Oman to Become a Major Copper Exporter by 2027
The official groundbreaking ceremony for the Mazoon Copper project, a copper ore mining and beneficiation facility, has taken place in Oman, with Minerals Development Oman as the investor. The general contractor is the Canadian firm Lycopodium, which will provide all the necessary engineering, procurement, and construction management services.
The project will involve the development of five open pits, from which copper ore will be delivered to a concentrator capable of processing 2.5 million tonnes of ore per year, yielding 115,000 tonnes of copper concentrate at an average grade of 21.5% copper. The Mazoon Copper project has reserves of 22.9 million tonnes of copper ore. Construction of the mine is expected to begin in Q1 of next year, with copper concentrate production slated to start in Q1 2027.
The Mazoon Copper project will make a significant contribution to restructuring Oman's economy, which remains heavily dependent on copper mining and exports. In 2016, the Omani government began efforts to diversify the economy by developing manufacturing industries, including non-ferrous metals. With this project, Oman aims to become a notable production center for copper concentrate to supply international consumers, although it will not displace key suppliers such as Chile in the global market.
Nornickel Eyes Plant Location in Southern China
Nornickel is considering establishing its planned copper smelter in Fangchenggang, a port city on the southern coast of China. Negotiations are currently underway to select an appropriate site for the facility.
Nornickel's plans call for a smelter with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes of copper per year, using concentrate supplied from Russia. However, Fangchenggang already hosts a metallurgical plant owned by the state-owned Jinchuan Group, which has a capacity of 600,000 tonnes of copper annually.
China is the world's largest producer and consumer of copper. In the long term, copper demand in China is expected to grow significantly, driven by electric vehicle production, electronic equipment, solar and wind power plant construction, and grid infrastructure. The proposed Nornickel plant would thus be located at the heart of the world's largest copper consumption center. Moreover, the Chinese market could also provide demand for by-products such as sulfuric acid, produced during copper smelting, which can be used for fertilizer production.
In the first nine months of this year, copper imports from Russia to China amounted to 165,000 tonnes, highlighting the importance of trade between the two countries in meeting China's growing copper needs.
Indonesia to Build a Zero-Carbon Nickel Plant
PT Vale Indonesia, a subsidiary of Brazilian mining giant Vale, plans to construct a plant on the island of Sulawesi that will process lateritic nickel ores using high-pressure acid leaching technology. The project, with an estimated cost of $1.4 billion, aims to produce 60,000 tonnes of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) annually, equivalent to pure nickel.
The new facility will have zero carbon emissions, aligning with Vale's efforts to meet stricter environmental regulations in key markets such as the US, EU, and China. The general contractor for the project will be the Chinese company GEM, which has signed an official cooperation agreement with PT Vale Indonesia. The agreement also includes a $40 million investment in a research and development center, as well as $30 million for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) projects, including landscaping and waste treatment facilities.
Vale's broader plans include quadrupling nickel production over the next decade to meet growing demand from electric vehicle battery and electronics manufacturers while minimizing the environmental impact of its operations.
US Supports Domestic Lithium Recycling with Li-Cycle Loan
Canada's Li-Cycle Holdings has signed an agreement with the US Department of Energy to secure a $475 million loan. The funds will be used for the Rochester Hub project, which aims to build a facility to recycle spent lithium-ion batteries, producing battery-grade lithium carbonate and mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) containing nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
Once the hydrometallurgical plant reaches full capacity, Li-Cycle plans to produce up to 8,250 tonnes of lithium carbonate and 72,000 tonnes of MHP annually. The company has already signed an agreement with international trader Glencore for the supply of MHP. The Rochester Hub project, which stalled more than a year ago due to funding difficulties, has an estimated capital investment requirement of $960 million, of which $487 million is needed to complete construction. With this loan, the project now has a chance to move forward.
The US Department of Energy's loan is part of the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, which aims to reduce the US auto industry's dependence on imported critical materials, mainly from China. With Donald Trump now in office, the US government is expected to intensify efforts to develop domestic lithium production and reduce reliance on Chinese imports.
Rio Tinto Invests in Solar Energy for Copper Operations
Rio Tinto plans to start building a new solar power plant with a capacity of 25 megawatts in the US state of Utah. The new plant will serve the electricity needs of the Kennecott Utah Copper mining and smelting complex, which has an annual production capacity of up to 108,000 tonnes of copper. The plant will span 210 acres and feature over 71,000 solar panels, including tellurium, a rare element obtained during copper ore processing.
The site for the new power plant is near an existing 5-megawatt solar facility, built last year. Rio Tinto estimates that both plants together will reduce carbon emissions at Kennecott Utah Copper (Scope 2 emissions) by about 6%, equivalent to approximately 21,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually—the emissions produced by 5,000 passenger cars.
Utah has approximately 238 sunny days per year, making it an ideal location for solar power projects. Rio Tinto's investment aims not only to cut emissions but also to provide cheaper electricity for its operations. Rio Tinto is one of several base metal producers turning to solar energy to power their operations. In March 2024, Scatec, Equinor, and Norsk Hydro commissioned the 531-megawatt Mendubim solar power plant to supply electricity to Hydro Alunorte's alumina refinery in Brazil.
Similarly, in May, Germany's Aurubis, Europe's largest copper producer, began construction of a solar power plant to supply electricity to its Pirdop plant in Bulgaria, which, once commissioned, will meet 15% of the facility's total energy consumption. In July, Spain's Atlantic Copper, part of Freeport-McMoRan, signed an agreement with MET Group to receive electricity from the 25-megawatt Sant Jordi solar power plant. This move will help Atlantic Copper reduce costs in producing up to 285,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year.
Given the vast desert areas and high number of sunny days per year in many countries around the world, it is likely that solar power plant construction will experience a boom in the next 15-20 years across North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. These solar power projects will be crucial for powering mining and processing operations, particularly for non-ferrous metals like copper and aluminium.
