Mining.Com

Osisko Development (TSXV: ODV; NYSE: ODV) has entered into a credit agreement with National Bank of Canada for a C$67.8 million ($50 million) delayed draw term loan. The funds are to be used exclusively for ongoing detailed engineering and pre-construction activities at the 100%-owned Cariboo underground gold project in central British Columbia.

The work includes driving a development drift from the existing Cow portal into the Lowhee zone, from which a bulk sample of 10,000 tonnes will be taken.

“We are very pleased to secure funding that will enable us to commence the development of a 1.2 km underground drift at Cariboo and advance important design and engineering work ahead of the anticipated receipt of permits in Q2 2024,” said Osisko Development chair and CEO Sean Roosen.

“Completing this work is a significant step in further de-risking the project ahead of a construction decision by accessing the orebody and demonstrating the performance of the roadheader and ore sorter technologies, while we continue to progress toward sourcing a fully-funded solution for the project,” he added.

“Importantly, this facility is non-dilutive with no early repayment penalties and provides us with financial flexibility to refinance the facility prior to maturity.”

The Cariboo feasibility study was produced in 2023. It foresees underground mining for 12 years, during which time about 1.8 million oz. of gold will be produced. The project was given an after-tax net present value with a 5% discount of C$502 million and an internal rates of return of 20.7% at a gold price of $1,700 per ounce.

Osisko received environmental approval for Cariboo last year, and it anticipates receiving others by the middle of this year.

Measured and indicated resources at Cariboo are 27.1 million tonnes grading 4.0 g/t gold for almost 3.5 million oz. of contained gold. There is also an inferred resource of 14.4 million tonnes at 3.5 g/t gold for 1.6 million contained ounces.

Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX: NYSE: GOLD) and Draslovka have achieved their goal – an 80% reduction in cyanide use by adding the GlyCat technology to the processing plant. Gold recovery remains comparable to traditional cyanidation.

Glycine leaching technology (GLT) uses glycine, a non-toxic, recyclable and biodegradable amino acid that is commonly used as a food additive, to recover gold, copper, nickel, and cobalt.

GLT was inspired by nature when researchers at Curtin University in Perth observed plants absorbing gold and other metals out of the soil through the presence of glycine, which carries those metals through the soil and into the plant.

GLT has the capacity to revolutionize the mining industry and the potential to save mining companies billions of dollars, says Draslovka. It significantly reduces processing costs, enhances a mine’s sustainability profile and can extend mine life by lowering the cut-off grade or unlocking value hidden in a mine’s tailings.

GlyCat technology can dramatically reduce cyanide usage while also lowering, or in some cases completely eliminating, detoxification measures. In select ores, the process also results in higher recoveries.

In 2023, Barrick rolled out a global testing and implementation program with the goal of using GlyCat to unlock substantive savings and generate value for its operations while also improving its environmental footprint at the Bulyanhulu gold mine in Tanzania.

The GlyCat pilot programme has led to an 80% reduction in cyanide consumption while achieving gold recoveries that are comparable to traditional cyanidation. With GlyCat as part of the process, the mine’s tailings are free of cyanide, thereby reducing detoxification requirements and costs.

“The application of GlyCat technology within our operations has significant potential to deliver improved operational efficiencies and cost savings, whilst also improving our environmental legacy,” said Barrick mineral management and evaluations executive Simon Bottoms.

“Consequently, we are very pleased to embark upon this strategic partnership with Draslovka to take advantage of this innovative technology across our global operations.”

Pavel Bruzek Jr, CEO of Draslovka, commented: “GlyCat provides significant economic and sustainability benefits at a time when the future of mining is conditional on cost savings, sustainable operations and securing social license to operate.

“I look forward to continuing to work with Barrick and am confident others in the sector will soon see that GlyCat is revolutionary, and its development will enable a major shift for the gold mining industry through massive economic and environmental benefits.”

Draslovka is a chemical technologies, products and services company creating value and improving sustainability in several industries, including mining, agriculture and manufacturing. The company is best known as the world’s largest producer of sodium cyanide, however its most important contribution to the sector is its glycine leaching technology.

Québec-focused Probe Gold (TSX: PRB) has made a strategic acquisition with the purchase of key assets from its struggling neighbor Monarch Mining (TSX: GBAR) to complement its 100% owned flagship development project, Novador.

Under a definitive purchase agreement signed Monday, Probe will acquire the McKenzie Break and Beaufor properties from Monarch, which has been placed under creditor protection since November 2023. The consideration is be payable in a combination of cash and shares.

The Beaufor property lies immediately next to Probe’s Novador project and consists of 23 mineral claims covering 6.9 square kilometres. The property hosts a current measured and indicated gold resource of 219,200 oz. at 5.3 g/t and inferred gold resource of 122,500 oz. at 4.7 g/t.

The McKenzie Break property is host to a high-grade gold deposit situated only 20 km north of the Novador project. The property hosts a current indicated gold resource of 146,000 oz. at an average grade of 3.2 g/t, plus an inferred gold resource of 250,600 oz. at 3.1 g/t.

“The tuck-in acquisition of the Beaufor and McKenzie Break properties is a strategic fit with our current development model in Val-d’Or,” Probe Gold CEO David Palmer said in a news release.

The Beaufor property, said Palmer, was “the missing piece” in the company’s Novador claim fabric and will complete its consolidation of the Courvan trend, which now includes the Courvan, Senore and Beaufor deposits. Beaufor is host to a former mine that has produced 1.2 million oz. in the past.

The McKenzie Break property is also within trucking distance of Novador and hosts higher-grade gold resources with “tremendous” exploration upside, Palmer added.

Novador represents a district-scale land package comprising 436 sq. km., making it one of the largest landholdings in Québec’s Val-d’Or mining camp. Its current measured and indicated resource totals over 2 million oz. (41.8 million tonnes grading 1.52 g/t).

A preliminary economic assessment this year estimated a C$910 million net present value (at 5% discount) for the project, with an internal rate of return of 24.4%. Annual production is expected to average 255,000 oz. over a mine life of 12.6 years.

Overall, the transaction will add 365,200 measured and indicated and 373,100 inferred oz. of higher-grade gold to Probe’s current resource inventory, and will provide an additional 85 sq. km. of underexplored ground for further expansion and discovery.

Upon closing, the company’s landholding in the Val-d’Or region will total 685 square kilometres.

BHP (ASX: BHP) has signed non-binding sales agreements for all potash production from both phases of its giant Jansen potash project in Canada, as reported by Reuters.

The company aims to convert these agreements into firm offtakes within the next 12 to 18 months, according to BHP’s chief commercial officer Ragnar Udd.

In October, BHP announced a $4.9 billion investment in Stage 2 of its potash project in Saskatchewan to double capacity by the end of the decade.

This investment adds to the $5.7 billion that the world’s largest miner is already pouring into Stage 1 of Jansen, along with an initial investment of $4.5 billion before the project’s first phase was even approved.

BHP expects potash demand to increase by 15 million tonnes to roughly 105 million tonnes by 2040, representing a growth rate of 1.5% to 3% annually.

Jansen is expected to begin production in late 2026, ramping up to 4.35 million tonnes annually.

BHP anticipates Jansen becoming one of the world’s largest potash mines, doubling production capacity to approximately 8.5 million tonnes per year by late fiscal 2029.

The world’s biggest miner reported that the first stage of the project is 32% complete and progressing as scheduled. The second stage is expected to take six years and produce about 4.36 million tonnes a year at a capital intensity of about $1,050 per tonne.

BHP plans to sell potash to distributors, rather than directly to companies that re-sell the fertilizer to farmers, Udd said.

“Our opening (sales) approach doesn’t take us as far down the supply chain as potentially others do, which actually allows BHP to specialize in where we actually excel, in the rock production of resources,” Udd said.

Australia’s Recharge Metals (ASX: REC) has inked a definitive agreement to buy the Newnham Lake uranium project in the Athabasca basin of Canada, the world’s top source of high-grade uranium, responsible for about 20% of global production.

The battery metals-focused miner said the project is close to significant discoveries such as IsoEnergy’s Hurricane deposit, which has an indicated resource of 48.6-million pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8), based on 63,800 t grading 34.5% U3O8.

It also presents potential for “basement-hosted” mineralization, akin to the high-grade deposits found below the Athabasca Basin’s unconformity, such as NexGen’s Arrow deposit, Recharge said.

The company noted it had secured commitments for a A$1.44-million share placement to fund the acquisition and accelerate exploration activities at the asset. An additional A$50,000 will be placed to directors, subject to shareholder approval, Recharge said.

”The continued partnership between Recharge and DGRM, who sold our Express lithium project, has cultivated a robust working rapport over the past year,” managing director Felicity Repacholi said in the statement. 

Interest in uranium assets has picked in the past year as prices for the radioactive material rally. The commodity has extended its gains in 2024 as Kazatomprom, world’s biggest producer of the metal used to produce nuclear fuel, owered its guidance for production for this year by 12% to 14%.

Shares in the company surged as much as 8.5% to A$0.077 on the announcement, their biggest intraday percentage gain since Feb. 16. The stock closed at A$0.072, leaving Recharge Metals with a market capitalization of A$8.1 million ($5.2m). 

_________
RELATED: Uranium firms revive forgotten mines as price of nuclear fuel soars

A Swiss-Polish team of experimental and theoretical physicists has found the answer to the question of why previous attempts to use magnesium hydride for storing hydrogen have proved unsatisfactory, and why they may succeed in the future.

In still-rare hydrogen-powered cars, the fuel is stored compressed at a pressure of around 700 atmospheres. This is neither the cheapest nor the safest method, and it has little to do with efficiency: There are only 45 kilograms of hydrogen in one cubic meter. The same volume can hold 70 kilograms of hydrogen if it is condensed beforehand.

The liquefaction process requires large amounts of energy, and the extremely low temperature, at around 20 Kelvin, must then be maintained throughout storage. An alternative could be suitable materials; for example, magnesium hydride, which can hold up to 106 kilograms of hydrogen in a cubic meter.

Magnesium hydride is among the simplest of the materials tested for hydrogen storage capacity. Its content can reach 7.6% (by weight). Magnesium hydride devices are therefore quite heavy and so mainly suitable for stationary applications. However, it is important to note that magnesium hydride is a very safe substance and can be stored without risk; for example, in a basement, and magnesium itself is a readily available and cheap metal.

“Research on the incorporation of hydrogen into magnesium has been going on for decades, yet it has not resulted in solutions that can count on wider use,” said Zbigniew Lodziana, a theoretical physicist who has co-authored an article in Advanced Science, where the latest discovery is presented.

“One source of problems is hydrogen itself. This element can effectively penetrate the crystal structure of magnesium, but only when it is present in the form of single atoms. To obtain it from typical molecular hydrogen, a catalyst efficient enough to make the process of hydrogen migration in the material fast and energetically viable is required,” Lodziana said. “So everyone has been looking for a catalyst that meets the above conditions, unfortunately without much success. Today, we finally know why these attempts were doomed to failure.”

Lodziana has developed a new model of the thermodynamic and electron processes occurring in magnesium in contact with hydrogen atoms. The model predicts that during the migration of hydrogen atoms, local, thermodynamically stable magnesium hydride clusters are formed in the material. At the boundaries between the metallic magnesium and its hydride, changes in the electronic structure of the material then occur, and these changes have a significant role in reducing the mobility of hydrogen ions.

In other words, the kinetics of magnesium hydride formation is primarily determined by phenomena at its interface with magnesium. This effect has so far not been taken into account in the search for efficient catalysts.

For this study, the migration of atomic hydrogen in a layer of pure magnesium sputtered onto palladium was studied in an ultra-high vacuum chamber. The measuring machine was capable of recording changes in the state of several outer atomic layers of the sample under study, caused by the formation of a new chemical compound and the associated transformations of the material’s electronic structure. The model proposed by the researchers allows to fully understand the experimental results.

Such results pave the way for a new search for an optimal catalyst for magnesium hydride and explain why some of the previously found catalysts showed higher efficiency than expected.

“There is much to suggest that the lack of significant progress in hydrogen storage in magnesium and its compounds was simply due to our incomplete understanding of the processes involved in hydrogen transport in these materials,” Lodziana said. “For decades, we have all been looking for better catalysts, only not where we should be looking. Now, new theoretical and experimental results make it possible to think again with optimism about further improvements in methods of introducing hydrogen into magnesium.”

A year after the launch of Chat GPT and its competitors, such as Google Bard and Microsoft Copilot, the world is still debating the ramifications of the application of artificial intelligence (AI) into daily life.

While experts continue to debate the potential implications of adopting AI at both a personal and business level, the mining industry has not stayed still waiting for the conclusions.

The sector has already embarked on a quest to transform operations from the traditional heavy-equipment and men-on-site operations, to mines that integrate connectivity, automation and AI.

On a visit to MWC Barcelona, an annual trade show dedicated to the mobile communications industry, MINING.COM was able to see how the world of telecommunications and mining are increasingly intertwined. 

Invited by telecommunications giant Huawei, MINING.com — the first mining media to ever attend MWC — saw sensors, smart cameras and 5G relay boxes ready to be deployed to mines around the world.

There was buzz around the new generation of mobile internet — “5.5G,” or “5G Advanced”. The new standard is expected to make the networks themselves more “intelligent” through the application of AI and machine learning, while also boosting performance and reducing overall power consumption.

When Huawei vice president of global marketing and solutions for mining and oil and gas, Jack Chan, was asked why the company began developing solutions for the industry, the answer was as quick as clear: safety.

“In China we have almost 3 million coal miners working in 4,400 coal mines, which are underground and often register deadly accidents,” Chan said. “When taking workers out of the tunnels and into a room full of screens displaying numbers, graphs and images, not only a company is saving lives, but is also more appealing to the new generations.”

Chan added that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure is crucial to support intelligent mining. Without fast and reliable communication networks, robust computing power, rapid data storage, and vigilant network security, essential tasks, including real-time monitoring and instant data exchange are made impossible, he explained.

“Young people don’t want to spend hours underground, hot and breathing recycled air, but they are happy to sit in a room with air conditioner and monitor activities in real time,” he said.

Data on extraction, personnel location and danger detection is centralized on a system designed to eliminate problems caused by human error and miscommunication. Instead of people, robots patrol and inspect the dark and narrow underground corridors.

“AI service architects and AI algorithm engineers will become key roles in the era of intelligence,” Chan predicts.

Remote and digital solutions are common in other coal operations, such as those in Canada and Australia, but China has lagged and now the government has set the goal of achieving basic digitalization of all mines by 2035.

Remote control of a boring machine at coal mine in Shanxi, China. (Image courtesy of Huawei.)

Huawei is a step ahead with is AI-based Pangu Mining, a suit of applications launched in July last year, which were developed based on the pilot verification of large AI models at industrial levels. 

The name Pangu comes from ancient Chinese mythology and folklore. The legendary figure is associated with the creation of the world.

There are altogether 21 application scenarios related to nine operating activities, namely, coal mining, tunneling, primary transportation, auxiliary transportation, lifting, safety monitoring, rock burst prevention, coal preparation, and coking.

Rock bursts are a particularly challenging issue in mining. The primary means of preventing rock bursts is drilling destress holes, whose quality matters. Shandong Energy has managed to address this challenge in its Lilou and Xinjulong coal mines by deploying Huawei’s AI model. 

Thanks to its visual recognition capabilities, Pangu can intelligently analyze the quality of stress relief drilling, and assist rock burst prevention personnel in quality verification, reducing their review workload by 82%. It used to take three days to complete such checks; now the time has been shortened to 10 minutes, with a 100% acceptance rate.

Courtesy of Huawei.

Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper miner, has also adopted Huawei solutions with the goal of turning around under-performing mines and projects that have crimped both production and profit.

The state-owned company is looking to streamline structures and prioritize productive areas at a time when copper output is at the lowest level in a quarter of a century.

It’s all about connectivity

Being a telecommunications company at heart, Huawei has been able to deploy connectivity solutions, from networks to an operative system able to run a wide range of equipment and smart machines. Named Harmony, the OS enables different devices to speak the same language, facilitating better connection and collaboration, and bringing a simple, continuous, secure and reliable interaction experience in all scenarios.

“In the era of intelligence, digital intelligence transformation can be accelerated only by combining AI technology with industry cognition and valuable data accumulated by enterprises,” Jason Liu, President, Learning & Certification Services of Huawei told the audience during MWC Barcelona 2024.

The giant, neighbourhood-sized Huawei booth at MWC Barcelona 2024. (Image courtesy of Huawei.)

Liu said AI solutions should be used as a tool, not as a replacement of human intelligence.

Pangu, for instance, can detect a problem, inform the location and characteristic of such problem and provide solutions suggestions. The application is predictive, in the sense it can fill in the blanks at a very deep level.

AI is enabling mining companies to become insight‐driven enterprises that utilize data to make faster, accurate decisions, improve health and safety, boost efficiency through error elimination and reduce operations footprint.

Digital thinking is not just a tool for mining companies, but a core value that shapes their business. One of Huawei’s key messages is that to succeed in the industry, miners need to foster an organizational culture that embraces innovation and adapts to changing technologies.

Cornish Metals (LON, TSX-V: CUSN) said on Monday it is speeding up work to reopen a past-producing tin mine at its South Crofty project in southwest England.

The Canadian explorer and developer said it will bring forward plans to refurbish  New Cook’s Kitchen (NCK) shaft at South Crofty after an assessment of the tunnel conditions revealed the deteriorating condition of its timbers, requiring immediate action. 

“This is a key milestone for the project,” chief executive officer Richard Williams said in a statement, adding that rephasing shaft refurbishment would significantly improve the functionality of NCK shaft.

Williams also said the strategic move would enable larger equipment to access the mine at an earlier stage in its re-development as the company re-gains access to the underground mine section.

The Vancouver-based company, formerly known as Strongbow Explorations, said the process of dewatering the mine is expected to be done by the third quarter of 2025.

Cornish has said the project will have a positive impact on water quality in the Red river, as it presently receives untreated water from the mine as a legacy of past mining operations.

Water discharged from South Crofty will serve a dual purpose, the company said, as it will power a hydro-turbine, generating around 15% of the energy required by the water treatment plant.

The firm’s ultimate goal is to secure a leading place in the development of an industry for the battery metal in the UK.

Cornish said the ongoing feasibility study is on track to be completed in the first half of this year, with a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) expected some time between April and the end of June. 

The PEA will play a crucial role in guiding the completion of the Feasibility Study and providing updated funding estimates for achieving first tin production, Williams said.

There is currently no primary mine production of tin in Europe or North America and the US has included the metal in a list of minerals considered critical to the country’s economic and national security.

South Crofty could generate up to 5,000 tonnes of tin a year, with first production expected in 2026. The company said the mine will create up to 270 direct jobs and support a further 750 in the region, one of the UK’s most underprivileged.

A recent report by Wood Mackenzie shows that the cost of electricity generated from renewable sources, known as the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), is declining significantly in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and reached an all-time low in 2023.

According to the consultancy firm, this decline makes renewable energy increasingly competitive with conventional low-cost coal power, driven by a significant reduction in capital costs for renewable power. Renewable energy costs in 2023 were 13% cheaper than conventional coal and are expected to be 32% cheaper by 2030.  

“Utility PV solar has emerged in 2023 as the cheapest power source in the region, while onshore wind is expected to become cheaper than coal after 2025,” Alex Whitworth, VP – head of Asia Pacific power research at Wood Mackenzie, said in a media statement. “Renewables firmed with battery storage are becoming competitive with gas power today but will struggle to compete with coal before 2030.” 

Whitworth pointed out that China is leading the way in lowering the cost of renewables, with utility photovoltaics, onshore wind, and offshore wind being 40-70% cheaper compared to other Asia-Pacific markets. 

“China will maintain a 50% cost advantage for renewables out to 2050, allowing the country to maintain its lead in renewables deployments,” the report states.   

(Graph by Wood Mackenzie).

The dossier also notes that solar photovoltaic power costs saw a significant decline of 23% in 2023, marking the end of two years of supply chain disruptions and inflation. In fact, utility PV emerged as the cheapest power source in 11 out of 15 countries in the Asia Pacific.

The report states that the expectation is that new-build solar project costs will drop another 20% by 2030, driven by falling module prices and increasing oversupply from China. The decline in solar technology costs in 2023-24 has put pressure on coal and gas, with LCOE for utility PV dropping by an average of 23% across Asia Pacific in 2023, driven by a 29% decline in capital costs. 

Distributed solar, on the other hand, has shown an even greater decline in costs –a 26% decrease in 2023, and the technology is now 12% cheaper on average than residential power prices creating a large potential for more rooftop solar applications.   

“This trend has made distributed solar increasingly attractive for end-users in many markets in Asia-Pacific, with costs already 30% below rising residential tariffs in China and Australia. However, some markets like India with subsidized residential power tariffs will need to wait until 2030 or later to achieve competitive distributed solar prices,” said Sooraj Narayan, senior research analyst, APAC power & renewables at Wood Mackenzie. 

Wind and fossil fuels

While onshore wind costs were higher than solar by 38% in 2023, Wood Mackenzie forecasts a 30% drop by 2030 as cheaper Chinese turbines gain market share. 

“Markets such as Australia and Southeast Asia will benefit from the low-cost import of wind power equipment from China, while Japan and South Korea with more limited Chinese turbine uptake and focus on the local supply chain will observe onshore wind costs staying above US$80/MWh by 2030,” the dossier reads.

The report also highlights the increasing competitiveness of offshore wind with fossil fuel power in Asia-Pacific, with costs falling by 11% in 2023. 

“Offshore wind costs are now on par with coal power in coastal China and are expected to become cheaper than gas power in Japan and the Taiwan region by 2027 and 2028, respectively. Falling capital costs and technology improvements are opening up new markets for offshore wind in India, Southeast Asia, and Australia over the next 5-10 years.” 

Meanwhile, coal and gas generation costs have increased by 12% since 2020 and are projected to continue rising through 2050, primarily due to carbon pricing mechanisms. 

“Developed markets in Asia-Pacific are expected to experience a significant increase in carbon prices, reaching US$20-55/tonne by 2030, while the carbon prices in Southeast Asia and India are expected to remain low,” WoodMac’s document states. “Gas power costs remain above US$100/MWh on average out to 2050, meaning they gradually lose the battle on costs with offshore wind over the next decade.” 

Vancouver-based Solaris Resources (TSX: SLS) announced a trilateral cooperation agreement with the Interprovincial Federation of Shuar Centers (FICSH) and Ecuador’s Alliance for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

FICSH is the highest authority and largest Shuar Indigenous organization. It was legally established in 1964 and includes 50 associations comprising 500 Shuar communities and approximately 143,000 Shuar Indigenous people.

The Alliance for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, on the other hand, is a network of public, private and academic actors that promotes entrepreneurship and innovation throughout Ecuador.

The agreement between these two organizations and Solaris was signed during a ceremony that took place in the context of the convention of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), happening this week in Toronto. 

According to the miner, the deal aims to promote the economic and social development of Shuar communities represented by FICSH, including the communities of Warints and Yawi which host the Warintza copper-gold project on their lands, situated in the southeastern part of the Andean country. 

The proposed alliance aims to create projects that support the provision of medical services in remote communities, as well as initiatives focused on the development and delivery of intercultural education. It also proposes the provision of training and technical assistance related to productive agricultural and business development, project management and accounting, and training and support for the formalization of artisanal mining in FICSH territories.

“The Shuar communities of Warints and Yawi support this agreement which follows from our request for FICSH to represent us and our interests and extend benefits to other member communities,” Froilan Juank, president of Yawi Center and member of the Board of Directors of the Strategic Alliance, said in a media statement.

“We reject the false statements made by foreign non-governmental organizations and the Shuar Arutam People’s Associations (PSHA) which ignore our voice and speak against our interests. We are the legitimate registered owners of the Ancestral Lands on which the Warintza project resides and we have the right and have chosen, through our General Assembly, to participate in the project through our Strategic Alliance and Impact and Benefits Agreement.”

Juank’s words refer to a complaint against Solaris presented by the PSHA, MiningWatch Canadá y Amazon Watch before the British Columbia Securities Commission on February 29, 2024, which states that the miner has moved forward with the Warintza project, which overlaps Shuar Arutam-titled territory, despite the community’s opposition.

“The PSHA is part of the ancestral Shuar nationality, made up of 47 centers, comprising six associations, in which approximately 12,000 people live. The PSHA was formally recognized by the Ecuadorian government as a collective organization representing the 47 centers, including those in the area of direct influence of the Warintza project,” the complaint reads.

“However, the presence of companies and mining projects in its titled territory, such as the Warintza project managed by Solaris and its subsidiary, Lowell Minerals Exploration Ecuador S.A., lack explicit consultation by the PSHA. For this reason, the PSHA maintains a firm stance against mining in its territories, opposing Solaris’ Warintza project.”

Warintza and the Shuar lands are located in the Cordillera del Condor, in an area of the Ecuadorian Amazon that borders Peru. The region is famous for its rare species and large gold and copper deposits.

Researchers have discovered a new cobalt-doped barium aluminosilicate colourant that withstands the high temperatures found in a kiln and provides a bright colour to glazed tiles.

In a paper published in the journal ACS Applied Optical Materials, the scientists point out that many brilliant blue pigments—like those in antique Chinese porcelain or works by Claude Monet—make use of cobalt-based compounds, including the famous “cobalt blue.”

In mineral form, the metal has high chemical and thermal stability, and those properties make cobalt aluminate one of the only pigments suitable for high-temperature applications, including pottery glazes.

Tiles produced bright colors when glazed with a new blue pigment (right row) or an acidified version of the pigment powder (left row). (Image by adapted from ACS Applied Optical Materials.)

Today, cobalt is used in lithium-ion batteries, and demand for the metal ore will likely increase as the need for battery power grows. As a result, scientists, including Peng Jiang and colleagues, are searching for alternative pigments that require fewer cobalt ions and still maintain a bright blue hue.

The team based their new pigment on a barium feldspar mineral (BaAl2Si2O8), which also features high temperature and chemical stability. Compounds containing barium, aluminum, silicon and cobalt were ground together, pressed into a sheet, then heated to above 2550 degrees Fahrenheit to form the pigment.

Then, the researchers mixed the powder into a ceramic glaze, sprayed it onto tiles, and fired them to produce glazed pieces of pottery.

The pigment was stable at temperatures up to 3200 degrees—well above the typical firing temperature of a pottery kiln—and only experienced slight colour changes when exposed to either acidic or alkaline solutions, demonstrating the compound’s stability.

Tiles sprayed with the pigmented glaze maintained a smooth, bright surface that deepened in colour as the cobalt concentration in the pigment increased.

The researchers say this new powder substantially reduces the amount of cobalt needed, resulting in a cheaper, easier-to-produce blue ceramic pigment.

Image from Veracio.

Veracio, a mining technology company that formerly operated as Boart Longyear’s geological data services division, is unveiling new and refreshed orebody knowledge tools: TruScan TruProbe and Strata – designed to improve, automate and digitally transform orebody sciences in exploration, resource definition and production globally.

TruScan 2, featuring HyperXRF, a mineralogical solution integrated into Veracio’s core scanning platform has co-registered data streams from both hyperspectral and XRF scanning supported by enhanced QA/QC. The scanning capabilities of both chips and core provide scanning data, including mineralogical data, to teams within 24 hours. Field trials are commencing in early Q2, followed by first deliveries to customers in Q3 of 2024.

Boart Longyear spins out geological data services division, Veracio

“Our new technologies, our team’s dedication, and our strategic acquisitions like Minalyze have all been steps towards realizing our overarching vision of transforming how we capture and utilize orebody knowledge, from exploration to production,” Veracio CEO JT Clark said in a news release.

TruProbe is an integrated app, cloud and stackable hardware solution; combining both rig and downhole sensing technologies. Building upon the foundations set by Veracio’s north seeking TruGyro, TruProbe “stacks” a robust gamma sensor to enable operators to log both borehole deviation and gamma simultaneously. On the rig, the app connects to an azimuth rig aligner and wireless depth counter.

Strata is Veracio’s cloud technology environment, and 2024 will see more added to the experience. This cloud environment ensures there are sophisticated software offerings available to pair with all Veracio hardware.

Shares in Alberta-focused LithiumBank Resources (TSXV: LBNK) rose almost 10% Friday after an updated study added $600 million in value to its Boardwalk project and cut costs by a third.

The after-tax net present value (at an 8% discount) for Boardwalk is now pegged at $2.3 billion, with an after-tax internal rate of return of 20.6%, according to an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) released on Thursday.

That’s up from the after-tax NPV of $1.7 billion and IRR of 17.8% in the initial PEA, released in May. The payback period has been cut from 4.1 years to 3.5 years, on a pre-tax basis.

Company shares hit C$0.90 apiece in Toronto on Friday afternoon, valuing the company at C$39.4 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of C$0.72 and C$1.72.

Greenview Resources’ (G2L) direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology will enable lithium recovery of 98% at Boardwalk, LithiumBank said. G2L’s technology uses reagents that cost one-third less than those used in the May PEA.

“Updating the Boardwalk PEA to incorporate our licensed technology from G2L to further enhance the asset is an important part of our development strategy,” said LithiumBank CEO Rob Shewchuk. “Our goal is to provide de-risked, construction-ready direct lithium brine projects to major developers. Boardwalk is the most advanced to date, but we will continue to apply our model to the rest of our portfolio to create attractive, buildable assets.”

Brine hotspot

The update comes as lithium brine activity picks up on the Prairies, despite a drop in lithium prices. In Alberta, E3 Lithium (TSXV: ETL) and Volt Lithium (TSXV: VLT), also plan to deploy DLE technology at their projects. In neighbouring Saskatchewan, uranium-focused Denison Mines (TSX: DML; NYSE: DNN) has optioned Grounded Lithium‘s (TSXV: GRD) Kindersley project, while EMP Metals (CSE: EMPS) is advancing its own lithium brine project.

Operational costs are now estimated to be $4,588 per tonne of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM), at an assumed lithium price of $26,000 per tonne, 34% lower than the $6,807 per tonne in the initial PEA.

Lithium carbonate, a precursor to lithium hydroxide used in electric vehicle batteries, sat at 101,500 yuan ($14,105) per tonne on Friday, down from about 170,000 yuan in September, according to Trading Economics.

The update also raises production over the project’s 20-year life to 34,005 tonnes per year, compared to 31,350 tonnes in the May PEA.

Construction costs for the operation – outlined in the initial PEA – come to almost $2.1 billion, including a $575 million processing plant, $276 million for brine wellfield services, $265 million for other infrastructure and $360 million for contingencies.

The company expects Boardwalk, located about 350 km northwest of Edmonton near Valleyview, to also produce high-grade lithium sulphate (Li2SO4) eluate at a concentration of 3,238 mg per litre.

Power could be generated on-site using gas turbines that would also lower the project’s carbon footprint, LithiumBank said. The proposed turbines can run on 80% hydrogen when a reliable supply is available.

Commercial production is possible within three years under provincial permitting rules, LithiumBank said.

The company anticipates converting the inferred resource estimate at Boardwalk to measured in the coming months, and commissioning its 10,000-litre-per-day lithium brine pilot plant being assembled in at its Calgary facility.

LithiumBank’s other main focus is its 5,687-sq.-km Park Place lithium brine project about 50 km south of Boardwalk.

A hydrogeological study conducted at Park Place in February 2023 indicates its 76.3 billion cubic metres of lithium-bearing brine is the largest by volume held by a single operator in North America. The brine is contained within the 6,563-sq.-km Crown mineral rights-only land package that includes infrastructure and geological data from decades of oil and gas activity.

The company that owns Europe’s first fully permitted lithium mine made its debut with a bang on the Nasdaq this week, as European Lithium (ASX: EUR) merged with Sizzle Acquisition Corp to create Critical Metals Corp (Nasdaq: CRML). After Sizzle stock saw a 120% surge in after hours trading Tuesday, Critical Metals debut on the Nasdaq Wednesday morning fizzled, tanking 38%. 

On Friday by midday, CRLM was up over 10%. European Lithium shareholders still have a $1.2 billion stake in the Wolfsberg lithium project in Carinthia, Austria, set to become the EU’s only producing battery-grade lithium mine by 2027, according to Critical Metals executive chairman Tony Sage. 

Sage is unfazed by both the drop in company shares during Wedneday’s debut, and by the current lithium price lows. 

The company has secured supply agreements with BMW, and a deal ith Obeikan Investment Group to build a lithium hydroxide plant in Saudi Arabia. The 50:50 joint venture will be geared towards constructing, commissioning and operating the plant for the conversion of lithium spodumene concentrate. 

“It’s a strategic plan. Wolfsberg is going to go through a two year construction phase — the next step is for finalising the Saudi deal, we expect by the end of March, ” Sage told MINING.com in an interview.  

Sage is also eyeing rare earths and uranium projects, both brownfield and greenfield in the EU. European lithium already has a 7.5% stake in the Tanbreez rare earth project in Greenland, majority owned by Rimbal. With a 28.2 million tonne TREO resource, Tanbreez is ranked biggest rare earth project in the world. 

Following construction at Wolfsberg by 2026, Critical Metals has agreed to supply BMW by 2027. 

“I think if you’re in production now, you’re in a little bit of a problem, but we’re going to come out of the construction phase at the right time, supplying BMW. If you look at all the forecasts of every research house — It’s going to be a squeeze around that time, so prices should be up,” Sage said.  

European Lithium produced a definitive feasibility study for Wolfsberg in 2023, but Sage pointed out the construction of the hydroxide plant now may be cheaper than what was in the original DFS and the OPEX numbers have improved.

Wolfsburg is fully permitted in perpetuity as long as work is ongoing, slated to be the next producing lithium mine in the EU, and the first to produce battery grade.

The pivotal role of lithium-ion batteries in the electric-vehicle revolution is driving the construction of about half a dozen refinery projects across Europe. At the same time, the strategic importance of those developments has been underlined by the European Union’s initiative to cut its dependence on China for critical raw materials. Europe’s only current lithium supply is from Portugal, but it is used only in ceramics. 

Rio Tinto’s plans for a $2.4 billion Jadar lithium project in Serbia fell flat when licences were revoked in January 2022 after protests over environmental concerns about the planned mine. Serbia Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said she does not see a chance of reviving the project.

“We’re lucky that we’ve got our permit in place and that the Austrian Government is keen on our project,” Sage said. “It’s just a dichotomy when you’ve got the head bodies saying ‘we want this’ and then local governments are not allowing permits to happen.”

Lavras Gold (TSXV: LGC), an exploration stock that ran up a blistering 600% last August and September, lost some of its heat today on new results from the LDS project in Brazil.

Despite releasing relatively encouraging exploration results from the Fazenda do Posto (FDP) and Butiá deposits in Rio Grande do Sul state, Lavras shares fell 24% to a session low of C$0.24 on Thursday morning. Lavras, which has a market capitalization of C$40.5 million is still up 93% over the past year.

“People buy on the rumour and sell on the news now in this market – I think it’s just a factor of the market,” Naomi Nemeth, vice-president for investor relations, told The Northern Miner by telephone.

Lavras announced on Thursday that hole 23FP011 at FDP returned an average grade of 1 gram gold per tonne over 173 metres, starting from a depth of 69 metres. This section included 1.4 grams gold over 94.8 metres. Similarly, hole 23FP008 showed 1.1 grams gold over 123 metres, indicating the presence of a large, near-surface, bulk-tonnage gold system, the company said in a release.

The FDP discovery has now been traced over a 200 metres strike and lies 150 metres west of the Butiá deposit, which already hosts a measured and indicated resource of 12.9 million tonnes at 0.97 gram gold per tonne for 376,751 oz. of metal.

The company says the proximity of these two sites raises the potential for a combined open-pit development project.

Retail bail

One explanation for the share price drop is that retail investors might have been seeking more bonanza-grade intercepts, as in the announcement of Aug. 2 last year. Hole 23BT004 returned a 4-metre section from 31 metres depth, where each respective metre assayed returned 52.3 grams gold per tonne, 9.28 grams, 110.5 grams and the last had 2.28 grams gold. The hole essentially started the six-bagger rally through early October.

“What we’re building there at the FDP and Butiá project is several football fields in each direction of mineralization, and the corporates get it. It’s more the retail shareholders who want to see super high grade at that volume,” she said, suggesting it’s the retail investors leaving in droves.

“It’s also possible we’ve got a big seller, but how do we know in Canada? We never know who’s selling our stock; unless they tell us.”

Nemeth suggests the selloff was part of normal market fluctuations and cycles, with no material reason to blame for the negative movement, other than noting that a particularly sharp selloff like today’s, was in her experience, rare.

Nemeth said that as of December 2023, the company had about C$10 million in cash in the bank to see the current exploration through, and follow-up work will be budgeted as needed.

The company enjoys the financial backing of industry notables, including Eric Sprott at 15%, a 30% institutional follow, 20% by insiders and management, and 5% by Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC). Other notable owners include Lawrence Lepard, with insiders buying a big chunk of shares in the last few months. Eric Sprott, Rob McEwen, and Kinross bought shares at C$1.35.

2024 exploration

Lavras says the exploration results from FDP confirm the presence of extensive gold mineralization but also suggest a high-grade core of mineralization that could significantly impact the project’s economics.

Gold is mainly found in hydrothermally altered granitoid rocks, which show characteristics of a disseminated, bulk-tonnage gold system.

Lavras plans to continue its exploration with an additional 10,000 metres of drilling budgeted for the FDP and Butiá sites.

IsoEnergy (TSXV: ISO) will reopen its Tony M mine in Utah and aims to restart uranium mining production operations in 2025.

The decision, IsoEnergy said, is underpinned by rising uranium prices and follows Energy Fuels’ recent announcement to restart its uranium circuit at the White Mesa mill.

Tony M, along with the Daneros and Rim projects, is one of three past-producing, fully-permitted uranium mines in Utah owned by IsoEnergy. It is a large-scale, fully developed and permitted underground mine that previously produced nearly one million lb. of uranium oxide (U3O8) during two different periods of operation, from 1979-1984 and from 2007-2008.

“With the uranium spot price now trading around $100 per pound, we are in the very fortunate position of owning multiple, past-producing, fully permitted uranium mines in the US that we believe can be restarted quickly with relatively low capital costs,” IsoEnergy CEO Phil Williams said in a news release.

IsoEnergy has guaranteed access to the White Mesa mill by way of a toll milling agreement with Energy Fuels. The mill is the only operational conventional uranium mill in the US with licensed capacity of over 8 million lb. of U3O8 per year.

IsoEnergy’s portfolio also includes the Hurricane uranium deposit on its 100%-owned Larocque East property in the eastern Athabasca Basin, Canada. The deposit has an indicated resource of 63,800 tonnes grading 34.5% U3O8, containing 48.5 million lb. of U3O8. There is also an inferred resource of 54,300 tonnes at 2.2% U3O8, for 2.7 million lb. of U3O8.

IsoEnergy also owns three more uranium projects in the Athabasca Basin.

The Canadian government on Friday announced restrictions on indirect imports of Russian diamonds weighing 1 carat and above in a coordinated move with other Group of Seven (G7) countries.

The latest restriction adds to a ban on Russian diamonds announced in December and will provide Canadians “additional assurance that the diamonds that they purchase are not supporting Russia’s illegal war,” the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Canada has been at the forefront of imposing economic barriers on the Putin Regime since he launched his brutal full-scale illegal invasion of Ukraine, which caused devastating losses to Ukrainians. Along with our allies and partners, we have imposed severe sanctions on the Russian regime, and we will continue to do so to hold Putin and his enablers to account,” said Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly.

Russia is the world’s largest rough diamond producer, with its production valued at more than approximately $4.7 billion in 2022. It is also a significant global exporter of diamonds and diamond products, with the value of its total exports exceeding $5.2 billion in the same year.

Together, G7 countries represent 70% of the world diamond market.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Canada sanctioned Russia’s state-owned Alrosa.

Canada also revoked Russia’s most-favoured nation status, which effectively imposed a 35% tariff on all Russian imports to Canada.

This led to a drastic decrease in the value of all Russian imports, including products that will be subject to this ban, from $327,224 in 2022 to $13,440 for the first eight months of 2023.

Read More: Diamond producers warn of pitfalls in G7’s Russia gem ban

Gold prices rose by nearly 1.5% to a two-month high on Friday as disappointing US factory data and a drop in consumer sentiment reinforced bets on the possibility of interest rate cuts later in the year.

Spot gold gained by more than 1.4% to $2,075.03 per ounce by 11:30 a.m. ET, about $60 off the record high set in December 2023. US gold futures were also up by 1.4% to $2,083.70 per ounce.

[Click here for an interactive chart of gold prices]

A measure of US factory activity shrank at a faster pace in February as orders, production and employment contracted, suggesting manufacturing is struggling for momentum, new data showed.

Separate data Friday showed US consumer sentiment fell in February for the first time in three months as current and expected views of the economy deteriorated.

Signs of a softening economy solidified expectations that the Federal Reserve will need to lower borrowing costs to help shore up the economy.

Treasury yields tumbled as a result, sending bullion on its way to the biggest intraday increase since mid-January.

Remarks from a slew of Fed officials also weighed on bond yields, which in turn boosted gold.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he would like the central bank to boost its share of short-term Treasuries. Also speaking Friday, Fed Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee told CNBC he believes the Fed funds rate is quite restrictive.

Separately, his Richmond counterpart Thomas Barkin said markets are pricing in fewer rate reductions in response to economic data. Dallas Fed chief counterpart Lorie Logan reiterated it’ll likely be appropriate to start slowing the pace at which it shrinks its balance sheet.

Analysts from JP Morgan said earlier this week that expectations of a US rate cut, along with a weaker US dollar, will continue to drive gold higher, taking the metal to new highs by 2025.

“Across all metals, we have the highest conviction on a bullish medium-term forecast for gold,” said Gregory Shearer, the bank’s head of base and precious metals strategy.

(With files from Bloomberg)

Delta Resources is drilling to expand its Delta-1 gold project in northern Ontario. Credit: Delta Resources

Delta Resources (TSXV: DLTA) says new drill results improve the economics of its Delta-1 gold project in northern Ontario.

Drill hole D1-24-90 cut 10 metres grading 15.94 grams gold per tonne from 113 metres depth including 1 metre at 57.80 grams and 0.9 metre at 99.4 grams, Delta said on Friday. Drill hole D1-24-87 returned 10.5 metres at 1.66 grams from 30 metres depth and drill hole D1-24-88 intersected 12.2 metres at 1.05 grams from 85 metres, the company said.

The results from the site 50 km west of Thunder Bay on Lake Superior come from a group of four holes, and one extension hole for a total of 1,371 metres in the company’s 5,000-metre drill campaign this year. It aims to fill in gaps from Delta’s previous drilling in a 2-km strike to a 250-metre vertical depth, and to expand that envelope east, west and deeper.

“Once more, the gold zones continue to show continuity and homogeneity,” president and CEO André Tessier said in a release. “Drill hole D1-24-90 was especially excellent with high grades that are sure to help the economics of the deposit.”

Shares in Delta Resources were unchanged in Toronto on Friday, but they had risen 21% over the past five days to C$0.12 apiece, valuing the company at C$11.3 million. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of C$0.09 and C$0.61.

Last May, the company hit a market capitalization of C$39.2 million after reporting drill hole D1-23-38 cut 1-metre intervals of 1,636 grams and 697 grams.

Shebandowan belt

Delta is focusing on the 107-sq.-km project near the Trans-Canada Highway in the Shebandowan Greenstone Belt. It covers a 19-km strike of the Shebandowan structural zone. Gold mineralized zones form a 2.3-km strike, with a higher-grade segment of nearly 950 metres, to a depth of about 250 metres, the company said.

The Delta-1 project is to receive as much as $200,000 in Ontario government funding through the Ontario Junior Exploration Program when the company completes exploration, it said.

The company also holds the 194-sq.-km Delta-2 volcanic massive sulphide gold project in the Chibougamau area about 650 km north of Montreal. It’s betting on similarities to the area’s former Lemoine mine which produced 760,000 tonnes grading 9.6% zinc, 4.2% copper, 4.5 grams gold and 84 grams silver from 1975 to 1983.

Drilling

At Delta-1, the gold zone is dipping shallowly towards the south in contrast to the steep north dip in sections to the west, the company said. The gold zone might have been rotated along northeast-trending structures and drilling last year may have missed the zone, it added.

Hole D1-24-90 targeted the gold zone 50 metres up-dip from the intercept of hole D1-23-67 which cut 40.2 metres grading 0.66 gram including 20.2 metres at 0.95 gram, Delta said.

Last year’s hole D1-23-65 cut 35.5 metres grading 1.39 grams and the company targeted drill hole D1-24-88 at mineralization 60 metres up-dip from it. Drilling overshot the Beta gold zone but intersected the Gamma zone from 85 metres down hole, Delta said.

Drill hole D1-24-87 aimed to intersect the gold zone 50 metres up-dip from the intercept of drill hole D1-23-33 which returned 89.7 metres grading 1.15 grams gold, Delta said. The new hole intersected gold at 30 metres depth, the Gamma zone at 70 metres down and a narrow 0.8 metre zone at 22.3 grams from 130 metres, the company said.

Management changes announced this week:

Advanced Gold Exploration named Andrew Ramcharan president.

ATHA Energy appointed Ryan Gaffney as SVP of business development.

Caitlin Glew is the new VP exploration at Core Nickel, a subsidiary of CanAlaska Uranium.

Eastport Ventures named Robin Birchall its new CEO.

Element 29 announced Manuel Montoya as chief technical officer.

Japan Gold appointed Fraser MacCorquodale as president and COO.

Lithium Americas (Argentina) elected Sam Pigott as president and CEO, effective March 18.

Guy Le Bel is the new president of QC Copper.

Thunder Gold named CFO David Speck as corporate secretary, as well.

Sandeep Singh joined Western Copper and Gold as CEO.

Board changes:

Mark Cutifani joined the board of Diamond Standard.

Bob Bass is the new chair and his son Chriss Bass a new director of Getchell Gold.

Great Eagle Gold welcomed Kate Fehlenberg to its board.

Kobo Resources named Brian Scott, former VP geology and technical services at B2Gold, to its board.

Kraken Energy asked Marlis Yassin to join its board.

North Arrow Minerals named Eira Thomas the new chair of the board.

Charles Joseland joined the board of SolGold.

Thesis Gold appointed William (Bill) Lytle as non-executive chair.

Transition Metals added Jordan Black to its board.