Новости за 15.03.2024

Gold and copper miner Barrick has experienced “teething problems” at its flagship Dominican Republic growth project, CEO Mark Bristow said on Friday, but added that the Pueblo Viejo expansion project should be back on track this quarter. The expansion and mine life extension project is designed to increase throughput to 14-million tonnes a year and sustain gold production above 800 000 oz/y going forward.

A major new fuel cell thrust in North America is enlivening the outlook for platinum and helping the world advance further along the road to net zero. Emphasising that the advancement of the hydrogen economy can significantly move the needle against climate change, North American green mobility company Ballard is setting out to invest $160-million – net of government grants – to build a new manufacturing facility that will have the production capacity equivalent of three gigawatts of fuel cells a year.

Copper rallied above $9 000 a ton — its highest level in 11 months — as investors react to the risk that global supply challenges will tilt the market back into deficit. The metal, seen as a bellwether of the global economy, has surged this week after smelters in China held a crisis meeting on how to cope with a sharp drop in processing fees following unexpected disruptions to supplies of mined ore. Increasingly, investors are also warming to the idea that the worst of a global downturn is past... Читать дальше...

Dual-listed Hot Chili has executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Puerto Las Losas (PLL) to evaluate bulk tonnage loading alternatives for copper concentrates from the Costa Fuego copper/gold project, in Chile. The MoU with PLL provides Hot Chili the right, for up to five years, to negotiate a binding port services agreement for the project.

The world’s biggest lithium producer, Albemarle, plans to sell some of its metal in auctions, which it says will help make an opaque market more transparent. Albemarle has outlined a bidding model where buyers can “state what they consider the appropriate price to be through private bids,” according to an emailed company statement. It said the pricing mechanism will promote price transparency.

Amid economic uncertainties and rising inflation, total gold demand, including over-the-counter (OTC) demand, reached a new record of 4 899 t in 2023, thereby supporting the highest yearly average gold price of $1 940.54 /oz, according to the World Gold Council’s (WGC’s) ‘Gold Demand Trends Report’, published in January. The gold price, which hit an all-time high in almost every currency globally except the Swiss franc and was driven by increasing demand, particularly from central banks and OTC investors... Читать дальше...