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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.
Ravenswood Gold, the operator of Queensland’s largest gold mine, has finalized a comprehensive US$935 million (approximately A$1.4 billion) refinancing package to stabilize its balance sheet and…
The week ending June 19, 2026, has marked a definitive shift in the global critical minerals landscape, characterized by aggressive jurisdictional pivots and a recalibration of…
ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia : A blockade organized by the "Radical Reform Movement" has briefly halted copper concentrate shipments from the Oyu Tolgoi mine, highlighting the escalating geopolitical…
The convergence of artificial intelligence and global energy infrastructure has moved from a theoretical trend to a structural driver of the commodities market. As AI data…
MARKET INTELLIGENCE Copper Demand 2026: AI Data Centers Outpace Mine Supply By Penny Langford The global copper market is entering a structural transformation as the rapid…
EXPLORATION Rare Earths Supply Chain Faces 2026 Chokepoint — Strategic Shield Builds By Penny Langford The global rare earths market enters 2026 at a critical juncture,…
The convergence of artificial intelligence and the nuclear renaissance has reached a fever pitch in mid-2026. As global data center power consumption is projected to double…
As the global computing landscape undergoes a structural shift toward generative artificial intelligence, the physical infrastructure supporting this digital leap has become increasingly mineral-intensive. In 2026,…
The prolonged period of oversupply and price stagnation that characterized the global lithium market throughout 2024 and 2025: often referred to as the "Lithium Winter": is…
The era of voluntary sustainability reporting in the mining sector has effectively ended. As we move through 2026, the transition to "ESG 2.0" has shifted environmental,…
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