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Latin America Mining

Exclusive: China’s BYD holds mining rights in Brazil’s Lithium Valley, documents show – by Fabio Teixeira (Reuters – February 14, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO-Chinese electric carmaker BYD acquired mineral rights for two plots of land in a lithium-rich part of Brazil in 2023, entering the mining business in its biggest market outside of China, according to public records reviewed by Reuters.

The EV producer’s acquisition of mineral rights in Brazil is its most concrete step so far toward mining strategic minerals in the Western Hemisphere. The previously unreported acquisition of the mineral rights in late 2023 was made by BYD subsidiary Exploracao Mineral do Brasil, which was created in May of that year, documents showed.

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Ecuador’s mining future uncertain as socialist party gains traction – by Staff (Mining.com – February 11, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

Ecuador’s mining industry is bracing for potential changes as the nation’s main socialist party gains momentum in the presidential race.

Luisa González, a protégé of former President Rafael Correa, is leading a strong push fuelled by public discontent over a struggling economy, gang violence, and widespread blackouts. Her platform, which reflects the policies of the influential Citizen Revolution movement, could significantly reshape mining policies if she wins the runoff on April 13.

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Where are the critical minerals flashpoints in 2025? (Thomson Reuters Foundation – February 6, 2025)

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

M23 rebels’ advance in mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo puts green minerals rush in the spotlight.

The conflict playing out in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have sed vital mines in a lightning advance, spotlights the global race for access to critical minerals and the risk to local populations.

The race for minerals needed for renewable technologies – including coltan, lithium, cobalt and nickel – is set to ramp up this year as Europe and North America compete to secure access and break China’s grip on the supply chain.

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Bolivia’s Lithium Window Is Closing Rapidly – by Joseph Bouchard (Real Clear World – February 2025)

https://www.realclearworld.com/

In 2023, Bolivia signed multi-billion dollar deals for lithium extraction with Chinese and Russian state-owned companies, including the CBC consortium and Rosatom/Uranium One. Since then, despite these deals expanding further, very little progress has been made, with extraction and production stalling despite promises from all stakeholders about “rapid industrialization.”

Given Bolivia’s increasingly friendly relationship with American adversaries, the continuous problems plaguing Bolivia’s mining sector, and the growing alternatives for lithium development, it may be time for the U.S. and other democratic states to look elsewhere.

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Chile Keeps Faith in Lithium Expansion Even as Glut Worsens – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – January 23, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Chile, home to the world’s biggest lithium reserves, is confident that investors will compete for licenses to drill new deposits even amid a worsening global glut that’s squeezing the battery-metal industry.

“We’re convinced that there’s interest,” Mining Minister Aurora Williams said in an interview late Wednesday — a day before Chile warned that global oversupply is set to increase this year, despite some industry cutbacks.

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Bolivia steps up lithium dealmaking despite growing opposition – by Sergio Mendoza and James Attwood(Bloomberg News – January 21, 2025)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Bolivia is stepping up efforts to tap the world’s biggest lithium deposits, readying deals with new investors to build processing plants despite low prices and growing opposition from lawmakers and citizen groups.

The Andean nation opened its first industrial-scale plant in late 2023, built by a Chinese group, and last year signed deals for further investments with Russia’s Uranium One Group and a Chinese consortium, which are awaiting congressional approval.

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Codelco eyes $800M extension to keep Gabriela Mistral open until 2055 – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – December 23, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Chile’s state-owned copper producer Codelco said on Monday it has applied for an environmental permit to extend the life of its Gabriela Mistral mine by over 25 years, pushing the current closure date from 2028 to at least 2055.

The $800 million proposal aims to sustain production at the open-pit mine in Chile’s Antofagasta region, which has been operational since 2008. A key component of the plan is the transition away from using domestic land-based water by 2035. Instead, the mine will rely on third-party water sources that comply with environmental standards. In exchange, Codelco has pledged to supply an equivalent amount of water to the local community.

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Rio Tinto’s $2.5 Billion Lithium Plan Is a Win for Milei – by James Attwood and Jonathan Gilbert (Bloomberg News – December 12, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Rio Tinto Group plans to invest $2.5 billion in a new lithium mine in Argentina in a win for President Javier Milei’s efforts to deregulate the country’s economy and lure foreign investment.

The UK company plans to build a processing plant at the Rincon mine with an annual capacity of 60,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate, it said Thursday in a statement. Work on the facility, subject to permitting, will start in the middle of next year.

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Lithium leap: Brazil makes journey to become a leading supplier – by Anne Barbosa and Adriana Carvalho (S&P Global – August 15, 2024)

https://www.spglobal.com/

Brazil’s legislative overhaul in lithium export regulations has transformed the country into a burgeoning hub for lithium production, unlocking vast economic potential and attracting global investments.

“Thanks to a legislative change made four years ago regarding lithium exports, we can now transform this mineral asset into an economic resource,” Fernando Passalio, secretary of state for economic development of Minas Gerais, told S&P Global Commodity Insights.

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Chile Copper Firms Begin Talks on Combining Smelter Efforts – by James Attwood (Bloomberg News – December 11, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Codelco and Enami, Chile’s two state copper companies, are discussing the possibility of combining their respective efforts to expand smelting capacity into a single project, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

A new working group is looking into collaboration between a project to overhaul a shuttered Enami smelter and a separate proposal to build a new plant being organized by Codelco, said the people, who asked not to be identified given the talks are private and at an early stage.

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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.

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Panama agrees $26m payment to settle dispute with US miner – by Staff (Mining.com – November 26, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Panama has agreed to pay $26 million to settle a dispute with Dominion Mineral Corp. after losing an arbitration award in 2020 over the US mining company’s copper-gold exploration licences, according to La Estrella de Panamá.

The claim arose after the Panama refused to extend a mining exploration concession for the Cerro Chorcha project, held by Dominion’s local subsidiary Cuprum under a 2006 contract with Panama. The contract had an initial period of four years with the possibility of renewal for two additional 2-year terms.

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Bolivia says China’s CBC to invest $1 billion in lithium plants – by Daniel Ramos and Daina Beth Solomon (Reuters – November 26, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/markets/

Bolivia’s government and Chinese consortium CBC, which includes battery manufacturer CATL, have signed an agreement for CBC to build two direct lithium extraction plants for at least $1 billion, government authorities said on Tuesday.

The government will take a 51% stake in the project, to be located in the Uyuni salt flat in southwest Bolivia, within the so-called lithium triangle shared with Chile and Argentina. The two plants together are intended to produce 35,000 metric tons of lithium a year, said Omar Alarcon, head of state-run lithium company YLB.

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BHP bets billions on Chile mines to face global copper crunch – by Daina Beth Solomon and Fabian Cambero(Reuters – November 22, 2024)

https://www.xm.com/

BHP Group expects a global copper deficit of 10 million metric tons a decade from now, a shortfall that is driving its plans to spend at least $11 billion at the world’s biggest copper mine, Escondida, and other projects in Chile.

BHP detailed to investors this week plans to spend $10.7 billion to $14.7 billion within about 10 years to extract more copper from Escondida and the smaller Spence mine, and restart the Cerro Colorado mine. The world’s biggest listed miner’s annual production is set to fall by around 300,000 tons to 1.6 million tons by the end of the decade, largely driven by a slump at Escondida that is expected to peak in 2025.

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BHP, Vale cleared by Brazil court over 2015 dam disaster – by Lucia Lacurcia (AFP/Yahoo – November 14, 2024)

https://www.yahoo.com/

A Brazilian court on Thursday cleared mining giants BHP and Vale, and their Brazilian joint venture Samarco, of responsibility over a 2015 dam collapse that caused the country’s worst ever environmental disaster.

The dam’s rupture on November 5, 2015 near the town of Mariana unleashed a giant torrent of toxic mud that swamped villages, rivers and rainforest, killing 19 people on its way to the sea. Scientists say the sludge caused “permanent” pollution on the river Doce and its coastal plain.

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