June 25th, 2025 - The Mine Wire

METALS MARKET

With a potential ceasefire in the middle east, WTI Crude fell as quickly as it went up. Platinum continued its push higher while uranium was up after the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust said it would buy around $200 million worth of physical uranium for a new fund.

^{**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:

• 🌎 NATO leaders met in The Hague, Netherlands this week, agreeing to raise defense spending to a significant 5% of GDP by 2035. The CBC reported that, “Countries would spend 3.5% of GDP on core defense — such as troops and weapons — and 1.5% on broader defense-related measures such as cyber security, protecting pipelines and adapting roads and bridges to handle heavy military vehicles.” In an interview with CNN, Canada’s Prime Minister speaks about how investments in critical minerals can count as part of the 1.5%. While 5% of GDP doesn’t necessarily sound like a big number on the surface, the Canadian government collects 15.5% of GDP in taxes - so essentially this would account for nearly 1/3 of the Federal budget. The United States has been spending around 3.3% to 3.4% of GDP on defense in recent years. (CBC)

• 🇨🇦 Ontario Premier Doug Ford found himself in hot water after suggesting First Nations groups should stop coming “hat in hand” to government while saying no to mining projects. "There's going to be a point that you can't just keep coming hat in hand all the time to the government, you've got to be able to take care of yourselves," he said. "And when you literally have gold mines, nickel mines, every type of critical mineral that the world wants, and you're saying, 'No, no, I don't want to touch that, by the way, give me money' — not going to happen." Cue a public backlash and the Premier was quickly walking back his words and meeting with First Nations Chiefs to apologize, "I get pretty passionate and I just want to sincerely apologize for my words, not only is it for all the chiefs in that room, but for all First Nations." Tensions have been high since the government passed it’s Bill 5 legislation. (The Canadian Press)

• 🇨🇦 Over in the province of Saskatchewan, the government announced that it is going to extend the life of its three coal-fired power plants and that it believes the Federal government has no jurisdiction over its decision. In 2016, Ottawa gave provinces until 2030 to phase out their coal-fired power plants. It has been a source of contention between Saskatchewan and the Federal government ever since. The province currently generates about 30% of its electricity from coal. The Minister responsible said, “The certainty and security of coal means that it will continue as a pillar of our electrical generation system as we bridge to a nuclear future powered by Saskatchewan uranium.” (Globe & Mail)

• 🇺🇸 New York Governor Kathy Hochul directed the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to develop and construct a zero-emission advanced nuclear power plant in Upstate New York. The NYPA, in coordination with the Department of Public Service, will seek to develop at least one new nuclear energy facility with a combined capacity of no less than one gigawatt of electricity, either alone or in partnership with private entities. The state currently has 3 nuclear power plants pumping out 3.3 gigawatts of electricity. In 2021, former Governor Andrew Cuomo successfully pushed to decommission the two-gigawatt Indian Point nuclear plant which severely impacted grid capacity. Now, it looks like nuclear is back as this will be the first new plant in over 3 decades. (Governor Hochul)

• 🇺🇸 The Bureau of Land Management and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement are seeking public comments on a proposed emergency federal coal lease and mining plan at the Falkirk Mine near Underwood in McLean County, North Dakota. There is a 14 day comment period. (BLM)

• 🇨🇩 The Democratic Republic of Congo has extended its cobalt export ban by an additional 3 months. The ban was set to expire this past Sunday.

• 🇳🇪 Niger announced that it plans to nationalize the Somair uranium mine operated by France's Orano. As expected, Orano said it will pursue legal action for full compensation of damages.

• 🇲🇼 🇨🇳 Malawi has signed a $7bn deal with China’s Hunan Sunwalk Technology Group for a titanium extraction project and mineral processing facility. The Minister of Mining, Dr. Ken Zikhale Ng’oma said, "This is the first time Malawi has entered into such a comprehensive MoU with a multinational mining corporation. We ensured that due diligence was conducted thoroughly, and we are confident that the interests of Malawians are well protected.” (Business Insider Africa)

• 🇹🇷 A Turkish parliamentary commission has approved a draft bill that aims to streamline the permit process for mining activities on certain lands, paving the way for a final vote in the general assembly. The proposed legislation introduces a new mechanism to accelerate lengthy and complex bureaucratic procedures — such as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and forest and zoning permits, according to Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar. The permitting process which currently takes up to 48 months, could be shortened to roughly 18 months under this new legislation. We will keep an eye on this one as it now needs to go in front of the general assembly for deliberations.

• 🇲🇽 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that no new mining concessions will be issued under her administration, reaffirming her commitment to stricter environmental oversight in the mining sector. A good summary of what she said is here —> (Mexico Business News)

SPECIAL REPORT BY CORPORATE AFFAIRS AUSTRALIA:

Corporate Affairs Australia is a Perth-based specialist resources and energy corporate affairs firm.

Western Australian State Budget Wrap

On June 19th, the Western Australian State Government brought down the Cook Labor Government’s first budget since being re-elected in March.

The budget highlights that WA’s economy has remained strong through FY25 with a $2.5 billion operating surplus, which is the state’s seventh consecutive surplus.

WA also recorded a 3.4 per cent growth in the state economy in the past year, accounting for 20 per cent of national growth; $234 billion in exports, representing more than 45 per cent of the nation’s overall exports; and $10.5 billion in royalties and payments.

The $7 billion commitment to energy infrastructure is of central interest to many operating in Western Australia.

Made in WA

Made in WA continues to be a centrepiece for the State Government, with about $12 billion allocated to roads, ports and infrastructure to support domestic growth. This includes:

• $349 million investment in ports to grow the state’s export capacity and economy.

• $584 million investment to progress the Clean Energy Link – North project, which will involve upgrading transmission lines to allow new wind capacity to connect in the Wheatbelt and Mid West, and to undertake works to support the decarbonisation of the South West Interconnected System (SWIS).

• $542 million to fast track the first stages of upgrades to the Goldfields and Agricultural Water Supply Scheme (GAWSS).

• $10.3 billion pipeline of regional infrastructure investment.

To support manufacturing, the State Government has allocated $25 million to secure the poles and wires needed to deliver Western Australia’s energy transition and will establish a $50 million Local Battery Manufacturing Program to provide $30 million worth of grants and $20 million in low interest loans.

As part of this year’s budget, the Strategic Industries fund has doubled to $1 billion to secure the Made in WA plan. This announcement delivers on a major election commitment and will deliver common-user infrastructure at Strategic Industrial Areas (SIAs) across the state. A detailed plan for additional investments from the fund is under development and will be released later this year. Initiatives to support Western Australia’s economic diversification include:

• Additional $40 million for the New Industries Innovation Fund.

• $30 million second round of the New Energies Industries Funding Stream of the Investment Attraction Fund (IAF) to support major clean energy and renewable energy projects.

• $8.9 million to support the Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS) to promote mineral exploration.

• $16.5 million to establish the supporting regulatory framework for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS), to enable the diversification and decarbonisation of WA industry.

Environment

The State Government has continued to prioritise environmental reform to ensure the approvals system keeps pace with development. Initiatives include:

• $16.7 million to boost key environmental and water resource assessment capacity.

• $18.5 million allocation over five years to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to increase Board membership, resourcing and accommodation, which aims to address backlog of environmental assessments.

• $3.6 million over the next three years to support the implementation of Deemed Decision Making to further streamline the processing of environmental approvals.

• Increased resourcing of $7.6 million towards the Office of the Appeals Convenor, aimed at approving efficiencies and addressing any backlog of appeals.

For more information on the release click here. To learn more about Corporate Affairs Australia and how they can help your project, please click here.

MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

• 🇦🇺 Rio Tinto and Hancock Prospecting will invest $1.61bn (Rio Tinto share $0.8bn) to develop the Hope Downs 2 iron ore project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The two new iron ore pits will have a combined total annual production capacity of 31m tonnes. The first ore should be processed in 2027 and the new venture will sustain a workforce of roughly 1,000. (Rio Tinto) 

• 🇯🇵 🇺🇸 President Trump approved Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel. As part of the conditions, the U.S. government was issued a golden share which gives the President consent rights on a host of important issues related to keeping U.S. Steel in The United States. Nippon Steel has also agreed to $11bn in new investments which includes a new greenfield site by 2028. We think this deal is a win-win for both sides, but we also love Japan. Did you know that Nippon is the Japanese word for Japan? It is one of two ways to pronounce the Japanese characters 日本 (nihon), which literally translates to "origin of the sun" or "Land of the Rising Sun". (U.S. Steel)

• 🇦🇺 Glencore is looking for financial support from the Federal and Queensland governments for it’s Mount Isa copper smelter. In a statement, Glencore said, "A combination of unprecedented smelting market conditions, high costs like energy, gas and labour, and a shortage of copper concentrates is currently making the Mount Isa copper smelter unviable." Australia's Industry and Science Minister Tim Ayres said "Any closure of the Mount Isa copper smelter would have a detrimental impact on Australia's sovereign capability and other facilities downstream that rely on the smelter." (Reuters)

• 🇵🇦 The world’s largest gold-focused royalty and streaming company, Franco-Nevada, has agreed to suspend its arbitration proceedings against Panama after discussions with the government’s legal counsel. Franco-Nevada invested US$1bn in First Quantum Mineral’s Cobre Panama project, receiving a stream of gold and silver production in return. Franco-Nevada was seeking $5bn in damages under the Canada-Panama free trade agreement. Like Franco-Nevada, we hope for a speedy resolution as we believe it’s in the best interest of all parties involved. We aren’t experts on Panamanian politics but the government does seem to be shifting towards a reopening by studying options to do so. Throw in a citizen rally this week to re-open the mine and we think all signs point to a positive outcome. Maybe time to pick up some shares in the miner and the streamer? (Franco-Nevada)

• 🇨🇦 Teck Resources is weighing options to expand production of germanium and is currently talking with governments, including Canada and the United States, on available funding, according to Doug Brown, VP Communications & Government Affairs. He said, “We are examining options and market support for increasing production capacity of germanium.” Given that 60% of germanium is processed in China, this seems investment worthy to us, particularly given Teck’s leadership role in the space. (Reuters)

• 🇬🇱 Greenland granted a 30 year permit to Greenland Resources (MOLY.NE) to mine Molybdenum and Magnesium at it’s Malmbjerg project in eastern Greenland. The open pit mine can produce an average 32.8 million pounds of concentrated molybdenum per year, roughly 25% of Europe’s needs. The stock is up over 50% on the news. (Reuters)

• 🇺🇸 Vancouver based Titan Mining (TSX: TI) also saw a 10%+ jump in it’s stock after announcing $15.8 million in financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States to support it’s zinc and critical minerals operations in New York State. (Titan Mining)

• 🇨🇦 Rock Tech Lithium (TSXV: RCK) announced that it was awarded $388,074 from the Ontario's Critical Minerals Innovation Fund to advance lithium ore sorting technologies. (CISION)

• 🇦🇺 Kinterra Capital has submitted it’s own bid to acquire 100% of the shares in New World Resources (ASX: NWC) for A$0.057 per share. Days earlier, Central Asia Metals Plc (AIM: CAML) made an all cash offer for A$0.05 per share and subsequently raised it’s offer to A$0.055 per share. Kinterra pointed out that it currently holds 19.16% of NWC shares, making it highly unlikely that CAML’s proposal will be approved. We will watch closely to see if a bidding war ensues. (PR Newswire)

• 🇺🇸 Weir Group is at it again with another acquisition, this time paying £111m (US$150m) to acquire Townley, a leading provider of mining wear and abrasion solutions. Townley’s operations are based in Ocala, within the phosphate mining region of north central Florida. (Weir Group)

• 🇨🇦 Congratulations to Dale Andres who has been appointed President & CEO of Artemis Gold (CVE: ARTG). Andres most recently served as CEO and Director of Gatos Silver until its recent acquisition for US$970m. He has served on the board of Artemis Gold since 2023. Like we always say, it never hurts to send a congratulatory note if Artemis Gold is an important client of yours. (Artemis Gold)

• 🇨🇦 We try not to post too many interviews, but we really liked this one with Agnico Eagle’s CEO Ammar Al-Joundi. Why? He says there is only one reason to buy a gold mining stock and too few companies in the industry are offering it to investors. He said, “The only reason you want to buy an equity is if it gives you a better return than just buying gold.” We picture the Macho Man saying “Oh Yeah”. Agnico Eagle is up 84.30% this past year while gold is up 44.90%. Despite underperformance from diversified miners like Newmont, Barrick and Freeport McMoRan, others like Kinross, Alamos, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and IAMGOLD are all outperforming bullion this year. (Financial Post)

MINING BITS

• 🇪🇸 🇷🇺 Spanish prosecutors have launched a probe into the multinational corporation Maxam after an investigation by The Insider revealed that the company’s Russian subsidiaries continued producing explosives after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Insider details the specific instances of multi-million euro payments from Russian subsidiaries to the parent Maxam, which they say violates international law. (The Insider)

• 🌍 Clem Chambers argues that platinum is headed for parity with gold. He claims the move away from EV’s for the time-being plus a projected ten-fold increase in energy demand over the next two decades will push the precious metal way up. Platinum is used in catalytic converters as well as electrical contacts & electrodes and only about 160 metric tons is mined per year. For reference, about 25,000 metric tons of silver and 3,645 metric tons of gold are mined each year. Roughly 80% of the current production comes from one country - South Africa (120 metric tons). Next is Russia (23 metric tons), Zimbabwe (19 metric tons) and Canada (5.2 metric tons). (Forbes)

• 🇺🇳 🇿🇲 Through the United Nations Development Programme Africa’s brightest mining innovators arrived in Zambia for the timbuktoo MineTech Bootcamp. The 10 participants were chosen from over 350 applications and represent early-stage ventures using frontier technologies—such as drones, data analytics, and AI—to solve real challenges in the mining sector. The companies are from Cameroon, The DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe. If you have projects and/or mines in Africa, why not engage with these local entrepreneurs to see how you can collaborate. (UNDP)

• 💲 Stockhead asked five experts for their thoughts on which ASX stocks are potential takeover targets. Why do we care? Since takeover targets are often acquired for a sizeable premium, getting in early can lead to nice gains. With nearly 30 potential targets named in the article we can’t list them all here but companies mentioned multiple times included: NexGen Energy (ASX: NXG, TSX: NXE), Astral Resources (ASX: AAR), FireFly Metals (ASX, TSX: FFM), Antipa Minerals (ASX: AZY) and Bellevue Gold (ASX: BGL). (Stockhead)

• 🇺🇸 OK not mining related, but we thought we’d share our shock with you. Sam Altman, Founder & CEO of OpenAI, is claiming that Meta has offered his employees bonuses of $100m to join the tech giant. On his brother’s Uncapped podcast, Altman said, "At least, so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that." While we aren’t sure how true or exaggerated the $100m bonus is, clearly the competition for superstar AI researchers is wild right now. We can’t help but think of Ben Affleck taking Matt Damon’s interview in Good Will Hunting - Retainer! (Reuters)

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