Republic of Mining

China’s rare earth curbs have ‘changed psychology’ at US firms (Bloomberg News – May 12, 2025)

May 14, 2025

https://www.bloomberg.com/

China’s weaponization of rare earths in its trade war with the US will spark a much greater focus on American supply security for critical minerals, according to MP Materials Corp., the only US miner of the key materials used in smartphones and defense applications.

“Regardless of how trade negotiations evolve from here, the system as it existed is broken, and the rare-earth Humpty Dumpty, so to speak, is not getting put back together,” the miner’s chief executive officer, Jim Litinsky, said on an earnings call last Friday.

So much for ‘drill, baby, drill’? – by Matt Egan (CNN.com – May 12, 2025)

May 14, 2025

https://www.cnn.com/

America’s oil industry is facing immense pressure during Trump 2.0. Even though President Donald Trump vowed to usher in a period of American energy dominance, the administration’s trade war and OPEC’s production hikes have cast a shadow over the oil patch.

In fact, once-gangbusters US oil production growth is now at risk of grinding to a halt — or even going in reverse. Hurt by weakening demand and depressed prices, US oil output is now expected to shrink in 2026, S&P Global Commodity Insights projected on Monday. S&P estimates that US oil production will dip to 13.3 million barrels per day in 2026, a 130,000-barrel decline from its 2025 forecast.

State of Diamonds: What’s Next for Lab-Grown Diamonds? – by Avi Krawitz (National Jeweler – May 14, 2025)

May 14, 2025

https://nationaljeweler.com/

While the product has entrenched itself in the market, retailers and consultants are assessing the next phase of the category’s development.

Being late to the party can be an advantage, says Constance Polamalu while relating her journey on the road to selling lab-grown diamonds. As chief operating officer of Zachary’s Jewelers in Annapolis, Maryland, Polamalu took time during the pandemic to assess opportunities in the lab-grown market.

“Our area tends to be a bit delayed in following trends and there wasn’t a big advocate for lab grown here at the time, but it was looming,” she recalls.

Mining the Northwest: Orla spends to elevate Musselwhite to ‘next level’ production – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 14, 2025)

May 14, 2025

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Vancouver miner invests $115 million to upgrade, expand and lengthen mine life of northwest operation

Vancouver’s Orla Mining is delivering as originally advertised when it comes to investing and rebuilding in its latest catch at the Musselwhite Mine.

The upstart mid-tier gold company is investing $115 million into the remote northwestern Ontario underground operation to plunk into mine development, procure new equipment, and launch an aggressive round of exploration drilling this year.

Federal government appoints first Indigenous Minister of Indigenous Services Canada – by Willow Fiddler (Globe and Mail – May 14, 2025)

May 14, 2025

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The first Indigenous person ever to be appointed Minister of Indigenous Services Canada has a big job ahead of them and high expectations to meet, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations says. Mandy Gull-Masty, from the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi in Quebec, was sworn in on Tuesday to lead the ministry, which administers services and programs for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.

AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse told The Globe and Mail that Ms. Gull-Masty will be held to a higher standard because she is a First Nations woman, but that she will prove her leadership to the country.

France’s Orano files lawsuit over staff detention in Niger – by Anna Peverieri, Forrest Crellin and Portia Crowe(Reuters – May 13, 2025)

May 14, 2025

https://www.reuters.com/

French uranium miner Orano said on Tuesday it had filed a lawsuit with the Niger courts over the “arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and unjust confiscation of property” involving its staff and assets in the country.

Niger and neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso have been stepping up pressure on foreign mining companies over the past year, seizing assets and removing permits as all three Sahel countries look to assert more sovereignty over their natural resources.

‘Diamonds are forever,’ but not necessarily so for northern mining industry – by Aya Dufour (CBC News Sudbury – May 13, 2025)

May 13, 2025

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

DeBeers renews focus on natural diamonds after closing lab-grown business

DeBeers recently renewed its focus on natural diamonds after experimenting with lab-grown ones. But that probably won’t be enough to revive diamond mining in northern Ontario, according to some working in the sector.

In a news release last week, the mining giant pointed to a sharp decline in prices for lab-grown diamonds and said that trend underpinned the company’s “core belief in rare, high value and natural diamond jewelry.” DeBeers started its lab-grown diamond business around the same time it closed its only diamond project in Ontario — the Victor Mine near Attawapiskat First Nation in the province’s far north.

A Double-Whammy Of Politics And Science Knocks Gold – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – May 12, 2025)

May 13, 2025

https://www.forbes.com/

Politics and science have combined to wipe $225 an ounce off the price of gold in three weeks with worse to come if peace takes hold in war zones and if an experiment in man-made gold moves out of its laboratory phase.

The fall from a peak of $3433 an ounce on April 22 to around $3208/oz today was caused largely by the promise of peace in Ukraine and Gaza and an easing of tariffs in the U.S. v China trade war.

Could Trump use wartime emergency law to boost Montana metals mining, curtail Russian imports? – by Mike Sunnucks (Fairfield Sun Times – May 12, 2025)

May 13, 2025

https://www.fairfieldsuntimes.com/

President Donald Trump invoked a wartime and emergency law in March to bolster critical materials and rare-earth metals mining production in the U.S.

“The Defense Production Act (DPA) will be used to expand domestic mineral production capacity,” reads the order, referring to the federal law that was established during the Korean War, invoked during the Cold War to help bolster U.S. aluminum and titanium industries, and most recently during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase manufacturing of masks and ventilators.

Now, there could be an effort by Trump to use his emergency powers under the DPA to bolster platinum and palladium mining in Montana and curtail Russian imports of the precious metals. Montana is the only state where platinum and palladium (the latter used mostly in catalytic converters for cars and trucks) is mined.

Gold continues to hold its own as markets continue to digest improving US-Chinese trade relations – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – May 13, 2025)

May 13, 2025

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market may be struggling to attract bullish momentum as it remains well below last month’s all-time high of $3,500 an ounce; however, investors are still reluctant to short the precious metal as it continues to hold support at $3,200 an ounce.

In a note on Tuesday, commodity analysts at TD Securities pointed out that gold is still above its lows following President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day,” when he announced significant global tariffs on imported goods. He later removed the elevated tariffs and implemented a blanket 10% tax on all imports.

Pan American Silver shareholders give cool reception to proposed $2.1-billion acquisition of MAG Silver – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 13, 2025)

May 13, 2025

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Pan American Silver Corp. has reached a friendly arrangement to buy its Canadian competitor MAG Silver Corp. in a US$2.1-billion stock-and-cash deal that has not gone down well with shareholders. Vancouver-based MAG’s sole producing asset is its 44-per-cent share in the Juanicipio silver mine, which is located in Mexico, and majority-owned and operated by Britain-incorporated Fresnillo PLC.

Founded by financier Ross Beaty, Pan American is one of the biggest silver producers on the planet with a portfolio of 10 mines in seven countries. The Vancouver-based company expanded its footprint considerably a few years ago when it bought a suite of South American mines from Canada’s Yamana Gold Inc.

Rio Tinto bets big on Lithium Triangle’s brine riches – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 13, 2025)

May 13, 2025

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO) is doubling down on lithium, with chief executive Jakob Stausholm declaring that South America’s Lithium Triangle is the ideal region to secure the metal critical to the energy transition.

Speaking at the Bank of America Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference on Tuesday, Stausholm said that brine resources in Argentina, Chile and Bolivia offer the best chance for the world to access low-cost, high-quality lithium.

Timely government permitting factors into McEwen Mining’s upsized gold production plans – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 12, 2025)

May 13, 2025

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Timmins miner eager to tap into robust Grey Fox deposit sooner than later

How keen are Ottawa and Queen’s Park in working together to accelerate the approvals process that puts more mines into production? McEwen Mining will find out in the months to come. The Toronto gold company has high hopes for its Grey Fox deposit, east of Timmins, which CEO Rob McEwen called a “cornerstone asset for us for years to come,” in a May 7 news release.

The Timmins-area miner recently released the latest batch of high-grade drill hits from an ongoing exploration program at Grey Fox that bolstered management’s confidence that the high-grade deposit only stands to get bigger.

A Toxic Pit Could Be a Gold Mine for Rare-Earth Elements – by Jim Robbins (New York Times – May 13, 2025)

May 13, 2025

https://www.nytimes.com/

Mining continues at the Continental Pit. Nearby is the Berkeley Pit, a site for acid mine drainage that poses an opportunity for extracting valuable metals.

There’s a tale told about a miner who found copper cans in his garbage dump in the early days of mining. Wastewater from copper mining had flowed through his land, he said, and turned steel cans into copper. The story might be apocryphal, but the process is real, and it’s called cementation. Montana Resources, the mining company that took over from the Anaconda Copper Company, still uses this alchemical trick in a process at its Continental Pit mine in Butte, Mont.

Next to the mine is the Berkeley Pit, which is filled with 50 billion gallons of a highly acidic, toxic brew. Montana Resources pipes liquid from the pit, enabling it to cascade onto piles of scrap iron. The iron becomes copper and is gathered for production.

Canada is not for sale — And neither is Neskantaga First Nation, says chief – by Jon Thompson (Ricochet Media – May 12, 2025)

May 13, 2025

Front

‘This is a genocide:’ no clean water, healthcare as drug pandemic rages

Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisess is only six weeks into his first term, and is facing simultaneous crises in his community and in Thunder Bay. But he left home and travelled to Queen’s Park today to call out what he describes as “genocide” buried in new provincial environmental legislation.

Ontario’s proposed Bill 5, the Protect Ontario By Unleashing Our Economy Act, would allow the province to designate “special economic zones” that would qualify to bypass environmental regulations and speed up development. It is expected to be in force as early as September, and Premier Doug Ford intends to name the proposed Ring of Fire mineral development as the first such site.