Новости за 02.04.2019

Norsk Hydro may take months to return its Karmoey aluminium plant in western Norway to full capacity following a power outage that cut production by about 10%, the company said on Tuesday. Hydro on Monday switched off 45 of the 288 aluminium cells at the plant's main production line, corresponding to around 27 000 t of annual capacity, to help enable stable operations for the remaining units.

The UK’s financial regulator added a small diamond pricing firm to its roster of companies managing market benchmarks, opening the way to making the precious stones a more investable asset. The Financial Conduct Authority has authorized U2 Diamond Prices as a benchmark administrator, joining firms such as FTSE International and ICE Benchmark Administration The move will allow financial institutions to offer products that reference its pricing.

Aim-listed BlueRock Diamonds on Tuesday reported a 12% year-on-year increase in mined tonnage at its Kareevlei mine, in Kimberley, to 42 409 t for the first quarter of this year. This was achieved despite a temporary eight-day suspension in mining operations in February.

Africa-focused Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered its fifth diamond larger than 50 carats from the Mothae operation, in Lesotho, since commercial production started in January. The recovery of the top-colour 55 ct stone was recovered only shortly after the recovery of a 128 ct diamond from Lucapa’s Lulo alluvial operation, in Angola, earlier this year.

Diversified miner Independence Group has lodged a patent application for a new process to produce high quality nickel sulphate from nickel sulphide concentrate. The company is currently undertaking a prefeasibility study on a downstream nickel sulphate operation at its Nova nickel-cobalt sulphide operation, in Western Australia, to supply the lithium-ion battery industry.

Gold miner Premier Gold Mines has netted $2.1-million from divesting eight noncore properties and one subsidiary in four transactions. The properties include the Geisler property, located in the Red Lake district of Ontario, the Faymar property in Timmins, Ontario and the Santa Teresa property, located in Baja, Mexico.

China's Ganfeng Lithium Co said on Monday it would spend $160-million to boost its ownership stake in an Argentina lithium project with Lithium Americas, part of a plan to solidify its access to the white metal used to make electric vehicle batteries. The deal, which must still be approved by shareholders, will see Ganfeng boost its ownership in a joint venture that controls the Argentina project to 50% from 37.5%.