CEO of Aboriginal group whose rock shelters Rio Tinto destroyed steps down
Reuters | July 27, 2021 |

Rio Tinto was given permission to blast Juukan Gorge 1 and 2 under Section 18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act. 

(Credit: Puutu Kunti Kurrama And Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation)

The chief executive of the Aboriginal group whose ancient rock shelters Rio Tinto Ltd detonated for an iron ore mine last year is stepping down from the organisation, the group said on Tuesday.


Carol Meredith will leave the role in September to spend more time with family overseas and the search for a new chief executive is underway, the PKKP Aboriginal Corporation, which administers the lands of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, said in a statement.

Rio destroyed the rock shelters in Western Australia that showed some of the earliest evidence of Ice Age human habitation dating back 46,000 years, which ultimately cost the chief executive and a suite of others their jobs.

It has pushed firmly into the limelight heritage management practices by Australian states and companies of the world’s oldest continuous culture, with a national inquiry underway and due to report findings towards the end of this year.

TIMELINE- Rio Tinto’s sacred Indigenous caves blast scandal

Meredith said that dealing with the devastation at Juukan Gorge and its aftermath had been extremely challenging and she hoped to finalise improved practices with the miner before she left.

“In the coming weeks I will be working closely with the PKKP Board and our support team as we seek to finalise a co-management of mining model with Rio Tinto,” she said in a statement. “This is a critical and far-reaching step as co-management of mining represents a true partnership which will recognise and support the rights of traditional owners in relation to mining on their lands.”

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Louise Heavens)

Ex Rio Tinto chief Walsh joins Aboriginal group’s board
Reuters | July 28, 2021 | 

Sam Walsh (Image: Screenshot from Rio Tinto video | YouTube.)

Sam Walsh, a former chief executive of Rio Tinto Ltd, has joined the board of an Aboriginal group on whose traditional lands in Western Australia Rio Tinto and BHP Group have operations.


The appointment announced by Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation on Tuesday comes after a particularly fraught period in relations between traditional land owners and Australia’s powerful mining companies.

The outcry over Rio’s destruction of the rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia state last year led to a national inquiry and a review of heritage agreements struck between miners and the traditional owners.

Western Australia is expected to revise laws soon to better protect the heritage of the world’s oldest continuous culture.

Walsh held the top job at Rio for three years to 2016. His successor, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, stepped down along with other senior officials in the wake of the Juukan Gorge controversy.

HIS SUCCESSOR, JEAN-SÉBASTIEN JACQUES, STEPPED DOWN ALONG WITH OTHER SENIOR OFFICIALS IN THE WAKE OF THE JUUKAN GORGE CONTROVERSY

“Sam’s extensive experience in the mining sector and demonstrated track history with Aboriginal matters can support us in ensuring mining projects and conversations … benefit Banjima People and our country,” Maitland Parker, Banjima Elder and chairman of BNTAC, said in a statement.

The Banjima group is based in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Walsh has director roles at Japan’s Mitsui & Co Ltd, and Ma’aden Mining in Saudi Arabia, is chair of the Accenture Global Mining Council (UK), Gold Corporation in Australia, Perth Diocesan Trust and the western operations of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Walsh said he was delighted to join the Banjima board.

“I look forward to working alongside the Banjima Directors and the community’s committees and councils to get the best possible outcomes for the Banjima People.”

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Sediment plumes from deep-sea mining become turbulent cloud

MINING.COM Staff Writer | July 31, 2021 | 

Deep sea. (Image by Dimitris Siskopoulos, Flickr).

Midwater sediment plumes that are discharged through pipes used by mining machinery that descend 1,000 meters or more into the ocean’s aphotic zone become a highly turbulent cloud of suspended particles that mix rapidly with the surrounding ocean water, when initially pumped out.


New research by oceanographers at MIT, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other institutions made this discovery after carrying out the first-ever experiment to study the sediment plume that mining vessels would potentially release back into the ocean.

Based on their observations, they developed a model that makes realistic predictions of how a sediment plume generated by mining operations would be transported through the ocean.

THE RESEARCHERS DEVELOPED A FORMULA THAT CAN BE USED TO CALCULATE WHAT VOLUME OF OCEAN WATER WOULD BE IMPACTED OVER THE COURSE OF A 20-YEAR NODULE MINING OPERATION

In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications: Earth and Environment, the scientists explain that the model predicts the size, concentration, and evolution of sediment plumes under various marine and mining conditions. These predictions, they say, can now be used by biologists and environmental regulators to gauge whether and to what extent such plumes would impact surrounding sea life.

“The science of the plume dynamics for this scenario is well-founded, and our goal was to clearly establish the dynamic regime for such plumes to properly inform discussions,” said Thomas Peacock, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and co-author of the study.

How the model was tested

To pin down plume dynamics, the team set sail 50 kilometres off the coast of Southern California aboard the Sally Ride. They brought with them equipment designed to discharge sediment 60 meters below the ocean’s surface.

“Using foundational scientific principles from fluid dynamics, we designed the system so that it fully reproduced a commercial-scale plume, without having to go down to 1,000 meters or sail out several days to the middle of the CCFZ,” Peacock said.

Over one week the team ran six plume experiments, using novel sensors systems such as a Phased Array Doppler Sonar (PADS) and epsilometer developed by Scripps scientists to monitor where the plumes travelled and how they evolved in shape and concentration. The collected data soon revealed the turbulent cloud.

“There was speculation this sediment would form large aggregates in the plume that would settle relatively quickly to the deep ocean,” Peacock said. “But we found the discharge is so turbulent that it breaks the sediment up into its finest constituent pieces, and thereafter it becomes dilute so quickly that the sediment then doesn’t have a chance to stick together.”

Reality matched lab tests

Previous to their field trip, the scientists developed a model to predict the dynamics of a plume that would be discharged into the ocean. When they fed the experiment’s initial conditions into the model, it produced the same behaviour that the team observed at sea, proving the model could accurately predict plume dynamics within the vicinity of the discharge.

The group then used these results to provide the correct input for simulations of ocean dynamics to see how far currents would carry the initially released plume.

“In a commercial operation, the ship is always discharging new sediment. But at the same time, the background turbulence of the ocean is always mixing things. So you reach a balance. There’s a natural dilution process that occurs in the ocean that sets the scale of these plumes,” Peacock said. “What is key to determining the extent of the plumes is the strength of the ocean turbulence, the amount of sediment that gets discharged, and the environmental threshold level at which there is impact.”

Based on their findings, the researchers have developed formulae to calculate the scale of a plume depending on a given environmental threshold.

For instance, if regulators determine that a certain concentration of sediments could be detrimental to surrounding sea life, the formula can be used to calculate how far a plume above that concentration would extend, and what volume of ocean water would be impacted over the course of a 20-year nodule mining operation.

African nations criticize push to fast-track deep-sea mining talks

Reuters | July 27, 2021 |

Computer rendition of a seabed mining operation. (Image by Phil Pauley | Twitter)

African countries, many of which are heavily reliant on mining, have criticised a move by the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru to fast-track international negotiations over deep-sea mining, an industry that could hurt their economies.


Nauru last month set a two-year deadline for rules governing deep-sea mining in international waters to be finalised. Nauru triggered the so-called “two-year rule”, which allows for a mining plan to be approved after two years under whatever rules are in place at that time.

The task of agreeing on regulations by mid-2023 is “seemingly insurmountable” as the global pandemic constrains countries’ ability to negotiate, the African Group said in a letter to the Council of the International Seabed Authority, a U.N. body tasked with drawing up regulations for the new industry.

The ISA said meetings of the Council are expected to resume “before the end of the year”. Nauru’s ambassador to the ISA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The African Group, one of several regional groupings at the ISA, represents 47 nations including the world’s top producers of manganese and cobalt – South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively.

Those countries’ economies, along with many others in Africa, rely heavily on mining and could be negatively impacted by mining of seabed rocks called “polymetallic nodules” that contain manganese, copper, nickel, and cobalt.

The nodules are typically composed of 28.4% manganese, 1.3% nickel, 1.1% copper and 0.2% cobalt, according to research house CRU.

THE NODULES ARE TYPICALLY COMPOSED OF 28.4% MANGANESE, 1.3% NICKEL, 1.1% COPPER AND 0.2% COBALT, ACCORDING TO RESEARCH HOUSE CRU

In the letter, the African Group said a prerequisite for any seabed mining “is a financial regime that properly compensates humanity for its resources and land-based miners for their losses.”

Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), resources in international waters are the common heritage of mankind, and revenues from those resources must be shared among all countries.

In a 2019 report to the ISA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said it assumed most revenues taken in by the ISA from seabed mining would go to mining-dependent developing countries to compensate them for the impact on their economies.

Most countries vulnerable to competition from seabed minerals are in Africa, a May 2020 study commissioned by the Secretariat of the ISA found, with Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, and Zambia especially likely to be impacted.

(By Helen Reid and Jeff Lewis; Editing by David Evans)

Petra Diamonds finds 342-carat rough at Cullinan mine

Cecilia Jamasmie | July 28, 2021 | 

The 342.92-carat Type IIa white diamond. (Image courtesy of Petra Diamonds.)

South Africa’s Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) has recovered a 342.92-carat Type IIa white rough at its iconic Cullinan mine.


The company said the diamond is “exceptional” quality, in terms of both its colour and clarity, and that it will likely be sold at the September tender.

Petra fetched in March $12.2 million for a 299.3-carat Type IIA white diamond. That meant it obtained $40,701 per carat, which exceeds the $34,386/ct received for the 424.89-carat “Legacy of the Cullinan Diamond Mine” in May 2019.

TYPE II DIAMONDS ARE FOUND LESS FREQUENTLY AND MORE VALUABLE THAN TYPE I DIAMONDS

Type II diamonds are found less frequently and are more valuable than Type I diamonds, as they have no measurable nitrogen impurities. This gives them exceptional transparency and brilliance.

Cullinan is known as the birthplace of the famed 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, which was cut to form the 530-carat Great Star of Africa.

The operation also yielded the 317-carat Second Star of Africa.

They are the two largest diamonds in the British Crown Jewels.

Cullinan is known as the world’s most important source of blue diamonds, such as the 39.34-carat stone Petra found in April and which sold for $40.2 million earlier this month. It was the company’s highest price ever for a single stone.

New technology closer to reaching superhot geothermal energy sources
MINING.COM Staff Writer | July 28, 2021

Geothermal plant in Iceland. (Reference imager by Ásgeir Eggertsson, Wikimedia Commons).

Geothermal could become a terawatt source of energy with the power densities of fossil fuels if the ability to drill to 20 kilometers and 500 degrees celsius is developed.


This, according to experts gathered in late July at the PIVOT2021 conference organized by the Geothermal Entrepreneurship Organization (GEO) at the University of Texas and which was focused on the challenges and opportunities of geothermal energy, and in particular of reaching the superhot rock deep beneath our feet.

Conventional geothermal plants reach temperatures of about 230 degrees celsius through holes about two kilometers deep. Superhot rock can be found close to the surface in a few areas like Iceland and near volcanoes, but for most of the world, it is between seven and 20 kilometers beneath the surface.

According to the panellists at the conference, things get especially interesting over about 374 degrees celsius, where water pumped to rock becomes supercritical, in a steam-like phase. This supercritical water can carry some 5-10 times more energy than regular hot water, making it an extremely efficient energy source if it could be pumped above ground to turbines that could convert it into electricity.

SUPERHOT ROCK CAN BE FOUND CLOSE TO THE SURFACE IN A FEW AREAS LIKE ICELAND AND NEAR VOLCANOES, BUT FOR MOST OF THE WORLD, IT IS BETWEEN SEVEN AND 20 KILOMETERS DOWN

But drilling techniques are not quite there yet.

In a session titled “In Pursuit of the Holy Grail: Deep and Superhot Geothermal,” presenters said that conventional drill bits used in the oil and gas industry fail under the extreme temperatures and pressures involved in reaching geothermal sources.

Modern drills also include electronic components that do not withstand extreme conditions, while other elements, such as materials for lining and supporting the boreholes, also need to survive repeated thermal cycling or large changes in temperature.

Yet, steps towards solving these issues are being taken. The experts mentioned self-healing cement that recrystallizes to fix any fractures and the use of more accurate data to characterize subsurface rock conditions and better calibrate devices going into very deep systems.

“Open access to the data and models that are underpinning these pilot projects are key,” Mark Ireland, a lecturer in energy geoscience at Newcastle University, said during the session. “Then we can open the lid on the box and explore all the different parameters in it, and compare and contrast how we’re characterizing the potential resource. The more we’re able to share, the better our decision making.”

To that end, Ireland and others emphasized the need for collaboration between the groups worldwide that are exploring superhot geothermal.
The future for Geothermal

An example of such a group is Quaise Energy, whose representatives presented their gyrotron at the conference’s “The Future of Drilling for Deep Geothermal” session.

Quaise’s machine works by creating millimeter wave energy, a cousin to the microwaves for cooking, that is directed to deep, hot rock via waveguides. A gas that accompanies the millimeter waves brings the vaporized rock back up to the surface.

According to the firm’s CEO, Carlos Araque, conventional drilling techniques are used in the shallower rock they were optimized for and then, they are switched over to the millimeter-wave technology for harder, hotter, deeper rock.

Geothermal Anywhere Drilling, on the other hand, uses plasma, an energized gas, to break deep, hard rock into tiny pieces. Their technology is embedded into conventional drilling systems and it is being tested at a state-of-the-art facility near Bratislava, Slovakia that can reproduce the high pressures and temperatures far underground.

Another approach showcased was that of HyperSciences, whose hypersonic projectiles fired in front of a rotating bit are said to allow it to drill about 10 times faster in hard, deep, high-temperature rock. This technology — as the other ones — is being tested in field trials, and it is also being applied to tunnelling, mining, and aerospace.

A final project, titled ORCHYD and supported by the European Union, was presented by researchers from ARMINES/ MINES-ParisTech in France. Still under development, their technique involves combining high-pressure water jetting with percussive drilling.

“I see coming down the pike a number of really high potential drilling methods,” Susan Petty, chief technology officer at Cyrq Energy and the president and founder of AltaRock Energy, said at the conference.

PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL
Bandits steal truckloads of copper worth millions in southern Africa

Reuters | July 28, 2021 |

Stock image.

Crime gangs have stolen dozens of truckloads of copper owned by miners and traders including Glencore, Trafigura and Traxys this year as they were heading to ports in southern Africa, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.


Record high copper prices have triggered an increase in hijackings in recent months in Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, said the sources who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The South African Police Service told Reuters that the matter was being investigated, but declined to give further details.

COPPER PRICES HIT AN ALL-TIME HIGH ABOVE $10,700 A TONNE IN MAY

Glencore declined to comment. Trafigura said it did not comment on security issues. Traxys did not respond to requests for comment.

Copper mined in Zambia and Congo, which accounts for about 10% of global supplies estimated at 24 million tonnes, is transported to ports across southern Africa.

A total of 66 trucks carrying copper were robbed between January and May this year, and 60% of the hijackings occurred in South Africa, one of the sources said.

With the average truck carrying between 32 and 34 tonnes of copper cathode, the thefts would amount to roughly $21 million worth of copper at current prices.

More trucks were stolen in June and July, according to the source, who did not provide figures for those months but said one truckload of the copper stolen on July 9 was worth $470,000.

Organised crime gangs melt down copper to remove serial numbers and other marks of ownership, and then resell it locally or transport it by truck to be sold in neighbouring countries, two sources said.

Copper prices hit an all-time high above $10,700 a tonne in May thanks to a rebound in global demand, including in top consumer China, as manufacturing activity ramped up and economies reopened after covid-19 lockdowns.

Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices

Currently at around $9,700, prices of the metals used widely in the power and construction industries have climbed more than 50% over the past 12 months.

(By Zandi Shabalala and Helen Reid; Editing by Pratima Desai and Pravin Char)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Court documents reveal ex-Glencore trader’s political bribes in Nigeria

Bloomberg News | July 28, 2021 | 

Stock image.

A former Glencore Plc trader who said he was part of a bribery scheme to win oil contracts from Nigeria transferred $300,000 of company funds in 2014 to an intermediary who’d requested the cash to benefit a senior government official in the nation’s elections, U.S. court filings show.


Anthony Stimler, who left the Baar, Switzerland-based commodity giant in 2019, pleaded guilty in New York on Monday to corruption and money-laundering charges. Prosecutors described in court filings how Stimler and others paid millions of dollars in bribes between 2007 and 2018 in several countries, including to officials at Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., the state-owned oil company, on behalf of Glencore.

According to the U.S., a “co-conspirator” notified Stimler by email in September 2014 that a “high-ranking Nigerian official” who was not identified had set conditions for companies wishing to secure crude shipments — NNPC’s customers “are giving in advance [$300,000] each month/cargo plus a certain amount which varies at the moment.”

The payments were to be made “in connection with a then-upcoming political election” in the West African nation, the prosecutors said in summarizing the co-conspirator’s email. The court filings don’t explain how the money was to be used in the election or if it was spent for that purpose.


NNPC SOLD NEARLY 4.7 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL TO GLENCORE FOR ABOUT $280 MILLION DURING 2017 AND 2018, ACCORDING TO INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY THE SWISS GROUP

In October 2014, Stimler had a Glencore subsidiary wire $300,000 to the Cyprus bank account of an unidentified intermediary company, which U.S. officials said was used “to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.” Stimler then followed up with an email to two co-conspirators saying that managers at the Glencore subsidiary had authorized the payment and asked them to “please please make sure on your side, NNPC perform[s],” court filings show.

Legislative and presidential elections that took place in March 2015 resulted in the defeat of the People’s Democratic Party. The PDP had held power in Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude producer, since the restoration of democracy in 1999. A spokesman for the PDP didn’t reply to a call and email requesting comment.

“The claims are historic” and “Glencore is no longer our partner,” Kennie Obateru, a spokesman for NNPC, said. The company’s current leadership “has eliminated such practices,” he said.

NNPC sold nearly 4.7 million barrels of oil to Glencore for about $280 million during 2017 and 2018, according to information published by the Swiss group. No such transactions occurred in 2019 or 2020.

Glencore declined to comment on the specific claims about money sought for use in Nigeria’s elections. A U.S. lawyer representing Stimler didn’t respond to a request for comment. Stimler has been permitted to remain free in the U.K. on a $500,000 bond.

Court filings describe several other payments Stimler made, including a March 2014 transfer of $500,000 to an intermediary company, with the intent to “pass on a portion of the payment to a foreign official in Nigeria to assist” Glencore in “obtaining business advantages, including eligibility to purchase oil cargoes from the NNPC.”

In May 2015, Stimler had a Glencore subsidiary wire about $50,000 to an intermediary company as an “advance payment” against delivery of a June crude oil cargo, after a co-conspirator had offered in April to pay a bribe to a Nigerian official to secure the shipment, court records show.

U.S. prosecutors identified Stimler’s former employer only as “a commodity trading and mining company with global operations,” but Glencore has confirmed the ex-employee’s plea agreement. Stimler joined Glencore from a family run petrochemical conversion business in 1999 to work in the West Africa oil division, according to an online biography.

“The conduct described in the plea is unacceptable and has no place in Glencore,” the company said in a statement on Monday. Glencore has “cooperated fully” with the U.S. Justice Department and “other authorities in their investigations and continues to do so,” the company said.

Glencore disclosed in July 2018 that a subsidiary had received a subpoena from the Justice Department demanding documents relating to possible corruption since 2007 in its business in Nigeria, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

(By William Clowes)

Native Americans ask court to block Lithium Americas mine
Reuters | July 30, 2021 

Image courtesy of Protect Thacker Pass.

Two Native American tribes have formally asked a U.S. federal court to prevent Lithium Americas Corp from excavating its Thacker Pass lithium mine site in Nevada, which they say contains their ancestors’ bones and should not be disturbed.


The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Atsa koodakuh wyh Nuwu/People of Red Mountain filed their preliminary injunction request late Thursday, a filing that had been expected. The tribes say federal regulators did not adequately consult with them before approving the project in January


The project would become one of the largest U.S. producers of the electric vehicle battery metal. First, though, Lithium Americas needs to conduct archaeological digging at the site in order to catalog historical artifacts. It has not yet obtained necessary permits from federal officials to do so.

The tribes’ injunction request essentially asks the court to prevent that archaeological digging even if the company obtains those permits.

“The excavators and shovels could harm the very human remains the archaeologists would be looking for,” the tribes said in the filing.

Chief Judge Miranda Du of the U.S. District Court for Nevada asked for responses from Lithium Americas and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management – which manages the federal land atop the lithium deposit – by August 12.

Vancouver-based Lithium Americas and the BLM declined to comment on the filing.

Du denied a similar injunction request last week from environmentalists who argued the project could harm wildlife. Earlier this week, though, the judge allowed the tribes to join the lawsuit to argue their concerns the project could harm historical sites.

Beyond the injunction requests, Du is considering whether former President Donald Trump’s administration erred when it approved the entire project in January. That ruling is expected by early 2022.

(By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by David Gregorio)

Fledgling Peru govt seeks “new deal” with miners
Reuters | July 31, 2021 

Peru’s Energy and Mining Minister Ivan Merino. (Image from Peru’s Ministerial Cabinet, Twitter).

Peru will seek “a new deal” with its all-important mining sector by providing incentives for projects with “social profitability” in the world’s No. 2 copper producer, new Energy and Mining Minister Ivan Merino told Reuters.


In his first interview since becoming minister on Thursday, he said mines not only need to make money for private companies and generate tax revenue. They should also help the population through improved infrastructure, respect for indigenous communities and better environmental protection, he added.

“A new deal will come out of conversations with all players in the sector, including large, medium and small-scale companies,” Merino said in his office late Friday, a day after taking office with other cabinet members appointed by leftist President Pedro Castillo.

Merino, who had run a conflict resolution firm before becoming minister, said he would develop the mining sector using a “territorial” approach in a country known for its varying regions, cultures and ecosystems.

These “criteria are based on social profitability,” he said. “If the companies comply with that, not only will they develop the projects they have, we will support them in new initiatives.”

Castillo named moderate economist Pedro Francke as finance minister late on Friday, a move seen as an olive branch to financial markets rattled by a possible hard left policy swing. Earlier, Castillo named Guido Bellido, a hardline Marxist, as prime minister.

Castillo had promised to raise mining taxes to finance greater investment in health and education, but Merino said any new taxes would be decided on a company-by-company basis. “We cannot generalize. You cannot tell a company that already has high costs that it will also have higher taxes,” he said.

Regarding Chinese company MMG Ltd’s Las Bambas mine, where local communities have blocked roads for more than a week, the minister said the government was willing to “facilitate” dialogue.

Residents of three communities in Chumbivilcas province began the blockade on July 23, claiming that MMG had not been sharing enough of the mine’s benefits.

“What I would tell companies is that they should come and invest, and that if they meet our criteria of social profitability, they will have our full support,” Merino added.

(By Marco Aquino and Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Richard Chang)

Rio Tinto readies to ship trial lithium plant to Serbia
Reuters | August 1, 2021 |


Jadarite, a lithium sodium borosilicate mineral Rio Tinto found
in Serbia. (Image courtesy of Rio Tinto).

Rio Tinto Ltd is set to ship a pilot lithium processing plant to Serbia from Melbourne in the coming weeks, the culmination of a decade’s research to catapult the world’s largest iron ore miner into battery minerals.


The work, undertaken at a science hub on the outskirts of Melbourne, has found a way to economically extract lithium from jadarite, a mineral that has only been found in a Serbian valley.

Rio last week hit the go button on the $2.4-billion project that will diversify the producer of iron ore, copper, aluminium and specialty minerals into a top ten lithium producer, just as demand from electric vehicle makers booms.

“It’s not a huge mine but from a lithium perspective, it’s going to be the largest producer in Europe for at least ten years and bring lithium to the market at scale,” Sinead Kaufman, Chief Executive of Rio’s Minerals division, told reporters.


RESEARCH COMMISSIONED BY RIO TINTO HAS FOUND A WAY TO ECONOMICALLY EXTRACT LITHIUM FROM JADARITE, A MINERAL THAT HAS ONLY BEEN FOUND IN A SERBIAN VALLEY

Four 40-foot shipping containers of equipment will leave in the coming weeks before a nine-week sail and onward river journey.

Construction is expected to begin early next year, subject to environmental approvals, with the first production from 2026.

The mine is expected to produce enough lithium to power one million electric vehicles. It will also produce boric acid, used in ceramics and batteries, and sodium sulphate, used in detergents.

Major automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen and leader Tesla Inc, are seeking to diversify supply chains away from dominant producer China.

“We haven’t committed to any orders of yet, but we have certainly seen a lot of interest,” Kaufman said.

Rio plans a material increase in research and development beyond the $260 million it spends a year, Jared Osborne, general manager of the R&D facility, said, as it accelerates ways to harness renewable energy to sustainably produce materials.

It is already researching how to make carbon-free aluminium economically in Canada and has partnerships with steelmakers, including China Baowu Steel Group, to produce green steel.

(By Melanie Burton; Editing by Barbara Lewis)