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PT Amman Mineral Internasional, a closely held Indonesian company backed by three local banks, will buy #Newmont’s 48.5 percent interest in PTNNT, which operates the Batu Hijau mine, the Greenwood Village, #Colorado-based company said in a statement. #Sumitomo Corp. also agreed to sell its stake in an asset that Newmont says has a gross valuation of more than $2.5 billion.

Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-30/newmont-and-sumitomo-enter-pact-to-sell-indonesian-mine-stake

Cuba’s most well-known exports may be cigars, rum and sugar, but its #Nickel deposits are earning the country more than all those combined.

Now Cuba’s, biggest nickel mine has also become one of the biggest compensation claims from its former #American owners.

Read more at: http://www.cctv-america.com/2016/06/27/former-owners-seek-compensation-for-seized-cuba-nickle-mines

On the 27th of June, 2016, the smelting and roasting shops of the #Nickel Plant were stopped. Nickel Plant Closure Project is one of the step of large-scale environment-oriented program of #Norilsk Nickel production facilities reconfiguration.

Nickel Plant is the oldest asset of the Company (it was commissioned in 1942) with annual sulfur dioxide emissions amounting to 380 thousand tons. Inability to capture sulfur at obsolete production site became the main factor for implementation of comprehensive project for its closure

Read more at: http://www.nornik.ru/en/newsroom/news-and-press-releases/news/production-shutdown-at-nickel-plant

#Scientists at #KTH #Royal #Institute of Technology in #Stockholm now report that they have unlocked one major barrier to exploiting this renewable energy source.

The low-cost, highly efficient #Nickel- #Vanadium monolayer outperforms other electrocatalysts that are composed of non-precious materials.

The same group had earlier developed molecular catalysts for water oxidation with an efficiency approaching that of natural photosynthesis.

Read more at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160627095937.htm

[Picture: http://www.gob.cl/president-bachelet-chilean-lithium-will-not-be-a-case-of-frustrated-development-but-an-example-of-a-well-built-future/%5D

The world’s No 1 #Copper producer #Codelco is expected to make its decision on who to partner with to develop its #Lithium assets in the first quarter of next year, #Chile’s #Mining Minister #Aurora #Williams told #Reuters.

Read more at: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/chiles-codelco-to-decide-on-partner-for-lithium-development-in-2017-2016-06-23/rep_id:3650

#Indonesia is considering forming a special region that will serve as an onshore financial center in which domestic firms can create shell companies without having to go to tax haven countries, its finance minister said.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-economy-tax-idUSKCN0Z90BI?il=0

The incoming minister in charge of #Philippine mining has slammed the use of open pits to extract minerals, describing it as “madness” even to consider the method in the resource-rich country because of the environmental impact.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/philippines-mining-idUSL4N19E1RF

Following #China #Molybdenum’s US$1.5 billion purchase of 3Anglo #American’s #Phosphate and #Niobium unit, #JilinJien #Nickel Industry Co has had its proposed purchase of RB Energy’s #Quebec #Lithium development – which the vendor once said was capable of producing “the highest-quality lithium carbonate in the world” – approved by a #Canadian court.

Read more at: http://www.mining-journal.com/commodities/industrial-minerals/chinese-investments-in-lithium-rise/

#Iceland may be a cold, hard place to live, but the locals sure have made the most of what they’ve got. The country runs on 100 percent #RenewableEnergy, thanks to its #Geothermal pockets and #Hydroelectric dams.

Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/this-funky-new-turbine-can-bring-green-energy-to-rural-areas

#Volkswagen’s Chief Executive #Matthias #Mueller also declared that battery technology would become a “new competency,” and the carmaker had begun a review of its strategic options in the field.

His comments seemed to lend weight to recent #German media reports that one of those “options” could be for #VW to build a multi-billion euro electric vehicle #Lithium  battery plant.  It’s worth at least considering — the ambitious target means it will need to source an awful lot of batteries from somewhere.

Mueller should be commended for thinking big and for steering VW towards a cleaner future. Sometimes fortune favors the brave, as #Tesla’s #ElonMusk has shown (so far, at least).

Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-06-21/volkswagen-should-be-wary-on-electric-battery-factory