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Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining

No New Century for New Caledonia nickel – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – September 8, 2020)

https://www.afr.com/

New Century Resources has withdrawn its offer to buy the New Caledonian nickel assets of mining giant Vale, leaving one of the Pacific nation’s main industries in disarray and putting the spotlight on the curious role played by one of Australia’s biggest nickel producers, IGO Limited.

New Century confirmed on Tuesday it would not proceed with the deal announced in May, saying it was unable to secure appropriate funding.

But the proposed deal has also faced other pressures in recent weeks, with some politicians calling for it to be delayed until after the October 4 referendum that will determine whether New Caledonia achieves independence from France.

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BHP maps out priorities in quest for ‘future-facing’ commodities – by Nick Toscano (Brisbane Times – August 31, 2020)

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/

The head of Australian mining giant BHP says new plans to boost exposure to the “future-facing” commodities nickel and copper will focus first on exploring for new deposits and finding ways to extract more from existing assets, rather than looking for acquisitions.

As BHP embarks on a clean-up of its portfolio by seeking to sell several coal mines, quit thermal coal and exit the Bass Strait oil and gas fields, it has also laid out plans to lift exposure to commodities that chief executive Mike Henry believes will be increasingly required to meet the world’s evolving needs, such as the manufacture of clean energy technologies.

Asked whether BHP would seek acquisitions to secure more options in commodities like nickel, copper and potash, Mr Henry said “maybe”, but only if the right opportunities presented.

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Barrick fighting PNG move to grant Porgera lease to state-backed miner – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 28, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD) said it would challenge the Papua New Guinea (PNG) government reported move to grant a 20-year lease for the Porgera gold mine to a state-backed firm.

The world’s second-largest gold producer and its Chinese partner, Zijin Mining, are embroiled in a dispute with Prime Minister James Marape, who in April rejected their application for a lease extension.

The companies temporarily halted operations in response. They also served Marape with a dispute notice arguing the refusal of the Porgera license extension violated a bilateral investment treaty between PNG and Australia.

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Mining industry yet to fathom scale of battery raw material challenges – Friedland – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly.com – August 28, 2020)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

While global electric vehicle (EV) sales are back to a healthy growth trajectory, significant investment in mining capacity is required if EVs are to become anything more than a niche market, says mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland’s Clean TeQ Holdings.

The TSX- and ASX-listed company owns the construction-ready Sunrise nickel/cobalt/scandium project in New South Wales, Australia, and will require just under $2-billion to bring the project to fruition.

Nickel and cobalt, in particular, face substantial raw material challenges, at a time when EV sales growth is expected to drive unprecedented demand for these metals.

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Traditional Owners Block Access to Australia’s Adani Carmichael Coal Mine – by Gavin Butler (Vice News – August 26, 2020)

https://www.vice.com/en_in/

A throng of more than 20 protesters—including Traditional Owners of local Wangan and Jagalingou country—has blocked the main road to Australia’s Adani Carmichael coal mine in a bid to re-establish control of the land and force the mining giant to abandon the project.

The blockade is preventing workers from accessing the construction site for the thermal coal mine, which, when completed, is set to be one of the world’s largest.

With the capacity to generate an annual output of 60 million tonnes of coal, it’s estimated that the mine could singlehandedly put twice as much carbon into the atmosphere as Tokyo every year.

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Rio Tinto bosses lose bonuses over Aboriginal cave destruction (BBC News – August 24, 2020)

https://www.bbc.com/

Mining giant Rio Tinto has cut the bonuses of three executives over the destruction of two ancient caves in Australia.

In May, the world’s biggest iron ore miner destroyed the sacred Aboriginal sites in Pilbara, Western Australia. The company went ahead with the destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters despite the opposition of Aboriginal traditional owners.

They were among the oldest historic sites in Australia. The caves showed evidence of continuous human habitation dating back 46,000 years. Rio Tinto’s chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques will lose a total of £2.7m.

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Fortescue Opens Talks With Afghanistan on Nation’s Mining Riches – by Eltaf Najafizada and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – August 21, 2020)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. has held talks with Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani on potential mining sector opportunities in the nation, which has struggled to accelerate development of an estimated $1 trillion worth of minerals deposits.

Ghani and the company’s chairman Andrew Forrest held an Aug. 6 video conference over potential investment in iron ore and copper resources, and the billionaire miner is scheduled to visit Kabul in October for further talks, according to Qadeer Khan Mutfi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.

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With its mining boom past, Australia deals with the job of cleaning up – by Manuela Callari (Mongabay.com – August 20, 2020)

https://news.mongabay.com/

About 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Darwin and 14 km (9 mi) northeast of the town of Batchelor lies Woodcutters, an open-cut lead and zinc mine that shut in 1999. Here, at the top end of Australia, live the Kungarakay and the Warai peoples.

Not many Aboriginal people were employed at Woodcutters, nor were they involved in the rehabilitation and closure plan. At the end of operations, the company left 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of denuded land.

In Australia, the mining industry has had an essential role in the country’s economy for the past few decades. But as the mining boom dwindles, more plants are shutting down, leaving behind environmental disasters and social legacies.

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Chinese mine workers given experimental COVID vaccine barred by Papua New Guinea (CBC News – August 21, 2020)

https://www.cbsnews.com/

Canberra, Australia — Papua New Guinea prevented the arrival of a flight carrying Chinese workers after a Chinese mining company claimed to have immunized employees against COVID-19 in an apparent vaccination trial, authorities said Friday.

The Pacific nation’s pandemic response controller David Manning banned COVID-19 vaccine testing or trials after Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Ltd. claimed to have vaccinated 48 Chinese employees. Manning also said he had sent back a flight carrying 180 Chinese workers on Thursday as a precaution.

“In light of the lack of information of what these trials are and what possible risks or threat that it might cause our people if they were to come into the country, I had cancelled that flight yesterday just to ensure that we continue to act in the best interests of our people and our country,” Manning told reporters in the capital Port Moresby.

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All aboard Europe’s lithium bandwagon – by Hans van Leeuwen (Australian Financial Review – August 9, 2020)

https://www.afr.com/

London | A gang of Perth mining juniors is clambering aboard Europe’s lithium bandwagon, shrugging off the global price doldrums and betting that European governments and car makers will deliver an electric vehicle and battery bonanza.

The fundamentals for a European lithium boom seem in place. Coronavirus has put barely a dent in the European car makers’ sales of, and ambitions for, electric vehicles – and soon they will need more battery-ready lithium than the world can supply.

Meanwhile, the pandemic has steeled the Continent’s resolve to shuck off its dependence on China for lithium supplies. And that’s revved up the European Union’s drive to support mines and processing plants – the missing links in a fully domestic supply chain.

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BHP urges more power for Indigenous groups after Rio cave blast disaster – by Hamish Hastie and Nick Toscano (The Age – August 11, 2020)

https://www.theage.com.au/

The nation’s largest miner, BHP, says Indigenous groups should have a greater say over projects endangering significant sites on their ancestral land following Rio Tinto’s destruction of 46,000-year-old rock shelters in Western Australia.

In a submission to a federal inquiry into the blasting of the Juukan Gorge site by rival Rio, BHP said heritage-protection laws covering mining operations in WA’s iron ore-rich Pilbara were weighted too far in favour of resources companies.

BHP said it supported enshrining traditional owner consultation requirements for disturbing land into new state laws, and the introduction of rights for traditional owners to appeal decisions after they are granted.

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Rio’s Prize for Blowing Up Ancient History: $135 Million – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – August 7, 2020)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — A decision by Rio Tinto Group to destroy Aboriginal Australian heritage sites dating back more than 46,000 years delivered about $135 million in extra value to its iron ore division, according to the miner’s top executive.

Rio rejected three other options that would have avoided damaging two rockshelters in Western Australia in order to access about 8 million tons of high-value ore, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques said Friday. The company recorded about $4.6 billion in profits from its iron ore unit in the first half.

“The economic value at the time of the decision, or the net present value, was around $135 million,” when mining plans for the site in the Juukan Gorge region of the Pilbara district were decided in around 2012 or 2013, Jacques told a hearing of an Australian parliamentary committee investigating the blasts.

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Australian miners Rio Tinto and Fortescue post record iron ore shipments as China industrial recovery continues – by Su-Lin Tan (South China Morning Post – July 31 2020)

https://www.scmp.com/

Australian mining giants Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group have joined BHP Group in reporting record shipments of iron ore, the bulk of it to China, as an infrastructure and property construction boom in the world’s second largest economy drives a rebound in steel production.

The companies have reported record earnings on the back of the iron ore shipments, even though exports of other minerals like aluminium and copper remain in the doldrums as the coronavirus pandemic saps global demand.

Australia’s record iron ore exports to China, combined with a surge in shipments of coking and thermal coal, indicate trade in the key industrial ingredients has not suffered because of a diplomatic spat between the two countries.

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New Century, Vale delay nickel mine deal – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 28, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

New Century Resources (ASX: NCZ) and Vale (NYSE: VALE) have delayed the deadline for closing the sale of the Brazilian miner’s nickel and cobalt operations on the Pacific island of New Caledonia by 45 days.

The Australian zinc producer entered into a 60-day exclusivity agreement to acquire a 95% stake in Vale Nouvelle Calédonie (VNC), the operator of the troubled Goro nickel-cobalt mine on the French territory, on May 26.

New Century said on Thursday it had made “significant progress” in evaluating the technical and commercial aspects of the transaction, but has not yet finished a definitive binding agreement.

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Iron Ore Boom Generates 700% Gross Profit Margins For Big Miners – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – July 14, 2020)

https://www.forbes.com/

The iron ore boom powering the profits of the world’s biggest mining companies is showing no sign of fading thanks to stronger-than-expected Chinese steel demand.

Despite multiple forecasts over the past 12-months that the iron ore price was overdue for a fall it has done exactly the opposite, rising this week to a new 2020 high of $107 a ton, up 30% over the past four months.

Given that the biggest miners produce iron ore at a cash cost of around $13/t that latest price implies a gross profit margin, before accounting and other charges, of close to 700%.

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