Science décalée : les chats comprennent des lois physiques de base

D'après des chercheurs japonais, les chats auraient des notions sur la gravité et peuvent prévoir la présence d'un objet invisible grâce à des informations auditives. Ils comprendraient donc des lois de base de la physique.

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Levothyrox et thyroïde : 5 choses à savoir

Suite aux plaintes d'utilisateurs de Levothyrox, l'ancienne formule, qui a été commercialisée jusqu'en avril dernier, sera de nouveau disponible à partir de lundi 2 octobre 2017, sous le nom d'Euthyrox, mais en quantités limitées. C'est ce qu'a annoncé l'ANSM dans un communiqué. À quoi sert la...

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Avec Matternet, la livraison par drones va commencer en Suisse

La Suisse est le premier pays à autoriser la circulation de drones autonomes au-dessus de zones urbaines denses. Ils serviront à livrer des prélèvements sanguins et d'autres analyses entre les hôpitaux et les laboratoires.

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Iron ore price resumes fall

On Friday, the bounce in the iron ore price at the start of the week proved to be of the proverbial dead cat variety. Worries about Chinese demand going into winter also turned September into the worst trading month for the steelmaking raw material since the rout of May last year.

The Steel Index benchmark price for Northern China 62% Fe ore sank by 1.9% to trade at $61.50 a tonne on Friday, a three-month low. Year-to-date iron ore has lost more than 20% of its value.

Most of that capacity was idle already

Chinese imports constitute around 70% of the seaborne trade and  2017 shipments are in line with record imports of over 1 billion tonnes last year. Higher imports have pushed hundreds of domestic Chinese producers out of business but high-grade supply from major producers in Australia, South Africa and Brazil continues to grow.

That explains why Beijing's announcement that it would revoke about a third or around 1,000 of the country's iron ore mining licences did little to boost the price.  Most of that capacity was idle already.

China produces as much steel as the rest of the world combined and mills produced record tonnage for a second month straight in August. But the rapid growth is mainly in anticipation of mandated output cuts during winter months  – as much as 50% in top steel producer province Hebei – in an effort to alleviate pollution problems in large cities.

"We think that local governments are likely to carry out the environmental cuts forcefully," Goldman Sachs analysts noted in a report this week. "The market has not fully priced the negative environmental restrictions on iron ore demand. Therefore, we expect iron ore prices to fall further going into Q4."

Stubbornly high port stocks are also clouding the outlook for the iron ore price. According to Umetal's survey of 42 ports in China, total port inventory stood at just under 134m tonnes on Friday up 1.66m tonnes for the week.

Slag discharge at foundry. Image: Shutterstock

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South Africa’s mining industry fortunes improving, but challenges remain — PwC

A strong price recovery for the main commodities South Africa mines and exports has helped the country’s sector stage a turnaround in 2017, the first time in five years the industry is back in the black, a report shows.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ annual South African Mine report, released Friday, the sector’s improvement is worth noting as this year has been another challenging one for all players, big and small.

Regulatory changes announced in June resulted in a decrease in dividends and market capitalization for companies operating in the country dropped to June 2015 levels. The sector has also been hit by various retrenchments across the industry and marginal increases in taxes paid, the report says.

“This year can be described as a year of policy uncertainty and real questions over the long-term sustainability of the industry,” Michal Kotzé, PwC Africa Energy Utilities & Resources Leader says.

A subsequent recovery at the end of August was aided by improved US dollar prices and hope by investors that the suspended new Mining Charter would be revised before final implementation.

Some of the report’s highlights:

Contribution by commodity: Coal kept its strong position as the leading South African mining commodity revenue generator. Despite its percentage of revenue generated remaining unchanged at 27%, it increased total revenue to R119 billion from the prior year’s R105 billion. Platinum group metals’ (PGMs) share of total revenue decreased to 22% from 24% as total PGM revenue decreased by R2 billion to R94 billion. Gold’s share of mining revenue decreased to 16% from the 18% in 2016. In contrast, iron ore’s share increased to 11% from 9% due to a R10 billion increase in revenue.

Financial performance: Gold companies’ revenue increased by 17% (R23 billion) due to improvements in bullion prices and a weaker rand for most of the reporting period. The platinum companies have seen revenue increases by 4% from the prior year on the back of improved platinum prices for parts of the year.

Operating expenses increased by R13 billion, which is a 5% increase from the prior year. Continued low commodity prices have resulted in another year with significant impairments in the industry, with a total of R22 billion in impairment provisions. More than R100 billion was impaired over the last three years, more than wiping out the last two years of capital expenditure in the industry.

Labour still makes up the majority of mining companies’ costs, accounting for approximately 44%. Labour costs increased by 4.5%, which was marginally below inflation.

Illegal mining: The value of illegal mining and dealing of metals and diamonds in South Africa is estimated to be more than R7 billion per year. The South African gold sector has been the most adversely impacted by illegal mining within the industry, according to the companies included in our study. The Chamber of Mines has emphasized the need for mining houses, the DMR and the South African Police Service to work together at every level of illegal mining activity from individuals working underground to the large syndicates that organise activity and sell the end product.

The report, which is in its 9th edition, also included a brief look at the regulatory changes in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.

You can download it here.

 

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Fairphone 2, le smartphone équitable et modulaire, est disponible en France

Fairphone 2, un smartphone respectueux de l'environnement et des personnes qui le fabriquent, est désormais distribué en France via l'opérateur Orange. Conçu pour durer au moins sept ans, il peut être facilement réparé par son propriétaire en cas de casse ou d'usure de la batterie.

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Botswana Diamonds soars on promising find at South African project

Shares in London-listed Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) received a fresh shot in the arm on Friday after the miner said that sampling work at its Ontevreden licence in South Africa seems to prove the presence of high-grade kimberlite pipes.

The discoveries at the site, which Botswana Diamonds operates in a joint venture with Vutomi Mining, follow detailed ground geophysics, which identifies Ontevreden as a group 2 kimberlite.

Sampling work at Ontevreden, part of the Vutomi joint venture, seems to prove the presence of high-grade kimberlite pipes.

“The exciting new kimberlite discovery at Ontevreden continues to entice,” the company’s chairman John Teeling said in a statement. “Samples from the surface contain significant quantities of G10 and G9 garnets – high quality diamond indicator minerals frequently found at high-grade kimberlite pipes."

The next step will be to drill the kimberlite, which Botswana Diamonds expects to begin before the end of the year.

Ontevreden is close to the Petra Diamonds' (LON:PDL) Helam diamond mine, which has a grade of 85 carats per hundred tonne (cpht).

The company’s stock skyrocketed on the news to hit 2.2 pence in early morning trading, and it was still up 13.43% to 1.9p in London at 1:30PM local time. Year to date, Botswana Diamonds’ shares have gained almost 12%.

Botswana, which was overtaken by Russia as the world’s top diamond producing country in 2014, is grappling with aging mines, as well as power and water shortages.

Besides diamonds, the nation also produces nickel, copper, coal and iron ore.

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Rosetta : sa toute dernière image de Tchouri avant le crash

Le 30 septembre 2016, après deux ans de mission, Rosetta s’écrasait sur la surface de la comète Tchouri. Aujourd'hui, soit un an plus tard : surprise ! Une ultime photo, prise avant la perte définitive de contact, est publiée.

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À Bali, la menace d'éruption du volcan Agung se renforce

Autour du volcan Agung, sur l'île de Bali, la menace d'une éruption a semblé plus forte ces derniers jours et les autorités ont poursuivi les évacuations. Actuellement, plus de 144.000 personnes ont dû quitter leurs domiciles pour se mettre à l'abri. Pour le volcanologue Jacques-Marie...

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Ondes gravitationnelles : Alain Brillet et Thibault Damour reçoivent la médaille d’or du CNRS

La médaille d'or du CNRS est l'une des plus prestigieuses récompenses françaises dans le domaine scientifique. Elle vient d'être attribuée au physicien Alain Brillet, l'un des architectes de la collaboration Virgo, chargée du détecteur européen d'ondes gravitationnelles, et au physicien...

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Nos médicaments seront-ils bientôt imprimés en 3D ?

Des chercheurs proposent une technique innovante d’impression des médicaments. Cette méthode permettrait aux pharmacies ou aux hôpitaux d’imprimer des pilules personnalisées en fonction des besoins précis de leurs patients.

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Clean-tech firm wins million-dollar contract with Northern Quebec mine

BluMetric Environmental (TSX-V:BLM), a firm that builds water treatment systems for mining sites, announced today that it will provide its services to an unnamed major global company.

Even though it didn't reveal who is its new partner, BluMetric did say in a press release that the site where it will operate is located in remote northern Quebec. Thus, the clean-tech firm had to especially design a contained system suited to the difficult conditions of the area.

"Our professional experience in remote territories and our understanding of the associated environmental issues relating to mining served as a base, on which we built using our process knowledge and our willingness to act as a partner with our client. We have brought to bear every aspect of our company from field experience, research, engineering, finance, and customer service in this instance,” BluMetric CEO Roger Woeller wrote in the release.

Woeller is said to be responsible for a series of million-dollar contracts that have led the Ottawa-based firm to two consecutive years of profitability.

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Chinese carmaker to take $28 million stake in Australian lithium company

Great Wall will be involved in what seems to be the first direct investment in a lithium supplier by an automaker.

The Chinese company announced that it will take a $28 million stake in Pilbara Minerals. The move is part of an off-take tie-up aimed at supporting the proposed expansion of the lithium and tantalum project the Australian miner owns at Pilgangoora, 120km east of Port Hedland.

Under this agreement, Great Wall will take between 75,000 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate from Pilbara, subject to the $100 million-plus stage 2 development of the project getting the go-ahead.

Great Wall's investment replaces a $17.75 million deal with General Lithium that, according to Pilbara, could not be sealed due to “regulatory constraints” in China.

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Intelligence des pigeons : ils savent faire plusieurs choses à la fois !

Des pigeons multitâches ? Cela peut sembler difficile à croire. Pourtant, des chercheurs allemands affirment que ces oiseaux qui encombrent nos villes sont capables de passer très rapidement d’une tâche à une autre. Et parfois même plus rapidement que des humains.

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Novo Lítio to start drilling at Sweden's Spodumenberget

Novo Lítio (ASX:NLI), a company that praises itself for “supplying lithium from Europe to Europe,” announced this week that it plans to start drilling at its Spodumenberget lithium project in Västernorrland County, Sweden, before year-end.

The Australian explorer is just waiting for local stakeholders, landowners and authorities to approve its initial drill programme, which is expected to target high-grade results from previous surface sampling, including 2.77% Li2O from spodumene-bearing rock chip samples.

According to a press release, mapping has shown the presence of pegmatite outcrops over a strike length of 340m, and up to 100m wide, with surrounding areas masked by glacial cover. “This area will be tested by four initial drill holes, to ascertain whether any mineralised pegmatites of significant width are present at depth.”

In the same release, Novo Lítio CEO David Frances said that since Spodumenberget has exhibited encouraging high-grade lithium mineralisation at surface, he and his team are very keen to test their exploration models with some first-pass drill holes.

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China bought tonnes of North Korean coal

North Korea’s biggest trading partner imported 1.64 million tonnes of coal in August, despite a supposed embargo imposed by Beijing to comply with the UN sanctions aimed at stopping Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.

According to CNN, even though China announced in February that it would halt all coal shipments from its smaller neighbour through the end of this year, official customs data shows the country stuck to that pledge until last month, when imports of the black mineral added up to $138.1 million.

The increase is noticeable, given that in January China imported about $122.5 million worth of coal, while the number dropped to $98.1 million in February and to zero in March.

Experts consulted by the TV station said that the reason that explains Beijing’s behaviour is that the February ban was imposed so abruptly that several shipments were already sitting at Chinese ports and they had to be cleared before the September 5 sanctions deadline. Following that deadline, the Asian giant said it would not process coal imports from Pyongyang, even if the goods had already arrived.

In a strict sense, China did not violate the Security Council's resolutions. However, analysts such as Anthony Ruggiero, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CNN that actions by Xi Jinping’s government show that it is not a reliable partner.

Ruggiero hopes that China learns from this situation, particularly once its officials see that more Chinese firms and banks are being sanctioned as the US Treasury Department executes its new powers to crack down even harder on anyone who does business with the Kim Jong-un administration.

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More opposition to Berkeley's uranium mine in Spain

Nuclear energy experts from a variety of countries expressed their support this week to the actions carried out by Stop Uranio, a social platform that opposes Berkeley Minera España's plans to open a mine in the Spanish town of Retortillo.

Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaigner, Raquel Montón, said that Spain doesn't need nuclear plants or mines because the country is on a promising path towards developing sustainable sources of clean energy.

According to EFE news agency, Greenpeace and other organizations such as WWF, worry about the impacts nuclear debris might have on both the environment and the local population.

Nuclear physicist and spokesperson for Ecologistas en Acción, Francisco Castejón, added to the debate by saying that Berkeley's mine poses unnecessary risks to the people of Retortillo. "They are destroying the environment and buying politicians to be able to build their mine," he told EFE (in Spanish). "Allowing this project to go forward would jeopardize the future of this community."

Source: Berkeley Resources.

Castejón, together with José Ramón Berrueco from Stop Uranio, says that the company has been clear-cutting oaks in order to build its facilities and the effects of such action are already visible in the farming town.

Interviewed about this topic, French nuclear engineer Bruno Chareyron, who is the director of the CRIIRAD lab, said that neither workers nor the local population are well aware of the implications of mining uranium.

In general, Chareyron said, companies do not offer appropriate solutions to protect people from the dangers of handling any kind of radioactive material extracted from uranium mines.

The Retortillo-Santidad uranium deposit is part of Berkeley’s flagship Salamanca uranium project and it is expected to produce an average of 4.4 million pounds of uranium per year.

The Australian company’s mining license for the site is valid for an initial period of 30 years, renewable for two further periods of 30 years.

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Petra Diamonds' shares sparkle as its solves labour disputes in South Africa

Shares in Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) climbed almost 12% on Thursday after he company said it had reached a new wage agreement with the main union at two of its mines in South Africa, adding that workers will return to work on Friday.

Workers belonging to South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) downed tools at Petra’s Finsch mine and the Kimberley Ekapa joint venture last week. Underground and surface mining have been affected at both sites but its treatment plant is running “near normal” capacity, it added.

NUM’s demands included a 10% salary increase across the board and a housing subsidy of 1,500 rands to be paid every month for three years.

The union also wanted increases in medical aid, family leave, annual leave, equal pay and an increase in the employer’s contribution to the pension fund to 9%, from 7.5%.

The stock was up 11.93% in London to 79.75p at 4:30PM local time.

More to come…

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Airbus : premier vol réussi pour l'A340 Blade aux ailes révolutionnaires

Airbus vient d'essayer en vol un A340 équipé d'ailes d'un nouveau type, assurant un écoulement laminaire naturel. Ce profil serait mieux adapté aux avions court et moyen courrier. Mais il faut valider le concept, sur ordinateur, et, désormais, en vol.

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World’s ‘most beautiful diamond’ to go under Christie's hammer

An impressive flawless 163-carat diamond that has been hailed the “world’s most beautiful” will go under Christie's hammer in Geneva in November, the auction house said Thursday.

Discovered in February last year in eastern Angola, the 404.20-carat rough diamond — named the "4 de Fevereiro" — was also the largest found so far in the southern African country, Christie’s said.

Diamond necklace featuring the 163-carat flawless emerald stone, goes under Christie's hammer in November. (Image: PRNewsfoto | de GRISOGONO.)

A team of ten diamond-cutting specialist were involved polishing the rough diamond during the period of 11 months. The stone was then designed into a one-of-a-kind piece by Swiss jewellery house de Grisogono.

The D-color, emerald-cut diamond is classified as a rare Type IIa one, which in technical terms means an almost complete absence of nitrogen in the stone, de Grisogono said in a separate statement.

The original, 404.20-carat rough diamond that was mined in eastern Angola — the 27th largest rough white diamond ever discovered. (Image courtesy of Christie's.)

It took over 1,700 hours to create this unique jewel and involved a team of 14 craftsmen and their know-how as well as love for perfection for each detail in the necklace.

The D-color, emerald-cut diamond can be detached from its white gold, diamond and emerald necklace. (Image courtesy of Christie's.)

The finished piece, named The Art of de Grisogono, allows customers to detach it from its white gold, diamond and emerald necklace, if they wish to do so. It will be shown in London, Dubai and New York before going to auction in Geneva on November 14.

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Intel dévoile Loihi, son processeur neuromorphique

Intel vient de dévoiler un prototype de processeur neuromorphique dont le fonctionnement s'inspire de celui du cerveau humain pour apprendre à partir de données acquises en temps réel plutôt que de s'appuyer sur une connexion à des serveurs en ligne. Cette puce « apprenante » sera dédiée à des...

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Ondes gravitationnelles : la détection par Virgo et Ligo localise le trou noir binaire

Retour sur la détection d'une fusion de deux trous noirs annoncée hier soir par les collaborations Ligo (États-Unis) et Virgo (Europe). Pour la première fois, la région de l'espace d'où provenaient les ondes gravitationnelles a pu être cernée.

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Grand final de Cassini : les premières données

Les résultats scientifiques du grand final de la sonde Cassini et de son plongeon dans Saturne seront rendus publics dès le mois de novembre. Nicolas Altobelli, responsable scientifique de la mission pour l'Agence spatiale européenne (ESA), a bien voulu nous donner quelques informations.

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Ondes gravitationnelles : Virgo, le détecteur européen, a vu son premier trou noir binaire (MAJ)

Retour sur la détection d'une fusion de deux trous noirs annoncée hier soir par les collaborations Ligo (États-Unis) et Virgo (Europe). Pour la première fois, la région de l'espace d'où provenaient les ondes gravitationnelles a pu être cernée.

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Polar Pod, la fabuleuse odyssée de Jean-Louis Étienne en Antarctique

Avec son navire vertical Polar Pod, Jean-Louis Étienne, explorateur et parrain de Futura, veut tourner autour de l'Antarctique. Sans naviguer, en se laissant dériver. Son projet, devenu une opération internationale à laquelle participent de grands instituts de recherche, prend corps, comme...

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Mondial du bâtiment : quel sera l'habitat du futur ?

Le grand jury du concours de l'innovation du Mondial du bâtiment 2017 et des salons Interclima ElecHB, Idéobain et Batimat, en partenariat avec l’Ademe, a choisi ses lauréats. Le palmarès valorise notamment des démarches en faveur du développement durable.

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Canadian steel producer Stelco plans $150-million IPO

Stelco Holdings Inc. announced today that it has filed a preliminary prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada and obtained a receipt in respect of its proposed initial public offering of common shares.

The Hamilton-based company, which emerged from bankruptcy protection three months ago and is owned by U.S. restructuring firm Bedrock Industries Group LLC, plans to raise $150-million in the share sale that could have a total market value of about $1 billion.

Goldman Sachs & Co. and BMO Capital Markets are acting as joint bookrunners for the offering, while the company is preparing an IPO marketing campaign that targets Canadian and U.S. investors.

Besides making early payments to its pension plans, the money would be injected into the company’s mills that produce galvanized and galvannealed products, primarily used for construction and automotive applications.

The century-old steelmaker operates two facilities in Ontario, one in Nanticoke that processes 3.7 million tonnes a year, and another one in Hamilton, whose capacity is of 2.8 million tonnes of steel annually.

In a recent restructuring, Stelco was able to eliminate $3-billion in debt and $1.4-billion in pension and benefit obligations. Previous to Bedrock’s takeover, the company had already filed for bankruptcy and finally emerged from protection in 2007 when U.S. Steel Corp bought it for $1.1 billion.

According to the Globe and Mail, as of June 30, the company’s only red mark on its balance sheet was $68-million drawn on a $375-million asset-backed credit facility.

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Canadian miner’s plan incite protest in Irish town

Anti-mining activists from Cookstown, Northern Ireland, were escorted out of a hotel by police after they tried to enter an invite-only conference where they thought representatives from Dalradian Resources (TSX:DNA) (LON:DALR) would be in attendance.

The protesters belong to a group called Greencastle Community Voices and, together with another local organization called Save Our Sperrins, they oppose Toronto-based Dalradian’s plans to build a gold mine at Curraghinalt in County Tyrone.

Dubbed “The Future Search,” the event the activists broke into is being held this week under the sponsorship of four different local governments, which spurred the activists’ fury. They say that there was a lack of transparency in releasing both the guest list and a detailed account of how the district councils involved are spending the £40,000 destined to cover the costs of the meeting.

“This conference is being sold as a forum to reach compromises between stakeholders but as far as we can see this is simply a means to facilitate the unwanted industrialisation of our region of the Sperrins. What compromises have Dalradian or SSE ever made to the people of this area? We don’t matter to them. These companies can promise the planners that they will only build a small plant or only erect 10 turbines as a ‘compromise’ but everyone knows that once they have a foothold in the region they will pursue further planning amendments to achieve their ultimate goals, leaving the hoodwinked taxpayers wondering where it all went wrong,” Greencastle members wrote on their Facebook page.

In response to such allegations, a spokesperson for the Mid Ulster District Council told the Belfast Telegraph that the event is designed to bring together representatives from the community, voluntary, public and private sectors with the idea of “establishing common ground and agreeing next steps towards the sustainable development of a valued and valuable natural asset."

On this note of resource development, Canada's Dalradian is advancing applications to build a mine expected to produce 1.36 million ounces of gold and 380,000 ounces of silver, using an average overall gold recovery of 94.3% over the time frame.

The mine would be located at Curraghinalt, which is considered to be one of the world’s top ten undeveloped gold deposits by grade.

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How iron carbonates help form diamonds

An international group of scientists published a paper in Nature Communications where they state that under the peculiar conditions present deep in the Earth's mantle, iron carbonates can play a role in forming diamonds.

The team led by Valerio Cerantola investigated the inclusions containing carbonates that are found in diamonds extracted from depths of some 700 km. The goal was to understand their range of stability, crystal structures and the thermodynamic conditions of the decarbonation process.

They did so by simulating the peculiar conditions that characterize the Earth's deep mantle, namely extremely high pressure (equivalent to more than one million times the pressure present in Earth's atmosphere), and extremely high temperatures (typically ranging between 2,000° and 2,500° Celsius).

To run such simulation, they used laser-heated diamond anvil cells and squeezed a very small sample (10 to 15 microns) between a pair of diamonds with a laser beam focused on them. Then, they used synchrotron X-rays to examine the content and the structure of the samples, to later on use a synchrotron Mössbauer spectroscopy, to measure tiny changes in the Fe atomic energy levels. This is crucial to determining the valence state of new high-pressure iron carbonates.

(a,b) Tetrairon(III) orthocarbonate Fe4C3O12 and (c,d) diiron(II) diiron(III) tetracarbonate Fe4C4O13, at ambient temperature and 74(1) and 97(2) GPa, respectively. In a, three FeO8 bicapped prisms (light green) and three CO4− tetrahedra (brown) form a ring with threefold symmetry by corner and edge sharing. The rings form layers that are stacked along the c axis. FeO6-prisms (dark green) are connected by triangular bases and located in the channels created by the rings. In b the overall structure of the orthocarbonate is displayed along the c-axis. In c FeO8 bicapped prisms (light green) are connected in a 3D framework by dimers of edge-shared FeO7 monocapped prisms (blue) and zigzag-shaped C4O1310−chains (brown) shown along the b axis. In d the tetracarbonate structure is displayed along the c axis. Source: Nature Communications.

Most chemical compounds that are stable on the Earth's surface cannot exist under such extreme conditions. However, the researchers found some outliers. Specifically, their study revealed that under these conditions, carbonate molecules can exist and can reorganize so that the carbon carries an extra oxygen atom, forming a tetrahedral shape.

The group detected for the first time two novel compounds, including a so-called "tetracarbonate" that has the potential to survive deep in the Earth's lower mantle.

The results of their work indicate that one of the new crystal structures is uncommonly stable and retains its structure under the conditions present in the Earth's mantle, to depths of 2,500 km – close to where the mantle meets the Earth's core.

Their conclusion is that through the process of self-oxidation, carbonates can remain preserved deep in the Earth's mantle, thereby contributing to diamond formation.

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Ondes gravitationnelles : Virgo, le détecteur européen, a vu son premier trou noir binaire

Les scientifiques des collaborations Ligo et Virgo mettent fin aux rumeurs qui couraient depuis quelque temps : ils ont bien détecté, en tandem, une onde gravitationnelle produite par la fusion de deux trous noirs stellaires. Aucune contrepartie n'a été vue dans le spectre électromagnétique mais...

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Petra jumps on Tanzania letting it resume diamond exports

Shares Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) climbed more than 12% on Wednesday after the company said the Tanzanian government had authorized it to resume diamond exports and sales from its Williamson mine.

The Africa-focused diamond miner noted the timing and process for the next diamond export to the company's office in Antwerp and the sale would be finalized between the company and the government.

The company stock jumped on the news, closing 12.2% higher at 64.80 pence, after it had fallen on Tuesday to its lowest since late 2015.

More to come…

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Two die in attack to Avocet Mining’s convoy in Burkina Faso

West Africa-focused Avocet Mining said Wednesday that two paramilitary police officers were killed and other two suffer injuries after unknown aggressors assaulted a convoy carrying fuel to its Inata gold mine in northern Burkina Faso.

According to initial reports, one of the gendarme escorts was the target of the attack, but no groups or person had been identified as the author at the time this article was published.

While Avocet said it would review security measures to ensure the safety of the mine and its employees, shares in the company dropped more than 10% on the news before closing 2.16% lower to 22.17p.

Burkina Faso is Africa's No.4 gold producer and the precious metal accounts for about 20% of gross domestic product. Occasionally, the nation has been hit by jihadist groups-led attack, particularly along its remote northern border with Mali.

Other than Avocet, there are roughly two dozen miners operating in the country, including Iamgold and Semafo.

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La Terre photographiée par Osiris-Rex

En route vers l’astéroïde Bennu pour l’étudier, et aussi en rapporter des échantillons, la sonde Osiris-Rex a fait un petit détour (programmé) par la Terre, le 22 septembre dernier. L'occasion de prendre une jolie photo de notre Planète.

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China to revoke over 1,000 iron ore mining licences amid pollution crackdown

Iron ore prices resumed their downward trend Wednesday after China announced it would revoke about a third of its iron ore mining licences, mostly belonging to small polluting operations amid a government-led crackdown on smog and outdated steelmaking capacity.

Lei Pingxi, chief engineer at China’s Metallurgical Mines Association, said the measure would affect about 1,000 small mines, most of which have tried bypassing Beijing’s efforts to improve air quality by closing briefly and so survive inspections.

Those operations, however, will now be forced to upgrade their production processes or face permanent closure, Reuters reports.

Further falls are predicted in the price of iron ore to around $60 a tonne by the end of the year, as China also enforces environmental restrictions on steel production.

Iron ore prices fell on the announcement. After jumping 3% to $64.95 a tonne on Tuesday — its largest one-day percentage increase since August 31 — ore with 62% content in the port of Qingdao fell again Wednesday, to $64.15 a tonne, according to Metal Bulletin.

Further falls are predicted in the price of iron ore to around $60 a tonne by the end of the year as China also enforces environmental restrictions on steel production, according to analysts.

Goldman Sachs, for one, believes the price is “sitting at the intersection between policy and demand” and that China is likely to enforce steel output restrictions, which would likely reduce demand.

“This has not been fully priced in our view, and we see room for iron ore prices to fall further,” Goldman Sachs said in a report released earlier this week.

“The July and August iron ore rally illustrates the impact of policy anticipation.”

But Beijing’s decision to shut down polluting producers could bring benefits to iron ore exporters.

China's mines produce some 350 million – 400 million tonnes a year on a 62% Fe-basis. Around one-third of the many small mines struggling with low iron ore content (average close to 20%) have costs per tonne of more than $100.

The bulk of Chinese fines require a process called sintering (fines are mixed with coking coal and partially smelted) before being fed into blast furnaces, which greatly adds to the steel industry's environmental impact.

In the past year, the nation's steelmakers have been substituting domestic supply and reducing the percentage of fines in favour of pellets and so-called "lump" ore from Australia, South Africa and South America, which lowers costs and cut pollution by reducing the need for sintering.

You’d think China would now need to import more iron ore, but when factoring in Beijing’s fresh anti-pollution measures affecting the steel industry, the truth is that demand is likely to drop at a time when global mine supplies are poised to expand, Goldman Sachs noted.

 

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Biométrie : le cœur pour remplacer les mots de passe

Des chercheurs ont créé un système biométrique qui s'appuie sur la numérisation du cœur d'une personne pour en déterminer la taille, la forme et le rythme. Le but ? Se servir de ces informations uniques comme outil biométrique.

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À Bali, le volcan Agung menace d'entrer en éruption

Plus de 57.000 personnes ont été évacuées dans un rayon d'environ 12 km autour de l'Agung, un volcan de l'île de Bali, en Indonésie, qui donne des signes d'éruption imminente. Sa dernière phase éruptive, il y a plus de cinquante ans, avait provoqué la mort d'environ 1.500 personnes. Futura a...

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Iron ore prices bounce back

Following several days of losses, iron ore spot markets grew slightly on Tuesday.

The Metal Bulletin reports that the price for benchmark 62% fines jumped 3 per cent to $64.95 a tonne. Over the past seven sessions, iron ore had fallen 12.6 per cent.

On both ends of the spectrum, ore with 65% Fe content rose 2.5 per cent to $89.50 a tonne while 58% fines added a smaller 0.8 per cent, settling at $39.30 a tonne.

Spot markets rose after China's steel futures edge up during the session, with the most-traded construction steel futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closing up 0.87 per cent at 3,614 yuan per tonne.

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Volocopter : le drone taxi a volé dans le ciel de Dubaï

Dubaï a accueilli le premier vol du drone taxi allemand Volocopter. Muni de 18 rotors électriques, l'appareil peut voler en autonomie pour transporter deux passagers sur des trajets urbains. La première ville des Émirats arabes unis compte lancer un service de taxis volants sans pilote d'ici...

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Proxima du Centaure, l'étoile la plus proche du Soleil, volée par Alpha Centauri ?

Notre voisine Proxima du Centaure n’a peut-être pas toujours été liée aux étoiles Alpha Centauri A et B. En effet, à travers des simulations numériques, des chercheurs ont remarqué que, dans plusieurs cas, l’orbite de Proxima était instable. C’est peut-être une bonne nouvelle pour sa planète...

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Zinc deficits persist in the short term: BMI

A new report from BMI Research states that the global refined zinc market will remain in deficit over the next few years as producers curb output due to an ore shortage.

According to the document, zinc refiners, in particular those in China, will continue to scramble to secure concentrate over the coming quarters. Such shortages are explained by production cuts implemented in 2016 and the fact that two major mines went offline.

BMI’s forecast is, however, more positive when it comes to the long-term outlook for zinc. Between 2017 and 2021, the firm expects global refined zinc production and consumption growth to average 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively. “The slowdown in China’s steel sector will weigh on global refined zinc demand, leading to smaller deficits toward the end of our forecast period by 2021,” the report reads.

The research firm predicts that as new projects come online and prices remain high, zinc smelters will gradually ramp up output again. The prospect is that they reach 15 mnt by 2021.

Despite the Chinese government’s efforts to consolidate metal sectors and reduce environmental impact, BMI says that the country's refined zinc production will increase from 6.3 mnt in 2017 to 7 mnt by 2021, averaging 2.3 per cent annual growth. “China will remain the key global producer of refined zinc, accounting for 44.7% of global output in 2017 and increasing that share slightly to 46.4% by 2021.”

Similarly, India's zinc production should rise and average 6.5 per cent annual growth over 2017-2021.

In terms of demand, the report states that the subdued global steel production outlook indicates that the need for refined zinc will decelerate worldwide. Over the period that ends in 2021, annual growth is envisaged to be 1.6 per cent. In past years, the annual global refined zinc demand rose by 2.2 per cent.

Looking at the largest zinc consumer, China, BMI confirms the aforementioned trend. “We forecast Chinese zinc demand growth to average 2.5% in 2017 before slowing to 0.0% by 2021.”

In the US, on the other hand, zinc demand is expected to be affected by the stagnant steel production and an increasingly shaky economic growth outlook. BMI forecasts that the second largest global zinc consumer will see demand edging marginally higher from
619 kt in 20 7 to 631 kt by 2021.

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Microorganisms help form iron ore caves

Researchers from the Department of Biology and Geoscience at the University of Akron, in the United States, say that communities of microorganisms play a role in the formation of unique iron ore caves, which make up only about one per cent of caves worldwide.

According to the scientists, banded iron formations, or BIF, have high populations of active microbial communities. These formations, which they have been studying for seven years in Brazil, are extremely resistant rocks formed from iron deposits in ancient oceans. Their surfaces can be more than a billion years old.

Microbes living there use iron within the rock to respire, in a similar way that humans use oxygen. This respiration causes the rust-like iron oxides that make up the cave to become soluble, the researchers explain in a press release.

Their theory is supported by the discovery of dissolved iron in water within the cave, as well as by evidence that the iron is dissolving behind the walls, causing the cave to collapse in on itself.

“The team now believes the flow of groundwater simply carries off the iron oxides after microbes do all the work of chewing through the BIF. Over time, this process could be responsible for the voids in the walls of the cave, which eventually meet to form a new cave that is large enough to be entered by humans,” the release reads.

Asked about the importance of these findings, the director of the university’s integrated bioscience program, Hazel Barton, said that there is a strong correlation between the location of these BIF caves and the presence of iron ores of global economic significance.

Barton and her group recently received new funding to continue to test their hypothesis both in the field and in a lab. Their plan is to use models to show how iron is oxidized and swept away. The data gathered will show potential cave-forming processes across a range of scales, from microscopic to regional.

Iron ore is a key ingredient in the production of steel.

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SLIDESHOW: Paulson hedge fund in blistering attack on top gold miners

Timothy Wood, executive director Denver Gold Group, prepares to introduce Marcelo Kim, partner at Paulson & Co, for the Gold Equities: Myths, Dreams and Reality presentation

On Tuesday, New York hedge fund Paulson & Co, founded by noted gold bull John Paulson launched a blistering attack on the world’s top gold mining companies over “serial value destruction” in the industry.

Speaking at the Denver Gold Forum, the sector’s most important gathering now in its 28th year, Paulson & Co partner Marcelo Kim called on major gold equity investors to join a coalition – dubbed the Shareholders Gold Council – to stop CEOs, boards and management enriching themselves at the expense of shareholders and prevent companies from embarking on the kind of acquisitions and budget blow-outs that according to Kim have destroyed $85 billion in value just since 2010.

Kim said he was speaking with the full backing of Paulson and that Tocqueville, a fellow precious metals investment fund, had already endorsed the initiative.

“If we don’t do anything to change, then as investors we will continually be disappointed with shareholder returns and the industry will slowly dig itself into a hole of irrelevance and oblivion,” Kim told a packed room of delegates while showing slide after damning slide detailing the industry’s “dreadful” performance.

While the gold price has added 20% since 2010, average total shareholder returns from investments in the top 13 producers are a negative 65%. Over the same period the CEOs of these companies pocketed a collective $550 million in pay, Kim said.

Canadian miner Eldorado Gold came in for the most severe criticism for destroying value through ill-advised acquisitions (the most recent last year), but Kim also highlighted Randgold Resources as an example of how disciplined strategy can create value for shareholders.

The Africa-focused miner and Russia’s Polymetal were the only companies to beat bullion’s performance to end-2016 and Kim pointed to the irony that the latter’s CEO was by far paid the least while Eldorado’s boss had raked in $65 million since 2010. While the presentation did not look at small and mid-tier companies, Kim said he suspects that the same trends are visible among juniors.

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Lucara sells world's second-largest diamond for $53 million

The tennis ball-sized Lesedi La Rona rough diamond that Lucara Diamond (TSX:LUC) unearthed two years ago at its Karowe mine in Botswana was sold this week for $53 million.

The buyer, London-based Graff Diamonds, paid nearly $47,777 per carat.

"The stone will tell us its story. It will dictate how it wants to be cut, and we will take the utmost care to respect its exceptional properties,” said the gem's new custodian, Laurence Graff, in a press release.

On the other hand, Lucara CEO William Lamb stated that Graff paid a fair price for the 1,109-carat diamond, whose discovery marked a defining moment for the Vancouver-based company.

Such finding, he said, “solidified the amazing potential and rareness of the diamonds recovered at the Karowe mine. We took our time to find a buyer who would take the diamond through its next stage of evolution.”

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Brazil’s president revokes decree allowing mining in Amazon

Brazilian President Michel Temer has yield to global pressure from environmentalists, artists and a number of NGOs and revoked Tuesday a controversial decree that would have opened up a vast national reserve in the country’s Amazon, larger than the size of Switzerland, to mining.

The order, published in the government’s gazette, also keeps the protected status of the National Reserve of Copper and Associates (Renca), which straddles the northern states of Amapa and Pará.

The area, covering 46,000 sq. km (17,800 sq. miles), is thought to be rich in gold, iron ore, copper and other minerals. According to Temer, the exploitation of those riches could have helped Brazil speed up its recovery from its worst recession on record, local O’Globo reports (in Portuguese).

More to come…

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Ces dinosaures herbivores mangeaient aussi des crustacés

Les excréments fossilisés de dinosaures sont rares, en particulier lorsqu'il s'agit d'herbivores. Certains, datés du Crétacé, laissent penser que des hadrosaures herbivores ajoutaient à l'occasion des crustacés à leur régime alimentaire.

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BHP says 2017 a ‘tipping point’ for electric cars

Demand for copper is set to rise with the boom in electric cars, says BHP. (Image by Scharfsinn | Shutterstock.)

World number one mining company BHP (ASX, NYSE: BHP) (LON:BLT) said 2017 will go down in history as the year when key changes took place in the electric cars market, making them more accessible to customers and so boosting demand for commodities from copper to nickel.

“I think if we look back in a few years we would call 2017 the tipping point of electric vehicles,” Arnoud Balhuizen, head of marketing at BHP, said at a Reuters event held in Singapore.

BHP recently revealed plans to transform itself into the world’s biggest suppliers of nickel sulphate — a key component in lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars.

The company is spending $43 million on a plant in Australia, which will generate 100,000 tonnes of sulphate per year and which is expected to begin production by April 2019.

Currently, electric cars add up to roughly 1 million, out of a global fleet of closer to 1.1 billion. But BHP believes that figure could rise to 140 million electric vehicles, or 8% of the global fleet, by 2035.

“The reality is a mid-sized electric vehicle still needs subsidies to compete… so a lot will depend on batteries, on policy, on infrastructure,” Balhuizen said.

Based on the company’s forecasts the looming electric vehicle boom will be evident first in the copper market, with supply struggling to meet increased demand due to hardly any new discoveries in the last two decades.

Producers, Balhuizen noted, may have underestimated the impact on copper demand of what would be a dramatic change, given fully electric vehicles require four times more of the red metal than cars which run on combustion engines.

“The expectation is that the next generation of electric vehicles that will have even more automation will require even more copper,” he said.

BHP, already the world's second-biggest listed copper miner, has been taken steps towards increasing it presence in the market as of late. In July, the company said it would spend $2.5 billion to extend the life of its Spence mine in northern Chile by more than 50 years.

That announcement followed the mining giant’s decision last year of raising its annual exploration spending by 29%, allocating nearly all its $900 million budget to finding new copper deposits, to add to a strong portfolio that includes assets such as Escondida in Chile, the world’s biggest copper mine, and Olympic Dam in Australia.

For oil, though, the impact of the electric car boom won’t come until later, after 20 years, due to demand growth in developing countries.

The “China effect”

China's efforts to build a new Silk Road are another major factor influencing demand for metals in the near term, according to BHP. The country's ambitious "One Belt, One Road" initiative could result in additional steel demand of 150 million tones, Balhuizen wrote in a blog post published Tuesday.

China's president Xii Jinping unveiled in March 2015 a plan to revive the ancient trade rout and tie China closer to over 68 regions and countries in Central Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The “One Belt, One Road” initiative (BRI) is expected to boost demand for raw materials, particularly copper, iron ore, nickel and steelmaking coal.

BHP looked at 400 core projects that will require $1.3 trillion of spending under Xi's plan, and estimated their steel use. Those projects could lead to an additional 15 million tonnes per year of steel, an additional 3 to 4 per cent demand growth, it said. That will be met by Chinese steel mills as only 10 of the 68 countries covered by the BRI are net steel exporters, BHP said.

"We don't think China's steel [demand] has peaked, this will support some of that," Balhuizen concluded.

 

 

 

 

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Stimulation nerveuse : un patient en état végétatif montre des signes de conscience

Des chercheurs français ont augmenté l'état de conscience d'un homme de 35 ans qui se trouvait dans un état végétatif depuis quinze ans. Pour cela, ils ont utilisé une stimulation nerveuse du nerf vague.

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Projet Jacquard : la veste connectée de Google et Levi's est en vente

Plus d’un an après sa présentation, la veste connectée conçue par Google et Levi's est enfin disponible à la vente outre-Atlantique. Elle coûte 350 dollars et permet de piloter quelques fonctions d'un smartphone en touchant la manche gauche. Mais attention, on ne peut la laver que dix fois...

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Un écran Oled sur une feuille d'inox

Des ingénieurs ont développé un écran Oled utilisant une feuille d'acier inoxydable comme substrat à la place du verre ou du plastique habituellement employés. Cette technologie pourrait servir à fabriquer des systèmes d'éclairage pour les automobiles et l’affichage publicitaire.

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Six animaux au comportement insolite

Les animaux ont parfois des comportements insolites. Nos compagnons domestiques nous font souvent rire ; quant aux espèces sauvages, elles redoublent d'imagination lorsqu'il s'agit de se défendre, de chasser ou de draguer. Zoom sur six animaux aux habitudes étranges.

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25 ans d'altimétrie spatiale pour surveiller les océans

Il y a vingt-cinq ans, avec le lancement du satellite Topex-Poseidon, du Cnes et de la Nasa, l'altimétrie marquait un tournant dans l’étude des mouvements océaniques. Depuis, les missions altimétriques se sont succédé, révolutionnant notre vision des océans. Sophie Coutin-Faye, chef du service...

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US landowners oppose Canadian company's gold search

Landowners who have properties such as cabins in South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest are opposing a submission by Mineral Mountain Resources (TSXV:MMV) for an operating plan to drill 20 holes on federal land a couple miles south of the community of Rochford.

The Vancouver-based company’s objective is to search for gold through its US subsidiary. Another 12 sites will be drilled on nearby private land, where the firm already has a permit from the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

People rallying against Mineral Mountain’s project are worried about noise pollution, as well as that drilling rigs could cause to the Rapid Creek and Castle Creek drainage areas. However, the company states that no drill hole will go deeper than 4,000 feet and, therefore, there shouldn’t be any contact with aquifers. On that same note, the company says that after drilling, water may be disposed at a sewage treatment plant.

But concerned citizens are not buying these promises and some of them are asking the federal Forest Service to reject the project. However, the agency says it can only add conditions to the plan because the firm’s activities are legal under a 1872 law.

The controversial General Mining Act allows almost everyone, including foreign companies with local subsidiaries, to explore for minerals on federal public land.

Nevertheless, According to the Associated Press, Mineral Mountain CEO Nelson Baker said the application process is still ongoing and no permit has been issued yet for drilling on federal lands.

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China wants to reduce winter pollution by cutting steel production

China is expected to slash in half the rate of steel production in Tangshan, a city in the north-east that produces 11 per cent of the country’s total output. The reduction is aimed at diminishing winter pollution from plants that process coking coal, a crucial ingredient in the steelmaking process.

At the same time, the Chinese government said that producers would also be mandated to reduce overall coking coal production by 30 per cent. The directive comes in a moment when coking coal prices showed a downward trend of more than 5 per cent.

Similarly, prices for low-grade iron ore, another key component for steel, have plunged more than 18 per cent in the past month.

The Tangshan cut will affect 20m metric tonnes of steel or 7.5 per cent of national annual production. Other key steel-producing cities such as Shijiazhuang, Anyang and Handan are expected to announce similar cuts.

These reductions are part of a series of suspensions in China’s Rust Belt that will take effect within the next few months as environmental authorities strive to meet their promise to lower the concentration of particulate matter by 22 per cent this winter.

According to the Financial Times, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection has also scheduled a round of plant inspections in Beijing, Tianjin and 26 other cities to enforce more stringent emissions guidelines.

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China and Argentina to strengthen mining cooperation

During the China Mining Congress & Expo held in Tianjin, the Chinese Minister of Land and Resources Cao Weixing said that the Asian giant is very interested in “intensifying investment trade and cooperation” with Argentina.

According to the press agency Telam, Cao talked to the Argentinean Deputy Secretary of Mining Development, Mario Capello, about three specific proposals. “I want to keep up with the enthusiasm in terms of the commercial exchange at the highest levels that we already have. I would also like to broaden land and mineral surveys across the entire country, and I would also like to promote cooperation among Argentinean-Chinese companies so that we can advance several projects in mining areas,” he said (translated from Spanish).

With his words, the Chinese official wanted to praise up a mining cooperation agreement signed by Presidents Xi Jinping and Mauricio Macri earlier this year.

Capello, on the other hand, said that his Chinese counterpart was very happy with Argentina’s decision to prioritize copper exploration projects. “This strategy of developing our largest deposits will help support China’s growth while creating new jobs, boosting small and medium-sized businesses, and supporting social development in Argentina,” he said (translated from Spanish).

Both governments are expected to sign a number of joint ventures to further develop mining and geological research projects in the South American country.

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PotashCorp hires banks to lead sale of stake in Chilean lithium producer

Canada’s Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (TSX, NYSE:POT), the world’s largest producer of the fertilizer by capacity, is said to have hired Goldman Sachs and BofA Merrill Lynch to explore selling its stake in a Chilean lithium producer.

PotashCorp, which holds 32% of Chile's Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) and has three of eight board seats, is evaluating selling its part in the company to secure approval for its friendly merger with smaller rival Agrium (TSX, NYSE:AGU).

PotashCorp and Agrium said earlier this month their link-up would close several months later than previously anticipated as regulators in China and India put as a condition the divestment of certain minority interests the Canadian potash giant owns.

US chemical company Albenarle Corporation is said to have expressed interest in acquiring PotashCorp’s 32% stake in SQM.

The potential sale of the interest in SQM comes only a few months after PotashCorp reached an agreement with Chilean businessman Julio Ponce, the lithium producer’s controlling shareholder, to change the way board decisions were made up to that point, local paper El Mercurio reported (in Spanish).

The agreement, announced on April 17 and signed by Potash Corp, Ponce-controlled Pampa Calichera, and Japan's Kowa, stipulated that at least five of the eight board members had to agree to any future decision, and that the chairman no longer exercised a vote in the event of a deadlock. Previously, the chairman had the casting vote in the event of a tie.

PotashCorp’s possible exit from SQM also follows recent expression of interests in the global supplier of lithium from Chinese investors, including GSR Capital. The private equity firm is said to be mulling the acquisition of a 20% stake in SQM, worth just under $1.9 billion at current market values.

A note in a Chilean government transparency website confirms that two GSR representatives met Eduardo Bitran, the head of the government development agency Corfo that manages the nation's lithium leases, on April 24.

While the post did not specify who might sell the shares to GSR, is known that Ponce has previously tried to sell part of his interest in the company. The Chilean entrepreneur, former son-in-law of Chilean ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, held power at SQM since it was privatized in the 1980s.

Already a first bidder

Sources familiar with PotashCorp’s potential stake sale told news site El Mostrador on Monday (in Spanish) that US chemical company Albenarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) had already expressed its interest in acquiring a piece of SQM.

If successful, such deal would give the Charlotte, North Carolina-based firm a leading position in Chile’s lithium sector, something the country’s government would try blocking at all costs.

Sale process said to be in its preliminary phase and to formally be launched in October.

Laws enacted in the 1970s and 1980s classify lithium as a “strategic” commodity for Chile on the grounds it can be used in nuclear-fusion power plants. While the South American nation is very unlikely to build one of those facilities any time soon, controls on lithium production remain and only two companies — SQM and Albemarle — are currently allowed to mine the white metal.

According to the report, the sale process for the stake — worth about $4.5 million at current market values —is in its preliminary phase and it will likely be formally launched in October, assuming Potash Corp receives at least two binding offers by then.

Meanwhile, the PotashCorp-Agrium merger is also awaiting approvals in the United States.

The companies said that the new company, to be called Nutrien, would create the world’s largest potash miner worth about $36 billion, including debt.

The merged firm is expected to achieve $500 million of annual operating synergies.

Nutrien will also be the second biggest producer of nitrogen fertilizer with operations in 18 countries and more than 20,000 employees worldwide.

Workers at Lanigan potash mine, in Canada. (Image courtesy of Potash Corp.)

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New Talisman Gold buys 80% of New Zealand’s Rahu Project

New Talisman Gold (NZE:NTL) announced the recent acquisition of 100 per cent of Newcrest NZ Exploration, a Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) subsidiary that held 80 per cent of the Rahu Project, which lies to the north of the Karangahake Gorge, located at the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand's North Island.

The Rahu Project covers the Rahu Ridge-White Rocks. Before entering the joint venture with Newcrest, New Talisman completed a comprehensive exploration programme which had delineated a 700m wide x 1.5 km long NNE trending zone of mineralisation and hydrothermal alteration.

The programme showed that Rahu is the NNE extension of the Karangahake system recognised within the Talisman permit. After drilling 31 relatively shallow holes, the company intersected highly anomalous Au and Ag values with some high-grade gold and silver intercepts.

Such previous intersections included: 16 metres at 2.49 g/t Au; 8 metres at 1.71 g/t Au; 66 metres at 0.49 g/t Au; and 130 metres at 0.35 g/t Au.

According to a press release, once the Share Purchase Plan is completed and sufficient funds are raised, the sites targeted by Newcrest for drilling will be finalized and applications to start drilling at Rahu will begin.

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Total to wait for better oil prices before selling Canadian assets

French oil giant Total SA chief executive said on Monday the company was not in a rush to join the foreign exodus from Canada’s oil sands sector.

During a call with analysts, Patrick Pouyanne said the company’s plan was to wait for oil prices to rise before selling the assets.

CEO Patrick Pouyanne said oil sands assets were among the high breakeven projects in Total's portfolio.

“My priority is value over volumes and oil sands are among the high breakeven projects in the portfolio,” Pouyanne said according to Reuters.

Total cut in July all funding for the massive Fort Hills oil sands project, in which it as a 29.2% interest, sparking a commercial dispute with Suncor Energy, which holds a 50.8% stake in the venture.

Fort Hills, expected to produce 194,000 barrels a day at full capacity, is one of only two mining megaprojects in Northern Alberta that wasn’t recently affected by major budget cuts and decisions to shelve projects as oil prices collapsed from more than US$100 (U.S.) a barrel in 2014 to about half that level. The other survival is Canadian Natural Resources’ (TSX:CNQ) expanding Horizon complex.

The Suncor-led project, in which Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A and TECK.B)(NYSE: TECK) has a 20% stake, has however faced several challenges, including cost pressures and questions about its economics as oil prices fell.

In February, the partners upped the project’s costs and warned the final price tag could hit $17 billion. They said the updated cost was a consequence of construction delays and design changes, following wildfires last year during which work on the project was temporarily suspended.

You can access Patrick Pouyanne’s presentation to investors here.

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Santé : 5 bonnes raisons d'écouter de la musique

Écouter de la musique peut aider à réduire l'anxiété, la douleur ou à se motiver pour faire du sport. La musique agit sur le système de récompense du cerveau et stimule la libération de dopamine qui nous fait nous sentir mieux. Alors... à vos playlists !

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Banro halts gold mine in Congo as access road blocked

Shares in Canadian gold miner Banro Corporation (TSX, NYSE:BAA) were down Monday after the company said it had temporarily suspended operations at its Namoya gold mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as access road were blocked.

The Toronto-based miner said the measure was taken after violent groups blocked the access road to the mine preventing essentials from reaching the operation. Banro added it has taken steps to ensure the safety of its personnel and the integrity of the Namoya mine.

Operations at the company's Twangiza mine in South Kivu province have not been impacted, Banro said.

The incident is the latest in a string of direct and indirect violent acts against Banro's operations in eastern Congo.

In February an armed attack on the Twanziga gold mine, another Banro property, left four dead, including three policemen.

Only a month later, five workers including a French national, three Congolese men and a Tanzanian worker were kidnapped from Banro’s Namoya mine. And while the Tanzanian hostage was released shortly after, the other four remained captive until late May.

Banro operates in a particularly violent area of the Congo, were militia groups are still active despite a peace deal with internal rebel groups signed in 2002 and the official end in 2003 to a regional war that killed five million people.

Those groups have repeatedly complain against Banro for what they consider displacement and a lack of jobs for area workers, particularly those miners that who had been working on the are before the company started operating there.

More to come…

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Canada’s Cenovus to sell Suffield assets in Alberta for $512 million

Canadian oil producer Cenovus Energy (TSX, NYSE:CVE) said Monday it had reached an agreement to sell its Suffield crude oil and natural gas operations in southern Alberta to International Petroleum Corporation for $512million in cash.

The Calgary-based company noted the parties also agreed to a deferred purchase price adjustment that gives it the chance to benefit from potential additional payments of up to $36 million.

Net proceeds from the deal, as well as those from the sale of its Greater Pelican Lake assets, would be used towards reducing Cenovus’ $3.6-billion asset-sale bridge facility, the firm said in the statement.

Cenovus has been steadily falling out of favour with investors since March, when it announced the acquisition of oil sands and conventional assets from Houston-based ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), along with a plan to raise $3 billion by issuing new shares and selling its Pelican Lake and southern Alberta Suffield operations.

News come as Cenovus is trying to win over investors upset by its recent $17.7-billion acquisition of oil sands and natural gas assets from ConocoPhillips.

Its shares, which have fallen about 32% in New York and almost 38% in the Toronto exchange so far this year, were up almost 3% in the US during pre-market trading at $10.56 on the announcement.

Its chief executive officer, Brian Ferguson, has decided to retire next month, but plans to stay as an adviser for another five months as the firm is in the midst of selling up to $5 billion of holdings to pay for the assets it bought from ConocoPhillips.

There has been recent progress on the offloading of assets front. In early September, the company confirmed the sale of Pelican Lake to Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) for $975 million in cash, with the deal expected to close by the end of the month.

The sale of the Suffield assets, which include Cenovus’ properties on Canadian Forces Base Suffield and the adjacent Alderson property, is in turn expected to close before the end of the year, subject to closing conditions.

Cenovus has been one of the very few companies to revive deferred projects in the oil sands sector, following a recovery in crude prices.

Last year, the company resumed the expansion of its Christina Lake oil sands project, in northeast Alberta. Two more projects under review, known as Narrows Lake A and Foster Creek H, could add 75,000 barrels per day of new capacity in coming years.

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Les GPS des smartphones bientôt beaucoup plus précis

Broadcom, fabricant de puces de communication pour les terminaux mobiles, vient d'annoncer la disponibilité d'un nouveau GPS double fréquence qui offrira une précision au centimètre, contre environ cinq mètres actuellement. Les services de géolocalisation sur smartphones en seront les principaux...

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Origine de la ceinture d'astéroïdes : on a peut-être tout faux !

Non, Jupiter n'a pas brisé dans l'œuf la formation d'une planète, conduisant à cet anneau de petits corps que l'on appelle la ceinture principale d'astéroïdes. Bien au contraire, cette région aurait été emplie par la géante. C'est du moins ce que propose un nouveau scénario, étonnant, pour...

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K7 buggy, un RoboCop tout-terrain

La société américaine Knightscope vient de dévoiler deux nouveaux modèles de robots de surveillance, dont un impressionnant tout-terrain autonome appelé K7 buggy, au design futuriste.

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Termitières : leur secret enfin dévoilé !

Les termitières fascinent autant les entomologistes (les spécialistes des insectes) que les architectes : comment les termites parviennent-ils à réguler la température et le taux de CO2 à l’intérieur de leurs tours hautes de 2 à 3 mètres et peuplées de millions d’individus ? Une nouvelle étude...

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Néandertal : finalement, sa croissance ressemblait à la nôtre

Un squelette d’enfant néandertalien trouvé en Espagne suggère que la croissance de Néandertal était assez proche de celle de l’Homme moderne. Pourtant, des travaux précédents suggéraient que Néandertal grandissait plus vite, atteignant l’âge adulte plus tôt.

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PEA shows 22-year life for B.C. copper-gold-moly mine

A preliminary economic assessment for a mine on Vancouver Island, British Columbia is showing promising economics – despite being in a jurisdiction challenging to build mines.

Releasing the PEA last Thursday, NorthIsle Copper and Gold (TSXV:NCX) said its proposed North Island mine could produce 75,000 tonnes per day of concentrate for 22 years. It's the first publicly released study on the Hushamu and Red Dog deposits, which were discovered in the 1960s.

The CAD$1.3 billion project on northern Vancouver Island is about 200 miles northwest of BHP Billiton's reclaimed Island Copper mine.

If approved, it would mine 82 million pounds of copper, 79 million ounces of gold, and 3 million pound of molybdenum annually, according to the PEA.

“We are very pleased with the results of our maiden PEA,”NorthIsle President Jack McClintock said in the press release. “This PEA shows the Project can be built and operated with excellent returns based on conservative metal prices.”

Total indicated resources are 456.5 million tonnes at  0.2% copper, 0.25 grams per tonne gold and 0.008% molybdenum.

The former British Columbia Liberal government was pro-resource development and could point to a number of new mines opened under their 16-year period in government, including the $811-million Brucejack underground gold mine in northern B.C. However the Mount Polley disaster involving a tailings pond breach also cast doubts on the government's oversight over mining projects.

The new NDP-Green Party coalition which forced the Liberals from power is much more reticent on mining and energy projects, having sought intervenor status in court challenges against the Canadian government's approval of the $7.4-billion project Trans Mountain pipeline project; and referring the Site C dam to an independent review to see whether it should continue, be paused or completely cancelled – despite construction on the mega-project already having been set in motion by the previous Liberal government.

On Vancouver Island, the NDP and the Greens enjoyed a near-clean sweep, winning 13 out of 14 seats.

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Drone footage of Bingham Canyon copper mine

Drone technology is advancing so quickly it's hard to keep up with it. From aerial shots of construction projects to surveillance of strategic locations and even heat maps of crops to make farming more efficient, unmanned aerial vehicles are a disruptive technology that appears to have unlimited staying power.

Rio Tinto's (LON, NYSE,ASX:RIO) Matt Key is chief drone pilot at Rio's Kennecott operations in Utah. Key leads a team of 20 certified drone pilots and is helping to improve safety and productivity at the Bingham Canyon copper mine, according to a spotlight on Key by Rio Tinto.

Key says two of the biggest advantages of flying drones at Kennecott are safety and maintenance.

"There are some jobs where it’s better for drones to do it rather than people – for instance high wall mapping or rock fall analysis. By using drones we’re removing people from harm’s way. We can also use drones to identify safety risks – such as cracks and signs of rock movement," he says. "We can see things we’ve never seen before. For instance, we’re using thermal diagnostic capability to identify equipment problems from the air. We can identify high friction rates on equipment in real time and notify the maintenance teams so the issues can be addressed."

Kennecott’s operations include the Bingham Canyon Mine, Copperton Concentrator, Garfield Smelter, refinery, power plant and associated facilities.

In production for over 110 years, Kennecott produces copper, molybdenum, gold, silver and sulphuric acid.

Check out the aerial footage of a drone flying through Bingham Canyon, presenting a bird's eye view of the operation.

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UK Labour leader says he'll invest in former mining towns and steel industry

Jeremy Corbyn, whose Labour Party came second in the 2017 UK general election, has reached out to communities hit hard by the downtown in the coal and steel industries.

The Labour Party leader said a future Labour government would invest in former mining areas blighted by poverty, while also spending to promote renewable energy.

 “I would have wanted us to intervene immediately on SSI Redcar when the steel industry was in a crisis at that time.”: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

“It’s about investment in new industries. And so for example, I want to see a much bigger renewable sector,” Corbyn was quoted in Wales Online. In August Corbyn was seen backing support workers at a non-profit in Wales who went on strike over cuts to their pay.

Corbyn also said a Labour Government would be ready to invest in the steel industry, and challenged the argument that EU rules on “state aid” made it impossible to intervene, according to an interview with the BBC.

“I would have wanted us to intervene immediately on SSI Redcar when the steel industry was in a crisis at that time. The Government claimed there were issues of state aid. We disputed that at the time. But I would also want to say that we would be able to invest in industries,” Corbyn said during the BBC interview.

The Redcar iron and steel plant in Teesside, in northeast England, closed in 2015, throwing 3,000 people out of work. It was once one of the largest steelmaking facilities in Europe.

Corbyn also claimed that Labour would reverse a recent decision by the Conservative-led government to scrap electrification of the Great Western Railway between Swansea and Cardiff, while his Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, stressed Labour support for the proposed Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. A decision on the £1.3bn tidal power project is in the hands of the Conservative government. Swansea Bay is stuck in limbo because it's backers want a guaranteed price for the electricity it will produce, according to Wales Online.

Meanwhile the UK coal industry is on it knees due to continued decline in coal use throughout the British Isles.

In 2015 Britain’s last underground coal miner, UK Coal Holdings, shut down its remaining underground operation – the Kellingley Colliery in northern England – marking the end of underground coal mining, an industry that helped make Britain an industrial power and top exporter.

Over 20% of the nation’s energy needs are still met by coal, which is mostly imported. In August UK coal use dropped to a 135-year low. The UK government has said it plans to cut coal use entirely by shutting down all coal-fired plants by 2025.

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Top 10 des aliments les plus dangereux du monde

Du fugu au poulpe vivant en passant par un fromage italien très spécial, ces spécialités culinaires ne sont pas sans danger... Voici dix des aliments les plus dangereux au monde. À consommer à vos risques et périls.

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En vidéo : les plus beaux timelapses de l'automne

Depuis ce 22 septembre 2017 à 22 h 02 en heure de France métropolitaine, c'est l'automne. Le Soleil, dans le ciel de la Terre, a traversé le plan de l'équateur céleste. C'est une équinoxe. La longueur de la nuit est devenue temporairement égale à celle de la journée. Dans les latitudes tempérées...

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Nuit des Étoiles : 10 applis pour mieux admirer le ciel (MAJ)

L’été, mais aussi toute l’année, il est très agréable de sortir dehors faire connaissance avec le ciel étoilé peuplé de constellations. Le plus loin possible de la pollution lumineuse, bien sûr. Futura-Sciences vous propose une sélection des applications pour smartphones et tablettes (iOS et...

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Science décalée : pourquoi les hommes aiment-ils tant les seins ?

Il existe plusieurs théories expliquant l’attirance des hommes pour les seins des femmes. La dernière en date, proposée par le psychologue Larry Young, défend l’idée qu’elle viendrait d’un circuit de neurones particulier servant à favoriser l’attachement d’une mère pour son petit pendant...

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Métamatériaux : des forêts pour lutter contre les séismes

Ce mardi 19 septembre 2017, un puissant séisme a frappé le centre du Mexique, faisant plus de 200 morts et de nombreux dégâts matériels. Il y a moins d'un an, Futura présentait des travaux qui pourraient, à l'avenir, aider à protéger populations et constructions. Des structures se comportant...

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Cancer : trois pesticides sur la sellette

Cette semaine, la Cour d’appel de Bordeaux a décidé de ne pas reconnaître de lien entre le cancer dont est décédé un ouvrier agricole en Gironde et son exposition professionnelle aux pesticides. Certains pesticides pourraient pourtant favoriser des cancers. Comme le rapportait alors Futura,...

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Anglo’s plans to further expand vast iron ore mine in Brazil hits roadblock

Anglo American’s (LON:AAL) plans to further expand its massive Minas Rio in Brazil hit a roadblock this week after the public prosecutor for the state of Minas Gerais, where the iron ore mine is located, told the company to reschedule two public meetings originally tabled for Sep. 20 and 21.

The order, the company said in a statement (in Portuguese), stem from the its failure to inform the municipality of Conceição do Mato Dentro of the upcoming meeting, even though the town is one of the communities to be affected by a potential new expansion of the mine.

Anglo is attempting to receive a licence for a third and final expansion of Minas Rio, which will allow the mine to ramp up production to 26.5 million tonnes of iron ore a year.

This is not the first time a local judge asks Anglo to reschedule a public hearing about Phase 3 of Minas Rio. In April, a minor court ruled that the miner had not announced the hearing in the way stipulated by law, and that also failed to provide locals with environmental impact studies early enough for them to read and analyze the proposal ahead of time.

Anglo has already been granted permission for a second phase at Minas Rio, but is now attempting to receive a licence for a third and final expansion, which the company hopes to get by June 2018.

According to Anglo, the third phase is critical for the mine to reach full capacity of 26.5 million tonnes of iron ore a year by 2019. Together with increasing the current pit's size, the project is expected to generate 800 new jobs during construction, adding to the more than 4,500 positions the project has already created, it said in the statement.

The final expansion will also allow the century-old company to continue operating for at least another 20 years in the iron ore-rich region.

Writedowns and environment-related worries

Getting to this point has not been easy for the Anglo-Australian firm. After spending $5.5 billion between 2007 and 2008 to buy the developing mine from Brazilian ex-billionaire Eike Batista, the company had to invest another $8.4 billion, more than twice what was originally projected, to bring it to production in 2014.

The deal soon soured as rising global iron ore output overwhelmed demand, causing prices to tumble 80% from their 2011 peak. The miner also saw itself forced to write down the value of the asset by about $4bn, underscoring how the group mistimed its entry into the iron ore sector.

Main tailings pond at Minas Rio, with a capacity of 370 million cubic metres, is seven times larger than the Samarco's facility that broke in 2015.

And while prices for the commodity have recovered lately (they climbed 81% in 2016), this year’s extreme volatility is casting doubts on whether Anglo’s costly bet for iron ore will or not eventually pay off.

On top of that, there are mounting concerns over the potential environmental damage an accident similar to the what happened to the Vale-BHP joint venture in 2015, could caused.

The main tailings pond at Minas Rio, with a capacity of 370 million cubic metres, is seven times larger than the Samarco's facility that broke in 2015, killing 19 people and contaminating hundreds of kilometres of the Doce river valley and the sea around the river mouth.

According to the London Mining Network, a coalition of environmentalist and campaign groups, communities below the Minas Rio dam are in the area defined as a “self-rescue zone” because there would not be enough time for competent authorities to intervene in case of an incident.

Anglo American has noted that Phase 3 of the mine expansion includes plans to reinforce the dam. The technical design and the construction of the tailings dam, says the company, differs from Samarco’s in that is a “downstream” construction as opposed to the “upstream” structure that failed in 2015. It would mean that heightening Minas Rios dam wouldn’t involve constructing each extension over the compacted, but potentially unstable, wastes in the tailings pond.

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