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Europe Mining

Deep-sea mining in the Arctic Ocean gets the green light from Norwegian lawmakers (Associated Press – December 5, 2023)

https://www.msn.com/

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway’s minority center-left government and two large opposition parties made a deal Tuesday to open the Arctic Ocean to seabed mineral exploration despite warnings by environmental groups that it would threaten the biodiversity of the vulnerable ecosystems in the area.

Norway said in June it wanted to open parts of the Norwegian continental shelf for commercial deep sea mining in line with the country’s strategy to seek new economic opportunities and reduce its reliance on oil and gas.

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Ukraine’s coal mines turn to women to solve wartime staff shortages – by Max Hunder (Reuters – November 22, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

PAVLOHRAD, Ukraine, Nov 22 (Reuters) – After more than a thousand of its workers went to fight Russia’s invasion, a coal mining enterprise in eastern Ukraine suffered a huge staff shortage. Its answer was to allow women to work underground for the first time in its history.

Over a hundred took up the offer. “I took this job because the war started and there were no other jobs,” 22-year-old Krystyna said candidly. For five months, she has worked as a technician 470 metres below ground, servicing the small electric trains which haul workers more than four kilometres from the lift shaft where they descend to the seams of coal.

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UK Sanctions on Russian Plant Send Jitters Through Palladium – Eddie Spence (Bloomberg News – November 10, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The cost of borrowing palladium has climbed since the UK imposed sanctions on a key Russian refiner earlier this week, reflecting bets that it may lead to supply disruptions.

Britain on Wednesday announced sanctions on Krastsvetmet JSC, which is the main refinery used by top palladium producer MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC. If Western companies seek to avoid products processed at the refinery in response to the sanctions, Norilsk — which accounts for about 40% of global output — may struggle to find a more palatable alternative.

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That diamond ring? It may have helped pay for Russia’s war – by Daniil Ukhorskiy (Kyiv Independent – October 12, 2023)

https://kyivindependent.com/

Editor’s note: This story uses sources who are speaking on condition of anonymity since revealing their identities would heavily damage their careers and expose them to legal and personal risks in the diamond industry. Their identities are known to the Kyiv Independent.

Soon after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, luxury brands like Tiffany and Cartier announced they had stopped buying Russian diamonds. An investigation by the Kyiv Independent has found evidence to the contrary. A year and a half into the all-out war, export data shows Russia keeps selling its diamonds to the West. Now, through intermediaries, primarily Dubai.

Thanks to weak American sanctions and the absence of any in the European Union, Alrosa, the leading Russian diamond producer partly owned by the state, keeps profiting from diamond sales. The company may be using some of its profit to fund the Russian military directly. Alrosa has not responded to a request for comment.

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Fierce community opposition to copper, lithium projects threatens energy transition – by Editor (Mining.com – November 9, 2023)

https://www.mining.com/

Nationwide protests against mining projects are once again grabbing headlines amid a sweeping sense of urgency from governments and communities to gain greater control over minerals and metals that are essential for the transition to a low-carbon economy.

While nothing new, resource nationalism has ignited high-profile disputes in recent weeks, with First Quantum’s struggles in Panama and lithium miners’ in Portugal the two most radical examples.

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Portuguese PM António Costa resigns over lithium deal probe – by Ana Nicolaci da Costa (British Broadcasting Corporation – November 7, 2023)

https://www.bbc.com/

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa resigned after investigators searched his official residence in an inquiry into alleged corruption. He said he had not been named as a suspect but believed the inquiry was incompatible with staying in office.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday they were investigating concessions awarded for lithium mines and hydrogen production. They said detention warrants were issued for five people including Mr Costa’s chief of staff, Vítor Escária.

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EU to move ahead with Russian diamond ban next week – by Henry Foy (Financial Times – November 8, 2023)

https://www.ft.com/

Foreign policy chief says agreement at G7 level cleared hurdles set by Belgium and other countries

The EU is set to move ahead with a long-stalled ban on Russian diamonds next week after securing sufficient backing from the G7 group of developed nations, according to the bloc’s foreign policy chief.

Diamonds are one of the few major Russian exports still untouched by EU sanctions imposed in response to President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, due to extensive wrangling over how any embargo would work effectively.

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UK Sanctions Gold Trader and Miners in New Russian Clampdown – by Jonathan Browning (Bloomberg News – Novmeber 8, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The UK government targeted Russian gold miners, the largest refiner and a Dubai-based trader involved in routing funds to Moscow as part of a package of fresh sanctions tied to the country’s gold and oil sectors.

The UK on Wednesday sanctioned Nord Gold Plc and Highland Gold Mining Ltd. alongside Krastsvetmet JSC, the biggest precious metals refinery in Russia.

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Portugal PM Quits After Chief of Staff Held in Corruption Probe – by Henrique Almeida and Joao Lima (Bloomberg News – November 7, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Portugal’s Antonio Costa unexpectedly ended his eight years as prime minister after revelations about an investigation into possible government corruption involving lithium and hydrogen projects.

The resignation on Tuesday came as police raided locations including offices used by the premier’s chief of staff as well as the environment ministry and the infrastructure ministry.

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In diamond centre Antwerp, Russian gems are already shunned – by Julia Payne (Reuters – November 3, 2023)

https://www.reuters.com/

ANTWERP, Belgium, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Only a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Antwerp-based diamond dealer Thierry Tugendhaft started receiving calls from big jewellers in Paris asking him to stop supplying them with Russian stones.

He was not the only one. Other diamond firms in Antwerp, the world’s biggest centre of trade in rough diamonds and cutting of the biggest gems, were asked to avoid Russian stones. No easy task when Russia supplies about one third of global demand.

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Mission critical: Europe eyes new suppliers in geopolitical race for metals – by Eurydice Bersi, Maxence Peigné and Maria Maggiore (Inestigate Europe – November 6, 2023)

https://www.investigate-europe.eu/

The EU is brokering deals with Africa and Latin America for critical raw materials. But it finds itself squeezed between China, Russia and the US for the minerals essential to the green transition.

“It is very important that Africa is not seen as a reservoir of raw materials that continues to be exploited by Westerners to create added value elsewhere.” The warning comes from Celine Tshizena Pegasus, a Congolese lawyer and advocacy director at Afrewatch, a natural resources watchdog.

In July, Afrewatch and dozens of international NGOs sent an open letter to the European Commission, slamming its strategy to source critical raw materials from the Global South. Deposits of minerals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel and rare earths are barely explored in Europe, let alone mined in the quantities required for the green transition.

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Russia Attacks West for ‘Distorting’ Kimberley Process – by Joshua Freedman (Rapaport News – November 1, 2023)

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The Russian government has accused Western nations of trying to undermine the Kimberley Process (KP). Group of Seven (G7) countries and the European Union have attempted to politicize the global diamond watchdog and introduce their own “biased” parallel regulatory program, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev wrote Sunday in an open letter to the KP chairman.

The claims come ahead of next week’s KP plenary meeting in Zimbabwe and reflect controversy over the attempts by the G7 — which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and the EU — to impose a bloc-wide ban on Russian diamonds.

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Macron is shopping for uranium in Kazakhstan after the loss of Niger – by Jan van der Made (RFI France – November 1, 2023)

https://www.rfi.fr/en/

Oil-rich Kazakhstan has already emerged as a replacement supplier of crude to European nations turning off Russian supply and an important link in the new China-Europe trade route bypassing Russia. At a meeting with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Macron complimented Astana for refusing to side with Moscow on Ukraine and said the two countries planned to sign significant business deals.

“We will be able to make progress on important international matters, underscore our commitment to the United Nations charter and principles such as territorial integrity and national sovereignty,” he said through an interpreter. But Kazakhstan mainly attracted Macron’s attention because of its vast uranium resources.

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Metals and the invasion: Russian war reconfigures commodity supply flows – by Taylor Kuykendall (SP Global – February 21, 2023)

https://www.spglobal.com/

World traders have turned away from the Moscow-based economy in favor of trade with other suppliers of metals and mines as experts expect permanent changes to how the world thinks about its supply chains.

One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, metals and mining trade flows have shifted as countries look to regionalize supply chains for crucial raw materials due to aversions to purchases that could support the Kremlin.

The start of the war in late February 2022 sent the price of many commodities skyrocketing, but buyers have adjusted after much of the world opted to bench Russian metal suppliers. However, Russian commodities are moving despite countries looking elsewhere for supplies, including by increasing domestic sourcing of crucial materials.

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EU confirms plans for Russia-diamonds ban – by Andrew Rettman (EU Observer – October 27, 2023)

https://euobserver.com/

The EU has confirmed it’s going to strike Russia’s diamond industry in upcoming sanctions, spelling trouble for mining giant Alrosa and dozens of other companies.

“We are in the process of preparing the 12th round [of sanctions] … in particular how to cut the revenues Russia draws from exports of diamonds to Europe and its partners,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Friday (29 October).

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