BHP Billiton and Saskatchewan-based electricity provider SaskPower have signed an agreement to establish the BHP Billiton SaskPower Carbon Capture Knowledge Centre to help advance Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as a means of managing greenhouse gas emissions.

BHP Billiton will contribute C$4 million per year for five years to fund the Knowledge Centre, which will operate as a Not-For-Profit Canadian Corporation in Regina, Saskatchewan.

BHP Billiton Chief Commercial Officer, Dean Dalla Valle, said accelerating the development and deployment of low-emissions technologies was vital in addressing the challenges posed by climate change.

“By enhancing global access to the data, information and lessons learned from SaskPower’s unique Boundary Dam facility – the first power project to successfully integrate CCS – we aim to stimulate broader deployment of the technology,” Mr Dalla Valle said.

Boundary DAM is the world’s first commercial scale carbon capture and storage process on a coal fired power plant.

SaskPower President and CEO Mike Marsh said he was pleased to be able to partner with BHP Billiton through the Knowledge Centre.

“Talks between our two companies began at a United Nations climate change conference in Peru in late 2014. Just over one year later, we are celebrating a ground-breaking Knowledge Centre that will offer the world a vehicle to advance the technology and commercial viability of CCS,” Mr Marsh said.

In welcoming the agreement Premier of Saskatchewan Brad Wall said Saskatchewan continued to be a pioneer in carbon capture and storage technology.

“SaskPower’s partnership with BHP Billiton will allow us to share the benefits of CCS with the world while continuing to reduce carbon emissions here at home,” Premier Wall said.

Under the agreement, BHP Billiton and SaskPower will each appoint two directors to the Board of the Knowledge Centre and another three independent directors will be appointed collectively.

It is intended that the Knowledge Centre will help inform a range of interested parties, including governments, universities, industry and research organizations, on practical considerations in the development and use of CCS.  It will be staffed by people with appropriate knowledge of CCS and Boundary Dam, either seconded from SaskPower or employed directly by the Knowledge Centre.

Credits: BHP Billiton

President Alcoa Mining Garret Dixon (left) and Huntly mine’s Jim Blacklock celebrating the one billionth milestone with mining employees. Jim is Alcoa’s longest serving mining employee, having worked for the company for 44 years.

Alcoa’s workforce is celebrating an historic milestone after achieving one billion tonnes of bauxite mined, following 53 years of operation in Western Australia.

President Alcoa Mining Garret Dixon saluted the hard work and tireless efforts of past and present employees who have worked across its mining operations at Jarrahdale, Huntly and Willowdale.

“We’re very proud of this achievement and also our decades-long, internationally recognised land rehabilitation program – one of the most critical parts of the mining process which sees jarrah forest ecosystems restored,” said Mr Dixon.

Mr Dixon said Alcoa had built a world-class integrated mining, refining and smelting system in Australia with a strong sustainability record.

“In Australia, our bauxite is used to produce alumina to supply approximately eight per cent of world alumina demand and we make alumina as low as one third of the greenhouse footprint per tonne of product of some of our Asian competitors,” he said.

Alcoa’s value-add refining and smelting businesses in Australia meant the company has made a significant economic and social contribution. Adding to this, the mining business will realise the opportunity to export bauxite into new markets in 2016.

“Alcoa injects billions of dollars each year into Peel and South-West communities, the State and the nation. In Western Australia alone, we employ approximately 4,000 people and inject more than $2.2 billion per annum in local procurement and payroll. We also invest millions of dollars and thousands of volunteering hours each year into local community groups and projects.”

“We thank all our local communities, suppliers, contractors and government stakeholders for their support.”

The company celebrated its success with past and present employees, key stakeholders and the Hon Nigel Hallett MLC, representing Premier Barnett, at a special event in Mandurah on Thursday. Huntly mine’s Jim Blacklock, Alcoa’s longest serving mining employee, also joined the celebrations.

“Since joining the company in December 1971 (44 years ago), I’ve seen huge change,” said Mr Blacklock.

“The automation of processes and the volume of production are what impress me the most. But by far it is the people who have given me the greatest enjoyment; they’re brilliant,” he said.

Alcoa named a mining road after Jim Blacklock in recognition of his commitment to the company. Other long-serving employees have had roads named in their honour too, with Alcoa’s first WA Manager of Mines, Jim Langford, having the popular Langford Park, located at Alcoa’s rehabilitated Jarrahdale mine site, named after him. Langford Park opened in 1975 and is a popular family picnic spot with mountain bike and bridle trails.

Credits: Alcoa

Artist’s impression of an asteroid near Earth.

Luxembourg has declared its intention to blaze a trail in asteroid mining in the hope that it will reap lucrative returns.

The small country’s government said on Wednesday it would invest in space mining companies and establish a legal framework to assure those engaging in the activity that they can keep the fruit of their toils.

The 1967 outer space treaty appeared to designate space as public property, meaning no one could claim sovereignty over asteroids. But companies have recently challenged that interpretation, and in November Barack Obama signed a law enabling US citizens to obtain their own asteroids, mine them and keep what they find.

Now Luxembourg has staked its claim, hoping it can become a European hub for the futurist activity. Its declared aims are to stimulate economic growth on Earth and offer new horizons in space exploration.

The country’s deputy prime minister, Étienne Schneider, said: “Our aim is to open access to a wealth of previously unexplored mineral resources, on lifeless rocks hurtling through space, without damaging natural habitats.

“We will support the long-term economic development of new, innovative activities in the space and satellite industries as a key high-tech sector for Luxembourg. At first, our aim is to carry out research in this area, which at a later stage can lead to more concrete activities in space.”

Asteroids vary in their composition, but some are rich in platinum-group materials and other highly valued metals.

Luxembourg, with a population of just over 540,000, punches above its weight in the space sector as home to the satellite operator SES.

Two US companies, Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources, are in a race to be the first to commercially mine an asteroid. They both welcomed Luxembourg’s announcement.

Jean-Jacques Dordain, former director general of the European Space Agency (ESA) and adviser to Luxembourg’s government on the project, said: “This initiative is a clear demonstration that Europeans are innovative and able to take risks when the stakes are high.

“While futuristic, the project is based on solid grounds, ie technical prowess that already exists in Europe and around the world.”

Credits: The Guardian

On Monday more than 7,000 delegates from 100 countries and territories across six continents will descend on Cape Town for the biggest mining gathering on the planet in one of arguably the toughest years in the history of African mining.

The continent is facing economic uncertainty, doubts over mining legislation and regulation, power cuts and looming strikes. Even the optimists, that is the government of South Africa, admit there could be as many as 32,000 jobs under threat in the country’s mines.

This would be a severe blow to an industry, that despite several setbacks in the last five years, is still top dog in Africa employing 400,000 people. Pay talks are expected in the platinum industry later this year, with the dominant union AMCU, that could lead to a strike costing billions and thousands of jobs. The union led a five-month strike in platinum two years ago.

AMCU will make its debut at this year’s indaba and is likely to arrive with characteristic uncompromising views on mining that could unsettle one or two foreign investors. 

“We feel it is not ok for corporations to come into our country make decisions about what is happening in our country and then leave,” says Manzini Zungu, the spokesman for AMCU.  

One of the highlights of this year’s gathering is that South Africa’s new mining minister Mosebenzi Zwane will open proceedings and give the mining world a hint of how his government plans to stem the flow of capital out.

For years a pall of gloom has formed over the Mining Indaba in Cape Town with analysts and industry insiders tutting about how pessimistic foreign investors are and how there are more supply companies and fewer mining companies every year.

“The problem is South Africa is sending out messages that it is closed for business,” one delegate and former mine boss said to me in Cape Town last year.

Infrastructure is also a worry. From  Zambia to Mpumalanga mines are suffering power cuts and a lack of roads, water and rails.

On the other side of the coin, infrastructure, along with the support for new mining projects, is the focus of the Mining Indaba with the aim of prising billions out of foreign investors.

The organizers are upbeat even if the mining industry is not. They claim billions of dollars in investment have been channelled in to African mining, through the indaba, creating 5,000 jobs since 2007.It claims 2,300 international companies will have delegates at this year’s gathering.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, clearly caught up in the sustained enthusiasm of the organizers, will be there in force in the hope of recruiting new listings. Of the 391 companies listed on the JSE, 68 are from metals mining and resources. The fact that the JSE wants more, at the very least, is a vote of confidence for a very battered industry that has seen billions in value of resources companies wiped off the board in the last few years.

When the talking starts in Cape Town there are likely to be more than a few sparks. One of the first speakers on Monday will be the former Nigerian Reserve Bank governor Lamido Sanusi, the man whose unflinching stance against corruption and his own government in 2011 earned him Forbes Africa Person of the Year award. The Emir of Kano, who rarely minces his words, will speak as chairman of Black Rhino Group , an energy infrastructure company with investments across Africa.

Other vociferous mining bigwigs expected as speakers will be Ben Magara, the CEO of Lonmin, Mark Cutifani, the CEO of Anglo American, Tom Albanese, the head of Vendanta Group, Robert Friedland, the founder of Ivanhoe Resources and Mark Bristow, the CEO of Randgold Resources.

There will be plenty of talk at the Mining Indaba, in Cape Town’s vast International Trade Centre, but talk can be cheap. If mining is to remain a major industry on this continent serious investment and hard work is needed this year.

More than 20 years ago the Mining Indaba was launched in one room at a Cape Town hotel. The industry must be careful not to allow the industry to shrink back into one hotel room in 20 years’ time.

Credits: Chris Bishop, CNBCAfrica

Magmatic rock which formed large porphyry deposit in Chile.

A geologist at the University of Exeter has developed a new and relatively inexpensive way to establish whether certain types of magmatic rocks are more likely to contain valuable metal deposits.

In a study published in Nature Geoscience, Dr Ben Williamson, of the University’s Camborne School of Mines, together with Dr Richard Herrington from the Natural History Museum, London, have proposed a new method to explore for porphyry-type copper deposits. These deposits provide around 75 per cent of the world’s copper and a significant amount of molybdenum and gold which makes them extremely important to the world economy. The deposits, which originally form at several kilometres depth below the Earth’s surface, above large magma chambers, are relatively rare, particularly the largest deposits which are most economic to mine. In addition, most near-surface deposits have already been discovered. Any new method to locate deeper deposits is therefore of great interest to the mining industry.

The project, funded by Anglo American, a major global mining company, compared the chemical compositions of minerals from magmatic rocks that host porphyry deposits against those which are barren. A case study was then undertaken of a major new porphyry discovery in Chile, to test their theory. Minerals from magmatic rocks which host porphyry deposits have distinctive chemical characteristics which can be used as one of a suite of indicators to home-in on porphyry deposits. Unravelling the causes of the distinctive chemical signatures has also brought new insights into the formation of porphyry copper deposits, and more generally the generation of the magmatic rocks from which they form, which are an important component of the Earth’s crust. The main finding in this regard is that the magma chamber below the porphyry undergoes discrete injections of water-rich melts or watery fluids which enhance the magma’s ability to transfer copper and other metals upwards to form a porphyry copper deposit.

Dr Ben Williamson, of the University of Exeter’s Camborne School of Mines, said: “This new method will add to the range of tools available to exploration companies to discover new porphyry copper deposits. Our findings also provide important insights into why some magmas are more likely to produce porphyry copper deposits than others, and add to our understanding of how their parent magmatic rocks evolve.”

Source: University of Exeter