Copper prices could break through $15,000 for the first time as soon as this week, analysts said on Tuesday, as investors position for another round of U.S. economic data and President Donald Trump keeps the market guessing on import tariffs. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 hit an all-time peak of $14,779 per metric ton, climbing for a fourth straight session as the rally showed no sign of slowing. MET/L “Will it get to $15,000 this week on Trump’s tariff confusion? Sure, that’s possible,” said Panmure Liberum analyst Tom Price. “You can pick any big number when there’s…
Author: TJ Markle
Aguila Norte maintains near-continuous full-capacity operations while high-recovery tailings tests suggest potential for future gold-silver reprocessing. Peruvian Metals (DUVNF) reports 2026 year-to-date operating performance and tailings sampling results from its 80%-owned Aguila Norte processing plant in Northern Peru. During July and August 2026, Aguila Norte processed 6,046 metric tonnes/b), and has now operated at full production capacity for , remaining on track for another full-capacity year. Since 2017, the plant has processed 221,020 mt. A major overhaul and maintenance program on the ball mill and crushing circuit was completed between April and July without affecting production. Sampling of the tailings area returned an…
Domestic Metals Corp. has launched a 9,000m diamond drill program at its Smart Creek Copper Porphyry Project in Montana, a joint venture with Rio Tinto, aiming to test high-grade porphyry copper and related mineralization identified in recent exploration. The program, fully funded from existing cash, targets the Smart Creek and Sunrise Mine areas using IP geophysics, historic drilling and 3D modeling, with initial assay results expected six to eight weeks after drilling commencement. The campaign follows two years of systematic work that produced notable high-grade copper, gold and silver samples and defined large-scale geophysical chargeability anomalies at Smart Creek and…
People in the Tisdale district are anxious to learn more about the massive alumina discovery announced in January 2026 by the Saskatchewan government and Canadian Energy Metals (CEM). CEM estimates that approximately one-third of the world’s known supply of alumina, a critical metal used to create aluminum, is in the ground below farmland north of the small town, which is located about 220 km northeast of Saskatoon. Community members are looking for clarity on how potential mining activity at CEM’s “Thor Project” might impact the local economy. “I hear rumours, that’s all,” Francis Gress said. He owns land in the…
Copper has been knocked off the top of a stability ranking it had dominated for decades. Without altering the atoms directly bonded to the metal, a KAIST research team reversed the longstanding trend in which copper generally forms the most stable complexes by tuning only the weak hydrogen bonds in its surrounding environment. The findings, which appear in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could open new avenues for selective metal separation and recognition, as well as catalyst design. A research team led by Professor Yunjung Baek of the Department of Chemistry developed a “metal complex”—a structure in which several molecules surround…
I’ve been writing for more than a decade and a half about a broad category of metals often nowadays dubbed “strategic” because they are crucial to high-tech applications such as solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, flat screens, semiconductors, batteries, optics, aerospace and a wide array of military applications including night vision, radar systems, communications satellites, radiation shielding, vehicle armor, submarine hulls, precision weaponry, and on and on. It is the military applications that interest me here because much of the volume of strategic minerals in most civilian devices can be recycled when devices containing them are junked. But, of course,…
When two Oglala Lakota scouts heard drilling was expected to begin on Pe’ Sla, the sacred prairie in the Black Hills of South Dakota, they set out on back trails. They needed to find out where. That’s when they saw a deer break ahead and a red-tailed hawk soar above them – less like a coincidence than being led, the scouts said. Over a rise, they came upon a road freshly cut to the dirt. They followed it, past a parked truck. “Oh my god,” one of them said, seeing a drill turning. “They’re drilling now!” What happened next was something…
Otavio (Tavi) Costa, founder and CEO of Azuria Capital, argued that mining can be the least expensive way to invest in artificial intelligence as the sector gains more attention from sovereign institutions, governments and investors. “Institutions turn from ‘we don’t care about mining’ to ‘oh wow this is a critical industry that we need to make sure we take care of,’” Costa told MINING.COM anchor Devan Murugan on Top of Mine. He argued that mining has shrunk from a meaningful part of global equity markets to little more than a rounding error, leaving considerable room for the sector to regain prominence.…
The US Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded $500m to seven companies developing domestic critical minerals processing, battery recycling and advanced battery-material projects, according to a DoE press release and reporting by Reuters. The announcement comes as the US administration seeks to expand domestic supply chains for materials used across energy, industrial and defence applications. The funding, announced on 20 August, is the third round of grants under the DoE’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing and Recycling programmes. The department said the selected projects would expand US processing and recycling capacity while reducing reliance on foreign sources. The awards come as President…
Brazilian Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira revealed that US President Donald Trump and his team conceded during White House talks in May that the United States had lost the critical minerals race to China. The minister made the disclosure in an unscripted speech on Monday to Exposibram, the industry conference run by the Brazilian Mining Institute, in the state of Minas Gerais, responsible for more than 40 per cent of national mineral output. But as the US pours billions of dollars into Brazilian mines, the government insists the country will not remain a mere exporter of raw ore. “I spent an…