Новости за 13.05.2020

Exploration and development company Kore Potash has completed a prefeasibility study (PFS) on the Dougou Extension (DX) project, which has confirmed the district-scale development potential of this potash basin and the standalone commercial viability of the DX project, CEO Brad Sampson says. Kore’s flagship asset is the 97%-owned Sintoukola potash project, in Congo-Brazzaville.

TSX-listed Ivanhoe Mines has postponed its annual general meeting (AGM) and the date for sending out the company’s executive compensation disclosure to no later than end-September. This follows restrictions on public gatherings enacted by the Canadian government, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

TSX-listed gold miner Endeavour Mining started the year on a positive note, with continued momentum across the business and with production and costs in line to meet full-year guidance. The company confirmed in a May 13 statement that its operations had not been significantly impacted on by Covid-19 in the first quarter of the year.

Satellite communication services multinational Inmarsat's research shows that 65% of mining organisations have fully deployed at least one Internet of Things- (IoT-) enabled project across their mine sites. It adds that the mining sector is in the midst of an IoT revolution.

Hydrogen and the applications that it can enable are gaining increasing levels of interest and traction, says AP Ventures LLP. “We’re very optimistic about the role that fuel cells and hydrogen will play in decarbonising key sectors of the economy,” says AP Ventures in a written response to Mining Weekly.

Battery-metals miner Eurobattery Minerals (Eurobattery) has signed an investment and shareholders agreement including an option for a staged acquisition of 100% of the shares in Vulcan Hautalampi (VHOy), which owns the Hautalampi nickel/cobalt/copper project, in eastern Finland. The acquisition includes 280 ha of mining concession, about 94% of the mining lease area.

Aim-listed Ariana Resources has completed its initial earn-in on UK-based Venus Minerals, spending €920 000 for a 9.24% shareholding. Venus Minerals has a copper and gold exploration portfolio of projects in Cyprus, in the UK.

Norway's $1-trillion wealth fund is excluding some of the world's biggest commodities firms from its portfolio, including Glencore and Anglo American, because of their use and production of coal. Underlining the growing role of climate considerations for long-term investors, the fund is also excluding German utility RWE, South African petrochemicals firm Sasol and Dutch company AGL Energy over their use of coal. Norway's parliament agreed in June 2019 that the world's largest fund would no longer... Читать дальше...

LSE-listed Kavango Resources has announced the next stages of exploration in the Kalahari Suture Zone (KSZ) in Botswana. The exploration objectives are to discover world-class copper/nickel/platinum group metal (PGM) deposits in the KSZ; to identify high-potential drill targets in "underground traps"; and to increase the chances of future drilling success.

Aim-listed diamond miner BlueRock Diamonds (BlueRock), which operates the Kareevlei mine in Kimberley, has embarked on a new selling strategy and will, from June, ship diamonds to be sold on the Antwerp market, which the miner says attracts significantly more buyers than the local South African diamond market. The company had been reviewing its sales strategy prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the aim of gaining access to the Antwerp diamond market.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal plans to take Indian commodities giant Vedanta Ltd. private as the tycoon continues to simplify his investments. The businessman is proposing a price of 87.5 rupees ($1.16) per share to buy the 49.9% he doesn’t own of the company from minority investors, a 9.9% premium over Monday’s closing price, his holding company said in a statement Tuesday.

TSX- and NYSE American-listed SilverCrest has announced that it will restart exploration and development work at its Las Chispas project in Sonora, Mexico by mid-May using strict Covid-19 protocols. CEO Eric Fier says operations will resume in a staged approach. SilverCrest has also announced in-fill and expansion drill results for the Babi Vista vein at Las Chispas. These holes were drilled prior to the company's suspension of activities due to Covid-19.

TSX-listed Great Panther Mining has reported more positive Covid-19 cases at its operations, but says its Tucano gold mine, in Brazil, is continuing to operate at full capacity and that it still plans to resume operations at Topia and Guanajuato Mine Complex (GMC), in Mexico. Two additional employees and one contract employee have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the company-wide total to five. Great Panther reports that all affected employees are stable with mild symptoms and remain in isolation monitored by local health authorities.

Brazilian miner Vale plans to spend at least $2-billion to cut both its direct and indirect carbon emissions by 33% by 2030, CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo told Reuters on Tuesday. Direct emissions refer to those from the company's own operations, while indirect come from external sources, like electricity generated by a utility company and then used by Vale. Vale previously announced plans to eliminate these emissions entirely by 2050, following a global corporate trend that has seen oil companies and... Читать дальше...

Under fire from investors who have called for his ouster, the chief executive of Teck Resources said the miner has weathered downturns before. On Monday, Impala Asset Management revealed it sent a letter to Teck’s board in February, criticising CEO Don Lindsay for decisions it says have hurt the share price and saying he is overpaid. Earlier this month, an Australian hedge fund, Tribeca Investment Partners, also called for Lindsay’s replacement and said the company should divest its energy and coal businesses.

Mining operations have restarted at the Mt Garnet base metals project and the Dry River South mine, in Queensland, have resumed operations. ASX-listed Consolidated Tin Mines in March this year halted operations and placed its Mt Garnet and Surveyor projects on care-and-maintenance, and employees stood down without pay, as a measure to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mining major Rio Tinto is bracing for a changed market environment post Covid-19. CEO Jean Sebastian-Jacques told delegates on the Bank of America Global Metals, Mining and Steel Conference that the mining industry would need to transform to operate and thrive in a post pandemic reality.