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International Media Resource Articles

Lithium prices have crashed this year, squeezing margins at Australian miners – by Clint Jasper (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – September 2, 2024)

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

It is an essential element of the green energy transition and just a few years ago Australia was in the front seat of a lithium boom, but a new wave of supplies has put their competitive edge under pressure.

Consumers are increasingly opting to drive EVs, and governments continue to invest in solar and wind projects, yet lithium miners have spent the last year watching the price of their ore sinking. Last week, the financial pain inflicted by a year of declining lithium prices was revealed as Australia’s major producers opened their balance sheets up for investors.

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Afghanistan’s Mineral Resources: Opportunities And Challenges – OpEd – by Naseeb Ullah Achakzai (Eurasia Review – September 2, 2024)

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Afghanistan being a landlocked country has huge strategic importance followed by immense mineral deposits. It is estimated that it has untapped resources worth of 1 to 3 billion USD. These resources include Oil, Gas, Lithium, Copper, Coal, Gold, Cobalt, Rare Earth Minerals, Aluminum, Uranium, Zinc, Iron Ore, Timber, Chromite, Marble, Limestone, Sandstone, Barite, Sulphur, Gypsum, and Nickel.

The states equipped with technology have opportunities to harvest these resources in the presence of myriad of challanges. Once tapped, these resources can alter the fate of war torn and poverty stricken Afghanistan.

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Will Japan Turn to Deep Seabed Mining to Secure Critical Mineral Supply Chains? – by Oliver Banks and Ariel Silverman (The Diplomat – September 03, 2024)

https://thediplomat.com/

Despite the apparent benefits, there are significant legal gaps and technological limitations that must be addressed before this mineral wealth on the seafloor can be brought to market.

In late June, Japanese researchers found around 230 million metric tons of critical minerals on the seabed within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The resources include enough cobalt to meet the country’s consumption needs for 75 years and over a decade’s supply of nickel. These minerals are crucial components of electric vehicle car batteries central to the low-carbon energy transition.

This discovery is also good news to critics in the West anxious to strip China of its monopolistic control over supply chains for components crucial to high-tech goods and defense technologies.

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China’s Africa interests driven by race for renewables – by Lauren Johnston (Asia Times – September 3, 2024)

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Africa could learn from others how to manage mineral relations with China – looking to what Indonesia did with nickel, for example

How is the race for green energy shaping relations between China and Africa? The global climate crisis has created a push for renewable energy technology – like solar or wind power – which would lessen reliance on polluting energy sources. China saw some years ago that it had a chance to lead in such a new industry.

Africa is home to a lot of the important minerals needed to create renewable technologies – like copper, cobalt and lithium, key ingredients in battery manufacture. The race for green energy is therefore leading to a rush for these minerals in Africa, led by China, the US and Europe.

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Deep-sea mining: Why it is time to sink this ship – by M Rajshekhar (Carbon Copy – August 31, 2024)

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A recent scientific discovery of polymetallic nodules producing “dark oxygen” at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean provides another reason why deep sea mining shouldn’t be allowed

This July, a scientific paper in Nature announced an extraordinary discovery. On the sea-bed of the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone, 13,000 feet below the sea’s surface, far beyond the reaches of sunlight, said the paper, metallic lumps have been splitting seawater to produce oxygen.

The paper hit headlines in no time. Until now, it has been assumed that photosynthesis — first by tiny microorganisms known as the archaeans and then by plants and trees — produced the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. Some of this oxygen, it was also thought, diffuses into oceans’ surface waters. And that, a part of it sinks down, all the way to the sea-bed, supporting life there.

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No Stone Unturned: Unearthing the Gems of Africa – by Salon Privé (Salon Privé Magazine – August 2024)

https://www.salonprivemag.com/

Gemfields announces new book “No Stone Unturned” exploring real-life gemstone adventures in Africa over 60 years, written by Richa Goyal Sikri.

These narratives, vividly recounted by influential figures in the gem trade to the author Richa Goyal Sikri, showcase the dynamic and dramatic essence of the business. They also highlight significant historical moments related to notable gem deposits in Africa.

Each story vividly portrays the exhilarating highs and treacherous lows of the trade, offering an insightful glimpse into the vibrant journey of coloured gemstones from mine to market.

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‘We were expendable’: Downwinders from world’s 1st atomic test are on a mission to tell their story – by Suasn Montoya Bryan (Associated Press – August 25, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — It was the summer of 1945 when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan, killing thousands of people as waves of destructive energy obliterated two cites. It was a decisive move that helped bring about the end of World War II, but survivors and the generations that followed were left to grapple with sickness from radiation exposure.

At the time, U.S. President Harry Truman called it “the greatest scientific gamble in history,” saying the rain of ruin from the air would usher in a new concept of force and power. What he didn’t mention was that the federal government had already tested this new force on U.S. soil.

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Lithium mine closures just ‘tip of the iceberg’ – by Alex Gluyas (Australian Financial Review – August 26, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

The lithium sector is facing a wave of mine closures as prices for the battery material continue to decline despite some companies already delaying future projects.

UBS slashed its lithium price forecasts for the 2025 and 2026 calendar year by up to 23 per cent on Monday as it cautioned that not enough supply was being deferred, and global demand for electric vehicles was softening.

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Mining bosses issue M&A warning as forecasts of dealmaking boom mount – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Times – August 25, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

Companies want commodities critical for clean energy such as copper that could drive deals

Mining bosses have warned against plunging into the mergers and acquisitions market and repeating mistakes of the past as forecasts mount that the industry is on the verge of a dealmaking boom.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm was the most outspoken as he hinted at the experience of his predecessor Tom Albanese, who was ousted from the top job in 2013 after an ill-fated acquisition.

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Opinion: We are wasting $2 trillion a year chasing ‘green’ fantasies – by Bjorn Lomborg (New York Post – August 11, 2024)

https://nypost.com/

Despite much hype, the much-vaunted green energy transition away from fossil fuels isn’t happening. Achieving a meaningful shift with current policies turns out to be unaffordable. We need to drastically change policy direction.

Globally, we are already spending almost $2 trillion annually to try to force an energy transition. Over the past decade, solar and wind energy use have increased to their highest-ever levels. But it hasn’t reduced fossil fuels — on the contrary, we have added even more fossil fuels over the same time.

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Judge blocks Arizona lithium drilling that tribe says is threat to sacred lands – by Scott Sonner(Associated Press – August 21, 2024)

https://apnews.com/

A federal judge has temporarily blocked exploratory drilling for a lithium project in Arizona that tribal leaders say will harm land they have used for religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries.

Lawyers for the national environmental group Earthjustice and Colorado-based Western Mining Action Project are suing federal land managers on behalf of the Hualapai Tribe. They accuse the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of illegally approving drilling planned by an Australian mining company in the Big Sandy River Basin in northwestern Arizona, about halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas.

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Preparing for the worst? Polish central bank becomes biggest buyer of gold – by Indrabati Lahiri (Euro News – Ausgust 23, 2024)

https://www.euronews.com/

The president of the National Bank of Poland, Adam Glapinski, recently revealed that the central bank would continue to buy gold, and is aiming for the precious metal to make up 20% of the bank’s reserves.

The National Bank of Poland (NBP), also known as the Narodowy Bank Polski, became the joint biggest gold buyer amongst central banks in the second quarter of 2024, tying with India, according to the World Gold Council. This was after the NBP bought approximately 19 tonnes of the precious metal.

The president of the National Bank of Poland, Adam Glapinski, also said earlier this year that the central bank was planning to ensure that gold made up 20% of its reserves. At present, gold accounts for about 14.7% of the NBP’s reserves.

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Second-Largest Diamond Ever Found Is Discovered in Botswana – by Lynsey Chutel (New York Times – August 22, 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The diamond was unearthed using new technology, and miners hope it will bring back luster to a struggling industry.

The diamond was so large that it obscured the face of Botswana’s president as he held it up for closer inspection on Thursday.

President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found.

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Broken Promises: Western Hypocrisy in the Global Minerals Scramble – by Alex Kopp (Foreign Policy In Focus – August 22, 2024)

https://fpif.org/

Western governments need to enforce strong regulation that ensures responsible mining and holds accountable all companies involved in extracting and sourcing minerals.

Western governments have finally realized that the energy transition is happening—and that the resources needed are mostly in Chinese hands. Transition minerals, by some dubbed the “new oil,” are the key ingredients for renewables technologies like EV batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines that make the transition happen.

A large share of those minerals are extracted in the Global South, but China controls their value chains to a large degree. China processes over 90 percent of rare earth elements, almost 100 percent of graphite, over 75 percent of cobalt and over 60 percent of lithium.

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China’s rare copper export boom signals more than weak demand – by Andy Home (Reuters – August 20, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) – A rare burst of Chinese exports has deflated bull spirits in the copper market, with funds dumping long positions and prices down by 16% from the record highs seen in May. The world’s largest buyer of copper shipped out an unprecedented 158,000 metric tons of refined metal in June. First-half exports of 302,000 tons were already higher than any full calendar year since 2019.

This break of normal trade patterns has punctured a bull narrative of constrained supply and cyclical demand recovery. Weak Chinese purchasing managers indices show that activity in the country’s manufacturing sector sank to a five-month low in July, reinforcing Doctor Copper’s gloomy message.

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