Новости за 17.07.2020

JSE- and TSX-listed Buffalo Coal confirms that another of its employees has tested positive for Covid-19. This time, an employee working underground at its Aviemore operation has been affected.

Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel on Friday said it would double its spending this year on measures to protect against the coronavirus outbreak to 20-billion roubles ($278.5-million). The company said the measures would include anti-virus security at production sites and employee support.

An uneven global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and concern over the prospects for second waves of infections are weighing on the outlook across commodities markets, according to Rio Tinto Group. While demand is strong in China, the top raw materials consumer, the US copper market remains weak, the aluminum sector is being challenged by sluggish auto sales and there’s likely to be a muted rebound in Europe and Japan even as they ease virus curbs, the world’s No. 2 miner said Friday. “If I look at the Chinese situation... Читать дальше...

Canada said the US should be patient about determining whether to reimpose aluminum tariffs on imports, but says the country will retaliate if the US pulls the trigger. At the heart of the tariff debate is the question of whether Canadian raw-aluminum imports have surged since tariffs were lifted in May 2019, contravening recent trade agreements. Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said there has been an increase in the production of unalloyed, or raw, aluminum as producers have been forced to shift... Читать дальше...

Brazilian mining company Vale said it has yet to make any decisions on resuming dividend payments, according to a filing on Thursday. Earlier this month, CFO Luciano Siani had told investors the company was ready to pay dividends again, but did not specify when that would occur. Vale suspended dividend payments after the 2019 collapse of its dam in the town of Brumadinho, which killed hundreds of people.

While proxy adviser ISS has backed the election of Matthew Halbower as a director of Toronto-listed Turquoise Hill, Glass Lewis is supporting the copper and gold miner in its rejection of the Pentwater Capital Management nominee to its board. Pentwater, which is the largest minority shareholder in Turquoise Hill, has been rising concerns about governance, delays, cost overruns and the company’s disclosure’s regarding the gravity of its funding shortfalls. Pentwater wants Halbower to replace Russell Robertson... Читать дальше...

Indian major Adani has broken ground at its Carmichael opencut coal mine, in Queensland. Adani Mining CEO David Boshoff said the work to remove the rock was a significant milestone to have ticked off the construction schedule. “We are on track to export first coal in 2021. It’s great to see our big new gear, the Liebherr R996B excavator and the CAT 796 dump trucks, hard at work,” said Boshoff.

Mining major Rio Tinto has reported increased production across most of its commodity portfolios for the second quarter ended June. Pilbara iron-ore production was up 7% on the previous quarter, to 83.2-million tonnes, with shipments up by 19% in the same period to 86.7-million tonnes. In the first half of the year, the Pilbara operations produced 161.1-million tonnes of iron-ore, with Rio’s share accounting for 133.2-million tonnes.

There’s a big shift in the balance of power in the global gold market. A relentlessly expanding physical hoard of bullion stored in London and New York means exchange-traded funds have usurped managed money in the futures market as the key driver of the price of the shiny metal.

The construction of a purpose-built, 23-km-long, 66-m-wide road for the relocation of wet concentrator plant (WCP) B and its dredge at the Moma titanium minerals mine, on the north-east coast of Mozambique, is on track to be completed in the third quarter of this year, says Ireland-headquartered mining company Kenmare Resources COO Ben Baxter. The road will facilitate the movement of the 7 000 t WCP B from the Namalope ore zone, where mining started in 2013, to a new ore zone, called Pilivili, which has several favourable characteristics... Читать дальше...

Original-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar opened orders for its next generation Cat 6060 hydraulic mining shovel late last year, although none have been sold in Africa yet. Caterpillar hydraulic mining shovels senior product application specialist Dirk Tegtmeier explains that there are many fleets of the legacy model and other 6060 models in Northern, Central and Southern Africa.

The hydraulics sector in South Africa could benefit from more highly skilled hydraulics experts, says hydraulics company Axiom Hydraulics GM Eugene Tondolo. “The hydraulics sector is unique in that it is small in terms of the pool of skilled professionals, but big in terms of value,” he explains.

There has been a sharp decline in demand for labour for mining-related construction projects amid the Covid-19 outbreak, with some projects on hold, as mines focus on their core business. This is according to technical recruitment company Oxyon director Pierre Bekker, who tells Mining Weekly that the pandemic has negatively impacted on the mining industry’s demand for labour services for construction projects, especially during Level 5 of the lockdown.

Before the Covid-19 outbreak, major mining companies indicated that, for the first time in many years, government and the mining industry were having meaningful dialogue that could realise positive outcomes, says diversified infrastructure and services construction company Concor Construction CEO Lucas Tseki. This sentiment was upheld by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe at this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba, held in Cape Town.

The local chromium industry is ostensibly being cut out of global ferrochrome production, owing to its eroding competitiveness and the comparatively ‘low-hanging fruit’ of supplying chromite. While it is seemingly economically expedient at present, the continued decline in local ferrochrome production capacity is rather concerning for the mineral processing industry. Moreover, South Africa continuing, and possibly increasing, its dependence on commodity exports can have adverse implications for the economy.

With delays from Covid-19 taken into consideration, Mauritian hydropower provider Tembo Power CEO Raphael Khalifa expects construction on three hydropower projects and one solar photovoltaic project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to have started by July next year. These four renewable-energy projects will service the country’s mining industry with a total installed capacity of 96 MW when completed, with an estimated total construction cost of $273.76-million.