Private equity’s interest in mining remains robust despite a short-term slump in deals, industry executives and financiers say.
Metals and mining transactions involving private equity and venture capital firms fell 46% in the first nine months of 2024 as debt financing rates rose, S&P Global Market Intelligence data show. The picture in Canada — home to 40% of the world’s publicly traded mining companies — is even bleaker, with industry data showing private equity firms completed only three mining transactions in 2024.
The slowdown comes as junior miners have seen options such as stock market listings become less attractive amid depressed valuations after commodity prices for nickel, cobalt and lithium have collapsed in recent years. Companies are struggling to raise capital just as global demand for base metals and critical minerals is set to take off amid a rush to join the energy transition.
“We’re in the infancy of a secular change in commodities usage. We still have decades to run,”
Michael Scherb, founder and CEO of Appian Capital Advisory, a London-based, mining-focused private equity firm, said in a mid-February interview.
“The world will always use commodities,” added Scherb, whose firm manages about US$3.5 billion and recently closed its third fund.
US$5.4T in demand
Global miners will need to spend at least US$5.4 trillion on capital expenditures by 2030 to meet future demand in mining, according to a McKinsey & Co. forecast. Much of that sum will need to come from private sources.
Trends such as electrification are boosting mining’s appeal as a long-term investment, said Martin Valdes, head of private equity strategy at Resource Capital Funds (RCF). Investors will have to identify which minerals are best placed to ride the energy transition wave.
Aluminum, copper and lithium are among the metals that could face deficits in primary supply this decade, according to an October forecast by Bloomberg NEF.
“Everyone wants to be part of the energy transition,” Valdes said in an interview from Miami. “People
ing during 2024, Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association data show. That’s a fraction of the $27.5 billion in private capital that was deployed across 658 deals.
are trying to figure out what are the new technologies that are coming, and what are the commodities that will be needed to satisfy the new technology.”
That optimism isn’t translating into sustained deal flow just yet.
Private equity down
Private equity investments in mining dropped to US$4.76 billion during the first nine months of 2024 from US$8.79 billion a year earlier, S&P says. Third-quarter deal value plunged 80% to US$240 million.
The situation is even worse in Canada. Private equity firms invested a mere $5 million in min-
To John Burzynski, Osisko Metals’ (TSXV: OM) executive chairman, private equity remains a fringe player in the financing market for miners, especially for early-stage projects.
“The PE funds have become more active in the space over the last 10 or 15 years, but I wouldn’t say they’re a mainstream part of the financing available to mining companies,” said Burzynski, whose Toronto-based company is working with Appian to advance the Pine Point zinc project in the Northwest Territories.
Private equity firms “have taken advantage of a weakening financing market for junior miners,” he added. “Step in, buy the company at a premium, get the work completed, wait for the cycle to turn and sell it for a multiple of what they bought it for - this is how they make phenomenal returns.”
Canadian miners have been hit hard by a shift from retail investors away from actively managed mutual funds into exchange-traded funds, Burzynski said.
Osisko Metals’ Gaspé copper project in eastern Quebec.
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Flotation cell at United Keno Hill’s mill in Elsa, Yukon, in the 1930s.
See a look back at our 110 years, p. 20.
DEPARTMENTS
n Resolute CEO resigns
Resolute Mining CEO Terry Holohan, who was detained in Mali for 10 days in November, has resigned.
Acting CEO Chris Eger has assumed the role on a permanent basis, while interim chief financial officer, Dave Jackson was made full-time CFO, the West Africa-focused gold producer said in early February.
Holohan and two other Resolute employees were held in the capital, Bamako, amid negotiations with Mali’s military government over terms to operate the Syama mine. The detentions ended after the miner agreed to pay US$160 million in instalments to settle a tax dispute. Holohan subsequently took a temporary leave of absence in December.
Eger called the ordeal in Mali “the most challenging [time] the company has ever faced.” He added that the settlement agreement was a step toward “paving a path forward” for the company. However, efforts to reengage with the Malian government have been hindered, as officials remain preoccupied with discussions involving other mining companies, he noted.
Following the final payment of US$30 million to Mali’s government in December as part of Holohan’s release, the company reported cash and gold holdings of only US$101 million.
Mali’s government, under military control since a 2021 coup, has pressured international miners, including Barrick Gold, B2Gold, Allied Gold and AngloGold Ashanti, to contribute more under a mining code introduced in 2023.
n Rules may threaten exploration
Mining prospectors and policy specialists are warning that a new mineral claims consultation framework due to be adopted this spring by British Columbia could end up hurting exploration in the province.
B.C. in January unveiled draft rules to address a 2023 provincial Supreme Court ruling that said the existing online system for registering mineral claims did not meet the government’s duty to consult Indigenous people. Under a court-imposed timeline, the government must have a new working system in place by March 26.
The new draft regulations propose moving from a system where prospectors could automatically register an online mineral interest on specific land plots to one where they must submit applications to lay claims that then go through three steps of review before the government renders a decision.
Indigenous groups in B.C. complained in court about an open staking system that allowed prospectors to freely enter their traditional territories without notice.
Some prospectors are already saying that the proposed new system is too complicated and onerous. Many are considering stopping exploration work in B.C. altogether, according to the Fraser Institute think tank.
Consultations at the staking stage are supported but shouldn’t have to meet United Nations standards, the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C says.
BY CANADIAN
Gilles O. Allard,
Professor emeritus of Geology, University of Georgia,
Died peacefully on January 27, 2025.
Born in Ste-Edwidge, Quebec in 1927, he held degrees from University of Montreal, Queenís University, and a Ph.D. from Johnís Hopkins in Baltimore, MD. He taught geology in Virginia, Brazil, California, and Georgia from 1965 to 1991. He loved field mapping and teaching.
Dr. Allard spent most of his career in Chibougamau, Quebec. He discovered the Henderson Mine which operated from 1966 to 1991. In 1966 he discovered a world-class vanadium deposit in the Dore Lake Complex.
Retiring in 1991 he started a second career lecturing on cruise ships, mostly in the Antarctic and Arctic, and private jets around the world.
The Canadian Institute of Mining appointed Allard as a lecturer to Universities in Quebec, Ontario, and as a Distinguished Lecturer to 19 mining groups across Canada from Newfoundland to B.C.
Dr. Allard received the Duncan Derry Medal of the Geological Association of Canada, the Grand Prix de MÈrite GÈoscientifique from the Quebec Association of Geologists and Geophysicists; the A.O. Dufresne Award from the Canadian Institute of Mining; and the Prix Jean Descarreaux of the Maineral Association of Quebec. He is survived by his 3 children, their spouses, and 5 grandchildren.
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
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EDITORIAL
Still drilling after all these years
BY COLIN McCLELLAND
The Northern Miner turns 110 this month and is looking pretty good for its age. Much better, for example, than cobalt, which is also the name of the Ontario town where the paper started. (See page 20.) Changing battery technology and oversupply from the Democratic Republic of Congo has sunk the price of that mineral to 10-year lows now, even as rebel groups fracture the country’s east.
We had a story on it by our man in Africa, Henry Lazenby, but we could barely fit it in this issue for space. Too many ads. Another sign of health for the supercentenarian. (That’s what you call someone our age.)
But – showing how we’ve transformed over the decades from a black and white weekly – the story was on our website, mentioned in our podcast by host Adrian Pocobelli, primed for social media posting and is slated for a video when we interview an African security analyst at this year’s Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference, where you might be reading this right now. You’re at an event that, at age 93, is only slightly younger than we are. See our interview with PDAC’s Jeff Killeen on page nine.
PDAC is global in scope, drawing nearly 30,000 people a year. And we’re international, too, with our coverage while sister website Mining. com draws some 640,000 readers a month for the Northern Miner Group. Like mining, we’re truly global and it gets complicated at times. As when an Australian company with properties in Canada pushes a project in Greenland, an island administered by Danes perturbed that United States President Donald Trump wants to buy it.
Deals
Resource nationalism is the rage, of course, laid bare in the quid-pro-quo quest by the White House to secure Ukrainian minerals as a repayment of sorts for U.S. military spending.
Everything’s transactional, everything’s a deal, which could bode well for mining south of the border. See our coverage on page 19.
North of the border, it’s going to take more than winning a hockey tournament to quell Washington’s Frankenstein-like reanimation of 1840s manifest destiny. Then-president James Polk’s Mexican-American war led to the U.S. acquiring California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Think of all the gold, copper, uranium and lithium those places hold. Canada has all those in abundance and more.
In contrast to today, Polk lowered U.S. tariffs. He supported agrarian economies that benefited from cheaper imports, and shifted from policies favouring northern U.S. manufacturers. Despite lower rates, increased trade meant higher overall tariff revenue. However, some American industries faced tougher foreign competition.
Free trade
In modern terms, Polk would appear somewhat bipartisan. He supported freer trade and a strong executive to push policy like a Roosevelt Democrat. Yet he advocated for states’ rights, a smaller federal government and less national infrastructure spending than Republicans had. His aggressive expansionism and military approach to securing territory echoes some conservative thinking. Adding to the volatile mix, he was also a pro-slavery Southerner.
Of course, free trade has traditionally been a conservative pillar even as its greatest impact has been lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, a heartfelt liberal ideal.
Just weeks before conservatives George H.W. Bush and Brian Mulroney signed Nafta, William F. Buckley Jr., America’s leading right-wing pundit for decades, quoted Winston Churchill on protectionists: They watch the river flowing to the sea, and they wonder how long it will be before the land is parched and drained of all its water, they do not observe the fertilizing showers by which in the marvellous economy of nature, the water is restored to the land.
“The United States would grow stronger if we devoted ourselves to removing existing restraints on trade, rather than adding to their number,” Buckley said on an edition of his TV show “Firing Line.”
More recently, conservative satirist P.J. O’Rourke put it differently: There is no such thing as a trade deficit. It doesn’t matter if America imports all its goods from China and exports nothing but pieces of paper. The Americans want the iPad and the Chinese want the handsome portraits of Benjamin Franklin. This is free trade.
Concerns over trade rule the headlines these days. March 4 looms large in North America as the date for the U.S. to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, although oil, gas and critical minerals get a break at 10%. Steel and aluminum companies are bracing for their own 25% rates on March 12.
Red tape
The price of gold flutters to record highs near $3,000 an oz. because of economic uncertainty and geopolitical tension, not because the Trump administration is slashing red tape for the mining industry. The extra income from the higher metal price may help gold companies drill more to replace
COMMENTARY
Chips, Silver and HPA: Unearthing AI profit
BY JAMES COOPER
In February, we watched the unfolding of what was described as America’s new ‘Sputnik moment.’ U.S. tech giants were caught with their pants down, suddenly exposed by China’s potentially superior AI capability.
It’s not a bad analogy, really. Sputnik was a moment in history when Russia stunned America’s ego by putting the first satellite in space. But win or lose, America has shown that it won’t go down without a fight. Back then, it sparked a period of massive investment into U.S. space exploration.
But who really won the Cold War ‘Space Race?’
Arguably, it wasn’t Russia or the U.S. It was stocks like Boeing, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, companies that benefited from massive U.S. government investment. These contractors supplied NASA with rockets, satellites and propulsion systems, reaping a fortune from the U.S. government’s attempt to prove its ideological dominance over Russia.
So, how does that lead us towards the potential opportunities in this coming China versus U.S. ‘AI-Race?’
The commodity angle
The challenge for the tech sector is to optimize the 118 elements found on Earth and turn these into innovative creations that better humanity. But among all those elements, silver holds the most important physical characteristic in the modern age because it’s the world’s most conductive material.
That makes it a key ingredient in high-end AI chips. However, largescale data centres also require silver for electrical components and cooling systems. Given its supreme physical characteristics, the application for silver across the AI landscape is limitless.
However, another commodity worth considering is the poorly understood high-purity alumina (HPA) market. This highly refined bauxite ore removes impurities, giving it unique physical characteristics. Unlike silver, HPA is not used directly in AI chips, but it plays a critical role in producing semiconductors, sapphire substrates and chip fabrication equipment. These are sectors that link with the broader “AI architecture.” But HPA producers are not your traditional resource plays. In this niche market, the true value lies in their respective proprietary methods for processing HPA, rather than the value of their raw ore. Typically, HPA producers use kaolin clay or bauxite ore, a cheap and readily available material in
Given its supreme physical characteristics, the application for silver across the AI landscape is limitless.
Australia. Finally, Aussie start-ups value-add their product rather than send it for processing overseas. Iron ore miners take note!
Some of the more advanced HPA plays in Australia include: Altech Batteries, Cadoux, and my favourite, Alpha HPA. Each has its own specialized proprietary method, it initially involves refining the raw ore to remove impurities. Then, it’s leached using hydrochloric acid, which selectively extracts alumina. It’s then purified to remove further impurities. .The final step is known as calcination, where the purified alumina is heated to produce HPA for high-value markets.
Raw material advantage There is a benefit to producers supplying raw materials to tech companies rather than owning these tech stocks directly. The dramatic market action last month showed that the AI race will be a high-stakes game for the tech giants where today’s leaders could rapidly become tomorrow’s laggards. Innovation is taking place rapidly, which throws up a lot of uncertainty for tech-focused investors.
Now compare that to the raw materials used to supply this sector. Miners will extract and process ore, as they’ve always done. Supplying an industry that must then compete for the best way to utilize those materials.
Yes, technology itself could alter the demand for certain minerals. For example, alternatives to traditional lithium-ion batteries could impact future lithium demand. But in my mind, this presents far less risk. Especially for a commodity like silver.
The laws of physics dictate this metal will remain the most conductive element on Earth, regardless of how much innovation takes place!
When it comes to HPA, it’s sourced from cheap, abundant raw materials, so finding an alternative mineral that might displace demand for HPA in the years ahead is likely low. TNM
James Cooper is a geologist based in Australia who runs the commodities investment service Diggers and Drillers. You can also follow him on X @JCooperGeo.
Q&A with SRK
The HiveMap platform offers next-gen geological mapping for mining
NAME: Findlay Fraser
TITLE:
Structural Geology Consultant
COMPANY: SRK
NAME: Andrew LeRiche
TITLE: Senior rock mechanics engineer
COMPANY: SRK
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
The mining industry is in constant need of replacing what it produces through making new discoveries. One way of aiding this quest entails embracing new technologies to enhance miners’ discovery chances. To learn more about one such offering from SRK, The Northern Miner’s western editor Henry Lazenby spoke with Findlay Fraser, a principal consultant on structural geology and Andrew LeRiche, a senior rock mechanics engineer, about the HiveMap platform.
Fraser has over 15 years of experience in structural geology and geological modelling, specializing as an expert implicit modeller and instructor. He’s provided technical outputs for geotechnical, resource, hydrogeological and geochemical studies throughout full project lifecycles.
LeRiche is a geotechnical engineer who has worked on a range of projects in mining and metals, natural hazards and energy sectors. His field experience spans geotechnical core logging, LiDAR scanning, geohazard and site inspections, instrument installations and permafrost characterization.
Henry Lazenby: What is HiveMap?
Andrew LeRiche: The basic description of HiveMap is it’s a suite of geological mapping software, both tablet and desktop based. We took a conscious decision with that, wanting people to be in the field, mapping on their tablets, being at the face, seeing those important geological observations, while also having the flexibility to take that work back to the office.
HL: Where can HiveMap be used?
AL: HiveMap can be used in a broad range of application in the industry, whether that’s operations, underground, openpit, early-stage exploration, whether that’s regional, prospectivity work, deposit, or scale work. But we also see applicability in the civil engineering side. Really, anywhere you have rock exposure that you want to map is really what it is.
HL: What’s the philosophy and design principles behind this product?
Findlay Fraser: HiveMap was born out of an awareness of the changing nature of the mining industry. We were in a situation where we had both evolving expectations on what we could do and the tools that were available to us. At the core of any good geological study is observations of the rock. Working across multiple deposit sites and environments, we
were struggling to bring together all the data types and observations in one easy, usable space and consume all these new types of data.
HL: What are some of the key benefits that HiveMap brings to the table?
AL: The starting point is it allows you to capture those geological observations in a very efficient way. And in many cases, it leverages data sets that are oftentimes already being collected on a mine site, whether that’s a survey group, or a tech services group collecting data for other reasons.
And probably one of the bigger things, we work with quite a range of clients, and as a result of that, we took a decision that all the outputs from the software would be very flexible and open, not tied to any sort of downstream modelling analysis packages, which really allows the user to do what they want with it once they’re done with that primary mapping work in HiveMap.
HL: How do you see HiveMap helping mining companies improve their exploration work?
FF: The easy example that I always come back to in the production environment is grade control. The kind of questions that you’re trying to answer are: Where’s the contact of my ore body? What are the metallurgical properties? And yeah, that varies, obviously,
“I can go into the pit and capture observations quickly. Where the type of work that I did years ago for mapping was for example a three-day exercise, with HiveMap we’re able to do in three or four hours ” — FRASER FINDLAY, SRK STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY CONSULTANT
depending on commodity.
I can go into the pit and capture observations quickly. Where the type of work that I did years ago for mapping was for example a threeday exercise, with HiveMap we’re able to do in three or four hours.
HL: What information does HiveMap work with?
AL: The starting point is anything that is meshed. Whether that’s collected from LiDAR, photogrammetry, whether that’s terrestrial or drone based, once that’s meshed, it can be brought into HiveMap. From there, you can overlay imagery, geophysics–whatever it is that you want to be visualizing–on top of that meshed interface as well. You can bring in drill hole information to help validate the work.
Today, many phones and tablets have LIDAR sensors built into them. So particularly in the underground environment, people are using those to collect that primary data, what they’re seeing at the face, and efficiently transferring it into HiveMap and do the mapping in near real time, underground.
HL: So, I suppose HiveMap can also play a role in ensuring improved safety and access concerns?
AL: Yeah, that’s a big one. You’ve seen the evolution of the industry over some time now, where there is that aversion to risk and that consciousness about what people are being exposed to at the mine site. In many cases, being able to conventionally map, getting up to the face with your compass to collect those observations
is becoming a little bit more prohibitive from a risk standpoint. With HiveMap, having it on the tablet, having it on your desktop, whatever you prefer, you can take that step back, you could still be at the working face, but not be exposed to those risks, as you conventionally would be.
HL: Do you have any case studies to share?
FF: We’ve used HiveMap on the Goliath project, owned by Goliath Resources (TSXV: GOT; US-OTC: GOTRF), in northern British Columbia. It’s a relatively early-stage exploration project and the topography is quite extreme. You’ve got a very rugged plateau framed by inaccessible high cliffs. They could see the mineralized outcrop at the top interacting and folding with the other lithologies on the cliffs, but they couldn’t map it, because it’s inaccessible. So, we brought in a drone provider to capture in detail the exposure in the cliff using photogrammetry that was processed. Then the entire cliff face was structurally mapped, giving us a near cross-section view of the conceptual deposit.
HL: What does HiveMap bring to the table over competing tools?
FF: Mapping is fundamental to everything. Aside from the functionality we’ve already discussed, we looked at bringing high accuracy. The expectations within the mining industry are changing very rapidly. So, if you go back 10 to 15 years, being able to have a few measurements that were positioned down to within a few metres was pretty good. Now, we’re able to position them down
to the centimetre-scale accurately.
HL: To whom is HiveMap available to?
AL: HiveMap is available to any interested companies that conventionally do geological mapping. But it’s also available for free to academics. We acknowledge a lot of the great work that has driven HiveMap development or other technological developments in mining comes through academics. And so, we want to empower them, give them the option to use the software and work with us to make it as powerful as it can be.
HL: And then looking into the future, what are some of the key development areas for HiveMap? What’s next?
FF: We’re coming up to the end of our second big development cycle. We’ve got some really big things coming up. The tablet versions of HiveMap are going to be available for Apple, Android and Microsoft hardware within the next couple of months, so we’re going to have that seamless integration from the field all the way into the office. We’ve got work that we’re doing to improve the flexibility. We’re building out a template editor to make it much easier for users to be in control of like their own codes and implement exactly what they want in the software. And we have also just put the 146-page updated manual on the website.
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by SRK and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: srk.com for more information.
A geological graphic of the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. ARCTIC CANADIAN DIAMOND
Micromine’s exploration AI boosts human input without replacing it
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has dominated news headlines this year as companies harnessing its power disrupt markets.
But what does AI mean for the mining industry – should geologists prepare to be replaced by new sets of technologies that perform tasks that have historically been done by humans? Or, conversely, what exactly can AI do to help industry professionals do their jobs more efficiently?
These were the points presented for discussion and debate at a panel hosted by mining technology company Micromine at the AME Roundup conference in Vancouver in January. Anthony Vaccaro, president of The Northern Miner Group, moderated the session.
Panelists Warren Black, senior geologist and geostatistician at APEX Geoscience and B2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSE-A: BTG)
evaluation geologist Martin Nunez, assessed Micromine’s Origin Grade Copilot. The AI tool uses deep learning neural networks to identify patterns, guide exploratory data analysis and validate geological interpretations faster than traditional methods.
“You should be engaging with curiosity rather than fear,” B2Gold’s Nunez said. “It’s not coming to get you – it’s here to help you – it’s a tool in the toolbox.”
Micromine Origin Grade Copilot helps speed up data verification, shortening the time to reach a conclusion in resource evaluations when, especially in the mining industry, time is money, he said.
The $4.78-billion market cap B2Gold operates producing assets in Mali, Namibia, and the Philippines and is developing the Back River Project in Nunavut, Canada, with first gold expected in the second quarter of 2025.
3D visualizations
Apex’s Black said using Micromine Origin Grade Copilot brings more certainty in prospectivity modelling, and for resource estimation helps find recovery densities.
“There’s a lot of really interesting ways to use machine learning and AI to guide that process and in decision making,” Black said. “AI takes a lot of high-quality data to generate a tool that creates predictions. Humans are better at finding novel patterns - if done together and used together it is powerful.”
Panelist Manel Molina, Micromine’s exploration technology adviser, said the dominant skepticism in mining about AI a few years ago has subsided as the market gains more understanding.
Molina said AI enhances geologists’ and engineers’ skills,
“AI takes a lot of high-quality data to generate a tool that creates predictions. Humans are better at finding novel patterns — if done together and used together it is powerful.”
guiding and informing decision making without replacing human expertise.
“You can build expertise on AI, and it allows technology companies to improve their products, so it’s a win-win.”
Next generation
The skepticism keeps the industry, which is under a lot of pressure to deliver, competitive while geologists and geoscientists should instead see AI as next generation technology for mining, Nunez said.
The mining industry can reimagine AI as a complement rather than a replacement for geologists’ and engineers’ skill
sets, built to inform decision making without replacing human expertise, the panelists said. Nunez uses AI to cross check data provided, which gives an objective opinion without bias.
“In resource estimation the question is – is there mineral continuity here? That’s something that AI can do for you, not based on any bias,” Nunez said. “Every AI tool has its own place. Being able to verify how many ounces are in the ground goes a lot further to speed up the process and ultimately helps confirm the resource is in the ground.”
Nunez also said confirming the resource earlier means fewer holes are drilled, leaving
high level of confidence before starting activities. Juniors blowing budgets putting drills in the ground based on what they think they know is there – and turning out to be mistaken – can devastate finances.
Increased knowledge
In university, Warren Black’s master’s thesis work focused on using machine learning to create a data set for prospectivity modelling.
Black also clarified three categories of tools. There are predictive tools, such as Micromine Origin Grade Copilot, and tools to help with dimension reductions, such as principal component analysis “that declutter 3D views and create new variables, making it easier to interpret a data set.”
And there is clustering, which pulls apart a data set into populations that represent different geochemical processes. Choosing a tool depends on the objective, Black said.“You ask the tool the question – it’s not driving the narrative,” he said.
Mastery and expertise
Molina acknowledges adoption challenges, but emphasizes AI enables better understanding, helps identify where to drill next, and where and where not to allocate resources. He also said the tools deepen understanding of the geological history of a deposit through ‘geo modelling’ and validate confidence in estimates through resource modelling.
“Micromine Origin Grade Copilot has a security of data,” Molina said. “It’s a tool that allows geologists to build block models faster. It speeds up decision making by validating the data they produced. A geologist that is an expert in AI, and builds mastery and expertise, is going to be twice or three times more productive.”
less environmental impact and shortening timelines across the board from community engagement to government permitting to access the critical minerals needed to drive technology faster.
The B2Gold evaluation geologist reminisced about working in exploration camps out of canvas tents with no internet or cell phone access, as part of a small team or even alone, spending painstaking hours poring over data manually.
“It used to take days or weeks to do a lithology model, now it takes one and a half hours,” he said.
In exploration, precision and efficiency are paramount. Companies need to reach a
Nunez emphasized that it is the geologist who drives the proverbial machine but pointed out that markets are not patient about ”doing things the old-fashioned way.”
“AI gives geologists another tool. It allows you to see if you’ve missed something, and if you are using the best tools, you can improve your chances of success significantly,” he said.
“It’s precisely because the stakes are so high that you should be using AI.”
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Micromine and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: https://experience. micromine.com/grade-copilot for more information or to request a demonstration.
A panel discussion on AI with Micromine at the AME Roundup conference in Vancouver in January. MICROMINE
Attendees at the Micromine panel discussion at AME Roundup. MICROMINE
Mining Insights
How Dundee Sustainable Technologies eases adoption of green processes
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
DNAME: Jean-Philippe Mai
TITLE: President and CEO
COMPANY: Dundee Sustainable Technologies
undee Sustainable Technologies (CSE: DST) offers eco-friendly alternatives to traditional mining practices with its Chlorination Leach in a Vat Reactor (CLEVR) process and the GlassLock process which safely stabilizes arsenic from mining waste.
While these innovative technologies represent a significant step forward, the larger challenge remains their adoption by a traditionally risk-averse industry. In this Q&A, president and CEO Jean-Philippe Mai explains what mining companies are asking for, the hurdles in testing alternative processes and why involving technology providers early in project planning can de-risk projects and lead to more sustainable operations.
Mai, who holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Quebec in Montreal and has worked on projects spanning Canada, Australia and South America, has seen the industry realize that change benefiting the environment helps everyone and could even boost miners’ balance sheet bottom lines.
In February, Mai sat down with MINING.com’s Devan Murugan to discuss how tailored metallurgical test work and early-stage evaluations are key to unlocking greener flowsheets.
Devan Murugan: Now that you’ve introduced the CLEVR and GlassLock processes, what exactly are mining companies asking for? How do they typically proceed?
Jean-Philippe Mai: Over the past few years, the response from the industry has been very positive. We’ve been developing novel metallurgical processes for more than 10 years, and as companies become increasingly curious about cleaner alternatives, the main question isn’t simply “What is this technology?” It quickly shifts to “How do we test this on our specific ore bodies?” In many cases, the initial interest prompts project developers to ask for tailored metallurgical test work. This means running dedicated, smallscale tests to generate hard data that shows how our processes can be applied to their material. By doing so, companies can quantify the potential improvements in recovery rates while minimising environmental impacts. They want assurance that our CLEVR process, which offers cyanide-free gold extraction, can be seamlessly integrated into their existing flowsheets and deliver tangible benefits before committing to any significant changes. Essentially, it’s about reducing uncertainty by putting numbers behind the technology.
DM: Considering the current structure of the mining industry, do you think it’s well positioned to adopt these innovative technologies, or is there a need for a fundamental rethink?
“We’re not suggesting a fundamental rethink of mining practices, but rather the incorporation of new approaches within existing frameworks ”
— JEAN-PHILIPPE MAI , PRESIDENT, CEO, DUNDEE SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES
Sustainable Technologies. This gap in awareness can slow the shift toward greener technologies because if the key decision-makers aren’t aware of the alternatives, they won’t recommend them.
JPM: I wouldn’t argue that the industry needs a complete overhaul. We’re not suggesting a fundamental rethink of mining practices, but rather the incorporation of new approaches within existing frameworks. The challenge lies in the standard testing methods — traditional laboratories typically rely on processes like the bottle roll test, which aren’t designed to evaluate alternative methods.
This means that if companies stick solely to conventional testing, they might miss the benefits our innovative processes offer. With increasing regulatory pressures and investor demands for greener operations, there’s a strong incentive for companies to look beyond standard methods. That said, the industry’s conservative nature means that change often comes slowly. It’s not a question of capability but rather of adapting established practices to better evaluate and integrate new technologies. We’re working with various consulting and engineering firms to broaden the range of testing options available, which we hope will eventually ease this transition.
DM: Engineering firms usually lead project design, yet they might not always be aware of alternative processes like yours. How does that impact the shift toward cleaner technologies?
JPM: Engineering firms hold a wealth of collective knowledge and have a major influence on project design. However, not every consultant is up to date on the latest innovations, including what we’re doing at Dundee
To address this, we actively engage in initiatives like lunchand-learns, seminars and targeted discussions with consulting groups. Our goal is to ensure that these professionals fully understand our processes, how they differ from traditional methods and the specific benefits they offer. Once they gain this understanding, they become more comfortable in recommending our approach to their clients. In turn, this drives broader adoption across the industry, as a wellinformed consultant network can significantly influence a company’s willingness to consider innovative alternatives during the early stages of project design.
DM: Is it crucial for companies to involve technology providers like Dundee earlier in the project planning phase?
JPM: Absolutely — when problems arise, the industry is then forced to explore alternatives in a reactive manner, which is far less efficient and more costly.
By involving us early in the planning phase, project developers can run a series of trade-off studies that compare various processing options from the beginning. This proactive approach not only helps them understand the pros and cons of each technology but also de-risks the project by ensuring that all potential issues are considered before large capital investments are made.
Early engagement means that alternative processes like ours can be evaluated on an even footing using traditional methods, which in turn supports more informed
and strategic decision-making. It’s all about optimizing the metallurgy right from the start, rather than trying to retrofit a solution later.
DM: Speaking of optimization, what role do flowsheets play in determining whether a mine operates sustainably, and how can miners adapt them to include greener options?
JPM: Every mining project is unique; there isn’t a one-sizefits-all approach when it comes to metallurgical flowsheets. The objective is always to maximize recovery while minimizing both the plant footprint and resource consumption, including energy, water and reagents.
Our processes, for example, leverage fast kinetics to achieve gold solubilization in a matter of hours instead of days. This not only improves throughput but also means that less energy is used over time, thereby reducing the overall environmental impact. Integrating new technologies into flowsheets can also lead to significant reductions in reagent usage and waste generation. The key is flexibility—flowsheets must be designed to adapt to different ore characteristics and to incorporate innovative, efficient processes as they become available.
DM: Often, companies wait to consider alternatives until traditional methods become unworkable. Is that a risk you see and what would you suggest instead?
JPM: That’s a scenario we frequently encounter. Many companies tend to wait until their established processes start to fail or become inefficient before they consider any alternatives. When the traditional method becomes unworkable, it forces a rushed adoption of new technologies,
which may not be as wellintegrated into the project’s overall design.
In contrast, there’s a growing openness in the industry today, with more companies recognizing that early exploration of alternative processes can be a strategic advantage. Even if our solution represents a significant departure from conventional methods—a step change rather than incremental improvement—it can serve as a crucial differentiator for project developers. By carrying out thorough trade-off studies during the planning phase, companies can avoid the pitfalls of reactive decision-making.
In short, waiting until traditional methods fail is a risk that can be mitigated by early testing and a willingness to explore all available options.
DM: With all these changes and challenges, what do you see as the future for alternative processing methods in the mining industry?
JPM: I believe we’re at a turning point. The industry is slowly but surely shifting towards more sustainable practices, driven by both regulatory pressures and an increasing demand from investors for greener projects. While traditional processes have served the industry well for decades, the need for safer, more efficient alternatives is becoming ever more apparent. Our role at Dundee Sustainable Technologies is to provide the tools and data needed to make that transition as smooth as possible.
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Dundee Sustainable Technologies and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: dundeetechnologies.com for more information.
Gold smelting at Dundee Sustainable Technologies’ plant. DUNDEE SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES
ON THE HORIZON: MAJOR MINING INFRASTRUCTURE
Rich mineral deposits must be accessible before they can be properly developed. In some cases that means building large-scale and expensive road and power networks across the vastness of Canada. The Northern takes a peek at three sets of proposed infrastructure projects that could unlock billions of dollars in mineral development in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Ontario and Yukon.
Slave Geological Province All-Season Road (SGPASR) and Grays Bay Road and Port Project (GBRP)
740-km road connecting the all-season road network in the Northwest Territories with the SGPASR to the NWT-Nunavut border, and the GBRP from the border to the Arctic Ocean.
$2 billion for both projects.
Estimated value of resource development from projects: $36.7 billion.*
Both roads complete by 2035.
* Projected benefit to the economies of NWT and Nunavut.
Ont.
Ring of Fire road network
More than 415 km of roads and power lines in three sections connecting the southern road network near Aroland, Ont. to Ring of Fire projects about 540 km northeast of Thunder Bay.
At least $2 billion.
The main Ring of Fire project is Wyloo Metals' Eagle's Nest. It could host a 17-year mine with annual output of 15,000 tonnes of nickel, 6,000 tonnes of copper and 70,000 oz. of palladium. At least a dozen other companies have claims across the 5,000-sq.-km Ring of Fire.
Uncertain completion date. A federal impact assessment for the Northern Link Road is expected no earlier than 2028.
Yukon–British Columbia Grid Connect project
About 1,115 km of power lines across four segments from northern B.C. that will connect Yukon with renewable energy and lessen reliance on fossil fuel use.
$2 billion.*
Connections would deliver green power to critical mineral developments, including Western Copper and Gold’s Casino project. No set timeline. Federal and Yukon governments have earmarked $53 million towards investigating the project until 2030.
* The Yukon Development Corporation currently offers no estimate of the project's cost, but a Midgard Consulting report from 2019 gave a preliminary estimate of $2 billion, which doesn't include costs associated with negotiating or implementing agreements with affected First Nations.
Coronation Gulf Grays Bay
Northwest Territories
Nunavut
Yellowknife
Q&A: ‘Capital markets are collapsing,’ Killeen says
PDAC | Calls for taxes reform
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Jeff Killeen, PDAC’s director of policy and programs, sat down with The Northern Miner podcast host Adrian Pocobelli ahead of the 93rd edition of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference, which starts March 2 in Toronto.
Last year’s edition of PDAC drew about 27,000 people, and Killeen said he expects a similar turnout this time. Some 1,100 exhibitors are also expected to take part in the event.
In the interview, Killeen sheds light on some of the major topics impacting the Canadian mining sector, including the challenges posed by the Alternative Minimum Tax and the upcoming expiration of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit in March. He also offers insights into potential solutions.
Questions and comments in this interview were condensed and edited for clarity.
Adrian Pocobelli: It seems like there’s a lot of enthusiasm for mining these days. Are you getting that sense too?
Jeff Killeen: I position it maybe more, Adrian, as a reinvigoration. If we look back 10, 12, 13 years ago, we got turnouts like this for the PDAC convention north of 25,000, north of 30,000 in some cases. We do often see ebbs and flows with our attendance based on what the commod-
consumer products, all of those different companies that are listed — it’s in a pretty dire state. You might even say that the capital marketplace in Canada is collapsing.
We’ve seen the amount of money coming into the exchanges the last four years dropping. There was only a total of about $20 billion raised total last year in the Canadian marketplace.
Let’s look back to post-financial crisis 2009, there was over $60 billion raised. If we look at the pandemic year 2019, or 2020, we were looking at $30 to $40-plus billion raised. So last year, as far as my view can look backwards, it was the weakest year we’ve ever seen in the Canadian marketplace for new equity investment.
Other signals suggest as well that from the private equity markets, we’re seeing a similar trend. So there’s a real concern that we have here at PDAC. Many others around the financial ecosystem in Canada are concerned that Canada’s marketplace is really shrinking.
AP: Do you think that’s a result
the expiration of the mineral exploration tax credit or that’s just pouring gasoline onto an already a bad situation?
JK: Probably a mix of both, Adrian, and that phrase that’s often used, death by 1,000 cuts. That’s the kind of scenario I think is playing out here in Canada.
The mineral exploration tax credit is a piece that allows companies to raise capital in very risky terrain. Mineral exploration is not an easy business. The prospect for success is often very low, and so ushering in that risk capital into the sector often takes a bit more incentivization than you would find elsewhere.
The mineral exploration tax credit is a critical part of our fiscal landscape here in Canada. It’s the reason why, in many cases, the Canadian marketplace has raised more money for mineral exploration than any other market in the world — why you see more than half of the mineral exploration and mining companies globally listed here in Canada. It’s because of those keys that really make it more attractive to invest here.
As you see things like the risk of the mineral exploration tax credit expiring, that takes away some of the incentive to bring capital towards Canadian explorers. You see things like proposed raising capital gains, that makes it even more challenging to see the prospect of a positive investment reaping the rewards from that. That’s another impediment. You also see the prospect for alternative mini-
towards, folks that are looking to invest through flow-through shares and the mineral exploration tax credits. So, if you layer these things on top of one another, it just adds to that potentially weakening marketplace we see in Canada overall. It creates a real risk that we’re turning what has been a fruitful grape into more of a raisin here, with potential future investment into our sector.
AP: So, what are PDAC’s recommendations?
JK: Part of our recommendation suite is really simple. It’s renewing the mineral exploration tax credit, but not just renewing it for a year. It’s about to expire at the end of March, at a time when we don’t have government sitting in Ottawa. The actual mechanism to renew it or extend it is really limited, or almost absent. We’re getting to a real, not a panic situation, but we’re getting to a place where we’re very concerned. How is that credit going to exist beyond April 1?
So we’re calling for a permanent installation of the METC. That’s one of the sure ways to try and bring more capital into mineral exploration and ensure that there is a lot of activity and new discoveries being made in Canada.
We also look at resources. How are we going to see those resources turn into reserves?
Currently, a company can raise capital by issuing flow-through shares, and there’s a very strict prescription of how they’re to spend
one of those activities, or a few of those activities that aren’t included, is some of the scoping work, some of the assessment work to actually convert resources into reserves and allow a company to go forward towards a build decision, to say, this is good enough, and we can build this mine and make it a viable machine. We want to see that gap removed.
Taking a broader view, what we really would want to see is the proposed increase to the capital gains inclusion rate abandoned. The significant decline we’re seeing in overall investment in Canada is a real, concerning litmus test, and the proposition of raising capital gains taxes on those very folks that are investing in the Canadian marketplace at a time when we’re seeing this decline just seems counter to trying to reinvigorate investment. There’s a lot of other things that we talk about outside of those particular fiscal changes that could be a real benefit for Canadian explorers, for miners in Canada. We join a lot of other folks who have called for a need to look at the amount of investment that pension plans and that domestic pension plans actually have in Canada. There’s a very small percentage of assets under management for many of those larger pension plans actually invested in Canada.
The trickle-down effect of pensions investing in things like infrastructure, energy and transportation provides more optionality for our industry. It certainly could potentially lower costs for just their own development and the capital investment. TNM
Jeff Killeen
What a shock: the power cost of ore processing
ELECTRICITY | Rates vary widely by region
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
When it comes to understanding processing costs, electric power is an item that can have a substantial impact on operating expenses.
Costmine, a division of Mining Intelligence owned by Glacier Resource Innovation, studied the electricity component of mining costs. The report is remarkable for showing how variable expenses are depending on the region.
In the lower 48 United States, industrial electric power costs can range from 5.6¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) in Louisiana to over three times that — 19.1¢/kWh — in Rhode Island. In Alaska, the cost of power is solely dependent on access to a grid or the site generating its own power. On Alaska’s grid, power costs are currently averaging 18.7¢/kWh for industrial use. However, diesel-generated power can be many times that. For example, in the state’s remote locations, power rates are
reported to be between 40¢/kWh to more than $1/kWh, most likely with government subsidies.
Base case Spokane, Wash.-based Costmine examined the impact on the operating cost for a tonne of ore processed at a 10,000-tonnes-per-day mill with a single flotation process. The base project was calculated using 6¢/KWh; 8¢/KWh; 20¢/KWh; 60¢/ KWh and 80¢/KWh. The average industrial power rate for 2023 in the U.S. was 8.06¢/KWh.
Researchers used Sherpa Mineral Processing software with Costmine’s 2023 electricity data. The commodity used was typical of a massive sulphide deposit using a grade of 3% copper. The company broke out the costs per tonne of pro-
cessed ore by major cost type.
Table 1 shows the comparison between the different electric power rates. Note that labour and supplies do not change and the electric power costs impact both the equipment operation and the miscellaneous categories.
Charts 2 and 3, above, compare the impact on the relative importance of each cost element as power prices increase from 8¢/kWh to 80¢/kWh. As rates increase, it brings into sharp relief the equipment operating expenses for furnaces, crushers, grinders and other power intensive processes.
Another way to visualize this is to examine the sensitivity of equipment operating expenses to the price of electricity. For our standard single flotation processing facility, operating cost sensitivity due to power price variation is significant but also not surprising. Here we are better able to quantify this sensitivity (see graph 4)
Core Nickel Corp. is a dynamic junior exploration company dedicated to the responsible exploration of critical minerals. Core Nickel has 100% ownership of a significant land portfolio in the worldrenowned Thompson Nickel Belt (TNB) of northern Manitoba, Canada. A key asset in Core Nickel’s portfolio, the Mel deposit, is situated just 25 kilometers northwest of the Thompson Mill (12,000 TPD) and boasts a historic resource estimate of 5.3 million tons at 0.85% nickel.
Using Costmine’s Sherpa Mineral Processing cost model to isolate the electric power consumed, the chart to the left makes it clear that the cost of electricity at mills can make or break many projects. As shown, prices above 20¢/kWh makes power a significant portion of a mill’s operating expense. (see graph 5)
The impact that electric power rates have is significant. As a result, companies are looking at alternative ways to generate power, particularly at remote sites.
Some of the obvious options include using natural gas where local supply is available, as well as wind and solar. Another of the more innovative options is small modular nuclear reactors that can be transported in standard 40-foot (12.2-metre) shipping containers.
Indeed, this last option is being increasingly discussed among Costmine’s clients as an economically viable option for remote and northern mine sites. As the cost of carbon factors into more mines’ operating cost considerations, this option will become more compelling.
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Borealis Mining’s (TSX-V: BOGO) acquisition of Gold Bull Resources (TSX-V: GBRC; US-OTC: GBRCF) and its Sandman project in Nevada show how the company is advancing towards mid-tier gold production.
The Borealis mine’s adsorption, desorption and refining (ADR) plant is producing doré bars from leached material. Its infrastructure makes the Gold Bull acquisition in December particularly strategic as it has capacity to process the oxide ore from Sandman, Borealis president and CEO Kelly Malcolm said in an interview.
“The acquisition of Gold Bull is significant because it’s exactly the type of target we have in mind for our M&A strategy,” said Malcolm, a geologist by training who was involved in a discovery at Detour Lake in Ontario. “There are many targets like Gold Bull’s Sandman project with sub-1.5-million-ounce numbers, which is typically the starting point for the majors to start to get excited.”
Malcolm said the “spectacular” preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Gold Bull is one of the best projects he’s seen for internal rate-of-return (IRR), while the net present value (NPV) is strong relative to the purchase price.
“If we are able to put a few of these acquisitions together,” he said, “we can build quite an interesting company.”
Malcolm, who won a 2022 industry award as vice-president of Amex Exploration (TSXV: AMX; US-OTC: AMXEF), has attracted some mining legends to the company’s board of directors, management team and investors. Bob Buchan, founder of Kinross Gold (TSX: K, NYSE: KGC), is a director; Rob McEwen of Goldcorp fame has a double-digit stake in the company and Eric Sprott is another significant investor.
$31.5M capex
The 2023 PEA for Sandman reveals a post-tax IRR of 81% and NPV of $121 million (C$173.1 million) at a 6% discount rate based on a gold price of US$1,800 per ounce. It estimated an initial capex of US$31.5 million, post-tax payback of 1.3 years, annual production of 37,900 oz. of gold, and a nine-year mine life for a heap leach operation on site with loaded carbon shipped to an external ADR facility.
“Sandman made sense at $1,800 per oz.,” Malcolm said. “But it would have been challenging for Gold Bull to raise the pre-production capital based on their market capitalization. That’s why they agreed to join forces with us. They were looking for alternatives where one plus one could equal four, five or six.
“Today’s gold prices should be materially affecting assets like Sandman. Unfortunately, they’re not materially affecting equity values for the most part, so there’s a big discrepancy between value in the ground and value in the market.”
In January 2021, Gold Bull released a NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for Sandman reporting an indicated resource of 18.6 million tonnes grading 0.73 gram gold per tonne for 433,000
Borealis buys Gold Bull in expansion
NEVADA | Sandman project could feed Borealis mill
oz. and an inferred resource of 3.2 million tonnes grading 0.58 gram gold for an additional 60,800 ounces.
Borealis said it’s acquiring all of the outstanding shares of Gold Bull pursuant to a plan of arrangement whereby each common share of Gold Bull was exchanged for 0.93 of a Borealis share, translating into an acquisition price of “around $14 per oz.,” Malcolm said.
Newmont acquisition
The all-share acquisition amounts to an C$8.9-million purchase price based on the number and price of Gold Bull shares and gives Gold Bull shareholders a 14% stake in Borealis.
“Sandman was held by Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) for a number of years,” Malcolm said. “They did a lot of drilling and baseline work, including archeological and biological studies as part of a property-wide plan of operations which is required in Nevada ahead of drilling to
ensure there are no surprises.”
Gold Bull acquired the property in 2020 for US$4 million. The project has four near surface deposits, all of which outcrop at surface. Of the 494,000-oz. gold resource, roughly two-thirds is oxide mineralization, which would be leached on site and trucked to the Borealis ADR facility.
“At depth, you start getting into more sulphide mineralization,” Malcolm said. “But interestingly, Newmont did a fair bit of metallurgical work showing the sulphide mineralization is nonrefractory. If that’s the case, the sulphides could potentially be amenable to heap leaching as well. That’s something we will work on verifying as soon as possible.”
Transportation costs of loaded carbon, he added, are essentially nil on a per ounce basis.
“So, that’s the plan – a standalone mining operation with limited infrastructure to keep costs down as low as possible, then trucking the loaded carbon to the Borealis operation.”
1978 and it went on to produce 500,000 oz. of gold grading 2.02 grams from eight near-surface open-pit oxide deposits beginning in the 1980s.
There was also minor production from 2011 to 2013 by Toronto-based Gryphon Gold and from 2021 to 2022 under the ownership of Waterton Global Resource Management for another 125,000 ounces.
Malcolm acquired Borealis in April 2023, making the company one of the few juniors with under $100 million market capitalization to own a permitted mine producing revenue. In January, the company announced production of about 550 oz. of gold from residual leaching. Now it plans to crush, stack and leach a 330,000tonne stockpile grading roughly half a gram gold.
Restart plans
“This should dramatically increase our gold yield this year,” he said. “We are also working on plans to restart mining operations later this year, but I’m unable to provide guidance on that at this point.”
The Borealis project has a historic resource reported by Gryphon Gold in 2011 of 1.83 million oz. grading 1.28 grams gold in the measured and indicated category and over 195,000 oz. grading 0.34 gram gold in the inferred category. The company plans to update the resource but not before a significant amount of confirmatory drilling, which will take some time to complete, Malcolm noted.
Last November, Borealis announced several positive assay results from a 3,500-metre drill program at its Graben historical gold deposit that demonstrated large widths of highly consistent gold mineralization within an extremely silicified and sulphidized body.
Sandman
feasibility
The company plans to advance towards a feasibility study for the Sandman project and start production as soon as possible. Malcolm predicts that once the detailed engineering is done, it should take 18 to 24 months to obtain Sandman’s mining permits. The CEO described local town Winnemucca as a mining-focused community where approvals shouldn’t be onerous.
The Gold Bull portfolio also includes the early-stage Big Balds project 120 km south of Elko and 10 km west of Kinross Gold’s Bald Mountain mine. Geophysics work has identified three priority targets at Big Balds that haven’t been drilled.
“It’s a big prize if we are successful there but it was certainly the lesser of the two projects that attracted us to Gold Bull,” Malcolm said.
The company also has plans to ramp up its operations at Borealis. The deposit was discovered in
One assay result showed 2.25 grams gold over 99.1 metres, including 4.06 grams over 21.3 metres. Another assay returned 2.11 grams over 36.6 metres, including 8.24 grams over 4.6 metres and 2.06 grams over 27.4 metres further downhole. More drilling to test new targets across the project is planned for this summer.
Aside from the expansion potential of the known historical resources, Borealis touts the potential for new gold discoveries across the largely underexplored 54.4-sq.-km land package. Aside from its ADR facility, existing Borealis infrastructure includes several open pits, a mobile equipment fleet, 20 hectares of permitted heap leach pads and waste rock facilities.
With this acquisition complete, said Malcolm, “we are actively looking for additional opportunities in Nevada and possibly in neighbouring states that are as accretive as we think Gold Bull and Sandman are to Borealis.”
The preceding joint venture article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Borealis Mining and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: www.borealismining.com for more information.
A gold pour at Borealis’ Sandman project.BOREALIS MINING
The adsorption, desorption, and recovery (ADR) plant at Borealis’ Sandman project in Nevada. BOREALIS MINING
miningIndaba
Industry demands overhaul to revive South African mining
POLICY | Miners seek improved rules, power, ports
BY HENRY LAZENBY IN CAPE TOWN
Miners in South Africa are calling for sweeping changes to modernize regulations, streamline licensing and upgrade critical infrastructure to revive the country’s flagging mining sector.
Investment to mine in Africa’s most developed economy fell 9% last year to R1 trillion (about US$54 billion) from a year earlier, figures released this week show. Mining contributed R433 billion to the economy, a 2.6% drop from 2023.
“We want to grow because we want the mining industry to make a better, bigger and sustainable contribution to the people of South Africa,” Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of the Mining Council of South Africa, said on Feb. 5 on the sidelines of the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba in Cape Town.
The council’s members include the country’s largest miners such as Anglo American (LSE: AAL), Gold Fields (NYSE, JSE: GFI), Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY) and Sibanye-Stillwater (NYSE: SBSW) among others.
ing and resource development, estimated the country’s mineral wealth at over R2.5 trillion in an August report. South Africa controls 88% of the global platinum group metals and 80% of the global manganese market, Mintek CEO Molefi Motuku said at the conference.
Motuku urged policymakers to use these resources to boost economic growth and industrial development. Structural problems, such as unreliable electricity, crumbling roads and ports, logistics issues and labour disputes, are hindering growth, he said.
Outdated policies and failing infrastructure are strangling the industry, the council’s Mthenjane agreed on Feb. 5.
“We want to grow because we want mining to make a better, bigger and sustainable contribution to the people of South Africa.”
MZILA MTHENJANE, CEO, MINING COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA
Exploration investment has collapsed to R1.2 billion in 2023 from R6.2 billion in 2008. Council data released during the Cape Town conference show the country’s share of the global exploration budget has dropped from over 5% to less than 1% during the period.
Artisanal miners seek reforms
RULES | Crime taints goal
BY HENRY LAZENBY IN CAPE TOWN
More can be done to transform artisanal and small‐scale mining (ASM) into a safe, transparent, investment-ready sector, according to an industry conference in Cape Town.
Record-high gold prices attract more than 45 million informal miners across 80 countries to support families totalling 270 million people, according to Sturmes-Verbreek.
South Africa’s Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2004 has failed to deliver the growth and transformation that was expected at the time, a review released at the Indaba by Johannesburg-based Mining Dialogues 360° and Good Governance Africa found. The accountability groups want a fresh vision and open talks with stakeholders for broad policy changes to rebuild investor trust and promote the sector’s long-term growth.
A clear and modern regulatory framework is required to boost investor confidence, Hugo Pienaar, the council’s chief economist, said Wednesday at the event. This framework, which should secure tenure and remove overlapping rights, is essential for driving the local exploration the sector needs, he said.
Platinum strength Mintek, South Africa’s national organization for mineral process-
Last year, South Africa’s minerals sector employed 475,000 people and paid R195 billion in wages. The sector also generated R117 billion in taxes and royalties, as reported by the council. Each mining job spawns
Industry demands P29 >
But experts warn that curbing endemic corruption comes first, the Investing in African Mining Indaba heard on Feb. 4. Formalizing ASM and enforcing anti-corruption measures are two sides of the same coin.
“It’s about moving from crime to investing in a legitimate sector,” David Sturmes-Verbreek of The Impact Facility, a global sustainability organization based in Vancouver, said during a panel at the annual event.
Soaring gold prices are swelling the ranks of illegal miners. Corruption, lack of development and criminal gangs also contribute to the trend throughout Africa, Central and South America and Asia.
Some producers, such as Aris Mining (TSX: ARIS; NYSE-AM: ARMN), are trying to incorporate artisanal miners into the formal sector, but an uneasy relationship exists in most places where mines and the slums they attract interact.
By the numbers
WE NEED 72 NEW NICKEL MINES TO MEET PROJECTED 2030 EV DEMAND. THAT’S GREAT NEWS FOR POWER NICKEL
BATTERY NICKEL DEMAND IS FORECASTING MAJOR GROWTH BY 2030. POWER NICKEL IS IN AN EXCELLENT POSSITION TO CAPITALIZE.
• Automakers to double EV battery spend to $1.2 trillion by 2030 –Nickel Demand Expeted To Explode.
• Power Nickel’s Nisk deposit has the lowest market cap per pound of NiEQ in ground – with Class 1 nickel.
• An ”ultra mafic” deposit with comparables at Lynn Lake (22m tons) and Voisey’s Bay (50m+ tons), which sold for $4.5 billion.
• Located in Quebec – a top North American jurisdiction for mine development with financing incentives.
The World Bank has chronicled 368 projects since 1980 to aid artisanal miners at a cost of nearly $1 billion, with the bank contributing about a third, according to Rachel Perks, a senior mining specialist at the Washington-based institution.
In gold mining, ASM’s share of global supply surged from 4% in the 1990s to 20% today, while for cobalt it climbed from 5% to over 12%.
In South Africa in January, 78 gold diggers died in an underground rescue effort. The illegal miners, locally referred to as zamazama, were among hundreds that authorities had controversially locked in the mine, trying to root out criminal gangs and prevent a wider disaster.
Perks says regulated ASM reduces risks and environmental harm. It also opens big opportunities for wealth and rural development.
“By strengthening regulatory frameworks and ensuring government-led oversight, the sector can transform into a well-governed, investment-ready engine of sustainable development,” she said.
‘Professionalization’
Titus Sauerwein from the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM), said pilot projects have shown ASM’s benefits. He warned that scaling these pilots will need sustained public and private investment and decisive government oversight.
In Zimbabwe, formalization transformed the life of Faith Mutete, the founder and CEO of Women in Mining Zimbabwe. Startingin mining at 15, she went on to earn a doctorate in public
Minerals Council of South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane during a press briefing at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town. HENRY LAZENBY
Werner Duvenhage (right), managing director of Rio Tinto’s Iron Titanium – Africa unit, with Sean Gilbertson, CEO of London-listed Gemfields. HENRY LAZENBY
miningIndaba
US trade wars threaten African metals investment
CRITICAL MINERALS | Future demand versus uncertain present
BY HENRY LAZENBY IN CAPE TOWN
New U.S. tariffs may spark inflation and uncertainty that could delay projects needed to close a widening production gap, according to Standard Chartered Bank.
“Trade policy uncertainty will create an environment where capital hesitates,” Richard HorrocksTaylor, the bank’s global head for metals and mining, said at the Investing in African Mining Indaba last month.
The conference heard that strong long-term trends remain intact. Electrification, renewable energy and global infrastructure spending will boost base metals.
Copper prices, for instance, are forecast to climb to an average of $9,900 per tonne this year, while aluminum could see a 10% increase over the next three years. Yet, these bullish fundamentals clash with the threat of U.S. tariffs and have made investors cautious, the conference heard.
Clear policies
One panel, including representatives from Geneva-based trading houses Mercuria Energy Trading, and Trafigura, as well as Canaccord Genuity from Vancouver, urged policymakers to offer clear, stable trade guidelines. Macroeconomic risks delaying mining investments could worsen supply shortages as demand grows and may rob the continent.
South Africa’s mining minister said the continent shouldn’t let industrialized nations dictate its choices. That was before U.S. President Donald Trump froze all foreign aid for 90 days and singled
out South Africa for none after it was given $440 million in 2023.
“They want to withhold funding, but they still want our minerals,” Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, told the early February conference.
“Let’s withhold minerals. Africa needs to assert its advantage and take charge of the growing demand.”
African nations must resist global trade that exploits their countries, he said. For example, China’s chromite dominance undercuts local mining firms feeding into it and stifles sustainable development, he said.
It’s lowered South Africa’s income from chromite mining.
Yet China’s beneficiation advances have reduced chrome prices and hurt African miners, he said.
“This is what I call a race to the bottom. We race with one another to the bottom by not taking advantage of what we have, and that will become victims of what we have. We can’t allow that to happen forever.”
At a crossroads
Philip Clegg of New York-based private equity firm Orion Resource Partners warned that the continent’s mining sector is at a critical juncture.
“The long-term outlook for copper and other electrification metals remains strong, yet near-term policy uncertainty could slow down investments needed to meet future supply,” he told a fully packed conference session on commodities.
Graeme Train, head of metals and minerals analysis at Trafigura, noted that copper demand is set to surge nearly 30% over the next decade. He said forecasts show an extra 8.5 million tonnes of copper demand ahead.
However, only around 2 million tonnes are secured through current projects. This leaves a gap of roughly 6 million tonnes, a shortfall that could push prices higher if new mines don’t come online swiftly.
Wood Mackenzie analyst James Whiteside underlined the urgency. He says the industry currently spends between $15 billion and $20 billion annually on expansion just to maintain current output.
To meet net zero by 2050, the sector needs to spend another US$20 billion per year to grow to the required level, on top of $20 billion to stand still.
Inflation and higher interest rates
Africa mulls mineral processing
STRATEGY | Continent should make the most of its assets
BY HENRY LAZENBY IN CAPE TOWN
Africa must process its minerals at home as de-globalization and a brewing U.S. trade war threaten raw exports, the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba in Cape Town heard.
“We must invest in local beneficiation because it is a business decision, not a political one,”
South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, said.
Cost-benefit
Mantashe challenged investors to weigh high export taxes and unreliable power against the potential gains from local mineral processing. He says companies often export raw commodities because doing so costs less than adding value at home.
Africa’s leaders want to shift from exporting raw resources to local beneficiation. They could capitalize on a growing supply gap in critical minerals as countries turn inward. Speakers at the session “Future-proofing African Mining, Today” emphasized how Africa must transform raw materials into finished products.
Asserting more control over resources faces a mining sector under pressure. Last year, the South African industry contributed 6% to the nation’s nominal gross domestic product — down slightly from 6.3% in 2023. It exported goods worth about R800 billion (US$42 billion), accounting for 45% of all merchandise exports.
“If it costs less to export raw materials than to process them here, the market makes that decision. We must reverse that trend,” he warned.
Marit Kitaw, of the Africa Minerals Development Centre in Addis Ababa, said the time for dithering has run out.
“Africa must take ownership of its mineral wealth by processing it locally,” Kitaw said. “This is not just about economic growth;
it is about safeguarding our future against an unpredictable global trade environment.”
Indaba US Trade P30 >
Indaba shift P30>
South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, speaks at the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town. HENRY LAZENBY
Raj Khatri of Canaccord Genuity, left, and Standard Chartered Bank’s global head for metals and mining, Richard Horrocks-Taylor, on stage during the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town. HENRY LAZENBY
eye on australia Native Mineral seeks Forrest-inspired phoenix at Blackjack
SITE VISIT | Counts days to first gold pour
BY KRISTIE BATTEN
Native Mineral Resources
(ASX: NMR) only recently acquired its primary asset in Queensland, but it has set an aggressive schedule to restart production.
The Sydney-based explorer bought the Far Fanning and past-producing Blackjack gold projects in November for A$18.9 million (C$17 million) plus a 2% production royalty. In mid-February, NMR raised A$15.9 million to refurbish Blackjack’s processing plant.
Now, CEO Blake Cannavo, who oversaw the construction of Fortescue’s (ASX: FMG) Solomon iron ore project six months ahead of schedule and A$1 billion under budget, is channelling the can-do attitude of Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest to deliver first gold by Sept. 30.
“We don’t want anyone here who basically can’t see the vision of what we’re trying to get to,” Cannavo said during a February visit to Blackjack. “I worked very closely with Andrew, and what we did, everyone told us we couldn’t do it.”
The project has attracted Wes Maas, founder and CEO of A$1.6-billion market cap civil and mining contractor Maas Group (ASX: MGH). He invested A$6.8 million in February to take 19.9% of NMR while Cannavo boosted his stake to 25%.
The Blackjack deposit, shallow and just 600 metres from the processing plant, might produce
20,000 oz. of gold annually and could potentially quadruple output within a few years of expansion, according to the CEO. The proposed mine’s design is to be ready within weeks while the plant’s update is on track despite once-acentury flooding in the state last month.
“What we’ve found is, traditionally, you’ve got to change the gears, belts, drives, things like that, because they’ve been sitting there for so long,” Cannavo said. “But the big-ticket items and the longlead items in this plant are all com-
ing up okay.”
NMR shares traded for A6¢ before press time, giving the company a market capitalization of A$30.3 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 1¢ to 9¢.
Drilling
NMR is planning to get one to two years of plant feed from the shallow pit. Blackjack produced ore as recently as 2019 but doesn’t have a JORC-compliant resource so NMR is drilling about 12 diamond holes to improve its status.
“At the moment, we’re drilling
down to 50 metres, so it’s very, very shallow, and we’re looking at some really good ounces there,” Cannavo said. “It’s running at about 1.8 grams [per tonne], but that’s fine, because we’re so close to the plant.”
NMR also plans to drill two holes to 100 metres depth as there are records of historical underground mining at the project grading up to 30 grams gold per tonne.
The project NMR acquired comprises the 340,000-tonne-per-annum Blackjack processing plant, which is on care and maintenance, and 17 mining leases, one mineral
development licence, six exploration permits and one exploration permit application.
The Far Fanning deposit has an inferred resource of 2.3 million tonnes at 1.84 grams gold for 138,000 ounces. The Great Britain deposit is estimated to contain 109,000 oz. at 2.2 grams and the Granite Castle deposit has a resource of 77,000 oz. at 3.14 grams.
‘Amazing payback’
Veteran gold analyst Warwick Grigor, of Sydney-based Far East Capital, was on the site visit and saw the potential for 20,000-30,000 oz. per year.
“Being near surface, lower cost oxidized ore, there is nothing tricky about what NMR intends to put through the mill,” he said.
“I’m prepared to estimate cash operating costs in the order of A$1,800-A$2,000 per ounce. Two years ago, this would have been viewed as expensive, but not today. The Australian gold price of A$4,400 per oz. provides a very attractive cash profit margin of A$48 million in year one, giving an amazing capex payback of less than six months if the company ends up spending A$20 million to get it up and running. What is not to love about these economics?”
Cannavo said having the plant was the key to reaching revenue quickly.
“If you can’t get to revenue in this business, you’re not surviving,” he said.
The company has already appointed Ausenco to study an expansion of the Blackjack plant. Cannavo says the plan is to upgrade annual output to 80,000 oz. at the end of year two which roughly amounts to processing 800,000 tonnes a year.
“The one thing that we’re blessed with is Blackjack has got plenty of room,” Cannavo said. “We’re looking at 2026 as the start of that upgrade.”
Loan
As part of the acquisition, NMR secured an A$18.8-million loan from project vendor Collins St Capital of Melbourne, which will be repayable over 33 months. Previous Blackjack owner Maroon Gold collapsed after losing money on its hedging contracts.
When NMR arrived at the site a few months ago, it was overgrown, so the first task was to clear the ground and install new demountable offices. The company is to complete a 1.5-2-metre uplift of the tailings storage facility and it already has approval to build a second storage if required.
Blackjack is 6 km from Charters Towers, a town with a population of 12,000, and about 80 minutes from Townsville, a city with a population of more than 170,000. After working in a remote location like the Pilbara, Cannavo recognizes how fortunate NMR is.
“A lot of these places are so far out of range, it’s not funny, and unless you have an airstrip built on these particular mines, it can be up to six or seven hours of travel,” he said. “We’re very, very lucky that we’re strategically placed right here next to Charters Towers.”
Part of the plant at Native Mineral Resources’ Blackjack mine in northeast Queensland, Australia . KRISTIE BATTEN
BY KRISTIE BATTEN
Australian junior Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX: LGM) is exploring a 170-year-old Drake mining district property that might see production and a multimillion-ounce discovery within a few years.
The Drake project is considered advanced with an estimated A$50 million spent on exploration and A$30 million on infrastructure by companies such as Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) and Rio Tinto’s (NYSE, LSE, RIO, ASX: RIO) Kennecott and CRA, and a series of juniors. The project has a historical resource estimate of 688,000 gold-equivalent oz. that Legacy is updating to JORC standards.
“We’re here because we think that we can turn a 600,000-oz. gold deposit into something that’s multiples of that,” technical director Thomas Wall said during a February site visit. “We’re not looking for something small. We’re looking for something that’s substantial in size.”
What crews have found on the 160-sq.-km site are hundreds of mine shafts dating as far back as 1853. More recent drilling has shown assays such as 118 metres grading 1.71 grams gold per tonne, 6.9 grams silver and 1.12% zinc from 2 metres depth. A former owner planned but didn’t execute 33,000 oz. gold-per-year-output less than a decade ago.
Drake is one of nine Legacy projects located in New South Wales, including Bauloora, a A$15-mil lion (US$9.6-million) joint venture with Newmont. The JV is one of only two deals Newmont has closed
eye on australia
Aptly-named Legacy probes past for next big find
SITE VISIT | Drake region dates from 1850s
in Australia in the past three years — the other being the US$17-billion takeover of Newcrest Mining in late 2023. Legacy bought Drake for A$200,000 in mid-2023, only a few months after signing the Bauloora deal.
Hotspot state
NSW is home to Australia’s largest gold mine, Newmont’s Cadia, and a state where most of the world’s biggest miners are exploring for gold and copper.
“New South Wales is a new global hotspot for mining investment and exploration activity, and a fantastic place for us to be working,” Legacy managing director Christopher Byrne said during the site visit.
prospecting pits across the Drake project for a total of 3,367 historical mining features, more than double what was previously known.
“It’s exciting because it presents huge areas of opportunity,” Wall said.
“These are surface expressions of mineralization, so while it doesn’t
say it’s going to be the next best thing, it provides us with the locale to start our work.”
Systematic exploration
The project, one of the largest mineral systems in New South Wales, caused excitement when it excelled in a metric used to identify areas that
have the possibility of hosting major deposits, Wall said. The number of 100 gram-metre gold-equivalent hits across the project was estimated to be around 100.
Other previous assay results from the project include 12.8 metres
Novo explores three projects
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
(TSX: NVO: ASX: NVO; US-OTC: NSRPF), a Vancouver and Perth-based gold explorer, has committed to an exploration program at three recently optioned and staked properties in Australia.
“All three projects align with Novo’s strategy of identifying drill-ready exploration projects with greater than 1-million-oz. development potential,” executive co-chairman and acting CEO Michael Spreadborough
Novo can earn a 70% interest in the John Bull tenement and 80% interest in the Mick Bull tenement, combined as the John Bull gold project optioned from (ASX: TGI) and a 70% interest in the Manhattan (ASX: MHC). Both properties are located in New
At the Tibooburra project, Novo can earn its interest by issuing 1.5 million Novo shares and spending A$1.5-million (C$1.35 million) on exploration after two year-long farm-in periods. In both cases, the agreement can be terminated after each farm-in period
“The farm-in style of agreements we have executed allows us to manage exploration risk because we’ll do a certain piece of work during the first farm-in period and if we like it, we’ll do another piece of work,” Spreadborough said. “If we still like it, we’ll form a joint venture, so the transactions balance risks for our
Joint venture
A JV on the TechGen project is contingent on payment of Novo shares valued at A$500,000 and completion of 3,000 metres of drilling after two farm-in periods, an initial 12 months then 18 months.
Novo’s plans for this year’s second half include mapping, geochemical sampling and 1,500 metres of drilling at the John Bull project in northeastern NSW. It’s also planning detailed structural work, mapping, soil and rock chip sampling, and about 2,000 metres of drilling at the Tibooburra project in northwestern NSW. Farm-in agreements for both projects were completed in December.
Novo also has plans for geophysical surveys, mapping and geochemical sampling at its 1,524- sq.-km Toolunga project in the Onslow district of Western Australia. The recently consolidated Toolunga project consists of 890 sq. km of exploration licence applications optioned from privately held OD4 Rocklea
and 634 sq. km of Novo staked exploration licence applications.
The Toolunga project is an underexplored, earlystage opportunity but very prospective based on a desktop review of data, according to the company.
Drill assays
Both John Bull and Tibooburra are advanced exploration projects with promising drill intercepts. Recent drilling by TechGen on the 32-sq.-km John Bull project included assay results of 0.95 gram gold per tonne over 94 metres and 1 gram over 68 metres. At the 630-sq.-km Tibooburra project, drilling by Manhattan produced assay results of 4.03 grams gold over 30 metres and 13.89 grams over 16 metres from the New Bendigo prospect and 7.23 grams over 7 metres, including 16.1 grams over 3 metres at the Clone prospect.
Novo’s primary project is the Egina JV with De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG) for the Becher property, 28 km from De Grey’s 13.6-million-oz. Hemi project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
De Grey, which is in the midst of being acquired by Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) in an all-share deal valued at A$5 billion, has a farm-in agreement to earn a half interest in Becher contingent on an exploration spend of A$25 million over four years.
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Novo Resources and
with
JOINT VENTURE ARTICLE
Novo Resources’ principal geologist Iain Groves performing technical and generative surface mapping at the newly optioned John Bull gold project in New South Wales. NOVO RESOURCES
Legacy’s managing director Christopher Byrne at Drake LEGACY MINERALS HOLDINGS Technical director Thomas Wall at the Drake site LEGACY MINERALS HOLDINGS
eye on australia Nickel Industries makes money in weak market
INDONESIA
| Chinese support pushes profit
BY KRISTIE BATTEN
In a market that has seen few winners in recent years, Australia’s Nickel Industries (ASX: NIC) continues to strengthen its position.
The company has been operating in Indonesia for over 15 years and went public in 2018 with an A$200-million (US$128-million) initial public offering. Since then, it has rapidly expanded to become one of the world’s largest nickel producers, backed by its Chinese partner, Tsingshan subsidiary Shanghai Decent.
In the quarter to Dec. 31, Nickel Industries reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $72.4 million, which was impacted by a $20 million foreign exchange loss and limited sales of nickel ore in December after the company reached its 2024 quota.
“We made good money,” managing director Justin Werner told The Northern Miner. “If you actually take out the foreign exchange loss of US$20 million, plus the limited nickel ore sales in December, we probably lost another US$20 million there. It easily could have been over US$100 million.”
Shares in Nickel Industries in Sydney had fallen 6% this year to A78¢ apiece by press time, valu-
ing the company at A$3.35 billion. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of A64¢ to A$1.08. The stock fell to an 11-month low after the quarterly report, which Werner attributed to market sentiment and weak nickel prices.
“There’s probably people waiting to see what will happen with the U.S. and China,” he said.
Government support Werner said his company is competitive due to lucrative tax incentives from the Indonesian government and the support of Shanghai Decent.
“Our Chinese partner offers us a unique set of guarantees that you don’t get anywhere else,” he said. “We have a nameplate guarantee. We have a capex guarantee, so we’re immune from capex blowouts, which are pretty common [elsewhere].”
The CEO says it will be difficult for Western producers to compete. The high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) method produces nickel at US$5,000 to US$7,000 per tonne and enjoys good margins when selling for $15,000 per tonne.
“There’s really been a significant cost reset,” he said.
Weak nickel prices led to the collapse of Australia’s nickel sector last year, including the closure of BHP’s (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) Nickel West division. Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) Murrin Murrin mine
“Our Chinese partner offers us a unique set of guarantees that you don’t get anywhere else.”
JUSTIN WERNER,
NICKEL
INDUSTRIES, MANAGING DIRECTOR
in Western Australia is the only remaining nickel operation in the country.
With cash costs of US$18,000 to US$22,000 per tonne, Werner says the nickel price will need to be much higher over a sustained period for Australian producers to re-enter the market.
Indonesian boom
Nine years ago, Indonesia produced just 5% of the world’s nickel, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. By 2023, it accounted for half of global output, with forecasts suggesting a 65% market share by the end of the decade.
The nickel market has been in surplus for several years and is expected to remain in surplus until later this decade.
“Where we have an advantage
over other producers is that by being fully integrated between our mine and our processing operations, we’re self-sufficient in ore so we’re not at risk of ore shortages or premiums being paid because of ore shortages,” he said.
Nickel Industries holds an 80% interest in the Hengjaya, Ranger, and Oracle rotary kiln electric furnace (RKEF) projects at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), the Angel RKEF project at the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park, and an 80% stake in the Hengjaya mine. It has 10% of the Huayue Nickel-Cobalt (HNC) HPAL project, and a 44% stake in the Excelsior Nickel-Cobalt (ENC) HPAL project, which is currently under construction.
“This is an exciting year because we have ENC commissioning, which allows us to produce nickel cathode, nickel and cobalt sulphate and mixed hydroxide precipitate,” he said. “The margins are very strong.”
The company’s 10% interest in the HNC HPAL project generated US$14.7 million in EBITDA for the quarter, setting a positive precedent for ENC, which is expected to come online in this year’s second half.
At Hengjaya, after reaching its quota of 9 million tonnes of ore ahead of the 2024 deadline, the company expects approval
DRIVING VALUE, BUILDING GROWTH
to more than double its quota to 19 million tonnes this year. The Hengjaya mine generated unaudited EBITDA of US$72 million in last year’s second half.
Next development
In September, Nickel Industries acquired three mining licences comprising the Sampala project for US$63.2 million, most of which is payable next year.
Sampala, located 37 km from the company’s RKEF and HPAL operations, has an exploration target of 350 million to 700 million tonnes at 0.9% to 1.1% nickel, in addition to its 187-million-tonne resource.
“A billion tonnes at 1% is close to 10 million tonnes of contained nickel metal, which is two times the global (annual) nickel market consumption, so it’s huge,” Werner said. “Applying our margins for 2024, which was about US$12 a tonne, if you apply that to a billion tonnes, you can start to see the value of the Sampala project.”
Nickel Industries has submitted a mine plan and feasibility study for government approval, with an environmental study to follow. Capital costs are estimated at US$50 million, and development of a haul road has begun.
“I’m pushing the team for first production by the end of this year,” Werner said. “Realistically, it might be early 2026.” TNM
Barrick consistently delivers sectorleading returns to its shareholders while the benefits it generates for all stakeholders drives economic development and social upliftment in its host countries. Its ability to sustain the profitability which enables this is secured by the world-class growth projects embedded in its asset portfolio. Organic growth alone is expected to increase its attributable gold and copper production by some 30% by the end of this decade, a likely peerless achievement.
World-class mines. World-class people.
politics&policy
What happens when the tax gets axed?
REGULATION | Fate of industrial carbon levies unclear
BY ANDREW SEALE
Canada’s major political parties have all tabled plans to chop the carbon tax but there’s been little discussion on reforming the emissions levies applied to industry, which has fomented uncertainty in the mining sector.
“Miners are investing in the development of new mines and the extension and maintenance of mines that could potentially stretch out decades,” says Andrew McHardy, partner and leader of KPMG’s National Decarbonization Hub. “They’re looking for certainty to understand what’s expected — what will the financial implications and operational implications be for those mines in the coming decades.”
Canada’s dual-pronged carbon pricing system generates revenue through a fuel charge applied to consumers and a pricing system for large industrial emitters.
According to the most recent Statistics Canada data, the federal government collected $24 billion for energy taxes in 2021, which included $6.1 billion from the carbon tax and $1.7 billion from industrial emission trading permits. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business projected
plan to address climate change or the current carbon pricing regime for larger emitters.
If it’s any indicator, Alberta Conservatives Jason Kenney and Danielle Smith both ran on an “Axe the Tax” platform yet bolstered the industrial carbon price in Alberta.
Redistribution
About 90% of the consumer tax funds are redistributed to individuals and families with the remaining tranche allocated to farmers, Indigenous groups and businesses to offset cleaner technology adoption costs.
Under the predominantly provincially administered large emitter carbon pricing structure, known as
the Output-Based Pricing System (OBPS), organizations like mining companies pay a carbon tax based on the difference between their allowable and reported emissions. The allowable threshold varies provincially from greater than 10,000 tonnes to 50,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
“To qualify for the large industrial facility side of that equation, you have to have emissions over a certain amount per year,” says Tom Darling, a partner and senior vice president at KPMG specializing in third-party verification of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions. He says that number varies on a provincial level from greater than 10,000 tons to 50,000 tons of CO2
equivalent per year.
According to figures from Environment and Climate Change Canada, as of July 2024, the OBPS program collected an estimated $32.3 million in Manitoba, $25.9 million in New Brunswick, $312.8 million in Ontario, and $540 million in Manitoba.
Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney’s strategy includes improving the OBPS by working with provincial and territorial governments to avoid credit oversupply and increase transparency between systems. His campaign has also announced plans to extend the OBPS framework from 2030 to 2035 to provide additional policy certainty.
Policy evolution
McHardy says both from a federal and provincial level across the political spectrum, there are conversations around the continued evolution of carbon policy.
“They’re looking at some of the economic pressures that we’re facing within the country and how to align carbon policy as part of actually preserving economic value and growth within this country.”
Despite some implementation pains, many industry stakeholders have shown support for the industrial emitters side of the carbon pricing scheme. The Mining Association of Canada has mostly been a proponent of the pricing schme since 2016, a stance helped by provisions set up to reduce the burden on energy-intensive trade-exposed industries.
Benjamin Cox, an expert on mining and exploration business economics at UBC’s Bradshaw Research Institute for Minerals and Mining (BRIMM), says aside from coal, the mining industry is a massive net beneficiary of carbon pricing schemes.
“It doesn’t just minorly win, it wins to a degree that you can’t humanly imagine,” Cox says.
He argues that if there’s effective carbon mitigation globally, the demand for copper — a key mineral in the energy transition — will skyrocket.
In a 2022 paper published in Nature, Cox and his co-authors financially modelled the effects of a global carbon tax on the mining industry. They found the relatively low costs of mining carbon taxation combined with an increased demand for the metals required to produce decarbonization technologies for companies looking to reduce their emissions and avoid taxation creates a positive environment for mining companies.
Cost-benefit
He argues that the cost of carbon taxation to the industry is overplayed when considering the benefits.
“The moment you pull steelmaking and aluminum refining out of the mining industry, we’re less than 1% of global carbon emissions,” says Cox. “The whole copper industry is less than 100 million tonnes of carbon per year globally…that’s a forest fire.”
In its current iteration, the OBPS is set up to drive industrial decarbonization without forcing companies to relocate. As KPMG’s McHardy pointed out, there’s a delicate balance between reducing emissions and supporting economic growth.
Over-taxation could feed uncertainty and force regional inequalities across Canada. It could also lead to ‘carbon leakage’ for the mining sector, where investments move to jurisdictions with lower carbon pricing and environmental standards.
McHardy says the conversation in the mining industry surrounding the carbon tax is forward-looking. They just need some clarity and forward-looking statements from the political frontrunners.
“[They’re trying] to understand the opportunity that reducing or managing their carbon emissions can play in achieving those growth and resilience objectives.”
Ottawa collected $24 billion for energy taxes in 2021. ADOBE STOCK/STRIKERNIA
politics&policy
Which projects may gain if Trump overhauls permitting?
REGULATION | But courts, staff shortage could stymie ambition
BY ANDREW SEALE
In early February, two weeks after
President Donald Trump’s inauguration and flurry of executive orders, Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM; NYSE: NAK) CEO Ron Thiessen sent an optimistic letter to shareholders.
“Executive orders like this [“Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential”] from President Trump give us and the rest of the mining industry comfort that this is an administration with which our industry can do business, for the benefit of all,” wrote Thiessen.
“We will look on with interest as they turn these words into actions, noting that for serious progress to be made, staffing of the various relevant agency departments must be completed, as those are the people who will be doing the actual work.”
Northern Dynasty’s project in southwestern Alaska has faced fierce resistance due to potential environmental and social impacts including threats to the local salmon fishery. It’s placed Pebble — which could become the largest copper, gold and molybdenum mine in North America — in permitting purgatory. While Trump’s
executive order doesn’t specifically name Pebble, Thiessen calls the order “a very good start.”
The CEO is part of a growing chorus of mining companies expressing optimism surrounding the new administration’s plans to overhaul the permitting process. According to a June 2024 report by S&P Global, the U.S. has the second-longest aver-
Resolution mine, which has been locked in a 12-year permitting battle, has the potential to supply more than a quarter of U.S. copper needs.
Stausholm told The Financial Times in January that the project now had good chances to progress.
According to S&P Global Commodity Insights data, there are more than 50 feasibility-stage or preproduction projects in 20 U.S. states that could see momentum gains, should mine permitting processes be sped up.
Anthony Milewski, founder of Black Vulcan Resources, a boutique advisory firm for the mining, energy and agriculture sectors, says there’s “excitement and optimism in a way that just wasn’t there under the Biden administration.”
Critical mineral
age development times in the world of the 23 countries they evaluated.
Copper-rich In December, Australia’s South32 (ASX: S32) was encouraged that permitting policy updates and approval of a controversial industrial road could unlock access to the Ambler Mining District. It’s a copper-rich region in northwest Alaska where the company has development rights.
A month later, U.K.-based Rio Tinto (ASX, LSE, NYSE: RIO) CEO Jakob Stausholm said the company was hopeful the new administration would grant the final permits to its Resolution copper project in Arizona. The company says the
But catalyzing that optimism into action is a different story. He points to the Critical Mineral Consistency Act passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in November which recognized copper as a critical mineral.
“For some of the large copper, gold and potentially nickel projects in Alaska, Trump is incredibly bull-
A drill rig at the Pebble project in southwestern Alaska. NORTHERN DYNASTY MINERALS
The Miner marks 110 years
IT WAS MARCH 27, 1915 when The Northern Miner first rolled off the press in Cobalt, Ont., then one of the largest silver-producing towns in the world. The paper was a weekly, launched as the unsuccessful Gallipoli campaign gathered pace in World War One, soon after German zeppelins had bombed England. It’s hard to imagine a lumbering blimp surviving a cross-channel foray, but air attacks were a new thing before the development of air defences. It might be even harder to imagine The Northern Miner lasting more than a century, especially as most print publications have died out to online editions or rivals.
Co-founders Ben Hughes and Ernest Hand respectively served as mining editor and printer on the early editions. Hughes joined the war and sold his share to journalist Richard Pearce. After Armistice, two other Pearce brothers, Norman and Jack, returned to help run the paper and bought out Hand in 1925.
Nearby, the Kirkland Lake area boomed with gold. The paper rode the successes to become world’s largest pure mining publication, expanding coverage across Canada and then the globe. The Pearce family remained a steady hand until 1989.
Over the decades, the Miner embraced colour, eased into a twice-a-month schedule and started its website. Now, the printed paper is a monthly. But The Northern Miner Group has an extended family that includes Mining.com and Canadian Mining Journal There are podcasts, videos and social media posts. It’s come a long way from the time of lead type and (Led) zeppelins. Many more years are planned. Below are dated excerpts of the Miner and some photos along the way.
July 25, 1925
Sept. 11, 1915
Johnson Creek and the Kow Kash River are full of canoes and gasoline launches and Howard Falls, the one big portage on the route, is aflame with bivouac fires of the adventurers after gold. In the bush claims are being staked with a frenzy, which is going to make a lot of trouble for mining recorders and the commissioner in the future.
On the Victoria ground, northeast of the Horne, an electrical prospecting device, popularly and facetiously called a “doodle bug,” is giving satisfactory results in the way of giving the boundaries of mineralized zones. This Elboff machine, operated by Electric Prospecting Corp. in New York, is working on the claim alongside the Horne.
May 10, 1945
The base metal mines are shorter of men than at any time in the war and the demand for base metals continues high and urgent on the part of their customers. The Japanese War remains to be finished and in government circles there is no disposition to believe that it will be a quick and easy job.
May 2, 1935
Eldorado Gold Mines Ltd. has sold to the Ontario government three and a half grams of radium for use in the provincial hospitals, it is announced. While the price quoted in the Toronto dailies was given as $170,000, The Northern Miner learns that the figure was somewhat lower than this.
At Inco’s Copper Cliff mine in Sudbury, Ont. in 1954. s
Flotation cell at United Keno Hill’s mill in Elsa, Yukon.
Zinc plant during WW1
The Northern Miner staff, late 1940s.
Sept. 22, 1955
Management and financing of Bethlehem Copper Corp. has been taken over by American Smelting and Refining Co. Bethlehem holds a 100-claim copper prospect in Highland Valley, about 26 miles southeast of Ashcroft, British Columbia.
Mining Person of the Year
Each year since 1977, The Northern Miner has chosen one person or a small group of people as our “Mining Man of the Year” — and then later “Mining Person of the Year” — in recognition of an outstanding accomplishment.
1977 Stephen Roman, Denison Mines
1978 John Gallagher, Dome Petroleum
1979 Norman Keevil Jr., Teck Corp.
1980 Donald Schmitt, Noranda
1981 Peter Allan, Little Long Lac Group
1982 Clifford Frame, Denison; Robert Hallbauer, Teck
1983 Henry Brehaut, Dome Group
1984 John Zigarlick, Echo Bay Mines
1985 Paul Penna, Agnico-Eagle Mines
1986 Patrick MacCulloch, Selco BP Canada
1987 Clifford Frame, Curragh Resources
1988 John Hansuld, Canamax Resources
1989 James Gill, Aur Resources
1990 Chet Idziszek and Murray Pezim, Prime Resources
1991 Margaret (Peggy) Witte, Royal Oak Mines
1992 Charles (Chuck) Fipke, Dia Met Minerals
1993 Peter Munk and Robert Smith, Barrick Gold
1994 Louis Gignac, Cambior
1995 Albert Chislett and Christopher Verbiski, Diamond Fields Resources
1996 David Walsh and John Felderhof, Bre-X Minerals
2015
Norman Keevil Jr., Teck Resources 2017
Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe Mines
2018
Peter Munl, Barrick Gold
2024
Ross Beaty, Equinox Gold
Aug. 6, 1964
The Canadian mining world was rocked by the announcement late last week that no commercial assays had been encountered in the first hole drilled by Windfall Oils & Mines. The statement by George A. Mac-Millan, president, was marked for release at 6:30 p.m., July 30. (See briefs p.3)
s Texas
1997 Pierre Lassonde, Seymour Schulich, Franco-Nevada Mining and Euro-Nevada Mining
1998 Hugo T. Dummett, BHP
1999 Catherine McLeod-Seltzer and David Lowell, Arequipa Resources
2000 Keith Minty, North American Palladium
2001 Gren Thomas, Aber Diamond
2002 Robert McEwen, Goldcorp
2003 (Hiatus)
2004 (Hiatus)
2005 André Gaumond, Virginia Mines
2006 Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe Mines
2007 Sean Boyd and Eberhard (Ebe) Scherkus, Agnico-Eagle Mines
2008 Patrick Anderson, Keith Barron and Stephen Leary, Aurelian Resources
2009 Sean Roosen, John Burzynski and Robert Wares, Osisko Mining
2010 Shawn Ryan and Cathy Wood, Ryanwood Exploration
2011 Ross Beaty, Pan American Silver and Others
2012 David Garofalo, Hudbay Minerals
2013 Ross McElroy and Dev Randhawa, Fission Uranium
2014 David Palmer, Probe Mines
2015 Lukas Lundin, Lundin Group of Companies
2016 Matt Manson, Stornoway Diamond
2017 Sean Boyd, Agnico Eagle
2018 Nick Mather, SolGold
2019 Tony Makuch, Kirkland Lake Gold
2020 Sebastien de Montessus, Endeavour Mining
2021 Chris Taylor, Great Bear Resources
2022 Ana Cabral, Sigma Lithium
2023 Tim Gitzel, Cameco
2024 Jack and Adam Lundin, Lundin Mining
DASA
URANIUM PROJECT
Greenfield
Near-term
Gulf Sulphur’s Kidd Creek discovery in 1965.
s Norman Keevil
The Northern Miner staff in 1999
s
At Gaspé Copper Mines in Murdochville, Que.. s
Flow-through shares surge despite capital gains
STOCK MARKETS | Incentive remains unparalleled
BY ANDREW SEALE
Concerns surrounding the capital gains tax increase haven’t stopped Toronto markets from issuing the highest number of flow-through shares (FTS) in five years, according to new data..
There were 2.9 billion FTS issued last year, generating over $1 billion for the mining sector and accounting for 10% of mining equity financings, says TMX, owner of the TSX and TSXV.
It’s become a critical tool for the exploration funding system, according to Kendra Johnston, managing director of PearTree Securities, a boutique financing firm focused on the junior Canadian resource sector.
“[FTS are] focused on incentivizing the exploration and development phase of the mining sector which is the high-risk, high-reward phase,” Johnston said in an interview. “You need high-risk capital.”
FTS allow mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy corporations to issue common shares with a federal Canadian Exploration Expense (CEE) tax deduction attached, incentivizing investors to claim the deduction or pass the shares on to a charity for an added tax deduction.
Based on data from the TSX, S&P Global, the Prospectors & Devel-
opers Association of Canada, and PearTree’s books, Johnston says FTS raise about 84% of all money for exploration across Canada. Charity flow-throughs gather 72%, and traditional flow-through 12%.
Concerns
Despite the increased appetite for FTS this year, investors have some concerns, says Peter Nicholson, president and founder of Ottawa-based WCPD., a financial services firm focused on structured FTS. The capital gains inclusion rate is set to increase next January and the Federal Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) is slated to expire this month.
“Flow-through shares have a zero adjusted cost base (ACB), meaning that when you sell them, even at a loss, it triggers a capital gain,” Nicholson explains.
“Under the new tax rule, however, the capital gain jumps to 66% on dollar one, effectively killing this transaction,” he said.
On the individual side, large buyers purchasing $1 million or more in FTS face steeper losses. He estimates that the capital gains increase could kill around 40% of all junior mining FTS financing.
The FTS system has other drawbacks. There’s an inherent risk in investing in junior miners and
explorers that typically have no revenue and rely on fundraising for operations.
“Junior mineral exploration companies are often more volatile than blue chip companies but larger mining companies could also issue flowthrough shares,” says Geoff Clarke, partner and lead of the mining law practice at Miller Thomson LLP.
He points out that while FTS are susceptible to swings in commodity prices or regulatory changes, there’s no additional volatility by being FTS. However, they can be subject to hold periods or thinly traded, making them hard to sell at a favourable price. Liquidity comes down to the issuer and the specific exploration project, he said.
“Because of the tax advantage attractiveness, in volatile or bear market times for the mineral sector those are sometimes the only funds that could be raised,” Clarke said.
Challenges aside, both Miller and PearTree’s Johnston agree Canada’s FTS is the highest-rated incentive for investing in the industry. Here’s how other mining jurisdictions stack up.
Australia
Australia introduced the Exploration Development Incentive (EDI) in 2014, replacing it with the Junior Minerals Exploration Incentive
(JMEI). The program allows eligible juniors with no taxable income to pass tax credits from exploration expenditures to Australian resident investors.
“It’s not as broad as Canada, where flow through shares can also cover oil and gas,” Clarke said.
Under the JMEI, the incentive for investors is delivered via a non-refundable tax credit rather than a deduction of their income.
“It’s a little bit more comparable to provincial-run programs in Canada,” Johnston said, likening it to an exploration grant. “You submit a project proposal and budget, and then they give you a portion of the budget to go out and execute that plan.”
United States
In the U.S., the Percentage Depletion Allowance focuses on producers.
“It includes oil and gas, and says, if you are in this sector, we’re going to let you have a faster depreciation and capital cost allowance,” Clarke said. “It’s letting them save money on tax by accelerating their expenses during the depletion phase.”
To be eligible, you need income from mineral extraction. Companies can claim an ongoing tax deduction of their gross income from extraction, the lawyer said.
The allowance is capped at half of net taxable income from the property and deduction rates are 15% for gold, silver and copper and 5% to 22% for other minerals.
Clarke points out that, unlike FTS, the allowance doesn’t address the risks, money and time spent to take a project from discovery to production.
“But it does [acknowledge] the resource sector is special and should get some incentive.”
United Kingdom
The UK’s primary vessels for incentivizing investment in exploration are Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs). With EIS, shareholders can claim 30% tax relief on investments up to £1 million ($1.8 million) per year.
“[The EIS] does target early-stage enterprises, but it’s very different from Canada,” Clarke said. “They can’t be on a recognized stock exchange.”
VCTs are similar to public investment trusts. They invest in small, high-growth and high-risk companies in the U.K.
“You could potentially have an exploration fund that would put all of these small-cap companies
Financing P30 >
Destiny brought Sydney into my life in May 2010 as a newborn puppy near the mining town of Cuale, Jalisco, Mexico.
She was the sole survivor of her litter, the others lost to predation.
This odd little puppy grew into a fearless protector, many dogs, bears, and even a few trespassers felt her bite.
Over the next fourteen years, we traveled more than half a million miles by truck, plane, helicopter, and snowmobile.
Sydney was as comfortable in a remote trapper’s cabin in northern Saskatchewan as she was on Granville Island.
Fiercely loyal, she defended those she loved and had no tolerance for bad behavior.
By six, metal implants supported her back legs; by ten, most of her cartilage was gone.
Pain was her constant companion, yet she never complained, always eager for adventure.
Later, the best vets in the world tried to restore her eyesight.
On Christmas Eve, she suffered a stroke; by morning, she had lost motor function. On Boxing Day, she was sedated and laid to rest.
Sydney left us two perfect replicas, her legend lives on in her offspring and the countless memories she gave us.
Goodbye, my poor little blind girl, sweet princess, may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
> Private Equity from P1
Whereas mutual fund managers would routinely finance miners through private placements, “nowadays there’s only about a quarter of the institutional investors available for mining companies whose door you can knock on if you’re doing a private placement,” he said. “ETFs don’t participate in private placements. That leaves a smaller pool of capital to chase for companies.”
PE’s helping hand
Private equity’s interest is timely, said mining veteran Robert Quartermain.
“PE is good for the market in that it provides us another financing mechanism, particularly for development,” Quartermain, Dakota Gold’s (NYSE-A: DC) co-chair and CEO, said from Vancouver.
Quartermain’s involvement with private equity goes back to the time he was running Pretium Resources and trying to develop British Columbia’s Brucejack mine. In 2015, Pretium raised US$540 million from Orion Mine Finance and Blackstone via a financing package that included a loan and a streaming agreement.
In 2023, after moving to Dakota Gold, Quartermain again turned to Orion for a US$17 million investment, a royalty agreement and a commitment for future financing.
“Private equity has been able to come in and participate in the landscape where conventional financing that we would have used a decade ago is not available to all projects,” he said. “They curate their financing to the projects and have components that often conventional lenders wouldn’t have. Private equity groups will continue to grow.”
Mining and private equity are well suited to each other, Scherb argues. Firms often lock up their investors’ capital for at least 10 years, giving company executives the freedom to make long-term decisions.
“Contrast that with hedge funds, retail or public institutions, which don’t provide CEOs with the bandwidth to create value through a cycle,” Scherb said. “If a mining
company takes our money, they know that we’re going to be patient working through things.”
Regulatory headwinds
Access to financing isn’t the only issue facing miners. Regulatory hurdles also symie production. It now takes 17.9 years on average to build a copper mine, up from 12.7 years a decade ago, according to data compiled by Appian.
Even so, there’s rarely been a better time for patient investors to finance quality mining projects, Valdes said.
“Public valuations are still not reflecting that upside scenario that
we’re all seeing three, five or seven years down the road,” he said. “Prices don’t reflect the fundamental value, and this dislocation creates opportunities for taking some of these companies private. This is something that we’re looking at very actively.”
The critical metal crown
As he looks towards the next decade, Valdes says he’s particularly excited about copper’s prospects and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.
“There are certain commodities that are for sure going to play a fundamental role in the energy tran-
sition, and copper is one,” he said. “Lithium is another. Battery technologies are changing but it’s fair to say that LFP, which requires a lot of lithium, is going to be one of the surviving technologies.”
Based in Denver, RCF oversees about US$2.2 billion. The funds it manages hold stakes in companies such as Canada’s Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) and Norzinc, Chile’s Pucobre and Liberty Gold (TSX: LGD).
Appian’s Scherb shares Valdes’s optimism about copper. He also expects sustained demand for silver, gold and critical minerals.
Base metals such as copper, nickel and zinc represent around 60% of Appian’s portfolio, he said.
“Silver is great. It provides inflation protection that gold does. At the same time, it goes into solar panels,” he said. “We like copper for the same reasons that every investor is going after. We also like critical minerals.”
Acquiring mining assets means investors must also factor geopolitics into their decision-making – a trend that Scherb says “didn’t exist even five years ago.”
Geopolitics “is just a massive trend in the mining industry,” said Valdes.
“Every conversation we have with governments leads on the topic of geopolitics in terms of the best way to invest in critical minerals,” Scherb added. “China, the E.U. and the U.S. will go after certain critical minerals. Our job is simply to figure out what those are and develop those wherever we can find them around the world.” TNM
> Legacy from P16 at 48 grams gold and 2,589 grams silver from 16 metres depth; 143 metres at 1.1 grams gold, 3 grams silver and 0.9% lead and zinc from surface; 16 metres at 5.8% copper from 58 metres; and 10.1 metres at 7.26% copper from 88 metres.
Remarkably, the high-grade copper hits have never been followed up.
“One of the beautiful things that we’ve been able to get from the previous work is just a huge amount of data,” Wall said. “It’s taken us a long time, often to the frustration of people that follow the company of how long it’s taken us to get through it, but it requires that, because otherwise we’ll be putting out stuff that’s half-baked.”
Roughly 95% of the previous drilling on the project is less than 100 metres depth, with an average depth of just 49 metres.
“One of the big opportunities that we can deploy here is blowing those resources out at depth in areas where there’s known mineralization,” Wall said.
Legacy says Drake could host a system similar to Barrick Gold’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea, which has an endowment of around 19.7 million gold-equivalent oz., and K92 Mining’s (TSX: K92) Kainantu gold-copper operation further east in the same country.
Legacy is undertaking an airborne magneto telluric survey over Drake, the same survey that led to the multimillion-ounce Kora and Judd discoveries at Kainantu.
Production path
A previous Drake owner completed a prefeasibility study (PFS) in 2015 using just 23% of the historical resource. Based on a gold price of A$3,000 per oz., the study generated a net present value of A$185 million and internal rate of return of 153%.
Legacy has updated the PFS which Byrne said would still be conservative, using a gold price of around A$3,500 per oz. compared with the current price of more than A$4,600 per ounce. He estimates the capital costs would have risen by roughly 35% and believes all-in sustaining costs of A$1,700 per oz. are possible due to the low strip ratio.
“We’re also conscious that with the exploration upside here, we’re looking for a bigger system outside a relatively small operation in the scheme of things, and that’s why we first came to Drake.
“We pretty much inherited a development project, if we’d like to go down that pathway, but we certainly still have got that big picture in mind.” TNM
A view of Osisko Metals’ Gaspé Copper project. REFINED SUBSTANCE
Workers at the Appian-backed Graphcoa graphite mine in Brazil. GRAPHCOA
Discovery Silver diversifies with Porcupine acquisition
ONTARIO | Newmont’s non-core asset sales taper off
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT) agreed to sell its Porcupine property in Ontario to Discovery Silver (TSX: DSV) for up to $425 million (C$608 million) in a deal that’s poised to elevate the Toronto-based junior to the ranks of the diversified metals producers.
The transaction is expected to close in this year’s first half, subject to certain conditions, Discovery and Newmont said Jan. 27. Proceeds will include $200 million in cash, due at closing; $75 million worth of Discovery shares, to be issued upon closing; and a deferred cash consideration of $150 million.
The sale “represents a significant milestone for Newmont,” CEO Tom Palmer said. “We have full confidence that Discovery’s leadership team will continue to operate Porcupine responsibly, leveraging their extensive experience and history in the area.”
News of the deal comes almost a year after Newmont unveiled plans to divest non-core assets, including six operations and two projects from its Australian, Ghanaian and North American business units.
In November, it agreed to sell its Musselwhite gold mine in Ontario to Orla Mining (TSX: OLA) for $850 million and its Éléonore property in Quebec to London-based private miner Dhilmar for $795 million in cash.
Total proceeds from the transactions announced so far should hit $4.3 billion, including $3.8 billion from non-core divestitures and $527 million from the sale of other investments, Newmont said. The Denver-based miner plans to use the money to cut debt and return capital to shareholders, Palmer said.
New golden opportunity
The transaction marks Discovery’s initial foray into gold production — a significant evolution for a company until now focused on silver production — and allows it to add both Newmont and FrancoNevada (TSE: FNV) as key shareholders. Discovery’s flagship asset is its Cordero project in Mexico, one of the world’s largest undeveloped silver deposits.
To pay for the acquisition, Discovery has lined up a $555-million package that includes a $400 million royalty and debt agreement with Franco-Nevada and C$225 million from a bought deal public offering of subscription receipts. BMO Capital Markets will be the sole bookrunner, while SCP Resource Finance acts as co-lead underwriter on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters.
Porcupine, located in Timmins, is one of the world’s most prolific gold camps. The property has a total historical production of about 70 million oz., a large base of mineral resources remaining and “substantial” exploration upside, the company said.
The Borden underground mining operation near Chapleau, Ont., is also part of Porcupine.
Tony Makuch said. “We are combining growing gold production at Porcupine with tremendous upside, in one of the world’s great gold camps, with our Cordero project, one of the industry’s leading silver development projects based on reserves and expected production.”
Porcupine’s gold loads
Gold production at Porcupine comes mostly from Borden, which began commercial production in 2019, and Hoyle Pond, a highgrade underground mine that started operating in 1987.
Discovery said it’s identified “numerous opportunities” to boost production, cut costs and extend mine life at the Hoyle Pond, Borden and Pamour mines. It will also assess the potential for resuming production at the Dome mine, which stopped in 2017 after more than a century.
Annual output at Porcupine
should average 285,000 oz. over the next 10 years, Discovery said. The company estimates the mine life at 22 years with potential for more. Discovery expects Porcupine to produce at least 4.9 million ounces.
Assuming a long-term gold price of US$2,150 per oz., Porcupine has a base-case net present value (NPV) of $1.2 billion and an after-tax free cash flow of US$1.3 billion over the first 10 years, Discovery said. With a long-term gold price of $2,650 per oz., the NPV rises to $2.3 billion.
Keeping it local Acquiring Porcupine marks a homecoming of sorts for Discovery’s executive team.
Makuch, a Timmins native, has worked extensively in the area, including a stint as general manager at Hoyle Pond and other sites. He also served as CEO of Lake Porcupine P30 >
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX; NYSE-A: EQX) agreed to buy Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB) for about $2.56 billion in stock to become Canada’s second-largest gold producer.
Calibre shareholders will receive 0.31 Equinox common share for each Calibre common share held immediately before the transaction, according to a joint statement issued Feb. 23. At closing, existing Equinox shareholders would own about 65% of the combined company’s outstanding shares, compared with 35% for their Calibre counterparts.
The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, sets the stage for the creation of a Canadian mining powerhouse with two lowcost assets under the same roof — Equinox’s Greenstone property in Ontario, which achieved commercial production in November and is one of the country’s largest open-
pit mines; and Calibre’s Valentine mine, which is nearing construction completion. First gold pour at Valentine is currently targeted for mid-2025.
“The impact of the two mines coming together, creating this
“The acquisition of the Porcupine complex is an important step forward as we work to build a highly profitable precious metals producer,” Discovery CEO
Haul trucks at Newmont’s Porcupine property. NEWMONT
Equinox P66 >
Above: Equinox Gold board chair Ross Beaty speaks at Equinox Gold’s Greenstone mine in Ontario last August. BLAIR MCBRIDE
Top: Calibre’s Limon gold mine in western Nicaragua. CALIBRE MINING
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
AAnglo sells assets, to demerge Amplats
nglo American (LSE: AAL)
has set a June deadline to demerge its platinum business and has agreed to sell its nickel unit for $500 million (C$710 million) as the company’s effort to focus on its copper assets gathers pace.
Anglo plans to sell its Brazilbased nickel business to Chinabacked MMG Limited subsidiary MMG Singapore Resources, the company reported on Feb. 18.
The payment is to comprise $350 million upfront at the deal’s close, up to $100 million in price-linked earnout and a conditional $50 million tied to the final investment decision for development projects.
“The sale of our nickel business after a highly competitive process marks a further important milestone towards simplifying our portfolio to create a more highly valued copper, premium iron ore, and crop nutrients business,” Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad said in a release.
“MMG is well-respected as a safe and responsible operator and we believe our agreement represents a strong outcome not only for our shareholders, but also for our employees and Brazilian stakeholders.”
Shares in Anglo American fell 1% before press time in London to £24.47 ($30.87) apiece, valuing the company at £33 billion. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of £16.57 to £28.13.
BHP bid fallout
Anglo is cutting non-core assets after BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) pulled out of a potential $49.2-billion merger last year citing Anglo’s complicated ownership structure for assets outside of copper. Large mining companies are positioning themselves for the energy transition, like how Rio Tinto (NYSE,
LSE, RIO, ASX: RIO) is buying Arcadium Lithium and Barrick Gold is developing the Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan.
Anglo has set a timeline of three months or so to demerge Anglo American Platinum (JSE: AMS), after it first announced a plan to break up its businesses last May. Its diamond business De Beers is also to be demerged, another offshoot of BHP’s failed bid. Anglo said in
ANTIMONY PROJECT LEASE SALE IN IDAHO
or for
Respond to: jimmycrackcore@yahoo.com
COPPER PAST PRODUCER FOR SALE
Weedon Mine, located in Southern Quebec’s Appalachian.
Past production: 1.6Mt @ 2.33%Cu, 0.85%Zn, 0.56g/t/Au.
Includes Lingwick showing, located 5km from Weedon mine, with historical resources of 350 000t @ 0.61%Cu, 5.84%Zn, 0.35g/t/Au.
Both Weedon and Lingwick are VMS style mineralisation.
February it was nearing a decision on when the De Beers spinoff would happen, without specifying a date.
The nickel business sale, along with the sale of Anglo’s steelmaking coal operations in Australia in November, is anticipated to produce up to $5.3 billion in total cash proceeds, Wanblad said.
The Brazilian nickel assets include the Barro Alto mine, Niquelândia mine and the Barro Alto and Codemin ferronickel processing plants, which produced 39,400 tonnes of nickel in 2024. There are also the greenfield projects Jacaré, that hosts a 300-million-tonne resource, and Morro Sem Boné with total potential mineralization of 65 million tonnes.
Dividends
Anglo’s final dividend for 2024, as well as an additional cash dividend for a total of R16.5 billion ($895 million), is to be paid to all Amplats shareholders before the demerger. As a 67% shareholder in Amplats, Anglo expects to receive about $600 million from the dividends. Anglo plans to keep a 19.9% share-
holding in Amplats to help manage flowback — when new shareholders after a move like demerging sell their stock — by reducing the size of the shareholding to be demerged, Wanblad said.
The company intends to eventually leave its Amplats holding, he added. Anglo is to seek shareholder approval for the Amplats demerger at its next annual general meeting on April 30.
Also in February, Anglo said it had completed the sale of its Peace River coal operations in British Columbia in an all-share deal to Conuma Resources. Anglo declined to disclose the price when contacted by email. The operation has been on care and maintenance since 2014. Conuma is a steelmaking coal producer based in B.C. TNM
Skeena buys 13% of TDG beside Freeport
Skeena Resources (TSX: SKE; NYSE: SKE) is paying $11 million for a 13% stake in TDG Gold (TSXV: TDG), which plans to advance the Shasta-Newberry project beside the recent porphyry discovery by Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) and Amarc Resources (TSXV: AHR) in northern British Columbia. Vancouver-based Skeena is buying TDG shares for $7 mil-
lion in a private placement and selling TDG the Sofia property in the same district for $4 million in shares, the companies said Jan. 30. Shares of TDG Gold closed 25% higher at 57¢ apiece for a market capitalization of $82.9 million. Its 52-week high was 59¢, while its lowest was 8.5¢.
“By providing early-stage funding to TDG, we aim to support TDG’s exploration efforts to validate the Greater Shasta project,” Skeena’s executive chairman, Walter Coles, said in a statement. “The exciting high-grade FreeportAmarc AuRORA discovery is less than 200 metres from the border of TDG’s claims.”
Geochemical and geophysical data indicate the potential for the mineralized trend to continue over onto TDG’s claims, Cole added.
Toodoggone
TDG holds mineral claims covering about 320 sq. km of the historical Toodoggone production corridor. That includes the past-producing gold-silver Shasta and Baker mines, which produced intermittently from 1981 to 2012, and the historical high-grade gold Mets developed prospect. ShastaNewberry is beside Shasta mine and 6 km southeast of Baker mine.
“The recent announcement of the AuRORA discovery on our boundary represents a paradigm shift for the whole Toodoggone district,” TDG CEO Fletcher Morgan said in the same release. “Completion of the private placement, including the support of Skeena, advances our plans for a rapid, focused program to explore the potential extensions from AuRORA onto our 100% owned Greater Shasta-Newberry project.”
With five drill-ready exploration targets, the company says Greater Shasta-Newberry, as a newly defined project, holds the greatest potential for the discovery of gold-silver deposits around the Shasta deposit. That deposit holds an estimated 11.8 million Skeena
Anglo American’s Barro Alto nickel mine in Goiás state, Brazil. ANGLO AMERICAN
The Barro Alto mine. ANGLO AMERICAN
projectupdates
Aquitaine to drill in France’s historical Limousin gold district
EUROPE
| French find could be 10 times larger than Red Lake discovery
BY HENRY LAZENBY
Aquitaine Metals head Chris Taylor says his newest project in southwestern France could surpass one of the biggest recent discoveries of his storied career for scale and richness.
Privately owned Aquitaine was due to start drilling its Limousin Mining District project near this paper’s press time, said Taylor, who took over as CEO on Jan. 21. Located 150 km southwest of Bordeaux, the project offers what Taylor calls the best tier one gold opportunity since Great Bear Resources’ Red Lake discovery at Ontario’s Dixie project in Aug. 2018.
Taylor gained industry recognition for leading Great Bear to a $1.8-billion pre-resource acquisition by Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) in 2022. He said his latest project shows his preference for large, high-grade systems that have district-scale discovery potential.
“At Great Bear, we uncovered a 6-million-oz. resource where no one expected it,” he told The Northern Miner in January by phone. “Here, we’re working with a district that could be several times larger, supported by exceptional data, political will and infrastructure.”
High grade
The initial 8,800-metre drill program will test high-grade zones and extensions at the Laurieras and Moulin de Cheni mines, Taylor said. The project spans 330 sq. km of exclusivity, featuring over 200 km of gold-bearing structures and 23 past-producing mines. Of that, 40 sq. km are approved for drilling, Taylor said during a corporate presentation in Toronto on Jan. 28.
“This district has 200 km of gold-bearing faults compared to Red Lake’s 20 km, with similar high-grade panels within a lower-grade halo,” Taylor said, citing geotechnical work. “The potential here is enormous and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface.”
Rich past
Historical mining and exploration data, worth $430 million, include 222,000 metres of drilling, 66,000 drill core assays and geophysical surveys.
Taylor said some of the data Aquitaine bought was from state company COGEMA (Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires), a subsidiary of uranium producer Orano. As such, it had to be declassified by French President Emmanuel Macron through a presidential order.
“Anything to do with nuclear in France is classified,” he said.
COGEMA operated in the area from 1988 to 2002, producing 1 million oz. gold at an average grade of 12.5 grams gold per tonne underground and 7-8 grams gold in open pits. Before that, smaller-scale operations in the 1920s and 1940s produced about 300,000 oz. at an average of 20 grams gold.
The district has over 900 ancient Gallic mining sites from 500 BCE. Gold grades there reportedly ranged from 20 to 80 grams per tonne. This suggests a rich, extensive mineralized system.
Accessing French government
LiDAR survey data, Taylor said his team identified numerous areas where the Gauls had dug up pits for mining.
“We started tracing out on these maps all the areas where (there were) these high-grade Gallic mines,” he said. “(They) line up along the geologic structures that were mined historically.”
Red Lake’s Great Bear
The Red Lake gold camp has produced over 30 million oz. of gold since its 1925 discovery. It is one of Canada’s most prolific gold mining districts.
Red Lake gave rise to Goldcorp, now the world’s largest gold producer, Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE, ASX, PNGX: NEM). The
camp still attracts exploration and development dollars.
Kinross has since drilled more than 420 km on an expanded 120-sq.-km Great Bear land package. An updated resource based on drilling to April last year in three zones (LP, Hinge and Limb) estimated Great Bear to hold 30.3 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 2.81 grams gold for 2.7 million oz. gold and another 25.5 million inferred tonnes at 4.74 grams gold for 3.9 million gold ounces.
Taylor believes the deposit will ultimately yield north of 10 million ounces.
Critical mineral upside
Besides gold, the Limousin project also offers antimony — a criti-
cal mineral that’s used in military applications, fire retardants and high-tech optics. It accompanies the gold as an accessory mineral in stibnite form.
“The antimony potential alone could elevate this project to critical mineral status in France and attract EU funding,” Taylor said. He noted the EU’s drive to secure domestic supplies of strategic minerals as a key advantage, especially with China controlling most of the global antimony market.
Historical data shows that antimony and polymetallic massive sulphides, like copper, zinc, lead and silver, are found in and near gold zones. This creates potential extra revenue streams for the project.
Ready to drill
Aquitaine’s French subsidiary, Compagnie des Mines Arédiennes (CMA), secured drill permits in just three months - much faster than in most jurisdictions. This efficiency reflects France’s commitment to reviving domestic mining, Taylor suggested.
“France is moving decisively to rebuild its mining industry, recognizing the economic and strategic importance of these resources,” Taylor said. He praised the local expertise of CMA’s team, led by Yves Guise, who has decades of mining experience in the region.
The drill program’s first stage will verify high-grade historical datasets. It will also explore underground extensions of known mineralization. The Laurieras and Moulin de Cheni mines, the primary targets, have yielded ore grades of 10 to 15 grams gold at depths of up to 400 metres. More targets include undrilled areas identified through historical surface work and geophysics.
The first stage is expected to cost between $6 million and $7 million, Taylor said in Toronto. The company has raised about $7 million for exploration so far, with Taylor himself putting in about $1.5 million. Two rigs are currently at the site.
Taylor sees this as only the beginning. “With the scale of this district and the amount of untouched ground, the discovery potential is immense.”
CEO Chris Taylor. BLAIR MCBRIDE Members of CMA and the Aquitaine Metals team in La Chalard, France. CMA
Aquitaine P29 >
projectupdates
Global Atomic gains on Niger project reassurance
NIGER | CEO optimistic on funding
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Global Atomic (TSX: GLO; US-OTC: GLATF) shares jumped in mid-February after the company repeated that its main uranium project, Dasa in Niger, is advancing on schedule and has strong government support.
In a corporate update, the Toronto-based miner said it had “many successful meetings” at the African Mining Indaba Conference in Cape Town in February to help fund the $308.3-million (C$441million) capital cost project.
However, it did note that since Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency, the market has been casting doubt on the company’s plan to land $295 million in debt to help fund the project.
CEO Stephen Roman told The Northern Miner in January he was optimistic about funding, start-
ing production in early 2026 and about off-take agreements that so far include 8.8 million lb. of yellowcake over the first seven years of production with 90% going to U.S. utilities.
“African projects, I don’t think, will be affected by tariffs that would be imposed here in North America, and I know the utilities have been lobbying on our behalf to have uranium from Niger come into the U.S. market because they need it,” Roman said in a phone interview. “We’re in full construction mode. We want to get that up and running.”
Shares of Global Atomic closed 25% higher in Toronto at 60¢ apiece on Feb. 12 before sliding to 51¢ near press time as wider markets fell. The company has a market capitalization of $134.3 million.
Global Atomic P30 >
Giustra among backers investing $57M in explorer
BOTSWANA | Battery metal project to update resource
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
Several investors led by mining entrepreneur Frank Giustra and his Fiore Group are putting $36 million into Botswana-focused Premium Resources (TSXV: PREM; US-OTC: PRMLF) while another is retiring the nickel-copper-cobalt explorer’s debt.
The non-brokered private placement of up to 120 million units at 30¢ apiece is to accompany the Fiore Group becoming a strategic adviser to Premium, which is developing the Selebi and Selkirk properties in eastern Botswana, the company said Feb. 18.
Premium’s largest shareholder, Toronto-based wealth management firm EdgePoint Investment Group, has also agreed through its affiliate Cymbria to settle the company’s $20.8-million term loan debt for 69.6 million shares at 30¢ each.
“It’s an incredible deposit that is still open to get a lot bigger with very little expenditure on a fully permitted site for everything (and) it’s a past producer of copper and nickel,” Giustra told The Northern Miner by phone. “This is potentially a world-class deposit, it just needs to be approached in a different manner [from previous managers].”
Shares in Premium Resources closed 12% lower at 34¢ apiece near press time in Toronto, for a market capitalization of $63.1 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 33¢ to $1.53.
“I suspect that some people are trying to sell the stock to buy the units,” said Giustra, who was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame this year. “The market isn’t aware of how big this financ-
ing will be and I suspect we’ll be upsizing it.”
Tier-one advantages
Giustra, a co-founder of the companies that became Endeavour Mining (TSX, LSE: EDV) and Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX, NYSE, LSE: WPM), stressed the sites’ governance and infrastructure benefits, including access to cheap power and a nearby rail line.
“(Botswana’s) mining laws are modeled after Canadian mining laws,” he said. “A lot of in-country mining engineers were trained in Canada.”
While the area doesn’t have close access to refineries, Giustra said Premium plans to conduct studies over the next nine to 12 months on whether the company should build its own refinery or hydrometallurgy plant.
The tailwinds for Premium follow its release three weeks ago of strong drill results at the past-producing
Proven management team with operational & developmental success
Producing positive cash flow
One producing asset, two assets preparing for production restarts
Well positioned to become a multi-asset producer in Africa
Selebi North underground mine, where 13.9 million tonnes grading 0.74% nickel and 0.66% copper were mined from 1990 to 2016.
Resource
And six months ago, the company released an initial resource for Selebi North that outlined 3 million indicated tonnes grading 0.9% copper and 0.98% nickel for 27,000 tonnes contained copper and 29,000 tonnes nickel. Inferred resources measure 5.83 million tonnes grading 0.90% copper and 1.07% nickel for 52,000 tonnes contained copper and 62,000 tonnes nickel.
Selebi North is part of Premium’s Selebi mines project, which also consists of the Selebi Main deposit. The Selebi Main mine started production in 1980, and like Selebi North was suspended in 2016 due to a failure in the processing facility. Selebi North is about 410 km north of the nation’s capital, Gaborone. Selebi Main hosts 18.9 million inferred tonnes grading 1.69% copper and 0.88% nickel for 319,000 tonnes contained copper and 165,00 tonnes of nickel.
Premium plans to update the resource estimate for both deposits around June or July, incoming CEO Morgan Lekstrom told The Northern Miner in an interview. The explorer also intends to complete upgrades to the Selebi North and Main shafts, start constructing a new mill in the second half of next year and begin production in 2027-2028.
Geo-strategic project
After the financing closes, Lekstrom is to become CEO for Premium’s next stage of growth, taking over from interim CEO Paul Martin, who is to take the board chair role.
“With a proven track record in exploration and resource definition, we are proceeding through a careful and phased strategy to develop the Selebi and Selkirk assets, aiming to establish a strategically located and sustainable global supply of critical metals,” Lekstrom said.
Mathew August, with a background in defence, is joining Premium as strategic adviser on U.S. capital markets and Department of Defense (DoD) relations. August brings “deep rooted” connections from the DoD, Lekstrom said.
“The strategic nature of Botswana and its commodities of copper, nickel and cobalt (makes) it an ideal candidate for U.S. investment,” he said. “This would be getting a DoD foothold into Africa, where the Chinese have been very predominant in controlling the critical metal supply chain.”
Workers underground at the Selebi North project. PREMIUM RESOURCES
A boring machine underground at the Dasa project. GLOBAL ATOMIC
> Industry Demands from P12
up to 10 additional jobs and supports four to five family members.
What miners want
South Africa’s miners want rules that bring in local and foreign investment in prospecting, as well as suitable rules for exploration companies, said Mthenjane. The goal is to encourage early-stage investment with laws that support business.
Miners expect a quick rollout of a modern, clear mining cadastre, which would help clear the backlog of unprocessed prospecting and mining right applications while speeding up new applications without legal challenges. Miners also want government departments to work together.
What’s more, South Africa’s mining companies are seeking a one-stop shop for approvals of exploration and mining projects. They are proposing a new Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources process to remove major investment barriers. Beyond minerals Government and industry efforts are now targeting these issues
> Trump from P19
ish and people do think that he’s going to make a difference in permitting,” says Milewski. “You are going to see Trump move swiftly... it’s easier for him to wave his hand.”
He notes the federal government owns about 60% of the land in Alaska and points to Wyoming as another potential beneficiary. The state could see the permitting process sped up, positioning it as a significant uranium producer. But there are other jurisdictions where fast-tracking permitting might not be realistic, he said.
“In southern Oregon, there’s a big uranium deposit, and I believe there’s a lithium deposit as well,” says Milewski. “Oregon is an extremely liberal state…can the federal government help there? What’s going to happen?”
Scot Anderson, office managing partner at Womble Bond Dickinson US LLP in Denver frequently handles arbitrations, litigation, and regulatory enforcement actions related to energy, mining, oil and gas. He’s been following the issue closely and echoes Milewski.
“Part of what the Trump administration is trying to do is to streamline the [National Environmental Policy Act] process, carve out some of the hooks and some of the analysis on environmental impacts to make the process narrower and more focused,” says Anderson. “One of the executive orders basically tells the Council of Environmental Quality to rescind its NEPA regulations.”
Legal challenges
Anderson says it’s a wait-and-see moment but it’s likely there will be a legal challenge to that. He also points to the arduous task of permitting reform. Agencies can be directed to make things more efficient but the system surrounding permitting is established in formally promulgated rules.
“It can’t be done just by executive order,” says the litigator. “You can’t just make a rule go away by a guidance document…you can limit it, curtail it, and manage it,” Anderson says.
But if the rule has gone through a period of notice and comment rule-making, there’s a process to change the rule.
“You have to do a notice of the proposed rule, take public com-
head-on, Mthenjane said.
Operation Vulindlela 2.0 aims to boost the country’s GDP by 3% in the medium term by tackling specific constraints on mining performance. Reforms to the national rail operator Transnet are to open dilapidated rail networks and ports to private investment. Analysts expect rail tonnage to climb from 160 million tonnes this financial year to 250 million tonnes by 2030.
Miners are helping to address energy challenges, the council says. State power utility Eskom recently had 311 days without load shedding — local lingo for rolling power cuts — following a decade of regular blackouts. Private sector engineers aided the recovery, before blackouts once more crippled business in Cape Town on the eve of the Indaba.
South Africa’s mining industry supports 90 renewable energy projects worth R275 billion, Mthenjane said. These projects promise 15.8 gigawatts of capacity to help reduce grid pressure.
Miners are also investing R37 billion in water supply projects in the Limpopo and the Northern Cape provinces amid a worsening drought. TNM
ment and address public comment, then the agency issues the final rule,” he says. “And that’s two years at a minimum just to get all that done.”
Lack
of staff
Anderson says another element that could dampen ambitions to speed up permitting is the culling of federal agency staff.
“As you start taking bodies out of the federal agencies and reducing staff, that’s going to create more of a bottleneck,” he says.
As part of Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, the new administration in Washington says it’s hoping to move from politicization surrounding permitting to science-based decision making.
Northern Dynasty CEO Thiessen’s letter to shareholders follows a similar thread.
“It is not ideal that in many instances the (federal) agencies have gone from being unbiased regulators to being advocates for special interest groups, but that is a topic of discussion for another day,” Thiessen wrote. “It would be great if the federal agencies followed the established permitting laws and regulations, which are already among the most stringent in the world (from an environmental, labor and transparency perspective), and hopefully they will going forward.” TNM
health in 2018. She says training and certification programs allow her to shift from informal work to a recognized profession in a country with 535,000 small-scale miners, 10% of whom are women.
“Professionalization changed my life,” Mutete told the conference.
Another success story is Kenyan entrepreneur Lawrence Ndago, the executive director of Multiflow Geoconsult and Services. He founded the firm dedicated to small-scale mining. Treating ASM as a business, and not a nuisance, helps attract investment for sustainable growth. His firm restructures ASM operations to reduce risk and boost profits. It also curbs illegal practices.
“When we operate like businesses, we can attract investment and create safe, lasting livelihoods for our communities,” he said.
Fighting corruption
Another panel contemplating why it’s difficult for miners to talk about and address corruption pointed out that ethical practices and anti-corruption measures were fundamental to improvements. The session was framed by the conviction in January for corruption of the chief operating officer at Singaporebased multinational commodities company Trafigurain.
Werner Duvenhage, managing director of Rio Tinto’s (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO) Iron Titanium
> Skeena from P26
indicated tonnes grading 1.02 grams gold per tonne and 37.3 grams silver for 389,300 contained gold oz. and 14.2 million silver ounces. It also hosts 14.8 million inferred tonnes at 0.78 grams gold and 29.1 grams silver, for 370,200 oz. of contained gold and 13.8 million oz. silver.
These projects are all road accessible and have a combined 65,000 metres of historical drilling, TDG says.
> Aquitaine from P27
District scale
The Limousin Mining District has excellent infrastructure. It has roads, power lines and is near the A20 highway and Rochefort port.
The project area is close to SaintYrieix la Perche, a location that offers industrial and logistical
Africa unit, says that corruption taints every stage of mining. He urged companies to enforce strict ethical standards along every link in their supply chains.
“If your partners do not live by the same values, your project becomes compromised,” Duvenhage said.
Ian Cameron, a Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance, the main South African opposition party in the recently formed government of national unity led by the African National Congress, said weak rules help criminals. He criticized the escape of an illegal mining kingpin at Buffelsfontein mine 160 km northwest of Johannesburg, perhaps through bribery.
“Without a robust anti-extortion plan, criminal syndicates will continue to thrive,” he said in a Jan. 19 statement.
Doing better
If government, industry and communities unite under robust, enforceable frameworks, even entrenched problems like unsafe working conditions and corruption can be tackled, according to Mark Robinson. The executive director of the Oslo-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) gave examples of successful reform.
Ghana’s digital licensing system had exposed corruption last year, EITI said in a December news release. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s disclosure of ownership
Sofia
Acquired by Skeena in 2021, the 90-sq.-km Sofia property borders TDG’s concessions in the Toodoggone district. The project is the subject of a nine-hole drill program that intercepted lowgrade porphyry-style mineralization, interpreted by Skeena as potentially peripheral to a better mineralized system.
As part of a private placement arranged by TDG, Skeena will act as the back-end purchaser of 14 million flow-through shares at a
support for exploration activities.
The region’s skilled workforce and mining tradition support the project, according to Taylor.
Aquitaine Metals is privately held with strong backing from directors and Great Bear shareholders.
data flagged suspicious practices and stopped revenue leaks, Robinson said.
In Zambia, the ‘G-factor’ scoring system calculates the government’s share of mining revenue. It does this by dividing collected taxes, royalties and state income by total mine revenue. These metrics help hold the industry accountable, he said. They show what mineral value percentage reaches government coffers.
Minerals Council
Recent progress in South Africa’s broader mining sector offers a powerful lesson for ASM reform, according to a new report The Minerals Council of South Africa’s Zero Harm report shows that health and safety interventions reduced fatalities by 91% over three decades. They fell to 42 from 484 in 1994.
Last year, the industry reported 42 fatalities, down 24% from 55. Injuries fell to 1,841, a 16% drop from 2023. There were also fewer cases of occupational diseases. Injuries have fallen by 78% from 8,347 in 1994.
The EPRM’s Sauerwein says the industry has a unique opportunity to transform ASM from a highrisk, corruption-riddled activity into a catalyst for sustainable development.
“When governments, industry and communities stand together under strict ethical standards,” Sauerwein said, “we build not just mines, but futures.” TNM
price of 50¢ per share. Skeena is selling Sofia to TDG in exchange for 8 million TDG shares at 50¢ per share.
The private placement shares are initially priced at 82.5¢ each, with the original subscriber paying about $11.6 million to TDG. The placement also includes 6 million non-flow-through shares priced at 50¢ issued to other TDG investors, for additional proceeds of $3 million. This brings the total proceeds from the placement to $14.6 million. TNM
“This is a long-term opportunity to not only discover gold but also contribute to Europe’s strategic mineral independence,” he said. Taylor is well aware of Limousin’s potential.
“This district combines incredible history with even greater potential,” he said. “The discoveries we make here could change the landscape of European mining.” TNM With files from Blair McBride
> Indaba US trade from P13
for a period forced many mining firms to delay investment decisions on major projects, Whiteside said.
Tough decisions
The analyst also highlighted other commodity headwinds. He noted that, for lithium — a key battery-making metal — the market requires $8 billion per year in investment to keep pace with demand.
Despite a recent spike driven by exuberance in the lithium market, many projects were scrapped as companies re-evaluate returns in today’s high-inflation, low-lithium price environment, he said.
For lithium, Whiteside found that a striking 85% of project capacity achieves a 15% internal rate of return (IRR). He compared
> Porcupine from P25
Shore Gold, which built and operated the Timmins West mine.
Other Discovery team members hail from the area and have similar experience in local operational and management roles.
“We know these assets well and have an extensive understanding of
> Global Atomic from P29
Niger pivots
Global Atomic stressed that Dasa has “strong support” from Niger’s military-led government. The West African country’s mines minster reaffirmed at last week’s Mining Indaba that his government has “no intention to nationalize” the uranium project.
Niger’s military government took control in a July 2023 coup, ostensibly to fight jihadists who have killed more than 5,000 people over the past decade. American
these numbers to gold projects in Africa. There, the weighted average pre-tax IRR jumps to 63%.
In contrast, less than half of nickel projects meet this 15% IRR threshold, he said.
This trend of delayed or downsized investments spans other commodities as well, from zinc to aluminum, Whiteside said.
Meanwhile, Raj Khatri, managing director and head of metals and mining for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Canaccord Genuity, pointed to Africa’s growing role in metals production. He said 14% of global mining investment now goes to Africa. Projects in Zambia and Guinea promise to double output in three years, he said.
However, Khatri stressed that investors may avoid these opportunities due to uncertain U.S. trade policies. TNM
where the value creation opportunities exist,” Makuch said.
“We have a deep connection to the community, including local First Nations groups, and will bring to Timmins the same commitment to responsible mining that has resulted in Discovery receiving numerous recognitions in Mexico.” TNM
forces pulled out from a military base in Agadez near the project in September after the end of a 12-year agreement. Troops from France, the former colonial ruler, left early last year.
The government has pivoted away from the West and last month linked with neighbouring authoritarian regimes in Bukina Faso and Mali to leave the Economic Community of West African States for their own Alliance of Sahel States.
“The Niger government and military are managing well in the coun-
> Indaba African shift from P13
Opportunity to shine
The South African Minerals Council, an industry group, says mining must lower its costs to encourage more exploration. The change would boost primary mining and encourage beneficiation when it makes sense commercially, Hugo Pienaar, the council’s chief economist, said during a media briefing.
South Africa’s role as the G20 president now and summit host this November, gives the country leverage, Pienaar said.
“There is a significant opportunity to showcase the country’s mineral potential and contribute to the global transition to a prosperous, low-carbon future,” he said.
The forum also showcased practical reforms. Mantashe announced that his department is finalizing a new mining licensing system. It has international support to attract investment and speed up approvals. He stressed the country is taking strides to provide reliable, affordable power, which remains crucial for local beneficiation.
“Investors, make your money here,” he urged. “When you profit, reinvest in our communities by building schools, clinics and infrastructure.”
Sector under pressure
The industry contributed over R100 billion to the government through corporate taxes, value-added tax and personal income taxes. It also directly employed 471,882 people in the third quarter of 2024. Yet, new data from the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA) show that logistical issues and lower non-gold commodity prices limited production gains.
MCSA CEO Mzila Mthenjane says teamwork can lift these constraints. The government, stateowned entities and the private sector must work together.
Mthenjane pointed to such future milestones as an online mining cadastre system launch in June, a critical minerals list and strategy, and with a revised Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act.
Unmatched mineral wealth
Mantashe underlined the economic potential of local processing by citing stark figures. South Africa supplies 73% of the world’s platinum group metals, 30% of global palladium and produces 7.2 million tonnes of manganese a year, 36% of global output.
Gold mining in Africa’s most developed economy has declined. Production fell to 96 tonnes in
2023, and it employs 90,000 people. But, rising demand for other critical minerals presents a new chance.
Samaila Zubairu, CEO of Lagosbased Africa Finance Corp., a funder of large-scale projects, said local processing could boost industries, create jobs and develop skills.
“Instead of shipping out raw bauxite, we must focus on transforming it into alumina and aluminum right here in Africa,” Zubairu said.
Downstream benefits
Some say local processing can strengthen supply chains. This is important as protectionism disrupts global trade. Martina Biene, managing director and chair of Volkswagen Group South Africa, noted the benefits downstream.
“A robust beneficiation process stabilizes raw material costs and drives innovation in industries like automotive manufacturing,” Biene explained.
It also drives automotive innovation, which contributes about 5% to South Africa’s GDP.
The automotive industry needs a steady supply of locally processed minerals — steel, aluminum, copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel — for vehicle production, she said. This need is critical as the shift to electric vehicles accelerates. TNM
try right now,” Roman said. “The big impact of course has been on our share price and the cost to us from a financing point of view. It just makes everything more expensive but we’ve been managing alright.”
It hasn’t been all smooth for Western companies in the country. Last year, the Nigerien government revoked the licence for fellow Canadian miner GoviEx Uranium’s (TSXV: GXU) Madaouela project, and the Imourare mine permit held by Orano, the French-state owned uranium company.
Roman downplayed how the
government pushed Orano to keep the Somair operation running and out of care and maintenance as it had planned.
Fund raising Global Atomic raised $40.3 million in a Toronto share offering last year and $35.6 million in a private placement in January to fund the Dasa project’s development until a debt deal with a bank is secured. Earthworks are nearing completion and civil works are underway, the company said last month.
Once in production, the pro-
posed underground mine at Dasa is expected to produce 68.1 million lb. of uranium oxide (U3O8) over a 23-year period, based on a throughput of 1,000 tonnes per day.
The project comes as uranium spot prices have retreated from the highest prices in 15 years a year ago at $106 per lb., down to $64.90 per lb. near press time. Utilities have adequate supply and the industry is adjusting power demand forecasts for data centres after DeepSeek in China launched an artificial intelligence engine with scant resources. TNM
> Financing from P22
into one place, and then they could sell a share of the fund to the investors,” Johnston said. Like EIS, VCT Shareholders can claim up to 30% tax relief on investments but the threshold is lower at £200,000 per year (provided the investment is held for five years).
South Africa
South Africa has Mining Capital Allowances allowing companies engaged in exploration, development and production to deduct expenditures related to mining. There’s also the Accelerated Depreciation Allowance, offering faster depreciation of qualifying assets.
“You have to be making a profit to benefit from the depreciation expense,” Clarke said. “It’s a very different system. It’s not encouraging investment, it’s not specifically targeting exploration.”
While the capital gains tax and the METC’s potential expiration threaten to stunt investment in exploration, both Johnston and Clarke agree the FTS system will continue bringing investors in.
“Decades ago, [Canada] recognized the importance of capital formulation in the mining process — [something] these accelerated depreciation models don’t recognize at all,” Clarke said.
“[FTS] recognizes that this starts with capital formation to fund those men and women who are out in their boots walking across the Ring of Fire and the swamps by Hudson Bay.” TNM
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Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
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May 20-22
GRX25 Global Resources Innovation Expo –Brisbane
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May 21-22
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n June
June 3-5
THE Mining Investment Event of the North –Quebec City
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Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings Conference 2025 – Brisbane
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drillresults
TNM DRILL DOWN: TOP ASSAYS OF THE MONTH
Our TNM Drill Down features the top 10 gold, copper and silver assays of the past month. Drill holes are ranked by grade x width.
January 11, 2025 — February 13, 2025
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TSX WARRANTS
Name Symbol Subsciption Terms Expiry
Aris Gold Corporation ARIS.WT One Warrant to purchase one Common 07-29-2025 Share of the Issuer at $2.75 until expiry.
Total Helium Ltd. TOH.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 05-01-2025 share at $0.75 per share.
Caldas Gold Corp. CGC.WT One warrant to purchase one common 07-29-2025 share at $2.75 per share.
Rock Tech Lithium Inc. RCK.WT One warrant to purchase one common 08-19-2025 share at $4.50 per share.
Lion One Metals Limited LIO.WT One warrant to purchase one common 11-11-2025 share at $1.25 per share.
Vizsla Royalties Corp. VROY.WT One warrant to purchase one common 12-31-2025 share at $0.50 per share.
Silver Mountain AGMR.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 02-09-2026 Resources Inc. share at $0.45 per share.
Osisko Development ODV.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 03-02-2026 Corp. share at $8.55 per share.
Denarius Silver Corp. DSLV.WT One warrant to purchase one common 03-17-2026 share at $0.80 per share.
West Red Lake Gold WRLG.WT One warrant to purchase one common 05-16-2026 Mines Ltd share at $1.00 per share.
Aurania Resources Ltd. ARU.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 10-21-2026 share at $2.20 per share.
Tuktu Resources Ltd. TUK.WT One warrant to purchase one common 11-23-2026 share at $0.13 per share.
Freeman Gold Corp FMAN.WT.U One warrant to purchase one common 11-29-2026 share at US$0.65 per share.
Mogotes Metals Inc MOG.WT One warrant to purchase one common 01-31-2027 share at $0.30 per share.
Integra Resources Corp. ITR.WT One warrant to purchase one common 03-13-2027 share at $1.20 per share.
Osisko Development ODV.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 03-02-2027 Corp. share at $14.75 per share.
Elevation Gold Mining ELVT.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 03-24-2027 Corporation share at $0.70 per share.
Osisko Development ODV.WT.U One warrant to purchase one common 05-27-2027 Corp. share at US$10.70 per share.
Robex Resources Inc RBX.WT One warrant to purchase one common 06-27-2027 share at $2.55 per share.
West Red Lake Gold WRLG.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 10-24-2027 Mines Ltd share at $0.90 per share.
Silver Mountain AGMR.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 04-24-2028
Resources Inc. share at $0.135 per share.
Bear Creek Mining BCM.WT One warrant to purchase one common 10-05-2028 Corporation share at $0.42 per share.
West Red Lake Gold WRLG.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 03-19-2029 Mines Ltd share at $0.95 per share.
Largest
$5.50
marketdata
Aluminum: US$1.21.34/lb.
Cobalt: US$9.95/lb.
Gold: US$2,934.58/oz.
Iron Ore 62% Fe CFR China-S: US$109.50
Nickel: US$7.199/lb.
Silver: US$32.93 per oz.
Zinc: US$1.3283 per lb.
COMMODITY PRICES | Prices current February 13, 2024
Coal: Central Appalachia, 12,500 Btu, 1.2 S02-R,W: US$76.50 Coal: Powder River Basin, 8,800 Btu, 0.8 S02-R, W: US$14.20
Copper: US$4.56/lb.
Iridium: US$4,250/tr oz.
Lead: US$0.9112/lb.
Rhodium: US$4,675/tr. oz.
Tin: US$15.276/lb.
Copper: CME Group Futures May 2025: US$4.5985/lb.;
June 2025: US$4.637/lb.
Lithium carbonate: US$10,495/tonne
Ruthenium: US$505 per oz.
Uranium: U 3O 8, Trading Economics: US$64.70 per lb.
Feb. 15-21, 2025
Fears of tariffs, inflation spook market
By Colin McClelland
Markets dropped during Feb. 14 – 21 including the worst day of the year as consumer sentiment weakened amid fears of inflation, tariffs and soft corporate earnings.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1,118.06 points or 2.5% to 44,424.25, while the S&P 500 fell 101.5 points or 1.7% to 6,013.11.
HudBay Minerals led the NYSE mining decliners with a 22% fall to $7.10 after fourth-quarter profit and 2025 guidance fell below expectations. Coeur Mining dropped 17% to $5.46 after investors expressed concern over the intention to acquire SilverCrest Metals for $1.7 billion.
The gold price gained 2.8% or $53.20 to US$2,934 per oz. during the week and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index fell 0.4%
or 1.76 points to 402.5.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index declined 336.2 points or 1.3% over the week to 25,147.03 points. Uranium miner and nuclear power plant builder Cameco fell $5.01 apiece to $61.87 after reporting earnings per share plunged by more than half.
The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index slid 5.57 points or 0.9% to 634.69. Bravo Mining shed 27¢ to $2.03 apiece after investors sold stock to gain on the company doubling measured and indicated resources at its Luanga platinum metals group deposit in Brazil.
The S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index lost 4.8% or 9.41 points to 187.47.
The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index declined 2.21 points or 1.8% to 123.89.
HudBay, Coeur and Cameco decline
PRECIOUS METALS
Gold hits new records as trade tensions skyrocket
MARKETS | US tariff threat fuels appetite for precious metal
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
U.S.President Donald Trump has worked wonders for at least one group of people — gold traders.
Gold prices set multiple all-time highs last month, even topping $2,900 an oz. for the first time amid growing concern that Trump will follow through with his threat to slap key trade partners with import tariffs.
Spot gold was trading at more than $2,930 per oz., as press time was nearing, Trading Economics data show. That took the metal’s advance to about 11% in 2025 and 47% over the last year.
Although Trump postponed until March 4 the threat of a blanket 25% levy on Canada and Mexico while the U.S. tried to secure border-security deals with both countries, he subsequently signed an executive order imposing global 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. Those duties were slated to take effect March 12.
The increasing likelihood of a trade war is boosting gold’s allure, said Ryan McIntyre, a managing partner at Toronto-based asset manager Sprott (TSX: SII).
“There seems to be a widening between countries rather than a coming together, and this is likely to continue for the medium term,”
McIntyre said in a telephone interview from Darien, Conn.
“When you have increasing levels of uncertainty, gold is the place to be — particularly now, where the risks are on the sovereign side instead of the corporate side. Gold is great because it’s completely independent of other assets and institutions. People are really looking for an asset that’s a store of value.”
Tariff tailwind
Gold will probably be the main beneficiary of the escalating tariff threat, according to BMO Capital Markets.
Trump’s strategy could lead to higher inflation expectations and possibly a global focus on de-dollarization as countries pivot away from U.S. dollar-denominated trade, BMO analyst George Heppel said last month.
“Tariffs are a tailwind for gold,” Heppel wrote in a note. “The Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy may have the unintended effect of making BRICS membership [in the
emerging markets group] more enticing for foreign states, which could have the long-term impact of accelerated de-dollarization — a significant long-term driver of gold demand.”
Demand for gold touched a record of 4,974 tonnes in 2024, driven by sustained central bank buying and investment demand growth, the World Gold Council said last month in its 2024 Gold Demand Trends report. Volumes and gold prices led to the highest ever total value of demand at US$382 billion.
Rising supply
Total gold supply rose 1% last year to a record 4,794 tonnes. Growth in both mine production and recycling contributed to the increase in total gold supply, the council said.
Central banks continued buying gold at a fast pace in 2024. Purchases surpassed 1,000 tonnes for the third year in a row, the WGC said.
Global investment demand rose 25% to 1,180 tonnes — a four-year high — driven by a revival in gold ETF demand in the second half.
“The demand trajectory of 2024 was far from linear, with central banks posting strong demand in
Barrick to pay Mali $440M
AFRICA | Company reaches deal with junta
BY COLIN MCCLELLAND
Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD; TSX: ABX) has signed a new agreement with the Malian government to end the dispute over its mining assets in the West African country, Reuters reported, citing four people familiar with the matter.
The deal is pending formal approval from Mali’s government, the agency said
As part of the deal, Barrick will pay 275 billion CFA (US$440 million) to the Malian government in exchange for the release of detained employees, the return of seized gold and the resumption of operations at the Loulo-Gounkoto mine.
Barrick did not immediately respond to an email query from The Northern Miner Group.
Shares of the gold miner were trading down 2.1% to C$26.11 apiece before press time, giving the company a market capitalization of C$46.60 billion.
A week earlier, Barrick was considering care and maintenance for Loulo-Gounkoto, according to Barrick CEO Mark Bristow.
“We are actively engaged with the administration to secure their release on a sustainable solution moving forward so that we can restart the mine.
“This situation has led us to file for exit arbitration to assert our rights, but at the same time, as usual, we remain engaged and are hoping to continue to make progress, albeit slowly,” Bristow told an earnings conference call in mid-February.
He had said that putting the mine on care and maintenance could have cost around $10 million (C$14.3 million) per month, if talks had collapsed.
The Toronto-based miner had been alone among gold producers in the West African country, such as Resolute Mining (ASX, LSE: RSG), B2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSE-A: BTG) and Allied Gold (TSX: AAUC), for not having made an agreement with Mail after it imposed a new mining code in 2023 with higher taxes and state stakes. Barrick has paid $84 million, but the regime has $245 million of the company’s gold and wants a further $200-million payment, according to Reuters.
Mine life
The CEO had said meeting the government’s demands would shorten the mine’s life. The mine is excluded for the time being from company guidance, returning in
the first quarter before moderating through the middle of the year and finishing with a strong fourth quarter,” Louise Street, senior markets analyst at the WGC, said in a release.
“In 2025, we expect central banks to remain in the driving seat and gold exchange traded fund (ETF) investors to join the fray, especially if we see lower, albeit volatile interest rates. Geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty should be prevalent themes this year, supporting demand for gold as a store of wealth and hedge against risk.”
Gold exports
As trade tensions rise, gold traders have been trying to build physical positions on New York’s Comex commodities exchange to hedge against possible U.S. tariffs.
Gold exports from Switzerland to the U.S. surged almost 20-fold in December to 64.2 tonnes, official Swiss customs data show. That’s the highest monthly gold flow from Switzerland to the U.S. since March 2022, following the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Inventory levels in Comex vaults have surged 75% to 926 tonnes, the most since August 2022, the Financial Times reported in January. As of late January, gold traders and financial institutions had moved 393 metric tonnes to the U.S. since the November election, the newspaper said.
Bullion shortage
The shipments have also created a
shortage of bullion in London. The wait to pull bullion from the Bank of England’s vaults now stands at between four and eight weeks, up from a few days previously, the FT said, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
Traders “are trying to frontrun any potential tariffs and effectively getting the gold over here first,” Sprott’s McIntyre said. “It can always be exported later and it doesn’t really cost much, so there’s very little friction. What people are saying is, let’s move all our gold to the United States now. If the tariff doesn’t happen, well, we can move it back and it’s really no big deal because logistics are pretty minor the other way.”
Higher prices on the Comex — compared with the cash market in London — are also driving the shift. “As long as there is an arbitrage there, people will take advantage of it.” McIntyre said. “If the price of gold is higher in the United States than it is in London, it makes perfect sense for people to ship over. Other commodities are more complex in terms of moving around, so you don’t see that as much as it requires more cost and more time. But shipping gold is something you can do very easily from a logistics and cost standpoint, and the markets very liquid. So, it kind of adds everything for arbitrage, which people are obviously exploiting now.” TNM
With assistance from Blair McBride in Toronto
forecasts from 2027, he said.
“It would not be a good thing to lose Loulo, not for anyone’s sake, and particularly not for Mali’s,” the CEO said.
“But equally for us, we are longstanding partners in Mali. Every one of our operations are independently viable, and Barrick’s balance sheet is very solid and so with or without, Loulo will not change our long-term plan, our five-year plan.”
Beats estimates Barrick reported a strong performance in the fourth quarter with gold production rising 15% and copper production increasing 33% over the previous three months, allowing the company to meet its annual production guidance.
The miner stated that its North America and Africa & Middle East operations met their produc-
Snowline suffers ‘Hollywood problem’
YUKON | High grades now routine
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
Snowline Gold (TSX-V: SGD; US-OTC: SNWGF) report-
ed strong hits from drilling at its Valley project in Yukon, with results as high as 2 grams gold per tonne.
The assays, released several weeks before press time reduce risk along with engineering and permitting expected this year, but create a ‘Hollywood problem’ for Snowline, SCP Resource Finance analyst Brandon Gaspar said after the company’s announcement.
“The exceptional continuity has almost desensitized the market to world-class drill results over the last six months,” Gaspar wrote in a note. “The asset’s potential remains a key value driver in our view (and key for M&A).”
Hole V-24-105 returned 467 metres grading 1.12 grams gold from 3.4 metres depth, including 154 metres at 2.07 grams gold, Snowline said. Hole V-24-111 cut 403.6 metres grading 1.05 grams gold from 3.3 metres depth, including 103 metres at 1.9 grams gold.
“It is encouraging to see how well the Valley gold deposit holds up to the scrutiny of additional drilling, with highlight holes consistently appearing as we fill in the blanks,” Snowline CEO Scott Berdahl said in a release. “Each round of results has brought large intervals with strong gold grades. We are gaining confidence and pushing the boundaries of our understanding of this unique and continuous near-surface gold deposit.”
Higher grade
The results will help inform an updated resource estimate for
Valley expected in a few months, Snowline said. It released an initial resource last June that showed Valley is much larger and higher grade than most other projects in the region.
Gaspar said the results cut risk at Valley by closing gaps of more than 100 metres between holes, such as the “remarkable” 467-metre-wide intercept in hole V-24-105.
The latest results are even shallower than the similarly high hits Snowline reported one month earlier at Valley.
Aurelius prospects
The company also reported anomalous gold findings at its Aurelius target, just north of Valley, from initial drilling there last year.
Highlight hole AU-24-004 returned 1.5 metres grading 4.43 grams gold from 59 metres depth, including the same width at 2.59 grams gold from 85 metres depth.
“The hunt will continue, at Aurelius and at other targets, building on our expanding data and knowledge bases.” Berdahl said. “We seek to establish a new gold district in the fertile and proven Selwyn Basin rocks around Valley.”
Sinkhole seals mine’s fate
CHILE | Probe finds work in barred area at Lundin site
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
Chile’s environmental authority SMA ordered the “total and definitive” closure of Lundin Mining’s (TSX: LUN) Alcaparrosa mine after an almost three-year probe into a massive sinkhole near the operation.
The 36-metre-diameter sinkhole more than 60 metres deep appeared in July 2022 in the country’s north. It drew global attention and saw authorities charge Lundin. The miner suspended operations the same day.
Lundin also faces a US$3.4-million fine and is being charged with four environmental violations including over-extraction of minerals, unauthorized infrastructure modifications and other breaches of the project’s environmental permits. Lundin’s local unit, Ojos del Salado, said in a statement that it would review the ruling and determine its next steps.
The company had 10 business days to pay the fine or 15 days to appeal the decision before the Environmental Tribunal, the SMA said.
The regulator head, Marie Claude Plumer, said that Lundin operated in unauthorized sectors up until the Copiapo River aquifer, which allowed more water
to infiltrate in and subsequently weaken the rock mass.
“The company caused irreparable environmental damage,” she said. “The rules are clear and must be followed. Companies are fully aware of the conditions under which they are allowed to operate.”
Shares in Lundin Mining fell 6¢ on the day of the announcement to $11.74 apiece in Toronto, before gaining to $11.82 near press time. That gave the company a market capitalization of $10.3 billion.
The Toronto-based miner owns 80% of the Ojos del Salado complex, which holds two underground mines: Santos and Alcaparrosa. The remaining 20% is held by Japan’s Sumitomo and
its Metal Mining unit. In 2021, the Ojos del Salado complex produced around 8,700 tonnes of copper. However, Lundin didn’t state Alcaparrosa’s specific contribution.
Sinkholes are pits that form over areas where water gathers underground without external drainage, causing the water to carve out subterranean caverns.
These cavities also form regularly near old and active mines, where large amounts of rock and ore have been extracted, studies have shown.
Sinkholes often form gradually over many years, but can also open quite suddenly, taking cars, homes and streets down with them. TNM
AbraSilver raises $48.4M
ARGENTINA | Diablillos a potential top-10 producer
BY STAFF WRITER
AbraSilver Resource (TSXV: ABRA) plans to raise nearly $49 million (US$34.3 million) to fund the development of its Diablillos project in Argentina, which it predicts to be one of the world’s top primary silver mines once in production.
The financing comprises two parts: a bought deal public offering of 8.55 million common shares priced at $2.55 each for about $21.8 million; and a private placement of over 10.43 million shares at the issue price for $26.6 million.
Central Puerto SA, Argentina’s top electricity provider, and Kinross Gold (TSX: K) are the placement’s subscribers, activating their anti-dilution rights as shareholders. Both became shareholders in AbraSilver in April with a combined $20 million investment for a 4% equity interest each.
“We are truly delighted to announce this $48.4-million financing, providing us with immense financial flexibility to accelerate the
development of our Diablillos project and continue unlocking its full potential,” AbraSilver CEO John Miniotis said in a news release.
Increased project value
The value of the Diablillos project was raised late last year following an updated prefeasibility study (PFS) that pegged its aftertax NPV (at a 5% discount rate) at US$747 million, an increase from the $494 million in the March 2024 study.
According to AbraSilver, the increase in NPV is the result of improved mine sequencing, including accelerated production from the shallow gold zone, which would lead to higher gold grades and production during the first five years.
However, the PFS also showed a 45% increase in capital costs to $544 million. The company attributed this to general cost inflation, as well as other factors such as exchange rates on imports, updated labour costs and additional spending on waste stripping
due to mine sequencing changes. A definitive feasibility study is anticipated in the first half of 2026 to confirm the mine plan.
The technical report envisions that the open pit mine will produce 7.6 million oz. silver and 72,000 oz. of gold annually (or 13.4 million silver-equivalent oz.) over a 14-year mine life at all-in sustaining costs of $12.67 per silver-equivalent ounce. AbraSilver has said that this production profile makes Diablillos one of the top 10 primary silver mines in the world.
There are currently several near-surface deposits within the 79-sq.-km property. Together, they hold proven and probable reserves of 42.3 million tonnes grading 91 grams silver per tonne and 0.81 gram gold for 123.48 million oz. of contained silver and 1.11 million oz. gold (or 210 million oz. of silver equivalent).
The project is located in Argentina’s Puna region, which is the southern extension of the Altiplano of southern Peru, Bolivia and northern Chile. TNM
Inside the core shack at Snowline’s Valley project in eastern Yukon. SNOWLINE GOLD
The largest gold company you may never have heard of — may, because The Northern Miner did cover it at length two years ago — could be heading towards an initial public offering (IPO) in this year’s third quarter. Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Co. produced 2.9 million oz. in 2023 and sits on a resource of nearly 150 million oz., although it’s not calculated according to Western standards.
Deep under the red sands of the Kyzylkum Desert in Uzbekistan lies Muruntau – what may be the world’s largest gold deposit. Even after 60 years of mining, 68 million oz. of indicated and 33 million oz. of inferred resource remains, along with probable reserves of 45 million oz., according to Navoi.
When we last spoke with Eugene Antonov, deputy CEO and chief transformation officer of the stateowned company, Navoi was making its first appearance at PDAC in 2023. It was adding another open pit mine to the dozen it already had across the Central Asia country and was testing the IPO waters in talks with Western banks.
London
Now, the shift for a London listing appears to be underway, at least according to an analysis by La Mancha Resource Capital, a private equity firm specializing in investments in the mining sector, particularly gold and battery metals, with a $1.5-billion fund (C$2.15 billion). It is backed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris and operates from Luxembourg.
Antonov declined to comment when reached by The Northern Miner. But La Mancha general counsel Matthew Fisher and managing partner Vincent Benoit offered their insights on what would be Uzbekistan’s first substantial IPO after the government put Navoi on the path in 2021. If the IPO proceeds, potential investors will have a number of questions in mind. Take it away, Fisher and Benoit:
When will the IPO happen?
The deal was originally slated for 2022 or 2023, but the market-chilling effect of the conflict in Ukraine put paid to that timetable. With the capital markets now recovering, there are signs that Navoi is gearing up for an IPO this year. Most obviously, the latest presidential decree sets this year’s third quarter as a deadline. Beyond that, Navoi has already completed many tell-tale pre-IPO steps.
It has in recent years carved non-core assets out of the transaction perimeter by transferring out its uranium assets; secured financing from international banks via a $1.2-billion syndicated loan; and is bringing its reporting into line with international investors’ expectations by adopting Australian JORC-compliant resource and reserve estimates, overhauling its English-language investor website, and publishing its first audited International Financial Reporting Standard statements and environmental, social and governmental (ESG) report. The final dress rehearsal for the IPO occurred in October when Navoi sold $1 billion of eurobonds to international investors. Every-
thing points to a high level of preparedness for an IPO before the year is out.
Which exchange will Navoi choose?
To capitalize on the profile it built among investors with its eurobond listing, Navoi will almost certainly IPO on the same venue — the London Stock Exchange. That could be seen as a surprising choice: London has in recent years slipped to fourth place for mining listings and has struggled to attract IPOs more generally.
It has, however, kept a healthy roster of Central Asian issuers, especially miners, ever since the first Kazakh companies listed in 2005. Most relevantly, the Kazakh state uranium mining company chose London for its privatization IPO in 2018. Navoi will have precedents such as this in mind, and also be influenced by the Uzbek Ministry of Finance choosing to list all three of its sovereign bonds in London.
Of course, no sale of a national champion like Navoi would be complete without a local listing, so investors can also expect a simultaneous listing on the Tashkent Republican Stock Exchange.
What’s the transaction size?
Uzbek IPOs to date have been modest affairs attracting little interest even within Uzbekistan. For example, the UzAuto Motors IPO in 2023 — the country’s largest to date — was greatly undersubscribed and raised just $5 million.
An IPO of Navoi would be orders of magnitude larger. While the government was initially considering the sale of up to 15% of Navoi, that has since been tempered to 5%.
Consider, too, the long-term robustness of Navoi’s business. In recent years around 70% of its gold production has been attributable to Muruntau. A major strike, permitting dispute, accident or disaster at the site could spell ruin for the company.
“Given the potential offering size, Navoi will unquestionably need the help of top international banks.”
That still gives an estimated deal size of $550 million, based on an $11-billion estimate of the company’s market capitalization endorsed by the Uzbek government in 2020.
Which banks will advise Navoi?
Given the potential offering size, Navoi will unquestionably need the help of top international banks. JPMorgan, Citi and SocGen look like shoo-ins given they underwrote Navoi’s eurobond and Uzbekistan’s sovereign bonds.
As in most emerging markets deals, we’re also likely to see at least one local or regional bank to provide in-country coverage – perhaps Mashreq or First Abu Dhabi from the UAE, which were involved in recent Uzbek sovereign bond deals, or Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank, who was a lender on NMMC’s syndicated loan.
The names we won’t see are the likes of VTB and Gazprombank. While the Russian banks were heavily involved in Uzbekistan’s initial foray into the capital markets, they are since the start of the conflict in Ukraine no longer able to participate in international capital markets transactions.
What to look out for in the prospectus?
The potential for government intervention is a key consideration. Revenues from Navoi make up almost 17% of Uzebkistan’s entire state budget, but as S&P notes, there is little to prevent the government from hiking dividends to extract even more cash from the company.
Even if dividends are sustainable, the recent announcement of a mining supertax in Kazakhstan raises concerns of a similar move in Uzbekistan. Navoi would be wise to include reassurances in the prospectus around its dividend policy,
appointments of independent directors, and government tax policy.
Health and safety should also be top of mind. The eurobond prospectus discloses that Navoi’s practices “do not comply with international standards” and that between 2021 and 2023, 20 Navoi staff were killed at work. This compares unfavourably with Barrick Gold’s (NYSE: GOLD; TSX: ABX) 12 fatalities and Newmont’s (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT) single death in the same period.
While Navoi admits it has a “substantial journey ahead” when it comes to safety, ESG-conscious international investors will expect the IPO prospectus to demonstrate a clear downward trend in accidents and a roadmap to compliance with best practices.
To address this, Navoi budgeted $64 million for exploration last year, more than double the amount it spent in 2021. Given this investment will not bear fruit for years, it remains to be seen what the IPO investors will make of this potential source of fragility.
What’s next?
Navoi is not the only mining company in Uzbekistan preparing for an IPO. The state copper miner, Almalyk, is expected to follow suit shortly thereafter.
With ambitions to increase production of gold by 50%, silver and uranium by 200% and copper by 250%, the government of Uzbekistan clearly hopes the bellwether IPOs of Navoi and Almalyk will establish the country as a serious mining jurisdiction and kickstart sustained investment by foreign capital. Investors would do well to give Uzbekistan a closer look. TNM
Navoi haul trucks on site at the Murantau gold mine in Uzbekistan. NAVOI MINING AND METALLURGICAL CO
Navoi deputy CEO Eugene Antonov. NAVOI MINING AND METALLURGICAL CO
Navoi’s Murantau gold mine in Uzbekistan. NAVOI MINING AND METALLURGICAL CO
Aris Mining’s Woodyer on his billion-dollar babies
PEOPLE | Seeing the industry change across multiple companies, three continents and geopolitical shifts
BY ADRIAN POCOBELLI
The Northern Miner
podcast host Adrian Pocobelli sat down with company-builder Neil Woodyer, who founded Aris Mining (TSX: ARIS; NYSEAM: ARMN), Endeavour Mining (LSE, TSX: EDV; US-OTC: EDVMF) and Leagold Mining.
Adrian Pocobelli: You have quite a storied history here in the mining industry. Tell us a little bit about your background in mining.
Neil Woodyer: I qualified as a chartered accountant in 1968. After being a boring a chartered accountant for a couple of years, I found myself in the metal trading business in the U.K., which were traders of commodities like tin and copper.
I ended up in New York, running the trading company with about five subsidiary companies in Latin America. I moved from the financial side into the commercial side.
I then was approached and set up a trading company for Lloyds Bank in New York, where we were trading, [working with] the banks, gold book, silver book, also doing a lot of physical trading. Lloyds Bank [eventually] decided to take its business back to the U.K., and I decided I wasn’t going back to the U.K.
I was offered a job with Placer Dome. I transferred myself and my family to Vancouver, but after having worked for 10 years in New York, I succeeded in working a day and a half in Vancouver before I was fired.
The CEO stepped down for various reasons, and I was thrown out with him. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I didn’t want to go back to New York. I didn’t want to run the trading company, so I started an advisory business for mining companies and Endeavor Financial.
My first client was Clive Johnson at Bema Gold, now B2Gold. I think that proves how small the industry is. After a few years, I teamed up with Frank Giustra and we expanded Endeavour Financial into a merchant banking company where we were investing in our clients and advising them.
We were a public company at the beginning of 2008. We had $300 million under management invested in our clients. By the end of 2008 as the market collapsed, we had $100 million left. It was very difficult to sell to your clients on your positions when you’re their financial adviser.
We decided that wasn’t the greatest business in such circumstances. We had to hand back all the toys and start again. We decided we would start a mining company, as we had been involved in the startup of so many with our clients. That’s when we started Endeavour Mining in 2009.
AP: Was that the first company you’ve started that we could call a mining company?
NW: Yes, and when we started that, none of us were operators. We were a bunch of finance guys playing in the M&A and the bank debt field and trading. I think we bought about 55% of a listed company which had a mine somewhere called ‘Burkina.’ I wasn’t too sure where that was, but I subsequently
found out, of course, it was Burkina Faso. So we bought the mine. We didn’t know how to manage it. We put a geo in charge of it. We looked around for a second transaction, and we found an Australian company with a couple of mines in West Africa, and we did a merger of equals with them. This was a very significant thing for us, because it brought in a management team. It brought in a group of South Africans, who have managed and who are mining engineers. We were able to put the financial side the old Endeavour had together with that and that team still exists. It worked its way through Endeavour and Leagold, and the three or four members of that team with me as part of the core team. If you can combine people’s strengths into a good team, it’s much better than trying to do it any other way.
AP: The power of good management is sometimes underrated. You’ve stuck with that team the entire time?
NW: They’ve stuck with me that entire time. They’ve put up with me! One of them has worked with me for over 25 years. We do know each other fairly well.
AP: Burkina Faso is a bit of a hot spot these days. What was it like when you started? How have things changed?
NW: It’s more complicated now than it was. It was never simple. I don’t think any of these countries are simple. It’s got more difficult to arrive at agreements. In the countries where we were working, if you came to an agreement, you had an agreement. It may not have been easy, it may have been bureaucratic, but once you were there with an agreement, you were there and you could move forward. That makes a huge difference, particularly when you’re talking about long-term capital investments. West Africa is a bit more difficult now than it was in 2009.
AP: How did everything resolve over there with Endeavour?
NW: We brought in a strategic investor who sold us a mine putting cash into Endeavour, and became a 30% shareholder. We agreed, after a period of time when we’d stabilized,
“(Working with artisanal miners in Colombia), the potential is so huge.”
that his new team would take over. The company was worth about $2 billion when I left. It’s now worth $6 billion or $7 billion. That was nice to see that company continuing, whereas when we did Leagold, we merged it fairly early in its career into Equinox.
AP: Tell me about how your financial perspective has helped you strategize with these companies.
NW: I think the metal trading side taught me an awful lot about business, managing risks and negotiating with people. We were in various countries trading. That was a tremendous advantage I had in the business I’m running now.
AP: What came after Leagold?
NW: After the Equinox merger, we very quickly started Aris Mining. Frank and I put $10 million in each and we raised about $35 million and then we raised another $50 million by bringing a senior investor in.
We took $85 million and went to Caldas Gold, which was expanding the Marmato mine in Colombia, and they needed about $280 million to do it, and they were short $85 million so we said to them, ‘Here’s the $85 million but you have to give us control of the board, and you have to give us management.’
That’s how we became a public company a third time round. And then we got the licence to expand it and started the expansion.
And then we looked at what else we could do in Colombia, and we could see that Segovia, which is a very high-grade gold mine was essentially a cash cow. But we couldn’t put ourselves forward because we were a little bit too small. We needed to see how we could bulk up the size of the company, because the philosophy we followed is to grow a portfolio of assets, buy and build strategies to build a portfolio that’s attractive to investors, which is exactly what happens at Endeavour.
We were trying to do the same thing in Colombia. And we saw the opportunity at Soto Norte which was owned by Mubadala. We negotiated with them at 20% interest, but the right to manage this project, and it is a project going through the environmental process. We acquired an additional 31% so we now own 51% of that project.
We were able then to go to
ister of mines. We’ve got support from the seven communities and the mayors and strong support from the governor as well. This has become an integral part of our business in Colombia because the potential is so huge.
But on the other hand, there are no 43-101s. There are no large mining companies. There are about four mines in total producing less than 600,000 ounces. The opportunity is huge on a gradual build-up basis.
AP: What are the mechanics with the artisanal miners? Do they just drop off their ore and it’s weighed?
NEIL WOODYER, FOUNDER, ARIS MINING
Gran Colombia Gold and propose a merger. We merged Caldas with Gran Colombia about three years ago, which gave us the Segovia mine. Now we have two mines producing about 25,000 oz. a year, both of which are being expanded, and within a couple of years, we should be at the 450,000 to 500,000 oz. range from the two mines.
AP: Artisanal mining is a big issue. How was your experience been in Colombia and how have you approached the issue?
NW: Colombia has had very little exploration, but the Andes mountains have been mined for years. Local miners have been mining at Marmato for 450 years and for about 300 at Segovia.
Colombia’s gold production is very un-commercialized. It is about 85% informal miners, some of whom are good guys and some who are bad guys. There’s a lot of environmental damage. They’re using mercury. They’re not cleaning the tailings up, (and) they’re being dumped into rivers. They’re moving on when an area has been fouled because of the lack of investment in processing.
I think because of the environmental attitudes of a lot of people in Colombia — it’s a beautiful country — they want to keep it that way also. We now have about 350 small miners at Segovia, which produces just over 200,000 oz. a year. About 100,000 of those come from small miners.
We have contracted with 40 groups of mining partners to formalize, and we help them on health and safety. We sometimes advance money to them. We have an education program with a university where 2,500 small miners are on the web to learn their trade better. They have a lot of skills that we don’t have.
Putting their strengths with our strengths of industrial mining, our processing, our access to capital, our health and safety, our compliance, if you can put those two sides together, you have a very, very strong partnership.
(And the government) wants to formalize mining, so we’ve totally aligned with their objectives. We periodically sit down with the min-
NW: We have a big receiving centre. It’s sampled and weighed, then we go through the financial reconciliation procedure with them. The purchase formula we use is based upon the grade that they deliver to us and also the gold price. They participate in the gold price movement, so it’s much more of a business for them than just digging all around the ground and dumping it off somewhere.
AP: With Aris, is processing the ore a service you’re providing to the artisanal miners?
NW: Yes. At Segovia, which is producing about 200,000 oz. a year now, we are increasing its production by 50% by the end of this year. Our run rate by the end of the year should be 300,000 ounces. It’s about 50:50, between ourselves and the small mining partners. We’ll do about 150,000 and they’ll do 150,000. We buy their ore and process it.
AP: We see China having a dominant position in the metals industry and it seems to me, it’s because they own the processing, not necessarily because they have all the metals. What’s your take on this?
NW: The Chinese have done a very good job with creative processing facilities and going out and buying long-term contracts of supply. But gold is more profitable to process on site at smaller operations than the very large corporations and then export the gold.
One problem is the environmentalists want to have energy for the transition, but don’t like mining, and you really can’t have one without the other. There’s a lot of compromises that are going to have to be made. The energy transition is certainly not going to be done at the speed that some people would like. It’s a much more complicated situation than just ‘let’s have clean energy.’
One problem is mining is extremely capital intensive and has extremely fixed costs. With gold, you have no control over the sales price. And then, it takes a long time, some 15 years from finding something to actually getting it out of the ground. An annoying thing is that the market measures us on a quarterly performance basis when we have a long-term asset and that will have ups and downs. TNM
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Aris’ Segovia gold mine in northwest Colombia. ARIS MINING
Endeavour lifts output 34%
AFRICA | Higher grades, lower costs help
Year of milestones
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
Fourth-quarter production for Endeavour Mining (LSE, TSX: EDV; US-OTC: EDVMF) gained more than a third over the previous three months while cash costs fell by double-digits.
Higher grades and throughput after the end of the regional wet season helped gold output increase by 34% to 363,000 oz., the West Africa-focused gold miner said Jan. 30.
Total production for the year was 3% higher than in 2023, according to its preliminary fiscal report.
Final quarter cash costs fell 13% versus the three months to Sept. 30 after lower spending at the Houndé and Mana mines in Burkina Faso and at Lafigué in Côte d’Ivoire. Higher gold sales helped.
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) declined by 11% over the third quarter to about $1,140 per ounce. Fullyear production of 1.1 million oz. at an AISC of about $1,220 per oz. were both above guidance.
For 2025, Endeavour is forecasting production growth to be 15% higher than last year, between 1.1 million to 1.2 million oz. at total costs of $950-$1,090 per oz. and AISC of $1,150-1,350 per ounce.
“(Last year) was a pivotal year for Endeavour,” CEO Ian Cockerill said in a release. He cited the commissioning of the Lafigué mine and Sabodala-Massawa BIOX expansion project in Senegal, and a preliminary feasibility study (PFS) for the Assafou project in Côte d’Ivoire.
“(We also) significantly increased our free cash flow generation through the year, supporting record dividends for our shareholders.”
As press time neared, Endeavour shares had gained about 18% yearto-date to C$31.49 in Toronto trading. That gave the company a market capitalization of about C$7.7 billion.
Free cash flow
BMO Capital Markets analyst Raj Ray said in a note to clients issued in late January that the fiscal results would have a “slight positive” impact.
The company’s fourth-quarter production was higher than expected, with costs and AISC guidance as forecast, Ray said.
Endeavour declared a dividend for the second half of 2024 of $140 million, which entailed shareholder returns of $277 million, Ray noted, adding that the company has
reached the free cash flow point, which “should bode well for the share price re-rating.”
The dividends, which touched a record for Endeavour, came to 57¢ per share, bringing total dividends for last year to $240 million, or 98¢ per share.
Shareholder returns were also supplemented through the company’s share buyback program, where $37 million, or 1.8 million shares, were repurchased last year. In the fourth quarter, $8 million or 400,000 shares were repurchased.
Assafou project
The PFS for the Assafou project, located on Endeavour’s Tanda Iguela property, outlined a potential tier-one asset with an estimated annual output of 329,000 oz. in the first 10 years of a 15-year life.
The study gave the project an after-tax net present value (at 5% discount) of $1.5 billion and an internal rate of return of 28% at an average gold price of $2,000 per ounce.
Exploration last year helped convert 90% of Assafou’s measured and indicated resources into a 4.1-million-oz. reserve grading 1.76 grams gold per tonne. TNM
Ascot lands $72.5M for Premier
BC | Milling start delayed to July
BY MINING.COM STAFF
Ascot Resources (TSX: AOT, OTCQX: AOTVF) has lined up a financing of as much as $65 million to get its delayed Premier gold project in British Columbia restarted in July.
Ascot is to sell units of the company priced at 11.5¢ each on a “best-efforts” basis to raise at least $60 million and up to $65 million, the company said on Feb. 20.
Each unit being offered comprises one common share of Ascot and one warrant to purchase shares at 15.5¢ per share. The stock closed at 11¢ at press time in Toronto, a new 52-week low for the company, giving the B.C.-based miner a market capitalization of $113 million.
Ascot has also arranged for Sprott Private Resource to release the US$7.5 million second stream deposit from escrow. Sprott last year gave a US$30 million package in return for a 3.1% royalty.
The proceeds of the offering and deposit by Sprott would enable management to execute its development plans. But Ascot also warned that “there is no certainty that sufficient capital will be raised.”
The financing follows Ascot’s decision earlier in February to delay the restart of milling operations at Premier, based on an initial review by the Ascot management team led by newly appointed president and CEO Jim Currie. The probe found that labour shortages are slowing advancement at the project.
Ascot had been aiming to restart gold production at Premier in this year’s second quarter. The project already faced a major setback last year, having been placed on care and maintenance just five months after its first pour.
July target
The company is now projecting ore milling to begin in July.
The project, located 25 km from the town of Stewart, is home to a former underground gold mine that opened in 1918 and included four deposits — Silver Coin, Big Missouri, Premier and Red Mountain. While in operation, it was the largest gold mine in North America until its surface buildings burned down, leading to its closure in 1952. By then, Premier had produced over 2 million oz. gold and 45 million oz. silver.
First new pour
Last April, Ascot poured gold at the Premier project and was targeting commercial production in the third quarter.
However, operations were put on hold in September due to insufficient ore feeds from the Northern Lights and Big Missouri deposits, and a requirement for further underground development.
In November, Ascot secured a $52-million package to get Premier back on track. At the time, the gold miner was already under financial stress, with roughly $27 million owed to its vendors.
Artemis pours at Blackwater
BY STAFF WRITER
Artemis Gold (TSX-V: ARTG) completed its first gold and silver pour at the Blackwater open-pit mine in British Columbia with commercial production targeted for the second quarter.
The mine is expected to produce 500,000 gold-equivalent oz. annually for the first 10 years, generating $500 million in free cash flow per year at an all-in sustaining cost of US$712 per oz., Artemis said Jan. 30.
In December, Artemis postponed its first gold pour to January due to delays in final commissioning of the wet plant. Problems with the control circuit configuration and a lack of vendor specialists during the holidays caused the delay, it said.
The mine should produce 26,000 gold-equivalent oz. in the first quarter and 230,000 gold-equivalent oz. this year, BMO Capital Markets said.
The first gold pour at Blackwater “is a positive, if expected, milestone after holiday startup delays,” mining analyst Andrew Mikitchook said in a note to clients. “Artemis stands out as a new, sizeable mine with the potential to produce about 500,000 oz. per year in a top jurisdiction.”
Newest gold mine
The Blackwater mine, 160 km southwest of Prince George and 450 km northeast of Vancouver, is accessible via major highways and service roads. It will be the prov-
ince’s first new gold mine since Newcrest’s (now Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM)) Brucejack in 2017.
“While still in commissioning, Blackwater’s crushing circuit has sustained operations above its nameplate throughput,” Artemis chief operating officer Jeremy Langford said in a release. “The milling circuit is also performing as expected during commissioning and ramp-up.”
Artemis forecasts stage one throughput at 6 million tonnes per year with 93% gold recovery, according to a feasibility study released in 2021.
The company holds 328 mineral claims covering 1,487 sq. km, including the Capoose, Auro, Key, Parlane and RJK claim blocks. The government controls surface rights over the project area.
Near surface
The Blackwater project includes the construction, operation, and closure of an open-pit gold and silver mine with ore processing facilities. Artemis is using a combined gravity circuit and whole ore leach for gold and silver recovery. The company will initially process high-grade, near-surface ore, stockpiling lower-grade material for later processing.
The mine received its provincial permit in March last year. A positive decision from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency was issued in April 2019, followed by an environmental assessment certificate later that year. TNM
The work camp at the Premier gold project in northern British Columbia. ASCOT RESOURCES
Artemis Gold’s Blackwater proejct in central British Columbia. ARTEMIS GOLD
Maritime finds more shallow gold at Hammerdown
NEWFOUNDLAND | Potential for quick
‘significant cash flow’
BY TRISH SAYWELL
Definition drilling at the former Hammerdown mine in Newfoundland and Labrador has returned high grades within metres of surface, Maritime Resources (TSXV: MAE; US-OTC: MRTMF) said.
Highlights included 41.6 grams gold per tonne over 6.3 metres starting from 3.7 metres downhole in HDGC-24-038, Maritime said Jan. 27. Hole HDGC-25-104 cut 6.8 grams gold over 17 metres while HDGC-24-003 returned 26 grams gold over 0.7 metre starting from 41 metres downhole.
“The high-grade gold mineralization occurs just below surface and demonstrates the potential to generate significant cash flow quickly from the project,” president and CEO Garett Macdonald said in a release.
Hammerdown, in the Baie Verte mining district about 500 km west of the provincial capital St. John’s, operated as an open pit then underground operation, producing about 143,000 oz. gold from 2000 to 2004. Maritime currently plans to mine Hammerdown as a high-grade open pit.
$75M capex
A 2022 feasibility study outlined a mine life of five years producing an
average of 50,000 oz. gold a year. Initial capital costs were pegged at $75 million (C$97.6 million), with a 1.7-year payback period at a gold price of $1,750 per ounce.
The feasibility forecast an aftertax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) of $102.8 million and an internal rate of return of 48%.
All-in sustaining costs were pegged at $912 per ounce.
The study was based on an onsite crushing and ore sorting stage at the Hammerdown mine site that would remove dilution and concentrate the run-of-mine ore into a high-grade feed product that would be trucked to the company’s Nugget Pond mill, 140 km away.
After the study was completed, the company in 2023 acquired the Pine Cove mill near Baie Verte, just 40 km from Hammerdown. With the addition of Pine Cove, initial capital costs will be “greatly” reduced compared to the estimate in the feasibility study, the company stated in a corporate presentation in January. Maritime estimates capital costs closer to $15 million to –$20 million for initial production at 700 tonnes per day.
Pine Cove, rated for 1,300 tonnes per day, had been on care and maintenance since March 2023, and has a fully permitted gold circuit and a large capacity in-pit tailings storage facility. It’s beside a a deep-water port.
JOINT VENTURE ARTICLE
Old stockpiles
Maritime is recommissioning Pine Cove’s processing plant and plans to start processing mineralized stockpiles left behind after years of mining. The company estimates the stockpiles total about 85,000 to 115,000 tonnes grading 1.1 grams gold for 3,000 to 4,000 oz. contained gold and said it was likely will start processing the material before the end of February.
In the open pit category, Hammerdown has 2.85 million measured and indicated resources grading 3.6 grams gold per tonne for 330,000 oz. contained gold, and another 302,000 inferred tonnes grading 1.31 grams gold for 13,000 ounces.
In the underground category,
the deposit contains 55,000 measured and indicated tonnes averaging 5.1 grams gold for 9,000 gold ounces and another 66,000 inferred tonnes grading 4 grams gold for 9,000 ounces.
Maritime notes that mineralization extends well below the historic open-pit mine.
Approvals
In February 2024, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Industry, Energy and Technology approved Maritime’s closure and development plans for Hammerdown last February.
In terms of exploration opportunities at the project, there are three new open-pit targets within the Hammerdown area — Orion (gold), Lochinvar volcanogenic massive sulphide (zinc, copper, silver, gold) and Area 22 (gold), as well as other exploration targets within a 5-km radius of the Hammerdown deposit.
Australia’s Firefly Metals (ASX: FFM; TSX: FFM) took an 8.95% stake in the company last March. Dundee Corp. (TSX: DC.A) owns approximately 43% of the company. Maritime’s shares were trading at 7.5¢ apiece as press time approached, giving the junior a market capitalization of about $58 million. Over the last year Maritime has traded in a range of 3.5¢ to 8¢ a share. TNM
LAURION positioned as ‘attractive acquisition target’
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
High-grade assay results from drilling near two past producing mines on LAURION Mineral Exploration’s (TSXV: LME; US-OTC: LMEFF) Ishkõday project in mining friendly northeastern Ontario should put the explorer on the radar screen of potential buyers, the company says.
“Ishkõday has the hallmarks of strong discovery potential,” CEO Cynthia Le Sueur-Aquin says. “LAURION is actively positioning Ishkõday as an acquisition target, leveraging its mid-stage, derisked status and extensive drilling success.”
Drill programs have delivered a steady stream of high-grade intercepts. Highlights include 0.55 metre grading 186.00 grams gold per tonne within a broader interval of 3.50 metres of 29.5 grams gold starting 172.50 metres downhole in drillhole LME23-032; and 1.20 metres grading 17.47 grams gold from 55.80 metres, including 37.70 grams gold over 0.50 metre in LME4-055.
Other highlights were 1 metre grading 6.60 grams gold within a broader interval of 3.50 metres grading 2.08 grams gold from 711.00 metres in LME24-049; and 5.25 metres grading 7.29 grams gold from 32 metres, including 0.50 metre grading 68.50 grams gold in LME24-052.
The 57-sq-km project, near the town of Beardmore and about 220 km northeast of Thunder Bay, is bookmarked by the historic Sturgeon River and Brenbar mines, which were active in the
1930s and 1940s. Brenbar is 1 km to the west of the Sturgeon River mine, and the company has delineated a 6-km by 2.5km mineralized corridor that encompasses both mines and demonstrates significant gold and silver mineralization, Le SueurAquin says.
The Sturgeon River mine produced 73,738 oz. gold and 15,922 oz. silver from 145,123 tonnes grading 17 grams gold and 3.12 grams silver between 1936 and 1942; while Brenbar churned out 134 oz. gold from 46 tonnes averaging 82.50 grams gold between 1941 and 1949.
Exploration work demonstrates substantial mineralization across
multiple target areas, with opportunities to expand existing structures along strike and at depth, particularly around the two mines, Le Sueur-Aquin says.
Underground development at Brenbar was confined to a 64-metre-deep shaft and drifts at the 31-metre and 61-metre levels, with numerous exposed quartz veins with widths of up to 1 metre. At the Sturgeon River mine, historical workings extended down to 685 metres, highlighting significant untapped exploration potential at greater depths.
Geological studies have identified two distinct mineralizing events at Ishkõday, separated by 40 million years—an epithermal-
polymetallic phase associated with base metal and silver mineralization and a mesothermal (orogenic) phase with gold-rich mineralization from deep-seated structural activity.
The company is prioritizing gold and base metal exploration and benefits from an extensive database of fieldwork, geophysics and 447 diamond drill holes totaling 90,358 metres, including a range of geophysical datasets such as magnetics, electromagnetics, IP and LiDAR surveys.
“Ishkõday’s district-scale potential is particularly compelling,” says Le Sueur-Aquin.
“Many of Canada’s past-producing camps such as Timmins and Val-d’Or began with small discoveries before evolving into major mining centres. Ishkõday has the potential to develop along a similar path due to the presence of two high-grade historic mine workings, stockpiles, underexplored vein systems and extensive surface mineralization in the Onaman-Tashota and Beardmore-Geraldton Greenstone Gold Camps.”
In March, the company kicked off the season with a deeppenetrating Titan DCIP and Magnetotellurics geophysical survey focusing on the area around the two mines. The survey will provide high-resolution data to depths of up to 1.5 to 2 km and advance its exploration strategy by identifying large-scale structures to enhance drill targeting.
A 7,000- to 10,000-metre drill program is planned for 2025. At the Brenbar mine area, drilling will
target key structural intersections within shear zones and fractures, prioritizing high-potential veins while also assessing alteration and brecciated zones associated with high-grade mineralization, Le Sueur-Aquin says. Meanwhile, at the Sturgeon River mine area, infill and deep drilling will focus on expanding known mineralized zones by targeting high-grade intercepts.
In addition, the company is working toward an advanced exploration permit, which will enable it to process surface stockpiles from historic mining operations at Brenbar and Sturgeon River.
The company is strategically positioned to benefit from strong gold market conditions, too, she says. “The technicals on spot gold indicate a range of US$3,100 to US$3,300 per ounce.”
The company has about 274 million shares outstanding, of which approximately 73.6% are owned and controlled by insiders and eligible investors under the ‘friends and family’ categories.
“My directors and I hold a significant percentage of the shares,” Le Sueur-Aquin says. “It is fundamental to demonstrate to investors that you as a CEO and president and your directors believe in the project and have significant skin in the game.”
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by LAURION Mineral Exploration and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: www.laurion.ca for more information.
Drill rigs at Maritime Resources’ Hammerdown project, about 500 km west of St. John’s, N.L. MARITIME RESOURCES
Geologist and consultant Jean Phillipe reviewing core. LAURION MINERAL EXPLORATION
SPOTLIGHT: Precious Metals
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Strong demand for gold from central banks and institutional investors is expected to remain a key theme in 2025. With silver’s industrial and green energy uses, the outlook for both metals looks bright. Here are eight companies to watch.
n Calibre Mining
Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB; USOTC: CXBMF) is on the brink of production in Canada. It expects to pour first gold in this year’s second quarter at its Valentine gold mine in central region of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Once in production, Valentine will be the largest gold mine in Atlantic Canada. A December 2022 feasibility study outlined a conventional open pit mining and milling operation producing about 195,000 oz. gold annually during the first 12 years of Valentine’s 14.3-year mine life.
With mine construction nearly complete, the Vancouver-based company is planning the largest exploration drill program in the 250-sq.-km property’s history this year. Valentine consists of a series of mineralized deposits along the 32-km-long Valentine Lake Shear Zone (VLSX) where the company continues to report exploration success. Calibre describes the geologic setting at Valentine as similar to the Val-d’Or and Timmins camps in the Abitibi gold belt.
Last November, Calibre discovered broad widths of gold mineralization outside the resource at the Frank zone, about 1 km southwest of the mine’s Leprechaun pit. Results included 173 metres grading 2.43 grams gold per tonne, including 91 metres at 3.84 grams gold, starting from 271 metres downhole in FZ-24-048.
In total the Valentine project hosts 64.6 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.9 grams gold for 3.96 million contained oz. and another 20.8 million inferred tonnes at 1.65 grams gold for 1.1 million ounces.
The company last year produced 242,487 oz. gold at its El Limon and Libertad mines in Nicaragua and its Pan open pit mine in Nevada. It
forecasts 2025 production between 230,000 and 280,000 ounces. Of those, the company estimates 200,000-250,000 oz. will come from Nicaragua and 30,000-40,000 oz. will come from Nevada.
Exploration efforts at the company’s assets in Nicaragua have been successful, too. Last year it reported high-grade results from the Talavera zone and the VTEM corridor at its Limon mine complex, 100 km northwest of the capital, Managua.
Calibre Mining has a market cap of $2.1 billion.
n De Grey Mining
Last December De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG) and its flagship Hemi gold project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia received an allshare takeover offer from Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) at a 37% premium to De Grey’s closing share price of A$1.52 (C$1.37) per share on Nov. 29.
Under the proposed transaction, Northern Star shareholders would own about 80.1% of the combined company and De Grey shareholders 19.9%. De Grey’s board unanimously supported the deal, and a shareholder vote will be held in April.
Hemi is one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in a tier-one mining jurisdiction and based on a feasibility study completed in September 2023 would produce about 530,000 oz. gold annually over its first 10 years and a total of 5.7 million oz. over 12 years.
The project, 85 km from Port Hedland, has probable reserves of 120.8 million tonnes grading 1.5 grams gold per tonne for 6 million oz. contained gold.
The company envisions mining the Brolga starter pit first, which contains probable reserves of 26.9 million tonnes grading 1.64 grams gold for 1.42 million ounces.
In mid-January, infill drill results from Brolga included 70 metres of 3.4 grams gold from 36 metres downhole in BRIN0212, including 18 metres of 6.6 grams gold. It also cut 36 metres grading 4.3 grams gold from 70 metres in BRIN0213, including 24 metres of 5.2 grams gold.
De Grey is assessing the potential of underground mining at Hemi where 2 million oz. of the project’s total resource is beneath the maximum depth for open pit mining (390 metres) outlined in the definitive feasibility study.
In late January, De Grey reported assays from drilling below the study’s pit design at the Eagle deposit, with highlights of 78.1
metres grading 7.9 grams gold from 457 metres downhole in drillhole HEDD347 and 24 metres of 5.1 grams gold from 425 metres depth in HEDD346.
De Grey is awaiting state and federal environmental approvals before making a final investment decision. Federal approval is anticipated in the first quarter and state approval in the fourth quarter.
The company believes there is vast exploration upside at the 1,500-sq.-km project.
De Grey Mining has a market cap of A$4.8 billion ($4.32 billion).
n Galiano Gold
Galiano Gold (TSX: GAU; NYSE: GAU) produced 115,115 oz. gold last year from its 90%-owned Asanko gold mine in Ghana and is forecasting production of 130,000 to 150,000 oz. gold this year.
The company closed 2024 with US$105 million ($C150 million) in cash and no debt and also managed to replace depleted ounces over the last two years with nearmine drilling. At the end of December, Asanko’s proven and probable reserves totalled 47.1 million tonnes grading 1.36 grams gold per
tonne for 2.06 million contained ounces.
Asanko, in Ghana’s Asankrangwa gold belt about 250 km northwest of the country’s capital Accra, consists of four main open pit deposits—Abore, Nkran, Esaase and Miradani North—as well as multiple satellite deposits.
Exploration milestones last year included identifying a new mineralized system at its Akoma greenfield target about 5 km from Asanko’s carbon-in-leach processing plant; confirming a previously unknown shear zone with multiple gold intercepts at its Sky Gold B target; expanding reserves by 45% at its Abore deposit to 11.8 million tonnes grading 1.28 grams gold for 485,000 contained oz; and strong results at Midras South.
Definition drilling at Midras South returned intercepts including 27 metres grading 2.64 grams gold from 13 metres in drillhole MSRC24-352; 21 metres of 3.07 grams from 50 metres in hole MSRC24-302; and 7 metres at 88.33 grams from 3 metres in hole MSRC24-370. Galiano is on track to release its first reserve estimate for Midras South this year.
Highlights from Akoma included 6 metres grading 6.96 grams gold from 40 metres in hole T3RC24-004 and 16 metres averaging 3.57 grams from 68 metres. The company has earmarked $10 million for exploration in 2025 fea-
Left: Vizsla Silver’s Panuco silver-gold project in the southern Mexican state of Sinaloa. Right: Observing geological maps at the Panuco site. VIZSLA SILVER
Trays of cores at De Grey Mining’s Hemi project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. DE GREY MINING
Snapshot
A haul truck is loaded up at Calibre’s Valentine mine. CALIBRE MINING
> Snapshot from P47
turing 17,000 metres of drilling, ground geophysics and regional prospecting and mapping.
A major pit wall pushback at the Nkran pit is also planned to start by mid-year and will enable the company to access high-grade ore at depth.
Galiano Gold has a Toronto market cap of about $445 million.
n Goldshore Resources
Goldshore Resources (TSXV: GSHR; US-OTC: GSHRF) plans to deliver a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in the first quarter of this year for its Moss Lake gold project in northwestern Ontario, about 100 km west of Thunder Bay.
In January it reported the first assay results from its 15,000-metre winter drill program targeting resource expansion in the top 200 metres from surface within the conceptual open-pit.
The first hole drilled into the Southwest Zone under Snodgrass Lake returned 2 metres grading 8.61 grams gold per tonne from 27 metres in drill hole MMD-24-133 and 32.3 metres of 1.73 grams from 42.7 metres downhole, including 16.3 metres of 2.95 grams. The second hole cut 21.9 metres of 0.66 gram from 4.5 metres, including 7.75 metres of 1.36 grams in drillhole MMD-24-134.
Moss Lake hosts 39 million indicated tonnes grading 1.23 grams gold per tonne for 1.5 million contained oz. and another 146.2 million inferred tonnes grading 1.11 grams for 5.2 million ounces.
Goldshore estimates that the resource encompasses 3.6 km of the 35-plus km mineralized trend, and remains open at depth and along strike. About 91% of the gold ounces defined in the resource are within the open-pit portion of Moss Lake.
Its exploration program this year includes geochemical and geophysical activities to delineate future targets along the project’s 23-km cumulative strike and within high-priority structural corridors surrounding the deposit.
Goldshore has invested over $60 million of new capital and completed about 80,000 metres of drilling on the project. Previous owners drilled a total of 235,000 metres at the project.
Moss Lake has direct access to the Trans-Canada Highway and hydro-electric power.
Goldshore Resources has a Toronto market cap of $82 million.
n New Found Gold
New Found Gold (TSXV: NFG; NYSE-AM: NFGC) plans to complete an initial resource estimate and PEA in the second quarter of this year for its Queensway project, 15 km west of Gander, N.L.
The company is in the midst of a 650,000-metre drill program and since it acquired the project in 2016, has made numerous discoveries that have evolved into significant mineralized zones.
Results last October from 10 deep diamond drill holes at Queensway targeting depth extensions of gold mineralization along the Appleton Fault Zone included 7.45 metres grading 9.51 grams gold from 482 metres downhole in drill hole NFGC-24-2158, including 0.7 metre of 27.78 grams and 2.15 metres of 343.1 grams in the Golden Dome Zone; and 4.84
metres at 13.7 grams from 562 metres in NFGC-24-135, including 1.5 metres of 40.6 grams in the Keats-AFZ Zone.
Drill hole 23-1268 cut 2.45 metres at 1.96 grams from 1,046 metres depth and 2 metres of 2.9 grams from 1,061 metres depth in the Iceberg-AFZ Deep Zone.
New Found Gold doubled its strike length along the Appleton Fault to over 20 km last April with the acquisition of LabGold’s (TSXV: LAB; US-OTC: NKOSF) Kingsway project, which adjoins the northern boundary of Queensway.
The company released results from the first six drill holes at Kingsway last October with highlights of 4.45 metres grading 10.4 grams gold per tonne from 219 metres downhole in NFGC-24-2153, including 0.8 metre of 35.2 grams and 2.1 metres of 104.6 grams in the Pistachio Zone. Drill hole NFGC-24-2119 cut 6.15 metres of
5.2 grams gold from 160 metres, including 0.65 metre of 15.3 grams in the Honeypot Zone; and NFGC24-2144 returned 2 metres of 36.7 grams starting from 56 metres in the Jackpot Zone.
New Found Gold has a Toronto market cap of $469 million.
Disclaimer: The Northern Miner Group, which holds Mining.com, The Northern Miner and Canadian Mining Journal, is owned by EarthLabs, whose chairman and CEO, Denis Laviolette, is president of New Found Gold.
n Lundin Mining
In mid-January, Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) and BHP Investments Canada, a subsidiary of BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP), completed the $4-billion acquisition (cash and shares) of Filo Corp. and its Filo del Sol copper-gold-silver project, which straddles the Argen-
tina-Chile border.
The two companies will hold the project in a 50:50 joint venture company called Vicuña Corp. Lundin will contribute its Josemaria project, 10 km away from Filo del Sol, to the joint venture.
The tie-up is targeting a new resource estimate for Filo del Sol and an update to the estimate at Josemaria within the first half of 2025. The resource estimates will form the basis of a technical report outlining an integrated project and a development plan for construction.
The workplan this year will include drilling Filo del Sol, mine planning, metallurgy, hydrology wells and studies, and the commencement of access road construction.
In parallel, engineering studies and trade-off analyses will be completed in preparation for future permitting.
Filo del Sol, in Argentina’s San
Juan province and adjacent Region III Chile, is about 140 km southeast of the Chilean city of Copiapo. It is a high-sulphidation epithermal copper-gold-silver deposit associated with a large porphyry copper-gold system and the project encompasses a large alteration zone within the Vicuña district. The upper part of the Filo del Sol deposit is oxidized and was part of a 2023 feasibility study, but an economic study has yet to be done on the larger sulphide copper-gold mineralization below the oxidized cap.
A 2023 estimate of Filo del Sol’s oxide and sulphide resource outlined 432.6 million indicated tonnes grading 0.33% copper, 0.33 gram gold per tonne and 11.5 grams silver for contained metal of about 3.16 billion lb. copper, 4.63 million oz. gold and 106,380 oz. silver. Inferred resources add 211.6 million tonnes averaging 0.27% copper, 0.31 gram gold and 7.4 grams silver for 1.3 bil-
Rupert Resources’ Ikkari gold project in northern Finland. RUPERT RESOURCES
The Iceberg trench at New Found Gold’s Queensway project in Newfoundland. NEW FOUND GOLD
Lundin Mining and BHP’s joint Filo del Sol copper-gold-silver project on the border of Chile and Argentina LUNDIN MINING
lion lb. copper, 2.1 million oz. gold and 50,330 oz. silver.
Last year Lundin produced 369,067 tonnes copper, 191,704 tonnes zinc, 158,436 oz. gold and 7,486 tonnes nickel.
In other news, the company said last December that it plans to sell its Neves-Corvo operation in Portugal and Zinkgruvan operation in Sweden to Boliden for up to US$1.52 billion.
Lundin Mining has a market cap of $10.2 billion.
n Rupert Resources
Rupert Resources (TSXV: RUP; US-OTC: RUPRF) expects to finish a prefeasibility study on its Ikkari discovery in northern Finland before the end of the first quarter and to submit an environmental impact assessment report in this year’s second half.
Ikkari has open pit and under-
ground resources of 58.4 million indicated tonnes grading 2.18 grams gold per tonne for 4.19 million oz. contained gold and another 3.58 million inferred tonnes grading 1.18 grams for 136,000 oz. The 2023 resource used a cut-off grade of 0.4 gram for mineralization mineable by open pit and 0.9 gram for mineralization extractable from underground.
Last year, scout drilling confirmed the same ultramafic and sedimentary units that host the Ikkari deposit up to 15 km to the east. And an induced polarization survey to identify areas at depth that demonstrate a similar structural setting to Ikkari also identified several locations to be prioritized for drill testing this year.
In addition, exploration is to target Heinä South, about 1 km from Ikkari, where previous drilling cut 25 metres grading 16.5 grams gold starting 83 metres downhole in drill
hole 124019 and 24.4 metres of 10.5 grams per tonne from 61 metres, including 2 metres of 112.5 grams in drill hole 124061.
A bulk sample last year demonstrated 96.4% gold recovery from a head grade of 1.99 grams gold including a significant gravity recoverable gold component.
Ikkari — part of the company’s Lapland project that includes the historic Pahtavaara mine and a working mill — is 40 km from the town of Sodankylä and 9 km from a 220 kilovolt power transformer substation.
A PEA in November 2022 outlined a 22-year mine life (open pit for the first 11 years with the transition to underground in year 10) producing 4.25 million oz. gold over the mine life, or an average of 220,000 oz. a year. The study estimated an after-tax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) of $1.6 billion (C$2.29 billion).
Instead of an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR), the PEA provided an unlevered IRR of 46%, or the expected rate of return on investment if there are no financings.
Rupert Resources has a Toronto market cap of $981.6 million.
n Vizsla Silver Corp.
Vizsla Silver (TSX: VZLA; NYSE: VZLA) plans to publish a feasibility study in the second half of this year for its Panuco silver-gold project in Mexico and is targeting first silver production in the second half of 2027. The project, near the port city of Mazatlán in southern Sinaloa state, is 80 km from First Majestic Silver’s (TSX, NYSE: AG) San Dimas mine.
In January, Vizsla updated the Panuco resource estimate for the fourth time, outlining nearly 13 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 307 grams silver, 2.49 grams gold, 0.27% lead and 0.85% zinc (534 grams silver-equivalent per tonne) for 222.4 million silver-equivalent ounces. Inferred resources stand at 10.5 million tonnes grading 219 grams silver, 1.96 grams gold, 0.30% lead and 1.01% zinc (412 grams silver-equivalent) for 138.7 million silver-equivalent ounces. A 150-
> Barrick from P41
tion targets for the year. However, in the Latin America and Asia Pacific region, a slower-than-expected ramp-up at Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic resulted in output falling below guidance.
“We are targeting 30% growth on a gold-equivalent oz. basis towards the end of the decade, built on our current reserves,” Bristow said.
“We will continue to replace and add to those reserves and resources for further supporting our growth. What’s more, we have the balance sheet strength to fund our growth.”
For 2025, attributable gold production is expected to range between 3.15 million and 3.5 million oz., excluding output from Loulo-Gounkoto while operations remain suspended at the mine.
Attributable copper production for 2025 is projected to rise from
grams silver-equivalent per tonne cut-off grade was used.
The updated resource was centred on the western portion of Panuco, encompassing about 8.6 km of the known 86 km of cumulative vein strike in the district. The estimate was based on a total drill database of 979 holes (372,685 metres), which Vizsla Silver has drilled since November 2019.
A PEA last July envisioned an initial mine life of 10.6 years producing 15.2 million silver-equivalent oz. a year, with an after-tax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) of $1.1 billion (C$1.57 billion) and internal rate of return of 86%. Initial capex of $224 million could be repaid in nine months.
The bulk of Panuco’s measured resource is located at Copala, where the company has broken ground on a bulk sample test mine that will support mine planning for the feasibility study and development for the project’s first stage.
A 10,000-metre drill program with two rigs is also underway to test priority targets in the central and eastern areas of the mining district. Last year the company tripled its land package to more than 170 sq. km.
Vizsla Silver has a Toronto market cap of about $828 million. TNM
195,000 tonnes in 2024 to between 200,000 and 230,000 tonnes, driven by higher output at Lumwana in Zambia.
On an adjusted basis, the gold miner reported a profit of 46¢ per share for the quarter ending Dec. 31, surpassing the 41¢ per share estimate compiled by London Stock Exchange Group.
The company announced plans for a new $1-billion share repurchase program over the next 12 months. Under its 2024 program, Barrick repurchased $498 million worth of common shares.
Turnarounds
On Mali, Barrick applied to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in December for arbitration. The miner halted operations at Loulo-Gounkoto in January after authorities raided its gold stockpile. TNM
Above: Galiano Gold’s Asanko mine in Ghana. GALIANO GOLD
A mineralized shear at Goldshore’s Moss Lake project in northwestern Ontario. GOLDSHORE RESOURCES
BASE, BATTERY AND TECHNOLOGY METALS
China controls 75% of Indonesia nickel refining: report
ASIA | Shareholdings may sway prices
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Chinese investors have managed to gain control over three-quarters of nickel refining capacity in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the mineral — a dominance that may give China a greater say over future prices while crowding out rivals, a new report suggests.
The holdings are hidden behind “layers of shell companies” to mask foreign ownership, according to an analysis last month by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies.
Global demand for nickel is expected to almost double to as much as 6 million tonnes by 2040 as clean energy technologies gain in popularity. The mineral is used in electric vehicle batteries and in stainless steel, among other applications. Indonesia is the world’s No. 2 stainless steel producer.
“China’s entrenched position in the industry makes it difficult for companies to establish a fully independent and secure supply chain outside of China,” the report’s authors conclude.
“The reliance on Chinese-controlled nickel production not only raises concerns about supply chain resilience, but also places U.S. and European automakers at a competitive disadvantage in the global EV market amid increasingly restrictive policies against trade with China. These competing pressures have the potential to hinder innovation, delay production timelines and disrupt supply.”
Foreign influence
Since Indonesia is seeking to use the nickel industry for economic growth, foreign influence could curb the country’s ability to control and shape the industry for its benefit, the report adds. Indonesia holds the largest nickel reserves on the planet. Last year the country produced 63% of the world’s nickel, up from 28% in 2020 – a share that could easily rise to 75% within the next three to five years, according to Jim Lennon, a London-based managing director of commodities at Australia’s Macquarie Group.
Using data from Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the report’s authors identified 19 refineries that together
accounted for 90% of domestic nickel production capacity in 2023.
Several Chinese companies involved in Indonesia’s nickel refining industry either have connections to the People’s Republic of China government or have received backing from Chinese banks, the report says. For example, the People’s Government of the Guangdong province and the Department of Finance of Guangdong province together own the biggest share of Indonesian registered refiner PT Guang Ching Nickel and Stainless Steel Industry, according to the document.
Duo control
Two Chinese companies — Tsingshan Holding and Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry — have “consid-
erable” shares in refineries that account for over 70% of Indonesia’s nickel refining capacity, the report also says, citing public records.
“Not only does this ownership concentration raise concerns about industry dominance, but these two companies have also been associated with significant environmental and social issues,” the report says.
Much of Indonesia’s nickel refining industry depends on coalfired power plants. This raises concerns about the use of fossil fuels to power the renewable energy transition, the report says.
Several media outlets have singled out Indonesian processing facilities for lax workplace safety.
More than 90 deaths and over 100 injuries were reported in Indone-
sian processing facilities between 2015 and 2023, while safety protocols in some smelters were frequently ignored, according to the report. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor added Indonesian nickel to its annual list of goods produced by forced labour.
Price slump
Nickel prices have slumped sharply since 2022 amid a widening production glut — most of which is due to rising output from Indonesia. Lower metal prices, combined with significant cost inflation across the mining sector, have forced many producers outside Indonesia to suspend operations.
Last year the annual average London Metals Exchange price for the silvery-white metal plunged 22% year-on-year to $16,812 per tonne. Nickel was trading at about $15,735 per tonne as press time approached, little changed from 12 months earlier.
Indonesia could cut its nickel ore production quota for this year to between 150 million and 200 million tonnes in an attempt to prop up prices, the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said in late January. News of the quota reduction comes as Indonesia prepares to revise the country’s mining law, following a pledge by President Prabowo Subianto to speed up development of the mineral processing industry. One of the proposed changes would see companies being given priority access to mining areas for “downstreaming” purposes. TNM
China funnelled US$57B to control critical minerals: report
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
China has systematically extended its control over critical minerals essential for the global energy transition and netzero emissions, using a network of at least 26 state-backed financial institutions over the past two decades, a new report shows.
The database, compiled by AidData at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, reveals how Beijing has leveraged an intricate web of financial mechanisms to dominate the global supply chain for critical minerals. These minerals — including copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium and rare earth elements — are vital for emerging technologies such as electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.
Between 2000 and 2021, Chinese financial institutions provided nearly $57 billion in loans to 19 low- and middle-income countries, the report shows. A parallel study
titled Power Playbook: Beijing’s Bid to Secure Overseas Transition Minerals, outlines 93 loan commitments and one grant involving 86 financiers — a mix of Chinese and non-Chinese entities — to 59 recipients.
Both studies underscore how China has deployed its vast foreign exchange reserves to secure long-term control over strategic mineral deposits in resource-rich nations. Key examples include copper and cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru, nickel from Indonesia, and lithium from Argentina.
Ownership structure
Over 75% of these investments were structured to ensure Chinese ownership stakes, primarily through joint ventures (JVs) and special purpose vehicles (SPVs). These arrangements grant Chinese entities significant influence over the extraction and processing of these resources.
The report also highlights a key distinction between China’s mineral financing strategy and its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), President Xi Jinping’s global infrastructure program.
Unlike BRI loans, which are typ-
ically issued by a select group of Chinese development banks, transition mineral financing involves a broader network of lenders. These include state-owned commercial banks like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, and Citic.
The report shows that mineral lending often relies on serial loans rather than one-off arrangements, signalling a deeper, long-term commitment to securing upstream resources. According to AidData, almost 25% of loans in the mineral sector were backed by Chinese guarantors — a sharp contrast to the estimated 4% guarantee rate for general BRI projects.
Decade high
The findings align with several recent reports, including a recent article published in The Economist revealing that, in 2023, Chinese companies invested roughly $16 billion in foreign mines. This
was the highest figure in a decade, up from less than $5 billion the year before.
The report raises concerns about the implications for host countries. In two-thirds of cases, JVs and SPVs excluded significant government ownership, reducing financial liabilities for these nations but also limiting their access to future financial returns from mineral extraction.
AidData’s findings bring into focus Beijing’s methodical strategy to secure access to critical minerals while other nations risk falling behind.
With these strategies now under scrutiny, the report calls attention to the broader geopolitical implications of Beijing’s dominance. It also raises pressing questions for developing nations about how to balance the economic benefits of Chinese investment with the need to retain sovereignty over their natural resources. TNM
Indonesia hosts the biggest nickel reserves in the world and is the top producer of the critical metal. ADOBE IMAGES/ADWO
ADOBE IMAGES/ PLA2NA
Trump order boosts nuclear energy but kinks remain
URANIUM | Demand rises as US builds supply
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
Nuclear energy’s comeback from the doldrums after the Fukushima disaster of 2011 is riding a solid spot price wave and potential traction from a Trump administration bid to re-classify uranium as a critical mineral.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) dropped the nuclear metal from its critical minerals list in 2022 because it deemed uranium a “fuel mineral” that didn’t qualify. But in the Jan. 20 “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, the Trump administration urged the Secretary of the Interior to instruct the USGS director to consider putting uranium back on its critical minerals list.
Doing so would unlock federal funding and accelerate permitting for uranium projects in the U.S. where uranium production has been growing slightly since the uranium oxide (U3O8) spot price hit $106 per lb. early last year. Companies such as Energy Fuels (NYSE: UUUU; TSX: EFR), Uranium Energy (NYSE-AM: UEC) and Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) could benefit.
Though the price has drifted down to $64.80 per lb. before press time, it still sits higher than it did in the decade after the Fukushima disaster.
Meanwhile, demand for nuclear is rising amid interest in zero-emissions energy and as a source for power-hungry artificial intelligence servers.
Politics meets supply
But the increased demand makes for awkward friction with Trump’s ‘America First’ sentiment, focused on procuring domestic sources of commodities, and the reality of where uranium supplies are sourced.
The amount of U3O8 produced in the U.S. is a tiny fraction of what it used to be over the last 25 years, falling 96% from 4.8 million lb. in
2014 to 121,296 lb. in last year’s third quarter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
And even though Trump has threatened 25% import tariffs on Mexico and Canada — with a 10% tariff on energy and critical mineral imports — 27% of U.S. purchases of uranium came from the Great White North in 2022. Another 57% of U3O8 was purchased from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Australia and Russia.
The U.S. has tried to wean itself off Russian uranium, after the Biden administration banned imports under its Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act. Russia responded last November with its own restrictions on uranium exports to the U.S., albeit with exceptions for deliveries on onetime licences.
Several companies in the U.S. — including Uranium Energy and Energy Fuels - have reopened their sites after years of inactivity. Uranium Energy, which operates several in-situ recovery operations, reached a US$175-million deal in September to buy Rio Tinto’s (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO) assets in Wyoming.
Energy Fuels, one of the largest uranium producers in the U.S., reached a deal in late January resolving a dispute with the Navajo Nation on transporting radioactive ore across its lands. Ore is to be trucked from the company’s Pinyon Plain mine in northern Arizona to its White Mesa Mill in southern Utah.
Much of Cameco’s production comes from the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, while it also operates the Inkai joint venture project in Kazakhstan with state-owned producer Kazatomprom (LSE: KAP). The JV in late January resumed production after a regulatory issue was resolved.
SMRs making moves
Political tensions aside, innovation in the nuclear industry continues
apace in North America.
Core Power, a developer of floating nuke technologies, tasked marine engineering consultancy Glosten to design a barge-based plant to power ports in the U.S., according to a Jan. 29 company statement.
Glosten will also gauge a possible regulatory path for the design and a supply chain to build it.
Its project is an example of cheaper-to-build and simpler small modular reactors (SMRs), which offer upside potential to uranium demand. However, regulatory and scalability issues must be addressed before they’re deployed, BMO Capital Markets said in a brief on Jan. 31.
Also in the U.S., a Tennessee Valley Authority-led coalition has applied for a $800-million grant from the Department of Energy to speed up construction of an SMR at Clinch River, the authority said on Jan. 17.
Can-do
Meanwhile in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk in January signed an agreement for cooperation on peaceful nuclear technologies. In 2022, Poland selected as its first nuclear power plant a model manufactured by Westinghouse, which is jointly owned by Canadian uranium giant Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management.
Also in Canada, Ontario Power Generation in January awarded a $1.1-billion contract to a joint venture between Candu Energy and Aecon Group for early works on the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Retube, Feeder and Boiler Replacement project (RFBR). The later, definition stage of the contract is worth another $1 billion.
The Pickering nuclear site just east of Toronto has four operating reactors and the capacity to produce 2,100 megawatts of electricity. The province uses about 60% nuclear for its grid. TNM
Energy Fuels, Navajo OK on uranium
ARIZONA | Deal includes mine cleanups
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Energy Fuels (TSX: EFR; NYSE: UUUU), one of America’s largest uranium producers, reached an agreement with the Navajo Nation to resume radioactive ore transport across the Indigenous community’s lands.
Ore trucked from Energy Fuels’ Pinyon Plain mine in northern Arizona to the company’s White Mesa Mill in southern Utah is now expected to resume near press time, the Denver-based company said Energy Fuels will also help the Navajo Nation in the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines resulting from old U.S. government programs.
“This agreement is a positive development,” Toronto-based Red Cloud Securities said in a note to clients. “Although Energy Fuels has been transporting radioactive material safely since 2007, these additional steps should help build trust with local communities.”
The deal ends a dispute that flared up last year when Energy Fuels started sending ore from the mine to its Utah mill. Negotiations over the accord began in August after the company voluntarily halted shipments.
“The Navajo Nation has suffered longstanding impacts from uranium mining conducted during the Cold War era, resulting in numerous abandoned mine and mill sites on their lands,” Energy Fuels’ president and CEO Mark Chalmers said in the release. “This has understandably caused mistrust toward the U.S. government and energy companies.”
Exceeds rules
The deal contains additional protections and accommodations over and above current U.S. Department of Transportation requirements.
Measures include limiting transportation to specified routes and hours of the day; not transporting ore on days involving celebrations or public events in respect of the Navajo Nation’s culture and traditions; and clearly spelled out emergency response procedures, notice and reporting requirements.
Pinyon Plain, the highest-grade conventional mine in the U.S., forms a key part of Energy Fuels’ uranium production plans, SCP Research analyst Justin Chan said in a note to clients. He called the deal a “win-win” for Energy Fuels, saying that a mutual agreement
was “best for long-term stability.”
Energy Fuels has also agreed to accept and carry, at no cost to the Nation, up to 10,000 tons of uranium-bearing cleanup materials from abandoned uranium mines on Navajo lands. The materials constitute a “relic” of old U.S. government uranium programs that began in the 1940s and did not involve Energy Fuels, the company said.
Navajo inspections
“We have a settlement agreement that will allow the Navajo Nation to monitor and inspect the haul trucks and that provides financial compensation for the expenses to improve safety and protect the environment,” Stephen B. Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, said in the same release.
“The Navajo Nation appreciates the support from Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs who facilitated the pause in transport activities which helped the Navajo Nation and Energy Fuels conduct the negotiations.”
The deal “marks an important step forward for our communities and shows what is possible through collaboration, partnership, and a shared commitment to public safety,” Hobbs said. “This agreement isn’t just about resolving a conflict; it’s a commitment to protecting future generations, respecting Tribal sovereignty and ensuring that all voices are heard and valued.”
Denver-based Energy Fuels will process the ore from Pinyon Plain at the White Mesa Mill into natural uranium concentrates, which are used in the production of nuclear energy. The mining and milling of “natural uranium” represent the first steps in the nuclear fuel cycle for producing zero-emission energy to the U.S. electric grid. TNM
Uranium price falls as DeepSeek disrupts tech
ENERGY | New AI app bursts in popularity
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek is making a splash in the tech world with downloads surpassing ChatGPT’s, pushing major tech stocks down, while prices of uranium — which could help power the AI revolution — declined 5% on the night of Jan. 27. The AI chatbot DeepSeek, founded by tech entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng, rocketed to the top of iPhone’s app downloads
list, ahead of ChatGPT, Threads and Google in late January. It sat at the number 10 spot before press time. The chatbot has achieved that even though DeepSeek said its AI model, known as R1, was made for less than US$6 million, a fraction of the cost of comparable programs.
Top AI firms reportedly train their models with supercomputers using as many as 16,000 integrated circuits, while DeepSeek uses only around 2,000 chips from Nvidia’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) H800 series.
Tech stocks declined sharply on Jan. 27, with AI company Nvidia down 16%, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) falling by 11% and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) down by 15%. The stock drops amount to a $1.6 trillion drop on Wall Street after DeepSeek’s release, according to The Australian. Stocks from all three companies regained most of their losses by press time.
Uranium drops Alongside those movements, the
spot price of uranium, regarded as key to the development of power-intensive AI as a fuel for nuclear power, had fallen on Jan. 27. The price was down by $3.90 per lb. uranium oxide (U3O8) to $67.30 per lb. the next day, for a weekly decline of $6.55 per pound.
There were 21 market transactions representing 1.8 million lb. of spot U3O8 in total over the last week of January, BMO Capital Markets analyst George Heppel said on Jan. 28, citing data from nuclear industry research com-
pany UxC. But he added that additional demand interest is emerging in uranium, including from power utilities for prices under $70 per pound.
“Despite a negative shift in AI sentiment yesterday, our reactor demand outlook remains unchanged out through 2030, underpinned by significant growth from ongoing reactor builds in China,” Heppel said in a note.
“Improving economics for the carry trade should provide upward support at this level.” TNM
The Trump administration seeks to cut red tape around uranium production in the United States. ADOBE IMAGES/ PWMOTION
Energy Fuels’ Pinyon Plain mine in Arizona. ENERGY FUELS
Q&A: The Metals Co. plunges into the deep
UNDERSEA | Next frontier miner to file in June for permit
BY DEVAN MURUGAN
You may have heard of the ClarionClipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean. It’s a stretch of area from Hawaii to Mexico, which has been targeted by the deep-sea mining sector. They’re planning to extract key battery materials, including cobalt, copper and nickel, from potato-sized rocks called polymetallic nodules. Canada’s The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC) already has two exploration contracts in that region.
Devan Murugan, Mining.com:
Well, 2024 was an interesting year, wasn’t it? You had the election of Leticia Carvalho, a renowned oceanographer, to head up the International Seabed Authority. And at the end of the year, you had an incoming Trump administration, which is seen to be supportive of deep-sea mining. You reckon this was a boost for the industry?
Metals Co. CEO Gerard Barron:
You know, 2024 was an interesting year, as you suggest, and one of the toughest, I would say, but it ended with a wet sail. And we’re hopeful about the new secretary general, that she can bring unity to an organization that desperately needs it to serve the needs of the member states who want to see this industry get started. But I think the better news was the election of President Trump.
And, there are a lot of big supporters of not only The Metals Company, but also Ocean Minerals. The U.S. has a priority that’s different to other countries. Mineral security is really important for critical minerals. And, we’ve had the support of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the UN Ambassador Elise Stefanic. We’re going into 2025 thinking this will be a breakout year.
DM: Well the investors certainly think so. There was a sizable surge in The Metals Company share price at the end of the year and the start of 2025. Essentially what caused that?
GB: Well, it came about by being oversold and then it came about by people realizing what a new Trump administration might mean for The Metals Company and for the industry as a whole. And I’ve always said you’ll wake up one day and there’ll be a zero on the end of the stock price because we sit on such an enormous undeveloped asset, and we don’t get fairly appreciated for the value of that asset. I mean, we have 1.6 billion tonnes of these polymetallic nodules on two of our licence areas. So, we’re talking about a resource that’s approaching a trillion dollars worth of value. And the thing that stands in the way of us unlocking that value is the permit to be able to go and extract them and sell them. But that’s also going to be a good
new year for The Metals Company as we prepare to lodge our submission later this year.
DM: I was going to ask you about that because we know that the mining code is yet to be finalized. Seems like it’s taking forever. Let’s talk about that exploitation licence. Are you applying for one this year, as you say?
GB: You can bet your last dollar on it. We’ve announced that on June 27, we will lodge that application and, we might make it a bit earlier, but at the moment we’re working to that date.
DM: Does it matter that the mining code’s not finalized because there’s just so many unanswered questions for many around deep sea mining and the rules and regulations that apply to it. That’s why that mining code is so important. How does it factor into your entire launch of this?
GB: Devan, we’d much rather the mining code be adopted right now, but the regulator has announced that it will have the code completed by the end of this year. And we hope that they stay true to that word. But if you look at the timeline, what we will do is launch that application and they need a year to assess it. And that gives them plenty of time to get those regulations in place. Back in 1994, the member states adopted Article 15, which allowed any contractor or country to lodge this two-year notice. And that was really put in place all those years ago for this exact moment. So, we hope the mining code is in place and we and other member countries are working hard to finalize that. And I certainly understand that the new secretary general will be doing the same.
“It makes sense that we carry out extractive industries where there is the least life, not the most life.”
GERARD BARRON, CEO OF THE METALS COMPANY
But there is also a pathway for us to get into early production. And of course, we think that with the arrival of a new administration in D.C., that will only further add momentum to what’s happening at the International Seabed Authority.
DM: I want to talk about the economic sense of this, Gerard. Many of the metals you are after are in surplus at the moment. You’re seeing some of the lowest prices in years. Let’s take a look at cobalt, possibly around nineyear lows. Nickel, also not at its highest price at all. One has to ask if it still can be profitable to mine from that perspective. What’s your take on it?
GB: Look, when we prepared our preliminary economic assessment (PEA) many years ago and we’re about to release our pre-feasibility study, the sort of prices that we’re looking at down the track are pretty well consistent with today’s prices. What people will see, as they saw in our PEA, is that we can still be very profitable at these numbers.
What we have to remember is that even the country that is responsible for keeping a little bit of a cap on the nickel price, Indonesia, they have a limited supply of high-grade nickel laterite saprolite. They need to supplement the supply of that material with other high-grade feed because the limonite supply comes with a heap of other environmental problems and obviously it’s a much lower grade material.
The point I’m getting at is we have to look at the supply of these metals over the next decades. And you can’t take a today, tomorrow view on commodity prices. You have to believe that over the next 10 years, 20 years, that as the transition continues, as the industrialization of the developing world continues, you see the initiatives announced by the new Trump administration where they want to build industry.
ica that they want to build up the local processing capacity of metals to support their local industries. We expect that will provide added incentives for us to look at not only shipping our nodules, perhaps to Japan, as we’ve already announced, or Indonesia, but also shipping them straight to the U.S. where we can turn them into the battery metals and the industrial metals that are going to be needed to spawn many other industries and jobs.
DM: As we wrap up, Gerard, you brought up how you got a backlash from environmental groups who say harm and destruction of the sea will be devastating if this continues. Has there been any contact with communities in the Pacific?
They want to create jobs. And you’re going to see that in other European countries as well. In fact, you’re going to see it across the world where people want to create jobs back home. They want to reshore new industries. And for that, you’re going to need a supply of metals. And our deposit, a thousand miles southwest of San Diego in the Pacific Ocean, is one of the only deposits on this planet, if not the only, that can make America metal independent, the same way they became energy independent with the introduction of shale many years ago. For the United States, it’s a very exciting moment for them.
DM: There’s also some talk about underestimating how much it will cost to bring these nodules from the sea floor to the surface.
GB: Let me just address that. If you look at the people that are commenting on that, they tend to be environmental activists who have no idea what they’re talking about. If you look at our approach to that, we went and looked to partner with people that operate in these marine environments and have done for decades. One of our biggest investors is a company called Allseas. For the last 40 years, they’ve been operating in the deep ocean, laying pipeline, establishing and demobilizing oil platforms. They know what 24/7, 365day production looks like. And of course, in 2022, we ran a very successful collector test where we put our first collector system in the water, on board The Hidden Gem. You can find some great videos of that on our website at Metals.co. And that was the first time a fully integrated collector test had been done since the 1970s.
We know what the economics are going to look like. And obviously, one of the things that has changed is the absolute insistence from economies like Amer-
GB: Look, the environmental story is one of the strongest aspects of picking up these polymetallic nodules and turning them into battery metals. And once again, if you look at who the voices that are speaking those concerns, they tend to be environmental activists or independent scientists who have joined onto the causes of those activists. And they’re based on desktop studies. They’re based on what might happen. For the last more than a decade, we’ve been out there spending hundreds of millions of dollars to gather the important environmental information that will provide the evidence for regulators to make decisions. And in fact, I’ve just returned from our environmental conference in Brisbane, where we brought together leading experts who’ve been working on our environmental program for the last five or six years. And people are going to be blown away at just how small the impacts are and what high quality data we have. What I always say to people is that you have to apply first principles to any new industry. And it makes sense that we carry out extractive industries in parts of the planet where there is the least life, not the most life. At the moment, we’re pushing into our tropical rainforest to get access to those metals. And the problem with that is you’ve got to move aside the rainforest and push out the indigenous people to then dig up the dirt to get the metal.
Why wouldn’t you go to the abyssal plain where the amount of life is measured in grams per square metre to pick up these rocks and our environmental data will show that we can contain the environmental impacts to the area? We’re also going to have some amazing news about recovery. And not only that, there was an expedition that returned in the last six months from some of the trial mining that was done in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone back in the 1970s.
When we submit this application, there’s going to be an amount of data, not only covering our application, but data available on how the area recovered from activities 40 years ago. Now, I’ve been lucky to get an early view of that. It’s all good news from where we sit at the moment, Devan.
DM: Well, looking forward to June when that application is submitted. But for now we leave it there, Gerard Barron, CEO of The Metals Company. Thanks very much indeed for talking to us. TNM
One of The Metals Company vessels used for seabed exploration. THE METALS COMPANY
Trump drops a bomb on green energy
OPINION | A return to ‘sensible’ policy
BY STEVE GOREHAM
President Donald Trump has long been a supporter of traditional energy. During his campaign, he spoke negatively about electric vehicles (EVs), wind and other renewable energy sources.
But in his first day in office, the new president began a historic shift in United States energy policy away from green energy and back to hydrocarbon energy.
On Jan. 20, President Trump signed five wide-ranging executive orders that radically change U.S. energy and climate policy. These actions restore efforts to promote coal, natural gas, oil, hydropower, nuclear and biofuels, while curtailing support for wind and EVs.
The Trump executive orders also rescinded orders issued by former president Joe Biden and closed federal departments established to promote climate change policies and green energy.
The executive order regarding wind projects offshore and on land immediately impacted the world wind industry. The U.S. government owns all land from three miles (4.8 km) to 200 miles (322 km) offshore, so wind companies require a federal lease to build offshore systems.
Leases reviewed
The order withdrew “all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf” from wind leasing. The order also requires that the new Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, “conduct a comprehensive review” to determine the necessity for “terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases” and to submit a report to the president.
The order also put a hold on LS Power’s Lava Ridge wind project in Idaho, pending a review by Burgum. The Biden administration approved the project in December.
Trump’s wind order shocked energy markets. The stock price of Orsted (US-OTC: DNNGY; NASDAQ Copenhagen: ORSTED) a Danish wind system supplier, dropped 17% to its lowest price in seven years. Orsted proposed to build Sunrise Wind, the largest planned U.S. offshore wind system, to be located southeast of New York City. The company immediately took a $1.7-billion impairment charge on U.S. wind projects.
Wind suppliers RWE (FRA: RWE) of Germany, Equinor (NYSE: EQNR) of Norway, EDP Renováveis (LIS: EDPR) of Portugal, and Vestas Wind Systems of Denmark (COP: VWS) also suffered stock price declines. Italy’s Prysmian (MIL: PRY) announced that it would abandon a plan to build a plant in the U.S. to make cables for offshore wind systems.
Wind energy plans for several states have been crippled. California planned to install 25 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2045, with initial projects at Morro Bay and Humbolt Bay, but these plans are on hold for at least the next four years. Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Rhode Island, and Virginia are constructing or planning east coast offshore systems, but these programs will be reviewed, limited, or halted if not yet started.
EVs assailed
The “Unleashing American Energy (UAE)” executive order calls for elimination of the “electric vehicle
“The new executive orders make it clear that the U.S. will no longer pursue efforts to ‘mitigate’ climate change.”
STEVE GOREHAM
AUTHOR OF GREEN BREAKDOWN: THE COMING RENEWABLE ENERGY FAILURE
mandate” to promote consumer choice and access to gasoline-powered automobiles. It’s true that the U.S. has no formal EV mandate, but 22 states have zero-emissions vehicle laws or executive orders prohibiting sales of gasoline cars by a future date, typically 2035.
On March 20 of last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued updated emissions standards that would force auto manufacturers to sell an increasing number of EVs, rising from about 8% last year to about 56% of new light vehicle purchases by 2032.
The Trump orders also call for termination of state emissions waivers “that function to limit sales of gasoline powered automobiles.”
The 1970 Clean Air Act established the federal government as responsible for regulating pollution, except where a waiver is granted by the EPA to a state.
For years, California has set emissions standards, receiving EPA waivers to do so, with other states following California’s lead. The orders seek to terminate these waivers to California and restore emissions control to the EPA.
This month, California withdrew its request for a waiver for regulations to electrify heavy trucks and locomotives because it appeared that Trump’s EPA would not grant that request.
Subsidies knocked
The order also calls for the “elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs.” This probably refers to coming efforts to eliminate the $7,500 tax credit on new EV sales and also efforts to eliminate the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards
issued by the Department of Transportation, which force auto manufacturers to sell a larger share of EVs.
The U.S. economy today includes several green energy industries which probably would not exist without the vast array of federal and state subsidies and tax credits.
Wind, solar, EV charging, carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, and green hydrogen receive a limitless stream of subsidies and tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), both of which were passed during the Biden presidency.
The Washington, D.C.-based CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank, estimates that renewable energy will receive about $80 billion in federal funds during fiscal year 2025.
During his campaign, Mr. Trump vowed to eliminate the money flow from these two acts, and his first-day executive orders reflect this. The UAE order calls for “termination of the Green New Deal,” and a halt to the disbursement of funds from the IRA and IIJA. President Trump will probably need to pass Congressional legislation to permanently reduce the flow of IRA and IIJA funds.
Size matters
Wind and solar systems are intermittent, use 100 times the land area, and require at least double the
transmission infrastructure compared to traditional coal, gas or nuclear power plants.
Few utilities would build wind and solar systems if not for the fear of human-caused global warming.
But the new executive orders make it clear that the U.S. will no longer pursue efforts to “mitigate” climate change.
In the executive order titled “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements,” the President directs the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, nominee Elise Stefanik, to notify the UN in writing that the U.S. withdraws from the Paris Climate Agreement, effective immediately. The order also states that the U.S. will immediately cease financial payments under the Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The orders direct executive branch officials to cancel at least five Biden executive orders on climate change, and to disband the Climate Change Support Office, the American Climate Corps, and The Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases.
Rules sidelined
The orders also call for the EPA to review the 2009 Endangerment Finding for “continuing applicability.” That finding concluded that carbon dioxide endangered U.S. citizens and is the basis for regulating CO2 emissions in the U.S.
The Trump actions also seek to boost the development of hydrocarbon energy in the spirit of “drill, baby, drill.” Key actions include re-opening the licensing of liquified natural gas terminals, opening federal lands for onshore and offshore oil and gas production, reopening Alaska lands for energy production, and reducing efficiency regulations on dishwashers, stoves, and furnaces.
The President also declared a national energy emergency to speed the deployment of pipelines and other energy infrastructure. The Trump EPA and Department of Energy will roll back regulations on oil and gas to expand U.S. production.
Trump’s executive order bomb, followed by Congressional action to limit funds from the IRA and IIJA, promises to gut, or profoundly reshape, the U.S. green energy movement. January 2025 may begin a long decline for green energy and a return to sensible energy policy. TNM
Steve Goreham is a speaker on energy, the environment and public policy. He’s the author of the book Green Breakdown: The Coming Renewable Energy Failure. This article appeared previously on MasterResource, an energy markets and public policy forum that’s skeptical of government intervention.
United States President Donald Trump’s executive orders curb the growth of wind energy projects. ADOBE IMAGES/IMAGEVIXEN
States with Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandates
ZEV Mandates
Ring of Fire gets $90M
INFRASTRUCTURE | Power line, highway
BY CANADIAN MINING JOURNAL STAFF
Queen’s Park and Aroland First Nation have signed a multi-million-dollar agreement to plan a transmission line in the remote Ring of Fire area in the province’s north.
The deal also includes support for upgrades to Anaconda and Painter Lake Roads, which are important connections on the planned highway to the Ring of Fire, the provincial government said Jan. 29.
The Ring of Fire, known for its vast critical mineral potential but only a few projects, lies about 540 km northeast of Thunder Bay. The hydroelectric line is planned near Aroland First Nation, located at what is known as the “gateway” to the Ring of Fire, 60 km north of Geraldton on Highway 584/643.
“With the risk of U.S. tariffs, it’s never been more important for us to work together to do everything possible to keep our economy competitive,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. “At the top of the list is unlocking the economic potential of the Ring of Fire region. These partnerships will transform Northern Ontario with new jobs, growth and opportunities throughout the region.”
Initial
step
The funding, which totals about $93 million, is an initial step to open the muskeg region to development with a highway project that internal government memos a few years ago estimated would cost at least $2 billion. Local groups must still complete environmental studies ahead of any road construction and only Wyloo Metals’ Eagle’s Nest project is considered advanced.
Wyloo, owned by Australian tycoon and former Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) CEO Andrew Forrest, could be the first to tap the potential billions of dollars of battery metals touted in the region’s swampy area. But the province’s road plans face some Indigenous opposition and could take a decade to implement judging by other projects.
Ford, a big proponent of the development, was facing a Feb. 27 election as press time approached. The Conservative Party leader has said he needs a new mandate from Ontarians in case he needs to spend billions of dollars to soften the blow of U.S. tariffs.
Transmission line
The Ring of Fire agreement includes a $70-million investment
to advance route and design planning of the Greenstone electricity transmission line. Ontario is to work with Aroland First Nation, Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek, Ginoogaming First Nation, Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek, Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek and Red Rock Indian Band.
Another $20 million is to be invested in community infrastructure projects that support business development, boost community well-being and preparedness to participate in economic activities related to mineral development, the government said. Up to $2.3 million will be set aside for a plan to support business development and community wellness.
“Infrastructure partnerships with First Nations communities in the region are essential for advancing mining operations, including Greenstone Gold Mine and the Ring of Fire, while building long-term prosperity for First Nations,” Red Cloud Securities analysts said in a note to clients.
Ontario last year announced maintenance and upgrades to Highway 584 and Highway 11 in the region. Anaconda and Painter Lake Roads connect to these infrastructure links via Highway 643 and are to one day connect to the proposed Marten Falls Community Access Road, Northern Road Link and Webequie Supply Road.
Transload facility
Aroland First Nation has expressed interest in acting as a proponent for the development of a transload facility and a host community for a smelter, the government said. Ontario will support Aroland in considering these opportunities.
Ontario government officials have stated they will be inviting Aroland and potentially other interested nearby First Nations to hold discussions over an agreement to share the economic benefits of forestry and mining operations in the region.
The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada said recently it would engage with 15 First Nations in the region to determine ongoing issues related to the Ring of Fire mining development. Ontario and the federal government have been at odds over development in the region, with both sides blaming the other for not doing enough to invest in critical infrastructure and engage in Indigenous consultations. TNM
American Rare Earths lifts Halleck by 12%
WYOMING | ‘Cornerstone’ of US supply chain
BY STAFF WRITER
One of North America’s biggest rare earth deposits just got bigger.
American Rare Earths’ (ASX: ARR; US-OTC: ARRNF) new JORC-compliant resource estimate for its Halleck Creek project in Wyoming now exceeds 2.6 billion tonnes, a 12% increase over the estimate from last year, the company said.
The resource has an average grade of 3,926 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxides (TREO), containing 8.6 million tonnes of TREOs.
A major component of the project is the Cowboy State mine, the first stage of development within the Red Mountain area. Its resource total grew by 29% in the update to 543 million tonnes, along with a 2.7% increase in TREO grade to 3,438 ppm.
“This resource update demon-
strates the continued growth, scale and strategic importance of Halleck Creek as a cornerstone project for the U.S. rare earth supply chain,” American Rare Earths CEO Chris Gibbs said Jan. 29 in a news release.
Gibbs also highlighted the project’s “remarkable” upside potential. The current resource covers only about 16% of the greater Halleck Creek surface area, and the deposit remains open at depth and along strike.
Top 10 project
Mining Intelligence had ranked Halleck Creek as one of the world’s top 10 rare earth projects measured in TREOs. It’s the only project on the list in the U.S. Due to the strategic importance of rare earths, which are used in magnets and green energy technologies, Halleck Creek is being considered for a $456 million loan from the US Export-Import Bank to support its
staged development.
Five of the other rare earths projects in the Mining Intelligence ranking are in Canada, though they have yet to become producing mines.
The updated resource is expected to have a positive impact on Halleck Creek’s economics, American Rare Earths said. The company is now integrating the resource data into a new scoping study, due by about now, as well as a pre-feasibility study, expected this year.
At the same time, metallurgical test work continues to highlight the potential for cost-efficient processing at Halleck Creek. The previous scoping study found that about 90% of the waste material can be removed during gravity and magnetic separation.
That should increase grades through physical separation methods before leaching, which would cut operating costs. Results of this testing are anticipated by the end of the month.
TNM
Montero Mining settles with Tanzania for $27M
DISPUTE
BY STAFF WRITER
| Government cancelled company’s licence in 2018
Montero Mining and Exploration (TSXV: MON) agreed to settle its dispute with Tanzania over the Wigu Hill rare earths project for $27 million (C$38.6 million).
The amount, to be paid in three instalments, is far less than the damage that the company had been seeking through arbitration proceedings. Once funders and legal costs have been paid, Montero will only receive about $14.5 million.
“We wish Tanzania success in attracting new mining investments and look forward to receiving the final two payments due within the next five weeks,” Montero CEO Tony Harwood said in a Jan. 28 release, referring to the $27 million settlement.
In January 2021, the company filed a request for arbitration with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over the “unlawful expropriation and mistreatment” of its investment in Tanzania. It later submitted a claim for $90 million.
The dispute relates to the validity of Montero’s renewed licence on the Wigu Hill project, which was cancelled in 2018 under a new
mining code that did not recognize the “retention licence” classification. The company first began exploring the property in 2008 under a prospecting licence and was later granted the retention licence in 2015.
In late 2019, Tanzania’s mining commission announced a public invitation to tender for the joint development of areas previously covered by retention licences, including the area of the Wigu Hill. This essentially deemed the Wigu Hill project “valueless” to Montero.
The company said it has since made repeated attempts to work with the Tanzanian government to reach a fair settlement, while the discovery and development of the Wigu Hill project “has created sig-
nificant value for Tanzania.”
“Acting in good faith, Montero made several attempts to settle the dispute over Wigu Hill with the Tanzanian government but without success,” Harwood said in a November 2021 news release.
Montero is one of several companies that have filed arbitration procedures with ICSID against Tanzania for the expropriation of retention licences. In 2023, Indiana Resources (ASX: IDA) won an award of $109.5 million, while Winshear Gold (TSXV: WINS) settled for $30 million the same year.
The mining company’s sole focus now is the Avispa copper-molybdenum project in Chile, for which it is seeking a joint venture partner. TNM
Wyloo Metals’ Eagles Nest project in Ontario’s Ring of Fire region. WYLOO METALS
Montero Mining’s Wigu Hill project in Tanzania. MONTERO MINING AND EXPLORATION
American Rare Earths’ Halleck Creek project in southeast Wyoming. AMERICAN RARE EARTHS
The future of copper mining’s top tier?
ANALYSIS
| Impetus for mega-mergers is alive and well
BY MINING.COM STAFF
BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) appears to be discarding its long-running interest in Anglo American (LSE: AAL) and pivoting to spend billions instead on expanding its own assets.
In late January, The Financial Times reported that Melbourne-based BHP was abandoning plans to bid for Anglo due to the recent run-up in the target’s stock price. Whether BHP has the pockets or the stomach for a much more expensive acquisition than the US$49 billion (C$70.1 billion) deal that Anglo rejected last year remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, although talks between Glencore (LSE: GLEN) and Rio Tinto (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO) — held late last year and revealed in January — seem to have stalled, the impetus for mega-mergers at the top of the mining food chain is alive and well. And if even large-scale transactions fail to materialize, smaller players are ready to pick up the slack and acquire copper assets on their own.
Since BHP’s unsolicited approach was officially declared dead, London-based Anglo has been busy getting in the right shape should its suitor have another go – which cannot be ruled out entirely, given the company’s careful wording around the issue.
De Beers out
Anglo is ditching its Southern African diamond and platinum, Australian coal and Brazilian nickel assets. This restructuring, which is along the lines of what BHP demanded in its first approach, would result in copper accounting for 60% of Anglo’s portfolio.
For its part, BHP is now pivoting towards organic growth. Up to $10 billion is being spent on Escondida in Chile, the world’s largest copper mine, in which Rio Tinto has a 30% stake.
What would the copper landscape look like if BHP revived its interest in Anglo while Glencore and Rio Tinto decided to tie the knot? Based on market valuations as this story was written, a BHP-Anglo combination would have been worth some $160 billion, just about on par with that of a merged Glencore and Rio Tinto.
Together, BHP and Anglo would produce about 1.9 million tonnes of copper on attributable basis, topping the 1.6-million-tonne output of a merged Glencore-Rio Tinto. If these combinations happen, only two companies would control 16% of global copper production. .
Production growth
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s copper service says that under a Glencore-Rio Tinto merger, the potential for copper production growth would be substantial — primarily driven by the latter’s significant assets.
Should Rio Tinto’s Resolution project in Arizona somehow be resurrected — and with President Donald Trump back in office those chances have improved – the ranking of top producers would not change much, however. Rio Tinto has a 55% stake and BHP owns the remainder of what could be a 450,000 tonne-per-year mine.
Benchmark points out that Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, which Rio Tinto partly owns, is on track to achieve production of 500,000 tonnes a year of copper by the end of the decade, as an underground
A BHP-Anglo combination would have been worth some $160 billion.
expansion makes steady progress. Escondida, which is projected to reach peak production of 1.3 million tonnes of copper in 2025, also offers significant brownfield expansion opportunities. Glencore also brings tonnes to the table. The company’s standout asset is its 44% stake in Collahuasi, a mine in northern Chile with a 76-year lifespan and considerable expansion potential, Benchmark says.
Rediscovering Africa
Two large mines with cobalt by-products and crucial operating experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) also count in Glencore’s favour, partic-
ularly now that Western governments are belatedly rediscovering Africa as a potential supplier of critical minerals and global trade is fast going back to its mercantilist roots.
The DRC has been the number one source of additional copper tonnes coming on stream for four out of the last five years. What’s more, the central African nation is likely to add another 200,000-plus tonnes to yearly mined copper in 2025.
Glencore also owns an extensive greenfield portfolio in Latin America with projects such as West Wall, El Pachón, and MARA each having the potential to develop into major copper mines in the decade to come, says Benchmark.
Switzerland-based Glencore is always looking for deals.
Under former CEO Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore made its first attempt to merge with Rio Tinto in 2014 — barely two years after gobbling up Xstrata for $90 billion to add a vast mining portfolio to its then high-flying trading business.
Trader weight
That approach was a non-starter in Melbourne, but with ever more fraught geopolitics, Glencore’s skills at navigating the global commodities trade may represent more of an asset this time around. At $228 billion a year, Glencore’s revenues dwarf those of its peers, and the company has never been afraid to throw its weight around.
Glencore made an unsuccessful $23-billion bid for Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) in 2023 but did end up with the Vancouver-based company’s coal assets.
Despite pressure from shareholders, Glencore is clinging to its very profitable coal mining and trading business. Following Rio Tinto’s well publicized exit from the industry, however, the fossil fuel may well prove to be an insurmountable merger obstacle for its green-conscious shareholders.
Teck is itself on an aggressive copper growth path, vowing to boost production to 800,000 tonnes. Even on an owned basis, that would place the company firmly among the top 10 producers.
A potential dark horse in copper M&A is First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM). Last week, the Vancouver-based company disappointed markets with a cut to its 2025 production guidance.
First Quantum is targeting 400,000 tonnes this year, but if — and when — its Cobre Panama mine is restarted, the company’s contribution to global copper production could exceed that of Anglo. Consensus seems to be that the restart will occur either late this year or in the first half of 2026. TNM
Premium Resources hits high grades at Selebi North
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Two holes drilled outside the resource estimate area at the past-producing nickel-copper-cobalt Selebi North underground mine in Botswana delivered grades as high as 1.73% copper, Premium Resources (TSXV: PREM; US-OTC: PRMLF) said Jan. 27. Drill hole SNUG-24-172 on the South Limb cut 14.2 metres grading 1.73% copper, 1.66% nickel and 0.08% cobalt starting from 623.8 metres downhole, Premium said. The second hole, SNUG-24144, returned 14.4 metres averaging 1.44% copper, 1.24% nickel and 0.06% cobalt starting 610.3 metres downhole on the N2 Limb.
“This exploration drilling program is designed to increase the mineral resource of the Selebi North deposit by drill testing large, highly conductive BHEM (borehole electromagnetic) plates located down plunge and interpreted to represent massive sulphide mineralization,” company president Sean Whiteford said in a release.
The Selebi North mine, 410 km north of the nation’s capital Gaborone, opened in 1990 and operated
Premium plans to update the resource estimate for both deposits in the first half of 2025 and complete upgrades to the shafts.
for 26 years. The mine was developed to a depth of 970 metres and 13.9 million tonnes grading 0.74% nickel and 0.66% copper were extracted before it was put on care and maintenance in 2016.
Initial estimate
Premium completed an initial
resource estimate for Selebi North last August outlining 3 million indicated tonnes grading 0.9% copper and 0.98% nickel for 27,000 tonnes contained copper and 29,000 tonnes nickel. Inferred resources measure 5.83 million tonnes grading 0.9% copper and 1.07% nickel for 52,000 tonnes contained copper and 62,000 tonnes nickel.
The Selebi North deposit is part of the company’s Selebi mines project, which also consists of the Selebi Main deposit. The Selebi Main mine began production in 1980, and, like Selebi North, was suspended in 2016 due to a failure in the processing facility.
Selebi Main hosts 18.9 million inferred tonnes grading 1.69% copper and 0.88% nickel for 319,000 tonnes contained copper and 165,00 tonnes of nickel.
Premium plans to update the resource estimate for both deposits in the first half of 2025, according to a corporate presentation made in November. It also intends to complete upgrades to the Selebi North and Main shafts and start building a new mill next year with the goal of commissioning the mill and starting production in 2027-2028. TNM
BHP’s Spence copper mine in norhtern Chile. BHP
Left: Drill cores at the Selebi North project. Left below: Drilling at Selebi North. PREMIUM RESOURCES
Opportunists siphon billions from war-ravaged Congo
COBALT | Rwanda-backed M-23 destabilizes region
BY HENRY LAZENBY IN SKUKUZA, SOUTH AFRICA
Middlemen and local mili-
tias have been stealing billions from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) cobalt and coltan trade, fuelling conflict and impoverishing the nation, according to a political analyst.
Although the DRC produces 70% of the world’s cobalt, nearly $1 billion vanishes from the legal supply chain each year, according to Oluwole Ojewale, regional coordinator for the Johannesburg-based Institute for Security Studies. Artisanal miners — 150,000 to 200,000 strong, with another million people depending on their work — extract minerals from remote sites in the central African country’s North and South Kivu provinces.
The region made global headlines in January after rebel group M23, backed by neighbouring Rwanda, seized the area’s largest city, Goma. Just before press time, rebel forces had captured Bukavu, 200 km south in South Kivu with its coltan, gold and tin ore mines. A regional peace conference in Dar es Salaam last month urged direct talks among all parties, although the DRC has balked at negotiating with M23.
The fighting has killed thousands of people and displaced at least 100,000 from camps in the volatile eastern Congo. The country is still suffering a humanitarian crisis more than 20 years after two wars drew in a slew of countries and killed some 5 million people including by starvation and disease.
Supply chains
Ojewale’s research since 2021 shows that most foreign companies don’t mine directly. Instead, they buy minerals through grey-area brokers. These middlemen mix illegally sourced minerals with legally certified ones, which harms responsible sourcing and fuels conflict as rival armed groups deploy and tax artisanal miners. The operations taint global supply chains, especially for electric vehicles and renewable energy projects, Ojewale said.
“The absence of a strong government presence means legal and illegal cobalt quickly mingle,” Ojewale said last month by phone from Dakar, Senegal. “This system channels profit to armed groups and middlemen while depriving the DRC of its rightful revenue.”
These intermediaries create fake traceability documents and bribe border officials in Zambia, Burundi and Tanzania to move the metal, Ojewale said. This lets contami-
nated cobalt and coltan enter global markets in London, Shanghai and North America.
Minerals are not the sole driver of the conflict — they’re the tinder that ignites deep-seated ethnic identity and economic tensions.
“Long-standing grievances and fierce competition for power and resources are equally to blame,” Ojewale said.
Mpox
The UN Refugee Agency reports that forced displacement will continue in the hardest-hit provinces this year. This will worsen a crisis that affected 27 million people last year. They faced conflict, food shortages, climate shocks, and epidemics. The DRC is the global epicentre of the Mpox outbreak, recording the highest number of cases worldwide, according to the agency.
Ojewale has visited mining sites. He warns that without strong law enforcement, the country’s mineral wealth will continue to finance conflict.
After 13 South African soldiers — part of a UN peacekeeping force — died this year near Goma, President Cyril Ramaphosa urged Rwanda to limit its military aid to the M23 rebel group.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said the DRC is unable to control the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a militia linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. A one-sided ceasefire declared by the Congo River Alliance — which includes M23 — failed to calm the conflict as the Southern African Development Community and the East African Community scrambled to hold the Feb. 8 peace summit.
Troublesome actors
The International Energy Agency is predicting that global cobalt demand will quadruple by 2030, an increase that’s driven by its use in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and computers. Yet most foreign firms are bypassing the DRC’s unstable mining zones, opting instead for local middlemen to supply the critical mineral.
These middlemen source minerals from artisanal operations that operate outside state-approved cooperatives. The government tried to help by giving a monopoly on artisanal cobalt to the staterun Entreprise Générale du Cobalt and setting up regulatory bodies. However, widespread corruption and weak enforcement derailed the efforts and the illegal trade contin-
ues to thrive, Ojewale said.
Illegal extraction not only drains billions from the state but also exacts a heavy human and environmental toll. Artisanal miners face dangerous conditions. They often lack protective gear, exposing them to toxic dust — which can cause respiratory diseases, cancer and birth defects. Meanwhile, rampant waste dumping and water contamination destroy local ecosystems and undermine agriculture.
Indaba
Participants at the recent Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town discussed the need for artisanal and small-scale operators to become more formalized. This is important because these miners account for a double-digit share of global gold and cobalt mining output each year.
Both the DRC and cobalt-importing nations must enforce strict regulations, tighten border controls and improve traceability, Ojewale stressed. The region can only secure its mineral wealth, protect vulnerable communities and stop conflict funding through coordinated action.
“Unless governments and global buyers clamp down on these middlemen, the minerals powering our clean energy future will continue to fund deadly conflicts and rob the DRC of its chance to build a stable, prosperous society,” he warned. TNM
Global Lithium fights alleged Chinese takeover
LITHIUM | Aus firm seeks probe
BY MINING.COM STAFF
Australia’s Global Lithium Resources (ASX: GL1) has called on Canberra to intervene in what it calls a takeover attempt by Chinese investors targeting its flagship asset, the Manna lithium project.
The West Perth-based developer is seeking government action following the Australian Takeovers Panel’s decision to reject Global Lithium’s application to investigate alleged breaches of foreign ownership rules.
The company has raised alarms for months over what it claims is an unlawful alliance among China-linked shareholders attempting to gain control of its Western Australian lithium project. It has specifically accused one of its directors, Dianmin Chen, of collaborating with foreign investors who collectively hold between 30% and 40% of its shares, to orchestrate a board takeover and assume control of the Manna project.
Global Lithium’s management has appealed to Australia’s treasurer to act. The treasurer, advised by the Foreign Investment Review Board, has the authority to compel the shareholders advocating for board changes to reduce their stakes. Additionally, the treasurer could prohibit these shareholders from voting at a shareholder meeting scheduled for Feb. 13.
The Western Australia Supreme Court previously highlighted this possibility in a ruling delivered in November.
Shares of Global Lithium Resources in Sydney closed 2.4% stronger after the Feb. 8 request at 22¢ (C20¢), valuing the company at $56.3 million.
Curbing Chinese influence
Global Lithium’s executive chairman, Ron Mitchell, has urged shareholders to oppose motions to reappoint Chen, appoint other Chinese-born directors, and limit the board to three members.
The company halted develop-
ment of the Manna lithium project late last year, citing a prolonged downturn in the battery raw materials market. Located near Kalgoorlie, the project is regarded as critical to Australia’s broader strategy to retain domestic ownership of key mineral resources.
Manna’s mineral resource estimate sits at 51.6 million tonnes at 1% lithium oxide (Li2O), with 515,000 tonnes of total contained Li2O. Indicated resources are pegged at 32.9 million tonnes with 1.04% Li2O.
This case is part of a broader effort by the Australian government to limit foreign investment in strategic sectors, particularly critical minerals. Canberra signalled that such investments should come from “like-minded” countries — a phrase often interpreted as excluding Chinese entities.
A similar case ended last June with treasurer Jim Chalmers mandating Yuxiao Fund, a Singapore-based investor with ties to China, to sell down its stake in Northern Minerals (ASX: NTU), an Australia-listed rare earths explorer, on national security grounds. TNM
Critical Elements secures $150M pledge
QUEBEC | Debt deal for Rose project
BY MINING.COM STAFF
Critical Elements Lithium (TSX-V: CRE) says it has received a letter of support from a leading Canadian financial institution expressing interest in providing up to $150 million in long-term project debt financing for the development of its Rose lithium-tantalum project in Quebec.
The Rose property is located in northern Quebec’s Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory, within the province’s administrative region. The entire property spans more than 24.6 sq. km and is geologically situated at the northeastern end of the Archean Lake Superior Province of the Canadian Shield.
Shares of Critical Elements Lithium surged 18% to 58¢ apiece in Toronto on the news, and sat at 60¢ each before press time, bringing the company’s market capitalization to $131.3 million.
66% return
In August 2023, Critical Elements released
study for Rose outlining spodumene concentrate production. The study estimates an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 66% and an after-tax net present value (NPV) of US$2.2 billion at an 8% discount rate. The project will produce technical-grade spodumene concentrate for the glass and ceramics industry and chemical-grade spodumene concentrate for battery conversion in e-mobility applications, along with tantalite concentrate.
The mine is expected to extract 26.3 million tonnes of ore over its lifespan, with an average grade of 0.87% Li₂O and 138 parts per million Ta₂O₅ after dilution. According to the company website, the processing plant will handle 1.61 million tonnes of ore per year, for an annual average of 203,765 tonnes of spodumene and 580 tonnes of tantalite concentrates. Throughout the mine’s operational life, the open pit is expected to extract 182.4 million tonnes of waste rock and 10.9 million tonnes of overburden, resulting in an average strip ratio of 7.3 tonnes of waste per tonne of ore. TNM
Artisanal coltan,manganese and cobalt mining in the North Kivu region of Democratic Republic of Congo. ADOBE IMAGES/ ERBERTO ZANI
Global Lithium in Australia. GLOBAL LITHIUM
SPOTLIGHT: Global Battery Metals
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Battery metals are crucial in the world economy today and their importance will only grow over time as the climate warms and greener energy comes to the fore. Here are eight companies with projects to keep an eye on.
n American Lithium
American Lithium (TSXV: LI; US-OTC: AMLIF) is focused on producing battery-grade lithium carbonate at its TLC claystone project in Nevada and its Falchani hard rock project in southern Peru.
An updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in January 2024 for an open-pit operation at Falchani considered two scenarios: the first producing lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and the second adding sulphate of potash (SOP) fertilizer and cesium sulphate (Cs2SO4) by-products starting in year six of the project’s 43-year-mine life.
The base case outlined life-ofmine production of 2.64 million tonnes of LCE delivering an aftertax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of $5.11 billion (C$7.3 billion) and internal rate of return (IRR) of 32%. At $22,500 per tonne LCE, initial capex of $681 million could be repaid after-tax in three years.
In the second scenario, Falchani would produce the same amount of LCE along with 3.1 million tonnes of SOP and 144,247 tonnes of (Cs2SO4). The NPV was pegged at about $5.6 billion and IRR at 29.9%. Initial capex remained the same with a three-year payback.
The company is awaiting approval of Falchani’s environmental impact assessment, which it submitted in November 2023.
In Nevada, a PEA of the openpit TLC project outside Tonopah envisioned production of 1.46 million tonnes LCE over 40 years or about 38,000 tonnes LCE annually. The 2023 study estimated an aftertax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) of $3.26 billion and IRR of 27.5%
based on $20,000 per tonne LCE.
Initial capex of $819 million could be repaid after-tax in 3.8 years.
The PEA also evaluated producing the identical amount of LCE along with 1.68 million tonnes per year of magnesium sulphate (MgSO4). The NPV rose to $5.16
billion and the IRR to 36%. Capex of $827 million could be repaid in 3.7 years.
At a cut-off grade of 500 parts per million (ppm), TLC contains 2,052 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 809 ppm lithium for 8.8 million tonnes LCE.
Inferred resources add 486 million tonnes grading 713 ppm lithium for 1.86 million tonnes LCE.
Environmental baseline study work is underway as the company prepares to start the permitting process for its mine plan.
The company also owns the
Macusani uranium deposit in Peru.
American Lithium has a market cap of about $108 million.
n Critical Metals
Critical Metals Corp. (NASDAQ: CRML) plans to become Europe’s first lithium concentrate producer in 2026-2027 with lithium mined at its Wolfsberg project in Austria, about 270 km southwest of Vienna. An updated definitive feasibility study for the mine and lithium concentrate converter is expected in the first quarter of this year.
Last year Critical Metals and Saudi Arabia’s Obeikan Group agreed to create a 50:50 joint-venture company that will build a processing plant to convert Wolfsberg’s lithium spodumene concentrate into lithium hydroxide. The refinery will be built in Saudi Arabia and Critical Metals estimates the plant could produce up to 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide a year.
Last December the state government of Carinthia ruled Wolfsberg, which already has a mining licence, did not require an environmental impact assessment.
Wolfsberg contains an S-K 1300 compliant resource estimate of 9.7 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.03% lithium oxide (Li20) and another 3.1 million inferred tonnes grading 0.9% Li20.
Critical Metals signed an offtake agreement with BMW in December 2022 giving the carmaker the first right to purchase 100% of its lithium hydroxide. Under the deal, BMW contributed a prepayment of US$15 million to develop Wolfsberg, to be repaid through equal set offs against the lithium hydroxide delivered.
Critical Metals is also advancing its Tanbreez rare earths project in southern Greenland. Tanbreez contains 28.2 million tonnes of total rare earth oxides (TREO) contained within 4.7 billion tonnes of material, making it the largest rareearth deposit in the world by total resource count.
After acquiring the project last June, the company kicked off a 14-hole (2,200 metre) drill program last September to upgrade the resource to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission standards. Results from the first hole were reported last December and the highlight was a 40-metre intercept averaging 1.82% zirconium oxide (ZrO2), 4,722.51 ppm TREO, 130.92 ppm tantalum pentoxide (Ta205), 1,852.22 ppm niobium pentoxide (Nb205), 393.68 ppm hafnium oxide (Hf02) and 101.67 ppm gallium (Ga203).
In October, the company identified two high-grade areas that it had not previously factored into its development strategy: Horizon Zero, where limited testing returned about 5% zirconium dioxide (ZrO2), and EALS, located above the unit designed for mining. Critical Metals has a market cap of about $728 million.
n Element 25
Element 25 (ASX: E25; US-OTC: ELMTF) started mining and manganese concentrate processing operations at its 100%-owned Butcherbird manganese deposits in Western Australia in early 2021 and has exported 12 shipments of manganese concentrate to customers in Asia.
A tunnel in Critical Metals’ Wolfsberg lithium mine in Austria. CRITICAL METALS
A drill rig at Critical Metals’ Tanbreez rare earths project in southern Greenland. CRITICAL METALS
In January, an updated feasibility study evaluated expanding open pit mining at Butcherbird to 1.1 million tonnes of manganese lump concentrate a year. It envisions a mine life of 18.3 years with a modified primary comminution circuit and a dense media separation solution to optimize grade and recoveries.
Capex was pegged at A$64.8 million (US$41 million), with a posttax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) of $379.7 million and pre-tax internal rate of return of 96%.
The feasibility study was based on an updated resource estimate completed last October, which boosted measured and indicated resources by 142% to 130 million tonnes grading 10.23% manganese.
The project in the Pilbara region, 130 km south of Newman and 1,050 km north of Perth, now contains 14 million measured tonnes grading 11.3% manganese, 116 million indicated tonnes averaging 10.1% manganese and 144 million inferred tonnes of 9.8% manganese.
The JORC-compliant resource update of four deposits — Yanneri Ridge, Coodamudgi, Mundawindi, Richies Find — used a 7% manganese cut-off grade and was based on 717 drillholes for 25,493 metres.
Element 25 is also commercializing proprietary technology to produce battery grade high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) in the United States. The company plans to build its first HPMSM refinery in Louisiana to produce raw materials for the electric vehicle battery market, in partnership with General Motors and Stellantis.
Element 25 has a market cap of $64 million.
n Euro Manganese
In January, Euro Manganese (TSXV: EMN; ASX: EMN; US-OTC: EUMNF) received a mining licence permit to extract manganese from old tailings from a decommissioned mine that operated between 1951 and 1975 in the Czech Republic.
Manganese recycled from the tailings at the Chvaletice project, 90 km east of Prague could provide up to 20% of projected 2030 European demand for high-purity manganese, which is essential to the battery supply chain, the company says.
A feasibility study in 2022 outlined a 25-year project life producing about 1.2 million tonnes of high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM), about two-thirds of which is expected to be converted into HPMSM on site.
Saleable product includes 2.5 million tonnes of HPMSM (32.34% manganese) and 372,300 tonnes of HPEMM (99.9% manganese) over the project life, averaging 98,600 tonnes HPMSM and 14,890 tonnes of HPEMM a year, focused primarily on Europe’s rapidly growing EV battery industry.
The study forecast an after-tax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) of $1.34 billion (C$1.92 million) and an ungeared after-tax (IRR) of 22%. Initial capex was pegged at US$757.3 million, including contingencies of $103.2 million.
Chvaletice contains 26.9 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 7.33% total manganese.
Last October the company announced that its demonstration plant had successfully completed a five-day continuous operation program of HPEMM, producing 172 kg of metal and exceeding the target by 30%. The plant has six of the main process stages of the project’s metallurgical flowsheet.
The company applied last
August to have Chvaletice designated as a strategic project under the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act.
In November 2023, Orion Resource Partners agreed to a $100-million financing package for Chvaletice. In connection with the financing, Orion has an off-take option of 20-22.5% of the project’s total manganese production for a 10-year period.
The company is also exploring an opportunity to produce battery-grade manganese products in Bécancour, Que. A scoping study completed in March 2023 evaluated developing an HPEMM dissolution plant to produce HPMSM.
The early-stage study envisioned annual production of 48,500 tonnes per year of HPMSM with an initial capex of $110 million (C$162.6 million), including $15 million of contingencies) and a four-year payback. The project’s after-tax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) was pegged at $190 million, with a posttax ungeared IRR of 26%.
A feasibility study on Bécancour is on hold and subject to financing.
Euro Manganese has a Toronto market cap of about $18.1 million.
n Greenland
Resources
Greenland Resources (CBOE CA: Moly-NE) is advancing its Malmbjerg molybdenum project in cen-
tral-east Greenland, which it says will eventually supply 25% of the European Union’s molybdenum demand. The EU is the world’s second-largest molybdenum consumer and has no domestic production of its own.
The project, 30 km from tidewater and about 190 km from the nearest village of Ittoqqortoormiit, contains proven and probable reserves of 245 million tonnes
grading 0.18% molybdenum disulphide (MOS2) for 571 million lb. of contained molybdenum metal.
A 2022 feasibility study envisioned an open pit mine producing an average of 24.1 million lb. molybdenum metal a year over a 20-year mine life at $6.38 per lb. molybdenum.
The pit’s highest-grade molybdenum would be mined in the first 10 years, with production of 32.8
million lb. molybdenum metal a year at an average grade of 0.23% molybdenum disulfide (MOS2).
The study outlined an after-tax NPV (at a 6% discount rate) of $1.2 billion and an IRR of 22.4%. Initial capex was pegged at $820 million.
Greenland Resources notes that capex would have been US$80 million lower if it had chosen to use diesel-powered mining trucks. Instead, it will haul ore with a rope conveyor
A conveyor belt containing ore at Element 25’s Butcherbird manganese project in Western Australia. ELEMENT 25
Below left: Greenland Resources’ Malmbjerg molybdenum project.. Below right: A blast during seismic refraction activities at Malmbjerg. GREENLAND RESOURCES
> Snapshot from P57
Examining cores at Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass project in northern Nevada..LITHIUM AMERICAS
that produces no carbon dioxide. The company also plans to use salt water in its process plant, with very low reagent concentrations.
Under the proposed plan, 35,000 tonnes per day of molybdenum ore will be mined for processing in a conventional base metal sulphide concentrator. Based on current reserves, the concentrator will be fed directly from the pit for an 11-year period and will then process stockpiled ore for the remaining nine years.
The company received a draft exploitation licence for the project in January under the country’s new Mining Act. It replaces an exploration licence the company has held since 2009.
Greenland Resources has a Canadian market cap of $110 million.
n Lithium Americas
Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC; NYSE: LAC) is focused on building the Thacker Pass lithium project in northern Nevada, which has the largest known lithium resources and reserves in the U.S.
Last December Lithium Americas and General Motors closed a joint venture deal that gave the carmaker a 38% stake in the project for $625 million (C$1.18 billion) in cash and letters of credit.
The funds will support construction of the first phase, which targets production of 40,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent a year at an initial capex of $2.93 billion.
Lithium Americas now holds a 62% stake and is the project operator.
Lithium Americas also closed a $2.26 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy’s loans pro-
gram office last October to finance construction of the processing facilities at Thacker Pass.
The company is targeting first production in 2027 and based on a corporate presentation in February, excavation of the process plant is 75% complete; the top seven pieces of long lead equipment have been awarded; and about 50% of the detailed engineering design has been completed.
In an update in January, Lithium Americas increased the project’s measured and indicated resources by 177% (compared to a November 2022 feasibility study) to 44.5 million tonnes LCE grading 2,230 ppm lithium. Proven and probable reserves grew by 286% over the same period to 14.3 million tonnes LCE at an average grade of 2,450 ppm lithium.
The reserves support an 85-year mine life with up to five production phases. Production capacity in each of the first four phases will average 40,000 tonnes LCE per year.
Lithium Americas has a TSX market cap of about $929 million.
n Renascor
Renascor (ASX: RNU) intends to use graphite concentrate from its Siviour graphite deposit near Arno Bay in South Australia as feedstock to produce purified spherical graphite (PSG) in the first integrated in-country mine and battery anode material operation outside of China. The commercial facility, which it secured in January is to be
built in Bolivar, a suburb of Adelaide.
Last September the company completed a 730-tonne bulk sample of graphite ore from its 100%owned Siviour graphite deposit on the Eyre Peninsula, about 120 km northeast of Port Lincoln. The sample will be used to produce graphite concentrate at a commercial graphite facility in China using Renascor’s flowsheet.
The concentrate will then be processed into PSG at a demonstration plant Renascor is building near Bolivar. Commissioning the demonstration plant is expected to begin in the third quarter of this year.
Last April, the Australian government approved a $185 million (US$116 million) loan to fund development of the Siviour graphite operation under its $4-billion Critical Minerals Facility. The loan will assist in the development of a graphite concentrate operation and a downstream PSG facility.
Siviour is the second-largest proven graphite reserve in the world and the largest outside Africa. Reserves will support a 40-year open pit mine life producing up to 150,000 tonnes of graphite concentrates per year.
The deposit contains 16.9 million measured tonnes grading 8.6% total graphitic carbon (TGC) for 1.4 million tonnes of contained graphite and 56.2 million indicated tonnes averaging 6.7% TGC for 3.8 million tonnes of contained graphite. Inferred resources add
50.5 million tonnes grading 6.9% TGC for 8.5 million tonnes of contained graphite. Renascor has a market cap of about A$126 million (US$79 million).
n Zijin Mining
Zijin Mining plans to become one of the world’s top lithium producers with production capacity of 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent by 2028. In January the Chinese miner completed a RMB13.7-billion (US$1.9-billion) investment for a 25% interest in Zangge Mining. In addition to copper and potash, Zangge has significant lithium assets with an annual production capacity of 10,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate.
Additional lithium output is expected to come from Zangge’s three salars in Xizang, also known as Tibet: Mami Tso, which is currently under construction and adjacent to Zijin’s Lakkor Tso Salar, and the Longmu Tso and Kyetse Tsakha Salars. Mami Tso contains an estimated 2.18 million tonnes of LCE, Longmu Tso 1.89 million tonnes LCE and Kyetse Tsakha 2.01 million tonnes LCE.
Zangge holds a 24% stake in the Mami Tso Salar and a 21% stake in each of the Longmu Tso and Kyetse Tsakha salars.
Zijin, which has traditionally mined copper, gold, zinc, silver and molybdenum, expanded into lithium in 2021. In 2022 it acquired a 70% stake in the Lakkor Tso Salar in Tibet, which contains an estimated 2.16 million tonnes LCE. It also bought 100% of the Xiangyuan lithium-containing polymetallic mine in Hunan province in 2022-2023. Xiangyuan contains an estimated 830,000 tonnes LCE and the mine produced 2,903 tonnes LCE in 2023.
Outside China, Zijin owns 100% of the Tres Quebradas Salar project under construction in Argentina’s Catamarca province. Zijin estimates it contains 8.54 million tonnes LCE. Construction of the project’s first stage (20,000 tonnes LEC a year) has been completed, and stage two (30,000 tonnes LCE a year) is under construction. After the stages reach nameplate capacity, the project’s annual capacity will grow to 40,000-60,000 tonnes LCE a year, according to Zijin. In Africa, Zijin is leading exploration and development of the northeastern section of the greenfield Manono lithium pegmatite project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Zijin has a 61% stake in the exploration licence and COMINIERE, a state-owned enterprise, owns the remaining 39%.
Zijin’s Hong Kong listed shares have a market cap of about HK$479 billion (US$62 billion). TNM
The area near Euro Manganese’s Chvaletice project in the Czech Republic, 90 km east of Prague. EURO MANGANESE
A drill rig at Renascor’s Siviour graphite project in near the coast of South Australia. RENASCOR
Below left: Zijin Mining’s La Arena copper-gold mine in Peru Below right: Zijin’s Tres Quebradas lithium salar mine in Argentina’s northern Catamarca province.ZIJIN MINING
Q&A: Diamond market ‘still missing a spark,’ Zimnisky says
BY COLIN MCCLELLAND
After two difficult years marked by falling prices, where does global demand for diamonds go from here? Independent diamond analyst and consultant Paul Zimnisky weighs in.
What’s the general outlook for the diamond industry this year? Do you see a recovery or consistent challenges?
We could see a modest recovery in natural diamond demand and prices in 2025. Given the difficult conditions the last two years, the comparative base has come down quite a bit.
All it would take is a stable U.S. and a slightly better China to yield a moderate recovery as industry inventories improve throughout the year. This said, through early February, natural rough diamond prices are down 1-2% year-to-date,
according to the Zimnisky Global Rough Diamond Price Index — as the market is still missing a spark.
Can you break it down by region?
The U.S. is still by far the largest consumer of diamonds in the world at about 55% of value sold. Uncoincidentally, the U.S. is also where labgrown diamonds have made their
biggest inroads. So, while the U.S. market as a whole has been stable, there has not been enough growth the last couple of years to offset the share that natural diamonds have lost to lab-grown.
In general, Europe has been weaker than North America, and China has yet to show signs of a meaningful recovery following an extremely difficult 2024.
How important is Chinese demand and where does it stand?
For the last two decades, China was the diamond industry’s fastest growing large market, going from essentially a share of zero in 2000 to pushing 20% of global diamond demand in the years prior to the pandemic.
Right now, China is dealing with a very precarious residential property market which is ostensibly related to years of overinvestment and overleverage in real estate — which itself relates to the way that the personal finance system is structured in the Chinese Communist Party.
Anglo American nears De Beers spinoff
OVERHAUL | Botswana to raise stake in company above 15%
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
Anglo American (LSE: AAL) is moving closer to spinning off its De Beers unit after the government of Botswana confirmed interest in increasing its stake in the world’s leading diamond producing company by value.
De Beers has been on the chopping block since May 2024, when Anglo announced plans to either sell the unit or launch an initial public offering (IPO). This decision came as part of a reorganization initiated after Anglo fended off a failed £39 billion (US$49 billion) takeover bid by Australian rival BHP (ASX: BHP).
Botswana currently holds a 15% stake in De Beers, estimated by analysts to be worth $2.5 billion. While the government has expressed interest in raising its holding, it has not disclosed the extent of its planned increase.
De Beers plays a critical role in Botswana’s economy. The company recently committed $1 billion to extend the life of its flagship Jwaneng mine by transitioning operations underground.
This project, in the cards since 2010, aims to preserve the mine’s status as the richest in the world by diamond value.
In early February, De Beers announced it had finalized negotiations with Botswana on a new diamond sales agreement and the
UNDER AN AGREEMENT REACHED IN 2023, BOTSWANA’S SHARE OF THE DIAMONDS IS TO REACH 50% BY THE END OF THE DEAL.
extension of mining licences for their joint venture, Debswana, until 2054. Currently, De Beers purchases 75% of Debswana’s diamond production. Under a provisional 10-year agreement reached in 2023, Botswana’s share of the diamonds is set to gradually increase, reaching 50% by the end of the deal. As part of this shift, Botswana’s stateowned diamond trading company is expected to receive 30% of Debswana’s output.
De Beers CEO Al Cook told The Financial Times in February the agreement would usher in an intense period of discussions to ensure the separation benefits both Anglo American and Botswana. Investments in businesses, education and energy are possibilities, he said.
Bogolo Kenewendo, Botswana’s minister of mines, told the paper it was the right time for the government to discuss raising its stake in De Beers, given Anglo’s plans to offload parts of its business. These
include South Africa-based Anglo American Platinum (JSE: AMS), or Amplats, as well as its steelmaking coal and nickel assets.
Tough market conditions
The separation of De Beers has been complicated by unfavourable market conditions, including a slump in diamond prices due to the rise of lab-grown stones and weak demand from China. Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad noted in February it was possible De Beers will remain part of Anglo into next year, depending on market recovery.
Anglo is also expected to write down the value of De Beers, currently listed at $7.6 billion in its accounts. The company, which already wrote down De Beers’ value by $1.6 billion last year, was due to release its annual results in February.
As part of its preparations to split from Anglo, De Beers has announced it will stop selling labgrown diamonds through its Lightbox brand, created in 2018. While the miner will continue selling Lightbox inventory for about a year, the unit will be placed under review once its current stock is depleted.
De Beers is targeting annual core profits of $1.5 billion by 2028. Last year, the business made just $72 million, though traditionally earnings have ranged between $500 million and $1.5 billion, reflecting the diamond industry’s boom-tobust cycles. TNM
All of this is being compounded by more secular demographic challenges in China, i.e. a rapidly aging population. So, this has had a profound impact on consumer sentiment in China, especially as it pertains to the luxury market. This said, I don’t think the diamond industry should give up on China –it’s too big, it’s too important.
And India? What are the key drivers there for the polishing industry?
India is still the major player in the diamond industry’s midstream, accounting for upwards of 85% of global diamond manufacturing, i.e. cutting and polishing. However, India is also becoming a significant consumer of diamonds — having likely taken over China last year as the world’s second largest buyer of diamond jewelry.
The Indian economy is the fastest growing large economy in the world right now and its likely to be a big driver of luxury demand in the years ahead. Of note, Indian consumers tend to have a strong pref-
erence for natural diamond jewelry (rather than lab-grown) and other jewelry made with inherently valuable materials, as culturally they see jewelry as a store of value.
What’s the state of lab-grown vs natural? Is there pushback from consumers to buy natural, or does the low labgrown price rule?
The price of lab-grown, or manmade diamonds, has consistently trended down over the last decade, down 90%-plus since 2015, according to my analysis. This directly relates to improvements in production technology and the rapid production volume growth.
Lab-grown diamond production for use in jewelry has doubled every two years since 2015, according to my analysis. This dynamic reminds me of other modern manufactured products such as flat panel TVs or LED lightbulbs — in terms of advancements in production technologies leading to lower and
Gemfields halts Zambian sales
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
Coloured precious stones
miner Gemfields (LSE: GEM; JSE: GML) has paused the sale of emeralds from its Kagem mine in Zambia, but says the government could soon reverse a 15% export tariff reintroduced in January.
Zambia, the world’s largest emerald producer after Colombia, first implemented the 15% export duty in early 2019. It was later scrapped on Jan. 1, 2020, following industry pressure.
Before the recent reintroduction, Gemfields had already suspended production at Kagem, citing market saturation caused by an influx of heavily discounted emeralds.
“Kagem anticipates that the duty may be revoked and allow a commercial-quality emerald auction to go ahead in the first quarter of 2025”, the company said.
Shares in Gemfields traded at 6.2 pence apiece before press time for a market value of £73 million (C$130 million). The stock has declined from 20 pence in October.
Layoffs?
If the tariff remains in place, Gemfields’ 75%-owned local subsidiary, Kagem Mining, will face an effective revenue tax of 21%. That includes the existing 6% mineral royalty tax. This would force the company to lay off employees, CEO Sean Gilbertson said Jan. 31.
Zambia’s government is targeting a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6.6%, an inflation rate between 6% and 8%, and a budget deficit of 3.1% of GDP, according to data from PwC. Revenue projections include a 26% increase in domestic income and grants, with tax generation anticipated to rise by 20%.
Gemfields also said production at its Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique had resumed. Operations were halted in December after two people were killed in post-presidential election violence. Despite the disruption, the company confirmed that construction of a second processing plant at the mine remains on schedule and within budget. It expects completion by the end of June. Gemfields is scheduled to release its annual financial results on March 27. TNM
Paul Zimnisky at the Ekati mine in 2024
7,525 carat ‘Chipembele rhino emerald from Kagem mine in Zambia. GEMFIELDS
GLOBAL EXPLORATION specialfocus
Socialist in tight presidential race
ECUADOR | May roll back mining policy
BY MINING.COM STAFF
Ecuador’s mining industry is bracing for potential changes as the nation’s main socialist party gains momentum in the presidential race headed for a runoff next month.
Luisa González, a protégé of former President Rafael Correa, is leading a strong push fuelled by public discontent over a struggling economy, gang violence and widespread blackouts. Her platform, which reflects the policies of the influential Citizen Revolution movement, could significantly reshape mining policies if she wins the final round on April 13.
González’s rise to prominence comes amid voter dissatisfaction with the current administration under President Daniel Noboa, a 37-year-old businessman and political newcomer. González narrowly trailed Noboa in the Feb. 9 election, securing 43.95% of the votes behind his 44.15%.
One candidate had to win more than 50% of the vote in the first round, or at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the nearest competitor, to avoid another round. The mining sector, one of Ecuador’s fastest-growing industries, faces uncertainty as González has made it clear that she would revisit royalty agreements and state control if she won.
Miners in Ecuador include Lundin Gold (TSX: LUG; US-OTC: LUGDF), which operates the Fruta del Norte mine, recognized as the country’s largest gold deposit. Silvercorp Metals (TSX, NYSE-AM: SVM), which bought Adventus Mining and its Curipamba project last year, is leading that development with Salazar Resources (TSXV: SRL) holding a quarter.
Salazar bought the Santiago, Pijilí, Tarqui, and La Canela projects from Silvercorp. Also in the country, the Chinese consortium CRCC-Tongguan Investment operates the Mirador copper mine.
Industry crossroads
Citizen Revolution also secured a substantial presence in the leg-
Fundraising by junior miners hits lowest since 2019: S&P
FINANCING | Significant deals harder to land
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Funds raised by junior and intermediate mining companies dropped by 12% in 2024 to $10.3 billion globally (C$14.7 billion), their lowest level in five years, according to data tracked by S&P Global. This is despite a 2% rise in the number of financings, which came in at 2,802 for the year.
On a month-to-month basis, the total value of fundraising is also trending down after setting a two-year high in October 2024. In December, funds raised by miners fell 21% to $890 million, following a near 30% decrease in November.
The number of significant deals — valued at over $2 million — also decreased by nine to 66 in December.
Gold financings down
THE MINING SECTOR, ONE OF ECUADOR’S FASTEST-GROWING INDUSTRIES, FACES UNCERTAINTY AS GONZALEZ HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT SHE WOULD REVISIT ROYALTY AGREEMENTS AND STATE CONTROL IF SHE WON.
islature, positioning the party to form alliances that could lead to a majority, potentially amplifying its ability to implement policy changes.
Under Correa’s administration (2007-2017), Ecuador established its fledgling mining industry with policies that attracted foreign investment, but were also criticized for favouring multinational corporations over local communities. González has stated her intent to increase royalties on mining operations, reflecting a broader strategy to redistribute wealth and strengthen state revenue.
Her proposals signal a potential shift away from the market-oriented framework adopted in recent years. This change could result in increased regulation, higher taxes on extractive industries, and a reevaluation of existing contracts with various foreign companies.
While such measures may boost government revenues, they could also deter foreign investors, particularly if the policies are perceived as unpredictable or overly burdensome.
In contrast, Noboa represents continuity for Ecuador’s market-friendly mining policies. Support from younger voters and his business background could help decide the runoff.
However, his administration has struggled to address crime and economic challenges. That gives González and her platform an opportunity. TNM
The back-to-back monthly decrease is largely reflected by gold juniors and intermediates raising less funds over that period.
In December, gold financings declined 28% to $375 million, despite an uptick in the number of transactions (144 versus 137 in November), S&P data shows. This is because of a fewer number of significant deals (dropping from 36 to 29), which dragged down the December totals.
The largest and only big financing (over $50 million) was the A$220-million (C$200-million) placement of ordinary shares by Spartan Resources (ASX: RMS) for its Dalgaranga gold project in Western Australia. This was also the largest financing overall for the year.
Base metals decline
Reduced funding for base and non-gold precious metals also contributed to the downtrend in financings.
Total fundraising in this group fell 45% in December to $234 million due to lower financings in copper, nickel and silver, after reaching a seven-month high of $428 million in November.
As with gold, there were fewer high-value financings, despite the number of transactions rising to a record high of 114 from 78 in November.
The sole big transaction, and the third-largest overall, was Osisko Metals’ (TSXV: OM) C$72 million bought deal, part of a larger placement for gross proceeds of C$107 million.
Critical minerals
On the other hand, funds raised for specialty commodities jumped 63% to $281 million in December, marking the highest total in eight
months, S&P said.
Lithium financings increased for the third consecutive month to $145 million, while funds raised for uranium increased for the fourth straight month to $63 million. Graphite financings also rose significantly, reaching $56 million.
The number of transactions grew to 88, up from 65 in November, and there were two big transactions valued at more than $50 million in December, compared to none in November.
The largest transaction and the second-largest overall was the A$154-million follow-on equity offering by Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX: VUL). Proceeds are intended to fund the first phase of the company’s Lionheart lithium project in Germany. TNM
Founders doubles share value after Suriname project strides
GOLD | $30M financing, analyst coverage tailwinds
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
After a strong year of highgrade gold drill results at its Antino project in Suriname, Founders Metals (TSXV: FDR; US-OTC: FDMIF) has started off 2025 on the front foot.
In early February, the Vancouver-based explorer announced a $30-million bought deal financing by a group of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets for 5.7 million common shares. The proceeds are to be spent on advancing exploration at Antino, Founders said.
B2Gold (TSX: BTO) spent $2.57 million to maintain its 5% shareholding in Founders after the bought deal. The shares have doubled from mid-August to near press time at $5.25 apiece in
Toronto, for a market capitalization of $465 million. Located 275 km south of the capital, Paramaribo, Antino is just across the Lawa River from French Guiana. The property has produced 500,000 oz. of artisanal gold historically, Founders says. The project also sits on the Guiana Shield which spreads under neighbouring countries in South America and hosts Newmont’s (TSX: NGT) Merian and Zijin Mining’s Rosebel gold mines.
BMO starts coverage Just before the financing news, in late January BMO announced it was initiating coverage of Founders, giving it a $7.50 target price at an outperform rating based on a conservative valuation for an
assumed open pit at Antino.
“Founders Metals appears to have made a high-margin gold discovery at its Antino project,” BMO analyst Andrew Mikitchook wrote.
He cited Antino’s “centrepiece” Froyo zone that has returned such results as 38 metres grading 10.9 grams gold per tonne and 46 metres at 5.31 grams gold. He also pointed to the Donut target where almost a year ago an intercept cut 19 metres at 14.2 grams gold.
“In our opinion, there is a scarcity premium globally for quality new discoveries to replace existing steadily depleting operating mines,” Mikitchook said. “Our initial development placeholder assumptions suggest a 290,000-oz.-
Luisa González. ASAMBLEA
UNDER CC BY-SA 2.0, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Drilling at Spartan Resources’ Dalgaranga project in Western Australia. SPARTAN
SPOTLIGHT: Global Metals Exploration
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
The world is on the cusp of a tidal wave of new demand for metals critical to the economy and the future of the planet. From copper, nickel and vanadium to platinum group elements, rare earths and gold and silver, global exploration efforts have never been as important as they are today. Here is a group of eight companies active across the Americas, Australia and Europe.
n Adriatic Metals
Adriatic Metals (ASX: ADT; LSE: ADT1; US-OTC: ADMLF) expects to reach commercial production at its Rupice underground mine in Bosnia and Herzegovina in this year’s first quarter and nameplate capacity of 800,000 tonnes per year in the second half.
Rupice produced 1.34 million silver-equivalent oz. last year and the company’s production guidance for fiscal 2025 is 12 to 13 million silver-equivalent oz. rising to 13 to 14 million silver-equivalent oz. in fiscal 2026. Rupice is forecast to produce an average of 11.5 million silver-equivalent oz. annually over a decade.
Last year, Adriatic completed 3 km of underground development and received permits for the first stage of its tailings storage facility. It plans to start disposing tailings during this year’s first quarter.
In January it received US$25 million ($35.7 million) from Trafigura as pre-payment for concentrate.
A definitive feasibility study in 2021 projected Rupice would deliver an after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of $1.06 billion and internal rate of return (IRR) of 134%. Initial capex of $168 million could be repaid in under a year. The DFS used metal prices of $25 per. oz. silver, $3,000 per tonne zinc, $2,300 per tonne lead, $9,500 per tonne copper and $1,800 per oz. gold.
The study did not include mining the Veovaca open pit deposit, 11 km from Rupice, and part of the company’s Vares project. The past-producing Veovaca mine produced lead, zinc and barite concentrates until it was put on care and maintenance in 1988.
Adriatic also owns the Raska zinc project in Serbia. The project consists of two past-producing zinc-lead-silver open pit mines. The deposits were discovered in the mid-1970s and Yugoslav state operated the mines between 1984 and 2000, when mining ceased due to conflict in the region. No significant exploration has taken place since.
Adriatic Metals has a market cap of about A$895 million (C$805 million).
n Antipa Minerals
Antipa Minerals (ASX: AZY) is focused on its Minyari Dome gold-silver-copper-cobalt project
in Western Australia. It’s about 35 km from Greatland Gold’s (LSE: GGP) Telfer gold-silver-copper mine and processing plant and 450 km from the regional hub of Port Hedland.
Last October, Antipa updated the resource estimate and scoping study for Minyari Dome, outlining a combined open-pit and underground mining operation that would produce 130,000 oz. gold a year or 1.3 million oz. gold in total over a 10-year life at an all-in sus-
taining cost of A$1,721 (US$1,205) per ounce. The mine plan envisioned a 3-million-tonne-per-year gravity and carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant producing doré gold.
The study estimated an after-tax net present value (at a 7% discount rate) of A$598 million and posttax IRR of 52%. At a gold price of US$2,100 per oz., the initial capex of A$306 million, including A$90 million for pre-production mining, could be repaid in about two years.
The Minyari Dome project,
which hosts seven deposits along a 3.2-km strike length, contains 32.2 million indicated tonnes grading 1.59 grams gold per tonne, 0.52 gram silver, 0.2% copper and 0.03% cobalt for 1.65 million oz. contained gold, 534,000 oz. silver, 64,000 tonnes copper and 10,000 tonnes cobalt. Inferred resources add 15.4 million tonnes grading 1.35 grams gold, 0.26 gram silver, 0.13% copper and 0.02% cobalt for 670,000 oz. gold, 127,000 oz. silver, 19,500 tonnes copper and 3,000 tonnes cobalt.
Antipa holds over 5,100 sq. km of tenements in Patterson province, of which Minyari Dome makes up just 880 sq. kilometres. Its remaining tenements have attracted major mining companies.
Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) is farming into Antipa’s 1,470-sq.-km Wilki project and IGO (ASX: IGO) into its 1,550-sq.-km Paterson project.
Last September, Antipa sold its 32% stake in the 1,200-sq.-km Citadel project to joint-venture partner Rio Tinto (LSE, NYSE, ASX: RIO).
Antipa Minerals has a market cap of A$230 million (C$207 million).
n Heliostar Metals
Mexico-focused Heliostar Metals (TSXV: HSTR; US-OTC: HSTXF) became a gold producer last year through the US$5-million acquisition of the San Agustin and La Colorada mines from Florida Canyon Gold.
Residual leaching activities at St. Agustin in Durango state and La Colorada in Sonora state totalled 20,298 gold oz. and 43,076 silver oz. in 2024. This year Heliostar forecasts production from the mines of 30,000-40,000 gold oz. and 76,50094,500 silver ounces.
Exploration last year confirmed potential to exploit metals from La Colorada’s Junkyard stockpile and mining began in January. At St. Agustin, residual production continues this year and the company has applied for permits to expand the open pit. It is also evaluating San Agustin’s sulphide potential. A 12,500-metre drill program with five rigs is underway at La Colorada’s Creston pit ahead of a feasibility study and expansion decision by mid-year. Underground resources at three pits are also open at depth.
Drill results from Colorada
Left: At Ivanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz copper project in Arizona. Right: An Ivanhoe crew examines a map at the Al Amar project in Saudi Arabia. IVANHOE ELECTRIC
Osisko Metals’ Gaspé copper project in eastern Quebec. OSISKO METALS
Adriatic Metals’ Veovaca silver mine in Bosnia Herzegovina. ADRIATIC METALS
released in January included 11.6 metres grading 1.72 grams gold and 3.7 grams silver from 342.4 metres downhole in 24-LCDD-238; 4.3 metres of 9.87 grams gold and 6.8 grams silver from 179.2 metres in 24-LCDD-244; 15 metres of 2.54 grams gold and 7.5 grams silver from 439.4 metres in 24-LCDD251; and 5 metres of 9.69 grams gold and 62 grams silver from 59 metres in 24-LCDD-254.
The company is also developing its Ana Paula project in Guerrero state. Heliostar acquired the project from Argonaut Gold for US$10 million in 2023. A feasibility study is expected in this year’s third quarter.
Heliostar kicked off a 5,000metre drill program last August to expand Ana Paula’s underground resource. Recent highlights included 87.8 metres of 16 grams gold starting from 141 metres, including 16.1 metres of 71.8 grams gold in drill hole AP-24-317, and 126 metres of 4.02 grams gold from 105 metres downhole in AP-24315, including 23.6 metres grading 12.5 grams gold.
Ana Paula has 3.35 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 6.60 grams gold for 710,920 contained oz. gold and 3.28 million inferred tonnes grading 4.24 grams gold for 447,512 oz. gold.
The company also owns the Cerro del Gallo gold-silver project in Guanajuato state and the San Antonio gold project in Baja California Sur.
Heliostar Metals has a Toronto market cap of $215 million.
n Ivanhoe Electric
In January, Ivanhoe Electric (TSX, NYSE-AM: IE) released the first drill results from its 50:50 joint venture project in the Arabian Shield with Saudi Arabian mining company Ma’aden. The JV was drilling the Umm Ad Dabah target, about 6 km northeast of Ma’aden’s Al Amar gold-copper-zinc mine.
Drill hole UAD-005 returned 13.1 metres grading 1.31% copper and 4.5 grams silver from 718 metres downhole, and hole UAD006 cut 5.9 metres grading 0.79% copper and 1.9 grams silver starting from 374.5 metres.
The drill targets were identified last year during an initial 76-sq.-km geophysical survey using Ivanhoe Electric’s Typhoon technology system. Typhoon geophysical data was then processed using the inversion software of Computational Geosciences, a 94%-owned Ivanhoe Electric subsidiary.
The work identified two chargeability anomalies spanning about 4.5 km in length. The southern anomaly, beginning around 200 metres below surface, extended beyond 1,000 metres in depth, and has a strike length of about 1.8 kilometres. Three Typhoon systems are active across the JV’s 48,500-sq.-km land package. Ivanhoe Electric also mobilized a Typhoon unit last December to start surveying an area of interest in Arizona in an exploration alliance with BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP). The alliance, created last May, is focused on exploring for deposits hidden under rock cover
in the southwestern United States. BHP has committed US$15 million (C$21.4 million) in funding over three years. Ivanhoe Electric is the operator.
Ivanhoe Electric is also advancing a portfolio of projects across the U.S., including Santa Cruz (copper) in Arizona, Tintic (copper-gold) in Utah, and Hog Heaven in Montana.
The company is on track to update the Santa Cruz resource and complete a preliminary feasibility study in this year’s second quarter. Recent drill results include 99.4 metres grading 2.39% total copper from 738 metres downhole in hole SCC-234; 140.1 metres of 1.56% total copper from 753.4 metres in hole SCC-228; and 102 metres of 1.65% total copper from 678.1 metres in hole SCC-232.
Ivanhoe Electric has a Toronto market cap of $1.1 billion.
n Osisko Metals
Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: OMZNF) raised $107.4 million in a private placement last December that will be used to advance the company’s Gaspé copper project in Quebec and its Pine Point zinc project in the Northwest Territories.
The company kicked off a 110,000-metre drill program in February at Gaspé, a past-producing copper mine on Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula about 825 km east of Montreal. It plans to update the resource estimate in the second quarter of 2026 and advance the project to a construction decision.
In Gaspé’s most recent resource update last November, the company outlined 824 million indicated tonnes grading 0.27% copper, 0.02% molybdenum and 1.74 grams silver for 4.91 billion lb. contained copper, 274 million lb. molybdenum and 46 million oz. silver. Inferred resources measure 670 million tonnes averaging 0.3% copper, 0.02% molybdenum and 1.37 grams silver for 4.39 billion lb. copper, 294 million lb. molybdenum and 29.5 million oz. silver. The resource used a copper cut-off grade of 0.12%.
The company acquired all of the project from Glencore Canada in July 2023, and last December acquired an additional group of 199 claims adjacent to the project.
At Pine Point, where Osisko
holds a JV project with Appian Capital Advisory, a feasibility study is expected in this year’s second quarter.
The project, on the south shore of Great Slave Lake near Hay River, currently contains 49.5 million indicated tonnes grading 4.22% zinc and 1.49% lead and 8.25 million inferred tonnes averaging 4.18% zinc and 1.69% lead.
Osisko Metals has a Toronto market cap of about $98 million.
n Perpetua Resources
In January, the U.S. Forest Services approved the mine plan for Perpetua Resources’ (TSX, NASDAQ: PPTA) Stibnite gold and antimony project in central Idaho. The permitting milestone paves the way for a construction decision as the company works towards finalizing the remaining federal and state permits and securing financing.
The project will redevelop the abandoned Stibnite mine site for gold, silver and antimony. It will also clean up legacy tailings and restore kilometres of river habitat and re-establish fish migration.
Perpetua says Stibnite will be one of the highest-grade open-pit gold mines in the U.S. and will supply about 35% of the country’s demand for antimony in its first six years of operations. China, Russia and Tajikistan control about 90% of the world’s antimony supply and currently the U.S. has no domestically mined source of the critical metal.
Last December, Perpetua said that United States Antimony (NYSE: UAMY), which operates an antimony processing facility in Montana, will conduct metallurgical testing of concentrate samples from Stibnite. Perpetua also signed a memorandum of understanding the same month to explore antimony processing opportunities at Idaho-based Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining’s Sunshine mine complex.
Last September, the company received a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. for potential debt financing of up to $1.8 billion (C$2.57 billion for the project.
The company has also received funds from the U.S. Department of Defense. Last February, the DoD conditionally awarded up to $34.6
Rumble’s Western Queen gold project in Western Australia. RUMBLE RESOURCES
SolGold’s Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador. SOLGOLD
Drilling at Antipa’s Minyari Dome project in Western Australia. ANTIPA MINERALS
Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite gold-antimony project in Idaho. PERPETUA RESOURCES
> Snapshot from P63
million in additional funding, bringing its total funding for the project to $59.4 million.
Stibnite contains proven and probable reserves of 104 million tonnes grading 1.43 grams gold and 0.06% antimony for 4.8 million oz. contained gold and 148 million lb. antimony.
A 2020 feasibility study outlined a mine life of 15 years recovering a total of 4.24 million oz. gold and 115 million lb. antimony. The study estimated an after-tax NPV (at a 5% discount rate) of $1.32 billion and an IRR of 22.3% at metal prices of $1,600 per oz. gold, $20 per oz. silver and $3.50 per lb. antimony. Initial capex including contingency was pegged at $1.26 billion with an after-tax payback period of 2.9 years.
Perpetua Resources has a Toronto market cap of about $1.2 billion.
n Rumble Resources
Rumble Resources (ASX: RTR) launched a 20,000-metre drill program last November at its past-producing Western Queen gold project in Western Australia, about 110 km northwest of Mt. Magnet.
The goal is to find new highgrade plunging shoots that could boost resources beneath the Western Queen South, Princess, Marquis, Duke and Western Queen Central deposits.
The deposits remain open at depth and mineralization remains open along strike and at depth along the 2.7-km Western Queen shear zone. At the Princess deposit, which has been only sparsely drilled below 50-80 metres, previous exploration returned 11 metres grading 6.11 grams gold from 52 metres depth in drillhole WQJC2; 2 metres of 40.37 grams from 4 metres in WQY-85; and 3 metres of 19.90 grams from 8 metres in WQRC011.
The company updated Western Queen’s JORC-compliant resource last October, outlining 2.39 million indicated tonnes grading 2.11 grams gold for 161,800 oz. gold and another 2.03 million inferred tonnes averaging 1.91 grams for 124,700 ounces.
Mining at Western Queen in the late 1930s recovered about 880,000 tonnes grading 7.16 grams gold per tonne for 215,000 ounces.
Last year the company also found tungsten. Drillhole WQDD013 returned 4.05 metres grading 4.58% tungsten trioxide (WO3) and 0.72 gram gold from 175 metres downhole, including 2.05 metres of 8.71% W03 and 1.38 grams gold.
The company recently signed a term sheet with Bain Global Resources, one of India’s largest mining contractors, to start cutting back and deepening the South pit and some of the smaller pits.
The project is within 100 km of three gold mills, offering the possibility for a near-term toll treating option.
The company is also advancing the Earaheedy zinc-lead-silver project, 10 km north of Wiluna in Western Australia. The open-pit project contains 2.2 million tonnes zinc, 700,000 tonnes lead and 122.6 million oz. silver in 94 million inferred tonnes grading 2.4% zinc, 0.7% lead and 4.2 grams silver. The JORC resource used a zinc-lead cut-off grade of 2%.
Rumble Resources has a Sydney market cap of about A$40.4 million ($36.3 million).
n SolGold SolGold (TSX, LSE: SOLG) is developing one of the largest copper-gold discoveries in South America at its Cascabel project in northwestern Ecuador, about 180 km from the deepwater port Esmeraldas.
A prefeasibility study last February envisioned an initial 28-year mine plan producing 123,000 tonnes copper, 277,000 oz. gold and 794,000 oz. silver per year. The study forecast an after-tax NPV (at an 8% discount rate) of $3.2 billion (C$4.57 billion) and an IRR of 24%. Pre-production capital of $1.55 billion could be repaid in four years from the start of processing based on metal prices
of $3.85 per lb. copper, $1,750 per oz. gold and $22.50 per oz. silver.
Cascabel’s Alpala deposit contains 3.01 billion measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.35% copper, 0.28 gram gold and 0.94 gram silver per tonne (0.52% copper-equivalent) for 10.7 million tonnes copper, 26.8 million oz. gold and 91.3 million oz. silver.
Inferred resources tally 607 million tonnes grading 0.26% copper, 0.19 gram gold and 0.56 gram silver for 1.5 million tonnes copper, 3.7 million oz. gold and 11 million oz. silver. The 2023 resource estimate used a 0.23% copper-equivalent cut-off grade.
SolGold has a $750-million gold stream on Cascabel with FrancoNevada (TSX, NYSE: FNV) and Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX: OR.CA; NYSE: OR).
The company’s Tandayama-America deposit is 3 km to the north of Alpala and its Porvenir project, located in southeastern Ecuador lies about 100 km south of Lundin Gold’s (TSX: LUG) Fruta del Norte project. The compa-
> Founders from P61
per-year development scenario for Antino, firmly placing it among the scale and style of deposits sought by investors and in many cases acquired by established operators.”
Strong sample results
BMO’s coverage came just days after Founders released its first gold discoveries of the year at Antino, with channel sampling returning 17.8 metres grading 5.68 grams gold in the Van Gogh shear zone.
Grab sampling in the same channel also returned grades of 66.8 grams gold, 11 grams gold and 7.8 grams gold per tonne.
The discovery shows the emergence of a parallel gold trend several kilometres long east of the main Antino structure, Founders said. It has started its fully-funded 60,000-metre drill program for this year.
ny’s other exploration projects in Ecuador are Blanca Nieves and Rio Amarillo.
BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) and Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) each own about 10% of SolGold’s shares and China’s Jiangxi Copper 6%, according to a corporate presentation in January.
Porvenir contains 396.8 million indicated tonnes grading 0.35% copper and 0.14 gram gold for 1.4 million tonnes copper and 1.8 million oz. gold and another 97 million inferred tonnes grading 0.29% copper and 0.12 gram gold for 280,000 tonnes copper and 380,000 oz. gold.
Tandayama-America hosts 722 million indicated tonnes grading 0.23% copper and 0.19 gram gold for 1.7 million tonnes copper and 4.5 million oz. gold and another 247 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.21% copper and 0.21 gram gold for 500,000 tonnes copper and 1.6 million oz. Gold.
SolGold has a Toronto market capitalization of about $375 million. TNM
“With all four drills back turning following a three-week break over the holidays, we’re starting out strong in 2025,” CEO Colin Padget said.
Industry’s confidence Founders closed off 2024 with industry backing in the form of B2Gold’s $12.1-million investment in October and a $20-million private placement from a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO.
Just weeks before, Great Bear Resources founder and CEO Chris Taylor was appointed as an independent director on Founders’ board.
Taylor led Great Bear’s district-scale gold discovery in the Red Lake region of northern Ontario and its later sale to Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) for $1.8 billion. Taylor was also named The Northern Miner’s Mining Person of the Year in 2021. TNM
Heliostar Metals’ Ana Paula gold project in Mexico’s southwestern Guerrero state..HELIOSTAR METALS
reserves. But it’s too early to determine if attempts to gut the U.S. federal bureaucracy will axe the very officials needed to approve mines and funding from the departments of energy and defence. They even funnel tens of millions of dollars to Canadian projects. Battery metal producers and project developers can’t be thrilled about rollbacks in pollution standards and electric vehicle incentives.
Cross-border issues are nothing new for the Miner. In 1915, Canada had high tariffs on imported mining equipment, particularly from the U.S. The war economy led to increased demand for metals like nickel, copper and zinc, but also created export restrictions. High British import duties on refined silver discouraged Canadian smelters and prompted Cobalt’s prolific miners to ship raw ore to U.S. operations.
One hundred and 10 years later, Northern Miner Group staff, now from British Columbia to Nova Scotia with contributors in Europe and Australia, continue to cover the industry.
The good news so far this year is that the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index has increased 7.7%. Despite the threat of tariffs and inflation, the S&P 500 has gained about 4% and the TSX is up about 3%.
Things are looking good, and so are we, for our age. TNM
Canadian gold power, that’s really as much as anything why we’ve done this,” Equinox chairman Ross Beaty told financial analysts Feb. 24 on a conference call. “It’s just going to have a fabulous longterm value creation for shareholders of both companies.”
Together, Greenstone and Valentine, which are fully owned, are expected to produce an average of 590,000 oz. of gold per year when operating at capacity. That would vault Equinox into second place among Canadian gold producers — trailing only AgnicoEagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) and its 2.9 million oz. output — and into the top 15 globally.
Transformative step With Calibre in the fold, Equinox will have nine producing mines in five countries, with another property under construction and five expansion or development projects. It will have gold reserves of about 24 million oz.
“This merger represents a transformative step forward for both Equinox and Calibre, bringing together two complementary companies with strong production, growth potential, operational expertise, and a shared commitment to responsible mining,” Equinox CEO Greg Smith said in the statement. “By combining our assets, teams, and financial strength, we are creating a leading Americas-focused gold producer with enhanced scale, resilience, and the ability to generate significant long-term value for our shareholders and stakeholders.”
The proposed acquisition follows a series of other gold sector
deals over the past year, including Gold Fields’s (NYSE: GFI; JSE: GFI) purchase of Osisko Mining and AngloGold Ashanti’s (NYSE: AU) acquisition of Centamin.
Calibre has about 852.5 million shares outstanding. That gives the all-stock offer a value of about $2.56 billion, based on Equinox’s Feb. 21 close of $9.69 in Toronto trading.
Shares of Calibre dropped 4.1% to $2.96 in afternoon trading Feb. 24 in Toronto, giving the company a market capitalization of about $2.5 billion. Equinox fell 0.3% to $9.66, valuing the company at about $4.4 billion.
Long life
Equinox data show Canada would account for more than half of the combined company’s annual gold output. That compares with 19% for Brazil, 13% for the U.S., 10% for Nicaragua and 5% for Mexico.
Newfoundland & Labrador’s
Valentine has “the potential to be a long-life gold camp, multiple deposits along a shear zone and a beautiful infrastructure opportunity,” Beaty said. “It’s really got long life potential.”
Equinox produced a record 621,870 oz. of gold last year from seven operating mines in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil.
Post-acquisition, Equinox is expected to produce about 950,000 oz. of gold in 2025 — a figure that doesn’t include any contribution from Valentine or Mexico’s Los Filos mine. Once Greenstone and Valentine reach full capacity, Equinox has the potential to produce more than 1.2 million oz. of gold annually, according to the company.
Some asset sales are probable once the deal has closed, Beaty stressed.
“We’re going to have a look at this after we conclude the transac-
tion, and seeing what is the best fit for us and what might be returned to the market for a better company to run,” he said. “So definitely there will be rationalization, I just can’t say which exactly at this point.”
Equinox’s Los Filos mine is one of the assets that will come under the most scrutiny. Los Filos has been the target of frequent protests in recent years, including community blockades that led to production being suspended for several weeks.
Los Filos “is a significant question mark right now,” Beaty said. “It’s still up in the air, and we’ll have to just simply provide information to the market.”
Shareholder vote
Shareholders of both companies will be asked to vote on the transaction before the end of May. Two-thirds of Calibre shareholders will need to approve the deal, while Equinox will require a simple majority threshold of votes cast. Canadian and Mexican competition authorities will also need to authorize the combination.
Executives of both companies will be tasked with running operations. Smith will remain CEO while his counterpart at Calibre, Darren Hall, will be named president and chief operating officer. Equinox’s board of directors will consist of 10 members, with Beaty continuing as chair. Five additional directors will come from Equinox, including Smith. The company will continue to operate under the Equinox Gold name and remain headquartered in Vancouver. TNM
> Diamonds from P60 lower prices.
So, the obvious question becomes, will the ever-growing price disparity between natural and manufactured diamonds impact how consumers view the products in terms of them being interchangeable? In my opinion, this will depend on how well the natural diamond industry does marketing and communicating its product to consumers in the years ahead — because at the end of the day, diamonds are a luxury product and need to be sold as such.
What’s happening with De Beers and Anglo taking an impairment charge?
In early-February, Anglo American, De Beers’ parent, noted that it will be reviewing the book value
of De Beers. Last year, Anglo took a $1.6-billion impairment on the company, taking the carrying value down to $7.6 billion, so this would be on top of that.
Anglo publicly put De Beers up for sale last year as part of a larger company-wide restructuring, and it seems like the market is valuing De Beers at significantly less than $7.6 billion, so this isn’t really a surprise to me.
Is Anglo likely to sell De Beers this year with that knock?
At this point, I think the most likely outcome is a spinout. De Beers is a difficult business to sell given the complex business structure, i.e. it’s vertically integrated and has intertwined joint ventures with government partners, in addition, the larger diamond market is in a lull at
the moment.
I don’t think that Anglo shareholders are willing to give it away on the cheap, so a spinout seems most likely to me, especially if Anglo has its sights set on exiting the business this year. As a standalone company, there would also be an opportunity for investors to buy directly into what is essentially a whole luxury category — and diamonds historically are one of the most prominent and important categories within luxury.
So, De Beers really is a unique business in that way. There are good years ahead if proper investments are made, especially in terms of marketing and differentiating the natural diamond product from the man-made version. Historically, the diamond business has been resilient. It has stayed relevant despite numerous challenges in the past. It’s a special industry. TNM
Equinox Gold’s Greenstone mine, near Geraldton, Ont. EQUINOX GOLD
JOHANNESBURG|TORONTO|PERTH
Physical Precious Metal Offtake
Metals Financing Including Debt, Equity and Royalties / Streams
