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International Media Resource Articles

Teck, tariffs, and the Red Dog zinc mine – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – April 28, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. CEO Johnathan Price says the diversified Canadian miner’s portfolio of American mining operations delivering metals critical to 21st-century energy and technologies are well-positioned to weather a geopolitical storm that threatens to hobble the global economy, fuel inflation, and disrupt supply chains.

“Despite these headwinds, we believe that the fundamentals for our key metals, copper and zinc, are robust over the medium and long term as several macro factors continue to drive demand,” he informed analysts and investors during an April 24 earnings call. “These metals are essential for global manufacturing and development, industrial policy and national security, electrification infrastructure, as well as the growth of the digital economy.”

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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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US-Europe fault lines widen over critical raw materials at IEA energy security summit – by Julienne Raboca (Fastmarkets – April 28, 2025)

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US advocates for continued fossil fuel development

At a panel on integrating energy security within a broader security network, acting US Assistant Secretary for Energy – Tommy Joyce delivered a blunt assessment of clean energy technology vulnerabilities, directly challenging the European push for rapid decarbonization.

“For true energy security, we must leverage all resources that are affordable, that are available, and that are secure,” Joyce said. “It’s about energy addition, not subtraction. And there’s no world in which the demand for energy is going to decrease.”

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Burkina Faso to Nationalise More Industrial Mines in Strategic Shift – by John Zadeh (Discovery Alert – April 29, 2025)

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Burkina Faso’s Mining Nationalization: Strategic Resource Control in West Africa

In a major policy shift reshaping West Africa’s mining landscape, Burkina Faso has embarked on an ambitious nationalization program targeting its lucrative gold mining sector. The military-led government is systematically expanding state control over foreign-owned mines, positioning this resource nationalism as essential for economic sovereignty.

Prime Minister Jean Emmanuel Ouédraogo recently confirmed in a televised address that Burkina Faso to nationalise more industrial mines following initial acquisitions from Western mining companies. “The Société de Participation Minière du Burkina has already recovered two industrial mines from private operators, and this process will continue,” he stated, signaling more takeovers on the horizon.

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Critical Minerals Are a US Headache, Not an Emergency – by Javier Blas (Bloomberg News – April 29, 2025)

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/

In the 1950s, the US was worried about the supply of mercury, because the liquid metal was key to power walkie-talkies during the Korean War. In the 1980s, analysts warned that mineral shortages to rival the OPEC oil shock could undermine the Cold War arsenal.

Today, the concern is about China cornering the market for lithium and cobalt, which are needed for high-capacity batteries. The panic over the years has inevitably influenced policy even if heeding cooler heads would offer reassurance. Which brings us to the current US administration.

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Unlocking investment in critical minerals in Kazakhstan – by Caroline Peachey (Mining Technology – April 29, 2025)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Kazakhstan is looking to position itself as a key player in the global critical minerals supply chain, starting with battery materials.

Kazakhstan hosts substantial reserves of critical minerals including rare earth elements (REEs), copper, lithium, tungsten, tantalum as well as other materials essential for modern technologies and the energy transition.

Recognising the strategic importance of these resources, the Kazakh Government has introduced efforts to attract foreign investment and technological expertise to develop its critical minerals sector.

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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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Things to know about the US coal industry and proposed changes under the Trump administration – by John Raby and Leah Willingham (Associated Press – April 27, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration has proposed several changes that would affect the struggling U.S. coal industry. Trump issued executive orders this month to allow mining on federal land.

He has used his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet the rising demand amid the growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars.

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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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Trump’s push to save the fading coal industry gets a warm embrace in West Virginia – by Leah Willingham and John Raby (Associated Press – April 27, 2025)

https://apnews.com/

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. (AP) — The winner of this year’s West Virginia Coal Festival teen beauty pageant walks among the ruins of a community abandoned 70 years ago and imagines the rusted remains of coal tipples and processing plants coming back to life.

Ava Johnson knows West Virginia coal will not ever be what it once was. But as she makes her way along overgrown railroad tracks near the abandoned Kay Moor mine in the New River Gorge National Park looking for spikes for her collection, the 16-year-old history buff says she has heard people talking with hope about the future of an industry that has brought good-paying jobs to her state for the better part of two centuries.

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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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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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The sinister history of America’s ‘uranium gold rush’ – by Erin Blakemore (National Geographic – July 12, 2024)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

The success of the Manhattan Project sent demand for uranium skyrocketing, and enterprising prospectors went out West in search of an overnight fortune. But many were exposed to lethal radiation in the mines.

Armed with picks and shovels, the prospectors turned to the American West intent on finding deposits of the mineral that would make their fortunes. Their pursuit of wealth led to vast riches—and left ghost towns in its wake.

But the year wasn’t 1849, and the miners weren’t in search of gold. Instead, it was the 1950s, and they carried Geiger counters along with their shovels. They were part of the United States’ last big mineral rush—a forgotten race to find uranium deposits at the dawn of the nuclear age.

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Bad News for China: Rare Earth Elements Aren’t That Rare – by Zeyi Yang (Wired Magazine – April 23, 2025)

https://www.wired.com/

China is limiting US access to critical minerals in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but the move isn’t as devastating as Beijing wants it to be.

As the trade war between China and the United States continues to escalate, Beijing is responding by turning to one of its favorite retaliation tactics: limiting the export of critical minerals used in many high-tech electronics, from fighter jets to wind turbines.

While China’s mineral restrictions may sound scary, the reality is that they haven’t been very effective in the past and stand to become even less so if the US and other countries finally get their acts together. It all started in July 2023, when the Chinese government announced it would restrict the export of gallium and germanium, two critical minerals that are mostly used in making solar panels and semiconductors.

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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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