The projects – which would supply copper, palladium and other minerals – have been granted FAST-41 status, a federal initiative launched in 2015 to streamline approvals of critical infrastructure.

The Trump administration last month had named an initial 10 projects to the list and said that more would be added in the future.

All of the projects are listed on a US federal website where their permitting progress can be publicly tracked, part of what the administration calls a push for greater transparency and faster permitting.

The latest 10 include a proposed copper and nickel mine in Minnesota from a joint venture of Glencore and Teck Resources; a New Mexico uranium project from Energy Fuels; expansion of a Montana palladium project from Sibanye Stillwater; an Alaskan silver project from Hecla; and a Georgia titanium dioxide project from Chemours.

South32’s Hermosa zinc-manganese project in Arizona was fast-tracked by former President Joe Biden, the first mine to receive the FAST-41 treatment.

President Donald Trump also last month ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all US critical minerals imports, a major escalation in his dispute with global trade partners and an attempt to pressure industry leader China.

(By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

The resolution was passed at the company’s general meeting, with 99.94% of votes cast in favor.

The demerger is expected to become effective on May 31, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions.

Amplats, the world’s leading producer of platinum group metals (PGM) by volume, will be separated from Anglo American as the parent company refocuses on energy transition metals like copper and iron ore.

Amplats, which proposed changing its name to Valterra Platinum in March, will retain its primary listing in Johannesburg, with a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The share consolidation is set to take effect on June 1, with the ratio to be announced on May 20.

(By Aatrayee Chatterjee; Editing by Alan Barona)

Two weeks into the second quarter, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, up $79.7 billion so far in 2025.

The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies remains almost $400 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022.

This snapshot was taken at the close of trading on 17 April and not at the start of Q2 as usual to avoid some of the market distortions brought on by the chaotic weeks following Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs.

This flatters the index to some extent as gold stocks rode the coattails of the record setting bullion price and almost all big names regained some ground after the severe sell-off during the first week of April.

Newcomers

The volatile trading saw the greatest number of new entries – six in all – in a quarter since MINING.COM started tracking the Top 50 six years ago. From $6.7 billion at the end of 2024, the lowest ranked entry must now be worth $8 billion.

Mining and metals arguably suffered some of the biggest swings and roundabouts as the economic effects of a trade war and the focus on critical minerals played havoc – exemplified by the volatility on copper markets.

The bellwether metal hit a record high in the US at the end of March, only to plunge more than 20% over the next week and a half and then make up a big chunk of those losses going into the long weekend.

Amid the hectic trading, copper producers and diversified companies with large base metal portfolios lost a combined $53 billion to April 17 and are now trading $205 billion below their collective peak end-Sep 2024 as the sector’s ranks thin.

Lundin Mining dropped out of the Top 50 during Q1 following another copper counter, Poland’s KGHM, which did not make the cut off in Q4 last year. Q1 was a mixed blessing for the Canadian mining empire with the copper producer making way for Lundin Gold, entering the Top 50 for the first time after doubling in value in USD terms to $10.1 billion in Toronto.

Huayou Cobalt’s inclusion proved to be short-lived while South32 failed to make the cut for the first time since being spun out of BHP a decade ago. The base metals sans copper producer sits at position 51 after being narrowly edged out by Shanjin International Gold, so the stock may well return if (and not necessarily when) profit-taking in gold and gold stocks starts to make sense.

Another notable mover of 2025 is Amman Mineral, the worst performer in the index which lost over $10 billion in value as reality about its piercing run since its debut in Jakarta early 2023 continues to set in. The Indonesian copper-gold company is now worth an eye-catching $20 billion less than its high point at the end of Q2 last year, even after investors ran up the stock more than 20% just in the last week.

Nothing counters gold

While the direction of the copper price over the last few months was almost impossible to judge, gold’s record breaking run looked inevitable. At $3,420 per ounce gold at the time of writing, the yellow metal has now finally also surpassed its 1980 peak in inflation-adjusted terms.

Unsurprisingly, precious metals counters dominate the best performer list and make up the majority of new entrants. Gold, silver and PGM miners and royalty companies now represent a third of the value of the Top 50. The strength in precious metals has also seen Canada overtake Australia for the first time in terms of the value of miners headquartered there.

At 22% of the index, the 13 Canadian companies collectively are worth a smidgen under $300 billion compared to $275 billion for the now eight Australian firms with the inclusion for the first time of Sydney-based gold stock Evolution Mining. In their current form Melbourne-based BHP and Rio Tinto have been the top two global mining stocks since the turn of the century, together worth $220 billion today.

The MINING.COM Top 50 tracks stock value in USD terms not share price gains on local exchange and many stocks in the ranking benefitted from strengthening currencies against the USD.

South Africa’s Harmony Gold tops the gainers after jumping 24 spots to enter the ranking at no 37 following a 117% advance since end-2024. Like Harmony, Goldfields also benefited from the strong rand against the greenback, lifting the Johannesburg-based company’s shares by 83% year to date.

Russia’s Polyus, which added $14.4 billion in Q1, was only beaten by the top two gold stocks Newmont and Agnico Eagle which added $18.6 billion and $19.9 billion year to date in market cap gains. The ruble has strengthened by 20% against the US dollar in 2025 and Norilsk Nickel, thanks to captive investors on the MCX, has maintained its good standing in the Top 50 despite sanctions and trading restrictions. Norilsk is still worth north of $20 billion but still a far cry from its peak position as the world’s number 5 most valuable mining company reached mid-2021.

London-listed Fresnillo returns to the index after years in the wilderness thanks to a 74% surge in value for the Mexican silver and gold miner, majority owned by Mexican industrial group Peñoles. Together with Southern Copper, owned by Grupo Mexico, the country now represents nearly 6% of the value of the Top 50.

Gold counters are likely to only increase in number and size over the rest of 2025. Kazatomprom dual-listed in London and Astana in 2018, and Uzbekistan is now readying an IPO for Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat – the world’s fourth largest gold mining company and significant uranium producer later this year.

Rare earth representation

China Northern Rare Earth is the only producer of the 17 elements in the ranking and despite the frenzy surrounding the sector as China tightens control. There are no obvious REE candidates that could join the Top 50 in short order.

MP Materials, which operates the Mountain Pass mine in California, has surged by 69% in value year to date but the Las Vegas-based company is still worth only $4.3 billion.

The company’s valuation peaked above $8 billion in March 2022, but the whole mining industry was riding high at the time and the high price ticket for entry at the time meant it fell just outside the ranking. Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths have also come close in the past and is up 26% this year for a valuation of $5.3 billion.

Lithium down to a single stock

Lithium’s representation in the ranking is down from six companies to a single stock – Chile’s SQM languishing in position 42 and worth less than $10 billion – following the exit of China’s Tianqi and US-based Albemarle during the quarter, with the latter dropping by 38% in 2025.

The value destruction caused by the slump in lithium prices has been nothing short of astonishing. Lithium stocks in the index peaked in the second quarter of 2022 with a combined value of nearly $120 billion.

While Albemarle now worth $6.2 billion may well make a comeback (the longer term prospects for lithium demand remains bright), the absorption of Arcadium by Rio Tinto makes it unlikely that the Top 50 will see a rush of lithium stocks any time soon, a rebound of the commodity notwithstanding.

Zangge Mining, which does derive a good proportion of income from lithium, but is mostly a fertilizer producer, is bubbling under at number 53. The Chinese company may not stick around either – it’s the subject of takeover overtures by Zijing Mining, which also helps explain the 25% rise in the stock on the Shenzen exchange in USD terms.

Notes:

Source: MINING.COM, stock exchange data, company reports. Share data from primary-listed exchange at close April 17/18, 2025 close of trading converted to US$ where applicable. Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining (the gold and uranium giant may list later this year), Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry, and how far upstream is the bulk of its revenue, before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or even warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec.

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialized financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like China’s CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining will continue to represent a small portion of its valuation.

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

With other groups like Mexico’s Penoles where refining and chemicals make up a substantial part of the business where possible the Top 50 would include separately listed operating subsidiaries that are dedicated to mining. This is also why Southern Copper represents Grupo Mexico in the ranking.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology: email Frik Els at fels@mining.com with Top 50 in the subject line.

Two weeks into the second quarter, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.36 trillion, up $79.7 billion so far in 2025.

The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies remains almost $400 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022.

This snapshot was taken at the close of trading on April 17 and not at the start of Q2 as usual to avoid some of the market distortions brought on by the chaotic weeks following Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs.

This flatters the index to some extent as gold stocks rode the coattails of the record setting bullion price and almost all big names regained some ground after the severe sell-off during the first week of April.

Newcomers

The volatile trading saw the greatest number of new entries – six in all – in a quarter since MINING.COM started tracking the Top 50 six years ago. From $6.7 billion at the end of 2024, the lowest ranked entry must now be worth $8 billion.

Mining and metals arguably suffered some of the biggest swings and roundabouts as the economic effects of a trade war and the focus on critical minerals played havoc – exemplified by the volatility on copper markets.

The bellwether metal hit a record high in the US at the end of March, only to plunge more than 20% over the next week and a half and then make up a big chunk of those losses going into the long weekend.

Amid the hectic trading, copper producers and diversified companies with large base metal portfolios lost a combined $53 billion to April 17 and are now trading $205 billion below their collective peak end-Sep 2024 as the sector’s ranks thin.

Lundin Mining dropped out of the Top 50 during Q1 following another copper counter, Poland’s KGHM, which did not make the cut off in Q4 last year. Q1 was a mixed blessing for the Canadian mining empire with the copper producer making way for Lundin Gold, entering the Top 50 for the first time after doubling in value in USD terms to $10.1 billion in Toronto.

Huayou Cobalt’s inclusion proved to be short-lived while South32 failed to make the cut for the first time since being spun out of BHP a decade ago. The base metals sans copper producer sits at position 51 after being narrowly edged out by Shanjin International Gold, so the stock may well return if (and not necessarily when) profit-taking in gold and gold stocks starts to make sense.

Another notable mover of 2025 is Amman Mineral, the worst performer in the index which lost over $10 billion in value as reality about its piercing run since its debut in Jakarta early 2023 continues to set in. The Indonesian copper-gold company is now worth an eye-catching $20 billion less than its high point at the end of Q2 last year, even after investors ran up the stock more than 20% just in the last week.

Nothing counters gold

While the direction of the copper price over the last few months was almost impossible to judge, gold’s record breaking run looked inevitable. At $3,420 per ounce gold at the time of writing, the yellow metal has now finally also surpassed its 1980 peak in inflation-adjusted terms.

Unsurprisingly, precious metals counters dominate the best performer list and make up the majority of new entrants. Gold, silver and PGM miners and royalty companies now represent a third of the value of the Top 50. The strength in precious metals has also seen Canada overtake Australia for the first time in terms of the value of miners headquartered there.

At 22% of the index, the 13 Canadian companies collectively are worth a smidgen under $300 billion compared to $275 billion for the now eight Australian firms with the inclusion for the first time of Sydney-based gold stock Evolution Mining. In their current form Melbourne-based BHP and Rio Tinto have been the top two global mining stocks since the turn of the century, together worth $220 billion today.

The MINING.COM Top 50 tracks stock value in USD terms not share price gains on local exchange and many stocks in the ranking benefitted from strengthening currencies against the USD.

South Africa’s Harmony Gold tops the gainers after jumping 24 spots to enter the ranking at no 37 following a 117% advance since end-2024. Like Harmony, Goldfields also benefited from the strong rand against the greenback, lifting the Johannesburg-based company’s shares by 83% year to date.

Russia’s Polyus, which added $14.4 billion in Q1, was only beaten by the top two gold stocks Newmont and Agnico Eagle which added $18.6 billion and $19.9 billion year to date in market cap gains. The ruble has strengthened by 20% against the US dollar in 2025 and Norilsk Nickel, thanks to captive investors on the MCX, has maintained its good standing in the Top 50 despite sanctions and trading restrictions. Norilsk is still worth north of $20 billion but still a far cry from its peak position as the world’s number 5 most valuable mining company reached mid-2021.

London-listed Fresnillo returns to the index after years in the wilderness thanks to a 74% surge in value for the Mexican silver and gold miner, majority owned by Mexican industrial group Peñoles. Together with Southern Copper, owned by Grupo Mexico, the country now represents nearly 6% of the value of the Top 50.

Gold counters are likely to only increase in number and size over the rest of 2025. Kazatomprom dual-listed in London and Astana in 2018, and Uzbekistan is now readying an IPO for Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat – the world’s fourth largest gold mining company and significant uranium producer later this year.

Rare earth representation

China Northern Rare Earth is the only producer of the 17 elements in the ranking and despite the frenzy surrounding the sector as China tightens control. There are no obvious REE candidates that could join the Top 50 in short order.

MP Materials, which operates the Mountain Pass mine in California, has surged by 69% in value year to date but the Las Vegas-based company is still worth only $4.3 billion.

The company’s valuation peaked above $8 billion in March 2022, but the whole mining industry was riding high at the time and the high price ticket for entry at the time meant it fell just outside the ranking. Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths have also come close in the past and is up 26% this year for a valuation of $5.3 billion.

Lithium down to a single stock

Lithium’s representation in the ranking is down from six companies to a single stock – Chile’s SQM languishing in position 42 and worth less than $10 billion – following the exit of China’s Tianqi and US-based Albemarle during the quarter, with the latter dropping by 38% in 2025.

The value destruction caused by the slump in lithium prices has been nothing short of astonishing. Lithium stocks in the index peaked in the second quarter of 2022 with a combined value of nearly $120 billion.

While Albemarle now worth $6.2 billion may well make a comeback (the longer term prospects for lithium demand remains bright), the absorption of Arcadium by Rio Tinto makes it unlikely that the Top 50 will see a rush of lithium stocks any time soon, a rebound of the commodity notwithstanding.

Zangge Mining, which does derive a good proportion of income from lithium, but is mostly a fertilizer producer, is bubbling under at number 53. The Chinese company may not stick around either – it’s the subject of takeover overtures by Zijing Mining, which also helps explain the 25% rise in the stock on the Shenzen exchange in USD terms.

Notes:

Source: MINING.COM, stock exchange data, company reports. Share data from primary-listed exchange at close April 17/18, 2025 close of trading converted to US$ where applicable. Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining (the gold and uranium giant may list later this year), Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry, and how far upstream is the bulk of its revenue, before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or even warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec.

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialized financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like China’s CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining will continue to represent a small portion of its valuation.

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

With other groups like Mexico’s Penoles where refining and chemicals make up a substantial part of the business where possible the Top 50 would include separately listed operating subsidiaries that are dedicated to mining. This is also why Southern Copper represents Grupo Mexico in the ranking.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology: email Frik Els at fels@mining.com with Top 50 in the subject line.

The company said it produced 42,000 tons of nickel in the first quarter of 2025, a 1.1% drop from the same period of last year, while palladium production eased 0.6% to 741,000 ounces. Production of platinum rose by 0.6% to 180,000 ounces.

“The modest decline of nickel production was temporary and due to scheduled short-term repairs and maintenance of equipment, aiming to support steady operation of main technological units,” the company’s senior vice president Alexander Popov said in a statement.

Nornickel explained the drop in the nickel production was due to maintenance works at several of its plants.

Nornickel is under pressure domestically from the rouble’s 40% rally against the US dollar, which decreases its revenues, as well as from high interest rates, which affect investment plans.

Internationally, the company is facing falling or stagnating prices for some of its metals due to lower demand amid market turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

While Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, the measures have prompted some Western producers to avoid buying Russian metal, complicated payments, and restricted access to Western equipment.

“We believe that the risk of a global economic slowdown as a result of tariff wars will negatively affect the company’s metals portfolio,” BCS brokerage analysts said in a note.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Ros Russell)

The Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp. has asked the Mines Ministry for a resolution to a longstanding dispute with a unit of Amaplat Mauritius Ltd. that is laying claim to the assets, a letter written by the company’s chairman Paul Chimboza to Mines Minister Winston Chitando shows.

Chimboza confirmed the veracity of the letter, which has been seen by Bloomberg, but declined to comment further, referring queries to the ministry.

The $93 million owed by ZMDC is among a litany of creditor woes confronting state entities in Zimbabwe. The government is more than $21 billion in debt and locked out of international capital markets after defaulting on payments owed to institutions including the World Bank and European Investment Bank.

“The corporation has on many occasions requested that the Amari debt be assumed by the state,” Chimboza wrote in reference to ZMDC’s standoff with the Amaplat unit. ZMDC, which the Treasury indicated should address the matter using internal resources, has few assets of its own as they have mostly been transferred to a new state company known as Defold Mine Ltd.

Zimbabwe’s case against Amaplat was heard by the International Chamber of Commerce’s arbitration court in a sitting in Zambia in 2014, and the tribunal ruled in the company’s favor. Zambia’s High Court granted Amaplat leave to enforce the arbitration ruling in 2019.

Two years later, the company made a proposal to the country’s finance ministry for the settlement of the debt, which amounted to $65.9 million at the time. That was acceded to with the understanding that ZMDC would make the payments.

ZMDC suggested that Bravura, a company owned by Nigerian businessman Benedict Peters, pay Amaplat $15 million as part of the agreement. Bravura, which received platinum concessions, however only paid $3 million to the mines ministry, Chimboza said, and the remaining terms of the settlement, including the transfer of mining assets to Amaplat, haven’t been met.

Bravura officials weren’t available for comment, said a person who answered their phone at offices in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.

“It is not for Amari and Amaplat to determine how the government of Zimbabwe sources funds for payment for its public debt,” Amaplat said in a response to queries. “As the ICC award is against a Zimbabwe government parastatal and the commissioner of a government ministry, the ZMDC and the Chief Mining Commissioner of the Ministry Mines, the public debt remains the responsibility of the government of Zimbabwe for the full amount.”

Secretary for Mines Pfungwa Kunaka said he was traveling and didn’t respond to questions on how the dispute would be handled.

More legal trouble may lie ahead for Zimbabwe as Amaplats plans to register its award in Canada, after doing the same in the US at the end of last year. A hearing in Canada is set for June 30, Chimboza said in the letter.

Zimbabwean diamonds, due to be sold in Brussels, were temporarily seized in relation to the dispute in 2014.

The continuous engagement of external lawyers is costly with more than $500,000 spent by ZMDC and the ministry in engaging legal representation, Chimboza said.

(By Godfrey Marawanyika and Ray Ndlovu)

The world’s top producer of platinum group metals (PGM) by volume expects to be hived off parent company Anglo American Plc by June as the global mining giant narrows its focus to energy transition metal copper and iron ore.

Amplats’ proposed new name would be put up to a shareholder vote at its annual general meeting on May 8, the company said in a statement.

The company will retain its primary listing in Johannesburg, with a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Read More: Amplats halts operations at South African mine after heavy rains

KoBold’s technology centres around the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to accelerate the discovery process of clean energy minerals such as copper, lithium and nickel. To date, the company has raised $1 billion from several funding rounds. A majority of the funds is being used to develop the Mingomba copper project in Zambia.

Under a definitive agreement signed on Wednesday, Aurion will grant KoBold the right to earn a 75% interest in a portion of the Risti project area covering 35 sq. km by spending $12 million on exploration, including $1 million within the first 18 months.

Upon satisfaction of KoBold’s earn-in rights, the parties will form a joint venture on this area, located in the eastern part of the property. Should Aurion’s JV ownership be diluted to below 10%, it would then be converted to a 2% net smelter returns royalty.

Aurion will retain its ownership on other parts of the project where the predominant mineral in discovery is gold or silver, and can continue its exploration activities there as long as it holds ownership interest.

“The agreement with a split commodity structure enables Aurion to retain full exploration and ownership rights over significant gold and silver discoveries while leveraging KoBold’s expertise in exploration for metals and minerals important for the green energy transition,” Aurion CEO Matti Talikka said in a news release.

The Risti property covers 160 sq. km of the Central Lapland greenstone belt, the most prolific gold-producing province in Europe. Its geological setting has drawn comparisons to the Abitibi region of Northern Ontario, which is known for its orogenic gold mineralization as well as other deposit types featuring critical minerals.

Aurion noted that the base metal prospectivity of the region is well evidenced by the Kevitsa nickel-copper-PGE mine (Boliden) and the Sakatti nickel-copper-PGE discovery (Anglo American) located 12 km from the Risti property.

If history and inflation hold true, speculative demand has always driven gold higher, he argued in an interview. Futures markets, he notes, paint a far more bullish picture, exposing a disconnect between price forecasts and supply and demand fundamentals.

“I think the analysts are not talking to each other,” he said January in Vancouver. “The supply and demand team is bullish, but the price team is bearish.”

Kalinowski takes a similarly skeptical view of platinum forecasts. While analysts remain bullish, he argues they underestimate the market’s potential. He warns that platinum stocks will hit a 47‑year low this year. It’s a signal that inventories will continue to shrink and push prices higher faster.

On palladium, Kalinowski warns of a prolonged price slump.

Watch below the full interview with The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby.

Earlier this month, Trump said levies on automobiles would be coming as soon as April 2. This would mean imports into the country would become more expensive, while exporters to the United States could see demand for their cars slide.

The ripple effects are expected to spread to platinum, palladium and rhodium, known collectively as platinum group metals, which are used in vehicle exhaust systems for gas, diesel and hybrid vehicles.

Tariffs typically fuel inflation and keep interest rates higher, potentially slowing economic growth, which Zain Vawda, market analyst at MarketPulse by OANDA, said would weaken demand for platinum and palladium.

The auto sector accounts for nearly 40% of platinum demand and 80% of palladium offtake globally.

Vawda expects global platinum demand to decline 1% or around 102,000 ounces this year and palladium by 4% or 364,000 ounces if the tariffs on US auto imports are imposed.

The US auto industry is heavily dependent on imported parts and fully assembled vehicles, particularly from Canada and Mexico.

Barclays estimates Mexico provides up to 40% of the parts in US vehicles, Canada provides more than 20% and that German auto giant Volkswagen produces about three-quarters of its North American fleet in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Wilma Swarts, director of PGM research at Metals Focus, said PGM demand could drop about 150,000 ounces this year if tariffs reduce US vehicle sales by up to one million units and if 90% of that drop is from internal combustion engine and hybrid vehicles.

“American consumers would probably hesitate to buy a tariff hit vehicle because they wouldn’t like the higher price,” said David Whiston, equity strategist – US autos at Morningstar.

Spot platinum and spot palladium each fell more than 2% on February 19, a day after Trump announced his auto tariff plans. Since then, they have dropped about 5% and 7%, respectively.

(By Ashitha Shivaprasad and Shivansh Tiwary; Editing by Pratima Desai and Kirsten Donovan)

Commenting on the company’s results for the final six months of 2024, chief executive Nico Muller said Implats has been “continuously evaluating the future” of the palladium-rich Lac des Iles mine in Ontario. The operation contributed about 7% of the company’s production in the period.

“I would not be surprised if, in the course of the next few months we come to a position that an accelerated and responsible wind down of that operation seems to be economically the most effective way to deal with (Impala) Canada,” Muller said.

Price plunge

Palladium has suffered the steepest price drop among platinum group metals (PGMs), plunging from a peak of about $3,440 an ounce in March 2022 to current levels around $921.

The sharp fall has weighed on Implats’ profitability, cutting its first-half fiscal 2025 earnings to 1.9 billion rand ($103 million).

Implats acquired the Lac des Iles mine in 2019, which fuelled the company’s profits in the early part of the decade. 

Like its peers such as Anglo American Platinum and Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW) (NYSE: SBSW), the company has been forced to cut costs and scale back production in response to persistently weak metal prices.

The company’s flagship Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo set record output of 437,061 tonnes of copper in concentrate and $3.11 billion in revenue. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose to $625 million from $604 million in 2023, the company said on Thursday.

The performance contrasts with Canaccord Genuity mining analyst Dalton Baretto recalling how a Jan. 2 fire knocked out backup power and delayed Ivanhoe’s forecast for this year. Baretto also critiqued the company’s $1.2 billion plan to expand the Platreef project in South Africa to output of 450,000 to 550,000 oz. of three platinum group metals and gold by late 2027.

“We note that these were more aggressive on timelines, capex and particularly costs,” Baretto said on a note on Friday. “We have adjusted our estimates.” The bank’s target share price slid to C$24 from C$27.50.

Ivanhoe shares fell 11% to close on Friday at C$14.97 apiece as wider markets dropped. The company is trading close to the bottom of its 12-month range at C$13.84, having achieved C$21.32 in the period. It has a market capitalization of C$20.3 billion.

After adjustments, Ivanhoe’s normalized profit was $386 million. This included a $164 million loss from the fair value of convertible notes and extra finance costs.

Kamoa-Kakula

Founder and co-chairman Robert Friedland lauded Kamoa-Kakula’s “extraordinary performance” in its record 133,819 tonnes for the three months to Dec. 31. “The completion of Africa’s largest and greenest copper smelter marks a pivotal moment, unlocking new potential for enhanced profitability, reduced costs and streamlined efficiencies,” he said.

Ivanhoe reported the complex faced challenges like higher use of imported and backup power. Still, its C1 or cash cost was between $1.65 and $1.85 per pound.

The site’s stage-three expansion is complete. The brand new, direct-to-blister copper smelter is to be switched on in April after a three-month delay caused by intermittent power availability. Similar challenges loom in 2025.

Kipushi flooding

The Kipushi mine, a high‐grade zinc–copper–germanium–silver asset also in the DRC, managed to hit design processing rates late in 2024 after initial ramp-up challenges. However, an electrical failure followed by flooding has now delayed further development.

A 344,000-tonne surface stockpile keeps mill operations running at design rates. But analysts warn that delays might hurt production later this year if development doesn’t meet expectations.

The disruption at Kipushi not only pushed C1 costs higher but also underlines the vulnerability of operations when critical infrastructure issues arise.

A debottlenecking effort is ongoing to boost processing capacity by 20%. They are also assessing an upstream dense media separation circuit to handle fines.

“For 2025, Ivanhoe is guiding to C1 costs of 90¢ to $1 per lb., well above our estimates,” Baretto said in Friday’s note. “We have updated our life-of-mine cost assumptions to be more conservative.”

Platreef

Ivanhoe’s expansion plan for Platreef aims to ramp up annual processing to 700,000 tonnes late this year with projected output of 100,000 oz. of three platinum group metals plus gold.

The second stage is projected to boost mining and processing rates to 4.1 million tonnes per year at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of roughly $700 per ounce. A third stage plans to further increase capacity to 10.7 million tonnes at an additional capital cost of about $800 million, with production forecasts of 1 to 1.2 million oz. per year at an AISC of around $650 per oz. coming online in late 2030.

The South African producer made a loss of $398 million in 2024 after taking an additional impairment of 8.8 billion rand ($477 million) on platinum-group metals mines in Montana, it said on Friday. That brought total writedowns on the US assets — including a larger one announced a year ago — to about $2.6 billion.

Shares declined as much as 9.3% — the biggest drop in three months – and were 6.4% lower at 4:28 p.m. in Johannesburg. The company’s earnings last year missed estimates, while some cost projections for 2025 overshot expectations, according to analysts at Citigroup and RMB Morgan Stanley.

While Sibanye improved on a $2 billion loss in 2023, the recent performance is a sharp reversal for a miner whose core PGM business drove bumper profits in the early part of this decade.

Under soon-to-retire boss Neal Froneman, the company has diversified away from aging South African gold mines, initially acquiring PGM assets both in its home country and the US before investing in metals key to the green-energy transition.

Sibanye – like peers Anglo American Platinum Ltd. and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. – has cut costs as it battles persistently weak PGM prices. In September, the company announced further restructuring at its loss-making Stillwater mines in the US that could curb palladium and platinum output from the assets by as much as 45%.

Still, the cost of running the US mines this year will remain “well above” the level “required for sustainable operations” and additional savings are being pursued, Sibanye said. The company estimates that its American assets are entitled to tax credits of about $210 million for the past two years under the Inflation Reduction Act, even though the recent change of government in the US has introduced “some uncertainty” about the legislation’s future, it said.

The price of palladium – the main metal Sibanye produces in Montana – is trading at less than a third of its 2022 peak. South African PGM mines – richer in platinum, whose price has been steadier over the same period – turned a profit, as did gold assets in the country. 2024 was a year of “austerity measures,” Froneman said on a call presenting the firm’s results.

PGMs are used in devices that lower emissions from gasoline and diesel vehicles. Sibanye and its rivals are focused on finding alternative sources of consumption for the metals to compensate for demand that’s forecast to fall from the auto sector as electric vehicles gain market share. Froneman’s firm is also developing a lithium mining and processing project in Finland and owns a nickel refinery in France as it expands in materials used in EV batteries.

While Sibanye was founded on high-cost gold mines spun off by Gold Fields Ltd. in 2013, the company’s production of the precious metal has reduced by more than half over the years. However, with the price of bullion soaring more than 40% in the last 14 months and notching multiple records, income from the assets increased by two-thirds last year to 5.8 billion rand.

“These mature mines, buoyed by the tailwind of a strong gold price, delivered materially better financial results for 2024, during a challenging period for most of our other metals, which are more aligned with industrial economic cycles,” Sibanye said.

Froneman said the company is “open to engaging in settlement talks” with Appian Capital Advisory after a UK court ruled in October that Sibanye unlawfully terminated the purchase of two Brazilian mines from the private equity firm. The two parties are preparing for a hearing due to take place in November at which Appian said on Friday its total claim is expected to exceed $600 million. Sibanye has said the company should receive “either no or significantly reduced damages.”

Sibanye bolstered its balance sheet last year concluding multiple financing, streaming and prepay deals totaling $1.9 billion. The company’s profit before some one-time items – known as headline earnings – was similar to 2023 at $99 million.

(By William Clowes)

Read More: Sibanye’s Montana woes underscore miners’ growing reliance on Washington

Power Nickel (TSXV: PNPN) clocked the highest growth, with its share price rising 630% over the last year to C$1.70 apiece on Wednesday, for a market cap of C$330.8 million. It’s at fourth place.

“The performance of the TSX Venture 50 underscores the strategic importance of Canadian natural resources and high-growth innovation,” TSX Venture Exchange president Tim Babcock said in a release.

“With heightened demand for critical minerals, energy security and transition, and advanced manufacturing, this year’s TSX Venture 50 showcases how TSXV is empowering Canadian businesses to raise capital, scale operations, and contribute to a secure and prosperous future for Canada.”

The top 50 list ranks each company’s performance by market capitalization growth, share price appreciation and Canadian consolidated trading value. The 50 companies comprise a total market value of C$21.7 billion as of Dec. 31, a C$16 billion rise in one year. In that period, the companies’ share price rose 207%, compared to the 121% growth in 2023 and 73% in 2022.

Power Nickel’s share increase contrasts with CEO Terry Lynch’s alarm one year ago over naked short sellers illegally targeting the company’s stock. Lynch didn’t immediately reply to a phone call and email on Wednesday seeking comment on the stock performance.

The company is changing its name to Power Metallic Mines from Friday. The new name better reflects the high-grade discoveries of copper, platinum and palladium at the company’s Nisk project in Quebec, it said on Wednesday.

Founders’ a keeper

Founders Metals (TSXV: FDR), in sixth place, gained 324% over the last year to C$5.30 apiece, for a market cap of C$469.1 million.

The gold explorer has benefited from key developments in the last 12 months, including a C$30 million investment this month, C$14 million in backing from B2Gold (TSX: BTO) and strong drill results at its Antino project in Suriname.

‘Highest value issuer’

Artemis Gold (TSXV: ARTG), in 10^th spot, rose 127% over the last year to C$16.15 apiece, valuing it at C$3.6 billion. The developer poured first gold and silver at its Blackwater project in central British Columbia last month, making it the province’s first new gold mine since 2017.

At C$1.3 billion worth of shares traded, Artemis booked the highest consolidated value traded of any TSXV 50 issuer last year, noted TMX.

In a note on Wednesday, Haywood Capital Markets analyst Pierre Vaillancourt wrote that he expects Blackwater to reach commercial production in the second quarter and an expansion decision in the second half of the year.

“With upcoming catalysts for commercial production, capacity production, and expansion, we believe there is more room to run,” he said. “As the mine approaches capacity production, we believe the potential to be an acquisition target will grow.”

In this year’s ranking, two-thirds or 31 listings are mining companies, with many focused on critical minerals and precious metals. As a whole, these companies have boosted their market capitalization to C$8.1 billion, a 174% increase over last year, TMX said.

Chrome is a by-product of platinum mining, and South African miners including Sibanye are reporting increased income from the metal used in steelmaking at a time of sharply lower prices for the primary minerals.

The platinum group metals (PGM), used to curb automotive emissions, have experienced a steep price decline and face an uncertain future as sales of battery-powered vehicles grow.

At the same time, chrome prices have been buoyant, driven by demand from China, and producers expect a rebound after a cooling off in the last quarter of 2024.

The majority of Sibanye’s chrome recovery plants at its South African PGM operations will be operated by the Glencore Merafe Venture, “enabling both parties to leverage synergies and increase chrome output”, Sibanye said in a statement.

Ferrochrome producer Merafe Resources, a Glencore affiliate and partner in the Glencore Merafe Venture, confirmed the arrangement in a separate statement.

Sibanye’s outgoing CEO Neal Froneman said he expects the deal to “immediately enhance cash flow from the SA PGM operations”.

Sibanye earned 3.1 billion rand ($168.84 million) from chrome sales in the first half of 2024, a 42% increase on the same period of 2023. Its chrome sales volumes of 1.3 million tons in the six months were 19% higher than the same period the year before.

($1 = 18.3608 rand)

(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Helen Popper)

Read More: Sibanye flags full-year loss after $500 million US impairment

The company said it expects to report a loss per share of between 2.45 rand and 2.71 rand ($0.1321-$0.1461), down from a loss of 13.34 rand per share the previous year.

Sibanye said the impairment is also partly due to the suspension of operations at the Stillwater West mine and reduced mining at East Boulder mine, which slashed projected US output by 200,000 ounces.

The miner said the average dollar price for its US palladium and platinum was 21% lower in 2024 compared to the previous year.

The price of palladium in particular has fallen steeply to less than a third of its March 2022 peak of $3,440.76 per ounce, which it hit due to supply fears following top producer Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In 2023, Sibanye plunged to a $2 billion loss following a $2.6 billion writedown, mostly of its US assets.

The company will release its financial results on February 21.

($1 = 18.5435 rand)

(By Nelson Banya; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey)

Read More: Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Froneman to retire

The company also reported a 154% increase in the total amount of contained palladium equivalent (PdEq) ounces, compared to the previous estimate in 2023.

Bravo’s shares were trading at C$2.54 on Tuesday morning, up 10.43% in Toronto. The company has a market capitalization of C$277 million ($195 million).

Strategic location

Luanga is located approximately 40 km east-northeast of Parauapebas, the mining capital of Pará and home to the Carajás complex — the main iron ore production hub of Vale SA.

According to Bravo, the inferred resources at the deposit have increased to 78 million tonnes with a grade of 2.01 grams per tonne (g/t) of palladium equivalent, resulting in a total of 5 million oz. of palladium equivalent.

The company also reported that measured and indicated categories now account for 67% of the total resource, an increase from 38% in the 2023 estimate.

Bravo’s new pit-constrained mineral resource estimate includes 158 million tonnes with a grade of 2.04 g/t palladium equivalent, amounting to a total of 10.4 million oz. of palladium equivalent.

“The 2025 MRE firmly establishes our Luanga project as one of the few large-scale, multi-million-ounce, open-pit PGM deposits available globally, in mining-friendly, geopolitically favorable locations,” said Luis Azevedo, Bravo’s chairman and CEO.

Nornickel, a major world producer of refined nickel and the largest palladium producer, said Dubovitskiy had resigned from the management board.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Marina Bobrova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Read More: Nornickel reports 37% drop in 2024 net profit

He will be succeeded by Richard Stewart, current head of the company’s operations in Southern Africa, who will assume the role of CEO-designate starting March 1 while continuing his regional responsibilities.

Froneman, 65, has led Sibanye since its inception in 2013, when the company—then known as Sibanye Gold—was formed through the consolidation of three old Gold Fields mines. Under his leadership, Sibanye transformed into a diversified mining giant with gold and platinum group metals (PGM) operations across Southern Africa and the United States.

“Neal leaves behind a proud legacy at Sibanye-Stillwater and in the South African mining industry, which is testament to his strategic vision and inspirational leadership,” board chair Vincent Maphai said in a statement.

“He still has the same enthusiasm for what he does, and has lost none of his drive [but] wishes to spend more of his time with his family and loved ones and on his many interests.” 

During his tenure, Froneman expanded Sibanye-Stillwater into critical minerals, notably lithium, through the acquisition of a stake in Finland’s Keliber Lithium project, a joint venture with the Finnish government. The company is also involved in the Rhyolite Ridge lithium project in the US.

Sibanye has further diversified into zinc, acquiring Australia’s Century mine after taking over local producer New Century Resources in 2023.

It gave no further details of the talks.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters in December that Nornickel and Chinese conglomerate Xiamen C&D were in discussions to create a JV in China to process Nornickel’s copper raw material into metal.

“We are currently in active negotiations with our Chinese partners, so we cannot disclose the details yet. However, we are including the relevant funds in our financial models for 2025-2026,” Nornickel’s vice president for strategic planning Sergey Dubovitsky told a conference call.

He said announced capital investment of $2.1 billion for 2025 did not include potential investment in Chinese projects.

Nornickel has been seeking to diversify its production base establishing facilities outside Russia after it diverted most of its sales to Asian markets in the wake of Western sanctions.

While Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, the measures have prompted some Western producers to avoid buying Russian metal, complicated payments, and restricted access to Western equipment

Nornickel reported a 37% fall in 2024 net profit to $1.8 billion this week as Western sanctions and low global metals prices squeezed earnings.

Dubovitsky did not elaborate whether the financial models received the backing of the board of directors. The company said it plans to increase its capital investment in 2026-2027 but not above the level of $2.5-3.0 billion.

Nornickel, which has been seeking to reduce stocks of its metals which it could not sell due impact of Western sanctions also reiterated on Tuesday that it plans to sell its entire production in 2025.

“We do indeed plan to sell everything we produce and partially reduce the inventory with which we are entering this year,” said the company’s CFO Sergey Malyshev.

Nornickel’s billionaire President Vladimir Potanin called growth in net working capital as a result of accumulating inventories a major negative trend for the company in the recent years.

The company said on February 10 that it saw a global nickel surplus of 150,000 tons in 2025 and expected the global palladium market to be in balance this year. It aims to produce between 204,000 and 211,000 tons of nickel this year.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova, Gleb Bryanski and Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Jan Harvey and David Evans)

Nornickel said 2024 revenue fell by 13% to $12.5 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization declined by 25% to $5.2 billion.

“Sanctions and restrictions as well as falling prices of our key metals continued to weigh on our revenue, profitability and ability to generate cash flow,” Nornickel’s president Vladimir Potanin said in a statement.

While Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, the measures have prompted some Western producers to avoid buying Russian metal, complicated payments, and restricted access to Western equipment, leading the company to redirect sales to Asia.

Potanin said Nornickel managed to cut cash operating expenses by 3% and stop the growth of net working capital, which he called a major negative trend of the last few years as the company was accumulating stocks of the metals it produces.

Nornickel said a weaker rouble and a reduction of stocks helped to contain net working capital growth last year. The company said its management will recommend the board not to pay dividends for 2024.

“In the context of ongoing volatility in commodity markets and high geopolitical risks, our absolute priority is to maintain the company’s financial stability, enhance operational efficiency, and invest in future markets and products,” said the company’s CFO Sergei Malyshev.

The company said it saw a global nickel surplus of 150,000 tons in 2025 and expected the global palladium market to be in balance this year.

Nornickel said that the less aggressive electrification agenda of US President Donald Trump’s administration supported the demand outlook for palladium, which is used in exhaust systems of internal combustion engine vehicles.

It added that a “new wave of industrialization in the West sparked by the return of the Trump administration”, coupled with China’s economic stimulus, supported global copper demand.

Nornickel said it had adapted to supply disruptions linked to Western sanctions which had affected the delivery of equipment for repairs to a major furnace at its flagship Nadezhda smelter, which returned to operation last year.

The company plans to invest $2.1 billion this year, including in research into new potential uses of the metals it produces.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Jan Harvey)

Profit in 2024 likely declined to between 6.3 billion rand ($339 million) and 7.6 billion rand, from 13 billion rand the previous year, the Johannesburg-based company said Thursday in a statement. Earnings were also hit by 1.9 billion rand of asset writedowns, mainly relating to the coarse particle recovery technology at its Mogalakwena mine.

Anglo American Plc announced plans to exit its controlling stake in Johannesburg-listed Amplats last May. It’s part of a wider restructuring program that was unveiled in response to an unsolicited $49 billion takeover proposal by BHP Group. Anglo has since sold part of its stake in Amplats to increase the South African unit’s free float ahead of a full exit.

Amplats and its peers in South Africa – by far the world’s largest producer of platinum – have been battling a prolonged period of weak prices that’s slashed profits and forced cost-cutting. In the longer term, the firms are focused on finding alternative sources of consumption to replace dwindling demand from the auto sector, which uses PGMs to curb emissions in gasoline and diesel vehicles.

(By Dylan Griffiths)

Read More: Anglo Platinum CEO sees investor interest ahead of spinoff

Stripping away Trump’s bluster and often contradictory actions, the message seems to be fairly clear. Trump’s view of the world is that you are either with the United States or against it.

That presents a dilemma for Africa’s mineral rich countries as they want to develop their resources to provide them with the maximum benefit, but they also want to stay largely neutral.

But it’s increasingly likely that at some level African countries will have to decide whether they are more in the Trump camp, or whether they prefer to do business with the China-led BRICS group.

There are risks and rewards under both scenarios, and the circumstances of each African country may cause to lean one way or another.

Much of the debate at this weeks Investing in African Mining Conference in Cape Town has effectively been about the best path forward for Africa’s miners and governments.

The continent is already a major producer of minerals, but it’s untapped reserves are the major prize in coming decades, especially if the energy transition accelerates.

Africa is richly endowed, with an estimated 20% of global copper reserves, about the same for aluminum raw materials, 50% of manganese and cobalt, 90% of platinum group metals, 36% of chromium, as well as reserves of lithium, uranium, gold and rare earths.

But developing its mineral resources has been often too challenging, given political instability and corruption, poor infrastructure, lack of capital and legal frameworks that make long-term investments hard to justify.

However, the increasing appetite of the world for minerals, especially to enable the energy transition, is likely to set off a new scramble for Africa, this time Africans will have more say in how it unfolds.

Finding the right partners is the challenge for African countries.

On the one hand the Western world still offers deep capital reserves, sophisticated equity markets and investors and skills and experience in mining and engineering.

But Trump is undermining these advantages with his tariffs and threats to withhold aid and other funding, as well as his habit of turning on traditional allies and flip-flopping policies.

The main issue with Trump is his apparent transactional view of the world, in which there must always be a winner and a loser, and he always wants to be the winner.

This means getting a mutually beneficial deal from the United States is going to be more difficult while Trump is in office.

Not beggars

It was perhaps this frustration that boiled over in the remarks at the Investing in African Mining event, on Monday when South Africa’s Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said Africa should withhold minerals from the United States if Trump cuts aid.

“If they don’t give us money, let’s not give them minerals. We are not just beggars,” Mantashe told the conference, which is also known as Mining Indaba.

“We cannot continue to debate these minerals based on the dictates of some developed nations as if we have no aspirations to accelerate Africa’s industrialization and close the development deficit,” Mantashe said.

These comments may be unwise in that they may serve to antagonize Trump, but they may also sharpen some thinking in the West on how best to get access to Africa’s minerals.

Should Africa be looking more toward China and the rest of the BRICS nations, as the best option to unlock its mineral wealth?

The experience here has been somewhat mixed. While China has been willing to develop mines in Africa, it tends to want to do it mainly using its own people and processes, and it wants to export raw ores and beneficiate them in China.

This has limited the benefits to African countries, but there may be an option to use legislation to copy what Indonesia has done in forcing companies to commit to domestic downstream operations as part of access to raw materials.

(The views expressed here are those of the author, Clyde Russell, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Kim Coghill)

The spinoff is part of the group’s restructuring strategy, launched when fighting off a $49 billion takeover bid from bigger rival BHP in 2024 to focus on more profitable copper and iron ore assets.

Amplats is due to be separated by mid-year, which will also result in the company changing its name, Miller said, without giving details.

With a secondary listing in London, Amplats will be the only PGMs (platinum group metals) producer on the bourse, possibly appealing to new investors, he added.

“There is a lot of interest in that (the standalone business),” Miller told Reuters on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba conference in Cape town.

“(London) is a lot easier… It might just be more attractive for certain fund managers to invest via the London Stock Exchange.”

Prices of the white metals used primarily in autocatalysts have slid in the past two years, with demand hit by the rise of battery electric vehicles, which don’t require them.

As part of its strategic overhaul, Anglo American sold its coal assets and is in the process of selling its nickel business in Brazil. It also plans to divest its De Beers diamond unit.

South Africa’s platinum miners, among the country’s largest foreign currency earners, employ around 170,000 workers, but the industry has cut production and shed thousands of jobs in response to lower demand.

Amplats, the biggest platinum miner by value, said recent dialled-down demand for electric vehicles could help boost interest in the metal.

“There is a lot of interest in PGMs because of the role they play in transportation, be that in hybrids, and potentially in the future, in the next decade, around hydrogen,” Miller said.

He added that lack of investment into new platinum mines could limit supply, lending support to prices.

“There’s no significant new supply of PGMs coming to the market,” Miller said.

(By Felix Njini and Clara Denina; Editing by Veronica Brown and Elaine Hardcastle)

Africa’s leaders demand a shift from exporting raw resources to local beneficiation. They want to capitalize on a growing supply gap in critical minerals as countries turn inward. Speakers at the forum, “Future-proofing African Mining, Today,” emphasized how Africa must transform raw materials into finished products. If not, the continent may lose economic value and control over its mineral wealth and its economic future.

The need for local beneficiation intensifies against the backdrop of a mining sector under pressure. Last year, the South African mining industry contributed 6% to the nation’s nominal gross domestic product—down slightly from 6.3% in 2023. It exported goods worth about R800 billion ($42 billion), accounting for 45% of all merchandise exports.

“We must invest in local beneficiation because it is a business decision, not a political one,” South Africa’s Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, said.

Mantashe challenged investors to weigh high export taxes and unreliable power against the potential gains from local mineral processing. He says companies often export raw commodities because doing so costs less than adding value at home.

“If it costs less to export raw materials than to process them here, the market makes that decision. We must reverse that trend,” he warned.

Marit Kitaw, of the Africa Minerals Development Centre in Addis Ababa, warned that the time for dithering has run out.

“Africa must take ownership of its mineral wealth by processing it locally. This is not just about economic growth; it is about safeguarding our future against an unpredictable global trade environment,” Kitaw said.

With global supply chains in flux and rising geopolitical risks, African leaders say that local beneficiation is a survival imperative, not just an economic strategy. Processing minerals in Africa can change the continent. It can shift from just supplying raw materials to generating a more industrialized economy. This will help protect its wealth and promote sustainable, inclusive growth for its people, the minister said.

Opportunity to shine

The South African Minerals Council, an industry group, says mining must lower its costs to encourage more exploration.  The change would boost primary mining and encourage beneficiation when it makes sense commercially, Hugo Pienaar, the council’s chief economist, said during a media briefing.

South Africa’s role as the G20 president now and summit host this November, gives the country leverage, Pienaar said.

“There is a significant opportunity to showcase the country’s mineral potential and contribute to the global transition to a prosperous, low-carbon future,” he said.

The forum also showcased practical reforms. Mantashe announced that his department is finalizing a new mining licensing system. It has international support to attract investment and speed up approvals. He stressed the country is taking strides to provide reliable, affordable power, which remains crucial for local beneficiation.

“Investors, make your money here,” he urged. “When you profit, reinvest in our communities by building schools, clinics and infrastructure.”

Sector under pressure

The industry contributed over R100 billion ($5.3 billion) to the government through corporate taxes, value-added tax and personal income taxes. It also directly employed 471,882 people in the third quarter of 2024. Yet, new data from the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA) shows that logistical issues and lower non-gold commodity prices limited production gains.

MCSA CEO Mzila Mthenjane says teamwork can lift these constraints. The government, state-owned entities and the private sector must work together.

Mthenjane pointed to future milestones. These include a June launch of an online mining cadastre system. Also, a critical minerals list and strategy will be published, along with a revised Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act. These set the baseline for future growth and hope for global relevance.

Unmatched mineral wealth

Mantashe underlined the economic potential of local processing by citing stark figures. South Africa supplies 73% of the world’s platinum group metals, 30% of global palladium and produces 7.2 million tonnes of manganese a year, 36% of global output.

Gold mining in Africa’s most developed economy has declined. Production fell to 96 tonnes in 2023, and it employs 90,000 people. But, rising demand for other critical minerals presents a new chance.

Samaila Zubairu, CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation, said local processing could boost industries, create jobs, and develop skills.

“Instead of shipping out raw bauxite, we must focus on transforming it into alumina and aluminum right here in Africa,” he said.

Downstream benefits

Some say local processing can strengthen supply chains. This is important as protectionism disrupts global trade. Martina Biene, managing director and chair of Volkswagen Group South Africa, noted the benefits downstream.

“A robust beneficiation process stabilizes raw material costs and drives innovation in industries like automotive manufacturing,” she explained.

Biene said a strong beneficiation process stabilizes raw material costs. It also drives automotive innovation, which contributes about 5% to South Africa’s GDP.

She stressed that the automotive industry needs a steady supply of locally processed minerals — steel, aluminum, copper, lithium, cobalt and nickel — for vehicle production. This need is critical as the shift to electric vehicles accelerates.

The company said it produced 205,000 tons of nickel in 2024, a 2% drop from the previous year, but exceeded its earlier production guidance of up to 204,000 tons.

Nornickel said it had produced 2.762 million ounces of palladium in 2024, a 3% increase year-on-year. It forecast it will produce 2.704-2.756 million ounces of palladium in 2025.

“In 2024, the output of all key metals exceeded our production guidance as a result of improved operating efficiency,” said Nornickel’s senior vice-president Alexander Popov.

He stressed that a return of a furnace at its flagship Nadezhda smelter after major repairs in August played a major role.

“The furnace was practically fully re-built resulting in a 25% increase of its smelting capacity. We managed to complete this scheduled capital repair in 60 days instead of the planned 90 days,” Popov added.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Read More: Nornickel says sees global nickel surplus of 150,000t in 2024-2025

The agreement with Belaz will help Russian mining companies minimise risks of sanctions and ensure import substitution of mining equipment in the market, Nornickel said.

Nornickel, the world’s largest producer of palladium and a major producer of refined nickel, is not subject to direct Western sanctions, though sanctions against Moscow have prompted some Western producers to avoid buying Russian metal, complicated payments and restricted access to Western equipment, leading Nornickel to redirect sales to Asia.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova; Editing by David Evans)

With Trump’s inauguration due on Monday, COMEX activity widened the spread between New York and London gold prices and caused sharp volatility in the part of the market known as the exchange of futures for physical (EFP), used as a hedge to general precious business activity.

“These are not the typical mass media concerns about increasing trade tensions or even trade wars, leading to a slowdown of global growth and fuelling demand for gold as a safe haven. Instead, they are centring around some technicalities of global gold trade – EFP,” said Carsten Menke, analyst at Julius Baer.

“Futures can be used to hedge gold physical positions, which regularly requires flows from Europe to the United States should local inventories not be sufficient.”

Trump has not mentioned precious metals in any form with his US import tariff threats, but persisting uncertainty was enough to drive CME gold stocks to 23.62 million ounces, the highest since November 2022.

Silver and platinum stocks in the CME-approved warehouses also jumped, leaving only palladium unaffected.

“Some industrial buyers will have bought Comex futures to hedge their risk of higher prices on upcoming deliveries. If they want to book physical shipments immediately instead, banks and brokerages are only too happy to help, but for a fee of course,” said Adrian Ash, head of research at online marketplace BullionVault.

“London vaults and logistics providers are very, very busy preparing and making shipments to the US,” he added.

Spot gold prices were last down 0.2% at $2,708 a troy ounce, while US gold futures slid 0.1% at $2,748, meaning an unusually large premium of $40.

The price spread between New York and London prices was inflated by activity in the EFP, private agreements which allow traders to swap futures positions to and from physical, unallocated accounts.

“Intraday moves and volatility in the EFP have been extraordinary and unheard of with the EFPs, at times, moving more than the spot prices,” said Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at MKS PAMP SA.

(By Polina Devitt and Ashitha Shivaprasad; Editing by Veronica Brown and Aurora Ellis)

Read More: Trump tariff risks fuel a chaotic hunt for gold in London

At the end of  2024, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.28 trillion, down $126 billion for the year after a dismal final quarter when even gold firms succumbed to overall bearish sentiment.

The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies declined by 9% or a combined $126.2 billion over the course of 2024. 

A promising Q3, when the index touched its second highest level on record, quickly turned sour and only eight constituents made gains over the final three months of the year. 

The Top 50 is now trading a stomach churning  $480 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022, when the entire mining complex was riding high from uranium and nickel to copper and gold. 

Much of the blame for the drift lower can be laid at the door of mining’s traditional champions.

Passing parade

Mining’s traditional big 5 – BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vale and Anglo American – that trace their roots back many decades if not more than a century, were pounded down in 2024.

Together the stalwarts shed 25.3% or $119.7 billion of their value as their bread and butter commodities – copper and iron ore – went into retreat. 

The rampant dollar over the final months of 2024 only compounded losses: MINING.COM’s Top 50 considers performance in US$ market capitalisation terms, not share price changes in local currency on domestic exchanges.  

In the past these companies would, apart from wobbles as the Chinese supercycle became just a cycle, consistently occupy the top five slots in the ranking, supported by vast asset portfolios covering a range of commodities across many regions. 

Now the big diversifieds stocks – the mining industry’s now erstwhile version of the Mag 7 – make up less than 28% of the total index, down from a height of 38% at the end of 2022.  

Vale, down 44.9% for the year, a dismal outcome made worse by the 22% fall in the real last year, is the ranking’s worst performer of the year. 

Vale topped $100 billion in value briefly in 2022.  Now the Rio de Janeiro based giant’s market cap is down to $37.7 billion and the counter has dropped out of the top 10 position pushed out by Indonesian upstart Amman Mineral.

Anglo American is not a top 10 company anymore either but has the distinction of being the only one of the old guard which ended 2024 in positive territory, adding $5.5 billion, or 18.1% last year. 

How much of that valuation is the lingering effects of BHP’s approach is debatable, but long term investors will still be carrying the shock of January 2016 when Anglo’s market cap fell below $5 billion after it came close to suffocating under a pile of debt.  

With the exception of Glencore which trades but does not mine the steelmaking raw material, iron ore has been the cash cow for the big 5 as China’s massive infrastructure investment sucked upwards of 80% of seaborne cargoes and prices flirted with $200 a tonne. 

In 2011, iron ore came with some of the fattest margins mining had ever enjoyed. With two-thirds of pre-tax profits coming from iron ore that year BHP recorded a $24 billion windfall, Vale reaped $23 billion, Rio racked up $15 billion and Anglo made $11 billion. 

Today iron ore is back to double digits and a looming supply surge coupled with the prolonged construction malaise in China, offer little hope of a return to the go-go days. 

Copper cop out 

Copper was going to play the role of iron ore for the Top 5 going forward and in the first half of 2024 that notion began to seem plausible.

Comex copper hit an all-time intraday high of nearly $5.20 a pound or $11,500 per tonne. In one 24-hour period trading volumes scaled $100 billion (twice the Dow daily average) with the bellwether metal attracting investors well beyond mining.  

Amid the frenzy, forecasts became ever more outlandish with 50% upside from the all-time high actually one of the more sober predictions.  But it didn’t take long for the squeeze to be squoze and by the end of the year copper had barely eked out a gain. Turns out copper is not the new oil. 

With the copper-heavy Anglo deal dead in the water, a pivot to organic growth is under way at BHP with up to $10bn being spent on Escondida alone, the world’s largest copper mine. 

Rio Tinto benefits from the fact that BHP has been working its Melbourne neighbour’s 30% stake in Escondida so hard while its Resolution copper project in Arizona languishes in permitting hell. 

The long-running battle to expand Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia also seems to have reached a steady state, but Rio’s diversification bent and penchant for opportunistic investment are intact. 

The company, one of only two miners with a $100 billion-plus valuation (and only just) spent $6.7 billion to buy into lithium in 2024 just as its Jadar project in Serbia was thrown a lifeline. Whether the project goes into production is still in dispute, much like the prospects for lithium.  

Glencore finally got a piece of Teck Resources last year, but while highly profitable at the moment, coal is not exactly the future of mining. 

With geopolitics and global trade entering ever more dangerous territory, Glencore may find its trading business beginning to throw off cash. The Swiss company, which has for decades been negotiating commodity trading waters few are willing to wade into may also want to avoid the Las Bambas effect.  

The prospects of an IPO for Vale’s base metals spin-off seems to be vanishing into the distance and is now scheduled “going into 2027”. Moreover, the $25 billion to $30 billion promised spending to build up the business seems lavish with copper and nickel’s medium term prospects less than inspiring.   

The other 5

Southern Copper, part of conglomerate Grupo Mexico, seems unlikely to be toppled from the third spot any time soon while fellow copper specialist Freeport-McMoRan edged Glencore out of the top 5. 

One out of only five listed companies with a copper production target for 2024 above one million tonnes, fourth-placed Zijin’s management seems to hold to the belief that in a boom and bust industry diversity is still the key to success. 

The rapidly growing company’s latest acquisition target is another billion dollar lithium miner, the $6.4 billion market cap Shenzhen-listed Zannge. The Zannge approach follows the rather controversial takeover of the giant Manono lithium project in the DRC which Australia’s AVZ Minerals claim was unlawful.  

Lithium stocks made the worst performing list their own during 2024 and the ranks of the battery metal producers have thinned. Already a crowded space, and with deep-pocketed Big Oil taking an active interest, most notably the new Ma’aden and Aramco deal, lithium will be tightly contested in the years ahead. Surging demand notwithstanding.   

Amman Mineral continues its run up, piercing the top 10 for the first time after gaining 24.7% in 2024, and 360% since its debut in Jakarta in early 2023. Some froth has disappeared from the copper-gold company’s valuation as losses from its peak at the end of Q2 last year now top $13 billion. 

While First Quantum Minerals ended up the clear leader among the best performers as the prospects of the re-opening of Cobre Panama mine become brighter, Polish copper major KGHM leaving the Top 50 in Q4 puts a cap on a what-could-have-been year for copper stocks.  

Not that shiny

The value of precious metals and royalty companies climbed by a modest $18.4 billion or 7.2% in 2024, compared to gold’s 27% run up and silver’s 22% charge.

Gold stocks’ relative weakness against the gold price is a perennial problem for the industry exemplified by the world’s top two producers Newmont and Barrick, which lost ground in 2024. 

Apart from missed targets and rising production costs at both firms, Barrick is also dealing with severe problems in Mali where it is halting its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in a dispute with the West African country’s military rulers.

While Barrick moves into copper (upper guidance for 2024 is 210kt) and Newmont trims its portfolio, Agnico Eagle continues to pick up assets large and small.

On a dollar basis Agnico is the best performing stock in the Top 50, adding $12.6 billion in value in 2024 (versus $9.3 billion for Zijin and $8.8 billion for India’s Vedanta) and enters the top 10 for the first time.  

Were it not for the limited tradability of stock in Russia’s Polyus, which greatly underperformed its peers on an ounce for ounce basis (the Moscow-based company’s 2024 target is 2.8moz) the sector’s standing in the ranks would also be greater. 

The position and annual performance of South Africa’s Goldfields were also hurt by exaggerated moves in its stock and the South African rand on the day the snapshot was taken. The Johannesburg-based company is off to the races in the opening weeks of 2024, jumping by 14% for a $13.3 billion valuation. 

Alamos Gold joined the top 50 for the first time in Q3 last year and with a more than 50% jump in value in 2024 now appears firmly ensconced in the top 50 with a valuation of $8.1 billion at the end of the quarter. 

The second quarter’s newcomer Pan American Silver (following its absorption of Yamana Gold) is also likely to be a permanent fixture.

Uzbekistan is readying an IPO for Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat – the world’s fourth largest gold mining company and significant uranium producer in 2025. NMMC debuted a $1 billion bond offering in September, marking the first global debt market issuance from a gold mining company since June 2023.

Navoi should easily join the ranks of gold producers in the top 50 thanks to ownership of the world’s largest gold mine, Muruntau, and annual production of 2.9 million ounces at grades and per ounce extraction costs the envy of the sector.  

NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, stock exchange data, company reports. Share data from primary-listed exchange at close Dec 30/31, 2024 close of trading converted to US$ where applicable. Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.  

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining (the gold and uranium giant may list later this year), Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like China’s CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining will continue to represent a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

Using its proprietary AI platform, the company drilled 650 metres of rock, uncovering seven samples of mineralized gold at an economic grade of 1.14 grams per tonne. This is the first gold system predicted by artificial intelligence, which aims to improve the speed, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness of mineral exploration.

But it is not the company’s first find utilizing AI. In 2023, it made the first discovery of a greenfield molybdenum deposit.

The Willow Glen project is located in the geologically significant New England Orogen province, known for its tin-tungsten, gold-bismuth-molybdenum-silver, and orogenic gold-antimony systems. To date, Earth AI has drilled six diamond holes totalling 3,000 meters. Earlier campaigns revealed only copper and molybdenum mineralization, but new results suggest a gold-copper-molybdenum (Au-Cu-Mo) porphyry-style system.

Following the discovery, the Willow Glen project will be divided into two distinct areas: WG_Gold and WG_Moly. This, said the company, will enable targeted exploration. 

Earth AI plans to continue mapping and drilling to evaluate the deposit’s size, grade, and economic potential.

“This discovery further validates our AI-powered mineral discovery platform, which enables faster and more efficient resource identification,” Roman Teslyuk, Earth AI’s chief executive and founder, said in a statement.

Advanced AI platform

The company’s Mineral Targeting Platform (MTP) leverages extensive datasets, including remote sensing and geophysics, to identify deposits in unexplored regions. Unlike traditional methods that focus near known mines, Earth AI’s approach can uncover untapped resources anywhere. Its proprietary drilling technology reduces drill hole size, lowering environmental impact, cost, and logistical complexity.

The discovery announced today adds to Earth AI’s recent success in identifying one of Australia’s largest palladium systems. 

“Shareholders with dividends will have to be patient for some time,” Potanin told Russian media outfit RBC in an interview.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova)

Read More: Norilsk Nickel plans to sell all it produces in 2025

Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, though restrictions against Moscow have prompted some Western companies to avoid buying Russian metal and complicated payment flows, leading Nornickel to redirect sales to Asia.

In April, the London Metal Exchange banned deliveries of newly-produced Russian aluminum, copper and nickel to the LME-registered warehouses to comply with US and UK sanctions that are aimed at trying to disrupt Russian export revenues.

Nornickel reported a 22% fall in first-half profit in August, due to weak nickel and palladium prices, logistical difficulties, and issues related to cross-border payments.

“In 2025, the management is expecting to sell the entire metal production volumes, while forecasting that metal market conditions will remain challenging, with a nickel market specifically forecasted to be in surplus,” Nornickel said in the statement.

It did not give production forecasts for 2025.

Nornickel this week said it sees the global nickel market maintaining a surplus of 150,000 metric tons in both 2024 and 2025.

In October, the company raised its 2024 production guidance for all metals, expecting nickel output at 196,000-204,000 metric tons and palladium production at between 2.624 million and 2.728 million ounces.

Nornickel, whose board of directors approved its 2025 budget with a 215 billion rouble ($2.1 billion) investment plan, said maintaining financial stability was a key priority.

The company did not disclose 2024 investment volumes. Previously, Nornickel reduced its investment plan for this year to $3 billion from the initially approved $3.6 billion due to exchange rate fluctuations and sanctions causing it to revise investment projects.

($1 = 103.4955 roubles)

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova; Editing by Alexander Marrow)

Under an option agreement entered on Thursday, Teck can acquire up to a 70% interest in the project by spending C$15.7 million on the project and making staged cash payments totalling C$1.6 million to Grid Metals.

The Canadian mining major can first acquire a 51% interest by making C$600,000 in cash payments, including a firm commitment of C$400,000, and spending a total of C$5.7 million on exploration over four years. To acquire the additional 19%, it needs to spend C$10 million on exploration over the following three years.

Should Teck exercise its option, a contractual joint venture will be formed between the two companies. Thereafter, each would fund its pro-rata share of future expenditures on the property or it must incur dilution. If a party’s interest is diluted below 10%, that interest would be converted to a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on the project.

“Teck’s significant technical and operational know-how will be of immediate benefit to the Makwa nickel project,” Grid Metals CEO Robin Dunbar said in a news release. “Having Teck involved in the project will provide financial support and added technical expertise to give our shareholders the maximum opportunity to participate in a Tier 1 nickel discovery.”

Shares of Grid Metals shot up by 12.5% by noon ET Thursday, for a market capitalization of around C$8.2 million ($5.7m).

High-grade nickel resource

Situated on the southern arm of Manitoba’s Bird River greenstone belt, approximately 145 km from Winnipeg, the Mawka project features two past-producing nickel sulfide mines, three pit-constrained nickel sulfide resources, and numerous high-grade nickel- and/or copper-rich magmatic sulfide surface showings.

Grid recently published an updated pit-constrained mineral resource for the Makwa deposit, estimated at 14.2 million tonnes grading 0.75% nickel equivalent (NiEq), including a higher-grade core of 4.8 million tonnes at 1.26% NiEq. This resource was calculated from updated historic drill hole data and newer mineralization models from the previous estimate in 2014.

The company says a key aspect of the Makwa mineralization is its high nickel and palladium tenors, making it “very amenable to the production of a high-value nickel sulfide concentrate.” In addition, the Bird River belt is a “direct analogue” of the Ring of Fire district in northwestern Ontario in terms of the variety of mineral deposit types and geology, scale and structure.

The primary target rocks at Makwa are ultramafic cumulates of the 30-plus km long Bird River sill. Despite its pedigree as a past nickel producer, a district-scale exploration program could not be enacted until 2023 — when Grid Metals completed its consolidation of the properties in the belt. A historical property boundary had previously severely hampered exploration for high-grade massive sulfide deposits in the area, Grid said.

In addition to Makwa, Grid Metals also owns a second copper-nickel-PGM project in the Bird River, Mayville, which is currently at the drilling stage and not part of the Teck agreement.

Gold futures for delivery in February traded as much as $60 an ounce, or 2%, over spot prices in early London trading, while silver futures were more than $1 an ounce, or 3%, higher.

“It’s all preemptive fear prepositioning ahead of tariffs,” said Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at MKS Pamp SA. The price moves have been fueled by short covering by banks and funds who are buying Comex futures and selling contracts in London, she said.

New York futures typically trade in lockstep with the London spot price, with many banks and traders arbitraging between the two markets via what is known as the “exchange for physical,” or EFP.

“If some market participant believe that there is a non-zero probability of tariffs affecting gold, silver and copper imports then it makes sense to cover any short EFP positions,” said John Reade, a strategist for the World Gold Council.

“It might cost a little money to do so, but the potential cost of not doing so is enormous,” Reade said, pointing out that traders would risk losing nearly $300 per ounce of gold if 10% tariffs were enacted, far in excess of the potential profits to be made if precious metals are exempted from the measures.

The last big blow out in spreads came at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when traders grew fearful about getting gold to New York in time to settle futures contracts. In a chaotic couple of days, the premium for New York futures over the London spot price rose above $70 — the highest in four decades.

Gold for immediate delivery was up 0.7% at $2,713.89 an ounce at 11:06 a.m. in New York, following a 1.3% gain on Tuesday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%. Silver and and palladium rose, while platinum fell.

(By Jack Ryan, Sybilla Gross and Yvonne Yue Li)

The company said it expects the palladium market to approach balance in 2024 and reach balance in 2025. It said it had revised its previous estimate of the 2024 palladium market deficit, excluding investments, from 900,000 ounces.

The market surplus in high-grade nickel was mainly due to the inflow of cathode nickel from China, the company said.

Nornickel is not subject to direct Western sanctions, though sanctions against Moscow have prompted some Western producers to avoid buying Russian metal and complicated payments, leading Nornickel to redirect sales to Asia.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Louise Heavens)