Welcome back to your weekly mining news recap. At the end of every week we’ll catch you up on the mining news from CIM Magazine and elsewhere that you might have missed. Among this edition’s headlines: Teck Resources resumes production at Elkview, miners in the United States seek to lift a ban on uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, and maintenance work slows Suncor’s Syncrude oil sands project.

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Teck Resources resumed commercial production at its Elkview operations following an almost two-month halt in production to repair its coal dryer after a January explosion. The company adjusted its coal sales volumes for the first quarter of 2018 to approximately six million tonnes, down from previous estimates of 6.3 million to 6.5 million tonnes.

South of the border, U.S. mining groups are petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn an Obama-administration ban on uranium mining on public land near the Grand Canyon. The National Mining Association (NMA) and American Exploration and Mining Association (AEMA) claim the ban is overly cautious and based on speculative environmental risks. Supporters of the ban are concerned about the risk uranium extraction would carry to contaminate local wildlife, plants, and the Colorado River.

The Mongolian Anti-Corruption Authority has requested financial data from Rio Tinto subsidiary Turquoise Hill Resources related to its Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine. According to a Turquoise Hill news release, the request relates to a “possible abuse of power by authorized officials” during 2009 negotiations over the Oyu Tolgoi investment agreement. The release added there is “no indication” in the information provided to suggest that Oyu Tolgoi itself is subject to investigation. Turquoise Hill was hit with a US$155-million tax bill from Mongolia in January, and invoked force majeure the same month due to protests by Chinese coal haulers.

Suncor Energy’s Syncrude oil sands project in Alberta will operate at reduced rates for the first quarter due to maintenance work on an unspecified issue that the company has said is constraining capacity. The maintenance was scheduled for April but has been moved forward by about a month, Suncor said on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, Vancouver exploration company First Cobalt agreed to buy US Cobalt Inc, which has properties in Idaho, in an all-stock deal worth about $149.9 million. Bloomberg reported that First Cobalt is trying to fast-track its ability to begin producing cobalt. In June 2017 First Cobalt merged with Cobalt One and CobaltTech, as part of a flurry of mergers and acquisitions around the town of Cobalt, Ontario where a cobalt staking rush has been taking place.

Speaking of cobalt: on Wednesday Reuters reported the Democratic Republic of the Congo would designate cobalt and coltan “strategic” minerals that will earn the country a 10 per cent royalty, up from two per cent previously. The DRC is the world’s largest source of cobalt, which is used in batteries. Strategic minerals are those that the government considers important for the “economic, social and industrial future of the country.” President Joseph Kabila signed the country’s new mining code into law last Friday.