Новости за 11.01.2022

The world’s second-biggest gold miner is confident prices will hold firm this year, if not rise, as investors use the metal rather than cryptocurrencies to hedge against inflation and jewellery demand picks up. “The risk is on the upside,” Barrick Gold Corp CEO Mark Bristow said in an interview in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “I don’t think there’s very much risk on the downside.”

Diversified miner and commodity trader Glencore on Tuesday announced that it had completed the acquisition of Anglo American’s and BHP’s respective 33.3% interests in the Cerrejon coal mine, in Colombia, having received regulatory approvals. The companies in June last year agreed that Glencore, which held the remaining 33.3% interest in Cerrejon, would take full ownership of the coal mine.

Nickel prices touched their highest in more than seven years on Tuesday as global inventories pointed to solid demand while an outage at the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit trading. The overnight outage at the world's largest marketplace for industrial metals lasted five hours and hampered activity because some trades did not go through, traders said.

ASX- and JSE-listed Orion Minerals says initial drilling assays from the maiden drilling programme at the Okiep copper project (OCP) in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, have delivered very positive results, confirming the presence of shallow high-grade copper mineralisation and demonstrating the potential for additional high-grade mineralised lenses at depth. The exploration drilling programme at the OCP is designed to test and expand mineralisation intersected in historical drilling. Drilling is currently focussed on the Carolusberg ... Читать дальше...

Explorer and developer FPX Nickel has appointed Erin Wilson as its principal geologist to lead the exploration activities of the company’s projects, including the preliminary economic assessment-stage Decar nickel district in central British Columbia. Wilson was formerly the chief mine geologist of Pure Gold Mining and lead production geologist with Newmont.

Coal miner MC Mining reports that its subsidiary Baobab Mining & Exploration’s deferred payment of R35-million – needed to complete the acquisition of the Lukin and Salaita properties – has been extended from January 10 to February 28. On January 14, 2019, Baobab entered into the R70-million acquisition of the Lukin and Salaita properties, paying over R35-million at the time – the properties holding the key surface rights for the Makhado hard coking and thermal coal project.

Heavy rainfall in southeastern Brazil has prompted miners including Vale to suspend some operations, they said on Monday, after downpours caused deadly floods in the northeast and threatened to delay harvests in the midwest. Rainfall is expected to remain heavy this week in most of top mining state Minas Gerais, after runoff closed roads and railways. The rains may also have contributed to the dramatic collapse of a canyon rock face in the state on Saturday, killing 10 people visiting a waterfall on boats.

Royalty company Nova Royalty has entered into an agreement to acquire an existing 0.135% net smelter return (NSR) on the Copper World and Rosemont copper projects in Arizona. Nova will also be granted a right of first refusal in respect of an additional 0.54% NSR owned by the sellers, covering the same area as the royalty.

Aim-listed Katoro Gold and Power Metal Resources have begun mobilisation for the diamond drill programme at their joint venture (JV) Haneti nickel project, in Tanzania. Katoro holds a 65% ownership interest in the project, with the balance held by Power Metal.

Chilean State miner Codelco, the world's top copper producer, plans to start lithium exploration in the country's northern Maricunga salt flats in the first quarter of the year, part of a foray to develop the metal key for electric vehicle batteries. Codelco, in a statement sent to Reuters on Monday, said the process would involve looking at groundwater conditions and concentration of lithium in the saltwater brine, which would determine how the project moved forward. "We expect to be able to start... Читать дальше...

US-based electric vehicle producer Tesla has entered into an agreement to buy nickel from the Tamarack mine, a joint venture project between Toronto-listed Talon Metals and diversified major Rio Tinto. Tesla has committed to buy 75 000 t (165-million pounds) of nickel in concentrate from the Tamarack project and has a preferential right to negotiate to purchase additional concentrate over and above the initial commitment.

Mining major Rio Tinto will buy four battery-electric trains to use in the Pilbara as part of its strategy to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Rio on Tuesday announced that it had purchased the four 7MWh FLXdrive battery-electric locomotives from Wabtec Corporation with production due to commence in the US in 2023 ahead of initial trials in the Pilbara in early 2024.

ASX-listed junior Austral Resources has started bulk mining operations at its Anthill copper project, in Queensland. Ore mining is expected to start in April, Austral told shareholders on Tuesday.