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Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining

Juukan Gorge traditional owners sign landmark agreement with Rio Tinto (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – June 2, 2025)

https://www.abc.net.au/

Just over five years after Rio Tinto destroyed sacred sites at Juukan Gorge in WA’s Pilbara region, the area’s traditional owners have signed a new deal with the mining giant. The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) Aboriginal Corporation and Rio Tinto announced the deal, which governs the company’s iron ore operations on PKKP lands, on Monday morning.

In a statement, the corporation says the deal gives traditional owners a “much greater say” about what happens on their country. It comes after years of tense relations between the PKKP people and Rio Tinto in the wake of the destruction of 47,000-year-old rock shelters.

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Geologists Reveal World’s Biggest Iron Deposit Worth $6 Trillion Set to Impact Global Economy – by Arezki Amiri (MSN.com – June 2, 2025)

https://www.msn.com/

In a remote part of Western Australia, geologists have uncovered a mineral deposit of staggering size—one that promises to rewrite not only the map of global iron production but also our understanding of Earth’s geological history.

The Hamersley region, already known for its rich mineral resources, now hosts what scientists say is the largest iron ore deposit ever recorded, containing roughly 55 billion metric tons of ore with iron concentrations exceeding 60 percent. This massive find, valued at nearly $6 trillion, marks a significant moment for the global mining industry.

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Glencore shifts $30b in assets to Australia in major restructure – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – May 29, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

Glencore has shifted more than $30 billion in foreign assets into an Australian subsidiary in a huge restructure designed to make it easier to strike a future mega-merger with a rival commodities giant.

Coal mines in Canada, South Africa and Colombia, a copper resource in Argentina and a South African manganese, chrome and vanadium business are among the assets shifted into the local Glencore Investment Pty Ltd. The restructure comes less than a year after Glencore publicly debated the merits of demerging its flagship coal division, and eight months after it tried to engage Rio Tinto in merger talks for the second time in a decade.

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Aus stockpile to tackle ‘distorted’ rare earths market – by Kristie Batten (Northern Miner – May 26, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Rare earth and lithium producers are cautiously backing the Australian government’s proposed critical minerals strategic reserve, amid fresh details and ongoing concerns over its design. The federal Labor government, re-elected in May, first announced the A$1.2-billion (US$780-million) initiative in April during the closing days of its campaign.

The plan aims to establish a stockpile of critical minerals to bolster national and allied supply chains. Initially offered with limited detail and met with scepticism, the policy has started to take shape.

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Critical minerals take back seat in WA as gold hits record prices – by Jarrod Lucas (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – May 25, 2025)

https://www.abc.net.au/

A profile image of a man with dark, spiky hair.

In Australia’s resources sector, Tim Goyder has been the man with the Midas touch in recent years. At one point in 2023, his stock holdings in one-time market darlings Liontown Resources and Chalice Mining saw him become a paper billionaire with an estimated net worth of $1.09 billion.

But as fast as the Perth-based mining investor joined the Australian Financial Review’s annual Rich List, such is the swings and roundabouts of commodity price cycles, he slipped off. That is not to say Mr Goyder has lost his golden touch, but his personal fortune reflects the downturn in critical minerals such as lithium and nickel. “Two years ago, everyone was saying lithium was the thing to be in, which I still believe,” he said.

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Hopes of lithium revival dashed as prices crater to four-year lows – by Alex Gluyas (Australian Financial Review – May 21, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

Just last week investors betting on a resurgence in lithium were cheering some much-needed positive news after Core Lithium unveiled a plan to revive its mothballed operations near Darwin.

On the surface, it was a momentous decision. Core was the first miner in Australia to consider reopening an idled operation since the downturn began, signalling that sentiment may finally be turning. The news sent the stock surging more than 40 per cent last week.

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Australian miners see opportunities during US and China trade war chaos – by David Claughton (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – May 5, 2025)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/

Australian mining companies are walking a tightrope between China, the nation’s biggest market for our resources, and the United States, our greatest ally. The trade war between them could open up some big opportunities but there is also a risk that Australian companies could get caught in the crossfire.

China has banned exports of some rare earths and critical minerals to the US, a move that threatens high-tech industries there. In August, the Chinese government embargoed the supply of gallium to the US. Gallium is a key component in thermometers, semiconductors, LED screens, smartphones, and Blu-ray technology.

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Canadian gold miner Mandalay agrees to US$358-million takeover by smaller Australian competitor – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 29, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Australia’s Alkane Resources Ltd. is buying Canada’s Mandalay Resources Corp. in a US$358-million transaction driven by the contention that bigger is better in the gold industry. Perth-based Alkane and Toronto-based Mandalay hope that, by combining operations, investors will reward the combined company with a “rerate” – a higher stock-market multiple.

Despite record-high bullion prices, many gold miners continue to have difficulty attracting investors. That’s partly owing to the industry’s poor track record, but also the ease at which investors can gain exposure to gold through exchange-traded funds.

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Will uranium ever get its day in the sun? – by Mark Wembridge and Elouise Fowler (Australian Financial Review – April 27, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

It was one of the hottest trades of last year. Now the commodity has a new claim to fame – it dominates the list of most-shorted stocks on the ASX.

Uranium, one of the hottest trades of last year, has a new claim to fame, an unwanted one. Companies exploring or mining the commodity make up six of the 20-most-shorted stocks on the local bourse.

It is a big change from the bull market of 2023 and 2024, when demand for a new, emissions-free fuel source buoyed expectations that local uranium stocks would be big winners from the end of coal and gas generation. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton made nuclear the centrepiece of his energy policy; countries around the world scrambled to build new plants.

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Australia aims to become a critical minerals powerhouse – by Dylan Brown (Australian Mining – April 28, 2025)

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The Federal Government has announced plans to establish a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve if re-elected, with plans to invest $1.2 billion into the initiative.

The Federal Government is aiming to bolster Australia’s economic resilience and national security, transitioning from a critical mineral supplier to a global market leader, strategically capitalising on the rising demand for rare earths, high-tech manufacturing materials and resources for the energy transition. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve would help Australia unlock its full potential of critical minerals at a critical time in the economy.

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Minerals reserve to be used as leverage with Trump, foreign investors – by Phillip Coorey (Australian Financial Review – April 24, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

The Albanese government says it will use a critical minerals reserve as leverage with the Trump administration over tariffs, as the mining industry warned that establishing the stockpile could push down commodity prices.

The opposition was ambiguous towards the proposal to establish the reserve, with Peter Dutton saying “we’re not supporting the plan because it is a refit and rehash and reannouncement with no delivery”. But he went on to support the concept. “Critical minerals are absolutely essential for us and for our partners and whether that looks like an offtake agreement or whether it looks like an agreement to stockpile it to work with the US, in the UK, in Japan, etcetera, we will work all that detail in government.”

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Nickel, paradise and ‘emancipation’ – by Cooper Williams and Yasmine Wright Gittins (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – April 10, 2025)

https://www.abc.net.au/

A bet on nickel gave many New Caledonians hopes of prosperity and independence. But when the economy turned, it left behind a ghost town full of broken hearts.

It was a symbol of economic freedom — offering a chance at prosperity for communities who shared little in New Caledonia’s wealth. Standing tall by the turquoise waters of the French territory’s lagoons, the Koniambo nickel factory once hummed with activity, feeding the world’s insatiable demand for the lucrative metal.

Now, silence blankets its heavy machinery. The site sits abandoned, its overseas workforce long gone, and its local staff — mostly Indigenous Kanak people — out of jobs.

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Glencore ‘not going anywhere’ after Mt Isa sunset – by Kelsie Tibben (Mining Magazine – April 4, 2025)

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Workers form the soon-to-close Mt Isa underground copper mine in Queensland are being redeployed as part of Glencore’s firm commitment to remaining a key player in the state.

The second largest copper producer in Australia, the Mount Isa copper mine has been a feature of the Australian copper landscape since 1924. The mine is scheduled to close in July, but Glencore has been staunch in its determination to see its foothold in the region remain steady.

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BHP’s new chairman Ross McEwan meets investors, reads up on history – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – March 31, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

Ross McEwan has had a few weeks to brush up on his history. The former National Australia Bank chief executive was announced as the next chairman of the country’s largest miner, BHP, last month. He starts on Monday, replacing retiring predecessor Ken MacKenzie.

And he’s prepared for his stint by reading Geoffrey Blainey’s The Steel Master, a 1971 profile of Essington Lewis, a man who was either managing director or chairman of the mining giant between 1921 and 1961.

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Australia’s lithium dream is fading. Can tax breaks revive it? – by Elouise Fowler and Mark Wembridge(Australian Financial Review – March 24, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

The prime minister believes he can revive hopes of turning Australia into a minerals processing powerhouse. Is this anything other than wishful thinking?

The $1.2 billion lithium hydroxide refinery on the shores of Perth’s southern beaches was once heralded as vital to Australia’s dream of becoming a battery minerals processing powerhouse. Today, the Tianqi Lithium plant sits in an uneasy state – its expansion plans in tatters, its future bleak. Conveyor belts that once ferried lithium-rich rock to a 1000-degree kiln and onto a vat of chemicals lay idle for long periods at the start of the year.

Plans to double the size of the plant – a short drive from Perth in the industrial suburb of Kwinana – were shelved in January. High costs, low lithium prices, technical problems and unfavourable economics are conspiring to kill off the facility entirely, and with it another slice of Australia’s dream.

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