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Welcome back to your Friday mining news recap. It’s cold outside, but the news is hot this week. In the headlines: Mount Polley is temporarily closing, Pan American is taking over Tahoe Resources, and an Israeli mining company has discovered a new mineral.

Imperial Metals is temporarily closing its controversial Mount Polley mine due to a decline in copper prices. Copper prices have seen a sharp decline since the middle of 2018, and currently sit around US$2.60 per pound. Imperial Metals said the shutdown will not affect the ongoing environmental monitoring and remediation work at the mine.

Israeli mining company Shefa Yamim discovered a mineral now dubbed carmeltazite, which until this point was thought to have its origins in outer space, near Israel’s Mount Carmel. The mineral was found in sapphire and is mainly composed of titanium, aluminum and zirconium.

Zijin Mining bought another three per cent of Nevsun Resources’ outstanding shares for $57 million and acquired the last eight per cent by compulsory acquisition this week. The $1.86-billion takeover deal was announced in September, and once completed, Zijin plans to de-list Nevsun from the TSX and NYSE.

Pan American Silver and Tahoe Resources shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of Pan American’s US$1.067-billion acquisition on Tuesday. The votes came days after three activist groups asked the B.C. Securities Commission to investigate both companies’ shareholder disclosures regarding the risks related to Tahoe’s shuttered Escobal silver mine in Guatemala.

A week after a small group of Guyana Goldfields shareholders announced a campaign to replace the company’s board of directors, founder and former chairman Patrick Sheridan has asked the TSX to monitor any company transactions in the coming months. Sheridan, who’s leading the shareholder group, told the Financial Post this week that he thought Guyana Goldfields had become a “sitting duck” for companies looking to take it over due to the drop in its share price.

Last night was the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame’s annual induction dinner. Hosted, for the last time, by Pierre Lassonde in a metallic gold suit, the dinner recognized mining’s outstanding achievers. For a primer on 2019’s slate of inductees, check out our story from October, or take a deep dive on Kate Carmack, aka Shaaw Tláa, the first ever Indigenous woman to be named to the Hall’s ranks and the fifth member of the prospecting group that launched the Klondike Gold Rush.

On the hunt for some weekend reading? We’ve got a profile of Ontario’s first gold mine in a decade, Harte Gold’s Sugar Zone. The road to production was a long one, but it wasn’t enough to sour the company on this sweet (get it?) project.