Today's Mining Pulse
Chinese financing fuels a $98 billion mineral power shift
A wave of $98 billion in Chinese financing and heightened U.S. diplomatic activity has thrust critical minerals into the geopolitical spotlight. Resource‑rich nations such as the DRC, Brazil and Zambia are leveraging their mineral wealth to negotiate better terms and assert greater control over strategic industries.
Also developing:
NUST Student Targets Mining’s Grid Pains With Oil-Free Smart Transformer
National University of Science and Technology student Weston Mabota unveiled an oil‑free smart hybrid transformer designed for Zimbabwean mines. The prototype replaces mineral‑oil insulation with forced‑air cooling and a power‑electronic shunt, enabling bidirectional power flow from on‑site solar and electric haul trucks. A remote monitoring dashboard tracks thermal stress, insulation resistance and harmonics, allowing faults to be detected before they cause downtime. Mabota plans to pilot the system at a Great Dyke platinum operation by the second quarter of 2027.
Angola: Mining Sector Deemed Engine for Angola's Economic Progress
Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, Diamantino de Azevedo, hailed mining as a key driver of the country’s economic progress at the inauguration of the Chiri diamond mine in Lunda‑Sul. The Chiri project, a joint venture between Rio Tinto...
Qld Shows Off Its Graphite Credentials
Graphinex has opened a demonstration plant in Townsville, Queensland, marking Australia’s first vertically integrated graphite‑to‑anode facility. The pilot converts raw graphite into battery‑grade anodes on‑site, showcasing a full‑scale production pathway for a critical mineral used in electric‑vehicle batteries. Queensland is...
Infini Cleared for First Athabasca Uranium Drilling Blitz in Canada
Infini Resources secured Saskatchewan regulator permits for its Reynolds Lake and Reitenbach Lake projects, clearing the way for a 2,500‑metre diamond drilling campaign on the eastern Athabasca Basin margin. The company will test high‑priority targets identified through integrated airborne EM,...
Militants Strike at Exploration Project in Pakistan
Militant gunmen attacked a copper‑gold exploration project owned by National Resources in Pakistan's Balochistan province, killing at least ten people, including mine workers. The site, still in the exploration stage, targets high‑grade copper and gold deposits that are critical for...
US Sends Back 2025 Gold, Silver Surplus to Origin
In 2026 the US has been sending large tonnages of gold & silver back to from where they came in early 2025. So rather the US is returning surplus stocks back to their home. Export line in the charts from...
The Fast Lane: 3 Ways To Get More Critical Minerals, Now
The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) is offering three licensable technologies to help U.S. companies secure critical minerals such as rare earths, graphite, and other inputs. One method uses seaweed‑derived polymers to pull rare earth elements from seawater, industrial...
Fortescue Tips Another $1B Into Pilbara Green Energy Infrastructure
Fortescue Metals Group’s board approved an additional US$680 million (A$954 million) to expand its Pilbara Green Energy Project, fast‑tracking a 200 MW renewable power hub in Western Australia. The investment will broaden the infrastructure to supply electricity to third‑party customers, not just Fortescue’s...
PLS Restarts Ngungaju Plant, Signals Rising Spodumene Demand
PLS will restart the Ngungaju plant in July, signaling stronger spodumene demand and broader Pilgangoora growth plans. https://www.metalnomist.com/2026/04/pls-ngungaju-lithium-plant-restart.html
U.S. Commerce Secretary Launches Multi‑Agency Push to Dismantle China’s Rare‑Earth Chokehold
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced a coordinated government initiative to curb China’s dominance over rare‑earth minerals, mobilizing the CHIPS office, the Department of Defense, Energy, Interior and the White House task force. The plan emphasizes domestic investment, allied partnerships and...
Strata Minerals Garners Strong Support for Zelica Gold Quest with $1.57m Raised
Strata Minerals (ASX:SMX) secured A$1.57 million (≈US$1.0 million) in a 2‑cent‑per‑share placement, backed by existing shareholders and sophisticated investors. The funds will finance Phase 2 infill and step‑out drilling at the Zelica Gold Project in Western Australia’s Yundamindra District. Recent drilling has confirmed...
March 2026 Steel Output Rises Month on Month
World Steel Association data show March 2026 steel production rose 12.7% month‑on‑month to 159.9 million metric tons, yet remained 4.2% lower than March 2025. The rebound was driven by China’s 14.3% output surge after the Lunar New Year break, alongside strong...
Ceasefire Holds, Yet Energy Flows Remain Stalled
Good morning Asia, It's Day 56 and the ceasefire is on, but oil and gas (as well as aluminum, helium, sulfur etc) are still not flowing. Crude oil is up now to 105/barrel and markets end the week with trepidation. Asia...
PLS Beats IGO with Strong Margins Despite Sales Dip
$PLS results in contrast to IGO were strong with good recoveries and prodn although sales were down q/q, I assume on timing. FOB costs showed good progression although CFR costs were up, I assume on higher royalties related to price....
AT4 Joins US Defence Consortium Push for Tungsten, Antimony
American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4) has been admitted to the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium, giving it a direct line to the Department of War and access to DoW‑sponsored funding. The company is evaluating a hub‑and‑spoke model that would turn...
IGO Q1 Results Flat Despite Higher Lithium Prices
$IGO Mar qtr results unenthusing - stable Greenbushes prodn on maintenance, low recovery but this raised costs although ops benefited from higher lithium prices. Kwinana prodn and costs improved though not into profitable territory and it announced a major outage...
PLS Cash Flow Hits $1.5B, Strongest Since 2023 Bubble
PLS boosts bank balance to $1.5b after generating most cash in a quarter since 2023 lithium bubble https://t.co/gDhJar7v5D
Report: Countries with the Most Gold Reserves, 2026
Gold prices topped $5,300 per ounce in early 2026, pushing bullion bars above $1 million each. Official holdings show the United States still leads with 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany, Italy and France, while Russia, China and several mid‑size economies expand their...
Opponents Amend Lawsuit to Halt Oak Flat Copper Mine Land Swap
Apache Stronghold and religious‑rights advocates have filed an amended lawsuit seeking to overturn the U.S. Forest Service’s land exchange that would enable Resolution Copper’s Oak Flat project. The filing argues the swap violates Indigenous religious freedoms and could devastate a...
Andurand Capital's Levered Oil Bet Crashes 52% in Early April
Pierre Andurand’s flagship commodity fund lost roughly 52% in the first two weeks of April after a 5x leveraged long oil position turned sour. The drawdown erased a 31% March gain and left the fund down about 37% for the...
Lithium Supply Tightens as Low Prices Stall New Projects
Lithium supply is tightening, with analysts warning of a potential global deficit as early as 2024 that could extend to 2035. Prices have plunged about 80% year‑over‑year to mid‑2025, eroding miner margins and stalling new projects. Production cuts are evident...
Transformer Network Enhances Underground Mining Image Resolution
Researchers introduced BDL, a transformer‑based super‑resolution network that restores degraded underground coal‑mine images. The architecture combines a Bidirectional Adaptive Interaction Module, Dual‑Group Feedforward Network, and Local Convolution Block to fuse local and global features. In tests, BDL achieved 32.07 dB PSNR...
How Mining Companies Are Innovating to Address Sustainable Tailings Management
South African miners are accelerating sustainable tailings management as gold output drops 32% and underground mining becomes uneconomic. DRDGOLD’s Ergo operation now treats roughly 1.7 million tonnes of tailings annually, integrating real‑time leak detection, SCADA monitoring, and concurrent land‑rehabilitation. Panelists at...
Copper Demand Soars, Supply Lags—Prices Must Spike
@MBazilian Director of the @payneinstitute for Public Policy at the @coschoolofmines is a leading authority on supply and critical metals and coauthor of this article. Morgan is 100% right: copper demand from AI, EVs, data centers and global electrification is...
Canada Offers Mines and More in $730b Investment Bid Slammed as Unsustainable
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a first‑ever Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, slated for September 14‑15, to court C$1 trillion (about $730 billion) of new capital over the next five years. The government is positioning the country’s abundant natural resources—particularly LNG,...
THE SILVER SQUEEZE IS INEVITABLE: The U.S. Imports 77%, China Sets Records, the 6-Year Deficit, & America's Critical Silver Vulnerability...
The United States now imports roughly 77% of the silver it consumes, even after the metal was officially labeled a critical mineral by the USGS. Meanwhile, China set a new record by importing 836 tons of silver in March—a 78% month‑over‑month...
Ten Bagger: Where Big Investors Are Looking After Gold-Fuelled Gains
John Forwood, CIO of the Lowell Resources Fund, says large investors are moving beyond the 67% gold rally of 2023 to hunt alpha in junior battery‑metal, oil‑gas and silver plays. He highlights small‑cap picks such as Equus Energy’s 1.7 tcf gas...
Magna Mining Site Visit Debrief with CEO Jason Jessup
MSD’s Trevor Hall joined Magna Mining’s team for an on‑site interview with CEO Jason Jessup after touring the underground McCreedy West Mine in the Sudbury Basin. The discussion highlighted the critical role of McCreedy’s crash‑flow data as Magna pushes the...
Karen Thompson on Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy, Processing Modernization, and Workforce Challenges – by Tamer Elbokl, PhD (Canadian Mining Journal...
Canada is moving its critical‑minerals agenda from announcements to on‑the‑ground execution, but success hinges on processing plants, equipment supply chains, and a skilled workforce. Karen Thompson, CEO of Haver & Boecker Niagara, warns that long permitting timelines and outdated processing infrastructure could...
Does Canada Need a New Copper Smelter? – by Trish Saywell (CIM Magazine – April 23, 2026)
Canada ranks among the world’s top copper producers, yet roughly two‑thirds of its concentrate is exported for overseas smelting. In December 2025, Natural Resources Canada issued a Request for Information to evaluate the economic case and strategic value of a...
Crocodile Deaths Surge on Bangka Island as Illegal Tin Mining Destroys Wetlands
A 40‑year‑old fisherman was the latest of 21 people killed by estuarine crocodiles on Bangka Island in the past five years. Residents and researchers link the surge to illegal tin mining and oil‑palm conversion that have razed roughly 1,000 hectares...
Panama’s GDP Slumps 5% After First Quantum’s Cobre Panama Mine Closure
First Quantum Minerals’ 2023 shutdown of the Cobre Panama copper mine erased roughly 5% of Panama’s GDP and 7% of export earnings, costing about $2 billion in lost revenue and eliminating over 40,000 jobs. The loss has driven growth down to...
Santos Lifts Q1 Output, Keeps 2026 Outlook Steady Amid Rising Oil Prices
Australian oil producer Santos posted first‑quarter production of 22.5 mmboe, a 1% rise from the prior quarter and 3% above the same period in 2025. Sales reached $1.27 billion and free cash flow hit $383 million, while the company left its 2026 production...
Admin Claims New Iran Terror Premium in Oil Prices
From the @DallasFed special edition of its energy survey: “… The administration’s comment about an “Iran terror premium” existing for decades with oil pricing is laughable. But now the administration has created one where it did not exist before…” — anonymous...
How a Challenge of the Mining Claim System Sparked B.C.’s Move to Claw Back DRIPA – by Edzi’u Loverin (CBC...
A recent British Columbia court case challenged the province’s Mineral Tenure Act, exposing tensions between the mining claim system and the 2019 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). The ruling highlighted how existing legislation can conflict with...
In China, Battery Makers Bet Big on Sodium in Move Away From Critical Minerals – by You Xiaoying (Reuters –...
Chinese battery manufacturers are accelerating investment in sodium‑ion technology, a next‑generation alternative that draws sodium from seawater and promises rapid charging and superior low‑temperature performance. While lithium‑ion cells dominate today, China still imported about 60% of the lithium it refined...
US Department of Energy Unveils “Nuclear Dominance — 3 by 33” Campaign
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy announced the “Nuclear Dominance — 3 by 33” campaign, a ten‑year effort to guarantee a domestic nuclear fuel supply chain by 2033. Leveraging the Defense Production Act, the initiative brings together...
Panuco Design Advances; Silver Stock Down 50% yet Buy
Design work at @VizslaSilver's Panuco project is underway, pushing the company on the path to construction readiness. Engineering partners stepping in signals the long-term case at Panuco remains intact. Down 50% from its highs this #silver stock is a Buy:...
Onyx Gold Expands to 110k‑meter Drill, Eyeing District‑scale Jump
Holy drill rig, Batman, @OnyxGoldCorp increased their drill program to 110,000 meters, one of the biggest campaigns you'll see from a junior. Munro-Croesus increasingly looks like a district-scale property. See why JV thinks this #gold stock is gonna jump: https://t.co/wjjOv4E22H
I’d Rather We Didn’t Build a Potentially Toxic Mine on Minnesota Public Lands
The article surveys several state‑level battles shaping American democracy. In Minnesota, a coalition of environmental groups, tribal leaders and outdoor enthusiasts is mobilizing to block Twin Metals’ proposed copper‑nickel mine in the Boundary Waters, citing risks to pristine waters and...
MacroVoices #529 Ole S Hansen: Commodities in The Wake of The Iran Crisis
In this episode, Saxo Bank’s chief commodity strategist Ola Hansen explains how the Iran crisis is rippling through energy markets, refined products, fertilizers, metals and agriculture, creating extreme backwardation in crude oil futures. He argues that the forward curve’s steep backwardation...
A New Bureau Will Oversee Both Offshore Drilling and Seabed Mining
The Trump administration announced the creation of the Marine Minerals Administration, merging the Interior Department’s oil‑leasing office with the environmental and financial bureaus that were split after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The reunified agency will oversee offshore oil and...
An Oilfield Leak Springs Under a Permian Basin Baptist Church
A gurgling plume of salty produced water erupted in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church in Grandfalls, Texas, after pressure from underground oilfield wastewater forced its way through an old, plugged well. State inspectors from the Railroad Commission...
Oil and Gas: How Obsolescence Management Can Save You Millions of Pounds
Score, an engineering specialist, warns that obsolete valves and components are behind more than 80% of emergency shutdowns in UK oil and gas operations, costing operators millions per day. The firm shows that targeted obsolescence management—assessing critical parts, refurbishing where...
JLMI – Call for Papers – Issue No. 1/2027
The Journal of Law, Market & Innovation (JLMI) announced its inaugural 2027 issue, slated for March release, dedicated to the securitisation of supply chains for critical raw materials. The theme links energy security with the green transition, examining how trade...
Alaska Senator Reignites Mining Dispute that Could Complicate Canada's Critical Minerals Strategy
Alaska Republican Senator Dan Sullivan has asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for stronger environmental safeguards on mining projects in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, citing risks to trans‑boundary rivers that flow into Alaska. Sullivan’s letters call for formal US‑Canada consultation, dispute‑resolution mechanisms,...
Stakeholders Urge Congress to Improve EPA’s Strict Critical Minerals Regulations
Witnesses told a House environmental subcommittee that EPA’s strict critical‑minerals rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) are creating costly delays for manufacturers and recyclers. Redwood Materials highlighted how a modest...
Tokenized Metals Signal Shift to Hard Collateral
I am interested to see how it impacts liquidity and price discovery for minor metals.
Myriad Builds Wyoming Uranium District as Report Shows Scale
Myriad Uranium announced an all‑share merger with Rush Rare Metals that will give the partner a 25% interest and consolidate control of the Copper Mountain district in Wyoming, the first such unification since the 1970s. A new technical report compiles...
China Publishes Maps Detailing Minerals on the Ocean Floor
China’s geological survey has published a detailed deep‑sea atlas that pinpoints deposits of cobalt, nickel, manganese and other critical minerals on the ocean floor. The map covers contested waters in the South China Sea, giving Beijing both a commercial roadmap...