In 2025, Iamgold expects that its Côté Gold mine in northern Ontario will produce between 250,000 and 280,000 ounces of gold. Courtesy of Iamgold.
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 Ontario Premier Doug Ford proposing a Canada-U.S. strategic partnership, Barrick halting its Mali operations, and an advancing salt mine project on the Rock.
Alamos Gold will start construction on its Lynn Lake gold project in Manitoba this year, and is targeting first production for the first half of 2028. Lynn Lake is expected to produce 176,000 ounces of gold annually during its first decade of operation and the project’s capital costs are estimated to be around $1 billion. The company also reported a record 567,000 ounces of gold produced in 2024, marking a seven per cent increase from the previous year.
Iamgold produced 667,000 ounces of gold in 2024, up 43 per cent from 2023, fuelled by the ramp-up of its Côté Gold mine in northern Ontario and strong performance at its Essakane gold mine in Burkina Faso, as reported by Engineering News. For 2025, Iamgold anticipates a total gold production of 885,000 to 980,000 ounces, with an all-in sustaining cost of US$1,625 to US$1,800 per ounce.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has proposed a joint investment with the U.S. to boost Teck Resources’ germanium production at its Trail smelter in B.C., as reported by The Globe and Mail. Wilkinson emphasized the importance of collaboration to reduce reliance on China after the country’s export ban on germanium to the U.S. announced in late 2024. Wilkinson also pushed for G7 discussions on metals pricing, with the aim of countering China’s market influence and providing stability for investors in critical minerals.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also attempted to strengthen the U.S.-Canada relationship this week by proposing a strategic partnership with the U.S. that seeks to strengthen North America’s critical minerals supply chain, as reported by Bloomberg. Part of the plan focuses on speeding up mining project approvals in Canada and expanding mineral processing capacity in North America. As incoming U.S. president Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian goods when he takes office next week, Ford also warned of retaliatory actions, including potentially cutting electricity exports from Ontario to the U.S.
Barrick Gold announced on Jan. 14 that it will temporarily suspend mining operations in Mali after the local government seized around three tonnes of gold stocks, valued at approximately US$245 million, from its Loulo-Gounkoto complex, as reported by The Globe and Mail. The gold was transported to the state-owned Banque Malienne de Solidarité. This announcement follows last week’s update that the company remains restricted from shipping gold from Loulo-Gounkoto as Mali continues to push for a larger share of mining revenue.
Norwegian company Vianode has secured a multibillion-dollar deal to supply synthetic graphite to General Motors for electric vehicles, as reported by The Globe and Mail. Vianode plans to build a synthetic graphite plant in North America, with production set to begin in the second half of 2027. The Globe and Mail speculated that Ontario will be the plant’s location as Vianode has created a Canadian subsidiary and is hiring staff in engineering and project construction in the Toronto area. Once in production, the company expects the plant to produce up to 150,000 tonnes of synthetic graphite annually.
Taseko Mines anticipates that increased mill availability at its Gibraltar copper mine in B.C. will increase annual production to 120 to 130 million pounds, with the increased production rate occurring in the second half of 2025, as reported by Canadian Mining Journal. This is an increase from the 106 million pounds of copper the mine produced in 2024. The company also shared that construction of its Florence in-situ copper recovery project in Arizona is 56 per cent complete, and the project is on track for first production by year-end.
Atlas Salt plans to develop the Great Atlantic Salt deposit in Newfoundland and Labrador into North America’s first new underground salt mine in almost 30 years, as reported by The Northern Miner. The project would produce up to 2.5 million tonnes of rock salt per year. The deposit, one of the continent’s largest shallow salt reserves, has an indicated mineral resource totalling 383 million tonnes of indicated sodium chloride grading 96 per cent. Atlas Salt completed an updated feasibility study last May, with the company aiming to secure financing for the $1.1 billion project in the first half of the year.
Despite difficult times for lithium producers, Winsome Resources believes that its Adina project in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay has a unique advantage, positioning the company to capitalize on the expected lithium supply shortage forecasted around 2028 to 2029, as reported by Ailbhe Goodbody for the December/January issue of CIM Magazine. Winsome plans to acquire the nearby Renard diamond mine for $52 million and repurpose its plant to process lithium, which could save the company significant capital costs compared to building a new facility.
In the final article in our Mining and Mental Health series, researchers emphasized the need to collect more data to identify where mental health interventions would be most effective in the workplace, as reported by Silvia Pikal for the December/January issue of CIM Magazine. Experts argue that understanding the factors that drive issues like depression and PTSD in mining workers is critical for developing targeted solutions, and recommended that mining companies partnering with researchers in the private or public sector would allow such data to be collected cost effectively while maintaining workers’ privacy.
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?
