Dig Deep

In this episode we chat to Mark Smith, Chairman and CEO of NioCorp Developments, a company advancing the Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project in Nebraska, USA. We discuss the development of this unique critical minerals project, the challenges of securing funding and bringing new mines into production and the growing importance of establishing a domestic critical minerals supply chain in the United States. We also get Mark's perspective on what separates successful mining projects from those that never get built, and the challenges facing the industry over the next decade. And finally, Mark will be at the upcoming Resourcing Tomorrow conference in London from 1 to 3 December. The conference is the anchor event of London Mining Week, bringing more than 2,300 senior decision-makers together including ministers, mining CEOs, and investors in one room, with a practical focus on how capital gets deployed, projects get approved and how the industry delivers the metals and minerals the world need. As a media partner to the event, use code DIGDEEP15 for 15% off the current early bird price.  Register here and get your tickets now before prices go up: https://hubs.ly/Q04y7L590 KEY TAKEAWAYS Unprecedented Multi-Mineral Diversity: NioCorp’s Elk Creek project in Nebraska is uniquely positioned to produce eight distinct critical mineral products—including niobium, scandium, titanium, and magnetic rare earths—from a single polymetallic ore body, creating built-in revenue diversification. Nearing the Finish Line on Project Financing: Having secured over $500 million in equity cash and all major permits, NioCorp is in the final stages of securing debt financing through the U.S. Export-Import Bank to trigger its 35-month construction phase. Industry-Leading Metallurgical Recovery: Through extensive technical development, NioCorp has achieved exceptional metallurgical recovery rates—such as 87% for niobium and over 92% for scandium and magnetic rare earths—drastically improving project economics. Solving the Talent and Power Bottlenecks: While AI data center construction has strained the U.S. skilled labor pool and power grid, emerging shifts in construction demand and technologies like scandium-enabled solid oxide fuel cells offer critical pathways forward for domestic mining BEST MOMENTS "If you have a good ore body, if you have good metallurgy, and you have good people, you're going to be successful in the mining industry." "We cannot be dependent on one nation—especially if you don't get along with that nation—for our mineral and the little things that we need to make all of our electronics work." "You can have a mineral in the ground, but if you can't recover it, it means nothing." "Safety is a value to me. It's not a priority, it's a value." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        ⁠[email protected]⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠ X:              ⁠https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast⁠  Web:        ⁠http://www.mining-international.org⁠ GUEST RESOURCES https://www.niocorp.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/niocorp-developments/home/ https://x.com/NioCorp https://www.youtube.com/@NioCorpDevelopments Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

In this episode we speak to Marna Cloete, President of Ivanhoe Mines who are focused on discovering and developing world-class copper and other critical mineral projects, primarily in Africa. We discuss the challenges of developing and operating the Kamoa Kakula mine in the DRC, the progress towards restoring full production, and the exciting exploration potential of the Western Forelands. Understand and explore the wider challenges facing the copper industry and what it really takes to turn a world-class discovery into a producing mine and Marna's personal insights into building high-performing teams, leadership and the lessons she's learned throughout her career. KEY TAKEAWAYS Infrastructure precedes mine execution: Turning a tier-one discovery into a producing operation depends on building extensive regional power grids, transport corridors, and social logistics rather than just drilling ore. Execution requires rapid adaptability: Complex developments require a phased scaling model and agile decision-making to pivot when external disruptions or geotechnical surprises alter the original feasibility plan. The global copper supply crunch is real: Meeting surging technological demand for copper requires government support, faster permitting, and consistent exploration funding across counter-cyclical market downturns. Local empowerment drives operational longevity: Building high-performing teams in challenging jurisdictions requires investing early in local workforce training, domestic management, and community equity BEST MOMENTS "It’s not just about discovering the mine, it’s about putting in place the necessary infrastructure to carry the product that your mine will produce, but also having a social conscience when you do so..."  "I think people sometimes think if the plan is there and you start executing, everything's sort of already worked out and things will just go smoothly. It doesn't. You need to be able to adapt."  "We all like our meringues, but we don't want to think about where the eggs are coming from... AI doesn't exist without the products that create these technologies, and that's back to copper."  "I usually have the motto to employ people that's a lot smarter than me because they make me look smart... You're only as good as your team." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        ⁠[email protected]⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠ X:              ⁠https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast⁠  Web:        ⁠http://www.mining-international.org⁠ GUEST RESOURCES https://www.ivanhoemines.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/9162636 https://x.com/IvanhoeMines_ https://www.youtube.com/@Ivanhoemines_ Robert Friedland: https://x.com/robert_ivanhoe Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

In this episode we chat with Paul Gait, Group Head of Strategy at Anglo American, one of the world's leading mining companies.  Paul brings a wealth of experience from both the investment and corporate sides of the mining industry, offering a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities shaping the sector. In this episode, we discuss Anglo American's evolving strategy, the growing importance of critical minerals, geopolitics, investment in new mining projects and what the future holds for the global mining industry. Paul will be at the upcoming Resourcing Tomorrow conference in London from 1 to 3 December where he will be speaking about 'Who Gets to Define What a Strategic Mineral Is? The conference is the anchor event of London Mining Week, bringing more than 2,300 senior decision-makers together including ministers, mining CEOs, and investors in one room, with a practical focus on how capital gets deployed, projects get approved and how the industry delivers the metals and minerals the world need. As a media partner to the event, use code DIGDEEP15 for 15% off the current early bird price.  Register here and get your tickets now before prices go up: https://hubs.ly/Q04y7L590 KEY TAKEAWAYS Mining productivity has stalled as traditional returns to scale have flattened out, meaning future growth depends on genuine technological innovation rather than incremental process tweaks. While long-term demand for metals like copper is projected to grow significantly, meeting it is fundamentally a challenge of capital allocation rather than an absolute physical limit on planetary resources. Resource nationalism risks distorting critical price signals and causing capital misallocation, whereas sustainable development requires win-win frameworks that fairly reward the long-term risk borne by equity capital. Navigating the industry's extreme cyclicality and high capital intensity requires a deep, historical understanding of macroeconomics and capital cycles rather than chasing short-term market euphoria or despair. BEST MOMENTS "The cycle is never as bad as people think it is, to be honest, and on the flip side of that, it's probably never as good as some of the real, more outlandishly bullish forecasts would have one believe." "The solution to high prices: high prices. Capital will be formed, capital will flow into the industry, that will then manifest itself in supply, that supply then comes on and it eases some of the pressure." "As Hilaire Belloc once observed, wealth is just matter transformed... Once that wealth creation dynamic starts to come under pressure, that converts or creates a bunch of geopolitical issues for our industry." "Civilization did not begin until metals became the material of choice... The only way you can create value in the mining industry is through a deep understanding of the industry, a deep understanding of the capital calls that are being made, and it's conviction born of understanding." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        ⁠[email protected]⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠ X:              ⁠https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast⁠  Web:        ⁠http://www.mining-international.org⁠ GUEST RESOURCES https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-gait-23518b2b4/ Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

In this episode we chat to Terry Briggs, Chief Development Officer from AngloGold Ashanti, one of the world's leading gold mining companies. We will be discussing AngloGold Ashanti's exciting gold discovery in Nevada, the company's strategy behind consolidating the district, and what the future could hold for the project. We also explore the integration of Centamin and its flagship Sukari operation in Egypt, the thinking behind AngloGold Ashanti's portfolio decisions, and why major mining companies sometimes choose to divest assets that other producers would be keen to develop. We also delve into exploration strategy, capital allocation, the challenges of discovering the next generation of major gold deposits, and whether the industry needs to rethink how it funds early-stage exploration. And finally, Terry will be at the upcoming Resourcing Tomorrow conference in London from 1 to 3 December where he will be speaking about the impact of AI and automation, and the opportunities and challenges facing the next generation of mining professionals and leaders. The conference is the anchor event of London Mining Week, bringing more than 2,300 senior decision-makers together including ministers, mining CEOs, and investors in one room, with a practical focus on how capital gets deployed, projects get approved and how the industry delivers the metals and minerals the world need. As a media partner to the event, use code DIGDEEP15 for 15% off the current early bird price.  Register here and get your tickets now before prices go up: https://hubs.ly/Q04y7L590 KEY TAKEAWAYS AngloGold Ashanti transformed its Nevada footprint from early-stage exploration into an integrated district with over 22 million ounces of gold resources across key deposits like Silicon, Merlin, and North Bullfrog. Major producers must maintain strict portfolio discipline, requiring new country entries to contribute roughly 10% of overall production (around 300,000 ounces annually) to justify corporate overhead and operational focus. Sustained, long-term exploration budgets and institutional knowledge retention are vital for discovery success, demonstrated by AngloGold Ashanti’s track record of generating tens of millions of ounces well below acquisition costs. Emerging technologies like AI, advanced sensing, and automation will augment human geology and engineering rather than replace them, increasing the speed and efficiency of testing high-conviction targets BEST MOMENTS "It’s very hard to hide a tier-one deposit; it’s even harder to spend effort proving that there’s a small deposit there." "Sometimes something's better off in the hands of others or worth more to someone else." "You can rebuild teams, but if you lose that institutional knowledge, that generational capability... those things are very hard to rebuild." "All these advances in technology actually open up opportunities rather than decline them... our focus for AI is to augment, not replace people." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        ⁠[email protected]⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠ X:              ⁠https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast⁠  Web:        ⁠http://www.mining-international.org⁠ GUEST RESOURCES https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjbriggs/ https://www.anglogoldashanti.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/anglogold-ashanti/posts/?feedView=all Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

In this episode we speak to Laura Tyler, an experienced mining executive and former BHP senior leader and former CEO of Adriatic Metals. We discuss how mining companies can unlock greater productivity from existing operations, the role of emerging technologies such as AI and muon tomography, and why the industry often struggles to turn innovation into measurable results. We'll also explore whether the biggest barrier to technological progress in mining is the technology itself or the leadership behind it. Laura will also share insights into her upcoming discussion with Gary Agnew from Ideon Technologies at Resourcing Tomorrow in London from 1 to 3 December. The conference is the anchor event of London Mining Week, bringing more than 2,300 senior decision-makers together including ministers, mining CEOs, and investors in one room, with a practical focus on how capital gets deployed, projects get approved and how the industry delivers the metals and minerals the world need. As a media partner to the event, use code DIGDEEP15 for 15% off the current early bird price.  Register here and get your tickets now before prices go up: https://hubs.ly/Q04y7L590 KEY TAKEAWAYS Meeting global copper demand requires unlocking productivity from existing operations through better subsurface understanding rather than relying solely on new greenfield discoveries. True operational productivity comes from optimising the entire value chain and managing systemic bottlenecks rather than fine-tuning individual components in isolation. Successful technology adoption relies far more on organisational change management, workforce trust, and leadership ownership than on the software or hardware itself. The deployment of AI and automation should aim to liberate human capacity for strategic judgment, risk management, and problem-solving rather than simply generating more routine activity BEST MOMENTS "We have to be ambitious about the potential of these new technologies, but we can't confuse the potential with proven value." "Treat technology as a partner, not a service provider." "Technology creates capacity, and leadership determines what we do with it." "When you start to find it easy to let people go, then you probably need to find another job or another career because you've lost the thread of what makes a good leader." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        ⁠[email protected]⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/⁠ X:              ⁠https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson⁠  YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast⁠  Web:        ⁠http://www.mining-international.org⁠ GUEST RESOURCES https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-tyler-b70249a/ Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/