Finland’s Port Strike Ends with New 25-Month Labor Contract

Dockworkers are returning to Finland's ports after a two-week strike (Helsinki file photo)

PUBLISHED MAR 2, 2023 5:56 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The two-week strike that stopped the loading and unloading of cargo at all of Finland’s ports is coming to an end after a collective bargaining agreement was reached on March 1. Finland’s Transport Workers' Union AKT and the port operators accepted the terms after an arduous series of negotiations. The settlement however came as labor disputes moved to other sectors in Finland including bus drivers who walked off the job hours before the agreement for the ports.

“At AKT, we are satisfied with both the signed collective agreement and the end of the labor dispute,” said Ismo Kokko, chairman of ATK. “The round has been difficult because the negotiations have included an exceptionally large number of external factors. From the beginning, we have negotiated our own starting points, taking into account the interests of our members. That's what was done now as well.”

The union said as a result of the agreement, it would end the industrial action against all the ports effective immediately. They expect dockworkers to return to their jobs “as soon as possible,” but no later than March 4, Saturday, to start normal work shifts. Maersk, which had suspended all service to Finland however advised customers to continue to defer shipments saying that it would advise them when the operations had resumed normally.

The union rejected two prior proposals by a mediator assigned to talks. They said they were seeking raises that kept pace with the current inflation rate in Finland as well as work rule changes. 

The collective barging agreement is for 25 months, ending on February 28, 2025. It includes a total wage increase of 6.3 percent plus a one-time payment to be paid next week of approximately $1,165 for full-time employees. The work rule changes included local agreement on the 10-hour working time format and for the rules on night ships.

The strike impacted Finland’s 10 major ports, including Helsinki, Hamina-Kotka, Hanko, Rauma, and Turku. With as much as 90 percent of the country’s trading moving by sea and the ports, foreign trade had been effectively brought to a halt since the dockworkers started their strike on February 15. The Finnish Port Operators Association had estimated that each day of the strike would impact more than $300 million in foreign trade.

The union earlier in the week reported that it had also come to terms for portions of the truck divers including the movement of petroleum products and terminal operations. Bus drivers however began a strike on March 1 that is scheduled to last 10 days after they failed to reach terms on a new contract and other segments of the union are also beginning contract talks later in the month.

The strike at the Finnish ports was similar to actions that hit Germany’s ports in 2022 as well as both Liverpool and Felixstowe in the UK. Contracts were resolved for those ports while the talks for the longshore workers on the U.S. West Coast that began in July 2022 continue to drag on despite a recent report of progress from the union and employers.

UK Union Plans More Strikes in North Sea Offshore Sector

Latest strikes are targeting crane operations on BP's North Sea platforms (BP Clair Ridge)

PUBLISHED MAR 3, 2023 2:20 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The UK union Unite is continuing its efforts to target operations at the North Sea oil platforms calling for improved working conditions and pay increases. Its latest action involves crane operators, maintenance workers, and lifting personnel as well as deck crews on BP platforms working for Sparrows Offshore Services, which is involved in the supply operations. This follows a just concluded negotiation for drillers working at some of the same BP platforms while they are moving forward with strike votes for other elements of the industry.

“Corporate greed is at its peak in the offshore sector because the workforce is seeing none of these astronomical profits coming into their pay packets or through improved terms and conditions,” says Unite General Secretary, Sharon Graham. She accuses the industry of being “awash with record profits” saying the union is fighting for better jobs, pay, and conditions.

Sparrows personnel working on BP’s Andrew, Clair, Clair Ridge, ETAP, Glen Lyon and Mungo installations have reportedly overwhelmingly backed Unite for a strike action. The union says it will involve a series of 24 and 48-hour stoppages designed to add pressure to their current negotiations. They warn however that the nearly 50 crane operators, maintenance and lifting personnel, and deck crews could escalate to an all-out strike and a complete overtime ban.

The union is calling for an 18 percent increase in pay for 2022 or alternately longer break periods between field work with no reduction in pay. They are also demanding time and a half pay for all overtime work.

Sparrows personnel plays a critical role in the day-to-day operations of the platforms. Unite notes they are responsible for the safe transfer of all supplies coming to the platforms. Virtually all goods, including food and water, delivered to these BP installations are transferred by boat. The crane operators bring the supplies to the deck.

Vic Fraser, Unite Regional Officer, says at issue is members' concerns about fatigue and physical and mental burnout. He accuses the platform operators of not listening to members and not providing them with the same work schedules as most other offshore workers.

The announcement of this strike comes just a week after Unite announced it had reached an agreement for nearly 100 drillers working for Odfjell Technology also on the BP Clair and Clair Ridge platforms. Unite had announced in early February that the drillers would conduct 24-hour stoppages. The agreement for the drillers provides three weeks of paid time off work per year. Unite says this equates to around an 11.5 percent wage increase.

“Although it brings this particular dispute to an end, offshore operators need to wake up,” said Fraser announcing the agreement for the drillers. “Continuing with a three on and three off rotation causes unacceptable physical and mental burnout and fatigue. Ultimately, it also leads to staff shortages.”

The union's actions against the offshore oil sector are likely to continue. The GMB and RMT trade unions are also balloting their members within Sparrows on BP installations. Unite has also recently said that it is conducting balloting including for 300 workers at Stork Technical Services, which conducts maintenance and lifecycle services at 30 platforms in the UK North Sea, and for 700 members who work for German offshore engineering company Bilfinger. These actions would be scheduled likely in April. 

The salt on your table could be key for the green energy transition

Staff Writer | March 1, 2023 | 

Salt grains. (Reference image from Pexels).

A new study led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Bureau of Economic Geology describes how large underground salt deposits could serve as hydrogen holding tanks, conduct heat to geothermal plants, and influence CO2 storage.


Published in the journal Tektonika, the paper also highlights how industries with existing salt expertise, such as solution mining, salt mining, and oil and gas exploration, could help make this regular ingredient a key component in the energy transition.

“We see potential in applying knowledge and data gained from many decades of research, hydrocarbon exploration, and mining in salt basins to energy transition technologies,” lead author Oliver Duffy said in a media statement. “Ultimately, a deeper understanding of how salt behaves will help us optimize design, reduce risk, and improve the efficiency of a range of energy transition technologies.”

Duffy pointed out that salt has an influential role in shaping the earth’s subsurface layers. It is easily squeezed by geologic forces into complex and massive deposits, with some subsurface salt structures taller than Mount Everest. These structures and their surrounding geology offer a number of opportunities for energy development and emissions management.

“The co-location of surface infrastructure, renewable energy potential, favourable subsurface conditions and proximity to markets are key to plan for subsurface hydrogen storage,” said study co-author Lorena Moscardelli, director of the bureau’s State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery (STARR) program. “STARR is currently engaged with emerging energy opportunities in West Texas that involve hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization and storage potential for the region.”

Salt domes are proven containers for hydrogen used by oil refineries and the petrochemical industry. According to the paper, these salt formations could also be put to use as holding pens for hydrogen bound for energy production. Moreover, the porous rock surrounding them could be used as a permanent storage spot for CO2 emissions.

The study describes the potential benefits of co-locating hydrogen production from natural gas called “blue hydrogen” and CO2 storage. While the hydrogen is sent to salt caverns, the CO2 emissions generated by production could be kept from the atmosphere by diverting them to the surrounding rock for permanent storage.

According to the researchers, with its numerous salt domes surrounded by porous sedimentary rock, the Texas Gulf Coast is particularly well suited for this type of combined production and storage.

The study also touches on how salt can aid in the adoption of next-generation geothermal technology. Although the industry is still in its early stages, the scientists show how it can make use of salt’s ability to easily conduct heat from warmer underlying rocks to produce geothermal power.

Goldman warns carmakers against buying miners: ‘It always end in tears’

Bloomberg News | March 1, 2023 | Lithium

Broken down Tesla on road side. Credit: Adobe Stock

Car manufacturers acquiring mining companies to secure raw materials needed for electric vehicle batteries will end badly if history is any guide, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s head of commodities.


History is littered with examples of consumers trying to move upstream in commodities markets, Goldman’s Jeff Currie said in an interview Wednesday with Bloomberg Radio.

“It always ends in tears,” he said. “Going in and being involved in mining projects in places like Southern Africa, it requires an expertise that is very different than producing cars.”

Currie was commenting in response to a question about the prospect of Tesla Inc. acquiring Sigma Lithium Corp. The electric-car maker has been mulling a takeover of the miner amid rampant demand for the material crucial to powering EVs, Bloomberg News reported last month, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Automakers have been pushing into mining more aggressively to lock in supply for batteries that increasingly are replacing internal combustion engines. Stellantis NV took a 14% stake in a McEwen Mining Inc. copper subsidiary, and General Motors Co. is said to be vying for a stake in Vale SA’s base metals unit. In January, GM struck a $650 million pact with Lithium Americas Corp. to develop the top US lithium deposit.

Car companies will be better off sticking to their core competencies and reducing their exposure to commodity price swings through hedging, said Currie, who declined to comment on Tesla specifically.

(By James Attwood, with assistance from Caroline Hepker and Tom Mackenzie)

Denarius resource supports restart of 230-year-old Colombian gold mine

Staff Writer | March 1, 2023 | 

A computer rendering of the Zancudo project site south of Medellin in Colombia. 

Credit: Denarius Metals

Denarius Metals’ (TSXV: DSLV) first resource estimate for its Zancudo project to revive an 18th century gold mine in Colombia confirms its high-grade potential.


The Toronto-based company plans to restart production this year from the former Independencia mine dating to 1793. It produced as much as 2 million oz. gold-equivalent until 1948 from the site 27 km south of Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city.

The Zancudo project holds an inferred resource of 2.8 million tonnes grading 6.5 grams gold per tonne and 112 grams silver for contained metal of 576,000 oz. gold and 10 million oz. silver, Denarius said in a news release on Wednesday.

The inferred resource contains 718,000 oz. gold-equivalent when grading at 8 grams gold at a 4-gram cut-off over a 1-metre minimum width, the company said.

“We see an opportunity to develop near-term production and cash flow through local contract miners and long-term growth through exploration,” Denarius CEO Serafino Iacono said in the release. “The local contract miner has already commenced activities to rehabilitate the mine workings.”

Denarius also said Wednesday it sold its Guia Antigua gold project 130 km northeast of Medellin back to Aris Mining (TSX: ARIS) for $2.2 million to help fund Zancudo’s crushing equipment, road construction and infrastructure restoration.

The company is to carry out in-fill drilling this year to upgrade resources at Zancudo. Gran Colombia Gold (TSX: GCM) and Iamgold (TSX: IMG; NYSE: IAG) drilled its principal veins from 2011 through 2021. Diamond drilling in 149 holes totaled more than 40,100 metres, including from 33 underground holes in the old mine.

Mineralization at Zancudo occurs in stacked mantos and steeply dipping veins that have been mined over a strike length of 3,500 metres, Denarius said. The veins vary in average width from 0.35 metres to 3 metres, while mineralization runs 400 metres deep.

“The mantos and veins have early-stage base metal sulphides (pyrite, sphalerite, galena, arsenopyrite) infilled by quartz or quartz-carbonate gangue, with banded textures that are typical of epithermal veins,” Denarius said. “This initial resource estimate confirms the historically significant high gold-silver grade potential of this project as it remains open for further expansion in all directions.”

Denarius is also active in the Iberian Pyrite Belt. The company issued an C$8.3 million rights offering in January to explore its Lomero-Poyatos polymetallic project in Spain. The company plans drilling to update the project’s resource estimate and prepare a preliminary economic assessment.

Controversial Lithium Mine Moves Forward in Nevada

Molly Taft
Fri, March 3, 2023 

A geologist points to an area for future development in 

Thacker Pass in this photo from 2018.

Construction began this week on a controversial lithium mine in Nevada after a federal appeals court denied an 11th-hour attempt to halt the project.

In a decision issued Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court denied an appeal filed Monday by Western Watersheds Project, longtime opponents of the mine, that would have temporarily halted construction on the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. In a press release, the project’s owner, Canada-based Lithium Americas Corp, announced that it officially broke ground on Wednesday.

Why is lithium important?

The mine site covers one of the largest deposits of lithium in the U.S., and General Motors this year invested $650 million in the project, which will become North America’s biggest lithium mine. Lithium is a crucial component of electric vehicles and batteries; experts expect demand for the material to skyrocket in the coming decades as the world transitions to clean energy. The Biden administration has made expanding the domestic supply of clean energy minerals a priority.

But lithium and other clean energy materials come with a host of problems, including concerns around the environmental degradation that comes with mining as well as overseas supply chains rife with child and forced labor. An analysis released earlier this year calls some of these demand models into question, finding that centering public transit and smaller vehicles in the clean energy revolution could significantly reduce global reliance on these minerals.

What’s going on with Thacker Pass?

The Thacker Pass project has been mired in controversy for the past two years, since the federal government granted a permit for it to move forward. Some Native tribes in the area say the mine is situated on the site of a massacre of more than 30 members of the Paiute Tribe in 1865, making the land a sacred site.

In January 2021, in the twilight of the Trump administration, the Bureau of Land Management fast-tracked final approval for the mine with a surprisingly short environmental impact statement, a move that critics say calls the environmental soundness of the permit into question. But in mid-February, a federal judge issued a ruling saying that the project’s opponents had not yet proved that there were significant environmental issues with the permit, and it allowed construction to proceed while mandating portions of the permit be reviewed. The appeal denied this week was a last-ditch attempt to temporarily pause that decision.

“This massive open pit mine has been fast-tracked from start to finish in defiance of environmental laws, all in the name of ‘green energy,’ but its environmental impacts will be permanent and severe,” Talasi Brooks, a lawyer for the Western Watersheds Project, said in a statement following Wednesday’s decision.

Some of the opposition to the Thacker Pass project has itself been problematic. Last year, E&E issued a blockbuster report finding that one of the green groups helping organize opposition on the ground was extremely transphobic.

Lithium Americas Corp said this week that it expects the Thacker Pass mine to begin producing lithium in the second half of 2026.

Gizmodo

Lithium Americas kicks off construction at Thacker Pass

Staff Writer | March 2, 2023 

Landscape at Thacker Pass. Credit: Lithium Americas

Lithium Americas (TSX: LAC) (NYSE: LAC) announced Thursday it has kicked off construction at its 100%-owned Thacker Pass lithium project in Humboldt County, Nevada, following the receipt of notice to proceed from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).


The announcement follows a federal court ruling from February rejecting claims that the project would cause “unnecessary harm to the environment or wildlife”, which delayed the mine’s construction after it was originally approved by former US President Donald Trump in 2021.

Construction commenced following a favorable court ruling in February for the issuance of the record of decision, which confirmed the permitting process for Thacker Pass was conducted “thoroughly and responsibly.”

“Starting construction is a momentous milestone for Thacker Pass and one we have been working towards for over a decade,” Lithium Americas CEO Jonathan Evans said in a news release.

“We are excited about the prospect of generating economic growth in Northern Nevada and playing a major role in the domestic lithium supply chain for electric vehicles.”

Thacker Pass is targeting 80,000 tonnes per annum of battery-quality lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) production capacity in two phases of 40,000 tonnes. Phase 1 production is expected to commence in the second half of 2026. The project is expected to create 1,000 jobs during construction and 500 jobs during operations.

Major earthworks have been awarded, Lithium Americas said, with activities expected to begin in the second half of 2023.

The proposed mine has the potential to be North America’s largest source of lithium for electric vehicle batteries and would support US President Joe Biden’s efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese supplies for the metal.

Measured and indicated mineral resources at Thacker Pass are estimated at 385 million tonnes averaging 2,917 parts per million (ppm) lithium for 6 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Inferred resources are 147 million tonnes averaging 2,932 ppm for 2.3 million tonnes of LCE.

In January, General Motors announced that it would invest $650 million in Lithium Americas to help develop the project, the largest investment by an automaker to produce battery raw materials to date.

Shares of Lithium Americas were down 4.3% by 12:15 p.m. ET following the construction announcement, giving the Vancouver-based miner a market capitalization of C$4.2 billion ($3.1bn).

Tesla lobbying to secure lithium from Chile — report

Cecilia Jamasmie | March 2, 2023 |

Tesla executives met last month with Chilean authorities, including the ministers of foreign affairs and mining, as well as representatives for the country’s development agency Corfo, as the electric cars maker redoubles efforts to secure supplies of battery metals, particularly lithium.


The hearings, local newspaper La Tercera reports, also included executives from Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), the word’s top lithium miner and the main competitor of Chile’s SQM (NYSE: SQM) in the Salar de Atacama salt flat, which contains the world’s highest known concentrations of lithium and potassium.

The official minutes of the meeting, disclosed by Corfo, show that Tesla is interested in knowing the agency’s development plans for the sector as well as the opportunities for collaboration with lithium producers such as Albemarle.

Talks come as the Chilean government is planning to take a page out of Mexico’s book and create a state-run lithium company, although authorities are open to let private companies in the sector through tenders.

While the administration has yet to release final details, it has said the proposed national lithium company will seek out minority partners to provide the technical knowledge the government lacks.

Private firms that win tenders may also be allowed to operate individual lithium projects under a minority stake.

The state-run miner’s first main asset would be Codelco’s lithium project at the Salar de Maricunga, a salt flat that hosts Chile’s second-largest reserves of the battery metal.
From mining to refining

Elon Musk wants more lithium, but only a handful of countries can supply the material key to the electrification of transportation.

While Tesla’s chief executive office has hinted in the past that the company planned to get into mining, he now says the firm is more focused on refining lithium than on extracting the battery metal.

The “limiting factor” is refining the metal, not actually finding it, as no country has a monopoly on deposits, Musk said Wednesday during the EV maker’s investor day.

Tesla’s goal is to produce 20 million EVs a year by 2030. It delivering around 1.31 million units in 2022.

Ahead of the 2023 investor day on Tuesday, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that Tesla had agreed to build a large factory in Monterrey.

The factory will be one of the country’s first that is entirely dedicated to the expensive and complex process of making electric cars

.

Albemarle has major lithium projects in Chile’s huge Atacama salt flats, pictured here.

 (Image by Valerio Pillar, Wikimedia Commons)

China’s lithium mining likely to face more scrutiny

Reuters | March 1, 2023

Salt Lake in Qinghai, China. (Image by Bfatphoto, Flickr).

China’s lithium mining will likely face disruption as the government steps up scrutiny of a range of problems that have emerged from extracting the metal, experts said on Wednesday.


Yichun, a city in the southern province of Jiangxi, suspended all lithium mining late last week to crack down on criminal activity, such as unlicensed and environmentally damaging mining..

Though at least some mining has resumed, experts said the government was increasing oversight of a sector that has boomed in recent years as lithium prices soared alongside burgeoning demand for battery-powered electric cars.

“Environmental issues and illegal mining are the prominent problems in Jiangxi, where around one third of domestic lithium resource supply comes from,” said Wu Wei, assistant professor at the China New Energy Policy Research Institute of Xiamen University.

“We’re likely to see regular inspections to regulate the industry as an effort for China to enhance its self-supply sufficiency of the metal critical in the new energy transition,” Wu said.

Jiangxi has large reserves of lepidolite, a lithium-containing mineral. But the relatively low grade of lithium in it requires heavy extraction, said Wu.

“The mining and processing also pollute water as a result of its byproducts like tantalum and thallium,” he said.

Yichun’s big miners with valid permits have resumed operations, even as the inspection continues.

“Our production is now normal,” an official at Yichun Tantalum Niobium Mine Company Limited, a major lithium miner and processor, told Reuters on Wednesday.

About a third of the area’s output is still suspended, however, due to a lack of permits, said a Shanghai-based lithium analyst who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Yichun’s Bureau of Industry and Information Technology could not be reached for comment.

The investigation comes after a sharp decline in lithium prices, triggered by slowing demand for electric vehicles in China.

Mining in Yichun has boomed in the last two years, growing from a couple of dozen ore selection plants to more than 200, said the analyst, adding that more inspections are likely.

(By Siyi Liu, Ningwei Qin and Dominique Patton; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Column: India cheers the return of ‘King Coal’ as industry sees buoyant future

Reuters | March 2, 2023 | 

Coal mine in Jharkhand, India. 

(Image: Screenshot of Sandeep Sharma video | YouTube)

India’s coal industry celebrated the return of its major conference after a three-year pandemic hiatus by presenting a bullish view of demand, rising supply from new mines and strong demand for imports.


“King coal is coming back and coming with a big bang,” Anil Kumar Jha, the chairman of Jindal Power Ltd., told the Coaltrans India conference, held this week for the first time since February 2020.

The sentiment was echoed by virtually every speaker at the event, although there was a wide variety of views as to how successful India will be at ramping up coal domestic coal output, and how quickly this can replace imports.

The industry’s confidence in a long and prosperous future for itself stands in contrast to India’s commitment to “phase down” coal-fired power generation and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2070.

There was no talk at all of phasing down coal at the event, rather the debate centred on just how high India’s coal demand will rise, with the consensus being it will jump to around 1.4 billion tonnes per annum by 2030 from around 1 billion tonnes currently.

As is always the case, the trick is separating the hype from the reality, and also distinguishing between short-term market dynamics and long-term trends.

The reality is that India has successfully increased domestic coal output, with official government figures released last week showing production in the first 10 months of the fiscal year that started in April 2022 reached 698.25 million tonnes, up 16% over the same period a year earlier.

It’s likely that India’s full-year output in the 2022-23 fiscal year will reach a record high, although still fall short of a target for just over 900 million tonnes.

The question is whether Coal India, the state-controlled miner that accounts for about 80% of the country’s total output, can continue to ramp up production at double-digit annual growth rates.

And even if Coal India can achieve what it has never been able to do in the past, can the railway and ports systems keep up with the increased output?

India is also betting that private mining companies will start to make a bigger contribution to domestic output as they start bringing mines to production.

Overall, the trend does appear to be for rising domestic output, but if history is any guide, it’s also likely that India will fall short of its longer-term targets.

The question is by how much, and whether the country will be able to source sufficient imports at a price that its utilities can afford.
Imports gaining

In the short term India’s imports of seaborne thermal coal are likely to accelerate, especially since the government invoked emergency measures last week requiring power plants that use imported fuel to operate at full capacity in order to avert potential electricity shortfalls as the summer demand peak approaches.

India’s coal arrivals are already heading higher, with data from commodity analysts Kpler pointing to a rise in thermal coal imports to 10.19 million tonnes in February, up from 9.71 million tonnes in January and the most since November.

Over the longer term, the trajectory for imports will depend on how successful India is at boosting domestic coal production, and shifting volumes around the country.

It’s likely that thermal coal imports may decline over the coming years, but predictions that this trade will end by 2030 are ambitious.

Where India will see increasing coal imports is in higher-grade metallurgical coal, used primarily to make steel.

India produces only small amounts of this grade of coal, also known as coking coal, and given the expected increase in steel production, it’s expected that coking coal imports will rise from around 63 million tonnes a year currently to around 100 million by 2030.

There was one question that participants at the Coaltrans India event were likely to skip around, and that was whether this additional coal the industry expects to produce will actually be needed.

India is rapidly rolling out renewable energies such as solar and wind, as well as boosting hydro generation.

In the 2021-22 fiscal year some 15.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity was installed, but only 1.4 GW of new coal-fired generation.

While thermal generation still accounts for 59% of India’s total capacity, the share of renewables is rising and was at 27% in March 2022, according to data from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

The share of renewables is expected to rise to at least 40% by 2030, and may even climb to half of India’s generation capacity.

India is building new coal-fired power plants, with data from the Global Energy Monitor showing 32 GW currently being built.

Given that each GW of generation requires around 3 million tonnes of coal annually, this implies the coming capacity additions will only need another 100 million tonnes, well below the 500 million tonnes extra the industry believes it will deliver by 2030.

There are other coal users, such as cement producers, but it’s unlikely they will need massive new volumes.

Overall, it appears the positive mood of India’s coal sector is justified, especially in the short term. But their vision of massive increases in output and demand for decades to come may yet prove overly optimistic.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Clyde Russell, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Stephen Coates)

Nippon Steel could buy more stakes in coking coal and iron ore mines

Reuters | March 2, 2023 | 

Teck’s Greenhills steelmaking coal operation in Elk Valley, British Columbia. 

(Image courtesy of Teck Resources.)

Nippon Steel Corp could buy more stakes in coking coal and iron ore mines even after its recent decision to invest in a Canadian mine, as it sees a risk of commodity prices staying high, an executive at the world’s No.4 steelmaker said.


Japan’s top steelmaker said in February it will spend around 1.15 billion Canadian dollars ($844 million) to buy a 10% stake in Elk Valley Resources Ltd (EVR), the coking coal unit to be spun off from Canadian miner Teck Resources Ltd.

Nippon Steel already owns stakes in several coking coal mines, procuring 20% of its annual 27 million tonne imports of the coal. The deal will boost that share to 30%.

But it may not be enough, as prices of key steel-making ingredients, including iron ore, could remain at high levels, executive vice president Takahiro Mori said this week.

“If a good mine goes up for sale, we will consider buying a stake,” Mori told Reuters in an interview, adding the search includes iron ore. The steelmaker now procures 20% of its 58 million tonnes of iron ore imports from its equity holdings.

Under the latest deal, to be completed in the April to March quarter, Nippon Steel has the right to raise its EVR stake to a maximum 17.5%.

“We aim to boost our stake to above 15% by around the middle of the next financial year to make it an affiliate,” Mori said, allowing it to incorporate some profits from the Canadian miner into its business profit.

Mori is cautiously upbeat on its earnings outlook for the next year starting in April.

“We expect a slight increase in our crude steel output after a slump this year, as automobile production will pick up after supply chain snags ease,” he said.

Thanks to a restructuring that included shutting down some blast furnaces, its marginal profit ratio has improved, he said, citing a 1 million-tonne increase in crude steel output that will boost its business profit by up to 50 billion yen ($366 million).

It steel output is forecast to fall 12% in the current year to 34.2 million tonnes.

Stronger earnings from overseas units including its Indian joint venture with ArcelorMittal and robust demand for its high-end seamless pipes used in energy projects will also contribute to a healthy profit next year, Mori said.

($1 = 1.3619 Canadian dollars)

($1 = 136.5500 yen)

(By Yuka Obayashi and Miho Uranaka; Editing by Jan Harvey)

Vale to turn Amazon mining waste into high-grade iron ore

Bloomberg News | March 2, 2023 |

Carajás National Forest. Credit: Wikipedia

Metals producer Vale SA is turning 37 years worth of mining waste at an iron ore complex in the Amazon into high-quality material to be used in steel production.


The company has started extracting scrap that had been dumped at a tailings dam at Carajas in northern Brazil since 1985 as part of a project at its largest iron ore operation. The material, which is rich in iron ore particles, will be processed into feed for a plant that makes pellets to be used in blast furnaces for steelmaking. The $485 million Gelado project will have an initial production capacity of 5 million tons a year.


The investment fits in Vale’s strategy of shifting toward higher-quality ore that requires less energy to process as the steel industry looks for alternatives to cut emissions. The world’s No. 2 iron ore producer said it wants to lead the supply of cleaner materials to its customers to capture higher premiums and achieve the target of cutting emissions from its suppliers and clients 15% by 2035.

Vale is using all-electric dredges to extract the 140 million tons of tailings, along with pumps powered by hydroelectricity instead of fossil fuels. After that, the ore undergoes a process that uses magnets to separate ferrous particles from contaminants and improve its quality.

The equipment will avoid emitting 484,000 tons of carbon dioxide over a decade, the Rio de Janeiro-based miner said, which is equal to the annual emissions of 104,000 gasoline-powered cars.

The operation is expected to reach full annual capacity of 10 million tons by 2026. That could translate into 8.3 million tons of pellets, or about a quarter of Vale’s total output last year. This is the first time Vale has used this technology in its northern operations. Gelado should help improve the safety of a tailings dam in the middle of Brazil’s Amazon forest.

“It’s an innovative process that seeks sustainability by exploiting the tailings deposited in the Gelado dam since the plant started operating in 1985,” said Joao Falcao, executive manager of the Carajas operations.

(By Mariana Durao)

Volkswagen board discusses two new North America plants at meeting

Reuters | March 3, 2023 | 

Volkswagen plant in the 1960’s. (Image courtesy of Roger W. |Flickr Commons.)

Volkswagen’s supervisory board will on Friday discuss plans for two new factories in North America, one production plant and one battery cell factory, two people familiar with the matter said.


While the committee is expected to approve a site for its Scout brand in the United States, discussions around a gigafactory are open-ended, the sources said. Other issues on the meeting’s agenda are Volkswagen’s annual results and its dividend, the people said.

A person familiar with the matter earlier this week said the supervisory board would discuss a new plant for the Scout brand, which is a key part of Volkswagen’s target to gain 10% market share in the United States.

Separately, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume in December said the carmaker had begun searching for a site for a battery cell factory in North America, adding Canada was “one logical option” due to its raw material resources.

“We are still working hard to find a suitable location for our first gigafactory in North America and are in good, constructive talks,” a Volkswagen spokesperson said on Friday, adding no decision has been made yet.

(By Jan Schwartz and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Miranda Murray and Matthias Williams)