Europe Mining – Page 43 – Republic of Mining

Britain looks to ancient mines for electric future – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters Canada – April 27, 2018)

April 27, 2018

https://ca.reuters.com/

SOUTH CROFTY, England – Britain is banking on a series of ancient mines on its southwestern tip to secure a slice of the global electric car revolution.

The English county of Cornwall and the surrounding area boast one of the world’s largest tin deposits yet their centuries-old mines have lain abandoned since the 1990s when a collapse in prices for the metal made them unviable.

Now however a rise in demand for tin, along with other metals that can be used in electric vehicles, electronics and renewable energy, has helped create a global deficit and quadruple prices. British officials are supporting reopening of the mines and seeking investment, leading to a mini-rush of mining companies into the area.

Commentary: U.S. sanctions on Rusal shatter aluminium’s supply chain – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – April 26, 2018)

April 27, 2018

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – “Our industry is going to suffer from disruption, distortion and damage. April 2018 has not been a good month for aluminium globally.”

That was the view of Ron Knapp, secretary-general of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), in his opening address to CRU’s World Aluminium Conference in London.

And none of analysts, traders, producers and consumers listening would disagree, given the carnage unleashed by the April 6 imposition of U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and his Rusal aluminium empire.

For truck drivers on Siberia’s ice highways, climate change is terrifying Andrew E. Kramer (Toronto Star/New York Times – April 27, 2018)

April 27, 2018

https://www.thestar.com/

At a truck stop at the northern terminus of the Vilyui ice highway in northeastern Siberia, drivers make small talk not about life on the road but rather the life of the road.

It might last another week, suggested one driver casually, tucking into a steaming plate of meatballs. “Not likely,” countered Maxim A. Andreyevsky, 31, the driver of a crude oil tanker truck. “Didn’t you see the shimmer on the surface? It will be gone in a day or two.”

Every spring, thousands of miles of so-called winter highway in Russia, mostly serving oil and mining towns in Siberia and far northern European Russia, melt back into the swamps from which they were conjured the previous fall. And every year, it seems to the men whose livelihoods depend upon it, the road of ice melts earlier.

Pro-mining party doubles support in Greenland vote, coalition talks near – by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen (Reuters U.S. – April 25, 2018)

April 25, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A pro-business party that promised to champion Greenland’s nascent mining industry almost doubled its support in elections, results showed on Wednesday, raising the prospect of a shift in the coalition government.

The centrist Demokraterne party took nearly 20 percent of the vote and became the third biggest group after it won over supporters from the two main parties in the last coalition, up from 11.8 percent four years earlier.

Greenland’s ruling center-left Siumut party, led by prime minister Kim Kielsen, remained the biggest party, but with a much smaller share – 27 percent down from 34 percent. The former police officer was expected to start coalition talks soon.

RPT-Mining firms from China to Canada watch as Greenland holds election – by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen (Reuters U.S. – April 22, 2018)

April 24, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

COPENHAGEN, April 20 (Reuters) – With melting ice expanding access to the Arctic, investors from China to Canada are watching Greenland’s election for signs of the political will to get a flagging mining programme on the island back on track.

Greenland is hoping rising commodity prices can help attract foreign investment and get its fragile economy up to speed to realise a long-term goal of independence from Denmark.

Hype about a possible mining boom in Greenland after it achieved self-rule from Denmark in 2009 faded in a morass of red tape and a commodity price slump around five years ago. It left the economy reliant on fishing and grants from Denmark.

Russia Sanctions Spook Palladium Investors – by Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2018)

April 23, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Hedge funds just made an abrupt about face in the palladium market as U.S. sanctions against Russian titans spark concerns that the world’s largest producer of the metal will get caught in the cross hairs.

After the U.S. slapped penalties on United Co. Rusal, American officials have sent conflicting signals about whether fresh sanctions will be imposed on other companies owned by oligarchs, such as MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC.

The miner controls about 40 percent of the world’s palladium market. The turmoil sent prices for the metal to a seven-week high, and money managers increased their wagers on a rally by the most since June.

‘People will revolt’: workers say Russia must save sanctions-hit Rusal – by Polina Ivanova (Reuters U.S. – April 23, 2018)

April 23, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

SAYANOGORSK, Russia (Reuters) – Workers at one of Russia’s biggest aluminum smelters say their Siberian town is doomed unless Moscow mitigates U.S. sanctions against aluminum giant Rusal, a predicament mirrored across the company’s sprawling operations.

Trapped by mortgages for apartments built on barren steppe under communism, residents of Sayanogorsk, one of a string of towns dominated by Rusal, have few options if a loss of customers for its aluminum leads the firm to cut jobs.

“The entire life of this city depends on Rusal,” said Evgeny Ivanov, until recently a foreman at the plant in Sayanogorsk, where pockmarked asphalt recalls the harsh winters endured by its 60,000 inhabitants, and icy blue mountains line the horizon.

COLUMN-Sanctions fever grips nickel as market rethinks Russia risk – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – April 20, 2018)

April 20, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) – Sanctions fever has spread to nickel. With Russian aluminium producer Rusal imploding in the wake of U.S. sanctions against its oligarch owner Oleg Deripaska, attention is now turning to the status of another Russian industrial powerhouse, Norilsk Nickel.

Deripaska is a 27.8 percent shareholder in Norilsk, while the oligarch behind the world’s number two nickel producer, Vladimir Potanin, is himself on a U.S. Treasury Department list of Russians deemed to be close to the Kremlin.

Fears that Norilsk might follow Rusal down the U.S. sanctions path have sent London nickel prices on an extraordinary rollercoaster ride. But this was a market primed for an explosive breakout, with all sorts of technical drivers kicking in once it started rallying.

Flanders to Holland and back: Resource Clips visits the diamond industry in Belgium and the Netherlands – by Greg Klein (Resource Clips – March 13, 2018)

April 20, 2018

http://resourceclips.com/

As if providing an outer defence, a solid line of retail jewellers blocks two broad avenues from Antwerp’s famed diamond district. Access comes mainly through a side street with a police-controlled traffic barrier. More cops and soldiers (the latter attesting to Belgium’s ongoing terror alert) patrol the narrow streets inside.

The only vehicles seem to be armoured vans customized for the diamond trade or the occasional bicycle carrying an Orthodox Jew with long coat and side curls flowing in the wind but magnificent hat solidly perched.

Except for the Portuguese synagogue, the buildings look un-Antwerpishly drab, catering to four bourses, several major companies and many more smaller operations that buy and sell stones and/or cut and polish them, as well as businesses selling tools of the trade or offering services like laser inscription removal.

Alrosa plans rough diamond trading in India, seeks reduction in 40% tax – by Dilip Kumar Jha (Business Standard – April 19, 2018)

April 20, 2018

http://www.business-standard.com/

Alrosa sells around 16 per cent of its annual rough diamond output directly to India through its 15 long-term and 140 spot and auctions clients

Russian diamond-mining major Alrosa will start rough diamond trading in India once the government brings the tax on it down to 0.56 per cent from 40 per cent now — to match the rates in other major trading hubs of the world.

The 40 per cent rate is applicable in special notified zones (SNZ), including the Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB), where Alrosa opened its first office in India on Thursday.

Alrosa is planning to service its Indian customers by contacting them daily. Apart from that, the India representative will help in market research and data analytics in various markets by giving information on trends in the demand for precious stones here.

Is Norilsk Nickel too big to sanction? – by Henry Foy and Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – April 19, 2018)

April 20, 2018

https://www.ft.com/

Is Norilsk Nickel too big to sanction? That is a question on the lips of investors and analysts as they ponder which companies might be next on the White House’s Russian sanctions list.

The company, based in the world’s most northern city that gives the group its name, certainly thinks size might be a key factor in deterring US president Donald Trump from placing one of the biggest metal producers on the list.

Like the large banks in the financial crisis deemed too big to fail, the company may be right in thinking that size matters as its nickel and palladium supplies are crucial to western manufacturers for products from cars to batteries.

Goldman Sachs Warns Rusal Shock May Drive Aluminum to $3,000 – by Swansy Afonso (Bloomberg News – April 18, 2018)

April 18, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says that the extraordinary rally in aluminum unleashed by U.S. sanctions against United Co. Rusal may have way, way further to go, forecasting the metal may spike to $3,000 a metric ton, while raising the possibility of further curbs against Russian coal supplies.

The metal may surge to between $2,800 and $3,000 in the near term as the U.S. moves against the second-largest producer have “dramatically affected” the market, the bank said in a note received Wednesday as it boosted price predictions for three, six and 12 months. The $3,000 target is 25 percent above Tuesday’s close, and almost 50 percent above the price before the curbs.

“U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarchs and the companies that they own or control have dramatically affected the aluminum market,” the bank said. “The uncertainty associated with our forecasts is great. In the event that resolutions are not found quickly enough, prices are likely to exceed our forecasts.”

Major Russian polluter pledges to turn over a ‘green’ leaf on national television – by Anna Kireeva and Charles Digges (Bellona.org – April 17, 2018)

April 18, 2018

http://bellona.org/

In a wide ranging appearance on Russian national television, Vladimir Potanin, the president of Norilsk Nickel, a long-time, heavy-duty polluter, made the case that his company has turned over a new leaf, and hitched its future to producing “green” products in an environmentally friendly manner.

Potanin’s remarks were pitched first and foremost to car manufactures, who are themselves in the process of revamping their own production to account for tighter worldwide emissions standards and boosting their offerings of electric and hybrid vehicles.

But he also provided the first look at how the Siberian industrial giant plans to reel in its pollution – a clear nod to environmentalists who have long demanded that the company detail its approach to staunching harmful emissions.

UPDATE 1-Nornickel exec says in talks with battery makers on investments, cooperation – by Tom Daly (Reuters U.S. – April 18, 2018)

April 18, 2018

https://www.reuters.com/

SHANGHAI, April 18 (Reuters) – Russia’s Norilsk Nickel , or Nornickel, is in talks with battery makers over possible investment in its mining assets, but is also interested in downstream joint ventures in return, a company executive said on Wednesday.

“We might be interested in having some deeper cooperation, say on the battery side, and building a more complete value chain,” Anton Berlin told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a battery materials conference in Shanghai.

Nornickel is looking for “more than just an offtake (sales) agreement,” he said, adding that a downstream joint venture in China would be a possibility. Discussions are at an early stage however, and the company is “not in any rush,” he said.

Commentary: Rusal sanctions shockwaves slam into aluminium market – by Andy Home (Reuters U.K. – April 16, 2018)

April 16, 2018

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The aluminium market has never experienced anything like it. Since the United States imposed sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and United Company Rusal on April 6, aluminium has been in turmoil.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) price hit a six-year high of $2,340 per tonne last Friday. The weekly rally of nearly 12 percent was the largest since the launch of the LME’s high-grade contract in 1987.

Physical premiums in the United States are at three-year highs and the price of alumina is going haywire. The tremors caused by sanctions on the world’s largest producer outside China are still racing down multiple channels of a supply chain that has historically been defined by surplus metal.