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 operations beginning at the Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea, northern Ontario First Nations working to safeguard consent and treaty rights amid the push to fast-track major projects, and a new international venture to produce battery materials.

A United Kingdom court ruled on Friday that BHP is liable for the damage caused by the 2015 tailings impoundment failure at the Samarco iron ore mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, which the company jointly owns with Vale. The Fundão tailings dam collapse killed 19 people, inundated the town of Bento Rodrigues and sent mine waste into a nearby waterway. In 2024, BHP and Vale struck a US$32 billion agreement with Brazilian authorities to compensate over 600,000 people who had made damage claims. BHP has stated it will appeal the latest decision, arguing it duplicates the existing agreement.

The decision came on the heels of ICMM’s recent Tailings Progress Report, which noted 67 per cent of its 836 member tailings facilities are now in full conformance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), Mehanaz Yakub reported for CIM Magazine. While full alignment with the standard remains challenging, implementing the GISTM has already resulted in significant improvements in tailings engineering, management and governance.

Canada Nickel’s Crawford project in Ontario, Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie graphite project in Quebec and Northcliff Resources’ Sisson tungsten project in New Brunswick are among the second tranche of projects being submitted to the federal government’s newly established Major Projects Office for review and possible fast-tracking. The government stated in a Nov. 13 press release that the seven initiatives announced this week will represent more than $56 billion in new investment and “support 68,000 good-paying careers.”

ELYSIS, a joint venture between Rio Tinto and Alcoa, has successfully started up its 450-kiloampere inert anode cell at Rio Tinto’s Alma smelter in Quebec, representing the first commercial-scale implementation of this technology. The cell enables high-amperage aluminum production with no direct carbon emissions from the smelting process. The company plans to advance its inert anode cell technology to full commercial maturity by 2030.

In other Rio Tinto news, the Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea—which the company developed under a joint venture partnership with the Guinean government and several other companies—officially commenced operations this week. Simandou is now Africa’s largest greenfield integrated mine and infrastructure project, featuring over 600 kilometres of rail and port facilities, and will support up to 120 million tonnes of iron ore exports annually. The mine is expected to significantly influence global iron ore supply and pricing, particularly by increasing high-grade ore availability and exerting pressure on higher-cost producers.

Chiefs from the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a territorial organization representing 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, are collaborating on a plan to ensure Canada’s federal and provincial governments respect their treaty and inherent rights as major projects get under way next year, The Globe and Mail reported. A resolution was passed this week to develop the action plan, which seeks to uphold the right to free, prior and informed consent as governments work to fast-track certain projects, such as the construction of a road to the Ring of Fire region.

Global Battery Materials launched this week as a vertically integrated critical minerals and technology company, bringing together South Korea’s SongWoo EM and Canada’s G6 Energy. The new company aims to establish an independent graphite-based anode supply chain with no reliance on China, serving the electric vehicle and energy storage markets. Combining G6’s past-producing Kearney graphite mine in Ontario with SongWoo’s pilot plant and research centre in South Korea, the company aims to begin producing active anode material by 2028.

Barrick Mining is reviewing its operations to cut unplanned downtime and improve worker safety amid a refocus on its North American assets, Mining.com reported. Interim CEO Mark Hill said the review is halfway complete, with additional details expected in February. The review comes after a roaster failure during the third quarter at Barrick’s Carlin complex in Nevada, which temporarily halted production, as well as three worker fatalities that occurred at separate sites.

More third quarter results were released this week from Osisko Development, Hudbay Minerals, Orla Mining, Taseko Mines and DPM Metals.

ICMM’s public Global Mining Dataset, released in September, maps 15,188 operational mines and processing facilities across 47 commodities globally, with the aim of closing data gaps in the mining industry, Sara King-Abadi reported for CIM Magazine. Excluding artisanal and historical sites, it provides a transparent, growing resource that could help to inform decisions, research and policy in the industry.

Mining faces significant uncertainty stemming from concerns like commodity prices and geopolitics, yet current mine planning favours economies of scale over flexibility, Tijana Mitrovic reported for CIM Magazine. Industry experts highlighted more adaptable planning approaches, which could involve smaller-scale operations, in-situ or near-situ extraction, and self-learning systems.

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?