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

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

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

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

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

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

Meaningful growth

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

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

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

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

Acquisition update

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

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

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

As part of the deal, Aura will obtain a 100% interest in Bluestone’s Cerro Blanco gold project in southeast Guatemala as well as the adjacent Mita geothermal project.

The Cerro Blanco project has faced challenges from the Guatemalan government, which disputed the January permit amendment allowing its transition to an open-pit mining operation.

Bluestone is 27%-owned by the Lundin family trust and had initially planned the $411 million gold project near the border with El Salvador.

Cerro Blanco aims to yield 2.7 million oz. of gold over 14 years, based on a 2022 feasibility study. It hosts measured and indicated resources of 63.5 million tonnes at 1.5 grams gold and 6.6 grams silver per tonne for 3 million oz. and 13.5 million oz. of the metals, respectively.

Aura stated that upon closing the transaction, it intends to evaluate alternatives for the potential future development of Cerro Blanco.

“Cerro Blanco stands as a world-class deposit that has encountered both social and institutional hurdles. We are confident that, over the next few years, by integrating it with Aura’s 360 vision, we can refine our strategic approach to make Cerro Blanco another flagship project,” said Rodrigo Barbosa, CEO of Aura.

Cerro Blanco is located approximately 230 km from the Minosa operating mine in Honduras, where Aura produced 65,927 ounces of gold in 2023. In addition, Aura has operating mines in Mexico and Brazil.

Over the last 12 months, Aura achieved production of 270,000 gold equivalent ounces (GEOs). With the acquisition of Bluestone, Aura expects its growth pipeline to expand beyond 450,000 GEOs in the coming years.

Shares of Aura Minerals rose 2.35% following the news, bringing the company’s market capitalization to $910 million. Bluestone’s shares fell 1.5% by 12:00 p.m. EDT, for a market capitalization of $37.6 million.

The acquisition, said Minera Alamos, would transform the company into a diversified North American gold producer beyond its existing Mexican operations led by the Santana gold mine in Sonora. The addition of Copperstone could add approximately 40,000 oz. of annual gold production, based on the project’s preliminary economic assessment (PEA) from last year.

The economics are based on a total resource estimate of 1.2 million tonnes grading 7.74 grams per tonne gold (300,000 contained oz.) in the measured and indicated category and 970,000 tonnes grading 6.30 g/t gold (197,000 contained oz.) in the inferred category.

The 2023 PEA represents a restart plan for the past-producing mine at Copperstone that produced a reported 514,000 oz. of gold between 1987 and 1993 from open pit mining and later had a brief period of underground mining. Since all facilities envisioned in the PEA are located in “brownfields” locations, the project’s water and surface rights have in place for years, and the mine is fully permitted for restart.

The PEA gave Copperstone an after-tax net present value of $89.3 million (using a 5% discount rate and $2,000 gold price), an internal rate of return of 71.1% and a payback period of 1.3 years. The initial mine life is estimated at 5.7 years, and initial capital at $36.3 million.

The reduced upfront capital is a result of the existing site infrastructure that had been installed from previous mining activities at Copperstone. According to Minera Alamos, a significant portion of the on-site infrastructure is in good repair and is available for the restart of site operations.

“The Copperstone project is an ideal addition to our portfolio of low-capex, late-stage development projects. The site has significant infrastructure and permits in place which will allow our technical group to quickly advance the project into production,” stated Darren Koningen, CEO of Mineral Alamos.

Acquisition terms

To acquire Sabre, Minera Alamos will issue approximately 76.5 million common shares to Sabre shareholders, representing a share exchange ratio of 0.693 to 1. Sabre will also settle certain debts with creditors by issuing shares at a 15% discount.

Upon completion of these transactions, existing Minera Alamos and Sabre shareholders will own 86% and 14% of the combined company, respectively.

Shares in Sabre Gold Mines nearly doubled following the announcement, up from C$0.12 at Friday’s market close to a 52-week high of C$0.23 on Monday morning. The gold junior has a market capitalization of C$17.6 million.

Minera Alamos’ shares fell 2.6% to C$0.38 apiece by 11:50 a.m. in Toronto, for a market capitalization of C$174.8 million.

Bolstered portfolio

Minera Alamos estimates that the addition of Sabre’s Copperstone project will increase its total gold resource inventory by 35% to almost 1.9 million oz., including a 60% increase in estimated measured and indicated resources. The acquisition cost is estimated at only $43/oz.

The acquisition adds another potential low-capex mine on top of the company’s Santana project, which entered production in 2021 and is currently going through the start-up of operations at the new Nicho Main deposit. Its Cerro de Oro oxide gold project in northern Zacatecas also has considerable past drilling, and the proposed mining project is currently being guided through the permitting process. The company also owns the La Fortuna open pit gold project in Durango, which has its main federal permits in place.

Minera Alamos intends to build out its Mexican assets in phases, with an eye on becoming a 150,000 oz./year gold producer. The addition of Copperstone, the company says, provides visibility to a further visibility to that goal.

The new project is expected to have a relatively rapid construction schedule that is currently anticipated at approximately 12 months. Minera Alamos said it is already in the process of optimizing new engineering design/plans for the project construction and is expanding its technical group to manage the increased activities.

As global demand for minerals and raw materials increases, buoyed by the soaring of certain commodity prices, purported green ambitions, and nationalist fervour, governments have begun wielding a range of regulatory tools and sometimes strong-arm tactics against foreign mining companies in the name of resource nationalism.

The resurgence of resource nationalism—particularly in countries experiencing political upheaval, such as the “Coup Belt” in Francophone Africa—poses a major risk to the ambitions of foreign mining companies and the battery revolution. Beginning with the late Tanzanian President John Magufuli’s so-called “economic war” on foreign mining companies in 2016/2017, a number of African States have followed suit in adopting aggressive nationalistic mining policies that have frequently toed the line between legitimate economic rebalancing and outright rent-seeking.

Tanzanian beginnings

Despite more recent, legitimate efforts to improve its reputation for foreign investment, Tanzania led the way with resource nationalistic overhauls of its legal framework for mining in 2017 and 2018. Tanzania’s “economic war” has served as an exemplar to many African States, particularly in the Coup Belt, which have focused more on the electoral popularity of such measures than on their costly financial aftermath.

Tanzania’s economic war resulted in a rash of legal claims and whilst some of these claims —particularly the one brought by Barrick—settled in such a way that Tanzania could claim a purported “victory”, others have proven needlessly costly.

For instance, in 2023, Canadian gold miner Winshear Gold Corp. reached a $30 million settlement agreement with Tanzania after the government revoked Winshear’s retention licence for its SMP gold project. Similarly, subsidiaries of Australian nickel miner Indiana Resources recently obtained a $90 million settlement with Tanzania (82.5% of the total original Award) over the government’s illegal expropriation of the Ntaka Hill nickel project.

Although Tanzania is not in the Coup Belt, Tanzania’s recent experience will likely serve as a crystal ball for the region—resource nationalism and arbitrary “reforms” come at a significant cost, which could be avoided through simple negotiations rather than heavy-handed tactics.

Key risks for mining companies

Recent coups d’état across West Africa have led to the contemporary resurgence of politically popular, but fiscally irresponsible, measures adopted from Tanzania’s policy playbook, including sweeping changes to mining codes to increase government royalties and free carried interest percentages, increased export duties and the renegotiation of existing mining conventions and mineral development agreements. Such changes have caused increased permitting delays and complete legal uncertainty about how to meet regulatory requirements.

Structuring investments to benefit from BITs

Companies can effectively mitigate the risks associated with resource nationalism by structuring their investments to benefit from the protections offered by bilateral investment treaties (BITs). BITs are agreements between two or more countries that guarantee certain protections to investors, including the right to pursue international arbitration in the event of a dispute.

BITs can protect companies against unlawful expropriation and provide a legal framework for resolving disputes outside of the host country’s jurisdiction. However, investments must be structured through countries that have BITs with the host country.

In the case of Tanzania, investors like Indiana Resources and Winshear successfully pursued compensation for the unlawful revocation of their mining licenses by incorporating subsidiaries through the United Kingdom and Canada, respectively.  Notably, Tanzania has recently sought to terminate its BIT with Canada, a move which forces companies to structure their investments through other countries with treaty protections, like Mauritius, whilst underlining the risk that such jurisdictions pose in the first instance.

One of the primary lessons from recent events is that foreign companies should not rely solely on their licenses and agreements with local authorities; they should also explore international legal protections like those described above.

Negotiating robust agreements

Where companies have a direct agreement with the State, they should opt for a “Coup Belt and Braces” approach in negotiating robust agreements whilst also backstopping their investments with structuring that provides access to BITs. In respect of the former option, companies must ensure that their contracts with host governments include clauses that mitigate risks related to resource nationalism, such as:

• Stabilization clauses: These clauses protect investors from adverse changes in law or policy after the agreement has been signed by either freezing the regulatory framework in place or providing compensation if new laws negatively impact the investment.

• Dispute resolution clauses: Companies should negotiate to include international arbitration as the preferred method of dispute resolution, allowing them to bypass local courts, which may not be impartial or reliable. The same applies for local or regional arbitration centres, which are often untested and are supervised by the very courts foreign investors may wish to avoid.

Companies should avoid putting all their resources in one region, particularly in politically unstable areas. Diversification of assets across different countries reduces the impact of political and regulatory risks in any one location. If problems arise in one country, operations elsewhere can help cushion the financial blow. Many of our clients have been able to pursue their rights in respect of one project whilst providing value to shareholders by advancing another.

Engagement with local stakeholders

Whilst building strong relationships with local communities and stakeholders can help mitigate some risks, it cannot alleviate them entirely. Sadly, there is no evidence that governments are less likely to nationalize assets if companies operating in their country are benefiting local populations through job creation, infrastructure development, and other social programs.

Nevertheless, those efforts are laudable in their own right and provide terrible optics for a state seeking to explain away its nationalization of a mining project to an international tribunal.

Operating in challenging states, particularly those prone to political instability and resource nationalism, presents significant financial and operational risks—illegal expropriation, increased taxes, and revoked licenses, to name a few.

Mitigation of those risks demands adaptability and innovative strategies and frankly, good lawyers. In the current climate, it is down to mining companies to adapt to these challenging environments for as long as states prioritize nationalism over national long-term interest, and politicians in these states favour electoral over generational gain.

Timothy Foden is partner and co-head of the international arbitration group at Boies Schiller Flexner in London. Kristen Young is partner in Washington, D.C. and Rebecca Mee is an associate in London, both specialize in disputes in Francophone Africa.

Boies Schiller Flexner represented Indiana Resources and Winshear Gold in the cases mentioned.

Leonardo Contreras also said that the company, controlled by billionaire German Larrea, would restart an environmental impact assessment of Los Chancas once all illegal miners had been kicked out of the site.

Grupo Mexico will then “initiate the hydrogeological and geological studies and conduct a diamond drilling campaign to gather additional information on the deposits’ characteristics,” Contreras added.

The firm had previously reported that dozens of illegal miners had invaded the project located in Peru’s southern Apurimac region.

It started legal action against them back in 2023 in order to continue the project’s development, estimated at a $2.6 billion investment.

(By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Kylie Madry)

Read More: Grupo Mexico’s profit jump on copper prices, production

The report pinned the after-tax net present value at $222 million (at a 5% discount rate) and gave a 40% internal rate of return. The company, with a market cap of C$100 million, says it expects the $87 million mine to achieve payback within two years.

“With such positive parameters, we are confident we will be able to advance the project very quickly,” CEO Glenn Jessome said in a news release.

Shares in the Halifax, Nova Scotia-based company plunged 15.5% Tuesday to C$0.275, ranging between C$0.135 and C$0.355 over the past 12 months. But Jessome said management now has a “clear path” to making a construction decision.

Silver Tiger plans to develop a modest, open pit, heap-leach mine at El Tigre. The 10 year mine plan will see El Tigre in total produce 8.6 million oz. silver and 408,000 oz. gold. The project is expected to generate an undiscounted after-tax cash flow of $318 million over its life.

The report estimates all-in sustaining costs of $14.40 per silver-equivalent ounce.

The open-pit design benefits from a low strip ratio of 1.7:1 and mineralization averages 48 grams silver-equivalent per tonne in the pit from surface, enabling efficient operations. Initial processing capacity will start at 7,500 tonnes per day, but a $15 million expansion could see it scaling up to 15,000 tonnes per day by year four.

The prefeasibility study was based on the Stockwork Zone outlined in an accompanying resource update using $26 per oz. silver and $2,159 per oz. gold. The new El Tigre resource estimate holds 61.8 million tonnes of oxide and sulphide material in the measured and indicated categories. It grades 16 grams silver per tonne for 31.3 million oz. of metal, and 0.4 gram gold for 778,000 oz. of contained gold.

Underground upside

The project also holds an out-of-pit measured and indicated resource of 5.3 million tonnes at 255 silver-equivalent for 44 million oz., and 10.1 million tonnes inferred at 216 grams silver-equivalent for 70 million ounces. Jessome says the company plans to wrap an initial economic assessment around the deposit in the first half of next year.

Silver Tiger believes critical mass for the underground project means hitting an exploration target of 10 to 12 million tonnes at 225 to 265 grams of silver equivalent for 73 to 100 million silver-equivalent ounces.

This near-mine underground resource provides long-term resource upside, coupled with the fact that only 30% of the 284 sq. km property has been explored. The company plans to begin underground drilling immediately.

The company’s net profit came in at $820.1 million, below expectations of analysts polled by LSEG that saw it at $935.65 million.

Grupo Mexico, controlled by billionaire German Larrea, is one of the world’s largest copper producers with mines in Peru, the United States, Spain and its home base of Mexico, where it also operates major freight railroads.

Grupo Mexico also slightly upgraded its copper production expectations for 2024 to 1.09 million metric tons, slightly up from its 1.08 million metric tons outlook posted back in July.

Revenue for the major global copper producer, which also operates sprawling freight railroads in Mexico, rose 13.13% to total $4.13 billion in the quarter.

The company’s consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) reached $2.17 billion, up 22% compared with the same period last year.

Meanwhile, copper production reached 280,897 metric tons over the third quarter, up 10.6% from the same period in 2023, and sales in the mining division rose 17.8% from the year earlier.

The company reported that copper prices also boosted its results, as those increased almost 8% throughout the year.

On the other hand, the transport unit saw a 1.9% sales drop compared to the year-earlier period, a performance dragged down by higher selling costs.

(By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Aurora Ellis)

Shares of Guanajuato Silver gained 0.9% at C$0.28 apiece following the Sprott investment. This gives the Mexico-focused precious metals miner a market capitalization of approximately C$111 million ($80.2m).

 “We are extremely pleased to welcome the participation of Eric Sprott in this financing. His continued support is a strong endorsement of Guanajuato Silver’s vision and potential,” CEO James Anderson said in a news release.

He added that this financing will provide the company with necessary capital to accelerate production in response to rapidly rising silver prices. Earlier this week, the price of silver surged to its highest in 12 years, topping $34 an ounce.

Guanajuato Silver currently operates four mines: El Cubo, Valenciana mines complex and San Ignacio mine in Guanajuato, and the Topia mine in northwestern Durango. Last year, the company saw its highest ever production in silver-equivalent terms at 3.5 million ounces, a 64% increase over 2022.

Due to rising precious metals prices, the miner is coming off its best revenue-generating quarter, recording $20.5 million for the second quarter, a 22% improvement over the same period of 2023.

Its stock rose to $5.23 apiece during early trading hours in New York, before pulling back to $5.10 by 11:00 a.m. ET. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $1.25 billion.

According to the company, surface mill and infrastructure construction have reached 90%, with more than $258 million of the project’s budget spent to date. Project commitments total $270 million, representing 99% of the $271 million capital budget.

During the third quarter, 1,051 meters were developed underground, bringing the project’s total to 5,544 meters.

Underground explosive magazines have been completed, and the application for an explosive use permit has been submitted, with approval expected later this year.

According to the company, the focus continues on the lower platform, where concrete work is well underway, and on the tailing storage facility, where underdrain embankment fill and pipe installation are advancing at a good pace.

“We’re in the final construction phase with the finish line in sight,” commented Don Gray, chief operating officer at Endeavour Silver.

Commissioning of the mine is expected in the fourth quarter, with an anticipated 10-year mine life. The Terronera project is situated within the Sierra Madre volcanic belt, which hosts most of Mexico’s silver and gold deposits.

Terronera has total proven and probable reserves of 7.4 million tonnes, grading 197 g/t silver and 2.25 g/t gold. The mine consists of the Terronera and La Luz underground deposits, both of which will be mined using a combination of long-hole and cut-and-fill methods. The processing plant will have a capacity of 2,000 tonnes per day.

A feasibility study forecasts that the project will produce 4 million oz. of silver and 38,000 oz. of gold annually the 10-year period.

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.

The new agreement, Newmont said, reflects the mutual commitment of all parties and is the outcome of open dialogue and safeguards the rights of all workers and provides a solid foundation for continuing operations at Peñasquito.

In 2023, employees at Peñasquito, Mexico’s largest gold mine, downed tools for over four months.

Newmont pegged the financial impact of the dispute at approximately $1 million a day in maintenance costs and $2.7 million a day in lost revenue.

The work stoppage was the third labour dispute at Peñasquito since the company acquired the mine through its merger with Goldcorp Inc. in 2019.

“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.

In a break to that form, reserve managers from the central banks of Mexico, Mongolia and Czech Republic on Monday sang the praises of bigger holdings. The comments provided unique insight into how they are viewing bullion, with the officials saying that gold as a percentage of their country’s reserves is more likely to increase in the years ahead amid a confluence of growing geopolitical tensions and lower interest rates.

“Given the context that we are facing right now — lower rates, your political tension, US election, a lot of uncertainty — maybe the share of gold in our portfolios could be increasing as well,” said Joaquín Tapia, director of international reserves at Banco de México.

Enkhjin Atarbaatar of Mongolia and Marek Sestak of Czech Republic echoed Tapia’s remarks. The three officials spoke together on a panel in Miami at an annual industry conference held by the London Bullion Market Association.

“In Mongolia’s case, I expect that the reserves will continue to grow, and I also expect that the share of gold in our reserves will likely increase in the future,” said Atarbaatar, director general of the financial markets department at the Centrl Bank of Mongolia.

Sestak, deputy executive director of the risk-management department at the Czech National Bank, responded: “I completely agree as well.”

Gold has surged more than 25% so far in 2024, outperforming US equities and bonds as it keeps climbing to fresh all-time highs. The rally was partly helped by unprecedented levels of bullion purchases by central banks as reserve managers seek safety in the precious metal to safeguard their nation’s wealth against geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

The average central bank has 15% of their foreign exchange reserves in precious metals at market valuations, according to Terrence Keeley, chief executive at Impact Evaluation Lab. Keeley is a former senior BlackRock executive, responsible for overseeing the relationships and services that the firm provided to central banks and sovereign wealth funds.

(By Yvonne Yue Li)

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

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

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

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

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

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 lawsuits were filed more than a decade ago by members of a remote Indigenous Mayan community, who claimed that security personnel from the Fenix nickel mine, alongside police and military, were involved in violent expulsion of its people from their homes.

In one lawsuit, it is alleged that the community leader was assaulted with a machete, shot and killed by those acting on behalf of the mine operation, which belonged to Hudbay at the time, while another alleged that another community member was shot and left paralyzed.

The third lawsuit was brought 11 female plaintiffs alleging that they were sexually assaulted during the clash. However, according to Hudbay, this suit predates its ownership of the mine, which it took over in 2008 and inherited the previous owner’s liabilities.

The settlement, for which the terms remain undisclosed, brings an end to over a decade of legal uncertainty surrounding Hudbay’s former mine. In 2013, an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that the cases can be heard in Canada rather than Guatemala, paving the way for the plaintiffs to pursue legal action against the Toronto-based company.

However, the Canadian miner stated that the terms agreed with the plaintiffs confirm the settlement is without admission of liability, and the parties continue to have “fundamentally differing views” on the facts underlying the allegations, including the allegations of misconduct by its subsidiaries.

Hudbay’s CEO Peter Kukielski said in a press release Monday the settlement represents a recognition of “the difficult economic and social circumstances of the plaintiffs,” and his company is thankful for a “constructive resolution with the plaintiffs and their counsel.”

In a statement to the Financial Post, Murray Klippenstein, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, said his clients hope that their “tenacity and ordeal” will help protect other similarly situated people. He said the case, which was heard in Ontario, will be of interest to both company executives and investors.

In 2011, Hudbay divested itself of its mine operations in Guatemala at a loss to Solway Group, and has had no operations there since that time.

Shares in Hudbay Minerals closed Monday’s session 1.0% higher at C$12.88 apiece, with a market capitalization of C$5.1 billion.

(By Kylie Madry; Editing by Leslie Adler)

The government is working with a third party on an environmental assessment to quantify the amount of copper concentrate stored at the mine and determine when it was extracted, Finance Minister Felipe Chapman said Friday.

“The copper cannot lie sitting there forever. It has to be taken out, and if you are going to take it out, you might as well export it,” Chapman said in an interview in Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “We have to complete the due diligence before making a decision.”

Even Panama’s most radical environmentalists haven’t argued against exporting the copper that has already been mined, he added.

The mine has been sitting idle in the jungle for nearly a year after the Supreme Court ruled last year the company’s operating contract was unconstitutional. It’s closure hit economic growth and government revenue, led Fitch Ratings to cut the nation’s credit rating to junk.

The mine had accounted for about 1.5% of global copper production and about 4% of Panama’s gross domestic product. The firm has filed an arbitration suit against Panama.

Panama’s government is focused on approving a social security reform before this year ends, and will discuss the mine’s future next year, Chapman said. He said First Quantum must withdraw its arbitration suit before talks can begin between the firm and the administration of President Jose Raul Mulino, who took office in July.

“We are more than willing to sit down and talk with them as long as they drop their intentions of suing the government,” Chapman said. “That’s our pre-condition.”

Writing on the wall

Chapman, a former business consultant, advised the mine when First Quantum was negotiating a revised operating contract under the previous government. The revised contract granted First Quantum an extension to operate the mine for up to 40 years, a tax payment of at least $375 million and a royalty rate of between 12-16% depending on operating margins.

He said he warned the company that the revised contract was likely to fail because it didn’t include enough revenue for the government, among other reasons.

“It was written on the wall, a huge wall, and they just ignored it,” he said.

The mine was shuttered following months of violent protests that blocked Panama’s main roads and highways.

Chapman said sentiment has changed in the past two months as the government seeks to regain public trust. He said the government is studying alternatives such as opening the mine for a shorter time frame, improving environmental oversight and regulation of the mine and re-reading public sentiment, which will help guide decisions next year.

“You have political capital to use it,” Chapman said. “The current level of political capital is very high, and it will be used in the interest of the people of Panama.”

Ugly outlook

The government is striving to prevent further downgrades to its credit rating in the short term, and improve on it over the medium-term, Chapman said.

“This year, it’s going to look ugly in fiscal terms. That’s anticipated by everyone, including us,” he said. “Next year is going to be quite different.”

The government is targeting a fiscal deficit of 3% to 3.5% of gross domestic product for 2025. This year, the government had originally targeted 4%, but now accepts it’s going to be higher than that, he said.

Short term measures to rein in the deficit include an “expense freeze”, he said. He said that he sees himself as a “bad cop”, and the complaints he receives reassure him that he’s doing his job.

The country plans to narrow the deficit in such as a way as to have a “soft landing”, he said.

“Panama is not in a financial crisis, we don’t need shock therapy,” he said.

The nation’s bonds sold off last year after the government moved to shut the mine. In the aftermath of the closure, Fitch cut the the country to junk. Investors then feared a second cut by Moody’s Ratings or S&P Global Ratings — which would lead to the loss of the nation’s investment-grade status.

The second downgrade has yet to happen. The debt is already being treated as junk by investors, however, who demand a premium to hold Panama’s bonds over those of similarly-rated nations.

The economy will expand 2.5% this year, accelerating to 4% in 2025, according to the ministry’s forecasts. Without the mine’s closure, this year’s expansion would have been two percentage points higher, he said.

(By Michael McDonald and Vinícius Andrade)

As set out in the 2021 purchase agreement, a contingent payment of $1 million would be owed to Endeavour once the the El Cubo mill produces 3 million ounces of silver-equivalent, a milestone that has now been reached.

Under the agreement, Guanajuato has the right to settle half of this payment through the issuance of approximately 2.75 million common shares at a price of C$0.245 per share — the 10-day VWAP (volume-weighted average price) of the shares 30 days after the milestone was reached.

On Thursday, the company announced it has agreed to settle the balance of this payment through the issuance of approximately 2.72 million common shares at a deemed price of C$0.25 per share, the stock’s market price at press time. The Vancouver-based miner has a market capitalization of C$106 million.

Separately, Guanajuato has also agreed to issue shares to metals trading firm Ocean Partners to settle two months of outstanding payments on an existing credit facility. Ocean Partners will receive approximately 9.77 million shares for total consideration of $1.8 million.

“Ocean Partners has been our preferred metals trader from inception; and we are pleased that they are now one of our larger shareholders with approximately 4.9% of all shares outstanding,” Guanajuato Silver CEO James Anderson said in a news release.

Furthermore, the company has also arranged to settle approximately $250,000 in outstanding liabilities by issuing approximately 1.36 million common shares to an arm’s length third party.

Following the debt settlements, the Ocean Partners credit facility will be Guanajuato’s only remaining outstanding loan and is repayable in equal fixed monthly installments of gold totalling approximately 338 ounces per month for a period of 30 months, which commenced in June 2024.

In addition to El Cubo, Guanajuato operates two other mines in Mexico: the Valenciana Complex and San Ignacio. Together, these operations produced 3.5 million oz. of silver-equivalent last year, a record high for the company.

The study uses 2023 as the base year, with estimates and forecasts from 2024 to 2029. It covers green mining technologies currently used in industry, excluding experimental ones still in the lab. The market size reflects the revenue generated by mining companies adopting these eco-friendly technologies, BCC notes.

Green mining focuses on sustainable practices that minimize environmental impacts across mining operations. The market is segmented by surface and underground mining, technologies such as power, fuel, maintenance, emission and water reduction, and region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa).

Factors contributing to the projected growth include growing environmental legislation and regulatory pressures, the report notes.

“Stricter environmental laws are forcing industries, including mining, to adopt more sustainable practices,” the researcher says. “Governments and international bodies are setting higher standards to protect the environment, pushing mining companies to reduce their impact, use cleaner technologies and manage resources responsibly. This pressure to comply with new regulations is driving innovation in greener practices within the mining industry.”

Rising “green finance”

Rising green finance means more funding and investment are directed toward environmentally friendly projects. For the mining industry, this includes financial support for adopting sustainable practices and technologies, often through green bonds and incentives, helping to drive eco-friendly innovations.

Mining companies are quickly adopting renewable energy sources like solar and wind to power their operations, BCC points out, adding that this shift helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels, lowers carbon emissions, and promotes more sustainable and cost-effective energy use in the industry.

There is increasing demand for mining companies to ensure their materials are sourced responsibly,” the report reads. “This means ensuring ethical practices, minimizing environmental impact, and supporting social welfare throughout the supply chain to meet higher standards set by consumers and regulators.

The full report is here.

The mine, one of the world’s top sources of copper, was shut down in November, hours after Panama’s Supreme Court declared its contract unconstitutional. The decision to close down the mine was also triggered by environmental protests against the operation.

Panama’s new government led by President Jose Raul Mulino has said the mine is not on his government’s agenda this year and he will take a decision on its future in early 2025.

A significant reduction in the number of workers at the mine could lengthen the time needed to resume production.

First Quantum has asked its employees in Cobre Panama to choose between taking the voluntary retirement offer that would come into effect from January 2025 or work with reduced hours, the sources said.

Employees are expected to make a decision by the end of September, they added on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. First Quantum declined to comment.

Michael Camacho, the union leader for Panama Mining Workers Union, said the operation was undertaking a voluntary retirement process and a small number of workers had taken up the offer. He said Panama’s government has not indicated what would constitute a safe management plan for the mine.

“There are around 900 people working at the site, down from 6,000 last year and most of the employees would prefer to work with reduced work hours, than take a voluntary retirement”, said one of the sources, who did not wish to be identified.

Reuters could not independently verify the number of people currently working at the mine.

Shares of First Quantum closed 0.5% lower on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday.

For First Quantum, reopening Cobre Panama mine is essential to managing its debt.

Commodities markets are also watching to see what happens to 130,000 metric tons of copper concentrate that is stuck at Cobre Panama. The Panama government is yet to make a decision on whether it will allow the export of the copper concentrate.

(By Divya Rajagopal and Elida Moreno; Editing by Veronica Brown, Marguerita Choy and Jamie Freed)

The plan outlines a $269 million NPV at initial costs of $165 million, an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 46% and at a gold price of $1,950 per ounce. At current gold prices near $2,500 per oz., the IRR rises to 73%, and the NPV climbs to $492 million. The project, in Mulatos district of Sonora state is expected to nearly triple the district’s mine life to 2035.

“While Alamos’ smallest asset, the Mulatos extension leverages a significant amount of infrastructure in place and adds eight years of production with strong economics and with additional exploration potential,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Brian Quast wrote in a note to clients Thursday.

The project is set to deliver strong returns and significant upside through ongoing exploration, despite slightly lower capital and operating costs than analysts initially projected, Quast wrote.

Alamos’s expansion at PDA and Cerro Pelon coincides with rising global demand for gold driven by economic uncertainty. With high-grade discoveries and an extended mine life at Mulatos, the company is set to surpass its 2024 guidance of 160,000-170,000 ounces. This growth enables Alamos to take advantage of elevated gold prices and contribute to the increasing demand for safe-haven assets.

Its initial costs are to be spent over two years starting in mid-2025. PDA’s cash cost will be $921 per oz., with all-in sustaining costs (AISC) at $1,003 per oz.—lower than previous estimates despite inflationary pressures on mining expenses.

Alamos highlighted the project’s ability to front-load production, producing 127,000 oz. yearly in the first four years at an average grade of 7 grams gold per tonne. This strategy could drive strong early returns. Quast also noted the low execution risk, given PDA’s proximity to existing infrastructure and use of mothballed equipment from Alamos’s other operations.

Canaccord Genuity mining analyst Carey MacRury highlights the upside potential, mainly if Alamos adds a paste plant to increase mining recovery and improve stope cycle times, which could extend production beyond the current plan. Additionally, continued exploration success at PDA and Cerro Pelon could expand reserves and extend the Mulatos District’s life beyond 2035.

The PDA plan outlines total payable production of 806,000 oz. gold. The mine will process 5.4 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 5.61 grams gold. The flotation plant, which avoids using cyanide, is designed to recover 85% of the metal.

More upside

The project costs includes $51 million for underground development and $109 million for the processing facility, which will integrate the Cerro Pelon crushing circuit and equipment repurposed from Island Gold, in Ontario. Alamos plans to fund PDA’s development entirely through free cash flow generated by its ongoing operations at the Mulatos district operation.

“PDA will benefit from existing infrastructure, reducing capital intensity and ensuring a smoother project execution,” Alamos CEO John McCluskey said in a news release. “With the success we’re seeing at Cerro Pelon, we have a strong opportunity to extend the high-grade phase of production well beyond our current plans.”

As part of the company’s broader strategy, Alamos is continuing with 55,000 metres of drilling across the Mulatos district in 2024. The goal is to further expand high-grade zones at PDA and Cerro Pelon, while positioning the district for long-term growth and increased production.

Alamos shares trading in Toronto gained as much as 1.7% in early Thursday to an intra-day high of C$25.13, before falling below C$25.00 in the afternoon. Shares have touched C$14.80 and C$27.57 over the past 12 months. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.4 billion.

Results from both targets expanded high-grade gold mineralization, holding potential for increased reserves and an extended mine life beyond the current 2030 reserve horizon, the company reported on Wednesday. Alamos plans to release a development plan for PDA soon.

“Our PDA development plan will outline another high-return project that will nearly triple the current mine life of the Mulatos district,” company president and CEO John McCluskey said in a release. “The addition of a mill to process higher-grade sulphide mineralization will also create new opportunities within the district, including at Cerro Pelon, where we expect to declare an initial resource in early 2025.”

Alamos’s expansion at PDA and Cerro Pelon comes as global demand for gold rises amid economic uncertainty. With high-grade discoveries and plans to extend Mulatos’ mine life, Alamos is poised to boost production beyond its current 160,000-170,000 oz. guidance this year. This positions the company to capitalize on strong gold prices and contribute to global supply as demand for safe-haven assets grows.

High-grade hits

Part of a 55,000-metre drilling program in the district this year, results from PDA extended high-grade mineralization across several zones, including GAP-Victor, PDA3, and the PDA Extension. Highlights include 5.43 grams gold tonne over 18 metres from 74 metres depth in the GAP-Victor zone and 36.2 grams gold over 0.9 metre from 297 metres depth in the PDA Extension.

Cerro Pelon, located 9 km from PDA, also returned strong results with new high-grade feeder structures discovered below the old oxide deposit. These zones, measuring 45-125 metres wide and up to 170 metres deep, returned 5.5 grams gold over 27.9 metres and 12.47 grams gold (9.41 grams gold cut to cap higher-grade samples at 40 grams gold) over 6.5 metres.

The company aims to publish its first underground resource estimate for Cerro Pelon by early next year.

Growth strategy on track

The new drill results follow a 33% increase in proven and probable reserves to 5.4 million tonnes grading 5.6 grams gold per tonne for 969,000 oz. of metal at PDA in 2023. Mulatos currently hosts proven and probable reserves of 16.7 million tonnes at 2.7 grams gold for 1.5 million oz. of metal.

PDA’s location next to the Mulatos pit allows it to benefit from existing infrastructure, reducing development costs, Alamos said.

These results are part of Alamos’ broader growth strategy through high-return projects. The company has budgeted $19 million for exploration in the Mulatos district in 2024.

Alamos expects to grow gold output from 485,000-525,000 oz. this year to over 900,000 oz. by 2026 by adding PDA and the Lynn Lake project in northern Manitoba.

Early last month, Alamos shares surged after the company reported record second-quarter production of 139,100 oz. gold, exceeding its target and achieving a 300% increase in free cash flow to $106.9 million.

The company’s Toronto-listed shares last traded at C$24.75, up 47% over the past 12 months, having touched C$14.80 and C$27.57. It has a market capitalization of C$10.4 billion.

The North America unit consists of the Highland Valley copper operation in British Columbia, the Red Dog and Trail zinc operations, in Alaska and BC respectively, and the Galore Creek (BC), Schaft Creek (BC) and New Range (Minnesota) copper growth projects.

The Latin America unit covers the Carmen de Andacollo and Quebrada Blanca copper operations in Chile, Teck’s interest in the Antamina mine in Peru, as well as the Zafranal (Peru), San Nicolas (Mexico) and NuevaUnión (Chile) copper growth projects.

The two regional units, Teck said, will be supported by enterprise-wide functions and a dedicated projects group that will develop and execute brownfield and greenfield projects.

The Canadian miner started its business shift when it sold its British Columbia-based steelmaking coal unit to Swiss commodities giant Glencore in one of the biggest deals in the industry. The deal closed earlier this summer, with Glencore paying nearly $7 billion for Teck’s 77% stake in the coal business.

“This new structure will ensure Teck is optimally positioned to operate safely, efficiently and responsibly while capitalizing on profitable growth opportunities and enhancing value for our shareholders and all stakeholders,” Teck CEO Jonathan Price said in a news release.

“This change simplifies our business with a streamlined executive leadership team and regional structure to support our strategy focused on growth in copper, balanced with shareholder returns and the long-term resiliency of our business,” Price added.

New leadership team

To align with the new business structure, Teck has promoted a leadership group of current senior vice presidents to serve as executive vice presidents as well as various C-level roles. These include:

• Ian Anderson, EVP and chief commercial officer, responsible for margin enhancement through sales and procurement strategies and execution.
• Shehzad Bharmal, EVP and chief operating officer, responsible for driving safety, operational excellence and asset optimization at Teck’s operations.
• Jeff Hanman, EVP and chief strategy officer, responsible for developing and activating corporate strategy and transformation initiatives to position Teck as a leading producer of energy transition metals.
• Nic Hooper, EVP and chief corporate development officer, responsible for corporate development and value creation through portfolio optimization and Teck’s extensive exploration activities.
• Karla Mills, EVP and chief project development officer, responsible for accelerating growth by ensuring excellence in all aspects of the delivery of Teck’s portfolio of copper growth projects.
• Crystal Prystai, EVP and chief financial officer, responsible for overall financial management at Teck, including the allocation of capital to fund growth, maintain a resilient balance sheet and return cash to shareholders.
• Charlene Ripley, EVP and chief legal and sustainability officer, responsible for maintaining Teck’s leading sustainability performance, and supporting the business through legal, risk and compliance functions.
• Dean Winsor, EVP and chief people officer, responsible for human resources, development of talent, and the progression of a diverse, respectful and inclusive workplace.

Meanwhile, Fraser Phillips, SVP of investor relations and strategic analysis, is expected to retire in the first quarter of 2025, but will continue to lead Teck’s investor relations function in the interim.

“This executive leadership team bring to their portfolio an incredible breadth of experience and I look forward to working with them to unlock the full value of our premium energy transition metals portfolio and leading copper growth pipeline,” said Price.

Industrias Penoles announced an indefinite halt to operations at its Minera Tizapa unit in the State of Mexico on Friday due to a strike called by the national mining union.

The union, which represents the mining, metallurgical, and steel industries, is citing violations of a collective labor agreement signed in April, Penoles said in a filing.

The company, Mexico’s top silver miner, stated that it fully complies with the obligations of the labor agreement and local labor laws. It also said it will adhere to the appropriate legal and administrative procedures to resolve the conflict.

The mine, which Penoles holds a 51% stake in, extracts lead, zinc and copper.

In May, US trade authorities said Penoles and Mexican authorities had resolved alleged workers rights violations at Tizapa after Washington requested a review through the USMCA trade deal.

(By Kylie Madry and Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez)

The company’s ongoing 45,000 metres drill campaign targeted the Intermediate vein at Las Conchitas North, which is immediately next to the company’s sole operating asset. The highlight intercept was 82.6 grams gold per tonne over 2 metres at 46.5 metres depth. The company says the drill results could add to the near-term mine plan, while high-grade results from previously undrilled areas further away hold more discovery promise.

“These drill results further confirm the potential to expand high-grade mineralization in areas where we are currently mining,” CEO Akiba Leisman said in a news release. “What’s particularly exciting is the high-grade results from our regional exploration program. Most of these samples come from areas that have never been drilled before, and we’re already preparing to begin drilling these promising targets.”

In the El Golfo Area, 3 km south of San Albino, results include 62.2 grams gold and 71.2 grams silver over 1 metre, 86.80 grams gold and 111 grams silver over 1 metre, and 21.65 grams gold and 33.4 grams silver over 3 metres. In the Santa Rosa Area, 5 km east of San Albino, channel samples returned 358.6 grams gold and 87.9 grams silver per tonne over 1 metre, and 141.6 grams gold and 13.1 grams silver over 0.4 metre.

Shares gained a lacklustre 0.6% in intraday trading to C$3.15 before settling at C$3.12, giving it a market capitalization of C$245.8 million. Shares touched C$1.16 and C$3.74 in the past 12 months.

Guyana pivot

Mako operates the high-grade San Albino gold mine in Nicaragua, which recovered 34,982 oz. last year. The company intends to use San Albino cash flows to fund the 66,500 oz. per year (over 15 years) Eagle Mountain development in Guyana, which it acquired through the Goldsource Mines acquisition in March.

Mako expects to produce 42,819 oz. gold in 2024. San Albino began production in the second quarter of 2021.

Other results from the Intermediate vein also include 19.31 grams gold and 43.4 grams silver per tonne over 4 metres. In Las Conchitas South, the Las Dolores vein produced 16.83 grams gold and 26.4 grams silver over 6 metres, while the El Limon vein cut 12.27 grams gold and 7.1 grams silver over 3 metres.

The regional reconnaissance program also delivered impressive results, with samples from the El Golfo and Santa Rosa areas yielding gold grades as high as 358.6 grams gold per tonne over 1 metre.

San Albino holds a measured and indicated resource of 670,100 tonnes grading 11.6 grams gold and 16.5 grams silver for 250,200 oz. and 355,000 oz. of metal, respectively. Eagle Mountain hosts indicated resources of 31.1 million tonnes at 1.18 grams gold per tonne for 1.2 million oz of metal.

The company next plans to undertake about 10,000 metres of drilling for underground development starting later this year.

The material, worth between $225 million and $340 million at current copper prices, has sat idle for months at the giant mine while the Panamanian government determines whether the metal was mined before or after Cobre Panama was ordered to close last year. The Canadian mining company has warned that the matter must be resolved urgently since the stockpile can degrade in value and poses an environmental risk when left idle.

First Quantum argues that Panama must either let the 120,000 metric tons of the material leave the site or compensate the company based on the metal’s market value, according to people familiar with the matter. The claim is part of First Quantum’s two ongoing arbitration cases against Panama over shutting the $10 billion mine, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential matters.

Compensation for the copper cache would be a welcome boost for First Quantum’s balance sheet after Panama ordered the closure of its mine last November following fierce public protests. The company is seeking at least $20 billion from Panama in two arbitration cases — one through the International Chamber of Commerce and another through the Canada-Panama Free Trade Agreement — filed after Cobre Panama’s closure.

Panama’s Commerce and Industry Ministry didn’t immediately provide a response to requests for comment. First Quantum declined to comment.

The Vancouver-based company had expected to be able to ship the copper material earlier this year. It’s now arguing it is entitled to damages to compensate for the time that the material has been barred from shipment, said one person familiar with the matter.

The ICC’s International Court of Arbitration case is the most advanced of the two proceedings with a final hearing scheduled for September 2025, First Quantum said in its July 24 earnings call with investors.

Canadian mining royalty firm Franco-Nevada Corp. and German equipment manufacturer Liebherr-International AG have also both said they’re pursuing separate arbitration claims related to Cobre Panama’s closure.

(By Jacob Lorinc and Valentine Hilaire)

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.

The Dominican presidency said in a statement that the state firm, Empresa Minera Dominicana SA, or Emidom, will explore, exploit and run economic viability studies on the country’s natural resources.

The firm will be able to negotiate contracts and alliances with international firms and it will have a nine-member board, led by the minister of the presidency.

Emidom is also tasked with managing the Avila mining reserve in southern Pedernales province, which borders with Haiti and was in 2018 declared an area to be explored for possible rare earth projects.

Last year the US military said a team of its engineering researchers worked with local authorities in the highlands of Pedernales to evaluate the area’s viability.

The Caribbean nation is home to Canadian firm Barrick Gold’s Pueblo Viejo, the largest gold mine in Latin America and the Caribbean.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Chris Reese)

The Vancouver-based explorer’s revised preliminary economic assessment (PEA) increases the porphyry project’s net present value (NPV) to almost $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion in a PEA from last October, both at an 8% discount rate. The new study issued on Tuesday lowers initial capital expenses to $1.1 billion from $1.3 billion in the previous effort.

The internal rate of return increases to 22.2% from 17.3%. However, sustaining and expansion capital costs rise to $1.7 billion from $1.1 billion over the 22.6-year mine life, 2.6 years longer than originally envisioned. Payback improves to 3.8 years from five.

The 20-stage open pit mine and processing plant in Sinaloa state would start at 60,000 tonnes per day in the first year of production as in the previous PEA. However, expansion to 120,000 tonnes per day would be moved to the eighth year instead of the second. The first PEA envisioned four pit stages.

“A staged approach to the mine expansion and a focus on exploiting the higher-grade near-surface material in the early years of mining has unlocked a considerable increase in value,” Oroco CEO John Lock said in a release. “We have established a plan that invokes a very efficient use of capital.”

Case vs peers

The company cited a metric of after-tax NPV per initial capital spending – $1.48 billion/$1.1 billion – that ranks Santo Tomas more efficient than other low-cost, large-scale copper projects. These rivals include Ivanhoe Electric’s (TSX: IE; NYSE-AM: IE) Santa Cruz project in Arizona, McEwen Mining’s (TSX: MUX; NYSE: MUX) Los Azules project in Argentina and Los Andes Copper’s (TSXV: LA) Vizcachitas project in Chile.

Shares of Oroco Resource jumped nearly 11% by early afternoon Tuesday in Toronto to C$0.39 apiece, valuing the company at C$94 million. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$0.32 to C$0.74.

The new PEA keeps Santo Tomas’ total payable copper production of about 4,774 million lb. while lowering the average annual life of mine cash cost to $1.54 per lb. copper on a byproduct basis from $1.66 per pound.

Oroco forecasts copper production would average 207.5 million lb. per year over the mine life at a mill feed average grade of 0.51% copper-equivalent. Production byproducts over the mine life are estimated at 138.7 million lb. of molybdenum, 55.2 million oz. of silver and 753,400 oz. of gold.

“The plan starts with the use of smaller equipment to provide rapid entry to the mineralized material and maintains a higher-grade feed profile to delay the requirement of an expansion,” Lock said.

Resource update

The new PEA updates the Santo Tomas resource to 540.6 million indicated tonnes grading 0.33% copper, 0.008% molybdenum 0.03 gram gold per tonne. It also has 530.3 million inferred tonnes at 0.31% copper, 0.007% molybdenum and 0.002 gram gold.

That compares with 561 million indicated tonnes at 0.37% copper-equivalent and 549 million inferred tonnes at 0.34% copper-equivalent in last year’s PEA.

The new resource was based on prices of $4 per lb. copper, $13.50 per lb. molybdenum, $1,700 per oz. gold, and $22.50 per oz. silver.

Production at Santo Tomas would be preceded by two years of construction and pre-stripping as in the previous study, Oroco said.

The 90-sq.-km Santo Tomas lies in northern Sinaloa and southwest Chihuahua. Oroco holds an 85.5% interest in the 11.7-sq.-km central concessions, plus an 80% interest in the surrounding 78.6 sq. km.

The new PEA was based on data from more than 43,000 metres of drilling by Oroco as well as over 21,000 metres of legacy drilling in the North and South zones.

A week earlier, the miner announced a primary ball mill trunnion failure at the mine site, leading to its brief suspension. The company also adjusted down its third quarter guidance due to the incident.

One of the regrind mills has now been re-purposed as the primary ball mill, allowing ore processing to resume. The re-purposed mill is currently operating at a rate of 400 tonnes per day, Endeavour said.

While the grinding circuit is being closely monitored, there is potential for the plant to operate near 500 tonnes per day (tpd) or close to half of its planned production capacity of 1,200 tpd during this temporary phase, it added.

The mining operation, meanwhile, will focus on feeding the highest-grade ore to the mill and stockpiling the remaining material. Contract mining activities and local third-party material purchases will cease until the process plant operations have returned to full capacity.

These temporary solutions, according to Endeavour, are intended to manage cash flows until the primary mill is fully operational. Using current metal prices, management estimates that its cash shortfall could be limited to less than $5 million over an estimated 15-week period of reduced processing.

Initial quotes for the trunnion fabrication and installation have been obtained with an estimated fabrication cost of $500,000 and a period of 16 weeks to installation, the company said, adding that it is assessing several alternatives to shorten the estimated downtime of the primary ball mill.

During this reduced processing period, Guanacevi’s production is estimated to decrease by 900,000 to 1.1 million silver ounces and by 2,000 to 3,000 gold ounces compared to its original operating plan. Annual consolidated silver production for 2024 is expected to range from 4.4 to 4.6 million ounces, and gold production is expected to be between 36,000 and 38,000 ounces.

On a silver-equivalent basis, Endeavour’s production for 2024 is now forecast to total between 7.3 million and 7.6 million ounces. It achieved 4.4 million silver-equivalent ounces in the first half of the year.

The proposals, passed on Wednesday, will be taken up for discussion by the full lower house after lawmakers return to session in September.

The changes would also prevent the exploitation of water in areas with water scarcity, with the exception of extraction in populated areas for domestic use, according to a statement released Wednesday night.

The changes are part of a package of constitutional reforms presented in February by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which contains other proposals, including one to restructure the judiciary.

In Mexico, constitutional changes must be approved by a two-thirds vote in the plenary session of the both the lower house and the Senate, and by the majority of local congresses. In the June elections, Lopez Obrador’s ruling Morena party and its allies achieved a qualified majority in the lower house and were just two seats short in the Senate.

Lopez Obrador has criticized the mining contracts with private companies signed by his predecessors and says that his administration has not granted any new private concessions in the sector.

The Mexican Mining Chamber (Camimex) opposes the ban on open-pit mining, saying such a prohibition would cause a 1% contraction in the country’s GDP and threaten some 200,000 jobs.

Regarding the genetically modified corn, the proposal comes as Mexico and the United States have an ongoing dispute at a panel of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The lower house committee’s reform would allow for the entry of genetically modified corn into Mexico only for non-human consumption and only if the grain dos not have the capacity to germinate.

(By Ana Isabel Martinez and Raul Cortes Fernandez; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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.

More than 250 instances of illegal mining have been identified in the rainforest surrounding Cobre Panama this year, according to Zorel Morales, head of the nation’s mining chamber. That’s a 317% increase from 60 instances in 2023. The illegal miners, Morales said, are mostly searching for gold.

Morales and his trade organization, which includes First Quantum, are pushing for a quick resolution on Cobre Panama’s future. The massive mine has sat idle since November after Panama’s Supreme Court ruled that its operating contract was unconstitutional. The closure sparked mass layoffs, which have left the mine’s surroundings largely unattended while First Quantum waits for negotiations to resume under President Jose Raul Mulino’s new administration.

Mulino, however, has said he won’t start talks with the Canadian mining company until the new year, as the government is prioritizing other pressing matters like social security reform and water supply for the Panama Canal.

That timeline will clash with the mine’s need for more immediate action, Morales said in a Monday phone interview. The facility is holding about 121,000 tons of mined copper concentrate that can present environmental risks, said Morales.

“This topic cannot be left for tomorrow,” he said.

First Quantum declined to comment, and a government spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Panamanian officials have already raised concerns about illegal mining in the area since Cobre Panama’s closure. Security minister Frank Abrego warned that illegal miners are using unsafe procedures, as well as chemicals like cyanide, according to cabinet meeting minutes released by Mulino’s administration.

(By Valentine Hilaire and Jacob Lorinc)

Read More: Barrick CEO open to being a partner on the Cobre Panama mine

The mine, owned by First Quantum Minerals, has been under dispute since November when protests led to the mine’s closure.

The new government, led since July by President Jose Raul Mulino, has said the future of the mine – which accounted for 1% of global copper output and 5% of Panama’s GDP – will be decided next year.

“At the end of the day, it is the Panamanian government that has to decide what it wants to do with this asset, and we of course, stand available to be considered as a potential partner sometime in the future,” Bristow told Reuters at his Toronto office.

First Quantum initiated proceedings last year against Panama at the International Court of Arbitration in Florida, seeking $20 billion over the mine shut-down.

First Quantum and the Panamanian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Even as demand for copper assets heats up among big miners, Bristow said Barrick will take a conservative approach to deal-making and remains wary of paying a premium, despite a recent surge in copper prices.

“We always say, ‘be careful about paying at the top of the market,'” Bristow said.

Some of the biggest copper miners viewed by bankers and industry insiders as potential acquisition targets are Anglo American and Teck Resources.

BHP’s failed bid to acquire Anglo American for $49 billion and Lundin Mining’s recent joint venture with BHP have spurred expectations of more big-ticket copper deals.

Teck’s controlling shareholders, Norman Keevil and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, rejected last year a hostile bid from Glencore. Teck later spun off its coal assets to Glencore for C$8.9 billion and said it would focus on copper.

Bristow said Barrick reviews everything it considers world-class copper and gold assets and that it had looked at Teck, but added that its share structure could be a hindrance to any deal.

“We have a strong balance sheet, we have no real debt, and we are Canadian. So that is also important,” said Bristow.

Teck has a dual class share structure with multiple voting rights attached to its class-A common shares, the majority of which are controlled by Keevil and Sumitomo.

Bristow noted that Teck’s dual-share structure sunsets in four years, so there is time to think through options.

Teck said the company does not comment on market rumors or speculation. 

(By Divya Rajagopal and Felix Njini; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Rod Nickel)

Read More: First Quantum to trim work hours at stalled Panama copper mine

Shares of Endeavour Silver plunged on the news, down 19.3% to $3.40 by 11:25 a.m. in Toronto, for a market capitalization of C$848.8 million ($617.5 million).

Management is now assessing several alternatives, including operating at a significantly reduced capacity with minor conveyor modification using smaller regrind mills until the primary ball mill is operational, the company said.

This downtime is expected to impact the company’s third quarter production, as well as its annual production and cost guidance, it added. An evaluation of the impact is expected this week and will be released when complete.

The Guanaceví underground mine, located 260 km northwest of Durango City, represents Endeavour’s cornerstone asset, being its first and highest-grade silver mine. It currently mines precious metals from three orebodies, with the plant processing the material at 1,200 tonnes per day on average.

In 2024, Guanaceví is initially forecast to produce between 5.3-5.8 million oz. of silver and 34,000-38,000 oz. of gold, or 8.1-8.8 million oz. of silver-equivalent. Last year, it produced 5.1 million oz. of silver and 14,955 oz. of gold, for 6.3 million oz. of silver-equivalent.