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 Torex Gold entering a sustainability-linked loan, Canada and U.S. trade ministers meeting to talk Mexico mining reforms and the Barrick Gold CEO speaking out against “nationalistic” political rhetoric around the proposed Glencore takeover of Teck.

There were several thought-provoking keynote speeches and panel discussions at the CIM Convention + Expo 2023 in Montreal this week, where industry experts talked about different aspects of the conference theme of “Building Trust to Decarbonize the World.” On Monday, the opening keynote and panel discussion looked at how changing mindsets can be a large part of building trust among all stakeholders, while Tuesday’s keynote and panel discussion highlighted the importance of innovation and collaboration for decarbonization efforts. Wednesday’s panel discussion built on these topics and introduced the idea of promoting “Brand Canada” or “Team Canada” to help the domestic mining industry demonstrate its ESG best practices, and the lunchtime keynote later that day looked at three key things companies need to invest in for the decarbonization journey.

B2Gold’s senior vice-president of finance and CFO Michael Cinnamond started his term as 2023-2024 CIM President this week, and talked to CIM Magazine’s Ailbhe Goodbody about his vision for the upcoming year. With almost two decades of experience at CIM, he believes that the Institute plays a crucial role in promoting knowledge and sharing best practices within the mining industry. He also spoke about how he got involved in the mining sector and why he thinks it is such an exciting and rewarding industry to work in.

BHP completed its acquisition of OZ Minerals on Tuesday for A$9.6 billion, purchasing 100 per cent of the Australia-based copper miner’s shares for A$28.25 per share, as reported by Mining Technology. Its shareholders approved the takeover offer in April, and OZ Minerals has now been removed from the official list of the ASX. The acquisition is expected to strengthen BHP’s copper and nickel portfolio, which CEO Mike Henry said is part of the company’s strategy to meet the increasing demand for critical minerals needed for the energy transition. OZ Minerals owns and operates the Prominent Hill copper-gold mine and the Carrapateena copper-gold mine in South Australia. Its portfolio also includes the Carajás East copper-gold hub in Brazil, which comprises the Pedra Branca copper-gold mine, the Antas Norte processing plant and several exploration projects. In 2022, it began construction of the West Musgrave copper-nickel project in Western Australia, which is targeting first copper concentrate in H2 2025. Last year, OZ Minerals produced 124,065 tonnes of copper and 211,147 ounces of gold, with group revenue of A$1.92 billion and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of A$692.7 million. In its final quarterly report for the quarter ending March 31, it reported production of 31,362 tonnes of copper and 46,722 ounces of gold.

Newcrest Mining’s interim CEO Sherry Duhe said the company’s board is amenable to recommending Newmont’s takeover offer to its shareholders, as reported by BNN Bloomberg. Newmont made a US$19.5 billion offer for Newcrest on April 10, and has an exclusivity deed with Newcrest until May 12 that granted it access to conduct confirmatory due diligence. Duhe said on Thursday that after Newcrest’s board conducted its own due diligence on Newmont, “the latest offer is one that the board would be prepared to recommend subject to successful due diligence during the period.” If successful, the deal would create the world’s largest gold mining company, with sites in North and South America, Africa, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Torex Gold announced on Thursday it has entered into a sustainability-linked loan, which includes a pricing incentive for hitting certain sustainability performance targets (SPTs). These targets include safety, climate change and alignment with the World Gold Council’s Responsible Gold Mining Principles, a framework for gold mining businesses to follow to ensure that gold is being produced in an ethical and sustainable fashion. The amendments to its existing $150 million revolving credit facility and its $100 million term loan have been set for fiscal years 2023 and 2024.

Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met on Tuesday to discuss Mexico’s recent energy and mining reforms, reported Reuters. According to a statement from Global Affairs Canada, Ng said the two countries need to work together to address “shared concerns” relating to the new set of laws. As reported in CIM Magazine’s April 28 weekly mining news recap, the reforms for the mining sector include shortening concessions from 50 to 15 years, tightening rules for water permits and incorporating requirements for companies to return at least 10 per cent of profits to communities and disclose mining impacts.

Mark Bristow, CEO of Barrick Gold, said the political rhetoric around Glencore’s bid for Teck is “inward looking and nationalistic” and could potentially hurt Canada’s mining industry, as reported in the North Bay Nugget. Recently, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson stated it is valuable for large companies to be headquartered within Canada, and British Columbia Premier David Eby said he would lobby against the proposed takeover. Bristow said it would not be an effective long-term strategy for Ottawa to block the potential deal, as Canada is a big player in global mining and needs access to foreign markets and industries.

Teck Resources CEO Jonathan Price exercised nearly 90,000 options in Teck stock on April 28 and sold the securities, resulting in a multimillion-dollar profit, as reported by the Globe and Mail. Price exercised the options early, as they were due to expire between 2030 to 2032. The share sale happened three days after Teck’s quarterly earnings were released, and two days after the company called off its plan to split its metals and coal divisions into two separate companies.

There are several challenges associated with implementing Advanced Process Control (APC) in mineral processing plants, wrote Aisimpro’s Ali Vazirizadeh in the March/April issue of CIM Magazine. Despite numerous papers published recognizing the value of APC, many plants still employ basic strategies, as technical, cultural and economic factors pose challenges to its deployment. To overcome these challenges, Vazirizadeh suggested incorporating APC strategies into control philosophies and providing undergraduate training on the fundamentals of APC.

Several 2023 first quarter results came out this week. Here are the highlights:

Barrick Gold produced 952,000 ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of US$1,370/ounce and 88 million pounds of copper. It also announced the declaration of a dividend of $0.10 per share for the first quarter of 2023. The company’s EBITDA was US$1.2 billion.

Argonaut Gold produced 38,585 gold equivalent ounces at an AISC of $1,947 per ounce. It also reported a net loss of $10.4 million and that the first gold pour at its Magino project in Ontario was on track for late May.

Wheaton Precious Metals sold 62,605 ounces of gold, down 19.6 per cent as compared to the same period last year. The company reported net earnings of US$111 million.

Lundin Mining produced 36,000 ounces of gold, 61,462 tonnes of copper, 48,553 tonnes of zinc and 3,724 tonnes of nickel. It reported an EBITDA of US$337 million. The company also announced a regular quarterly dividend of $0.09 per share.

Taseko produced 25 million pounds of copper and 234 thousand pounds of molybdenum and reported an EBITDA of $36 million.

And in case you missed it last week, Teck provided its figures for the first quarter. The company produced 57,000 tonnes of copper, 145,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate, 55,000 tonnes of refined zinc and 6.2 million tonnes of metallurgical coal for an EBITDA of $1.97 billion. Teck also noted it began producing copper concentrate from its QB2 project in Chile in late March.

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?