Brazil's President Michel Temer is set to issue a decree next week introducing key changes to current mining regulations, aimed at making the country's industry more competitive and sustainable.The executive order will technically be a reinterpretation of 50-year-old regulations, rather than a new law, Adriano Trindade, attorney specializing in mining rules from Pinheiro Neto Advogados told MININ...Read More
World's No. 2 miner Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) has joined forces with Minmetals, one of the biggest Chinese mining companies, to explore for mineral deposits first in the Asian country and then the rest of the world .The 50-50 joint venture with state-backed Minmetals follows a technical agreement signed in November, when both parties committed to collaborative search for new ore bodies."The formali...Read More
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - NioCorp Developments, which is in the process of raising financing for a minerals project in Nebraska, has just seen its Toronto-listed shares surge from C$0.52 to $0.70 in the space of two days thanks to the U.S. government.NioCorp's planned mine and processing facility at Elk Creek will prod...Read More
Canadian miners are definitively back in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) game, with the value of such transactions hitting $25 billion during the first three months of the year, or 86% more than in the same period of 2017, though volume of deals was slightly down.Deals involving critical materials for the making of batteries that power electric cars, particularly lithium and cobalt, led the pil...Read More
TORONTO, May 18 (Reuters) - Uranium and key rechargeable battery metals lithium and cobalt are on a final list of 35 critical minerals that the United States deems essential to its economic and national security and wants to produce more of domestically.The Department of Commerce will use the list, which was published by the Interior Department on Friday and which confirms a draft issued in Februa...Read More
China's Tianqi Lithium is buying a 24% stake in Chilean producer SQM from Canada's Nutrien (TSX:NTR) for $4.07bn, further expanding the Asian nation's increasing hold over the market for the key component needed in the making of batteries that power electric vehicles."This is an attractive investment for Tianqi Lithium which fits well within our existing business strategy," Vivian Wu, president of...Read More
Israel Chemicals (ICL) on Thursday reported higher revenue and profit for the first quarter, boosted by a capital gain and increased potash sales at the world's sixth-largest producer of the fertiliser ingredient.ICL, which also produces about a third of the world's bromine, said it earned $928 million, compared with $68 million a year earlier. Excluding a capital gain from the $1 billion divestme...Read More
Canada's Nutrien (TSX:NTR), the world's largest potash miner, is closer than ever to completing the sale of its 32% stake in Chile's Chemical and Mining Society (SQM), the world's second largest lithium producer, and so fulfill a condition for the merger between Potash Corp. and Agrium, which created the company."[The sale] is progressing well," the company's chief financial officer, Wayne Ric...Read More
Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group, one of China's largest lithium hydroxide and carbonate producers, is injecting further funds into emerging Australian lithium producer Core Exploration (ASX:CXO) as Chinese companies continue to aggressively try securing supply of the key ingredient needed for making the batteries that power electric cars.Through its subsidiary Yahua International, Sichuan has give...Read More
Shares in Australia's Galaxy Resources (ASX:GXY) jumped Monday after it confirmed it had hired JPMorgan to evaluate "strategic options" for its Argentina-based Sal de Vida lithium and potash project.Move comes at a time when both battery and car companies, especially from China, are moving aggressively to secure steady lithium supply.The announcement followed a report in The Australian newspa...Read More
Economics has been called "the dismal science" for its conclusions which often suggest miserable outcomes for humanity. The saying was born in the 19th century by Scottish writer and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who was referring to economist Thomas Malthus. Malthus famously calculated that humanity was trapped in a world where population growth would outstrip resources and lead to widespread miser...Read More
Chinese authorities intervened this week in favour of Tianqi's attempt to grab a 32% interest in Chile's Chemical and Mining Society (SQM), the world's second largest lithium producer, saying that any efforts to block the $5 billion deal could "leave negative influences."According to Chilean newspaper El Mercurio (in Spanish), Chinese Ambassador Xu Bu openly condemned the move by the country's d...Read More
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), the world's No.1 heavy machinery maker, boosted Tuesday its 2018 profits forecast after beating estimates for first-quarter earnings on strong global demand for its equipment.For the three months ended on March 31, the Deerfield, Illinois-based firm, which is considered a reliable bellwether of global economic activity, reported a net profit of $2.74 per share, above most...Read More
Melbourne-based Davenport Resources (ASX: DAV) reported a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 576.6-million tonnes at 12.1% potassium oxide at its Ebeleben mining licence, located in Germany's South Harz region.Ebeleben, which covers 38.8 square kilometres, is one of three perpetual mining licences in the South Harz Basin that Davenport acquired recently from the government a...Read More
Following its acquisition of the Salobro Zinc Project from Vale and IMS Engenharia Mineral, Emerita Resources (TSXV: EMO) has received the necessary permits to start a diamond drilling campaign at the 1,209.75-hectare site, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.In a press release, the Toronto-based firm said that it is targeting completion of the revised resource by the end of Q2/2018,...Read More
Those worried that the positive momentum in the mining and metals sector is beginning to wane after two years of strong gains may find encouragement from a new survey by private capital tracker Preqin.Fundraising by unlisted funds for investment in mining and metals was a non-starter last year. A single private capital fund closed last year after rustling up all of $24 million.A further 13 funds...Read More
The faith of a controversial potash project in the state of Michigan may soon be defined, as regulators are considering a fresh proposal submitted by Michigan Potash Co.The Colorado-based company's plan includes the construction of a plant in central Michigan where the commodity, used as crop nutrient, will be treated.Michigan Potash seeks to extract the fertilizer ingredient through solution mi...Read More
World's number one miner BHP (ASX:BHP) confirmed Thursday it has decided to leave the World Coal Association (WCA) over differences on climate change, but said it will keep its affiliation to the US Chamber of Commerce, which was also under review.The miner, which publicly supports the Paris climate accord, first signalled its intent to potentially leave the global coal-lobbying group last year, a...Read More
Prices US$ at March 29, 2018. Source: LME, CME, UxC, ICE, TSIStock market, currency data @ March 29, 2018.Expectations of a boom in demand for battery raw materials as automakers move away from internal combustion engines kept cobalt and nickel prices on the boil during the first quarter.Cobalt is up another 24% in 2018 as it builds on a more than fourfold increase in value from record lows early...Read More
(Bloomberg) - The news, when it came late Friday night from a government ministry in Minsk, was grim: the ceiling of a potash mine in Belarus had collapsed more than half a kilometer underground, trapping two workers.Halfway around the world, the reaction to the headlines was swift and dramatic. Shares of some of the largest potash producers soared in New York and Toronto on speculation that the...Read More