Malawi: Malawi Signs Strategic Mineral Deal With U.S., But Questions Linger Over Transparency
Malawi has signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. trading firm Traxys North America to market graphite from the Kasiya rutile‑graphite project, aiming to supply up to 80,000 tonnes annually to the United States’ Project Vault strategic reserve. The deal, announced at Mining Indaba, positions Malawi as a potential source of critical minerals for defense and battery production. However, the MOU lacks disclosed pricing, royalty terms, or guaranteed revenue for the Malawian government. Critics warn that without transparency and value‑adding policies, the agreement may reinforce Malawi’s role as a raw‑material exporter rather than a beneficiary of the energy transition.
Ghana: President Sets Ambitious Target to End Raw Mineral Exports Within 5 Years
President John Dramani Mahama announced Ghana's goal to cease exporting raw minerals within five years, shifting toward domestic refining and processing of oil, bauxite, manganese, and lithium. He highlighted the sector's $6.6 billion export revenue in 2023 but noted limited local...
Kumba Upbeat on Iron Ore Contract Talks with China
Kumba Iron Ore says it will wrap up contract negotiations with Chinese steelmakers this year, despite the ongoing dispute between China Minerals Resources Group and major miners. China now represents 56% of Kumba’s 2025 export sales, up from 54% in...
Gold Fields Delivers on New Power Dividend
Gold Fields announced a final dividend of R18.5 per share, a 164% increase year‑over‑year, and added a special dividend of R4.5 per share. Including the interim payout, the total regular dividend of R25.5 represents 35% of free cash flow, aligning...
NRW's Diversification Drive Pays Off
NRW Holdings announced that its acquisition of Fredon Industries for $200 million is driving a significant upgrade to its FY2025‑26 outlook. The diversified service capabilities are expected to boost revenue guidance by roughly 12% and lift earnings per share by about...
Africa: All of Africa Today - February 19, 2026
A suspected carbon‑monoxide leak killed 33 miners at Solid Unity Nigeria's lead‑zinc mine in Plateau state, sparking renewed safety concerns. Gabon’s regulator ordered a blanket suspension of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and WhatsApp as online tensions rose under President Brice...
Weekly Newsletter 19 February 2026
Albemarle announced the care‑and‑maintenance status of its sole remaining lithium‑hydroxide train in Australia, sparking concerns about the nation’s downstream ambitions. Despite this setback, new projects from Tianqi, Mineral Resources and other players are slated to come online by 2028, keeping...
Ausgold Makes Connections with Katanning Noongar People
Ausgold has signed a cooperation agreement with the Katanning Noongar people, the Native Title holders of the Wagyl Kaip Southern region, to advance its proposed Katanning gold project in Western Australia. The company pledged to achieve a 5% workforce participation...
Funding Floodgates Open for Gold Miners as Record Prices Inspire Cash Avalanche
Gold has surged to a record $5,000 per ounce, unleashing unprecedented cash flows into the mining sector. The rally enabled a $639 million takeover of Magnetic Resources by Genesis Minerals and a $175 million placement for Horizon Minerals, underscoring a wave of...
Sibanye-Stillwater to Recognise R5.3bn in Impairments
Sibanye‑Stillwater will record R5.3 bn of impairments in the second half of its 2025 financial year, bringing total FY2025 impairments to R14 bn. The write‑downs stem from a R3.8 bn reduction at the Kloof gold mine and a R138 m impairment on the Keliber...
DRDGold Makes Light of R10bn Outlay with Record Dividend
DRDGOLD posted a record 50c interim dividend while financing its R10 billion Vision 2028 expansion entirely from free cash flow, despite a 9% dip in gold output. The company benefited from a $3,788‑per‑ounce gold price, which boosted revenue and lifted cash balances...
Zambia Lifts Suspension on Mopani’s Mufulira Mine After Safety Upgrades
Zambia’s Minerals Regulation Commission has lifted the week‑long suspension of underground operations at Mopani Copper Mines’ Mufulira mine after the company installed upgraded safety systems. The new measures include a real‑time personnel tracking platform, a two‑hour clearance verification process, and...
Glencore to Extend KCC in Land Deal with Gécamines
Glencore announced a lease agreement with DRC state miner Gécamines that secures additional land titles, extending the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) life of mine into the 2040s and targeting 300,000 tonnes of copper output by 2028. The deal follows a...
A Decade on, Lily Mine Rescue Remains Unresolved
The Lily Mine collapse in 2016 triggered a business rescue that has now stretched ten years without resolution. The mine remains closed, the three miners unrecovered, creditors unpaid, and no funding has been verified for revised rescue plans. The case...
Pan African Dusts Off Historic Gold in Drive for Growth
Pan African Resources announced a maiden interim dividend of 12 South African cents per share, translating to a R280 million payout. The six‑month results showed earnings up 192% to US 0.073 per share, while net debt collapsed 69.3% to $46.2 million and cash...
The Fallacy of European Rare Earth Prices
Over the past year European intermediaries have quoted rare‑earth oxide prices that are several times higher than the volume‑backed market rates, creating widespread confusion. Adamas Intelligence data shows that 75% of yttrium oxide, 96% of dysprosium oxide and 95% of...
Zambia’s Copper Industry Expands Amid Rising Global Demand and Investment
Global demand for copper, driven by AI, renewable energy and electric vehicles, is spurring a rapid expansion of Zambia’s mining sector. Since 2022, more than $12 billion has been poured into the industry, lifting 2024 output by roughly eight percent to...
Sibanye-Stillwater Cuts Gold Reserves as Kloof Curtailed
Sibanye-Stillwater reported a 6.3% decline in gold mineral reserves, now standing at 9.4 million ounces, after a 1.4‑million‑ounce writedown at its Kloof mine. The broader South African gold resource base fell 25.5% to 36.4 million ounces, while platinum‑group metal (PGM)...
Scottie Drills 4.55m of 141 G/T Gold
Scottie Resources Corp. announced a spectacular 4.55 m intercept grading 141.2 g/t gold from the Fifi Vein within the Blueberry Contact Zone, part of its historic Scottie Mine project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle. The zone already hosts an inferred 3.6 Mt resource...
Li-FT Launches 2026 Drilling at BIG East
Li‑FT Power has kicked off a 6,770‑meter drilling campaign at its Yellowknife Lithium Project, concentrating on the BIG East spodumene pegmatite. The 2026 program includes 26 diamond holes, with 24 targeting the main dike corridor to depths of about 300 m. BIG East...
DOJ Filing Looms in Pebble Veto Fight
Northern Dynasty Minerals updated the court schedule for its Pebble mining lawsuit, noting that the Department of Justice must file a response brief by Feb. 17, 2026. The EPA’s 2023 Clean Water Act veto halted the project’s wetlands permit, prompting the...
Anson Resources to Commence Drilling at Yellow Cat Uranium-Vanadium Project, Utah USA
Anson Resources, through its Utah subsidiary UV1 Minerals, will begin a targeted drilling campaign at the Yellow Cat uranium‑vanadium project in early March 2026. The program will test roughly 2,500 metres of strike‑length mineralisation that has previously yielded surface assays of...
Resolution Minerals Expands Golden Gate Discovery with Broad Gold and Significant Tungsten Intercepts
Resolution Minerals announced that its 2025 drilling program at Idaho's Golden Gate prospects confirmed extensive near‑surface gold mineralization and identified a notable tungsten zone. Intercepts include more than 100 m of >0.35 g/t Au and a 21 m interval averaging 0.06% tungsten, expanding...
BIR World Mirror: Scrap Supply Tightness Boosts Steel Prices
The Bureau of International Recycling’s World Mirror report shows U.S. recycled‑steel prices rising as winter storms forced yard closures, tightening obsolete scrap inflows and bolstering export demand. Japan’s prices also firmed amid weak scrap generation and a depreciating yen. In...
Saskatchewan’s Rook I Mine Could Make Canada the World’s Largest Uranium Exporter
Canada is on the brink of becoming the world’s largest uranium exporter as NexGen Energy’s Rook I mine in Saskatchewan moves toward final approval by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The project, located in the Athabasca Basin, is designed to...
Reclaiming Coal Mine Wastelands: How Afforestation Is Rebuilding Soil From the Ground Up
A recent Scientific Reports study compared three afforestation approaches on hard‑coal post‑mining Technosols: succession on barren spoil, succession on reclaimed topsoil, and plantation on reclaimed topsoil. The research found that applying reclaimed topsoil markedly improved nutrient stocks, water‑holding capacity, and...
Green Creek Silver Reserve Growth Continues
Hecla Mining’s Greens Creek operation in Southeast Alaska added 2.4 million ounces of silver reserves in 2025, bringing its proven and probable reserves to 106.1 million ounces—about half of the company’s total. The company’s overall silver reserves fell roughly 4 % due to...
Fireweed, RRDC Sign Exploration Accord
Fireweed Metals Corp. has signed an exploration and collaboration agreement with the Ross River Dena Council (RRDC) that obligates the company to obtain free, prior and informed consent before advancing its Mactung tungsten and Macpass zinc‑lead‑silver projects in eastern Yukon....
Kincora and AngloGold Ashanti Exploration Expands and Upgrades Nevertire with Drilling Recommenced
Kincora Copper and AngloGold Ashanti have completed Phase 1 drilling at the Nevertire and Nevertire‑South licences, confirming a large porphyry‑style copper‑gold system extending over more than 5.4 km. The results upgraded the immediate target zone, which remains open in all directions, and...
Pantera Completes First Modern Exploration Program at Historic US Silver–Antimony District
Pantera Minerals has finished the first modern rock‑and‑soil geochemical survey at its Gillham Silver‑Antimony Project, covering roughly 5,000 acres with 1,408 soil and 47 rock samples now in assay. The program marks the inaugural systematic exploration of a historic U.S....
Diablo Identifies Silver–Antimony Drill Targets in Utah as Copper Mineralization Confirmed at Phoenix Project
Diablo Resources has earmarked high‑grade silver‑antimony drill targets at its Star Range Project in Utah and confirmed shallow copper mineralisation at the Phoenix Copper Project. A ground‑based DDIP survey will map the STAR‑01 magnetic anomaly to guide maiden drilling, following...
Uranium Exposure in Children Near Johannesburg Mine Tailings Raises Public Health Concerns
Researchers measured uranium in soil and children’s hair near Johannesburg gold‑mine tailings, revealing markedly higher exposure than a non‑mining reference site in Durban. Median hair uranium was 17.07 µg/kg versus 8.12 µg/kg, while residential soil showed a 10% concentration increase. Girls and...
Mountain Province Pauses Tuzo Phase 3
Mountain Province Diamonds announced a pause on the Tuzo Phase 3 development at its Gahcho Kué mine, citing weak diamond prices and rising costs. The joint‑venture partners are refocusing capital on higher‑grade feed from the NEX pipe to safeguard liquidity. The decision...
Banyan Defines Deeper Airstrip Gold
Banyan Gold Corp. released 2025 drilling results from its Aur Mac project in the Yukon, showing high‑grade gold mineralization that extends both within the existing pit and at depth beneath the Airstrip deposit. The infill and step‑out holes returned intervals such...
Port Mac Poised as AK Mineral Export Hub
A new study commissioned by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) identifies Port MacKenzie as the state’s optimal hub for expanding mineral exports. The port’s extensive undeveloped land, direct highway connections and a planned 32‑mile rail extension give...
