The collapse of a tailings facility in Peru’s Ananea district has destroyed a segment of the main road that connects the area with the neighbouring La Rinconada district, the highest human settlement in the world located in the southeastern Puno region.
According to local media, the San Antonio mining cooperatives are responsible for the maintenance of the tailings storage facility that collapsed on November 26.
Canada’s Capstone Mining (TSX: CS) and Chile-focused Mantos Copper, run by British investment firm Audley Capital Advisors and Orion Mine Finance, are merging to form a new, Americas-focused copper producer called Capstone Copper.
The new miner, which will trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange, will have a combined 2021 copper production base of more than 175,000 tonnes of the metal and joint reserves of 4.9 million tonnes, the companies said.
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Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale, through its tech subsidiary New Steel, signed a protocol of intent with southeast state Minas Gerais to invest 4.4bn reais (US$795mn) in technology that eliminates the need for tailings dams.
The funds will be used to implement an innovative dry iron ore processing technology that drastically reduces the environmental impact and extends the life of mines, the state government said in a release. The process also will also create jobs and more revenue for three municipalities, it added.
Chile’s mining sector is looking for certainty amid political fog in the world’s top copper producer, which is redrafting its constitution and on Sunday is headed for a polarized vote led by outsider candidates on the far left and right.
The front-runners have kept their powder dry on copper in the campaign so far, hinting at hikes to royalties on mining profits. There has also been vague talk from far-right poll leader José Antonio Kast to allow more private investment in state miner Codelco.
Sao Felix do Xingu (Brazil) (AFP) – Standing over the gaping pit in the middle of his small farm, Brazilian wildcat miner Antonio Silva struggles to explain why he joined the new gold rush sweeping the Amazon.
The 61-year-old grandfather of six had planned to retire from illegal mining, and the environmental destruction that comes along with it. He bought this farm in rural Sao Felix do Xingu, in the southeastern Amazon, and was starting a cattle ranch on a long-deforested patch of jungle where he would not have to cut down more trees.
TOKYO — Chinese companies have splurged over $1 billion on rights over three lithium mines in Argentina in as many weeks as a race to secure supplies of the “white gold” critical to most production of electric car batteries revs up.
Argentina, which has lagged Chile and Australia in lithium output, has been reforming laws, reducing taxes and improving infrastructure with an eye toward boosting export revenues.
(Bloomberg) — Sherritt International Corp.’s new boss sees the electric-vehicle revolution stretching all the way to Cuba, with the Canadian miner planning to boost output of battery-grade nickel and cobalt.
In its first major move under Chief Executive Officer Leon Binedell, the Toronto-based company wants to increase production at its Moa joint venture in Cuba by 15% to 20% from the 34,876 metric tons produced last year.
Sherritt International Corporation, a world leader in the mining and hydrometallurgical refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores, has reported its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, and announced it is embarking on an expansion strategy with its Cuban partners to capitalisee on the growing demand for high purity nickel and cobalt being driven by the accelerated adoption of electric vehicles.
The strategy, which will build on the 26-year successful track record of the Moa Joint Venture, centres on growing finished nickel and cobalt production by 15 to 20% per year from the 34,876 t produced in 2020 and extending the life of mine at Moa beyond 2040 through the conversion of mineral resources into reserves using an economic cut-off grade.
Operations at Peru’s Antamina copper-zinc mine, the country’s largest producer of the red metal, were suspended on Sunday due to an ongoing roadblock set by locals who believe the mine has not lived up to its commitments to support local communities.
“We don’t want to wait until something happens that puts at risk the physical integrity of anybody. … We think it is necessary for the government and its authorities to act to re-establish order,” the company said in a statement.
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Teck Resources Ltd. TECK-A-T blew past profit expectations in its latest quarter, but Canada’s biggest base metals miner is warning that construction costs at its massive new copper mine will likely be higher than anticipated.
Vancouver-based Teck is just more than two thirds of the way through building its QB2 mine in Chile. The project’s construction costs were previously pegged at US$5.3-billion, but costs are now expected to rise by as much as 5 per cent, or US$263-million. The estimate has gone up because of engineering issues around QB2′s tailings facility, and its port.
Deep inside the dark corners of Bolivia’s deadliest mine, an average of 14 lives are claimed each month. The deaths could be attributed to either the effects of continuously breathing toxic dust and fumes or unsafe working conditions underground, but to the locals it is the work of the devil-like deity known as El Tío.
El Tío, meaning “the uncle,” is worshipped by miners in the Cerro Rico mountain. Legend has it that any deaths that take place in the mine are said to have been caused by his hunger.
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(Bloomberg) — Mining industry veteran Malcolm Norris says he’s struck upon a gold-copper resource in northern Ecuador that may make the world’s resources giants sit up and take notice.
Norris has seen a surge in interest from institutional investors in the El Palmar project since his exploration company Sunstone Metals Ltd. disclosed a significant discovery to the Australian stock exchange on Oct. 7. That’s reflected in the share price, which has risen almost threefold from its closing level on Oct. 6.
South Africa-based Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW) (NYSE: SBSW) is buying two nickel and copper mines in Brazil from private equity firm Appian Capital Advisory in a $1 billion deal that boosts the company’s growing battery materials portfolio.
The acquisition of Atlantic Nickel and Mineração Vale Verde from Appian is Sibanye’s fourth battery metal investment this year, and follows a buy in September of a 50% stake in ioneer Ltd’s (ASX: INR) lithium-boron project in Nevada.
Chile will open a tender for the exploration and production of 400,000 tonnes of lithium in an effort to reclaim market share and meet growing demand for the metal used in electric vehicles and high-tech devices.
The copper-producing nation, which holds the world’s largest known lithium reserves, said is preparing bidding rules available to local and foreign firms for five quotas of 80,000 tonnes each.
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Canada’s Neo Lithium Corp. has agreed to a $960-million acquisition by Chinese state-owned Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd., a deal one security expert predicts will trigger an in-depth national security review by Ottawa.
Toronto-based Neo Lithium is developing a lithium mine in Argentina and hopes to eventually supply the silvery white metal to the electric vehicle industry. A 2019 prefeasibility study predicts the company’s 3Q mine could generate a 50-per-cent return on investment after it goes into production.
