Anglo American’s sale of its Brazilian nickel business to China’s MMG Ltd is a corporate win-win. Anglo gets to deliver on its promise to shareholders to simplify its portfolio and pockets up to $500 million.
MMG, which is already a major producer of copper, cobalt and zinc, gets to diversify into another metal and expand its geographic footprint into Brazil. It is also buying into the one part of the nickel market that is showing signs of price resilience amid a glut of over-supply.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/
Application filed for order directing Gator Capital Ltd. to dispose of shares in Lithium Chile
The federal government is going to court to force a Toronto company to sell a $34-million stake in a Calgary-based lithium firm that it bought off a Chinese company.
The government had already deemed the previous Chinese owner’s investment in Lithium Chile Inc. to be harmful to national security, and it says in a Federal Court application that the new buyer has failed to co-operate with efforts to prove it isn’t owned or influenced by China’s government either.
One of the biggest nickel smelters in Indonesia has slashed production and is close to shutting down completely, just months after the collapse of its Chinese parent company.
(Bloomberg) — One of the biggest nickel smelters in Indonesia has slashed production and is close to shutting down completely, just months after the collapse of its Chinese parent company.
PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry, which is affiliated with bankrupted stainless steel giant Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co., is delaying payments to local energy suppliers and is unable to procure nickel ore, according to people familiar with the situation.
The Chinese government is getting serious about constraining the blind expansion of copper smelters, although its new policy is likely to pause rather than stop development. Eleven ministries signed an order last week to limit capacity in the world’s biggest copper industry, by tying expansions to whether companies also control enough ore supply to feed their smelters.
As China imports most of its feedstock, and ore has gotten scarcer anyway, it’s a condition that’s unlikely to be met by the vast majority of firms. But there could be wiggle room in how the policy is implemented.
On Dec. 3, 2024, China’s Ministry of Commerce implemented export bans on key semiconductor materials, including gallium and germanium, to the US. While these minerals had already been subject to existing export restrictions introduced in July 2023, this is the first time China has specifically targeted the US.
To date, US legislation has focused on strengthening the downstream part of the semiconductor supply chain, leaving US technologies vulnerable to upstream supply chain disruption.US-China tensions centered on semiconductors and critical minerals are apt to continue rising as each government deploys the levers at its disposal, including restrictions on the upstream supply of materials key to the chip sector.
RIO DE JANEIRO-Chinese electric carmaker BYD acquired mineral rights for two plots of land in a lithium-rich part of Brazil in 2023, entering the mining business in its biggest market outside of China, according to public records reviewed by Reuters.
The EV producer’s acquisition of mineral rights in Brazil is its most concrete step so far toward mining strategic minerals in the Western Hemisphere. The previously unreported acquisition of the mineral rights in late 2023 was made by BYD subsidiary Exploracao Mineral do Brasil, which was created in May of that year, documents showed.
Tungsten hasn’t been mined commercially in the U.S. since 2015, the nation counting China as its biggest source
The phone has been ringing off the hook for Lewis Black after China imposed export controls on tungsten, a niche metal mined by his firm that’s crucial to weapons manufacturing.
The chief executive officer of North America’s Almonty Industries Inc. said his customers are in a “state of disbelief” following Beijing’s move on Tuesday, one of a suite of measures announced as a riposte to tariffs placed on Chinese goods by the Trump administration.
The Philippine Congress could ratify a bill banning raw mineral exports as soon as June, the Senate leader said on Thursday, a plan that investors warn could lead to mine closures.
Congress is on a break after this week and sessions resume in June, but Senate President Francis Escudero hopes there would be a bicameral committee meeting with members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to tackle the bill. “I’m hoping it will be done during the break so we can ratify it when sessions resume,” Escudero said in a briefing.
https://www.mining-technology.com/
The increase is primarily attributed to the Reko Diq copper-gold project in the Chagai district of Balochistan, Pakistan.
Canadian miner Barrick Gold has reported a 23% increase in its overall proven and probable gold reserves, reaching 17.4 million ounces (moz) at the end of 2024. This rise is primarily attributed to the Reko Diq copper-gold project in the Chagai district of Balochistan, Pakistan.
The company’s attributable proven and probable gold reserves stood at 89moz at 0.99 grams per tonne (g/t) in 2024, up from 77moz at 1.65g/t in 2023. This year-on-year increase was driven by the conversion of Reko Diq’s copper-gold resources into mineral reserves, contributing 13moz of gold at a grade of 0.28g/t on an attributable basis, after the completion of the feasibility study.
M23 rebels’ advance in mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo puts green minerals rush in the spotlight.
The conflict playing out in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have sed vital mines in a lightning advance, spotlights the global race for access to critical minerals and the risk to local populations.
The race for minerals needed for renewable technologies – including coltan, lithium, cobalt and nickel – is set to ramp up this year as Europe and North America compete to secure access and break China’s grip on the supply chain.
Rat-hole mining is banned by the Supreme Court. But its practice persists under the noses of government officials and politicians.
A tragedy in a coal mine in the northeastern Indian state of Assam has turned the spotlight once again on the illegal practice of rat-hole mining, which thrives in the region despite a ban by the Supreme Court.
Four dead bodies of miners were retrieved last month from a flooded coal mine at Umrangso in Assam’s Dima Hasao district after water from a nearby unused mine suddenly flooded the site. Employees of the quarry were quoted as saying that there were around 15 workers trapped inside the mine, but the government did not confirm the number.
Mongolia’s burgeoning mining sector is a cornerstone of its economy. But it comes with inherent challenges, including environmental degradation, income inequality and community displacement. Mongolia’s policymakers must navigate the trade-offs between boosting economic growth by exploiting natural resources and preserving environmental integrity.
The mining sector accounted for 28.7 per cent of Mongolia’s GDP, 92.1 per cent of exports and 31.6 per cent of fiscal revenue in 2023 — one of the highest among resource-rich countries. The sector directly employed 73,180 people in 2023 — 5.7 per cent of total employment — and an estimated 60,000 in small-scale artisanal mining, a substantial source of employment in rural areas. Mining also supports numerous indirect jobs through related industries and services.
China unveiled a series of retaliatory measures against the United States on Tuesday, including restrictions on the export of five critical metals used in defence, clean energy, and other industries. The move comes in response to President Trump’s announcement on Friday of a blanket 10% additional tariff on Chinese imports.
Beijing’s new export controls target tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, indium, and molybdenum, stating that export licenses will only be granted to companies complying with “relevant regulations.” However, the Chinese government has not provided details about the specific criteria for compliance.
https://theoregongroup.substack.com/
China announces new export controls on tungsten, critical to modern technology
China has announced new export controls on 25 rare metals, including tungsten, in retaliation to a new 10% tariff by Trump on all US imports from China. The problem: China dominates global tungsten supply — accounting for more than 80% of the world’s mining and processing in 2023, as well as 58% of the world’s reserves at 2.3 million metric tons.
However, China’s dominance is increasingly seen as a strategic vulnerability by the US, EU and Japan amid escalating geopolitical tensions.
What is tungsten
https://www.northernminer.com/
Chinese investors have managed to gain control over most nickel refining capacity in Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of the mineral – a dominance that may give China a greater say over future prices while crowding out rivals, a new report suggests.
Chinese companies or shareholders ultimately control at least three-quarters of Indonesia’s nickel refining capacity, though the holdings are hidden behind “layers of shell companies” to mask foreign ownership, according to an analysis prepared by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defence Studies.
