Vale Base Metals Prioritizes Existing Assets, Including Sudbury, over M&A – by Staff (Sudbury Star – April 1, 2026)
Vale Base Metals announced it will focus on organic growth, developing existing assets such as its extensive Sudbury operations, rather than pursuing mergers or acquisitions. CEO Shaun Usmar emphasized that consolidation does not immediately increase the metal volumes the market needs. The stance follows a transformational 2025 and comes after earlier speculation about a possible deal with Teck Resources. Vale’s base‑metals unit was spun off from its iron‑ore business in 2024 and sold a 10 % stake to Saudi investors.
China Is Taking on Mining Giants to Reorder a $190 Billion Market – by Alfred Cang and Katharine Gemmell (MSN.com...
China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG), a central‑government entity, is confronting BHP Group in a high‑stakes battle over iron‑ore pricing, aiming to convert China’s massive consumption into pricing power. The dispute centers on the $190 billion global iron‑ore market, the world’s most...
‘Momentum Is Good’: Corb Lund Making Stops Across Province This Weekend for Anti-Coal Mining Petition – by Stephen Tipper (Calgary...
Alberta country star Corb Lund is hitting 14 stops across the province this weekend to rally support for his Water Not Coal petition, which aims to block new coal mines on the eastern slopes of the Rockies. The three‑month signature...
Magna Mining Files Technical Report for the McCreedy West Mine in Sudbury, Ontario
Magna Mining Inc. filed an independent NI 43‑101 technical report for its McCreedy West Mine in Sudbury, Ontario. The report, prepared by SGS Canada and dated April 1 2026 with an effective date of December 31 2025, details the mine’s mineral reserve and resource...
Opinion: A Rail Line Would Better Serve the Ring of Fire – by Peter J. Barnett (Sudbury Star – April...
The Ring of Fire in northern Ontario contains vast deposits of critical minerals such as nickel, copper, chromium and platinum‑group elements, but its remote location limits development. Current access relies on seasonal winter roads, driving up costs and threatening Canada’s...
Global Atomic: Africa’s Highest-Grade Uranium Project Now Well Into Construction – by Arthur Tassell (Mining Review – March 30, 2026)
The Dasa uranium project in Niger, owned by TSX‑listed Global Atomic, is now well into construction, with earthworks nearing completion and underground infrastructure advancing. The deposit boasts uranium grades above 4,000 ppm U₃O₈, the highest in Africa. Global Atomic, active in...
The $93 Billion Secret in the Australian Dust – by Mark Wembridge (Australian Financial Review – April 1, 2026)
Delta Lithium, an ASX‑listed explorer backed by Gina Rinehart and Chris Ellison, has disclosed a rubidium deposit exceeding 60,000 tonnes, valued at roughly $1.5 million per tonne. The element, essential for night‑vision goggles, atomic clocks and quantum‑computing hardware, represents an estimated...
Vale Base Metals Says IPO Not Imminent, a Lot of Work to Be Done in Canada – Niall McGee and...
Vale Base Metals Ltd., 90% owned by Brazil's Vale SA, has ruled out an imminent IPO, citing insufficient market valuation and the need to slash nickel production costs. The Toronto‑based spin‑off, created in 2023, manages Vale’s global copper, nickel and...
Amex Exploration (TSXV:AMX) – ‘Undervalued?’ Investment Series, with Victor Cantore
Amex Exploration Inc. (TSXV:AMX) CEO Victor Cantore told investors the company remains significantly undervalued despite recent drilling successes at its Nevada gold assets. He highlighted a 30% increase in inferred resources at the Amex Gold Project and a forthcoming updated...
Blackrock Silver – 90% Increase in Indicated Mineral Resources & Updated PEA At Tonopah West Project
Blackrock Silver announced a 90% increase in its indicated mineral resources at the 100%-owned Tonopah West Project in west‑central Nevada. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate, prepared by RESPEC under NI 43‑101 standards, was effective January 4 2026. An accompanying Preliminary Economic Assessment...
The Invisible Chokepoint: Sulfur, Nitrogen, Helium – and the Strait of Hormuz
The article warns that sulfur, nitrogen and helium—key inputs for fertilizers, sulfuric acid and high‑tech applications—are tied to oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly 20% of global oil and gas, 30% of nitrogen‑fertilizer trade, 45‑50% of...
Daily Memo: France-Japan Meeting, Russia-Armenia Talks
France and Japan signed a strategic roadmap to deepen cooperation on critical minerals during President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Tokyo. The agreement includes securing raw material supplies for a rare‑earths refinery in southern France, where a Japanese state‑owned firm holds...
Brian Leeners on Homerun Resources’ High-Grade Silica Positioning for a Critical Role in Energy and Technology Supply Chains
Homerun Resources Inc., led by CEO Brian Leeners, is positioning high‑grade silica as a strategic material for both energy and technology supply chains. The company focuses on Brazil’s abundant silica deposits, leveraging vertical integration to capture value from raw extraction...
InvestorTalk Alert: Ali Haji From American Tungsten Corp. To Host on Thursday, April 2, 2026, at 9:00 AM EST
American Tungsten Corp. will host an InvestorTalk with CEO Ali Haji on April 2, 2026, at 9:00 AM EST. The company is advancing the historic IMA Mine in Idaho, recently extending the strike length of high‑grade tungsten‑silver mineralization and completing a...
Australia Renewables Must Move Fast AND Fair
Australia’s two biggest electricity grids now run on over 40% renewable power, marking a pivotal shift in the nation’s decarbonisation agenda. Yet the rapid "green rush" exposes supply‑chain vulnerabilities, with rare‑earth mining in Myanmar, Indonesian nickel and Chinese solar‑panel production...
The Controversy over Deep-Sea Mining, Explained
Deep‑sea mining is being promoted as a source of critical minerals for the clean‑energy transition, but more than 40 countries and several U.S. states have called for a moratorium due to severe environmental and cultural risks. Indigenous leaders such as...
Report Back: MiningWatch’s Witness Testimony and Brief on the Nexus Between National Defence, National Security and So-Called Critical Minerals
MiningWatch Canada testified before the House of Commons National Defence Standing Committee and submitted a detailed brief on how Canada’s critical minerals sector intersects with national defence and security. The organization highlighted environmental, Indigenous and supply‑chain risks tied to mineral...
The Rock Bears Gold: With Equinox Gold’s Valentine Gold Mine Now in Commercial Production, Newfoundland and Labrador Has Entered a...
Equinox Gold’s Valentine mine began commercial production in November 2025, marking the first major new gold operation in Newfoundland and Labrador in 25 years. The project, built on a decade of exploration by Marathon Gold, is slated to become the...
Sudbury Innovation Network Looks to Speed Adoption of New Technology Into Mines – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business –...
The Mining Innovation Commercialization Accelerator (MICA), run by Sudbury’s Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation, is requesting roughly $148 million CAD (about $110 million USD) to fund a second phase of its program. The initiative follows a successful five‑year effort to commercialize...
Macquarie Says Copper Is Oversupplied and Overpriced – by Frik Els (Mining.com – March 26, 2026)
Macquarie’s strategy team says copper is oversupplied and overpriced after a 1.5% drop to $5.47 per pound, roughly $12,000 a tonne. The metal has shed more than 16% – about $2,400 per tonne – from its January peak. The bank...
NEWS RELEASE: Vale Base Metals Releases 2025 Exploration and 2026 Outlook Results; Copper Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources Increase 6%...
Vale Base Metals announced that its 2025 copper mineral reserves and resources grew 6% to 53 million tonnes, while nickel reserves rose 13% to 14 million tonnes. The company targets more than a 20% increase in total reserves across Canada and Brazil...
Uncertainty Is the New Diamond World Order – by Shimon Gerstensang (Rapaport Magazine – March 12, 2026)
The diamond industry is undergoing a seismic shift as U.S. tariffs on Indian‑cut stones, tightening sanctions on Russian‑origin rough, and the rise of lab‑grown diamonds have fragmented the once‑seamless global supply chain. Over the past year, the polished market has...
Erik Wetterling – Value Proposition In Montage Gold, Amex Exploration, and Blackrock Silver
Erik Wetterling highlighted recent milestones from three precious‑metal developers. Montage Gold Corp released an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for its Koné and Gbongogo deposits in Côte d’Ivoire and reported that construction is on‑budget and ahead of schedule, with the first...
Argonne Advances AI-Enabled Rare Earth Separation with Aclara Partnership
Argonne National Laboratory and Aclara Resources have signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to create an AI‑enabled digital twin for heavy rare earth separation. The partnership will feed data from Aclara’s pilot plant into Argonne’s advanced computing platform, aiming...
Silver in the Quiet Squeeze: When Utility Outpaces Narrative
Silver is slipping into a structural shortage as its industrial uses—from solar panels to electric‑vehicle batteries—grow faster than ever. Because roughly 70% of global output is a byproduct of base‑metal mining, supply cannot quickly expand even if prices rise. Physical...
Key U.S. Antimony Mine Advances Towards Restart With EXIM Loan
Perpetua Resources announced that the U.S. Export‑Import Bank’s board unanimously approved a $2.7 billion loan to restart the Stibnite mine in central Idaho. The financing marks the final EXIM approval step and follows the mine’s recent permitting clearance and a Pentagon‑attended...
From Green Dreams to War Metals: A Critical Minerals Wake-Up Call for Europe
A new Hallgarten note warns that Europe’s critical‑minerals strategy is misaligned, focusing on lithium and ESG while overlooking the war‑driven metals tungsten, antimony, tin, rare earths and helium. The report highlights substantial domestic resources in Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, Cornwall and...
Unlocking Equitable Mineral Value Addition
NRGI launched a South‑South learning platform to help governments capture more value from transition minerals. Its inaugural convening in December 2025 in Indonesia gathered officials from ten countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, along with international organizations, to discuss...
The Oil Crisis Is About to Get Physical
The Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about 20% of global oil, is now closed except for limited Iranian shipments, turning speculative price gains into an imminent physical shortage. J.P. Morgan predicts Gulf tankers will stop reaching Asian markets this...
Fidelity Gold Refinery Opens a Gold Buying Branch in Mazowe
Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) has opened a gold‑buying office inside the Mazowe Post Office, bringing instant cash payments directly to artisanal miners. The new branch eliminates the need for miners to travel to Harare, cutting transport costs, security risks, and...
Gold Buying Prices in Zimbabwe per Gram/ Ounce, 31 March 2026
Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) released its official gold buying rates for March 31 2026, covering a range of purity grades and sample sizes. The top tier (SG 90% and above) commands $134.84 per gram ($4,194 per ounce), while the fire‑assay cash price peaks at...
Zimbabwe Lithium Sector Adopts PGM Model as Beneficiation Deadline Nears
Zimbabwe’s lithium industry is shifting to a cooperative beneficiation model modeled on its platinum‑group metals sector, with larger miners offering toll‑processing capacity to smaller producers. Three lithium‑sulphate plants—Prospect Lithium’s $400 million Arcadia facility and Sinomine’s $500 million plant—are slated for commissioning between...
Smart Fabrics Become Functional Fashion with Rare Earth Technology
Smart fabrics are evolving from passive textiles to active systems that can sense motion, temperature, sweat chemistry and provide feedback through heat, light or haptics. This functionality relies on miniature electronic modules that incorporate rare‑earth‑based components such as NdFeB magnets...
Eloro Resources Ltd: Advancing One of Bolivia’s Largest Silver Discoveries in Centuries, and Building a Portfolio to Match
Eloro Resources Ltd. (TSX: ELO) is advancing the Iska Iska Project, a newly identified silver‑tin polymetallic discovery in Bolivia’s Potosí Department. CEO Thomas G. Larsen describes the find as a world‑class, never‑drilled collapse‑resurgent caldera centre of a massive volcano. The...
Going Beyond Decarbonization: Key Insights Into Delivering a Just Transition for Steel and Mining Sectors
In March, IRMA and ResponsibleSteel released a landmark report on just transitions for the mining and steel sectors, highlighting the need to place people at the heart of decarbonisation efforts. Stakeholder interviews underscored that inclusive planning and continuous social dialogue...
Opportunities For Outperformance In The Small and Mid-Tier PM Producers (Part 1)
The article outlines how small and mid‑tier gold producers can deliver outsized returns compared with larger miners. It begins with mindset advice for investors before diving into the fundamentals and technicals of select stocks. The author highlights near‑term catalysts such...
Are Mining Companies Setting Themselves up for Failure in Innovation?
Mining supplies half of the global economy, yet many firms treat innovation as a reactive fix rather than a strategic capability. This short‑term mindset hampers productivity, slows technology adoption, and threatens long‑term resilience. Industry analysts warn that without embedding innovation...
EVs Were Meant to Bypass Oil. Now They’re Stuck at the Strait of Hormuz
Electric vehicles rely heavily on Gulf‑sourced aluminum, but the U.S.–Iran conflict has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, forcing major smelters in Bahrain and Qatar to cut or halt output. Toyota and Nissan have already trimmed production by roughly 40,000 units,...
Technology and ESG Redefine the Mine Surveyor’s Role in Modern Day Operations
The mine surveying profession is evolving from pure spatial measurement to a pivotal ESG-driven function, a shift highlighted at the Association of Mine Surveyors of Zimbabwe’s Q1 technical visit to Dallaglio’s Pickstone. Growing investor pressure makes ESG compliance a prerequisite...
Critical Minerals Institute Announces CMI Summit 5: “The New Critical Minerals Economy” — Toronto, May 13–14, 2026
The Critical Minerals Institute will host its fifth annual summit in Toronto on May 13‑14, 2026, under the theme “The New Critical Minerals Economy.” The two‑day forum will bring together senior executives, policymakers, institutional investors and technical experts to discuss...
America’s Military Potemkin Crisis
Jack Lifton, co‑chair of the Critical Minerals Institute, argues that the U.S. narrative of a looming critical‑minerals shortage is a manufactured “Potemkin” crisis. He contends that bureaucrats inflate the problem to channel large sums of taxpayer money to politically connected...
Is America Suffering From the “Resource Curse”?
The blog revisits the classic "resource curse" theory, which argues that nations abundant in natural resources often experience slower long‑term growth and weaker institutions. It highlights how traditional petrostates like Saudi Arabia and Russia exemplify this pattern, and then asks...
Ukrainian Strikes Cause “Most Serious Threat” To Russian Oil Exports Since War Began
Ukrainian drone strikes on the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust‑Luga and the Kirishi refinery have knocked out roughly half of Russia's oil export capacity, the most severe disruption since the 2022 invasion began. The attacks, combined with recent seizures...
Taming the Acid Clouds with a New Blueprint for Making Fuel on Venus
The Chinese Academy of Sciences team unveiled a modular instrument designed to survive Venus’s corrosive, high‑pressure atmosphere while filtering acid aerosols, enriching trace gases, and performing laser‑based spectroscopy. The three‑stage filtration unit achieves over 99.99% removal of sulfuric‑acid droplets as...
Signal Vs. Permission: The Lag Between Insight and Capital
The article contrasts a "signal economy"—where geologists and analysts spot early patterns—with a "permission economy" where institutions wait for validated narratives before moving capital. It uses the recent gold sell‑off, driven by a global liquidity squeeze, as a case study...
SmallCap-Investor Interview Mit Patrick Highsmith, Chairman Von FireFox Gold
FireFox Gold (WKN: A419WJ) is focusing on its Mustajärvi project in Finland’s Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, a region historically underexplored due to heavy glaciation. Recent drilling has returned high‑grade gold intersections, suggesting the company is nearing a genuine discovery. The...
DOUG CASEY'S EXPERT ROUNDTABLE SPOTLIGHTS MIDNIGHT SUN MINING: My Take as a Roundtable Member
Midnight Sun Mining (MDNGF) unveiled a new resource estimate for its Kaziba Main copper‑oxide deposit and highlighted recent drill results at the Dumbwa target in Zambia’s Copper Belt. The update was presented to Doug Casey’s Expert Roundtable, where analysts such...
Leave Your Valuables on the Way Out
Turkey’s central bank sold roughly $3 billion of gold last week, cutting its reserves to 772 tonnes – the steepest weekly decline since August 2018. The sale is part of $26 billion in foreign‑currency sales since the Iran‑related war began, wiping about $35 billion from...
Pickstone Peerless Embarks on Fully Digital Journey, Surveying at the Core
Pickstone Peerless Mine, owned by Padenga Holdings, is launching a full‑scale digital transformation in Zimbabwe’s narrow‑reef underground sector. The mine, which resumed underground production in September 2023 after a massive dewatering and map‑rebuilding effort, is prioritising surveying as the backbone of...
As One N.W.T. Diamond Mine Shuts Down, These Workers Want to Stay in the North – by Devon Tredinnick (CBC...
Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories officially shut down after decades of operation, having extracted more than 150 million carats of diamonds. At its height the mine employed over 1,000 workers, many of whom settled in the region....
