- BREAKING NEWS - PM Justin Trudeau is stepping down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Party. Parliament is being prorogued until March 24th. The Leadership process for the Liberal Party has been initiated with a possible election to occur as early as May 2025. READ MORE
- Copper supply outlook too rosy; permitting reform could help – Hudbay CEO. READ MORE
- Want to know where the Loonie is headed? Watch the Greenback. The US dollar's bull run is likely to stretch well into 2025 as domestic economic growth and slower cuts to benchmark interest rates further bolster the greenback. Fed cuts would normally weaken the dollar, but the recent outlook for a slowdown in policy easing has had the opposite effect. READ MORE
- Biden blocks U.S. Steel sale to Nippon Steel. READ MORE
- Advisers urge Trump to end environmental reviews for US-funded mines. READ MORE
- The US Forest Service issued the final mining permit for Perpetua Resources Corp.'s Stibnite gold-antimony project in Idaho, Reuters reported. Stibnite is expected to produce 450,000 ounces of gold per year and supply more than 35% of the annual antimony needs of the US upon opening in 2028. READ MORE
- New law could spur Philippine nickel mining to new heights. READ MORE
- PT Freeport Indonesia is in talks with the Indonesian government to continue its copper concentrate exports until the Manyar smelter in Gresik, East Java, resumes full operations. Manyar was temporarily suspended in October 2024 following a fire, but repairs are ongoing, and a ramp-up is expected to start mid-2025. READ MORE
- Indonesian Attorney General's Office accused five tin companies of colluding with state-run PT Timah Tbk in an illegal mining scheme that resulted in state losses of about 29 trillion rupiah, Reuters reported. PT Refined Bangka Tin, PT Stanindo Inti Perkasa, PT Tinindo Inter Nusa, PT Sariwiguna Binasentosa, and CV Venus Inti Perkasa were named as "corporate suspects" in the case against Timah, according to Reuters. The five companies allegedly conspired with former Timah executives between 2018 and 2019 to conduct illegal tin mining activities at Timah's concession and to produce fake smelting transactions, the report said. READ MORE
- El Salvador lawmakers voted 57-3 on Dec. 23, 2024, in favor of ending a 2017 mining ban. READ MORE
- BMW, Yamaha invest in rare earths startup Phoenix Tailings. READ MORE
- KoBold Metals Co. raised $537 million in its series C funding round, raising the mining startup's valuation to $2.96 billion. KoBold will use the new funding to expand its critical mineral exploration efforts across five continents, including the Mingomba copper deposit in Zambia. In February 2024, KoBold said Mingomba has the potential to become one of the world's biggest high-grade copper mines, following a significant discovery using AI-based exploration tools. KoBold developed TerraShed, which aggregates historical and scientific data, and Machine Prospector, which uses that data to identify previously unknown mineral deposits. Investors in the funding round include T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Durable Capital Partners LP, Andreessen Horowitz LLC, StepStone Group Inc., and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which is backed by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Jack Ma. In September 2021, KoBold entered an exploration alliance with BHP Group Ltd. to jointly operate and fund exploration programs. READ MORE
- Anglo American faces charges over alleged Los Bronces permit breaches. READ MORE
- China's State Power Investment Corp. Ltd. will start the construction of its alumina processing plant in Guinea in March, Bloomberg News reported. The refinery is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027 and will have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million metric tons of alumina. READ MORE
- Vale SA committed spending up to 11 billion Brazilian reais to renegotiate its concession contracts for the Carajás Railway and Vitória a Minas Railway in Brazil. READ MORE
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