May 14th, 2025 - The Mine Wire

METALS MARKET

🇬🇧 The Bank of England cut rates by a quarter point last week to 4.25%. The UK and US announced a trade deal this past week while the US announced it would lower tariffs on China as the two sides also negotiate a trade deal.

🇺🇸 🇸🇦 🇸🇾 President Trump kicked off a Middle East trip yesterday, landing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As part of his discussions, he agreed to lift U.S. sanctions on Syria while securing $600bn in investments from the Kingdom. Next on his itinerary are Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

^{**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.}

AUSTRALIA & CANADA’s PRIME MINISTERS APPOINT CABINET

AUSTRALIA

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was re-elected and has decided on limited change in his cabinet, focusing on stability.

Most relevant for mining, Minister Madeleine King will keep her portfolios as Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia. This should be positive news as it allows for continuity on key policy issues, including the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive and Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. For the first time, there will be an Assistant Minister for Resources held by Queensland Senator Anthony Chisholm.

Tanya Plibersek leaves the Environment Portfolio, with Senator Murray Watt to become Minister for Environment and Water. While from the Labor Left faction, Senator Watt has a reputation as a pragmatist and problem solver. This will certainly be tested as he takes on a portfolio facing significant challenges, which led to the abandonment of the Nature Positive Laws in February. Prime Minister Albanese has reiterated his Government’s commitment to deliver a national Environmental Protection Authority. However, the Prime Minister has delivered clear signals that he expects better consultation and a more streamlined approach to any plans.

You can find a full list of the Ministerial appointments here. The quick analysis above is taken from our friends at Corporate Affairs Australia. If you have a project in Australia, definitely get in touch with these guys.

CANADA

Prime Minister Mark Carney also helped the Liberal Party of Canada get re-elected, but with a promise of change. Appointing a cabinet post-election is quite tricky, particularly in a “crisis”. There is a need to ensure diverse representation (region, ethnicity, gender, etc.), while also showing that cabinet is competent.

Of the 28 Ministers in cabinet, 14 are new with 9 of them being rookie members of parliament. The Prime Minister also chose to appoint 10 Secretaries of State to keep cabinet discussions focused. Secretaries of State don’t have a specific line ministry and will only attend cabinet meetings when their files are on the agenda. We like this a lot and think this is a strong signal by the Prime Minister on getting things done quickly and efficiently.

In terms of mining, there are several key appointments. François-Philippe Champagne will continue in his pre-election role as Minister of Finance while adding National Revenue to his title. This office is important when it comes to tax credits, capital gains and other such initiatives.

Tim Hodgson, a rookie MP, becomes the new Minister of Energy & Natural Resources. A former CEO of Goldman Sachs Canada, Hodgson advised Carney while he was Governor of the Bank of Canada. In order to run in the election, Hodgson resigned from a number of board positions including his Chair of the Board role at Hydro One. He also spent 3 years on the board of MEG Energy, a major Alberta sands oil producer.

Carney has promised to turn Canada into an Energy Superpower by unlocking all forms of energy including renewable, nuclear and conventional energy like oil & gas. He has signaled his support to speed up processes and unleash national unity projects. During the campaign and again in his first post-election interview, he committed to one environmental review process - essentially the Federal government will recognize provincial environmental assessments to prevent duplication. This brings us to the other notable appointment.

Julie Dabrusin has been appointed the Minister of the Environment & Climate Change. Prior to the election, she was Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Environment & Climate Change which drew sharp criticism from both Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith, as well as the Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre. Smith said, “I am very concerned the Prime Minister has appointed what appears to be yet another anti-oil and gas environment minister.”

We are less concerned at this stage given that the Prime Minister has signaled his intention to export more oil, to build consensus on pipelines, to remove duplicate permitting processes and to unleash Canada’s full economic potential. As always, the proof will be in the pudding, but we believe in giving new leaders a bit of time to prove themselves.

You can find the full list of appointments here. If you have a project in Canada and are looking to engage with the Federal government, we highly recommend our friends at S&A Strategies who helped with the analysis above.

KEEPING AN EYE ON GOVERNMENT DECISIONS

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

• 🇨🇦 The Premier of The Yukon Territory in Canada has said he will resign as leader of the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party will select their next leader on June 19th. The territory must have an election by November 3rd this year so the party can’t waste any time. Polling has showed that support for the Liberals is falling and the upcoming election will likely be a race between the NDP and Yukon Party. (CBC)

• 🇨🇦 The Premier of British Columbia confirmed that his government will not use proposed fast-track legislation to approve projects that don’t have support from local indigenous groups. He elaborated by saying, “For us, it’s about actual ownership by the Nation whose territory the projects are going on.” Michael Goehring, President and CEO of the Mining Association of B.C. said the industry is already working with Indigenous groups and the province could help by delivering infrastructure for clean power while help First Nations with equity purchases. (Globe & Mail)

• 🇺🇸 The Department of the Interior announced the expedited permitting review of a major energy project—Anfield Energy’s (TSX.V: AEC) Velvet-Wood mine in Utah—under its newly established emergency procedures. The project will undergo an accelerated environmental review by the Bureau of Land Management, with a completion timeline of 14 days. The stock is up 54.55% on the news. Given that the mine was open from 1979 to 1984, this seems like low-hanging fruit to us. (U.S. Department of the Interior)

• 🇺🇸 A U.S. federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring land to Rio Tinto and BHP’s Resolution Copper project due to Arizona's San Carlos Apache peoples’ opposition. The judge said, “"It is abundantly clear that the balance of equities tips sharply in (Apache Stronghold's) favor, and that even in the short term, they have established a likelihood of irreparable harm should the transfer proceed." The U.S. Supreme Court is now considering whether to take the case. (Reuters)

• 🇬🇳 Guinea took aim at two different bauxite mine operators this past week. First, the country cancelled Emirates Global Aluminum's mining license due to concerns over customs duties. Second, the country cancelled a bauxite mining concession granted to Kebo Energy SA over its failure to deliver on promised investments. Guinea joins its military-led neighbors in pushing for new mining arrangements. (Reuters)

• 🇳🇪 One of those neighbors, Niger, has apparently raided the offices of Orano Energy’s subsidiaries in the country. The French uranium giant has lost touch with its representative in the country. Orano has said that roughly 1,300 tonnes of uranium, worth roughly $300m, are stuck at one of its subsidiary’s sites in the country. Think its still there? (Barrons)

• 🇷🇺 Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister in a letter to President Putin, said the country needs to discount rail transportation fees and guarantee exports for domestic coal companies. Last year, the coal industry lost roughly US$1.4bn due to global sanctions and import duties from Asian countries. (Reuters)

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MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

• 🇦🇺 Congratulations to Anglo American’s Matthew Daley who will join South32 in February 2026 as Deputy CEO. Daley will take over the role of CEO later in 2026 when Graham Kerr steps down. Currently, Daley is Technical and Operations Director and a member of the executive leadership team at Anglo American. Is South32 a big client of yours? Might want to get that congratulations letter sorted - or maybe just a surprise bottle or cupcake delivery. (South32)

• 🇳🇴 Norway’s sovereign wealth fund will engage both Rio Tinto and South32 on their environmental practices at their Mineração Rio do Norte joint venture in Brazil, where they mine bauxite. Glencore is the other venture partner, but the sovereign wealth fund holds roughly 2.6% of both Rio Tinto and South32’s shares. While the funds Council of Ethics recommended selling their position, the executive board has decided to work with the miners to promote strong environmental practices at the amazon project. (Reuters)

• 🇨🇦 Speaking of Rio Tinto and bauxite, the company announced that it has extracted its first gallium from its alumina refining process with partner Indium Corporation in Quebec. The company plans to build a demonstration plant in the next phase which could produce 3.5 tonnes of gallium per year. The transition to a commercial-scale plant could see production reach 40 tonnes annually, representing between 5 and 10% of current world gallium production. Given the export controls from China, this seems like a great investment and huge win for Rio Tinto & Quebec, should it work out. (Rio Tinto)

• 🇨🇦 Pan American Silver (TSX: PAAS) will acquire MAG Silver (TSX: MAG) for a cool $2.1bn or $20.54 per MAG share. Consideration will be comprised of a mix of cash totaling $500 million and 0.755 Pan American shares per MAG share. Pan American Silver is down roughly 4.5%, while MAG Silver is up roughly 6% on the news. Given that their head offices are a quick 10 minute walk apart in Vancouver, it shouldn’t be a big change in commute for those moving over. (MAG Silver)

• 🇨🇦 The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC) has announced a $37 million registered direct offering, led by Michael Hess of Hess Capital and Brian Paes-Braga of SAF Group, to fund its operations and advance its commercial development plans. The offering involves issuing 12.3 million shares at $3.00 each. The stock was trading below $1 only 6 months ago, but with a recent U.S. Presidential Executive Order on seabed mining, investors are clearly convinced there will be positive movement. (NASDAQ)

• 🇰🇷 Korea Zinc (KRX: 010130) announced that it will be cancelling over 2 million of its own shares valued at 1.82 trillion won (US$1.29 billion) this year to boost share value. (The Korea Times)

• 🇬🇧 De Beers Group announced its intention to close its lab-grown diamond jewelry brand, Lightbox, reinforcing De Beers Group’s commitment to natural diamonds in the jewelry sector. As part of the closure process, De Beers Group is discussing the sale of certain assets, including inventory, with potential buyers. Lab-grown diamond prices at wholesale are down roughly 90% as low-cost jurisdictions like China increase competition. (De Beers Group)

• 🇨🇱 China’s BYD & metals group Tsingshan are backing out of lithium projects in Chile. Tsingshan told Reuters it has withdrawn plans for a $233 million project to produce 120,000 metric tons of lithium iron phosphate. BYD previously announced delays to its own $290m plant within the country, but has now signaled its intent to back out of the investment. (Reuters)

• 🇨🇩 KoBold Metals and AVZ Minerals Limited have agreed on a framework for KoBold to buy AVZ’s interests in the Manono lithium deposit in the Democratic Republic of Congo. KoBold smartly gave a shout-out to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Senior Advisor for Africa Massad Boulos, and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Félix A. Tshisekedi Tshilombo, for making the deal possible. KoBold plans to deploy roughly $1bn to bring the Manono lithium to western markets. (KoBold Metals)

MINING BITS

• 🇺🇳 UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warns a looming copper shortfall could stall the world’s shift to clean energy and digital technologies. Over 50% of the world’s copper reserves are concentrated in just 5 countries: Chile (20%), Australia (10%), Peru (10%), Congo (8%), Russia (8%), Others (44%). UNCTAD warns that meeting future demand may require 80 new mines and $250 billion in investment by 2030. Never a bad time to add more copper assets to your portfolio! (UNCTAD)

• 🇺🇸 Heidi Crebo-Rediker, a former Chief Economist for the U.S. State Department, argues that the U.S. should take several steps to secure critical minerals that China does not control. She points out that the current National Defense Stockpile has roughly $912 million worth of minerals which would only meet half of the pentagon’s estimated needs and only a tenth of of what is needed for critical civilian infrastructure. This amounts to a $13.5 billion shortfall. She calls on Congress to approve an immediate increase in funding so that the United States can stockpile enough minerals but also target those minerals which are “most vulnerable to Chinese weaponization”. She also speaks on recycling, new technologies and other initiatives. (Foreign Affairs)

• 🇺🇸 In the same vein, Deloitte Insights released 13 actions that could underpin a forthcoming national critical minerals strategy and advance the United States’ critical minerals security. Definitely worth a read if you are interacting with governments and their agencies. (Deloitte) 

• 🇵🇱 🇨🇳 🇨🇿 Poland, China and the Czech Republic added to their gold reserves in April, despite record high gold prices. The National Bank of Poland added 12 tonnes in April, bringing its total reserves to 509 tonnes. Every tonne purchased at today’s prices is about $114,500,000. Also in April, The Czech Republic purchased 2.5 tonnes while China added another 2 tonnes to its reserves. KITCO says the data showed central banks bought 243.7 tonnes of gold between January and March, down 21% from the 309.9 tonnes bought last year. (KITCO)

• 🌏 The Rockefeller Foundation’s Coal to Clean Credits Initiative methodology was released last week as the organization looks for up to 60 projects by 2030 to phase out coal-fired power in developing countries. Under the new methodology, the foundation has identified around 1,000 coal-fired plants that would be eligible. The first project to use the methodology will be the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation plant in the Philippines, with the transaction expected to be completed next year. (Reuters)

• 🇨🇳 The world’s oceans hold an estimated 4.5 billion tonnes of uranium. Not surprisingly, it is extremely dilute. Given the potential, researchers have been experimenting for years on ways to absorb/separate this uranium from the seawater. Well, researchers at China’s Hunan University were able to come up with a new method that uses significantly less energy with substantially better results. While the research is a big leap forward, China is still a ways off from having a viable demonstration plant. (New Scientist)

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