Новости за 15.11.2019

British Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has indicated that it intends to exercise its options under a 2017 option-and-joint-venture agreement with Saskatoon-based explorer Star Diamonds, which owns the Fort a la Corne kimberlites in central Saskatchewan. TSX-listed Star Diamonds announced on Friday that Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (RTEC) would exercise all four options – years earlier than the major had to – giving it a 60% interest in the Star-Orion South project.

US miner Contura Energy’s $800-million bet on international coal markets is souring. In November 2018, when Contura bought Alpha Natural Resources and became America’s biggest supplier of metallurgical coal, global prices for the fuel were climbing -- bolstered by demand, particularly in China. Since then, trade tensions have escalated, curbing purchases of both steel and the coal used to make it.

Coal miner and supplier Buffalo Coal on Friday reported a headline loss a share, for both basic and diluted shares, of R0.05 for the three months to September 30. This is a 71% variance from the R0.18 a share reported for the September 2018 quarter.

Diversified miner Anglo America South Africa (AASA) intends to re-engage with key external stakeholders in an ongoing accountability dialogue regarding the company’s Sustainable Mining Plan (SMP) and its alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The purpose of this, AASA chairperson Nolitha Fakude explained at the miner’s second yearly dialogue session, on Friday, was to re-imagine mining to improve people’s lives.

NYSE-listed Arch Coal on Friday announced that it had discontinued longwall operations at its Mountain Laurel mine in Logan county, West Virginia, three months earlier than planned.  The move is expected to reduce Arch's fourth quarter coking coal volumes by between 150 000 t and 200 000 t and its fourth quarter operating results by about $20-million compared with previous expectations.

Lead, zinc and silver developer Europa Metals is starting a further diamond drilling campaign at its Toral zinc, lead, silver project, in Spain, focusing on a target area to the west of the current indicated resource within the existing inferred zone. The drilling programme, along with geotechnical and hydrogeological work programmes have been instigated following an extensive review of the project, incorporating the recent Joint Ore Reserve Committee resource update, which provided a first indicated mineral resource estimate.

Diversified miner Vedanta Resources on Friday said it was "deeply concerned" about reports of a sulphur dioxide leak at the Nchanga smelter acid plant owned by Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), in Zambia. It noted that reports have emerged that KCM employees and pupils attending the nearby Nchanga Trust School were hospitalised as a result.

London-listed Petra Diamonds has sold a 20.08 ct blue diamond, recovered at its Cullinan mine, in South Africa, in September, for $14.9-million. This represents a value of about $741 000/ct.

A Swiss environmental expert launched on Friday a six-week public consultation as he spearheads efforts to create new global standards next year following the Vale dam disaster in Brazil. The safety of dams used to store mining waste, known as tailings, gained prominence after the collapse of Vale's dam at Brumadinho, Brazil, in January that killed an estimated 300 people.

Argentina's lithium producers are cautiously optimistic that President-elect Alberto Fernandez's incoming administration will not restrict capital flows or set other policies that could hamper their ability to supply the electric vehicle battery metal. Fernandez, a member of the Peronist party that has supported more economic intervention by government, defeated business-friendly incumbent Mauricio Macri in last month's election.

French mining company Eramet plans to make a final investment decision (FID) in the first quarter of 2020 on its lithium development project in Argentina, with an aim to start production by the end of 2021, CEO Christel Bories said on Friday. Eramet earlier predicted the FID would be made at the earliest in the fourth quarter of this year, but the decision has been slightly delayed due to the change in Argentina's government, Bories said.

Aim-listed Botswana Diamonds (BOD) on Friday shared details of its areas of focus and strategy for the near future. This includes the ramp-up of its South African Marsfontein operation, which produced its first diamonds from gravels and residual stockpiles, earlier this week. The company intends to start a pilot production plant in the Marange area of Zimbabwe, restore production at Thorny River, in South Africa, while exploring for blows on the ground and identify drill targets at Central Kalahari, in Botswana.

The share price of metals miner Metals X tumbled by nearly 13% on Friday after the company announced that its Nifty copper project, Western Australia, was still producing below expectations, despite a suite initiatives to increase production. Metals X in May this year unveiled a reset plan for the Nifty mine, targeting a two-million tonne a year operation, and a production rate of 28 000 t/y from the Phase 1 plan.

Uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has announced a A$476-million renounceable entitlement offer to fund the rehabilitation of its Ranger project, in the Northern Territory, with major shareholder Rio Tinto saying it would subscribe for its full entitlement. ERA on Friday said that it would undertake a fully underwritten 6.13-for-1 pro-rata renounceable entitlement offer, priced at 15c a share, with some 3.17-billion shares to be issued under the offer.

Diamond sales brought Angola revenues of $294.85-million during the third quarter of this year. This represented an 11.7% increase over the figure for the same period last year – or, in monetary terms, a rise of $30.7-million. This information was released in Luanda early this month by the State-owned Sociedade de Comercialização de Diamantes de Angola (the Diamond Commercialisation Company of Angola, better known by its Portuguese acronym, Sodiam), the Macauhub news agency reported.

Redundant mine shafts are becoming a growing risk for mining companies, owing to a sharp spike in illegal mining activities.

Mining solutions provider United Mining Services (UMS) suggests placing significant emphasis on the operational maintenance of a mine shaft, as this can ultimately optimise the functionality of the mine, negating the potential financial and time-based losses that occur when shafts are not properly maintained.

Specialist in electric power generation and electro-mechanical power transmission Vert Energy supports a wide range of components and systems, with the assistance of a repair, refurbishment and maintenance service throughout Africa.

Finnish industrial machinery company Metso is expanding its crusher wear part offering by launching a new range of original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) crusher liners. Available for select markets from September 2019, the company notes that the new Metso O-Series offers the right balance between performance, affordability and reliability.