Новости за 29.01.2020

The world's biggest diamond producing company, Russia's Alrosa, will restart production at Mir, a mine in the Yakutia region of the far east, shut since a deadly 2017 flood, the region's governor Aysen Nikolaev said in an interview. Yakutia, the world's biggest province by area, comprising half of Russia's vast far east, derives much of its revenue from a 33% stake in Alrosa, and Nikolaev sits on the firm's board.

A group of US institutional investors urged energy, timber and mining companies on Wednesday not to take advantage of Trump administration rollbacks of environmental regulations, such as moving operations into public lands that are being opened up. The investors representing nearly $113-billion in assets sent a letter to 58 companies saying that firms seeking to make use of the rule changes put themselves and their investors at "significant risk of public backlash and stranded assets, should these... Читать дальше...

Financial speculators have created a bubble in palladium that’s bad for the industry, according to MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, the world’s biggest producer of the metal. Nornickel is planning to take steps to ease market tightness by shifting sales to more investment-grade bars, instead of the powdered form used by industrial consumers, according to Anton Berlin, head of analysis and market development. He declined to provide exact figures of how many bars would be produced.

Black Mountain Mining (BMM), which is part of Vedanta Zinc International, has published a draft scoping report for public comment on a proposed zinc smelter to be built at the Gamsberg zinc project, near Aggeneys, in the Northern Cape. BMM is proposing to build a new zinc smelter and associated infrastructure to produce 300 000 t/y of special high-grade zinc metal, by processing 680 000 t/y of zinc concentrate.

A group of Democratic Republic of Congo citizens asked the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to recognise them as victims in its investigation of alleged corruption by Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC). The 16 Congolese say they lost jobs, healthcare and community development projects when a copper and cobalt tailings project was shut down near Kolwezi, south-eastern Congo, in 2009, according to a statement by Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), a London-based anti-corruption group.

Precious metals miner Fresnillo said on Wednesday its annual gold and silver production fell, hurt by the phasing out of its the Noche Buena mine and lower-grade output from Saucito and San Julián projects in Mexico. Gold output from the Noche Buena mine decreased 23.9% in the year because of lower volumes of ore processed, in line with the mine's plan, Fresnillo said.

The regional government of Galicia, Spain, has turned down the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Aim- and TSX-listed Atalaya Mining’s Proyecto Touro project, citing concern over the mine’s impact on the Ulla river and related protected ecosystems. The company on Wednesday said that it noted a press release from Galicia, which said that a negative EIS had been signed and that it would be formally communicated to the Mines, Energy and Industry Department of the Xunta de Galicia."Proyecto Touro... Читать дальше...

Diamond miner De Beers' rough diamond sales increased to $545-million for the first sales cycle of this year. This was higher than the $426-million in sales recorded for the tenth sales cycle of 2019, as well as the $500-million in sales recorded for the first sales cycle of 2019.

University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) School of Mining Engineering associate Professor Bekir Genc has been granted a National Research Foundation (NRF) rating. He is the fifth member of staff from the Wits School of Mining Engineering to receive an NRF rating.

ASX- and LSE-listed Danakali, which is developing the Coluli potash project in Eritrea, has appointed Todd Romaine as chief sustainability officer. The appointment is aimed at advancing the company's environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and Romaine will oversee the execution of ESG programmes for Danakali and its subsidiary, Colluli Mining Share Company.

The Indian government has accorded environmental clearances to 17 mining projects of State-run, Coal India Limited, paving the way for the miner to achieve production of one-billion tons a year. “These clearances will add 150-million tons a year to production of CIL and increase its washing capacity to 25-million tons a year, enabling the company to achieve production of one-billion tons a year by 2023/24,” Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi said in a statement. CIL aims to produce 750-million tons of coal during 2020/21... Читать дальше...

Copper miner Sandfire Resources has maintained its full-year production guidance for the 2020 financial year, following a strong December quarter. The miner on Wednesday reported that copper production for the three months to December was up to 18 258 t, from 16 730 t produced in the previous quarter, while gold production also increased from 8 647 oz to 10 723 oz in the same period.

Diamond miner Lucapa has entered into a cutting and polishing agreement with leading diamond manufacturing group Safdico International over its Lulo alluvial mine, in Angola. As a preferred buyer, Safdico could purchase up to 60% of Lulo’s yearly alluvial rough diamond production, as permitted under Angolan law.

Copper/gold miner Oz Minerals has announced plans to cut the ramp-up time of its Carrapateena project, from 18-months to 12, following the production of its first saleable product at the South Australian operation in December of last year. Oz Minerals is targeting throughput rates of 4.25-million tonnes a year by the end of 2020 from Carrapateena, and between 4.7-million and 5-million tonnes from 2023 onwards.

The global stash of gold in exchange-traded funds hit the highest level in seven years as the impact of the novel coronavirus on markets and sentiment reinforced demand for havens at a time of low interest rates, and the addition of just a few more tons would lift the total to a record. The latest influx into bullion-backed ETFs follows four straight years of inflows, and comes as prices trade near the highest since 2013. The number of confirmed virus cases in China has soared to overtake the official... Читать дальше...

Cerrejon, one of Colombia's largest coal miners, and its two unions have started negotiations ahead of the February expiration of their current contract, the parties said Tuesday. Cerrejon, which is equally owned by BHP Group, Anglo American, and Glencore, exported 26.3 million tonnes of coal in 2019 and has nearly 5 900 employees, of which 4 600 are union members. The negotiations with unions Sintracarbon and Sintracerrejon will take place over a 20-day period ending February 15, with the option to extend the process for a further 20 days.