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Iron Ore News
Kogi adopts phased approach to funding, work on Agbaja project
By: Marleny Arnoldi 30th June 2020 ASX-listed Kogi Iron has announced that it will adopt a staged funding and development programme to ensure the development of its Agbaja cast steel project, in Nigeria, continues to progress. The company also revised down its initial envisaged production rate during Phase 1 of the project to... →
Environmental groups propose tailings dam safety standards
By: Reuters 30th June 2020 Mining companies should be required to buy private insurance for tailings dams and their board of directors should be held legally responsible for any disasters, a coalition of 140 environmental groups said in a report published on Tuesday. The recommendations, which differ from standards to be... →
BHP completes first blockchain iron-ore trade
By: Esmarie Iannucci 29th June 2020 Major BHP has completed its first iron-ore trade with steel producer China Baowu on Canadian startup MineHub Technologies’ blockchain-based platform. The transaction was estimated to be worth some $14-million. MineHub connects buyers, sellers and service providers in mining and metals supply... →
Anglo American to buy wind power energy from Brazil's Casa dos Ventos
By: Reuters 26th June 2020 Global miner Anglo American has reached an agreement to buy 95 megawatts of wind power from Brazil's Casa dos Ventos for 20 years, starting in 2022, according to a statement issued on Thursday. Casa dos Ventos said its wind plant in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte will provide... →
Vale signs deal with authorities on Covid-19 monitoring at Itabira mines
By: Reuters 26th June 2020 Brazilian miner Vale has signed an agreement on monitoring for possible coronavirus cases at its Itabira complex, a major iron ore production facility temporarily shuttered earlier this month out of health concerns, authorities said on Thursday. A number of sanitary measures including testing... →
Seriti CEO seeks acquisitions beyond South African coal mines
By: Bloomberg 25th June 2020 Seriti Resources Holdings has satisfied its appetite for South African coal mines after acquisitions over the past three years made the company one of the nation’s top producers of the fuel. Seriti will consider a range of growth opportunities from other minerals to renewable energy, CEO Mike... →
Lesotho opens more border posts for return of foreign mineworkers 
By: Martin Creamer 25th June 2020 Lesotho has opened up more border posts to speed up the return to work of locked-down foreign mineworkers. As reported by Mining Weekly last week, 12 000 mineworkers had one border post at their disposal on re-entering South Africa from Lesotho and the opening of more border posts was requested. →
Anglo American calls for cooperative response in trying times
By: Schalk Burger 25th June 2020 Diversified miner Anglo American CE Mark Cutifani has called for a society-wide response to the global Covid-19 crisis and says the miner is committed to global tax and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). In its Tax and Economic Contribution report for the year ended... →
Australia begins probe into Rio's destruction of Aboriginal site
By: Reuters 18th June 2020 Australia called for submissions on Thursday to an inquiry into how mining giant Rio Tinto legally blew up two sacred Aboriginal caves that showed human history stretching back at least 46,000 years. Rio in late May destroyed the sacred caves in the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western... →
Vale can reopen Itabira complex after coronavirus measures
By: Reuters 18th June 2020 Brazilian iron-ore miner Vale has received permission to reopen mines in the Itabira complex shuttered due to coronavirus concerns, the company said in a Wednesday filing, adding there was no change to its production guidance. Vale said it had received permission to reopen the mines from Minas... →
Kogi's Nigerian operations impacted by Covid-19 prevention measures
By: Donna Slater 17th June 2020 ASX-listed iron-ore miner Kogi Iron reports that, although no employees of its Nigeria-based subsidiary KCM Mining, its Nigeria-based Agbaja Cast Steel project or the greater Agbaja plateau community, have been infected with Covid-19, the operation has been materially impacted on by measures... →
Fortescue sets zero emissions target for 2040
By: Esmarie Iannucci 16th June 2020 Iron-ore major Fortescue Metals has set a target to achieve net zero operational emissions by 2040. The company on Tuesday said that the net zero emissions goal was core to the its climate change strategy and underpinned by a pathway to decarbonisation, including the reduction of Scope 1 and 2... →
More border openings wanted for returning workers – Minerals Council 
By: Martin Creamer 15th June 2020 More border openings are wanted for returning foreign mineworkers. As of Thursday last week, not a single foreign mineworker had re-entered South Africa from neighbouring foreign countries. “Only a limited number of border posts are open,” Minerals Council South Africa environment, health and... →
NMDC halts operations at key iron-ore mine after state government order
By: Reuters 12th June 2020 India's NMDC said on Friday it had temporarily suspended operations at a key iron ore mine in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh after the state government ordered it to do so. NMDC chairman N.Baijendra Kumar told Reuters he was unsure why Chhattisgarh had instructed it to halt operations. The... →
TymeBank set to hit two-million-customer milestone ahead of schedule
By: Martin Creamer 12th June 2020 Fully-digital retail finance house TymeBank is poised to achieve its two-million-customer milestone three months ahead of schedule, African Rainbow Capital (ARC), its majority shareholder, stated on Friday. Following its official launch in February last year, TymeBank acquired one-million... →
Dr Patrice Motsepe
240 000 miners back at work – Minerals Council South Africa
By: Martin Creamer 11th June 2020 An estimated 240 000 miners are back at work on 385 large and small mines across South Africa, Minerals Council South Africa public affairs and transformation senior executive Tebello Chabana said on Thursday. Each and every one of these miners was screened on their return to work after lockdown... →
Mining production falls sharply in April as lockdown effects take hold
By: Simone Liedtke 11th June 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown regulations since March 27 have had a severe impact on economic activity, with mining production alone having decreased by 47.3% year-on-year in April. Overall, platinum group metal (PGM) production was down 62% year-on-year and contributed -14.6... →
Australian state says BHP can disturb 40 sacred sites in mine expansion
By: Reuters 11th June 2020 Western Australia approved BHP Group's application to disturb 40 culturally significant Aboriginal sites as part of a mine expansion, the state government said on Thursday, days after Rio Tinto blew up sacred rock caves in the same area. State Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt said in a... →
ICMM members record 287 fatalities in 2019
By: Martin Creamer 11th June 2020 The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) on Thursday released the 2019 safety data of its company members, who reported 287 occupational fatalities, a marked increase from the 50 fatalities recorded in 2018 and 51 fatalities recorded in 2017. ICMM said in a media release to Mining... →
Top 40 miners ‘in a strong, resilient position’ to weather the Covid-19 storm, says PwC
By: Simone Liedtke 11th June 2020 The global Top 40 mining companies are so far weathering the Covid-19 crisis, but consultancy PwC has advised miners to take advantage of the relative stability to adopt strategies to mitigate against further economic and social risks. With the global economy in uncertain times following the... →
Global mining forum IGF puts forward sweeping employment reforms
By: Martin Creamer 10th June 2020 The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining Minerals Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) on Wednesday put forward sweeping mining employment reforms in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has, it states, exposed weak points in the global labour market. IGF emerged from the 2002 World Summit... →
Sweeping mining reforms advocated in response to Covid-19.
Gung-ho Brazil prosecutors become unlikely commodity influencers
By: Bloomberg 10th June 2020 Add trigger-happy Brazilian prosecutors to the list of probable drivers of commodity markets in the coming months. As the pandemic strains supplies, judges in Brazil have granted prosecutors’ requests to shut major mining and meat operations in recent weeks. That contrasts with the US where... →
Europe’s steel industry rips into EU revamp of import controls
By: Bloomberg 9th June 2020 The European Union steel industry lashed out at the EU’s trade authority for failing to slash import quotas in a planned revamp of them, saying producers in the bloc risk going bust. The European Steel Association and chief executive officers of EU-based manufacturers took aim at the bloc’s... →
Judge orders Vale to close three mines because of virus
By: Bloomberg 8th June 2020 Vale was ordered by a Brazilian labor court to close three iron-ore mines at its Itabira complex in Minas Gerais state after an outbreak of Covid-19 among workers. The decision restores a ban on operations at the Conceicao, Caue and Periquito pits after Vale last week fended off an attempt by... →
Guinea approves SMB-Winning deal for Simandou iron mine project
By: Reuters 5th June 2020 Guinea's government approved on Thursday a basic agreement for the development of its giant Simandou iron ore project by a consortium representing Chinese, French and Singaporean interests, the mines minister told Reuters. The consortium - which includes Société Minière de Boké (SMB) and... →
Well positioned to weather storm – Standard Bank
By: Martin Creamer 4th June 2020 The Standard Bank is well positioned to weather the Covid-19 storm and remains determined to emerge from this crisis as a stronger Africa-focused financial services group, Standard Bank Group FD Dr Arno Daehnke said on Thursday. The capital and liquidity levels of Africa’s biggest lender by... →
Mozambique streaks ahead with new e-government cadastre advance
By: Martin Creamer 3rd June 2020 While South Africa is still trundling along laboriously with a minerals cadastre system fraught with shortcomings, Mozambique has rocketed to the highest firmament of e-government licence processing, Mining Weekly can report. Mozambique first led the pack 17 years ago when, ironically, it latched... →
Latin America virus surge puts world’s biggest mines at risk
By: Bloomberg 2nd June 2020 The decision to keep Chinese factories shut after the Lunar New Year sent shudders through the massive mines of Brazil and Chile that feed them. Now, with China getting back to work and Latin America the new virus hot spot, concern is shifting from demand to supply. Iron-ore shipper Vale had a... →
New solution for monitoring tailings dams
By: Martin Creamer 2nd June 2020 The tragic tailings dam breach in Brazil that killed more than 270 people has focused the world of mining on making tailings dams safe. Earlier this year, and environmental organisation Grid-Arendal launched the world’s first publicly accessible global database of mine tailings storage facilities... →
Tailings dam.
Monadelphous secures contracts worth $150m
By: Simone Liedtke 1st June 2020 Engineering company Monadelphous Group has secured a number of construction and maintenance contracts in the resources and energy sectors with a combined value of about $150-million. In the iron-ore market in the Pilbara region, the ASX-listed company has secured a contract under its existing BHP... →
Rio Tinto vows to review heritage approach after it blasts sacred site
By: Marleny Arnoldi 1st June 2020 Diversified miner Rio Tinto has apologised after it detonated explosives near a 46 000-year-old sacred indigenous site, in Juukan Gorge, Australia. The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura People (PKKP) group of traditional [land] owners say the denotation of explosives 11 m away from ancient rock... →
EU to revamp steel-import controls as virus-hit economy recovers
By: Bloomberg 1st June 2020 The European Union plans to revamp its steel-import restrictions to guard against major market distortions as the bloc’s economy recovers from the effects of the pandemic. The proposed changes apply to EU import curbs introduced two years ago to prevent a controversial 25% US levy on foreign... →
In northern Brazil, iron-ore keeps flowing as Vale miners battle coronavirus
By: Reuters 1st June 2020 In late April, Evaldo Fidelis, a 35-year-old tractor operator at Vale's massive iron-ore mine in northern Brazil, came down with a dry cough. Soon, he said, six others in his crew of about 40 workers fell ill with classic symptoms of Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel... →
Minister urges mines to test without fear of mine closure
By: Martin Creamer 29th May 2020 Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on Friday urged mines to test for Covid-19 to the full extent without fearing mine closure. The Minister was responding to a media question on the steps the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) was taking to end the backlog of... →
Gwede Mantashe
Iron-ore powers past $100 as supply woes meet robust demand
By: Bloomberg 29th May 2020 Iron-ore surged past $100/t as supply woes in Brazil coincide with sustained, robust demand in top steel producer China. Benchmark spot prices climbed to $101.05 on Friday as Brazil, the world’s second-largest exporter, saw a surge in coronavirus infections, stoking worries that the pandemic may... →
Fortescue facing compensation claims after High Court ruling
By: Esmarie Iannucci 29th May 2020 Iron-ore major Fortescue Metals on Friday moved to assure shareholders that a decision by the High Court of Australia to deny the company leave to appeal an earlier ruling on a native title determination would not affect the current or future mining operations at the Solomon Hub, in the... →
Concept study shows potential to lower capital cost at Zanaga project
By: Tasneem Bulbulia 28th May 2020 A concept study on the viability of a floating dewatering, storage and offloading port facility (FDSO) at Aim-listed Zanaga Iron Ore Company's (ZIOC's) Zanaga project, in Congo-Brazzaville, has demonstrated the potential for a $184-million reduction in capital costs. There is no change expected... →
Conversation on getting economy back on track post-Covid has begun
By: Martin Creamer 28th May 2020 The conversation has begun on getting the South African economy back on track with the necessary structural reforms post-Covid, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter said on Wednesday. Speaking at question time during a virtual media conference following the council’s annual general... →
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