IAMGOLD gets $340 million funding from Sumitomo for Côté gold project; stock jumps

Staff Writer | December 20, 2022 |

The Côté gold project in northeastern Ontario, Canada.

(Image courtesy of IAMGOLD.)

IAMGOLD (TSX: IMG) (NYSE: IAG) has reached an agreement to amend its existing joint venture agreement with Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining in order to secure funding for the company’s Côté gold project in Ontario.


Under the agreement, beginning in January 2023, Sumitomo will contribute funding amounts to the Côté gold project for approximately $340 million over the course of 2023. In exchange, IAMGOLD will transfer an approximate 10% interest in the Côté JV to Sumitomo.

IAMGOLD will retain a repurchase option that can be exercised until December 2026 to return to its full 70% interest in the Côté gold project. The company will remain as project operator.

“The financial support of Sumitomo demonstrates to all of our stakeholders the strong validation of the Côté gold project from our partner and our alignment to complete construction and commence production,” Maryse Bélanger, interim CEO of IAMGOLD, said in a news release.

“On behalf of the Board and IAMGOLD, I want to thank Sumitomo for their continued support and dedication as together we continue to build what will be Canada’s third largest gold mine by production.”

“The Côté gold project remains on track for gold production in early 2024, in line with the updated schedule and cost to complete as outlined on our most recent project update,” Bélanger said.

In separate move to raise funds for the Côté project, IAMGOLD has also sold its exploration and developments assets in Senegal, Mali and Guinea to Morocco’s Managem for $282 million, which together with the Sumitomo funding would almost cover the remaining $1 billion required to complete construction.

Shares of IAMGOLD shot up 25% by 12:50 ET Tuesday following the Côté funding announcement. The company has a current market value of C$1.49 billion ($1.1bn).

Column: Zinc stocks at historic lows after a year of smelter woes
Reuters | December 20, 2022

Precious metals smelter at Glencore’s Kazzinc operations

Source: VisMedia

Where has all the zinc gone?


London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouse stocks of the galvanizing metal total 36,525 tonnes, the lowest amount this century.

Almost 60% of that metal is earmarked for physical load-out, leaving just 15,175 tonnes of live tonnage, no more than a few hours worth of global consumption.

Shanghai Futures Exchange stocks are equally depleted at 22,642 tonnes.

The clear-out of visible zinc inventory has played out in a year of weak demand, usage falling by 3.2% over the first 10 months of this year, according to the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG).

But supply has fallen just as hard, reflecting an unprecedented year of smelter problems, particularly in Europe.

The LME zinc price has been under pressure this month, sliding from a high of $3,339 per tonne to a current $3,060 as the prospect of European recession further darkens the demand outlook.

But extremely low stocks and uncertainty over Europe’s smelter sector are cushioning the downside as the market continues to weigh up the relative under-performance of both supply and demand.

Smelter disruption

Global refined zinc output fell by 3.2% in January-October, according to the ILZSG, matching the drop-off in usage.

Production fell in China, Kazakhstan, Canada and Mexico, all of which are major sources of refined metal.

But the biggest hit was to European production this year as the region’s smelters faced an acute margin squeeze due to the rolling energy crisis.

Glencore mothballed its 100,000-tonne per year Portovesme plant in Italy at the end of 2021 and put its 165,000-tonne per year Nordenham smelter in Germany on care and maintenance last month.

Nyrstar, owned by Trafigura, did the same with its 315,000-tonne per year Dutch smelter in September, although the plant has since resumed production “on a limited basis”.

The company’s Auby smelter in France, by contrast, will now not come back from scheduled maintenance but remain on care and maintenance until further notice.

Other operators continue to adjust capacity in response to changes in local power pricing, which in Europe remains a fractured and highly variable landscape.

Changed trade flows

The loss of regional supply has kept European physical premiums elevated despite softening demand.

Fastmarkets assesses the northern European premium at a mid-point of $520 per tonne over LME cash and the southern at premium at $585 per tonne, a fresh record high.

The US physical market has been equally stretched, with availability not helped by the planned permanent closure of the Flin Flon smelter in Canada.

Such historically high premiums in the physical supply chain have both diverted metal from the terminal market and inverted China’s normal trade flows.

China has historically been a significant importer of refined zinc to the annual tune of 400,000-700,000 tonnes over the last decade.

This year it is on course to turn a net exporter for the first time since 2007. Imports collapsed and exports surged to 78,500 tonnes in the January-October period.

Almost half that tonnage has been shipped to Taiwan, noticeably one of the few LME delivery points to have seen any fresh inflows this year.

But Chinese zinc has also been exported to far-flung destinations such as Turkey, Italy, Mexico and the United States to plug gaps in the rest of the world’s supply.

The outbound flow of metal has acted to drain Chinese stocks, both visible and those lying in the off-market shadows. Shanghai Metal Market (SMM) estimates total “social” inventories of zinc ingot across seven domestic markets at a low 56,000 tonnes.

Recovery rates

Zinc pricing this year has reflected the conundrum of weak Chinese demand, thanks largely to a struggling property sector, and simultaneous supply-chain tightness in the rest of the world.

Next year’s outlook depends a lot on whether demand or supply recovers fastest, assuming either recovers at all.

Recession in Europe will come before recovery in China, according to analysts at Citi. The bank’s base-case forecast is for the zinc price to ease steadily to $2,600 per tonne in the third quarter of 2023 to reflect the Western demand hit.

Macquarie Bank agrees, forecasting prices to bottom out at $2,500 in the second quarter and to remain subdued as the market shifts back to surplus.

A return to surplus, however, assumes that the supply side can recover from this year’s collective under-performance.

China’s lifting of restrictions and rising demand should incentivize the country’s smelters to turn back on the taps after what SMM estimates to have been a 2.0% slide in national output so far this year.

High treatment charges, currently around $270-290 per tonne in China, will help smelter margins both there and everywhere else.

That should in theory pave the wave for European smelters to reactivate capacity once the power crisis abates, most likely in the second quarter as the region emerges from winter.

But smelters of any metal have a history of staying closed after a prolonged period of inactivity, the costs of reopening sometimes not worth the return.

Moreover, while European power prices have fallen significantly in recent weeks, they remain well above levels that were regarded as normal before Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The longer-term question-mark over Europe’s power-hungry smelters hasn’t gone away, injecting a whole new twist in the zinc market narrative.

In the short term the zinc market is going to remain beholden to the European power market. Any more smelter suspensions or any shift to permanent closures could yet turn a bearish market on its head.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by David Evans)

Foran’s $150m loan helps nearly cover McIlvenna Bay copper project cost in Saskatchewan

Staff Writer | December 21, 2022 | 

The camp at Foran Mining’s McIlvenna Bay polymetallic project in Saskatchewan. 

Credit: Foran Mining

Foran Mining (TSXV: FOM) says it will use a $150 million loan from Sprott Resource Lending to help construct its McIlvenna Bay copper project in Saskatchewan.


The funding from Toronto-based Sprott joins C$200 million proposed by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which was announced in August and should be approved “in due course,” Foran said in a news release on Wednesday.

The financing will almost cover the estimated C$368 million cost to build the project about 330 km northeast of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, according to a feasibility study released in February. It also forecast C$481 million in sustaining capital for the 18-year initial phase of the mine.

“We have been meticulously evaluating various financing proposals from numerous lenders to support the development,” Dan Myerson, Foran’s chief executive officer, said in the release. “This agreement maximizes risk-adjusted value per share for existing shareholders.”

The McIlvenna Bay project has probable reserves of 25.7 million tonnes grading 1.23% copper, 2.39% zinc, 0.47 gram gold per tonne and 15.3 grams silver, according to the feasibility study. It is aiming for an underground mine to produce 38.8 million lb. copper, 63.6 million lb. zinc, 20,000 oz. gold and 486,000 oz. silver annually for the first 15 years.

The study estimated the project will have an after-tax net present value of C$1.1 billion at a 7% discount rate, and an internal rate of return of 54%. It used base case prices of $3.50 per lb. copper, $1.20 per lb. lead and $1,600 per oz. gold.

Vancouver-based Foran said it has received an initial advance of $29.5 million from the Sprott loan. Principal repayments are to start in mid-2026 and the loan accrues annual interest of at least 8.95%, the company said.

Foran is developing the project in east-central Saskatchewan in a three-pronged strategy with its Bigstone copper-zinc project 25 km west of McIlvenna Bay and eight other targets the explorer is probing in the same area. Foran is planning to build a centralized mill and says the operation will be carbon neutral by using electric vehicles and hydro-electric power.

The project ticks off a few boxes with copper and zinc on the federal government’s list of critical minerals considered essential for economic development. The age of electric vehicles and modern technologies depends on copper wiring, and there’s the push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

“We look forward to partnering with Foran on its destination to become a premier critical metals producer,” Narinder Nagra, managing partner of Sprott, said in the same release. “Our financing of Foran is consistent with our strategy to provide innovative and flexible capital to maximize the value of exceptional projects.”

BMO Capital Markets said last month Foran has so far kept costs for the project in line with the feasibility study while planning to expand drilling on neighbouring targets to 35,000 metres next year after exploration at the Tesla site returned positive results this year.

“Foran continues to consolidate claims in proximity to McIlvenna Bay, providing the company an extensive land package,” mining analyst Rene Cartier wrote in a Nov. 30 note. “The proximity of Tesla offers the strong potential of additional resource growth.”

At presstime in Toronto, shares in Foran were up 3% on the day, valuing the company at about C$763 million ($560m).

New model allows for balancing rare plant protection, mine development

Staff Writer | December 20, 2022 | 

Colorado Plateau. (Photo by Robert Fitts, Utah State University).

Researchers at Utah State University are mapping out strategies that allow balancing the emerging demand for mining and energy development projects on the Colorado Plateau and the survival of the area’s rare plant populations.


In a paper published in the journal Land, the scientists explain that the vast stretches of desert in southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado are home to rare plants like milkvetch, beardtongue penstemon and sclerocactus, which manage to survive under the harshest of environmental conditions and, thus, are something of an ecologically niched miracle.

To ensure that at least 30% of these plant species can be protected so their respective communities can hold on to the potential for long-term survival, the research team developed a new method to model how rare plants are distributed across the Colorado Plateau, one that includes strategies for structuring energy projects to optimize the use of space to minimize their impact.

The model doesn’t work in an ecological vacuum—it considers factors like land ownership, the potential for energy extraction at a site, and biodiversity.

“The key to finding workable solutions in these kinds of circumstances is to think both like an ecologist and an energy developer, and to work within that space,” Thomas Edwards, co-author of the study, said in a media statement. “Conservation planning frameworks don’t always incorporate real-world limiting factors such as financial considerations, business risk and land ownership. But those considerations are essential for finding workable solutions. Reality-based strategies require the consideration of all these things.”

In his view and that of his colleagues, it is important to use space wisely and understand that no solution can completely meet objectives for both plant conservation and energy extraction. However, where there is direct conflict, their model can help land managers accommodate a level of balance.

The team identified and mapped specific locations where conservation actions to protect plant communities would get the most bang for their buck. They found the minimum number of sites required to cover 30% of each species at the lowest financial cost to developers. By optimizing and minimizing the number of land units slated for conservation, they were able to allow more areas to open for energy development and exploration.

This approach might require developers to move planned roads, build around certain protected areas, or drill horizontally in some places to protect a high-priority location, at some additional cost. But the model acknowledges that energy development in the area is headed toward the inevitable, and accommodates that.

“It’s not a perfect scenario,” Edwards said, “but this approach provides opportunities for a best-case scenario given the reality of circumstances.”

Ioneer’s lithium-boron project in Nevada moves into final permitting stage

Cecilia Jamasmie | December 19, 2022 | 

Rhyolite Ridge is the only known lithium-boron deposit in North America. 

(Image courtesy of ioneer.)

Australia-based ioneer (ASX: INR)(Nasdaq: IONR) said on Monday its flagship Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada has advanced into the final stage of federal permitting.


The company said the decision by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to publish a Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register, was a major milestone towards completing the permitting for the proposed mine.

“This marks a major milestone toward the completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and approval of the project’s plan of operations,” it said in the statement.

The plan of operations is the foundational permitting document for the project and will become the basis for compliance during operations and closure, the company said.

ioneer has faced some setbacks when trying to obtain federal permits because public lands near its Rhyolite Ridge asset are home to the endangered wildflower Tiehm’s buckwheat.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently designated the pale yellow flower as an endangered species, which the company welcomed as, it said, the decision provided “further clarity for the path forward for the development of the Rhyolite Ridge project.”

The company had submitted in July a revised plan of operations for the project that will protect the wildflower while the mine is being built.

Tiehm’s buckwheat (Eriogonum tiehmii)

Photo by Patrick Donnelly, Center for Biological Diversity.

“We understand the Rhyolite Ridge project is the first lithium project to be issued a Notice of Intent under the Biden administration,” executive Chairman James Calaway said.

“We see this as a significant step toward ensuring a strong domestic supply of critical minerals and strategic materials necessary for development of a domestic battery supply chain essential to the electrification of transportation in the US,” he noted.

ioneer inked a supply deal in July with Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, a battery joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic, to provide 4,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year in the first five years of production.

It also signed a deal with Ford for 7,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate annually for five years. ioneer aims to produce about 21,000 tonnes of lithium a year in Nevada starting in 2025.

Rhyolite Ridge is the only known lithium-boron deposit in North America and one of only two known such deposits in the world.

Burkina Faso denies it paid Russian fighters with mine rights

Reuters | December 20, 2022 

Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Credit: Wikipedia

Burkina Faso’s mines minister on Tuesday denied an allegation by the president of Ghana that Burkina Faso had paid Russian mercenaries by giving them the rights to a mine.


Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo caused a controversy by stating last week that Burkina Faso had hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group to help it fight Islamist militants.

“I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services,” Akufo-Addo said, speaking to reporters alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Burkina Faso’s government has not formally confirmed or denied the allegation that it has made an agreement with Wagner, but it summoned the Ghanaian ambassador for a meeting on Friday to explain the president’s remarks.

“We have not granted any permit to a Russian company in southern Burkina,” said mines minister Simon Pierre Boussim, speaking to reporters after a meeting with civil society groups that were concerned about the allegations.

“We made a list of all the exploitation or research permits for large industrial mines in the south, so they can see clearly that there is no hidden site,” he said.

The Burkinabe government did recently award a new exploration permit to Russian firm Nordgold for a gold mine in Yimiougou, in the centre-north region, Boussim said, but the company has been active in Burkina Faso for over a decade.

Burkina Faso’s neighbour Mali hired Wagner last year to help it fight insurgents. The prospect of the group expanding its presence in Africa has troubled Western powers such as France and the United States, who say it exploits mineral resources and commits human rights abuses in countries where it operates.

(By Thiam Ndiaga and Nellie Peyton; Editing by David Evans)

Researchers chart environmentally friendlier methods to produce nitrogen fertilizer

Staff Writer | December 21, 2022 |

Nitrogen fertilizer plant. (Reference image by Tseno Tanev, Wikimedia Commons.)

Researchers at ETH Zurich and the Carnegie Institution for Science have shown how nitrogen fertilizer could be produced more sustainably, thus reducing countries’ dependence on imported natural gas.


In a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the researchers explain that intensive agriculture is possible only if the soil is fertilized with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. However, while phosphorus and potassium can be mined as salts, nitrogen fertilizer has to be produced laboriously from nitrogen in the air and hydrogen. The production of hydrogen is energy-intensive, currently requiring large quantities of natural gas or—as in China—coal.

The way nitrogen fertilizer has been produced so far means that besides having a correspondingly large carbon footprint, its manufacturing process is vulnerable to price shocks in the fossil fuels markets. Thus, the scientists evaluated three alternative options that may be environmentally friendlier and economically safer.

The first option is producing the necessary hydrogen using fossil fuels as in the business-as-usual, only instead of emitting the greenhouse gas CO2 into the atmosphere, it is captured in the production plants and permanently stored underground. This requires not only infrastructure for capturing, transporting and storing the CO2 but also correspondingly more energy. Despite this, it is a comparatively efficient production method. However, it does nothing to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

The second option involves electrifying fertilizer production by using water electrolysis to produce hydrogen. This requires, on average, 25 times as much energy as today’s production method using natural gas, so it would take huge amounts of electricity from carbon-neutral sources. For countries with an abundance of solar or wind energy, this might be an appealing approach. However, given plans to electrify other sectors of the economy in the name of climate action, it might lead to competition for sustainable electricity.

The third option is synthesizing hydrogen for fertilizer production from biomass. Since this option requires a lot of arable land and water, ironically this production method competes with food production. But the study’s authors point out that it makes sense if the feedstock is waste biomass—for example, crop residues.

The scientists state that the key to success is likely to be a combination of all these approaches depending on the country and specific local conditions and available resources.

“In any case, it is imperative that agriculture makes more efficient use of nitrogen fertilizers,” Lorenzo Rosa, co-author of the paper, said in a media statement. “Addressing problems like over-fertilization and food waste is also a way to reduce the need for fertilizer.”

Countries at risk

In the study, the researchers also sought to identify the countries of the world in which food security is currently at risk owing to their dependence on imports of nitrogen or natural gas. India, Brazil, China, France, Turkey and Germany are among the countries that are particularly vulnerable to price shocks in the natural gas and nitrogen markets.

On the other side of the spectrum are Russia, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the largest nitrogen-exporting nations. China is also among this group, although due to its size, it also has to import natural gas.

“Decarbonizing fertilizer production would in many cases reduce this vulnerability and increase food security,” the scientists point out. “At the very least, electrification via renewables or the use of biomass would reduce the dependence on natural gas imports.”

But everything has to be put in perspective and in this case, the authors note that all carbon-neutral methods of producing nitrogen fertilizer are more energy intensive than the current method of using fossil fuels. In other words, they are still vulnerable to certain price shocks—not on natural gas markets directly, but perhaps on electricity markets.

The team believes that, in the future, the countries that are likely to benefit from decarbonization are those that generate a lot of solar and wind power and also have sufficient reserves of land and water, such as Canada and the United States

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Ivanhoe Mines confirms link to Congo aide in copper corruption case

Bloomberg News | December 21, 2022 | 

Vidiye Tshimanga. Credit: Wikipedia

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. confirmed a business relationship with a presidential aide who was arrested in a corruption case in Democratic Republic of Congo, where the firm controls one of the world’s biggest copper deposits.


Ivanhoe struck a deal last year with Vidiye Tshimanga, a top aide to Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, the firm said in a statement on Dec. 14. He was arrested in September after a series of secretly-taped videos appeared to show him offering political protection for an unnamed mining deal in exchange for a stake in the venture.


In the videos, Tshimanga alleged he’d made a similar deal with Ivanhoe. Tshimanga, who is currently on trial in Congo for passive corruption and influence peddling, told Bloomberg in a message on Dec. 15 he would respond to Ivanhoe’s statement but has yet to do so.

“In early 2021, Ivanhoe Mines entered a term sheet with a Congolese entity beneficially owned by Mr. Vidiye Tshimanga for a joint venture on certain exploration licenses,” Ivanhoe told Bloomberg in an email. The deal is currently in arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris after Tshimanga’s company “reneged on the commercial terms of this agreement,” Ivanhoe said.

Term sheets are usually non-binding agreements that outline the terms of a transaction.

Key producer

Congo has some of world’s richest mineral reserves, and the country could play a critical role in alleviating long-term shortages of metals like copper and cobalt, which will be crucial in the global energy transition. Development of the nation’s mining sector has long been stymied by concerns about corruption, but Ivanhoe has helped to spearhead a wave of new investment into the country in recent years.

Ivanhoe holds almost 40% of Kamoa-Kakula copper project in southeastern Congo, the same-size stake as China’s Zijin Mining Group. Ivanhoe says it will become the second-largest copper project in the world.

Chinese investment company Crystal River Global Ltd. holds 0.8% and Congo’s government controls the remaining 20%. Ivanhoe also has multiple exploration permits in Congo’s copperbelt and the Kipushi zinc mine.

Congo is world’s third-largest producer of copper and the top source of key battery mineral cobalt.

“With Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe have 80, I have 20,” Tshimanga said in the videos, which were obtained and published Sept. 15 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. It wasn’t clear what he was referring to.

Tshimanga’s company, Congo Bantu Mining Sarl, or Cobamin, has three exploration permits that adjoin several concessions owned by Vancouver-based Ivanhoe in southeastern Congo, according to the country’s mining registry map.

On Tuesday, Ivanhoe said the term sheet “envisaged an earn-in” for Cobamin’s permits.

“These final agreements were never signed, considering that Cobamin kept on renegotiating the terms initially set out in the term sheet,” Ivanhoe told Bloomberg by email Tuesday. “No payment was made to Cobamin under this proposed agreement.”

Special treatment

On Dec. 15, Washington-based anti-corruption group The Sentry published a report alleging Ivanhoe had received special treatment by cutting politically connected individuals into deals in Congo.

Ivanhoe’s stock plunged as much as 12% on the same date, its biggest intraday decline since June, after the Globe and Mail reported Canadian police searched the company’s offices last year for information on bank transfers relating to its mining operations in Congo.

The company said the search had nothing to do with its mining operations and was about an electricity project not owned by Ivanhoe. It had previously disclosed the search of its Vancouver offices and it said in a separate statement Monday that no charges had been filed in the case.

The search warrant relates to Stucky Ltd., which is now part of Gruner AG, and Stucky Technologies, and Congo’s state-owned power company, SNEL, according to the Ivanhoe statement.

The Sentry report describes payments made to Stucky Technologies. It is not clear if Stucky Technologies is related to Stucky Ltd. or Basel-based Gruner, which did not respond to emailed questions from Bloomberg Monday.

An Ivanhoe spokesman told Bloomberg that the company had “disclosed as much as we have been advised to about that situation given the state of the ongoing investigation and parties involved.”

“Both the Sentry report and the Globe and Mail article are rife with misleading content that selectively discloses supposed facts,” Ivanhoe said. “This tactic has the effect of impugning Ivanhoe Mines’ reputation, adversely impacting its business and negatively impacting public Canadian corporations operating internationally.”

Ivanhoe conducts its business in line with Congolese and international laws, it said.

Ivanhoe’s arbitration with Cobamin is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2023, it said Tuesday. The company will need to decide whether to confirm its request for implementation of the term sheet, convert it into a request for damages, or drop the arbitration, Ivanhoe said.

(By Michael J. Kavanagh, with assistance from Mark Burton and Thomas Biesheuvel)

Related: Ivanhoe Mines hits back at Sentry, Globe and Mail reports on police search of Vancouver office

Terrafame to start mining uranium in Finland by mid-2024

Cecilia Jamasmie | December 21, 2022 

Terrafame’s production process enables the low concentration of natural uranium found in the ore to be used as a by-product. (Image courtesy of Terrafame.)

Finland’s Terrafame will start recovering natural uranium as a byproduct of zinc and nickel production at its Sotkamo mine, in the home country, by mid 2024.


The miner, in which the Finnish state has a 67.1% stake and commodities trader Trafigura holds a 31.1% interest, is aiming to produce 200 tonnes per year by 2026, it said on Wednesday.

Terrafame, formerly known as Talvivaara, intends to refine the uranium into yellowcake, used as fuel for nuclear power plants. The commodity has so far been waste from processing the metals extracted at Sotkamo. These include nickel and cobalt sulphates for electric vehicle (EV) batteries as well as other minerals.

“As the recovery begins, Terrafame will become a Finnish uranium producer, and thus will also play a role in building Europe’s energy self-sufficiency,” chief executive officer Joni Lukkaroinen said in the statement.

“The utilization of Terrafame’s natural uranium in energy production helps in achieving climate goals since nuclear power does not result in carbon dioxide emissions in the production process. As an energy source, it is stable,” Lukkaroinen said.
Europe’s only uranium recovery operation

The company has a ready-built uranium recovery plant on site, which it says it will be Europe’s only uranium recovery operation. It will increase its net sales by about 25 million euros ($27m) per year, from 378 million euros ($401m) in 2021, it said.

Terrafame, one of Europe’s largest nickel miners, churned out last year about 28,600 tonnes of nickel and 54,400 tonnes of zinc. It also began producing battery chemicals from its own minerals at its northeastern Finland mine.

The Finnish government authorized uranium production in 2020, but environmental organizations took the decision to the courts as they feared the effects it would have in the environment.

Before uranium recovery at Sotkamo can be commissioned, the country’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority will have to verify that the company’s operations are in line with the Nuclear Energy Act’s principles.

UEC wins $17.8m award from Department of Energy to supply uranium concentrates

Staff Writer | December 21, 2022 

Uranium Energy’s Palangana ISR uranium mine in south Texas. Credit: Uranium Energy

Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE American: UEC) has been awarded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) – National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to supply 300,000 pounds of uranium concentrates at $59.50/lb. for a total of $17.85 million. The award is in response to the NNSA’s request for proposals to establish its strategic national Uranium Reserve program.


The Uranium Reserve was originally designed as a 10-year, $1.5 billion, plan to help revitalize the US uranium and conversion industry. The award under the RFP is part of the initial $75 million authorized by Congress in 2020 to advance the US government’s goal of supporting America’s nuclear fuel supply chain and capabilities.

The delivery will be made by book transfer to NNSA in the first quarter of 2023, with US origin uranium currently held in the accounts of UEC.

“We are honoured and delighted to be selected as a domestic producer for this purchase of uranium concentrates by the NNSA and look forward to the further expansion of the Uranium Reserve program in the coming years,” UEC CEO Amir Adnani said in a news release.

He noted that the US nuclear reactor fleet, which provides about 20% of America’s electricity production and over half of its clean energy, imports nearly 60% of its current uranium requirements from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“The US overdependence on these imports creates untenable energy and national security risks that need immediate high-priority attention from industry and the federal government,” Adnani said.

“The Uranium Reserve is an important step to help rebuild America’s nuclear fuel capabilities, not only as a backup to mitigate potential supply disruptions, but also to revitalize US capability to fuel the existing reactor fleet as well as new advanced reactors. We are looking forward to the continued improvement in the nuclear fuel markets and further expanding UEC’s production capabilities to help supply America’s uranium needs,” Spencer Abraham, UEC chairman and former US Energy Secretary, added.

UEC is currently the largest diversified uranium company in North America, with in-situ recovery (ISR) mining uranium projects in the US and high-grade conventional projects in Canada. It has two production-ready ISR hub-and-spoke platforms in southern Texas and Wyoming, both anchored by fully operational central processing plants and served by seven ISR uranium projects.

The company is closing in on initial production at its Texas platform following approval last month of an amended radioactive material licence (RML) for the Hobson central processing plant, which would see its capacity rise by four-fold to 4 million pounds of U3O8 (uranium oxide) annually, distinguishing the Hobson plant as having the largest licensed capacity in Texas and the second largest in the country.

Shares of UEC rose 5.4% on the NYSE by 11:20 a.m. ET Wednesday, giving the company a market capitalization of $1.35 billion.

Panama orders First Quantum to halt copper mine operations

Reuters | December 19, 2022 | 

The mill at the Cobre Panama operation. Credit: First Quantum Minerals.

First Quantum Minerals must make a plan to halt work at its copper mine in Panama then go ahead with the scheme within two days of approval, the Central American country said after it and the Canadian company had failed to agree on boosting taxes from the project.


The company has 10 days to present the plan for the Cobre Panama mine, which the government has said accounts for 3.5% of gross domestic product, according to a resolution of the Commerce and Industry Ministry published in Panama’s official gazette.

First Quantum can appeal against the ministry’s order within five days, however.

IN DEPTH: Panama to shut down First Quantum’s giant copper mine

A spokesperson for First Quantum did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ministry’s order.

Panamanian authorities reached the decision after both parties missed a deadline last week to finalize a deal that would have increased annual payments to the government to at least $375 million.

First Quantum says the mine is the largest private investment in Panama.

(By Valentine Hilaire; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Bradley Perrett)

Transparency International denounces lack of clarity in Cobre Panamá’s negotiations

Valentina Ruiz Leotaud | December 18, 2022 |

Cobre Panamá operation. (Image by First Quantum Minerals).

The Panamanian chapter of Transparency International (TI) issued a communiqué denouncing what the organization deems as a lack of clarity in the negotiations between the government of President Laurentino Cortizo and Minera Panamá, the local subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM).


Back on Friday, the Panamanian government ordered the Canadian miner to halt operations at its Cobre Panamá copper mine after it failed to agree on the terms of a new contract.

The move came after First Quantum missed a Wednesday night deadline to ink a new royalty deal that has been in the works since September 2021.

“The case of Minera Panamá is a clear example of the lack of transparency displayed by several administrations, including the current one,” TI’s media statement reads.

“Since the Executive announced, back in January 2022, that it had reached an agreement with the company, guaranteeing a minimum payment of $375 million per year and an increase in royalties, little to no information had been disclosed until yesterday when the suspension measures of Minera Panamá’s commercial activities were announced.”

In the view of the NGO, the lack of open information hinders the ability of the Panamanian population to assess whether the government is defending people’s best interests or whether there are conflicts of interest or undue influences at play in the negotiations.

The brief compares the dealings with Minera Panamá to those related to the renewal of a contract with Panamá Ports a year ago. According to TI, such negotiations were done in a shady way and resulted in the government accepting insufficient remuneration for the use of the Panama Canal and allowing a company to monopolize it for the next 25 years.

“The legal obligation of being transparent and allowing access to public information has regressed alarmingly in this administration, both being replaced by unprecedented silence, illegal refusals, and impunity,” the communiqué reads.

“Democracy, which these days is threatened in many parts of the world, requires citizens to actively and permanently defend it, demanding accountability from institutions, officials and politicians.

Panama leaves door open to eleventh-hour deal for giant mine

Bloomberg News | December 17, 2022 | 

Cobre Panamá mine. (Image by First Quantum Minerals).

A shock announcement by Panama to intervene in a privately run copper mine may not be as definitive as first thought.


First Quantum Minerals Ltd. continues to mine the massive Cobre Panama open-pit despite a government order to close commercial operations after talks for a new tax arrangement collapsed, people with knowledge of the situation said.

In addition, the administration of President Laurentino Cortizo hasn’t closed the door to a resumption of talks, they said, asking not to be named discussing private information.

That’s a less black and white picture than earlier in the week when Cortizo declared negotiations over and instructed the Commerce Ministry to put the mine on care and maintenance. The government was also said to be seeking another operator to replace Vancouver-based First Quantum.

The wiggle room appears to be in the fact that halting the mine requires a resolution to rescind contracts, potentially giving the two sides a window of time to reach a deal.

The collapse in talks caught investors by surprise given how much is at stake for both sides if the operation is seized.

The mine, which cost at least $10 billion to build, is by far First Quantum’s biggest asset as well as an economic engine for the country. Ripping up contracts would be a hammer blow to the company and to Panama’s investor-friendly reputation, as well as potentially setting off a massive legal case.

Earlier Friday, the company signaled it hadn’t given up hope after coming “very close to an agreement” before the government pulled the plug. On the same day, Cortizo said that while everything had been suspended, “we can’t discard anything for obvious reasons.”

(By James Attwood and Yvonne Yue Li, with assistance from Michael McDonald)

Shutting huge copper project shows why miners worry about starting them
Bloomberg News | December 16, 2022 

Cobre Panama mine at night. Image by First Quantum Minerals.

Panama’s decision to close a giant copper mine couldn’t come at a worse time for the market, and highlights the risk of investing big in some projects.


Just when the world faces a looming shortage of copper — a metal essential for the green revolution — Panama on Thursday said it will halt commercial operations at the Cobre Panamá operated by Canada’s First Quantum Minerals Ltd. It followed the breakdown of tax talks and is a rare move among Latin American countries.


The mine, which is one of the world’s newest and can produce about 300,000 tons a year of copper, cost at least $10 billion to build.

The industry has long feared resource nationalism, where assets can be stripped from them in extreme cases. Investing can be a huge risk when billions of dollars must often be spent up to a decade before a mine turns a profit. The fear of losing assets or having to renegotiate terms with governments has led the sector to shy away from what are often perceived as the riskiest jurisdictions.

For example, mining heavyweight BHP Group for years only invested in what it saw as safe countries, while rich deposits remained undeveloped in the riskiest places.

In the short term, halting output at Cobre Panama will add to already tight supplies. In recent weeks both Glencore Plc and Anglo American Plc have lowered copper production goals for the coming years. But the impact on companies’ willingness to build more mines could be more significant, according to BMO Capital Markets.

“Perhaps more important however is the precedent this might set for government action, which would naturally make companies more cautious to invest (particularly in non-mining jurisdictions),” BMO analyst Colin Hamilton said.

Warnings that the world needs more copper keep coming. Glencore Chief Executive Officer Gary Nagle earlier this month said there’s a cumulative gap between projected demand and supply of 50 million tons between 2022 and 2030. That compares with current world copper demand of about 25 million tons a year.

Copper miners and analysts have forecast growing deficits starting in the mid-2020s, driven by rising demand for the metal in wind and solar farms, high voltage cables and electric vehicles.

(By Thomas Biesheuvel)

California congressman perfectly sums up what is wrong with US mining policy

Frik Els | December 21, 2022 | 

California congressman Tom McClintock speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2011. Image credit: Gage Skidmore.

With ample reserves, the US has a number of uncommitted mining projects that would support COPxx climate change targets and the Biden administration’s lofty green energy transition and electric vehicle ambitions under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).


A top contender is the Resolution project in Arizona, near the town of Superior in the area known as the Copper Triangle, where mining activity dates back to the 1870s.


The deposit was discovered in 1995 and contained copper tops 10 million tonnes worth nearly $90 billion at today’s prices. The sixth-largest measured copper orebody in the world, it’s a deep underground, high-grade mine using block cave technology that shrinks its environmental footprint.

The world’s number one and two mining companies, BHP and majority shareholder in the project Rio Tinto, have already spent $2 billion on it, including reclamation of a historical mine.

Resolution Copper has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past and in 2014 former president Obama signed into law a Pentagon bill that included a clause inserted by then Arizona Senator John McCain allowing for a land swap so that the project can advance.

Trump, five days before leaving office, published a pivotal report – the Final Environmental Impact Statement – on the project, clearing the last major hurdle for construction to begin, which would take another decade to the start of commercial production.

The thousands of jobs and billions in state and federal revenue the mine will create over its 40+ year life makes Resolution the perfect candidate for fast tracking and government support under the IRA.

Right?

Wrong.

Biden rescinded the FEIS two months after its publication and Democrats also added specific wording to the infrastructure bill that would block the project.

And so 28 years after discovery, Resolution remains stuck in development hell.

Last month Resolution came before the House Natural Resources committee.

Under discussion was resolution 1378, which is so modest in its ambition, that it’s hard to imagine that the meeting went on for nearly an hour-and-a-half:

“Of inquiry requesting the President and directing the Secretary of Agriculture to transmit, respectively, certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to Resolution Copper mine.”

So in short, in the interest of transparency and oversight, show us the documents you used to throw out a 6-volume, nearly 3,000 page study.

The narrow ambit of the resolution did not stop committee members from airing their views on January 6, the Ukraine war, the “Gestapo tactics” of the Biden administration and at one point the Chair even accused another member of calling him a “copper thief”.

Among the submissions at the meeting was that of Congressman Tom McClintock representing the 4th District of California. Around the 17:00 min mark McClintock perfectly sums up what’s wrong with US mining policy:

“Mr Chairman I simply want to implore you and your democratic colleagues to reconsider the policies you have been pursuing.

“On the one hand you want to mandate not only electric cars but industrial scale backup batteries for wind and solar farms all in the name of saving the planet.

“Yet on the other hand you want to radically restrict mining; also in the name of saving the planet.

“Well you can’t do both.”

The resolution, which again, does nothing but request documents, was adopted by a 22 to 21 vote.

Its worth watching McClintock’s full comments which includes choice phrases like “childish fantasies” and “absurdities” in this clip. Or gluttons for punishment can watch the entire proceeding here.