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 Hormuz closure—exposes vulnerabilities in global mineral supply chains. He emphasized the United States and allied nations are accelerating domestic mining projects and leveraging AI‑assisted exploration to counter China’s dominance in copper refining. The discussion underscored permitting hurdles and the strategic urgency of securing North American copper sources.
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,...
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...
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...
Agnico Eagle Approves Hope Bay Investment
Agnico Eagle Mines approved a major investment in its Hope Bay project after completing a preliminary economic assessment. The plan calls for an underground mine feeding a 6,000 mt/d processing plant that could produce 400,000‑435,000 ounces of gold annually, with an...
SANY Showcases SKT145Ei Electric Unmanned Wide Body Mining Truck
At its Global Mining Key Customer Summit in Xi'an, SANY Group gathered more than 700 delegates and announced signed orders exceeding 5 billion yuan (about $700 million). The event highlighted the SKT145Ei, a battery‑electric, cabless wide‑body truck, alongside the hybrid SRT100S dump...
Chile’s Salt Flats and the Lithium Race neither China nor the US Wants to Lose
The Chilean government under President José Antonio Kast has moved to simplify lithium mining regulations, merging the economy and mining ministries and pledging faster permits and lower taxes. This shift reverses the previous left‑leaning National Lithium Strategy, rolling back environmental...
First Capital Equipment Purchased for Savannah’s Barroso Lithium Project
Savannah Resources reported steady progress on the Barroso lithium project, Europe’s largest spodumene deposit, confirming that the Definitive Feasibility Study will be finished in July 2026. The company secured a second temporary land access, is close to appointing a FEED...
Talisman Reveals Findings From Fougnar Sampling in Morocco
Talisman Metals reported stream‑sediment results from its Fougnar project in Morocco, confirming existing drill targets and uncovering a new 4‑km corridor of anomalous mineralisation. The program analysed 132 samples, delivering peak assays of 200 ppm copper, 6,510 ppm barium, 502 ppm lead and...
OMV Starts Up Major Austrian Gas Development
OMV AG has started production at the Wittau well in Lower Austria, the country’s largest gas discovery in four decades. Phase 1 will deliver 11 tWh (about 1 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, enough to heat roughly 100,000 homes for a decade, with first...
Colombia Pushes Glencore on Cerrejón Closure Plans
Colombia’s government is urging Glencore to start planning a post‑coal future for the Cerrejón mine, whose concession runs until 2034. Production fell to 16.8 million tonnes in 2025, supporting more than 12,000 jobs and generating about $166 million in annual royalties. Officials...
Sigma Lithium Fights Brazil Ruling After Shares Slide
Sigma Lithium (Nasdaq: SGML) is appealing a Brazilian court ruling that could impose a $10 million penalty over alleged waste‑disposal violations at its Grota do Cirilo mine. The decision sparked a 15% slide in the stock, pushing the share price to...
BHP Deepens Its South Australian Ties as Copper Royalties Climb
BHP has reached a landmark agreement with the South Australian government to restructure copper royalties from its Olympic Dam operation. The new framework comes as copper royalties have surged to a monthly high, reflecting strong global demand. The deal includes higher...
Fresh Geophysics Fuels Growing True North Qld Copper Target
True North Copper’s latest induced polarisation (IP) survey at the Mt Oxide project in northwest Queensland has extended the Aquila copper‑cobalt‑silver anomaly northward by 500 metres, pushing the strike to over 1.5 km and keeping it open at depth. Recent drill holes have...
Greenland Approvals Supercharge Dalaroo Rare Earths Hunt
Dalaroo Metals secured two new Greenland exploration licences for its Blue Lagoon project, expanding its hold over the Gardar Alkaline Province. The enlarged land package gives the company control of key transport corridors and potential offshore heavy‑mineral traps, complementing earlier...
The Strait of Hormuz Crisis Is Cracking the Petrodollar System
The 13‑week closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut roughly one‑fifth of Gulf oil exports, forcing Asian importers to seek direct, often opaque, agreements with Gulf producers and Iran. Tankers are slipping through the waterway with AIS off, while...
19,000 Great Pyramids a Year: Report Flags Unsustainable Rate of Sand Mining
The United Nations Environment Programme reports that global sand extraction now tops 50 billion metric tons per year, a rate that far exceeds natural replenishment. This pace is enough to construct more than 19,000 Great Pyramids of Giza annually and is...
MinRes Reboots Bald Hill Lithium Mine After 18-Month Pause
Mineral Resources (MinRes) announced the restart of its Bald Hill lithium project in Nevada after an 18‑month shutdown caused by permitting delays and a soft lithium price environment. The company plans to ramp production to roughly 12,000 tonnes of lithium...
Southern Africa: Russia's Controversial Uranium Mining Plan Threatens Southern Africa's Vital Aquifer
Rosatom subsidiary Headspring Investments/Uranium One is advancing Project Wings, an in‑situ leaching uranium venture in the Kalahari’s Stampriet Artesian Basin. The plan calls for pumping large volumes of sulphuric acid into the trans‑boundary aquifer that supplies drinking water and irrigation for Namibia,...
How Gulf Investments Are Responding to the US-China Critical Minerals Competition
The United States is intensifying its focus on critical minerals, launching initiatives like FORGE and Project Vault to curb Chinese dominance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Gulf sovereign‑wealth funds—UAE’s ADQ, Qatar Investment Authority, and Saudi Arabia’s PIF—are pouring billions...
Australia Orders Six Northern Minerals Investors to Divest Stakes
Australia’s treasurer ordered six China‑linked shareholders of Northern Minerals to divest roughly 17% of the rare‑earth miner within two weeks, citing national‑interest concerns. The move follows earlier 2024 interventions aimed at limiting Chinese control over the company’s Browns Range heavy...
Liberia: Communities Cry for Clean Water As EPA Shuts Down Nugget Era Mining for Illegal Operations in Gbarpolu
The Liberian EPA shut down Nugget Era Mining’s Class B gold operation in Gbarpolu on April 29, 2026, after finding it operated without an environmental permit and polluted local water sources. Residents of Korninga Chiefdom report contaminated drinking water, rising illness, and...
ADES’ 2014-Built Rig Turns One-Year North Sea Gig Into Three-Year Drilling Job
ADES Holding Company, part of Saudi‑based ADES Group, secured a contract extension for its 12‑year‑old Shelf Drilling Winner jack‑up rig with Tenaz Energy in the Dutch North Sea. The extension converts the original one‑year firm term into a three‑year firm...
Kazera Notes Third-Party Interest in Its Namibian Tantalum, Lithium Project
Kazera Global says third‑party interest is growing for its African Tantalum (Aftan) project in southern Namibia, which targets both tantalum and lithium. The company’s recent technical work highlights dry‑beneficiation methods that could dramatically reduce water use, a key advantage in...
Rokeby Announces 20-Year Licence Renewal for Omeo Gold Project
Rokeby Resources secured a 20‑year renewal of Mining Licence MIN 4921, extending its control over the Omeo Gold Project in Victoria until May 2044. The licence covers the Mt Wills goldfield, which hosts the Maude and Sunnyside deposits and a historical resource of...
GR Engineering to Deliver Ora Banda's Expanded Davyhurst Plant
GR Engineering Services has been appointed as the preferred contractor for Ora Banda Mining’s Davyhurst Expansion Project, which will deliver a new 3 million‑tonne‑per‑year gold processing plant. The plant is designed to boost capacity and capture higher‑grade ore, supporting Ora Banda’s record 38,766 oz...
Nobel Begins Drilling at Chile’s Pampa Austral
Nobel Resources has begun diamond drilling at its Pampa Austral property in Chile, targeting a historic 70‑metre interval that returned 0.70% copper and a 14‑metre zone of 2.1% copper. The initial two holes will test an induced‑polarisation (IP) chargeability anomaly...
Qld, Federal Govt Kick Off Mount Isa Transformation Study
Queensland and the Australian federal government have launched the Mount Isa Transformation Study, a strategic review aimed at securing the long‑term viability of the region’s copper sector. The study follows Glencore’s 2026 re‑bricking of its Mount Isa copper smelter and...
ZCCM-IH Aims for Bigger Stakes in Zambian Mines
ZCCM Investments Holdings, Zambia’s state investment arm, is moving to increase its minority stakes in several copper mines, including raising its share in Lubambe to 30% and in Mingomba to 25%. The strategy is part of a broader national push...
Chalmers Sends More China-Linked Northern Minerals Investors Packing
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers ordered six investors to sell their holdings in Northern Minerals, citing concerns over Chinese influence at the company’s high‑profile Browns Range rare‑earth project. The investors collectively own almost 1.7 billion shares, representing a significant stake in the...
China Rare Earth Breakthrough in Icy Northeast Could Cement Country’s Dominance
Chinese scientists have identified a new class of rare‑earth deposits in the frozen soils of Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. Unlike the clay‑rich ion‑adsorption deposits of southern China, these northern formations are loose sand and gravel created by freeze‑thaw cycles and...
Godolphin Considers ASX Spin-Out for Narraburra Rare Earths as It Joins Vital US Defence Consortium
Australian junior Godolphin Resources (ASX:GRL) has joined the US Defense Industrial Base Consortium, giving its Narraburra rare earth project direct access to US defence and industrial partners. The company is reviewing a demerger that would spin out the Narraburra assets...
Critica Delivers ~97% TREO MREO at Jupiter
Critica reported that its Jupiter rare‑earth project in Western Australia produced a third mixed rare‑earth oxide (MREO) batch with approximately 97% total rare‑earth oxide (TREO) purity, up from 84‑86% in prior tests. The hydrometallurgical flowsheet optimisation also delivered magnet rare‑earth...