The Canadian miner has not yet earned a stake in African Pioneer Zambia, the company that holds the copper licences.

Prices climbed as much as 1.5% to trade above $8,300 a ton on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday.

The industry saw a significant rise in M&A activity across metals and mining companies in 2023 driven by the global energy transition, a theme Fitch Solutions expects to continue.

Guinea is among the world’s top producers of bauxite, a raw material used to produce aluminum.

Prony Resources is one of three nickel processors in the French territory that face insolvency as high costs and political tensions have hit profitability.

Nickel prices fell 40% in the last year as Indonesian supply jumped.

The project was the first to be added to the US FAST-41 permitting process, and the company said it has the potential to be one of the world’s largest zinc producers.