| The Sunday Wrap |
| China's Copper Smelters Band Together to Strengthen Hand in Talks With Miners |
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| The China Smelters Purchase Team, a 16-member group that sets floor prices for spot copper concentrate processing, has invited at least six new producers to join in a bid to harden its position against miners. Spot treatment and refining charges have been negative for months on tight concentrate supply, and the group declined to issue quarterly guidance for a sixth straight quarter. |
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| Modi Wants Australia's Uranium to Power India's Data Centre Boom |
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| India's AI and data centre boom is driving a surge in nuclear demand, and PM Modi is expected to raise uranium supply with Australian leaders during a planned July visit. State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation plans to add 18 reactors by 2032, almost tripling capacity and opening a new demand source for local producers. |
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| The Age |
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| Triple Flag Buys Gold Stream on Ravenswood Mine for $440M |
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| Triple Flag Precious Metals has acquired a gold stream over Queensland's Ravenswood mine for an upfront $440 million, expected to add 100,000 ounces to its end-of-decade outlook. Ravenswood is one of Australia's ten largest gold mines by reserves, jointly owned by EMR Capital and Golden Energy and Resources. |
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| Mining.com |
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| Japan to Explore Rare-Earth Mining in Greenland to Cut China Reliance |
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| Japan plans to begin studying rare earth and critical mineral mining opportunities in Greenland as early as this summer, sending geologists to assess deposit size and extraction costs. The aim is to help Japanese companies invest in projects in the Danish territory and reduce reliance on China, which dominates global rare earth processing. Greenland's south is known to host significant heavy rare earth deposits. |
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| Nikkei Asia |
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| From Bust to Boom: Is This Lithium Rally Any Different? |
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| A renewed surge in lithium prices, driven more by Chinese supply discipline than any step change in EV demand, has Australian producers restarting mothballed operations including Core Lithium's Finniss and Mineral Resources' Bald Hill. |
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| The Australian |
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| Gina Rinehart Takes US$1 Billion Stake in SpaceX IPO |
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| Gina Rinehart, Australia's wealthiest person and a mining magnate, has taken a stake of more than US$1 billion in Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO, according to a Wall Street Journal report. SpaceX shares soared almost 20% last week. |
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| Reuters |
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| Chinese Metal Producer MMG to Raise US$1.6 Billion Selling Stocks and Bonds |
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| MMG, the offshore metals unit of state-backed China Minmetals, plans to raise US$1.6 billion through a Hong Kong share placement and zero-coupon convertible bonds to fund expansion tied to the AI infrastructure build-out. MMG shares fell 10% on the dilution, erasing their gains for the year. |
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| South China Morning Post |
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| Elliott's Northern Star Push Gains Momentum as Potential Suitors Stir |
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| Elliott Investment Management's campaign to force a strategic review at Northern Star is gaining momentum, with potential acquirers reportedly no longer watching from the sidelines. Elliott holds a 3 to 4% stake worth around A$1 billion and has pushed for board renewal, faster CEO succession and a possible sale, rejected by chair Michael Chaney earlier this month. |
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| The Australian |
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THEME: THE CHOKEPOINT
China Squeezed the Midstream While the West Funded the Mines
The loudest signal this week came from the smelters. China's 16-member buying bloc moved to pull in at least six new producers and harden its hand against miners, with spot treatment charges sitting negative for months and quarterly guidance withheld for a sixth straight quarter. Beijing reinforced the point at the policy level, where a new Mineral Resources Law took effect that hands it a legal basis to hit back at foreign threats to its critical metal security. The same grip showed up in the lithium rebound, which owes more to Chinese supply discipline than any surge in demand.
The response was capital, and most of it pointed at copper and critical minerals. Generation Mining cleared credit approval on a US$310M facility for its Marathon copper-palladium build, Hudbay priced US$52M of bonds for Copper World, and Brazilian Nickel went hunting for an anchor investor to unlock its US$1.4B Piauí project, while MMG lined up US$1.6B against metals demand tied to the AI build-out. Just as telling was the search for supply outside China, with Japan sending geologists to Greenland, Hancock backing St George's Brazilian rare earths and niobium, and Modi eyeing Australian uranium to feed India's data centres.
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| Generation Mining (GENM) receives senior lender credit approval for a US$310M (~CAD$424M) senior secured project finance facility from EDC, ING Capital and Société Générale to build the Marathon Copper-Palladium Project in Ontario. |
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| The approved facility, an undrawn CAD$200M Wheaton Precious Metals streaming agreement and roughly CAD$145M of equipment leasing take total funding secured to about CAD$769M for the fully permitted project. Generation continues to negotiate subordinate debt, surety and equity toward a fully financed construction package, with construction targeted for the second half of 2026. |
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| 17 June 2026 |
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| Hudbay Minerals (HBM) prices a US$52M offering of 4.50% Arizona Industrial Development Authority solid waste disposal revenue bonds for the Copper World project, Series 2026A. |
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| The bonds are issued by the Arizona Industrial Development Authority, which will on-lend the gross proceeds to Copper World LLC to finance and refinance eligible costs at the Copper World project in Pima County, Arizona. The obligations are guaranteed by Hudbay and certain subsidiaries, with the transaction expected to close on 24 June 2026 and an initial mandatory tender date of 2 July 2036. |
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| 17 June 2026 |
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| St George Mining (SGQ) raises A$60M before costs via a two-tranche institutional placement of 600 million shares at A$0.10, a 9.1% discount to the last close. |
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| Largest shareholder Hancock Prospecting committed A$20M for 200 million shares, lifting its interest to about 10.5% on completion. Proceeds advance the high-grade Araxá rare earths and niobium project in Minas Gerais, Brazil, with tranche one of about A$42.4M settling on 23 June and tranche two of about A$17.6M subject to shareholder approval. |
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| 17 June 2026 |
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| Brazilian Nickel seeks an anchor investor to unlock equity funding for its planned US$1.4B Piauí nickel and cobalt project in northeastern Brazil. |
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| The TechMet-backed developer has appointed Rothschild & Co to arrange global debt and equity, while Bradesco BBI leads a US$100M raise among domestic Brazilian funds. Management wants a cornerstone such as Brazil's BNDES or the US DFC to anchor the round before smaller investors from Sao Paulo, London and New York follow. |
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| 17 June 2026 |
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| BHP (BHP) is preparing to sell its Chilean power transmission assets, valued at around US$1.5B, as it refocuses on copper mining in the country, according to Diario Financiero. |
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| The lines span roughly 1,000km feeding the Escondida, Spence and Cerro Colorado operations, with potential bidders said to include transmission companies, energy firms and institutional investors. The reported sale would follow last year's divestment of a 49% stake in BHP's Australian iron ore transmission assets to a BlackRock unit for US$2B. BHP had not commented at the time of the report. |
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| 17 June 2026 |
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| NVRO Metals (NVRO) signs a Heads of Agreement with Transamine for a proposed copper cathode offtake and financing package of up to US$25M to support the staged launch of its NVRO Metals Hub in the Northern Territory. |
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| Under the offtake terms, Transamine would purchase copper cathode from the hub for a limited period and quantity, priced against LME Grade A benchmarks plus applicable premiums. The hub is planned as a centralised critical minerals platform combining existing infrastructure with the company's proprietary NVRO Process to recover copper, cobalt and nickel. |
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| 15 June 2026 |
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| Core Silver (CC) advances its all-scrip acquisition of Arcus Development Group (ADG) via a 1:1 share exchange, creating a combined copper and silver explorer with about C$6.5M in cash. |
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| First announced in April, the combination would leave Arcus holders with roughly 39.2% of the enlarged company and is paired with an option for Core Silver to earn 20% of Arcus' Touleary VMS project in the Yukon. The all-share structure preserves cash while building a multi-asset exploration platform with the scale to advance several projects at once. |
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| 17 June 2026 |
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Emperor Metals (AUOZ : CSE)
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| 35.8m at 25.90 g/t Au incl. 15.0m at 61.5 g/t Au and 2.4m at 369.6 g/t Au |
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| Duquesne West (Canada) |
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| The best hole Emperor has drilled at Duquesne West, with visible gold logged through multiple zones of the intercept. Grade of this order sitting inside a conceptual open pit pulls ounces forward and feeds both open-pit and underground scenarios as the resource update takes shape. |
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AbraSilver Resource (ABRA : TSX)
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| 747.5m at 0.69% Cu from 396m incl. 108m at 1.06% Cu |
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| La Coipita (Argentina) |
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| The strongest hole drilled at La Coipita to date, confirming a large and vertically continuous porphyry system on a Teck-funded earn-in. It firms up a district-scale copper-gold story sitting beside the company's flagship Diablillos silver project, with a new shallower discovery at Yaretas Sur adding a second centre. |
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Hercules Metals (BIG : TSXV)
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| 787.9m at 0.54% CuEq incl. 212.8m at 0.89% CuEq |
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| Hercules (USA) |
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| The longest intercept of the week, with a high-grade core and a separate 57.4m at 1.18% CuEq logged near the top of the hole. The Leviathan porphyry remains open to the southwest, with step-out drilling and reconnaissance at the Hook target already underway for the 2026 season. |
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Aruma Resources (AAJ : ASX)
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| 89m at 2.04% Cu and 12.31 g/t Ag from 38.8m incl. 16.87m at 4.02% Cu |
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| Tillex (Canada) |
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| Wide, shallow, high-grade copper from a micro-cap chasing a maiden resource in the Timmins district. A second hole returned 87m at 1.99% Cu from 30m, and downhole electromagnetics point to a continuous VMS-style system still open along strike and at depth. |
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Antimony Resources (ATMY : CSE)
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| 10.3m at 5.45% Sb from 110.8m incl. 3.0m at 13.3% Sb |
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| Bald Hill (Canada) |
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| Massive stibnite grading up to 36% antimony in a single sample, extending what the company calls North America's highest-grade antimony deposit toward a maiden resource. Direct leverage to a metal China keeps restricting through export controls, with scissor holes confirming continuity south through the Main Zone. |
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| Week-on-Week |
Price |
% |
| Gold |
US$4,173/oz |
-2.55% |
| Silver |
US$64.91/oz |
-7.27% |
| Platinum |
US$1,668/oz |
-4.89% |
| Palladium |
US$1,265/oz |
-3.91% |
| Copper |
US$13,595/t |
-5.99% |
| Nickel |
US$17,550/t |
-1.24% |
| Zinc |
US$3,563/t |
-0.33% |
| Lead |
US$1,957/t |
+0.02% |
| WTI Crude |
US$76.51/bbl |
-5.61% |
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| Month-on-Month |
Price |
% |
| Tin (LME)* |
US$52,279.00/t |
-4.35% |
| Lithium Carbonate (China)* |
US$13,950.70/t |
-4.66% |
| NdPr Oxide (FOB China)* |
US$91.02/kg |
+2.35% |
| Fluorspar (90%)* |
US$435.61/t |
-0.85% |
| Antimony* |
US$17.48/kg |
-8.83% |
| Niobium* |
US$31.77/kg |
+2.44% |
| Tungsten* |
US$162.66/kg |
-8.58% |
| Gallium* |
US$239.50/kg |
-1.08% |
| Germanium* |
US$3,065.58/kg |
+6.81% |
| Uranium (U3O8)* |
US$188.05/kg |
+0.06% |
*Sourced from Critical Minerals Platform (CMP). These prices are APAC volume-weighted averages from producers rather than traders, meaning they are heavily weighted towards Chinese prices for minerals where China dominates production. All other commodities show week-on-week change.
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This newsletter is for general information, education and entertainment. Kamoa Capital is not licensed and does not know your circumstances. Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice. Seek professional advice and read any PDS before acting. We aim for accuracy but make no guarantees and accept no liability. Views are opinions only and may include forward-looking statements that may not occur.
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