Colombians face food, medicine shortages as protesting miners block roads

Reuters | March 12, 2023 

Blockade in Colombia’s Antioquia department. (Image by Antioquia’s Governor Aníbal Gaviria Correa, Twitter.)

Up to 300,000 people in Colombia are suffering shortages of food and medicine after informal and illegal gold miners blocked roads in protest of the destruction of their machinery by authorities, ministers said on Thursday.


Small, medium and large-scale gold miners in 12 largely rural municipalities across Antioquia and Cordoba provinces protested the destruction earlier this month of nine so-called “dragons” – floating machines that suck up silt and mud from rivers in search of alluvial gold.

The machines were causing “a highly sensitive disaster to the environment and endangering the lives of the inhabitants and future inhabitants in the area, as well as the environmental sustainability of the region,” Interior Minister Alfonso Prada said in a televised address.

Roadblocks caused by the protesting miners are affecting people’s lives across Antioquia and Cordoba, Prada said, adding that they were leading to shortages of food and medical supplies, such as oxygen tanks.

“As long as the roadblocks exist, the possibility of us returning to the table is nil,” Prada said, adding that the government had sought mediation from the Catholic Church to help reach an agreement.

Illegal mining in Colombia and other countries in South America is considered an environmental disaster due to the destruction it wreaks on numerous ecosystems, including mercury contamination in rivers.

“Currently, excavators in Bajo Cauca pump out almost 30 million cubic meters of earth and dump tonnes of mercury into the Cauca river,” Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said in the press conference.

After drug trafficking, illegal mining is considered the second biggest source of financing for illegal armed groups operating in Colombia, according to security sources.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said 65% of Colombia’s alluvial gold production in 2021 was illegal.

(By Oliver Griffin; Edited by Jamie Freed)

Mineros pauses Nechi Alluvial operations due to anti-gov’t protests in Colombia

Staff Writer | March 12, 2023 |

Nechí River is a river of northwestern Colombia. Credit: Wikipedia

Mineros SA (TSX: MSA) has temporarily suspended all operations at its Nechí Alluvial property due to ongoing protests by groups unassociated with the company against the Colombian government, which have caused disruptions throughout the Bajo Cauca region.


The Medellin-based gold miner said it will resume operations when it can ensure the safety and security of its employees and contractors, adding that an extended suspension of operations may “negatively impact” the company’s ability to meet its production guidance from the Nechí Alluvial project.

The Nechí Alluvial property is comprised of alluvial gold deposits found in the Nechí River lower basin that are predominantly mined through suction and bucket line dredging.

Dredging operations are carried out 24 hours a day, every day, at an extraction rate of 73,400 m³. Planned annual production from mid-2021 until the end of mine life in 2034 is 27 million m³, resulting in an average hourly production of more than 4,000 m³.

A 2021 technical report on Nechí Alluvial shows that the property hosts 376 million m³ in proven and probable mineral reserves at a grade of 109 milligrams per cubic metre, for 1.17 million ounces of contained gold.

EV batteries get some bling

Staff Writer | March 13, 2023

Diamonds. (Reference image from Rawpixel).

San Francisco-based NDB Inc. recently announced the launching of its Nano Diamond Battery technology.


The solution, which is an atomic voltaic cell for mid and high-power applications, uses diamonds – the hardest known transducer materials – to harvest energy.

In detail, the device generates electricity similarly to solar cells but, instead, uses radiation from radioactive decay instead of sunlight.

It combines an emitter, the NDB T1 transducer, and a collector that forms an ohmic and Schottky contact.

The energetic radiations released from radioactive decay scatter and deposit energy into the transducing elements. The isotope, together with the host, generates electricity on its own.

Several single units are attached to create a stack arrangement. These make a positive and negative contact surface similar to a standard battery system.

“The key principle of DiD is to create multiple independent and protective layers of defence to compensate for any NDB potential human and mechanical failures,” the company’s website states. “The stacks and the source are coated with a layer of polycrystalline diamond (PCD), which is known for being the most thermally conductive material. It also can contain radiation within the device and is the hardest material, twelve times tougher than stainless steel. This makes our product extremely robust and tamperproof.”

In NDB’s view, the technology has the potential to revolutionize the battery industry with a number of advantages over traditional lithium-ion batteries. Some of the notable features include a longer lifespan, durability and higher energy density.

“We are thrilled to be launching our crowdfunding and bringing NDB to the general public,” said Nima Golsharifi, CEO of NDB. “Our technology, which is protected by three pending patent applications, has the potential to change the sustainability and efficiency of the energy industry. It is an industry game-changer, and we are excited to bring it to market with the support of our investors.”

According to Golsharifi, the solution has already received significant interest from various industries, including electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and defence technology companies.

Botswana intent on selling more diamonds without De Beers

Reuters | March 9, 2023 | 

Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. Credit: Council on Foreign Relations via YouTube

Botswana will not drop its demand to sell a bigger share of the diamonds produced by its joint venture with De Beers, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Thursday, raising the stakes in talks to renew a sales deal that expires in June.


Botswana and De Beers mine diamonds under an equally-owned joint venture, Debswana.

Three-quarters of Debswana’s production, which was 24 million carats in 2022, is sold to De Beers. The balance is sold to state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC), which was set up under the current 2011 sales deal as Botswana sought to market gems outside the De Beers system.

Botswana supplies 70% of De Beers’ rough diamonds.

Last month, Masisi threatened to walk away from talks to renew the sales deal unless Botswana gets a larger share of output from the joint venture. He did not specify the size of the share it sought.

Masisi told reporters on Thursday that Botswana had denied itself the opportunity to sell its own diamonds through the 54 year-old joint venture agreement.

He added that the experience of selling diamonds outside the De Beers system, which sells unpolished, or rough, stones, had shown that Botswana could get more revenue.

“Besides the fact that the diamonds are ours, it doesn’t make sense for us to continue to relegate ourselves to participating in the rough space only. So, it’s only logical that we want more and we are going to get more. But through negotiation,” Masisi said.

De Beers chief executive officer Al Cook, who met Masisi in Gaborone on Friday morning, said he had a “constructive discussion” with the president.

“It’s very clear that, front and foremost in the president’s mind is the interest of the Botswana people. We as De Beers want to play our role in a strong, strategic partnership. I’m very confident that this partnership will go forward in a very good way,” Cook told reporters after the meeting.

De Beers says Botswana’s government receives more than 80% of returns from Debswana, including taxes and royalties.

The Anglo American Plc unit, which also has mines in Canada, Namibia and South Africa, sold rough diamonds worth $4.3 billion in 2022, a 13% increase over the 2021 sales. ODC’s sales were $1.2 billion in 2022, up from $963 million in 2021.

(By Brian Benza; Editing by Nelson Banya, Barbara Lewis and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Codelco gains sustainability certification for El Teniente mine
Reuters | March 14, 2023 |

El Teniente operation. Photo by Codelco.

Chile’s state-owned Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said on Tuesday it had obtained the Copper Mark sustainability certification for its flagship El Teniente mine.


The company said last year that it would seek the certification for all its operations by the end of 2023 and that El Teniente, located in a mountainous area about 100 km (62 miles) south of Santiago, would be the first to participate in the initiative.

The Copper Mark is a voluntary global program created in 2019 in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and each site must meet 32 sustainability criteria to achieve the international seal.

“The credentials obtained by El Teniente today show that we are on the right track, which will become even clearer during 2023, when all our operations centers complete their processes and, we hope, obtain this seal of global reach,” said Andre Sougarret, Codelco’s executive president, said in a statement.

In Chile, the largest global copper producer, the Centinela and Zaldivar de Antofagasta mines and the deposits of BHP’s Escondida and Spence already have the qualification.

Maximo Pacheco, Codelco’s chairman, has said the company is seeking a large-scale green push amid pressure from international clients and local regulations to produce more sustainable copper.

(By Natalia Ramos; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

MONTANA

Sibanye halts underground production at Stillwater West mine for four weeks
Staff Writer | March 13, 2023 |

East Boulder currently produces about 240,000 ounces of platinum and palladium in concentrate a year. (Image courtesy of Sibanye-Stillwater.)

Sibanye-Stillwater (JSE: SSW, NYSE: SBSW) said on Monday that it will suspend production from the lower levels of its Stillwater West mine in Montana for approximately four weeks following an incident that damaged the shaft infrastructure.


The incident occurred during scheduled non-routine maintenance on the winder, which services the vertical shaft accessing the deeper levels of the mine. It resulted in structural damage to the shaft headgear, winder house and winder rope, the platinum group metals miner said, adding that there were no injuries to personnel from this incident and investigations into the causes of the incident are underway.

Last year, the Stillwater mine was halted for nearly six weeks, as the South Africa-based company worked on repairing damage caused after widespread flooding in Montana. Following an initial assessment of the impact of weather-triggered inundation and mudslides, Sibanye-Stillwater said at the time that its operations were largely unaffected.

The damage to the shaft infrastructure will require remediation, and access to the deeper levels of the mine will be impacted while remediation is underway. Access to the upper levels (above 50 level) of the Stillwater West mine and the Stillwater East mine are unaffected and production from these areas, as well as from the East Boulder mine, will continue.

Production from the Stillwater West mine below 50 level will be suspended until the remediation is completed, resulting in approximately 25,000 equivalent ounces to 30,000 equivalent ounces less production for the year.

Further guidance will be provided once shaft repair schedules are finalized and production schedules have been fully optimized given current shaft constraints, Sibanye said.

Ivanhoe Mines posts near tenfold profit increase in 2022; stock rises

Staff Writer | March 14, 2023 |

View of the Kamoa-Kakula Mining Complex, with the Kakula North ore stockpiles in front and the Phase 1 and Phase 2 concentrators in the rear. Credit: Ivanhoe Mines

Shares of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) rallied on Tuesday after posting record highs in revenue and profit in 2022. The stock was up up 2.5% as of 11:30 Eastern Time in Toronto, valuing the company at C$13.9 billion ($10.1bn).


On Monday, the southern Africa-focused miner announced its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022, notching a record profit of $434 million, which represents a near ten-fold increase over the $45 million recorded in 2021. Its recognized revenue of $2.15 billion, operating profit of $1.27 billion and EBITDA of $1.39 billion were also record highs, based off 323,733 tonnes of copper sold in 2022.

The company, founded by billionaire Robert Friedland, had strong quarterly performance in Q4 2022, during which it sold 92,208 tonnes of copper and record revenue of $673 million, record operating profit of $418 million and record EBITDA of $451 million.

During the year, its Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo produced 333,497 tonnes of copper concentrates – within its guidance range of 325,000 and 340,000 tonnes – at cash costs of $1.39/lb. Production in the fourth quarter totalled 92,761 tonnes, partly owing to the early commissioning of the Phase 2 expansion that would double the operation’s nameplate production capacity.

Ivanhoe is now advancing the Phase 3 expansion of the Kamoa-Kakula, which includes a 500,000-tonne-per-annum, direct-to-blister flash smelter. This expansion is expected to be completed on schedule in late 2024, and, according to Ivanhoe’s estimates, would lead to improvements in cash costs by between 10% and 20%.

At current copper prices, it is expected that cashflow from Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 operations will be sufficient to fund the 2023 and 2024 expansion capital cost requirements of $2.53 billion, the company said.

Since entering Phase 1 commercial production on July 1, 2021, Kamoa-Kakula has generated $1.22 billion of net cash from operating activities, which has funded both the Phase 2 and Phase 3 expansion activities to date.

The Kamoa-Kakula copper complex is operated as a joint venture between Ivanhoe and China’s Zijin Mining. The project has been independently ranked as the world’s fourth-largest copper deposit by international mining consultant Wood Mackenzie from 2025.

Elsewhere, Ivanhoe is continuing its copper exploration program on its Western Foreland licences that cover approximately 2,407 square kilometres adjacent to Kamoa-Kakula. The 2023 exploration program is budgeted at approximately $19 million and includes up to 70,000 metres of total drilling.

In mid-2023, the company plans to release an initial mineral resource estimate for its Makoko and Kiala high-grade copper discoveries in the Western Foreland, to be followed by a preliminary economic assessment.

Ivanhoe has also commenced an optimization study at its Platreef palladium, nickel, platinum, rhodium, copper and gold mine in South Africa to potentially accelerate production from the Phase 2 expansion. First production is scheduled for Q3 2024.

Japan, Canada in talks over collaboration in battery metals supply chain

Reuters | March 14, 2023 | 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. Credit: The Canadian government’s Twitter page

Japan and Canada are discussing collaboration on building strong supply chains for battery metals, Japan’s industry minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, said on Tuesday.


A public-private mission led by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and including 16 companies that work with batteries visited Canada last week for talks on building sustainable and resilient supply chains, he said.

“Canada has an abundance of battery metals and good market access to the United States,” Nishimura told a news conference.

“Canada is one of the most important countries for Japan when it comes to strengthening our supply chains of storage battery metals,” he said.

He declined to give details of the talks but said he would take various opportunities, including an upcoming G7 ministerial meeting, to reinforce cooperation with Canada.

As the chair of the Group of Seven nations (G7) this year, Japan will hold a ministerial meeting on climate, energy and environment in the city of Sapporo on April 15-16, ahead of a G7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21, to promote what it calls a realistic energy transition.

Batteries are key for Japan as it strives for carbon neutrality by 2050 as they are the most important technology in the electrification of automobiles and other devices and essential for boosting the adoption of renewable energy.

(By Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Work set to resume at Simandou after Guinea, shareholders agree on terms

Reuters | March 13, 2023 | 

Simandou deposit, Guinea. (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto.)

Guinean authorities and shareholders have agreed on the terms of a joint venture to mine Simandou, one of the world’s largest deposits of iron ore, paving the way for work to resume this month, the presidency said on Monday.


Guinea’s transitional government ordered work to stop last July to try to force the shareholders – which include Rio Tinto, Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco), China Baowu Steel (Baowu), and Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) – to agree on joint venture terms.


At the time, authorities said they needed clarification on how the West African country’s interests would be preserved as the companies tap into Simandou’s more than 4 billion tonnes of ore.

All parties signed a shareholder pact for the La Compagnie du TransGuinéen (CTG) joint venture on March 8, marking a “crucial step” in negotiations between the Guinean state and industrial partners, the presidency said in a statement dated March 8, but tweeted on Monday.

The CTG guarantees the government 15% of the Simandou iron ore as well as a free and non-dilutable 15% stake in railway and port infrastructure.

It also reaffirms previously stated commitments to eventually open the railway to passenger services and other users.

“Today marks the most important date in the development of the Simandou project,” WCS representative Robin Lu said after the signing ceremony, which was broadcast on state television late on Sunday.

The Simandou project has been haggled over for years, its exploitation delayed by legal wrangling and the difficulty and cost of building infrastructure.

Rio Tinto representative Lawrence Dechambenoit said the Simandou project had never come so close to fruition.

Under the CTG, Rio Tinto subsidiary Simfer, which Chinalco and Baowu also hold shares in, is expected to finance half the project, which has an estimated cost of between $15 billion and $20 billion. WCS will cover the other half.

Simfer S.A., which is owned by the government of Guinea (15%) and Simfer Jersey Limited (85%), itself a joint venture between Rio (53%) and Chalco Iron Ore Holdings (CIOH) (47%.

CIOH is held 75% by Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) and 20% by Baowu, with China Rail Construction Corporation and China Harbour Engineering Company each holding 2.5%.

Baowu’s representative in Conakry, Jiang Gongyang, said the CTG was “an important step for the Simandou project”.

The minister in charge of the presidency’s cabinet, Djiba Diakite, said he was confident different viewpoints would converge and called on all the industrial partners to take necessary steps to ensure work resumes this month as planned.

(By Saliou Samb, Anait Miridzhanian and Sofia Christensen; Editing by Barbara Lewis)

BHP inks $188m contracts with First Nations at Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan

Staff Writer | March 10, 2023 |

BHP to start potash production at Jansen in 2026. (Image courtesy of BHP.)

BHP (NYSE: BHP, ASX: BHP) announced Friday that as construction progresses at its Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan, it has awarded three new contracts in partnership with local First Nation communities.


Covering camp management, site services and raw ore/handling foundation, the contracts include representation from the six First Nations surrounding the Jansen site, with whom BHP has opportunity agreements in place.

The agreements, established in 2012, are a way that industry can forge new relationships with Indigenous Peoples to create local employment, business opportunities and build skills and capabilities of local residents.

“Across our operations, it is our ambition to create long-term relationships with Indigenous Peoples based on trust and mutual benefit – and these contract awards demonstrate this ambition in action,” chief commercial officer Vandita Pant said in the statement.

“By integrating local suppliers and Indigenous businesses into our supply chain we are working hand-in-hand with First Nation partners to build long-term positive outcomes for communities and for BHP.”

The three and a half year contracts are valued at over C$260 million ($187.8m), and will support more than 400 local jobs with over 50% planned to be Indigenous.

Since sanctioning Jansen Stage 1 in August 2021, a total of C$470 ($339.5m) million in contracts have been awarded to Indigenous businesses in the region, the miner said.

The camp management contract has been awarded to Wicehtowak Frontec Services, a joint-venture between ATCO Frontec Ltd. and George Gordon Developments Ltd. The joint venture was originally created in 2011 as a 50-50 partnership to support the construction of the Jansen Discovery Lodge, and today has evolved to a majority Indigenous-owned company.

The site services and raw ore/handling foundation contracts have been awarded to 2Nations Bird – a new partnership between Bird Construction Inc., Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation’s Willow Cree Developments General Partner Inc., and Fishing Lake First Nation’s development corporation, FLFN Ventures.

2Nations Bird will work with KDM Constructors, who represent Kawakatoose, Day Star and Muskowekwan Nations, as well as George Gordon Developments Ltd, the economic development arm of the George Gordon First Nation.

“Indigenous and industry partnerships, such as these, create economic and employment opportunities for our Nation and its members,” said Chief Ananas of Beardy’s & Okemasis’ Cree Nation. “It also allows us to develop capacity, learn from one another, and grow in tandem. More importantly, these types of relationships are critical to advance economic reconciliation which allows us to develop long-term, meaningful, and sustainable outcomes.”

Operations at Jansen are anticipated to start in late 2026, and BHP is working with other Indigenous groups to identify jobs and skillsets and partnered with local organizations in Saskatchewan to provide pre-apprenticeship programs to help build awareness of opportunities in the trades and prepare individuals for the skills necessary to enter the mining industry.

“Through these programs we hope to attract more people who may not have considered a career in mining, particularly women and Indigenous people in the region,” the miner said.

Three workers die in Spanish potash mine collapse
Reuters | March 9, 2023 |

The collapse at the mine in the town of Suria occurred just before 9 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) about 900 metres (984.25 yards) underground (Image Roasted Media.)

Rescue workers in northeastern Spain pulled out the bodies of three dead geologists from a collapsed tunnel hundreds of metres (yards) underground at one of Western Europe’s largest potash mines, Catalonian regional leader Pere Aragones said.


Two of the victims were students, one at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), where a minute of silence was observed on Thursday afternoon, and the other at University of Barcelona, UPC said on its website.

One of them had started internship at the mine just six days earlier, according to Patricio Chacana, head of the local unit of Tel Aviv-based ICL Group Ltd, whose subsidiary Iberpotash operates the mine.

“We are in profound mourning for the death of three of our comrades,” he told reporters, adding that technicians had reviewed the structural integrity of 10 reference points that morning, as they do every day and the company would investigate what had caused the collapse.

The incident at the mine in the town of Suria, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Barcelona, occurred just before 9 a.m. (0800 GMT). The remaining workers at the mine were evacuated, officials said.

Firefighters had erected a large tent outside the mine, while the company’s flag was flying at half staff even before authorities confirmed the deaths, first announced by the regional union USOC.

“Unfortunately, we can confirm the deaths of three people who were working in the mine … their bodies have been recovered and identified,” Aragones told reporters in Suria.

Catalonia’s business department top official, Roger Torrent, said the mine had passed a safety inspection in February.

In December 2013, Iberpotash said two of its workers died after a mine collapse in Suria.

Local media reported that a worker had been struck by a rock and died in June 2020 at the company’s Vilafruns mine in Barcelona province. Three weeks later, a miner was killed in a similar accident. The Vilafruns mine was shut down that year.

Potash is used as a fertilizer in agriculture and as a raw material in industries such as pharmaceutical, explosives, glassmaking and chemicals.

Potash prices have soared in the past year after the European Union sanctioned major supplier Belarus over its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

(By Horaci Garcia, Nacho Doce, Joan Faus, Steven Scheer, David Latona, Aislinn Laing and Charlie Devereux; Editing by Inti Landauro, Angus MacSwan and Tomasz Janowski)

Scientists use crab shells to develop battery anodes
Staff Writer | March 14, 2023 

Crab. (Reference image by João Pacheco, Pixnio).

Researchers at the Kyushu Institute of Technology and Shandong First Medical University are “upcycling” crab shells to create anode materials for sodium-ion batteries — an up-and-coming competitor to lithium-ion chemistries.


In a paper published in the journal ACS Omega, the scientists explain that although chemically similar to lithium, sodium ions are larger, and thus incompatible with a lithium-ion battery’s anode, which is typically made of graphite. However, when hard carbon is combined with metallic semiconductor materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), the material can become a feasible battery anode.

Previous research has shown that it is possible to create hard carbon using chitin in crab shells. Thus, authors Yun Chen, Yue Zhao, Hongbin Liu and Tingli Ma decided to explore how two different TMDs — tin sulphide and iron sulphide — could be combined with such hard carbon to make a viable sodium-ion battery anode.

To develop their “crab carbon,” they heated crab shells to temperatures exceeding 1000 F. They then added the carbon to a solution of either tin sulphide (SnS2) or iron sulphide (FeS2), then dried them to form anodes. The porous, fibrous structure of the crab carbon provided a large surface area, which enhanced the material’s conductivity and ability to transport ions efficiently.

When tested in a model battery, the team found that both composites had good capacities and could last for at least 200 cycles.

In the researchers’ view, this work could provide a route to upcycle other wastes and help develop more sustainable battery technologies.

China could control a third of the world’s lithium by 2025

Bloomberg News | March 12, 2023 | 

Stock image.

China’s efforts to ramp up lithium extraction could see it accounting for nearly a third of the world’s supply by the middle of the decade, according to UBS AG.


The bank expects Chinese-controlled mines, including projects in Africa, to raise output to 705,000 tons by 2025, from 194,000 tons in 2022. That would lift China’s share of the mineral critical to electric-vehicle batteries to 32% of global supply, from 24% last year, according to a note on Friday.

The race to secure lithium is playing out at the highest levels, with nations including the US prioritizing access to the materials necessary for making batteries as the world turns away from fossil fuels. China’s needs are particularly acute because it’s home to the world’s biggest market for new energy vehicles.

The rise in Chinese output will include an increase in material derived from lepidolite, a lithium-bearing rock often overlooked as poor quality and environmentally unsound because of its low yield and high energy costs. UBS sees lepidolite in China accounting for 280,000 tons of lithium in 2025, or 13% of global supply, from 88,000 tons last year, as the government continues to support the sector.

Beijing has already moved to curb unlicensed lepidolite extraction in Jiangxi province, a major mining hub, as it seeks to exert more control over its deposits.

China lithium probe puts spotlight on reserves and ESG risks

Bloomberg News | March 10, 2023 

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

If it’s grown, drilled or dug up, chances are there’s not enough of it in China.


Beijing’s ability to manage the mismatch between its scarce natural resources and vast industrial output is now playing out in the market for lithium, a mineral crucial to the world’s transition away from fossil fuels. It’s an effort complicated by skyrocketing prices, geopolitical tensions and the environmental devastation that can be wrought by a pell-mell approach to extraction.

China is the world’s biggest producer of new energy vehicles but holds only a modest slice of global reserves of lithium, used in the batteries that power electric cars. In that regard, lithium is of apiece with many of the commodities foundational to a modern economy — think crude oil for fuel, iron ore to make steel, or soybeans to feed pigs — where China is overly reliant on foreign supplies for its often world-beating production.

A government inspection last month, which has shuttered some producers at a lithium mining hub in eastern China, is a clear signal that Beijing is turning its attention to better marshaling its domestic resources of the mineral, against a backdrop of record prices and short supply across the globe.

Lithium producers in Jiangxi province’s Yichun city were targeted for environmental infringements and unlicensed mining, according to local media, threatening around a tenth of global output. Of particular concern was the extraction of lepidolite, a lithium-bearing rock often overlooked as lower-quality. The crackdown could signal that even lepidolite is now emerging as a key resource that officials are keen to preserve.

“Due to the mammoth growth of lithium prices over the past two years, there has been an increased interest in capturing and exploring lithium resources within domestic shores,” said Leah Chen, an analyst at S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Like many other metals, China is central to the supply chain, housing over half of the world’s refining capacity but relying on imports for about two-thirds of the raw material. According to the US Geological Survey, it accounts for 8% of the world’s reserves, which are mostly held in an igneous rock called spodumene. Saltwater lakes are another key source.

Lithium prices hit an all-time high last year as booming demand for electric vehicles outstripped production. Despite a drop of over 40% from its November peak, lithium carbonate, a refined version of the metal, is still eight times more expensive in China than it was in 2020.


Related Story: “Lithium OPEC” in South America could drive away investment, says Sigma Lithium CEO

It’s the kind of circumstance that often tempts miners to skirt regulations in the pursuit of big rewards. That can deplete reserves too quickly, put the environment at risk and could ultimately rebound on buyers in the autos industry if they run afoul of increasingly stringent ESG rules adopted by investors.
Dirty mining

Some Chinese companies had already been pulled up by the government for infringements, including incidents of pollution, before the February inspection of Yichun. Another issue is so-called high-grading, where miners extract the best material first without worrying about how to conserve a deposit.

“High-grading is always a concern in these unregulated, marginal mines that will unfortunately lead to more rapid exhaustion of the reserve,” said Martin Jackson​​​​, head of Battery Raw Materials at CRU Group.

For lepidolite, which accounted for about a fifth of China’s lithium output in 2021, according to the China Geology journal, there are additional costs arising from its low-yield that directly conflict with lithium’s climate-friendly credentials. Yichun’s lepidolite rocks contain less than 1% lithium, according to the journal, which typically makes extraction more energy-intensive and expensive.

Lepidolite is “is a little bit opaque to most of us, but what we see, generally speaking, is very high-cost production,” Paul Graves, the chief executive officer of US producer Livent Corp., told a BMO Capital Markets conference in February.

“I don’t like the word dirty,” he said. “I just can’t think of a better one. A difficult process to do in an environmentally friendly way.”

For every ton of lithium carbonate equivalent processed from lepidolite, 200 tons of waste is produced, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. All that needs treating and disposing of, said Tom Drabble, an ESG analyst at the consultancy.

“Some companies opt to sell the waste, but others have started to collect waste in large tailings ponds,” he said. “Tailings ponds have associated risks, if not managed correctly, of adversely affecting local communities through water pollution via leaching and taking up large areas of land.”

Some of China’s biggest names in batteries, including Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. and Gotion High-Tech Co., have invested in lepidolite mining to lock in supplies. That poses the question of whether they’ll eventually be penalized by investors for using raw materials with a big carbon footprint.

The checks have no impact on CATL and its project in Yichun is progressing as planned, the company told investors in a call on Thursday, according to a filing. CATL operates in strict accordance with local laws and regulations, it said. Gotion didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

While it’s too soon to assess the downstream impact, Chinese output that relies on domestic lithium production “is inferior to overseas-sourced, China-processed lithium in several key ESG areas,” Dennis Ip and Leo Ho, analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets, said in an emailed response to questions.


China’s lithium resources are mainly concentrated in Jiangxi, Qinghai, Sichuan and Tibet. It’s started looking in Xinjiang, too, a region that’s drawn scrutiny from US lawmakers amid allegations of forced labor that Beijing has denied. Chinese miners, automakers and battery manufacturers have snapped up resources further afield, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, increasing competition globally for a key resource.

“How to best utilize China’s reserves and how to be more self-sufficient have become more and more important, especially now there’s more geological tension, like between China and the US,” said Matty Zhao, head of Asia-Pacific research on basic materials at Bank of America Corp.

(By Annie Lee, with assistance from Jane Pong, Peng Xu and Martin Ritchie)

Zimbabwe’s ban on lithium ore exports triggers stockpile buildup
Bloomberg News | March 14, 2023 |

Zimbabwe is one of the top 10 lithium producers but currently produces only a fraction of the worldwide total. (Image courtesy of Prospect Resources | Investor Presentation at Mining Indaba, Feb. 2018. )

Zimbabwe’s ban on lithium ore exports has resulted in stockpiles of the key battery metal building up in the southern African country.


The ban — introduced by the government last December in a bid to encourage local processing of the metal — has resulted in 2 million tons of ore being stockpiled, according to Zimbabwe Miners Federation President Henrietta Rushwaya. Now the industry has asked President Emmerson Mnangagwa to review the ban as it threatens the viability of their operations.



“The unexpected ban has prejudiced standing offtake agreements between miners and international buyers, some of whom had taken loans from their respective countries to trade in these minerals,” Rushwaya said in the letter to Mnangagwa.

The ban has impacted small- and medium-scale miners, but it’s not clear how much lithium is contained in the stockpiled ore.

Most of the lithium from Zimbabwe — which has one of Africa’s largest resources of the metal — is usually shipped to China or South Africa, Rushwaya said by phone. Nations from the US to China are rushing to secure supplies of materials necessary for green-energy transition as the world turns away from fossil fuels.

Chengxin Lithium Group Co. and Sinomine Resource Group Co. are exploring a joint venture to set up a battery metals processing plant in Zimbabwe, while Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd. has invested $300 million to develop a processing plant at its Arcadia lithium mine.

(By Godfrey Marawanyika, with assistance from Ray Ndlovu)

Electra produces lithium from battery recycling trial

Staff Writer | March 13, 2023 |


Electra Battery Materials (NASDAQ: ELBM; TSX.V: ELBM) successfully recovered lithium, in its black mass recycling trial, conducted at its refinery north of Toronto.


Lithium is a critical mineral needed for the electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain. Black mass is the term used to describe the material remaining once expired lithium-ion batteries are shredded and all casings removed.

Black mass contains high-value elements, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, and graphite, that once recovered, can be recycled to produce new lithium-ion batteries. According to data from McKinsey & Company, available battery material for recycling is expected to grow by 20% per year, through 2040.

Electra launched its black mass demonstration plant at the end of December 2022 and has processed material in a batch mode, successfully extracting lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, and graphite. Electra says the recovery and subsequent production of a technical-grade lithium carbonate at the plant validates the company’s proprietary hydrometallurgical process and efforts to date in commissioning the refinery complex.

As a result of preliminary results achieved to date and interest expressed by potential commercial partners, Electra has decided to extend its black mass processing and recovery activities through June 2023, beyond the company’s initial target of 75 tonnes.

“Recovering lithium from black mass represents a potential game changer for Electra and the North American EV supply chain,” said Trent Mell, CEO of Electra. “From Electra’s perspective, it considerably strengthens the economics of our battery recycling strategy by providing another high-value product we can sell,” Mell said.

NOT INDIA'S IT'S KASHMIR'S
India to auction newly found lithium reserve
Reuters | March 13, 2023 |

Indian himalayas. Stock image.

India’s northern federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir will auction a lithium block discovered last month, the country’s mines minister said in parliament on Monday.


“The exploitation of lithium will depend upon successful auction of the mineral block,” minister Pralhad Joshi said, adding the timeline for an auction would be decided by Jammu and Kashmir authorities.

The block, with estimated reserves of 5.9 million tonnes, is the first known lithium reserve in the country.

(By Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Krishna N. Das)

Iran’s lithium discovery and potential implications to the global battery and electric mobility ecosystem

Jamil Hijazi | March 13, 2023 |

Iran is ranked among 15 major mineral-rich countries with potential reserves worth more than $700 billion. Image: Iran’s Travertine mine. Adobe stock.

While the mining sector has started to pick up in the Arab Gulf states (also referred to as the Gulf cooperation council [GCC]), Iran has introduced measures to expand its mining and metals sector in recent years as part of plans to diversify its economy away from oil revenues.


Around 7% of global mineral reserves can be found in Iran, making it one of the most important mineral producers in the world; possessing major reserves of zinc, copper, salt, coal, iron ore, uranium, lead, gold, bauxite (for aluminium), molybdenum, antimony, sulphur, sand and gravel, and possibly lithium.

Despite its enormous riches, Iran still struggles to operate its mining sector at full capacity. One major cause is a lack of necessary machinery and equipment. To tackle the latter challenge the Iranian government is focusing efforts on supporting an export oriented industry and knowledge-based manufacturers to research and produce new machines as part of areas for development in the extractives sector. Through mining, Iran was able to increase activity generating billions of dollars of hard currency revenues for the country while creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs for its youth.

Ebrahim Ali Molabeigi Iran’s minister of Industry announces “the discovery of the first lithium reserve estimated to be 8.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in Hamedan province signalling positive news of the possibility of other reserves in the western Iranian region”.

According to Mohammad-Hadi Ahmadi, the deputy head of the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade Department in Hamedan said “the country will be able to extract lithium from two newly discovered Lithium deposits in the next two years. The deposits cover an area of around 11 square kilometres in Qahavand Plain, located more than 50 kilometres to the east of the provincial capital of Hamedan.

The discovery had taken nearly four years, whereby the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade is currently studying technological capacities existing in two developed countries as part of efforts to start up the mines through a partnership with private investors. The ministry’s authorities expect more lithium ore deposits could be discovered in Hamedan through vast deposits of clay which is a source of Lithium.”

Should the 8.5 million-ton estimate be accurate, it may mean that Iran now holds the second-largest lithium reserve in the world. It will be the largest deposit outside of South America, second only to a 9.2-million-ton deposit in Chile. With global Lithium reserves estimated at 89 million tons, Iran may possibly possess almost one tenth of the world’s Lithium supply.”

Iran’s recent Lithium discovery will shift more attention to mining in the Middle East. Why? Firstly, because the strategic importance of the mineral demanded for most low carbon technologies that contribute to a low carbon future within the global battery and electric mobility ecosystem. Second, the geo-political weight that Iran can use Lithium as natural resource tool to negotiate the uplifting of existing sanctions imposed by the West (United States, European Union and its allies).

Third, Iran can market it’s mineral potential to further attract foreign investment of hard currency into the economy from Lithium exploration. Fourth which holds wider geo-political importance, Iran may leverage Lithium to further enhance its Sino-Relations with China. For example, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic ties under a deal facilitated by China.

China is the largest consumer of lithium due to electronics manufacturing and EV industries, producing more than three-quarters of the world’s lithium-ion batteries and controlling most of the world’s lithium-processing facilities leading the global battery race.

There remains a wider set of geo-political implications that may shift the fate of diplomatic relations between nations. Will the West re-establish negotiations with Iran and lift their sanctions if it means gaining access to Lithium which is demanded for their Battery and EV industries? Does the recent discovery by Iran further raise tensions with its neighbours?

Iran is the first in the Middle East to announce a lithium discovery, will this further push other countries in the region to explore their mining sector potential with a focus on searching for critical minerals and battery metals? Will lithium be the cause of an invasion and political instability in the Middle East? Will new alliances and mineral diplomacy form between countries?

No one can predict how the future will unfold, all implied geo-political questions and statements above present possible scenarios. As the Middle East’s first entrant into lithium, all eyes will be on Iran. Finding lithium in the region indicates that the middle east mining sector may become a new and key player supplying battery metals and critical minerals contributing to the global battery and electric mobility ecosystem.

Jamil Hijazi is a Mineral Economist and reporter who holds a Dual Master’s Degree from the University of Dundee Centre for Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law, and Policy (CEPMLP). His expertise and research interests are in: Supply Security of Critical Minerals, Energy transition, Industrial Policy, Economics of Mining and Metal Markets

Piedmont, Atlantic to seek legal advice against short-seller’s claims

Reuters | March 9, 2023 |

Atlantic Lithium has projects in Ghana and Côte d’Ivore. (Image courtesy of Atlantic Lithium.)

Piedmont Lithium Inc said on Thursday that the company and Atlantic Lithium Ltd will seek legal advice to address the claims made by short-seller Blue Orca Capital.


Blue Orca alleged in a report on Wednesday that the mining licences obtained by Atlantic in Ghana were through what appeared to be “textbook corruption”.

In 2021, Piedmont invested $100 million in Atlantic to secure spodumene – high-purity lithium ore – from Atlantic’s mine in Ghana. Piedmont has a spodumene supply agreement with electric-vehicle maker Tesla Inc.

Shares of Piedmont fell 1.6% to $58.58 in morning trade.

Piedmont has the right to buy half of Atlantic’s production at market prices on a life-of-mine basis, and to earn a 50% interest in the Ghanaian projects.

Blue Orca said in its report that Atlantic obtained key Ghana mining licenses by making secret payments and promises of payments to the immediate family of a high-level politician in Ghana. Reuters could not immediately verify Blue Orca’s allegation.

The short-seller also said it does not believe that authorities in Ghana will ratify Atlantic’s mining licenses, based on precedents in the country and around Africa.

Atlantic in a statement refuted the allegations made by Blue Orca.

Piedmont is planning to use spodumene concentrate from Atlantic as partial feed for its proposed Tennessee Lithium hydroxide plant.

The company, however, said that if for any reason it does not exercise its right to the offtake supply, Piedmont “is confident that alternative sources of spodumene concentrate would be available to feed the Tennessee facility.”

(By Arunima Kumar; Editing by Devika Syamnath)