Новости за 10.02.2022

London-listed gold producer Caracal Gold has announced the appointment of Rachel Johnston as nonexecutive director, effective March 1. "We . . . welcome [Johnston] to our board of directors. Her . . . experience across Africa . . . and her skills in environmental, social and governance (ESG) will be well-utilised,” Caracal CEO Robbie McCrae said on February 10.

South Africa’s mining production decreased by 1.1% year-on-year in December, Statistics South Africa’s data shows. The largest negative contributors were gold (-15.3% and contributing -2.4 percentage points); coal (-8.1% and contributing -1.9 percentage points); manganese ore (-10,8% and contributing -1,1 percentage points); and iron-ore (-7.4% and contributing -1.0 percentage point).

Chinese coking coal futures plunged on Thursday, after the country's state planner alerted companies with inflated coal prices, while benchmark iron ore rebounded despite government warnings. The National Development and Reform Commission summoned some coal producers on Wednesday, urging them to resume supply as soon as possible, and asked local authorities to strengthen supervision and keep coal prices within reasonable range.

Consol Energy has sold almost all the coal it expects to dig up this year and lined up buyers for almost half of next year’s production, a sign that US miners see strong demand continue for the dirtiest fossil fuel. Consol is “near fully-contracted for 2022” and has contracts to deliver 11.4-million tons of coal next year, the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based company said this week.  The miner produced 23.7 million tons last year, with about 63% going to power plants and the rest to steel producers.

Norilsk Nickel said on Thursday its full-year core earnings jumped 37% in 2021 thanks to higher revenue from surging metal prices and the sale of stockpiled palladium left over from 2020. Nornickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $10.5-billion from $7.7-billion the year before. The company was hit by lower output at two of its Arctic mines last year after flooding stopped production for several months. Читать дальше...

Aim-listed Firering Strategic Minerals says further mapping by SEMS Exploration on and around Spodumene Hill at its flagship Atex project, in Côte d'Ivoire, has identified additional pegmatite outcrops, as well as more lithium-bearing pegmatite float, allowing for the fast-tracking of a diamond drilling programme. As of February 4, Royal Mining completed 348 auger holes as part of the Phase 1 drilling programme, while 120 m of the first of four trenches across Spodumene Hill has been completed.

Industry association the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) will hold its bi-annual Presidents’ Meeting from February 23 to 25, at the Almas Tower, in Dubai. The meeting, the first in-person WFDB meeting since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, will be attended by presidents and officials from the 29 member bourses of the WFDB.

Vancouver-based Integra Resources is contemplating a larger scale openpit mining project at DeLamar, in south-western Idaho, CEO George Salamis reported on Wednesday, announcing the outcomes of a prefeasibility study (PFS). Following on from the 2019 preliminary economic assessment, the newly-released PFS is a materially different and larger-scale project. The two-stage project now entails a larger openpit mining scenario that combines heap leaching and milling to achieve average production of 163... Читать дальше...

The restart of production at the McArthur River mine and Key Lake mill, in Saskatchewan, after a multi-year shutdown is a welcome development and helps to reduce uncertainty about the industry’s plans in the region, Orano Canada CEO Jim Corman said on Wednesday. He was responding to an announcement from Cameco, the majority owner of the mine and mill, that production would be restarted, at five-million pounds this year, ramping up to 15-million pounds a year by 2024.

North America’s largest uranium miner won’t crank up production of the radioactive metal to chase what one executive calls “mythical” market demand. Instead, Canada’s Cameco Corp. is advocating “indefinite supply discipline” by limiting production at two of its key Canadian uranium operations starting in 2024, despite plans to restart its idled McArthur River/Key Lake operations in Saskatchewan this year. “Our focus is shifting to securing homes for our in ground inventory that is not yet been... Читать дальше...

Panama's government expects to receive by June a proposal by mining firm First Quantum Minerals to convert a coal-fired power plant to cleaner energy, Energy Minister Jorge Rivera told Reuters on Wednesday. A unit of the Canadian miner last month agreed to pay higher royalties to Panama as part of contract renegotiations for a flagship copper project. The government now wants the company to cease the use of coal at the nation's only plant left that still burns the fuel for power generation.

Vale and other Brazilian mining companies are set to miss a legal deadline in the state of Minas Gerais for the removal of all tailings dams built using a method linked to past collapses, and the industry is seeking to change it. The February 25 deadline has been considered unrealistic by the mining industry ever since it was first set in early 2019, a month after the collapse of a tailings dam in Brumadinho that killed 270 people. The Minas Gerais law, which requires the removal of all dams constructed using the upstream method... Читать дальше...

Vale has closed the iron-ore production gap with its main rival Rio Tinto Group, and is even expected to report slightly higher output in the fourth quarter. Rio Tinto’s Australian mines churned out 84.1-million metric tons of the steel-making ingredient last quarter. In its production statement Thursday, Vale will report 85.6-million tons, according to the average analyst estimate.

The Australian government has expressed concern about energy generator AGL’s decision to exit coal, with the company announcing on Thursday that it would bring forward the closure of its Bayswater and Loy Yang A power stations in New South Wales and Victoria. During its first half results announcement, AGL announced that it would bring forward its coal closure dates to no later than 2033 for Bayswater power station from 2035 and 2045 for Loy Yang A power station from 2048.

Iron-ore major Fortescue has unveiled plans for a renewable energy hub to power its mining operations in the Pilbara. In a proposal document submitted to the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority, Fortescue outlines plans for the energy hub, which will consist of up to 340 wind turbines and a solar farm which will have a maximum energy generation capacity of 5.4 GW.

ASX-listed Nickel Mines has raised an initial A$`48-million as part of its larger $225-million equity raise to fund an initial 30% buy in the Oracle nickel project in Indonesia. The miner has completed the institutional component of the capital raise, issuing 108.1-million shares, at a price of A$1.37 each to new and existing institutional shareholders. Settlement of the placement is expected on February 14, with the new shares to start trading on February 15.

Diversified miner BHP has appointed Catherine Tanna as an independent nonexecutive director with effect from April 4. Tanna has more than 30 years’ experience in the resources sector and was the former MD of Australian energy generation and retail company EnergyAustralia from 2014 to 2021. She has also held senior managerial roles for BG Group, Shell and BHP with experience operating in Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa.