The move, Blue Evolution said, creates a combined entity that will leverage enhanced R&D capabilities to drive innovation and commercialize new seaweed-based products across multiple sectors – agriculture, biomaterials – and critical minerals.

In December of last year, the US Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) first announced its selection of scientific teams to explore the feasibility of extracting critical minerals from ocean macroalgae.

In July this year, Blue Evolution announced a groundbreaking advancement in sustainable biomining after it partnered with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Virginia Tech to develop a revolutionary method for sustainably extracting critical minerals and rare earth elements from seaweed.

The company operates seaweed farms in California and Alaska, and this month finalized a joint venture with the Māori Iwi Tribe to scale regenerative seaweed farming in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

From biofuels to rare earths

Blue Evolution CEO Beau Perry has been working with ARPA-E since 2017, first on large-scale systems for cultivation of seaweed for biofuels in Kodiak, Alaska, testing new hardware to grow seaweed in abundance, sustainably and economically.

Alaska is unparalleled in the US in terms of seaweed farming because of its size, environmental conditions and infrastructure. Perry noted both the state and the public are much more receptive to seaweed farming than to mining projects.

“It’s a relatively new industry. In post-war Japan, the coastal seaweed the Japanese had harvested for a long time was kind of destroyed…A British woman had closed the life cycle on nori in the early 50s. Seaweed farming was fairly new as a major agricultural sector, but now we grow, globally, 30 million tons of it,” Perry told MINING.com in an interview.

More than half of it is grown in China, but also Japan, Korea, Philippines and Indonesia.

The United States only entered the market ten years ago, and Perry said the US has grown a couple thousand tons so far.

Of over 10,000 species of seaweed worldwide, 300 species have been commercialized. Blue Evolution is working with six different species – four that they are growing in Alaska. Perry said seaweed has the potential to enter multiple markets because of its sustainability.

“It soaks up a lot more carbon than any terrestrial biomass per area, and it really only needs sunlight and seawater,” he said.

“We were looking [at] how to render biofuels from seaweed. PNNL was doing very in-depth content analyses of different samples of different species from different locations in our farmer network. We worked with different farmers that we’ve helped set up in Alaska, including the first ever commercial farm in Kodiak.”

The team started to find some unusual levels of minerals designated as in the strategic interest of US economic development and national security, but Perry said what got the Department of Energy’s attention was the rare earths.

The discovery is a positive development for a nascent North American rare earths market and taps into the broader issue of the glaring lack of domestic production. China has a near monopoly on mining and refining the group of 17 metals that are crucial to the development of smart electronic devices and wind turbines, and which are notoriously difficult to extract and expensive to process.

“This was sort of a beautiful accident, and it’s all a function of what’s in the water where the seaweed is growing,” Perry said.

“They’re a prolific sponge – they soak up nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon and a lot of minerals, and so in this first pass at the content analysis, we got a certain set of signals around REEs and precious metals, like rhodium, palladium and scandium.”

Each species of seaweed is metabolically prone to take up a certain set of minerals, and Perry noted some are really fascinating.

“We’ve seen sort of peaks and flat lines from different locations around the globe, and now we’re starting to fill in the puzzle of which seaweed could grow where to get what minerals,” he said.

“It’s clear that each one is taking up some combination of precious minerals, REEs and these other strategic minerals.”

The team has preliminary data and is working to understand which species, where, how they are grown, and determining scalable extraction methods.

“There’s kind of this matrix of ‘what am I growing the seaweed for?’ I think critical minerals past a certain scale will always be part of that based on what we’re seeing,” Perry said. “ In certain locations, that might be the primary one if we find a species that really soaks this stuff up. We’re talking parts per million, and even parts per billion as a baseline. It’s perfectly standard in mining.”

Doubling seaweed value

Perry said the company is forging ahead with a “very critical mineral centric expedition” to find if there are places to focus on critical minerals and develop farms that are primarily oriented towards producing them.

“It’s possible that the critical minerals are disruptive to seaweed farming economics generally. They could double the value of the biomass,” he said.

“If I were to grow at a level where … at a significant scale relative to that market, the amount of critical minerals that will be running through our supply chain will be significant. In some cases, maybe fundamentally changing the supply picture for specific critical minerals.”

“There are some tricks that we’re going to explore to really enhance the amount of rare earths per ton of biomass. It’s taking these things up all the time.

There are ways to coax maybe orders of magnitude more than we’re finding by accident, not really trying. We can do things at the genetic level, selecting for strains that are going to bioaccumulate more of a given target critical mineral.”

The goal, Perry said, is to really understand what’s possible from an extraction standpoint.

“There’s a certain amount of critical minerals that are economically recoverable from a site, but around it are a million years of sediment that the seaweed will be sort of steeped in, like a sponge. And that yield should actually increase over time, given that the baseline of those minerals should stay the same pretty much over a long period of time. And we’re going to get better at getting the seaweed to accumulate them and getting them out.”

When you think about a seaweed farm as a mine, it’s unlikely to run out anytime soon,” Perry said. “It will be replenished constantly by the ocean. So that, I think, from a mining perspective is pretty radical – I don’t need to spend $100 million to maybe break ground on a mine in 20 years.”

Newmont Corp. shares posted their biggest daily drop since 1997 on Thursday, tumbling 15% after the Denver-based company posted earnings, revenue and profit margins that fell short of analysts’ estimates in the third quarter, dragged down by higher costs. The stock traded a further 3% lower on Friday, with top rivals Barrick Gold Corp. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. also retreating.

Analysts had high hopes for the industry. Gold has surged more than 30% this year, while fuel prices — one of the miners’ key expenses — have been easing. But Newmont’s results revealed that big gold producers are still wrestling with inflationary pressures, especially regarding labor costs, that have lasted longer than expected.

“There’s a potential read-through here, assuming Newmont’s takeaways are accurate, that this is a risk factor for the industry,” said Josh Wolfson, a mining analyst with Royal Bank of Canada.

Newmont earned 80 cents a share, well short of the average estimate of 89 cents among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Revenue of $4.61 billion also trailed estimates, as did its gross profit margin, which slipped below 50%.

The company said it spent more to dig up the precious metal at its mines in Australia, Canada, Peru and Papua New Guinea than in the previous quarter. Capital expenses rose 10% due to expansion projects in Australia and Argentina, while some of the company’s highest expenses came from major assets it picked up through last year’s $15 billion takeover of Newcrest Mining Ltd.

Some of those cost issues are specific to the company, and not necessarily indicative of a broader industry trend. Newmont is undertaking costly maintenance work at its Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea — a notoriously complex operation in a remote region — and it spent more to restart its Cerro Negro mine in Argentina after operations were paused due to the deaths of two workers in April.

But the company’s growing costs for workers could signal trouble across the industry.

“It’s the labor costs where we’re seeing that escalation,” chief executive officer Tom Palmer told analysts in a conference call Thursday.

“Whether that be maintenance shutdowns, maintenance that you use to supplement your workforce, costs of running camps, costs of flying people to and from the camps — that’s where we’re seeing some escalation beyond what we’d assumed at the start of the year.”

Miners’ pitch to investors is that they can offer better returns than owning the metal, partly due to greater investment options and shareholder payouts, but the industry has often underperformed over the past 15 years as major expansions left producers with big debts and angry shareholders.

Newmont’s earnings also serve as a preview for Canada’s Barrick, which shares a giant mining complex with Newmont in Nevada. The Nevada mines produced less gold compared to the previous quarter.

Despite investor disappointment, the gold miners are still being helped by the bullion boom: Newmont posted its highest quarterly profit in five years, raking in $922 million. Analysts expect Newmont is on track to net $3.2 billion in profit this year — which would be a record for the company.

Even after this week’s plunge, Newmont’s shares are up 15% this year.

Barrick, Agnico and other big producers including AngloGold Ashanti Plc and Gold Fields Ltd. are also expected to rake in windfall returns by the end of the year.

“The street expectations were too high,” said Carey MacRury, a mining analyst at Canaccord Genuity who recommends investors buy the shares. “It was negative, no doubt, but I don’t think it’s as negative as what the market’s telling us today.”

(By Jacob Lorinc)

Shares fell as much as 9.1% in New York on Thursday, the biggest intraday decline since July 2022. The stock drop came a day after Newmont posted third-quarter results that missed analysts’ estimates on adjusted earnings, costs and revenue. Newmont fell short of expectations after spending more to dig up the precious metal at its mines in Australia, Canada, Peru and Papua New Guinea.

The Denver-based company is the first major gold producer to post results in an earnings season where investors have been anticipating bumper profits from bullion producers. Gold is among the best-performing metals this year, surging more than 30% since the start of January and setting repeated record highs.

“The street expectations were too high,” said Carey MacRury, a mining analyst at Canaccord Genuity. “It was negative, no doubt, but I don’t think it’s as negative as what the market’s telling us today.”

Despite the missed expectations, Newmont posted its highest quarterly profits in five years — raking in $922 million in net income attributable to shareholders for the quarter.

Gold miners have struggled with higher labor and energy costs over the past few years. Newmont said its capital expenses rose 10% due to expansion projects in Australia and Argentina. But some of the company’s higher expenses came from major assets it picked up through last year’s $15 billion takeover of Newcrest Mining Ltd. Newmont posted 55% higher all-in sustaining costs at its Lihir operation in Papua New Guinea in the third quarter compared to the prior period.

The higher expenses are largely due to specific operational issues at Newmont mines, according to MacRury.

“We don’t see the cost miss as inflation read-through to the broader industry,” he said.

(By Jacob Lorinc)

Among the 19 holes released late Tuesday were some of the best at Arakompa yet. Hole KARDD0029 hit 20.6 metres at 9.87 grams of gold equivalent per tonne from 240.6 metres depth. This included 10.7 metres at 14.97 grams gold equivalent. Hole KARDD0025 returned 23.6 metres at 6.57 grams gold equivalent. Drilling confirmed bulk mining potential given broad intercepts such as 100.8 metres at 1.92 grams gold equivalent and another that cut 111.62 metres at 1.53 grams gold equivalent per tonne.

The company’s executive vice president for exploration Chris Muller says Arakompa mineralization is comparable to the company’s producing Kainantu mine’s Kora and Judd veins. Kainantu is expected to operate until 2034, but the company aims to extend its lifespan further through expansions and exploration at the Kora, Judd, and Arakompa deposits.

“The grades and thicknesses at Arakompa mirror the Kora veins, making it just as prospective,” Muller said in a news release.

Located 4.5 km from the cornerstone Kainantu mine in the country’s Eastern Highlands, the Arakompa deposit hosts a historical resource of 800,000 oz. at 9 grams gold per tonne. It’s seen as critical for sustaining K92’s future production and could cut development costs by using existing infrastructure.

K92’s CEO, John Lewins, said the results opened up selective and bulk mining opportunities. “With Arakompa delivering grades and thicknesses like these, it fits seamlessly into our long-term strategy,” he said in the release.

Running the first drill program in 32 years on Arakompa, K92 has ramped up exploration, increasing from one to four drill rigs this year. The deposit is open along strike and at depth. The company plans to release an initial resource estimate by early next year.

Growth platform

Last year, Kainantu produced 117,607 oz. gold equivalent, including 100,533 oz. gold, 7.7 million lb. copper, and 160,628 oz. silver, beating guidance of 111,000 to 116,000 gold equivalent ounces. It forecasts 2024 output at about 130,000 oz. gold equivalent at the midpoint.

K92 released updated resource estimates for Kora and Judd deposits in December. Kora’s measured and indicated resource now stands at 6.9 million tonnes grading 10.24 grams gold equivalent per tonne, up 8% from 2.1 million oz. in October 2021. Its inferred grew to 14.3 million tonnes at 8.6 grams per tonne for 3.9 million oz., a 58% jump, thanks to drilling along the deposit’s southern extensions of the K1 and K2 lodes.

Judd’s measured and indicated resource increased to 1.2 million tonnes at 8.7 grams gold equivalent for 350,000 oz., a 167% rise from the Dec. 2021 estimate. The inferred resource tripled to 2.3 million tonnes grading 7.7 grams gold equivalent per tonne for 560,000 oz., driven by more drilling and a 130% increase in the strike length since the end of 2021.

Kainantu has measured and indicated resources of 8.7 million tonnes at 10.2 grams gold equivalent per tonne, or 2.9 million ounces. It also has inferred resources of 17.1 million tonnes at 8.6 grams per tonne, or 4.7 million ounces.

The company’s Toronto-quoted shares last traded down 1% at C$9.37, having touched C$4.64 and C$9.90 over the past 12 months. It has a market capitalization of C$2.2 billion.

Explorers and developers often overstate the certainty of mineral resource classifications based on inadequate data, Desharnais said at an event in Vancouver on Wednesday. The practice has in some instances led to unexpected analyst downgrades, soaring costs and debt, and the derailment of promising assets.

“That classification debt, unfortunately, needs to get paid,” he told about 430 conference participants from 21 countries at CIM’s first Mineral Resources & Mineral Reserves conference. “The CEO may be walking around with a 3-million-oz. resource estimate, but they haven’t earned that classification with sufficient drilling. When the debt comes due, it’s often through painful reclassifications and revisions.”

Decade of missteps

Several recent projects have demonstrated the high cost of classification debt.

Rubicon Resources’ catastrophic 91% downgrade in resource estimates in 2015 stands as one of the most glaring examples. After it began initial production at the F2 gold deposit on its Phoenix property in Ontario’s Red Lake district, the company found the deposit to be uneconomic, shuttering the operation. It had not completed a feasibility study for the high-grade project.

The size of the downgrade blindsided investors and stakeholders, and the company had to undergo a painful restructuring to survive. Rebranded as Battle North Gold, Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) bought it and its renamed Bateman project in 2021 for $343 million.

In 2018, Pretium Resources promoted the Brucejack gold project in northwestern British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, now owned by Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT, ASX: NEM, PNGX: NEM), as a high-grade gold deposit. Yet, the asset disappointed when gold production grades fell far below expectations.

The nuggety nature of the gold, with Brucejack’s steeply dipping quartz veins and erratic grade distribution, made it difficult to consistently meet production targets, forcing the company to push tonnage through the mill to compensate for lower-than-expected grades.

Aurora (2018), Rainy River (2019), and Gold Bar (2020) show how resource overestimation hurt Guyana Goldfields, New Gold (TSX: NGD; NYSE: NGD) and McEwen Mining (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX). They had to downgrade estimates mid-operation. This triggered mine plan revisions, soaring costs, production delays, and financial strain.

Grade versus geometric risk

Desharnais identifies two types of risk that contribute to resource misclassification: grade risk and geometric risk.

Grade risk reflects patchiness in ore quality, while geometric risk involves uncertainty about the size and shape of mineralized domains within the deposit.

Conditional simulations help assess grade risk, Desharnais said, but tools to quantify geometric risk are lacking.

Companies often overestimate deposit geometry without tighter drilling, leading to costly misjudgments.

“Sparse drilling gives us a simpler picture than reality,” he explained, adding that only closely spaced drilling can reveal the true complexity of orebodies.

Best practices

Mathieu Doucette, a senior geologist at ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), talked about the difficulty of classifying resources at Canada’s largest iron mine, the Mont-Wright iron ore mine in Quebec, producing continuously since 1974. Outdated data can affect current resource estimates. He illustrated how mixing in fresh drill holes helps manage geological risk as part of a dynamic model essential to avoid misclassification.

“The first thing [a QP] will do is akin to lighting a torch,” he said. “But everything on the edges is dark, and you can’t really see it. Drill holes are our ability to try and get some information, but sparse data hides the full picture.”

David Machuca-Mory, a principal consultant at SRK Consulting, said fixed models are risky. Deposits can be more unpredictable than they seem. Adaptive methods help ensure estimates reflect reality, reducing the chance of costly surprises.

“Even with dense drilling, some areas remain highly uncertain,” Machuca-Mory said. “Confidence intervals are large, and relying solely on drill spacing doesn’t always guarantee accurate classification.”

Cognitive biases

Desharnais said that misclassification is not just a technical problem; human psychology plays a significant role.

Anchoring bias makes companies stick with initial estimates despite new data. Authority bias pressures geologists and consultants to confirm favourable results to please management or investors.

“The consulting firm wants the next contract,” Desharnais said. “The CEO has family and friends invested and needs good news. These biases create a system where classification debt builds up across projects, only to be paid through painful revisions later.”

Owning up

Desharnais argued for more conservative resource models and said benchmarking against operating mines would help set realistic expectations. He suggested that technical reports include histograms that show the distance between drill holes and classified resources, he added.

“It forces the QP or CP to look at what they’ve done and ask: Does this make sense?” he said. “Transparent reporting would help prevent overly aggressive classifications, ensuring companies earn their resource classifications with sufficient data.”

Such measures may slow development, but they could also reduce the prevalence of misclassified resources in the industry. Desharnais urged geologists to scrutinize each block of material above the cut-off grade.

“Over-promising today only delays the inevitable correction tomorrow,” he said.

“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.

The Takeovers Panel’s decision ends a long-running dispute over whether Rio Tinto or its majority owned uranium producer Energy Resources of Australia (ASX: ERA) would assume the site restoration’s costs.

It also clears the way for Rio to assume full control of the uranium producer via the company’s capital raising, announced in August.

ERA halted activities at Ranger in 2021, after 40 years of operations. The initial goal was to finish the site cleanup by 2026. Rehabilitation costs for the site have surged to A$2.2bn ($1.4bn) and ERA warned in August it would run out of money by December. It said at the time it would launch a capital rising, with Rio as the most likely buyer of shares.

Willy Packer’s Packer&Co and Richard Magides’ Zentree, who collectively own around 12% of ERA, filed an objection with the Takeovers Panel, saying the move would unfairly allow Rio to increase its stake in the company from 86.3% to 99.2%, clearing the way for the mining giant to buy out ERA.

The Takeovers Panel upheld on Tuesday its previous decision to reject the objections from the two minority ERA shareholders.

“ERA now intends to proceed with the [A$880 million] entitlement offer as soon as possible,” the company said on Tuesday.

Jabiluka

ERA still seeks to have its mining permit for Jabiluka, a vast uranium deposit surrounded by the Kakadu National Park, restored. The licence, which has been under the same company’s control since 1991, expired in August.

The Australian government, led by prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has pledged that Jabiluka will “never be mined” and instead will be integrated into the adjacent Kakadu National Park.

ERA filed the petition to have the mining licence back, despite Rio Tinto’s stating that it had no plans to develop the mine site and that it was pleased to see the traditional owners’ wishes respected. 

The Mirarr people have long opposed to mining activities in the region, organizing protests in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Rio Tinto has backed the traditional owners’ position in recent years as it works to repair its ties with indigenous groups after destroying sacred rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia in 2020 for an iron ore mine expansion.

Australia is home to almost one-third of the world’s identified uranium reserves, yet the mining of this resource is permitted in only two of its six states and two territories — South Australia and the Northern Territory. 

The country’s only operating uranium mines are BHP’s Olympic Dam, which generates uranium as a secondary product of its copper mining activities and Boss Energy’s Honeywell mine. Together, they account for around 9% of the global reported production.

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.

The New York-based analytics firm compiled a list of all major copper discoveries between 1990-2023 that met its threshold of 500,000 tonnes in either reserves, resources or past production. In total, 239 deposits met this criteria, for a total contained copper of 1.315 billion tonnes.

While the total copper volume grew year-on-year by 4%, or 61 million tonnes, most of the increase was attributed to older discoveries, with deposits found during the 1990s accounting for 70%, or 43 million tonnes, of the growth, S&P’s analysis found.

Only 14 of the deposits were from the past decade, accounting for only 46.2 million tonnes, or 3.5% of the total copper worldwide. Four of these deposits were made during the last five years (2019-2023), adding only 4.2 million tonnes.

Downward trend

These figures, as the S&P report notes, underscore the downward trend in the rate and size of major discoveries over the past decade. 

Exacerbating the issue, copper exploration budgets have remained well below decade-ago levels, despite surging copper prices, S&P adds. While the global exploration budget climbed 12% in 2023, this was still 34% lower than the peak of 2012, it estimates.

“The dearth of recent discoveries is a direct result of the industry’s continued focus on brownfield assets — extending known deposits and assets — rather than the generative exploration that could yield brand-new discoveries,” Sean DeCoff, author of the S&P report, said.

According to his analysis, grassroots’ share of the copper exploration budget in the 1990s and early 2000s typically ranged between 50% and 60%. However, in a 2023 CES survey, early-stage exploration registered just 28% — the lowest on record. 

“Until there is a reversal in exploration trends, the trend of fewer significant discoveries is likely to persist,” DeCoff said, adding that any new major discovery “will most certainly not match the 1990s in size or abundance.”

Regional contributions

Latin America remains by far the biggest hunting ground for copper, accounting for 55.6%, or 730.9 million tonnes, of the discovered copper from S&P’s dataset. Exploration in the region has mostly been concentrated in Chile and Peru, which combined for 573.9 million tonnes. The top three discoveries on the S&P list are from Chile (Collahuasi and Los Bronces) and Peru (Cerro Verde).

Asia-Pacific ranked second with 21% of global discovered copper, thanks to several tier-one assets such as Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, Grasberg in Indonesia and, more recently, Reko Diq in Pakistan.

The US and Canada are collectively ranked third with 10% of discovered copper. In the US, Resolution and Safford account for significant volume, but the nation’s largest discovery, Pebble, has been stymied by regulatory issues and public opposition, making its prospects uncertain.

Tier One deposits are “company making assets”, as they are large, have a low cost and a long productive mine-life. In the copper sector, such assets usually have a reserve potential of more than 5 million tonnes of contained copper and cash costs per pound in the lower half of the industry cost curve.

The partnership follows Cobre’s successful participation in the BHP Xplor program, which also provided funding for a recently completed seismic survey on the Kitlanya West project. The earn-in deal also includes Cobre’s East Copper project. Both are located in the Kalahari Copper Belt of Botswana.

A JV with BHP would provide Cobre with extensive exploration expertise and scale, increasing the likelihood of significant discoveries along the exploration area.

Cobre would retain full ownership of its Ngami and Okavango Copper projects, which would not be part of the proposed transaction.

“Successful negotiation and completion of this significant transaction with BHP will be a major moment in time for Cobre as a company,” chief executive Adam Wooldridge said in the statement.

Since Mike Henry assumed the top post at BHP in 2020, the company has been looking for significant copper assets. The quest has seen the miner make its largest acquisition in a decade with the buy of Oz Minerals, and making a failed $49 billion bid for smaller rival Anglo American (LON: AAL).

BHP recently joined forces with Canada’s Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) to acquire South America-focused Filo Corp. (TSX: FIL). The deal hands both buyers key copper assets in Chile and Argentina.

The McPhee Creek project, about 100km north of Rinehart’s Roy Hill mine, was originally slated to begin ore production in 2023. A lengthy approval process that began in early 2021, which included environmental and regulatory challenges, caused this milestone to be delayed to the 2025-26 financial year (FY26).

The A$600 million ($410m) McPhee project is relatively small, representing just 1.5% of Australia’s current iron ore exports. It will utilize existing processing, rail, and port infrastructure, which would help it have a “very small footprint”, according to Hancock Prospecting chief executive officer, projects, Sanjiv Manchanda. 

Rinehart thanked the team for their “years of efforts and persistence” in bringing the McPhee project to fruition.

She also took the opportunity to warn about “excessive government regulations stifling the industry”. In an interview with The Nightly, she said authorities are not protecting the local economy’s “golden geese”.

Never to see light of day

Citing data from the Minerals Council of Australia, Rinehart  said that 80% of mining projects in the pipeline would never see the light of day.

“This is serious, and if the government keeps bringing in policies and red tape and keeps attacking the mining golden geese, then there are other countries with iron ore and other minerals and investment will continue to move offshore,” she said.

Australia, the world’s leading exporter of iron ore, relies heavily on revenue from the steel-making material, which is the primary source of income for Hancock Prospecting. 

Weak iron ore prices and the need to secure a foothold on the growing battery metals market have prompted Rinehart in recent years to diversify into other sectors, including lithium, rare earths and copper. 

Despite the downturn in iron ore futures this year, the majority of Australian mining projects maintain production costs below current market prices.

The proposed lithium mine, about 225 miles (362 km) north of Las Vegas, contains one of the largest sources of lithium in North America. It could produce enough of the metal to power nearly 370,000 electric vehicles per year. 

The agency’s decision follows a review process spanning over more than six years, and is part of Washington’s ongoing efforts to strengthen domestic critical minerals production and counteract China’s dominance of battery mentals. If granted final approval, Rhyolite Ridge would be the first lithium project permitted by the Joe Biden administration.

Shares in ioneer soared on the news, closing more than 15% higher to A$0.19 each on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). This leaves the company with a market capitalization of A$432.42 million ($294m).

The Rhyolite Ridge asset is also home to a rare flower, which has given conservation groups arguments to oppose the project, highlighting the complexity of trying to balance the protection of biodiversity and the need for metals to reduce the globe’s emissions.

BLM officials said they worked closely with local, state and tribal governments on the environmental review announced Thursday.

Once it is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 30 days to submit comments. After the review period, the BLM will publish a final environment impact analysis, with a final decision — essentially a mining permit — to be issued within 30 days after that.

The Rhyolite Ridge lithium project “represents another step by the Biden-Harris administration to support the responsible, domestic development of critical minerals to power the clean energy economy,” the BLM said in statement.

Laura Daniel-Davis, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior, noted the proposed mine exemplifies what can be achieved when industry, states, tribes, and stakeholders collaborate to ensure prompt consideration and adaptation of projects that meet the US energy needs while respecting cultural and environmentally sensitive areas.

Rhyolite Ridge is the only known lithium-boron deposit in North America and one of only two known such deposits in the world.

Breaking away from imports

Lithium is one of 50 minerals identified as critical by the U.S. Geological Survey, which considers importance of the mineral to the country’s economy and national security and the vulnerability of its supply chains. Lithium batteries are used extensively in the growing market for portable electronic devices, vehicles, and grid storage applications. 

The US government has already backed another lithium mine in Nevada. Lithium Americas’ (TSX: LAC) (NYSE: LAC) Thacker Pass project is targeting 80,000 tonnes per annum of battery-quality lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) production capacity in two phases of 40,000 tonnes. Phase 1 production is expected to commence in the second half of 2026. The project is expected to create 1,000 jobs during construction and 500 jobs during operations.

US mining policy is currently administered through multiple agencies, including the BLM, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Papua New Guinea has granted police emergency powers, including the use of lethal force, to contain the violence in Porgera between illegal settlers squatting near the gold mine and local landowners, newspapers Post-Courier and The National reported late on Sunday.

“The Porgera gold mine has suspended the majority of its operations until 19 September for the protection of its employees while the government restores law and order in the surrounding region,” a spokesperson said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Two of its employees were killed in the violence, the spokesperson added.

Home to hundreds of tribes and languages, the Pacific nation to the north of Australia has a long history of tribal warfare.

Violence has increased over the past decade as villagers swapped bows and arrows for military rifles and elections deepened existing tribal divides.

(By Alasdair Pal; Editing by Sandra Maler)

The company inked a deal in April to acquire the Renard diamond mine and plant in northern Quebec with the goal of repurposing the existing infrastructure for processing ore from Adina. 

The lithium explorer and developer bought itself in August an extra three months to decide whether it would buy the past-producing mine, and today’s announcement suggests it would move in that direction.

Repurposing the existing dense media separation (DMS) and ore sorting facilities at Renard would be substantially cheaper than developing Adina from scratch, the scoping study shows. It would involve a relatively simple upgrade to use the DMS circuit to produce 282,000 tonnes per annum of 5.5% spodumene concentrate (38,000tpa lithium carbonate equivalent) over the mine life. 

“The ease of mining mineralized material at Adina via an initial low strip open pit along with the simple DMS flowsheet results in a competitive operating cost estimate, which optimization may improve further,” managing director Chris Evans said in the statement.

The executive noted the plant provides a significant commercial advantage compared to other proposed projects in Canada, highlighting that it would “continue to operate through market fluctuations and commodity cycles,” particularly given the current pricing challenges in the lithium market.

The scoping study indicates a post-tax net present value of $743 million, an internal rate of return of 43%, and a payback period of 1.8 years. Post-tax free cash flow over the mine’s life is estimated at $1.8 billion.

These figures are based on an average all-in sustaining cost of $693 per tonne and a forecasted spodumene concentrate (SC5.5) price of $1,375 per tonne. This is same estimate base used by its regional neighbour, Patriot Battery Metals (ASX: PMT)(TSX: PMET) at its flagship Shaakichiuwaanaan project, formerly known as Corvette.

Up to $1.1 billion in taxes

That project comes with a C$761 million ($560m) cost for a 2.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) plant capable of producing 400,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) due to its high-grade ore.

Renard’s processing capacity sits at 2.2Mtpa with a potential run rate of 1.7Mtpa, at an average head grade of 1.24% and targeted recoveries of 67%. 

The Adina project has a resource of 77.9Mt grading 1.15%, of which 35.8Mt is included in the production target. 

Winsome is currently advancing the permitting for the asset and finalizing due diligence on Renard, where approximately C$900 million was invested in infrastructure between 2016 and 2023 before the diamond market collapsed and its previous owner, Stornoway Diamonds, went bankrupt.

The company says the Adina lithium project would create 500 jobs during operation and could potentially generate more than $7.5 billion in gross revenue.

It could also potentially generate $1.1 billion in corporate Quebec provincial and Canadian federal taxes, supporting the local communities, the Australian miner says.

Shares in Winsome Resources jumped on the news closing on Tuesday at A$0.52, which leave it with a market capitalization of A$112. 5 million ($76m). 

Mate Bagossy, the UN’s humanitarian adviser for Papua New Guinea, confirmed on Monday that the death toll from the tribal conflict had reached “at least 20” but was “likely up to 50 people” based on information from community members and local authorities.

The fighting, involving hundreds of tribal warriors from the Sakar and Piande clans, started days ago. Both groups sought to gain control of local mining access, said the PNG government, which has called for “lethal force” to to stop the fighting.

PNG’s police commissioner David Manning told the BBC illegal miners and settlers are terrorizing local communities. “Put simply, if you raise a weapon in a public place or to threaten another person, you will be shot,” he said.

On Sunday alone, it is estimated that more than 300 shots were fired after peace talks between the rival tribes had failed, the police said.

In addition, the Porgera mine – the second largest in the South Pacific island nation – was briefly forced to cease operations as the fighting intensified, according to local media reports cited by the BBC.

“Over the past 24 hours, a significant escalation in tribal fighting has impacted many of our local employees. Homes have been destroyed, family and friends injured or killed, and people have been unable to sleep while living in fear,” Porgera’s general manager James McTiernan said in a statement to the South China Morning Post.

Barrick holds a 49% stake in the joint venture that owns Porgera, New Porgera Ltd., and is the mine’s operator. PNG stakeholders own the remaining 51%.

Located in Enga province, about 600 km northwest of Port Moresby, the mine employs over 3,300 locals and has produced more than 20 million oz. of gold over the life of mine, contributing around 10% of Papua New Guinea’s total annual exports.

However, tribal violence and government takeover had put a halt to Porgera’s mine production for nearly four years. A resolution was reached to resume the operations earlier this year.

The Western Australia-based miner revealed on Monday that CGN Mining Company, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power with a 11.26% stake in Fission, is opposing the tie-up.

Paladin moved in June to buy the Canadian miner for C$1.14 billion ($845 million), contingent on at least two-thirds of Fission shareholders voting in favour of the transaction by Aug. 26. 

The bid came amid the global shift towards nuclear energy that took off a year ago, when a supply crisis unfolded and utilities sought to secure long-term contracts, driving the spot price to a 16-year high in January.

The company, which would have become the third-largest publicly traded uranium producer with the planned acquisition, failed to reach that threshold as nearly half of eligible shareholders did not submit their proxies by the deadline. A special general meeting was postponed to Sept. 9, in which 67.9% of Fission’s shareholders voted in favour of the deal.

The matter is now before the Supreme Court of British Columbia, which will issue a final ruling on the acquisition. The court proceedings began on September 13 and are scheduled to resume on September 26.

Paladin chief executive, Ian Purdy, says that Fission’s Patterson Lake South project in Saskatchewan, Canada, is a natural fit for the company. It provides medium-term development potential to complement production from the recently restarted Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia, he says.

Closer to the US

Fission’s asset is also attractive because of its proximity to Paladin’s major customer, the United States, offering the chance to create a hub with Paladin’s existing tenement in Canada — Michelin.

The combined group would be worth $3.5 billion, hold dual listings in Australia and Canada, and churn out 10% of global uranium output.

Paladin has been hunting for growth options outside the home country, as Western Australia and Queensland ban uranium mining. The company believes there’s a shortage of primary production coming out of the ground and that the trend is set to continue.

“We’ve seen very strong demand for our Langer Heinrich product. And we expect that when we’re ready to bring our customers to underpin PLS later this decade, that demand (will) be extremely strong,” Purdy said during a July visit to Toronto.

Paladin shares dropped on the news Monday, reaching an intra-day low of $8.97 on the ASX. The stock closed 1.81% down at A$9.20 per share, leaving the company with a market capitalization of A$2.75 billion ($1.86bn).

It’s been a tough 12 months for the Perth-based company, as evidenced by its share price, which has fallen by around 60% over the same period. The two main commodities the company mines, lithium and nickel, are at cyclical price lows and it suspended development of its Cosmos nickel development project in Western Australia (WA) in January.

Former Rio Tinto Aluminium boss Ivan Vella joined IGO as managing director in 2023 and has spent the past six months mapping out the company’s future.

IGO operates the Nova nickel-copper-cobalt mine in WA and is a 49% partner in Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia (TLEA) with Tianqi Lithium, which holds 51% of the Greenbushes lithium mine and 100% of the Kwinana lithium refinery, both in WA.

The “thoughtful” new strategy focuses on upstream mining of lithium, copper and nickel, which Vella described as the standouts in the battery metals space.

IGO also considered other battery commodities including graphite, cobalt, rare earths and manganese.

“Our conclusion is not to exclude them completely but to focus heavily on the three big value pools where we think we can generate the most impact,” Vella said.

EV transition underway

Speaking to analysts in Sydney on Wednesday, Vella said the energy transition and the adoption of electric vehicles would drive demand for battery materials.

He said EVs in China had surpassed 40% market share and were now cheaper than internal combustion engine vehicles.

While adoption in China is advanced, it’s slower in the rest of the world, a trend IGO believes will evolve as adoption challenges are addressed.

“They’re different worlds with different drivers,” Vella said.

“We need to be building a business that’s resilient for both, that can take advantage of both.

“What we need to do is think about how we position our business to achieve returns through the cycle, in that context, where there is a lot of variation in the way these markets will develop.”

Lithium volatile

Prices for spodumene have fallen below $750 per tonne from as high as $6000/t in 2022.

While Vella described lithium as “ubiquitous”, he said it would be core to energy storage in the future.

“When we talk about lithium, there’s a lot of uncertainties, a lot of unknowns,” he said. “We think there’s a very attractive growth story there.

“The industry, we think, will scale three times in the next decade or so.”

IGO believes that sort of growth will require 80 new projects, based on a production rate of 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Vella said supply side challenges were still underappreciated.

“At the current prices, there’s not a lot of incentive for anyone to build anything,” he said.

According to Vella, the lithium market was still immature, which would require players to “embrace volatility over the next decade” until demand growth tapered off.

“If you’re going to be in the business of lithium, we think it’s something you really need to come to terms with and gear around,” he said.

IGO will look to have a pipeline of lithium projects focused on upstream mining with “carefully constructed” downstream exposure.

Vella said returns in the downstream space would be more challenging.

“We recognise this is an integrated industry and we need to be very thoughtful about how we integrate with the industry and with our customers,” he said.

Copper desirable

IGO already has copper exposure via Nova, which produced 9922t in the 12 months to June 30.

IGO’s desire for copper has been evident in the past with the company previously in talks with Glencore in 2022 to acquire the CSA copper mine in New South Wales, an asset eventually acquired by Metals Acquisition.

Vella acknowledged copper was a very important commodity for the energy transition.

“It’s attractive for us around diversification,” he said.

Chief financial officer Kathleen Bozanic said “every man and his dog” wanted more copper exposure.

“We don’t want to compete in the market – everyone is competing,” she said.

Vella suggested exploration success had the biggest potential for value uplift in copper.

Nickel still in the mix

Vella said nickel remained attractive, despite the flood of low-cost production coming from Indonesia.

“All of that creates a market that has some level of cap on it, in our view,” he said.

Nova still makes money at the current weak nickel price.

“It’s all about the quality of the resource,” Vella said.

“We wish we had a couple more [Novas]. We do know what good looks like in this space.”

IGO has initiated new studies at the mothballed Cosmos project, focused on what it would take to make the project cost competitive.

“The current view is unless we have a different mining technique there, it’s going to be difficult,” he said.

Exploration a lever

In August, IGO recorded a A$286 million ($192.5 million) impairment on its exploration assets.

However, exploration is a key pillar of the new strategy.

Newly appointed chief growth and commercial officer Brett Salt said he believed the company had several exploration advantages: tenure, people, relationships and propriety tools and data.

The company’s exploration package is extensive and covers 2% of Australia.

IGO will spend A$50-60 million on exploration this financial year, down from A$65-75 million in the 2024 financial year.

Salt said IGO would be more focused in its exploration programs.

“It’s not so much about the opportunity there, but the prioritisation,” he said.

M&A considered

IGO has a long history of transactions. It sold its 30% stake in the Tropicana gold mine in WA to Regis Resources in 2021 for A$903 million, which paved the way for its $1.4 billion entry into lithium later that year.

The 2022 acquisition of nickel miner Western Areas for A$1.3 billion has already been written down.

“Obviously, we recognise Western Areas didn’t go well,” Vella said. “It was not our greatest hour but we have changed from it and evolved.”

Bozanic said the company would use Greenbushes and Nova as the benchmarks when considering further acquisitions.

“We’re not in a hurry. We can afford to be patient because of the quality of those assets,” he said.

The looming closure of Nova in the next two years has had many speculating that IGO would turn to M&A.

In the absence of further acquisitions or a fast-tracked discovery, Vella conceded it was possible IGO may not have an asset it operated itself in the coming years.

“We’re not going to get to solving problems that haven’t emerged yet,” he said.

While all IGO’s assets are in WA, Vella said the board was open to considering other jurisdictions.

“Mining starts with the orebody and you’ve got to go where the orebody is,” he said. “We clearly recognise we may need to consider going further afield.”

As of June 30, IGO had A$468 million in cash and a A$720 million undrawn debt facility.

Despite the financial firepower, Bozanic said the company would be disciplined.

“It’s harder to find the right assets rather than getting the funding for those assets,” she said.

‘Top-down view’

IGO will now turn its attention to developing what it is calling the IGO Playbook, which will essentially marry the new strategy with its culture.

Many analysts were hoping for more details on the CGP4 expansion at Greenbushes but Vella said the strategy day was “not the time nor place for it”.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Tim Hoff described the strategy day as a “top-down view of the world, as opposed to an investor day with specific detail”. 

“The strategy provided framework but ultimately the elephant in the room remains the lack of value accretive expansion projects under IGO’s direct control,” he said. 

“If IGO doesn’t get lucky on exploration, or finds something to buy, then its 2035 vision might remain just that.” 

Obtaining the licence is the result of a collaborative effort with local stakeholders and Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Atlantic Lithium said. It noted the agency’s decision also represents a nod of approval to the company’s proposed activities at the project, as detailed in the environment impact statement (EIS).

“This approval is a testament to Atlantic Lithium’s commitment to acting as a responsible custodian of the land on which we operate, which we consider to be imperative to the long-term success of the project,” chief executive Nel Herbert said in the statement.

The Africa-focused lithium explorer and developer, which secured a 15-year mining permit for the project in 2023, expects to break ground before year-end.

Half of the lithium produced at Ewoyaa will be sent to a refinery of US-based Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ, ASX: PLL), which is the Australian firm’s second-largest shareholder and has agreed to provide most of the funds for building the mine. 

Atlantic Lithium aims to produce a total of 3.6 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate, or 350,000 tonnes annually, over 12 years from the site. That would make it the world’s 10th-biggest lithium project, according to the company.

The mine, located beneath the active Havana open pit, will become the third underground asset at the Tropicana gold complex. Production is expected to start in the third quarter of the 2027 financial year and will gradually increase overall output, with the most significant impact occurring between 2027 and 2029, Regis said.

“The approval of the Havana underground project is further demonstration of the underground growth optionality across Tropicana,” Regis managing director and chief executive, Jim Beyer, said. “[It] provides us with further confidence in the long-term future of Tropicana’s underground growth and it demonstrates the positive impact any additional underground growth can have on value.”

The company, which is Australia’s third-largest gold producer listed on the ASX, said its 30% share in the project will require a capital expenditure of A$34 million ($23m). 

This investment is expected to result in an incremental production of 55,000 ounces of gold to Regis’s production profile, it said.

The news is a welcome boost for Regis, which last month had to write down the value of its McPhillamys gold and silver project in New South Wales after a federal government decision made it “unviable”. 

The Tropicana asset comprises four known mineralized zones, which include Boston Shaker, Tropicana, Havana and Havana South. 

KNS, part of a struggling New Caledonian nickel industry, stopped its mine and plant operations in March after commodity group Glencore decided to sell its interest. Glencore agreed to pay for workers’ salaries and for the furnaces to be kept hot until the end of August.

The switching off of the furnaces took place over the weekend and means most of the 1,200 staff have been laid off, Alexandre Rousseau, vice president and spokesperson at KNS, told Reuters.

KNS had launched a redundancy plan in late July in the absence of a firm offer for Glencore’s stake ahead of the end-August deadline.

Reiterating that three parties were interested in a potential investment, Rousseau said two of them were holding more detailed discussions with Glencore and aimed to visit KNS’ site in northern New Caledonia in the coming weeks.

A Glencore spokesperson said KNS remained in care and maintenance following the shutdown of the furnaces, declining to comment further.

The New Caledonian nickel sector has been dealt a further blow by unrest since May in the French-controlled southern Pacific territory.

French mining group Eramet said its local subsidiary SLN continued to operate at minimal capacity. The territory’s other nickel processor, Prony Resources, has suspended its operations.

(By Gus Trompiz; Editing by Christina Fincher)

A decade ago, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM), owner of the Super Pit, was a 50:50 joint venture between Newmont Corporation and Barrick Gold. As Barrick gradually retreated from Australia, it relinquished management of the asset to Newmont and tried unsuccessfully to sell its stake in 2016.

A pit wall slip in May 2018, which saw about 1 million tonnes of ore fall into the bottom of the pit, led to guidance being slashed by as much as 25%, further dampening Barrick’s enthusiasm for the asset. It ran another sale process for its stake, and in late 2019, Perth-based Saracen Mineral Holdings emerged as the buyer with a $750 million bid. Months later, Northern Star offered to buy Newmont’s half, an offer that was accepted. 

The transfer of the asset into Australian hands paved the way for a merger between Northern Star and Saracen in October 2020, with KCGM as the centrepiece of the deal.

Kalgoorlie’s gold rush

The exit of the North Americans brought KCGM under Australian ownership for the first time in its 31-year history, though the asset dates back more than a century. Kalgoorlie’s “Golden Mile” was discovered by Irish prospector Paddy Hannan in June 1893, sparking a gold rush that continues today. 

According to Western Australian archives, more than 1000 men were prospecting on the Golden Mile within a week of Hannan’s discovery. The main street of Kalgoorlie, 600km east of Perth, is named after Hannan and there is a statue in his honour.

By 1903, there were 49 mines, 100 headframes and more than 3,000km of underground workings on the Golden Mile, and mining continued through the 20^th century.

KCGM was formed in 1989 by combining the entire area into one entity and was operated by Normandy Mining and Homestake Mining Company, which were acquired by Newmont and Barrick, respectively, in the early 2000s.

The Golden Mile has produced more than 65 million ounces (Moz) of gold since the lease was first pegged. The Super Pit itself is one of the world’s largest open cut mines, measuring 3.5km long and 1.5km wide, and can be seen from space.

Northern Star managing director Stuart Tonkin, who qualified as a mining engineer a few kilometres up the road from KCGM at the WA School of Mines, believes the asset still has decades of life ahead of it.

“My attitude is there’s almost more gold in the ground than what’s come out already,” he said during a site visit to KCGM in early August.

New owners

At the time of the Northern Star-Saracen merger, KCGM had a remaining life of just two years and a hefty remediation bill from the 2018 wall slip.

Once referred to as a “big old pit” by Barrick’s Mark Bristow, KCGM now is facing a long future that goes past just the open cut.

While Bristow’s description wasn’t wrong, Northern Star’s work since acquiring the asset has shown the potential that extends beyond the pit.

An aggressive commitment to exploration has resulted in a 66% increase in resources to 32Moz of gold and a 36% increase in reserves to 13Moz since acquisition, equating to a mine life of more than 20 years.

While KCGM already had one underground mine, Mt Charlotte, Northern Star has focused on the asset’s underground potential. Included in the inventory figure is 10Moz of underground resources and 2Moz of reserves.

Tonkin said underground mineralization remained open in all directions.

“We know [mineralization extends] kilometres to the south, kilometres to the north, 2km at depth – the geology continues, so that’s what we get excited about,” he said.

KCGM produced 437,000oz of gold in the 12 months to June 30, 2024, well below its peak of 730,000oz of gold produced in 2011.

Production will continue to increase this financial year to more than 500,000oz, and the operation is expected to reach a run-rate of 650,000oz per annum (ozpa) in the 2026 financial year.

Part of that is due to the almost complete remediation of the eastern pit wall, which will unlock 1.5Moz of high-grade gold.

“I think what investors are going to start to appreciate is that is the keys to unlock the access to the high-grade [ore] in the pit floor, that essentially was sterilized back in 2018,” Tonkin said.

“There’s was a period of no activity, and then when Northern Star took ownership, we rapidly advanced that cutback, as well as mining the Oroya-Brownhill area, and we’re very, very close to opening up that pit floor, which is the high grade out of Golden Pike.”

Underground ore will also contribute to the production growth as Northern Star kicks off the Fimiston underground mine.

Ore from the underground mines will increase to almost 4Mt in FY26 from 2Mt in FY24.

A new era

Tonkin said one of the drawbacks of the asset’s scale and potential was the multitude of options the company had.

“There’s so many iterations and options in front of us. We’ve just got to be focused and fussy and do something – don’t do nothing and be paralyzed by studies,” he said.

In June 2023, after studying a number of scenarios, Northern Star announced a A$1.5 billion ($1.01 billion) plant expansion, which would take throughput from 13Mt per annum (Mtpa) to 27Mtpa.

The three-year build kicked off about a year ago with A$348 million, or 23%, of the budget being spent in FY24. Work and expenditure are ramping up this financial year with A$500-530 million budgeted. And a new plant is being built alongside the existing facility to minimize disruptions to production.

Using a gold price of A$3,500 ($2,300) an ounce, the project has a post-tax internal rate of return of 26% and a payback period of 3.3 years.

Following a two-year ramp-up period, KCGM’s production will increase to 900,000ozpa at all-in sustaining costs of A$1425/oz. This will make KCGM the largest gold producer in Australia and the fourth largest globally.

“There will only be four other gold mines in the world [producing 900,000ozpa] and they’ll be in pretty exotic places and they won’t be on the doorstep of a history of a century of mining in the Kalgoorlie Goldfields,” Tonkin said.

To feed the expansion, underground ore will reach 6Mtpa by FY29, while Northern Star will draw down on KCGM’s huge stockpile of 137Mt at 0.7 grams per tonne gold. The stockpile is worth around A$6 billion at current gold prices.

Riding high

Gold is trading at a record high, both in US and Australian dollar terms.

When asked what Northern Star would do in the event of a A$1500/oz slump in the gold price, Tonkin said the expansion at KCGM would continue as it would lower unit costs.

“I think when you’re looking at comparing this to anything around the world, we’ve got a very, very, very special system with a century of history,” he said. “And we’ve given it a red-hot crack in essentially investing in it to get those returns.

“It will survive the cycles. This asset will underpin the city, but it will also survive the cycles.”

Last week, Northern Star reported record cash earnings of A$1.8 billion and a net profit after tax of A$639 million for FY24 after producing 1.62Moz of gold at AISC of A$1853/oz from its assets in WA and Pogo in Alaska.

The company declared a dividend of A25c per share and extended its A$300 million share buy-back for a further 12 months.

Northern Star was in a net cash position of A$358 million as of June 30 and will continue to fund the KCGM expansion from internal cashflow.

“We’re still self-funding the growth here, even though that the numbers been spent here for gold mining company are pretty big,” Tonkin said.

“But we are in front of a multi-decade asset here from a pit and underground potential, as well as the other assets that are complemented in the portfolio. Our confidence on this significant system is here and it’s only every year we’ve moved forward, we’ve just got more and more confidence, reaffirming why we got here in the first place.”

Unveiling the results of an awaited preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the lithium project, Patriot said it had chosen a staged development of the CV5 spodumene pegmatite, via open pit and underground mining methods. According to the Canadian company, this approach would maximize earlier access to the high-grade Nova Zone, minimizing the environmental footprint. 

The scenario, it noted, also offers options and flexibility to unlock the potential of Shaakichiuwaanaan to become a lithium raw materials supplier in North America. The asset, the largest known lithium pegmatite mineral resource in the Americas, hosts vast spodumene crystals, which enhances processing efficiency and recovery rates, Patriot said.

The Vancouver-based miner noted the PEA incorporates a staged development strategy, with Stage 1 requiring an estimated initial net capital expenditure (capex) of C$640 million (around $470m).

This first phase lays the groundwork for production, followed by a Stage 2 expansion aimed at doubling output to 800,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate per year. The estimated net capex for the Stage 2 expansion is C$408 million ($300m). 

The combined net cost to reach nameplate production for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 is estimated at around C$608 million ($447m), considering cash flows from Stage 1 and proposed tax credits, Patriot said.

Upon completion of the second phase, the Shaakichiuwaanaan project could become one of the world’s largest spodumene producers, providing spodumene concentrate with a 5.5% lithium oxide content, or SC5.5, in a stable jurisdiction.

Overall, the project is expected to have a pre-tax net present value of $3.6 billion, with a pre-tax internal rate of return of 38% at $1,375 per tonne. 

The payback period has been pegged at 3.6 years at an assumed average lithium price of 1,375 per tonne or $1,500 per tonne, with a 24 year mine life. 

Final investment decision by 2027

Chief executive Ken Brinsden said the results of the PEA demonstrate the potential for the company to become a global lithium leader and key supplier of lithium raw materials, despite the early stage of exploration.

“The flexibility and scalability [of the staged development pathway for Shaakichiuwaanaan] could allow us to adapt nimbly to evolving market conditions, while continuing to grow the resource base,” Brinsden said in a statement.

The executive said Patriot will only commit to development after considering the economic conditions that prevail or are foreseeable at the time that an initial production decision is made. 

The company aims to make a final investment decision by 2027, potentially enabling construction to proceed through 2028 and initial production to commence in early 2029. 

Patriot is simultaneously considering advancing to the Feasibility Study stage, as it believes that Shaakichiuwaanaan’s anticipated low operating costs and expected IRA-compliant high-quality lithium output would make the company an attractive partner for downstream players.

Dundee has also developed the GlassLock process, which stabilizes arsenic during mineral processing. The new technologies come as the mining industry faces increasing pressure to adopt safer and more sustainable practices. They may enable miners, to move forward with projects that might otherwise be stranded.

“Clevr gives mining companies an alternative rather than abandoning a really good project,” Goodman said. However, he noted the mining industry is traditionally slow to embrace new technologies.

Goodman recently spoke with The Northern Miner’s editor-in-chief, Alisha Hiyate, about these technologies and the challenges of driving innovation in an industry known for its conservative approach.

Watch the video below.

Joint venture videos are paid-for content in arrangement with The Northern Miner.

One such practice investors should watch out for is ‘grade smearing.’ That’s when companies stretch high-grade results over larger intervals to create the illusion of more substantial findings, the economic geologist and adviser to the Exploration Insights newsletter explained.

“Most of what we do is try and find the fatal flaw as soon as possible,” Cook said last month during the Rule Symposium in Boca Raton, Fla. “We know most of these companies aren’t going to find anything economic.”

Cook also discusses the worrying trend of traditional mining investors retreating and younger investors turning to tech stocks, leaving the sector underfunded.

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

He sees several trigger points that could prompt gold to move even higher, perhaps stirring more interest from retail investors.

“The strength of the dollar, where rates are, where real rates are in the Western markets – that could be the catalyst to bring the Western investor back to add allocations to gold,” Cavatoni said last month during the Rule Symposium in Boca Raton, Florida.

Even with high metal prices, demand for jewellery remains elevated, especially in key markets such as India and China, he said. Also, central banks continue to show strong interest in gold as a haven from global economic challenges.

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

The Swiss miner and commodities trader said in November it would merge Teck’s steelmaking coal business with its own coal assets, after which it would demerge the combined unit. 

Shareholders representing nearly two-thirds of eligible voting shares were consulted, Glencore said. Over 95% of those who expressed a preference supported retaining the coal and carbon steel materials business, primarily because they believe it would enhance the firm’s cash generating capacity.

Glencore’s backpedaling on its coal exit did not come as a surprise to analysts, as investors had been pushing for the company to keep mining the fossil fuel for longer. The Baar, Switzerland-based firm is one of the largest producers and exporters of thermal coal, with an expected output of between 98 million and 106 million tonnes this year.

“Investors appreciate the strong cash flow from coal, particularly if it is channelled to capital returns/buybacks,” Bank of America analysts said in a July note.

The decision highlights the dilemma fossil fuel companies and their shareholders are caught in. They are under pressure to reduce emissions, but doing so would mean giving up on the substantial profits they are still generating.

Glencore had previously said it planned to run down its thermal coal mines by the mid-2040s, closing at least 12 by 2035.

In its 2024-2026 Climate Action Transition Plan (CATP), Glencore noted it was still “on track” to meet its 15% reduction of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions for its industrial assets from 2019 levels by the end of 2026, and of 50% by the end of 2035.

Built on coal

Glencore’s business has long been centred around coal, and the prospect of abandoning it seemed improbable for a company built on the commodity. Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore’s CEO for two decades, was a former coal trader who frequently highlighted the unquenchable demand from Asia, even as the West sought to distance itself from coal.

“A decision against a coal demerger is a good decision,”  Sebastian Rötters, energy and coal campaigns coordinator at German NGO Urgewald said in an emailed statement. “Glencore should keep its coal mines and wind them down in line with the [International Energy Agency – IEA] Net Zero scenario, providing just transition for coal workers and affected communities. This includes of course no more coal mine expansions and no new mines,” Rötters said.

Simon Nicholas from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis agrees. He believes that a coal spin off would have meant Glencore would lose control over its Scope 3 emissions — those generated from assets not owned or controlled by a company.

“Previous divestments of coal assets by diversified miners have put control in the hands of pure-play coal miners that have optimistically bullish outlooks with plans to increase production,” Nicholas wrote in May.

Other market actors were dissatisfied with the decision. “Glencore’s investors only seek to maximize their profits, wanting to keep all coal assets under one roof,” Juan Pablo Gutiérrez, ONIC/Yukpa, Colombian social leader said in an emailed statement. 

“However, for the indigenous communities affected by its coal mines, such as the Yukpa and Wayúu [in Colombia], the real solution is for Glencore to close its mines and immediately assume its social and environmental responsibilities,” Gutiérrez, noted.

Glencore committed on Wednesday “to continue to oversee the responsible decline of its thermal coal operations over time.”

But chief executive Gary Nagle said on a conference call to discuss first-half financial results, published alongside the coal decision, that the company may consider buying more steelmaking coal assets at the right price, good quality and in the right location.

When Leticia Carvalho takes office on Jan. 1, she’ll become the first woman and the first scientist to helm the United Nations-affiliated organization responsible for the fate of 54% of the world’s seabed. A former environmental regulator in Brazil, Carvalho, 50, currently serves as an official at the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi.

Carvalho’s election Friday at the annual summer meeting of the ISA Assembly in Kingston, Jamaica, ends the two-term tenure of Michael Lodge, a 64-year-old British attorney. Lodge aggressively pushed for the completion of regulations that would allow a potentially multibillion-dollar industry to begin, and drew scrutiny for his closeness to the mining companies the Authority regulates.

The vote by ISA member states — which came down 79-34 for Carvalho — also follows a contentious election campaign. It was marked by accusations that a key Lodge supporter tried to bribe Carvalho to drop out of the race in exchange for a top job at the ISA.

In an interview last month, Carvalho told Bloomberg Green that as secretary-general she would focus on science and act as a neutral administrator of the ISA, which includes 169 member states and the European Union. “Transparency and accountability is my top priority,” Carvalho said.

The ISA has already issued 32 contracts to private and state-backed companies to prospect for cobalt, nickel and other metals across more than 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles) of the seabed in international waters. Last year, the organization set a target of July 2025 for the adoption of complex rules to govern those mining efforts. But Carvalho said years of negotiations may still be needed to ensure that biodiverse and little-known deep sea ecosystems are protected from the most harmful effects of mining.

“There is a big amount of work to be done,” she said. “Logically, I can tell you that it’s unlikely that this is going to be accomplished by the current deadline.”

Complicating matters, scientists last month published findings that the polymetallic nodules targeted for mining in the Pacific Ocean actually produce oxygen — an extraordinary discovery that several ISA delegates cited in Kingston as a reason to slow mining efforts.

A record number of member states were present at this year’s meeting, where tensions over the future of deep sea mining were on display. Some 32 ISA member states have called for a moratorium or a pause on seabed mining, with five countries joining this week.

Adding urgency to the proceedings is The Metals Company (TMC), a Canadian-registered mining venture that has made clear its intention of applying for a mining license this year, regardless of whether regulations are in place, and its plans to start mining operations in early 2026 if the application is approved. TMC has mining contracts with the small Pacific island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga. The first area of the ocean to be mined is a vast stretch of the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico.

“This is colonialism by another name, economic imperialism, where multinational mining companies prioritize profits over the wellbeing of our people and ecosystems,” Surangel Whipps Jr., the president of the Pacific island state of Palau, told delegates this week.

Palau has led the efforts to impose a moratorium on deep sea mining until its environmental impacts are better understood. Numerous delegations stated that they would not approve any mining licenses until regulations are adopted.

Although her home country of Brazil has urged a 10-year moratorium on mining, Carvalho said it’s not appropriate for the secretary-general to take a position on the issue. “A pause or moratorium is an advocacy position of many, but so far it hasn’t got onto the agenda of the ISA,” she said.

Other delegations, including China, Japan, and some African nations, pressed the ISA to fulfill its legal mandate to enact regulations so mining can begin. “Within our blue Pacific continent, deep seabed minerals hold immense potential for our prosperity,” said Sonny Williams, a delegate for the Cook Islands, a South Pacific archipelago.

TMC chief executive officer Gerard Barron said that he has met with Carvalho several times. “We like her,” he said. “I think she can bring harmony to the ISA at a time when it could really do with some.”

(By Todd Woody)

BHP and Lundin are forming a 50/50 joint venture that will have full ownership of the Filo del Sol prospect, which is located near the copper-rich Atacama Desert, straddling the border between Argentina and Chile. 

The partners will also own the large-scale Josemaría copper-gold-silver project, in the San Juan Province of Argentina, about 9 km east of the border with Chile.

BHP chief executive Mike Henry said the companies plan to combine both projects to cut costs, with the Australian miner shelling out a larger sum — $2.1 billion — as Lundin already owned 100% of the Josemaría asset. BHP said is paying about $690 million cash for 50% of the project. 

“The proposed transaction builds on a multi-year relationship between BHP and the Lundin Group of companies through which we have developed a strong understanding of the resource potential of the Vicuña district and the possible pathways for development of the Filo del Sol and Josemaria projects,” Henry said in a statement.

The world’s largest miner already held a 5% stake in Filo Corp, which it acquired in 2022, while Lundin had a 32% stake.

“Our copper-gold-silver exploration success at Filo has been unmatched since spinning the company out in 2016, and now is the right moment to hand the project off to its next stewards to maximize the potential of this remarkable discovery,” CEO Jamie Beck, said in a separate statement.

BHP and Lundin have offered C$33 per Filo share, which represents a premium of 32.2% to Filo Corp.’s 30-day volume weighted average price on the Toronto Exchange for the period ending on July 11, when rumours of the coming deal were leaked to media. The figure represents a premium of 12.2% to Filo’s last closing price on the TSX on July 29.  

Since Henry assumed the top post at BHP in 2020, the company has been looking for significant copper assets. The quest has seen the miner make its largest acquisition in a decade with the buy of Oz Minerals, and recently making a $49 billion bid for smaller rival Anglo American (LON: AAL).

The price BHP and Lundin are willing to pay for undeveloped mines, which will not be operational for years and will require significant investment to bring into production, shows the importance mining companies place on expanding their copper operations. It’s also a testimony of the scarcity of projects of this magnitude available for acquisition.

Global geopolitical and energy transformations are driving an increased demand for tangible holdings, notably commodities, which are critical for the energy transition, Prins said during the Rule Symposium in Boca Raton, Fla. this month. Cash and other financial assets are becoming less relevant, making real assets more crucial than ever, she said.

“We are in a period where everything that we know and every way that we’ve used real assets is going to have immense transformations, and therefore upside for prices and the miners that are involved in those areas over many years to come,” Prins said.

An explosion in real assets could signify an opportunity for mining companies, particularly those with strong projects, finances and operations in supportive jurisdictions, she said. The shift also means governments should provide subsidies, grants and favourable loans, and projects should be sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Watch the full video with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby:

Leticia Carvalho, a Brazilian ocean scientist, says Kiribati’s ambassador tried to bribe her to drop out of the race to run the International Seabed Authority that’s responsible for both the exploitation and conservation of more than half the ocean floor. The ambassador, Teburoro Tito, says he merely suggested Carvalho step aside to clear the path for Kiribati’s own nominee, incumbent Michael Lodge. Lodge denies any involvement.

The dispute is characteristic of what’s become the most contentious election ever held by the obscure, Kingston, Jamaica-based organization. On one side is Lodge, 64, who says one of his top priorities is finalizing mining regulations that would kickstart a potentially multi-billion-dollar deep sea metals industry.

On the other is Carvalho, 50, who says finishing the regulations may take years more of negotiations to protect the deep sea from the most harmful effects of mining. The next leader of the UN-affiliated ISA will wield significant influence in determining whether companies can begin to exploit the world’s largest known reserve of electric vehicle battery metals. And he or she will have the sole power to negotiate confidential contracts with mining companies.

“This is a turning point,” says Andrew Thaler, a Maryland-based deep sea scientist and consultant who closely follows the ISA. “Whoever is secretary general during this moment will have an enormous role to play, as the only thing that’s really holding up the commercialization of deep sea mining is the finalization of mining regulations.”

Kiribati has plenty to lose or gain in the contest. The Pacific archipelago operates its own mining company, Marawa Research and Exploration Ltd., which holds an ISA contract to explore and potentially mine 75,000 square kilometers of the Pacific seabed.

As of this summer, Marawa’s mining concession is potentially at risk after an ISA inspection of the company found serious failures to comply with its contract, according to documents seen by Bloomberg Green and people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information. The report on the inspection is due to be released later this year.

Kiribati nominated Lodge for a third term after his home country, the UK, declined to do so. (A spokesperson for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office declined to comment on why.) The nation has stated its support for Lodge is based, in part, on his commitment to finalizing international mining regulations so commercial exploration of cobalt, nickel and other metals in the deep sea can begin. Lodge has aggressively pushed to finish the so-called Mining Code as soon as this year, ahead of the ISA’s official 2025 target is to adopt regulations.

Now, with just days before the Aug. 2 election, the ISA’s dueling pro-mining and conservation-minded factions are ramping up pressure on the candidates. While 19 of the ISA’s 168 member states have sponsored exploration licenses, another 27 have called for a moratorium or a pause on mining until its impacts on the deep sea are better understood.

Canadian-registered The Metals Company (TMC) has mining contracts with three Pacific island nations, including Kiribati. TMC has said it will apply for a mining license after July. Scientists just this month published findings that polymetallic nodules found in one of TMC’s mining areas actually produce oxygen, an extraordinary discovery that two ISA delegates cited Thursday in remarks urging the agency to slow efforts to mine the seabed. The company has challenged the study’s scientific credibility.

Until Brazil announced Carvalho’s candidacy in March, Lodge seemed to be on a glidepath to re-election. For decades, the British attorney has been the public face of the ISA, joining as legal officer in 1996 and rising to deputy secretary-general before being first elected to the top post in 2016.

He ran unopposed in 2020 and has helped oversee the exploration of more than 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000 square miles) of seabed by private and state-backed metals companies.Click and drag to move

Carvalho, a former federal environmental regulator and an official with the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, is campaigning as his antithesis: the first woman and scientist to potentially lead the ISA. She says her priorities as secretary-general would be transparency and accountability.

She had been considered the underdog. But the different versions of her meeting with Tito under the soaring ceiling of the Rem Koolhaas-designed UN Delegates Lounge in New York in June has catalyzed her supporters and raised tensions at the ISA.

Carvalho’s version is that Tito offered her a job to drop out of the race, an account corroborated by another person at the meeting Tito requested with Brazil’s UN delegation and to whom the proposal was directed. “The deal was that I would become Michael Lodge’s deputy and then after four years it would be my time to be secretary-general,” she tells Bloomberg Green.

“Never in my career in international civil service have I ever heard of or seen something so explicit and inappropriate.” The New York Times first reported that an offer had been made.

Tito, for his part, denies a quid pro quo. “We like the lady but unfortunately she doesn’t have any experience in seabed mining,” Tito tells Bloomberg Green. “It was a suggestion.” But he says he told Lodge of his plans to ask Carvalho to step aside.

Lodge in a statement denied any involvement in or knowledge of the claims.

Since then, Carvalho has made other accusations against Lodge, alleging in an interview that he inappropriately used his position to campaign in eight countries since March. Her supporters, including Germany and Costa Rica, have asked the ISA for a detailed accounting of travel by top ISA officials in 2023 and 2024; questioned whether the ISA’s leadership had authorization to promote certain individuals, including Lodge’s current chief of staff; and requested information about his office’s spending.

Lodge dismissed the claims in a statement, saying: “Any allegations of financial impropriety, on their face, lack any probative weight and persuasive force.”

The ISA, which provided an itinerary of Lodge’s engagements in each country he visited, said his travel has been for official business, and that all hiring followed rigorous international standards.

(By Todd Woody)

The first hearing will take place in Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby on October 10, according to lawyers representing the claimants.

Thousands of people in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, filed a class action in May against Rio Tinto and its former unit Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) over what they say is historical mismanagement of the massive Panguna copper mine that operated in the 1970s and 80s.

An additional 1,500 residents of Bougainville joined the class action, representing a 50% increase since the filing of the legal action, lawyers said in a news release Monday.

Over 4,500 claimants are now seeking compensation, expected to be in the billions of dollars, for historical mismanagement of the Panguna copper mine, which caused large scale environmental and social harm.

“The large increase in claimants demonstrates the strength of feeling among local people that Rio Tinto and BCL must make amends for decades of environmental devastation,“ Martin Miriori, the lead claimant of the suit and paramount chief of the Basikang Taingku clan, said in the statement.

”This issue will not go away, as the legal action has attracted strong support, and reminded the world of the destruction caused by the mine operator’s reckless actions.”

“Since the investigation into this claim began three years ago, we have spent significant time meeting with local residents in the affected region, engaging with scientific experts across various disciplines and undertaking the necessary preparatory steps to commence the class action,“ said Matthew Mennilli, partner at Sydney-based law firm Morris Mennilli who is representing the class together with the Port Moresby-based firm Goodwin Bidar Nutley Lawyers.

Panguna was shut in 1989 after local protests over the disbursement of revenue from the mine degenerated into a civil war that lasted 10 years and killed as many as 20,000 people.

Neither Rio Tinto nor BCL ever undertook, nor have they committed to undertaking, any form of environmental or social impacts remediation.

The class action is made up of a majority of villagers in the affected region of Bougainville and has the confirmed support of 71 local clan leaders. The action seeks compensation for the environmental damage caused to the area and loss and damage suffered by the villagers living in the affected region, lawyers said.

In February, Bougainville Copper received a five-year extension for its exploration licence for the Panguna copper-gold project on the South Pacific island.

Rio Tinto gave away its stake in 2016, effectively donating the mine. That left the governments of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville each with 36.4% ownership of BCL.

“We are reviewing the details of the claim. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to comment further at this time,” Rio Tinto said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg News at the time of the filing in May.

The team, led by Professor Andrew Sweetman at the UK’s Scottish Association for Marine Science, found that oxygen is produced in complete darkness approximately 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) below the ocean’s surface. It was previously thought that only living organisms, such as plants and algae, could use energy to create the planet’s oxygen through photosynthesis, which requires sunlight.

“For aerobic life to begin on the planet, there had to be oxygen, and our understanding has been that Earth’s oxygen supply began with photosynthetic organisms,” Sweetman said in a statement.

“But we now know that there is oxygen produced in the deep sea, where there is no light. I think we, therefore, need to revisit questions like: where could aerobic life have begun?”

The mechanism behind this oxygen production remains a mystery.

Sweetman and his collaborators first noticed something amiss during fieldwork in 2013.

The researchers were studying seafloor ecosystems in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone, an area between Hawaii and Mexico, and a potential target for mining metal-rich nodules.

During such expeditions, the team releases a module that sinks to the seafloor to perform automated experiments. Once there, the module drives cylindrical chambers down to close off small sections of the seafloor — together with some seawater — and create “an enclosed microcosm of the seafloor,” the authors note. The lander then measures how the concentration of oxygen in the confined seawater changes over periods of up to several days.

Around the world, seafloor ecosystems owe their existence to oxygen carried by currents from the surface and would quickly die if cut off. But in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone, the instruments showed that the sequestered water became richer, not poorer, in oxygen.

At first, Sweetman attributed the readings to a sensor malfunction. However, the phenomenon continued during subsequent trips in 2021 and 2022 and was confirmed by measurements with an alternative technique.

“I suddenly realized that for eight years I’d been ignoring this potentially amazing new process, 4,000 meters down on the ocean floor,” Sweetman said.

According to the scientists, the amounts of oxygen produced are higher than those seen in algae-rich surface waters. None of the other regions surveyed contained polymetallic nodules, suggesting that these rocks are essential in producing this ‘dark oxygen.’

The Clarion-Clipperton Zone is earmarked for mining potato-size polymetallic nodules by companies like The Metals Company, which funded the research.

Metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium and manganese contained in the nodules are in high demand for solar panels, electric car batteries, and other green technologies. Scientists estimate that mining the seabed could provide up to 45% of all the world’s critical metal needs by 2065.

The study comes as three civil society groups have filed a formal complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against TMC.

Deep Sea Mining Campaign (DSMC), The Ocean Foundation (TOF) and Blue Climate Initiative (BCI) allege the company has significantly mislead investors, government officials and the public through material misrepresentations and omissions.

Shares of The Metals Company fell 5.4% by 12:40 a.m. EDT on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $394 million.

Seven Australian ministers and the country’s police chief are in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to hold security and trade talks amid competition with China for policing ties in the Pacific Islands, and to underscore Australian humanitarian assistance after the disaster last month.

“It was moving to see so many people in such a dire situation,” Australia’s Minister for Pacific, Pat Conroy, said in an ABC Television interview, after visiting the site with PNG Defence Minister Billy Joseph and the delegation.

Australia will provide assistance for health clinics, and education packs for thousands of survivors who must move from villages where mountainsides collapsed.

PNG had requested A$2 million to “start the work to open up the national highway there to the Porgera gold mine, which is obviously an incredibly important source of jobs and revenue for the people of Enga province”, Conroy said.

The Porgera mine, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the landslide, is an underground mine jointly run by Canada’s Barrick Gold and China’s Zijin Mining Group, with the Papua New Guinea government holding a 51% share.

The mine was re-started this year after being in dispute for four years as PNG sought to boost returns to tribal landowners, and had been expected to reach full production this year.

Barrick did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape said in April the reopened mine was expected to return to its status as one of the world’s largest gold mines, becoming a significant contributor to the national treasury and generating income for Enga province. The mine employs about 2,000 local workers.

It remains unclear how many people died in the landslide on May 24, with the national government and a UN estimate putting the death toll at about 670.

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, said in an ABC interview on Thursday that Australia was “in a permanent contest in the Pacific”, referring to its rivalry with China for security ties, and wanted to ensure stability in PNG.

($1 = 1.4984 Australian dollars)

(By Kirsty Needham and Melanie Burton; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

The base amount of the loan facility has increased from $100 million to $120 million, with an accordion feature to increase the maximum amount to $150 million. The conditions precedent for advance of the first $100 million facility have been satisfied, while the condition for the remaining $20 million is expected to be satisfied later this month.

The new facilities, according to K92, would further bolster its strong financial position. As of the end of Q1 2024, the miner, which operates the Kainantu mine in Papua New Guinea, had $73.4 million in cash and treasury bills and no debt.

In addition to the credit facilities, the parties have signed a new offtake agreement, under which Trafigura will buy 100% of K92 PNG’s copper/gold concentrates produced at Kainantu. The new deal again replaces a September 2023 agreement between the parties, which did not come into effect.

The upsized loan, said K92 CEO John Lewins, is “an important financial de-risking milestone” for delivering the Stage 3 and 4 expansions of the Kainantu gold mine and transforming the company into a Tier 1 mid-tier producer.

The Kainantu operation — with a current capacity of 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa)– is targeted for two more expansions that would see its capacity rise to 1.7 million tpa and mine life extended to 11 years at the final stage.

Annual production from Stages 3 and 4 is expected to reach 290,000 oz. and 470,000 oz. of gold-equivalent respectively, effectively placing K92 on track for Tier 1 production.

The decision was triggered by a combination of factors, including the limited remaining life across the five operating mines that make up the hub, and the significant capital cost and lead time required to develop new resources to ensure continuity of supply, the company said.

MinRes, led by billionaire founder Chris Ellison, noted it would attempt to reassign as many employees as possible to its other iron ore and lithium mines in WA, as well as to its mining service business.

“This prudent but difficult decision was not taken lightly and follows years of investment to extend the life of our operations in the Yilgarn,” Ellison said. “With our investment across Western Australia, we have almost 800 vacancies and will redeploy as many of our people as possible to other MinRes operations, including to our low-cost, long-life Onslow Iron project.”

Studying options

As it ramps down operations, MinRes will explore future options for its Yilgarn assets, comprising 28 trucks and 25 pieces of ancillary gear. The alternatives to be studied include potential rehabilitation or disposal. 

The company said exploration drilling and environmental studies targeting hematite and magnetite will continue through 2025.

MinRes, which also mines lithium, has operated in the region since 2011. In 2018, with support from the Western Aaustralia Government, it stepped in to absorb hundreds of workers from Koolyanobbing, who were set to lose their jobs after US-based Cliffs Natural Resources sold its international assets.

Yilgarn was at one point one of Australia’s largest iron ore producing assets not owned by heavyweights BHP (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) or Fortescue Metals (ASX: FMG).

In production since 1997, the Lihir mine on Niolam Island in New Ireland province, about 900 km from the capital Port Moresby, is one of the largest gold mines in the world. It produced 670,000 oz. of gold in 2023 and employs about 5,100 people.

Under the contract, Wood will provide consulting and engineering services to support and enhance the safe and efficient processing of gold across stages of the project lifecycle at Lihir. The scope includes the delivery of concept and feasibility studies, design and construction management services.

Wood will apply its expertise in gold pressure oxidation and remote capital project delivery in the Indo-Pacific region to deliver the contract, which will run for an initial three-year term, the group said.

“We have been working with Newmont for over 20 years and are proud to be selected to deliver the Lihir capital works program,” Jim Shaughnessy, president of minerals, metals and life sciences at Wood said in a news release.

“Minerals and metals continues to be a key market for Wood. We’re looking forward to building on our strong relationship with Newmont as we continue to deliver world-class mineral processing projects.”

The new contract is effective immediately, with the work being led by Wood’s Brisbane office in Queensland.