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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.
Mining M&A in 2026 is increasingly being shaped by a question that sits beside resource size and commodity exposure: how reliably can the asset move through…
APT powder and antimony ingots in an industrial refining facility. The tungsten market has moved from a long-term supply diversification story to an immediate industrial constraint.…
Copper smelter and converter equipment reflects the processing bottleneck created by scarce concentrate. Copper’s 2026 rally has moved from a price story to a supply-chain stress…
Uranium’s 2026 price move is increasingly being driven by long-term utility contracting rather than short-term spot-market speculation. Spot uranium has risen from about US$81.75 per pound…
Chinese steelworks and iron ore handling infrastructure at a coastal terminal. Singapore iron ore futures briefly fell below US$95 a tonne before recovering to about US$96.40,…
Ecuador’s tax authority has issued a $154 million assessment against Lundin Gold over the calculation of the state’s share of benefits from the Fruta del Norte…
Gold bullion bars stored in a secure institutional vault. Venezuela’s government and a faction of the opposition are nearing an agreement that could move roughly $4…
Aura Minerals has secured a $200 million syndicated loan to support its growth program in the Americas, including construction of the Era Dorada gold project in…
Great Lakes iron ore shipping remains below seasonal norms despite modest year-over-year growth, keeping domestic pellet demand and Mesabi Metallics’ startup under close scrutiny. Great Lakes…
Author: Charles Pitts Luca Mining’s agreement to acquire Capstone Copper’s Cozamin mine for up to US$385 million puts a fresh valuation marker on producing, permitted and…
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