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MP Materials (NYSE: MP) announced on Monday it has received a $58.5 million award from the US government to advance the construction of America’s first fully integrated rare earth magnet manufacturing facility.

The award is part of the historic $4 billion in tax credits (also known as Section 48C) announced last week by the US Department of Energy (DOE), the US Department of Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Section 48C program is designed to accelerate domestic clean energy manufacturing and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at industrial facilities, with funds being earmarked for over 100 projects across 35 states.

Issuance of the tax credits, according to MP Materials, followed a “competitive, oversubscribed process” administered by the DOE that evaluated the technical and commercial viability and environmental and community impact of approximately 250 projects.

MP Materials first began construction of its manufacturing site in Fort Worth, Texas, in April 2022. The facility was a substantial component of a $700 million investment the company had designated to fully restore the US rare earth magnetics supply chain.

Las Vegas-based MP currently produces magnet precursor materials in a North American pilot facility. It now expects to commence commercial production of precursor materials in Fort Worth this summer and finished magnets by late 2025.

These products will be supplied to General Motors, a foundational customer of MP Materials with whom it has signed a definitive supply agreement, to support the production of electric vehicles in North America. In addition to EVs, NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) magnets are critical inputs to robots, wind turbines, drones, defense systems, and many other high-growth technologies.

At the time of announcing its construction, MP said the manufacturing facility would have the capacity to produce approximately 1,000 tonnes of NdFeB magnets per year, supporting the production of approximately 500,000 EV traction motors, with room to scale.

MP will source the factory’s raw material inputs from Mountain Pass, California, where it owns and operates America’s only scaled and operational rare earth mine and separations facility. About 15% of the rare earth content consumed annually is produced there.

At the factory, NdPr (neodymium-praseodymium) oxide produced at Mountain Pass will be reduced to NdPr metal and converted to NdFeB alloy and finished magnets, delivering an end-to-end supply chain with integrated recycling and world-class sustainability, the company said.

Shares of MP Materials rose 2.9% to $14.72 by 11:15 a.m. EDT on the tax credit announcement. The company has a market capitalization of $2.6 billion.

Volt Lithium (TSXV: VLT) has cut nearly two-thirds of its lithium production cost as it prepares to start the low-grade Rainbow Lake brine project in northwest Alberta next year.

Testing in February of brine associated with Coterra Energy (NYSE: CTRA) and Cenovus Energy (TSX: CVE) oil wells dating from the 1960s showed a cost of $2,885 per tonne of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) versus $8,057 in May.

The company produced 90% LCE from 34 parts per million (ppm) lithium brine through its proprietary direct lithium extraction process, president and CEO Alex Wylie said in an interview.

“We’ve developed a compound, or most people call them media, that is really agnostic to things like magnesium and other items, other minerals that might cause interference in the process,” Wylie said by phone from Calgary. “We can get to a purity with our process without doing final concentration steps and that I would say is pretty novel.”

Source: Volt Lithium

While the lithium price has crashed by two-thirds from a year ago, Volt is vying to produce the battery metals by staking out a low-cost, low-grade operation that can be scaled up. By the end of next year, the company plans to decide whether it would be less expensive to build its own plant to process lithium carbonate into battery-grade metal or ship it to refiners in the United States.

Along the way it wants to start its first plant by mid next year for about $20 million to produce around 1,000 tonnes of LCE a year. It will tap the brine produced by some 1,300 wells on Volt’s 1,750-sq.-km of lithium rights agreements with Coterra and Cenovus.

Annual production would shift to more than 23,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) over a 19-year period, according to a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) issued in December. The study assumed a price of $25,000 per tonne LHM, although it was $13,900 per tonne last week, according to The Wall St. Journal.

Shares in Volt Lithium rose 38% over the last month to close at C$0.28 apiece on Thursday, valuing the company at C$35.8 million. They’ve traded in a range of C$0.16 to C$0.55 over the past 52 weeks.

Getting the funds to expand – $242 million for a second stage in the PEA – would depend on early cash flow success. Volt would also need to attract an investor such as a large oil producer and backers like the Alberta government and the Canada Infrastructure Bank, a Crown Corporation that backs revenue-generating infrastructure projects. Working with the Dene Tha First Nation may help access to government funds, the CEO said.

“Our goal is not to start off with a huge plant. We’d start smaller and then basically repeat these units as opposed to going straight off from a higher construction unit,” Wylie said. “My sense is, if we started off with a plant trying to do 20,000 tonnes a year, it’s just harder.”

The project, with 4.3 million inferred tonnes LCE, has an after-tax net present value of C$1.1 billion at an 8% discount rate for an internal rate of return of 35%, according to the PEA. But its early development so far is making institutional investors take a wait-and-see approach for Rainbow Lake to make money first and get a partner, Wylie said.

“The oil and gas industry is a natural group to start lithium extraction in North America because they already have so much brine,” Wylie said. “What happens with older fields is you get a lot of water produced. The water cut on these wells is in the 90% range, 5% oil cut, so it’s ripe for an opportunity for a lithium company.”

A recent study by Cornell University researchers found that pairing cryptocurrency mining – notable for its outsize consumption of carbon-based fuel – with green hydrogen could provide the foundation for wider deployment of renewable energy, such as solar and wind power.

In detail, the paper found that leveraging the economic potential derived from green hydrogen and bitcoin for incremental investment in renewable energy penetration can enable capacity expansions of up to 25.5% and 73.2% for solar and wind power installations. 

The analysis involved the idea of supplying the available power from solar and wind energy systems to a green hydrogen and cryptocurrency mining infrastructure with the economic potential used for the expansion of renewable power installations.

“Since current cryptocurrency operations now contribute heavily to worldwide carbon emissions, it becomes vital to explore opportunities for harnessing the widespread enthusiasm for cryptocurrency as we move toward a sustainable and climate-friendly future,” Fengqi You, co-author of the paper, said in a media statement.

In its current structure, mining blockchain-based cryptocurrency in the US can use as much carbon-based energy as the entire country of Argentina, according to a 2022 White House Office of Science and Technology report. Nearly all domestic crypto-mining electricity is driven by computer power-hungry consensus mechanisms, known as “proof of work,” which are used to verify crypto-assets.

Preliminary estimates by the US Energy Information Administration suggest that 2023 annual electricity consumption for cryptocurrency mining likely represents 0.6% to 2.3% of all of America’s electricity consumption.

“Acknowledging the substantial energy demands of cryptocurrency mining, our research proposes an innovative technology solution,” You said. “By leveraging cryptocurrencies as virtual energy carriers in tandem with using green hydrogen, we can transform what was once an environmental challenge into a dynamic force for climate mitigation and sustainability.”

In their research, You and doctoral student Apoorv Lal examined individual US states to assess potential energy strengths in each region.

Supporting cryptocurrency can hasten the building of extra energy infrastructure and potentially create 78.4 megawatt hours of solar power for each Bitcoin mined in New Mexico, for example, and potentially 265.8 megawatt hours of wind power for each Bitcoin mined in Wyoming.

“While cryptocurrency currently has a high dollar value (Bitcoin traded for more than $73,000 on March 13,) you cannot hold it in your hand,” You said. “It’s virtual. Think of cryptocurrency and energy in the same way – much like a gift card concept. Cryptocurrency also can hold an energy value and that becomes an additional function.”

The researcher pointed out that to advance a sustainable future for blockchain-based cryptocurrency stronger federal policies for climate goals and renewable energy need to move forward.

“Coupled with green hydrogen, this approach to cryptocurrency not only mitigates its own environmental impact but pioneers a sustainable path for renewable energy transition,” You noted. “It’s a novel strategy.”

Gold continued its historic rally on Monday by setting another record high, as the latest US inflation data further boosted expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this coming June.

Spot gold hit an all-time high of $2,265.53 per ounce in the early hours of trading, an increase of 1.6% on Thursday’s closing price, before paring some gains to $2,247.16 per ounce by 8:15 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, US gold futures shot up 1.2% to $2,265.70 per ounce in New York.

[Click here for an interactive chart of gold prices]

The Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation — the core personal consumption expenditures index — cooled in February, data showed Friday, when many markets were closed. That added to the case for a reduction in borrowing costs, and importantly, for investors to pivot towards the non-yielding bullion.

A host of positive drivers have already pushed up bullion by around 14% since the middle of February. These include the prospect of monetary easing by major central banks and elevated tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine.

There’s also been strong buying by central banks, particularly in China, where consumers have been loading up on the metal amid ongoing problems in Asia’s largest economy. Its central bank has added substantial volumes of bullion to its reserves, boosting holdings in each of the past 16 months.

After the inflation figures, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the prints were “pretty much in line with our expectations,” and there wasn’t any rush to cut rates. Swaps markets are currently pricing in a 61% chance of a Fed cut in June, up from 57% on Thursday.

Later this week, investors will get a further chance to gauge the outlook for the US economy and central bank policy, with monthly payrolls expected to increase by at least 200,000 for a fourth straight month.

“Inflation data, and Powell’s comments in particular, have provided a further boost to gold, with the market becoming increasingly convinced that the Fed will start to cut rates in June,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Groep NV.

However, “it wouldn’t take much of a catalyst to see a pullback in the short term,” and that could be a stronger-than-expected US jobs report, Patterson warned.

The metal’s positive prospects have been endorsed by a slew of leading banks.

Among them, JPMorgan Chase said last month that gold was its No. 1 pick in commodities markets, and the price may reach $2,500 an ounce this year. Goldman Sachs Group has said it sees potential for $2,300, highlighting the benefits from a lower interest-rate environment.

“The slightly lower than expected US inflation figure last Friday is supporting the outlook of a mid-year rate cut by the Fed,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, in a note to Reuters Monday.

“Markets will now want to see if the payroll data will confirm a soft landing from the job market in the US. Ongoing solid demand is helping the yellow metal as well, although higher prices may weigh on jewellery demand,” Staunovo added.

Still, gold’s ascent has yet to strike a chord among investors who favor exposure to the metal through exchange-traded funds. Worldwide holdings in bullion-backed ETFs shrank by more than 100 tons in the first quarter, hitting the lowest level since 2019 in mid-March, before a small uptick, according to a Bloomberg tally.

(With files from Bloomberg and Reuters)

Chile’s mining production is starting to turn the corner after months of a sustained output slump, with the country’s total output up 7.7% in February from the same month last year.

The country’s top commodities, copper and lithium, were behind the overall production increase, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Metal extraction grew by 5.5% on the back of rising copper output, which grew 9.95% to 420,242 tonnes. The country accounts for almost a quarter of the world’s copper supply, equivalent to about 5.2 million tonnes a year.

Contributing to the positive monthly results was that non-metallic mining sector, which increased its overall output by 24.9%, compared to the same month in 2023. This particular category was boosted by higher lithium carbonate production, the figures published by the INE show.

The South American country is the world’s top copper producer and the second largest exporter of lithium, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), cell phones and other high-tech devices.

Despite its leadership position in both sectors, the country is seeking to expand its lithium production, with official estimates pegging the increase by 70% by 2030 and 100% over the next decade.

Chile unveiled last week a list of 26 lithium-bearing salt flats that will be open to private investors in a tender that will run from April to July. In these projects, associations may be formed with state companies but unlike in areas deemed as strategic, there they will be optional.

NextSource Materials (TSX: NEXT)(OTCQB: NSRCF) has submitted an application to build a downstream battery anode facility (BAF) to process graphite in the African island nation of Mauritius.

The plant will have capacity to produce 3,600 tonnes of battery-grade graphite a year, increasing to 14,400 tonnes after 2024, according to filings with the country’s government. 

Graphite will come from the company’s Molo mine in Madagascar and the processed product will be shipped from Port Louis, the country’s capital located in the freeport zone.

The quest to bring graphite projects to fruition has become more urgent since China announced in October it will require export permits for the kind of graphite used for electric vehicle batteries.

African-mined graphite could help the car industry meet requirements under Washington’s Inflation Reduction Act, which encourages auto makers to be less reliant on Chinese components. 

Growing demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to boost graphite consumption, according to the US Geological Survey. The raw material is the primary ingredient used in the production of EV batteries by weight.  It amounts to over half of every battery and more than 95% of a battery’s anode. 

“Graphite demands are on the rise as valuable and broad applications are being researched and developed ranging from consumer electronics, green energy storage and medical applications,” the Canadian miner said in the filings. 

NextSource, which reached first graphite production at its Molo mine in June 2023, also said that while deposits are not scarce, the supply of battery-grade graphite “is much tighter.”

The company said in February that it planned to achieve nameplate capacity of 17,000 tonnes of concentrate per annum at the operation by July.

NGO Clima21 asked the Venezuelan government to ratify the Minamata Convention, which aims to restrict and limit the use and trade of mercury –  a highly toxic pollutant – through a series of mid- and long-term strategies.  

In particular, Article 7 of the Convention deals with artisanal and small-scale gold mining, stating that signatories have an obligation to minimize or outright eliminate mercury use and emissions in such activities within their borders.

In a report titled ‘Slow crime: The rights of children, women, Indigenous people and workers in southern Venezuela threatened by mercury’ and published on March 30, Clima21 states that there is an absence of effective, timely, sufficient and continuous responses to the problem that pollution by mercury derived from small-scale gold mining represents.

The dossier notes that although there is no official epidemiological information available, there is credible testimonial evidence that mercury is seriously affecting the health and lives of many people in the Venezuelan Amazon and that the widespread use of the metal threatens even those who live far from gold mining areas.

“This situation occurs even though the Venezuelan State is obliged by international conventions and national legislation to protect all people at risk and particularly vulnerable groups,” the report states. “[The government] should set up a national plan for the reduction and eventual elimination of the use of mercury in gold exploitation in the country, as well as provide medical assistance to all affected people.”

The document denounces that mercury pollution and its effects should be considered a form of state violence, which is combined with other types of violent crimes impacting people in Venezuela’s mining areas.

The NGO also demanded that mercury smugglers be punished.

According to the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), more than 7,000 people have been evicted from the Amazon region for practicing illegal mining, while over 2,500 soldiers have been deployed in national parks, natural reserves and hydrographic basins to run operations against illegal mining.

A day before Clima21 issued its report, the FANB issued a communiqué over social media saying it had seized 5,000 pieces of iron called ‘mill hammers,’ which are made from railway rails and were presumably intended to be used for illegal mining.

Illegal gold mining boomed in Venezuela as the economy suffered one of the deepest slumps in modern world history from 2013 onward. The industry has mostly attracted vulnerable Venezuelans, lured by the riches of the deposits. Frequent accidents and the presence of mafia and guerrilla groups prompt occasional raids by the authorities.

The Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) presented a draft Supreme Decree to allow miners to increase their daily authorized production by up to 10% without applying for new permits.

Currently, excess production can reach up to 5% of the total allowed and if miners go over that limit, they have to pay a validation fee.

The decree was presented through Ministerial Resolution No. 125-2024-MINEM/DM, which modifies Article 3 of Supreme Decree No. 030-2016-EM.

“Concession holders can produce up to an additional 10% of the authorized installed daily mineral production capacity without having to request changes to the processing limits established in the concession permit based on existing mining regulations,” the draft states. “Mining activity has been seriously affected by the global economic crisis, the slowdown in production at mine sites and the loss of production generated by social conflicts, so it is technically viable and opportune to increase installed capacity by up to 10%.”

The decree also notes that increased capacity cannot be the result of building additional infrastructure, modifications to equipment and machinery operation parameters, and process improvements, among other considerations, already detailed in existing mining regulations.

The document, however, does not mention anything related to greater water usage at mine sites resulting from increased production. 

A new beetle species, the Paleothius mckayi, has been discovered at Debswana’s Orapa diamond mine in Botswana, the world’s largest diamond mine by area. With this finding, the geographical and temporal boundaries of our understanding of these ancient creatures have been extended.

The specimen is part of the staphylinid rove beetles, dating back to the Cretaceous period, around 90 million years ago. 

In a paper published in the Journal of Entomological Science, the Wits University researchers behind the discovery explain that this is the first recorded fossil of a staphylinid rove beetle in Africa and notably, in the Southern Hemisphere. 

This region of Botswana, known for its rich deposits of the Cretaceous age, has become a pivotal site for understanding the biodiversity of the past, revealing a world where these beetles roamed alongside dinosaurs.

Paleothius mckayi has been named in honour of Ian James McKay, a notable figure in the field of paleoentomology, who significantly contributed to the training of the article’s lead author Sandiso Mnguni.

This species, unearthed from deposits that accumulate in lake environments, showcases a symmetrical and elongated body, an elongated head, and notably long antennae. Its sharp, scissor-like mouthparts suggest a predatory lifestyle, actively hunting prey within the leaf litter surrounding a crater lake that once existed in this region.

Rove beetles, in general, are recognized for their highly mobile lifestyle and versatile habitat preferences, ranging from soil and leaf litter to water margins and even animal nests. The staphylinid group exemplifies this adaptability, with species found in different environments worldwide.

These beetles are critical in controlling pest populations, breaking down organic matter, and contributing to nutrient cycling within their ecosystems. 

According to the researchers, until now, similar fossils have been found in diverse locations such as China, Russia, Myanmar, and England, but the addition of Botswana to this list highlights the Orapa diamond mine as a crucial Cretaceous deposit in Africa with a rich biota, encompassing various groups of plants and insects.

The discovery also emphasizes that these types of beetles were not just present but thriving alongside dinosaurs, and they have mostly stayed the same over millions of years. This idea, that some creatures evolve very slowly, supports what scientists call “punctuated evolution”—the notion that evolution can happen in bursts following long periods of little change.

Moreover, this beetle shares some family traits with another group of beetles, suggesting these groups have been related since the Jurassic period, even longer ago. 

The process of describing a new species from such fossils demands hours of detailed morphological analyses under both polarized and unpolarized light, allowing researchers to observe and interpret the specimen’s features meticulously. This work often requires repeated examinations to identify unique characteristics that justify the classification of a new species.

“The more you look at the specimen, the better you’ll get at understanding it. You might notice details you missed before, which helps you describe it better,” Mnguni said in a media statement.

“There are more fossil rove beetles that will be described from the same deposit by the same authors in the near future, and there are also many fossil insects belonging to other groups that await description. This promise of future research highlights the untapped potential of the Orapa deposits in enriching our understanding of Cretaceous ecosystems and the evolutionary trajectories of insect life on earth.”

After a solid lift to near one-year highs, the copper price is once again in danger of falling below the pivotal $4.00 a pound ($8,820 a tonne) level, closing the first quarter at $4.0115 a pound in New York. LME prices have followed the same course after hitting a high of $9,164.50 on March 18.

Copper’s runup was sparked by pledges from Chinese smelters to cut output by 5%-10% in the face of tighter-than-expected concentrate supply and overcapacity after years of relentless expansion which has lifted the country’s global refining share to over 50%.

Evidence of how desperate Chinese refiners are to source raw material is a report out Thursday by Bloomberg that BHP sold concentrate from Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, at spot treatment charges as low as $3 per tonne and refining charges of 0.3 cents a pound to at least one Chinese smelter. 

That constitutes at least a decade low – when prices declined to below $8,000 a tonne in 2023, treatment and refining charges – paid by miners to refiners to convert concentrate into metal – were north of $90 a tonne. Benchmark annual contracts remain much higher but fell for the first time since 2021.

China would also increasingly compete with India for raw material in 2024 – just this week Adani said it started operating the first unit of its $1.2 billion Kutch Copper smelter. The plant will be the world’s largest single-location copper smelter with an initial capacity of 500kt a year and double that in the second phase of the project. 

Uncertainty remains about the impact of decisions by the so-called Copper Smelters Purchasing Team (CSPT) at its quarterly meeting in Shanghai currently under way. In the initial announcement, the group of 19 smelters stopped short of agreeing to outright coordinated cuts but vowed to rearrange maintenance, limit runs and delay the startup of new projects. 

Indeed, China’s top producer Jiangxi Copper said in its earnings report this week that while it wants to maintain capacity discipline it nevertheless plans to raise copper production this year by 11% to 2.32m tonnes. 

A copper ore export ban in Indonesia coming into effect in June could turn out to be the tipping point for the CSPT. 

ING investment bank in a note also points to signs of still muted demand in China evidenced by inventories on the Shanghai Futures Exchange which have recently hit their highest level since 2020 and are approaching 300kt.

At the same time, as detailed by Andy Home of Reuters, market open interest on the ShFE has jumped to life-of-contract highs and managed money investors on the LME and CME exchanges have sharply increased long positions.

While plummeting TC/RCs have concentrated minds on copper supply, lack of growth and disruptions at mine levels have been plaguing the industry for years, as have worries about depletion and falling grades at the world’s top copper mines (the top 20 mines have weighted discovery year of 1928). 

The biggest bombshell to hit the copper market in decades was the closure last year of First Quantum’s Cobre Panama mine after massive protests in the central American nation. At 350kt of copper in concentrate, the $10 billion Cobre Panama mine accounted for around 1.5% of global copper output.  

The Panama fiasco stands out, but unplanned disruptions are a feature not a bug of the global copper industry. Antipodean investment bank ANZ points out at the beginning of 2023, mine production for 2024 was forecast to grow by over 6% year on year but after only one month this growth forecast decreased to 3.9%.

Anglo American’s move to slash production blaming low grades and high costs led the London-listed company to cut its target for 2024 from 1m tonnes to between 730kt–790kt. ING says output at Escondida, the only copper mine producing more than 1m tonnes per year, is expected to be at least 5% lower in 2025 than it is today.  

ANZ says the average total cash cost of producing a tonne of copper has risen more than 30% to $5,600 over the past three years and while inflation is subsiding elsewhere in the economy, miners continue to face increasing labour and energy costs. 

ANZ raised its supply disruption factor to an above average rate of 6% in 2024. That would be the equivalent of the loss of both the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria’s oil output for the year on crude markets. 

Meanwhile production at Codelco, the world’s top producer of the red metal, is sitting at 25-year lows and the state-owned firm has admitted that promises of a recovery (which have been made many times in the past) should it pan out this time would be slow.  

Just how quickly conditions can change is clear from the prediction by the Lisbon-based Copper Study Group (ICSG), which as of late October last year was predicting the biggest surplus in a decade on copper markets of nearly half a million tonnes. 

Given developments since then, copper watchers have been forecasting deeper deficits or flipping expected surpluses and upping forecasts for the copper price. 

ANZ sees copper topping $9,000 in the short term and trading above $10,000 over the next 12 months as refined deficits reach 400kt. ING sees copper at $9,000 by the end of the year and concentrate deficits above 1m tonnes in 2025 and 2026. 

This week BMO Capital Markets, not always in the copper bull camp, increased its previous forecast for the long term price of copper to over $9,000. 

Perennial copper bulls Goldman Sachs sees the metal trading at $10,000 a tonne by the end of the year while Capital Economics now sees a $9,250 price by the end of 2024.

As for the long term demand outlook, few analysts have graphs that don’t start in the bottom left corner and end near the upper right.  

Glencore’s Canadian subsidiary has made an additional investment of C$2.1 million in Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSXV: PGE) and its flagship nickel project located in the Stillwater mining district of Montana.

The Stillwater West project – which is also prospective for copper, cobalt, platinum group elements and gold – represents the largest nickel resource in an active US mining district, according to estimates by Stillwater Critical.

In a January 2023 technical report, the company defined 1.6 billion lb. of nickel, copper and cobalt in inferred resources, and 3.8 million oz. of palladium, platinum, rhodium and gold, all contained within 255 million tonnes of material at an average grade of 0.39% nickel equivalent (or 1.19 g/t palladium equivalent).

This resource was 62% higher in tonnage compared to the project’s inaugural estimate, and is contained within five deposits in the 9-kilometre central area of the property, all of which are open along strike and at depth.

The Stillwater district itself has a rich mining history for PGEs, nickel, copper, chromium as well as other commodities. The Stillwater West project is located right next to the high-grade PGE mines operated by Sibanye-Stillwater, which have over 14 million oz. of palladium and platinum in past production.

“We are pleased to have Glencore’s continued support through their participation in this placement as we advance our flagship Stillwater West project as a large-scale source of nine metals that are now listed as critical in the US,” Stillwater CEO Michael Rowley said in a news release.

In total, the company has raised C$2.5 million via a private placement of units priced at C$0.14 each, with Glencore’s order being by far the largest. The units have an exercise price of C$0.21, and would provide up to C$1.875 million in additional funding should they be exercised.

Last June, the commodity trading giant made its first investment by purchasing C$4.94 million worth of Stillwater Critical’s units, then priced at C$0.25 each, to gain a 9.99% interest in the company on a non-diluted basis.

Shares in Stillwater Critical Minerals closed Thursday’s session 3.5% higher at C$0.145 apiece. The company has a market capitalization of C$28.7 million.

Leveraging breakthroughs in extracting lithium from oil field brines, Volt Lithium (TSXV: VLT) is poised to launch commercial lithium carbonate production by 2025, according to President and CEO Alex Wylie.

He says the extraction method offers a sustainable alternative to traditional lithium mining and leverages existing oil industry infrastructure, potentially reducing costs and environmental impact.

“We’ve learned how to produce lithium carbonate in-house, which is a critical milestone for us,” Wylie told The Northern Miner’s western editor, Henry Lazenby, during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s convention this month. “What we’ve learned from the demonstration plant will absolutely put us in a position to start going into commercial production as we move into 2025.”

The ability to produce lithium directly from oil field brines, especially in regions like Alberta, where lithium is pervasive in major formations, could help meet the growing demand for lithium, an essential ingredient for batteries in electric vehicles and renewable energy systems.

Watch the full interview below.

Intramotev, a Missouri-based technology company building autonomous zero-emissions rail solutions, has successfully deployed the world’s first self-propelled battery-electric railcar in a traditional freight train.

The company deployed its railcar retrofit — the ReVolt — at Iron Senergy’s Cumberland mine in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. The car has run for over 1,000 miles between Cumberland and its Alicia Harbor facility.

In late 2023, Intramotev  was awarded a $200,000 grant from Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification to support the deployment of its TugVolt self-propelled railcars at a mining site in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

”We’re excited to deliver the fuel savings and environmental benefits of the ReVolt to our customer Iron Senergy,”  Intramotev CEO Tim Luchini said in a news release. “Today’s news marks an important milestone in our work to decarbonize mining and freight transportation, and we’re just getting started.”

Later this year, the company will deploy its locomotive replacement, TugVolt, at a calcium mine in Northern Michigan.

The new CFO at Goldmoney  is Sean Ty.

LiTHOS Group promoted Joe Fuqua to COO and corporate secretary. Michael Westlake became president, and Gabe Segal is VP strategy and finance.

Montage Gold named Constant Tia its new CFO.

Adventus Mining named Maryse Belanger non-executive board member and chair.

Aranjin Resources added David Wheeler to its board upon the resignation of Peter Trow.

Don Lindsay, former CEO of Teck Resources, has joined the board of BHP.

Canadian Metals added Quentin Yarie to its board.

Collective Mining announced the retirement of Ken Thomas from the board.

Copper Fox appointed Manuel Gomez to the board.

A seat of the board of New Gold has been given to Richard O’Brien.

Orex Minerals named Adam Cegielski as chair.

Sherritt International said Louise Blais and Steven H. Goldman joined the board.

Horizonte Minerals (AIM, TSX: HZM) sank further this week after the company detailed additional funding that will be needed to complete the construction of its Araguaia nickel project in Brazil.

In an update on Thursday, the nickel developer said the total funding required is in the region of $567-$592 million, which is at least $100 million more than the cost-to-complete capital of $454 million estimated in its February 19 release.

The new cost estimate now includes $89 million for pre-production and ramp-up of the nickel mine, general and administration, and working capital required to bring the operation to positive cash flow. It also takes into account $25-$50 million related to transaction costs and a minimum cash contingency.

In addition to these costs, the company said it will need to reach a restructuring solution for the group’s existing liabilities, which, as of March 15, were approximately $418 million. These are comprised of $241 million in senior debt, a $27 million cost over-run facility, $68 million to trade creditors and $82 million of convertible loan notes.

Horizonte said it will also need a restructuring solution for its existing royalties arrangements. In 2019, the company signed an agreement with Orion Mine Finance for an upfront funding of $25 million to advance the Araguaia project. In return, Orion would receive a 2.25% royalty.

In Thursday’s news release, Horizonte said “it continues to hold discussions to restructure the group’s debt in conjunction with seeking a fully funded solution and is actively engaging existing and new potential investors.”

Horizonte’s lack of funds drew the concern of shareholders last fall, when it revealed that costs for the Araguaia project has increased by over a third and first production will be delayed. At the time, it had spent $429 million on Araguaia. The company started building the mine in May 2022, with the aim of producing up to 29,000 tonnes of nickel a year for the stainless steel market.

After announcing the project cost overrun, Horizonte saw its stock price plummet, going from C$2.22 a share in Toronto to trading at C$0.34 within the space of a week. Since then, its share price has continued to decline, now trading at its all-time low of C$0.03 with a market capitalization of C$8.1 million.

Evidently, efforts to raise more funds and alleviate the situation did little to boost investor confidence.

In December, the company secured an interim funding of $20 million, consisting of loans from its three biggest shareholders Orion, Glencore and La Mancha, to keep the Araguaia project alive.

Meanwhile, most construction activities at the nickel project have been paused while Horizonte seeks new sources of funding. Being developed as Brazil’s next major ferronickel mine, the project is subject to a feasibility study confirming the potential for a Tier 1 project producing 14,500 tonnes of nickel annually over a 28-year mine life.

Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB) has signed a key pre-commissioning and commissioning agreement with Reliable Controls (RCC) for the Valentine gold mine in Newfoundland.

RCC, of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a specialized mine and mill commissioning business that has worked successfully with companies such as Teck, Barrick, Newmont and Rio Tinto.

The RCC team will ensure all aspects of operational readiness, including human capital, are in place to create a smooth and efficient transition from construction to steady-state operations.

Calibre’s Valentine gold project will be the largest such mine in Atlantic Canada, producing 195,000 oz. per year for the first 12 years. Production is planned to start in the first quarter of 2025.

The Valentine open pit mine and has estimated proven and probable reserves of 2.7 million oz. of gold in 512.6 million tonnes grading 1.62 g/t gold.

Total measured and indicated resources (inclusive of reserves) contain 3.4 million oz. in 64.6 million tonnes grading 1.90 g/t gold. Additional Inferred resources are 1.1 million oz. in 20.8 million tonnes grading 1.65 g/t gold.

The December 2022 feasibility study gave the project a 22% internal rate of return after taxes at a price of $1,700 per oz. of gold.

Calibre is the sole owner of the project.

Eldorado Gold (TSX: ELD) (NYSE: EGO) said on Thursday that it has filed two separate technical reports related to its Olympias operation in Greece and Efemcukuru operation in Turkey.

These 43-101 technical reports were filed to support updated scientific and technical disclosure in the company’s annual information form, which was also filed on SEDAR Thursday, the Canadian miner said.

There are no material differences between the mineral resources and mineral reserves previously disclosed by the company in relation to the Olympias and Efemcukuru properties and those disclosed in the reports, it added.

In 2023, Efemcukuru produced 86,088 ounces of gold, and its 2024 production is expected to be between 75,000-85,000 oz. Olympias produced 67,133 gold ounces in 2023, and between 75,000-85,000 oz. are projected for 2024.

Shares of MAG Silver (TSX, NYSE American: MAG) rose on Thursday following the release of a new mineral resource estimate for the Juanicipio silver-gold-zinc-lead mine in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico.

Compared to the 2017 preliminary economic assessment (PEA), the updated report indicates a 33% growth in measured and indicated resources, reaching 17 million tonnes at grades of 310 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 1.86 g/t gold, 2.89% lead and 5.32% zinc.

Also reported was the mine’s first mineral reserve estimate, totalling 15.4 million tonnes proven and probable at grades of 248 g/t silver, 1.58 g/t gold, 2.64% lead and 4.80% zinc.

Juanicipio transitioned into commercial production in June 2023. For the calendar year, the mine yielded 16.8 million oz. of silver plus 36,700 oz. of gold, calculated on a 100% owned basis.

In addition to mining, an exploration program is in place at Juanicipio targeting multiple highly prospective targets, the company said.

“In addition to near-mine exploration potential, the overall 7,679-hectare Juanicipio property remains largely unexplored with high potential for the discovery of new mineralization,” it said in a press release.

In the heart of the Fresnillo silver trend of Mexico, the underground mine is jointly owned by MAG, holding a 44% stake, and Fresnillo plc, the world’s largest primary silver producer and its operator, who controls the majority 56%.

Shares of MAG Silver rose 9% by 9 a.m. EDT. The company has a market capitalization of C$1.3 billion ($960 million).

Newmont (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT, ASX: NEM) said on Thursday that it is walking away from the Appaloosa project in Nevada held by Canadian junior Gunpoint Exploration (TSXV: GUN). A notice to terminate an option and earn-in agreement signed in September 2022 between Gunpoint and Newcrest Mining, now part of Newmont, has been issued.

Appaloosa is a 7-km-long mineralized structural zone situated within Gunpoint’s flagship Talapoosa gold-silver property in central Nevada. The entire land package at Talapoosa totals 60.17 square kilometres, with history of exploration dating back to the late 1970s. Gunpoint took over the project in 2010.

Under the prior arrangement, Newcrest had the right to acquire, in multiple stages, up to a 75% interest in Appaloosa for cumulative exploration and development expenditures of $35 million, cash payments totaling $5 million to Gunpoint, and completing a minimum indicated resource estimate of 1.0 million gold ounces.

For the past 18 months, the Australian miner has conducted a property-wide, reconnaissance exploration program on Appaloosa that confirmed the existence of a large, mineralized hydrothermal gold-bearing system.

Surface exploration and initial drilling in two areas identified a large potential hydrothermal cell related to and peripheral to the Talapoosa deposit, while reconnaissance work undertaken on Talapoosa indicated potential extensions of the existing deposit in multiple directions.

Newcrest also recently discovered an unexplored vein trend with a 450-metre strike length with rock chip samples up to 4 g/t gold.

Following Newmont’s termination, Gunpoint will now look to advance the project alone. With this new data, it plans to focus on follow-up exploration of the newly identified Talapoosa targets and prioritize drilling to expand the known deposit and test the new vein systems.

Prior to Newcrest’s involvement, the Talapoosa property was optioned to Timberline Resources between 2015-2018. During that period, Timberline completed a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the project, indicating an after-tax net present value of $136 million (5% discount rate) and an internal rate of return of 38.8%. The capital payback was 3.1 years.

The PEA envisioned an open-pit mining operation with an 11-year life, producing on average 55,000 oz. of gold and 679,000 oz. of silver per year.

Forming the basis of the study was a revised, NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource estimate issued in 2013. The MRE had measured and indicated resources of 1.0 million gold ounces and 13.6 million silver ounces contained within 31.3 million tonnes grading 1.11 g/t gold and 14.97 g/t silver. There is also 11.2 million tonnes inferred grading 0.72 g/t gold and 6.65 g/t silver.

Gold rose again on Thursday and is bound for its biggest monthly rise since November 2022 on the back of a blistering rally spurred by bets on US interest rate cuts and strong safe-haven demand.

Spot gold was up 0.9% to $2,210.80 per ounce by 9:05 a.m. EDT, on track for a monthly gain of over 8% and a second straight quarterly rise. US gold futures edged 1.0% higher at $2,236.20 per ounce.

[Click here for an interactive chart of gold prices]

Gold hit a record high this time last week after the Federal Reserve confirmed plans for three rate cuts in 2024.

Since then, it has held near the all-time peak as traders hunker down for more US data that could influence the central bank’s monetary strategy.

“Gold seems to be on standby after a three-day rally with investors on the sidelines ahead of key US data,” said FXTM senior research analyst Lukman Otunuga in a Reuters note.

On the radar are the weekly US initial jobless claims report due later in the day, followed by the US core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index report on Friday.

“More signs of cooling price pressures may reinforce expectations around the Fed cutting rates – ultimately boosting appetite for gold. However, a sticky report is likely to drag the precious metal lower,” Otunuga added.

On the flip side, Fed Governor Christopher Waller stressed that recent economic data would warrant a delay or a reduced amount of interest rate cuts.

“The market therefore seems to be underestimating the risk that US rate cuts will come later and be less substantial,” Commerzbank said in a note.

Traders are currently pricing in a 64% chance of a June cut, Reuters said, citing CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

(With files from Reuters)