US, EU plan new steel tariffs aimed at China, others

Reuters | September 7, 2023

Steel production. (Stock Image)

The United States and the European Union are working on an agreement for new tariffs aimed at excess steel production from China and other countries, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.


The measures would primarily target imports from China that benefit from non-market practices, it said, citing people familiar with the matter.


The scope of the measures, covering other countries that could be targeted and the level of the tariffs, are still being discussed, the report said.

The agreement would be part of the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum that the EU and the Biden administration have been negotiating since 2021, the report said.

“The EU and the US are fully committed to achieving an ambitious outcome for the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium (GSA) negotiations by October 2023,” a Commission spokesperson said, adding that any agreement would be in compliance with international obligations, such as WTO rules.

The office of the United States Trade Representative declined to comment on the report.

In 2018, US President Donald Trump imposed duties of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on aluminum imports, so as to shield US producers, sparking a major trade dispute with the EU.

In 2021, the two agreed to end the dispute and co-operate on the global arrangement instead.

The deal sought to let “limited volumes” of EU-produced metals enter the United States free of duty, while keeping the disputed tariffs.

(By Kanjyik Ghosh, Baranjot Kaur and Jyoti Narayan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Column: China’s zinc import surge a sign of renewed optimism

Reuters | September 7, 2023 |

Credit: Zinc China.

China has rediscovered its appetite for imports of refined zinc after a prolonged absence from the international market.


The country took in 76,800 metric tons of metal in July, the highest monthly tally since April 2019.

China has stepped up domestic output of refined zinc this year, but the Shanghai market continues to be plagued by low inventory and tight time-spreads.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) zinc price is outperforming the London Metal Exchange (LME) price , opening an arbitrage import window through which increasing amounts of metal are now flowing.

This is part and parcel of a broader trend in the base metals sector. Sentiment is improving in China as local traders bet on more policy support for the property sector, while Western spirits remain damped by weak manufacturing activity.

China’s imports, exports and net trade in refined zinc

Return to the import market

China was a consistent net importer of refined zinc over the last decade, but that changed in 2022.

Imports crashed from 434,000 tons in 2021 to just 79,000 last year. Exports, by contrast, mushroomed from 5,000 to 81,000 tons, meaning the country was a net exporter for the first time since 2007.

The tectonic shift in trade patterns was due to a combination of weak domestic demand and high physical premiums in Western markets hit by Covid-19 disruption and smelter closures in Europe.

China last year shipped zinc as far as Turkey and the US. Shipments of 3,300 tons to the US market were modest, but they were the first exports to the country since 2006.

Exports have all but evaporated so far this year, totalling just 5,000 tons in the first seven months.

Physical premiums in the West have significantly softened this year thanks to a partial recovery in European smelter output and weak demand.

Fastmarkets’ assessment of the premium for duty-paid metal in Antwerp has slid from a 2022 high of $525 per ton over LME cash to a current $300.

Now it is China that appears to be short of zinc.

Shanghai zinc stocks seasonal patterns over 2020-2023

Low inventory

ShFE registered stocks stand at a modest 43,181 tons. There was the usual seasonal rebuild around the lunar new year holiday period, but the March peak at just under 124,000 tons was well shy of last year’s April high of 179,000.

Low inventory has generated persistent tightness along the front part of the Shanghai forward curve. Cash has commanded a premium over forward months for most of the last year.

Off-market stocks, or “social inventory” as the Chinese call them, amounted to 81,500 tons across seven cities as of Aug. 25, according to local data provider Shanghai Metal Market (SMM).

That was down by 17,800 tons on the previous week, SMM attributing the drop to dip-buyers snapping up available metal.

Total visible and semi-visible zinc inventory in China is currently less than the amount sitting in the London Metal Exchange warehouse system, which currently holds 145,175 tons.

Mind you, the surge of metal into LME warehouses over early August looks set to go into reverse, with 64,000 tons of zinc cancelled in preparation for physical load-out over the last two weeks.

With LME stocks almost exclusively located in Singapore, Malaysia’s Port Klang and the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung, it is quite possible this metal is destined for shipment to China to capitalize on the open arbitrage.
Chinese optimism

China’s physical need for more zinc is surprising, given the country’s smelters have boosted output this year after power-rationing and curtailments in 2022.

Cumulative national output was 3.78 million tons in the first seven months of this year, representing a year-on-year growth rate of almost 10%, according to SMM.

However, high premiums in the north of the country have sucked zinc out of Shanghai and the province of Guangdong, it said.

The entire mainland zinc supply chain is also restocking in anticipation of what is deemed to be a seasonal peak for construction activity.

Sentiment, however, holds the real key to the Shanghai premium.

The ShFE outright zinc price has been rallying since the middle of August, hitting its highest level since April on Thursday.

It’s not the only metal enjoying a tailwind from China’s accumulating policy measures to stimulate a struggling economy, particularly the troubled property sector.

The entire ShFE base metals complex has been outperforming the LME complex, according to analysts at Citi. (“Metal Matters”, Sept. 5, 2023)

Most Shanghai metals, like zinc, are in backwardation, creating a Chinese cash premium. A profitable physical import arbitrage is open across almost all the base metals, the bank notes.

Citi expects imports to have increased in August with the potential for more strength in the closing months of the year.

That will depend on forward premium structures in both Shanghai and London, which in turn hang on whether all the optimism about a recovery in China’s troubled property sector is justified.

The country’s trade in refined zinc may prove a useful mirror on that question over the next few months.

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

(Editing by Jan Harvey)

Ecuador’s suspension of environmental consultations hits $2bn of investment – business leaders

Reuters | September 6, 2023 |

Ecuadorian Andes. Stock image.

Ecuador’s suspension of a decree enabling environmental consultations prior to the licensing of industrial and mining projects has paralyzed investments worth $2 billion, business associations said on Wednesday.


The Andean nation’s top court last month suspended the decree from outgoing conservative President Guillermo Lasso after Indigenous group CONAIE argued the processes favored development of mining projects over local communities.

The decree issued in May allowed the consultations for communities in areas close to the industrial and extractive projects to be used to obtain environmental licenses, seeking to speed up permitting.

“Today in Ecuador all industrial activities are shut down,” said María Eulalia Silva, president of the Ecuadorean Chamber of Mining. “This means freezing $2 billion in investments for a series of projects.”

“As productive sectors we are asking the court to allow us to work,” added Silva, who was accompanied by protesting miners and communities affected by the decision.

The Constitutional Court did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

At least 176 environmental consultation processes are currently suspended, including for projects such as mining, waste treatment plants and dams, among others, according to the environment ministry, which called the court’s decision “unacceptable.”

Environmental consultations, backed by the government, have seen strong resistance in Ecuador’s Andean region, where mining companies look to develop a variety of projects.

The Chamber of Industries and Production (CIP) said the lack of environmental consultations prevents new investments.

“This has made the country unattractive to foreign investors,” Maria Paz Jervis, president of the CIP, said in a press release sent to Reuters. “Without a doubt one of the economic and productive consequences (…) is the paralysis of employment in formal companies.”

(By Alexandra Valencia and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

ESG
BlackRock voted against Glencore’s climate progress report

Reuters | September 6, 2023 | 

Credit: Glencore

Major Glencore shareholder BlackRock Inc was among investors to reject the mining giant’s climate progress report at its annual meeting in May, citing inconsistencies, a voting disclosure page on the asset manager’s website shows.


BlackRock’s entities, which collectively own more than 6% of Glencore’s stock, according to LSEG data, boosted dissident shareholders and helped the total votes in opposition to the company’s climate plan pass 30% for the first time.

Noting that while Glencore has improved climate-related risks and opportunities disclosures, “BIS is concerned that aspects of the report and recent developments have pointed to inconsistencies in the company’s stated strategy,” it said in a report published to clients on Aug. 23.

BlackRock allows many clients to cast their own votes at companies’ annual general meetings. It declined to comment further on the disclosure.

The page also showed BlackRock did not back a shareholder resolution seeking more disclosure on progress in scaling back thermal coal production, which got 29% support, without saying why.

Glencore mines and trades thermal coal, used to generate electricity, and has said it plans to run down its mines by the mid-2040s, closing at least 12 by 2035.

Many of the world’s biggest listed companies published their first climate action plans in 2020 to cut emissions in a bid to help with reaching the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of capping temperatures within 1.5 degrees Celsius.

But BlackRock in August reported a further decline in its support for shareholder resolutions on environmental and social themes, citing corporate progress on the areas and poorly crafted measures.

With $9.4 trillion under management, BlackRock’s votes have become key to many contests at companies around the globe and in turn drawn much scrutiny of its practices.

(By Clara Denina and Simon Jessop; Editing by Josie Kao)

EU lawmakers see recycling as key in search for critical minerals

Reuters | September 6, 2023 

Entrance of the Louise Weiss building, inaugurated in 1999, the official seat of the European Parliament which houses the hemicycle for plenary sessions. Stock image.

European Union lawmakers will push for far greater recycling of waste in a new EU law to ensure the bloc has raw materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt required for its green transition.


The industry committee of the European Parliament will vote on its position on Thursday on the Critical Raw Materials Act, a centrepiece of EU strategy to allow it to compete with the United States and China in making clean tech products.

The strategy would seek to reduce reliance on China, which dominates global processing of key minerals.

The committee has reached a broad consensus on a text that stresses the potential of processing waste and reducing demand for critical materials, such as by using alternatives and increasing efficiency.

The parliament text proposes the EU should raise recycling capacity by 10% for each of 16 “strategic raw materials” by 2030 and collect, sort and process 45% of each material contained in EU waste, subject to technical and economic feasibility.

The European Commission proposed in March that EU extraction of strategic raw materials, including copper and rare earths, should rise to 10% of EU annual consumption by 2030, recycling to 15% and processing to 40%.

The parliament text stresses that its recycling target would apply to each material.

The final law will follow negotiations between the parliament and EU countries, who agreed in June to raise the recycling and processing targets to 20% and 50% respectively and add aluminium to the list of essential minerals.

Negotiations should conclude by the end of the year.

The parliament also backed a 50% processing target, but did not propose upgrading aluminium. Bauxite, the principle aluminium ore, is on the Commission’s broader list of 34 “critical raw materials”.

For these, the EU foresees simpler permitting procedures, increased recycling and diversification of imports, but without specific targets.

(By Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Christina Fincher)

Australia coal mine expansions threaten more methane, study says

Bloomberg News | September 6, 2023 | 

Most of Australia’s coal mines are in the Hunter Valley (pictured), Bowen Basin and Surat Basin regions. (Image: Max Phillips (Jeremy Buckingham MLC) | Flickr.)

Methane leaking from coal and natural gas production could become the biggest source of emissions in the Australian state of Queensland by the end of this decade if 18 new mine and expansion projects proceed, according to a report from two climate groups.


Emissions from Queensland coal and gas production could reach 26.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year by 2030, exceeding emissions from other sectors including the state’s power generation, the analysis from Lock the Gate and Queensland Conservation Council showed. Both groups oppose the development of new coal projects.

The analysis highlights how even as emissions from other sources like power generation are expected to drop significantly as adoption of renewables grows, new fossil fuel production continues to pose a massive climate threat. Australia is a signatory to the Global Methane Pledge, a 150-nation effort that aims to slash global emissions of the gas 30% by the end of this decade from 2020 levels.

Queensland is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, 30% below 2005 levels by the end of this decade, the state’s environmental department said in a statement. The state also aims to develop decarbonization plans for industry and is collaborating with the national government and universities to investigate remote sensing opportunities to detect methane leaks.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas but it’s also emitted from underground and surface mines when sedimentary rocks are crushed or coal seams are exposed. The invisible greenhouse gas has a devastating short term impact on the climate because it has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere.

Halting releases of the gas could do more to ease temperatures in the short term than almost any other single measure because the gas loses its potency within decades. Although agriculture is the biggest source of methane generated from human activity followed by fossil fuels and waste, limiting emissions from coal, oil and gas supply chains is seen as some of the lowest hanging fruit in the fight against climate change.

(By Aaron Clark)

AUSTRALIA
Leadership doubts threaten Fortescue founder’s green reinvention

Bloomberg News | September 7, 2023 |

Andrew Forrest, chairman and founder of Fortescue Metals Group

Credit: World Economic Forum

Three years after he first embarked on a mission to transform an iron ore giant into a clean-energy powerhouse, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. founder Andrew Forrest is facing a governance storm that may yet imperil his green ambitions.


Last week, in an unexpected move, chief executive officer Fiona Hick resigned from the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer after less than six months in the role. Two more senior leaders in the group were soon gone, including Guy Debelle, the high-profile former deputy governor at Australia’s central bank, raising difficult questions that are now dominating post-earnings meetings between Fortescue executives and investors.

While Forrest and the executives have discussed few details, the sudden departures — the first announced shortly before Fortescue’s annual earnings — have resurfaced long-simmering questions over the billionaire’s leadership, and whether his sweeping green plans are at odds with the priorities of a lucrative core business. Iron ore still provides nearly all of Fortescue’s $17 billion of annual revenue, even in the face of a sputtering Chinese economy.

“It really is a cause for concern for Fortescue shareholders about what is going on at a board and management level,” said Gavin Wendt, founding director of industry analyst MineLife, though he added the core business was still operating well. “Shareholders and the market want to see board stability, coherent decision-making, and consistency. They’re not really getting that.”

Fortescue has declined to comment on the meetings or specific concerns, but Forrest himself has brushed worries about exits or China’s property sector aside.

In an interview with Bloomberg this week, he cited the need for focus as the company tries to reinvent itself: “They were good people, but we need constant alignment of interest,” he said. “It’s difficult to grow a new industry, and it’s difficult to break into a new industry while you’re growing.”

He said the number of departures — in quick succession — was also not a concern as new talent would be brought in: “We’re upgrading all the time.”

Investors are less sanguine.

Some interviewed by Bloomberg, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to discuss individual holdings publicly, said they were concerned about cash being ploughed into Fortescue Energy, the green arm established in 2020, and the impact of turnover at the top. They also expressed unease over a perceived lack of transparency in the company’s governance.

Management turnover increases reliance on Forrest’s leadership and heightens “key man” risk, Bloomberg Intelligence senior credit analyst Mary Ellen Olson wrote in a note. “These concerns could weaken investor sentiment and hurt valuations.”

Fortescue’s shares have fallen about 7% since their close on Aug. 25, ahead of Hick’s resignation and annual profit figures dented by China’s disappointing post-Covid rebound.

Analysts from UBS AG, who have already met with Fortescue executives this week, said leadership changes, capital allocation and the economics of energy projects had dominated the discussion.

“FMG explained that while former CEO Fiona Hick and CFO Christine Morris were highly regarded, the fit had not worked,” analysts including Lachlan Shaw said in a note. “A quick response was seen as in the best interests of shareholders and governance.”

Bloomberg wasn’t immediately able to reach Morris or Hick. In a LinkedIn post, Hick said: “I have valued the experience at Fortescue and I thank the company and its people for the opportunity.” Debelle, who was CFO of the energy arm, declined to comment on the reasons for his departure.

Green giant

Forrest is an Australian mining heavyweight with a storied history. The great-nephew of Baron John Forrest, the first premier of Western Australia state, he transformed a fledgling resources explorer into Fortescue, an iron ore giant. The company built a new mine, port and railway in Western Australia just as China’s infrastructure boom sent commodity prices rocketing, transforming him into Australia’s richest man.

Now, as part of a climate commitment he attributes to four years spent studying marine biology — he gained a Ph.D in 2019 — Forrest wants to produce 15 million tons globally of green hydrogen using renewable power by 2030. That equates to nearly half of the total global supply anticipated by BloombergNEF that year. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, he’s gunning for a hydropower and green hydrogen project that would be the biggest renewables project in Africa.

Even laudable ambitions are hard to push through when structural economic changes in China are raising questions over the company’s core iron ore business, which expanded on the back of a then-surging property sector now in the doldrums.

And yet, along with annual results, Fortescue dropped a policy to allocate 10% of earnings to the green-energy arm. Now, metals and energy projects will compete for capital on an equal basis.

Leap of faith

The firm’s reputation for capital discipline seems to have “gone out the window” with the green-energy push, said David Coates, analyst at Bell Potter Securities Ltd. Jefferies Inc. analysts wrote in a note there was now the risk of a strategy that “prioritizes projects that have relatively low returns” versus higher-returning mining projects.

Fortescue’s capital expenditure for the current financial year will be between $2.8 billion and $3.2 billion, of which $400 million will go to clean energy, according to Fortescue. The latter figure doesn’t, however, include hydrogen investments, which are expected to be announced later this year.

The UBS analysts said Fortescue executives had described the removal of the 10% rule as a “natural evolution” as the company approached final decisions on a range of energy projects which should compete on their merits. The company is set to decide on five hydrogen or ammonia projects this year.

Forrest, meanwhile, is to be found doubling down. A Perth speech last week, posted online and cited widely by investors and analysts, did little to assuage concerns over the extent of the founder’s fervour for the green businesses. “Individual ambition comes second because what I’m talking about is the future of humanity,” he said, addressing his own “galloping herd” of employees.

He appealed to world leaders before discoursing at length on the ravages caused by extreme temperatures on the human body to an audience including former People’s Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan.

“The bulls will argue that Fortescue has proven the skeptics wrong in the past as many in the market dismissed the company’s chance of success in iron ore early on,” the Jefferies note said, “but to buy FMG now requires some new leaps of faith.”

(By Jason Scott and Sybilla Gross, with assistance from Martin Ritchie and David Stringer)

Fortescue says executive exodus reflects green shift

Bloomberg News | September 6, 2023 

Andrew Forrest, Australian billionaire and Chief Executive Officer of Fortescue. (Credit: Fortescue Metals Group)

A clutch of executive-level departures at Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. is linked to the need to focus on its break into the green-energy industry, the company’s billionaire founder said.


The comments from Andrew Forrest during an interview in Nairobi come after three high-profile executives left the company last week, including former Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Guy Debelle. Fiona Hick, chief executive officer of the iron ore division, and Christine Morris, the chief financial officer for metals, have also left.

Fortescue, the world’s fourth-largest iron ore miner, last month reported an 11% drop in profits, and investors are bracing for a sharp increase in spending as Forrest spearheads a move to make the company a green hydrogen pioneer. He declined to comment on the specific reasons for the departures, but pointed to a need to maintain focus within the company.

“They were good people, but we need constant alignment of interest,” Forrest said. “It’s difficult to grow a new industry, and it’s difficult to break into a new industry while you’re growing.”

Forrest also hinted at further potential departures, as he referred back to earlier plans to appoint a dozen new executives to facilitate the push into green energy, which will include investments in geothermal power, hydrogen production and the decarbonization of the miner’s vehicle fleet.

“If you talk about the C-suite, we’re nowhere near 12, and we’re upgrading all the time,” he said.

The drop in the Perth-based company’s full-year profits reflect the struggles of iron ore miners as China’s economic slowdown weighs on demand for the steelmaking material. Since reaching a year-high peak in July, Fortescue’s shares have fallen more than 15% in Sydney.

With earnings dropping from its main cash cow, Fortescue announced last week that it was abandoning an earlier policy of spending 10% of profits on the green energy arm, with metals and energy projects to compete for capital on an equal basis. Capital expenditure would be between $2.8 billion and $3.2 billion for the current fiscal year through June 30, of which $400 million would go to the clean-energy arm.

(By Eric Ombok and Mark Burton, with assistance from Jason Scott)

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Fortescue 

The great platinum deficit: Council forecasts record demand in 2023

Henry Lazenby | September 7, 2023 | 

Underground Platinum and Palladium mine, South Africa. Stock image.

The World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) forecasts a record 1-million-oz. platinum deficit for 2023, both in absolute ounces and as a percentage of annual demand, amid a surge in automotive and industrial demand and stagnant supply.


In its Platinum Quarterly report released this week, the WPIC highlights a booming demand for the metal, slated to rocket by 27%, hitting 8.23 million ounces. This overshadows a barely changing supply forecast, stagnating at 7.22 million oz., just 31,000 oz. above last year’s figures.

“These statistics spotlight a market under intense pressure, with potential ramifications for investors and industries dependent on this precious metal,” WPIC research director Ed Sterck tells The Northern Miner in an interview. (See video below)

The WPIC forecasts a record platinum deficit in 2023. Credit: World Platinum Investment Council

The recovering automotive sector drives this demand upswing, with Sterck’s data projecting a 13% (or 381,000 oz.) increase in 2023. Ramped-up vehicle production rates underpin this surge, with forecasts indicating a 6% and 7% growth for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicle production, respectively.

Sterck highlighted the ongoing platinum for palladium substitution in gasoline vehicles, an adjustment dictated mainly by the existing price differential between the two materials. On the industrial front, significant capacity additions in the chemical and glass sectors are influencing the demand surge.

The Chinese government has been implementing stricter emission standards from July 1, further bolstering platinum demand as industries integrate more platinum group metal (PGM) coated particulate filter systems. This trend is set to elevate the global platinum automotive demand to an anticipated 3.28 million ounces.

Simultaneously, the industrial sector is smashing records, with predictions setting the demand at 2.67 million oz., a notable 14% year-on-year increase. This rise mainly stems from substantial capacity expansions in the glass and chemical sectors, seeing growth rates of 50% (251,000 oz.) and 12% (82,000 oz.), respectively. In contrast, the electrical and petroleum segments anticipate a dip in demand, slated to fall by 8% (9,000 oz.) and 11% (22,000 oz.).

Investment circles also embrace the platinum trend, with predictions setting the net investment demand at 386,000 oz. for 2023. Platinum ETF holdings experienced a significant surge, growing by 155,000 oz. in the June quarter, marking the most substantial quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2020.
Stagnant supply

However, the supply side fails to mirror this burgeoning demand, notes Sterck.

Refined mine production of platinum has plummeted by 4% or 65,000 oz. over last year, settling at 1.46 million oz. in Q2. South Africa, which contributes 75% of global supply, saw a 9% dip in output year-on-year, a decrease linked to ongoing maintenance activities and relentless power disruptions due to the state-owned power utility’s ongoing load curtailments.

Sterck says recycling avenues, too, are on a downturn, reporting a 12% reduction in global recycling in the second quarter.

According to Sterck, these trends underscore the dwindling availability of above-ground stocks to cushion this growing deficit, hinting at a precarious situation where, by the end of 2023, the stocks might cover only five months of annual demand. “A significant portion of these reserves, held in China, are not readily exportable to meet global demands, potentially heightening concerns over metal availability,” Sterck says.

As the market tightens, the intertwined narratives of soaring demand and constricted supply are positioned to offer both short and long-term value incentives for investors. Moreover, platinum’s pivotal role in facilitating a green hydrogen economy, albeit nascent in 2023, is set to burgeon substantially in the medium term, carving a promising pathway for investors seeking a stake in global decarbonization efforts.

Video is here: https://vimeo.com/862155056

Platinum market faces record deficit, WPIC says

Reuters | September 6, 2023 | 

Platinum is used by automakers, who embed it in vehicle exhausts to neutralize harmful emissions. Stock image.

Platinum will register a 2.2% bigger supply deficit than previously expected for 2023 at a record 1 million troy ounces, driven by strong demand and flat supply, the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) said on Wednesday.


Demand for platinum, which is used in catalytic converters to reduce harmful emissions from vehicle exhaust systems among other applications from jewellery to glassmaking, is on track to grow 27% to 8.2 million troy ounces in 2023, the WPIC said in a quarterly report.

Rising vehicle production, with use of more metal per vehicle and substitution by automakers of palladium for cheaper platinum , is helping to drive demand.

Supply, meanwhile, is expected to remain at last year’s 7.2 million ounces, partly owing to ongoing electricity shortages in major producer South Africa.

That will leave the market undersupplied by 1 million troy ounces this year, said the WPIC, which three months earlier predicted a deficit of 983,000 ounces.

The WPIC expects automotive and industrial consumption to underpin total demand growth for platinum in 2024 and availability of above-ground stocks to decline.

“By the end of 2023, above-ground stocks will represent only five months of annual demand, with most of these stocks held in China and not readily able to be exported to meet global shortfalls, increasing concerns over metal availability,” it said.

In the second quarter, the platinum market was undersupplied by 348,000 ounces to chalk up consecutive quarters of deficit for the first time since the second half of 2020.

Vale, H2GS mull industrial hubs in Brazil, North America

Reuters | September 6, 2023

Credit: TeeVeeJim on Flickr

Brazilian miner Vale said on Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Sweden-based H2 Green Steel (H2GS) to study the joint development of industrial hubs in Brazil and North America as part of its decarbonization efforts.


The potential plants would be focused on producing low-carbon products for the steel industry, such as green hydrogen and hot briquetted iron (HBI), said the mining giant, which aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The new agreement comes a day after the miner revealed it expects to start building “mega hubs” to produce HBI in the Middle East next year, with the first to go live in 2027.

“This initiative reinforces Vale’s role as an inducer of Brazil’s ‘neo-industrialization’ process,” chief executive Eduardo Bartolomeo said in a statement. “It also marks Vale’s first steps into the green hydrogen market.”

The number of hubs to be built, their location and output capacity will be decided after the studies by the companies, which had previously agreed on a deal for Vale to supply H2GS’s Boden steelmaking plant with iron ore pellets.

“We now want to explore other geographic regions where we can accelerate the decarbonization of the steel value chain,” said H2GS’s executive vice-president for hydrogen businesses, Kajsa Ryttberg-Wallgren.

“Both Brazil and parts of North America have great potential because of their access to renewable energy sources, high quality iron ore and political willingness to support the decarbonization projects,” Ryttberg-Wallgren added.

By Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Kylie M

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for H2GS 

CHILE / LITHIUM

Summit Nanotech eyes $150m to scale up lithium extraction method

Cecilia Jamasmie | September 7, 2023 

Evaporation ponds in northern Chile. (Image by: freedom_wanted | AdobeStock.)

Canada’s Summit Nanotech plans to raise $150 million to take its own direct lithium technology to commercial scale as the startup gears to open a testing facility in Santiago, Chile before year-end.


“We’re already engaging investors and we’re building the data room,” chief executive Amanda Hall told Bloomberg this week on the sidelines of an industry event in Chile.


Her expectation is that the second round of funding will reflect a valuation of $400 million to $600 million.

The Calgary-based firm is one of several currently racing to commercialize technology to extract lithium directly from brines. These methods would offer an alternative to hard rock and giant water-intensive evaporation ponds that currently supply the battery metal to the world.

The new set of technologies, known as direct lithium extraction, or DLE, could lower the costs, reduce time and minimize the environmental impact of extracting the battery metal, particularly in South America, which holds about half of the world’s reserves.

DLE could also enable new sources of lithium in North America, such as extracting it from the saline water generated by oil drilling.

Summit Nanotech, which already counts BHP as an investor, said it is gearing up to kick off activities at a new testing facility this week and expects to have a demonstration plant in the field by mid-2024. The goal, Hall explained, is to reach commercial scale by the end of 2025

.

Summit Nanotech’s denaLi was chosen in August for Salar de Incahuasi asset in Argentina. (Image courtesy of CNW Group/Summit Nanotech.)

The privately-owned company’s DLE technology, dubbed denaLi DLE, allows miners to recover significant amounts of water otherwise wasted with traditional methods.

The small amount of water used is re-purposed and recycled back to the beginning of the process for pre-treatment and filtration, the company says.

It would also help shortening lithium production times from 18 months to just one day, according to Summit Nanotech.

Billions of dollars are pouring into DLE – what Goldman Sachs Group calls a “potential game-changing technology”, and which has been compared to what shale did for the oil market.

Some industry experts warn that despite a boom in testing and development, these techniques are relatively unproven at scale and perfecting them may take years.

SQM’s Salar de Atacama operations become IRMA certified

Reuters | September 6, 2023 |

Brines in the middle of Chile’s Salar de Atacama contain the world’s highest known concentrations of lithium and potassium. 

(Image courtesy of SQM.)

Lithium producer SQM’s operations in the Salar de Atacama salt flat have achieved IRMA certification, it said on Wednesday, meaning all Chile’s lithium mining facilities have now completed the evaluation process preferred by numerous EV manufacturers.


IRMA measures the environmental and social performance of mine sites under the rigorous standards set by the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance.


SQM scored 75 out of a possible 100 on its scale, receiving low marks from IRMA for its security arrangements and emergency preparedness, but high marks for its respect for biodiversity, fair labor standards and noise mitigation.

Its rival Albemarle was IRMA certified earlier this year, receiving an overall lower ranking of 50 due to low marks for community health and safety but high marks for greenhouse gas emissions abatement, among other factors.

SQM CEO Ricardo Ramos said in a statement the company’s decision to share the results of the audit “reflects our desire to improve and have an open dialogue with all affected stakeholders”.

IRMA provides third-party verification and certification of mining practices to protect human rights, communities and the environment along the supply chain. Ford and BMW are some of the companies which have joined the initiative.

(By Ernest Scheyder and Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Jan Harvey)