Mali’s mining code allows Compass to mine up to 200,000 tonnes of ore a year in the country’s south and produce as much as 160,000 oz. of metal over the next four years. Free cash flow from operations will support debt repayment, fund operating expenses, and advance exploration along the 15 km Tarabala trend, part of its Sikasso property, the company said in a release.

CEO Larry Phillips said the agreement puts Compass on the path to generating cash flow quickly while taking advantage of high gold prices.

“This initial joint-production arrangement represents an important step toward achieving near-term production with minimal capital investment,” Phillips said in a release. “We firmly believe the accelerated timeline afforded by this arrangement is especially important, given the historically high gold price to be realized through the production and sale of gold in the coming year.”

Compass shares hit a 12-month high in Toronto on Tuesday at C$0.22 apiece, having traded at a low of C$0.11. It has a market capitalization of C$15 million.

The agreement allows Compass to process 50 tonnes of ore per hour at the SMAT facility using new processing equipment scheduled for installation by early next year. The plant is just 3 km from its Massala prospect, where the Tarabala trend is found, and south of the capital Bamako.

Trenching results

Recent trenching at Massala returned gold assays above 1 gram gold per tonne, according to a release on Aug. 19. That’s above the minimum threshold for small-mine profitability, the company said.

The prospecting found strong gold near the surface. Assays confirmed a minable strike length of 150 metres.

The best results from the 5-metre-deep trenches included 21 metres at 3.51 grams gold per tonne. A high-grade interval was 1 metre at 40.29 grams gold. Compass said these results support its push for a small mine permit under Mali’s mining code, for which the Toronto-based company applied on Aug. 19.

It also seeks to renew its larger Sikasso property exploration permit, which spans 1,173 sq. km.

Phillips says he’s confident in the project timeline, expecting receipt of the mining permit early in the new year to coincide with plant readiness.

“We are close to pouring our first gold.”

The financing from the federal agency could be for a 15-year term, the Vancouver-based company said on Monday. No interest rate was given. It follows a $22.8 million streaming loan in two tranches this year from Phoenix-based Monetary Metals & Co. and a $67 million funding deal with Sprott Private Resource Streaming and Royalty in May 2023.

The project is fully funded to start concentrate production by March or April using stockpiles, then ramp up mill throughput to 1,800 tonnes a day in about six months, Bunker Hill executive chairman Richard Williams told The Northern Miner by phone on Tuesday.

The new potential loan could help the mine expand to 2,500 tonnes a day. Depending on engineering studies due next year, the work may include a new 10,000-foot ramp, moving the crusher and installing underground conveyors, Williams said.

“We put a really great team on the ground in Idaho and the American government has paid attention,” he said. “Five years ago this site was rotting in a Superfund (cleanup program), didn’t have a processing facility and had no hope.”

Consolidation?

The expansion may encourage local M&A because it will dwarf nearby output by Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) and Americas Gold and Silver (TSX: USA; NYSE USAS), Williams said.

“Why aren’t we doing all this together?” he said. “It’s not an accident we’re taking all these steps.”

Bunker Hill received a letter of intent from the bank which is to conduct due diligence on the project. The developer says it will submit a formal loan application to the bank by year’s end.

The first stage of the restart, due to begin by June, carries a $54.8 million capital cost, according to a 2022 prefeasibility study. However, the company said this year it’s choosing a more expensive pressure filtration system for tailings, over the disk filter system in the study, for better environmental management and easier expansion.

Bunker Hill plans an updated resource in next year’s first quarter followed by more drilling as the company preps the initial 1,800-tonne-per-day operation. Expansion plan details are to be published next year and the project might eventually tap the $150 million loan in late 2025 or 2026, Williams said.

Deeper veins

The expansion would increase mining and processing of the Quill-Newgard ore zones, the company said. It would later access the deeper, higher-grade silver-bearing galena veins that were extracted from the mine’s lower levels when Gulf Resources closed it in 1981, Bunker said.

Higher costs for environmental compliance and declining metal prices forced the shutdown, it said. Little production occurred under a new owner from 1988 to 1991, which also faced low metal prices.

“This the first positive statement of investment by the US government into Silver Valley mining since the mine shut,” Williams said. “That’s huge for Hecla, that’s huge for Americas Gold and Silver. That’s huge for us.”

It’s also good for New York-based Electrum Group, a finance company that owns a majority of the nearby Sunshine mine that’s been on care and maintenance for several years, Williams noted. From 1904 to 2001 the mine produced 364 million oz. silver as one the country’s largest silver operations.

Shares in Bunker Hill traded at C$0.16 apiece on Tuesday, valuing the company at C$52.4 million. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$0.09 to C$0.19.

Coeur d’Alene

Bunker Hill mine, in Idaho’s historical Coeur d’Alene mining district, started in 1887 and produced 35 million tons of mineralization grading 8.76% lead, 3.67% zinc and 5.49 oz. per ton (188.2 grams per tonne) silver. The mine remained in care and maintenance until 2020 when Placer Mining took over the project, and sold it to Bunker Hill in 2022.

The new project has a five-year life, an after-tax net present value of $52 million at an 8% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 36%, according to the 2022 prefeasibility study.

The site holds 3.2 million probable tonnes grading 1.12 grams silver per tonne, 2.59% lead and 5.81% zinc for 3.6 million oz. silver, 166 million lb. lead and 372.1 million lb. zinc, according to a 2022 resource.

”We are thrilled to announce this first step in a potential partnership with the Export Import Bank to rapidly expand Bunker Hill’s contribution to US domestic production of critical zinc and silver,” Bunker president and CEO Sam Ash said in a release.

“In the face of competition from China, Bunker Hill is proud to play its part in strengthening the US metals supply chain and creating new US mining jobs within the disadvantaged Shoshone County of northern Idaho.”

(With files by Henry Lazenby)

The Vancouver-based junior said Monday that hole AP-24-313 hit 6.1 metres grading 8.24 grams gold per tonne from 388.5 metres depth. This extends the zone called the High Grade Panel (HGP) by 115 metres at depth. Another drill hole AP-24-314, cut 16 metres grading 16.7 grams gold from 182 metres deep. It detected a new mineralized zone between the HGP and the Parallel Panel zone.

Heliostar has drilled 1,995 metres of its planned first-phase 2,600 metres, with a second program set to follow early next year. Success here will factor into an updated feasibility study due by the end of 2025.

The company has C$9.5 million in cash, boosted by recent financings to support its drilling and development plans.

It says it will continue drilling to find the new zone’s limits and to see if it connects to the broader Parallel Panel.

Heliostar reworked the Ana Paula project from an open-pit to an underground mine in 2023 to improve economics, targeting the HGP. With over $100 million invested in infrastructure, including a 53-man camp, surface rights, a portal, and a 412-metre decline, the first phase of production aims for 50,000 oz. gold yearly, doubling to 100,000 oz. in a subsequent development.

The 2023 feasibility study reported an after-tax net present value (5% discount) of $233 million and an internal rate of return of 34%, based on a gold price assumption of $1,400 per ounce.

Meaningful growth

3L Capital director of capital markets Kim MacIntyre said the results point to meaningful resource growth, not just incremental gains for Heliostar. “The potential for new zones boosts both the mine plan and future valuation,” McIntyre wrote in a note to clients.

The analyst suggested the new gold zone could add mineable ounces if future drilling confirms continuity. “With these results, Heliostar gains the flexibility to enhance the mine plan and extend Ana Paula’s lifespan, setting it up for long-term success,” MacIntyre said.

Over the past few months, Heliostar shifted its drill orientation from east-west to north-south. According to CEO Charles Funk, this revealed more high-grade mineralization. “We changed the drill direction by 90 degrees, and it paid off,” Funk said in a news release. “With each hole, Ana Paula keeps showing more high-grade gold.”

MacIntyre notes that the company’s share price of C$0.65 reflects only 0.32x its net asset value (NAV). According to her calculations, if Heliostar reaches the average 0.64x P/NAV of its peers, the stock could double. 3L Capital’s analysis places Heliostar’s base NAV at C$750 million, or C$2.03 per share.

Acquisition update

Meanwhile, Heliostar has secured Mexican regulatory clearance for its C$5 million buy of Argonaut Gold’s former Mexican assets from Florida Canyon Gold. The company expects the deal to close early next month. The acquisition adds the San Agustin and La Colorada mines to its portfolio. They will provide cash flow to fund further development at the Ana Paula project.

The San Agustin mine, an open-pit heap leach operation produced 7,568 oz. of gold and 39,319 oz. of silver in the first quarter this year, and the La Colorada mine, currently on care and maintenance, yielded 3,922 oz. of gold and 6,848 oz. of silver in the same period from residual leaching.

Heliostar shares were down 1.5% at C$0.63 apiece in afternoon trading Monday, having touched C$0.17 and C$0.74 over the past year. It has a market capitalization of C$145.2 million.

The junior, which acquired the Yellowknife project in The Northwest Territories two years ago, is selling 2.7 million shares for C$5.6575 apiece in an unbrokered private placement that’s due to close by Nov. 12. The deal included an additional 1.6 million shares at $3.65 each to the same shareholder.

The capital raising is excellent news for Li-FT as it’s now likely fully funded with C$27 million for a Yellowknife preliminary economic assessment due by next June and environmental studies for permitting, Cormark Securities mining analyst Shannon Gill said in a note on Friday.

“The strategic investment is another positive indicator for the sector, and hard rock lithium assets in particular,” Gill said.

“Continued M&A in the lithium space supports a potential pricing floor — recalling SQM (NYSE: SQM) and Hancock Prospecting’s May takeover of pre-resource Azure Minerals for a more than 40% premium and Pilbara Minerals’ (ASX: PLS) 67% premium offer to acquire Brazilian developer Latin Resources in August.”

Secrecy trend?

The secret investment could be part of a mini-trend among juniors after undisclosed investors bought the same stakes in Asante Gold (CSE: ASE) in September to expand gold mines in Ghana, Collective Mining (TSX: CNL; NYSE: CNL) in March for its Colombian properties and Foran Mining (TSX: FOM) last December. There was also TDG Gold (TSXV: TDG) last October.

The C$200 million financing for Foran to advance its McIlvenna Bay copper-zinc-gold-silver project was a mixture of equity and debt. It included the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund and Fairfax Financial. Fairfax holds 23% of Foran after C$360 million in financing this year, which also saw Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) take a 9.9% stake.

The TDG Gold investment was part of a private placement aimed at raising C$2.75 million. The proceeds targeted exploration at TDG’s projects in British Columbia, including the former producing Shasta gold-silver mine in the Toodoggone district.

Securities rules allow a backer to buy less than 10% of a publicly traded company anonymously. However, companies with 5% who are intending to buy more must notify the market, and investments considered material to the company must usually be disclosed in quarterly financial statements.

Li-FT CEO Francis MacDonald may comment on the undisclosed investor when the financing closes, investor relations manager Daniel Gordon told The Northern Miner Group by email on Friday.

Shares in Li-FT Power closed C$0.02 higher at C$4.00 apiece on Wednesday in Toronto after the financing news. They were at C$3.92 by mid-afternoon Friday, valuing the company at C$154.6 million.

Yellowknife project

Li-FT said the financing would be used to advance the resource-stage Yellowknife project with more exploration as it plans the economic study by June.

Cormark’s Gill noted the project consists of clustered spodumene pegmatite dykes – similar to Sigma Lithium‘s (TSXV: SGML; NASDAQ: SGML) Grota do Cirilo project in Brazil – in a mining-friendly jurisdiction adjacent to the Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) and De Beers diamond operations. He said the project could potentially generate 112 million tonnes of ore and has a skilled technical team behind it.

“As first movers in lithium exploration in the area, Li-FT’s land package hosts high potential for additional regional success as it continues to explore,” Gill said.

“Along with a responsible approach to land use that involves all stakeholders and proximity to road and rail infrastructure, Li-FT’s potentially generational Yellowknife project should set it apart from its peers in attracting future development partners and offtake agreements — necessities for developing North America’s future lithium assets.”

The project comprises seven targets along the all-season Ingraham Trail highway. The site hosts 50.4 million inferred tonnes grading 1% lithium oxide (Li₂O) for 506,000 tonnes of Li₂O, or 1.25 million tonnes of lithium carbonate-equivalent, according to the resource issued this month.

CEO MacDonald said at the time the resource ranked among the 10 largest hard-rock projects in the Americas and had “excellent potential to significantly grow through further drill programs.”

An earlier version of this story said Li-FT Power has Canada’s third-largest hard rock lithium resource. It is instead the third-largest maiden hard rock lithium resource.

Ioneer can now access a $700 million loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and a $490 million equity investment from Sibanye Stillwater (JSE: SSW; NYSE: SBSW) for Rhyolite Ridge that has an estimated life of 22 years.

The Sydney, Australia-based Ioneer aims to finalize its financing agreements for the $785 million project before year-end. However, legal battles, regulatory adjustments, and political uncertainty remain obstacles as the company pushes toward construction, CEO Bernard Rowe said on a late Thursday webcast.

“Legal challenges are almost inevitable,” he told investors, referring to lawsuits that environmental groups are expected to file over the mine’s impact on Tiehm’s buckwheat, an endangered plant found only at the project site, located about 362 km north of Las Vegas.

The plant’s presence forced Ioneer to redesign parts of the mine, creating buffer zones and a greenhouse propagation program. Rowe remains confident that regulatory efforts will hold up under scrutiny. “We are well-prepared, and we’ve built a solid scientific case around our environmental work,” he said.

Following six years of regulatory scrutiny, Rhyolite Ridge is the first lithium mine approved under the Biden administration. It reflects Washington’s push to secure domestic sources of critical minerals. The project also marks the first new lithium production in the US in over 60 years and the first boron mine in over a century, Rowe said. The operation will produce lithium carbonate and boric acid on-site, with the large chemical processing plant just a few kilometres from the mine.

Ioneer shares briefly spiked 9% to A$0.305 on Friday, a fresh 12-month high for the company, giving it a market capitalization of A$651 million. Shares come off a period low at A$0.105.

With the US federal election approaching, investors pressed management for their take on the potentially shifting political landscape. Still, Rowe dismissed the idea that a new administration could derail the project.

“There is strong bipartisan support for developing critical minerals in the US,” he said. “We’ve worked with both Republican and Democratic administrations, and the project has broad backing at the state and federal levels.”

Once operational, the mine will rival Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) and Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC; NYSE: LAC) as a top domestic producer. Albemarle operates the only active domestic lithium mine in Silver Peak, Nevada, and Lithium Americas is developing the Thacker Pass project, like Rhyolite Ridge another lithium clay site in Nevada.

Liquidity questioned

The DOE loan and Sibanye-Stillwater’s equity investment hinge on completing updates to the mine plan, reserve estimates, and project economics. Rowe stressed the importance of staying on schedule to avoid setbacks. “Permitting was the biggest hurdle, but we’re on track to close financing in the next few weeks.”

BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Raj Ray noted liquidity risks for Sibanye-Stillwater. It is set to invest $490 million in five equal tranches over 12 months. While the federal permit approval marks a positive step, Ray cautioned that Sibanye’s ability to meet its financial commitments remains uncertain.

Sibanye has net debt of $1.01 billion. It faces rising costs at Rhyolite Ridge and potential legal issues from a dispute with Appian, which could further strain liquidity. Earlier this month, Appian Capital, a London-based investment firm, won a UK court ruling forcing Sibanye to pay for terminating a $1.2 billion deal to acquire two Brazilian mines. The damages have not yet been determined.

“The 2020 DFS capex estimate of $785 million is stale (we currently model capex of $1.1 billion) and capex escalation beyond this sum is likely,” Ray said Friday in a note to clients. “However, between the DOE conditional loan and Sibanye’s investment, the project could potentially be fully funded.”

Ray said it remained to be seen how Sibanye manages its liquidity position over the next 12 months.

Boron kicker

Construction, scheduled to start early next year, will take about 30 months, putting the project on course for production in 2028.

The Rhyolite Ridge mine will run for 22 years. It will produce 22,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year. That’s enough to power 370,000 electric vehicles. It will also produce 170,000 tonnes of boric acid, according to the company.

The boron contributes 30% to 40% of the mine’s revenue, providing a buffer against lithium market volatility.

An April 2020 definitive feasibility study on the project pegged the after-tax net present value (8% discount) at $1.3 billion and the internal rate of return at 20.8%.

Rowe said that boric acid has had stable prices for decades, which helps balance the fluctuations in lithium prices. “We designed the process around known technologies, borrowing methods from copper leaching. This project will be a cornerstone for the US critical minerals supply chain.”

While confident in the path forward, Rowe stressed the importance of timely execution. “We have to make the final investment decision early next year, finalize contracts, and place long-lead orders,” he said. “We’re already gearing up, but delays could jeopardize our momentum.”

Ioneer expects the project to generate $125 million in annual wages, create 500 construction jobs, and employ 350 workers during operations. Though environmental groups remain opposed, Rowe believes the project’s benefits outweigh the risks.

“We’ve been at this for eight years, and reaching this point’s a tremendous feeling,” Rowe said. “Now it’s time to move forward.”

The company’s latest batch of assays from its 10,000-metre drilling campaign included 10.9 grams of gold per tonne over 7.5 metres from 366 metres deep in hole 24ODD-083 east of the Wenot deposit. Hole 23O-082 to the west cut 3.19 grams gold over 22.8 metres from 304 metres deep.

These results confirm the continuity of mineralization, the company said. In all, Omai Gold released results from 8,460 metres of diamond drilling to date for 17 holes. The project centres on the Wenot deposit and satellite targets at East Wenot and West Wenot, and Snake Pond. The nearby Gilt Creek deposit to the northeast offers future underground potential.

Drilling targeted both deeper sections and gaps in the open pit mining scenario tabled in an April PEA. The results indicate potential to expand the resource and improve project returns, CEO Elaine Ellingham said in a news release.

Omai plans to update the resource update by March, with the PEA to follow by June.

At the West Wenot area, hole 24ODD-086 returned 2.96 grams of gold over 19.4 metres from a depth of 293.2 metres. It extended known mineralization 100 metres below prior high-grade zones.

Shares gained as much as 8% to C$0.195 in early trading Thursday, before falling back to Wednesday’s closing price of C$0.18. Coming off a 12-month low at C$0.035, shares are trading near the period high of C$0.205. It has a market capitalization of C$97 million.

Economic update

Work is also underway at the Gilt Creek deposit. The PEA excluded Gilt Creek at the start to facilitate early development. Management now sees integrating it as key to extending the site’s life beyond 20 years.

Gilt Creek has an indicated resource of 11.1 million tonnes at 3.2 grams gold per tonne for 1.2 million oz. of the precious metal. It has another 32.4 million tonnes of inferred material at 2.26 grams gold per tonne for 665,000 oz. that holds potential to further boost long-term output given more drilling.

The drilling campaign aims to convert untested areas into mineralized material.

The April PEA estimated Wenot’s after-tax net present value at $556 million (5% discount) and projected annual gold production of 142,000 oz. over 13 years.

Omai forecasts annual after-tax free cash flow of $112 million, translating to about $1 billion in cash flow across the mine’s lifespan. All-in sustaining costs were projected at $1,009 per ounce. According to the PEA, the mine’s construction cost of $375 million can be recouped in less than four years.

The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission on Nov. 4 is to hear an application filed by those companies and others to potentially set the royalty rate. They have proposed a 1.82% royalty, while landowners are seeking 12.5%, according to BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Greg Jones.

The landowners’ proposal is “a level that would strain project cash flows based on our modelling,” Jones said in a note on Thursday. “We assume a 2.5% royalty in our base case, within the range of royalties applied in other jurisdictions. We anticipate the commission will take a balanced approach to support development of Arkansas’s lithium industry.”

This week, the United States Geological Survey and the Arkansas government said they’d found enough lithium in brine in the Smackover Formation within the state to supply global demand. They estimated the amount in the formation’s porous limestone left from an ancient sea at 5 million tonnes to 19 million tonnes. Scientists used water testing and machine learning to calculate the resource. The formation stretches from Texas to Florida, suggesting there could be even more lithium.

Standard project

The discovery comes as Standard and partner Equinor (NYSE: EQNR), Norway’s state-owned petroleum company, develop their South West Arkansas project in the same geologic structure towards a definitive feasibility study and formal investment decision next year. Equinor paid $30 million in May for 45% of Standard’s lithium projects in southwest Arkansas and East Texas, plus a pledge to invest $130 million more in the projects if they go ahead.

The US Department of Energy said on Sept. 20 it’s considering funding the project with as much as $225 million, one of the largest ever US government grants for critical minerals.

It’s part of the Biden administration’s push to source domestically more of the critical minerals needed for the energy transition. The departments of energy and defence as well as the Export-Import Bank are potentially able to allocate billions of dollars in funding for projects from mining and processing to finished products like vehicles. Even projects in Canada are getting financed. But the industry faces significant challenges as the price of lithium has crashed over the past two years.

Royalty faceoff

The South Arkansas Minerals Association, which represents the landowners, says the companies haven’t provided enough financial information to justify their proposed rate, BMO reports.

An Oct. 11 pre-hearing referenced some of the measures in state law for calculating the rate, such as the brine has to be profitably extracted before a rate can be applied, BMO said. But even the hearing officer noted it was unclear what evidence the commission would require to ensure a fair and equitable rate.

The companies’ proposed 1.82% royalty is based on precedent from a 2007 commission order, BMO said. The ruling determined the additional compensation attributable was 5.65¢ per barrel of brine. That equalled 1.82% of the per-acre value of the bromine extracted.

Other jurisdictions have different rates, according to BMO. California charges per tonne of lithium carbonate-equivalent, from $400 to $800, depending on production totals. Nevada has a 5% tax on net lithium sales.

Western Australia levies a 5% royalty on revenue from sales of spodumene concentrate, which is from hard rock lithium ore, not brine. Argentinian provinces apply a 3% royalty to extracted minerals. Brazil charges a 2% royalty on gross income from lithium sales with deductions allowed for taxes paid on commercial sales.

Direct extraction

The projects in Arkansas, and in some other places where there is underground brine, such as Chile and Alberta, plan to use the emerging technology of direct lithium extraction (DLE). It’s somewhat like pumping crude oil, which would seem to be an opportunity for fossil fuel companies intent on expanding their energy focus. Miners can also benefit from vast petro-coffers. The combination is already tapping some Prairie former oil fields that have brine.

ExxonMobil is evaluating potential production costs after drilling exploratory wells at the 486-sq.-km Mobil Lithium project on the Smackover Formation this year. It plans initial production of the battery metal in 2027. By 2030 it wants to produce enough for 1 million vehicles.

In southern California, Occidental Petroleum and a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) have begun feasibility testing to produce battery-grade lithium from the brine of 10 geothermal power plants.

In Alberta, E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL) is advancing its $2.5 billion capex Clearwater project on one of Canada’s largest resources of the battery metal. It’s tapping former oil wells once pumped by ExxonMobil unit Imperial Oil (TSX: IMO), which is also helping fund the prefeasibility-stage project.

DLE advantages

DLE may cost more than using conventional brine evaporation ponds, but it can produce the battery metal in hours instead of months, can recover around double the metal, and occupies a much smaller footprint.

In Chile, where evaporation ponds dominate, heavyweight producer SQM (NYSE: SQM) has been testing various DLE technologies including a collaboration with French chemical company Adionics.

Their trials have shown recovery rates reaching up to 98% from brine at the Salar de Atacama. SQM aims to integrate DLE into its operations as part of Chile’s new public-private model for lithium production​.

The find, called the Ramp zone, lies in the Apollo system of the project in the country’s central Caldas department. Drill hole APC99-D5 is the first intercept into a major new high-grade gold system at depth that can be classified as a partially reduced intrusion related gold-silver-copper system, the company said on Wednesday.

The hole cut 57.7 metres grading 7.83 grams gold per tonne, 33 grams silver, 0.09% copper and 0.12% zinc from 811.3 metres depth, Collective said in a release. The hold included 18.9 metres at 19.39 grams gold, 83 grams silver, 0.21% copper and 0.16% zinc.

“Right at the end of the hole we entered a fantastic zone,” David Reading, special advisor to Collective, says in a new video. “It’s clearly a new high-grade discovery.”

Higher up in the same hole, the assay showed 517.4 metres grading 1.84 grams gold, 10 grams silver, 0.03% copper an 0.06% zinc from 351.6 metres depth, the company said. That included 31.3 metres at 3.24 grams gold, 16 grams silver, 0.05% copper and 0.04% zinc.

The closest hole to the high-grade intercept is about 480 metres away, suggesting there is room for lateral expansion, BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Andrew Mikitchook wrote in a note to clients this morning.

“We expect the market to react positively to this intercept as we look forward to more deep drill holes at Apollo to confirm the scale and grade of this new discovery,” he said.

The new discovery, named “Ramp Zone,” is close in elevation (1,150m) to a planned underground haulage tunnel, Mikitchook added.

“This access tunnel connects Apollo and other targets (Plutus, Trap and Tower) to mining-related infrastructure in a potential development scenario. Although it is too early for any engineering plans, accessing high-grade portions of the orebody earlier should improve the economics of the project.”

Collective shares hit a new 52-week high of C$5.41 in morning trading before easing to C$5.10. The shares have traded as low as C$3.02 in the past year. The company’s market cap sits at C$348 million.

Gold district

Guayabales and Aris Mining’s (TSX: ARIS; NYSE: ARMN) neighbouring Marmato mine are part of a precious metal district of 10 operating mines in Colombia’s Middle Cauca mineral belt. Toronto-based Collective, founded by the same team that developed and sold Continental Gold for C$1.4 billion, posted drill results in August joining the Apollo and Olympus deposits. The project delivered the top gold assay in The Northern Miner’s weekly Drill Down several times this year.

“The fact that Apollo is now transitioning into a bulk zone of high-grade gold mineralization at depth is extremely exciting and will no doubt add materially to the mineral resource endowment of Apollo,” executive chairman Ari Sussman said. “The Apollo system, which outcrops at surface, now boasts a vertical dimension of approximately 1,150 metres with further expansion dead-ahead.”

Collective also reported strong results this year at Guayabales’ Trap area, 3.5 km northeast of Apollo. It has five rigs, two each at Trap and Apollo and another at the X target, for a 40,000-metre drill program this year. The company began the project in September 2021 and has not published a resource yet.

The Americas-focused mid-tier gold miner cut its full-year production forecast to 235,000 oz. at the midpoint, according to operating results for the three months to Sept. 30 issued on Friday.

A pit wall slide in May at Calibre’s Limon Norte mine in Nicaragua hurt production, CEO Darren Hall told a conference call after the results. As well, the company found previous artisanal miners had scooped out more than thought. In Nevada, where production is centred on the Pan mine, output also underperformed expectations.

“This setback is on us—management dropped the ball by not following the plan,” Hall said about Limon Norte. “We’ve now corrected course.”

Calibre said the Valentine project’s capital budget climbed by C$91 million to C$744 million in part because contractors underestimated infrastructure material needs. For instance, cement contributed to about 30% of the cost increase. However, it said the project is on track to start output next year.

The company’s shares closed at C$2.61 on Monday, down 6.5% from Thursday’s close of C$2.79 before the operating update. The stock has dropped about 10% from its 12-month high of C$2.90 earlier this month but is 76% stronger year-over-year.

Analyst perspectives

Analysts remain cautiously optimistic. Both BMO Capital Markets and Cormark Securities acknowledged the company’s recent stumbles but pointed to long-term potential.

Cormark mining analyst Nicolas Dion sees the company as an “excellent operator” with ample exploration targets. “Even with the cost overrun at Valentine, Calibre remains well funded to see the project through,” Dion said Monday in a note to clients. “We will continue to monitor construction progress, especially as winter nears in Newfoundland.”

Dion noted the firm’s track record and its strong management. He sees a chance for a share price increase once Valentine starts producing.

BMO’s mining analyst Brian Quast maintains an outperform rating on the stock due to the company’s long-term growth plans. He has a target price at C$4.40 per share.

Gold sales

The company reported total gold sales during the quarter of 46,076 oz., well below earlier estimates of 74,000-76,000 ounces. Cash costs rose to $1,580 per oz., driving the company to revise its 2024 all-in sustaining cost guidance to $1,550-$1,600 per oz., up from $1,275-$1,375 forecast earlier.

Calibre plans to boost ore haulage to Nicaragua’s Libertad mill by 30% in the current quarter, targeting production of 70,000-80,000 oz. and a stockpile of 30,000 oz. for 2025. With C$300 million in cash and credit, the company confirmed it is fully funded to complete Valentine’s construction.

The project, which it acquired last year through a buyout of Marathon Gold, may produce 195,000 oz. annually for the first 12 years of a 14.3-year mine life, according to a 2022 feasibility study.

The company already has a three-year, C$30 million earn-in agreement with Glencore (LSE: GLEN), and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project, where mining goes back more than 60 years. Glencore was among a handful of miners in the region, and from 2013 until 2022 operated Bracemac McLeod.

Peter van Alphen, NuVau president and CEO, says listing on the TSX Venture Exchange will help NuVau tap some of the billions of dollars in the province’s funding agencies aimed at mining.

“Quebec is…I would say one of the best if not the best jurisdiction to be in mining,” van Alphen told The Northern Miner in an interview. “(Government funds) will work with you to finance development. But some of them won’t do it for a private company. We’re not primarily an exploration company, we’re a mining company looking to do exploration.”

Glencore deal winding down

NuVau is approaching the end of its deal with Glencore to explore and gain full interest in the Matagami camp, located in the province’s west, about 800 km north of Montreal.

The agreement, which ends next March, includes the option to acquire the infrastructure at Matagami, comprising the Bracemac McLeod mine and its mill

NuVau’s 2023 PEA, which focused on the Caber Complex deposits west of Bracemac McLeod, outlined a project of almost 10 years with a net present value (at 8% discount) of C$115.9 million. Initial capital costs were pegged at C$172.3 million, with a 20% internal rate of return.

Quebec’s helping hand

Quebec is well-known for its institutional funds that back mineral activity, such as Investissement Québec, the provincial pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, and Diversification of Exploration Investment Partnership (Sidex). Tapping into that ecosystem will help NuVau advance its project faster, van Alphen said.

“We saw them coming as an investor, (and) the credibility that these groups would add to us is of great value to us,” the CEO said. “So we decided to take the company public to bring these groups in.”

While van Alphen says NuVau could use the existing mill at Bracemac McLeod, it needs to build a tailings facility before it’s ready for production, as well as raise C$50 million.

“We’re lucky with our access to infrastructure that we can take advantage of,” he said. “(The mill) has 3,000-tonne-per-day capacity, there’s a rail siding there, and we can ship concentrate there by rail. I don’t like the term, but it’s a hub and spoke. We can own the hub.”

If the listing is successful, the company’s milestones for next year are an updated PEA and submission of permits to the Quebec government. In 2026 it aims to complete a feasibility study, with production starting the same year or in 2027.

“We believe we will be able to take advantage of revenue from production from the existing resource to fund part or possibly all of this exploration going forward,” he said.

Exploration bonanza

Van Alphen stresses that the real prize for NuVau is exploring its vast land package along the Abitibi Greenstone belt. Roughly bordered to the east by the Bracemac McLeod mine, the property runs 85 km to the west, and 30 km from north to south. Maple Gold’s (TSXV: MGM) Joutel mine sits just south of the property.

“It’s very large… and less than 5% of it has had significant exploration,” he said. “It has potential to be a major producer in base metals and precious metals as well.”

Exploration in the Matagami area dates back to 1957, when six companies including Leith Gold Mines, Dome Mines and Iso Uranium Mines merged to form the Mattagami Syndicate. A year later, an agreement between that syndicate, Canadian Exploration and Noranda and McIntyre Mines was made to create Mattagami Lake Mines. Production by various companies, including Glencore, ran from 1963 until 2022, during which almost 60 million tonnes of copper and zinc were produced from 12 mines.

20+ year potential

The Caber deposit, part of Caber Complex, hosts 2.6 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 6.11% zinc, 1.15% copper, 10 grams silver per tonne and 0.21 gram gold for 91,200 tonnes zinc, 17,100 tonnes copper, 481,000 oz. silver and 9,990 oz. gold. Inferred resources total 109,000 tonnes at 4.96% zinc, 1.01% copper, 8.12 grams silver and 0.19 gram gold.

Caber Nord, also in the Caber Complex hosts 1.1 million indicated tonnes at 4.96% zinc, 1.23% copper, 18.1 grams silver and 0.13 gram gold for 54,900 tonnes zinc, 13,600 tonnes copper, 645,000 oz. silver and 4,700 oz. gold. Inferred tonnes come to 5.7 million grading 1.96% zinc, 1.34% copper, 10.3 grams silver and 0.11 gram gold for 112,300 tonnes zinc, 76,700 tonnes copper, 1.8 million oz. silver and 19,800 oz. gold.

Remaining resources under Bracemac McLeod, such as the McLeod Deep and Extension could yield another three or four years of production, according to the PEA. Another target, the Renaissance discovery, a volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit northeast of Caber North, could hold a mine life of more than 20 years. The company plans to start a 10,000-metre drill program at Renaissance this winter.

Drill hole DDRCCC-24-068 returned 678.1 metres grading 1.04 grams gold per tonne starting from surface, including 409.5 metres of 1.36 grams gold from 273 metres depth and 5.5 metres of 17.59 grams gold from 589.5 metres downhole, the company said on Monday.

“As the deepest hole ever drilled into this system [708.7 metres], hole 68 has significantly extended the gold mineralization at Blackjack, approximately 200 metres below any previous drilling,” Sitka CEO Cor Coe said in a release. “[It] demonstrates the potential for higher-grade mineralization to continue deeper in what appears to be a higher-grade component of this gold system.”

Shares in Sitka Gold jumped 10% early Monday before easing to 4% stronger by early afternoon in Toronto at C$0.52 apiece, valuing the company at C$160.3 million. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$0.13 to C$0.57.

Drill hole DDRCCC-24-067 returned 99.2 metres grading 1.01 grams gold from 448.5 metres depth, including 2.5 metres of 18.39 grams gold from 516.6 metres downhole. The result confirms the southern extension of mineralization intersected in holes 58 and 62 both laterally and at depth, the company said. Watch a 2023 Northern Miner video of the project.

Tombstone belt

The RC project, about 100 km east of Dawson City, is among several in the Yukon’s Tombstone Gold Belt seeking to be the territory’s next gold mine after Victoria Gold’s Eagle mine closed this year. The belt ranges from Kinross Gold’s (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) Fort Knox mine in Alaska to the higher grades of Snowline Gold’s (CSE: SGD) projects in the Yukon near The Northwest Territories.

Sitka says results are pending for six diamond drill holes, including the first ones ever completed at the Rhosgobel intrusion 5 km south of Blackjack. Crews observed multiple occurrences of visible gold in the drill core, the company said this month. Assays are also due from the Pukelman target 2 km southeast from Blackjack. They are all part of an 8- by 15-km area Sitka calls the Clear Creek Intrusive Complex.

Recent drilling at the Rhosgobel Stock target encountered numerous instances of visible gold and intrusion-related gold mineralization similar to that seen at the Blackjack, the company said.

“Our systematic approach to drilling continues to unlock significant value at RC,” Coe said. “We look forward to further advancing this 431-sq.-km contiguous, district-scale property that exhibits the potential to host several multi-million-ounce gold deposits.”

Sheeted veins

Drill hole DDRCCC-24-068 intersected multiple zones of mineralized quartz monzonite and mineralized metasediments with more than 40 instances of visible gold from near surface to 680 metres, depth, Sitka said. The visible gold was consistently associated with bismuthinite and scheelite in sheeted quartz veins cutting both the intrusives and the metasediments, it said.

Drill hole DDRCCC-24-067 intersected four broad zones of mineralization associated with quartz monzonite intrusions and adjacent metasediments, Sitka said. Sheeted quartz-arsenopyrite veins were most abundant from 425 to 523 metres depth, it said. Several instances of visible gold associated with bismuthinite were observed in sheeted quartz veins between 237.2 metres and 520.3 metres downhole.

The RC project has a resource of 61.1 million inferred tonnes grading 0.68 gram gold for 1.3 million oz. metal, according to a January 2023 resource. There are two near and on-surface zones: the Blackjack and Eiger deposits with 900,000 oz. at a grade of 0.83 gramgoldand 440,000 oz. at 0.68 gram, respectively.

Both of these road accessible deposits are potentially open-pit minable and amenable to heap leaching, Sitka says. Initial bottle roll tests indicate the gold is not refractory and has a recovery of up to 94% with minimal sodium cyanide consumption, it said.

The council of Loznica, population around 20,000 about 100 km west of Belgrade, is deciding whether to amend its official plan to allow the 250-hectare development. The hard-rock lithium project has sparked massive protests while see-sawing between official support and rejection for years.

Slated to start in 2028, it would produce 58,000 tonnes a year of battery-grade lithium carbonate, about 17% of European demand and enough for one million electric vehicles. The mine might last 40 years. Rio, the world’s second largest miner by stock market value, and the government faced mass rallies again this week, swollen by an unlikely combination of causes.

“Rio Tinto is the hottest issue in the country right now,” Vuk Vuksanovic, an associate at the London School of Economics’ Ideas foreign policy think tank, said by email on Friday.

“The anti-lithium protests and environmentalism are the only things that at least temporarily unite left and right in Serbia. The left perceives it as a resistance against the arbitrary and illiberal governance of the incumbent coalition. The right perceives it as a struggle against Western dominance.”

Court ruling

Loznica council hasn’t set date for its vote, but local Balkan Insights media said on X it’s due this month. In August, Serbia’s Constitutional Court sided with Rio in overturning a 2022 government decision to block the project. Pundits note Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić might have cancelled the project’s permit in January 2022 in a ploy to win re-election that April.

But analysts view Vučić as pro-mining. He said in June he would revive the project, then signed a partnership with the European Union (it’s not a member) in July to supply critical minerals. His administration defeated an opposition-led motion on Oct. 10 to ban lithium exploration.

Vučić’s critics say he’s tightened control over media and rewarded supporters with government jobs. Whether he would allow a local council-level vote to derail the Jadar Valley project remains to be seen. But miners have at times benefited from authoritarian governments’ willingness to push through projects.

And Rio is no stranger to difficult ventures. It’s advancing the Simandou high-grade iron ore deposit in Guinea where it’s helping build a 600-km rail line and port. It’s considered Africa’s largest mining and related infrastructure project. In Arizona, the company is facing opposition to its Resolution copper project from the Apache Stronghold coalition of tribes.

Big M&A

Rio has little experience in lithium, with most of its production in iron ore, aluminum and copper. However, this month it announced the $6.7 billion acquisition of Arcadium Lithium (ASX: LTM; NYSE: ALTM) to become the third-largest lithium miner. It has also been developing the Rincon lithium brine project in Argentina. It expects first lithium from a pilot plant, and a feasibility study and final investment decision on the wider project this quarter.

At Jadar, Rio plans to apply in December for a permit allowing geotechnical work while prepping an environmental impact assessment that could take two years to complete. In third-quarter production results this week, Rio repeated comments about the project:

“We continue to believe that the Jadar project has the potential to be a world-class lithium-borates asset that could act as a catalyst for the development of other industries and thousands of jobs for current and future generations in Serbia.”

Last month, Rio CEO Jakob Stausholm flew to Serbia to participate in public information meetings that were broadcast on television. He was combatting what the company and Serbia’s mining and energy ministry have called disinformation campaigns. Media have reported the spread of online conspiracy theories like the project will trigger sulphuric acid rain, pollute drinking water or even secretly mine uranium.

Even so, Stausholm said locals have pertinent concerns about air quality and soil contamination that he and the company are working to allay. Rio seeks “to encourage an open, fact-based dialogue” in legally mandated public consultations, it said this week.

Environmental opposition

The project, which began after Rio geologists discovered the hard rock deposit in 2004, has fostered strong opposition throughout its history, said Teresa Kramarz, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment. Some studies after exploration showed elevated boron, arsenic, and lithium in nearby rivers, she said.

“These protests and environmental costs highlight the need for wider conversations about trade-offs,” Teresa Kramarz, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment, said by email.

“The idea that there’s only one way to decarbonize, and people will inevitably accept transfers of risk from one population to another or trade one type of risk for another is not going to work – particularly for those who experience disproportionate disadvantages and inequitable outcomes.”

Some analysts cited by The Wall St. Journal say the current opposition since the project’s revival is remarkable for its intensity. The US State Department has said the disinformation resembles Russian campaigns, like those to discourage shale-gas drilling to maintain Russian energy dominance in Europe. Others said it’s an attempt to dissuade Belgrade’s drift to the West and potential EU membership.

Cynical left

Vuksanovic disagreed, while still noting the impact on the West.

“The Russians are not behind it, but they take pleasure in the fact that the nationalist element of this protest is getting stronger,” he told The Northern Miner.

“Moreover, even the left, civic, pro-EU segments of Serbian society are getting increasingly cynical that the West and Europe are willing to engage the incumbent government and tolerate its domestic transgressions for the sake of lithium exploitation, weakening the EU and the US’s prestige in the country even further.”

Mikhail Korostikov, a visiting fellow at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, said vast numbers of Serbians oppose the project because they don’t believe the government is capable of enforcing environmental regulations. Even if they could, the rules aren’t strong enough, Korostikov said in a report last month for the centre.

He suggested importing EU environmental structure to oversee the project and trying to create as many jobs linked to the mine as possible in areas of procurement and mineral processing. Defeating the opposition requires making the project’s benefits more significant than any environmental consequences, he said.

“This will require serious courage and strategic vision on the part of all those involved in the political process, but it is essential,” Korostikov said. “There may not be another opportunity like this to integrate into the new economy and gain a bargaining leverage with the EU in the coming decades.”

The company was spun out in July from G Mining Ventures (TSX: GMIN), which acquired Reunion Gold in an C$875 million deal this year for its Oko West development project.

Greenheart is focused on regional assets outside of Oko West in the Guiana Shield. These include the Abuya and Majorodam projects in Guyana and Suriname, respectively.

The financing, at C$0.50 per share and underwritten by Canaccord Genuity and Paradigm Capital, closed 44% higher than the C$25 million offering floated on Sept. 25.

Greenheart shares rose to a 12-month high of C$0.95 on Friday, having touched a low of C$0.45 in that period. It has a market capitalization of C$70 million.

Last month, CEO Justin van der Toorn said in a press release that the company had signed non-binding deal to start due diligence to buy G Mining’s 95-sq.-km IGAB gold project in Suriname. IGAB is 30 km south of Newmont’s (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT, ASX: NEM, PNGX: NEM) Merian mine, which hosts nearly 4 million oz. gold in reserves and another 1.5 million oz. in resources.

The early-stage prospect has already produced high-grade gold from artisanal mining, with rocks yielding bonanza 94.2 grams gold per tonne samples.

The goal is to get and maintain a pipeline of up to five or six early-stage exploration projects in Guyana and Suriname “in the near future,” Van der Toorn said in a Sept. 25 release.

Grassroots prospects

Early sampling results IGAB show promising grades, and Greenheart plans to begin detailed exploration by January. The company also plans geological mapping, soil sampling, and geophysical surveys to define drill targets along key structural contacts.

The deal is to fund prospecting, soil sampling and geological mapping at the Majorodam project in Suriname. The target area at Majorodam is on the same fold structure as Zijin Mining’s Saramacca deposit.

Greenheart will also conduct work at its Abuya project in Guyana. Located near Chinese-owned Zijin Mining’s Aurora gold mine, Abuya has shown early promise. Initial mapping is complete, and soil sample results are expected soon.
* This article has been updated to reflect that Zijin Mining now owns the Saramacca deposit, not Iamgold, any longer, as initially stated.

“This is like the early days in Chile, the Escondida discoveries and so on,” he said at the Gold Forum Americas in Colorado Springs, referring to Pakistan’s untapped discovery potential.

Bristow said supply constraints for gold and copper and the strong demand are pushing prices higher, while both suffer from weak development pipelines. The company is expanding its Lumwana copper mine in Zambia and Reko Diq in Pakistan, both of which will add to its copper output while driving local economic development.

“Copper has no substitutes,” Bristow said. “It is as strategic as gold is precious, and we’re bringing new copper projects online just as the supply squeeze hits.”

Bristow also addressed the suspension of operations at Barrick’s Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea last month due to local clan violence. He reinforced the company’s commitment to making a positive social and environmental impact, especially in emerging markets.

Watch the final part of Bristow’s three-part interview with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.

Under the deal that the developer calls the largest ever by a US original equipment manufacturer in a lithium project, GM is to acquire a 38% stake in Thacker Pass for $625 million in cash and letters of credit.

The JV deal replaces the $330 million in second tranche equity investment from GM announced in January 2023, and is in addition to the $2.3 billion loan from the US Department of Energy (DOE). The deal also includes $430 million of direct funding to the JV to build the project’s first stage, expected to cost $2.9 billion.

“Our relationship with GM has been significantly strengthened with this joint venture as we continue to pursue a mutual goal to develop a robust domestic lithium supply chain by advancing the development of Thacker Pass,” Jonathan Evans, Lithium Americas president and CEO said in a release. “We will be working closely with GM to advance towards the final investment decision, which we are targeting by the end of the year.”

The JV deal is among some in the lithium space to be moving forward while low prices of the battery metal have seen many others face delays. Battery-grade lithium hydroxide prices have dropped to $9,800 per tonne on Wednesday from $22,275 a year ago and around $85,000 a tonne in late 2022, according to The Wall St. Journal.

Shares in Lithium Americas traded for C$4.45 apiece on Wednesday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at C$975.9 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$2.87 to C$12.71.

Manager with 62% stake

For its 62% ownership of Thacker Pass, Lithium Americas will contribute $387 million to the JV and act as manager of the project. Of the total, $211 million is to be paid when the JV closes and the rest when a final investment decision is made.

GM is to extend its existing offtake agreement with Lithium Americas for up to 100% of production volumes from Thacker Pass’ first stage to 20 years to support the expected maturity of the DOE loan. After the JV closes, GM will also make another 20-year offtake deal for up to 38% of stage two production volumes, retaining its right of first offer on the remaining stage two volumes.

Before Lithium Americas takes its first draw of the $2.3 billion loan, expected in the middle of next year, it must fund about $195 million towards reserve accounts linked to the loan, such as for construction contingency, ramp up and sustaining capital.

Design 40% done

Meanwhile, at Thacker Pass, located in Humboldt County, the company has completed about 40% of the project’s engineering design, and site preparation for major earthworks is complete. Excavation of the process plant area is about half-finished and preparations for concrete placement are underway.

The project hosts the largest known measured and indicated lithium resource in North America, with 385 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 2,917 parts per million (ppm) lithium, equivalent to 6 million tonnes of lithium carbonate. Another 147 million inferred tonnes grading 2,932 ppm lithium could provide another 2.3 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE).

The mine could potentially produce enough lithium to power 1 million EVs annually, the company says.

“The plaintiffs are engaging in a classic case of forum-shopping: deliberately seeking to implicate Barrick in a case in Ontario,” a spokesperson for Barrick at New York public relations firm Gladstone Place Partners told The Northern Miner on Tuesday by email. “The right forum to consider the claims of the plaintiffs is Tanzania.”

Barrick, the second-biggest gold miner by market value, could face a civil trial seeking unspecified damages for 32 Tanzanians living near North Mara in the East African country. They’re backed by Toronto law firm Waddell Phillips, Vancouver’s CFM Lawyers and anti-mining groups such as the Ottawa-based MiningWatch Canada. North Mara, which Barrick took over in 2019, produced about 63,000 oz. in this year’s second quarter.

Killings alleged

“Barrick’s security strategy for the North Mara mine effectively converts the Tanzanian police assigned to operate in and around the mine into a private and heavily armed security force for the mine,” the plaintiffs said in their November 2023 statement of claim.

“This security strategy ‘has led directly to extensive human rights abuses’ and ‘acts of extreme violence committed by the Mine Police’ resulting in deaths, shootings, beatings and torture of local villagers,” MiningWatch said in a release on Tuesday citing the statement of claim.

Barrick has settled two previous cases brought by locals near the mine to court in the United Kingdom since 2013. The most recent settlement, which had confidential terms for 14 villagers, was in March. The current case started in late 2022 with 21 plaintiffs before 11 more joined in February this year.

Tanzanian court

The Ontario Superior Court in Toronto is hearing Barrick’s arguments this week to permanently stay or dismiss the case. Part of the miner’s stance is that Tanzania, like Canada, has a legal system based on UK law. The case also has witnesses who speak Swahili or other local languages but not English.

Barrick faces serious allegations of complicity in human rights violations and should be able to defend itself locally, PR firm Gladstone said.

“Everything related to this case took place in Tanzania,” the spokesperson for Barrick said. “Plaintiffs’ attempts to dismiss the independence, sophistication or ability of the Tanzanian courts to adjudicate fairly and properly over the matters at issue are without merit.”

However, Barrick’s legal team could encounter some precedents from lawsuits against Hudbay Minerals (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM). The same Ontario court in 2013 allowed cases brought by indigenous Guatemalans to proceed. They sought damages from the Canadian mining company for alleged human rights abuses including a killing. One of the cases predated Hudbay’s takeover of the Fenix nickel mine in 2008. The were all finally settled this month for undisclosed terms.

Barrick holds 84% of North Mara Gold Mine Ltd. and the Tanzanian government owns the remaining 16%. The subsidiary’s agreements with the Tanzania police are governed by the country’s laws, Gladstone said.

Overseas accountability

Company watchdogs, including the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability and the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project, want Canada to pass tougher due diligence legislation that might prevent violence and target actions abroad by Canadian operations.

“This lawsuit is a critical step toward properly adjudicating the claims of the Kuria people, Professor Sara Ghebremusse of the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project, said in the MiningWatch release. “We hope this case will significantly advance the law governing access to judicial remedy for communities affected by Canadian mining operations abroad.”

Last week, Barrick reported the Tanzanian Commission on Human Rights and Good Governance had found no evidence of forced evictions around the mine and that fair compensation was paid for land.

“We trust that this independent investigation by the [commission], and their findings into the allegations irresponsibly reported publicly, brings this matter to a close,” Barrick CEO Mark Bristow said in an Oct. 7 release.

“Barrick is focused, as it has been since taking over operations of North Mara Gold mine, on developing strong relationships with our local partners while making significant contributions to the region and Tanzania as a whole.”

Highlight holes include TXC24-087 which cut 2.6 metres grading 1,920.93 grams silver per tonne and 20.26 grams gold, including 1.1 metres at 4,328 grams silver and 46.5 grams gold, the company reported on Tuesday. That hole, drilled from 172.2 metres depth, is part of a 20,000-metre program of drilling across 50 holes that started in July and is aimed at infilling and converting resources. It’s expected to wrap up by the end of the year.

“(The drill program has) been successful in stepping out beyond the existing resource envelope identifying significant near-surface expansion potential at higher-than-average grades,” Blackrock CEO and president Andrew Pollard said in a release.

“These findings bolster our confidence in the model presented in our recent preliminary economic assessment and suggest the possibility of shortening the pre-production development timeline as we track high-grade gold and silver mineralization closer to the surface.”

The results follow Blackrock’s release six weeks ago of its preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Tonopah West, which gave it a post-tax net present value (at a 5% discount) of $326 million, with capital costs of $178 million (including a $22 million contingency). The PEA pegged the project’s post-tax internal rate of return at 39.2%, with a 2.3-year payback period. It used a base gold price of $1,900 per oz. and silver price of $23 per ounce.

Company shares traded for C$0.41 apiece on Tuesday morning in Toronto, hitting a new 52-week high and valuing the company at C$107.5 million.

Other highlight holes include TXC24-101, which cut 1.3 metres at 687 grams silver and 6.56 grams gold from 137.6 metres depth; and TXC24-092, which returned 3.3 metres of 470.56 grams silver and 5.35 grams gold, from 141.6 metres depth, including 1.1 metres of 534 grams silver and 6.9 grams gold.

New gold-silver chute

TXC24-087 and TXC24-101 were among five holes that defined a new high-grade gold and silver chute along the Merton/Bermuda high-grade vein system, Blackrock said. The chute is about 175 metres long and is open to the northwest and southeast. Another high-grade chute starts with TXC24-092, suggesting a recurring pattern of high-grade gold and silver along the strike of the vein system.

The company’s drill program aims to upgrade about 1 million inferred tonnes of high-grade silver and gold to measured and indicated resources in the Bermuda and Merten vein systems. Those systems are located in an area where veins are shallowest and go down 200 to 300 metres.

Tonopah West hosts 6.3 million inferred tonnes grading 2.82 grams gold per tonne and 237.8 grams silver, for 577,000 oz. of gold and 48.5 million oz. of silver, according to the PEA.

The project is being developed four years after discovery at the site along US Highway 95 about 350 km northwest of Las Vegas.

Permitting has slowed in recent years under former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Still, Ramshaw said in an interview that Sheinbaum’s administration, which started this month, should bring a smoother relationship to the mining sector, especially regarding faster mine permitting.

“We’re very much hoping for blue skies ahead with the change in leadership, after the overcast murkiness of the last couple of years politically,” Ramshaw said last month during the Gold Forum Americas in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Cerro de Oro is an absolute game changer for us. It’s a project that works in any gold price environment.”

Cerro de Oro could produce up to 80,000 oz. gold yearly at all-in sustaining costs of US$900 per oz. over the project’s 13-year mine life.

Watch the full interview with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.

“We’ve relied on rising commodity prices to carry us,” Bristow said last month at the Gold Forum Americas in Colorado Springs. “Mining is a consumptive industry; we mine away our assets daily. To remain sustainable, we must reinvest in our future, not just rely on M&A.”

Bristow said consolidation must add value, not just react to market pressures. He points to the US$6.5 billion Randgold-Barrick merger announced in late 2018 as an example of building lasting, profitable mining businesses rather than seeking “instant gratification.”

At the same time, he addressed speculation that Nevada Gold Mining, Barrick’s 61.5%-owned joint venture with Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) in the United States, could go public.

“Not while I’m running this organization,” he said, explaining there are too many assets in the industry and not enough competent managers to run them.

Watch the second part below of the interview with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.

Under the investment, B2Gold is to buy 4.4 million shares at C$2.75 each, giving the company a 9.9% stake in Founders as well as rights on technical assistance for its Antino project, the companies announced on Friday.

“We look forward to drawing on B2Gold’s experience in exploring for, and developing, world-class mining assets in similar geological environments,” Colin Padget, Founders’ president and CEO, said in a release. “This broader financing package leaves Founders well positioned to ramp up exploration at Antino, fully funding our planned 2025 exploration budget and the near-term addition of a fourth diamond drill.”

Clive Johnson, B2Gold CEO and president, said the deal is in line with the company’s strategy of investing early in discoveries with Tier one potential. B2Gold holds the feasibility-stage Goose project in Nunavut, as well as the Fekola mine complex in Mali, where last month it reached a new regulatory deal with Mali’s military government for the complex.

“The rigorous exploration efforts undertaken by Founders’ technical and management team have clearly highlighted the district-scale potential of the Antino Gold Project,” he said.

The B2Gold investment adds to the C$20 million private placement from a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets announced on Thursday. The funders are to buy 6.25 million shares of Founders for C$2.40 each.

Founders’ shares traded for C$2.88 apiece on Friday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at C$212 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$0.76 to C$3.13.

Boosting Founders’ team

The investments follow the appointment of Chris Taylor as an independent director to Founders’ board, announced on Oct. 1.

Taylor, who was the founder, president and CEO of Great Bear Resources, led its district-scale gold discovery in the Red Lake region of northern Ontario and subsequent buyout. Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) acquired it for C$1.8 billion. Taylor was also named The Northern Miner’s Mining Person of the Year in 2021.

The investments will be used to fund the Antino project in southeastern Suriname, where this year Founders has targeted 30,000 metres of drilling that have confirmed the strength of various targets. The 238-sq.-km Antino sits just across the Lawa River from French Guiana and is the South American country’s most advanced project on a property that’s produced 500,000 oz. of artisanal gold historically.

The Vancouver-headquartered company plans to release an initial resource for Antino next year as it seeks to rival Newmont’s (TSX: NGT) Merian and Zijin Mining’s Rosebel gold mines that sit on the Guiana Shield in Suriname.

Highlight hole RPMRC-24005 cut 43 metres grading 4.4 grams gold per tonne from 2 metres depth, including 23 metres at 7.3 grams gold and 13 metres at 10.7 grams from 2 metres, and 2 metres at 39.2 grams gold from 13 metres.

Hole RPMRC-24006 returned 21 metres grading 3.5 grams gold from 2 metres, including 19 metres at 3.9 grams gold from 3 metres and 6 metres at 7.1 grams gold from 5 metres.

“These results speak for themselves and we believe will add considerable value to the upcoming resource update and ultimately the prefeasibility study which will be focused on RPM as a scale-able low capex/high margin project with future expansion plans achieved through cashflow as soon as possible,” Christopher Gerteisen, Nova CEO, said in a release on Wednesday.

“With further 2024 drill results to follow in short order, these results, along with the 2023 drilling will be included in the upcoming resource update.”

The 21-hole reverse circulation drill program that started in July was aimed at infilling and proving near-surface inferred resources in RPM North’s high-grade core.

The latest holes pierced areas above the measured and indicated core at RPM North, located inside the RPM target and on the north end of Nova’s wider Estelle flagship project about 150 km northwest of Anchorage. Estelle sits on the Tintina Gold belt, a highly prospective province for the yellow metal that hosts Barrick Gold’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) Donlin Creek project and Kinross Gold’s (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) Fort Knox mine.

Nova shares gained 9% to A$0.18 apiece on Wednesday in Sydney, valuing the company at A$47.5 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of A$0.13 to A$0.43.

Gold prices remain at historic highs and touched $2,605.50 per oz. on Wednesday.

Hunt for domestic antimony

Results from more than 500 soil and 225 rock samples collected for the 2024 surface exploration program also targeted critical minerals such as antimony, a byproduct of gold production that is important for national defence, clean energy and technology applications.

The United States has no domestic production of the mineral and China controls almost half of antimony’s global mined output. On Sept. 15, the East Asian country started restricting antimony exports. Perpetua Resources (TSX: PPTA; NASDAQ: PPTA) is targeting America’s only known domestic source of antimony at its Stibnite project in Idaho, which hosts 148 million lb. of the metal.

The program also targeted extending drilling south of RPM North to test a possible link with the RMP Valley zone about 150 metres to the southwest.

RPM North hosts a pit-constrained resource of 4.4 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 2.4 grams gold for 330,000 oz., and 23 million inferred tonnes at 0.6 grams gold for 450,000 oz., according to an update in April.

Under Bristow’s leadership, Barrick has prioritized growth investments with shareholder returns and loan retirements, distributing $5 billion and cutting debt by $3.5 billion.

“We’ve invested over $9 billion in our business and created real value for shareholders,” Bristow said last month during the Gold Forum Americas in Colorado Springs.

Barrick continues growing its copper exposure. Bristow says the company’s Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan is a bright spot in its growth pipeline. The company aims to grow copper output in the long term, planning to lift its Lumwana mine in Zambia into the top 25 global copper producers.

Watch below the first part (of three) of the interview with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.

Highlight holes include KWO-217 which cut 5 metres grading 11.21% copper and 117.89 grams silver per tonne, KWO-218 that cut 8 metres at 2.55% copper and 18.65 grams silver, and KWO-221 which cut 9 metres grading 3.93% copper and 56.13 grams silver. Those holes, part of a 3,500-metre resource upgrade program, were drilled from 105 metres depth on level 3 in Shaft 1, to the north-east and south-west of their closest historical intercepts, Trigon said.

“Even with 45 years of mining history at Kombat, the deposit continues to surprise us with new high-grade ore — even adjacent to old developments,” Trigon CEO and executive chairman Jed Richardson said in a release. “There is tremendous value in this mine yet to be realized in our market capitalization.”

Trigon restarted production at Kombat in 2022. The 15-year-life mine is expected to produce 12.1 million to 13.4 million lb. of copper next year grading 1.95% to 2.3%.

Trigon shares gained 3.4% to C$0.90 on Tuesday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at C$40.2 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$0.61 to C$1.28.

Red metal hotspot

Copper prices have been on an upswing since late September, and traded for $4.38 per lb. on Tuesday morning. Kombat, one of a handful of copper mines in Namibia, was historically among the top producers of the critical mineral in the southern African country, producing 12.5 million tonnes of ore grading 2.62% copper, 1.55% lead, and 18 grams silver per tonne between 1962 and 2008.

Other drill highlights include KWO-194, which cut 2 metres at 4.36% copper and 22.27 grams silver, and KWO-198 that cut 4 metres grading 2.83% copper and 49.75 grams silver. Both holes were drilled from 120 metres depth in level 5, and pierced the nearest historical intercepts from 80 metres and 84 metres, respectively.

Kombat hosts 2.4 million probable tonnes grading 2.4% copper and 17.4 grams silver for 58,704 tonnes copper and 41,726 kg silver in open pit, underground and stockpiled resources, according to a February update.

Kombat is located about 360 km north of the capital Windhoek, and just south of Dundee Precious Metals’ (TSX: DPM) Tsumeb polymetallic smelter.

Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, gained 5.9% to $99.95 each, for a market capitalization of $11.7 billion. Arcadium, one of the world’s largest producers of the battery metal, rose 9.2% to $3.07, valuing the company at $3.3 billion.

Shares in other lithium companies also gained. SQM (NYSE: SQM) went up 2.3% to $41.40 apiece, giving it an $11.3 billion market cap; Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC) was up 6.7% to C$3.64, for a C$793.5 million market value; and Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLI, NYSE: SLI) gained 5.6% to C$2.24 apiece, for a market capitalization of C$386.9 million.

Albemarle said in an email to The Northern Miner that it wasn’t going to comment. The other lithium companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The acquisition talk comes as Rio faces challenges in developing its Jadar lithium project in Serbia that has been halted since 2022 out of concerns about environmental damage. But the project could become Europe’s biggest mine of the battery metal.

The buyout speculation also comes amid the ongoing slump in lithium prices, which have dropped 88% over the past two years. Battery-grade lithium hydroxide has fallen to $9,925 per tonne on Friday from $22,275 a year ago and around $85,000 a tonne in late 2022, according to The Wall St. Journal.

Lithium pitfalls, promise

Albemarle in January laid off more than 300 employees amid the price decline, and said it would reduce investment to $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion this year, down from about $2.1 billion it invested last year.

Arcadium, formed through the merger of Livent and Allkem last January, said in August it was pausing its Galaxy project in Quebec due to the current economics of building lithium projects. And last month, it announced plans to put its Mt. Cattlin spodumene mine in Western Australia into care and maintenance.

Meanwhile, Rio Tinto has over the last six years shown increasing interest in the lithium space. In 2018, it reportedly tried to buy a $5 billion stake in SQM and in 2021, it started lithium production from waste rock at a demonstration plant located at a borates mine it controls in California.

In 2022, it acquired the Rincon project in Argentina, where it plans to develop a battery-grade lithium carbonate plant with an annual capacity of 3,000 tonnes. It has earmarked $350 million for the project.

With more than 1,200 metres of mine development finished at Dasa, the mineralized ore is being segregated into different grades ahead of commissioning at the end of 2025, Global Atomic said in a progress update on Thursday. The company has paved a ramp into the proposed $425 million capex underground mine now developed to 1,200 metres deep.

“We continue to make excellent progress at the Dasa project site as we complete site preparation for civil works to begin and installation of the acid plant as the first major component of the Dasa processing plant,” Stephen Roman, Global Atomic president and CEO, said in a release.

“A committee with representatives from several key government ministries is being formed to expedite the resolution of any outstanding issues that may arise relating to mining, finance, transportation and labour within Niger.”

Global Atomic shares traded at C$1.47 apiece on Friday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at C$333.7 million. Despite the stock uptick, its shares remain in a slump, having lost 53% of their value almost six months after the Niger military government ordered United States troops to leave the Sahel nation. The stock traded between C$1.13 and C$3.91 this year.

Progress at Dasa comes almost two months after the Nigerien government pledged its full support for the project, but other uranium developers in Niger faced major setbacks this past summer. In June, he government withdrew a mining permit for Orano’s Imourare project, and in July, it revoked the mining licence for GoviEx Uranium‘s (TSXV: GXU) Madaouela project.

Meanwhile, the spot price for uranium oxide rose to $82 per lb. this week from $78.50 per lb. at the end of August. And a deal last month between Microsoft and Constellation on a 20-year power purchase from the restarted Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, is just one example of how a resurgent nuclear industry is buoying the uranium market.

Processing plant progress

Earthworks for the acid plant at Dasa are finishing up, with the contractor next preparing the site for the crusher, and the SAG mill location to follow.

Equipment for the plant is arriving at the site, as well as components for the acid plant, shipped through Nigeria to the south.

The camp is expanding in phases to support the roughly 450 employees and contractors now at Dasa, and the workforce expansion to 900 during the peak of construction next year.

The mine plan, announced in March, put output at 68.1 million lb. of yellowcake over a 23-year period starting in 2026, based on a throughput of 1,000 tonnes per day. The company expects the plant to produce up to 1,200 tonnes per day. It plans to update the flow chart this quarter.

Financing

An unnamed U.S. development bank is pledging to approve a $295 million loan covering 60% of Dasa’s costs, Global Atomic said. For the remaining 40% of the funding, the company has already invested about $120 million. Global Atomic expects confirmation of the approval schedule with the bank is this month.

It’s also seeking possible joint ventures in talks with other groups it declined to name.

The military coup in July last year led the US to suspend government funding for Dasa, but the company managed to raise C$15 million in January and C$20 million in July by selling stock.

American troops had been in Niger to fight regional Islamic insurgents since a 2012 agreement. The West African country supplies about 5% of global uranium demand making it the seventh-largest producer, including about 20% of the European Union’s needs. Numerous junior and large companies are exploring in Niger. French-state owned Orano said in February it was restarting production that was suspended after the coup.

Dasa hosts 73 million lb. in probable reserves of uranium oxide in 8 million tonnes grading 4,113 parts per million uranium oxide, according to the feasibility study. Global Atomic has signed offtake agreements for 1.3 million lb. of uranium a year.

The project holds 3 million oz. contained metal, according to a February resource update, and could hold as much as 5 million oz. gold, Gilligan said during the Gold Forum Americas in Colorado Springs, Col. The company skipped a preliminary economic assessment after a major discovery at the Rangefront deposit two years ago added a million ounces.

“We’re an explorer rapidly becoming a developer,” Gilligan said. “Our goal now is to take this forward, build the mine, and become a producer. It’s an exciting time for Liberty Gold as we move up the value curve.”

Meanwhile, 20,000 metres of exploration drilling continues with results expected by year-end. Liberty also made waves at its Gold Strike project in Utah, where a recent antimony discovery could open new opportunities. With the United States classifying antimony as a critical mineral, Gilligan says Liberty may benefit from government support and growing demand.

Watch the full interview below with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.

Hole AK24-118 cut 8.5 metres grading 0.59% uranium oxide (U₃O₈) from 153 metres depth, including 1.5 metres of 1.25% U₃O_8, the company reported Thursday. Hole AK24-119 cut 21 metres grading 0.28% U₃O₈ from 141 metres depth, including 1.5 metres grading 1.55% U₃O₈. Both holes were drilled at Ackio’s easterly Pod 6 target.

“We are highly encouraged by the results from holes AK24-118 and AK24-119, as they are the best intersections in Pod 6 and rank among the top 20 drill holes at Ackio,” James Sykes, Baselode CEO and president said in a release. “These results strengthen our confidence in Ackio. It’s remarkable that, just over three years after discovering Ackio, we’re still achieving better-than-expected grades and widths.”

Baselode shares gained C$0.01 to C$0.13 apiece on Thursday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at C$17.3 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$0.10 to C$0.61.

The results are part of a 12,000-metre drill program at Ackio, where mineralization starts at 25 metres depth. Ackio is made of up nine targets, or pods, inside Baselode’s Hook project, 40 km southeast of the McArthur River mine and 60 km northeast of the Key Lake uranium mill, jointly owned by Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) and Orano in a 70-30 split.

Hook is hosted within the basement rocks of the Wollaston domain, which hosts some of the highest-grade uranium deposits in the world.

Increasingly higher grades

Hole AK24-119 was drilled to test the northern extent of Pod 6 and cut twice the grade and more thickness than AK22-039, which was 25 metres downdip of AK24-119 and was drilled in November 2022.

A third noteworthy hole, AK24-117, returned 7.5 metres grading 0.07% U₃O₈ from 128.5 metres depth. It was drilled to test the mid-lower reaches of Pod 6, 15 metres updip of hole AK22-020, drilled in August 2022.

Assays are pending from another 40 drill holes at Ackio and Hook.

The project, located just east of Yellowknife, hosts 50.4 million inferred tonnes grading 1% lithium oxide (Li₂O) for 506,000 tonnes of Li₂O, or 1.25 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent, according to the resource, released on Monday.

“With (the resource) based only on the initial drilling program, the Yellowknife lithium project already ranks among the top 10 largest spodumene projects in the Americas,” Francis MacDonald, Li-FT CEO said in a release. “The majority of the deposits included in the (resource) have not yet been constrained by the drilling completed to-date and have excellent potential to significantly grow through further drill programs.”

Li-FT has quickly advanced the project, which comprises seven targets located along the all-season Ingraham Trail highway. However, the resource comes as lithium prices have dropped 88% over the past two years. Battery-grade lithium hydroxide has fallen to $9,950 per tonne on Tuesday from $22,275 a year ago and around $85,000 a tonne in late 2022, according to The Wall St. Journal.

‘30 million additional tonnes’

SCP Equity Research analyst Brandon Gaspar said in a note on Monday that Li-FT’s 50.4 million-tonne estimate compares well with Winsome Resources’ (ASX: WR1) initial 66-million tonne resource for Adina. Another 20 to 30 million tonnes could be added to the resource when drilling resumes, for a long-term target of 80 million tonnes, he added.

Li-FT’s preliminary economic assessment for the project, scheduled for the second quarter of 2025, is likely to emphasize strip ratio, stockpiling dense media circuit recovery and scheduling at a higher cut-off grade, Gaspar said.

Third biggest in Canada

With its 506,000 contained tonnes of Li₂O, the Yellowknife lithium project is behind the two largest lithium projects in the country by contained metal, Patriot Battery Metals’ (TSX: PMET; ASX: PMT) Shaakichiuwaanaan project and Winsome’s Adina, both in Quebec.

Shaakichiuwaanaan hosts 80.1 million indicated tonnes grading 1.44 Li₂O for 1.1 million contained tonnes Li₂O, and 62.4 million inferred tonnes at 1.31 Li₂O for 820,000 inferred tonnes Li₂O.

Adina hosts 60.5 million indicated tonnes grading 1.14 Li₂O and 15.9 million inferred tonnes at 1.17% Li₂O, for 900,000 tonnes Li₂O.

Li-FT’s resource is based on 49,548 metres of drilling done between June 2023 and last April on two sets of targets located 25 km and 50 km east of Yellowknife.

Company shares were down 0.7% to C$2.69 apiece on Tuesday afternoon in Toronto, valuing the company at C$106 million. On Monday, shares spiked 11.4% to C$3.04 before closing at C$2.71. Li-FT shares traded in a 52-week range of C$1.86 and C$7.15. 

The agreement values Anfield shares at C$0.103 apiece, a 32% premium to Anfield’s closing price on Monday, IsoEnergy said in a release. The purchase gives IsoEnergy 84% and Anfield 16% of the company.

IsoEnergy also gains several conventional uranium and vanadium projects in Utah, Colorado, Nex Mexico and Arizona. Shootaring is rare in the US for being a licensed, permitted and built conventional uranium mill. It will help the company “substantially” expand output potential as it advances the past-producing and permitted Tony M and Daneros projects near Shootaring in Utah. The company aims to become one of the country’s largest uranium producers as nuclear power gains traction to fight climate change.

“Today’s acquisition of Anfield strengthens both our resource base and near-term production potential,” CEO Philip Williams said. “The combined uranium mineral endowment will rank as one of the largest in the U.S., supported by a 100% owned processing facility, multiple fully permitted mines ready for rapid restart, and a strong pipeline of longer-term development projects.”

Shares fall

Shares in IsoEnergy fell nearly 6% on Tuesday morning in Toronto to C$3.14 apiece, valuing the company at C$566.7million. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$2.37 to C$4.40. Anfield stock rose nearly 30% to C$0.09 for a market capitalization of C$91.7 million. Their range has been C$0.055 to C$0.11.

The company has applied to increase Shootaring’s throughput to 1,000 tonnes a day from 750 tonnes per day, allowing IsoEnergy to triple output capacity to 3 million lb. U₃O₈ (uranium oxide or yellowcake) from 1 million lb. U₃O₈. IsoEnergy has toll-milling agreements with Energy Fuels’ (TSX: EFR; NYSE: UUUU) White Mesa mill in Utah for additional processing flexibility.

The acquisition more than doubles IsoEnergy’s uranium resources for a total of 17 million measured and indicated lb. and 10.6 million inferred lb. to rank it among the largest in the US, the company said. The consolidation of assets in Utah and Colorado offer cost savings in transportation and administration, it said.

M&A path

The deal comes exactly a year after IsoEnergy took over Consolidated Uranium in an all-stock deal including Tony M and Daneros, among others. Tony M is 6 km from Shootaring. IsoEnergy also holds Hurricane, the world’s highest grade indicated uranium resource, in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. It has other projects in Quebec, Nunvaut and Australia.

IsoEnergy plans to use the Shootaring mill to process ore from Anfield’s Velvet-Wood and Slick Rock projects. The two projects together have 811 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.29% U₃O₈ for 4.6 million lb. yellowcake, according to an April 2023 resource.

The Anfield acquisition gives IsoEnergy larger scale for access to capital and even more M&A, CEO Williams said.

“IsoEnergy is committed to becoming a globally significant, multi-asset uranium producer in the world’s top uranium mining jurisdictions,” he said. “With the global shift towards nuclear power, we believe the outlook for uranium has never been stronger.

“We need about $1 trillion in investment to produce enough metals for the energy transition,” Theo Yameogo, EY Americas and Canada Mining and Metals Leader told The Northern Miner. “We haven’t seen that coming in. Now it’s the #1 (risk) because people are really worried. We’ve seen some M&A, but we haven’t seen direct investment in the mining sector.”

The report, based on an annual survey of senior mining and metals leaders from organizations with $1 billion in revenue, outlines the top 10 business risks and opportunities for mining and metals as 2025 approaches. EY conducted the survey in June and July, collecting 353 responses.

Second in the ranking is environmental stewardship, and companies focus on preserving nature amid mining activity; and in third is geopolitics, such as the United States’ plan to source and process critical minerals from countries outside China’s influence; in fourth place is resource depletion; and in fifth is miners’ licence to operate.

Costs have increased not just because of inflation, but also because community standards are changing, Yameogo said. For example, miners in Chile need to build desalination plants rather than using fresh water that local communities depend on.

“It makes mines more costly to build. You have capital to do just business as usual, capital for the energy transition and capital for the new standard of mines,” he said.

Mining companies are seeking a wider range of capital sources, the EY report states, while companies are also considering partnerships or JVs to help reduce risks and financing requirements. Among respondents, 41% said they were considering commodity traders as a source of funds, 40% supplier funding and 40% export credit finance.

Less cash, more M&A

As miners struggle to secure new capital, it shows the need to change gears in their strategy, the report states.

Yameogo explains that compared to several years ago, capital strategies have shifted towards being more productive with less capital, and companies are streamlining their business to focus on a smaller number of metals.

“In the last year and a bit, the separation of businesses is now a big deal,” he said. “Some companies say, ‘we’ll just do copper now,’ or ‘we’re going to do base metals and get rid of our coal.”

Another trend emerging among critical minerals portfolios is tendencies towards M&A, and EY says it expects to see more consolidation of copper assets by majors as the demand outlook for the red metal is strong.

The report cites another April CEO survey conducted by EY, which showed that all mining and metals respondents plan to do some type of transaction over the next year. Of those surveyed, 76% said they expect to pursue divestments, spin-offs or initial public offerings; 54% expect to do M&A and 33% expect to pursue joint ventures and strategic partnerships.

Yameogo suggests that miners view the capital risk as connected with the other risks in the ranking, especially if they’re looking to finance projects in geopolitically or environmentally risky jurisdictions.

“So even if capital is the biggest risk for 2025, we need to understand that it’s because there’s other pieces that are impacting capital,” he said. “If you’re raising capital, you better make sure that your environmental stewardship is solid, right? We need to transform the sector to be ready for the energy transition.”

Environmental stewardship

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities came second in this year’s risk ranking, down from first last year, but this year the “E” has taken on more prominence, EY reported.

“Nature-positive initiatives” or a focus on reversing the loss of nature were a goal of 46% of respondents, and company sustainability teams are dealing with growing expectations around performance.

That focus comes as new standards such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (ISTM) take shape.

The EY study found that 44% of respondents said waste management would be the top concern for investors in the next 12 months. That focus was broad and went beyond tailings to include improving mine performance with higher strip ratios, using closed loops to cut waste and emissions and reprocessing tailings.

But by the same token, the “G” in ESG fell out of the top 10 risks in the report, with EY stating that its de-prioritization compared to last year was unexpected and a “gap” for miners.

A focus on governance is important because board-level oversight is needed to ensure projects aren’t subject to accusations of greenwashing.

New risks this year

Resource depletion is a new risk on the list this year. Declining ore grades are raising the cost of extraction, while high-grade resources have almost been mined out, EY states.

EY suggests miners consider investing in new exploration technologies, replacing lower reserves through M&A, improving productivity with better techniques and processing, and exploring in settings such as on the ocean floor or on asteroids.

Another new risk on the list, in eighth place, is new projects, which will be necessary if the world is to meet the huge demand for critical minerals in the energy transition.

Numerous challenges complicate the task of opening new mines, such as regulatory issues, high taxes, lack of standardization, inflation and lower ore grades, which raise costs.

The report suggests miners build deeper connections with stakeholders to strengthen the licence to operate; derisk capital projects by integrating across supply chains to lower costs; and develop new talent pools to access skills needed for sustainability, automation and electrification which might be outside the traditional mining industry.

Community opposition in Quebec cottage country may sink Lomiko Metals’ (TSXV: LMR) prefeasibility-stage La Loutre project, the seventh-largest undeveloped graphite deposit, after the province denied it funding.

The proposed open-pit mine about 100 km north of Ottawa landed research and development grants of $8.35 million (C$11.2 million) from the US Department of Defense and C$4.9 million from Natural Resources Canada in May. However, two provincial ministers said in September they wouldn’t approve the key Quebec infrastructure funding needed to build the C$236 million capex project because it lacks local support.

La Loutre is at a make-or-break point as Western countries promote domestic battery metal projects to supply the transition away from fossil fuels and from depending on China for minerals and processing. But it also lies at the juncture of support or not from a province considered to have some of the most pro-mining legislation and that is aggressively building local battery minerals capacity.

The Petite-Nation Lakes Protection Group, which represents five municipalities in the Laurentian Mountains region around La Loutre, says it’s concerned the proposed open-pit on the dividing line between two watersheds will pollute waters.

Lake district

“There are very big lakes around this project and there are thousands of people living around it, and more and more those are permanent residents, not only cottagers,” Petite-Nation organizer Louis Saint Hilaire said by phone on Monday. “That’s the reason why there’s such a mobilization against this project.”

Provincial Natural Resources Minister Blanchette Vézina said funding agency Investissement Quebec wouldn’t finance the project. Vézina echoed comments by Mathieu Lacombe, Quebec minister responsible for the Outaouais region. He cited Premier François Legault saying in 2022 that mining projects require public support to be approved.

“This is a project that needed government support to come together, and today I’m telling you it does not have it,” Lacombe told an event in Gatineau on Sept. 16. “This can reassure citizens who don’t want this project, which might be a good project, but isn’t in a good place.”

The company criticized the ministers the next day for going against the province’s leadership role in promoting battery metal projects and its mining-friendly reputation without waiting for important studies.

‘Contradictory’ stance

“We are surprised and disappointed at the negative comments directed toward Lomiko by members of the Quebec government,” the company said in a statement. “It appears the comments, where Quebec is seen as a global leader with a Plan for the Development of Critical and Strategic Minerals, is contradicting its own four strategic initiatives with comments made publicly about Lomiko and our efforts.”

Lomiko said government officials weren’t giving the company a chance for consultation and permitting through economic and proposed feasibility studies that so far show it has a “compelling” business case. The company is conducting environmental research as it seeks a partner to help develop the project.

“It appears the government has made pre-emptive conclusions about our project,” the company said. “We are committed to executing our business plan in the most environmentally friendly manner possible and will engage with any party concerned about our business to allay fears and foster informed discussions of graphite in community settings.”

Financing criteria

On Monday, Minister Vézina said the company didn’t meet the criteria to receive financial help form Investissement Québec.

“The government does not arbitrarily decide whether or not to support a project,” she told The Northern Miner by email. “We put in place a legislative and regulatory framework so that economic projects, including mining projects, can see the light of day. We can decide to become a financial partner in projects when they are in line with our priorities.”

La Loutre has an after-tax net present value of C$185.6 million at an 8% discount rate, according to a 2021 preliminary economic assessment.

The study shows an after-tax internal rate of return of 21.5%, payback period of 4.2 years and all-in sustaining cost of $406 per tonne of graphite concentrate over a 15-year mine life. Graphite flake concentrate was selling for about $830 a tonne in China on Monday, according to Fastmarkets.

Shares in Lomiko Metals fell 6% by early afternoon Monday in Toronto to C$0.16 apiece, valuing the company at C$7.2 million. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$0.10 to C$0.70.

Resource update

La Loutre holds 68.3 million indicated tonnes grading 4.08% carbon graphite for 3.1 million tonnes graphite in situ, the company said in updated resource in May. There are 12.7 million inferred tonnes grading 4.11% carbon graphite containing 800,000 tonnes of in situ graphite.

The proposed mine’s average annual graphite concentrate production would be 108,000 tonnes for the first eight years with a life-of-mine average annual output of 97,400 tones.

Saint Hilaire said his group is optimistic the project won’t advance because final approval lies with the province, and his group has told federal regulators as well. The group held three information sessions this year on the project and plans a community referendum in November next year.

“There were more than 100 business people from the region that said publicly they were against this project,” he said. “This is not standard.”

Nearly 80% of mining executives are optimistic about the wider industry’s five-year growth prospects, up sharply from 62% in KPMG’s last global survey in 2022, the business consultancy said on Thursday. The risk of operating in foreign countries is increasing, 78% said.

“The picture is of a confident industry who are used to navigating the challenges,” Heather Cheeseman, KPMG’s Canada mining leader, said in the report. “Especially among critical minerals businesses, this confidence may have been boosted by the Canadian government’s increasingly protectionist stance in terms of foreign takeovers.”

Community relations, commodity prices, access to capital and the permitting process remain among the top concerns of executives, the consultancy found. During July and August, it surveyed 100 companies valued from C$100 million to more than C$10 billion. They included operators, exploration and development companies, mining service providers, and mine finance companies. Most were in Canada and more than half were in precious metals.

Geopolitics

“Geopolitical uncertainty has become more acute in recent times given various trade tensions, regional conflicts and a spate of political elections around the world, all of which have the potential to impact the value chain in various ways,” KPMG says.

“With commodity prices high, and demand for precious metals and critical minerals expected to increase, there are many reasons to be confident about the road ahead.”

The social licence to operate in a community is regarded as an important near-term and long-term risk to operations, according to the report.

“License to operate is key for the mining industry,” Kim Swanzey, national sustainable supply chain leader at KPMG, said in the report. “It weaves together so many elements that relate directly to public perceptions of mining – regulatory requirements, governmental relations, human rights and Indigenous communities.”

Rising risks include cyber attacks, and regulatory reporting when environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards aren’t uniform across the industry, respondents said. ESG initiatives are mainly driven by compliance or contractual obligations as opposed to meeting the core expectation of stakeholders and building trust, 61% said. Only 53% said their company has a well-defined ESG strategy with enough resources.

Permits process

Also, 90% said the industry and governments must work more closely to align and streamline permitting processes. And Katherine Wetmore, a partner and GTA mining leader for KPMG, said the government’s protectionist stance on foreign takeovers garners a mixed reaction.

Some in the industry have said it cuts off Chinese investment for junior mining companies when they find it hard to raise funds on stock markets. Others say it strengthens Canada’s security by increasing its ability to meet rising demand for metals.

The difficulty in gaining access to capital can be pinned to increasing stakeholder expectations to spend money on ESG and low carbon solutions, declining ore grades, growing community expectations, and stricter regulations, KPMG said.

Nearly half (46%) of mining leaders said mergers and acquisitions are critical for their growth, although they are increasingly looking to establish strategic alliances, joint ventures, and partnerships to tap new technologies, innovations and experts.

“The industry’s focus on securing resources for technology and renewable energy is anticipated to drive continued M&A activity in the near future,” Wetmore said. “In fact, copper and lithium accounted for over 70% of critical mineral deals by volume last year.”

The index, which includes the largest majors such as BHP (LSE: BHP; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) and Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), hit 203.6 points on Tuesday from 177 points 19 days earlier. Tuesday’s 3.5%-jolt was the strongest single-day increase so far this year.

China’s central bank this week shifted its approach on a few fronts as the country strives to expand its economy by 5% this year. Its similar target last year was the lowest in more than three decades.

The US Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points on Sept. 18 in a move going beyond tackling inflation to help boost employment. Also, Washington conditionally handed out some of its $7 billion in Biden administration funding for the domestic electric vehicle supply chain.

Beijing, which controls the world’s largest mining and metals industry, said it will start using asset prices and inflation to set monetary policy targets instead of credit growth. It also lowered the reverse repo rate, which sets the cost of short-term borrowing for commercial banks, by 20 basis points. It moved to cut interest rates on outstanding mortgages by 50 basis points, which could benefit 50 million households, it said.

China rally

“This (policy shift) will likely involve relatively significant purchases of domestic debt and equities, with major banks recapitalized using foreign currency reserves,” BMO Capital Markets commodity research direct Colin Hamilton said in a note on Tuesday. “The question will be whether (the interest rate stimulus) is enough to boost weak consumer sentiment. Chinese equity and commodity markets rallied strongly on this news.”

This week, the US Department of Energy said it may grant $225 million to the Standard Lithium (TSXV: SLI, NYSE: SLI) and Equinor (NYSE: EQNR) South West Arkansas joint venture project. It also suggested $166 million in financing each for South32’s (LSE: S32; ASX: S32) Hermosa manganese project in Arizona, and Australian company Element 25’s (ASX: E25) high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate plant in Louisiana.

The Federal Reserve’s first interest rate cut since early 2020 saw gold rise and the combination boost equities. Gold producers’ cost of capital should fall while their metal assets increase in value, experts like Sprott managing partner Ryan McIntyre said.

The S&P/TSX Global Mining Index gained less than 1% to 127.43 by mid-Wednesday in Toronto. It’s gained 22% from 104.11 a year ago.

Index members

Other members on the index are Southern Copper (NYSE: SCCO), Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM), Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD), Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM, NYSE: WPM; LSE: WPM), Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) and Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV; NYSE: FNV).

China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which drafts and implements the government’s five-year plans, approved a raft of new infrastructure projects in August after loosening restrictions on transport, industrial and office developments, Hamilton noted on Monday.

“With steel and coke prices now also trending higher, we are becoming more confident of improved fourth-quarter demand conditions,” he said. “Concerns are mounting that Beijing will fall short of its 2024 growth target of ‘around 5%,’ leading us to expect large scale economic stimulus announcements towards to the end of the year.”

Highlight hole NT-24-019 cut 7.3 metres grading 14 grams gold per tonne from 343.4 metres depth, including 3.5 metres at 28.3 grams gold, the company reported Wednesday.

That hole confirmed high-grade mineralization at the junction of Newman Todd and the Hinge fault, the main focus for Renegade’s stage two drill program. It was also adjacent to hole NT-24-016 that cut 2.5 metres at 4.9 grams gold from 700 metres depth, Renegade reported on Sept. 12.

Company shares gained 2.2% to C$0.23 apiece on Wednesday morning in Toronto, valuing Renegade at C$10.3 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$0.17 to C$0.72.

“These new results are further confirmation that the mineralized system at Newman Todd is far larger, and much higher grade, than was previously understood,” Nav Dhaliwal, president and CEO of Renegade, said in a release. “The new model of mineralization developed by our team earlier this year has resulted in superb drill targeting – extending the deposit in width and depth, and now returning some of the strongest grades drilled on the property to date.”

The latest results at Newman Todd, located 1 km south of West Red Lake Gold Mines’ (TSXV: WRLG) Mount Jamie deposit at its Rowan project, and northwest of Kinross Gold’s (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) Great Bear project, come as the gold price continues to reach record highs. It touched $2,662.50 per oz. on Wednesday morning.

High-grade potential

The strength of mineralization in hole NT-24-019, in addition to other high-grade results reported this month, confirm the company’s updated geological model, Renegade said. That model points to potential for new, high-grade zones inside Newman Todd, located where faults cut across its 2.2-km long strike.

Future drilling in a 25,000-metre program is to focus on areas down plunge from the Hinge-Newman Todd intersection, with targets including areas not yet drilled and new mineralization zones in the hanging and foot walls of Newman Todd.

The deposit hosts 350,000 indicated tonnes grading 2.76 grams gold per tonne for 31,000 oz. and 574,000 inferred tonnes grading 2.78 grams gold for 51,000 oz. according to a historical resource from 2015.

Formerly known as Trillium Gold, in June last year, the company acquired Pacton Gold and increased its land holdings in Red Lake by 360 sq. km. It became Renegade Gold a month later.

Renegade also holds a 47% stake in the 86-sq.-km Sidace joint venture project with Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN). Sidace is an advanced gold project with more than 80,000 metres of drilling, including 17 of 18 drillholes completed in 2020 and 2021. Newman Todd is located about 26 km west of Evolution’s Red Lake mine, which is southwest of Sidace.

Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology (CSE: FAT; NASDAQ: FMST), a junior with early-stage projects in Quebec and Manitoba, is pivoting into uranium through a cash and shares earn-in deal with Denison Mines (TSX: DML; NYSE: DNN).

Foremost could acquire up to 70% in 10 of Denison’s northern Saskatchewan uranium projects after incurring C$12 million in exploration costs and paying about C$10.3 million in shares over six years, Foremost said on Tuesday. The projects cover some 1,350 sq. km in the Athabasca Basin uranium hotspot.

The deal and how Foremost is dropping lithium from its name show how poor prices for the light metal have quashed near-term development projects. Prices for battery grade lithium and for spodumene concentrate have tanked in the past year. Uranium producers continue to grow with a resurgent nuclear energy industry even as the heavy metal’s spot price has eased from a 17-year record high in January. Global moves away from fossil fuels are propelling the sector.

“This collaboration will advance significant near-term exploration and development efforts across numerous high-quality exploration projects to maximize the properties’ potential,” Foremost president and CEO Jason Barnard said in a release. “The Athabasca Basin is recognized as one of the world’s leading uranium jurisdictions.”

Shares in Denison Mines gained 2.3% to C$2.42 apiece by mid-Tuesday in Toronto, valuing the company at C$2.2 billion. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$1.91 to C$3.37. Shares in Foremost Lithium fell 1.2% to C$4.20 apiece, valuing the company at C$23.1 million. Their range has been C$2.60 to C$5.79.

Board member

The deal puts Denison president and CEO David Cates on the board of Foremost Clean Energy, as it will be known. Cates said his new partner’s exploration work concerns properties that would otherwise receive little attention from Denison. It’s focused on development and mining-stage projects. These include its main feasibility-stage Wheeler River, as well as Midwest, a joint venture with France’s Orano.

Seven of the deal’s properties are in the east part of the basin near existing infrastructure, and several of those have uranium mineralization in geology similar to regional discoveries, Foremost said.

One, Hatchet Lake, has been drilled this summer, while others contain drill-ready targets from previous exploration programs, the company said. Another, Torwalt Lake, is beside Orano’s McClean Lake operation, within 5 km of several uranium deposits and has potential to be similar in geology to Cameco’s (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) Key Lake or Collins Bay, Foremost said.

Three of the 10 properties are virtually unexplored and lie in the basin’s northwest. These so-called Blue Sky properties are Blackwing, GR and CLK, which encompass 1,016 sq. km. Holes drilled at CLK have intersected uranium mineralization, and regional geological surveys compiled by the Saskatchewan government indicate potential, the company said.

It isn’t Denison’s first venture with a lithium company. In January, it signed a deal with lithium explorer Grounded Lithium (TSXV: GRD) to earn up to three quarters of its Kindersley lithium brine project in western Saskatchewan.

The amount equals the initial capital required for the 2.3-billion-tonne project’s first stage, the Cowboy State mine, the Australian-based company said on Tuesday. The funding from the US Export-Import Bank, to be finalized after due diligence, could have a repayment term of 15 years, the bank said in a non-binding letter of interest.

American Rare Earths shares closed more than 16% stronger on the ASX on Tuesday at A$0.30 apiece. The company has a A$143.2 million market capitalization.

“This letter of interest from EXIM Bank is a significant milestone, highlighting the US government’s commitment to securing a robust domestic rare earth supply chain,” CEO Chris Gibbs said in a release. “The potential funding also paves the way to accelerate offtake agreements and attract strategic investors.”

Mining Intelligence ranked the project, being developed by American Rare Earth’s US unit Wyoming Rare, as one of the world’s top 10 rare earth projects measured in total rare earth oxides (TREO). The company envisions it as a multi-generational mine to challenge China’s dominance in producing the metals used in the magnets of electric vehicle motors.

Resource update

Halleck Creek’s ore grades 3,196 parts per million (ppm) TREO including neodymium and praseodymium for 7.5 million tonnes of contained TREO, according to a resource estimate updated in February along Australian JORC regulations. The estimate includes 1.42 billion tonnes in the measured and indicated category.

“We are grateful for the recognition and support from EXIM Bank, which will be instrumental in securing the funding needed to fast-track the development of this important project,” Wyoming Rare president Joe Evers said in the same release.

The funding would come from the federal agency’s Make More In America Initiative, American Rare Earths said.

The company cancelled a plan in April to spin off Wyoming Rare into a special purpose acquisition company to be separately listed. It had sought a similar path to how MP Materials (NYSE: MP) operates the only rare earths mine in the US, Mountain Pass in California.

Wyoming Rare also holds the La Paz rare earth deposit in Arizona, the Searchlight project in Nevada and the Beaver Creek project in Wyoming.