Lithium ends dire year with cautious mood during contract season
Glencore's prized Canadian coal mines come with rising environmental scrutiny
Bushveld enters into $3.7m sale agreement for Mokopane project
South African court denies class action against Anglo American
South Africa’s High Court has ruled that a class action lawsuit against miner Anglo American brought by victims of alleged historic lead poisoning in Zambia should not go ahead, lawyers for the claimants said on Saturday.
Victims of the alleged poisoning had accused Anglo’s South African unit of negligence in controlling emissions of lead into the local environment at a mine it part-owned 50 years ago in Zambia’s Kabwe district.
Anglo has previously denied the allegations and vowed to defend itself.
“We have stated from the outset that this claim is entirely misconceived and it is clear that the court recognized its multiple legal and factual flaws, deeming it not in the interest of justice for the class action to proceed,” an Anglo American spokesperson said.
Anglo partly owned the Kabwe lead mine some 50 years ago. The mine was later owned by Zambian state-owned firm ZCCM-IH until 1994 when it was closed.
In a statement, lawyers for the claimants said the Johannesburg High Court had ruled in a 126-page judgment delivered on Friday evening that a claim against Anglo American South Africa (AASA) over widespread lead poisoning across Kabwe, Zambia, could not proceed as a class action.
The victims will appeal the ruling, the lawyers said.
Friedland says $15,000/t copper price needed to spur new mines
Copper prices need to nearly double in order to prompt mining companies to build costly mines to meet rising demand for critical materials, according to billionaire Robert Friedland.
The mining magnate said that forecasts of copper prices reaching $9,000 a metric ton next year isn’t enough to stimulate the industry to take on risks of building huge, capital intensive mines, especially in Latin America.
“We probably need about $15,000 a ton, stable for a long period of time, before the industry can really gear up and build those giant mines,” Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.’s founder and executive co-chairman said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Demand for metals like copper is set to jump as nations mandate cleaner energy technology while vying to develop their own supply chains. Meanwhile, a slew of major setbacks at key mining operations is seen tightening the market for the wiring-metal in the coming year, erasing a large surplus that analysts had been expecting going into 2024.
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange traded at $8,531 a ton on Friday.
New sanctions bar UK entities from trading most Russian metals
New UK sanctions will prohibit British citizens and companies from trading in a wide range of Russian metals, according to documents published by the government Thursday.
Prices of metals produced by Russia surged as panicky traders struggled to understand how widespread the impact of the measures would be. Aluminum rose as much as 3.7% and copper 3.1%. Palladium, which isn’t covered, jumped as much as 12%.
In legislation published by the UK government, new restrictions were introduced stating a UK person “must not directly or indirectly acquire metals which originate in Russia or are located in Russia.”
The document listed copper, nickel, aluminum, lead, zinc, tin and cobalt as being subject to the restriction but didn’t reference precious metals such as palladium.
It wasn’t immediately clear how wide the impact of the sanctions would be. While the UK is not a significant consumer of metals, many companies are incorporated there, including significant traders such as Glencore Plc and many major banks.
Bannerman Energy (ASX: BMN) said on Friday it had received the mining licence for its flagship Etango uranium project in Namibia, Africa’s biggest producer.
The permit comes at a time when prices for the radioactive material, needed in a world shifting away from fossil fuels, have rallied to hit almost 16-year highs.
Morgan Stanley analysts last week said they were more bullish about uranium prices than any other mined commodity, as current supply can’t keep up with demand. They expect prices to reach $95 a pound by the second quarter of 2024.
Bannerman said receiving the mining licence has allowed the company to immediately award two key early works contracts with a combined value of $2 million. One is related to building a temporary construction water supply and the other one for setting a site access road.
“Etango is now fully permitted, enabling us to drive key project workstreams towards a final investment decision in parallel with the ongoing strengthening in uranium market fundamentals,” the Australian listed uranium developer said in the statement.
Lithium ends dire year with cautious mood during contract season
Lithium buyers are sounding cautious on the key battery metal’s prospects for next year, even after a huge plunge in prices.
Producers have recently been in talks with clients — mostly in Asia — to hash out contracts for 2024. While sales volumes rose in the previous couple of years amid the electric vehicle boom, this time around they look like remaining flat, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. Deals are also being discussed at bigger price discounts than last year.
The more somber mood during the talks follows a boom and bust in the market. Lithium prices surged to a record in the two years through 2022 on the back of a buying frenzy. But the metal has crashed about 80% this year in response to a rapid expansion of production and as battery demand began to disappoint.
The consequences of lithium’s slide has been profound for both buyers and sellers. Shares in top producers like Albemarle Corp. and Ganfeng Lithium Group Co. plunged this year, and for now some are producing more than they can sell. For users like Tesla Inc. and Ford meanwhile, the shift to a buyers’ market will bring relief after surging battery prices hurt profits last year — though they’re now facing an ominous slowdown in EV sales.
Until a few years ago, the lithium sector negotiated long-term supply contracts at fixed prices. That changed as large price swings created cost headaches for battery firms and automakers. That prompted a shift to annual agreements struck in a similar way to other metals like copper during a “mating season,” with deals inked at premiums or discounts to a measure of spot prices.
Glencore's prized Canadian coal mines come with rising environmental scrutiny
Dec 14 (Reuters) - A Glencore-led (GLEN.L) consortium's successful $9 billion bid for Teck Resources' (TECKb.TO) steelmaking coal unit could face tougher environmental clean-up obligations, as water pollution from the mines comes under increasing scrutiny in the U.S. and Canada.
Canada's Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told Reuters that Ottawa and Washington are close to requesting a study of selenium contamination from Teck's Elk Valley mines in southeast British Columbia.
The research would be carried out by International Joint Commission (IJC), a bi-national organization set up under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty between the U.S. and Canada to prevent and resolve disputes over shared waters.
An IJC request would likely mean the consortium could eventually face stronger regulations and need to put aside more cash to cover future reclamation liabilities, environmental lawyers said.
Selenium, a naturally occurring element that is toxic to fish in high concentrations, has been leaching for decades from the piles of waste rock surrounding Teck's mines.
Teck has spent more than C$1.2 billion ($889 million) since 2014 to tackle the pollution. Yet the annual average concentration of selenium in the Elk River near where it enters Lake Koocanusa, straddling the U.S.-Canada border downstream, was 5.77 micrograms per litre in 2022, well above the 1 microgram per litre level recommended by Canadian federal government guidelines, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study released last month.
Bushveld enters into $3.7m sale agreement for Mokopane project
AIM listed primary vanadium producer Bushveld Minerals has entered into a definitive agreement to sell 64% of its issued shares in Pamish Investments No. 39 (known as the Mokopane project), to Southern Point Resources - Fund 1 (SPRF), represented by its general partner, SPR GP1, for $3.7-million.
The Mokopane project – located on the central portion of the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex – includes one of the world's biggest primary vanadium resources, with an average grade of 1.8% vanadium oxide in-magnetite.
The Mokopane project’s 298-million tonne resources and reserves have grades ranging from 1.6% to over 2% vanadium oxide.
As part of the agreement, $3.7 million will be paid to Bushveld for its 64% interest in Mokopane; while the parties have agreed to a right of first refusal with respect to ore mined at the Mokopane mine for use at Bushveld’s Vanchem vanadium processing facility.
The transaction is conditional upon SPRF conducting a satisfactory confirmatory legal due diligence; completing the acquisition by SPRF of 50% of the shares in Vanchem, which owns the Vanchem vanadium plant; waiving pre-emptive rights by minority shareholders in Mokopane to Bushveld's interest in Mokopane; consent of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Minister to the change of control of Mokopane regarding each mining and prospecting licence; and approval from the South African Competition Commission.
