too focused on approving mines without thinking through the implications of those approaches.”

Arianne Phosphate (TSXV: DAN) says its $1.7 billion Lac à Paul purified phosphoric acid (PPA) project could be the largest producer of the fertilizer and battery ingredient outside of China, according to a new prefeasibility study.

Lac à Paul in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region about 450 km north of Quebec City has a projected annual production capacity of 350,000 tonnes of phosphorus pentoxide (P₂O₅), Arianne said on Thursday. The company told The Northern Miner by email it wasn’t publishing after-tax figures, only pre-tax, which came in with a net present value of $4.5 billion at an 8% discount rate. The pre-tax internal rate of return is 32.8% with a payback of roughly three years.

“The advent and growth of the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery provides extremely compelling economics,” Ariane president Brian Ostroff said in a release. “The study also demonstrates the opportunity for our Lac à Paul mine to have a local customer.”

PPA is a crucial agricultural commodity for enhancing crop yields and meeting global food demand. North and South America, Western Europe and parts of Asia face shortfalls and rely on imports to satisfy growing demand. While about 85% of phosphate is currently used in fertilizers, emerging technologies like LFP batteries are driving additional demand. Canada added phosphorous to its critical minerals list this month.

Sales revenue

The project’s $1.7 billion construction forecast includes a contingency of about $240 million. Operating costs are estimated at $1,195 per tonne. The company expects annual sales of $1.1 billion. That’s from 350,000 tonnes of PPA priced at $2,300 per tonne, 220,000 tonnes of secondary acid at $1,200 per tonne, and three million tonnes of byproduct gypsum at $10 per tonne. Surplus electricity generated could be sold to the grid, although this revenue isn’t factored into the project’s financial model.

Industry analysts predict a significant PPA shortage by the end of the decade due to increased demand from both traditional food additives and the surging LFP battery sector. Arianne’s facility would also produce 220,000 tonnes annually of secondary phosphoric acid used in specialty fertilizers and animal feeds. This market segment is also facing constraints as current producers limit output due to operational challenges, Arianne said.

Regional benefits

The company expects to create 1,000 jobs and contribute $12 billion in economic benefits to the region. The Lac à Paul project boasts a resource base capable of supporting production for over 50 years. It has proven and probable reserves of 472.1 million tonnes grading 6.88% P₂O₅, along with 702.7 million measured and indicated tonnes at 7.16% P₂O₅ and 26 million inferred tonnes at 6.58% P₂O₅.

Shares in Arianne Phosphate closed 14% higher on Friday in Toronto at C$0.28 apiece, valuing the company at C$58 million. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of C$0.18 to C$0.31.

“The opportunity is here for the Saguenay to become a major player in the essential phosphoric acid industry,” Arianne COO Raphael Gaudreault said in the release. “The project checks so many boxes; security of supply, easy logistical access to a critical mineral, minimal operational challenge and very impressive economics.”

Ion Storage Systems (ION), a Maryland-based manufacturer of high-energy density, fast-charging solid-state batteries (SSBs), announced this week it will receive $20 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE).

The funding is provided by the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), under a three-year, $40 million partnership with several commercialization partners.

ION will collaborate with Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest ceramics, glass and material suppliers, and technology company KLA to accelerate the commercialization of its high-performing, anodeless SSB.

The ARPA-E SCALEUP (seeding critical advances for leading energy technologies with untapped potential) program will contribute $20 million that will be matched by another $20 million in private funds, bringing the total program size to $40 million.

The SCALEUP program builds on the agency’s “primary research and development focus to support the scaling of disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications,” said ARPA-E.

ION was one of four companies to secure funding from SCALEUP in 2024 as part of its $63.5 million program budget. According to the agency, the program’s goal is to help ARPA-E-funded technologies transition from proof-of-concept prototypes to commercially scalable and deployable versions of the technology.

ARPA-E’s SCALEUP funding and corporate partnerships enable ION to manufacture high performing, EV-scale SSB cells in the US with domestically sourced materials while expanding on what is already among the largest SSB manufacturing facilities in the United States.

“Accelerating the widespread adoption of electric vehicles requires increasing driving range, reducing costs, and improving safety,” Dr. Evelyn N. Wang, ARPA-E director, said in a news release.  

“Ion Storage Systems — through an earlier ARPA-E program — focused on working toward these goals, and now, through SCALEUP, the company will accelerate domestic manufacturing of next generation solid-state, high-power-density lithium-metal batteries, based on ION’s proprietary ceramic electrolyte manufacturing technology.”

The project will include sustainability-focused cell design and manufacturing milestones, with planned innovations offering the opportunity for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions on the order of tens of thousands of metric tons of CO₂ per GWh relative to Li-ion.