BHP, the world’s largest diversified miner, has lifted annual copper production 8 % to an all-time high of 2.02 million t for the financial year to 30 June 2025, brushing the top of its 1.845-2.045 million t guidance range. The gains were driven by richer ore at Chile’s Escondida mine, where head grade climbed to...
READ MOREContract Termination Caps Off-taker Risk The original 2018 contract obliged Cloud Snurran to supply a baseload 300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) a year from 2020 to 2030, rising to 550 GWh annually between 2031 and 2049—equivalent to roughly 0.3 % and 0.6 % respectively of Hydro’s normal-year equity power output in Norway. Deliveries stopped in November 2024...
READ MOREChina’s General Administration of Customs, the national trade monitor, said imports of unwrought aluminium and products reached 300,000 t in June, up 24.1 % from a year earlier, while bauxite arrivals soared 36.2 % to 18.12 Mt, underscoring the pull from smelters ramping output to multi-year highs. Smelter Restarts and Arbitrage Fuel Metal Flows Restarts...
READ MOREAlcoa turned a nimble rerouting strategy into hard cash last quarter. The Pittsburgh-based aluminium maker posted net income of $164 million, or $0.62 per share, up from just $20 million a year earlier, after steering Canadian metal away from the United States once Washington doubled Section 232 duties to 50 percent. Adjusted earnings landed at...
READ MOREInalum, the state-owned aluminium producer, has asked the Indonesian government to tighten raw-material import rules and stimulate domestic demand after Washington doubled its tariff on imported aluminium to 50 per cent. Company president Melati Sarnita told Parliament the new US levy could slash exports of processed Indonesian products by about 30,000 tonnes next year, squeezing...
READ MOREAugusta Gold, a Canadian junior focused on southern Nevada, and AngloGold Ashanti, a Denver-based multinational gold producer, have agreed an all-cash transaction under which AngloGold will acquire all outstanding Augusta shares for C$1.70 (US$1.24) apiece, valuing the equity at roughly C$152 mn (US$111 mn). Including the repayment of about C$45 mn (US$33 mn) in shareholder...
READ MORERio Tinto, diversified mining group, has absorbed about $300 million in extra costs since March after the United States lifted import duties on Canadian aluminium to 50 per cent, a move the company says only partly offset by a surge in U.S. Midwest premiums for the metal. Tariff Impact on Rio’s Aluminium Flows The...
READ MOREAlcoa, United States-based aluminium producer, and Ignis EQT, Spanish renewable-energy developer, have resumed the phased restart of the 228,000-tonne-per-year San Cibrao smelter in Galicia after securing government assurances that April’s nationwide power outage will not recur. The partners now expect the plant to remain loss-making to the tune of €77–94 million ($89–109 million) in 2025...
READ MORERusal, Russia’s largest aluminium producer, is negotiating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and key State Duma committees for new policy instruments that would ease the import of bauxite and alumina feedstock into Russia and allow the company to accelerate investment in mines and refineries in “friendly” jurisdictions. Deputy chief executive Oleg Vaitman told...
READ MOREAterian, a London-listed critical-minerals explorer, and Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest miner, have reported high-grade lithium hits at their Kinunga joint-venture project in Rwanda, including 3.2 % Li over 3.5 m and 2.1 % Li over 6.9 m. The results, from the first two of 12 planned targets, prompted Rio Tinto to exercise a Stage-1...
READ MOREChina’s Ministry of Commerce, the country’s trade regulator, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, its policy adviser, have revised the national list of technologies subject to export controls for the fourth time since 2001. The move inserts lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery-cathode preparation technology into the “restricted” column—requiring exporters to obtain a licence—while deleting three construction-related...
READ MOREIvanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz project in south-central Arizona is hurtling toward construction early next year. A recently filed feasibility study outlines a 23-year underground operation capable of turning out 72,000 tonnes of copper cathode a year during its first 15 years—enough to make it the most productive U.S. mine since 2007. The sprint to production...
READ MOREAurubis, Germany’s largest copper producer and Europe’s top recycler of complex metal scrap, is steering €1.7 billion ($1.89 billion) toward expansion. Chief financial officer Steffen Hoffmann—new in the role—says the programme, anchored by a €740 million recycling smelter in Richmond, Georgia, is aimed squarely at surging North-American appetite for critical metals. With a robust 56...
READ MOREA 50% proposed tariff on copper imports into the United States will have little impact on India’s copper sector. Its position as a net importer of the metal, along with record domestic demand from the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors, offers a significant buffer against the prospective trade disruption. An Import-Dependent Market India’s role...
READ MOREThe Indonesian government, in an effort to control an acute oversupply of nickel ore, will reduce the validity period of its mining work plan permits (RKAB) from three years to one. The policy revision, which will commence in 2026, has attracted immediate objection from the nation’s miners, who caution it will hamper investment and cause...
READ MOREChina has made a huge lithium ore deposit discovery with 490 million tons of lithium and companion minerals in Hunan Province, another advance in the nation’s drive to lock in domestic battery metal supplies. The find in the Jijiaoshan mine area of Linwu County is one of China’s largest mineral discoveries in recent years and...
READ MOREPresident Donald Trump has confirmed on July 9th that the United States will apply 50% tariffs to all imports of copper starting August 1st, after what he called a “robust national security assessment”. The news initiated the biggest one-day copper price rise in recorded history, with New York Comex futures jumping 17% before closing 2.6%...
READ MOREBolivia’s Chamber of Deputies saw fiery altercations on July 9th when legislators discussed the contentious $975 million lithium extraction deal with Russia’s Uranium One Group. The session, which started at 17:00 hours, laid bare the deep rifts between government allies and opposition lawmakers calling for more regional involvement in the decision-making process. The agreement to...
READ MORESwiss-British mining and commodities trading firm Glencore sold its Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp (Pasar) assets to business holdings of Villar family led by Manny Villar Jr. This takes place in the context of historically unprecedented challenges facing the world’s copper smelter market in low-processing fees and surplus-capacity scenarios which have made most plants...
READ MOREPrices of gold had wildly oscillated on July 7 in America, after spot gold reclaimed earlier losses that were prompted by United State President Trump’s comments that unveiled novel tariff plans aimed at Japan and South Korea. Precious metal concluded at $3,336.30 per ounce, after experiencing spectacular action throughout the day that had spot gold...
READ MOREIndonesian authorities withdrew four of five nickel concessions in Raja Ampat, Western Papua province, after mass environmental activism that drew international scrutiny for one of Earth’s most richest marine habitats. It followed after international interest that had turned toward Papua mining operations upon the island chain that’s chock full of coral, which harbors 75 percent...
READ MOREWestern metal smelting operations face an unprecedented crisis as competition with technology companies for electricity resources drives power costs beyond economically viable levels, threatening government efforts to reshore critical industrial capacity. The crisis has intensified as artificial intelligence data centers consume increasing amounts of electricity, with tech companies willing to pay double traditional industrial rates...
READ MOREHindustan Copper, India’s only integrated copper mining company, has launched an expansion program to increase its ore production capacity from 3.75 million tonnes per annum to 12.2 MTPA by fiscal year 2030. The state-owned enterprise plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore ($238 million) over the next five years through internal funding to scale operations across...
READ MOREWestern metal smelting operations across copper, zinc, aluminum, and nickel face an unprecedented crisis as Chinese capacity expansion drives treatment charges to historic lows and forces facility closures worldwide. The crisis extends beyond individual company struggles to threaten Western industrial sovereignty, with China approaching the same level of processing dominance in base metals that has...
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