ECOCRISIS

Air pollution drives 7% of deaths in big Indian cities: study

Paris (AFP) – More than seven percent of all deaths in 10 of India's biggest cities are linked to air pollution, a large study said Thursday, leading researchers to call for action to save tens of thousands of lives a year.

 04/07/2024 -

In India's capital Delhi 11.5 percent of deaths every year were 

 linked to air pollution, the researchers said 

© Arun SANKAR / AFP/File

Smog-filled Indian cities including the capital Delhi suffer from some of the world's worst air pollution, choking the lungs of residents and posing a rising threat to health still being revealed by researchers.

For the new study, an Indian-led team looked at the levels of cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants in the cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Shimla and Varanasi.

From 2008 to 2019, more than 33,000 deaths a year could be attributed to PM2.5 exposure above the World Health Organization's recommendation of 15 micrograms per cubic metre, the study said.

That represents 7.2 percent of the recorded deaths in those cities during that period, according to the study in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.

India's capital Delhi was the worst offender, with 12,000 annual deaths linked to air pollution -- or 11.5 percent of the total.

But even cities where air pollution is not thought to be as bad -- such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai -- had high death rates, the researchers emphasised.

They called for India's air quality standards to be toughened.

The country's current recommendation is 60 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre, which is four times higher than the WHO's guidelines.

Lowering and enforcing the limit "will save tens of thousands of lives per year," study co-author Joel Schwartz of Harvard University said.

"Methods for controlling pollution exist and are used elsewhere. They urgently need to be applied in India," he said in a statement.

The WHO says that almost everyone on Earth breathes in more than the recommended amount of air pollution, which can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.

© 2024 AFP

CLIMATE CRISIS

Fires in Brazil's Pantanal push wetlands community to limit

Ladario (Brazil) (AFP) – A riverside community in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands narrowly escaped raging wildfires last month, but some say the record-setting blazes -- still burning nearby -- are compounding threats to their way of life.

Issued on: 04/07/2024 - 

A sunset is seen through smoke from wildfires in Brazil's Pantanal June 28, 2024

© Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP

"The river was the only thing separating us from the flames. On the other side, the fire devastated everything," said Virginia Paes, a local leader in the Baia Negra Environmental Protection Area (APA), where 28 families live.

Four years ago, similar fires blazed through the 5,400-hectare (13,300-acre) preserve along the Paraguay River, in southwest Brazil's Mato Grosso do Sul state.

"We were just trying to recover from the 2020 fire, which devastated our Pantanal. We had not fully recovered and now we are facing this again," Paes, a volunteer firefighter and president of the APA's Association of Women Producers, told AFP.

Though homes and lives were spared, the 53-year-old said, dense smoke from the fires made breathing and daily routines difficult.

This year's fires set January-June records in the Pantanal, a massive area of tropical wetlands that is home to millions of caimans, parrots, giant otters and the world's highest density of jaguars.

The Baia Negra APA, just outside the border city of Corumba and neighboring Ladario, is the first created in the biodiversity-rich Pantanal allowing for sustainable resource exploitation.

The population there lives off fishing, craft-making, and a robust eco-tourism industry, among other jobs.

- 'Guardians' under threat –

According to the Corumba social assistance office and the NGO Ecoa, in 2020, 651 families lived in the riverside city and Ladario.

A Yacare caiman is seen near Corumba, Brazil, June 25, 2024 

© Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP

These "traditional communities of the Pantanal are the true guardians of the ecosystems they manage," said Andre Luiz Siqueira, Director of Programs and Projects at the NGO Ecoa.

"They are the ones that suffer the most impacts from the fires," he warned.

"I am concerned that in a few years we could have climate displaced people in the biome."

On the shore of Bracinho Island, which was burned in fires last month, three fishermen try their luck.

According to them, fishing has become more difficult due to fires poisoning the fish and make the activity difficult.

A heavy drought, which scientists say has exacerbated this year's fires, has also dropped the water-level in the river.

"Everything disappeared: the fish, the bait," 33-year-old Marcelo Henrique told AFP.

He said he used to live off fishing, but has now taken a job in a steel mill in Ladario.

"The bays dried up... Before there were 30, 40 boats circulating here. Now you barely see any."

- Evening curfew –

In his cabin off the MS 428 state highway, Renato Andrade remembers better days when hunting and fishing were abundant -- and threats from jaguars more rare.

A

 pair of Jaribu storks near Corumba, in Brazil's Pantanal tropical wetlands, June 28, 2024. © Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP

The 52-year-old told AFP that after the 2020 fire, capybaras -- the natural prey of jaguars -- became "scarce."

"Before, there was no talk of jaguar attacks nearby. Now, I hear roars around the house. I can't have dogs, we've lost count of how many were eaten by jaguars," he said.

Fearing for his own life, he said he has changed his daily routine.

"At night, now you have to stay inside the house. After 6:30 pm, no one wants to be outside" over fears of attacks.

He said he has also stopped fishing alone at night, like he used to do.

"I can't or I will end up a jaguar's dinner."

© 2024 AFP

D. E. I.

Bass beats bring Shanghai's deaf and hearing clubbers together

Shanghai (AFP) – Crowds bopped to bass-heavy electronic music at a weekend party in Shanghai that brought together deaf and hearing clubbers, with staff taking food and drink orders through sign language.

Issued on: 04/07/2024

Shanghai's 'BassBath' organisers are looking to build bridges between the city's deaf and hearing communities with its club nights 

© Jade GAO / AFP


It was the second "BassBath" club night organised by a culture-bridging group working in the Chinese metropolis.

"This event is intended to break down the barrier between deaf and hearing people through play and body language," Alice Hu, BassBath co-organiser and a visual artist who is deaf, told AFP.

BassBath "allows deaf people to understand hearing people's culture, and also allows hearing people to understand deaf people's culture, leading to mutual integration", Hu said.

Two patrons communicate via sign language at a deaf-friendly party in Shanghai 

© Jade GAO / AFP

Deaf communities around the world have increasingly built such spaces for nightlife and other cultural events.

However, nightlife and entertainment events for deaf partyers are still rare in China despite recent efforts to improve inclusivity in education and everyday life.
'Happier together'

Animated art and music videos featuring sign language artists such as Finland's Signmark were projected onto graffiti-strewn walls at Saturday's party.

Posters scattered across the venue showed visitors the Chinese sign language versions of words such as "dream" and "dance", while deaf professional dancers showed off their "popping" and breakdance moves.

DJs select songs with bass beats deep enough to be felt as vibrations

 © Jade GAO / AFP

DJs played tracks selected for their catchy rhythms and bass beats deep enough to be felt as vibrations.

BassBath's Hu led the crowd in a game where players changed their dance moves according to signed words.

For 34-year-old Xiaozhou, the party was his first opportunity to go out dancing.

"I hope I can have some exchanges with friends and have fun together, feel happier together," Xiaozhou, who asked to be identified by a nickname, told AFP.
Inclusive partying

At 68, Hu Jingqi was among the oldest revellers.

Deaf artist and BassBath organiser Alice Hu (L) and colleague Ding Jiayue prepare for their latest Shanghai club night © Jade GAO / AFP

She stood at the centre of a circle of dancers, moving her hands to the music while clubbers decades younger towered over her in their flashy streetwear.

Hu Jingqi also attended BassBath's debut party in May.

"It was really crazy, the whole atmosphere was really great and it was really bustling," she said of her first experience clubbing.

"I really liked the activity, to the point that I forgot some of the physical discomforts I have in my body," she told AFP.

For hearing clubber Alice Liu, who is learning sign language, the event was a window into the deaf community's rich culture, which is usually relegated to the sidelines of mainstream society.

Liu said she learned of the event through a sign language class taught by BassBath's Alice Hu.

"In the past, I believed in some stereotypes, like I felt (deaf people) would only appear in certain fixed places, or that they were unwilling to interact with other people," Liu told AFP.

Hearing clubgoers say the BassBath nights in Shanghai open a window into the deaf community's rich culture © Jade GAO / AFP

"I had heard that there were some very talented deaf dancers, but I didn't understand how they could dance."

Jia-yue Ding, another of BassBath's organisers, said society was "very centred on ableism".

"But actually, if you step just a little bit outside of that (mindset), everyone is the same, and everyone can be friends and play together," Ding told AFP.

"There are very few opportunities for deaf and hearing people to make deep connections, so we hope that an event like this will help people to see each other in the moment and understand each other," she said.

© 2024 AFP

POST FORDIST GLOBALIZATION

China's BYD opens EV plant in Thailand despite slowdown, tariff row

Bangkok (AFP) – China's electric vehicle giant BYD opened a factory in Thailand on Thursday, continuing its international expansion despite a market slowdown and hours before the European Union was due to impose swingeing tariffs on Chinese EV firms.


Issued on: 04/07/2024 - 

BYD is China's dominant electric vehicle maker but is looking to expand overseas © GREG BAKER / AFP

The plant in Rayong, an industrial area southeast of Bangkok, will be able to build up to 150,000 vehicles a year, according to the company, which dominates its domestic market.

Wang Chuanfu, Shenzhen-based BYD's chief executive, said production would initially focus on full electric vehicles and later expand to include plug-in hybrids, which combine a conventional engine with an electric motor.

"BYD Thailand plant has an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles, including the four major processes of vehicle and parts production, and will create about 10,000 jobs," Wang said at an opening ceremony.

The move comes as Thailand seeks to shift its longstanding auto sector away from conventional vehicles and towards EV production.

BYD overtook Elon Musk's Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2023 to become the world's top seller of electric vehicles.

Tesla reclaimed top spot in the first quarter of this year, but BYD is bullish about its expansion, insisting last month it would press ahead with a second factory in the EU.

The Chinese automaker recorded a record annual profit of 30 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) last year, but in April reported lower than expected revenue for the first quarter of 2024.

BYD has faced a bitter price war in China, where a staggering 129 EV brands are slugging it out -- with only 20 achieving a domestic market share of one percent or more, according to Bloomberg.

China has led the global shift to electric vehicles, with almost one in three cars on its roads set to be electric by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency's annual Global EV Outlook.

But European regulators have raised concerns about what they say is "overcapacity" created by excessive state subsidies.

Seeking to protect European manufacturers from cheaper Chinese imports, Brussels has proposed a provisional hike of tariffs on Chinese manufacturers: 17.4 percent for BYD, 20 percent for Geely and 38.1 percent for SAIC -- in addition to the current 10 percent import duty.

EU and Chinese trade chiefs held talks last weekend in a bid to avert a bitter trade war, but the tariffs are set to come into force on Thursday.

But while they are high, the EU tariffs are significantly lower than the 100 percent rate the United States imposed from last month on Chinese electric cars.

© 2024 AFP

China's BYD opens EV factory in Thailand, first in Southeast Asia


Bangkok International Motor Show·

Updated Wed, Jul 3, 2024

By Chayut Setboonsarng

RAYONG, Thailand (Reuters) -China's BYD opened an electric vehicle plant in Thailand on Thursday, the automaker's first factory in Southeast Asia, a fast-growing regional EV market where it has become the dominant player.

"Thailand has a clear EV vision and is entering a new era of auto manufacturing," BYD CEO and President Wang Chuanfu said at the opening ceremony. "We will bring technology from China to Thailand."

The BYD plant is part of a wave of investment worth more than $1.44 billion from Chinese EV makers who are setting up factories in Thailand, helped by government subsidies and tax incentives.

Hong Kong-listed shares of the automaker rose 3.2% to HK$237.60, their biggest intraday jump since June 13.

By 2030, Thailand aims to convert 30% of its annual production of 2.5 million vehicles into EVs, according to a government plan.

Thailand is a regional auto assembly and export hub, and has long been dominated by Japanese car makers such as Toyota Motor, Honda Motor Co and Isuzu Motors.

"BYD is using Thailand as a production hub for export to ASEAN and many other countries," said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary-general of Thailand's Board of Investment, referring to the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc.

The facility, announced two years ago, is worth $490 million and will have a production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year, including plug-in hybrids.

The sprawling factory in eastern Thailand's Rayong district will employ around 10,000 workers, some of whom were seen operating machinery on Thursday as under-construction bodies of BYD's Dolphin model moved through an assembly line.

"We will also assemble batteries and other important parts here," said Liu Xueliang, BYD's Asia Pacific general manager.

Thailand is the largest overseas market for BYD, which commanded a 46% share of country's EV segment in the first quarter and is the third-largest player in passenger cars, according to research firm Counterpoint.

Other EV rivals in the local market include Great Wall Motor, which also has a production facility in Thailand, and Tesla.

BYD dealers in Thailand, however, are currently under scrutiny following a consumer complaint over aggressive discounting that has left some buyers upset with how much they paid for their cars.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng, Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Music festivals seek greener footprint

Paris (AFP) – Three planes, 270 tonnes of equipment, 800 square metres of stage: the figures from Madonna's massive free concert in Rio in May sounded like they came from another age.

Issued on: 04/07/2024
]

© Oli SCARFF / AFP


These days, megastars are usually keener to claim a smaller footprint.

Coldplay, who just headlined Glastonbury Festival in Britain, recently announced they had cut carbon emissions on their world tour by 59-percent compared with their last tour in 2016-17.

They have taken innovative steps including solar panels and even a special dance floor that generates electricity from the movement of the audience.

Critics point out they are still flying around on planes, and there was particularly opprobrium in 2022 when they announced a partnership with Finnish oil giant Neste.

Though Neste promised to help them use sustainable biofuels, the Transport and Environment campaign group said Coldplay were being used by the oil firm as "useful idiots for greenwashing".

Though the overall impact is hard to measure, one study by University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute in 2010 estimated that Britain's industry alone generated 540,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

Climate group Clean Scene found that the top 1,000 DJs took 51,000 flights in 2019, equivalent to 35,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Climate commitments

As a result, all the big festivals now have climate pledges and initiatives, from composting and car-pooling schemes at Coachella in California to renewable energy usage at Glastonbury.

One festival that has taken a lead is We Love Green in Paris, as the name suggests.

Some 110,000 festival-goers attended last month's event to see artists including Sza, who travelled with "almost no equipment" according to Marianne Hocquard, the festival's head of sustainable development.

She said that was down to the festival ensuring they have much of the equipment needed by its artists, and setting energy caps for performances.

Others have taken radical steps: the Bon Air festival in Marseille canceled DJ I Hate Models this year after learning that he was coming by private jet.

Many events now encourage their attendees to take greener modes of transport.

We Love Green launched a partnership with the French Cycling Federation to organise convoys of bikes for this year's edition, and said 14 percent of ticket-holders came on two wheels despite the dodgy weather, up from eight percent last year.

Glastonbury is one of many festivals with climate commitments © Oli SCARFF / AFP

But there is a limit to how much can be done.

When Taylor Swift played Paris in May, the city mayor's office said there was a surge in arrivals of private jets at local airports.

Private jet operators have been jumping on entertainment events such as festivals or the Euro 2024 football tournament to boost their business.

There was little about the climate in a recent press release by private jet operator KlasJet, which said: "When you're traveling to an amazing event like Euro 2024, the last thing you want is for your experience to be ruined by a delayed flight."

© 2024 AFP

Making an impression: Swiss collection shown in a new light

Lausanne (AFP) – The Langmatt's prestigious collection of Impressionist masterpieces is being seen in a new light, literally, after leaving the museum in northern Switzerland on loan for the first time.

Issued on: 04/07/2024 - 
Young visitors in front of Renoir's 'La Natte' (The Braid) at the Heritage Foundation in Lausanne © Valentin Flauraud / AFP
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Around 50 paintings, including works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet and Edgar Degas, are being shown in brighter surroundings at the Hermitage Foundation in Lausanne while the Langmatt undergoes renovation.

"I've never seen the paintings in this light," the Langmatt's director Markus Stegmann said.

The collection has never been seen outside the cocoon of the Langmatt villa in Baden, near Zurich, where the artworks are displayed under the light of crystal chandeliers and latticed windows.

At the Hermitage, overlooking the western Swiss city of Lausanne, the 19th-century villa's large bay windows give free rein to the same play of light that inspired the Impressionists.
The 19th-century villa that is home of the Heritage Foundation, where the Langmatt chose for the first-ever loan of its Impressionest collection © Valentin Flauraud / AFP

The collection includes Renoir's "The Braid" (1886-1887), Monet's "Ice Floes at Twilight" (1893) and Gauguin's "Still Life with Bowl of Fruit and Lemons" (1889-1890).

The exhibition, which runs until November 3, pays tribute to not only the 150 years since the start of the Impressionist art movement but also to Sidney and Jenny Brown, the couple who amassed the collection between 1908 and 1919.
Art from the heart

A wealthy family from the industrial bourgeoisie of northern Switzerland, the Browns showed exceptional taste.

All the works "were bought with the heart" rather than on the advice of art experts, Stegmann said.

The Langmatt collection includes Cezanne's 'The Bathers' © Valentin Flauraud / AFP

Take for example Eugene Boudin's "Washerwomen on the Bank of the Touques" (1895), showing the women leaning over the water with a smoking factory in the background.

Bought by the Browns during their Paris honeymoon in 1896, the painting "is not an easy work, it's not a loveable work", said Hermitage Foundation director Sylvie Wuhrmann.

The Browns also collected works by the Munich Secession association of visual artists, before becoming exclusively passionate about contemporary French artists.

Renoir became a big favourite, alongside Cezanne and Camille Pissarro.

The couple's devotion to Impressionism was not without risk in society circles where such artists raised eyebrows.
Change of style

Alongside "The Boat" (circa 1878) and the portraits of his children, Renoir's "The Braid" is among the most recognisable works in the collection.

It is inspired by the classicist works of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and it has even been nicknamed the Langmatt Mona Lisa.

It also goes well with the Hermitage's own collection: the Lausanne museum has an exceptional set of 17 paintings and drawings by Suzanne Valadon, the model depicted in "The Braid".

In 1919, for reasons difficult to pin down, the Browns changed their tastes. Out went Impressionism and in came 18th-century French painters.

They sold eight artworks, including paintings by Renoir and Cezanne, to buy "Young Girl with a Cat" (circa 1770) by Jean-Honore Fragonard, which is also being shown in Lausanne.

And the couple asked the Austrian artist Max Oppenheimer to paint their portrait in a style mixing Expressionism and Cubism.

In 1941, Sidney Brown died and Jenny Brown stopped buying art, living as a recluse at the Langmatt villa until her own death in 1968 aged 96.
Firmer financial footing

When Stegmann reached out for a temporary home for the Langmatt's paintings during the villa's renovation, the Hermitage enthusiastically said yes as it celebrates its own 40th anniversary.

Stegmann said the collaboration also made it possible to publish a comprehensive catalogue by experts on the Langmatt collection, something the Baden museum did not have the means to do alone.

In November, facing serious financial difficulties, the museum sold three Cezannes at auction in New York.

"Fruits et pot de gingembre" (1890-1893) fetched $38.9 million, "Quatre pommes et un couteau" (circa 1885) sold for $10.4 million, and "La mer a l'Estaque" (1878-1879) raised $3.2 million.

At the time, Stegmann called the sale a painful last resort to secure the museum's long-term future.

After Lausanne, the collection will be shown in Cologne, Germany, from March to July 2025, and then in Vienna from September next year to February 2026, before returning home to Baden.

© 2024 AFP

 

Rio Tinto to install zero-carbon smelting technology ELYSIS at demonstration plant in Quebec

Rio Tinto will install carbon-free aluminium smelting cells at its Arvida smelter in Quebec, Canada, using the first technology license issued by ELYSIS, the company announced on Friday June 28

July 3, 2024

By Yasemin Esmen

Rio Tinto will design, engineer and build a demonstration plant with 10 pots operating at 100 kiloamperes (kA) adjacent to the company’s existing Arvida smelter, which will allow for the use of the current alumina supply and casting facilities at Arvida.

The new plant will be owned by a joint venture between Rio Tinto and the Government of Quebec, through Investissement Québec, which has also been supporting ELYSIS alongside technology giant Apple.

ELYSIS is a joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto that has developed a technology to replace carbon anodes in the aluminium smelting process.

Alumina smelting using carbon anodes produces carbon dioxide as a by-product while turning alumina (aluminium oxide) into aluminium.

ELYSIS replaces these carbon anodes with inert anodes to produce oxygen and aluminium as a result of the smelting process, eliminating all direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the traditional process.

ELYSIS has achieved further progress with Rio Tinto’s plans to launch the first industrial-scale demonstration of the breakthrough technology, Alcoa said in a statement.

The joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto is continuing its research and development program to scale up the ELYSIS technology. Construction of larger prototype 450 kA cells is completed, and commissioning of these industrial prototype cells has begun, with the start-up sequence set to begin in 2024.

Both Alcoa and Rio Tinto anticipate that the investment will help in the development of ELYSIS and in developing the companies’ expertise in its installation and operation toward full-scale industrialization of the ELYSIS technology.

Rio Tinto expects the plant to have the capacity to produce up to 2,500 tonnes per year of commercial quality aluminium without direct GHG emissions, with first production targeted by 2027.

Alcoa will have the option to purchase up to 40% of the metal produced over the first four years from the Arvida demonstration plant through an offtake agreement.

“This investment will further strengthen Rio Tinto’s industry-leading position in low-carbon, responsible aluminium in North America with our hydro-powered smelters and our recycling capacity,” Rio Tinto aluminium chief executive Jérôme Pécresse said.

Both Alcoa and Rio Tinto have proprietary low-carbon aluminium brands, Sustana EcoLum and RenewAl, respectively.

Demand for low-carbon aluminium in the US is being led by the automotive, packaging, and wire and cable industries.

Fastmarkets launched its US low-carbon aluminium differentials in November 2023 to meet market demand for a low-carbon aluminium pricing mechanism and to bring transparency to the market.

Fastmarkets assessed both the aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, US Midwest and the aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product, US Midwest at zero on Friday June 28, with low-carbon units trading at parity with high-carbon units.

Fulcrum Metals Acquires Three Saskatchewan Uranium Projects

byEleanor Laurence - Content Producer, The Assay
2 days ago


UK based Fulcrum Metals (LON: FMET) announced on Monday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Fulcrum Metals Canada Ltd, has agreed to acquire a 100% interest in the Charlot-Neely Lake, South Pendleton, and Snowbird uranium projects in Saskatchewan, spanning 11,481ha.

Fulcrum paid a cash consideration to the Dunn Option Vendors of C$5,000 and upon exercising the option on 28 June this year, Fulcrum has paid a further cash consideration of C$60,000.

This takes the company one step closer to a definitive agreement with Terra Balcanica Resources Corp. over the sale of all of its uranium projects totalling more than 59,000ha, Fulcrum said in a news release.

Fulcrum also owns The Big Bear gold project situated over the western end of the Schreiber-Hemlo Greenstone belt, the Jackfish Lake gold project in Ontario, and the Tully gold project, located 25km northeast of Timmins within the Timmins-Porcupine Gold Camp.

The company aims to create an environmentally friendly and sustainable tailings and mine waste business, driving mining change through combining low discovery risk assets and jurisdictions with transformative technology capable of near-term cash flow whilst capitalizing on a portfolio of exploration assets.

First Quantum stock jumps on Panama plans for mine audit

Reuters | July 2, 2024 |

President Jose Raul Mulino. Credit: Galeria del Ministerio de Defensa del Perú, Wikimedia Commons

Shares of Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals jumped 6% on the Toronto Stock Exchange in early trading on Tuesday, following news that Panama would conduct an environmental audit of the Cobre Panama mine to decide whether it can safely be reopened.


President Jose Raul Mulino officially took charge of the Panama government on Monday and made the announcement of an environmental audit in his first address as the head of the government.

“I will order a strict environmental audit of the mine, with the best international experts, so that the country knows the truth about the state of the site…,” President Mulino said in his speech on Monday. He added that Panama will choose an auditing company which will not generate any costs for the government.

“The plan to open and definitively close the mine in a safe and positive manner for our country will depend on the results of that environment study,” Mulino said.

First Quantum did not respond to an email query.

The Cobre Panama mine, one of the newest and biggest copper mines in the world, was ordered to be shut down by the Panama government last December after public protests. Last week, Reuters reported that First Quantum was planning to launch a formal arbitration proceeding against Panama this month.

(By Divya Rajagopal and Elida Moreno; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Chizu Nomiyama)

Rio Tinto in talks to prevent strike at copper mine in Mongolia

AKIPRESS.COM - Global miner Rio Tinto opens new tab is negotiating with workers at its Oyu Tolgoi copper operations in Mongolia to avert further industrial action over a sharp drop in wages that triggered an earlier strike in May, Reuters reported.

Changes in Mongolia's Labor Law, which came into effect at the start of 2022, prompted Rio Tinto to recalculate employee allowances. Wages have dropped by as much as 80%, according to non-governmental organization OT Watch, which is in contact with the mine workers.

"The key demand of workers is to bring wages to similar levels paid for the same type of work performed in other Rio Tinto mines," OT Watch said in a briefing note shared with Reuters, adding that workers were being paid a "miserable $1,596 per month for work far from home".

"Rio Tinto is committed to finding a resolution that benefits all parties involved," a Rio Tinto spokesperson said.

Oyu Tolgoi is a significant part of Rio Tinto's copper operations, contributing substantially to the company's output. It has been a crucial asset in Mongolia, with significant investments and collaborations with the local government and workforce.