Mining Press Roundup: Albemarle Hands the Lithium Giant to a BHP Copper Man as Colombia Tears Up Its Own Rulebook

The biggest story out of the mining wires today isn't a drill hole or a deposit — it's a handoff at the top of the world's largest lithium producer. Albemarle named BHP's chief commercial officer Ragnar Udd as its next CEO, betting a career copper-and-potash operator can steer the battery-metal giant through a market that is finally tightening again after two brutal years of oversupply. Layer on Colombia's decision to tear up a decade of mining-district restrictions to chase investment, a swelling roster of copper and critical-minerals project milestones from Arizona to Saskatchewan, and it's clear capital and policy are both leaning back into hard-rock mining even as gold and silver keep grabbing headlines elsewhere.

Albemarle: BHP's Ragnar Udd Takes the Wheel as Lithium Markets Tighten

Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer, has named BHP executive Ragnar Udd as its next CEO as surging energy-storage demand tightens the battery-metal market. Udd, BHP's chief commercial officer, will take over on Feb. 1, 2027, replacing Kent Masters, who will become executive chairman. The appointment is notable timing: it comes a day after BHP said Udd would leave the world's largest miner at the end of January.

Udd isn't a lithium lifer — he currently oversees global sales and marketing, procurement, maritime activities and commodities market strategy at BHP, with more than 25 years of experience in global resources businesses across Australia, Asia, North America and South America — but he previously served as President Americas at BHP, leading the company's copper and potash businesses. Albemarle's chairman framed the pick around commercial discipline rather than pure lithium pedigree: "Rag brings extensive commercial and operational expertise in natural resources and has successfully led global commercial strategy and advanced disciplined growth across complex businesses," Albemarle chairman James O'Brien Steiner said.

The backdrop matters as much as the hire. The appointment comes as lithium markets show signs of recovery after prices plunged from record highs in 2023, when a surge in production, particularly in China, created a glut that forced producers to cut costs, delay projects and restructure operations — though prices remain below their 2023 peaks. Albemarle itself has flagged the turn: the company said in August lithium salt inventories were near record lows and spodumene inventories near historic lows, while demand prospects had improved on growth in electric vehicles and battery storage. Udd inherits a company still digesting steep losses — Albemarle reported $1.8 billion in net losses in 2024-25 as lithium prices declined amid weaker-than-expected demand for electric vehicles, though profit totaled about $800 million in the first half of this year.

Colombia: Bogotá Scraps a Decade of Mining-District Rules to Chase Investment

In a policy shift that could reshape Latin America's mining map, Colombia's new government dismantled a set of environmental and zoning restrictions that had throttled exploration for years. Mines and Energy Minister María Nohemí Arboleda announced in Cartagena the repeal of 10 resolutions that had delimited Special Mining Districts in Colombia, a decision aimed at reactivating exploration and recovering investment. The move was formalized by decree: Colombia's government repealed by decree 10 resolutions that had delimited the special mining districts, which restricted exploration and resource development in parts of the country.

The government insists existing rights are untouched — the minister said the determination doesn't affect acquired rights because the delimitations were never executed and doesn't touch titles, applications or ongoing procedures. Industry has been begging for exactly this kind of housecleaning. The Colombian Mining Association argues there is broad potential to increase exploration given that more than 97% of Colombian territory remains unexplored from a mining standpoint. The rhetorical shift from Bogotá is stark, with the minister arguing "Sin minería no hay transición" ("without mining there is no transition") as she defends a policy blending resource development with environmental protection. It's the latest sign of the pivot since right-wing president Abelardo De La Espriella took office, replacing a Petro administration that had frozen new hydrocarbon and mining permitting for years — a change industry groups say has left five gold, copper, coal and nickel projects that have completed exploration or obtained licenses stalled without advancing into construction, representing investments that could amount to between $3.6 billion and $4 billion over the next four years.

Faraday Copper: Arizona Drilling Expands the Cathode Case at Copper Creek

Faraday Copper delivered fresh drill results that strengthen the economic story at its Copper Creek project in Arizona, one of the more closely watched copper developers on the TSX. Faraday Copper says drilling at its Copper Creek project in Arizona has expanded shallow oxide and sulphide mineralization, strengthening the case for future copper cathode production as it prepares to add the neighbouring San Manuel property.

The numbers back up the narrative: drill hole FCD-26-192 returned 19 metres grading 0.55% copper from 42 metres depth, 350 metres south of the American Eagle breccia, while drill hole FCD-26-190 cut 100.8 metres grading 0.22% copper from surface at Copper Giant East, and FCD-26-180 returned 56 metres at 0.2% copper from surface. CEO Paul Harbidge tied the results directly to the project's low-capex ambitions, saying they support the potential "to expand near-surface mineralization at Copper Creek." Outside analysts are taking notice too — Canaccord Genuity's Dalton Baretto called the consistent shallow oxide and secondary sulphide intercepts across Copper Creek encouraging, "underpinning the cathode opportunity" at the project.

Why cathode specifically? Near-surface supergene zones at Copper Creek could enable earlier copper cathode production within a future mine plan, according to Faraday. That's a meaningfully cheaper and faster path to first revenue than a full sulphide concentrator. The stock still dipped on the day — shares fell 3.8% to $5.04 apiece amid lingering market concerns tied to the Iran War, including inflation and elevated bond yields, with the company holding a market value of $1.48 billion — a reminder that even strong drill news can't fully insulate junior developers from macro jitters.

South32: Hermosa Clears Its Last Federal Hurdle in Arizona

South32 crossed a milestone that few US critical-minerals projects manage: full federal permitting completion. The U.S. Forest Service signed South32 Hermosa's Final Mine Plan of Operation during a ceremony at the project site in Southern Arizona, authorizing South32 to conduct operations on U.S. Forest Service land. It was the first mining project added to, covered under, and completed in the federal FAST-41 permitting program, a process reserved for infrastructure projects that must meet rigorous criteria demonstrating national benefit.

The scale of what's being unlocked is significant: Hermosa hosts one of the world's largest undeveloped zinc deposits, a battery-grade manganese deposit and the emerging Peak copper discovery, which together could support a 70-year operation producing five federally designated critical minerals. South32 Hermosa president Pat Risner cast the moment as the payoff for years of process: "This is the moment when years of planning, environmental study, consultation and permitting turn into action," South32 Hermosa president Pat Risner said in a statement. With private-land construction already advancing, the company can now move on public-land infrastructure — South32 plans to begin initial earthworks activities and surveys to support exploration drilling and geotechnical investigations in the coming weeks, representing the first physical activity enabled by the federal approval.

Eldorado Gold: McIlvenna Bay Ramps Up, and a Bigger Mill Is Already on the Table

Eldorado Gold's Saskatchewan copper bet is moving from construction to expansion planning in near-record time. Eldorado Gold is studying a 43% expansion of its McIlvenna Bay processing plant and a new silver-lead circuit as the Saskatchewan copper-zinc-gold-silver mine ramps towards commercial production. The mine has already hit two production firsts: more than 400,000 tonnes of material is ready for processing, while McIlvenna Bay produced zinc and pyrite concentrates in July after making its first copper concentrate in June.

Eldorado president Christian Milau framed the update around momentum, noting "First production achieved, a study underway to evaluate a potential mill expansion and the addition of a silver-lead circuit, and significant district-scale exploration potential" bode well for the project. The company sees this as just the opening chapter for the district — at a Saskatoon event, Milau said Eldorado continues exploration work in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, describing it as "one of Canada's richest mineral regions," and adding "There's 1,400 square kilometers … This is not one small mine. We want to have more than one mine on this property." McIlvenna Bay arrived in Eldorado's portfolio via acquisition, and Ottawa has treated it as a strategic priority — the underground mine became Eldorado's first Saskatchewan asset through its acquisition of Foran Mining in April and was among the first projects referred to Ottawa's Major Projects Office last September.

Northcliff Resources: A Tungsten Price Surge Rewrites Sisson's Math

Few feasibility-study updates flip a project's economics as dramatically as Northcliff Resources' latest look at its Sisson tungsten-molybdenum project in New Brunswick. Northcliff Resources' new feasibility study for the Sisson tungsten-molybdenum project puts its post-tax value at more than four times the cost to build it, compared with less than one times initial capital in a study 13 years ago. The updated study estimates a $6.9-billion (US$4.98-billion) post-tax net present value at an 8% discount rate against initial capital of $1.53 billion, for a 50% internal rate of return and 1.6-year payback.

Grade and product mix both improved the math. Higher-grade material in the first five years would lift tungsten production to an average 767,000 mtu annually, with an mtu representing 10 kg of tungsten trioxide. Northcliff also shifted strategy on the finished product, deciding to sell tungsten concentrate directly rather than convert it to ammonium paratungstate, after an Argus market study concluded that tight concentrate supplies, including increased Chinese imports of concentrate, make that product preferable in the current market. The market reaction was immediate — Northcliff shares closed 22% higher the first trading day after the study was released. The project already carries Ottawa's blessing as nationally significant infrastructure, having been referred to Canada's Major Projects Office under the Bill C-5 framework.

Greenland Mines: Closing on One of the West's Most Advanced Rare Earth Projects

Greenland Mines completed a deal that gives the Nasdaq-listed developer a foothold in the neodymium-praseodymium supply chain the West badly wants outside China's orbit. The Sarfartoq mineral exploration license covers 191 square kilometers, with five additional known rare earth occurrences along a roughly 32-kilometer outer ring structure remaining largely untested — the company has called the project one of the island's "most advanced and compelling rare earth projects," citing its high-grade nature and favorable Arctic logistics.

The geology target is exactly what magnet makers need: the project is the site of a carbonatite-hosted deposit strongly enriched in neodymium-praseodymium, widely used to manufacture high-strength NdFeB permanent magnets. The deal itself was modest in size but strategically loaded — Greenland Mines closed the acquisition on Sept. 1, 2026, in a transaction valued at $20 million in cash and $15 million in securities — and it came with a built-in customer: Neo Performance Materials became a strategic Greenland Mines shareholder through the transaction and retains offtake rights for up to 60% of future Sarfartoq ore or mineral concentrate production for processing at its Silmet rare earth separation facility in Estonia. Company president Bo Møller Stensgaard didn't undersell the moment: "The Sarfartoq acquisition is closed, and one of the Western world's top-tier upstream rare earth magnet projects is now a Greenland Mines asset," said Dr. Bo Møller Stensgaard, President of Greenland Mines.

What It Means

The through-line today is a market that's rewarding patience and rewriting old assumptions. Albemarle's board didn't reach for another lithium specialist — it reached for a commodity-cycle operator from BHP, a tacit admission that surviving the next phase of the battery-metal business is as much about capital discipline as geology. Northcliff's tungsten project went from marginal to a 50%-IRR standout purely on a market repricing, and Faraday's cathode-focused drilling and South32's completed federal permitting both point to the same theme: Western governments and capital markets are finally moving critical-minerals projects from paper to shovels, even in jurisdictions — like Arizona — that have historically been permitting graveyards.

Colombia's regulatory reversal fits the same pattern on a sovereign scale: after years of investment paralysis, governments across the Americas are racing to remove the friction that's kept copper, rare earths and other strategic minerals in the ground. Whether that translates into shovels in Colombian soil as quickly as it has in Arizona and Saskatchewan remains the open question for 2027.

This roundup covers press releases published on September 3, 2026. Company announcements are sourced from mining industry wire services. For corrections or updates, contact contact@stakeandpaper.com.