The miner and trader’s own sourced copper production fell 4% to 705,200 metric tons, while its own sourced cobalt output fell 18% to 26,500 tons.

Glencore left its overall 2024 outlook for copper, a metal needed for energy transition applications, unchanged at between 950,000 and 1.01 million tons.

Its trading division, whose profit hit a record $6.4 billion in 2022, includes coal, oil, liquefied natural gas and related products, as well as metals.

Glencore expects its full-year marketing earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the $3 billion-$3.5 billion range, around the top-end of the firm’s long-term forecast range of $2.2 billion to $3.2 billion.

The miner has kept its coal business after concluding the purchase of Teck Resources’ coking coal assets and securing backing from a majority of its investors who see lucrative earnings from the fossil fuel.

CEO Gary Nagle in August said the company could acquire more steelmaking coal.

It is one of the largest producers and exporters of thermal coal, with an expected output of between 98 million and 106 million tons this year. It produced 73.1 million tons so far, 7% lower than year-ago levels.

Its 2024 steelmaking coal production should increase to 19 million-21 million tons post-acquisition, from 7 million-9 million tons.

(Reporting by Clara Denina; Editing by Jason Neely and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

The Caribou mill complex includes a 3,000-t/d mineral processing facility with a primary grinding circuit, one semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill and one ball mill. There are two regrinding circuits with three ISA mills and one pall mill.

A differential sulphide flotation plant and regent system, laboratories, a tailings management facility, an underground mine, connection to the hydro grid, and a water supply for operations are included.

Canadian Copper has agreed to pay approximately C$6.2 million for the fully permitted complex, consisting of a C$225,000 deposit, half of which is refundable against the purchase price. The transaction is scheduled to close next July.

Simon Quick, CEO of Canadian Copper, hailed the agreement, stating that “the proposed transaction creates important synergies for Canadian Copper.”

“By integrating our large Murray Brook deposit with an already permitted and constructed Caribou complex that operated as recently as August 2022, we aim to significantly reduce the schedule, capital cost, and permitting time required to produce copper, zinc and lead concentrate from Murray Brook,” he said.

The company has already hired consultants to design, engineer and develop the mining and milling processes for the Murray Brook deposit. A preliminary economic assessment is due in the first half of 2025. Modifications to the water and tailings facilities are also under consideration.

The Murray Brook deposit contains measured and indicated sulphide resources of 21.1 million tonnes grading 0.45% copper, 0.91% lead and 2.49% zinc. There is also a measured and indicated oxide resource of 2 million tonnes at 1.03% copper, 0.74% lead and 2.22% zinc.

Resources in the inferred category comprise 110,000 tonnes of sulphides grading 0.41% copper, 0.68% lead and 1.82% zinc.

Bain Capital, which backs Korea Zinc’s current leaders, separately secured a 1.41% stake in the company, the world’s biggest zinc smelter said in a regulatory filing.

Run by the Choi family, Korea Zinc has been in a bitter fight for control of the $18 billion zinc empire with the co-founding Chang family, whose conglomerate Young Poong made an initial joint offer with MBK in September.

The latest transactions suggest the overall backing Korea Zinc’s management has won so far is smaller than the stake held by MBK and Young Poong. That raised investor expectations for a prolonged takeover battle, driving Korea Zinc shares to record highs on Monday.

MBK and Young Poong together own about 38.5% of Korea Zinc.

Before the buyback, Korea Zinc’s Choi family had the backing of shareholders that owned up to 36% of the company, including strategic partners such as Hyundai Motor Group, according to analysts.

Korea Zinc said on Monday it had spent 2.07 trillion won ($1.5 billion) on the buyback and would eventually cancel all of its newly acquired shares to raise shareholder value.

Cancellation of the shares means the Chois’ stake will not increase relative to its rival.

Neither side has a majority stake in the case of a proxy fight.

Shares in Korea Zinc jumped as much as 11.7% on Monday to 1.4 million won, 57% above its buyback price of 890,000 won, before ending the session up 3.8% at a record close as the number of shares available to trade have shrunk due to tender offers from both sides.

Korea Exchange warned in a filing late on Monday that if such steep rises in its share price continue, and meet certain criteria, it may halt trading of Korea Zinc shares.

Shares in Young Poong closed up 7.45%.

MBK on Monday nominated 14 new directors for the firm, which currently has 13 board members, and called for Korea Zinc to hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting, as flagged to Reuters by a partner in the fund last week.

The fund also said it would propose a new system to separate management from the board in a bid to improve governance, adding Korea Zinc’s latest share buyback had caused a severe financial hit to the company.

Various shareholders widely viewed as sympathetic to the Chois, such as Hyundai Motor, Hanwha Group and LG Chem, have yet to publicly declare their stance.

South Korea’s National Pension Service, the world’s third-largest pension fund which held a 7.83% stake in Korea Zinc at end-June, is expected to be a key casting vote. It has yet to disclose its stance.

($1 = 1,384.1300 won)

(By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Tom Hogue, Stephen Coates, Sonali Paul and Jan Harvey)

Without Ozernoye’s substantial contribution to global mined zinc supply next year, a shortage of zinc concentrate – a raw material to make zinc metal, used to galvanize steel, is likely to persist. Concern over tight supplies is one of the drivers that has pushed zinc prices to a 20-month high.

Asked about the possible delay, Ozernoye told Reuters it plans next year to produce concentrate “in volume comparable to the previously announced targets”.

Ozernoye officially launched production in September, saying that it would reach full capacity of about 320,000 metric tons of zinc in concentrate in 2025.

That represents 2.5% of next year’s global mined zinc supply estimated at 12.86 million tons, industry group the International Lead & Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) said.

The ILZSG included the ramp-up of Ozernoye in its forecasts of robust growth of 8.9% in new mining zinc supply outside China in 2025.

The sources, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said Ozernoye had yet to produce any material as it could not find an adequate replacement for the components that process rocks into powder-form concentrate.

Those parts were damaged by a fire in November 2023.

Ozernoye did not give any production targets when approached by smelters and traders interested in buying their concentrates next year, the sources said.

The components Ozernoye needs were developed and are made by commodity trader Glencore’s subsidiary Glencore Technology. Glencore taps an Australian zinc-lead deposit with a similar mineral composition to that of Ozernoye.

Glencore can no longer sell the concentrator parts to Ozernoye, which the US government placed under sanctions shortly after the fire.

Glencore declined to comment. The Swiss trader-miner said only it would “fully comply with all sanctions applicable to our business activities”.

Ozernoye is working with local company TEM Partner to try to replicate Glencore’s system, one source said. Production may start in November, the same source said.

The company statement said its equipment was made in Russia by its “in-house design bureau”.

It said it expected to achieve “project capacity within a year from the start of commissioning,” without specifying when that was.

“The part of the flotation equipment, which has already been commissioned, is behaving stably and the first batches of zinc concentrates have been received,” it said.

The uncertainty over Ozernoye’s output adds to the impact of other disruption, including Century’s force majeure and a slower-than-expected ramp-up at Ivanhoe’s Kipushi project in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Reflecting the difficulty of sourcing concentrate, zinc treatment charges (TC), the fees a smelter earns for converting concentrate into refined metal and a gauge of concentrates’ availability, dropped to minus $40 a ton end of September, according to pricing agency SMM.

The lower TC pushed some zinc smelters into losses and they had to cut production.

(By Julian Luk; Editing by Pratima Desai and Barbara Lewis)

For the son of a wealthy mining mogul, this was something of an initiation. He spent the summer hunting for gold — shadowing grizzled prospectors and geologists, bushwhacking through the Boréal forest. He even dug holes for where the outhouses would go. “I just wanted to be kept busy,” he said.

Adam, 37, is now the chairman of Lundin Mining Corp., a publicly traded Canadian metals producer. His younger brother, Jack, 34, is the company’s chief executive officer. The Lundin boys, as they are known in Canada’s tight-knit mining circles, are the two middle sons of Lukas Lundin, a hard-driving magnate who inherited the business from his own father.

As the world races to build more clean energy products, many of the key companies that control vast quantities of critical minerals are family-owned, and the Lundin boys are part of a new generation taking the reins. They were groomed to inherit a commodities empire — copper, nickel and zinc mines across the Americas and Europe — along with a family fortune estimated at $7.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.

But unlike other mining families, the Lundins aren’t controlling shareholders. Together with their two brothers, Will and Harry, they own a collective 15.4% of Lundin Mining, making them the firm’s second-biggest shareholder.

“We’re doing this because we want to,” said Jack. “Not because we have to.”

In their twenties, Jack and Adam were put in charge of smaller outfits to test their business savvy. Jack was tasked with managing Lundin Gold Inc.’s project in Ecuador, while Adam steered Filo Corp., a copper project in Argentina. They were each appointed to boards of other Lundin-owned companies before eventually joining the upper ranks at Lundin Mining. Now, they rise at 5 a.m. most days to track European commodities markets.

Through a family trust managed out of Geneva, Switzerland, the Lundins are also top shareholders in nearly a dozen other commodities companies, including Botswana-based diamond driller Lucara Diamond Corp. and ShaMaran Petroleum Corp., an oil explorer with assets in Iraq.

Few in the industry were surprised to see Adam and Jack take over from their father, but it happened sooner than expected, after Lukas died suddenly of brain cancer in 2022. Two years later, they’re betting big on Argentina, where they’ve secured access to vast deposits of copper — putting them on the front lines of a frenzy for natural resources in the inflation-wracked country.

“As the world moves to electrify, we’re all going to need a lot more copper,” Adam said from his Vancouver office, overlooking the city’s jagged Pacific coastline. “We can play a big role in that.”

The bet on a metal in a country that has yet to really produce much of it is in keeping with tradition: The Lundins built a reputation for going to places that few others were comfortable venturing.

Adolf H. Lundin was a Swedish wildcatter who made a fortune from the 1976 discovery of a natural gas field off the coast of Qatar. In Europe’s staid commodities world, his swashbuckling business ventures brought him fame and controversy. He invested in gold projects in apartheid-era South Africa and oil drilling in Sudan while the country was ravaged by civil war. (To this day, the family’s defunct petroleum business is the subject of Sweden’s largest-ever criminal prosecution, concerning human rights abuses in Sudan.)

He was an “inveterate gambler, who always believed the riches were right around the corner,” said Pierre Lassonde, a Canadian mining financier and co-founder of Franco-Nevada Corp. “Drank his own liquor plenty,” he added.

Lukas’s brother Ian went into oil, exploring for petroleum sources in Africa and Europe. Lukas, meanwhile, helped expand the family business into mining through dealmaking that netted a sprawling portfolio of mines. He resettled to Canada in the late ‘80s, as Vancouver became a hub for mineral explorers and developers.

Appetite for adventure runs in the family — Lukas was a four-time motorcycle competitor in the Dakar rally and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro twice. Within months of his death, Jack climbed Mount Everest to pay homage. Earlier this year, he completed a 75-mile, eight-hour cycling race through British Columbia.

To build a copper mining district in Argentina, the brothers will have to navigate the raucous politics and economic vagaries of one of the more volatile countries in South America. The country’s new president, Javier Milei, has promised to ramp up resource extraction to help grow the economy.

“It’s a big bet,” said Martin Pradier, an analyst at Veritas Investment Research Corp. “They’re not just betting on this government. They’re betting on the next 10 governments.”

Mine-building is notoriously challenging, rife with uncertainty and cost overruns. Nowadays, most miners would rather acquire already-built operations than take on the risks of constructing new ones. The Argentine projects are located in the San Juan Province, a largely depopulated region defined by the Andes mountains and vast, arid desert. There are few roads and sparse access to the electrical grid. “You have to build roads, you have to get people to live at the base of the mine,” said Pradier.

The brothers have sought to manage risk with outside help. In July, they recruited BHP Group Ltd., the world’s top mining firm, to take 50% ownership of the Argentine project, forming a joint venture to build the district.

After Milei’s inauguration in January, Jack and Adam flew to Buenos Aires to meet with the new president and discuss the resource sector’s role in stabilizing a country rife with inflation and investor apprehension.

They emerged from the meeting with a selfie — Jack and Adam on either side of the new president, giving two thumbs up. And a few months later, Milei unveiled a sweeping package of tax, currency and customs benefits for major investors.

“It’s the best window I’ve seen in Argentina — ever,” said Adam.

(By Jacob Lorinc)

Three-month futures jumped as much as 4.5% to $3,284 a ton on the London Metal Exchange. Teck said refined zinc production this year may be as much as 12% lower than previously expected due to a localized fire at its Trail smelter in September.

The 40,000-ton cut to its guidance is small in the context of the 14 million-ton global market but comes during a time of heightened concerns.

Zinc futures traded 1.54 higher at $3,188 a ton at 10:24 a.m. local time on the LME. Prices pared earlier gains after readily available zinc inventories tracked by the LME rose 4.8%, the most in a month.

Zinc has rallied by a fifth this year following several disruptions to mine output, making it the No. 2 performer among the exchange’s six main metals. Reflecting the supply tightness, cash contracts have swung sharply during the past week to a significant premium over three-month futures.

That structure — known as backwardation — implies spot demand is running ahead of supply. The spread between the two contracts reached $60.50 a ton Thursday, the highest in more than two years.

LME data also shows individual entities recently buying large volumes of inventory and zinc futures expiring next month.

Despite tepid Chinese consumption and a still-uncertain global economy, supply bottlenecks have emerged this year to rattle several metals. Copper smelters are struggling because there isn’t enough ore to go around, and aluminum has gained as prices for its key input material, alumina, shoot higher.

Among other metals, aluminum rose as much as 1.7% to $2,715 a ton, the highest intraday price since May, and copper gained 0.8%.

Read More: Zinc market tightens as mine supply disruptions rattle buyers

Cash zinc contracts are trading at a $24.09 premium to three-month futures, in a pricing structure known as backwardation that’s a hallmark sign that spot demand is exceeding supply. The spread was trading at a discount as recently as last week, and is now at the highest level since 2023.

The zinc market has been rattled by a series of mine setbacks this year, dramatically tightening supplies of raw zinc ores known as concentrates. Demand for the metal has suffered during an industrial downturn in China and Europe, but the supply ructions have been large enough to underpin an 17% gain in zinc prices on the LME this year.

The key question among analysts and traders is whether zinc smelters — squeezed by rising raw material costs and weak end-use demand — will be forced to cut production. That could constrict spot metal supplies and fuel further price gains. The backwardation signals that buyers in the LME market are increasingly alert to that possibility.

Within the past week, one individual buyer has acquired between 50% and 80% of the readily available zinc inventories in the LME’s warehousing network, according to data from the exchange. And in the futures market, one entity has also bought up at least 40% of the main November-delivery zinc contracts, which would entitle them to scoop up more inventory than there is available in the system, if held to expiry.

“Has this tightness been accentuated by changes in trader positioning? Maybe, but there’s a fundamental basis for it because we’re simply not mining enough zinc,” Colin Hamilton, managing director for commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said by phone from London. “I can see why it’s happening, because on the raw-material side it’s the tightest of all the base metals.”

Backwardations can emerge quickly in individual price spreads as large buyers emerge on the LME, and they can dissipate just as rapidly if and when those inventories and futures positions are sold back into the market. But the tightness isn’t limited to near-dated months, with a steep backwardation emerging all the way out to 2027 in recent trading sessions — suggesting that investors, traders and consumers could be bracing for a longer-term squeeze on supply.

Global mine production fell by 4.2% in the first eight months of the year, data from the International Lead and Zinc Study Group showed on Wednesday. Meanwhile, refined zinc output has fallen 1%, but BMO’s Hamilton said it’s likely that more meaningful smelter cutbacks will be seen moving into next year.

Bullish investors have been betting on a slower-than-expected recovery in mined supplies following a series of cuts to production guidance, including a downward revision by Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. earlier this month, according to Zeng Tong, an analyst at Jinrui Futures Co.

The latest knock to mine supply came on Friday, as Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. said that it expects operations at its Century zinc mine in Australia to be suspended until mid-November after a bushfire damaged some equipment.

Investors might be rushing to build long positions following the Century news, said Han Zhen, an analyst at researcher Shanghai Metals Market. There is also talk about possible production cuts at European smelters due to higher electricity costs over winter, she said.

Zinc was down 0.4% at $3,126 a ton on the LME as of 1:32 p.m. in London, after climbing 2% on Tuesday. Other metals were mixed, with copper down 1.2% to $9,470 a ton, while aluminum rose 0,3%.

Column: Zinc facing supply deficit as mine output falls again

Boliden’s third quarter operating profit, excluding the revaluation of process inventory, totalled 3.0 billion Swedish crowns ($274 mln), up 58% from 1.9 billion crowns a year earlier.

That was above the expectation of 2.3 billion Swedish crowns seen in a company-provided consensus.

“Our mine production during the quarter has been good,” Boliden’s chief executive Mikael Staffas said, adding that the Garpenberg mine has had a record ore output and the Kankberg mine set a new record production for gold.

Quarterly revenue for the mining group rose 14% to 22.2 billion crowns, from 19.4 billion in the same period last year.

Shares in Boliden rose 8% in early trading before giving up their gains.

In a research note, JPMorgan noted Boliden’s 2024 guidance is unchanged but said the 2025 outlook is weaker than its own estimate.

Staffas told Reuters that it is feasible the company will finish 2024 very close to the initial guidance.

The company announced in September it expected delays to start of Odda expansion project, now expected at the end of the first quarter of 2025.

The delay came after a string of hurdles over the recent quarters, with falling metal prices, lower mining grades and the suspension of production at the company’s Tara mine, on top of the fire at its smelter at Ronneskar last year.

On Tara, Europe’s largest zinc mine, the company said preparations for a restart are running according to plan.

It also added it expects to recognize an insurance income of 935 million crowns in the fourth quarter of 2024 related to the fire.

(By Tilla Sjaavaag; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

The latest estimate contains resources for the Tom and Jason deposits and the inaugural numbers for the Boundary and End zones. Together, there is an indicated resource of 56 million tonnes grading 7.27% zinc equivalent and an inferred resource of 48.5 million tonnes at 7.48% zinc equivalent.

Breaking the numbers down further, the figures look like this (with contained metal):

• Indicated: 5.50% zinc (6.78 billion lb.), 1.58% lead (1.92 billion lb.), 24.2 g/t silver (43.5 million oz.), 10.98 g/t germanium (614,800 kg) and 7.38 g/t gallium (412,900 kg).
• Inferred: 5.15% zinc (5.5 billion lb.) 2.08% lead (2.2 billion lb.), 25.3 g/t silver, 39.4 million oz.), 8.14 g/t germanium (394,400 kg) and 5.82 g/t gallium (282,100 kg).

“We are excited to be able to demonstrate the presence of significant quantities of byproduct elements germanium and gallium, propelling Macpass to a premier spot on the world stage of critical mineral districts,” said CEO Peter Hemstead.

“The mix of such large accumulations of the critical minerals zinc, tungsten, germanium and gallium on one property represents a strategic asset for North America and represents a tremendous economic opportunity for northern Canada,” he added.

This year’s exploration program at Macpass is now complete. A total of 16,013 metres were drilled in 49 holes, and assays are pending for most holes. A large regional program was also completed, including extensive ground gravity surveys, prospecting, soil sampling, and airborne geophysical surveys of LiDAR and VTEM-magnetics.

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

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

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

Glencore deal winding down

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

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

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

Quebec’s helping hand

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exploration bonanza

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

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

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

20+ year potential

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

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

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

A gauge of strength of the greenback was up about 0.4% and touched the highest since early August. That’s made commodities including base metals less appealing for investors holding other currencies.

Copper and zinc advanced earlier after reductions in two key rates at Chinese banks. The cuts were larger than economists had expected, and they followed the central bank cutting its key policy rate in September. China’s top leadership had called for lower interest rates and stronger measures to aid the ailing property market, a key source of demand for metals like steel, copper and zinc.

Industrial commodities have had a volatile few weeks as investors reacted to a flurry of Chinese government announcements on steps to aid the economy and help it reach the 5% growth target for this year.

Copper fell 0.8% to $9,552 a metric ton by5:08 p.m. local time on the London Metal Exchange, while zinc slipped 0.7% and aluminum was down 0.6%.

Read More: China to extend record aluminum output amid ample power

After the port’s inauguration in mid-November, it will initially cover a direct route to Shanghai and then may ship to other points in the Asian market, depending on demand, said Carlos Tejada, general manager of Hong Kong-based Cosco’s local subsidiary, Cosco Shipping Chancay Peru.

“At the end of November, we will begin the stage known as ‘test conditioning,’ which we expect to run until May. However, during this soft launch phase, we can already handle actual cargo, with two direct vessels per week,” the executive told reporters following a Peruvian-Chinese business forum.

Tejada said that cabotage routes will be opened with smaller ships from Colombia, Ecuador and Chile, whose cargo will later be shipped to Asia from Chancay, initially in ships carrying up to 14,000 containers, which will then be progressively increased to larger vessels holding up to 24,000 containers.

Cosco Shipping Ports owns and will operate the port with a 60% stake, with the remaining 40% held by Peruvian miner Volcan, which is controlled by Glencore.

(By Marco Aquino and Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Adam Jourdan)

While all workers and the main infrastructure at the site are reported safe, there has been an “extensive loss” of piping infrastructure. Orders for replacements have already been placed, the South African miner said in a statement on Friday.

Zinc output this quarter is expected to fall short by nearly 9,700 tonnes due to the stoppage, which will likely last until mid-November, according to the statement. Century produced 76,000 tonnes of zinc last year.

“This incident once again highlights the threat posed by climate change, which is leading to significant damage from extreme weather-related events worldwide,” CEO Neal Froneman said.

“This setback is unfortunate, considering the Century operation had recovered well after heavy rains affected Q1 2024,” he added.

The Century zinc mine began production in 1999. Operations were placed on care and maintenance in 2016 after the depletion of the original open-pit reserves, following 16 years of producing and processing an average of 475,000 tonnes of zinc and 50,000 tonnes of lead concentrate per annum.

The mine is expected to run out of ore in 2027, but its indicated and inferred resources present an opportunity to extend operations beyond 2030, the company has said.

Misra’s comments follow the Indian government’s rejection of a similar proposal in March, as the miner’s largest minority shareholder was not convinced that such a move would boost shareholder value.

The government has also started road shows to sell its stake in the miner, Misra said.

“Hindustan Zinc believes in value creation through demerger and will continue pursuing this, disinvestment or no disinvestment, both ways,” Misra told Reuters in an interview.

Last year, the company said it planned to create separate entities for its zinc, lead, silver and recycling businesses to unlock “potential value”.

Separately, the company plans to foray into domestic critical minerals blocks, he said, adding that it has plans to bid for copper, lithium, gold, platinum and potash blocks.

Misra also said the company is inviting discussions with global mining contractors to start mine development as it aims to double its output to 2 million tons per annum, adding that the contract should be fixed by November.

“Right now we are seeing an average (investment) figure of $2 to $2.5 billion. But once you know the full width and breadth of the project, then we’ll have to go to board, take approval,” he said.

The company may look for some debt and equity funding as it goes for a 2 million ton expansion, chief financial officer Sandeep Modi said in an analyst call earlier in the day.

The company on Friday reported better-than-expected second-quarter profit, helped by gains in zinc prices.

Consolidated net profit rose about 35% from a year ago to 23.27 billion rupees (around $277 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to analysts’ expectations of 22.51 billion rupees according to estimates compiled by LSEG.

Hindustan Zinc said its revenue from operations grew 21% to 80.04 billion rupees, also beating expectations for 79.99 billion rupees.

($1 = 84.0420 Indian rupees)

(By Sethuraman N R, Neha Arora and Manvi Pant; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Varun H K and Vijay Kishore)

Iron ore futures fell more than 5% to trade below $100 a ton in Singapore, while tin, zinc and nickel paced declines for non-ferrous metals on the London Metal Exchange.

China will expand a program to support the completion of unfinished housing projects to 4 trillion yuan ($562 billion), Housing Minister Ni Hong said at a briefing on Thursday. That nearly doubles the scale of spending as Beijing bids to ease the real estate crisis, but investors had been hoping for more.

“The property policies are focused on resolving the backlog of housing inventory, which doesn’t really help much with steel demand in the short term,” said Zhou Minbo, an analyst with GF Futures Co.

Iron ore had rallied from a two-year low below $90 in late-September to above $110. But prices have faded as a series of government briefings on economic policy fell short of expectations. China’s economy is still under pressure, with its third-quarter growth likely to be at its weakest pace in six quarters, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Investors are placing too much expectation on government announcements of stimulus, said Han Jing, an analyst with SDIC Essence Futures Co. There has been a clear shift in policies, but the scale and the pace will become clear more gradually, he said.

Iron ore is down by more than a quarter this year, and pressure isn’t coming just from weaker Chinese demand. Relatively strong supply has been underscored by quarterly output tallies from the big three miners this week, with Brazil’s Vale SA pushing its production to the highest since 2018.

Iron ore futures were trading down 4% at $100.60 a ton as of 12:36 p.m. London time. Copper was 0.5% lower at $9,514 a ton on the LME, having earlier hit a three-week low of $9,435.50 a ton. Tin fell 2.4%, while nickel and zinc were more than 1% lower.

Read More: World’s top two iron ore miners raise output even as China slows

The lack of transparency and lost capital are a lesson for junior mining investors, mining engineer Michael McClintock, founder of the McClintock Group of stockholders, said in an interview with The Northern Miner. The group once held about 15% but it’s been diluted to around 3.5%, he said.

Part of McClintock’s argument is that the TSXV and Canadian securities regulators should have probed defensive capital raisings at below-market prices last year because they benefited CEO Patrick McGrath and board members at the expense of other shareholders. Share offerings at C$0.01 when the stock was C$0.02, and twice at C$0.065 apiece when the stock was around C$0.095 and C$0.08, followed a 10-to-one rollback, documents show.

“Between the three financings they did, they issued upwards of 65% new stock that was all done either to insiders or close associates,” McClintock said from Vancouver. “Two of those financings were announced as closed, which I’ve never really seen done in the industry before.”

Blue Moon’s McGrath said the company required capital raisings to stay afloat. Commenting by email, he said Michael’s father, Jack McClintock, was on the board at the time of the first financing, and that the McClintock Group could have asked to be part of the financings. They were needed because the company had C$30,000 in cash and C$315,000 in debt as of the end of 2022.

“If the company did not raise capital, it would simply not survive and it would lose its assets,” McGrath said. “This is the case of most junior TSXV companies.”

Best interests

A defensive capital raising is a pre-emptive move to discourage a takeover by offering shares to certain people at a discount. It increases the number of shares available and makes it more expensive for a hostile acquirer to buy enough shares to gain control.

They aren’t illegal in Canada, but companies are supposed to demonstrate they’re in the best interest of shareholders and not merely a tactic to entrench management. It has similarities to a ‘poison pill’ clause sometimes placed in a company’s bylaws.

McClintock’s father, John, known as Jack, has a long history with Blue Moon, starting as CEO when the company listed in 2007. He resigned in 2015, rejoined the company in 2017 as a director. He left again in February last year, unhappy with how the roll back was done and the discounted share offerings to management and directors.

Michael McClintock issued an open letter to shareholders in April 2023 raising concerns. Management wasn’t providing adequate updates, it might try to sell the Blue Moon project at a significant discount to its market value, and the share roll back was unnecessary and had further diluted shares, McClintock said. He offered to be CEO for a salary of C$1 a year.

‘No business plan’

Blue Moon replied the following month that McClintock had “no meaningful business plan, no indications of access to capital nor any prior public company experience.” McClintock had “onerous terms for the company that the board would not accept,” it said, referring to his offer to be CEO.

“The bottom line is John McClintock has led Blue Moon for 14.5 of the last 16 years without success,” Blue Moon said in May 2023. “If Blue Moon shareholders want a different plan than the last 16 years, they should be looking to the current team.”

McGrath said Blue Moon needed to roll back shares because it had 150 million shares outstanding and the company was trading well below the TSXV minimum price to complete a financing.

Defensive capital raising is rare, but one of many issues investors in junior mining companies need to be aware of, James Brown, partner at law firm Osler, and mining practice co-head Alan Hutchison said in an interview. Other concerns are being able to decipher technical reports, a stock’s liquidity, joint venture partner conflicts and how advanced the project is.

“In a lot of cases, issuers, particularly junior exploration companies, just need capital to carry on and keep the lights on and continue their programs,” Brown said by phone. “There are definitely cases in high-profile situations where there can be defensive tactics, but that is something that the securities commissions do focus on in the context of particular proxy contests or transactions.”

TMX, owner of the TSX and TSXV exchanges, and the securities commissions in British Columbia and Ontario declined to say whether Blue Moon was investigated because of McClintock’s claims.

Transparency rules

John Kaiser, who has published a mining industry newsletter for 30 years, said the Blue Moon dispute lies in a grey area where it’s difficult to determine who’s been wronged. Kaiser blamed the TSXV for weakening transparency rules on private placement details, which often hides who’s buying and how much.

“It is yet another sign of the F-You attitude the establishment has towards the investing public,” Kaiser told The Northern Miner by email. He commented on the company’s latest private placement that raised C$924,000 in August by issuing 26.4 million shares at C$0.035 each.

“The fact that the stock has developed an uptrend following a ‘pity’ priced financing, out of character with all past financings, suggests that the financing was placed with an ‘invited’ group in individual quantities below insider thresholds.”

Indeed, Blue Moon said three new proposed directors would stand for election to the board Oct. 17. All are well known reputable mining industry executives. They are former Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) interim CEO Maryse Belanger, Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM, NYSE: WPM; LSE: WPM) corporate development vice-president Haytham Hodaly, and Christian Kargl-Simard, the CEO of Adventus Mining when Silvercorp Metals (TSX: SVM; NYSE: SVM) bought it this year for C$235 million.

McGrath declined to say why or how the proposed board members were attracted to the company, but said Blue Moon would update shareholders in the coming weeks of its plans and direction.

Share surge

The CEO said the value of the McClintock Group’s shareholdings since Feb 13, 2023, the date of Jack McClintock’s resignation from Blue Moon, to Oct. 10 this year have gained about 250%.

Blue Moon’s share price has risen more than tenfold to close at C$0.345 on Tuesday from C$0.035 before the latest capital raising was announced Aug. 15. The company has a market value of C$18.2 million.

But McClintock points out the stock was at C$0.60 in 2021 when the company did a financing. From then until the August capital raising, the stock lost 94% of its value and C$8 million for shareholders, McClintock estimated. His group and other legacy shareholders dating to before the rollback have experienced 72% dilution since February 2023. McClintock says legacy shareholder losses may exceed C$20 million when based on the asset’s fair value.

McGrath said the market cap today is higher than any period in 2022 and 2023. “The McClintocks are simply cherry picking the very high and the very low and ignoring the recent share performance,” he said.

Another company where McGrath is CEO, Burell Resources (CSE: BURY), raised C$800,000 from an initial public offering in July 2021, and hasn’t issued a press release since. It has a historically explored gold project in Nevada.

‘Pressure worked’

McClintock said his group’s efforts at Blue Moon contributed to the company’s board changes and news Oct. 10 that it hired a company to conduct a new preliminary assessment on the project for release in next year’s first quarter. The last one was done in 1989 under a former owner.

“We strongly believe that the situation would have been far worse had we not applied the shareholder pressure,” McClintock said. “We really want to see Blue Moon succeed, and we hope we can impact a positive change.”

Blue Moon sold its 13-sq.-km Yava property with silver and base metal potential in Nunavut to Honey Badger Silver (CVE: TUF) on Oct. 2 in an all-share deal valued at C$340,000.

The November 2023 update at Blue Moon in California upgraded nearly half (48%) of the previous resource to the indicated category. The project holds 3.5 million indicated tonnes grading 6.14% zinc, 0.75% copper, 1.54 grams silver per tonne, 0.05 gram gold and 0.24% lead for 431 million lb. contained zinc, 53 million lb. copper 17 million lb. lead, 5 million oz. silver and 200,000 oz. gold.

The project has 3.8 million inferred tonnes grading 5.94% zinc, 0.59% copper, 1.56 grams silver, 0.05 gram gold and 0.34% lead for 455 million lb. zinc, 45 million lb. copper, 26 million lb. lead, 6 million oz. silver and 200,000 oz. gold.

They received acceptances for just over 1.1 million shares of Korea Zinc, equivalent to 5.34% of outstanding shares, and plan to secure all the shares on Thursday as previously announced, Young Poong said.

Korea Zinc has made its own tender offer to purchase shares in the company as it seeks to fend off what it called a “hostile” takeover attempt.

MBK said the additional shares would enable it to have enough voting rights to push ahead with their proposals at shareholders’ meetings.

“We believe today will be recorded as a meaningful milestone for Korea’s capital market,” MBK said in a statement, adding that it marked the first step to enhancing corporate value by improving corporate governance.

Korea Zinc has been in a bitter battle for control of the $12 billion zinc empire with the co-founding Chang family, whose electronics conglomerate Young Poong made an initial joint offer with MBK in September.

Investors noted that MBK and Young Poong together are set to become the biggest shareholder of Korea Zinc once the results of the tender offer are finalized if Korea Zinc manages to proceed with its share buyback agenda as planned, which could pave the way for MBK and Young Poong to take the control of Korea Zinc’s management.

The competing sides in combination with their likely supporters had held about a one-third stake in Korea Zinc before the tender offers, according to calculations by Meritz Securities.

“We see that the result fell short of the target set by the other party. We will respond accordingly in the future. We ask for shareholders’ continued support and encouragement,” Korea Zinc said in a statement.

MBK and South Korea’s Young Poong had conducted a tender offer to purchase up to 14.6% of Korea Zinc shares, for an estimated price tag of up to 2.5 trillion won ($1.85 billion) with a tender price set at 830,000 won per share.

Last week, Korea Zinc raised the purchase price and size of its tender offer by 7% to 890,000 won each and increased the number of shares it plans to acquire to up to 20% to 4,140,657 shares alongside Bain Capital, valuing the tender offer at 3.6 trillion won. The offer closes on Oct. 23.

(By Heekyong Yang and Jack Kim; Editing by Ed Davies and Bernadette Baum)

After buying mining assets around the world over the past two decades to secure metals needed for industrialization and more recently to meet its carbon emissions targets, China now wants a bigger say in how prices of those metals are determined.

But it has lost market share in metals futures trading and needs to persuade international investors to use the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), according to interviews with more than 10 brokers, traders, analysts, risk managers and consultants with direct knowledge of ShFE’s plans.

If successful, the push would help give Shanghai’s contracts benchmark status and upend the system for reference prices of industrial metals in place since 1877 when the London Metal Exchange (LME) started life above a hat shop in London.

ShFE benchmarks would eliminate the need for Chinese firms to link their physical contracts to LME prices and create a need for foreigners to trade on ShFE to influence reference prices in their contracts, shifting market sway from the west to China.

In recent meetings, the exchange told industry players the plan is high on its agenda and was likely to be put in place soon, but it did not discuss deadlines, two people said.

ShFE did not respond to requests for comment or to questions on timelines, amounts available to invest in this project, the challenges it faces or how success would be measured.

However, state media in June reported Wang Fenghai, general manager at ShFE, as saying: “Only through opening up can we draw in foreign investors, participate in the process of ShFE’s price establishment, therefore enhance price influence.”

Wang added that cross-border delivery capability was an area ShFE would focus on in terms of attracting global participation.

In a key step, the exchange has been looking to line up warehouses outside China to store metal delivered for copper contracts that were launched on its International Energy Exchange (INE) for foreigners in 2020.

ShFE has told industry stakeholders it intends to expand soon into international metals storage, two other sources with direct knowledge said, bidding to rival the LME’s global network of more than 450 registered warehouses that hold thousands of tons of aluminum, copper and other metals.

“They (ShFE) have a plan, they are coming out, they will list warehouses outside China, … the government wants this to happen,” one source familiar with the exchange’s thinking said.

While the metals industry has known since last year that ShFE plans to line up warehouses offshore, starting in Singapore, its latest comments to foreign firms suggest it is closer than ever to going ahead.

“A real price people want to use needs warehouse stocks the world over,” a source at a consultancy with knowledge of ShFE’s plans said.

Once ShFE makes a firm decision to offer metal storage outside China, the process of registering warehouses would be a matter of weeks if not days, as facilities already exist at ports that see large flows of metals, warehousing sources said.

ShFE will not need regulatory approvals for warehouses that can store metal deliverable against its contracts as long as they are located in free trade zones, so metal can be stored free of taxes until delivered to customers.

Singapore makes a good starting point as it is already a location for LME warehouses, which means the regulatory framework already exists.

All of the people who spoke to Reuters asked not to be named as their conversations with ShFE were private.

Rivals take market share

The Shanghai exchange faces a difficult road countering the LME, even as China consumes more than half of global supplies of copper, aluminum and zinc and produces large amounts of these metals.

“Any exchange that wants to achieve internationalization would face challenges … ShFE would face many challenges and various constraints if it aims to become a global pricing center,” Luo Xufeng, chairman of Nanhua Futures told Reuters.

Ultimately the exchange aims to list aluminum, zinc, nickel, lead and tin on the INE, sources with knowledge of ShFE’s plans said. Those metals are already traded on the LME, the world’s largest and oldest forum for metals, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx).

On the LME, volumes for copper, essential in construction, power systems and electrical goods, have stabilized at around 60% of copper futures globally.

But ShFE’s domestic market has lost ground to US-based COMEX, part of CME Group, since 2015, with ShFE last year accounting for around 15% of copper futures traded globally, while COMEX’s share was 22%.And in the first nine months of 2024, trading volumes on ShFE’s INE copper futures have dropped nearly 43% from the same period last year.

“The only way to increase volumes is get more international involvement in ShFE,” a metals trader with direct knowledge of the matter said, adding that China’s government was behind the project to internationalize ShFE’s contracts.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), which regulates ShFE, and the State Council, China’s cabinet, did not respond to questions from Reuters.

Meanwhile, LME is working on plans to list new contracts using ShFE prices and is set to approve the expansion of its metals warehousing network into Hong Kong before the end of this year.

LME said it intends to “deepen our collaboration with ShFE by working together in product innovation to better serve international participants in risk management and price discovery,” in response to a request for comment on its plans.

Hurdles for ShFE

ShFE’s ambition has been long in the making. When HKEx bought the London exchange in 2012 with a plan to turbo-charge revenues by expanding LME warehousing into China, ShFE told local authorities it could mimic the LME’s network and give China power and influence over global metals markets.

Some of that influence would come from more foreigners trading on ShFE having to hold yuan accounts, which would boost Beijing’s aim to gain global acceptance of its currency. Contracts on ShFE and its INE platform are priced in yuan.

“ShFE has been trying to do this for over 10 years,” said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.

“The biggest challenge is that there are still restrictions on the conversion of yuan to dollars.”

China’s currency exchange controls that limit the amount of money companies can take out of the country at any one time, partly a measure to control currency volatility, are potential deterrents for foreign investors.

Sources also mentioned fear of Chinese authorities’ policies designed to steer commodities markets and government market interventions, such as on margin requirements – the deposits of cash or collateral clearing houses need to cover potential losses.

“They don’t like volatility. They could double, triple transaction fees and margins overnight if they want. It makes people nervous,” a source familiar with the matter at a resources-focused fund said.

(By Pratima Desai, Siyi Liu and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Veronica Brown, Tony Munroe and Sonali Paul)

After losing out on a copper mine in Botswana last year, chief executive officer Nombasa Tsengwa is prioritizing manganese in the company’s latest bid to diversify its business. South Africa is the world’s largest exporter of mid- to high-grade manganese ores, which are mainly used in steelmaking.

While Exxaro doesn’t currently own manganese mines, it’s told other players that it’s interested in acquiring projects, according to the CEO. South32 Ltd., Anglo American Plc and African Rainbow Minerals Ltd. are among the shareholders in manganese mining joint ventures, which are found primarily in Northern Cape province.

“We believe that the manganese industry requires a South African champion,” Tsengwa said. Exxaro is aiming to buy “a very good asset or two,” as well as undertake exploration, she said.

The steel industry accounts for 93% of manganese demand and will remain the dominant consumer of the metal, according to Tanisha Schultz, a Cape Town-based senior research analyst at Project Blue, which provides market intelligence on critical minerals. Batteries – including those used in electric vehicles – will triple their share of consumption to more than 7% by 2040, she said.

Exxaro, founded in 2006 on coal, zinc and titanium assets split from a unit of Anglo American, has previously diversified into clean power projects, including wind farms.

Like many other mining companies, Exxaro is also keen to add copper to its portfolio in anticipation of spiking demand driven by EVs, artificial intelligence and renewable energy. The firm reached a shortlist to acquire the Khoemacau copper mine in Botswana, before China’s MMG Ltd. came out on top last November, agreeing to pay $1.9 billion.

Exxaro remains interested in operating copper mines, “but with partners,” Tsengwa said. “They’re not affordable on their own.”

The firm would also like to develop a copper exploration program, according to the CEO, who highlighted Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

Exxaro remains one of the top suppliers of coal to South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.

The company sold almost 41 million tons of coal last year, of which about 13% was exported. It could ship up to 10 million tons a year to overseas markets, but that’s hampered by the poor performance of state-owned rail and freight operator Transnet SOC Ltd, Tsengwa said.

(By William Clowes)

The move comes as Korea Zinc chairman Yun B. Choi’s family battles for control of the $12 billion zinc empire with the co-founding Chang family, whose electronics conglomerate Young Poong first made a joint offer with private equity firm MBK Partners for Young Poon Precision in September.

This was the first time the Choi family raised its offer price for Young Poong Precision, which holds a minority stake of 1.85% in Korea Zinc, the world’s largest refined zinc producer.

The Choi family’s offer on Friday tops an offer from MBK of 30,000 won per share for Young Poon Precision. Since September, MBK and Young Poong raised their price twice to 30,000 won from 20,0000 won.

($1 = 1,349.5900 won)

(By Heekyong Yang; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sonali Paul)

The International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) has significantly revised its assessment of zinc market dynamics since it last met in April.

A previously anticipated supply surplus of 56,000 metric tons has been updated to a 164,000-ton supply deficit.

Mine production is now expected to fall for a third consecutive year and smelter treatment terms, a good indicator of raw material availability, have turned negative.

China, which hosts the world’s largest smelter network, is feeling the margin pinch and national production of refined zinc is sliding at an accelerating rate.

Supply crunch

Back in April ILZSG expected mine production to rise by 0.7% year-on-year in 2024. Just five months later, that forecast has been slashed with mined zinc output now on track to fall by 1.4% to 12.06 million tons, it said.

This will be the third straight year of sliding output with anticipated 2024 production 5.7% lower than 2021, the last year of the zinc mining boom.

Low zinc prices in 2023 took a heavy toll of higher-cost operators, particularly in Europe, where the suspension of the Tara mine in Ireland and Aljustrel in Portugal will cause regional production to slump by 11.4% this year.

The resulting squeeze on smelter margins has become more acute as the year has progressed. Spot treatment charges for Chinese imports of zinc concentrates fell into negative territory for the first time ever in August and have continued sliding.

Local data provider Shanghai Metal Market assesses the spot market at a negative $40 per ton, highlighting the mismatch between smelter demand and raw material availability.

China’s refined metal output was dropping even before some of the country’s top producers met in August to agree on curbing run-rates.

The pace of decline has accelerated in the last couple of months. SMM estimates zinc metal output was down by 7.6% year-on-year in August and expects the gap to have widened to 10.4% in September.

ILZSG forecasts full-year Chinese output to be 3.4% lower than 2023, contributing to a 1.8% drop in global production. It’s a dramatic change from April, when the group expected refined output to rise by 0.6%.

The group’s demand forecasts have been tweaked but not significantly changed. Usage is expected to grow by 1.8% this year with the rest of the world taking up the slack from China as the core growth driver.

Chinese demand will rise by just 0.7% in 2024, reflecting zinc’s exposure to the country’s struggling property sector. Galvanized steel, widely used in construction, is zinc’s most important end-use sector, accounting for 60% of all demand, and China has been the world’s most active builder over the last decade.

Recovery next year?

ILZSG expects this year’s supply deficit to be followed by a healthy 148,000-ton surplus in 2025 due to higher zinc prices.

London Metal Exchange zinc has recovered a lot of ground since 2023, when it touched a three-year low of $2,215 per ton in May. Three-month metal hit a year-to-date high of $3,209 last week.

The improved price environment should encourage restarts. Swedish producer Boliden has already announced the reactivation of Tara in Ireland.

ILZSG expects global mined production to jump by 6.6% next year from this year’s distressed levels due to a combination of restarts and the delayed ramp-up of the Ozernoye mine in Russia.

Better concentrates availability is expected to feed a 3.9% year-on-year recovery in global refined zinc production and a return to supply surplus.

However, that assumes both a speedy reactivation of mothballed operations and no major unforeseen disruptions.

Within days of ILZSG finalizing its figures, Ivanhoe Mines announced a major downgrade of expected production from its new Kipushi mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This year’s guidance has been cut from 100,000-140,000 tons to 50,000-70,000 tons of contained zinc due to a combination of operational teething problems and a lack of power.

As ILZSG’s revisions since April clearly demonstrate, zinc’s supply dynamics are in a state of high flux right now and are likely to remain that way for some time yet.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(By Andy Home; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

“We still have a lot of captive thermal (power). It’s not going to shut down tomorrow. It’s going to go on for some time, but we’re very committed to ensure that the transition happens successfully over time,” Agarwal said at the FT Energy Transition Summit India in New Delhi.

More than 90% of the company’s emissions come from thermal energy, Agarwal said. Hindustan Zinc has a captive thermal power capacity of 514 megawatt.

India is looking to lower greenhouse gas emissions and boost the share of non-fossil fuels in electricity generation. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has defended domestic reliance on coal, citing increasing energy requirements in the world’s most populous country.

Hindustan Zinc is majority-owned by metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta Ltd, which, in turn, is controlled by UK-based Vedanta Resources. The Indian government holds most of the remaining stake in Hindustan Zinc.

In May, the CEO of Vedanta Ltd’s aluminum business told Reuters that the firm will no longer add coal-fired capacity.

(By Sethuraman NR; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

Governor Lee Bok-hyun urged the parties of an ongoing battle for control to refrain from spreading rumours and other unfair practices to interfere with offers from the other side, according to the statement.

Lee also said there were concerns about investor losses as too fierce price competition could undermine shareholder value in the long run.

The regulator’s comments came after Private equity firm MBK Partners and Young Poong on Friday raised their offer price for the second time to match a counteroffer from rival family members and Bain Capital.

Shares of Korea Zinc, the world’s biggest refined zinc producer, have risen 13% so far this month, after a 29% surge last month, and are trading at record-high levels.

(By Jihoon Lee; Editing by Ed Davies)

Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission offered little to investors, who had been expecting more stimulus measures on China’s first day back from a week-long public holiday.

Iron ore futures in Singapore fell more than 5% after rising by nearly that amount ahead of the briefing. Copper dropped to its lowest in two weeks in a sharp sell-off across base metals, while investor disappointment was reflected across wider Chinese markets.

“There had been talk that the NDRC may announce trillions of yuan in stimulus, but it came out with nothing at all,” said Hang Jiang, head of trading at Yonggang Resources Co. in Shanghai.

Iron ore futures are still up almost a fifth from late-September on optimism that Beijing’s earlier moves to boost the economy would end a period of deep gloom for China’s steel industry. Demand for the steelmaking ingredient has suffered amid a years-long property crisis.

Investors are still looking for more concrete signs that the government’s pledges will feed through to real economic activity. The NDRC officials said they would speed up spending, but their comments on investment and support for low-income groups were largely reiterations of previous pledges.

“The stimulus from China so far is not going to yield a significant turnaround for base metals,” Yonggang’s Jiang said. “We need to see stimulus feed into a real pickup in consumption before we can see big price rallies.”

Not enough

Copper and other metals have now wiped out most of their gains since Beijing rolled out a blitz of policy measures in the days before China’s Golden Week break. Tuesday morning’s briefing by the NDRC was announced over the weekend, triggering a wave of speculation about additional pro-growth moves.

Investors are “disappointed” after putting such high expectations on the NDRC briefing, said Jia Zheng, head of trading at Shanghai Soochow Jiuying Investment Co. Sustaining recent price gains requires more fund inflows, she said.

Iron ore fell 5.1% to $105.10 a ton on the Singapore Exchange as of 11:49 a.m. in London. Copper dropped 1.7% to $9,766 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, heading for its lowest close since Sept. 23. Aluminum, zinc, nickel, lead and tin all lost more than 2%.

Base metals should get support from the “material shift in China policy” since last month, Citigroup Inc. said in a note ahead of the NDRC briefing. But other global risks — from the US election to weak European growth and Middle East conflicts — would likely keep a lid on prices beyond the near term, they said.

The revision, according to the miner, is due to impacts of intermittent grid power prior to the installation of additional on-site generator capacity and agreements in place to import power to support consumption from the DRC grid.

Following the installation of an additional 72 MW of generators, the on-site backup power capacity of 135 MW is now sufficient to power Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 and 2 concentrators at full capacity, Ivanhoe said, adding that the project team remains on schedule to have 201 MW of installed on-site backup power generation capacity by year-end.

New copper guidance

For the year, Ivanhoe now expects its copper concentrate production to sit between 425,000-450,000 tonnes instead of 440,000-490,000 tonnes. Through the first three quarters, Kamoa-Kakula has produced 303,328 tonnes of copper in concentrate, including 40,025 tonnes at a record daily production rate of 1,334 tonnes during the month of September.

During the third quarter, the Phase 1 and 2 concentrators milled approximately 2.2 million tonnes of ore at an average feed grade of 4.9% copper. Quarterly copper production from the concentrators totalled 94,214 tonnes, at an average recovery rate of 86.6%.

The Phase 3 concentrator, which achieved commercial production during the third quarter, milled approximately 1.1 million tonnes of ore predominantly from historical surface stockpiles at an average feed grade of 2.6% copper. The concentrator added 22,099 tonnes of quarterly production at a recovery rate of 79.9%, reflecting the ongoing ramp-up.

Ivanhoe noted the Phase 3 concentrator sustained improvements in processing throughput and recovery rates following the commissioning of the fine-grinding mills in early September. During the last week of the month, the concentrator milled 117,484 tonnes, which is equivalent to an annualized processing rate of over 5.5 million tonnes per annum.

Kamoa’s operations team now expects to reach the nameplate recovery rate of 86% during the fourth quarter, thereby achieving steady-state production. In addition, the team is also targeting to increase the feed grade to the Phase 3 concentrator up to approximately 3% by the first quarter of 2025, while ore reserves continue to be developed towards the higher-grade zones in the Kamoa 1 and Kamoa 2 underground mines.

Zinc target revised

In addition to copper, Ivanhoe has readjusted its 2024 zinc guidance due to operational disruptions that have inhibited the nameplate throughput from being sustained on a daily basis at the Kipushi mine, also located in the DRC.

Since its first concentrate production this June, the Kipushi’s concentrator has continued to ramp up, with approximately 88,000 tonnes of stockpile ore milled during the third quarter at an average feed grade of 27.1% zinc. Quarterly zinc production from the concentrator was 17,817 tonnes, at an average flotation recovery rate of 72%. Exports of zinc concentrate also commenced towards the end of the quarter.

However, the ramp-up of Kipushi’s concentrator to its annual steady-state production rate of over 250,000 tonnes has been slower than anticipated. The company attributes this to three factors: higher iron content of the Big Zinc orebody, which was negatively impacting concentrator recoveries; ore feed into the dense media separation (DMS) circuit containing more fine material, which limited throughput; and the increase in power requirement, from 5 MW used during construction to 18 MW for operations.

As a result of these disruptions, the full-year production guidance range for Kipushi has been halved, from 100,000-140,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate to 50,000-70,000 tonnes. Work is underway is to improve the recoveries and upgrade the mine infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ivanhoe is implementing a debottlenecking program that is targeting a 20% increase in concentrator processing capacity to 960,000 tonnes of ore per annum. The program is expected to be completed in mid-2025.

Ivanhoe Mines’ shares fell 3.5% to C$19.79 apiece by 3 p.m. in Toronto on the Q3 results news release. The company has a market capitalization of C$26.8 billion.

The McIlvenna Bay property is in east-central Saskatchewan, about 65 km west of Flin Flon, Manitoba. The property covers approximately 20.9 sq. km.

Hole TS-24-30 intersected a wide zone of copper-rich breccia and stringer-style mineralization and zinc-rich massive sulphide. One 3.4-metre section of massive sulphide graded 4.29% copper, 8.21% zinc, 55.5 g/t silver and 0.03 g/t gold, including 0.8 metre at 7.61% copper, 9.11% zinc, 50.6 g/t silver, and 0.04 g/t gold.

A longer intersection measuring 31.2 metres of breccia and stringer mineralization graded 2.40% copper, 0.48% zinc, 19.2 g/t silver and 0.51 g/t gold, including higher-grade breccia at 4.68% copper, 0.56% zinc, 31.5 g/t silver and 1.03 g/t gold.

“The zonation from deeper zinc and gold-rich mineralization to shallower copper-dominant lenses is apparent. Through targeted infill drilling, we are enhancing our confidence and demonstrating the zone’s growing potential,” said Foran VP exploration Erin Carswell.

“These results underscore Tesla’s importance within our broader portfolio as we advance McIlvenna Bay’s construction alongside our ongoing exploration strategy, continuing to unlock the full potential of our growing district.”

Assay results are pending from six additional infill Tesla holes from this summer. Planning for he winter drill program will include more Tesla infill drilling and an expansion ice-based program from Hanson Lake.

McIlvenna Bay has probable reserves of 25.7 million tonnes at 2.51% copper equivalent containing 697 million lb. of copper and 1.4 billion lb. of zinc.

Reserves are included in an indicated resource of 39 million tonnes grading 2.04% copper equivalent for 1.0 billion lb. of copper and 1.9 billion lb. of zinc. There is also an inferred resource of 5 million tonnes grading 1.8% copper for 104 million lb. of copper and 282 million lb. of zinc.

Iron ore, copper and zinc have all managed to retain or add to their price gains over China’s week-long holiday, with Beijing’s focus on measures to revive the property market, plus the unusual pace and intensity of announcements, buoying sentiment.

Until now, Beijing has struggled to jumpstart an economy that hasn’t fired on all cylinders since before the pandemic, in large part because of its only limited and piecemeal efforts. The flurry of measures since the end of September marks a recognition that more heft is required, prompting a spectacular stock market rally.

Chinese industry delegates to LME Week, a major metals conference in London, were optimistic that this could be the long-awaited turning point for the world’s largest importer of raw materials. But not every corner of the commodities complex has been as exuberant, and some analysts have already cautioned it’s too soon for a victory lap.

“Commodities have benefited from the support measures that continue to come through,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Groep NV. However, “we need to see property prices stabilize and we also need to see excess housing inventory return to more normal levels, before getting really optimistic.”

Chinese authorities delivered a triple dose of support late last month: the central bank unveiled a broad package of monetary stimulus; the Politburo vowed to steady the housing market and provide sufficient fiscal spending; and then leading urban centers eased property curbs.

An announcement over the weekend that the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, will hold a briefing on Tuesday morning has the market hoping for more.

“It’s not even what they have already announced,” said Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura Group. “But I think it’s the intent as well to say ‘we can do another batch, and another batch after that’,” he told Bloomberg TV last week.

Taken together, the measures could total 5 trillion yuan ($712 billion), Rahim said. “This is large enough to move the needle.”

Iron ore has been the standout, surging by more than a quarter since Sept. 23, with industrial metals like copper and aluminum also doing well. The share prices of global mining majors — including BHP Group Ltd. and Rio Tinto Plc — have been caught up in the optimism.

Housing inventory

Despite the upswing, there are still plenty of concerns that Beijing will need to act even more forcefully if it’s to snap the economy out of its deflationary funk — and restore China to its status as the growth engine for major commodities.

“Most Chinese people’s assets are in housing, and that has dropped so significantly, that’s holding back their consumption,” Linda Yueh, adjunct professor of economics at the London Business School, told a seminar at LME Week. One of the things that China needs, more than an equity-market recovery, is to resolve property sector issues, she said.

China’s housing inventory is at 43 million units, plus a further 8 million under construction, Morgan Stanley analysts including Chetan Ahya said in a note. But with sales of only 8 million a year, lifting prices and reviving demand will be challenging, they said.

There’s also the limited scope of the impact of the measures outside metals — another note of caution for bulls and for those looking for evidence that changes at the top are trickling down. There would need to be more measures that increased disposable incomes to have an impact on foodstuffs and agriculture, according to Zhang Zhidong, head of agricultural research at Guolian Futures. In oil, traders have been taking most of their cues from the combustible situation in the Middle East.

Read More: Iron ore price rally continues

At the end of the third quarter of 2024, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, up just under $76 billion from end-June, largely on the back of gold and royalty stocks.

The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies is up a fairly modest 8% year to end-September and despite the good run is still $240 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022.  

Ranks, value of gold stocks swell

The value of precious metals and royalty companies climbed by a combined $42 billion or 16% during the quarter and gold counters dominate the best performing ranks. 

Were it not for the limited tradability of stock in Russia’s Polyus, which lost some ground over the three months despite gold’s stellar performance, bullion’s effect on the Top 50 would have been even more pronounced. 

Canada’s Alamos Gold joins the top 50 for the first time with a  more than 31% jump in value lifting it six places to number 48 with a valuation of $8.2 billion at the end of the quarter while the second quarter’s newcomer Pan American Silver (following its absorption of Yamana Gold) hangs on at no 50.

Alamos Gold last month raised its production guidance by over 20% for 2025-2026 with the inclusion of the Magino mine and its integration with its Island Gold operation in Ontario. The Toronto based miner has long term ambitions to grow its production base to 900,000 ounces per year.

Uzbekistan is readying an IPO for Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat – the world’s fourth largest gold mining company and significant uranium producer in 2025. NMMC debuted a $1 billion bond offering last week, marking the first global debt market issuance from a gold mining company since June 2023.

Navoi should easily join the ranks of gold producers in the top 50 thanks to ownership of the world’s largest gold mine, Muruntau, and annual production of 2.9 million ounces at grades and per ounce extraction costs the envy of the sector.  

The Muruntau open pit mine southwest of the Kyzylkum desert, originally developed during the Soviet era as a source of uranium, has estimated reserves of around 130 million ounces of gold. 

Goldilocks copper

Copper specialists, and those with fat gold credits, have gained a combined 36% year to date as the copper price continues to flirt with the $10,000 a tonne level but momentum slowed dramatically during Q3 with the group contributing only $7.2 billion in added market worth during the quarter. 

Amman Mineral’s fierce rally also came to an abrupt halt during the quarter with the counter losing 18% over the three months and coming close to falling out of the top 10.

Investors who bought Amman, owner of the world’s third largest mine worldwide in terms of copper equivalent, at the IPO price in Jakarta a year ago, are still enjoying 400% gains since then however. 

Southern Copper’s position as the world’s third most valuable mining stock seems entrenched after a double digit percentage gain in Q3 compared to a much more sedate performance by Freeport-McMoRan which now has to gain a full $20 billion in market cap to haul in its Mexico City-based rival.

Light on lithium 

Rio Tinto’s vote of confidence in the long term future of the lithium sector (and its own ability to make M&A work) dominated the news at the start of the December-quarter but it’s worth noting that Arcadium’s more than 90% surge since the all-cash offer was first announced are not enough for the stock to enter the rankings.

Three lithium counters exited the rankings this year, Australia’s  Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources and China’s Tianqi Lithium as the deep slump in prices for the battery metal continues to take its toll.  

Last quarter’s no 50, Ganfeng Lithium jumps six places after being swept up in the stimulus-induced rally on Chinese stock markets at the end of the quarter while Tianqi’s performance so far in October should see it reenter the Top 50 in due course. 

Ganfeng was barely holding on at position 50 at end-June and with gold price momentum continuing and two gold mining companies waiting in the winds – Yintai and Alamos – only three lithium counters in the top 50 may be a reality for some time to come. 

After peaking in the second quarter of 2022 with a combined value of nearly $120 billion, the remaining lithium stocks’ market value has now shrunk to $34 billion.  

Iron ore ground down

Despite a modest improvement during the quarter, the mining industry’s traditional big 5 – BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vale and Anglo American – remain in the red for 2024, losing $24 billion since the start of the year. 

The big 5 diversifieds now make up 29% of the total index, down from a height of 38% at the end of 2022.  

Iron ore’s less than rosy outlook – the late boost China’s recent stimulus package notwithstanding – saw Fortescue once again feature on the biggest losers list and Cleveland Cliffs exit the ranking with the US iron ore miner’s 37% decline this year exacerbated by its inability to capitalize on the blocking of the Nippon-US Steel tie up. 

Iron ore’s representation in the top 50 have diminished in the last couple of years – Brazil’s CSN Mineração dropped out during Q1 this year while Anglo-controlled and separately-listed Kumba Iron Ore has lost touch with the top tier after a 40% fall year to date.

Click on image for full size table.

NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, stock exchange data, company reports. Share data from primary-listed exchange at close Oct 4, 2024 close of trading converted to US$ where applicable. Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.  

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining (the gold and uranium giant may list later this year), Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like China’s CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining will continue to represent a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

Lac Gold Pty Ltd, an Australian investment group focused on precious metals, will make an initial payment of C$2 million to Yorbeau and another C$3 million at closing, after which the title of the Rouyn project will transfer to Lac Gold. The remaining C$20 million will be paid in three equal instalments afterwards.

The Rouyn property covers a 12-kilometre stretch of the Cadillac-Larder Lake Break, one of the major fault zones in Quebec’s Abitibi region, and has a total area of nearly 27 square kilometres.

Due to its size, the property is divided into several major blocks, two of which has had significant exploration in the past with a combined NI 43-101-compliant gold resource of over 70,000 oz. Recent exploration by Kinross Gold also highlighted the potential of an additional 1.7 million oz., though this figure requires further exploration to confirm.

“The Rouyn property is an outstanding opportunity. We are focused on Quebec, being ranked as one of the world’s most attractive mining investment jurisdictions, and it is apparent that the Yorbeau team has defined a considerable mineral endowment with clear potential to rapidly increase in size,” commented Matthew Keegan, chairman of Lac Gold.

Following the sale of the Rouyn project, Yorbeau will now focus on exploration and pre-development activities at its other properties. “The Yorbeau exploration team will now have the necessary funds to accelerate exploration on key target sites,” said G. Bodnar Jr., president and CFO of Yorbeau.

A main focus will be the Scott Lake zinc-copper deposit near Chibougamau. The project comprises three 100%-owned blocks with a combined resource of 3.6 million tonnes grading 0.95% copper and 4.17% zinc in the indicated category and 14.3 million tonnes grading 0.78% copper and 3.19% zinc inferred.

Shares of Yorbeau Resources shot up 37.5% by 11:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, for a market capitalization of C$23.1 million.

The power struggle over Korea Zinc Co. — founded by two friends who fled North Korea, and still held by the Choi and the Chang families — has captured headlines. Even in a country of large conglomerates, where inheritance fights are common, few involve private equity backers stepping into the ring to stand against wealthy establishment names.

Tensions have been running high for many months over strategy and spending, but they reached boiling point in September with a surprise takeover bid from the Chang family’s conglomerate, Young Poong Corp., and private equity outfit MBK Partners, since sweetened to value Korea Zinc at 15.5 trillion won ($11.6 billion). Multiple press briefings and campaigning newspaper advertisements have followed.

At this week’s London Metal Exchange gathering, one of the most important dates in the metals calendar, the tussle is already playing out in public, with Korea Zinc and Young Poong holding separate negotiations with suppliers and clients — a marked change after years of joint contract talks, according to people familiar with the matter. Both sides sent out messages to clients in advance, underlining their point of view and seeking support, said the people, who asked not to be named as the conversations are private.

The battle and its aftermath — come Friday’s tender deadline for the Young Poong and MBK offer — will have implications far beyond Korea. Including affiliates, the company accounts for 12% of the world’s zinc produced outside of China, 5% of its lead and around 9% of its silver, according to Bloomberg analysis using data from consultancy CRU Group.

Those are vital for efforts to limit Beijing’s metals dominance.

Zinc is used to galvanize steel and as a coating to prevent rust on solar panels and wind turbines. There is also zinc-based battery technology, an alternative to lithium options. China is currently both the largest consumer and producer, accounting for roughly half of global refined output.

“In a world where we’re getting geopolitical segmentation, Korea Zinc is the biggest provider of zinc to the non-China market and it’s also one of the world’s largest silver producers. So if you want solar panels, it’s very important to that supply chain,” said Colin Hamilton, managing director for commodities research at BMO Capital Markets.

For suppliers and clients meeting in London his week, the question will be what any split could mean for sometimes decades-long agreements. A Young Poong email to suppliers last week sought to reassure them that these would be respected, whatever happens to the company’s ownership, according to three sources privy to the email. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorized to discuss contract negotiations.

Korea Zinc, as part of its defense, has sought to warn of supply disruptions for South Korea’s key industries if MBK takes control.

“If you’re trading zinc concentrates you have to have a contract with Korea Zinc,” said Howard Okumura, a zinc industry veteran, base metals marketing consultant and former marketing director at Teck Resources Ltd. “They’ve continually invested while everyone else stayed still.”

Barbarians at the smelter

The saga is also a rare and audacious foray for private equity in Korea. MBK Partners — founded by a US-educated former banker and Carlyle Group dealmaker, billionaire Michael ByungJu Kim — has taken a bet at odds with the traditional playbook by embracing a cyclical business with Young Poong.

MBK has vowed to improve corporate governance at Korea Zinc, striking at the heart of the issue of transparency that has made global funds wary when investing in South Korea and encouraged a “Korea discount” for large conglomerates. In an interview to Bloomberg News on Monday, a top MBK official said the private equity firm was committed to the deal — and would even consider improving its offer to fend off any rival bid.

“Chaebol families now face a new challenge — growing generational conflict as these companies are passed down and face more aggressive calls from minority shareholders to improve corporate governance,” said Park Ju-gun, head of corporate research firm Leaders Index in Seoul.

“MBK is clearly seeing opportunities to make money from these chaebol dramas, and we may see more of these deals if it succeeds in getting control of Korea Zinc.”

Korea Zinc has criticized the move as “predatory M&A.” The deal raises the risk that the firm could be torn to pieces and sold off to China, Korea Zinc vice president K.J. Kim told Bloomberg, adding the concern has been echoed by others. MBK has said it has no plans to sell the business to Chinese companies and expects to hold on to the business for about a decade.

Family drama

The power struggle dates back to the rise of Choi Yun-beom, who became chairman of the company just under two years ago, and immediately began ruffling feathers.

The families had begun in business together in 1949, when Choi Ki-ho and Chang Byung-hee founded their holding company Young Poong. They built Young Poong into a sprawling conglomerate, setting up Korea Zinc in 1974. The two sides were intertwined through cross-shareholdings for over seven decades.

Chang’s two sons, however, ended up with a bigger share over time as they maintained most of their stake within the family. The Choi family’s stake was divided among his five sons and got diluted.

Upon taking the helm in late 2022, Choi — who studied at Amherst and Columbia and is the co-founder’s grandson — proposed an overhaul. Korea Zinc had for decades focused mainly on its non-ferrous metals refining business. Choi wanted to bet the company’s future on green materials, investing heavily in clean power, electric vehicle batteries and recycling, while the rival faction was keen for it to maintain strong dividends.

He struck a series of agreements with South Korean conglomerates, including Hyundai Motor Group, units of Hanwha Group, LG Chem Ltd, and commodities trader Trafigura Group, issuing new shares and raising funds to finance the new projects.

The Changs, who collectively hold about 33% of Korea Zinc, saw an attempt by Choi to increase his influence by bringing in “friendly” investors. Young Poong has also criticized what the family says has been profligate spending on non-core investments by Choi.

That was the starting gun in a race to increase stakes and influence, while scuffling over detail. Before MBK backed Young Poong, the two factions were embroiled in at least two legal battles, including one over Korea Zinc’s decision to issue shares to Hyundai.

Senior Chang family members flew to London during early summer to meet with potential investors that could help their cause, fretting the Choi side had roped in big names like LG and Hanwha, according to people familiar with the matter.

The MBK-backed bid for control has prompted a rally in the stock to a record 747,000 won, but it has fallen back without breaching the 750,000-won-per-share improved offer level, indicating some skepticism among investors.

(By Heesu Lee and Archie Hunter)

A highlight result, in hole NB24-001, cut 92.1 metres grading 8.61% zinc, 2.6% lead and 42.7 grams silver per tonne, from 428.05 metres depth, and included 11.2 metres grading 21.40% zinc, 6.66% lead and 107.6 grams silver.

“We are looking forward to the additional results from Boundary zone, Tom and Jason, as well as the outcomes from the large regional exploration program that we embarked upon this year along the Macpass prospective corridor,” Peter Hemstead, Fireweed Metals interim president CEO said in a release on Thursday.

The drill results come almost one month after Fireweed released a resource update for the zinc-lead-silver project which boosted its indicated tonnage and contained zinc more than four times over a previous estimate.

Look west

The company says the style of mineralization associated with this high-grade result, drilled into the western side of Boundary indicates potential for a feeder system within this part of the deposit.

Another hole, NB24-008, cut 3.1 metres of 2.23% zinc, 6.16% lead and 80.3 grams silver, alongside additional mineralized zones.

The mineralization intersected in that hole was a step out 160 metres west of previous drilling, and the stratiform massive sulphide cut in NB24-001 was a 65-m intercept west of previous drilling, both part of Fireweed’s 16,000-metre drill program aimed at extending known mineralization.

Macpass hosts 56 million indicated tonnes grading 5.49% zinc, 1.58% lead and 24.2 grams silver per tonne, for 6.7 billion lb. zinc, 1.9 billion lb. lead and 43.5 million oz. silver, according to the resource updated released on Sept. 5. That contrasts with the 11.2 million indicated tonnes and 1.6 billion lb. of contained zinc in the 2018 preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

That study comprised only the Tom and Jason deposits at Macpass, while the update includes those deposits as well as initial estimates for the Boundary and End zones, all located in eastern Yukon near the Northwest Territories border.

Boundary holds the most contained zinc of the targets with 3.6 million lb., one of the most globally significant zinc discoveries in the last 15 years. The addition of Boundary’s initial resource to the update marks Macpass as potentially the largest undeveloped zinc resource in the world, the company said.

Macpass is located about 200 km from Ross River and within the traditional territories of the Kaska Dena Nation and the First Nation of Na-cho Nyäk Dun.

Fireweed shares gained 2.2% on Monday to C$1.35 apiece, valuing the company at C$238 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$0.92 and C$1.40.

Copper got 46% of votes in an informal poll at the LME Seminar on which base metal is likely to have most upside, slightly less than last year at 53%.

The poll took place after a succession of analysts presented their cases for each of the six base metals traded on the LME plus steel.

Tin same in second place at 36%, also replicating last year’s position, gaining on last year’s level of 23%.

LME tin has been by far the best performing LME metal so far this year, surging by 31% compared to zinc and copper in second and third place at 17% and 16% respectively.

The tin market is expected to have a 10,000 metric ton deficit this year while the price of the metal largely used in solder for electronic goods is closely correlated to that of copper, said Tom Langston of the International Tin Association.

In the informal poll on Monday, votes for other metals ranged between 2%-7%, with aluminum getting 4%.

Jorge Vazquez of consultancy Harbor Aluminium said a large surge of supply, especially of recycled metal, was engulfing the aluminum market and would pressure prices, although he did not give specific forecasts.

“Secondary aluminum expansions are happening on a massive scale,” he said. “We don’t see any scarcity coming in the next three years.”

Analyst Amy Gower of Morgan Stanley said Chinese copper demand was not as bearish as headlines would suggest while not enough capital spending was going towards building new mines.

Copper prices would be anchored at around $9,500 a metric ton in coming months, with a bullish scenario seeing prices rising to surpass a record above $11,100 touched in May, she added.

Three month LME copper was trading at $9,895 a ton on Monday afternoon.

(By Eric Onstad; Editing by David Evans)

Read More: The mavericks of metals are back, rocking a $15 trillion market

The funds will be used to make essential upgrades to the infrastructure of the Darwin mine, carry out exploration initiatives and implement operational enhancements, DFC said. The Darwin project aims to revitalize a historically significant mining operation with over $749 million previously invested in existing infrastructure.

According to the firm, the Darwin mine hosts substantial and proven reserves of silver, lead, zinc, tungsten and copper. It also contains deposits for germanium, hafnium, gallium and antimony — minerals critical to technologies including fiber optics, night vision devices, aerospace alloys and 5G networks.

The investment will support the expansion and modernization of the mine’s operations, focusing on extracting minerals crucial to US technology and defense industries, DFC said, adding that the project aims to play a crucial role in strengthening America’s supply chain security by reducing its dependence on foreign sources of critical minerals.

DFC and INYOAG are also planning a 100MW solar project that will utilize existing conduit rights of way to local power authorities to support sustainable energy production for the mine and surrounding areas.

In addition, DFC said the mine’s naturally cooled limestone crust will be used to design new chambers that will house a cutting-edge data center for AI and bitcoin mining.

“This agreement marks a significant milestone in our mission to secure America’s critical mineral future,” Derek Pew, DFC managing partner, said in a news release. “By partnering with INYOAG, we’re not just investing in a mine – we’re investing in US technological leadership and national security.”

The fire, which occurred on Sept. 24, impacted one of the four sections of the zinc facility. The remaining three sections were unaffected and continue to produce zinc, lead, plus other specialty minerals, Teck said in a news release.

There are no injuries reported and no expected environmental impacts as a result of the fire, the diversified miner added. An investigation into its cause is now underway.

The Trail Operations represent one one of the world’s largest fully integrated zinc and lead smelting and refining complexes. Last year, it produced over 266,000 tonnes of refined zinc, and its output is set to increase in 2024 as a result of improved concentrate availability.

The metallurgical operation is also known for its low carbon intensity, powered by the Waneta Dam on the Pend d’Oreille River.

In June 2023, it became the first standalone zinc processing site globally to receive the Zinc Mark distinction for its responsible production practices.

The foundations for the ball mill and semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill are complete, and concrete footings are nearing completion. Processing plant equipment and structural steel will start arriving next month.

The company says it has received and commissioned its fleet of Sandvik battery-electric scoops and trucks.

Surface construction is advancing on several fronts, namely the mill, truck shop and contact water pond. The construction laydown area is prepared to receive steel and other equipment. The potable water plant and the sewage treatment plant are complete and await their operating permits.

Work continues on the collar sink for the fresh air raise. It has advanced through the sandstone layer in preparation for the installation of the main ventilation fan on the surface.

The 100%-owned McIlvenna Bay deposit is the largest undeveloped volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposit in the region. It is located about 85 km west of Flin Flon, Manitoba, and reachable via the Hanson Lake all-season gravel road.

The 2022 feasibility study gave the project an 18-year mine life producing an average of 65 million lb. copper equivalent annually. Mineralization is found in several lenses and zones. The indicated resource totals 39.1 million tonnes grading 1.20% copper, 2.16% zinc, 0.14% lead, and 0.41 g/t gold or 2.04 copper equivalent. The total inferred resource is 5.0 million tonnes grading 0.94% copper, 2.16% zinc, 0.14% lead, and 16 g/t gold or 1.77% copper equivalent.

The indicated portion contains 1.03 billion lb. copper, 1.9 billion lb. zinc, 510,000 oz. gold and 18.0 million oz. silver. The inferred portion contains 105 million lb. copper, 284 million lb. zinc, 40,000 oz. gold, and 2.6 million oz. silver.

The investment was announced last week by Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, alongside BC’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation Josie Osborne and Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai.

The C$60 million in funding, subject to final due diligence by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), will be divided between two key infrastructure projects for critical minerals mining, one in each region.

Approximately C$20 million will fund the construction of a 43-km access road linking the proposed Galore Creek copper mine located in Tahltan Territory in northern BC. The deposits at Galore Creek are estimated to contain over 12 billion lb. of copper, which would significantly increase Canada’s annual copper supply once in production. The mine is being developed under a 50/50 joint venture between Newmont and Teck Resources.

The other C$40 million will be used by the Yukon government to undertake pre-feasibility activities to advance a 765-km, high-voltage transmission line network that would connect the Yukon electrical grid to the North American grid in BC. The transmission line, says NRCan, could support projects producing critical minerals such as cobalt, copper, molybdenum, nickel, platinum group metals, tungsten and zinc.

These infrastructure projects, combined with the recently announced Northwest BC Highway Corridor Improvements project, are key to facilitating critical minerals development in the Golden Triangle, which holds approximately 75% of Canada’s known copper reserves, and Yukon, NRCan said.

The fundings, if approved, are to be provided through the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund (CMIF) — a key program under the Canadian government’s strategy to address infrastructure gaps and enable sustainable critical minerals production.

“These two projects, under the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy’s flagship program, will develop the necessary infrastructure to access and transport our rich critical mineral resources in northern BC and the Yukon,” Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said in a press release on Friday.

“Developments like these help mines get built faster, and they are a key element in seizing the generational opportunity before us. These investments are needed to support critical minerals development in the region, improve community access and safety, and create good mining jobs across British Columbia and the Yukon,” he said.