Twitter

International Media Resource Articles

The Gold Rush at the Heart of a Civil War – by Declan Walsh (New York Times – December 11, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Famine and ethnic cleansing stalk Sudan. Yet the gold trade is booming, enriching generals and propelling the fight.

The luxury jet touched down in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, on a mission to collect hundreds of pounds of illicit gold. On board was a representative of a ruthless paramilitary group accused of ethnic cleansing in Sudan’s sprawling civil war, the flight manifest showed. The gold itself had been smuggled from Darfur, a region of famine and fear in Sudan that is largely under his group’s brutal control.

Porters grunted as they heaved cases filled with gold, about $25 million worth, onto the plane, said three people involved with or briefed on the deal. Airport officials discreetly maintained a perimeter around the jet, which stood out in the main airport of one of the world’s poorest countries.

Read more

Lithium supply surplus set to stay with battery makers’ help – by Eric Onstad (Reuters – December 10, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Many lithium mines, led by Chinese operators, are maintaining production of the raw material needed for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, in defiance of prices weak enough to trigger mass output cuts – providing a boon for battery makers.

The continued production raises the prospect of years of oversupply and of weak prices. Some battery makers own mines or have injected cash into operations to keep them operational, company reports show.

Read more

The rubber seed ‘heist’ that changed the course of history – by Nick Baker and Marc Fennell (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – August 4, 2024)

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

Stuff the British Stole

Tyres. Elastic bands. Balloons. Shoes. There’s a long list of items that are made from rubber: the waterproof, durable substance that’s all around us, almost all of the time. But like many resources, rubber has a dark past, where today’s inventions only exist thanks to generations of exploitation.

And this dark past had one key turning point based on the actions of one Englishman deep in the Amazon. While it undoubtedly changed the course of history, some say it was a brazen theft.

Read more

Analysis-Mali arrests, Niger site seizure rattle Western miners – by David Lewis, Melanie Burton and Portia Crowe(MSM.com – December 11, 2024)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/

The arrest of mining executives in Mali, threats by Burkina Faso’s junta to strip permits and the seizure of a French-run uranium site in Niger have unsettled Western miners operating in West Africa and could limit further investments. Day-to-day production in Mali and Burkina Faso has so far been largely unaffected.

The escalation is expected, however, to hit firms seeking finance and insurance – curbing supply growth in Africa’s engine of gold output, more than a dozen people, including mining employees, financiers, insurance providers and government sources, told Reuters.

Read more

Mining Giants Rio Tinto, Usha & Taesko Address Copper Crunch – by Stella Nolan EV Magazine – December 05, 2024)

https://evmagazine.com/

Mining giants Rio Tinto, Usha and Taseko are tackling copper shortages as surging EV and clean energy demand risks a 200,000-ton deficit by 2025

The global pivot to renewable energy and EVs drives an unprecedented demand for copper. The essential metal, critical for everything from EV batteries to wind turbines, is facing a supply crunch that could impede progress toward clean energy goals.

Swiss bank UBS estimates that the copper supply deficit will exceed 200,000 tons by 2025. The International Energy Forum adds that, to meet the growing demand, more than a billion tons of new copper mining capacity will be needed annually until 2050.

Read more

The Kimberley Process Has Failed at Its One Job. Let It Do Something Else. – by Rob Bates (JCK Online.com – December 5, 2024)

JCK Online

In mid-November, the Kimberley Process (KP) lifted its embargo against the Central African Republic (CAR); there’s a good backgrounder here. In this special guest editorial, Brad Brooks-Rubin — who has worked for the U.S. government, industry associations, and a nongovernmental organization (NGO) — gives his view on what this means for the certification scheme’s future.

Recently I walked into a jewelry store and asked about blood diamonds. The salesperson, leaning on their training, talked to me about the Kimberley Process certification scheme. Per the standard industry talking points, I was told that 99% of diamonds are conflict-free and that the KP helps support local development in diamond-mining countries.

Read more

Canada Moves to Protect Arctic From Threats by Russia and China – by Ian Austen (New York Times – December 6, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Ottawa says its focus on the Arctic comes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has shaken the foundations” of international cooperation in the northern region.

Citing growing interest by China and Russia in the Arctic as global warming makes the region more accessible, Canada on Friday said it would focus on building stronger alliances with other nations in the region, particularly the United States.

“For many years, Canada has aimed to manage the Arctic and northern regions cooperatively with other states as a zone of low tension,” according to a statement by the Canadian government.

Read more

Navajo communities seek ‘just transition’ for people affected by coal mine closures – by Arlyssa D. Becenti (Arizona Republic – December 6, 2024)

https://www.azcentral.com/

Nearly 20 years after Peabody Mining closed its Black Mesa Mine and five years after the Kayenta Mine and Navajo Generating Station closed on the Navajo Nation, residents are working toward recovery of what’s left of the land after more than 50 years of coal extraction.

The work includes a land use plan that has been 20 years in the making and a proposal for a community center that will also be instrumental as a climate resilience center. While the coal company initiated reclamation efforts, the post-mining landscape has always appeared different depending on whether it’s seen by someone who resides within the community or someone from the outside.

Read more

Rattled by China, West scrambles to rejig critical minerals supply chains – by Amy Lv, Divya Rajagopal and Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – December 6, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

BEIJING/TORONTO/LONDON (Reuters) – China’s trade restrictions on strategic minerals are starting to hit Western companies where it hurts.

Blaming Beijing’s curbs on antimony exports announced in August, German chemicals and consumer goods heavyweight Henkel told customers last month it had declared force majeure and suspended deliveries of four types of adhesives and lubricants widely used by automakers, according to a Nov. 8 letter to clients reviewed by Reuters.

Read more

North Carolina floods threaten mines key to global electronics industry – by Eva Dou (Washington Post – October 1, 2024)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

The high-purity quartz sand that’s mined in the town of Spruce Pine, N.C., is critical for making everything from semiconductors to solar panels.

Flooding in North Carolina has imperiled the operations of mines that produce the world’s purest quartz sand — an irreplaceable ingredient for manufacturing components at the heart of smartphones and other electronic devices.

The town of Spruce Pine, where these unique mines are located, remains in a dire situation, with power, water and cell service largely disconnected early Tuesday. While the floodwaters brought on by Helene have receded, local residents said many roads remained impassable. Some people were still trying desperately to confirm loved ones were safe.

Read more

Honoring those who built our coal legacy on National Miners Day – by Bobby McCool (Appalachian News- Express – December 2, 2024)

https://www.news-expressky.com/

Bobby McCool is the State Representative 97th District

Electricity, roads, smartphones. What do all these seemingly unrelated things have in common? Their existence is dependent on mined materials, extracted from the earth by hard-working men and women who take pride in the role they play in providing a great quality of life to our nation.

While the products mined can range from rock salt to metals, Kentuckians most often think of mining in terms of the coal industry that accounts for almost 70 percent of our energy portfolio. It is the coal miner that kept our state’s utility rates less expensive than neighboring states.

Read more

China bans exports to US of gallium, germanium, antimony in response to chip sanctions – by Elaine Kurtenbach (Associated Press – December 3, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

BANGKOK (AP) — China announced Tuesday it is banning exports to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications, as a general principle, lashing back at U.S. limits on semiconductor-related exports.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced the move after the Washington expanded its list of Chinese companies subject to export controls on computer chip-making equipment, software and high-bandwidth memory chips. Such chips are needed for advanced applications.

Read more

How GE Vernova plans to deploy small nuclear reactors across the developed world – by Spencer Kimball (CNBC.com – November 30, 2024)

https://www.cnbc.com/

GE Vernova is aiming to deploy small nuclear reactors across the developed world over the next decade, staking out a leadership position in a budding technology that could play a central role in meeting surging electricity demand and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The company’s small modular reactor, or SMR, is designed to reduce the cost of building new nuclear plants, said Nicole Holmes, chief commercial officer at GE Vernova’s nuclear unit GE Hitachi.

GE Vernova is the spinoff of General Electric’s former energy business. The company’s stock has more than doubled since listing on the New York Stock Exchange last April, with investors seeing the Cambridge, Mass.-based company playing a key role in the future of the power industry through a portfolio of divisions that span nuclear, natural gas, wind and carbon capture.

Read more

Wyoming and Montana Republicans vow to challenge Biden decision to block coal mining in area – by Staff (Washington Examiner – December 3, 2024)

Home

President Joe Biden’s administration approved legislation blocking new coal mining in parts of Wyoming and Montana due to climate change concerns. Republican politicians in both states vowed to challenge and eventually overturn the decision.

The Bureau of Land Management announced its approval of the Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Buffalo Field Office in Buffalo, Wyoming, according to reports. This amendment will prohibit new federal coal mining leases in the Powder River Basin by 2041. The judgment was made over concerns about the amount of greenhouse gas emissions due to coal mining operations, according to documentation.

Read more

Indigenous Mining Complicates Brazil’s Fight Against Illegal Gold – by Ricardo Brito and Adriano Machado (U.S. News/Reuters – December 2, 2024)

https://www.usnews.com/

JACAREACANGA, Brazil (Reuters) – The involvement of Indigenous people in illegal gold hunting, lured by the prospect of easy money due to record prices, has made Brazil’s task of cracking down on wildcat mining in the Amazon far harder, environmental agents and police say.

The Munduruku territory, a reservation the size of Switzerland on the Tapajos river, a major Amazon tributary, has become a hot spot for illegal mining, which Brazilian law bans on Indigenous land. But increasingly, Munduruku tribe members are entering the illegal trade that is backed by organized crime.

Read more