Mining Breaks

START THE WEEK: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Australia is certainly set on a course towards reduced carbon emissions, with more focus on renewable energy over its traditional coal and gas fixation, following the success of new prime minister Anthony Albanese in the weekend federal election.
Albanese’s Labor Party was elected – although it’s yet to be determined whether it will be a majority or minority government – on the back of a surge of support for minor parties and independents who strongly oppose fossil fuels and demand urgent action on climate change.
The conservative Liberal-National Party coalition had been an aggressive supporter of fossil fuel industries throughout its nine years in power. Former prime minister Scott Morrison once brandished a lump of coal in the parliamentary chamber to taunt Labor over its equivocal policies on mining.
While Albanese in his Saturday night acceptance speech committed the new government to “ending the climate wars” and making Australia a renewable industry superpower, his election campaign studiously avoided spelling out any policies that could cost it votes in mining regions.
Mining sector leaders have shown themselves more willing than many of the former government ministers to accept the need to meet carbon emissions targets, they will be hoping for reassurances that Labor and likely trade and resources minister Madeleine King will resist the extreme anti-mining demands from the Australian Greens and independents.

COMMODITIES
LME ($US) 3-month closing prices, May 22 –
Copper 9,421.00
Aluminium 2,969.50
Zinc 3,705.00
Nickel 27,675.00
Lead 2,160.50
Tin 34,665.00

LME ($US) precious spot closing prices, May 22 –
Gold 1,843.80
Silver 21.67

NASDAQ ($US) closing prices, May 20 –
Copper 4.275
Gold 1848.40
Palladium 1940.90
Platinum 941.10
Silver 21.674

NYMEX ($US) 62% Fe CFR China, market close, May 20 –
Iron ore 133.66

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
(Some articles may be accessible only by subscribers)

• RIO TINTO ADVANCES TURQUOISE HILL $400M FOR OYU TOLGOI WORKS
• FORTESCUE METALS BRINGS FORREST BACK AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE
• ALCOA SET TO RESTART SPANISH SMELTER WITH WIND POWER 
• OZ MINERALS-HAVILAH JV TARGETS NEW COPPER PROVINCE
• IGO-TIANQI REFINERY DELIVERS FIRST AUST LITHIUM HYDROXIDE

CALENDAR
Public holidays –
May 23: Canada (Regional holidays)
May 23: Ecuador (Battle of Pichincha Holiday)
May 23: Jamaica (Labor Day/May Day)
May 23: Portugal (Portalegre Day)
May 24: Bulgaria (Culture and Literacy Day)
May 24: Eritrea (Independence Day)
May 24: North Macedonia (Saints Cyril and Methodius Day)
May 25: Argentina (National Day/May 1810 Revolution)
May 25: Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, Zimbabwe (Africa Day)
May 25: Jordan (Independence Day)
May 25: Zambia (Africa Freedom Day)
May 26: Observing Countries (Ascension Day)
May 26: Georgia (Independence Day)
May 26: Guyana (Independence Day)
May 27: Iran (Martyrdom of Imam Sadeq)
May 28: Azerbaijan (Republic Day)
May 28: Ethiopia (Derg Downfall Day)
May 29: Haiti (Mothers Day)
May 30: Ukraine (Kyiv Day Observance)

Australian innovator Bill Beament is preparing to implement new strategies after Develop Global completed its up-to-$A100M acquisition of the mothballed Woodlawn zinc-copper mine in NSW.
Develop has secured 100% ownership of Heron Resources under a deed of company arrangement by paying $30M cash/shares upfront plus $70M in milestone-related payments.
Beament says Develop aims to convert Woodlawn’s inferred resources, extend its mineralised lenses and drill test EM conductors.

Lithium JV partners Tianqi (51%) and IGO (49%) are preparing to commence product qualification processes with offtake partners after achieving the first and consistent production of battery grade lithium hydroxide from their Kwinana Lithium Hydroxide Refinery in Western Australia.
The first production of lithium hydroxide in commercial quantities in Australia follows the completion of progressive commissioning and trial production by Train 1 at the facility south of Perth.
MD-CEO Peter Bradford says the JV’s interest in upstream mining at Greenbushes and the downstream refinery at Kwinana is emerging as a globally significant, integrated lithium business.

Hopes of finding eight miners missing for almost a month in a flooded Burkina Faso zinc mine have faded after search parties who reached a refuge chamber reported no sign of them.
Rescue experts held faint hopes that the miners, missing since an unseasonal torrential rainstorm flooded the Perkoa mine on April 16, may have been able to reach the well-stocked and secure chamber 570m underground.
Canadian-based Trevali Mining holds 90% interest in the mine, which is operated by mining contractor Byrnecut.
Trevali says the round-the-clock search will continue despite the devastating news that none of the missing men reached the chamber.

Alcoa Corporation is set to end the shutdown of aluminium smelting at its San Ciprián smelter in N Spain as early as January 2024 after signing a long-term power purchase agreement with independent renewable energy producer Greenalia.
The start date on the new contract is subject to windfarm permitting processes. The agreement will run to end-2033.
Alcoa announced a 2-year curtailment of aluminium smelting at San Ciprián in Dec 2021 due to exorbitant energy prices.
Greenalia is expected to supply up to 183MW of the smelter’s baseload power, representing about 45% of the energy needed for its 288,000mtpa capacity. Pricing terms are confidential.

Canadian miner Minto Metals has established a “more favourable” offtake extension agreement with business partner Sumitomo for its Minto underground copper, gold and silver mine in the Yukon Territory.
Following a detailed review of proposals received from various offtake companies, Minto’s new agreement will see Sumitomo purchase 100% of copper concentrate over an additional four years, based on 50,000dmtpa production.
Sumitomo has also agreed to extend its debt facility to $C17.5M repayable over 48 months.
President-CEO Chris Stewart says the extension continues Minto’s tremendous partnership with Sumitomo since it acquired and restarted the mine 250km N of Whitehorse in 2019.

Horizonte Minerals has begun the transition to construction at its 100%-owned flagship Araguaia project in Brazil’s Para state, commencing a 24-month construction timeframe of a large, high-grade and low-cost operation targeting first stage production of 14,500tpa nickel.
With $US270M contracts awarded or imminent, about 50% of its expected capex, Horizonte says it has made significant progress in the four months since project approval.
The UK-based company says its embedded culture of continuous optimisation and business improvement is designed to allow early optimisation in the engineering process and identification of cost-saving opportunities.

Chatham Rock Phosphate is assembling more evidence to support its proposed Korella and Korella South project development in N Qld, Australia with the start of a scoping study into a 5Mtpa phosphate and fertiliser export facility at Townsville.
CRP’s Korella Terminals subsidiary has assembled a team of logistics, construction, port operations and financing specialists to conduct the study, which builds on the long-held recognition of the need for a bulk facility to ship a range of minerals including phosphate and fertilisers from the state’s north and northwest.
The probe will run in tandem with the NZ-based company’s separate scoping study into the 1Mtpa phosphate export operation at Korella South. Both are due in July.

Arafura Resources has signed an offtake MoU with South Korean automotive giant Hyundai as it pushes towards a final investment decision by end-2022 on its 100%-owned, $A1B Nolans rare earth project.
The miner and carmaker aim to execute a definitive binding 7-year offtake agreement within four months for Hyundai to acquire 1,000-1,500tpa neodymium and praseodymium, commencing in 2025 and reaching full production in 2027.
The agreement represents just over a third of the planned 4,440tpa ultimate production capacity at Nolans, 135km N of Alice Springs in Australia’s NT. Hyundai will also work with Arafura to access debt funding through export credit agencies.

Kingsgate Consolidated has named leading engineer CR3 (CR Asia) to carry out the refurbishment and restart of the Chatree gold mine in central Thailand.
The appointment of CR3, a leading provider of energy engineering solutions across Asia, follows the finalisation of the scope of work for refurbishment of its No 2 plant.
Work is set to commence in July, following mobilisation of CR3 Thailand personnel to Chatree through June. Kingsgate says it has also ordered the long lead items for the refurbishment.

Rio Tinto has advanced up to $A400M liquidity to 51%-owned subsidiary Turquoise Hill Resources that will allow the Canadian company to fund ongoing underground development of the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia.
The amendment to the funding plan agreed in March will enable short-term advances while TRQ evaluates Rio Tinto’s $C34 per share bid to take 100% ownership of the company.
The change also extends the deadline for TRQ to conduct a $650M equity raising by four months to end-2022.

The global deficit in nickel supply has widened in the first quarter of 2022, the most recent metal balances report by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics shows. Apparent demand for nickel in the three months exceeded production by 46,100t, compared with a calculated deficit of 146,900t for the whole of 2021.
The copper market deficit also widened to 189,000t in the quarter, following its 473,000t deficit over the previous 12 months. Lead’s deficit also grew to 92,000t for the three months, compared to the 148,400t in 2021.
After the dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the primary aluminium market switched to 474,000t surplus from 2021’s 1.68Mt deficit. The tin market remained in surplus despite falling demand.

Kingsgate Consolidated has pointed to a mine life of at least 8-10 years for the restart of its Chatree mine in central Thailand after lifting ore reserves to 1.3Moz gold and 12.2Moz silver, relating to pits wholly within the current mining leases.
The JORC-compliant proved and probable reserves calculated by AMC Consultants of 52Mt @ 0.78g/t gold and 7.4g/t silver represent increases of over 45% since 2016.
Exec chairman Ross Smyth-Kirk says Kingsgate plans to funding a vigorous exploration program to convert more of the significant resources outside the mining leases.

Rescue workers have found no survivors in a rescue chamber inside Canada-based Trevali Mining's  flooded Perkoa zinc mine in Burkina Faso where 8 miners have been missing since April 16, the govt reports, according to Reuters.
There had been some hope during a month-long search and rescue operation that the men might have reached the chamber, about 570m below ground.
A Trevali executive said last week the company was caught off guard by a torrential downpour during the West African country's dry season.

International industrial and critical minerals producer Mineral Commodities is opening the door for an early entry into the European anode materials supply chain with the signing of a strategic collaboration agreement with leading manufacturer Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.
Their MoU outlines an initial toll manufacturing agreement, with a final investment decision expected in the Sept 2022 qtr on the anode plant development.
In phase 2, that will expand into a broader business collaboration that could position MRC as the first vertically integrated graphite ore to active anode materials supplier in Europe.

Australian silica sands explorer Carbine Resources is pushing a national development strategy after agreeing terms to acquire 100% ownership of the highly prospective Sandbox project near Innisfail in Far North Qld.
Carbine says the $A8.8M acquisition from private owner FNQ Sand complements its much larger Muchea project on the other side of the country, 40km NE of Perth.
It sees the opportunity for early, low-capex development of Sandbox’s JORC resource of 5.7Mt @ 95.8% SiO2, which can be upgraded through processing to 99.5% SiO2, to fund exploration and development of Muchea’s much larger deposits.
Carbine is targeting an initial resource at Muchea West of 0.8-1.03Bt @ 99.6-99.9% SiO2.

Fortescue Metals Group founder Andrew Forrest will return to the chief executive role as part of a leadership shake-up designed to achieve his dream of turning the world’s fourth largest iron ore producer into a global green renewables company.
Forrest has been named as FMG executive chairman, taking the reins following the previously announced departure of CEO Elizabeth Gaines in August.
The company stressed Forrest’s role will be an interim one, specifically overseeing the iron ore business to help drive the company’s transition.
Gaines will remain with FMG as a non-executive director and global brand ambassador for the green energy business Fortescue Future Industries. Former General Electric Europe president-CEO Dr Mark Hutchison has been recruited to lead FFI.

Asset services engineer SRG Global is continuing its 35-year history with Alcoa of Australia, winning a new five-year, $A95M civil infrastructure maintenance term contract at its Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia.
The contract, for three years with a two-year option, covers minor civil works, bauxite residue management and bulk materials handling services at the site’s bauxite residue storage, refinery and port facilities as well as panel membership for civil services including capital/construction works across Alcoa’s WA mining, refining and port sites.

Battery metals explorer and developer Corcel has posted a JORC resources estimate of 110Mt @ 0.81% for 891,000t contained nickel and 0.06% for 66,000t contained cobalt at its recently acquired Wowo Gap project in PNG.
Corcel says the resource confirms Wowo Gap as similar in volume and grade to its Mambare project and validates its rational for acquiring the project from Resource Mining Corp in Dec 2021.
The resource update is a critical technical step for preparing Corcel’s mining lease application for the 100%-owned project at Collingwood Bay, 200km E of Port Moresby.

Azerbaijan miner Anglo Asian is predicting significant changes in its production profile after lower grades reduced FY2021 gold equivalent production to 64,610oz, from 67,249oz a year earlier – comprising 48,680oz gold (FY2020: 56,864oz), 2,649t copper (2,591t) and 154,515oz silver (122,962oz).
Lower production and higher costs lifted AISC to $854/oz ($702/oz). Revenues fell to $92.5M ($102.1M) and pre-tax profit to $12.6M ($35.7M).
Anglo Asian's existing mines at Gedabek are expected to deliver 54,000-58,000oz AuEq in FY2022, but chairman Khosrow Zamani says the transition to new projects at Gedabek and elsewhere in Azerbaijan will significantly increase copper production and deliver first zinc in the next two years.