Hercules Metals has hired former Arizona Sonoran Copper CEO George Ogilvie and six ex-colleagues who led the Cactus project to a US$1.4 billion sale to Hudbay, tasking them with advancing the Leviathan porphyry copper discovery in Idaho. Leviathan’s system has been drilled over more than 1 km strike, up to 750 m width and 500 m vertical extent, with discovery hole HER-23-05 returning 185 m at 0.84% Cu including 45 m at 1.94% Cu, beneath an epithermal silver system. Barrick-backed Hercules controls 404.7 sq. km along a 73-km copper belt with surface mining rights, road access and three 260 kV transmission lines crossing the property, but no resource or economic study yet, giving the new team a blank technical slate.

Namibia’s expanding uranium, gold and copper sector is drawing new investment, and AECI Mining argues that project success will hinge on how efficiently operations manage scarce water and other natural resources. The company promotes integrated blasting, reagent and water-treatment packages tailored to arid conditions, linking emulsion explosives, process chemicals and closed-loop water circuits to cut freshwater intake and improve plant stability. For mine planners and process engineers, the message is to embed water stewardship into early pit design, tailings strategies and plant selection rather than bolt-on compliance later.

Gold gave back Thursday’s post-Fed bounce, with the Comex continuous contract down 1.6% to $4,037.86/oz and December futures at $4,099.50/oz as traders priced a 63% chance of a September US rate hike. World Gold Council data show record mine output of 966 tonnes in Q2 and 1,867 tonnes in H1, but industry all-in sustaining costs hit a record $1,785/oz in Q1, driven by higher royalties and overheads, with further energy cost pressure emerging. Production growth was concentrated in Canada, Chile, Burkina Faso and Ghana, while Mexico, Nicaragua, the US and China declined, and central banks bought a net 289 tonnes in Q2, a record for a second quarter.