Today's Mining Pulse
Indonesia grants export monopoly to state trader DSI, targeting $66bn in resource revenues
Indonesia’s employers association and major mining cartels have endorsed President Prabowo Subianto’s new export monopoly, giving exclusive rights to state‑controlled PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia. The policy seeks to capture roughly $66.13 billion in annual resource revenues—about 23.4% of exports—and to curb $908 billion in historic tax leakage.
Also developing:
World’s Top Bauxite Producer Considers Export Curbs After Supply Glut Leads to Price Slump
Guinea, now the world’s largest bauxite producer, is weighing export curbs as a glut has driven prices down roughly 50% since January 2025. Export shipments surged 25% to 183 million tonnes last year, far exceeding licence‑based production plans. The government is discussing forcing miners to align exports with quota limits, targeting around 150 million tonnes to tighten the market and revive prices above $100 per dmt. Officials also see reduced exports as a lever to encourage domestic refining and downstream smelting capacity.
Saudi's Strategic Oil Storage Shields Global Supply
◾️Saudi Arabia deserves more recognition for its prudent, forward-thinking approach—strategically prepositioning oil in storage facilities around the world to hedge against potential supply disruptions. ◾️What @AlexLawler100 missed in this story is going back to previous reports to see that...
Maersk Forced to Ship Fuel From US, Europe as Asia Bunkers Start to Run Dry
Maersk has begun sourcing marine fuel from the United States and Europe to supply its Asian fleet, after recent disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz left key Middle‑East and Asian bunkering hubs unable to meet demand. Chief commercial officer Karsten...
Teck, Korea Zinc Agree Benchmark Zinc Concentrate TCs at $85 per Tonne
Teck and Korea Zinc have set the benchmark zinc concentrate treatment charge (TC) at $85 per tonne, a $5 increase from the previous level. The agreement introduces a payable for germanium and revises the silver payable, though sources disagree on...
How Canadian Mining Can Be Great Again
Canada’s mining landscape is shifting as Manitoba approved an amended licence for a First Nation‑owned critical minerals project, signaling stronger provincial support for Indigenous participation. A new ICMM report highlighted that steel and aluminium production remain the sector’s biggest emission...
Faraday Copper Closes $100 Million Private Placement
Faraday Copper Corp. completed a $100 million private placement, issuing 23.8 million shares at $4.20 each, backed by strategic investors including the Ludin Family Trust and a BHP unit. The capital will fund the Copper Creek project in Arizona and support a...
Latest Banyan Assays Refine Airstrip Gold
Banyan Gold Corp. announced new high‑grade gold intercepts from the Airstrip deposit at its AurMac project in Yukon, including 6.80 g/t Au over 9.3 m and 1.49 g/t Au over 8.8 m. The latest drilling refines the geometry of the intrusion‑related system and supports...
Draslovka to Supply Sodium Cyanide to Barrick Mining’s Nevada Gold Mines
Draslovka a.s. has signed a multi‑year agreement to supply sodium cyanide (NaCN) to Barrick Mining’s Nevada Gold Mines, the United States’ largest gold operation. The chemical will be 100% U.S.-produced at Draslovka’s Memphis facility, the world’s largest NaCN plant, and...
Rowena Smith and Mark Chalmers Discuss the ASM and Energy Fuels Partnership at PDAC 2026
At PDAC 2026, Australian Strategic Materials (ASM) and Energy Fuels announced a strategic partnership aimed at creating a fully vertically integrated critical‑minerals platform, spanning mining to alloy production. The companies are pursuing Australian FIRB approval and plan a shareholder vote,...
Ferreyros on Ongoing Partnerships with Toromocho and Antapaccay
Ferreyros continues its strategic alliance with Minera Chinalco Peru, supporting the digitalisation of mining through the Integrated Operations Management (GIO) Center in Lima that remotely controls the Toromocho copper mine. The partnership introduced Caterpillar’s autonomous MD6640 electric drills and the...
Jason Bagg Highlights Appia Rare Earths & Uranium’s Brazil Drill Results and Multi-Project Portfolio at PDAC 2026
Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. disclosed impressive drill results from its 25%‑owned Brazilian rare‑earth project, where 13 holes returned more than 2.55% total rare‑earth oxides and localized zones above 14%. In Canada, the wholly‑owned Alces Lake monazite deposit is...
Australian Governments Subsidising Fossil Fuel Use by More than $30,000 a Minute, Analysis Finds
Australian federal and state governments will spend $16.3 bn subsidising fossil fuels in 2025‑26, equivalent to $31,020 each minute, according to the Australia Institute. The subsidies are set to grow 9.4%, outpacing the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s 7.6% increase. The federal...
South Africa’s Economic Growth Undershoots Expectations
Africa is confronting a cascade of economic shocks and policy pivots. A three‑year study links CMOC’s cobalt expansion in the DR Congo to severe respiratory illness and stillbirths, while Ethiopian Airlines reported a $137 million loss in a single week due to...
CMAI’s Denis Clement Says Alberta Black Shales Could Supply Critical Minerals for the West
At the PDAC 2026 conference, Critical Minerals Americas CEO Denis Clement announced the relaunch of the SBH Project in northern Alberta, a 466‑sq‑km deposit containing an estimated 35‑50 billion tonnes of mineralized black shale. The company’s NI 43‑101 report values the...
Samancor Presses Ahead with Job Cuts Despite Eskom Deal
Samancor Chrome announced plans to retrench roughly 2,400 employees across its smelting plants and corporate offices. The move comes even after South Africa’s government and Eskom agreed to lower electricity tariffs for ferrochrome producers to 62 cents per kilowatt‑hour. The...
Questcorp Mining Completes IP Survey at BC’s North Island Copper Project
Questcorp Mining has finished a 12.8‑kilometre induced polarisation (IP) survey across the Marisa Zone of its North Island Copper Project in British Columbia. The new geophysical data will be merged with a 1992 IP survey to produce a 3‑D inversion...
Bobby Stewart Says Geophysx Could Make Jamaica a Source of Copper, Gold and Rare Earths
Geophysx Jamaica has finished a comprehensive island‑wide exploration program, sampling 45,000 rock, soil and stream specimens and flying over 20,000 line‑kilometres of airborne geophysical surveys. The data enabled the company to license anomalous ground and partner with majors such as...
Defense Industrial Base Consortium Issues New Critical Minerals Request for Project Proposals
On February 27, 2026 the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) released a new Request for Project Proposals (RPP) focused on thirteen strategic and critical minerals, with Phase 1 submissions due March 20. The solicitation follows Executive Order 14241 and aims to diversify U.S....
Danielle Smith: There Is No Global Energy Security without Canadian Energy
Premier Danielle Smith argues that global energy security cannot be achieved without Canadian energy supplies. She points to Canada’s 177 billion barrels of recoverable oil, valued over $12 trillion, and proposes doubling output to eight million barrels per day by 2035. Smith...
Montero Completes Exploration Programs at Potrero Gold Project and Advances Data-Driven Targeting Strategy
Montero Mining announced the completion of a comprehensive data compilation and exploration program at its Potrero gold project in Chile's Maricunga Belt. The effort integrated historic magnetic data, new IP/resistivity surveys, high‑resolution geochemical sampling, and AI‑assisted modelling to refine the...
OneSubsea Bags Third PTTEP Subsea Systems Contract in One Year
OneSubsea, the SLB‑Aker Solutions‑Subsea 7 joint venture, won an EPC contract from PTTEP for subsea production systems at the Kikeh 3B Phase 2 deep‑water project offshore Malaysia. The award includes three subsea trees, a manifold, a distribution unit and integrated control systems, with...
Ethiopia: PM Abiy Calls for Mapping Ethiopia's Natural Wealth After Nasiol Cave Visit
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed toured the Nasiol Cave in eastern Ethiopia and called for an urgent, scientific mapping of the nation’s natural and mineral wealth. He highlighted the cave’s striking marble‑like stalactites and the surrounding deposits of marble, granite, and...
Titan Minerals Strengthens Dynasty Project Scale with New Porphyry Mineralization
Titan Minerals announced that its 2025 drilling at the Kaliman target of the Dynasty Gold Project in southern Ecuador intersected extensive gold‑silver‑copper porphyry zones, including a 159.9 m intercept at 0.7 g/t AuEq. The mineralized body spans roughly 500 m of strike, 350 m...
South Africa: Government Reviews Appeals for Offshore Oil, Gas Exploration Projects
South Africa’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willie Aucamp, announced that the government will move forward with determining appeals against offshore oil and gas exploration authorisations, ending a period of deferral. The appeals were filed under section 43 of...
Petrobras’ P-78 FPSO Achieves Gas Injection Milestone in Búzios Field
Petrobras’ P‑78 FPSO recorded its first gas injection on March 2, 2026, just 61 days after achieving first oil on December 31, 2025. The milestone moves the vessel toward full operational readiness and expands output at the deep‑water Búzios field in Brazil’s Santos Basin. Seatrium...
WTI Crude Likely Slides Below $57.42 by 2026
A Down 2026 for WTI Crude Oil Is Under $57.42; What Stops It? The world's largest energy producer and net exporter's attack on Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz provided strong reasons to pump crude oil prices...
Energy Index Surge Threatened by Falling US‑Canada Demand
Collapsing US, Canada Demand vs. Supply and Energy - The Bloomberg Energy Spot Index (BCOMENSP) has had an exceptional year in 2026, gaining about 30% to March 10. Is it sustainable? My graphic shows top reasons why the 1Q pump...
Higher-Grade Gold Drilled at Golden Summit
Freegold Ventures reported new high‑grade drill intercepts at its Golden Summit project in Alaska, confirming mineralized corridors within the Dolphin‑Cleary resource. Holes GS2539 and GS2542 returned up to 13.5 g/t Au over narrow intervals, while other holes averaged between 1.7 and...
TotalEnergies, Repsol and Shell Bring Lapa South-West Online Off Brazil
TotalEnergies, together with Repsol and Shell, has placed the Lapa South‑West development into production in Brazil’s Santos Basin. The three‑well subsea tie‑back to the existing Lapa FPSO adds roughly 25,000 barrels of oil per day, lifting total field output to...
Eco Atlantic Augments Oil & Gas Portfolio with New Acquisition
Eco Atlantic has agreed to acquire the remaining shares of JHI Associates for approximately $52.3 million, issuing up to 96.3 million new common shares that could represent about 21.8% of its post‑transaction capital. The deal grants Eco a 35% working interest in...
Nordec to Build Processing Plant Structure for Viscaria Copper Mine
Nordec has signed an agreement with Gruvaktiebolaget Viscaria to build the processing plant structure for the Viscaria copper mine in Kiruna, Sweden. The scope covers groundworks, foundations, a steel‑and‑concrete frame and the building envelope for a 14,000 sqm facility designed for...
Equinor to Supply Bio-Methanol to Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s Vessels
Equinor has signed a two‑year agreement to supply ISCC‑EU certified bio‑methanol to Wallenius Wilhelmsen for its new dual‑fuel vessels. The fuel, produced at Tjeldbergodden and blended with biogas certificates, will be delivered at Zeebrugge and Antwerp and claims a 95 % CO₂...
New Job on ExxonMobil’s Seventh Oil Project Takes ABL to Guyana
ABL Group has secured a marine warranty survey contract for ExxonMobil’s Hammerhead development, the seventh offshore project in Guyana’s Stabroek block. The $6.8 billion venture will install 18 subsea wells and a spread‑moored FPSO, targeting 120,000‑180,000 barrels per day by 2029....
Countries Urge China to Curb Oil Reserve Purchases
Also, as the IEA releases, member countries are reaching out to China to make sure it doesn't use the opportunity to buy more barrels for its own reserve (as it did in 2022). (...the IEA-Chinese coordinate was last done in 2011...
Liebherr Chile Delivers PR 776 G8 Mining Dozers to SQM Nueva Victoria Iodine Mine
Liebherr Chile has supplied and commissioned two PR 776 G8 mining dozers equipped with its LiReCon teleoperation system for SQM's Nueva Victoria iodine mine in northern Chile. The dozers, the largest hydrostatic models on the market, have demonstrated strong pushing...
Uranium Energy’s Bull Case Is Starting to Look Real
Uranium Energy Corp reported Q2 FY2026 production costs in the low $40s per pound while selling at roughly $101, creating a clear profit margin. The company is establishing a domestic refining and conversion subsidiary, positioning it as the only vertically...
Jindal Steel Emerges Preferred Bidder for Odisha’s Thakurani-A1 Iron Ore Block
Jindal Steel has been declared the preferred bidder for Odisha’s 202‑hectare Thakurani‑A1 iron‑ore block, securing the asset at a 101.20% premium. The block, part of a December 2025 auction of 12 virgin mineral blocks, contains roughly 50 million tonnes of iron‑ore resources....
Brazil Project a ‘Major Opportunity’ to Replicate Rainbow’s South African Successes
Rainbow Rare Earths announced an economic assessment for its Uberaba project in Brazil, partnering with US fertilizer giant Mosaic to extract rare‑earth elements from phosphogypsum waste. The study projects a post‑tax NPV of $916 million, a 45% IRR, $217 million annual EBITDA...
Deepwater Energy Project Duo in Angola and Brazil Getting Exail’s Subsea Tech
Exail secured contracts to provide its long baseline (LBL) subsea positioning systems for two deep‑water energy projects in Brazil and Angola. Over 70 acoustic transponders and integrated navigation suites will support operations at depths up to 4,000 m. The hybrid acoustic‑inertial...
Sunlight-Activated Graphene Membrane Recovers Battery-Grade Lithium From Brines
Researchers at POST, Griffith and King Khalid Universities unveiled a graphene‑based nanofiltration membrane that uses sunlight to pull lithium ions from magnesium‑rich brines. The hybrid membrane, combining edge‑functionalized graphene nanoribbons with photothermally reduced graphene oxide, delivers a lithium flux of...
Brazil, Saudi Arabia Team Up on Critical Minerals Mapping
Brazil and Saudi Arabia launch a critical minerals working group and seek Saudi funding for Brazil mapping. https://www.metalnomist.com/2026/03/brazil-saudi-arabia-to-cooperate-for.html
Japan's 80 Million‑Barrel Release Beats IEA's Forecast
Rather than the IEA's own 400 million barrels, the most important number right now is Japan's announcement that's releasing from Monday (March 16th) ~80 million barrels from its reserve. Those are actual flow barrels that will hit the market immediately...
Westgold Approves Expansion of Higginsville Processing Hub
Westgold Resources’ board approved a $145 million final investment decision to expand the Higginsville Processing Hub from 1.6 mtpa to 2.6 mtpa. The upgrade adds a new primary crusher, a 5.8 MW SAG mill and extra leaching capacity, targeting an extra 60,000 oz of gold...
War on Iran Threatens Global Resources and AI Economy
Sulfur and Helium and Fuel and Fertilizer and Food … needed for the GCC & World… held hostage from Trump-Netanyahu’s war on Iran. Collateral damage: AI ecosystem of Investments, US hegemony and lives.
Reserve Composition Outweighs Sheer Size, IEA Shows
More on the IEA reserves: US has only crude Japan has a mix of crude and products Europe has mostly products The mix of the release is as important as the size of the release
Critical Metals to Advance Tanbreez Project in Greenland
Critical Metals has approved a $30 million acceleration programme to move its Tanbreez heavy rare earth project in Greenland toward production, targeting ore output by late 2028 and concentrate exports in Q3 2029. The plan allocates $12.5 million to exploration, up to...
IEA Release: Watch Daily Flow, Not Total Barrels
When the IEA release is announced, my focus won't be on the headline number (say 300-400m barrels). Ignore that number. The key is the flow, in BARRELS PER DAY, the IEA promises FOR THE FIRST 20-30 DAYS of the stockdraw, and...
Digital Tools Positioned to Improve Planning and Efficiency in Zimbabwe’s Mines, Says Datamine
Datamine says Zimbabwe’s mining sector can gain substantial productivity by adopting digital tools, as many small‑scale operations still rely on paper‑based records. The company highlighted that digital mine planning and geological modelling can optimise extraction and extend mine life. To...
Inside the Mining Lobby Attack on Key EU Water Law
The EU’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) faces a coordinated push from the mining lobby to dilute its protections ahead of a scheduled review. DeSmog’s analysis shows mining‑related meetings with Commission officials surged from 30 in 2024 to 108 in 2025,...
Rio Tinto Secures Australian Taxpayer Loan, Threatening WA Lithium
Rio Tinto gets Australian taxpayer loan for Argentinian project that is part of the threat to WA lithium https://t.co/oQ2vC7FYXl