Fortuna Mining is evaluating a deeper pushback at its Lindero open pit in Argentina’s Puna after hole LDH-272 cut 350 m at 0.96 g/t Au from surface, including 98 m at 0.91 g/t below the current pit design, with LDH-259 returning 236 m at 0.85 g/t and 94 m below-pit at 0.66 g/t. Both below-pit intervals exceed the 0.54 g/t reserve grade for Lindero’s 64.4 Mt proven and probable heap-leach reserves, currently supporting a nine-year mine life and 92,000–102,000 oz/y guidance. Fortuna has expanded 2026 diamond drilling to 8,534 m in 31 holes and plans updated resource, reserve and pit designs in Q1 next year, which could materially alter strip ratios, slope configurations and long-term scheduling.

Liechtenstein-based Incrementum gold fund manager Ronald-Peter Stöferle told The Northern Miner at Mining Forum Americas in Colorado Springs that his active gold strategy is holding almost 40% cash after its investment signal turned defensive earlier this year, yet he now sees clear bargains in mining equities following gold’s recent pullback. Meetings with producers convinced him that majors are showing unusual capital discipline on M&A and project pipelines despite rising earnings. He expects generalist investors to increase gold allocations, expanding the capital pool for listed miners.

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has again halted Belo Sun Mining’s $300 million Volta Grande project in Pará, suspending the installation licence until a settlement with the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) is judicially approved. The ruling centres on incomplete Indigenous Component Studies and cumulative environmental risks in a region already impacted by the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, with Justice Edson Fachin warning of “serious harm” given the project’s exceptional scale. The delay stalls development of a planned 17-year open-pit mine with 3.8 million oz in reserves and projected output of about 205,000 oz of gold per year.