Mining

• [New] The Calgary-based utility is in the process of retiring its Edmonton-area thermal coal mining operations and converting all of its coal power generation in Canada to natural gas by the end of 2021, while eliminating its last coal generation unit at a facility in Washington State by the end of 2025.
• [New] China's Inner Mongolia will end all cryptocurrency mining projects and stop reviewing new projects in industries which consume large amounts of energy, such as steel, coke and methanol production, as it attempts to meet energy efficiency targets.
• [New] The energy wasted by plugged-in but inactive home devices in the US alone could power bitcoin mining for 1.8 years.
• [New] Poland's PGE GiEK (owner of the Turow lignite mine and power plant) wants to use its available lignite deposits to continue lignite mining operations in its Turow open-cast mine until 2044.
• [New] A higher share of diversified mining companies is aligned with Below 2 °C in 2050 than any other industrials / materials sector and a lower share has no or unsuitable disclosure (only Southern Copper has).
• [New] Tesla could add bitcoin and crypto mining to its list of industries that it revolutionized.
• [New] With Angola attracting investment from both the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and implementing far-reaching reforms to diversify its economy away from a heavy reliance on oil and gas, there is every hope that Angola could be an attractive investment option for future mining projects.
• [New] Production at the Ranger uranium mine, owned by Energy Resources of Australia, is expected to come to a halt in 2021 due to low uranium prices.
• [New] The arrival of new monetary stimulus in the U.S. could spur inflation-fearing investors towards gold and gold mining stocks as the year progresses.
• The Queensland Mines Inspectorate said it issued a directive to the mine operator to suspend all operations underground until the site senior executive could demonstrate the risk was at an acceptable level for coal mine workers to return underground.
• Copper supply is expected to fall short of demand as electric-vehicle production ramps up, spurring miners to spend more on expansion projects over the next few years.
• With an increasingly positive outlook for a sustained period of higher commodity prices, the mining industry could be a strong driver of South Africa's economic recovery.
• The commodity and mining sectors have largely recovered from the initial demand shock in H1 2020, as global economic recovery has been more rapid than initially expected, with murmurings of another commodities super cycle recently growing in volume.
• Former US president Donald Trump raised the China threat last September when he signed an executive order to expand the mining of rare earths.
• Driven by China's sustained recovery and supply disruptions in several markets, including copper and iron ore, the mining industry is enjoying the most benign conditions in more than a decade.
• With commodities such as rare earths and platinum groups metals in higher demand than ever before, there is every reason to think that, in the future, many of humanity's mineral needs could be met by mining operations beyond Earth.
• Several sources of future growth Nevada Gold Mines will enter harvest mode from FY23 and, one year later, two of its three major new projects will also begin to contribute materially towards production and profitability.
• The failure to develop new mines could support prices for existing projects, including in South Africa.
• The commencement of a drilling programme will mark the start of a strategy to create a mining company with a Cornwall focus.

Last updated: 05 March 2021