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 CIM Capital Projects Symposium, St Barbara’s prefeasibility study and global zinc oversupply.

Sweden-based H2 Green Steel has begun talks with the Canadian federal government to potentially build a €3-6 billion (approx. $4.3-8.7 billion) plant that would produce green steel from Quebec iron ore, as reported by Bloomberg. The proposed steel plant near Sept-Îles, Quebec, would begin construction in 2026, starting production in 2030, and would employ up to 2,000 workers if a full steel mill was implemented. Founded in 2021, H2 Green Steel is building a factory in Boden, Sweden, that is slated to begin production in late 2025. Vargas Holding is a major backer of H2 Green Steel, and also owns Northvolt, the battery maker that recently announced a $7 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Quebec.

Newmont’s US$16.8 billion acquisition of Newcrest was approved by Newmont shareholders on Wednesday, and Newcrest shareholders on Friday. Newmont shareholders voted 96 per cent in favour. This follows Newmont’s announcement of a definitive agreement in May and the transaction is expected to close in early November.

Osisko Development’s Cariboo gold project has been granted an environmental certificate by the B.C. provincial government, as reported by Business in Vancouver. Osisko estimated the capital cost of Phase 1 will be $137 million, with a total lifetime capital spend of $1 billion. The miner is aiming for first gold production to begin in 2024. The B.C. government expects that the mine will employ 500 people during operations.

The CIM Capital Projects Symposium will take place from Nov. 19 to 21 in Vancouver, exploring the elements of successful project execution. The symposium will bring a broad view of macro perspectives, networking opportunities as well as opportunities for in-person collaboration. Registration is now open.

St Barbara has released a prefeasibility study for its 15 Mile gold project in Nova Scotia, as reported by Mining.com. The study estimated that $182 million of capital will be needed to bring the project into production and that it could produce up to 60,000 gold ounces a year over an 11-year mine life. The estimated post-tax net present value is $174 million using an internal rate of return of 20.3 per cent. 

The International Lead and Zinc Study Group predicted the global refined zinc market will have a surprising surplus of 248,000 tonnes in 2023, compared to the previously forecast 45,000 tonne deficit earlier this year, as reported by Reuters. Weak demand, particularly in China, has caused prices to slide 16 per cent from the start of the year. The metal is heavily used in steelmaking and automobile production.

Teck Resources’ CEO Jonathan Price said that the company is not exclusively looking at price as it prepares to sell its coal business, and will consider other factors including environmental record and execution risk, as reported by Bloomberg. Teck has said that its coal business could be sold off as a unit or in parts as it becomes a standalone metals producer. The eventual deal will need to be approved by the federal government, which has stressed the importance of environmental track records and maintaining a local workforce.

In order to restore investor confidence, miners must commit to high-quality prefeasibility and feasibility studies, wrote Manochehr Oliazadeh in the September/October issue of CIM Magazine. During the super cycle in 2014, some companies saved time by forgoing metallurgical testwork and engineering, which ultimately resulted in cost and schedule overruns. The post-2014 low metal prices and cutthroat funding market exacerbated this problem and ushered in a new normal of low-quality prefeasibility and feasibility studies, he argues.

Newmont has reached a preliminary agreement with the workers’ union at its Peñasquito gold mine in Zacatecas, Mexico. The union has been striking since June 7 and is close to resuming operations. The preliminary agreement was ratified by the union’s general assembly, and is in the process of being formalized into an official agreement.

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?