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Asia Mining

World’s biggest cobalt miner is gloomy on the EV metal’s future – by Annie Lee (Bloomberg News – November 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

The world’s No. 1 cobalt miner is sounding the alarm over the shrinking role of the metal in electric vehicle batteries. Chinese company CMOC Group Ltd., which has been churning out cobalt much faster than rivals like Glencore Plc, said the importance of the raw material in the energy transition is declining rapidly.

The adoption of cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, batteries has gained momentum in recent years, due to them being cheaper to manufacture. The proportion of EV batteries in China containing cobalt will drop to 31% in 2024, from 44% two years ago, according to consultancy CRU Group.

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Eastern DR Congo grapples with Chinese gold mining firms (RFI – October 27, 2024)

https://www.rfi.fr/en/

Kamituga (AFP) – Italian priest Davide Marcheselli has been fighting for years against Chinese companies illegally mining gold in the town of Kitutu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

He says mining has spoilt the town which lies in South Kivu province, polluting rivers and destroying fields. Hundreds of foreign companies, most of them Chinese-owned, mine gold in the mineral-rich province often without permits and without declaring profits, according to local authorities.

For a long time, civil society groups and members of the church in Kitutu, have been the only people taking a stand against the powerful mining businesses, who often have friends in high places. “From the deputies, to the village chief, everyone receives something (from the companies), money or shares (in businesses),” Marcheselli told AFP.

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China Tries to Blot out Tibetan Criticism of Mining Firm’s Damage to the Environment – by Duncan Bartlett (The Diplomat – October 28, 2024)

https://thediplomat.com/

Chinese censors are trying to prevent people from viewing posts that allege severe environmental damage in Tibet caused by sand mining. A young Tibetan man named Tsowo Tsering initiated the online discussion with a video post, delivered in Mandarin. In it, he says he is speaking from Ngawa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

He shares video footage that he says proves the severe impact of activities by a Chinese mining company on his community. Tsowo Tsering claims that “large amounts of sand have been recklessly mined, leading to serious soil erosion in the surrounding areas. This endangers the foundations of residents’ homes.”

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How Beijing Tamed a Lawless Industry and Gained Global Influence – by Keith Bradsher (New York Times – October 28, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

State-controlled companies now run an industry once known for its acid pits, radioactive waste and smugglers.

As recently as 2010, few industries were as lawless, and yet as central to the global economy, as China’s production of rare earth metals.

Consignments of rare earths frequently changed hands for sacks of Chinese currency: The rule of thumb was that a cubic foot of tightly packed 100-renminbi bills was worth $350,000. At a warehouse in Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, acid was used illegally to extract rare earths, and the residue, faintly radioactive, was dumped into the municipal sewage. The gang operating the warehouse brought in foreign buyers in the trunks of cars to keep its location a secret.

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China Tightens Its Hold on Minerals Needed to Make Computer Chips – by Keith Bradsher (New York Times – October 26, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Already the dominant producer of rare minerals, Beijing is using export restrictions and its power over state-owned companies to further control access.

The vise-tight grip that China wields over the mining and refining of rare minerals, crucial ingredients of today’s most advanced technologies, is about to become even stronger.

In a series of steps made in recent weeks, the Chinese government has made it considerably harder for foreign companies, particularly semiconductor manufacturers, to purchase the many rare earth metals and other minerals mined and refined mainly in China.

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Miners are razing forests to meet surging demand for metals and minerals, report says – by Victoria Milko (Associated Press – October 23, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Whether it’s digging for metals and minerals for cellphones and electric vehicles or coal for power generation, mining around the world has skyrocketed since 2000, causing widespread destruction of tropical forests, degrading the environment and displacing Indigenous and local communities, the World Resources Institute says in a report released Wednesday.

The analysis highlighted that from 2001 to 2020, the world lost nearly 1.4 million hectares (3,459,475 acres) of trees due to mining — an area roughly the size the country of Montenegro. Nearly a third were in tropical primary rainforests. Protected areas were also damaged.

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Saudi’s Manara in advanced talks to buy stake in First Quantum’s Zambian mines – by Divya Rajagopal, Clara Denina and Felix Njini (Reuters – October 16, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

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.

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China’s Still Backing Overseas Coal Plants After Ban, Says CREA (Bloomberg News – October 14, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(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.

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‘Far too dependent on China’: trade tensions still hot as graphite producers request tariffs – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – October 15, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

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.

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The future is nickel in Indonesia – by Joseph Rachman (Asia Times – October 9, 2024)

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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.

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China is oversupplying lithium to eliminate rivals, US official says – by Sergio Goncalves (Reuters – October 8, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

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”.

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China’s Fast-Growing Copper Champion Is Reshaping Global Metal Supply (Bloomberg News – October 2, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(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.

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Beijing’s nickel glut leaves America penniless – by Oliver McPherson-Smith (The Hill – October 2, 2024)

https://thehill.com/

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.

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Column: Exuberant iron ore, subdued copper show different sides of China stimulus – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – October 2, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

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.

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A Bitter Feud Risks Ripping Apart an $11 Billion Metals Empire – by Heesu Lee and Archie Hunter (Bloomberg News – October 1, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(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.

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