Saudi Arabia’s Manara Minerals is closing in on a deal to buy a minority stake in Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals’ Zambian copper and nickel assets, three people familiar with the details told Reuters.
Manara, a joint venture between Saudi Arabian mining company Ma’aden and its $925 billion Public Investment Fund, is in advanced talks to acquire between 15% and 20% equity in the Zambian assets, the sources said.
(Bloomberg) — Chinese firms and banks continue to support the expansion of coal power overseas, three years after President Xi Jinping promised to end the practice, according to new research.
Some 8.6 gigawatts of previously unannounced Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants have entered construction or the pre-permitting phase in the past year in places like Southeast Asia and Africa, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said in a report on Tuesday.
The trade group said it faces a “pivotal” moment before demand exponentially increases
The North American Graphite Alliance on Thursday called on Canada to enact 25 per cent tariffs on six Chinese products used to make batteries, further amplifying trade tensions around the electric vehicle supply chain.
Graphite is used in lithium-ion battery anodes, and Canada produced around one per cent of the global total in 2022. The trade group said it faces a “pivotal” moment before demand exponentially increases from the EV transition and that it needs protection from China.
Indonesia’s nickel policy point man outlines the nation’s EV vision, tackles China issues and debunks critics in exclusive AT interview
Indonesia’s nickel industry is booming. The global adoption of electric vehicles (EV) is driving demand for the metal, which is a key element in many EV batteries. In 2023, Indonesia produced a massive 40.2% of the world’s supply, sparking hopes the country can leverage its nickel reserves as a base to build a domestic EV industry.
At the same time, the nickel boom has courted controversy. In September, the US Department of Labor reported that forced labor was being used in the Indonesian nickel industry. Nickel companies have also faced accusations of environmental destruction and pollution.
Chinese lithium producers are flooding the global market with the critical metal and causing a “predatory” price drop as they seek to eliminate competing projects, a senior US official said on a visit to Portugal that has ample lithium reserves.
Jose Fernandez, under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment at the US Department of State, told a briefing late on Monday that China was producing much more lithium “than the world needs today, by far”.
(Bloomberg) — Chen Jinghe was not long out of university when a government official handed him the assignment that would change his life. Go to Zijin mountain, he was told, and find gold.
It was 1982, and the geology graduate found himself on forested slopes in the remote, humid highlands of southeastern China. The bet paid off. The deposit his team eventually discovered became the nation’s biggest gold mine — and the foundation for a $67 billion state-owned behemoth that is today driving copper supply growth and gaining ground on some of the most established names in the global resources industry.
Oliver McPherson-Smith, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Energy & Environment at the America First Policy Institute.
America’s vast mineral wealth has underwritten our nation’s evolution into an economic and military superpower. From the gold rush that fueled the race westward almost 200 years ago to the iron ore and coal miners that powered the construction of bridges, skyscrapers, rail lines and military vessels, mining has been central to American prosperity.
Sadly, America’s commitment to mining its resources has fallen victim to progressive dogma. Now, Beijing’s vast influence over global mineral supply chains poses an economic threat to the United States. While the Biden-Harris administration is hamstringing American mining projects in red tape, Chinese miners are preemptively flooding the global market to keep American minerals in the ground.
China’s significant stimulus measures have kicked the prices of key metals higher, and the gains have largely been sustained even amid a debate as to whether Beijing has actually done enough to boost the world’s second-biggest economy.
The raft of announcements last week, which included lower interest rates and easier home purchase terms, saw metals prices respond, especially those with a high degree of China exposure, such as iron ore.
(Bloomberg) — A spat between two wealthy South Korean families over the future of an $11 billion zinc empire has descended into a bitter battle for control that could hamper efforts to diversify the global supply of energy-transition metals.
The power struggle over Korea Zinc Co. — founded by two friends who fled North Korea, and still held by the Choi and the Chang families — has captured headlines. Even in a country of large conglomerates, where inheritance fights are common, few involve private equity backers stepping into the ring to stand against wealthy establishment names.
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia is ramping up its adoption of advanced mining technologies as top minister met with senior executives from the US firms at MINExpo International 2024.
During his visit to Las Vegas, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef held bilateral meetings with these firms to discuss localizing innovative solutions for mining operations and exploring promising investment opportunities in the sector.
India and the United States are likely to sign an initial pact for cooperation on critical minerals this week, two Indian government sources said, as the two countries try to bolster trade ties despite diplomatic hiccups.
They are expected to sign an agreement to partner and cooperate in the area of critical minerals during Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to Washington, the sources said.
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Indonesia already accounts for 55 per cent of the world’s nickel production, and that output is only expected to grow. But locals fear losing precious farmland over a commodity that might soon lose its lustre
Atop a hill overlooking Loeha Raya, a cluster of villages on the shores of Lake Towuti, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, all that can be seen is green. For kilometres around, the hills are covered in leafy pepper plants, roughly two metres high, growing in neat rows reminiscent of a vineyard, their tiny fruit slowly ripening and turning red, at which point thousands of workers will harvest them, laying the peppercorns out to dry in the hot Southeast Asian sun.
Down at the lakeside, where lumbering ferries dock from the town of Sorowako, across the water, the idyllic calm of the pepper fields is nowhere to be found, however. Large posters greet arrivals with angry slogans: “Reject mining,” “Save our village” and “Defend agricultural land!”
Celebrities like Meghan Markle, Zoe Kravitz, Lady Gaga, and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi approve of lab-grown diamonds. They are cheaper and conflict-free, but why aren’t they mainstream yet?
When Divya (name changed on request), a 31-year-old bride-to-be from Delhi, was in the middle of her wedding ring shopping, the idea of opting for a lab-grown diamond did cross her mind. Unlike natural mined diamonds, lab-grown ones don’t cost a bomb – they can be up to five times cheaper.
Yet, Divya, who went to great lengths to make her wedding a budget-friendly event, found herself inclining more towards a natural diamond ring than a lab-grown one because of its “sentimental value”.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Tuesday it believes the remaining workers trapped by an explosion at a coal mine in the country’s east have died, bringing the death toll in one of its worst industrial disasters to at least 49.
A provincial emergency official, Mohammad Ali Akhoundi, gave the death toll in a report carried by Iranian state television from the mine in Tabas.
(Bloomberg) — Iron ore and copper rallied strongly after China unveiled a series of measures to boost growth and resurrect its beleaguered property market.
China, the biggest consumer of metals and the main driver of the fortunes of those who produce them, has been a constant source of bad news for commodity markets this year. A broad economic slowdown, combined with the crisis in the property sector, has seen metal prices slump and piled pressure on everything from steelmakers to copper smelters.
