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

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

Tanzanian beginnings

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

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

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

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

Key risks for mining companies

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

Structuring investments to benefit from BITs

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

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

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

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

Negotiating robust agreements

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

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

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

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

Engagement with local stakeholders

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From biofuels to rare earths

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Doubling seaweed value

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other updates and enhancements to its suite of products will empower users with cutting-edge tools to streamline workflows, ensure data consistency, and boost overall efficiency, the company said.

“We’re thrilled to expand Micromine’s product ecosystem with Micromine Advance – the first and only dedicated tool designed to model the operational complexity of underground operations,” Micromine CEO Andrew Birch said in a news release.

“Earlier this year, mine design and scheduling software Micromine Beyond introduced a powerful dynamic pit design toolset that provides an interactive user experience,” Birch said. “This allows mine planners to achieve optimal pit designs faster. Its functionality has been further enhanced, minimizing manual interaction and accelerating decision-making.”

Micromine Spry, mine planning for open-pit soft rock, provides a detail-oriented and flexible approach to assist with the intricacies of complex operations. The new Repair Solids Wizard feature does all the detective work, identifying problems such as self-intersections, holes, or invalid geometries and automatically resolving them, the company said.

Widely adopted by some of the world’s most significant operations, Micromine Alastri, mine planning for open-pit hard rock, introduces a new Expression Builder feature that provides a straightforward and guided process for calculating site-specific scheduling data such as drilling meters or explosive quantities.

Another key functionality introduced is that users can now forecast how long broken stocks can sustain production whilst meeting all necessary blend and grade targets.

Operation OEM-agnostic fleet management and mine control solution, Micromine Pitram, has also introduced new features. Real-time Deviation Tracking allows users to configure parameters tailored to specific operational needs. This functionality provides faster detection of variances, enabling immediate corrective actions, the company said.

Boytim will lead the company in its mission to deliver cutting-edge, CTRM and supply chain solutions to its clients worldwide, Quor said.

With a robust background in the financial services and technology sectors, Boytim brings over 20 years of experience in growing technology companies. His expertise spans SaaS, enterprise software, data solutions and brokerage services, making him uniquely qualified to drive Quor’s strategic vision while placing its customers at the forefront of the company’s initiatives.

Before joining Quor, Boytim served as the chief operating officer at Broadway Technology, where he played a pivotal role in the company’s growth and market impact, ultimately leading to a successful acquisition by Bloomberg.

His previous experience includes time as chief operating officer and chief Strategy officer at Pico where he transformed the firm into an established player in the financial services space through a strong commitment to innovation.

“Bruce is a dynamic leader with a proven track record of driving growth and operational excellence,” Ishan Manaktala, operating partner at STG, said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome him as CEO, and are confident that his leadership will propel Quor and its customers to new levels.”

Australian space exploration company Fleet Space Technologies announced on Wednesday plans to deploy its AI-powered mineral exploration technology, ExoSphere Discovery, in partnership with Canadian uranium developer IsoEnergy (TSXV: ISO) at its Larocque East project in the Athabasca Basin.

The Larocque East project is home to the world’s highest grade indicated uranium mineral resource, the Hurricane deposit, with 48.6 million lb. of uranium oxide (U₃O₈) at 34.4% U₃O₈, plus 2.7 million lb. of inferred resource at 2.2% U₃O₈.

After drilling targets identified in 2023 with the real-time 3D imaging, IsoEnergy confirmed an extension of a hydrothermal system on strike with the Hurricane deposit and alteration consistent with potential uranium mineralization.

The company conducted an expanded summer deployment of ExoSphere, which identified six new priority targets and, together with the four areas identified from 2023 work, became the focus of the summer 2024 drilling campaign.

Using the latest advances in AI for mineral exploration, IsoEnergy will build on these findings, pioneering the use of ExoSphere Discovery at the Larocque East project to predict new opportunity zones and optimise data-driven drill targeting at the project.

The Hurricane deposit is only 40 km away from the McLean Lake mill. With a diversified portfolio, IsoEnergy is positioned to be a near-term uranium producer, deploying scalable technologies to further ESG objectives and advance exploration in Canada’s premiere uranium producing region.

The company also holds more advanced projects, including past-producing uranium mines in the United States. Earlier this month, it said it would acquire Anfield Energy (TSXV: AEC) in a C$126.8 million ($91.6m), all-stock deal for its Shootaring Canyon conventional mill in Utah.

Pioneering AI exploration technology

Built on the end-to-end hardware foundation of Fleet Space’s smart satellite-enabled seismic sensors (Geodes) for global multi-physics data acquisition, ExoSphere’s real-time 3D ANT surveys have accelerated and enhanced data-driven targeting decisions across five continents.

For the end-to-end capabilities and sustainability benefits ExoSphere has unlocked for the global exploration industry, the tech company was recognized at the Banksia Foundation’s 35th National Sustainability Awards as winner of the Climate Technology Impact Award for 2024 and winner of the Innovation category of the 2024 Mining Technology Excellence Awards.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Growth platform

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Underground upside

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

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

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

The projects, led by small-and medium-businesses in communities with de-commissioned coal facilities, were selected by DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) to address critical energy supply chain vulnerabilities.

Five of the projects will be in, or adjacent to, disadvantaged communities, the DOE said, adding that every project will include a community benefits plan developed to maximize economic, health and environmental impacts.

The projects aim to strengthen US national security by building supply chains for existing and emerging technologies built by American workers with American materials. The projects will leverage over $500 million in private sector investment into small- and medium-manufacturers and create over 1,900 good-paying, high quality jobs, the DOE said.
 
“The transition to America’s clean energy future is being shaped by communities filled with the valuable talent and experience that comes from powering our country for decades,” US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in the statement.

“By leveraging the know-how and skillset of the former coal workforce, we are…helping advance forward-facing technologies and revitalize communities across the nation.”
 
White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said the initiative is leading “an unprecedented expansion of American energy production, a manufacturing renaissance and the essential work of rebuilding our middle class.”

Zaidi said former coal communities are mounting a clean energy comeback by harnessing the urgent climate challenge.

The global market for clean energy and carbon reduction technologies is anticipated to reach a minimum of $23 trillion by 2030.  As demand grows for clean energy technology, the projects will help prepare the manufacturing industry for what lies ahead, the DOE noted.

The 14 projects selected for negotiation of award focus on manufacturing products and materials that address multiple needs in the domestic clean energy supply chain. The selections will address five key supply chains – grid components, batteries, low-carbon materials, clean power generation and energy efficiency products.

The lead organizations and proposed project locations are:

Anthro Energy – Louisville, KY

A $24.9 million selection to retrofit a facility to enable the domestic production of advanced electrolyte for use in Lithium-ion battery (LIB) cells in electric vehicles (EV), defense applications, and consumer electronics. The project will create an estimated 115 permanent  jobs.

CleanFiber – Chehalis, WA and Ennis, TX

CleanFiber’s locations in Washington and Texas are selected to receive $10 million each to establish two separate 60,000 square-foot production facilities produce an advanced form of cellulose insulation from recycled cardboard.  The facilities, once operational, will produce enough advanced insulation to weatherize more than 20,000 homes a year and support 80 full time employees.

TS Conductor – Erie, MI

A $28.2 million selection to establish US-based manufacturing of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) conductors and other advanced conductors that enable a secure and resilient clean grid. The new factory will create 425 construction jobs and 162 operating jobs with wages above the local prevailing rate.

Furno Materials Inc – Chicago, IL

A $20 million selection to construct a new circular, low carbon cement production facility. The facility will use recycled industrial waste materials as feedstock to make low-carbon Ordinary Portland Cement, reducing carbon intensity by 47%, and creating 80 total jobs with above average wages and benefits.

Hempitecture Inc – Rogersville, TN

An $8.42 million selection to create an industrial fiber hemp processing and manufacturing facility produce high performing products, with a 60-80% reduced carbon intensity, for the building materials, packaging, and automotive industry. When completed, the facility will create 25 full time jobs 15% above prevailing hourly rate.

Infinitum – Rockdale, TX

A $34 million selection to establish a manufacturing facility to produce heavy copper, high-powered printed circuit board (HP-PCB) stators, the key component of Infinitum’s high-efficiency axil-flux motors. The Rockdale facility is expected to create 170 operating jobs and 125 construction jobs.

MetOx International – Southeast, US

An $80 million selection to establish Project Arch, an advanced superconductor manufacturing facility, critical to expanding grid capacity to enable accelerated deployment of renewable energy, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, hyperscale AI data centers, and large manufacturing loads. Project Arch will create 230 jobs, supporting economic revitalization in a coal community to be determined in the Southeast.

Moment Energy Inc – Taylor, TX

A $20.3 million selection to establish the first UL1974 Certified manufacturing facility in the US to repurpose EV batteries to produce safe, reliable, and affordable battery energy storage systems. The project will create 50 construction jobs and a total of 200 new jobs within their facility, which will produce an annual output of 1 GWh once fully operational.

Mainspring Energy Inc – Coraopolis, PA

An $87 million selection to establish a state- of-the-art manufacturing facility near Pittsburgh to produce 1,000 linear generators that can run on any gaseous fuel, and change fuels without any hardware changes. The project will create 291 construction-related jobs, at least 80% of which will seek to be unionized. The facility will create 600 operations positions, offering above-average pay, benefits, and growth opportunities.

RG Resource Technologies Inc – Lansing, MI

A $5 million selection to retrofit a manufacturing facility in Lansing to produce 120,000 units/yr production of their solar photovoltaic + thermal capture (PVT) system. Through this project, RG Resource Technologies plans to hire 160 workers in new full-time positions, with a goal that 64 of those positions will be filled from workers living in disadvantaged communities.

Sparkz Inc – Bridgeport, WV

A $9.8 million selection to create a first-of-its-kind battery-grade iron phosphate (FePO4) plant in the United States. As part of this project, Sparkz will be creating and retaining 75 high quality jobs, and has signed a neutrality agreement with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Labor Union and will work with UMWA on providing training to coal workers.

Terra CO2 Holdings – Magna, UT

A $52.6 million selection to establish a new manufacturing facility to produce an innovative high-performing Supplementary Cementitious Material (SCM), a 70% lower emission and cost-effective replacement for traditional Ordinary Portland Cement. This project will create 61 new jobs with wages and benefits above the 75th percentile compared to national wages, and will train and upskill up to 144 people from underrepresented populations.

Urban Mining Industries – Indiantown, FL and Baltimore, MD

A $37 million selection to develop manufacturing plants that will convert recycled glass, most of which would have otherwise gone to landfill, into a ground glass pozzolan, which is used to replace up to 50% of carbon-intensive cement in concrete mixes, which can drastically reduce embodied emissions while increasing resistance to road salts and increasing reflective properties. The project will create 20 new skilled jobs.

Learn more about the projects selected here.
 

Vale had already said a deal was expected to be reached in October, but no specific date had been set. Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported the date earlier on Friday.

The collapse of the dam at a Samarco iron ore mine near the city of Mariana nine years ago unleashed a wave of toxic tailings that killed 19 people, left hundreds homeless, flooded forests and polluted the length of the Doce River.

BHP released a statement late Friday, noting the companies are “continuing to negotiate a full and final settlement” of the framework agreement obligations, the federal public prosecution office civil claim and other claims by the public authorities relating to Samarco’s Fundão dam failure.

The Australian miner also stated that the parties are negotiating a settlement proposal that would provide a total financial value of approximately 170 billion reais ($31.7 billion) on a 100% basis to be delivered to the people, communities and environment impacted by the dam failure.

BHP added the negotiations between the parties are ongoing and no final agreement has been reached on the settlement amount or terms.

Vale on Friday forecast that its third quarter earnings will reflect 5.3 billion reais ($930.90 million) in new liabilities related to the Mariana dam collapse.

(With files from Reuters)

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

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

Decade of missteps

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grade versus geometric risk

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

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

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

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

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

Best practices

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

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

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

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

Cognitive biases

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

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

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

Owning up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The property consists of 454 claims covering 241.82 square kilometres in the Angliers and Belleterre townships, within the Temiscamingue region near the Ontario border.

The company said it is investigating the potential for discovery of natural hydrogen (also known as white hydrogen) accumulations.

Recent soil gas sample data released by adjacent claim owner Quebec Innovative Materials Corp. illustrates the potential for hydrogen accumulations to occur within the Lake Timiskaming basin, which intersects with various parts of the Baby greenstone belt on the Angliers claim block.

White hydrogen is a naturally occurring, geologically created type of hydrogen that is gaining prominence as a low-cost, low emission, and renewable clean energy source. Alaska Energy’s claims cover source rocks, possible gas migration pathways, and potential reservoir rocks that can trap accumulations of hydrogen gas.

The accumulation of hydrogen in the basin is likely to occur from the serpentinization of iron-rich basement rocks of the Baby greenstone belt, which consist of serpentinite, komatiite, basalt, peridotite, and iron formation, the company said.

The company, which is also developing the Nikolai project in Alaska, said it will continue to advance the nickel-copper targets identified at Angliers.

“Natural hydrogen has gained prominence as a potential contributor to the low carbon energy landscape. Both the industry and governments worldwide have shown a growing interest in natural hydrogen exploration, which may form an important part of the future energy mix,” Alaska Energy Metals chief geoscientist Gabe Graf said in a news release.

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.

Atlas, which has developed a waste-free technology to process low-grade nickel for use in electric vehicle batteries, last year raised $27 million for its technology and said it aims to launch production at sites in Canada or the US by 2027 at commercial scale.

Atlas’ technology uses hydrochloric acid and caustic soda to leach the ore but, unlike some other methods, does not need high pressure or high temperatures and does not result in waste products or other emissions while increasing the amount of ore available for batteries by 50%, the company said.

Until now, saprolite ores, which account for approximately one-third of the world’s nickel resources, could not be processed into battery grade applications economically, which is what the Atlas process is targeting.

6K Energy said its UniMelt production system is able to deliver multiple IRA compliant Li-ion materials, including nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium ferrophosphate (LFP) battery cathode active materials (CAM), with strong specification performance meeting or exceeding industry requirements.

The company added that its LFP CAM is achieving over 160mh/gm capacity with exceptional efficiency, trending to 6,000-plus cycles while maintaining 80% capacity, while its single-crystal NMC811 is demonstrating performance trending to 3,000-plus cycles to 80% state of health.

According to 6K Energy, it delivers both NMC and LFP at a significantly lower cost than Chinese suppliers – backed by lower energy consumption and as much as 65% lower carbon footprint.

As outlined in the MOU, Atlas will continue to focus on the North American production by deploying its low-carbon process to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) from its established access to nickel laterite sources. 6K Energy will focus on converting nickel salts to CAM with its propriety microwave-generated plasma in a closed-loop production process.

The joint work will provide the lowest carbon footprint impact in conjunction with a market leading solution for EVs and the automotive industry as a whole, the companies said.

Amnesty International points out that human rights risks in supply chains include potentially leaving communities exposed to exploitation, health risks and environmental harm caused by the rapid expansion of mines required for the metals used in batteries.

In the new report, Recharge for Rights: Ranking the Human Rights Due Diligence Reporting of Leading Electric Vehicle Makers, Amnesty International uses criteria based on international standards to comprehensively assess human rights due diligence policies and self-reported practices of 13 major EV manufacturers, issuing each one with a scorecard.

The companies were assessed against criteria based on internationally recognized frameworks, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct.

Mixed scores across the board

Amnesty’s scorecard, which is marked out of 90, assesses companies’ performance on criteria including commitment to human rights policies, risk identification process, supply chain mapping and reporting, and remediation.

The scorecard breaks down whether these car brands are meeting their human rights responsibilities and highlights which of them are failing to show that they are addressing human rights concerns.

Companies assessed are headquartered in China (BYD, Geely Auto), France (Renault), Germany (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, VW Group), Japan (Mitsubishi, Nissan), Netherlands (Stellantis), South Korea (Hyundai) and the United States (Ford, General Motors, Tesla).

None of the companies scored higher than 51 on Amnesty International’s human rights due diligence assessment, it said.

Mercedes-Benz ranked the highest (51) Tesla came in second (49) and Stellantis third (42) . BYD scored the lowest, (11), followed by Mitsubishi (13) and Hyundai (21).

Lacking transparency

In terms of supply chain mapping disclosures, BYD, Geely Auto, Hyundai, General Motors and Mitsubishi Motors scored the lowest, failing to provide detailed information about their supply chains, Amnesty International said.

The report revealed BYD does not disclose smelter, refiner, or mine site names. Geely Auto provided only general supplier locations without specifying mineral extraction sites.

Hyundai and Mitsubishi Motors demonstrated a similar lack of transparency, Amnesty International said, with no evidence of comprehensive supply chain mapping or mine site identification for cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel, making it difficult for stakeholders to verify how these operations affect nearby communities.

As global demand for battery minerals soars, the report calls for car makers to identify and mitigate human rights risks and as well as risks of abuse of Indigenous Peoples’ rights in countries where minerals are extracted such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Philippines.

“The huge rise in demand for the metals needed to make electric vehicle batteries is putting immense pressures on mining-affected communities,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said in a media statement.

“The human rights abuses tied to the extraction of energy transition minerals are alarming and pervasive and the industry’s response is sorely lacking. Communities are suffering from forced evictions, health issues caused by pollution and difficulties accessing water,” Callamard said.

“As demand for electric vehicles increases, manufacturers must ensure people’s human rights are respected.”

Read the full report here.

G Mining Ventures (TSX: GMIN) reported on Monday a fatality at its Oko West gold project in Guyana.

The fatality was related to a road incident that occurred on October 13. Details regarding the cause of death are currently under investigation.

The colleague was a contractor employed by Hopkinson Mining Security Services Inc., a partner of G Mining.

G Mining’s country leadership is now on site to cooperate with and assist the authorities fully in their investigations. The company said it is committed to a thorough and transparent investigation, and will provide additional information as appropriate.

Safety is a top priority at G Mining, the company said, adding that it is committed to understanding the circumstances surrounding this incident to enhance its safety protocols and ensure the well-being of all employees and contractors.

As the incident occurred in an isolated area of the site, it did not impact the broader mine operations, and the site remains open.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic accident. Our sincere condolences and support are with our colleague’s family, friends, and coworkers during this difficult time,” G Mining’s CEO Louis-Pierre Gignac said in a statement.

The data, reported in the journal Nature Communications, are among the first to show that such rock can form fractures that connect and make it more permeable. Until now, geologists were divided as to whether this was possible.

Such fractures are important because water passing through them can become supercritical, a steam-like phase that most people aren’t familiar with. (Familiar phases are liquid water, ice, and the vapor that makes clouds.) Supercritical water, in turn, “can penetrate fractures faster and more easily and can carry far more energy per well to the surface—roughly five to ten times the energy produced by today’s commercial geothermal wells”, according to “Superhot Rock Geothermal, A Vision for Zero-Carbon Energy ‘Everywhere,’” a 2021 report by the Clean Air Task Force.

The data also show that rock that fractures at superhot conditions can be ten times more permeable than rock that fractures at conditions closer to the Earth’s surface, and can also deform more readily.

Those factors could make this geothermal resource “much more economic,” says Geoffrey Garrison, vice president of operations for Quaise Energy, one of the funders for the work. Quaise is working on a novel drilling technique for accessing superdeep, superhot rock.

A geological debate

Until now, geologists had been divided as to whether this superdeep, superhot resource can be tapped. Rock under such high pressures and temperatures — more than 375^oC, or 707 ^oF — is ductile, or gooey, as opposed to a smashable stone from your backyard. As a result, some have argued that fractures can’t be created. And if they can, will they stay open?

The current work, led by a team at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL), confirms that fractures can indeed form in superhot, superdeep rock located near the brittle-to-ductile transition in the crust. The latter is where hard, brittle rock begins to transition into a material that’s ductile, or more pliable.

“There are also lots of other data coming out of this work that will inform our approach to tapping the resource,” Garrison says. For example, “how strong is the rock? How far do the fractures go? How many fractures can we create?”

“All of this will help us derisk the drilling involved, which is very expensive. You don’t get a lot of chances. You don’t get to drill a hole then, like hanging a picture, move it over if you’ve missed the best location.”

“Exciting finding”

Peter Massie is director of the Geothermal Energy Office at the Cascade Institute, which recently released a report with the Clean Air Task Force about drilling for superhot geothermal energy. Massie, who was not involved in the Nature Communications work, made the following comment about it on X:

“Exciting finding: extreme heat & pressure can help create better enhanced geothermal systems [EGS]. At very high temps, rocks become ductile (plasticky), which was expected to impede EGS. This supports [the] prospect of ultradeep, ‘supercritical’ geothermal with major boost in output.”

The research was led by Associate Professor Marie Violay, head of the Laboratory of Experimental Rock Mechanics at EPFL.

“This work is exciting because it presents the first permeability measurements conducted during deformation at pressure and temperature conditions characteristic of deep supercritical geothermal reservoirs near the brittle-to-ductile transition in the crust,” Violay says.

“We have shown that the brittle-to-ductile transition is not a cutoff for fluid circulation in the crust, which is promising for the exploitation of deep geothermal reservoirs. There are very few in situ data available, and these are among the first experimental results that shed light on such extreme conditions.”

Violay’s coauthors of the Nature Communications paper are first author Gabriel G. Meyer and Ghassan Shahin, both of EPFL, and Benoit Cordonnier of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.

What’s happening?

The consistency of superhot, superdeep rock is similar to that of Silly Putty. “If you pull it slowly, it stretches out and becomes elastic. But if you pull a chunk of Silly Putty really quickly, it snaps. And that is brittle behavior,” says Garrison.

“If you stress the rock slowly enough under these extreme conditions, it may stretch and not fracture. This work shows that rock will shatter under these conditions, but it needs to be stressed quickly to do so,” he says.

The research confirms theoretical work reported earlier this year in Geothermal Energy showing that the cracks that form create a dense “cloud of permeability” throughout the affected rock. This is in contrast to the much larger and fewer macroscopic fractures induced by the engineered geothermal systems (EGS) in use today, which operate closer to the surface and at much lower temperatures.

As a result, the simulations involved in the Geothermal Energy work predict that a superhot system can deliver five to ten times more power than typically produced today from EGS, and do so for up to two decades.

Unique experimental machine

Garrison notes that there are very few facilities in the world capable of making the measurements conducted at EPFL.

“The best part [of this research] was the development of a unique experimental machine capable of reproducing the pressure, temperature, and deformation conditions of deep supercritical reservoirs near the brittle-to-ductile transition. Additionally, we were able to combine these experimental results with in situ X-ray images obtained the ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility), offering a comprehensive view of the processes involved,” Violay says.

In addition to Quaise Energy, this work was funded by the European Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation, The European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, and Alta Rock Energy.

Leader John Rustad, a former BC Liberal Cabinet minister before the renamed BC United Party threw their lot in with the BC Conservatives to avoid re-electing the NDP through vote splitting, is in a dead heat against David Eby of the BC New Democratic Party.

The BC Green Party is polling a distant third.

Importance of mining

According to the Mining Association of BC, the province’s mineral exploration and mining sector contributes CAD$7.3 billion to GDP. Critical minerals including nickel and copper could grow that amount significantly, reads a Sept. 24 media statement by the organization.

“With 17 world-leading critical minerals projects on the horizon, BC can make a meaningful contribution to climate action and deliver immense and lasting economic benefits, including $36 billion in immediate investment, 302,000 person-years of employment, $23 billion in labour income, and nearly $11 billion in tax revenues to support essential public services. The long-term economic impact of operating these mines over several decades could be enormous, reaching nearly $800 billion,” said President and CEO Michael Goehring.

He added: “The provincial election presents a pivotal moment for British Columbia’s political parties to champion the essential role of BC’s mining sector in the future of our province.”

Goehring said MABC is pleased to see both parties committing to streamline the permitting process for critical minerals, and that “By unlocking the potential of critical minerals, we can attract the private investment necessary to fuel economic growth and secure well-paying jobs for decades to come. But this will only be possible if we act now to accelerate mine permitting and approval processes.”

He said MABC will be there to ensure whatever party forms government follows through on their promises. More on that below.

Mining is the largest export industrial contributor to the provincial GDP at $18 billion in 2022. Forestry contributed $13.3 billion, oil and gas $9.5 billion, and agriculture $2.1 billion.

Nearly 85% of mining sector value in BC comes from the sale of coal and copper.

Mining reform

Rustad of the BC Conservatives was first to announce his party’s mining platform during a campaign stop in Kimberley.

He criticized the length of permitting, noting it takes 12-15 years to secure approval for a mine compared to five years in Chile and under two in Sweden. “The convoluted process makes BC uncompetitive, driving jobs and investment elsewhere,” states a press release.

The party would simplify permitting, cut redundant regulations, invest in rural infrastructure, and foster strong indigenous partnerships for what Rustad calls “economic reconciliation”.

He told reporters he plans to fast-track approvals for 16 mines, unlocking $11 billion in revenues that would go to the government, and $22 billion in wages and benefits annually. He did not cite a source for these figures.

If successful, the BCCP plan would effectively wipe out the provincial deficit, now estimated at $9 billion.

Rustad promised a “one project, one permit” approach, pledged to spark investment by reviewing taxes, and encourage exploration and mineral processing.

Let’s break down a couple of these items.

In 2020 the federal Liberal government passed Bill C-69. The legislation broadened the scope of the environmental assessment process and added more consultation with the public and particularly indigenous groups.

Tough but fair resource regulation is necessary and expected. Unfortunately, Bill C-69 did nothing to assuage the industry’s concerns that the environmental assessment process is hampering investment.

The act also inserted subjective criteria including “social impact” and “gender implications” into the evaluation process of major energy projects. According to the Fraser Institute, in 2022, investment in the oil and gas sector dropped to $29 billion, from $76B in 2014. In a survey of the investment attractiveness of 15 energy-producing provinces and US states, no provinces were in the top five.

While Rustad’s plan to streamline permitting is laudable, it’s unclear how new rules would co-exist under C-69, a federal law. Another of Rustad’s policies, “you build it, you clean it,” refers to holding mining companies responsible for remediation costs at closure. Perhaps Rustad isn’t aware, or neglected to mention, that miners are already required to post reclamation security/bonds with the province, which covers the cost of reclaiming a site if a mining company defaults on its obligation to do so or is unable to pay its debts.

Rustad’s promise to encourage exploration and mineral processing, on the other hand, is very interesting. The press release says the BCCP “will reverse the NDP’s unprecedented March 2024 cabinet orders which make exploration effectively impossible in certain parts of BC.”

Specifically, the cabinet orders refer to Banks Island, an island south of Prince Rupert on Hecate Strait, and a part of Vancouver Island that is traditional territory of the Ehattesaht First Nation.

From the provincial government website:

On March 7, 2024, orders were made under the Environment and Land Use Act to establish a five-year moratorium on certain mining activities within the Ehattesaht Hay-na Mining Deferral Area and the Lax K’naga Sts’ool Mining Deferral Area, as well as an indefinite pause on the registration of new mineral and placer claims in those areas. 

The moratorium restricts existing tenure and permit holders from engaging in mining activities, with exceptions allowed for reclamation, monitoring, protection, control, or treatment efforts.

Business in Vancouver reported that The Association of Mineral exploration (AME) raised concerns about the moratoria, and recommended that prospectors and mineral exploration companies with claims or permits in the affected areas be compensated.

Regarding the release of the Conservative Party and the NDP’s mining platforms, AME executive director Keerit Jutlaemphasized the importance of greenfield exploration and warned that without a focus on such exploration, the foundation of BC’s critical minerals future could be undermined. He took issue with a perceived lack of exploration support in the NDP’s plan, per INN:

“The BC NDP’s mining platform, while commendable, falls short by not explicitly supporting the indispensable role of mineral exploration,” he said. “We urge all political parties to integrate a comprehensive approach to mining that includes robust exploration initiatives to support a thriving mining sector in BC.”

Economists have pointed to critical minerals used in key emerging technologies as a bright spot in BC’s natural resource sector.

BC holds reserves of more than half of the minerals Canada has deemed critical, including copper, molybdenum, magnesium and zinc, all of which are currently mined in the province. Notably, the province produces 50 percent of the nation’s annual copper output and accounts for 100 percent of its molybdenum mining. (Investing News Network, Oct. 1, 2024)

“We’re going to look for every opportunity possible to add value to those minerals. We want to make sure there are options to build additional smelting or other activities to make sure we have more finalized products leaving this province,” said Rustad.

Mainstream media skipped over this part, probably not knowing what it means, but to us at AOTH it’s an acknowledgement of the lack of mineral processing/ refining facilities in BC.

The Golden Triangle district of northwestern British Columbia is an excellent place to shore up new copper supply and to build smelting and refining capacity.

“53 per cent of the exploration spending in B.C. in 2020 went to the northwest of the province, home of the Golden Triangle exploration and mining district around Stewart B.C.” — Gordon Clarke, director of the B.C. Mineral Development office.

British Columbia produces just over half the nation’s copper compared to 29% in Ontario and just 6.5% in Quebec. The only copper processing facilities in Canada are the Horne smelter located in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and the CCR refinery in Montreal.

All the copper mined from British Columbian operations is shipped to Asia.

While there has been talk of building a refinery in BC for decades, so far the political will hasn’t been there. The smelter’s ore feed could not only be derived from the gant Kerr-Sulphurets-Mitchell (KSM) deposit being developed by Seabridge Mining, but all of the neighboring deposits, including Red Chris, Schaft Creek, Galore Creek, Newmont’s Tatogga, and no doubt from the many deposits waiting to be discovered. Elsewhere in BC, Teck’s partially owned Highland Valley, Gibralter and Copper Mountain could potentially supply feedstock for a BC copper smelter/hydromet. And the Yukon has a lot of copper, Carmacks and Casino for example.

The key to this plan, wild as it may seem, is the smelter must have the ability to process copper and gold. Well it just so happens that Teck Resources, part-owner of Highland Valley, Galore Creek and Schaft Creek, has the technology to do it.

NDP leader David Eby followed Rustad’s mining proposals a short time later while campaigning in Terrace.

“Northwest BC has the critical minerals that are in high demand worldwide, giving us a huge advantage in the global movement to a clean economy,” Eby said. “Our plan will get mining projects moving that grow BC’s economy, create good jobs across the Northwest, and benefit communities directly.”

The party would implement guaranteed permit review timelines for priority critical minerals projects, as well as improving highway infrastructure and building out the electricity grid.

He pointed to the Resource Benefits Alliance representing 21 local governments, giving members $250 million over five years for infrastructure.

Matching Rustad’s permitting promise, Eby said he would direct the civil service to treat each mine as requiring a single approval process rather than multiple (again, no mention of Bill C-69 — Rick).

He cited statistics that BC’s mining workforce has grown by 10%, that mineral production has doubled and that there has been a 70% increase in produced values since the NDP formed government in 2017.

Only one new mine in last decade

The latter is easy to refute, thanks to some fact-checking by Northern Beat. First, the claim that mineral production value has increased 70% since 2017.

In 2017, the sector was valued at $9.9 billion, and in 2023 it was $15.9B. The $6B difference is an increase of 60%. But this had nothing to do with the NDP, and everything to do with coal.

While coal shipments per tonne decreased annually during the six-year period, the price of coal rocketed higher. How much higher was coal sector revenue? Not coincidentally, over $6 billion.

“The increase in mining sector value between 2017 and 2023 was entirely due to the dramatic increase in metallurgical (coking) coal price,” Northern Beat concludes.

As mentioned, 85% of mining sector value in BC comes from the sale of coal and copper. It’s also worth stating that between 2017 and 2023, copper production (along with coal) dropped from 289,025 tonnes to 266,540t. Copper revenue did not change significantly.

Because coal prices have since dropped, and production has not increased, it’s reasonable to assume that coal revenue will fall substantially in 2024 and 2025.

Revenue from copper did increase between 2020 and 2022, reaching nearly $3.4 billion in 2021, but has returned to pre-pandemic levels of approximately $2.5 billion per year in 2023, states Northern Beat.

Now let’s fact-check the NDP’s claim that “Mining is a foundational part of British Columbia’s economy and the BC NDP is supporting it to grow.”

Is the party really helping mining to grow? The numbers don’t lie.

According to Northern Beat, the number of operating mines in BC has decreased under the NDP, from 16 in 2017 to 14 in 2024.

The last new mine to be built in BC was Brucejack, a high-grade underground gold mine that began operations in 2017.

Artemis Gold’s Blackwater gold-silver mine in north-central BC was permitted in 2023 but has yet to pour its first gold bar. The company is aiming for the end of Q4.

Northern Beat hints at the lack of new mines when it states, Although B.C. has a robust mining sector, this is primarily due to the continued viability and profitability of legacy coal and copper projects. Coal and copper dominate in both production and revenue, making up more than 85 per cent. These mines have been in production for many decades.

Forestry

The BC forestry industry is no longer the backbone of the economy.

According to BIV, in 2022 metallurgical coal and natural gas were both more valuable export commodities than lumber, and the number of people employed by forestry has been steadily declining thanks to closures of sawmills and pulp & paper mills.

Central 1 Economics says in the early 2000s, logging and wood manufacturing made up about 5% of GDP and employed 90,000 people. As of this time last year, the industry employed less than 50,000 and accounted for just 2% of GDP.

Projections are for an even smaller industry a decade from now.

The industry’s decline has a lot to do with the Mountain Pine Beetle. In 2005 the annual allowable cut (AAC) was boosted to 86 million cubic meters to allow companies to salvage dead and dying beetle-kill pine. Now, with most of that wood used up, the AAC has fallen to 62 million cubic meters. Nearly half of the 111 sawmills running in 2005 have shuttered, leaving just 64 remaining. By 2035, analysts say the AAC will be down to just 38 million cubic meters and the number of sawmills reduced to 47.

Neither the Conservatives nor the NDP appear to offer solutions.

Rustad, a former forestry critic, says he will remove layers of permitting required by industry for forestry projects and create policy around using all parts of trees to reduce waste. (CBC News)

After years of protests in BC around the protection of old growth forest, David Eby says he is committed to protecting old growth. He also wants to phase out the use of Round Up pesticides in BC forests. (CBC News)

The United Steelworkers union, which supports the NDP, says more immediate actions is needed:

“We have been sounding the alarm for months, the forestry industry is still in crisis after nearly two decades of neglect from John Rustad’s previous BC Liberal government. While the platform offers promising solutions, the urgency of the situation cannot be overstated,” said Scott Lunny, USW director for Western Canada.

“Restricting log exports, stabilizing fibre supply, striving for more jobs per cubic metre of timber harvest and tying the trees to mills that employ British Columbians is the right direction, but will mean little if not swiftly backed by real action. The industry is hemorrhaging jobs and families and communities need to see changes on the ground – not just in policy.”

Energy

All three parties (even the Greens) recognize the need to build more energy infrastructure faster. The way they would go about it though is drastically different.

John Rustad was booted from the BC Liberal Party in 2022 over comments he made on social media casting doubt on climate change. Rustad is the only leader in favor of nuclear energy, and if the BCCP forms government, he has promised to banish the carbon tax and low carbon fuel emissions standard.

More on nuclear vs Site C vs LNG in a minute.

David Eby has said he would scrap the carbon tax if the federal government decides to drop it as a requirement. If elected, the NDP wants to double the number of EV charging stations across the province by 2030. The party is promising to plant 300 million trees per year to mitigate the impacts of climate change. (CBC News)

BC Greens’ leader Sonia Furstenau has said she would keep the carbon tax and increase it for companies creating the most pollution. The Greens’ plan also focuses on the protection of local ecosystems and ending fossil fuel subsidies. No new permits for fracking, pipelines or LNG would be granted and gas production would be phased out. The party would kill the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, designed to feed natural gas from northeastern BC to the Ksi Lisims LNG project.

Public funding for BC Hydro that supports LNG projects would be stopped.

Instead of LNG, the Green Party, no surprise, would invest in renewable energy including solar. According to Global News, the Greens have promised to invest $20 million a year into small-scale solar projects aiming to have them feed 15% of the grid by 2035. The party also says it will subsidize electric heat pumps for low-income households and set sales targets for electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles.

The Conservative Party has said they would “consider all power sources” in a quest for energy independence, including nuclear. They would power northwestern BC with new gas- and wood-waste-fueled power plants, conduct a business case analysis for geothermal power, and explore wind and solar “when the economics make sense.”

Rustad has said he would amend the province’s Clean Energy Act to allow for nuclear power. The plan is to launch a review of small modular reactors to build BC’s first nuclear plant by 2025.

(In New Brunswick, the provincial government is working with two private-sector companies, ARC Clean Technologies and Moltex Energy, to progress small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) technology in the Maritime province. Unlike conventional nuclear reactors, under Moltex’s design, SSR reactors do not need expensive containment structures. They are also safer, because they do not contain harmful gaseous by-products like caesium-137 and iodine-131, which escaped during the Chernobyl accident. Instead, the reactors contain non-volatile salts, which cannot leave the reactor.)

Rustad and Eby clash over what they see as BC’s energy future.

“We are going to need additional energy in BC. It is a simple fact. We do not have enough to meet the demands we have and certainly, the demands going forward,” Rustad said in the Global News story.

He’s right. Earlier this year, advocacy group, Energy Futures Initiative (EFI), said that BC’s electrical system is not ready to handle the ever-increasing demand for power, as the province sets ambitious targets for the shift from fossil-fueled transportation and energy generation.

Global News reported EFI saying that BC could become “at risk” for power generation as early as 2026. In fact the province last year was forced to import a record amount of power, some 10,000 gigawatt-hours, the equivalent of two Site C dams worth.

Rustad says if elected premier, he will reverse what he calls the NDP’s “radical” electric vehicle and heat pump goals.

(The NDP has passed legislation requiring all new vehicles sold in BC to be zero emission by 2035. The party has also proposed plans to shutter the province’s last gas-fueled power plant and bar the installation of stand-alone gas home heating systems, both by 2030, per Global News)

“We need to be realistic about what we create in terms of those demands,” Rustad said.

“Today, for example, with the NDP government’s approach to saying they want every household to have a heat pump or that everyone needs to have an electric vehicle, we do not have the electrical generation to be able to do this.”

The NDP counters that BC Hydro is already legally required to be energy-independent, says electricity rate hikes have been below inflation for six years, and that natural gas will still be permitted for home heating. The party argues nuclear power is five to 10 times more expensive than renewable alternatives like solar and wind.

The Conservatives rightly say that solar and wind are incapable of providing base-load power like nuclear and hydro.

The numbers provided by Global News back up the Conservatives’ claims that BC is not generating enough power:

Earlier this year, BC Hydro issued the first in a series of calls for new private wind and solar power producers, with the goal of adding 40 to 200 megawatts to the grid by 2028.

The Crown corporation estimates it will need another 3,000 gigawatt hours of electricity annually to feed the growing need for electricity.

Site C

An earlier Global BC television interview had the program manager for Clean Energy Canada, Evan Pivnick, saying that Site C will only add about 9% to the electricity BC Hydro generates currently. Moreover, he said that BC Hydro is already predicting that we need “at least another Site C and a half before 2030 to meet demand, and there’s a good reason to think that even that might be underestimating just how much power demand could grow.”

At this point there should be a collective gasp. The first Site C is costing $16 billion, and it isn’t yet generating power. The reservoir is currently filling and the turbines won’t spin until 2025. Now BC Hydro is saying we need another 1.5 Site Cs before the end of the decade. @ $16B each, and that’s a conservative estimate, given how much inflation has bumped up construction costs, we are talking at least another $24B, to generate only another 1,800 megawatts of power — a pittance, really.

When Site C is completed, it will flood 128 kilometres of the Peace River and its tributaries, putting Indigenous burial grounds, traditional hunting and fishing areas, habitat for more than 100 species vulnerable to extinction and some of Canada’s richest farmland under up to 50 metres of water. — The Narwhal, June 28, 2022

We’re flooding perfectly good farmland (around 6,500 hectares) so the Lower Mainland has enough electricity to drive EVs. That isn’t green, and neither is the plan to develop a liquefied natural gas industry in northern BC.

If, instead of wasting $16 billion on Site C, the politicians would wake up to nuclear power, for that same $16B they could have 80,000 megawatts — the equivalent of 266 small nuclear reactor plants each generating 300MW, or roughly 66 Site C dams.

LNG

On Oct. 9, an article in The Globe and Mail said a review of the provincial election campaign by Clean Energy Canada — a clean-energy think tank — shows that the BC Conservatives would introduce policies to spur LNG that are much more aggressive than those being followed by the current NDP government.

The article says this would be at the expense of the environment, given that Rustad has said if his party wins the election he intends to discard the province’s climate-action policies, which are guided by a plan to decrease emissions.

Mark Zacharias, executive director at Clean Energy Canada, was quoted saying that if a future BC Conservative government were to rescind CleanBC and its policies, that would clear the way for LNG Canada’s Phase 2 and Ksi Lisims to focus on natural gas-driven technology for liquefaction.

AOTH has come out more than once against an LNG industry in British Columbia.

BC taxpayers will cough up $5.3 billion worth of tax breaks for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and pipeline called LNG Canada — four more major LNG projects are proposed —all connected by pipelines, to ship natural gas fracked from BC gas fields to customers in Asia.

Shell’s LNG Canada includes two processing trains, with room to add two more. The first two trains would have capacity for 6.5 million tonnes of LNG per annum, with four trains producing 26Mtpa.

The estimated cost is $42 billion, making it the largest private sector investment in Canadian history.

The NDP says the LNG Canada project will bring in CAD$22 billion to BC’s coffers over 40 years.

We’re told US$10 million worth of gas per day will flow through the pipeline. That’s US$3.65B a year. Over 40 years, US$146.3B. The Site C dam is already costing CAD$16B, then add CAD$5.3B in tax breaks for the LNG project.

This is a terrible deal for British Columbians. Subtract a minimum $21.3B from $22B and we barely break even. And that’s just the financial side, the environmental side is an even bigger loser. We don’t get the electricity, instead we get polluted water and air, and we get dead killer whales and other dead cetaceans from all the extra tanker traffic.

The Globe and Mail article says the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis envisages a looming supply glut of LNG, making the economic case for LNG Canada and the other projects questionable.

Sam Reynolds, a research lead at IEEFA, said it’s a myth that Japan needs more LNG, noting that Japan already sells one-third of its imported LNG. Producing LNG in BC is more expensive compared to other jurisdictions, Reynolds cautions.

Conclusion

We’ve presented all the facts, now it’s time to choose.

The Conservatives and the NDP are both right to prioritize critical minerals including copper and nickel, and to shorten the permitting process which is far too long and involves duplication with the federal government (Bill C-69).

The Conservatives though go further than the NDP by expanding mining where the NDP prohibited it (Banks Island and Vancouver Island). They also recognize the importance of greenfields exploration and need for more “value-added” mineral products” for exports — opening the door to a discussion about a much-needed refinery in BC.

The NDP’s record on mining speaks for itself. There are less mines now compared to when they took power in 2017 — despite massive deficits predicted for copper, silver, graphite and other minerals. Can we trust David Eby when he says the NDP will provide guaranteed permit review timelines for priority critical minerals projects? Or will the party succumb to the interests of anti-mining groups?

It’s great to see John Rustad include nuclear as one of the options for increasing BC’s power supply. For years we have supported nuclear power, especially small nuclear reactors, over boondoggles like Site C and LNG Canada. Unfortunately he is alone on this stance. The NDP says nuclear is too expensive — completely wrong when SMRs are put up against the huge capital costs of Site C and LNG Canada.

It’s also disappointing to see John Rustad embrace liquefied natural gas — the most polluting form of energy, even worse than coal, when the emissions from fracking, transmission and liquefaction are considered.

The environmental and economic costs of an LNG industry in BC are simply not worth the revenue it will supposedly generate.

The Green Party in my opinion is right to oppose LNG, but has lost a major opportunity in failing to support nuclear power. Not only is nuclear suitable for baseload power — unlike solar and wind that the Greens so enthusiastically embrace — it is emissions-free. Time to toss out the anti-nuclear Green policy of the 1970s and consider modern nuclear power that is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly form of electricity generation, in a province that is going to need it.

And here’s another disconnect with the Green Party. Its platform is heavy on renewable energy and vehicle electrification, but light on mining. Rather than encouraging more mining in BC, the Green platform appears to reluctantly put up with it. The party would “reform” the mining sector by putting up more road blocks — i.e., “Enhance oversight of the mining industry through a robust inspection and audit process” and designate areas off-limits to mining. The farthest it goes in favor of mining is “Engaging in a conversation about the future of critical minerals in BC.” Those same critical minerals that are needed to build electric cars and solar farms.

So who has the best policies for preparing British Columbia for a future requiring more power, and opening up the province to more mining, thereby producing the minerals needed to run and electrify the new economy?

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The first-of-its-kind facility produces a sustainable alternative to rare earth permanent magnets that are critical inputs to a wide variety of technologies and industries including electric vehicles, wind energy and consumer electronics, the company said.

Approximately 90% of all powerful permanent magnets are produced in China, and the concentrated supply chain creates significant national security risks and environmental challenges.

Rare earth magnets currently on the market contain neodymium and other rare earth elements, while Niron’s “Clean Earth Magnet” technology is the first and only powerful permanent magnet that does not require any rare earth elements, Niron said, adding it is manufactured from iron and nitrogen — two abundant materials that can be sustainably sourced in the US and do not require new mining projects.

Last year, Niron raised $33 million in additional funding from lGM Ventures and Stellantis Ventures, as well as previous local investors Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and the University of Minnesota. The company is also partnered with the Department of Defense and the US Naval Research Laboratory.

The opening of the 70,000-square-foot Minneapolis facility is a key milestone on Niron’s path to scaled production and the ability to bridge the acute supply and demand gap for permanent magnets that is projected before the end of the decade.

“Niron is advancing the magnet industry with an inherently sustainable technology developed right here in the US,” Niron Magnetics CEO Jonathan Rowntree said in a news release.

“With the official opening of our commercial pilot plant, we’ve taken a significant step towards establishing a reliable, domestic supply of high-performance magnets critical for US national security, while launching the next generation of clean energy technologies and sustainable manufacturing.”

The commercial pilot facility has production capacity of greater than 5 tons of Clean Earth Magnets per year and defined manufacturing processes for Niron’s full-scale manufacturing facility.

In a separate announcement this week, Niron named the city of Sartell, Minnesota, as the site for its second manufacturing facility, which it said is expected to break ground early next year and go into production in 2026.

The company says its proprietary DLE technology minimizes water usage and environmental impact, and in February, it announced the successful completion of 1,500 hours of lithium extraction tests from brine using their pilot plant in Chile installed on the premises of SQM, the world’s No. 2 lithium producer.

At the new plant, selected brines will be analyzed and tested to get the required information to maximize industrialization efficiency. This marks the third demo plant built by the French firm worldwide.

In September, Adionics announced a breakthrough in lithium recycling from battery black mass. Their new technology can extract high-purity lithium from recycled batteries, achieving up to 98% recovery rates, the company said.

As lithium prices have seen significant volatility, Adionics says its efficient extraction and recycling methods could help stabilize supply and potentially impact the entire EV supply chain

“We will now be able to accelerate our development and gather information to launch basic engineering work for our plants,” Adionics CEO Gabriel Toffani said in a news release. “This project allows us to contribute to local employment and to the local economy.”

The company has successfully developed and validated its next-generation lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) cathode active material, which it says could increase electric vehicle (EV) range by up to 20%. In addition, it has overcome the drop in specific capacity compared that typically occurs as the percentage of manganese in increased.

The result, according to Integrals Power, is cathode active materials that support higher voltages and high energy density.

By overcoming this trade-off, these cathode active materials combine the best attributes of the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries — relatively low cost, long cycle life and good low temperature performance — with energy density comparable to more expensive nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) chemistries.

The company said this means EV range could increase by up to 20%, or — for a given range — allow battery packs to become smaller and lighter.

The LMFP materials feature 80% manganese, instead of the 50-70% typically found in competing materials, and have higher specific capacity: 150mAh/g, while delivering a voltage of 4.1V (Vs 3.45V for LFP).

Third-party testing by experts at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) have been completed on coin cells and now evaluated using EV-representative pouch cells, the company said, adding that the developed materials will soon be available for cell suppliers, battery manufacturers and OEMs to evaluate and benchmark.

“The challenge that the automotive industry has been trying to overcome for some time is to push up the percentage of manganese in LMFP cells to a high level while retaining the same specific capacity as LFP,” Integrals Power CEO Behnam Hormozi said in a news release. “Using traditional methods the more manganese you add, the more specific capacity drops, and this has meant it can’t deliver a high energy density. 

“With the third-party evaluation from the Energy team at GEIC, we’re proud to have developed a world-class cell material in the UK that can rival the performance of NCM but is more sustainable and more affordable, and will accelerate the transition to e-mobility.”

Integrals Power produced the LMFP cathode active materials at its new UK facility, alongside its proprietary LFP chemistry.

The capability to manufacture materials such as these in the UK is critical to the development of a sustainable domestic battery industry and supporting not just the 2030 ban on sales of new combustion engine vehicles, but also 2050’s net zero emissions targets, the company noted.

US Strategic Metals (USSM) and Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSXV: PGE) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that includes lobbying collaboration to the US government, metallurgical and mineral processing development, offtake and logistics, and potential strategic financing.

Stillwater Critical Minerals is currently developing its flagship Stillwater West project, which is host to a nickel-PGE (platinum group elements)-copper-cobalt (plus gold) deposit situated in the Stillwater mining district of Montana.

USSM is planning to mine what it considers to be the largest cobalt reserve in North America. It holds an 18-year mineral supply of cobalt (plus nickel and copper) on a 7.3-square-kilometre site in Missouri, known as the Madison mine project.

USSM currently has an has an offtake relationship with Glencore (LON: GLEN), and in August was tapped by the Export-Import Bank of the United States for a loan package worth $400 million with a term of 15 years to support the development of its mining and metallurgical project.

The goal of USSM, said the company, is to build a large critical metal supply chain that provides reliable, traceable and conflict-free battery metals to the country.

“USSM aims to significantly expand production in the coming years and, as such, is successfully developing relationships with raw materials suppliers to allow it to meet rapidly growing critical metal demand,” CEO Stacy Hastie stated in a news release.

“Stillwater West fits this mandate extremely well, for its scale, grade and suite of critical minerals, nearly all of which the US is heavily reliant upon imports,” she said, adding that it is “one of the most important potential future sources of at least eight critical minerals”, and its development is “perfectly in line” with the US government’s mandate on securing domestic supply of these materials.

Stillwater Critical Minerals CEO Michael Rowley said the MOU has the potential to accelerate necessary engineering and metallurgical studies and follow-on to the company’s expanding base of government grant funding and partnerships with the US Geological Survey, Cornell University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for CO2 sequestration, hydrogen and hydrometallurgical studies.

“This MOU also reflects our broad alignment on ESG values and a shared vision for a large-scale, low-carbon American critical mineral supply chain based in an iconic and famously metal-rich US mining district that has produced critical minerals for over a century,” Rowley said.

The company was awarded £252 million ($325m) after an international tribunal unanimously held that the Polish government had breached its obligations under the treaties in relation to the Jan Karski coking coal project.

The Australian company, formerly Prairie Mining, launched international arbitration proceedings against Poland in 2020, arguing that Warsaw breached bilateral treaties by blocking Prairie’s investment in two coal mines — Jan Karski and Dębieńsko.

Polish media reported at the time that the company could seek as much as 10 billion zlotys ($2.64 billion) in compensation.

Regarding the Dębieńsko project, the tribunal did not uphold the claim under the treaties.

The projects contain coking coal as well as thermal coal. Thermal coal, used for power, is struggling to attract investment because of concerns about the environment, while coking coal, used in steelmaking, is still viewed as a strategic mineral.

The company was represented by international disputes firm Lalive and co-represented by US-based firm Boies Schiller Flexner. The claim was brought under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Rules. The awards are final and binding.

“The tribunal’s unanimous decision relating to GreenX’s Jan Karski project provides further confidence to the mining industry and international investors more generally in the protection granted to them by the bilateral and multilateral investment treaty system,” Lalive partner Marc Veit said in a news release.

“It highlights that there is successful recourse against resource nationalism no matter where it takes place, even in a developed European economy,” Veit said.  

GreenX Metals is also advancing the Arctic Rift copper project in Greenland.

The round was led by Clean Energy Ventures, with participation from strategic venture groups TechEnergy Ventures and GS Futures as well as Lowercarbon Capital and MassCEC. The company also secured an additional $2 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank.

Lithios will leverage the funding to scale its R&D, manufacturing and operations, and to accelerate the development of commercial projects to produce thousands of tonnes of lithium carbonate annually, it said.

Lithium, a key component of batteries for electric vehicles, is expected to undergo a worldwide shortage as early as 2025. To meet EV and energy market demand, approximately 7 million tonnes of lithium carbonate will be required by 2040, eight times more than the current supply.

Suppliers are seeking solutions to overcome bottlenecks including infrastructure constraints in remote locations and lack of affordable processing technologies for high-contaminant sources.

Lithios said it is developing the first scalable electrochemical lithium capture solution, advanced lithium extraction (ALE), to efficiently extract lithium from untapped brine deposits where existing solutions cannot operate.

The company says its ALE technology allows miners, operators and the battery supply chain to unlock sources of lithium previously considered uneconomical and inaccessible due to difficult contaminant profiles and resource constraints.

“After assessing dozens of new lithium extraction technologies, we believe Lithios’ ALE approach addresses serious pain points for customers across the entire lithium value chain and brings a much-needed step-change improvement to recover lithium from contaminated and forsaken sources,” Clean Energy Ventures managing partner Daniel Goldman said in Tuesday’s news release.

Currently, there are three prevalent energy- and resource-intensive approaches to lithium extraction: hard rock mining and the evaporation of brines in surface ponds — both of which are limited to high-grade lithium deposits — and the nascent direct lithium extraction (DLE) from brines.

Lithios says its ALE platform is designed to be capital efficient with low resource intensity and consumes ten times less energy compared to DLE approaches when used to process low-grade sources of lithium.

Developed by MIT scientists and engineers, the ALE technology unlocks more than 85% of known but currently inaccessible lithium brine sources, making the lithium recovery process for low-grade brines up to twice as cost-effective as emerging DLE methods.

Through ALE, tough-to-process low-grade sources of lithium become just as valuable as scarce high-grade ones, opening up a pathway for lithium resource owners to increase supply to battery manufacturers, it adds.

Silver demand has outstripped supply for three straight years and the Silver Institute projects another market deficit in 2024. This is primarily due to rapidly rising industrial demand, specifically in the solar energy sector.

In 2023, the silver market charted a structural deficit of 184.3 million ounces. The projection is for an even larger supply shortfall this year in the neighborhood of 215 million ounces. This would be the second-largest silver market deficit ever recorded.

Meanwhile, mine output has sagged since peaking in 2016.

This raises an important question: Can silver miners respond and restore the market balance?

There are significant challenges.

According to Metals Focus, silver mine production peaked at 900.1 million ounces in 2016. At the time, the price of silver averaged around $13.30 an ounce. Since 2016, the average price has increased to $20.70 an ounce. Today, the price is well over $31 an ounce.

But mine production has yet to respond to the higher price. Metals Focus projects mine output will come in 62.8 million ounces lower than that 2016 peak, a 7 percent decline.

Metals Focus forecasts that while we will see record silver prices over the next five years, “mine supply growth is likely to remain modest, with only minimal increases globally.”

Why won’t silver production ramp up to meet the demand and take advantage of these higher prices?

Metals Focus blames the price inelasticity on the fact that more than half of silver is mined as a byproduct of base metal operations.

“Although silver can be a significant revenue stream, the economics and production plans of these mines are primarily driven by the markets for copper, lead and zinc. Consequently, even significant increases in silver prices are unlikely to influence production plans that are dependent on other metals.” 

About 28 percent of the silver supply is derived from primary silver mines, where production is more tightly tied to price. But silver mines face their own challenges including declining ore grades and rapidly rising mining costs.

Ore grades have fallen by about 22 percent, meaning the silver price has to rise that much to maintain margins.

Metals Focus summarized the cost challenges facing silver miners.

“Rising production costs have further constrained silver supply. Despite higher silver prices, operating costs in many cases have outpaced revenue growth, leading to little or no improvement in operating cash flow for silver-focused mining companies. Moreover, capital expenditure requirements have continued to rise, with mining cost inflation requiring increasing investment just to maintain current production levels. As a result, many silver miners have been free cash f low negative in recent years.”

If silver prices rise as projected, mines will reach a threshold where higher revenues translate into improved free cash flow.

“At that point, the future of primary silver mine supply will depend on how management allocates capital.”

Even if mining companies allocate significant resources to finding new sources of silver and developing new mines it will take time for production to ramp up and ease the supply shortage. According to Metals Focus, “It is implausible that new production could balance the current deficits over the short to medium term. For those shortfalls to end, we are instead dependent on recycling and demand to react to the forecast price rally.”

For the next few years at least, we will have to depend on drawdowns of above-ground stocks to meet the supply deficit.

Caprock Mining named Kyle Nazareth of Branson Corporate Services to the post of CFO.

The new CFO at Corcel Exploration is Kyle Nazareth of Branson Corporate Services.

Freeman Gold named CFO Bassam Noubarak to succeed William Randall, who resigned his role of president and CEO but will remain on the board.

Jubilee Gold named Sonia Agustina as CFO.

Suzette N. Ramcharan has joint Spanish Mountain Gold as its VP invest relations and corporate development officer.

Wesdome Gold Mines appointed Guy Belleau as COO.

Board changes:

Atex Resources added Rick McCreary to its board.

First Nordic Metals strengthened its board with the addition of Jeffrey Couch.

Founders Metals named Christ Taylor a director.

ICMM selected Tom Palmer, president and CEO of Newmont, as its new chair. He succeeds Ivan Arriagada.

The International Copper Association chose Shehzad Barmal, EVP and COO of Teck Resources, as its chair for the next two years.

The newest board member at Kapa Gold is Josephine Pantazidou.

Wesdome Gold Mines named Philip C. Yee as an independent director.

Western Copper and Gold welcomed Raymond Threlkeld as chair, replacing interim chair Bill Williams.

The Australian miner said last year it was going ahead with a $40 million expansion of Diavik by taking the existing A21 open pit underground, which would extend the operation’s life to at least early 2026. 

Phase 1 of the A21 underground project is slated to produce an extra 1.4 million carats. Phase 2 is expected to add another 800,000 carats and was approved earlier this year with an additional investment of $17 million.

The construction of the A21 underground mine involved the development of over 1,800 metres of underground tunnels to access the orebody and begin underground production.

Rio said there were no lost time injuries after more than 100,000 labour hours completed over 20 months during the development and construction work.

“The A21 underground operation is positive news for our employees, partners, suppliers and local communities in the Northwest Territories, as it will enable operations to continue through to closure,” Diavik mine chief operating officer of Matt Breen said in the statement.

“Rio Tinto’s decision to proceed with Phase 2 is a testament to the excellent performance of our Diavik team in successfully developing the underground mine beneath the previously mined A21 open pit,” Breen said.

He added that the company is continuing its investment in preparing for the closure and remediation of Diavik mine site, focusing on progressive reclamation activities such as earthworks, site clean-up, and equipment procurement.

Diavik represents one of Canada’s largest diamond mines in terms of volume of rough diamonds, having produced over 144 million carats of rough diamonds since mining began in 2003.

Titled Colour Awakened, this collection is headlined by seven “Old Masters”, notable historic diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia that operated from 1983 to 2020.

The Old Masters comprise seven round brilliant cut, pink and red diamonds, ranging in size from 0.60 carat to 2.63 carats. All unearthed from the mine over a decade ago — in one case, as far back as 1987 — each diamond has been carefully retrieved from private vaults and handpicked for inclusion in this year’s tender.

“No other mining company in the world has custody of such a kaleidoscope of coloured diamonds,” Sinead Kaufman, chief executive of Rio Tinto Minerals said in the statement.

In addition to the Old Masters, the Art Series 02 includes legacy inventory of pink, red and violet diamonds from the Argyle diamond mine, together with white and yellow diamonds from Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

“Four years on from the closure of the Argyle mine, our Beyond Rare Tender platform is a testimony to the enduring prestige of the Argyle Pink Diamonds brand, the quality of production from our Diavik mine, and the ongoing demand for highly collectible natural diamonds,” Kaufman said.

In total there are 76 diamonds, weighing 39.44 carats, comprising seven Old Masters, including one Fancy Red diamond; 32 single lots of pink and violet diamonds, including one Fancy Purplish Red diamond; and a rarified offering of nine carefully curated diamond sets, two of which include a 2.47-carat Fancy Intense Yellow diamond and a 4.04-carat D colour diamond, respectively, each from Diavik.

The 48 lots will be showcased in London, Australia, Singapore and Belgium, with bids closing on November 18.

Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow said in September that the $2 billion expansion would transform Lumwana into a long-life, high yielding Tier 1 copper mine, expected to rank amongst the top 25 in the world.

The feasibility study for the Super Pit expansion is expected by the end of the year, paving the way for construction to start in 2025, Barrick said.

The expansion involves first doubling throughput of the existing process circuit and then significantly increasing mining volumes. Plant throughput will grow from the current 27 million tonnes to 52 million tonnes, doubling the mine’s annual copper production from 120,000 tonnes to 240,000 tonnes.

The process plant expansion is supported by a ramp-up of total mining volumes, which are planned to increase incrementally year-on-year, from 150 million tonnes in 2025 to approximately 240 million tonnes in 2028, and then to 290 million tonnes per annum from 2030 onwards, the miner said.

This week, Barrick awarded Metso a major order for the supply of copper concentrator plant equipment to the expansion project in Zambia’s North-Western province.

Bristow said a critical element of the Super Pit expansion was its focus on creating a sustainable legacy through the development of local capacity within the region. The expansion will need around 550 additional workers over the next five years to support the ramp up and an additional 2,500 construction workers for a three-year period to 2028.

“We are also planning to build critical infrastructure, including an airstrip and an industrial supplier park. This will enable key suppliers to establish themselves in the area, creating an economic hub that will further fuel growth and development in the wider region,” Bristow said at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The permitting process for the expansion is well underway, with the environmental and social impact assessment already submitted to the Zambian authorities and approval expected by the end of this year.

“Mining plays a key role in Zambia’s economic structure, and our partnership with Barrick is creating one team with a shared vision to develop a new economic frontier in the North-Western province of the country and beyond,” President Hichilema said at the event.

Lumwana is a significant contributor in Barrick’s expanding copper portfolio, catering to the rapidly increasing demand for copper required for the energy transition.

Battery metal technology company Pure Lithium announced Tuesday the acquisition of all the assets of Dimien Inc., a private US vanadium cathode materials company.

Pure Lithium acquired Dimien’s intellectual property, manufacturing equipment and an experienced team, which it says will accelerate the development of its lithium metal vanadium (LVO) battery.

The Boston-based company says it has invented a unique lithium metal battery that swaps nickel and cobalt for vanadium – enabling it to make lithium batteries from scratch going from “from brine to battery” in less than 48 hours.

In July, Pure Lithium won the startup Coup de Coeur award at the World Materials Forum for its battery-ready lithium metal electrode, and received the best new project award at Fastmarkets, competing against several more mature companies.

Meanwhile, Dimien developed a class of vanadium-based cathode material known as zeta vanadium oxide (ZVO).

The company says this low-cost cathode material has high energy density and does not cause fires like some nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) cathodes.

Dr. Brian Schultz, founder and CEO of Dimien, will join Pure Lithium in the role of vice president of business development and technology.

“This asset purchase will expedite the commercialization of our LVO battery. Dr. Schultz and his team have taken ZVO from a university science project to commercially relevant prototypes, which cycle beautifully against our lithium metal,” Pure Lithium CEO Emilie Bodoin said in a news release.

“We have a lithium metal electrode production technology that dramatically reduces costs, and together with our LVO battery technology, we will bring to market a next-generation battery that is superior to lithium-ion in performance and safety,” Bodoin added.

“Eliminating graphite, nickel and cobalt is disruptive for the industry and will ensure US supply chain security ending dependence on China.”

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.”

Perhaps no other country (except maybe Zimbabwe) understands the value of bullion as a store of value than Germany. Hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s had citizens piling near-worthless Deutsche marks into wheelbarrows just to buy bare necessities. During the Second World War Nazi Germany looted about 4 tonnes of gold and stored it in the Reichsbank. But in 1948 the allies recovered it and gave it back to its rightful owners, leaving Germany’s bullion vaults bare. 

It wasn’t long however until Germany was again in a position to buy gold. The Wirtschafswunder — economic miracle — of the 1950s and ‘60s allowed West Germany to stockpile large amounts of gold. Under the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates, Germany could use dollars, earned by successful export businesses that traded them in for marks, to buy gold at $35 an ounce. 

The country managed to accumulate over 1,500 tonnes in the decades that followed. However this gold was not considered safe, with the Bundesbank in Frankfurt only about 100 km from Soviet-controlled East Germany, as told by the FT. It therefore made sense to store its gold in Paris, London or New York. After the fall of communism in 1991, that rationale disappeared. 

In 2019, other countries in Europe wanted their gold back.

Amid global trade uncertainty, a pall hanging over the European Union due to continued economic weakness and the pending exit of Great Britain, and dark, nationalist undercurrents swirling, several of the 28-strong EU members looked to gold as collateral.

Slovakia and Poland became the first European Union countries since Germany to call for a repatriation of their gold, which had been stored in Bank of England vaults for decades. Gold reserves owned by Poland and a number of other East European nations were spirited off to London at the outbreak of World War II, amid fears they would fall into the hands of Nazis. 

The prime minister of Slovakia called on the country’s parliament to repatriate its gold from the UK because it couldn’t be trusted with the precious metal. 

“You can hardly trust even the closest allies after the Munich Agreement,” said Robert Fico, leader of the socially-conservative Smer Party. “I guarantee that if something happens, we won’t see a single gram of this gold. Let’s do it as quickly as possible.”

The Munich Agreement was the 1938 pact between the UK, France, Italy and Germany that permitted Adolf Hitler to annex part of Czechoslovakia. 

Fico’s comments were uttered the same week as Poland repatriated 8,000 gold bars worth £4 billion (USD$5.25 billion) from London to Warsaw, in a top-secret operation involving planes, helicopters, high-tech trucks and specialist police, The Daily Mail reported. Eight night-time flights were made from an undisclosed London airport over the course of several months, shifting the bullion take weighing 100 tons, to un-named locations in Poland. 

According to the head of Poland’s central bank, “The gold symbolizes the strength of the country.” Governor Adam Glapinski said at least half of Poland’s 228.6 tonnes would be held in the National Bank of Poland (NBP), with the other half to remain in the UK. 

Poland bulked up on its gold from 2017-19, buying 125 tonnes. In its July 2019 announcement the NBP called gold the “most reserve” of all reserve assets and an “anchor of trust” that diversifies political risk. 

At the end of August, 2024, the National Bank of Poland had about 363 tons worth over €29 billion. Gold now constitutes 14.7% of Poland’s foreign currency reserves.

Hungary had no gold at the end of 2016, but in 2019 Hungary brought back all of its gold reserves from the Bank of England for the first time in 31 years, while at the same time announcing that it had increased its gold holdings by 1,000% (10-fold) from 3.1 to 31.5 tonnes.

Hungarian gold reserves reached an all-time high of 94 tonnes in the first quarter of 2021, a number that remained static as of the first quarter of 2024, says the World Gold Council, via Trading Economics.

Romania voted in April 2019 to repatriate the country’s gold reserves; about 60% of its 103.7 tonnes were stored at the Bank of England. The new law stipulated that only 5% of its gold can be kept abroad. 

In November 2019 Serbia made a 9-tonne bullion buy, prompting its central bank governor, Jorgovanka Tabakovic, to say, “We have completed gold purchase transactions and Serbia is safer today with 30.4 tons of gold worth around 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion).” 

Gold reserves in Serbia hit an all-time high of 40.67 tonnes in the first quarter of 2024, a smidgen higher than the 39.95t in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Among other European nations that wanted to repatriate their gold from the Bank of England and the New York Fed, were the central banks of Austria, Turkey, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

So why did Eastern Europe want its gold back?

A 2019 Bloomberg article points to Hungary’s anti-immigrant Prime Minister Victor Orban ramping up holdings of gold to boost the security of his reserves, Robert Fico bringing up the detested Munich Agreement, which sold out then-Czechoslovakia to Hitler’s Nazis, as a reason for repatriating its gold, and Poland’s wish to strengthen, via gold purchases, its half-a-billion-dollar economy, as examples of decisions to buy gold being motivated by fear, and some might say, hatred of outsiders. 

Gold Telegraph points out another reason why countries were, and are, wanting to bring their gold home from the US: 

It’s not a secret that there is a lack of confidence with regards to the U.S. Treasury’s claim that it currently holds 261,000,000 ounces of gold in Fort Knox and other locations. On top of that, the official gold reserves have never gone through a thorough independent audit.

Which you would think makes lots of countries feel quite uneasy with regards to their gold holdings.

In the above-mentioned cases of repatriation, the banks holding other countries’ gold had no problem returning it. Not so when the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, asked the Bank of England to return Venezuela’s substantial gold reserves to help deal with the country’s economic crisis. 

The trouble was, doing that would violate international sanctions against Venezuela. The sanctions were an attempt to cut Maduro off from his assets and steer them towards the country’s opposition leader, Juan Guaido, who claimed the presidency. 

So in January 2019, the Bank of England refused Maduro’s request to repatriate a billion dollars worth of gold, a significant chunk of its $8 billion in foreign reserves. 

Maduro later did an end-run around the sanctions by loading 7.4 tons of gold worth $300 million from its central bank onto Russian planes, which flew to Uganda for liquidating into cash. 

A Wall Street Journal investigation revealed how the scheme worked: once the gold arrived at the airport in Entebbe, it would pass through a legitimate gold refinery, which would then sell it to companies in the Middle East. 

Maduro’s lucrative black market gold trade allowed him to maintain control of his regime, and keep his military loyal to him, by selling an estimated 73.3 tons of bullion valued at around $3 billion to companies in the Middle East and Turkey between 2017 and February 2019.

De-dollarization

Protecting against sanctions became important again in early 2022, when Russia marched into Ukraine. This event is largely responsible for the current wave of de-dollarization, the act of buying gold and other currencies as a way of diversifying from the mighty US dollar and US Treasuries.

Central banks purchase Treasuries to bulk up their foreign exchange reserves. They do this especially during periods of unrest, or when the economic forecast is bleak. Gold’s role as a safe haven is well-documented. Of course Treasuries are as much sought-out by investors in a crisis.

De-dollarization by countries at odds with the United States, who fear that the US could freeze their dollar assets like Washington did to Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, is increasing the appeal of gold as a foreign-exchange alternative.

Many emerging-market economies are buying gold because they don’t want to be stuck in the same situation as Russia, which had about half of its $640-billion of forex reserves frozen by the US and its allies.

A 2023 survey by Investco found that an increasing number of countries are repatriating their gold reserves as protection against sanctions.

Almost 60% of respondents — from a total of 85 sovereign wealth funds and 57 central banks that took part in the annual Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management Study — said that seeing Russia’s assets frozen made gold more attractive, while 68% were keeping reserves at home compared to 50% in 2020.

Geopolitical concerns, combined with opportunities in emerging markets, are also encouraging some central banks to diversify away from the dollar, Reuters said.

I agree that diversification is central banks’ main motivation behind gold purchases, which hit a record in 2022. It’s not so much developed countries are dumping dollars; rather, they are buying gold and other countries’ currencies. In developing nations there is a definite move away from the dollar but the amounts are so small as to not really make a difference in global Treasury holdings. Arguably, the US dollar is not going anywhere as the world’s reserve currency.

Gold gets Tier 1 status

Basel I, II and III were a response to the 2008 financial crisis. The regulations require banks to maintain proper leverage ratios and to meet certain minimal capital requirements.

Under the old Basel I and II rules, gold was rated a Tier 3 asset. Under Basel III Tier 3 has been abolished. As of March 29, 2019, gold bullion is a Tier 1 asset. Also, and this is important, under Basel III a bank’s Tier 1 assets have to rise from the current 4% of total assets to 6%.

“Tier 1 capital is the core measure of a bank’s financial strength from a regulator’s point of view. It is composed of core capital which consists primarily of common stock and disclosed reserves (or retained earnings) but may also include non-redeemable non-cumulative preferred stock. Banks have also used innovative instruments over the years to generate Tier 1 capital; these are subject to stringent conditions and are limited to a maximum of 15% of total Tier 1 capital.” — Wikipedia

The Basel Committee for Bank Supervision (BCBS), the maker of global capital requirements and whose Basel III rules form the basis for global bank regulation, made gold a bank capital Tier 1 asset.

“Gold has historically been classified as a Tier 3 asset. When determining how much money a bank can loan, the bank’s gold holdings have traditionally been discounted 50 percent of the current market value. With value cut in half, banks have little incentive to hold gold as an asset.” — Frank Holmes, usfunds.com

The BCBS is a committee of banking supervisory authorities established by the central bank governors of the Group of Ten countries in 1974. The committee’s members currently come from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Because gold is a Tier 1 Capital asset, banks can operate with far less equity capital than is normally required. Gold is the new backstop for debt, currencies and bank equity capital. 

“Anyone who understands gold’s historic role will grasp the importance of the argument behind extra bank leverage. Direct ownership of bullion by a bank is superior to holding the fiat money issued by a central bank. It should increase confidence in any bank and the system as a whole. Given relative values, bank purchases of bullion will drive the value of gold as Tier 1 capital up relative to other qualifying assets, increasing its desirability for regulatory purposes further without a gold-owning bank doing anything.” — Alasdair Macleod, resourceinvestor.com

Andy Schectman, president and owner of Miles Franklin Precious Metals, believes that when the BIS made gold a Tier 1 asset, it accelerated the de-dollarization and repatriation trends.

Nowadays, repatriation is being performed not so much by European countries as those in the Middle East, Africa, and wanna-be members of the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

In an interview with Kitco News, Schectman points out the Reserve Bank of India purchased 1.5 times the amount of gold they bought last year just in the first four months of this year. More importantly, though, the Indian central bank moved 100 tonnes of gold stored in the Bank of England since 1991 back to the RBI. And it’s not just India.

“We’ve seen Saudi, Arabia, Egypt, and half a dozen African countries just bring all of their gold back from the New York Fed,” he said.

“So not only is gold a Tier 1 asset, a riskless asset. If it’s a riskless asset you want to remove counterparty liability so these countries who understand that it can replace the dollar, or rather the bond market, the Treasury in terms of its status as a reserve and being recognized by the BIS,they’re also removing counterparty risk by taking it back from the Bank of England, which is the same thing as the London Bullion Market Association and the Comex, which is the New York Fed. This repatriation is just as important as the accumulation,” said Schectman.

BRICS+

The trend is gathering pace, as the number of countries joining the BRICS increases. Take the following number with a grain of salt considering the source, but according to Vladimir Putin, who currently chairs the intergovernmental organization, as many as 34 countries have expressed a desire to participate in BRICS.

Following its launch in 2009, BRICS has expanded to 11 members with the addition of Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

BRICS+ members now account for 45% of the world’s population, 25% of global trade, and 31.5% of global GDP, Kitco writes:

The expanding list of prospective members underscores the growing strength of the bloc, which is quickly moving to de-dollarize and focus on their local currencies to help grow their economies. 

“Amid focused debates and high optimism to establish an economic clout, BRICS, together with new members and its partners (outreach format) are steadily looking forward to a new era of de-dollarizing the global economic system by introducing a new currency and also to set up a new payment system, most likely, during the forthcoming October 2024 summit in Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan,” wrote Kester Kenn Klomegah, an independent researcher and writer on African affairs in the EurAsian region and former Soviet republics.

“In pursuit of defining the collective determination to achieve these economic policy goals, BRICS has over the months been deliberating broadly the effectiveness and the importance its newly-designed mechanisms and a well-balanced approach for reconstructing the western-dominated dollar-system in the world,” he added. 

It’s not only the addition of new members to BRICS that is presenting a challenge to the current international economic order.

China is in competition with the United States to replace the dollar with the yuan, while China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System and Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages are challenging the global economic order led by the United States and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or SWIFT.

Schectman notes that over the past year, Saudi Arabia has been selling oil to China for yuan, which is convertible to gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange. “We’re seeing an extraordinary amount of action coming off the Shanghai Gold Exchange,” he told Kitco News.

Another example is Iran, which in 2023 struck a deal with China to modernize its biggest airport, paid for with oil rather than US dollars.

Saudi Arabia is now a member of Project mBridge, a cross-border digital payments system that is a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Bank of Thailand, the Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

The mBridge Ledger serves as a platform for implementing multi-currency, cross-border payments in central bank digital currencies.

Schectman notes mBridge did two trial trades in 2023: first, China using digital yuan to buy oil from United Arab Emirates; and second, trading cross-border digital yuan for gold.

“When you take a look at what gold represents and the massive amount of gold accumulation by the southern hemisphere and the drawdown in all of the world’s exchanges and the convertibility of gold off the Shanghai Gold Exchange for yuan, all of these things are coming together where I think it’s setting up for a perfect storm…,” he said. “This is about commodities leading the way and these countries are in a race to slowly, methodically accumulate commodities without causing too much attention.

He gave the example of China selling Treasuries, where its $3 trillion accumulation of T-bills has been whittled down to $700 billion, while their gold holdings grew for 19 straight months.

“That’s indicative of all of these countries in the southern hemisphere, they are slowly and methodically de-Treasurizing and accumulating gold.”

Another tool for de-dollarizing is BRICS Bridge, introduced in July. As Kitco reported,

BRICS Bridge is to give developing countries, especially in the Global South, the ability to limit or restrict their dependence on the U.S. dollar by promoting their own national currencies for trade settlements.

Central bank gold buying

Meanwhile, central banks continue to accumulate gold at record levels.

According to the World Gold Council, central bank demand totaled 229 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2023, lifting CB net purchases to 1,037 tonnes, just off the record set in 2022 of 1,082t.

Last year China and Poland added the most to global official gold reserves, which are now estimated to total 36,7000 tonnes.

More than a quarter of the more than 7,800 tonnes accumulated since 2010 have been in the last two years, states WGC.

Central bank gold buying in the first half of 2024 was the highest on record, with net purchases of 483 tonnes 5% above the previous record of 460 tonnes set in H1 2023. Q2 year on year was 6% higher.

During Q2, both the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of Nigeria repatriated gold from the UK and US respectively.

Proving our thesis of gold-buying and repatriation moving from north to south, the World Gold Council says Activity remained firmly driven by emerging markets (EM), with the latest quarter seeing 14 EM central banks increasing or decreasing their gold reserves by a tonne or more. By comparison, only a single developed market central bank [Singapore] added gold during Q2.

The central banks of Turkey, Czechia, Qatar, Russia, Iraq, Jordan, and the Kyrgyz Republic were the other buyers of note.

While China slowed down its gold-buying during the second quarter, between November 2022 and April 2024, the People’s Bank of China reported purchases of 316t, taking its gold reserves to 2,264t. Gold now accounts for 5% of the PBC’s total reserves, the highest share since 1996.

According to the WGC’s central bank survey, 81% of respondents said they expect global central bank holding to increase in the next 12 months, with 29% expecting their own bank’s gold reserves to rise.

The survey also highlighted the top reasons for central banks to own gold coalesce around safety:

Respondents indicated that its role as a long-term store of value/inflation hedge, performance during times of crisis, effectiveness as a portfolio diversifier, and lack of default risk remain key to gold’s allure.

As of Q2, the United States owned the most gold at 8,133 tonnes, followed by Germany, Italy, Russia, China, Japan and India. It’s interesting to note that for the United States, Germany, France, Portugal and Uzbekistan, gold represents 70% or more of the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Conclusion

The days of a central bank allowing another central bank to hold its gold reserves are likely over. Between de-globalization, toxic nationalism in Europe, and the threat of the United States confiscating a country’s foreign exchange reserves, has fostered a movement of “bringing the gold home”.

Gold repatriation started in Europe but it has migrated to India, the Middle East and Africa. Gold-buying and gold repatriation is tied to the de-dollarization agenda of the ever-expanding BRICS+ group of countries, that want to use their own currencies to grow their economies.

Russia and China already have systems in place to circumvent SWIFT. BRICS Bridge and Project mBridge are the latest payment settlement mechanisms.  

Central bank buying was to a large extent responsible for the run-up in the gold price over the past year, despite the headwinds of high bond yields and a strong US dollar. Safe-haven buying played a part too.

Central banks and us at AOTH know that gold is the only store of value that can be counted on in a time of crisis when everything else – i.e. fiat money – fails.

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Founded in 2018 by entrepreneur Teague Egan, the company initially developed its proprietary direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, LiTAS, which it said has evolved into a suite of technologies enabling complete an end-to-end extraction and refinery process to produce battery grade lithium materials.

In 2023, the company began acquiring its own lithium mines following what it said were strong pilot plant results in North and South America.

The company said its technology can recover 300% more lithium than conventional methods. Traditional extraction typically yields  30% to 40% of lithium from brine, while EnergyX said its DLE achieves a +90% extraction rate.

The technology has raised over $110 million in total funding, backed by investors including General Motors, Eni and POSCO.

With two Tier 1 projects underway, Black Giant in Chile is estimated to produce 40,000 tonnes of lithium per year, while Project Lonestar in the US is estimated at 25,000 tonnes.

The company said the new mixed-use facility in Austin will house EnergyX’s innovation lab, global operations controls, DLE production and warehouse.

S&P Global estimates that demand for copper will double by 2035, and warns the looming supply gap could short-circuit the green energy transition.

Schneider Electric is an existing partner in the recycling of lithium-ion batteries, working with Glencore and their portfolio company, Li-Cycle. It is also working towards a copper and electronic waste take-back program and shifting its supply chain by directly acquiring raw materials from Glencore and distributing them through its network of sub-suppliers to its European factories.

The partnership entails developing high-efficiency, low-carbon procurement specifications for capital equipment supporting ‘best practices’ aligned to Schneider Electric’s Zero Carbon project.

Schneider said it is designing and deploying power and energy management systems with measurement and analytics features, helping Glencore to monitor and report on energy consumption more accurately.

To support Glencore in lowering the carbon intensity of its raw material supply, Schneider said it is also providing industrial digital transformation services and process electrification consulting services.

“The relationship between Schneider Electric and Glencore is built on the joint aim of decarbonizing copper production and building resilience in its supply,” Schneider Electric president of mining, minerals & metals Rob Moffitt said in a news release.

“In the past, lowering emissions has been a challenge due to the complexity of supply chains, however, by leveraging digitization we are able to close the material loop and boost our circularity. This, together with integration of power and process all along the asset life cycle, is a critical component in our race towards net zero,” Moffit said.

Glencore’s head of copper and cobalt marketing Jyothish George said the company plans to use Schneider’s tools and solutions to digitize and decarbonize its raw material supply chains and operations.

“This collaboration will enable both companies to establish circular supply chains, lowering their respective carbon footprints, George said.

The funding round was led by ArcTern Ventures and supported by BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund, Hitachi Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners, Climate Investment and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. Existing investors Fifth Wall, BMW i Ventures, Energy Impact Partners and Planetary Technologies also participated in the round.

The funding brings total equity raised to over $83 million and will enable it to fast-track its international growth, the company said in a news release.

Established in 2021, Cyclic Materials said its proprietary technologies are capable of economically and sustainably recovering critical raw materials from end-of-life electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, MRI machines and data center electronic waste.

Over the past year, the company has forged partnerships with industry players Solvay, Vattenfall, Synetiq and VACUUMSCHMELZE to recycle magnets containing REEs and establish a circular supply chain.

Cyclic will deploy the capital to build rare earth recycling infrastructure in the US and Europe, and grow its team to support its operations. The company said its process of recycling these rare earth materials from magnets achieves significant environmental benefits in comparison to traditional mining processes, including a reduced carbon footprint and water efficiency.

“This funding underscores the confidence in our ability to create the circular economy for rare earths needed for the clean energy transition,” CEO Ahmad Ghahreman said in a news release.

“Not only is our technology essential for supporting sustainable domestic production of rare earths, but it will also play a critical role in re-establishing North American and European leadership in the rare earths industry.”

The Series B funding follows a $3.6 million grant award from Natural Resources Canada that supports the continued operation of Cyclic Materials’ commercial demonstration facility (Hub100) for producing high-purity REEs from recycled magnet material and preparing for scaling to larger operations.

The deal, which comes two years after Gold Fields’ failed bid for Yamana Gold in 2022, adds a project that is expected to boast low costs and that Fraser says fits well with its Salares Norte mine in Chile, which marked first production earlier this year.

The deal makes Gold Fields the sole owner of the Windfall project in Quebec, which it has been developing in a 50/50 joint venture with Osisko.

The deal fell through when Yamana accepted a higher joint bid from Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) and Pan American Silver (TSX: PAAS; NYSE: PAAS), overriding Gold Fields’ original offer.

The Windfall deal helps fill the gap left by that missed opportunity, adding 300,000 oz. per year at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of under $800 per oz. from early 2027.

“Windfall will be a real anchor for Gold Fields’ portfolio,” Fraser told The Northern Miner last week during the Gold Forum Americas in Colorado Springs. “It’s a place we’ve long looked at to grow our footprint.”

Over the past 10 years, the company has shifted away from its historic base in South Africa and focused on high-potential, lower-risk projects in places like Ghana, Australia, and the Americas. South Africa has produced some of the world’s mining heavyweights including Anglo American (LSE: AAL), Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW; NYSE: SBSW) and Impala Platinum (JSE: IMP). Impala and Sibanye-Stillwater had already expanded to North America.

But a C$600 million investment by Gold Fields in May last year saw the companies create a 50/50 joint venture on the Windfall Lake project, allowing Gold Fields to find a foot in the door for the eventual takeover.

“Over the last 15 months, we’ve gotten to know the project well,” Fraser, who has held the reins since October last year, said. “We’re excited about its future upside,” Fraser said.

Windfall, located in Quebec’s Abitibi region, holds an estimated 3.2 million oz. gold in 12 million tonnes at 8.1 grams gold per tonne in proven and probable reserves. Further exploration could extend the project’s lifespan, adding more long-term value, Fraser said.

Fraser also pointed out the similarities between Windfall and Gold Fields’ St. Ives mine in Australia. These parallels, he said, give the company confidence in its ability to execute the project efficiently.

Analyst critiques

The acquisition has drawn some criticism. Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) CEO Mark Bristow suggested that Gold Fields may have overpaid for Windfall Lake, echoing concerns from some analysts that the price tag could stretch the company’s balance sheet and put pressure on returns.

In a mid-August note, BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Mikitchook said the cash bid highlighted the quality and scarcity of Windfall, while the existing joint venture and premium made a competing bid unlikely.

However, fellow BMO analyst Raj Ray at the time questioned the timing of the move, pointing out that Gold Fields sacrificed near-term cash flow while taking on development and execution risks. Ray also noted the deal increased pressure on the successful ramp-up of Salares Norte, which is yet to prove itself.

Greener pastures

Gold Fields’ exit from South Africa a decade ago marked a major turning point. The company, founded by Cecil John Rhodes in the late 1880s, sold off most of its South African assets as production slowed and risks increased. It then turned its attention to international markets, seeking new opportunities in North and South America.

Over the past decade, the company has expanded into these regions with projects like Salares Norte in Chile. However, severe winter conditions have hindered the project’s ramp-up, forcing revisions to production guidance and creating uncertainty around near-term output.

Gold Fields projects gold output this year to total 2.2 million to 2.3 million oz., revised down from an original estimate of 2.3 million to 2.4 million oz. to account for the delays in the Salares Norte ramp up.

At $15.53 apiece, the company’s New York-quoted shares are up 29% over the past 12 months, having touched $10.31 and $18.97. The company has a market capitalization of $13.9 billion.