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Tag: Metals and mining

  • What to know about China’s new regulations on rare earths

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    BANGKOK — China released new interim measures Friday tightening controls on mining and processing of rare earths that are used in many high-tech products including electric vehicles, smartphones and fighter jets.

    The rules released Friday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology apply both to rare earths originating in China and those that are sent to China for refining.

    They require companies to comply with quotas for various minerals. Companies must have government approval to deal with rare earths and must accurately report the amount of rare earths products being handled. Violators will face legal penalties and also have their quotas for rare earths reduced.

    Here’s what to know.

    The 17 rare earth elements, including such minerals as germanium, gallium and titanium, aren’t actually rare. But they’re hard to find in a high enough concentration to make mining them worth the investment. China has been gradually tightening restrictions on exports of such materials, partly in response to U.S. controls on its access to American advanced technology.

    In April, just after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a raft of tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners, Beijing announced permitting requirements for seven more rare earths: samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, citing the need to “better safeguard national security and interests and to fulfill global duties of non-proliferation.”

    Those limits raised worries that manufacturers in the U.S. and elsewhere would run short of vital materials needed for production, an issue in China-U.S. trade talks. In response to U.S. concessions on access to computer chip design software and jet engines, Beijing announced in June that it was speeding up approvals of rare earths exports.

    In July, China’s Ministry of State Security said it was cracking down on alleged smuggling of rare earths materials that it said threatened national security, indicating Beijing was moving to exert more control.

    Over the past several decades, China has come to dominate rare earths processing. It now supplies nearly 90% of the world’s rare earths, even though it mines only about 70% of such materials.

    China holds nearly half of the world’s known reserves of rare earths, but it also imports significant amounts of rare earths from neighboring Myanmar for processing and export.

    Since it controls technologies used for refining rare earth elements and has banned exporting that know-how, China holds a near-monopoly on smelting and separating them.

    In 2024, the United States obtained 70% of the rare earths it used from China; 13% from Malaysia; 6% from Japan and 5% from Estonia. Some of the elements obtained from non-Chinese intermediate sources came from mineral concentrates processed in China and Australia, according to the U.S. Geologic Survey.

    China has agreed to issue some permits for rare earth exports but not for military uses, and much uncertainty remains about their supply.

    The rules released Friday spell out tighter controls on licensing of companies dealing in rare earths and centralize controls on mining, exports and processing. They also impose more stringent environmental standards for the industry.

    Trump has made it a priority to try to reduce American reliance on China for rare earths, while pushing for Beijing to ease its controls.

    China has opted to dial up or down the approval process as needed, while tightening overall controls on the industry.

    The new regulations don’t spell out the quotas for production and export or specific rare earths elements, but strongly suggest Beijing is serious about exerting stronger control over the industry.

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  • Environment solution: New metals refinery for nickel and cobalt opens in Ohio

    Environment solution: New metals refinery for nickel and cobalt opens in Ohio

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    In a step forward for efforts to acquire the metals crucial to addressing climate change, on Monday a new plant that can extract nickel and cobalt from scrap material opens in Fairfield, Ohio. The resulting metals will be used in new batteries and other clean energy markets.

    Extracting metals out of old material avoids the environmental damage of open pit mining and prevents the metals from ending up in the landfill. Many see this as the future, even if it takes decades to become reality.

    Climate change is largely caused by burning dirty fuels for two broad purposes: to make electricity and to move vehicles. Batteries can substitute for both much of the time, but this changeover is still in its infancy and the need for more minerals is great.

    The metals refining company Nth Cycle builds systems that yield nickel and cobalt from a form of shredded lithium ion batteries and nickel scrap from electric vehicles and consumer electronics. There are a growing number of companies, including Redwood Materials and Li-Cycle, that are expanding the young U.S. battery recycling industry.

    Currently, even when battery materials are collected for recycling in the U.S., they’re mostly shipped overseas to be refined. Building a traditional metals refinery in the U.S. could cost upward of $1 billion, but Nth Cycle uses a modular design it says is ideal because it can be added onto existing manufacturing facilities.

    “We have no refining capacity in the U.S. at all for these types of materials,” said Megan O’Connor, CEO of Nth Cycle. “We will be the first commercial cobalt nickel refinery in the U.S., which we’re very excited about.”

    Some experts heralded the development.

    “I think it’s very encouraging to hear the scaling has reached a stage where this is a possible revenue-making business,” said Shirley Meng, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

    Craig Arnold, engineering professor and university innovation officer at Princeton University, said this type of advancement is “huge” for the industry. “If we had a stronger domestic supply of these critical materials, it would absolutely benefit the battery industry,” he said.

    Right now the only U.S. source of nickel is the Eagle Mine in Michigan. Ore mined there is shipped internationally for refining.

    The demand for critical minerals for battery usage is surging as the world becomes more electrified. The need for nickel for electric vehicles grew nearly 30% in 2023 over the year before, according to the International Energy Agency. EV battery demand for cobalt increased 15% in the same period.

    Critical minerals are currently extracted from the Earth from mines in Australia, Indonesia, Congo and Brazil, among other countries. The supply chain is complex, involving an international matrix of labor rights concerns, tribal land conflicts and environmental damage. China is the dominant player in minerals crucial to the energy transition and also leads in battery recycling.

    The supply chain can be shaken by geopolitical conflict and also emits carbon emissions as materials are transported from country to country. This puts U.S. battery ambitions at risk, which is why experts say carrying out more of these processes domestically will make it easier to reach sustainability goals.

    The Inflation Reduction Act is incentivizing the expansion of the battery supply chain in the U.S. and Nth Cycle received $7.2 million under the law’s Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit (48C) program. The IRA also offers credits for EV’s containing battery materials and components from the U.S. or a country that has a free trade agreement with the U.S.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Demand for rare elements used in clean energy could help clean up abandoned coal mines in Appalachia

    Demand for rare elements used in clean energy could help clean up abandoned coal mines in Appalachia

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    MOUNT STORM, W.Va. — Down a long gravel road, tucked into the hills in West Virginia, is a low-slung building where researchers are extracting essential elements from an old coal mine that they hope will strengthen the nation’s energy future.

    They aren’t mining the coal that powered the steel mills and locomotives that helped industrialize America — and that is blamed for contributing to global warming.

    Rather, researchers are finding that groundwater pouring out of this and other abandoned coal mines contains the rare earth elements and other valuable metals that are vital to making everything from electric vehicle motors to rechargeable batteries to fighter jets smaller, lighter or more powerful.

    The pilot project run by West Virginia University is now part of an intensifying worldwide race to develop a secure supply of the valuable metals and, with more federal funding, it could grow to a commercial scale enterprise.

    “The ultimate irony is that the stuff that has created climate change is now a solution, if we’re smart about it,” said John Quigley, a senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

    The technology that has been piloted at this facility in West Virginia could also pioneer a way to clean up vast amounts of coal mine drainage that poisons waterways across Appalachia.

    The project is one of the leading efforts by the federal government as it injects more money than ever into recovering rare earth elements to expand renewable energies and fight climate change by reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

    For the U.S., which like the rest of the West is beholden to a Chinese-controlled supply of these valuable metals, the pursuit of rare earth elements is also a national security priority.

    Those involved, meanwhile, hope their efforts can bring jobs in clean energy to dying coal towns and clean up entrenched coal pollution that has hung around for decades.

    In Pennsylvania alone, drainage from coal piles and abandoned mines has turned waterways red from iron ore and turquoise from aluminum, killing life in more than 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of streams. Federal statistics also show about 470 square miles (about 1,200 square km) of abandoned and unreclaimed coal mine lands host more than 200 million tons of coal waste.

    The metals that chemists are working to extract from mine drainage here are lightweight, powerfully magnetized and have superior fluorescent and conductive properties.

    One aim of the Department of Energy is to fund research that proves to private companies that the concepts are commercially viable and profitable enough for them to invest their own money.

    Hundreds of millions of dollars from President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law is accelerating the effort.

    Department officials hope that by the middle of the 2030s this infusion will have spawned full-fledged commercial enterprises.

    The two most advanced projects funded by the department are the one in West Virginia treating mine drainage and another processing coal dug up by lignite mining in North Dakota.

    The first could be an important source of a number of critical metals, such as yttrium, neodymium and gadolinium, used in catalysts and magnets. The latter could be a major source of germanium and gallium, used in semiconductors, LEDs, electrical transmission components, solar panels and electric vehicle motors.

    Researchers at each site are designing a commercial-scale operation, based on their pilot projects, in hopes of landing a massive federal grant to build it out.

    The alternative would be to develop new mines, disturb more land, get permits, hire workers, build roads and connect power supplies, tasks that take years.

    “With acid mind drainage, that’s already done for you,” said Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the Water Research Institute at West Virginia University.

    Ziemkiewicz began the mine drainage project almost a decade ago, helped by federal subsidies. He had envisioned it as a way to treat runoff, recover critical minerals and raise money for more mine cleanups in West Virginia.

    But the Biden administration’s ambitious funding for clean energy and a domestic supply of critical minerals broadened that goal.

    At the facility, drainage from a one-time coal mine — now closed and covered by a grassy slope — emerges from two pipes, and dumps about 800 gallons per minute into a retention pond.

    From there the water is routed through massive indoor pools and a series of large tanks that, with the help of lime to lower the acidity, separate out most of the silicate, iron and aluminum. That produces a pale powdery concentrate that is about 95% rare earth oxides, plus water clean enough to return to a nearby creek.

    The Department of Energy is funding research on coal wastes in various states.

    “There are literally billions of tons of coal ash and coal waste lying around, across the country. And so if we can go back in and remine those, there’s decades worth of materials there,” said Grant Bromhal, the acting director of the Department of Energy’s Division of Minerals Sustainability.

    Not only coal, but old copper and phosphate mines also hold potential, Bromhal said.

    The country won’t be able to recover metals from all of them right away, but technologies the department is helping develop can satisfy a substantial part of demand in the next 20 to 30 years, Bromhal said.

    “So if we get into the tens of percents or 50%, I think that’s in the realm of possibility,” he said.

    Other solutions to obtain more of these metals are retrieving them from discarded devices and shifting sourcing to friendly nations and away from geopolitical rivals or unstable countries, analysts say. For now, there is only a handful of critical or rare earth mineral mines in the United States, although many more are being proposed.

    One final subsidy will be required from the federal government: buy the reclaimed metals at a price that guarantees a commercially viable operation, Ziemkiewicz said.

    That way China can’t simply buy up the product or use its market dominance to drive down prices and scare away private investors, he said.

    Quigley, a former environmental protection secretary of Pennsylvania and a one-time small-city mayor in coal country, hopes to see a facility like Ziemkiewicz’s come to the Jeddo mine tunnel system in northeastern Pennsylvania.

    The Jeddo has defied decades of efforts to treat its flow, which drains a vast network of abandoned underground mines.

    It is a massive source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, producing an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 gallons per minute.

    Bringing the Little Nescopeck Creek back to life could put people to work cleaning up the stream and creating recreational opportunities from a newly revived waterway, Quigley said.

    “This could mean a lot to coal communities, to a lot of people in the coal region,” Quigley said. “And to the country.”

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    Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment

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    Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Montana miner backs off expansion plans, lays off 100 due to lower palladium prices

    Montana miner backs off expansion plans, lays off 100 due to lower palladium prices

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    The owner of two precious metals mines in south-central Montana is stopping work on an expansion project and laying off about 100 workers because the price of palladium fell sharply in the past year, mine representatives said Thursday.

    Sibanye-Stillwater announced the layoffs Wednesday at the only platinum and palladium mines in the United States, near Nye, Montana, and other Sibanye-owned facilities in Montana, including a recycling operation. Another 20 jobs have gone unfilled since October, officials said.

    Another 187 contract workers — about 67% of the mining contract workers at the mine — will also be affected. Some contract work has been phased out over the past couple of months, said Heather McDowell, a vice president at Sibanye-Stillwater.

    The restructuring is not expected to significantly impact current mine production or recycling production, but will reduce costs, the company said.

    Palladium prices have since fallen from a peak of about $3,000 an ounce in March 2022 to about $1,000 per ounce now. Platinum prices also have fallen, but not as dramatically.

    The company can still make money working on the west side of the Stillwater mine at Nye with the current palladium prices, but the expansion on the east side is not cost effective right now, McDowell said.

    Platinum is used in jewelry and palladium is used in catalytic converters, which control automobile emissions.

    South Africa-based Sibanye bought the Stillwater mines in 2017 for $2.2 billion. The Montana mines buoyed the company in subsequent years at a time when it was beset by strikes and a spate of worker deaths at its South Africa gold mines.

    Over the next several years as platinum and palladium prices rose, Stillwater sought to expand into new areas and added roughly 600 new jobs at its mines, according to Department of Labor data.

    On Tuesday, the Forest Service gave preliminary approval to an expansion of the company’s East Boulder Mine that will extend its life by about a dozen years. The proposal has been opposed by environmental groups that want safeguards to prevent a catastrophic accidental release of mining waste into nearby waterways.

    McDowell said there are 38 jobs open at the East Boulder Mine and the company hopes some Stillwater workers who were laid off will apply for those positions. It’s about a two-hour drive from the Stillwater Mine to the East Boulder Mine, she said.

    The Montana AFL-CIO, the Department of Labor and Industry and unions across the state are working to help those who were laid off to file claims for unemployment benefits and to find new work, AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Jason Small said Thursday.

    The Sibanye-Stillwater Mine was the site of a contract miner’s death on Oct. 13. Noah Dinger of Post Falls, Idaho, died when he got caught in the rotating shaft of a mine that bolts wire panels onto the stone walls of an underground area to prevent rock from falling during future mining, officials said.

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    Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.

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  • Elevator drops 650 feet at platinum mine in South Africa, killing 11, injuring 75

    Elevator drops 650 feet at platinum mine in South Africa, killing 11, injuring 75

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    A mine operator says an elevator suddenly dropped approximately 200 meters (656 feet) while carrying workers to the surface in South Africa, killing 11 and injuring 75

    ByThe Associated Press

    November 28, 2023, 2:39 AM

    This is an undated photograph of Impala Platinum mine shaft 11, provided by Implats on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, near Rustenburg, South Africa. An elevator suddenly dropped around 200 meters (656 feet) while carrying workers to the surface in a platinum mine in South Africa, killing 11 and injuring 75, the mine operator said Tuesday. It happened Monday evening at the end of the workers’ shift at a mine in the northern city of Rustenburg. The injured workers were hospitalized. (Implats via AP)

    The Associated Press

    JOHANNESBURG — An elevator suddenly dropped around 200 meters (656 feet) while carrying workers to the surface in a platinum mine in South Africa, killing 11 and injuring 75 — 14 of them critically, the mine operator said Tuesday.

    It happened Monday evening at the end of the workers’ shift at a mine in the northern city of Rustenburg. All the injured workers were hospitalized.

    Mine operator Impala Platinum Holdings CEO Nico Muller said in a statement it was “the darkest day in the history of Implats.” He said an investigation had begun into what caused the elevator to drop and the mine had suspended all operations on Tuesday.

    Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe said there would be a government investigation into the tragedy. He visited the mine and was briefed, the government said.

    All 86 workers killed or injured were in the elevator, Implats spokesperson Johan Theron said. Some of the injured had “serious compact fractures,” he said. Theron said the elevator dropped approximately 200 meters, though that was an early estimate. He called it a highly unusual accident.

    The huge elevator has three levels, each with the capacity to hold 35 workers, Implats said. The mine shaft is approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) deep.

    South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum. The Impala Rustenburg mine has nine shafts and was the world’s largest platinum mine by production last year.

    The country had 49 fatalities from all mining accidents in 2022, down from 74 the year before. Deaths from South African mining accidents have steadily decreased from nearly 300 in the year 2000, according to government figures.

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    AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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  • Kazakhstan confirms nationalization of ArcelorMittal subsidiary after mine fire kills at least 32

    Kazakhstan confirms nationalization of ArcelorMittal subsidiary after mine fire kills at least 32

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    LONDON — Kazakhstan confirmed the nationalization of ArcelorMittal Temirtau which operates the country’s largest steel plants and several coal and ore mines following a coal mine fire that killed on Saturday, according to emergency services, at least 32 workers while another 14 remained unaccounted for.

    Some 252 people were working at the Kostenko coal mine in the Karaganda region at the time of the blaze, the site’s operating company, ArcelorMittal Temirtau, confirmed in a statement. It said the fire was believed to have been caused by a pocket of methane gas.

    The fire is the latest in a string of workplace deaths at sites operated by ArcelorMittal Temirtau. In August, four miners were killed after a fire erupted at the same mine, while five people died following a methane leak at another site in November 2022.

    The company confirmed Saturday that it was finalizing a deal with the Kazakh government to nationalize the firm amid growing discontent from officials.

    Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said in a statement on the Kazakh president’s website the government had reached a preliminary agreement with the company’s shareholders and was now in the process of “formalizing” the nationalization.

    Speculation around the company’s future had been growing since September, when Kazakhstan’s first deputy prime minister, Roman Sklyar, told journalists that the government had started talks with potential investors to buy out ArcelorMittal after becoming increasingly unhappy with its failure to meet investment obligations and repeated worker safety violations.

    Speaking on Saturday, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced Oct. 29 as a national day of mourning in Kazakhstan. The office of the country’s Prosecutor General has also said it was starting an investigation into potential safety violations in the coal mine.

    In a statement, ArcelorMittal Temirtau said that work had been halted at all of their coal mining sites in Kazakhstan. It also conveyed “pain” at the lives lost and said its efforts “are now aimed at ensuring that affected employees receive comprehensive care and rehabilitation, as well as close cooperation with government authorities.”

    ArcelorMittal Temirtau is the local representative for Luxembourg-based multinational ArcelorMittal, the world’s second-largest steel producer.

    Besides worker safety concerns, ArcelorMittal Temirtau has also fallen under scrutiny in recent years for its environmental violations.

    The Kazakh city of Temirtau — the company’s namesake and home of its steel plant — made global headlines in 2018 after being blanketed in black snow, a phenomenon that the company attributed to a lack of wind.

    In November 2021, local residents also shared videos of the town carpeted in fine, magnetic dust.

    Following the November 2022 deaths, Tokayev said that more than 100 workers had died at ArcelorMittal sites in Kazakhstan since 2006.

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  • Facing increasing pressure from customers, some miners are switching to renewable energy

    Facing increasing pressure from customers, some miners are switching to renewable energy

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    SOROWAKO, Indonesia — Red hot sparks fly through the air as a worker in a heat-resistant suit pokes a long metal rod into a nickel smelter, coaxing the molten metal from a crucible at a processing facility on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

    The smelter run by global mining firm Vale and powered by electricity from three dams churns out 75,000 tons of nickel a year for use in batteries, electric vehicles, appliances and many other products.

    While the smelting creates heavy emissions of greenhouse gases, the power used is relatively clean. Such possible reductions in emissions come as demand for critical minerals like nickel and cobalt is surging as climate change hastens a transition to renewable energy.

    Mining operations account for some 4%-7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company. But some miners are moving to reduce use of fossil fuels in extracting and refining, partly due to pressure from downstream customers that want more sustainable supply chains.

    Located beside a crystal-blue lake in the lush jungle of Sorowako, South Sulawesi, Vale Indonesia — a subsidiary of Vale international — runs its smelters entirely from hydroelectricity. Vale says that can reduce its emissions by over 1.115 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, compared to using diesel. Vale claims it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions nearly a fifth since 2017.

    As demand for materials needed for batteries, solar panels and other components vital for cutting global emissions rises, carbon emissions by miners and refiners will likewise rise unless companies actively work to decarbonize.

    Experts say improved technology, pressure from customers and enforcement of clean energy policies all are needed to keep moving toward more sustainable mining and refining practices while raising output to keep pace with global needs for pivoting away from reliance on polluting fossil fuels.

    Other companies and countries around the world also are reducing use of fossil fuels in their mining operations. Solar plants in Chile help power the mining sector, which consumes much of the country’s electricity demand to produce copper, lithium and other materials. In recent years, wind power has helped electrify the Raglan Mine in Canada.

    Companies are learning from past mistakes of the industrial revolution, where reliance on fossil fuels was paramount for development, said Michael Goodsite, a pro vice chancellor and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

    “I think as you see the future of certain operations, you’ll see them transitioning,” he said. “The way that they transition and how they move from fossil fuel operations to other energy sources can and should be learned from by others.”

    Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer and Indonesian President Joko Widodo has promoted the country developing its own industries.

    The push to cut emissions and use cleaner energy has been helped by investment and interest from governments and multinational companies. Volvo, Mercedes, Hyundai, Apple and other manufacturers need materials made in a more sustainable way to meet their own environmental, social and governance, or ESG, commitments.

    Widodo visited Vale Indonesia’s Sorowako facilities in March, the same month a deal was signed for a $4.5 billion nickel procession plant to be built by Vale Indonesia with investment by Ford Motor Co.

    “Ford can help ensure that the nickel that we use in electric vehicle batteries is mined, produced within the same ESG standards as … our business around the world,” Christopher Smith, Ford’s chief government affairs officer, said at a signing ceremony for a new $4.5 billion nickel processing plant in Indonesia with Vale Indonesia in March this year.

    Even companies already taking steps to decarbonize are still reliant on at least some fossil fuels.

    At Vale Indonesia in Sorowako, coal is still used to power drying and reduction kilns. The company’s CEO, Febriany Eddy, said she plans to switch such operations to liquefied natural gas — cleaner but still another fossil fuel.

    It’s the best option available given current technology, she said in an interview with The Associated Press.

    “I have two options in front of me: I continue to say that there is no viable option, that we will wait until that perfect solution is to come, which (could take) 15 or 20 years to come. Or I work with LNG first, knowing it is not a perfect solution, knowing it is a transition only,” Eddy said. “But with conversion to LNG, I can reduce 40% of my emissions.”

    The use as LNG as a “bridge fuel” has been contested by climate experts, as the fuel releases climate-warming methane and carbon dioxide when it’s produced, transported and burned.

    Initial costs for switching to, expanding and building new renewable infrastructure are another steep barrier.

    It took decades to recoup costs from building the three hydropower dams in the remote, sparsely populated area, that are used to power Vale’s Sorowako facilities. But now, having that infrastructure means big savings at a time when global energy prices are high.

    “Hydropower isn’t just reducing our carbon emissions, but also reducing our costs today because we are no longer that (vulnerable) to fuel and coal costs— because we have hydropower,” Eddy said.

    Having mining operations powered by renewable sources instead of fossil fuels could also help unlock green financing and attract future investors, said Aimee Boulanger, executive director of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance.

    “The finance and investment sector is more tuned in than it ever has before to the environmental and social responsibility of supply chains and their investments in them. And they’re looking at greenhouse gas emissions,” she said. “When the world is recovering from a global pandemic and facing the global crisis of climate change, there’s never been a time when they’ve been more interested in these issues.”

    While many companies are stepping up efforts to decarbonize their supply chains, others — such as many of those making green energy materials in China, have less stringent requirements for their materials.

    “We can find jurisdictions around the world that — if they’re able to do things cheaply because they have access to fossil fuels and they already have the capital assets and the capital expenditures— they’re going to continue doing that,” Goodsite said when asked about Chinese businesses.

    Ultimately, investors and consumers play a vital role in getting companies to clean up their operations, he said.

    But phasing out the mining industry’s reliance on fossil fuels will be costly, especially as the United States and other countries build up the capacity to bring production of critical materials onshore.

    “If the end users care about them coming from …a green energy based process… then we all need to be prepared to pay a significant premium for that,” Goodsite said.

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    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • 9 years after mine spill in northern Mexico, new report gives locals hope for long-awaited cleanup

    9 years after mine spill in northern Mexico, new report gives locals hope for long-awaited cleanup

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    MEXICO CITY — Nine years after a massive waste spill from a copper mine in the northern Mexican border state of Sonora, locals are still suffering from “alarming” levels of soil, air and water pollution, Mexico‘s Environment Department said Thursday.

    Summarizing a 239-page report, officials also confirmed, using satellite images, that the spill was not solely caused by dramatic rainfall, as was initially reported, but by the “inadequate design” of a dam at Buenavista del Cobre mine, owned by the country’s largest copper producer, Grupo México.

    Locals and environmental advocates say the report offers the clearest view yet of the catastrophic scale of the accident and, with it, new hope that Grupo México may finally be held financially accountable after almost a decade of legal battles and broken promises.

    “We expect that, with this new document, we’ll have an easy path for getting the money,” said Luis Franco, a community coordinator with regional advocacy group PODER. “At the moment, I’m happy but at the same time I know this is just the beginning for the people of Sonora,” he said. “We have to keep fighting.”

    On Aug. 6, 2014, after heavy rainfall, 10 million gallons (40 million liters) of acidified copper sulfate flooded from a waste reservoir at Buenavista mine into the Sonora and Bacanuchi rivers, just under 62 miles (100 kilometers) from the border city of Nogales, Sonora.

    After the spill, Grupo México first agreed to give 1.2 billion pesos (about $68 million) to a recovery fund, but in 2017 that trust was closed and the remaining funds returned to the mining company, PODER claims. After a legal battle, the trust was reopened three years later but, said Franco, without any new funding.

    Mexico’s environmental secretary María Luisa Albores González insisted Thursday during a news briefing that the report was solely “technical,” not “ideological,” but added that the trust would remain open until 2026.

    “We in this institution do not accept said trust is closed,” said Albores González.

    In another report earlier this year Mexico’s National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change calculated the total cost of the spill at over 20 billion pesos ($1.1 billion), more than 16 times the size of the original support fund.

    “Under no circumstances” have locals been given enough money to recover, according to the report. “Neither the amount paid for the fine, nor the compensation given to the Sonora River Trust cover the direct, indirect or cumulative effects on the population, the ecosystem or the economy.”

    The initial fund promised to open 36 water treatment stations and a toxicology clinic. But according to the Sonora River Basin Committees, a group of locals from the eight polluted townships, only one water station is open and the clinic has long been abandoned.

    Unsafe levels of arsenic, lead and mercury have been recorded across over 250 square kilometers (94 square miles) around the spill. Across the Sonoran townships of Ures, Arizpe, Baviácora, Aconchi, Banamichi, Cananea, Huépac and San Felipe de Jesús, locals have complained of health risks and decreased productivity in their farms and ranches.

    In what officials described as one of their most “alarming” findings, 93% of soil samples from the city of Cananea did not meet international requirements for arsenic levels.

    Adrián Pedrozo Acuña, director general for the Mexican Institute for Water Technology, said the pollution had also impacted the region’s drinking water. “The results presented here show very clearly that there is a safety or health problem in the water the population consumes,” he said.

    Franco, who lives in the nearby city of Hermosillo, said this brings the most urgency for communities in which many cannot afford to buy bottled water.

    Since the spill, Buenavista del Cobre has continued to operate — and grown in size. In the years immediately before the accident production increased threefold, according to Pedrozo. By 2020 it had grown half as big again, in what he described as “chronic overexploitation” of the area’s water supplies.

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  • Biden plan would overhaul 151-year-old mining law, make companies pay royalties for copper and gold

    Biden plan would overhaul 151-year-old mining law, make companies pay royalties for copper and gold

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    WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is recommending changes to a 151-year-old law that governs mining for copper, gold and other hardrock minerals on U.S.-owned lands, including making companies for the first time pay royalties on what they extract.

    A plan led by the Interior Department also calls for the creation of a mine leasing system and coordination of permitting efforts among a range of federal agencies. This comes as The White House has been pushing to boost domestic mining for minerals needed for electric vehicles, solar panels and other clean energy.

    Under terms of an 1872 law, the U.S. does not collect royalties on minerals extracted from federal lands, a fact Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups have long lamented. The White House plan would impose a variable 4% to 8% net royalty on hardrock minerals produced on federal lands. The proposal needs approval by Congress — unlikely when the House is controlled by Republicans who have long opposed such fees.

    Undeterred by such political reality, an interagency working group — led by Interior — touted the benefits of imposing royalties on about 750 hardrock mines on federal lands, mostly in the West. The figure does not include about 70 coal mines whose owners must pay federal royalties.

    “A royalty would ensure that American taxpayers receive fair compensation for minerals extracted from federal lands,″ the working group said in a report Tuesday. The fee also could pay for programs to boost mining permits, clean up abandoned mine lands and help states and tribal governments that provide infrastructure and services to mining-dependent communities, the report said.

    The U.S. stands out among other countries, such as Australia, Canada and Chile, that collect royalties on minerals. At least a dozen Western states also collect royalties on hardrock mining.

    “Although thoughtful concerns were raised by the mining industry regarding the existing hardrock leasing system that is used on certain federal lands,” the working group “did not receive any arguments as to why a properly designed leasing system could not be equally successful in the United States,” the report said.

    Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, who chaired the working group, called the plan released Tuesday “a modernized approach” that would “meet the needs of the clean energy economy while respecting our obligations to tribal nations, taxpayers, the environment and future generations.”

    “Securing a safe, sustainable supply of critical minerals will support a resilient manufacturing base for technologies at the heart of the president’s investing-in-America agenda, including batteries, electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels,” said Joelle Gamble, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council.

    Tribes and environmental groups welcomed the report but urged President Joe Biden to go further to protect communities, sacred places and water resources. The White House formed the working group last year as Biden pledged to boost production of lithium, nickel and other minerals used to power electric vehicles and other clean energy.

    “These modest reforms are a good first step, but they’re not enough to safeguard our water and communities,” said Allison Henderson, southern Rockies director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based nonprofit. “The Biden administration should use its full authority to update these antiquated mining laws, prevent more mining industry devastation and preserve a livable planet for future generations.”

    Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said the report did little to advance Biden’s stated goal to secure domestic mineral supplies while supporting responsible mining.

    Creation of a leasing system, imposition of a punitive “dirt tax” and proposed royalties as high as 8% “will throw additional obstacles in the way of responsible domestic projects, forcing the U.S. to double-down on our already outsized import reliance from countries with questionable labor, safety and environmental practices,” Nolan said in a statement.

    Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel, said Biden was “taking a sledgehammer to affordable, reliable energy.”

    If enacted, the proposed mining reforms “will force us to buy more critical minerals” from China and other countries that use forced or child labor “instead of harnessing our abundant resources here at home,” Barrasso said.

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  • India sets sights on home-mined minerals to boost its clean energy plans

    India sets sights on home-mined minerals to boost its clean energy plans

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    KALIAPANI, India — In the dusty mountains of eastern India, workers at the country’s largest chromium deposit have mined for the essential ore, rain or shine, for around 60 years.

    The industry is fruitful in some ways — hundreds of trucks stacked with mineral-rich soil journey back and forth regularly between the mine and processing plants — but it is damaging in others. Farmers say their fields are stripped of fertile earth and livestock desperately comb through now-barren lands for feed.

    “We used to grow chilies and other vegetables earlier but now when it rains all the soil from the mines washes onto our fields,” bringing with it harmful effluent, said Gurucharan Mohant, a 60-year-old farmer from the nearby village of Kaliapani. “Nothing grows here anymore.”

    Chromium, used mostly as a coating to stop rust in steel and car parts, has been deemed necessary for India’s transition to cleaner energy. A layer of chromium makes solar panels more efficient, and the mineral is also used in wind turbines and batteries. Lawmakers — including at Wednesday’s Group of Twenty ministerial talks on clean energy — want the country to expand its critical mineral mining operations and make its own clean energy infrastructure from start to finish.

    Now other critical minerals, like lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are also used in solar panels, wind turbines and batteries, are being discovered in India. It’s a chance to build out more green infrastructure in a country with escalating energy needs and bolster mineral supply chains worldwide, but concerns remain about the environmental consequences mining will have on neighboring villages, like Kaliapani.

    Kaliapani is impoverished, has little access to clean water and residents claim their chronic overexposure to chromium has caused health problems.

    “Any mining has impact,” said Sandeep Pai of the think tank Swaniti Initiative, “India needs to be thinking of how everyone involved, including local communities, will benefit before they begin mining for critical minerals like lithium.”

    The Odisha Mining Company, which runs the mine near Kaliapani, said on its website that it works closely with local communities, has set up occupational health centers for its workforce and promotes high safety standards.

    In June, India joined a U.S.-led critical mineral alliance during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. Then earlier this month, India’s mining ministry released its first-ever report on the minerals the country needs to grow its economy. It declared 30 minerals, including lithium, chromium, cobalt and nickel, as essential.

    Mining minister Pralhad Joshi called the list “India’s roadmap for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat,’” a commonly-used Sanskrit term meaning “self-reliance.”

    Both moves were hailed by energy experts as steps in the right direction.

    “International coordination is actually a major component of critical mineral security and to have access to the global supply chain, joining the U.S.-led alliance, is great news for India,” said Ganesh Sivamani of the New Delhi-based think tank, Centre for Social and Economic Progress. Sivamani also credited the minerals list as the beginning of a strategy for India to better achieve its clean energy goals.

    Eric Buisson, a critical minerals analyst at the International Energy Agency, also noted the “strong need” for minerals to crank up the move to cleaner energy.

    “You need to make sure that you have access directly or indirectly to these raw materials,” he said.

    Developing vast amounts of clean energy is seen as essential to limit warming to the global goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) as it can replace heat-trapping fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas with alternatives that emit little or no carbon dioxide.

    India plans to install 500 gigawatts of clean energy by the end of the decade — enough to power 300 million Indian homes. The country has currently installed 176 gigawatts of renewable energy and aims to reach net zero emissions by 2070.

    The critical minerals market has doubled in the past five years, mostly down to the booming clean energy sector, according to a report by the International Energy Agency. The IEA also said that demand for minerals like lithium will balloon 40 times and demand for graphite, cobalt and nickel will likely grow up to 25 times by 2040 in an earlier report.

    But “diversity of supply also remains a concern” the IEA’s report said, with a handful of countries, particularly China, dominating the supply chain for many critical minerals.

    Sivamani said work on finding minerals in India needs to ramp up, especially given geopolitical developments such as China banning exports of minerals such as gallium and germanium, both used for making electronics, in June.

    “We don’t want to be caught unaware,” Sivamani said. “Our best bet is to be self-sufficient as much as possible so that we don’t need to depend on anyone else to achieve our economic and climate goals.”

    Experts and activists want to see this done in a just way, with protections for workers and local communities.

    Earlier this month, the Business and Human Rights Resource Center raised fears about alleged human rights and environmental abuses across the critical mineral supply chain. Many have called for companies involved in the transition to clean energy to hold themselves to higher standards.

    Pai, of the Swaniti Initiative, said expanding India’s mining network is a chance to start a better relationship with local communities atop of critical mineral deposits and protect them from potential environmental harm.

    “If India fails to do this, it is inevitable that there will be opposition from affected communities once mining begins,” he said.

    ___

    Follow Sibi Arasu on Twitter at @sibi123.

    ___

    Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.

    ___ Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen?

    Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen?

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    JAKARTA, Indonesia — The International Seabed Authority — the United Nations body that regulates the world’s ocean floor — is preparing to resume negotiations that could open the international seabed for mining, including for materials critical for the green energy transition.

    Years long negotiations are reaching a critical point where the authority will soon need to begin accepting mining permit applications, adding to worries over the potential impacts on sparsely researched marine ecosystems and habitats of the deep sea.

    Here’s a look at what deep sea mining is, why some companies and countries are applying for permits to carry it out and why environmental activists are raising concerns.

    WHAT IS DEEP SEA MINING?

    Deep sea mining involves removing mineral deposits and metals from the ocean’s seabed. There are three types of such mining: taking deposit-rich polymetallic nodules off the ocean floor, mining massive seafloor sulphide deposits and stripping cobalt crusts from rock.

    These nodules, deposits and crusts contain materials, such as nickel, rare earths, cobalt and more, that are needed for batteries and other materials used in tapping renewable energy and also for everyday technology like cellphones and computers.

    Engineering and technology used for deep sea mining are still evolving. Some companies are looking to vacuum materials from seafloor using massive pumps. Others are developing artificial intelligence-based technology that would teach deep sea robots how to pluck nodules from the floor. Some are looking to use advanced machines that could mine materials off side of huge underwater mountains and volcanoes.

    Companies and governments view these as strategically important resources that will be needed as onshore reserves are depleted and demand continues to rise.

    HOW IS DEEP SEA MINING REGULATED NOW?

    Countries manage their own maritime territory and exclusive economic zones, while the high seas and the international ocean floor are governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas. It is considered to apply to states regardless of whether or not they have signed or ratified it. Under the treaty, the seabed and its mineral resources are considered the “common heritage of mankind” that must be managed in a way that protects the interests of humanity through the sharing of economic benefits, support for marine scientific research, and protecting marine environments.

    Mining companies interested in deep sea exploitation are partnering with countries to help them get exploration licenses.

    More than 30 exploration licenses have been issued so far, with activity mostly focused in an area called the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which spans 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico.

    WHY IS THERE PRESSURE ON THE ISA TO ESTABLISH REGULATIONS NOW?

    In 2021 the Pacific island nation of Nauru — in partnership with mining company Nauru Ocean Resources Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada-based The Metals Company — applied to the ISA to exploit minerals in a specified deep sea area.

    That triggered a clause of the U.N. treaty that requires the ISA to complete regulations governing deep sea exploitation by July 2023. If no regulations are finalized, Nauru can submit an application to conduct the mining without any governing regulations.

    Other countries and private companies can start applying for provisional licenses if the U.N. body fails to approve a set of rules and regulations by July 9. Experts say its unlike it will since the process will likely take several years.

    WHAT ARE THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS?

    Only a small part of the deep seabed has been explored and conservationists worry that ecosystems will be damaged by mining, especially without any environmental protocols.

    Damage from mining can include noise, vibration and light pollution, as well as possible leaks and spills of fuels and other chemicals used in the mining process.

    Sediment plumes from the some mining processes are a major concern. Once valuable materials are taken extracted, slurry sediment plumes are sometimes pumped back into the sea. That can harm filter feeding species like corals and sponges, and could smother or otherwise interfere with some creatures.

    The full extent of implications for deep sea ecosystems is unclear, but scientists have warned that biodiversity loss is inevitable and potentially irreversible.

    “We’re constantly finding new stuff and it’s a little bit premature to start mining the deep sea when we don’t really understand the biology, the environments, the ecosystems or anything else,” said Christopher Kelley, a biologist with research expertise in deep sea ecology.

    WHAT’S NEXT?

    The ISA’s Legal and Technical Commission, which oversees the development of deep sea mining regulations, will meet in early July to discuss the yet-to-be mining code draft.

    The earliest that mining under ISA regulations could begin is 2026. Applications for mining must be considered and environmental impact assessments need to be carried out.

    In the meantime, some companies — such as Google, Samsung, BMW and others — have backed the World Wildlife Fund’s call to pledge to avoid using minerals that have been mined from the planet’s oceans. More than a dozen countries—including France, Germany and several Pacific Island nations— have officially called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep sea mining at least until environmental safeguards are in place, although it’s unclear how many other countries support such mining. Other countries, such as Norway, are proposing opening their waters to mining.

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen?

    Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen?

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    JAKARTA, Indonesia — The International Seabed Authority — the United Nations body that regulates the world’s ocean floor — is preparing to resume negotiations that could open the international seabed for mining, including for materials critical for the green energy transition.

    Years long negotiations are reaching a critical point where the authority will soon need to begin accepting mining permit applications, adding to worries over the potential impacts on sparsely researched marine ecosystems and habitats of the deep sea.

    Here’s a look at what deep sea mining is, why some companies and countries are applying for permits to carry it out and why environmental activists are raising concerns.

    WHAT IS DEEP SEA MINING?

    Deep sea mining involves removing mineral deposits and metals from the ocean’s seabed. There are three types of such mining: taking deposit-rich polymetallic nodules off the ocean floor, mining massive seafloor sulphide deposits and stripping cobalt crusts from rock.

    These nodules, deposits and crusts contain materials, such as nickel, rare earths, cobalt and more, that are needed for batteries and other materials used in tapping renewable energy and also for everyday technology like cellphones and computers.

    Engineering and technology used for deep sea mining are still evolving. Some companies are looking to vacuum materials from seafloor using massive pumps. Others are developing artificial intelligence-based technology that would teach deep sea robots how to pluck nodules from the floor. Some are looking to use advanced machines that could mine materials off side of huge underwater mountains and volcanoes.

    Companies and governments view these as strategically important resources that will be needed as onshore reserves are depleted and demand continues to rise.

    HOW IS DEEP SEA MINING REGULATED NOW?

    Countries manage their own maritime territory and exclusive economic zones, while the high seas and the international ocean floor are governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas. It is considered to apply to states regardless of whether or not they have signed or ratified it. Under the treaty, the seabed and its mineral resources are considered the “common heritage of mankind” that must be managed in a way that protects the interests of humanity through the sharing of economic benefits, support for marine scientific research, and protecting marine environments.

    Mining companies interested in deep sea exploitation are partnering with countries to help them get exploration licenses.

    More than 30 exploration licenses have been issued so far, with activity mostly focused in an area called the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which spans 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico.

    WHY IS THERE PRESSURE ON THE ISA TO ESTABLISH REGULATIONS NOW?

    In 2021 the Pacific island nation of Nauru — in partnership with mining company Nauru Ocean Resources Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada-based The Metals Company — applied to the ISA to exploit minerals in a specified deep sea area.

    That triggered a clause of the U.N. treaty that requires the ISA to complete regulations governing deep sea exploitation by July 2023. If no regulations are finalized, Nauru can submit an application to conduct the mining without any governing regulations.

    Other countries and private companies can start applying for provisional licenses if the U.N. body fails to approve a set of rules and regulations by July 9. Experts say its unlike it will since the process will likely take several years.

    WHAT ARE THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS?

    Only a small part of the deep seabed has been explored and conservationists worry that ecosystems will be damaged by mining, especially without any environmental protocols.

    Damage from mining can include noise, vibration and light pollution, as well as possible leaks and spills of fuels and other chemicals used in the mining process.

    Sediment plumes from the some mining processes are a major concern. Once valuable materials are taken extracted, slurry sediment plumes are sometimes pumped back into the sea. That can harm filter feeding species like corals and sponges, and could smother or otherwise interfere with some creatures.

    The full extent of implications for deep sea ecosystems is unclear, but scientists have warned that biodiversity loss is inevitable and potentially irreversible.

    “We’re constantly finding new stuff and it’s a little bit premature to start mining the deep sea when we don’t really understand the biology, the environments, the ecosystems or anything else,” said Christopher Kelley, a biologist with research expertise in deep sea ecology.

    WHAT’S NEXT?

    The ISA’s Legal and Technical Commission, which oversees the development of deep sea mining regulations, will meet in early July to discuss the yet-to-be mining code draft.

    The earliest that mining under ISA regulations could begin is 2026. Applications for mining must be considered and environmental impact assessments need to be carried out.

    In the meantime, some companies — such as Google, Samsung, BMW and others — have backed the World Wildlife Fund’s call to pledge to avoid using minerals that have been mined from the planet’s oceans. More than a dozen countries—including France, Germany and several Pacific Island nations— have officially called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep sea mining at least until environmental safeguards are in place, although it’s unclear how many other countries support such mining. Other countries, such as Norway, are proposing opening their waters to mining.

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen?

    Deep sea mining permits may be coming soon. What are they and what might happen?

    [ad_1]

    JAKARTA, Indonesia — The International Seabed Authority — the United Nations body that regulates the world’s ocean floor — is preparing to resume negotiations that could open the international seabed for mining, including for materials critical for the green energy transition.

    Years long negotiations are reaching a critical point where the authority will soon need to begin accepting mining permit applications, adding to worries over the potential impacts on sparsely researched marine ecosystems and habitats of the deep sea.

    Here’s a look at what deep sea mining is, why some companies and countries are applying for permits to carry it out and why environmental activists are raising concerns.

    WHAT IS DEEP SEA MINING?

    Deep sea mining involves removing mineral deposits and metals from the ocean’s seabed. There are three types of such mining: taking deposit-rich polymetallic nodules off the ocean floor, mining massive seafloor sulphide deposits and stripping cobalt crusts from rock.

    These nodules, deposits and crusts contain materials, such as nickel, rare earths, cobalt and more, that are needed for batteries and other materials used in tapping renewable energy and also for everyday technology like cellphones and computers.

    Engineering and technology used for deep sea mining are still evolving. Some companies are looking to vacuum materials from seafloor using massive pumps. Others are developing artificial intelligence-based technology that would teach deep sea robots how to pluck nodules from the floor. Some are looking to use advanced machines that could mine materials off side of huge underwater mountains and volcanoes.

    Companies and governments view these as strategically important resources that will be needed as onshore reserves are depleted and demand continues to rise.

    HOW IS DEEP SEA MINING REGULATED NOW?

    Countries manage their own maritime territory and exclusive economic zones, while the high seas and the international ocean floor are governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas. It is considered to apply to states regardless of whether or not they have signed or ratified it. Under the treaty, the seabed and its mineral resources are considered the “common heritage of mankind” that must be managed in a way that protects the interests of humanity through the sharing of economic benefits, support for marine scientific research, and protecting marine environments.

    Mining companies interested in deep sea exploitation are partnering with countries to help them get exploration licenses.

    More than 30 exploration licenses have been issued so far, with activity mostly focused in an area called the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which spans 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico.

    WHY IS THERE PRESSURE ON THE ISA TO ESTABLISH REGULATIONS NOW?

    In 2021 the Pacific island nation of Nauru — in partnership with mining company Nauru Ocean Resources Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canada-based The Metals Company — applied to the ISA to exploit minerals in a specified deep sea area.

    That triggered a clause of the U.N. treaty that requires the ISA to complete regulations governing deep sea exploitation by July 2023. If no regulations are finalized, Nauru can submit an application to conduct the mining without any governing regulations.

    Other countries and private companies can start applying for provisional licenses if the U.N. body fails to approve a set of rules and regulations by July 9. Experts say its unlike it will since the process will likely take several years.

    WHAT ARE THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS?

    Only a small part of the deep seabed has been explored and conservationists worry that ecosystems will be damaged by mining, especially without any environmental protocols.

    Damage from mining can include noise, vibration and light pollution, as well as possible leaks and spills of fuels and other chemicals used in the mining process.

    Sediment plumes from the some mining processes are a major concern. Once valuable materials are taken extracted, slurry sediment plumes are sometimes pumped back into the sea. That can harm filter feeding species like corals and sponges, and could smother or otherwise interfere with some creatures.

    The full extent of implications for deep sea ecosystems is unclear, but scientists have warned that biodiversity loss is inevitable and potentially irreversible.

    “We’re constantly finding new stuff and it’s a little bit premature to start mining the deep sea when we don’t really understand the biology, the environments, the ecosystems or anything else,” said Christopher Kelley, a biologist with research expertise in deep sea ecology.

    WHAT’S NEXT?

    The ISA’s Legal and Technical Commission, which oversees the development of deep sea mining regulations, will meet in early July to discuss the yet-to-be mining code draft.

    The earliest that mining under ISA regulations could begin is 2026. Applications for mining must be considered and environmental impact assessments need to be carried out.

    In the meantime, some companies — such as Google, Samsung, BMW and others — have backed the World Wildlife Fund’s call to pledge to avoid using minerals that have been mined from the planet’s oceans. More than a dozen countries—including France, Germany and several Pacific Island nations— have officially called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep sea mining at least until environmental safeguards are in place, although it’s unclear how many other countries support such mining. Other countries, such as Norway, are proposing opening their waters to mining.

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • James Cameron feels he ‘walked into an ambush’ in Argentine lithium dispute

    James Cameron feels he ‘walked into an ambush’ in Argentine lithium dispute

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    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Movie director James Cameron says he feels he “walked into an ambush” this week during a visit to Argentina in which he believes there was an attempt to use his image as an environmentalist to give a positive spin to lithium mining operations despite Indigenous opposition.

    Cameron, the director of “Avatar” and “Titanic,” said Friday he would now devote attention and money from his Avatar Alliance Foundation to support Indigenous communities opposing lithium operations in South America.

    “Ironically, the outcome of this is that I am now aware of the problem and we will now assist through my foundation with the issue of Indigenous rights with respect to lithium extraction,” Cameron told a group of journalists gathered in his hotel room in the capital of Buenos Aires Friday evening.

    Cameron came to Argentina this week to speak at a sustainability conference in Buenos Aires on Friday.

    “I believed that I was coming here to make a kind of motivational speech about environmental causes,” Cameron said.

    As part of the visit, Cameron traveled to northern Jujuy province Thursday to visit a large solar power plant with Gov. Gerardo Morales and says he was never told lithium would be part of the discussion.

    After Cameron’s visit, Morales wrote a message on social media thanking Cameron for the visit, writing that the province was looking to “transform the energy matrix” through projects such as the solar power plant and “lithium extraction.”

    The director received a letter that a group of 33 Indigenous communities from the area had written to him a few days earlier asking him to either cancel his trip or meet with them so they could explain their long-held opposition to lithium mining projects they say affect their land rights and negatively impact the environment.

    “I feel like I walked into an ambush,” Cameron told journalists after meeting with local environmentalists, saying he was unaware of controversy involving lithium projects. “I feel like I was put into an optic that had meaning that I wasn’t aware of.”

    Although Cameron says he “doesn’t know the exact architecture” of how the “ambush” happened, he feels there was an effort to use his image not just because of his support for environmental causes but also because of the overarching message of “Avatar.”

    “‘Avatar’ is the highest grossing film in history. It is about the conflict between an extraction industry and the rights of Indigenous people,” Cameron said. “If you could generate an optic where I appear to be approving of lithium mining, then you have a mandate of some sort or an approval of some sort.”

    In their letter to Cameron, representatives of the Indigenous communities made a direct reference to “Avatar” to appeal for the director’s support.

    “Jujuy is Pandora, and it is under the threat of the greed of the mining industry, and we are the Na’vi,” reads the letter, referring to the fictional world where “Avatar” takes place and its inhabitants who battle against colonizing miners.

    Before leaving Argentina, Cameron met with Verónica Chávez, the representative of one of the Indigenous communities from Jujuy.

    Argentina is the fourth-largest producer of lithium and is part of what is known as the “lithium triangle,” an area that contains a large share of the world’s proven reserves of the metal and also includes neighboring Chile and Bolivia. Demand for lithium is soaring amid the transition to renewable energy around the world and the growth in electric vehicles that are powered by lithium batteries.

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  • Brazilian police probe deadly shooting on Indigenous land

    Brazilian police probe deadly shooting on Indigenous land

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    Brazil’s federal police say they are investigating a shooting that killed one and wounded two Yanomami Indigenous people

    SAO PAULO — Brazil’s federal police said Sunday they are investigating a shooting that killed one and wounded two Yanomami Indigenous people, saying the main suspects were illegal gold miners working in that area of Roraima state.

    A police statement said in a statement that the incident took place Saturday and added that the government sent members of the Air force and the Indigenous issues agency FUNAI to help with the probe.

    Earlier this year, Brazil’s government pushed illegal gold miners out of Yanomami territory, saying their mining had caused widespread river contamination, famine and disease for one of the most isolated groups in the world.

    Brazil’s government estimated about 20,000 people were engaged in illegal mining in February, often using toxic mercury to separate out gold. Since then, several federal police and military raids have made it harder for gold miners to reach that area.

    An estimated 30,000 Yanomami people live in Brazil’s largest Indigenous territory, which covers an area roughly the size of Portugal and stretches across Roraima and Amazonas states in the northwestern corner of Brazil’s Amazon.

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  • Chile’s plan for state control in lithium dismays business

    Chile’s plan for state control in lithium dismays business

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    SANTIAGO, Chile — The Chilean government’s newly announced plan to have the state take a majority stake in the lithium industry disconcerted business leaders, though analysts cautioned that the proposal appears to try to strike a middle ground between competing interests.

    President Gabriel Boric announced in a national broadcast Thursday night that private companies will have to partner with the government in exploiting Chile’s lithium, a metal used to make rechargeable batteries.

    Boric said the state would take a controlling interest in each partnership, leading some to call it a nationalization of the industry, while others disagreed.

    “Phrasing it as nationalization is too strong … it’s a quasi-nationalization in that the playing field will now be leveled in favor of the state,” said Nicolás Saldías, senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean. “There is no level playing field for the private sector in Chile.”

    Chile is the second largest producer of lithium and holds the world’s third largest reserves of the metal. Demand for lithium is expected to soar amid the transition to renewable energy around the world and the growth in electric vehicles that are powered by lithium batteries.

    The South American country has recently been losing ground to others in the race to exploit the metal so there was much anticipation over what Boric, a leftist, would announce as the country’s strategy for the industry.

    “There were no great surprises, which doesn’t mean that it isn’t a very important change in the model,” said Mariano Machado, principal analyst for the Americas at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk intelligence firm.

    Under the plan, all companies wanting to work in Chile’s lithium sector will have to take on the yet-to-be created National Lithium Company as a partner and the “state will have control,” Boric said Thursday. Existing contracts will be honored, but Boric expressed optimism they could find a way to boost state participation in their operations before they expire.

    “It’s not a theft of the concessions, it’s a changing of the rules rather than abruptly breaking them,” said Emily Hersh, CEO of Luna Lithium, a lithium exploration company with projects in the Americas.

    Two companies currently mine lithium in Chile, Albemarle Corp. of the United States and local company SQM with concessions set to expire in 2043 and 2030, respectively. Shares in the two companies plunged Friday following Boric’s announcement.

    Creation of the new company would require approval from Congress, which has already shot down several of Boric’s key initiatives.

    Until then, two other state-owned companies, Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, and state mining company Enami will figure out how the private-public partnerships will operate.

    Chile’s president traveled Friday to Antofagasta, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from the Chilean capital to deliver more details about his proposal to local authorities.

    “We’re calling for a dialogue and participation process to gather visions and knowledge regarding the new governance of lithium and salt flats,” Boric said.

    But Chile’s business sector expressed concern.

    “We were quite disconcerted” by Boric’s announcement, said Ricardo Mewes, head of the Confederation of Production and Trade, an association that represents Chile’s business community.

    Mewes said business leaders had expected there would be a “great private sector participation” in the lithium sector and now the “state will be the one that will control” the industry.

    Several analysts said those concerns may go too far.

    Saldías, at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said the proposal “actually provides the private sector more opportunity than the existing framework because … there would be more ability to partake in projects than currently exists.”

    He cautioned, though, that environmental restrictions on the way lithium is produced and the push for more consultation with local communities could lead to “an increase in the costs of doing business” in Chile.

    Machado at Verisk Maplecroft said that “Chile appears to have gone for a model that is in the middle in which the state has the upper hand, given that it’s a resource that is considered strategic.”

    That is a different model from neighboring Bolivia, in which the state has full control of the sector, and Argentina, in which the state simply grants concessions for companies to operate.

    Finance Minister Mario Marcel called for calm in the business community. He said that under the plan, private companies will contribute capital, technological knowledge and experience, while the state provides ”financing” and at the same time safeguards environmental conditions of the salt flats and the “relationship with the Indigenous peoples” of the affected area.

    It remains unclear whether the government would contribute capital in direct proportion to its ownership stake.

    Boric also said the government will go beyond just being involved in mining lithium, saying it will promote the development of lithium products with added value as it strives to become the world’s leading lithium producer.

    Boric’s plan is in line with the “direction that the world is going,” said Hersh at Luna Lithium.

    “The push to have more added value where minerals are produced and to have a grater share of revenues from the mining activities are understandable long term trends,” she said.

    For Hersh the real concern isn’t necessarily Chile, a country with a robust mining industry and existing lithium production. She worries about what message this sends to others in the region that are trying to build up nascent industries, considering Mexico already nationalized its lithium sector.

    “You kind of have a rush to the party, you can’t be seen as the uncool president who isn’t doing it,” Hersh said.

    ___

    Politi reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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  • Chile’s plan for state control in lithium dismays business

    Chile’s plan for state control in lithium dismays business

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    SANTIAGO, Chile — The Chilean government’s newly announced plan to have the state take a majority stake in the lithium industry disconcerted business leaders, though analysts cautioned that the proposal appears to try to strike a middle ground between competing interests.

    President Gabriel Boric announced in a national broadcast Thursday night that private companies will have to partner with the government in exploiting Chile’s lithium, a metal used to make rechargeable batteries.

    Boric said the state would take a controlling interest in each partnership, leading some to call it a nationalization of the industry, while others disagreed.

    “Phrasing it as nationalization is too strong … it’s a quasi-nationalization in that the playing field will now be leveled in favor of the state,” said Nicolás Saldías, senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean. “There is no level playing field for the private sector in Chile.”

    Chile is the second largest producer of lithium and holds the world’s third largest reserves of the metal. Demand for lithium is expected to soar amid the transition to renewable energy around the world and the growth in electric vehicles that are powered by lithium batteries.

    The South American country has recently been losing ground to others in the race to exploit the metal so there was much anticipation over what Boric, a leftist, would announce as the country’s strategy for the industry.

    “There were no great surprises, which doesn’t mean that it isn’t a very important change in the model,” said Mariano Machado, principal analyst for the Americas at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk intelligence firm.

    Under the plan, all companies wanting to work in Chile’s lithium sector will have to take on the yet-to-be created National Lithium Company as a partner and the “state will have control,” Boric said Thursday. Existing contracts will be honored, but Boric expressed optimism they could find a way to boost state participation in their operations before they expire.

    “It’s not a theft of the concessions, it’s a changing of the rules rather than abruptly breaking them,” said Emily Hersh, CEO of Luna Lithium, a lithium exploration company with projects in the Americas.

    Two companies currently mine lithium in Chile, Albemarle Corp. of the United States and local company SQM with concessions set to expire in 2043 and 2030, respectively. Shares in the two companies plunged Friday following Boric’s announcement.

    Creation of the new company would require approval from Congress, which has already shot down several of Boric’s key initiatives.

    Until then, two other state-owned companies, Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, and state mining company Enami will figure out how the private-public partnerships will operate.

    Chile’s president traveled Friday to Antofagasta, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from the Chilean capital to deliver more details about his proposal to local authorities.

    “We’re calling for a dialogue and participation process to gather visions and knowledge regarding the new governance of lithium and salt flats,” Boric said.

    But Chile’s business sector expressed concern.

    “We were quite disconcerted” by Boric’s announcement, said Ricardo Mewes, head of the Confederation of Production and Trade, an association that represents Chile’s business community.

    Mewes said business leaders had expected there would be a “great private sector participation” in the lithium sector and now the “state will be the one that will control” the industry.

    Several analysts said those concerns may go too far.

    Saldías, at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said the proposal “actually provides the private sector more opportunity than the existing framework because … there would be more ability to partake in projects than currently exists.”

    He cautioned, though, that environmental restrictions on the way lithium is produced and the push for more consultation with local communities could lead to “an increase in the costs of doing business” in Chile.

    Machado at Verisk Maplecroft said that “Chile appears to have gone for a model that is in the middle in which the state has the upper hand, given that it’s a resource that is considered strategic.”

    That is a different model from neighboring Bolivia, in which the state has full control of the sector, and Argentina, in which the state simply grants concessions for companies to operate.

    Finance Minister Mario Marcel called for calm in the business community. He said that under the plan, private companies will contribute capital, technological knowledge and experience, while the state provides ”financing” and at the same time safeguards environmental conditions of the salt flats and the “relationship with the Indigenous peoples” of the affected area.

    It remains unclear whether the government would contribute capital in direct proportion to its ownership stake.

    Boric also said the government will go beyond just being involved in mining lithium, saying it will promote the development of lithium products with added value as it strives to become the world’s leading lithium producer.

    Boric’s plan is in line with the “direction that the world is going,” said Hersh at Luna Lithium.

    “The push to have more added value where minerals are produced and to have a grater share of revenues from the mining activities are understandable long term trends,” she said.

    For Hersh the real concern isn’t necessarily Chile, a country with a robust mining industry and existing lithium production. She worries about what message this sends to others in the region that are trying to build up nascent industries, considering Mexico already nationalized its lithium sector.

    “You kind of have a rush to the party, you can’t be seen as the uncool president who isn’t doing it,” Hersh said.

    ___

    Politi reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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  • Brazil police target illegal gold exports from the Amazon

    Brazil police target illegal gold exports from the Amazon

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    Brazil’s Federal Police are carrying out a court order to seize more than $384 million related to about 13 tons of gold mined illegally in the Amazon rainforest, then exported through an unnamed U.S.-based company

    BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s Federal Police on Wednesday were carrying out a court order to seize more than 2 billion reais ($384 million) related to about 13 tons of gold mined illegally in the Amazon rainforest, then exported through an unnamed U.S.-based company.

    Police said in a statement they were also executing 27 search warrants and three arrest warrants in seven states and the Federal District related to the investigation. The operation forms part of a fresh crackdown on illegal Amazon gold mining in the wake of the government announcing a health emergency for Yanomami Indigenous people caused by prospectors.

    Gold extracted from the Amazon is usually brought to nearby cities and sold to financial brokers that are regulated by Brazil’s central bank. All that’s required to transform the raw ore into a tradable asset is a handwritten document attesting to the specific point in the rainforest where the gold was extracted, but which is virtually impossible for the broker to verify.

    The police statement said the criminal organization used shell companies to issue fraudulent receipts and lend the appearance of legality to purchases of gold in excess of 4 billion reais between 2020 and 2022.

    The unnamed American company sold the gold onward to buyers in Italy, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.

    There has been increasing awareness that the current lack of transparency surrounding the purchase of gold contributes to illegality. This week, Brazil’s central bank told the Supreme Court that it is discussing a new system of oversight that would facilitate tracing the gold to its point of extraction, including adoption of electronic receipts.

    Yanomami adults and children have suffered malnourishment, disease and even death as a result of illegal gold mining on their land. Prospectors leave pools that become breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread illness, and use mercury that pollutes water used for fishing.

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  • Mexico plans to ask US for up to $48B for solar projects

    Mexico plans to ask US for up to $48B for solar projects

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    MEXICO CITY — Mexico plans to ask U.S. President Joe Biden for as much as $48 billion in financing for solar projects, Foreign Relations Secretary Marcel Ebrard said Tuesday.

    Ebrard said the request will be presented to Biden at the upcoming Jan. 9-10 meeting of U.S., Canadian and Mexican leaders in Mexico City.

    Mexico hopes to build solar energy parks in the northern border state of Sonora, along with power transmission lines. Mexico hopes to receive some of the funding from the North American Development Bank, or NADBank.

    The bank funds green development projects, but has never provided financing on anything near the scale Mexico is requesting.

    Mexico also may get some of the funding between now and 2030 by issuing debt bonds.

    The solar parks are to be run by Mexico’s state-owned utility, which has been involved in a trade dispute between Mexico and the United States.

    The U.S. and Canada accuse President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of trying to favor Mexico’s state-owned utility over power plants built by foreign and private investors, something that is forbidden under the U.S.-Mexico Canada free trade pact.

    On Tuesday, López Obrador also ended speculation about whether a Chinese company might be able to mine lithium deposits in Sonora. The Chinese firm already had approvals for such a mine when López Obrador declared earlier this year that lithium was a strategically important mineral that could only be mined by the Mexican government.

    López Obrador had promised to respect any existing permits, but on Tuesday he said none were viable.

    “Fortunately, there were no private concessions,” López Obrador said. “They are claiming there was a concession, but it was at the project stage. Now, any lithium mining will involve a state-owned Mexican company.”

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  • Canadian firm blames Panama for closure of copper mine

    Canadian firm blames Panama for closure of copper mine

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    PANAMA CITY — A Canadian company claimed Friday the government of Panama has cut off talks with it, resulting in the closure of a huge copper mine.

    Canada’s First Quantum Minerals Ltd. said in a statement that it had been negotiating with the government of Panama, which wants vastly increased royalty payments of $375 million per year from the company.

    Analysts say the dispute threatens to have a huge economic impact in Panama, where the Cobre Panamá mine accounts for 3% of Panama’s gross domestic product, and poses a big challenge for the government, which will still have to administer the open-pit mine.

    First Quantum said in a statement Friday it had agreed to those payments, and “came very close to an agreement to secure the long-term future of the Cobre Panamá mine before the Government halted discussions.”

    The company said it wanted a protection clause in case metals prices or profitability at the mine drop, presumably to reduce royalty payments in that case.

    Panama’s president announced Thursday that the government ordered Frist Quantum’s local subsidiary to cease operations at the mine, the largest private investment in the history of Panama. The company says it has invested about $10 billion in the project since 1997.

    But it will not be easy to simply close such a huge operation, with a workforce of 40,000 and mine pits that need to be monitored and serviced.

    Environmental law expert Rodrigo Noriega said the government might have to take several moves.

    There are “different options, they could authorize the mine to continue operating while the talks go on, which would be a benevolent plan, or you could seek out a third company to administer it while the case with the mining company is resolved,” Noriega said.

    President Laurentino Cortizo’s Cabinet voted Thursday to order the mine to halt operations and instructed the Labor Ministry to take steps that would guarantee employment and labor protections for the mine’s workers.

    The government blamed the subsidiary, Minera Panama, saying it failed to meet commitments agreed to in January for a new contract that was “reasonable and satisfactory” for the Panamanian people.

    The government has said that on Jan. 17, Minera Panama agreed in a letter to a deal with the government that included the minimum annual payment of $375 million. Despite negotiations, the company did not sign the new contract by the Dec. 14 deadline set by the government.

    First Quantum has said the agreed-on figure “would make Cobre Panama one of the highest payers of royalties and taxes amongst the large copper producing mines in the Americas.”

    The company said “necessary legal protections on termination, stability and transition arrangements could not be agreed upon.”

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