It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, July 01, 2024
Anglo American battles underground fire at Australian coal mine
Reuters | June 30, 2024 | Workers at Grosvenor mine (Credit: Anglo American)
Anglo American said on Sunday it was battling an underground fire at its Grosvenor metallurgical coal mine in Australia’s Queensland state after a blaze ignited there on Saturday.
The mine site is in the coal mining town of Moranbah, located approximately 1,000 km (621 miles) north of state capital Brisbane. It is the same mine where an explosion in May 2020 critically injured five workers.
“We are continuing to manage a combustion event underground at Grosvenor Mine, following a localized ignition at the longwall on Saturday,” Anglo American said on Facebook on Sunday.
“Our priority is to safely extinguish the underground fire, which emergency response teams are managing from the surface.”
The site was closed, with only essential emergency services team members in attendance, it said in an earlier Facebook post.
Anglo American said work had started to temporarily seal the mine from the surface, which was a “critical step” in stopping smoke from the fire impacting residents in the town of 9,425 people.
“Due to the highly complex and evolving nature of this event, this will take time as we need to ensure the safety of all emergency teams undertaking this work,” the company said.
All mine workers were safely evacuated after the fire ignited.
A spokesperson for Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said the agency was not at the incident, which was being handled by the mine.
Queensland Mines Minister Scott Stewart said there would be a “full and thorough investigation” into the fire, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported on Sunday.
The Grosvenor mine produced 2.797 million tons of metallurgical coal in 2023, making up 17% of Anglo American’s coal output, according to its annual report. The company is the world’s third largest exporter of metallurgical coal.
At the mine, the company uses the longwall mining method, a method used to extract long panels of coal in a single slice.
(By Sam McKeith; Editing by Sonali Paul)
Russian diamond producer Alrosa buys big gold deposit from Polyus
Udachny, Alrosa’s biggest diamond mine near city of Udachny, Yakutia.
(Reference image by Alrosa).
Russian diamond producer Alrosa has bought a gold deposit in Russia’s Far East from miner Polyus the two companies, both under Western sanctions, said on Monday.
For Alrosa, the world’s biggest diamond producer, the move marks a deeper push into gold which it said would fit with the rest of its business and strengthen it financially while not significantly changing its strategy.
“The development of the gold deposit will provide an additional synergistic effect for Alrosa’s business and will help increase its financial stability in the long term,” Alrosa boss Pavel Marinychev said in a statement.
Alrosa plans to invest 24 billion roubles ($276 million) initially to develop the Degdekan deposit, it said, and estimated annual gold production at full capacity from 2030 of 3.3 tons.
Alrosa has mined gold as a sideline to its diamond business for years and the unit which is buying the licence is currently producing about 180 kg of gold a year.
Polyus said it was selling the Degdekan deposit in order to optimise its exploration portfolio as it prepares to begin development of the vast Sukhoi Log gold deposit in Siberia.
The two companies did not disclose the value of the deal. Akhmed Aliev, an analyst at Moscow-based investment company BKS, estimated the purchase price at $50-100 million, or up to a quarter of Alrosa’s free cashflow.
Once production is up and running, he estimated the boost to Alrosa’s EBITDA at about 10%, based on current gold prices.
Polyus had held the licence to develop Degdekan, in the Magadan region of Russia’s Far East, since 2005. Alrosa said it aims to develop the site until 2046.
“Alrosa’s strategy does not change in any way and continues to concentrate on the diamond business. At the same time, we always consider the possibility of participating in projects where we can use our competencies in mining,” a company representative told Reuters.
The attractiveness of the Degdekan deposit was partly based on its proximity to transport and energy infrastructure, the representative said.
For 2023, Alrosa reported net profit of 85.18 billion roubles ($925 million), down 15.2% from the previous year.
As part of sanctions against Russia over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, Group of Seven leaders agreed in December to ban non-industrial diamonds from Russia by January, and Russian diamonds sold by third countries from March. The European Union added Alrosa to its sanctions list in January.
(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by David Holmes)
Shares in China rare earth producers rise after new regulations
Reuters | July 1, 2024 The giant mine in Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia near Baotou City, produces the bulk of the world’s rare earths and does so as a byproduct of iron ore mining. | Source: NASA
Shares in China’s largest rare earth producers rose on Monday after Beijing announced regulations aimed at protecting supplies of the strategic minerals in the interest of national security, a move some in the market said could potentially tighten supply.
The regulations, issued on Saturday by China’s State Council, or cabinet, take effect from Oct. 1 and stipulate that rare earth resources – a group of 17 minerals used in products from magnets in electric vehicles to consumer electronics – belong to the state.
Shares in China Northern Rare Earth Group High-Tech, China Rare Earth Resources and Technology, Rising Nonferrous Metals Share and Shenghe Resources Holding jumped by 4.8%, 4.1%, 1.8% and 0.5%, respectively.
The regulations follow draft rules in early 2021, with changes including the removal of earlier language saying that companies engaged in rare earth smelting and separation could use imported supplies on top of allocated supply quotas.
“We believe there might be a further control over the smelting and separation of the imported ore,” Sinolink Securities wrote in a note.
China is the world’s dominant producer of rare earths and has taken various measures to tighten management of the industry even as Western countries try to reshape supply chains to ease dependence on Chinese supply.
Some industry players said they were seeking further clarity on the new regulations.
“What we have got so far is that it might not impact the international business much for the moment, but it’s hard to tell whether it will be the case in the future,” said an overseas rare earth buyer, declining to be named as he is not authorised to speak to media.
“It feels like there might be a trend that exports will need some specific licence, but the wording itself does not make this clear enough,” said an analyst on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Another analyst, also declining to be named, said the new regulations mean it is likely that, unlike in 2023, China will refrain from issuing a third batch of supply quota this year.
Ge Honglin, chairman of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said the regulations would reduce industry demand for non-renewable resources, extend the life of mines, and reduce environmental harm.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Tony Munroe; Editing by Jan Harvey)
Hedge funds are hoarding cobalt amid battery metal slump
Bloomberg News | July 1, 2024 | View of the Metalkol cobalt and copper tailings reprocessing project.
Credit: Eurasian Resources Group
Hedge funds including Anchorage Capital Advisors and Squarepoint Capital LLP have been building positions in cobalt by buying up physical material, as tumbling spot prices and a more liquid futures market create new trading opportunities in the battery metal.
Cobalt is a relatively tiny and specialized market compared with commodities like copper or oil, and prices have dropped to the lowest in more than seven years as the market is flooded with production from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia.
The hedge funds’ moves are the latest sign of financial players getting involved in physical metal trades, as money flows back into commodities while oversupplied metal markets create opportunities to make a profit by buying at cheap spot prices.
It’s also reviving memories from almost a decade ago, when funds including Pala Investments took advantage of weak cobalt prices to buy up piles of metal in a bet on the nascent energy transition. (The bet paid off, as prices soared over the next couple of years.)
At the time, the absence of a liquid futures market meant that buying real-world cobalt was one of the only ways available to bet on rising prices.
Today, the situation looks a little different. Cobalt futures trading has taken off on CME Group’s Comex exchange, creating a way for traders to hedge their physical positions in the newly liquid futures market.
The ballooning surplus has also led to a widening gap between depressed spot prices and higher-priced futures on the Comex, with contracts for delivery in a year’s time having traded as much as 20% higher than spot prices.
The wide discount between spot and futures prices creates opportunities for “cash-and-carry” trades, — if spot prices surge, owners of physical metal would be able to sell their cobalt at a big profit, and even if they don’t, they can lock in a return by selling futures.
Squarepoint has been buying cobalt metal from traders, according to people familiar with the matter, while Anchorage has been buying both cobalt metal and cobalt hydroxide — an intermediate product in the production of cobalt sulphate that goes into EV batteries. Anchorage has also been active in trading on CME, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.
Representatives for Anchorage and Squarepoint declined to comment.
While cash-and-carry trades are commonplace in larger commodities like aluminum and copper, there is an added layer of risk and complexity for traders looking to capture the spread in the cobalt market because the CME contracts are cash settled. That means the funds can’t deliver their cobalt to the exchange when they are ready close out the trade, and would have to find a buyer for the metal in a small and illiquid physical market.
That might not be easy, given that the market is already awash with excess metal. Surging supply and weaker-than-expected sales in the EV sector have contributed to a record surplus in the market this year, and many in the industry are pessimistic about the prospects for a rebound. The rise in popularity of lithium-iron phosphate batteries, which don’t require cobalt, also poses a threat to demand.
One cause for optimism has come from China’s strategic stockpiling agency, which has been mopping up surplus inventories in record volumes this year, in a trend that underscores the metal’s strategic value both in electric vehicles and defense. The US has also made inquiries about buying metal from traders in the past, and is seeking to reinvigorate its own stockpiling program.
Last time around, Pala and other funds sold their cobalt to a listed company called Cobalt 27, which built up the largest private stockpile of the metal and saw its value soar as prices took off, before crashing as new supplies from Congo flooded the market.
(By Yvonne Yue Li, Mark Burton, Jack Farchy and Archie Hunter)
Lake Resources to cut more than 50% of global workforce
Reuters | June 30, 2024 Kachi lithium brine project. Photo by Lake Resources.
Australia’s Lake Resources said on Monday it will slash more than 50% of its global headcount, including six members of the company’s executive team, to cut costs and maximize the value of its flagship Kachi project in Argentina.
Last week, the lithium developer said that it is laying off staff and selling assets as prices for the metal crucial in the production of electric vehicle batteries have fallen, due to Chinese oversupply and concerns that the EV industry is not growing as fast as expected.
Earlier in March, it said it would reduce global headcount by nearly 50% across its non-core operational and administrative workforce.
The company also said that it is managing an ongoing process for the potential sale of its non-core assets and lithium tenements in Jujuy and Catamarca provinces in Argentina.
It added that the cost reductions are expected to reduce consumption through the second half of 2024.
(By Archishma Iyer; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Tata Steel workers in UK suspend strike action in favour of talks
Tata Steel workers in Britain suspended a planned all-out strike and overtime ban on Monday, following a warning from the company that it would bring forward the planned closure of its two blast furnaces in the country if the walkouts went ahead.
Workers at the Port Talbot and Llanwern sites in Wales, represented by the Unite union, are locked in a dispute with India-owned Tata Steel over its decision to close the blast furnaces and cut up to 2,800 jobs.
Around 1,500 workers at the sites, who had already begun an overtime ban on June 17, were also due to start an indefinite strike from July 8.
But the union said it had paused industrial action after confirmation from the company that it was prepared to enter talks about “future investment for its operations and not just redundancies”.
“This is a significant development in the battle to protect jobs and the long-term future of steel making in South Wales,” Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said.
“It is essential that these talks progress swiftly and in good faith with the focus on fresh investment and ensuring the long-term continuation of steel making in South Wales.”
A spokesperson for the company, which had also threatened legal action challenging the validity of Unite’s strike ballot, welcomed the union’s move to suspend strikes.
“Given we can now be confident of ensuring appropriate resourcing of activities to operate safely, we will halt preparations for the early cessation of operations on Blast Furnace 4 and the wider heavy end in Port Talbot,” they said.
The resumption of talks will “focus on the future investments and aspirations for the business, and not on a renegotiation of our existing plan for the heavy-end closure or the enhanced employment support terms”, the spokesperson added.
The company, which employs over 8,000 people in Britain, has previously said that its steelmaking assets were near the end of their life, operationally unstable and causing unsustainable losses of 1 million pounds ($1.26 million) a day.
($1 = 0.7915 pounds)
(Reporting by William James and Muvija M, Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Sharon Singleton)
The Dangote Refinery, the newest and largest facility of its kind in Africa, reports that it sustained a "minor fire" on Wednesday. Video from the scene showed smoke and flame billowing from one corner of the plant, but the operator said in a statement that the blaze had no impact.
"We have swiftly contained a minor fire incident at our effluent treatment plant," said communications officer Anthony Chiejina in a statement. "There is no cause for alarm as the refinery is operating and there is no recorded injury or body harm [sic] to any of our staff on duty."
The long-delayed refinery project began production in January and is in a commissioning and ramp-up phase. It is a $20 billion endeavor, bankrolled by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote. When completed and fully online, the 650,000 bpd complex will be the biggest refinery in Africa and Europe.
It will rectify one of Nigeria's economic quandaries: though the nation has a wealth of oil and gas, it has historically had to export all of its production and import all of its refined products, since it has lacks efficient domestic refining capacity. Its four publicly-owned refineries have an "abysmal" performance record, with an average capacity utilization of just 15 percent, according to a study by Lizabetha Agbakahi of the University of Dundee. Since an estimated $3-5 billion of national oil revenue is lost to theft and corruption every year, the state financing available to invest in refining infrastructure is less abundant than it might seem from Nigeria's massive oil sales figures.
The privately-held Dangote refinery is big enough to supply all of Nigeria's domestic fuel needs, and should have enough capacity left over to export refined products to foreign markets. This will help reduce the cost of fuel for Nigerian citizens, who have seen prices skyrocket over the past year thanks to the cancelation of government subsidies. One hurdle: upstream oil producers in Nigeria have refused to sell crude to the new refinery, according to Dangote and the Crude Oil Refineries Association of Nigeria (CORAN). The refiners want to buy and sell using the local currency, the naira, so as to avoid the dollar shortage in cash-poor Nigeria. The Nigerian legislature recently enacted a law requiring domestic oil producers to sell their crude to domestic refiners first, though legal experts question whether the rule will be enforceable.
"I think that law was specifically put there by legislators not to starve the refineries. But what we have seen is a huge and still resistance by the producers of crude in Nigeria. They will rather prefer to export crude abroad to selling to local refineries," CORAN chairman Momoh Oyarekhua told Channels Television.
August Offshore Wind Lease Sale Scheduled for Two Central Atlantic Areas
Next U.S. offshore wind auctions are scheduled for August for two Central Atlantic sites (file photo)
The Department of the Interior announced today it would hold an offshore wind energy lease sale in the Central Atlantic. The areas are to be auctioned on August 14, 2024, by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management with an indication that they could provide power for up to 2.2 million homes. It is the latest in a series of accelerated steps by the Biden Administration to move forward with its agenda for clean energy.
“We are taking action to jumpstart America’s offshore wind energy industry and using American innovation to deliver reliable, affordable power to homes and businesses, while also addressing the climate crisis,” said Secretary Deb Haaland.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management anticipates strong interest in the auction noting that 17 companies qualified to participate in the August sale. Among the companies are Avangrid, BP, Corio, Equinor, RWE, Shell New Energies, TotalEnergies, Virginia Electric and Power Company, and multiple sole purpose entities that are likely development partnerships.
The region has already been opened up for development by Dominion Energy which began offshore work this spring on its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. Due for completion in 2026, it is slated for a capacity of 2.6 GW, making it the largest offshore wind farm so far approved for the U.S. Dominion Energy has indicated its interest in additional projects.
Draft map of the region from December 2023 showing the position of the proposed leases (BOEM)
The Final Sale Notice for the auctions will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, July 1. It features two areas that combined have the capacity for approximately 6.3 GW according to the Department of the Interior.
One of the areas to be included in the August auction is offshore the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lease area consists of 101,443 acres and is approximately 26 nautical miles from Delaware Bay. The second area consists of 176,505 acres and is approximately 35 nautical miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. BOEM highlights that it partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to develop a comprehensive, ecosystem-based ocean planning model that assisted in the selection of the final lease areas.
BOEM included several lease stipulations and bidding credit provisions in the auction process. Bidders will be able to earn credits if they commit to supporting workforce training programs, establish or contribute to a fisheries compensatory mitigation fund, or if it make every reasonable effort to enter into a project labor agreement covering the construction stage of any project for the lease areas
The Department of the Interior reports that it has approved the nation’s first eight commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects in federal waters. BOEM also held four offshore wind lease sales, including offshore New York, New Jersey, and the Carolinas, and the first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts. The Department recently announced a schedule of up to 12 additional lease sales through 2028 and agreed with Maryland to evaluate additional areas that could become additional wind energy areas in the Central Atlantic region.
Bulker Encounters Swarm of Unmanned Boats off Yemen
A Houthi fighter abandons ship from a remotely-controlled drone boat, leaving it to navigate in an unmanned configuration (Houthi Military Media)
In a concerning new development for the security of merchant shipping in the Red Sea, a bulker has reported an encounter with a large swarm of suspicious small craft off the coast of Mokha, Yemen - some of which appeared to be unmanned.
For at least the last seven years, Yemen's Houthi rebels have been developing unmanned waterborne improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs), with help from the military forces of Iran. The Houthis have used these bomb boats with varying degrees of success, first against Saudi maritime interests and more recently against international merchant shipping. A thinly-disguised "fishing boat" struck and disabled the bulker Tutor in the Red Sea on June 12, killing one crewmember and flooding the engine room. The group returned with another bomb boat to inflict further damage, and Tutor ultimately sank (after additional Houthi intervention). The group also claimed a strike on the bulker Seajoyon June 27.
In these previous encounters, Houthi remotely-controlled bomb boats have attacked one by one. On Sunday, the bulker Summer Lady informed UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) that she had been approached by a flotilla of suspicious small craft, composed of a mixture of "fast boats and smaller kayak-type boats." Multiple vessels in the group appeared to be uncrewed, a sign of potential suicide-drone capability.
The master of Summer Lady reported that these suspicious watercraft remained near the vessel for an hour before departing the area. The bulker was unharmed, and it headed for its next port of call.
Later in the day, U.S. Central Command announced that American forces destroyed three unmanned surface vessels in the Red Sea. CENTCOM's announcement did not specify whether these unmanned boats were related to the Summer Lady encounter, but said that the targets "presented an imminent threat to U.S. and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region."
On Sunday, a Houthi spokesman released a video showing the first glimpse of the group's operating tactics for remotely-controlled boats, below. In the demonstration, a manned speedboat with crewmembers maneuvers aggressively between a series of buoys (time marker 1:30). At a predetermined location, the operators jump off the stern, and the boat continues to maneuver on its "own," with remote guidance.
Houthis Continue Attacks, Including Five Missiles at One Ship
HNLMS Karel Doorman protecting merchant ships (EUNAVFOR Aspides)
The Houthis are asserting a broad array of attacks conducted on a range of ships in both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, including a barrage at one vessel and targeting a Maersk vessel. Spokesperson Yahya Saree asserted all the attacks were for support of Israel or calling in Israeli ports while saying that Maersk, is “one of the most supportive companies” for Israel.
Most of the attacks were uncorroborated by the U.S. or UK, which monitor the activities as part of their defense operations.
The UK Maritime Trade Organizations however did receive one report from an unnamed vessel in the Red Sea. The master reported that five missiles landed near the vessel while they were in a position 150 nautical miles northwest of Hodeidah, Yemen. Despite the missiles landing in close proximity to the vessel, the report said there was no damage or injuries and the ship was proceeding.
The Houthis claimed attacks on two vessels in the Red Sea in their latest announcement. One the Delonix, a 20,600 dwt product carrier registered in Liberia they called an “American ship.” The ship is managed by Merman Maritime of Greece and bound from the Suez Canal to China. The other vessel in the Red Sea was identified as a bulk carrier Ioannes, which the Houthis said was targeted “by a number of uncrewed surface boats.”
The other two ships that were identified today were both in the Mediterranean near the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. The Johannes Maersk is a smaller, 3,000 TEU container ship registered in Denmark. The other vessel is the Waler (7,279 dwt), a Turkish-owned and managed product tanker. The vessel registered in Panama shows it is traveling from Turkey to the Suez, but the Houthis contended it was “on its way to the port of Haifa.”
Although they have now asserted multiple attacks on vessels in the Mediterranean, none have been confirmed. They claimed today to have fired cruise missiles at the two vessels in the Mediterranean.
During today’s rally, the leader of the Houthis reiterated the threat against shipping and specifically singled out the announcement that the U.S. would be sending a replacement aircraft carrier (USS Theodore Roosevelt) to the region. He said they were not afraid and the carrier would become an immediate target when it entered the zone.
Today’s reported barrage came after several other reports of possible ships being targeted this week but overall less reports from the U.S. and UK. In the past 48 hours, CENTCOM said it destroyed one aerial drone and took out another radar site as it continues to attempt to diminish the capabilities of the Houthis. Late on Friday, CENTCOM added that U.S. forces had destroyed seven aerial drones and one ground control station vehicle. EUNAVFOR Aspides also highlighted that the Dutch HNLMS Karel Doorman and Italian Virginio Fasan were both actively patrolling and protecting merchant ships in the area.
At the same time, there are unconfirmed media reports that while Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Khaled bin Salman was meeting with Chinese officials this week he asked for their support with the Houthis. Reported suggested the Saudis might be seeking Chinese help to halt the attacks on ships heading to and departing from Saudi ports.
Houthis Hit Another Merchant Ship With a Bomb Boat
Another commercial vessel has been hit by one or more Houthi suicide drones in the Red Sea, according to the Royal Navy's UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office and multiple maritime security consultancies.
According to UKMTO, a vessel transiting the Red Sea was attacked by a waterborne improvised explosive device at 0645 GMT on Thursday morning. The incident occurred about 80 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, Yemen, an area of high activity for malicious Houthi operations.
The vessel and the crew were reported to be safe, and the ship is under way to its next port of call. Western military forces are investigating the circumstances of the attack.
In a statement, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree identified the target vessel as the Greek-owned, Malta-flagged Panamax bulker Seajoy. He said that Houthi forces targeted the ship with multiple missiles, drones and an uncrewed surface boat, leading to a "direct and accurate hit." He claimed that the vessel was targeted because it called at a port in Israel, a violation of the Yemeni group's attempted embargo on Israeli maritime commerce.
Seajoy's last received AIS position was in the Strait of Malacca on June 12, headed westbound. Her last declared destination was Durban, South Africa, and her AIS record shows no signs of a port call in Israel in the last 12 months, according to data from Pole Star.
Houthi WBIEDs - remotely-controlled bomb boats - are a potent threat to shipping in the Red Sea. A similar device, carefully disguised as a small fishing vessel, struck and sank the bulker Tutor earlier this month. One crewmember was killed in the attack, and the rest of the crew abandoned ship. A crewmember on the bridge captured a video of the drone boat as it approached, as well as the aftermath of the explosion (below).
Last weekend, U.S. forces identified and destroyed three WBIEDs in the Red Sea, suggesting a higher pace of activity for this class of Houthi devices than previously seen.
Salvors Decontaminate and Refloat Well-Known Cruise Ship Aurora
Aurora refloated at her berth on Little Potato Slough, June 18 (USCG)
Contractors working for the U.S. Coast Guard have decontaminated and refloated the derelict former cruise ship Aurora, which sank at her berth on May 22, releasing pollutants into the San Joaquin River Delta.
Aurora was a classic "pocket" cruise ship built after WWII by Blohm & Voss, and was originally used for brief trips out of Hamburg. She went on to a long and varied career in the Aegean, North Sea, Eastern Pacific, and the U.S. West Coast, and had a brief brush with fame with an appearance in a James Bond film. She ended her seagoing service during the energy crisis of the late 1970s and entered layup on the U.S. West Coast. As the years went by, she was passed from owner to owner, each with plans to use her as a floating venue or private vessel. She never resumed fully operational status, either as a seagoing vessel or as a permanently moored installation. Her most recent known owner intended to turn her into a museum ship, with volunteer help; she was sold yet again shortly before her sinking, according to the Coast Guard.
When Aurora began to go down by the stern on May 22, California's emergency services office received a report that the ship was sinking and discharging pollutants. First responders deployed a boom around the vessel as it gradually settled to rest on the bottom, and the Coast Guard set up a unified command to address the risk of further pollution. The command hired Global Diving and Salvage to carry out the cleanup and refloat the ship. Over the span of several weeks, Global Diving removed more than 21,000 gallons of oily water, 3,200 gallons of hazardous waste, and more than 100 cubic yards of debris from within the vessel. They also dewatered and successfully refloated the ship.
Image courtesy USCG
The Coast Guard has declared the response complete, now that all petroleum products and pollutants have been removed, and it has disbanded the unified command. While agencies consider the various options for removing the ship from its current berth, the City of Stockton has hired a contractor to keep bilge pumps on the vessel running in order to prevent it from sinking again. The containment boom will remain in place as a precautionary measure.
Aurora, seen here as the Wappen von Hamburg in 1958 (
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