This is an annual phenomenon. While many metal fabricators take downtime over the holiday period, most smelters keep operating, leading to a jump in visible inventory.

Copper has experienced the sharpest seasonal stocks build this year, leaving exchange inventory at the highest levels since 2020.

The rise in ShFE zinc inventories has closely matched last year’s pattern, while aluminum has seen a highly muted rebuild by historical standards.

Nickel stocks were increasing before the holiday break and are now at four-year highs. Those of tin are the highest since ShFE launched its tin contract in 2015.

Copper surge

ShFE copper stocks have mushroomed from just 30,905 metric tons at the end of December to 285,090 tons.

The scale of this year’s seasonal surge has been the strongest since 2020, when registered inventory peaked at 380,085 tons. The New Year holiday period that year coincided with the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns and the resulting slump in Chinese manufacturing activity.

This year the jump in exchange stocks likely reflects the combination of fast domestic production growth and higher imports.

The country’s output of refined copper rose by 9.0% year-on-year in January-February, equivalent to an extra 159,000 tons, according to local data provider Shanghai Metal Market. Imports rose by 2.6% over the same period.

Stocks registered with Shanghai’s International Energy Exchange have also jumped from 9,760 tons at the end of last year to a current 40,511 tons. However, this year’s mid-March peak of 45,298 tons fell short of last year’s peak of 82,575 tons.

Muted rise in aluminum stocks

ShFE stocks of aluminum fell to 199,757 tons this week from last week’s year-to-date high of 206,417 tons.

If that turns out to be this year’s seasonal peak, it means the rebuild has been extremely muted relative to the last four years.

Stocks are up by just 100,728 tons on the start of January. By this time last year they had risen by 229,000 tons. The seasonal effect was even stronger over the 2020-2022 period.

Visible inventory remains remarkably low after last year’s high imports of over 1.5 million tons and the bullish optics reinforce the narrative of a tight domestic market.

Seasonal norm for zinc and lead

Exchange stocks of zinc in Shanghai crept a little higher this week to 121,873 tons and are now up by 100,658 tons on the start of January.

This is very close to last year’s seasonal build of 103,441 tons and to that seen in 2021.

Shanghai lead stocks stand at 53,631 tons and are up by just 747 tons since the start of 2024, which is comparable to the 333-ton rise seen over the first three months of last year.

Lead is less exposed to the new year holiday effect, having its own seasonality in the form of car battery kill rates over the northern hemisphere winter months.

China is also exporting ever more refined lead. Shipments rose by 62% year-on-year to 188,000 tons in 2023, the highest annual volume since 2007.

The steady outbound flow has served to keep Shanghai inventory below the 100,000-ton level for the last two years.

Nickel stocks at four-year high

Shanghai nickel stocks dwindled to just 560 tons in May last year, reflecting a shift in domestic production from the refined nickel that trades on the ShFE to nickel sulphate used in electric vehicle batteries.

The dynamic has changed dramatically over the last year. A new generation of Chinese nickel refineries has started up to capitalise on the burgeoning import flow of Indonesian raw materials.

ShFE stocks have grown to 20,713 tons, the highest tally since December 2020. The build has been mirrored on the London market, where the London Metal Exchange (LME) has been fast-tracking Chinese companies wanting to list their brands. LME stocks have risen by 21% so far this year.

Tin stocks hit record high

Global exchange stocks of tin, by contrast, are showing divergent trends.

Those in London have fallen by a third this year to below 5,000 tons as supply is constrained by export delays in Indonesia.

Shanghai tin stocks have been rising steadily since the start of December and now total 12,021 tons, which is the highest inventory in the contract’s nine years of trading history.

The country has been stocking up on refined tin in recent months, imports hitting a record high of 33,470 tons last year.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by David Evans)

Graphic: Congo overtakes Peru on copper output, still behind on exports

“Whatever report we have in front of us, we are not convinced by it,” said VL Kantha Rao, secretary at the Ministry of Mines, which administers Hindustan Zinc.

Last September, the company said it plans to create separate entities for its zinc, lead, silver and recycling businesses to unlock potential shareholder value.

But it did not consult the government, which has a 29.54% stake in the company, on the planned move, another government official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

The official also said the government was not convinced by Hindustan Zinc’s rationale for the split and that the Ministry of Mines has lodged its objection with the company.

Hindustan Zinc CEO Arun Misra told Reuters the company had received the ministry’s communication, which will be discussed with the board along with the management’s observations.

However, Misra said he believes demerging the company to create a separate silver and zinc entity will help improve its market capitalization, based on a report by a consultant.

A year back, the government had opposed Hindustan Zinc’s proposal to buy two entities of Vedanta — which has a 64.9% stake in Hindustan Zinc — and forced the company to drop the plan.

(By Neha Arora and Nikunj Ohri; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Savio D’Souza)

The suspension could exacerbate a tightened supply of zinc concentrates, feedstock to make refined zinc, which is mainly used to galvanise steel to protect it from corrosion.

“MRM has temporarily ceased operations as we monitor flooding in the region and assess impacts onsite at our operations,” Glencore said in a statement.

McArthur River mine is one of the world’s biggest zinc and lead operations. It produced 262,200 tonnes of zinc in concentrates and 50,400 tonnes of lead in concentrates last year, according to Glencore’s production report.

The site experienced rainfall this week which exceeded the previous record dating back about 50 years to 1974.

Also backed by Glencore, Peruvian zinc, lead and silver miner Volcan suspended three of its mines in the country earlier this week as it works on updating an operating permit for its Rumichaca tailings dam.

Delay in the start of major Russian zinc mine Ozernoye, suspension of Europe’s biggest zinc mine Tara, also led to a lower supply of mined zinc.

(By Julian Luk; Editing by David Evans)

The Peruvian firm said in a statement, posted to the local regulator, that it would suspend its operations in the San Cristobal, Carahuacra and Ticlio mines in the center of the country for up to 30 days.

Peru is the world’s second largest producer of copper, silver and zinc, which are key to its economy. Sales of the metals are equivalent to 60% of all the country’s exports.

The mines are part of the Yauli mining unit, located in the department of Junin, 170 kilometers (105.63 miles) from capital Lima, which produces zinc, lead, silver and copper. The Rumichaca tailings dam is in the same area.

The company did not specify what impact the suspension of activities would have on production, but said that during the shutdown period “all the necessary care and maintenance work will be carried out to restart operations as soon as possible.”

(By Juana Casas; Editing by Deepa Babington)

The Vancouver-based BMC, owned by private, UK-based firm BMC Ltd., is developing the critical minerals project located 115 km southeast of Ross River. KZK was paused last year when the Kaska Nation said the federal and Yukon governments didn’t address their concerns over wildlife and the environment at the mine’s proposed site.

“The decision document reapproves the project to proceed through the regulatory phase of permitting,”Allan Nixon, vice president of external relations told The Northern Miner on Wednesday. “This is very positive news and we are pleased to have a new decision document. We are just in the process of reviewing it in detail as there have been some changes in a few of the terms and conditions.”

“We will continue to engage with Kaska to ensure we address any remaining concerns they may have and to ensure we are maximizing opportunities for their participation in and benefit from the project.”

The document, issued on Friday, represents a green light on BMC’s path towards developing KZK, one of the few pre-production critical minerals projects in the Far North to advance past the feasibility study stage and into permitting. BMC first submitted its proposal for mine in 2017.

Kudz Ze Kayah, or ‘caribou country’ in the Kaska language, will cost $376 million to develop, and the open pit operation would have a nine-year life. According to a 2020 feasibility study, KZK has an after-tax net present value (at a 7% discount rate) of $617 million, and an internal rate of return of 45.9%. The mine would produce 7.8 million oz. of silver, 56,500 oz. of gold, 235 million lb. of zinc, 32 million lb. of copper and 56 million lb. of lead in concentrate annually during steady-state operations.

The decision document presents the outcome of talks held in February between the Yukon and federal governments, the Ross River Dena Council (RRDC), Liard First Nation (LFN) and community members. Those consultations were ordered by Yukon Supreme Court chief Justice Suzanne Duncan, who found last January that the Crown failed in its duty to consult and accommodate Kaska’s environmental concerns.

New conditions on KZK

Government authorities concluded in the document that KZK should go ahead without review but under a new terms and conditions.

Regulators must consult with the Kaska on KZK’s technical details and its potential impacts on Indigenous rights; the Kaska will play a key role in the review of mine closure plans and land use; and Kaska will be consulted about reviewing environmental monitoring and financial security.

“(Governments) are committed to working closely with Kaska in the regulatory process to determine if the Kudz Ze Kayah project can proceed to licensing,” reads the document issued by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board.

The Yukon government will also set up an independent Finlayson caribou herd oversight committee composed of territorial officials, LFN and RRDC members. That body will monitor protection measures, such as temporary pauses of rock blasting and transportation routes to minimize disturbances to caribou.

Scott Donaldson, CEO of BMC, told The Northern Miner at PDAC last week that he looks forward to sitting down with the Kaska and working through the decision document.

“I’m confident we’ve worked very hard to adopt as many of the Kaska requests as we possibly could,” he said.

Donaldson said BMC’s next steps are its permitting issues and consultations, with a final investment decision on the project expected in the first half of next year.

The Kaska Nation chief did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Kaska sought review

The dispute over KZK began in June 2022, when the federal and territorial governments approved it following an environmental and socio-economic assessment.

But weeks later, the Kaska, on behalf of the RRDC announced a civil lawsuit against the governments, alleging it wasn’t properly consulted over the mine’s potential environmental impacts, including on caribou herds.

The RRDC petitioned the court to review how regulatory authorities had approved KZK, which led to a judicial hearing in Whitehorse last April, where lawyers for the Kaska, BMC, the Attorney General of Canada and Yukon presented arguments for their respective positions.

Duncan reserved her position at the time until January, when she found that the federal and territorial governments partially fulfilled their duties to consult.

KZK mainly consists of the ABM open pit mine, with smaller resources in the Krakatoa open pit and underground mines. ABM hosts probable reserves of 15.7 million tonnes grading 5.8% zinc, 1.7% lead, 0.9% copper, 138 grams silver per tonne and 1.3 grams gold for contained metal of 135,800 tonnes copper, 265,700 tonnes lead, 915,000 tonnes zinc, 665,800 gold and 69.5 million oz. silver.

Cominco began exploring around the KZK deposit in 1977. Drilling in 1994 revealed copper, lead and zinc mineralization. BMC purchased the project from Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) in 2015.

Adriatic Metals, which had planned to start production at the Vares mine in January, produced the first concentrate on Tuesday but the plant’s official opening will be in March after six years of exploration and a $200 million investment.

The project will continue to ramp up processing capacity to about 65,000 metric tons a month by the fourth quarter of this year, the company said.

Production will be increased by blending high-grade stockpiled ore with lower grade stockpiles, it added.

Adriatic Metals expects to dig about 800,000 tons of polymetallic ore per year from the mine, producing about 65,000 tons of lead-silver concentrate and 90,000 tons of zinc concentrate, with annual ore export revenue of about 800 million Bosnian marka ($444 million).

(By Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Jason Neely and David Goodman)

The paper, published in Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, details the new technique which employs a sulfurization-reduction approach.

Using pyrite as a sulfurizing agent, the novel sulfurization-reduction method facilitates the efficient extraction of metals from slag by combining thermodynamic analysis with practical laboratory experiments.

According to the scientists, the technique has allowed them to recover nearly 98% of the copper and zinc content and about 90% of the lead content in slag.

The article points out that only in 2022, China produced over 11,000 kilotons of refined copper, leading to 2.2 to 3 tonnes of slag per tonne of copper produced. This slag contains valuable metals like additional copper (0.5%–6%), lead (0.2%–0.6%), and zinc (1%–5.5%), which are often not recovered, resulting in resource waste and environmental hazards from leaked toxic ions.

“By significantly reducing the harmful residues in the leftover slag, this method contributes to a more sustainable approach to waste management in the metallurgical industry. It suggests a shift towards more eco-friendly practices, emphasizing the importance of both economic viability and environmental responsibility in resource recovery processes,” the researchers said in a media statement.

Coeur acquired the Silvertip mine and mill in 2017 but ceased mining and processing in 2020. During that time, the company spent over C$100 million at the site. The highest-grade drill intercept returned 4.9 metres at 1,261 g/t silver, 22.4% zinc, 22.0% lead, 0.13 g/t gold, 0.2% copper, 70 ppm indium, 60 ppm gallium and 0.08% tin.

At the end of 2022, the property had measured and indicated resources of 6.4 million tonnes grading 265 g/t silver, 9.68% zinc and 5.12% lead. In terms of contained metal, those numbers represent over 60 million oz. of silver, almost 1.4 billion lb. of zinc and 722.2 million lb. of lead.

The inferred resource is 1.7 million tonnes grading 239 g/t silver (14.4 million contained oz.), 10.09% zinc (378 million lb.) and 4.43% lead (166 million lb.).

The Silvertip exploration project is located within the traditional territories of the Kaska and Tahltan Nations, and Coeur has signed participation agreements with both of them.

This represents the largest private investment in southern Arizona’s history, and the largest investment in the local Santa Cruz county economy to date by nearly nine times, the Australian miner said.

Last year, the Hermosa project became the first to be added to the United States’ FAST-41 permitting process, and the company said it has the potential to become one of the world’s largest zinc producers.

“Today’s investment decision represents a major milestone for our business and aligns with our strategy to reshape our portfolio toward commodities critical to a low-carbon future,” South32 CEO Graham Kerr said in a news release.

“[The] project will strengthen the domestic supply of critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies and national defense, reducing America’s reliance on foreign countries and transforming the local economy,” Hermosa project president Pat Risner added.

With a surface footprint of just over 600 acres and projected to use approximately 75% less water than other mines in the region, the operation has been designed to minimize its environmental impact, the company said.

The new investment will fund construction of key infrastructure projects, including water management systems, power, site facilities, underground shaft sinking, initial underground development and other work required to begin operations, it added.

Once completed, this infrastructure would support future potential development of other deposits at the site, including the battery-grade manganese deposit, South32 said.

Construction and mine development at Hermosa, made up of the Taylor (zinc-lead-silver) and Clark (zinc-manganese-silver) deposits, started last year with approvals from the State of Arizona.

“Development of the zinc deposit is the first phase of a regional-scale opportunity at Hermosa, with ongoing activities to unlock additional value from the manganese deposit,” Kerr said.

In January, South32 released a mine plan of operations as a roadmap of operational activities at the Hermosa project from start to finish located on lands managed by the Coronado National Forest.

The company said operations at the mainly copper and zinc producing mine have been temporarily suspended.

Lundin said that it is working with Portugal’s authorities in their investigation.

(By Vallari Srivastava; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

In detail, his proposal calls for banning the granting of open-pit mining concessions and activities related to the exploration, exploitation, benefit or use of minerals, metals or metalloids using the open-pit method.

To argue his case, López Obrador said that open-pit mining causes severe environmental damage and uses excessive water that could be supplied to water-scarce communities. 

“It is clear that open-pit mining transgresses human rights by affecting the right to a healthy environment and good health,” his proposal states. “The most significant effects are evident in the communities and towns near project areas, placing them in a situation of vulnerability and inequality.”

The proposal, however, does not mention underground mining. 

The motion is expected to revive hostilities between the Mexican government and big industry players, as the country’s oldest and largest mines are open-pit operations. In total, Mexico hosts 264 mines that extract surface minerals, most of them located in Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Sonora and San Luis Potosí. 

Top producers such as Grupo Mexico’s Buenavista del Cobre, Newmont Goldcorp’s Peñasquito, two of Fresnillo’s gold-silver units, and several other mines owned by Industrias Peñoles are open-pit operations.

Since taking over in 2018, the AMLO administration has not granted any new concessions through de facto mechanisms – but without the backing of any specific law. 

The recent move adds to the uncertain investment atmosphere in the country, whose miners were shaken back in May 2023, when Mexican Senators approved a new mining law in an accelerated process without opposition legislators present. 

The mining law reforms involve companies having to deal with an increased burden of pre-consultation, impact studies and water concessions, among other things. The new law also requires financial commitments (bonding) and shortens the tenure of mining concessions from 50 years to 30 years, with a one-time 15-year renewal possible.

China consumes more than half the world’s metals and an even greater proportion of iron ore and battery raw materials – and gloom about the country’s economic prospects amid a property and stock market crisis have only added to bearish mining sentiment. 

In a new trading desk note Marcus Garvey, head of Macquarie commodities strategy based in Singapore, and a team of analysts have identified the first green shoots for the sector (and 34 charts to back it up):   

“January’s full set of PMIs (World manufacturing new orders up 1.2pp to 49.8) looks like a potential turning point for the global industrial cycle, with bullish implications for industrial commodities demand.”

Expectations of a smaller reduction in US interest rates this year than previously anticipated have supported the dollar and put metal prices under pressure which usually move in the opposite direction. 

Nevertheless, says Macquarie: “Commodity prices have a far more consistent relationship with global growth than with FX.”

The investment bank also points to US goods demand which it says “increasingly looks to be reaccelerating,” and from a higher base. Macquarie also sees the potential of a developed market manufacturing recovery and a restocking cycle in Europe.”

And while China has so far held off on broad based economic stimulus, fixed asset investment in infrastructure, led by renewables, and certain sectors including autos (particularly electric cars) have shown notable strength.

“Ultimately, if commodity prices are lifted by a pick-up in global industrial production, the implications for goods inflation may become self-inhibiting, by reducing the scope for further central bank easing. 

“But that is an ex-post problem, not an ex-ante one, suggesting to us that dips should now be bought. 

“Selectively at least, in those markets where fundamentals are already relatively tight or have the potential to tighten quickly. Especially if positioning gets short.”

In recent years, nickelates have been the subject of considerable interest because they are newfound close cousins of the well-known “cuprates,” a family of copper oxide-based superconductors that can have high transition temperatures, upwards of 100 Kelvin, at which point electrical resistance vanishes, whereas, for conventional superconductors, such as lead or niobium, their transitions are below 10 Kelvin. High-temperature superconductors are much easier to cool and thus are far more promising for potential future applications.

Ever since cuprates were first discovered in the late 1980s, scientists have sought similar superconducting families that might pinpoint the key qualities that enable high-temperature superconductivity.

“One obvious place to look is nickel because nickel is right next to copper on the periodic table,” said Kyle Shen, the professor who oversaw the project led by postdoctoral fellow Christopher Parzyck. “So people thought maybe we can do some material synthesis magic and make nickel-bearing compounds sort of like cuprates. That idea existed 30 years ago. The reason it took so long to realize is it turns out nickelate superconductors are hard to make.”

Other researchers had synthesized nickelates—which are composed of nickel, oxygen and a rare earth element—by first growing a “precursor” material and then exposing that material to a source of hydrogen and heating it inside a sealed tube. Over a day or so, the hydrogen pulls out roughly a third of the material’s oxygen molecules, which Shen compared to removing blocks in a game of Jenga.

“Synthesizing these materials is a bit of a nightmare,” he said.

Alternative technique

Parzyck and Shen devised an alternative technique in which the oxygen is removed by a beam of atomic hydrogen, a process that is commonly used for cleaning semiconductor surfaces, but had never been used for materials synthesis. Atomic hydrogen reduction gives the researchers greater independent control of the amount of hydrogen being applied, in addition to variables such as time and pressure. The process can be completed in minutes, rather than hours or a day.

“Developing the reduction technique was a long and challenging process in and of itself,” Parzyck said. “When I first started out, I tried to apply conditions like those used in traditional calcium hydride reduction—low temperatures for relatively long periods of time—but the sample quality was always low and not very consistent. It wasn’t until I decided to start fresh and go in a completely different direction—opting for higher temperatures for as short of a duration as possible—that I really found some success.”

Parzyck tried X-ray scattering experiments with his nickelate samples at a synchrotron beamline. His goal was to measure the samples to detect the suspected presence of “charge ordering”—a phenomenon in which electrons self-organize into periodic patterns. The phenomenon has been linked to high-temperature superconductivity.

However, the synchrotron experiments failed to show the “resonant scattering peak” that should have signalled the presence of charge ordering, so the researchers began varying the amount of oxygen they were stripping out.

“The real breakthrough came when we started measuring the samples which we purposefully prepared to have excess oxygen and saw a very strong, clear response—then we had a viable alternative explanation for the peak’s origin and finally knew we were going in the right direction,” Parzyck said.

To confirm their suspicions, they collaborated with the late professor Lena Kourkoutis, as well as with professor David Muller and their doctoral student Lopa Bhatt, who used electron microscopy to directly verify that trace amounts of oxygen in the samples were indeed causing the spurious charge-order signal.

Not only has the team identified a crucial difference between cuprate and nickelate superconductors; they now have a more reliable method for growing cleaner samples that can potentially be used for a wider variety of experiments, with a little less mystery.

Consolidated profit after tax dropped 18% to 20.13 billion rupees (nearly $242 million), ahead of analysts’ average estimate of a 23.5% fall, as per LSEG data.

Domestic sales and production for zinc rose 9.8% and 7% respectively, while that of aluminum rose 1.4% and 6%, respectively.

As a result, revenue from operations rose 4% to 349.68 rupees during the quarter, beating analysts’ expectations of an 8% fall.

Grappling with falling metal prices, the metals and mining company has reported profit falls since the first quarter of 2022 and a loss in the July-September quarter last year.

Prices of key base metals – zinc and lead – were down on the London Metal Exchange during the quarter, lower than in the year ago quarter despite sequential improvement.

While aluminum prices improved year-on-year, they are down from their record high levels in March 2022.

In September last year, billionaire Anil Agarwal launched a sweeping overhaul that would carve up the metals-to-oil conglomerate into six separate businesses, a move aimed at shoring up parent Vedanta Group’s financial performance.

Last week, the Vedanta Group-owned Hindustan Zinc reported its fifth consecutive decline in quarterly profit as the company was also hit by lower zinc prices and sales.

($1 = 83.0810 Indian rupees)

(By Kashish Tandon; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

The miner on Monday posted a near 50% drop in second-quarter metallurgical coal output as it completed major work at an underground mine at its Illawarra operation, while its quarterly manganese production also missed estimates.

Its shares fell as much as 5.3% after the production report was released then recouped some losses to trade down 2.3%, underperforming the broader market, which was up 0.5%.

The Perth-headquartered miner said production of metallurgical coal, used to make steel, fell to 744,000 metric tons in the three months to December, from 1.5 million tons a year earlier. This is below the estimates of around 1.0 million tons by Macquarie and Morgan Stanley.

South32, the world’s biggest producer of manganese, which is used to strengthen steel and increasingly in batteries, reported a nearly 14% drop in quarterly manganese ore output at 1,272 thousand wet metric tons (kwmt), below Macquarie’s estimate of 1,312 kwmt.

Output fell due to lower yields at its Australia Manganese unit, while its South Africa Manganese operation completed planned maintenance.

South32 said it still expects to achieve annual total coal production at the Illawarra operations of 5.0 million tons.

However, it cut the production forecast for Brazil Alumina by 7% due to third-party power outages and maintenance and also lowered annual production guidance for Mozal Aluminium by 12%, where it is cutting output as part of a recovery plan.

South32 said it had also commenced a strategic review of its nickel operation Cerro Matoso in Columbia to evaluate options to improve its competitive position amid a sharp downturn in the nickel market.

Nickel prices have slumped 40% over the past year following a surge in supply from Indonesia, which has led to a string of restructures and writedowns at nickel mines across Australia.

“With some of our commodities facing headwinds in the half, we continued to focus on delivering cost efficiencies and expect first half operating unit costs to be below or in line with guidance for the majority of our operations,” South32 CEO Graham Kerr said.

South32 said it remains on track to make a final investment decision for the Taylor zinc-lead-silver deposit in Arizona in the March quarter.

(By Ayushman Ojha and Aaditya Govind Rao; Editing by Leslie Adler, Richard Chang and Sonali Paul)

Total gold production in 2023 was 326,638 oz., a 26% increase on 2022. This includes 78,617 oz. coming from Séguéla during the second half of 2023. The biggest contributor was Yaramoko in Burkina Faso at 117,711 oz., followed by Lindero in Argentina at 101,238 oz.

In addition, base metals byproducts also reached record highs, with approximately 55.1 million lb. of zinc and 40.9 million lb. of lead, representing yearly increases of 19% and 18% respectively.

Silver production, however, saw a 15% decline to 5.9 million oz. due to decreased production at the San Jose mine Mexico following an illegal union blockade in the second quarter and operational challenges thereafter. In the end, silver output was 7% below the lower end of the 2023 guidance.

Still, on a gold-equivalent basis, Fortuna’s company-wide production including the base metal byproducts was a record 452,389 oz.

Looking ahead, the precious metals miner is expecting gold-equivalent production of between 457,000-497,000 oz. in 2024, for a projected increase of between 1-10% over last year.

The 2024 guidance comprises 343,000-385,000 oz. of gold, for a projected increase of between 5-18%, and 4.0-4.7 million oz. of silver, for a projected decrease of between 32-21%.

Cash cost is expected to rise by about 6-20% over the 2023 figures to between $935-$1,055/oz. gold-equivalent.

By midday Thursday, Fortuna’s stock plunged by 14.1% to C$4.12 apiece, for a market capitalization of C$1.2 billion ($920m).

Lead got a boost from index trading after it was included in the Bloomberg Commodity Index (BCOM) for the first time last year.

“This reflects growing interest in the LME markets and increased risk appetite from investors, with market open interest also up 25% since the start of January 2023,” the exchange said.

Nickel trading volumes at the LME, owned by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd, are yet to fully recover from a hit after a chaotic price spike in March, 2022 that forced the LME to shut the market and cancel billions of dollars in deals.

“We have also seen liquidity build and volatility reduce in LME nickel, with December average daily volume up 55% year on year. This momentum appears to have carried in to 2024,” the LME said.

(By Polina Devitt; Editing by David Evans)

The PEA outlined a long-life gold-silver mine operation with strong economics, including an after-tax net present value (at a 5% discount) of C$454 million and an internal rate of return of 21.1%. Pre-production capital expenditures are estimated at C$588 million, giving the project an after-tax payback period of 3.2 years.

The economics presented in the PEA study were calculated from metals prices of $1,850/oz. gold, $23.00/oz. silver, $1.26/lb. zinc and $0.90/lb. lead. Rokmaster pointed out that today’s market prices are higher for metals, notably gold (currently at over $2,000/oz.).

The PEA considers an underground mine with on-site treatment of the mined material by particle sorting followed by conventional milling, and flotation to produce separate lead and zinc concentrates for sale to third-party smelters, in combination with on-site treatment of refractory gold concentrates to produce gold-silver doré.

A processing capacity of 2,920 tonnes per day will result in a production lifespan of 11.4 years. During that period, the Revel Ridge mine is expected to deliver average annual payable production of 158,000 oz. of gold equivalent (114,000 oz. gold, 940,000 oz. silver, 32.6 million lb. zinc and 19.6 million lb. lead).

The PEA is derived from an NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate from June 2023, which showed approximately 7.1 milliion tonnes of measured and indicated material grading 6.63 grams per tonne gold equivalent (for 1.53 million oz. AuEq), and 7.5 million tonnes of inferred material at 6.11 g/t (for 1.49 million oz. AuEq).

In addition to the PEA, Rokmaster said in Friday’s news release that there is potential to expand current mineral resources through ongoing exploration diamond drilling, both down dips, along on-strike and on other occurrences at Revel Ridge.

A year where the gold price sets an all-time record should be unalloyed good news for the mining and exploration industry, which despite all the buzz surrounding battery metals and the energy transition still represents the backbone of the junior market.

Metal and mineral markets are volatile at the best of times – the nickel, cobalt and lithium price collapse in 2023 was extreme but not entirely unprecedented. Rare earth producers, platinum group metal watchers, iron ore followers, and gold and silver bugs for that matter, have been through worse.

Mining companies have become better at navigating choppy waters, but the forced closure of one of the biggest copper mines to come into production in recent decades served as a stark reminder of the outsized risks miners face over and above market swings.

Panama shuts down giant copper mine

After months of protests and political pressure, at the end of November the Panama government ordered the closure of First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama mine following a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared the mining contract for the operation unconstitutional.

Public figures including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio backed the protests and shared a video calling for the “mega mine” to cease operations, which quickly went viral. 

FQM’s latest statement on Friday said Panama’s government hasn’t provided a legal basis to the Vancouver-based company for pursuing the closure plan, a plan that the industries ministry of the central American nation said will only be presented in June next year.

FQM has filed two notices of arbitration over the closure of the mine, which has not been operating since protesters blocked access to its shipping port in October. However, arbitration would not be the company’s preferred outcome, said CEO Tristan Pascall.

In the aftermath of the unrest, FQM has said it should have better communicated the value of the $10 billion mine to the wider public, and will now spend more time engaging with Panamanians ahead of a national election next year. FQM shares have bounced in the past week, but is still trading more than 50% below the high hit during July this year.

Projected copper deficit evaporates

Cobre Panama’s shutdown and unexpected operational disruptions forcing copper mining companies to slash output has seen the sudden removal of around 600,000 tons of expected supply would, moving the market from a large expected surplus into balance, or even a deficit.

The next couple of years were supposed to be a time of plenty for copper, thanks to a series of big new projects starting up around the world.

The expectation across most of the industry was for a comfortable surplus before the market tightens again later this decade when surging demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure is expected to collide with a lack of new mines.

Instead, the mining industry has highlighted how vulnerable supply can be — whether due to political and social opposition, the difficulty of developing new operations, or simply the day-to-day challenge of pulling rocks up from deep beneath the earth.

Lithium price routed on supply surge

The price of lithium was decimated in 2023, but predictions for next year are far from rosy. Lithium demand from electric vehicles is still growing rapidly, but the supply response has overwhelmed the market.

Global lithium supply, meanwhile, will jump by 40% in 2024, UBS said earlier this month, to more than 1.4 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Output in top producers Australia and Latin America will rise 22% and 29% respectively, while that in Africa is expected to double, driven by projects in Zimbabwe, the bank said.

Chinese production will also jump 40% in the next two years, said UBS, driven by a major CATL project in southern Jiangxi province.

The investment bank expects Chinese lithium carbonate prices could fall by more than 30% next year, dipping as low as 80,000 yuan ($14,800) per tonne in 2024, averaging at around 100,000 yuan, equivalent to production costs in Jiangxi, China’s biggest producing region of the chemical.

Lithium assets still in high demand

In October, Albemarle Corp. walked away from its $4.2 billion takeover of Liontown Resources Ltd., after Australia’s richest woman built up a blocking minority and effectively scuppered one of the largest battery-metals deals to date.

Eager to add new supply, Albemarle had pursued its Perth-based target for months, eying its Kathleen Valley project — one of Australia’s most promising deposits. Liontown agreed to the US company’s “best and final” offer of A$3 a share in September — a near 100% premium to the price before Albemarle’s takeover interest was made public in March.

Albemarle had to contend with the arrival of combative mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, as her Hancock Prospecting steadily built up a 19.9% stake in Liontown. Last week, she became the single largest investor, with enough clout to potentially block a shareholder vote on the deal.

In December, SQM teamed up with Hancock Prospecting to make a sweetened A$1.7 billion ($1.14 billion) bid for Australian lithium developer Azure Minerals, the three parties said on Tuesday.

The deal would give the world’s no.2 lithium producer SQM a foothold in Australia with a stake in Azure’s Andover project and a partnership with Hancock, which has rail infrastructure and local experience in developing mines.

Chile, Mexico take control of lithium

This week Chile’s President Gabriel Boric hailed the formation of a new government-controlled lithium partnership that fuses assets of state-run Codelco with private miner SQM, as the leftist leader advances his push for greater public control over the battery metal. 

SQM said it would partner with copper giant Codelco for the future development and production of the metal in the Atacama salt flat, in a tie-up set to kick off in 2025 and run through 2060.

The deal gives Codelco majority control in line with the president’s plans announced in April to strengthen state control of lithium to generate more broad-based benefits from surging demand and to allow only public-private partnerships to participate in its exploitation.

For much of the year, the firms had been locked in talks over the future of lithium mining and production in the salt flat, located in Chile’s north and the home to 90% of the nation’s lithium reserves. The South American country has the world’s largest proven lithium reserves.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in February signed a decree handing over responsibility for lithium reserves to the energy ministry.

Lopez Obrador urged the private sector to work with the new state miner, saying the size of the investment needed means the government needs partners.

But analysts argue that companies are more likely to focus near-term investments in Chile or Argentina’s sprawling salt flats, where industries are more established and policies more market-friendly.

In August, Chinese lithium giant Ganfeng said Mexico’s mining authorities had issued a notice to its local subsidiaries indicating nine of its concessions had been terminated.

Gold to build on record-setting year

The New York futures price of gold set an all-time high at the beginning of December and looks set to surpass the peak going into the new year. 

London’s gold price benchmark hit an all-time high of $2,069.40 per troy ounce at an afternoon auction on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record of $2,067.15 set in August 2020, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) said.

“I can think of no clearer demonstration of gold’s role as a store of value than the enthusiasm with which investors across the world have turned to the metal during the recent economic and geopolitical turmoils,” said LMBA’s chief executive officer Ruth Crowell. 

JPMorgan predicted a new record back in July but expected the new high to occur in the second quarter of 2024. The basis of JPMorgan’s optimism for 2024 – falling US interest rates – remains intact:

“The bank has an average price target of $2,175 an ounce for bullion in the final quarter of 2024, with risks skewed to the upside on a forecast for a mild US recession that’s likely to hit sometime before the Fed starts easing.”

Even as gold climbed new peaks, exploration spending on the precious metal dipped. A study published in November overall mining exploration budgets fell this year for the first time since 2020, dropping 3% to $12.8 billion at the 2,235 companies that allocated funds to find or expand deposits.

Despite the sparkling gold price, gold exploration budgets, which historically have been driven more by the junior mining sector than any other metal or mineral, dropped by 16% or $1.1 billion year-on-year to just under $6 billion, representing 46% of the global total. 

That’s down from 54% in 2022 amid higher spending on lithium, nickel and other battery metals, a surge in spending on uranium and rare earths and an uptick for copper. 

Mining’s year of M&A, spin-offs, IPOs, and SPAC deals

In December, speculation about Anglo American (LON: AAL) becoming the target of a takeover by a rival or a private equity firm mounted, as weakness in the shares of the diversified miner persisted.

If Anglo American doesn’t turn operations around and its share price continues to lag, Jefferies analysts say they can’t “rule out the possibility that Anglo is involved in the broader trend of industry consolidation,” according to their research note.

In October, Newcrest Mining shareholders voted strongly in favour of accepting the roughly $17 billion buyout bid from global gold mining giant Newmont Corporation.

Newmont (NYSE: NEM) plans to raise $2 billion in cash through mine sales and project divestments following the acquisition. The acquisition brings the company’s value to around $50 billion and adds five active mines and two advanced projects to Newmont’s portfolio.

Breakups and spin-offs were also a big part of 2023 corporate developments.

After being rebuffed several times in its bid to buy all of Teck Resources, Glencore and its Japanese partner are in a better position to bring the $9 billion bid for the diversified Canadian miner’s coal unit to a close. Glencore CEO Gary Nagle’s initial bid for the entire company faced stiff opposition from Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government and from the premier of British Columbia, where the company is based.

Vale (NYSE: VALE) is not seeking new partners for its base metals unit following a recent equity sale, but could consider an IPO for the unit within three or four years, CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo said in October.

Vale recruited former Anglo American Plc boss Mark Cutifani in April to lead an independent board to oversee the $26-billion copper and nickel unit created in July when the Brazilian parent company sold 10% to Saudi fund Manara Minerals.

Shares in Indonesian copper and gold miner, PT Amman Mineral Internasional, have surged more than fourfold since listing in July and are set to keep rising after its inclusion in major emerging market indexes in November.

Amman Mineral’s $715 million IPO was the largest in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy this year and counted on strong demand by global and domestic funds.

Not all dealmaking went smoothly this year.

Announced in June, a $1 billion metals deal by blank-cheque fund ACG Acquisition Co to acquire a Brazilian nickel and and a copper-gold mine from Appian Capital, was terminated in September.

The deal was backed by Glencore, Chrysler parent Stellantis and Volkswagen’s battery unit PowerCo through an equity investment, but as nickel prices slumped there was a lack of interest from minority investors at the stage of the $300 million equity offering which ACG planned as part of the deal.

Talks in 2022 to acquire the mines also fell through after bidder Sibanye-Stillwater pulled out. That transaction is now the subject of legal proceedings after Appian filed a $1.2 billion claim against the South African miner.

Uranium upsurge

In late November uranium prices scaled $80 per pound for the first time in 15 years, driven by a resurgence in demand for nuclear power and supply disruptions.

Global yellowcake supply might reach 145 million lb. this year or next according to the World Nuclear Association. But annual demand is already at 180 million lb. and the industry group expects it to nearly double to 300 million lb. by 2040.

Some 60 nuclear plants are under construction globally and more are planned. Countries like Germany and Japan that considered phasing them out are reversing course.

Activity in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca uranium hotspot is intensifying. NexGen received environmental approval for its Rook I project in November, the province’s first OK for such a project in two decades. Denison Mines released a feasibility study for its Wheeler River project before investing in junior explorer F3 Uranium’s Patterson Lake North property.

Also, IsoEnergy took over Consolidated Uranium in September. Uranium Energy spent C$570 million over the past two years buying Uranium One, UEX Corp. and Rio Tinto’s Roughrider project. Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners in October closed their deal to buy Westinghouse’s nuclear plant construction unit for $7.9 billion.

Nickel nosedive

In April, Indonesia’s PT Trimegah Bangun Persada, better known as Harita Nickel, raised 10 trillion rupiah ($672 million) in what was then Indonesia’s largest initial public offering of the year. 

Harita Nickel’s IPO quickly turned sour for investors, however, as prices for the metal entered a steady and long decline. Nickel is the worst performer among the base metals, nearly halving in value after starting 2023 trading above $30,000 a tonne.

Next year is not looking great for the devil’s copper either with top producer Nornickel predicting a widening surplus due to lacklustre demand from electric vehicles and a ramp-up in supply from Indonesia, which also comes with a thick layer of cobalt:

“…due to the continuing destocking cycle in the EV supply chain, a greater share of non-nickel LFP batteries, and a partial shift from BEV to PHEV sales in China. Meanwhile, the launch of new Indonesian nickel capacities continued at a high pace.” 

Palladium also had a rough year, down by more than a third in 2023 despite a late charge from multi-year lows hit at the start of December. Palladium was last trading at $1,150 an ounce.

China flexes its critical mineral muscle

In July China announced it will clamp down on exports of two obscure yet crucial metals in an escalation of the trade war on technology with the US and Europe.

Beijing said exporters will need to apply for licenses from the commerce ministry if they want to start or continue to ship gallium and germanium out of the country and will be required to report details of the overseas buyers and their applications.

China is overwhelmingly the top source of both metals — accounting for 94% of gallium supply and 83% of germanium, according to a European Union study on critical raw materials this year. The two metals have a vast array of specialist uses across chipmaking, communications equipment and defence.

In October, China said it would require export permits for some graphite products to protect national security. China is the world’s top graphite producer and exporter. It also refines more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material that is used in virtually all EV battery anodes, which is the negatively charged portion of a battery.

US miners said China’s move underscores the need for Washington to ease its own permit review process. Nearly one-third of the graphite consumed in the United States comes from China, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents auto supply chain companies.

In December, Beijing banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets on Thursday, adding it to a ban already in place on technology to extract and separate the critical materials.

Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for use in electric vehicles, wind turbines and electronics.

While Western countries are trying to launch their own rare earth processing operations, the ban is expected to have the biggest impact on so-called “heavy rare earths,” used in electric vehicle motors, medical devices and weaponry, where China has a virtual monopoly on refining.

Sumitomo’s executive vice president Ueno, 64, has played a pivotal role in leading the metals, resources and chemicals businesses, while overseeing the development of next-generation energy projects, including hydrogen initiatives.

Amid the global shift towards a low-carbon economy, Sumitomo aims to fortify its presence in growth areas, Ueno said.

“I aspire to drive the company’s evolution by implementing comprehensive reforms,” Ueno told a news conference.

Sumitomo is one of Japan’s top trading companies, in which US billionaire investor Warren Buffett has a stake.

(By Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Alexander Smith)

The mine and mill were shut down and placed on long-term care and maintenance as of Dec. 18, 2023. Myra Falls Mine has sought creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to enable the company to be restructured.

“We recognize that this decision will be difficult news for our employees and other stakeholders and is in no way a reflection of the hard work and commitment of our people in recent years,” said general manager Hein Frey in a statement. “Myra Falls Mine will now undergo a period of restructuring with the aim of returning to active operations in the future when market conditions allow.”

Prospecting at Myra Falls goes back to 1865 with the John Buttle expedition. The project sits on the rim of Buttle Lake in Strathcona provincial park. The first claims were staked in 1917 covering the outcrops of the Lynx, Myra, and Price deposits. Early work was conducted between 1919 and 1925 and again in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1959, the property was consolidated and sold to Western Mines in 1961.

Western Mines it began development of the Lynx open pit in 1966 followed shortly by underground mining. A road was built connecting the mine site to the town of Campbell River, 90 km away. Brascan acquired the company in 1976 and formed Westmin Resources.

In 1979, the large tonnage HW deposit was drilled, and Myra Falls was a financial success through the 1990s. The project changed hands to Boliden, then Breakwater Resources, who was forced to severely downsize the project during the financial meltdown of 2008, temporarily suspending operations.

Mining and milling resumed, and in 2011, Nyrstar successfully bought out Breakwater. Nyrstar once again shuttered the operation in 2015 but restarted it in 2017.

Victims of the alleged poisoning had accused Anglo’s South African unit of negligence in controlling emissions of lead into the local environment at a mine it part-owned 50 years ago in Zambia’s Kabwe district.

Anglo has previously denied the allegations and vowed to defend itself.

“We have stated from the outset that this claim is entirely misconceived and it is clear that the court recognized its multiple legal and factual flaws, deeming it not in the interest of justice for the class action to proceed,” an Anglo American spokesperson said.

Anglo partly owned the Kabwe lead mine some 50 years ago. The mine was later owned by Zambian state-owned firm ZCCM-IH until 1994 when it was closed.

In a statement, lawyers for the claimants said the Johannesburg High Court had ruled in a 126-page judgment delivered on Friday evening that a claim against Anglo American South Africa (AASA) over widespread lead poisoning across Kabwe, Zambia, could not proceed as a class action.

The victims will appeal the ruling, the lawyers said.

‘Unmanageable class action’

Among the concluding arguments in the ruling, the court said the application was seeking permission to advance an untenable claim that would set a grave precedent.

“The precedent is that a business could be held liable half a century after its activities have ceased, to generations not yet born, as a result of being tested against future knowledge and standards unknown at the time,” the ruling said.

The court also said the class action would be “unmanageable” in that it would take a long time to be completed, after the applicants estimated it would take ten years for their legal team to take instructions from every member of the proposed classes.

“If this is so, it would take much longer for a South African court to assess the claim of each class member in the second stage.”

“It bears emphasis that an unmanageable class action is not only adverse to Anglo’s interests: It undermines the applicants’ access to justice,” the court said.

“Under the circumstances it is proper and necessary to dismiss the certification application.”

South African law firm Mbuyisa Moleele and UK-based Leigh Day, acting on behalf of about 140,000 women and children of Kabwe, want Anglo held liable for failing to curb lead emissions from a smelter and waste dumps.

They also allege that Anglo was aware, before 1974, of the environmental damage and lead poisoning, including deaths of local children, and had ignored expert advice to remedy the situation before it handed over the assets to ZCCM-IH.

(By Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Felix Njini; Editing by Alison Williams, David Holmes and Jane Merriman)

With this discovery, the scientists have solved a 400-year-old alchemy puzzle.

In a recent preprint, the researchers explain that fulminating gold, which was first discovered by alchemists in the 16th century, is a mixture of a number of different compounds, with ammonia providing the majority of the material’s explosive power.

German alchemist Sebald Schwaertzer noted the unusual purple smoke given off when fulminating gold was detonated in 1585, and the material was later studied by leading figures of chemistry in the 17th and 18th centuries, including Robert Hooke and Antoine Lavoisier.

But while the chemistry of the fulminating gold recipe has been understood for centuries, the question of what produced purple smoke remained unanswered.

It was long supposed, yet previously never proven that the rich purple colour of this cloud was due to it being formed of gold nanoparticles.

“I was delighted that our team has been able to help answer this question and further our understanding of this material,” Simon Hall, senior author of the study, said in a media statement. “Our experiment involved creating fulminating gold, then detonating 5mg samples on aluminum foil by heating it. We captured the smoke using copper meshes and then analyzed the smoke sample under a transmission electron microscope.”

Sure enough, the researchers found the smoke contained spherical gold nanoparticles, confirming the theory that the gold was playing a role in the mysterious smoke.

Having solved one historic scientific puzzle, Hall and his team plan to use this methodology to study the precise nature of clouds produced by other metal fulminates such as platinum, silver, lead, and mercury, which remains an open question.

Benchmark lead prices on the LME touched a 10-month high of $2,308.50 a metric ton on Monday when LME data showed cancelled warrants – metal earmarked to leave the LME system – had jumped to 44% of the total or 59,400 tons on Nov. 17.

Cancelled warrants of battery material lead stood at less than 1% on Nov. 14. Latest data for Nov. 22 shows the largest cancellation is 33,050 tons in LME warehouses in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, followed by 16,800 tons in Busan, South Korea.

It is not known exactly how much lead Trafigura has cancelled, but the amounts are substantial, the sources said.

Trafigura declined to comment.

Lead prices have since retreated to around $2,220 a ton due to some expectations the cancelled metal may not ultimately leave LME warrant – a title document that confers ownership – or if it does, that it could eventually be rewarranted.

“The price spike has to be related to the cancellations, though it doesn’t seem as if anything is moving,” the metals trader said. “It is nothing to do with fundamentals.”

LME lead stocks climbed in September and October due to a high premium for the cash over the three-month contract, which rose above $60 a ton on Sept. 5, the highest since late June. The cash contract is now trading at a $10 discount to the three-month contract.

At 136,525 tons, lead stocks in LME warehouses are up more than 150% since the middle of September and are expected to rise further as the market moves into surplus.

“CRU sees the global refined lead market moving deeper into surplus next year, having switched from a notable deficit in 2022 to modest surplus in 2023,” said CRU analyst Neil Hawkes.

(By Pratima Desai; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

The mine was idled in January 2023 when Trevali applied for relief under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Given such interest in the Caribou mine, FTI is delaying a proposed auction of the asset.

The news about the Caribou mine came in the form of a news release from Canadian Copper (CSE: CCI), which is advancing its 100%-owned, early-stage Murray Brook West property located 10 km from the Caribou mine in the Bathurst camp of New Brunswick.

Canadian Copper has a 28% option in the Murray Brook deposit located between Caribou and Murray Brook West. It has been called the largest undeveloped copper-zinc deposit in the province. It has measured and indicated resources of over 21 million tonnes grading 1.49% copper equivalent.

“Early-stage exploration combined with increasing our in situ resources at the large open pit Murray Brook deposit is integral to our growth strategy,” said Simon Quick, CEO of Canadian Copper.

“The Murray Brook West project [is] positioned along the 18 km favourable Caribou Horizon trend between two former mines: Caribou and Restigouche. With several parties interested in restarting the Caribou mine, we are enthusiastic about the renewed interest in the prolific Bathurst camp.”

A restarted Caribou mineral processing plant might give Canadian Copper an opportunity to toll ores from Murray Brook and Murray Brook West without the need to build its own mill.

At the €40-million project which they have dubbed “Nuevo Linares,” Kerogen and INSERSA are trying to figure out the quantities and quality of the remaining ore, 30 years after the last-standing mine in the area shut down.

The lack of profitability prompted the closure of the mines in the mid-20th century but there remained some unexploited resources. 

Kerogen and INSERSA’s studies of the El Cobre-Matacabras-San Juan zone have allowed them to envision a 10-year operation with the capacity to generate 25,000 tonnes of metal per annum. 

Nuevo Linarese spans 168 mining grids in the municipalities of Guarromán, Bailén and Linares.

Talking to local media, the firms have expressed optimism following two years of geophysical and geochemical studies, drilling campaigns and analysis of historical information.

The companies noted that their goal is to supply the clean energy and electric vehicle markets.

On Tuesday, i-80 announced that it has signed a non-binding agreement with an arm’s-length third party for a potential joint venture, under which the prospective partner will acquire a minority interest in the Ruby Hill property.

The Ruby Hill property represents one of the company’s primary assets since its spinout from Premier Gold Mines in 2021. In addition to gold and silver, it is host to multiple polymetallic (base metal) deposits that, according to i-80, collectively represent one of the largest development-stage projects in the state.

The gold miner is currently advancing permitting for an underground mine to be constructed from the current pit at Ruby Hill, and the precious metals mineralization is expected to be trucked to its Lone Tree complex for processing.

Per the terms of the agreement, this potential partner will have an exclusivity period of 120 days, with a 60-day extension option, to complete metallurgical due diligence and negotiate definitive documents. During the exclusivity period, i-80 will complete a drill campaign funded by the potential partner to accelerate knowledge of the metallurgical properties of the multiple polymetallic base metal deposits at Ruby Hill.

The plan, as noted by i-80, is to process the polymetallic mineralization on-site at the existing Ruby Hill plant. The company is currently completing additional work regarding a possible retrofit of the existing Ruby Hill processing plant to a floatation plant that would recover both base and precious metals.

“Given the company’s extensive growth plan, which includes the development of multiple mining operations, securing an accretive partner to advance base metals in addition to gold mineralization has been a priority in recent months,” Matthew Gollat, executive vice-president of i-80 said in a news release.

“Upon closing, and the signing of definitive documentation, we expect to be in a position to immediately pursue underground development at Ruby Hill and advance to full feasibility on an expedited basis with a plan that will include the conversion of the Ruby Hill processing facility to floatation for base metal production and accelerate our ultimate goal of building a mid-tier Nevada-focused producer.”

Base metals exploration

i-80 highlighted four main initiatives that started at the Ruby Hill property in 2023, including a large-scale exploration drilling program, initial economic work for the planned Ruby Deeps underground gold mine, permitting to allow for the commencement of underground development, and metallurgical work to better define the expected recoveries of gold and polymetallic base metal mineralization for mining and processing planning.

The drilling focused on expanding mineralization in the primary known zones as well as testing several new exploration targets on the Ruby Hill property. New discoveries were made in the early part of the 2023 with Carlin-type (gold) and CRD (polymetallic) mineralization intersected in several new target areas located in close proximity to the underground infrastructure being planned for the project.

“I believe that the results of our multi-year exploration program have demonstrated that the polymetallic deposits at Ruby Hill are some of the highest-grade deposits of this type anywhere in the world,” said Ewan Downie, CEO of i-80 Gold. “The fact that these deposits occur on a permitted mine site in one of the world’s safest mining jurisdictions we believe only makes Ruby Hill more attractive.”

During the remainder of the year, the company said it will focus on continued metallurgical and exploration drilling, as well as the compiling of drill data to be incorporated into an inaugural polymetallic mineral resource, expected to be completed during the first half of 2024.

Shares of i-80 Gold gained 4.1% by 12:30 p.m. EDT on the announcement. The company’s market capitalization stood at approximately C$570 million ($414m).

According to a new study by S&P Global Market Intelligence, overall mining exploration budgets fell this year for the first time since 2020, dropping 3% to $12.8 billion at the 2,235 companies that allocated funds to find or expand deposits.

Gold budgets, which historically have been driven more by the junior mining sector than any other metal or mineral, dropped by 16% or $1.1 billion year-on-year to just under $6 billion, representing 46% of the global total. 

That’s down from 54% in 2022 amid higher spending on lithium, nickel and other battery metals, a surge in spending on uranium and rare earths and an uptick for copper. 

But the dominant role gold plays in exploration – and therefore the industry’s future remains clear from the fact that the combined money flowing into green energy transition metals (or future facing commodities as some majors like to label them) was not enough to offset the decline in gold.

Gold exploration budgets, like most mined commodities, peaked in 2012 when the precious metal accounted for nearly half the more than $20 billion spent. 

Gold juniors represent 38% of the allocation to exploration this year and reduced spending by the sector was responsible for the bulk of the overall reduction in budgets. 

It also follows the years-long trend in the gold sector identified by S&P Global where exploration has shifted to minesites and away from grassroots exploration. 

The top region for gold exploration thanks in no small part to its vibrant junior sector, Canada, saw a roughly $400 million drop in budgets. Only in Asia Pacific did allocated resources increase compared to 2022 although not by much and from a low base. 

Junior jaundice 

The pullback among gold explorers represents a significant drop compared to last year when the sector spent more than the majors searching for the precious metal. 

It is an indication of the difficulty junior exploration companies have had over the last year or so of tapping markets for new funding. 

On a quarterly basis, gold financing for junior and mid-size mining companies was the lowest in Q3 since the September quarter of 2018.

Overall financing, excluding majors at $8 billion year-to-date was the lowest since 2019 and less than half raised over the same period last year. 

Like with exploration budgets, the overall decline in financings came despite mining companies involved in specialty commodities managing to raise 46% more in the year to end-September than the same period last year.  

Overall the 41,086 holes drilled around the world from January to mid-Oct 2023 in search of non-ferrous metals and minerals represent a 23% decline compared to last year. 

Gold drilling is down by 36% over the same period. With the gold price back in touch with $2,000 an on geopolitical safe have demand and the weakness across base and battery metals, it’s not inconceivable that gold’s share of exploration budgets top 50% again soon.

Basic base metals    

Base metal budgets increased to 33% of the total, led by a $327 million increase in spending on copper, the metal at the centre of the energy transition, and a significant $117 million jump in outlays to find or expand nickel deposits.  

The bulk of nickel exploration funds are directed at Canada where budgets for the stainless steel alloy and battery metal are now approaching $300 million.

“You’d have to go back to 2006/2007 to find a year in which the collective base metals attracted more money for exploration than gold,” says Kevin Murphy, research director metals and mining S&P Global Commodity Insights. 

Copper in 2023 represents less than a quarter of mining exploration spending despite a double digit gain from 2022 to $3.12 billion, mostly by major miners and not juniors.

Murphy says copper exploration lagged behind other metals when it came to the shift of exploration to minesites, but this year despite growing budgets overall grassroots exploration for copper declined compared to 2022. 

Nickel exploration budgets are also being spent on minesites with more than half of the $732 million budgeted this year aimed at replenishing reserves and extending mine lives. Majors carry out 54% of global nickel exploration, a rising share.     

Lithium is the new old gold

Lithium exploration budgets almost doubled this year after doing the same in 2022. In total $830 million was allocated to finding and expanding lithium resources in 2023, the third most explored non-ferrous commodity.

“Lithium is a young commodity for both exploration and development and it reflects this in a lot of different ways,” says Murphy.  

The sector is entirely dominated by juniors at the moment with 82% of the exploration work carried out by smaller companies. “Whenever there’s a lot of interest in a commodity, the juniors tend to follow suit.”

The undeveloped nature of the lithium mining industry also shows up in the stages of development with grassroots, late stage exploration and feasibility making up the vast majority of field work being carried out. 

A not insignificant portion of exploration for lithium is being carried out by governments which at 4% works out to more than $30 million from public coffers.  

Large budget increases were seen all over the world led by Latin America and specifically  Argentina, which hosts the largest undeveloped resources of the battery metal. 

Australia produces half the world’s lithium currently and it’s the second most funded region for exploration followed by Canada, where budgets have doubled year on year to in excess of $160 million. 

Exploration in the US also jumped substantially – the country is home to the second largest undeveloped resource of lithium globally.   

Murphy expects lithium budgets to grow “although it’s tough to say just how much, simply because a lot of this is going towards late stage and feasibility work”:

“And of course, once a feasibility study gets completed, that’s a very large expenditure that falls away. There is the potential that we could see a small dip in lithium in the coming years.”

Also impacting future funding of lithium exploration is a precipitous and unrelenting slide in prices for the metal, now around $20,000 a tonne, from a peak north of $80,000 in November last year. 

Uranium upsurge, REE ramp up

S&P Global now tracks 121 active projects grouped under what it calls specialty commodities and includes lithium, cobalt, graphite, rare earth, uranium and others, a near six-fold increase from two years ago. 

Platinum group metals and diamond exploration has been on a downtrend for about two decades, according to the research company and until recently that was also true for uranium.

However a rebound in spot prices for the nuclear fuel – now trading at its highest in more than a decade after scaling $70 a pound last month – saw a more than $35 million bump in exploration budgets in 2023. 

There’s growing realisation, even among environmental groups, that the move away from fossil fuels is too heavy a lift for unreliable wind and solar energy alone. 

Rare earths, also expected to play an important part in the green energy transition due to extensive use in electric motors and wind turbines, received a massive bump in funding for exploration in 2023 given the industry’s overall size – just shy of $50 million more than last year.   

The acceleration in outbound flows has been triggered by a persistent cash premium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) lead contract which has widened the export arbitrage window.

Some of the metal leaving China appears to be making its way directly to LME warehouses in the region. LME stocks of the heavy metal have been rising steadily since the start of September and on Friday hit their highest level since January 2021.

However, the transfer of surplus metal from east to west is preventing a rebuild of stocks in Shanghai, where the lead market is also still gripped by tightness.

Exports accelerate

China exported 35,400 metric tons of refined lead in September, which was the highest monthly tally since June of last year.

Total shipments in the first nine months of 2023 rose by 49% year-on-year to 138,000 metric tons, already higher than the 116,000 shipped out over the course of calendar 2022 and on track to be the highest tally since 2007.

China has been a consistent net exporter of refined lead since the middle of 2021, the incentive originally coming in the form of record high physical premiums in a disrupted Western supply chain.

Much of that physical tightness has since abated, particularly in Europe where the Stolberg smelter in Germany restarted in April after two years of flood repairs.

The current export incentive is now the cash premium on the LME.

The top two destinations for Chinese lead last month were Taiwan and South Korea to the tune of 16,400 and 12,800 metric tons respectively.

Both countries host LME-registered warehouses.

LME stocks rebuild

The relocation of stocks from China to the West has seen LME stocks rebuild from their depleted year-start levels.

Headline stocks of 125,225 metric tons are up by 100,075 metric tons on January and are the highest they’ve been in almost three years.

Almost all of what’s in the LME storage system is warranted metal. Cancelled stocks awaiting physical load-out stand at just 1,375 metric tons.

Over half of LME stocks were either Chinese or Taiwanese metal at the end of last month, compared with under a third at the start of the year.

The LME stocks rebuild has been driven by repeated bouts of tightness across the front part of the forward curve in recent months.

The cash premium over three-month metal flexed out to $64 per metric ton on Monday, matching the levels seen in the last squeeze in September but short of the $100.50 traded in June.

The cost of rolling a short position overnight, the LME’s “tom-next” spread, traded as wide as $10 per metric ton on both Monday and Tuesday, attesting to the pressure on the cash date.

The structure has since eased but only marginally. The cash-to-three-months premium was valued at a still elevated $38.50 per metric ton at Thursday’s close.

Two entities controlled at least 80% of LME stocks as of the Wednesday close, according to the latest exchange positioning report .

Clearly there is something of a long-short battle playing out in the London lead market, where the outright price has been under pressure.

After hitting an 8-month high of $2,301 per metric ton at the start of September, three-month lead slumped to a four-month low of $2,029 in the middle of this month. It has since stabilized, last trading around $2,110.

Double squeeze

There is now twice as much lead sitting in the LME warehouse system as in Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) warehouses.

ShFE stocks have slid from almost 80,000 metric tons in the middle of September to a current 64,329 thanks in large part to the flow of metal out of the country.

Stubbornly low stocks have exacerbated a running squeeze on the Shanghai lead contract.

Things have calmed a bit since early September, when a ferocious short squeeze propelled the Shanghai price to a four-year high. But the front part of the forward curve remains heavily backwardated through the March 2024 contract.

Open interest of 137,850 contracts has fallen from the September peaks above 210,000 contracts but remains significantly higher than levels seen in the first half of this year.

The global lead market is currently a tale of two squeezes.

China’s exports will help mitigate the tightness in the London market but at the risk of another flare-out in the Shanghai market.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Sharon Singleton)

At the end of Q1 2022, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s biggest miners hit an all-time record of a collective $1.75 trillion as copper spent time above $10,000 a tonne, real nickel trades were being made above $40,000, lithium shipped for over $60,000 and everything from gold and platinum to uranium and tin were rallying hard. 

Uranium prices have doubled since then to above $60 a pound, tin is also trading higher, although well below its March 2022 peak while gold’s recent safe haven rally means the precious metal is also trading higher compared to March 2021.

Iron ore, where the top diversified mining companies dig for most of their profits, has also held up remarkably well, trading at $120 a tonne this week, little changed from end-June.  

Base and battery metals however have entered a deep slump since those heady days. Copper, zinc and aluminium are firmly in bear market territory down by a fifth or more, nickel and palladium investors are nursing 40%+ losses, cobalt is nearing record lows and lithium prices are hovering above $20,000.

After defying weakness on metals markets due to high expectations of strong future demand, particularly for copper, lithium and nickel, mining stock valuations have now succumbed. 

At the end Q3 2023, mining valuations for the industry’s top tier have slumped a total of $516 billion since the all-time highs. Declines so far this year total $145 billion for a combined market value of $1.38 trillion – back to levels seen at the end of September 2021.  

Just how bad sentiment is across the board is evident from the best performer list for Q3, which includes for the first time three counters which lost ground over the period. 

Archipelago ascent

The first Indonesian company to make it into MINING.COM’s ranking of world’s 50 most valuable mining companies, Amman Minerals Internasional, has surged 213% in US dollar terms since its July debut in Jakarta to reach a market capitalisation just shy of 450 trillion rupiah, or more than $28 billion.

Amman Minerals is the owner and operator of the giant Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in production since the turn of the millennium and is developing the adjacent Elang project on the island of Sumbawa. 

Elang is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold porphyry deposits and is currently in the feasibility stage. Elang boasts 4.7 million tonnes of proven and probable copper reserves and over 15 million ounces of gold.

Indonesia has become a red-hot IPO market this year and Amman was the largest of the year so far raising more than $700m in its IPO, and now sits at number 11 on the ranking. 

Bloomberg reports Amman Minerals’ ascent has minted at least six new billionaires, including chairman Agus Projosasmito, whose stake in the company is now worth $2.7 billion. The miner’s spectacular market performance has also added $4 billion to the net worth of Anthoni Salim, who helms one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates, taking the tycoon’s paper billions to within shouting distance of double digits.

Indonesia’s other major mining IPO, Harita Nickel, is on a different trajectory altogether. Listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange  in April raising $672m, the company has had a tough go of it and the stock has shed more than 60% since then as nickel prices continue to decline.

Lithium losses

The strength of the lithium sector outside China had been remarkable given the precipitous decline in prices for the battery metal since hitting all time highs above $80,000 a tonne in November last year. 

But during Q3 the slump in prices of the battery raw material caught up with the six stocks represented in the Top 50, for a combined loss of over $30 billion in market cap over the three month period to just over $70 billion. 

Measured from their 52-week highs the correction in the sector has been brutal – Perth-based Pilbara Mineral has bled 31% in market cap, making it the best performer. Mineral Resources has given up 37% while the declines for Albemarle, SQM, Ganfeng and Tianqi have been over 50%.  

Pilbara Minerals, which unlike its peers is clinging onto year-to-date gains,  joined the Top 50 last quarter and brought the number of companies based in the Western Australia capital to five, surpassing the tally of Vancouver, British Columbia as the top home base in the ranking.

The chances of another Perth-based lithium miner, IGO, of entering the Top 50 has dimmed. With a market cap of $5.4 billion, the company is down to the mid-60s in the ranking. 

The merger of US-based Livent and Australia-Argentina lithium miner Allkem, expected to close before 2023 is out, may also not be enough for the combined firm to enter the Top 50. Together the two companies are now worth $7.4 billion, which would edge out AngloGold Ashanti for the last spot, but the fortunes of lithium and gold going into 2024 are diverging widely.  

The blocking tactics of Gina Rhinehart’s Hancock Prospecting against the takeover of Liontown Resources by Albemarle turned out to be successful with the US lithium giant deciding to walk away from the deal this week.

Liontown’s 127% surge this year afforded the Perth-based company a market value of $4 billion before the collapse of the takeover which halted trading in the stock. Liontown on Thursday said it has secured the necessary funding to bring its Kathleen Valley project into production.

Enriched uranium

In September, uranium scaled $60 per pound for the first time since 2011. The breakthrough for the nuclear fuel comes after a decade in the doldrums following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The World Nuclear Association predicts world reactor requirements for uranium to surge to almost 130,000 tonnes (~285 million pounds) in 2040. That’s up from an estimate of 65,650 tonnes in 2023. 

A significant portion of the WNA’s upward growth adjustments can be attributed to the accelerated adoption of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) as part of decarbonisation efforts for a range of industries from shipping to data centres with powering remote mine sites near the top of the list for SMR potential.

Canada’s Cameco makes the best performer list over the three months again in Q3 after spending much of the post-Fukushima period in the wilderness. The Saskatoon-based company enters the top 30 for the first time after jumping 19 places so far this year.    

The value of shares in Kazatomprom, the world number one uranium producer, topped $10 billion at the end of Q3 placing it at position 36. Until this year the state-owned Kazakh company was outside earshot of the Top 50 since its dual-listing in London and Astana in 2018.  

Diversified drop

BHP’s market position has also been supported by uranium prices as the Melbourne-based company boosts output at its Olympic Dam operations. 

The world’s top mining company’s market value has declined by less than 8% year to date for a $142 valuation, outperforming other diversified heavyweights Rio Tinto, down 17%, Glencore (–21%), Vale (–25%) and Anglo American (–38%). 

London-listed Anglo American has had a rough year in part due to its exposure to platinum group metals and control of Anglo American Platinum, and is now valued at $32 billion after peaking at $70 billion in March 2021.  

Investors in Anglo, with a history going back more than a hundred years on the South African gold and diamond fields, have had a particularly wild ride over the last few years. In January 2016, Anglo’s market cap fell below $5 billion after it came close to suffocating under a pile of debt.  

The dramatic slump in palladium prices (down 38% this year) and platinum (–16%) have also seen AngloPlat drop to its lowest position ever at a valuation of $10 billion, down from nearly $40 billion end-March 2021. 

Former PGM high flyers Impala Platinum and Sibanye Stillwater, both valued around the $4 billion mark today, have lost sight of the Top 50 altogether. 

*NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, Mining Intelligence, Morningstar, GoogleFinance, company reports. Trading data from primary-listed exchange at Sep 29-Oct 5, 2023 where applicable, currency cross-rates Oct 7, 2023. 

Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining, which owns the world’s largest gold mine, Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem as does battery makers like CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining still make up a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

In a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) released on Friday, the U.S. Department of the Interior found that as many as 66 communities whose subsistence-style living activities could be affected. Nearly half of those could face significant impacts because of the road, the agency added.

“Subsistence use would be altered by the presence of a road, both because a road would affect wildlife behavior and because it would bisect travel routes used by hunters and affect their access to subsistence use areas,” the report stated.

According to a 2018 feasibility study, the Upper Kobuk mineral projects (UKMP) in the Ambler mining district could produce 159 million lb. of copper annually over a 12-year life span, as well as 199 million lb. of zinc, 33 million lb. of lead, 3.3 million oz. of silver and 30,600 oz. of gold.

The project, consisting of the Arctic and Bornite assets, is owned by Ambler Metals, a joint venture of Trilogy Metals (TSX: TMQ; NYSE: TMQ) and South32 (LSE: S32; ASX: S32; JSE: S32).

The Ambler access road was previously granted a permit by the Trump administration in July 2020 despite objections by local groups. However, in 2022, the Biden administration reeled back on the decision under the premise that its environmental impact had not been adequately studied.

The DOI review, which examined the impacts from three potential routes for the proposed road, also updated the potential effects of the road on caribou and fish. Specifically, it found that all the options for a road would fragment wildlife habitat, altering the movement and migration of caribou and other animals, partly because of vehicle noise, though some proposals would have more impact than others.

With caribou already under pressure from other development and climate change, the road could affect calving and survival rates, the analysis added.

Steve Cohn, the agency’s Alaska state director, said the review includes more robust input from talks with Alaska Native groups. “Continued public input and engagement on this draft is critical to ensuring our analysis captures the proposed road’s potential impacts,” Cohn said in a statement.

While not final, these findings are further setback to a project that mining companies and renewable energy proponents consider to be crucial to both US economic growth and its climate strategy.

“Given the clear terms of the law and the strategic importance of this project, you would expect the Biden administration to prioritize its approval with reasonable mitigation measures for subsistence. Instead, perhaps with an eye toward Halloween, this analysis looks to be filled with environmental boogeymen,” Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said in a statement.

Fellow Republican Dan Sullivan also shared his frustration, stating that energy and critical minerals are one of America’s greatest strengths. “Remarkably, the Biden administration has sought to unilaterally disarm these strengths, including with today’s Ambler Road supplemental EIS, which sets up more hurdles to access one the biggest deposits of much-needed critical minerals in our country.”

“The Ambler Access Project was authorized in federal law over 40 years ago and has support across Alaska and within the region,” Ramzi Fawaz, chief executive of Ambler Metals, said in a statement. The company is “confident” it can address any issues raised in the new analysis, he added.

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 guarantees a right-of-way (ROW) across federal lands to provide access to the Ambler mining district. The Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service initially granted a 50-year ROW for the access road, but the permit was suspended by the DOI’s request to conduct the SEIS.

The draft SEIS now enters a 60-day public comment period. The administration will then issue a final environmental impact statement, followed by a final decision, expected sometime next year.

Appian’s Fund III will focus on middle-market investments in the mining sector, looking at potential transactions in energy-transition commodities and also precious metals, according to a statement from the London-based private equity firm.

“This is the first fundraising we have done where mining is seen as part of the solution than being the problem itself,” Appian founder Michael Scherb said in an interview. “From an ESG perspective, investors understand the importance the sector is going to play in energy transition.”

The latest fund, which takes Appian’s total assets under management to about $4 billion, can also invest as much as a third of its assets in areas like credit as banks cut their exposure to the sector.

Founded in 2012 by former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Scherb, Appian is one of the few dedicated investment firms focused on the mining sector. It has a team of about 75 professionals and the firm’s portfolio companies have built nine mines into production in the last six years.

The latest fund will also look at co-investment opportunities, widening the pool of capital available for the firm. Its geographical focus will be on countries with proven geology, supportive governments and robust legal frameworks, Appian said in the statement.

“The fundraise was perhaps more accelerated than we expected, and we are oversubscribed in what is otherwise a challenging environment for a lot of the firms,” Scherb said.

Fund III has already deployed about 10% of its capital, including through a joint venture with Toronto-listed Osisko Metals to develop a zinc-lead project in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It’s also bought a majority stake in the Rosh Pinah zinc-lead mine in Namibia.

“Investors seem to have done a lot of the homework when it comes to mining,” Scherb said. “They realize that mining is probably the procurement point for everything you are trying to achieve in renewables and energy transition.”

In June, Appian agreed to sell two Brazilian mines for about $1 billion to Russian metal industry veteran Artem Volynets’ blank check firm ACG Acquisition Co.

That deal collapsed when the parties couldn’t agree on revised terms of the transaction, ACG said in a statement last month. Appian has since been speaking with other buyers for the assets.

“Appian has received a lot of interest from potential suitors for our Brazilian mines,” Scherb said. “We are in discussions with one party around these assets now.”

(By Dinesh Nair)

This was the key finding of a new study by researchers from the University of Lincoln, which used hydrologic models to determine the extent of river system contamination from mines and failed tailings dams.

Published on Sept. 21 in the journal Science, the study employed a combination of process-based modelling and empirical testing to essentially predict the global impact of mining hazards, such as lead, zinc, copper and arsenic. These pollutants are usually transported downstream from mining operations, and often deposited along river channels and floodplains for extended periods.

To model their potential impacts, the research team developed a georeferenced database of roughly 185,000 mining sites, plus nearly 12,000 mining waste storage facilities and known cases of failed and leaking storage sites.

The research team describes their database, which is derived from information published by governments, mining companies and organizations like the US Geological Survey, as “the most comprehensive compilation of mine locations to date.”

That data then allowed the scientists to produce a computer model to map out the extent of river channels and flood-plains around the world that are polluted by mining waste, from both historical and current operations.

Far reach of contaminants

Released against the backdrop of growing demand for metals and minerals to feed the green energy transition, the results highlight the widespread reach of contamination caused by mining.

Worldwide, mining affects approximately 479,200 kilometres of river channels and 164,000 square kilometres of floodplains, the study found. It is estimated that 23.48 million people reside on these affected floodplains, supporting 5.72 million livestock and encompassing over 65,000 square kilometres of irrigated land.

However, these numbers are only a conservative estimate, given the lack of available data for several countries, the research team warned.

According to the study, there are multiple pathways for humans to become exposed to these contaminant metals, including from direct exposure through skin contact, accidental ingestion, inhalation of contaminated dust, and through the consumption of contaminated water and food grown on contaminated soils.

For countries and communities that are dependent on these rivers and floodplains, which are already burdened with water-related diseases, mining activity would therefore pose an additional health hazard.

Even in industrialized nations like the UK and the US, mining contamination constitutes a major and growing constraint to water and food security, compromises vital ecosystem services, and contributes to antimicrobial resistance in the environment, the study added.

Tool for prevention

Professor Mark Macklin, who serves as director of the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health and the lead scientist behind the groundbreaking research, believes their maps and modelling tools will help prevent future reckless mining.

“Our new method for predicting the dispersal of mine waste in river systems worldwide provides governments, environmental regulators, the mining industry and local communities with a tool that, for the first time, will enable them to assess the offsite and downstream impacts of mining on ecosystem and human health,” Macklin said.

“We expect that this will make it easier to mitigate the environmental effects of historical and present mining and, most importantly, help to minimize the impacts of future mining development on communities, while also protecting food and water security.”

“Rapid growth in global metal mining is crucial if the world is to make the transition to green energy,” added Professor Chris Thomas, who led the analysis and modelling work for this study.

“Much of the estimated global contamination we have mapped is a legacy from the industrial era – rightly, modern mining is being encouraged to prioritize environmental sustainability. Our methods, which also work at local scales, add an important new approach in this process.”

Professor Deanna Kemp from the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, who was also on the research team, called the results “sobering.”

“At a basic level, these findings remind us that mining can cause extensive downstream damage over long periods of time,” she said. “Many people benefit from mining and metals, but we must do more to understand and prevent the negative effects on people who live and work in affected areas.”

“We’ve known about this for a long time,” Macklin told BBC News on Thursday. “What’s alarming for me is the legacy – [pollution from abandoned mines] is still affecting millions of people.”

“With climate change and more frequent floods,” he added, “this legacy [of pollution] is going to extend and expand.”

India’s Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi “resolved to strengthen the supply-chain of critical minerals” in talks with Ranj Pillai, the premier of Canada’s Yukon Territory, the government said in a statement.

The statement did not specify the critical minerals under discussion, but mentioned that Yukon’s leading mineral resources include lead, zinc, silver, gold, asbestos, iron and copper.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised strong concerns about Sikh protests in Canada with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of a G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month.

For its part, Canada paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India. Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng also is postponing a planned trade mission to India.

(By Shivam Patel and Neha Arora; Editing by Paul Simao)

Almina-Minas do Alentejo will halt production of zinc and lead concentrates at it Aljustrel operation from September 24 until the second quarter of 2025 because zinc prices are too low, the Portuguese company said in an email.

Profitability has become a problem for zinc producers in Europe facing sliding prices and rising production costs.

Benchmark zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) have tumbled nearly 30% since late January to around $2,500 a metric ton on Tuesday.

Privately owned Almina produced 215,000 tons of zinc concentrate and 50,000 tons of lead concentrate which would amount to around 99,000 tons of zinc metal and 20,000 tons of lead metal, respectively.

Swedish miner Boliden has suspended production at its Tara mine in Ireland, Europe’s largest zinc mine, because of “unsustainable financial losses”.

Tara produced 103,000 tons of zinc in concentrate last year, 40% of Boliden’s zinc concentrate output.

(By Pratima Desai; Editing by Jason Neely)

“The proposed corporation will seek and secure partnership investment agreements with big multinational companies worldwide to leverage on the attractive investment-friendly regime operating in the country to secure massive foreign direct investment for the mining sector,” Solid Minerals Minister Dele Alake said in a statement.

Nigeria wants mining to play a much bigger role in its economy by expanding its mineral extraction sector to diversify away from an overreliance on oil exploration.

Alake did not give a timeframe for when the new company would be set up. Existing enterprises – the National Iron-Ore Company and the Bitumen Concessioning Programme – will be reviewed to fit into the new company while a mines police force will be active from October to detect illegal mining, he said.

President Bola Tinubu has embarked on the country’s boldest reforms in decades to try to improve Nigeria’s investment climate and draw foreign investors to Africa’s biggest economy.

Tinubu inherited a struggling economy with record debt, shortages of foreign exchange and fuel, a weak naira currency, inflation at a near two-decade high, skeletal power supplies and falling oil production due to years of underinvestment, crude-oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

His administration has said it will seek to promote investments rather than rely on borrowing to create jobs.

Tinubu plans to attend the forthcoming G20 summit to promote foreign investment in Nigeria and mobilize global capital to develop infrastructure.

The new corporation will engage local financial institutions, which have shied away from the mining sector in the past due to a long gestation period for projects, to promote investment, Alake said.

(By Camillus Eboh and Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Susan Fenton)