NLRB officer says Amazon violated US labor law

The officer recommends a new election in Amazon’s Bessemer union drive

By Russell Brandom and Zoe Schiffer Aug 2, 2021, 

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

An initial assessment from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has recommended workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama hold a new election to determine whether to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). The recommendation comes from the hearing officer assigned to the case and is only a preliminary ruling, but still hands the union a surprising win in a fight that many in the labor movement had considered lost.

In April, workers at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama voted not to unionize by a margin of more than 2-to-1. But in the aftermath of the result, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) alleged that Amazon had illegally influenced the drive and petitioned the NLRB to invalidate the result. In particular, the RWDSU raised questions around a USPS mailbox installed in the fulfillment center parking lot during the drive. The union alleged it gave some workers the impression that Amazon had improper access to mailed ballots.

RWDSU’s defeat opened the door for other unions to announce plans to unionize Amazon workers. On June 24th, the Teamsters announced a nationwide campaign to organize Amazon’s sprawling workforce. The teamsters committed to spending “all resources necessary” to make the campaign successful.

Now, it appears RWDSU is getting another chance. “Throughout the NLRB hearing, we heard compelling evidence how Amazon tried to illegally interfere with and intimidate workers as they sought to exercise their right to form a union,” said RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum in a statement. “We support the hearing officer’s recommendation that the NLRB set aside the election results and direct a new election...Amazon’s behavior throughout the election process was despicable. Amazon cheated, they got caught, and they are being held accountable.”

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hearing officer’s recommendation is only a preliminary assessment of the claim, and does not by itself have any legal force. A full ruling will only come when the acting regional director issues a decision for the case, which will likely not occur for serveral weeks. Parties to the case will still have the opportunity to file exceptions in the intervening time.

As the case proceeds, Amazon’s labor issues have spread well beyond Bessemer. In June, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters voted to prioritize organizing efforts for Amazon delivery drivers, creating a special division to focus on the company’s operations over the next five years. “Amazon workers are calling for safer and better working conditions,” said the project’s director at the time, “and with today’s resolution, we are activating the full force of our union to support them.”

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/08/anatomy-of-anti-union-meeting-how-no.html

How No Evil Foods, a plant-based meat company, squashed a union drive

New iron-air battery aims to make multi-day, clean energy storage systems a reality
MINING.COM Staff Writer | July 27, 2021 | 

Wind turbines. (Image from Pxhere, CC0).

Form Energy has announced the launching of its first commercial product, a rechargeable iron-air battery capable of delivering electricity for 100 hours at system costs competitive with conventional power plants and at less than 1/10th the cost of lithium-ion.


According to the Massachusetts-based company, its front-of-the-meter battery can be used continuously over a multi-day period and will enable a secure and fully renewable electric grid year-round.

“We conducted a broad review of available technologies and have reinvented the iron-air battery to optimize it for multi-day energy storage for the electric grid,” Mateo Jaramillo, Form Energy’s CEO and co-founder, said in a media statement.

“With this technology, we are tackling the biggest barrier to deep decarbonization: making renewable energy available when and where it’s needed, even during multiple days of extreme weather or grid outages.”

The battery’s basic principle of operation is reversible rusting, which means that while discharging, the battery breathes in oxygen from the air and converts iron metal to rust. While charging, the application of an electrical current converts the rust back to iron and the battery breathes out oxygen.

(Image by Form Energy).

Each individual battery is about the size of a washing machine, which is filled with a water-based, non-flammable electrolyte, similar to the electrolyte used in AA batteries. Inside of the liquid electrolyte there are stacks of between 10 and 20 meter-scale cells, which include iron electrodes and air electrodes.

To create a storage system, Form Energy proposes grouping together thousands of batteries in modular megawatt-scale power blocks, which are to be installed in environmentally protected enclosures.

Depending on the system size, tens to hundreds of these power blocks will be connected to the electricity grid. For scale, in its least dense configuration, a one-megawatt system requires about an acre of land. Higher density configurations can achieve >3MW/acre.

“Our battery systems can be sited anywhere, even in urban areas, to meet utility-scale energy needs,” the company’s website states. “Our batteries complement the function of lithium-ion batteries, allowing for an optimal balance of our technology and lithium-ion batteries to deliver the lowest-cost renewable and reliable electric system year-round.”

According to Jaramillo, Form Energy’s goal is to source the iron domestically and manufacture the battery systems near where they will be sited. The firm has already signed a deal with Great River Energy to develop its first project near the heart of America’s Iron Range in Minnesota.

It also received a $200-million Series D financing round led by ArcelorMittal’s XCarb innovation fund, which should be devoted to the development of iron materials for the battery systems.

Besides the steel giant, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Form Energy also counts Breakthrough Energy Ventures – a climate investment fund whose investors include Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos among its backers.

UNESCO names Romanian ancient gold mine settlement a world heritage site
Reuters | July 27, 2021 | 

The ancient Roman gold mining area of Rosia Montana, in western Romania, is now a world heritage site. (Image courtesy of AdreDea | Flickr Commons.)

UNESCO added the ancient Roman gold mining area of Rosia Montana in western Romania to its list of world heritage sites on Tuesday, throwing the town a lifeline and further complicating a long-stalled mine project.


Canada’s Gabriel Resources, which had planned to build Europe’s largest open cast gold mine in Rosia Montana, is currently seeking $4.4 billion in damages from Romania for losses related to its stalled project at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

The government, which has a 20% stake in the project, officially withdrew its support for the mine in 2014 after months of country-wide street protests against it. The company gained concession rights to the area in 1999.

“With joint efforts from officials and specialists Rosia Montana must become a role model of showcasing the patrimony through sustainable development,” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday, saluting UNESCO’s decision.

THE GOVERNMENT, WHICH HAS A 20% STAKE IN THE PROJECT, OFFICIALLY WITHDREW ITS SUPPORT FOR THE MINE IN 2014 AFTER MONTHS OF COUNTRY-WIDE STREET PROTESTS AGAINST IT

The town, which has few employment options and poor infrastructure, could see an inflow of funds after UNESCO’s decision, officials said.

Not everyone was pleased. Rosia Montana’s mayor Eugen Furdui, a long-time supporter of the mining project, said the decision only brought additional conservation costs.

The European Union state first put the ancient Roman mine tunnels and vestiges up for inclusion on the world heritage list in 2016.

Gabriel Resources did not comment on Tuesday’s decision.

Rosia Montana’s remaining reserves – an estimated 314 tonnes of gold and 1,500 tonnes of silver – put it at the core of a decades-long battle between Gabriel Resources and a handful of local residents and civic and environmental groups which oppose the potential damages posed by the company’s plans.

The project envisioned carving open four quarries over the mine’s lifespan, which would destroy four mountain tops and wipe out three outlying villages of 16 that make up Rosia Montana municipality.

(By Luiza Ilie; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Rio Tinto faces UK finance watchdog probe into value of Oyu Tolgoi
Reuters | July 27, 2021 | 

Oyu Tolgoi is Rio Tinto’s biggest copper growth project.

 (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto.)

Britain’s financial watchdog is conducting a probe into Rio Tinto and its $6.75 billion underground copper project in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.


The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was investigating whether the Anglo-Australian miner breached listing rules in disclosures about the value of Oyu Tolgoi in 2018 and 2019, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.

Rio reached a binding agreement with Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd earlier this year over funding for expansion of the copper-gold mine, whose development has faced cost and timeline blowouts and has caused acrimony between the mining giant and its junior partner.

The expansion of Oyu Tolgoi mine, Rio’s biggest copper growth project, has seen costs balloon up to $6.75 billion, about $1.4 billion higher than Rio’s estimate in 2016, and has led to friction over funding with Turquoise Hill.

Both FCA and Rio Tinto declined Reuters’ requests for comments.

Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest-known copper and gold deposits, is 34% owned by the Mongolian government. The rest is held by Turquoise Hill, in which Rio owns a 50.8% stake.

(By Indranil Sarkar; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

CEO of Aboriginal group whose rock shelters Rio Tinto destroyed steps down
Reuters | July 27, 2021 |

Rio Tinto was given permission to blast Juukan Gorge 1 and 2 under Section 18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act. 

(Credit: Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation)

The chief executive of the Aboriginal group whose ancient rock shelters Rio Tinto Ltd detonated for an iron ore mine last year is stepping down from the organisation, the group said on Tuesday.


Carol Meredith will leave the role in September to spend more time with family overseas and the search for a new chief executive is underway, the PKKP Aboriginal Corporation, which administers the lands of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, said in a statement.

Rio destroyed the rock shelters in Western Australia that showed some of the earliest evidence of Ice Age human habitation dating back 46,000 years, which ultimately cost the chief executive and a suite of others their jobs.

It has pushed firmly into the limelight heritage management practices by Australian states and companies of the world’s oldest continuous culture, with a national inquiry underway and due to report findings towards the end of this year.

TIMELINE- Rio Tinto’s sacred Indigenous caves blast scandal

Meredith said that dealing with the devastation at Juukan Gorge and its aftermath had been extremely challenging and she hoped to finalise improved practices with the miner before she left.

“In the coming weeks I will be working closely with the PKKP Board and our support team as we seek to finalise a co-management of mining model with Rio Tinto,” she said in a statement. “This is a critical and far-reaching step as co-management of mining represents a true partnership which will recognise and support the rights of traditional owners in relation to mining on their lands.”

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Ex Rio Tinto chief Walsh joins Aboriginal group’s board
Reuters | July 28, 2021 | 

Sam Walsh (Image: Screenshot from Rio Tinto video | YouTube.)

Sam Walsh, a former chief executive of Rio Tinto Ltd, has joined the board of an Aboriginal group on whose traditional lands in Western Australia Rio Tinto and BHP Group have operations.


The appointment announced by Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation on Tuesday comes after a particularly fraught period in relations between traditional land owners and Australia’s powerful mining companies.

The outcry over Rio’s destruction of the rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia state last year led to a national inquiry and a review of heritage agreements struck between miners and the traditional owners.

Western Australia is expected to revise laws soon to better protect the heritage of the world’s oldest continuous culture.

Walsh held the top job at Rio for three years to 2016. His successor, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, stepped down along with other senior officials in the wake of the Juukan Gorge controversy.

HIS SUCCESSOR, JEAN-SÉBASTIEN JACQUES, STEPPED DOWN ALONG WITH OTHER SENIOR OFFICIALS IN THE WAKE OF THE JUUKAN GORGE CONTROVERSY

“Sam’s extensive experience in the mining sector and demonstrated track history with Aboriginal matters can support us in ensuring mining projects and conversations … benefit Banjima People and our country,” Maitland Parker, Banjima Elder and chairman of BNTAC, said in a statement.

The Banjima group is based in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Walsh has director roles at Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd, and Ma’aden Mining in Saudi Arabia, is chair of the Accenture Global Mining Council (UK), Gold Corporation in Australia, Perth Diocesan Trust and the western operations of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Walsh said he was delighted to join the Banjima board.

“I look forward to working alongside the Banjima Directors and the community’s committees and councils to get the best possible outcomes for the Banjima People.”

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Sediment plumes from deep-sea mining become turbulent cloud

MINING.COM Staff Writer | July 31, 2021 | 

Deep sea. (Image by Dimitris Siskopoulos, Flickr).

Midwater sediment plumes that are discharged through pipes used by mining machinery that descend 1,000 meters or more into the ocean’s aphotic zone become a highly turbulent cloud of suspended particles that mix rapidly with the surrounding ocean water, when initially pumped out.


New research by oceanographers at MIT, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other institutions made this discovery after carrying out the first-ever experiment to study the sediment plume that mining vessels would potentially release back into the ocean.

Based on their observations, they developed a model that makes realistic predictions of how a sediment plume generated by mining operations would be transported through the ocean.

THE RESEARCHERS DEVELOPED A FORMULA THAT CAN BE USED TO CALCULATE WHAT VOLUME OF OCEAN WATER WOULD BE IMPACTED OVER THE COURSE OF A 20-YEAR NODULE MINING OPERATION

In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications: Earth and Environment, the scientists explain that the model predicts the size, concentration, and evolution of sediment plumes under various marine and mining conditions. These predictions, they say, can now be used by biologists and environmental regulators to gauge whether and to what extent such plumes would impact surrounding sea life.

“The science of the plume dynamics for this scenario is well-founded, and our goal was to clearly establish the dynamic regime for such plumes to properly inform discussions,” said Thomas Peacock, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and co-author of the study.

How the model was tested

To pin down plume dynamics, the team set sail 50 kilometres off the coast of Southern California aboard the Sally Ride. They brought with them equipment designed to discharge sediment 60 meters below the ocean’s surface.

“Using foundational scientific principles from fluid dynamics, we designed the system so that it fully reproduced a commercial-scale plume, without having to go down to 1,000 meters or sail out several days to the middle of the CCFZ,” Peacock said.

Over one week the team ran six plume experiments, using novel sensors systems such as a Phased Array Doppler Sonar (PADS) and epsilometer developed by Scripps scientists to monitor where the plumes travelled and how they evolved in shape and concentration. The collected data soon revealed the turbulent cloud.

“There was speculation this sediment would form large aggregates in the plume that would settle relatively quickly to the deep ocean,” Peacock said. “But we found the discharge is so turbulent that it breaks the sediment up into its finest constituent pieces, and thereafter it becomes dilute so quickly that the sediment then doesn’t have a chance to stick together.”

Reality matched lab tests

Previous to their field trip, the scientists developed a model to predict the dynamics of a plume that would be discharged into the ocean. When they fed the experiment’s initial conditions into the model, it produced the same behaviour that the team observed at sea, proving the model could accurately predict plume dynamics within the vicinity of the discharge.

The group then used these results to provide the correct input for simulations of ocean dynamics to see how far currents would carry the initially released plume.

“In a commercial operation, the ship is always discharging new sediment. But at the same time, the background turbulence of the ocean is always mixing things. So you reach a balance. There’s a natural dilution process that occurs in the ocean that sets the scale of these plumes,” Peacock said. “What is key to determining the extent of the plumes is the strength of the ocean turbulence, the amount of sediment that gets discharged, and the environmental threshold level at which there is impact.”

Based on their findings, the researchers have developed formulae to calculate the scale of a plume depending on a given environmental threshold.

For instance, if regulators determine that a certain concentration of sediments could be detrimental to surrounding sea life, the formula can be used to calculate how far a plume above that concentration would extend, and what volume of ocean water would be impacted over the course of a 20-year nodule mining operation.

African nations criticize push to fast-track deep-sea mining talks

Reuters | July 27, 2021 |

Computer rendition of a seabed mining operation. (Image by Phil Pauley | Twitter)

African countries, many of which are heavily reliant on mining, have criticised a move by the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru to fast-track international negotiations over deep-sea mining, an industry that could hurt their economies.


Nauru last month set a two-year deadline for rules governing deep-sea mining in international waters to be finalised. Nauru triggered the so-called “two-year rule”, which allows for a mining plan to be approved after two years under whatever rules are in place at that time.

The task of agreeing on regulations by mid-2023 is “seemingly insurmountable” as the global pandemic constrains countries’ ability to negotiate, the African Group said in a letter to the Council of the International Seabed Authority, a U.N. body tasked with drawing up regulations for the new industry.

The ISA said meetings of the Council are expected to resume “before the end of the year”. Nauru’s ambassador to the ISA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The African Group, one of several regional groupings at the ISA, represents 47 nations including the world’s top producers of manganese and cobalt – South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively.

Those countries’ economies, along with many others in Africa, rely heavily on mining and could be negatively impacted by mining of seabed rocks called “polymetallic nodules” that contain manganese, copper, nickel, and cobalt.

The nodules are typically composed of 28.4% manganese, 1.3% nickel, 1.1% copper and 0.2% cobalt, according to research house CRU.

THE NODULES ARE TYPICALLY COMPOSED OF 28.4% MANGANESE, 1.3% NICKEL, 1.1% COPPER AND 0.2% COBALT, ACCORDING TO RESEARCH HOUSE CRU

In the letter, the African Group said a prerequisite for any seabed mining “is a financial regime that properly compensates humanity for its resources and land-based miners for their losses.”

Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), resources in international waters are the common heritage of mankind, and revenues from those resources must be shared among all countries.

In a 2019 report to the ISA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said it assumed most revenues taken in by the ISA from seabed mining would go to mining-dependent developing countries to compensate them for the impact on their economies.

Most countries vulnerable to competition from seabed minerals are in Africa, a May 2020 study commissioned by the Secretariat of the ISA found, with Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, and Zambia especially likely to be impacted.

(By Helen Reid and Jeff Lewis; Editing by David Evans)

Petra Diamonds finds 342-carat rough at Cullinan mine

Cecilia Jamasmie | July 28, 2021 | 

The 342.92-carat Type IIa white diamond. (Image courtesy of Petra Diamonds.)

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) has recovered a 342.92-carat Type IIa white rough at its iconic Cullinan mine.


The company said the diamond is “exceptional” quality, in terms of both its colour and clarity, and that it will likely be sold at the September tender.

Petra fetched in March $12.2 million for a 299.3-carat Type IIA white diamond. That meant it obtained $40,701 per carat, which exceeds the $34,386/ct received for the 424.89-carat “Legacy of the Cullinan Diamond Mine” in May 2019.

TYPE II DIAMONDS ARE FOUND LESS FREQUENTLY AND MORE VALUABLE THAN TYPE I DIAMONDS

Type II diamonds are found less frequently and are more valuable than Type I diamonds, as they have no measurable nitrogen impurities. This gives them exceptional transparency and brilliance.

Cullinan is known as the birthplace of the famed 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, which was cut to form the 530-carat Great Star of Africa.

The operation also yielded the 317-carat Second Star of Africa.

They are the two largest diamonds in the British Crown Jewels.

Cullinan is known as the world’s most important source of blue diamonds, such as the 39.34-carat stone Petra found in April and which sold for $40.2 million earlier this month. It was the company’s highest price ever for a single stone.

New technology closer to reaching superhot geothermal energy sources
MINING.COM Staff Writer | July 28, 2021

Geothermal plant in Iceland. (Reference imager by Ásgeir Eggertsson, Wikimedia Commons).

Geothermal could become a terawatt source of energy with the power densities of fossil fuels if the ability to drill to 20 kilometers and 500 degrees celsius is developed.


This, according to experts gathered in late July at the PIVOT2021 conference organized by the Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO) at the University of Texas and which was focused on the challenges and opportunities of geothermal energy, and in particular of reaching the superhot rock deep beneath our feet.

Conventional geothermal plants reach temperatures of about 230 degrees celsius through holes about two kilometers deep. Superhot rock can be found close to the surface in a few areas like Iceland and near volcanoes, but for most of the world, it is between seven and 20 kilometers beneath the surface.

According to the panellists at the conference, things get especially interesting over about 374 degrees celsius, where water pumped to rock becomes supercritical, in a steam-like phase. This supercritical water can carry some 5-10 times more energy than regular hot water, making it an extremely efficient energy source if it could be pumped above ground to turbines that could convert it into electricity.

SUPERHOT ROCK CAN BE FOUND CLOSE TO THE SURFACE IN A FEW AREAS LIKE ICELAND AND NEAR VOLCANOES, BUT FOR MOST OF THE WORLD, IT IS BETWEEN SEVEN AND 20 KILOMETERS DOWN

But drilling techniques are not quite there yet.

In a session titled “In Pursuit of the Holy Grail: Deep and Superhot Geothermal,” presenters said that conventional drill bits used in the oil and gas industry fail under the extreme temperatures and pressures involved in reaching geothermal sources.

Modern drills also include electronic components that do not withstand extreme conditions, while other elements, such as materials for lining and supporting the boreholes, also need to survive repeated thermal cycling or large changes in temperature.

Yet, steps towards solving these issues are being taken. The experts mentioned self-healing cement that recrystallizes to fix any fractures and the use of more accurate data to characterize subsurface rock conditions and better calibrate devices going into very deep systems.

“Open access to the data and models that are underpinning these pilot projects are key,” Mark Ireland, a lecturer in energy geoscience at Newcastle University, said during the session. “Then we can open the lid on the box and explore all the different parameters in it, and compare and contrast how we’re characterizing the potential resource. The more we’re able to share, the better our decision making.”

To that end, Ireland and others emphasized the need for collaboration between the groups worldwide that are exploring superhot geothermal.
The future for Geothermal

An example of such a group is Quaise Energy, whose representatives presented their gyrotron at the conference’s “The Future of Drilling for Deep Geothermal” session.

Quaise’s machine works by creating millimeter wave energy, a cousin to the microwaves for cooking, that is directed to deep, hot rock via waveguides. A gas that accompanies the millimeter waves brings the vaporized rock back up to the surface.

According to the firm’s CEO, Carlos Araque, conventional drilling techniques are used in the shallower rock they were optimized for and then, they are switched over to the millimeter-wave technology for harder, hotter, deeper rock.

Geothermal Anywhere Drilling, on the other hand, uses plasma, an energized gas, to break deep, hard rock into tiny pieces. Their technology is embedded into conventional drilling systems and it is being tested at a state-of-the-art facility near Bratislava, Slovakia that can reproduce the high pressures and temperatures far underground.

Another approach showcased was that of HyperSciences, whose hypersonic projectiles fired in front of a rotating bit are said to allow it to drill about 10 times faster in hard, deep, high-temperature rock. This technology — as the other ones — is being tested in field trials, and it is also being applied to tunnelling, mining, and aerospace.

A final project, titled ORCHYD and supported by the European Union, was presented by researchers from ARMINES/ MINES-ParisTech in France. Still under development, their technique involves combining high-pressure water jetting with percussive drilling.

“I see coming down the pike a number of really high potential drilling methods,” Susan Petty, chief technology officer at Cyrq Energy and the president and founder of AltaRock Energy, said at the conference.

PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL
Bandits steal truckloads of copper worth millions in southern Africa

Reuters | July 28, 2021 |

Stock image.

Crime gangs have stolen dozens of truckloads of copper owned by miners and traders including Glencore, Trafigura and Traxys this year as they were heading to ports in southern Africa, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.


Record high copper prices have triggered an increase in hijackings in recent months in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, said the sources who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The South African Police Service told Reuters that the matter was being investigated, but declined to give further details.

COPPER PRICES HIT AN ALL-TIME HIGH ABOVE $10,700 A TONNE IN MAY

Glencore declined to comment. Trafigura said it did not comment on security issues. Traxys did not respond to requests for comment.

Copper mined in Zambia and Congo, which accounts for about 10% of global supplies estimated at 24 million tonnes, is transported to ports across southern Africa.

A total of 66 trucks carrying copper were robbed between January and May this year, and 60% of the hijackings occurred in South Africa, one of the sources said.

With the average truck carrying between 32 and 34 tonnes of copper cathode, the thefts would amount to roughly $21 million worth of copper at current prices.

More trucks were stolen in June and July, according to the source, who did not provide figures for those months but said one truckload of the copper stolen on July 9 was worth $470,000.

Organised crime gangs melt down copper to remove serial numbers and other marks of ownership, and then resell it locally or transport it by truck to be sold in neighbouring countries, two sources said.

Copper prices hit an all-time high above $10,700 a tonne in May thanks to a rebound in global demand, including in top consumer China, as manufacturing activity ramped up and economies reopened after covid-19 lockdowns.

Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices

Currently at around $9,700, prices of the metals used widely in the power and construction industries have climbed more than 50% over the past 12 months.

(By Zandi Shabalala and Helen Reid; Editing by Pratima Desai and Pravin Char)