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Copper

Horne Smelter shelves study and opts for ‘optimized’ environmental approach – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – June 11, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Canada’s only copper smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec is proposing a new approach to meet environmental targets. The Horne Smelter, part of Glencore Canada, processes 210,000 tonnes of copper and precious metals annually.

A 2022 study by Quebec’s public health body revealed the smelter exposed Rouyn-Noranda to harmful arsenic and cadmium levels for decades. The Quebec government required the company to reduce emissions substantially, though without a defined timeline. Glencore and provincial authorities have been negotiating over the years on emissions controls, although the company has reported steady progress.

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Freeport CEO says tariffs threaten to hinder US copper mining – by Jacob Lorinc (Financial Post/Bloomberg – June 10, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

The threat of US levies on copper imports has been a boon for Freeport-McMoRan Inc., with North America’s top producer cashing in on selling the metal at a premium. Still, the firm’s top boss warns that broader tariffs could hurt an industry President Donald Trump is trying to help.

“If global growth is disrupted, that could lead to an impact on copper prices,” chief executive officer Kathleen Quirk said in an interview at Freeport’s Phoenix headquarters. “Ironically, if we’re trying to build up the US copper industry, slowing GDP growth, and inflation, could put a lot of pressure on mines here.”

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Batchawana Bay is big-time copper country to Sterling Metals – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – June 6, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Impressive drill hit has Toronto company talking about significant, untapped potential at historic copper mining camp, north of Sault Ste. Marie

Sterling Metals, a junior miner that’s probing around a former copper mining camp, north of Sault Ste. Marie, made an impressive hit on its very first drill hole this spring.

The Toronto exploration outfit pulled a lengthy core sample showing 359.3 metres of copper mineralization, grading 0.36 per cent, taken at its Soo Copper Project in the Batchewana Bay area, 80 kilometres north of the city. The discovery was made just 14 metres below surface. A shorter length of the core revealed 0.56 per cent over the first 75 metres.

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How this new technology could change the way we mine copper – by Liz Dennett (Fast Company – June 4, 2025)

https://www.fastcompany.com/

Mining isn’t known for innovation. For more than a century, we’ve extracted copper using the same process: dig, crush, grind, leach, repeat. Meanwhile, demand has exploded, fueled by EVs, AI infrastructure, and the energy transition. That mismatch has created a bottleneck. We’re using yesterday’s tools to power tomorrow’s economy.

The conductive highway

Copper is the metal that moves energy. Literally, electrons don’t travel from solar panels to batteries—or from your laptop charger to the cloud—without it. Copper is the conductive highway that keeps the world’s electrons flowing. It’s in every EV, every wind turbine, and every data center.

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Fresh Mongolia turmoil raises stakes for Rio Tinto’s copper bet – by Jessica Sier (Australian Financial Review – June 3, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

Tokyo | Mongolia’s prime minister was ousted from power on Tuesday in a dramatic no-confidence vote, sparking fresh political uncertainty that raises questions over the future of Rio Tinto’s massive copper mine expansion in the country.

Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai was forced to resign after falling well short of the 64 votes he needed from lawmakers, Mongolian media reported. The vote was triggered by a corruption scandal involving Oyun-Erdene’s son and public anger over his lavish lifestyle that included weeks of mounting street protests demanding greater transparency or his resignation.

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Flooded Mine in Congo Is Latest Threat to Global Copper Supply – by William Clowes, Thomas Biesheuvel and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – May 29, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The status of one of the world’s most important copper mines remains clouded in uncertainty, more than a week after seismic activity caused widespread flooding deep below ground.

(Bloomberg) — The status of one of the world’s most important copper mines remains clouded in uncertainty, more than a week after seismic activity caused widespread flooding deep below ground. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.’s Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world’s top sources of copper and was on course to become the third-biggest supplier of the key energy-transition metal this year.

Yet its current condition is a mystery, with contrasting messages from its biggest shareholders. Some information has been disclosed: water levels have risen after pumping and electrical infrastructure in the Kakula underground mine was damaged.

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US Supreme Court rejects Apache appeal to block Rio Tinto’s Resolution mine – by Staff (Mining.com – May 27, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The US Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to hear an appeal by the Apache Stronghold seeking to block the development of the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona. The mine is a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP.

The advocacy group comprising members of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache Tribe and conservationists challenged a lower court decision that permitted a federal land swap, allowing the mining companies to acquire sacred Apache land for the project.

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A Hallelujah moment for Marathon mine builder as last permit arrives – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 26, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gen Mining’s regulatory path to build $1-billion open-pit is clear, only last of construction financing remains

It’s been a long time coming. Marathon mine builder Generation Mining has snagged the last provincial permit that finally clears the regulatory path for construction of its $1-billion copper-palladium open-pit near the north shore of Lake Superior.

The Toronto company said last week that it received the Environmental Compliance Approval for industrial sewage works from the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. The permit covers the water management and discharge during the construction phase of the project.

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As ‘smallest town in Canada’ empties out, former residents recall its vibrant past – by Sarah Smellie (Canadian Press/CTV News – May 22, 2025)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

ST. JOHN’S — A Newfoundland community that bills itself as the smallest town in Canada will soon be empty, and former residents say they’ll never forget their joyful years living there. Tilt Cove, N.L., was once home to a thriving copper mine that attracted workers and their families from all over Canada. Now the community is home to just four people, all of whom agreed earlier this year to relocate.

Shirley Severance was born in 1941 and grew up in Tilt Cove. She watched the town grow when the Maritime Mining operation reopened in 1957, and she watched it shrink again in 1967 when the mine shut down for good.

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NEWS RELEASE: Diversification is the cornerstone of energy security, yet critical minerals are moving in the opposite direction (Internationsl Energy Agency Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 – May 21, 2025)

For the report: https://shorturl.at/aM8Qa

Emphasising major energy and economic implications, new IEA report identifies vulnerabilities over next decade, notably for copper and other strategic minerals

While today’s critical mineral markets may appear well supplied, with prices well down from the highs seen in 2021 and 2022, a new IEA report finds that a combination of increasing supply concentration in a handful of countries and the spread of export restrictions is raising the risk of painful disruptions.

The 2025 edition of the IEA’s annual Global Critical Minerals Outlook, out today, presents the latest data and analysis on supply, demand, investment and more for key energy-related minerals, including copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements. It is accompanied by an updated Critical Minerals Data Explorer, an interactive online tool that allows users to explore the latest IEA projections.

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Report: World’s supply of critical minerals for clean energy is concentrated in fewer countries – by David McHugh and Alexa St. John (Associated Press – May 21, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The world’s sources of critical minerals are increasingly concentrated in just a few countries, most notably China, leaving the global economy vulnerable to supply cutoffs that could disrupt industry and hit consumers with higher prices, a report said Wednesday.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency’s report looked at the availability of minerals and metals that may be small in quantity — but large in impact when it comes to shifting the economy away from fossil fuels toward electricity and renewable energy.

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Mining and a healthy environment — we can have both in Minnesota – by Julie C. Lucas (MinnPost.com – May 18, 2025)

MinnPost – Nonprofit, independent journalism. Supported by readers.MinnPost –

Julie C. Lucas is the executive director of MiningMinnesota.

It’s understandable why there’s concern about copper-nickel mining upstream from the BWCA, but let’s have a fact-based conversation.

The postcard illustrating this commentary is from the 1940s and sums up the Iron Range, the Minnesota region I call home. At one time, the Hull Rust Mahoning Mine in Hibbing was the world’s largest iron ore producing mine.

Now, it’s one portion of a substantially larger mining operation that produces needed iron ore for our domestic steel industry, as it has since the first hematite mine opened at that site in 1895. Along the Mesabi Iron Range, we have several operating taconite mines and, just outside their gates, we have “shimmering waters” just as we did in the 1940s.

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Scientists Found a Massive Copper Deposit That Could Change the Future of Energy – by Darren Orf (Popular Mechanics – May 19, 2025)

https://www.popularmechanics.com/

Located along the border of Chile and Argentina, the Filo del Sol copper deposit has been under investigation for years for potentially being one of the largest copper deposits in the world. And that makes sense, considering this deposit is nestled along the Atacama Desert—long known for its immense copper reserves due to its location in the Andes and its placement within the eastern portion of the Ring of Fire.

However, a new initial mineral resource estimate completed earlier this month suggests that the companies in charge of mining this area—the U.S.-based Lundin Mining and BHP—may have stumbled upon five times more metal than they bargained for. According to a statement from Lundin Mining, the new assessment estimates the presence of up to 13 million tonnes of copper, 907,000 kilograms (32 million ounces) of gold, and 18.6 million kilograms (659 million ounces) of silver.

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Canadian Ingenuity: Anyox, the ghost of a mining town in the mountains – by Susanna McLeod (Kingston Whig – August 08, 2024)

https://www.thewhig.com/

Distant from roads or rail lines, the copper mine in northwestern British Columbia was accessible only by ship. Established in the early 1900s, the mining town of Anyox was a thriving hub of production and home comforts until the collapse of the copper market during the Great Depression. The company had no choice. The Anyox camp was abandoned in 1935.

Demand for copper flourished in the mid-1800s, and industry responded with surveys and new mines. In 1889, explorations in the Boundary Range of the Coastal Mountains and the temperate rainforest revealed copper at a remote location off Portland Canal, near Observatory Inlet.

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Pakistan: Global Backing For Reko Diq – OpEd – by Dr. Sahibzada Muhammad Usman (Eurasia Review – May 9, 2025)

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The signing of the long awaited $6.4 billion Reko Diq mining agreement is now expected to take place next month. This is regarded as one of the most important projects of Pakistan. Final multi-lateral financing arrangements are nearing completion, with arrangements now in place for financing via the UK and US Export Import (EXIM) Banks, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), all of whom have commitments as part of the agreement between all the major international stakeholders.

One of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world is Reko Diq, which lies in Pakistan’s mineral rich Balochistan province. Once operational, it should have an annual output of over 200,000 tons of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold for 40 years.

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