Новости за 07.08.2020

A group of indigenous people in Russia are asking Tesla’s Elon Musk to stop buying supplies from miner MMC Norilsk Nickel until the company compensates them for environmental damage to their ancestral lands. “The lands of indigenous people appropriated by the company for industrial production now resemble a lunar landscape,” members of the Aborigen Forum network wrote in an open letter to Musk this week. “Traditional use of these lands is no longer possible.” The group is asking Nornickel to assess... Читать дальше...

After a flat first quarter, the total value of mining deals – including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), capital raising and asset transactions – declined by $5.3-billion to $20.6-billion in the second quarter, reports data and analytics company GlobalData. “Mining M&A values dropped by 30.5% or $2.9-billion in the second quarter, while there was a 24.8% or $3.7-billion drop in the capital raised by mining companies during the second quarter.

TSX-V-listed GoviEx Uranium has closed the last tranche of a nonbrokered private placement offering of over 35.7-million units for gross proceeds of about C$5-million. The net proceeds from the private placement will be used to fund continued exploration and development activities on three company projects, Madaouela, in north central Niger; Mutanga, in Zambia and Falea, in Mali, and for general working capital purposes. In connection with the last tranche of the private placement, the arm’s length finder... Читать дальше...

Overall deal activity in the Middle East and African metals and mining industry increased by 16.7% in the second quarter, data and analytics company GlobalData’s deals database shows. Twenty-eight deals worth $1.44-billion were announced for the region during the quarter, against the last four-quarter average of 24 deals.

Water samples taken by Greenpeace in Russia’s Arctic at the site of a wastewater dump by mining giant Norilsk Nickel contained 50 times the permitted level of toxic substances, the environmental campaign group has said. The miner admitted last month its Talnakh metals processing plant had used pumps to dump industrial water near the city of Norilsk on June 28 and said it had fired several of the plant’s managers after learning of the incident. Greenpeace, which discovered the dump with newspaper... Читать дальше...

South African Diamond Producers Organisation (Sadpo) chairperson Gert van Niekerk reports in a newsletter that the organisation’s former deputy chairperson and co-founder Jaap van Heerden has passed away. Van Niekerk goes on to report that its members in the diamond mining industry have adapted well to the challenges amid the current circumstances.

TSX-listed Teranga has posted an updated, shorter life of mine (LoM) plan for the Wahgnion gold project, in Burkina Faso, on the back of increased production, which has also lead to a higher set production guidance for 2020. Since achieving commercial production at the start of November last year, Wahgnion’s processing plant has performed about 25% above nameplate capacity for throughput and gold recovery, resulting in higher than planned production.

TSX- and NYSE-listed gold and silver producer and explorer McEwen Mining reports that for the second quarter of the year, its gold and silver production was adversely impacted by operational and Covid-19-induced disruptions. The company, which operates four mines in the Americas, produced 15 700 oz of gold and 359 400 oz of silver in the second quarter, equating to 19 200 gold-equivalent ounces.

Cobalt production in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is the world's biggest producer of the metal, is expected to decline by 25% this year, says financial risk management, solutions and insights company Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research (Fitch Solutions). This decline will be primarily driven by the idling of Glencore's Mutanda mine in late 2019. Mutanda had been a major contributor to the country’s cobalt output, accounting for about 25.1% of total output in 2019.

TSX- and NYSE-listed Taseko Mines has invited public comment on its commercial copper production facility, in Arizona, up to September 11. This follows the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality issuing the company a draft aquifer protection permit for the Florence Copper commercial production facility.

NYSE-listed Hecla Mining managed to achieve a second-highest quarterly production of silver, since 2016, in the three months ended June 30, despite being amid the Covid-19 pandemic. More output combined with higher silver prices enabled the precious metals miner to generate 25% more revenue than the prior comparable three months, as well as generate $27-million of free cash flow.

Junior New World Resources has received firm commitments to raise A$3.5-million to fund resource and development studies at its Antler copper project, in Arizona. The company will issue 129.6-million shares at a price of 2.7c each under its existing placement capacity, with the issue price representing a 10% discount to New World’s last trading price.

If the United States re-imposes some tariffs on Canadian aluminum products, Canada will respond by slapping retaliatory tariffs on US goods, a government source said on Thursday. "We will react very similarly to the last (time they imposed) tariffs," said the source, speaking shortly before Trump confirmed he was imposing punitive measures. The source requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.

Chile's State-run miner Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, said on Thursday it would restart operations and projects it had suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, beginning next week. The miner had been forced to delay several mine expansion projects as cases of the virus spread through its operations, though it has largely maintained output during the pandemic. The company said in a statement workers would soon return to the new underground portion of its sprawling Chuquicamata mine... Читать дальше...

Base metals miner Trevali has secured additional liquidity of up to $45-million from its long-term syndicate of lenders and its largest shareholder, Glencore. The Vancouver-headquartered company, which owns mines in Namibia, Burkina Faso, Peru and Canada, entered into a second amendment and restarted credit agreement with lenders for an up to $150-million first lien secured revolving credit facility. The miner also entered into an up to $20-million second lien secured facility with Glencore Canada. Читать дальше...

Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti on Friday posted a colossal surge in half-year free cash flow generation, most of it coming in the three months to June 30. Free cash flow before growth capital, the metric on which dividends are calculated, rose 376% - or nearly fivefold - to $324-million in the first half of 2020, compared with $68-million for the same period last year.

Base metals developer Orion Minerals has raised A$6.2-million in a strongly supported share placement to advance its Prieska copper/zinc project, in South Africa. The company on Friday announced a two tranche share placement to sophisticated and professional investors, comprising 365-million shares at a price of 1.7c each.

Junior PanTerra Gold has submitted a further A$23.79-million claim against the Ministry of Mines and Energy in the Dominican Republic, claiming a loss of profits from its Las Lagunas tailings retreatment project. The company on Friday said that the quantity of the stored refractory tailings available for processing had amounted to around 4.9-million tonnes, which was substantially less than the 6.8-million tonnes presented as available by the government.

While the mining, construction, manufacturing, and health and safety sectors were once male-dominated, the women heading global solutions company SafetySA’s business units have upended the stereotypes, proving that South Africa’s women need nothing more than a level playing field to forge ahead.

Women have definitely been taking up more opportunities in the mining sector, and this is even evident when visiting underground operations, says explosives and blasting company BME.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic early in 2020 completely changed the global social and economic landscape, causing travel restrictions and physical distancing precautions in an effort to halt the spread of the virus. Commodity prices, specifically that of oil and oil price-linked liquefied natural gas (LNG) tumbled, as demand for resources declined and operations worldwide were halted.

Dual-listed titanium minerals and zircon producer Kenmare Resources is focused on increasing the number of women in its workforce as the company recognises that diversity, particularly gender diversity, is a key driver of business success.