October Newsletter – 10.10.2022

Brazil’s Cosan acquires 4.9% of miner Vale, plans to buy more

BRAZILIAN conglomerate Cosan SA said on Friday it had acquired a 4.9 per cent stake in Vale SA and intends to increase its bet in the mining company.

The deal marks a major breakthrough in Cosan’s push into the iron ore industry, bolstered by one of the world’s largest miners.

Cosan said its stake in Vale could reach 6.5 per cent, pending approval from Brazil’s antitrust watchdog.

Cosan, which is controlled by Brazilian billionaire Rubens Ometto and operates in segments ranging from sugarcane to logistics, will pay around 21 billion reais (S$5.8 billion) for the deal, funded by long-term credit lines.

In a securities filing, Cosan said it made the purchase “through a subsidiary and a combination of direct investments, equity and derivative operations.”

Cosan made its debut in the mining sector last year, when it formed a joint venture with Aura Minerals’ controlling shareholder, obtaining exploration rights for mining assets in three mineral projects in Brazil’s northern state of Para, near Parauapebas, where Vale also operates.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/energy-commodities/brazils-cosan-acquires-49-of-miner-vale-plans-to-buy-more

Backed by Bill Gates, Sandeep Nijhawan looks to clean up the steel industry

In furnaces heated by coal to more than 1400°C (2500°F), the carbon in coal combines with the oxygen in iron ore to separate out impurities and unwanted oxygen atoms, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide.

Sandeep Nijhawan brought four business ideas, each addressing rising global temperatures, to his March 2020 meeting with an investor at Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Freshly departed from founding two startups — one on hydrogen, another on batteries — Nijhawan had just seven slides to show. The first pitch in his deck was to make iron without coal, intense heat or emissions, powered by only renewable electricity.

“Let me stop you right there,” BEV investor Dave Danielson told him. “If you could do this thing, then that’s what I would do. I don’t want to hear the next three ideas.”

Iron, of course, makes up 98% of the substance in steel, the ubiquitous material that’s built the modern world. In furnaces heated by coal to more than 1400°C (2500°F), the carbon in coal combines with the oxygen in iron ore to separate out impurities and unwanted oxygen atoms, releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/entrepreneurship/backed-by-bill-gates-sandeep-nijhawan-looks-to-clean-up-the-steel-industry/articleshow/94695336.cms

Chile permanently closes mining areas connected to giant sinkhole

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile’s mining minister announced on Friday the permanent closure of mining stopes directly related to a giant sinkhole that appeared in the northern part of the country in July.

A sinkhole is exposed at a mining zone close to Tierra Amarilla town, in Copiapo, Chile, August 1, 2022.

Mining minister Marcela Hernando made the announcement after meeting with union members, mine workers and technical experts studying the sinkhole.

“The sector of the Gaby stopes, that are directly related to the subsidence, are closed definitively and will never be exploited again,” Hernando said, referring to a sector of stopes in the Alcaparrosa copper mine in northern Chile.

The minister added that the government is working on recovering water from an aquifer that was damaged by the sinkhole.

“We’re interested in recovering 1.3 million cubic meters of water that are currently stagnant in the depth,” Hernando said. “Our intention is to return them to the aquifer, for which we’re studying multiple alternatives.”

Chile’s SMA environmental regulator announced the charges against the Canadian-owned Lundin Mining Corp’s copper mine on Thursday for the sinkhole.

SMA filed a charge labeled as “very serious” for “irreparable environmental damage” to the aquifer, in addition to a “serious” charge for overextraction and two minor ones related to transporting minerals.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2022/10/08/chile-permanently-closes-mining-areas-connected-to-giant-sinkhole

Wall Street bankers told they can set own CO2 terms after spat

The world’s biggest climate-finance alliance has sought to dismiss reports that a number of Wall Street banks are threatening to leave, as it races to bring its house in order in the run-up to next month’s COP27 climate summit.

In a statement to Bloomberg News on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero said the group has “received no indication from any of our members that they intend to leave.”

GFANZ, which brings together over 500 finance firms managing more than $135 trillion of assets, has faced possible defections from firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp., according to people familiar with the process. The heavyweights were unhappy with the potential addition of binding restrictions on fossil finance, the people said.

Tensions soared after a United Nations-backed group, Race to Zero, earlier this year proposed such terms as a necessary condition for net-zero claims to be credible. That language was subsequently softened, and in its statement on Saturday, GFANZ said each sub-alliance of the group is “subject only to their own governance structures,” essentially giving them the freedom to ignore such proposals.

https://www.mining.com/web/wall-street-bankers-told-they-can-set-own-co2-terms-after-spat/

How a ban on Russia’s mining giants could shake the metals world

A possible ban on Russian supplies by the London Metal Exchange would be a seismic event for the metals industry, cutting some of the world’s biggest companies off from the main global marketplace.

The exchange has yet to make a decision, but on Thursday launched a formal three-week discussion process on the possibility of banning Russian metal, potentially as soon as next month.

In practice, a ban would simply mean that metal from Russia — which accounts for about 9% of global nickel production, 5% of aluminum and 4% of copper — could no longer be delivered into any warehouses around the world in the LME network, which store metal used to deliver against futures contracts when they expire.

But the debate, and potential fallout, provide a stark case study of how deeply the LME is intertwined with all corners of the physical metals industry. Despite being a private company owned by Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., the exchange’s decisions have far-reaching consequences for the way in which metal is priced and traded globally.

To be clear, the vast majority of global metal is sold from producers to traders and consumers without ever seeing the inside of an LME warehouse. And big producers, including top Russian groups United Co. Rusal International PJSC and MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC, almost never sell their metal directly on the LME.

https://www.mining.com/web/how-a-ban-on-russias-mining-giants-could-shake-the-metals-world/

Peru won’t cancel Quellaveco copper mine permits, says prime minister

Peru will maintain licenses for the Quellaveco copper mine owned by Anglo American and Mitsubishi Corp companies, Prime Minister Anibal Torres said on Sunday on social media.

The remarks come two days after global miner Anglo American expressed concern that the Peruvian government might be reconsidering the company’s license to use water for its copper mine in southern Peru.

“The government has not talked about canceling Quellaveco’s licenses,” Torres said, adding that private investment in Peru is fully guaranteed, as long as it meets contractual obligations and respects the country’s environmental and labor standards.

Previously, the Peruvian Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation said it was evaluating the use of 22 million cubic meters of water from two rivers near Quellaveco, due to comments submitted by agricultural producers.

Anglo American maintains that its activities will not affect water availability in the area and that the authorities granted the water license in a legal and transparent manner.

https://www.mining.com/web/peru-wont-cancel-quellaveco-copper-mine-permits-says-prime-minister/

Atalaya Mining PLC Announces Filing of Proyecto Riotinto Technical Report

NICOSIA, CYPRUS / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2022 / Atalaya Mining Plc (“Atalaya” or “the Company”) (AIM:ATYM)(TSX:AYM) is pleased to announce the filing on SEDAR of a technical report on Proyecto Riotinto which is dated September 2022 (the “Technical Report”) and prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”). The Technical Report includes independent Mineral Resource Estimates for the Company’s San Dionisio and San Antonio deposits, which form part of Proyecto Riotinto and are located adjacent to the Company’s operating Cerro Colorado open pit and 15 Mtpa processing plant.

The Technical Report is entitled “Technical Report on the Riotinto Copper Project – Located in Huelva Province, Spain” and is available under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.atalayamining.com.

San Dionisio Mineral Resource Estimation Details

The drilling data used for mineral resource estimation was based on 1,003 drillholes over 83,554 metres, of which 45 holes over 16,991 metres were completed by Atalaya between 2015-2021, while the remainder by past operators.

The Mineral Resource model was created as a three-dimensional block model using Datamine Studio RM software. The model block size is 10x10x10 metres, which is consistent with the estimated mining bench height and the estimated selective mining unit. The horizontal extent of the model is defined to cover the San Dionisio deposit, plus sufficient space outside the deposit to cover the ultimate pit.

https://www.accesswire.com/718947/Atalaya-Mining-PLC-Announces-Filing-of-Proyecto-Riotinto-Technical-Report

Baffinland gets a green light to continue mining in Nunavut, saving more than 1,000 jobs

Regulator approves higher extraction limit with clock ticking on layoffs

The Baffinland Exploration Camp Mary River Deposit 1 in 2012. The company has received approval from the federal government to increase its mining capacity.

The federal government approved Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s request for a bigger extraction limit at its mine on Baffin Island, avoiding the firing of more than 1,000 workers who had been told they would lose their jobs this month unless their employer was given permission to ramp up production.

Baffinland, owned by private equity firm Energy and Minerals Group and steel giant ArcelorMittal SA, sent the termination notices at the end of July, putting pressure on regulators to make a decision on its request to increase its extraction limit of iron ore to six million tonnes from the original allowance of 4.2 million tonnes.

https://financialpost.com/commodities/mining/baffinland-gets-a-green-light-to-continue-mining-in-nunavut-saving-more-than-1000-jobs

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