Ancient Roman Military Camp Uncovered in Portugal

Jun 28, 2021 by News Staff / Source

The 2,100-year-old camp of Lomba do Mouro in Melgaço, Portugal, was used by around 10,000 Roman soldiers sent to conquer Northwest Iberia.

Covering more than 20 hectares, the site of Lomba do Mouro was discovered using remote sensing techniques.

“Written sources mention the army crossing different valleys, but until now we didn’t know exactly where,” said Dr. João Fonte, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter and a member of the Romanarmy.eu project.

“Because of the temporary nature of the site, it’s almost impossible to find without using remote sensing techniques, and radiocarbon dating wouldn’t have been accurate because plant roots creep into the structure.”

Dr. Fonte and colleagues analyzed a section of sediment from the foundations of the camp’s wall using optically stimulated luminescence dating technique.

This made it possible to date the last time the quartz crystals were exposed to sunlight and how long they were buried under the walls.

“We have found numerous military camps in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula in recent years, but their dating is very complex,” Dr. Fonte said.

“As they are temporary enclosures, there is very little material or organic evidence in them that would allow a scientifically valid dating to be obtained, until now.”

The Lomba do Mouro camp was constructed in the 2nd century BCE by Roman troops who were crossing the Laboreiro Mountain between the Lima and Minho rivers.

It was designed to be a temporary fortification, used for a day or weeks at a most in the warmer months, and was built quickly.

The camp is the oldest scientifically identified Roman camp to date in Galicia and northern Portugal.

“The dating of Lomba do Mouro places the site in a historical context known from classical sources: the growing pressure of Rome on Northwest Iberia and the first advance of its legions to subdue the territory of the Callaici,” the researchers said.

“From this context of confrontation, the best-known episode is the campaign carried out in 137 BCE by the Roman consul Decimus Junius Brutus, who entered Gallaecia with two legions, crossing the rivers Douro and Lima and reaching the Minho.”

“It was on the river Lima that classical sources narrate the legendary episode of the River of Oblivion.”

“The two absolute dates of the wall, together with the large dimensions of the enclosure, support the hypothesis that the camp may have been erected by a contingent linked to these times, although due to the degree of uncertainty of the dates it is difficult to establish a direct association with the episode of Decimus Junius Brutus.”

“Because of his success in the military campaign, Decimus Junius Brutus was known as Callaicus.”

Vale autonomous trucks have hauled 100Mt at Brucutu

Cecilia Jamasmie | July 2, 2021 |

Autonomous off-road truck at Brutucu iron ore mine. (Image courtesy of Vale.)

Vale’s (NYSE: VALE) driverless trucks achieved a major milestone this week as they have moved 100 million tonnes of material since first introduced at the company’s Brucutu iron ore mine in 2016.


The amount of ore transported is equivalent to the weight of 35,000 major soccer stadiums like the Maracanã, in Rio de Janeiro.

In terms of distance travelled, the trucks have already covered 1.8 million km — or 46 laps around the Earth, Vale said.

Over the past five years autonomous trucks have not been involved in any accidents at the mine, the largest in Minas Gerais state and the company’s second biggest, behind Carajás.

Carbon emissions have been reduced due to lower fuel consumption and the mine’s productivity has increased, Vale said.

AUTONOMOUS HAUL TRUCKS WERE INTRODUCED AT BRUCUTU IN 2016, MAKING IT THE FIRST MINE IN BRAZIL WITH 100% AUTONOMOUS OPERATION BY 2018

With a capacity to transport 240 tonnes, the trucks are controlled by computer systems, GPS, radar and artificial intelligence, covering the route between the mining front and the unloading area.

In 2019, all 13 trucks circulating in Brucutu were already using the new technology, making it the first mine in Brazil with 100% autonomous operations.

Vale said fuel consumption of autonomous trucks is 11% lower than traditional vehicles, resulting in a reduction of 4,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

The trucks favoured the maintenance of equipment. Tires had a 35% increase in their useful life – 10% points more than expected, Vale said. In addition to saving the company money, this number generates less waste disposal.

Drivers who used to stay in the cabin have been trained and relocated to other functions, mainly in control rooms, where they have air conditioning and no vibration or noise.

“There are many results and lessons learned to be celebrated with the current level of maturity of the autonomous mine,” Jefferson Corraide , executive manager of the Brucutu and Água Limpa complex said in the statement. “Certainly the most important advance provided by the implementation is the reduction of people’s exposure to risk.”

Autonomous drills

Vale is also investing in autonomous drills. There are currently 11 of them in operations in Minas Gerais and Pará. Another ongoing project is to automate yard machines, which has already been completed in Malaysia and is being implemented in four Brazilian states.

The miner aims to have 21 autonomous drills across Carajas, Brucutu and Itabira before the end of the year. It also wants to expand the fleet to 50 trucks by the end of 2024, with an investment estimated in $400 million. It also plans to put into permanent operation 10 autonomous trucks at its Carajás mine, the world’s largest iron ore open pit mine.

Malaysian news portal ordered to pay damages to Australian miner in defamation case
Reuters | July 2, 2021 | 

Kuala Lumpur High Court. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Malaysia’s highest court on Friday ordered news portal Malaysiakini to pay 550,000 ringgit ($132,179.76) in damages for in a defamation case filed by a now-defunct Australian mining firm.


The ruling comes amid concern among activists about freedom of expression in Malaysia and is the latest against Malaysiakini, an independent publication that has often attracted scrutiny from authorities.

Malaysiakini was sued in 2012 for publishing several articles and videos about residents’ concerns over pollution allegedly linked to Raub Australian Gold Mine Sdn Bhd’s gold mining operations in Malaysia. The company had said the articles were defamatory and malicious.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2016 ruled in favour of Malaysiakini on the grounds of responsible journalism and reportage, but the decision was later overturned on appeal.

On Friday, the Federal Court upheld the appellate court’s decision in a 3-2 majority ruling, saying Malaysiakini had not been “fair, disinterested or adopted a neutral approach” in reporting the residents’ campaign against the mining activities.

The court found Malaysiakini had failed to take steps to verify assertions made in the articles.

“This is irresponsible rather than responsible journalism,” the court said in a copy of its judgment seen by Reuters.

Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan expressed disappointment with the outcome and said the news portal had merely been carrying out its duties as journalists in reporting the residents’ health concerns.

Raub Australian Gold Mine could not be contacted for comment. Lawyers for the company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

In February, Malaysiakini was fined 500,000 ringgit after the Federal Court found it in contempt over publishing readers’ comments about the judiciary, a ruling condemned by rights groups as a blow to press freedoms.

($1 = 4.1610 ringgit)

(By Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Martin Petty)

US Forest Service advances Perpetua Resources’ plan for Idaho Stibnite-Gold project

MINING.com Editor | July 1, 2021 | 

Stibnite gold project, Idaho. Image from Midas Gold.

Perpetua Resources (Nasdaq: PPTA) (TSX: PPTA) announced Thursday that the United States Forest Service (USFS) is advancing the company’s modified proposed action in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and updated the permitting schedule for the Stibnite Gold project in Idaho.


The results of an independent feasibility study released last year envision the project becoming one of the largest and highest-grade open-pit gold mines in the United States with over 4 million ounces of gold in reserve —and the country’s only primary producer of antimony, a critical and strategic mineral.

There is currently no domestic antimony source, and 90% of world supply is controlled by China, Russia and Tajikistan.

Perpetua Resources’ modified proposed action was submitted to USFS in December 2020 and represents refinements to Alternative 2 of the August 2020 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

The refined plan incorporates stakeholder feedback on the DEIS and is designed to reduce the project footprint and improve environmental outcomes. Modifications include the elimination of waste rock storage areas, overall reductions in mined material, additional pit backfilling and restoration, and improvements to water quality and water temperature.

The USFS’s decision advances Perpetua Resources’ improved project design in the NEPA process.

“We are pleased the USFS is advancing our proposed action forward and establishing a well-defined path towards a Record of Decision,” Laurel Sayer, CEO of Perpetua Resources said in a press release.

“These actions expressly integrate public input and additional analysis in the process, reduce the project’s environmental effects, and enhance our restoration and community objectives.”

The proposed improvements, which reduce the project footprint and are predicted to improve water quality conditions at the site during and after project operations, have been incorporated in Perpetua Resources’ 2020 Feasibility Study.

US EPA weighs Taseko copper mining process akin to fracking

Reuters | June 30, 2021 | 

Florence copper project. (Image courtesy of Taseko Mines)

Taseko Mines (TSE: TKO) wants to produce copper in Arizona using a process that evokes oilfield fracking, but first the company has to convince the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it will not harm the state’s water supply.

The Canadian firm, which said it expects an EPA decision imminently, wants to use a process that involves injecting sulfuric acid and water deep underground to break up a mineral deposit. Uranium miners in rural parts of Australia and the United States have used the process, known as in situ leaching, for decades, but it has rarely been used to extract copper.

Worried about potential groundwater contamination, officials in Florence, Arizona, which sits atop 2.4 billion pounds of copper, tried unsuccessfully for a decade to block Taseko’s project.

A U.S. appeals court this past spring put an end to the town’s legal roadblocks, which included an attempt to take the company’s land via eminent domain. The EPA is now deciding whether to approve Taseko’s plan.

“It’s a very green way of producing copper,” said Stuart McDonald, Taseko’s president, adding the “proven technology” can safely boost U.S. production of a metal key to President Joe Biden’s electrification plans.

OPPONENTS, INCLUDING ENVIRONMENTALISTS, WORRY IT COULD POLLUTE WATER SUPPLIES IN THE DROUGHT-STRICKEN STATE AND MAY ALSO DAMAGE HISTORICAL SITES

Opponents, including environmentalists, worry it could pollute water supplies in the drought-stricken state and may also damage historical sites.

“There’s no way you can put sulfuric acid in the aquifer and not pollute it,” John Anderson, a council member in Florence, about 63 miles (101 km) southwest of Phoenix, told state officials at a public hearing last year.

State officials approved Taseko’s plan in December over objections from Anderson and other town officials, who declined to comment for this story.

The EPA said it expects to decide whether to issue a so-called draft underground injection control (UIC) permit during its current fiscal year, which ends in September.

Vancouver-based Taseko has told investors it expects a decision very soon. Investors see the mine’s opening as key to boosting Taseko’s stock price, which an average of analysts believe is undervalued by about 22%, according to Refinitiv data.
Water studies

After the mixture of water and acid is injected and dissolves the copper – at a pressure less than oilfield fracking – the solution is drawn back to the surface where a process similar to electrolysis separates out the metal. Taseko said it aims to produce 85 million pounds of copper annually, enough to make nearly 500,000 electric vehicles.

In situ leaching does not require an open-pit mine or a smelter. It also emits less carbon than most copper mines, according to ESG consultancy Skarn Associates. A two-year study by Taseko did not detect any leaks from test wells.

The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), an environmental group, noted the movement of water in underground aquifers can be hard to predict.

“Just because test wells show no risk doesn’t mean there won’t be damage in the future,” said the CBD’s Joe Trudeau.

The EPA is studying whether the project complies with regulations designed to “ensure that underground sources of drinking water are protected from contamination by any authorized subsurface injection activities,” said spokesperson Joshua Alexander.

When used to extract uranium, in situ leaching can leave behind radioactive elements, requiring nearby aquifers to be rinsed out.

Taseko said it plans to also rinse out the underground ore body after it extracts the copper – a process that takes at least a year – but has detected no radioactive elements in the rock formation.

The EPA is also worried construction of tanks and other equipment could damage Native American historical sites. The agency is talking with tribes to determine whether the project complies with the National Historical Preservation Act.

Taseko said it will curate artifacts for preservation when it cannot avoid historical sites.

Steve Enders, a mining engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines, said in situ leaching is better for the environment than traditional mining.

“There’s no better way to recover copper if you want to minimize the impact on the environment,” said Enders, who added the process could potentially be used at a few other Arizona copper deposits that are naturally fractured, like Taseko’s.

If the EPA issues a draft UIC, there would be a public comment period before a final permit is issued, though the timing of that decision is unclear, the EPA said.

Taseko said it could be operational within 18 months of receiving its permits.

(By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Amran Abocar and Marguerita Choy)

Myanmar army tightens grip on lucrative jade sector
Cecilia Jamasmie | June 30, 2021 | 6:45 am Markets Asia Diamond

Myanmar generates about 70% of the world’s jade, worth billions of dollars and destined mostly to neighbouring China. (Stock image)

Myanmar’s military has further tightened its grip on the country’s jade trade, using the industry to finance the February 1 coup that plunged the country into turmoil, a new report released Tuesday shows.


According to human rights organization Global Witness, the military junta (Tatmadaw) is now in charge of the multibillion-dollar industry whose business mostly goes to China, as it is in charge of handing out jade mining permits.

The investigation, which builds on a landmark 2015 report, alleges the family of coup-leader and commander of the armed forces, General Min Aung Hlaing, profited from bribes as corruption in the jade industry worsened in recent years.

“Our revelations about the military’s increased control of the multibillion-dollar jade trade is emblematic of the Tatmadaw’s broader capture of valuable sectors of the country’s economy, which funds their abuses, fuels conflict and helped enable their recent illegal power grab,” Keel Dietz, Myanmar policy advisor at Global Witness and author of the report, said in a statement.

“The military has such strong control over the country’s jade trade that it would be “nearly impossible” to buy the gemstones without enriching the generals and their allies.”

The coup has destabilized the sector further, the investigation shows, triggering renewed fighting in jade mining areas. The report also found that jade money was being directly channelled into the arms trade between several ethnic armed groups, fueling conflict in the country’s north.

“THE MILITARY HAS SUCH STRONG CONTROL OVER THE COUNTRY’S JADE TRADE THAT IT WOULD BE “NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE” TO BUY THE GEMSTONES WITHOUT ENRICHING THE GENERALS AND THEIR ALLIES”

Global Witness

The report looks specifically at the role played by the Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/A), the United Wa State Party/Army (UWSP/A), and the Arakan Army (AA). The latter has emerged as a significant new player in the jade sector in recent years, according to the research.

It paints a picture of a lawless land where “men with guns” rule over a haven of dangerous, illicit, and corrupt activities and impose a “climate of fear and violence” over a region ravaged by war and fueled by the green gemstone.

Myanmar accounts for about 70% of the world’s jade production. Before the coup and covid-19, up to 500,000 artisanal miners, known locally as yemase, traveled to Kachin state’s Hpakant every year to seek their fortunes in the mines.

Jade miners work under extremely dangerous conditions, particularly those who pick through churned up material from large-scale machinery on unstable hillsides. So accidents and landslides are, unfortunately, quite common.

Global Witness and other non-profits dedicated to investigating corruption and environmental abuse, are demanding stronger sanctions for Myanmar’s military.

“It is up to the international community to limit the amount of funding the military can receive from selling Myanmar’s natural resources by preventing the import of those resources and blocking financial transactions that pay for them,” the report concludes.

Learn more in the following video:

Australia, US and Canada launch interactive map for critical minerals
Reuters | June 29, 2021 | 

The data can be used by governments to identify options to diversify their critical minerals sources and by companies to better target their exploration strategies. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Australia said it has teamed up with the United States and Canada to launch an interactive map of deposits of rare earths and other critical minerals that are expected to be in hot demand as the world moves to cleaner forms of energy.


The website contains the world’s largest dataset of minerals such cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements and has more than 7,000 mineral samples from over 60 countries which could help identify new areas of critical minerals.

The data can be used by governments to identify options to diversify their critical minerals sources and by companies to better target their exploration strategies, Keith Pitt, the minister for resources, water and northern Australia, said in a statement.

“While Australia is known across the world for its rich gold and iron ore deposits, our country also has an abundance of critical minerals – which are key to everything from iPhones to fighter jets,” he added.

China is the dominant supplier of rare earths, which are used in electric vehicle batteries, a wide range of consumer products as well as satellites and lasers. Western governments have been keen to diversify procurement amid trade and political tensions with Beijing.

The United State said this month it would work with allies to secure the minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries and process them domestically.

The dataset was compiled by Geoscience Australia, the Geological Survey of Canada and the United States Geological Survey.

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

How old fossil-fueled power stations can be transformed into clean energy facilities

MINING.COM Staff Writer | June 29, 2021 

Coal-fired power plant. (Reference image by Greg Williams, Flickr).

A recent analysis by IDTechEx presents the case for turning old fossil-fueled power stations, hydro dams and pumped storage on waterways that are drying up into clean energy storage facilities.


The proposal is presented taking into consideration the fact that as renewables grow, so does intermittency. This means that more energy storage — or delayed electricity — is going to be needed.

“Cost reduction of solar generation is the fastest and its increasing share means two problems – dead at night, feeble in winter. Wind power can be dead for weeks in some regions and that only adds to the problem. Lithium-ion batteries currently favoured for stationary storage self-leak over weeks let alone seasons and they are not the easiest to scale to GW levels or improve to 20-year life, easy recycling or even best safety,” Raghu Das, IDTechEx’s CEO, writes in the report.

SIEMENS GAMESA PROPOSES THAT ITS THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE USING VOLCANIC ROCKS CAN BE USED IN REPURPOSED POWER STATIONS, EMPLOYING THE BUILDINGS, THE STEAM TURBINE SYSTEMS AND THE POWER TRANSMISSION

Das points out the example of Spanish-German wind engineering firm Siemens Gamesa, whose management team has said that its thermal energy storage using volcanic rocks is best at GW levels and capable of storage for weeks. The company is proposing that it can be used in repurposed polluting power stations, employing the buildings, the steam turbine systems and the power transmission.

“At IDTechEx we also see large redox batteries used in such buildings with the existing power transmission,” Das writes. “Indeed, gravity storage that erects towers may be ugly in a city but acceptable at existing power stations or up the side of a hydro dam. Liquid-air storage can also go nicely into an obsolete power station. Additionally, the power station buildings and land can be covered in solar panels. Full write-offs are avoided. Permissions are more readily granted than is the case for new industrial sites.”

In the executive’s view, redox flow batteries (RFB) will produce a better-levelized cost of storage (LCOS) than lithium-ion in some of the new demand scenarios because they require fewer expensive materials, have a longer life, are repairable, and do not fade over the years.

“For stationary energy storage, RFB may have the second-largest sales in 2031 after lithium-ion batteries. The world is running short of pumped storage sites and their approval and erection are pitifully long. Lithium-ion batteries suffer ongoing shortages of raw materials and, like pumped storage, their environmental credentials are increasingly questioned. Lift-off in solar-house batteries and electric vehicles will aggravate lithium-ion shortages,” Das predicts.

Within this context, the analyst sees another solution in gravity storage, which works by using excess energy from the grid to raise a mass to generate gravitational potential energy, which is then dropped to convert potential energy into electricity through an electric generator.

Das believes that gravity storage solutions could even employ on-site the trashed smokestacks and cooling towers of obsolete power stations.

Lithium nationalism taking root in region with most resources
Bloomberg News | June 29, 2021 |

The Sal de Vida deposit lies within the “lithium triangle”, an area encompassing Chile, Bolivia and Argentina that contains a significant portion of the world’s estimated lithium resources. (Image courtesy of Galaxy Resources.)

Politicians in Latin America, a region that accounts for more than half the world’s lithium resources, are looking to increase the role of the state in an industry that’s crucial for weaning the world off fossil fuels.


In Argentina, state energy companies are entering the lithium business as authorities make a bid to develop downstream industries. In Chile, a leading presidential candidate wants to do something similar just as the nation drafts a new constitution that may lead to tougher rules for miners.


To be sure, no one in power is talking about expropriating assets in production and much of the anti-investor rhetoric in Chile is coming from opposition groups. Still, by exacerbating inequalities and exposing supply-chain vulnerabilities, the pandemic is stoking resource nationalism that could lead to less favorable conditions for producers just as they expand in a nascent lithium-ion battery boom.

“Country and resource reliability is something that auto and battery companies look at,” said BTG Pactual analyst Cesar Perez-Novoa. “So it is a risk.”

Argentina’s state-run oil driller YPF SA confirmed this month that it will explore for lithium and get involved in the bid for battery production through a new unit — a similar strategy as it used to diversify into renewable energy. In Mexico, the government is studying the possibility of nationalizing lithium prospects.


LITHIUM-PRODUCING COUNTRIES HAVE HAD LITTLE SUCCESS ADDING VALUE TO THEIR RAW-MATERIAL INDUSTRIES GIVEN THEIR DISTANCE FROM DEMAND CENTERS AND SOMETIMES ADVERSE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT.

Another state energy company, Ieasa, whose role President Alberto Fernandez is reinvigorating after the previous government sought to privatize many of its assets, has said it will incorporate lithium into its business strategy, without elaborating.

Lithium-producing countries have had little success adding value to their raw-material industries given their distance from demand centers and sometimes adverse business environment. In the case of Bolivia, requirements to invest downstream have been one of the barriers to it getting lithium out of the ground in the first place.

Argentina is banking on close ties with China, its lender of last resort, to open the door to the dream of local battery and electric-vehicle plants. Argentine officials have been in talks with Gotion High-Tech Co. and Ganfeng Lithium Co.

Adding fuel to the fire in Argentina is a bill drafted last year by lawmakers from ruling party Frente de Todos that looks to declare lithium a “strategic resource.” Still, the bill isn’t currently being considered, a party spokeswoman said.

In Chile, the top lithium supplier after Australia, a process to rewrite the constitution is expected to include a debate over how to capture more of the sector’s profits, stricter licensing requirements and the classification of water as a national asset for public use.


RELATED: Ganfeng Lithium mulls opening battery plant in Argentina

It’s unclear whether a new constitution could shake up property rights given the state is already the owner of minerals, said Renato Garin, a professor at the University of Chile’s law school, who was elected to the convention drafting the charter. The shift will likely lie instead in environmental rules as concerns grow about the impact of lithium mining in the Atacama salt flats.

“What the new constitution will push is a leap away from mining capitalism to encourage more investment in technology,” Garin, an independent left-leaning member of the assembly, said in an interview. “How to produce without destroying.”

The strongest comments have come from Mexico, where the government is studying state control of assets. Mexico doesn’t produce lithium yet and, according to BTG Pactual analysts, the rhetoric is unlikely to turn into action. But it still stokes uncertainty.

Bolivia is also trying to move forward with a state approach to developing its vast deposits. After rolling out a series of pilots over the past decade — including giant evaporation ponds to replicate the brine extraction method used in Chile and Argentina — the land-locked nation is turning to new technologies.

Bolivia has called for bids to test direct lithium extraction techniques, or DLE, with the winners scheduled to be announced in the coming weeks just as the state lithium company and its partners wrap up work on prototype processing and battery plants. Still, Bolivia’s DLE and downstream experiments hold no guarantees for a significant increase in production anytime soon.

(By Jonathan Gilbert and Daniela Sirtori-Cortina, with assistance from Jorgelina do Rosario and Sergio Mendoza)

Most Belarus potash exports not affected by EU sanctions – analysts
Reuters | June 28, 2021 |

Port of Klaipėda. Credit: Wikipedia

The European Union’s ban on imports and transit of potash from Belarus will not affect most exports of the crop nutrient from the world’s top producer, provided the restriction stays in its current form, potash transporters and analysts said.


The curbs apply to Belarus Potash Company (BPC) which exports potash — Minsk’s main foreign currency earner — mostly via the Baltic port of Klaipeda in EU-member Lithuania.

But its main export product, namely potash with 60% potassium content, is not on the EU’s list of sanctioned items, the industry analysts pointed out.

In total, the sanctions imposed on Belarus potash have put limits on only about 20% of exports of the product transported via Lithuania, the head of Lithuanian Railways said on Friday.

About 11 million tonnes of Belarus potash crossed the Lithuanian border last year, with about 2.5 million tonnes falling under EU sanctions, Mantas Bartuska told reporters.


IN TOTAL, THE SANCTIONS IMPOSED ON BELARUS POTASH HAVE PUT LIMITS ON ONLY ABOUT 20% OF EXPORTS OF THE PRODUCT TRANSPORTED VIA LITHUANIA

Klaipeda port shipped almost 10.7 million tonnes of Belarus potash last year via a terminal 30% owned by Belaruskali.

The ban was part of wide-ranging EU economic sanctions against Belarus, a month after Minsk scrambled a warplane to force a Ryanair flight to land in order to arrest a government critic who was on the aircraft.

Brussels imposed sanctions on Belarusian potash with a potassium content of less than 40% or more than 62% in the dry product.

“The measures do not cover the key Belarusian potash export, potassium chloride, which is 40-62% K2O by weight, and accounts for 80% of the country’s supplies to the EU,” analysts at VTB capital said in a note.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the broader EU sanctions were “unacceptable” and promised a helping hand to Belarus.

“Russia, together with Belarus, intends to closely coordinate measures needed for sustainable and sovereign development of the brotherly country,” ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
Commitments to customers

“It seems BPC can largely run unaffected,” analysts at BMO Capital markets said in a note.

Worries about possible damage to European agriculture from the sanctions on the fertilizer, as well as a wish to keep space for further pressure on Belarus, limited the scope of the sanctions on potash, two diplomatic sources told Reuters.

The sanctions on potash agreed by member states’ leaders are wider reaching than were initially proposed by the European Commission, one of the sources said.

The ban on transit of production by state-run potash miner Belaruskali through the EU increases transportation costs, but this accounts for less than 10% of the current price, VTB Capital added.

BPC, Belaruskali’s export arm, whose supplies account for 20% of global potash trade, competes with Canada’s Nutrien and Mosaic among others.

“Every type of product is important to us, irrespective of the volumes supplied,” BPC said on Friday about the EU’s sanctions list, without providing details.

BPC will make every effort to meet its commitments to customers, which include China and India, it added.

The sanctions impact on Klaipeda port will not be major and is likely to be compensated by growth elsewhere, the port said in a statement.

Lithuanian Raiways’ Bartuska said Belarus is likely to export the sanctioned produce via ports in Russia and Ukraine, to buyers outside the EU.

He added that Lithuanian Railways, which has a transportation contract with Belaruskali until the end of 2023, stands to lose 14 million euros in income per year due to the sanctions, which could result in it asking for about 10 million euros of state support for its infrastructure arm.

(By Polina Devitt; Editing by Katya Golubkova)