The Northern Miner March 2024 Vol 110 Issue 3

Feds must force pensions to fund Canadian mining, Lassonde, Giustra say

FINANCING | Aussie retirement plans dwarf Canucks in domestic investment

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

Ottawa has to pressure pension funds to invest billions in Canadian mining, a radical change from their almost non-existent stakes, if the industry is ever going to produce enough metals to ght climate change, veteran entrepreneurs Pierre Lassonde and Frank Giustra say.

Canada’s eight largest pension funds hold some $2.1 trillion in assets but only a quarter was even invested in the country last year, according to research by Montreal-based fund manager LetkoBrosseau. e so-called Maple Eight devoted just 3% to Canadian equities, the lowest of a group of six countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, data show.

“ ey’ve taken the vast majority of this money — 75% of it — and invested it outside Canada to create jobs outside of Canada to the detriment of Canadians,” Lassonde, a founder of Franco-Nevada (TSX: FNV; NYSE: FNV) and a former president of Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT), said in a February phone interview. “Essentially, the mining industry has been ignored.”

Pension funds are not investing in large Canadian mining companies, which may in turn invest in juniors, in part because few domestic options remain. Switzerland-based Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) acquisition of most of Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) coking coal assets in November for about $9 billion is the latest large deal scooping up Canadian assets.

Xstrata, now part of Glencore, bought nickel giant Falconbridge for $39 billion in 2006, the same year Brazil’s Vale (NYSE: VALE) purchased the country’s other main nickel producer, Inco, for $19 billion. Australia’s Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) followed a year later in acquiring aluminum producer Alcan for $38 billion. Lassonde and Giustra say pension fund investing might have helped them stay.

“We’re talking about very large companies, mining giants that we lost to foreigners,” said Giustra, who founded Lions Gate Entertainment (Fahrenheit 9/11, e Hunger Games) and helped start Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM,

NYSE: WPM; LSE: WPM) and Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV; LSE: EDV). “ ese aren’t risky companies. is was the backbone of our mining industry in this country.”

Rules eroded Indeed, Canadian pensions were required to invest 90% of their assets domestically in 1990, but federal governments gradually reduced the limit before removing it entirely in 2005. Total domestic exposure as a percentage of assets ranges from 55% held by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan to 13% run by Public Sector Pension Investments (PSP). e average of other pen-

sion funds around the world is 52%, according to LetkoBrosseau.

Pensions are the largest single repository of wealth in most countries and globally hold nearly US$50 trillion. Reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will require annual clean energy investment worldwide to more than triple by 2030 to around US$4 trillion, according to the International Energy Agency. Just mining enough battery metals over the next three years will cost as much as US$450 billion, the agency said. In 2022, Ottawa budgeted nearly $4 billion in spending on critical minerals by 2030 but it’s not clear how pension funds are being engaged to support projects.

PENSION FUND REQUIREMENTS FOR DOMESTIC INVESTMENT: 1990: 90% 2005: 0%

“ e government of Canada continues to engage with critical minerals stakeholders, including pension plans and other institutional, arms-length investors,” Michael MacDonald, a spokesman for the federal Natural Resources Ministry, said in an emailed reply to questions.

Pierre Lassonde Frank Giustra

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n Deep sea mining inevitable: ISA chief

Deep sea mining is likely just a matter of time, according to the head of the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

“Clearly now, we are reaching a very high level of interest so I would say that yes, it seems to be inevitable,” said Michael Lodge, the secretary-general of the ISA, in an interview with CNBC on Feb. 19.

Lodge, who added that one of the main drivers of underwater mining was the potential for cost savings, spoke as the ISA prepared to restart talks on deep-sea mining in Kingston, Jamaica in March.

Norway’s parliament greenlit seabed mining exploration

in the country’s territorial waters on Jan. 9, decision making it the rst country to formally authorize seabed mining activities in its waters.

Minerals and metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese can be found in potato-sized nodules on the ocean oor. According to a study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, producing battery metals from nodules could reduce emissions of CO2 by 70-75%, cut land use by 94% and eliminate 100% of solid waste.

Meanwhile, scientists have warned that the full environmental impacts of deep-sea mining are hard to predict, and environmental campaign groups say the practice can lead to ecosystem destruction and species extinction.

n Argentina, US talk lithium

Representatives of Argentina’s mining chamber and o cials from the United States met in Buenos Aires in February to discuss cooperation on critical minerals.

e two nations do not have a free trade agreement, but recent regulations allow the U.S. to use battery components from non-FTA countries.

Talks have been underway regarding U.S. access to Argentine minerals since last year.

“At the meeting, we discussed current events related to

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Does mining need saving?

Some issues of e Northern Miner are more fun to put together than others. is edition, unfortunately, o ers a sobering read. It’s lled with news of shuttered mines and thousands of layo s as lithium, nickel and platinum group metals (PGM) producers react to tanking prices.

You’ll also read about a crippling lack of nancial institutional support for mining in Canada — namely from pension funds (although, to be fair, they are hardly the only investors who won’t touch the high-risk sector).

Two of mining’s biggest and most well-respected names, Frank Giustra and Pierre Lassonde argue that lack of domestic investment has contributed to Canada’s loss of companies that had he on the global stage — Inco and Falconbridge among them.

Meanwhile, one of Canada’s last diversi ed miners le standing, Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals, is looking vulnerable to a takeout. Panama’s government shut the Panama Cobre mine, decimating First Quantum’s nances. It’s turned to 18.5% shareholder Jiangxi Copper of China for relief via a US$500-million copper o ake deal.

And you’ll nd the latest news available at press time about the Feb. 13 deadly landslide at SSR Mining’s Copler gold mine in Turkey. In late February, nine employees were still missing and presumed killed in the incident, in which a heap leach pad collapsed. e tragedy is likely to further damage mining’s already lacklustre international reputation, and sadly came just a month a er a plane crash killed six people on their way to Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories.

As the mining industry gathers this month at the 92nd annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention, where perhaps, you picked this mega-issue up, we don’t mean to pile on to an already challenged sector. But it’s hard to ignore the multiple campaigns under way to “save” some portion of the mining sector or another. ere’s the junior miners (see our January issue for our feature on the junior sector’s battle with short-sellers), or PGM producers in South Africa, who are seeking to create new markets for palladium as its primary market in catalytic converters in gas-fuelled cars declines (see page 41).

Nickel miners in Western Australia are the latest group in need of rescue. Australia added the stainless steel and battery ingredient to its list of critical minerals in February in response to a slew of mine closures, unlocking support from a A$6-billion government fund o ering low-interest loans and grants under its Critical Minerals Facility. It’s not clear how far such funding will go to help producers survive the surge in cheaper Indonesian nickel that’s caused prices to tumble by about one third over the past year.

Mixed signals

We don’t have solutions to all of mining’s various and complex challenges.

Despite the market cornucopia held out by the energy transition, it looks like 2024 will be another di cult year. (Gold and uranium, which we also highlighted in our January issue as standouts for 2024, seem to be the exceptions to the rule.)

A er falling an average of nearly 10% last year, base metals prices (including a basket of copper, aluminum, nickel, zinc, lead and tin) are forecast to fall another 5% this year due to a slowing global economy, according to the World Bank. e good news is prices are expected to bounce back in 2025, led by copper and aluminum, both projected to rise 9% that year.

Another glimmer of hope for our corner of the market — exploration companies who rely on cheap capital money to carry out the hard, risky, and o en thankless work that could lead to a discovery — is the hope of rate cuts this year. e benchmark interest rate has been stuck at 5.5% since July — up from 0.25% in early 2022.

It’s resulted in what some smaller mining company CEOs have privately characterized as a “depression” in the junior mining space.

However, that doesn’t completely jibe with numbers now available for 2023. Figures PDAC shared with e Northern Miner in February show that equity raised on Canadian exchanges last year for mining was actually up slightly from 2022 at $8 billion. at’s on par with the 10-year average for fundraising although it seems to be shi ing to battery metals and uranium.

“Arguably, the availability of capital hasn’t moved or materially improved over the last 10 years,” Je Killeen, PDAC’s policy and program director said. “It hasn’t declined, but it does seem to be moving in di erent directions.”

Last year, juniors saw a record number of cancelled fundraising deals, plus more small deals scraped together just to keep companies on life support, Kai Ho man of Vancouver-based Soar Financial, told e Northern Miner in January. But those were concentrated in the early exploration stage companies – revealing what Ho man called a “bifurcated” market of junior haves and have nots. We may not need to establish a “Save the Miners” fund quite yet though. With miners eyeing future supply gaps in copper, lithium and other metals, Fitch and other consultancies expect global M&A activity to have grown last year. at serves as a reminder that the opportunities companies have been chasing in energy transition minerals haven’t disappeared. TNM

Iron

ore

boom

of the 2000s repeating – this time

with critical metals

BY JAMES COOPER

Aheadline published in e Age back in July 2003 reads:

“[Andrew] Forrest has a grand $1.2bn plan for tiny Perth mining company.” at company was called Allied Mining and Processing and you’ve probably never heard of it. But from small roots this tiny out t grew into one of Australia’s largest listed companies with a market cap exceeding $88 billion.

Twenty years ago, Andrew (Twiggy) Forrest renamed this micro-cap stock to Fortescue Metals Group. e rest is history.

But it was quite the story behind Twiggy’s road to immense wealth.

Fortescue was perhaps the single biggest success story from the last mining boom. A stock that grew from a measly A2¢ per share back in 2003 to more than $10 a share just ve years later.

It seems absurd but that’s around a 50,000% return.

Junior iron ore miners were the poster child from the early 2000s China-led commodity rush. But it wasn’t a smooth road to success.

You see, back in 2003, Forrest was looking to break into the monopolized iron ore market, a sector dominated by mining giants Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) and BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP). At the time, his ambitious venture was mocked by analysts and journalists.

Accessing cash to build a capital-intensive iron ore operation was near impossible in the early 2000’s. Sure, iron ore mining in Australia is relatively cheap and easy to extract. Simply load rock on a boat and ship it to China’s massive steel re neries. But few consider the vast infrastructure required to get to that point. Iron ore is a bulky commodity.

Mine feasibility studies must include costs that extend well beyond the mining operation: railways, ports, loading facilities. It’s this barrier to entry that enabled the majors to retain their grip over iron ore supply in Australia. Yet these challenges didn’t deter Forrest.

Similar to today’s evolving energy transition story, China was emerging as a powerful source of demand for iron ore. In 2003, the country’s GDP was surging at around 9% per year. But few predicted this growth would continue, and fewer still could have comprehended the incredible trajectory of iron ore prices over the next ve years.

In 2003, the global economy was reeling from a tech bust and terrorist attacks, with iron ore prices sitting below $US20 per tonne.

History repeating?

Last year was a terrible year for most commodities — especially those tied to the renewable energy

“While the mainstream narrative turns bearish on critical metal stocks, the world’s most liquid insiders continue to build exposure.”

trend. at’s despite investment in renewable energies hitting an all-time high in 2023 at US$1.8 trillion.

According to BloombergNEF that was up 17% from 2022. Yet, junior mining stocks have endured back-to-back years of underperformance.

But while the mainstream narrative turns bearish on critical metal stocks, the world’s most liquid insiders continue to build exposure. at includes mining tycoons, Andrew Forrest, Gina Reinhart, Robert Friedland. ese heavyweights are still long on the critical metals megatheme.

Have no doubt, the spoils will go to those who are able to stick with these gargantuan commodity trends. Twenty years ago, that was iron ore: a commodity that was slow to respond to China’s rampant growth before a massive takeo .

By 2005, iron ore prices had almost tripled reaching US$50 per tonne. ree years later and the price was hovering just below US$200 per tonne — almost a 10-fold surge in ve years.

Liquidity challenges stall mine development

Ultimately, higher iron ore prices turned Forrest’s iron ore ambitions into reality, despite steep development costs.

Which brings us back to today’s market. In a case of history rhyming, critical metal developers sit at the edge of enormous opportunity. It’s why I like to say critical metals stocks are the iron ore developers from 2003.

Sitting at the precipice of a major upward leg in the commodity cycle — yet hobbled by enormous cost of capital required to get projects underway.

Just like it did with iron ore in the early 2000s, expect downbeat sentiment to shi rapidly in line with rising prices. is is how commodity cycles work. is is how inconceivable capex nds its way into new projects. But don’t take my word for it — watch the world’s biggest insiders and follow their lead. TNM

James Cooper runs the commodities investment service Diggers and Drillers. You can also follow him on X @JCooperGeo.

Kenorland has two green elds discoveries under its belt

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

Since a group of four geologists in their 30s created Kenorland Minerals (TSXV: KLD; US-OTC: KLDCF) in 2016, the junior explorer has staked over 15,000 sq. km — roughly the size of 2.8 million football fields — across Canada and Alaska and made two significant greenfield discoveries in Quebec.

In the process it has struck deals with Sumitomo Metal and Mining (now a 10% shareholder in the company), Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM; ASX: NEM), FreeportMcMoRan (NYSE: FCX), Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) Centerra Gold (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU) and Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) — with the majors funding about 80% of the $98 million the company has spent on exploration.

“When we started the company, it had a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank for staking ground and our focus was, and still is, new discoveries,” reminisces Zach Flood, Kenorland’s president and CEO and one of the company’s founders. Today the company has over $20 million in cash, no debt, and a history of finding gold systems under cover on the Eastern Canadian Shield.

“What makes Kenorland unique is the very skilled and multidisciplinary team that can tackle all the generative, technical and operational aspects of exploration, and that’s not common with smaller juniors,” says Flood, an exploration geologist. “The reason we’ve had success with the majors is that we’ve got an experienced team with a track record of grassroots discoveries.”

Seeking out the green

The company’s strategy is to sift through all the publicly available spatial data to find areas that have seen little or no exploration in the past. It then goes out and acquires big land packages — typically between 500 and 1,000 sq. km — and carries out large-scale systematic geochemical sampling programs. “Sometimes you don’t need a drill hole to attract a major,” says Flood, “you just need a large, under-explored property with great geologic potential and a sound strategy to advance it to discovery.”

That was the case with Sumitomo, which funded a regional till-sampling program in 2018 on

Kenorland’s 560-sq.-km Frotet project in Quebec, about 100 km north of Chibougamau. That jointventure partnership led to the discovery in 2020 of the Regnault gold system within the FrotetEvans greenstone belt.

In January, Kenorland converted its 20% JV interest in the Frotet project to a 4% net smelter return royalty (NSR). “The value of the company is now back-stopped by this royalty and there’s incredible upside if the project moves towards development,” Flood says.

Highlights from drilling at Regnault include 29.1 metres grading 8.47 grams gold per tonne, including 11.1 metres of 18.43 grams gold in hole 20RDD007; 3.1 metres of 138.74 grams gold, including 0.4 metres of 476.4 grams gold in hole 23RDD167; and 19.3 metres grading 19.95 grams gold, including 1.9 metres of 106.48 grams gold in hole 23RDD185.

“Regnault has the potential to become a Tier 1 gold asset,” Flood says. “It’s a very high-grade gold system, with clear multi-million oz. potential, in a very miningfriendly jurisdiction, and is about an hour outside of Chibougamau, with great infrastructure. These are the qualities that you look for in deposits that have the potential to become real operating mines one day.”

Regnault was a “new discovery

and that really gave us some credibility from a technical sense,” he says. “But we also found a niche. The majors do want to do greenfields exploration, but many of them don’t have the teams to do it, and typically the other juniors tend to gravitate towards more advanced projects, where they can quickly generate drill results. A lot of the projects we see out there are recycled stories. The industry needs something new because there isn’t a lot of high-quality inventory on the shelf.”

Kenorland made its second discovery in Quebec at its Chebistuan project in the first quarter of 2023. It staked 1,586 sq. km in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt west of Chibougamau and spent the next two years doing geochemical sampling. It then drilled seven holes (2,170 metres) in its first pass and discovered an intrusion-related gold system at the Deux Orignaux target.

The project, most of which is covered under glacial till, covers about 100 km of a major eastwest trending deformation zone, which the company believes may represent the continuation of the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone, which hosts major deposits such as Agnico Eagle Mines’ (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) Detour Lake open pit gold mine and Wallbridge Mining’s (TSX: WM; US-OTC: WLBMF)

Fenelon gold project.

Newmont has a two-phased earn-in for up to an 80% interest by funding to a prefeasibility study with a minimum 1.5-million-oz. gold resource within nine years of an exploration agreement between the parties.

Fast and nimble

Flood notes that most majors don’t have field teams or teams dedicated to generative exploration on a regional scale, and staking ground can be a challenge to approve within the bureaucracy of a larger organization. “It comes down to their inability to move quickly and stake ground themselves. We bring these opportunities to them, along with a phased plan and budget to take the project from regional exploration to drill targets in a relatively short period of time. The land package is secured and planning is done in advance, so all they need to do is enter into an agreement and start funding the exploration.”

Elsewhere in Quebec, Kenorland has optioned its O’Sullivan gold project, where it recently completed its first drill program, to Sumitomo, and its Hunter gold project to Centerra. In Alaska, the company has optioned its 462-sq.-km Tanacross coppergold-molybdenum project to Antofagasta, which can earn a 70%

stake. The project hosts a cluster of late Cretaceous porphyry copper occurrences and is thought to be similar in age to the mineralization at Western Copper and Gold’s (TSX: WRN) Casino project, about 140 km to the southeast in the Yukon.

Other projects include

Kenorland’s 70%-30% JV with Newmont on the Healy gold project in Alaska, and its 51%-49% JV with Sumitomo at the Chicobi gold project in Quebec.

Kenorland also has more than 10 wholly owned projects spread across Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, where it is searching for copper, gold, nickel, lithium, and other metals.

One priority is the 834-sq.-km South Uchi project in the Red Lake district in northern Ontario. The company recently completed several large geochemical surveys across the property targeting undiscovered gold, nickel, and lithium systems.

The company believes that discoveries like Great Bear Resources’ LP Fault Zone at the Dixie project, which was later acquired by Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC), highlight the prospectivity of the entire Confederation Assemblage along the southern margin of the Uchi Subprovince.

The company also has been consolidating land in northwestern Ontario in the Wabigoon Subprovince, just west of New Gold’s (TSX: NGD; NYSE: NGD) Rainy River mine. It has put together a land package of over 2,000 sq. km and is planning largescale systematic geochemical surveys this summer.

“There are multiple targets developing in our portfolio that appear to be related to undiscovered mineral systems, which we will be drill testing within the next year or two.” Flood notes. “Any of these targets could become game changers for the company, like Regnault.

Kenorland shares traded at 71¢ apiece at press time, for a market cap of about $45 million.

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Kenorland Minerals and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: www.kenorlandminerals.com for more information.

A drone shot of the camp at the Frotet Project in north-central Quebec. KENORLAND MINERALS

Bird’s eye view of the Regnault Discovery in Quebec. KENORLAND MINERALS

MAPPED: China’s lithium investments in the Americas

Moves by China in the critical mineral space continue to make headlines worldwide, mirroring significant investments in lithium projects by China’s state-owned companies across the Americas.

The Northern Miner took a look at the landscape of China’s multi-billion-dollar investments in battery metal projects over the last several years, which range from offtake deals to full ownership.

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE

Canada

Sinomine-Cabot Corp

•Bought for $135M.

•Tanco mine in Manitoba.

•June 2019

Legend offtake agreement project stake company stake

At

Security reviews

Manitoba

Bolivia

CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd), BRUNP, and CMOC (CBC consortium)-state-owned Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB)

• US$90M to build a lithium carbonate facility; JV deal by CATL to provide US$1.4B.

• Uyuni salt flat in Potosi Department.

• Deals made in January 2024 and June 2023.

Argentina

Ganfeng Lithium

•US$13.1M for 100% ownership.

•Mariana project in Salta province.

•In 2021 and July 2022.

Ganfeng Lithium-Lithium Americas.

$16M to raise stake from 50% to 51%, to receive 51% output of stage 1 production; in stage 2 expansion, ownership becomes Ganfeng (46.7%) Lithium Argentina (44.8%) JEMSE (8.5%).

•Cauchari-Olaroz project in Jujuy province..

•Deal made in February 2020.

Ganfeng Lithium-Lithium Americas

• US$7.8M for 35% stake in project.

Sal de la Puna project in Salta province.

Stake bought in June 2021.

Nio-Greenwing Resources

•A$12M investment, call option to acquire 20-40% of project for US$40M to US$80M, and funds exploration at San Jorge; owns 12.1% of Greenwing.

•San Jorge project in Catamarca province.

•Deal made in September 2022.

Zijin Mining-Neo Lithium

Tibet Summit Resources US$1.7 billion for projects in the Arizaro and Diablillos salt flats. It paid USD$721 million for the development rights to the Sal de los Angeles lithium project in Salta province.

•Deals announced June 2023 and November 2021.

•Paid about $960M to take over Neo Lithium.

•3Q-Tres Quebradas project in Catamarca.

•Takeover in January 2022.

Mexico

Ganfeng Lithium-Bacanora Lithium

•US$391M for 100% corporate investment, 50% investment of project; long-term 50% in offtake for stage 1, 75% for stage 2.

•Sonora project in Sonora state.

•Deal made in 2021.

Brazil

Chengxin Lithium Group and Yahua Industrial Group-Atlas Lithium

•$50M for 80% of Atlas’ first phase production of up to 150,000 tonnes per year by Q4 2024. And 120,000 tpa in total in the offtake; it includes $10M in equity.

•Atlas’ Das Neves project in Minas Gerais state.

•Deal made in December 2023

Yahua International

Investment and Development-Sigma Lithium.

•Offtake for up to three-years of up to 300,000 tonnes of green tailings per year; spot sale of 15,000 tonnes of green lithium, for US$3,500 per tonne of green lithium and US$350 per tonne of green tailings.

•Sigma’s Grota do Cirilo project in Minas Gerais..

•Deal made in May 2023

“Arguably, the availability of capital hasn’t moved or materially improved over the last 10 years. It hasn’t declined, but it does seem to be moving in different directions.”

— JEFF KILLEEN, POLICY AND PROGRAM DIRECTOR, PROSPECTORS AND DEVELOPERS

see page 20

ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

the mining industry and also how to foster a mutual collaboration for the growth and expansion of the mining sector, placing Argentina as a strategic actor,” the Argentine Chamber of Mining Companies (CAEM) said on Feb. 9. e meeting took place with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere A airs, Brian A. Nichols.

Also attending were representatives from lithium companies active in Argentina, including Arcadium Lithium, Livent, Lake Resources, Albemarle, and Lilac Solutions, which provides commercial lithium extraction systems.

Catamarca, with its Hombre Muerto salt at, is Argentina’s top lithium-producing province, totalling 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) generated every year and hosting most of the exploration projects. Neighbouring Salta and Jujuy are also rich in the battery metal and, together, they are part of the Lithium Table, a regional government initiative that aims to standardize policies related to sustainable lithium extraction and processing.

In total, Argentina produces 34,000 tonnes of LCE annually, making it the world’s fourth biggest producer behind Australia, Chile and China.

Recent forecasts, however, see the nation reaching up to 260,000 tonnes of LCE annually by 2027, which would allow it to jump one spot to No. 3. It hosts three active mines and 38 projects under development.

e country, together with Chile and Bolivia, is part of the Lithium Triangle, a unique strip of high-altitude land covered with lakes and white salt ats that hosts more than half of the earth’s identi ed lithium resources.

n March start for Côté

Iamgold’s 60%-owned Côté gold mine, near Sudbury, Ont., is set to enter production in March, the company said in February.

e project entered 2023 with construction about 64% completed and nished the year at 98% complete, said CEO Renaud Adams.

“While rst gold is on the horizon, our primary focus and e orts are on positioning the project for a steady ramp up of gold production through the year to achieve commercial production in the third quarter,” Adams said.

Adams noted the mine, which is a joint venture with 40% owner Sumitomo Metal Mining, will be Canada’s third largest gold mine. It has a mine life of over 18 years.

Côté is expected to produce 495,000 oz. per year at an all-in sustaining cost of US$854 per oz. for the rst six years of its mine life.

Production at Côté, based on 100% ownership, is projected to range between 220,000 oz and 290,000 oz next year. BY

n Peru unveils online platform

A new digital platform is expected to speed permitting for mining companies operating in Peru, the world’s second-largest copper miner.

O cials from the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines met with representatives from the largest mining companies operating in the country in early February to offer details on the new initiative.

According to a government release, the miners applauded its e ort to streamline certain processes and achieve greater coordination among all regulatory entities, particularly the National Water Authority (ANA) and the

National Environmental Certi cation Service for Sustainable Investments (SENACE).

Executives from China’s MMG Minera Las Bambas, which accounts for 2% of the global copper output, attended the meeting, along with representatives from Compañía de Minas Buenaventura; Teck Resources; Nexa Resources; Chinalco; Gold Field La Cima, and China’s Shougang Hierro Perú, and others.

e next steps in the development of the ‘Single Window’ platform are focused on reducing the amount of paperwork miners need to submit when moving into the exploitation and production stages, said the mines ministry.

“ is initiative seeks to facilitate investors’ work in the development of mining activities in a responsible manner, with greater e ciency, and streamlining administrative processes to avoid duplication,” the vice-minister of mines, Henry Luna Córdova, said at the meeting.

e new platform is the result of a collaboration between nine government departments.

e government o cials also took the opportunity to highlight that Peru broke a copper production record in 2023, having produced over 2.8 million tonnes of the red metal, a 12.7% increase from 2022.

Figures also showed lesser increases in gold output (2.8%), zinc (7.2%) and iron ore (8.8%).

BY MINING.COM STAFF

n Chile’s biggest miners team up on cybersecurity

BHP has partnered with Anglo American, Antofagasta Minerals, Codelco and Collahuasi to launch the Mining Cybersecurity Corp. in Chile to battle cyberthreat risks to the mining industry.

More than 4 billion cyber-attacks took place in Chile during the rst half of 2023, positioning it as the country with the h-highest number of incidents in Latin America, BHP said.

e unprecedented technological progress in recent years brings important bene ts, but also involves several cybersecurity risks.

Studies indicate that, by 2025, cyber-attacks will cost companies roughly US$10.5 billion, it said.

Anglo American was the victim of a cyberattack in December.

e initiative, led by Corporación Alta Ley

and supported by the Chilean mines ministry, aims to generate and share cyber-intelligence information for early warning and response, and to promote a culture of cybersecurity in mining operations.

“As BHP we are enthusiastic about this initiative and, therefore, we want to contribute with our experience in the protection of assets and systems,” Ezequiel Fagetti, BHP Cybersecurity Manager Minerals Americas, said in a statement.

“Cybersecurity is vital for the proper functioning of the di erent production systems and, ultimately, for us to continue contributing to the country,” he said. “If we strengthen this aspect, we strengthen the mining industry as a whole, its value chain, and safeguard the bene ts for everyone.”

BY MINING.COM STAFF

n Self-driving train derails

Rio Tinto said on Feb. 13 that an unloaded autonomous train had derailed two days earlier about 120 km from Western Australia’s Dampier port.

e world’s largest iron ore miner said no one was injured in the accident, which involved about 38 wagons of the self-driving iron ore train.

It noted the derailment happened on a dual track section, which means that trains can continue to operate in the area, limiting disruption.

“An investigation has begun, and the appropriate regulators have been noti ed. Work to recover derailed wagons has also commenced,” a Rio Tinto spokesperson said in an email.

A similar incident occurred with an autonomous Rio Tinto train in June last year, when as many as 30 wagons le the tracks about 20 km from Dampier.

Rio Tinto’s peers, BHP and Fortescue have also reported derailments at their iron ore operations in recent months. e most infamous Pilbara train derailment took place in 2018 when BHP was forced to deliberately push a runaway train o its track. e machine was almost 3 km long with its four locomotives and 268 wagons fully laden and, at one point, reached average speeds of about 110 km/h on the track between Newman and Port Hedland.

Rio Tinto ships iron ore from Dampier port and through Cape Lambert in the northern part of Western Australia. e company operates about 14,000 ore cars across its Pilbara rail network, each of which can hold an estimated 118 tonnes of iron ore.

BY MINING.COM STAFF

Argentina Lithium targets rst resource by September

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

Argentina Lithium & Energy (TSX-V: LIT; US-OTC: LILIF), backed by Chrysler automaker Stellantis, says it’s drilling the Rincon West lithium brine project, located beside a Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) venture, for an initial resource estimate in September.

Stellantis, which also owns Fiat and Peugeot, has invested US$90 million (paid in Argentine pesos, valued at approximately US$45 million after conversion) for a 19.9% stake in Argentina Lithium & Energy. The manufacturer is keen for the 15,000 tonnes per year in lithium carbonate offtake to supply its battery plants planned across the Americas.

Representative of recent results at Rincon West, drill hole RW-DDH-010 tested a 295.5-metre interval ranging from 245 to 366 mg per litre lithium. Eleven holes were drilled last year and four more holes are planned to extend over the nearby salt flat at the project.

“Drilling is confirming our initial hypothesis, that the concentrated lithium brines tested by our neighbour in the central salar also extend to our west-side properties. Future drilling will test whether the same is true for our northern and eastern blocks on the same basin,” Miles Rideout, vice-president of exploration, said by phone from Mendoza, 1,000 km west of Buenos Aires. “The project’s first resource, due this year, should prepare us for a prefeasibility study in 2025.”

Argentina Lithium & Energy is vying to develop projects in South America’s lithium triangle that holds some 60% of the world’s known reserves of the battery metal. The region is dominated by brine operations run by Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) and Livent (NYSE: LTHM).

S&P Global forecasts the strength in long-term lithium demand to be maintained even after prices for the light metal plummeted last year from record highs in 2022. In November, the analysis firm increased its outlook for electric vehicle sales to more than double 2023 levels to 30.8 million by 2027 compared with a 29.2 million estimate early last year.

Arid area Rincon West is located about 3,760 metres above sea level in the arid Alto Plano region of Salta Province, Argentina, bordering Chile and about 200 km south of Bolivia. Rio Tinto’s Rincon project is next door while Argosy Minerals’ (ASX: AGY) own Rincon project lies to the east. The Rincon West project comprises several properties and is near rail, water, roads and power.

The company plans to move drilling crews about 15 km north to the Paso de Sico section after drilling at the main Rincon West block is completed in the second quarter, and then later about 20 km east to a new acquisition named Don Fermin.

Argentina Lithium & Energy also has the Antofalla North project, located 130 kilometres to the south, immediately north of Albemarle’s (NYSE: ALB) Antofalla project. Drilling permits on the 100-sq.-km project are expected in the second quarter, Rideout says. The company plans a large

“Albemarle has a very large midgrade resource to our south. If we can produce similar brines in our drilling, we could have a vast potential for a second resource.”

— MILES RIDEOUT, VP EXPLORATION ARGENTINA LITHIUM & ENERGY

geophysical exploration campaign before starting six broadly spaced drill holes, followed by infill drilling to define the resource.

“Albemarle has a very large midgrade resource to our south. If we can produce similar brines in our drilling, we could have a vast potential for a second resource,” Rideout said. “Our initial drill results will be interesting to watch for.”

Argentina Lithium is part of the Grosso Group, a resource management group headed by LIT chairman Joseph Grosso, and president and CEO Nikolaos Cacos. The Grosso Group has operated since 1993 and been involved in major Argentinian discoveries such as the Gualcamayo gold mine now held by California-based Eris, SSR Mining’s (TSX: SSRM; NASDAQ:

SSRM) Chinchillas silver-lead-zinc mine and Pan American Silver’s (TSX: PAAS; NYSE: PAAS) Navidad silver-lead project. Through Argentina Lithium & Energy, the group is exploring lithium brine prospects covering more than 670 sq. km on four salt lakes or salars in the northern provinces of Salta and Catamarca, within the high-plain district of western Argentina. The properties,

including the early-stage Pocitos and Incahuasi brine projects, are located near key infrastructure and towns, with year-round road access.

The Rincon West project is comprised of three property blocks. The main western block is 17 km south of Provincial Route 51, linked to Pacific ports in Chile. An electrical power corridor lies just east and north of the salar, running across the company’s northern Paso de Sico block, located on the aforementioned highway and also on a major electrical power corridor. The eastern Don Fermin block is also located on the power corridor and is accessed by a secondary provincial roadway.

On Nov. 30, the company announced the exercise of the Villanoveno II option, part of the west block at Rincon West. Acquisition of the second property on the west block, Rinconcita II, from provincial mining company REMSA, is subject to completion of a US$2.5 million work program by December 2024.

The northern Paso de Sico block is optioned from a private owner, and is contingent on US$1.4 million worth of payments spaced over two years and concluding this September. The eastern Don Fermin block is optioned from a second private owner, and is contingent on US$2.5 million in payments spaced out over 18 months and concluding this December.

The company’s drill holes at Rincon West often extend deeper than 300 metres to reach the bottom of the aquifer. Drill hole RW-DDH-011 tested a 321-metre interval ranging from 246 to 344 mg per litre, the company said in January. Previous intercepts include 153 metres grading from 329 to 393 mg per litre in hole RW-DDH-006, 132 metres grading from 334 to 382 mg per litre in hole RW-DDH-004, and a 258metre interval ranging from 287

Ongoing exploration is now extending drilling across the salt flat to the east. A. SOLIZ/ARGENTINA LITHIUM & ENERGY

Drilling began at the sandy plain on the west side of the basin. The tracked diamond drill is shown transiting between platforms. A. SOLIZ/ARGENTINA LITHIUM & ENERGY

to 402 mg per litre lithium in hole RW-DDH-009.

Geophysical surveys

Historical vertical electrical soundings at Rincon West initially identified potential brines at less than 100 metres depth. More recent transient electromagnetic (TEM) surveys and a detailed controlled source audio-frequency magnetotellurics (CSAMT) survey detected what could be brines in

20.4 sq. km or nearly 70% of the main property block.

So far, 12 exploration holes have confirmed the presence of concentrated lithium brines hosted in porous formations, coincident with the geophysical conductors. Hydrogeological analysis activities arei ongoing to develop 3-D volumetric models of the brine resource.

At Antofalla North, CSAMT surveys showed conductive units

in horizontal bedding to about 500 metres depth. The project is adjacent to Albemarle’s Antofalla project and about 25 km from Livent’s Fenix brine operation at the Salar del Hombre Muerto, which is the country’s largest lithium producer.

Argentina Lithium & Energy is planning 115 line-km of TEM soundings this year to delineate brine deposits at Antofalla North, to be followed by six

reconnaissance diamond drill holes, totalling about 2,400 metres. A positive discovery would be followed by up to 24 infill holes for about 7,200 metres.

The work plan at the Pocitos project, about 38 km south of Rincon West, is to conduct 170 line-km of TEM soundings this year to detect and delineate brine concentrations for testing. It may be followed by up to four drill holes in a first stage.

At Argentina Lithium & Energy’s Incahuasi project, located in Catamarca province about 12 km west of Lake Resources’ (ASX: LKE; US-OTC: LLKKF) Kachi project, four drill holes have confirmed lithium-bearing brines averaging 109 mg per litre and 6,718 mg per litre potassium. The company also plans 90 line-km of TEM there this year. Under last year’s deal between Stellantis and Argentina Lithium’s local subsidiary, Argentina Litio y Energia, the 19.9% stake is convertible to the same proportion in the parent company stock. Monetary policy in Argentina in 2023 set an official exchange rate of approximately twice the purchasing power of the Argentine peso. Receiving the investment in pesos, the company quickly

moved to convert the funds to hard currency and other forms, to preserve the value against inflation movement and monetary fluctuations, preserving about 50% of the declared investment value to fund its various exploration operations.

The investment agreement secures a seven-year, 15,000-tonper-year lithium carbonate offtake agreement for Stellantis, should the junior become a lithium producer. Sales are to be based on an agreed lithium market-based price formula at the time of each shipment. Excess production beyond offtake requirements and follow-on sales after the completion of the offtake agreement would revert to regular market prices.

Shares in Argentina Lithium & Energy more than doubled after the Stellantis deal in September, but they slid by 22% this year to 28¢ apiece near press time, valuing the company at about $37 million.

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Argentina Lithium & Energy and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. For more information visit argentinalithium.com.

Diamond drilling is employed at Rincon West to sample lithium brines, and to provide cores for laboratory analysis of formation porosity and brine recovery. A. SOLIZ/ARGENTINA LITHIUM & ENERGY

Diamond drilling has proceeded through the winter and summer, 24 hours a day since mid-2022. Winter nights in the salar are often cold and windy.

A. SOLIZ/ARGENTINA LITHIUM & ENERGY

commentary&analysis

BY KEVIN PCJ D’SOUZA

Last February, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund announced it would vote against re-electing the boards of 80 major companies including Apple, Microso , Nestlé, and Samsung because they failed to set or meet ESG targets. e fund — the world’s largest investor — also cautioned other company directors that they could also be targeted if they did not extend their e orts on issues like climate change, human rights, and diversity. While this is just one example, it speaks to the need for boards to be in step with institutional investor expectations, as well as changing corporate governance codes/ director’s duties. Moreover, mandatory disclosure standards and proxy voting guidelines increasingly require companies to articulate and demonstrate the board’s role and ESG responsibilities concerning ethical behaviour, accountability, and compliance. Against this changing governance backdrop, all boards need to assess whether they are appropriately equipped to meet these expectations.

Ill-equipped boards

Two decades ago, boards mainly responded to regulation stemming from the United States’ SarbanesOxley Act, following the collapse of Enron and scandals at WorldCom, Tyco, and others. A er the 2008 nancial crisis, boards focused on complying with the Dodd-Frank Act. As a result, boards were dominated by legal and accounting professionals to ensure an unrelenting focus on compliance and returns to shareholders. Fast forward to the present and you will nd those types of boards may not be best equipped to deal with current realities and risks, and able to respond to a wider range of constituencies and market forces. Indeed, like Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, institutional investors increasingly consider ESG material to their decision-making. While investors

including JPMorgan, Blackrock, recently withdrew from the Climate Action 100+ group, this retreat is the direct result of intensi ed U.S. partisan politicking and highlights growing regional regulatory di erences. Many of these same investors have strengthened their internal ESG investment stewardship teams and ensured

“A growing number of directors do not feel confident about their ability — or their board’s — to competently oversee a company’s approach to ESG.”

their international arms stay rmly committed.

ESG remains a duciary duty and its prominence in the boardroom will continue to evolve at an accelerating pace. e boards of mining companies need to be attuned to the ra of new ESG-related standards; increasing stakeholder proposals and activism; and the growing geo-

political, protectionist and resource nationalism agendas.

High-profile disasters

Until recently, most mining boards treated ESG as an acceptable risk since the associated legal risks remained somewhat hypothetical. Many believed the risk of doing nothing was less than the risk of doing something — and the pain simply was not worth the gain. is is no longer the case as witnessed by the boards of Vale a er Brumadinho, Rio Tinto a er Juukan Gorge, and Shell for allegedly mismanaging climate resilience. Such high-pro le disasters are an a rmation that we are beyond the tipping point when it comes to the nancial and reputational damage that can come with mismanaging ESG issues. Lack of expertise, insu cient board oversight or failure to adapt to ESGrelated issues can destroy trust and a company’s reputation. It can

also lead to more concrete consequences, such as permits being revoked, limiting access to capital, divestments, shareholder proposals and derivative actions, proxy ghts and even litigation. e fallout can be even more far-reaching. For instance, underwriters of directors and o cers (D&O) liability insurance closely consider how miners are addressing ESG when making coverage decisions. Following in the footsteps of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Australian and Canadian securities agencies have already warned companies against making overly promotional ESG disclosures. Today, directors can and are being held personally liable for their company’s ESG performance and shortcomings. Boards need to assess their ESG risk appetite and resilience in the face of this increasing disruption and consider the cost of getting it wrong — i.e., what happens if there is no “forgiveness factor” in their ESG learning process?

What boards need to do Duties of loyalty and care for the board are codi ed in corporate legislation and mean that substantive consideration of material ESG issues should be meaningfully integrated into board oversight. Many institutional investors and in uential proxy advisory rms (such as Glass Lewis) are taking a rm stance in keeping boards accountable. ey are also becoming more prescriptive concerning ESG accountability and the need to put in place an e ective oversight structure.

ESG needs to be a regular topic for the board, whether at the full board level or delegated to the audit committee, nominating or governance committee. Or as a growing number of miners have successfully done, create a standalone ESG committee to centralize oversight of ESG — a practice that proxy advisor ISS endorses. Whatever the preferred option, the division of accountability for ESG matters and execution of those duties should be documented appropriately through regular board agenda items, and explicitly detailed in governance

> Pensions from P1

It was MacDonald’s only reference to pension funds in what was otherwise a page-long list of government programs stemming from its critical minerals strategy. He suggested the Canada Development Investment Corp. (CDEV), a federal Crown corporation that advises the government on nancial matters, might explain how mining companies could seek funding from the $15-billion Canada Growth Fund.

CDEV didn’t reply to an inquiry.

Pensions mum

Pension funds themselves were even more reticent to discuss the issue.

Only the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which Lassonde praised for its resource funding, replied to emails seeking comment. e Canada Pension Plan (CPP), the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), and the PSP didn’t reply or declined to speak.

“CDPQ is active in the mining sector in Quebec and Canada and has an investment team dedicated to the sector,” Kate Monfette, the pension’s media director, said by email. “Among other things, with a fund like Sodémex which supports exploration projects, we remain on the lookout for developments and opportunities in the mining and materials ecosystem. Our priority is to focus on the most promising companies in order to help them develop while generating a return for our depositors.”

British Columbia Investment Management (BCI) said it invests 29.4% in Canada and referred other inquiries to its annual report.

OMERS said it wouldn’t comment

“We’re trying to get to the decision makers and make them understand what Canada is losing by doing nothing. They created these funds, it’s in their power to legislate how these funds are managed.”

PIERRE LASSONDE

on the topic.

Canada should consider Australia’s example, Lassonde and Giustra said. Its pensions, which are called superannuation funds, hold A$3.5 trillion ($3.1 trillion), the third-largest amount behind the U.S. and the U.K. Domestic equities make up 21.9% of their assets. e large stakes prevent foreign takeovers, the entrepreneurs argued. “ at’s what keeps their domestic mining industry alive,” Giustra said. “We’re a comparable country in terms of how proli c our mining opportunities are, same as Australia, and we don’t have that same opportunity.”

LetkoBrosseau says Canada’s top eight pension funds have invested more in China than in Canadian companies: $88 billion versus $81 billion. CPP has 2% in domestic shares, BCI has 0.5% and OTPP has 0.1%, the rm says.

Economics urged Giustra said mining CEOs must lobby pension funds with moral suasion for why they should invest in Canada and make an economic argument. With China’s current woes from property market turmoil and a long-term population decline in motion, its boom years are over

and it’s time for Canadian pension funds to repatriate funds to the world’s second-largest country by landmass that has top-tier mining regulations.

Lassonde went further and said federal and provincial governments must legislate pension funds to increase their investments in Canadian resource companies. He’s backed LetkoBrosseau’s presentations to nance ministers in

B.C. and Ontario as well as to ocials in Ottawa.

“We’re trying to get to the decision makers and trying to make them understand what Canada is losing by doing nothing,” he said. “ ey created these funds, it’s in their power to legislate how these funds are managed.”

Giustra, who heads private equity

rm Fiore Group invested in Aris Gold (TSX: ARIS) with mines in Colombia, and Ontario-focused explorer West Red Lake Gold (TSXV: WRLG), said Canadian asset managers slashed their non-pension dedicated mining funds to $2.8 billion in 2022 from $16 billion in 2010.

“ ere’s just no source of capital, the industry starves,” he said.

“You don’t have the seniors funding them, the pension funds aren’t there and we’ve lost the traditional mining funds here as well.”

Lassonde, who led a group of investors assembling an o er in May for Teck’s coking coal assets that was later beat by Glencore, said he approached BCI and Ontario pensions for input but got no response.

“If you want steel and you want the lowest carbon-emitting steel in the world, it’s that coal, OK, and there was nobody to talk to,” he said. “In Australia, we could have done this deal in about ve days.” TNM

Lode Gold to spin out Yukon and Atlantic assets

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

When Wendy Chan joined Stratabound Minerals’ board, she could not understand why the company, with gold projects in California, Yukon and New Brunswick was languishing with a market capitalization of about $3 million.

“What jumped out at me was how undervalued our Canadian assets were compared to other juniors with projects near ours,” says Chan, who spent the first half of her career devising strategic plans and managing P&L’s for Fortune 500 companies, and the second half working in the mining industry. “In November 2020, our market capitalization was $30 million with just the Yukon and New Brunswick assets and today it’s $7 million.”

Chan laid out a strategy for restructuring and growth. The company — renamed Lode Gold Resources (TSXV: LOD; US-OTC: SBMIF) — intends to spin out its Canadian assets into a new company, Gold Orogen.

Underscoring the decision was the discovery of a reduced intrusionrelated gold system (RIRGS) on its Win project in the Yukon’s southern Tombstone Belt. Late last year the company found sheeted goldbearing quartz veins in hornfelsaltered outcrop that returned up to 8.53 grams gold per tonne and 155 grams silver per tonne.

The vein array at Win trends onto the Golden Culvert project, about 11 km to the south. Golden Culvert has a 24-km strike and has yielded economic drill intercepts

(2.53 grams gold over 33.1 metres including 60.1 grams gold over 0.9 metre); significant trench values (up to 95 grams gold over 1.5 metres); and surface float samples (up to 320 grams gold within a 3-km by 250-metre-wide gold-in-soil anomaly).

Win and Golden Culvert are at the centre of a 12- by 55-km orogenic RIRGS district in the southern portion of the Tombstone belt, which hosts projects such as Snowline Gold’s (TSXV: SGD; US-OTC: SNWGF) Rogue and Rackla Metals’ (TSXV: RAK) Rak. The RIRGS discoveries in the Yukon have delivered superior returns led by Snowline, which is up 1,314%

since it started trading in April 2021, according to Chan.

Gold under the brook Lode Gold’s third project, McIntyre Brook, is about 80 km west of Bathurst in the Appalachian Gold Corridor, a 4,000-km long structure stretching from Newfoundland into South Carolina. The APC contains deposits like New Found Gold’s (TSXV: NFG; NYSE-AM: NFGC) Queensway project and OceanaGold’s (TSX: OGC; US-OTC: OCANF) Haile mine.

McIntrye Brook occupies 17 km of strike adjacent to Puma Exploration’s (TSXV: PUMA; US-OTC: PUMXF) Williams Brook

high-grade gold project. The company believes McIntyre Brook’s geology is shared with Puma’s Lynx deposit to the west. “McIntyre Brook has had little drilling but both holes hit gold, the best being 20 metres of a gram, and that’s a good start,” says Lode Gold’s vice-president of exploration, Budy Doyle, who joined the company in December.

Doyle, part of teams at Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) who discovered the Minfie gold deposits in Papua New Guinea and the Diavik diamond deposits in the Northwest Territories, notes Lode Gold will kick off the season with soil sampling and magnetic surveys.

“With the addition of Buddy to the team, we now have the right people, assets, place and time — four pillars that will ensure a successful mining company,” Chan says.

Seeking Yukon gold

In the Yukon, exploration will focus on more soil sampling and magnetotellurics. “Getting 8 grams gold at Win from the little bit of work we’ve done was a good start, and at the Golden Culvert showing we have 20 km of gold-in-soil anomalies and only 20% of it has been explored.”

Doyle also notes that the sheeted veins at the Win project occur in hornfels on top of the intrusion.

“One of the reasons people think Snowline is so high grade is because it’s at the top of the intrusive. It’s early days for us and we’re high up in the intrusive too, but we have to show that.”

At Fremont, the company sees potential for a high-grade orogenic

gold deposit. Fremont was previously mined at 8 grams gold. Three step-out holes hit structures at depth.

The asset is three hours from San Francisco on the Mother Lode Belt, which has produced about 50 million ounces.

The company picked up the asset when it acquired California Gold Mining in August 2021 in an all-share deal valued at $11 million.

“Fremont came with 23 km of underground workings that at today’s costs would have a replacement value of at least US$100 million,” says Gary Nassif, the company’s senior vice-president. “The project has about 1 million indicated ounces and another 2 million ounes of inferred, and that evaluated only 1.4 km of Fremont’s 4-km strike length, or 35%.”

A March 2023 preliminary economic assessment estimated an 11-year mine life and initial capital costs of US$203 million. The study projected an after-tax net present value (at a 5% discount rate) of US$217 million and an internal rate of return of 21% at a gold price of US$1,750 per ounce. At US$2,000 per oz., the NPV and IRR increase to US$370 million and 31%, respectively.

“We picked this up for a song, it was a brilliant move,” says Doyle. “There’s excellent resource expansion potential.”

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Lode Gold Resources and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: www.lode-gold.com for more information.

Rio Tinto Saguenay Grande-Baie aluminum smelter in Quebec. RIO TINTO

Sheeted quartz veins at Lode Gold’s Win property in Yukon. LODE GOLD RESOURCES

Glencore’s Sudbury nickel operations.

GLENCORE

commentary&analysis

Breaking down Canada’s new Modern Slavery Act

BY ELIZABETH FREELE AND RACHEL DEKKER

It’s nally here; Canada’s Modern Slavery Act o cially came into e ect on Jan. 1. With long-awaited additional guidance on reporting obligations only released at the end of 2023 and mandatory reports due by May 31, many rst-time reporting companies are scurrying to gure out how to ready themselves.

Last year, we wrote about the act’s implications for miners. Now that it’s time for action, let’s dive into the practical details of how to align. Failure to le will attract substantial penalties and risks individual liability even in the absence of company prosecution or conviction. So if you’re a mining leader, scan these actions, compiled to help you to comply with the act and better manage your company’s modern slavery risks.

1 Keep it concise

Keep it short, yet comprehensive.

Per current guidance, your report must “not exceed 10 pages in length” (or 20 for a report in both o cial languages), but needs to cover a lot of ground. It’s a public-facing document to help your stakeholders understand company performance, so use plain, clear language and explain unfamiliar terms to make the report accessible.

2 Focus on your previous fiscal year

While all reports are due by May 31, they must reference the activities undertaken during your company’s previous scal year (which may or may not be the calen-

dar year). Focus on actions taken during that year, including speci c progress on initiatives that may span multiple years or lack a concrete start and end point.

3 Align multijurisdictional disclosures

A relief for many companies, the Canadian government recognizes that plenty of businesses operating internationally already report under supply chain legislation in multiple jurisdictions. In particular, cross-jurisdictional reporting under United Kingdom and Australian Modern Slavery regimes is possible (just don’t forget your distinct submissions to additional jurisdictions). While it may still mean producing multiple documents, you can create a streamlined reporting process

if you’re already reporting in those jurisdictions.

4 Cover local impact, globally e act has a broad scope, applying to companies that do business in Canada and have signi cant global assets, revenue, or workforces, regardless of whether their direct operations are in Canada. Reporting companies must examine both direct and indirect suppliers, extending beyond Canada’s borders. Seek legal counsel to assess if your company quali es as a “reporting entity.”

5 Prepare for mandatory components

In addition to basic company information and legal structure, the

report must include a description of the structure of your supply chain, including assessed forced labour risks related to both direct and indirect suppliers, and speci c actions taken to evaluate and manage them, and to ensure accountability and e ectiveness. Such actions could include compliance checks, audits, supplier agreements, or employee training. If instances of forced labour were discovered, disclose these cases and any remediation or corrective actions taken.

ment. Aside from the report, your company must complete an online questionnaire that goes hand-inhand with the report. Consisting of a series of both mandatory and optional questions, it provides entities an opportunity to provide additional clari cations on actions taken. Once you submit, it goes live in an online catalogue for the world to see — transparency in action! And a prompt to do better, for those whose approach isn’t leading practice quite yet.

6 Report transparently and honestly Companies are expected to provide honest responses that transparently describe concrete actions taken to address risks of forced labour and child labour, rather than vague motherhood statements such as those o en historically used in voluntary sustainability reporting. State your company’s performance as it is and, if needed, take action to do better. e act does not require entities to disclose commercially sensitive information that would expose them to legal risk or compromise the privacy of any persons.

7 Attest and post prominently

Your nal report must include a signed attestation from the appropriate governing body or bodies of your company who have the legal authority to bind the organization. Your company must post the report in a prominent place on your website. If you’re incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act or any other Act of Parliament, you’ll also need to provide the report to each shareholder, along with your annual nancial statements. is may mean your report needs to be ready before May 31, so plan accordingly!

8 Submit additional materials

e late 2023 guidance surprised many companies with unexpectedly detailed requirements. e act isn’t just about producing and ling a report; it’s a full-on digital engage-

e actions above will help you to prepare for your company’s inaugural report under the Modern Slavery Act. But remember, the reporting under the act is not a one-time task. For many companies, the act represents the launch of an ongoing internal process of monitoring and improving your supply chain management systems and practices. e reports are simply a vehicle to publicly share your performance and progress in annual disclosures. As you embark on this journey, remember, it’s not just about ticking boxes to achieve compliance. It’s about better managing risk; company and leadership risks and risks to people in your company’s value chains.

Even in Canada, human rights group Walk Free Foundation estimates that 69,000 people are being exploited for labour on any given day. As concern grows over both environmental and social risks in our complex global geopolitical landscape, companies in Canada and worldwide should anticipate stricter oversight of their supply chains. With more due diligence and disclosure laws likely to emerge globally in the years ahead, companies would be wise to take proactive measures now to prepare for compliance and embrace the opportunity to reduce the risk of causing or contributing to forced labour.

Need help with your Modern Slavery reporting? Check out our original article, the government’s public resources online, or reach out to a specialized, experienced and trusted advisory rm for support. TNM

Companies in Canada must file reports on their compliance with the new Modern Slavery Act by May 31

ADOBESTOCK /SEAN K

BY ALISHA HIYATE

MWhy uranium above US$100 per lb. is ‘sustainable’ —

and likely headed

higher

Q&A | Mining analyst David Talbot discusses what’s ahead for hot sector

ining analyst David Talbot began covering the uranium sector in June 2007 — the same month uranium prices reached their all-time high of US$136 per lb., then rapidly retreated. Prices are once again on the move, rising above US$100 per lb. in January for the rst time in over 16 years, but this time Talbot says it’s di erent. Nuclear energy, which accounts for 10% of the world’s electricity, is enjoying a renewed push as a baseload, low-carbon power source and 62 new nuclear reactors are under construction, with hundreds more planned or proposed. At the same time, however, a supply gap is emerging. Talbot, now managing director and head of equity research with Red Cloud Securities, has just released a 32-page report outlining what he expects for the uranium sector going forward, including his top stock picks. e Northern Miner’s editor-in-chief Alisha Hiyate spoke with him in February about the uranium price rise, the role of geopolitics and how investors can play the space.

The Northern Miner: Uranium prices have now been in quite a dramatic upswing for the past year, the price has actually roughly doubled. Can you walk us through what’s happened over the last year that has pushed prices higher?

David Talbot: Sure, we’ve seen quite a few movements over the past year or so. Prices have risen from US$48 a lb. at the beginning

“Security of energy supply is huge. Western governments are now throwing money at the nuclear fuel cycle.”

of 2023 to about US$103 a lb. right now. Supply/demand, particularly physical uranium purchases, really drove prices earlier in 2023. Not quite as much as in 2020-2021, but nancial companies were buying at least up until April. en prices trickled upwards consistently to US$60-65 per lb. by September.

en in September, the World Nuclear Association Symposium (WNA) released a statement saying that not all nuclear utilities would get the uranium they require. We’ve never seen that kind of bold commentary from what’s really been a

conservative group. at’s when we started to see some serious buying by some of the end users and prices started to rise even quicker.

And in Q4, the uranium price spikes were largely due to speculation around positive U.S. government funding and policies, as well as a potential U.S. import ban on Russian uranium. So, we’re only halfway through Q1 of 2024, but uranium price uctuations seem even more volatile, but I think they are still biased to the upside and those biases are really on the supply side disruption. Speci cally, we

have seen supply side challenges in Canada (at Cameco’s [TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ] Cigar Lake mine) and Kazakhstan (at Kazatomprom’s [LSE: KAP] operations).

TNM: Last year we saw a pretty big decline in the prices of two battery metals — lithium and nickel — because of oversupply in those markets. Could something similar happen in uranium?

DT: We did see oversupply in nickel and lithium last year, partly

because nickel is being renewed by high pressure acid leach (HPAL) production (in Indonesia) and lithium production capacity was overbuilt very quickly. And demand for EV’s hasn’t been quite as hot as expected.

e lithium price just swung too high — it went to about US$70,000 and US$90,000 a tonne (lithium carbonate equivalent), but we never moved our estimates here at Red Cloud above US$26,000 a tonne. We just thought the market was too overheated.

Uranium is di erent. First of all, we don’t have nearly enough mined supply as we do nuclear utility demand. Production is estimated at between 135 and 160 million lb. this year, whereas demand is really close to it — 175 to 200 million lb. per year. At Red Cloud, we’re at the lower end of those numbers, but whoever you listen to, there’s about a supply gap in there of 40 million lb. from the mines. Secondary supply has lled the gap up to this point, but that’s disappearing. Inventories largely aren’t that mobile, so they can’t be drawn down anymore. And enrichment demand is high, so there isn’t that opportunity for underfeeding to create excess material for sale into the market.

So we do expect that mine gap to persist through 2028 or so. UX Consulting says we’re short a billion pounds of uranium between now and 2040. On top of that, nuclear utilities have not purchased the uranium they need so there’s about a billion and a quarter pounds of uncommitted demand by 2035 or so.

TNM: So oversupply isn’t a danger. But is this price above US$100 a pound sustainable?

DT: I think it is. Like I said, not all utilities have the pounds they need, so they’re going to have to come into the market, and production is becoming more challenging, espe-

David Talbot

guidelines or committee charters.

Boards need to ensure that they are overseeing their companies’ approach to ESG matters in an informed and deliberative manner and be prepared to demonstrate that to investors, stakeholders, D&O insurance underwriters and regulators.

However, a growing number of directors do not feel con dent about their ability — or their board’s — to competently oversee a company’s approach to ESG. Numerous studies have pointed out that relevant ESG expertise is lacking among boards.

More and more ESG issues are beyond the traditional mandate for boards but are now being scrutinized by many stakeholders, including an increasing number of those downstream in the supply chain. To serve this market need there are now many courses, executive programs, and ESG e-learning packages for directors. However, just like all other vital board governance skills and competencies one cannot s replace experience in ESG, especially when gained from operating in challenging jurisdictions. e fact that ESG is easy to discuss and theorize about has led to an explosion in ESG “experts” and the rise of “competency greenwashing.” Boards should not inadvertently equate general awareness or passion for ESG topics with true subject matter expertise. One cannot substitute for genuine ESG experiences and leadership credentials, especially bridging the gap between knowing what to do and making it happen.

ankfully, there are e ective

commentary&analysis

ways to bring crucial ESG uency to the boardroom, ensuring nominating processes focus on recruiting directors who will bring valued ESG knowledge, expertise, insights, and problem-solving attributes. Such refreshment will give boards the essential fortitude to think the unthinkable and incorporate a multistakeholder perspective helping management think di erently.

A board’s relationship with management is central to its e ectiveness so that they can challenge and advise management on ESG strategy, performance, and disclosure through exercising their oversight on ESG implementation from corporate to mine sites, importantly without overstepping. ere is a lot directors can do to embed ESG into the company’s ethical and cultural DNA.

ey can constructively debate and evaluate the company’s ESG posture, strategic direction, and performance; support ethical leadership and cultural change; re-examine risk management, oversight protocols and controls; inform due diligence processes for M&A activity; in uence and incentivize behaviours through executive compensation; strengthen succession planning; and more actively participate in shareholder meetings. ey can bring the con dence and judgment needed to navigate the evolving ESG landscape, especially with the growing attention to critical minerals, and the fast-evolving mandatory corporate ESG disclosure requirements and related securities laws.

Beware the boilerplate

One burgeoning challenge is that boards continue to be advised to

“boil the ocean” as they move from ESG aspiration to actual accountability. Typically, they are sold the boilerplate ESG treatment based on a cursory materiality assessment and a super cial benchmarking assessment — all attractively packaged in a humdrum ESG report full of infographics and stock photos. What is most frustrating is that this type of advice frequently stunts internal thinking capacity, agility, and innovation, while obfuscating management and board accountability and blurring the lines between the two. Boards should only proceed a er diligently considering their general duties, business ethics, potential liabilities, and market expectations. If boards do not assess their true ESG vulnerabilities through scenario planning, know what they are trying to change or improve, and how to react accordingly, they risk making matters worse. A subpar ESG strategy, ine ective internal structure or exaggerated disclosure could create corporate or personal liability and a target for litigation and reputational damage, especially considering the global crackdown on “greenwashing.” While most miners have embraced the ESG value proposition mindset and are demonstrating strong ESG performance, others have fallen behind and succumbed to the myopia of short-termism, particularly on issues like human rights, security, Indigenous engagement, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), biodiversity and climate transition planning. Miners that proactively reshape boardrooms and seek to better integrate business ethics, and such

ESG issues into their strategy, decision-making and risk management processes better position, and future-proof their companies.

Looking ahead, ESG will continue to evolve, regulatory pressures will mount, politics and business will continue to collide, stakeholder activism will remain robust, and the energy transition will be at the forefront. e dynamic business environment will create new challenges, but also opportunities. Engaged and appropriately skilled boards, working as

> Uranium from P14

cially in the important jurisdictions like Saskatchewan and Kazakhstan.

Secondly, we’ve also got East versus West, so here we have a security of supply issue. Forty per cent of U.S. uranium comes from Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. So Western utilities really need to keep ahead of this rapid new reactor build in China, Russia and soon

strategic partners to management, and exercising their ESG and business judgment to identify priorities and weigh competing interests and objectives, will be best situated to create long-term value for all stakeholders. TNM

Kevin PCJ D’Souza is a responsible mining executive and ESG advisor with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He has worked in more than 50 countries for juniors, midtier, and major mining companies. kevinpcjdsouza@gmail.com

India as well.

ird, I’d say prices aren’t too high at all, considering in ation. e all-time (high) price of US$136 per lb. came in June 2007. With in ation, that’s about US$195 a pound today. So prices today at US$103 are essentially half of that.

Also, today, prices are rising on real demand. e WNA said in September that demand is rising at about 3.6% compounded annually. Compare that to prior growth rates of about 2.9%.

So yes, I do think these prices are sustainable if not going higher. At Red Cloud we use US$85 a pound in our DCF models for uranium companies as a realized price forecast, but our spot forecasts are US$120 for this year, US$135 for next year, US$150 in 2026 and US$175 for 2027. ey don’t drive our valuations, but they may drive market sentiment and more o ake contracts are likely to incorporate Uranium on P30 >

Yellowcake uranium. ENERGY FUELS

> ESG expertise from P10

commentary&analysis

What to expect in 2024 after diamond sector’s price plunge

GEMSTONES | Sanctions on Russia, new Angolan output to shake up supply

BY PAUL ZIMNISKY

It’s been a tough ride for the diamonds sector since rough prices hit an all-time high in the rst quarter of 2022. Last year rough prices fell 15-20% according to the Zimnisky Global Rough Diamond Price Index. Prices are now down about 25% from their early 2022 high.

So what happened to cause prices to tumble?

e pandemic years brought generational volatility to diamond supply. In 2020, production dipped to the lowest levels since the 1990s. A recovery in 2021 through 2023 ensued. However, the new “normal” for output is still some 15-30 million carats below pre-2020 levels.

Global diamond production should hit 118 million carats this year, which compares to an estimated 110 million carats in 2020, but well short of the 136 million carats in 2019 and the 147 million carats in 2018.

Demand for diamonds has been equally volatile over the last four years, impacting both rough and polished prices.

Last year, the industry experienced a “bullwhip e ect” of sorts as producers and traders rushed to replenish depleted stock following furious demand in 2021 and early 2022. e ood of new goods resulted in the buyers of rough diamonds (the midstream comprised of rough buyers, polishers and jewelry manufacturers) stringently curtailing new purchases as 2023 wound down.

As a result, in last year’s fourth quarter, De Beers’ sales fell some 70% year-over-year in value terms — equating to an estimated US$1 billion build in stock. Russia’s Alrosa suspended all sales outright in October and November, resulting in the accumulation of stock worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

While the majors’ healthier balance sheets give them more exibility in such situations, the impact on smaller, independent producers has been more immediate and consequential.

In late October, Canada’s Stornoway Diamonds led for bankruptcy for a second time. e rst time was in 2019 and the Renard mine in Quebec was most recently run by creditors of the previously listed company, including Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX: OR) and Investissement Québec. Stornoway put Renard on inde nite care and maintenance following what it described as a “signi cant and sudden drop” in global diamond prices. e mine, which began production in late 2016, has produced upwards of 2 million carats annually.

In early November, South Africa’s Petra Diamonds (LSE: PDL) deferred as much as US$60 million in capital projects related to the extension of its two primary assets, the Cullinan and Finsch mines. e impact on supply will likely be felt in the back half of 2024 and into 2025.

Lab-made diamonds have also had an impact on the natural diamond sector. However, while they currently make up about 20% of global diamond jewelry demand, they have yet to gain wide accep-

ANGLO AMERICAN/DE BEERS

“An added ‘wildcard’ will be the impact of wider Western sanctions on Russian diamonds, which come into full force this year. While the immediate impact of the embargo may not be as acute as some are projecting, the risk of further supply disruptions remains a possibility, especially in the medium term.”

tance outside of the United States. It should also be recognized that they have added incremental demand — i.e. some buyers of labgrown diamonds would never have considered a natural diamond.

2024 wildcard

Going into 2024, it is likely that miners will release into the market at least some excess stock they hold on any sign of a demand recovery. However, by the second half of the year, the market’s medium and longer-term supply dynamic could become more noticeable. An added “wildcard” will be the impact of wider Western sanctions on Russian diamonds, which come into full force this year. While the immediate impact of the embargo may not be as acute as some are projecting, the risk of further supply disruptions remains a possibility, especially in the medium term.

As of March, all 1-carat-plus polished Russian stones (includ-

ing those cut and polished outside of Russia) will be targeted by the G-7 countries and the larger European Union. As of September, the threshold will be expanded to include all stones 0.5 carat and larger. at said, the half-carat cuto still excludes the majority of Russian supply by volume and

an estimated 30-40% by value as Russian production is disproportionately skewed towards smaller diamonds.

On a more micro supply note, commercial production at the newly inaugurated Luele mine (formerly referred to as Luaxe) in Angola will ramp up this year. A nearly completed rst-phase processing plant will allow the mine to produce up to 4-5 million carats annually, making it an important source of new supply as aging mines around the world are depleted.

During a press conference in November, Angolan o cials said that Luele production could be “gradually” expanded as additional plant phases are added — which could eventually triple output. Luele’s resource is estimated at over 600 million carats, which could support a 60-plus year mine life.

A moderate recovery in both rough and polished prices is likely this year. Price gains from seasonal restocking early in the year will probably be modest, as supply that was held back late last year is sold. However, by mid-year the mid-

Qué be c where it’s at

stream’s e orts to control supply could start to take e ect. at could be further compounded by the global supply impact of the sanctions on Russian diamonds. Any price rise would still need to be supported by demand — for example, via a “so landing” in a global macro-economic sense, which nancial markets are implying. Demand coming from China, the diamond industry’s second largest end-consumer market remains another key variable as the nation grapples with a secular slowdown in its economy and what some consider an emerging property crisis. TNM

Paul Zimnisky is a chartered nancial analyst and independent diamond industry consultant based in New York (www. paulzimnisky. com). He can be reached at paul@ paulzimnisky.com and followed on X @paulzimnisky.

Québec: Unique Mining

Ecosystem

On the 23rd of January, 2024, Québec revealed 22actions for 2023-2025 to implement its CSM development plan, representing more than $100 million in public investments.

Be where it’s at on the international mining scene by visiting our specialists and mining companies from Quebec during our special conference program at the Metro Toronto Convention Center

Where: Room 205 D, North Building

When: March 5, 2024, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm

The Québec delegation will also be present at booth 222-223, South Building throughout the PDAC convention.

Québec, your essential business partner

Prices for rough diamonds are down 25% from a peak in 2022.

BY AMANDA STUTT

The metals and mining industry saw a signi cant rise in mergers and acquisitions last year driven by the global energy transition, a theme Fitch Solutions expects to continue in 2024.

Fitch expects to see demand for critical minerals surge, with several key markets facing long-term decit risks.

e threat of supply de cits is an incentive for miners to increase the share of critical mineral projects in their asset portfolio, the credit rating and nancial services rm noted in a February report.

Fitch analysts noted a signi cant uptick in M&A activity in mining starting in 2020 and accelerating throughout 2021-2022.

In 2023, deal activity remained robust, approaching the highest level seen in the last decade in terms of total deal value, Fitch said. It added that the number of deals remained steady, indicating that individual deals were of higher value in 2023 than in 2022.

“In the coming years, we expect mining and metals M&A activity to remain strong, in terms of both value and count, as miners continue seeking new growth opportunities within a challenging

environment for the development of new projects,” the report reads.

Much of the strong M&A activity in 2022-2023 was centred around critical minerals as industry players continue shi ing their portfolios

UPCOMINGSALES

Much of the strong M&A activity in 20222023 was centred around critical minerals as industry players continue shifting their portfolios to bridge impending supply gaps.

to bridge impending supply gaps. Copper accounted for 11% of the total deal value in 2023, Fitch analysts noted. e largest transactions included BHP’s (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) acquisition of OZ Minerals in May for US$6.4 billion; and Rio Tinto’s (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) takeover of Turquoise Hill Resources in December 2022, which gave it greater control over the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia.

e US$10.6-billion merger between Livent and Allkem to form Arcadium Lithium (NYSE: ALTM; ASX: LTM), reinforces the industry consolidation trend in

response to the rising demand for green metals, Fitch noted. e new company holds the Mt Cattlin mine in Australia and the James Bay project in Canada — both hard rock projects — as well as brine mines in Argentina. Mt Cattlin, previously owned by Allkem, reached production of 131,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate in scal 2023.

Gold sets the bar

Aside from critical minerals, gold remains a top target among industry players, the report noted. In 2023, the most notable deals in the gold sector were Newmont’s (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM; ASX: NEM) acquisition of Newcrest Mining and Pan American Silver (TSX: PAAS; NYSE: PAAS) and Agnico Eagle Mines’ (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) acquisition of Yamana Gold. Newmont’s acquisition of Newcrest is the biggest gold deal in the industry’s history, with the world’s biggest gold miner projecting annual output at around 8 million oz. of gold and 150,000160,000 tonnes of copper. TNM

The concentrator at Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. RIO TINTO

Right: Newmont’s Red Chris gold mine in British Columbia. NEWMONT

Mexico’s president mulls ban open pit mining ban, says it ‘transgresses human rights’

| Move likely to increase friction with major miners

BY MINING.COM STAFF

Mexican President Andrés

Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, has proposed a series of constitutional reforms, including a ban on openpit mining.

Speaking before parliament on Feb. 10, López Obrador argued that open-pit mining causes severe environmental damage and uses excessive amount of water that could be supplied to water-scarce communities.

“It is clear that open-pit mining transgresses human rights by a ecting the right to a healthy environment and good health,” his proposal states. “ e most signicant e ects are evident in the communities and towns near project areas, placing them in a situation of vulnerability and inequality.”

e proposal does not mention underground mining.

e motion is expected to revive hostilities between the Mexican government and big industry players, as the country’s oldest and largest mines are open-pit operations. In total, Mexico hosts 264 mines that extract surface minerals, most of them located in Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Sonora and San Luis Potosí states.

Top producers such as Grupo Mexico’s Buenavista del Cobre, Newmont’s (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) Peñasquito, two of Fresnillo’s (LSE: FRES) gold-silver units, and several other mines owned by Industrias Peñoles are open-pit operations.

Since taking over in 2018, the AMLO administration has not

BC does about-face on proposed Land Act changes

BY AMANDA STUTT

British Columbia announced on Feb. 21 it will not proceed with proposed amendments to the Land Act that observers say would have granted Indigenous groups more power over mining leases issued on Crown land.

e proposed changes, which were posted only in January on the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship’s website, were not publicized.

However, law rm McMillan noted at the time that changes to the way land use decisions are made in the province could have a big impact on the resource sector and potentially, the granting of mining licences.

In a statement issued on Feb. 21, Resource Stewardship Minister Nathan Cullen denied the proposed legislation would a ect tenures or Crown land access.

“From the very beginning of this process, I promised that we would listen and take the time to get any changes right. at our focus was to make it easier to work together with First Nations and provide more opportunities for better jobs and a stronger future,” Cullen said in a statement.

“In conversations with these groups, many were surprised to learn that the claims being made about the proposed legislation by some were not true and that there would be no impacts to tenures, renewals, private properties or access to Crown land.”

“Some figures have gone to extremes to knowingly mislead the public about what the proposed legislation would do.”

Jutla also issued a statement in response.

“ e AME supports the government’s commitment to the implementation of DRIPA,” Jutla said. “We know that our members also support this goal, but the way the changes were introduced fostered an environment of distrust and uncertainty. is is not an environment that is conducive to building partnerships and economic reconciliation.”

granted any new concessions through de facto mechanisms but without the backing of any speci c law.

e recent move adds to the uncertain investment atmosphere in the country, whose miners were shaken back in May 2023, when Mexican senators approved a new mining law in an accelerated process without opposition legislators present.

e mining law reforms involve companies having to deal with an increased burden of pre-consultation, impact studies and water concessions, among other things.

e new law also requires nancial commitments (bonding) and shortens the tenure of mining concessions from 50 years to 30 years, with a one-time 15-year renewal possible. TNM

Cullen also said the ministry had discussed the proposed amendments with over 650 representatives of stakeholder groups representing tens of thousands of British Columbians, from mining, ranching, forestry, oil and gas, clean energy and tourism.

While Cullen said the vast majority said they want reconciliation to work and partner to create opportunity for First Nations, businesses and all communities, he also said “some gures have gone to extremes to knowingly mislead the public about what the proposed legislation would do.

“ ey have sought to divide communities and spread hurt and distrust. ey wish to cling to an approach that leads only to the

NATHAN CULLEN, B.C. MINISTER OF WATER, LAND AND RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP

division, court battles and uncertainty that have held us back,” the Minister said. “I’ve also heard that we need to take the time to further engage with people and demonstrate the real bene ts of shared decision-making in action. We want to get this right and move forward together,” Cullen said. “For that reason, our government has decided not to proceed with proposed amendments to the Land Act.”

e Association of Mineral Exploration’s (AME) president Keerit

Pushback e January website notice marked the opening of consultations with Indigenous governing bodies to share decision-making about public land use and said public engagement was open until March 31.

e amendment was in accordance with the 2019 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, (DRIPA) the provincial framework for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

McMillan warned at the time the subject matter of the consultation is unprecedented and of profound importance to any company that requires authorization to use Crown land in B.C.” AME also expressed concerns about the way the B.C. government was undertaking reforms, saying it had not been noti ed of the proposals until hearing about them through media reports. TNM

Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro in September 2023. ENEAS DE TROYA VIA FLICKR

BC Lands and Resources minister Nathan Cullen in March 2023 at the announcement of a $100-million investment in watersheds with the B.C.-First Nations Water Table. It also launched engagement on a co-developed watershed security strategy paper. PROVINCE OF B.C.

indepth

Optimism for metals clashes with reality for juniors ahead of PDAC

FINANCING | New figures show capital shifting away from precious metals

BY ALISHA HIYATE

Increasing funding for battery metal and uranium projects versus gold brings home the global energy transition but big nancing deals for preproduction companies have almost disappeared, new gures show ahead of the country’s largest mining showcase.

e data, from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) which holds its 92nd annual convention on March 3-6 in Toronto, shows the shi in capital by commodity as well as a struggle for earlier stage companies to raise cash.

Last year, for the rst time in a decade, there wasn’t a single nancing above $125 million on the TSX Venture Exchange, where many junior mining exploration companies are listed. Deals at the $200-million level had previously been fairly common, Je Killeen, policy and program director for PDAC, said in an interview.

“ e juniors, particularly those outside of the critical mineral sphere, are facing more hurdles in terms of accessing capital,” Killeen said. “When they’re accessing it, there’s just smaller deals being done.”

Total nancing on the TSX Venture has fallen for three years running, with the exchange falling far behind the main board in equity raised for the rst time since 2017.

Last year, the gap between the two grew to $1.1 billion. With risk capital su ering overall though, junior miners actually “punched above their weight,” accounting for three quarters of all funds raised on the Venture Exchange last year.

Nearly $8 billion in equity was raised on all Canadian exchanges last year for mining, up slightly from 2022, and on par with the 10-year average for fundraising.

“Arguably, the availability of capital hasn’t moved or materially improved over the last 10 years,”

Killeen said. “It hasn’t declined, but it does seem to be moving in di erent directions.”

Precious metals exploration still draws the lion’s share of funding with $2.1 billion raised last year. But PDAC gures show other metals gaining ground. Total capital for base and battery metals plus uranium has roughly tripled since 2020 to nearly $2 billion, while funding for precious metals exploration shrunk by 19% last year alone.

More governments around the world waking up to the crucial role of metals in the energy transition is being re ected in new interest among international delegates coming to the PDAC convention, Killeen says.

“ e global conversation is changing. ere’s a growing awareness (about critical minerals) and people are recognizing PDAC is the place to come to,” he added.

“ ere’s a real global commitment that we’re seeing towards electri cation, clean technology, and emissions reduction that’s only going to happen if the mineral industry is brought to that table.”

Mindful of the challenges its membership is facing, PDAC is aiming to make it easier for juniors to connect with potential investors this year by bringing corporate

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Detailed engineering to begin in Q1 2024, mine construction is expected in H2 2024 with commercial production expected in Q3 2026

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presentations onto the Investors Exchange oor for the rst time.

e program also includes a series of critical minerals-related sessions that cross over between the technical program and the policy programs, as well as integrated sessions between the capital markets and the Indigenous and sustainability programs.

Advocacy

While capital has been di cult to access for at least the past three years, the federal government has recently put in place policies and incentives that amount to end-toend supports for mineral companies, from exploration through to project construction.

e packages are part of its Critical Minerals Strategy, introduced in late 2022, which commits almost $3.8 billion in total spending. e supports for mining are historic — but there is some room for improvement, according to PDAC.

e $1.5-billion over seven years Critical Mineral Infrastructure Fund, for example, should be revamped as a perennial fund, Killeen says — especially considering the steep price tag of most infrastructure. (Initial applications for this funding, which will only dole out a total of $300 million this year, are due Feb. 29.)

And PDAC wants to ensure that the Clean Technology Manufacturing input tax credit, which gives a

30% cash-back credit for critical minerals extraction and processing, can be applied to polymetallic projects that may contain precious metals as well as critical minerals.

As for regulatory initiatives, PDAC will be involved in hot-button topics such as how to prevent short-sellers from targeting junior miners — an issue that the Save Canadian Mining group, supported by big industry names such as Eric Sprott and Rob McEwen, has been asking regulators to address. e Canadian Investment and Regulatory Organization and the Canadian Securities Administrators said last year they would be forming a working group in early 2024 to study short-selling issues.

“We’ve been asking for what we think are logical changes to regulations around short selling for several years,” Killeen said.

In 2021, PDAC called for an alternative uptick rule (which would prevent short selling in a stock that has dropped more than 10% in one day) to be instated, bringing Canada in line with U.S. regulations.

“We also at that time and have continued to ask for a more comprehensive framework for activist short sellers, so that there is more of a balance in our home marketplace with respect to disclosure.”

In addition, PDAC is advocating for changes to the ow-through regime that could attract a broader

set of investors. e ow-through charity tax credit, which allows juniors to transfer exploration tax credits to investors, is used primarily by high earners. A change to the alternative minimum tax is yet to be formalized in any legislation, but the government has said it was e ective as of Jan. 1. It could jeopardize an investment stream that has raised nearly $4 billion for exploration in Canada in the last three years.

Killeen says ow-through shares could be more appealing to a broader slice of investors if capital gains on the shares were assessed based on the issue price, rather than on a nil-cost basis as they currently are.

Optimism

amid near-term hurdles

As commodity prices have tumbled (with the exception of uranium and gold), challenges for juniors are likely to continue — at least in the short-term. But the conversation around mining globally is radically more supportive than even ve years ago, leaving Killeen optimistic for juniors in the medium to long-term.

“If you think ve or 10 years down the road from where we are today, I don’t know I’ve ever seen an overall environment that’s been as positive towards what mineral exploration and mining means for the future.” TNM

Jeff Killeen

Exploration in Canada by commodity since 2015. PROSPECTORS AND DEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

The PDAC convention takes place this year in Toronto from Mar. 3 to 6. PDAC

Mining analyst-turned-Vital Metals CEO eyes much larger Nechalacho reboot

BY HENRY LAZENBY

Aer spending the past 15 years as a senior mining analyst at Haywood Securities, Geordie Mark, Vital Metals’ (ASX: VML) new CEO and managing director, is convinced that the company can still hit a home run at its Nechalacho rare earths project in the Northwest Territories. But a er Vital’s processing subsidiary declared bankruptcy last September, and the company turned to a Chinese rare earth miner for a lifeline investment, Mark says that will mean building scale for a long-lived low-cost operation to succeed.

Attracted by Nechalacho’s potential and the opportunity to transform the company amidst growing demand for rare earth elements in the tech and electric vehicle (EV) markets, Mark seeks to put his years examining how miners function e ectively into practice in his rst role at the helm of a public company.

“It’s an opportunity to build a meaningful operation from scratch that could become a cornerstone of rare earths supply into the emerging North American electric vehicle supply chain,” he told e Northern Miner in an interview in January.

Taking the reins at the junior last October following the departure of John Dorward in March, Mark contemplates a fundamental pivot to a bulk-tonnage operation targeting the lighter rare earths like praseodymium and neodymium. Vital’s former management team and previous strategy largely built on the vision established by the project’s initial proponent, Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX: AVL), targeting a smaller-scale, high-value heavy rare earths operation. Nechalacho has been known since the 1970s to contain highgrade rare earths mineralization. Avalon acquired the property in the mid-2000s, with Vital acquiring near-surface resources in 2019.

Mark suggests a new strategy leveraging the roughly 120 million tonnes of resources outlined across all categories.

“Our aim is to develop one of North America’s most signi cant rare earth deposits into a long-lived cornerstone supplier of rare earths for the North American market,” he said on the sidelines of an industry event in Vancouver.

Mark emphasized the importance of completing a thorough scoping study for Nechalacho, focusing on long-term economic and operational viability rather than just exploration. Vital stands out for having proceeded with plant construction without publishing any economic studies.

e CEO expects demand (and prices) for praseodymium and neodymium to rise exponentially in the next decade, in step with the better-than-forecast adoption rates of EVs in China and Europe, and growth ahead in the United States and elsewhere.

An assessment last year by Adamas Intelligence shows that neodymium-praseodymium demand is forecast to rise by 48% by 2050. e rm’s analysts have doubled their neodymium oxide price forecast to an 8.3% compound annual growth rate through 2035.

With over 25 years in the resources sector, Mark’s expertise spans industry and academia, including a role as a Logan Fellow and lecturer in economic geology at Monash University in Melbourne, and a PhD from James Cook University in northern Queensland.

Management refresh

Mark’s appointment at Vital was part of a strategic refresh for the company’s board and executive management a er the failure of Vital’s processing subsidiary.

Despite the Australia-based company’s failure to advance Nechalacho and ful ll an o ake agreement with Norway-based REEtec, Mark sees the potential for Nechalacho to feed into the rapidly emerging North American EV supply chain. During the 2021-2023 period when Nechalacho was mining on a bulk-sample basis, it was o cially classi ed as a demonstration project by the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.

Mark hopes to establish an operation potentially rivalling MP Materials’ (NYSE: MP) Mountain Pass mine in California, North America’s only producing rare earths mine and one of the biggest in the world, producing about 15% of global output of the 17 rare metals.

A er Vital’s processing arm was put into bankruptcy, it began liquidating assets related to its partially completed $55-million plant in Saskatoon, Sask. e decision came a er an operations review found the plant wasn’t economical.

Mark ascribes the plant’s failure to scaling di culties, uctuating market conditions, signi cant cost overruns, impacts of the COVID19 pandemic, and strategic management decisions.

Chinese investment

On Oct. 27, Shenghe Resources, a Chinese rare earth miner, agreed to acquire a 9.99% stake in Vital for an initial A$5.9 million ($3.8 mil-

lion), providing cash Vital needs to advance Nechalacho. Mark said that this investment is passive and focused on Vital’s other asset, Wigu Hill in Tanzania. He said the deal won’t in uence the daily operations or control of Nechalacho, ensuring Vital’s autonomy and potentially avoiding recent federal scrutiny of deals involving Chinese companies.

About six weeks a er the investment deal, Vital announced that Shenghe would purchase A$2.6 million ($2.3 million) worth of stockpiled rare earths mined at Nechalacho.

As part of the management shakeup, Mark hired Natalie Pietrzak-Renaud as vice-president of exploration. She brings over two decades of diverse geological expertise in the resources sector, including a track record of in-depth rare earth system analysis, geological modelling, metallurgical knowledge, and material sorting analysis.

Pietrzak-Renaud will plan this year’s exploration program to delineate the near-surface deposit’s high-grade portions, upgrade inferred resources, and expand the deposit’s margins.

She’ll also lead the charge on an upcoming scoping study, planned for release in December. e study will include the new resource and an updated geological model, integrated mineralogical and chemical analysis (metallurgical domain model generation), and mechanical and chemical processing studies.

Scaling the plan

Last February, Vital postedan updated resource estimate for the Tardi Upper Zone at Nechala-

cho, incorporating drilling up to the end of 2022. Tardi hosts 119 million tonnes at 1.4% total rare earth oxides for 1.7 million tonnes of rare earths, a 26% increase over the previous December 2019 estimate. Of interest to Mark is the 19% increase of neodymium and praseodymium over the last estimate to 416,000 tonnes, together grading 0.35%.

“Tardi is one of the highest-grade rare earth deposits in the world and the only rare earth project capable of bene ciation solely by ore sorting,” he says.

Mark plans to leverage existing data and new exploration techniques for Tardi ’s development plan, bene tting from its ‘pancake’ pro le for scalable mining.

e 2023 drilling at Tardi showed high-grade rare earths, with significant results still pending, which will inform an imminent resource update and future drilling strategies.

Concentrate mined at Nechalacho, located 110 km by ice road southeast of Yellowknife, could be shipped by barge from the territorial capital across Great Slave Lake to Hay River. ere, Vital has access to the North American railway system, which ranks as one of the lowest-cost freight networks globally, according to Mark.

Nechalacho includes a 40-person camp and airstrip, with more than $120 million spent on drilling, permitting and development by previous owners.

Trading at A0.4¢ per share at press time, Vital’s equity is down more than 82% over the past 12 months, reaching a high of A9¢ in March 2021. It has an A$11.8 million market capitalization. TNM

Bulk sample mining at Vital Metals’ Nechalacho project in the Northwest Territories.

VITAL METALS

indepth

Agnico Eagle taps Mexico workforce for Macassa

INDUSTRY | Miner explores immigration as a solution for labour shortage

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE

As miners struggle to nd skilled labour, few companies are open about hiring workers outside Canada to meet their needs.

Few that is, except for Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM), which has hired a dozen heavy duty mechanics from Mexico to work at its Macassa mine in Kirkland Lake, Ont.

“Being able to attract 12 skilled mechanics is a great win for us,” Nathan Cloet, human resources director for Agnico’s Ontario region told e Northern Miner in February. “In this market environment it’s hard to nd skilled mechanics. e mining industry across Canada and Ontario does not necessarily leverage immigration as much as they could or should. So for us, we want to try this out.”

e workers are part of a new program Agnico is piloting that seeks to ll positions with employees from sister operations, in this case its La India mine in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora, which closed last year a er it reached its end of life. e program is putting the workers and their families on a permanent residency-track and Cloet expects they’ll start working at Macassa by March or April.

Agnico’s program comes as Canada’s mining labour force is expected to face even more shortages in the next decade, mainly due to workers retiring, but also from waning interest in mining among young people, according to the Ottawa-based Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR).

e council’s 2023 Canadian

Mining Outlook report forecasts the industry’s total workforce will — in a baseline scenario — decrease by 5% to 170,796 in 2033. at’s due to decreasing commodity prices in line with World Bank projections and higher interest rates. Even to meet that reduced level, 158,220 jobs will have to be lled by 2033 across the mining and milling, support services and primary metal manufacturing sub-sectors. Meanwhile, only 137,934 people are projected to enter the industry, leaving an employment gap of 20,287 across all sub-sectors.

Labouring to meet needs

In Cloet’s view, competition for skilled mining labour is already tight in northeastern Ontario, and could worsen as older workers retire.

“We have continuous needs for hiring,” he said. “Even the 12 workers we hired don’t meet our needs for Macassa. It’s an ongoing concern we’re trying to address.”

He’s quick to note that Agnico

GOLD AND ANTIMONY PRODUCTION PLATFORM TO BUILD A MID-TIER PRODUCER

rst tried to nd Canadian workers for the roles. When it couldn’t, it had to go through the labour market impact assessment (LMIA) process, which requires employers to show that no Canadian or permanent residents are available to ll the job.

Cloet acknowledged that employing foreign labourers might raise issues about skills transfer and tensions with hiring non-Canadian workers, but he also said that the 12 mechanics will be paid the same as a Canadian would be.

“ ere are risks,” he said. “But for us, it helps that these people already have worked for us. We believe this can be successful. In the framework of Canada immigration, I would advocate that it’s something to try.”

e MiHR noted in its 2023 Canadian Mining Workplace Pro le that immigrants are a relatively untapped potential talent pool. In 2022, immigrants represented about 30% of the country’s overall workforce, but only 10% of mining and quarrying, the report stated.

“From this perspective, the mining industry has been losing ground to other industries over the last decade and a half,” reads the report.

Leave no stone unturned Mining and mineral engineering master’s student Raisul Islam Atik has yet to formally enter the workforce, but he has discovered many opportunities through education in his 13 months in Canada.

While downsizing at Laurentian University in 2021 saw many of its courses cut, including environmental geoscience, its still-intact mineral engineering program drew Atik from his native Bangladesh, where he was studying the life cycle of electric vehicle batteries.

At Laurentian, he didn’t want to “seclude” himself from Canadian society as he said some other international students have done, and discovered there are many open roads into the industry.

“I wanted to take a di erent route, and I wanted to actually learn and immerse myself in what-

ever learning opportunities that I could get in the mining industry,” he said.

He began volunteering with the Modern Mining & Technology Sudbury organization that promotes awareness about the mining industry. at eventually led him to being selected for the Mineral Industry Leadership Certi cate at Laurentian, a program including training modules and site visits that also came with a $3,000 scholarship.

For the mentorship part of the program, he was paired with Morne Beukes, head of Canadian operations with mining engineering rm BBE Group.

“He’s an amazing man from South Africa,” Atik said. “I’m constantly in touch with him when I want to know something. As an international student, it was impossible for me to get access to such an experienced professional on my own.”

Reviewing barriers to entry

Even though Atik has made his way to the doorstep of Canada’s mining industry, many others like him might lose out on that opportunity a er the federal government in January cut back on the number of international student permits.

Peggy Bell, founder and prin-

cipal consultant with Resource Becoming, a non-pro t consultancy that aims to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in mining, says the industry’s labour woes should be viewed in that larger context.

“EDI is a philosophy, and we need to develop diversity within mining, but it’s also a function to develop talent pools,” she said. “If we don’t have that access or if we don’t have the same number of new Canadians coming to the country to study, we potentially are losing that talent pool.”

Bell explained that attracting foreign — or Canadian — talent to the industry can also be sped up if mining companies re-examine their barriers to entry, such as the distinctions between quali cations, skills and experience.

She cited the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), which was the rst association to act on legislation passed last May by the Ontario government that banned regulated professions from requiring Canadian work experience.

“How are we creating barriers for new Canadians and new talent?” she asked. “Can (miners or operators) accept a foreign degree with a certain amount of job experience? Or are they willing to accept the foreign degree and train the new employee on the job?”

Above: A meet and greet with the Macassa mine team at the Kirkland Lake Multicultural Group (The Stope) AGNICO EAGLE MINES

Right: Raisul Islam Atik at the Dynamic Earth site in Sudbury. KIRA HALLER

Geologists at Agnico Eagle Mines’ La India operation in Mexico’s Sonora state. AGNICO EAGLE MINES

TSXMND OTCQBMNDJF

people

Codelco names mining veteran Braim Chiple as CCO

C-SUITE | Chiple to take reins in mid-March

BY CECELIA JAMASMIE

Chile’s state-owned copper giant Codelco has named Braim Chiple as its new chief commercial o cer, the latest leadership change in the past year, as the miner grapples with falling production and its new role in the lithium industry.

Chiple, who comes from the private mining sector, having worked at BHP (ASX: BHP) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL), will replace outgoing CCO Carlos Alvarado on March 15.

e new executive currently works at Mitsubishi RtM as an advisor and senior consultant for copper trading in South America, Codelco said.

e copper giant is struggling to keep up with the competition a er years of underinvestment at its aging deposits. Its costs have increased while production dropped in 2022 to the lowest level in 25 years, putting at risk its position as the world’s top producer.

Output in the last quarter of 2023 fell to 358,000 tonnes, compared with about 384,000 tonnes in the same period of 2022, based on calculations using full-year output disclosed publicly.

Fourth-quarter output was however higher than the July-September period, and CEO Ruben Alvarado, who took the top spot at Codelco in September, has vowed to

guide the miner through a recovery.

Alvarado told a local newspaper in November that he expected total copper production for 2023 to reach almost 1.3 million tonnes, towards the lower end of the estimated range.

Codelco is scheduled to report its o cial results for 2023 in March.

Chile, the world’s No. 2 lithium producer, saw some key policy shi s last year, with President Gabriel Boric hiking royalties for mining companies and announcing plans for more state control over the lithium sector. TNM

Freeport-McMoRan names Kathleen Quirk as CEO

LEADERSHIP | CFO to replace 21-year veteran Adkerson in June

BY AMANDA STUTT

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) has announced its longstanding chief nancial o cer, Kathleen Quirk, will become the copper, gold and molybdenum miner’s president and CEO, e ective on June 11.

Quirk will assume responsibility for executive management of the business reporting to the board, while current president and CEO Richard Adkerson will remain chairman, supporting the leadership transition, the company said. e transition will happen at the company’s next annual meeting.

Freeport’s board has been looking for a successor to Adkerson, who has held the top spot since 2003 and was last year inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame.

Quirk joined the Phoenix-headquartered company in 1989 and was responsible for a range of corporate functions, including tax, investor relations, corporate development and treasury before being named CFO in 2003. She was named president in 2021 and became a director in 2023. Quirk is a graduate of Louisiana State University.

“Kathleen has earned the respect of the board, the Freeport organization and external stakeholders through her track record of accomplishment, proven leadership and mission for value creation for all stake-

JOINT VENTURE ARTICLE

“(Kathleen) is highly qualified to lead Freeport as CEO.”

DUSTY MCCOY, LEAD DIRECTOR FREEPORT-MCMORAN Kathleen Quirk

holders,” Dusty McCoy, lead independent director said in a statement. “ rough her 35‐year career with the company, she has broad knowledge of Freeport’s business and operations, its people and culture, and is highly quali ed to lead Freeport as CEO.

“ e board is grateful to Richard for his outstanding leadership as CEO and for his vision and execution to position our company so positively for the future,” McCoy said.

“Serving as CEO of Freeport for over 20 years has been an honor,” Adkerson said. “I value my strong bond with our stakeholders — our employees, investors, industry executives, community partners and government o cials — all of whom are critical to the success of our company and our industry.”

Freeport operates mines in the southwest United States, Chile, Peru and Indonesia. It has a market cap of US$55.9 billion. TNM

Dundee’s cyanide-free tech cuts gold leaching time by 90%

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

Quebec-based Dundee Sustainable Technologies is slashing leaching time and extracting more gold without using toxic cyanide in a new process geared for mining’s future.

The trademarked process, called Clevr, uses a 2% bleach solution in leaching kinetics, the chemical reaction that separates gold from ore, to release gold within a couple of hours versus 36 hours or more in traditional cyanide leaching.

“We’ve been driven in developing and now commercializing novel metallurgical processes for the mining industry and our approach has always been to improve efficiency,” Jean-Philippe Mai, president and CEO of Dundee, said by phone. “It opens up a lot of doors when you can drop the kinetics, increase recovery and reduce the footprint.”

Dundee, based in Thetford Mines 100 km south of Quebec City, has been pushing the leading edge of environmentally friendly mineral extraction and metallurgy processes for the past decade. It’s focusing on eliminating the use of cyanide and separating arsenic while achieving improved gold recovery. It has more than 50 patents in about 15 countries.

Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM), the world’s largest gold miner by production, is testing Clevr at its head laboratory in Denver.

“The Clevr reagent appears to be an efficient lixiviant that could provide an alternative to cyanide,” Frank Roberto, Newmont’s

Director of Processing, said by phone from the lab.

No tailings ponds

The closed-loop Clevr process allows operators to save on reagents and eliminates the need for tailings ponds which lowers cost, risk and environmental impact. Besides no cyanide, there’s no toxic liquid or gaseous effluents produced, Dundee says. Solid residues are inert, stable and nonacid generating. It all contributes to a formula for a cleaner, efficient and cost-effective alternative to cyanide.

Clevr uses sodium hypochlorite,

not chlorine gas, with a catalytic amount of sodium hypobromite in acidic conditions to put the gold into solution. Contact time is short, done at ambient temperature and pressure and all chemicals are recycled within the circuit. If needed, sea water may also be used, the company says.

Gold extraction yields are routinely more than 95% while capital and operating costs are competitive with traditional processes. Costs are about $20 per tonne of ore in a 10,000-tonneper-day direct leach operation. It adds up to increased gold recovery in a fraction of the time.

“Our mission is not to go headto-head with cyanide because it’s been used for more than a century and we as miners know that it works,” Mai said. “But we have a reagent that’s allowing for additional extraction at a fraction of the time, so what we’re putting forward is efficiency.”

Dundee developed the process because some of its early clients had projects that were denied the use of cyanide for environmental reasons. Just looking at the general trend of environmental regulation shows that miners should be prepared for tightening rules as time progresses. The

company can develop individual solutions for each project’s circumstance, Mai said.

GlassLock targets arsenic Dundee also offers its trademarked GlassLock process to remove and stabilize arsenic. It turns the toxic substance into glass – vitrification – by integrating it in a mixture of common reagents such as silica, recycled glass and hematite. The arsenic compounds are stable, permanent and insoluble within a glass product, providing greater stability, the company says.

Metallurgy is custom to the project so Dundee does preliminary test work and modeling using project specifics to size equipment and supply needs for each solution, whether Clevr or GlassLock, Mai said. Clevr’s shorter processing and the lack of a tailings pond and dams can have a profound impact on the mine plan, he said.

“It’s not just dollars per tonne of processing, it’s what the impact is on the overall project,” he said. “That’s the exercise we’re doing with the miners and project developers to really get a sense of what the upside is of a new process on any developing gold project.”

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Dundee Sustainable Technologies and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: www.dundeetechnologies.com for more information.

Dundee

Codelco’s Andina operation in Chile. CODELCO

BC’s Nisga’a plan to launch public royalty co

INDIGENOUS | Frank Giustra to be strategic advisor

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE

The Nisga’a Nation in northwest British Columbia is forming Canada’s largest majority Indigenous owned public company, demonstrating the increasing power of First Nations in resource development.

An agreement announced on Feb. 1 will give the Nisga’a a majority stake in the newly formed Nations Royalty. Vega Mining will acquire from the Nisga’a the rights to ve existing annual bene t payment entitlements with projects in the Golden Triangle, in exchange for common shares in Vega. e privately owned Vega — a shell company provided by mining nancier Frank Giustra — will be renamed Nations Royalty Corp.

e Nisga’a Nation’s current royalty portfolio includes Newmont’s (NYSE: NEM) Brucejack gold mine, Seabridge Gold’s (TSX: SEA; NYSE: SA) KSM copper-gold-silver-molybdenum project, Ascot Resources’ (TSX: AOT; US-OTC: AOTVF) Premier Gold project and Red Mountain deposit; and new Moly LLC’s Kitsault molybdenum project.

e company is speaking with other First Nations and Indigenous groups to encourage them to join Nations with the aim of combining royalties from mining projects.

ey’re also welcoming external investors as shareholders.

“Our people have a history of leadership and innovation, from signi cant legal victories to the rst modern treaty in British Columbia,” said Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a Lisims government. “Today, we embark on this new venture with Indigenous groups and leaders from the mining industry to promote cooperation and progress, ushering in a new era in Indigenous business, as well as Canada’s mining and natural resources sector.”

e deal comes as First Nations increasingly seek to bene t from resource development across Canada, and especially in B.C., where Indigenous peoples including the Tahltan Nation and Williams Lake First Nation have reached participation agreements in mining projects. It also marks a contrast with

the approach of settling disputes between Indigenous land claims and mining interests through the court system.

Nisga’a get 76.5% stake Giustra, CEO of Fiore Group, and now strategic advisor to Nations, said he’s honoured to collaborate with the Nisga’a and other First Nations in establishing the company. “Almost two decades ago, I played a role in developing the metals streaming concept as a co-founder of Wheaton Precious Metals and I see Nations Royalty as a vitally important successor to this concept,” he said. “A core focus of the company is to build capacity for Indigenous people in the management of public companies and capital markets, which we hope will result in the creation of additional Indigenous economic ventures.” e businessman added in an email to e Northern Miner that his role will include introductions to his nancial network in the mining space, the provision of the shell

“A core focus of the company is to build capacity for Indigenous people in the management of public companies and capital markets. ”

FRANK GIUSTRA, CEO, FIORE GROUP

company, and holding a signicant portion of the company, with a three-year surplus escrow.

As part of the deal, which will also involve a two-for-one consolidation of Vega shares, the company will complete a $10-million nancing of just over 11 million subscription receipts priced at 90¢ apiece and good for one share each. Existing Vega shareholders will hold about 15.9% of issued and outstanding shares, the Nisga’a will hold 76.5% and investors in the nancing will get about 7.6%. No timeline was given for the deal’s closing or public listing.

Northwest B.C. mining veteran and Nations co-founder Robert McLeod is expected to be appointed as interim CEO and president of the company, though the goal is to have it managed and run by Indigenous people. McLeod played a major role in forming Nations and in bringing the Nisga’a and Vega together. TNM

Nouveau Monde Graphite scores deals with GM, Panasonic

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Nouveau Monde Graphite (TSXV: NOU; NYSE: NMG) has signed multi-year o ake agreements with General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Panasonic Holdings, with both companies also vowing to invest in the Quebec-based miner to help it produce high-quality graphite in North America.

GM and Panasonic have each committed to purchase 18,000 tonnes of active anode material annually over a period of six to seven years, Nouveau Monde said in February.

ey are also making equity investments of US$25 million each in the company. e two rms and potential co-investors could join future rounds of nancing worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the miner said in a statement.

In total, Nouveau Monde announced funding of US$87.5 million, including US$12.5 million from London-based private equity shop Pallinghurst Resources and US$25 million from Japan’s Mitsui & Co. that will be used to repurchase their previously announced convertible notes.

“Thanks to visionary customers and investors, we are now moving toward establishing a fully local and traceable value chain”

ERIC DESAULNIERS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NOUVEAU MONDE GRAPHITE

“We had been looking for top-tier EV and battery manufacturers to bolster our commercial vision [of becoming a leader in the market],” Nouveau Monde’s founder, president and CEO, Eric Desaulniers, said. “ anks to visionary customers and investors, we are now moving toward establishing a fully local and traceable value chain.” e o ake deals come as Western countries seek to secure sources of graphite outside China, the world’s top producer and exporter, which also re nes more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material that is used in virtually all EV battery anodes. is quest to bring graphite projects to fruition has become more urgent in recent months, as China announced in October it will require export permits for some graphite productsNouveau Monde aims to raise US$1.2 billion to build its Matawinie project in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Que., about 150 km north of Montreal. Another US$725 million is to come from debt and US$475 million from equity. It also plans to build a graphite concentrator.

In addition, Nouveau Monde will also install a re ning facility for producing active anode material in Becancour, Que. is is the same area where GM and Ford are already constructing EV battery-component facilities.

e Matawinie open pit mine is expected to produce 103,000 tonnes of graphite a year over the course of 25 years.

Montreal-based Nouveau Monde aims to become North America’s rst fully integrated source of natural graphite active anode material, which accounts for about half of an electric vehicle (EV) battery. e investments and agreements are expected to boost the commercialization of a local and traceable value chain for the EV market in North America.

Nouveau Monde, which has a market cap of $247 million, also said its recent acquisition of the Uatnan project for its phase 3 expansion also provides a supply opportunity for Western EV and battery manufacturers looking to secure and grow active anode material volumes as their production increases. TNM

Ascot Resources’ Premier Gold project in northern British Columbia. ASCOT RESOURCES

Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a Lisims government. NATIONS ROYALTY

Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie project in Quebec. NOUVEAU MONDE GRAPHITE

First Quantum inks US$500M offtake amid Panama turmoil

COPPER | Jiangxi to receive 50,000 tonnes of anode per year

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) says it’s landed a US$500-million o ake agreement with its largest shareholder, China’s Jiangxi Copper, to help shore up nances shredded by its Cobre Panama mine shutdown.

e three-year prepay arrangement will see First Quantum deliver 50,000 tonnes of copper anode per year to the Chinese miner. e material will be extracted at the Kansanshi mine in Zambia and is payable at market prices, the company said on Feb. 21.

“ is arrangement is a reminder of the strategic nature of copper as supply challenges abound across the sector,” Vancouver-based First Quantum said in a news release. “Constructive discussions with our lenders for an amendment and extension of our loan facilities, which are an important component to our fulsome solution, are well-advanced and there is a high degree of alignment among all parties.”

e company has seen its nancial situation deteriorate since December when authorities forced it to shut down Cobre Panama, its main copper mine. First Quantum’s exposure to nickel has added extra pressure as prices have fallen to two-year lows. e company’s Ravensthorpe nickel mine contributed US$854 million of a US$900-million fourth-quar-

ter impairment charge and annual results on Feb. 21 showed a net loss of US$954 million.

Maturing debt

First Quantum has billions of dollars of debt maturing in the coming years and concerns about Cobre Panama’s future have put it at risk of a covenant breach this year. ere is “material uncertainty” that may cast doubt on the company’s ability to continue, the miner said.

First Quantum said it’s in talks with lenders to amend and extend its loan facilities and expects a conclusion “in the near term.”

Panama has scheduled presidential elections for May which could bring a change to the government that halted Cobre Panama, one of the world’s largest new copper mines to open in the past decade.

First Quantum is said to be considering a minority investment from investors such as Jiangxi in its Zambian business, and is selling its small Las Cruces mine in Spain, CEO Tristan Pascall said on Feb. 21 in a conference call about fourth-quarter results.

In Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, the company owns the Sentinel copper mine and holds 80% of the Kansanshi mine. It also has the Fishtie copper project near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and two licence options through a deal with African Pioneer (LSE: AFP). TNM

donedeals

KoBold expands Zambia footprint with Midnight Sun deal

COPPER | Private miner seeks

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

KoBold Metals, backed by a coalition of billionaires including Bill Gates and Je Bezos, is expanding its footprint in Zambia a er inking a deal with Midnight Sun Mining (TSXV: MMA) to jointly explore the Dumbwa target on the Canadian junior’s Solwezi copper project.

e U.S.-based startup aims to earn a 75% interest in the Dumbwa portion of Solwezi, which it could achieve by spending US$15 million in exploration and making US$500,000 in cash payments over four and a half years.

“We look forward to KoBold ap-

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Dundee Precious Metals (TSX: DPM) is walking away from its proposed takeover of Osino Resources (TSXV: OSI) a er the target company said on Feb. 19 it had received a superior o er from a foreign-based mining company.

e Toronto-based gold producer, with operations and projects located in Bulgaria, Namibia, Serbia and Ecuador, said on Feb. 20 it would not amend its o er.

e half-stock, half-money

deal inked in December, would have given Dundee all of Osino’s shares for 77.5¢ each plus 0.0801 of a Dundee share, with an implied value of $1.55 per Osino share. e o er represented a total equity value of $287 million.

e new takeover bid, from an unnamed company, gives Osino’s shareholders $1.90 cash for each common share they hold, valuing Osino at roughly $368 million. In addition, the suitor will pick up the termination fee bill that Osino will have to pay Dundee Precious Metals.

Osino Resources’ allure stems

from its advanced-stage Twin Hills gold project in Namibia. e proposed open-pit will have a 13-year mine life and average annual production of 175,000 oz. of gold over the rst ve years. First production is expected in the second half of 2026, according to a feasibility study released in June. Namibia has granted the project a 20-year licence, leaving only site-level permits still required.

e suitor has also o ered Osino Resources a $10-million loan to continue the fast development of Twin Hills and to fund other liquidity needs of the company. TNM

plying their groundbreaking exploration approach to the Dumbwa target and moving this important Zambian copper asset toward development together, which we view as perfectly timed to coincide with an upcoming phase of unprecedented global copper demand,” Midnight Sun president and CEO, Al Fabbro, said in a statement.

KoBold Metals Africa CEO M keyi Makayi said Dumbwa hosts “intriguing” copper-in-soil anomalies and a structural setting comparable to other major deposits in the region.

“ e KoBold sediment-hosted copper team has decades of experience working in the African Copperbelt, which we will combine with our library of analytical tools and proprietary technology to aggressively

explore at Dumbwa,” Makayi said.

KoBold has established itself in Zambia, where it’s currently completing resource de nition drilling and a prefeasibility study for its agship Mingomba project.

Earlier in February, the California-based rm said recent drilling at Mingomba had con rmed the “huge” size of the deposit.

It noted the asset was shaping up to be “extraordinary,” according to KoBold president Josh Goldman.

He added that the the discovery is comparable to the Kamoa-Kakula mine, owned by Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) and China’s Zijin Mining. is operation, located just across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), produced almost 400,000 tonnes of copper last year. TNM

Examining drill core at Midnight Sun Mining’s Solwezi copper project in Zambia. MIDNIGHT SUN MINING

Osino Resources’ Twin Hills gold project in Namibia. OSINO RESOURCES

Horizon, Greenstone merge to create new gold miner

AUSTRALIA | New firm to hold 1.8M oz resource

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Australian miners Horizon Minerals (ASX: HRZ) and Greenstone Resources (ASX: GSR) have agreed to merge in an all-stock deal to create a new emerging gold producer in Western Australia’s gold elds region.

e combined company, which will continue to trade and operate as Horizon Minerals, would have global mineral resources of around 1.8 million gold ounces. It would also hold exploration assets in the gold mining hubs of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. Horizon has a market cap of A$22.1 million ($19.5 million) with Greenstone at A$7.7 million ($6.8 million).

e transaction, announced in February, will see Horizon buying 100% of the ordinary shares in

Greenstone and 100% of the listed Greenstone options. Upon completion, Horizon shareholders will own 63.1% of the merged entity. Greenstone shareholders will own the remaining 36.9% of the combined business.

“ is really is a logical consolidation of complementary assets, which creates greater potential for Horizon to unlock the value within our longer project pipeline,” company CEO Grant Haywood, said in the statement.

e combined mining company will be pursuing its growth strategy from a position of greater market scale, underpinned by a cash and listed investments balance of about $14.9 million and a lower consolidated cost base, they said.

e merger is expected to be completed in June. TNM

donedeals

Capstone raises $431M to advance Chilean projects

COPPER | Focus on building district-scale asset in Atacama

BY JACKSON CHEN

Capstone Copper (TSX: CS; ASX: CSC) and major shareholder Orion Resource Partners have closed a $431-million bought deal to support the copper miner’s near-term growth initiatives in Chile.

Under the deal, Capstone and three Orion funds sold a total of 68.4 million common shares of the copper developer at $6.30 per share. e $431-million total includes the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option for 8.9 million shares.

Of the shares sold, over 56.5 million were issued by Capstone for $356.2 million, and the remaining 11.9 million were sold by Orion for about $75 million. Proceeds will be used to advance its Chilean copper developments, notably Mantoverde and Santo Domingo in

the Atacama region, as well as for future exploration.

Mantoverde is an open pit mine capable of producing 40,000 tonnes of copper cathodes from processing oxide ores alone. Capstone is currently analyzing an expansion of the newly commissioned sulphide concentrator to optimize the operation, and a feasibility study is scheduled for completion near the end of the year.

Mantoverde is 70% owned by Capstone and 30% by Mitsubishi Materials.

Santo Domingo is a fully permitted copper-iron project. Capstone has laid out plans to integrate it into Mantoverde to create a district-scale operation that will produce 200,000 tonnes of copper as well as 4,5006,000 tonnes of battery-grade cobalt annually.

Shares of Capstone Copper traded at $7.31 apiece at press time, for a market cap of $5.5 billion. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of $4.40 and $7.59. TNM

Metals Acquisition IPO Down Under goes over forecast

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

Metals Acquisition (NYSE: MTAL.U; ASX: MAC) has raised A$325 million ($285 million) through a new listing in Australia that will help pay for the billion-dollar purchase of the CSA copper mine there.

e Jersey-based company’s initial public o ering on the ASX, where it began trading under the ticker MAC on Feb. 20, was oversubscribed by about A$25 million, the company said on Feb. 9.

e nancing will strengthen the company’s balance sheet as it

prepares to pay Glencore (LSE: GLEN) US$75 million by June as part of the US$1.1-billion purchase of CSA about 700 km northwest of Sydney, BMO Capital Markets said in a note. e deal was done in 2022.

“ e listing can also fund additional exploration and development at the CSA mine, improve working capital, and/or reduce or support re nancing of current debt,” BMO mining analyst Jackie Przybylowski said. “Proceeds of the ASX listing could also support future acquisitions.”

One target could be Glencore’s Mt. Isa copper mine in Queensland,

Przybylowski said. e purchase of the cash ow-producing operation would elevate Metals Acquisition to a mid-tier copper miner, the analyst said.

Production growth

ASX shares in Metals Acquisition listed at A$19 apiece and were trading at A18.80 close to press time. e funds will help the company potentially increase production growth at CSA as well as pay for exploration, company chair Patrice Merrin and CEO Mick McMullen said in the release.

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“Owning and operating an Australian copper mine we have long felt it was logical to dual list,” said McMullen, former CEO and president of Detour Gold in Ontario before Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL) bought it for $4.9 billion in 2019.

Metals Acquisition, formed in 2021, says it’s focused on operating and acquiring metals and mining businesses critical for electri cation and decarbonization in high quality, stable jurisdictions. Its sole asset so far is the CSA mine, 11 km northwest of Cobar in New South Wales. e mine produces about 40,000 tonnes of copper annually, according to the company. It’s one of Australia’s oldest and deepest underground mines, stretching back about 150 years and reaching 1.9 km down. Ore is processed onsite and transported by rail 700 km to the port of Newcastle for export to smelters in Asia.

Streams sold

CSA also produced about 431,000 oz. payable silver annually from 2019 to 2021. Metals Acquisition sold a US$90-million silver stream and a US$75-million copper stream to Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX: OR; NYSE: OR) in 2022.

Glencore has a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on the life of the mine and holds about US$100 million in equity of Metals Acquisition. At least US$775 million of the CSA purchase is to be in cash, the companies agreed.

Shares in Metals Acquisition in New York have gained 6% this year to US$12.45 apiece, valuing the company at US$625.4 million. ey’ve traded in a 52-week range of US$8.49 to US$13.47. TNM

Horizon holds several gold exploration properties in Western Australia. HORIZON MINERALS

projectupdates

Newmont to sell mines in Canada, Australia after Newcrest buy

PRECIOUS

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) says it plans to sell six inessential assets including mines in Ontario, Quebec, the Yukon and Western Australia to cut debt.

e list contains the Éléonore mine in Quebec, the Musselwhite and Porcupine mines in Ontario and the Co ee project in the Yukon, the world’s largest gold miner said on Feb. 22. Also on the block is its 70% stake in the Havieron joint venture with Greatland Gold (LSE: GGP) in Australia’s remote northwest.

Newmont, which completed the acquisition of Newcrest Mining in November, plans to use the proceeds to help cut at least US$1 billion in debt in the near-term. e company had US$8 billion in debt at the end of 2023.

e Denver-based miner has also identi ed an additional US$500 million of cost and productivity improvements, including job cuts.

“A big part of our commitment is to deliver US$100 million of free cash ow by bringing Newmont

and Newcrest together,” CEO Tom Palmer said in the release. “ ere is a reduction in headcount in order to achieve those synergies.”

A er the divestments, the gold giant is to focus on 10 tier-one assets – deemed as mines and proj-

ects that are large, long-lived and with low costs – to secure longterm growth, it said.

“Our go-forward portfolio is the new standard for gold and copper mining [and] provides our shareholders with exposure to the high-

est concentration of tier-one assets in the sector,” Palmer said.

Challenges

Newmont, which also stated its fourth quarter and 2023 results on Feb. 22, said it produced 5.5 mil-

lion oz. of gold last year, a 6.9% drop from the 5.96 million gold oz. it churned out in 2022.

Its overall performance was a ected by several challenges including US$1.9 billion in impairment charges, US$1.5 billion in reclamation charges and US$464 million in Newcrest transaction and integration costs.

e company posted a loss of US$3.21 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to US50¢ per share, slightly short of the US51¢ per share estimated by Wall Street analysts.

Despite the challenges, Newmont handed US$1.4 billion in dividends to shareholders and it’s forecasting this year’s production to increase to nearly 6.9 million gold oz. underpinned by 5.6 million gold oz. from its tier one portfolio.

Newmont also reported higher gold reserves of 135.9 million attributable oz. for last year compared to the 96.1 million oz. it had at the end of 2022. It noted it has signi cant upside in other metals, including reserves of more than 30 billion lb. of copper and nearly 600 million oz. of silver. TNM

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Newmont’s Hollinger open pit mine, in the Porcupine district near Timmins, Ont. NEWMONT

Turkey cancels permits after SSR Mining disaster

SAFETY | Nine still missing as stability of landslide area assessed

BY JACKSON CHEN

Authorities in Turkey revoked mining permits for SSR Mining’s (TSX: SSRM; ASX: SSR) 80%-held Copler gold mine days a er a landslide on Feb. 13 that le nine people missing.

A search and rescue operation was temporarily suspended on Feb. 19, the company said, in order to stabilize the heap leach area that collapsed. Hundreds of search and rescue personnel had been looking for the missing workers, who were presumably trapped under rubble dislodged by the landslide at Copler, located in the mountainous Erzincan province of eastern Turkey.

e environmental permit and licence that was cancelled by Turkey’s environment ministry was held by Anagold Madencilik, the Copler mine operator that is 80% owned by SSR. Operations had already been suspended by the company immediately a er the early morning incident.

e move follows the brief arrest of an SSR executive in charge of its operations in Turkey, reported by Sky News on Feb. 18. According to the British news network, Cengiz Demirci, Turkey director and senior vice-president of operations, was taken into custody.

At press time in late February, Bloomberg reported six SRR employees were still being held amid the investigation into the massive landslide, which the company initially described as “a large slip on the heap leach pad.”

Experts have warned the mine site is a potential environmental hazard, because the soil was laced with dangerous substances, including cyanide, which is used in gold extraction. In 2020, the mine was temporarily shut down following a cyanide leak into the Euphrates River.

SSR has operated the mine through Anagold since 2009, employing more than 650 people.

e mine disaster has so far wiped out about half (US$1 billion) of the company’s market value on the Toronto Stock Exchange. TNM

Sayona feasibility gives Moblan project in Quebec $2.2B NPV

LITHIUM | Miner forced to cut costs at NAL mine

BY NORTHERN MINER GROUP STAFF

Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA; US-OTC: SYAXF) has released a positive feasibility study for its Moblan lithium project in Quebec, just one month a er announcing cost cuts at its 75%owned North American Lithium (NAL) mine in the province on declining lithium prices.

e new study gives Moblan a net present value of $2.2 billion post-tax, with a 34.4% internal rate of return. Capital costs are estimated at $962.5 million, with $96.1 million in ongoing costs. Production cost per tonne of spodumene concentrate is $748.04, against a market price of $2,653 (US$1,990 per tonne).

Moblan is a joint venture between Australia-based Sayona and Investissement Québec’s SOQUEM (40%) and located 130 km north of Chibougamau, in Quebec’s James Bay region.

An open pit mine and 4,800tonne-per-day processing plant is planned to produce a spodumene concentrate containing 6% lithium oxide (Li2O). Annual production is forecast at 300,000 tonnes of concentrate per year at a grade of 6% Li2O over 21 years and a life of mine recovery rate of 74.7%.

In a note to clients, Canaccord Genuity mining analyst Reg Spencer said that the study outlined a longer mine life, and higher grades and recoveries than Canaccord’s models. However, he had assumed a larger operation of 2.5 million tonnes per year producing 360,000

tonnes concentrate annually.

At US$722 million, the capex is also 70% higher than the US$425 million the analyst had modelled.

“ is equates to capital intensity of US$412/t capacity, which is much higher than where industry averages have tracked (peer average over 2021-23 of ~US$250/t),”

Spencer wrote in the Feb. 20 note.

Spencer added that with Sayona having completed an additional 60,000 metres of drilling a er it released a resource estimate for the project last April, he believes there’s potential to add resources and improve the mine plan.

Moblan hosts probable reserves of 34.5 million tonnes grading 1.36% Li2O, included in measured and indicated resources of 49.9 million tonnes at 1.2% Li2O. e inferred resource is 21.1 million tonnes at 1.0% Li2O.

Sayona’s NAL operation began last year producing spodumene concentrate to meet growing battery demand. e company said

As

last month it’s conducting a cost review of NAL as the spot price for concentrate is expected to dip to roughly US$2,200 per tonne in 2025 from an average of US$42,840 per tonne last year. e operation, located between Val-d’Or and Amos, in the Abitibi-Temiscamingue hub, is a joint venture with Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL), which holds 25%.

“We are con dent that the current lithium market will recover over the medium term,” said Sayona interim CEO James Brown in the release. “Sayona will now look to review the timelines given the current market conditions, and continue to advance the necessary regulatory approvals, seek community support, and secure the necessary nancing and project partners capable of advancing this project through to successful production, with the ultimate ambition to integrate Moblan into a regional supply chain for battery materials in Quebec.” TNM

South32 OK’s US$2.1B Hermosa build

ARIZONA | Output to include zinc, manganese

BY AMANDA STUTT

South32 (LSE: S32; ASX: S32) said it will invest US$2.1 billion to build its Hermosa zinclead-silver project in Arizona — the only advanced mining project in the United States capable of producing two federally designated critical minerals, zinc and manganese.

Last year, the project became the rst to be added to the United States’ FAST-41 permitting process, and the company said it has the potential to be one of the world’s largest zinc producers.

“(Today’s) investment approval to develop Taylor is a major milestone aligned with our strategy to reshape our portfolio toward commodities that are critical for a low-carbon future,” South32 CEO Graham Kerr said in a release on Feb. 15. “Development of the zinc deposit is the rst phase of a regional scale opportunity at Hermosa, with ongoing activities to unlock additional value from the manganese deposit.”

“[ e] project will strengthen the domestic supply of critical minerals needed for clean energy technologies and national defence, reducing America’s reliance on for-

eign countries and transforming the local economy,” Hermosa project president Pat Risner added. is represents the largest private investment in southern Arizona’s history, and the largest investment in the local Santa Cruz County economy to date by nearly nine times, South32 said.

Construction and mine development at Hermosa, made up of the Taylor and Clark deposits, started last year with approvals from the State of Arizona.With a surface footprint of just over 2.4 sq. km and projected to use about 75% less water than other mines in the region, the operation has been designed to minimize its environmental impact, the company said.

e infrastructure will eventually support future potential development of other deposits at the site, including the battery-grade manganese deposit, the company said.

Construction and mine development at Hermosa, made up of the Taylor and Clark deposits, started last year with approvals from the state.

South32 shares traded at A$2.89 apiece at press time, for a market cap of A$13 billion (US$8.5 billion). It’s traded in a 52-week range of A$2.75 and A$4.82. TNM

SSR Mining’s Copler gold mine in Turkey. SSR MINING

Sayona Mining and Piedmont Lithium’s North American Lithium mine in Quebec. SAYONA MINING

projectupdates

Rio Tinto OK’s US$6.2B Simandou iron mine

GUINEA | Final investment approval from Rio’s Chinese partners pending

BY BRUNO VENDITTI

Rio Tinto’s (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) board has given the green light to the Simandou iron ore mining project in Guinea, CEO Jakob Stausholm said on Feb. 21.

e mining giant aims to start production at the US$20 billion development in Guinea as early as 2025, Stausholm told the London-based Financial Times

Rio Tinto plans to invest US$6.2 billion in the West Africa mine, rail and port project in collaboration with other companies, including ve from China.

However, nal investment approval from Rio’s Chinese state-owned partners, including Chinalco and Baowu, is still pending. Nonetheless, Stausholm expressed condence they would grant approvals soon.

In January, Baowu raised US$1.4 billion from a bond issue in China.

Deepwater port

e project entails the construction of a 552km rail line to transport high-grade iron ore from two new mines in the Simandou mountains — one to be constructed and operated by Rio Tinto — to a new deepwater port on Guinea’s Atlantic coast.

Simandou, anticipated to be the world’s largest and highest-grade new iron ore mine,

is expected to increase global seaborne supply by around 5%.

Rio Tinto holds two of four Simandou mining blocks as part of its Simfer joint venture with China’s Chalco Iron Ore Holdings (CIOH) and the government of Guinea. Rio Tinto holds a 53% stake, while CIOH holds the remainder.

e project has been delayed by prolonged negotiations in a complex ownership structure, legal disputes, Guinea’s political changes and construction challenges. TNM

Nickel rout hits BHP’s assets

AUSTRALIA | Prices drop 40% on Indonesia supply

BY BRUNO VENDITTI

BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; RIO: BHP) says it’s considering closing its Western Australia Nickel operations amid a sharp fall in prices.

In mid-February, the miner said it could place Nickel West into care and maintenance and that it was assessing the phasing and capital spend for the development of the West Musgrave project, acquired as part of its US$6.4-billion OZ Minerals acquisition last year. e project held a value of US$1.2 billion at the time of the takeover. OZ also contributed copper projects in Australia.

Nickel prices fell 40% in the last year as Indonesian supply jumped, causing restructures and writedowns at nickel mines across Australia.

e spot price in late February was US$7.78 per pound.

“ is is an uncertain time for the Western Australia nickel industry and we are taking action to address the current market conditions,” BHP CEO Mike Henry said.

“We are reducing operating costs at Western Australia Nickel and reviewing our capital plans for Nickel West and West Musgrave.”

“We are taking action to address the current market conditions.”

MIKE HENRY, CEO BHP

BHP has indicated a non-cash impairment charge of approximately $2.5 billion against the carrying value of Western Australia Nickel, encompassing both the Nickel West operations and the West Musgrave project.

is impairment results in the reduction of Western Australia Nickel’s net operating assets carrying value to a negative US$300 million, which includes closure and rehabilitation provisions totalling around US$900 million.

Nickel West’s Kambalda concentrator will be placed into care and maintenance in June following Wyloo’s decision to suspend its Cassini and Northern Operations mines from May 31.

e Cassini and Northern Operations mines provide the majority of ore feed into the Kambalda concentrator and it will be no longer viable for Nickel West to continue operating the milling circuit a er those mines cease operating.

BHP shares traded at US$58.31 in New York at press time in a 52-week range of US$54.28-US$69.11. e miner has a market capitalization of US$148 billion. TNM

Kinross Gold lifts Great Bear inferred resource

45% EXPLORATION | Surface construction work planned for late 2024

BY HENRY LAZENBY

Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) has grown inferred resources at its Great Bear project in northern Ontario by 45% a er reporting its rst resource there exactly one year ago.

Great Bear now contains 3.3 million oz. gold in 22.7 million inferred tonnes (open pit and underground) grading 4.5 grams gold per tonne, the gold major reported in its 2023 results on Feb. 15.

e previous inferred resource was 2.3 million oz. gold in 20 million tonnes grading 3.5 grams gold. Measured and indicated resources remain the same at 2.8 million oz. of metal in 33 million tonnes grading 2.7 grams gold.

e company plans to complete a preliminary economic assessment at the project late this year.

“Great Bear continues to exceed expectations and we were excited to add more than one million ounces of higher-grade underground resource,” Kinross president and CEO Paul Rollinson said in the release. “We continue to successfully target extensions of the resource at depth, reinforcing our view that Great Bear has the potential to be a large, long-life, highgrade mining complex.”

BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Jackie Przybylowski also sees the potential to grow the project.

“While Kinross management continues to envision Great Bear as an about 10,000-tonnes-perday project, the prospectivity of the site could add signi cantly to mine life and operational exibility and could improve project economics through delineation of deposits

with higher grades or lower development/operating costs,” Przybylowski wrote in a note to clients.

e underground resource grade at Kinross’s property increased to 4.5 grams gold from 3.6 grams gold, with signi cant growth in the LP zone and adjacent areas. Highgrade intercepts indicate potential deeper extensions, promising enhanced future output.

Kinross is advancing with its

exploration program and infrastructure planning, aiming for surface construction in late 2024 and an underground decline by mid2025, pending permits.

e Toronto-based company acquired the property near Red Lake, Ont., in February 2022 for $1.8 billion.

In 2023, Kinross’s annual gold production rose 10% to 2.2 million oz, boosting revenue to $4.2

billion despite a quarterly output dip. It expects to maintain production around 2 million oz. annually through 2024-2026. All-in sustaining costs are forecast at US$1,360 per gold-equivalent oz. for 2024, compared with the US$1,316 per oz. in 2023. TNM

Xcalibur Multiphysics, global leader in integrated project and solutions for airborne geophysics and applied technology, is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of MPX Geophysics, a Canadian-based company with a presence in Latin America. This acquisition represents a significant step in Xcalibur Multiphysics’ growth strategy in America and reflects its commitment to growth by offering state-of-the-art geophysical solutions in the region. The purchase includes the comprehensive acquisition of 100% of the shares and geophysical services of MPX Geophysics. We are proud to welcome MPX Geophysics to the Xcalibur Multiphysics family,” said Xcalibur Multiphysics CEO Andres Blanco, “This acquisition is a key milestone in our journey to consolidate Xcalibur Multiphysics’s leadership internationally and particularly in America”.

xcaliburmp.com

Rio Tinto’s Simandou iron project in Guinea’s Simandou mountain range. RIO TINTO

A core sample from the Great Bear project KINROSS GOLD

> Uranium from P16

purely market-related pricing metrics going forward.

TNM: Can you speak a little more about the geopolitics at play? e United States is the world’s largest uranium consumer, and there’s a bill before the Senate that would ban Russian uranium from that market. What e ect would that have on the uranium market?

DT: Security of energy supply is huge. You saw what happened to gas prices in Europe a er the Ukraine War started in 2022 and that’s also when uranium prices started to rise.

Western governments are now throwing money at the nuclear fuel cycle. Western conversion and enrichment capacity is starting to expand as well, but in the U.S. speci cally, over US$2 billion was approved for spending in the U.S. nuclear industry in December and it’s notable that the Nuclear Fuel Safety Act piggybacked on the National Defense Funding Act, which almost ensures funding.

In Q4 of ‘23 the threat of a Russian ban drove prices up even further as the Russian Uranium Imports Act would take e ect within 90 days.

e nuclear industry probably isn’t ready to lose 24 million lb. of supply Russia currently provides, plus the enrichment capacity that it brings, that quickly.

at bill is still working its way through Washington, but I think it will eventually pass. And the Russians would likely halt uranium deliveries even sooner if it does pass, which could have an even more profound e ect on prices.

TNM: e rising uranium price and fundamentals in the sector have brought more speculators into the market. You cover the junior space very closely. How do you recommend investors screen their options and pick quality uranium exploration or development companies?

By Alisha Hiyate

Red Cloud’s Talbot shares his top uranium picks

With investors flocking into the uranium space over the past year as the spot price has doubled, we asked David Talbot, Red Cloud Securities managing director and head of equity research, for some of his top picks in the sector. He covers all of these and more in a Feb. 12 research report outlining his expectations for the uranium market and highlighting the companies that are poised to profit from rising demand for the nuclear fuel.

Energy Fuels (TSX: EFR) Rating:

Buy Target price: $15. Recent price: $8.33

One of Talbot’s top picks in the producer space is Energy Fuels, which has a large portfolio of conventional and in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium projects in the United States. It recently restarted production at its Pinyon Plain mine in Arizona and plans to restart LaSal and Pandora in Utah. It plans to resume operations at its Nichols Ranch and Whirlwind ISR projects (in Wyoming and Arizona, respectively) within one year.

“We expect Energy Fuels to start up extra uranium production at two to three mine sites as we speak. I think before long we’ll see additional offtakes and a decision to restart the White Mesa mill in Utah — the only active uranium mill in the U.S.”

NexGen Energy (TSX: NXE) Rating:

Buy; Target price: $14.80; Recent price: $9.46

NexGen is waiting for final federal approval to develop its $1.3-billion Rook I project in the Southwest Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan. It received provincial environmental approval in November. The project is expected to produce 21.7 million lb. of uranium annually for nearly 11 years, according to a 2021 feasibility study.

“We believe that NextGen’s Rook I is probably the best deposit on the planet,” Talbot says.

IsoEnergy (TSXV: ISO) Rating:

Buy; Target price: $8.00; Recent price: $4.11

After acquiring Consolidated Uranium last year, IsoEnergy has a pipeline of uranium projects in Canada, the U.S., Australia and Argentina, including Hurricane, the highestgrade deposit in the world, at its Larocque East project in the Athabasca Basin.

“The core of that is 35% uranium — it’s just a phenomenal deposit,” Talbot says. “They’re also moving two mines towards production in Utah.”

Global Atomic (TSX: GLO) Rating:

Buy; Target price: $7.10; Recent price: $3.10

“If we had one top pick in the sector, this is probably it,” Talbot says of Global Atomic. The company is building the first phase of its large Dasa project in Niger, where there was a coup last year. While that did slow development, Talbot says it’s now business as usual with the U.S. government and military maintaining its presence in the country.

An updated feasibility study and resource is due out in the first quarter, but according to a 2021 study, the first phase of the project will produce 4.5 million lb. U3O8 annually over 12 years, with an initial capital cost of $208 million.

“The economics of this project worked at 35 bucks a pound, so I think it looks great at over 100 bucks a pound,” Talbot says.

Lotus Resources (ASX: LOT) Rating:

Buy; Target price: A75¢; Recent price: A32¢

Lotus Resources is hoping to restart its Kayelekera mine in Malawi by late 2025.

Talbot says the company is working on a mine development agreement with the government and expects news on that soon.

A 2022 feasibility study outlined an US$88million project that would produce 2.4 million lb. uranium over 10 years.

“We anticipate the company to make four real major changes at the mine: adding beneficiation, connecting to the grid, improved leach efficiency and recycling, and some tailings improvements as well,” Talbot says. The company also acquired A-Cap Energy for its Letlhakane project in Botswana, giving it the third highest uranium resources of any ASX-listed stock, he adds.

Aura Energy (ASX: AEE) Rating: Buy; Target price: A65¢; Recent price: A24¢

Aura Energy completed a feasibility study on its Tiris uranium project in Mauritania last year. The study outlined a 16-year open pit project with an initial capex of US$87.9 million, plus US$90.3 million in year three to more than double production to 1.9 million lb. per year.

“They believe they can get the project into production relatively quickly. We think they’ll go out and go straight to a fully expanded 2 million pounds production per year... we’re really waiting for a FEED (frontend engineering design) study from the company right now detailing its updated plans as uranium prices continue to rise.”

F3 Uranium (TSXV: FUU) Rating: Speculative Buy; Target price: 60¢; Recent price: 43¢

F3 Uranium is drilling its PLN project in the southwest Athabasca Basin, with a 55-hole, 24,000 metre program under way. The company discovered the high-grade JR zone in 2022, hitting 15 metres of 7% uranium oxide. The JR zone is now 165 metres and the company’s also made a parallel discovery 3.4 km to the south on the 1-2 km B1 conductor.

“We think F3’s JR zone is already in the 15-to20-million-pound range at grades of around 2.6% U3O8 and that F3 will make further discoveries along trend to the South and on parallel structures,” Talbot says.

Analyst disclosures: ISO Energy, Global Atomic, Lotus Resources and F3 Uranium are banking clients of Red Cloud Securities; David Talbot holds positions in NexGen Energy and IsoEnergy.

DT: Right now, we are seeing a rising tide li ing all boats. e go-to peer group has been the producers. More recently, we’ve seen huge movement in the explorer group,

CONSTRUCTION SOLUTIONS FROM COAST TO COAST.

but our beta analysis shows that the developer group is really most reactive to rising uranium prices.

Early on, as uranium prices ran up, a lot of money went to producers and large cap developers — Cameco, which has a $25-billion market cap and NexGen Energy (TSX: NXE), a developer with a $5.4-billion market cap, for example. Many generalists are starting to enter the sector, investing in these go-to names.

In our latest sector report, we found that the companies that see the most li from rising uranium prices are the developer group. We are starting to see incentive for uranium companies to start dusting o projects and even mine sites. And

companies with higher cost expectations typically had better leverage to rising prices — and that would be expected as a price rise has more impact on their margins. Investors have di erent reasons for buying — producers are relatively safe, they should be creating cash ow. Developers come in all shapes and sizes, jurisdictions and time horizons, so we tell investors to be a little bit more selective. Look at management, look at permitting status, look at jurisdiction, time to production. And then the explorers are the furthest from production, so short-term price uctuations should be less impactful. Some have resources or discoveries and

some might be grassroots, so we’d argue that investors should really pick a basket of exploration stocks. You never know who’s going to make that next big discovery. I’ll point to F3 Uranium (CSE: FUU) for example.

Ten years ago, there were no major discoveries in the southwest Athabasca. Now there are three big ones.

e JR zone of F3 was the last big discovery in the Athabasca Basin made before Christmas 2022. It’s on the other side or the west side of that Clearwater domain from NexGen’s Arrow and Fission Uranium’s (TSX: FCU) Triple R discoveries. Ideas change as you go along, so you never know. TNM

39

*Data

Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle

Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle

Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle

Delivering fit-for-purpose solutions across the entire project life cycle

Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.

Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.

Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.

Our fit-for-purpose solutions encompass the skills of qualified geologists, geostaticians, analytical chemists, mineralogists, metallurgists, process engineers and mining engineers and inspectors brought together to provide accurate and timely mineral and process evaluation services across the entire project life cycle.

WWW.SGS.COM/NATURALRESOURCES

WWW.SGS.COM/NATURALRESOURCES

NAM.NATURALRESOURCES@SGS.COM

WWW.SGS.COM/NATURALRESOURCES

NAM.NATURALRESOURCES@SGS.COM

WWW.SGS.COM/NATURALRESOURCES

NAM.NATURALRESOURCES@SGS.COM

TIM GITZEL PRESIDENT AND CEO CAMECO CORPORATION

JOE SOPCISAK TECHNICAL INTEGRATION OFFICER DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

JOHN FENECK PRESIDENT FENECK CONSULTING, LLC

ALEX JACQUEZ SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL

ROB MCEWEN CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF OWNER MCEWEN MINING

ANDY LEYLAND MANAGING DIRECTOR SUPPLY CHAIN INSIGHTS

ALEX FITZSIMMONS HEAD OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS SILA

DR. OTHON MONTEIRO MARKET ADVISOR US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

ZACK VALDEZ CHIEF OF STAFF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE)

SCOTT MELBYE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT URANIUM ENERGY CORP.

MARTIN TURENNE PRESIDENT, CEO AND DIRECTOR FPX NICKEL

DR. GRANT BROMHAL SENIOR SCIENCE ADVISOR US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

ROBERT QUARTERMAIN CO-CHAIRMAN DAKOTA GOLD

MICHAEL FINCH PRODUCT DIRECTOR BENCHMARK MINERAL INTELLIGENCE

WILLIAM SHERRIFF EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN ENCORE ENERGY CORP.

ABIGAIL HUNTER DIRECTOR CRITICAL MINERALS STRATEGY

BRENT GILCHRIST PRESIDENT JDS GROUP OF COMPANIES

IAN LONDON, P.ENG, MBA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

CANADIAN CRITICAL MINERALS & MATERIALS ALLIANCE

RYAN CASTILLOUX MANAGING DIRECTOR

ADAMAS INTELLIGENCE

WORLD’S LARGEST GOLD EQUITY FUNDS: ASSET ALLOCATION

AVERAGE ASSET ALLOCATION OF THE TOP 10 GOLD EQUITY FUNDS GLOBALLY

TNM DRILL DOWN: TOP ASSAYS OF THE MONTH

Our TNM Drill Down features the top 10 gold, copper and silver assays of the past month. Drill holes are ranked by grade x width, as identified by Mining Intelligence.

Jan. 16 to Feb. 15, 2024

warrants&shorts

TSX WARRANTS

Aris Gold Corporation ARIS.WT.B One warrant to purchase of one common 04-30-2024 share of the Issuer at $2.21 until expiry

Gran Colombia Gold GCM.WT.B One warrant to purchase one common 04-30-2024 share of the Issuer at $2.21 until expiry.

Novo

Aris Gold Corporation

Aris

Novo Resources Corp. NOVO.WT.A One warrant to purchase one common 05-04-2024 share of the Issuer at $3.00 until expiry. TSX VENTURE WARRANTS

Silver

to purchase one common05-11-2024 share at $0.30 per share.

Millennial PreciousMPM.WTOne warrant to purchase one common 06-16-2024 Metals Corp. share at $0.50 per share.

Mexican Gold Corp.MEX.WTOne warrant to purchase one common 07-15-2024 share at $0.12 per share.

Giga Metals CorporationGIGA.WT.A)One warrant to purchase one common 02-08-2025 share at $0.45 per share.

LithiumBank ResourcesLBNK.WTOne warrant to purchase one common02-16-2025 Corp. share at $2.00 per share.

Total Helium Ltd.TOH.WT.AOne warrant to purchase one common05-01-2025 share at $0.75 per share.

Caldas Gold Corp.CGC.WTOne warrant to purchase one common 07-29-2025 share at $2.75 per share.

Rock Tech Lithium Inc.RCK.WTOne warrant to purchase one common 08-19-2025 share at $4.50 per share.

TSX SHORT POSITIONS

Short positions outstanding as of Feb 15, 2024 (with changes from Jan 31, 2024)

Largest short positions

Company Ticker Short position Change

Ivanhoe MinesIVN27006053-3843667

Kinross GoldK160738533315532

Lundin MngLUN15689466954047

Suncor EnergySU15525868-47051

IAMGOLD IMG13736034842433

Barrick GoldABX12133770-3082162

Equinox GoldEQX1119513278524

Denison MinesDML11139947-231814

Calibre MngCXB10404671-5363062

New Gold NGD93422232061016

HudBay MinHBM91270523162255

i-80 Gold IAU8654969476731

First QuantumFM7817767-3693759

Fission UranFCU7182337-271564

Osisko Mng IncOSK7084575412964

Largest increase in short position

Kinross GoldK160738533315532

SSR MiningSSRM43773893303643

HudBay MinHBM91270523162255

New Gold NGD93422232061016

Sandstorm GoldSSL41475591090007

Largest decrease in short position

Calibre MngCXB10404671-5363062

Ivanhoe MinesIVN27006053-3843667

First QuantumFM7817767-3693759

Barrick GoldABX12133770-3082162

GoGold ResGGD2199487-2022505

of the

at $2.75 until expiry.

Resources Inc. share at $0.45 per share.

Osisko DevelopmentODV.WT.BOne warrant to purchase one common 03-02-2026 Corp. share at $8.55 per share.

Denarius Silver Corp.DSLV.WTOne warrant to purchase one common 03-17-2026 share at $0.80 per share.

Aurania Resources Ltd.ARU.WT.BOne warrant to purchase one common 10-21-2026 share at $2.20 per share.

Freeman Gold CorpFMAN.WT.UOne warrant to purchase one common 11-29-2026 share at US$0.65 per share.

Osisko DevelopmentODV.WT.AOne warrant to purchase one common 03-02-2027 Corp. share at $14.75 per share.

Elevation Gold MiningELVT.WT.AOne warrant to purchase one common03-24-2027 Corporation share at $0.70 per share.

Osisko DevelopmentODV.WT.UOne warrant to purchase one common 05-27-2027 Corp. share at US$10.70 per share.

Bear Creek MiningBCM.WTOne warrant to purchase one common 10-05-2028 Corporation share at $0.42 per share.

TSX VENTURE SHORT POSITIONS

Short positions outstanding as of Feb 15, 2024 with changes from Jan 31, 2024

Largest short positions

Company Ticker Short position Change

Enerev5 MetalsENEV56769375675546

CanAlaska UranCVV4098277622157

Hercules SilBIG3161195-396134

EnCore EnergyEU2427047-3873817

West Red LakeWRLG219714026432

GoviEx UraniumGXU1979185-82914

Rusoro MngRML16603911536948

Alphamin ResAFM1624438876102

Andean PrecAPM1581124636819

Founders MetalFDR144543363990

Artemis GoldARTG1425696-1657236

New Found GoldNFG142242177487

Gabriel ResGBU13386451315194

Montero Mg&ExMON13162181274916

IsoEnergy LtdISO1133926444311

Largest increase in short position

Enerev5 MetalsENEV56769375675546

Rusoro MngRML16603911536948

Gabriel ResGBU13386451315194

Montero Mg&ExMON13162181274916

Alphamin ResAFM1624438876102

Largest decrease in short position

EnCore EnergyEU2427047-3873817

Artemis GoldARTG1425696-1657236

Guanajuato SilGSVR411963-1430029

AbraSilver ResABRA115737-1213339

Aston

Aluminum: US$0.99/lb.

Cobalt: US$12.95/lb.

Gold: US$2,019.30/oz.

Iron Ore 62% Fe CFR China-S: US$120.60

Nickel: US$7.79/lb.

Silver: US$22.72 per oz.

Zinc: US$1.10 per lb.

marketdata

COMMODITY PRICES | Prices current Feb. 23, 2024

Coal: Central Appalachia, 12,500 Btu, 1.2 S02-R,W: US$73.25

Copper: US$3.88/lb.

$2,003.85 US$/oz. (+$167.83 vs. YA)

$22.92 US$/oz. (+$1.29 vs. YA)

$3.70 US$/lb. (-$0.35 vs. YA)

$7.37 US$/lb. (-$4.83 vs. YA)

Coal: Powder River Basin, 8,800 Btu, 0.8 S02-R, W: US$13.95

Copper: CME Group Futures Apr 2024: US$3.88/lb.; May 2024:

Iridium: US$5,000/tr oz. US$3.88/lb.

Lead: US$0.95/lb.

Rhodium: Mid-mkt US$4,400/tr. oz.

Tin: US$12.02/lb.

30 New Highs

Antofagasta*

Aton Resources*

Batero Gold*

Benjamin Hill*

Black Mammoth

Black Mammoth*

Capstone Mng

Crest Resource*

ESGold Corp*

Go Cobalt

GoldHaven Res*

Greenridge Exp

Hawkeye Gld&Di* K9 Gold

Kobrea Explor Lithium Lion Lithium Lion* MartinMarietta* Montage Gold

Montero Mg&Ex

Newpath Res*

Olivut Res

Olivut Res*

Osino Res

Osino Res*

Pacific Empire*

Rusoro Mng

Rusoro Mng*

Scorpio Gold

Silverstock

62 New Lows

American Lith American Lith*

Asante Gold

Baselode Egy

Beyond Min

Bluejay Mining*

Brixton Metals

Brixton Metals*

Brunswick Expl Eloro Res

Eloro Res*

Endeavour Mng

First Mg Fin Frontier Lith

Gabo Mining*

Generation Min*

Glencore Plc *

Glencore Plc*

GoGold Res

GoldMining

Guanajuato Sil

Guanajuato Sil*

Heliostar Met*

Heritage Mg

HPQ Silicon

IMPACT Silver*

Jubilee Metals*

Lithium carbonate: US$13,250/tonne

Ruthenium: Mid-mkt US$425 per oz.

Uranium: U3O8, Trading Economics: US$101.95 per lb.

Kodiak Copper Kraken Energy Kraken Energy* Li-FT Power

Lion One Mtls Lion One Mtls* Lithium Amer Nevada Copper

Nevada Copper* New Pac Metals

New Pac Metals* Newmont Corp

Newmont Corp*

Nexco Res

NextSource Mat Niocorp Dev*

Pan American E

Puma Expl RecycLiCo Batt RecycLiCo Batt*

Revival Gold * Sigma Lithium

Sigma Lithium*

Silver X*

Summa Silver

Summa Silver* Traction Uran Traction Uran*

US Critical

Victoria Gold

Victoria Gold*

Wallbridge Mng

Wealth Mnrls

Western Copper*

Xander Res*

Dow Jones hits record high on lower borrowing cost optimism

TSX higher as junior markets, gold soften

ByHenryLazenby

Suncor EnergySU6890945.8944.1145.79+1.21

First QuantumFM2406213.2710.9112.42+0.30

B2Gold CorpBTO156633.453.313.38 unch 0.00

Barrick GoldABX1478420.1819.3819.90+0.16

Kinross GoldK124437.006.576.73-0.10

Fission UranFCU98801.131.031.05-0.08

Calibre MngCXB96551.581.421.51-0.03

Nexgen EnergyNXE888010.289.149.21-0.84

OceanaGoldOGC86992.822.452.45-0.33

Denison MinesDML84342.642.362.36-0.22

Northcliff ResNCF1420.030.000.03+20.0

China Gold IntCGG766.525.496.52+15.6

Fortune MinFT1760.040.040.04+14.3

Verde AgriTech NPK4081.541.161.40+13.8

SolGold plcSOLG5540.140.120.13+13.0

Western CopperWRN3521.521.271.50+11.9

Augusta GoldG1440.650.580.65+10.2

Silver BullSVB2760.190.160.18+9.4

Sherritt IntlS4630.290.270.29+7.5

Generation MinGENM3210.250.220.24+6.8

Horizonte MnlsHZM19020.160.060.08-46.4

Century GlobalCNT460.040.000.04-22.2

Scandium Intl SCY2320.030.000.02-20.0

Sulliden MngSMC24060.030.000.02-20.0

Nevada CopperNCU18100.070.060.06-14.3

Patriot BattPMET4677.686.566.66-12.7

NextSource MatNEXT3600.800.680.69-12.7

Mega UraniumMGA35660.450.380.38-12.6

Yorbeau ResYRB8680.040.030.04-12.5

Xanadu MinesXAM4190.040.000.04-12.5

Greatest Value Change

Nutrien NTR559671.91+2.99

Agnico EagleAEM804867.00+2.54

Teck ResTECK.B533053.50+1.28

Suncor EnergySU6890945.79+1.21

Teck ResTECK.A2053.45+1.01

China Gold IntCGG766.52+0.88

Seabridge GldSEA28615.87+0.78

Dundee Prec MtDPM51638.79+0.55

Ero CopperERO169822.43+0.48

Lundin GoldLUG173016.35+0.47

Wheaton PrecWPM580253.82-6.09

Newmont CorpNGT144342.21-2.83

Cameco CorpCCO751354.27-2.59

Franco-NevadaFNV1466145.43-1.69

Patriot BattPMET4676.66-0.97

Nexgen EnergyNXE88809.21-0.84

Lundin MngLUN805710.94-0.75

Energy FuelsEFR18778.08-0.66

Labrador IORLIF72730.44-0.65

Equinox GoldEQX31275.70-0.51

e Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a record high during the week ended Feb. 23 on renewed optimism for lower interest rates this year. e S&P 500 and NASDAQ also rose. e Federal Reserve said it is unlikely to hike interest rates further, marking a shi from its aggressive in ation-curbing rate increases since March 2022.

e Dow rose by 1.3% week on week to 39,131.53, and the S&P 500 also gained about 1.6% to 5,088.80 points. e TSX Composite Index rose about 0.7% to 21,413.15 points, with the TSX Venture Composite Index losing 1.5% to 548.14 points. e TSX Global Gold Index fell 1.9% to 246.71 points.

North American bulk miners of coal and potash ended the week in the green

RosCan GoldROS90890.090.060.07-0.01

NiCanNICN81980.130.110.12+0.01

Surge BatteryNILI79600.570.420.48-0.01

Osino ResOSI63471.771.391.74+0.35

Murchison MinMUR63110.050.040.04-0.01

Grid BatteryCELL62040.070.050.05 unch 0.00

Freeport ResFRI60910.040.000.04+0.02

DFR GoldDFR57600.070.000.03-0.01

Rusoro MngRML55631.281.151.19-0.05

ATEX Resources ATX 55361.151.001.11+0.04

ProAm ExplPMX730.060.000.06+175.0

Freeport ResFRI60910.040.000.04+133.3

Quri-MayuQURI740.050.000.05+125.0

Alturas MinALT2190.010.000.01+100.0

Adex MiningADE70.010.000.01+100.0

HFX HoldingHXC.H280.010.000.01+100.0

Highcliff MetHCM.H510.040.000.04+75.0

Saville ResSRE1480.090.000.09+70.0

GGX GoldGGX20.060.000.05+66.7

Olivut ResOLV2830.120.080.12+60.0

Clear Gold ResCFA.H4000.010.000.01-50.0

Glen Eagle ResGER3220.010.000.01-50.0

Intl IconicICON2490.020.000.01-50.0

Transforma ResTFM600.020.000.01-50.0

G.E.T.T. GoldGETT3700.010.000.01-50.0

In eld MinINFD1010.020.000.02-40.0

Highbank ResHBK340.020.000.02-40.0

Fort St JamesFTJ150.070.000.07-38.1

Azarga MetalsAZR2100.030.000.03-37.5

Guardian ExpGX440.130.000.07-36.4

Osino Res OSI63471.74+0.35

Metalore ResMET42.75+0.35

Snowline GoldSGD2975.49+0.16

Century LithLCE3670.54+0.15

McChip ResMCS60.75+0.13

Emerita ResEMO13630.50+0.11

Canada NickelCNC9921.50+0.11

Minsud ResMSR251.00+0.10

Alaska EnergyAEMC52030.49+0.10

Azimut ExplorAZM670.80+0.09

Sigma LithiumSGML27215.46-4.45

Los Andes LA2510.62-1.58

IsoEnergy LtdISO14833.92-0.55

EnCore EnergyEU12745.26-0.46

Asbestos Corp AB.H81.00-0.35

Canadian NorthCNRI561.29-0.31

New Found GoldNFG4174.31-0.28

Premier Amer UPUR972.30-0.28

Li-FT PowerLIFT1864.35-0.25

Electra Batt ELBM3790.71-0.24

following strong full-year earnings reports. Arch Resources gained US$7.69 per share to US$167.68, while CONSOL Energy added US$1.66 to close at US$80.62. Crop nutrient producers Nutrien added US$2.12 to close at US$53.24, and Mosaic gained 93¢ to US$31.48.

In Canada, Teck Resources gained $1.01 in value to $53.45. China Gold International gained 15.6% to close at $6.25 a er announcing operations at the CSH mine in Mongolia are back to normal a er reducing activity since November to tend to open-pit slopes.

Vale*VALE14764713.7713.2013.47-0.16

Barrick Gold*GOLD8591814.9414.3614.74+0.09

Newmont Corp*NEM8297233.8030.1831.28-2.15

Kinross Gold*KGC540045.194.874.98-0.09

Freeport McMoR*FCX5382239.7538.0038.96+0.13

IAMGOLD*IAG412282.672.382.63+0.06

Chevron Corp*CVX36363156.63153.25154.66+0.03

First Majestic*AG359334.714.294.65+0.10 Mosaic*MOS3504032.5129.8331.48+0.93 Cleveland-Clif*CLF3030520.2519.2620.22+0.35

Seabridge Gld*SA319211.8311.0611.74+5.0

Arch Resources*ARCH2434169.89155.25167.68+4.8

Nutrien*NTR1193854.2250.0653.24+4.1

CONSOL Energy*CNX1575421.4619.5820.73+4.0

Agnico Eagle*AEM1884949.8446.6349.63+3.8

Coeur Mng*CDE264972.732.502.72+3.4

Mosaic*MOS3504032.5129.8331.48+3.0

United States S*X1385047.4045.5847.26+2.7

Natural Res*NRP9789.5083.6188.35+2.5

Suncor Energy*SU2055833.9932.6233.91+2.5

Wheaton Prec*WPM1715044.9139.1339.86-10.2

Nexgen Energy*NXE269337.626.766.83-8.1

Sibanye-Stillw*SBSW233364.704.144.30-7.7

Lithium Amer*LAC106754.734.104.30-6.5

Newmont Corp*NEM8297233.8030.1831.28-6.4

Gold Fields*GFI2233313.9612.4012.92-4.8

NACCO Ind*NC5435.4933.4333.43-4.7

Cameco Corp*CCJ2587843.0640.0340.19-4.7

Rio Tinto*RIO1642469.9164.8665.98-4.5

Nouveau Monde*NMG16213.072.512.78-4.5

MartinMarietta*MLM1913548.68+8.81

Arch Resources*ARCH2434167.68+7.69

Natural Res*NRP9788.35+2.19

Nutrien* NTR1193853.24+2.12

Agnico Eagle*AEM1884949.63+1.83

CONSOL Energy*CEIX271980.62+1.66

United States S*X1385047.26+1.26

Mosaic* MOS3504031.48+0.93

Teck Res* TECK2649239.60+0.90

Suncor Energy*SU2055833.91+0.84

Wheaton Prec*WPM1715039.86-4.55

Rio Tinto* RIO1642465.98-3.14

Newmont Corp*NEM8297231.28-2.15

Cameco Corp*CCJ2587840.19-1.99

Southern Copp*SCCO342182.03-1.66

NACCO Ind*NC5433.43-1.66

Franco-Nevada*FNV2909107.72-1.36

Alcoa* AA2678426.52-0.88

Gold Fields*GFI2233312.92-0.65

Nexgen Energy*NXE269336.83-0.60

miningevents

2024

n March

March 1-2

Metals Investor Forum — Toronto

VENUE: Delta Hotel

MOREINFORMATION: www.metalsinvestorforum. com/conferences/metals-investor-forumtoronto-2024/

March 3-6

PDAC — Toronto

VENUE: Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Fairmont Royal York Hotel

MOREINFORMATION: www.pdac.ca/convention

March 20-21

Arctic Energy and Resource Symposium — Calgary

VENUE: Hotel Arts

MOREINFORMATION: www.canadianinstitute.com/ arcticenergy/

March 20-21

Swiss Mining Institute — Zurich, Switzerland

VENUE: The Dolder Grand

MOREINFORMATION: www.swissmininginstitute. ch/program-march-20-2024/

n April

April 10-13

Women In Mining USA National Conference 2024 — Elko, Nev.

VENUE: Elko Convention and Conference Center

MOREINFORMATION: www.wim-usa-2024conference.org

April 17-18

Saskatchewan Mining Supply Chain Forum — Saskatoon

VENUE: Prairieland Park

MOREINFORMATION: www.mscf.ca/sask-mining/ Home

April 17-18

Critical Minerals and Energy Investment North America — New York City

VENUE: New York Marriott Marquis

MOREINFORMATION: www. criticalmineralsnorthamerica.com/conference

April 17-18

MMEC 2024 — Mozambique International Mining and Energy Conference and Exhibition — Maputo

VENUE: Joaquim Chissano International Conference Centre

MOREINFORMATION: www.mmec-moz.com

April 25-27

International Conference of Geotechnical Engineering — Hammamet, Tunisia

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.icge24.com

April 29-30

Mining 121 — Las Vegas

VENUE: Park MGM

MOREINFORMATION: www.weare121. com/121mininginvestment-las-vegas/

April 29-30

Energy Transition Metals Summit — Washington, D.C.

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: http://events.northernminer. com/energy-transition-metals-summit-2024/

n May

May 2-5

Mining Turkey 2024 — Istanbul, Turkey

VENUE: Tuyap Fair Convention and Congress Center

MOREINFORMATION: www.madenturkiyefuari. com/en/

May 7-8

International Mining Geology Conference 2024 — Perth, Australia

VENUE: Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre

MOREINFORMATION: www.madenturkiyefuari. com/en/ausimm.com/conferences-and-events/ mining-geology/

May 7-9

2024 Canaccord Genuity Global Metals and Mining Conference — Palm Desert, Calif.

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.canaccordgenuity.com/ capital-markets/events-and-conferences/2024global-metals-and-mining-conference/

May 12-15

CIM Convention and Expo 2024 — Vancouver VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.cim.org/events/

May 12-15

Minefill 2024 — Vancouver

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: https://minefill2024.cim.org

May 16-17

121 Mining Investment — London, U.K.

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.weare121. com/121mininginvestment-london/

May 20-21

International Conference on Mining Technologies — Berlin

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.waset.org/miningtechnologies-conference-in-may-2024-in-berlin

May 20-22

Current Trends in Mining Finance (CTMF) Conference — New York City

VENUE: Shearman and Sterling Conference Center

MOREINFORMATION: https://community.smenet. org/currenttrendsinminingfinance/home

May 21-23

The Electric Mine — Perth, Australia

VENUE: Crown Perth

MOREINFORMATION: www.theelectricmine.com/ event/efa3c1b1-b8eb-42fd-bc22-f7a8b7fdc10f/ summary

May 28-29

Mining Transformed — Sudbury, Ont.

VENUE: Norcat Underground Centre

MOREINFORMATION: https://miningtransformed. norcat.org

May 28-30

Euro Mine Expo — Skellefteå, Sweden

VENUE: Skellefteå Kraft Arena

MOREINFORMATION: www.euromineexpo.com

May 29-30

Digitalization in Mining North America — Toronto

VENUE: Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

MOREINFORMATION: https:// mininginnovationnetwork.swoogo.com/ DMNA2024

n June

June 2-5

American Society of Reclamation Sciences — Knoxville, Tenn.

VENUE: Knoxville Convention Center

MOREINFORMATION: www.asrs.us/2024conference/

June 3-4

121 Mining Investment — New York

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.weare121. com/121mininginvestment-new-york/

June 4-6

The Mining Investment of the North — Quebec City

VENUE: Quebec City Convention Centre

MOREINFORMATION: www. themininginvestmentevent.com

June 5-6

Canadian Mining Expo 2024 — Timmins, Ont.

VENUE: McIntyre Complex

MOREINFORMATION: https://virtex. canadianminingexpo.com

June 6-7

MiningForum 2024 — Berlin

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.the-miningforum.com/ home.html

June 11-13

Indonesia Critical Minerals Conference and Expo — Jakarta

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: https://ni-co-ev-indonesia. metal.com/home

June 17-18

Future of Mining — Perth, Australia

VENUE: Pan Pacific Perth

MOREINFORMATION: www.future-of-mining.com/ fomperth

June 27-28

Victorian Minerals Round-up 2024 — Ballarat, Australia

VENUE: Ballarat Goods Shed

MOREINFORMATION: www.aig.org.au/events/ victorian-minerals-round-up-2024/

June 27-29

China International Mining Expo — Shenyang, China

VENUE: Shenyang International Exhibition Center

MOREINFORMATION: www.bjminexpo.com

n July

July 8-12

12th International Kimberlite Conference — Yellowknife

VENUE: Explorer Hotel and Chateau Nova Hotel

MOREINFORMATION: www.12ikc.ca

July 23-25

Queensland Mining and Engineering Exhibition — Mackay, Australia

VENUE: Mackay Showgrounds

MOREINFORMATION: www. queenslandminingexpo.com.au/en-gb.html

n August

August 5-7

Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum — Kalgoorlie, Australia

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: www.diggersndealers.com.au

August 7-9

2024 Beijing International Coal and Mining Exhibition — Beijing, China

VENUE: China International Exhibition Center

MOREINFORMATION: www.en.ciceme.com

August 19-22

63rd Annual Conference of Metallurgists — Halifax, N.S.

VENUE: Halifax Convention Centre

MOREINFORMATION: www.metsoc.org/2024

August 26-28

Critical Minerals Conference 2024 — Brisbane, Australia

VENUE: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

MOREINFORMATION: www.ausimm.com/ conferences-and-events/critical-minerals-2024/

n September

September 2-4

International Future Mining Conference — Sydney, Australia

VENUE: TBA

MOREINFORMATION: https://int.ausimm.com/ conferences-and-events/future-mining/

September 2-6

Electra Mining Africa 2024 — Johannesburg, South Africa

VENUE: Johannesburg Expo Centre

MOREINFORMATION: www.electramining.co.za

September 11-14

Mining Indonesia - Jakarta

VENUE: Jakarta International Expo

MOREINFORMATION: www.mining-indonesia.com

September 15-18

Gold Forum Americas 2024 — Colorado Springs, Colo.

VENUE: Broadmoor Hotel and Resort

MOREINFORMATION: www.goldforumamericas. com

PRECIOUS METALS

Top miners push for silver’s status as a critical mineral

BY BRUNO VENDITTI

Top silver miners are pushing for Canada and the U.S. to include the precious metal on their list of critical minerals.

In a letter sent on Jan. 31 to Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, the CEOs of 19 miners said that considering silver as critical would position the country as a top supplier for strategic allies.

In December, Natural Resources Canada opened up public commentary on proposed updates to

POLICY | Reserves to fall short of demand

Canada’s Critical Minerals list and methodology. One of the criteria used is that the mineral must be necessary for the transition into a “low carbon and digital economy.”

“Silver is identi ed as the best electrical conductor, the best metallic thermal conductor, and the best re ective material. ese qualities make silver an essential and irreplaceable component for many industrial and technological applications,” the letter reads. It was signed by the leaders of companies including top producers Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE), Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL), and

Palladium’s future not so shiny

PGMS | Sibanye-Stillwater, Heraeus JV to find new uses for metal

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater (NYSE: SBSW; JSE: SSW) has teamed up with metals trader and recycling company Heraeus Precious Metals to explore new uses for platinum group metals (PGM), particularly palladium, in the hydrogen market.

e partners aim to develop alternative markets for the battered metal a er prices fell more than 40% last year due mainly to weak demand from China. e rout has rolled into 2024, with the metal price falling below platinum’s in February for the rst time since 2018.

e joint venture, which will be equally funded by both parties, says that while palladium demand has been dominated by auto catalysts for the past few decades, it’s time to nd new applications for the metal.

“Over the longer term, demand for palladium in the automotive sector is expected to decrease, creating an opportunity to consider new applications for the metal… Palladium has a very high selectivity for hydrogen and thus can be used in a broad range of applications,” they said in a statement.

Palladium is mainly used by the auto industry, which makes up fourhs of its demand. Consumption of the metal, however, dropped by almost 40% in 2023 as carmakers switched to cheaper platinum for the devices that reduce harmful

“LONGER TERM AND IN RESPONSE TO CHANGING DEMANDS, THE PGM INDUSTRY MUST INNOVATE AND STABILIZE THE PLATINUM GROUP METALS MARKET.”

NEAL FRONEMAN, SIBANYE-STILLWATER CHIEF EXECUTIVE

emissions and as more drivers opted for EVs.

Sibanye and Heraeus expect to ultimately ensure a “sustainable PGM supply basket,” which should include palladium, platinum and critical raw materials, such as iridium, ruthenium and rhodium.

“We expect hybrids to become the dominant engine type underpinning demand for palladium in the medium term,” Sibanye-Stillwater chief executive, Neal Froneman, said in a statement. “Longer term and in response to changing demands, the PGM industry must innovate and stabilize the platinum group metals market,” he said.

Palladium and platinum prices decline has driven producers in South Africa, including Sibanye-Stillwater to apply severe cost-cutting measures. e company is axing 2,600 jobs in South Africa and 300 in the United States. In February, it said it expected to post a 47.5-billion rand ($3.4-billion) writedown for 2023.

Fellow miner Impala Platinum Holdings (JSE: IMP) has o ered voluntary job cuts. Anglo American Platinum (JSE: AMS) has also held talks with the government about potential job cuts.

In December, the World Platinum Council warned that production of PGMS was already projected to fall short of demand, and that a quarter of PGM mines were unpro table at current prices. e group forecasts a supply de cit of 8% of demand through 2027.

First Majestic Silver (TSX: FR). e push for silver’s inclusion on the list comes almost three years a er the federal government published its listing of 31 critical minerals, and about two years a er it announced its $3.8-billion Critical Minerals Strategy. Canada’s new list of critical minerals is expected to be published before this summer.

Rising demand for technologies such as solar power has led to increasing industrial demand for silver.

In 2023, global demand was estimated to be 1.1 billion oz., of which 576.4 million oz. (50%) was industrial use. Photovoltaics demanded 161.1 million oz. in 2023, or 14% of the global demand.

Silver is also a common component of nuclear reactors. In the letter, the miners argue that with Canada joining other countries at COP28 to commit to tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050, the demand for silver in nuclear power is also likely to increase.

Silver is also used in electric contacts and connectors in EVs and

hybrids, and its demand in the automotive industry is expected to rise.

Misconception

In the letter, the mining CEOs say

that a misconception about silver availability is the main reason why the metal has been excluded as a

Coeur Mining’s Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada. COEUR MINING

Silver on P42 >

ADOBESTOCK/CORLAFFRA

Big backers see promise in Nunavut gold

FAR NORTH | Private company BG Gold looks to revive Pistol Bay in Kivalliq region

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE

BG Gold, ush with $8.2 million in a new private capital raising from major industry investors, is preparing to drill this spring at its Whale Cove project in Nunavut.

e private company, owned by London, U.K.-based nance rms Bacchus Capital and AG Gold Investment, plans 8,000 to 10,000 metres of drilling at the project’s Vickers deposit, where historic exploration dates back to the 1960s.

“We pulled together this collection of highly credentialed (and) experienced people in the industry to help us (with) their investment and expertise,” Bacchus Capital and BG Gold chair Peter Bacchus told e Northern Miner in an interview on Feb. 2. “It’s a very big holding. It’s underexplored. It has some pretty racy historic intercepts in a highly prospective region.”

Backers include Glencore (LSE: GLEN) founder Pinkie Green, Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY) founder Ted Grobicki, former Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI) executives Brett Mattison and Tommy McKeith, and Andre Liebenberg, the CEO of physical uranium holder Yellow Cake (LSE: YCA). e US$1.5-billionmarket-cap uranium company was founded in 2017 by Bacchus.

e Whale Cove nancing, which took place over December

“It’s a very big holding. It’s underexplored. It has some pretty racy historic intercepts in a highly prospective region.”

PETER BACCHUS, CHAIR OF BG GOLD

and into early January, makes BG one of the few private explorers to hunt for gold in Nunavut, a remote and infrastructure-poor territory that presents many challenges for resource development.

Vickers is the main target in the 781-sq.-km project previously known as Pistol Bay. It began to draw more attention in the mid1980s, when Inco drilled an intercept that returned 149.8 metres grading 2.55 grams gold per tonne.

Northquest bought the project in 2010. According to a 2016 initial resource, Vickers hosts 7.7 million inferred tonnes grading 2.95 grams gold per tonne for 739,000 ounces.

Almost a decade ago, Russian miner Nordgold acquired a stake in Northquest and did further

drilling that more than doubled the resource. In 2020, it reported 22.3 million inferred tonnes at 2.2 grams gold for 1.5 million ounces.

Nordgold had raised its stake in the project to 100% when BG bought it in 2022. BG hasn’t disclosed the purchase price, but Bacchus said its capital raising would value Whale Cove at more than $40 million.

Down-plunge target

About 46,000 metres in total have been drilled at Whale Cove and 30,000 metres at Vickers, where BG seeks to explore more at depth.

“Our analysis is, we think there’s the potential to explore or to centre the program around high-grade material down plunge and down dip,” Bacchus said. “ e previous owner was focused on establishing large open-pittable resources.

e geological work we’ve undertaken…suggests an alternative approach to test that high-grade material in some of those racy intercepts will be an interesting thing to do.”

e company has brought on David Reading, former chief geologist at Randgold Resources as chair of BG’s technical committee. It has designed the exploration program to test and con rm the downplunge extensions of high-grade mineralization.

Bacchus says the program could help upgrade Vickers’ resource but that isn’t likely to happen this

Advancing Novador Gold Project in Quebec

TSX: PRB

year. Depending on the exploration results, he said it might make sense in the future to return the project to the public market.

“We want to see how we track with the results this year and see what markets are like and how the costs stack up,” he said. “I think we’re bene ting in that there’s limited competition. Juniors are quite

“Unfortunately, the reputation of silver as a readily available, budget-friendly precious metal has led to misconceptions that have to date blocked policy alignment with academic consensus.”

LETTER FROM SILVER MINING CEOS TO CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

critical mineral. “Researchers from around the globe have raised the alarm that silver is a potential bottleneck in the transition to a low-carbon

cash-poor at the moment. Public markets are quite tough. It gives us a great opportunity to make a good run of it this year.”

Whale Cove is near the namesake hamlet in the Kivalliq region on the west coast of Hudson Bay. e project is about 80 km south of Agnico Eagle Mines’ (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) Meliadine gold mine. TNM

economy due to supply limitations, disruptions to supply chain, competition for other uses, and increased demand,” they wrote.

“Unfortunately, the reputation of silver as a readily available, budget-friendly precious metal has led to misconceptions that have to date blocked policy alignment with academic consensus.”

According to Jillian Lennartz, director, ESG for First Majestic Silver, written questions about the U.S. Geological Survey’s methodology have also been submitted to a House of Representatives subcommittee expressing concerns about the methodology for its critical minerals list and o ering suggestions for improvement.

“We also had direct calls with the Department of Energy (DOE) about their most recent assessment and expressed our concern with silver’s omission. ey admitted that based on their methodology, silver was not quantitatively assessed, and requested we submit our concerns in writing for their review,” Lennartz told e Northern Miner’s sister publication MINING.COM.

e National Mining Association and the Silver Institute also sent letters to the DOE last October, arguing that the amount of silver in proven or probable reserves does not meet the projected demand and that silver recycling is unlikely to provide a signi cant material stream.

Questioned about the inclusion of silver, a source at the USGS said that all minerals for the 2025 list are being evaluated based on formulas. e list and methodology are expected to be released in the federal register later this year.

At the Association for Mineral Exploration’s Roundup conference in Vancouver, Pretium Resources founder and Canadian Mining Hall of Fame member Robert Quartermain argued that gold, as one of the best electrical conductors, should also be considered critical. TNM

BG Gold will start drilling at its Whale Cove project in Nunavut this spring. BG GOLD

First doré bars poured at First Majestic Silver’s Ermitaño mine at the Santa Elena operation in Mexico.

FIRST MAJESTIC SILVER

> Silver from P41

Three B2Gold workers killed in transit in Mali

AFRICA |Meanwhile, in Namibia, initial resource at Antelope expected in Q3

BY ALISHA HIYATE AND JACKSON CHEN

Three B2Gold (TSX: BTO; NYSE-AM: BTG) employees were killed in February, while in transit from the company’s Fekola mine to Mali’s capital, Bamako.

e bus transporting them came under attack about 75 km west of Bamako, and 300 km northeast of Fekola, B2Gold said in a release on Feb. 15. Several other employees were also wounded in the incident and are being treated in hospital, the company said.

e attack occurred despite the presence of an armed police escort. Two workers were killed in a similar attack in December 2022 near the same location.

Mali has already increased security forces along the transport route, but B2Gold said it’s discussing further improvements with the government. e company is also working to understand details of the attack. ere was no word on whether it was related to terrorism.

Mali is a popular destination for gold miners, including Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) and Resolute Mining (LSE: RSG), despite the country experiencing two coups since 2020. Since 2012, a jihadist insurgency has also destabilized the country’s north and killed thousands.

Fekola is located in Mali’s southwest, near the border with Senegal.

Antelope resource

Meanwhile, B2Gold said drill results released on Jan. 31 con rm the potential to expand production at its Otjikoto mine in Namibia.

e results were from drilling conducted last year at the Antelope deposit, discovered in 2022.

Antelope comprises the Springbok zone, the Oryx zone, and a possible third structure, Impala, subject to con rmatory drilling. Located only 3 km south of one of the Otjikoto mine’s open pits, the

discovery followed deep drill testing on three-dimensional models of magnetic inversion data.

Last year, B2Gold drilled a total of 20,715 metres in 37 holes at Antelope, making up a majority of the drilling completed under its US$3.3-million exploration program around Otjikoto.

Highlighted holes include 12.88 grams gold per tonne gold over 7.6 metres from 485 metres in GH22048 in the Springbok zone; and 9.86 grams gold over 7.5 metres from 517.6 metres in hole GH23-056 in the Oryx zone.

According to B2Gold, the drill

results at Springbok and Oryx indicate the potential for possible underground development of Antelope, which it believes could begin to contribute to gold production at Otjikoto as soon as 2026. Otjikoto, located in north-central Namibia, is the largest gold producer in the country. It consists of the namesake open pit and the new Wolfshag underground mine that together hold 620,000 oz. in probable reserves. e open pit operation is expected to close in 2025, while underground mining operations at Wolfshag will continue through

2026, B2Gold said.

Otjikoto is expected to churn out between 180,000 and 200,000 oz. in 2024 and 2025, just under 100,000 oz. in 2026, and less than 50,000 oz. from 2026 through 2031 during the processing of low-grade stockpiles.

As such, underground mining at Antelope could supplement the lower-grade material and potentially get production levels to over 100,000 oz. per year during that period, the company said.

B2Gold is targeting an initial resource for Antelope by the third quarter, followed by an internal scoping study on an underground operation, to be completed by the rst quarter of 2025.

To achieve these milestones, the miner has tripled this year’s exploration budget for Namibia to US$9 million, which represents its largest drill program since the de nition of the Wolfshag discovery in 2012.

A 39,000-metre drill program has been planned to de ne and expand the Antelope deposit.

B2Gold acquired Otjikoto, its rst African development project, in a 2011 takeover of Auryx Gold. It now has a 90% ownership stake in the operation, with local company EVI Mining holding the remaining 10%. Shares of B2Gold traded at $3.38 at press time, valuing the company at $4.4 billion. e stock’s 52-week price range is $3.30-$5.87. TNM

Kirkland Lake Discoveries drills promising targets in the Abitibi

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

In the heart of the renowned Kirkland Lake Camp within the Abitibi greenstone belt, Kirkland Lake Discoveries (TSXV: KLDC; US-OTC: KLKLF) is embarking on an ambitious 4,000-metre drilling initiative at the Hurricane Intrusive Zone on its Lucky Strike property. This endeavour marks a significant step forward for the company, now the largest landholder in the Kirkland Lake district of northern Ontario.

Formerly known as Warrior Gold, the company solidified its position in the region with the acquisition of the Lucky Strike property from New Found Gold (TSXV: NFG; NYSE: NFGC) in May 2023. This strategic move added to their already expansive portfolio, which includes contiguous properties such as the Goodfish-Kirana, Kirkland Lake Central, Arnold and Kirkland Lake West properties, collectively spanning about 380 sq. km.

The acquisition of the 114-sq.-km Lucky Strike property, secured for a 29.1% interest and a 1% net smelter royalty, underscores Kirkland Lake Discoveries’ commitment to expanding its presence in one of the world’s most gold and copperendowed greenstone belts. The Abitibi greenstone belt has a storied history, boasting a yield of over 200 million oz. of gold, with more than 47 million oz. extracted from the Kirkland Lake district alone.

Stefan Sklepowicz, vice-president of corporate development,

highlighted the favourable conditions for mining operations in the area, citing easy access to a skilled workforce, robust infrastructure, and reliable suppliers. “We can have a drill rig mobilized onto the property in hours from Rouyn-Noranda and have it drilling by night shift. It’s one of the best places in the world to work,” he remarked.

The current drilling activities at the Hurricane Intrusive Zone are strategically positioned approximately 6 km north of Agnico Eagle Mines’ (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) Upper Beaver goldcopper project, which hosts 1.4 million oz. of gold and 20,000 tonnes of copper in probable reserves. Agnico’s Macassa mine, located roughly 20 km southeast of the Lucky Strike drill target, further underscores the region’s potential

for significant mineral discoveries.

Overseen by founder, president, and CEO Danièle Spethmann, a geologist with decades of experience in northern Ontario and internationally, consolidation of the properties started 12 years ago and involved many meetings and negotiations with prospectors holding individual claims. The extensive, 53-km-wide territory represents a prime exploration opportunity in a highly coveted mining jurisdiction. Despite the historical focus on the west side of their property, Sklepowicz highlighted the untapped potential of the east side closer to the Quebec border. The newly identified Hurricane Intrusive zone presents an intriguing prospect, he says, with minimal exploration activity over the past century.

Strong, lucky results

The current drilling on the Lucky Strike property was preceded by a 2023 exploration program that included airborne geophysics, mapping, and prospecting that returned grab samples up to 4.25 grams gold per tonne and 0.95% copper. The geophysical signature, geology, mineralization, and alteration were found to be similar to the intrusion-related gold-copper system of Agnico-Eagle’s Upper Beaver project.

While Kirkland Lake Discoveries’ immediate focus is on the Lucky Strike property, ongoing exploration activities on their GoodfishKirana property have also yielded encouraging results. A ninehole 2,991-metre drill program completed in September 2023 intersected 7.7 metres grading 2.1 grams gold per tonne from a depth of 498 metres.

Kirkland Lake Discoveries has benefitted greatly from the Mineral Exploration Research Centre’s $100-million Metal Earth research project, which included a 45-km Larder Lake transect consisting of aeromagnetic, magnetotelluric, and seismic studies in 2017 and 2018 over the Misema Mist Lake and Mulven Lake faults on the Lucky Strike property.

“Kate Rubingh, and other research associates at MERC, found very similar characteristics to the Larder Lake-Cadillac deformation zone with magnetotelluric geophysics showing a resistivity low running

down over 30 km,” Sklepowicz said. “That’s exciting because it means there’s a conduit for the gold-rich fluids to rise to the surface where they can be exploited.

“MERC is doing the studies on that, so we’re getting all this free work done, which is priceless for a junior exploration company, and has helped to highlight the potential on the east side of our property and validate our intrusive targets.”

Furthermore, Kirkland Lake Discoveries recently signed a cooperation agreement with the nearby Beaver House First Nation (BHFN), underscoring their commitment to fostering mutually beneficial relationships with Indigenous communities. The agreement aims to provide BHFN members with access to employment opportunities, training initiatives, and business ventures, reinforcing the company’s dedication to responsible and inclusive mining practices.

As Kirkland Lake Discoveries continues to unlock the geological treasures nestled within the Abitibi greenstone belt, their work testifies to the region’s enduring allure and what the company believes to be untapped potential on the global stage.

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by Kirkland Lake Discoveries and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. For more information visit kirklandlakediscoveries.com.

B2Gold’s Otjikoto gold mine in Nambia. B2GOLD

The Kirkland Lake Discoveries team at the company’s facilities 10 minutes north of Kirkland Lake, Ont. KIRKLAND LAKE DISCOVERIES

New Gold unveils three-year plan for 35% production growth

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

New Gold (TSX: NGD;

NYSE:

NGD) has de ned a path to increase gold production by 35% from last year’s total to 410,000 to 460,000 oz. in 2026, which includes boosting output at current mines and completing growth projects.

e company is also seeking to raise copper production to between 71 million and 81 million lb. in 2026, a 60% rise over last year, thanks to the start of production and following ramp up at New A on’s C-Zone in British Columbia this year.

New Gold said it anticipated achieving this with higher production, total capital reductions and lower operating costs.

In a Feb. 8 news release, the Toronto-based miner said it expects total costs, on a byproduct basis, to decrease by 7%, compared with the 2023 midpoint of guidance, to between US$725 and US$825 per ounce. is year it expects to show the rst results of its three-year plan, with consolidated gold production reaching 310,000 to 350,000 oz., compared with 321,178 oz. last year. Copper production this year

is slated to hit between 50 million and 60 million lb., it said. at will also help the company’s balance sheet, which at the end of the October 2023 quarter included US$395.7 million in longterm debt and US$214.1 million in current debt.

“Looking beyond our three-year guidance, the company has a strategic objective of targeting a sustainable production platform of approximately 600,000 gold equivalent ounces per year with a line of sight until at least 2030,” president and CEO Patrick Godin said in a statement. “Following the successful execution of operational stabilization initiatives and growth projects over the past two years, we are increasingly looking to unlock the long-term value of our operations.”

Challenges passed

New Gold, which also has the Rainy River gold mine in Ontario, said the issues that were a ecting the assets’ productivity are all in the past.

At Rainy River, which began operations in 2017, the company has been transitioning mining underground, from where it expects to produce rst ore this year.

“ e challenges are behind us.

We are achieving our targets quarter over quarter,” the mine general manager, Gord Simms, said during a webcast following the announcement.

e mine produced 253,745 oz. of gold last year, 10% more than in 2022, with output slated to jump over the next three years as higher-grade underground production ramps up to supplement open pit production.

e underground portion of Rainy River contributed 10% of production in 2023 and will rise to 5,000-6,000 tonnes per day by 2027 to produce 150,000-200,000 oz. per year.

Production at the operation, located 65 km northwest of Fort Frances, near the border with Minnesota, is forecast to grow to 315,000-355,000 oz. in 2026, the company said. is will help drop all-in-sustaining costs (AISC) from about US$1,500 per oz. in 2023 to US$1,000-1,100 per ounce.

Gold production at New A on is forecast to increase to 95,000105,000 oz. in 2026, from 67,000 oz. in 2023.

e production growth and copper credits will turn the operation’s AISC on a byproduct basis from US$450-550 per oz. to negative US$800-900 per ounce. TNM

Gabriel Resources shares rise as arbitration decision nears

ROMANIA | Ruling on Roșia Montană expected in mid-March

BY JACKSON CHEN

Akey decision on the fate of Gabriel Resources’ (TSXV: GBU) Roșia Montană gold-silver project in Romania is expected in mid-March — but the company said in early February that a surge in its share price was unrelated.

In 2015, the company launched an arbitration proceeding before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) a er the Romanian government blocked the development of its agship project. e ICSID arbitration tribunal closed the case in September 2023, and per regulations, must issue its nal decision to the parties within 120 days, which is before Mar. 12.

From Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, shares jumped by 33% to 60¢ each, before rising as high as 68¢ per share by Feb. 12.

Located in a historical mining district dating back to pre-Roman times, Roșia Montană represents one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in Europe. It has a mineral reserve base totalling 10.1 million oz. of gold and 47.6

million oz. of silver, contained within 215 million tonnes at average grades of 1.46 grams gold per tonne and 6.88 grams silver. e proposed open-pit project was met with widespread protests in 2013, forcing the Romanian government to reject its permit. Revival of the project appeared to be more di cult a er Roșia Montană became a UNESCO World Heritage site, recognized for its archaeological value.

Gabriel has been working on this project since 1997. A er obtaining its licence in June 1999, the company said it has focused most of its management and nancial resources on the exploration, feasibility and development of the proposed mine.

Gabriel said it has ful lled its legal obligations and demonstrated Roşia Montană as a high-quality, sustainable and environmentally responsible project, yet Romanian authorities still “unlawfully” blocked it without compensation, prompting the company to proceed with international arbitration.

Company shares traded at 64¢ apiece at press time giving Gabriel a market capitalization of $673 million. TNM

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) plans to spend US$136 million to close its failed Pascua-Lama gold-silver project, on the Argentina-Chile border. Its subsidiary, Compañía Minera Nevada, has submitted an environmental impact study to Chilean regulators outlining how it plans to restore the site.

“ e project consists of adapting the closure phase of the Pascua-Lama in a way that allows to restore surface and underground water ows of the upper part of the Del Estrecho River to a natural condition, similar to the one that existed before the partial execution of the project,” the study says. e plan for the project, shut down in 2020 a er years of legal procedures, outlined an open-pit operation that would have a ected

three small glaciers on the Chilean side of the Andes. It also involved major construction in the area, huge waste dumps and an investment of more than US$8 billion.

In 2016, Barrick began a “drastic revision” of the project and agreed to pay US$140 million to resolve a U.S. class-action lawsuit that accused it of distorting facts.

Shortly a er, the company abandoned the idea of an open pit at the site, saying it planned to mine underground instead.

The Lama portion

In April 2017, Barrick sold a 50% stake in its Veladero mine in Argentina to Shandong Gold in a transaction worth US$960 million. In that deal, which made the two rms strategic partners, the gold miner, based in China’s Shandong

province, committed to help Barrick move Pascua-Lama forward.

Later that year, the company agreed to pay a further US$20 million to a Chilean group to settle an arbitration case led in 2016 a er the gold producer halted payments settled on in 2005.

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow was hopeful about solving the issues surrounding the project, but decided to focus on the Lama portion of the project, in Argentina, 50% owned by Shandong Gold since 2017.

Pascua-Lama would have generated 800,000 to 850,000 oz. of gold and 35 million oz. of silver per year in the rst ve years of its 25-year life.

e world’s second-largest gold miner by reserves is expected to announce a nal investment decision on the Lama portion later this year. TNM

Pascua-Lama. BARRICK GOLD

Gabriel Resources‘ Rosia Montana project. GABRIEL RESOURCES

Tax tsunami may destroy Canadian resource exploration nancing, PearTree warns

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

Investments of more than $300 million in mineral exploration will be lost in 2024 and in all future years if Ottawa goes through with its new alternative minimum tax (AMT) rules in Budget 2024, says PearTree Canada Founder and CEO Ron Bernbaum. That means exploration finance will decline by at least a third from about $1 billion to around $700 million if these new rules are enacted.

AMT’S effect on mineral exploration

The Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (CMETC) is one of the best examples of how well tax incentives work. In the CMETC’s first year, more than $350 million in accretive investment was raised for 38 critical mineral projects. According to Bernbaum, PearTree clients purchased $225 million of that total. If the new AMT rules had been in effect in 2022/23, PearTree Clients would have purchased just $150 million, a loss to the Canadian economy of $75 million in exploration activity. Assuming that most investors in flow-through share financings have a similar profile to the PearTree client, then by extension, the $350 million invested would have amounted to $225 million. That translates to job loss associated with direct northern investment of $125 million and less likelihood of finding viable critical mineral deposits.

The Canadian government has ambitious goals related to climate change and electrification, all requiring precious and critical minerals, and yet it is implementing new AMT rules that will cut investment in mineral exploration by one-third.

Fewer than 14,500 high income Canadian taxpayers fund almost 90% of all FTS investment, about $1 billion annually, according to data published by the Canada Revenue Agency. PearTree funds almost half of all FTS financings in Canada.

“The new AMT rules are said to target fewer than 25,000 high-net worth Canadians,” Bernbaum notes. “Unfortunately, it’s the same group of taxpayers all subject to AMT who fund most Canadian exploration. FTS tax incentives drive high-risk investment in mineral exploration, reducing issuer dilution due to premiums to market paid by investors for the tax benefits when subscribing for the shares. If the tax incentives are not accessible or severely limited, no one is going to pay a premium or even choose to make an investment.”

Flow-through shares are uniquely Canadian and relied upon by the sector. They are vital to attracting investors who are concerned by the wide divergence between high commodity prices and low company valuations.

Under the prior AMT rules, the average PearTree FTS subscriber purchased $239,000 in FTS. To access all the tax incentives, the subscribing taxpayer required $800,000 in T4 income. Under the new AMT rules, the average investor will need 150% more taxable T4 income ($1.2 million) to make the same investment in 2024. If the new AMT rules had been in effect in 2022, the same

investor would have only been able to invest $159,333 before reaching their AMT limit.

While AMT was proposed in Budget 2023 and was supposed to take effect in January, there’s been no legislation thus far to enact the changes. However, flow-through share (FTS) financings that support mineral exploration are already down over 60% this year compared to the same period in 2023, PearTree says.

Kendra Johnston, Managing Director at PearTree, underscores the heightened AMT funding risk in Quebec and British Columbia, where a small number of highincome taxpayers contribute to the majority of FTS financings. In Quebec, approximately 90% of FTS financings are funded by 3,230 taxpayers, and in B.C., 90% is funded by just 2,340 taxpayers all subject to AMT.

When Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) was exploring one of Canada’s largest proposed gold developments, the Windfall project in Quebec, it worked with PearTree Canada to fund more than $400 million in FTS financings.

Osisko has exclusively used flow-through financing over the past eight years to raise nondilutive capital for drilling and other exploration work on Windfall’s discovery and delineation, CEO John Burzynski says. The more than 300 jobs created so far is slated to double. “We have had to deal with very mixed markets for financing during that time and

the steady availability of flow-through was critical to us,” Burzynski said. “The job creation and tax contributions which will flow from this project over its mine life make Windfall an example of the true benefits of flow-through.”

Windfall, now being developed under a joint venture with Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI; JSE: GFI), is projected to produce 306,000 oz. of gold annually over an initial 10-year mine life, according to a 2022 feasibility study. One of Quebec’s largest ever high-grade underground deposits, Windfall is expected to be a top-tier producer for decades.

Flow-through and charitable giving

PearTree pioneered the combination of two established tax incentives, FTS and charitable donations. In the structure, generous Canadians subscribe for FTS accessing the FTS tax incentive followed by the immediate donation and sale of the shares by the charities to global investors at a discount to market once stripped of tax value. It’s common to see an FTS issued at a 35% premium to market then donated and sold at a 15% discount to market. Issuers and their investors suffer less dilution and charity buyers enjoy a discount to market. This approach, known as ‘charity flow-through,’ accounts for more than 80% of all FTS capital raised.

The new AMT rules target both FTS and charitable giving. In the case of donations, whether by shares or cash, the new AMT rules limit the charity tax credit to 50% of the gift amount. The combination of the AMT limitations in both sectors results in the tsunami negative impact on the resource sector.

PearTree clients participate

in charitable flow-through by purchasing FTS for the purpose of donating those shares to charity.

“A higher AMT means that an individual can purchase less FTS. Individuals purchase up to their AMT levels; we know this because our team does hundreds of AMT calculations for clients every year,” Bernbaum said. For subscriptions in FTS funding critical minerals, the negative tax consequences are worse since the critical mineral tax credit is 30% in comparison to 15% available for non-critical minerals.

“The proposed changes will take the wind out of the CMETC’s sails,” Bernbaum says.

The federal Finance Department told The Northern Miner by email it held public consultations on these reforms this summer and is currently reviewing feedback from Canadians and stakeholders.

“Canadians expect the government to make sure that the wealthiest among us pay their fair share of tax,” a department official said. “That is why last year’s budget proposed to modernize and strengthen the AMT, which has not been substantially updated since it was first introduced over thirty years ago.” The proposed changes would not affect the treatment of the mineral exploration tax credit and the CMETC, the official said. Since the April 2023 budget, PearTree has provided lengthy written verifiable submissions to the contrary, offering to provide even more detailed disclosure. To date no government official has responded to the submissions.

AMT’s effect on charities

In the same way that an increased AMT will reduce the ability of donors and investors to purchase FTS, it will reduce the ability of donors to donate. The proposed AMT rules will disallow donors using the full value of their tax credits when calculating their tax liability.

Charitable FTS financing is a commonly used strategy for donating major gifts. It is widely

known in the charitable community that 90% of money donated comes from 10% of donors.

The largest transformational gifts are made when there is a major one-time economic event such as the sale of a business, a property or a C-suite retirement; AMT is an additional tax that simply will cut the amount of donations, PearTree says. In these circumstances, AMT is not a timing issue, as the federal government has promoted, rather it is an absolute additional tax which invariably will result in a material reduction in donations to public charities, the largest segment being health care.

“As philanthropy allows for the distribution of wealth within society, it is the charities and those served by charities that will suffer most,” Bernbaum says. “When charities, such as hospitals, lose out on major gifts because of AMT, will government be there to close the gap? Or will vulnerable Canadians be left without?”

PearTree’s recommendations

Through numerous public consultations and independent advocacy, PearTree has recommended tax credits on donations be removed from the AMT calculation, that the 0% inclusion rate for capital gains on donations of publicly listed securities be retained, and that the capital gains calculation under AMT be based on the subscription price rather than nil as it is under the regular tax calculation.

With the budget slated to be released on Mar. 19, the industry anxiously awaits certainty. Ottawa needs to re-think its approach to AMT if it wants to honour its commitments and meet its ambitious climate goals, PearTree says.

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by PearTree and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: www.peartreecanada.com for more information.

Above: Osisko Mining’s Windfall gold project in Quebec. Left: Mineralization in Windfall ore. OSISKO MINING

Perseus confident of winning ok for OreCorp takeover

TANZANIA | SilverCorp also eyeing Nyanzaga project

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Perseus Mining (TSX: PRU; ASX: PRU) is far from giving up on its intended acquisition of OreCorp (ASX: ORR), saying on Feb. 12 it was con dent of receiving unconditional approval from the Tanzanian Fair Competition Commission (FCC) for its o -market takeover bid of the African gold developer.

In a rst supplementary bidder’s statement issued that day, Perseus said that the FCC had issued it with a notice of complete nding. is con rms the FCC’s acceptance of Perseus’ merger clearance request and paves the way for the watchdog to issue a resolution, expected before the end of the month.

As Perseus doesn’t currently own any operations in Tanzania, it doesn’t expect any competition concerns or issues with its merger clearance request.

Perseus’s move complicates OreCorp’s scrip-and-cash deal with SilverCorp (TSX: SVM) as its bid represents a 4% premium.

OreCorp’s independent expert report prepared by BDO earlier this month put a A53.4¢ value on Silvercorp’s o er, compared to Perseus’ A55¢ all-cash bid that equates to a A$258-million price tag. Perseus on Feb. 12 called into question the basis for BDO’s recommendation of SilverCorp’s proposal.

Both suitors have their eyes set

Nyanzaga would produce 242,000 oz. of gold per year over its first decade.

on OreCorp’s Nyanzaga project, which would cost US$474 million to build and it is set to produce 242,000 oz. of gold per year over its rst decade.

China’s Zhaojin extends offer period for Tietto again

M&A | Africa-focused miner rejects bid

BY JACKSON CHEN

Zhaojin Mining again in February extended the o er period in its bid for Australia’s Tietto Minerals (ASX: TIE), a West Africa-focused gold producer.

Zhaojin is currently Tietto’s second-biggest shareholder with a 7% equity stake.

On Oct. 30, the Chinese gold miner, via its subsidiary Zhaojin Capital, lodged a bid of A58¢ per share for Tietto shares it does not already own. e o er represented a 36.5% premium at the time.

e project, which could reach annual output of 295,000 gold oz., is about 30 km northeast of Barrick Gold ’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) Bulyanhulu mine. It is also 60 km east of AngloGold Ashanti ’s (NYSE: AU) Geita gold mine.

Nyanzaga has an a er-tax net present value of US$618 million at a 5% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 25% based on a US$1,750 per oz. gold price, according to an August 2022 feasibility study.

e government of Tanzania holds a 16% non-dilutable free carried interest in the project. TNM

Omai Gold Mines boosts resources in Guyana

BY JACKSON CHEN

Omai Gold Mines’ (TSXV: OMG; US-OTC: OMGGF) has boosted indicated resources update for its agship property in Guyana by 2 million contained ounces ahead of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) due out in the rst quarter. Together, the Wenot and Gilt Creek deposits host a total of 28.7 million indicated tonnes grading 2.15 grams gold per tonne for 2 million ounces. Another 31.3 million tonnes grading 2.26 grams gold total 2.3 million contained oz. in the inferred category.

Indicated ounces grew by 4% compared to the last estimate in October 2022, while inferred

ounces grew by 28%. e resource pushes contained ounces higher than the total amount of gold produced from the former mine.

e Omai mine produced about 3.8 million oz. at an average gold grade of 1.5 grams gold per tonne between 1993 and 2005, when the gold price was less than US$400 per oz., Omai Gold Mines CEO Elaine Ellingham said in a release. She also noted an increase in gold grades compared to the previous resource estimate. Indicated resources at Wenot increased by 10% to 834,000 oz., while its inferred resource grew 45% to 1.6 million oz., owing to increased gold grades in both categories. Following the 2023 drilling, about 39% of the Wenot resource

is now west of the historical pit, an area considered well suited to initial mining, Omai said.

Meanwhile the Gilt Creek deposit has 1.2 million oz. of gold in the indicated category and 665,000 oz. of gold inferred. e deposit is located 500 metres north of Wenot and below the past-producing Fennel pit. is year’s resource, according to the Canadian gold junior, will form the basis of the project’s preliminary economic assessment (PEA), expected to be released in the rst quarter.

Omai shares gained 7.1% on Feb. 8 following the resource update. At press time they traded 6¢ apiece, valuing the company at $26.4 million. e stock traded between 3.5¢ and 8¢ over the past 52 weeks. TNM

However, Tietto, which just began production at the Abujar gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire in January last year, recommended its shareholders reject the bid, stating that it “materially undervalued” the company and its project.

Tietto also said the o er had

been “opportunistically timed” by Zhaojin as it came a er an improvement in its agship mine.

In a November exchange ling, Tietto said that independent expert Grant ornton assessed the fair value of its shares to be in the range of A79¢-A93¢, valuing the company at up to A$1.1 billion. Zhaojin’s o er was valued at roughly A$629 million.

Tietto shares traded at A61¢ apiece at press time.

Zhaojin said it believes its bid o ers fair value and that it has already received approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board for the deal. As such, the company has repeatedly extended the o er period for shareholders to accept the o er.

With the latest extension, the o er is now valid until 7 p.m. Sydney time on March 8, unless extended or withdrawn, Zhaojin stated on Feb. 1. TNM

Thesis Gold drills high-grade at Ranch

B.C. | Initial resource expected in Q2

BY MARILYN SCALES

Thesis Gold (TSXV: TAU; US-OTC: THSGF) released high-grade drill results from its Ranch gold project in British Columbia in February that will be incorporated into an initial resource for the project, adjacent to the junior’s past producing Lawyers project.

Drilling at the esis II zone tested deep mineralization that was rst identi ed at the end of the 2022 drilling campaign, with one hole returning 60 metres of 4.53 grams gold per tonne, starting at 84 metres depth. e interval included a 19-metre sub-section grading 10.39 grams gold.

Drilling at esis III also returned strong, near-surface mineralization, including 24.3 metres of 2.93 grams gold from 32 metres (hole 23TH3DD013 intersected). Hole 23TH3DD017 cut 39.9 metres of 2.39 grams gold beginning at just 4 metres.

“Our targeted strategy for the 2023 program focused on furthering our understanding of the high-grade, near-surface potential at Ranch as we progress towards a maiden resource estimate,” said esis president and CEO Ewan Webster. “We view this as a stepping stone in our ongoing e orts to extend the mineralization at Ranch. Today’s notable step-out headline hole of 60 metres at 4.53 g/t gold strongly suggests that there is still much to be discovered.”

e upcoming resource, slated for the second quarter, will feed into an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Lawyers. e company’s 2022 PEA focused only on Lawyers, which holds 3.1 million measured and indicated gold-equivalent oz., and 415,000 inferred gold-equivalent ounces.

“Today’s notable step-out headline hole of 60 metres at 4.53 g/t gold strongly suggests that there is still much to be discovered.”

EWAN WEBSTER, THESIS GOLD PRESIDENT AND CEO

Ranch and the adjacent pastproducing Lawyers gold mine cover a 325-sq.-km package in north-central B.C.’s historic Toodoggone mining district. Lawyers produced 173,678 oz. of gold and 3.6 million oz. of silver from 1989 until 1992. esis shares traded at 40¢ apiece at press time, valuing the company at $70.4 million. ey’ve traded in a 52-week range of 38¢ to $1.30. TNM

Drilling at OreCorp’s Nyanzaga project in Tanzania. ORECORP

Thesis Gold’s Ranch project in B.C. THESIS GOLD

Omai Gold Mines’ Omai project in Guyana. OMAI GOLD MINES

PRECIOUS METALS SNAPSHOT:

Eight

companies in pursuit of gold and silver

BY SARAH HAHN

Gold and silver have played an important economic and social role in human civilization for thousands of years.

Coveted for their rarity and high value, gold and silver are also viewed as a safe investment during times of economic uncertainty and geopolitical tension. Here are eight companies searching for these precious metals across the globe.

n Dolly Varden Silver

Dolly Varden Silver (TSXV: DV; US-OTC: DOLLF) is focused on advancing its Kitsault Valley silver-gold project located in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle. e 163-sq.-km project hosts seven deposits, all within 10 km of each other, including the past-producing Dolly Varden and Torbrit silver mines.

e junior acquired the Homestake Ridge resource from Fury Gold Mines (TSX: FURY; NYSE: FURY) and combined it with its Dolly Varden resource to create Kitsault Valley in 2022.

Dolly Varden hosts 3.4 million indicated tonnes grading 299.8 grams silver per tonne (32.9 million oz.), and the resource totals 1.3 million inferred tonnes grading 277 grams silver (11.4 million oz.) Homestake Ridge hosts 736,000 indicated tonnes grading 7.02 grams gold and 74.8 grams silver, plus 5.6 million tonnes at 4.58 grams gold and 100 grams silver.

In February, Dolly Varden discovered a new, gold-rich zone northwest of its Homestake Silver deposit, in between it and the Homestake Main deposit at the Homestake project.

Highlights of step-out drilling included 12.5 metres of 79.49 grams gold and 60 grams silver per tonne in hole HR23-389. e interval included a 0.7-metre section grading 1,335 grams gold and 781 gram silver. Hole 399 cut 57.7 metres grading 2.68 grams gold and 20 grams silver, including 1 metre of 43.1 grams gold and 66 grams silver and 1.7 metres of 40.33 grams gold and 418 grams silver.

Other results released in January, from the 2023 drill program at Homestake Silver included hole HR23-419, which cut 79.2 metres grading 2.57 grams gold per tonne and 102 grams silver from 306.4 metres. Included were sub-intervals of 9.2 metres grading 9.53 grams gold and 718 grams silver, and 1.1 metres at 36.7 grams gold and 4,533 grams silver.

e company completed a 23hole, 12,150-metre program at the deposit last year.

Drilling identi ed notable grades over wide, continuous intervals

that may be suitable for bulk underground mining methods, said CEO Shawn Khunkhun in a release.

In November, Dolly Varden closed a $10-million investment from Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL), increasing the silver miner’s stake in the company to 15.7% from 10.6%.

Dolly Varden Silver has a market cap of $181.1 million.

n Golden Shield

Resources

Vancouver-based Golden Shield Resources (CSE: GSRI; US-OTC: GSRFF) has started a 3,000-metre diamond drill program at its ag-

ship Marudi Mountain project in Guyana.

Work at the Pancake Creek target will focus on expanding the depth and extent of near-surface high-grade gold that was discovered at the bottom of hole PC-23-RC108 and in hole PC-23-RC109 during the company’s 2023 reverse-circulation (RC) drilling program. Together, they represent the longest continuous gold mineralized intercept from this campaign.

Reported in January, hole PC23-RC109 cut 20 metres grading 1.45 grams gold from 10 metres, including 6 metres of 2.37 grams gold.

Drilling at Mazoa Hill got o to a

slow start with Golden Shield halting its rst diamond-drill drill hole at 417 metres depth a er it veered too far eastward.

Previous results from Mazoa Hill include 50 metres grading 9.1 grams gold in hole MH-21-04 and 9.8 metres grading 11.9 grams gold in hole MH-21-03.

Golden Shield is planning a new hole to test the vertical depth at Mazoa Hill once the work at Pancake Creek is complete.

e company’s other projects include Arakaka and Fish Creek, both located about 170 km northwest of Guyana’s capital, Georgetown.

Golden Shield has a market cap of $8.3 million.

n Great Pacific Gold

Vancouver-based Great Paci c Gold (TSX: GPAC; US-OTC: FSXLF) holds a total land package in Australia and Papua New Guinea totalling 3,100 sq. km.

In December, Great Paci c announced a high-grade gold discovery at the Comet prospect, part of its wholly-owned Lauriston project in Victoria. RC drilling returned 5 metres of 166.3 grams gold per tonne starting from 95 metres, including 2 metres grading 413 grams gold. e project is located south of Agnico Eagle Mines’ Fosterville mine.

Assay results reported the following month for the alteration halo surrounding this mineralized zone extended the intercept to 8 metres grading 106 grams gold.

e company has so far drilled

15 RC holes totalling 1,434 metres at Comet, which has a strike length of about 1 km.

Great Paci c will also begin work at its Kesar Creek project in PNG, a er received an exploration permit last November. e licence covers the entire project and will be in e ect until Oct. 30, 2025. Exploration work will comprise geochemical sampling to establish target areas for an upcoming drill program.

In September, Great Paci c reported the acquisition of Wild Dog Resources from which it inherited Kesar Creek, Arau and Wild Dog. e company’s Australian portfolio also includes Providence Gold, and the Walhalla Belt, Golden Mountain, and Beechworth projects. Great Paci c Gold has a market cap of $61.4 million.

n Labrador Gold

Toronto-headquartered Labrador Gold (TSXV: LAB; US-OTC: NKOSF) is focused on advancing its agship Kingsway project located 16 km northwest of Gander, N.L.

In January, Labrador reported results from its fullyfunded, 100,000metre diamond drill program targeting the Appleton Fault Zone.

Hole K-23-334 was the rst one drilled at the HM occurrence and cut 55.9 metres grading 0.87 gram gold per tonne from 8.7 metres, including 3.2 metres of 11.56 grams gold.

“ is new occurrence… contin-

Above: Dolly Varden Silver CEO Shawn Khunkhun. DOLLY VARDEN SILVER

Left: Underground at Wallbridge Mining’s Fenelon project in Quebec.

WALLBRIDGE MINING

ues to demonstrate the signi cant prospectivity of the area around the Appleton Fault Zone at Kingsway,” president and CEO Roger Moss said in a release.

Over the past two years, Labrador has identi ed seven gold occurrences, including Knobby, discovered in August 2023, and Big Vein, which returned grades of 44.08 grams gold over 4.3 metres and 6.08 grams gold over 19 metres.

“With a total strike length of approximately 12 km across the property, we are optimistic that more occurrences will be uncovered going forward,” Moss added.

Kingsway is accessible by road and comprises 264 claims across 77 sq. km.

e company’s other projects include Hopedale, which covers the Florence Lake greenstone belt near the community of Hopedale in Labrador, and the Borden Lake extension located 16 km east of Chapleau, Ont.

Labrador Gold has a market cap of $23 million.

n Minera Alamos

Minera Alamos (TSXV: MAI; USOTC: MAIFF) is a gold developer and producer with three main assets in Mexico.

In October, the company announced an initial NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate for its Santana mine located in Sonora state. It hosts 9.6 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.65 gram gold per tonne for 198,000 oz. gold. Inferred resources total 5.5 million tonnes grading 0.58 gram gold for 103,000 ounces.

e company poured its rst gold at the open-pit mine in October 2021, a er making a production decision based on historical resources. rough Sept. 30, 2023, it has recovered 14,720 oz. gold. Revenue from gold sold during the rst nine months of 2023 totalled $11.6 million.

Exploration at Santana is ongoing at the Benjamin target and drill results are pending.

In the northern region of Zacatecas state, Minera Alamos is advancing its Cerro de Oro project. e company said in October that it expects to begin mine construction this year, thanks to $25-million in nancing from Auramet International, one of the world’s largest precious metals merchants. e deal consists of a $15-million loan facility over three years and $10 million in royalties.

Minera Alamos is planning additional drilling work at Cerro de Oro to further de ne the known gold resources and zones for expansion.

e company also has federal permits in hand for its whollyowned La Fortuna project in Durango state. A July 2018 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project outlined a ve-year mine life with average annual production of 43,000 oz. of gold, 220,000 oz. of silver, and 1,000 tonnes of copper. e post-tax net present value (using a 7.5% discount) was estimated at US$69.8 million and the internal rate of return at 93%.

e payback period is pegged at 11 months (a er tax).

Minera Alamos has a market cap of $132.3 million.

n Reunion Gold

Based out of Longueuil, Que., Reunion Gold (TSXV: RGD; USOTC: RGDFF) is exploring and developing its 100%-owned Oko West project in Guyana.

e project in northwest Guy-

of 1,000 metres. It will also look into the potential for a combined open pit and underground mining operation.

ana contains 41.8 million indicated tonnes grading 1.84 grams gold per tonne for 2.5 million oz., according to a June 2023 initial pit-constrained resource. Inferred resources add another 27.1 million tonnes grading 2.02 grams gold for 1.8 million ounces.

Results from Reunion’s current deep drill expansion program indicate that a high-grade zone inside Block 4 continues to a depth of at least 1,000 metres and is open below, said president and CEO Rick Howes in a December news release.

Highlights of the most recent batch of drilling, released in February, included 50.1 metres of 4.1 grams gold from 1,039.8 metres (using a 0.3 gram gold per tonne cuto ), including 14.3 metres of 8.84 grams gold, and 10.5 metres of 6.09 grams gold (using a 1.5 gram gold cuto ) in hole D-360A-W2. Hole D-359-W1 and 83.5 metres of 3.06 grams gold from 721.5 metres, including 24.4 metres of 7.8 grams gold. A PEA is scheduled for this year’s second quarter, and will include an updated pit-constrained resource in the area above 500 metres and an initial resource estimate for the area below, down to a depth

With $82 million in cash as of Sept. 30, Reunion says permitting is progressing as planned. e company expects it could begin construction at Oko West in 2025 and production in 2027.

Reunion Gold has a market cap of $398 million.

n Seabridge Gold

Seabridge Gold (TSX: SEA; NYSE: SA) is advancing its 100%-owned KSM and Iskut projects in northwestern British Columbia’s Golden Triangle.

In February, the company reported an updated resource estimate for two deposits at KSM. e Kerr deposit hosts open pit and block cave resources of 384.2 million tonnes grading 0.22 gram gold per tonne, 0.41% copper, 1.2 grams silver, and 5 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum in the indicated category. Inferred resources add 2.6 billion tonnes grading 0.27 gram gold, 0.35% copper, 1.7 grams silver, and 21 ppm molybdenum.

Iron Cap hosts block cave indicated resources of 471 million tonnes grading 0.38 gram gold, 0.21% copper, 4.3 grams silver, and 39 ppm molybdenum. Inferred resources add 2.3 billion tonnes grading 0.41 gram gold, 0.27% copper, 2.5 grams silver, and 31 ppm molybdenum.

According to Seabridge, the KSM project has the third largest

undeveloped copper resource in the world as well as the largest gold resource. Since 2021, $444 million has been spent on early construction work, including building roads and hydroelectric power infrastructure.

In December, Seabridge reported it found a new copper-gold porphyry mineral target at Iskut’s Snip North target during the 2023 drill program.

It also reported promising results from drill at the Bronson Slope copper-gold deposit at Iskut. e campaign, which was designed to test the deposit’s expansion potential and test at depth for its source, con rmed broad zones of

sericite-pyrite-carbonate alteration associated with continuous lowgrade gold.

Following these results, Seabridge is planning an intensive deeper drill program this year as it searches for the source porphyry of an unusually large breccia zone discovered in 2022 that could expand the Bronson Slope resource.

Ranked among the world’s top 10 companies in gold reserves, Seabridge’s portfolio also includes the Courageous Lake project in the Northwest Territories, 3 Aces in the Yukon, and Snowstorm in Nevada’s Getchell gold belt.

Seabridge Gold has a market cap of $1.2 billion.

Top: Golden Shield geologist Axel Blakeney at Mazoa Hill GOLDEN SHIELD

Above: Quartz block at Great Pacific Gold’s Wild Dog in Papua New Guinea. GREAT PACIFIC GOLD

Right: Drilling at Great Pacific’s Beechworth project in Australia GREAT PACIFIC GOLD

> Snapshot from P47

n Wallbridge Mining

Quebec-focused explorer Wallbridge Mining (TSX: WM; USOTC: WLBMF) is looking for gold along the Detour-Fenelon gold trend in the province’s Abitibi greenstone belt.

A fully funded 2024 exploration program is underway and will comprise 23,000 metres of drilling on its 830-sq.-km land package — 5,000 metres at its agship Fenelon project located 75 km west-northwest of the town of Matagami and 13,000 metres at Martiniere, located 150 km north of Amos. Another 5,000 metres will be dedicated to regional grassroots exploration.

Wallbridge’s main goal is to advance and de-risk Martiniere and test targets within or near Fenelon with a focus on near-surface min-

eralization that could improve the project’s economics, VP of exploration Attila Péntek said in a news release. e Fenelon and Martiniere projects host a combined 30.7 million indicated tonnes grading 3.09 grams gold per tonne for 3.1 million oz. Inferred resources add 24.7 million tonnes grading 2.96 grams gold for 2.4 million ounces. A PEA for Fenelon released last

June outlined annual gold output of 212,000 oz. over a 12.3-year mine life. Interim president and CEO Brian Penny described the positive assessment as “only the beginning of the story” in a release.

e Lively, Ont.-based company is working toward a combined PEA of the two projects to take place in early 2026.

Wallbridge’s portfolio consists of eight other projects in the early to advanced exploration stages, including Grasset, where drilling cut gold in 60% of drill holes during the inaugural program in 2023.

Wallbridge Mining has a market cap of $81.3 million. TNM

Above: Trenching at Reunion Gold’s Aremu North in Guyana. REUNION GOLD

Left: Minera Alamos’s Santana mine in Mexico. MINERA ALAMOS

Nisga’a Nation president Eva Clayton visits Seabridge Gold’s projects in B.C. SEABRIDGE GOLD

Billion-dollar Canada Nickel plants would boost Ontario processing for EV supplies

would

BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

Canada Nickel (TSXV: CNC; US-OTC: CNIKF) says it plans to build two metal processing plants that could cost more than US$1 billion to serve the world’s largest nickel sulphide project it’s developing in northern Ontario.

Studies due this year will have more de nitive cost estimates covering the three-stage development of the plants to process nickel and to produce stainless steel and alloys, Canada Nickel CEO Mark Selby said by phone in Toronto on Feb. 8. e company, backed by almost $50 million in investments from Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) and Anglo American (LSE: AAL), is now choosing sites near Timmins.

Investments in new plants would substantially boost local infrastructure in a historical nickel mining area that has seen few upgrades in decades. e nickel processing plant, planned for a 2027 start-up along with the giant Crawford project nearby, would be the largest in North America while the stainless steel factory would be Canada’s biggest, the company said.

“It’s an opportunity to capture a signi cant amount of additional value over and above just producing the concentrates at Crawford,” Selby told e Northern Miner. “Most critically, it provides the missing link in the whole mine-to-electric-vehicle strategy.”

Canada Nickel intends the plants to be carbon-neutral to address growing demand for environmentally friendly production. How the plants demonstrate zero-carbon nickel production could transform

the industry, U.S.-based investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald said in a note.

“ e development plan announced today is ambitious in scope and scale with an aggressive timeline,” mining analyst Mark O’Keefe said. It should show “potential development partners and stakeholders the greater economic potential that can come from the Crawford nickel project.”

“IT’S AN OPPORTUNITY TO CAPTURE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF ADDITIONAL VALUE OVER AND ABOVE JUST PRODUCING THE CONCENTRATES AT CRAWFORD. MOST CRITICALLY, IT PROVIDES THE MISSING LINK IN THE WHOLE MINE-TO-ELECTRIC-VEHICLE STRATEGY.”

MARK SELBY, CANADA NICKEL CEO

Engineering rms to complete the design of both plants are to be named shortly, Canada Nickel said. Feasibility studies are underway and expected to be completed by year-end.

US$3.5B mine

e Crawford project holds 2.5 billion tonnes grading 0.24% nickel for 13.3 billion lb. of contained nickel, according to a feasibility study issued in October. e project’s a er-tax net present value is US$2.6 billion at an 8% discount rate, with an internal rate of return of 18.3%. A two-stage construction concept is estimated to cost US$3.5 billion.

Agnico Eagle, Canada’s largest gold producer, invested $23.1 million for a 12% stake in the nickel

developer and its giant Crawford project in January. Days later, South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI spent US$18.5 million to acquire 8.7% and rights to potential o ake agreements.

Anglo American last year invested $24 million for a 9.9% stake.

“We need a bunch of nickel mines to meet the doubling or tripling of new demand in North America from where we are now over the next decade,” Selby said. “And we also need new processing capacity commensurate with that growth in mine supply if we want to have a completely local North American supply chain for the battery sector.”

Ontario Mines Minister George Pirie also championed the proposed plants to develop local bat-

tery metals and to use carbon capture technology. Canada Nickel even named the subsidiary developing the plants NetZero.

“Timmins is poised to become a hub for the clean nickel we need to build the supply chain for electric vehicles,” Pirie, a former mayor of the city and head of Placer Dome Canada before Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) bought it in 2006, said in a news release. “We have what the world needs right in our backyard to fuel the electric vehicle revolution.”

2027 start

e nickel processing plant is expected to reach annual capacity of more than 80,000 tonnes of nickel with feed from other companies in early 2027 before Crawford starts production, Canada Nickel said.

e stainless-steel and alloy plant will process nickel-chromium magnetite concentrate from Crawford and other feeds into more than 1 million tonnes of alloy products a year, including more than 500,000 tonnes of 304-grade stainless-steel. Its startup would align with Crawford in late 2027, the company said.

No government funding was stated for the processing plants, but Ontario and Ottawa have earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars for just such critical mineral funding. Greg Rickford, Minister of Northern Development and Minister of Indigenous A airs, says the federal government would be supporting local communities. Chief Bruce Archibald of Taykwa Tagamou Nation also welcomed the plan.

“Our partnership has been based on mutual respect and ensuring our treaty was honoured with a true seat at the decision-making table,” Archibald said. “We’ll proudly continue to partner with them.” TNM

Above: Site of the Crawford project.

Right: Canada Nickel’s Crawford is located north of Timmins, Ont.

CANADA NICKEL

Lithium market transition comes with delays, layoffs and M&A: Wood Mackenzie

BATTERY METALS

| Albemarle, Piedmont cut hundreds of jobs

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

The lithium market is being shaken up by a sharp, sustained slump in prices and a demand slowdown, which has disrupted projects and forced miners to cut production and look for cost-cutting measures, including layo s.

While the lightweight metal remains a crucial raw material for batteries, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says the market is transitioning towards maturity and its actors need to adapt to the new conditions.

e analysts note that key elements of this transformation are a slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales and the declining use of lithium within evolving cathode chemistries.

“Global plug-in EV sales are projected to rise by 33% this year, a signi cant drop from the average annual growth rate of 71% observed between 2021 and 2023,” says Allan Pedersen, principal analyst for lithium at Wood Mac. “Lower government incentives and inadequate charging infrastructure are expected to curtail EV sales this year [and] this market shi will have implications for lithium demand.”

A supply glut that pushed down prices in 2023 is here to stay, the consultancy warns, as several new resource and conversion projects are set to start this year.

“ e lithium market is going through tumultuous times,” says Pedersen. “While demand has nearly tripled in the past three years, reaching around one million tonnes in 2023, the growth rate is expected to moderate.

Nevertheless, the industry’s fundamentals remain excellent, driven by the global push to decarbonize.”

Goldman Sachs also recently said it estimated a 200,000tonne surplus of lithium carbonate equivalent, or 17% of global demand, this year. It anticipated the situation to push producers, particularly Australians, to “substantially” reduce output to balance the market.

Delays and cash preservation

As we move into 2024, Wood Mac predicts delays in project development as companies seek to preserve cash.

Single-asset companies cannot halt production without jeopardizing their cash ow, leading them to explore alternatives such as high-grading or reducing spending. In contrast, lithium majors with multiple assets, such as Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), Tianqi and Ganfeng Lithium, can curtail production to restore market balance and maximize long-term asset value, the consultancy says.

Both Albemarle and Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ: PLL; ASX: PLL) made substantial cuts to personnel early this year.

Piedmont in early February said it had laid o 27% of its workforce. e battery metal producer noted it aimed to achieve about $10 million in annual savings. “ ese cost reductions, while di cult, are necessary to position the company for the long-term,” CEO Keith Phillips said in a statement.

Piedmont, which owns 25%

of the North American Lithium (NAL) operation in Quebec with Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA), and a lithium project in Ghana, said it expects to complete most of its cost

saving initiatives by the end of the rst quarter. Completion of the crushed ore storage dome at NAL will enable the facility to reach full production rates, with lower unit

production costs, it said. Albemarle in January was said to have laid o more than 300 employees, or 4% of its total workforce, in January, according to San

Franciso-based technology publication e Information e U.S.-based lithium giant said in January it was mulling how to maintain growth, cut costs and optimize cash ow amid market headwinds.

At the time, it predicted layo s and said it would defer spending on projects, including a massive re nery in South Carolina.

According to the January news report, Albemarle’s job cuts a ected its legal, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, materials sciences, research and development and recycling teams.

Analysts at BMI Research, a unit of Fitch Solutions, said the miner’s decision was not surprising, as the majority of its investment focus is on major lithium expansions through conversion assets, which leaves it vulnerable to disruptions in the market.

Dominant revenue stream

BMI expects prices to continue to be weighed down by poor supply-demand dynamics in the near term period, which have the potential to dent Albemarle’s pro t margins.

“ e company has the ability to further reduce capital expenditure to maintain liquidity,” BMI analysts said in a note. “Its strong nancial position enables it to explore M&As and joint-venture formation in the longer term as one of its disciplined investment approaches to growth.”

BMI noted that accelerated EV production through 2030 and elevated lithium prices will support Albemarle’s revenue in the longer term.

Mergers and acquisitions, Wood Mac concludes, are likely to increase this year as lithium majors look for growth opportunities and top mining companies consider entering the market. TNM

Left: Sayona Mining and Piedmont’s NAL mine in Quebec. PIEDMONT LITHIUM

Below: Albemarle’s Salar de Atacama project in Chile. ALBEMARLE

Canada’s ambitious EV targets can’t be met without more support for mine supply

COMMENTARY | Production challenges call for innovative solutions

BY CHANTELLE SCHIEVEN

The Canadian government continues to forge ahead with new regulations for curbing and eventually ending sales of gas-powered vehicles. Canada’s Electric Vehicle Availability Standard published in mid-December calls for 100% zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV) by 2035. .

Under the new Electric Vehicle Availability Standard, auto manufacturers and importers must meet annual ZEV regulated sales targets. e targets begin for the 2026 model year, with a requirement that at least 20% of new light-duty vehicles o ered for sale in that year be ZEVs. e requirements increase annually to 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. is is only one part of the government’s ambitious 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan put in place in 2022. e plan targets emissions reductions of 40% below 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

ese ambitious goals are similar to other countries. e United States aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. e European Union targets reducing emissions by at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. Even China has set the goal to increase renewable energy as the primary source of energy consumption from current levels of around 15% to 25% by 2030 — and pledged to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

ese goals are admirable, but the reality is that meeting them will require more critical minerals than are currently in the production pipeline.

To meet international EV adoption targets, the world will need 50 new lithium mines, 60 new nickel mines and 17 new cobalt mines by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Cathode materials, anode materials and battery cells will also require additional raw material, adding up to about 388 new mines, it says. is gap in production for energy transition metals provides an opportunity for Canada. As of 2021, there were only 70 metal mines in Canada, this compares to 270 metal mines operating across the U.S. Investments in clean energy need to grow from $1.3 trillion today, to over $4 trillion by 2030 to meet governments’ goals, according to the IEA.

Spurring new development

To help support their decarbonization plans, governments around the world have introduced more than 100 new initiatives over the last few years, ranging from trade and investment policies to restrictions on imports, exports and international ownership of resources.

Some initiatives aim to help spur investment into natural resources domestically (and with countries deemed ‘friendly.’) Some policies giving the state more control over and revenue from resources have been quickly rolled out, shi ing the playing eld for investors. Recent examples include Mexico nationalizing its lithium industry in 2022, and Chile raising copper mining royalties while increasing the role of state-owned miner Codelco. Other countries are also reviewing

More to be done

However, to meet energy transition goals, more is needed. Ottawa could improve the chances of developing successful domestic supplies by making all steps of mine study, metallurgy, and materials testing in battery and vehicles eligible for owthrough tax credits until 2030. is should include any end customer testing by global OEMs or their battery manufacturers. Having a more de ned and expanded ow-through tax credit system would increase markets’ willingness to ll the funding gap.

tainty that exploration stage projects will be economically viable.

their mining policies and encouraging investment in the industry through tax and other incentives. e changing geopolitical environment has further complicated government goals. e supply chain issues during COVID-19, and the shi towards domestic production and ‘friend-shoring’ have seen governments favour domestic supplies of critical minerals and securing minerals from allied countries. All while many years of under-investment in mining infrastructure and processing facilities in Western nations presents big hurdles to self-su ciency.

Production woes

Geopolitics, namely tensions between the U.S. and China and the West and Russia, have introduced new supply risks as global trade splinters. But even friendly nations could present supply risks caused by changing political landscapes, social unrest, or civil wars. For example, unrest in Mexico, Peru and Chile has led to strikes and temporary mine closures. While geopolitical risks are top of mind, the main supply constraint for critical minerals remains the need for increased mine production along with new infrastructure to re ne the minerals, a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA) found last year (Geopolitics of the Energy Transition: Critical Metals).

To compound the problem, the recent decline in battery metal prices is further delaying mining projects due to a lack of capital.

Lithium prices have plummeted

“Investor interest in mining is currently very low, partly because of the long time horizon and the uncertainty that exploration stage projects will be economically viable.”

more than 80%, while other battery metal inputs, such as cobalt, nickel, and graphite are down more than 30%. If prices don’t recover, it will deepen shortages of materials in the coming years, putting the brakes on governments’ ambitious agendas to decarbonize their economies.

In addition, Analysis from S&P Global Market Intelligence (June 2023) reports that the global average lead times for mine development from discovery to production is 15.7 years, and in Canada this timeline is about nearly 26 months longer.

Investor interest in mining is currently very low, partly because of the long-time horizon and the uncer-

Mine developers in Canada have formidable barriers to overcome. One key problem is that funding for mine innovation per project, at a reasonable dollar amount, with a fair cost of capital, is limited. Lack of infrastructure in remote regions of Canada can also create extra barriers and increase the capital costs for mine developers. e Canadian government addressed the diculties mining companies face in its 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy pledging that it would partner with the private sector to nance new projects, support building infrastructure needed to develop priority deposits, streamline permitting and regulatory processes and strengthen Indigenous engagement to boost mine supply. e federal government currently o ers incentives to mining companies mostly in the form of tax credits. Some of those include capital cost allowances; exploration expense claims, which are 100% deductible in the year they occur; and the ability to carry forward unused balances or transfer them to investors as ow-through shares. (Flow-through shares allow a mineral exploration company to “ ow through” certain expenses to a shareholder; the expenses can then reduce the investor’s taxable income.) Other incentives include the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit and the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit.

Mining companies can also get federal government support through the Clean Growth Hub, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, and access joint funding and research opportunities through CanmetMining.

To date, government incentives outlined in e Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy appear to help manufacturers (i.e. funding for processing plants and auto manufacturers) more than miners. is could be in part because processing plants and auto manufactures are usually larger companies and entering into contracts with them is easier for government. ese facilities are also higher visibility, can o en be built faster and provide jobs in more populated areas.

Mining has made immense leaps in technology across recent decades, each step ushered into reality by rigorous third-party engineering and community support. However, critical mining innovation is distinct from precious metals mining innovation, — especially for lithium and graphite — and there are viable projects in critical minerals mining that are facing hurdles that deserve focused support from Ottawa. e plans announced to date are a start but more action is needed on already outlined plans, such as reducing red tape between federal, provincial and local governments, and increasing incentives (and longer time horizons) for investors. ere’s also room to loosen restrictions on incentives for investors, and make access to government funding and loan programs simpler.

In short, the Canadian government should consider re ning and redoubling its plans for industry support of mine project development, especially in the exploration and mine-site design and planning stages to support domestic production of critical minerals to meet the ambitious energy transition goals. TNM

Chantelle Schieven is head of research at Toronto-based Capitalight Research (capitalightresearch.com).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the Stellantis Chrysler plant in January 2023 in Windsor, Ont. ADAM SCOTTI (PMO)

Justin Trudeau makes an announcement at the Volkswagen electric vehicle battery plant in St. Thomas, Ont. in April 2023. ADAM SCOTTI (PMO)

Canada’s Annual ZEV targets

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson speaks at PDAC in Toronto in March 2023.

THE NORTHERN MINER

Patriot Battery Metals aims to fast-track Corvette lithium production

QUEBEC | Company eyes resource update, permitting milestones this year

BY HENRY LAZENBY

Patriot Battery Metals (TSX: PMET; ASX: PMT) has leveraged its management’s experience in Australia — the world’s largest lithium producer — to make lightning-fast progress at its Corvette project in Quebec.

From discovery in 2017 to an initial resource in 2023 that outlined one of the largest lithium pegmatite resources in the Americas, the company’s now eyeing its next milestone: A mine that will feed into North America’s nascent EV supply chain.

“ e scale and the location of the Corvette project imply that it’s going to be a useful project to help underwrite the balance of the supply chain that’s required to support value-added chemicals the energy transition requires,” CEO Ken Brinsden told e Northern Miner in an interview in February.

Brinsden, who shepherded Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) from a junior explorer to a top global lithium raw materials entity, took the reins at Patriot in January. e management shu e saw him transition from non-executive chair to CEO, president and managing director residing in Montreal, while Blair Way, who has steered the team to this point as chief executive since May 2022 took the COO role to provide hands-on management as Corvette moves through the next stages toward development. With more than 100,000 metres of drilling, Patriot reported an initial inferred resource for the CV5 deposit last June of 109 million tonnes at 1.42% lithium oxide for 1.6 million tonnes lithium oxide.

Corvette, the eighth largest lithium pegmatite globally, hosts large spodumene crystals, enhancing processing e ciency and recovery rates, Brinsden said. With $133 million in funds as of the second scal quarter — much of it from leading lithium producer Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), which invested $109 million last year — the company is well- nanced to push forward with exploration, technical studies, and the permitting process.

Quebec has become a hard rock lithium hotspot as companies vie to supply the electric vehicle market. Last year, the federal government approved Galaxy Resources’ (now Arcadium Lithium (ASX: LTM) James Bay open-pit project. Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA) began production at its 75%owned North American Lithium project in Quebec last year. Perth’s Winsome Resources (ASX: WR1) recently identi ed a signi cant lithium resource, making Adina North America’s leading hard-rock lithium project.

e heavy presence of Australians is no coincidence. e established lithium market in Australia, bolstered by Chinese demand, has led to higher equity valuations for Australian lithium companies. Patriot’s Australian listing has given it access to those same investors, which has partly driven its success.

Brinsden and Way, in separate interviews, both anticipate that as North America and Europe develop their lithium supply chains, Canadian projects like Corvette could see similar increases in valuation and investor interest.

“The scale and the location of the Corvette project imply that it’s going to be a useful project to help underwrite the balance of the supply chain that’s required to support value-added chemicals the energy transition requires.”

KEN BRINSDEN, CEO

PATRIOT BATTERY METALS

Aussie hard-rock experience

Brinsden says Quebec’s potential to cater to North America and European markets is comparable to the strategic geographical advantages Western Australian mines enjoy in serving North Asian markets. Way and Brinsden both see the geographical positioning of their project as a key advantage, with Quebec projects like Corvette poised to reduce reliance on distant supplies and potentially shore up Western supply chains.

While the Australian hard-rock lithium mining industry benets from strong ties with China, driving demand, investment, and growth, dependency on China also exposes the supply chain to geopolitical and economic risks. Brinsden says North America’s

current push to diversify relationships and avoid reliance on a single market to develop resilient lithium supply chains is a good call.

In his experience, the Australian government has had a hands-o approach compared with the proactive, supportive stance of Canada and Quebec, and the coordinated approach to industry growth laid out in the federal Critical Minerals Strategy.

Discovery to resource

e discovery of a major spodumene lithium deposit in the Americas stemmed from a previously overlooked early 2000s geological report by Virginia Mining, which, despite focusing on base and precious metals, contained a footnote in French indicating the presence of lithium-rich spodumene.

for drilling, which started as lithium prices began to recover in 2020.

e company rebranded to Patriot Battery Metals in June 2021, and raised money for more extensive drilling before acquiring the project outright. Drilling success throughout 2021 and 2022 attracted strategic investments, notably from Albemarle last year.

e investment, at $15.20 per share implied a valuation on a fully diluted basis of $2.2 billion — a far cry from its market capitalization at press time of $878 million at $6.66 per share.

2024 catalysts

Brinsden says Patriot is committed to a strategy of responsible but rapid development. Brinsden’s expertise is shaping a mining operation that prioritizes extraction and ecological and social integrity.

Seizing this clue, the team used Google Earth to locate and then stake a pegmatite outcrop, now known as CV1.

At that time, part of the property was under the control of Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) due to a series of acquisitions but was not being actively explored for lithium. Patriot Battery Metals (formerly known as 92 Resources and then Gaia Metals) negotiated an option agreement between 2016 and 2017 when the lithium market was starting to heat up.

Despite initial exploration challenges and a temporary lull in lithium prices, the company kept the option deal alive. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when travel restrictions limited Way’s ability to work internationally, he advocated

“We’re not just about mining lithium; we’re laying the groundwork for a cleaner, more sustainable world,” Brinsden said.

“Our discovery at Corvette is not just about unveiling a lithium deposit; it’s about reshaping the future of energy in North America,” Way said.

is year, Patriot aims to deliver an updated resource estimate for CV5 by the third quarter, moving towards a prefeasibility study by year-end and advancing permitting at the project.

It also plans to expand exploration and drilling, with CV13 and additional pegmatite clusters CV8, CV9, CV10, and CV12 getting more attention. e company also intends to demonstrate the exploration potential along the 50-km lithium pegmatite trend at the Corvette property, including assessing unexplored sections and discovering new spodumene clusters. TNM

Above: Patriot Battery Metals’ Corvette property in Quebec.

Right: COO Blair Way at the Corvette site conducting winter prospecting.

Inset: An outcrop of lithium-rich pegmatite at Patriot’s Corvette property. PATRIOT BATTERY METALS

Sigma Lithium’s Grota do Cirilo project in Brazil just got 27% bigger

SOUTH AMERICA | New licence to allow second greentech plant build

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Sigma Lithium (TSXV: SGML; NASDAQ: SGML) said on Jan. 31 its agship Grota do Cirilo project in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais contains more resources than previously thought, which will allow the miner to raise production levels in the future.

Sigma has raised the resource estimates at the lithium project by 27%, which makes it the world’s fourth-largest operating industrial pre-chemical lithium complex, with 109 million tonnes in resources, the company said.

“Over the course of the last year, we managed to fully integrate and operate a state-of-the art Greentech lithium industrial bene ciation plant with our Grota do Cirilo mining operation while validating a sizable 109 million tonnes of mineral resources,” CEO Ana Cabral said in a news release. “Our competitive advantage is now well established, as we have been delivering the most sustainable lithium concentrate in the world, the

‘Quintuple Zero Green Lithium’, while maintaining low production costs.”

Sigma’s processing plant uses dense media separation (DMS) alone. Plants that include otation circuits to increase recoveries need

to use sulphuric acid. e announcement comes at a time of plunging lithium prices and other market changes that are a ecting big and small producers alike.

Prices for the ultralight metal, essential for electric-vehicle (EV) bat-

NextSource nears full production in Madagascar

GRAPHITE

| Miner targets first shipment in June

BY MINING.COM STAFF

NextSource Materials (TSX: NEXT; USOTC: NSRCF) plans to achieve nameplate capacity of 17,000 tonnes of concentrate per year at its Molo graphite mine in Madagascar by July, it said on Feb. 5.

Since announcing rst graphite production last June, the Toronto-based miner has progressed through debottlenecking and optimization activities to achieve the mine’s full capacity.

e date is a bit later than originally planned as NextSource has had to address underperforming equipment in the screening circuit.

It expects to complete the installation of replacement equipment in April, with ramp-up continuing until June.

News about the company’s production comes as graphite takes on increasing geopolitical signi cance, a er China in November announced stricter export controls over the material. e East Asian country is the world’s top graphite producer and exporter and re nes more than 90% of the material used in electric vehicle batteries and other technologies needed in the green energy transition.

NextSource said it now expects its rst commercial shipment and sale of SuperFlake graphite concentrate under o ake agreements starting in June. SuperFlake is the registered trademark for NextSource’s concentrate, which can achieve 98% carbon purity across all ake size distributions with simple otation alone. It can also be upgraded to 99.97% battery grade purity.

e battery materials developer has achieved SuperFlake concentrate of more than 95% and it is being stockpiled at a thirdparty warehouse for shipment as a qualifying material to prospective customers.

NextSource said that once Molo reaches its rst phase’s full capacity, it will work on a potential expansion. is second phase would boost the mine’s output to 150,000 tonnes of SuperFlake per year.

e company said its aim is to become a vertically integrated global supplier of graphite anode material with plans to construct, in stages, multiple battery anode facilities (BAFs) with the capability of producing CSPG at commercial scale in key jurisdictions.

NextSource shares traded at 82¢ apiece at press time, near the bottom of its 52-week range of 70¢ and $2.88. It has a market capitalization of $102.7 million. TNM

teries, have plunged more than 80% from their peak in early 2023. e market has been rocked by shi ing expectations, from fears of scarcity to warnings of persistent excess supply in the next two to three years.

Almost two weeks a er the resource announcement, Sigma said it was awarded an environmental licence to install and operate a second greentech plant. at facility will allow the company to expand its industrial bene ciation and processing capacity for lithium to up to 3.7 million tonnes per year. It will also enable Sigma to increase production of its Quintuple Zero Green lithium from the current 270,000 tonnes per year to about 510,000 tonnes per year.

Sigma last year began a strategic review of its business, which has extended into 2024.

e Vancouver-based miner said in December it had received expressions of interest to acquire the company, its subsidiary Sigma Brazil and the Grota do Cirilo project.

“We are delighted with the overwhelming interest in our business

from some of the most admired companies in the battery materials and electric vehicles industries globally, including automakers and battery manufacturers,” Cabral said at the time.

Expansion potential

Sigma said it believes the increased resources can be seamlessly incorporated into its current open pit reserves, validated by the prefeasibility study.

It means the company could eventually expand its Brazilian project capacity to a planned 104,200 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent. Current annual output capacity is 36,700 tonnes.

Sigma said its focus this year is on a drill campaign to build on the “J-shaped” lithium corridor connecting the existing resources of Grota do Cirilo, located in northern Minas Gerais state.

Shares in the miner traded at $17.61 at press time, giving it a market capitalization of $1.9 billion. Its shares traded in a 52-week window of $16.86 and $57.57. TNM

Syrah ramps up Louisiana anode materials plant

BY BRUNO VENDITTI

Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) began producing active anode material (AAM) at its Vidalia facility in Louisiana in February, making the graphite miner the rst commercial-scale vertically integrated natural graphite AAM supplier outside China, CEO Shaun Verner said on Feb. 9.

Vidalia processes natural graphite from Syrah’s Balama mine in Mozambique.

e company is expected to supply 8,000 tonnes per year of AAM from Vidalia to Tesla under an existing o ake agreement, subject to production ramp-up and nalizing quali cation.

e plant has a nameplate capacity of 11,300 tonnes per year of anode material, but Syrah is considering an expansion to 45,000 tonnes per year.

“Our 11,250 tonne per year AAM Vidalia operation is strategic for both Syrah and the North American battery supply chain and is the foundation of our downstream growth strategy,” Verner said in a release.

“ e importance of Vidalia is reinforced by

China’s recent introduction of export controls on natural and synthetic graphite and its products, and U.S. guidance on the denition of foreign entity of concern governing quali cation for the Section 30D tax credit for new electric vehicles.”

e company said it has produced unpuri ed spherical graphite from the front-end milling area since October 2023, with the aim of building an inventory of precursor value-added material in preparation for the commissioning of the puri cation and furnace areas early this year.

e rst puri ed spherical graphite (PSG) was produced in late January. e heating cycle for the rst furnace line began in early January, and carbonization of Syrah’s rst pitch-coated PSG is now complete.

Syrah has applied to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for an additional loan of US$350 million under DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program to support the expansion.

Syrah shares traded at A52¢ at press time in a 52-week range of 36¢ and A$1.96. e company has a market capitalization of A$358.2 million. TNM

Sigma Lithium’s Grota do Cirilo project is located in Minas Gerais state.

Workers at NextSource’s Molo graphite mine in southern Madagascar. NEXTSOURCE MATERIALS

Syrah’s Vidalia processing plant in eastern Louisiana, near the border with Mississippi. SYRAH RESOURCES

KoBold says Zambia copper find largest in a century

AFRICA | Gates, Bezos-backed company

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

KoBold Metals, backed by a coalition of billionaires including Bill Gates and Je Bezos, said in February that its Mingomba asset in Zambia is the country’s largest copper deposit in a century and that it plans to fast-track its development.

e California-based startup has been drilling at its Zambian permit for a little over a year, during which KoBold president Josh Goldman said they have con rmed the deposit’s “huge” size.

Mingomba is shaping up to be “extraordinary,” he said, adding that the potential of the discovery compares to that of the Kamoa-Kakula mine, owned by Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) and China’s Zijin Mining. is operation, located just across the border in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), produced almost 400,000 tonnes of copper last year.

“ e story with Mingomba is that it’s like Kakula in both the size and the grade,” Goldman told Bloomberg at the Indaba mining conference in South Africa. “It’s going to be one of the highest grade, large underground mines.”

While KoBold uses arti cial intelligence to search for new deposits, Mingomba wasn’t discovered by the company. KoBold bought into the project in 2022, via a joint venture with its existing owners — Australian private equity rm EMR Capital and Zambia’s state-owned mining investment vehicle ZCCM-IH (LSE: ZCC).

KoBold plans to have the US$2-billion underground copper mine in Zambia built within the decade, with rst production in the early 2030s, but needs to update

to fast-track development

the resource estimate and complete feasibility studies before it decides to move forward. Goldman isn’t worried about securing capital. “ e issue globally, is not a lack of availability of capital. It is a lack of availability of high-quality projects and where there are returns, there is capital,” he said. “For a great project, there will be capital.”

If built, Mingomba would align with the vision of Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema to increase the nation’s copper production to 3 million tonnes by 2032 to help the country reduce its debt burden.

From Canada to the world Kobold is not just focused on copper, but all minerals and metals considered critical for the energy transition.

Its quest for battery metals began three years ago in Canada, a er it acquired rights to an area in northern Quebec, just south of Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) Raglan nickel mine, where it detected lithium.

e startup now has about a dozen exploration properties in Canada,

Zambia, Namibia, DRC, and Western Australia, which have resulted from JVs with BHP (ASX: BHP) and BlueJay Mining (LSE: JAY) to explore for minerals in Greenland.

It’s also exploring in South Korea and the United States and, in December, it launched a four-continent search for lithium deposits.

Using arti cial intelligence, Kobold aims to create a “Google Maps” of the Earth’s crust, with a special focus on nding copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium deposits.

It collects and analyzes multiple streams of data — from old drilling results to satellite imagery — to better understand where new deposits might be found.

Algorithms applied to the data collected determine the geological patterns that indicate a potential deposit of cobalt, which occurs naturally alongside nickel and copper.

e technology, KoBold said, can locate resources that may have eluded more traditional geologists and can help miners decide where to acquire land and drill.

Goldman noted the company was considering going public in the next three or four years. TNM

Lifezone Metals rises on new discovery at Kabanga

NICKEL |Explorer backed by BHP

BY JACKSON CHEN

Lifezone Metals (NYSE: LZM) has made a high-grade nickel discovery at its Kabanga project in northwest Tanzania.

e company, 17% owned by BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP), announced the results from last year’s drilling program at the Safari Link area in late January.

Among the highlights was hole KL23-29 that returned 15.1 metres grading 2.24% nickel, 0.24% copper and 0.18% cobalt (2.83% nickel-equivalent). Hole KL23-27 returned 7 metres grading 2.84% nickel, 0.3% copper and 0.22% cobalt, (3.56% nickel-equivalent).

e holes are located 150-300 metres northeast of the existing resources at the Tembo zone.

1-km gap

Last year’s drilling focused on the Safari Link area to test the 1-km gap between high-grade nickel mineralization at the Tembo zone and the 400-metre Safari zone. A total of 11 drill holes were completed, of which seven returned signi cant mineralized intercepts. Safari Link spans the 1.4-km strike length northeast of the Tembo zone, incorporating the Safari zone. Previous drilling in the Tembo North and Safari zones showed the high potential for a continuation of mineralization along this trend, the company said.

“Not only is our Kabanga nickel project believed to be one of the world’s largest and highest-grade undeveloped nickel sulphide deposits, but we have also continued to show that there are new areas

for nickel discovery and more potential for resource addition,” Lifezone CEO Chris Showalter said in the news release.

e strong results come about six months a er Lifezone began trading on the NYSE, following the business combination between Lifezone Holdings and special purpose acquisition company GoGreen Investments. BHP in 2022 invested US$90 million into privately held Kabanga Nickel, owner of the Kabanga project, which acquired the project in 2019, and US$10 million into Lifezone Ltd., both of which are subsidiaries of the company. Lifezone Limited holds 83% of Kabanga Nickel and BHP holds 17%.

Current resource

e project hosts 25.8 million measured and indicated tonnes at 2.63% nickel, 0.35% copper and 0.2% cobalt. Inferred resources total 14.6 million tonnes at 2.57% nickel, 0.34% copper and 0.18% cobalt. Assumed recoveries are 87.2% for nickel, 85.1% for copper and 88.1% for cobalt.

Given the signi cant results from a limited drill program, Showalter highlighted Safari Link as a “a nearterm opportunity” for resource and value addition, though he noted that it is too early to know if any high-grade nickel mineralization from Safari Link could be added into the de nitive feasibility study, which is expected by the end of the third quarter.

Lifezone Metals traded at US$5.75 at press time in 52-week range of US$5.42-US$19.92. e nickel developer has a market capitalization of US$460 million. TNM

NiCAN shares quadruple on high-grade nickel at Wine project

BY BLAIR MCBRIDE

Shares in Manitoba-focused NiCAN (TSXV: NICN) more than quadrupled on Jan. 31 on new assay results showing its longest intercept of nickel-equivalent mineralization to date at its Wine property in west-central Manitoba.

Diamond drill hole Wine 23-29 cut 31.5 metres averaging 1.9% copper and 1.92% nickel (2.31% nickel-equivalent) from 36.5 metres depth, the company reported. e hole included 9.6 metres grading 2.2% copper and 1.56% nickel from 4.2 metres, in what NiCAN calls the Upper zone. Hole Wine 22-6 returned 9.8 metres of 2.09% copper and 1.23% nickel from 7.4 metres in that zone.

NiCAN shares traded as high as 19.5¢ on the news, up from a close of 4.5¢ the previous day.

e results were from NiCAN’s third phase of exploration at Wine, completed last year. e campaign comprised 2,209 metres of drilling across 17 holes, designed to test the

main Wine target and green eld targets throughout the Wine gabbro. e company initially targeted only 1,700 metres, but improved drill productivity allowed the addition of 500 metres, NiCAN said. “We are happy to report the

results from the additional drilling at the Wine Occurrence, expanding the mineralized zones and allowing for a signi cant improvement in interpretation,” said NiCAN President and CEO Brad Humphrey. “[ e] Upper Zone is signi cant and fur-

“We are happy to report the results from the additional drilling at Wine, expanding the mineralized zones and allowing for a significant improvement in interpretation.”

BRAD HUMPHREY, NiCAN CEO

ther work is required to determine the full extent of the zone.” e program followed up on results from drilling completed in last year’s rst quarter, when a new nickel bearing horizon inside the Wine gabbro was discovered. NiCAN said it believes the mineralization hosted by the Wine gabbro might resemble the nickel-copper deposits in the Lynn Lake area, north of Wine, where the historic Farley mine produced about 22.2 million tonnes grading 1% nickel and 0.5% copper. e company was formed in April 2022 with a vision for nickel-copper exploration projects sit-

uated in known mineral belts in low-risk jurisdictions. e 56.8-sq.-km Wine property is located 50 km southwest of Snow Lake — about 680 km north of Winnipeg — in a suture zone between the Flin Flon and Snow Lake greenstone belts.

Northeast of Wine, NiCAN also holds the 24-sq.-km Pipy project, inside the ompson nickel belt, beside Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) ompson mine.

NiCAN shares traded at 12¢ apiece at press time, valuing it at $8.6 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 4¢ and 19.5¢. TNM

Kobold CEO Kurt House (third from right) with Zambian officials in February.

KOBOLD METALS

Preparing exploration equipment at NiCAN’s Wine property in Manitoba. NICAN

BATTERY METALS SNAPSHOT:

Eight companies charging up

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

New sources of battery metals are needed more than ever before as demand rises for low-emissions vehicles. The eight companies featured below hope to meet that demand for critical minerals and help fuel a greener future.

n American Pacific Mining

American Paci c Mining (CSE: USGD; US-OTC: USGDF) holds the Palmer copper-zinc project in Alaska, a joint-venture with Dowa Metals & Mining, and the Madison copper-gold project in Montana.

Palmer is a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) project, 60 km from the port of Haines.

It hosts resources in two deposits: Palmer and the AG Zone. e deposits contain total indicated resources of 4.7 million tonnes grading 5.23% zinc, 1.49% copper, 30.8 grams silver per tonne, 0.3 gram gold and 23.9% barite (BaSO4) for a zinc-equivalent grade of 10.21% or a copper-equivalent grade of 3.92%. Inferred resources total 9.6 million tonnes grading 4.95% zinc, 0.59% copper, 0.43% lead, 69.3 grams silver, 0.39 gram gold, and 27.7% (BaSO4) for 8.87% zinc-equivalent or 3.4% copper-equivalent.

A 2019 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) estimated a mine life of 11 years and life-of-mine recovered metal of 1.1 billion lb. zinc, 196 million lb. copper, 18 million oz. silver and 2.9 million tonnes of BaSO4. Initial capex was pegged at US$278 million, and the study estimated an a er-tax net present value (at a 7% discount) of US$266 million and an internal rate of return of 21%.

Last year the company drilled the best copper intercepts in Palmer’s history, including 43.8 metres of 6.54% copper, 3.15% zinc, 0.42 gram gold, and 27.91 grams silver (8.22% copper-equivalent) in drill hole CMR23-172.

e past-producing Madison

mine, 48 km from the Butte mine, churned out 2.7 million lb. copper (at grades ranging from about 20% to over 35% copper) and 7,570 oz. gold (grading 16.1 grams gold) between 2008 and 2012. Rio Tinto’s (NYSE: RIO; ASX: RIO; LSE: RIO) Kennecott Exploration in February ended its 11-year earn-in agreement

to acquire 70% of Madison. It’s now American Paci c’s lead solely owned property.

American Paci c Mining also has gold and silver projects in Nevada, including Tuscarora and Ziggurat, which is under a joint-venture option agreement with Centerra Gold (TSX: CG; NYSE: CGAU).

American Paci c Mining has a market cap of $47.2 million.

n Canadian North Resources

Canadian North Resources (TSXV: CNRI; US-OTC: CNRSF) is focused on its 100%-owned Ferguson Lake nickel-copper-cobalt-palladium-platinum project in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. Inco discovered base metal and platinum group metal mineralization at Ferguson Lake in the 1950s. Star eld Resources completed a preliminary economic assessment on the project in 2011, before Canadian North acquired the project in 2013. e company then spent nine years on exploration work that included surface sampling and geological mapping, ground geophysical surveys, con rmation assaying, assaying of historic holes that had not been assayed, compiling historic reports, and metallurgical work.

In June 2022, Canadian North updated the Ferguson Lake resource, based on 611 historic diamond drill holes, a total of 186,416

metres of drilling, and 36,740 assay samples. e estimate outlined open pit and underground indicated resources of 24.3 million tonnes grading 0.85% copper, 0.6% nickel, 0.07% cobalt, 1.38 grams palladium per tonne and 0.23 gram platinum for contained metal of 455.4 million lb. copper, 321.4 million lb. nickel, 37.5 million lb. cobalt, 1.1 million oz. palladium and 180,000 oz. platinum.

Inferred open pit and underground resources add 47.2 million tonnes grading 0.91% copper, 0.53% nickel, 0.06% cobalt, 1.4 grams palladium and 0.25 gram platinum, for 946.9 million lb. copper, 551.5 million lb. nickel, 62.4 million lb. cobalt, 2.1 million oz. palladium, and 380,000 oz. platinum.

e company will update the resource again with the results of 39,270 metres of additional diamond drilling in 145 holes. Highlights from last year’s drilling included 10 metres grading 0.48% nickel, 1.48% copper, 0.06% cobalt, 1.28 grams palladium, 0.06 gram platinum and 0.2 gram rhodium from 656 metres downhole, including 4 metres of 0.60% nickel, 1.59% copper, 0.08% cobalt, 1.54 grams palladium, 0.09 gram platinum and 0.04 gram rhodium, in drillhole FL23-481B.

Canadian North Resources has a market cap of about $174 million.

n Delta Lithium

Delta Lithium (ASX: DLI) is exploring for the battery metal at its agship Mt Ida project in the Goldelds region of Western Australia, 100 km northwest of Menzies.

In October the company delivered a JORC-compliant resource estimate on three pegmatites — Sparrow, Timoni and Sister Sam. ey host 7.8 million indicated tonnes grading 1.3% lithium oxide (Li2O) and 6.8 million inferred tonnes of 1.1% Li2O. e resource estimate used a cut-o grade of 0.55% Li2O.

Highlights from in ll drilling

A drill rig at American Pacific Mining’s Tuscarora gold project in Nevada. AMERICAN PACIFIC MINING

The exploration camp at Canadian North Resources’ Ferguson Lake project in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. CANADIAN NORTH RESOURCES

Delta Lithium’s Mt Ida project in Western Australia. DELTA LITHIUM

> Snapshot from P57

activities at Sister Sam include 49.5 metres grading 1.45% from 388 metres, including 12.2 metres grading 1.95% Li2O in hole IDRD07, while drilling outside the existing resource returned 90.1 metres of 0.95% Li2O from 651 metres, including 56.1 metres of 1.1% Li2O in hole IDRD229W1.

Delta is working on studies for a longer-term lithium concentrate project and the potential of a direct shipping ore (DSO) operation. It’s also working with the Mid West Ports Authority to nalize an agreement that would accommodate the potential export of DSO and concentrate products from Geraldton Port, located about 415 km north of Perth.

e company is also drilling out a gold resource for inclusion in the starter pit.

Delta’s other key asset is its Yinnetharra project in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region, 120 km northeast of Gascoyne Junction and about 1,000 km north of Perth. In December, the company reported its rst resource estimate based on ve pegmatites, with 6.7 million indicated tonnes grading 1.0% Li2O and 19 million inferred tonnes of 1.0% Li2O. e resource estimate used a 0.5% Li2O cut-o grade.

e Malinda prospect, where the company has mapped more than

50 pegmatites, is the focus of exploration. Another 20 pegmatites have been mapped at the Jamesons prospect, 20 km to the west.

Delta Lithium has a market cap of A$206 million (US$134 million).

n Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology

Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology (CSE: FAT; NASDAQ: FMST) is a hard rock lithium exploration company working in the Snow Lake region of Manitoba.

Foremost has more than 40 conrmed pegmatite dykes spread across four projects — Zoro (16 lithium dykes), Grass River (17), Peg North ( ve) and Jean Lake (two beryl pegmatite outcrops).

Exploration at the agship Zoro project, 20 km east of the town of Snow Lake, dates to 1956. Zoro’s Dyke 1 hosts 1.1 million inferred tonnes grading 0.91% Li2O for 9,700 tonnes of Li2O. e resource used a 0.3% Li2O cut-o grade.

Foremost Lithium completed its most recent drill program at Zoro in April 2022 (1,509 metres in 10 holes) and has planned a 7,500metre (30 hole) winter drill program focused on Dyke 1. Test results from dense media separation and otation in March 2023 reported a global lithium recovery of 81.6% at a spodumene concentrate grade of 5.88% Li2O.

At the Jean Lake lithium-gold project, results from a 3,000-metre drill program released in June included intercepts of 3.4 metres at 1.26% Li2O in hole FM23-01A. e company also found gold, reporting 7.7 metres grading 7.5 grams gold and 2.8 metres of 11.27 grams gold. It plans a 2,500-metre winter drill program.

Outside Manitoba, the company has the 48-sq.-km Lac Simard South lithium project in Quebec, about 90 km southwest of the North American Lithium (NAL) joint venture owned by Sayona Mining (ASX: SYA; US-OTC: SYAXF) and Piedmont Lithium (ASX: PLL; NAS-

DAQ: PLL), and the Winston gold and silver project in New Mexico. Foremost Lithium has a market cap of about $18.3 million.

n QC Copper and Gold

QC Copper and Gold’s (TSXV: QCCU; US-OTC: QCCUF) is developing Canada’s highest grade open pit copper deposit at the Opemiska project in the Chapais-Chibougamau region of western Quebec. Opemiska is the largest copper resource in the region and the third largest in Eastern Canada. e copper mine complex includes the past-producing Springer, Perry, Robitaille and Cooke mines. CN Rail infrastructure extends through the property, and between 1953 and 1991, Falconbridge sent concentrate from Opemiska to the Horne smelter, 350 km to the southwest in Rouyn-Noranda.

e company envisions a starter pit with 19.1 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.86% copper, 2.13 grams silver per tonne and 0.4 gram gold (1.09% copper-equivalent), using a copper-equivalent cut-o grade of 0.15%. A high-grade starter pit, the company says, should give it more development options and could mean a short payback period.

In January, an updated resource of Opemiska’s pit-constrained and out-of-pit mineralization incorporated a drill hole database of 16,570

surface and underground holes (1 million metres). e total in-pit and out-of-pit resources stand at 97.5 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.81% copper, 1.76 grams silver and 0.27 gram gold (0.97% copper-equivalent) for 1.8 billion lb. contained copper, 5.5 million oz. silver, and 845,000 oz. gold (2.1 billion lb. copper-equivalent). Inferred resources total 11 million tonnes grading 0.53% copper, 2.58 grams silver and 0.2 gram gold (0.65% copper-equivalent) for contained metal of 127 million lb. copper, 907,000 oz. silver and 70,000 oz. gold (157 million lb. copper-equivalent). e resources used an in-pit copper-equivalent cut-o grade of 0.15% and out-of-pit cuto grade of 0.8%.

e company kicked o a new drill program on the Cooke and Robitaille mines in mid-January. e historic mines are less than a kilometre from QC Copper’s recently de ned open-pit resource and the company hopes to identify additional open pit material within these zones.

QC Copper and Gold has a market cap of about $21.7 million.

n Talga Group

Talga Group (ASX: TLG) is building Europe’s rst natural graphite anode plant at Lulea in northern Sweden and will use natural graphite from the company’s own deposits near Vittangi.

In its rst phase, the re nery will produce 19,500 tonnes of graphite anode annually for 24 years. e company began early works and construction activities in September. Once completed, Talga says, the re nery will produce enough anode material for 16 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery capacity a year, or enough for about 250,000 electric vehicles.

e company secured an A$31 million (US$20 million) environmental bond facility for the anode project in November and an environmental permit in April to build the Vittangi mine, which hosts the Nunasvaara South-North-East and the Niska North-South graphite deposits. Talga describes Vittangi as Europe’s largest and highest-grade graphite deposit.

In a resource update in April, the company outlined a JORC-compliant resource of 27.8 million in-

The Foremost Lithium team at the Jean Lake project in Manitoba’s Snow Lake region. FOREMOST LITHIUM

Trial mining at Talga’s Niska North-South graphite deposit in northern Sweden. TALGA GROUP

QC Copper and Gold’s Opemiska project in the Chapais-Chibougamau region of west-central Quebec. QC COPPER AND GOLD

At WIldcat Resources’ Tabba Tabba lithium-tantalum project in Western Australia. WILDCAT RESOURCES

dicated tonnes grading 23.8% graphitic carbon (Cg) and 9 million inferred tonnes of 21.2% Cg. e resource used an 11% Cg cut-o grade and included the rst resource for new extensions to graphite mineralization at the Niska deposit.

Talga has two other graphite deposits in Sweden: Jalkunen and Raitajarvi. Jalkunen contains an inferred resource of 31.5 million tonnes grading 14.9% Cg. Raitajarvi hosts 3.4 million indicated tonnes averaging 7.3% Cg and 900,000 inferred tonnes grading 6.4% Cg, according to a JORC resource released in 2004.

Elsewhere in Sweden, Talga owns 100% of the Aero lithium project. Aero was initially staked for its copper potential, but the company has discovered signi cant lithium-bearing pegmatites hosting surface mineralization of up to 1.95% Li2O.

e Talga Group has a market cap of A$213 million (US$138 million).

n Talon Metals

Talon Metals (TSX: TLO; USOTC: TLOFF) is in a joint venture with Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; ASX: RIO; LSE: RIO) on the Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in central Minnesota. Talon owns 51% of the JV and has an earn-in right to acquire up to 60%.

Under an agreement with Tesla, the project will supply 75,000 tonnes (165 million lb.) of nickel in concentrate — and certain by-products including cobalt and iron — over a six-year period following the start of commercial production.

In November, Talon signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy for US$114.8 million in grant funding for its battery mineral processing facility in Mercer County, Minn. e funds were created by the government’s Bipar-

tisan Infrastructure Law. e announcement followed a grant of US$20.6 million in September from the U.S. Department of Defense to support and accelerate exploration e orts at Tamarack.

e project, located about 2 km north of the city of Tamarack, has a total strike length of about 18 km. It contains 8.6 million indicated tonnes grading 1.73% nickel, 0.92% copper, 0.05% cobalt, 0.34 gram platinum, 0.21 gram palladium, 0.17 gram gold , and 8% iron in sulphides (2.34% nickel-equivalent). Inferred resources stand at 8.5 million tonnes grading 0.83% nickel, 0.55% copper, 0.02% cobalt, 0.23 gram platinum, 0.13 gram palladium, 0.13 gram gold and 3% iron in sulphides

(1.19% nickel-equivalent).

In addition, the company has intercepted high-grade mineralization outside the resource area. In mid-January, Talon reported results from the Raptor Zone, which lies to the north of the resource area. e results included 5.9 metres grading 2.92% nickel and 1.73% copper (4.09% nickel-equivalent) starting from 648 metres downhole, including a 2.2-metre intercept of 6.84% nickel and 3.8% copper (9.31% nickel-equivalent) in hole 23TK0483. It was drilled about 1 km to the north of the current resource.

e company also plans to explore for nickel east of Minnesota, in Michigan, and in January

that state’s department of natural resources approved Talon’s application for 93 sq. km of additional mineral leases in the Upper Peninsula.

Talon Metals has a market cap of about $131 million.

n Wildcat Resources

Wildcat Resources (ASX: WC8) is focused on its Tabba Tabba lithium-tantalum project in Western Australia, about 80 km from Port Hedland and 47 km from Pilbara Minerals’ (ASX: PLS) Pilgangoora mine, one of the world’s largest independent hard rock lithium operations producing spodumene and tantalite concentrates.

When Wildcat acquired 100% of Tabba Tabba from Global Advanced Metals last May, 38 separate pegmatites had been mapped but only one pegmatite, which contains the Tabba Tabba tantalum deposit, had been drilled extensively and most of the samples weren’t assayed for lithium. e last time holes were drilled outside the tantalum deposit was in 2013, when three of four holes at the Hutt prospect intersected pegmatite. Intercepts included 8 metres of 1.42% lithium oxide (Li2O) from 4 metres in hole TDRC02 and 16 metres of 0.9% Li2O from 10 metres in TDRC03.

Wildcat kicked o a reverse-circulation drill program of outcropping pegmatite clusters (Hutt, Han, Leia and Chewy) on the project’s northern and central mining leases in July. By the end of last year, it had drilled nearly 43,000 metres. It plans to drill 100,000 metres in the rst half of this year.

In mid-September, initial results from 21 holes con rmed the pegmatites contained signi cant widths and grades. Intercepts from the Leia pegmatite included 180 metres grading 1.1% Li2O from 206 metres in hole TARC148; 99 metres of 1.2% Li2O from 207 metres in TARC234D; and 85 metres of 1.5% Li2O from 133 metres in hole TARC128.

e pegmatite containing Tabba Tabba’s tantalum deposit has a historic resource estimate of 318,000 tonnes grading 950 parts per million tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) for 666,2 lb. Ta205. e resource was drilled to a depth of 35 metres and is open in all directions.

Wildcat’s Bolt Cutter project consists of tenements prospective for lithium and gold that surround Tabba Tabba.

Wildcat Resources has a market cap of A$514 million (US$333 million). TNM

BY JACKSON CHEN

N(NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) Nuton technology as well entering an option to earn-in deal with that venture.

e PEA outlines an open pit copper mine followed by a heapleach operation, enhanced by the application of Nuton’s technologies to process primary sulphide materials. According to Lion Copper, the leaching process using Nuton’s methods can deliver recovery rates of 74% and eliminate the need for a concentrator, tailings impoundment and resource-intense smelter operations.

Nuton’s advantages compared to conventional sulphide processing make it the preferred method for the project, the company said.

“We are very pleased with the results of this preliminary economic assessment, which outlines a compelling path forward for advancing the integrated Yerington copper project. e projected eco-

nomics showcase the tremendous value that can be unlocked by adopting an innovative and sustainable approach centered around Nuton technologies for primary sulphide processing,” Lion Copper CEO Travis Naugle said.

“ e minimal footprint of our optimized strategy, with its consolidated infrastructure sited within the brown eld Yerington area, exempli es our commitment to sustainable development that benets all stakeholders,” he added.

Lion Copper’s PEA estimates

copper production over an estimated 12-year life will reach 1.4 billion lb., or 117 million lb. annually. e operation includes Yerington and, at a later phase, the MacArthur project, a large oxide copper deposit that was active in the 1990s.

e integrated Yerington project has a post-tax net present value (at 7% discount) of US$356 million and an internal rate of return of 17.4%, calculated at a copper price of US$3.85 per pound. e initial capital cost is estimated at US$413

“The projected economics showcase the tremendous value that can be unlocked by adopting an innovative approach.”

TRAVIS NAUGLE, CEO, LION COPPER AND GOLD

million, with a payback period of ve years. e project is located in western Nevada, about 80 km northwest of Reno.

Tailings reprocessing strategy e development strategy begins with the reprocessing of legacy rock stockpiles and tailings at Yerington, followed by mining within the base of the legacy Yerington pit once it’s been dewatered.

To facilitate the processing, the

oxide and sulphide materials will be mined and transported to separate lined heap leach pads to be located at the Yerington mine. Material from the MacArthur mine will also be transported to this site, using existing infrastructure set up during the initial Yerington phase.

According to the company, by merging the two projects with co-location of processing facilities and a single legacy-a ected site, the environmental impacts of the operation would e ectively be minimized. Unlike Yerington, the MacArthur project is situated exclusively on a federal land package, so it will be subjected to certain permitting requirements.

Late last year, Rio Tinto formally opted into Stage 2b of the option to earn-in agreement, which provides for full funding of US$10 million for completion of a prefeasibility study for Yerington, anticipated to be completed later this year. e Australian miner also provided a further US$1.5 million advance on Stage 3 funding for exploration activities on certain portions of the Bear deposit.

Lion Copper shares traded at 7¢ at press time, valuing the company at $23.2 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 6¢ and 12¢.

Drill core from Talon Metals’ Tamarack nickel-copper-cobalt project in central Minnesota. TALON METALS

Inspecting drill core. LION COPPER AND GOLD

GLOBAL EXPLORATION

BHP’s tech-inspired program gives explorers chance to partner with world’s largest miner

EXPLORATION | BHP Xplor targets energy transition minerals

BY ALISHA HIYATE

BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) is using its giant he to jumpstart small exploration companies with new ideas on how to nd energy transition minerals.

e company’s BHP Xplor sixmonth accelerator program, now in its second year, gives explorers a $500,000 grant, a chance to learn from BHP experts and peers, and best of all, a chance to partner directly with the US$148-billion market cap miner.

While no announcements had yet been made at press time in late February, BHP, the world’s biggest miner, was in talks with some of the six companies that graduated from last year’s inaugural program, Charlee Johnson, the head of the program con rmed.

“We are pursuing follow-on investments on multiple cohort members from year one,” Johnson said in early February.

“We’re still in the con dentiality period but yes, the ultimate objective is that each company leaving the program has a more investible project. So we think over the six-month period, their project will mature and advance in a way that will increase the likelihood of further investment that may be from BHP.”

BHP Xplor aims to apply the accelerator business model that has been so successful in the technology space to mineral exploration. e inspiration for the program was tech companies like Y Combinator and Techstars, which have funded thousands of startups and launched companies like Airbnb, Instacart, Stripe (Y Combinator), Contently and Everledger (Techstars).

In exploration, the goal is to help companies looking for minerals like copper, nickel and lithium develop their geological concepts over a short period of time to the point where they can attract fund-

“WE THOUGHT THAT THERE WAS A PRETTY STRONG DEMAND BUT WHAT WE SAW REALLY BLEW OUR EXPECTATIONS AWAY.”

CHARLEE JOHNSON, HEAD OF BHP XPLOR

ing. e program’s focus on energy minerals ts with BHP’s pivot to “future facing” commodities in 2021, when it made a deal to sell its oil and gas division and merge it with Woodside Energy.

Financing challenge

BHP Xplor grew from an idea in February 2022 to the launch of the program in August that year, when 250 companies applied.

“ e challenge for nancing and the junior market was at an all-time high and continues to be,” Johnson said. “We thought that there was a pretty strong demand but what we saw really blew our expectations away.”

e number of applications doubled this year to over 500, of which six companies were chosen in

January. e program’s bene ts to small companies are obvious, but what does a mining giant that spent US$350 million last year on exploration get out of working with the tiniest of exploration companies?

“Some of them are operating in areas that BHP doesn’t have a presence in, which gives us the ability to not only learn about new technical opportunities, but to learn about new jurisdictions,” Johnson said. “What we learn from the companies is just as much as what they take away from these groups, from us.

ey also teach us quite a bit about being nimble and moving fast.”

e companies selected so far include a mixture of private and publicly listed early stage explorers from around the world, but the

strongest showing has been from Australia-based companies.

“We saw applications come in globally from many di erent countries, but Australia and Canada, were de nitely in the strongest,” Johnson noted.

Strong Aussie showing

A handful of the nearly 100 Canadian companies that applied for this year’s program made it to the nal stage of the selection process, she said, but didn’t make the cut. Bronzite Exploration, part of the rst year cohort that graduated in 2023 and focused on early stage copper exploration in Canada’s north, has been the only Canadian company selected so far. Bronzite is headed by economic geologist and Carleton University professor James Mungall.

Two of this year’s companies, U.K.-based East Star Resources (LSE: EST) and privately held Pallas Resources are active in Kazakhstan. Two others — private companies Longreach Mineral and Equivest Minerals — are using arti cial intelligence in their search for new discoveries. And the nal two are both

Australia-based: Hamelin Gold (ASX: HMG), exploring for both gold and nickel-copper-PGE deposits in Western Australia; and copper and base metals focused Cobre (ASX: CBE), active in Botswana.

“In terms of who we bring into the program, we look at the projects themselves, the operating jurisdiction, the teams and then ultimately the likelihood that the opportunities will yield follow-on investment in the portfolio. We bring in projects that we think are set up for a future with BHP,” said Johnson, who has been with the company for 12 years, starting in the petroleum business and moving over to Xplor a er BHP exited oil and gas.

During the six-month program, which begins with a week-long, in-person bootcamp in Toronto, the companies go through a curriculum focused on technical readiness, business strategy, and operational readiness, taught by BHP experts. ey also get access to the company’s networks of external service providers and have opportunities to collaborate with them and previous cohorts.

Aside from Xplor, BHP is spending more on exploration. Its US$350 million budgeted in the year ending June 2023, was up 37% from US$256 million the previous year.

Johnson suggests that there may be more to come, with BHP Xplor vice-president Sonia Scarselli being named BHP’s VP of exploration in September. Xplor is now also part of BHP’s mineral exploration group (it started out in the company’s portfolio strategy and development division).

Scarselli has just completed a reset of the exploration strategy and the operating model, Johnson said.

“I think what you’re going to see coming out of the strategy reset is a pretty aggressive and exciting approach to what the future of exploration will look like in BHP and some pretty big aspirations to bring in new opportunities and get to those discoveries.” TNM

Surge Battery posts high-grade lithium clay resource

NEVADA | Large drill program planned for 2024 to expand resource

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

Shares in Surge Battery Metals (TSXV: NILI; US-OTC: NILIF) jumped 14% on Feb. 22 on news that its main lithium project in Nevada holds the highest-grade U.S. clay resource.

e initial resource for the Nevada North lithium project released on Feb. 22, shows it contains 4.7 million inferred tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) grading 2,839

parts per million (ppm) lithium. e resource estimate marks the project as “a signi cant lithium deposit and one of the highest-grade lithium clay deposits worldwide,” Surge Battery CEO Greg Reimer said in a news release.

e resource for the project, 73 km northeast of Wells in the state’s north near the Utah border, was calculated using a base-case lithium cut-o grade of 1,250 ppm lithium, Surge said. At a higher, more stringent cut-

o of 2,000 ppm, the inferred LCE resource would still surpass 4 million tonnes, with a lithium grade of 3,167 ppm, the company said.

Drill program e resource estimate is based on 20 holes drilled over 2022 and 2023 for a total of 2,758 metres and 1,973 samples. e two rounds of drilling identi ed a mineralized zone of lithium-bearing clays occupying a strike length of more than 3,500 metres and a known width of up to

950 metres, Surge said. A much larger drill program is planned for this year to expand the resource, which Surge Battery says only covers a portion of the project’s known footprint of mineralization. A detailed surface mapping program over the property and additional soil sampling will also be carried out. e project covers 725 mineral claims over 58 sq. km. e company said it will work with the Bureau of Land Management this spring to deter-

mine how much disturbance can be reclaimed under a current permit. Drilling will start a er receiving an exploration plan and operations permit.

Meanwhile, project metallurgical test work is well underway with the Kemetco Research lab. Results are expected in the rst quarter, the company said. Surge shares traded at 47¢ apiece at press time, for a $76-million market cap. It’s traded in a 52-week range of 21¢-$1.55.

The BHP Xplor six-month accelerator program for exploration companies starts with a week-long, in-person bootcamp. BHP

EnCore Energy joins the uranium producers’ club

BY NORTHERN MINER STAFF

In November, enCore Energy (TSXV: EU; NASDAQ: EU) became the newest uranium producer in the United States and the first in Texas in more than 10 years at its Rosita in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium central processing plant (CPP) and wellfield, about 98 km west of Corpus Christi.

“Last year was an incredibly transformative period for the company,” says William Sheriff, enCore’s founder and executive chairman. “In addition to the start of uranium production at Rosita, we acquired the much larger Alta Mesa CPP and wellfield, our third in-situ recovery plant, which we plan to have in production early this year.”

Moving two projects towards production at the same time “has been nothing short of a major undertaking and would not have been possible without our very skilled and experienced staff and management,” Sheriff notes.

The company also announced late last year that it was selling to Boss Energy, an Australian ISR uranium producer, a 30% stake in Alta Mesa, which will give the company the funds to accelerate production across its portfolio of assets.

EnCore owns three of the 11 fully licensed ISR plants in the U.S. — Rosita, Alta Mesa, and Kingsville Dome — all of them within a 130 km radius in Texas. Together they have a nameplate processing capacity of 3.6 million lb. uranium per year. In addition, enCore is working towards production on two additional ISR assets in the north: the Gas Hills project in Wyoming and the Dewey-Burdock project in South Dakota. While still at the development stage, the company plans to advance the projects at an accelerated pace this year.

Riding the uranium wave

Looking ahead, enCore’s goal is to produce 3 million lb. U3O8 a year by the end of 2026 and 5 million lb. annually by the close of 2028.

With the Boss deal now closed, the company has gone from having US$60 million in debt and no revenue last year to US$70 million in the bank, revenue from Rosita, and the expectation of more income once Alta Mesa starts commercial production in the coming months.

“Our timing was phenomenal,” says Sheriff. “I think we’re in a cycle you haven’t seen since 1979. It’s like the1950s when people were talking about the future of oil and gas. That’s where we are in the nuclear industry after more than four decades waiting for the nuclear renaissance.”

Nuclear energy is gaining attention as the world’s most costeffective and reliable non-carbon fuel source and is critical to meet the world’s demand for net-zero electrical energy generation, Sheriff argues. “The growth projections across the spectrum are unlike anything we have seen in decades and speak to a vibrant high-growth sector for years to come.”

The United States is the world’s largest consumer of uranium as fuel in nuclear reactors, which power about 20% of the country’s electrical needs. The U.S. is particularly vulnerable and reliant upon foreign imports, as it produces only a tiny fraction of the 48 million lb. of uranium it needs each year.

In 2021 it produced 9,000 lb. and in 2022 around 200,000 lb., Sheriff says. “This year will be the first in recent history where the 1 million lb. per year mark is within reach,” he says. “It is worth noting that the United States was self-sufficient as late as 1980, having produced 40 million lb. a year before becoming dependent upon foreign sources.”

Currently about half of the uranium it needs is imported through the Russian port of St. Petersburg, Sheriff adds. “This puts Russian President Vladimir Putin in an extraordinary position; we’re reliant on his goodwill for about 50% of our uranium supply.”

The U.S. is starting to realize the problem, he says. “There is one thing Republicans and Democrats agree on and that’s the importance of nuclear energy,” Sheriff says. “They’re working to expand uranium production, conversion and enrichment to support the nuclear energy industry.”

Solid ISR track record

EnCore uses ISR to extract uranium from sandstone-hosted deposits. It is a non-invasive technology that operates through injection and extraction wells, much like oil and gas production, and only uses water and oxygen coupled with an ion-exchange process to extract the uranium. The uranium coated resin is then trucked to a central processing plant. ISR has a smaller environmental footprint, is less costly to build and operate, and easier to permit than conventional uranium mines because there are no open pits, tailings or underground operations.

The company has a deep talent pool. Chief Technical Officer Dennis Stover, who has a PhD in chemical engineering, was one of the originators of the extraction technology and holds six patents on the ISR process, while CEO Paul Goranson has led teams that have built nine ISR plants in the U.S., including enCore’s Alta Mesa in 2005, Rosita in 1990, and Kingsville Dome in 1987.

During Goranson’s 30 years in the ISR business, he has held roles at Energy Fuels (TSX: EFR; NYSE: UUUU), where he was chief operating officer, and oversaw Cameco’s (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) ISR operations as president of its wholly owned subsidiary, Cameco

Resources. “He built Alta Mesa from scratch in less than a year,” says Sheriff. “His track record is impeccable.”

That knowledge, coupled with enCore’s knack for calling the bottom of uranium cycles, gives it a unique advantage, says Sheriff, who previously co-founded Energy Metals at the bottom of the last cycle in 2004 and sold the company for US$1.8 billion to Uranium One before the market crashed.

“EnCore managed to accumulate a lot of really good assets when no one wanted uranium,” he says.

After calling the bottom of the cycle in 2019, enCore picked up the fully licensed past-producing Rosita

CPP and its twin plant, Kingsville Dome, from Westwater Resources for a fraction of their value.

“The sellers gave us US$3 million to take the plants and the uranium off their hands,” says Sheriff. “There was a catch, we had to sign up for a US$9 million reclamation bond, a project now reclaimed, but we netted a cost of US$6 million to buy two fully licensed plants.”

EnCore then spent about US$1.5 million, and 20 months, refurbishing Rosita to put the plant back into production at a capacity of 800,000 lb. U3O8 per year. Rosita produced nearly 2.7 million lb. U3O8 between 1990 and 1997, but the plant was closed due to low uranium prices. Production

resumed in June 2008, but technical difficulties and a sharp decline in prices shut it down again four months later.

The company’s Alta Mesa project, which it purchased from Energy Fuels for US$120 million in February 2023, produced nearly 5 million lb. U3O8 between 2005 and 2013, when it was shut down because of low uranium prices. Alta Mesa has annual production capacity of 1.5 million lb. U3O8.

In addition to its CPP, Alta Mesa has significant resources and one of the largest uranium mineral properties in the U.S. with about 810 sq. km. And enCore estimates less than 15-20% of Alta Mesa has been explored.

The Rosita plant, situated on an 810,000-sq-metre parcel of land, has a production capacity of 800,000 lb. U3O8 a year.

EnCore Energy has a market cap of about $1.1 billion. At press time it traded at $6.47 per share within a 52-week range of $2.42 and $6.65.

The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by enCore Energy Corp. and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit: www.encoreuranium.com for more information.

EnCore Energy’s Alta Mesa central processing plant in Texas. ENCORE ENERGY

Above: EnCore Energy CEO Paul Goranson and executive chair William Sheriff at the Alta Mesa wellfield.

Left: The first yellowcake produced from enCore Energy’s Rosita ISR operation in Texas. ENCORE ENERGY

GLOBAL EXPLORATION SNAPSHOT:

Eight companies searching for copper, precious metals and more

BY NORM TOLLINSKY

As explorers continue to hunt for precious metals and critical minerals needed for the green energy transition, their pursuit takes them to every corner of the world. Here are eight companies advancing projects in the Americas, Australia, Africa and Europe.

n Arizona Sonoran Copper

Arizona Sonoran Copper (TSX: ASCU: US-OTC: ASCUF) is advancing its agship Cactus Mine project that sits on a 20.2-sq.-km property, about 70 km south of Phoenix, Ariz.

In December, the company signed a deal giving Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) subsidiary, an option to acquire up to 40% of the project in return for US$33 million in non-dilutivenancing. e two will study the use of Nuton heap leach technologies at Cactus.

In a Dec. 14 press release, Arizona Sonoran president and CEO George Ogilvie said Nuton’s technology has “the potential to signi cantly increase copper cathode output from our current 45-to-50 kilotonne per annum target which could materially enhance project economics” and unlock “a previously stranded and untreatable mineral resource.”

A standalone Cactus pre-feasibility study for a 45,000 tonne-per-year heap leach and solvent-extraction/ electrowinning operation is planned

for this year’s rst quarter, to be followed by an amended study in October that will include the recently optioned MainSpring property on the outskirts of Casa Grande, Ariz. A third study by year end will incorporate use of the Nuton technology. A feasibility study is planned for release in June 2025.

e company on Jan. 25 reported assay results from seven holes drilled last November at the MainSpring deposit. ey included 321 metres of 0.2% total soluble copper from 45 metres depth, including 15 metres of 0.35% total soluble copper.

Arizona Sonoran acquired the project, previously known as the Sacaton mine, in July 2020 from Asarco, which operated the mine from 1972 to 1984. e project consists of a waste dump and three deposits — Cactus East, Cactus West and Parks/Salyer.

e project has an August 2023 total resource (in combined leachable and primary material) of 446 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.58% copper for 5.1 billion lb. and 234 million inferred tonnes grading 0.47% copper for 2.2 billion lb. Arizona Sonoran plans 54,860 metres of drilling at its MainSpring and Cactus West deposits this year, following 45,891 metres of drilling that was completed in 2023.

Infrastructure at the site includes electric power, access to water from a permitted industrial-use aquifer and proximity to a rail line.

Arizona Sonoran has a market capitalization of $152.7 million.

n Filo Corp. Filo Corp. (TSX: FIL; US-OTC: FLMMF), a Vancouver-based company and member of the Lundin Group, is continuing to drill its Filo del Sol copper project in Argentina’s San Juan province and the adjacent Atacama region of northern Chile. It’s planning a 40,000-metre

program this year using nine drill rigs. e program follows more than 34,000 metres of drilling last year that was focused primarily on the project’s Aurora Zone.

is year’s program will “step out from known zones of mineralization and test compelling new exploration targets,” said Filo president and CEO Jamie Beck in a December release. “With 11 target zones distributed across an area of 8 km north-south and 3 km eastwest, we plan on testing the potential for Filo to be signi cantly larger than we currently know.”

Filo del Sol hosts a high-sulphidation epithermal copper-gold-silver deposit associated with a large porphyry copper-gold system.

In late January, Filo announced assay results from two drill holes, including 652 metres grading 0.81% copper equivalent from a depth of 492 metres and 1,298 metres grading 1.01% copper equivalent from a depth of 192 metres. A February 2023 prefeasibility study for Filo del Sol estimated a US$1.3 billion a er-tax net present value (NPV) at an 8% discount and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 20%. Initial capital costs are forecast at about US$1.8 billion, with sustaining costs of $140 million over a 13-year mine life.

e project hosts proven and probable reserves of 259.6 million tonnes grading 0.39% copper, 0.34 gram gold per tonne and 16 grams

silver for 2.2 billion lb. copper, 2.8 million oz. gold and 133.3 million oz. Silver. Filo is well funded following a $130-million non-brokered private placement nancing last June. In February 2022, the company announced an additional non-brokered private placement of $100 million by a subsidiary of BHP (ASX: BHP), which currently owns 6% of the company.

e Lundin Group won this year’s ayer Lindsley Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada for its discoveries in the Vicuna district of Argentina and Chile, including Filo del Sol.

Filo Corp. has a market capitalization of $2.7 billion.

Drilling at Ivanhoe Mines’ Western Foreland project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. IVANHOE

MINES

Hercules Silver’s project in Idaho. HERCULES SILVER

n Global Lithium

Global Lithium (ASX: GL1) expects to complete a feasibility study for the 100%-owned Manna lithium project in Australia in the rst half of this year.

e study will include an updated resource estimate, detailed mine schedule, metallurgical and process owsheet test work results and detailed operating and capital costs. e updated resource will incorporate assay results from Global’s reverse-circulation and diamond drilling program last year, totalling 60,000 metres in 221 drill holes. Assay results from the drill program include 26 metres of 1.53% lithium oxide (Li2O) from 249 metres downhole and 17 metres of 1.80% Li2O from 32 metres.

e most recent resource for Manna, located 100 km east of Kalgoorlie in the Gold elds region of Western Australia, was released last July. e project hosts 20.2 million indicated tonnes grading 1.12% Li2O, and 15.8 million inferred tonnes at 1.14% Li2O, representing a 24.1% increase in total contained Li2O from 327,000 tonnes to 406,000 tonnes. e Manna pegmatite zone extends for 1.4 km along strike and is open in both directions, and has been tested to 450 metres depth.

A February 2023 scoping study released by the West Perth-based company estimated production of 2.2 million tonnes of spodumene concentrate over a 10-year mine life, a pre-tax net present value (at 8% discount rate) of A$2.8 billion and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 103%. Total capital costs are pegged at A$419.4 million.

In a Jan. 31 release, Global Lithium managing director Ron Mitchell reported the company is making progress on key environmental and native title approvals, to be followed by the grant of a mining lease. It’s also in discussions regarding o ake and partnering deals.

e feasibility study will examine the development and optimization of open pit mine designs and schedules, along with the assessment of potential underground mining scenarios.

Global Lithium’s portfolio also includes the Marble Bar lithium project located 150 km south-east of Port Hedland in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. Marble Bar’s Archer deposit, which comprises a swarm of spodumene bearing pegmatites, has a December 2022 upgraded mineral resource estimate of 18 million tonnes grading 1.0% Li2O.

Global Lithium has a market capitalization of A$130.1 million.

n Goldsource Mines

Goldsource Mines (TSXV: GXS; US-OTC: GXSFF) holds the Eagle Mountain gold project in central Guyana, located in the Essequibo region, 325 km from the country’s capital, Georgetown. e property includes the Eagle Mountain and Salbora deposits.

Goldsource released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Eagle Mountain on Jan. 16, projecting an a er-tax internal rate of return (at 5% discount rate) of 57% and an a er-tax net present value of US$292 million at a base case gold price of US$1,850 per ounce. e internal rate of return increases to 69% and the net present value grows to US$388 million at a gold price of US$2,055.

A two-phase open pit operation is envisioned, with the rst phase focusing on production from low strip so rock saprolite resources for the rst 4.5 years, and the second phase targeting shallow and higher-grade fresh rock resources

for an additional 10.5 years. Annual gold production is estimated at 66,500 oz. over the 15-year mine life.

e PEA is based on an April 2022 updated resource estimate of

31 million

grams gold, respectively. e resource was based on 772 drill holes for 75,430 metres drilled up to Dec. 31, 2021.

e percentage of the resource lying within 50 metres from surface

is 75% for the Eagle Mountain deposit and 58% for Salbora.

Development capex is estimated at US$95.6 million and $46.6 million for the rst and second phases, respectively.

A 5,000-tonne-per-day processing plant would be upgraded in year ve with conventional crushing and grinding equipment to treat a blend of fresh rock, transition rock and saprolite.

In December, Goldsource responded to Venezuela’s claims to Guyana’s Essequibo region, which are now before the International Court of Justice. Goldsource called the claims “widely discredited” and contrary to a de nitive settlement of the boundary dispute by the same court in 1899.

Goldsource Mines has a market capitalization of $17 million.

n Hercules Silver

Hercules Silver (TSXV: BIG; USOTC: BADEF) is planning a 20,000metre drill program to de ne the limits of its recent Leviathan copper porphyry system discovery at its Hercules silver-lead-zinc project in western Idaho.

e discovery was announced on Oct. 10, with hole HER-23-05 cutting 185.3 metres of 0.84% copper, 111 ppm molybdenum and 2.6 grams silver, including 45.3 metres of 1.94% copper, 104 ppm molybdenum and 8.2 grams silver.

e following month, Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) invested $23.4 million in Hercules, through a non-brokered private placement. e gold major bought 21.3 units of Hercules (consisting of one share plus 0.32 of a share purchase warrant) for $1.10 apiece.

e nancing gave Barrick 12.3% of Hercules’ issued and outstanding shares on a non-diluted basis, and 15% on a partially diluted basis.

e two companies also entered into an investor’s rights agreement, granting Barrick certain participation and rst refusal rights.

Barrick has seconded three geologists to Hercules Silver and provided access to their senior technical team to help with the interpretation of existing data and planning for the drill program.

Final assay results from the Hercules Silver’s 2023 drilling announced in January con rmed increasing copper grades to the north and west of the discovery hole. Hole HER-23-26 intercepted 460.8 metres of 0.4% copper, 74 ppm molybdenum and 1 gram silver per tonne, including 100 metres of 0.76% copper, 113 ppm molybdenum and 1.7 grams silver.

Step-out holes drilled in all directions from the discovery hole across an area of 450 by 500 metres have ended in mineralization.

Hercules Silver has a market capitalization of $205.1 million.

n Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; USOTC: IVPAF) continues to make new discoveries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it also holds 39.6% of the large, high-grade Kamoa-Kakula copper complex. e latest discovery, announced in November, was a high-grade copper discovery on its Western Foreland about 25 km west of Kamoa-Kakula. e Kitoko discovery is on 247 sq. km of newly acquired joint venture licences for which Ivanhoe has an initial 10% interest and a right to earn up to 60%. e discovery hole returned 3.4 metres (true width) of 3.54% copper from 1,077 metres downhole. Another hole cut 3.1 metres of

Drilling at Pan Global Resources’ Escacena project in Spain. PAN GLOBAL RESOURCES

Filo Corp.’s Filo del Sol project on the Argentina-Chile border. FILO CORP

indicated tonnes grading 1.18 grams gold for 1,183,000 oz. and 18 million inferred tonnes grading 0.98 grams gold. Cut-o grades for the saprolite and fresh rock were 0.3 grams gold and 0.5

> Snapshot from P63

3.67% copper from 1,118 metres and 5.2 metres of 11.64% copper from 1,135 metres. A 1% copper cut-o was used.

Also in November, Vancouver-based Ivanhoe announced an initial resource for its Makoko and Kiala deposits in the Western Foreland package, 5 km north and northwest of Kitoko. Makoko holds 16 million indicated tonnes grading 3.55% copper and 154 million inferred tonnes grading 1.97% copper at a 1.5% copper cut-o . Kiala hosts 5 million indicated tonnes grading 3.56% copper.

Makoko, rst discovered in 2018, is about 20 km west of the Kakula deposit, along strike of the regional structure controlling high-grade copper mineralization at Kakula. High-grade copper mineralization has been outlined along a corridor that is 700 metres wide and at least 4 km in length.

On Dec. 18, Ivanhoe closed a $575-million private placement, which will allow it to quadruple its 2024 exploration budget to $90 million. is year’s budget will focus on Kitoko while also testing other targets in light of the new understanding of the regional geology resulting from the discovery.

According to the company, Kitoko highlights the potential for high-grade copper mineralization across a much greater area and within a wider variety of geological conditions than Ivanhoe previously understood.

Ivanhoe Mines has a market capitalization of $17.8 billion.

n Minsud Resources

Minsud Resources (TSXV: MSR) is focused on its Chita Valley copper-polymetallic project in Argentina’s northern San Juan province.

In April, a subsidiary of South32 (ASX: S32; LSE: S32) is expected to assume at 50.1% in Minsud’s local subsidiary that owns the Chita Valley project. e two companies signed an earn-in agreement in November 2019, with South32 providing $14 million in return for the option. Now that South32 has exercised the option, Minsud won’t have to contribute funding until its partner has spent $42 million at the project.

Chita Valley hosts 33 million indicated tonnes grading 0.43% copper for 310.8 million lb., and 8.6 million inferred tonnes grading 0.40% for 75.4 million lb., plus traces of gold, silver and molybdenum, according to a 2018 resource estimate.

Minsud began exploring the property in 2008, produced an initial resource in 2015 and carried out a four-phase drilling program from 2018 to 2023. Results from 52 holes drilled in 2023 included 767 metres grading 0.25% copper, 0.05 gram gold and 4.91 grams silver from a depth of 154 metres. e interval included 18 metres grading 0.95% copper, 0.21 gram gold and 10.06 grams silver from 684 metres.

In other recent transactions, Minsud acquired the remaining 35% interest in the Minas de Pinto Trust for US$935,000, giving it 100% of the Minas de Pinto property, which forms part of Chita Valley. Minsud optioned the property in 2010, acquired a 50% interest in 2014 and a further 15% in 2020, paying a total of US$2 million since then.

Also, in January, Minsud transferred its La Rosita gold-silver project to an arm’s length acquirer in return for a 2.5% net smelter royalty.

Minsud Resources has a market capitalization of $164.1 million.

n Pan Global Resources Pan Global Resources (TSXV: PGZ; US-OTC: PGZFF) is a copper-focused company exploring its 100%-owned Escacena project in southern Spain’s Iberian Pyrite Belt. Highlights from an 11-hole stepout drill program at the Canada Honda copper-gold discovery at Escacena were released in January. Hole CHD09 cut 20 metres grading 1.09 grams gold from a depth of 154 metres, while hole CHD10 cut 5.6 metres of 1.15% copper from 150 metres. Hole CHD08 returned 6.8 metres of 1.48% copper,

0.65 gram gold and 7.2 grams silver from 203 metres.

Drilling of the Canada Honda target began in April 2023 to test a large gravity anomaly with assay results in June and September conrming it as a compelling high-priority target.

Vancouver-based Pan Global is also focused on the La Romana copper-tin-silver target at Escacena. Drill results released in January from nine holes at La Romana con rmed continuity of mineralization over 1.4 km and returned highlights including 9.7 metres of 1.6% copper.

Escacena covers an area of more than 57 sq. km adjacent to the Aznalcollar and Los Frailes projects owned by Grupo Mexico. First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX: FM) Cobre Las Cruces mine is 12 km to the east and Rio Tinto’s (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO, ASX: RIO) Atalaya mine is 23 km to the northeast.

Pan Global has been actively exploring Escacena since 2019 and has drilled more than 180 holes in the VMS-style deposit with 99% of them hitting mineralization.

In 2023, Pan Global completed 60 drill holes totalling 14,992 metres on ve targets and completed

preliminary metallurgy tests for La Romana con rming copper recoveries of up to 89.5%. It also expanded its portfolio of targets to more than a dozen following an extensive geophysics and geochemistry survey program.

Plans for 2024 include further drilling at its La Romana and Canada Honda targets, as well as additional metallurgical testing.

Pan Global’s property portfolio also includes the 16-sq.-km copper-gold Aguilas project in northern Andalucia.

e company has a market capitalization of $44.9 million. TNM

Global Lithium’s Manna project in Australia. GLOBAL LITHIUM

Arizona Sonoran Copper’s Cactus mine. ARIZONA SONORAN COPPER

Drilling at Goldsource Mines’ Eagle Mountain project in Guyana. GOLDSOURCE MINES

Minsud Resources’ Chita Valley project in Argentina. MINSUD RESOURCES

QUESTIONS BY COLIN MCCLELLAND

Every month, The Northern Miner gets to know a different executive in the mining industry by asking them about everything — except mining.

This month, we feature John Burzynski, chairman and CEO of Osisko Mining.

Q What was your rst job?

A Collecting soil samples and doing ground geophysics on a Nova Scotian exploration property in 1985.

Q If you weren’t in mining, where would you be?

A Would have been a treasure hunter… Oh, wait…

Q What is the most used app on your phone?

A Waze

Q What’s your favourite reading?

A Anything historical.

Q What do you drive?

A Land Rover Defender. My Range Rover kept getting stolen…

Q Favourite band?

A e Cure

Q What’s the last song you listened to on your music app?

JOHN BURZYNSKI

CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF OSISKO

MINING TORONTO, ONT.

“Robert Schaaf was my mentor, Alysa Treen my guide, and Sean Roosen my guru. And my goal in life: to be Bob Wares.”

A Until I Found You.

Q Marvel or Scorcese?

A Scorcese.

Q Window or aisle seat?

A Aisle, always

Q Favourite sports team?

A Mt. Allison Mounties (football).

Q What’s your kryptonite?

A e cheese bread at Hy’s.

Q What are you really into these days?

A My children.

Q What are you avoiding?

A Having more children.

Q What’s your biggest fear?

A Fear itself.

Q Who is your mentor, guide or guru?

A Robert Schaaf was my mentor, Alysa Treen my guide, and Sean Roosen my guru. And my goal in life: to be Bob Wares.

(Ed. Note: Schaaf was one of Burzynski’s rst employers, Treen is his wife; and Roosen and Wares his partners at the original Osisko Mining.)

Q What have you learned along the way?

A ere are no real limits to the things a person can do.

Q What’s your next task?

A Finding the next one. TNM

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY | TERGEO CRITICAL MINERALS

• Tergeo Minéraux Critiques inc. (hereinafter “Tergeo” or “the Company”), strategically located in Danville, Quebec, Canada, was founded in 2012. The Company acquired the assets of Metallurgy Magnola inc. from Glencore in 2017 which operated in the mining and smelting industry.

• Tergeo’s key investment highlights can be summarized as follow :

110 million tons of serpentine tailings, a ready-to-process mineral resource containing, among others, potentially ~42 million tons of oxide magnesium, ~42 million tons of silica, and ~225 000 tons of nickel

38 patents and patents in development for mineral extractions and other processes

A 51 million square feet site (including the mine tailings and a 23,500 square feet foundry)

A foundry, built in 2021, producing secondary magnesium ingots from magnesium scrap. This plant was operated from 2021 to 2023 and is currently in care and maintenance

• North American demand for magnesium is ~180ktpy and European demand is ~170ktpy; one facility in the USA supplies 65ktpy (but is currently in care and maintenance), and there is currently no significant production in Europe.

• Magnesium demand is forecasted to grow at a 5% CAGR through 2032.

• Growing trend of using natural silica instead of carbon black and synthetic Silica.

• On November 10th 2023, Raymond Chabot Inc. (“RCI” or “the Monitor”), was appointed as Monitor of Tergeo Minéraux Critiques Inc. under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act pursuant to the provisions of an order from the Quebec Superior Court (“the Court”).

• Pursuant to an order of the Court dated February 9th, 2024, the Court approved a Sale and Investor Solicitation Process (“SISP”) to be conducted with respect to the business and assets of Tergeo in accordance with the procedures, terms and conditions set out in the Procedures of the SISP (“SISP Procedures”) and the letter attached hereto.

• The due diligence period and access to a virtual data room will be provided to prospective purchasers and investors (“Prospective Bidders”) starting February 20, upon the execution of the Confidentiality Agreement and the Prospective Bidder Information Form.

• The project and its assets may be visited, and access to the virtual data room may be obtained by contacting Alexander Lee – contact information provided herein.

• To participate in the SISP and be considered for qualification, Prospective Bidders mush qualify as Qualified Bidders under the SISP Procedures.

• Non-binding letters of intent must be received at RCI’s offices by no later than 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) April 15, 2024 in accordance with the SISP Procedures.

• The terms and conditions set out in the SISP Procedures apply to all letters of intent that will be submitted. It is the responsibility of the Prospective Bidders to obtain a copy of the SISP Procedures.

Alexander

EMER IN RODUCER O IN DEMAND CRITICAL MINERALS

EMER IN RODUCER O IN DEMAND CRITICAL MINERALS IN SPAIN AND COLOMBIA IN SPAIN AND COLOMBIA

L

berian P rite elt, Spain

Copper, inc, ead, Gold, Sil er

A

Extremadura, Spain

Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, Platinum, Palladium, Gold

T

eon Pro ince, Spain inc, ead, Sil er

itirib inin i trict, Colombia Gold, Sil er, inc, ead