Twitter

Copper

Mining the Northwest: Ottawa drops $14 million to help move critical minerals to market – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 7, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Four northwestern Ontario mining proponents snag funding for road, transmission line and engineering work

Four copper and lithium mine developers in northwestern Ontario, collectively, will be pocketing almost $14 million in federal funding to build access roads and power lines into their future mine sites.

Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson delivered the news in Thunder Bay, Oct. 7, that $13.8 million is earmarked for five mining-related projects – including two with Sudbury’s Frontier Lithium – that will facilitate the mining and movement of these critical minerals for processing and eventually to the electric vehicle supply market.

Read more

China’s Fast-Growing Copper Champion Is Reshaping Global Metal Supply (Bloomberg News – October 2, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chen Jinghe was not long out of university when a government official handed him the assignment that would change his life. Go to Zijin mountain, he was told, and find gold.

It was 1982, and the geology graduate found himself on forested slopes in the remote, humid highlands of southeastern China. The bet paid off. The deposit his team eventually discovered became the nation’s biggest gold mine — and the foundation for a $67 billion state-owned behemoth that is today driving copper supply growth and gaining ground on some of the most established names in the global resources industry.

Read more

Column: Exuberant iron ore, subdued copper show different sides of China stimulus – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – October 2, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

China’s significant stimulus measures have kicked the prices of key metals higher, and the gains have largely been sustained even amid a debate as to whether Beijing has actually done enough to boost the world’s second-biggest economy.

The raft of announcements last week, which included lower interest rates and easier home purchase terms, saw metals prices respond, especially those with a high degree of China exposure, such as iron ore.

Read more

Rio Tinto, BHP & Glencore ‘Feeling the Pinch on Copper’ – by Sean Ashcroft (Mining Digital.com – September 30, 2024)

https://miningdigital.com/

Major diversified miners including Rio Tinto, BHP Group & Glencore are feeling the pressure of a slowdown in global economic growth and declining commerce

Some of the world’s biggest mining companies are struggling to balance investor expectations for hefty returns against the necessity of paying a premium to acquire pure-play copper companies. The challenge comes as global demand for the metal drives valuations to new heights, reports Reuters.

Major diversified miners, including Rio Tinto, BHP Group, and Glencore, are feeling the pressure of a slowdown in global economic growth and declining commodity prices. These factors have led to a significant decrease in their share prices, ranging from 10% to 15% this year.

Read more

London mining company with Canadian connections plans copper mine acquisitions after sealing Turkish deal – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – September 25, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A Russian-British mining executive has launched an attempt to build an international copper-mining portfolio with the purchase of a Turkish mine and will soon set his sights on Canada.

Earlier this month, Artem Volynets, the chairman and CEO of ACG Metals Ltd., which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, announced an investment of US$290-million in the Gediktepe mine in western Turkey. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, he said the purchase marked the first step of his “company’s vision to roll up the copper sector through a series of acquisitions.”

Read more

Metals security of supply depends on junior resource companies – by Rick Mills (Ahead of the Herd/Mining.com – September 19, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

A junior resource company’s place in the food chain is to acquire projects, make discoveries and hopefully advance them to the point when a larger mining company takes it over. Discoveries won’t be made if juniors don’t have boots on the ground, if they aren’t out in the bush poking around and breaking rocks.

Few exploration companies have the money or technical expertise to “go mining”. For many, the goal is to find a deposit that’s good enough to attract a major who will acquire the asset. Another pathway is for the junior to partner with a larger company. An option or joint venture (JV) agreement is a way for juniors to gain access to the financial and technical resources needed to build the mine.

Read more

OPINION: Canada’s mine decision was no rubber stamp – by R. Brent Murphy (Anchorage Daily News – September 23, 2024)

https://www.adn.com/

R. Brent Murphy is senior vice president for environmental affairs at Seabridge Gold.

Having spent my entire career at the intersection of mining and sustainability, I have grown accustomed to the widespread misinformation surrounding our industry. Unfortunately, it’s a reality my colleagues and I face daily on a global scale, and if we responded to every instance, we would have little time left for the work that truly matters.

However, the sheer level of inaccuracy and hypocrisy regarding the Substantially Started Determination, or SSD, status for our proposed KSM project in Brian Lynch’s recent commentary demands a response. First and foremost, Lynch’s commentary failed to acknowledge several key facts regarding our two decades of dedicated efforts and nearly CAD $1 billion of investments to responsibly advance the KSM Project.

Read more

A Copper M&A Frenzy Masks Big Miners’ Hesitation to Build – by Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – September 19, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — In the dusty, treeless outback of Southern Australia, a brand new mining camp is home to a hundred workers, putting in 12-hour days, two weeks at a time. Dozens of trucks are scattered across the vast acreage, mounted with towering rigs drilling more than 2 kilometers (1.3 miles) underground. All are focused on the hunt for one of the world’s most coveted minerals: copper.

Oak Dam, discovered by BHP Group geologists in 2018, is a glimmer of hope for Chief Executive Mike Henry, who sees global copper demand doubling over the coming decades as the energy transition takes hold, and wants his company to produce more of it.

Read more

Osisko Metals seeks financing partner on huge Gaspé copper project in Quebec – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – September 19, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Osisko Metals (TSXV: OM; US-OTC: OMZNE) is advancing the giant Gaspé copper project in Quebec with an economic study planned for February amid efforts to land a 20% partnership with provincial financing agency Investissement Québec.

“No promises, but they’re interested in the project, and for us it would be ideal to get IQ as a partner,” CEO and chairman Robert Wares said in an interview. “That would be a big boost, and as partners obviously they can help us fund the whole project to a final investment decision.”

Read more

Arizona’s battle over crucial copper mine poised to sway US election – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – September 13, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Sept 12 (Reuters) – Native American opposition to Rio Tinto and BHP’s Resolution Copper mine could prove crucial for the 2024 U.S. presidential vote in the battleground state of Arizona, underscoring the high tension over where best to extract critical minerals for the energy transition.

The mine would, if built, supply more than a quarter of America’s appetite for copper and be a key part of Washington’s efforts to eat into China’s role as the world’s largest copper processor and consumer.

Read more

Indigenous Group Takes Fight Against Rio Tinto Arizona Copper Mine to US Supreme Court – by Ernest Scheyder (U.S. News/Reuters – September 11, 2024)

https://www.usnews.com/

Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of Arizona’s San Carlos Apache tribe and conservationists, asked the court to overturn a March ruling from a sharply divided San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowing the federal government to swap acreage with the mining companies for their Resolution Copper project.

The appeal to the nine justices was delivered in person by a courier after the Apache held a ceremony of prayer and dancing on the court’s steps in Washington, the culmination of a months-long caravan from their Arizona reservation to the capital.

Read more

CHART: Codelco’s QB stake may not be enough to stop BHP taking copper crown – by Frik Els (Mining.com – September 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Chile’s state-run miner Codelco on Tuesday made a $500 million offer to buy a 10% stake in the Quebrada Blanca copper mine, controlled by Canada’s Teck Resources, from Enami, another Chilean state miner.

Quebrada Blanca’s expansion – QB2 – is ramping up with a target set by Teck of 285,000 – 315,000 tonnes of annual production by 2026. QB2 reached production of 51,300 tonnes in the second quarter this year, up more than 18% from Q1.

Read more

US Sees Bipartisan Backing for Africa Critical Minerals Plan – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – August 28, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — A senior US State Department official reassured African governments that an initiative to help counter China’s influence through developing infrastructure on the continent will continue even after a change in administration.

The flagship of the plan — a railway project known as the Lobito corridor that connects copper and cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to an Atlantic port in Angola — is already far advanced, Helaina Matza, acting special coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, told reporters on Wednesday.

Read more

Mining bosses issue M&A warning as forecasts of dealmaking boom mount – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Times – August 25, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Companies want commodities critical for clean energy such as copper that could drive deals

Mining bosses have warned against plunging into the mergers and acquisitions market and repeating mistakes of the past as forecasts mount that the industry is on the verge of a dealmaking boom.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm was the most outspoken as he hinted at the experience of his predecessor Tom Albanese, who was ousted from the top job in 2013 after an ill-fated acquisition.

Read more

Scramble for Critical Minerals Spurs an African Rail Revival – by Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – August 24, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Southern Africa’s railways are suddenly getting global attention and attracting billions of dollars in investment, with a race to secure copper supplies needed for the energy transition at its center.

From Angola on the continent’s west coast to Tanzanian on the east, governments and investors are readying to revive decades-old rail lines that have fallen into disrepair and build new ones. Much of the new demand for freight comes from the central African copperbelt that Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo share.

Read more