Новости за 05.08.2022

Zinc mining company Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) officially broke ground on its Gamsberg Phase II project on August 5. The R7-billion investment in the expansion of the company’s opencast zinc mine is expected to create between 2 000 and 2 500 jobs during the construction phase and a further 800 to 1 000 permanent jobs at peak operation.

Natural resource development company Red Rock Resources says in an asset review and current developments update to shareholders that arbitration is continuing in the Democratic Republic in Congo (DRC), with the outcome unknown. “As many will know, we recently returned from a trip to the DRC of over six weeks, the primary purpose of which was to participate in arbitration proceedings in Kinshasa where we are pursuing claims to our share of the sale proceeds of the key assets of a joint venture, which... Читать дальше...

Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti is firmly focused on operation performance and the recovery of cost competitiveness as it implements its full asset potential review programme, on which it will report at three-monthly intervals. This was made clear by AngloGold Ashanti CEO Alberto Calderon on Friday a media briefing covered by Mining Weekly after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange company declared an interim dividend of $121-million on 3% higher year-on-year production and a strong cash-flow improvement.

ASX-listed precious and base metals explorer, developer and producer West Wits Mining has started the first phase of drilling to test uranium mineralisation at its uranium exploration target, which forms part of the Bird Reef exploration programme at the Witwatersrand Basin project (WBP). In October 2021, the company restated its uranium exploration target to the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (Jorc) standard, including uranium as a targeted mineral in the Bird Reef exploration programme.

Russia became India's third-largest coal supplier in July, with imports rising by over a fifth compared with June to a record 2.06-million tonnes, data from Indian consultancy Coalmint showed. Russia has historically been the sixth-largest supplier of coal to India, behind Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, and the United States, with Mozambique and Colombia alternatingly featuring in the top five.

Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti on Friday declared an interim dividend of $121-million on 3% higher year-on-year production and a strong cash-flow improvement. First-half production for the first six months of 2022 was 1.233-million ounces, with second-quarter output up 10% on strong contributions from Siguiri in Guinea (+21%), Cerro Vanguardia in Argentina (+17%), Sunrise Dam in Australia (+15%), Iduapriem in Ghana (+14%) and Tropicana in Australia (+14%), which offset lower production from... Читать дальше...

Rio Tinto is not concerned about China's plans to centralise iron ore purchases and has strong ties with its customers, the Australia CEO for the global miner said on Friday. Kellie Parker's comments were in response to questions from the media about China Mineral Resources Group, a state-owned agency registered last month to centralise the import of raw materials required by its steelmaking industry.

Global miner Rio Tinto has received several offers to build 4 GW of wind and solar farms to power its alumina and aluminium operations in Australia's Queensland state, the company's Australia head said on Friday. Rio Tinto CEO Australia Kellie Parker said the company, the country's biggest single power user, had received proposals for "a lot more than the 4 GW" that it asked for in its call for proposals key to slashing its carbon emissions.

Toronto- listed Seabridge Gold has unveiled the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) study for a potential copper-rich underground mine at its KSM project, in northern British Columbia. The 2022 PEA is a stand-alone mine plan that has been undertaken to evaluate a potential future expansion of the KSM mine to the copper-rich Iron Cap and Kerr deposits after the 2022 preliminary feasibility study (PFS) mine plan has been completed.

Global potash will remain tight even as more buyers shed their fear of buying from Russia and Belarus, according to a top fertilizer maker’s chief executive officer. Supplies from Russia may remain as much as 20% below 2021 levels even as access to export markets grow into the coming year, Ken Seitz, interim CEO of Nutrien said in a Thursday interview. Shipments from Belarus may lag as the nation doesn’t have port access. Its production could fall by as much as half, he said. The two nations are... Читать дальше...

Joint venture (JV) partners B2Gold and AngloGold Ashanti are reviewing alternatives for their Gramalote project, in Colombia, after the preliminary optimised feasibility study for the project failed to impress. Both parties agreed that the project does not meet their investment thresholds to proceed with further development, says B2Gold CEO Clive Johnson, noting that the project may be sold.

Zinc neared a one-month high while other metals came under pressure in London, with top producer Glencore warning that Europe’s energy crisis poses a substantial threat to supply. Glencore has already suspended production at one of its zinc smelters in Europe, leading to a sharp drop in its metal output this year, and on Thursday it disclosed that its other smelters in the region are barely turning a profit. While risks to industrial-metals demand are mounting, Europe’s power crisis is also weighing heavily on the supply outlook... Читать дальше...

Complaints about workplace conduct at Rio Tinto Group have almost doubled in the wake of inquiries that exposed a mining industry rife with sexual abuse, harassment and racism, according to one of the sector’s highest profile female executives. “It has encouraged our people to speak up about poor conduct on our sites or in our offices, with the number of reports up by 95%,” Kellie Parker, chief executive for Australia at Rio, the world’s No. 2 miner, said in a speech Friday. “The process of publicly... Читать дальше...

Rescue teams will work non-stop to free 10 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in Mexico's northern border state of Coahuila, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday. The miners became trapped on Wednesday after three wells at the mine overflowed, causing an inner wall to collapse. "With all my soul, I want us to rescue the miners," Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference.

The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has called for the inclusion of next generation nuclear technologies to be considered as part of the Australian energy mix. MCA CEO Tania Constable said this week that these technologies could play an important role in building Australia’s economic performance and prosperity on the path to net zero emissions by 2050.

The federal government’s Climate Change Bill 2022 has passed through the House of Representatives. The Bill will enshrine into law an emissions reduction target of 43% from 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.

New trade data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has shown that Australia’s resources sector had posted another record year of exports, with total resources and energy exports were worth a record A$414-billion, in seasonally adjusted terms, in the 2021-22 financial year. This meant that resource and energy trade was up 38% on the previous 12 months.

The merger agreement between uranium developer Deep Yellow Resources and Vimy Resources has been implemented, creating a global uranium player. The two companies earlier this year announced the merger agreement under which Deep Yellow would acquire all of the shares in ASX-listed Vimy, with Vimy shareholders to receive 0.294 Deep Yellow shares for every Vimy share held.

Local valve manufacturers continue to struggle with delayed payments from the mining industry, which comprises 55% to 60% of the South African valve manufacturing market, says South African Valve and Actuator Manufacturers Association chairperson Pam du Plessis. Implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic to preserve capital, the force majeure declared by mining companies is still in effect and impacting on manufacturers’ cash flow.

The demand for valves specified for mining applications in the rest of Africa is much higher than demand in South Africa, says valve manufacturer RGR Technologies MD Marinus Ras. “New underground mines are starting to come on stream in certain parts of the continent, where greenfield construction and operational projects are fairly numerous.”

Energy management and automation company Schneider Electric software leader Johan Potgieter says the company’s telemetry systems can be “highly effective” in mines’ water treatment and purification systems, owing to their meeting the rigours and demands of the mining sector. Mines are constantly challenged by emerging regulations, rapid technology change and industrial shifts.

Professional services provider WSP Earth and Environment in Africa, previously Golder Associates, water treatment lead Peter Wille says there has been a noticeable uptick in South African and African mines treating and reusing water, owing to global green initiatives and local pressure from government. “This can be attributed to larger South African mining houses committing to the global green-mining transition, as well as to the principles developed by the International Council on Mining and Metals,” he explains.

In a release published in May by law firm Webber Wentzel partner Kirsty Kilner and senior associate Tendai Bonga it is said that the pressure on South African mining companies to raise their standards of environmental, social and corporate governance behaviour is expected to gain momentum this year. This has been ascribed to the long-awaited parliamentary approval of the National Environmental Management Amendment Bill (NEMLAA4).

Water and wastewater treatment solutions provider WEC Projects announced in June that it would soon complete the installation of a new WEC Model B packaged sewage treatment plant at the Mothae Diamond Mine, located in the Maluti mountains 214 km from Maseru, in Lesotho. The mine is 70% owned by Lucapa Diamonds and 30% by the Lesotho government.