September Newsletter – 27.09.2021
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Behre Dolbear are Silver Sponsors for The Asia Mining Club Event, Energy Transition and the Mining Sector: A Discussion on Battery Metals and New Energy Materials, with some of the sectors leading experts on energy transition and the role of the mining sector.
Date: 29 September 2021 (Wednesday)
Time: 12:00pm HK time
Price: Free-of-charge
For booking queries, please contact Club Secretary at secretary@asiaminingclub.org or +852-9191-0630.
HEADLINES
- Iron ore miners lure workers to outback with resort-style living
- Mick Davis walks away from Guinea investment vehicle he founded
- China to form two rare earth giants to strengthen pricing power
- RANKED: World’s top ten nickel producers
- Sandfire Resources to buy giant Spanish copper complex for $1.9bn
- Investors in British Columbia back Faro mine restart in Yukon Territory
- UPDATE 2-China’s Chengxin, Tsingshan team up for $350 mln Indonesia lithium project
- Many nations join call for no new coal plants ahead of COP26
Iron ore miners lure workers to outback with resort-style living
In the outback’s blistering-hot mining sites, the hours are long and the flies relentless. Now, in a bid to attract skilled workers and overcome a labor supply crunch, Australia’s iron ore companies are turning to Olympic-sized swimming pools, virtual golf arcades and fine dining.
Mulla Mulla camp
When production starts at Mineral Resources Ltd.’s Ashburton iron ore hub around mid-2023, staff will be offered what it calls resort-style accommodation twice the size of the industry average, featuring a queen-sized bed, kitchen and lounge areas. And to overcome the strains of working remotely, a full-time mental health consultant will be on hand.
“We want to figure out how to make sure we keep the people that are working for us with us until they retire,” the company’s chief executive, Chris Ellison, said.
Meanwhile, the mining giants are also upping their game. BHP Group’s South Flank, which started production in June, features a worker village with a pool, tennis and squash courts, an indoor golf range and a range of bars and restaurants.
https://www.mining.com/web/iron-ore-miners-lure-workers-to-outback-with-resort-style-living/
Mick Davis walks away from Guinea investment vehicle he founded
Mining veteran Mick Davis has cut ties with Niron Metals, an investment vehicle he co-founded in 2019 to develop Guinea’s Zogota iron ore deposit, previously owned by BSG Resources (BSGR).
The former Xstrata boss, who was chair of Niron, ceased to be a director last week and is no longer a person with “significant control” of the private company, filings at Companies House, England’s registrar of companies, show.
Niron was appointed Zogota’s developer as part of a settlement between the Guinean government and BSGR, the mining group controlled by the family of Israeli diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz.
Davis’ decision to divorce himself from Neron Metals was taken before a military coup overthrew Guinean president Alpha Condé in early September, the Financial Times reported.
“People with knowledge of the situation said Davis had come to the view that it could take many years before Niron would be able to secure a route to market for Zogota’s iron ore and that he wanted to focus on other projects,” FT.com reported.
https://www.mining.com/mick-davis-walks-away-from-guinea-vehicle-he-founded/
China to form two rare earth giants to strengthen pricing power
China is planning to create two rare earth mining giants in an effort to gain better pricing power in global markets, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Chinese city of Baotou
The government is aiming to eventually consolidate all its rare earth miners and processors into the two huge firms, one in the north and one in the south, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.
The one in southern China will oversee medium-to-heavy rare earths, and the other in the north will control all light rare earths, the people said. It’s unclear when the merger will be completed.
Beijing has been restructuring the industry for years into six large state-controlled groups. By consolidating, it hopes to maintain its dominance in the production of the strategic metals, of which it controls 70%, as the U.S. and Europe look to develop their own production and supply chains and diversify away from China.
Several state-owned miners, including Aluminum Corp. of China, will restructure their assets, China Minmetals Corp.’s rare earth unit said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Thursday evening. That’s the first step toward the consolidation into two giant entities, the people said.
https://www.mining.com/web/china-to-form-two-rare-earth-giants-to-strengthen-pricing-power/
RANKED: World’s top ten nickel producers
Nickel and its compounds are essential for manufacturing steel, but nickel has also been dubbed ‘the silent saviour’ as it plays a role in the global transition to clean energy as one of the key metals used in batteries for electric vehicles.
Total nickel reserves are estimated at 94 million tonnes globally, according to the US Geological Survey, with Indonesia and Australia among the countries holding the largest endowments.
Global nickel production totalled some 2.2 million tonnes in 2020 despite a global pandemic. This year, global mine production is expected to grow —GlobalData estimates a 6.8% increase to nearly 2.5 million tonnes.
Using data provided by sister company Miningintelligence, MINING.COM has compiled a list of the world’s biggest nickel companies based on their production in 2020.
https://www.mining.com/featured-article/ranked-worlds-top-ten-nickel-producers/
Sandfire Resources to buy giant Spanish copper complex for $1.9bn
Australian mid-cap miner Sandfire Resources (ASX: MTR) is buying the Minas De Aguas Teñidas (MATSA) mining complex in Spain for about $1.9 billion, as it seeks to become a large copper-focused producer.
The company went into a trading halt on Thursday morning while Macquarie Capital and Citi secured investor support to raise A$1.2 billion (about $910 million) to partially fund the transaction.
The acquisition of MATSA, which was owned by Trafigura and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, was put up for sale earlier this year.
The copper mining complex in Southern Spain began operations in 2009 and comprises three underground mines that also produce zinc and lead concentrate. They all feed into a 4.7 million tonnes-per-year central processing facility.
https://www.mining.com/sandfire-to-buy-giant-spanish-copper-complex-for-1-9bn/
Investors in British Columbia back Faro mine restart in Yukon Territory
The tiny Yukon town of Faro, a four-hour drive northwest of Whitehorse, would never have existed were it not for the nearby lead-zinc mine of the same name, which is said to have been the largest in the world at the time it was built in the late 1960s.
At its peak the town was home to 2,100 people, with the Faro mine accounting for 35% of Yukon’s GDP.
But after the mine’s owners went bankrupt, the mine shut down, the town’s population dwindled to 420 people and the federal government was left with what it described as “one of the most complex abandoned mine cleanup projects in Canada.”
To date, it has cost the Canadian government an estimated C$500 million in environmental remediation and mine site care and maintenance.
But the Faro mine district is far from exhausted of valuable metals. The region may still host a wealth of lead, zinc, silver and gold, not to mention more than $100 million worth of mining and public infrastructure, including a small airport, so the potential to restart the mine has always been there.
https://www.mining.com/investors-in-british-columbia-back-faro-mine-restart-in-vukon-territory/
UPDATE 2-China’s Chengxin, Tsingshan team up for $350 mln Indonesia lithium project
Partners to build 60,000 T per year lithium plant in Sulawesi
* Move heralds entry into lithium for nickel giant Tsingshan
* Indonesia well-placed for Australian lithium ore supply -analyst (Adds analyst comment, background)
Sept 24 (Reuters) – China’s Shenzhen Chengxin Lithium Group Co Ltd and an affiliate of steel and nickel giant Tsingshan Holding Group will invest in a $350 million Indonesian lithium project to capture demand from the electric vehicle (EV) battery sector.
Tsingshan, which shook up the global nickel market by rapidly increasing production at low cost in Indonesia, is moving into lithium at a time when prices for the commodity are soaring amid booming EV sales in top market China.
In a filing, Chengxin said the partners would build a plant to make lithium chemicals in Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park on the island of Sulawesi. The park is home to several Chinese-invested projects including those making nickel and cobalt, which are also used in EV batteries.
Chengxin said the plant would produce 50,000 tonnes a year of lithium hydroxide and 10,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate, without providing a startup date.
https://www.reuters.com/article/chengxin-lithium-indonesia-idCNL1N2QQ07D
Many nations join call for no new coal plants ahead of COP26
For the first time, a diverse group of developed and developing countries have come together to give impetus to global efforts to end new coal-fired power generation.
New Delhi: Following China’s announcement to stop overseas coal power finance, a group of countries like Sri Lanka, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Montenegro and the UK have announced a ‘No New Coal Power Compact’, aiming to encourage all other countries to commit to halt construction of new coal-fired power plants to keep the 1.5-degree Celsius goal within reach.
For the first time, a diverse group of developed and developing countries have come together to give impetus to global efforts to end new coal-fired power generation.
Their new initiative requires signatories to immediately cease permitting and end new construction of unabated coal-fired power generation projects by the end of the year.
COMMODITY PRICES
Link for more detailed information
https://www.mining.com/markets-2/?utm_expid=.-13FrUPTTOeBdTR-7umA4A.1&utm_referrer=
