Saudi Arabia launches $207m geological mapping project
Saudi Arabia, UK to boost cooperation in mining sector
SQM and Codelco begin talks over lithium partnership in Chile
Deep-sea mining may affect thousands of new species found in hotspot
Namibia considers taking stakes in mining and petroleum companies
Biden’s green subsidies are speeding the UK car industry’s decline
The Decline In Coal Appears To Have Been Exaggerated
Cerrado Gold receives preliminary licence for Brazilian gold project
Saudi Arabia launches $207m geological mapping project
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has unveiled the Geological Mapping project for Arabian Shield valued at SR777 million ($207 million).
The detailed Geological Mapping project aims to produce 271 geological reports and maps of the Arabian Shield at a scale of 1:100,000. It will also contribute detailed digital geological data to the National Geological Database (NGD), enabling a better understanding of mineral deposits and identifying and exploring new reservoirs to attract investments in the mining sector, reported SPA.
It was inaugurated by Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Geological Survey, Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef.
The project is one of the initiatives under the General Program of the Geological Survey and will be implemented in partnership with the Chinese Geological Survey.
The event was attended by Saudi Geological Survey CEO Engineer Abdullah Muftar Al Shamrani, the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources for Geology and Chairman of the Chinese Geological Survey Li Jianxing, and the Chinese Consul General in Jeddah Wang Qimin.
Saudi Arabia, UK to boost cooperation in mining sector
RIYADH: Bandar Alkhorayef, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources, signed a letter of intent with Kemi Badenoch, the UK secretary of state for business and trade, to enhance cooperation in the field of critical minerals.
Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral resource Bandar Alkhorayef and UK Minister for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch.
Critical minerals, such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements, are essential components in many rapidly growing clean energy technologies.
The two sides seek to commit to the joint development of supply chains of minerals essential to the worldwide transition to zero carbon neutrality, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Alkhorayef said that this step comes within the framework of boosting bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the UK in the industrial and mining sectors, and contributes to supporting global efforts to realize a green future.
The Saudi minister said that the two countries want to ensure the availability of minerals required for the transition to sustainable energy.
The letter of intent will enable both countries to diversify supply chains for critical minerals used in a variety of metal-intensive industries, such as vehicle manufacture, electricity, aviation, defense and renewable energy.
It will also enable them to coordinate through international forums, collaborate with the private sector on mineral supply chains, and explore joint investment opportunities, as well as facilitate knowledge exchange on projects related to critical minerals.
SQM and Codelco begin talks over lithium partnership in Chile
Lithium brines are found in the middle of Chile’s Salar de Atacama and contain the world’s highest known concentrations of lithium and potassium.
SQM (NYSE: SQM), the world’s second largest lithium miner, and Chile’s state-owned copper miner Codelco, have formally begun talks aimed at setting up a public-private partnership to extract the battery metal in the Atacama salt flat.
The negotiations between the firms are part of the new national lithium strategy President Gabriel Boric announced in April. The plan identifies the Salar de Atacama as a strategic asset because it contains the country’s largest known lithium resources as well as the only active operations.
SQM’s contract with Chile’s development agency Corfo, owner of the assets in the Antofagasta region salt flat, expires in 2030.
The contract for the world’s no.1 lithium producer, Albemarle (NYSE: ALB), which is the only other active lithium miner in the Atacama, runs out in 2043.
SQM CEO Ricardo Ramos said the company had “a common vision” with Codelco in the development of salt flats, which is increasing lithium production from the area.
Deep-sea mining may affect thousands of new species found in hotspot
System used to uplift nodules from seafloor to surface.
Scientists have discovered more than 5,500 entirely new species living on the seabed in the mineral-rich Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Pacific Ocean, an area targeted by deep-sea miners.
The peer-reviewed paper, published in the journal Current Biology, is the first comprehensive study of the biodiversity in the CCZ region, which spans about 5,000 km (3,100 miles) in the area between Hawaii and Mexico.
According to the research, which would help authorities to assess the risk of extinction of the species in light of the interest by mining companies, around 88% to 92% of the species had never been seen before.
Deep-sea miners are planning to extract key battery materials including cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese, from potato-sized rocks called “polymetallic nodules”.
These nodules lie on the ocean’s floor at depths of 4 to 6 km (2.5 to 4 miles) and are abundant in the CCZ, where Canada’s The Metals Company (NASDAQ: TMC), already has two exploration contracts.
The miner, which also has a deal to supply metals to Glencore (LON: GLEN), says its licence hosts enough in situ metal for 280 million electric vehicles, roughly the size of the entire US passenger vehicle fleet on the road today.
Namibia considers taking stakes in mining and petroleum companies
Namibia is considering taking minority stakes in mining and petroleum production companies amid increasing concerns over local ownership of valuable resources.
“We are making a case that local ownership must start with the state, which holds ownership of our natural resources,” Mines and Energy Minister Tom Alweendo told lawmakers on Monday. “The proposed state ownership should take the form where the state owns a minimum equity percentage in all mining companies and petroleum production, for which it does not have to pay,” he said.
Namibia is one of Africa’s biggest producers of diamonds and largest of uranium. In February, Impact Oil & Gas Ltd. said it will start a multiwell drilling program in the country with TotalEnergies SE, which discovered oil offshore last year.
Australian uranium company Paladin Energy Ltd. plunged as much as 23% to its lowest since August 2021. The company gets all of its revenue from Namibia, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.
The arid southwest African nation joins others such as Zimbabwe, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Philippines and Peru that are pushing for more value from their minerals or considering increased state intervention, partly due to higher commodity prices.
Biden’s green subsidies are speeding the UK car industry’s decline
Washington in northeast England likes to boast of its US connections. George Washington’s ancestral home lies at the heart of the old village; the family coat of arms greets visitors to the municipality; even the local golf club is named after the first US president.
Yet for all the historic affinities, government actions in the US capital now pose a threat to the economic lifeblood of its diminutive English namesake.
Up the road from Washington is the UK’s largest car plant, run by Nissan Motor Co. of Japan. How long that can remain viable is unclear as a result of President Joe Biden’s policies that are upending the auto industry from Germany to South Korea.
At the heart of Biden’s new industrial policy sits the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which envisages $369 billion of government support for clean technologies including electric vehicles and the batteries that power them.
It’s escalated a race for state-backed subsidies that risks leaving the UK adrift, struggling to match the kind of money on offer elsewhere to spur the transition, while exposing ongoing post-Brexit frictions over access to its main European Union market. Already the signs are ominous.
As of mid-March, European battery cell manufacturers had announced plans to add 581 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of production capacity on the continent, according to BloombergNEF, which researches the energy transition. Add in non-European battery makers, and the figure rises to some 1,100 GWh by 2026.
The UK equivalent so far is about 12 GWh at a single site: a “Gigafactory” Nissan is building near Washington. The government has offered subsidies for a further battery plant at a new Jaguar Land Rover site in southwest England and an announcement could be imminent.
Yet conversations with current and former British auto executives reveal a sense of alarm at how the UK government has dawdled in the face of overwhelming competition. They point to a damaging series of errors and handicaps that have undermined the industry over years, from high energy costs and a supply chain that’s overly dependent on China to a lack of the political and economic stability that companies need to make key business decisions.
The Decline In Coal Appears To Have Been Exaggerated
Governments and international organizations have made ambitious pledges to reduce their emissions, a reduction that will require the phase-out of coal.
Despite these pledges, countries including the UK and Australia have announced plans to build new coal mines in order to boost energy security.
The major exception to a general trend of a decline in new coal mine development is China, which approved the equivalent of two new coal plants a week in 2022.
Despite big promises of a green transition and the creation of ambitious climate pledges, some countries are continuing to support the development of new coal mines. The U.K. and Australia both have coal facility plans that could go against their climate pledges, while there is no sign of slowing down China’s coal industry. So, just what does this mean for the green transition of these countries and globally?
In December 2022, the U.K. announced plans to build its first new coal mine in three decades. The $204 million project will be constructed in Whitehaven in Cumbria and is expected to produce 2.8 million tonnes of coking coal annually, as well as create 500 jobs. The plan is to export most of the coal produced, as the U.K. expects to increase its renewable energy capacity to stop the need for domestic coal use.
Many U.K. steelmakers have already stated that they will not be using coal from the development. And several European steel producers are also transitioning away from coal in response to mounting pressure from governments to decarbonize operations. Companies working in the heavy industry sector are now looking to renewable energy to power their facilities, where possible.
The mine is expected to produce 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, equivalent to around 200,000 car emissions. This will contribute heavily to the U.K.’s carbon emissions at a time when it is expected to shift away from carbon-intensive energy production in support of an accelerated green transition. Although the government has stated that the development is still possible within the scope of the U.K.’s climate legislation, with no doubt that it can achieve the net-zero scenario by 2050 following the closing of all coal operations by 2049. However, an analysis published in January suggested that this view is overly optimistic and that the coal project will likely break U.K. climate pledges.
Cerrado Gold receives preliminary licence for Brazilian gold project
Cerrado Gold has secured a preliminary licence (LP) from the Tocantins state environmental agency for the Monte Do Carmo (MDC) project in Tocantins, Brazil.
Issued by the Instituto Natureza do Tocantins, the LP marks the first of the three-stage mine permitting process to bring the MDC project into production.
In a press statement, Cerrado Gold said: “The granting of the LP is an important milestone in the licensing process as it outlines all the basic parameters of the project to be accepted by all parties, including the local community and relevant regulatory bodies.”
Upon securing the second licence, which is the installation licence, the company plans to start construction activities for the project.
The final licence will be granted to Cerrado Gold upon completion of construction and the commencement of mine operations.
Cerrado Gold CEO and chairman Mark Brennan said: “The award of the LP is a significant milestone for the MDC project and reflects the great work done by our Brazilian team and represents a significant endorsement from the community and regulators for the development of the project.
“As previously announced, discussions for project financing are ongoing, and we look forward to the completion of the [feasibility study] in the coming weeks as we work to bring the Monte Do Carmo project into production.”
Last month, Cerrado Gold started loading ore onto the heap leaching pad at its heap leach project in Las Calandrias, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
