April 23rd, 2025 - The Mine Wire

METALS MARKET

Global uncertainty has buoyed Gold to record highs this past week, hitting US$3,500 per ounce at one point. South Korea’s mint had to suspend gold bar sales due to a lack of supply.

^{**For our chart above we are taking prices from Tuesday 4pm EST to Tuesday 4pm EST, so not the typical week of Monday through Friday.}

KEEPING AN EYE ON GOVERNMENT DECISIONS

Here are some of the notable government policy moves this week:

• 🇨🇦 The Ontario government introduced legislation that will designate special economic zones and introduce a new One Project, One Process permitting model. The government intends to reduce permitting timelines by 50% while also supercharging approvals in special economic zones. The government got a positive nod from a host of industry associations but will likely need a cooperative federal partner to keep things moving. Canada’s election is scheduled for next Monday, April 28th. We will have a full analysis next week on the new government and how their platform commitments impact the mining sector. (Ontario Government)

• 🇺🇸 President Trump also took action to fast-track permitting for 10 critical mining projects in the United States by granting them FAST-41 status. The projects include: Resolution Copper Project (Rio Tinto/BHP), Stibnite Gold Project (Perpetua Resources), Warrior Met Coal Mines, McDermitt Exploration Project (HiTech Minerals, Inc), South West Arkansas Project (Standard Lithium), Caldwell Canyon Mine Project (P4 Production, LLC), Libby Exploration Project (Hecla Mining), Lisbon Valley Copper Project (Lisbon Valley Mining Company), Silver Peak Lithium Mine (Albemarle Corp.) and Michigan Potash. (The White House)

• 🇺🇸 Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox News Sunday that the war on mining in the United States is over under President Trump. He said, “And so, under President Trump, it’s not just drill, baby, drill, it’s going to be map, baby, map, which is we’ve got these materials in our country, but then also mine, baby, mine.” (Politico)

• 🇺🇸 🇨🇩 The Democratic Republic of Congo has reportedly engaged Erik Prince, the American businessman who founded the private military contractor Blackwater. According to Reuters, “A diplomatic source said the first stage of Prince's effort in Congo would focus on securing mines and tax revenues in copper-producing Katanga province.” For now, Prince’s involvement will not include the rebel incursion in the east. (Reuters)

• 🇬🇭 The Ghana government took operational control of Gold Fields’ Damang mine after the country rejected an application from the South African miner to renew its lease. The Ghana Chamber of Mines and the Minority in Parliament have spoken out against the governments actions and the impact it may have on future investments. Meanwhile, The Deputy CEO of the Minerals Commission, Isaac Andrews Tandoh, said Ghana has for too long allowed mining firms to profit massively without equitable reinvestment into the local economy. (Gold Fields)

• 🇨🇱 Chile’s government is moving forward with lithium projects in three salt flats. The Mining Ministry has accepted applications from Eramet in the Agua Amarga salt flat; from Eramet, Quiborax, and Codelco, for the Ascotan salt flat; and from the Caliche Kairos consortium for the Coipasa salt flat. Once indigenous consultations and other conditions for a permit are met, an agreement will be signed with the applicants. (Reuters)

• 🇨🇳 China made it clear it won’t be pushed around and sent a warning to other countries looking to make a deal with the United States at it’s expense - “China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement. “If this happens, China will never accept it and will resolutely take countermeasures in a reciprocal manner. China is determined and capable of safeguarding its own rights and interests.” (AP News)

• 🇨🇳 🇰🇷 The Chinese government has warned South Korean companies of consequences should they export any product containing China’s critical metals to U.S. military contractors. While the government wasn’t explicit on the potential penalty, South Korean companies are worried Beijing could block future rare earth sales if they don’t comply. (KED Global)

• 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 Late Tuesday, President Trump said China tariffs will "come down substantially but won't be zero." Trump also said he wouldn't play "hardball" with China and also backed away from firing Federal Reserve Chair Powell. Stocks rallied on the news and we would expect a positive session today.

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MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

• 🇺🇸 Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: GOLD, TSX: ABX) announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its 50% interest in the Donlin Gold Project in Alaska to affiliates of Paulson Advisers LLC and NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. (TSX:NG) for $1bn in cash. Paulson and NOVAGOLD have agreed to acquire 80 percent and 20 percent. NOVAGOLD already owned the other 50% of the project, so this new purchase will bring it’s overall stake to 60%. (Barrick Gold Corp.)

• 🇨🇦 Barrick has also retained Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to find buyers and solicit bids for its last remaining Canadian asset, the Hemlo gold mine in Ontario. Back in February Barrick’s CEO Mark Bristow said the company was considering redomiciling from Canada to the United States. Is selling the Ontario mine the final nail in the coffin for Canada? (BNN Bloomberg)

• 🇨🇦 🇪🇨 🇨🇳 Congratulations to Lumina Gold Corp. (TSXV: LUM) and it’s shareholders on a big acquisition offer. China’s CMOC Group has entered into an agreement to acquire all shares of Lumina for C$1.27 per share, valuing the company at C$581m. The offer is a significant premium to both the 20-day VWAP (71%) and the closing price of Lumina on April 17th, 2025 (41%). Despite that, the Vancouver miner’s Cangrejos gold project in Ecuador could attract a higher offer. The agreement gives Lumina the right to accept a superior offer but at the cost of a $23.28m termination fee. An engineering study published by the company in 2023 showed the potential for a mine to produce 9.8 million ounces of gold, 7.8 million ounces of silver and 1.1 billion pounds of copper over 26 years. (Lumina Gold) & (Globe & Mail)

• 🇺🇸 🇰🇿 Reuters reported that U.S. businessman James Cameron has offered to buy mining giant Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) for US$5bn. The company is currently 40% owned by the Kazakhstan government with the three founders/families owning 20% each. ERG denied reports that there have been on-going negotiations between the two sides. Cameron’s interest comes as Kazakhstan looks to increase its output of rare earths by 40% in the next few years. (Reuters)

• 🇷🇺 Baimskaya Management Company LLC has secured a US$13.40bn investment from Russia’s state development bank VEB. The investment will go towards the development of the Baimskaya copper deposit and will create 6,000 jobs. It is expected to boost Russia’s copper output by 25% and its gold output by 4%. (Reuters)

• 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 Vegas’s MP Materials (NYSE: MP) announced that it will stop shipping critical minerals to China, after the southeast Asian nation increased tariffs to 125%. The company said, “Selling our valuable critical materials under 125% tariffs is neither commercially rational nor aligned with America’s national interest.” The stock is down over 18% since the news broke, but with the only rare earth mine in production in the United States along with government support, we aren’t too concerned. The stock is up over 45% the past year. Forbes has a great piece this week on the company with comments from MP’s CEO Jim Litinsky. There goes our pitch to bring us down to Vegas for an in-person interview. (MP Materials) & (Forbes)

• 🇦🇺 🇸🇪 Hats off to Fortescue (ASX: FMG) as they continue to lead the way in reducing overall emissions. The Australian giant announced that it will be purchasing 50 electric drill rigs from Epiroc for a cool A$350m. The Swedish equipment behemoth said the contract award was its largest ever. We hope that Epiroc threw an epic party that rocked to celebrate. (Fortescue) & (Epiroc)

THE MINE WIRE RECEPTION at CIM CONNECT

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MINING BITS

• 🇬🇧 Congratulations to Nyobolt which raised $30m to expand its fast-charging battery technology. “Last year in a track test Nyobolt successfully charged an EV to 80% from 10% in less than five minutes.” (Reuters)

• 🇺🇸 🇵🇰 Foreign Policy takes a look at Pakistan’s vast mineral wealth and the potential for investment from the United States. FP says, “However, the prospects for U.S.-Pakistan minerals cooperation shouldn’t be overstated; serious security risks make such partnership a dangerous gamble.” With 521 terrorist attacks in the country last year, up 70% from the year prior, security certainly seems to be a major concern. (Foreign Policy)

• 🇺🇸 Liberty Vittert argues in The Hill that cutting coal only hurts the United States and won’t slow down climate change. She points out that China and India among others have exponentially ramped up their own usage outgrowing any reduction by the US. Further, she argues that new innovations make the burning of coal much cleaner than in the past and should be the focus. (The Hill) On the flip side, Jennifer Danis and Pello Aspuru argue that proposed white house changes will lead to lower royalty revenue, more pollution, increased investor uncertainty and higher electric bills. (The Hill)

• 🇨🇳 Zhong Ziran, the former head of China’s Geological Survey was handed a 13 year prison sentence last week for bribery and intentionally leaking state secrets. The court found that Zhong accepted bribes worth more than US$3.21m between 2011 and 2023. (China Daily)

• 🇨🇦 COOL JOB ALERT! The Association for Mineral Exploration (AME) is looking for a new President & CEO. The organization is the lead association for the mineral exploration and development industry based in British Columbia. Lincoln Strategic has been engaged to oversee the search. Learn more here —> (LinkedIn)

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