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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.
As the global race for battery-grade materials intensifies, the narrative of African lithium is shifting away from established hubs like Zimbabwe and Mali toward a new,…
In the global race for critical minerals, the ability to move a project from a feasibility study to a "shovel-ready" state is often the most significant…
The global push toward decarbonization and industrial regionalization has fundamentally redefined the mining sector. By 2026, the transition from fossil-fuel-intensive energy to a mineral-intensive economy is…
The lithium market is moving into a period of structural consolidation following the volatile boom-and-bust cycle of 2022–2024. As we look toward 2026, the prevailing narrative…
The global transition toward a decarbonized and digitized economy has moved from a theoretical long-term goal to an immediate operational imperative. As we look toward 2026,…
The global gold market is currently navigating a sophisticated "geopolitical pivot" that has fundamentally redefined how institutional investors view the yellow metal's floor. While market headlines…
The global antimony market enters the second half of 2026 caught in a geopolitical pincer movement. While prices have retreated from the historic spikes of late…
The global gold refining sector enters the second half of 2026 in a state of high-velocity transformation. As the critical bridge between raw extraction and the…
The global mining industry is undergoing a structural transformation that transcends traditional cyclical fluctuations. For over 114 years, Skillings Mining Intelligence has documented the evolution of…
The second quarter of 2026 has solidified a significant shift in the mining equity landscape. As global industrial demand for copper intensifies and the nuclear renaissance…
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