A week choc-a-bloc with billion dollar copper, iron ore and cobalt deals ends with huge drop in prices and sell-off in stocks of mining's biggest names.
The new rules are a clear effort to improve the current legislation as seamlessly as possible, but in close attention to the international industry dynamics and to a number of other sensitive issues (such as environmental recovery and security).
The two separate decrees aim at making the local industry more competitive and sustainable, while while implementing rules on the collection of higher mining royalties.
However, the Canadian Mining Eye index — which tracks the performance of 100 Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange mid-tier and junior mining companies — dropped 8% in the three months to March 2018.
Uranium and key rechargeable battery metals lithium and cobalt are on a final list of 35 critical minerals that the US deems essential to national security.