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 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 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 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 MORESumitomo, Japanese trading house and majority owner of Madagascar’s Ambatovy nickel and cobalt operation, kept its full-year production forecast in the “mid-30,000-ton” range after reporting about 7,000 tonnes of nickel in the first quarter of the current fiscal year—down from roughly 8,000 tonnes a year earlier—as operations recovered from a precautionary pipeline inspection. The company...
READ MOREAdani Enterprises, a diversified Indian conglomerate, has started processing ores at its new Kutch Copper smelter in Gujarat, India, after facing multiple delays. The facility, designed to be one of the world’s largest single-location smelters, commences operations at a time of unprecedented tightness in the global market for copper concentrate, the raw material it needs...
READ MOREGazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, is advancing plans to launch industrial-scale production of lithium and iodine by 2028, with additional prospects for extracting scandium, gallium, rubidium, and cesium from the associated waters of its oil and gas fields. The initiative represents a strategic diversification into critical minerals production while leveraging...
READ MOREThe government of Kazakhstan is implementing measures under its 2021 Law “On Industrial Policy” to boost domestic manufacturing by supplying local enterprises with raw materials at subsidized prices. This initiative has led to a significant increase in the processing of base metals, including a twofold rise in primary aluminum processing to 57,000 tonnes in 2024,...
READ MOREThe International Aluminium Institute, a global trade body representing the world’s primary aluminum producers, reported that worldwide primary aluminum production increased 3.3% month-over-month to 6.25 million tonnes in May 2025, while annual growth reached 1.5% compared to 6.15 million tonnes in May 2024. China maintained its dominant position with 3.74 million tonnes of production, representing...
READ MORESouth Korea’s three primary aluminum flat product manufacturers—Novelis Korea, Choil Aluminum, and Daeho Al—collectively reported an increase in sales and domestic shipments in May 2025. Total sales for the month reached 78,898 metric tonnes, a 3.1% gain from 76,508 tonnes a year prior. Domestic shipments rose by 6.7% to 25,600 tonnes. However, the impact of...
READ MOREContemporary Amperex Technology, China’s largest battery manufacturer, has commenced construction of an integrated battery production facility in Indonesia through a joint venture with Indonesia Battery Corporation and state-owned PT Aneka Tambang. The project targets initial production capacity of 6.9 gigawatt-hours by late 2026, expanding to 15 GWh for electric vehicle applications, while Indonesian officials suggest...
READ MOREKuvimba Mining House, the state-owned diversified miner, and two yet-to-be-named Chinese partners will break ground in the third quarter on a 600,000-tonnes-per-year lithium-concentrate plant at Sandawana in southern Zimbabwe, the company confirmed last week. Chief executive Trevor Barnard said the venture, budgeted at US $270 million, should be commissioned in early 2027—timed to coincide with...
READ MOREAurubis, copper and precious metals recycler, is betting on a €740 million ($868 million) investment in Richmond, Georgia to accelerate earnings from fiscal 2026/27 after start-up losses, while guiding current-year operating pre-tax profit to the middle of a €300–€400 million ($352–$469 million) range. The first Richmond module is due to start in September 2024, with...
READ MORETeck Resources has approved the expansion of its Highland Valley Copper mine in British Columbia, pushing planned mine life out from 2028 to 2046. Average annual production is projected at 132,000 tonnes of copper. The project carries a capital cost of C$2.1–C$2.4 billion (US$1.54–1.76 billion), to be spent between late 2025 and 2028, with full...
READ MOREAnglo American, the diversified miner, reported second-quarter copper production of 173,300 tonnes. That was 3% higher than the previous quarter on stronger throughput at Peru’s Quellaveco, yet 11% lower year on year after planned reductions in Chile. The group kept its 2025 copper guidance unchanged at 690,000–750,000 tonnes. Rough diamond output slumped 36% to 4.1...
READ MORENornickel, Russian producer of nickel and palladium, has lowered its 2025 output guidance across all key metals after first-half production fell 2–6% year on year amid installation and calibration of domestic mining and processing equipment. First-half nickel output declined 4% to 86,850 tonnes, copper slipped 2% to 213,189 tonnes, palladium fell 5% to almost 1.4...
READ MOREGlobal supply, industry outlook, is set to recover in 2025 as Ivanhoe’s Kipushi in the DRC, China’s Huoshaoyun and Russia’s Ozernoye scale up, even as analysts still see mined zinc contracting at a -0.5% CAGR to around 12.1 mt by 2030 from a post-rebound base. After an estimated 2.8% decline in 2024, mine production is...
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 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 MOREHudbay Minerals, copper-focused miner, and Manitoba authorities have cleared a staged restart of operations at Snow Lake after the Manitoba Wildfire Service and the Town of Snow Lake lifted a mandatory evacuation order on August 22. Hudbay said inspections found no structural damage to surface infrastructure; milling at New Britannia resumed on August 26 and...
READ MOREVSMPO-Avisma, titanium producer, expects 2025 production to be “the 2021 level,” CEO Dmitry Trifonov told reporters, while majority owner Mikhail Shelkov described current volumes as a “low plateau.” The company did not disclose the 2021 figure. Separately, VSMPO marked the smelting of its millionth titanium ingot at its Sverdlovsk Region complex—a 5,200-kg, 870-mm-diameter piece produced...
READ MOREChile’s Copper Commission (Cochilco), the state market monitor, has trimmed its 2025 copper production growth forecast to 1.5% year on year from 3%, citing supply disruptions and mine operating issues. The revision follows a June slump in output at Escondida, the BHP-operated mine that is the world’s largest copper producer, and at Collahuasi, the joint...
READ MOREAlmonty, tungsten producer, and KfW IPEX-Bank, project lender, have cleared the last steps to start up the Sangdong mine in South Korea, with all plant equipment installed and financing fully drawn; initial production is targeted for the second half of 2025. The group said its Panasqueira mine in Portugal continues to provide steady output and...
READ MORESibanye-Stillwater, gold and PGM producer, and South Africa’s Kloof–Driefontein and Beatrix complex operator, reported a 13% year-on-year drop in South African gold production to 300,191 oz (9.3 t) for January–June 2025 as first-quarter disruptions at Kloof and Driefontein lingered into Q2, while group PGM volumes softened with US operations curtailed under low-price conditions. The company...
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