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International Media Resource Articles

Sahel juntas drive new era in mineral extraction – by Martina Schwikowski (Deutsche Welle – April 3, 2025)

https://www.dw.com/en/

In Niger, a local company has been granted a license to mine copper. Meanwhile, military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso aim to reduce dependence on foreign mining companies and diversify their economies.

Niger wants to boost its economy and expand its mining industry by mining copper in the Agadez region. The country granted a permit to national firm Compagnie Miniere de l’Air (Cominair SA). “Niger is continuing its programme of diversifying mining production” with a move that “marks its entry into the restricted circle of countries producing this strategic mineral,” according to a statement from Niger’s military government, which took power following a July 2023 coup.

Ulf Laessing, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Sahel regional program in neighboring Mali, said the concession is part of Niger’s strategy to reduce its reliance on foreign companies for mineral extraction.

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Glencore ‘not going anywhere’ after Mt Isa sunset – by Kelsie Tibben (Mining Magazine – April 4, 2025)

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Workers form the soon-to-close Mt Isa underground copper mine in Queensland are being redeployed as part of Glencore’s firm commitment to remaining a key player in the state.

The second largest copper producer in Australia, the Mount Isa copper mine has been a feature of the Australian copper landscape since 1924. The mine is scheduled to close in July, but Glencore has been staunch in its determination to see its foothold in the region remain steady.

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Carney, Trump, and the Arctic mining nexus – by Shane Lasley (North of 60 Mining News – April 4, 2025)

https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/

A shared vision for North America’s Arctic could help thaw relations; Greenland and minerals may be keys to securing the North.

While relations between Canada and the United States may be the coldest ever recorded, the leaders of both nations have a common vision that could help defrost tensions – investing in the strategic and resource-rich North to help ensure North American security and prosperity as we progress deeper into the 21st century.

“Our government will strengthen Canada’s Arctic security, bolster partnerships with our closest Allies, unleash the North’s economic potential, and reaffirm reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples,” Mark Carney said as he was preparing to travel to Nunavut just four days after being sworn in as Canada’s new prime minister.

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China hits back at US tariffs with rare earth export controls – by Amy Lv, Lewis Jackson and Eric Onstad (Reuters – April 4, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

China placed export restrictions on key rare earth elements on Friday as part of its sweeping response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, potentially squeezing supply to the U.S. and the West of minerals vital to everything from defense to electric cars.

China produces around 90% of the world’s refined rare earths, a group of 17 elements used across the defense, electric vehicle, clean energy and electronics industries. The United States imports most of its rare earths, and most come from China.

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Sierra Leone’s Kono District: You can’t sit by the river and wash your hands with spittle – Op ed – by Abdul Rashid Thomas (Sierra Leone Telegraph – April 2, 2025)

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When wife of the president of Sierra Leone – Mrs Fatima Bio joined a strike action by workers from Koidu Limited Mining Company (KLMC) in protest against the company, her detractors wasted no time in condemning her action, as attention seeking or misuse of her privileged position as the First Lady.

Irrespective of her position as First lady, those who know Fatima Bio believe that she did so as a citizen and daughter of the soil. As for those who don’t know, Fatima grew up on the foothills of the very hills that are being blasted daily by the mining company. Fatima grew up around the Koquima and Boroma environs of Sefadu.

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Exclusive: White House weighs executive order to fast-track deep-sea mining, sources say – by Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw (Reuters – March 31, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

The White House is weighing an executive order that would fast-track permitting for deep-sea mining in international waters and let mining companies bypass a United Nations-backed review process, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the deliberations.

If signed, the order would mark U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to tap international deposits of nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy after recent efforts in Greenland and Ukraine. Trump earlier this month also invoked emergency powers to boost domestic minerals production.

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Trump-Era Pivot on Seabed Mining Draws Global Rebuke – by Eric Lipton (New York Times – March 30, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

Diplomats from more than 30 nations have criticized a proposal that could allow the start of seabed mining by 2027.

Nearly 40 nations, big and small, have voiced opposition to a plan by a Wall Street-backed mining company to team up with the Trump administration to circumvent international law and start seabed mining in the Pacific Ocean with a U.S. permit.

The widespread furor reflected a rare alignment from countries as varied as China, Russia, India, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Indonesia, France, Argentina, Uganda and the small island nations of Mauritius and Fiji. The plan also brought to the fore a pitched clash over who regulates seabed mining in international waters.

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BHP’s new chairman Ross McEwan meets investors, reads up on history – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – March 31, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

Ross McEwan has had a few weeks to brush up on his history. The former National Australia Bank chief executive was announced as the next chairman of the country’s largest miner, BHP, last month. He starts on Monday, replacing retiring predecessor Ken MacKenzie.

And he’s prepared for his stint by reading Geoffrey Blainey’s The Steel Master, a 1971 profile of Essington Lewis, a man who was either managing director or chairman of the mining giant between 1921 and 1961.

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Why UK is close to becoming only G7 nation without steel production ability – by Rishabh Sharma (Business Standard – March 31, 2025)

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

The United Kingdom, once the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, now faces a major crisis in its steel industry. British Steel has announced plans to close its two blast furnaces and steelmaking operations in Scunthorpe, a move that threatens up to 2,700 jobs and marks the end of more than 160 years of steel production in the town.

The company, owned by China’s Jingye Group, has cited financial losses of £700,000 per day as well as economic pressures including tariffs and rising environmental costs. The decision has been met with strong criticism from trade unions, who have described it as “devastating”.

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Chile’s Mining Giants Remain Optimistic In The Face Of Industry Challenges – by Rebecca Johns (Latin America Reports/MSN.com – March 29, 2025)

https://www.msn.com/

Through the rugged terrain of the Choapa Valley, desalinated water travels along 38 miles of pipelines from the Los Vilos port to the El Mauro dam, which supplies the Antofagasta-owned Los Pelambres mine with the water it needs to operate.

Establishing this system proved costly, requiring a $2 billion investment. However, it was essential for ensuring continued mining operations in a region where droughts are frequent and groundwater supplies are primarily designated to serve local civilians.

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Surat diamond workers threaten to go on strike from March 30 (Hindustan Times/MSN.com – March 29, 2025)

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

Ahmedabad: The diamond workers of Surat have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from March 30 if their demands are not met, including wage hike and higher price. The looming strike marks the peak of months of rising tensions in an industry that polishes 80% of the world’s diamonds but is now grappling with its worst crisis since 2008.

“We will take out a rally in Katargam area of Surat on Sunday before going on an indefinite strike if the government does not meet our demands by then. We expect at least 1.5 to 2 lakh workers to join us in the strike,” said Bhavesh Tank, vice-president of Diamond Workers Union Gujarat (DWUG) which has given the strike call.

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Multiple Dams Fail at Indonesian Nickel-Mining Facilities – by Ellen Moore (Earthworks.org – March 28, 2025)

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Three people are feared dead and hundreds more are at risk of negative health impacts after multiple tailings dams, which store toxic mine waste, collapsed inside an industrial park in Indonesia. According to media and worker testimony, on March 16, the PT Huayue Nickel Cobalt tailings storage facility was breached, and liquified tailings flowed into the Bahadopi River.

The breach flooded facilities at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) and the village of Labota with a wave of red water, putting the health of workers and 341 families at risk through exposure to heavy metals.

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Column: Europe’s future metals strategy hindered by current crisis – by Andy Home (Reuters – March 31, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

The European Commission has identified 47 strategic projects which it hopes will kickstart the region’s critical minerals sector and reduce its dependence on imports, particularly from China. But even as European policymakers work to build a future industrial base, they are facing a crisis in the region’s existing metals sector.

Chinese over-capacity and high energy prices have accelerated the long-term decline of European steel and aluminum production. The latest threat, however, is coming from the United States. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, particularly the increased tariff on aluminum imports, risk displacing a flood of metal into Europe.

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This may be the most lead polluted place on Earth. Is there any hope? – by Julie Bourdin (NPR.org/Goats and Soda – March 30, 2025)

https://www.npr.org/

In a soft, faltering voice, her large brown eyes staring absently ahead, Winfrida Besa repeats “A-B-C-D” over and over as she tries to sing the ABCs. With her thin, hollow face and slight frame, 7-year-old Winfrida looks much younger than she really is.

“Winfrida doesn’t go to school. She would just leave the classroom and wander off, and we worry she would get lost,” sighs her grandfather, Bobby Besa, 60. The little girl was born “normal,” he says, but soon she was exhibiting a constellation of disturbing symptoms that are familiar to residents of Kabwe, Zambia. The diagnosis came after blood testing at the local clinic: Lead poisoning.

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On Minnesota’s Iron Range, Trump’s Tariffs Could Be Boom or Bust – by Charles Homans (New York Times – March 30, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

A region near the Canadian border, whose mines provide most of the new ore used in producing domestic steel — and cars — has a lot at stake as trade wars intensify.

Once a week, most weeks, the ground in Chisholm, Minn., shudders underfoot. “When they blast over here, we can feel it in town over there,” Jed Holewa, a City Council member, explained as he looked out over the pit of the Hibbing Taconite mine, a machine-made canyon of flint-colored earth extending to the hills just southwest of town.

The low rumble of controlled explosions is reassuring in an area where few livelihoods are more than a couple of degrees removed from the mines. But this month the ground beneath the Iron Range has begun to shift in a very different way.

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