The Trump administration is ratcheting up government ownership in mining companies that are nominally Canadian, raising questions about whether Ottawa plans similar investments.
Trump has ordered his Department of Defense to take a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals (TSX, NYSE American: TMQ) which is advancing the Arctic copper-zinc project in Alaska with South32 (ASX, LSE, JSE: S32). That follows a 5% U.S. government holding announced last month in Lithium Americas (TSX, NYSE: LAC), which is developing the $3-billion Thacker Pass project in Nevada. Trilogy and Lithium Americas are based in Vancouver.
“The funny part is, they’re not Canadian because all their assets are in the United States, so are they Canadian? Are they American?” says Krisztián Tóth, a partner at Toronto-based law firm Fasken who focuses on mining financing and cross-border transactions. “The national security aspect of this has not been examined fully, but that’s really what it goes to anyway.”
The American government investing in Canadian companies isn’t new – that goes back to the Second World War with funding for Quebec aluminum plants – and the Biden administration earmarked millions for projects in Canada through clean energy and transition metals funding. However, Trump officials are promoting direct ownership, which has elated some mining industry players while others urge caution.
Canada has a more nuanced approach, at least on paper so far. Prime Minister Mark Carney has opened a Major Projects Office to fast-track energy and mining projects, but he’s stopped short of seeking equity stakes in projects, although the government under his predecessor did buy a gas pipeline to help build it. Carney also makes
Who
Trump officials are promoting direct ownership, which has elated some mining industry players while others urge caution.
sure to mention that environmental and Indigenous concerns will be addressed amid government support.
Northwest Territories
Fortune Minerals (TSX: FT; US-OTC: FTMDF), developing the NICO cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper project in the Northwest Territories with a refinery in Alberta, received $6.4 million last year from the Pentagon as part of a total C$17 million from governments on both sides of the border. The project has the world’s largest deposit of bismuth, which is used in products such as Pepto Bismol.
“The validation and combined support from the governments have allowed the project to move forward during a challenging environment at a quicker pace than
would have been possible with support from only one government,”
Fortune President and CEO Robin Goad said in an emailed reply to questions. “The U.S. support was a catalyst for additional Canadian government support.”
Mining companies will welcome investment wherever it comes from, given how hard it is to raise funds, Fasken’s Toth noted. But he urged Ottawa to revise its policy on foreign investment, like how it has been applied to the Chinese. Canada has ordered China-controlled businesses to divest from Canadian companies even when the mineral assets were abroad.
“I echo the words of Ronald Reagan: ‘The most dangerous words you’re ever going to hear is, I’m the government, and I’m here to help,’” Tóth said in a phone interview.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press on Oct. 6 after signing an executive order to allow construction of an access road to the Ambler mining district in Alaska and unlock domestic supplies of copper and other minerals. He was joined by Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, left, and Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, right.
SARAH L. VOISIN/THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES
“As long as there’s a free market and the government doesn’t artificially keep out other potential investors, then it’s healthy for the government to also want to invest in projects. I would prefer there would be more Canadian-based projects than foreign projects, just
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A view of the headframe at Maple Gold Mines’ Douay project in northern Quebec. See story on page 10.
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
DEPARTMENTS
n Speed rules
Ontario introduced rules designed to cut mine approval times by half – a move that Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce insisted will make the province more competitive in the global race to extract critical minerals.
Dubbed “One Project, One Process” (1P1P), the framework creates a centralized permitting and authorization model that aims to approve advanced exploration and mine development projects in a maximum of two years, Lecce said Oct. 17. The reform will give investors and developers the confidence to build mines and create jobs across northern Ontario, he said.
“Economic self-reliance starts with our ability to move resource projects forward,” Lecce said during a news conference at the Toronto Stock Exchange. “Mines will be our anchor to keep Canadians employed.”
The new rules replace what Lecce branded an outdated and fragmented system that has seen mine approval timelines balloon to as many as 15 years – second-longest among Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries.
n No Vale plant
Brazilian miner Vale has scrapped plans to build a $325-million ($231-million) nickel sulphate facility in Quebec after its sole client put an expansion project on ice.
General Motors has changed the timing of its Ultium Cam electric-vehicle battery venture in Bécancour, a spokesperson for Vale’s base metals unit said Oct. 16. “As
a result, Vale Base Metals is cancelling its nickel sulphate plant project,” he added.
Citing “evolving market dynamics,” GM and its partner, South Korean steelmaker Posco, have decided to pause the second stage of the Ultium Cam project, which involves boosting cathode active material capacity and integrating battery precursor materials production, according to spokesperson Marie Binette. Output of cathode active material for EV batteries at Bécancour is nevertheless expected to start in 2026, she said, adding that “GM’s long-term strategy is to build a profitable EV business in North America.”
Vale’s project would have been the first fully domestic nickel sulphate facility for the North American market.
n Shutdown snag
The United States federal government shutdown is complicating efforts by mine developer Eagle Energy Metals to proceed with a proposed stock market listing by the end of the year, CEO Mark Mukhija said.
Eagle Energy announced plans in July to go public on Nasdaq by “late 2025” via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. An unnamed institutional investor agreed to invest $30 million (C$42 million) to fund drilling and studies at its Aurora uranium project on federal land in eastern Oregon.
The deal, which implies an equity value of about $312 million, requires U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission clearance and shareholder approvals. Staff at the SEC has been cut back drastically since the U.S. government officially shut down Oct. 1 after lawmakers failed to reach
a funding agreement.
“Unfortunately, the government shutdown is making it difficult for us to get that process continued,” Mukhija said last month in an interview.
Aurora is described as the largest mineable measured-and-indicated uranium deposit in the U.S.
n $70M gold theft
Rebels occupying Twangiza Mining’s gold concession in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have reportedly looted at least 500 kg of bullion, worth about $70 million at current prices, Reuters reported.
Twangiza’s own employees helped the M23 rebel group transport gold from the site shortly after the mine was seized in May, the news agency said, citing the company. They smuggled the bullion via underground channels, according to a manager.
The mine, located in South Kivu province, fell under M23 control after weeks of escalating conflict in the region. Twangiza says it also has lost $5 million in equipment and materials. The company has declared force majeure and plans to file complaints with Congolese authorities and international arbitration bodies.
A drone strike on Oct. 15 destroyed the mine’s power infrastructure. Responsibility for the attack remains unclear.
China’s Baiyin International Investments bought Twangiza in 2020 for a nominal $1 as its liabilities exceeded projected revenue. Canadian mining company Banro Corp. began commercial production there in 2012.
CREDIT: FREDERIC TOMESCO
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opinion
EDITORIAL
Mining in America
BY COLIN McCLELLAND
In 1984, Ronald Reagan’s re-election was cemented by the “Morning in America” TV ad. Its calm narration of people working, buying homes and getting married in a recovering economy helped deliver one of the biggest landslides in U.S. history. Opponent Walter Mondale’s defeat remains the second worst ever.
Forty years later, the theme could well be “Mining in America,” though there is little calm about it in the Donald Trump White House. Like a metaphor for his presidency, wrecking crews were demolishing the East Wing on the presidential grounds as The Northern Miner went to press.
Trump has moved swiftly in his second term to dismantle many of his predecessor’s initiatives, rolling back programs in climate policy, diversity and environmental protection, while promising to blow up global trade with tariffs. Executive orders followed in rapid succession.
The White House has withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate accord and halted new wind and solar developments on federal land under Executive Order 14162, citing energy security and cost concerns. Major offshore wind projects have been cancelled, while clean energy tax incentives are being phased out. About $7 billion in green power spending has been cut, with another $22 billion in reductions planned.
Yet even as clean energy funding dries up, the focus has shifted back to the rocks beneath our feet. Like him or hate him, Trump has done a lot of things for “Mining in America.”
In March, he signed the executive order titled “Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production.” It invoked emergency powers and directed multiple agencies to streamline permitting, identify federal lands with mineral deposits, and leverage federal programs and the Defense Production Act to support domestic mineral output.
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council has named more than a dozen projects to the FAST-41 program to receive heightened transparency and expedited review. They include Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite project in Idaho, which has begun construction (see page 34); Rio Tinto and BHP’s Resolution Copper in Arizona (see page 31); and Albemarle’s Silver Peak lithium expansion in Nevada.
In April, Trump issued a separate executive order to accelerate exploration and production of seabed and offshore mineral resources such as nickel, cobalt, copper, titanium and rare earth elements. The order signals a push into deep-sea mining and seeks to bypass or reinterpret international frameworks such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the International Seabed Authority, both of which govern activity in the oceans.
Also that month, Trump signed the executive order “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241.” It positions the fossil fuel as a strategic resource and supports the industry with regulatory changes.
In August, the U.S. Department of the Interior released its draft 2025 List of Critical Minerals, which will guide federal investment, tax incentives and permitting decisions in mining and resource recovery from mine waste and stockpiles. The release emphasized the administration’s view that reducing reliance on foreign adversaries for key minerals is central to national security.
In September, Trump’s administration announced a plan to open about 13 million acres (52,600 sq. km) of federal land to coal mining and provide about $625 million in support for recommissioning coalfired plants through the Department of the Interior. The move aligns with the earlier coal-industry executive order and expands land access for extraction.
Last month, Trump approved a major project reversal: the 211-mile (340-km) gravel road in Alaska – the Ambler Road – which had been blocked by the previous administration. It opens access to large copper, cobalt, zinc and other mineral deposits in the Brooks Range region (see page one photo).
Also in October, the administration announced plans to take equity stakes in companies engaged in critical-mineral production and processing – such as MP Materials and Lithium Americas (see page one) –signalling a more direct government role in the mining and processing industry.
All along the way the administration has prioritized mining in foreign trade talks, like with Australia, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The latest push in negotiations with China may resolve an impasse over rare earths.
Through these measures, the Trump administration is pursuing a multipronged policy: (i) fast-track permitting for mining and processing; (ii) open federal lands and offshore areas for exploration and extraction; (iii) prioritize critical minerals for defence and technology supply chains; (iv) support coal and other domestic extractive industries; and (v) invest federal capital, or take equity, in minerals projects.
That tariffs have started to raise some prices appears of little concern to Trump. The real-estate dealmaker is always ready to intimidate with tariffs.
After Reagan’s voice was resurrected from 1987 in a C$75-million Ontario ad last week opposing tariffs, Trump scuttled ongoing Washington–Ottawa trade talks and threatened more border taxes. Moderate Reaganite Republicans are out of favour in Washington. Their “Morning in America” has given way to mourning – and retreat – under the wrecking ball.
And for Trump, it’s all about “Mining in America.” TNM
COMMENTARY
US reclaims exploration roots
BY JAMES COOPER
No doubt we are sitting within a phase of geopolitical spotlighting on minerals that involves Donald Trump, China, tariffs, ending the war in Ukraine, Greenland and Russia.
This is the year of headlines, or more aptly, the year for critical mineral headlines. This group of obscure commodities has risen from the back of a geeky science textbook to the hottest thing across markets in 2025.
It has been the big-ticket item that has threaded together some of the biggest headlines this year, like the war in Ukraine.
You might recall that earlier in the year, the U.S. and Ukraine were discussing a minerals-for-military-aid deal that would hand Ukraine’s seemingly vast supplies of rare earths to the U.S. economy. In theory, it would solve America’s reliance on China for this critical group of commodities. In return, the U.S. would hand Ukraine vast military aid. A win-win deal.
An old USGS report highlighted that Ukraine is an important supplier of things like ilmenite, iron ore, graphite, kaolin, manganese and magnesium. But not the headline grabbing rare earths.
Excitement waned and the deal was put on ice. Ukraine’s vast supply of rare earths was far smaller than media had ‘imagined.’
Nevertheless, it put another major spotlight on critical minerals in 2025. As has China, a country that has flirted with its ability to “weaponize” the dominance of its critical mineral processing.
And that reached an inflection point last April after the Asian superpower hit back against U.S. tariffs by imposing rare earth export restrictions. Clearly, the U.S. is concerned. But other than oil, most raw materials haven’t been on America’s national security agenda for a long time.
Rapid changes
The U.S. is not usually an economy associated with the business of extracting raw materials. It holds the world’s most advanced financialized economy, so, traditionally, hasn’t been concerned with the dirty business of mining and has relegated mining and mineral processing to offshore lands.
Yet attitudes are shifting. Tech is putting far more attention on its vulnerable raw material supply chains as are U.S. manufacturers.
Bezos and Gates have partnered with ventures like KoBold Metals. The U.S. government is pouring billions into upgrading the Lobito Corridor in Angola to secure access to Africa’s copper mines. These efforts have crossed the Red and Blue political divide in America. All of America is untied on one thing: it needs to secure its supply chain of raw materials. Through decades of unencumbered supply America has paid little attention to the “old economy,” that is, mineral extraction and processing. That laisser-faire attitude is shifting. U.S. manufac-
turers are anxious and American politicians are keen to make deals. Can investors benefit?
The U.S. government has placed mineral supply as a key priority.
But decades of mine closures, underinvestment in new mine developments and offshoring mineral processing ensures the U.S. will remain reliant on foreign mineral supplies for many years to come. That’s why its politicians are looking to allies with established mining capability like Canada and Australia.
Yet, nothing beats a homegrown project. And that probably explains why exploration activity is surging within the U.S. Mineral self-sufficiency won’t come quickly or easily for America. But it is at least trying to get the ball rolling by kick-starting its exploration sector back to life.
According to a report by S&P Global (emphasis added): Exploration in the US grew faster than the global average for almost a decade, fueled by major and junior companies’ increased interests, initially for gold and, more recently, other metals deemed critical, such as copper and lithium
And this:
The U.S. remains the third most explored country in 2023, distantly following Canada and Australia. During 2017–23, the U.S. share of global exploration climbed to 13% from 8% in 2017. No doubt there is a political will to increase America’s minerals supply chain resilience. Given the lack of existing mine development that can only start with exploration.
According to S&P Global, copper exploration (in particular) has seen a major uptick in the U.S., up 67% since 2020. The surge in exploration activity has been felt most across the states of Nevada, Arizona, Alaska and Idaho.
Home-grown investment angle
Obviously, home-grown projects will be favoured the most. For one, U.S. domiciled mining projects skirt future tariff risks. Yet they’re also more likely to access generous U.S. government grants and offtake agreements with local manufacturers who, themselves, are looking to avoid higher import costs of raw materials, associated with tariffs.
Junior mining stocks with projects sitting on U.S. soil could hold a key advantage in the years to come. These tailwinds mean that junior mining stocks domiciled within the U.S. could reach production faster versus rival companies with projects domiciled outside of the U.S. And that opportunity extends across the full life cycle of mining, from early stage ‘grassroots’ explorers to latestage feasibility, projects.
U.S. junior mining could be the key market to watch if the resurgence in commodities continues. Stay tuned. TNM
James Cooper is a geologist based in Australia who runs the commodities investment service Diggers and Drillers. You can also follow him on X @JCooperGeo.
Q&A with SRK Industry’s next big test
NAME: Terry Braun TITLE: President of SRK North America and Director of The Tailings Center COMPANY: SRK
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Mining’s next frontier isn’t underground – it’s in how the industry manages the waste it leaves behind. As investors demand cleaner balance sheets and communities push for stronger safeguards, tailings and water management have become the new measure of credibility and value.
Across the sector, the focus is shifting from compliance to proof of sustainability—showing not only that risks are controlled, but that resources like water are protected for the next generation.
To explore how miners can meet this challenge and build lasting trust, The Northern Miner’s Devan Murugan speaks with Terry Braun, President of SRK North America and Director of The Tailings Center.
Devan Murugan: Terry, thanks for talking to us.
Terry Braun: Pleasure to be here.
DM: What’s really at stake for miners today when it comes to water and why has it become such a defining issue?
TB: Devan, we all know that water is essential. Communities – and we as human beings – rely on it for drinking, for irrigation and even for its spiritual importance. Water also sustains ecosystems, which depend on its availability.
We know there are times of abundance and times of scarcity. And minerals are found where they’re found, so when there’s an opportunity to responsibly develop an ore body, one of the first technical and economic questions we must ask is: Is there water available, and is it reliable?
Mining inevitably moves water, whether we’re dewatering open pits or underground workings, processing ore, or using water to transport materials. Each step affects the overall water balance, sometimes leading to losses through entrainment or increased evaporation.
So, the real question becomes: How do we balance the needs of communities and ecosystems with the demands of mining? That’s the conversation at the forefront of our industry right now.
DM: You’ve said there’s still no consistent framework for disclosing how mines manage water. In simple terms, what does water stewardship actually mean on the ground?
TB: If we look back about 20 years, around 2005 to 2007, we began
to see movement toward water stewardship as a tangible goal, not just a philosophy. It became about disclosure, transparency, and understanding the trade-offs in developing water resources.
This wasn’t unique to mining.
The United Nations introduced the CEO Water Mandate, and in Australia, we saw the first water accounting frameworks –structured ways to quantify inputs, use and discharge.
Ten years ago, the Global Reporting Initiative expanded its climate-focused work to include water. Since then, we’ve seen sustainable accounting standards emerge, requiring companies to report water use and impacts.
In just the last few years, new frameworks – like the Climate Disclosure Board’s water reporting guideline and the International Council on Mining and Metals’ standards – have tried to align these methods. We’re seeing convergence, but not all companies follow or disclose under the same frameworks.
And the biggest gap? The level of disclosure. Many report at regional or national scales, but real transparency comes at the site level. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still work to do.
DM: In places like Ecuador, we’ve seen projects stall because of community fears over water security. How can mines engage earlier and co-design solutions to build trust?
TB: It really ties back to that first point, water availability is strategic. Mining inevitably affects water resources, so companies must assess both the physical capacity of a basin and the significance of those resources, not just their volume, but their reliability and cultural value.
Where we often fall short is in data. We can monitor groundwater, stream flows, and water quality, but it takes time to understand natural variability between wet and dry periods. That uncertainty makes early engagement essential.
Companies need to work with communities, other water users, and Indigenous and First Nations groups who have long-standing spiritual and cultural relationships with the land and water.
These conversations are happening earlier in the mine planning process, and that early dialogue can make the difference between a project that succeeds with community support and one that doesn’t move forward.
DM: Tailings remain a huge part of mining, yet many sites still inherit old habits. Where do you see the biggest legacy risks, and how should companies factor future liabilities into decisions today?
TB: Let me stay on the water theme. One legacy example I’ve worked on is a molybdenum mine in northwest New Mexico. It operated for decades, eventually shifting to an open-pit model. Today, the long-term water treatment obligation tied to that site is close to $1 billion dollars in present-value terms, a liability not every company could absorb.
Had that operator understood the long-term treatment costs upfront, they might have managed or relocated waste differently, or even changed the mining method.
Another example is a proposed mine in northern Minnesota. Despite strong science and community engagement, concerns
“As mines grow larger and more complex, the systems we create — tailings dams, pipelines — demand deeper understanding and better governance.”
—
TERRY BRAUN , PRESIDENT OF SRK NORTH AMERICA AND DIRECTOR OF
THE TAILINGS CENTER
about watershed disturbance ultimately led the board to shrink the mine’s footprint, reducing reserves and impacting economics, but avoiding potential long-term liabilities.
Both cases show the same lesson: the trade-off between making a commitment and inheriting one later. Responsible planning today can prevent costly obligations tomorrow.
DM: The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management was created to address these very risks. What does it change in practice, and how does it strengthen engagement through closure?
TB: The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) was a wake-up call for the industry. It recognized that as mines grow larger and more complex, the systems we create – tailings dams, pipelines, impoundments –demand deeper understanding and better governance.
GISTM pushes us to integrate knowledge from all stakeholders. It reinforces the concept of free, prior, and informed consent and requires clear understanding of uncertainties and potential failure modes.
It’s led to the creation of independent technical review boards that challenge design assumptions, and to the use of new data streams that monitor and predict risk areas.
Ultimately, this transparency, through regular reporting to communities and investors, helps us make better, safer decisions that protect both people and the environment.
DM: Finally, from SRK’s perspective, what gives you optimism that the industry can close the gap between compliance and true sustainability?
TB: Devan, I think it comes down to experience and collaboration. Consulting firms like SRK – and academic groups such as The Tailings Center – are bringing together engineers, scientists, and industry leaders to innovate how tailings are managed.
We’re advancing concepts like integrated landforms, where waste rock and tailings are co-mingled to improve long-term stability. We’re developing technologies to reduce water use and to leave facilities that are physically and chemically stable long after closure.
What makes me optimistic is seeing global collaboration grow, from Canada to Australia. For example, I recently visited the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland, where researchers are tackling the same challenges: how to plan, operate, and transition responsibly into post-mining life. The right people are focused on the right issues, and that’s a very good sign for the future.
DM: Terry Braun, President of SRK North America, thank you very much for joining us.
TB: The pleasure’s been all mine, Devan. Thank you.
The tailings storage facility at Anglo American Platinum’s Mareesburg mine in South Africa. SRK CONSULTING
Tailings storage at the Jerritt Canyon gold mine in northeast Nevada. SRK CONSULTING
0.2% 5.6%
URANIUM MINING PRODUCTION
Today, uranium production is firmly dominated by the Russian Sphere of Control, which accounts for roughly 60% of global supply. This dominance reflects the historic weight of Kazakhstan, Russia, and their allied states in fueling the world's nuclear reactors.
But by 2030, the landscape looks very different. As Kazakhstan's output declines and Canadian uranium mines ramp up output, the Coalition of the Willing is expected to close much of this gap. This shift marks more than just a resource rebalancing — it's evidence that the West is finally waking up to the role of nuclear energy.
For Western economies to meet surging energy demand while moving toward carbon-free power, nuclear must be at the centre of the mix. Growing uranium production in Canada and allied nations signals a renewed commitment to nuclear as the clean baseload energy source that will underpin the next phase of the energy transition.
Mining Insights: Dundee’s clean-tech solutions unlock value in complex ore projects
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
As the mining industry faces growing pressure to manage arsenic in complex gold and copper deposits, Dundee Sustainable Technologies (CSE: DST) is gaining traction with its innovations.
The Quebec-based company’s GlassLock process safely removes and stabilizes arsenic, while its CLEVR technology improves metal recovery – two advances now drawing attention from major miners.
In this follow-up conversation, Mining.com anchor Devan Murugan speaks with Dundee CEO Jean-Philippe Mai about how partnerships with leading producers are expanding, why responsible arsenic management is becoming a commercial advantage, and how the company’s Canadian and African facilities are paving the way for wider industry adoption.
Devan Murugan: Jean-Philippe Mai, thanks for joining us.
Jean-Philippe Mai: Hello, Devan. Pleasure to be here – thank you for having me.
DM: Last time we spoke, you explained how your GlassLock process could safely remove arsenic from concentrates. Since then, Dundee seems to have been building momentum. Can you give us an update on how miners are responding to that technology?
JM: It’s been great. This is something we’ve been doing for quite some time, and it’s become a major part of our business. Over the past year, working with arsenic-bearing sulphide concentrates has represented more than 60% of our business. That reflects how miners and project developers are recognizing the added value and benefits of using alternative approaches to deal with complex, arsenic-rich concentrates.
DM: There are now quite a few results and case studies to look at. Revival Gold is one of them. Their results showed higher gold grades with almost no arsenic left over. How significant was that outcome for you, JeanPhilippe?
JM: It’s been very positive working with various companies, especially those that are proactive about publicizing results and showing shareholders what’s achievable. It’s a strong showcase for our work. For many years, working with arsenic was seen as a bit of a taboo. Often, we were involved in projects quietly because companies didn’t want to highlight the problem. Now, more of our clients are disclosing results, which demonstrates the efficiency of the process and raises awareness in the market.
“Being able to remove arsenic lowers penalties [and] also opens up more options.”
DM: Let’s get into the technical side. For people not too deep into the subject, why is arsenic such a challenge for gold and copper producers? And how does turning it into glass solve the problem long term?
JM: Arsenic has been a growing issue for years. Oxide deposits are depleting, and more deposits are at depth where base metals are associated with sulphide minerals. Very often those sulphides –arsenopyrite, enargite, tennantite, cobaltite – contain arsenic. When you produce sulphide concentrates, arsenic levels are often high, and those levels have been trending upward over the past decade.
The smelting and concentrate market is very competitive, with strict regulations and penalties for arsenic content. That affects costs and marketability. Being able to remove arsenic not only lowers penalties but also opens up more options and longer-term perspectives for projects. Without that, companies are often limited to short-term offtake agreements.
Removing arsenic provides more flexibility and market access.
DM: You mentioned before that Dundee operates plants in Canada and at a copper smelter in Africa. Have those plants opened doors for commercial adoption?
JM: Absolutely. Bringing new technologies into mining is always challenging. Having plants has been a great tool – providing operational data at scale, building confidence, de-risking, and raising awareness. When people visit our Thetford Mines facility, they see the process and the equipment and realize we’re using industrystandard gear – sometimes for different applications or at different scales. That operational data and process understanding have been very valuable.
DM: How does removing arsenic from concentrates give miners more flexibility in planning – and what responsibility do producers
developers to assess what works best for their projects. We’ve built strong relationships with miners over the years, and several projects are moving quickly toward commercial adoption. Africa has been a very active market for us, as have smelters in the AsiaPacific region and the Americas. CLEVR and GlassLock can work separately or together, depending on the project. For example, CLEVR can solubilize arsenic, which is then precipitated and vitrified using GlassLock. Every project is different, so we remain project-focused. Things are going well, and we continue to encourage the industry to be curious and use us as a tool to see the value these new approaches can bring.
DM: It seems as if you’re not just solving an environmental problem – you’re unlocking stalled projects. Are you seeing that recognition from investors or developers now?
JM: Yes, indeed. Both of our processes have always focused on providing operational efficiency while solving environmental challenges our industry is facing. We’ve developed expertise with complex material, which in turn provides solutions for projects that might not proceed due to metallurgical challenges or restrictions. In this sense, we offer a tool and an option for stalled or metallurgically complex projects to move forward. For some clients, this can provide positive answers, de-risk and comfort investors involved in developing complex ore bodies, and even offer the key and leverage to acquire complex assets at a discounted price due to environmental or metallurgical issues.
have when it comes to managing arsenic safely?
JM: It’s difficult to plan long term when you’re subject to market forces. Being able to remove arsenic gives you far more options. There’s also a clear responsibility on miners and producers. If you’re producing a product with high arsenic content, even if you send it abroad, there’s still responsibility for how that arsenic will be managed.
With the GlassLock approach, we can address both issues –providing an effective operational method to remove arsenic, and ensuring safe, permanent handling of it through vitrification.
DM: Jean-Philippe, your aim is to make GlassLock and CLEVR standard practice for gold and copper miners dealing with complex ores. What’s the next step in achieving that?
JM: Our intention has always been to provide options – to be a tool for the industry, operators, and
DM: How do you see Dundee evolving over the next few years – in terms of scaling up operations, revenue growth, and global reach?
JM: I believe the next few years look very positive for Dundee Sustainable Technologies. We’ve been developing excellent projects in recent years, with new on-site operations expected in the short term. These will have a direct impact on our growth, revenue, and global positioning. We remain project-focused, and the outlook is strong. Dundee Sustainable Technologies is well positioned to deliver key solutions and meet the industry’s evolving needs.
DM: Jean-Philippe, thanks for your time.
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Dundee Sustainable Technologies and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: https://www.dundeetechnologies.com for more information.
Above: Mining.com’s Devan Murugan, left, and Dundee Sustainable Technologies CEO Jean-Philippe Mai. THE NORTHERN MINER
Right: Fluid bed reactor for arsenic removal at DST’s industrial facilities in Thetford Mines, Que.
sitevisit
Saga Metals’ Radar critical metals project is no blip
ATLANTIC CANADA | Company eyes 2026 resource for titanium, vanadium
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE Cartwright, Labrador
On top of a forested mountain just inland from the Atlantic coast, the white dome of a military radar station almost acts as a signpost for Labrador’s underground critical metals.
Further down on the slopes, Saga Metals (TSXV: SAGA; US-OTC: SAGMF) explorers are searching for titanium and vanadium at their Radar project, aptly named after the mountain station operated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Radar is about 10 km south of the fishing town of Cartwright and 390 km east of Labrador’s largest community, Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
“There’s not a single person that hasn’t interacted with titanium at some point today, tomorrow or the next,” Michael Garagan, Saga’s chief geological officer and director, told The Northern Miner during an October visit. “Its applications, from steel to aerospace, are quite important. And for vanadium on the aerospace side, on your nuclear reactor side, on your battery side. They are two resources that Canada has a lot of yet is mining very little.”
In Canada’s most sparsely populated province, where iron ore has dominated mining development amid a vast resource-rich territory, Saga stands out for its critical metals focus which includes its Double Mer uranium project 90 km east of Goose Bay. West into Quebec is Saga’s Legacy lithium project that it holds under an option agreement with Rio Tinto (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO). The Australian major operates Canada’s only titanium mine Lac Tio in eastern Quebec.
Canada has no vanadium mines, though three projects in Quebec have advanced to the economic study stage.
Hawkeye for titanium Radar comprises the Hawkeye and Trapper sites. Both sit on heavily forested slopes near the Mealy Mountains range and are accessible only by gravel roads.
While Radar shows strong early results and promising geology, it remains in the exploration stage. Key hurdles include defining a robust resource, proving metallurgical and processing flows, constructing requisite access and infrastructure in a remote region, navigating permitting and stakeholder engagement, and timing the start of production within a volatile commodity market.
Historic drilling at Hawkeye in the 1990s identified noteworthy iron and titanium oxide grades. But a significant insight into the horseshoe-shaped target only came this year when Saga launched its first drilling program.
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Its 2,200 metres of drilling across seven holes in the first quarter targeted a magnetic anomaly at Hawkeye. Many of the rocks at Hawkeye’s exposed trough, which was dug out months ago with an excavator, contain so much magnetic content that metallic pens can be dangled from them.
Highlight results included hole R25-HEZ-01 that cut 263.5 metres grading 17.5% iron, 3.6% titanium oxide (Ti02) and 0.17% vanadium oxide (V2O5) from 4.5 metres depth; including 31.5 metres at 26% iron, 5.3% Ti02 and 0.2% V2O5
Another result, in hole R25HEZ-04, returned 50 metres at 24.5% iron, 4.74% Ti02 and 0.3% V2O5 from 231 metres depth.
“You can see the magnetite layers which are hosting the titanium-vanadium, which we intercepted in our drill program,” Garagan said, gesturing at wide bands on the rock in a trench. “Knowing that it’s a layered intrusion has allowed teams to very easily track the magnetite and allow for our 200 to 300-metre intercepts of oxide layering.”
Strong readings
West of Hawkeye is the Trapper zone, where Saga plans to start a 15,000-metre drilling program in early November. The company closed a financing for $2.98 million on Oct. 10 to support the program.
Both titanium and vanadium tend to be hosted in rocks with magnetite, a form of iron oxide.
Initial magnetometer readings at Hawkeye returned results of 72,000 nanoteslas. Readings were much higher at Trapper, Garagan said.
“We not only maxed out the machine at 120,000 nanoteslas in some zones, [but] we were getting pretty high consistent numbers of between 90,000 to 115,000 nanoteslas, which is crazy high for magnetometers.”
Straight to indicated
The drill results will support an initial, indicated resource for Trapper that Saga plans to release next year.
A resource for Hawkeye would be further down the road.
“We want to bring [Trapper] straight to a level of confidence that we can get behind,” Garagan said. “We could drill this at about 100-metre spacing, 3 km long, and potentially come up with an indicated resource. It would be a lot
more inexpensive to do an inferred resource. But we’re in the business of finding a mine and that’s what we want to do.”
Garagan also noted that Radar’s titanium and vanadium mineralization has geological similarities with southwestern China’s Panzhihua, which is regarded as the world’s largest iron-titanium-vanadium deposit. Both Radar and Panzhihua contain mafic intrusive bodies with oxide layering and vanadiferous titanomagnetite mineralization.
Skills pipeline
Cartwright, a largely Métis and Inuit town, is the only established community near Radar. Before a road was constructed in 2002 that linked it with Happy Valley-Goose Bay, the town was accessible only by small plane or boat.
But even at Radar’s early stage, Cartwright stands to benefit from the project. Saga has prioritized hiring locally for exploration roles, which Garagan says the community welcomes since its economic options are limited.
“[We’re training people to be] field techs, to be prospectors. The training for everything that we do on the ground on this project is 75% to 80% people from Cartwright,” he said. “If worse comes to worst on this project and we can’t de-risk it, and we can’t prove it, at least we’ve got a population of guys and girls from Cartwright who now have training in the exploration industry in a province that in due time, is going to see a lot more exploration.”
Saga shares traded at 44¢ apiece near press time in Toronto, valuing the company at $19.1 million. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of 19¢ to 54¢. TNM
Above: The harbour in Cartwright, N.L. Left: Saga’s chief geologist Michael Garagan lifts a metallic pen with a magnetic rock. BLAIR MCBRIDE
Sandvik’s underground revival at Cadomin
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
With equipment mobilization now underway and development contracts awarded, the Cadomin project is advancing underground limestone mining in Alberta –not by returning to old methods but by pushing forward with next-generation automation, instrumentation and a Sandvik fleet.
While Cadomin’s early 20th-century history was coal, the new project is focused on underground limestone extraction.
The joint venture between DMC Mining Services, Amalgamated Mining Group (AMG) and Sandvik Mining aims to deliver a highproductivity underground limestone mine that redefines efficiency and safety in one of Canada’s most challenging geological settings, the Rocky Mountains.
At stake is not only limestone output but credibility: can machines that move literal mountains in moments, equipped with advanced automation and real-time diagnostics, outperform legacy operations and prove viable in a politically sensitive sector? For Sandvik, the project aligns with its broader strategy to deepen longterm support across Canada.
“Our partnership in supporting the Cadomin mine operations team and their development mining contractor, DMC, with the delivery of a new underground mining fleet, reflects Sandvik’s broader vision of long-term commitment to Canadian mining,” Sandvik Vice-President Peter Corcoran said. “It provides us the opportunity to expand our technical expertise and aftermarket support across Western Canada, ensuring the successful and productive deployment of equipment at Cadomin.”
Forgotten backdrop
Mining in Cadomin began in 1917 with the Cadomin Coal Co. and expanded to include four underground mines plus a surface operation that started around 1944. At its peak, the area supplied high-grade steam coal to the Canadian rail network, supporting a population of more than 1,500. By 1952, however, declining demand and the switch to diesel locomotives halted production.
The geology that once challenged early coal miners remains complex. Today’s target is bedded carbonate (limestone) units in the deformed foothills, where strata can be steeply pitched, folded and faulted – conditions that demand a sophisticated approach to ground control and drilling. While Cadomin stands as a relic of Alberta’s coal past, the new project is focused on limestone, applying modern, technology-driven underground mining methods.
In July, DMC mobilized the development contract for Cadomin. The company is responsible for underground engineering and development, the construction of ramps and drifts, surface and underground facilities and ventilation systems – all designed for a potential halfcentury of limestone mining.
“The key challenge is ensuring a well-suited design that will
fulfil the client’s needs for the future 50-year mine life, which has potential for extension,” DMC President and Managing Director Michal Jezioro said.
Edmonton-based AMG provides a crucial logistical advantage. From its main facility, the company can stage equipment, maintain inventories and deploy support personnel at short notice.
“The ability to be onsite within three hours is definitely an advantage for both parties,” AMG President of Mining and Tunneling Colin Elson said. “We will inventory all levels of support here at our main facility in Edmonton and ensure we have our team ready at all times.”
Elson also noted the significance of supporting a project close to home.
“It’s great to be an Alberta company supporting such a great Alberta project,” he said. “The irony is that this is the first underground operation that we have supported in our own back yard, as our business takes us anywhere from Australia to Greenland but never right at home.”
Sandvik is also keen on the local aspect. The company’s investment in local technicians, training programs and maintenance practices is key to “helping both the mine operations team and DMC optimize performance, build local capability and secure sustainable value from their Sandvik equipment,” Corcoran said.
Automation and advantage
At the core of the operations is a Sandvik underground fleet, starting with DT922i jumbos and DS512i bolter, which are already on site. These i-series (intelligent) machines feature automated drilling systems, onboard diagnostics, and datadriven controls that adjust drilling pressure and rotation in real time.
The DT922i jumbos can automatically execute preprogrammed drilling patterns, optimizing hole placement and
depth with minimal operator intervention. The DS512i bolter brings automation to ground support, with precise bolt alignment, torque monitoring, and digital logging of each installation for quality assurance.
Loaders and haul trucks round out the fleet, designed for continuous operation with digital payload monitoring, cycle optimization, and automatic traction control to improve efficiency and extend component life. Compared with older, mixedequipment fleets, the unified Sandvik system simplifies maintenance, standardizes training, and enhances operational consistency. For DMC, that reliability is crucial.
“Proactive maintenance is at the heart of DMC development projects,” Jezioro said. “An intensive planned preventative maintenance scheme will be in place, with optimized spares storage on site and in the Alberta region.”
Through AMG’s Edmonton facility, parts and service can be dispatched within hours.
Jezioro added that “the combined efforts of AMG and Sandvik have enabled the rapid mobilization of equipment and materials into the region, ensuring the project remains on schedule.”
Because Alberta has little existing underground mining infrastructure, local capability and technical training are essential to success. Sandvik’s role in providing training and aftermarket support bridges that gap, ensuring equipment is not only delivered but sustained.
Challenges and mitigation
Operating underground in the Alberta Rockies presents seasonal and technical challenges.
Temperatures can swing sharply, groundwater inflows are unpredictable, and geological faults complicate development.
Jezioro confirmed that all equipment will be fit out with
“The [partnership] represents a longterm commitment to Canadian mining and a concerted effort to create sustainable value from the Sandvik equipment . ”
— PETER CORCORAN , VICE-PRESIDENT, SANDVIK
winter packages to withstand subzero conditions.
Ventilation design must consider all equipment usage and the working environment. Water management and ground control strategies must evolve as the mine deepens, while maintaining safety and efficiency standards.
To strengthen safety, DMC is establishing an underground mine rescue team, the only one operating now in the area. The initiative ensures emergency response capability and exemplifies the company’s proactive safety philosophy.
The project also faces regulatory and environmental scrutiny typical of underground mining in the Rockies. Approvals and oversight emphasize water quality, karst and groundwater management, dust and noise control, wildlife habitat and progressive reclamation.
Community stakeholders and environmental groups continue to monitor development closely, underlining the need for transparent environmental management throughout construction and operations.
Cadomin could redefine expectations for how underground mining is executed in Canada. The integration of advanced automation, unified fleet management and local technical infrastructure points towards a more efficient, data-driven model of operation.
For Sandvik, the project is a proving ground for its latest generation of equipment and remote-monitoring systems. AMG sees the value of localized support in an industry often stretched by distance and logistics. DMC’s aim is to showcase engineering discipline and safety leadership.
The collaboration between these three companies – contractor, supplier and original equipment manufacturer – illustrates a shift toward partnerships built around integration rather than simple procurement. Each partner’s expertise reinforces the others’,
producing a cohesive, responsive system designed for longevity and productivity.
Outlook and significance
Mobilization at Cadomin marks a symbolic and practical turning point. The first shipments of Sandvik equipment are being staged for underground development and construction of critical infrastructure is underway. Over the coming months, DMC will execute all the site development and construction, while AMG coordinates logistics and Sandvik continues technical support.
Once underground operations begin, the mine will transition from development to steadystate production. Performance data from the fleet will inform predictive maintenance schedules and optimize face-advance rates –helping validate the investment in intelligent mining systems.
Cadomin could serve as a blueprint for responsible, hightechnology underground limestone mine in Western Canada. By combining automation, safety improvements, and regional supply strength, the project hints at new possibilities in today’s mining landscape.
For a region once left behind, it could see a new era underground.
As Sandvik’s Corcoran noted, the partnership reflects more than equipment supply.
“It represents a long-term commitment to Canadian mining and a concerted effort to create sustainable value from the Sandvik equipment.”
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Sandvik and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: https:// www.home.sandvik.for more information.
Above: Sandvik DT922i Jumbo tramming toward the work face at the 1695m level, Cadomin Mine Development Project site. SANDVIK
sitevisit
Maple Gold works to expand resource
QUEBEC
| Junior focusing on Douay, Joutel projects
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Kiran Patankar cracks a grin as he points towards the boreal forest that stretches as far as the eye can see.
“When you’re up here the first thing that strikes you is how vast the land that we control is,” the Maple Gold Mines (TSXV: MGM; US-OTC: MGMLF) CEO says after a breathtaking climb to the top of the headframe at the company’s flagship Douay property in northern Quebec.
“When you’re standing here and you get a view of what the potential is, you can start to see some bedrock outcrop,” he says. “You can see a mill site there. You can see areas for tailings. I look around and I see a mine. I see a mine with a potential to grow along strike.”
Douay is one of two gold projects that sit inside the 481-sq.-km land package that Maple has amassed along Abitibi’s Casa Berardi deformation zone, a major gold-bearing structure with strong exploration potential. The company recently added 128 claims at Douay, a 17% increase, to boost its total in the area to 905.
Joutel project
Maple’s other priority is Joutel, which includes the past-producing Eagle-Telbel mine complex that Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX, NYSE: AEM) ran as its first operation from 1974 to 1986. During that time, Eagle-Telbel produced 1.1 million oz. gold at an average grade of 6.5 grams gold per tonne.
“When you’re standing here you get a view of the potential. You can see a mill site there. You can see areas for tailings. I look around and I see a mine. I see a mine with a potential to grow along strike.”
KIRAN PATANKAR CEO, MAPLE GOLD MINES
in an interview during the October site visit. “There’s not been a lot of drilling done below 500 metres. I expect growth to be substantial, but does it get to five? TBD.”
Adds technical adviser and Maple board member Gérald Riverin, a four-decade industry veteran: “We have a good lake here. We’re going to catch a lot of fish.” T-shirts worn by some Maple employees during the event conveyed a similar confidence: “Just Douay it,” they read.
Near Matagami
Both projects sit within driving distance of three major gold mines: Agnico’s Malartic and Detour Lake operations and Hecla Mining’s (NYSE: HL) Casa Berardi. Past-producing mines in the area include Sleeping Giant, an oro-
genic gold deposit 50 km to the south, and Selbaie, a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit 66 km to the north.
“When you look toward the northwest, you realize that along the Casa Berardi, which remains
relatively untested in that direction, we control 50 more km of strike length,” Patankar says. “Then you look to the south, past the Cartwright Hills, and on the other side of that is Joutel. Everything in between is Maple. We’re not constrained by space. You don’t have a town here. You don’t have infrastructure to move. You can start planning things. Potential mining of a deposit like this is not out of left field.”
Although Maple’s share price has done well this year, more than doubling in a rising gold price environment to $1.45 near press time in Toronto, Patankar is disappointed that investors aren’t giving the company the respect – and the valuation – he feels it deserves. Maple’s market capitalization now sits at about $76 million.
“For a junior company to take on a something of this size and scale is almost unheard of,” Patankar told analysts during a briefing at the mining camp. “We don’t get any value for the exploration upside, and we don’t get any value for Joutel.”
New drilling
In preparation for a resource update that’s scheduled for the first half of next year, Maple is planning to conduct 30,000 metres of new drilling between October and March. This will include 20,000 metres at Douay and another 10,000 at Joutel, Patankar says. No current resource exists for the former Eagle-Tebel site.
Douay hosts 10 million tonnes grading 1.59 grams gold for 511,000 contained oz. of gold, according to a 2022 resource. It also holds 76.7 million inferred tonnes grading 1.02 grams gold for contained metal of 2.53 million ounces.
“I think we have the potential to get to 5 million oz. at Douay, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Patankar told The Northern Miner
Located within the northern Abitibi Greenstone Belt, a worldclass Archean gold district, Douay sits about 700 km northwest of Montreal and 55 km south of the mining town of Matagami, where Glencore (LSE: GLEN) previously mined zinc.
Douay has direct access to Highway 109, a winding two-lane road that cuts through heavily wooded areas and features a seemingly endless succession of pickup trucks and lumber-laden 18-wheelers. The project is connected to the Hydro-Québec grid.
Originally discovered by Inco more than four decades ago, Douay has never been mined. Quebec junior Vior explored the property in the 1980s, discovering the Douay West and 531 zones and completing a feasibility study. Vancouver-based Aurizon Mines took over in the mid-1990s, carried out infrastructure work and built a headframe at Douay West in 1996. As plans advanced, Aurizon discovered the larger Casa Berardi deposit nearby and shifted its focus, letting the Douay option lapse.
Vior returned in the early 2000s, identified the porphyry zone and completed a second feasibility study. Maple’s predecessor, Aurvista Gold, entered in 2011 through a joint venture that revived exploration.
Nika zone
Renamed Maple, the company found the Nika zone in 2017. It became Douay’s sole owner last year after restructuring its joint venture with Agnico Eagle, which now holds a 13% stake following Maple’s $18-million financing from investors including Franklin Templeton.
Until Maple’s arrival, “Douay was in junior mining purgatory. Capital was not available,” Katankar said. “If it had been held by a major with unlimited resources, they would have drilled the hell out of it. As a junior company you are always at the whim of the capital markets.”
Douay remains open in all directions, with significant potential to expand mineralized zones both laterally and at depth. Recent drilling — including a 300-metre downplunge step-out in the Nika Zone — “continues to demonstrate the potential for new mineralization outside the limits of the current resource model,” Maple says.
2021 JV
Maple also has high hopes for Joutel, which Agnico contributed to the companies’ joint venture in 2021. Located a short drive from
Above: Maple Gold CEO Kiran Patandar speaks while standing on the headframe at the Douay project in northern Quebec. Inset: Forests near the Douay project. FREDERIC TOMESCO
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West Red Lake’s Madsen books high grades
GOLD | ‘Significant’ potential seen at depth
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Underground drilling at West Red Lake Gold Mines’ (TSXV: WRLG; US-OTC: WRLGF) primary Madsen property in northwestern Ontario yielded multiple instances of highgrade gold, the company said.
Highlight hole MM25D-124860-004 in the lower Austin zone cut 7.75 metres grading 139.45 grams gold per tonne from 37 metres depth, West Red Lake said Oct. 10. Hole MM25D-12-4860005, meanwhile, intersected 8.7 metres at 74.7 grams gold from 37.1 metres downhole.
Vancouver-based West Red Lake, backed by Canadian Mining Hall of Fame member Frank Giustra, is continuing exploration work at Madsen even as it ramps up production at the past-producing mine, having restarted operations in May. The lower Austin zone will continue to be a key focus of drilling for the remainder of 2025, West Red Lake said.
“There is significant ounce and tonnage potential remaining at depth in the Madsen orebody,” CEO Shane Williams said in the release. “We anticipate continued success in lower Austin as the drills continue to discover and define more lenses of high-grade mineralization adjacent to our active mine development.”
West Red Lake shares jumped 5% to $1.04 in Toronto on the day of the announcement. They had retreated to 95¢ by press time, giving the company a market value of about $334 million.
Resource expansion
Crews at Madsen are working to define the near-term mining inventory and expand the resource, West Red Lake says. Work has focused on the more continuous and higher-grade portions of the
Austin, South Austin, North Austin and McVeigh zones, which will continue to be the strategy through 2025, the company said.
Madsen hosts 6.9 million indicated tonnes grading 7.4 grams gold per tonne for contained metal of 1.65 million oz., and 1.8 million inferred tonnes grading 6.3 grams gold for 370,000 oz. of contained metal, according to a December 2021 resource.
Other drilling highlights include hole MM25D-12-4860-002, which cut 7.45 metres grading 18.31 grams gold from 39.65 metres depth, and hole MM25D-12-4860009, which intersected 3.9 metres at 13 grams from 48.45 metres down hole.
With historical production of more than 30 million oz., the Red Lake camp remains one of Canada’s highest-grade gold districts. West Red Lake, whose land package covers 47 sq. km, is part of a group of core producers in the area that also includes Australia’s Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) and Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC).
Turnaround
Madsen produced 35,700 tonnes of ore during the third quarter at an average grade of 5.4 grams gold per tonne, West Red Lake said last month. The mill poured 7,055 oz. gold.
West Red Lake “has rapidly worked to turn around the asset since acquiring it in 2023 and can now take advantage of the robust gold price environment,” Red Cloud Securities mining analyst Taylor Combaluzier said in a note.
The company is one of the first explorers that former film company executive Giustra invested in. He once said that strong hits at West Red Lake’s Rowan property helped him “see the light” about backing early projects. TNM
Taseko fires up Florence in Arizona
COPPER | Project among few new producers
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
Canada’s Taseko Mines (NYSE: TGB; TSX: TKO) has begun wellfield operations at its Florence copper project in south-central Arizona, marking the start of commercial production at one of the few new sources of refined copper in the United States.
The company expects to produce its first copper cathode at the in-situ recovery project within three months. Its solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) plant reached substantial completion on Sept. 19, it said in mid-October.
Construction crews are demobilizing as commissioning proceeds in tandem with wellfield operations. Florence is about 65 km southeast of Phoenix.
President and CEO Stuart McDonald called the start a major achievement by the Arizona-based construction team, which completed the facility in under two years.
“With copper prices approaching record levels, and a growing focus on security of critical mineral supply, the timing is ideal to bring on a major new source of refined copper inside the U.S.,” McDonald said in a release.
Taseko’s announcement comes as global demand for copper is projected to climb 24% by 2035, from 34.5 million tonnes a year to 42.7 million tonnes, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Company shares have doubled this year to $5.68 apiece before press time
in Toronto, for a market capitalization of $1.8 billion. The stock has traded in a 12-month range of $2.38 to $6.73.
Production at home
In British Columbia, Taseko’s Gibraltar mine is on track to produce between 120 million and 130 million lb. of copper this year. Third-quarter output reached 27.6 million lb. of copper, including 900,000 lb. of cathode and 560,000 lb. of molybdenum. This represents an increase of 39% and 211%, respectively, from the previous quarter.
The company, which sold 26.3 million lb. of copper during the period, said mill throughput reached its design capacity of 85,300 tonnes per day. Copper recoveries averaged 77% in the third quarter and improved to 83% in September. Although head grades of 0.22% were below plan, they still represented a meaningful rebound from earlier quarters.
Taseko also holds two other copper assets in B.C.: the Yellowhead project, now in the environmental permitting stage, and a 78% stake in the New Prosperity property near Williams Lake. TNM
BHP eyes revival of long-closed mines
COPPER | Trump policy shifts spur asset reviews
BY CECELIA JAMASMIE
BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP), the world’s largest miner, is considering the reopening of
four long-closed copper mines in Arizona, the centre of the copper industry in the United States.
CEO Mike Henry told The Financial Times last month that
policy changes introduced by president Donald Trump encouraged BHP to expand its exploration efforts and review dormant assets in the state. Henry stressed the administration’s sense of urgency to secure mineral supplies and reduce reliance on China is a welcome support for the industry.
The potential restart would focus on the Globe–Miami region, where BHP also intends to reprocess tailings from the shuttered operations. One such site was the Magma mine, acquired through BHP’s 1996 purchase of Magma Copper. The mine was later shut down, with its surface area converted into the base for the Resolution joint venture with Rio Tinto (NYSE, LSE, ASX: RIO).
Resolution Copper
The $2-billion development has been stalled for more than two decades while awaiting court rulings and final permits. Once operational, it could produce up to 1 billion lb. of copper a year, enough to meet roughly a quarter of U.S. demand.
Rio Tinto, which holds a 55% stake in Resolution, remains confident that Trump’s administration will grant the necessary approvals to move the project forward. However, the project faces opposition
Taseko’s Florence in-situ recovery copper project in Arizona. TASEKO MINES
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Fortuna soars on fast repay plan for Senegal project
GOLD | Diamba Sud valued at $563M
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Fortuna Mining (TSX: FVI; NYSE: FSM) says a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the Diamba Sud gold project in Senegal shows the Canadian miner could recoup its investment in less than a year. The stock hit an all-time high.
Using a gold price of US$2,750 per oz. and a discount rate of 5%, the study shows an after-tax net present value of $563 million (C$788 million), an internal rate of return of 72% and a payback of about 0.8 years, Fortuna said Oct. 15. Initial capital costs to develop Diamba Sud are pegged at $283.2 million.
The PEA represents “a positive rerating catalyst that unlocks the viability over Fortuna’s organic growth opportunities and target to reach about 500,000” gold-equivalent ounces, National Bank Financial mining analyst Mohamed Sidibé said Oct. 15 in a note. “The improved production profile from 2028 and beyond should be well received by the market.”
Fortuna is counting on Diamba Sud to help it reverse an output drop triggered by the recent sale of operations in Mexico and Burkina Faso. Fortuna expects to produce up to 339,000 gold-equivalent oz. in 2025, down from a record 456,000 oz. last year.
Shares of Fortuna rose 5.1% to C$13.54 in Toronto on the day of the announcement. Earlier they touched C$13.76, their highest intraday level since the stock began trading in 2010. They have more than doubled this year, boosting the company’s market value to about C$3.5 billion as press time neared.
Construction decision
Vancouver-based Fortuna expects to make a construction decision for Diamba Sud right after publishing a feasibility study, which the company wants to complete by mid2026.
Assuming a positive decision, full construction would start in next year’s fourth quarter, after the rainy season. First gold pour would be targeted for the second quarter of 2028.
With liquidity of $537.3 million and a net cash position of $214.8 million as of June 30, “Fortuna is in a strong position to fund construction,” BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Kevin O’Halloran said in a note.
Diamba Sud is expected to produce 840,000 oz. gold over the
Arizona Sonoran soars on new ranking
COPPER | Study assigns $2.3B value to project
“The improved production profile from 2028 and beyond should be well received by the market.”
— MOHAMED SIDIBE, MINING ANALYST, NATIONAL BANK FINANCIAL
mine’s 8.1-year life, averaging 106,000 oz. a year at an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,238 per ounce. Future exploration success could extend the mine’s life beyond a decade, CEO Jorge Ganoza said in the statement.
The project holds 14.2 million indicated tonnes grading 1.59 grams gold per tonne for contained metal of 724,000 oz., according to a 2025 resource. Inferred resources are pegged at 6.2 million tonnes grading 1.44 grams gold for contained metal of 285,000 ounces.
Open pit
Fortuna plans to build an open-pit mining operation that would feed a conventional carbon-in-leach processing plant. It would develop multiple deposits at Diamba Sud, including Area A, Area D, Karakara, Western Splay, Kassassoko, Moungoundi and Southern Arc, with no more than three pits mined at any one time.
Initial throughput is projected to hit 2.5 million tonnes a year during the first three years of operation, supported by the high oxide con tent at Area D. Annual through put would then slow to 2 million tonnes from year 4 onward as the feed becomes predominantly fresh material.
The initial capital cost projection includes $4 million in capitalized closure costs to be deposited into escrow and a $46.4 million contin gency, Fortuna also said. Sustaining capital is estimated at $40 million, while closure costs are estimated at $8 million.
Diamba Sud sits in the Kenie ba-Koudougou inlier, an area strad dling eastern Senegal and western Mali that hosts several large gold deposits. Fortuna inherited the project in 2023 when it acquired Africa-focused explorer Chesser Resources. TNM
BY BLAIR MCBRIDE
Arizona Sonoran Copper (TSX: ASCU; US-OTC: ASCUF) shares shot to a historic high Oct. 20 after the miner released a study showing its Cactus project could be the third-largest cathode producer in the United States by solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) capacity.
The pre-feasibility study estimates Cactus could produce about 103,000 tonnes of copper annually over the first 10 years of a 22-year life. The study gives the project a post-tax net present value (at an 8% discount) of $2.3 billion, initial capital costs of $977 million and a post-tax internal rate of return of 23% with a 5.3-year payback period.
Those economics place Cactus as the highest value red metal mine among developing copper projects in Arizona. The past-producing open-pit mine site is located 74 km south of Phoenix.
The new mine plan speeds up processing of higher-grade ore at Parks/Salyer – the main deposit at Cactus – early in the mine life and delivers a more consistent production profile, Desjardins Securities analyst Bryce Adams said in a note.
“We view [it] as a positive update and a key derisking milestone for the project,” Adams said.
Resource momentum
The study’s release adds to resource tailwinds for the project. A mid-September update for Cactus lifted contained metal by 51%.
Arizona Sonoran shares gained 15% to C$3.58 apiece in Toronto on the day of the company’s announcement. They were trading at C$3.34 as press time approached, valuing the company at about C$600 million.
“This PFS is a major milestone in the advancement of our lower risk open pit Cactus project towards a final investment decision as early as fourth-quarter 2026,” Arizona Sonoran President and CEO George Ogilvie said in a release. “We have the opportunity to become a significant player in the American copper industry, fill-
ing a clear gap in the domestic copper supply.”
First production of cathodes is expected in the second half of 2029, Ogilvie added.
Trails Freeport mines
The company’s projection of Cactus potentially becoming the third largest cathode producer by SX/ EW processing puts it in league with Freeport-McMoRan’s (NYSE: FCX) Morenci mine in Arizona. It has annual capacity for 408,000 tonnes, while that company’s Safford/Lone Star mine can produce 145,000 tonnes per year.
Looking at other projects in the copper-rich state, Cactus would have the highest NPV compared to peers by a wide margin. Gunnison Copper’s (TSX: GCU; US-OTC: GCUMF) namesake project has an NPV of $1.26 billion at initial costs of $1.3 billion, while Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX, NYSE: HBM) Copper World site is valued at $1.1 billion with expenses of $1.3 billion. Taseko Mines’ (NYSE: TGB; TSX: TKO) Florence project has a posttax NPV of $930 million and an estimate of $232 million to build it.
The PFS assumes base case copper price of $4.25 per pound.
New reserve categories
Arizona Sonoran’s study also further converts resources, with the new estimate outlining 513 million tons in proven and probable reserves grading 0.52% copper for 5.3 billion lb. of contained metal.
That represents a 65% conversion of leachable measured and indicated resources to reserves, the company said.
Mixed PEA comparison
However, comparing the PFS with Cactus’ preliminary economic assessment, released just over a year ago reveals a mixed bag.
On one hand, the PFS cuts operating costs by 26% and all-in sustaining costs by 19%; the heap leach and SX/EW processing is simpler; and the study lays out proven and probable reserves.
But on the other hand, the PFS’ improvement to the NPV comes mainly from the study’s higher copper price assumption; it raises capital costs by 46%, lowers the IRR by 1.8% and shortens mine life by nine years.
Arizona Sonoran plans to complete a definitive feasibility study, including detailed engineering, in the second half of next year. TNM
Fortuna’s Diamba Sud gold project in southern Senegal. FORTUNA MINING
The open pit at Arizona Sonoran’s Cactus project. ARIZONA SONORAN COPPER
donedeals
Chengtun buys Loncor for $261M
CONGO | Deal unlocks capital
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Canadian explorer Loncor Gold (TSX: LN; US-OTC: LONCF) agreed to be acquired by Chengtun Mining Group for about $261 million (US$186.5 million) cash in a deal that will hand control of a major gold project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to a deep-pocketed Chinese operator. The stock jumped.
Chengtun’s $1.38 per share offer represents a 16% premium over the Oct. 10 closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and a one-third premium to the 30-day volume weighted average trading price, Loncor said on Oct. 14. The transaction is expected to close no later than in the first quarter of 2026.
Toronto-based Loncor has been focusing on the Ngayu gold belt in the DRC’s northeast. Its main Imbo project includes the Adumbi deposit, which holds an indicated resource of about 28.2 million tonnes grading 2.08 grams gold per tonne for 1.9 million contained ounces.
“The sale delivers a strong outcome for shareholders,” executive chairman Arnold Kondrat said in the statement. It “crystallizes the inherent value we have built over 15 years and eliminates future dilution while mitigating commodity, political, and execution risks.”
Loncor shares jumped 9.2% to $1.30 on Oct. 14 in Toronto, giving the company a market value of about $229 million. The stock has traded between 37¢ and $1.31 in the past year.
Interested party
News of the deal follows Loncor’s July 14 announcement that it had received an “unsolicited, confidential non-binding offer” from an unidentified “interested party.” Loncor immediately set up a special board committee to review the proposed deal.
Selling to Chengtun, whose existing operations in the DRC include the Kalongwe copper-cobalt mine, will allow Loncor to leverage the Chinese miner’s “strong access to capital and depth of technical and in-country expertise to develop the Imbo project,” Loncor said. Chengtun’s other metals include nickel and gold.
Chengtun is to provide Loncor with US$3 million ($4.2 million) in refundable advances within the
HOGAN, William James (“Jim”, “WJ”)
May 7, 1940 – September 30, 2025
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of W. James Hogan, a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and accomplished professional, who lived a remarkable life filled with creativity, leadership, and service.
next two months. These advances will be used for the exploration program at Adumbi and for general corporate purposes, Loncor said.
Adumbi is one of three main targets at Imbo, all of which are located within a 5-km radius of each other. Loncor acquired control of the project in 2019.
A preliminary economic assessment for Adumbi, completed in 2021, calculated a US$879-million aftertax net present value using a 5% discount rate and a gold price of US$1,760 per ounce. It envisioned annual gold production of 303,000 oz. at an all-in sustaining cost of US$950 per oz. over a 10.3-year mine life.
Resolute backing
Chengtun will need two-thirds of votes cast by Loncor shareholders to back the deal at an upcoming meeting. The Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ontario Superior Court will also need to sign off on the sale.
Loncor shareholders representing about 38% of the issued and outstanding shares have agreed to vote in favour of the transaction. They include Australia’s Resolute Mining (ASX: RSG) and Kondrat, who respectively own 18% and 17% of the company.
Deal terms give Loncor the right to accept a better proposal, which Chengtun would have the right to match. A mutual reciprocal termination fee of $10 million, payable in certain circumstances, is also included in the agreement. TNM
Jim was a man of warmth, humor, and deep love for his family. He is survived by his beloved wife of 67 years, Rita M. Hogan, his four adult children, Kathleen, Coleen (Eric) Patrick (Shannon) and Timothy and his cherished grandchildren, Brad, Geoff, Tim, Stephanie, Emily, Ben, Beth and Nick and great grandchildren Quinn, Cameron, Sean and Rhys. He is also survived by his sisters Julie Ann Hogan, Krystine Hogan and his brother John Hogan. He is predeceased by his parents James L. Hogan and Grace Hogan (Theriault) and his brother Micheal Hogan and sister Patricia Comeau.
Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick and raised with the values of perseverance and community, Jim built an extraordinary career that spanned industries and provinces. He was a respected film and television producer. He created over 52 hours of award-winning documentary programming for leading broadcasters such as Discovery Channel and CBC, distributed globally and enjoyed by millions. His work earned him a Gemini Award nomination and two Chris Awards, testament to both his vision and dedication.
Before entering the world of film and television, Jim was a mining executive with over three decades of experience, serving as President and CEO of several companies, including Rea Gold Corporation, Shamrock Resources, and Hogan Computer Corporation. He was awarded the Canadian Institution of Mining and Metallurgy Professional Achievement Award. His leadership transformed small enterprises into thriving organizations, securing growth, innovation, and prosperity.
Jim’s commitment extended beyond business. He served as Chairman of the Bathurst Regional Airport Revitalization Committee, Ambassador for the Port of Belledune, Director of the Chaleur Regional Development Corporation and the first Mayor of Wabush, Labrador. His civic contributions reflected his belief that leadership is as much about community as it is about commerce. Outside of work, he enjoyed sharing stories (he was an amazing recontour), music, fishing and boating. He cherished his memories of fishing trips to Labrador with his sons Patrick and Timothy and son-in-law Denis Lordon, boating with family and friends on the beautiful Baie of Chaleur where he and Rita enjoyed spending time with family and friends at one of their most loved homes, their cottage at Youghall Beach at Bathurst, New Brunswick.
Jim’s legacy is one of vision, resilience, and kindness. His family, friends, and colleagues will remember him as a man who inspired others, built opportunities, and cherished the people he loved.
A celebration of life will be held in West Kelowna, British Columbia at a date to be announced, and next summer in Bathurst, New Brunswick.
To share condolences with the family, please visit www.providencefuneralhomes.com.
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
Australia’s Predictive Discovery (ASX: PDI) and Canada’s Robex Resources (CVE: RBX; ASX: RXR) agreed to merge in an all-share deal worth A$2.35 billion (US$1.55 billion) that would create a new Guinea-focused mid-tier gold producer. Shares of both companies rose.
Robex shareholders will receive 8.67 Predictive shares for each Robex share, giving them about 51% ownership of the combined company. The merger, announced jointly by the West Africa-focused developers, would bring two of the region’s most advanced gold projects under one roof.
“By combining two of West Africa’s largest and most advanced gold development projects and leveraging the proven track record of both management teams in Africa, we are creating a company that positions Guinea to become one of Africa’s top five gold producers,” Predictive CEO Andrew Pardey said in an Oct. 6 release.
Robex CEO Matthew Wilcox is to lead the merged company, while
Capstone sells copper projects stake
CHILE | Orion in $360M deal
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
Canada’s Capstone Copper (TSX: CS; ASX: CSC) has struck a deal valued at up to $360 million (C$506 million) with Orion Resource Partners, granting the private equity firm a 25% stake in the Santo Domingo and Sierra Norte copper projects in Chile. New York-based Orion is to pay $225 million following a positive final investment decision, contribute an additional $75 million within six months and provide up to $60 million in milestone-based contingent payments. It also plans to invest $10 million in new Capstone shares at a 5% premium, supporting near-term exploration at both projects.
The transaction reduces Capstone’s upfront equity requirements at Santo Domingo to about $400 million – assuming project financing and pro rata contributions – and strengthens its ability to fund development and exploration across the Mantoverde–Santo Domingo district in Chile’s Atacama region. Capstone also retains a buy-back right allowing it to regain full ownership after commercial production starts.
Santo Domingo is the company’s “next pillar of transformational growth,” Capstone CEO Cashel Meagher said, highlighting its low projected cash costs and proximity to Mantoverde, just 35 km away. The
Pardey will serve as chair.
Consolidation trend
The proposed deal continues a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the gold sector, fuelled by record metal prices and growing consolidation among mid-tier players.
The merger unites Predictive’s Bankan and Robex’s Kiniero gold projects, located just 30 km apart in Guinea. Combined, they are expected to produce more than 400,000 oz. of gold annually by 2029, supported by 9.5 million oz. in resources and 4.5 million oz. in reserves.
Robex, which listed on the ASX in June, plans to begin production at Kiniero in December. Revenues from that operation will help fund development of Bankan, whose owner is targeting a final investment decision by mid-2026. Robex also operates the smaller Nampala gold mine in Mali, which is expected to produce 47,000 oz. this year.
Shifting landscape
Guinea, better known for bauxite and iron ore deposits, is drawing fresh attention from gold explorers
despite ongoing challenges from artisanal mining and recent regulatory crackdowns.
In May, the government revoked more than 50 mining licences and exploration permits, affecting companies such Endeavour Mining (TSX, LSE: EDV), Resolute Mining (ASX: RSG), Arrow Minerals (ASX: AMD), Kebo Energy SA and Emirates Global Aluminium.
Canada’s Fortuna Mining (TSX: FVI) is among the new wave of miners looking at the country. Last week, the Vancouver-based explorer signed a joint venture agreement with Australia’s Desoto Resources (ASX: DES) to explore the Siguiri basin in northeastern Guinea.
Predictive shares jumped 9.1% to 48¢ in Australian trading on Oct. 6, boosting the company’s market capitalization to about A$1.3 billion. Robex rose 2.7% to $4.12 in Toronto, giving it a market value of about C$902 million.
The merger will need approval from two-thirds of Robex shareholders. Robex’s board and major shareholders, Cohen Group and Eglinton Mining, have already pledged support.
Capstone P39 >
Capstone’s Santo Domingo project in northern Chile. CAPSTONE COPPER
Loncor Gold’s Imbo project in northeast DRC. LONCOR GOLD
Barrick sells Tongon for $305M
AFRICA | Barrick trims gold
BY MINING.COM STAFF
Barrick Mining (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) agreed to sell its stake in the Tongon gold mine and certain exploration properties in Côte d’Ivoire to the Atlantic Group for up to $305 million.
The transaction includes a cash payment of $192 million, which covers a $23 million shareholder loan repayment due within six months of closing, Barrick said on Oct. 6. Proceeds will be used to further strengthen the company’s balance sheet and support its commitment to shareholder returns, the company said.
The deal with Atlantic, a privately held conglomerate with financial services, agriculture, and industry in 15 African countries, is expected to close late this year, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Côte d’lvoire’s government must sign off on the transaction.
Tongon was among the gold assets that former Barrick CEO Mark Bristow – who unexpectedly departed in September – had singled out as candidates for sale as the Toronto-based company pushes deeper into copper mining.
Major step
The acquisition marks a major step for Atlantic as it deepens its investments in the mining industry within Côte d’Ivoire, one of West Africa’s fastest-growing gold producers.
Barrick originally planned to close Tongon in 2020, but ongoing exploration success extended the mine’s life. Since pouring its first gold in 2010, Tongon has contributed more than $2 billion to the Ivorian economy through taxes, infrastructure projects, salaries and local supplier payments, according to Barrick.
In 2024, the mine produced 148,000 oz. of gold. It hosts proven and probable reserves of 620,000 oz. and measured and indicated resources of 700,000 oz., Barrick says.
Barrick’s shares rose 1.9% to C$48.26 on Oct. 6 in Toronto following the announcement. It gives the miner a market capitalization of about C$82 billion ($59 billion). TNM
Appian, World Bank unit start $1B critical minerals fund
FINANCING | Atlantic Nickel project to benefit
Washington-based IFC will anchor the fund, contributing $100 million at first, while its IFC Asset Management unit rasies additional capital.
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
U.K.
private-equity firm Appian Capital Advisory is teaming up with the World Bankowned International Finance Corporation (IFC) to start a $1-billion (C$1.4 billion) critical minerals, metals and mining fund that will be dedicated to emerging markets. Washington-based IFC will anchor the fund, contributing $100 million at first, while its IFC Asset
Management unit raises additional capital, according to a statement issued on Oct. 21. The fund will aim to support the development of “responsible, high-impact” mining projects for commodities essential to economic growth, the energy transition and key digital technologies.
IFC’s commitment “is a strong endorsement of our ability to identify and responsibly develop high-quality assets, unlocking
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long-term value for our partners,” Appian founder and CEO Michael Scherb said in the statement. “It also underscores the vital role mining can play in driving sustainable economic growth and delivering lasting benefits for local communities, particularly in regions where development needs are most pressing.” Managed by London-based Appian, the fund will target equity,
Appian P39 >
Workers at Atlantic Nickel’s Santa Rita mine in Brazil. APPIAN CAPITAL
TNMawards
Johnson, Lemelin, Lassonde to be honoured
BY COLIN MCCLELLAND
The Northern Miner has chosen Clive Johnson, CEO of B2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSE-A: BTG), as its Person of the Year for 2025. Bruno Lemelin, chief operating officer of Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG), has been named Operator of the Year in the second edition of the EY-sponsored category.
Pierre Lassonde, a founder of Franco-Nevada (TSX, NYSE: FNV) and a former president of Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT), is this year’s recipient of TNM’s Lifetime Achievement award.
The awards will be presented at TNM’s International Mining Symposium in London, Nov. 30 to Dec. 1, 2025.
Person of the Year
Johnson is being honoured for bringing the Goose mine into production in the Canadian Arctic and navigating the shifting sands of junta-led Mali where the company maintained production at Fekola.
He has served as a director at the company since December 2006 and became its CEO four months later. Under his leadership, B2Gold evolved from a junior exploration outfit into a mature, mid-tier gold producer with multiple inter-
national operations including in Namibia and the Philippines. Goose in Nunavut achieved commercial production just three months after its first gold pour –making it the company’s first producing mine in Canada. The com-
pany expects Goose to generate 80,000 to 110,000 oz. of gold in its partial first year, contributing meaningfully to its full-year forecasts. Management views Goose as a cornerstone for its Canadian growth and sees scope for further expansion of throughput and underground options.
At Fekola, the mine’s all-in sustaining costs came in lower than expected thanks to reduced sustaining capital and favorable operating efficiencies, even as royalty payments rose under the new regime’s terms.
Last year, The Northern Miner noted Johnson’s “reputation for making successful bets on geologically promising jurisdictions that make others nervous.”
Operator of the Year
Lemelin is the recipient of the Operator of the Year award for his role as COO in pushing forward production at Iamgold’s Côté mine in northern Ontario. It reached nameplate capacity in June and is set to become one of Canada’s top gold producers. The award winner had been promoted to COO in September 2023 and quickly started shaping a productivity model that integrated the mine’s autonomous fleet. First gold was poured in March 2024 and commercial production was reached in August. By the second quarter of 2025, his leadership was helping maintain a production rate of 40,000 tonnes per day while he trained operators to optimize the mill and rolled out debottlenecking plans.
On June 23, the company confirmed the processing plant had been running at about 36,000 tonnes per day for more than 30 consecutive days. Its nameplate milestone translates to 360,000 to 400,000 oz. of production this year for Côté, a range that could make it Iamgold’s second highest producer behind its Essakane mine in Burkina Faso. That forecast would also rank Côté among Canada’s top five producing gold mines.
Lifetime Achievement Award
from December 1, 2025, to March 16, 2026 November 16 to 19, 2026, Centre des congrès de Québec
Lassonde is a towering figure in Canadian mining largely because he helped create the modern royalty/streaming model that reshaped how mining is financed and how risk is shared. In 1982, he co-founded Franco-Nevada with Seymour Schulich, applying the royalty concept (long used in oil and gas) to precious metals — a move that allowed investors to gain exposure to mining upside without bearing operational risk.
Over two decades, FrancoNevada delivered compounded annual returns of about 36% to shareholders. It demonstrated how royalty structures could unlock value in the mining sector in a new way.
When Newmont acquired Franco-Nevada in 2002, Lassonde took on executive leadership at the world’s largest gold producer, becoming company president. His stewardship during that period helped integrate royalty philoso-
Franco-Nevada
co-founder Pierre Lassonde is honoured with TNM’s Lifetime Achievement Award. SUPPLIED
Iamgold COO Bruno Lemelin is TNM’s 2025 Operator of the Year. SUPPLIED
BY FRIK ELS
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s export quotas have lit a fire under cobalt prices and spending on the battery material is up 43% year on year despite ongoing thrifting.
A surge in supply from the Congo, responsible for 80% of the world’s cobalt output, coupled with cooling demand from the electric vehicle market, saw cobalt prices sink to historic lows at the start of 2025.
Copper production in the DRC increased by nearly 40% last year, but last month Kinshasa began implementing a quota system to replace a ban announced in February. Allowed base volumes of 87,000 tonnes per year represent around half the total exports registered in 2024.
The price of cobalt sulphate entering the EV battery supply chain in China is now trading over 120% higher than at the start of the year – averaging $7,775 a tonne in September. That’s still nowhere near the 2022 peak of $19,000 per tonne.
Tender cancelled Cobalt prices would likely remain elevated and could rise further under the quota scheme put in place for 2026 and 2027. That would have played a part in the so-called U.S. Department of War cancelling a $500 million tender to stockpile the metal.
The CEO of the world’s number one producer of cobalt, China’s CMOC Group, recently warned that cobalt at these levels could lead to demand destruction and substitution, although that has been a long-running trend for cobalt users.
Cobalt consumption in EV batteries overtook other sources of demand like aerospace several years ago and the downstream impact of the DRC strategy has been swift.
The latest data from Torontobased research consultants Adamas Intelligence tracking global EV battery metal deployment paired with monthly prices shows the size of the battery cobalt market in September totalled an estimated $227.7 million. That’s the highest value since December 2022, and up just shy of 111% year on year and 32% month on month.
So far this year, the value of installed cobalt tonnes in EV batteries totals $1.3 billion, up 51% com-
10 automakers by battery cobalt spending
pared to the same period last year.
The sales weighted average value of the cobalt contained in EV batteries has hit $73 per vehicle, up from less than $40 at the start of the year.
Keeping in mind that the installed tonnage does not take into account any losses during processing, chemical conversion or battery production scrap (often well into double digit percentages), required tonnes and revenues are meaningfully higher at the mine mouth.
Thrifting
The turnaround in fortunes comes despite years-long thrifting by EV battery manufacturers and the rise of LFP, or lithium iron phosphate batteries. Models fitted with LFP batteries now make up more than 40% of global EV sales, even when including conventional hybrids where nickel metal hydride power packs dominate. Excluding hybrid electric vehicles, the number of EVs sold this year without nickel, cobalt or manganese rises to 55%.
The top 10 includes only three Chinese brands, an indication of LFP’s grip on the world’s largest EV market by a country mile.
The top automaker based on cobalt spending is Volkswagen at $150.5 million. The automakerwhose brands include Audi, Skoda, Cupra and Porsche- is having a bumper year with full electric and plug-in hybrid sales up 45% yearover-year for the first eight months of 2025. As a result, its spending on cobalt is up more than 110%.
That VW tops the charts on cobalt spending is an indication of its heavy reliance on NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) battery chemistries compared to rivals.
Number two Geely, which owns, among others, the Volvo and Polestar brands, spent $106.2 million over the first eight months of the year, a 19% jump, while Tesla’s spending increased by 31% year over year to $94.1 million.
Tesla first introduced LFP batteries into its line-up in 2020 and now 44% of Tesla battery packs hitting roads for the first time this year sport this cathode. That helps explain why the automaker sits at number three for cobalt while consistently topping the charts for overall battery metal consumption.
Lord of LFP
Other notable spenders include BMW Group (up 47% to $61.6 mil
By automaker
and rival Mercedes-Benz at $49.7 million, a 37% jump compared to last year. LFP is absent from both the German luxury brands’ EV portfolio.
NCM is still the preferred battery for higher end and sporty models, but LFP has been eating into NCM’s market share in these segments too, with BMW introducing the technology in its upcoming Neue Klasse EVs scheduled to go on sale next year.
Conspicuous by its absence is BYD, the world’s number one EV maker. The Shenzhen-based company switched to an all-LFP model line-up when it introduced its
the
BULLION | Drop follows weeks of historic highs
BY COLIN MCCLELLAND
The spot price of gold plunged 8.4% from Oct. 20’s peak of $$4,381.21 per oz. to a low of $4,015 an oz. before recovering to around $4,100 per oz. as press time approached. U.S. gold futures also weakened, sliding to $4,045.50 per ounce.
The retreat ended a nine-week streak of gains that had lifted bullion to unprecedented levels, driven by steady central bank purchases, geopolitical tensions and expectations of looser monetary policy.
Correction
“Yesterday’s major correction in the gold price likely
reflected profit taking from momentum-based and retail investors following the steep price run up in recent weeks,” BMO Capital Markets said in a note on Oct. 22.
“We see corrections/pauses as only expected, but maintain our view for $4,500 per oz. average prices in the second half of 2026, driven by U.S. rate cuts and the ongoing long-term theme of currency diversification,” BMO commodities research analysts Helen Amos and George Heppel wrote. They also cited slowing India seasonal demand for the price fall and investors choosing treasuries for safe
prices
lion)
Blade battery packs in 2020, giving it an edge over rivals in the cutthroat market in China and the rest of
world. With lithium
also showing signs of life, BYD’s cost advantage will erode over the coming months. TNM
For a fuller analysis of the EV battery metals market, check out pages 26-27 in this edition. * Frik Els is Editor at Large for MINING.COM and Head of Adamas Inside, providing news and analysis based on Adamas Intelligence data.
ADAMAS INTELLIGENCE
TNM treasurehunt
Cobalt: the silver rush that transformed the Ont. bush
COIN SEARCH | Town also site of The Northern Miner’s birth
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Standing atop Nipissing Hill
Lookout, the history of the surrounding town of Cobalt, Ont. is in full view. There’s the town itself, Cobalt Lake and the decadesold remains of legacy mine infrastructure such as headframes and wooden mills. Look further out and squint, and on a sunny day a set of distant squares of solar panels reflect back bright white light.
The tranquil streets and dusty old mining buildings of Cobalt might make it hard to believe that this community – where less than 1,000 people live – once hosted one of the three great silver rushes of the Americas.
In 1545, a group of Spanish conquistadors in what is now Bolivia founded the silver mining town of Potosi, located more than 4,000 metres high in the Andes mountains. Within 30 years, Potosi became one of the most important sources of silver in the world, producing billions of ounces for the Spanish Empire.
But the vast wealth from Potosi was built on the backs of millions of Indigenous and African slaves, many of whom died mining silver in grim conditions.
Fast forward to roughly 1859 in western Nevada, where a group of gold prospectors had set up their canvas tents on the rocky and sagebrush-dotted slope of Mount Davidson. Though they found some gold, they found more silver, and within a few years thousands of people converged on the area in what became the Comstock Rush.
Over the next three decades, almost 200 million oz. of silver would be mined, and the initial settlement grew into Virginia City, with a population of 25,000. It also became a city of stark contrasts where a few “Silver Kings” could flaunt their newfound wealth while hundreds of others toiled and died in underground mine accidents, or perished from disease and violence.
1903 Ontario
Fast forward again to the year 1903, much further north of Nevada to the dense boreal forests of northern Ontario and a small, clear lake with rocky shores. Almost 500 km north of Toronto – then a city of only 210,000 people – there was barely any modern infrastructure in the area.
The exception was the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway (TNO), whose work crews were slowly extending the line northwards from North Bay to Haileybury and New Liskeard in a bid to access a clay belt for farming.
Cobalt’s approaching silver rush came at a far lower human cost than other rushes in the Americas, and like other booms, it birthed a new town that rapidly grew from a mining camp in the bush and later slowly faded. But it was no less significant for its contribution to Canada’s mining heritage, a contribution likely to live on as Canada enters the green energy transition.
Pink stains on rocks
One August day in 1903, some two members of a crew looking for lumber for the rail ties near – Long Lake
In 1911, the peak intensity of the Cobalt rush, 34 mines produced around 30 million oz. of silver.
James McKinley and Ernest Darragh – saw pink stains on a rock.
They chipped off some samples and used the tried-and-true trick they had learned from prospecting in California: they bit the shiny metal on the rock chips and found some of it was soft, native silver. Later, they sent the samples to an assay laboratory at McGill University in Montreal. The results showed 4,000 oz. silver per ton.
That same summer, Willett Green Miller, Ontario’s first historic provincial geologist visited the area to investigate the stories about metal discoveries. Thinking that “Long Lake” was too generic a name for the camp, he also knew that the metal cobalt – used at the time as blue pigment in paint – co-occurred in the local silver veins. He made a rough sign with
the name “Cobalt” for the local TNO stop, and the name stuck. McKinley and Darragh followed up on their samples by entering a mineral claim with the Bureau of Mines in Toronto. The next spring they returned to the area and headed back into the bush with the mining gear of the day: wheelbarrow, picks, shovels, and an axe, and began trenching for silver veins.
From stir to rush
The pair found even more incredibly high-grade silver and began their McKinley-Darragh mine. By 1906, American interests had bought the mine, and they returned to farming in eastern Ontario.
In 1907 the mine expanded into a mill – Cobalt’s first – as output grew
Seekers and winners
As the silver ounces were pumped out, the money flowed in. In return, a huge influx of capital was deployed to Northern Ontario. By 1906, investors were buying mineral properties in Cobalt without having seen them and before they knew financial propositions.
Also that year, the mining-rich Guggenheim family from the U.S. sent mineral expert John Hays Hammond to survey a property in the Cobalt camp. He reportedly arrived in a private Pullman car with a valet, a chef and a wine steward and decided the asset was worthy. The Guggenheims then invested $2.5 million (worth about $90 million or C$126 million today) in the company that controlled the property.
That triggered a stock run in New York City. Police had to intervene to control crowds of feverish investors trying to buy Cobalt shares from curbside vendors. When the Guggenheims learned the ore wasn’t minable, they withdrew from the deal and chaos resulted on Wall Street. Some $24 million in stocks was allegedly lost almost overnight.
April 1909, Cobalt’s Daily Nugget newspaper claimed that the town had produced 38 millionaires, including the mine investor brothers Henry and Noah Timmins, whom the northern city was named after.
Rushing in, building up Cobalt grew, with the population reaching 10,000 in 1909 – and even 12,000 by some accounts – swelled by silver hunters from an impressively far reach including Russia, China, Greece and Finland.
The first streetcar system in Ontario was built in Cobalt, the first Northern Ontario hockey team was formed there, aptly named the regal title of the Silver Kings, and the Bijoux vaudeville and movie theatre was built on Lang Street, the main commercial road.
In 1910, the three-storey Royal Exchange Building was constructed. It housed the Canadian Explosives Office, the General Electric Office, Ontario Surveyor’s Office, Stock Exchange, the Bank of Toronto, and a bar. It also hosted The Northern Miner newspaper, which began covering mining stories from the building in 1915.
Not all roses
from 15 tons per day to 225 by 1913. It helped that much of the silver deposits were close to the surface.
The Cobalt silver rush was on, and the town changed very quickly, truly transforming.
Until it ceased operations in 1927, the mill produced more than 13 million troy ounces of silver.
As Cobalt’s first mill expanded, the number of mines also grew rapidly, vastly increasing operations around the camp. There was LaRose, Trethewey, Buffalo, Coniagas, Drummond, Nipissing, and many others.
The amount of ore milled in gravity concentrators – large wooden tables that shook ore-containing mixture – soared 12-fold from 1908 to 591,400 tons by 1914.
The boom also brought burdens. A horrible explosion in 1906 on Lang Street destroyed several homes and poor sanitary conditions caused a deadly typhoid epidemic in 1909.
The safety ethos of underground mining during the rush was characteristic of the time. Candles used for illumination sometimes started gas explosions and by the end of 1912 more than 100 men had died underground.
Careless dumping of sulfide-rich mine tailings during an era when the environment wasn’t a major concern has today left lakes around Cobalt with arsenic readings exceeding healthy levels. Lake sedi-
TNM treasure hunt P40 >
The Agnico Eagle Mill in Cobalt, 1975.
Bags of silver ore awaiting shipment at the LaRose property, July 1905.
Men travelling from Cobalt station to the silver camp in July1905 IMAGES: THE NORTHERN MINER
eye on australia
US, Aus target $3B for critical minerals plan
DEALS | Price-floor tools enter policy
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
The United States and Australia signed a critical-minerals framework on Oct. 20 that aims to speed permits, mobilize public and private financing, and pilot market “price-floor” mechanisms to blunt non-market undercutting – steps both governments say will harden supply chains for defence and advanced tech.
The non-binding policy blueprint – signed in Washington by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – commits the partners to identify priority projects, jointly channel at least $1 billion (C$1.4 billion) in financing in each country within six months and convene a Mining, Minerals and Metals Investment Ministerial within 180 days.
The White House also flagged “more than $3 billion” in combined investments over the next half-year, while Reuters reported the two governments have committed at least $2 billion so far.
A marquee initiative is support for an advanced gallium refinery in Western Australia capable of processing about 100 tonnes per year – part of a push to diversify a material critical to making semiconductors and defence electronics. The project, tied to Alcoa (NYSE: AA) and Japanese partners near existing alumina operations, would chip away at China’s dominance in gallium supply, according to official statements.
“The participants will work to protect their respective domestic critical minerals and rare earths markets from non-market policies and unfair trade practices,” the framework released by The White House states, including via standards-based trading systems and “pricing framework[s] including price floors.” It also sketches a “Rapid Response” group led by the U.S. energy secretary and Australia’s natural resources minister to identify vulnerabilities and accelerate delivery of processed minerals.
The package folds into broader alliance moves. A White House fact sheet paired the minerals push with defence and technology announcements, including Export-Import Bank of the United States “letters of interest” totaling more than $2.2 billion to advance U.S.–Australia supply-chain projects, and reiterated support for AUKUS industrial base investments, a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S., launched in September 2021.
Price floors
Analysts have long argued that pricing is the missing piece in Western critical-minerals strategy. The framework’s nod to price floors answers calls to counter sustained below-cost exports that can strand non-Chinese projects –
GOLD | Aspects of scale, output, grade
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Canaccord Genuity has initiated coverage on three Western Australian gold explorers – Benz Mining (TSXV: BZ; ASX: BNZ), Golden Horse Minerals (ASX: GHM) and Torque Metals (ASX: TOR) – highlighting strong discovery potential across some of the country’s most prospective greenstone belts.
Western Australia continues to reward disciplined exploration, with high-grade discoveries creating value for emerging gold companies, Canaccord mining analyst Paul Howard said Oct. 20 in three notes on the companies. Each company combines geological continuity, proven mineral systems and active drilling programs, he said. The three represent different paths to value: Benz through scale, Golden Horse through near-term production and Torque through grade and consolidation.
The three explorers form part of a new generation of developers that could supply mid-tier and major producers seeking replacement ounces, reaffirming Australia’s status as a cornerstone of global gold exploration. Rising grades at projects such as Benz’s Zone 126 and Torque’s Paris deposit highlight the Yilgarn Craton’s continued fertility after more than Canaccord P40 >
Fortescue cuts jobs as it outsources
ENVIRONMENT | Signs green-tech partnerships
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Australian miner Fortescue (ASX: FMG) is cutting hundreds of jobs in the U.K. and Australia as it retreats from in-house green-technology production and shifts manufacturing to lower-cost countries.
The company plans to lay off staff in the U.K. after deciding to wind down domestic production at its Fortescue Zero division, which had been developing hydrogen electrolyzers and electric drive systems, the BBC reported Oct. 15. The move is part of a broader restructuring of Fortescue’s decarbonization strategy, with hundreds of positions affected across both countries, according to The Australian Financial Review and Sky News Australia.
The layoffs mark another retrenchment in Fortescue’s greenenergy ambitions as even the strongest miners – the iron ore producer’s market cap is A$60 billion (C$55 billion) – recalibrate decarbonization plans. Last year, the company cut about 700 jobs – roughly 4.5% of its global workforce – and slowed plans to produce 15 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, citing high energy costs and weaker near-term demand.
The pullback mirrors a broader slowdown across the green-hydrogen sector as developers face rising costs and uncertain demand. Companies including Copenhagen-based Ørsted, one of the world’s largest offshore wind developers, and oil majors BP (LSE, NYSE: BP) and Shell (LSE, NYSE: SHEL) have also scaled back or delayed hydrogen and renewable-fuels projects in recent months.
Ship visits NYC
Fortescue’s latest changes came within a few weeks after company founder and executive chairman Andrew Forrest arrived in New York during the United Nations General Assembly aboard the Fortescue Green Pioneer, a 75-metre supply ship powered by a mix of ammonia and diesel.
The company is outsourcing component manufacturing to China and Germany. Forrest announced partnerships with Chinese companies BYD in electric vehicles, solar firm LONGi Green Energy Technology, heavy equipment maker XCMG Group, and wind turbine company Envision Energy.
“The world once benefited from open trade and cooperation – now it is divided,” Forrest said in a statement on his U.S. visit. “Fortescue is showing that industry can help glue back that multilateral spirit, not through rhetoric but through practical alliances that prove heavy industry can follow a new path –one where profits rise as emissions fall.”
Fortescue has also paused development of its gravity-train and battery-locomotive programs and is reviewing spending on hydrogen and ammonia projects. The company says it remains committed to achieving “Real Zero” operational emissions across scopes one and two by 2030 and to commercializing low-emission technologies through partnerships in the U.S.
and Europe.
Shares in Fortescue had gained about 4% to A$20.16 in Sydney after the job cuts announcement as press time approached. Investors appeared to welcome the move as a sign of renewed financial discipline after years of heavy spending on green projects. The company’s stock is up 7.2% this year.
Iron ore
Fortescue remains overwhelmingly concentrated on iron ore. In fiscal 2024, the company shipped 191.6 million tonnes of ore and recorded a C1 cost of US$18.24 per wet metric tonne. For fiscal 2025 it is on track for record output, with ship-
ments reported at 198.4 million tonnes and production about 238.9 million tonnes, up around 10% year-on-year.
The company’s major magnetite-concentrate project, Iron Bridge in the Pilbara, is expected to contribute 5 million to 9 million tonnes of shipments in fiscal 2025 and is a strategic growth node aimed at producing higher-grade product. Beyond iron ore, Fortescue has an exploration portfolio in critical minerals including copper, lithium and rare earths, but no significant production of these metals has yet been disclosed in its annual reports. The company remains fundamentally an iron ore producer. Forrest launched Fortescue’s clean-energy arm in 2021 to advance green-hydrogen, battery and electrification projects under the One Fortescue banner that merged its mining and energy divisions. However, rising costs and project delays have prompted the company to focus on its core ironore business in Western Australia while scaling back manufacturing investments. TNM
Leading Australian gold explorer focused on the delivery of deposits with +1 Moz development potential
Fortescue’s Iron Bridge mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. FORTESCUE
President Donald J. Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sign a landmark critical minerals agreement to secure vital natural resources and strengthen the U.S.-Australia alliance. THE WHITE HOUSE
Fortescue founder and executive chair Andrew Forrest. KRISTIE BATTEN
mining, metals & markets
28 Warrants +Shorts 21 Market News contents
22 Mining Events 22 Capital Raisings
24 Gold + Silver
25 Drill Results
26 EV Metals
29 Market Data
*Data may not be comprehensive and is provided on a best-efforts basis as of press time. Investors are responsible for their own due diligence.
Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle
Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle
Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle
30 Top 5 Explorers
Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.
Major North American stock indexes gained including records by the S&P 500 and Nasdaq during the week ending Oct. 24 after cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation figures.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1,016.52 points, or 2.2%, to 47,207.12 points, the S&P 500 rose 127.68 points, or 1.9%, to 6,791.69 and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 524.90 points, or 2.3%, to 23,204.87.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 244.59 points, or about 0.8%, to 46,315.27 while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index fell 1.86 points, or 0.2%, to 963.72.
The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index dropped 7.68 points, or almost 4% to 185.50 and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index plunged 52.28 points, or 6.9%, to 704.59 as gold fell 3.3% to $4,112.19
per ounce. The S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index fell 1.55 points, or 0.6% to 254.35, while copper futures rose about 3% to $5.1225 per pound.
Among NYSE-listed stocks, Albemarle rose 9.9% to $105.64 after analysts Rothschild & Co. initiated coverage with a “buy” rating and a price target of $135 on signs the prolonged downturn in the lithium market may be ending.
In Toronto, Capstone Copper gained 3.2% to C$11.47, supported by positive long-term analyst forecasts and copper price momentum despite weekly volatility.
On the S&P/TSX Venture Exchange, Northern Superior Resources added C47¢ to C$1.89 after releasing strong drill results from its Ti-Pa-Haa-Kaik gold-copper project in northwestern Ontario.
1
3
5
6
7
8
9
Note: Trended capital raising activity may differ from the previous months as we have switched data providers in order to expand our coverage of market activities.
miningevents
n November
November 2-5
2025 New Orleans Investment Conference
VENUE: Hilton New Orleans Riverside
MORE INFORMATION: neworleansconference.com
November 3-4
Central Canada Mineral Exploration Convention
VENUE: Victoria Inn Hotel & Convention Centre
MORE INFORMATION: ccme-convention.ca
November 3-6
2025 Alaska Miners Association Convention and Trade Show — Anchorage
VENUE: Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center
MORE INFORMATION: alaskaminers.org/2025-amaconvention
November 4-5
Red Cloud’s Fall Mining Showcase — Toronto
VENUE: Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel
MORE INFORMATION: www.redcloudfs.com/ fallminingshowcase2025/
November 6-7
Mining 4.0 Europe — Barcelona, Spain
VENUE: H10 Marina Barcelona Hotel
MORE INFORMATION: www.mining-events.com/8thmining-4-0-europe-roadmap-for-the-future/
November 10-11
Precious Metals Summit — Zurich, Switzerland
VENUE: Park Hyatt Zurich
MORE INFORMATION: www.precioussummit.com/ events/2025-precious-metals-summit-zurich/
November 12-13
Mining & Critical Minerals Canada Conference and Exhibition — Toronto
VENUE: DoubleTree by Hilton Downtown Toronto
MORE INFORMATION: www. miningcriticalmineralscanada.com
November 13
Mining’s Defining Challenge, Executive Roundtable – Vancouver
VENUE: Black + Blue
MORE INFORMATION: www.eventcreate.com/e/ executive-roundtable-event?refcode=henry-lazenbytnmg-invite
November 14-15
Deutsche Goldmesse - Frankfurt, Germany
VENUE: The JW Marriott Frankfurt
MORE INFORMATION: deutschegoldmesse.online
November 16-19
Yukon Annual Geoscience Forum and Trade Show – Whitehorse, Yukon
MORE INFORMATION: www.terrapinn.com/exhibition/ mining-show/
November 18-19
The Ontario Critical Minerals Forum — Toronto
VENUE: Downtown Marriott at CF Toronto Eaton Centre
MORE INFORMATION: toronto.energyandmines.com/ home
November 19-22
Swiss Mining Institute — Zurich
VENUE: The Dolder Grand
MORE INFORMATION: swissmininginstitute.ch
November 20-21
Swiss Mining Institute — Zurich
VENUE: The Dolder Grand
MORE INFORMATION: swissmininginstitute.ch
November 20-21
MiningTech North America Conference and Expo — Vancouver
VENUE: Vancouver Convention Centre
MORE INFORMATION: www. miningtechnorthamerica.com
November 24-27
Yellowknife Geoscience Forum 2025
VENUE: Explorer Hotel and Chateau Nova
MORE INFORMATION: event.fourwaves. com/2025geoscienceforum/pages
November 27-28
Asia Gold Conference and Exhibition — Singapore
VENUE: ParkRoyal Collection Marina Bay
MORE INFORMATION: www.asiagoldconference.com
November 30-December 1
TNM International Metals Symposium — London
VENUE: ETC Venues
MORE INFORMATION: events.northernminer.com
n December
December 1
Resourcing Tomorrow Government Roundtable — London
VENUE: London Stock Exchange
MORE INFORMATION: www.resourcingtomorrow.com/ government-roundtable
December 1 Critical Mineral Association (UK) 5th Annual Conference — London
VENUE: Royal College of Medicine
MORE INFORMATION: www.resourcingtomorrow.com/ events/critical-minerals-association-uk-5th-annualconference
December 1
MINEX Eurasia 2025 — London
VENUE: Simmons & Simmons
MORE INFORMATION: www.resourcingtomorrow.com/ events/minex-eurasia-2025
December 2-4
Resourcing Tomorrow — London
VENUE: Business Design Centre
MORE INFORMATION: resourcingtomorrow.com
n January
January 2-4
Resourcing Tomorrow — London
VENUE: Business Design Centre
MORE INFORMATION: resourcingtomorrow.com
11/24-10/25
capital
25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000
TOP FIVE CANADIAN GOLD AND SILVER PRODUCERS
The Northern Miner charts the market capitalizations of the top five Canada-domiciled gold and silver producers this year to date.
Gold
Market
Capitalization
(CAD | Millions)
Silver Market Capitalization (CAD | Millions)
drillresults
TNM DRILL DOWN: TOP ASSAYS OF THE MONTH
Our TNM Drill Down features the top 10 gold, copper and silver assays of the past month. Drill holes are ranked by grade x width.
September 16, 2025 to October 15, 2025
evmetals
evmetals
Name
warrants&shorts
TSX WARRANTS
Talisker Resources Ltd. SK.WT One Warrant to purchase one common 5-05-2028 share of the Issuer at $0.75 until expiry
VENTURE WARRANTS
Lion One Metals Ltd. LIO.WT One warrant to purchase one common 11-11-2025 share at $1.25 per share.
Vizsla Royalties Corp. VROY.WT One warrant to purchase one common 12-31-2025 share at $0.50 per share.
Silver Mountain AGMR.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 02-09-2026 Resources Inc. share at $0.45 per share.
Osisko Development ODV.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 03-02-2026 Corp. share at $8.55 per share.
Denarius Silver Corp. DSLV.WT One warrant to purchase one common 03-17-2026 share at $0.80 per share.
West Red Lake Gold WRLG.WT One warrant to purchase one common 05-16-2026 Mines Ltd. share at $1.00 per share.
Aurania Resources Ltd. ARU.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 10-21-2026 share at $2.20 per share.
Tuktu Resources Ltd. TUK.WT One warrant to purchase one common 11-23-2026 share at $0.13 per share.
Freeman Gold Corp. FMAN.WT.U One warrant to purchase one common 11-29-2026 share at US$0.65 per share.
Palisades Goldcorp Ltd. PALI.WT One warrant to purchase 0.060538 12-06-2026 common share at $0.50 per share.
Mogotes Metals Inc. MOG.WT One warrant to purchase one common 01-31-2027 share at $0.30 per share.
Osisko Development ODV.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 03-02-2027 Corp. share at $14.75 per share.
Integra Resources Corp. ITR.WT One warrant to purchase one common 03-13-2027 share at $1.20 per share.
Elevation Gold Mining ELVT.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 03-24-2027 Corp. share at $0.70 per share.
Osisko Development ODV.WT.U One warrant to purchase one common 05-27-2027 Corp. share at US$10.70 per share.
Robex Resources Inc. RBX.WT One warrant to purchase one common 06-27-2027 share at $2.55 per share.
Graphite One Inc. GPH.WT One warrant to purchase one common 08-22-2027 share at $1.10 per share.
West Red Lake Gold WRLG.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 10-24-2027 Mines Ltd. share at $0.90 per share.
Lion One Metals Ltd. LIO.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 02-14-2028 share at $0.41 per share.
West Red Lake Gold WRLG.WT.C One warrant to purchase one common 02-25-2028 Mines Ltd. share at $0.90 per share.
Silver Mountain AGMR.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 04-24-2028 Resources Inc. share at $0.135 per share.
Bear Creek Mining BCM.WT One warrant to purchase one common 10-05-2028 Corp. share at $0.42 per share.
West Red Lake Gold WRLG.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 03-19-2029 Mines Ltd. share at $0.95 per share.
Osisko Development ODV.WT.V One warrant to purchase one common 10-01-2029 Corp. share at US$3.00 per share.
Short positions outstanding as of September 30, 2025 (with changes from September 15, 2025)
Largest
Largest
-3406573 Eloro
-2414472 Kinross
GOLD PRICE (US$ PER OZ.)
marketdata
Commodity Prices 12-Month Trend
$4,208.22 US$/oz. (+$1545.39 vs. YA)
SILVER PRICE (US$ PER OZ.)
COPPER PRICE (US$ PER LB.)
NICKEL PRICE (US$ PER LB.)
$6.00
$53.06 US$/oz. (+$21.57 vs. YA)
$4.85 US$/Lb. (+$0.55 vs. YA)
$6.83 US$/Lb. (-$1.07 vs. YA)
Aluminum: UUS$1.2985/lb.
Cobalt: US$21.369/lb.
Gold: US$4,137.77/oz.
Iron Ore 62% Fe CFR China-S: US$105.55
Nickel: US$6.9649/lb.
Silver: US$49.14 per oz.
Zinc: US$1.3709 per lb.
COMMODITY PRICES | Prices current as of October 23, 2025
Coal: Central Appalachia, 12,500 Btu, 1.2 S02-R,W: US$79 Coal: Powder River Basin, 8,800 Btu, 0.8 S02-R,
Copper: US$5.0636/lb. Copper: CME Group Futures
Iridium: US$4,525/tr oz.
Lead: US$0.914/lb.
March 2026: US$5.172/lb.
Lithium carbonate: US$10,499/tonne
Rhodium: US$8,050/tr. oz. Ruthenium: US$910 per oz.
Tin: US$16.041/lb.
Uranium: U 3O 8, Trading Economics: US$76.50 per lb.
TOP FIVE CANADIAN GOLD AND SILVER EXPLORERS
The Northern Miner charts the market capitalization movements this year to date of the top five Canada-domiciled exploration companies that are mainly exploration-oriented.
Gold Market Capitalization
(CAD | Millions)
Silver Market Capitalization
(CAD | Millions)
MINING IN THE USA specialfocus
Bottlenecks slow US copper supply ambitions
PERMITS | FAST-41 may help
BY ANDREW SEALE
The United States’ effort to build a secure domestic supply of copper is running headlong into environmental review and legal disputes – illustrating the tension between energy transition goals and a permitting process analysts say is plagued by bottlenecks.
In Arizona, Rio Tinto (ASX, LSE, NYSE: RIO) and BHP (ASX: BHP) continue to await federal approval for the Resolution Copper project. In Minnesota, Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) and Glencore (LSE: GLEN) are advancing the NorthMet copper-nickel project through a new round of permitting. And in Alaska, Vancouver-based Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM; NYSE: NAK) remains locked in a regulatory fight over the Pebble deposit.
Market research firm Wood Mackenzie forecasts global copper demand to surge 24% by 2035, rising 8.2 million tonnes per year to 42.7 million tonnes, driven by global economic development and electrification. U.S. President Donald Trump views expanded domestic copper production as key to reducing import reliance, strengthening U.S. manufacturing and securing materials critical to power infrastructure and defence supply chains. However, even as Washington pushes to secure critical minerals, legal, regulatory and community hurdles mean the path from policy to production remains uncertain.
Permitting reform
A cornerstone of the Trump administration’s energy dominance agenda is FAST-41, a federal designation for projects that is designed to accelerate decisions on outstanding permit applications and move critical mineral projects toward production. As of October, there are 34 mining projects on the list, including NorthMet and Resolution Copper.
Scot Anderson, an office managing partner at Womble Bond Dickinson US in Denver, is focused on arbitrations, litigation and regulatory enforcement actions related to energy, mining, oil and gas. He said the FAST-41 designation could help reduce some of the permitting bottlenecks slowing U.S. mine development.
“It hasn’t been used enough to know exactly how effective it’s going to be,” Anderson told The Northern Miner. “But it’s a productive use of a structure that’s fairly acceptable to both sides of the aisle at a high level…an unusual thing these days.”
Environmental concerns Court challenges to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) also remain a major hurdle for U.S. mine development. Even relatively uncontroversial projects can be delayed up to eight years as opponents use legal appeals to
“We have waited a long time for our day in court, and we should not have to wait any longer to vindicate our rights.”
RON
THIESSEN CEO, NORTHERN DYNASTY MINERALS
slow permitting, forcing developers to spend time and capital before reaching a final decision.
“There’s a certain point where you can’t wait anymore,” Anderson said. “If the NEPA challenge runs on for a while, it can kill a project.”
In September, the U.S. Council of Environmental Quality, which coordinates federal environmental policy and activities, issued new guidance for NEPA review procedures to streamline the process.
The aim is to set page and time limits for assessments and expand categories exempt from full review
“I don’t think anybody wants mining to occur irresponsibly,” Anderson said. “The idea is to keep the structure we have in place but get to a decision sooner.”
Resolution unresolved
Rio Tinto and BHP’s 55-45% joint venture Resolution copper project in Arizona has been tangled in legal limbo since an appeals court decision temporarily blocked a federal land transfer.
The $2-billion (C$2.76-billion) planned project, which secured FAST-41 designation earlier this year, is one of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world, capable of supplying over a quarter of U.S. demand for 40 years. The deposit, located partly beneath federal land, required a congressionally-approved land exchange, which was authorized in 2015.
In August, an advocacy group comprised of members of the San
Carlos Apache Tribe of southeast Arizona and conservationists obtained an injunction to pause the project’s development at a site where Western Apaches have held sacred ceremonies for generations.
Trump blasted the court’s decision on social media platform Truth Social, saying the project was “delayed by a Radical Left Court for two months – 3,800 Jobs are affected, and our Country, quite simply, needs Copper – AND NOW!”
In an August statement, Resolution Copper said the company is “confident the court will ultimately affirm the district court’s well-reasoned orders explaining in detail why the congressionally directed land exchange satisfies all applicable legal requirements.”
NorthMet standstill
Meanwhile, NewRange Copper Nickel’s NorthMet project, a 50-50% joint venture of Teck and Glencore continues to face legal and regulatory headwinds at its NorthMet copper-nickel project in northeastern Minnesota.
The project, also on the FAST-41 list, is one of the most advanced critical minerals developments in the U.S. Midwest and expects to produce copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum-group metals over a 20-year mine life. But key state and federal permits remain under review after years of legal challenges.
In 2023, the Minnesota Supreme Court remanded several of NorthMet’s permits, including its water discharge and dam safety approvals, for further administrative
review. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers revoked NorthMet’s Clean Water Act permit, ruling that the project failed to meet the water quality standards of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa rather than those of the state of Minnesota.
In November 2024, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources suspended proceedings on NewRange’s permit to mine until August 2025.
NewRange is currently preparing a new application for a Clean Water Act federal wetlands permit. The federal FAST-41 database estimates permitting for the project to be completed by June 2027, though the bottlenecks are mostly at the state level.
Pebble paused
While NorthMet faces state and federal hurdles, Northern Dynasty Minerals is pressing its legal fight to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s veto of the Pebble copper-gold project in southwest Alaska.
Pebble hosts one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold-molybdenum resources, but advancement has been stalled over potential impacts to Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery. In 2023, the EPA blocked Northern Dynasty’s Pebble project under the Clean Water Act, citing the destruction of more than 2,000 acres of wetlands.
In October, Northern Dynasty filed a summary judgment brief alongside the state of Alaska and two Alaska Native village corporations, calling the 2023 Clean Water Act veto unlawful. The company argues that the veto is based on speculation rather than the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement and violates the Alaska Statehood Act by blocking development on lands designated for mineral extraction.
The Department of Justice must respond by January, with final briefs due in late February. The federal government has requested a stay due to the ongoing shutdown, which Northern Dynasty opposes.
“We have waited a long time for our day in court in this case, and we should not have to wait any longer to vindicate our rights,” Northern Dynasty CEO Ron Thiessen said in a statement.
Further advanced
Despite years of delays and legal wrangling, Anderson said many of the country’s largest copper projects are in a stronger position than they were five years ago. And a flurry of policies over the past 10 months has helped resolve some key issues, redefine permitting and offer mechanisms like FAST-41 to cut through bureaucratic bottlenecks.
“Some projects are better positioned than others, and some, inevitably, are going to be controversial,” he said. “There’s more certainty and clearer pathways going forward for all of these projects.” TNM
Poly Met’s NorthMet plant in Minnesota. POLYMET MINING
Surface infrastructure at the Resolution copper project in Arizona. RESOLUTION COPPER
Drill rigs at Northern Dynasty’s Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum project in southwest Alaska. NORTHERN DYNASTY MINERALS
US antimony revs up with Galena output, Stibnite go-ahead
CRITICAL METALS | Projects gain $288M from DC
BY HENRY LAZENBY
New mine construction in Idaho, more than $280 million in federal investments for antimony projects and other developments around the critical metal have made for a busy fall mirroring a United States policy tilt to rebuild supply chains at home.
Perpetua Resources (Nasdaq, TSX: PPTA) received the green light to start building Idaho’s Stibnite gold-antimony mine in October after the United States Forest Service issued a notice to proceed, advancing one of the first domestic sources of the critical metal in decades.
The project is slated to enter commercial output by 2028 or 2029 after a $1.3-billion capital build and could supply more than 100 million lb. of antimony over 15 years alongside
about 450,000 oz. gold a year.
“After eight years of review and over $400 million invested, it is finally time for the Stibnite gold project to deliver for America,” president and CEO Jon Cherry said in a Sept. 19 release.
Analysts are taking note. BMO Capital Markets last month initiated coverage on Perpetua with an ‘outperform’ rating and a C$38 price target. Precious Metals Analyst Brian Quast argued the Stibnite project benefits from non-dilutive U.S. government support linked to domestic antimony supply. BMO estimates the project’s net present value at $2.9 billion using a 5% discount rate and its commodity deck.
Munitions role
Antimony is listed as critical for national and economic security due
to its role in munitions, semiconductors and flame retardants. The U.S. has for at least 20 years relied on imports of the metal, mainly from China.
Americas Gold and Silver (TSX: USA; NYSE-A: USAS), whose Galena Complex in Idaho is the country’s only producing antimony mine, reported on Oct. 16 year-todate output of 447,466 lb. of the metal.
It also tallied 615,817 lb. of copper through the first three quarters. Management said the antimony-copper ratio of about 0.73:1 continues to track test work and that a recent breakthrough achieved more than 99% antimony extraction from a flotation concentrate grading about 19% antimony.
“This is the first time under our new management that we are
reporting antimony production,” chairman and CEO Paul Andre Huet said in a news release, adding he expects higher antimony volumes as mining targets silver-rich tetrahedrite ore.
Development momentum
United States Antimony (NYSE-A: UAMY) last month began exploration and bulk sampling at the former Stibnite Hill mine in Montana after securing state permits. It’s trucking initial ore to a local flotation mill for crushing and sampling near its Thompson Falls smelter.
That work came just weeks after the company won a $245-million Pentagon contract to supply antimony metal ingots for the national defence stockpile.
The Montana plant is one of two North American smelters – both
PURSUING A REVIVAL IN GOLD
owned by U.S. Antimony – with long-standing capacity to produce antimony oxide or metal and is undergoing an expansion.
“Once the necessary permits were obtained from the Department of Envionmental Quality this month, we began our exploration efforts,” Executive Vice-President and Chief Mining Engineer Joe Bardswich said in an Oct. 17 release. First loads of raw ore are already in processing.
Meanwhile, developments with Nova Minerals (Nasdaq, ASX: NVA) added momentum to the domestic antimony push after it received a $43.4-million award under the Defense Production Act to help establish an antimony mining and refining hub at its Estelle project in Alaska. The funds go to subsidiary Alaska Range Resources, which holds 85% of Estelle across a 35-km mineralized corridor.
The partnership backs a “fully domestic, redundant supply chain” for munitions and other defence products, CEO Christopher Gerteisen said in an Oct. 1 release. The company has identified antimony in surface sampling and plans to publish an initial resource including antimony this year.
Exploration progress
Exploration results are also feeding the pipeline. American Antimony Corporation, operating as Xtra Energy (US-OTC: XTPT), reported last month what it called “world class” intercepts at the Bernice Canyon project in northern Nevada.
Its standout intercept returned 87 metres grading 5.59% stibnite from 104 metres depth in hole BC25-03 within the Arrance core zone. It averaged 1.46% stibnite overall and including 1.5 metres of 1.33 grams gold per tonne. Additional holes cut 12.3 metres at 1.06% stibnite and 0.18 gram gold from 134 metres, and 7.6 metres of 1.08% stibnite from 35 metres.
The company said results demonstrate continuity across a felsic dike system at least 3.2 km long and compare favourably with major global stibnite systems in China and Austria. TNM
Above: Perpetua’s Stibnite antimony mine in Idaho. PERPETUA RESOURCES
Could Barrick’s next CEO break up the company?
GOLD | Bristow exit allows pivot, observers say
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Spinning off Barrick Mining’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) U.S. assets into a new company or exploring a merger with Newmont (NYSE: NEM) are some of the key options that the Canadian miner’s next CEO will need to weigh, analysts said.
After more than six years in charge, Mark Bristow stepped down as Barrick boss on Sept. 29 without an explanation. His interim replacement, 20-year company veteran Mark Hill, will stay on until the board names a permanent successor.
Bristow’s surprise exit spurred some analysts and investors to speculate that the company might be poised to sell some of its underperforming assets. A breakup of the company could even be envisaged under the right circumstances, according to former Newmont CEO Pierre Lassonde.
“Is there value in at least looking at some scenarios? I would say yes,” Lassonde told The Northern Miner in an interview.
Longtime mining analyst John Tumazos agrees.
“There are some open strategy questions that have always been possible that a new CEO or the board might address – one of which is to break up into three companies,” Tumazos, head of the New Jersey-based firm Very Independent Research, said in a recent interview.
Share price performance and a personality clash with chairman John Thornton were two key factors in Bristow leaving, according to Lassonde. Under Bristow’s leadership, Barrick’s stock price trailed that of its global peers due to surging costs and repeated profit-target misses.
“It was a culmination of things,” Lassonde said in the interview.
“Barrick’s stock price performance was among the worst in the industry and there was a very clear difference in personalities. John Thornton is a financial animal, and Mark Bristow is a mining animal.”
Underperforming stock
Barrick’s Toronto Stock Exchangetraded shares rose about 2.6 times between January 2019 – when Bristow took over – and late September. That trailed the four-fold increase of the TSX Global Gold Index. The stock was trading at $43.15 as press time neared, giving the company a market value of about $73 billion (US$52 billion).
Under the spinoff scenario, one new company could house Barrick’s flagship Nevada gold project assets, another could include the higher-risk overseas gold operations and a third could hold the copper properties, Tumazos said. All three would be overseen by a holding company.
“That’s been always an alternative,” he said.
This isn’t the first time that a breakup of Canada’s biggest publicly traded miner has been floated. When Barrick was looking at acquiring Randgold in 2018, investment bankers who approached the company’s top management pitched that very idea, according to a U.K. court filing issued in March. The dispute between Barrick and boutique investment banking firm H&P Advisory revolved around the payment of fees.
African spinoff
Spinning off assets such as Barrick’s West African operations – including the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex in Mali, which has been at the center of a bitter dispute with the government – could make sense, Lassonde says.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to do business in West Africa, so there may be a case where if you put a very large single entity that’s West African-based, it may be able to operate better than if it was part of a company based in Toronto or New York or London,” he said.
Barrick suspended operations at Loulo-Gounkoto, its largest African asset, in January after Mali’s military government seized about three tonnes of gold over alleged unpaid taxes.
Having demanded a greater share of profits, Mali jailed four Barrick employees last November.
It also blocked exports and placed Loulo-Gounkoto under state control. That led Barrick to book a US$1-billion impairment charge in August and slash the carrying value of its 80% stake in the mine.
New writedown
Barrick will probably write down the value of its Mali assets to zero when it releases fourth-quarter results early in 2026, said Martin Pradier, a mining analyst at Veritas Investment Research. And even after the second-quarter charge, Barrick still values its Mali mining assets at about US$2.5 billion, he said.
“If I were the auditor, I wouldn’t let you present a balance sheet with any value for Mali,” Pradier said in an interview from Toronto. “After that, go and fight with the Mali government to get any value that you can. Perhaps they will recover something five years down the road, but it shouldn’t be on the balance sheet.”
Barrick’s Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan, whose first phase is projected to cost at least
US$5.6 billion, could also be spun off, Lassonde says.
“When you look at Pakistan, it may be better off as part of a floated company backed by Middle East money,” he said. “Maybe Barrick could end up being the operator but with a minority stake so that you don’t have much of any financial exposure.”
Newmont merger
Although Barrick has recently started building up its copper portfolio with projects such as Reko Diq, the new chief executive could also look at merging with major gold producer Newmont, Tumazos said.
Barrick and Newmont share the distinction of having made leadership changes on the same day. One hour after Barrick announced Bristow’s departure, Newmont issued a press release to say CEO Tom Palmer would retire Dec. 31 and make way for chief operating officer Natascha Viljoen.
A Barrick-Newmont merger “is a possibility,” said Pradier at Veritas. “That’s why it was interesting
that the two CEOs left on the same day. I don’t know if the boards are talking.”
The companies are already partners in Nevada Gold Mines, the world’s largest gold mining complex. They also share ownership the Pueblo Viejo operation in the Dominican Republic and Chile’s Norte Abierto property.
Barrick owns 61.5% of Nevada Gold Mines and acts as the operator, while Newmont holds 38.5%. The complex contains nine underground mines, 12 open pit operations, two roaster facilities, two autoclave facilities, 1 flotation mill, two oxide mills, eight heap leach facilities, 14 ranches, two power plants and one warehouse.
Fourmile’s potential
To many observers, another one of Barrick’s Nevada assets is the key prize.
Days before his exit from Barrick, Bristow held an analyst briefing to present the company’s Fourmile project, which he said has the potential to produce as much as 750,000 oz. of gold per year. That would position it as one of the most significant discoveries of the past 25 years.
“Fourmile is going to be one of the greatest gold mines in Nevada,” Lassonde said. “That asset, if it was in a North American company, would probably be worth the whole value of Barrick today.”
Barrick has said it plans to advance Fourmile over the next few years. It expects to complete a feasibility study around 2029.
Despite Fourmile’s potential, the cost of developing a mine might push Barrick to look for a merger partner such as Newmont, Pradier said.
“The deposit is very deep,” he said. “It’s going to cost a lot of money to do the drilling.” TNM
Workers with an underground loader underground at Barrick Mining’s Loulo Gounkoto gold complex in Mali. BARRICK MINING
Former Barrick CEO Mark Bristow. THE NORTHERN MINER
Barrick’s largescale Fourmile gold project in north-central Nevada. BARRICK MINING
Myriad Uranium drills Wyoming project derailed by Three Mile Island
URANIUM
| Hub-and-spoke plan returns to railway’s shelved camp
BY HENRY LAZENBY
Vancouver-based Myriad Uranium (CSE: M; US-OTC: MYRUF) has a new permit to expand drilling at a Wyoming project where a past owner spent $25 million ($100 million today) in the late 1970s before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident crashed prices for the heavy metal.
Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) railroad outlined six open pits in a study at the time for the Copper Mountain project that sought to tap 245 million lb. uranium oxide U3O8. That might place it in the same weight class as the probable reserves at NexGen Energy’s (TSX, NYSE: NXE; ASX: NXG) Arrow project in Saskatchewan, although its historical study isn’t directly comparable with modern reporting standards.
Now Myriad CEO Thomas Lamb sees potential for scale and Athabasca region-style mineralization at depth on the roughly 38-sq.-km project 435 km southeast of Cheyenne. The junior is exploring beyond the Canning deposit where it drilled 34 holes last year, with plans for 222 holes across Lucky Cliff, Gem, Mint and Arrowhead starting in February.
“The plan lets us start with a focused dozen drill holes, then scale toward 30–40 holes as results come in,” Lamb told The Northern Miner in October. “We want to begin testing a district hypothesis that reaches well outside the historical open-pit footprint.”
Uranium hotspot
Myriad, which has a market capitalization of about C$25.5 million, has seen its shares pop 57% in the past month to 32¢ apiece in Toronto. It’s betting on resurging interest in nuclear plants for cleaner energy than fossil fuels, while Western nations strive to boost production untainted by Russian output or processing.
Wyoming has once more become
a centre of activity for United States uranium, with operating in-situ recovery (ISR) mines that pump a solution through underground ore, licensed capacity and a regulator base accustomed to the commodity, Lamb said.
In context, Copper Mountain’s “district-scale test” that is to start soon will inevitably be read against the bar set by big uranium camps elsewhere. In Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin, unconformity deposits such as NexGen’s Arrow and Fission Uranium’s (TSX: FCU) Triple R define development-class scale through very high grades, while Wyoming more commonly hosts ISR operations across roll-front sandstones.
Copper Mountain is different, Lamb said. It combines thick, shal-
low, granite-related mineralization that suits conventional mining with the possibility of deeper, structurally focused zones that were barely touched historically. That combination is what Myriad hopes to surface under the 222-hole plan.
The company is moving to simplify Copper Mountain’s ownership in a C$5.8-million buyout of partner Rush Rare Metals by yearend. The project was originally optioned in October 2023 from Rush on an earn-in to 75%.
Case for scale
The Copper Mountain story is a lostand-found tale, Lamb said. Union Pacific, through its Rocky Mountain Energy subsidiary, drilled roughly 2,000 boreholes totalling 274,320 metres (900,000 feet) during its era.
“Myriad is betting on resurging interest in nuclear plants for cleaner energy than fossil fuels.”
The plan was to feed a centralized heap-leach operation to supply reactors for California Edison. The work paused as uranium prices fell following the 1979 Three Mile Island partial meltdown at a reactor near Harrisburg, Penn. While radioactive releases were limited and no immediate deaths occurred, it triggered sweeping U.S. nuclear regulatory reforms and stalled new reactor development for decades.
Challenges remain. The DOEBendix tonnage is historical and non-compliant under NI 43-101, meaning Myriad must prove it up with modern drilling, assays and metallurgy. The planned merger with Rush remains pending, leaving ownership simplification a near-term variable.
Winter drilling in central Wyo-
ming is feasible but weather-sensitive, Lamb said, and scaling beyond an initial program will require fresh funding with bonding stepped up in phases. Any conventional mine plan would also demand new baseline studies, engineering and permits beyond today’s exploration approvals, while the deeper unconformity/thrust target – potentially the biggest resource mover –remains untested.
Myriad also owns the Red Basin project in New Mexico. It is a rollfront sandstone uranium deposit with historical work pointing to potential of up to 45 million lb. U3O8. Myriad is completing ground geophysics there ahead of follow-up drilling later next year.
Moving forward
Myriad’s current targeting keeps Union Pacific’s hub-and-spoke logic while probing deeper structures that historical programs largely ignored.
Two things make the district timely, Lamb argued. First, the company’s drill program last year verified parts of the Canning model and reported material grade uplift when chip and core assays were compared with probe readings, tightening grade shells that matter for engineering.
“On average, assays came in materially higher than our probe readings – up to roughly 60% at the top end,” Lamb said.
Second, a 2024 drill hole intersected uranium at about 456 metres (1,495 ft), below the old 600-foot “hard deck,” reviving a 1970s thesis linked to examples in the Athabasca Basin.
“The unanswered question –and the one that could change the complexion of Copper Mountain,” Lamb said, “is whether deeper structures below the 600-ft horizon return intercepts consistent with the unconformity/thrust concept associated with the Athabasca, that Anaconda and Union Pacific only began to test decades ago.” TNM
Perpetua starts building $1.3B Stibnite mine
IDAHO | Targets 2028 gold-antimony output
BY CECILIA JAMASMIE
Perpetua Resources (Nasdaq, TSX: PPTA) has begun early-works construction at its $1.3-billion Stibnite gold-antimony project in central Idaho, fasttracked by the Trump administration as part of efforts to strengthen the U.S. critical minerals supply chain.
Stibnite is to start producing in 2028 roughly 450,000 oz. of gold annually and as much as 35% of America’s demand for antimony, a mineral that’s made headlines this year for China’s export limits. The West lacks supplies to support its use in defence systems, energy storage and semiconductors.
The start of construction “clearly marks a de-risking milestone for
the project,” National Bank Financial mining analyst Rabi Nizami said Oct. 22 in a note. Breaking ground now “is a prudent move, as it allows for early construction to start immediately, before winter, with the focus of early works to be on preparing the construction camp and road works to enable full construction after the full financing package is confirmed.”
The project has proven and probable reserves of 148 million lb. of antimony, and is among the few domestic sources of the mineral and one of the largest deposits outside China’s control. Stibnite is expected to be among the country’s highest-grade open-pit gold mines. It holds more than 6 million oz. of the yellow metal, which has attracted global attention as its spot price shot past $4,000 per ounce.
Site work
The construction milestone follows the company’s posting of $139 million in financial assurance and confirmation from the U.S. Forest Service that all pre-construction conditions have been met. The service issued its record of decision in January and granted final federal approval in May.
The company is also advancing financing discussions, with preliminary backing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Make More in America and China Transformational Export programs. The proposal includes up to $2 billion in debt financing, with final board review expected in spring 2026.
Perpetua Resources shares fell 0.4% to C$33.06 apiece on the day of the announcement amid a
declining market. Despite the drop, they have doubled in value this year, lifting the company’s market capitalization to about C$3.6 billion ($2.6 billion).
Mine reclamation
Perpetua plans to create about 950 direct jobs during construction and 550 during operations. After nine years of permitting, CEO Jon Cherry said the project would both deliver critical minerals and restore an abandoned mine site.
“With our reclamation performance bond to reclaim the work we undertake at the project site in place, we officially started early works construction today and are making good on our promises to Idaho and America,” he said.
The final mine plan was rede-
signed to shrink the project footprint by 13%, improve stream and wetland conditions, and reconnect fish habitats, Perpetua said. The company has pledged to restore legacy environmental damage from past mining activity in Idaho’s Stibnite-Yellow Pine district, about 222 km northeast of Boise. However, the Nez Perce Tribe has opposed the project, citing potential risks to salmon populations and downstream ecosystems. The site was a key antimony supplier during the Second World War and now hosts 104.6 million proven and probable tonnes grading 1.43 grams gold per tonne and 0.064% antimony, for a total of 4.8 million oz. of gold and 148 million lb. of antimony, according to a 2020 feasibility study. TNM
Looking south from the Canning deposit at Copper Mountain, Wyoming. MYRIAD URANIUM
US mining efforts in Africa need work: analyst
GEOPOLITICS | Support for African projects lags China
BY FRÉDÉRIC TOMESCO
Recent United States initiatives aimed at developing closer ties with resource-rich African countries to break China’s stranglehold on critical minerals processing are still a long way from paying off, according to a leading geopolitical analyst.
Africa is home to about 30% of proven critical mineral reserves, and several African countries’ reserves lead the world, the Washington-based Brookings Institution said in a report published last month. Some 35 African countries produce at least one critical mineral – and that’s probably an underestimation, given the low level of exploration on the continent, the report’s authors said.
China’s lead in Africa – the result of a more than two-decade headstart built on signing infrastructure deals in exchange for mineral rights access – may well prove insurmountable, said Amaka Anku, who heads the Africa practice of Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk research and consulting firm. Asia’s second-most populous country holds the largest portfolio of critical minerals projects in Africa, having invested billions of dollars in countries such as Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.
“It remains to be seen” whether the U.S. will be successful in carving out a bigger share of Africa’s critical minerals production, the Nigerian-born Anku said in an interview. “It’s much too early to celebrate any real shift.”
The China factor
Recent moves by China – the world’s biggest refiner and processor of critical minerals, with a global share estimated at 85% to 90% –have given new impetus to the U.S. drive to diversify its supply sources.
Late last year, China banned exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.
It also suspended exports of six heavy rare earth metals, as well as rare earth magnets, in a bid to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.
Transactional Trump
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has broken with the traditional U.S. strategy of tying trade benefits to human rights objectives by adopting a more transaction-centered push. Trump administration officials have also sought to engage with individual countries instead of striking regional deals.
“This current Trump administration is very much transactional,” Anku said. “They want to do as many deals as possible, deals that benefit Trump-affiliated businesspeople. They also want African countries to invest in America. There is no altruism.”
A much-ballyhooed U.S.-brokered peace accord between the DRC and Rwanda, which aimed to end fighting in eastern DRC, illustrates this new mindset.
Under the deal, signed June 27,
“It’s dribs and drabs. I don’t see a groundswell of U.S. companies investing in Africa.”
AMAKU ANKU, AFRICA CHIEF OF EURASIA GROUP
both African countries agreed to a “Regional Economic Integration Framework” that sets out shared priorities such as a “de-risking of mineral supply chains” and “transparent, formalized end-to-end mineral value chains, from mine to processed metal.”
US self-interest
Critics such as the Oakland Institute, a California-based think tank, say the accord isn’t so much a peace agreement as a way for the U.S. to secure access to Congolese miner-
als. Trump himself told reporters in June that the U.S. would get “a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo.”
Weeks later, U.S.-based explorer KoBold Metals secured seven new permits to search for lithium and other critical minerals in the DRC.
The licences were granted just weeks after the Berkeley, Calif.based company – whose backers include billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates – signed an exploration pact with the Congolese government as part of a broader push to attract American investment into the country’s mining sector.
“The incorporation of ‘formalized‘ mineral supply chains from eastern DRC to Rwanda exposes the pact’s true aim: Securing access to and control over minerals under the guise of diplomacy and regional integration,” the Oakland Institute said in its October report. “Framed as peacemaking, this is part of United States’ broader geopolitical struggle with China for control over critical resources.”
Peace, however, has proved fleeting. As press time neared, the conflict pitting the M23 rebel group against government forces showed no signs of ending. The DRC government has repeatedly blamed illegal mining of minerals such as cobalt for fuelling violence by armed militias. Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt and the second-largest source of copper. It also hosts vast reserves of lithium and tantalum.
Not just Trump U.S. efforts to strengthen the country’s critical minerals supply chain by reducing its dependence on China predate the Trump administration.
In 2023, under former president Joe Biden, U.S. officials held talks with African countries such as Botswana, Zambia and the DRC as part of an international forum known as the Mineral Security Partnership, or MSP, to discuss
challenges and opportunities in Africa’s critical mineral sector.
The MSP is an alliance of 14 countries – including Canada, France and Germany – that aims to speed up “the development of diverse critical minerals supply chains in cooperation with industry and other governments to support strategic projects.” It considers projects ranging from mining and extraction to processing, refining and recycling – focusing on metals and minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, antimony and copper.
$609M for projects
Washington’s main conduit for backing projects in Africa is the government agency known as the Development Finance Corporation, or DFC.
Last December, during the firstever state visit of a U.S. president to Angola, the DFC agreed to lend up to $553 million to upgrade the Lobito railway, a 1,300-km rail line
that links the port of Lobito to the city of Luau, on the border with the DRC. Biden hailed the project as “the biggest American rail investment outside of America.”
The Lobito railway competes with the Chinese-backed Tanzania-Zambia railway, which links the two countries and ends at the port of Dar Es Salaam.
In July, the DFC’s board of directors approved two unidentified “strategic transactions” in Sub-Saharan Africa “that will drive economic development and prosperity in the region as well strengthen U.S. critical mineral supply chains essential to advancing U.S. economic growth, security, and innovation in energy, defense, and advanced technologies.”
Citing “market sensitivity,” the DFC did not identify the projects or the companies involved.
Recent public commitments by the DFC in African mining include a $3.4 million technical assistance grant for Angola’s Longonjo rare earths project; a $50 million equity investment in South Africa’s Phalaborwa rare earths project and a $3.2 million grant for Chillerton’s copper mining project in Zambia.
Still, by Chinese standards, U.S. commitments to African projects remain extremely limited, says Eurasia Group’s Anku.
“It’s dribs and drabs,” she said. “I don’t see a groundswell of U.S. companies investing in Africa. I see some steps in that direction, but I don’t see anything at scale. Until I see real numbers follow this, I remain skeptical.” TNM
Left: Artisanal coltan-manganesecobalt mining in the North Kivu region of DRC. ADOBE IMAGES/ERBERTO ZANI
Right: A drill rig at a Kobold project in Zambia. KOBOLD METALS
Below: The port of Lobito in Angola, the western terminus of the Lobito Corridor. ADOBE IMAGES/JOYT
UNITED STATES SPOTLIGHT: A Wild West rush for minerals
BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF
Historic mining regions, including the American West and Alaska, are seeing another gold rush amid the Trump administration’s executive orders to “Make America Great Again” by scaling up domestic critical mineral production. Here are eight companies digging into precious and critical minerals in the U.S.
n Minera Alamos
Gold developer Minera Alamos (TSXV: MAI), agreed in August to buy the producing Pan Gold mine in east central Nevada, as well as the fully-permitted Gold Rock and Illipah project from Equinox Gold (TSX, NYSE-A: EQX). The company raised $98 million (C$135 million) in September to pay for the acquisitions.
Located about 500 km north of Las Vegas near Eureka, Pan Gold is an open-pit heap leach gold operation producing about 40,000 oz. gold per year since 2017.
Pan hosts 37.2 million measured and indicated tons grading 0.33 gram gold per ton for 358,900 contained oz., according to the most recent resource issued in 2022 when Calibre Mining owned the project.
To date, the mine has produced 335,000 oz. of gold. Minera Alamos pegs a net present value (NPV) of $117 million for Pan. It assumes a base case gold price of $1,650 per ounce.
The nearby open-pit Gold Rock development-stage project hosts 21 million tons grading 0.66 gram gold for 403,000 ounces. Inferred resources total 3.3 million tons at 0.87 gram gold for 84,300 ounces. The project has an estimated annual output of 55,800 ounces. With a 6.5-year mine life, Gold Rock is expected to start operating between 2028 and 2029.
The company’s latest estimate pins Gold Rock’s NPV at $32.7 million (at a 5% discount), with initial capital costs at $64 million. An after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) is pegged at 18% with a payback period of 3.5 years, according to the 2021 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) when Fiore Gold (TSXV: F; US-OTC FIOGF) owned the project before Calibre’s acquisition.
In February, the Toronto-based company also acquired Sabre Gold Mines’ (TSX: SGLD; US-OTC: SGLDF) pre-feasibility stage Copperstone underground gold project in Arizona. Cashflow from Pan is expected to build up Copperstone and the Mexican Cerro de Oro project in Zacatecas State, which is awaiting permits.
Minera Alamos has a market capitalization of about C$476 million.
n Phoenix Copper
Phoenix Copper (LSE: PXC; US-OTC: PXCLY) is inching closer to reviving a high-grade underground mining site at its main Empire Copper project in Idaho’s Shoshone County, historically one of the region’s most important mines.
Part of a swath of properties in the White Knob Mountains, the open-pit Empire is being prepped for production next year.
Over an eight-year mine life, Phoenix anticipates Empire producing 40,424 tonnes of copper, 40,161 oz. of gold and 1.76 million oz. of silver, according to a pre-fea-
sibility study released last year.
Empire hosts proven and probable reserves of about 10 million tonnes grading 0.49% copper, 0.32 gram gold per tonne and 14.32 grams silver for around 109.5 million lb. of copper, 104,000 oz. gold and 4.65 million oz. silver.
Additional copper, gold and silver could be recovered from a sulphide vein beneath the pit that was mined until the 1940s and which wasn’t included in the proven and probable reserves.
Empire has an estimated posttax NPV (at a 7.5% discount) of $73.75 million and an IRR of 40%.
Net capital costs are pegged at
$62.6 million, with a post-tax payback period of 1.7 years.
In Idaho the company also holds its exploration-stage Navarre Creek gold project, Red Star silver-leadzinc site and Horseshoe copper-cobalt project.
Phoenix Copper has a market capitalization of C$12.6 million.
n Silver47 Exploration
A merger between Silver47 Exploration (TSXV: AGA; US-OTC: AAGAF) and Summa Silver in August consolidated key silver-gold exploration projects in Nevada and New Mexico.
The company owned its main Red Mountain project in Alaska before the Summa merger. Red Mountain, located south of Fairbanks, hosts 15.6 million inferred tonnes grading 4.1% zinc, 1.7% lead and 99 grams silver for 678,000 tonnes zinc, 286,000 tonnes lead and 52.5 million oz. silver.
Red Mountain could potentially be fast-tracked for permitting due to it hosting other critical metals such as tin, antimony and gallium, Silver47 said. The company expects to release an updated resource for the Alaska project in next year’s first quarter.
While Red Mountain hosts a
A drill rig at Western Exploration’s Doby Gorge project in Elko County of northern Nevada. WESTERN EXPLORATION
Above: A rock outcrop at US Gold’s CK project in southeast Wyoming. US GOLD
Left: At Westwater’s Coosa graphite project in east-central Alabama. WESTWATER RESOURCES
larger contained resource, Silver47’s Hughes site, located on the Walker Lane Trend in Nevada’s historic Tonopah mining district, has a more defined profile. Hughes holds 908,000 indicated tonnes grading 188 grams silver for 5.94 million contained oz. silver; and 1.59 grams gold for 50,000 oz. contained gold, according to an initial resource from Summa in January. Hughes also sits on a silver-gold vein once known for the prolific Belmont mine.
Southeast of Hughes, in New Mexico, Silver47’s Mogollon project holds 2.72 million inferred tonnes at 139 grams silver for 12.1
million oz. of silver; and 2.72 grams gold for 240,000 oz. contained gold.
Silver47’s current resource estimates are based on about 40 km of drilling across these two projects.
Silver47 has a market capitalization of about C$154 million.
n US Copper
In April, US Copper (TSXV: USCU; US-OTC: USCUF) welcomed emergency measures from the White House on critical mineral development which the company sees as potentially accelerating permits for its Moonlight-Superior project in northern California.
The copper-silver-gold project, situated in a historic mining district near Greenville, Calif., could support a 14-year mine, according to an updated PEA, released last December. It estimates Moonlight-Superior’s total production at 1.8 billion lb. of copper, 13.2 million oz. of silver and 78,660 oz. of gold. The study forecasts a post-tax NPV of $1.07 billion and an IRR of about 23%. All-in sustaining costs (AISCs) are estimated at $2.51 per lb. copper produced, assuming a copper price of $4.15 per pound. Net capital costs are pegged at $956 million.
ment for gold and copper recovery in partnership with Glencore (LSE: GLEN) subsidiary Glencore Technology.
U.S. Gold also holds the exploration-stage projects Keystone in Nevada and Challis in Idaho.
The company has a market capitalization of C$261 million.
n Western Exploration
Gold and silver-focused Western Exploration (TSXV: WEX; US-OTC: WEXPF) last month released an amended PEA for the Doby Gorge oxide gold deposit at its main Aura project in Nevada.
Aura, about 600 km northeast of Reno, consists of the past-producing Doby, Gravel Creek and Wood Gulch gold and silver deposits.
The PEA, initially released in May was updated in October to reflect higher gold prices. The PEA forecasts a post-tax NPV of $70.7 million and an IRR of about 25%. Initial capital costs are estimated at $115.2 million, with a post-tax payback period of 2.7 years.
Moonlight-Superior hosts 402 million indicated tonnes grading 0.31% copper for 2.5 billion lb. copper, 1.64 grams silver for 21 million oz. silver and 0.01 gram gold for 140,000 oz. gold, according to the PEA.
Inferred resources total 64 million tonnes grading 0.31% copper for 394 million lb. copper and 1.5 grams silver for 3.1 million contained ounces.
Facing opposition to its claim of vested rights to exploit historic mines at Moonlight-Superior last year, US Copper in July released a study on the project’s economic benefits for Plumas County.
In September, the company started metallurgical studies in preparation to advance to a prefeasibility for Moonlight-Superior at an unspecified date.
US Copper has a market capitalization of C$11.9 million.
n U.S. Gold Corp.
Mountain West-focused U.S. Gold (Nasdaq-CM: USAU) is advancing its main CK Gold project in Wyoming with a recent powerline deal to supply 30 megawatts to the site.
Located near the state capital Cheyenne, CK is an advanced stage gold-copper project in the historic Silver Crown mining district.
The open-pit project could produce about 680 million oz. of gold and 208 million lb. of copper over a 10-year life, according to an updated prefeasibility study released in February. It assumed base case metal prices of $2,100 per oz. gold $4.10 per lb. copper and $27 per oz. silver.
The update outlines a post-tax NPV (at a 5% discount) of nearly $356 million and an IRR of 30%, with net capital costs pegged at $273 million and with a post-tax payback period of 2.1 years.
CK hosts proven and probable reserves of 73.2 million tons grading 0.01 oz. per ton for about 1 million contained oz. gold; 0.17% copper for 260 million lb. copper; and 0.04 oz. per ton for around 3 million oz. silver.
The company plans to use a flotation concentrator at CK as well as Jameson Cell Flotation Equip-
AISCs are pegged at $1,172 per oz. assuming a base case gold price of $2,150 per ounce. Western Exploration expects to produce 58,652 oz. of gold annually over a five-year life, with a one-year pre-production period. The mine plan calls for an open-pit and heap leaching operation.
Doby Gorge hosts 13.6 million indicated tonnes grading 0.9 gram gold for 394,000 contained oz. and 3.27 million inferred tonnes at 0.68 gram gold for 71,000 oz. gold, according to the PEA.
A resource update in June for the Gravel Creek deposit boosted inferred gold resources 54% to 3.93 million tonnes at 4.52 grams gold for 571,000 contained ounces. Inferred silver grades 76.9 grams for 9.72 million contained ounces. Indicated resources at Gravel Creek total 1.33 million tonnes at 5.04 grams gold for 216,000 oz. gold; and 78.7 grams silver for 3.36 million contained ounces.
Wood Gulch hosts 2.74 million inferred tonnes grading 0.75 gram gold and 6.2 grams silver for 66,000 oz. gold and 545,000 oz. silver.
In August, Western launched a 4,000-metre drilling program on a 1.3-km strike length in the Tomasina Fault zone, southwest of Gravel Creek.
Western Exploration has a market capitalization of C$30.4 million.
n Western Uranium and Vanadium
As the U.S. government fast-tracks uranium projects, Western Uranium and Vanadium (CSE: WUC; US-OTC: WSTRF) is ramping up processing and development in Utah and Colorado. Through executive orders this year, Trump has prioritized industrial uranium development for domestic energy and national security needs.
Sprawling across five mines in Colorado’s San Miguel County, the Sunday Mine Complex about 390 km southeast of Denver was restarted in 2021 after a hiatus related to Covid-19, and in anticipation of growing energy demands. The company made a one-year purchase deal with Energy Fuels (TSX: EFR; NYSE-A: UUUU) in April for up to 25,000 tonnes of ore. In June,
Logging core at US Copper’s MoonlightSuperior project in California. US COPPER
Minera Alamos’ Gold Rock mine in east-central Nevada, which it acquired from Equinox Gold in August. MINERA ALAMOS
A surface building at Western Uranium and Vanadium’s Sunday Mine Complex in western Colorado. WESTERN URANIUM AND VANADIUM
the company began delivering ore from the Sunday mine to Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill in Utah, the only conventional uranium mill in the U.S.
Last month, Western closed the acquisition of lode claims near its proposed Mustang mineral processing plant in Colorado’s Montrose County, 40 km east of Sunday. With the claims close to the Mustang plant, Western can reduce costs for transporting ore. The company is licensing the plant for mineral recovery and could include kinetic separation for better economics.
Located on the Uravan Mineral Belt, Sunday has historic measured, indicated and inferred resources of 2.91 million lb. of uranium oxide (U3O8) grading 0.25% to 0.36% U3O8, and a vanadium to uranium ratio of 6 to 1.
In a mid-year update, Western reported 1,655 feet (about 500 metres) of new core drilling in the GMG drift at Sunday to confirm previously identified ore zones and target new areas. Further drilling is needed to determine geologic resource estimates.
Last month, Western issued new shares and warrants to raise $5.9
million towards permitting at Mustang. Western Uranium and Vanadium has a market capitalization of C$44 million.
n Westwater Resources
Westwater Resources (NYSE-A: WWR) is on track to become one of the first commercial U.S. producers of natural graphite in decades, at a time when domestic production has been dormant and global supply is heavily reliant on China..
As Alaska becomes a frontier for the coveted battery material, so too
does the historic Alabama Graphite Belt, where Westwater’s Coosa mine and Kellyton processing plant are located. The company aims to start mining at Coosa in 2028.
With a post-tax NPV of $190.2 million and an IRR of about 24%, Coosa could produce 2.26 million tons of graphite concentrate over a 22-year life, according to a technical report from 2023. Initial capital costs are pegged at $151.6 million. The report assumes a graphite price of $1,100 per tonne.
Coosa hosts 26 million indicated tons grading 2.9% graphitic carbon (Cg) for 754,000 contained tons of graphite. Inferred resources total 97
million tons grading 3.1% Cg for 3 million tons of contained graphite. U.S. tariffs slapped on Chinese graphite this summer affected imports valued at about $347 million, putting pressure on domestic producers. Meanwhile, Westwater has continued construction of its $245-million Kellyton processing plant.
Milling and shaping equipment were installed over the summer and 85% of stage one equipment is on site. A graphite purification technology patent filed in September positions the company to provide battery-grade graphite in an automobile manufacturing hub.
Westwater’s $150-million loan application to the Export-Important Bank of the United States is currently undergoing due diligence review.
Westwater Resources has a market capitalization of about $178 million. TNM
www.northernminer.com
> Spotlight from P37
Above: Phoenix Copper’s Empire site in northern Idaho. PHOENIX COPPER
Left: Silver47’s Red Mountain project, south of Fairbanks in Alaska. SILVER47 EXPLORATION
> Gov’t Equity from P1
because we should be developing our own assets. And if the government has an interest in those assets, then they might be more compelled to have policies that favour development.”
Asian giant Western nations are targeting the Asian giant which controls some 90% of critical metals mining and processing in a surge of resource nationalism that has lately erupted into a Cold War of critical metals. Washington and Beijing are squaring off over access to advanced U.S. computer chips, and the critical minerals needed for aerospace, defence applications and mobile phones that America craves.
MP Materials (NYSE: MP), which holds the producing Mountain Pass rare earths mine in California, in July made a $400-million deal with the Pentagon that will see it gain a 15% stake in MP and buy critical minerals for defence projects. The miner also reached a deal with the Department of Defense in August for a $150 million loan to add heavy rare earth separation capabilities at Mountain Pass.
Jay Martin, CEO of mining forum company Cambridge which runs the annual Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, was a bit of two minds on government stakes, but he considers nation states as corporations, and their investment as good for the industry.
“It’s a bit distasteful, because I don’t want government in my private business,” Martin told The Northern Miner podcast host Adrian Pocobelli.
“But if we could have the firepower of the U.S. government, add-
> Maple Gold from P10
ing some additional capital, cutting red tape and expediting the permitting processes of our core industries being raw materials, that’s good for commodity investors.”
Indeed, the stocks of companies with U.S. government investment have soared on the news.
Kevin Torpy, senior vice-president of mining at Graphite One (TSXV: GPH; US-OTC: GPHOF), welcomed $37.5 million in U.S. government funding under Biden in 2023 to advance the $1.13-billion Graphite Creek project in Alaska.
“Graphite One is grateful for the funding and believes that this type of federal support for establishing domestic supply chains for graphite and other critical minerals is an important part of the nation’s security,” Torpy said in an emailed reply to questions.
The funding helped Graphite One accelerate its feasibility study
Joutel spans 39 sq. km. The project is contiguous with Douay’s southern boundary and is also accessible via Highway 109, which cuts across the project area.
Joutel’s main geological mine horizon, hosted in mixed epiclastic and pyroclastic rocks of the northern part of the Joutel-Raymond volcanic complex, extends into a sill-like microgabbro occurring close to the Harricana fault, Maple said.
Crews at Joutel are targeting a near-vertical zone, the main iron carbonate horizon – dubbed “MICH” – which hosted most of the mine’s past gold production, says Daniel Johannsson, Maple’s senior geologist.
“We’ve targeted some drill holes at depth near some stopes and we’ve revised it,” Johannsson said in an interview at Joutel. “We
for the project, deemed to hold America’s largest reserve of the battery metal.
More examples
Recent Defense Production Act and Department of Energy grants illustrate how widely Washington is investing across North America.
In Canada, funding included $20 million in August 2024 for Electra Battery Materials’ (Nasdaq/ TSX: ELBM) cobalt sulphate refinery in Temiskaming Shores, Ont., and $8.35 million in May 2024 for Lomiko Metals (TSXV: LMR) to convert flake graphite into battery-grade anode material. The Quebec government, however, remains opposed to Lomiko’s project after local complaints.
Fireweed Metals (TSXV: FWZ) received $15.8 million to advance development studies for the Mactung tungsten project – the world’s largest deposit – in the Northwest Territories and Yukon.
In the U.S., Canadian companies have also benefited from Biden-era programs, including $114.8 million for Talon Metals (TSX: TLO) to build a nickel processing plant in North Dakota, plus $20.6 million and $2.4 million for expanded exploration and extraction research at its Tamarack project in Minnesota and Michigan.
Under Trump, Ucore Rare Metals (TSXV: UCU) secured $18.4 million to scale up rare-earth separation in Louisiana and $4 million from the U.S. Army for separation demonstrations at its Kingston, Ont. RapidSX plant.
Rare earths
The U.S. has also broadened its footprint in critical minerals and rare earth projects through new equity, contract and grant support. Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC; US-OTC: LYSDY) secured a Department of Defense contract to build a heavy rare earth separation facility in Texas, supplementing earlier Title III support for light rare earth processing there.
Perpetua Resources (Nasdaq, TSX: PPTA) won up to US$6.9 million from the U.S. Army for its Stibnite antimony-gold project in Idaho. NioCorp Developments (Nasdaq: NB) is slated to receive Title III support via a US$10 million award for its Elk Creek rare earth, niobium and titanium project in Nebraska.
Golden Metal Resources (AIM: GMET) was awarded US$62 million under a Department of Defense program to support tungsten production. Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) received a conditional commitment of up to US$107 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office to expand lithium-ion battery materials capacity at its Vidalia, La. facility.
Opposition
The Trump administration is supporting critical minerals projects even where there is local and environmental opposition, like at Rio Tinto’s (LSE, NYSE, ASX: RIO) Resolution project in Arizona and Trilogy’s project in Alaska. There, the environmental advocacy group Sierra Club called the government investment a blow to subsistence communities and wildlife because of potential impact on caribou migration.
It remains to be seen if Washington will go as far to support the contentious Pebble copper-gold project in the same state. Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM; NYSE-A: NAK) is challenging in court the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s veto of the project.
“It’s good for government to get behind mining projects,” Fasken’s Tóth said. “It’s been a long time since Western governments have been pro-mining. For too long, mining has been the anti-carbon type of view. And it’s actually nice to see that governments are realizing that mining plays a central role in the world, much like water and air.”
TNM
— With files from Henry Lazenby
credit and royalty investments across emerging markets, with a focus on Africa and Latin America. It will finance mineral development projects across all stages, including construction, production and expansion. It’s the first mining-focused vehicle created solely to invest in emerging markets.
Atlantic Nickel
Its maiden investment is in Atlantic Nickel’s Santa Rita nickel-copper-cobalt open pit mine in Brazil’s Bahia state. As Santa Rita transitions to underground production, annual output is expected to climb to about 30,000 tonnes of nickel equivalent, with a mine life of more than 30 years. Atlantic Nickel is owned by Appian, and IFC is investing on the same terms as other investors.
Appian is spending $600 million from this year through 2030 on the underground transition, the company’s base metals head said in an interview in March with BNamericas.
“Minerals are essential for building industries, creating jobs and driving economic growth,” Makhtar Diop, IFC’s managing director, said in an Oct. 21 press release. “Partnering with companies like Appian will help bring more private capital to places that need it the most, expanding access to critical resources and helping local communities benefit from the development of their mineral wealth.”
All investments will be subject to IFC’s performance criteria and environmental, social and governance standards, which meet or exceed the international best practices in responsible mining. This marks the first time that IFC has created a fund with a metals and mining private equity investor.
IFC and Appian have been working together for 10 years, and two of their joint investments in African rare earths and gold projects resulted in mines being built. Appian, which manages about $5 billion in assets, has brought 12 mining projects into production since 2016. That’s more than the five biggest international mining companies combined over the same period, according to the private equity firm. TNM
> TNM awards from P16
phies into a major producer.
see more potential in shallow projections on our cross-plunge that trends to the south/southwest following this plunge up along this horizon that historically has been untested or very poorly tested.”
Leftover gold
The plan to revive Joutel, which lies near the Harricana River, would require draining water that’s seeped into shafts and tunnels over the past 30 years.
Maxime Bouchard, a geologist and vice president of Laurentia Exploration who is working with Maple in Abitibi, has no doubt that mining at Joutel will eventually restart.
“At Joutel, there is leftover gold all over the place,” he told analysts. “If you combine Douay, Joutel and all the claims, it’s more like a district-size project.” TNM
> Capstone from P14
same team that built Mantoverde will oversee construction and ramp-up at Santo Domingo.
Orion chief investment officer Istvan Zollei expressed confidence in Capstone’s ability to deliver a high-quality copper asset aligned with the goals of the global energy transition.
Discount flagged
Jefferies analysts said the deal appears discounted, pointing to potential reasons such as jurisdictional risk, project complexity and the buy-back clause. They compared the valuation unfavourably to Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX, NYSE: HBM) $600-million sale of a 30% stake in its fully permitted Copper World project in Arizona
to Mitsubishi, which achieved a higher price-to-net-asset-value (P/ NAV) multiple.
Jefferies values Santo Domingo’s NAV at $1.6 billion after accounting for the existing financing stream with Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX, NYSE, LSE: WPM).
This pegs Orion’s 25% stake at $408 million.
The initial $225-million cash payment reflects a 0.6x P/NAV multiple, rising to 0.7x if contingent payments are included, the analysts said.
Capstone shares rose 3.4% on Oct. 14 in Australia, a day after the announcement, closing at A$14.50.
Before markets opened the same day in Toronto, Capstone’s TSXlisted shares stood at C$12.71, giving it a market capitalization of C$9.7 billion ($6.9 billion). TNM
It expanded the scope of what mining companies could do with capital allocation, risk management and portfolio strategy. That leadership amplified Canada’s influence in global mining finance and elevated the role of the Canadian mining investment community.
Beyond his strategic and operational roles, Lassonde has been a generous and transformative philanthropist in Canadian mining education, research and institutional capacity. He has endowed mining chairs and programs (for example, at the University of Toronto’s Lassonde Institute), supported scholarships, and invested in the next generation of engineers and geoscientists.
His belief – frequently expressed – that a country’s greatest resource is its people rather than its minerals has guided much of his giving and mentorship. TNM
– With files from Blair McBride.
A view of the Douay project, its buildings and surrounding forests from atop the headframe. FREDERIC TOMESCO
A drill rig at Trilogy’s Arctic property in western Alaska. TRILOGY METALS
haven instead of gold amid recent market volatility. Exchange traded gold funds inflows had reached a record of $8 billion the previous week, which reflected the pace of new money entering the bullion market, the analysts said.
Still up 69% Gold’s run since midyear has been underpinned by safe-haven demand during global conflicts, concerns over economic growth and central banks reducing exposure to the U.S. dollar. With bond yields stabilizing and appetite for risk assets improving, some of the drivers behind gold’s surge have eased.
Bond veteran Bill Gross had forecast the downturn, saying the price was overextended. In a post on X on Oct. 17, PIMCO co-founder Gross wrote that gold has become a “momentum/meme” asset. “If you want to own it, wait awhile,” he added, even if gold’s safe-haven appeal has never been stronger.
Given the fresh debt the U.S. government must issue to cover budget shortfalls, bond yields should be shooting higher, Gross said. This, in turn, could cap gold’s appeal based on historic performances.
According to Gross, the 10-year Treasury yield “has no business below 4%” and should be around 4.5% — with the U.S. facing too much supply/deficits despite a “slowing, soon-to-be 1% growth economy.”
One factor behind the yield movement, says the now-retired fund manager, is the pressure facing U.S. regional banks after some of them had flagged bad loan and fraud issues. These banks, which Gross referred to as “cockroaches”, may continue to affect stocks and bonds, but the recent yield drop below 4% was overblown, he said.
But even after the gold spot price drop, the yellow metal remains one of the strongest-performing commodities of the year, up about 69% from $2,425 oz. Jan. 1. TNM
—With files from Mining.com
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200 million oz. gold produced over the past century.
“Like a finely tuned German machine, Benz Mining is built for performance,” Howard said, highlighting the company’s main Glenburgh gold project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region. “Zone 126 is emerging as a multi-lens, high-grade gold system where drilling has validated a new northeast-plunging fold model controlling mineralization.”
Yilgarn Craton
Glenburgh lies on the northern rim of the Yilgarn Craton in a geological setting similar to AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU) and Regis Resources (ASX: RRL) at their Tropicana joint venture. In April, Benz reported 11 metres grading 19.9 grams gold per tonne from 274 metres deep in hole GBZ126_010 and 79 metres grading 4.4 grams from 534 metres down hole GBZ126_011.
Canaccord started Benz with a speculative-buy rating and a price target of A$2.50 per share, based on an enterprise-value-to-resource multiple drawn from comparable Australian developers. The broker sees Glenburgh ultimately hosting about 4.5 million oz. across its Zone 126 and Icon–Apollo trends.
Golden Horse Minerals was called a “Western Australia gold exploration bolter,” with 1,800 sq. km of ground over the Southern Cross Greenstone Belt. Its Hopes Hill prospect has returned thick, high-grade intersections such as 83 metres grading 2.5 grams gold per tonne from 103 metres depth in hole GHHHRC0019 reported in April. In September, it reported 28.7 metres grading 3.8 grams from 192 metres in hole GHHHRCD0068.
Canaccord set a A$1.50 target and speculative-buy rating, estimating about 2 million oz. potential and noting the project’s proximity to historic producers.
Torque
Torque Metals’ Paris gold project, 120 km south of Kalgoorlie, hosts 250,000 oz. grading 3.1 grams gold per tonne across 350 sq. km. Drilling in releases dated July 30 and Aug. 4, respectively, shows 12 metres grading 12.49 grams gold from 495 metres, and 15.5 metres grading 12 grams gold, including 8.5 metres at 20.8 grams. Both were recorded in hole 25PRC206.
The drilling confirmed extensions of mineralization at depth, roughly 380 to 410 metres vertically, and highlighted strong continuity within sulphide-associated zones. The company said the results reinforce the project’s potential for additional lodes parallel to the main Paris orebody, which remains open along strike and at depth.
Metallurgical tests indicate recoveries up to 99.7% with conventional gravity and carbon-in-leach processing. Canaccord values the stock at A45¢ per share and sees the district holding about 1.6 million oz. gold over time.
All three companies were valued using an enterprise-value-to-resource approach to reflect their early-stage status, producing implied price-tonet-asset ratios between 0.5 and 0.7 times — levels the broker called modest by historical standards. TNM
ments have also become contaminated with overly high amounts of arsenic.
The boom fades
In 1911, the peak intensity of the Cobalt rush, 34 mines produced around 30 million oz. of silver. That year also saw the population start to decline and by the 1920s the rush was slowing down. The silver veins petered out about 100 metres below the surface. The rush faded even faster with the 1929 stock market and silver price crash.
In total, the Cobalt rush generated 460 million oz. of silver.
Cobalt’s population kept declining throughout the notorious 1930s and 1940s, when just over 2,000 people lived in the town.
Some would end Cobalt’s story there, concluding when it had a good few decades but then the mining world moved on somewhere else to the next round of development.
But Cobalt’s significance goes much deeper than that, influencing mining communities across the region.
Cobalt’s innovation spur
The rush accelerated technology development and professionalization in the local industry.
The first several years of the rush can be roughly labeled as a split between 19th and 20th century mining methods. Just as McKinley and Darragh headed into the bush using wheelbarrows, picks and shovels, so did the first wave of prospectors and miners, many of whom came from the western U.S.
A second wave took shape by 1909 improving use of technology, brought more engineers, geologists, and trained crews.
One example is the “Ragged Chutes” compressed air system, devised by mining engineer Charles Havelock Taylor. It was named after roaring rapids on the Montreal River, south of Cobalt.
Around 1905, while walking along the Ottawa River near Montreal in the winter, young Taylor observed air bubbles forming under ice and how, when a mixture of air and water is compressed, the air rises and escapes.
could escape.
In 1910, the Ragged Chutes compressed air plant – the first of its kind – was built upon the Montreal River to power drills, hoists and ventilation shafts, without the use of coal or electricity.
It was one of the first hydraulic compressed air systems at mines in North America and revered for decades in Cobalt. While other mines didn’t necessarily replicate Ragged Chutes because they instead relied on electricity or steam, they did follow its concept of an efficient, centralized air and power system.
Education, training, Agnico
The rush also spurred the establishment of the Haileybury School of Mines (HSM). The demand was continually growing for mining expertise so the school was founded in 1912. Its first graduates were quickly hired by the growing number of mines in Cobalt. HSM is today part of Northern College. As well, Cobalt was a training ground for aspiring miners who moved to other camps across the Abitibi: ultimately, Porcupine, Larder Lake and Kirkland Lake became major gold producers thanks to the talent born from the silver rush in Cobalt.
After the rush, some silver and cobalt was mined in the town well into the 20th century. It had intermittent population growth in the 1950s when the Cobalt Lode Mine extracted the namesake metal for the U.S. government. That site was owned by Agnico Mines which formed in 1957, the predecessor to what would later become Canada’s top gold producer Agnico Eagle Mines.
Cobalt’s green future?
Cobalt’s story is far from over. With silver playing a key role in solar panel technology and junior explorers actively discovering new sources of critical minerals, the town’s legacy is evolving into a bright, green future built on innovation and sustainability.
even when capital is available. Still, durability will hinge on design, coordination with allies and buy-in from end-users.
The partners say they’ll stream-
line or deregulate permitting timelines “consistent with applicable law,” and jointly select projects that plug gaps in priority supply chains – from mining through separation and processing. Australia’s new Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve,
slated to be operational next year, is positioned as a pillar alongside U.S. stockpiling tools.
With the framework not legallybinding, environmental reviews, infrastructure bottlenecks and community approvals remain real challenges. And while The White House touts “more than $3 billion” of nearterm investments, deal-by-deal allocations and offtake arrangements must still be finalized.
Within six months, the parties are to name projects in both countries, announce financing packages (loans, guarantees, equity, insurance) and release details on the Western Australia gallium refinery joint venture and offtake agreements. The ministerial review due in 180 days will report on permitting timelines and the pricing framework. TNM
Applying all those principles to mining, he built a system where a large amount of water fell down a deep shaft, picking up speed as it fell. When the water rushed to the bottom it created a lot of bubbles, which were diverted to a special underground chamber. At that depth, the pressure compressed the bubbles and the air was sent through pipes while the water
from local Indigenous groups. (Please see ‘Contentious Copper’ on page 31 in this issue.)
Henry’s comments come as copper demand is forecast to surge 24% by 2035, rising 8.2 million tonnes per year to 42.7 million tonnes, according to Wood Mackenzie. The consultancy’s new Horizons report warns that several powerful disruptors could amplify both demand and price volatility beyond expectations. Among these disruptors, data centres represent the most unpredictable variable in copper demand forecasting. Beyond AI-driven demand, the broader energy transition is fundamentally reshaping copper consumption pat-
Electra Battery Materials’ cobalt refinery, located just 5 km from the town in Temiskaming Shores, could become North America’s first facility enabling large-scale processing of this critical mineral, essential for electric vehicle batteries and aerospace applications. While the facility would mostly process cobalt sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo, modern exploration may lead to these critical minerals surfacing right where this all began, with a set of shiny discoveries in the bush 122 years ago. TNM
terns. India and Southeast Asia are emerging as key growth engines, with their rapid industrialization expected to add 3.3 million tonnes a year of demand by 2035. A fourth disruptor lies in shifting geopolitical priorities. Europe’s decision to raise defence spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine adds a modest direct copper demand of 25,000 to 40,000 tonnes per year over the next decade. However, the broader impact will be felt through infrastructure resilience and modernization. Together, these factors could add an extra 3 million tonnes a year, or about 40% of total copper demand growth, by 2035, Wood Mackenzie says. TNM
Golden Horse’s Hopes Hill gold project in Western Australia. GOLDEN HORSE MINERALS
BLAST FROM THE PAST
United States Proposes Huge Program of New Projects
Bureau of Mines Has Plans For Development of Deposits of Strategic Metals and Minerals All Over the Country – Contrast With Canadian Policy
In view of the current discussion of the serious shortages of strategic metals and minerals, essential to the Allied war effort, the following proposals by Secretary of the Interior Ickes, are highly interesting and important. While these projects are still on the proposal stage it is notable that the groundwork has been carried out by the United States Bureau of Mines over a threeyear-period and that the propositions take definite form.
Of particular interest is the plan to have the R.F.C. finance companies or individuals seeking to develop low grade ores or contracting Mills or smelters. The following phrase is significant: “If private capital or component management is not interested in developments of considerable risk, the Bureau of Mines be allowed to develop the mines or custom mills or refineries and to be given the same long-term contracts as are offered to private citizens.” In other words, if private capital will not take a chance, the government should.
Another interesting point is that enemy alien patents and processes are to be made available. Moreover, the Bureau of Mines has a number of new processes for recovering magnesium and other minerals and metals which will be made available.
The United States program stands out in striking contrast to what is being done in Canada, where a certain relatively small amount of capital has been made available to metallurgy, as in magnesium. However, the Dominion lacks any plan for the systematic development of domestic sources of the needed materials, and the attitude in general has been to purchase from abroad the deficiencies where they are available. Just how long they will be available is the question.
A proposed expansion programme of mineral and power developments in the United States scaled to meet the enormous demands of the President’s war production schedule was laid before the U.S. Senate on February 16th by Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes.
In response to an inquiry from Senator Joseph C. O’Mahoney of Wyoming, chairman of the subcommittee which has been investigating the use of the resources of the West, Secretary Ickes submitted details of a programme which would use low grade domestic ores to help make the United States independent of foreign minerals during the emergency, save millions of tons of shipping and possibly the use of Navy vessels for convoy, and would also look toward the rounded development of the West.
Secretary Ickes’ reply to Senator O’Mahoney showed that the Department of the Interior was ready, upon congressional authorization, to act immediately in harnessing to the war effort the vast mineral and power resources of the nation. Basic information requested by Senator O’Mahoney, which is covered in the multipoint resources mobilization program reported by Secretary Ickes, included the financing of mineral and industrial development, avoiding monopolisation and the development of additional power facilities to meet war requirements, and to later serve America in peace.
The program includes large-scale development of low grade ores in order to make “far greater use of the mineral resources of the nation than has yet been made,” a plan of action which the “Department of the Interior is and steadily has been for.”
Major points of the program are:
Mineral Development Program
1. To solve “the problem of securing wide and
general use of new processes,” the Department asks Congress to instruct the Bureau of Mines to “push its work to a triple speed basis” on the development of: “means for the processing of low grade manganese ores, or alunites and magnesites;” plants to use new iron ore reduction processes producing sponge iron for later smelting, economical extraction of such metals as “copper, lead and zinc from our abundant resources of low grade ores,” and increased production of the alkali and alkaline earth metals—lithium, sodium, strontium, barium and beryllium.” To further the utilisation of mineral resources by the power generated by Bonneville, and Grand Coulee dams, Secretary Ickes proposed an “electro-development laboratory to be situated in the Pacific Northwest.”
Patents and Processes, Too
As part of this general problem, “all enemy alien patents and processes,” are to be examined and tested, while “all American owned patents and processes for minerals needed for winning the war” should be “made available for the confidential use of the Bureau of Mines” with a view toward “recommending the most effective processes.” The Bureau of Mines will stand ready to “provide every user of processes developed by the department, or recommended by, it with part of the time of a skilled engineer.” Secretary Ickes also proposed that “records of all mineral development in the areas listed to be made available confidentially to the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines in order that they may utilize the information to speed up the exploration work.”
To Break Bottlenecks
2. To break the “second major bottleneck” in “the production both of ores which had been considered strategic, such as tin, antimony, mercury and nickel, and ores that had not previously been considered strategic, such as copper, zinc, lead and iron,” Secretary Ickes proposed that “Congress make funds available for exploratory work by the Bureau of Mines and the Geological Survey for copper, iron, chromite, zinc and lead,” involving the assignment of 250 additional engineers and geologists to intensive exploratory work in “low grade areas” in a tentative list of 22 states and Alaska.
Financing by R.F.C.
3. To break the “third major bottleneck” of securing capital for the development of “short lived or low grade ore bodies and for mills or smelters to develop such low grade materials,” Secretary Ickes proposed that when requested by the War Production Board, the “Department of the Interior should be given the power to certify to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for loans to companies or individuals seeking to develop low grade ores or contracting mills or smelters for the production of these essential war materials,” and that this certification be construed as “an obligation on the Reconstruction Finance Corporation” by amendments to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act. Finally, “if private capital or competent management is not interested in developments of considerable risk,” the Bureau of Mines be allowed to “develop the mines or custom mills or refineries and to be given the same long-term contracts as are offered to private citizens.”
Secretary Ickes said that he would forward later a “draft of mineral and power development legislation” in accordance with Senator O’Mahoney’s request, “intended to break the financial bottleneck,” and containing provi-
Another war footing
In early 1942, with America newly at war and global supply lines shattered, the U.S. Bureau of Mines unveiled an ambitious plan to secure the raw materials needed to arm the Allies and sustain industry. The program called for a massive expansion of domestic mining – from copper and zinc to manganese, tungsten, and magnesium – materials suddenly deemed “strategic metals.”
This article from The Northern Miner archive highlighted how Washington’s push for rapid development contrasted with Canada’s more measured approach, while signalling a new era of state-directed resource policy across North America.
The proposal came as the U.S. government scrambled to replace imports cut off by Axis advances in Asia and Europe. It urged companies to reopen idle mines, develop low-grade deposits, and build new refining capacity under wartime subsidies. The bureau’s message was clear: the nation could no longer rely on foreign ores for its defence or manufacturing base.
For miners and engineers, this wartime mobilization meant jobs, urgency and unprecedented government backing. For policymakers, it marked the birth of a permanent “strategic materials” doctrine that would shape the Cold War and beyond, laying foundations for today’s critical-minerals debates.
Seen from 2025, the 1942 call to action reads like an early version of the same challenge now facing Western governments: how to rebuild secure domestic supply chains for essential metals in a world again divided by conflict and resource rivalry.
—COLIN MCCLELLAND
sions establishing a “Minerals Policy Board of nine, including representatives of the Secretaries of War and Navy and the Chairman of the National Resources Planning Board,” in addition to providing for “the initiation of regional marketing studies,” and “a leasing system which will tend to prevent the non-use of needed mineral resources.”
Manganese and Aluminium
4. Recommendations for manganese development, sufficient to produce approximately 2,683,000 long tons of manganese metal, enough for 429,000,000 tons of steel, and providing for the establishment of eight large milling plants, three hydro-metallurgical processing plants and one matte smelting plant, all of which would save 1,112,680 tons of shipping per year from Brazil and Cuba to the United States. Deposits in 13 districts of eight states would furnish the necessary ore tonnage.
5. Recommendations for the revision of aluminium manufacturing practices to make the fullest possible use of new processes developed by the Bureau of Mines, which utilize common domestic shales, natural alums, leucites, glaucanite sands, feldspars and aluminium-bearing tailings from the porphyry copper deposits to produce alum in small plants. The alum can be shipped to large centrally located plants for conversion into alumina, the basic aluminium material, by the use of another process recently developed by the Bureau of Mines.
6. Three new processes for production of magnesium are reported in final stages of development by the Bureau of Mines, in addition to other processes which extract magnesium from widely-occurring rock formations instead of the usual seawater or relatively scarce deposit of magnesite. If put into wide use, “they will permit the production of magnesium by processes not privately controlled, and will ensure the continuation of the magnesium industry after the war period on a non-monopolistic basis.”
7. Low grade chromites, capable of producing 1,000,000 tons of metallurgical grade concentrates for chromium production, can be utilized when processes being developed by the Bureau of Mines are put into productive use. About
250,000 tons of this grade concentrates were required in 1941.
Vanadium and Phosphates
8. Recommendations for further exploration of carnotite deposits to “supply, most of the victory needs’ for vanadium for tool steels; and development of methods of vanadium recovery. Additional vanadium can be obtained from the very large known reserves of titaniferous magnesite, which occur particularly in California.”
9. The report recommended that congress utilize the analysis of the Interior Department-created Consulting Committee on Northwestern Phosphates when they are completed “as to super-phosphate and phosphorus, or alternatively, vanadium; and that if warranted, congress support the construction of such a plant as may be proposed for the war effort and for the service of the farmers in the West.”
Power Development Program
10. In regard to the electric power needs for processing and fabricating minerals for the war program, and to give proper consideration quote “to the needs of the states and safer areas behind the mountains, as well as to the needs of the coastal states,” construction of 17 sample power projects offering 1,480,000 kilowatts of installed capacity and a maximum total annual production of 10,190,800,000 kilowatt hours was proposed. These additions alone would be enough to produce more than a billion pounds of aluminium or magnesium annually.
The reports quoted continued urging by Secretary Ickes that defense agencies give consideration to locating aluminium, magnesium and other power consuming loads such as zinc, on the public projects in the West, so that the plants will be useful at the end of the war, instead of tieing them up to the closing-down policies of companies with Eastern interests.
“The measures I have suggested above, under the heads of mineral development and power for the West,” said Secretary Ikes, “would do something to put individuals and small companies into action for the war and for a few years afterward. While that would be something definite toward winning the War, it would not be any great underpinning for the post-war situation in the West.”
RICHARD PEARCE, Editor
Northern Miner Press Limited, Publishers
LONDON, UK
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