MINEX Forum

Month: December 2023

  • ArcelorMittal transferred 16 billion tenge to the Kazakhstan Khalkyn fund

    ArcelorMittal transferred 16 billion tenge to the Kazakhstan Khalkyn fund

    The public fund “Kazakhstan Khalkyna” received a charitable contribution in the amount of 16 billion tenge from the ArcelorMittal company, the press service of the fund reports.

    The funds received will be used by the fund to implement charitable projects and programs in the field of education and healthcare that will benefit the population of the Karaganda region.

    At least fifty percent (50%) of the contribution amount will be allocated to projects implemented in Temirtau or significantly related to this city.  

    Charitable programs and projects will be aimed at:

    • improving secondary education institutions and supporting students in higher education through scholarships;
    • improving STEM education in the region;
    • provision of medicines to patients with orphan (rare) diseases;
    • providing healthcare institutions with advanced medical equipment and access to the services of medical experts.  

    In total, since its creation, the fund has received 158.8 billion tenge (as of December 1, 2023) from the largest companies, private charitable foundations and organizations, philanthropists and individuals.

    It is noted that for almost two years of activity, the fund initiated the implementation of charitable projects and programs in the Karaganda region for a total amount of 13.96 billion tenge. These include providing patients with orphan diseases with medications, creating flagship schools, providing educational grants to students from socially vulnerable segments of the population, equipping medical organizations with modern equipment, creating rehabilitation centers, providing innovative prosthetics, equipping special schools, opening children’s gyms in villages and others .

  • Kazatomprom shares fell by 6.64% on the London Stock Exchange

    Kazatomprom shares fell by 6.64% on the London Stock Exchange

    Shares of Kazatomprom fell by 6.64% at the end of trading in London, likely due to a delayed response to the ban on Russian uranium supplies to the United States. Bizmedia.kz reports this .

    In addition, according to market participants, the drop is due to the fact that Kazatomprom was included on December 15 in the Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF. Initially, its weight in the index was 10.8%, and in response to increased demand, the company’s shares rose in price.

    However, Sprott Junior Uranium Miners and Nasdaq soon announced that the revision of the index composition was carried out with errors. Details are not specified.

    The Kazakh company has close production ties with Russia. Especially in 2022, when Russian companies received the right to develop the largest uranium deposit in the world in the Turkestan region.

    This happened after the acquisition of shares in the Stepnogorsk Mining and Chemical Combine from Russian billionaire Vasily Anisimov and Kazakh entrepreneur Yakov Klebanov (son of billionaire Alexander Klebanov).

  • Aurubis to invest € 330 million in precious metals processing and environmental protection at the Hamburg site, expanding project pipeline to € 750 millionb

    Aurubis to invest € 330 million in precious metals processing and environmental protection at the Hamburg site, expanding project pipeline to € 750 millionb

    Aurubis AG, a leading global provider of non-ferrous metals and one of the largest copper recyclers worldwide, has approved additional, comprehensive investments, with a focus on its Hamburg site. At its most recent meeting, the Supervisory Board endorsed two new projects at the North German plant for a total of € 330 million. These include around € 300 million earmarked for a new precious metals processing plant, the Precious Metals Refinery (PMR). Combined with current facilities, it will create a new, integrated high-security area for the processing of precious metals at the site. Aurubis is also allocating around € 30 million to further augment environmental protection, and announced the second stage and significant expansion of the Reducing Diffuse Emissions (RDE) system used in primary copper production.

    Aurubis investing in security for precious metals processing

    The new precious metals processing plant is slated to come online at the end of 2026. Precious Metals Hamburg comprises the entire precious metals processing chain in one closed security area. In addition to upgrading plant and precious metals security and occupational safety, Aurubis is raising the bar with the innovative process technology and systems engineering involved in the project. The newly developed metallurgical process leads to higher efficiency, which will considerably reduce throughput times for materials containing precious metals and lower operating costs by around 15 %. With this new plant, Aurubis is significantly expanding production capacity in precious metals and laying the groundwork for additional growth strategy projects.

    Doubling capacity: expanding the system to reduce diffuse emissions

    An € 85 million filter system in primary copper production has been reducing diffuse emissions at the Aurubis Hamburg site since 2021. The project involved closing roof openings on the building housing the primary smelter and connecting them to a new, high-performance filter system. The system suctions off and cleans diffuse emissions, or dust, then redirects residual quantities to the production cycle, and has already lowered the diffuse emissions discharged from primary copper production by 40 %. The new expansion stage will double the system’s efficiency to 80 %. This augmentation of the filter technology represents another significant drop in the fine particulate matter released, already below the threshold level today. Since 2000, the Aurubis Group has invested about € 830 million in environmental protection measures for copper production, achieving the highest sustainability standards in the industry.

    “By endorsing these comprehensive investment projects at its most recent meeting, the Supervisory Board affirmed its support for the Aurubis growth strategy and for strengthening our core business,” Aurubis CEO Roland Harings explained. “We are making an important contribution to sustainable, environmentally friendly, and innovative metal production with these projects.”

    We are making an important contribution to sustainable, environmentally friendly, and innovative metal production with these projects.

    Roland Harings

    Chief Executive Officer

    Implementing project pipeline lays the groundwork for a state-of-the-art smelter site in Hamburg

    These new projects combined with previously approved projects, some of which are already in progress, mean that Aurubis is currently investing a total of over € 750 million in its Hamburg plant. This includes four flagship investments:

    The first is the increased extraction of carbon-free industrial heat. In the future, the roughly € 100 million project could prevent up to an additional 100,000 t of CO2 per year, roughly five times more than the first stage.
    Second is the Complex Recycling Hamburg (CRH) project with an investment volume of € 190 million. It will give Aurubis the capacity to process around 30,000 additional t of recycling material and internal, complex smelter intermediary products on a larger scale starting in 2025.
    In spring 2024, Aurubis will take new anode furnaces online that can use hydrogen instead of natural gas in the reduction process in the future, a third key step in setting the stage for the transition to carbon neutrality. The around € 40 million investment could potentially prevent around 5,000 t of CO2 per year with the exclusive use of hydrogen.
    And fourth, the largest routine maintenance shutdown in the history of the Aurubis Hamburg plant is scheduled for the spring. Aurubis is investing around € 95 million in positioning its Hamburg smelter even more robustly for the future.

    “All these projects represent a powerful commitment to the Aurubis Hamburg site, which is central to the success of our smelter network. We’re investing a total of € 750 million in our core business, in recycling activities, and in environmental protection and plant security: The new processing area for precious metals takes security to a completely new level. We are acting quickly, decisively and with resolve – all the takeaways from the most recent criminal activities directed against Aurubis have been incorporated into the plant’s design. And by expanding our filter system for diffuse emissions, we are also intensifying our leading position as a sustainable multimetal producer,” Roland Harings explained.

    The Supervisory Board also approved an investment volume increase to € 740 million for the construction of the Aurubis Richmond plant in the US, to which leasing obligations will be added. Additional design and infrastructure requirements, adjustments for inflation, and increased complexity in implementation necessitated the expansion.

    Investing in decarbonization: Aurubis nearly doubles the largest in-house solar park in Bulgaria, adding an additional 18 MWp

    The company also confirmed plans to expand its solar park at the Aurubis plant in Bulgaria. With an investment volume of just under € 15 million, the company is almost doubling the output of the existing plant and the third stage currently under construction, adding 18 MWp (megawatt peak) for a total of almost 42 MWp. Once complete, the entire solar park will generate roughly 55,000 MWh of electricity per year, covering over 10 % of the Bulgarian plant’s needs. As such, the multimetal provider is upgrading what is already the largest in-house solar park in Southeast Europe today. Taken together, all stages of the solar park will generate enough electricity to power 15,000 four-person households, or the equivalent of a small city. Aurubis will be preventing around 28,000 t of CO2 emissions per year. The approved expansion stage is anticipated to go online in mid-2025.

  • Kazakhstan intends to export coal to Indonesia

    Kazakhstan intends to export coal to Indonesia

    The third round of negotiations on concluding a free trade agreement between member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and Indonesia ended in the city of Denpasar (Republic of Indonesia),reported at the Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan.

    According to MIT, bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Indonesia is actively developing, and trade turnover for 10 months of this year amounted to 249 million US dollars, of which Kazakhstan’s exports to Indonesia account for 95.2 million US dollars.

    Currently, we are seeing the emergence of new export items, such as coal, which were not previously supplied from Kazakhstan to Indonesia. In addition, traditionally the main items of Kazakhstan’s exports are ferrochrome, equipment for working with soil, transmission shafts, as well as other instruments and equipment,” said the press service of the Ministry of Trade.

    As part of the third round of negotiations, the parties discussed the provisions of the text of the future agreement, and also continued further work on discussing tariff liberalization with the aim of mutually reducing import customs duties.

    We have managed to make significant progress on all key issues of the future agreement. We are confident that this agreement will ensure a significant increase in mutual trade turnover between our countries, and will also create additional favorable conditions for domestic exporters,” said the MTI, whose experts took part in the negotiations.

    On May 25, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, during a speech at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Councilnoted that it is important to continue a systematic dialogue with integration associations and countries with which cooperation is of economic interest to us.

    The Commission will have to quickly complete work on concluding agreements on a free trade zone with the United Arab Emirates, India, Egypt, Indonesia, and Israel. We should qualitatively strengthen interaction with the SCO, ASEAN, MERCOSUR and other international organizations. I think the interest in cooperation on the part of these organizations is mutual,” said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

    Recall that negotiations between the EAEU and Indonesia on concluding a free trade agreementbegan in May 2022.

     

  • An investment project worth 15.6 billion tenge was implemented by ERG at the Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant

    An investment project worth 15.6 billion tenge was implemented by ERG at the Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant

    At Kazakhstan electrolysis plant was put into operation after major repairs anode firing furnace. Major repairs of the furnace became one of the main activities of the investment program for the modernization and technical re-equipment of production. The cost of the project was 15.6 billion tenge.

    Baked anodes play a vital role in aluminum production technology. And the largest anode production equipment at KEP is the anode firing furnace, consisting of 50 chambers and reaching more than 200 meters in length and more than 30 in width. The furnace repair project was developed by the German company Riedhammer, which also installed the equipment during the construction of the anode section. The work itself was carried out under the supervision of foreign specialists by the Kazakh company Stroymontazh.

    Preparing for a major overhaul is a very responsible and lengthy process. To ensure that the work was carried out strictly according to schedule, by the time the furnace was stopped, all the necessary equipment, parts and materials had arrived at the warehouses. The kiln itself was completely stopped in August of this year, and repairs were carried out as soon as possible and completed two weeks ahead of schedule.

    The modernization of the furnace was carried out taking into account the latest achievements of the global anode production industry. 14 thousand tons of refractory lining were dismantled and reinstalled using modern and high-quality materials produced in the Netherlands, India, and Germany. Four exhaust gas collectors were also replaced. The latest generation units are more reliable and can significantly improve the operation of the furnace. It is planned that the repair will allow firing up to 138.4 thousand tons of anodes per year.  And after the implementation of the second stage of modernization – replacement of combustion and furnace equipment – it is planned to increase this figure to 153 thousand tons.

    – This investment project is aimed not just at increasing the productivity of the enterprise, but at solving a whole range of problems, such as increasing the energy efficiency of production and reducing the level of environmental load on the environment. Simultaneously with the furnace repair, we carried out a major overhaul of gas treatment facilities, which will be able to continue to operate with an efficiency of 99.5 percent for the next ten years,” said Serik Shakhazhanov, General Director of ERG in Kazakhstan.

    The Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant plans to implement a project to increase production capacity by introducing 16 new electrolysers. Its implementation will increase production capacity by 14 thousand tons of primary aluminum per year. And a major overhaul of the roasting furnace will make it possible to supply future capacities with its own anodes.

  • Manganese Zhairema will resume production at the Zhomart mine

    Manganese Zhairema will resume production at the Zhomart mine

    In the Ulytau region of Kazakhstan, the development of the mothballed Zhomart mine will be resumed. Ferromanganese ores at the deposit will be mined by Manganese Zhairema JSC. The company posted the mining plan on the Unified Environmental Portal of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

    Production is planned to take place in 2024–2033. Before starting to develop the reserves, specialists need to drain the quarry, which currently contains about 1.84 million m3 of water. During the year, quarry water will be pumped out and purified to standard categories.

    As of January 1, 2023, the balance reserves of iron ore amount to about 5,330 thousand tons, manganese – 8,733 thousand tons. In the first year of operation of the Zhomart mine, they plan to extract 500 thousand tons of raw materials, after which Manganese Zhairema will reach its design capacity capacity 750 thousand tons of ore per year.

    The mined ore will be processed, as it was done before the mothballing of the deposit, at the processing plant of the Zhairemsky Mining and Processing Plant. The company intends to resume production of commercial concentrate containing 35% manganese and 10.5% iron. The company plans to produce 270 thousand tons of finished products per year.  

  • Temirtau plans to revive Qarmet

    Temirtau plans to revive Qarmet

    The authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan discussed with investor Andrey Lavrentyev the phased development of the Qarmet metallurgical plant. The new management of the plant was given a number of important tasks, including modernization of equipment and compliance with industrial safety requirements. In addition, the authorities reminded the new investor about the timely fulfillment of all obligations to Qarmet employees.

    The notorious ArcelorMittal Temirtau metallurgical plant, after a change of owner, was returned to its previous name – Qarmet. Now the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan is monitoring the resumption of work at the plant, reports the press service of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov.

    At the initial stage, about $1.3 billion will be allocated for the development of Qarmet. These funds will be used to purchase new equipment, introduce modern technologies and eliminate production disruptions in the plant. In the future, these measures should lead to an increase in the volume of products produced.

    First of all, an underground positioning system will appear at the enterprise’s mines, which will allow tracking the movement of employees underground. Communication with personnel will enable the dispatcher to maintain work processes and promptly make the right decisions in unexpected situations.

  • UK left vulnerable by government inaction on critical minerals, MPs warn

    UK left vulnerable by government inaction on critical minerals, MPs warn

    The UK has been left “vulnerable” over its dependency on China for critical minerals needed to make key everyday items such as smartphones, British lawmakers said in a report on Friday.

    The Foreign Affairs Committee, a cross-party panel of parliamentarians, highlighted the fallout from the UK’s dependence on the world’s second biggest economy for rare metals such as lithium and cobalt.

    “The UK’s critical minerals supply chains are vulnerable due to our continuing dependence on autocracies – in particular China – and the inaction of successive UK governments,” the report concluded.

    Entitled “A rock and a hard place: building critical mineral resilience”, the study described critical minerals as possessing “strategic significance to the UK”.

    It added they were “essential” to the nation’s “economic security and to meeting… climate change targets”.

    The report follows the government’s launch last year of the UK’s first critical minerals strategy aimed at improving security of the key commodities

    The committee criticised “the government’s decision not to assess the vulnerabilities and dependencies in the UK’s industrial supply chains before producing” the strategy.

    It called on the Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, “to publish specific targets for priority sectors and to provide a more detailed implementation plan”.

    Committee chair Alicia Kearns, a lawmaker within Sunak’s party, noted that “from F35 fighter jets to the batteries in our phones, critical minerals are the building blocks of many modern technologies.

    “They are integral to every-day living, the green transition and our nation’s defence.”

    But she added that the UK needed “to confront the weakness created by our dependency on a single state: China. These minerals power modern life and if China pulls the plug, we will all pay the price”.

    Outside the UK, the European Union last month agreed a plan to secure its own supply of critical raw materials, as Brussels seeks to reduce its dependence on other countries, notably China.

    Brussels is particularly concerned about falling behind during the transition to cleaner technologies that rely on the critical minerals.

    China is widely seen as having already made great strides because of its access to raw materials, while the United States has poured billions into subsidies for green tech.

    Critical raw materials, including rare metal tungsten, are needed to make the most of the electrical products consumers use today.

  • EDB has not yet made a decision on investing in Amulsar gold mine in Armenia

    EDB has not yet made a decision on investing in Amulsar gold mine in Armenia

    The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has not yet made a decision on investing in the Amulsar gold mine in Armenia, EDB Senior Managing Director Denis Ilyin said at a press conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

    He said this project is extremely important for Armenia economy and this is why it should be ‘treated very carefully and cautiously.’

    According to him, in order to make a final decision, it is necessary not only to look into the findings of a series of examinations, but also to work out a plan, first of all, of environmental support of the project in order to preserve the national park, which is located there, ‘to get all those economic benefits from the project, which the government and local residents expect and at the same time to maximize the preservation of the unique environment of the region.’

    He said now the environmental plan for the project is being developed and if it is accepted by the client and confirmed and the bank is satisfied with it, then the moment of making a final decision will come.

    In June, Hayk Aloyan, Executive Director of Lydian Armenia, a company that is developing the Amulsar gold mine in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor region, said it will produce first gold in 2024.

    He said the company signed a contract with Allied Gold company, which will perform construction work on the mine and handle its further operation. According to him, Allied Gold is an Australia-based international company that annually mines about 500 thousand ounces of gold.

    Amulsar gold mine is Armenia’s second–largest gold mine in terms of pure gold reserves. It is located in the southeast of the country, 13 km from Jermuk resort town, between rivers Arpa and Vorotan. The deposit is said to contain about 31 million tons of ore and 40 tons of pure gold.

    Lydian Armenia was established in 2005. It is a 100% subsidiary of Lydian Canada Ventures owned by the American Orion Mine Finance and Canada’s Osisko Gold Royalties.

    Until recently the company was unable to develop the Amulsar mine in full due to protests by environmentalists and residents of the neighboring communities. They are concerned that the operation of the mine may lead to the pollution of underground waters of Jermuk and Lake Sevan, causing an environmental disaster.

  • EU sets critical mineral goals, but faces struggle to hit them

    EU sets critical mineral goals, but faces struggle to hit them

    The European Union (EU) has set targets to dig up, recycle and refine lithium, cobalt and other metals it needs for its green transition, but a shortage of new money, crippling energy costs and local opposition could put them beyond reach.

    The bloc will likely need to find ways to trim demand, find substitute materials and forge partnerships that break China’s stranglehold on mineral supplies.

    The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), due to enter force in early 2024, says the bloc should mine 10%, recycle 25% and process 40% of its annual needs of 17 key raw materials by 2030.

    The materials are essential for vehicle batteries, wind turbine magnets and other clean tech products the EU wants to manufacture. The CRMA aims to reduce the bloc’s reliance on China, which dominates global mineral processing and has already threatened EU supply with export curbs.

    Studies forecast recycling will be limited until 2035-2040, when metals re-enter the market as scrap.

    Researchers from Belgian university KU Leuven concluded in a 2022 report that the period to 2030 will be the most challenging for metal supply, highlighting risks for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements.

    The CRMA aims to speed up granting of project permits, which for a mine should be within 27 months, from a potential 10 to 15 years now, but other obstacles remain.

    Eurometaux, Europe’s association for non-ferrous metals, says Europe has potential, but needs cheaper energy and EU financing, pointing to funds on offer in the US, Canada or Japan.

    The EU has loosened state aid rules and plans to spend €3-billion ($3.3-billion) to boost battery production, but the sums are dwarfed by the $369-billion of green subsidies in the US Inflation Reduction Act. A European Sovereignty Fund has been mooted, but since dropped.

    Industry groups say prioritisation of US over EU projects by the likes of Nyrstar in gallium and germanium recovery and Jervois Cobalt in mining and refining highlights the gap.

    Meanwhile, higher EU higher energy costs have forced widespread idling of electricity-intensive metal smelters – EU aluminium production fell 35% in 2022 and has dropped further this year.

    EU has plans to reform its electricity market, but this will take time to guarantee affordable renewable energy.

    In mining, repurposing some existing sites might yield critical raw materials that were considered to be waste, according to Lawrence Dechambenoit, global head of external affairs at Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest mining company.

    But for lithium, he said, Europe urgently needed new mines.

    Eurometaux says identified projects could meet almost 40% of EU supply by 2030, but a number are uncertain.

    These include Portugal, which has delayed auctioning of mining licences for battery-grade lithium and is now mired in a corruption scandal and Serbia, which revoked licences in 2022 for Rio Tinto’s $2.4-billion lithium project.

    Nicola Beer, the German liberal who steered the CRMA through the European Parliament, is more confident on the three targets.

    “I get calls from countries asking what they can do, which I take as a positive sign,” she said.

    However, she also points to what she calls the “fourth leg of the chair” – innovation to minimise material use or find substitutes. As an example, she passes round a black disc made from wood that can serve as graphite in batteries.

    One effective move would be a shift to more modest electric vehicles with smaller batteries. Julia Poliscanova, a senior director at campaign group Transport & Environment, says this could cut lithium and nickel demand by a quarter.

    Niclas Poitiers, research fellow at Bruegel think-tank in Brussels, says Europe’s ultimate aim of being a clean tech leader may be better served sourcing minerals from reliable allies and concentrating on higher-end products such as batteries, rather than ‘on-shoring’ mineral production.

    “The base of our wealth is that we focus in manufacturing the most value-added parts and we outsource the things that are not high value-added. And this is something that is very difficult to change,” he said.

    The CRMA does stress a need to diversify imports.

    The European Union has indeed signed multiple partnerships from Argentina to Zambia and hopes its 300 billion euro Global Gateway infrastructure investment scheme will entice resource-rich countries keen to diversify their economies and also reduce their own dependence on China.

    “It’s a win-win proposition,” Poitiers said.