Category Archives: Mining

Gina Rinehart launches joint bid for lithium miner amid demand for electric vehicles

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The $1.7bn offer for Azure Minerals comes during a rush of dealmaking for the metal used in batteries

Gina Rinehart has teamed up with a Chilean miner to take control of a prized lithium asset in the mineral-rich Pilbara, creating a path for Australia’s richest person to become a major producer of the key metal used in electric vehicle batteries.

Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting and Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM) lodged a $1.7bn bid for Azure Minerals, according to a stock exchange announcement on Tuesday.

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Judge throws out Kabwe lead-poisoning case against Anglo American mining

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South African court dismisses huge class-action lawsuit over toxic legacy of mining at Broken Hill in Zambia between 1925 and 1974

A South African court has thrown out a case brought against the multinational mining company Anglo American on behalf of 140,000 Zambian women and children, who allege they have suffered lead poisoning from one of its mines.

The lawsuit, one of Africa’s largest class-action cases, was filed in October 2020, accused Anglo American of negligence over its alleged failure to prevent widespread lead poisoning in the Zambian town of Kabwe, where its South African subsidiary is alleged to have played a key role in running a large mine from 1925 until 1974.

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Europe is ‘miles behind’ in race for raw materials used in electric car batteries

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EU and UK carmakers have secured just 16% of lithium, cobalt and nickel needed to hit 2030 targets, says study

European carmakers have secured less than a sixth of the key raw materials they will need by 2030 to make electric vehicle batteries, according to analysis that highlights the expected scramble for green-tech resources.

Carmakers have secured contracts for 16% of the lithium, cobalt and nickel required to hit their 2030 electric car sales targets, according to public disclosures analysed by Transport & Environment (T&E), a Brussels-based campaign group.

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‘A biodiversity catastrophe’: how the world could look in 2050 – unless we act now

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The climate crisis, invasive species, overexploitation of resources and pollution could break down crucial ecosystems. We asked experts to lay out the risks and offer some solutions

The continued destruction of nature across the planet will result in major shocks to food supplies and safe water, the disappearance of unique species and the loss of landscapes central to human culture and leisure by the middle of this century, experts have warned.

By 2050, if humanity does not follow through on commitments to tackle the five main drivers of nature loss critical natural systems could break down just as the human population is projected to peak.

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‘Historic moment’: Panama activists celebrate ruling against copper mine

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Campaigners take to streets after supreme court ruling that could shut down contentious copper mining project

Environmental activists in Panama have taken to the streets to celebrate a ruling by the country’s supreme court which could shut down a contentious copper mining project and bring an end to weeks of mass protests which have paralysed the country’s major roads and ports.

“Today Panama celebrates a historic moment that we have been waiting for for years. At first there were only a few of us but now we all understand that Panama’s gold is green,” said Serena Vamvas, who has been protesting the mine since 2021 with Foundation My Sea (Fundación Mi Mar).

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Shareholders of mining company Fortescue deliver protest vote against executive pay plans

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Iron ore miner rebuked with 52% of investors voting against remuneration report amid senior staff departures

Iron ore miner Fortescue received a stern rebuke of its executive pay plans on Tuesday, with shareholders registering a strike against the company after a tumultuous period of senior staff turnover.

The Andrew Forrest-chaired company lost the chief executive of its mining business, its chief financial officer and a high-profile former director in quick succession earlier this year, causing shareholder angst.

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Kazakhstan mourns after ArcelorMittal mine disaster kills 45

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Fire at Kostenko mine is latest in series of deadly incidents, and has prompted nationalisation of global company’s local affiliate

Kazakhstan held nationwide mourning on Sunday after 45 people died in a fire at an ArcelorMittal mine, the worst accident in the central Asian country’s post-Soviet history.

The tragedy, which struck at the Kostenko coalmine in the Karaganda region on Saturday, came after a series of deadly incidents at ArcelorMittal mines and has prompted the nationalisation of the company’s local affiliate.

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Africa’s ‘optimist-in-chief’ on the continent’s renaissance: ‘Don’t just believe me, believe the data’

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In an exclusive interview, Akinwumi Adesina, head of the African Development Bank, says the outlook is good for a continent with the workers of the future and the best investment opportunities

Africa holds the future workforce for the ageing economies of the west, according to one of the continent’s leading financial figures, who also said it was time to ditch the myths around corruption and risk.

In an exclusive interview before this weekend’s World Bank meetings in Morocco, Akinwumi Adesina said there was a resurgence of belief in Africa’s economic prospects and attacked negative stereotyping, adding that there was “every reason to be optimistic”.

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Australia needs climate trigger laws, conservation groups say after failed challenge to coalmines

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Calls come after federal court dismisses legal action against environment minister’s decisions on two mine expansions

Conservation groups say Australia’s environment laws must be changed to include a climate trigger after the federal court dismissed a legal challenge against the environment minister’s decisions on two proposed coalmine expansions.

Known as the living wonders case, the legal action launched by the Environment Council of Central Queensland (ECoCeQ) alleged the minister, Tanya Plibersek, failed to protect the environment from climate harm when she decided the projects could move the next stage of the federal assessment process.

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Cadia goldmine: Newcrest pleads guilty to breaching clean air regulations

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NSW Environmental Protection Authority alleged company had exceeded standard concentration of solid particles under air pollution laws

Mining company Newcrest has pleaded guilty to breaching clean air regulations in the operation of the Cadia goldmine, near Orange in central west New South Wales.

The NSW Environmental Protection Authority began proceedings against the company in August, alleging that the operation of surface exhaust fans attached to the main ventilation shaft for the underground goldmine, dubbed vent rise 8, had caused it to exceed the standard concentration of solid particles under air pollution laws.

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EU moves to cut dependency on China for battery and solar panel materials

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Parliament votes to cut mining red tape and diversify its supplies of raw materials such as lithium and silicon

The EU has voted in a plan to secure more of the critical materials needed to make solar panels, electric car batteries and other key elements of its green transition.

The European parliament agreed on Thursday to diversify its supplies of critical raw materials and cut red tape for mining companies. In an attempt to reduce its dependency on China, it plans to ensure that by 2030 it does not rely on a single country for more than 65% of its supply of any strategic raw material.

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Brazilian Indigenous group expresses solidarity with voice yes campaign amid fight with BHP

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Brazilian Indigenous leaders who are fighting a class action suit against BHP over a tailings dam collapse say they face similar struggles to First Nations Australians

A group of First Nations Brazilians taking on the mining company BHP say a voice to parliament will give Indigenous Australians a critical avenue they were not afforded – the chance to consult.

The delegation is visiting Australia to meet with politicians this week amid their multibillion-dollar class action suit against the Australian mining firm over its role in the devastation caused by the Mariana dam disaster in 2015.

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Pilbara native title case: the fight to decide if Fortescue pays compensation to Indigenous owners

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The Yindjibarndi people say WA and Andrew Forrest’s mining company must pay for the destruction of sacred country and community

In the heart of the Pilbara, two cultures and two systems of law have collided in the red dirt – and in a bitterly contested native title case being fought in the federal court.

To the Fortescue Metals Group – the mining company founded and chaired by billionaire Andrew Forrest – and the state of Western Australia, that red dirt means one thing: iron ore.

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Serious Fraud Office drops 10-year corruption inquiry into Kazakh miner ENRC

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UK agency also shuts other high-profile cases including Rio Tinto investigation

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has abandoned a criminal investigation into the Kazakh mining group ENRC, ending a decade-long corruption inquiry mired in controversy.

The SFO updated its website on Thursday with a notice that it had closed the case after concluding there was “insufficient admissible evidence” to prosecute the company.

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‘Rise up’: monks urge WA towns to fight minerals exploration in vulnerable Jarrah forests

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After seeing off a bid to explore near the Bodhinyana monastery, the forest monks are encouraging others to ‘keep the pressure on’

Buddhist monks who have sought enlightenment in a globally unique forest in Western Australia are standing defiant after fighting off an attempt to explore their area for minerals.

Conservationists say the northern Jarrah forest in the state’s south-west, already under pressure from climate change, is the target of several mining companies looking to explore for minerals needed for the clean energy transition.

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Andrew Forrest cleared of wrongdoing after Fortescue ordered review into anonymous allegation

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Mining company engaged a private law firm to investigate when directors became aware of an anonymous letter about the executive chairman

Fortescue Metals ordered a review into an anonymous allegation about the behaviour of its executive chair, Andrew Forrest, after a whistleblower tipoff, but cleared him of wrongdoing.

The company said in a statement it engaged an independent law firm that had not previously represented Fortescue or its billionaire founder to investigate the issue.

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Nicola Forrest to become Australia’s second richest woman after split from billionaire Andrew Forrest

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Pair say decision to live apart will have no impact on their shared business interests and philanthropy

Australia’s wealthiest couple Andrew and Nicola Forrest have separated after more than three decades of marriage, but they say the split will not affect their shared business or philanthropic interests.

Most of their wealth comes from a more than one-third stake in iron ore miner Fortescue, which is attempting to diversify into hydrogen production.

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Brazil says illegal miners driven from Indigenous territory, but ‘war’ not over

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Country’s top cop said 90% of miners despoiling Yanomami land had been expelled, though experts say they are only displaced

Brazil’s top federal police chief for the Amazon has celebrated the government’s success in driving thousands of illegal miners from the country’s largest Indigenous territory but warned the “war” against environmental criminals is not yet over.

Speaking during a visit to the Amazon city of Belém, Humberto Freire estimated environmental and police special forces had expelled 90% of the 20,000 miners who had been devastating the protected Yanomami territory, since launching their clampdown in February.

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Cadia goldmine could be source of some lead found in water tanks, miner says

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Exclusive: General manager says chemical analysis shows ‘slight overlap’ of mine lead and samples from local residents’ rainwater tanks

Chemical analysis has identified the Cadia Hill goldmine as a potential source of some of the lead found in samples collected from nearby residential rainwater tanks in central west New South Wales, the mine’s management has said.

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has been investigating the goldmine – one of the largest in the world – since May, when it issued Newcrest’s Cadia Holdings Pty Ltd with a draft pollution prevention notice and a draft licence variation regarding its management of emissions of dust and other pollutants. It followed local residents, including children, reporting heavy metals in their blood and rainwater tanks.

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Future of deep-sea mining hangs in balance as opposition grows

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Ireland and Sweden join countries calling for moratorium on extraction of metals from seabed as UN-backed authority prepares for crucial talks

The list of countries calling for a pause on deep-sea mining continued to grow this week ahead of a key moment that mining companies hope will launch the fledgling industry, and its opponents hope could clip its wings, perhaps for good.

Ireland and Sweden became the latest developed economies to join critics, including scientists, environmental organisations and multinationals such as BMW, Volvo and Samsung. The carmakers have committed not to use minerals mined from the seabed in their electric vehicles.

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