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Charles Pitts is the publisher of Skillings Mining Review, the trade journal that has covered mining since 1912. He writes on the macro forces behind metal prices: commodity cycles, sovereign capital and the shifting sources of demand. His current work argues that hyperscale AI, and the gigawatt-scale power its data centres need, is becoming a buyer of lithium and copper in its own right, competing with the automotive supply chain for tier-one reserves.
Copper cathode bundles prepared for movement through a Chinese port facility. China’s physical copper market is showing signs of recovery, with the Yangshan import premium approaching…
Global copper mine output is tracking toward its first annual decline since 2017, just as prices have reached levels once considered unlikely outside a severe supply…
Southern Idaho’s semi-arid terrain is the setting for Liberty Gold’s Black Pine development project. Liberty Gold has filed the feasibility-study technical report for its Black Pine…
Representative view of a copper-palladium processing complex under construction in Northwestern Ontario. Generation Mining has agreed to a term sheet with the Government of Ontario for…
Western Ethiopia’s Kurmuk project is entering final commissioning as Allied Gold prepares to add a major new operation to its production portfolio. Allied Gold’s US$500 million…
Botswana’s Kalahari Copper Belt is attracting further exploration capital as Sandfire expands its regional position. Sandfire Resources has cleared the conditions required to acquire two copper…
Conceptual editorial image: autonomous-ready haulage and trolley-assist infrastructure at a future Canadian nickel operation. Canada Nickel has selected Komatsu and its largest Canadian dealer, SMS Equipment,…
Nevada’s Walker Lane belt is the setting for Lahontan Gold’s acquisition of Emergent Metals. Lahontan Gold Corp. is acquiring Emergent Metals Corp. in an all-share transaction…
El Barqueño is an exploration-stage gold-silver-copper property in Jalisco, Mexico. Luca Mining Corp. has agreed to acquire the El Barqueño gold-silver-copper project in Jalisco, Mexico, from…
Driverless haul trucks operating in sequence on an open-pit mine bench. An estimated 5,684 autonomous haul trucks were operating or autonomy-ready in surface mines globally by…
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