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Activist investor Elliott Investment Management late on Wednesday called on Australia's largest gold miner Northern Star Resources to immediately restore shareholder value by changing its board and undertaking a formal strategic review, citing severe underperformance.

Elliott burst publicly onto Northern Star's register last week with a more than A$1-billion ($700.80-million) stake, calling for a review and new leadership, citing repeated "operational missteps", including seven outlook misses in four years, and a share price that vastly underperformed its peers.

The call from Elliott, which successfully pushed BHP to collapse its dual listing after a five-year campaign, came as the $19-billion miner was in the process of recruiting a new CEO and in succession planning for its chair.

Northern Star responded to Elliott's approach with a letter to shareholders earlier on Wednesday, saying it was happy to work with the activist investor and consider a board candidate that Elliott might suggest.

The US-based investor said: "The board's letter indicates that it does not understand the magnitude of change required to win back shareholders' trust, starting with significantly strengthening the board itself."

The case for a strategic review of Australia's largest listed gold miner is now clearer than it was before the board published its letter, Elliott added.

ACTING FASTER

In its shareholder letter, Northern Star said that it did not consider it the right time for a sale process. The miner acknowledged that it had been approached by several companies on considering various corporate combinations, given the underperformance of its shares.

"Their response is definitely less than adequate and detailed plans for creating value are still amiss," said Elan Miller, a deputy portfolio manager at Blackwattle Investment Partners.|

"I would be of the view that management are not fully across the asset or the production issues and therefore there really needs to be a reset in people way deeper than just the CEO," he added.

Northern Star appears to want to go forward with its richest assets, Kalgoorlie's Super Pit, the Hemi and Pogo projects, said analyst Daniel Morgan of Barrenjoey. Remaining assets could be sold to cashed-up mid-tier gold miners, he added.

"I think a lot of what Elliott is looking for Northern Star to do, (it) will do, but Elliott's pressure is going to make Northern Star act faster," he said.

In its letter, Northern Star said that investment banks in the last six months had proposed a spin-off of assets, in an option also reviewed by its financial adviser, but one the miner decided not to act on.

Over the past year, Northern Star has faced several headwinds at its Kalgoorlie gold operations in Western Australia, and it said achieving the lower end of its fiscal 2026 production guidance would be challenging.

Shares of the company fell as much as 5.3% to A$17.55 in early trade on Thursday, their lowest level since March 24. The broader benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.8% by 00:38 GMT. The stock has lost nearly 33% in value so far this year, outpacing gold's 5% decline.

The global copper market is expected to remain in deficit as growing demand from the energy transition collides with the realities of bringing new supply to market.

In this episode of IN FOCUS, Absa Corporate and Investment Banking head of resources and energy coverage Shirley W

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

South Africa's supply status in the rapidly evolving and increasingly geopolitically fragmented battery materials market has taken a major leap forward with the completion of the construction by Manganese Metal Company (MMC) of Mpumalanga of the first phase of a battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) plant in Mbombela.

What's more, MMC is already evaluating a second significantly larger phase to the project amid also developing a patented ore-to-crystals process that could support larger-scale future growth in the battery supply chain, without the need to use the metal-based route.

Chaired by mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel, MMC is the world's only producer of electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) outside China, and the largest producer of high purity selenium-free EMM.

Presenting at the International Manganese Institute (IMnI) annual conference in Rio de Janeiro, MMC Chief Marketing Officer Morné Ruiters outlined MMC's seven-year journey from project conception in 2019 to commissioning of the 6 000 t/y HPMSM facility in 2026 at its Mbombela location, where the second phase is poised to add a further 18 000 t/y.

The IMnI conference was attended by stakeholders from across the global manganese value chain, including manganese mining companies, alloy, metal and chemical producers, traders, consultancies, logistics companies and steel and battery sector participants.

The project's development has unfolded against a backdrop of significant shifts in electric vehicle (EV) adoption and battery chemistry preferences. According to MMC, industry forecasts prepared in 2020 substantially underestimated the pace of EV penetration.

Global battery electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales reached more than 21-million units in 2025, more than double the levels anticipated five years earlier.

Battery chemistry trends also surprised the market. While lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries were expected to account for only around 10% of the market by 2025, they captured roughly half of global EV battery demand last year, on account of very strong EV growth in China, reshaping assumptions about future manganese consumption.

Given these uncertainties, MMC elected in 2024 to pursue a modular 'metal-to-crystals' (MTX) production route, for converting a small portion of its existing high-purity manganese metal into battery-grade sulphate.

The strategy leverages the company's established EMM production capacity, brownfield infrastructure and decades of manganese purification expertise while reducing capital exposure and allowing phased expansion.

"The battery market has changed dramatically since our initial studies were completed," Ruiters pointed out during his IMnI presentation. "Flexibility and optionality have become critical." The technical ability to produce material at industrial scale at the purity level demanded by the battery industry is now being matched by a requirement to be flexible and meet changing market realities.

The company argues that battery supply chains remain far from settled. While LFP cathode chemistry is expected to dominate mass-market midrange EVs and stationary energy storage systems, there is a continuing role for nickel-manganese-cobalt (NCM) cathodes, particularly as battery manufacturers increasingly adopt mid-nickel, high-voltage NCM formulations with higher manganese content.

Emerging lithium manganese-rich (LMR) technologies will further strengthen manganese demand and reduce battery cost, underscoring the continued research and development efforts by various automotive and battery companies to overcome the last technical hurdles related to commercialisation of LMR batteries.

Geopolitical developments are adding another layer of complexity – "and...

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The Zandkopsdrift rare earths project in South Africa's endowed Northern Cape was highlighted on day two of the Junior Indaba, which also learnt of the rapid forward momentum of West Wits Mining's gold-bar producing Qala Shallows mine on the doorstep of Johannesburg, as well as the advance of Pensana's rare earths project in Angola.

Frontier Rare Earths CEO and co-founder James Kenny declared the company's Zandkopsdrift to be the lowest-cost producer of magnet rare earths and battery-grade manganese sulphate globally. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

West Wits CFO Simon Whyte, one of only two non-South African employees of this Australia-listed gold mine, the other being its chairperson Michael Quinert, reported having 55 people in the owners' team compared with ten last year and 450 people on site in Roodepoort.

"It still surprises people that we've got a seven-million-ounce project from surface here in the Witwatersrand basin," said Whyte.

Pensana CEO Tim George outlined the beneficiation steps being taken in Angola, involving flotation followed by a hydrometallurgical process to end up with a mixed rare earth carbonate – "white powder with all of the rare earths still mixed up in it". Part of Pensana's journey is to develop the separation technology suitable for this particular deposit.

In answer to what rare earths were and why they were rare, Frontier's Kenny displayed a slide showing China's dominance of rare earths and battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) being at the 85% to 90% level.

He pointed out rare earths at oxide level as a sub-$20-billion market and the overall industry that relies on rare earths for end-use applications at a colossal $4-trillion to $5-trillion.

"That tells you what their critical importance is, and they've become the most weaponised critical raw material globally," Kenny remarked at the event chaired by mining luminary Bernard Swanepoel and covered by Mining Weekly.

Kenny predicted the strong growth of rare earth magnets between now and 2040, but under supply, "and there's going to be an enormous squeeze in terms of pricing".

Luxembourg-based Frontier Rare Earths has signed a technology supply agreement with rare earths separation specialist company Carester to work with Frontier on developing South Africa's Zandkopsdrift rare earths and manganese project.

Additionally, South Africa's State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has provided an investment of $20-million to finance a definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the project.

Carester owns proprietary rare earth solvent extraction technology that will enable the production of high-purity neodymium/praseodymium (NdPr) oxide, as well as mixed heavy rare earth carbonate (MHREC) at Zandkopsdrift.

The agreement between the companies includes a seven-year offtake arrangement for MHREC, which will be processed at Carester's Lacq facility, in France.

IDC industry planning and project development executive Rian Coetzee has described the IDC's investment in Frontier as reflecting the organisation's mandate to support projects that advance Southern Africa's industrialisation and critical minerals strategy.

The investment has afforded Frontier the option for the IDC to offtake up to 10% of production at prevailing market prices, subject to being used in further downstream processing in South Africa.

Zandkopsdrift is described as having strong fundamentals and the potential to support downstream beneficiation, job creation and long-term economic value.

The project's DFS is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2027 following an updated prefeasibility on the project being completed last year.

First production is envisaged from 2030 along with a 25-year mine life....

This audio is brought to you by Endress and Hauser, a global leader in process and laboratory measurement technology, offering a broad portfolio of instruments, solutions and services for industrial process measurement and automation.

Canadian lithium developer E3 Lithium has met all the conditions required to receive Canadian federal government funding worth $36-million to advance Phase 3 of Clearwater project's demonstration facility and the project's overall feasibility study, in Alberta.

Having executed a contribution agreement for the non-repayable funding through Natural Resources Canada's Global Partnerships Initiative (GPI), E3 will have enough funding to support 75% of the Clearwater project's $48-million capital requirement for the current works underway.

The funding is retroactive to April 1, and the company can claim eligible expenses from the start of the second quarter.

This support through the GPI will enable E3 to accelerate the development of its Clearwater project at a critical juncture as the company looks to complete major technical deliverables for Stage 1 of commercial operations.

"Canada is building strong domestic critical minerals value chains, and that means investing at the stages that matter most in getting projects over the line. Through GPI, we are supporting the engineering, demonstration and feasibility work needed for E3 Lithium's Clearwater project to reach final investment decision (FID). This is how we move faster, reduce risk and ensure sustainable, sovereign Canadian lithium can power our economy at home and supply our allies abroad," says Canada Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson.

E3 began ramping up aspects of this project beginning in April this year, upon conditional approval of the funding, explains E3 CEO and chairperson Chris Doornbos. "With the execution of the contribution agreement, E3 is now fully executing towards some of the biggest technical milestones we have in front of us, aiming to significantly derisk our Clearwater project ahead of the FID. We appreciate the government of Canada's support in advancing a domestic lithium supply chain and strengthening Canada's position in the global critical minerals market."

The federal funding provided through the GPI will also support 75% of the costs of the company's current technical team, as well as the commitment to hire up to an additional 25 new technical staff and operators.

WORKS UNDERWAY

With the contribution agreement having been secured, E3 has started equipment orders required to complete the third and final phase of the demonstration facility. Phase 3 includes operation of the previously commissioned 30-column direct lithium extraction (DLE) and purification/carbonation skids, along with the construction and operation of a commercial-size, single DLE column.

The company expects to achieve increased production volumes of battery-grade lithium carbonate, which will enable E3 to continue progressing product qualification with offtake partners and evaluate commercial battery supply chain value opportunities.

The successful completion of Phase 3 of the demonstration facility is a major derisking milestone for the company and will be a critical component in the evaluation of the Clearwater project by potential strategic and offtake partners, project financiers and any potential additional government support.

E3's goals for Phase 3 of the demonstration facility include demonstrating lithium recovery rates greater than 85% through the single commercial column and producing lithium chloride at an equivalent rate of up to 100 t/y of lithium carbonate.

The GPI funding will also support E3's completion of the Clearwater project feasibility study, which targets 12 000 t/y of battery-grade lithium carbonate in Stage 1. The study is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2027.

The engineering scope will include the final designs for the reservoir development, gas-handling system, lithium extraction and purifi...