Nature Timespiral: The Evolution of Earth from the Big Bang

Since the dawn of humanity, we have looked questioningly to the heavens with great interest and awe. We’ve called on the stars to guide us, and have made some of humanity’s most interesting discoveries based on those observations. This also led us to question our existence and how we came to be in this moment in time.

That journey began some 14 billion years ago, when the Big Bang led to the universe emerging from a hot, dense sea of matter and energy. As the cosmos expanded and cooled, they spawned galaxies, stars, planets, and eventually, life.

In the above visualization, Pablo Carlos Buddassi illustrates this journey of epic proportions in the intricately designed Nature Timespiral, depicting the various eras that the Earth has gone through since the inception of the universe itself.

Evolutionary Timeline of the World

Not much is known about what came before the Big Bang, but we do know that it launched a sequence of events that gave rise to the universal laws of physics and the chemical elements that make up matter. How the Earth came about, and life subsequently followed, is a wondrous story of time and change.

Let’s look at what transpired after the Big Bang to trace our journey through the cosmos.

The Big Bang and Hadean Eon

The Big Bang formed the entire universe that we know, including the elements, forces, stars, and planets. Hydrogen and massive dissipation of heat dominated the initial stages of the universe.

During a time span known as the Hadean eon, our Solar System formed within a large cloud of gas and dust. The Sun’s gravitational pull brought together spatial particles to create the Earth and other planets, but they would take a long time to reach their modern forms.

Sometime during the first 800 million years of its history, the surface of the Earth changed from liquid to solid.

Archean Eon (4 – 2.5 billion years ago)

After its initial formation, the surface of the Earth was extremely hot. This subsequent eon saw the planet cool down massively, giving rise to oceans and continents, and the first recorded history of rocks.

It was early in the Archean eon that life first appeared on Earth. Our oldest discovered fossils date to roughly 3.5 billion years ago and consist of tiny, preserved microorganisms.

Paleoproterozoic Era (2.5 – 1.6 billion years ago)

The first era of the Proterozoic Eon, the Paleoproterozoic, was the longest in Earth’s geological history. Tectonic plates arose and landmasses shifted across the globe—it was the beginning of the formation of the Earth we know today.

Cyanobacteria, the first organisms using photosynthesis, also appeared during this period. Their photosynthetic activity brought about a rapid upsurge in atmospheric oxygen, resulting in the Great Oxidation Event. This killed off many primordial anaerobic bacterial groups but paved the way for multicellular life to grow and flourish.

Mesoproterozoic Era (1.6 – 1 billion years ago)

The Mesoproterozoic occurred during what is known as the “boring billion” stage of Earth’s history. That is due to a lack of widespread geochemical activity and the relative stability of the ocean carbon reservoirs.

But this era did see the break-up of the supercontinents and the formation of new continents. This period also saw the first noted case of sexual reproduction among organisms and the probable appearance of multicellular organisms and green plants.

Neoproterozoic Era (1 billion – 542.0 million years ago)

The Neoproterozoic was arguably the most profound in Earth’s history. It stands at the intersection of the two great tracts of evolutionary time: on the one side, some three billion years of predominantly microbial life, and on the other the inception of a modern biosphere with its extraordinarily diverse large multicellular organisms.

At the same time, Earth also experienced severe glaciations known as the Cryogenian Period and its first ice age, also known as Snowball Earth.

The era saw the formation of the ozone layer and the earliest evidence of multicellular life, including the emergence of the first hard-shelled animals, such as trilobites and archaeocyathids.

Paleozoic Era (541 million – 252 million years ago)

The Paleozoic is best known for ushering in an explosion of life on Earth, with two of the most critical events in the history of animal life. At its beginning, multicellular animals underwent a dramatic Cambrian explosion in aquatic diversity, and almost all living animals appeared within a few millions of years.

At the other end of the Paleozoic, the largest mass extinction in history resulted in 96% of marine life and 70% of terrestrial life dying out. Halfway between these events, animals, fungi, and plants colonized the land, and the insects took to the air.

Mesozoic Era (252 million – 66 million years ago)

The Mesozoic was the Age of Reptiles. Dinosaurs, crocodiles, and pterosaurs ruled the land and air. This era can be subdivided into three periods of time:

Triassic (252 to 201.3 million years ago)

Jurassic (201.3 to 145 million years ago)

Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago)

The rise of the dinosaurs began at the end of the Triassic Period. A fossil of one of the earliest-known dinosaurs, a two-legged omnivore roughly three feet long-named Eoraptor, is dated all the way back to this time.

Scientists believe the Eoraptor (and a few other early dinosaurs still being discovered today) evolved into the many species of well-known dinosaurs that would dominate the planet during the Jurassic period. They would continue to flourish well into the Cretaceous period, when it is widely accepted that the Chicxulub impactor, the plummeting asteroid that crashed into Earth off the coast of Mexico, brought the reign of the dinosaurs to an abrupt and calamitous end.

Cenozoic Era (66 million – Present Day)

After the end of the Age of Dinosaurs, this era saw massive adaptations by natural flora and fauna to survive. The plants and animals that formed during this era look most like those on Earth today.

The earliest forms of modern mammals, amphibians, birds, and reptiles can be traced back to the Cenozoic. Human history is entirely contained within this period, as apes developed through evolutionary pressure and gave rise to the present-day human being or Homo sapiens.

Compared to the evolutionary timeline of the world, human history has risen quite rapidly and dramatically. Going from our first stone tools and the Age of the Kings to concrete jungles with modern technology may seem like a long journey, but compared to everything that came before it, is but a brief blink of an eye

Click to view a larger version of the graphic. For a full-size option or to inquire about posters, please visit Pablo Carlos Budassi’s website.

Published  April 22, 2022
By Pablo Carlos Budassi 

Featured Creator

Nature Timespiral: The Evolution of Earth from the Big Bang (visualcapitalist.com)

 Nova Scotia

Classes resume Monday at Université Sainte-Anne after 7-week strike ends

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The university and faculty union have agreed to go ahead

 with binding arbitration

CBC News · Posted: Apr 24, 2022 

Faculty at Université Sainte-Anne in Church Point, N.S., had been on strike and walking the picket line since March 3. (Darryl Whetter)

Classes will resume Monday at Nova Scotia's only French language post-secondary institution, after a seven-week strike strike by professors and librarians ended.

A news release on the Université Sainte-Anne website on Thursday said following successful mediation, the university and the faculty union — the APPBUSA — agreed to go ahead with binding arbitration.

An email sent to the university community on Friday said the university's board of governors approved adding an extra week of classes to the winter term.

The faculty had been on strike at the Church Point university since March 3.

The union said it was seeking pay equity with professors in English-speaking institutions. It was also demanding their workload be rebalanced to meet the requirements of a new strategic plan announced by the university.

Carbon capture company founded by UBC geologists wins $1M international funding prize

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​​​​​​​Carbin Minerals Inc. has figured out how to speed up the

mineralization of carbon dioxide in rocks

Chad Pawson · CBC News · Posted: Apr 23, 2022 

Tailings from the Clinton Creek mine in the Yukon, containing carbon dioxide. Since 2000, Carbin Minerals Inc. co-founder Greg Dipple began studying a natural process whereby rocks from under the earth's crust react with carbon dioxide by mineralizing it, and thus pulling it from the atmosphere. (Greg Dipple)

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.

---

A small company incorporated by geologists at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver got a big boost on Earth Day for their discoveries which speed the ability for rocks to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Carbin Minerals Inc., founded by Greg Dipple, Bethany Ladd and Peter Scheuermann, just this past September, earned $1 million US from a U.S. organization that has the backing of the Elon Musk Foundation.

XPRIZE awards millions of dollars to fund breakthroughs in technology and ingenuity that help solve some of the world's most pressing problems, most notably climate change.

Since 2000, Dipple, who has been a geology professor at UBC for 30 years, began studying a natural process whereby rocks from under the earth's crust react with carbon dioxide when unearthed by mineralizing it, and thus pulling it from the atmosphere.

• Do you have a question about climate change and what is being done about it? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca 

One of Carbin Minerals Inc.'s carbon removal research sites at a legacy mine in the Western U.S. The company has won $1 million US from XPRIZE, which funds breakthroughs in technology and ingenuity that help solve some of the world's most pressing problems, most notably climate change. (Bethany Ladd)

The process, called weathering, can however take thousands of years. Dipple and his colleagues sought to find ways to expedite the process, especially at mining sites, so that massive fields of mine tailings, essentially pulverized rocks, could become huge carbon sinks.

"What we're doing with Carbin Minerals Inc. is understanding that those reaction rates are relatively slow, we have techniques that allow us to increase those rates by a factor of three or five so we get single sites doing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 per year," he said.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, measured last summer at 50 per cent higher than when the industrial age began, is a driver of climate change.

• Carbon dioxide levels hit 50% higher than pre-industrial time

By monitoring mining sites, technicians can adjust the amount of water in tailing sites or simply stir up the bed of rocks to increase the pace of carbonization, in some cases, down to days.

After incorporating, the company scrambled to apply to XPRIZE for its $100 million carbon removal competition.

An image of rocks and materials at one of Carbin Minerals Inc.'s carbon removal research sites at a legacy mine located in the Western U.S. The company was named as one of 15 winners out of 1,133 entrants, judged by a panel of 70 experts and scientists from across the globe. (Bethany Ladd)

Entrants must prove that the technology actually works and "achieves net negative emissions, sequesters carbon dioxide durably over at least 100 years, and shows a sustainable path to ultimately achieving gigatonne scale," according to a release naming the winners.

'Huge for us as a company'

Dipple said being named as one of 15 winners out of an initial 1,133 entrants, all judged by a panel of 70 experts and scientists from across the globe, is a valuable endorsement for Carbin Minerals Inc. and its future.

"It's huge for us as a company," he said. "It allows us to really accelerate our R&D and technology development and also the deployment of it. We're working hard right now to place this technology out in the field and start working."

• IN DEPTH
  Demand for minerals used in electric vehicles, wind, solar power a boon for B.C.'s mining industry

The XPRIZE money will help the company set up its first pilot, hire new employees beyond its current team of five, purchase equipment and start fulfilling carbon removal contracts. 

It also stands to earn a further $50 million from XPRIZE as part of an ongoing carbon removal competition.

The company recently signed its first contract with Ottawa-based Shopify to remove 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of the company's corporate social responsibility plan.

More XPRIZE money for UBC

Also announced on Friday from XPRIZE was a further $1 million US for another UBC spinoff company, Takachar, which won the student version of the competition last year and will receive an additional $1 million this year.

The company has been recognized for its invention dubbed the "MiniTorr," which is an inexpensive and portable machine that uses a thermochemical process to transform biomass, such as crop by-products, into bio-products, like fuel and fertilizer, rather than be burned.

Russia’s War Has Sparked A Coal Renaissance

By Felicity Bradstock - Apr 23, 2022, 

• It appears that the decline of coal, the dirtiest of all the fossil fuels, has been somewhat exaggerated in recent years, with the current energy shortage causing demand to soar.
• Despite being significantly dirtier than both oil and natural gas, there is a huge demand for coal as a reliable and relatively cheap source of energy in an incredibly expensive market.
• Sanctions on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine have only added to the supply shortage, although some countries like India are taking advantage of discounts to buy up Russian coal.

Despite lots of talk about renewable energy acceleration, coal continues to dominate some markets. China is steadily increasing its coal output, while Indonesia looks to export to new European buyers. And while lots of countries are imposing sanctions on Russian coal, India is now backing up its cheap Russian oil imports with low-cost coal. 

China’s daily output of coal continues to rise, seeing a 15 percent increase in production in March from the same period last year. This equated to approximately 395.79 million tonnes, or 12.77 million tonnes every day. This goes beyond China’s target of 12.6 million tonnes a day throughout 2022. China is eager to keep production levels high due to the uncertainties created in the supply chain in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

This rise comes despite several new lockdowns implemented across China in the wake of another Covid outbreak. The use of coal across utilities has dropped due to new Covid restrictions, allowing China to stockpile some of this increased coal output. Coal inventories rose from around 22 million tonnes at several major utilities in April 2021 to 28 million tonnes this year.

And as China ramps up production to ensure its energy security, Indonesia is looking to fill the gap left by sanctions on Russia by exporting its coal to Europe. The country’s second-largest coal miner PT Adaro Energy Indonesia has exported around 300,000 tonnes of coal to European buyers in response to sanctions on Russian coal. While Adaro says it will maintain its current coal trade links, European buyers could well be looking to Indonesia to fill the gap. 

Chief finance officer at Adaro, Lie Luckman, stated: “Indeed there has been some demand from Europe, but our market is mainly Asia. We will focus on fulfilling our commitments to our customers who already have long-term contracts with us.”. The list of customers includes Japan, China, South Korea, and India.

As part of its sanctions on Russian energy, the EU is banning coal imports from Russia starting in mid-August. Governments across the region are now racing to secure their energy sources by looking for more import options as well as ramping up national production of both fossil fuels and renewables. Indonesia’s coal exports reached record highs in March, a trend that is likely to continue because of the sanctions. 

The EU delayed its sanctions on Russian coal by around two months due to pressure from Germany, a major importer of Russian energy, to extend the period. In 2020, Germany imported around 21.5 percent of its coal from Russia, as well as 35.2 percent of its oil and 58.9 percent of its natural gas, showing its heavy reliance on the energy producer. While the EU is eager to impose sanctions in response to the conflict, this has not been an easy task and it acknowledges the importance of ensuring the region’s energy security before cutting Russia off completely. 

However, other countries are less steadfast in their condemnation of Russia and are using the situation as an opportunity to purchase low-cost energy. Having acquired cheap Russian oil, India is now eyeing affordable coal, as other countries turn their backs on Russia. 

India’s coal imports from Russia increased to a two-year high this March. And analysts believe that both India and China may continue to increase their coal imports from Russia as it offers lower prices in response to the loss of other export partners. Russia is selling its coal at around a $60-$65 per metric tonne discount, compared to Newcastle 5,500 kcal/kg NAR coal, making it increasingly attractive at a time when energy prices are continuing to rise to record levels. 

Head of trade at government relations consulting firm Vogel Group Samir N. Kapadia explained, “Despite warnings from the West, India continues to lean into their supply chain relationship with Russia for natural resources like oil and coal.” He believes a rupee-rouble currency swap could help India bypass the sanctions imposed on Russia, allowing them to continue importing low-cost coal. The White House is putting significant pressure on India to curb its imports, warning of potential consequences if it continues to support Russia. 

India has had low stockpiles of coal since last year, with several states across the country likely to experience power shortages. Although the government announced an aim to all stop coal imports by 2030, by boosting production from state-owned coal plants, it still relies heavily on foreign coal at present. It currently buys much of its coal from Australia, as its seventh-largest trading partner. But if Russia continues to offer cheaper energy alternatives, it may be hard to say no. 

Despite bold pledges to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives, new sanctions on Russia are exposing the world’s persistent reliance on coal. As European buyers look to Asian producers to meet their coal demands, others quickly turn to Russia – putting low-cost energy above geopolitics.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

Diamonds and caviar targeted in new UK sanctions on Russia

Bloomberg News | April 22, 2022 |

Rough diamonds on a grader’s table. (Image courtesy of Alrosa.)

Russia’s luxury goods industry is the latest to be targeted under new UK sanctions announced on Thursday, with the government slapping import bans on caviar and other high-end wares.


Silver and wood products from Russia will also be prohibited and tariffs will be increased by 35 percentage points on 130 million pounds ($170 million) worth of diamonds and other products, including some from Belarus, according to a government statement. That takes the total value of Russian goods affected to more than one billion pounds.

The UK’s measures are intended “to inflict maximum damage” to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, “reducing the resources and funds he needs to carry out this illegal war,” International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said.

Britain has already imposed its broadest set of sanctions ever on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in February, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is working with other Group of Seven nations and the European Union to coordinate regular sets of new sanctions and trade restrictions, while enforcing measures implemented so far.

(By Charles Capel)

The diamond world is scrambling to keep buying Russian gems

Bloomberg News | April 22, 2022 

Image source: ALROSA- PEAR DIAMOND

US sanctions on Russia’s giant diamond miner are causing chaos through the industry, leaving traders and manufacturers hunting for workarounds to keep tapping one of the world’s main sources of precious gems.


Buyers across the big trading centers in Antwerp and Dubai and manufacturing hubs in India have spent the past two weeks consulting lawyers to determine what the US sanctions on Alrosa PJSC mean and how they can continue to buy, according to people familiar with the matter. In the meanwhile, diamonds have stopped flowing from Russian mines to Surat — the world’s diamond-cutting epicenter — because Indian banks are unable or unwilling to process payments.

A delegation from Alrosa visited India earlier this week and held meetings with customers and trade groups to discuss how to facilitate sales, people familiar with the matter said. The disruption is already being felt in diamond prices, as the cost of the smaller stones that Alrosa specializes in has started to rise in the past week.

Alrosa is effectively state controlled: the federal government owns 33% and another 25% is held by local authorities. Losing its supply over a longer period would be seismic for the diamond world — the company accounts for about a third of global supply of rough stones, about the same level as De Beers, which had a monopoly until the start of this century.

Alrosa was scheduled to hold its next sale this coming week — one of the 10 it holds each year — but it’s unlikely it’ll be able to sell any stones because banks are unable to process payments, according to the people.

Yet as western governments levy sanctions on Russia and companies pull away from the country, many in India’s diamond industry still want to keep buying, according to people familiar with the matter. And while big-name US jewelers Tiffany & Co. and Signet Jewelers Ltd. have said they will stop buying new diamonds mined in Russia, retailers in places like China, India and the Middle East have not followed suit.

Alrosa’s meetings in India this week included discussions on how to allow Indian manufacturers and traders to pay for Alrosa’s diamonds, the people said. While the discussions included paying in rubles or rupees, no firm arrangements were made. Any deal will need the support of the Indian government, which was not involved in the discussions.

Alrosa declined to comment.

For Alrosa, one option could be to sell its gems to the Russian government, as it did during the 2008 financial crisis. The Russian Finance Ministry declined to comment.

The disruptions around Russian diamonds are being felt through the global industry, which was already facing a shortage of rough stones even before the war in Ukraine. Rough diamond prices have surged in the past year as US consumers, by far the most important market, bought a record amount of jewelery. That created a boom for the companies that trade, cut and manufacture diamonds.

Rough-diamond prices began to weaken last month as inflation concerns started to hit consumer confidence. However, the prices for smaller stones are rising again now as the trade looks to secure supplies.

(By Thomas Biesheuvel)

World’s top diamond miner Alrosa hit by US sanctions

Cecilia Jamasmie | April 8, 2022

The US has increased sanctions on Alrosa.

(Image courtesy of Alrosa’s cutting and polishing division).

Alrosa (MCX: ALRS), the world’s top diamond producer by output, has been hit by fresh sanctions imposed by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).


The OFAC announced late on Thursday it had placed Alrosa on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, which effectively kicks a sanctioned company out of the US banking system and bans its trade with Americans.

The measure against the Russian state-owned diamond miner seeks to cut off additional sources of revenue for Moscow, the government agency said.

It also affects any entities in which Alrosa has a 50% interest or more, either directly or indirectly.

The company’s customers well as other counterparties must stop all dealings with the state-controlled Russian miner by May 7, Treasury said.

Shares in the company collapsed on the news, closing nearly 13% lower on Friday trading in Moscow.

Alrosa and its chief executive Sergei S. Ivanov were included in the first wave of restrictions announced by Washington, which restricted the company’s ability to raise new debt and equity in the US.

“These actions, taken with the Department of State and in coordination with our allies and partners, reflect our continued effort to restrict the Kremlin’s access to assets, resources, and sectors of the economy that are essential to supplying and financing Putin’s brutality,” Treasury said in the statement.

The European Union and the UK have also imposed sanctions on the miner following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Diamonds are one of Russia’s top ten non-energy exports by value, with exports in 2021 totalling over $4.5 billion, it noted.

Alrosa is responsible for 90% of Russia’s diamond output and 28% of global supply, with 32.4 million carats produced in 2021 and sales topping $4 billion thanks mainly to consumer demand from the US.
Loopholes

Experts have noted the sanctions against the miner carry a significant loophole. Russia’s rough diamonds are sent to another country — usually India — where they are polished and cut, which makes them the product of that nation in the global market.

Another issue is that diamonds of various origins are often mixed once polished, which can make it more difficult for companies that independently vow to stop buying Russian goods.

The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), the leading standards organization of the global jewellery and watch industry, took steps into that direction in early April and suspended Alrosa’s membership.

“Fundamentally, we remain focused on RJC’s purpose, which is to ensure all jewellery is responsibly sourced,” the group’s char David Bouffard said in the statement.

The main markets for Alrosa, which employs about 32,000 people, are the US and Asia (Photo: Dmitry Amelkin, Transformation Director of Alrosa’s Polishing Division. Courtesy of Alrosa | Twitter. )

US-based jewellers Tiffany & Co. and Signet Jewelers said in March they would no longer buy new diamonds mined in Russia.

Alrosa withdrew in March from the Natural Diamond Council (NDC), a market alliance of the world’s leading producers of precious stones. By doing so, the company not only stepped down from the board, but it also cut all financial contributions.

The Mirny, Sakha-based miner also has a 41% stake in Angolan diamond production firm Catoca, which is not affected by the latest US sanctions given the OFAC.

While the full effects of the sanctions on the already undersupplied global rough diamonds market are not yet clear, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has said there was a chance the restrictions could prove counterproductive.

“It is a blow that should hurt Russia but there is a chance that we do more damage to ourselves,” spokesman Tom Neys told Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen. “The Russians can easily trade their diamonds with non-EU countries and outside the US.”

The diamond jewelry industry is going into the year with diamond supply at historically low levels, estimated by Bain & Company at 29 million carats in 2021. “Upstream inventories declined ~40%, driven by high demand and slow production recovery, and are near the minimal technical level,” the report stated.

Investor group to flag concern over Glencore’s climate efforts

Reuters | April 22, 2022 

Mt Owen coal mine, Australia – Image courtesy of Glencore

The world’s biggest climate action investor group will back a shareholder challenge to Glencore’s slow progress in scaling back coal production at the miner and trader’s annual general meeting on April 28, two sources familiar with the matter said.


Climate Action 100+ (CA100+) will flag to members – who manage $68 trillion in assets and can put pressure on the company to change its strategy – its concern that Glencore’s emissions targets and coal production are not consistent with the world’s climate goal, the sources said.

While there is no obligation on shareholders to vote in a certain way based on the CA100+ view, the public move by the group is an important one as it reverses previous support for Glencore’s strategy.

Glencore last year said it planned to run down its thermal coal mines by the mid-2040s and hit net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, as part of efforts to help the world reach its 2015 Paris Agreement goal of capping global warming at 1.5-degrees Celsius.

The company’s first climate action plan, published in December 2020, had received 94% of votes in Glencore’s favour from shareholders at its 2021 annual general meeting. The non-binding management vote at its upcoming AGM seeks support for its efforts so far.

Thermal coal is the most polluting fossil fuel and Glencore has taken a diverging path from its competitors, which have sold or spun off their assets, vowing to remain the responsible owner of the mines until depletion.

A member alert from the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), part of CA100+, seen by Reuters, said that “Glencore needs to cut coal production much faster over the next decade to be consistent with a 1.5-degree scenario.”

While the company’s long-term plan was aligned with the climate target, its short- and medium-term plans were not, the report said.

The lack of clarity over a coal-related increase in capital expenditure in 2021 and the timeline to close down specific mines and for Glencore to exit the coal business led the group to reverse their initial support, one of the sources said.

The report said talks with the company had been constructive and Glencore was investing strongly in metals needed in the transition to a low-carbon economy, but it flagged concern about the company’s membership of trade groups lobbying against some climate action.

Activist investor Bluebell Capital Partners last year urged the miner to separate its thermal coal business, but Chief Executive Gary Nagle said the company would only review its coal strategy if major shareholders became less supportive.

Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, which provide voting recommendations for shareholders, recommended shareholders reject the progress report next week, on concerns around thermal coal, which accounts for the majority of its emissions.

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) in its recommendation last week cited several reasons why the progress report should be rejected, including that Glencore is expanding coal activities in Australia, which “is directly at odds with its stated policy to ‘run-down’ coal mines and coal production over time”.

(By Clara Denina and Simon Jessop; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Glencore cobalt mine scrutinized as Congo revisits foreign deals

Bloomberg News | April 22, 2022 |

Mutanda copper mine. (Image: Fleurette Group)

Democratic Republic of Congo added Glencore Plc’s giant Mutanda copper and cobalt operation to a list of projects that could face renegotiation, just as the key battery metals mine is in the process of restarting.


The move to probe Mutanda comes as Congo President Felix Tshisekedi increases his scrutiny of extractive deals made under his predecessor, Joseph Kabila. Congo is examining copper and cobalt projects controlled by China Molybdenum Co. and China Railway Group, while the president’s advisers are also renegotiating the rights to multiple raw material permits and royalty streams controlled by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler.

“When you see what happened in this sector during the previous regime, it was scandalous in terms of concessions given to foreign companies,” Andre Wameso, the president’s deputy chief of staff for economic issues, said in an interview on Thursday in the capital Kinshasa.

Some of Mutanda’s permits expire next month, and Tshisekedi has used the renewal process to create an ad-hoc commission that will assess the project’s benefits for Congo, Wameso, said.

Mutanda has not been formally notified in respect of any commission, a Glencore spokesman said by email Friday.

Glencore confirmed in December that it planned to reopen Mutanda, which was put on care and maintenance in 2019 after cobalt prices slumped. The operation will produce about 11,000 tons of cobalt a year between 2022 and 2025, with output over the full 20-year mine life expected to average about 76,000 tons copper and 21,000 tons cobalt, the commodity giant said.

A reopening of Mutanda comes amid renewed demand for battery metals from automakers as economies shift toward cleaner technologies that use electricity for energy. Cobalt and copper are key metals in that green transition.

Three of Mutanda’s four permits are set to expire in May, according to Congo’s mining cadastre.

“This is an opportunity for us to see very calmly how things have been done and if there are improvements in terms of rebalancing the partnership with Glencore,” he said. “We have nothing against Glencore,” Wameso said, adding that any rebalancing would be to ensure that the state’s “interests are preserved.”

Congo’s mining code stipulates that miners submit permit renewal applications solely through the cadastre and the mines ministry. Neither responded to requests for comment. The code also requires companies to cede 5% of their shares to the state at the time of renewal.

According to the code, the cadastre gives the permit-renewal dossier to the mines minister, who has 30 days to accept or reject it. If the minister says nothing, the permit then is considered accepted, presuming the cadastre has advised that it be accepted.

After that the renewal must be registered by the cadastre.

Mutanda is following the process set out in Congo’s mining code in respect of its renewal, which it expects to be registered in the coming weeks, the Glencore spokesman said.

Mutanda produced a fifth of the world’s cobalt and nearly 200,000 tons of copper in 2018, its last year of full production. The company restarted processing stockpiles of oxide ore late last year while it explores the future mining of Mutanda’s sulphide resources, according to Glencore’s 2021 annual report.

Negotiations with China Moly over its Tenke mine are gridlocked over a dispute relating to different definitions for estimating the mineral reserves in the project, according to Wameso.

Congo believes the Chinese company has underreported its reserves, starving its minority partner, state-owned miner Gecamines, of contractual payments. Last month, the government said it was trying to resolve the dispute amicably and that Gecamines was suspending a court case against China Moly’s Tenke Fungurume Mining SA.

Wameso declined to comment on legal proceedings.

The two sides are engaging a third-party to conduct an assessment, said Vincent Zhou, a spokesman for China Moly, who added that Tenke Fungurume posted better-than-planned production results in the first quarter of 2022.

(By Michael J. Kavanagh, with assistance from Thomas Biesheuvel)

Liberia to review ArcelorMittal concession agreement

Reuters | April 21, 2022 

A freight train from ArcelorMittal carrying iron ore from the Nimba deposit to the port of Buchanan, Liberia. Image courtesy of Alamy.

Liberia will review its iron ore concession agreement with steel and mining company ArcelorMittal as well as other concessions signed by the West African country’s current and previous governments, Parliament speaker Bhofal Chambers said on Thursday.


The announcement risks disrupting ArcelorMittal’s plans to triple its iron ore production in Liberia and stay in the country for at least 25 more years, which the government had agreed to in September.

Chambers said parliament had asked ArcelorMittal to review the Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) the company is trying to get ratified.

“We did not outright reject it. We said it should be renegotiated,” he said.

ArcelorMittal did not immediately reply to a request for comment. It had said on March 31 that it was “concerned” about the ratification process for the MDA, which would be its third in Liberia since the first one it signed in 2005.

Parliament will also review palm oil and rubber concessions.

“We will not be deterred,” Chambers said, without providing a timeline for the review.

Liberia, which has significant mining and agricultural potential, has attracted billions of dollars in resource investment since the end of a 1989-2003 civil war, mainly for iron ore and gold.

But infrastructure remains underdeveloped and most of its 5 million people live in poverty.

(By Alphonso Toweh, Helen Reid and Sofia Christensen; Editing by Sandra Maler and Grant McCool)

CHILE
Los Pelambres expansion to cost Antofagasta $900m more than planned

Cecilia Jamasmie | April 21, 2022 

Antofagasta’s Los Pelambres has been hit by the lack of rainfall. 

(Image courtesy of Antofagasta Minerals | Flickr.)

Chilean miner Antofagasta (LON: ANTO) said on Thursday the ongoing expansion of its flagship Los Pelambres operation in the home country would cost $2.2 billion, up from the previous estimate of $1.7 billion.


The revised figure represents a 30% increase from the costs estimated in 2021 and a 70% jump from the original estimate of $1.3 billion.

The company said the main reasons behind the fresh surge were the impact that recent waves of covid-19 had in costs and the construction schedule, as well as general inflation, including higher input prices, wages, labour incentives and logistics costs.

Antofagasta noted the completion schedule for the project remained unchanged, with the desalination plant expected to be finalized in the second half of this year and the expanded concentrator plant in early 2023.

The Los Pelambres expansion, 73% complete as of the end of March, will add 60,000 tonnes of copper a year over the first 15 years to the company’s overall production. Throughput at the plant will be increased from 175,000 tonnes of ore a day to an average of 190,000 tonnes a day.

The project includes the construction of a desalination plant and water pipeline, which will also benefit the existing operation in cases of prolonged or severe drought, such as the one currently hitting miners and wine makers alike. The facility could also be used for a potential further expansion, which may follow if Antofagasta can secure the required environmental and regulatory approvals.

The Chilean government recently named the miner in a lawsuit over alleged environmental damage caused in the northern Salar de Atacama salt flats, the world’s driest place on earth.

The State Defense Council’s (CDE) legal action singled out BHP’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, Antofagasta and Barrick’s 50-50 Zaldívar operation and Albemarle’s lithium assets.
Drought impact

Antofagasta’s copper production in the first quarter of 2021 was down 24% from the same period last year, and 22% from the previous quarter, at 138,800 tonnes.

The expected output drop reflected the effects of a severe drought affecting Chile’s northern and central zone, where Los Pelambres is located. Lower grades mined at Centinela also weighed on production results, Antofagasta said.

The company, majority-owned by Chile’s Luksic family, one of the country’s wealthiest, kept its full year 2022 guidance of 660,000-690,000 tonnes. This range assumes there is no precipitation until the rainy season and the desalination plant at Los Pelambres starts operating in the second half of the year, Antofagasta said.

Copper companies across Chile have been forced in recent years to find alternative means to feed water to their mines as drought and receding aquifers have hampered operations. Many have sharply reduced use of continental freshwater or turned to desalination plants.

The country’s copper agency Cochilco estimates that mining’s use of seawater — either used directly or desalinated — will increase 167% by 2032, while freshwater use will decline 45%. By the end of that period, 68% of water used by the industry will come from the ocean, the agency has said.