Here's some more fun, if a dog with a gammy leg can't round up sheep, all dogs can't round up sheep. Don't bother for an explanation, it's above you no doubt.
Rio Tinto sorry for blasting 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site Cecilia Jamasmie | June 1, 2020 | 9:00 am Education Top Companies Australia Iron Ore (Image courtesy of Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation.) Rio Tinto (ASX, LON, NYSE: RIO) has apologized for accidentally blowing up a 46,000-year-old sacred indigenous site with dynamite while carrying out work to expand its iron ore operation in Australia’s Pilbara region. The world’s second-largest miner destroyed two ancient caves last week in Juukan Gorge, about 1,075 km (667 miles) north of Perth. The rock shelters contained artifacts considered evidence of habitation dating back thousands of years. Among them, there was 4,000-year-old plaited human hair with genetic links to the present day traditional owners, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) peoples, ABC News reported. “They were not only extremely important sites for Aboriginal communities, but also they were extremely important sites for archaeological understanding of the distant past in Australia,” Peter Stone, the UNESCO chair in Cultural Property Protection and Peace at Newcastle University in the UK told the news outlet. Rio was granted approval for work at the Brockman 4 iron ore project in 2013. Subsequent archaeological excavation revealed ancient artifacts at the site, including grinding stones and a bone sharpened into a tool. Reviewing Juukan Gorge area plans “We are sorry for the distress we have caused,” Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive, Chris Salisbury, said in a statement on Sunday. “Our relationship with the PKKP matters a lot to Rio Tinto, having worked together for many years,” Salibury said. “We will continue to work with the PKKP to learn from what has taken place and strengthen our partnership. As a matter of urgency, we are reviewing the plans of all other sites in the Juukan Gorge area.” Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the country’s first leader to apologize to generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children forcefully taken from their parents by white Australians last century, said Rio Tinto’s “corporate arrogance had robbed all Australians.” “Juukan Gorge’s shelters [are] nine-times older than Stonehenge, 23-times older than the Colosseum and 75-times older than Machu Picchu,” he posted on his official Twitter account. The state government hopes to pass its new Aboriginal cultural heritage bill this year, although the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the consultation process.
This news is insignificant imo on the RIO stock price atm, maybe a head or two will roll but that and/or financial penalties will be further down the track. The Vale news on mine shutdowns has greater significance. https://www.mining.com/iron-ore-soars-as-vale-ordered-to-shut-down-mines/
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...ld-mean-worsening-pollution?srnd=premium-asia China Has Another Reason to Wear Face Masks David Fickling, Bloomberg News 3M Co. 8210V N95 particulate respirators are arranged for a photograph in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, April 6, 2020. 3M pushed back against a request from the Trump administration to halt exports of protective face masks, saying the move would cut off critical supplies for neighboring countries and raise "significant" humanitarian concerns. , Bloomberg (Bloomberg Opinion) -- If residents of China’s steel belt want to know whether to strap on face masks and avoid outdoor exercise, they could do worse than look to the iron ore price. That’s because the spread between two varieties of rust often works as a proxy for the amount of choking particulates spewed out by the country’s steel mills. Right now, the narrowing of the differential to its tightest in more than three years is flashing a pollution warning signal. Unprocessed iron ore is sold in two main sizes. Lump ore is a pebbly mixture that can be fed directly into blast furnaces, and in China must be imported from overseas. Typically it commands a steep premium over fines, a more powdery product that’s easier to come by and must be processed with coke and limestone in sinter plants before it can be used. Those sinter plants are where the vast majority of dust is produced in the steelmaking process, so when environmental restrictions are tight and rigidly enforced, mill owners will use more lump ore and the lump premium rises. At the moment, the opposite is the case: At just 5.5 cents a metric ton, the premium has narrowed by about 80% since the start of March to levels last seen in 2017. Enforced shutdowns are often imposed in China’s steel belt when pollution gets bad, but they’re widely flouted, especially when profits are good and the government is prioritizing heavy industrial stimulus. With those conditions in place, there’s little reason for mills to buy more lump. After a coronavirus-induced lull earlier in the year, the country’s steel industry is churning out metal at record rates to get the economy off its sick bed. Many businesses are still reeling, with first-half fixed-asset investment in the dominant manufacturing sector falling 12% from 2019, and wholesaling and retailing down 31%. Yet steel-intensive engineering sectors are surging. Spending on new power generation and utilities was up 18% from last year. Even the immense real estate sector, which accounts for about a quarter of all Chinese fixed-asset investment, increased 0.6% through June. That has translated to buoyant conditions for steel mills. In May alone, a record 92 million tons was produced, more than the U.S. steel industry has made in any year since 2007. Despite a price surge for benchmark iron ore that last week prompted the Dalian Commodities Exchange to warn investors about price volatility and a stockpile of construction rebar that’s running at about twice average seasonal levels, prices are at their best in 12 months and blast furnaces are making good money. The pandemic-induced weakness in the steel sector outside China is also making it more attractive to pollute. Coking coal, a crucial ingredient in sinter feed, is at some of its lowest levels in years thanks to sluggish demand from India, Japan and South Korea. In recent years it’s typically sold for two or three times the price of iron ore. For the first time since 2014, however, the two commodities are now touching parity. So far there’s little sign that Beijing is seeing the pickup in particulate concentrations that typically accompanies a narrowing in the lump premium. That may be largely due to prevailing wind directions keeping pollution locked up in areas of Hebei and Shandong provinces where steelmaking is concentrated. Over the coming months, steel production is likely to be running full tilt. China’s summer rains and floods are receding, giving construction workers a narrow window of opportunity to get building until October rolls around and winter weather brings more severe, and strictly enforced, steel production curbs — not to mention a possible revival of coronavirus infections. Pollution has long dogged China’s industrialization, responsible for 1.1 million premature deaths in 2015 alone. Better air quality since then has been a key priority for Beijing, suggesting that quality of life might finally take precedence over growth at all costs. Chinese politicians have taken pride in the way they’ve managed to largely suppress Covid-19 while getting the economy moving again — but if the price of kick-starting economic growth is a renewed burden of pollution-related fatalities, it’s going to be a distinctly Pyrrhic victory.
Rio Tinto CEO, top executives resign amid cave blast crisis Nick Toscano and Hamish Hastie Updated September 11, 2020 Rio Tinto boss Jean-Sébastien Jacques and two senior executives will be replaced after an investor revolt forced the mining giant's board to escalate its response to the blasting of the ancient Juukan Gorge rock shelters. Mr Jacques, Rio's iron ore division boss Chris Salisbury and corporate affairs boss Simone Niven will depart the company within six months, the board said, following a series of crisis meetings held this week. More..... https://www.smh.com.au/business/com...n-amid-cave-blast-crisis-20200910-p55uf8.html
A Major Miner’s Daunting Dig Could Reshape the Iron-Ore Market Rio Tinto’s next CEO faces a decision on a costly but coveted African project that ‘represents a major threat to long-term iron-ore prices’ https://www.wsj.com/articles/rio-ti...d=3&cx_testVariant=cx_22&cx_artPos=5#cxrecs_s SYDNEY— Rio Tinto PLC’s next leader will inherit a decision that could define the miner’s next decade: whether to partner with China on a potentially lucrative but costly African project that could reshape the iron-ore market. That decision adds to a list of challenges for the successor to Jean-Sébastien Jacques, who was forced out after Rio Tinto destroyed two ancient rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Australia in May. The iron ore buried in Guinea’s Simandou mountains is among the world’s largest untapped deposits of the commodity. Its riches have long been coveted by global miners and investors competing to exploit booming demand for a commodity used to make steel. Chinese companies are pushing hard to develop Simandou after a consortium including a unit of aluminum maker China Hongqiao Group Ltd. and port operator Yantai Port Group Co. secured rights to mine the northern half of the deposit in a $14 billion tender late last year. Rio Tinto and partners own the southern half, but they could save billions of dollars in construction costs if they collaborate. Rio Tinto’s decision boils down to whether it wants to be involved in a project that could put pressure on iron-ore prices by increasing global supply of the commodity. A 2014 study by the company put the cost of developing the southern half of Simandou at $20 billion. Political risk in West Africa is also high. Still, Simandou’s iron ore is likely too valuable to remain in the ground. China consumes around one billion tons of the commodity every year, mostly imports from Australia. A development in Guinea would boost the security of China’s supply, especially for high-grade ore that is typically less polluting when turned into steel. “It’s an awkward one for Rio Tinto,” said Paul McTaggart, a Sydney-based resources analyst at Citi. “It either participates in the development of Simandou, and it puts pressure on iron-ore prices, or it doesn’t participate and they have an iron-ore asset that’s worth nothing.” Rio Tinto once saw Simandou as central to its ambitions to become the world’s top iron-ore producer after winning the rights to mine a 300-square-mile area in 2006. But those plans soon foundered in a country with few skilled workers and poor infrastructure. Exporting the iron ore would have required spending billions of dollars to build a cross-country rail line and a deep water shipping port. In 2008, Guinea’s government stunned the mining industry by telling Rio Tinto it wasn’t moving fast enough at Simandou and stripped the company of rights to develop 50% of the deposit. In 2016, Rio Tinto dismissed two executives for their alleged role in making $10.5 million in payments to a consultant in Guinea. Scarred by the experience, Rio Tinto tried to get out of Simandou. But the company’s plan to sell its interest to joint-venture partner Aluminum Corp. of China, known as Chinalco, fell apart in 2018 when the deal didn’t complete. “We have always assumed that Simandou would happen,” Jakob Stausholm, Rio Tinto’s chief financial officer, said in an interview. “It has always been in our long-term forecasts, and depending on the price of iron ore, there’s space for Simandou.” To make a decision on Simandou, Rio Tinto’s next chief executive will need to assess how quickly China’s demand for steel will peak as that would influence the country’s appetite for iron ore. The availability of scrap metal could also weaken demand. How Simandou’s returns measure up against other options to grow production, including via acquisitions, will be another factor. The company will have to assess the impact that Simandou’s supply would have on iron-ore prices, as it risks making Rio Tinto’s existing operations in Australia and Canada less profitable. Australia accounts for more than 50% of the world’s trade in iron ore by sea. Rio Tinto last month began a search for a successor to Mr. Jacques, who will remain in his role no later than March 31. Some analysts expect an external candidate will be chosen, as many potential leaders left the miner in the past four years. In addition to deciding Simandou, the new leader will have to rebuild the miner’s reputation following the caves’ destruction, deal with regulatory investigations in the U.S. and Australia, and oversee the delayed expansion of a copper mine in Mongolia. The speed at which the group that owns the northern half of Simandou, SMB-Winning Consortium, is moving ahead has surprised industry watchers. In June, Guinea’s government signed a basic agreement with SMB-Winning for the development of Simandou, including the need for a 400-mile railway through mountains and across marshy lowlands to the coast. Goldman Sachs expects the consortium to start the railway’s construction next year if it can secure financing, and begin producing iron ore about four years later. That narrows the window for Rio Tinto to decide whether to collaborate, with Goldman estimating that infrastructure sharing could cut combined construction costs by up to $7 billion and boost returns for each project by more than 3%. Rio Tinto has signaled it is open to discussions on infrastructure sharing. The company is working with Chinalco and other partners to find ways to lower costs and speed up development of Simandou’s southern half. Singapore-based Winning International Group, which leads the SMB-Winning Consortium, declined to comment on whether it would be open to collaborating with Rio Tinto.
Aussie companies stripped of iron ore projects in Africa Brad Thompson Reporter Dec 21, 2020 – 5.30pm https://www.afr.com/companies/minin...f-iron-ore-projects-in-africa-20201221-p56pck Perth-based Sundance Resources is seeking a multi-billion dollar payout from the Republic of Congo after being stripped of its iron ore mining licence in the central African nation where China is casting a big shadow. Two other Australian-based companies have also had iron ore mining and exploration rights stripped by the RoC, which then awarded them to a mystery company with no history in the region. The mystery company has been handed rights to about a billion tonnes of high grade iron ore by the RoC at a time Chinese steel mills are stuck paying high prices for Australian product. It is understood the three Australian companies stripped of their permits will study any links between China, which wields increasing influence in the RoC, and the new permit and licence holder. China is a dominant force in mining in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo as well as a long-time supporter of the RoC. Sundance said on Monday that the RoC had issued decrees purporting to strip its subsidiary Congo Iron of the mining permit for the Nabeba iron ore project and re-issued the permit to Sangha Mining Development Sasu. Sangha Mining has also been awarded permits and licences for iron ore projects that were stripped from ASX-listed Equatorial Resources and privately-owned Core Mining Congo. Equatorial Resources said it considered the sudden awarding of the Badondo (Equatorial), Nabeba (Sundance) and Avima (Core) permits to Sangha Mining a “flagrant breach of the RoC (Congo) government’s obligations under the mining code, the relevant mining conventions which exist between the permit holders and the RoC government, and international law”. Both Sundance and Equatorial said they had no knowledge of Sangha Mining and were not aware of any previous mining activity by the group in RoC. Sundance said it would conduct a full investigation into the actions of the Congo and into Sangha Mining before an arbitration process Sundance has kicked off by issuing a notice of dispute and notice of expropriation to the Congo. In the notice of expropriation, Sundance has claimed damages of $US8.76 billion based on the iron ore price of $US154 a tonne on the day the notice was lodged. Sundance chief executive Giulio Casello said the expropriation of iron ore mining permits and exploration licences by the Congo was “breathtaking in its size and audacity and in contempt of Congo’s mining laws and the government’s oft-stated claims that it upholds its own laws”. “The Nabeba deposit is the most advanced in the region because of the work done by Sundance over many years. “When combined with the other two projects whose licences have been expropriated, we are talking about approximately one billion tonnes of high-grade, direct-shipping iron ore within a 100 kilometre radius that have been illegally seized by the Congo government. “Sundance will take all steps required to pursue the legal rights of the company and its subsidiaries and protect the interests of Sundance shareholders. “We do not see how our dispute with the Congo government, as a result of its actions, can be resolved in the 54 remaining days of the negotiation period, absent an agreement by the Congo government to pay substantial damages.” Mr Casello’s comments coincided with notice Sundance would be removed from the ASX boards from December 21 after being suspended from trading for a continuous period of two years. Equatorial, led by former Wallaby and Resolute Mining managing director John Welborn, said it was shocked by the “unlawful and arbitrary actions” of the Congo. “The actions of the RoC government in granting multiple mining licences to Sangha Mining are unprecedented, unlawful and unfair,” Equatorial said. “Sangha Mining has never held any research permit or exploration permit over Badondo and, as far as Equatorial is aware, has conducted no work at Badondo nor made any investment whatsoever in the exploration or development of Badondo. “Under the applicable RoC legislation, Sangha Mining is therefore ineligible for the grant of exploitation rights over the Badondo tenement.” Equatorial said that through its subsidiary EEPL Holdings Mauritius, it would serve a notice of dispute and request for negotiations on the Congo under an agreement between the Congo and Mauritius for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments.
BHP to restart Samarco operations Tom Richardson BHP says it has met the licensing requirements to restart the Samarco iron ore mining operations at its Germano complex in south-east Brazil. Samarco's operations were suspended in November 2015 after a dam at the mine collapsed and killed 19 people. Samarco is a joint venture between BHP and Vale. The collapse of the Fundao dam in 2015 killed 19 and poured roughly 40 million cubic metres of mining waste into communities. AP BHP says a compensation fund has spent around $US2.1 billion ($2.8 billion) on remediation costs with financial aid to around 325,000 people. Once it restarts, the mine is tipped to produce around 8 million tonnes a year of iron ore pellets. Afr.com