Expert: Indonesian Copper Ore Ban May Send Price Up 20% in Mid-2023
The ban on copper ore exports, which was announced by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday and will take effect from mid-2023, could send global metal prices up 20%, as well as increase demand for Russian copper, metal markets expert Leonid Khazanov told RIA Novosti. “The suspension of exports of the ‘red metal’ from Indonesia may lead to an increase...
Nordic Nickel Awarded Inaugural BHP Xplor Funding for Exploration in Lapland
The recently listed nickel sulphide explorer Nordic Nickel has been selected as one of seven junior companies to participate in BHP’s inaugural Xplor programme. BHP Xplor is a cohort-based accelerator programme designed to help early-stage mineral exploration start-ups to find the critical resources required for the global energy transition, such as copper and nickel. The programme provides candidates with a...
Canada Silver Cobalt Discovers Significant Gold Mineralisation in Underground Mines
Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. has released gold assay results from its 60,000-metre 2020-2022 drilling programme and reviewed the company’s gold data from the 2011-2019 surface drill and 2014 channel sample programmes at Castle East, as well as the underground drilling programme from 2019 at its Castle Mine. The company has discovered gold mineralisation in the Nipissing Diabase, where most...
London Metal Exchange’s General Counsel Tom Hine to Step Down After 17 Years
The London Metal Exchange (LME) announced on 17 January that General Counsel and Head of Enforcement Tom Hine will step down from his role at the end of the month. In a statement, the exchange said that the LME Group legal management team temporarily assumed Hine’s responsibilities starting September 2022. Hine has been with the LME for 17 years and...
Chile’s Codelco Launches Bid to Attract 2,500 GWh of Renewables Annually
Chilean state-owned copper mining giant Codelco has invited energy companies to participate in tenders to supply around 2,500 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of renewable power capacity annually from 2026 to 2040 for its operations in central and northern Chile. Bidders are expected to offer electricity from non-conventional sources, such as solar and wind power plants, but also from conventional renewables, such as...
Indonesia to Limit Nickel Smelter Development in Green Energy Drive
Indonesia has announced plans to limit the construction of nickel smelters in the country in order to encourage the production of high-value products. The country’s investment minister, Bahlil Lahadalia, said that the focus should be on downstreaming with 80% to 100% value addition, and that any new smelters should be powered by green energy. The country is also considering mandating...
Consortium of Hong Kong and European investors to revive Australian nickel and cobalt refinery for EV batteries
A consortium of Hong Kong and European private investors are investing over USD 1 billion to revive a mothballed nickel and cobalt refinery in Australia by turning mining waste into materials for electric car batteries. The refinery, Yabulu, is located in Queensland and aims to become one of the world’s top ten producers of refined nickel within 18 months to...
Former Gold Mine to Host Largest Underground Caverns in History for Neutrino Experiment
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is currently under construction in a former gold mine in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The experiment will feature the largest underground caverns in history, with two main caverns that are seven stories tall, 100 metres long and 19.5 metres wide, and a third utility cavern that is three stories tall, 150 metres...
Europe’s largest deposit of rare earth metals discovered in Kiruna, Sweden
LKAB, a mining company based in Sweden, has identified significant deposits of rare earth elements in the Kiruna area, which are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles and wind turbines. The company reports mineral resources exceeding one million tonnes of rare earth oxides, making it the largest known deposit of its kind in Europe. Who LKAB, a mining company...
Timmins nickel mine could be one of Canada’s largest carbon capture and storage facilities
Canada Nickel Company is promoting its Crawford Project – a nickel mine in Timmins, Ontario – as one of the largest carbon capture and storage facilities in the country. The company claims that the mine, which is an ultramafic deposit, has the potential to capture and sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) through a process it calls In-Process Tailings...
Aluminium Dunkerque restarts idled production capacity
Aluminium Dunkerque, one of Europe’s largest aluminium smelters, has begun to relaunch production capacity that was idled last year due to soaring electricity costs. According to a spokesperson for the company the site, which halted around a fifth of its output in the fourth quarter, should reach full capacity by the end of May. The move follows an easing in...
London Metal Exchange Chair Resigns in Wake of Nickel Trading Scandal
The chair of the London Metal Exchange (LME), Gay Huey Evans CBE, announced that she will step down from her role in the wake of a nickel trading scandal that has shaken the exchange. The scandal, which was sparked by volatile prices in the nickel market in March due to the war in Ukraine, prompted the LME to shut its...
LME Implements New Deferral Rules Amid Low Stockpiles and Controversy over Copper Outlook
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has introduced new rules allowing for deferral in order to prevent future squeezes on its warehouse inventories. These rules come with costly fees, however, and traders on the LME have expressed concern over the dwindling inventories. The tight stockpiles reflect the tension that has gripped metals markets for much of this year, a result of...
Platinum Outshines Other Precious Metals in 2022
Based on Kitco analytics Precious metals had a mixed performance in 2022, with platinum being the top performer, up nearly 11% on the year. Silver came in second, with a gain of nearly 3%, while gold ended the year flat. Palladium was the biggest loser, down around 6% in 2022. These precious metals showed their best performance in the last...
Canada’s Kuya Silver Consolidates Northern Ontario Mining Project
Canadian miner Kuya Silver announced in early January that it was finalising the acquisition of battery materials refiner Electra Battery Materials’ assets in the two companies’ Silver Kings joint venture in Northern Ontario. This deal will boost Kuya’s ownership in the Silver Kings Project from 75% to 100%. To finalise the deal, which covers about 16,600 hectares of silver and...
Indian aluminium industry seeks government intervention in Budget 2023 for removal of tax on raw materials
The Aluminium Association of India (AAI) has called for government intervention in the form of supportive measures to address challenges faced by the aluminium industry, including rising foreign imports, a declining market share and escalating costs. The AAI has specifically requested the removal or rationalization of taxes on key inputs for the sector, such as calcined petroleum coke, caustic soda...
Civmec to Equip Rio Tinto’s Western Range Iron Ore Project for $230mn
The diversified mining conglomerate Rio Tinto has awarded engineering company Civmec a contract worth 330 million Australian dollars ($229 million) to build and modify facilities for its Western Range project in the iron ore-rich Pilbara region in Western Australia, Civmec announced on 9 January. Under the contract, Civmec will build a new run of mine (ROM) pad, a primary crushing...
Constellium secures multi-year supply agreement with Daher for aerospace aluminium products
Constellium SE, a leading producer of aluminium products, has announced a multi-year contract with Daher, a French aircraft manufacturer, to supply a wide range of flat-rolled aluminium products. The contract will focus on supplying materials for Daher’s TBM and Kodiak aircraft, and will include joint supply chain initiatives and product development. Who Constellium SE, a publicly traded company that specializes...
DR Congo to Modernise Gold Trade, Attract Foreign Investment with Tax Incentives
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is working to transform itself from a producer to a processing country, according to Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi. To achieve this goal, the government has signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates to buy all gold produced by the artisanal sector and is putting infrastructure in place to formalise the market. Most of...
Canadian Lion Copper and Gold announces agreement for Stage 2 Programme of Work with Nuton
Lion Copper and Gold Corp. announced that it has completed the Stage 1 Programme of Work and has reached an agreement with Rio Tinto America Inc. (“Rio Tinto”) on the scope of the Stage 2 Program of Work with Nuton, a Rio Tinto venture. Rio Tinto will now provide Stage 2 funding of USD 5,000,000 and an immediate advance of...
