Новости за 13.11.2020

Botswana's newest and only operational copper mine is expected to start production in 2021 with annual output building to 60 000 t of concentrate, its executive director said. Situated in the Kalahari Copper belt, which stretches from north east Botswana to western Namibia, the Khoemacau mine will be the only operational one in the diamond-rich country after two other copper mines were placed under liquidation.

Chinese lithium firm Ganfeng has exercised its option to up its stake in the holding company of the Sonara project, in Mexico, from 22.5% to 50%. London-listed Bacanora Lithium reported on Friday that Ganfeng would subscribe for shares worth £21.8-million (73 955 680 shares at 29.59p) in Sonara Lithium. The investment would reduce the equity demands on Bacanora’s shareholders to fund Phase 1 of the project, CEO Peter Secker said in a statement. Bacanora would remain as the project operator in Sonora... Читать дальше...

TSX- and JSE-listed Eastern Platinum (Eastplats) has reported a widened loss to shareholders of $11-million for the nine months ended September 30, compared with a loss of $3-million, or $0.03 apiece, posted for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. This $0.12 apiece loss was as a result of a large foreign exchange loss that the company incurred in the first quarter of the year, as well as owing to the economic effects of Covid-19 and a significant legal settlement in June.

London-listed Petra Diamonds has acknowledged a report published by UK-based corporate watchdog Raid that identifies a number of alleged human rights abuses relating to security operations at the Williamson mine, in Tanzania. Petra has committed to investigate these claims and plans to appoint a new security service provider from January. In the report, Raid provides details of at least seven deaths and 41 assaults claimed to have been caused by security personnel at the Williamson mine since it was acquired by Petra in 2009. Читать дальше...

At least 20 giant bulk carriers are anchored off the Chinese port of Jingtang and unable to offload millions of tons of Australian coal, the latest casualty of the growing diplomatic row between Canberra and Beijing. Fifteen of the ships have been waiting since June, and the remainder have been delayed for at least four weeks, according to an analysis of shipping data conducted by Bloomberg. The northern port is one of the nation’s key gateways for metallurgical coal imports used in steel production. Читать дальше...

Vancouver-based gold miner SSR, which recently merged with Alacer Gold, has initiated quarterly dividends, as it continued to generate strong free cash flow. The company will pay four cash dividends of $0.05 a share each year, beginning in the first quarter of 2021. On an annualised basis, the base dividend represents a yield of about 1.0% based on the 20-day volume-weighted average price as of November 11.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer unpacks the ferrochrome industry committing to solar generation; the green hydrogen economy and its benefits for Africa; and Kore Potash expecting to complete the first phase of its starter project in May.

Metals miner Taseko Mines has announced a $23-million bought-deal and an up to $2-million private placement to fund ongoing operating, engineering and project costs for the Florence copper project, in the US. The company has entered into an agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald Canada, as lead underwriter and sole book-runner on behalf of itself and a syndicate of underwriters, to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 27.75-million common shares at $0.83 a share.

Work at the Kambalda nickel operations, in Western Australia, has reached another milestone with the first firing of the portal face in the box cut at the new Cassini nickel mine. ASX-listed Mincor Resources said on Friday that the firing marked the start of development of the newest high-grade nickel sulphide mine in Australia.

Zambia’s plan to sell the copper mines it seized last year from-billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Resources is bogged down in legal challenges that are discouraging buyers. Arbitration between Vedanta and Zambia will proceed in London in January, after the government alleged the company lied about expansion plans and paid too little tax. That leaves cash-starved Konkola Copper Mines in the hands of a court-appointed liquidator, adding to Zambia’s woes as the southern African nation teeters on the brink of defaulting on its debt. Читать дальше...

The Western Australian Upper House has passed a raft of amendments to modernise the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), paving the way for increased environmental protection while stimulating the economy and creating jobs. Reforms in the Amendment Act include streamlining the environmental impact assessment process, improving the pathway for regulation of native vegetation clearing, improving the efficiency of regulating emissions and discharges, modernising and improving investigation and enforcement powers... Читать дальше...

Pakistan is in talks with Tethyan Copper to settle a $5.8-billion dispute around the Reko Diq copper project, two senior Pakistani officials told Reuters on Thursday. The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) last year ordered Pakistan to pay damages of $5.84-billion to Tethyan Copper - a joint venture between Chile's Antofagasta and Canada's Barrick Gold - for blocking Tethyan from developing the asset after it had already sunk more than $220-million into the project. Читать дальше...

Chilean regulators have accused Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer, of underpaying royalties by $11-million and vowed to take the US-based miner to international arbitration over what they called a breach of its contract with the government. Corfo, which oversees Albemarle's contract for lithium mining in Chile's Salar de Atacama, told lawmakers the miner had misinterpreted the part of their agreement that outlines the basis for royalty payments, favoring a too-low commission on its sales.

Multinational consulting engineers SRK Consulting director Andrew van Zyl stresses that technology, through the efficiencies it enables, is an important tool for retaining jobs in mining. The sector has been in a long period of decline, and technology is an opportunity to arrest that decline by improving the viability of operations and keeping people employed.   Consequently, this will allow for an increase in mine life or an expansion in operations because lower-cost production can facilitate the potential exploitation of lower-grade ore.

Engineering consultant Knight Piésold is focused on providing technical advice for many local tailings dam facilities, says Knight Piésold technical director for mining services Africa Andrew Copeland. This increase in demand for tailings dam-related consulting can be attributed to several tailings dam failures, most notably the Brumadinho dam disaster that occurred in Brazil in January last year.

Diamond miner Petra Diamond’s Tanzania-based Williamson mine has been on care and maintenance since mid-April, with only essential services being carried out in order to protect the mine’s assets and resources. The original decision was announced in the Market Update on April 9, 2020, when the company stated the action was taken on account of the unprecedented depressed market environment, largely owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A downturn in the global demand for certain minerals, uncertain and cyclical commodity prices and the increasing costs of production have resulted in several mines and beneficiation operations being placed on care and maintenance. These factors have been prevalent since late 2017, and care-and-maintenance programmes were also implemented because of uncertainties surrounding mining and environmental legislation and mineral policies, says law firm Beech Veltman Incorporated CEO Warren Beech.