New Pacific Metals has updated the PEA for its Carangas silver-gold-zinc-lead project in Bolivia, outlining a 19-year life of mine (plus two years’ pre-production) with total output of 195 Moz payable silver, 1.1 Moz gold, 1,453 Mlb zinc and 941 Mlb lead (339 Moz AgEq). The study gives a post-tax NPV of $3.23 billion and IRR of 37.0% at $5,100/oz gold, with initial capex of $644.5 million, LOM capex of $1.2 billion and a 2.4-year payback. Average AISC is $18.25/oz AgEq, with silver-dominant production of 15.5 Moz/year in years 1–8 before transitioning to 7.6 Moz Ag and 142.7 koz Au per year in years 9–16.

ICMM’s new global dataset of 12,000 mining and metals facilities across 148 countries shows 65.7% operate in areas with significant physical water risk, with 38.2% in catchments of high baseline water stress, 27% exposed to high drought risk and 14% to high flood risk. Exposure is highly uneven, with 85.8% of Chilean facilities in high-stress catchments and similarly elevated levels in Africa and the Middle East. ICMM warns that poorly understood water risk could constrain water-intensive processes such as crushing, flotation, leaching and tailings management, tightening supply for the energy transition.

Gold and silver prices jumped as the US–Iran conflict spread to a second key maritime chokepoint, pushing investors into safe-haven metals despite the highest long-term US borrowing costs in years. Traders moved back into bullion even as 10-year US Treasury yields remain near multi-year highs, a backdrop that typically pressures non-yielding assets. The shift signals that geopolitical risk premia are currently outweighing interest-rate headwinds in precious metals markets, with knock-on implications for mine hedging strategies and project financing assumptions.