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Latin America Mining

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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Millennial mining heirs bet the family business on Argentine copper – by Jacob Lornic (Bloomberg News – October 25, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

When he was 16, Adam Lundin was lowered by helicopter into the remote wilderness of northern Canada. For the son of a wealthy mining mogul, this was something of an initiation. He spent the summer hunting for gold — shadowing grizzled prospectors and geologists, bushwhacking through the Boréal forest.

He even dug holes for where the outhouses would go. “I just wanted to be kept busy,” he said. Adam, 37, is now the chairman of Lundin Mining Corp., a publicly traded Canadian metals producer. His younger brother, Jack, 34, is the company’s chief executive officer.

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Teck cuts copper forecast again as it encounters more problems at anchor QB2 mine in Chile – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 25, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Teck Resources Ltd. has cut its full-year copper forecast yet again owing to setbacks at multiple mines, including at its giant QB2 copper operation in Chile. Vancouver-based Teck said on Thursday that its 2024 copper production will be between 420,000 tonnes and 455,000 tonnes, about 6.5 per cent lower than predicted.

The downgrade was driven in part by issues with its haul trucks at its Highland Valley mine in British Columbia, including labour availability and problems with its autonomous system. Teck also cut its guidance for the QB2 mine in Chile, reducing its forecast by 6 per cent to roughly 205,000 tonnes.

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Liability trial for BHP in Samarco dam collapse begins in London – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 21, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

BHP (ASX, NYSE: BHP) faces a potential $47 billion payout in damages over the 2015 Mariana Dam disaster in Brazil, believed to be country’s most catastrophic environmental incident, as a lawsuit against the miner kicked off on Monday in London’s High Court.

The trial, expected to last up to 12 weeks, will determine whether BHP is legally responsible for the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The structure failure caused a massive flood that claimed 19 lives, destroyed villages and severely polluted water sources for local communities. The dam was owned by Samarco, a joint venture between BHP and Brazilian mining giant Vale.

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Canadian miner Hudbay settles long-standing lawsuits alleging human rights abuses in Guatemala – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Hudbay Minerals Inc. HBM-T has settled a long-standing series of lawsuits in an Ontario court that centred around alleged human-rights abuses at a Guatemalan nickel mine more than a decade ago.

The allegations heard in the Ontario Superior Court are based on clashes between Indigenous Mayan protesters and security personnel at the Fenix nickel mine in eastern Guatemala in 2007 and 2009.

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Indigenous women from Ecuador bring concerns on mining abuses, free trade to Parliament Hill – by Brett Forester (CBC News Indigenous – October 02, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/

Delegation to meet with federal leaders in Ottawa amid talks on proposed free trade deal

Indigenous women from Ecuador are in Ottawa this week raising concerns a proposed free trade agreement could enable human rights abuses by Canadian mining companies operating on their ancestral lands.

The delegation travelled thousands of kilometres from the rural reaches of the Ecuadorian Amazon to Canada’s capital city, bringing what they say is an urgent message of grave concern to the doorstep of Parliament Hill.

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Argentina’s Economic Crisis Thwarts Bid to Go Nuclear With Lithium Bounty – by Jonathan Gilbert (Bloomberg News – September 17, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Nuclear scientists eager to add value to Argentina’s lithium bounty are being stymied by the country’s notorious economic problems.

For decades, the nation’s world-renowned atomic researchers have toiled on projects in Buenos Aires and Bariloche in Patagonia. Now, with Argentina emerging as the fastest-growing producer of lithium needed for the global shift to electric energy, they’re working on innovations to convert the battery metal into something scarcer than gold: lithium-6 isotopes that have key nuclear applications.

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Vale Aims to Boost Iron Ore Output Despite Weakening Prices – by Vanessa Dezem (Bloomberg News – September 11, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Vale SA said it will produce more iron ore this year than previously expected, even with prices trading near two-year lows as China’s steel slowdown weighs on the global market.

The world’s No. 2 iron ore supplier said in a Wednesday presentation to investors that it expects to produce 323 million to 330 million metric tons of the steelmaking ingredient this year, compared with a prior forecast of 310 million to 320 million tons.

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CHART: Codelco’s QB stake may not be enough to stop BHP taking copper crown – by Frik Els (Mining.com – September 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Chile’s state-run miner Codelco on Tuesday made a $500 million offer to buy a 10% stake in the Quebrada Blanca copper mine, controlled by Canada’s Teck Resources, from Enami, another Chilean state miner.

Quebrada Blanca’s expansion – QB2 – is ramping up with a target set by Teck of 285,000 – 315,000 tonnes of annual production by 2026. QB2 reached production of 51,300 tonnes in the second quarter this year, up more than 18% from Q1.

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Who Is Behind the Murder of a Powerful Colombian Emerald Dealer? – by Helen Murphy (Insight Crime – August 23, 2024)

https://insightcrime.org/

Colombia’s emerald trade, renowned for the exceptional quality of its gems as well as its relentless violence, has suffered another blow to its reputation with the professional assassination of a top dealer. The killing has sparked speculation over which criminal powers beyond the jewel business could be at work, and what they may gain from the hit.

Juan Sebastian Aguilar, 58, was shot in the chest by a proficient sniper who reportedly spent days lying in wait in the mountains above his target’s upscale home in northern Bogotá. The marksman, according to media reports, escaped on horseback into the lush mountains behind the housing complex, ending an almost cinematic killing. His exit also complicated police efforts to track his movements.

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SQM profit down 63%, anticipates continued weak lithium prices – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – August 21, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second-biggest lithium producer, reported a sharp 63.2% decline in quarterly profit on the back of slumping prices of the key metal used in the batteries that power electric vehicles and high tech devices.

The company, which also manufactures fertilizers and industrial chemicals, said it expects the downward trend in lithium prices to continue for the rest of the year. SQM’s second-quarter net profit came in at $213.6 million, or 75 cents per share, falling short of analysts’ prediction of $296.7 million, or 95 cents per share, according to LSEG data.

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A trip to El Teniente, the largest underground copper mine in the world – by María Victoria Agouborde (English El Pais – August 16, 2024)

https://english.elpais.com/

The red metal deposit located in the Chilean region of O’Higgins, which is controlled by the state copper company Codelco, is moving towards green mining: it reuses tires and uses 100% electric buses

Just over 30 miles east of the city of Rancagua, in the O’Higgins Region in central Chile, after traveling a zigzagging road with the semi-white hills of the Andes mountain range as a backdrop, you reach El Teniente, the largest underground copper deposit on the planet. The mine, which has 2,800 miles of underground tunnels, is controlled by the state copper company Codelco, the largest copper supplier in the world.

From the surface, with wind blowing relentlessly, it is difficult to imagine the bustling world under the 2,200-meter-high hill, which began to be mined in 1905. From El Teniente, around 350,000 fine metric tons (ft) of copper are mined each year: it is the Codelco division that provides the largest contribution of the red metal.

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