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Asia Mining

China Hurries to Burn More Coal, Putting Climate Goals at Risk – by Keith Bradsher (New York Times – October 28, 2021)

https://www.nytimes.com/

LINFEN, China — Desperate to meet its electricity needs, China is opening up new coal production exceeding what all of Western Europe mines in a year, at a tremendous cost to the global effort to fight climate change.

The campaign has unleashed a flurry of activity in China’s coal country. Idled mines are restarting. Cottage-sized yellow backhoes are clearing and widening roads past terraced cornfields. Long columns of bright red freight trucks are converging on the region to haul the extra cargo.

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Why India can’t live without coal despite its negative environmental effects – by Salimah Shivji (CBC News – October 26, 2021)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/

A lone well sits in the middle of the Bhatali village square in central India’s coal-rich Chandrapur district, steps from a massive open-pit mine. The well is dug 10 times deeper than previous ones, which all ran dry years ago, and the water spurting from it is not safe to drink.

“Our lands have gone to waste,” said village leader Subhash Gaurkar, pointing to the coal mining activity that surrounds the town. Mining of the highly polluting fossil fuel in Chandrapur, like in many other coal-rich regions of India, has siphoned most of what was, at one time, a plentiful water supply.

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Zijin opens Serbia’s largest copper mine – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 22, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Zijin Mining, China’s largest gold miner and one of the country’s top copper producers, has begun operations at its Cukaru Peki copper and gold mine in Serbia.

The asset, part of the Timok project, is expected to make the Balkan country Europe’s second-largest copper producer. Zijin has poured $474 million to date into the new underground mine, which is slated to have annual capacity of 3.3 million tonnes of ore.

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No. 1 uranium miner backs physical fund in nod to robust demand – by Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – October 18, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium miner, is backing a new uranium fund that aims to invest in the radioactive metal used to power nuclear reactors.

ANU Energy OEIC Ltd. was established as a fund to hold physical uranium as a long-term investment, with initial purchases financed from a $50 million investment by Kazatomprom, the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan and United Arab Emirates-based fund manager Genchi Global Ltd., Kazakhstan’s national atomic company said in a Monday statement.

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Mongolia’s missing millions: What happened to a decadelong mining boom – by Khaliun Bayartsogt (Nikkei Asia – October 2021)

https://asia.nikkei.com/

ULAANBAATAR — Located just steps from downtown London landmarks like Harrods department store and Hyde Park, The Knightsbridge Apartments, a luxury residential building in the eponymous upscale central London neighborhood, advertises itself as “private homes enjoying levels of service and facilities to rival any five-star hotel.”

Boasting white limestone floors, hardwood timber features, a pool, spa and a feng shui garden, two-bedroom flats sell for between $4 million and $8 million, according to London estate agents. Residents, meanwhile, like their privacy. Many of the residences are owned by corporations aimed at camouflaging the ultimate owner.

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Battery technology gives China an opening in electric vehicles – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – October 6, 2021)

https://www.ft.com/

This summer the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD shipped its red Tang sport utility vehicles to Norway, the country which has seen the quickest uptake of battery-powered cars.

Named after the Chinese dynasty, the cars are powered by BYD’s homemade lithium batteries, a technology it hopes will become a key platform for the global car industry.

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Nickel: the mined commodity most exposed to biodiversity risks – report – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – October 7, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Nickel is the mined commodity most exposed to biodiversity risks, a recent report by Verisk Maplecroft shows.

According to the consultancy firm, the battery metal’s exposure to such risks is mainly due to the fact that some of the largest nickel operations on the planet are located in biodiverse areas such as Indonesia, New Caledonia and the Philippines.

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Energy Crisis Deepens in India as Power Plants Face Outages – by Rajesh Kumar Singh and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – October 4, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The worsening squeeze on India’s coal supply is triggering a power crisis that’s threatening to stall the world’s fastest-expanding major economy.

Coal-fired power stations had an average of four days’ worth of stock of the fuel at the end of last month, the lowest level in years, and down from 13 days at the start of August. More than half the plants are on alert for outages.

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Jewelers Sell $1 Gold Online as Indians Warm Up to Internet Buys – by Swansy Afonso (Bloomberg News – September 28, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Jewelers in India have started selling gold for a little over $1 online after the pandemic upended sales, forcing them to reassess traditional ways of doing business.

Sales crashed last year in the second-biggest consumer after a nationwide lockdown shuttered stores across the country. But it also led to a bump in India’s nascent market for online gold sales.

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Chinese battery maker’s deal to acquire Canada’s Millennial Lithium will trigger full security review, expert predicts – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 30, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

A top security expert predicts that a planned Chinese takeover of a Canadian critical minerals development company will trigger a full security review under the Investment Canada Act as tensions between the two countries remain elevated following China’s release of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor this past weekend.

China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. wants to acquire junior Canadian battery metals exploration company Millennial Lithium Corp. for $376-million. But before the deal can close, it must pass a security screening by Ottawa.

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Column: China’s coal crunch is self-inflicted, costly and temporary – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – September 30, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia (Reuters) – China is paying a high price for policies that curbed domestic coal output and imports, and led to a shortage of the fuel that still largely powers the world’s second-largest economy.

The good news for Beijing is that while the scarcity of coal will cause problems for energy-intensive industries, such as steel and aluminium, the situation is likely to be resolved relatively quickly.

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Jakarta to jolt sliding nickel price – report – by Frik Els Mining.com – September 29, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Nickel is having a bad week as China’s power crisis spreads from factories to households and its clampdown on steelmakers crimps the stainless market, still responsible for the bulk of demand.

Despite automakers’ clamour, less than 10% of nickel ends up in the battery supply chain, and market action is concentrated in Asia, specifically the Indonesia-China stainless steel industries. Nickel market watchers are not unaccustomed to ups and downs and Old Nick’s copper is having quite the year.

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Centerra ups the ante as it accuses Kyrgyzstan of high-grading Kumtor – by Staff (Mining.com – September 27, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Centerra Gold (TSX: CG) has asked an international arbitrator to impose ‘urgent interim measures’ on the Kyrgyz Republic and state miner Kyrgyzaltyn JSC to address alleged “critical operational and safety issues” at the Kumtor mine.

In its latest application, Centerra seeks immediate relief pending a final award in the arbitration to prevent the defendants from “causing irreparable damage to the mine.”

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The world’s largest lithium producing countries – by Parth Charan (Money Control – September 23, 2021)

https://www.moneycontrol.com/

With the rising tide of battery electric vehicles making a splash all across the world, the most coveted natural resource needed to power our vehicles is no longer petrol but a mineral called ‘lithium’. While it’s debatable whether lithium is the most important element found in a lithium-ion battery, its extensive mining across certain global hotspots has come under heavy criticism.

The very process of mining lithium is not only energy-intensive and polluting, it may also be linked with destabilising the ecosystem nearby due to extensive saltwater depletion from the edge of the ‘salars’ through which lithium is extracted.

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China Risks Winter Energy Crunch With Struggle to Get Supplies – by Alfred Cang and Dan Murtaugh (Bloomberg News – September 20, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — China is at risk of the same energy-crunch chaos seen in Europe, with a state-run newspaper warning that coal-fired power plants will struggle to keep the lights on this winter.

The nation’s coal-based power producers, which account for more than 70% of the country’s electricity generation, are unable to buy enough fuel after prices surged, state-run China Energy News said in a report dated Sept. 18.

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