Brazil's new right-wing government, led by former army captain Jair Bolsonaro, is going ahead with announced changes to current mining regulations, which include a controversial plan to open up indigenous reserves to mining.Most of the country's original population lives in the Amazon rainforest, which has an ecosystem seen by many as having worldwide ecological importance. Speaking at an event in...Read More
Canadian miners continued going down the slippery slope in the last three months of 2018 due mostly to weak commodity prices, triggered by a slowdown in China's economy near the end of the year, the latest report by Ernst & Young (EY) reveals.As a result, EY's Canadian Mining Eye index - which tracks the performance of 100 Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange mid-tier and junior mi...Read More
On Wednesday, hopes that an escalation of the trade war between the US and China can been avoided (or at least postponed) sparked a massive rally in mining stocks - already buoyed by climbing metals prices.US President Donald Trump said yesterday he may not increase tariffs on Chinese products on March 1, as talks about the trading relationship between the world's two largest economies continue in...Read More
BHP, the world's largest mining company, has urged peers to create an independent international body in charge of overseeing the construction, integrity and operations of tailings dams, which storage mining waste, following the second collapse of a dam in Brazil in the past three years."As an industry, we now have to redouble our efforts to make sure events like this simply cannot happen," Chief E...Read More
K+S Potash Canada has again been named one of the provinces top employees. This is the sixth time and the second year in a row.President and general manager, operations Sam Farris said, "We've experienced a lot of changes moving from a project into operations, but the one constant has been our strong team. We've learned a lot together."The Bethune potash mine owned by K+S has been operating sin...Read More
A United Nations report published Wednesday says Danakali's (ASX, LON:DNK) Colluli potash project has the potential to boost the economy of Eritrea, a country that until two months ago was on the UN's sanctions list.The independent study, commissioned and funded by the UN Development Program (UNDP), assesses a wide range of econometric data and includes findings from talks with Eritrean government...Read More
Mining companies need to determine how to operate in a market that is also characterized by rising stakeholder demands, a widening talent gap, dwindling access to key inputs such as energy and water, and a Chinese economy growing at under 7%, rather than 12%, just to mention some challenges. (Image courtesy of Codelco | Flickr.)2019 could go down in history as the year mining companies stopped anc...Read More
Markets went into a tailspin in the second half of 2018. File image.Private capital tracker Preqin says in an update that contrary to expectations, 2018 was another bumper year for the industry, particularly for natural resources investments.Fundraising by unlisted funds for investment in natural resources - oil and gas, timberland, farmland, water and mines - set a fresh record in 2018 and is lik...Read More
A retired Brazilian Army officer who recently advised Canadian miner Belo Sun (TSX: BSX) about its plans to mine gold in the Amazon, will head the country's Indigenous Rights Agency (Funai) aiming at using his experience in the sector to deal with hundreds of impending clashes between miners and locals.Native descendant General Franklimberg Ribeiro de Freitas had run Funai until April 2018, but wa...Read More
An economic slowdown in China, consumer of about half the world's commodities, is the single biggest challenge for the mining and metals sector in 2019. (Image courtesy of Liebherr.)A worsening of the ongoing economic slowdown in China, consumer of about half the world's commodities, is the single biggest challenge mining and metals companies face this year, a new survey of senior executives shows...Read More
Potash development company Emmerson (LON:EML) is ticking all the right boxes as it speedily progresses with the development of its 100%-owned Khemisset potash project in northern Morocco.The London-listed miner said Tuesday it had completed a scoping study at Khemisset, which confirms the project's technical and economic viability, and will now push on towards production.Emmerson has completed a s...Read More
It's not easy for most investors to get excited about potash, a fertiliser - and less so about Eritrea, a north African country which spent years on a United Nations sanctions list.But times do change and there is a small company poised to benefit from growing global fertilizer demand and the international rehabilitation of Eritrea.Continue reading ...Read More
After clearing various regulation hurdles, Agrium and the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan merged together at the start of 2018 to become the world's largest fertilizer company, Nutrien. At the time Nutrien had made various promises and many in Western Canada were cautious, hoping for the best but not fully knowing what to expect.Now a year later, Nutrien has begun to settle into its new role in...Read More
All three major US equity indexes gained at least 4% on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones closing just short of a 5% surge. It's the first time that has happened since 2011, according to Bloomberg.Major mining companies were caught up in the market frenzy on Wednesday with lithium producers and potash miners enjoying some of the heaviest buying.Among fertilizer producers, Israel Chemical l...Read More
Germany-based fertilizer producer K+S AG (FRA:SDF1) revised up its production outlook on Tuesday, as weather-related production stoppages at its Werra potash plant are expected to be shorter than previously thought.Production at the plant will now only be halted from December 24 to 26, K+S said, as recent rainfall raised water levels of the Werra river, used for minerals production and transpo...Read More
BHP Group may be heading for another clash with investors as the world's biggest miner gets closer to a decision on whether to build, sell or mothball its $20 billion potash project.The Jansen mine in Canada is aimed at giving the company exposure to rising global food demand and represents one of its few big growth prospects. BHP has already spent about $2.7 billion on the project, according to...Read More
International Lithium (TSXV: ILC; US-OTC: ILHMF) could produce 10,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent per year over a 25 year mine life at its Mariana lithium brine project, according to a recent preliminary economic assessment. It could also produce 84,000 tonnes per year sulphate of potash.The project, located in Salta, Argentina, has an estimated US$192 million after tax net present value...Read More
Mining companies across the globe now consider the risk of losing their licence to operate as the biggest risk to their businesses in the next two years, a new study shows.According to the 11th annual EY survey of 250 executives, the topic was listed sixth in the list of the ten major risks facing mining and metals firm in 2019-2020. Other challenges listed by the participants were rising national...Read More
Brazil's outgoing President Michel Temer launched Wednesday a new regulatory agency for the mining sector, linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, aimed at making the country's industry more competitive and sustainable.The National Mining Agency (ANM), which replaces the previous National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM), has been tasked with "promoting the management of the mineral res...Read More
Brazil's President-elect and former army captain, Jair Bolsonaro, has named a Navy admiral as his Mining and Energy Minister. This appointment marks the eighth member of the armed forces to Bolsonaro's government and the 20th Minister appointed so far.Bento Costa Lima Leite de Albuquerque Junior (60), the current head of Brazilian Navy's nuclear and technology development program, was born in...Read More