Today's Mining Pulse
Ximen Mining Deploys Robotic Dog to Accelerate Underground Surveys
Ximen Mining has introduced an autonomous robotic dog at its Kenville mine project in British Columbia, cutting underground survey time by roughly 30%. The move underscores a broader industry shift toward automation and faster, safer data collection.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Ganfeng invests $319M in Australian Mount Marion lithium mine
EY’s Theo Yameogo on Gold, Silver and the Global Critical Minerals Market
At PDAC 2026, EY’s metals leader Theo Yameogo explained that gold’s price is driven more by geopolitical turmoil and deeper mining challenges than by forecasting models. He noted silver’s dual appeal as a safe‑haven and an industrial metal, especially for solar and medical applications. Yameogo highlighted the divergent national definitions of critical minerals, emphasizing those tied to energy and food security, while pointing to emerging investment hotspots in India, Peru and Argentina for copper and lithium. Finally, he stressed AI’s growing role on mine sites and the sector’s need for a better public reputation.
US Iran Ops Reveal Global Economy’s Fragile Bottlenecks
3 terrifying reasons the US military operations in Iran expose the fragility of global economics. Mainstream theory assumes a world of abundance and perfect competition. The reality is that our global supply chains rely on massive physical bottlenecks. From the single...
Novelis’ Aluminum Sheet Receives Recognition
Novelis Inc. earned the 2026 Münchner Management Kolloquium Award of Excellence for an aluminum sheet produced entirely from end‑of‑life vehicle scrap, targeting exterior car‑body applications. The award highlights the technical feasibility of car‑to‑car recycling and the company’s push toward a...
Ghana: Rebalancing of Gold Reserve Not Loss of National Asset - Governor
Ghana’s central bank announced a rebalancing of its international reserves, converting a portion of its gold holdings into foreign exchange. The move follows a Domestic Gold Purchase Programme that lifted gold stocks from 8.7 tonnes to over 40 tonnes, with a 62%...
A Glimpse Into the Rare Earth Riches of Greenland
Greenland’s Kvanefjeld deposit, rich in rare earth elements, is attracting global mining interest. A recent photo by Jonas Kako captures sodalite stones at the site glowing under ultraviolet light, highlighting the mineral’s visual appeal though it holds no commercial value....
Stantec to Lead DFS for US$2.37 Billion Kingking Copper-Gold Project
Stantec has been appointed by St Augustine Gold & Copper Ltd to lead the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) for the Kingking copper‑gold project in Mindanao, Philippines. The greenfield development is valued at US$2.37 billion and contains roughly 960 Mt of copper‑gold reserves....
New ASGCO® Belt Lifter Model for Larger Conveyors
ASGCO introduced a new Belt Lifter model designed for 48‑72‑inch (1,200‑1,800 mm) conveyor belts. The unit accommodates stringer widths from 56.5 to 86.5 inches, weighs 47.2 kg, and offers a closed height of 216 mm with a maximum lift of 482 mm. Built with rugged...
9 Best Aluminum and Aluminum Mining Stocks to Invest In
Aluminum prices surged to a four‑year high of $3,418 per metric ton after Middle East supply shocks, prompting analysts to flag the sector as volatile. A new ranking of nine aluminum and mining stocks, compiled by counting hedge‑fund holdings in...
North America Drops 8 Rigs WoW
Baker Hughes reported that the North America rig count slipped to 756 this week, eight rigs lower than the previous week. The U.S. portion rose slightly to 551 rigs while Canada fell to 205, driving the regional decline. Oil rigs...
Offshore Lease Bidding Falls Off a Cliff in Trump’s Second ‘Big Beautiful’ Gulf Sale
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s second "Big Beautiful Gulf" auction (BBG2) yielded $46.98 million in high bids, a steep decline from the $279.4 million generated in the inaugural sale. Only 38 bids from 13 firms covered 25 blocks on roughly 141,000...
Titan Mining Starts Graphite Shipments, Feasibility Study
Titan Mining has begun shipping graphite concentrate from its Kilbourne demonstration plant in New York, marking the first U.S. graphite output in decades. The demo facility, capable of 1,200 tonnes per year, has produced roughly 1,600 kg and is supplying customers for...
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...
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...
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...
Trump Confirms US Join IEA Oil Release, Plans SPR Refill
President Trump has formally confirmed the US is participating in the IEA emergency oil stock release. “We’ll do that and then we’ll fill it up,” Trump said referring to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. “Right now, we’ll reduce it a little...
Geologist Uncovers 24 New Eastside Claims, Boosting Gold Buy
The Eastside project for @A2GoldCorp gets 24 new claims, after a keen-eyed geologist spotted a few curious anomalies and realized the claim boundary was drawn a little too tight. See the map, what happens next, and why this #gold stock is...
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...
Chile's Right‑Wing Turn Signals Lithium, Copper Market Shift
Big implications for #lithium and #copper markets... Chile is a major global producer of both #criticalminerals.
Cruz Battery Metals Gains on 4M Share Bid, Resource Awaited
Cruz Battery Metals $CRUZ.CA $BKTPF Successful retest. Notable large bid support of 4M shares at 2.5c. Due to release their maiden resource soon. In Nevada lithium JV with Sienna $SIEN.V and Adelayde $ADDY.CA. Mystery box- what will billion-dollar multinational...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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