Desert Gold dodges Mali risk with low-cost project
A global market based on gold bars shudders on tariff threat
New research reveals source of world’s richest lithium deposits
Richest hard-rock lithium deposits likely formed near the mantle, not at the surface.
Australian researchers have upended decades of geological theory, revealing that the world’s richest hard-rock lithium deposits likely formed deeper in the Earth than previously thought.
The breakthrough, led by Curtin University and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA), proves those deposits developed closer to the mantle, not near the surface.
The discovery could redefine how and where lithium is explored globally. It comes as demand surges for the critical mineral, used in batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and renewable energy storage systems.
Professor Hugh Smithies, lead author and geologist with Curtin’s Frontier Institute for Geoscience Innovation and GSWA, said the findings offer a new framework for understanding lithium formation. The research shows lithium-rich magmas likely formed when mantle-derived melts were remelted and channelled along deep fault zones, enriching ancient crustal rocks.
“This connection to deep mantle magmas and enriched crustal sources helps explain why WA’s ancient terrains, which lack the sedimentary rocks long thought necessary, host some of the world’s largest lithium deposits,” Smithies said. “It could expand exploration potential into previously overlooked regions.”
Australia leads
Western Australia already produces around 35% of the world’s lithium, which is more than 1.5 times Chile’s output, the next-largest supplier.
Most of this comes from pegmatite, a coarse-grained igneous rock common in WA’s Archean terrains, which are over 2.5 billion years old, like those in the Pilbara and Yilgarn regions.
MP Materials hits record high on strong output, Pentagon and Apple deals
MP Materials’ Mountain Pass rare earths mine in southern California is the only rare earths producer in the United States.
MP Materials (NYSE: MP) shares surged to an all-time high on Friday after the United States’ only rare earths producer posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
The Las Vegas-based miner’s shares jumped as much as 10.45% in early trading to $78.50, before settling at $75.99 by midday in New York, valuing the company at $13.46 billion.
MP’s stock has more than quadrupled in 2025, buoyed by US efforts to secure domestic supplies of critical minerals and reduce reliance on China.
In the second quarter, production of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr), key materials for high-strength permanent magnets used in EV motors, wind turbines and electronics, soared 119% year-over-year to a record 597 metric tonnes. Rare earth oxide (REO) output was the company’s second-highest on record at 13,145 tonnes, up 45% from the prior year.
NdPr sales volumes more than tripled to 443 tonnes. In the third quarter, the company expects its NdPr production to climb another 10–20% sequentially.
Zambia dismisses US health warning after toxic spill in copper mining area
The Zambian government has dismissed claims of dangerous pollution in the Copperbelt mining region, following safety concerns raised by the US embassy.
On Wednesday, the US embassy issued a health alert, ordering the immediate withdrawal of its personnel in Kitwe town and nearby areas due to concerns of "widespread contamination of water and soil" linked to a February spill at the Sino-Metals mine.
The spill happened when a tailings dam, used to store toxic waste and heavy metals, collapsed into the Kafue River, a key drinking water source, following heavy rain.
The US embassy said there was new information that showed "the extent of hazardous and carcinogenic substances".
It warned that beyond the "contaminated water and soil, contaminants from the spilled mine tailings may also become airborne, posing a health threat if inhaled".
Zambia's government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa hit back, saying the "laboratory results show that PH levels have returned to normal" in the area and the water was safe to drink.
Mweetwa said there were no longer any serious implications for public health, water safety, agriculture or the environment.
"There is, therefore, absolutely no need to press the 'panic button' today to alarm the nation and the international community."
Sino-Metals Leach Zambia mine is a subsidiary of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group, which is owned by the Chinese government.
Capstone Copper (TSX: CS) (ASX: CSC) said it’s going ahead with the costlier-than-expected expansion of a sulphide concentrator at its Mantoverde property in Chile in a move that will add six years to the mine’s life. The stock rose.
Increasing the concentrator’s daily processing capacity from 32,000 to 45,000 ore tonnes will allow the facility to produce 20,000 extra tonnes of copper and 6,000 more ounces of gold a year, Capstone said Friday. it will also extend the mine life to 25 from 19 years.
Dubbed Mantoverde Optimized, the project is now expected to cost $176 million, about 20% more than a previous estimate. Capstone blamed the increase on scope changes and general inflation.
Vancouver-based Capstone is counting on an expanded Mantoverde to help it more than double annual copper output to about 400,000 tonnes in a few years from 2024’s 180,000 tonnes. The Chilean facility is on pace to produce between 97,000 and 112,000 tonnes of the red metal this year.
In comparison, Canada’s largest copper producer, First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) delivered 431,000 tonnes last year with its primary mine, Cobre Panama, closed by authorities.
‘No-brainer’
While the revised construction budget is higher, “the updated figure is below our current estimate of $200 million,” Orest Wowkodaw, a mining at Scotia Capital in Toronto, said in a note Friday. Mantoverde Optimized “is a ‘no-brainer’ expansion given the very low capital intensity, short development timeline, low technical risk, and attractive returns.”
Capstone shares rose 4.4% to C$9.12 Friday morning in Toronto following the announcement. That gave the company a market capitalization of just under C$7 billion.
Desert Gold dodges Mali risk with low-cost project
Desert Gold Ventures (TSXV: DAU) is proposing a modest project compared to peers in junta-led Mali to build on smaller costs and scale.
Named after the Senegal Mali Shear Zone it sits on, the open-pit SMSZ would cost $15 million to start mining part of the resource, according to a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) released Thursday. SMSZ has an after-tax net present value of $24 million and the after-tax internal rate of return would be 34%. SMSZ is about 460 km west of the capital Bamako.
“With less that 10% of the SMSZ project’s gold resources incorporated into this study, there is tremendous opportunity to improve project economics and materially grow this operation over time,” CEO Jared Scharf said in a release.
“We have intentionally designed a mining solution that is both modular and flexible from a processing perspective giving us maximum operational optionality as we move forward.”
Optimism despite politics
SMSZ may be just small enough to slide under the military government’s radar for taxing and extorting. Over the last year, the regime has detained executives of Barrick Mining (TSX: ABX, NYSE: B) and Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) amid payment disputes, while Barrick’s gold has been seized. Barrick has taken its case to international arbitration.
A global market based on gold bars shudders on tariff threat
The global gold market relies on a network of banks, refineries and couriers that can fly bullion between key trading hubs at a moment’s notice in pursuit of the highest prices. On Friday, a shock US ruling suggesting that the metal would be subject to tariffs plunged that system into chaos.
The apparent decision by the US Customs and Border Protection agency — announced privately in a letter to a Swiss refiner on July 31 and made public Friday — sent gold futures in New York soaring to a record, as insiders warned the tariffs would have dire consequences for the market. Then, just as quickly, prices tumbled after the Trump administration suggested imports of gold bars wouldn’t face tariffs after all.
It was the latest example of President Donald Trump’s trade war triggering wild gyrations in markets, for equities, raw materials and finished products alike.
Gold bullion is typically treated more as a financial instrument than a physical product, and slapping tariffs on it would have such profound consequences that many traders argued Friday the ruling had to be a mistake.
“The problem was that the government didn’t look outside of the question of the physical format and did not take into consideration that this widget was actually gold,” said Robert Gottlieb, a former precious metals trader and managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
A complex and sometimes fragile system for making and moving gold bars underpins the global market for the metal, including the futures exchanges in New York and Shanghai as well as a huge over-the-counter market overseen by London banks. Key consumer hubs in Mumbai, Dubai and Hong Kong rely on it as well.
