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 Boroo eyeing the revival of the Eagle gold mine in the Yukon, a legal warning from the Canadian federal government for Stelco’s parent company and Teck facing a strike threat at its Highland Valley Copper operation in British Columbia.

Hudbay Minerals Inc. and Mitsubishi approved construction of the Copper World project in Arizona on Wednesday, The Northern Miner reported. An updated feasibility study for the project outlined an anticipated production start during the second half of 2029 and an average annual production of 102,000 tonnes of copper during its first decade. The $2.9 billion project has a planned 15-year mine life, with the potential to extend it to 37 years. Mitsubishi owns 30 per cent of the project, while Hudbay holds the remaining 70 per cent.

Sherritt International secured a U.S. government licence on Tuesday, allowing fuel and sulfur shipments to its Moa nickel operation in Cuba so it can prepare for a restart, The Canadian Press reported. Sherritt suspended direct participation in its Cuban joint ventures in May after the United States expanded sanctions targeting foreign companies doing business in certain sectors of Cuba’s economy, including mining. The company is now seeking an additional U.S. licence required to restart mining and processing at Moa.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled an $8.7 billion joint plan on Wednesday to support industries affected by U.S. tariffs, The Globe and Mail reported. Over $5 billion will go towards strengthening Ontario’s steel sector, while $2.5 billion will support the automotive industry. Ottawa is also committing up to $1 billion over three years to build roads to the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario to support critical minerals development.

Boroo will acquire Victoria Gold Corp. and its inactive Eagle mine in the Yukon for up to $140 million, offering a potential path to restart operations after a 2024 heap leach failure, The Northern Miner reported. The deal remains subject to court and regulatory approval. Boroo, a private investment firm based in Singapore, is planning to spend about $800 million for environmental rehabilitation and restart activities. Re-permitting the site could take around four years.

On Thursday, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly gave Cleveland-Cliffs, Stelco’s U.S.-based owner, 15 days to reverse planned layoffs affecting up to 500 workers at its Hamilton, Ontario, plant or face possible legal action, CBC News reported. The government says the cuts would breach employment commitments made when the company purchased Stelco in 2024, which were meant to protect jobs through 2029. Cleveland-Cliffs blames U.S. steel tariffs and weak sales, arguing the layoffs are necessary for the company’s survival.

Teck Resources Limited received a strike notice on Wednesday from United Steelworkers Local 7619 at its Highland Valley Copper operations in British Columbia, Reuters reported. The union could begin strike action as early as 8 a.m. PT on Saturday, following the expiration of the site’s collective agreement on Sept. 30.

Buffalo Potash has received approval from the Saskatchewan government to construct and operate the initial production module at its Disley potash project, located around 50 kilometres northwest of Regina. The module is the first of three planned facilities and is designed to produce 125,000 tonnes of potash annually. The project will use Buffalo’s horizontal line-drive solution mining method, which selectively extracts potash by circulating brine through underground potash-bearing formations. First production from the module is targeted for the first quarter of 2027.

One of mining’s challenges is no longer a shortage of data, but a loss of the expertise needed to interpret it, Munkhtsolmon Munkhchuluun and Davide Elmo argued for CIM Magazine. As experienced engineers retire, critical institutional knowledge—particularly their reasoning and observations behind decisions—disappears with them. The authors explained that artificial intelligence alone cannot solve this gap when trained on fragmented records. Instead, mines need a continuously updated knowledge repository that links data to its time, place, authorship and the decisions it informs.

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?