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Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining

Australia announces A$100m commitment to junior mining exploration – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – May 5, 2021)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Australian Resources Minister Keith Pitt on Wednesday announced a A$100-million funding boost for exploration, extending the junior minerals exploration incentive (JMEI) for another four years in a move to attract new investors.

The JMEI, which allows eligible companies to access tax incentives, encourages companies to explore for resources in untapped areas of Australia. To date, it has supported 85 junior exploration companies, half of which are headquartered in Western Australia.

“We need to ensure that we have a continuous investment pipeline for development across regional Australia,” said Pitt. “Our successful, stable and secure resources sector is underpinned by our world-class junior explorers.”

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If Papua New Guinea really is part of Australia’s ‘family’, we’d do well to remember our shared history – by Patricia A. O’Brien (The Conversation – April 8, 2021)

https://theconversation.com/

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is fond of describing Papua New Guinea as “family”. He did so recently when announcing Australia’s assistance with PNG’s COVID-19 outbreak.

The urgent support for PNG in the form of vaccines, testing kits, medical personnel and training was “in Australia’s interests”, Morrison said, because it threatens the health of Australians, “but equally our PNG family who are so dear to us”.

These familial bonds are “born of history and geography”. PNG is Australia’s closest neighbour. Only 4 kilometres separate the two countries in the Torres Strait, a fluid border that has been redefined numerous times (most recently in 1985). It is currently closed due to the COVID outbreak.

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In Mount Isa, electric cars are driving the economy — but not the people – by Eric Barker (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – April 28, 2021)

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

Couple some of Australia’s roughest and most remote roads with lucrative mining salaries and you can imagine the size of the cars driving around Mount Isa.

The town’s serenity is often cancelled out by loud diesel engines shifting through the gears, with the noise of Mount Isa Mines in the background.

Ironically, a recent resurgence in the local economy is largely thanks to the burgeoning electric car industry, which is creating some serious demand for copper.

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Anglo American restarts Queensland coal mine amid union backlash – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 23, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Anglo American (LON: AAL) has been granted approvals to allow workers to re-enter the Grosvenor coal mine in Queensland, Australia, almost a year after an explosion seriously injured five workers.

The underground mine has been closed since the methane explosion in May last year, the second incident in the area in less than 15 months.

Workers belonging to the CFMEU Mining and Energy union did not welcome the news. They say the miner had kept its workers fully informed of its plans to restart the underground mine.

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Rudd calls for super profits tax on big iron ore miners – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – April 22, 2021)

https://www.afr.com/

Iron ore miners are ripping off taxpayers amid buoyant commodity prices and should face the type of levy they successfully scuttled a decade ago, according to former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

Renewed calls for a super-profit tax of the type that triggered Mr Rudd’s political downfall in 2010 came as prices for iron ore surged again to within striking distance of a record.

A breach of the $US193 a tonne record set on February 16, 2011, was “absolutely possible” in the near future, according to NAB’s head of commodity research Lachlan Shaw, with futures prices suggesting there could be further gains on Tuesday evening’s price of $US189.61 a tonne.

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New lithium giant emerges to feed surging battery demand – by James Thornhill (Bloomberg News – April 19, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

A planned US$3.1 billion merger of two Australian miners is set to create one of the world’s biggest producers of lithium products key to meeting fast-growing global demand for electric vehicle batteries.

The deal between Orocobre Ltd. and Galaxy Resources Ltd. is the biggest mining sector deal of the year so far, according to Bloomberg data, with shares of both companies closing at the highest in three years in Sydney.

The merger would create the world’s fifth-biggest producer of lithium chemicals, the refined form of the raw materials that are used to make electric vehicle batteries.

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Trafigura Bets on Green-Nickel Squeeze in Defiance of China Cure – by Yvonne Yue Li and Andy Hoffman (Bloomberg News – April 20, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Just weeks after a novel production method upended the nickel market, two of the top names in the battery-supply chain made a play that suggests the world’s worries over sourcing cheap, clean supplies of the metal are far from over.

Commodity trader Trafigura Group and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. signed a deal in late March to enter the Goro mine in New Caledonia, part of a group that will take the operation off the hands of Vale SA. The transaction wasn’t a surprise, with Vale in talks to offload the under-performing mine for months. But the deal’s timing was telling.

Earlier the same month, China’s Tsingshan Group triggered the biggest two-day nickel rout in a decade with its plans to make battery-grade metal from materials previously reserved only for stainless steel, potentially flooding the market. Wall Street banks lowered their nickel forecasts after futures plunged from about $19,000 a ton to $16,000.

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Barrick Gold lost its ‘social licence’ in Papua New Guinea. This is the price it’s paying to earn it back – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 15, 2021)

https://financialpost.com/

Mining executives often talk about the importance of having a ‘social licence’ to operate, yet it’s rare to hear them acknowledge when they don’t have one.

Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief executive Mark Bristow says it happened to his company in Papua New Guinea, where its Porgera mine had been pumping out gold for nearly three decades, even as a spate of accusations about human rights and environmental abuses in the surrounding communities have festered.

Ultimately, last April, Barrick was forced to put the mine on care and maintenance, essentially ceasing operations, when the government declined to renew its permit. Since then, Bristow has made countless trips to the island nation to meet with Prime Minister James Marape, including four since December.

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Profit-sharing deal with Barrick gives Papua New Guinea majority stake in Porgera gold mine – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 10, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. has hammered out a new profit-sharing agreement with the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government for its Porgera gold mine in which it makes major concessions in return for being able to restart operations after a year-long shutdown.

Under the pact announced on Friday, PNG’s ownership in Porgera will rise to 51 per cent from 5 per cent. Barrick and China’s Zijin Mining Group Ltd., which previously owned a combined 95 per cent stake, will see their shares fall to a combined 49 per cent. Toronto-based Barrick, the operator of the mine, will front the entire cost of reopening the site.

John Ing, analyst with Maison Placements Canada Inc., said while the new ownership agreement appears “draconian” at first sight for Barrick, being able to reopen the mine again at a time when the price of gold is elevated is a big positive.

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Trafigura, New Caledonia group complete takeover of Vale’s Goro nickel, cobalt unit – by Diana Kinch (S&P Global – March 31, 2021)

https://www.spglobal.com/

London — The Prony Resources New Caledonia consortium announced March 31 it has completed acquisition of Vale Canada’s Nouvelle-Calédonie S.A.S. (VNC) nickel and cobalt operation. Prony Resources is owned by New Caledonia entities together with international commodities trader Trafigura.

Operations at Prony Resources recommenced in the week of March 28 with the restart of nickel production expected mid-April, the company said in a statement.

The operation, designed to produce up to 57,000 mt/year of processed nickel, with cobalt as a byproduct, is believed to have been at a standstill since mid-December 2020, following protests by independence activists on the Southwest Pacific French island territory of New Caledonia. Prior to this it had been producing below capacity.

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Top Nickel Miner Vale Turns Page on 14-Year New Caledonia Foray – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – March 31, 2021)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca

(Bloomberg) — Vale SA, the biggest producer of mined nickel, closed a deal to divest its underperforming New Caledonian mine to a group that includes the operation’s managers and workers.

The divestment will allow operations to continue and gives Vale the right to a portion of output amid growing demand for the battery metal, Rio de Janeiro-based Vale said in a statement Wednesday.

Tesla Inc. will support the operation through a “technical and industrial partnership” with the consortium, called Prony Resources.

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Vale sells New Caledonia nickel assets to Trafigura – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 31, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Vale (NYSE: VALE) said on Wednesday it had concluded the sale of its nickel and cobalt operations in New Caledonia, a French territory in the Pacific, to a consortium called Prony, which includes commodity trader Trafigura.

While the Brazilian miner did not disclose the exact terms of the deal, it said that $1.1 billion will be invested in the New Caledonia assets, with $555 million coming from its subsidiary Vale Canada Ltd.

“Vale’s intent from the beginning of the divestment process was to withdraw from New Caledonia in an orderly and responsible manner. This deal accomplishes that,” chief executive Eduardo Bartolomeo said in the statement.

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Opening of Cassini mine marks start of new era for Kambalda’s historic nickel mining industry – by Jarrod Lucas (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – March 29, 2021)

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

WA’s Mines Minister Bill Johnston will officially open a new nickel mine at Kambalda today, more than 50 years after the town was put on the map by the discovery of Australia’s first nickel mine.

The Cassini underground mine is Kambalda’s first new nickel development in two decades — since the Miitel mine began production in the year 2000.

More than 200 jobs have been created since September’s decision by Perth-based miner Mincor Resources to green light its $98 million restart plan for Kambalda’s once-booming nickel industry.

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Coal markets roiled as Australia’s flood crisis worsens – by Jason Scott (Bloomberg/Moneyweb – March 23, 2021)

https://www.moneyweb.co.za/

The deluge that’s inundating Australia’s eastern states is hampering shipments from the world’s biggest coal export terminal.

Heavy rainfall and damaging winds are expected to continue on Tuesday, including in the key coal regions of the Hunter Valley and the Port of Newcastle. That is likely to see prices of the power-station fuel extend Monday’s climb to a two-year high, as coal in Europe also gained on the news.

Overnight there were 870 rescue operations in New South Wales state, as dams overflowed and catchments flooded. A further 15 000 people may be evacuated today, after 18 000 people were forced to leave their homes on Monday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters earlier today.

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Australia’s Evolution Mining doubles down on Red Lake; makes $343-million play for Battle North Gold – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – March 16, 2021)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Evolution Mining Ltd. is offering $343-million to buy Battle North Gold Corp. in a friendly transaction that would see the Australian miner double down on Ontario’s Red Lake gold district.

Melbourne-based Evolution is offering $2.65 a share in cash for Battle North, a 45-per-cent premium to Friday’s close. Battle North is urging its investors to vote for the deal in a coming shareholder vote, saying the acquisition reduces the execution risk of getting its Bateman gold mine into production.

Toronto-based Battle North has spent the past few years resurrecting an underground gold project with a notorious past. About five years ago, a previous iteration of the company, Rubicon Minerals Corp., rushed the project into production, with only a preliminary engineering study in hand.

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