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Europe Mining

Feast and famine in the global tin market(s) – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – March 21, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The last British tin mine closed in 1998. When South Crofty ceased operating, it brought the curtain down on two millennia of tin mining in the southwestern county of Cornwall.

However, hope springs eternal in Poldark country, as the region has been dubbed after the hugely successful television series based on the eponymous novels of Winston Graham.

Two companies are now actively looking at reviving Cornwall’s tin fortunes. Strongbow Exploration is focused on South Crofty itself, which needs to be dewatered before any new mining can occur.

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London Brawl Between Pro-Putin Tycoons Tests Kremlin’s Patience – by Yuliya Fedorinova, Ilya Arkhipov and Irina Reznik (Bloomberg News – March 19, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

They’re two of Russia’s most powerful tycoons, each with a reach that extends into Vladimir Putin’s inner sanctum, and now they’re fighting over one of the country’s most lucrative assets.

The dispute between the billionaires—Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska—runs from Arctic mines to the High Court in London. The legal proceedings provide a glimpse into the rules, written and not, that govern the vast fortunes that exist at the pleasure of the newly re-elected president.

As a British judge prepares to rule on small ownership changes that may have a big impact on Siberian metals titan Norilsk Nickel, initial signs from Kremlin insiders suggest one longtime Putin ally may have an edge over the other.

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Mine Accident Shows a Potash Market Nervous About Outages – by Jen Skerritt and Aliaksandr Kudrytski (Bloomberg News – March 16, 2018)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — The news, when it came late Friday night from a government ministry in Minsk, was grim: the ceiling of a potash mine in Belarus had collapsed more than half a kilometer underground, trapping two workers.

Halfway around the world, the reaction to the headlines was swift and dramatic. Shares of some of the largest potash producers soared in New York and Toronto on speculation that the accident could knock out a large chunk of global production capacity.

The March 9 episode vividly illustrates that after a decade of gluts, the industry is suddenly nervous again about supply shocks. Demand has been constantly increasing and any change in production from the world’s top suppliers in Canada, Belarus and Russia has the potential to impact the market dramatically, said Daniel Sherman, a senior analyst for Edward Jones in St. Louis.

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China in Greenland: Mines, Science, and Nods to Independence – by Miguel Martin (The Jamestown Foundation – March 12, 2018)

https://jamestown.org/

Editor’s Note: Miguel Martin has previously published on Arctic affairs under the name Jichang Lulu.

Although China’s recent Arctic white paper (SCIO, January 2017), a document primarily intended for foreign consumption, avoids direct mention of Greenland, the island plays an important role in the PRC’s Arctic strategy, due to its abundant natural resources, importance as a scientific research base, and possible emergence as an independent state that could give China more influence in Arctic affairs.

Little actual Chinese investment has taken place in Greenland to date, but Chinese companies are expected to be involved in two of the island’s largest planned mining projects (including one of the world’s largest rare-earth mines), while plans to build research facilities have also been announced, among them a year-round research base and a satellite ground station.

Meanwhile, while Chinese diplomats have avoided any actions that could be construed as support for immediate Greenlandic independence, the possibility is now openly discussed among Chinese academics specializing in the Arctic.

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UPDATE 2-Russia’s Nornickel sees rising battery demand boosting nickel use – by Polina Devitt (Reuters U.S. – March 6, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

MOSCOW, March 6 (Reuters) – Russian mining firm Norilsk Nickel said on Tuesday rising use of batteries in electric vehicles would create strong demand for nickel from the 2020s.

Nornickel, which vies with Brazil’s Vale SA to be the world’s biggest nickel producer, said the battery industry would use more than 500,000 tonnes a year of the metal by 2025.

It said this “equals almost half of the current consumption of Class 1 nickel”, referring to the highest quality nickel that is now mainly used as an ingredient to produce stainless steel.

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Big investor backing a blessing and curse for failed X2 Resources – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – March 7, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In the end, why X2 Resources failed was a blessing and a curse. When former Xstrata PLC chief executive Mick Davis launched his billion-dollar private equity firm during the commodities downturn in 2013, there was excitement that X2 would make big acquisitions and give cash-strapped miners a lifeline.

Mr. Davis and his elite team of former mining executives amassed up to US$5.6-billion – an unprecedented amount that reflected investor confidence in X2’s future.

But with financial heft came the expectation that the deals would be huge. And no one knew whether metal prices had hit rock bottom. “That was both its strength and also the challenge for it.

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The Oligarchs’ Feud That Will Affect Electric Cars – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – March 5, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Russian billionaires are feuding over control of a giant natural-resource business that dates back to the Soviet era. So far, so Russia.

What makes the battle for MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC more important than typical business maneuvering is that it will affect development of one of the largest deposits of nickel and cobalt, which are used in batteries for goods including iPads and Tesla cars.

1. Who is feuding?

Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska, the two billionaires battling for control of Nornickel (as the company is known), have opposing strategies for its future. Potanin, the company’s chief executive officer and the second-richest Russian, wants to expand the business and develop new deposits to maintain its position in the industry.

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Norilsk Nickel: At War with Itself – by Matthew Turner (Market Mogul – February 28, 2018)

Market Mogul

A long-standing spat between Rusal owner Oleg Deripaska and fellow metals magnate Vladimir Potanin over the ownership of nickel producer Norilsk, one of the world’s largest miners of nickel and palladium, is going into the next round.

Aluminium producer Rusal, which owns a 27.8% stake in Norilsk, has announced its readiness for a “shoot out” auction to determine whether it takes full control of Norilsk. The market is holding its breath as the conflicting parties are desperately searching for a resolution.

The latest chapter in this long-running corporate saga began when Potanin’s holding company Interros, which owns 30.4% shares in the company, made a move to acquire the 6.5% stake held by Roman Abramovich – shares that entered into Abramovich’s possession in 2012 as part of a “peace agreement” between Deripaska and Potanin to take the heat out of the tensions in the company.

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Rusal quest for value to dent Glencore’s aluminum clout – by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Polina Devitt (Reuters U.S. – February 27, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Mining giant Glencore’s deal to buy aluminum from Rusal will be renewed from 2019, but the tonnage is likely to be much lower as the Russian producer taps into growing demand for value-added products, two sources close to the matter said.

Unless it sources from additional suppliers, the reduction in volume will weaken the leading position held for years by Swiss-based Glencore in the global aluminum market.

Rusal, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska and co-owned by Glencore, is expected to cut the volume in any new deal by 25-50 percent from the 14.5 million tonnes that covers the seven years from 2012 to 2018.

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Russian billionaires risk ‘shootout’ in battle over nickel giant – by Polina Devitt (Reuters U.S. – February 26, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Two of Russia’s richest men could trigger a complicated auction known as a “shootout”, in a bid to end their long-running battle for control of mining giant Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel).

After a five-year peace deal ended in December, the power struggle between two major Nornickel shareholders, Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum giant Rusal, resurfaced earlier this month.

Potanin offered to buy a stake owned by a third businessman, Roman Abramovich. Abramovich has a history of good relations with President Vladimir Putin. Sources say he was installed as a minority shareholder in 2012 by the Kremlin as part of the deal to keep the peace. The Kremlin has always denied this.

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Rusal’s Deripaska to Step Down and Focus on Norilsk Nickel – by Staff (Aluminium Insider – February 20, 2018)

https://aluminiuminsider.com/

Russian Federation industrialist Oleg Deripaska is to step down from his position as president of both En+ Group and U.C. Rusal, Russian and international media reported.

While RUSAL clarified that no such decision has been made yet and that the Company’s board will discuss executive changes on 22 February, sources told the media earlier this week that Deripaska will announce his departure from these two pursuits, retaining only his official capacity at GAZ Group, which is Russia’s premier producer of commercial vehicles. According to insiders, the move was in the works prior to news of the renewed fight for Norilsk Nickel.

The battle to control Norilsk has been an off-again, on-again affair for the last decade that began upon the exit of Mikhail Prokhorov from the firm. Prokhorov, who was Vladimir Potanin’s partner in the venture the time of his departure, left a partial ownership void when he stepped down in 2008. Although Potanin had his sights set on acquiring the then-unclaimed share of the enterprise, Deripaska’s Rusal purchased the interest instead.

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[Norilsk Nickel] Deripaska in Faceoff With Abramovich in London Court – by Yuliya Fedorinova and Jess Shankleman (Bloomberg News – February 16, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Russian billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin have revived a years-old battle for control of the country’s biggest mining company, MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC.

The two tycoons each own roughly 30 percent of Norilsk Nickel and have long jockeyed for power in the company, which operates some of the richest mines in platinum, palladium and nickel, until President Vladimir Putin intervened in 2012. An agreement let a company controlled by Roman Abramovich buy a small stake in Norilsk Nickel in exchange for a promise to keep the peace.

Abramovich’s Crispian Investment Ltd. now wants to sell part of the stake, according to three people familiar with matter. The holding was about 5 percent at the start of 2017, implying a current value of more than $1.5 billion.

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Sweden eyes cobalt mining on home turf (The Local – February 15, 2018)

https://www.thelocal.se/

Sweden is “one of the most interesting areas in the world” to explore minerals like cobalt and lithium, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Mikael Damberg says.

A new report suggests that Sweden’s historic mining area of Bergslagen may have great potential for extracting sought-after minerals such as cobalt and lithium and the government on Thursday gave the go-ahead to investigate the opportunities to start exploring the matter.

The demand for cobalt, lithium and Rare Earth Metals (REE) has soared in recent years due to their contribution to green innovations such as electric cars and solar and wind power stations as well as the production of mobile phone batteries. Congo is today the world’s leading provider of cobalt, with 65 percent of the total production, while China mines 95 percent of the world’s REEs.

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Sudbury delegation impressed by Finnish ferrochrome smelter – by Darren MacDonald (Northern Life – January 26, 2018)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Noront Resources plans to build similar facility in Northern Ontario

A delegation from Greater Sudbury that visited Finland last week came away impressed by the way the ferrochrome smelter operates in that nation, both environmentally and economically.

Mayor Brian Bigger led the delegation that returned Jan. 18 from Tornio, the Finnish community near the border with Sweden where the Outokumpu smelter is located.

The most technically-advanced chromite smelter in the world, Noront Resources plans to build a similar facility in Northern Ontario to process ore from the Ring of Fire. Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and Thunder Bay are all in the running to become home to the smelter, expected to create as many as 400 jobs.

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UK funds satellite hunt for new minerals – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.K. – January 25, 2018)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – The British government has handed out 850,000 pounds for research that uses satellites to identify deposits of minerals, including battery metal lithium, as part of efforts to bolster the economy after the exit from the European Union.

The project named the Satellite Applications Catapult is seeking to assess the quality of mineral structures, to ensure exploration spending is focused on the best deposits, by analysing satellite images of geology and vegetation, British miner Cornish Lithium, which is participating, said.

Others involved in the project include the British Geological Survey, the Camborne School of Mines, which is part of Exeter University, and environmental consultancy North Coast Consulting.

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