Mining Press Roundup: BHP's Escondida Accident Squeezes a Copper Market Already Running on Empty

Correction, 9/27/2026. An earlier version called COMEX copper's $6.83 a pound a record. The COMEX high is $6.89, reached in intraday trading on September 9, according to Investing News Network.

The biggest story in mining this week is not a deal or a discovery -- it's a mine going quiet. BHP's Escondida operation in Chile, the world's largest copper mine, is only gradually resuming activity after a fatal accident halted work there, according to MINING.COM. The timing could hardly be worse for a copper market that was already trading on razor-thin inventories, and the interruption is rippling through prices, Chinese warehouse stocks, and the broader supply picture just as demand keeps climbing.

BHP: Escondida Restart Begins After Fatal Accident

Escondida mine president Alejandro Tapia confirmed the fatality on Thursday, according to MINING.COM. Chile's National Geology and Mining Service, Sernageomin, confirmed the death on Sept. 23 and ordered "immediate deployment of the regional team," according to acting national director Mauricio Lorca. Union head Sebastian Liberona told Reuters the accident involved a front-end loader used in mining operations, and BHP said the worker had been killed while carrying out maintenance work.

BHP is now navigating the restart alongside a separate labor flashpoint: the company is in the middle of contract negotiations with Escondida workers, with a vote due by the end of September and a possible strike if the union's rejection call succeeds. In an emailed statement, BHP said, "The company continues to assess the conditions for a gradual resumption of Mine activities, taking into account workforce wellbeing, operational readiness, risk controls and applicable authority requirements."

The stakes for BHP go well beyond a single incident. Copper produced across BHP's portfolio in its latest financial year totaled about 2 million tonnes, and copper contributed significantly to the miner's underlying EBITDA for the first time. BHP is also planning a new concentrator at Escondida as part of a pipeline the company says could lift group copper output by about 40% by fiscal 2035 -- a bet on copper's centrality to the company's future that makes the current outage all the more consequential.

Copper Market: Records Give Way to a Thin Cushion

Escondida's interruption landed the same day COMEX copper touched $6.83 per pound before easing to $6.76 per pound Friday morning, MINING.COM reported. The COMEX record remains the $6.89 reached in intraday trading on September 9, according to Investing News Network. Meanwhile, Shanghai Futures Exchange copper stockpiles sit at roughly 47,000 tonnes, according to BMO Metals -- near a cyclical low heading into China's Mid-Autumn Festival, running from Sept. 25 to 27, and National Day Golden Week, from Oct. 1 to 7, both periods when Chinese buying patterns can swing warehouse levels sharply.

The fundamentals underneath the price action are tightening too. Data from the International Copper Study Group show global mine production running at an annualized 23 million tonnes in July, down 4% from June, while refined demand rose 3% from a year earlier to an annualized 29 million tonnes. Refined supply, meanwhile, slipped 1% to 28.4 million tonnes. Put together with an unplanned outage at the world's largest single copper source, the numbers describe a market with very little room to absorb further shocks.

Lundin Gold: Fruta del Norte Drilling Points to a Longer Mine Life

Lundin Gold's newest drilling at its Fruta del Norte property in Ecuador is improving the odds that the mine's operating life can be extended, according to MINING.COM. A standout hole at the Bonza Sur target, BLP-2026-553, returned the highest-grade interval ever recorded at the deposit -- 204.26 grams gold from 140 metres downhole over 3 metres, including a 60 cm interval grading 1,035.60 grams gold. A second hole at Bonza Sur, BLP-2026-483-D2, cut 5.5 metres of 13.75 grams gold and 50.8 grams silver per tonne from 715 metres depth, including a bonanza interval of 3.2 metres grading 23.21 grams gold and 76.93 grams silver.

The company also reported a newly discovered vein system at Quebrada Dorada, where hole CHT-2026-495 cut 13 metres of 6.53 grams gold from about 195 metres. The discovery extends the known gold mineralized trend on the property to more than 8 km. Desjardins Securities analyst Bryce Adams said the results "highlights both near-mine growth opportunities and continued district-scale discovery potential across the Fruta del Norte property." while Scotia Capital's Ovais Habib said the high-grade Bonza Sur intercepts "improve the prospect of future underground access to the deposit's northern portion."

Lundin Gold is working to maintain or extend Fruta del Norte's 12-year mine life, an operation that produced 238,736 oz. gold in the first half of 2026. In February, the company reported record Fruta del Norte reserves of 5.85 million proven and probable oz. from 25.66 million tonnes grading 7.09 grams gold, including an inaugural Fruta del Norte South reserve of 540,000 ounces. Despite the drilling news, Vancouver-based Lundin Gold shares fell 1% to C$90.17 Friday morning in Toronto trading, valuing the company at about C$21.8 billion ($15.4 billion).

Kinross Gold: Guidance Cut Hits La Coipa and Round Mountain

Kinross Gold has trimmed its 2026 and 2027 production outlook by about 8% from the previous guidance midpoint, MINING.COM reported, after weather and metallurgical problems at La Coipa in Chile and weaker mining performance at Round Mountain in Nevada. The Toronto-based producer now expects 1.84 million to 1.86 million attributable gold-equivalent oz. a year, down from 1.9 million to 2.1 million previously, with all-in sustaining costs forecast at $1,850 to $1,900 per oz. sold, up from $1,730.

Desjardins analyst Bryce Adams said "we view the combined update negatively" and cut his price target on the stock to C$53 from C$58 while maintaining a buy rating. Kinross shares ended Wednesday's session down 3.8% at C$38.91 apiece in Toronto, with US-listed shares falling another 3.2% to about $26.75 each in premarket trading Thursday. Not every analyst read the update the same way: BMO Capital Markets analyst Matthew Murphy said "we see issues as limited in scope and other operations are intact," noting BMO had expected third-quarter production of 478,000 gold-equivalent oz. compared with Kinross' new estimate of 425,000 oz.

The company is also examining a prefeasibility study for a flotation circuit at La Coipa to process higher-copper sulphide mineralization identified below several open pits, and it raised its 2026 shareholder return target to 50% of free cash flow from 40%. Kinross has returned about $800 million to shareholders so far this year, including about $655 million through share buybacks.

Glencore: ASX Listing Opens a New Capital Channel

Glencore expects to begin trading on the Australian Securities Exchange on Oct. 14, MINING.COM reported, tapping the country's A$4.4 trillion ($3.1 trillion) pension market to support its copper expansion and potential acquisitions. The secondary listing, announced in August, has met all regulatory requirements and will trade under the ticker GLC without a capital raise or the issuance of new shares.

Each Australian-listed CHESS Depositary Interest will represent one Glencore ordinary share, and the London-listed miner has appointed Computershare Investor Services to manage its Australian CDI register. CEO Gary Nagle said investors had shown strong interest in an Australian presence, particularly after Glencore's failed merger discussions with Rio Tinto earlier this year. Shareholders in the UK and South Africa can begin requesting conversions of their ordinary shares into Australian-listed CDIs from Sept. 24, ahead of the October trading debut.

Tungsten West: Hemerdon Offtake Locks In US Demand

Tungsten West, owner and operator of the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, UK, announced Wednesday it has entered into a binding eight-year supply and offtake agreement with Elmet Technologies, a US-based vertically integrated producer of tungsten products, according to MINING.COM. The agreement covers 1,000 tonnes per annum of contained WO₃ from Hemerdon, valued at over £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion) at prevailing market commodity prices and foreign exchange rates.

The deal complements the UK Government's strategic interest in Hemerdon following the National Wealth Fund's investment of up to £71 million in Tungsten West and an exclusive negotiation to procure up to 50% of Hemerdon's annual tungsten production. The mine supplied tungsten for military and defense efforts during both World War I and World War II before shutting down in 1944. Tungsten West CEO Jeffery Court called the agreement "a landmark commercial agreement for Tungsten West and represents a major step in establishing Hemerdon as a strategically important source of tungsten for the Western world." and UK Minister for Reindustrialisation Blair McDougall said the announcement "builds on our partnership with the United States, working together in areas like mining and processing, helping crucial sectors like defence and clean energy in both countries get the minerals they need."

Gemfields: Ruby Impairment Weighs on the Half

Gemfields expects to report a $73.5 million loss for the six months to June after taking a $125.2 million impairment against its Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique, MINING.COM reported, where it recovered fewer high-quality rubies than expected. The company also increased an impairment on the mine taken in its 2025 financial year from $35 million to $65 million after identifying a further $30 million adjustment.

Interim CEO David Lovett said "the first half of 2026 was a challenging period for Gemfields, driven by lower-than-expected premium ruby recoveries at MRM, which had a significant impact on the Group's financial performance." Montepuez still generated $76.1 million in revenue during the first half, nearly double the $38.9 million recorded a year earlier, while Kagem, the company's emerald mine in Zambia, generated $26.7 million compared with $21.1 million a year earlier. Gemfields is now building PP2, a second processing plant at Montepuez intended to triple the mine's processing capacity to 600 tonnes per hour from 200 tonnes. Management also reduced group operating costs by 17%, completed a $30-million rights offer and sold luxury jewellery brand Fabergé for $50 million as it prioritizes debt reduction.

Rio Tinto: A Push Into Trading and Logistics

Rio Tinto plans to expand its metals trading business into third-party material and derivatives as CEO Simon Trott seeks to squeeze more value from the world's second-largest miner, Bloomberg reported via MINING.COM. The company does not intend to replicate standalone commodity trading houses but is considering a significant expansion of its existing commercial business under chief commercial officer Bold Baatar.

In North America, Rio Tinto's Kennecott operations have spare copper smelting capacity, creating opportunities to handle additional material including copper cathode and sulphuric acid. Rio Tinto's commercial team currently has about 20 traders and could add several more as the operation expands, and the company is also in talks with Dutch multinational Vitol Group over a potential freight and logistics joint venture.

What It Means

The through-line today is copper's exposed position. An accident at a single Chilean mine was enough to move a market already sitting on thin Shanghai stockpiles and a global supply-demand balance the International Copper Study Group describes as tightening on both the mine and refined sides. COPX, the copper miners ETF, closed at $86.73, up 0.6% day-over-day, according to market data -- a modest move that belies how little slack BHP's outage has left in the system. Rio Tinto's push to build out its trading desk and Kennecott's spare smelting capacity both look like bets that copper flows, not just copper prices, will be worth fighting over in the years ahead.

Gold, meanwhile, is telling a more divided story. Spot gold traded at $4,284/oz, up 0.5%, per Polygon data, yet Kinross Gold's guidance cut and Gemfields' ruby impairment show that even in a strong price environment, operational stumbles still punish producers. Lundin Gold's drilling success at Fruta del Norte and record reserves suggest the exploration upside in gold is very much alive -- it's execution, not the metal's price, separating this week's winners from its losers. Layered on top of that is a steady drumbeat of critical-minerals dealmaking, from Tungsten West's Hemerdon offtake with a US buyer to Glencore's move to tap Australian pension capital, both signs that supply-chain security is now shaping where mining capital moves next.

This roundup covers press releases published on September 26, 2026. Company announcements are sourced from mining industry wire services. For corrections or updates, contact contact@stakeandpaper.com.