McEwen Copper, a subsidiary of McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX; TSX: MUX), has inked a deal with Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO) that gives the global miner an option to become a majority joint venture partner in the Elder Creek project, in Nevada.
To exercise the option, Rio’s subsidiary Kennecott Exploration would have to invest US$18 million over a maximum of seven years. After that the two companies would form an unincorporated joint venture where Kennecott would be the largest partner and project operator.
Elder Creek is an early-stage copper- gold porphyry project, located about 9 km from SSR Mining’s Marigold mine complex in northern Nevada.
It consists of 577 unpatented mining claims in Nevada, which is prospective for porphyry copper mineralization and well placed in a district hosting several large copper and gold mines, including Marigold, Lone Tree and PHoenix.
McEwen holds a 1.25% net smelter return royalty on all the claims that comprise the Elder Creek property.
The company also owns Los Azules copper project in San Juan, Argentina. This is an advanced large-scale porphyry copper exploration project located in the Andean Cordillera copper belt, about 90 km north of Glencore’s El Pachón project and near the border with Chile.
The core focus of the 2022 program remains step-out drilling of the Waterpump Creek carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) to gauge the overall footprint of the bonanza silver-zinc-lead mineralization encountered in 2021 and further explored in 2022.
Located due north of the Illinois Creek airstrip in Alaska, the Waterpump Creek deposit contains a historical resource (non NI 43-101 compliant) of 166,000 tonnes at 297 g/t silver, 16.1% lead, and 5.5% zinc. A modern resource estimate will be completed once the 2021-22 drilling has been completed.
Earlier this month, the company reported the first assay results for massive CRD sulphide mineralization cut in the Waterpump Creek target area. One hole intersected 11.5 metres of massive sulphide grading 337 g/t silver, 16.7% zinc and 10% lead, including 3.1 metres grading 565 g/t silver, 8.9% zinc and 15% lead.
Proceeds of the financing will additionally be used to further explore along trend in the Last Hurrah area based on the recently completed system-wide controlled-source audio-magnetotellurics (CSAMT) program.
Funds will also be used to initiate metallurgical studies, continue Yukon River access route and environmental baseline studies, fund expenditures in anticipation of the 2023 drill program, and general corporate purposes.
Pandora, the world’s biggest jeweller, is launching a collection using exclusively lab-made diamonds in the U.S. and Canada as part of the company’s strategy to eliminate mined gems and create more affordable products with less associated emissions.
The Danish company, which plans to make its operations carbon neutral within three years, said the collection is the first one crafted with 100% recycled silver and gold.
“This brings greenhouse gas emissions of the collection’s entry product – a silver ring with a 0.15 carat lab-created diamond (US$300) – down to 2.7 kg CO2e, which is equal to the average emissions of a t-shirt,” Pandora said.
The flagship product, a one carat lab-created diamond set in a 14k solid gold ring and sold for about US$1,950, has a footprint of 10.4kg CO2e, which is less than the average emissions of a pair of jeans.
The jeweller, best known for its charm bracelets, has committed to craft all its pieces from recycled silver and gold by 2025.
Pandora launched its first Pandora Brilliance collection using only man-made diamonds in the U.K. last year.
“Lab-created diamonds are just as beautiful as mined diamonds, but available to more people and with lower carbon emissions,” chief executive officer Alexander Lacik said in the statement.
The Danish company, best known for its charm bracelets, already doesn’t include mined diamonds in most of its pieces. (Image courtesy of Pandora.)
While producing diamonds is energy-intensive, Pandora said its gems would be made using only renewable energy.
Since 2011, when prices peaked thanks to China’s younger shoppers, diamonds have faltered. Lab-grown stones, initially priced confusingly close to the real thing, posed a challenge.
Top diamond makers reacted to the new kind of diamonds, widely embraced by young consumers as they look identical to the mined ones, by launching a joint marketing campaign.
Under the motto “Real is Rare”, the Natural Diamond Council (formerly the Diamond Producers Association), which groups the world’s leading diamond companies, launched a series of film-like spots targeting millennials — those born between 1981 and 1996.
Failing that, they begun selling man-made diamonds themselves. Anglo American’s De Beers, for one, created the Lightbox brand to sell alternative diamonds for a fraction of the price of the mined ones.
Ethical concerns
Despite the establishment of the Kimberley Process in 2003, aimed at removing conflict diamonds from the supply chain, experts say trafficking of precious rocks is still ongoing.
Miners and world famous jewellers including Tiffany & Co, have come up with innovative ways of certifying their stones as ethically mined, mostly based in blockchain technology. In 2020, the New York-based company began providing customers with details of newly sourced, individually registered diamonds that trace a stone’s path all the way back to the mine.
Graphite One (TSXV: GPH; OTC: GPHOF) has arranged a private placement of up to 13.5 million units priced at $1.15 each to raise gross proceeds of up to $15.5 million. Each unit consists of one common share of the company and one common share purchase warrant that is exercisable at $1.50 for two years.
Net proceeds from this offering will be used by Graphite One to support an upcoming feasibility study (FS) for its battery anode materials project centred around the Graphite Creek property in Alaska. The project’s pre-feasibility study (PFS) is currently nearing completion and is expected to be released by month-end.
Situated on the Seward Peninsula, about 60 km north of Nome, Graphite Creek is host to America’s largest high-quality graphite deposit, as defined by the U.S. Geological Survey, with 11.0 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources at a graphite grade of 7.8% Cg (graphitic carbon), for some 850,000 tonnes of contained graphite.
With this resource, Graphite One is looking to build a vertically integrated enterprise to mine, process and manufacture high-grade anode materials, developing what would be the first domestic graphite source for the electric vehicles market in the U.S.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on Graphite Creek envisions a 40-year operation with a mineral processing plant that is capable of producing 60,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate (at 95% purity) per year.
The upcoming PFS is expected to include results from Graphite One’s 2021 program and according to its CEO Anthony Huston – should increase confidence that Graphite Creek is a “generational asset.” The company previously released results from its 2021 field program, yielding numerous high-grade, near-surface intercepts including 15.2 metres of 22.2% Cg.
In early 2021, the Graphite Creek project was designated a high-priority infrastructure project (HPIP) by the U.S. government’s Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Committee (FPISC).
Cementation Americas has announced the completion of the full faced raise bored raise at Solvay Chemicals #5 shaft in Green River, Wyoming. Project requirements were to complete a 6.7-metre diameter shaft, complete with concrete liner, from surface to a depth of 459 metres. Concrete liner thickness increased as the depth of the shaft increased, so the initial concept was to complete a pilot slash raise with a raise bore drill and then slash from the top down to achieve the differing diameters to accommodate concrete liner thickness.
Cementation instead proposed a full face raise bored shaft solution with variable diameters for each section. We worked closely with Sandvik to design, engineer and manufacture a reaming head that could be diminished in diameter rather than manufacturing different diameters of outside wings. Final design allowed for five diameter options; maximum of 8.1 metres, down to 7.5 metres, in increments of approxximately 15 cm. The 8.1-metre diameter reamer consisted of 12 individual sections, 46 cutters and weighed 136,000 lb.
Following completion of 20.7-metre deep collar excavation and lining, Cementation’s Strata 950 raise drill was set up over the collar and a 40-centimetre diameter pilot hole was drilled with Micon’s rotary vertical drilling system (RVDS). When the completed pilot hole was surveyed, the total deviation from vertical was found to be less than 10 cm over entire length of pilot hole.
Based on the pilot hole survey, it was determined that the first leg of the shaft would be reamed to 9-metre diameter for 179.2 metres of shaft, followed by 7.6-metre diameter for the next 86.9 metres of shaft and 7.5-metre diameter for the final 163.1 metres of shaft to surface.
Reaming of the shaft was completed on April 24, 2022, and the Cementation shaft crews are now in the process of completing the shaft lining. This raise was one of the largest ever pulled in the America’s and was completed without incident. Its success was the result of a collaborative effort by all parties involved by providing the best technical solution for the Solvay Chemicals #5 shaft.
These are exciting times for ACME Lithium (TSXV: ACME; US-OTC: ACLHF), says Steve Hanson, its founder, president, and CEO, as the company hits a key milestone in the development of its flagship Clayton Valley lithium brine project in Nevada.
In June, the Canadian junior completed its first exploration drill hole on the property. Drilled to a depth of 427 metres, hole DH-1 “encountered several prospective zones that we were targeting based on permeability and lithology and which show excellent potential for a lithium-bearing aquifer,” he says.
The drilling, he added, follows positive results from a hybrid source audio-magnetotelluric (HSAMT) geophysical survey completed last November “that identified multiple target areas that we interpreted as potentially containing lithium brine hosted by saline rich aquifers, ash layers, sands, and gravels on the property.”
A pegmatite outcrop at ACME Lithium’s Shatford Lake project in southeastern Manitoba. ACME LITHIUM
Hanson noted that drill results from DH-1 are expected in August and, if positive, will support further testing of the well, which is expected to start in the third quarter of 2022.
The approximately 10-sq.-km Clayton Valley project is located in Esmeralda County, about 306 km southeast of Las Vegas, and encompasses 122 claims comprising the CC, CCP, JR, and SX placer lithium claims.
The project is contiguous to the northwest of Albemarle‘s (NYSE: ALB) Silver Peak lithium mine. The mine has been in continuous operation for over 50 years and is the U.S.’s only domestic supply of lithium.
“Lithium is essential for the global transition to a green energy future and is needed to produce the lithium-ion batteries used in the electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage technologies underpinning this transition,” explains Hanson.
The U.S. is positioning itself as a leader in the transition to a cleaner energy future, with the Biden administration setting a target of 50% EV sales share in 2030 and the construction of a nationwide network of 500,000 EV charging stations as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed into law last November.
Although the U.S. is estimated to hold almost 8 million tonnes in lithium reserves, ranking it among the top five countries globally, it currently produces less than 2% of global lithium supply, according to the United States Geological Survey.
“With most of the world’s lithium presently supplied from Argentina, Australia, Chile, and China, the U.S. and Canada will need to develop a reliable and sustainable domestic supply of lithium to achieve its goals while also reducing its reliance on foreign supply,” Hanson says.
He notes that Clayton Valley “is at the epicentre of lithium exploration and development in the U.S.,” and that ACME Lithium “is one of the only Nevada-focused companies drilling a lithium brine target.”
This year, the company also has plans to explore its 100%-owned Fish Lake Valley lithium project, about 274 km southeast of Las Vegas and 40 km from its Clayton Valley project. The property comprises 144 lode mining claims covering approximately 11.8 sq. kilometres.
Hanson says that exploration work on the property “will test the potential of the lithium-bearing claystone and to identify new targets for further exploration, which includes mapping, sampling, and additional geophysics.”
He added that Clayton Valley and Fish Lake Valley also benefit significantly from their location. (Nevada is currently ranked as the second most attractive jurisdiction globally for mining investment by the Fraser Institute.)
“Not only do our Nevada properties benefit from existing infrastructure, including rail, year-round access via roads, power and water, and a skilled workforce close at hand, but they are also situated less than a three and a half hour drive from Tesla’s Gigafactory,” he says.
ACME Lithium is also advancing its lithium projects at Shatford Lake and Cat-Euclid Lake in southeastern Manitoba. The properties cover 27 mineral claims totalling 47.8 sq. km on the pegmatite fields within the southern limb of the Bird River greenstone belt.
The region hosts significant lithium-caesium-tantalum containing pegmatites, which account for a quarter of the world’s lithium production, and is fast becoming a global area of focus for lithium exploration and development, Hanson says.
“Our Manitoba properties neighbour the Tanco mine, owned by Chinese miner Sinomine Resources, where the pegmatite orebody and has been mined since 1929. And last year, Australia’s Mineral Resources Ltd., a world-leading lithium producer with a market capitalization of around A$9 billion [C$8 billion], invested in lithium assets west of Cat-Euclid Lake.”
In early July, ACME Lithium commenced an extensive summer exploration program of its Shatford Lake and Cat-Euclid Lake properties. The work includes remote sensing, ground-based geological mapping, and soil, rock, and till sampling, which aims to identify potential targets for drill testing spodumene-bearing pegmatites that may host lithium carbonate deposits.
Hanson noted that the company is well-capitalized, with around $11.4 million in the treasury, which he says will be more than sufficient to fund its proposed exploration programs.
“Our world-class portfolio of assets in top-tier mining jurisdictions potentially positions us as a new source of domestic lithium supply for North American EV markets,” he says.
The preceding Joint Venture Article is PROMOTED CONTENT sponsored by ACME LITHIUM and produced in co-operation with The Northern Miner. Visit www.acmelithium.com for more information.
First Majestic Silver (NYSE: AG; TSX: FR) has entered into an equity distribution agreement to sell, with BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities acting as agents, common shares of the company “at-the-market” that would raise aggregate gross proceeds of up to US$100.0 million. The agreement is valid through June 18, 2023.
The sales agreement replaces the previous equity distribution agreement entered into between the company and the agents dated May 28, 2021, under which all sales have been completed (for total of US$100 million).
First Majestic expects to use the net proceeds of the offering, together with its current cash resources, to develop and improve the company’s existing mines. It presently owns and operates three silver/gold mines in Mexico – San Dimas, Santa Elena and La Encantada – and one gold mine in Nevada, Jerritt Canyon.
During the second quarter of 2022, the company saw its total silver production rise by 6% and gold production by 1% over the first quarter, thanks in part to a successful ramp-up of the Santa Elena mine leading to a record output in terms of silver equivalents.
As a result, its second half and full year 2022 production guidance has been revised to reflect the improved milling efficiencies at Santa Elena as well as increased head grades at Jerritt Canyon. Total silver production is expected to fall between 5.8 million and 6.5 million oz., while gold production is in the range of 138,000 to 154,000 oz.
Details on First Majestic’s Q2 2022 results can be accessed via www.firstmajestic.com.
Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) has entered into an agreement with PolyMet Mining (TSX: POM; NYSE: PLM) to form the 50:50 joint venture New Range Copper Nickel to advance PolyMet’s NorthMet project and Teck’s Mesaba mineral deposit in northeast Minnesota.
Glencore (LSE: GLEN), which owns about 70% of Polymet, will retain its majority interest in the company and provide financial support to the joint venture. The two copper projects are located near each other in the Duluth complex.
“The NewRange Copper Nickel joint venture brings together two large, well defined mineral resources in the established Iron Range mining region of Minnesota,” Teck CEO Don Lindsay said in a press release. “This agreement will help unlock a new domestic supply of critical metals for the low-carbon transition through responsible mining.”
PolyMet CEO Jon Cherry described the venture as “extraordinary” and expects it to become one of the largest clean-energy mineral resources in the world.
“With both projects representing approximately half of the known resources of Minnesota’s Duluth Complex…Minnesota emerges as a global leader…in developing strategic minerals to feed the North American supply chain for clean energy technologies,” Cherry said.
Focused on site restoration and redevelopment of gold-antimony-silver deposits in the Stibnite-Yellow Pine district of central Idaho, Perpetua Resources (NASDAQ: PPTA; TSX: PPTA) has initiated work to improve the water quality at the historic Stibnite mine site, which, after 100 years of mining activity, has seen millions of tonnes of unconstrained tailings and mine waste left behind by previous operators.
The company was joined by community members, government officials and local business leaders at a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of early cleanup activities and water quality improvements at the historic Stibnite mining district. The ceremony marked the start of a multi-year, multi-million-dollar investment designed to improve environmental conditions at the mine site.
Perpetua has worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for more than three years to receive permission to conduct time critical, early action cleanup activities. After consultation with other interested parties, including the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Perpetua, the EPA and USDA signed an administrative settlement agreement and order on consent in 2021, paving the way for the company to address legacy issues in key areas of the Stibnite district.
The first four-year phase of the project includes removing 325,000 tonnes of legacy waste and tailings away from the river and rerouting streams to keep clean water clean. High-ranking elected officials from across the state agree that the work being done by Perpetua is a model for private investment to help address legacy environmental issues at historic mine sites.
“We did not cause the contamination that has worsened water quality in the historic Stibnite mining district for decades, but we are part of the solution,” Laurel Sayer, CEO of Perpetua, commented in a media release.
“Idaho’s natural resources can contribute a steady domestic supply of the materials we need to advance our economy,” said Idaho Governor Brad Little at the groundbreaking ceremony. “At the same time, cleanup projects like you see here at Stibnite are a critical part of the future of responsible mining in Idaho.”
Mining activity in the Stibnite district first started in 1899. The historic Stibnite mine then gained national significance during the Second World War when the U.S. government commissioned antimony and tungsten production from the site to help with the war effort. In fact, Stibnite produced the majority of both minerals used by the U.S. during the war, and the U.S. Munitions Board credited the mine for shortening the war by a year and saving a million American lives.
However, most of the mining that occurred at Stibnite took place long before modern protections and regulations were established. As a result, the site was never fully reclaimed. Today, about 10.5 million tonnes of unlined tailings and waste leach arsenic and antimony into ground and surface water. Perpetua has proposed a redevelopment plan to mine the site for gold and the critical mineral antimony, while concurrently restoring the environment. Early cleanup actions have now begun.
As for the Stibnite mine project, it is currently under regulatory review. The Stibnite project is considered one of the highest-grade, open pit gold deposits in the U.S., with 6 million oz. of gold contained in 132.3 million tonnes grading 1.42 g/t gold in measured and indicated resources. Over the 12 years projected mine life, Stibnite is expected to recover more than 4 million oz. of gold. It also has the largest known antimony resource in the country, containing 205.9 million lb. measured and indicated.
A 2020 feasibility study gave the project an after-tax net present value (5% discount) of US$1.35 billion and an internal rate of return of 22.3%, with a capex payback period pegged at 2.9 years.
American silver producer Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) has agreed to acquire all shares of Canadian Alexco Resource (NYSE.A: AXU) (TSX: AXU) it doesn’t already own, in a deal that values the target’s shares at 47 U.S. cents each.
The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based miner, said the figure represents a premium of 23% based on Alexco’s five-day volume weighted average price on the New York Stock Exchange on July 1.
At Friday’s closing price of US$4.01, the value of the shares would be valued at around US$72.2 million.
Founded in 1891, Hecla Mining is the largest silver producer in the United States.
Hecla’s president and chief executive Phillips Baker Jr. said integrating Alexco’s Keno Hill project in the Yukon Territory, could also make the company Canada’s largest silver producer.
“Silver is a critical element to decarbonize the economy and the need for domestic supply is growing,” Baker said. “Acquiring Keno Hill allows Hecla to further meet this need with a secure high-grade silver development and exploration project that has a small environmental footprint.”
Hecla Mining has also agreed to pay Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE, TSX: WPM) US$135 million in its own shares for the company to terminate its silver streaming interest at Alexco’s Keno Hill.
The two transactions would boost Hecla’s already significant reserves, which reached in 2021 the second highest level in the company’s 130-year history – to 200 million ounces.
Global demand for silver, used in solar panels, electric vehicles and other key green technologies, is on the way up and expected to reach a record this year of 1.112 billion ounces, according to the Silver Institute.
The organization, whose figures are prepared by consultants Metals Focus, said last week it expected global silver demand for industrial use to jump 5% this year to a new high of 552 million ounces.
