Новости за 04.03.2022

Europe’s surging demand for coal is reviving an infrequent trade lane for shipments from South African mines. The fossil fuel typically heads east from Richards Bay Coal Terminal, the continent’s biggest export hub. Of the 59-million tons of coal shipped from the South African port last year, only 4% went to Europe and more than 86% was delivered to Asia.

Aim-listed diamond producer BlueRock Diamonds, which owns and operates the Kareevlei diamond mine, in Kimberley, South Africa, sold four gem-quality diamonds in the February tender for $460 000, thereby taking the total average price to $638/ct – 37% higher than it was in 2021. The average tender price of the total parcel of $638/ct was significantly above the 2021 average of $465/ct, following a strong January tender, which had an average price of $565/ct.

Gold climbed on increased demand for the haven asset, after the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant raised concerns over the safety of the facility in Ukraine. Bullion is heading for a weekly gain as investors weigh the economic fallout from Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. The resulting surge in oil prices has stoked concerns about global growth and inflation risks.

TSX- and JSE-listed Buffalo Coal Corporation’s subsidiary has advised it is negotiating with Investec Bank to restructure a remaining outstanding loan amount. Investec initially agreed to defer the final maturity date of the remaining R46-million owed on the loan to February 28, before being approached with restructuring negotiations.

Chilean miner SQM, the world's No. 2 lithium producer, reported a nearly five-fold rise in profits in the fourth quarter on Wednesday, driven by the surging price of the ultra-light metal that is key to make electric vehicle batteries. The metal, extracted from brine lakes in Chile's salt flats, is going through a price boom since the start of last year amid a global push toward electric modes of transportation, driving huge demand from carmakers and battery firms to shore up supply.

Nutrien, the world’s biggest crop-nutrient producer, said it wants the Canadian government to stop a strike at one of the nation’s largest railways, because the disruption could potentially lead to smaller harvests. About 3,000 workers at Canadian Pacific Railway have voted in favor of going on strike March 16 if a collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached, according to their union. That would impact Nutrien’s ability to move potash, nitrogen and other crop chemicals to retail locations across Canada just ahead of spring planting... Читать дальше...

Canadian project developer Denison Mines is witnessing positive demand signals for uranium and believes that the narrative for top-tier new uranium mining projects has become “quite positive”, president and CEO David Cates said on Thursday. “We have seen nuclear utilities seek to address significant future uncovered requirements in an environment with reduced visibility to available sources of supply – leading to increased long-term contracting activity and prices,” he said, adding that there was... Читать дальше...

This week, Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses decarbonisation; Zimplat’s 185 MW solar approval; and whether the supply of platinum group metals could be impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?

Copper developer Orion Minerals has extended the final completion deadline for its acquisition of the Jacomynspan nickel/copper/platinum group element (PGE) project, in South Africa. The company in 2017 entered into a binding earn-in to acquire rights over the Jacomynspan project from two companies which hold partly overlapping prospecting rights and a mining right.

Output from Chile's main copper mines fell in January, affected mainly by a weak performance by state mining giant Codelco, government figures released on Thursday show. The state Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) said copper production by Codelco, the world's largest producer of the red metal, fell 15% year-on-year in the month to 120 800 t.

Flush with cash after bumper earnings, mining companies straddle a delicate balancing act as they benefit from soaring commodity prices amid the Ukraine-Russia crisis but also potentially face high inflation that could hit short-term demand and slow down growth plans, analysts said. The world's largest listed miners, including BHP Group, Anglo American and Glencore are sitting on huge piles of cash after skyrocketing prices for copper, iron ore, coal, nickel and other resources buoyed profits.

Coal developer Bowen Coking Coal is one step closer to first production after the Queensland government approved an amendment to the Broadmeadow East project’s existing Environmental Authority. Alongside the existing, granted Mining Lease, this is the final approval required in order to start mining operations on site.

The latest trade data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has shown that coal continued to lead the surge in Australia’s export earnings for January. The ABS’ International Trade in Goods and Services data for January 2022 shows total resources and energy exports were worth A$356.5-billion in the 12 months to January, which was a 29% increase on the previous 12 months.

The first photovoltaic (PV) solar plant to be completed and commissioned by a mining company in South Africa is on track to produce 100% steady-state power generation by May, says midtier gold producer Pan African Resources investor relations head Hethen Hira. The PV plant is being built by Pan African Resources at its Evander Mines complex, in Mpumalanga.

Owing to the latest tailings dam standards demanding a longer-term view of design, construction and closure outcomes, a growing interest in design philosophies that incorporate shapes and processes as they exist in nature has been experienced, says SRK Consulting principal civil engineer in mine closure Justin Walls. “Timelines for responsible post-closure management of mines, including the ongoing risks associated with tailings dams, have lengthened from decades to centuries, or even millennia,” he says.

Global diamond corporation Alrosa Group is working with Russia’s leading research centres to study the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption capabilities of kimberlite to determine whether it could eventually be used to completely offset the company’s greenhouse-gas emissions. The results from the first phase of the study, released in September 2021, confirmed that reactions between ultramafic rocks and CO2 in the atmosphere led to the absorption of CO2, and the formation of calcite and other carbonates.

Local anthracite producer Zululand Anthracite Colliery (ZAC) is installing a filter press at its coal washing plant, in Emakhalathini, KwaZulu-Natal. The filter press will remove slurry from the water used in the coal washing process and prevent incidents such as the 1 500 m3 coal slurry spill, after the end wall at Slurry Pond 3 failed on December 24, 2021.