Scientists crack the code of what causes diamonds to erupt

New research could spark future diamond discoveries

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

 

IMAGE: JWANENG DIAMOND MINE, BOTSWANA view more 

CREDIT: PROFESSOR TOM GERNON, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

An international team of scientists led by the University of Southampton has discovered that the breakup of tectonic plates is the main driving force behind the generation and eruption of diamond-rich magmas from deep inside the Earth.

Their findings could shape the future of the diamond exploration industry, informing where diamonds are most likely to be found.

Diamonds, which form under great pressures at depth, are hundreds of millions, or even billions, of years old. They are typically found in a type of volcanic rock known as kimberlite. Kimberlites are found in the oldest, thickest, strongest parts of continents – most notably in South Africa, home to the diamond rush of the late 19th century. But how and why they got to Earth’s surface has, until now, remained a mystery.

The new research examined the effects of global tectonic forces on these volcanic eruptions spanning the last billion years. The findings have been published in the journal Nature. 

Southampton researchers collaborated with colleagues from the University of Birmingham, the University of Potsdam, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Portland State University, Macquarie University, the University of Leeds, the University of Florence, and Queen’s University, Ontario.

Tom Gernon, Professor of Earth Science and Principal Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, and lead author of the study, said: “The pattern of diamond eruptions is cyclical, mimicking the rhythm of the supercontinents, which assemble and break up in a repeated pattern over time. But previously we didn’t know what process causes diamonds to suddenly erupt, having spent millions – or billions – of years stashed away 150 kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface.”

To address this question, the team used statistical analysis, including machine learning, to forensically examine the link between continental breakup and kimberlite volcanism. The results showed the eruptions of most kimberlite volcanoes occurred 20 to 30 million years after the tectonic breakup of Earth’s continents.

Dr Thea Hincks, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, said: “Using geospatial analysis, we found that kimberlite eruptions tend to gradually migrate from the continental edges to the interiors over time at rates that are consistent across the continents.”

Geological processes

This discovery prompted the scientists to explore what geological process could drive this pattern. They found that the Earth’s mantle – the convecting layer between the crust and core – is disrupted by rifting (or stretching) of the crust, even thousands of kilometres away.

Dr Stephen Jones, Associate Professor in Earth Systems at the University of Birmingham, and study co-author said: “We found that a domino effect can explain how continental breakup leads to formation of kimberlite magma. During rifting, a small patch of the continental root is disrupted and sinks into the mantle below, triggering a chain of similar flow patterns beneath the nearby continent.”

Dr Sascha Brune, Head of the Geodynamic Modelling Section at GFZ Potsdam, and a co-author on the study, ran simulations to investigate how this process unfolds. He said: “While sweeping along the continental root, these disruptive flows remove a substantial amount of rock, tens of kilometres thick, from the base of the continental plate.”

The typical migration rates estimated in models matched what the scientists observed from kimberlite records.

“Remarkably, this process brings together the necessary ingredients in the right amounts to trigger just enough melting to generate kimberlites,” added Dr Gernon.

The team’s research could be used to identify the possible locations and timings of past volcanic eruptions tied to this process, offering valuable insights that could enable the discovery of diamond deposits in the future.

Professor Gernon, who was recently awarded a major philanthropic grant from the WoodNext Foundation to study the factors contributing to global cooling over time, said the study also sheds light on how processes deep within the Earth control those at the surface: “Breakup not only reorganises the mantle, but may also profoundly impact Earth's surface environment and climate, so diamonds might be just a part of the story."

Macle twin diamond discovered in Arctic Canada by Tom Gernon

CREDIT

Professor Tom Gernon, University of Southampton

Diamond in its host rock (kimberlite)

CREDIT

Dr Richard Brown, University of Durham

Venetia Diamond Mine, South Africa

CREDIT

Professor Tom Gernon, University of Southampton

---

JOURNAL

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-023-06193-3 

ARTICLE TITLE

Rift-induced disruption of cratonic keels drives kimberlite volcanism

FAILED TECHNOLOGY

Carbon Capture and Storage projects in Denmark at risk from bitumen formation

Diagrammatic representation of chalk before and after supercritical carbon dioxide injection,

 with immobile oil and bitumen deposits blocking pores identified in black. 

Credit: Stenshøj et al, 2023.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is increasingly being cited to help our global warming crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through capturing carbon dioxide and storing deep underground. In the Danish North Sea, chalk rocks below the sea bed hold depleted oil and gas reserves and are now being considered for storing carbon dioxide to capitalize upon the pre-established infrastructure from the fossil fuel industry.

However, new research published in Marine and Petroleum Geology has considered the potential issues arising from interaction of the stored carbon dioxide with oil and gas (hydrocarbon) residues left in the rock, which can be up to 30% in chalk and 60% in sandstones.

Rasmus Stenshøj from Aarhus University, Denmark, and colleagues at the Energy & Environmental Research Center, U.S., conducted an experiment on a chalk sample of a few centimeters dating to the Upper Cretaceous (66 to ~100 million years ago) from the Halfdan Field of the North Sea.

The researchers recreated the environmental conditions of the rock from the seabed before injecting supercritical carbon dioxide (when it has properties of both a gas and liquid above a certain temperature and pressure) into the rock over a period of nine days. They then used a series of chemical and physical techniques to analyze the hydrocarbons present in rock samples taken before and after supercritical carbon dioxide injection.

Based upon temperature, different forms of hydrocarbons are present: light oil at 0–100°C, mobile oil at 100–200°C, semi-mobile oil at 200–300°C, immobile oil at 300–375°C and bitumen at 375–650°C.

Initial results revealed that the supercritical carbon dioxide caused lighter hydrocarbons to move through the rock, while heavier forms, such as bitumen and asphaltene-rich immobile oil, were left behind. This can cause blockages in the mobilization of the carbon dioxide through the rock and hamper the efficiency of the Carbon Capture and Storage system.

Importantly, the researchers found that the change in pressure at the exit point of the system resulted in more of the bitumen and other heavy hydrocarbon deposits, comprising up to 10.5% of the total rock volume here, whereas before the experiment this was just 4.17%. There is overall a distinct trend in increasing heavy hydrocarbon deposition through the system up to the exit point, thought to result from absorption of hydrocarbons by the supercritical carbon dioxide changing its solubility. Stenshøj and collaborators term this increasing bitumen from inlet to outlet the Avalanche Effect.

Hydrocarbon rock volume percentages (normalized) for the inlet injection site, the middle of the rock, and the exit outlet before and after supercritical carbon dioxide injection. There is a loss of the lighter hydrocarbons (blue, red and orange boxes) moving through the system while the heavier immobile hydrocarbons and bitumen in particular (purple and green) concentrate towards the outlet. Credit: Stenshøj et al, 2023.

Immobile hydrocarbon and bitumen percentages around the inlet before and after injection are somewhat similar, which the researchers state as evidence of the supercritical carbon dioxide mobilizing through the crude oil phase to extract lighter hydrocarbons for removal through the system, leaving behind the heavier bitumen. It is suggested that this results from a direct pushing force of oil from the carbon dioxide, rather than a splitting force.

Analyzing the samples under a microscope prior to injection revealed the pores in the rock contained a mixture of water and oil, but following supercritical carbon dioxide mobilization of oil, the latter was distributed throughout the rock pores replacing water, and even accumulating in the microscopic shells of the ancient fossils of organisms known as foraminifera. This occurs as the oil is drawn into the water-dominated pores by capillary forces, hence the sample became more oil saturated, which led to a change of color to darker brown.

The solubility of hydrocarbons in response to supercritical carbon dioxide is a complex process, which can be affected by changes in temperature, pressure, hydrocarbon content and clays. Clearly the accumulation of heavier hydrocarbons at exit points can lead to plugging of the Carbon Capture and Storage system, impacting its efficiency. With enhanced research into the siting of these storage systems based upon hydrocarbon content, the possibility of making a real difference to global warming remains a tantalizing one.

More information: Rasmus Stenshøj et al, Hydrocarbon residue in a Danish chalk reservoir and its effects on CO2 injectivity, Marine and Petroleum Geology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2023.106424

© 2023 Science X Network

Quantifying carbon leakage from enhanced rock weathering

TOP OF THE WORLD
Northern Fleet with missiles warnings north and south of Bear Island

Russia’s missiles’ impact areas are in the strategically important Bear Gap, the waters between mainland Norway and Svalbard where the shallow Barents Sea meets the deeper Norwegian Sea.

Control over these waters is important in a conflict scenario. A Russian submarine is more difficult to detect in the deeper Norwegian Sea (darker blue colors). 

Map: Google Earth / NotamMap / Barents Observer

By Thomas Nilsen

Barents Observer
August 07, 2023

Russia’s Northern Fleet notes the impact of missiles will happen sometime from August 11 to 15, from 5 in the morning to 18 in the evening.

There is no publicly available information about what kind of missiles or how many. Neither the press service of the fleet in Severomorsk nor Russia’s defense ministry in Moscow have detailed any pre-announced exercises involving the western Barents Sea.

The Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) differs from previous Russian navy warnings in the so-called Bear Gap as they now stretch much further west into the Norwegian Sea. All previous NOTAMs near the Bear Gap in the period after Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine in February 2022 have been northeast or east of Bear Island.

Russia’s Port Administration for Northwest and the Arctic, located in Murmansk, has published similar warnings to seafarers indicating there will be rocket firing in the area. If so, the Northern Fleet will most likely send warships to the two zones that are in international waters, but part of the Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). These are also important fishing grounds for Norwegian, Russian, and EU trawlers. When warnings of missile impact - and rocket shootings - are issued, most fishermen chose to stay away.

The Bear Gap is a military term for the strategically important waters between North Cape, Bear Island, and further north to Spitsbergen Island. This is where the Barents Sea meets the deeper Norwegian Sea and by that access to the North Atlantic.

In a conflict scenario, keeping control of the Bear Gap would be important for the Russian Northern Fleet to protect its strategic missile submarines in the eastern Barents Sea from NATO forces.

Russian Bastion Defence in relation to Norway and the Bear and GIUK Gaps. Source: Mikkola / RAND Europe report

Russian missiles jeopardize Norwegian Arctic SAR response

The NOTAM warnings place strong restrictions on possible search- and rescue (SAR) operations, says Lars Fause, Governor of Svalbard. Russia closes off huge areas north and south of Bear Island from Friday to Tuesday.

The Governor of Svalbard operates two Super Puma AWSAR helicopters, key to Norway's Search- and Rescue (SAR) capabilities in the Arctic. 

Photo: Thomas Nilsen

By Thomas Nilsen
Barents Observer
August 08, 2023

Bear Island is crucial for helicopter operations in the western Barents Sea as it holds a fuel deposit extending the range of achievable operations.

Located halfway between mainland Norway and Longyearbyen airport, Bear Island is also the point of no return for the smaller ambulance propellers flying northbound missions to Svalbard. It is here the pilot has to decide if the weather at Longyearbyen is good enough to land or if the flight must return to Tromsø or Hammerfest for fuel reasons.

The Barents Observer yesterday reported that Russia has announced closure of huge airspace and waters both south and north of Bear Island, forcing pilots and ship captains to make a long detour either east or west of the strategically located Arctic Island.

The Northern Fleet will sail out in the Barents Sea and has warned international aviation about missile impacts planned for the areas. Port authorities in Murmansk, responsible for Russia’s western Arctic regions, simultaneously warn about rocket shooting in the area.

Bjørnøya (Bear Island) is the southernmost island of the Svalbard archipelago, located halfway between mainland Norway and Spitsbergen. The weather station at the island is key to forecasting the Barents Sea. 

Photo: Thomas Nilsen

Governor concerned

The rescue service in Svalbard is part of the Norwegian rescue service.

“Our captains of the two rescue helicopters routinely, and in advance of missions, review NOTAM messages relevant for areas of operation,” says Governor of Svalbard, Lars Fause, to the Barents Observer.

He says the Russian warning to air traffic in the given area and time window “must be taken with the utmost seriousness.”

“It clearly places strong limitations also on possible SAR missions,” Fause makes clear.

Eminent Svalbardposten was first to report on the Governor’s worries.

Lars Fause assures his office will clarify potential impacts during the day.

“One thing is commercial airliners scheduled- and charter flights to and from Svalbard. Of equal importance is if the missile will limit our possibilities to the requisition of ambulance planes to the island,” he says to the Barents Observer.

Russia’s warning concerns airspace up to 10,000 meters (32,800 ft). While commercial airliners normally fly higher, ambulance propellers and helicopters are far below such limit.

For commercial airline captains, an important consideration to take is Russian missiles’ unreliable flight patterns, likely redirecting them to avoid flying over areas although the missile limit is set to 10,000 meters. Following the Russian-caused downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine’s airspace in 2014, insurance companies in dialogue with airlines agree to stay in safe distance.
Longer flying time

Spokesperson Anja Kristin Bakken with Norway’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centres confirms that the consequence for rescue operations using helicopter from the mainland or Svalbard is a detour to be taken to Bear Island if they need extra fuel.

“In the extreme, this can lead to longer time spent, which may have consequences for patients in need of evacuation from a vessel (MEDEVAC),” Bakken says to the Barents Observer.

Norwegian SAR helicopters are frequently picking up patients with injuries or illnesses that need to be treated as quickly as possible in hospital. The Norwegians assist all vessels, including Russia’s large fleet of trawlers fishing in Svalbard waters and the Barents Sea.

Anja Kristin Bakken underlines that although longer flying time, Bear Island is still within reach. “It just takes longer time,” she adds.

A helicopter can potentially refuel from a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel, but it is unclear whether any currently are sailing in the waters between Svalbard and Bear Island.

According to MarineTraffic.com, more than 10 expedition cruise ships are at Svalbard or en route to or from the archipelago this week.

Charter plane approaching Longyearbyen.

 Photo: Thomas Nilsen

Safety is Russia’s responsibility

Norway’s military Joint Headquarters keep an eye on developments.

“The Defence together with our allies follows the situation near our areas closely, and we have a good situation awareness on activities going on provided by our daily operations,” says Corporal Jonny Karlsen, spokesperson with the Joint Headquarters.

“A Russian NOTAM warning in this area is not abnormal, nor does it mean that the area is completely closed off to traffic at all times,” Karlsen says.

The missile launching hours set by the Northern Fleet for the period August 11 to 15 are active every day from 7 am to 8 pm CET.

Corporal Karlsen says it is for Russia to take responsibility for awareness that no one inside the area is in danger.

“For the Norwegian Armed Forces, this will not have any practical significance, but civil aviation will probably still have to fly around such a danger area,” Karlsen adds.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo has not replied to Barents Observer’s questions about the case.

The powerful Northern Fleet has Severomorsk north of Murmansk as the main base for its larger warships. 

Photo: Thomas Nilsen

After ten days aground in Franz Josef Land, researchers are evacuated from wrecked ship

Divers found damages to the hull of the research ship, and Arctic expedition was aborted.

The Mikhail Somov in Franz Josef Land. Photo: Floating University on VK

By Atle Staalesen

Barents Observer
August 07, 2023

The almost 50 years old vessel ran aground in shallow waters between the islands of Komsomolsky and Wilczek Land on the 24th of July. On board were 91 people, including a group of university students from Arkhangelsk.

The ship was on its way to or from the nearby Krenkel research station and the plan was to visit a total of 21 research stations across the Russian Arctic. About 800 tons of equipment was to be delivered to the remote stations.

Those goods will have to be delivered otherwise. On 2nd of August, the people on board the Mikhail Somov were rescued by Professor Molchanov. Both ships are operated by Semeteo, the regional unit under the Russian Meteorological Service (Roshydromet).

On the 5th of August, the Professor Molchanov sailed southwards with the evacuated passengers.

The Professor Molchanov was sent from Arkhangelsk to rescue the passengers and crew of the wrecked Mikhail Somov.

 Photo: the Floating University on VK

The divers that were brought to site by the Professor Molchanov concluded that the hull of the Mikhail Somov is too damaged to continue the voyage, the expedition social media page informs.

It is unclear what will now happen to the aging ship.

On board the ship is a helicopter.

Rio Tinto releases interactive map of tailings facilities in alignment with GISTM requirements

Business Wire
Thu, August 3, 2023

MELBOURNE, Australia, August 04, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rio Tinto has today disclosed detailed information on 14 of its global tailings facilities and their progress towards conformance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM).

These tailings facilities are those rated Very High or Extreme under GISTM classifications, based on the highest potential consequences in the extremely unlikely event of a failure.

Rio Tinto Chief Technology Officer Mark Davies said "Since the tragic failure of the tailings facility at Brumadinho in Brazil in 2019, the entire industry has been working to improve the way we manage tailings facilities.

"Responsible tailings management is critical to ensure the safety of our people and communities and to protect the environment. It is fundamental for our business and social license. We have made considerable progress since August 2020 towards conformance with the GISTM. We have completed most of the work and have detailed plans to complete outstanding items.

"GISTM has meant a step change in how the industry manages its tailings facilities. Good tailings management is also about transparent partnership, and we have been working with the local communities near our facilities to increase awareness of our management practices and how we can best work together to continue to keep people and the environment safe from harm."

Details of these facilities and their progress in implementing the requirements of the GISTM can be accessed via an interactive map available at http://www.riotinto.com/tailings.

Column: Rio Tinto counts the cost of producing green aluminum

Reuters | August 4, 2023 | 

Credit: Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is finding out just how hard it is to produce low-carbon aluminum.


The company booked a $1.175 billion impairment charge against its two Australian alumina refineries in its second-quarter results.

This is in part down to what Rio Tinto called “challenging market conditions” for alumina, which is refined from bauxite and then fed into a smelter for conversion into metal.

But it is also down to the cost of decarbonizing two of the company’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters.

The short-term cost comes in the form of Australia’s new carbon tax on big industrial operators.

The long-term problem is the dependence of both Rio’s alumina refineries and aluminum smelters on a national power grid that is largely driven by coal and gas.

Such is the aluminum paradox. A metal that is core to the green energy transition comes with a heavy carbon footprint, the sector accounting for around 2% of all man-made emissions every year.

Carbon problems

Rio Tinto has conceded it is unlikely to meet its 15% target for reducing group emissions by 2025 without buying carbon credits, although it remains committed to its goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030.

The company’s biggest carbon headache is its aluminum business, which last year accounted for 21.1 million metric tons of carbon emissions out of a group total of 30.3 million metric tons.

Rio’s Canadian smelter network draws power from Quebec’s hydro-electric system, meaning its Atlantic operations generated 4.8 million metric tons of carbon equivalent last year, half the amount produced by its Pacific operations, according to Rio’s 2022 sustainability report.

The two Pacific region refineries, Queensland Aluminium (QAL) and Yarwun, with combined alumina production last year of 6.4 million metric tons, are responsible for half of Rio’s Scope 1 direct emissions in Australia.

Together with the company’s three power-hungry smelters, the Australian operations represent around half of the group’s direct and Scope 2 emissions, which include the carbon footprint of energy used in the aluminum production process.

Write-downs

Rio’s impairment charge, which comes in at $828 million after tax, comprises a complete write-down of the Yarwun refinery and a $227 million impairment of the QAL plant.

The company is evaluating a major capital investment project at QAL aimed at boosting efficiency and cutting emissions. If the so-called “double digestion” project doesn’t go ahead, the operation will also be fully written down, Rio said.

The trigger for the write-down is the Australian government’s revised Safeguard Mechanism, which came into force in July. It sets carbon caps on some of the country’s biggest emitters, forcing them to pay for carbon offsets if they breach the upper threshold.

That imposes extra costs on a business in which “we’re actually not really making money”, Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm told analysts on the company’s quarterly results call.

The baseline for calculating the carbon caps will decline by 4.9% each year until 2030, which the government hopes will allow companies time to decarbonize their operations.

Rio has won some concessions from the government on the basis that its aluminum assets are a strategic part of the country’s industrial profile, but its two refineries have still not escaped the negative financial impact.

Grid-lock

As well as looking at an upgrade at QAL, Rio has partnered with Japan’s Sumitomo Corp on a project to use hydrogen rather than natural gas at Yarwun.

The pilot plant will produce around 6,000 metric tons of alumina per year while cutting carbon dioxide emissions by about 3,000 metric tons per year.

This, however, is experimental technology and doesn’t provide an immediate solution to the bigger problem of decarbonizing Australia’s grid.

The country’s six alumina refineries were 93% dependent on coal or gas power in 2021, according to the International Aluminium Institute.

Rio’s three smelters and the Portland plant, majority owned by US producer Alcoa, are equally tied to fossil fuel power.

The scale of converting the existing grid to renewable energy is daunting.

Switching Rio’s operations to wind or solar would mean building a renewable energy park 12 times larger than anything so far constructed in Australia, according to Stausholm.

“So it’s not something you just solve from one day to another,” he told analysts.
Long-term threat

Rio is pursuing multiple paths towards greener aluminum in its North American operations.

It has partnered with Alcoa on producing aluminum using inert cathode technology, which will reduce Scope 1 emissions in the smelting process.

Construction of the first commercial-scale prototype cells has begun at the company’s Alma smelter in Canada with operations due to begin this year.

Capacity at the low-carbon AP60 smelter, also in Quebec, will be expanded by 160,000 metric tons per year, with commissioning expected in 2026.

Rio is investing heavily in recycled aluminum, which can be remelted using just 5% of the power needed to produce virgin metal.

The company has just announced a joint venture with Giampaolo Group, one of North America’s largest secondary aluminum operators, with the capacity to produce 900,000 metric tons a year of recycled metal.

But its Australian operations are going to remain a significant brake on the company’s journey towards a lower carbon future.

Rio views the business as “critical” to its wider portfolio, according to Peter Cunningham, the company’s chief financial officer.

It is also critical to Australia, not just because of its size but because, as Stausholm pointed out, it is “a business that can underwrite a lot of renewable energy”.

“But if we can’t get firm renewable energy at a competitive price, it’s going to be impossible for us to manufacture and export aluminum out of Australia,” he warned.

Rio’s predicament neatly encapsulates the power paradox facing aluminum producers everywhere. Going green needs green energy, and there’s not enough of it around right now.

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

(Editing by Jan Harvey)

One year after the mine collapse in Coahuila, Mexico: The interminable wait to locate the bodies of the 10 miners buried 197 feet underground

Authorities assure the victims’ families that the corpses will be recovered within the next few months

Geologists conduct reconnaissance work and drilling at the El Pinabete 

and Conchas Norte mines in Coahuila, Mexico.

MARIO JASSO (CUARTOSCURO)

ALEJANDRO SANTOS CID
Mexico - AUG 03, 2023 - 

On August 3, 2022, 10 miners were buried underground when the Pinabete coal shaft in Sabinas, Coahuila, Mexico, collapsed. A year later, their bodies remain there. In the first days after the collapse, the mission was a frantic and desperate struggle to rescue the workers alive, but now the sole objective is to recover the remains. The miners’ relatives are experiencing an interminable deferred mourning period, and the goal is to find the dead so that their families can finally bury them in graves marked with names and surnames, where they can mourn the dead, bring flowers, and get some closure after the traumatic experience.

Recovering the bodies has been a slow process. After four months of apparent inactivity, last December the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) began to use dynamite at the Pinabete mine. The objective was to open a huge pit to access the miners’ remains, which are about 197 feet (60 meters) underground. The main obstacle to doing so is that the tunnels were flooded with water as a result of their proximity to the Sabinas River.

Now, the salvage teams are a little closer to achieving their goal. Family members hope to recover the bodies in one or two months. In February, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador estimated that the bodies would be found in December, but official estimates have already been wrong more than once: at the end of August, after weeks of insisting that the rescue was imminent, Civil Protection gave a proposed time frame of between six and 11 months.

“It has been a difficult process, [one that’s involved] going to appointments with psychologists. My children aren’t getting over it; it is very different when they tell you that ‘a person died’ and you see him, he is in a casket, you bury him, you know where he is buried. We know where he is, but we don’t have access to that part of the pit,” explains Carolina Álvarez, the widow of Jorge Luis Martínez, one of the buried miners. “[Recovering the bodies] is something we all need to be at peace, calm. There are moments of anguish, of loneliness, when you start to think about many things, and you want it to be over. Not because of the fatigue of going [to work] every day; it’s not that. It’s no longer the heart [that aches]; it’s the soul that hurts so much. More so for my children, it seems to me that they need [closure] to be at peace.”

SABINAS, COAHUILA, MEXICO. 11/08/2022. 

Family and friends of the miners trapped in the "El Pinabete" mine walk with candles to the mine’s access point.

ANTONIO OJEDA

From hope to anger

Last August, the area around the El Pinabete mine was an adrenaline-filled scene of soldiers, rescue teams, family members refusing to go home and neighbors dropping off supplies. Despite the unlikelihood of rescuing the miners, there was a certain hope in the air, a belief that the 10 men would be seen alive again. Every minute was important, each small piece of news was seen as an opportunity for progress. But time went by, and hope gave way to a state of agony, frustration and anger.

On August 29, Andrés Manuel López Obrador subtly declared that the miners were dead. In his daily morning speech, which at the time was plagued with questions about the condition of the 10 men, he stopped talking about a “rescue” effort and referred to the response to the tragedy as an operation to “recover the bodies.” The news did not go over well with the men’s relatives, who grudgingly had to accept the obvious: that no human being can survive for a month in a cave 196 feet underground without drinking water or food, in absolute darkness.

It would be inaccurate to call the collapse an accident. Rather, it was a tragedy waiting to happen. The Pinabete mine was unusual in that the shafts through which the precarious elevator that the miners used to descend barely fit. It lacked even the most basic safety conditions, such as a list of who had entered and exited the mine. Pinabete was also located next to the old Las Conchas mine, which was abandoned decades ago. The Sabinas River, just a few hundred meters away, had flooded the abandoned Las Conchas tunnels for years.

On August 3, a deep, dry rumble shook the ground around the Pinabete mine as the miners were working in the shafts. The cause was the accumulated water at Las Conchas, which had finally made its way through the cracks in the subsoil and was sweeping through the tunnels, where the workers were cutting, at full speed. A few miners managed to escape. The 10 unluckiest ones remained below.

This Thursday, the victims’ relatives will hold a mass where the shafts used to be to honor the miners. The widows have continued to check that the operations are continuing. “We despaired because we saw no progress. Our hands are tied, and we can only wait for them to do their work, but for a few months now, we have been seeing progress. That has calmed us down; [it’s] not like [it was] at the beginning when we saw so much water everywhere,” says Álvarez.

She says that Civil Protection (PC) has promised to tour the pit on the 15th: “There is very little water left; they hope that there won’t be any water left over the next few days to begin the rescue.” A team of forensic anthropologists will begin to search the terrain to exhume the remains. This newspaper contacted Laura Velázquez, the PC coordinator in charge of dealing with the relatives, but there was no response before this article was published.

Work to locate the miners’ remains continues at El Pinabete mine in 2023.

CORTESÍA

Compensation and arrests

A two-pronged struggle began for the families in August. On the one hand, they were mourning the death of a loved one. On the other, they were fighting for compensation. The government provided each widow with 4.7 million pesos (about $250,000). Alvarez explains that, in her case, she has also been receiving a widow’s pension and an orphan’s pension for her two children, a total of 12,000 pesos ($700) a month. The El Pinabete mining company responsible for the extraction has declared bankruptcy. After the mine collapsed, the company started to pay the wives their husbands’ salaries — or at least a percentage of it — until the miners’ remains were recovered. At first, the company provided a salary of about 4,000 pesos ($23.11) a week, but the money stopped coming in October and has not resumed.

For the moment, two people have been arrested for the collapse. The first was Cristian Solís Saavedra, a sort of foreman, who was arrested in September. The families consider him to be a mere figurehead who only appeared in the contracts as the legal representative in case there were any problems. In May, Luis Rafael García Luna Acuña, one of the presumed owners of the company, was also arrested and charged with the “crime of illicit exploitation of an asset belonging to the nation.” A third person, Arnulfo Garza Cárdenas, is at large, and Interpol has issued an international warrant for his arrest.

The Attorney General’s Office believes that García Luna Acuña, Solís Saavedra and Garza Cárdenas “incurred criminal liability by allowing coal mining activities to be illegally carried out in the shaft.” However, the El Pinabete company had a contract with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) for 75 million pesos ( around $4.3 million). According to an investigation by the Animal Político website, the CFE described the extraction as “safe” and agreed to purchase all minerals extracted between 2020 and 2024.

Mining experts and the victims’ families point to CFE as another culprit in this tragedy. The agency is the key player in López Obrador’s electricity reform, and 99% of the coal it buys comes from the Coahuila coal region.

But since the collapse, the mining company has not adopted new safety measures; the activity in Coahuila’s mines continues as usual. This July, two men died in another shaft accident, also in Sabinas. Year after year, victims continue to mount. According to the records kept by the victims’ families, over 3,100 miners have died in this region since coal mining began at the end of the 19th century.

Coahuila is a poor area, and the only employment opportunities are in the mines or in the maquilas, the factories, which are safer but far more precarious. Experts warn that if new economic outlets are not provided and safety conditions in the mines are not regulated, more miners will die in Coahuila.

The 10 miners who died at El Pinabete


1. José Rogelio Moreno Morales (22 years old), José Rogelio Moreno Leija’s son.

2. Ramiro Torres Rodríguez (24 years old)

3. Hugo Tijerina Amaya (29 years old)

4. Jorge Luis Martínez Valdez (34 years old)

5. Sergio Gabriel Cruz Gaitan (41 years old)

6. Jose Rogelio Moreno Leija (42 years old), Jose Rogelio Moreno Morales’s father.

7. Mario Alberto Cabriales Uresti (45 years old)

8. José Luis Mireles Argüijo (46 years old)

9. Margarito Rodríguez Palomares (54 years old)

10. Jaime Montelongo Pérez (61 years old)

EL   PAÍS USA Edition

China Baowu wants new models of cooperation with Vale

Reuters | August 3, 2023 | 

Stock image.

The world’s largest steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group Corporation has held talks with Brazilian iron ore miner Vale on potential opportunities for future cooperation, according to an update on its WeChat account on Thursday.


Hu Wangming, chairman of the group, held a face-to-face meeting with Eduardo Bartolomeo, Vale’s chief executive officer, at Baowu’s headquarter Shanghai.

Hu said Baowu and Vale need to explore new models of future cooperation to achieve sustainability in the steel value chain.

He hopes to keep a stable iron ore supply with a reasonable price.

The meeting came after Hu, previously the general manager, stepped into his new role in June.

Both sides also discussed cooperation in investment in mineral resources as well as the research and development of the low-carbon metallurgical technology, it said without giving further details.

(By Amy Lv and Andrew Hayley; Editing by Alison Williams)

Vale Indonesia plans to divest 14% stake – minister

Reuters | August 4, 2023\

Image courtesy of PT Vale Indonesia.

Nickel miner Vale Indonesia is planning to divest 14% of its stake this year to fulfill divestment rules, Indonesia’s mining minister Arifin Tasrif told reporters on Friday.


The shares will be sold to MIND ID, Indonesia’s state mining holding company, at a price negotiated between them, he said.

Shares of Vale Indonesia traded at 6,800 rupiah ($0.4482) per share on Friday on Indonesia’s stock exchange.

Under Indonesian rules, foreign miners are required to divest 51% of their stake to Indonesian buyers after a certain period of operation.

Vale Canada Ltd and Sumitomo Metal Mining in 2020 sold 20% of their stake in Vale Indonesia to the state holding company.

Vale Indonesia declined to comment, while Vale Canada, Sumitomo and MIND ID were not able to comment immediately.

($1 = 15,172.0000 rupiah)

(By Bernadette Christina Munthe and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

INDONESIA

Jokowi’s EV ambition takes a step forward with cathode factory

Bloomberg News | August 3, 2023 | 

Indonesian president Joko Widodo. 

President Joko Widodo’s ambition of building out Indonesia’s electric-vehicle supply chain is seeing another step forward with plans for a cathode plant.


Indonesian state miner Aneka Tambang, Indonesia Battery Corporation and a consortium led by South Korea’s LG Energy Solution Ltd. are building the facility as part of a $9.8 billion “grand package” to build battery production onshore, according to a statement by Indonesia’s investment ministry on Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country is the world’s largest source of nickel, a key material for high-performance batteries, and it’s seeking to use that advantage to build out an EV industry onshore. Indonesia has seen a rush of investments into building nickel smelters, followed by plans for a cathode precursor facility. A cathode plant would take the country one notch higher in the value chain.

Construction for the cathode plant will begin as early as this year after the companies resolved the trickiest part of the negotiation involving shareholding, LG Energy chief executive officer Young Soo Kwon said in the ministry statement.

The group of companies are also building a nickel smelter, cathode precursor factory and a $1.1 billion battery cell factory set to start production in April. Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the plans were set back after the US issued the Inflation Reduction Act, which disrupted the global supply chains for EV battery materials.

(By Fathiya Dahrul and Norman Harsono, with assistance from Eko Listiyorini)

Vale loses bid to block BHP’s London lawsuit in Brazil dam case

Reuters | August 7, 2023 | 

Reconstruction efforts at the Fundão tailings dam in 2017.

 (Image courtesy of BHP.)

Vale on Monday lost a bid to block fellow mining giant BHP Group’s bid to have it share potential liability in a 36 billion-pound ($46 billion) London lawsuit over Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.


More than 720,000 Brazilians are suing BHP, the world’s biggest miner by market value, over the 2015 collapse of the Fundao Dam, which was owned and operated by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and Brazilian iron ore producer Vale.

The disaster killed 19 people as more than 40 million cubic metres of mud and toxic mining waste swept into the Doce river, obliterating villages and reaching the Atlantic Ocean more than 650 km (400 miles) away.

BHP, which denies liability, applied in December to have Vale join the case and contribute to damages if they are found liable to the claimants.

The company argued that Vale should share in any potential liability because BHP Brasil and Vale both owned 50% of Samarco.

Vale challenged the jurisdiction of London’s High Court to hear BHP’s claim, arguing that any dispute between it and BHP should be heard in Brazil.

However, Judge Finola O’Farrell rejected Vale’s challenge in a written ruling on Monday. She said BHP’s claim against Vale essentially mirrored the claimants’ case against BHP, meaning it should be decided as part of the existing lawsuit.

A BHP spokesperson said Monday’s ruling would have no impact on the underlying case.

They also pointed to reparation and compensation programmes implemented by the Renova Foundation, a redress scheme established in 2016 by Samarco and its shareholders, which has funded more than $6 billion of rehousing, rehabilitation and indemnification for those affected by the disaster.

A Vale spokesperson said the company will “carefully consider” the court’s ruling. They also said Vale “reaffirms its commitment to repairing the damage caused by the Fundao dam collapse”, under agreements with the Brazilian authorities.

Tom Goodhead of law firm Pogust Goodhead, which represents the claimants, welcomed the decision.

“It’s time for BHP and Vale to both do the right thing and to engage with the claimants in this case in order to affect an effective resolution,” he said in a statement.

(By Sam Tobin and Clara Denina; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)