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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The world’s biggest miner walked away from a $49 billion bid to acquire Anglo in May after it was rebuffed three times. The upcoming end to a six-month block on BHP making another approach had raised speculation a deal may again be under scrutiny.

“We made an approach to Anglo American earlier this year … we thought there was an opportunity here to create something unique and special, a bit of a sort of a one plus one equals three opportunity,” Ken MacKenzie said at BHP’s annual meeting.

“Unfortunately, Anglo American shareholders had a different view, and they thought there was more value in the plan that their management wanted to execute. And so they moved on. And quite frankly, so have we.”

As evidence, MacKenzie pointed to BHP’s C$4.5 billion ($3.25 billion) deal with Canada-listed Lundin Mining in July to jointly take over developer Filo Corp in a move to grow their copper holdings in South America.

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Sonali Paul)

The study, published just a day after the United Nations warned the world is falling “miles short” of what’s needed to curb devastating global warming, indicates that an investment of $78 trillion will be needed to change this course and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations committed to limiting global warming to “well below” two degrees Celsius above the average temperatures recorded between 1850 and 1900, aiming for a target of 1.5 degrees Celsius if feasible. Efforts to date have not succeeded in meeting this challenge, the annual “Energy Transition Outlook” from Wood Mackenzie shows.

Unlike the UN pessimistic outlook, the Scottish consultancy believes that while major obstacles hinder short-term targets, particularly for 2030, a 2050 net-zero goal remains feasible. Immediate and coordinated global action would be necessary, WoodMac warns.

Threats to climate progress

A series of global crises, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, escalating Middle East violence, rising populism in Europe and global trade tensions with China, are undermining the pace of the energy transition, Wood Mackenzie’s vice president head of scenarios and technologies, Prakash Sharma, said. 

He explains that without urgent policy changes and enhanced investment, a warming trajectory of 2.5˚C to 3˚C could become inevitable.

“We are under no illusion as to how challenging the net zero transition will be, given the fact that fossil fuels are widely available, cost-competitive and deeply embedded in today’s complex energy system,” Sharma added. “A price on carbon maybe the most effective way to drive emissions reduction but it’s hard to see it coming together in a polarized environment.”

Key investment are needed across several critical areas, according to WoodMac. As renewable energy sources grow, substantial upgrades to power supply and grid infrastructure are essential to meet the growing demand. Additionally, the need for critical minerals, such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, is projected to increase five- to ten-fold by 2050, as demand for batteries and other technologies essential for the energy transition continues to grow. 

WoodMac sees the need to back the development of emerging technologies, including carbon capture, low-carbon hydrogen, and nuclear power, are vital for facilitating the shift towards cleaner energy sources.

Securing this funding won’t be easy, the consultants noted. “Doubling annual investments to $3.5 trillion by 2050 will be necessary in our net zero scenario,” Sharma said, adding that it will require unprecedented policy coordination globally.

The role of electrification

The electrification of energy systems will play a pivotal role in decarbonization. Transitioning from fossil fuels to electric power, Wood Mackenzie forecasts that electricity’s share of global energy demand will increase from 23% to 35% by 2050 in a base case, and could reach as high as 55% in a net-zero scenario.

Wood Mackenzie’s analysis reveals that global energy demand is set to rise by 14% by 2050. Emerging economies are projected to see even steeper growth at 45%, driven by rising populations and economic advancement. 

In parallel, data centres, electric vehicles, and AI are emerging as new drivers of electricity consumption, with AI-related energy use alone expected to increase from 500 TWh in 2023 to up to 4,500 TWh by 2050.

Including renewable energy source to meet electrifications demand could help reduce emissions, the report says.

According to Wood Mackenzie, solar and wind currently account for 17% of the global power supply, and renewables capacity is expected to double by 2030 in its base case. Yet, this increase still falls short of the COP28 commitment made in 2023 to triple renewables by 2030.

Transition or coexistence?

While nuclear energy holds promise for providing consistent, zero-carbon electricity, its high cost and frequent project delays pose significant challenges. WoodMac says that nuclear power could play a more significant role as it has attracted interest, particularly from tech companies looking to power data centres sustainably.

While fossil fuels is expected to plateau in the 2040s before beginning a gradual decline, Wood Mackenzie predicts that the high capital costs of low-carbon technologies coupled with strong demand for energy, will require the continued use of oil and gas in the near term.

Wood Mackenzie says to meet climate targets there will be necessary that nations gathered at the COP29 meeting in Azerbaijan next month finalize Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. This section focuses on carbon markets and aims to establish a new climate finance goal to replace the previous annual target of $100 billion, which experts consider insufficient.

The consultancy’s report echoes concerns included in a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) study released last week. The document says the next decade is crucial in the battle against climate change, adding that failing to act now will jeopardize any chance of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to the UN body, the current rate of climate action could lead to a catastrophic increase of 3.1 degrees Celsius this century. 

“Either leaders bridge the emissions gap, or we plunge headlong into climate disaster, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned.

Even if all existing commitments to reduce emissions are fulfilled, global temperatures would still rise by 2.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, experts agree.

The rather hopefully named Beijing “bazooka” was expected to be followed up by another stimulus blitz the following week, this time focused more on fiscal policy and infrastructure investment, but the latter turned out to be a damp squib, with prices down 9% since then. 

Next week could be another make or break moment for the copper price in a highly anticipated meeting of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s highest lawmaking body, scheduled for 4–8 November. 

Copper markets will be hoping for more detail of the scale and nature of Beijing’s stimulus measures, but in a note the copper service of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence points out that the announcement did not mention debt or fiscal policy on the agenda, so it remains to be seen how forthcoming policymakers are with details: 

“If the meeting fails to shine further light on the scale of fiscal stimulus, we expect copper prices to come under renewed pressure. We note that copper prices have trended significantly above their implied relationship with the USD index since the announcement of China’s stimulus ‘blitz’ in late September. 

“If Chinese authorities follow through on the market’s expectations, we could see a permanent step-change in this relationship (just like we did post-COVID). Conversely, if the market loses faith in China’s stimulus efforts and deems them inadequate or superficial, our regression analysis suggests that copper stands to drop by close to $1,000 per tonne.”

CMOC Group Ltd. produced 84,722 tons of cobalt at its mines in Africa in the first nine months of this year, according to the firm’s earnings report late Monday. Its earlier output guidance for all of 2024 was 70,000 tons at the high end.

The faster-than-expected increase has deepened a global cobalt glut and helped send prices tumbling to an eight-year low this month. The Chinese firm passed Glencore Plc last year as the world’s top supplier of the metal used in everything from electric-vehicle batteries to aerospace alloys.

CMOC has been expanding two huge mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where cobalt is extracted as a by-product of mining copper. Its output of the red metal in the first nine months rose 78%, and could hit 600,000 tons for this year “if this pace of production continues,” CMOC said on its official WeChat account.

The miner’s third-quarter net income rose 64% from a year earlier to 2.9 billion yuan ($410 million), largely thanks to the higher copper output and relatively strong global prices of the metal. Revenues rose 16% to 51.9 billion yuan.

CMOC is among several Chinese firms trying to lift output in central Africa’s copper belt. Preliminary exploration work has started for the western area of its Tenke Fungurume mine, and also for phase two of its Kisanfu project, it said.

In a separate statement, CMOC said it has signed a three-year supply and purchase agreement with Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. — the world’s top battery-maker and CMOC’s second-biggest shareholder — for metals including copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium.

CATL bought $546 million worth of products from CMOC in the first eight months of 2024, more than double the volume in all of 2023. CMOC said those were primarily nickel products.

(By Annie Lee)

Cadia becomes Newmont’s first site globally to receive these awards after successfully meeting more than 30 criteria needed in critical areas including environment, community, human rights and governance, amongst others.

Cadia is currently host to Australia’s largest underground mine, and now becomes the third copper mine in the country to receive The Copper Mark. It is also the only operating molybdenum mine in Australia, thus becoming the first to achieve The Molybdenum Mark.

The Copper Mark represents the leading assurance framework to promote responsible, sustainable and ethical practices across the copper, molybdenum, nickel and zinc value chains.

“Meeting growing global demand for copper brings an obligation to sustainability and responsible mining which prioritizes environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic development for the communities in which we operate,” commented Newmont’s chief safety and sustainability officer Suzy Retallack.

In achieving The Copper Mark, she said the company’s global customers can now choose to source copper concentrate from an independently evaluated mine that “meets the highest standards in environmental, social and governance practices, responding to the increasing demand for sustainable supply chains.”

With this, about 35% of Australia’s copper is produced at sites that have obtained The Copper Mark, noted Michèle Brülhart, The Copper Mark’s executive director.

The Cadia operation is located approximately 25 km south-southwest of Orange in New South Wales and 250 km west of Sydney. It comprises the Cadia East underground mine, one of the largest gold and copper deposits in the world, and the Ridgeway underground mine, which is currently in care and maintenance.

In 2020, Cadia entered into a 15-year renewable power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tilt Renewables Limited to buy 55% of the wind farm’s output. Now fully operational, Rye Park is supplying approximately half of Cadia’s power needs.

“Cadia’s commitment to the community supported an investment of almost A$6 million in the 18 months to December 2023 to support community projects, education and infrastructure,” Retallack said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies is up a fairly modest 8% year to end-September and despite the good run is still $240 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022. And judging by the performance of the top tier in the final quarter (BHP down 8% QTD, Rio Tinto –5%, Vale –3%, Glencore –5%, Newmont –9%, Zijin –5%, Freeport –7%) the gap won’t be closing anytime soon.

In contrast, Nvidia — the maker of chips highly prized for artificial intelligence (AI) computing — is up nearly 200% so far this year (and 2,600% over five). When comparing the graphics card maker’s stock valuation to the mining industry’s collective worth, it’s difficult not to wonder if something is not awry with how global investors appraise the industrial economy.  

Should Nvidia (or Microsoft or Apple for that matter) be worth more than twice the top 50 miners? Outside the top 50 the average market cap quickly shrinks to the low teens so Nvidia is in fact worth more than the entire listed mining industry. 

Even when extending the top 50 into metals and energy –  steel, aluminium and electricity companies often operate their own mines – Nvidia can still throw shade. BHP does not even crack the top 100 most valuable companies in the world and is worth less than Booking.com, and Temu and Zara’s owners, none of which can exactly be called the building blocks of the global economy. 

Nvidia briefly surpassed Apple on Friday to become the world’s most valuable company. Its market capitalization is approximately $3.5 trillion, just below Apple’s, which remains the highest-valued firm globally.

The company said on Monday that its full-year nickel production forecast was now at 196,000-204,000 metric tons, up from 184,000-194,000 tons previously. The new target was still below the 209,000 tons produced in 2023.

The company said it had produced 146,210 tons of nickel in the first nine months of the year as the furnace at its flagship Nadezhda smelter went back into operation after major repairs in August.

As a result, the company reported a 16% quarter-on-quarter increase in nickel output in the third quarter.

Its palladium production guidance was increased to between 2.624 million and 2.728 million ounces, up from 2.296 million to 2.451 million ounces previously. Palladium output was up 1% year on year at 2.156 million ounces in the nine months of 2024.

Nornickel’s operations director Alexander Popov said the company increased nine-month copper and palladium output year on year while platinum and nickel were unchanged.

The “positive dynamics” were attributed to improved operational efficiency and increase mined ore, he said in a statement.

Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, though sanctions against Moscow have prompted some Western producers to avoid buying Russian metal and complicated payments, leading Nornickel to redirect sales to Asia.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by David Goodman)

The 32-year-old employee of Codelco contractor CVC was repairing the roof of a storage site used to hold copper concentrate when he was killed, Codelco said.

The firm said it had opened an investigation into the death. Sernageomin, Chile’s mining safety regulator, will also launch an independent investigation, it said.

After the worker’s death, “all operational activities of the division were suspended,” Codelco said in a statement.

The Ventanas division is responsible for the operation of a copper refinery within the mining company.

(By Fabian Cambero; Editing by Leslie Adler and Kylie Madry)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(By Jacob Lorinc)

Under a private placement agreement announced on Friday, Agnico will purchase approximately 33.9 million units of ATEX at C$1.63 per unit, representing a 15% premium over ATEX’s stock price from a week ago and 12.4% over its previous day’s closing price.

By 11:10 a.m. ET in Toronto, ATEX Resources traded 11% higher at C$1.61, having touched a 52-week high of C$1.66 a share earlier in the session. The company has a market capitalization of C$336.2 million ($242.3 million)

The Agnico investment will support ATEX’s exploration activities at the Valeriano project. The property covers approximately 61.3 sq. km and is host to a large copper-gold porphyry deposit, below a near-surface oxidized epithermal gold deposit that extends from surface to a depth of 100 metres.

Since 2021, ATEX has completed multiple phases of drilling to test the mineralization at Valeriano, beginning with the gold oxide deposit in the initial phase then extending to the porphyry system.

Last year, it produced a mineral resource estimate totalling 1.44 billion tonnes grading 0.49% copper and 0.21 g/t gold, all in the inferred category. The porphyry deposit makes up most of this resource — 1.41 billion tonnes at 0.50% copper and 0.20 g/t — and contains a higher-grade core totaling 200 million tonnes at 0.62% copper and 0.29 g/t gold.

“This transaction results in ATEX being well capitalized through 2025 to execute on our future drill programs and to continue defining this deposit while also continuing to de-risk and conduct engineering studies,” commented ATEX CEO Ben Pullinger in a news release.

In addition to the private placement, the company also announced that it will repay the entire outstanding balance on its credit facility totaling $15 million through the issuance of equity. A total of 7.9 million units at the same price of the offering (C$1.63) and 5.5 million shares priced at C$1.42 each will be issued to its lenders (Firelight Investments, Beedie Capital and Trinity Capital Partners).

Moreover, ATEX has arranged a private placement with recently appointed board member Rick McCreary, who will purchase C$500,000 worth of units, also at the same price of the private placement.

Upon closing of the above transactions, Agnico would become one of ATEX’s largest shareholders, with a shareholding of 13% on an undiluted basis.

Beijing has sought to develop its ties with the Taliban since they took control of Afghanistan in 2021, but like all governments has refrained from formally recognizing the Islamic fundamentalist group’s rule amid international concern over its human rights record and those of women and girls.

But the impoverished country could offer a wealth of mineral resources to boost Beijing’s supply chain security although it risks becoming a haven for militant groups threatening China’s Xinjiang region and huge investments in neighbouring Pakistan.

Selling Afghanistan’s lithium, copper and iron deposits to feed China’s enormous battery and construction industries would help the Taliban prop up their economy, which the UN says has “basically collapsed”, and provide a much needed revenue stream as the country’s overseas central bank reserves remain frozen.

“China will offer Afghanistan zero-tariff treatment for 100% tariff lines,” Zhao Xing, Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, wrote on his official X account late on Thursday, above a photo of him meeting acting deputy prime minister Abdul Kabir.

Afghanistan exported $64 million worth of goods to China last year, according to Chinese customs data, close to 90% of which was shelled pine nuts, but the Taliban government has said it is determined to find foreign investors willing to help it diversify its economy and profit from its minerals wealth.

The country exported no commodities to China last year, the data shows, but Zhao has regularly posted photos of him meeting Taliban officials responsible for mining, petroleum, trade and regional connectivity since his appointment last September.

“In the Horn of Africa, China’s Special Envoy Xue Bing said that the best way to resolve security and terrorism challenges is through economic development. I think they are bringing that same mindset to Afghanistan,” said Eric Orlander, co-founder of the China-Global South Project.

“I don’t buy the whole strategic minerals line that we hear in Washington about how China is eyeing Afghanistan’s vast lithium reserves,” Orlander added, citing the cost and security challenges involved in extracting them.

“(China’s) answer to everything is build a road, and from that economic development will lead to peace and harmony.”

Several Chinese companies operate in Afghanistan, including the Metallurgical Corp of China Ltd, which has held talks with the Taliban administration over plans for a potentially huge copper mine, and was highlighted in an August feature in Chinese state media on Chinese companies rebuilding Afghanistan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping at a Beijing summit for more than 50 African leaders in September announced that from Dec. 1 goods entering his country’s $19 trillion economy from “the least developed countries that have diplomatic relations with China” would not be subject to import duties, without giving details.

The policy was then repeated on Wednesday by vice commerce minister Tang Wenhong at a press conference in Beijing on the preparations for upcoming China’s annual flagship import expo.

Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, confirmed on Friday the policy would apply to Afghanistan, adding it would promote mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation.

The Afghanistan embassy in Beijing did not respond to a request for comment.

Last October, Afghanistan’s acting commerce minister told Reuters the Taliban wanted to formally join Xi’s flagship “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative.

Kabul has also asked China to allow it to be a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $62 billion connectivity project connecting China’s resource-rich Xinjiang region to Pakistan’s Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.

(By Joe Cash and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Read More: Taliban says it signed mining deals worth over $6.5 billion

While Beijing Antaike Information Development Co. forecasts substantial growth in demand from the renewables sector, the focus of copper optimists, it also sees an impact from a slowing Chinese economy and from buyers switching over to aluminum.

China’s demand growth in the five years up to 2030 will average 1.1%, down from 3.9% in the five years to 2025, Antaike analyst Yang Changhua said at the group’s conference in Wuhan. The copper intensity of renewables investment is falling as industries bid to reduce usage or find alternative materials, he said.

For the past half-decade, there have been a series of eye-watering forecasts for copper, largely resting on the idea that the world’s mines will struggle to keep up with a long demand boom.

Prices this year reached a record above $11,000 a ton amid emerging signs of supply tightness, but have since drifted lower as China’s economy struggles and manufacturing in the rest of the world remains soft. The metal was little changed on Friday near $9,500 on the London Metal Exchange, heading for a fourth weekly decline.

Key risks to the “peak by 2030” forecast include the future strength of China’s manufacturing exports, or the relocation of factories overseas, Yang said. He didn’t give an outlook for global copper demand.

China’s combined consumption of copper from electric vehicles plus the solar and wind industries will rise to 3.1 million tons by 2030, Yang said. That will be 26% of the nation’s total demand, up from 15% in 2023.

Read More: China copper imports climb 15% on seasonal demand, brighter outlook

Still, Vale posted a $2.41 billion net profit for the quarter ended in September, well above analysts’ estimates for a $1.65 billion profit as polled by LSEG.

Vale reported a 10% decline in its net revenue year-on-year to $9.55 billion, almost in line with the $9.44 billion analysts had expected.

It had already released earlier this month its third-quarter sales and output report, which showed the highest iron ore production for a quarter since 2018, but realized prices of iron ore fines dropping 14%, weighing on its profit.

Its core profit as measured by adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at $3.62 billion in the quarter, down 18% from a year earlier and also broadly meeting analysts’ estimates of $3.61 billion.

Vale said in the earnings report it booked an additional $956 million provision related to the deadly collapse of a dam at an iron ore mine owned by Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and BHP, near the Brazilian city of Mariana in 2015.

The firm had already anticipated a similar impact last week as a final compensation deal approaches, with Vale saying on Thursday that it was set to sign the deal on Friday after years of talks with Brazilian authorities.

The most recent discussions were for the three miners to pay up 170 billion reais ($30 billion), with 100 billion reais of that to be paid over 20 years directly to public authorities.

Vale’s new management is eyeing a better quality portfolio with more focus on the client, CEO Gustavo Pimenta said in the earnings report. Pimenta, Vale’s former chief financial officer, joined as CEO earlier this month.

Pimenta said Vale aims to speed up efforts to offer high-quality product in its main iron ore business, while adding it plans to grow its base metal unit, particularly in copper.

In a separate filing on Thursday evening, Vale also raised its all-in cost guidance for copper for the year.

($1 = 5.6653 reais)

(By Marta Nogueira and Andre Romani; Editing by Kylie Madry and Sonali Paul)

US imports of copper have surged after traders capitalized on a rare arbitrage window that opened between the CME and the London Metal Exchange (LME) contracts at the height of the squeeze on CME short position holders.

The result has been a redistribution of global exchange inventory with CME stocks rebuilding from depleted levels and both LME and Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) inventory falling.

It remains to be seen how long this global readjustment lasts but resilient demand and domestic production constraints have the potential to suck more metal into the United States.

Chilean exports redirected

The United States imported an average of 57,700 metric tons per month of refined copper in the first half of 2024.

Inbound shipments then jumped to 106,400 tons and 117,500 tons in July and August respectively, according to LSEG Group trade data.

The main source of the extra metal was Chile. US imports from the South American country accelerated from an average 39,600 tons per month in January-June to 78,200 tons in July and 89,800 tons in August.

Indeed, the United States became the major destination for Chilean copper in the May-August period as shipments to China dropped to an average 30,300 tons.

Shorts covered?

A significant portion of Chile’s shipments to the United States has been delivered against short positions on the CME.

The CME’s limited range of good-delivery brands was one of the reasons the May squeeze became so acute.

Chilean metal accounts for 18 of a total 57 deliverable copper brands on the US exchange, exceeding the 13 domestically-produced brands.

A total 76,440 tons of copper have entered CME warehouses in New Orleans since the start of August, helping lift registered inventory to 74,824 tons from a July low of 8,117 tons.

The liquidity boost has calmed CME time-spreads after the extreme backwardations seen in the second quarter.

It’s noticeable that while CME stocks have been rising, those registered with both the LME and the ShFE have fallen.

However, global exchange inventory is broadly unchanged at an elevated 521,600 tons, up 308,000 tons on the start of the year.

More to come?

CME copper stocks are by no means one-way traffic, with the daily inflows being offset by a steady stream of metal moving in the opposite direction.

This speaks to resilient demand in the United States even before the Federal Reserve’s bumper rate cut trickles down to the manufacturing sector.

Moreover, domestic production is going to take a significant knock due to geotechnical problems at one of country’s largest mines.

Production at the Bingham Canyon mine dropped 44% year-on-year in the third quarter due to movement in the walls of what is the world’s deepest open-pit copper mine.

Rio Tinto, which owns the mine, warned that mined production would be impacted to the tune of 50,000 tons this year as feed to the concentrator is supplemented with lower-grade ore. Mined output will also be affected both next year and in 2026, albeit to an as-yet unknown extent, it said.

It may not just be CME copper shorts that need more US imports in the months ahead.

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

(Editing by Mark Potter)

BHP walked away from a $49 billion bid to acquire Anglo in May after it was rebuffed three times. With a six-month block on another approach set to expire at the end of November, a deal is again under scrutiny.

Anglo was able to convince investors during BHP’s approach that it had a better plan to grow value, focused on shedding underperforming platinum, diamonds and coal to focus on copper, a metal key for the energy transition.

If that succeeds, the higher value that comes with copper assets may help keep Anglo safe, one portfolio manager at a Cape Town fund manager said.

But the longer it takes to achieve a transformation, the more likely it is that investors will be tempted by another bid.

Investors with shares in both companies told Reuters that even though they expect BHP CEO Mike Henry to renew his pursuit for the London-listed miner, the timing and even the rationale for such an approach could be shaped by whether Anglo can grow beyond the grasp of cash-rich rivals.

Anglo CEO Duncan Wanblad is rushing to sell coking coal mines in Australia and nickel assets in Brazil while spinning off platinum mines in South Africa. The company is also weighing whether to sell or separately list its De Beers diamonds unit.

Anglo’s world-class copper assets in Latin America are the prize for rivals seeking increased exposure to copper.

But its copper mines are still dogged by operational issues. On Thursday, it said copper output declined 13% in the third quarter, though the company remains on course to meet this year’s output guidance of 730,000 tons to 790,000 tons.

Anglo declined to comment. BHP did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

Choosing the moment

Anglo’s shares rose as much as 4.3% in London on Monday amid a broad uptick in mining stocks, but have shed most of the premium they added in the wake of BHP’s approach.

If Anglo’s valuation takes time to catch up with its restructuring, it could present a golden opportunity for BHP.

According to a source at a top investor in both companies, a restructured Anglo creates more value for BHP, which is still wary of the risks associated with absorbing South African assets.

“If I was BHP, I would say let Anglo do most of the heavy lifting, the restructuring it promised it will do by end 2025,” the source told Reuters.

Any potential new bid should come when some of the restructuring is expected to completed by June or July next year, they added.

BHP may have to wait until Anglo spins off its platinum business by mid-2025 to make the deal less complex, UBS Group analysts said. “We expect Anglo to re-rate as the group simplifies,” UBS said. “If not, we see potential for another takeover approach.”

Christiaan Bothma, an investment analyst at Johannesburg-based money manager Sanlam Private Wealth, which has shares in both companies, told Reuters it would “make sense” for BHP to wait for Anglo to do the asset separation for them.

But he added: “The counter argument to this would be if they wait (too) long, Anglo’s valuation premium may be too high or iron ore prices too low (BHP’s primary currency).”

(By Felix Njini; Editing by Veronica Brown, Pratima Desai and Jan Harvey)

In June, McEwen Copper announced a private placement financing of up to $70 million through the issuance of approximately 2.33 million shares at $30 per share. Under the first tranche, the McEwen unit received a $14 million investment its parent company and a $5 million investment from Rob McEwen, its chairman and chief owner.

Nuton’s $35 million investment represents the second tranche of that financing, with the purchase of nearly 1.17 million shares. Two other investors also participated in this tranche for a total of $2 million.

Together with the first tranche, McEwen Copper has now raised a total of $56 million for the Los Azules project.

Los Azules project

Los Azules is an open-pit copper deposit located 80 km northwest of the town of Calingasta and 6 km east of the border with Chile at an elevation of 3,500 metres in the Andes Mountains. The extent of mineralization along strike exceeds 4 km and the distance across strike is approximately 2.2 km.

The copper resource contains 10.9 billion lb. in ore that grades 0.40% copper in the indicated category and 26.7 billion lb. in material averaging 0.31% copper in the inferred category. This resource is expected to support average production of 322 million lb. of copper in cathodes per year over a projected 27-year life.

According to a June 2023 preliminary economic assessment, Los Azules would have an estimated after-tax net present value (at a discount rate of 8%) of $2.7 billion and internal rate of return of 21.2%, based on an assumed copper price of $3.75/lb. Its payback period is 3.2 years.

McEwen Copper is currently working a bankable feasibility study for the project, which is scheduled for publication in the first half of 2025.

Shareholding update

The copper subsidiary was created by McEwen Mining in mid-2021 with a view of maximizing the value of its copper assets. A year later, it received its first investment from Nuton, while also establishing a partnership with the Rio venture to assess the potential application of its heap leach technology at Los Azules.

According to the companies, heap leaching would offer superior economic and environmental benefits over the conventional milling methods. The project is also expected to be powered by 100% renewable energy, with a commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2038.

Following the latest round of financing, Nuton now owns 17.2% of McEwen Copper on a fully diluted basis, nearly doubling its initial shareholding. Its other notable shareholders are: McEwen Mining (46.4%), Stellantis (18.3%), Rob McEwen (12.7%) and Victor Smorgon Group 3.0%.

With the new share issuances, McEwen Copper now has approximately 32.8 million common shares outstanding, giving it a post-money market value of $984 million.

The company reported nearly 100 metres of copper and nickel mineralization from its first drill hole at the Boulderdash target in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, with a grade of 1.6% copper equivalent, starting at a depth of 9.1 metres. It now plans to add more drill holes for further evaluation.

“The distribution and abundance of magmatic sulphides intersected in the initial drilling at Boulderdash bear a striking resemblance to the early drill results from the Eagle deposit,” Dean Rossell, Talon’s chief exploration geologist said in a news release.

Rossell is credited with discovering the Eagle deposit.

“In 2001, one of the first drill holes intersected a long interval of disseminated sulphides with minor net-textured sulphides, which inspired us to drill the discovery hole in 2002, where we intersected 84.2 metres of high-grade massive sulphide mineralization,” Rossell said.

“US leaders are laser-focused on US dependency on critical minerals produced by foreign entities of concern. The discovery of a potential new domestic resource of copper and nickel is very timely,” CEO Henri van Rooyen added.

Talon’s mineral exploration activities in Michigan and Minnesota are funded by the US Department of Defense, which announced in 2023 that it would provide $20.6 million for accelerated exploration in both states.

Cantor Fitzgerald mining analyst Matthew O’Keefe said in a note to clients that the hole was “impressive” and could be indicative of a larger system, similar to Eagle.

In 2022, Talon entered into an option and earn-in agreement with UPX Minerals to acquire up to 80% ownership in mineral rights over a 1,620-sq.-km land package in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The first hole drilled at Boulderdash is part of this land package.

By 11 a.m. EDT in Toronto, Talon Metals’ shares were up 11%. The Canadian miner has a market capitalization of C$93.5 million ($67.5m).

CEO Tristan Pascall said in a conference call to discuss third quarter results, that the company was open to partnerships, particularly in Zambia, as long as they serve the interests of the business, the country’s government and all stakeholders.

While the names of the firms involved are yet to be disclosed, media reports last week suggested that Saudi Arabia’s Manara Minerals was the one close to a deal to acquire a minority stake in the Canadian miner assets.

The potential deal with Manara, estimated to be worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, has garnered attention due to the increasing demand for copper and nickel, considered essential to the energy transition.

The assets could have also attracted interest from Chinese companies such as Zijin Mining Group Co. and Jiangxi Copper Co., which is First Quantum’s second-biggest shareholder, according to market rumours.

For First Quantum, a stake sale in its Kansanshi and Sentinel copper mines would provide much-needed relief from its mounting debt, which escalated after the Panama government ordered the shutdown of its flagship Cobre Panama mine.

The Canadian company is awaiting a decision on the mine’s future and seeking permission from Panama’s new government to export 121,000 tonnes of copper concentrate stockpiled at the shuttered mine. This approval is crucial for the company, which is spending between $11 million and $13 million per month to maintain the mine, Pascall said.

The executive cautioned that while President Mulino said his government intends to address the issue in early 2025, without significant progress in the coming months, cost-cutting measures, including workforce reductions, may become necessary.

(With files from Reuters, Bloomberg)

Anglo said its copper output fell 13% in the July to September quarter, while rough diamond production decreased by 25% on cuts due to prolonged lower demand.

Its De Beers diamonds unit is exploring options for further output cuts in future, Anglo said.

For the first nine months of 2024, copper output fell 4% to 575,000 tons and diamond production was down 21% at 18.9 million carats.

Anglo still expects to produce 730,000-790,000 tons of copper and 23-26 million carats of rough diamonds this year, even as it assesses additional production cuts going forward.

Its shares, which have risen around 18% this year, opened up 2.2%.

The mining giant is restructuring its business to mainly focus on energy transition metal copper after fending off a $49 billion takeover offer from bigger rival BHP Group in May.

Copper will make up 60% of Anglo’s business after it sells its Australian steelmaking coal assets and nickel mines in Brazil, as well as divesting De Beers and its platinum business Amplats in South Africa.

Apart from its copper assets in Chile, Anglo will also retain iron ore mines in South Africa and Brazil, as well as the Woodsmith fertilizer project in the United Kingdom, which it has now slowed down.

Anglo said steelmaking coal’s production fell by 6% in the third quarter after shutting its Grosvenor mine in Queensland due to an underground fire.

The London-listed miner, the world’s third-largest exporter of metallurgical coal, lowered its yearly production guidance to 14-15.5 million tons from a previous forecast of 15-17 million.

Anglo said the final round of bidders for the coal assets was in place and it expected to announce the sale agreement within months.

(By Clara Denina and Felix Njini; Editing by Stephen Coates and Mark Potter)

Copper prices remained elevated in the quarter, supported by optimism about Chinese demand following a series of stimulus measures from Beijing. Long-term demand view for the red metal continues to be bullish on the back of its critical role in the energy transition.

Teck said copper prices rose by about 11.7% from a year earlier and averaged around $4.21 per pound.

The Quebrada Blanca (QB) mine in Chile reported record production during the quarter as operations continued to ramp up. This helped Teck achieve a jump of around 60% in copper output to 115,000 metric tons.

However, the company cut its full-year copper production forecast for the second time in a row, citing labour issues and mining delays at the Highland Valley Copper mine in Canada.

It also reduced the upper end of its 2024 annual copper production guidance for QB. Teck now expects full-year copper production of 420,000 to 455,000 tons, compared with the previous guidance of 435,000 to 500,000 tons.

Teck revamped its operations this year by selling 77% interest in the steelmaking coal unit to Swiss miner Glencore Plc. The deal, one of the largest in the industry, was completed in July.

The deal was part of Teck’s transition into a pure-play energy transition metals company.

“We have returned more than $1.3 billion to shareholders so far this year, while also reducing debt and ramping-up copper production,” CEO Jonathan Price said in a statement

The company reported an adjusted profit of C$0.60 ($0.4340) per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with analysts’ average estimate of C$0.37 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

($1 = 1.3824 Canadian dollars)

(By Mrinalika Roy and Surbhi Misra; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Janane Vengatraman)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gold district

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

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

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

After receiving the last permit needed in August, the Canadian companies have focused on preparing to begin early works, with first production expected by the end of 2026.

“Early works will take place from November to the end of the year with construction expected to start after the rainy season in the area, towards the second quarter,” Salazar Resources president and chief executive Fredy Salazar told BNamericas on Wednesday.

Construction of the project has been delayed on various occasions due to mining rules changes in the Andean country, legal challenges, and the takeover of one of the project’s owners — Adventus Mining.

Located about 150 km northeast of Guayaquil, the Curipamba-El Domo asset spans seven concessions over 21,500 hectares. It was originally owned by Salazar in partnership with Adventus Mining, which was acquired by Silvercorp Metals (TSX: SVM) (NYSE: SVM) in July.

Construction will be fully funded from Silvercorp’s existing cash balance combined with a $175.5 million streaming deal Adventus had signed with Wheaton Precious Metals in 2022.

The mine is considered one of the highest grade and lowest capital intensive copper-gold projects globally, and the next big mine in Ecuador after Mirador, run by China-backed Ecuacorriente, and Lundin Gold’s (TSX: LUG) Fruta del Norte.

The $250-million project is protected by an investment contract with the Ecuadorian government that grants it several incentives, such as reductions in income tax, exemption of import duties and tax stability until March 2033.

The country’s government anticipates generating over $4 billion in annual mining exports by 2025, with four new operations coming online before the end of President Guillermo Lasso’s term, including the Cascabel copper-gold project operated by Australia’s SolGold (LON, TSX: SOLG).

• Stockpiling. The Trump Administration supported and the Harris campaign supports increased mineral stockpiling. According to the Department of Defense, the National Defense Stockpile (NDS), as of March 2023, only had inventories to cover 6 percent of the US military’s and essential civilian demand’s estimated material shortfalls in a hypothetical one-year conflict with China, followed by a three-year recovery. The president could tap the NDS Transaction Fund for mineral stockpiling, as well as the Defense Production Act (DPA) fund. The Eisenhower Administration used DPA funds for mineral stockpiling during the Cold War, and the president still has this authority (50 USC §4533). Importantly, the next administration’s Department of Defense should prioritize stockpiling minerals extracted and processed in the United States.

• Subsidies. The Trump Administration supported and the Harris campaign supports subsidies for critical mineral projects. The Trump Administration deemed critical mineral processing projects eligible for direct loans under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program, and the Biden-Harris Administration has loaned to such projects. The next administration’s Department of Energy could also deem mining projects eligible under the ATVM program by issuing a draft rule that adds “mining” to 10 CFR 611.2 “Eligible Project” (3). To specifically lower costs for US mineral processing facilities, the next administration’s Internal Revenue Service could propose new regulations extending the production costs covered by the Section 45X 10-percent production tax credit to feedstock acquisition, as has been urged by several organizations and mining companies.

• Procurement. Both the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations support increased domestic content requirements for government procurement. Under the authority of Executive Order 14005, the next administration’s Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council could issue a draft rule that adds a new part to the Federal Acquisition Regulations, requiring that acquisitions of specified clean energy technologies contain a certain threshold percentage of minerals extracted in the United States. For example, the draft rule could ultimately require that the General Services Administration—the federal government’s main source for procuring non-tactical vehicles—only acquire electric vehicles with batteries containing a high percentage of chemicals derived from US-extracted minerals. The next administration’s US Postal Service could adopt a similar content requirement in its Supplying Principles and Practices for electric vehicle acquisitions.

• Tariffs. Trump has pledged significant tariff increases, while the Biden-Harris Administration increased tariffs on several minerals imported from China. Domestic mineral projects like South32’s Hermosa manganese-zinc project support such trade protections to reduce US reliance on foreign minerals. The next president could (likely) impose tariffs on any mineral imports immediately under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The only prerequisite is a national emergency declaration, like the now-expired critical minerals executive order. If concerned about the legality of levying tariffs under IEEPA, the president could also direct the secretary of commerce to open a Section 232 investigation into mineral imports, although the tariff imposition would likely take several months to occur.

• Permitting. Both Trump and Harris support expedited permitting for building major projects. Previously, most US mining projects required Clean Water Act section 404 permits—which trigger the National Environmental Policy Act—but the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (2023) circumscribed the areas requiring these permits, possibly lowering the permitting requirements for many mine projects. Determining whether a project requires a section 404 permit, however, can take up to one year based on the district. To expedite this process, the next administration’s US Army Corps of Engineers could issue a regulatory guidance letter directing district engineers to prioritize the review of approved jurisdictional determinations for sites of potential mining projects.

In short, the next president’s administration has significant unilateral authority to support US mining of critical minerals. First, it could increase mineral stockpiling by tapping both the NDS Transaction Fund and DPA fund for mineral acquisitions.

The next administration could also expand existing subsidies—like the ATVM direct loan program—to mining projects. For government acquisitions of clean energy technologies, it could set content requirements for US-extracted minerals.

The next administration could, additionally, impose tariffs on mineral imports of their choosing by issuing a national emergency declaration concerning mineral imports under IEEPA.

Lastly, it could expedite permitting by prioritizing jurisdictional determinations for sites of potential mining projects. On January 20, 2025, the next US president could—and should—take these actions to bolster US mining of critical minerals.

** Gregory Wischer is the founder of Dei Gratia Minerals, a critical minerals consulting firm.

The Canadian copper producer announced Xia’s appointment along with Juanita Montalvo, a managing partner at a Cuban financial advisory firm, in its earnings statement released Tuesday.

Xia is currently at Jiangxi and served most recently as president of marketing and trading, according to First Quantum. Xia has held various roles at the company over two decades.

The appointment follows a shareholder rights agreement struck in July that prevents Jiangxi, a state-owned Chinese mining firm, from buying more stock in First Quantum or selling a shares block of 5% or larger without the Canadian miner’s consent. The three-year agreement also gave Jiangxi the right to nominate one person for consideration by First Quantum’s governance committee to the board of directors.

The standstill deal follows efforts by Canada’s government to crack down on Chinese investment in the critical minerals sector. Canada said earlier this year it would only approve foreign acquisitions of Canadian critical mineral firms in “the most exceptional of circumstances.”

One of the largest copper smelting companies in the world, Jiangxi has an 18.5% stake in First Quantum and bought an additional $212 million in shares in January.

(By Jacob Lorinc)

Hole TX24-021 assayed 1.94% copper and 10.22 g/t silver over 64.9 metres, including 6 metres at 1.70% copper and 33.0 g/t silver. Two additional intersections returned 3.21% copper and 4.77 g/t silver over 15.2 metres and 2.58% copper and 15.88 g/t silver over 17.9 metres.

The mineralized argillites within the Tillex deposit are structurally complex with significant folding and fracturing. Mineralized feldspar porphyry is also present within the argillites, further adding to the exploration potential to the Tillex copper project, according to Metals Creek.

Copper assays within the porphyry ranged from 0.32% to 1.44%, it added.

The Tillex deposit was discovered in 1973, with a historical near-surface resource of 1.3 million tonnes grading 1.56% copper that was calculated in 1990.

Metals Creek acquired the deposit in 2008 and drilled a 2,276-metre program. Copper content as high as 2.583% over 37.1 metres and 2.16% over 34.3 metres was noted. Two additional programs were mounted from which the best assay was 5.29% copper over 5 metres.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Average copper prices rose in the third quarter on signs of better demand in top consumer China, falling inventories and as the country unleashed wide-ranging stimulus measures to boost its flagging economy.

Freeport’s quarterly average realized price for copper was up 13.2% to $4.30 per pound, while the metal’s production fell 3.1% to 1.05 billion recoverable pounds in the quarter.

The company said it was seeing robust demand for power cables and building wire associated with electrical infrastructure and data centers in the United States.

“Both the growing sectors more than offset weakness in traditional demand sectors,” CEO Kathleen Quirk said on a post-earnings call.

Last week, Freeport halted copper cathode production at its Manyar smelter in Indonesia after a fire at a sulphuric acid unit at the site in East Java province, which was later extinguished.

Reuters reported last week that Freeport will postpone sales of refined copper from Indonesia until the second quarter of 2025 as the fire caused a further production delay, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

The company said on Tuesday that it expects repair costs for the Manyar smelter to be covered by insurance.

On an adjusted basis, Freeport earned 38 cents per share in the third quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of 35 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company’s shares were up 1.1% at $48.45.

(By Tanay Dhumal and Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(By Tilla Sjaavaag; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

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

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

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

Glencore deal winding down

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

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

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

Quebec’s helping hand

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exploration bonanza

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

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

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

20+ year potential

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

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

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

The amended and approved mined land reclamation plan (MLRP), along with the recently obtained air quality and aquifer protection permits, means that all necessary approvals for production at Johnson Camp have been received.

Excelsior has been looking to revive the historic open-pit copper operation with the support of Nuton, a Rio Tinto technology venture. Construction of the mine began in August following Nuton’s decision to proceed with Stage 2 of a work program in preparation for mining restart.

Under the companies’ agreement signed last July, Nuton intends to fully deploy its proprietary heap leach technology at the Johnson Camp site. In return, the Rio venture will pay Excelsior $5 million for the use of mine infrastructure and fund all of Excelsior’s costs associated with this stage.

Since the 1970s, the Johnson Camp mine has been a heap leach operation. It comprises two open pits, a two-stage crushing-agglomerating circuit and a fully functioning solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) plant capable of producing 25 million lb. of copper cathode annually.

Earlier this year, Nuton completed Stage 1 of the work program, consisting of mineralogy, predictive modelling, engineering and other test work. Meanwhile, Excelsior, as project operator, completed diamond drilling, permitting activities, detailed engineering and project execution planning.

The Stage 2 work is anticipated to take five years to complete. If successful, it would demonstrate key elements of Nuton’s technology at an industrial scale. It will then proceed based on milestones related to engineering and mobilization, infrastructure and construction, mining, leaching, copper production, and post-leach rinsing.

Upon completion of Stage 2, Nuton will have the right to form a joint venture on the Johnson Camp mine, in which Nuton and Excelsior will initially hold 49% and 51% respective interests.

Shares of Excelsior Mining were down 6.6% at C$0.17 apiece by noon ET in Toronto, for a market capitalization of C$53.6 million ($38.7 million).

Since construction began earlier this year, nearly 300,000 work hours have been logged without any reported injuries or environmental incidents, Taseko said. Currently, 280 workers are on-site, and all project activities are proceeding as scheduled, it noted.

Taseko’s focus has been on earthworks, concrete pouring, and wellfield drilling, achieving new milestones, such as the installation of structural steel and process equipment.

“With approximately 75% of total construction costs now committed, we expect total costs to be within 10-15% of the original $232 million estimate,” president and chief executive Stuart McDonald said in the update.

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy. Taseko faced initial opposition and legal challenges over fears of the mine’s environmental impact.

The US Environmental Protection Agency cleared the way in November last year, issuing the final permit required to begin construction at Florence.

Shortly after, Taseko secured additional fundings totalling $100 million for the proposed copper mine, supplementing the previous financings from its partner Mitsui as well as Bank of America.

When fully operational, the mine will have an annual capacity of 85 million pounds of LME Grade A copper and a mine life of 22 years.

The operation is projected to boost Taseko’s copper production by 120%, based on a 2024 guidance of 110 million-115 million pounds of the metal.

The Vancouver-based miner’s portfolio also includes the Gibraltar mine in south-central British Columbia, and the New Prosperity copper-gold project, near Williams Lake, also in B.C.

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

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

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

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

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