The Northern Miner’s top 10 most clicked stories of 2023

As we start 2024, The Northern Miner takes a look back at the top 10 most-clicked stories on our website in 2023.

No. 1: Video – Robert Friedland warns we’re ‘on the verge of destroying ourselves as a species’

by Alisha Hiyate (Oct. 13, 2023)

Our most-read story of the year accompanied a video of Ivanhoe Mines founder and executive co-chair Robert Friedland, who spoke with Northern Miner Group Publisher Anthony Vaccaro at The Northern Miner’s Canadian Mining Symposium in London, U.K., in October. 

The mining magnate dismissed the potential of nickel, cobalt and graphite in batteries, took aim at the West’s fixation on the green energy transition and cautioned about the dangers of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

No. 2: The largest gold producer you’ve never heard of is growing

By Colin McClelland (March 16, 2023)

Uzbekistan-headquartered Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Co., the world’s fourth-largest gold company by output, plans to open another mine in the central Asian country while aiming to go public with a stock market listing in the West.

Navoi produced 2.8 million oz. of gold in 2021, and tallied US$4.8 billion in earnings, making it the country’s largest earner by revenue.

Funded with US$1.2 billion in loans from J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Société Générale and Deutsche Bank, the state-owned company is working to modernize its operations as it targets annual output of 3 million oz. by 2026.  

No. 3: RANKED – World’s top ten biggest gold projects – 2023

By Amanda Stutt (Feb. 28, 2023)

The top world’s 10 gold projects were ranked by resource size, measured in millions of troy ounces, in a year when prices of the yellow metal reached historic highs of over US$2,000 per ounce. The list of companies compiled with data from Mining Intelligence included: Seabridge Gold, Northern Dynasty Minerals, Polyus, Barrick Gold, Newmont, Novagold Resources, Vale, PT Merdeka Copper Gold and Tudor Gold.

No. 4: Canadian Exploration Snapshot: Eight companies to watch

By Sarah Hahn (March 9, 2023)

Explorers working in all corners of Canada are pursuing gold, copper, nickel, silver and lithium projects, some with multi-million ounce and high-grade potential.

Making the list of profiles are projects by American Eagle Gold, Benz Mining, EV Nickel, Fury Gold Mines, Giga Metals, Moneta Gold, Scottie Resources and York Harbour Metals.

No. 5: Video – Don Lindsay on Glencore’s pursuit of Teck and resource nationalism

by Alisha Hiyate (Oct. 19, 2023)

Former Teck Resources CEO Don Lindsay shared his thoughts on Glencore’s US$27.1-billion bid for Teck with The Northern Miner podcast host Adrian Pocobelli at the Canadian Mining Symposium in London in October.  

“In this age of decarbonization, over $60 trillion of assets under management have some sort of protocols internally to not invest in anything related to coal,” Lindsay said. “And they don’t distinguish between the good coal and the bad coal. You know, steel making coal, of course, is absolutely vital for decarbonization, but they don’t care. The word coal is in there so that limits the valuation multiple that you’re going to get on the whole company.” 

No. 6: Uranium market gathers momentum – towards a supply shortfall

By David Talbot (Feb. 23, 2023)

Rising global demand for nuclear energy has pulled uranium spot prices out of a slump that lasted for more than a decade, while an increase in production requires meeting demand with declining secondary supplies. In late February, prices sat at US$50.50 per lb. and later almost doubled to US$91 per lb. by the end of the year.

Also pushing the trend are geopolitical factors, namely Russia’s influence over the nuclear fuel supply chain, as well as its invasion of Ukraine that has caused energy prices to rise in Europe, spurring the development of new nuclear power plants.

No. 7: The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame announces five new inductees

by Northern Miner Staff (Sept. 28, 2023)

The Canadian Mining Hall of Fame announced the induction of David Ross Bell, Ross D. Lawrence, William E. Roscoe, John T. Postle, and Eric Sprott, whose entry will be celebrated at a gala dinner and ceremony on Jan. 11 in Toronto.

The contributions of the 2024 inductees range from technical skill in exploration, mining consulting expertise, mining regulation frameworks and mining investment.

The five new members’ decades of work in the industry helped further advance Canadian mining on a global scale.

No. 8: Site visit – Prismo Metals’ Hot Breccia project blooms in Arizona copper belt

By Colin McClelland (April 5, 2023)

Prismo Metals’ is working to begin exploration at its Hot Breccia copper property in southern Arizona, which sits along a copper porphyry belt that supplies more than two-thirds of U.S. output of the red metal.   

With financing of $5 million, including $2 million from Vizsla Silver, the Vancouver-based company aims to drill at the 14-sq.-km property and also earn three-quarters of Hot Breccia from Infinitum Copper.

Though at a very early stage, the project sits near historic drill holes that showed high-grade mineralization, as well as the Christmas mine which produced 363 million lb. of copper from 20.2 million tonnes grading 1.2% copper from 1905 to 1982.

No. 9. Ottawa wants to shorten mine approval times by a third

By Colin McClelland (March 9, 2023)

As part of its push to increase output of critical minerals needed for the green energy transition, Canada seeks to cut mine project approval times by four to five years, says Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.  

That can be achieved by syncing federal and provincial requirements, he said in an interview at the end of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto.

“I was just meeting with officials from Australia, we were talking about regulatory process,” he said. “They have mines they are permitting in four years and yet they are very strongly focused on environmental and Indigenous issues. I’m not saying we can necessarily get there, but we should be striving to actually be as efficient as we possibly can.”

No. 10. Red Lake Camp keeps giving as Frank Giustra-backed explorer hits bonanza gold

By Henry Lazenby (Sept. 12, 2023)

Mining financier Frank Giustra showed off visible gold in a polished core at the Precious Metals Forum in Colorado after West Red Lake Gold Mines, of which he owns 11.5% reported bonanza grades of more than one kilogram per tonne at its Rowan property in the Red Lake Camp of northwestern Ontario.

Hole RLG-23-163B at the project cut 70.8 grams gold per tonne over 8.3 meters, including a portion of 0.5-meter grading 1,120.19 grams gold per tonne.

“I’m actually putting money into exploration for the first time,” Giustra told a keynote panel. “If we hit, it’s a huge win and that’s exciting. I’ve seen the light now. I’m coming into exploration slowly.”