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Gold and Silver

The future for Alaska mining is golden – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – May 2, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Record gold prices and rising production are expected to push Alaska’s 2025 gold output value north of $3.4 billion.

With the gold shattering the $3,000-per-ounce ceiling without hesitation and Alaska mines poised to break above the 1-million-oz mark this year, the future of Alaska’s mining sector is golden. This combination of record gold prices and production positions Alaska’s mining industry to crush all previous records this year when it comes to the value of the minerals and metals produced in the state.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) calculates that Alaska’s mining operations produced $4.7 billion of non-fuel minerals – gold, zinc, silver, lead, and aggregate products – in 2024. Adding the coal produced for in-state power plants bumps this total up to roughly $4.8 billion.

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Alamos Gold sees mine expansion on the horizon at Dubreuilville – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 1, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Toronto gold miner takes big-picture outlook at Island Gold after first quarter results fail to impress markets

Completion of the multi-million-dollar expansion at Alamos Gold’s Island Gold mine, outside Dubreuilville, is on track for the first half of 2026.

The gold potential at the prolific high-grade underground mine is key to the Toronto company’s three-year strategy to become a million-ounce-per-year producer, combining its mines in Northern Ontario and Mexico with another on the way in Manitoba.

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Casino Mining defends heap leach plan as distrust of gold extraction method lingers – by Gabrielle Plonka (CBC News North – May 01, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Company vice-president says Casino would have ‘significant differences’ from the Eagle gold mine

The heap leach facility at the Casino mine will be different from the one that failed last summer at the Eagle gold mine in the Yukon, according to the mining company. The Casino mine — which is still in the environmental assessment phase — is 300 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse via Carmacks, on what the company says is one of the largest copper-gold deposits in Canada.

Shena Shaw, Casino Mining’s vice-president of environmental and community affairs, gave a presentation at the Association of Yukon Communities’ annual general meeting on April 25.

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Why the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act Was Enacted Swiftly and Silently – by Mariyam Suleman Anees (The Diplomat – April 28, 2025)

https://thediplomat.com/

The controversial law will undermine restive Balochistan’s rights over its mineral reserves.

In the second week of March, while the media was busy covering the deadly train hijacking in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, the provincial assembly quietly and in great haste passed an important and now controversial piece of legislation: the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act, 2025.

With little to no discussion or opposition to the bill, it silently slipped through the Balochistan provincial assembly and became an act on March 14, receiving barely any media coverage. Only after a similar bill in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province sparked controversy did the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act come into the limelight.

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BC First Nation files ‘urgent’ injunction to halt tailings dam construction at Mount Polley mine – by Amanda Stutt (Mining.com – April 28, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

A British Columbia First Nation filed on Friday an injunction application on an “urgent basis” in Supreme Court to halt construction to raise the dam at the former Mount Polley gold mine. Xatśūll First Nation government is part of the larger Secwepemc (Shuswap) nation, located in the Cariboo region of the Canadian province.

The Xatśūll First Nation first filed a judicial review on April 15 with the Supreme Court of BC against the province’s minister of mining and critical minerals, the minister of environment and parks, the provincial deputy permitting officer, major mines offices and the Mount Polley Mining Corporation to overturn two provincial decisions authorizing Mount Polley Mining (MPMC) to raise the height of the dam at its tailings storage facility (TSF).

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New Osisko study for Cariboo project lifts NPV, costs – by Frederic Tomesco (Northern Miner – April 28, 2025)

Global mining news

An updated feasibility study for Osisko Development’s (TSXV, NYSE: ODV) Cariboo gold project in British Columbia increases net present value (NPV) by 88% even as estimated capital expenditures climb by more than one-third.

Cariboo’s after-tax NPV now stands at $943 million, up from a 2023 estimate of $502 million, Osisko said Monday in a statement. Projected capital expenditures are pegged at $1.41 billion compared with $1.02 billion previously.

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Billionaire investor John Paulson sees gold near $5,000 by 2028 – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – April 29, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Central bank gold buying and global trade tensions are likely to push bullion prices to near $5,000 an ounce by 2028, billionaire investor John Paulson said in an interview during which he reinforced his commitment to US mining projects

The price forecast is one of the most bullish yet as banks and others move to increase their own estimates after gold hit a record high just above $3,500 last week. Deutsche Bank, for one, expects bullion to hit $3,700 an ounce by next year.

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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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Miners set to reap rewards of high gold prices but remain cautious on spending – by Ian Bickis (Canadian Press – April 25, 2025)

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/

TORONTO – Record gold prices are translating into higher profits for Canadian producers and excitement about the potential for more growth, though miners remain cautious on spending. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. was among the first big producers to report results after a quarter that saw gold top US$3,000 an ounce, while this week it pushed to over US$3,500 an ounce for the first time on U.S. instability fears.

The higher prices led Agnico Eagle, one of the world’s biggest gold producers, to report record adjusted net income of US$770 million for the quarter ending March 31, up from US$377 million last year. “The gold price performance over the past year has been remarkable,” said chief executive Ammar Al-Joundi on an earnings call Friday.

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Barrick is cashing in on gold’s record rally with asset sales – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – April 23, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

For Barrick Gold Corp., one of the world’s top bullion producers, the precious metal’s blistering rally to record prices is looking like a great opportunity to raise some cash as the company looks to pivot harder into copper mining.

First, the company announced on Tuesday that it’s exiting an Alaskan mining project by selling its 50% stake to billionaire John Paulson and Novagold Resources Inc. for US$1 billion. Meanwhile, Barrick has also signalled more deals on the horizon as it seeks buyers for mines in Africa and North America.

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As Pakistan bets on a mining boom, can it equal Indonesia’s nickel success? – by Tom Hussain (South China Morning Post – April 26, 2025)

https://www.scmp.com/

A landmark deal unlocking vast copper and gold reserves has Pakistan eyeing a transformative economic shift

Pakistan is poised to join the ranks of the world’s top producers of critical metals by the end of the decade, thanks to an April 8 deal between the government and Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold.

Together, they aim to unlock the vast potential of Reko Diq, home to the world’s largest known untapped deposits of copper and gold with near-term production potential. Chinese firms are already on the ground, Saudi Arabia is on the verge of investing, and the United States is clamouring for access to Pakistan’s mineral wealth.

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First Nation challenges B.C.’s approval to raise Mount Polley mine tailings dam (CBC British Columbia/Canadian Press – April 15, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/

The Xatsull First Nation has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court

A First Nation in B.C. has filed a legal challenge over the plan to allow the Mount Polley mine to raise its tailings dam a decade after a similar storage site at the mine gave way, creating one of the province’s largest environmental disasters.

The Xatsull First Nation has filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court requesting a judicial review of the government’s decision to approve the raising of the dam by four metres without “meaningful” conversations with the nation.

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Chinese takeover of Vancouver gold miner unlikely to be blocked by government, analyst says – by Naimul Karim (National Post – April 22, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

In recent years, the government blocked deals involving Chinese companies and Canadian miners developing critical minerals

A Chinese company’s subsidiary is buying a Vancouver-based gold miner for about $581 million amidst rising gold prices, subject to approval by the Canadian government, among others.

Lumina Gold Corp., which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, isn’t producing gold yet but is developing the Cangrejos project in Ecuador, which it describes as that country’s “largest primary gold deposit,” based on a study conducted in 2023. The project is being sold to a Singaporean entity of China’s CMOC Group Ltd.

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Surging gold stocks lift mining’s top 50 companies above tariff chaos – by Frik Els (Mining.com – April 21, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Two weeks into the second quarter, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, up $79.7 billion so far in 2025. The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies remains almost $400 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022.

This snapshot was taken at the close of trading on April 17 and not at the start of Q2 as usual to avoid some of the market distortions brought on by the chaotic weeks following Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs. This flatters the index to some extent as gold stocks rode the coattails of the record setting bullion price and almost all big names regained some ground after the severe sell-off during the first week of April.

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Barrick exits Alaska with Donlin Gold sale – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – April 22, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

To sell its 50% stake in the 39-million-oz gold project to Paulson and Novagold for $1 billion.

After nearly two decades of exploration, engineering, and permitting, Barrick Gold Corp. has sold its 50% joint venture ownership of the world-class Donlin Gold project in Southwest Alaska to hedge fund billionaire John Paulson and Novagold Resources Inc. for $1 billion in cash.

“The Donlin agreement allows Barrick to exit the Donlin Gold Project at an attractive valuation, while allowing NOVAGOLD and Paulson to pursue the development of the project,” Barrick Gold President and CEO Mark Bristow said in an April 22 statement announcing the sale.

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