Looking to test whether Canada’s first confirmed subsurface natural hydrogen system could help meet the power and cooling demands of artificial intelligence infrastructure, MAX Power Mining Corp. has entered into a memorandum of understanding with TerraVolt Energy LLC and two partners to evaluate an integrated energy and data center model tied to potential future Lawson development in southern Saskatchewan. Classified under a color-coded shorthand that ties each form to its production method and carbon footprint, hydrogen is commonly produced as black hydrogen from coal gasification, gray hydrogen from natural gas without carbon capture, blue hydrogen from natural gas with carbon…
Author: TJ Markle
Extending its downstream battery materials platform beyond cobalt, Electra Battery Materials Corp. has engaged engineering consultants to advance a development study for a potential battery-grade nickel refinery in the southeastern United States. Across North America’s battery supply chain, mines, cell plants, and electric vehicle manufacturing have drawn much of the attention, leaving the refining step between raw material supply and battery-ready inputs as a persistent gap. That gap is where Electra has positioned its refining platform: a northern Ontario facility designed to produce cobalt sulfate used in some lithium-ion battery chemistries to help improve energy density, stability, and performance in…
Rare Element Resources Ltd. is advancing its Bear Lodge rare earth project in northeastern Wyoming on two critical fronts: federal permitting for the mine and demonstration of proprietary rare earth processing and separation technology that could help establish a domestic supply chain for magnet rare earths. Smooth and predictable permitting under the federal FAST-41 program means the clock is ticking for crews to iron out operational challenges for a plant built to demonstrate a proprietary rare earth separation technology developed by Rare Element Resources and General Atomics. Located about 25 miles north of the town of Upton, Bear Lodge hosts…
Gold prices are not seeing any safe-haven bid as a result of the latest round of conflict in the Middle East, while several key metrics show investor interest in silver is waning, according to precious metals analysts at Heraeus. In their latest update, the analysts noted that gold recently overtook Treasuries as the most valuable central bank reserve asset. “The ECB has estimated that globally gold represented 27% of official assets at the end of 2025, overtaking US Treasuries at 22%,” they wrote. “This is as a result of two factors: the increase in central bank holdings and the rise…
Even as the International Monetary Fund warns of a global demand slowdown for critical minerals due to geopolitical shocks in the Middle East, the Democratic Republic of Congo is projecting confidence. For a country so deeply embedded in global commodity cycles, this calm not driven by complacency, but by strategy, which has put Kinshasa at the driver’s seat in the global race for securing critical minerals supply. At the centre of this confidence lies cobalt and the Congolese strategy to move up the value chain. The DRC accounts for roughly 80% of global cobalt production, making it the single most…
A stark divide between record corporate profits and plummeting consumer sentiment is not an economic paradox, but the predictable outcome of decades of monetary expansion, according to Austrian School economist Dr. Mark Thornton. Speaking on Kitco News, the senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute detailed how artificially low interest rates and expansive monetary policy have driven a wedge between asset holders and the working class. A historic, credit-fueled market peak While mainstream analysts point to robust corporate earnings as a sign of broad economic health, Thornton views current market valuations as a historic warning sign fueled by cheap…
Electric car batteries. iPhones. Wiring for electricity-intensive data centers. Ammunition for U.S. military campaigns. Minerals like cobalt, copper, gold and antimony are key ingredients for products like these, for which demand is ever-growing. And Idaho is feeling the effects. The state has seen a “massive influx” of mining projects, said Cally Younger, the administrator of the newly consolidated state Office of Species, Minerals, and Energy Coordination, at an Idaho Energy Freedom event in May. She didn’t respond to questions from the Idaho Statesman, but Shannon Chollett, a division administrator with the Idaho Department of Lands, confirmed that the state has…
A proposal to ban new mining on New Zealand’s public conservation land has been drawn from Parliament’s ballot, putting one of the country’s most emotional land-use debates back in the spotlight. At the center of the fight is the question of whether protected land should be reserved for wildlife and public enjoyment, or whether some extraction can still be justified when communities rely on it. What’s Happening? RNZ reported that Green Party environment spokesperson Lan Pham introduced a member’s bill to stop new permits for mining, prospecting, and exploration across New Zealand’s 8.5 million hectares of public conservation land. The…
BlackRock would back consolidation among large miners because it would open the sector to generalist investors at a scale that would make it easier to bring on large and complex projects needed for new supply, a portfolio manager said on Wednesday. The mining industry has an issue around scale, especially compared to other sectors such as technology, said Olivia Markham, speaking at the Australian Financial Review (AFR) conference in Perth. “When you speak to a U.S. generalist investor, they want large, liquid equities to invest in. Bigger companies have better access to capital, they typically trade at a better multiple,…
The U.S. agency responsible for overseeing deep-sea mining in federal waters is preparing to auction off seabed blocks within months — a step that could kick-start commercial-scale deep-sea mining and make the U.S. one of the first countries to allow it. Deep-sea mining has not yet begun anywhere in the world. Opponents say it could cause widespread and irreversible damage to the marine environment if it begins, while supporters say it could provide an important source of critical minerals. In a budgetary document released in April 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) indicated it intends to hold at least three…