Republic of Mining

The future of our technology and our planet depends on one thing: the battery – by Jamie Carter (Techradar.com – January 6, 2018)

January 8, 2018

http://www.techradar.com/

The lithium-ion battery is growing to power the electric car era, but solid-state batteries are incoming

Most of us are running on empty. Since the mobile phone spawned a smartphone-first world, we’ve all been tending to the needs of batteries.

The daily or nightly charge of the smartphone is the most prevalent, but laptops, tablets, drones, wireless headphones, smartwatches and other wearable devices are becoming more common.

We are constantly recharging batteries, there are some attempts to create fast-charging batteries and, of course, a new generation of wireless charging devices, but they’re just about convenience.

‘It’s probably one of the most difficult times in our history’ – by Kyle Darbyson (Thompson Citizen – January 6, 2018)

January 8, 2018

http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/

Union president braces for Vale cutbacks in 2018

After a rollercoaster year full of uncertainty and surprise announcements, Vale ended 2017 with more than 100 fewer jobs than it started the year with, which brings their total workforce in Thompson down to approximately 1,180 people.

Even though these job loses were announced well in advance, it doesn’t change the fact that the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6166, the union these affected employees were members of, is definitely going to feel the squeeze in 2018.

Vale Manitoba Operations plans on permanently closing down their smelter and refinery in the third quarter of the year, which will reduce their total workforce to around 837 people.

State of Minnesota releases PolyMet’s draft permit to mine – by John Myers (Duluth News Tribune – January 5, 2018)

January 8, 2018

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

The state of Minnesota has given its preliminary blessing to the construction and operations plan for the state’s first-ever copper-nickel mine, releasing PolyMet Mining Co.’s draft permit to mine for public review Friday.

The draft permit from the Department of Natural Resources includes specific plans for how PolyMet would mine near Babbitt and process ore near Hoyt Lakes over the next 20 or more years.

The permit release signals the state is generally satisfied with how PolyMet plans to build, mine and then close the operations without harming the environment — especially without releasing potentially acidic mine waste into the St. Louis River ecosystem.

It’s more important than ever to remember the miners who made us (Wales Online – January 2018)

January 8, 2018

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/

A new programme marks the 10th anniversary of the closure of Tower Colliery – the last deep mine in Wales

In the decades after King Coal lost his crown there was the sense that mining was a cliché the Welsh image-builders could do without. The tourist ideal of Cool Cymru was all chi-chi waterfront developments in Cardiff Bay and extreme sports on Snowdon.

Coal was on a par with sheep jokes and warbling male voice choirs for those whose obsession with a shiny new future erased the importance of our fascinating industrial heritage.

How they cringed when the National Lottery show was set against the pit-head wheels of Rhondda Heritage Park! How they fretted over the damaging PR of the Pot Noodle miners adverts!

Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien to keep Saskatchewan base: premier – by Rod Nickel (Reuters Canada – January 4, 2018)

January 8, 2018

https://ca.reuters.com/

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Nutrien Ltd, the fertilizer company formed this week by a merger of Potash Corp of Saskatchewan and Agrium, has committed to establishing its head office in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and increasing corporate office jobs there, Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall said on Thursday.

Wall said that in recent meetings, Nutrien’s leading executives agreed to increase corporate office positions in Saskatchewan by 15 percent, to 300.

Saskatchewan is home to all of Nutrien’s operating potash mines, and the provincial government sets royalties and taxes on production. The location of top executives has long been politically sensitive as many were once based in Chicago.

Precious Metals Outlook for 2018 – by Stefan Gleason (Lawrie On Gold – January 5, 2018)

January 5, 2018

https://lawrieongold.com/

Stefan Gleason is President of Money Metals Exchange, the national precious metals company named 2015 “Dealer of the Year” in the United States by an independent global ratings group.

The first trading days of 2018 are confirming signs of renewed investor interest in the precious metals sector after a long period of malaise. Gold and silver markets entered the year with some stealth momentum after quietly posting gains late in 2017. Gold finished the year above $1,300/oz. – its best yearly close since 2012.

Over the past five years, the yellow metal has been basing out in a range between $1,050 and $1,400. A push above $1,400 later this year would therefore be significant. It would get momentum traders and mainstream financial reporters to take notice.

The alternative investing world was enthralled by Bitcoin in 2017. While we don’t expect a Bitcoin-like mania to take hold in precious metals in 2018, we do expect gold and silver markets to make some noise.

Brookfield’s Big Nuclear Bet – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – January 4, 2018)

January 5, 2018

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Is nuclear power dying out? The world’s second-biggest infrastructure investor just bet $4.6 billion that it’s not.

Westinghouse Electric Co., the slice of Toshiba Corp.’s bankrupt nuclear business focused on providing fuel and maintenance services to power stations, will be bought at that price by Brookfield Asset Management Inc.’s private equity arm Brookfield Business Partners LP, the company said Thursday.

Brookfield Business Partners likes to invest in unique, difficult businesses with high barriers to entry (palladium mining in Canada, for example, or graphite electrode manufacturing), making it hard to do direct valuation comparisons.

OPINION: Finer balance needed between land protection, resource exploitation – by Glenn Mullan (Halifax Chronicle-Herald – January 4, 2018)

January 5, 2018

http://thechronicleherald.ca/

Glenn Mullan is president of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada.

Canada is a nation that is blessed with a rich supply of natural resources. It is one of our primary competitive advantages over other countries – but only if lands with mineral potential are available for exploration and development.

As governments increase protected land, they are also removing access to prospective areas for mineral exploration. Without decision-making processes that balance economic development opportunities with conservation goals, Canada becomes a less attractive place to explore sending mineral companies elsewhere, along with the jobs and economic benefits.

There is a diverse range of values associated with the use of land in Canada, including economic, ecological, cultural, spiritual and aesthetic. The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the mineral exploration and development industry understand that there are times when the biodiversity or cultural values associated with a specific piece of land are so high that they must — and should — be protected. It is imperative that land-use processes take all of these factors into account to balance diverse goals and values.

Future of BHP and Vale’s Samarco joint venture remains uncertain – by James Thomson (Australian Financial Review – January 4, 2018)

January 5, 2018

http://www.afr.com/

The future of BHP Billiton’s stake in the Samarco iron ore joint venture in Brazil is unlikely to be resolved quickly, as the iron ore giant and its co-owner Vale inch towards a restart of the operation.

Reports out of Brazil on Thursday suggested that Brazilian giant Vale and BHP were holding talks on the future structure of the Samarco venture, which has been shut since a deadly dam failure in November 2015.

A Bloomberg report suggested that one option could see Vale acquire Melbourne-based BHP’s half-share and taking full ownership of Samarco.

Trump’s order on critical minerals could be a boon for juniors – by William Clarke (Industrial Minerals – January 5, 2018)

January 5, 2018

http://www.indmin.com/

A drive to secure supplies of materials used in the defense sector offers opportunities for new miners, but obstacles with permitting must still be overcome.

Unites States President Donald Trump has called for an end to the country’s reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals, including battery materials and rare earths, in a move which could be boon to mining juniors.

The US should increase efforts to identify and exploit domestic resources of critical minerals, Trump said in an executive order signed on December 20, 2017. “It shall be the policy of the Federal government to reduce the nation’s vulnerability to disruptions in the supply of critical minerals, which constitutes a strategic vulnerability for the security and prosperity of the United States,” the order said.

Queensland coal mining: Billion-dollar projects in pipeline for Surat and Galilee basins – by John McCarthy (Brisbane Courier Mail – January 4, 2018)

January 5, 2018

http://www.couriermail.com.au/

A RACE valued at billions of dollars for Queensland has started among a handful of mining companies with the potential to dwarf Adani’s megamine.

GVK Hancock, in which Gina Rinehart has a minority stake, has revealed renewed interest in its Galilee Basin projects, while New Hope and Glencore have their sights on 2020 to 2022 for projects costing billions.

GVK cited a report from the International Energy Agency predicting stronger coal demand in 2022 and that Asian countries, including India, were expected to more than offset lower demand in other markets in Europe, America and China.

GVK has two Queensland projects, the $10 billion Alpha mine and rail line and the $6 billion Kevin’s Corner mine, and the renewed interest follows a major spike in coal demand, which has pushed thermal coal spot prices above $US100 a tonne.

Chinese firms to build 700 coal plants (Singapore Straits Times – July 3, 2017)

January 5, 2018

http://www.straitstimes.com/

They will make up nearly half the new coal power output likely to go online next decade

BEIJING – When China halted plans for more than 100 new coal-fired power plants this year, even as US President Donald Trump vowed to “bring back coal” in America, the contrast seemed to confirm Beijing’s new role as a leader in the fight against climate change.

However, new data on the world’s biggest developers of coal-fired power plants paints a very different picture: China’s energy companies will make up nearly half of the new coal generation expected to go online in the next decade.

These Chinese corporations are building or planning to build more than 700 new coal plants at home and around the world, some in countries that today burn little or no coal, according to tallies compiled by Urgewald, a Berlin-based environmental group. Many of the plants are in China, but by capacity, about a fifth of these new coal power stations are in other countries.

Coal demand to remain flat to 2022, resulting in a decade of stagnation (International Energy Agency – December 18, 2017)

January 5, 2018

https://www.iea.org/

Global demand for coal should remain nearly flat between 2017 and 2022, resulting in a decade of stagnation for coal consumption, according to the International Energy Agency’s annual coal market report.

Global coal consumption fell 1.9% to 5,357 million tonnes of coal equivalent (Mtce) last year, the second year of decline, because of lower gas prices, a surge in renewables and improvements in energy efficiency, according to Coal 2017. Coal demand is down 4.2% over the last two years, nearly matching the two-year decline in the early 1990s, which remains the biggest recorded drop since the IEA started compiling statistics more than 40 years ago.

By 2022, global coal demand is expected to reach 5,530 Mtce, the same as the average of the last five-year period, and meaning that coal use will have had a decade-long period of stagnation.

Optimism returns to Grande Cache as coal mine plans to reopen – by Reid Southwick (CBC News Calgary – January 5, 2018)

January 5, 2018

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/

There is renewed optimism in the small resource community of Grande Cache after a foreign company agreed to buy the steelmaking coal mine that has been shuttered for two years and helped drain the town’s population.

Hundreds of jobs were wiped out in the community northwest of Edmonton after metallurgical coal prices tanked, forcing the local operator to shut the surface and underground mines in 2015.

Facing almost $500 million in debt, Grande Cache Coal was forced into receivership a year ago. Since then, steelmaking coal prices have bounced back, and the court-appointed receiver has found a buyer.

Cobalt price bulls’ worst fears may just have been confirmed – by Frik Els (Mining.com – January 4, 2018)

January 5, 2018

http://www.mining.com/

Cobalt prices went ballistic in 2017 with the metal quoted on the LME ending the year at $75,500, a 129% annual surge sparked by intensifying supply fears and an expected demand spike from battery markets. Measured from its record low hit in February 2016, the metal is more than $50,000 more expensive.

Given these lofty levels – and considering that the volatile commodity topped $100,000 a tonne a decade ago – battery makers and energy storage researchers have been working hard to find a substitute for cobalt, or at least reduce the required loading.

Now that breakthrough may just have been made.

Backed by the US Department of Energy, researchers at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering led by professor of materials science and engineering Christopher Wolverton, have developed a lithium battery which replaces cobalt with iron (iron ore was priced at $76 a tonne on Thursday).