Welcome back to your weekly mining news recap, where we catch you up on some of the news you may have missed. This week’s headlines include the latest from Teck on spinning off its steelmaking coal assets, Imperial Metals reporting higher quarterly production at its B.C. mines and Electra Battery Materials’ new deal, which nearly triples its cobalt supply to LG Energy Solutions. 

After failing to meet a two-year deadline to establish deep-sea mining regulations, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Council must “consider and provisionally approve” applications two years after they are submitted, whether regulations are finalized or not, as reported by Reuters. While no application to begin mining has been received by the ISA to date, it said if it received an application for a “plan of work” before it completed mining regulations, it would prioritize deciding how the two-year rule should be applied at its next meeting.  

On Thursday, Vale reached two separate agreements to sell a 13 per cent stake in its base metals business for US$3.4 billion, as reported by Reuters. A join venture formed by Saudi Arabian Mining Co and the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will acquire a 10 per cent stake in Vale SA’s multi-billion-dollar nickel and copper operations, while Engine No. 1, a U.S. investment firm, will acquire three per cent. The sales are part of its strategy to boost its copper and nickel output.

Teck Resources Ltd. is still considering several offers for its steelmaking coal operations while attempting to avoid a takeover by Glencore Plc., as reported by Bloomberg News. The announcement was made on Thursday during Teck’s earnings call and comes more than five months after it initially brought forth plans to spin off its coal assets from its base metals operations. CEO Jonathan Price said they are considering a “number of structures” proposed by multiple interested buyers.

In its second quarter results, Teck reported an employee fatality at its Quebrada Blanca project, and Price said “learnings from the investigation are being shared across Teck and with industry peers to prevent future incidents.” The company also reported the first sale of copper concentrate at its Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project as it ramps up to full production later this year.

The Canadian government is expected to publish the final regulations of a plan to cap and cut greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector by mid-2024, as reported by Reuters. Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told Reuters the government will table draft regulations by October and then consult with provinces, Indigenous groups, civil society and industry. The cap, which was first promised in Trudeau’s 2021 election campaign, envisions limits on emissions or potentially raising the carbon price to incentivize driving down emissions. 

Due to China imposing export restrictions on certain germanium and gallium products, the Pentagon plans to issue a first-time contract to U.S. or Canadian companies by year-end to recover gallium from waste, as reported by Bloomberg. The metals are typically extracted during mining operations for other materials and treated as waste products outside of China due to the expense of processing and refining them. The Pentagon has access to reserves of germanium, but not gallium, and both metals are essential to the semiconductor, telecommunications and renewable energy industries. Contracts will be given to companies to recover gallium from “existing waste streams of other products” to make it available sooner.

Imperial Metals Corporation reported higher second quarter copper and gold output from its Mount Polley and Red Chris mines in B.C. Together, the two mines produced a total of 11.2 million pounds of copper and 14,289 ounces of gold compared to 10.2 million pounds of copper and 13,129 ounces of gold, which were produced in the previous quarter. The Mount Polley mine, which is 100 per cent owned by Imperial Metals, produced 7.1 million pounds of copper and 10,185 ounces of gold, and Imperial’s 30 per cent share of the Red Chris mine produced the remaining amount.

Electra Battery Materials Corporation announced it will increase the amount of battery-grade cobalt supplied to LG Energy Solutions from an initial agreement of 7,000 tonnes between 2023 and 2025 to 19,000 tonnes from 2025 to 2029, as reported by The Financial Post. In the new deal, it will provide 3,000 tonnes in 2025 and 4,000 tonnes each year after that until 2029. The metal will come from Electra’s cobalt sulfate refinery in Ontario, which will not be completed this year as planned. Electra has not announced new timelines for the refinery yet.

A team of researchers including Queen’s University associate professor Christopher Spencer has discovered that the breakup of tectonic plates is the main driving force behind the generation and eruption of diamond-rich magmas from deep inside the earth, which could inform future diamond discoveries, as reported by the Canadian Mining Journal. The findings, published in Nature, could help identify possible locations and timings of past volcanic eruptions tied to this process, offering insights that could lead to diamond deposit discoveries.

Efficiency and emissions reductions are among the gains from the evolving technology for shotcrete and the equipment designed to apply it. In the June/July issue of CIM Magazine, Ailbhe Goodbody highlights innovations in the preferred ground support method for both mining and tunnelling.

Here are some highlights from this week’s quarterly reports:

Alamos Gold Inc. produced 136,000 ounces of gold, at an all-in-sustaining cost (AISC) of US$1,112 per ounce. Alamos Gold reported net earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of US$138.9 million and declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.025 per share. The company stated that the phase 3+ expansion at its Island Gold mine in Ontario is “progressing well” with the construction of the hoist house nearly completed, the headframe well underway and shaft sinking on track to start in the fourth quarter of 2023. 

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited produced 873,204 ounces of gold at an AISC of US$1,150 per ounce. Agnico Eagle reported a net income of US$326.8 million and declared a quarterly cash dividend of US$0.40 per share. This was the company’s first quarter with full ownership of the Canadian Malartic complex in Quebec and it reached a milestone by pouring its seven millionth gold ounce since achieving commercial production in 2011.

Eldorado Gold produced 109,435 ounces of gold at an AISC of US$1,296. Production decreased by four per cent from Q2 2022, due to lower throughput at its Lamaque operation in Val d’Or, Quebec due to wildfires in the region and lower average gold grade and recoveries at its Olympias mine in Greece. Eldorado Gold reported an EBITDA of US$106.8 million.

That’s all for this week. If you’ve got feedback, you can always reach us at editor@cim.org. If you’ve got something to add, why not join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram pages?