Latin America Mining – Page 12

The Mexican Mountain Town Feeding the International Crystal Market – by Dylan Taylor-Lehman (Atlas Obscura – May 18, 2021)

June 23, 2023

https://www.atlasobscura.com/

In Piedra Parada, amethysts are everywhere.

PIEDRA PARADA IS A SOMEWHAT obscure mountain town in the Mexican state of Veracruz that has carved out its own special corner of an international market. The region is known for its amethysts, a type of quartz crystal with color ranging from light to deep shades of purple, formed in sometimes impressive geometric shapes.

The men of Piedra Parada (“Standing Rock”) have mined these crystals for the past 70 years for buyers all over the world who covet them for both their beauty and purported metaphysical qualities. The stones from the town’s numerous mines and small excavations can be found at gem shows and in New Age stores around the world.

Inside the race to remake lithium extraction for EV batteries – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters – June 16, 2023)

June 16, 2023

https://www.reuters.com/

LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana, June 16 (Reuters) – The global battle to reshape the lithium industry is sucking in oil producers, tech startups and entrenched mining giants, each jockeying to be the first to reinvent how a metal key to the green energy transition is produced.

A fleet of direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies are on the verge of tapping salty brine deposits across Europe, Asia, North America and elsewhere that the U.S. Geological Survey estimates are filled with roughly 70% of the world’s reserves of the metal.

Appian seeks location for Brazil graphite processing, ‘supercycle’ continues: CEO – by Diana Kinch (SP Global – June 14, 2023)

June 15, 2023

https://www.spglobal.com/

UK-based private equity company Appian Capital Advisory is seeking a downstream location to process material produced at the graphite project it is developing in Brazil, as demand for the commodity grows apace, CEO Michael Scherb said in an interview.

Graphcoa, with various graphite deposits in Brazil, is moving into pilot production this year and should be in full production in two years, producing for the electric-vehicle batteries industry, Scherb said this week.

Lithium boom comes to Brazil’s ‘misery valley’ (France 24 – June 15, 2023)

June 15, 2023

https://www.france24.com/en/

Araçuaí (Brazil) (AFP) – In a cloud of gray dust, a heavy-duty excavator loads a truck with stone blocks containing lithium, the “white gold” of the clean-energy revolution, which some hope will transform this parched, impoverished region of Brazil.

Sun-scorched and drought-prone, the Jequitinhonha valley, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, is one of the poorest places in the country. But the region, nicknamed “misery valley,” is on the cusp of a boom: it is home to around 85 percent of the lithium reserves in Brazil, the world’s fifth-biggest producer of the metal, an essential ingredient in electric vehicle batteries.

Fura Gems to invest more than $200m in Colombia mine over five years – by Julia Symmes Cobb (Mining Weekly/Reuters – June 15, 2023)

June 15, 2023

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Dubai-based miner Fura Gems will invest $200 million in its Colombia emerald mine over the next five years, an executive said on Wednesday.

The company is holding its fourth auction of uncut emeralds from its Coscuez mine in central Boyaca province this week in Bogota. Fura predicts the auction, which will move to Bangkok later this month before closing, will attract some 80 potential bidders from around the world, vying for 240,000 karats of the green gem.

Russia Metal Boss Taps VW, Glencore on $1 Billion Mine SPAC Deal – by Dinesh Nair and Swetha Gopinath (Bloomberg News – June 12, 2023)

June 12, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Russian metal industry veteran Artem Volynets’ blank check firm agreed to acquire two Brazilian mines for $1 billion including debt in a bid to tap demand from electric-vehicle makers.

London-listed ACG Acquisition Co. is buying the assets from private equity firm Appian Capital Advisory, according to a statement Monday confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. Volkswagen AG’s battery arm will support the deal with a $100 million prepayment for future nickel deliveries, while commodities trader Glencore Plc will buy $100 million of ACG stock.

James Cameron feels he ‘walked into an ambush’ in Argentine lithium dispute – by Daniel Politi (Associated Press – June 10, 2023)

June 12, 2023

https://apnews.com/

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Movie director James Cameron says he feels he “walked into an ambush” this week during a visit to Argentina in which he believes there was an attempt to use his image as an environmentalist to give a positive spin to lithium mining operations despite Indigenous opposition.

Cameron, the director of “Avatar” and “Titanic,” said Friday he would now devote attention and money from his Avatar Alliance Foundation to support Indigenous communities opposing lithium operations in South America.

Left-leaning Mexico seeks closer Canada ties in labour and business amid mining spat – by Dylan Robertson (CTV News/Canadian Press – June 11, 2023)

June 12, 2023

https://www.ctvnews.ca/

OTTAWA – The Trudeau government is taking a mixed approach to Mexico charting its own path to economic growth, as a desire for more trade and better labour rights bumps up against mining reform and agriculture regulations that have riled Canadian firms.

Ahead of a visit this week of senior Mexican officials, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan was in Mexico this month taking stock of the country’s growing movement to unionize, which has been undergoing major reforms with some Canadian help.

Could there be an ‘OPEC of lithium’? – by Ognjen Š. Miljanić (Green Biz – June 7, 2023)

June 8, 2023

https://www.greenbiz.com/

Chile plans to nationalize its vast reserves of lithium, an element essential for development of batteries and electric vehicles. That could force new public-private partnerships for leading suppliers Albemarle and SQM.

Chile’s government in late April announced plans to nationalize its lithium industry. Such a policy could have worldwide repercussions on the battery and electric vehicle industries. Under the proposal, the world’s largest lithium-producing companies — U.S.-based Albemarle and Chinese-dominated SQM — will be allowed to continue their current contracts, but will be forced into public-private partnerships upon their expiration.

Miners lining up to take legal action against Mexico’s reforms (BN Americas.com – June 2, 2023)

June 2, 2023

https://www.bnamericas.com/en/

At least 10 mining companies are presenting or preparing to file injunctions against reforms to four Mexican laws that impact mining and took effect at the beginning of May, a legal expert with knowledge of the matter told BNamericas. The deadline to present the measures expires next week, according to the lawyer, who asked not to be identified.

“There are many companies that are already preparing their injunction requests. Initially, the injunctions are against those provisions that are called self-enforcing, which by the mere entry into force of the law are already applicable and, therefore, represent a grievance,” the legal expert said in an interview.

The World Has a New No. 2 Copper Supplier – by Marcelo Rochabrun and Michael J. Kavanagh (Bloomberg News – June 1, 2023)

June 2, 2023

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — The Democratic Republic of Congo displaced Peru as the second-biggest copper exporter last year, official data from the two countries show, in a changing of the guard for the mining industry.

While the numbers used in the chart below refer to shipments rather than production, the shift in positions underscores a couple of important trends. Firstly, an up-tick in social unrest and political uncertainties are constraining investment in South America, as more money flows into Africa’s rich ore-bodies.

BHP and Microsoft collaborate on AI in copper extraction – by Ashima Sharma (Mining Technology – May 30, 2023)

June 1, 2023

https://www.mining-technology.com/

BHP Group estimates the world needs to double the copper supply in the next 30 years to keep pace with green technologies.

The BHP Group and Microsoft have collaborated to improve copper recovery from the Escondida mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Producing more than one million tonnes of copper in 2022, Escondida is the world’s biggest copper mine and will use using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to improve operations. Microsoft’s Azure platform will optimise concentrator performance and retrieve better ore grades. The mine is jointly owned by BHP, Rio Tinto and Japan’s JECO.

SQM and Codelco begin talks over lithium partnership in Chile – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 29, 2023)

May 30, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second largest lithium producer, and Chile’s state-owned copper miner Codelco, have formally begun talks aimed at setting up a public-private partnership to extract the battery metal in the Atacama salt flat.

The negotiations between the firms are part of the new national lithium strategy President Gabriel Boric announced in April. The plan identifies the Salar de Atacama as a strategic asset because it contains the country’s largest known lithium resources as well as the only active operations.

Panama is ready to cash in on its copper boom – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – May 27, 2023)

May 30, 2023

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Panama is sitting on massive reserves of copper and other minerals crucial to the energy transition. Now it – and other Latin American nations – are wringing massive concessions from mining companies like Vancouver’s First Quantum Minerals

The Cobre Panama mine has been gouged from the rain forest at a scale only great underground wealth could achieve.

Its 38 ultraclass mining trucks, each loaded with 400 tonnes of ore, whiz past at 35 kilometres an hour, their speed boosted by electric trolley lines. They feed conveyor belts that move 300,000 tonnes of ore a day, the equivalent of 16 CN Towers in a week, in a place that can see more than seven metres of annual precipitation.

EXCLUSIVE: Chile mines minister clarifies controversial new lithium strategy – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 16, 2023)

May 17, 2023

https://www.mining.com/

A decision by Chile, the world’s no. 2 lithium producer, to tighten control over the key battery metal sector has triggered speculation on what the announced state-led public-private model will look like and how it may affect the global industry.

To address market rumours and clarify aspects of the strategy described by some as “vague”, MINING.COM spoke with Chile’s mining minister Marcela Hernando, who noted the country had announced a strategy, rather than a policy.