Prices for alumina have surged by more than 20% so far this month and are now within striking distance of the record of $707.75 set in 2018, according to pricing agency Fastmarkets Ltd.

The rally has been building all year due to a string of disruptions along the sprawling global supply chain, from Australia to Jamaica. To make aluminum, raw ores known as bauxite are refined into alumina, which is then smelted into pure metal. The latest shock came earlier this month, when Guinea blocked Emirates Global Aluminium’s bauxite exports, sowing panic among buyers who are now scrambling to snap up alumina supplies.

As a result, the aluminum industry in China — the world’s biggest producer of the metal used in everything from drink cans to airplane parts — is coming under strain. China relies heavily on Guinea for bauxite, and smelters are being squeezed as alumina costs soar while prices for the finished product haven’t risen as quickly.

In the worst-case scenario, aluminum smelters could need to curtail production to limit losses, tightening metal supplies and underpinning a rally in aluminum prices. Analysts are hopeful that alumina output will rebound before that happens, but conditions on the ground are deteriorating fast.

Chinese port inventories of alumina have plunged to the lowest levels since at least 2015. With spot cargoes disappearing fast, traders and smelters have been approaching other sellers in western markets that they don’t usually buy from, according to people familiar with the matter. In some cases buyers are queuing up outside alumina plants, according to industry researcher Mysteel Global.

Trading in alumina futures has surged in Shanghai, bringing in a new cohort of eager buyers as smelters and physical traders dash to obtain dwindling supplies.

“For months, the market has been one accident or event away from a major price move,” Duncan Hobbs, head of research at metals trading house Concord Resources Ltd., said by phone. “The Guinea situation has provided the catalyst for another step-up in prices, and it sets the stage for a tighter market and a deeper deficit.”

The latest turmoil offers a fresh reminder that a handful of companies and countries have outsized influence in one of the world’s most ubiquitous metals.

A wave of Chinese investment in Guinea over the last decade has led to surge in bauxite production in the West African country. China’s industry — which produces about 60% of the world’s alumina and aluminum — now sources 70% of its import needs from the nation.

Concerns about Guinea’s dominance in bauxite rose to the fore during a coup in 2021. Since then, the nation’s ruling military junta has sought to leverage its mineral wealth by compelling miners to invest in alumina plants in-country as well.

“The export ban is likely to be somewhat of a shakedown of mining companies to both increase royalties on bauxite, and to accelerate investment in promised alumina refineries in Guinea,” BMO Capital Markets analysts Colin Hamilton and George Heppel said in an emailed note.

Emirates Global Aluminium signed a preliminary deal to build an alumina refinery in Guinea in June, working alongside Aluminium Corporation of China, commonly known as Chalco. But by building additional alumina refining capacity there, the companies could constrain bauxite supplies that would otherwise go to their existing alumina plants.

EGA is still seeking clarity on the exact reason for the stoppage, but it believes there’s no legal justification for the action based on its progress in developing the alumina refinery, the company said in an emailed statement. Colonel Kaba Camara, a spokesperson for Guinea’s General Directorate of Customs, declined to comment on the matter.

“This growing dependence on Guinea leaves room for market shocks,” Morgan Stanley analysts led by Amy Gower said in an emailed note. “While suspensions like this are often short-lived, it highlights the thin safety buffer in the bauxite market.”

The consensus among analysts is that recent disruptions in Australia and elsewhere will be resolved before smelters will need to start shutting down, particularly due to the hefty costs involved in doing so. But further disruptions shouldn’t be ruled out, according to Concord’s Hobbs.

“In the next 12 months the alumina market balance should ease significantly, and it’s hard not to take the fundamental position that prices will fall,” he said. “But the alumina market is starting from a much deeper deficit than appears popularly appreciated, so there will be more catch-up to do to make the market square again.”

Aluminum prices rose as much as 1.9% to $2,644 on the London Metal Exchange on Tuesday, while other metals were mixed.

Read More: China to extend record aluminum output amid ample power

The London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price, indexed to Platts benchmark Australian alumina assessment, closed Wednesday at $633.35 per metric ton, lifting the ratio to the aluminum price to almost 25%.

The alumina-aluminum ratio was just 15% at the start of 2024, when alumina was priced at $350 per ton.

A series of supply disruptions have driven the alumina price higher this year. The trigger for the latest price jump was news of export problems in Guinea, the major import source of bauxite for China’s alumina refineries.

The physical alumina market is undeniably tight but the explosive nature of the price action also signals a speculative frenzy on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE).

Shanghai boom

Nearly 25 million tons were transacted on the ShFE alumina contract on Wednesday, a record daily high and equivalent to almost a fifth of global annual production.

Open interest has also soared to life-of-contract highs as investors have bought into a steadily rising market.

The exchange adjusted both trading limits and margins on Thursday, imposing a percentage point premium on speculative positions relative to industrial hedge positions.

This is standard operating procedure for China’s exchanges in the face of speculative surges such as that currently washing into the Shanghai alumina market.

This sort of futures price volatility is a new phenomenon for the alumina market.

Both the LME and its US peer CME Group offer alumina contracts but neither is liquid. The explosive growth in the Shanghai contract, by contrast, has changed the dynamic between paper and physical markets since trading began in June last year.

This is the second bout of turbulence on the Shanghai market after a massive price spike in January, also due to concerns about Guinean bauxite supply.

All eyes on Guinea

The price sensitivity to events in Guinea highlights how dependent China’s alumina refineries have become on West African bauxite.

China’s bauxite mining sector has been hit by multiple waves of environmental inspections, limiting domestic supply and encouraging more alumina refineries to look overseas for their raw material.

Imports of Indonesian bauxite stopped early 2023 after the Indonesian government banned exports in a drive to force its miners downstream into refining and smelting.

Guinea has fast emerged as China’s primary bauxite supplier. Imports doubled between 2000 and 2023 to almost 100 million tons and were up by another 13% in the first eight months of this year.

The January alumina panic was down to an explosion at an oil terminal in the Guinean port of Conakry. This time around it’s news that a local subsidiary of Emirates Global Aluminium has had its bauxite exports suspended by customs.

Although wildly exaggerated, the price reaction in Shanghai is logical, given the lack of alternative bauxite supply and tighter conditions in the alumina market itself.

Supply hits

Alumina supply has taken multiple hits this year.

US producer Alcoa announced in January the permanent closure of its Kwinana refinery in Australia. The ramp-down was scheduled to be completed by the third quarter.

In May Rio Tinto declared force majeure on deliveries from its refineries in Queensland due to restricted gas capacity levels.

Century Aluminum’s operations in Jamaica were briefly interrupted by Hurricane Beryl in September and South32 has flagged concerns about its Australian operations due to conditions on its operating licence required by environmental regulators.

Meanwhile, Chinese demand for alumina has been growing strongly as the country’s smelters have benefited from improved power supply, particularly in the hydro-rich province of Yunnan.

National aluminum output rose by 4.4% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2024 with annualized run-rates increasing by almost 1.5 million tons since December.

That said, China at a national level doesn’t seem to be physically short of alumina since it continues to export significant quantities to Russia.

Indeed, exports to Russia surged by 41% year-on-year to 1.0 million tons in January-April, turning China from net importer to net exporter of the intermediate product.

Future(s) disruption

But physical availability is not the same as exchange availability.

ShFE alumina stocks have dropped by more than half since June to 103,416 tons. The result is time-spread tightness with the premium for cash relative to forward contracts flaring wider this week.

Short-position holders’ ability to deliver physical material will depend on how much alumina is located at ShFE’s four delivery points in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Gansu and Xinjiang.

Much also hangs on how serious the threat of disruption to Guinean bauxite shipments is. The January scare quickly subsided and there’s no indication the latest incident is the harbinger of a national change of policy around exports.

What has changed, however, is the reaction time to such events.

Before the arrival of the Shanghai futures contract, spot alumina was priced by physical cargo transactions, which can be few and far between in a market dominated by yearly supply contracts.

Now a headline from Guinea can move the futures price in seconds, creating a disconnect between paper and physical markets.

This added volatility is going to make the previously tranquil alumina market a much more turbulent place.

It’s also going to make smelter costs much more unpredictable with a potential knock-on impact on the price of aluminum itself.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

At the end of the third quarter of 2024, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners had a combined market capitalization of $1.51 trillion, up just under $76 billion from end-June, largely on the back of gold and royalty stocks.

The total stock market valuation of the world’s biggest mining companies is up a fairly modest 8% year to end-September and despite the good run is still $240 billion below the peak hit in the second quarter of 2022.  

Ranks, value of gold stocks swell

The value of precious metals and royalty companies climbed by a combined $42 billion, or 16% during the quarter and gold counters dominate the best performing ranks. 

Were it not for the limited tradability of stock in Russia’s Polyus, which lost some ground over the last three months despite gold’s stellar performance, bullion’s effect on the Top 50 would have been even more pronounced. 

Canada’s Alamos Gold joins the top 50 for the first time with a more than 31% jump in value, lifting it six places to number 48 with a valuation of $8.2 billion at the end of the quarter while the second quarter’s newcomer Pan American Silver (following its absorption of Yamana Gold) hangs on at no 50.

Alamos Gold last month raised its production guidance by over 20% for 2025-2026 with the inclusion of the Magino mine and its integration with its Island Gold operation in Ontario. The Toronto- based miner has long term ambitions to grow its production base to 900,000 ounces per year.

Uzbekistan is readying an IPO for Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat – the world’s fourth largest gold mining company and significant uranium producer in 2025. NMMC debuted a $1 billion bond offering last week, marking the first global debt market issuance from a gold mining company since June 2023.

Navoi should easily join the ranks of gold producers in the top 50 thanks to ownership of the world’s largest gold mine, Muruntau, and annual production of 2.9 million ounces at grades and per ounce extraction costs the envy of the sector.  

The Muruntau open pit mine southwest of the Kyzylkum desert, originally developed during the Soviet era as a source of uranium, has estimated reserves of around 130 million ounces of gold. 

Goldilocks copper

Copper specialists, and those with fat gold credits, have gained a combined 36% year to date as the copper price continues to flirt with the $10,000 a tonne level, but momentum slowed dramatically during Q3 with the group contributing only $7.2 billion in added market worth during the quarter. 

Amman Mineral’s fierce rally also came to an abrupt halt during the quarter with the counter losing 18% over the three months and coming close to falling out of the top 10.

Investors who bought Amman, owner of the world’s third largest mine worldwide in terms of copper equivalent, at the IPO price in Jakarta a year ago, are still enjoying 400% gains since then, however. 

Southern Copper’s position as the world’s third most valuable mining stock seems entrenched after a double digit percentage gain in Q3 compared to a much more sedate performance by Freeport-McMoRan, which now has to gain a full $20 billion in market cap to haul in its Mexico City-based rival.

Light on lithium 

Rio Tinto’s vote of confidence in the long term future of the lithium sector (and its own ability to make M&A work) dominated the news at the start of the December-quarter but it’s worth noting that Arcadium’s more than 90% surge since the all-cash offer was first announced is not enough for the stock to enter the rankings.

Three lithium counters exited the rankings this year, Australia’s Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources and China’s Tianqi Lithium as the deep slump in prices for the battery metal continues to take its toll.  

Last quarter’s no 50, Ganfeng Lithium jumps six places after being swept up in the stimulus-induced rally on Chinese stock markets at the end of the quarter, while Tianqi’s performance so far in October should see it reenter the Top 50 in due course. 

Ganfeng was barely holding on at position 50 at end-June and with gold price momentum continuing and two gold mining companies waiting in the winds – Yintai and Alamos – only three lithium counters in the top 50 may be a reality for some time to come. 

After peaking in the second quarter of 2022 with a combined value of nearly $120 billion, the remaining lithium stocks’ market value has now shrunk to $34 billion.  

Iron ore ground down

Despite a modest improvement during the quarter, the mining industry’s traditional big 5 – BHP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vale and Anglo American – remain in the red for 2024, losing $24 billion since the start of the year. 

The big 5 diversifieds now make up 29% of the total index, down from a height of 38% at the end of 2022.  

Iron ore’s less than rosy outlook – the late boost China’s recent stimulus package notwithstanding – saw Fortescue once again feature on the biggest losers list and Cleveland Cliffs exit the ranking with the US iron ore miner’s 37% decline this year exacerbated by its inability to capitalize on the blocking of the Nippon-US Steel tie up. 

Iron ore’s representation in the top 50 have diminished in the last couple of years – Brazil’s CSN Mineração dropped out during Q1 this year while Anglo-controlled and separately-listed Kumba Iron Ore has lost touch with the top tier after a 40% fall year to date.

Click on image for full size table.

NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, stock exchange data, company reports. Share data from primary-listed exchange at close Oct 4, 2024 close of trading converted to US$ where applicable. Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.  

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining (the gold and uranium giant may list later this year), Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like China’s CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining will continue to represent a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

The disruption, caused by customs actions, impacts the raw material essential for producing alumina, the primary ingredient in aluminum.

EGA said it is working to resolve the issue swiftly, though production at its Al Taweelah refinery remains unaffected.

Aluminum prices rose as high as 2.7%, reaching $2,655 per tonne, while alumina futures in Shanghai surged 4.2% to 4,553 yuan ($644) per tonne — the highest since their launch in June 2023.

This suspension adds to a year of supply constraints in the alumina market. Earlier disruptions included Alcoa’s closure of its Kwinana refinery in Australia and Rio Tinto’s declaration of force majeure at its Queensland refineries due to gas shortages. China has also faced alumina supply limitations from bauxite shortages amid environmental inspections.

Chinese alumina producers have ramped up output to capitalize on the high prices, with 6.4 million tonnes of new capacity expected in 2024. However, this additional supply could temper the price rally.

“Alumina prices have support in the short term from shortage of domestic Chinese bauxite supply, high price of imported bauxite and strong demand,” said Chen Xinlin, managing consultant at Wood Mackenzie.

Trafigura Group highlighted the strain these price surges are placing on aluminum smelters, calling it the most significant factor influencing the market outlook.

(With files from Reuters and Bloomberg)

Read more: Copper prices to hit record high in Q4 2024 on Fed cuts and China stimulus

The production capacity of the refinery is 1 million metric tons of alumina per year, which would absorb 3.3 million tons input of bauxite.

Resource-rich Indonesia is keen to develop its domestic mineral processing industries instead of exporting raw ores. It has successfully attracted massive investment for nickel processing plants since it banned exports of unprocessed nickel in January 2020.

Indonesia banned the export of bauxite, the raw material for aluminum, last year in hopes of emulating the success in nickel.

“The domestic aluminum demand is 1.2 million tons, 56% is imported while we have the raw material. When these are all completed, we can stop the import,” Jokowi, as the president is commonly known, said in his remarks.

The companies are planning to expand the plant’s production capacity by another 1 million tons and build an aluminum plant to further process the alumina output, according to Hendi Prio Santoso, chief executive of MIND ID, the parent company of both Inalum and Antam.

The second phase of the alumina plant may cost around another $900 million in investment, while the future aluminum plant is estimated to cost $2 billion, Hendi added.

(By Bernadette Christina, Stanley Widianto and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Rashmi Aich and Mrigank Dhaiwala)

The agreement will support policy dialogue, sharing of technical knowledge and expertise and cover areas like supply chain resilience, sustainable upstream and downstream processing, and mineral criticality, it said in a statement, which did not prove specific details.

The partnership “puts both countries as key players in the critical minerals supply chain,” Britain’s development minister Anneliese Dodds said in the statement after signing the deal with Indonesia’s energy minister.

Indonesia has rich deposits of tin, copper and bauxite, among others, and is the world’s largest source of nickel ore. It is seeking to extract more value from the mineral by attracting investment into its processing and in the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries.

The announcement comes two months after the United States said it had approached Indonesia about joining a multinational critical mineral partnership aimed at accelerating development of sustainable critical minerals supply chains.

Indonesia has massively expanded its nickel processing sector since it banned exports of unprocessed ore in 2020, but environmentalists have blamed the industry for deforestation, and water and air pollution caused by smelters.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dodds told Reuters that Britain’s agreement with Indonesia was intended to create local jobs and protect the environment, including from damage created by mining, calling the partnership “incredibly important”.

(By Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin Petty)

(By Marta Nogueira and Andre Romani; Editing by Kylie Madry)

The state assembly has approved the Jharkhand Mineral Bearing Land Cess Bill and it now awaits the assent of the governor, the people said, asking not to be named as the deliberations aren’t yet public. A sum of 100 rupees ($1.19) a ton will be levied on coal and iron ore production once it’s passed, they said.

Jharkhand in India’s northeast is one of the country’s top coal-producing states and also has major reserves of iron ore, bauxite and manganese. The bill follows a Supreme Court ruling that gave Indian states the right to impose levies on mining, in addition to collecting existing royalties. Local governments will also be allowed to recover any overdue payments from April 2026.

Jharkhand government’s public relations department didn’t respond to calls or an email seeking comment.

“India’s mining industry is already saddled with very high taxation and any new taxes could burden the industry and risk investments,” said B.K. Bhatia, additional secretary general at Federation of Indian Mineral Industries. The court ruling has given “unbridled powers to states” and with such large expenses looming “companies will be looking to prioritize arrear payments instead of making new investments,” he said.

FIMI, an industry lobby group, estimated the historic arrears could be as high as 2 trillion rupees for miners in states including Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka. States are yet to release an official figure.

In addition to coal and iron ore, Jharkhand will impose taxes of 70 rupees a ton on bauxite, and 50 rupees on limestone and manganese, the people said. For other minerals, the miners will pay a sum equal to 50% of the royalty levied on them by the state government, they said.

(By Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Camalco, the Cameroonian subsidiary of the Australian miner, will carry out the direct shipping ore (DSO) project at the Minim-Martap mine in northern Cameroon, covering an area of nearly 500 square km (123,550 acres).

“We have finally been able to bring the long [awaited], old Minim-Martap, which was known theoretically, into fruition,” Fuh Calistus Gentry, Cameroon’s interim mines minister, said at the signing event.

According to an initial 20-year agreement, Camalco will work on the Beatrice, Raymonde and Danielle plateaux in the north of the country to mine 99.1 million metric tons of proven reserves of bauxite, with 51.6% alumina and 2.4% silica.

The high-grade, low contaminant bauxite deposit is suitable for industrial production at a rate of around 5 million tons of bauxite ore annually over a period of 20 years.

Camalco will process bauxite into alumina and transport it via an existing railway line through the cities of Ngaoundere, Yaounde and Douala to the Port of Douala or the ore terminal at the Port of Kribi for export.

It will build the mine and other mining facilities to be used during the actual mining operation, as well as road infrastructure from the extraction site to the rail loading station. It will also invest in rehabilitating the existing railway network.

The mining company will also build an energy production unit, a unit to process bauxite into alumina, and dedicated port facilities.

Singapore-based Eagle Eye Asset Holdings (EEA) is helping fund the project after signing a subscription agreement with Canyon Resources last year.

Rana Pratap Singh, director general of Camalco, said the deal marks a very important milestone in the process of converting the concession into a mining permit.

“Once we have this mining permit, then all our activities will take pace with much more confidence from investors,” he told reporters at the signing, adding that serious mining operations could begin in two years’ time.

Under the deal, the Cameroonian government will own 10% of all bauxite extracted. It will also receive state concession fees and ad valorem tax, while the mining company will pay royalties to local communities.

The project will generate at least 1,000 direct jobs from the first year of production and significantly contribute to the national economy, the interim mines minister said.

The mining code stipulates that 15% of the raw material extracted must be supplied to the local market.

(By Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by Portia Crowe and Marguerita Choy)

“No one can serve more than two terms as president of the republic in his lifetime,” Jean Paul Kotembedouno, a spokesman for the constitution commission of the National Transition Council, the equivalent of parliament, said at the unveiling of the draft law. Presidential candidates must also be at least 35 years old and not older than 80 years, he said late Monday.

The proposed constitution will replace one dissolved by General Mamadi Doumbouya on seizing power through a coup in September 2021. The putsch followed former President Alpha Conde’s decision to increase presidential terms to six years from five in a constitutional amendment, which also permitted him to seek fresh election after completing his last and second term in 2020.

The draft also comes as calls for protest against the military government have intensified in recent months due to the high cost of living, the junta’s closure of radio and TV stations and the arrest of pro-democracy activists.

The plan, which will be put to a referendum before adoption, also provides for the creation of a senate, a second law-making chamber that will run alongside the National Assembly. It further calls for the establishment of a National Council for Development and a Special Court of Justice.

The new council will consist of former prime ministers and ex-portfolio ministers, who will be consulted on all mining, energy, hydraulic and environmental contracts, Kotembedouno said. The special court will be competent to judge the president in cases of high treason, such as the violation of his oath and the compromise of national interests in the management of natural resources, he said.

If approved the law will ensure that the president’s nominations for the position of central bank governor and deputy are first screened by the senate before their appointment, Kotembedouno said.

In addition to being a major exporter of bauxite, a reddish ore used to produce aluminum, Guinea also has the world’s largest untapped iron ore deposit, which companies including Rio Tinto Plc say they will begin shipping by 2026.

(By Ougna Camara)

Nippon Steel will transfer its 50% stake in the joint venture to Baoshan, it said. In a separate statement Baoshan said it had agreed to pay about 1.8 billion yuan ($247 million) for the holding.

The joint venture was producing and selling cold-rolled steel sheets and hot-dip galvanized steel sheets for automotive use in China. Nippon Steel did not provide a reason for dissolving the partnership originally established in 2004.

The Nikkei business daily, which first reported the news, said the company had decided to shift its attention to the US and India.

The company’s production capacity in China will be cut by 70%, but it will still keep around 1 million metric tonnes per year thanks to its joint business with Wuhan Iron and Steel, another unit of the China Baowu Steel Group, Nikkei said.

Nippon Steel said in a statement to Reuters the decision was not linked to its bid for US Steel, which has led to some US scrutiny of the Japanese company’s assets in China.

“Consultations on this matter have been held since September 2022,” Nippon Steel said. The company announced the deal to buy US Steel in December 2023.

Nippon Steel said last week it had hired former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help with its effort to close the US Steel acquisition. Pompeo is visiting Japan this week, according to local media reports.

In the statement to Reuters, Nippon Steel said Pompeo had no connection to its decision on its China operations. It declined to comment on details of his trip to Japan.

($1 = 7.2741 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(By Katya Golubkova, Amy Lv and Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Jamie Freed, Varun H K, Miral Fahmy and Jan Harvey)

The company’s shares tumbled as much as 12.9% in Sydney, the biggest intraday decline since March 2020. It announced a pre-tax writedown of $554 million on the value of its Worsley alumina asset, while the value of its Cerro Matoso nickel project in Colombia was reduced by $264 million.

Worsley includes the Boddington bauxite mining and alumina refining project southwest of Perth. While two weeks ago South32 received environmental approval to expand its life for a further 15 years, the Western Australia government imposed conditions that the company has described as creating “significant operating challenges” which could impact the future of refinery.

The conditions came after environmentalists raised concerns about mining in Western Australia’s Jarrah forests and the impact operations would have on wildlife. South32 is appealing the restrictions.

South32’s writedown of Worsley may exacerbate concerns global alumina supplies will tighten. Earlier this year, Alcoa Corp. announced it was shuttering its Kwinana alumina refinery — with an annual capacity of 2.2 million tons — in Western Australia, while Rio Tinto Group declared force majeure on cargoes in Queensland state because of regional gas shortages.

In its quarterly operations statement on Monday, South32 said copper production for the three months to June 30 fell 14% from the year before to 608,000 tons.

Alumina output in the period was also lower than expected due to maintenance of a conveyor belt transporting ore to the refining plant. Guidance for the 12 months starting July 1 was lowered 6% to 3.75 million tons as a result of further maintenance.

The main risk to South32’s profitability will be price volatility for its commodities, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Paul McTaggart said in a note Monday. Still, the company’s diversification into other minerals including silver, manganese and coal had the potential to mitigate this risk, they said.

South32 shares were trading 12.7% lower to A$2.985 a share at 11:50 a.m. Sydney time.

(By Paul-Alain Hunt)

US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez spoke to the Indonesian government about the Mineral Security Partnership, a collaboration of 14 countries and the European Union, during his visit to Jakarta this week.

The MSP, whose objective is to accelerate development of sustainable critical minerals supply chains and facilitate financial and diplomatic support, would be an opportunity to improve environmental standards and governance in Indonesia’s mineral sector, he told a press conference in Jakarta.

Indonesia, which has rich reserves of minerals such as nickel, copper and bauxite, is keen to promote itself as a production hub for batteries and electric vehicles.

The nation has massively expanded its nickel processing industry since it banned exports of unprocessed ore in 2020, but environmentalists have blamed the industry for deforestation, water and air pollution caused by smelters.

“I believe this will lead to more investment in Indonesia, and not just any investment, but also investment that benefits communities, that upholds labour laws, that upholds environmental laws,” Fernandez said.

Indonesia is one of seven countries the US would support to become a semiconductor hub, he added.

Jakarta has asked Washington for a critical mineral trade deal similar to the US deal with Japan.

Fernandez said the discussion is progressing positively, but declined to give a timeline on when a deal may be reached.

“We are very satisfied with the way that our discussions are ongoing. We will continue to expand on those discussions going forward,” he said.

Indonesia’s coordinating minister for economic affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, said in a statement late Monday that he and Fernandez discussed ways to develop critical minerals and the plan to create a mineral forum, which could be developed as a supply chain platform.

(By Fransiska Nangoy and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Jan Harvey and Michael Perry)

Indonesia banned exports of bauxite in mid 2023 to encourage domestic processing of the minerals, a move that a miners group said could harm them due to the limited processing capacity available.

“There will be a review and inter-ministerial coordination,” Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry spokesperson Agus Cahyono Adi told Bisnis.com.

The spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.

Lawmakers during a meeting with the mining ministry earlier this week had asked the government to reassess the ban and reopen shipments to help revive the economies of areas that rely on bauxite mining activities.

Rio Tinto’s Gove site in Australia’s Northern Territory has been supplying the global aluminum industry with bauxite for more than 40 years. The bauxite is shipped internationally as well as being used to supply the Queensland Alumina Limited and Yarwun refineries in Gladstone, Queensland. These refineries produce alumina as feedstock for Rio Tinto’s Australian aluminum smelting operations and for sale on the international market.

Bauxite mining operations in the Gove Peninsula are expected to end later this decade and work is already underway to support the closure of the operation and rehabilitation of the refinery, mine site and tailings facilities.

The two solar farms will be built on Gumatj and Rirratjingu country, the largest Traditional Owners groups who are signatories to the RTA Gove Traditional Owners Agreement. The solar farms will be built on Rio Tinto leases following agreements with the Traditional Owner groups on the location of the facilities.

The solar farms will help underpin a low-carbon future for the Gove community after mining operations cease, towards the end of the decade, Rio said.

Scotland-based mobile modular power provider Aggreko has been engaged to construct, own and operate the solar farms for Rio Tinto for up to 10 years, beginning construction in July 2024 and with completion scheduled for early 2025. The two sites will have a combined capacity of 10.5MW.

“The Gove solar project is part of our shared vision with traditional owners to leave a positive legacy for the Gove Peninsula communities after bauxite mining ceases,” Rio Tinto Gove operations’ acting general manager Shannon Price said in a news release.

“We’re excited to work with the Gumatj and Rirratjingu clans to provide an opportunity to secure alternative electricity generation assets on their country and to discuss opportunities to commercialize energy infrastructure in the future,” Price said.

“We are working in partnership with the Northern Territory government and traditional owners to ensure a smooth transition of leased land and town assets and infrastructure as Rio Tinto prepares to stop mining at Gove later this decade.”

According to Rio, the group is committed to helping to plan for the region’s future, which includes providing options for reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable infrastructure.

“The solar farms are also part of our ongoing commitment to decarbonize our business. Once operational, they are expected to reduce annual CO₂e emissions at our Gove operations by up to 17%,” Price said.

“We intend for these farms to underpin sustainable power for the region beyond mining.”

When complete, the solar farms are expected to reduce the region’s annual diesel consumption by about 20%, or 4.5 million litres a year, and lower annual carbon emissions by over 12,000 tonnes, which is the equivalent of taking 2,800 internal combustion engine cars off the road, Rio estimates.

The country increased production by 5% year-on-year to 3.65 million metric tons in May, according to the latest estimate from the International Aluminium Institute.

National output is now running close to an annualized 43.0 million tons, within touching distance of the record highs seen in September and October last year.

The strength of primary production growth has served to further tighten up the market for alumina, the intermediate product refined from bauxite. Chinese spot prices are currently trading close to their highest levels since late 2021, in turn providing cost support for the metal price.

Rain restarts play

Yunnan has seen much improved rainfall this year, alleviating power shortages in the hydro-rich province.

The local authorities have lifted operating restrictions on primary aluminum producers, facilitating the restart of around 1.15 million tons of capacity that was ordered off-line last November.

Yunnan has emerged as a major primary production hub in recent years as smelters have relocated from coal-rich provinces to lower their carbon footprint.

The province now hosts almost six million tonnes of annual smelter capacity and has become an important swing producer depending on rainfall patterns.

Right now, local production is in full upswing thanks to an alleviation of the persistent drought conditions that caused rolling closures over the last couple of years.

China’s annualized production has grown by just over one million tons so far this year, almost fully reversing the sharp drop seen in November when Yunnan capacity powered down.

Alumina supply stretched

Domestic alumina supply has struggled to keep up with demand from the smelter restarts in Yunnan.

While national production of the primary metal rose by 5.4% in the first five months of the year, output of alumina was up by just 3.4%, according to local data provider Shanghai Metal Market.

The mismatch of supply and demand is clear to see in the relative price performance of the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s (ShFE) alumina and aluminum contracts. The latter is up by 3.5% since the start of January, while the price of alumina has risen by 15.3%.

Chinese alumina prices have been volatile in 2024, jumping in January due to concern about bauxite supplies from Guinea and again in May after Rio Tinto declared force majeure on third-party deliveries from its alumina refineries in Queensland due to restricted gas supplies.

Spot alumina is currently assessed by Shanghai Metal Market at 3,910 yuan ($537.95) per ton, just shy of last month’s two-and-a-half year high.

The ShFE contract, newly launched last year, has been particularly frenetic, rising above the 4,000-yuan mark in May and currently trading below the spot physical market at 3,800.

The root cause of higher and more volatile pricing is China’s stretched upstream supply chain.

Environmental inspections caused multiple domestic bauxite mines to suspend operations early in the year, which in turn has constrained alumina production growth.

The country’s increasing reliance on bauxite from Guinea to fill the supply gap means domestic alumina pricing is becoming increasingly sensitive to overseas supply disruption.

Two-way flows

China has stepped up imports of alumina to help balance the internal market. Inbound shipments totalled 1.15 million tons in January-May, up by 60% on the first five months of 2023.

However, the country is simultaneously exporting ever more alumina to Russia.

Russian producer Rusal has been short of raw material since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, losing both the Nikolaev refinery in Ukraine and access to its Australian joint venture due to sanctions.

Chinese alumina producers increased exports to Russia from just 1,750 tons in 2021 to 1.12 million tons last year. Exports so far this year have surged another 46% to 610,000 tons.

On a net basis the country has been a relatively small net importer to the tune of just under 500,000 tons in 2024. That’s not been enough to fully offset the domestic supply gap nor replenish stocks in any meaningful way.

New price driver

China’s alumina squeeze should diminish over the coming months.

Current high prices are likely to spur the country’s refineries to increase supply while the early-year acceleration in demand should abate as Yunnan’s smelters complete their restarts.

Analysts at Macquarie expect alumina prices to peak in the third quarter of the year as the market shifts back to supply surplus, although the bank expects only a marginal 220,000-ton surplus over 2024 as a whole.

However, the sustained rally in alumina pricing this year is a sign that aluminum’s upstream supply dynamics are becoming less stable and more unpredictable.

The aluminum market hasn’t had to worry much about bauxite or alumina supply in the past. But China’s growing dependence on imported bauxite represents a new vulnerability for the world’s largest aluminum producer, which in turn means a new driver for the price.

($1 = 7.2683 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has made it a priority to extract more such materials at home to make local industries less reliant on imports from countries like China.

Italy estimates it can domestically source 16 of the 34 raw materials considered critical by the European Union, including lithium and bauxite.

The draft, promoted by Industry Minister Adolfo Urso, states that projects for the extraction, processing or recycling of these materials are “non-deferrable and urgent.”

Licences for these activities have to be issued within a maximum of 18 months under the scheme, which government officials said could be discussed by the cabinet as early as Thursday.

The government is working within the framework of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, a centrepiece of the bloc’s strategy to ensure its industry can compete with the United States and China in making clean tech products and accessing the necessary materials.

A provision in the Italian decree is likely to upset Green lobbies, as it paves the way for exploration permits for strategic raw materials to be issued without any environmental impact assessment.

Other measures allow for the reopening of closed or abandoned mining sites, mostly located in the Alps, Tuscany and Sardinia.

Companies holding mining concessions will have to pay the state or local authorities between 5% and 7% per year of the value of their output, depending on whether it takes place on sea or land.

The draft also sets out legislative steps for a long-awaited government-backed fund to support the country’s key supply chains.

Sources have previously said that Italy is set to pick state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and asset manager Invimit to run the vehicle, with CDP acting through its majority-owned Italian Investment Fund.

The so-called “Made in Italy” fund will be established with 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) of state cash, but Rome plans to raise an additional billion euros from other sources outside the public administration.

($1 = 0.9313 euros)

(By Giuseppe Fonte, Alvise Armellini and Angelo Amante; Editing by Gavin Jones and Susan Fenton)

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Beijing from June 4 to 8, in a bid to upgrade cooperation under the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a key part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The countries will promote investment by Chinese firms in Pakistan’s mining industry, and strengthen the planning of mining industry parks, including deep processing of ores, according to the joint statement published by China’s foreign ministry.

China will strengthen cooperation with Pakistan in areas such as marine oil and gas resources and natural gas hydrates, and will encourage Chinese firms to participate in the development of offshore oil and gas blocks in Pakistan, said the statement.

Chinese investment and financial support for Pakistan since 2013 have been a boon for the South Asian nation’s struggling economy, including the rolling over of loans so that Islamabad is able to meet external financing needs at a time foreign reserves are critically low.

Beijing has over $65 billion in investment in road, infrastructure and development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as part of the Belt and Road scheme.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Shuyan Wang; editing by Himani Sarkar and Kim Coghill)

“We had several meetings during which they (Rusal) showed a lot of interest in opening a bauxite mining concession in Sierra Leone,” Julius Mattai, minister of mines and mineral resources, was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Negotiations were still underway, RIA cited Mattai as saying. “We are here to resume cooperation, to confirm that we are strengthening Russian-African relations in the field of business, especially in the mining industry,” he added.

Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer outside China, already has operations in neighbouring Guinea.

Bauxite is converted into alumina, a raw material to make aluminum used by companies in construction and packaging.

“Sierra Leone has significant reserves of bauxite… and is actively seeking partners in the international market,” Rusal said in a statement to Reuters.

“Rusal is considering various opportunities to strengthen its raw material base and resource endowment,” it added.

Australia’s alumina export ban and a suspension of operations at a refinery in Ukraine have prompted Rusal to seek more alumina in China and other countries to ensure adequate supply to its Siberian aluminum smelters in 2022.

In 2023 it bought a 30% stake in a Chinese alumina refinery to support the feed coming from its alumina assets in Russia, Ireland, Jamaica and Guinea.

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Jan Harvey)

The investment by the state-run firm will go to two bauxite exploration projects and five refining projects in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong, the government said in a statement. It did not give a time frame for completion.

The Southeast Asian country, a regional manufacturing hub, started its alumina production more than a decade ago, but there have been concerns about pollution and high electricity consumption.

According to the government, Vinacomin will raise the alumina capacity of its Nhan Co Alumina complex to 2 million tons a year from 650,000 tons.

It will also triple the capacity of the bauxite-alumina-aluminum Dak Nong complex nearby to 2 million tons of alumina and 0.5-1 million tons of aluminum a year, the government said.

Dak Nong province has a reserve of 5.4 billion tons of bauxite, the most common raw material used for alumina and aluminum production, according to state media.

(By Khanh Vu; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)

The council on ethics has told Rio Tinto in recent months that it is assessing the company for environmental damage from its operations in the Brazilian Amazon, the report said, citing a letter seen by WSJ.

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which owns 1.5% of the global listed shares across 8,800 companies looks into investments made by Norges Bank Investment Management, the operator of the fund.

Norges is one of Rio’s largest stakeholders and as at Dec. 31 owned a 2.24% stake worth $2.7 billion in the global miner.

London-listed shares of Rio fell 0.8% to 5,078 pence.

The council’s concerns around Rio have generally been focussed on deforestation and the miner’s partial ownership of an operation in Northern Brazil called Mineração Rio do Norte, or MRN, in which Rio owns 22%, the report added.

“While the MRN operation is not managed by Rio Tinto, it has been working to progressively improve its environmental and social performance to meet industry best practice and our expectations as a shareholder,” a spokesperson for the world’s largest iron ore miner told Reuters.

(By Ayushman Ojha and Rishav Chatterjee; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

“We can expect to increase exports by 10 million (metric tons) a year, starting at the end of this year,” Frederic Bouzigues, CEO at SMB told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference.

Last year the company produced and exported a record 48 million tons of bauxite ore, helping the West African country, ranked among the world’s top producers, to increase output six-fold to 126 million tons in total. A decade ago Guinea’s total bauxite output was in the region of 20 million tons.

Bauxite ore is refined to make alumina used in aluminum products needed for the energy transition that has focused global attention and investment on critical metals in Africa.

The extension of capacity at Dapilon river terminal will entail fully automatic barge loading, a larger barge fleet as well as more Cape-size vessels. The barges use the river to transport ore to ships anchored in deeper sea waters.

“We have 50 Cape-size in house so we intend to have 10 more Cape-size,” he said, adding the infrastructure upgrade costs could range between $500 to $1 billion over the next five years.

The ore is exclusively sold to SMB’s Chinese shareholder, Shandong Weiqiao, he said, adding SMB would look to cooperate with other bauxite producers in the region.

“The European Union has officially declared aluminium as a critical material … so because of that, demand will increase,” Ismael Diakite, chief representative of the SMB-Winning Consortium, said at the same meeting.

The SMB-Winning consortium is separately developing the massive Simandou iron ore deposit through a new company, Winning Consortium Simandou.

(By Wendell Roelf; Editing by Barbara Lewis)

Rigorous laboratory testing has shown that PNNL’s Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion Process (ShAPE) can transform 100% post-consumer scrap aluminum into usable extrusions that meet or exceed stringent ASTM standards for strength and flexibility for common building-grade alloys 6061 and 6063. 

According to the researchers behind the development, the ShAPE technology unlocks the possibility of creating circularity in aluminum scrap markets, thus reducing dependency on imported primary aluminum.

The process also conserves nearly all of the energy required to manufacture new aluminum products. The International Aluminum Organization has estimated that producing one tonne of molten aluminum requires 16.6-megawatt hours of electricity, much of which comes from fossil fuels like coal.

“With approximately 55% of the global aluminum extrusion market servicing the building and construction industry, the evolution of ShAPE to include aluminum recycling for building structures is an enormous opportunity for decarbonizing the built environment,” lead researcher Scott Whalen said in a media statement.

“We are finding that the unique microstructures within the metal are more tolerant to impurities than previously thought. This enables us to reach even deeper into the aluminum scrap market while maintaining material performance.”

Low-carbon extruded parts

The latest round of patented ShAPE technology prompted technology entrepreneur Eric Donsky to form a start-up manufacturing company to scale a ShAPE-based process into vertically integrated manufacturing facilities that upcycle scrap aluminum into a portfolio of low-carbon extruded parts initially targeting the building and construction industry.

Atomic13 has signed an exclusive agreement with PNNL to commercialize the technology in certain fields of use and aims to move rapidly to create a myriad of custom-extruded aluminum parts for the building and consumer product industries, relying entirely on scrap. 

“The ShAPE technology is an amazing opportunity for US manufacturing and the build-out of our critical infrastructure,” Donsky said. “We believe there is tremendous environmental and commercial value to building circularity in the aluminum extrusion industry while helping the building and construction industry significantly reduce the embodied carbon of their products.”

“ShAPE technology enables companies like Atomic13 to produce aluminum extrusions made from 100% post-consumer scrap with 90% lower carbon,” he said. “At the same time, the low feedstock costs result in lower costs for consumers. We look forward to continuing to work with PNNL engineers to advance this promising technology.”

Aluminum extrusions are already a mainstay of the building industry. What’s different about the ShAPE manufacturing process is that the scrap aluminum bricks or rod-shaped billets are deformed using heat generated by high shear forces to pulverize impurities in scrap aluminum into tiny particles and uniformly disperse them within the aluminum microstructure.

The dispersion eliminates, for example, microscopic iron clumps that can generate microfractures in recycled aluminum products manufactured using conventional methods. ShAPE aluminum extrusion, thus, offers massive energy savings by eliminating the need to dilute impurities found in recycled aluminum with 25% to 40% newly mined aluminum before processing.

The PNNL team evaluated the mechanical properties of rods, tubes and irregular hollow, multichannel trapezoids under mechanical stress. The team tested 540 unique conditions products, made from post-consumer scrap briquettes, some with high iron content (0.2 to 0.34% iron). All performed at or above ASTM standards for yield strength and ultimate tensile strength.

At the end of 2023, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners reached a combined $1.42 trillion, up a healthy, if far from spectacular $48.7 billion over the course of 2023. Mining’s top tier is also worth $330 billion less than in March 2022.

Metal and mineral markets are volatile at the best of times – the nickel, cobalt and lithium price collapse in 2023 was extreme but not entirely unprecedented. Rare earth producers, platinum group metal watchers, iron ore followers, and gold and silver bugs for that matter, have been through worse.

Mining companies have become better at navigating choppy waters and as a whole the majors performed fairly consistently last year despite geopolitical and market turmoil, but within the ranking, 2023 fortunes were made and lost over what seemed like days.

The forced closure of one of the world’s biggest copper mines – and the subsequent collapse of owner First Quantum Minerals stock – served as a stark reminder of the outsized risks miners face over and above market swings.

Panama root canal

After months of protests and political pressure, at the end of November the Panama government ordered the closure of First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama mine following a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared the mining contract for the operation unconstitutional.

Public figures, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio backed the protests and shared a video calling for the “mega mine” to cease operations, which quickly went viral. 

That mining cobre is at the nexus of the green energy transition is clearly an irony lost on those trying to save the world.  FQM is seeking arbitration and completely winding down operations will take time, but a reopening of Cobre Panama is not on the cards. 

From 25th position in the ranking at the end of March 2022 and a valuation well above $20 billion, the November-December sell off saw FQM drop out of the top tier altogether, ending 2023 at number 58 with a market cap below $6 billion. 

Cobre Panama supplied more than 40% of the company’s revenue, and with nickel prices plummeting FQM has also been forced to suspend operations at its Raventhorpe mine in Australia. 

Amid the inevitable takeover rumours now in circulation, shares in the Vancouver-based company have rallied in 2024, but still not enough to reenter the top 50.

No. 12 with a bullet 

If 2023 was an annus horribilis for FQM it was mirabilis for Amman Mineral Internasional. Stock in the Indonesian firm surged by 269% from its July debut in Jakarta to reach a market capitalisation of more than $30 billion at the end of last year – and number 12 in the ranking. 

That valuation is quite an achievement on annual revenue of $2 billion no matter how fat margins are at the company’s Batu Hijau copper and gold mine.  Batu Hijau is the third largest mine worldwide in terms of copper equivalent output (but no match for Cobre Panama when it comes to the orange metal alone)  and has been in production since the turn of the millennium. Amman is also developing the adjacent Elang project on the island of Sumbawa. 

Amman Minerals’ ascent has minted at least six new billionaires and the stock appears to be building on its success in 2024, rising by double digits in January already.

Indonesia’s other major mining IPO, Harita Nickel, was on a different trajectory altogether. After listing in April and raising $672m, the company has had a tough go of it and the stock has shed more than 38% since then as nickel prices continue to decline.

Shiny gold, dull silver, tarnished PGMs

The price of gold hit an all-time record on December 1, 2023.  But bullion’s best ever level passed without the usual fanfare and despite bullish indications for 2024, gold mining stocks did not exactly storm the rankings of the most valuable miners.

Over the course of 2023 gold and royalty companies on the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners added a collective $20.8 billion in market cap. 

And judging by gold miners’ performance so far this year, gold above $2,000 is not providing enough support. Newmont is already down 17%, Barrick has shed 13% and Agnico Eagle shareholders are 9% poorer. 

The number of precious metals companies in the top 50 has also been relatively stable over the years. With Newmont’s absorption of Newcrest now complete, the open slot was taken up by Kinross, which spent a few years in the wilderness. 

Anglogold Ashanti was just edged out by Jiangxi Copper for position number 50 on the last trading days of 2023, but based on its performance so far in 2024 the London-listed company is already back among the top tier. Indeed Anglogold is the only major gold player in the black year to date.

Silver has not been able to ride gold’s coattails and the top 50 has not had a silver specialist for a few years after Fresnillo dropped out (now at #61) and while Pan American Silver has come close in recent years at the end of last year it made it to #58 only. 

The exit of platinum and palladium majors like Sibanye Stillwater and Impala Platinum, now both valued at less than $4 billion, made space for Royal Gold to reenter at 47 at the end of last year, up from 57th in 2022. 

After a dismal 2023, the sole remaining PGM specialist Anglo American Platinum looks likely to lose more ground this quarter as palladium and platinum prices continue to slide into the new year.

Not too tough at the top 

London-listed Anglo American has had a rough year in part due to its exposure to platinum group metals and control of AngloPlat, and is now valued at $30 billion after peaking at $70 billion in March 2021.  

Were it not for the London-listed company’s iron ore operations, the 40%-plus slump in share value may have been deeper. Rumours that Glencore may be sniffing around now that the Swiss behemoth’s bid for all of Teck Resources has soured is also keeping Anglo from falling further down the rankings .  

Investors in Anglo, with a history going back more than a hundred years on the South African gold and diamond fields, have had a particularly wild ride over the last few years. In January 2016, Anglo’s market cap fell below $5 billion after it came close to suffocating under a pile of debt.  

Against expectations, iron ore seems to be holding above $120 a tonne, Chinese property bankruptcies and Beijing’s tepid stimulus response notwithstanding. 

Iron ore’s resilience despite Chinese troubles has also kept the share prices of the other diversified majors, which make their fattest profits from the steelmaking ingredient, from skidding. 

The top 10 mining companies have been able to keep their share of the total above 50% for a few years now. Not quite the magnificent seven, but size does matter in mining, particularly when access to capital is no longer a headache but a migraine. 

Expectations of another active year of M&A in the sector is likely to make the Top 50 top-heavier, especially now that it’s painfully obvious just how one-commodity companies like the lithium stocks can so easily be derailed. Coal miners’ strong 2023 suggests there are still exceptional minerals that prove the rule.   

Lithium losers 

After defying gravity early on, the combined losses for lithium miners in the top 50 climbed to nearly $30 billion in market cap over the 12 month period. Four counters occupy the worst performance table for 2023. 

The M&A drama surrounding Liontown, Albermarle and Hancock Prospecting turned out to be a soap opera and Chile’s move to take control of its lithium industry now appears far less consequential than feared.

Despite the precipitous decline in lithium prices in 2023, after hitting all time highs above $80,000 a tonne in November 2022, none of the battery metal miners’ stock performance was dire enough to drop out of the Top 50.

The merger of Livent and Allkem to form Arcadium Lithium could in fact up lithium mining’s representation in the ranking to seven should Pilbara Minerals’ January bleeding be stanched. But with lithium prices far from stabilizing, the battery metal’s presence in the top 50 may fade further. 

Pilbara Minerals, which unlike its peers was still able to show share price gains last year,  joined the Top 50 last year, bringing the number of companies based in the Western Australia capital to five, surpassing the tally of Vancouver, BC as the top home base in the ranking. 

With the exit of First Quantum, three mining companies in the top 50 call Vancouver home while the return of Kinross saw the ranks of Toronto-headquartered miners move back up to four.  

Nuclear options

Uranium prices more than doubled during 2023 and recently hit triple digits for the first time in 16 years. The breakthrough for the nuclear fuel comes after a decade in the doldrums following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Canada’s Cameco made the best quarterly performer list once again in Q4 and after doubling in market worth in 2023.  The Saskatoon-based company now sits at no 23 in the ranking after jumping 22 places since end-2022.    

The value of shares in Kazatomprom, the world number one uranium producer, topped $10 billion at the end of 2023, placing it at position 38.  Until last year the state-owned Kazakh company was outside earshot of the Top 50 since its dual-listing in London and Astana in 2018.  

None of the smaller uranium companies are likely to pierce the top 50 by themselves, but combinations among the rank and file may edge in when countries aiming to ditch fossil fuels stop thinking they can have their yellowcake and eat it too.

*NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, Morningstar, GoogleFinance, company reports. Trading data from primary-listed exchange at December 28 2023 to January 2, 2024 where applicable, currency cross-rates January 2, 2024. 

Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining, which owns the world’s largest gold mine, Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy or Bayan Resources where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem. The revenue mix also tends to change alongside volatile coal prices. Same goes for battery makers like CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining still makes up a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

The MOUs Saudi Arabia signed with Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Morocco’s Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development and the Congo’s Ministry of Mines of the Democratic Republic involve cooperation in “the field of mineral wealth”, while a separate agreement inked with Russia involves geology. 

The country also announced a $182 million mineral exploration incentive program as part of efforts to build an economy that does not rely mostly on oil. Saudi Arabia has vast reserves of phosphate, gold, copper and bauxite.

“This programme will de-risk investments in our exploration, securing to enable new commodities, green field projects and junior miners,” Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef said at the Future Minerals Forum.

Deals worth 75 billion riyals ($20 billion) are expected to be signed in Riyadh during this week’s industry event, he added, announcing the fifth and sixth rounds of a licensing program offering access to 33 exploration sites this year.

The Gulf state has revised upwards estimates for its untapped mineral resources to $2.5 trillion, from a 2016 forecast of $1.3 trillion. Alkhorayef said this was based on 30% of the Arabian shields exploration, suggesting there is more to be discovered.

As part of its push to diversify away from fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia has also established investment fund Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Ma’aden and the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to buy assets overseas.

Its first major foray abroad was a deal to become a 10% shareholder in Vale’s $26 billion copper and nickel unit last July.

“Manara’s …management are looking around, finding different assets to buy or to partner with different countries.”

(With files from Reuters)

The company cited challenging market conditions and the facility’s age as the main reasons behind the decision, which will leave more than 750 people out of work.

The refinery will cease in the third quarter of this year, at which time its workforce would be cut from about 800 to about 250. An additional 200 contractors are expected to be affected.

Alcoa said that staff numbers would be further reduced to 50 in 2025.

Executive vice president Matt Reed said the decision reflected the 60-year-old plant’s age, scale and cost to operate as well as current market conditions.

“Today’s curtailment decision comes only after thorough and careful deliberation, and we acknowledge that this action will impact workers, business partners, and the community,” Reed said.

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook and Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said the outcome was “disappointing.”

“Today will be a difficult day for workers in my local community of Kwinana,” Cook said. “My government will step up to provide supports for local workers to retrain, reskill and look for new career opportunities in the local area.”

The plant was the first of Alcoa’s three Western Australia alumina refineries and it had the capacity to produce about 2.2 million tonnes of the raw material used to make aluminum. 

Kwinana has been operating well below nameplate capacity for the past year owing to operational issues, falling grades of bauxite and permitting setbacks.  It accounts for 1.2% of global output of alumina, according to figures from the London-based International Aluminium Institute. 

BMO analysts noted the refinery has historically been a relatively major supplier of merchant alumina to the Middle East, so a closure announcement at a time of high alumina prices in China following bauxite availability challenges may see upward pressure on the international spot price. 

“With Rio Tinto also writing down the value of its Yarwun refinery last year, we see potential that future years will see higher volumes of bauxite exported from Australia and lower volumes of alumina,” BMO Colin Hamilton, head of Global Commodities, said in a note on Monday.

The US-based company said it now plans to mine lower-grade bauxite in Western Australia until it gets to its next mining phase, expected to be around 2027.

The announcement follows Alcoa’s recent change in leadership. The Pittsburgh-based company shocked the markets in September with the sudden news of William Oplinger replacing Roy Harvey as its chief executive officer.

Alcoa’s alumina business segment accounts for about 28% of total revenue. The division was described as “marginal” by Oplinger after assuming the top post.

The US-based company kicked off a “restructuring program” at the alumina refinery located near Perth last year, amid environmental scrutiny and financial pressure.

The plant was the first of Alcoa’s three Western Australia alumina refineries that’s been in operation for about 60 years, with the capacity to produce about 2.2 million tonnes of the raw material used to make aluminum. 

Kwinana has been operating well below nameplate capacity for the past year owing to operational issues, falling grades of bauxite and permitting setbacks. BMO analysts noted the refinery has historically been a relatively major supplier of merchant alumina to the Middle East, so a closure announcement at a time of high alumina prices in China following bauxite availability challenges may see upward pressure on the international spot price. 

“With Rio Tinto also writing down the value of its Yarwun refinery last year, we see potential that future years will see higher volumes of bauxite exported from Australia and lower volumes of alumina,” BMO Colin Hamilton, head of Global Commodities, said in a note.

Nearly 1,200 workers could lose their jobs if Alcoa decides to close Kwinana, some of which could be relocated to Alcoa’s two mines in the state’s south-west, as well as to its other two refineries in the region.

The “imminent” announcement would follow Alcoa’s recent change in leadership. The Pittsburgh-based company announced in September that William Oplinger was replacing Roy Harvey as chief executive officer.

Alcoa’s alumina business segment accounts for about 28% of total revenue. The division was described as “marginal” by Oplinger after assuming the top post.

A year where the gold price sets an all-time record should be unalloyed good news for the mining and exploration industry, which despite all the buzz surrounding battery metals and the energy transition still represents the backbone of the junior market.

Metal and mineral markets are volatile at the best of times – the nickel, cobalt and lithium price collapse in 2023 was extreme but not entirely unprecedented. Rare earth producers, platinum group metal watchers, iron ore followers, and gold and silver bugs for that matter, have been through worse.

Mining companies have become better at navigating choppy waters, but the forced closure of one of the biggest copper mines to come into production in recent decades served as a stark reminder of the outsized risks miners face over and above market swings.

Panama shuts down giant copper mine

After months of protests and political pressure, at the end of November the Panama government ordered the closure of First Quantum Minerals’ Cobre Panama mine following a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared the mining contract for the operation unconstitutional.

Public figures including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio backed the protests and shared a video calling for the “mega mine” to cease operations, which quickly went viral. 

FQM’s latest statement on Friday said Panama’s government hasn’t provided a legal basis to the Vancouver-based company for pursuing the closure plan, a plan that the industries ministry of the central American nation said will only be presented in June next year.

FQM has filed two notices of arbitration over the closure of the mine, which has not been operating since protesters blocked access to its shipping port in October. However, arbitration would not be the company’s preferred outcome, said CEO Tristan Pascall.

In the aftermath of the unrest, FQM has said it should have better communicated the value of the $10 billion mine to the wider public, and will now spend more time engaging with Panamanians ahead of a national election next year. FQM shares have bounced in the past week, but is still trading more than 50% below the high hit during July this year.

Projected copper deficit evaporates

Cobre Panama’s shutdown and unexpected operational disruptions forcing copper mining companies to slash output has seen the sudden removal of around 600,000 tons of expected supply would, moving the market from a large expected surplus into balance, or even a deficit.

The next couple of years were supposed to be a time of plenty for copper, thanks to a series of big new projects starting up around the world.

The expectation across most of the industry was for a comfortable surplus before the market tightens again later this decade when surging demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure is expected to collide with a lack of new mines.

Instead, the mining industry has highlighted how vulnerable supply can be — whether due to political and social opposition, the difficulty of developing new operations, or simply the day-to-day challenge of pulling rocks up from deep beneath the earth.

Lithium price routed on supply surge

The price of lithium was decimated in 2023, but predictions for next year are far from rosy. Lithium demand from electric vehicles is still growing rapidly, but the supply response has overwhelmed the market.

Global lithium supply, meanwhile, will jump by 40% in 2024, UBS said earlier this month, to more than 1.4 million tons of lithium carbonate equivalent.

Output in top producers Australia and Latin America will rise 22% and 29% respectively, while that in Africa is expected to double, driven by projects in Zimbabwe, the bank said.

Chinese production will also jump 40% in the next two years, said UBS, driven by a major CATL project in southern Jiangxi province.

The investment bank expects Chinese lithium carbonate prices could fall by more than 30% next year, dipping as low as 80,000 yuan ($14,800) per tonne in 2024, averaging at around 100,000 yuan, equivalent to production costs in Jiangxi, China’s biggest producing region of the chemical.

Lithium assets still in high demand

In October, Albemarle Corp. walked away from its $4.2 billion takeover of Liontown Resources Ltd., after Australia’s richest woman built up a blocking minority and effectively scuppered one of the largest battery-metals deals to date.

Eager to add new supply, Albemarle had pursued its Perth-based target for months, eying its Kathleen Valley project — one of Australia’s most promising deposits. Liontown agreed to the US company’s “best and final” offer of A$3 a share in September — a near 100% premium to the price before Albemarle’s takeover interest was made public in March.

Albemarle had to contend with the arrival of combative mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, as her Hancock Prospecting steadily built up a 19.9% stake in Liontown. Last week, she became the single largest investor, with enough clout to potentially block a shareholder vote on the deal.

In December, SQM teamed up with Hancock Prospecting to make a sweetened A$1.7 billion ($1.14 billion) bid for Australian lithium developer Azure Minerals, the three parties said on Tuesday.

The deal would give the world’s no.2 lithium producer SQM a foothold in Australia with a stake in Azure’s Andover project and a partnership with Hancock, which has rail infrastructure and local experience in developing mines.

Chile, Mexico take control of lithium

This week Chile’s President Gabriel Boric hailed the formation of a new government-controlled lithium partnership that fuses assets of state-run Codelco with private miner SQM, as the leftist leader advances his push for greater public control over the battery metal. 

SQM said it would partner with copper giant Codelco for the future development and production of the metal in the Atacama salt flat, in a tie-up set to kick off in 2025 and run through 2060.

The deal gives Codelco majority control in line with the president’s plans announced in April to strengthen state control of lithium to generate more broad-based benefits from surging demand and to allow only public-private partnerships to participate in its exploitation.

For much of the year, the firms had been locked in talks over the future of lithium mining and production in the salt flat, located in Chile’s north and the home to 90% of the nation’s lithium reserves. The South American country has the world’s largest proven lithium reserves.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in February signed a decree handing over responsibility for lithium reserves to the energy ministry.

Lopez Obrador urged the private sector to work with the new state miner, saying the size of the investment needed means the government needs partners.

But analysts argue that companies are more likely to focus near-term investments in Chile or Argentina’s sprawling salt flats, where industries are more established and policies more market-friendly.

In August, Chinese lithium giant Ganfeng said Mexico’s mining authorities had issued a notice to its local subsidiaries indicating nine of its concessions had been terminated.

Gold to build on record-setting year

The New York futures price of gold set an all-time high at the beginning of December and looks set to surpass the peak going into the new year. 

London’s gold price benchmark hit an all-time high of $2,069.40 per troy ounce at an afternoon auction on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record of $2,067.15 set in August 2020, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) said.

“I can think of no clearer demonstration of gold’s role as a store of value than the enthusiasm with which investors across the world have turned to the metal during the recent economic and geopolitical turmoils,” said LMBA’s chief executive officer Ruth Crowell. 

JPMorgan predicted a new record back in July but expected the new high to occur in the second quarter of 2024. The basis of JPMorgan’s optimism for 2024 – falling US interest rates – remains intact:

“The bank has an average price target of $2,175 an ounce for bullion in the final quarter of 2024, with risks skewed to the upside on a forecast for a mild US recession that’s likely to hit sometime before the Fed starts easing.”

Even as gold climbed new peaks, exploration spending on the precious metal dipped. A study published in November overall mining exploration budgets fell this year for the first time since 2020, dropping 3% to $12.8 billion at the 2,235 companies that allocated funds to find or expand deposits.

Despite the sparkling gold price, gold exploration budgets, which historically have been driven more by the junior mining sector than any other metal or mineral, dropped by 16% or $1.1 billion year-on-year to just under $6 billion, representing 46% of the global total. 

That’s down from 54% in 2022 amid higher spending on lithium, nickel and other battery metals, a surge in spending on uranium and rare earths and an uptick for copper. 

Mining’s year of M&A, spin-offs, IPOs, and SPAC deals

In December, speculation about Anglo American (LON: AAL) becoming the target of a takeover by a rival or a private equity firm mounted, as weakness in the shares of the diversified miner persisted.

If Anglo American doesn’t turn operations around and its share price continues to lag, Jefferies analysts say they can’t “rule out the possibility that Anglo is involved in the broader trend of industry consolidation,” according to their research note.

In October, Newcrest Mining shareholders voted strongly in favour of accepting the roughly $17 billion buyout bid from global gold mining giant Newmont Corporation.

Newmont (NYSE: NEM) plans to raise $2 billion in cash through mine sales and project divestments following the acquisition. The acquisition brings the company’s value to around $50 billion and adds five active mines and two advanced projects to Newmont’s portfolio.

Breakups and spin-offs were also a big part of 2023 corporate developments.

After being rebuffed several times in its bid to buy all of Teck Resources, Glencore and its Japanese partner are in a better position to bring the $9 billion bid for the diversified Canadian miner’s coal unit to a close. Glencore CEO Gary Nagle’s initial bid for the entire company faced stiff opposition from Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government and from the premier of British Columbia, where the company is based.

Vale (NYSE: VALE) is not seeking new partners for its base metals unit following a recent equity sale, but could consider an IPO for the unit within three or four years, CEO Eduardo Bartolomeo said in October.

Vale recruited former Anglo American Plc boss Mark Cutifani in April to lead an independent board to oversee the $26-billion copper and nickel unit created in July when the Brazilian parent company sold 10% to Saudi fund Manara Minerals.

Shares in Indonesian copper and gold miner, PT Amman Mineral Internasional, have surged more than fourfold since listing in July and are set to keep rising after its inclusion in major emerging market indexes in November.

Amman Mineral’s $715 million IPO was the largest in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy this year and counted on strong demand by global and domestic funds.

Not all dealmaking went smoothly this year.

Announced in June, a $1 billion metals deal by blank-cheque fund ACG Acquisition Co to acquire a Brazilian nickel and and a copper-gold mine from Appian Capital, was terminated in September.

The deal was backed by Glencore, Chrysler parent Stellantis and Volkswagen’s battery unit PowerCo through an equity investment, but as nickel prices slumped there was a lack of interest from minority investors at the stage of the $300 million equity offering which ACG planned as part of the deal.

Talks in 2022 to acquire the mines also fell through after bidder Sibanye-Stillwater pulled out. That transaction is now the subject of legal proceedings after Appian filed a $1.2 billion claim against the South African miner.

Uranium upsurge

In late November uranium prices scaled $80 per pound for the first time in 15 years, driven by a resurgence in demand for nuclear power and supply disruptions.

Global yellowcake supply might reach 145 million lb. this year or next according to the World Nuclear Association. But annual demand is already at 180 million lb. and the industry group expects it to nearly double to 300 million lb. by 2040.

Some 60 nuclear plants are under construction globally and more are planned. Countries like Germany and Japan that considered phasing them out are reversing course.

Activity in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca uranium hotspot is intensifying. NexGen received environmental approval for its Rook I project in November, the province’s first OK for such a project in two decades. Denison Mines released a feasibility study for its Wheeler River project before investing in junior explorer F3 Uranium’s Patterson Lake North property.

Also, IsoEnergy took over Consolidated Uranium in September. Uranium Energy spent C$570 million over the past two years buying Uranium One, UEX Corp. and Rio Tinto’s Roughrider project. Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners in October closed their deal to buy Westinghouse’s nuclear plant construction unit for $7.9 billion.

Nickel nosedive

In April, Indonesia’s PT Trimegah Bangun Persada, better known as Harita Nickel, raised 10 trillion rupiah ($672 million) in what was then Indonesia’s largest initial public offering of the year. 

Harita Nickel’s IPO quickly turned sour for investors, however, as prices for the metal entered a steady and long decline. Nickel is the worst performer among the base metals, nearly halving in value after starting 2023 trading above $30,000 a tonne.

Next year is not looking great for the devil’s copper either with top producer Nornickel predicting a widening surplus due to lacklustre demand from electric vehicles and a ramp-up in supply from Indonesia, which also comes with a thick layer of cobalt:

“…due to the continuing destocking cycle in the EV supply chain, a greater share of non-nickel LFP batteries, and a partial shift from BEV to PHEV sales in China. Meanwhile, the launch of new Indonesian nickel capacities continued at a high pace.” 

Palladium also had a rough year, down by more than a third in 2023 despite a late charge from multi-year lows hit at the start of December. Palladium was last trading at $1,150 an ounce.

China flexes its critical mineral muscle

In July China announced it will clamp down on exports of two obscure yet crucial metals in an escalation of the trade war on technology with the US and Europe.

Beijing said exporters will need to apply for licenses from the commerce ministry if they want to start or continue to ship gallium and germanium out of the country and will be required to report details of the overseas buyers and their applications.

China is overwhelmingly the top source of both metals — accounting for 94% of gallium supply and 83% of germanium, according to a European Union study on critical raw materials this year. The two metals have a vast array of specialist uses across chipmaking, communications equipment and defence.

In October, China said it would require export permits for some graphite products to protect national security. China is the world’s top graphite producer and exporter. It also refines more than 90% of the world’s graphite into the material that is used in virtually all EV battery anodes, which is the negatively charged portion of a battery.

US miners said China’s move underscores the need for Washington to ease its own permit review process. Nearly one-third of the graphite consumed in the United States comes from China, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents auto supply chain companies.

In December, Beijing banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets on Thursday, adding it to a ban already in place on technology to extract and separate the critical materials.

Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for use in electric vehicles, wind turbines and electronics.

While Western countries are trying to launch their own rare earth processing operations, the ban is expected to have the biggest impact on so-called “heavy rare earths,” used in electric vehicle motors, medical devices and weaponry, where China has a virtual monopoly on refining.

Supply from Guinea, the world’s third largest producer of alumina raw material bauxite, has been in focus, supporting aluminum prices in London, after the Dec. 18 blast damaged fuel tanks at the main oil terminal handling fuel imports.

There is no impact on GAC’s production or shipments to customers, the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters, adding it expected no interruptions to its mining, rail and export activities.

Guinea said on Saturday that supplies of fuel to petrol stations were expected to improve significantly following diplomatic efforts with neighbouring countries.

The Dec. 18 blast killed 23 people and damaged most of the fuel tanks at the West African nation’s main oil terminal that handles its fuel imports, leading to shortages.

According to Emirates Global Aluminium’s website, GAC’s 2022 bauxite exports rose by 16% to a record of 14 million wet metric tons. GAC operates a mining concession, in the northwest of Guinea, transporting bauxite to a GAC port by rail.

Emirates Global Aluminium mainly supplies GAC’s bauxite to third-party customers.

(By Polina Devitt; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Barbara Lewis)

Aggreko has been contracted to build, own, and operate the solar farm to supply renewable electricity to the mine operations, in addition to its current contract to supply electricity generated from an existing diesel power station.

Rio Tinto said the project, which will supplement power currently supplied by Aggreko’s diesel generators, will help it reduce scope 2 emissions at its Weipa operations by up to 10%.

The solar farm and battery storage are expected to reduce Amrun’s diesel electricity consumption by 37% and annual CO2-equivalent emissions by 14,000 tonnes, and will add to the existing 5.6MW of solar and 4MWh of battery power built for Rio Tinto’s Weipa operations and the local electricity network since 2015.

 “The construction of the Amrun solar farm and battery storage system, which is located on Wik and Wik-Waya Traditional lands, is an important milestone for Weipa operations and will contribute to Rio Tinto’s commitment to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions,” Rio Tinto Weipa operations general manager Shona Markham said in the statement.

“The Amrun solar farm will be one of three Weipa operations solar stations, which will together provide 18MW of solar generation capacity to our mines and the Weipa town. This project helps us make inroads towards our ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our operations.”

Early works have begun on the new solar farm, which is expected to be operational by early 2025. Once completed, the Amrun solar farm will provide about 21 gigawatt hours of renewable power annually, the miner said.

Combined with the existing Weipa renewable power generation network, the solar farms will reduce Weipa operations’ diesel consumption by an estimated 10 million litres per year and lower its annual greenhouse gas emissions by about 28,000 tonnes — the equivalent of taking more than 6,000 internal combustion engine passenger cars off the road.

A new report by the country’s science agency CSIRO emphasizes that an accelerated transition is needed across the economy if the island nation is to meet the goal of net zero before 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5°C.

CSIRO’s Rapid Decarbonization scenario projects key milestones in 10-year timesteps that would set Australia on a path to net zero by 2050.

Using existing technologies, Australia can reduce emissions by 52% from 2020 levels by 2030. Beyond that, however, technologies currently in early development would need to be in widespread commercial use into the 2030s and 2040s, particularly to address hard-to-abate sectors.

The report notes that the investment costs will be substantial, and the role of the finance sector will be critical.

“Pressure is mounting for business to speed up its efforts towards net zero and lead the way for the rest of the country. How to move faster to deliver a cleaner, sustainable and stronger economy is the question on every business leader’s mind,” CSIRO’s executive director—environment, energy and resources, Peter Mayfield, said in a media statement.

“This work will help businesses find a rapid and achievable pathway to net zero appropriate to their sector—guiding investment to mitigate climate change, reinventing industries of old, and creating new jobs in emerging industries.”

CSIRO researchers applied to an Australian context the International Energy Agency’s global analysis of the technology, energy and investment needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Modelling focused on the high emissions sectors of the economy to develop transition pathways across energy, transport, building and heavy industry, including steel, cement and aluminum alongside agriculture, the largest energy emitters in the economy.

With this focus, the Rapid Decarbonization scenario projects the national effort will be led by a renewable electricity sector:

• Renewable sources would need to triple by 2030 to reach 90% of the electricity generation mix. To achieve this, almost all new capacity installed in the next decade would need to come from wind, solar and hydropower supported by increased storage capacity.
• Rapid electricity sector decarbonization is projected to drive down emissions from energy use in housing and commercial buildings, followed by electrification in mining, and later in transport. This highlights the need for more renewable electricity sooner.
• By 2040, 73% of cars and light commercial vehicles on the road will be electric-powered. Decarbonization of long-distance and heavy transport accelerates through 2030–2040.

According to the report, lagging behind international decarbonization would be a competitive disadvantage for Australia as other nations increasingly adopt low-emissions technologies and trade barriers towards high-emitting nations.

The demolition is part of the broader closure program at Rio Tinto’s Gove operations in East Arnhem Land, where bauxite mining is expected to cease later this decade.

The first shipment, containing about 15,000 tonnes of scrap steel, recently left the Gove wharf for Asia to be converted into new steel wire, bar and beam products. In total, 142,000 tonnes of steel in 10 shipments will be exported to Asia from the Gove refinery site, where demolition began last year. Around 300,000 tonnes of concrete will also be recycled for local road construction and other projects.

The Gove refinery processed bauxite mined nearby into alumina from 1972 to 2014. In 2017, the decision was made to permanently close the refinery, and work began to prepare the site for demolition and remediation.

Rio Tinto Gove closure general manager James Low said “This iconic site holds a lot of memories for the thousands of people who worked here over the last five decades. But even more significant is the immemorial connection that the Gumatj traditional owners have with the land. We are excited to be part of the work that returns the site to them.

“The Gumatj are integral to what we are doing at the refinery. They are the key decision-makers for how the site will be left in the future, including whether infrastructure like the wharfs and warehouses will be handed over for ongoing use. Their business arm is also supplying equipment for the demolition.”

As well as being a feat in Australia’s history of demolition, the project is also one of the largest underway around the world. The refinery demolition is being led by Liberty Industrial.

Liberty Industrial Gove closure project director Anthony Milanich said: “We are very pleased with how this substantial project has been going, with the first of many scrap load outs successfully completed in better-than-expected time.

“We look forward to continuing our journey with Rio Tinto and traditional owners, who we consult and work with closely. This close collaboration has helped us find solutions to a number of challenges associated with a project of this size and complexity in a remote location.

“Liberty is committed to working with local subcontractors and traditional owners in a mutually beneficial way, including through work opportunities and demolition traineeships.”

The refinery demolition and remediation project is targeting completion in 2027. Bauxite mining at Gove is planned to continue until later this decade. ‌Rehabilitation of the broader Gove site will continue into the 2030s.

‌

The South American country hopes to have awarded a concession for bauxite – the world’s main source of aluminum – by this time next year, after decades of attempts to develop the ore.

“There’s 324 million tons of bauxite there,” Daniel Lachman, the chair of the presidential commission created to evaluate bids for the Bakhuis region, said in an interview.

He was citing proven reserves, but deposits could be larger.

Investment, potentially also from bidders from other regions, would be significant, he said.

“You are easily talking about $10 billion to $12 billion, but over a period of say around 10 years or a little longer. That’s my rough estimate,” Lachman said.

“The bauxite we have is service level bauxite. You don’t have to create a mine. You just dig from the top,” he added.

Companies will be able to formally express interest from Thursday through Jan. 29 next year.

Those who pass muster will be short-listed and asked to provide detailed plans, including how they would power a project, ahead of a planned awarding of the concession by November 2024.

The Suriname and Courantyne rivers could be dredged or cleared of rock formations to accommodate large ships, Lachman added.

Suriname’s west is largely pristine jungle.

The commission is working to assess biodiversity risks, Lachman said, and proposals will be graded on how well they follow guidelines laid out by environmental regulators and the forestry management agency.

“I think we have to look beyond government revenue… to other things that are much more important,” Lachman said.

Community approval, local employment and infrastructure development are important factors for the commission, which will not approve any project that does not take into account communities, he said.

(By Ank Kuipers and Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Bauxite is the world’s main source of aluminum.

Despite a number of failed attempts since the 1970s to develop bauxite projects in Suriname, the growing world population and need for climate adaptation will increase aluminum demand in the coming decades, the statement said.

The government “is working to improve access to the area, create opportunities for vocational training and education there, and improve maritime accessibility,” it said, adding that these steps will make the Bakhuis area more attractive than before.

Developing the region will create socio-economic opportunities in west Suriname, the government said, adding that the priority is for investors to involve local communities and for the country to maintain it’s green image.

(By Ank Kuipers and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Diane Craft)

At the end of Q1 2022, the MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s biggest miners hit an all-time record of a collective $1.75 trillion as copper spent time above $10,000 a tonne, real nickel trades were being made above $40,000, lithium shipped for over $60,000 and everything from gold and platinum to uranium and tin were rallying hard. 

Uranium prices have doubled since then to above $60 a pound, tin is also trading higher, although well below its March 2022 peak while gold’s recent safe haven rally means the precious metal is also trading higher compared to March 2021.

Iron ore, where the top diversified mining companies dig for most of their profits, has also held up remarkably well, trading at $120 a tonne this week, little changed from end-June.  

Base and battery metals however have entered a deep slump since those heady days. Copper, zinc and aluminium are firmly in bear market territory down by a fifth or more, nickel and palladium investors are nursing 40%+ losses, cobalt is nearing record lows and lithium prices are hovering above $20,000.

After defying weakness on metals markets due to high expectations of strong future demand, particularly for copper, lithium and nickel, mining stock valuations have now succumbed. 

At the end Q3 2023, mining valuations for the industry’s top tier have slumped a total of $516 billion since the all-time highs. Declines so far this year total $145 billion for a combined market value of $1.38 trillion – back to levels seen at the end of September 2021.  

Just how bad sentiment is across the board is evident from the best performer list for Q3, which includes for the first time three counters which lost ground over the period. 

Archipelago ascent

The first Indonesian company to make it into MINING.COM’s ranking of world’s 50 most valuable mining companies, Amman Minerals Internasional, has surged 213% in US dollar terms since its July debut in Jakarta to reach a market capitalisation just shy of 450 trillion rupiah, or more than $28 billion.

Amman Minerals is the owner and operator of the giant Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in production since the turn of the millennium and is developing the adjacent Elang project on the island of Sumbawa. 

Elang is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold porphyry deposits and is currently in the feasibility stage. Elang boasts 4.7 million tonnes of proven and probable copper reserves and over 15 million ounces of gold.

Indonesia has become a red-hot IPO market this year and Amman was the largest of the year so far raising more than $700m in its IPO, and now sits at number 11 on the ranking. 

Bloomberg reports Amman Minerals’ ascent has minted at least six new billionaires, including chairman Agus Projosasmito, whose stake in the company is now worth $2.7 billion. The miner’s spectacular market performance has also added $4 billion to the net worth of Anthoni Salim, who helms one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates, taking the tycoon’s paper billions to within shouting distance of double digits.

Indonesia’s other major mining IPO, Harita Nickel, is on a different trajectory altogether. Listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange  in April raising $672m, the company has had a tough go of it and the stock has shed more than 60% since then as nickel prices continue to decline.

Lithium losses

The strength of the lithium sector outside China had been remarkable given the precipitous decline in prices for the battery metal since hitting all time highs above $80,000 a tonne in November last year. 

But during Q3 the slump in prices of the battery raw material caught up with the six stocks represented in the Top 50, for a combined loss of over $30 billion in market cap over the three month period to just over $70 billion. 

Measured from their 52-week highs the correction in the sector has been brutal – Perth-based Pilbara Mineral has bled 31% in market cap, making it the best performer. Mineral Resources has given up 37% while the declines for Albemarle, SQM, Ganfeng and Tianqi have been over 50%.  

Pilbara Minerals, which unlike its peers is clinging onto year-to-date gains,  joined the Top 50 last quarter and brought the number of companies based in the Western Australia capital to five, surpassing the tally of Vancouver, British Columbia as the top home base in the ranking.

The chances of another Perth-based lithium miner, IGO, of entering the Top 50 has dimmed. With a market cap of $5.4 billion, the company is down to the mid-60s in the ranking. 

The merger of US-based Livent and Australia-Argentina lithium miner Allkem, expected to close before 2023 is out, may also not be enough for the combined firm to enter the Top 50. Together the two companies are now worth $7.4 billion, which would edge out AngloGold Ashanti for the last spot, but the fortunes of lithium and gold going into 2024 are diverging widely.  

The blocking tactics of Gina Rhinehart’s Hancock Prospecting against the takeover of Liontown Resources by Albemarle turned out to be successful with the US lithium giant deciding to walk away from the deal this week.

Liontown’s 127% surge this year afforded the Perth-based company a market value of $4 billion before the collapse of the takeover which halted trading in the stock. Liontown on Thursday said it has secured the necessary funding to bring its Kathleen Valley project into production.

Enriched uranium

In September, uranium scaled $60 per pound for the first time since 2011. The breakthrough for the nuclear fuel comes after a decade in the doldrums following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The World Nuclear Association predicts world reactor requirements for uranium to surge to almost 130,000 tonnes (~285 million pounds) in 2040. That’s up from an estimate of 65,650 tonnes in 2023. 

A significant portion of the WNA’s upward growth adjustments can be attributed to the accelerated adoption of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) as part of decarbonisation efforts for a range of industries from shipping to data centres with powering remote mine sites near the top of the list for SMR potential.

Canada’s Cameco makes the best performer list over the three months again in Q3 after spending much of the post-Fukushima period in the wilderness. The Saskatoon-based company enters the top 30 for the first time after jumping 19 places so far this year.    

The value of shares in Kazatomprom, the world number one uranium producer, topped $10 billion at the end of Q3 placing it at position 36. Until this year the state-owned Kazakh company was outside earshot of the Top 50 since its dual-listing in London and Astana in 2018.  

Diversified drop

BHP’s market position has also been supported by uranium prices as the Melbourne-based company boosts output at its Olympic Dam operations. 

The world’s top mining company’s market value has declined by less than 8% year to date for a $142 valuation, outperforming other diversified heavyweights Rio Tinto, down 17%, Glencore (–21%), Vale (–25%) and Anglo American (–38%). 

London-listed Anglo American has had a rough year in part due to its exposure to platinum group metals and control of Anglo American Platinum, and is now valued at $32 billion after peaking at $70 billion in March 2021.  

Investors in Anglo, with a history going back more than a hundred years on the South African gold and diamond fields, have had a particularly wild ride over the last few years. In January 2016, Anglo’s market cap fell below $5 billion after it came close to suffocating under a pile of debt.  

The dramatic slump in palladium prices (down 38% this year) and platinum (–16%) have also seen AngloPlat drop to its lowest position ever at a valuation of $10 billion, down from nearly $40 billion end-March 2021. 

Former PGM high flyers Impala Platinum and Sibanye Stillwater, both valued around the $4 billion mark today, have lost sight of the Top 50 altogether. 

*NOTES:

Source: MINING.COM, Mining Intelligence, Morningstar, GoogleFinance, company reports. Trading data from primary-listed exchange at Sep 29-Oct 5, 2023 where applicable, currency cross-rates Oct 7, 2023. 

Percentage change based on US$ market cap difference, not share price change in local currency.

As with any ranking, criteria for inclusion are contentious. We decided to exclude unlisted and state-owned enterprises at the outset due to a lack of information. That, of course, excludes giants like Chile’s Codelco, Uzbekistan’s Navoi Mining, which owns the world’s largest gold mine, Eurochem, a major potash firm, and a number of entities in China and developing countries around the world.

Another central criterion was the depth of involvement in the industry before an enterprise can rightfully be called a mining company.

For instance, should smelter companies or commodity traders that own minority stakes in mining assets be included, especially if these investments have no operational component or warrant a seat on the board?

This is a common structure in Asia and excluding these types of companies removed well-known names like Japan’s Marubeni and Mitsui, Korea Zinc and Chile’s Copec. 

Levels of operational or strategic involvement and size of shareholding were other central considerations. Do streaming and royalty companies that receive metals from mining operations without shareholding qualify or are they just specialised financing vehicles? We included Franco Nevada, Royal Gold and Wheaton Precious Metals on the basis of their deep involvement in the industry.

Vertically integrated concerns like Alcoa and energy companies such as Shenhua Energy where power, ports and railways make up a large portion of revenues pose a problem as does battery makers like CATL which is increasingly moving upstream, but where mining still make up a small portion of its valuation.  

Another consideration is diversified companies such as Anglo American with separately listed majority-owned subsidiaries. We’ve included Angloplat in the ranking but excluded Kumba Iron Ore in which Anglo has a 70% stake to avoid double counting. Similarly we excluded Hindustan Zinc which is listed separately but majority owned by Vedanta.

Many steelmakers own and often operate iron ore and other metal mines, but in the interest of balance and diversity we excluded the steel industry, and with that many companies that have substantial mining assets including giants like ArcelorMittal, Magnitogorsk, Ternium, Baosteel and many others.

Head office refers to operational headquarters wherever applicable, for example BHP and Rio Tinto are shown as Melbourne, Australia, but Antofagasta is the exception that proves the rule. We consider the company’s HQ to be in London, where it has been listed since the late 1800s.

Please let us know of any errors, omissions, deletions or additions to the ranking or suggest a different methodology.

In a paper published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture estimated the figures and inferred that such an amount of CO2e corresponds to about 5% of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.

According to the scientists, Brazil has 5.4 million hectares of active legal mines, almost equivalent to Croatia’s landmass. Legal mines are located all over the country, but most are in subtropical and tropical areas and have the largest soil organic carbon stocks, estimated at 1.05 Gt CO2e.

Given this situation, the team led by Tiago Osório Ferreira suggests that post-mine reclamation involving the reconstruction of soils using mine tailings and other residues such as domestic and industrial waste could be the solution to offset emissions. Their calculations show that these anthropic soils, known as Technosols, could potentially offset up to 60% (1 Gt CO2e) of soil-related CO2 emissions.

“When we thought about carbon stocks, the first step was to analyze emissions. Although most previous research focused on the impact of ore processing via the burning of fuel and electricity consumption, for example, open-cast mining in pits is the rule in Brazil and the rest of the world, and the soil is the main terrestrial carbon storage ecosystem. When the soil is removed, organic matter and vegetation change, releasing CO2. We estimated potential emissions from the removal of soil and vegetation at 2.55 GT CO2e,” Francisco Ruiz, lead author of the paper, said in a media statement. 

For Ruiz and Osório Ferreira, Technosols can be a productive path to decarbonization as they can become a stable form of carbon storage. In addition to this, they can restore essential ecosystem services such as food and energy production or protection of biodiversity, water quality and nutrient cycling. Properly treated to neutralize toxic substances, they can also support native plants, crops and forests, capturing carbon as organic matter accumulates.

To test the hypothesis that Technosol construction mitigates CO2 emissions from open-cast mining, the researchers estimated carbon stocks in Brazilian mining sites using data available on SIGMINE, an online platform maintained by the National Mining Agency (ANM).

They found that recovery of soil organic stocks with Technosols is climate-dependent, with tropical Technosols showing the greatest potential carbon stock recovery owing to high input of plant-derived carbon and strong potential for carbon stabilization through mineral-organic interactions.

“One of our most important findings is the amount of carbon obtained in Technosols. In some cases, it exceeds the total in natural soils,” Osório Ferreira said. “The studies conducted by Francisco [Ruiz] show that it’s possible, in a very short time, to construct soils that perform even better than natural soils and help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.”

The researchers stress that some types of mine waste contain potentially toxic elements such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, copper, and lead and that precautions should be taken to avoid their use. Thus, prior to turning them into Tecnosoils, it is important to apply some remediation techniques such as phytoremediation or the use of plants and associated soil microbes to reduce the levels or toxic effects of contaminants, and soil amendment, which involves the addition of certain materials to improve the soil’s physical and chemical properties.