Новости за 19.08.2019

Germany's TÜV SÜD has pulled out of conducting safety assessments of dams after the collapse of a Brazilian dam it had vetted killed almost 250 people in January, the industrial inspection firm's chief executive told Reuters. The collapse of the tailings dam, which was operated by Brazilian mining company Vale SA, flooded the town of Brumadinho with mining waste water only four months after TÜV SÜD had vouched for the safety of the structure.

The electrification of London-listed Premier African Minerals’ 49%-owned RHA tungsten mine, in Zimbabwe, is expected to be concluded by the end of November. The miner on Monday noted that it had received confirmation of this from the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa).

Exxaro’s first female engineering manager, Bontle Mtshengu, has been named the winner in the Top Gender Empowered Organisation: Resources category in the Standard Bank Top Woman of the Year awards. Mtshengu, who leads a team of more than 200 people and is responsible for ensuring Exxaro complies with its engineering strategy and health and safety standards at its Leeuwpan coal mine, was named the winner at a ceremony at Emperors Palace, in Ekurhuleni, on August 15.

Navajo Transitional Energy has won a bid to buy “substantially all” of Cloud Peak Energy’s assets, the bankrupt coal company said in a statement Friday. The assets to be acquired include the company’s Spring Creek, Cordero Rojo and Antelope mines, as well as the Sequatchie Valley reclamation project.

Dual-listed Mkango Resources continues to progress its Songwe Hill rare earths and its Thambani uranium/tantalum/niobium projects, in Malawi. The company on Monday reported that the feasibility study for Songwe Hill continued to progress, fully funded by strategic partner, Talaxis, a subsidiary of Noble Group.

Aim-listed BlueRock Diamonds, which operates the Kareevlei mine, in the Kimberley region of South Africa, has sold a 7.63 ct diamond for $52 000 during its August tender. This is the company’s fifth diamond to sell for more than $50 000 this year.

Global iron-ore production will grow modestly from 2.8-billion tonnes this year to 3-billion tonnes by 2028, says macroeconomic and industry research house Fitch Solutions. This represents an average yearly growth rate of 0.5% during the period, which is a slowdown compared with the average growth rate of 2.9% during 2009 to 2018.

Botswana’s Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security has granted a renewal of TSX-listed Tsodilo Resources’ prospecting licence in the country for an additional two years, ending September 30, 2021. The licence area, which is within the Orapa Kimberlite Field, contains the company’s BK16 kimberlite project.

The expansion of the Proyecto Riotinto mine to 15-million tonnes a year has achieved full mechanical completion and the expanded plant should reach its nameplate capacity in December, dual-listed Atalaya Mining announced on Monday. The expansion should result in the Spain-based copper operation to increase its production to between 50 000 t/y and 55 000 t/y in 2020, compared with the guided 45 000 t for this year.

Precious and base metals project developer Ivanhoe Mines has intersected another high-grade strike of mineralisation at the Kamoa-Kakula project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company on Sunday said drilling at the Kamoa North Bonanza Zone deposit returned an estimated grade of 18% copper over 18.86 m at a 2% cutoff, beginning at down-hole depth of 209 m, making it the highest-grade intersection ever drilled at the project.

China's Ganfeng Lithium said on Sunday it had completed a $160-million deal to raise its stake in the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium brine project in Argentina to 50%. Ganfeng, based in southeastern China's Jiangxi province, is one of the world's biggest producers of lithium, a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries, and a supplier of electric carmaker Tesla.