Mining Monthly: December Edition
What you need to know:• Following the poor performance in the mining sector after the election of Donald Trump in November, gold and precious metals continued to struggle with the mining equities particularly struggling. Despite this, gold and silver closed out the year up 27.4% and 22.2%, respectively.
• Mining equities performed negatively in December with the GDX down 9.9%, GDXJ down 10.3%, SIL down 12.4%, and COPX down 10.3%.
• Financings were elevated in December as companies look to close out the year from a position of strength and plan for 2025. M&A was also elevated.
Sentiment Update
Following a tough month of November for the metals and mining sector after the election of Donald Trump, the mining market continued to struggle. Gold was stronger than most, down just 0.7% while silver, copper and platinum fell more sharply, down 5.6%, 2.3% and 5.8%, respectively. The equities struggled further, with the GDX, GDXJ, SIL, and COPX down 9.9%, 10.3%, 12.4%, and 10.3%, respectively. Broader markets also fell during the month with the TSX and S&P500 down 3.5% and 2.6% respectively, reversing the post-election rally. Despite the tough couple months for the sector, we will note that precious metals still closed out the year with strong gains of +27.4% for gold and +22.2% for silver. Beyond the precious metals, commodities were mixed throughout the year with copper up slightly, steel, iron and lead down, and battery metals mixed.
Financings in December were elevated to close out the year as companies pushed to get capital in the door prior to announcing their 2025 plans. We expect a cooler month in January and it picking back up again in February. M&A was more active in December compared to November with a few mid-sized transactions taking place including Agnico (AEM:TSX) acquiring O3 Mining (OIII:TSXV), Palisades Goldcorp (PALI:TSXV) acquired Radio Fuels Energy (CAKE:CSE), and Borealis Mining Company (BOGO:TSXV) acquiring Gold Bull Resources (GBRC:TSXV). See more M&A and Financings in the section on page 7.
Following a strong month in November for lithium (up 8%), the price fell 4% in December with Nickel down 3% and cobalt flat. The battery metals continue to ebb and flow with the headline EV news, and it is expected to continue in 2025. That said, the long-term view of the EV space is still highly bullish with global lithium demand expected to grow by 26% YoY and supply lagging, increasing by 16% in 2025. This supply-demand outlook could be exasperated by lower investment in the lithium mining sector in 2024 due to falling prices.
Endurance Gold is engaged in the exploration and development of mineral properties in North America and has not yet determined whether its properties contain ore reserves that are economically recoverable. The recoverability of the amounts expended on mineral interests by Co. is dependent upon the existence of economically recoverable reserves, the ability of Co. to obtain necessary financing to complete exploration and development of its mineral properties and upon future profitable production or proceeds from disposition of its mineral interests.
Nicola Mining is a fully integrated silver mining, exploration and development company.
Tempo Gold is in the exploration stage and is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of gold resource properties in Tanzania, East Africa.
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