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Battery Reality: There’s Nothing Better Than Lithium-Ion Coming Soon – by David R. Baker (Bloomberg News – April 3, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Clean-energy visionaries have long argued that the world needs a better battery capable of selling skeptical consumers on electric cars and running the grid on renewable power. And yet the battery of the future—at least for the coming decade—will almost certainly be the battery of the past.

The humble lithium-ion battery has built up such a commanding lead in the market that competing technologies may struggle to catch up. That lead will only widen as a wave of planned new lithium-ion factories comes online in the next five years.

The batteries pouring from new factories in China, the U.S., Thailand and elsewhere will further drive down prices, which have already plunged 85 percent since 2010. And the billions spent on factories will create a powerful incentive for the industry to keep tweaking lithium-ion technology, improving it bit by bit, rather than adopting something else.

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OPINION: Alberta’s ‘show me the money’ attitude fans separation talk – by Barrie McKenna (Globe and Mail – April 8, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Like an unhappy spouse in a marriage, Alberta is doing a lot of soul-searching these days about its relationship with the rest of Canada. And increasingly, it’s a case of show me the money.

United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, who polls suggest is favoured to become Alberta’s next premier, insists he wants a “new deal, a fair deal for Alberta in Canada.”

Mr. Kenney’s demands include overhauling the country’s system of equalization payments, taking a larger bite of federal taxes collected in the province and cutting Albertans’ Canada Pension Plan contributions.

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Illegal online sales driving mercury pollution crisis in Indonesia – by Luh De Suriyani and Nurdin Tubaka (Mongabay.com – April 8, 2019)

https://news.mongabay.com/

  • Illegal online mercury sales are booming in Indonesia.
  • Use of the toxic metal was banned in 2014, but it remains popular among small-time miners, for whom it’s become increasingly easy to procure online.
  • It’s a quick and dirty process that constitutes the livelihoods of some 1 million people spread across the country. But prolonged exposure to mercury can have severe health consequences.

DENPASAR/BURU ISLAND, Indonesia — Illegal online mercury sales are booming in Indonesia, and activists have had enough. “Nearly all the mercury players in Indonesia do their business illegally,” says Yuyun Ismawati, a Goldman Prize-winning activist and founder of the environmental NGO BaliFokus.

“That includes manufacturers, traders, exporters, and users, especially in the small-scale gold mining sector.”

Use of the toxic metal was banned in 2014, but it remains popular among small-time miners, for whom it’s become increasingly easy to procure online.

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Mining permit waits hamper Canadian development – by Ken Green (Troy Media – April 8, 2019)

https://troymedia.com/

Kenneth Green is a Fraser Institute analyst.

Every year, the Fraser Institute publishes a survey of senior mining company executives that assesses policy environments around the world and the mineral potential of jurisdictions. Those two components are used to create an investment attractiveness index.

One thing miners repeatedly tell us is that they’re concerned about obtaining exploration permits: how long does it take, how certain is the process, how transparent is the process, etc.

That’s why, for the last several years, the Fraser Institute has included a sub-survey examining permit times in Canada, Australia and the United States.

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How SNC-Lavalin’s $260-million contract with Chilean miner fell apart – by Nicolas Van Praet (Globe and Mail – April 8, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. chief executive officer Neil Bruce flew to Chile in late January and came back thinking he had a deal with state miner Codelco to salvage what was left of a US$260-million contract that was behind schedule and going badly. The aim, one insider said, was to make things right. Then Codelco tore up the pact.

“Codelco informed this morning its decision to terminate the contract with SNC-Lavalin early on, due to the serious breach of contractual milestones,” the miner said in a statement on March 25 that outlined its intention to take over the work on two new sulphuric acid plants at its giant Chuquicamata copper mine site.

The problems included construction delays, slow payments to subcontractors and “problems in the quality of the works, among others,” it said. The mining blowup marks a rare operational blunder under Mr. Bruce, who has reshaped SNC-Lavalin over a four-year tenure by widening its geographic footprint and lowering its exposure to riskier fixed-price contracts.

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Nigeria suspends mining in Zamfara state after banditry surges (Reuters U.S. – April 7, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria has suspended mining in the restive northwestern state of Zamfara, a presidential aide and the police chief said on Sunday, amid concerns that illegal miners were connected to a surge in banditry.

The suspension underscores the breakdown of security in a part of the country where the military, police and state security forces have been deployed in recent weeks to tackle criminal gangs behind a spate of killings and kidnappings.

“The federal government has ordered the suspension of all mining activities in Zamfara State with immediate effect,” said presidential aide Bashir Ahmed in a tweet.

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Goldcorp’s Ian Telfer rode the gold highs — but exits on a low note – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 6, 2019)

 

(Canadian Business Hall of Fame Video – May 2018)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Gold’s now a game of musical chairs — and Ian Telfer ensured Goldcorp is not left stranded

After helping to build what was once the most valuable gold mining company in the world, Goldcorp Inc. chairman Ian Telfer is planning to exit on a low-note — albeit $12 million richer.

Earlier this year, Telfer cut a deal to sell Goldcorp for US$10 billion — a 78 per cent hair cut from its peak valuation of US$45 billion back in 2011 when gold prices were soaring.

On Thursday, in a sign of how far the company has fallen, Goldcorp shareholders voted nearly unanimously to approve the deal. Proxy advisors have recommended Newmont shareholders do the same when they vote April 11.

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As Goldman Backs Off, Citi Says Chase Iron Ore Rally to $100 – by Krystal Chia and Yvonne Man (Bloomberg News – April 8, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Iron ore’s poised to hit $100 a ton, according to Citigroup Inc., which highlighted “very, very low” seaborne cargoes just as data from China may show a pick-up in demand. That view follows advice from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that investors should be closing bullish bets after recent gains.

“Iron ore is not a demand story, it’s a supply story,” Citigroup Inc. Global Head of Commodities Research Ed Morse said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Monday, reiterating the bank’s three-figure forecast.

In a separate note on Sunday, the bank said investors “should ‘chase’ this year’s rally, not sell into it,” referring to iron ore, as well as copper.

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Exploring the world of metals on your travel – by Cindy Belt (Multi Briefs.com – April 08, 2019)

http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/

I will admit that my previous career in the metals industry makes seeking out metallurgical locations natural. But these locations can be interesting to anyone.

Metalworking is how we define some human time periods, such as the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. Metals are used everywhere and built our culture. Interesting metal spots vary from mining to mills. These metals can include iron, copper, gold, and silver along with other, rarer metals.

Panning

Sure, you can pay to pan for gold in a tourist spot where sand is seeded with interesting stones and occasional bits of gold or silver, but panning in a river can be fun even if you don’t become rich.

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Copper producers gather; electric cars seen driving demand growth – by Zandi Shabalala and Ernest Scheyder (Reuters U.K. – April 7, 2019)

https://uk.reuters.com/

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Global copper producers are converging in Chile this week as tightening supply buoys prices, even as the industry grapples with declining ore quality, project delays and worries the U.S-China trade war may hit long-term demand.

Despite these challenges, the industry is planning for substantial growth in the next decade thanks to an expected boom in production of electric vehicles, which use twice as much copper as internal combustion engines. Automakers are vowing to produce all-electric fleets.

With all that in mind, hundreds of investors, executives, analysts and regulators are gathering in Santiago, the Chilean capital, for the annual World Copper Conference.

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Lab-grown gems are giving mined diamonds a run for their money – by Gayle MacDonald (Globe and Mail – April 6, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

In January, when Dame Helen Mirren sat down to chat with the hosts of Good Morning Britain, she was wearing a diamond necklace and earrings that were the essence of the actress herself – classy with just the right touch of pizzazz.

Her stylist Rachel Fanconi had chosen the diamond set carefully. The look she wanted for her Academy Award-winning client was elegant, not flashy, and for the jewels she turned to a tiny company called Lark & Berry, which has an interesting sales pitch. It only sells diamonds made in state-of-the-art laboratories – anything pulled from a mine in say, Botswana, is strictly taboo.

“I love the point of difference that the brand offers,” says Fanconi, whose clients also include Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts and David Beckham. “Lab grown feels different and fun, and answers a lot of ethical questions.”

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Exclusive: United States sets sights on China in new electric vehicle push – by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters U.S. – April 5, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – U.S. government officials plan to meet with executives from automakers and lithium miners in early May as part of a first-of-its-kind effort to launch a national electric vehicle supply chain strategy, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

While Volkswagen AG, Tesla Inc and other electric-focused automakers and battery manufacturers are expanding in the United States and investing billions in the new technology, they are reliant on mineral imports without a major push to develop more domestic mines and processing facilities.

China already dominates the electric vehicle supply chain. It produces nearly two-thirds of the world’s lithium-ion batteries – compared to 5 percent for the United States – and controls most of the world’s lithium processing facilities, according to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, which tracks prices for lithium and other commodities and is organizing the Washington, D.C., event.

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Barrick Gold’s John Thornton sees compensation surge in 2018 amid lacklustre share performance – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 6, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s top executive saw his pay package surge in 2018 – a lacklustre year for shareholders that saw the miner strike its biggest acquisition in seven years.

In a regulatory document released on Friday, Barrick said executive chairman John Thornton earned US$12.8-million last year, a two-thirds increase compared with the US$7.7-million he made in 2017.

The bulk of Mr. Thornton’s compensation was a US$9.7-million long-term incentive payment, the majority of which must be put toward share purchases. That stock must then be held by Mr. Thornton until he leaves the company and the minimum holding period is three years.

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Ethical investors ask miners to publish tailings dam details (Reuters U.S. – April 5, 2019)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Ethical investors working on a global standard for tailings dams have written to 683 listed resource companies, including major miners, asking for information to be made public within 45 days about every facility they control.

The safety of dams used to store mining waste, known as tailings, has gain prominence after the collapse of a Vale tailings dam in Brazil in January killed an estimated 300 people.

The International Council on Mining and Minerals (ICMM) industry group said in March it was working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to develop new standards.

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After a long stint at Barrick Gold, Kelvin Dushnisky finally gets to run his own show, in South Africa, and it’s a biggie – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – April 5, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Kelvin Dushnisky, the new CEO of AngloGold Ashanti and the former president of Barrick Gold, is so politely Canadian that I wonder if he’s too polite to run the world’s third-biggest gold company. Mining bosses tend to be egocentric Type-A personalities who would happily dive into a tank of great white sharks if they knew a treasure box were at the bottom.

Mr. Dushnisky – an “honourable man” according to a former senior Barrick employee I know – seems like the anti-mining boss. He is unfailingly courteous, answers e-mails almost immediately, doesn’t swear and doesn’t have a bad word to say about anyone; he will admit only that some personalities he has worked with were “challenging.”

He is pleasantly self-deprecating, wondering, for instance, if even The Globe and Mail’s best photographer can make him look like anything but the “Jackie Gleason” of gold mining (in truth, Mr. Dushnisky, slim and modest, is the polar opposite of the chubby, bellowing star of the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners).

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