If you want a brisk tour of the global mining theater—complete with board-room intrigue, emerging-market landmines, and the occasional government boondoggle—download Christopher Ecclestone’s May Monthly Resources Review from Hallgarten & Company. Equal parts forensic accounting and geopolitical noir, this is required reading for anyone who still thinks “commodities” is just a ticker on the Bloomberg screen.
Rio + Glencore? Not so fast
Ecclestone opens by skewering the latest City chatter that Rio Tinto plc (LSE: RIO | NYSE: RIO) might bolt coal-heavy Glencore plc (LSE: GLEN | JSE: GLN) onto its balance sheet. Beyond the thorny ESG optics, he argues, Rio’s nascent lithium franchise and Glencore’s famously opaque trading desk make for an ill-fitting marriage. Even before Rio’s abrupt CEO exit last month—a case of what Ecclestone drily dubs “Sudden Executive Demise Syndrome”—the industrial logic looked thin. For investors tempted to front-run what he calls the “mating dance of elephants”—his shorthand for the slow, lumbering, and often bruising courtship that precedes a mega-merger between two mining behemoths—the report offers a sobering antidote.
Tin tales from the DRC and Tasmania
Next under the microscope is Alphamin Resources Corp. (TSXV: AFM | JSE AltX: APH), whose world-class Bisie tin mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo has long dazzled the market. Shareholders, Ecclestone notes, now face “the rough end of the pineapple” after Abu Dhabi-based International Resources Holding RSC Ltd.—the mining arm of International Holding Company PJSC (ADX: IHC)—agreed to buy 56% of Alphamin at a steep 23% discount to the prior close. A mandatory bid for minorities? Don’t count on it, he warns, unless Canadian regulators discover a backbone.
Over in Tasmania, Metals X Limited (ASX: MLX) has snapped up 19.98 % of Elementos Limited (ASX: ELT).
Botswana’s forgotten gem—literally
How many juniors can claim germanium credits, vanadium potential and 25 million tonnes of zinc-lead-silver ore—and still fly below every radar screen? Meet Mt Burgess Mining NL (ASX: MTB), an ASX relic that recently lost its long-time CEO and features a resource estimate written when the iPhone was a prototype. Succession risk aside, Ecclestone thinks the unloved explorer could reward patient capital if new leadership updates the numbers for 2025 metal prices.
Gallium and the great Chinese leakage
No critical minerals review is complete without a China subplot. Ecclestone tracks fledgling gallium plays from Ontario tailings to British Columbia brownfields, but reminds readers that Beijing’s export “bans” leak like a sieve—especially across the Vietnamese border. Until that spigot tightens, gallium prices will struggle to reprise their 2023 fireworks.
Sri Lanka’s mineral sands grab
Capital Metals PLC (AIM: CMET), backed by Sheffield Resources Limited (ASX: SFX) and now Sri Lankan conglomerate Ambeon, pulled off a US$4 million financing that Ecclestone labels “textbook opportunism.” A two-day retail top-up—announced, fully subscribed and closed before most investors finished lunch—shows how nimble juniors can still outmaneuver the bear market.
Canberra’s strategic-reserve head-scratcher
The column ends with Ecclestone’s most withering prose: a critique of Australia’s plan to stockpile minerals it barely processes domestically. Think Strategic Petroleum Reserve, minus the downstream refineries. It’s a “hare-brained” use of taxpayer cash, he says, unless Canberra pairs reserves with an industrial policy that actually builds smelters.
Why it matters
This is a market in flux. Tin, gallium, and rare-earth narratives now share column inches with M&A rumors that could rewire the sector overnight. Ecclestone doesn’t just list events; he connects dots—trading-desk culture at Glencore, Canadian takeover law, insurgent politics in the DRC—and sketches the second-order effects most research notes overlook.
Bottom line
Whether you trade Glencore bonds, finance tin startups, or simply wonder how China will weaponize the next metal, Hallgarten + Company’s Monthly Resources Review (May 2025) titled Mining’s Day in the Sun is the sharpest lens you’ll find this month.
The above chart was created by Hallgarten + Company and may be accessed in the May Report.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. Tracy Hughes is not a licensed or registered investment advisor, broker-dealer, or securities professional. This material is provided for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as personalized investment advice or a solicitation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Readers should conduct their own independent research and due diligence, consult with a qualified financial advisor, and consider their individual objectives and risk tolerance before making any investment decisions.
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