The mining industry briefing
The latest news, trends, and data from the mining industry
News in numbers
$94m
Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia has made a $94m offer to acquire Australian lithium exploration company Essential Metals, via a Scheme of Arrangement.
$74m
Orea Mining has announced plans to pay $74m to Nordgold for its stake in the Montagne d’Or gold project in French Guiana.
$50m
Canadian firm Excellon Resources has agreed to acquire the La Negra mine in Mexico from an entity owned by investment fund manager Orion Resources, for a total consideration of $50m.
$40m
The Mongolian Mining Corporation will invest $40m in Erdene’s wholly owned subsidiary, EM, in three stages. In exchange, MMC will acquire a 50% stake in EM.
$20m
Skeena Resources has divested a 0.5% net smelter returns royalty on its past-producing Eskay Creek gold-silver project in Canada to Franco-Nevada for a cash consideration of $20m.
Project updates
The US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has offered a conditional loan of up to $700m to Ioneer to fund the development of the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project in Nevada.
Upon finalisation, the financing will be used for the processing component of the Rhyolite Ridge project, where lithium is planned to be extracted and refined at the site. Ioneer has finalised a term sheet and offer with the department for the loan, which will last for ten years.
Canada-based Rock Tech Lithium has secured approval to initiate early construction work on its lithium converter in Guben, Germany.
The permission allows the company to start essential groundwork and the construction of roads, office and storage buildings. Rock Tech plans to commence the first major work on-site at the proposed plant within the upcoming weeks.
Caledonia Mining has added the Bilboes gold project in Zimbabwe to its portfolio after concluding the acquisition of Bilboes Gold, which owns the gold asset through its Zimbabwe subsidiary Bilboes Holdings.
According to the shares plus royalty deal, which was signed in 2022, Caledonia will issue 5,123,044 shares, representing 28.5% of its fully diluted share capital and a 1% net smelter royalty on the revenues from the project.
Rio Tinto’s Guinea unit has signed a non-binding term sheet with China Baowu Steel Group to build infrastructure for the Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea. Located in south-east Guinea, the Simandou mine is estimated to hold more than four billion tonnes of ore, making it the largest known deposit of its kind.
In July 2022, Rio’s Guinea unit formed a joint venture with Winning Consortium Simandou and the Guinean Government to develop the rail and port infrastructure required to transport high-grade iron ore from the mine to market.
FURTHER READING
Biggest European rare earths deposit found in Sweden
Swedish state-owned miner LKAB has discovered, what it claims to be Europe’s largest known deposit of rare earth oxides, in the Per Geijer area near Kiruna.
The firm has identified mineral resources of more than one million tonnes of rare earth oxides, which are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles and wind turbines, among other applications.
LKAB president and group CEO Jan Moström said: “This is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements in our part of the world, and it could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition.”
Source: Mining Technology
