Cashed-up #Chinese steel mills are chasing top quality #Iron ore to help increase output and meet #Beijing’s tougher environmental standards, driving the premium for high-grade ore to its biggest in two years.
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-ironore-prices-idUSKCN1160XH
#China’s imports of #Ferronickel from #Indonesia were 74,493 tonnes in July, more than five times taken in the same month a year earlier.
Likewise, year-to-date imports from #Indonesia have surged more than four-fold to 390,706 tonnes, giving the nation a 70 percent share of #Chinese imports of ferronickel.
This surge in imports of ferronickel is significant as it shows that the way China gets its nickel is changing.
This is more than double the amount of #Nickel ore exported to China from the #Philippines, providing proof that China isn’t importing less nickel, but is changing the form in which it imports the metal.
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-russell-nickel-china-idUSKCN1100PL
#MIT engineers have invented a bubble-wrapped, sponge-like device that soaks up natural sunlight and heats water to boiling temperatures, generating steam through its pores.
The design, which the researchers call a “#Solar vapor generator,” requires a combination of relatively low-tech materials to capture ambient sunlight and concentrate it as heat. The heat is then directed toward the pores of the sponge, which draw water up and release it as steam.
The researchers found the structure heated water to its boiling temperature of 100 degrees Celsius, even on relatively cool, overcast days. The sponge also converted 20 percent of the incoming sunlight to steam.
Read more at: https://www.pddnet.com/news/2016/08/sponge-creates-steam-using-ambient-sunlight
A #Philippine lawmaker has revived a proposal to ban exports of unprocessed minerals to spur domestic processing, in a move that may tighten global #Nickel supply and make it an even tougher business environment for miners in the world’s top producer.
#Britain’s decision to leave the #EuropeanUnion may push back its planned exit from #Coal, a mainstay in the nation’s energy supply for more than a century.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-22/brexit-worsens-u-k-energy-supply-risk-as-coal-retirement-loomshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-22/brexit-worsens-u-k-energy-supply-risk-as-coal-retirement-looms
#Indonesian oil and gas producer PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk plans to invest $500 million to build a #Copper smelter following its deal to buy control of #Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT), its president commissioner told #Reuters.
The smelter, which will have an annual capacity of 500,000 tonnes, is expected to start operations in 2021.
Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/medco-energi-newmont-mining-idUSL3N1B021M
A new report from #BMI Research shows the country’s domestic mining output growth has slowed dramatically and will average far below levels attained in the last decade. Reasons for the slowdown are plentiful.
#China’s of consumption of metals and minerals far outstrip domestic supply – in #Iron ore its imports constitute nearly 80% of use and in #Copper it’s approaching 50% and for #Nickel it’s already above that.
Read more at: http://www.mining.com/chart-china-must-import-ore/
#GeneralElectric and #Hitachi are selling a #Canadian joint venture that supplies nuclear fuel and equipment for #Candu nuclear reactors — a key source of electricity for #Ontario.
The buyer is a #Canadian subsidiary of #BWX Technologies Inc., a #US publicly traded company headquartered in #Virginia.
Read more at: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/bwxt-to-buy-ontario-nuclear-business-from-ge-hitachi-double-presence-in-canada/
#China Investment Corp., the $814 billion sovereign fund, is leading a #Chinese investor group in talks for a multibillion-dollar iron-ore streaming deal with #Brazil’s #Vale SA, people familiar with the matter said.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-19/china-sovereign-fund-said-to-pursue-vale-iron-ore-streaming-deal
The world’s two largest mining companies are planning to raise capital expenditure from decade lows as a firming rebound in commodity prices paves the way for at least $12-billion of growth projects.
#BHP #Billiton Ltd., the No. 1 miner, expects to raise spending by 15% in fiscal 2018, while #RioTinto Group forecasts it will boost expenditure from next calendar year.
Read more at: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/biggest-miners-project-spending-reboot-signals-rebound-firming-2016-08-17/rep_id:3650
A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info 