Новости за 04.11.2022

Canadian miner Pan American Silver has tossed its hat into the ring to acquire fellow miner Yamana Gold, teaming up with Agnico Eagle Mines in an unsolicited proposal to buy the company that South Africa-based Gold Fields has its eye on. Pan American Silver and Agnico Eagle on Friday delivered a binding offer to the Yamana board, pursuant to which Pan American would acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of the company and Yamana would sell certain subsidiaries and partnerships which hold its Canadian assets to Agnico Eagle.

AltX- and TSX-V-listed South African coal miner Buffalo Coal Corporation will offer rights to South African and Canadian holders of its common shares, on a one-for-one basis, at the close of business on November 18. The company, which has 421.35-million common shares in issue, intends to use the proceeds to settle debt owed to Investec Bank, as well as for general working capital purposes and rights offer costs.

London-listed mineral exploration and development company Tertiary Minerals has announced that its 96%-owned Zambian subsidiary Tertiary Minerals Zambia (TMZ) has executed a full joint venture (JV) and shareholders’ agreement with local Zambian company Mwashia Resources to govern their future relationship regarding the Jacks copper project exploration licence. The JV agreement has been made pursuant to the option agreement between TMZ, formerly Luangwa Minerals, and Mwashia, announced on August 2 last year.

Higher grade ore mined by AngloGold Ashanti in the third quarter should have meant more gold at unchanged cost – more bang for the same buck, as it were. But the current abnormally high level of inflation knocked back the potential benefits of 17% higher underground grades and 21% higher opencast grades year-on-year.

Aim-, ASX- and JSE-listed coal explorer, developer and miner MC Mining has successfully concluded a fully underwritten renounceable rights offer, raising its targeted A$40-million through the issue of more than 200-million new ordinary shares. MC Mining CEO and MD Godfrey Gomwe says the encouraging result of the rights issue has underscored the continued robust support of the company’s anchor shareholders, combined with the increased opportunity for new equity participants to partake in MC Mining’s maturing growth strategy.

LSE-listed exploration and development company Aterian has discovered high-grade copper and silver on its recently acquired Azrar project, in Morocco. The project, which covers an area of 78.4 km2, is held by Aterian’s 100%-owned subsidiary Aterian Resources.

Toronto- and NYSE-listed Lithium Americas has announced a reorganisation that will result in the separation of its North American and Argentine business units into two independent public companies. The separation will establish two separate companies that include an Argentina-focused lithium company, owning Lithium America’s current interests in that country, including the near-production Cauchari-Olaroz lithium brine project; and a North America-focused lithium company, owning the Thacker Pass lithium project, in Nevada.

US-based coal miner Peabody Energy has begun initial steps to redevelop its North Goonyella mine – a hard-coking coal longwall operation in Australia with more than 70-million tons of reserves. The company on Thursday announced an initial $140-million of redevelopment capital budget for further ventilation, equipment, conveyors and infrastructure updates in anticipation of reaching development coal – subject to regulatory approvals – in the first quarter of 2024.

The world’s top fertilizer maker will boost output of a key crop nutrient even as demand softens. Nutrien’s plan to increase potash production capacity to 18-million tons by 2025 has not changed, CEO Ken Seitz said Thursday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. The move comes as prices are falling from the highest level in years as farmers in North America and Brazil delay purchases, creating localized gluts.

Mining Weekly Editor Martin Creamer discusses Anglo American Platinum's maiden climate change report; Anglo’s green hydrogen truck trials; and consensus that a green electron and green molecule energy transition is tailor-made for South Africa.

Last November in Glasgow, the world’s climate leaders were locked in a fierce debate over whether the final draft of the summit’s agreement should include a pledge to “phase-out” or “phase-down” coal. Since then, the more appropriate term would probably be “phase-up".

The huge Las Bambas copper mine in Peru has started to reduce operations due to recent blockades, the mine said in a statement Thursday Las Bambas, owned by Chinese firm MMG, is one of the largest copper mines in the world, but has suffered frequent disruptions from largely poor indigenous communities.

Battery minerals explorer Zenith Minerals has advanced plans to demerge its gold and base metals assets into a separately listed ASX-listed company called Mackerel Metals, lodging a prospectus for Mackerel this week. Zenith earlier this year flagged the possibility of spinning-out its non-lithium assets to allow the company to focus on the company’s battery minerals projects.

ASX-listed Lithium Power International (LPI) on Friday reiterated its confidence in the Maricunga lithium brine project, in Chile. Responding to news reports in Chilean press regarding the exploitation of lithium in the Salar de Maricunga, LPI on Friday confirmed that the standing of its concessions and permitting according to Chilean law was solid.

The Department of Climate Change, Energy and the Environment and Water (DCCEW) has approved ASX-listed Queensland Pacific Metals’ plans to develop its Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) base metals project. The approval, under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, represented a major milestone for the company as it progressed towards a final investment decision, the company said on Friday.

Green energy developer Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) and Enel’s global renewables arm Enel Green Power (EGP) will partner to explore co-development of the green hydrogen value chain with an initial focus on Latin America and Australia. The companies, also through this collaboration, aim to make green hydrogen cost-competitive with fossil fuel-based alternatives during this decade.

Major Rio Tinto has announced a A$5.6-million investment into cultural heritage protection in Western Australia. The miner will invest A$5.6-million over five years into the Pilbara Cultural Land Management Project (PCLMP) that enables Pilbara Traditional Owners to work together to preserve their Country and culture and keep their people strong.

Stage 3 of the Rum Jungle rehabilitation project has started after the federal government signed a funding agreement for the project. The Northern Territory government this week said that this funding was a significant milestone in the project, which seeks to improve the environmental condition of the former Rum Jungle uranium mine and surrounding area, and empower traditional owners through training and employment opportunities.

Consulting firm SSG Consulting founder and CEO Steven Golding, in partnership with his team, designed and developed the award-winning KEY360 Management Platform that has become a “highly esteemed” global platform, owing to SSG’s passion for solving capital project management challenges for clients through aggressive innovation. Golding says capital projects are characterised by “extreme complexity” in terms of large dynamic organisations, shifting phases, massive data sets and constant change.

The most important aspect of project management – a proven management discipline that focuses efforts, engages stakeholders and provides a framework within which work is integrated and closely controlled – is to define the scope of work, says University of Pretoria (UP) project management professor Giel Bekker. “Project managers must ask themselves what needs to be done, why it needs to be done and what the objectives to be met are, to accurately define the scope of work, thereby decreasing the risk... Читать дальше...

To carry out any mining project, one must have the necessary tools, skills and knowledge to optimise time and produce high-quality work. Ability to do this requires continuous development, training and upliftment of personnel to avoid any skills shortages, says consultancy firm Wood mining and minerals VP – Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) region Henry Jonker. He says we are currently experiencing a shortage in skills, which could be caused by several reasons, such as the insufficient training of youth... Читать дальше...

Small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) advisory and project management firm  Zevoli Growth Partners (ZGP) has partnered with education and training solutions provider African Management Institute (AMI) to create a programme that helps South Africa’s mining industry build a stronger SMME supplier pipeline. The FutureForge for Mining Supplier Diversity programme, which was launched in 2020, targets early-stage and early-growth businesses looking to integrate into the local mining supply chain... Читать дальше...

Digital automation and energy management specialist Schneider Electric has reached the final stage of its information technology (IT) and operational technology integration project in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, for a South African diversified miner. The project began in 2019 – in collaboration with digital communications technology multinational AVEVA – to increase the operational automation and control of mines remotely at its sites in the province.

Telecommunications company BT group’s medium earth-orbit (MEO) mining service provides a “game-changing satellite connectivity solution” for mining companies to improve performance, safety and profitability using the large quantities of data generated by their remote operations. The MEO mining service was launched in 2020 in collaboration with  satellite communications services providers Société Européenne des Satellites (SES) Networks and Talia. The service is high-capacity, robust and dedicated to individual clients... Читать дальше...

Mechanical seals and support system specialist AESSEAL is upgrading 14 pumps for a mining company based in Namibia. The upgrade will include installing AESSEAL’s CDPH heavy-duty double slurry mechanical seals, SW2 a water management system and fluid distribution unit (FDU) for the pumps in a phased approach over the next six to 12 months. AESSEAL has already upgraded seven pumps and will upgrade the remaining pumps over the next six to 12 months.