The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic announced that it rejected Falconbridge Dominicana’s (Falcondo) application to develop the La Manaclita ferronickel project in the north-central La Vega province.
Falcondo is owned by Canada’s Americano Nickel Ltd. and its plan was to mine a 4.6-square-kilometre area within a 46 square-kilometre forest on the Loma Miranda mountain. The area, however, is considered a “green curtain” that serves as a natural sponge for opposing trade winds, absorbing and collecting humidity from clouds that hit vegetation, causing a unique phenomenon known as horizontal precipitation.
Falcondo’s operation currently produces 30,000 tonnes/year of nickel equivalent
The plan to mine such a place was considered controversial, with environmentalist groups openly opposing it.
Falcondo’s idea was to submit a new environmental impact assessment for La Manaclita, which would expand its existing Loma Ortega deposit by connecting it to Loma Miranda and extend the mine’s life for 20 years. At present, resources are expected to be exhausted in 4-5 years.
The submission to carry out such a plan was received by the Ministry of Environment but it was rejected.
“Our position is to comply with what was expressed during the judicial processes (related to the project) and technical assessments that precede the current scenario, as well as with the principle of prevention established in article 8 of the General Law of Environment and Natural Resources,” Minister Orlando Jorge Mera said in a video statement.
According to the government official, following his office’s decision, Falcondo’s management sent a formal communication saying that they had decided to withdraw the application.
“Our commitment, based on the Constitution and the rule of law, is to defend the Dominican Republic’s environment, natural resources and ecosystems,” Mera said.
Sociedad Minera de Santander (Minesa), a company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi through its investment arm Mubadala Investment Company, announced that it will file a new environmental license application for its Soto Norte gold project in Colombia.
The announcement comes five months after the country’s National Authority of Environmental Licences (ANLA in Spanish) decided to shelf the licensing application for the project saying that it wasn’t able to reach a decision because there were too many unanswered questions in Soto Norte’s environmental impact assessment and follow-up documentation submitted by Minesa at ANLA’s request.
Among the elements being challenged were the definition of ‘area of influence,’ technical issues related to the project’s tailings facility, considerations related to geotechnics, the characterization of impacts on the region’s hydrology and hydrogeology, and the project’s risk management plan and economic valuation.
Minesa’s proposal is a $1.2-billion operation to be located in the north-central Santander department, just outside the Páramo de Santurbán
Minesa’s proposal is a $1.2-billion operation to be located in the north-central Santander department, just outside the Páramo de Santurbán. The project’s location has proven to be controversial as the natural landscape that surrounds it is a protected area of the Andes mountains covered with subalpine forests above the continuous tree line but below the permanent snow mark, where water is naturally stored during the rainy season and released during the dry season.
Even though the highest point of Soto Norte is outside the protected area of the páramo, Minesa said that given the concerns expressed by the environmental authority, it will get rid of its previous plans and will work on a new environmental license request that takes into consideration the additional technical requirements put forward by the ANLA.
Minesa estimates that the entire process of preparing and submitting a new EIA will take more than a year, which means that management will have to implement some staff cuts.
“Even though Minesa was able to keep its entire team of 250 direct and indirect employees during the government-mandated shutdown due to the pandemic, ANLA’s decision means we have to adjust our operations,” the company said in a media statement.
If it finds a way to go ahead, the proposed underground Soto Norte operation is expected to produce over 400,000 ounces of gold per year for some 20 years and create 1,000 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs.
A research team at Princeton University and the US Naval Research Laboratory developed a new sensor that could allow practical and low-cost detection of low concentrations of methane gas.
In a paper published in the journal Optics Express, the scientists explain that measuring methane emissions and leaks is important to a variety of industries because the gas can be dangerous and, at the same time, it contributes to global warming and air pollution.
In underground operations, for example, coal mine methane or CMM is released from the coal and surrounding rock strata and it can create an explosive hazard. This is why it is normally removed through ventilation systems.
In abandoned and surface mines, on the other hand, methane might escape to the atmosphere through natural fissures or other diffuse sources.
ICLED-based sensor to detect methane. (Image by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy, courtesy of The Optical Society).
Agricultural and waste industries also emit significant amounts of methane, while natural gas production relies on coalbed methane or CBM, which means that detecting leaks is also critical to the oil and gas industry for both environmental and economic reasons.
Given this context, the research team led by Mark Zondlo at Princeton saw an urgency in creating a new kind of sensor. The mechanism uses an interband cascade light emitting device or ICLED to detect methane concentrations as low as 0.1 parts per million. ICLEDs are a new type of higher-power LED that emits light at mid-infrared (IR) wavelengths, which can be used to measure many chemicals.
Although methane sensing has been demonstrated with mid-IR LEDs, performance has been limited by the low light intensities generated by available devices. To substantially improve the sensitivity and develop a practical system for monitoring methane, the researchers used a new ICLED which emits roughly 10 times more power than commercially available mid-IR LEDs had generated.
The way it works is one in which the sensor measures infrared light transmitted through clean air with no methane and compares that with transmission through air that contains methane.
In underground operations, coal mine methane or CMM is released from the coal and surrounding rock strata and it can create an explosive hazard
To boost the system’s sensitivity, the researchers made the infrared light move from the high-power ICLED through a 1-meter-long hollow-core fiber containing an air sample. The inside of the fiber is coated with silver, which causes the light to reflect off its surfaces as it travels down the fiber to the photodetector at the other end. This allows the light to interact with additional molecules of methane in the air resulting in higher absorption of the light.
To test the new sensor, the researchers flowed known concentrations of methane into the hollow core fiber and compared the infrared transmission of the samples with state-of-the-art laser-based sensors. The ICLED sensor was able to detect concentrations as low as 0.1 parts per million while showing excellent agreement with both calibrated standards and the laser-based sensor.
“This level of precision is sufficient to monitor emissions near sources of methane pollution,” Nathan Li, first author of the paper, said in a media statement. “An array of these sensors could be installed to measure methane emissions at large facilities, allowing operators to affordably and quickly detect leaks and mitigate them.”
Thinking of affordability
By affordable, Li meant that the ICLED-based sensors are designed to be mass-produced.
This means that they would cost less than $100 per sensor, whereas current laser-based sensors – which are the gold standard for methane detection – cost between $10,000 and $100,000 each.
Se promener la nuit avec une lampe UV peut réserver quelques surprises ! En effet, les scientifiques découvrent de plus en plus d'espèces animales nocturnes dont le pelage devient fluorescent sous un rayonnement UV. Les derniers en date, deux espèces de lièvres sauteurs. C'est la première fois...
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Après ses offres très attractives du début de l'année 2021, Free Mobile a enchaîné avec une très belle offre pour clôturer les soldes d'hiver : L’opérateur vous laisse jusqu’au 02 mars à minuit pour souscrire à son offre complète accessible avec 80Go de data pour seulement 11,99 euros par mois....
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Le 28 février 2021, Futura vous propose de participer à un live Facebook exceptionnel autour des maladies rares. Lors de cette initiative, impulsée par la filière de santé nationale AnDDi-Rares et soutenue par Sanofi Genzyme, vous pourrez discuter avec des acteurs impliqués dans le diagnostic,...
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Futura vient de mettre à l’épreuve le nouveau MacBook Air d'Apple animé de sa puce révolutionnaire M1. Avec elle, l’ultraportable devient vraiment polyvalent au point d’empiéter franchement sur la gamme Pro de la marque. Revue de détails.
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Record doublé ! Des chercheurs ont séquencé un ADN vieux de 1,2 million d’années issu d’un mammouth congelé de Sibérie. Une découverte qui nous questionne sur la limite de conservation de l’ADN et fait ressurgir les fantasmes de Jurassic Park.
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Dans ce seizième épisode de Chasseurs de science, nous vous emmenons dans le sillage funeste d'une cuisinière anglaise, Mary Mallon, connue sous le nom de Typhoïd Mary.
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La vie terrestre pourrait-elle résister à l’environnement martien ? C’est la question que se posent les chercheurs dans le cadre de l’exploration spatiale, mais aussi de la protection planétaire. Une équipe apporte aujourd’hui de nouvelles réponses : certains de nos champignons pourraient...
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La musique est une alliée indiscutable pour de nombreux conducteurs. Et pourtant, si les plus jeunes affirment qu'elle les aide à garantir leur concentration au volant, le jury est encore en délibération sur ce sujet.
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Le 28 février 2021, Futura vous propose de participer à un live Facebook exceptionnel autour des maladies rares. Lors de cette initiative, impulsée par la filière de santé nationale AnDDi-Rares et soutenue par Sanofi Genzyme, vous pourrez discuter avec des acteurs impliqués dans le diagnostic,...
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Canada’s Santacruz Silver Mining (TSXV: SCZ) is one step closer to becoming the owner of the Zimapan silver mine in Mexico, as it recently signed a deal that involves a $20-million payment for the asset.
The definitive agreement was signed between Santacruz’s subsidiary, Carrizal Mining, and Minera Cedros, a subsidiary of Industrias Peñoles.
In a press release, Santacruz said that included in the acquisition are the Zimapan processing facility with a capacity of 75,000 dry metric tonnes per month and zinc, lead and copper circuits; surface and underground infrastructure; and 34 mining concessions covering an area of 5,139 hectares, including the highly prospective 337-hectare Santa Gorgonia 1 concession.
In 2020, Zimapan produced 1,007,478 ounces of silver
“The mining concessions are all located proximate to the municipality of Zimapan,” the media brief states. “To date, Carrizal has identified 14 mineral zones that are characterized as polymetallic replacement mineralization of Pliocene age. Within the mineral zones, silver, lead, zinc and copper minerals have preferentially replaced the carbonate host rocks and pre-existing skarn bodies to produce disseminated, semi-massive sulphide and massive sulphide bodies that occur in proximity to monzonitic intrusions and quartz-feldspar porphyry dikes.”
According to Santacruz, following the completion of the acquisition, the company plans to implement operational efficiencies, achieve quarterly production of approximately 200,000 wet metric tonnes by Q3-2021 and further explore opportunities for growth on the property.
Located in the eastern Hidalgo state, Zimapan was operated by Peñoles from 1964 until it leased the property to Santacruz in August 2009. In 2020, the mine produced 1,007,478 ounces of silver.
The Mining Association of Canada released its annual Facts & Figures report where it highlights that while 2020 saw a modest, $2-billion y-o-y increase in the value of mining projects planned and under construction from 2020 to 2030, the total 10-year projected value of $82 billion remains nearly 50% below the 2014 level of $160 billion.
According to the Association, Canada also continued to lose ground to Australia in the competition for the world’s top destination for non-ferrous exploration spending in the past two years.
The report points out that the country’s share of global production for critical minerals and metals has also gone down, with other jurisdictions capturing greater market share for growing demand.
A poll commissioned by the MAC revealed that public enthusiasm for enhanced critical minerals development in Canada is high
“Critical to bolstering the industry’s domestic and international leadership is a predictable and consistent domestic policy and regulatory environment, with proactive and bold policy to position the country for longer-term success, particularly in the face of the pandemic,” Pierre Gratton, MAC’s president and CEO, said in a media statement. “There are tremendous opportunities to do that in the areas of critical and battery minerals – arguably the foundation for any resurgence in Canadian advanced manufacturing and essential elements in the move towards a lower-carbon future.”
Gratton said that public enthusiasm for enhanced critical minerals development in Canada is high, as a survey commissioned by MAC and carried out by Abacus Data revealed.
The study showed that 90% of the people polled liked the idea of Canada being a preferred source for critical minerals and are looking forward to seeing the government taking a number of steps to support this approach.
“It is clear that these essential elements required as inputs in the goods – including clean and healthcare technologies – we create and on which Canadians and our economy depend, represent an important opportunity for the country’s mining sector and the economy as a whole,” the press brief states.
Also on the positive side of things, the Mining Association of Canada’s report shows that the industry continues to be a strong employment generator, accounting for one in every 26 jobs in Canada or approximately 719,000 positions, with 16,500 of those occupied by Indigenous peoples.
Shares in Scottish miner Scotgold Resources (LON: SGZ) dropped Friday as much as 14% in early trading after it revealed that plans to ramp up production at the Cononish mine will take longer than expected.
The company, which kicked off operations at Scotland’s first commercial gold and silver mine in December, said that slower than anticipated labour build-up and training, due in part to the current covid-19 restrictions, will impact March production.
Cononish’s processing plant is now expected to treat 1,000 tonnes of ore in March, reaching design capacity of 3,000 tonnes per month from April onwards.
“The full planned 24/6 operations are now not expected before the end of March,” it said in the statement, adding that it intended to use the delay in the ramp-up to complete and implement the results of an ongoing design review of the primary crusher support structure.
Cononish’s processing plant is now expected to treat 1,000 tonnes of ore in March, reaching design capacity of 3,000 tonnes per month from April onwards.
Scotgold said that, as a consequence, it has lowered its production guidance from between 7,800 and 8,700 ounces to 7,000-7,900 ounces of gold produced.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the Cononish mine’s overall development schedule, the company said. It triggered a shutdown in 2020, reduced access to specialist suppliers and consultants from overseas and, more recently, it has hindered recruitment and training of new staff.
This delayed production build-up has negatively impacted the company’s cash position and Scotgold is now looking into possible short-term debt financing options.
CEO to retire
The gold miner also announced on Friday that its chief executive Richard Gray is retiring at the end of March.
Gray, who oversaw the transition of Scotgold into a gold miner and producer, will become non-executive director. He will be replaced on April 1 by Pala Investments’ former head of technical operations Philip Day.
Prior to Pala, Day held the position of VP for process engineering at AMEC Americas, and has also previously held operational, managerial and technical roles for BHP, WMC Resources, Minara Resources and Wiluna Gold.
The asset churned out gold in August 2016, following the launch of an ore processing trial. After the local authorities gave the project their blessing, the company began building a large-scale operation.
As many as 52 jobs could be created during full production, and the firm has offered nearly £500,000 (about $612,000) in payments to support the nearby local community of Tyndrum.
Shares in Scotgold recovered some of the losses and by mid-afternoon, they were trading only 2.7% lower to £71, leaving it with a market capitalization of £36.23 million.
Comprendre comment le dernier ancêtre commun entre les Hommes et les chimpanzés se déplaçait est essentiel pour comprendre l’évolution de la bipédie. Et une nouvelle analyse de la main de Ardi, une Ardipithecus ramidus vieille de 4,4 millions d’années semble aujourd’hui indiquer que notre...
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Dans les sociétés anciennes, le troc tenait une place importante. Et peu à peu, il a été éclipsé par un système économique basé sur l’échange de monnaies. Mais la crise sanitaire et l’urgence climatique pourraient aujourd’hui lui offrir une seconde chance. Une campagne de co-idéation vient...
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Vous êtes à la recherche d'un nouveau PC portable gaming ? Sur Cdiscount, découvrez une superbe réduction sur le PC portable Lenovo Legion Y540-15IRH. Habituellement disponible au prix 1299 €, dans cette réduction exceptionnelle il est proposé à 899,99 € sur Cdiscount ! Cliquez pour voir...
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Des chercheurs du Massachusetts Institute of Technology sont parvenus à créer une lentille qui n’a plus besoin d’être déplacée pour effectuer la mise au point, grâce à une métasurface qui change de phase lorsqu’elle est chauffée. Cette avancée permettrait la miniaturisation des appareils photos...
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Après plus d’un an de restrictions sociales et de confinements, la « fatigue pandémique » s’installe dans la population. Or, l’ennui conduit les gens à adopter des comportements à risque et à enfreindre les règles de distanciation, amenant à davantage d’infections. Un paradoxe qui entraîne un...
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Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state has approved all of the planning applications that would cause damage to Aboriginal heritage sites it has received in the past year, according to a state budget hearing this week.
The state is the second one to reveal that its heritage protection body has approved nearly all of the development applications received as part of the planning process, although some of the final decisions contain conditions to limit damage.
A parliamentary hearing in Western Australia state last year revealed that all of the 463 applications by mining companies to damage heritage sites received between July 2010 to May 2020 were approved by the state’s heritage department.
New South Wales is the second state to reveal it has approved nearly all of the development applications received, though some of the final decisions contain conditions to limit damage.
Australia is undergoing a reckoning in the way it manages Aboriginal heritage sites after iron ore miner Rio Tinto legally destroyed two ancient rock shelters last year that were among the world’s earliest evidence of human habitation.
All 84 applications for developments that would damage Aboriginal heritage sites received from July 2020 to Feb. 9, 2021, were approved, the NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Don Harwin told a parliamentary budgetary committee on Thursday, according to a transcript released on Friday.
“None was refused in the past 12 months, but the AHIPs (Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permits) that were issued had conditions to mitigate impacts,” he said.
“Lengthy negotiations are undertaken by Heritage NSW to ensure the best conservation result.”
Western Australia is reviewing its heritage protection laws, a step that NSW is also taking, Harwin said.
“It is true to say that the Aboriginal heritage statutory protection scheme in New South Wales is a scheme of managed destruction rather than any kind of managed protection,” Greens lawmaker David Shoebridge said during the hearing.
“For the last five years it has been effectively 100 per cent approval for the destruction of Aboriginal heritage,” he said.
Among the applications Heritage HSW is currently considering is one for a go-kart track on a site of cultural significance to the Wiradjuri people, on top of Wahluu, or Mount Panorama, which also hosts the Bathurst 1000 motor race, according to the transcript.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Les soldes d'hiver continuent après la décision du gouvernement de les prolonger. Pour vous permettre de faire des économies, de nouvelles promos forfait mobile sont disponibles chez les MVNO. Prixtel, Auchan Télécom, NRJ Mobile ou RED By SFR, découvrez dans ce comparatif les meilleurs forfaits...
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Et si vous achetiez un ordinateur portable qui répond à vos besoins ? Framework propose de créer son propre PC portable, de l'écran aux prises USB en passant par la batterie. Mieux, il est facile à faire évoluer puisque chaque pièce peut être démontée et changée. Et c'est bon pour la planète.
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Réussir à obtenir les plus belles promotions requiert d’arriver au bon moment avec la bonne offre. Il y a un moment parfait pour chaque produit, et ce moment, il ne faut pas rater ces opportunités ! Et ce moment parfait, c'est maintenant.
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ExpressVPN est le VPN incontournable pour ceux qui cherchent une solution fiable avec des fonctionnalités professionnelles. Et pour vous montrer la confiance qu’ExpressVPN porte à ses utilisateurs, il propose aujourd’hui une offre limitée : trois mois offerts pour tout abonnement de 15 mois soit...
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L'origine des lunes de Mars est une énigme pour les planétologues. Quelques scénarios ont été proposés cependant, le tout dernier faisant intervenir une collision il y a plus d'un milliard d'années.
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En chemin vers le Soleil, la sonde de la Nasa Parker Solar Probe a renvoyé une image époustouflante de Vénus. Une image du côté nocturne de la planète capturée le 11 juillet 2020 par l’imageur à champ large WISPR alors que la sonde passait à un peu plus de 12.000 kilomètres au large de...
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En Israël, la campagne vaccinale est un véritable succès. Près de 33 % de la population a reçu les deux doses du vaccin de Pfizer. Une situation unique qui permet aux scientifiques de confirmer l'efficacité de la formule de Pfizer dans une population « naturelle », en dehors des essais cliniques.
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Coriolis fait de nouveau preuve de générosité sur ses forfaits mobiles sans engagement. Jusqu’au 02 mars 2021, l’opérateur applique une réduction de 50% sur ses forfaits 80 Go et 20 Go.
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Le 28 février 2021, Futura vous propose de participer à un live Facebook exceptionnel autour des maladies rares. Lors de cette initiative, impulsée par la filière de santé nationale AnDDi-Rares et soutenue par Sanofi Genzyme, vous pourrez discuter avec des acteurs impliqués dans le diagnostic,...
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À l’extrémité nord de l’archipel des Petites Antilles ou Petites Caraïbes, deux petites îles sont des dépendances de la Guadeloupe : Saint-Barthélémy, l'île des superlatifs, et Saint-Martin, une île surprenante partagée entre la France et les Pays Bas.
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Chez une espèce de corail se développant le long des côtes d'Okinawa (Japon), trois couleurs sont observées. Ces couleurs semblent liées à une plus ou moins bonne résistance à la hausse de la température de l'eau, et au blanchissement qui s'ensuit. Corrélation ou causalité ?
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Voilà près de 80 ans qu’ils ont été découverts. Les squelettes humains du lac de Roopkund. Et ils continuent, aujourd’hui encore, d’intriguer les chercheurs.
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Amidst a growing move towards electrification and emerging concerns about the sourcing of raw materials, base and battery metals exploration and development assets in North America are on investors’ radar screens. Below, we provide an overview of eight companies in the space.
Canada Nickel
Crawford nickel-cobalt project in Ontario. Credit: Canada Nickel Company.
After listing on the TSX Venture exchange in March 2020, Canada Nickel Company (TSXV: CNC; US-OTC: CNIKF) is working to deliver a feasibility study on its Crawford nickel-cobalt sulphide project in the Timmins mining camp by the end of this year.
Processing test results released in January suggest nickel recoveries of 52%, with 46% of the recovered nickel reporting to a high-grade nickel concentrate, at 37% nickel. According to Mark Selby, Canada Nickel’s chairman and CEO, these latest numbers suggest potential for this high-grade concentrate to be the highest-grade nickel sulphide concentrate in the world (based on data from Wood Mackenzie).
The company said in a press release that this high-grade nickel product could be targeted at battery metal consumers, while the lower-grade concentrate could be used to generate a ferronickel product for the stainless steel market.
Crawford is host to 653 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 0.26% nickel, 0.013% cobalt, 0.028 gram palladium per tonne and 0.012 gram per tonne platinum. There are a further 497 million inferred tonnes grading 0.24% nickel, 0.013% cobalt, 0.026 gram palladium and 0.013 gram platinum. These resources are contained within the Main and East zones and include a higher-grade core of approximately 201 million tonnes grading 0.34% nickel.
Recent drill results also suggest extensions to higher-grade West zone mineralization – the October 2020 discovery returned a 307.5-metre interval of 0.3% nickel in January, extending the higher-grade mineralization by 850 metres northwest.
Nickel mineralization has been traced over a total of 7 km at Craword, with a separate PGM zone next to the Main and East zones. Based on a February update, Canada Nickel has also entered into a binding letter of intent with Noble Mineral Exploration (TSXV: NOB; US-OTC: NLPXF) to consolidate the ownership of the high-priority MacDiarmid nickel target, just west of Glencore‘s (LSE: GLEN) Kidd Creek mine. The geophysical target is 1.8 km long and averages 400 metres in width, making it over 15% larger than the original Crawford Main zone.
The company also signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) in January with Glencore, to evaluate the potential use of the major’s Kidd 12,500-tonne-per-day concentrator and metallurgical site to process material mined from Crawford. The Glencore operations are 40 km from the site.
Canada Nickel also signed a MOU in December with the Taykwa Tagamou First Nation to develop electric power for Crawford. The First Nation would develop the electrical transmission assets, which the company would rent.
Canada Nickel has also established NetZero Metals, a division aimed at developing a zero-carbon footprint operation.
A preliminary economic assessment for Crawford is expected in the first quarter of this year.
Canada Nickel has a C$318.5 million market capitalization.
Dore Copper
A map of Dore Copper’s Lac Dore project. Credit: Dore Copper.
Dore Copper (TSXV: DCMC; US-OTC: DRCMF) is a Quebec-focused copper developer. The company holds approximately 107 sq. km in the Lac Doré-Chibougamau and Joe Mann mining camps. These holdings feature 12 deposits and resource target areas within 60 km of the company’s 2,700 tonne-per-day Copper Rand mill, which closed in 2008. Dore is targeting a hub-and-spoke strategy across these holdings — resource updates are expected in the second quarter of 2021, followed by a preliminary economic assessment in the second half of the year.
Corner Bay includes an indicated resource of 1.4 million tonnes at 3.01% copper and 0.27 gram gold per tonne, with a further 1.7 million inferred tonnes grading 3.84% copper and 0.27 gram gold per tonne. This site features a ramp down to a vertical depth of 115 metres and 2 km of underground development on three levels.
In September, the company reported drill results from Corner Bay, which extended the main deposit by 125 metres to the south and over approximately 300 metres down-dip. Notable intercepts included 6 metres of 3.03% copper, 0.11 gram gold and 6.6 grams silver; and 7 metres of 4.1% copper, 0.38 gram gold and 13.2 grams silver.
In the first half of this year, Dore plans to drill 6,000 metres at this property.
Past-producing Joe Mann generated 1.2 million gold oz. at a head grade of 8.26 grams gold between 1956 and 2007. This site, 60 km from the Copper Rand mill, includes a shaft down to the 1,145-metre level. Exploration highlights, reported in January, included 4 metres of 10.34 grams gold and 0.27% copper; and 1.3 metres of 6.32 grams gold and 0.52% copper.
Cedar Bay produced 3.8 million tonnes grading 1.63% copper and 3.1 grams gold between 1958 and 1990, and includes a shaft down to a depth of 1,036 metres, with development extending down to the 754-metre level. Resources at this project include 130,000 indicated tonnes at 9.44 grams gold and 1.55% copper, with a further 230,000 inferred tonnes grading 8.32 grams gold and 2.13% copper.
Between 1959 and 2008, Copper Rand produced 1.5 million oz. of gold and 500,000 tonnes of copper. Historic resources stand at 1.8 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.56% copper and 2.9 grams gold and 420,000 inferred tonnes of 1.89% copper and 2.77 grams gold.
Doré Copper has a C$32.8 million market capitalization.
First Cobalt
The only fully permitted cobalt refinery capable of producing battery grade material in North America is located in Ontario, Canada. (Image courtesy of First Cobalt.)
First Cobalt (TSXV: FCC; US-OTC: FTSSF) is working to become North America’s first producer of cobalt sulphate for the electric vehicle market through a restart of its First Cobalt refinery in Ontario, the only primary cobalt refinery on the continent. The hydrometallurgical facility started up in 1996 and has been on care and maintenance since 2015.
In late January, the company announced that it had started pre-construction work at the refinery and that detailed engineering and procurement of long lead-time items was underway. At the time, First Cobalt was also negotiating an engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) contract with Ausenco.
In May 2020, the company released the results of a feasibility study on a restart of the facility, with a 25,000 tonne-per-year (55 tonne per day) battery-grade cobalt sulphate production scenario, which, according to the company, would supply 5% of the world’s refined cobalt. The project would produce cobalt sulphate at a minimum grade of 20.5% cobalt at total operating costs of $2.72 per lb. cobalt. With an initial capital requirement of $56 million, the feasibility derived an after-tax net present value estimate of $139 million, at an 8% discount rate and based on $25 per lb. cobalt, with a 53% internal rate of return.
Also in January, First Cobalt secured long-term cobalt hydroxide feed supply arrangements for the refinery with Glencore and a subsidiary of publicly traded China Molybdenum (CMOC), for a total of 4,500 tonnes of contained cobalt a year starting in 2022. The cobalt would be sourced from Glencore’s KCC mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and CMOC’s Tenke Fungurume mine, also in the DRC. These agreements represent approximately 90% of the refinery’s projected capacity.
In mid-February, First Cobalt started a study on using black mass material from recycled batteries as a supplemental feed source for the refinery, to potentially recover cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium and manganese, in addition to the cobalt generated from primary feed.
First Cobalt is working on offtake agreements and a financing package for the refinery. Commissioning is expected in the second half of 2022.
In Idaho, the company also holds the Iron Creek project, with indicated resources of 2.2 million tonnes at 0.32% cobalt-equivalent and a further 2.7 million inferred tonnes at 0.28% cobalt-equivalent. The deposit covers 900 metres of strike and remains open, with three adits and 600 metres of underground development also in place at the site.
First Cobalt has a C$187 million market capitalization.
An employee moves drilling equipment at the Glencore Bucke project in Cobalt, Ontario. Credit: Fuse Cobalt.
Fuse Cobalt (TSXV: FUSE; US-OTC: FUSEF) is a North America-focused energy metals explorer. The company holds three projects — contiguous Teledyne and Glencore Bucke in Cobalt, Ontario, and Teels Marsh in Nevada.
Teledyne covers a total area of 7.8 sq. km and is adjacent to the southern and western boundaries of the claims that host the past-producing Agaunico cobalt silver mine, which between 1905 and 1961 generated 4.4 million lb. of cobalt and 980,000 oz. of silver.
In 1980, operators of the Teledyne property completed a 701-metre long access decline at the site for underground exploration. In 1981, 22 underground diamond drill holes confirmed the extension of the Agaunico cobalt zone onto these mining claims. The drilling also hit a second zone of cobalt mineralization — intercepts included 16.9 metres of 0.64% cobalt and 8.7 metres of 0.74% cobalt.
Notable diamond drill assays from holes completed in 2017 at Teledyne included 4 metres of 2.32% cobalt; 6 metres of 1.7% cobalt and 6 metres of 1.82 cobalt.
Glencore Bucke, acquired from Glencore in 2018, covers an area of 0.16 sq. km and lies along the western boundary of Teledyne. A 1981 36-hole diamond drill program defined two vein systems at the property — the Main and Northwest zones.
A 21-hole diamond drill campaign completed in the fall of 2017 tested the Main zone over 55 metres of strike and the Northwest zone over 45 metres of strike. Drill highlights included 0.5 metres of 1.62% cobalt and 7 grams silver per tonne; 0.3 metres of 8.42% cobalt and 136 grams silver per tonne and 0.3 metres of 4.45% cobalt and 34.2 grams silver per tonne.
In the fall of 2018, Fuse completed a further 24 holes, aimed at extending the existing zones of mineralization and testing additional targets. Notable intercepts included 0.5 metres of 0.7% cobalt; 3.2 metres of 0.26% cobalt and 1.16% copper; and 1.7 metres of 0.17% cobalt and 4.21% copper.
The Teels Marsh dry lake property, acquired through staking last year, covers 8.1 sq. km and is prospective for lithium brines. The site is 77 km from Clayton Valley.
Fuse Cobalt has a C$16.2 million market capitalization.
Graphite One
Graphite Creek project. Photo by Graphite One.
Graphite One (TSXV: GPH; US-OTC: GPHOF) is working to become an American producer of high-grade coated spherical graphite (CSG) for the electric vehicle battery market by developing its 95.8-sq.-km Granite Creek property in Alaska, 59 km north of the Nome seaport. The company’s vision is for a vertically integrated project.
A prefeasibility study for Granite Creek is underway, expected by the end of the second quarter. A 2017 preliminary economic assessment of the project suggested a 40-year, 1-million-tonne-per-year surface operation, producing 55,350 tonnes of CSG and graphite specialty materials a year once full production is reached in the sixth year. The proposed processing plant would receive the graphite mineralization, grading 7% carbon graphite, and recover 60,000 tonnes a year of concentrate grading 95% carbon graphite.
The concentrate would then be trucked to the port of Nome and delivered to a manufacturing plant, assumed to be at a brownfield industrial site in Washington, to produce CSG, with a minimum purity of 99.95%, and other value-added graphite products, at 99.8% carbon graphite.
The study assumed a capital cost of $363 million for these operations; a total operating cost of $1,774 per tonne of finished graphite product and an average graphite selling price of $5,054 a tonne (based on $6,200 per tonne for CSG and $1,500 for purified graphite powders). The resulting after-tax net present value estimate, at a 10% discount rate, stands at $616 million, with a 22% internal rate of return and a four-year payback period.
A 2019 resource update estimated measured and indicated resources of 11 million tonnes grading 7.8% carbon graphite, containing 850,534 graphite tonnes and inferred resources of 91.9 million tonnes at 8% carbon graphite, for a further 7.3 million tonnes of graphite.
In May 2020, Graphite One announced that preliminary testwork completed by an independent laboratory on Graphite Creek material suggests potential to produce additional graphite products, such as high-purity coatings, industrial synthetic diamonds and fire suppressant foams. The testing also indicates the presence of critical minerals (from the U.S. Critical Minerals List) within the non-graphite fraction.
Graphite One has a C$54.4 million market capitalization.
Manganese X Energy
Image from Manganese X Energy Corp.
Manganese X Energy’s (TSXV: MN; US-OTC: MNXXF) key asset is the 12.3-sq.-km Battery Hill project in southwestern New Brunswick, 5 km from the town of Woodstock. According to CEO Martin Kepman, Manganese X is the only company in North America working on the commercialization of a manganese deposit.
The property is within 12 km of the U.S. border and nearby power transmission lines and railway and road infrastructure that could provide transport to ocean shipping lanes. The project includes five manganese zones: Iron Ore Hill, Moody Hill, Sharpe Farm, Maple Hill and Wakefield. The site features a historic resource of 39 million tonnes grading 9% manganese. Three of the five known manganese occurrences include historic resources — Moody Hill, the company’s initial development target, hosts a historic estimate of approximately 9.1 million tonnes at 9.5% manganese.
In February, Manganese X released assay results from the 28-hole fall 2020 diamond drill program at Battery Hill, reporting the discovery of a new area of surface mineralization in the Maple Hill area, 4.4 km north of Moody Hill. The average assay results from five grab samples collected came in at 20.8% manganese oxide. Drilling at Moody Hill, completed on a 50-metre spacing, confirmed mineralization from surface, down to a maximum depth of 150 metres, over 500 metres of strike. Highlights included 50.4 metres of 11.62% manganese oxide and 54 metres of 11.85% manganese oxide.
With a total of 53 holes, or 9,697 metres, completed by Manganese X at Battery Hill over approximately 2 km of strike, the company is working to deliver a resource estimate late in the first quarter. Once the resource is updated, Manganese X plans to start a preliminary economic assessment of the project.
Test work is underway to develop a flow sheet to generate battery-grade manganese products. In the first phase of work, third-party research company Kemetco Research produced a high-purity manganese sulphate product, with up to 99.95% purity. According to Manganese X, this demonstrates the suitability of the Battery Hill mineralization for battery manufacturing applications.
Second-phase metallurgical test results from mid-January suggest overall manganese recoveries of 85%, with the possibility of eliminating a ‘major step’ in the purification process.
Manganese X also holds 100% of The Disruptive Battery Corp., a company created to advance the use of manganese in stored energy technologies and looking at opportunities in the air purification sector.
Manganese X Energy has a C$93 million market capitalization.
QC Copper & Gold (TSXV: QCCU; US-OTC: QCCUF) is completing a 20,000-metre drill program at its past-producing 127.8-sq.-km Opemiska project in Quebec’s Chibougamau region. The site hosts four historic underground mines that together generated over 1.1 billion lb. of copper and 750,000 oz. of gold. Between 1953 and 1991, mined grades were at approximately 2.4% copper and 0.3 gram gold per tonne.
QC’s vision for the property is of an open-pit, bulk tonnage operation, mining both the high-grade veins targeted by past operators, as well as lower-grade disseminated copper mineralization outside these veins that was previously overlooked.
In 2019, the company completed a 23-hole, 3,300-metre drill program at Opemiska, focused around the historic Springer mine. Results confirmed QC’s hypothesis of near-surface disseminated mineralization, returning 12 mineralized intersections of approximately 100 metres. Drill highlights included 7.9 metres of 4.65% copper-equivalent from 81.1 metres; 25 metres of 4.15% copper-equivalent starting at 38 metres; and 284.4 metres of 0.3% copper-equivalent from 27.6 metres.
In its current drill program, QC is focusing on defining a near-surface, in-pit resource around the Springer and Perry mines, while also targeting additional underground mineralization at Perry. A resource estimate for these two areas is expected in the first half of 2021. These grounds were added to the company’s portfolio in the fourth quarter of 2019.
A total of 12,810 metres, in 62 holes, is scheduled for Springer. These holes, with an average length of just over 200 metres, are planned on a 50-metre to 75-metre spacing and will target high-grade veins, disseminated zones and crown pillar mineralization.
The past-producing Cooke mine is another potential satellite deposit at Opemiska. Unlike the three historic copper mines, Cooke is a high-grade gold project with copper by-products and previously generated approximately 320,000 oz. from material grading 5.17 grams gold per tonne.
Opemiska covers a 12-km section of the Gwillim fault and also includes volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralization.
The company also has a 36% stake in Athabasca-focused uranium explorer Baselode Energy (TSXV: FIND; US-OTC: BSENF). QC is part of the Ore Group.
QC Copper & Gold has a C$28.1 million market capitalization.
Rokmaster Resources
Rokmaster Resources’ Revel Ridge polymetallic project in British Columbia. Credit: Rokmaster Resources.
Rokmaster Resources (TSXV: RKR; US-OTC: RKMSF) is a B.C.-focused explorer and developer, where it holds the Revel Ridge polymetallic deposit, the Big Copper copper-silver occurrence and the Duncan Lake zinc property.
The 142.8-sq.-km Revel Ridge project in southeastern B.C., 35 km north of Revelstoke, is the company’s most advanced project. A December 2020 preliminary economic assessment outlined a 12-year, 2,300-tonne-per-day underground mine, producing a payable average of 89,000 gold oz., 690,000 silver oz., 37.5 million lb. of zinc and 21.2 million lb. of lead annually (124,000 gold-equivalent ounces). Net of by-products, all-in sustaining costs are estimated at $560 per oz. of payable gold.
Using a base-case gold price of $1,561 per oz., the after-tax net present value estimate comes in at C$423 million, based on a 5% discount rate, with a 29.5% internal rate of return and 2.6-year payback.
The proposed mine would extract the Main and Yellowjacket zones, with the mined material processed at a mill with a pressure oxidation plant to produce gold-silver dore and saleable zinc and lead concentrates.
Revel Ridge includes over 3 km of underground development as well as a permitted waste rock storage area and a full camp.
Existing resources at the site include 5.3 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 4.52 grams gold per tonne, 54.9 grams silver per tonne, 2.01% lead and 4.51% zinc (7.57 grams gold-equivalent). Inferred resources add 5 million tonnes at 4.28 grams gold per tonne, 59.4 grams silver per tonne, 1.8% lead and 2.49% zinc (6.36 grams gold-equivalent).
Based on a 2019 option agreement with privately held Huakan International Mining, Rokmaster may earn a 100% stake in Revel Ridge by making cash payments totalling $44.2 million over a five-year period.
Diamond drill results from Revel Ridge, released in mid-February, suggest ‘remarkable’ continuity of mineralization in the parallel Main and Footwall zones and ‘significant’ sliver grades in the Yellowjacket zone. Highlights included 3.3 metres of 7.23 grams gold-equivalent; 4 metres of 11.02 grams gold-equivalent; and 2.9 metres of 580 grams silver-equivalent.
A revised resource is expected in the coming months and an 8,000-metre underground drill program is ongoing at Revel Ridge.
Big Copper in the Creston area of southern B.C. includes a copper-silver occurrence, with mineralization traced over 3 km of strike.
The 39.4-sq.-km Duncan Lake property, also in southern B.C., is drill-ready and features a 15-km length of a prospective anticline crest. Prior surface and underground drilling has traced lead-zinc mineralization over approximately 2,500 metres of strike.
Rokmaster Resources has a C$45.1 million market capitalization.
Gold extended its decline on Thursday, heading towards a second straight monthly drop, as surging bond yields eroded the metal’s appeal to investors.
Spot gold was down 1.4% to $1,779.70/oz by noon EST, having fallen as much as 2% earlier in the session. US gold futures also declined 1.2% to $1,775.40/oz on the Comex.
Meanwhile, 10-year US Treasury yields climbed to the highest in a year on Thursday, making gold less competitive as it does not bear interest. Evidently, holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by the metal registered an 8th consecutive daily outflow, a sign investment demand is flagging.
Bullion slump
Bullion is slumping this year as rates rise on bets that a brighter outlook for the global economy and higher inflation is just around the corner.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell assured investors this week that the central bank is in no rush to pull back stimulus, boosting demand for many raw materials while further reducing the appeal of bullion as a safe haven asset.
“The broad-based rally on the commodities markets is continuing to bypass gold completely,” Commerzbank AG analyst Carsten Fritsch told Bloomberg.
With a further rise in US bond yields, even Powell’s renewed assurance of the current pace of bond purchases did nothing to help gold, he added.
“Liquidity is being spent on other investments at present, such as stocks, while capital is still being withdrawn from the gold ETFs.”
Carsten Fritsch, Commerzbank AG analyst
“The gold price is clearly not benefiting from the Fed narrative, which is that loose monetary policy is here to stay for some time,” wrote Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a daily note to MarketWatch.
“Investors believe that this is risk-on time, and they really do not see any reason why they need to hedge their risk if the Fed is holding their back, which has weakened the gold price’s strength,” Aslam said.
Contributing further pressure to gold is investor interest in bitcoin, Chintan Karnani, chief market analyst at Insignia Consultants, told MarketWatch. “A lot of short term gold investors have invested in … and continue to invest in cryptocurrencies.”
Goldman Sachs recently cut its gold price forecast, pointing to a rotation into riskier assets as a reason for the metal’s underperformance.
Bienvenue dans ce nouveau chapitre du Cabinet de curiosités ! Aujourd'hui, nous nous penchons sur un portrait de famille pas comme les autres, celui des célèbres Fugate à la peau bleue. Installez-vous confortablement, sortez les archives, et partons pour cet étonnant voyage dans le...
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À l’extrémité nord de l’archipel des Petites Antilles ou Petites Caraïbes, deux petites îles sont des dépendances de la Guadeloupe : Saint-Barthélémy, l'île des superlatifs, et Saint-Martin, une île surprenante partagée entre la France et les Pays Bas.
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Nanotechnology is proving to be useful in the diamond industry’s quest for tracking every mined stone from its source to the final consumer, with the purpose of clearing the supply chain of imposters and conflict precious rocks.
New York-based Nano Innovator Holdings (NIH) has unveiled a prototype platform for end-to-end identification of rough and polished diamonds that uses nanotechnology applications.
The system also applies cloud-based storage solutions, smartphone optic systems and a proprietary smartphone consumer app to detect and read subsurface nano tags.
The platform is said to work just as successfully with lab-made diamonds.
The platform, in development for more than three years, is said to work just as successfully with lab-made diamonds.
Founder and CEO Bruno Scarselli says the new system works by placing a proprietary nano tag under the diamond’s surface, which is done with laser technology.
“This does not change the diamond’s clarity or colour, as per The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) grading standard,” Scarselli explains.
Customers can then use a patent-pending consumer smartphone solution for Android and iOS phones to detect and read subsurface nano tags.
“It’s been a long road, but we finally have a scientific, mine-to-market, chain of custody solution that everyone in the diamond pipeline has been seeking,” Scarselli says.
Blockchain in motion
Major diamond producers including Alrosa (MCX:ALRS) Anglo American’s De Beers have been working since 2018 on an end-to-end diamond blockchain program called “Tracr”, aimed at clearing the supply chain of imposters and conflict precious rocks.
De Beers, the world’s largest rough diamond producer by value, has said that, once established, its diamond traceability platform would operate as a shared system.
Alrosa, the No.1 diamond producer by output, joined Tracr in October 2018. The blockchain platform is basically a shared database of transactions maintained by a network of computers on the Internet, a technology currently being employed in the bitcoin sector.
Tracr gives each diamond a unique ID that stores stones characteristics such as weight, colour and clarity. To support the process, the system will also be using stone photos and planned outcome images.
Alrosa took a step further to stop conflict diamond from entering the supply chain by implementing the OECD due diligence guidance rules last year.
Despite the establishment of the Kimberley Process in 2003, aimed at removing from the supply chain so-called conflict diamonds (those mined in an area of armed conflict and traded illicitly to finance the fighting), experts say trafficking of precious rocks is still ongoing.
Les mutations du coronavirus remettent en cause l’efficacité de la vaccination car les anticorps n’arrivent plus à reconnaître le virus. Heureusement, notre système immunitaire comporte une deuxième ligne de défense : les lymphocytes T. Une arme dont comptent bien se servir les médecins.
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The US Department of Energy’s Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize granted Everledger, HP, Call2Recycle and Fairphone a $357,000 cash award so that the group can continue working on a project called “Closing the loop on portable lithium-ion batteries.”
The initiative aims to help the DoE capture 90% of all discarded or spent lithium-based batteries in the United States for the eventual recovery of key materials, which would be later reintroduced into the supply chain.
The scheme aims to digitally-enable new products and tackle the billions of LIBs already approaching end of life
With the recently received funds, the companies plan to develop a prototype app called Reward to Recycle, where consumers can learn how to earn a reward from contributing partners for recycling the batteries from their smartphones, tablets, power tools or laptops.
Digital transparency company Everledger is developing and testing the app, which establishes a ‘battery passport’ to track portable LIBs and support final recycling. The passport can be accessed by IoT identifiers as part of the labelling for each LIB. Using their smartphone, registered users will be able to find out more about recycling and actively earn rewards for doing so.
The solution will also involve the program sponsorship by the DoE, with participation from HP, Fairphone and other manufacturers of LIB-powered products, Call2Recycle and other collectors and sorters in the recycling chain. At the same time, the plan is to incorporate mechanisms that promote the incentivization of end consumers.
“The ambition of the solution is to optimize the circularity of LIB raw materials, prevent disposal of hazardous materials as well as reward consumers and support the industry to foster corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives,” the companies involved in the project said in a media statement. “While the scheme aims to digitally-enable new products, it also aims to tackle the billions of LIBs already approaching end of life.”
Diamond price movements from October to December 2020 provide “reasons for optimism,” a new analysis by fintech company UNI states.
According to the firm, retail demand trended positively, having first been propped up by an uptick in consumer optimism with the relaxation in covid-related flight restrictions during the third quarter, and then the holiday season demand.
In UNI’s view, these two events helped stabilize and ultimately improve average prices for diamonds. However, the work of diamond miners also played a role.
Prudent upstream strategies by De Beers and Alrosa helped mitigate stress in the pipeline while fueling consumer demand
“Prudent upstream strategies by De Beers and Alrosa, which reduced pressure on diamond manufacturers while protecting the price of rough diamonds, coupled with marketing initiatives by the Natural Diamond Council, which focused on the need to reinforce personal relationships during times of stress and crisis, helped mitigate stress in the pipeline while fueling consumer demand,” the analysis reads. “This restored a sense of calm in the diamond industry.”
UNI’s numbers show that, on average, price changes during the quarter were moderate but in a positive direction. In detail, the average price of round diamonds increased by 0.79%, while the average price of fancy-cut diamonds rose by 1.15%. Yet, the growth was not uniform in either of the two categories, with significant differences in the various size groups within each category.
The categories showing the largest price gains included smaller stones and 5-carat gems, while 4-carat diamonds fell by 2.75% on average. Prices in the popular 1-carat category improved only slightly, by 0.21%.
When it comes to fancy-cut diamonds, the company found that the picture was quite different, with the highest growth registered in the larger stone categories like 5-carat stones, which showed a 4.37% appreciation.
Anglo American (LON: AAL) became on Thursday the latest major miner to announce better than expected earnings in its full year results, as a broad-range commodity rally helped the miner balance out another difficult year for its diamond business and a fall in coal profits.
In the first half of 2020, Anglo’s underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell about 40% to $3.4 billion. Weak sales at De Beers, lockdowns that hit production in South Africa and operational setbacks in platinum and coal were the main issues that weighed down on the miner’s results.
Weak sales at De Beers, lockdowns that hit production in South Africa and operational setbacks in platinum and coal weighed down on the miner’s results.
The July-December period saw Anglo’s underlying EBITDA climb back up to $6.5 billion, the company’s s best second-half performance in the past 10 years, as it resumed full operations at most of its mines.
Just as its peers BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO), Anglo announced a bumper dividend to investors of 72 cents, compared to 47 cents a year earlier. When including the interim dividend, however, the total for 2020 will be lower than 2019.
The top diversified miners’ results and payouts, along with an ongoing and sustained metal prices rally, have sparked speculation about a new commodities supercycle.
Some investment banks, including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, believe the market is witnessing the dawn of a prolonged period of record prices as supply has struggled to keep pace with demand. Others, including BMO Capital Markets, say that while demand could outpace supply for some time, the mismatch won’t last long enough to justify predicting a supercycle.
Not easily seduced
Anglo American chief executive Mark Cutifani said the fundamentals for the group’s key commodities, including copper, platinum and diamonds, were strong. While demand across most sectors is also in good shape, according to Anglo’s boss, he said the company will not be “seduced by high prices”.
“I have been in the industry for 44 years and I have seen cycles and super cycles,” Cutifani said when discussing the results. Rather than going of a deals spree or pushing new project, he said Anglo would keep the discipline on its capital “because it is moments like this when companies lose sight of the basics and get themselves into trouble.”
The CEO also said the company would complete the demerger of its South African thermal coal assets within the next two years if they are spun off, which is the preferred divestment route.
Cutifani said a sale is still in the cards as bidders have approached Anglo to buy the assets. He said the company will forge ahead with plans to exit its Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia in two to three years.
The company’s coking coal business saw earnings fall to just $50 million, compared to $1.7bn in 2019, due mainly to “operational incidents” at two mines in Australia, which affected production.
Anglo rose as much as 4.9% to 2,981p a share in London early afternoon — the highest in almost a decade. The company’s market capitalization is currently sitting at $54.72 billion.
La crise sanitaire, nous la subissons de plein fouet. La crise climatique, elle, se manifeste de plus en plus franchement. Mais la crise de la biodiversité reste discrète. Les espèces disparaissent sans faire de bruit. Et c’est l’une des difficultés qu’il y a à mobiliser pour inverser la...
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Pour la première fois, des guépards nés en captivité ont renoué avec la vie sauvage. Saba et Nairo, deux frères ayant grandi au Royaume-Uni, ont été déplacés en Afrique du Sud par la Fondation Aspinall qui les élevait jusqu'alors. Durant cinq mois, les jeunes guépards se sont acclimatés à leur...
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Australian iron ore major Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) has apologized to a local Aboriginal group for clearing land on a heritage site without representatives of the community being present while the work was done.
The iron ore miner had Western Australian’s government permission to clear land in the Weelamurra Creek area, on condition that members of the Wintawari Guruma people were present to perform salvage and cultural rites, Reuters reported.
Fortescue chief executive, Elizabeth Gaines, attributed the incident to an “administrative error”, which led to land clearing works earlier than scheduled on Feb. 1.
“We have carried out a full investigation into the matter which has shown that this unfortunately occurred as a result of an administrative error… We have paused all clearing works at this site as we work with Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC) on the matter”, Gaines said in a statement.
The event comes amid increasing scrutiny on Australian iron ore miners to improve practices related to heritage and sacred sites, following Rio Tinto’s (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) criticized destruction of two rock shelters at Juukan Gorge for a mine expansion last year.
Its planned Queens mine expansion, part of the Solomon Hub, has a footprint covering more than 70 heritage sites, including rock shelters, campsites and other areas of cultural significance to the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation (WGAC).
Fortescue’s planned Queens mine expansion, part of the Solomon Hub, has a footprint covering more than 70 heritage sites.
The miner says WGAC is contractually obliged to approve the leases.
“It is only the failure to comply with this contractual obligation over a prolonged period that resulted in Fortescue taking the decision to temporarily withhold calendar year 2019 compensation payments,” it told a government inquiry last year.
The area is one of several Banjima sites located in and around BHP’s mining area C, by its $4.5 billion South Flank iron ore mining operation.
The company said the site was not part of current mining operations, adding that the cause of the rock fall is under investigation.
The incident happened less than eight months after BHP promised not to disturb any sites in the area without “further deep consultation” with the Banjima traditional owners.
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Sirius, l’étoile la plus brillante de notre ciel, est l’un des exemples les plus connus d’étoiles binaires, ces étoiles également dites doubles physiques, car composées de deux étoiles qui orbitent autour d’un même point. Et aujourd’hui, des chercheurs nous révèlent qu’il y aurait plus d’un...
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Brazilian Nickel announced on Wednesday it had received an installation licence for PNP1000, the initial, small-scale production phase of its 100% owned Piauí nickel-cobalt laterite project (PNP), in Brazil’s north-east.
The permit, issued by the Piauí state environmental watchdog, allows the company to begin construction work at PNP1000, with first nickel and cobalt hydroxide production expected in the second quarter of 2022.
The UK-based private miner will convert the existing plant, which successfully demonstrated the recovery of nickel and cobalt from Piauí’s ore in 2016 and 2017, into a small scale operation. The facility is expected to produce about 1,400 tonnes of nickel and 35 tonnes of cobalt a year, contained in intermediate products.
The miner will convert the demonstration plant, which successfully recovered nickel and cobalt from Piauí’s ore in 2016 and 2017, into a small scale operation.
The subsequent full-scale project will allow Brazilian Nickel to increase the ore mining rate from 100,000 tonnes to 3 million tonnes a year, with annual production estimated at 25,000 tonnes of nickel and 900 tonnes of cobalt.
Clean energy initiatives are fueling demand for certain commodities, including nickel and cobalt, pushing companies to speed up projects.
Last week, Brazilian Nickel announced the final phase of a bankable feasibility study (BFS) for PNP and confirmed its intention to treat the ore by heap leaching. The announcement triggered mixed reactions among analysts.
Roskill’s Brian Ziswa said that while leaching has been successfully used in copper and gold mining, it has yet to be practically demonstrated as a “viable stand-alone route” in the nickel laterite sector.
One key advantage of heap leaching is that it has a lower capital intensity than high–pressure acid leach (HPAL) projects, Ziswa noted.
“Nickel laterite mining and processing, given the low grades typically less than 1.5% Ni, is energy-intensive compared to sulphide deposits with higher nickel grades and more simplistic processing flowsheets,” the expert wrote. “It is estimated that laterites emit four times as much CO2 equivalent emissions as sulphide ores per equivalent production in carbon emissions.”
Engineering and construction group SNC Lavalin, which is leading the project’s BFS, has said that ore processing at Piauí will have an “inherently low carbon dioxide footprint”, adding that there is further research underway to reduce or even fully eliminate carbon emissions.
US Gov’t backing
The Piauí project grabbed headlines in October after attracting a $25 million investment from the US government, through one of the proposed mine’s funding partners — battery metals investment company TechMet.
The $60 billion US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) took the equity stake in TechMet as part of a push by former President Donald Trump to reduce the country’s reliance on supply chains dominated by China.
The DFC was formed in 2019 to provide an alternative to Beijing-led overseas finance in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
China processes around 65% of the world’s nickel and 82% of global cobalt for batteries, according to consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
The backing to TechMet marked the first time DFC invested directly in a metals and mining company and the funds are already being used to bring Piauí into production.
TechMet was founded in 2017 by South African mining veteran Brian Menell, a former executive at Anglovaal and De Beers.
The company has investments in battery recycling company Li-Cycle, US Vanadium, Rainbow Rare Earths, Brazilian Nickel, and Tinco, a tin and tungsten company in Africa.
Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk has urged global miners to increase production of nickel to meet the company’s plans to scale up battery production. The company and other carmakers are increasing the amount of nickel they use in their batteries, as the metal helps boost the range of electric vehicles.
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B2Gold (TSX: BTO) announced that it broke its own record in 2020 with total gold production of 1,040,737 ounces and, thus, touched the upper end of its guidance range set between 1,000,000 and 1,055,000 ounces.
In a press release, the Canadian miner said that these figures include 45,479 ounces of attributable production from the projects that its partner Calibre Mining (TSX-V: CXB) holds in Nicaragua.
B2Gold’s three operating mines, the Fekola mine in Mali, the Masbate mine in the Philippines and the Otjikoto mine in Namibia, produced 995,258 ounces
B2Gold’s three operating mines, the Fekola mine in Mali, the Masbate mine in the Philippines and the Otjikoto mine in Namibia, produced 995,258 ounces, a number that is also at the upper end of the guidance range of between 955,000 and 1,005,000 ounces.
Output from the company’s mines was 17% higher than what was registered in 2019, marking the twelfth consecutive year of record annual consolidated gold production.
For 2021, the Vancouver-based firm said that it expects total gold production to be between 970,000 and 1,030,000 ounces.
Financials
In terms of financials, B2Gold said it registered a $951-million annual consolidated cash flow from operating activities, which was a 93% increase over 2019.
“Total consolidated cash operating costs (including the company’s estimated attributable share of Calibre’s results) was of $423 per ounce produced ($422 per ounce sold), near the low end of the company’s guidance range (of between $415 – $455 per ounce), and total consolidated AISC of $788 per ounce sold, near the low end of the guidance range (of between $780 – $820 per ounce sold),” the media brief reads.
Net income, on the other hand, was $672 million, including a net impairment reversal for the Masbate mine of $122 million. Net income attributable to the shareholders was $628 million or $0.60 per share, while adjusted net income attributable to shareholders was $515 million or $0.49 per share.
For 2021, B2Gold said it expects total consolidated cash operating costs of between $500 – $540 per ounce and total consolidated AISC of between $870 – $910 per ounce.
According to the company, the figures are higher than those of 2020 due to the planned lower production and higher planned stripping activities at Fekola, higher forecast fuel and labour costs in Mali, and the drawdown of ore stockpiles at Otjikoto.
The Barrick Alliance approved a $4-million budget, solely funded by Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD), to complete the 2021 exploration programs planned for 29 projects in Japan.
The Barrick Alliance is a joint venture that brought together the mining giant and the projects’ owner, Japan Gold (TSXV: JG).
In a press release, Japan Gold – who is going to act as the operator – said that the budget and work programs will complete the 2-year initial evaluation phase regional exploration over the Alliance’s project portfolio, which covers 1,889 square kilometers.
“Regional exploration programs commenced following the formation of the Barrick Alliance on February 23, 2020. The exploration programs are aimed at identifying new gold prospects through the systematic sampling of stream sediments for bulk leach extractable gold, and gold and multi-element pathfinder analysis of rock samples,” the media brief reads. “Geophysical gravity surveys are also being carried out over all projects to gain better definition of regional and prospect scale structures associated with gold mineralization.”
The Barrick Alliance is a joint venture that brought together the mining giant and fellow Canadian miner Japan Gold
According to Japan Gold, to date, 73% of the 1,889-square-kilometer project portfolio, across the islands of Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu, has been covered by bulk leach extractable gold and rock float sampling, while gravity surveying, on the other hand, has been completed over 51% of the southern Kyushu project portfolio.
The company said it plans to complete the regional bulk leach extractable gold, rock sampling and project-scale gravity surveying across all 29 projects by July 2021.
“Results from the 2020 exploration programs completed on eight Kyushu projects and three Hokkaido projects have identified 19 distinct gold in BLEG anomalies with supporting pathfinder element geochemistry,” the release states. “Detailed evaluation of all anomalies generated will be carried out to confirm prospectivity and assist in target ranking. The detailed evaluation of these anomalies will commence immediately and is expected to be complete by November 2021.”
