Welcome to the new edition of MINE Magazine. 

This month marks a bit of a milestone for MINE Magazine: you are currently reading our 100^th issue. After the tumult of 2020, it's important to take a moment to appreciate how far we, and the industry we follow, have come. You can look back over our journey here.

In this issue, royalty financing usually involves a funder making an upfront payment to a mining company in return for regular royalty payments (which might be in the form of cash or the mined commodity). How is this alternative funding model faring in 2020? 

Also, London-based Bluejay Mining is looking to start production next year at its Dundas Ilmenite Project on the coast of Greenland, which has been proven to be the highest-grade mineral sands ilmenite project in the world. This year the company has had its environmental and social impact assessments declared compliant, while this month the project passed its navigational safety assessment for shipping to and from the site.

Elsewhere, the artisanal and small-scale mining sector has been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with communities already lacking in medical supplies and infrastructure stretched thin by the spread of the virus. However, recent reporting from the World Bank has found that those involved in the sector are more well educated and aware of the dangers of the pandemic than perhaps first thought, raising the prospect of a sector that could bounce back from these challenges. 

For all this and more, read on.

Callum Tyndall, editor