Mining

Korea Zinc shareholders ask court to block share sale in $7.4B US project teaser image

Korea Zinc shareholders ask court to block share sale in $7.4B US project

Two major Korea Zinc shareholders asked a court on Tuesday to block the company’s plan to sell new shares – part of a scheme to help fund a $7.4 billion US smelter, which would be built in partnership with the US government.The filing for an injunction with the Seoul Central District Court threw doubt over the project and sent shares in the world’s largest zinc smelting company plummeting 14%.

Dec 16, 2025 - 4:25 PM

South32 to mothball Mozambique smelter in March as power talks collapse teaser image

South32 to mothball Mozambique smelter in March as power talks collapse

Dec 16, 2025 - 4:23 PM

Pan Pacific Copper sells stake in Peruvian mine to Glencore teaser image

Pan Pacific Copper sells stake in Peruvian mine to Glencore

Dec 16, 2025 - 2:28 PM

Chinese court sentences 27 people for smuggling antimony ingots teaser image

Chinese court sentences 27 people for smuggling antimony ingots

Dec 16, 2025 - 2:27 PM

Ivory Coast miners start paying higher royalties after failed resistance teaser image

Ivory Coast miners start paying higher royalties after failed resistance

Dec 16, 2025 - 2:25 PM

Guinea, EGA in bauxite supply deal talks teaser image

Guinea, EGA in bauxite supply deal talks

Dec 16, 2025 - 2:20 PM

Fortescue to buy remaining stake in Alta Copper for $101M

Australia’s Fortescue said on Monday it would buy the remaining 64% of Alta Copper in a deal implying a total equity value of C$139 million ($101 million) for the Toronto-listed copper miner.Fortescue, through its unit Nascent Exploration, is offering C$1.40 per share in cash for the shares in Alta that it does not already own.The offer price represents a 14.8% premium to Alta’s closing price on Friday.

Dec 15, 2025 - 2:49 PM

LME outlines proposed new rules on position limits

The London Metal Exchange (LME) on Monday outlined plans for new rules on position limits from July next year to comply with a directive from Britain’s financial regulator.The Financial Conduct Authority currently sets and administers position limits in commodity derivatives to prevent market manipulation and abuse. But responsibility for this will pass to the trading venues themselves from July 6, 2026.

Dec 15, 2025 - 2:23 PM

Nornickel sharply hikes nickel surplus forecasts for this year and next

Russian mining giant Nornickel said on Monday that it had doubled its nickel surplus forecast for this year and more than doubled its forecast for 2026.In a metals market review, Nornickel, the world’s largest palladium producer and a major producer of refined nickel, said it expected the nickel surplus this year to reach 240,000 tons, up from an estimate of 120,000 tones in July.It said it had also more than doubled its surplus forecast for next year to 275,000 tons, up from 130,000 previously.

Dec 15, 2025 - 2:02 PM

Russian court rules in favour of Rusal in $1.32B lawsuit against Rio Tinto teaser image

Russian court rules in favour of Rusal in $1.32B lawsuit against Rio Tinto

A Russian court has ruled in favour of Rusal in the aluminum giant’s 104.75-billion-rouble ($1.32 billion) lawsuit against global mining and metals company Rio Tinto, according to court documents.The ruling intensifies a legal battle over a joint alumina refinery in Queensland, Australia, that Rio took sole control of after Australia imposed sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.The lawsuit was heard in closed session, and its details have not been disclosed. Rusal declined to comment.

Dec 15, 2025 - 1:59 PM

White House plans more ‘historic deals’ with mining sector, official says teaser image

White House plans more ‘historic deals’ with mining sector, official says

The Trump administration plans more “historic deals” with the US mining sector to boost production of critical minerals for the national defense and high-tech sectors, a senior official said on Monday.Earlier this year, the administration took equity stakes in MP Materials, Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals. The transactions were part of President Donald Trump’s push to increase domestic production of lithium, rare earths and other minerals used for the national defense and rely less on China, which has used its minerals prowess as leverage in trade negotiations.

Dec 15, 2025 - 1:55 PM

Why Silver, Juniors, and Critical Minerals Are Set for a Major Rerating | John Feneck teaser image

Why Silver, Juniors, and Critical Minerals Are Set for a Major Rerating | John Feneck

(Kitco News) Precious metals are closing out 2025 with strong momentum as silver pushes to new highs, gold holds its breakout, and investors return to a junior mining sector that has been largely ignored for years. Speaking with Kitco Mining’s Digging Deep following the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 10, 2025, rate cut, John Feneck, Founder and CEO of the Feneck Commodities Report, said the tone of the announcement signaled a clear shift in how the central bank is responding to weakening U.S. economic conditions.

Dec 12, 2025 - 4:05 PM

How tight supply, AI demand propelled copper price towards $12,000 teaser image

How tight supply, AI demand propelled copper price towards $12,000

Copper is closing in on the $12,000 a metric ton mark as expectations of soaring demand from data centres that power artificial intelligence and tight supplies collide with shortages outside the United States.Valued for its exceptional electrical conductivity, copper wiring is vital in power grids that feed data centres, electric vehicles and the infrastructure needed for the energy transition.Copper prices are up 35% so far this year and heading for their largest gain since 2009, due to mining disruptions and stockpiling in the US. On Friday, they touched $11,952 a ton.

Dec 12, 2025 - 4:03 PM

Mali returns possession of seized gold to Barrick teaser image

Mali returns possession of seized gold to Barrick

A Malian judge has ordered the return of possession of 3 metric tons of gold seized nearly a year ago from Barrick Mining’s Loulo-Gounkoto complex to the Canadian miner, according to two people familiar with the matter.The gold, worth about $400 million, was seized by a military helicopter in January following a confiscation order from a Malian judge. It has remained at the BMS bank in Mali’s capital, Bamako, since then, according to both sources.

Dec 12, 2025 - 3:59 PM

Colombia to offer 14 areas for copper exploration teaser image

Colombia to offer 14 areas for copper exploration

At least eight companies have qualified for Colombia’s copper, gold and polymetallic exploration round launching next week, Carlos Ortega, vice president of promotion and development at the National Mining Agency (ANM), told Reuters on Friday.Colombia will offer 14 areas for copper production and exploration, ANM president Lina Franco said on Friday.The blocks included in this round, set to be launched next Monday, are located in the departments of Antioquia, Cesar, La Guajira, and Tolima, Franco added during an event in Bogota.

Dec 12, 2025 - 3:06 PM

Trump thinks more should be done to lower interest rates, White House says teaser image

Trump thinks more should be done to lower interest rates, White House says

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump was happy to see the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points this week, but he wants to see the central bank lower interest rates even further, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday."I know there was a quarter point reduction this past week, and the president was pleased to see that, but he thinks more should be done," Leavitt said.Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Writing by Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Caitlin Webber

Dec 11, 2025 - 2:55 PM

Albemarle wraps up validation of lithium pilot plant in Chile teaser image

Albemarle wraps up validation of lithium pilot plant in Chile

Albemarle said on Wednesday it completed the validation of its direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot plant in Chile, allowing the company to finalize its design of a future commercial facility and proceed to environmental review.The US company is one of two lithium miners in Chile, which is the world’s second-largest producer of the metal that is key for electric vehicle batteries.By the numbers:Lithium recovery exceeded 94% during stable operation.The pilot plant ran for over 3,000 hours, equivalent to more than 90 consecutive days.

Dec 11, 2025 - 2:54 PM

Vietnam curbs exports of refined rare earths, reaffirms ban on ore trade teaser image

Vietnam curbs exports of refined rare earths, reaffirms ban on ore trade

Vietnam’s parliament on Thursday approved a revised law that restricts exports of refined rare earths and reaffirms a ban on ore exports, in a bid to support a domestic industry that has struggled for decades to exploit its substantial reserves.Vietnam has some of the world’s largest deposits of rare earths, according to the US Geological Survey, though the government agency earlier this year significantly lowered its estimate of the country’s reserves to 3.5 million metric tonnes from 22 million tonnes.

Dec 11, 2025 - 2:50 PM

Ghana bans mining in forest reserves to curb environmental damage teaser image

Ghana bans mining in forest reserves to curb environmental damage

Ghana has banned mining in forest reserves as part of sweeping environmental protections aimed at safeguarding water bodies and halting deforestation, the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology said.Africa’s top gold producer is battling a surge in poorly regulated small-scale mining that is destroying cocoa farms, degrading forests and rivers, and heightening sustainability risks for its mining sector, sparking protests.

Dec 11, 2025 - 2:44 PM

Chile raises mining investment forecast through 2034 to $105 billion teaser image

Chile raises mining investment forecast through 2034 to $105 billion

Chile’s mining investment is expected to reach $104.549 billion from this year through 2034, state-run agency Cochilco said on Thursday, up 26% from last year’s forecast.Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper and second-largest of lithium, a key ingredient of rechargeable batteries.The increase represents the highest investment forecast since the 2016-2025 period.New investment includes an expansion at BHP’s Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine, and new concentrators at Collahuasi, a copper mine jointly owned by Anglo American and Glencore.

Dec 11, 2025 - 2:36 PM