CMJ Daily Tape
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COPPER | M&A
Reuters reported that China's State Administration for Market Regulation is seeking assurances on copper concentrate supply, including volumes sold through traders, before clearing the US$54 billion merger of Anglo American and Teck Resources. The report cites three people who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential. Anglo American said it is "making good progress towards completion" and is "working constructively with the Chinese regulator, SAMR, through its structured review process". Teck Resources declined to comment on regulatory processes, and SAMR did not respond to a request for comment. Every other jurisdiction has cleared the transaction, which the companies expect to close by March 2027. The combined company would hold about 5% of global copper supply.
The 5% share is not what a smelter cares about. A Chinese copper smelter books its blend months out, and concentrate is qualified on impurity profile, arsenic, bismuth and fluorine, not on the seller's name. A commitment that reaches trader volumes is a commitment over tonnes the smelter already treats as fungible. If SAMR wants allocation certainty, the binding instrument is a term contract with fixed treatment charges, not a merger undertaking. The test is whether the remedy names tonnes and years, or only intent.
LITHIUM | STUDY AND RESOURCE
Surge Battery Metals reported pre-feasibility results for the Nevada North Lithium Project in Elko County, Nevada, held in a joint venture owned 67.5% by Surge and 32.5% by Evolution Mining. On a 100% project basis the study shows an after-tax NPV8% of US$9.81 billion, an after-tax IRR of 23.6% and payback of 4.2 years. Phase 1 capital is US$2.77 billion, with a further US$2.35 billion for Phase 2. Life-of-mine operating cost averages US$4,719 per tonne of lithium carbonate against a price assumption of US$24,000 per tonne.
The number to test is US$24,000 per tonne, not the NPV. At US$4,719 per tonne of operating cost the project survives a long way down, but US$5.124 billion of capital across two phases has to be financed against a price deck, and lenders mark that deck to the forward curve rather than to the study. The stated 53 months from FEL 3 to mechanical completion puts the first contracted tonne in a 2031 conversation. Cathode qualification runs years, so the offtake work has to start well before the plant does.
LITHIUM | REGULATORY DECISION
Elevra's US$71 million Ewoyaa sale turns on a Ghanaian approval due by 30 October
Elevra Lithium said the proposed sale of its rights and interests in the Ewoyaa Lithium Project in Ghana to Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, agreed on 11 May 2026 for about US$71 million, still needs approvals from the government of Ghana. Huayou has received Foreign Investment Review Board approval for its separate acquisition of Atlantic Lithium. If the Ghanaian approvals are not obtained by 30 October 2026, Huayou may complete the transaction or terminate it and pay a US$5 million break fee, with no fee payable if the government rejects the application.
Two deals are stacked on one consent. Huayou is buying Atlantic Lithium and, separately, Elevra's Ewoyaa interest, and only the second needs Ghana. A US$5 million break fee against US$71 million prices a walk-away at about 7%, which is what a buyer pays when it expects the asset either way. For a spodumene project with no converter attached, the operational question is where the concentrate is treated. Huayou owns conversion capacity, so what Ghana is deciding is whether its ore leaves as rock.
NICKEL AND COPPER | CAPITAL RAISE
Teck and Altius join a $11.8 million Perseverance Metals placement for drilling at Voyageur
Perseverance Metals closed a non-brokered private placement of 18,121,426 common shares at $0.65 a share for gross proceeds of $11,778,926.90. The company named Teck Resources, Altius Minerals, Crescat Capital and NQ Investissement Minier among the participants, without disclosing individual amounts, and said insider purchases totalled 92,300 shares. Proceeds fund the diamond drill campaign at the Voyageur nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE project in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which includes the Osprey discovery, plus exploration at Lac Gayot in Québec and Armit Lake in Ontario.
Teck on the register of a nickel-copper-PGE play in Michigan is a sourcing move, not a portfolio trade. North American nickel sulphide that can feed a sulphide smelter is scarce, and a converter cannot qualify a concentrate that does not exist yet, so the money buys a look years early. The $11.78 million funds drilling, not a resource. What to track is whether Osprey returns widths that justify a second rig, because one discovery is not a deposit and a smelter cannot book tonnes against it.
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