Freeport-McMoRan has agreed to pay $77.2 million for 51% of TDG Gold’s Aurora West project in British Columbia, with options to lift its stake to 75% in the Aurora West JV and 100% in a separate ClaimsCo by funding $80 million in exploration and paying a further $40 million. The deal consolidates ground around the Aurora copper-gold discovery in the Toodoggone district, where Freeport already funds a 630 sq. km programme with Amarc Resources and has drilled almost 14,000 m in 16 holes. TDG retains 25% of the JV plus a 2% NSR on specified claims and will use proceeds to advance its Shasta gold-silver project without new equity.

Modern Mining began trading on the NYSE American under ticker “MDRN” after a roughly US$40 million IPO, closing its first day down 3.5% with a market capitalisation of about US$36.1 million. The company uses a proprietary aqueous-based process to recover gold, silver, copper, palladium and other metals from electronic waste, targeting above-ground feedstock from discarded electronics. CEO Jeet Basi said the listing and new capital will be used to scale processing capacity as the US seeks to retain more critical mineral-bearing material domestically.

Mineros bought US$137.3 million of bullion in Q3, pushed reported operating cash flow to negative US$21.6 million, and expanded gold-backed borrowings to US$127.7 million, with Red Cloud analyst Alina Islam warning that margin-call risk is rising as about 88% of its physical gold is now pledged. The company’s Swiss unit posted 28,981 oz. of gold in October for roughly US$105 million of repo financing, while also holding a forward contract to buy 18,650 oz. at US$4,740/oz. Despite this leveraged treasury position, Mineros generated US$140 million adjusted EBITDA, lifted quarterly output to 62,253 oz., and is proposing a C$0.20/share special dividend totalling about C$58 million.