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The Weekend Essay: [New Caledonia] The Island Where Environmentalism Implodes – by Ben Crair (The New Yorker – November 23, 2024)

https://www.newyorker.com/

New Caledonia is home to thousands of species found nowhere else—and to nickel that companies like Tesla

This story was produced with support from the Rainforest Journalism Fund in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

In September, 2020, Elon Musk and a Tesla executive named Drew Baglino put on matching T-shirts and took the stage in a California parking lot. To mark what the company called Battery Day, Tesla had gathered an audience of shareholders, who were social distancing by sitting separately in gleaming electric cars.

Some of the company’s new batteries, Musk and Baglino announced, contained far more nickel than previous models; as a result, they could travel farther, and at far less cost, on a single charge. “Increasing nickel is a goal of ours and, really, everybody’s in the battery industry,” Baglino said.

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Prony Resources gears up for nickel production restart at Goro mine (Mining Technology – November 19, 2024)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

The Goro mine in southern New Caledonia produces 57,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of nickel and 5,000tpa of cobalt.

Nickel miner Prony Resources New Caledonia will recommence operations at its Goro mine and battery-grade nickel production plant, located in the south of New Caledonia, after a six-month suspension caused by local riots in the French territory, reported Bloomberg.

The return of the workforce marks a significant step for Prony Resources, one of the three major nickel producers in New Caledonia.

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Troubled Mineral Resources Halts Lithium Mine as Woes Mount – by Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News – November 12, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Embattled Australian miner Mineral Resources Ltd. will immediately shut its Bald Hill lithium project, citing the crash in prices of the key battery material.

The Western Australia mine, capable of producing 150,000 tons of spodumene concentrate a year, was acquired by Mineral Resources last year. The announcement of its closure comes after the company said earlier this month that founder billionaire Chris Ellison will step down as managing director after an internal probe into undeclared payments found he had engaged in “profoundly disappointing” conduct.

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Paladin Energy’s Fission deal in limbo as Ottawa probes national security implications of China influence – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 11, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Investors are unsure whether Australia-based Paladin Energy Ltd.’s proposed acquisition of Fission Uranium Corp. will succeed, as Ottawa conducts a make-or-break national security review on the transaction, with Chinese influence under scrutiny on both sides of the deal.

In June, Paladin reached a friendly agreement to buy Kelowna, B.C.-based Fission in an all-stock transaction worth $1.14-billion. Fission is developing the Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium project in the Athabasca Basin region of Saskatchewan, which is projected to eventually account for about 5 per cent of global supply.

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Global Lithium raises alarm over potential foreign takeover – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – November 8, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s Global Lithium Resources (ASX: GL1) is seeking to postpone its upcoming annual shareholder meeting until March next year due to concerns over a potential breach of foreign ownership rules.

The West Perth-based developer fears that Chinese national and minority shareholder Liaoliang “Leon” Zhu is attempting to gain control of the firm and its assets located near Kalgoorlie by joining the board and reducing the number of directors.

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Rio Tinto to take over Ranger uranium mine cleanup – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 15, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Rio Tinto will carry out the rehabilitation of the closed Ranger uranium mine in Australia’s Northern Territory, a government body has ruled.

The Takeovers Panel’s decision ends a long-running dispute over whether Rio Tinto or its majority owned uranium producer Energy Resources of Australia (ASX: ERA) would assume the site restoration’s costs. It also clears the way for Rio to assume full control of the uranium producer via the company’s capital raising, announced in August.

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Lithium stocks ‘one deal away’ from going on a tear: E&P – by Alex Gluyas (Australian Financial Review – October 15, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

Australian lithium stocks are just one deal away from a resurgence as investors face a shrinking pool of miners to invest in after Rio Tinto’s $9.9 billion takeover of Arcadium, according to E&P Financial.

The broker said Rio’s landmark deal, which capitalised on the collapse in lithium prices, could trigger a wave of institutional money into the stocks as investors speculate on the next takeover target. “Rio’s acquisition of Arcadium feels like bottom of the cycle M&A,” wrote E&P analyst Adam Martin in a report to clients.

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Global delegates converge on Sudbury to chart a path forward in mining – by Lindsay Kelly (Northern Ontario Business – October 11, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Australian mayor shares his community’s experience of growth in the ore-rich Pilbara at the OECD conference

The City of Karratha in Western Australia’s Pilbara region is a hive of mining-related activity. Known for its rich iron ore deposits, the region has a population of just over 24,000 people. Karratha alone generates a whopping $20 billion annually in gross domestic product (GDP).

Put in other terms, each person working in the region contributes $375 per hour to the GDP; that’s in comparison to the national average of $56 per hour. “That’s how important our region is to the national economy of Australia,” said Daniel Scott, mayor of the City of Karratha, while speaking in Sudbury this week.

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Moore brothers reflect on nickel boom and now bust as BHP’s Kalgoorlie smelter shuts down – by BJarrod Lucas (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 10, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

A profile image of a man with dark, spiky hair.

Brothers Donald and Tim Moore lived through the country’s first nickel boom in Western Australia’s resources-rich Goldfields. The metal’s discovery near Kambalda in the 1960s sparked a modern-day renaissance for the historic mining region built on its 1890s gold rush.

It set the brothers on different paths that were heavily influenced by the “magic metal” of the day. Donald, 60, worked extensively in gold mining and spent 13 years at the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter, while his 59-year-old brother Tim has documented the region’s ups and downs as a historian with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

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Plibersek releases reasons why $1bn McPhillamy’s gold mine near Blayney is on hold – by Lani Oataway and Hamish Cole (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – October 11, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has found the ‘irreversible’ and ‘permanent’ loss to Aboriginal heritage outweighed the financial cost of halting a $1 billion gold mine development in the New South Wales Central West.

Ms Plibersek today released the Statement of Reasons behind her decision to protect part of the Belubula River, its headwaters and springs near Blayney, from the tailings dam earmarked for the site by Regis Resources McPhillamys gold mine.

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Rio Tinto’s real prize: Arcadium’s lithium extraction technology – by Ernest Scheyder and Clara Denina (Reuters – October 11 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

Rio Tinto’s $6.7 billion buyout of Arcadium will give it a suite of lithium filtration technologies that are poised to revolutionize how the metal is produced for the electronics and electric vehicle industries.

Arcadium’s expertise in so-called direct lithium extraction (DLE) is the real prize for Rio, analysts said, and vaults it into contention with Eramet, Sunresin, Exxon Mobil and others aiming to make the technology commonplace in coming years.

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Rio Tinto buying Arcadium in US$6.7-billion bet on lithium – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Rio Tinto PLC is buying lithium producer Arcadium Lithium PLC in a big bet on the electric-vehicle battery metal in the midst of a vicious bear market.

The Anglo-Australian major is paying US$5.85 a share for U.S.-based Arcadium, a premium of 90 per cent to Friday’s close, in an all-cash transaction worth US$6.7-billion. The boards of both companies are in favour of the deal. Lithium prices have crashed in recent years owing to China flooding the market and a slowdown in electric-vehicle sales.

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Canada reviewing Paladin’s Fission Uranium takeover on national security grounds – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 2, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Paladin Energy’s (ASX: PDN) proposed takeover of Canadian explorer Fission Uranium (TSX: FCU) has hit a roadblock after receiving a notice from the Canadian government informing the company the deal is now the subject of a national security review.

The Australian miner entered in June into an agreement with Fission Uranium to acquire it for C$1.14 billion ($846m), as strong prices for the fuel used in nuclear reactors has lit fire under market consolidations and deals.

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South African company Sibaneye-Stillwater eyes New Caledonia nickel mining plant – by Patrick Decloitre (Radio New Zealand – September 17, 2024)

https://www.rnz.co.nz/

A South African company is reported to be the most probable bidder for shares in New Caledonia’s Prony Resources. As part of an already advanced takeover of the ailing southern plant of Prony Resources, the most probable bidder is reported to be South African group Sibaneye-Stillwater, local media reported on Monday.

Just like the other two major mining plants and smelters in New Caledonia, Prony Resources is facing acute hardships due to the emergence of Indonesia as a major player on the world market, compounded with New Caledonia’s violent unrest that broke out in May.

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Chinese investor steps in to block Paladin’s Fission buy – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 16, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) has hit a roadblock in its proposed acquisition of Canada’s Fission Uranium (TSX: FCU) after a Chinese investor in the takeover target opposed the tie-up.

The Western Australia-based miner revealed on Monday that CGN Mining Company, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power with a 11.26% stake in Fission, is opposing the tie-up. Paladin moved in June to buy the Canadian miner for C$1.14 billion ($845 million), contingent on at least two-thirds of Fission shareholders voting in favour of the transaction by Aug. 26.

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