The diamond industry was one of the winners as the world economy rebounded from the effects of the pandemic. Consumer demand for diamond jewelry grew last year, while supply remained constrained.This year, the $80 billion industry saw more turmoil as cutters, polishers and traders hunted for ways to keep buying from Russia - Russian miner Alrosa (MCX: ALRS) accounts for about a third of global rou...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa says it expects to find more diamonds in Yakutia and beyond, which could take total reserves to an estimated 1.1bn carats.It also says rough production for 2022 is expected to total 35.5m carats, an increase on earlier forecasts of 34.3m.Russia's state-controlled miner, currently sanctioned by the US, says the most promising new territories are the north of Yakutia, in...Read More

First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) says production is continuing normally at its giant copper mine in Panama after the head of the Canadian miner flew down to restart talks with the government this week while a care and maintenance deadline looms. Panama President Laurentino Cortizo has given the miner until Jan. 6 to mothball the Cobre Panama copper mine unless talks begun again this week under a...Read More

Anglo American (LON: AAL) wants to reuse water in a pipeline hundreds of kilometres long used to transport iron ore from its Minas Rio operation in Brazil in what could be the country's largest conservation project of its kind. The 529-km pipeline running east from Concei????o do Mato Dentro municipality in southeastern Brazil to the port at S??o Jo??o da Barra may carry as much as 0.3 cubic metr...Read More

Our TNM Drill Down features highlights of the top gold assays of the past week. Drill holes are ranked by gold grade x width, as identified by our sister company Mining Intelligence.Projects in Australia and Canada led drilling results for the period of Dec. 16 - 22.Red 5 (ASX: RED) earned the week's top grade x width at its Darlot project in the Yilgarn area 850 km northeast of Perth, Australia....Read More

2022 taught gold investors a very important lesson: The value of the U.S. dollar influences gold prices much more than inflation data.In fact, gold pretty much ignored rising U.S. inflation in 2022, despite prices increasing at their fastest levels in four decades.The beginning of 2022 started off strong for gold.Driven by a general rally in commodity prices stemming from geopolitical conflict bet...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Contemporary artist Pablo Lucker has chosen the surface of a diamond as the "canvas" for his latest work.He used a laser to create a series of heart designs on the table of 12 one-carat stones, and a "crown jewel" of 2.75-carats.Lucker partnered with high-end jewelers Trophy by Gassan (both are based in Amsterdam) for what is being described as the smallest work of art on a diamond...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The global lab market is set to reach almost $50bn by 2030, according to a new report.That's an increase of almost two-and-a-half times on current estimates of the market value for 2020, of $19.3bn.For context, the total value of the retail diamond jewelry market last year was $85.5bn, according to Tacy's 2021 Diamond Pipeline.US-based Allied Market Research says growth i...Read More

Following a difficult and unpredictable year full of uncertainty, 2022 ends with a heightened sensitivity to risk. To discuss what lies ahead for miners in 2023, The Northern Miner spoke in mid-December with Matthew Bey, Senior Global analyst for the risk intelligence company RANE. The Northern Miner: This year has seen multiple crises, both geopolitical and economic - some call it a 'polycrisis....Read More

As we end off 2022, The Northern Miner takes a look at the top 10 most-clicked stories on our website from Jan. 1 to Dec. 15. No. 1: Canada's Top Ten precious metals juniors By Northern Miner Staff (Jul. 7, 2022) Our most-read story of the year ranked the Top Ten Canadian-headquartered precious metals juniors according to market capitalization as of Jun. 7, 2022. The list of companies with pr...Read More

This week's episode features Lucara Diamond president and CEO Eira Thomas in conversation with Northern Miner podcast host Adrian Pocobelli at the Canadian Mining Symposium in London, England. Eira discussed the latest developments in the diamond market, including the growing importance of ESG and provenance in the diamond industry and how the war in Ukraine has changed the diamond industry.All th...Read More

Is this just more liberal greenwashing or is the government on to something here? I'll admit it's getting harder and harder to tell nowadays, especially in the renewable energy sector. According to recent news releases, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has found the green fuel it believes will replace diesel, gasoline, and any other carbon-polluting fuel on the market. It's a project th...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Two men indicted for the fatal armed robbery of a US jeweler have been found guilty by a federal court.Mark Vuono was shot dead in what police in Stamford, Connecticut, described as a "cold blooded murder".He was found lying in front of his open safe with a head wound at Marco Jewelers after a customer called police, in March 2020.  Three men were arrested two days later after...Read More

While Majuba Hill Copper (CSE: JUBA; US-OTC: JUBAF) expects to release in the next three months an initial resource for its namesake property in Nevada, it anticipates releasing assays from three deep holes.Underpinned by a non-compliant resource estimate, Buster Hunsaker, consulting geologist for Majuba Hill, says an initial development scenario for the project in Pershing County would look at a...Read More

It has never been more expensive to operate or build a mine, according to new research from CostMine, although not all costs are rising equally. In late November, Michael Sinden, vice-president of data with The Northern Miner Group, presented inflation data at the Canadian Mining Symposium in London, showing that mining operational and capital expenditures are reaching 20-year highs.Sinden poin...Read More

Alamos Gold?EUR?(TSX: AGI; NYSE: AGI) is selling four non-core royalties to Metalla Royalty & Streaming (TSXV: MTA; NYSE American: MTA) for US$5 million in Metalla shares. The deal includes a silver stream on the Esperanza project in Morelos, Mexico and royalties on the Fenn Gib South, Ronda and Northshore West exploration-stage projects in Ontario, the companies said in news releases...Read More

The latest assay results from the Valley Zone at Snowline Gold's (CSE: SGD; US-OTC: SNWGF) Rogue project in the Yukon's Selwyn Basin demonstrate shallow and broad mineralized zones.Drill hole V-22-032 returned 338 metres of 1.32 grams gold per tonne starting from 91.6 metres and included a 207-metre intercept grading 1.76 grams gold from 126 metres downhole.Another hole, V-22-105, cut 442 metres o...Read More

A little over a month after Triple Flag Precious Metals (TSX: TFPM; NYSE: TFPM) announced it was buying Maverix Metals (TSX: MMX) in a deal valued at $606 million, the Canadian streaming and royalty company said this week that it's adding to its portfolio with a new royalty on Clean Air Metals' (TSXV: AIR; US-OTC: CLRMF) Thunder Bay North project in northern Ontario.Triple Flag is acquiring up to...Read More

Electra Battery Materials (TSXV: ELBM; NASDAQ: ELBM) announced the launch of a demonstration plant designed to recover and recycle high-value elements found in lithium-ion batteries, including nickel, cobalt, lithium, copper and graphite at its refinery complex north of Toronto.Electra claims it will process up to 75 tonnes of black mass material in batch mode using its proprietary hydrometallurgi...Read More

In the midst of all this incredible political and economic chaos, I was tasked with packing up my mother's things to prepare for her move to assisted living. It's a gravely emotional experience for anyone, as I'm sure you know.I adore that woman. It's hard to see her get old. Also, that house contained 100 years or more of family history. All this stuff takes up space. With everyone on the move, i...Read More