UN experts want better gold data as trade fuels Congo violence

The UN experts documented multiple rapes, killings and forced labor by the groups.

Bloomberg News | June 19, 2022 

DRC gold. (Image by USAID Land, Flickr).

Governments need to improve and make public their gold trade data to help stem smuggling and violence around mines in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations independent group of experts on Congo said in their annual report Friday.


The report documented inter-ethnic fighting over gold deposits and widespread mineral trafficking involving armed groups and security forces across Congo’s border with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. The experts also traced gold to Dubai and India, with Chinese nationals involved in the trade as well.

The report recommended that UN member states “publish, on a yearly basis, complete production statistics, and complete and disaggregated statistics, on the import and export of natural resources, including gold, coltan and tourmaline.” Coltan is used in mobile-phone batteries, and tourmaline is a gemstone.

Congo’s natural resource trade has fueled conflict in its mineral-rich east for more than two decades, but high gold prices since 2020 have led to a surge in informal gold mining.

The violence has been particularly acute around the massive Mongbwalu gold deposits in Congo’s Ituri province, where rebels from the Cooperative for the Development of Congo, or CODECO, which says it represents the interests of the Lendu community, have fought with a rebel group called Zaire, which says it represents the Hema community.

The UN experts documented multiple rapes, killings and forced labor by the groups.

CODECO also kidnapped eight Chinese nationals involved in gold mining for about a month at the end of 2021, causing the Chinese embassy to advise its citizens to leave Congo’s eastern provinces. The mines ministry responded by prohibiting the involvement of foreign nationals in artisanal mining, which makes up a large portion of the gold production in eastern Congo.

Congo Gold Raffinerie Sarl is set to launch the country’s sole gold refinery this year in the eastern city of Bukavu, and its owners told the experts that it will source gold only from “credible cooperatives” and “green” sites approved by the government that have no links to armed groups.

The company told the group it hoped to refine around two tons of gold monthly.

(By Michael J. Kavanagh)

Vedanta selling halted copper smelter, four years later

Cecilia Jamasmie | June 20, 2022

Vedanta’s smelter closure dented India’s copper output by almost half and turned the country into a net importer of the metal. (Image courtesy of Sterlite Copper.)

Shares in Vedanta Ltd. (NSE: VEDL) fell more than 12% on Monday after the oil-to-metals Indian group put up for sale a copper smelter complex shut for four years after the death of 13 protesters in an alleged police firing.


The Mumbai-based company, India’s largest miner, said potential buyers had until July 4 to submit expressions of interest.

Vedanta was ordered to shut its 400,000 tonnes per annum copper smelter in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state in May 2018. The decision followed week of violent protests against the company’s plans to expand the plant’s capacity, which locals blamed of polluting their air and water.

The round of protests that ended with the death of 13 people was condemned by a working group of United Nations’ human rights experts for the “excessive and disproportionate use of lethal force by police”.

Vedanta, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, has fought multiple court battles to restart the smelter, which was operated by its unit Sterlite Copper.

The case rests now with the country’s Supreme Court, which hasn’t set a date to hear the case.

Vedanta’s smelter closure dented India’s copper output by almost half and turned the country into a net importer of the metal.

In the first two years of the shutdown, refined copper imports rose more than three times to 151,964 tonnes in the financial year ended March 2020, while exports fell 90% to 36,959 tonnes, according to a government statement.

(With files from Reuters)

How platinum can help clean up wastewater, make it potable

Staff Writer | June 20, 2022

Platinum. (Image by James St. John, Flickr).

Researchers at the University of Southern California have found that platinum is a key ingredient to help clean even the most stubborn toxins from wastewater.


As wastewater treatment for potable reuse becomes a more viable and popular option to address water shortages, the scientists began thinking about how to address the presence of aldehydes, which are chemicals that stubbornly persist through treatment and that are toxic to humans.

In a paper published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the researchers introduce the idea of using platinum to clean the toxins in water in the same way the metal is used in catalytic converters to clean up air pollutants in car exhaust. In their view, the precious metal can be employed to speed up oxidation to transform once-toxic aldehydes into harmless carboxylic acids.

“When wastewater is recycled the resulting water is very pure, but not 100% pure,” Dan McCurry, one of the study’s co-authors, said in a media statement. “There’s still a tiny amount of organic carbon detectable and these carbon atoms could be attached to molecules that are very toxic or completely innocent. This has perplexed people for years, particularly because the carbon is able to make it through so many treatment layers and barriers.”

According to McCurry, a study conducted at UC Berkeley revealed that one-third to one-half of these molecules are present in the form of aldehydes.

Aldehydes are chemical compounds characterized by a carbon atom that shares a double bond with an oxygen atom, a single bond with a hydrogen atom, and a single bond with another atom or group of atoms. They are also generally toxic to humans, meaning that their long-term consumption could result in a variety of chronic and life-threatening illnesses such as cancer.

Until now, however, catalytic oxidation of organic pollutants in water without electrochemistry, the addition of electron-accepting oxidant chemicals, or photochemistry, had not been sustainably demonstrated.

Enter platinum, one of the few oxidants that is non-toxic and can utilize the oxygen in water to catalyze a reaction abiotically, that is without the use of microbes.

McCurry explained that there are about eight milligrams per litre of dissolved oxygen in water. While O2 is a potent oxidant from a thermodynamic perspective, the reaction is slow. With platinum, the process speeds up. For a while, McCurry and his team of researchers used platinum to oxidize different pharmaceuticals as a matter of experimentation. After a year of trial and error, the idea of using platinum in water treatment to oxidize contaminants emerged.

“It would happen essentially for free, and because the oxygen is already in the water, it’s the closest you could get to a chemical-free oxidation,” the researcher said.
The price of platinum

McCurry acknowledged that platinum is expensive, but also noted that the cost, like for a car’s catalytic converter, is relative. “Your car probably has between one and 10 grams of platinum in it. The amount isn’t trivial. If it’s cheap enough to put in a Honda Civic, it’s probably cheap enough to put in a water treatment plant,” he said.

The scientist clarified that his breakthrough is not as relevant for most existing water reuse plants, as many of them favour indirect potable reuse. This is where, after all the water treatment and recycling processes are complete, water is pumped back into the ground—so they are essentially creating new groundwater whose aldehydes are likely eaten by some microbe.

“But more and more people are talking about direct potable reuse,” McCurry said. “Where we are talking about a closed water loop where water goes from the wastewater treatment plant to the reuse plant and then either to a drinking water plant or directly into the distribution system into homes and businesses.”

In these cases, aldehydes could potentially reach consumers. While they are currently unregulated, McCurry suspects that the presence of aldehydes in recycled wastewater will soon attract regulatory attention.

“This is the problem we didn’t realize we had a solution for, but now we know, this catalyst, which we had been using to oxidize random pharmaceuticals for fun, works great on oxidizing aldehydes—and would allow for direct potable reuse water to meet future regulatory guidelines and safety standards,” the researcher said.

Fission Uranium signs agreement with Indigenous communities for PLS project in Saskatchewan

Staff Writer | June 20, 2022

Summer exploration at Patterson Lake. Credit: Fission Uranium

On its way to develop what could be the next low-cost uranium operation in Canada, Fission Uranium (TSX: RCU) has reached another major milestone with the signing of an engagement and capacity agreement with the Ya’thi Néné Lands and Resources Office (YNLR).


YNLR is the representative body of the Athabasca nations and communities of the Nuhenéné, on whose territory Fission’s Patterson Lake South (PLS) project sits in Saskatchewan. Fission is currently advancing the project through the feasibility study and environmental assessment phase.

This agreement outlines a process for Fission and YNLR to engage meaningfully in respect of the PLS project, and it strengthens the positive and constructive working relationship the parties have developed. During this stage of engagement, Fission and YNLR will work to identify potential areas of interest or concern related to Indigenous rights and culture, traditional land and resource use, and community interests, and options to address those matters.

The capacity funding provided by Fission to YNLR as part of this agreement will facilitate the sharing of information between the parties with respect to the environmental assessment and other aspects of early planning and design for the PLS project.

“This agreement is built upon the mutually respectful and constructive relationship that Fission and the YNLR have developed. Its purpose is to establish a framework for ongoing engagement and to facilitate YNLR participation as the PLS project advances,” Fission CEO Ross McElroy said in a statement.

According to Fission, this agreement reflects its commitment to building strong relationships with rights holders, including first nations and Métis communities, throughout the life of the PLS project. The company has met with and continues to engage regularly with representatives of rights holders and communities in the Patterson Lake area.

The goal is to ensure that all rights holders remain up to date regarding the PLS project’s current status and future plans. Early in 2023, the company plans to expand its engagement program to seek input from key stakeholder groups including local municipalities, subject matter experts, land users, and regulatory agencies.

The PLS property, located in Saskatchewan’s renowned Athabasca Basin uranium district, is host to the region’s largest high-grade deposit (Triple R), with 2.2 million tonnes of indicated resources grading 2.1% uranium oxide (102.4 million lb. of uranium oxide) and 1.2 million tonnes of inferred resources averaging 1.22% uranium oxide (32.8 million lb. uranium oxide).

A 2019 pre-feasibility study on the PLS project highlighted a seven-year operation that would mine 2.3 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 1.61% uranium oxide for about 81.4 million lb. of uranium oxide. The project would take three years to construct, with an initial capital cost of C$1.18 billion ($910m).

Surging energy prices force Japanese steel giant to revisit coal

Bloomberg News | June 20, 2022 |

Credit: Nippon Steel Corp.

Nippon Steel Corp. is prepared to make more investments in coal mines after the energy source surged in price, as Japan’s biggest steelmaker looks at ways to stabilize the supply of one of its key raw materials.


International prices of coking coal, the variety shoveled into blast furnaces to manufacture the alloy, have spiked to unprecedented levels in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, Japanese steel mills, most of which are reliant on imports, are grappling with ballooning costs after a dramatic slide in the value of the yen.

It’s a dynamic that’s led Nippon Steel to study whether investing further in coal projects makes sense, particularly as miners come under pressure to divest those assets because of fears over global warming, Kiichi Yamada, the general manager of the company’s raw materials division, said in an interview in Tokyo last week.

Nippon Steel currently has minority stakes in six coking coal assets, mostly in Australia, including the Moranbah North project led by Anglo American Plc with production capacity of 15 million tons a year, according to the company’s annual factbook.

Yamada didn’t give any details on possible new investments. In the news, Japanese trading firm Mitsui & Co. has begun seeking buyers for its 20% stake in a joint venture that operates coking coal mines in Queensland, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review, which didn’t name its sources.

Nippon Steel’s potential move to bolster its upstream presence underscores how energy price inflation is forcing companies to prioritize their short-term operational needs over longer-term ambitions to cut carbon emissions. Manufacturing steel is intensely pollutive. In both China and Japan, the world’s no. 1 and no. 3 producers, it’s estimated to account for around 15% of each country’s total emissions.

For its part, Nippon Steel has promised to become carbon neutral by 2050, a plan that involves making more steel from melting scrap and replacing coal with hydrogen. The first means an expensive switch to electric arc furnaces, while the second involves substantial investment in a technology that’s promising but still uncertain. Mindful of the costs of getting to net-zero, the company has lobbied the government for billions of dollars in state aid.

In the meantime, coal mines that were being shunned for their baleful impact on the atmosphere are being given a new lease of life. Nippon Steel’s interest coincides with BHP Group’s U-turn just last week on its plan to exit from thermal coal, the kind used by power plants. The Australian mining giant’s about-face came after surging prices made the assets more valuable and a shift in investor attitudes eased pressure on the company to stop digging up the dirtiest fossil fuel.

Still, Yamada expects the market for coking coal to remain tight. It’s mined in fewer places around the world than the more ubiquitous and cheaper thermal kind. Japan bought about 70 million tons last year, over half of which came from Australia. Moreover, the broad shift to net-zero makes it harder for miners to finance new projects, entrenching the dominance of producers like BHP Group.

Prices are more than twice where they were a year ago, and given the limited opportunities to expand supply, “it’s structurally difficult for coking coal prices to fall,” Yamada said.

The Japan Iron and Steel Federation, which represents more than 100 producers and traders including Nippon Steel, has warned there’s a mismatch between steel prices and the cost of the raw material, and has set up a team to investigate. In India, the second-biggest producer, the steel industry is seeking government help to check the soaring cost of the raw material, the Business Standard newspaper reported last week.

Part of the problem, according to Yamada, may be how coking coal prices are reflected in the market. Five years ago, the company switched to using price assessments as the basis for procuring supply because the spot market had grown too volatile. But China’s ban on imports of Australian coal in 2020 has significantly cut the number of deals struck and left pricing less liquid. It may mean that prices don’t “fairly reflect the supply-demand balance,” he said.

Nippon Steel has begun discussing the problem with its suppliers. Resolving the issue will involve either enhancing the credibility of index-linked pricing or finding an alternative, Yamada said.

(By Masumi Suga, with assistance from Swansy Afonso)

Eighth and last missing miner found dead in flooded Burkina Faso mine

Reuters | June 20, 2022 

Drillers underground at Trevali Mining’s Perkoa zinc mine in Burkina Faso.

 Credit: Trevali Mining

The body of the last of eight miners who drowned in a Burkina Faso zinc mine owned by Trevali Mining Corp when it flooded on April 16 was found on Monday, the government said.


The seven other bodies have been recovered gradually from the mine’s underground passages since May 24, when the first four were discovered.

Hopes of finding any survivors had already dissolved by then, as rescue teams had found no one inside a chamber in which there had been a slim chance that the eight missing miners who had not managed to resurface might have sought shelter.

“After 66 days of searching, the eight miners who disappeared after the flooding… have finally all been found dead,” the government said in a statement.

The victims were six Burkina Faso nationals, one Tanzanian and one Zambian.

The Perkoa mine was flooded after torrential rain fell unexpectedly during the West African country’s dry season.

Both the government and Canada-based Trevali have opened investigations into the incident.

(By Thiam Ndiga and Sofia Christensen; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Martian moon could be crucial for asteroid mining

Staff Writer | June 21, 2022 

Phobos. (Image by NASA).

Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have shown that mining the Main Belt of asteroids that orbit between Mars and Jupiter could be done profitably if spacecraft were deployed from a station in an orbit similar to that of the Martian moon Phobos.


In a paper published in the journal Planetary and Space Science, astronomers Martin Elvis, Jonathan McDowell, and past Harvard undergraduate Anthony Taylor explain that even though space mining will likely start with near-earth objects (NEOs) or asteroids whose paths cross the earth’s orbital path, it will eventually start looking at the Main Belt of asteroids, as it contains about 10,000 times more resources than NEOs.

However, profitable mining entails balancing more than just the cost of travelling across a distance, and any asteroid mining operation must take into account the expense of the rendezvous—slowing the spacecraft down once it arrives—as well as the cost of shipping the ore back to a processing facility.

The cost (and weight) of the fuel needed to rendezvous is among the most critical parameters in the feasibility calculation. It is mainly determined by the parameter “delta-V,” a measure of the kinematic requirement of accomplishing a spacecraft maneuver, and is usually cited in units of kilometres per second. A rendezvous with an especially favourable NEO from a spacecraft in low-earth orbit involves a delta-V of about four kilometres per second.

But accessing asteroids in the Main Belt typically involves a delta-V of about seven kilometres per second, which leaves them energetically very difficult to reach from the earth.

Phobos, however, orbits about six thousand kilometres from Mars’s surface and offers a lower delta-V to the Main Belt asteroids.

According to Elvis, McDowell and Taylor, Mars itself offers some added orbital advantages because unlike the earth, with a nearly circular orbit, Mars’s orbital eccentricity and inclination also provide a lower delta-V path to the asteroids.

The authors, thus, suggest two-burn and three-burn scenarios (referring to the number of rocket ignitions needed) to accomplish a rendezvous, and they develop a computer code to calculate the energetics for known asteroid orbital classes. The results show potentially very significant reductions in the costs of exploration.

Whether or not a mission ultimately makes financial sense depends on many other factors, but, in the researchers’ view, the concept of launching and then returning to an operations center based in a Phobos-like orbit, or even on Phobos itself, is relatively convenient and advantageous.

GNOMES OF ZURICH

Switzerland imports Russian gold for first time since war
Bloomberg News | June 21, 2022 

Swiss National Bank. Stock image.

Switzerland imported gold from Russia for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, showing the industry’s stance toward the nation’s precious metals may be softening.


More than 3 tons of gold was shipped to Switzerland from Russia in May, according to data from the Swiss Federal Customs Administration. That’s the first shipment between the countries since February.

The shipments represent about 2% of gold imports into the key refining hub last month. It may also mark a change in perception of Russian bullion, which became taboo following the invasion. Most refiners swore off accepting new gold from Russia after the London Bullion Market Association removed the country’s own fabricators from its accredited list.

While that was viewed as a de facto ban on fresh Russian gold from the London market, one of the world’s biggest, the rules don’t prohibit Russian metal from being processed by other refiners. Switzerland is home to four major gold refineries, which together handle two-thirds of the world’s gold.

Almost all of the gold was registered by customs as being for refining or other processing, indicating one of the country’s refineries took it. The four largest — MKS PAMP SA, Metalor Technologies SA, Argor-Heraeus SA and Valcambi SA — said they did not take the metal.

In March, at least two major gold refineries refused to remelt Russian bars even though market rules permit them to do so. Others, such Argor-Heraeus, said they would accept products refined in Russia prior to 2022, so long as there were documents proving that the gold had not been exported from Russia after beginning of the war, and that accepting them would not benefit Russia, a Russian person or entity anywhere in the world.

Some buyers remain wary of Russian precious metals, including bars minted prior to the war which are still tradeable in western markets. In palladium, it’s created a persistent dislocation between spot prices in London and futures in New York, due to the greater risk of receiving ingots from Russia in the latter.

Switzerland has been importing small quantities of palladium from Russia — the world’s biggest miner of the metal — since April.

(By Eddie Spence)

FPX, Indigenous partner sign MOA for Decar nickel project in British Columbia

Staff Writer | June 21, 2022 | 

Decar nickel-iron project, British Columbia. Image by FPX Nickel

FPX Nickel (TSXV: FPX; OTC: FPOCF) has executed a new development memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the Decar nickel district with Binche Keyoh Bu Society, which represents the Keyoh families within the Binche Whut’en in central British Columbia.


FPX has had a longstanding memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Decar with the Tl’azt’en Nation, which included Binche Keyoh families, prior to the de-amalgamation of Binche from Tl’azt’en and formation of the Binche Whut’en in 2019.

The new MOA between FPX and the Binche Society formalizes protocols for continuing the co-operative working relationship established between FPX, the Binche Society, and constituent Keyoh families regarding exploration and development activities at Decar.

The MOA confirms the support by the Binche Society and constituent Keyoh families for offsite engineering and scientific studies and onsite field programs. It also describes how project activities will be managed with respect to cultural and environmental interests of the Binche Whut’enne, ongoing community consultation activities, and socio-economic benefits to the Binche community through capacity funding, and business and employment opportunities.

“Since the beginning of exploration activities at Decar in 2008, FPX has worked respectfully with the traditional Keyoh families of Binche Whut’enne and Tl’azt’enne to create shared value through employment and economic opportunities, while also being responsible stewards of the natural environment,” Martin Turenne, FPX’s president and CEO, commented.

“This agreement signifies that the Binche Whut’enne Keyoh families are recognized as the true title and rights holder that have the decision-making authority for their traditional family Keyoh territories,” Chief Dwayne R. Martin of Binche Whut’en added.

The Decar nickel district is FPX’s flagship project, covering 245 km2 of area in the Mount Sidney Williams ultramafic-ophiolite complex, located 90 km northwest of Fort St. James. Nickel-iron alloy mineralization has been identified in four target areas within this complex, with the main exploration focus being on Baptiste, which has shown promise for bulk tonnage, open pit mining.

Based on its most recent resource update (2020), the Baptiste deposit is estimated to contain 2 billion tonnes of indicated material, grading 0.12% nickel, for 2.43 million tonnes of contained metal.

Learn more about the Decar nickel district at www.FPXNickel.com.

Trudeau’s energy chief unveils low-carbon industrial strategy

Bloomberg News | June 21, 2022

Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson. 

(Image courtesy of Province of British Columbia.)

Canada is launching an industrial strategy for its natural resources, with critical mineral infrastructure, hydrogen production and other low-carbon projects set to be a major focus.


The strategy, formally known as the Regional Energy and Resource Tables, will see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government partnering with each province to “identify, prioritize and pursue opportunities.”

The rollout began this month in British Columbia and Manitoba in the west, and the east-coast province of Newfoundland and Labrador, with the program set to reach every other region by early 2023.

“It’s being a little bit more thoughtful about economic strategy,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in an interview, describing the effort as an industrial strategy. “It’s about actually pulling together the kinds of resources, and looking at the kinds of processes that typically prohibit rapid movement towards securing those opportunities.”

Wilkinson, speaking via video-conference Monday, said the primary goal is to accelerate the energy transition from fossil fuels in each region, and to engage Indigenous groups and industry players on how to best achieve quick results.

The types of projects each region is keen to advance with the government is already becoming clear, the minister said.

In Newfoundland “we probably have at least six or seven large-scale hydrogen production projects using electrolysis, using wind, a number of which have been proposed by pretty credible counterparties and have relationships in Europe that would actually take the hydrogen,” Wilkinson said.

In British Columbia, officials are particularly interested in hydrogen, critical minerals and the electrification of heavy industry, Wilkinson said. In Quebec, it’s battery manufacturing and how the critical mineral supply chain can feed into it. In Ontario, electric vehicle production is likely to get attention. And in oil-rich Alberta, carbon capture projects will be key.

“Part of the job of this table will be prioritizing those, looking at where they’re at, are they ready, and looking at the tools that we could bring to the table,” the minister said.

He pointed out that one tool the government wields is, of course, money, with C$3.8 billion ($2.9 billion) already earmarked for critical minerals in the April budget.

On top of that, “we have a billion and a half dollars in the Clean Fuels Fund, we have eight billion dollars in the Net Zero Accelerator, we’re setting up the Clean Growth Fund, we have the Canada Infrastructure Bank,” he said.

Wilkinson emphasized that the focus needs to be on getting projects moving forward as soon as possible if the energy transition is going to happen at scale.

“The average mine takes 15 years to bring into production,” he said. “In the context of the energy transition, we don’t have 15 years if we’re actually going to provide enough of the minerals to be able to support just the battery development. So it behooves us to bring everybody into the room to figure out how to do it.”

Canada’s emphasis on critical minerals also aligns with the priorities of its neighbor and biggest trading partner, with the US hoping to shift its dependence away from rival nations like China for their supply. “What we can really contribute in a world of friend-shoring is critical metals and minerals and energy,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday alongside Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen after a joint meeting in Toronto.

(By Brian Platt)