December 3rd, 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:

🇦🇺 The Albanese Government’s Environment Protection Reform Bill will pass Parliament this week, more than five years after Professor Graeme Samuel handed down his independent review into the nation’s 25-year-old environmental laws. The Bill creates a National Environment Protection Agency (EPA) as well as National Environmental Standards. It increases penalties for the most significant breaches of environmental law and also requires proponents of large emitting projects to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and their emission reduction plans. At the same time, it promises a streamlined assessment pathway, removal of duplicative assessments and clear regional planning of “go” and “no-go” zones to help with business certainty. Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable said the deal is an inferior and disappointing outcome. (Australia Government)

🇨🇦 The Canadian government and the Province of Alberta signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will be the basis for a relationship reset. The Carney lead Liberal government will scrap its predecessors oil and gas emissions cap, suspend clean electricity regulations in Alberta and support an additional pipeline to the coast of British Columbia. We like the move but the devil will be in the details. The reality is that President Trump’s tariffs are taking a toll on the Canadian economy. Just this week, Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie announced it will lay off 1,000 workers in the new year. The automotive industry is under attack, as is aluminum, steel and forestry. Alberta oil is the one thing that Canada can turn on fairly quickly to generate economic benefit for the nation. (Canada)

🇨🇦 To all of those publicly listed companies in Canada, pay attention. The Supreme Court of Canada in an 8 to 1 decision ruled that an investor can sue a company if it does not immediately disclose a “material change”. Numerous law firms have said this will lead to more disclosure so that companies err on the side of caution. If you are an executive, on the board of directors or counsel for a publicly-listed company, you better double-check your compliance with this law. (Globe & Mail)

🇨🇦 The Canadian government has cleared the Anglo American/Teck Resources deal on national security grounds, the first hurdle for approval. The Canadian government will now assess the proposed takeover under the net economic benefit review. The review is primarily the process used by the federal government under the Investment Canada Act to evaluate significant foreign acquisitions of Canadian businesses.

🇨🇦 The Government of Canada is investing $441,000 in two projects to help train members of the Manitoba Métis Federation and Mosakahiken Cree Nation. The funding will support training, workshops, skills development and career pathways for members of both communities in the mining and critical minerals sector. If you have a mine or project in Manitoba, it sounds like a great collaboration opportunity. (Canada)

🇺🇸 🇨🇦 The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission which represents 14 tribes in the state has gone to the British Columbia Supreme Court to demand they are consulted on projects that impact their territory. (CBC)

🇺🇸 The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity for up to $134m to enhance domestic supply chains for rare earth elements. Through this funding, DOE will support projects that demonstrate the commercial viability of recovering and refining REEs from unconventional feedstocks including mine tailings, e-waste, and other waste materials. Interested? Don’t wait, click on the link as there is a webinar at 1:00 PM ET on December 9, 2025. Non-binding, non-mandatory letters of intent are requested by December 10, 2025, at 5:00 PM ET to assist the Department in planning for the review process. Full applications must be submitted by 5:00 PM ET on January 5, 2026. Register here → (DOE)

🇳🇦 Namibia's President appointed Modestus Amutse as the country's new Minister of Mines, Energy and Industry. If you are doing work in country, get that congratulations letter and meeting request ready.

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MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

🇨🇦 Barrick Mining’s Board of Directors has unanimously authorized Barrick’s management team to explore an initial public offering of a subsidiary that will hold Barrick’s premier North American Gold Assets. The new company would be anchored by Barrick’s joint venture interests in Nevada Gold Mines and Pueblo Viejo, as well as Barrick’s wholly owned Fourmile gold discovery in Nevada. The IPO would be for a small minority interest with Barrick aiming to maintain a significant controlling majority interest in the new company. And so it begins. (Barrick)

🇨🇦 Vale Base Metals has signed an agreement with Glencore Canada to jointly evaluate a potential brownfield copper development project at their adjacent properties in the Sudbury Basin. The intention is that the two mining giants will become equal partners in a project that is estimated to produce 880 kt of copper over 21 years with a capital cost of about US$1.6 billion to US$2.0 billion. An investment decision is expected in the first half of 2027 in what would be a big win for the region. To our government staff readers, lets make sure we roll out the red carpet on this one! (Newswire)

🇯🇵 🇨🇦 Montreal’s Rithmik Solutions, a leader in OEM-agnostic, AI-powered performance analytics for mobile mining equipment, announced that Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. has made a minority strategic investment in the company as part of Rithmik’s current financing round. Congratulations on the vote of confidence from a major global player! (Businesswire)

🇨🇳 Zijin Mining’s 68 year old Founder & current Chairman, Chen Jinghe, will retire due to age and family reasons according to reports. He will take on the role of Honorary Chairman and remain a senior consultant.

MINING BITS

🇺🇸 Think you are having a bad day? Utility operator Northern Water had to pause its Chimney Hollow Reservoir project near Loveland, Colorado despite decades of planning and 4 years of construction. Why you say? Turns out the granite rock that was quarried on site to help build the dam has uranium in it and its leeching into the water. While Northern Water is investigating how serious the leeching issue is, it has promised it won’t impact the drinking water quality of roughly 1 million future customers. (CPR)

🇦🇺 Last weekend, hundreds of activists associated with the climate group Rising Tide, blocked shipping lanes with Kayaks at the Port of Newcastle, Australia, to protest coal exports. Greenpeace Australia Pacific was also involved with numerous activists climbing onto a coal ship near the port to stop its operations. Needless to say, lots of arrests were made. (Reuters)

🇯🇵 Both of our Founders spent time living in Japan and we absolutely love the country and its people. What we don’t love is its patriarchal system of succession law related to the Emperor title. Why does it matter? The current Emperor has only one daughter, Princess Aiko. She is extremely popular with the public, but succession law would only qualify the Emperor’s teenage nephew to take on the role. There is a growing social media push to change the laws despite opposition from the conservative government & its current Prime Minister. One advocate put it this way, “The succession system conveys the Japanese mindset regarding gender issues… I expect having a female monarch would dramatically improve women’s status in Japan.” (AP News)

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