December 10th, 2025 - The Mine Wire

METALS MARKET

^{**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:

🇺🇸 President Trump threatened “severe tariffs” on Canadian potash this week. The United States imports 95% of its potash and roughly 90% comes from Canada. With Russia, China & Belarus as the other major players, we have to wonder what President Trump is thinking or how this fits into his broader strategy.

🇨🇦 We can only imagine that senior Canadian government officials were highlighting the U.S. tariff threat as they met with Nutrien this past week to try and convince the potash miner to re-consider its plans to build a new export terminal south of the border. British Columbia’s Premier was quite outspoken that Canada should have enticed Nutrien to build a new terminal on the Canadian west coast. The timing is certainly something, isn’t it?

🇨🇦 Meanwhile, over in Ontario the government was celebrating Sandvik’s $85m investment in a new, state-of-the-art maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Greater Sudbury. In support of this investment, Ontario is providing up to $4m in funding through the Invest Ontario Fund. It will help sustain 400 jobs while creating 60 new ones. If you have an investment project in Ontario that will create jobs, you should definitely be exploring whether these types of economic development grants are applicable to you. (Ontario)

🇪🇺 The European Union adopted the RESourceEU Action Plan to accelerate and amplify its efforts to secure the EU's supply of critical raw materials. The plan looks to de-risk investments while fast-tracking permitting. (EU Commission)

🇬🇱 Speaking of EU developments, Greenland has issued a 30-year exploitation license to London-listed GreenRoc Mining Plc for the Amitsoq graphite deposit. Greenland is not in the EU, but it's closely associated as an Overseas Country and Territory through Denmark and one of the jurisdictions where the EU hopes to jostle away projects from the United States. (Reuters)

Ideon Technologies > Unlocking Subsurface Potential

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MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Contango ORE, Inc. and Dolly Varden Silver Corporation have entered into an arrangement agreement to combine Contango and Dolly Varden on a merger-of-equals basis. The merged company will be called Contango Silver & Gold Inc. and will include the Manh Choh gold mine in Alaska as well as several high-grade silver and gold projects located in British Columbia and Alaska including the Kitsault Valley and Johnson Tract projects. Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse (Contango) will be the MergeCo’s CEO with Shawn Khunkhun (Dolly Varden) taking on the role of President. Michael Clark (Contango) will continue in the role of CFO. Both companies saw a jump of more than 5% in their share price as investors reacted positively to the news. (PR Newswire)

🇨🇦 Speaking of investors, Orla Mining shares fell sharply last Friday after investor Fairfax Financial Holdings sold 25m common shares at C$17.6435 apiece for a cool C$441.1m. Despite the sale, Fairfax is still holding 31.8m shares. The miner is down more than 13% the past week but up over 100% in 2025. Jason Simpson, CEO of Orla Mining, posted this on LinkedIn, “Prem, Reno, and the shareholders of Fairfax, thank you for the overwhelming support of Orla Mining. Our job is to create value for shareholders just like we have for you. Due to the support you provided to acquire Musselwhite Mine, you will continue to be our top shareholder and we look forward to creating more value for all stakeholders including you as we continue to grow this company.” What a class act and we love what we are seeing. An investor making healthy returns and a miner on the right track. Win-Wins all around.

🇦🇺 🇬🇧 With investors in mind, Rio Tinto’s new CEO Simon Trott released its strategy to deliver industry leading returns by becoming stronger, sharper and simpler. The plan includes a 4% reduction in unit costs between 2024 and 2030. It also includes generating $5bn - $10bn by exploring commercial, partnership and ownership options across land, infrastructure, mining and processing assets. The strategic reviews of Iron and Titanium, and Borates are advancing as planned, with the next phase focused on testing the market for these assets. In short, the miner is looking to trim fat, focus on its strengths and generate better returns for its investors. (Rio Tinto)

🇧🇷 Brazilian rare earth miner Serra Verde claims everyone is knocking on its door to get rare earth supply. CEO Thras Moraitis said, "The Chinese, the Americans, the Japanese, the Europeans, the Canadians all have approached us, given that we are the only supplier of heavy rare earths, at least for the foreseeable future." With long 10 year offtake agreements with Chinese companies up for renewal next year, the miner says it will cut contract period lengths and diversify its customer base. Sounds like higher prices and margins to us. In case you thought about investing (like us!), Mineração Serra Verde is owned by a consortium of investment firms, primarily Denham Capital, alongside significant investments from Energy & Minerals Group and Vision Blue Resources. (Reuters)

🇺🇸 In the United States, Perpetua Resources announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Idaho National Laboratory to host, commission, and operate a flexible, modular pilot processing plant expected to be capable of recovering various critical and defense-related minerals, including antimony from the Company's ores. This pilot plant initiative is part of a broader partnership between Perpetua Resources and the U.S. Army via the Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium to secure domestic sources of critical minerals. The company’s stock is up a whopping 131% in 2025.

🇺🇸 Tronox Holdings plc (NYSE:TROX) has received coordinated, non-binding and conditional Letters of Support / Interest from Export Finance Australia and Export-Import Bank of the United States, for up to US$600m in limited or non-recourse financing to support the development of Tronox’s rare earth supply chain. Tronox mines and processes titanium ore, zircon, rare earths and other materials and manufactures titanium dioxide pigment, specialty-grade titanium dioxide products and high-purity titanium chemicals. Needless to say, the news sent the stock up over 25% yesterday. (Tronox)

🇨🇦 Yes, rare earth refining is all the rage as you can see. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) announced a 5 year offtake agreement with REalloys Inc. for the vast majority of annual production of Neodymium -Praseodymium metal and Dysprosium and Terbium oxides from SRC's Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatoon. The deal ensures the processing facility is commercially successful while giving REalloys the rare earth metals it needs for its U.S. defence industrial base clients.

🇨🇦 Last but not least, congratulations to Vancouver’s pH7 Technologies Inc. which announced the closing of USD$25.6m as part of its Series B financing round. pH7 is a pioneer in commercially scalable critical metal extraction solutions. The round was led by Fine Structure Ventures, with BHP Ventures joining as a key strategic investor, alongside Energy & Environment Investment, Siteground, Gaingels Fund, and Calm Venture, with continued participation from existing investors including TDK Ventures, Pangaea Ventures, Rhapsody Venture Partners, and BASF Venture Capital.

MINING BITS

🇨🇦 The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) released its latest report, Mining 2030: Unearthing Ontario’s Potential. It outlines policy changes, regulatory reforms and strategic investments that it says are needed to strengthen Ontario’s $23.8bn mining economy. The report notes that while both provincial and federal governments have made commitments, regulatory complexity, mounting cost pressures, infrastructure gaps and a shortage of skilled workers continue to deter investment. The OCC is calling for action in 5 areas. Do you have a project in Ontario, are a government official or a policy nerd? Definitely give this report a read. (OCC) 

🇨🇦 The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) published a report titled, “Evidence-Based Research on the Impact of New Technologies in the Mining Industry.” The report provides an analysis of technology adoption and its associated impacts, drawing on case studies from six large-scale mining operations in six different countries: Australia, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, and South Africa. With 7 key findings and 5 policy recommendations, it is definitely worth a read. (IISD)

🇿🇦 This week, Marius van der Merwe was assassinated outside of his home in front of his family. He was the Founder and Managing Director of a private security firm, QRF Task Team. Van der Merwe claimed to have information connecting politicians, government officials, private security and law enforcement to illegal mining activities. Sadly, this isn’t some Hollywood movie plot, it is South Africa today. And unfortunately the good guy doesn’t win in this story. (Cape Times) 

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