
Junior miners struggle despite gold’s record highs, but what’s next?
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are hitting record highs, even breaching the $3,000 an ounce level for the very first time, but junior mining stocks are still struggling to gain traction, according to Luc ten Have, founder of GoldDiscovery.com.

JPMorgan holds 5% stake in Rio Tinto for clients
JPMorgan Chase is holding a 5.36% stake in Australia’s mining conglomerate Rio Tinto for the bank’s clients, an exchange filing to the local bourse showed on Thursday.Last week, the Anglo-Australian mining giant completed its $6.7 billion acquisition of the US-based Arcadium Lithium, as it looks to diversify away from iron ore towards critical minerals and battery metals.Rio on Wednesday said it will raise $9 billion in US investment-grade bonds as it seeks to fund the Arcadium buyout.(By Nikita Maria Jino; Editing by Alan Barona)

Freeport Indonesia hopes to get copper export permit soon
Freeport Indonesia hopes to secure a permit soon to export copper concentrate, after the mining minister approved a revision of its annual business plan, the company’s chief executive said on Thursday.Freeport is seeking export permission after a fire in October at a gas cleaning unit forced a halt in copper cathode production at a new smelter in Gresik in the province of East Java.

Workers sign petition for collective bargaining at Rio Tinto’s Pilbara mine
Australia’s Western Mine Workers Alliance (WMWA) said on Thursday that more than 400 workers at Rio Tinto’s Paraburdoo iron ore mine in Pilbara region have signed a petition to support collective bargaining.The petition was launched by the alliance to initiate bargaining for a collective agreement at the mine for the first time in over 20 years.Paraburdoo mine is part of Rio’s Western Australian operations, which employs around 16,000 employees and shipped 328.6 million tonnes in 2024, the company website showed.