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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.
Strategic-minerals processing infrastructure in Brazil. Brazil has enacted a new framework for screening foreign investment and strategic transactions involving critical minerals, adding a review layer to…
Global Atomic Corp. has secured conditional approval for up to US$414.2 million in U.S. government-backed debt financing to develop its Dasa uranium project in Niger, reviving…
Lithium prices have recovered sharply from last year’s lows, but the market is now testing whether stronger benchmarks can translate into durable project economics. A Chinese…
Copper and uranium are setting the tone for the mining market as the fourth quarter approaches. Copper’s record price has collided with a severe concentrate shortage,…
Nevada mine and processing infrastructure illustrate the producing assets attracting royalty and streaming capital. Mining M&A deals in 2026 are increasingly being priced around what projects…
Illustrative rare-earth leach circuit representing the processing challenge behind scandium recovery. Mount Ridley Mines’ latest metallurgical result has moved scandium recovery closer to the center of…
Vertex Minerals’ approval to operate its Reward gold mine underground for almost the full day has turned a permitting change into an operating-cost test. The varied…
Remote silver-zinc-lead mine infrastructure in a rugged northern setting. Honey Badger Silver’s updated preliminary economic assessment for the Prairie Creek silver-zinc-lead project in Canada’s Northwest Territories…
An all-season road under development in a remote Canadian Shield landscape, illustrating the infrastructure challenge facing northern mineral projects. Canada has attracted nearly C$500 billion (about…
Gold exploration drilling at the Enchi project in Ghana. Gold trading near US$4,400 an ounce is changing the economics of West African exploration. In Ghana, Newcore…
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