Today's Mining Pulse
China slams Indonesia's investment climate over nickel curbs
China criticised Indonesia's investment climate, citing recent restrictions on nickel exports that could deter foreign investors. The Financial Times reported the remarks as part of broader concerns about the region's mining policy environment.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Mutapa Gold secures $75M bank funding
Phenom Hires Project Manager for Its Gold Exploration in Nevada
Phenom Resources announced the appointment of Dr. Elizabeth Zbinden as consulting geologist and Project Manager for its Nevada gold exploration program. Zbinden brings over 30 years of experience with major miners and a proven track record in Carlin‑type systems. The company also reported progress on a drilling permit for the Dobbin property, which will allow up to 19 core holes and 12 mechanical trenches on a 2.1‑km gold‑in‑soil anomaly. Summer field work is slated to begin once the permit is granted, positioning Phenom for a potentially significant discovery.
Equinor-Aker BP Pact Accelerating Development of Oil & Gas Discoveries
Equinor and Aker BP have signed a strategic alliance to streamline development of several oil and gas discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The deal transfers a 19% stake in Ringvei Vest licences and a 38.16% interest in the Frigg UK licence...
ADNOC CEO Says Hormuz Oil Flows May Not Fully Recover Before 2027
ADNOC chief Sultan Al Jaber warned that full oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz will not resume until the first or second quarter of 2027, even if the regional conflict ends today. He said it would take at least four...
Freeport Indonesia Cites Wet Ore Delays at Grasberg, Targets Near‑Full Production by 2027
Freeport Indonesia told Reuters that wetter-than‑expected ore at the Grasberg Block Cave is slowing the mine’s recovery, keeping current output at about 50% of capacity. The company expects to lift production to 65% later this year and reach near‑full ramp‑up...
Pakistan Relaunches Offshore Oil Hunt After 18-Year Hiatus
Pakistan has reopened its offshore oil and gas frontier after an 18‑year lull, signing 21 new production‑sharing agreements and two earlier awards for a total of 23 deep‑water blocks. The blocks span 54,600 square kilometres across the Indus and Makran...
Codelco Fires Executive for Overstating Copper Output in Chile
Chile’s state‑owned copper giant Codelco fired an executive and reprimanded several managers after an internal audit uncovered that the company overstated part of its 2025 production. The audit showed 20,000 tons from the Chuquicamata mine and 6,875 tons from the Ministro Hales operation—about...
Scottie Launches 52,000-Meter Drill Program
Scottie Resources Ltd. announced a 52,000‑meter drill campaign for 2026 to upgrade and expand the inferred 3.6 Mt resource at its Scottie and Blueberry Contact Zone deposits in British Columbia. The program follows a 27,300‑meter drill season that returned high‑grade intercepts,...
MaxMine Deploys Production-Grade Machine Learning System at Australian Mine Sites
MaxMine has rolled out a production‑grade machine‑learning system for load‑and‑dump classification across several Australian mining operators, including Glencore, NRW Holdings and Macmahon. The solution, now six months live, leverages more than 14 million hours of labelled operational data to deliver higher‑accuracy...
Simandou Underpins Big Bulker Rates Rally
The Simandou iron‑ore project in Guinea, now majority‑owned by Chinese interests, has accelerated its export ramp‑up, moving nearly 1.8 million tonnes in April and targeting over 1 million tonnes per week in May. Rail capacity is expanding rapidly, with four new locomotives...
Resources Top 5: Constellation Basks in WA Helium Find; Brightstar Warms to Gold Progress
Constellation Resources reported high‑grade helium and methane from a shallow drill hole in Western Australia, confirming 0.24% helium and up to 97% methane. The discovery comes as global helium supplies tighten after Middle‑East conflict disrupted Qatari output, pushing prices to...
Locksley Resources Strikes High-Grade Antimony Beneath Historical Desert Antimony Mine
Locksley Resources announced that diamond drilling at its Mojave project in California intersected high‑grade antimony beneath the historic Desert Antimony Mine. Six of eight drill holes returned significant mineralisation, highlighted by a 4‑metre interval grading 4.87% Sb and a 0.4‑metre...
Critical‑Minerals Boom Fuels $44 Billion Surge in Global Mining M&A
Deal activity in mining has jumped to roughly $44 billion year‑to‑date, driven by a wave of critical‑minerals transactions and heightened government involvement. Chinese firms alone have closed about $4.6 billion in gold and copper deals, while U.S. policy pushes a $12 billion strategic‑minerals...
Arafura Rare Earths Locks In Government Offtake for Nolans Project, Targeting 5% of Global Supply
Arafura Rare Earths has secured an offtake agreement with the Albanese government for its Nolans rare‑earth project in the Northern Territory. The deal clears a path for a $1.2 billion construction start and positions the ASX‑listed firm to deliver roughly 5%...
Miners Are Burning a Lot More Diesel than Four Years Ago, Just for Same Amounts of Now Hard-to-Get Coal
Australian coal miners are now burning about 25% more diesel than in 2021/22 to maintain the same production levels. The rise stems from deeper open‑cut mining and a lack of viable electrification or alternative‑fuel options, while diesel prices have surged...
Sombrero Project Set to Trigger Pierre Lassonde Curve
"The next 18 months is gonna be that catalystic event in what's called the Pierre Lassonde curve," says @CoppernicoMetal 's CEO @ivanbebek71. The company is advancing its Sombrero project in Peru. $COPR https://t.co/0sjGjdND1g https://t.co/I36CpRPkvC
China Tightens Mining Controls, Mandates Five‑Year Strategic Reserve Rule
China announced new mining controls that will take effect on June 15, imposing security reviews on foreign investment and a rule that strategic mineral reserves must stay at their source for at least five years. The move targets minerals that...
Indonesian President Announces Plan to Centralize Control of Key Commodity Exports
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced a plan to place Indonesia’s key commodity exports—palm oil, thermal coal and nickel—under direct state control. A new sovereign‑wealth‑backed enterprise, Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia, will own 99% of the export entity and exporters must deposit all...
11 Largest Uranium Producing Countries in the World
The article outlines the 11 largest uranium‑producing nations, noting that the top three account for roughly 75% of the 60,213 tonnes of uranium mined annually, which meets about 90% of nuclear utility demand. In‑situ recovery now dominates the sector, supplying over...
Copper and Critical Metals: The West's Newest Frontline
The Investing News Network podcast highlighted copper’s evolution into a national‑security commodity, driven by AI‑intensive data centers, electric‑vehicle growth, and power‑grid modernization. Phil Ehr, a former Navy commander and NovaRed Mining advisor, warned that geopolitical instability—exemplified by the Strait of...
Responsibility Is the Surest Path to Resilience in the Minerals Age
Rohitesh Dhawan, ICMM CEO, warns that the emerging Minerals Age will be defined by soaring demand for copper, lithium, nickel and other critical minerals as the world shifts to electrification, AI and heightened geopolitical rivalry. Supply chains are fragile: China...
Freeport Eyes Full Grasberg Output by End of 2027
Freeport‑McMoRan’s Indonesian unit reaffirmed its goal to bring the Grasberg mine back to full production by the end of 2027, after a mudslide halted underground operations last September. The mine is currently running at about 50% of capacity and is...
Chilean Tribunal Rejects Collahuasi Development Plan
Chile's Second Environmental Tribunal annulled the 2021 environmental authorization for Collahuasi's C20+ infrastructure and production capacity upgrade, which includes a near‑complete desalination plant. The ruling focuses on two issues: the assessment of impacts on a local community and the marine...
Troilus Gold Assays Highlight M&A Potential, Analysts Say
Troilus Mining reported high‑grade drill intercepts at its West Rim zone in Quebec, including up to 7.76 g/t gold over 5 m. The results expand the known mineralization beyond the current resource, raising the prospect of a higher‑grade satellite deposit adjacent to...
Aya Logs High-Grade Hits at Morocco Silver-Gold Project
Aya Gold & Silver announced its strongest drill intercept at the Boumadine project in Morocco, with hole BOU‑DD25‑745 delivering 52 metres grading 535 g/t silver and 2.05 g/t gold. A second hole, BOU‑DD25‑746, returned 15 metres of 204 g/t silver and 5.24 g/t gold, including an...
Survey Reveals New Targets for White Gold
White Gold Corp. announced new high‑priority copper, gold and multi‑element drill targets at its Guilder and Mt. Hart sites in the Yukon’s White Gold District. Induced polarization (IP) geophysical surveys identified multiple chargeability and resistivity anomalies that align with known...
Gold Runner Exploration Announces Mobilization Date and Exploration Program Update at Golden Girl Property, Golden Triangle B.C.
Gold Runner Exploration announced that its fully funded 2026 surface exploration program at the Golden Girl property in British Columbia will mobilize on July 12, 2026, with field work beginning July 13. The 8,471‑hectare site, located near the historic Snip...
Kavango Concludes Ore Sample Tests at Hillside Project
Kavango Resources has finished a metallurgical test programme on ore from Zimbabwe’s Hillside Gold Project, targeting a 50‑tonne‑per‑day carbon‑in‑leach plant with a future upgrade to 250 tpd. Laboratory results showed more than 95% gold recovery on Nightshift and Bill’s Luck ores,...
Rotational Maintenance at Indonesia's Weda Bay Cuts Nickel Output, LME Prices Jump 2.6%
Rotational maintenance at Indonesia's Weda Bay Industrial Park will take 10‑15% of high‑grade nickel pig iron capacity offline, sending London Metal Exchange nickel futures up 2.6% to $19,050 a ton. The cut tightens supply for stainless‑steel producers and battery makers...
Sulfur Supply Shock in Strait of Hormuz Threatens Global Fertilizer Market
Shipping disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz have driven elemental sulfur prices sharply higher, putting pressure on phosphate fertilizer manufacturers and downstream mining operations. Analysts warn the shock could reverberate across global agricultural and mineral processing sectors.
Supply Gaps Persist Despite US Mineral Policy Consensus
If there's one area of policy Trump & Biden actually agree on, it's the importance of securing critical minerals supply chains for key manufactured products. In this new paper in Nature Energy led by @Jieyi_Lu we evaluate strategies to close...
China Accelerates Strategic Mineral Reserve Construction for Rare Earths
Rare earths are becoming more strategic by the day. China to speed up construction of strategic mineral reserve sites, says government https://t.co/QiLjgOzvYt
U.S. Researchers Unveil $2 Million Atlas of Rare‑Earth‑Binding Proteins to Boost Domestic Mining
The National Laboratory of the Rockies, with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has launched a $2 million Microbial Rare Earth Element Atlas. Funded by the DOE’s Office of Science, the tool maps proteins that naturally bind rare earths, targeting a domestic supply...
AMG Critical Materials Acquires Zinnwald Lithium, Boosting European Supply
AMG Critical Materials N.V. Announces Strategic Acquisition of Zinnwald Lithium Adding Optionality in Critical Materials in the Heart of Europe https://t.co/ukGuedPhEr
Alaska, NLR Forge Energy-Minerals Alliance
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy announced a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) to accelerate critical‑minerals development, energy‑system innovation, and Arctic infrastructure. NLR, formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, has broadened its...
Smart Transport Systems Are Saving Mines Millions of Dollars in Fuel Each Year
Rising fuel prices and inefficient equipment movement are eroding mining margins, prompting operators to seek smarter transport solutions. Brandt’s Jim Thompson highlights that traditional crawling of tracked machines can waste millions in fuel, maintenance, and lost productivity each year. Sleipner...
New Episode: Copper-Gold Mining – the Strategic Convergence of Two Sectors
The latest Energy Technology podcast episode explores how copper and gold mining are converging as ore grades fall and deposits deepen. Analysts from GlobalData and Vizsla Copper discuss the rise of large‑scale porphyry copper‑gold systems that pair long‑term copper demand...
Siren Gold's Sams Creek Mining Permit Knocked Back
Siren Gold’s application for the Sams Creek gold mine in New Zealand’s South Island was rejected by New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals. The project, which projected a NZ$150 million (≈US$90 million) investment and annual output of about 70,000 ounces of gold, faced fierce...
Some of Australia’s Dirtiest Coal Mines Are About to Change Hands. Here’s Why We Should Be Worried
Anglo American has agreed to sell four of its most methane‑intensive Queensland coal mines to the newly formed private firm Dhilmar. The assets, which emitted over 3 million tonnes of CO₂ last year, are slated for a staged restart that could...
Watercycle and Cylib Sign MoU on Graphite Recovery
Watercycle Technologies and German recycler cylib have signed a non‑binding memorandum of understanding to jointly recover graphite and lithium from battery recycling streams. Watercycle will assess buying graphite from cylib’s Aachen demonstration plant starting in 2026, with the aim of...
Core Lithium Kicks Off Open-Pit Mining at Grants Deposit
Core Lithium Ltd has started open‑pit mining at the Grants deposit, the first phase of its Finniss Lithium Operation in Australia’s Northern Territory. The pit contains roughly 784,000 tonnes of ore and is designed to produce about 134,000 tonnes of...
Everest Metals Posts Major Upgrade to WA Critical Minerals Resource
Everest Metals announced a substantial upgrade to its Mt Edon critical minerals resource in Western Australia, increasing tonnage to 4.3 million tonnes and raising grades to 0.23% rubidium oxide and 0.1% lithium oxide. The upgrade lifts 63% of the resource into...
Copper and Tin Rally While Cobalt and Nickel Decline in Latest Global Mining Price Update
Global mining price data for May 18‑23, 2026 shows copper and tin posting strong gains, with copper rising to $13,682 per ton and tin to $53,611 per ton. Gold and aluminum also edged higher, while cobalt, nickel and germanium slipped, the latter...
Barton Gold Extends Near-Surface Mineralisation at Challenger Project
Barton Gold announced new assay results from its Challenger gold project in South Australia, confirming near‑surface mineralisation that could support additional open‑pit mines adjacent to the Central Gawler Mill. The drilling, covering the Challenger South‑Southwest deposit and the Challenger 3 target,...
Jeff Currie Sees Gold Price Pullback Before $10,000 Run
Veteran commodities strategist Jeff Currie, now with Abaxx Markets and Carlyle, says gold will likely correct to around $4,000 per ounce before rallying toward $10,000. He has been short gold since March, citing geopolitical fallout from the Iran war and...
The Repricing of Certainty: What the Equinox–Orla Merger Means for Nevada and North American Gold
Equinox Mining is acquiring Orla Mining in an approximately $18.5 billion transaction, creating a combined producer with about 1.1 million ounces of gold now and a pipeline toward 1.9 million ounces. While analysts initially framed the deal as a scale play, the deeper...
Helium Evolution Announces Filing of First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
Helium Evolution Inc. (TSXV:HEVI) filed its Q1 2026 interim report, showing a net loss of C$434,000 (≈US$321,000) and cash and cash equivalents of C$3.1 million (≈US$2.3 million). Total assets rose to C$20.3 million (≈US$15 million) with working capital of C$2.9 million (≈US$2.2 million). The company continues...
Zimbabwe’s Export Ban Pushes Lithium and PGM Sales Near $1 Billion in Q1
Zimbabwe’s mineral sector posted $983.9 million in sales in the first quarter of 2026, nearly $1 billion, after a February export ban forced more local processing of lithium and platinum‑group metals. The policy lifted lithium value by 106% and helped PGMs generate...
Fortescue Leads Australian Miners to Cut $7bn Diesel Subsidy with Renewables
Fortescue Metals, backed by CEO Dino Otranto, is urging the nation’s 18 biggest miners to replace the AU$11 billion (≈$7 bn) diesel tax credit with renewable power. The campaign calls for capping the Fuel Tax Credit at AU$50 million (≈$33 million) and reinvesting the...
Deep Sea Mining Part 1 – by Amanda Van Dyke (Substack – May 16, 2026)
The 21st‑century economy now hinges on a suite of critical minerals such as copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium and rare earths. Over the past 25 years global extraction volumes have more than doubled, and analysts project a further doubling or even tripling...
EU Ban on Russian Uranium to Boost Canadian Exports – by Andreas Walstad (Mining.com – May 18, 2026)
The European Union is intensifying efforts to bar Russian uranium imports, a move that would end a supply chain that currently provides about 25% of its enrichment services. Canada already accounts for more than 30% of the EU’s uranium imports,...