Fed Independence Worries Send Gold Higher

CMOC moves for Lumina while Mike Henry warns of tariff fallout

April 22, 2025

The Pre-Start

  • Bellevue confirmed the closure of near-term gold hedges, paying $111m to cancel 41,750 hedged ounces. June & Sept Q’s were completely cancelled, 5.7koz remain in Dec (BGL)

  • Iluka & RareX have established a consortium to apply for the Mrima Hill project in Kenya, with a formal submission made. If successful, ILU will own 25% (REE)

  • Sheffield reported operating cash flow of $32m, repaid US$14m of its Yansteel offtake prepayment, shipped 227kt & closed with $8m (SFX)

  • Perenti advised that its subsidiary Barminco will finalise operations at Khoemacau on June 30 (PRN)

  • Red Hill will pay a 3c dividend, franked at 25% (RHI) and introduces a policy of paying 50% of revenue received from the Onslow Iron royalty

  • Deep Yellow closed March with $227m, with FID deferred on weak uranium pricing (DYL)

  • Santana used its new resource estimations to reduce the pre-strip down to 7.9m bcm, with work on modifying factors to be incorporated into a PFS update (SMI)

  • Hillgrove reported down-dip drilling at the Valentines pit, extending mineralisation while adding a third rig (HGO)

  • Jindalee will see its McDermitt project fast-tracked under US Fast-41, aimed at reducing delays & accelerating permitting decisions (JLL)

  • Indiana shared drilling from Minos, extending mineraliation 380m below surface, with a 650m strike, with hits of 23m @ 2.62g/t from 152m (IDA)

  • Mako Mining made Q1 gold sales of 10.8koz, while closing the period with $14m (MKO.TSXV)

  • Magnetic closed March with $9m cash (MAU)

  • Canyon Resources closed the quarter with $9m cash, with a DFS on its Minim Martap bauxite project on track to complete in Q3 CY25 (CAY)

  • Centaurus finished the March Q with ~$13m cash at bank (CTM)

  • The Takeovers Panel declined to conduct proceedings on an application received from Emu concerning an alleged association in the context of an requisition board spill meeting (EMU)

High Grade It

  • Indonesia hiked mining royalties as the government searches for ways to fund President Prabowo’s policies (Bloomberg)

  • BHP’s Mike Henry has warned of “significant” economic risks from tariffs (AFR)

  • The US & Ukraine have signed a memorandum of intent on a minerals deal (FT)

  • Two Chinese nationals were detained & charged for criminal trespassing after they were discovered on the site of Lindian’s rare earths project in Malawi (Australian)

  • Taurus will offer to buy Abra Mining out of administration under a turnaround plan that’ll include a promise to pay for the upgrade of public roads (AFR)

  • Chinese copper smelters boosted output to a record high, as rising prices for by-products including gold & sulphuric acid eased margin pressures (Bloomberg)

  • Rio & BHP are big winners from the White House’s battle with China after the Washington fast-tracked the duo’s Resolution project (Australian)

  • China’s purchases of US LNG plunged to zero in March as the trade war between the two biggest economies alters shipping routes (Bloomberg)

  • Wall St brokers are urging clients to buy gold despite prices already surging nearly 30% this year to US$3,424/oz (AFR)

  • China's export controls on antimony, gallium & germanium are keeping shipments at historically low levels despite high prices worldwide (Reuters)

  • Several large coal mines slashed their annual carbon emissions as a result of mandated changes to accounting methods that’ve prompted experts to question the reliability of key data (AFR)

  • Shenghe said the suspension of shipments of rare earth raw concentrate from its US partner will not significantly impact production due to the company's diversified supply chain (Reuters)

Wanna get your open pit operations absolutely humming? Get in touch with the team at Resolve Mining Solutions to see how they can give you a hand!

Wheelin’ n Dealin’

  • CMOC is acquiring Lumina Gold in an all-cash deal valued at C$581m, with its Cangrejos project the largest primary gold deposit in Ecuador (LUM.V)

  • Newmont announced the completion of its Akyem & Porcupine asset sales (NEM)

  • FireFly paid the $15m (cash & shares) deferred consideration component of its Green Bay Cu-Au acquisition (FFM)

  • Aston and Torque advised the grant of court orders to convene the scheme meeting to consider the proposed merger between the two (TOR) Scheme booklet also registered with ASIC 

  • Equinox entered a MoU with Alaska Antimony Corp & SB51 to explore offtake & processing for its Alturas Antimony project (EQN)

Rattlin’ the Tin

  • Allied Gold launched a C$80m capital raise and C$80m block trade (AFR Street Talk)

  • Sunrise Energy Metals launched and placement & SPP to raise up to $7.5m (SRL)

Word on the Decline

  • Rumour has it that someone is doing due diligence on C$6B Osisko Royalties 

  • And before you make any guesses yourself, recall that Osisko Royalties’ flagship asset is a monster 5% NSR on Canada’s second-largest gold mine, Canadian Malarctic

  • We think C$62B Agnico Eagle is keen to buy back the royalty on their mine. And perhaps they are working in concert with Triple Flag to present a deal for 100% of Osisko Royalties…

Do you have some Word on the Decline? Reply to this email or shoot a message to [email protected] directly. We will always take your privacy seriously.

In the Weeds

  • Hancock lodges $250m office plans for West Perth (BN)

  • Gold’s big boom leaves short-sighted Newcrest investors exposed (Australian)

  • Investors have had enough of large-scale M&A (Livewire)

  • Hedge fund uses ‘independent journalist’ in fight with Rio (AFR’s Rear Window)

  • Greatland’s Telfer deal delivering for its backers (Australian)

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Devil’s in the Detail

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