Understanding China’s Belt and Road Initiative
The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — or the ‘New Silk Road’ as it was branded in 2013 at its official launch in Kazakhstan — involves around 130 countries,…
Europe
Britishvolt secures US$54M from Glencore for UK gigafactory
Electric vehicle (EV) battery start-up Britishvolt, which has the ambitious plan to build a recycling gigafactory in the U.K., has secured a £40 million (US$54 million) cornerstone investment from partner…
Lithium: Spot prices soar in lunar new year
Lithium spot prices in Chinese markets showed substantial gains in the first week after the lunar new year holidays in East Asia, mainly driven by sustained supply tightness in spot…
Gates, Bezos-backed firm gets cash injection to find battery metals
KoBold Metals, a start-up backed by a coalition of billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, has raised $192.5 million in its latest financing round, which will allow it to speed…
Glencore, Britishvolt to jointly build battery recycling plant
Miner and commodities trader Glencore (LSE: GLEN) has tied up with electric vehicle (EV) battery start-up Britishvolt to build a new plant to recycle lithium-ion batteries in the United Kingdom….
Rock Tech, Bilfinger to build Europe’s first lithium refinery
Canada’s Rock Tech Lithium (TSXV: RCK) and Germany’s Bilfinger SE will work together on building Europe’s first lithium converter and refinery, in a push to meet the region’s increasing demand…
De Beers boosts production to meet recovering demand
De Beers, the world’s top diamond producer by value, saw production jump in the last quarter of 2021 by 15% to 7.7 million carats, as it boosted production to meet…
Anglo American ups copper guidance on Quellaveco start
Anglo American (LSE: AAL) says it expects to churn out between 680,000 and 760,000 tonnes of copper in 2022, as its giant Quellaveco mine in Peru is slated to begin…
Antofagasta says Chile water shortage to hit 2022 production
Chilean miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) is expecting annual copper production for 2022 to be below last year’s levels, as operations continue to be impacted by the country’s longest drought in…
Key insights from the inaugural Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s oil powerhouses, boasting the second-largest proven reserve of the slick stuff. Still, as the inaugural Future Minerals Forum recently held in Riyadh heard,…
EV industry moving in right direction to close gap with internal combustion engines – report
Although there is still a way to go for electric vehicles to close the performance, safety, and cost gap with internal combustion engines, a recent report by IDTechEx says some…
The View from England: On the rocks
There is one aspect of geology that makes even us mining engineers sit up and take notice, namely the relationship it has with whisky. I edited an article on the…