October 8th, 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 U.S. Department of Energy took a 5% stake in Lithium Americas and a separate 5% stake in the company's Thacker Pass joint venture with General Motors last week which pushed the miner up 23% on the day. The company is up a wild 182% this past month.

• 🇦🇺 Glencore has secured a A$600m investment over 3 years from the Australian and Queensland governments to ensure it keeps its Mount Isa Copper Smelter and Townsville Refinery open. Tim Ayres, Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science for the Australian Government may have said it best, “If Australia didn’t already have established facilities like the Mount Isa Copper Smelter, we’d be looking to build them to protect Australia’s industrial capability, and strengthen the capability needed for future.” (Australia)

• 🇨🇦 The Canadian Government announced that Arianne Phosphate Inc. has been conditionally approved for an investment of up to $735,000 through the Critical Minerals Research, Development and Demonstration program.

• 🇨🇦 The Government of Saskatchewan released its royalty structure for lithium other minerals produced from natural brine aquifers. The new royalty framework sets a Crown royalty rate of 3 per cent of the value of brine mineral sales, with a two-year holiday for new productive capacity. (Saskatchewan)

• 🇨🇳 🇲🇾 In a Reuters exclusive, sources claim that Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional is likely to partner with a Chinese state-owned firm to build a rare earths refinery in the country. While it is early days, the policy departure by China is seen as necessary to secure access to Malaysia’s rare earths. Australia’s Lynas Rare Earth’s already has a rare earth processing plant in the country and this move is seen as a way to limit competition. (Reuters)

• 🌎 The Andean Community trade bloc which includes Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, ordered Peru to take action against illegal gold mining and mercury trafficking. According to AP News, “Peru has 20 working days to comply and report what steps it has taken or plans to take to bring its laws into line. If it fails, the case could be referred to the bloc’s Tribunal of Justice, which has the power to impose binding trade sanctions on member states.” (AP News)

• 🇮🇩 Indonesia’s crackdown on illegal tin operations has resulted in the country transferring significant assets to its state-miner Timah. These assets included six smelters, about 680 metric tons of refined tin and 108 units of heavy equipment. In other Indonesian news, the government is limiting mining quotas to one year moving forward. The government aims to give itself more control over the production of key resources like coal and nickel.

• 🇨🇩 The Democratic Republic of Congo’s President said the country will permanently ban cobalt exporters that violate its new quota system.

MINING MATTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

• 🇺🇸 🇬🇱 Rumors flew late last week that the U.S. government was contemplating a stake in Critical Metals Corp. which sent the stock flying from US$8.14 to as high as US$15.50. Investors were pumped, hoping to catch the next “Lithium Americas” surge early. Unfortunately, a White House spokesperson killed the rally buzz when they dismissed the claims. The stock is still up 23% since the news broke and up a crazy 65% the past week. Critical Metals Corp. has a promising rare earths project in Greenland.

• 🇺🇸 And yet, somehow, the news didn’t leak out about Trilogy Metals Inc. & South32 as the U.S. Department of War announced it will invest approximately $35.6m for a 10% stake in the development of their joint venture critical minerals Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects in Alaska. To boot, President Donald J. Trump approved the appeal for Alaska’s Ambler Road Project, a pivotal 211-mile industrial road connecting the Dalton Highway to northwest Alaska’s vast deposits of critical minerals which will benefit the joint venture. Trilogy was up a mental 211% on the day. Most impressive? There clearly wasn’t any pre-buying or questionable stock action - kudos for keeping the lips tight on this one! It looks like a trend may be forming with the U.S. government targeting stakes in companies with U.S. focused critical mineral projects. (Trilogy Metals)

• 🇬🇳 Australia’s Predictive Discovery and Canada’s Robex Resources will merge in a A$2.35bn/C$2.168bn all-share deal. The merger brings together Predictive's Bankan and Robex's Kiniero gold projects in Guinea. Matthew Wilcox has been named CEO of the merged company, with Andrew Pardey appointed Chair. Investors clearly liked the news as both companies had double digit jumps.

• 🇨🇮 Barrick Mining Corp. continues to shed non-core assets. It has agreed to sell its interests in the Tongon gold mine as well as exploration permits in Côte d’lvoire to the Atlantic Group for total consideration of up to $305m.

• 🇿🇦 South Africa's Tharisa Plc plans to spend $547m on an underground platinum group metals mining project over the next decade. 🇦🇺 Over in Australia, Rio Tinto, Mitsui and Nippon Steel will invest $733m to develop the West Angelas Sustaining Project, part of the Robe River Joint Venture in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

• 🇨🇦 Canada’s Orla Mining was touting a major exploration success at the Musselwhite Mine in northwestern Ontario, with drilling confirming a potential two-kilometre extension of the mine's main gold trend beyond current resources. The discovery is a result of Orla’s $25m investment commitment to exploration activities at the mine site. Nice work Orla!

• 🇨🇦 Congratulations to Pascal Bastien who has been named Orano Canada’s new President & CEO. Mr. Bastien has held senior executive roles in both Niger and Kazakhstan. Orano Canada’s current President and CEO, Jim Corman, will retire after 40 years with the company. And like we always say, if Orano Canada is a client, it certainly can’t hurt to send through a congrats note, maybe with a box of cupcakes?

• 🇰🇷 Our thoughts go out to the family, friends and colleagues of Korea Zinc’s Founder & Honorary Chairman, Choi Chang-geol, who passed away on October 6th at the age of 84. Choi founded the company in 1974 and grew the company into a global smelting powerhouse.

MINING BITS

• 🇨🇦 Congratulations to Canadian Space Mining Corporation which has been awarded a C$1m contribution from the Canadian Space Agency to advance development of a first-of-its-kind nuclear reactor designed to power a permanent presence on the Moon. The future is here, isn’t it? (CISION)

• 🌍 The China Global South Initiative, a collaboration between the Keough School of Global Affairs and the Atlantic Council Global China Hub, published a report on the environmental impact of Chinese mining in West Africa. The authors have a host of recommendations to ensure greater accountability and better compliance. Worth a read if you are operating in the region. (Atlantic Council)

• 🦠 Scientific American takes a look at biomining and the potential to more efficiently squeeze metals out of rocks. Buz Barstow, a biological and environmental engineer at Cornell University is leading a project called the Microbe-Mineral Atlas that catalogs microorganisms, their genes and how they interact with minerals. The project’s goal is to build genetically engineered microorganisms that can effectively mine critical metals. The article covers biomining players like Endolith Mining & Transition Biomining. (Newsweek)

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