Altman-Backed Boost Rocked as Good Week Turns Bad: Next Africa
Silicon Valley venture KoBold Metals, backed by Sam Altman and Bill Gates, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Mingomba copper mine in Zambia, a project slated to produce over 300,000 tons of copper annually—critical for data centers and electric vehicles. The celebration was quickly eclipsed when outgoing US ambassador Michael Gonzales delivered a farewell speech accusing Zambia of institutionalized corruption and warning about Chinese mining practices. Zambian officials rebuffed the claims, emphasizing the partnership’s importance and noting a recent slip in Transparency International’s corruption rankings. The dispute puts at stake $2 billion in US health aid and underscores the strategic competition between the United States and China for African mineral resources.
Komatsu Launches PC9000-12 Mining Excavator with Electric Drive Option
Komatsu has launched the PC9000-12, the largest hydraulic mining excavator in its lineup, now offered worldwide with a diesel or fully electric drive option. The electric variant features two 1,700 kW motors and an operating weight of up to 896 tonnes. With...
Structural Demand Shifts Pulverizing US Forest Exports
US forest product exports are entering a multiyear decline as demand shifts. Stagnant U.S. home sales, rising use of composite materials, and lingering trade‑policy uncertainty have reduced industrial production by 2.9% year‑over‑year in February 2026 and pushed capacity utilization down...
South Sudan Declines to Renew Oranto’s Block B3 Exploration License
South Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum refused to renew Oranto Petroleum’s Block B3 exploration and production sharing agreement after the company missed mandatory seismic surveys, drilling commitments, and financial obligations. The decision marks a rare non‑renewal in the country’s licensing history and...
Brixton Metals Drilling Atlin Goldfields Project, British Columbia
Brixton Metals has launched a drill program at its Atlin Goldfields Project in northwest British Columbia, targeting new structurally‑controlled zones in the Yellowjacket area. The plan calls for 6‑10 holes covering 2,500‑3,000 metres of core. Eldorado Gold holds an earn‑in...
CanAlaska Uranium Posts Winter Drilling Results From West McArthur Project, Saskatchewan
CanAlaska Uranium completed its 2026 winter drill program at the West McArthur Pike Zone, stepping out 350 m east and west of the 2025 core. The campaign intersected uranium in 10 of 24 holes and delivered a new high‑grade intercept of 5.2 m...
Ghana: Forestry Commission Arrests 24 Suspects in Anti-Illegal Mining Operation At Atewa Range Forest Reserve
The Ghana Forestry Commission’s Rapid Response Teams seized a dawn raid at the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, arresting 24 individuals suspected of illegal mining. The operation, conducted by 30 officers, destroyed 16 water‑pumping machines and dismantled 52 makeshift shelters, while...
Shell and Kosmos Put US Gulf Hydrocarbon Prospect on Their 2027 Drilling Agenda
Shell and Kosmos Energy have cemented a strategic alliance to explore ten blocks in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, targeting the high‑potential Trailblazer prospect. Trailblazer is estimated to hold roughly 200 million barrels of oil equivalent and is slated for spudding...
Sitka Recovers Gold, Tungsten at Rhosgobel
Sitka Gold Corp. announced that metallurgical testing on the Rhosgobel deposit of its RC Gold project in Yukon delivered an average gold recovery of 94.3% and an 84.7% recovery for tungsten. The deposit sits within a 447‑square‑kilometer district hosting 1.01 g/t...
Cascadia Launches Largest Carmacks Program
Cascadia Minerals has kicked off a 15,000‑meter diamond drill campaign at its Carmacks copper‑gold project in central Yukon, the largest exploration effort on the property since 2007. The 2026 program will focus on expanding resources in Zones 147, 2000S and...
Globex Mining Extends Gold Mineralization Below 2,000 Metres at Kewagama Royalty Claims, Quebec
Globex Mining holds a 2% net smelter royalty on the Kewagama gold mine, part of the O’Brien Gold Project in Quebec. A recent drill hole (OB-26-384) reached 1.9 km depth and intersected 4.54 g/t gold over 12 m, including higher-grade intervals. The discovery...
Omnia Says It Is Built to Absorb Hormuz Shock
Omnia, South Africa’s key supplier of fertiliser and mining explosives, says its supply chain can weather the current disruption of ammonia shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. The company has six to eight weeks of on‑site chemical storage and has...
Kyodo News Digest: May 5, 2026
Japan and South Africa agreed to deepen cooperation on critical mineral supply chains, aiming to attract corporate investment and revive South Africa's lagging economy. In Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump will urge China’s Xi Jinping to...
EnerMech Joins Subsea7 on Mexico’s First Deepwater Oil Project
EnerMech has secured a subsea pre‑commissioning contract from Subsea7 for Mexico’s first ultra‑deepwater oil development, the Trion project. The field sits 180 km offshore in the Perdido Fold Belt at water depths of 2,500‑2,600 m and will host 24 subsea wells tied...
Kuwait's KPC Raises May Sulphur Price by $195/T
Kuwait's state‑owned sulphur producer KPC raised its May Kuwait Sulphur Price to $765 per tonne FOB, a $195 increase from April's $570. This marks the highest KSP level since the price hikes began in July 2025 and since the benchmark’s...
Norway Adds 70 Offshore Blocks in New Oil And Gas Licensing Round
Norway’s Ministry of Energy announced the APA 2026 licensing round, adding 70 offshore exploration blocks across the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. The new acreage, originally slated for the postponed 2025 round, will be offered to oil companies under...
Pecoy Copper Deploys Third Drill Rig at Peru Project
Pecoy Copper has brought a third drill rig online, boosting its 35,000‑metre diamond‑drilling program at the copper‑gold‑molybdenum‑silver project in southern Peru. The new rig is now drilling in the South Breccia zone while work continues in the Centre of the...
China’s KDG Completes Takeover of JSE’s MC Mining
Hong Kong‑listed Kinetic Development Group (KDG) completed its takeover of ASX and JSE‑listed MC Mining, securing a 51% stake after the $90 million second‑tranche payment on April 22. MC Mining is moving forward with the Makhado metallurgical coal project in Limpopo, targeting...
McEwen Files Tartan Technical Report
Canada‑based McEwen Mining has lodged an independent technical report for its Tartan Mine near Flin Flon, Manitoba, confirming a gold resource exceeding 611,000 oz. The filing paves the way to restart the legacy underground operation, which the company plans to scale up...
Takaichi Signs Australia Deals to Boost Japan’s Energy Security
Japan and Australia announced a comprehensive partnership to strengthen Japan’s energy security, focusing on critical minerals, defence cooperation, and stable fuel supplies. The deal targets China’s dominance in rare‑earth markets and aims to mitigate supply shocks from the Iran‑related fuel...
North Sea Field’s Start-Up Augments Europe’s Gas Arsenal 48-Years After Discovery
Equinor and Orlen Upstream Norway have brought the Eirin field online, a North Sea discovery made in 1978 that was only now developed as a subsea tie‑back to the electrified Gina Krog platform. The field will supply roughly 270 million cubic metres...
Will Green Demand Push Australian Transition Metals Into a New Supercycle?
Rising demand for copper, lithium, nickel and other transition metals is prompting a debate over whether Australia is entering a new mining supercycle. The International Energy Agency projects the critical‑minerals market to expand from $320 bn in 2022 to $770 bn by...
American Pacific Mining Secures Madison Drill Contracts
American Pacific Mining has secured contracts with O’Keefe Drilling and Nasco Industrial Services and Supply (NISS) to execute a 15,000‑metre drill programme at its Madison copper‑gold project in Montana, slated to begin in May 2026. The campaign will combine reverse‑circulation...
Resources Top 5: Regis Opens $10.7bn Vault with Gold Merger
Regis Resources and Vault Minerals have agreed to merge, creating a gold producer valued at roughly $7 billion USD with a pro‑forma output of about 700,000 ounces per year. Regis will hold a 51% stake while Vault shareholders retain 49% and...
Robo-Road Trains at Heart of Hexagon's Plan for Mining World Domination
Swedish industrial‑technology leader Hexagon announced a strategic partnership with Australian miner Mineral Resources to develop and trial autonomous road‑train trucks. The pilot, running on Mineral Resources' Pilbara operations, will deploy up to ten driverless haul trucks equipped with Hexagon’s AI...
ASX Resources Quarterly Wrap: Four Brazilian Rare Earths Explorers that Stormed Ahead
The March‑quarter report highlights four ASX‑listed explorers accelerating rare‑earth projects in Brazil. St George Mining boosted its Araxá resource by 75%, now 70.9 Mt at 4.06% TREO, and expanded off‑take partnerships. Axel REE moved its Woolrich deposit into the inaugural in‑situ...
PYBAR Primes for Sunday Creek Decline
Thiess subsidiary PYBAR has secured an underground exploration decline contract at Southern Cross Gold’s Sunday Creek gold‑antimony project north of Melbourne. The contract calls for a 680‑metre decline that will reach a depth of 115 metres, providing primary access to the...
DRA Global to Deliver Mt Lindsay Scoping Study for Critica
DRA Global has been hired to deliver a scoping study for Critica’s wholly‑owned Mt Lindsay tin and tungsten project in northwest Tasmania. The deposit holds over 80,000 tonnes of tin and 3.2 million tonnes of tungsten trioxide, resources that were originally...
Mysterious Green Rocks in Pyrenees Cave Hint that Prehistoric People Were Working Copper There for 4,000 Years
Archaeologists uncovered a high‑altitude cave in the Spanish Pyrenees filled with nearly 200 green mineral fragments, likely malachite, and evidence of repeated copper‑processing activities. Radiocarbon dating shows the site was occupied for more than 4,000 years, with the most intensive use...
Hyundai Failed to Consider Cleaner Alternatives in Air Permit for Proposed Louisiana Steel Plant in Violation of the Law &...
Sierra Club filed detailed comments with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, alleging that Hyundai Steel’s air permit for a new plant in Ascension Parish fails to consider cleaner electric and green‑hydrogen technologies. The analysis claims electrifying components could slash...
Loadquip Completes Testing of 1,500 T/H Salt Harvester for BCI Minerals’ Mardie Salt Operation
Loadquip has completed factory acceptance testing of its 1,500 t/h salt harvester destined for BCI Minerals’ Mardie Salt Operation in Western Australia. The machine, capable of surging to 2,000 t/h and cutting up to 500 mm deep, will soon be shipped to the...
EU Moves to Drop Leather From Deforestation Law After Industry Lobbying
The European Commission has proposed removing leather, hides and skins from the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) via a delegated act, following a concerted lobbying effort by the leather industry. The amendment would amend Annex I, which lists commodities subject to strict...
Ferroglobe PLC (GSM) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Ferroglobe PLC posted Q1 2026 revenue of $329 million, a 6% sequential rise, driven by strong silicon‑based and manganese‑based alloy volumes and a 13% jump in shipments to 165,000 tons. The company benefited from newly‑implemented EU safeguards and U.S. antidumping duties, which...
Hecla Mining Co (HL) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Hecla Mining reported a strong Q1 2024, with revenue up 18% to $190 million and silver output rising as Lucky Friday returned to full production and Greens Creek increased throughput. The company highlighted booming solar‑related silver demand, especially in India, and...
Peabody Energy Corp (BTU) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Peabody Energy reported record safety and environmental performance in Q4 2025 and launched longwall mining at its Centurion mine ahead of schedule. The mine is slated to ship 3.5 million tons of premium hard‑coking coal in 2026, rising to 4.7 million tons...
CIM Connect: Teck Chief Pushes Permits, Power Lines as Canada’s Mining Bottlenecks
Teck Resources CEO Jonathan Price warned that Canada could miss the next wave of critical‑minerals investment unless permitting timelines are shortened, shared power‑line infrastructure is built, and strategic‑metals projects receive public‑private backing. He highlighted the contrast between fast‑moving data‑center demand...
Lithium Extraction Models Improve Sustainable Resource Management
A new study integrates Variable Weight (VW) theory with the Driver‑Pressure‑State‑Impact‑Response‑Management (DPSIRM) framework to dynamically assess ecological security in lithium‑rich Huaqiao Township. The model tracks 17 indicators at 30‑meter resolution across four time points (2010‑2024) and reveals a V‑shaped security...
Have Your Say on the WWF’s Ambitious Attempt to Overhaul Global Food Systems
WWF’s Markets Institute has released the Codex Planetarius, a draft set of minimum environmental standards for globally traded food, and opened a public comment period. The plan targets the least efficient 10‑20% of producers, who generate 60‑80% of agricultural impacts,...
Dart Sets Sights on Gold and Antimony Upside in Underexplored Queensland Fields
Dart Mining (ASX:DTM) is accelerating exploration at its Triumph gold project and Coonambula antimony‑gold asset in Central Queensland. Recent drilling of over 3,000 m at Triumph uncovered high‑grade intercepts such as 0.3 m @ 114 g/t Au and a new 6.9 Mt @ 2.29 g/t...
Andrada Mining Defers £7.7m Loan Repayment to Fund Expansion at Namibia’s Uis Mine
Andrada Mining has postponed the repayment of its £7.7 million (≈ $9.6 million) convertible loan until July 2027, extending the maturity by one year and lowering the conversion price to 5 pence per share while keeping a 12% fixed interest rate. The company will redirect...
Who Made the Gains in April? The Top ASX Resources Winners for the Month
April saw a wave of outsized gains among ASX resource juniors as investors chased strategic minerals and energy security. Narryer Metals led the pack with a 200% jump after billionaire Tim Goyder joined its shareholder register, while Patriot Resources surged...
Oilsands Group Says Progress on MOU Too Slow, Takes Aim at 'Uncompetitive Industrial Carbon Tax'
The Oil Sands Alliance, representing Canada’s five largest oilsands firms, warned that capital spending has slumped to roughly US$8.8 bn a year (2016‑2025), down from about US$16 bn a decade earlier. The group blames the federal‑provincial impasse over an industrial carbon tax—now...
Why the U.S. Is Pouring Billions Into Energy Projects in the Balkans
The United States has committed billions to energy infrastructure in the Western Balkans, highlighted by a $1.5 bn Bosnia‑Croatia pipeline linking to the Krk LNG terminal. The deals, including a $6 bn LNG supply contract in Albania and a $58 bn AI data‑center...
Guyana President: Energy Supply-Demand Gap Widens Further
Guyana President Irfaan Ali warned that the global energy supply‑demand gap is widening as the Iran‑Israel conflict pushes oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts key chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz. The war has strained infrastructure and forced nations...
Aegis Resources Ltd. Provides Update on Exploration Activities Across Its Projects
Aegis Resources Ltd. provided an update on its exploration portfolio spanning Argentina, Colombia, Australia and Chile. In Argentina, partner Targa secured permits and will commence a 2,250‑meter drill program at El Zanjon, while planning work at Venidero. In Colombia, Andina’s...
Guyana President Warns of Mineral ‘Dependence’ as Iran War Speeds Shift From Oil
Guyana President Irfaan Ali warned that a rapid shift to renewable energy following the Strait of Hormuz oil crisis could create a new dependence on critical minerals such as lithium, copper and cobalt. The effective closure of the Persian Gulf...
Equinor Bets on New Wells to Offset Declining Fields
Equinor has extended drilling and well‑service contracts worth roughly NOK 17 billion ($1.8 billion) to keep activity high on the Norwegian continental shelf. The extensions include three integrated contracts valued at NOK 8.3 billion ($893 million) and 18 specialist frameworks averaging NOK 4.3 billion ($463 million) per year. The...
Pakistan Separatists Unravel Barrick’s Reko Diq Plans
Militant attacks by the Baloch Liberation Army in Pakistan's Balochistan province have forced Barrick Gold to delay its Reko Diq copper‑gold project until mid‑2027. The $9 billion capex mine is a cornerstone of a $1.3 billion U.S.–Pakistan pact aimed at reducing Chinese dominance...
Cat® Unveils Battery Electric Power Unit at IFAT 2026, Turning Electrification Into a Drop-In Solution
Caterpillar unveiled its prototype Battery Electric Power Unit (BEPU) at IFAT 2026 in Munich, integrating it into Doppstadt’s SWS 6 Spiral Shaft Separator. The BEPU is a compact, plug‑and‑play system that swaps a diesel engine for an electric powertrain without...
Newmont-Backed Awalé Drills New Gold Zone at Odienné
Awalé Resources, backed by Newmont, announced a new near‑surface gold zone at its Fremen target in the Odienné project, Côte d’Ivoire. Highlight hole SSAC‑08 intersected 17 m grading 1.9 g/t Au from 6 m depth, while SSAC‑07 returned 12 m at 2.1 g/t Au from...