Wednesday, April 24, 2024


TMC & SGS Produce World-First Nickel Sulfate from Deep-Seafloor Polymetallic Nodules

by The Metals Company |
Apr 23, 2024

First Nickel Sulfate



The nickel sulfate was produced in a testing program applying TMC’s efficient flowsheet design that processes high-grade nickel matte direct to nickel sulfate and produces fertilizer products instead of solid waste or tailingsAs part of TMC’s pilot-scale nodule processing, SGS and TMC produced the world's first nickel sulfate from deep-seafloor polymetallic nodules, indicating TMC’s resource is suitable for battery markets
The nickel sulfate was produced in a testing program conducted in collaboration with SGS and other industry leaders applying TMC’s efficient flowsheet design that processes high-grade nickel matte direct to nickel sulfate (without making nickel metal) and produces fertilizer products instead of solid waste or tailings
TMC holds exploration rights to the world's two largest-ranked undeveloped nickel deposits, which could offer a less impactful alternative to market dominant rainforest-sourced nickel laterites, potentially alleviating stress on ecosystems and local communities


NEW YORK, April 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TMC the metals company Inc. (Nasdaq: TMC) (“TMC” or the “Company”), an explorer of the world’s largest estimated undeveloped source of critical battery metals, today announced that it has successfully produced the world’s first nickel sulfate derived exclusively from seafloor polymetallic nodules. The sulfate was generated during bench-scale testing of its hydrometallurgical flowsheet design in partnership with SGS Canada Inc., at their Lakefield, Ontario facility.

Undertaken on samples of nickel-cobalt-copper matte produced by TMC in 2021, the Extractive Metallurgy team at SGS tested TMC’s efficient flowsheet to process high-grade nickel matte directly to nickel sulfate without making nickel metal, while producing fertilizer byproducts instead of solid waste or tailings. Following the successful nickel sulfate production, SGS continues testing to produce what TMC believes will be the world’s first cobalt sulfate from polymetallic nodules.

Dr. Jeffrey Donald, TMC Head of Onshore Development, said: “The production of the world’s first nickel sulfate from deep-seafloor nodules is an important milestone, confirming that our custom flowsheet configuration can be deployed to process these remarkable rocks into final products suitable for use in batteries. This work was executed in close collaboration with SGS and other industry leaders to demonstrate the ability to refine nodules to high value products. The data collected will inform further engineering decisions to move this towards commercial scale, and TMC continues to expect that initial production will begin with a capital-light approach by leveraging the existing processing facilities of strategic partners, such as PAMCO. With the commencement of this new industry now being seen as imminent by countries and companies alike, this represents not just a major achievement for TMC but for the entire deep-seafloor minerals industry.”

SGS North America Senior Director, Metallurgy & Consulting, Stephen Mackie, said: “As a trusted partner, SGS is proud to be working with The Metals Company to execute a key part of their initiative. The test work completed to-date for TMC has proven to be quite successful and we are excited on continuing our relationship with them on future phases of work.”

TMC’s NORI and TOML projects are ranked as the world’s #1 and #2 largest undeveloped nickel projects according to Mining.com, containing in situ quantities of nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese sufficient to meet the needs of 280 million electric vehicles – roughly the size of the entire U.S. light vehicle fleet. With analysts warning that the quantities of critical battery metals like nickel and cobalt available from domestic or allied partners will be insufficient to meet U.S. demand from the energy transition, there is increased interest in and prioritization of marine minerals to support energy and national security.

In March, members of the House of Representatives introduced draft legislation calling for the U.S. to “provide financial, diplomatic, or other forms of support for seafloor nodule collection, processing and refining.” In November 2023, TMC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pacific Metals Corporation (PAMCO) to complete a feasibility study to process 1.3 million tonnes of wet polymetallic nodules (PMN) per year into high-grade nickel-copper-cobalt alloy / matte and manganese silicate, which are feedstock for the production of lithium-ion batteries, electrical infrastructure and steel.

About The Metals Company
The Metals Company is an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules, on a dual mission: (1) supply metals for the global energy transition with the least possible negative impacts on planet and people and (2) trace, recover and recycle the metals we supply to help create a metals commons that can be used in perpetuity. The Company through its subsidiaries holds exploration and commercial rights to three polymetallic nodule contract areas in the Clarion Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean regulated by the International Seabed Authority and sponsored by the governments of Nauru, Kiribati and the Kingdom of Tonga. More information is available at www.metals.co.
Increased seismic activity under Kilauea volcano, Hawaii

Written byTeo Blašković
Wednesday, April 24, 2024



Over the past three weeks, Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has exhibited increased seismic activity, with fluctuations in shallow and deep earthquakes at the summit. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reports sustained low sulfur dioxide emissions and continuous monitoring due to this heightened state of unrest.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) has reported an increase in seismic activity beneath the Kilauea volcano’s summit over the past three weeks. This period has been characterized by fluctuating occurrences of shallow earthquakes ranging from 1 to 4 km (0.5 – 2.5 miles) beneath the south caldera region and deeper seismic events from 5 to 10 km (3 – 6 miles) directly beneath the Kilauea caldera.

While there has been a slight decrease in seismic rates following a significant earthquake swarm last Friday, April 19, activity levels remain elevated.

Earthquakes detected under Kilauea from March 25 – April 24, 2024.
 Credit: TW/SAM, ESRI

On April 8, 2024, an SO2 emission rate of approximately 96 tonnes per day was recorded, consistent with measurements since October 2023, which have remained low. Despite the stable gas emissions, short-lived bursts of low frequency earthquakes have continued, signaling ongoing magma movements within the summit’s subsurface layers.

The summit area, including nearby tiltmeters at Sand Hill and Uēkahuna, showed no significant ground deformation on April 22/23, suggesting the volcano’s summit remains inflated yet stable for the moment. Additionally, seismicity in Kilauea’s upper East and Southwest Rift Zones continues to be low, with no unusual activity reported along the middle and lower sections of the East Rift Zone.

Continuous gas monitoring at stations downwind of Puʻuʻōʻō in the middle East Rift Zone, the site of long-term eruptive activity from 1983 to 2018, has detected negligible SO2 emissions, further indicating a current lack of significant eruptive activity.

Despite the ongoing seismic activity, it remains uncertain whether these indications will lead to an eruption. However, the potential for an eruption at Kilauea’s summit within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, away from major infrastructure, is a scenario under close observation. The HVO continues to monitor the situation daily and will issue Volcanic Activity Notices if significant changes occur.

Local residents and visitors are reminded of the persisting volcanic hazards, such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide concentrations, which can remain hazardous even when the volcano is not actively erupting. There are also significant risks from crater wall instability, ground cracking, and rockfalls, especially in areas around Halemaʻumaʻu that are closed to the public due to safety concerns.


References:

1 Daily update for Kilauea volcano – USGS/HVO – April 23, 2024

Featured image credit: USGS/HVO
Flooded uranium mines in Russia’s Kurgan Region raise radioactive contamination fears

Written byTeo Blašković
Tuesday, April 23, 2024


Severe flooding in Russia’s Kurgan region has inundated areas surrounding the Dobrovolnoye uranium deposit, leading to potential radioactive and chemical pollution in the Tobol River. This event was reported on April 21, 2024, by the investigative news outlet Agentstvo, citing local authorities and environmentalists.

The Kurgan region in Russia has experienced its worst flooding in decades this month, with significant concern over the potential leakage of radioactive materials from submerged uranium mines into the Tobol River. The Dobrovolnoye uranium deposit, identified within the flood zones of Kurgan’s Zverinogolovsky district, was highlighted in a map released by local authorities on April 11.

This area has seen extensive uranium mining activities, managed by a company under Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy agency. According to NS Energy Business, the mine is estimated to be holding approximately 7 077 tons of uranium at a grade value ranging from 0.01 percent to 0.05 percent uranium.

Sergei Eremin, who leads the regional environmental group Foundation for Public Control Over the State of the Environment and the Well-Being of the Population, pointed out that a video recorded by a local resident suggests that an old well, which has been leaking uranium for 35 years, might already be submerged due to the flooding.

The mine is located between the villages of Zverinogolovskoye and Trud i Znanie.

April 22, 2024

April 13, 2023


Zverinogolovskoye district, Russia. Credit: Copernicus EU/Sentinel-2, The Watchers

Andrei Ozharovsky, a nuclear physicist, noted that some wells were improperly sealed, leading to ongoing leaks of uranium salts into the river while Alexei Shvarts, a former regional head with experience in uranium mining, voiced concerns to Agentstvo about the degradation of natural defenses against contamination.

Additionally, environmentalists fear that radioactive substances have already been introduced into the river system, posing a direct threat to the health and safety of hundreds of thousands residing downstream.

Despite the dilution effect of the Tobol’s waters, increased concentrations of uranium present a significant risk. Uranium, being both radioactive and chemically toxic, poses health risks at even low concentrations, particularly through drinking water leading to internal radiation exposure.

Local ecological activists have long opposed uranium mining in the region, pointing out the dangers of spring floods from the Tobol River. These concerns were historically ignored, as evidenced by the continued operations and previous incidents of flooding in the 1980s and a significant event in 1994.

Rosatom has rebutted claims of potential environmental impact, labeling the public’s concerns as “radiophobia combined with ignorance.” They maintain that the uranium deposits are well-isolated from the Tobol River through natural barriers, dismissing the possibility of any contamination.

References:

1 В Курганской области затопило старые урановые скважины. Экологи опасаются, что радиоактивный раствор попал в Тобол – Agentstvo – April 21, 2024

2 Информация о зонах подтопления – МУНИЦИПАЛЬНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ ГОРОД КУРГАН – April 11, 2024


3 Russia’s Record Floods Submerge Uranium Mines in Urals – Reports – The Moscow Times – April 22, 2024

4 Radioactive Leak Threat in Russia as Flood Heads for Uranium Mines – Newsweek – April 22, 0224

Featured image credit: Copernicus EU/Sentinel-2, The Watchers. Acquired on April 22, 2024
Gold’s record-setting rally may have its roots in Chinese frenzy

Bloomberg News | April 23, 2024 |


Stock image.

Gold’s record-setting rally this year has puzzled market watchers as bullion has roared higher despite headwinds that should have held it back. With prices sagging this week, the explanation may lie in China.


After weeks of debate about whether a mystery buyer was stoking the rally, several prominent figures in the global gold market are coming to the conclusion that the major new driving force is a legion of fleet-footed retail investors on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

In a matter of weeks, the SHFE has gone from a sedate futures venue to a nexus of the global gold market. While rival centers such as London and New York have also seen activity rise, the fact that SHFE volumes have spiked from a low base offers a compelling sign that a newly arrived cohort of Chinese investors has helped drive prices sharply higher.



Gold has soared this year, topping $2,000 an ounce from early March in the face of major pressures that, in ordinary times, would have capped gains. Driven by fading expectations for a pivot to lower interest rates from the Federal Reserve, these included higher Treasury yields and a rallying US dollar. On top of that, there was a virtual buyers’ strike in India, the second-largest consumer, disinterest from western funds, and net sales by exchange-traded funds. Yet SHFE volumes started to spike, and prices powered higher.

“The only thing that drives it in a Bitcoin-esque kind of way is massive speculative plays,” according to Ross Norman, a former trader at Credit Suisse Group AG and Rothschilds & Sons., who now helms the Metals Daily journal.

Given elevated rates and the dollar’s strength, that’s unlikely to have come from hot-money in the US, so the most likely buyers would be highly leveraged Chinese investors, he said.

Gold has a longstanding history in China as a savings tool, and the country is the top consumer and leading producer. That traditional interest has been given a new lease of life by turmoil in the local property and stock markets, with imports surging in 2022 and 2023 despite being tightly controlled.
Buying spree

For months, consumers and institutional investors in China have been snapping up physical bullion, while the People’s Bank of China has been on a 17-month buying spree. Those two forces, which helped buoy international prices, have now been augmented by surging speculative demand.

Numbers back up the theory. Trading on the SHFE has exploded, with average daily volume almost tripling in April compared with the preceding 12 months. It peaked at about 1,200 tons on April 15, the highest since 2019, before prices started to sag this week.


“It’s another sign of emerging markets, and particularly Chinese traders, wresting price discovery away from Western markets,” said John Reade, chief market strategist at the World Gold Council. “We know from other commodity markets, that from time-to-time, Shanghai traders become the most dominant players. That’s never really been the case in gold, but I think now that this might have changed.”

For long-haul gold bulls, that could be a worry if gains prove brittle. State media recently urged caution in chasing the rally, while the SHFE raised margin requirements to snuff out excessive risk-taking.

It’s notable that while SHFE volumes have soared, the number of outstanding contracts has hardly moved. That indicates participants day-trading, not taking a long-term view. Bullion fell 2.7% on Monday and losses deepened Tuesday, in a move that Reade attributed to profit-taking by short-term investors on the exchange.
‘Extreme example’

“It’s a bit of a feature of onshore Chinese markets, albeit a relatively extreme example,” said Marcus Garvey, head of commodity strategy at Macquarie Group Ltd. There’s “much more short-term speculative turnover,” he said.

Not everyone thinks Chinese investors are the major driver behind gold’s ascent. “It’s not just mom-and-pop traders and it’s not just China,” said Jeff Christian, managing director at CPM Group. “It’s really a broad-based thing. There isn’t all that much difference now in the trading behavior of large institutions compared to mom-and-pop people.”

Gold may be in favor as higher-for-longer US interest rates to tame inflation may tip the economy into recession, according to Christian. “They’re all becoming convinced that interest rates aren’t going to fall too soon,” he said. “That could be negative for other assets more than it would be for gold.”

Samson Li, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Commodity Discovery Fund, sees a more nuanced picture. Rather than being a direct driver of prices, the frenzied demand in China has encouraged western speculators to ramp up bets on gains in New York, he said.

The debate about how long Chinese investors will stick around is tied to the question of what brought them to SHFE in the first place. Institutional and retail traders on SHFE may be buying gold to bet on short-term fluctuations in the yuan. This year, the exchange’s night session has been the most active, just when a raft of hot US economic data has driven the dollar higher.



Daniel Ghali, a senior commodity strategist at TD Securities, has also been on the hunt to identify gold’s mystery buyer, and he still thinks that the dominant force is likely to be a deep-pocketed buyer in the so-called official sector, which covers state-linked institutions such as central banks and sovereign wealth funds. But he says buying activity there has also been closely correlated with weakness in the yuan, and investors on SHFE may be acting with the same underlying motivations.

“The trading activity on the SHFE, it does point to retail speculation and that could be associated with the currency pressures,” said Ghali. “It’s not just an issue for the central banks out there – it’s an issue for everyday participants who see that their currency is depreciating and want to hedge against it.”

(By Mark Burton, Sybilla Gross and Yvonne Yue Li)
China can’t quit coal by 2040, researchers say, despite global climate goals

Reuters | April 23, 2024 | 


Cargo terminal for discharging coal cargos by shore cranes during foggy weather. Port Bayuquan, China. Stock image.

China’s coal consumption will fall by just one-third by 2040, according to a report by a European consultancy published on Tuesday, threatening climate targets that call for phasing out much of global coal use by 2040.


The International Energy Agency has said that global coal power capacity has to be eliminated by 2040 to keep average global temperature rises within the key threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

However, Norwegian risk assessment firm DNV said in its report that its findings indicate China’s coal consumption – the world’s biggest – will see a “minor uptick” in the next two years and then fall by one-third by 2040, ending up at around 25% of its peak in 2050.

The findings underscore China’s outlook on fossil fuels. In September, former climate envoy Xie Zhenhua told the COP28 climate talks that it would be “unrealistic to completely phase out fossil fuel energy”.

China will continue using coal despite a massive ramp-up in renewable generation, which will make up 88% of China’s power generation mix in 2050, the report predicts.

China approved another 114GW of coal power plants last year, up 10% from 2022, and the iron and steel sectors are on track to overtake power as the biggest consumers of coal by mid-century. Coal-to-chemicals will also make up a significant share of the remaining demand, according to the report.

Decarbonization of the steel sector through new methods such as cleaner electric arc furnace technology is lagging in China, research has shown.

Natural gas consumption will stay part of the energy mix with consumption falling only 2% from 2022 levels by 2050, the report said.

Still, China is “close” to meeting its own target of carbon neutrality by 2060 if it accelerates decarbonization of some sectors, particularly manufacturing, the report added.

DNV forecasts China’s carbon emissions peaking by 2026, well before the official goal for climate-warming emissions to peak by 2030, but slower than a forecast by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air that emissions could go into “structural decline” in 2024.

China’s total energy demand, which has been growing at around 3% per year, is seen decelerating through the rest of this decade. It will peak in 2030 and then fall another 20% by 2050, the report found.

The world’s biggest crude importer, China is poised to phase out oil more rapidly than coal, driven by electrification. The report sees oil demand in China’s road sector falling by 94% by 2050 – a faster transition than that predicted by China’s oil majors, which forecast gasoline demand halving by 2045.

Total oil consumption will halve by 2050 from its 2027 peak, DNV said, with 84% of that still being met by imports.

But oil’s share of aviation energy demand will fall from 99.6% in 2022 to 59% in 2050 as the use of alternatives such as bioenergy and e-fuels takes hold.

“A faster transition to net zero in 2050 where more oil and gas are replaced by domestically produced renewables or nuclear would significantly boost energy independence,” the report said.

(By Colleen Howe and David Stanway; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Airbus wins reprieve from Canadian sanctions on Russian titanium

Reuters | April 23, 2024 | 

Titanium has been replacing aluminum parts in aircraft manufacturing because of its ability to resist heat and corrosion. (Stock image)

Canada has granted Airbus a waiver to allow it to use Russian titanium in its manufacturing after becoming the first Western government to ban supplies of the strategic metal in the latest package of measures triggered by the war in Ukraine.


The move gives Airbus flexibility in its Canadian plants and is expected to allay concerns that its core operations could be hit by effectively banning the import to Canada of European-built long-range jets that rely most heavily on titanium.

Russian state-backed VSMPO-AVISMA has for years been the industry’s largest titanium supplier.

“Airbus is aware of the Canadian government imposing sanctions on VSMPO and has obtained the necessary authorization to secure Airbus operations in compliance with the applicable sanctions,” Airbus Canada said in response to a Reuters query.

It did not elaborate on the approvals or say how long they would remain in effect. The Canadian government did not respond to requests for comment.

Imports of titanium from the aerospace industry’s largest historical supplier were left off the Western sanctions list after Russia invaded Ukraine, with Airbus arguing that banning imports would backfire economically while barely hurting Russia.

But Canada broke ranks with other aerospace nations in February, when it included VSMPO-AVISMA in a list of entities banned for alleged ties to Russia’s military-industrial complex.

Experts say titanium is mainly used in large lightweight airliners like the Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 rather than the smaller Airbus A220, which is assembled partly in Canada.

But the restrictions have raised alarm bells among suppliers because they could prevent a foreign-built jet containing Russian titanium being imported to Canada barring an exemption.

Industry sources said Airbus had sought a permit from the Canadian government allowing it to tackle such risks.

Earlier on Tuesday, the impact of the little-noticed rule change spread to the United States where supplier RTX announced a $175 million charge linked to the cost of replacing “US- and German-based Russian-owned entities” from which it had been sourcing titanium for use in its Canadian operations.
Significant risk

Ottawa’s stance is expected to raise the stakes in a debate over potential further sanctions targeting Russia’s economy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly called on Western governments to impose stronger economic sanctions.

Canada is home to a large and politically active Ukrainian diaspora and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken a notably hard line on Russia since the start of the conflict in 2022.

Airbus says titanium accounts for a small part of Russia’s exports but that cutting off supplies abruptly would “massively” damage Western aerospace. The debate intensified after March guidance on Canada’s sanctions raised concern about the impact.

“Our own sanctions shouldn’t cause so much harm that we end up damaging ourselves significantly,” a source directly familiar with Canada’s policy told Reuters.

William Pellerin, a trade lawyer with McMillan in Canada, said the guidance created a “significant risk” for a Canadian carrier buying a foreign-built jet containing Russian titanium.

Airbus has pledged to accelerate plans to diversify supplies. Norway’s Norsk Titanium said on Tuesday it had finalized a new agreement to supply the planemaker.

Boeing said after the Ukraine invasion it had suspended purchases of titanium from Russia, though it has not said to what extent the metal is still used in its supply chain.

A spokesperson said on Tuesday it buys titanium mainly in the US and has substantial inventory due in part to an initiative several years ago to diversify sources.

(By Allison Lampert, David Ljunggren, Tim Hepher, Andrew Gray and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Peter Henderson)




LME takes aim at traders’ Russian metal games with new rules

Bloomberg News | April 23, 2024 | 

Stock image.

The London Metal Exchange is imposing new rules surrounding the movement of metal in its warehousing network, taking aim at a lucrative and complex trading opportunity that emerged after the imposition of sanctions on Russian metal earlier this month.


The measures announced on Tuesday are designed to undercut the economic rationale for withdrawing Russian metal that’s already on the LME and selling it back on the exchange under a new, less-desirable category.

It’s a trade that has captivated the metals world since the sanctions were unveiled, with Bloomberg reporting last week that Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group were ordering large volumes of aluminum from the exchange with a plan to redeliver it as so-called Type 2 metal. As a result, available LME aluminum stocks have fallen close to the lowest level in at least 25 years.

The trade relies on the fact that, under the UK sanctions, Type 1 Russian metal can be traded by UK citizens and companies, whereas Type 2 Russian metal cannot. The aim of the trade is to take a share of the rent that warehouses will collect from future owners, and the longer it sits there the more they stand to make.

The new rules will increase scrutiny of so-called “rent share” deals, where traders and warehousing companies split the future revenue for as long as metal remains in the same warehouse. In particular, the LME could refuse to permit traders’ applications to redeliver the metal if the deals are deemed to block other buyers from accessing it.

The exchange also sought to undermine the logic for putting on the trades in the first place. In cases where traders have redelivered metal without it physically leaving a warehouse, the exchange will allow buyers to convert it back to Type 1 metal — making it freely tradable for UK nationals.

The exchange has also expedited the process for placing Russian metal that has previously been ordered for withdrawal back into the LME system. The move reduces the paperwork required to replenish LME inventories should traders decide the play no longer makes sense.

(By Mark Burton and Jack Farchy)
First Quantum Minerals cuts debt by over $1bn in first quarter

Reuters | April 23, 2024 | 7:05 pm Top Companies Canada Copper

Cobre Panamá mine. (Image by First Quantum Minerals).

Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals said on Tuesday that it has cut its debt by $1.14 billion in the first quarter.


The company in February had announced a series of capital restructuring measures that would strengthen its balance sheet and cut debt, a move that will help the Canadian miner deliver on its “operational objectives.”

The company’s total debt as of March 31 stands at $5.99 billion, down from its previous debt of $7.38 billion.

The copper miner reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of the company at $159 million for the quarter ended March. 31, as the company continues to be impacted by Cobre Panama mine closure. It had posted a profit of $75 million in the year-ago quarter.

The Cobre Panama project, one of the world’s largest open-pit copper mines, was forced to shut down after Panama’s top court ruled that its contract was unconstitutional.

(By Tanay Dhumal; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)


First Quantum could remove copper from Panama mine after election, CEO says

Reuters | April 24, 2024 

Cobre Panama copper mine. (Image courtesy of Franco-Nevada assets handbook.)

Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) believes it will be able to take the already mined 121,000 tonnes of copper concentrate out of its disputed mine in Panama after the national elections there in May, the company’s chief executive said on Wednesday.


Panama’s current government ordered the closure of the Cobre Panama copper mine last year after public protests over environmental damage from mining in the country. Cobre Panama accounted for about 1% of the global copper output, and contributed about 40% to First Quantum’s revenue last year.

First Quantum has been negotiating with Panama’s government to allow it to sell the copper that it mined before the dispute began. Copper was trading at $9772 a metric tonne at the London Metals Exchange on Wednesday. Any proceedings from the sale could help cover the costs of maintaining the mine.

“Obviously, in the context of election politics and a strong debate around that, the balance of probability probably spills over after the election,” said Tristan Pascall, CEO of First Quantum Minerals, when asked during an analyst call when the company expects to take out the copper concentrate from the mine site.

Cobre Panama is under dispute after the Panama Supreme Court nullified its mining contract and the country’s president closed the mine following the public protests.

A new government in Panama could overturn that, however polls show that people of Panama are still against mining.

The closure pushed First Quantum to undertake a series of debt restructuring measures, including issuing equity worth $1 billion and corporate debt worth $1.6 billion. It is also considering bringing in an equity partner for its Zambian mines.

Reuters in March reported that First Quantum officials met with Chinese government officials to discuss the prospect of copper miner Jiagnxi Copper buying the disputed copper from Panama after the elections.

Shares of First Quantum were up 2% on the Toronto Stock Exchange around midday.

On the proposed minority sale of the Zambian mines, the company said that it will enter into an partnership only if it brings value to shareholders and the South African government.

“The recent financing transaction that we put forward through Q1 means we don’t have to enter into a transaction here,” Ryan MacWilliam, CFO of First Quantum said, referring to the Zambia mines.

(Reporting by Divya Rajagopal and Seher Dareen; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri, Michael Erman, Elaine Hardcastle)

Related: Panama election unlikely to shift outlook for First Quantum’s copper mine

Codelco defends lithium deal ahead of SQM shareholder meeting

Bloomberg News | April 24, 2024

Flamingos at Salar de Atacama, home to lithium mines.
 (Image courtesy of Dan Lundberg | Flickr Commons..)

Chile’s state copper company Codelco defended its proposed lithium production tie-up with SQM in response to criticism that the negotiation process has been opaque.


The deal is both transparent and beneficial for Chile, Codelco chairman Maximo Pacheco said in a presentation late Tuesday. Initially, the Chilean state will get an estimated 70% of proceeds from new production, rising to 85% from 2031, he said. Pacheco said he couldn’t divulge exact figures because of confidentiality and ongoing talks.

On Wednesday, SQM is holding a shareholder meeting that was requested by its second-largest shareholder Tianqi Lithium Corp. The Chinese firm is seeking further clarity and the right to vote on the proposed Codelco deal.

While SQM management will provide an update on negotiations and answer questions in the meeting, the Santiago-based firm says the deal only requires board approval. Under a framework accord announced late last year, SQM will hand over a majority stake in its brine assets to Codelco in exchange for extending operations for three more decades.

The tensions between SQM and its Chinese shareholder add risk to a deal that would allow the latter to ramp up production. If it’s scrapped, SQM may have to wind down mining operations when its contract expires in 2030.

Tianqi has endured restrictions to SQM’s sensitive information since buying its stake for $4 billion in 2018. SQM’s top shareholder is Julio Ponce.

(By James Attwood)
Vale, BHP, and Samarco seek new deal on Mariana disaster

Staff Writer | April 24, 2024 |

The collapse of the Fundao tailings dam in 2015 killed 19 people and polluted hundreds of miles of rivers. (Image: Agência Brasil Fotografias).

Samarco and its shareholders, Vale (NYSE: VALE) and BHP (ASX: BHP) , have presented a new reparation proposal to the Brazilian government and the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo for the breach of the Fundão dam in Mariana in 2015.


The Brazilian Attorney General’s Office confirmed the information to CBN Radio. However, the values ​​were not disclosed due to a confidentiality clause.

The collapse of the dam in Mariana left 19 dead when approximately 40 million cubic meters of mining waste destroyed communities and contaminated the Doce River. It was the biggest environmental disaster ever in Brazil.

Negotiations for reparation resumed this week after the Brazilian government and the states rejected the value of R$40 billion ($7.75 billion) offered by the companies in December. The government and the states are demanding approximately R$120 billion ($23.3 billion).

To this day, none of the 12 lawsuits regarding the disaster have been ruled on.

According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), the reparation actions carried out in recent years by the Renova Foundation, an entity created for this purpose, have been insufficient. The foundation has already invested R$28.1 billion ($5.45 billion) in reparation and compensation initiatives, according to Vale.

Vale and BHP have not commented on the new agreement. Samarco informed CBN Radio that it remains open to dialogue, seeking solutions based on technical criteria that meet the demands of society. The company added that it remains committed to fully repairing the damages caused.