MELBOURNE, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Australia’s nuclear safety agency said on Tuesday it had joined the hunt for a tiny radioactive capsule missing somewhere in the outback, sending a team with specialised car-mounted and portable detection equipment.
Authorities have now been on a week-long search for the capsule which is believed to have fallen from a truck that made a 1,400 km (870 mile) journey in Western Australia. The loss has triggered a radiation alert for large parts of the vast state.
The capsule, part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore feed, had been entrusted by Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX) to a specialist contractor to transport. Rio apologised on Monday for the loss, which happened sometime in the past two weeks.
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency said it was working with the Western Australian government to locate the capsule. It added that the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation has also sent radiation services specialists as well as detection and imaging equipment.
The truck travelled from Rio’s Gudai-Darri mine, north of Newman, a small town in the remote Kimberley region, to a storage facility in the suburbs of Perth – a distance longer than the length of Great Britain.
State emergency officials on Tuesday issued a fresh alert to motorists along Australia’s longest highway to take care when approaching the search parties, as vehicles carrying the radiation detectors are travelling at slow speeds.
“It will take approximately five days to travel the original route, an estimated 1400kms, with crews travelling north and south along Great Northern Highway,” Department of Fire and Emergency Services Incident Controller Darryl Ray said in a statement late on Monday.
The gauge was picked up from the mine site on Jan. 12. When it was unpacked for inspection on Jan. 25, the gauge was found broken apart, with one of four mounting bolts missing and screws from the gauge also gone.
Authorities suspect vibrations from the truck caused the screws and the bolt to come loose, and the capsule fell out of the package and then out of a gap in the truck.
The silver capsule, 6 mm in diameter and 8 mm long, contains Caesium-137 which emits radiation equal to 10 X-rays per hour.
People have been told to stay at least five metres (16.5 feet) away as exposure could cause radiation burns or radiation sickness, though driving past the capsule is believed to be relatively low risk, akin to taking an X-ray.
Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edwina Gibbs
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MELBOURNE, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX) apologised on Monday for the loss of a tiny radioactive capsule that has sparked a radiation alert across parts of the vast state of Western Australia.
The radioactive capsule, believed to have fallen from a truck, was part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore feed which had been entrusted to a specialist contractor to transport. The loss may have occurred up to two weeks ago.
Authorities are now grappling with the daunting task of searching along the truck’s 1,400 kilometre (870 mile) journey from north of Newman – a small town in the remote Kimberley region – to a storage facility in the northeast suburbs of Perth – a distance longer than the length of Great Britain.
The task, while akin to finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, is “not impossible” as searchers are equipped with radiation detectors, said Andrew Stuchbery who runs the department of Nuclear Physics & Accelerator Applications at the Australian National University.
“That’s like if you dangled a magnet over a haystack, it’s going to give you more of a chance,” he said.
“If the source just happened to be lying in the middle of the road you might get lucky…It’s quite radioactive so if you get close to it, it will stick out,” he said.
The gauge was picked up from Rio’s Gudai-Darri mine site on Jan. 12. When it was unpacked for inspection on Jan. 25, the gauge was found broken apart, with one of four mounting bolts missing and screws from the gauge also gone.
Authorities suspect vibrations from the truck caused the screws and the bolt to come loose, and the radioactive capsule from the gauge fell out of the package and then out of a gap in the truck.
“We are taking this incident very seriously. We recognise this is clearly very concerning and are sorry for the alarm it has caused in the Western Australian community,” Simon Trott, Rio’s iron ore division chief, said in a statement.
The silver capsule, 6 millimetres (mm) in diameter and 8 mm long, contains Caesium-137 which emits radiation equal to 10 X-rays per hour.
Authorities have recommended people stay at least five metres (16.5 feet) away as exposure could cause radiation burns or radiation sickness, though they add that the risk to the general community is relatively low.
“From what I have read, if you drive past it, the risk is equivalent to an X-ray. But if you stand next to it or you handle it, it could be very dangerous,” said Stuchbery.
The state’s emergency services department has established a hazard management team and has brought in specialised equipment that includes portable radiation survey meters to detect radiation levels across a 20-metre radius and which can be used from moving vehicles.
Trott said Rio had engaged a third-party contractor, with appropriate expertise and certification, to safely package and transport the gauge.
“We have completed radiological surveys of all areas on site where the device had been, and surveyed roads within the mine site as well as the access road leading away from the Gudai-Darri mine site,” he said, adding that Rio was also conducting its own investigation into how the loss occurred.
Analysts said that the transport of dangerous goods to and from mine sites was routine, adding that such incidents have been extremely rare and did not reflect poor safety standards on Rio’s part.
The incident is another headache for the mining giant following its 2020 destruction of two ancient and sacred rock shelters in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for an iron ore mine.
Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
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LIMA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Dozens of Peruvians were injured after tensions flared again on Friday night as police clashed with protesters in anti-government demonstrations that are spreading across the country.
In the capital Lima, police officers used tear gas to repel demonstrators throwing glass bottles and stones, as fires burned in the streets, local TV footage showed.
In the country’s southern Puno region, some 1,500 protesters attacked a police station in the town of Ilave, Interior Minister Vicente Romero said in a statement to news media.
A police station in Zepita, Puno, was also on fire, Romero said.
Health authorities in Ilave reported eight patients hospitalized with injuries, including broken arms and legs, eye contusions and punctured abdomens.
By late afternoon, 58 people had been injured nationwide in demonstrations, according to a report from Peru’s ombudsman.
The unrest followed a day of turmoil in Thursday, when one of Lima’s most historic buildings burned to the ground, as President Dina Boluarte vowed to get tougher on “vandals.”
The destruction of the building, a near-century-old mansion in central Lima, was described by officials as the loss of a “monumental asset.” Authorities are investigating the causes.
Romero on Friday claimed the blaze was “duly planned and arranged.”
Thousands of protesters descended on Lima this week calling for change and angered by the protests’ mounting death toll, which officially stood at 45 on Friday.
[1/6] A riot police officer points with a weapon during the ‘Take over Lima’ march to demonstrate against Peru’s President Dina Boluarte, following the ousting and arrest of former President Pedro Castillo, in Lima, Peru January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda
Protests have rocked Peru since President Pedro Castillo was ousted in December after he attempted to dissolve the legislature to prevent an impeachment vote.
The unrest has until this week been concentrated in Peru’s south.
In the Cusco region, Glencore’s (GLEN.L) major Antapaccay copper mine suspended operations on Friday after protesters attacked the premises – one of the largest in the country – for the third time this month.
Airports in Arequipa, Cusco and the southern city of Juliaca were also attacked by demonstrators, delivering a fresh blow to Peru’s tourism industry.
“It’s nationwide chaos, you can’t live like this. We are in a terrible uncertainty – the economy, vandalism,” said Lima resident Leonardo Rojas.
The government has extended a state of emergency to six regions, curtailing some civil rights.
But Boluarte has dismissed calls for her to resign and hold snap elections, instead calling for dialogue and promising to punish those involved in the unrest.
“All the rigor of the law will fall on those people who have acted with vandalism,” Boluarte said on Thursday.
Some locals pointed the finger at Boluarte, accusing her of not taking action to quell the protests, which began on Dec. 7 in response to the ouster and arrest of Castillo.
Human rights groups have accused the police and army of using deadly firearms. The police say protesters have used weapons and homemade explosives.
Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Leslie Adler and William Mallard
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Dec 24 (Reuters) – An arctic blast gripped much of the United States on Saturday driving power outages, flight cancellations and car wrecks, as plummeting temperatures were predicted to bring the coldest Christmas Eve on record to several cities from Pennsylvania to Georgia.
Temperatures are forecast to top out on Saturday at just 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) in Pittsburgh, surpassing its previous all-time coldest Christmas Eve high of 13 F, set in 1983, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
Cities in Georgia and South Carolina – Athens and Charleston – were likewise expected to record their coldest daytime Christmas Eve high temperatures, while Washington, D.C., was forecast to experience its chilliest Dec. 24 since 1989.
The flurry of yuletide temperature records were predicted as a U.S. deep freeze sharpened by perilous wind chills continued to envelope much of the eastern two-thirds of the nation into the holiday weekend.
The freeze already produced fatal car collisions around the country with CNN reporting at least 14 dead from weather-related accidents.
The arctic cold combined with a “cyclone bomb” of heavy snow and howling winds roaring out of the Great Lakes region on Friday and into the Upper Mississippi and Ohio valleys wreaked havoc on power systems, roadways and commercial air traffic.
Extreme winter weather was blamed for at least five deaths on Friday.
Two motorists were killed, and numerous others injured, in a 50-vehicle pileup that shut down the Ohio Turnpike in both directions during a blizzard near Toledo, forcing an evacuation of stranded motorists by bus to keep them from freezing in their cars, officials said.
Three more weather-related fatalities were confirmed in neighboring Kentucky – two from car accidents and one a homeless person who died of exposure.
Freezing rain and ice from a separate storm in the Pacific Northwest made travel treacherous there as well on Friday.
[1/7] A view of an area after heavy snowfall in Regent, North Dakota, U.S. December 23, 2022, in this picture obtained from social media. Blake Rafferty/Twitter@BlakeRafferty1/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
BORDER TO BORDER
From the Canadian to the Mexican border and coast to coast, some 240 million people in all were under winter weather warnings and advisories of some sort on Friday, according to the weather service.
The NWS said its map of existing or impending meteorological hazards “depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever.”
With energy systems across the country strained by rising demand for heat and storm-related damage to transmission lines, as many as 1.8 million U.S. homes and businesses were left without power as of early Saturday morning, according to tracking site Poweroutage.us.
The disruptions upended daily routines and holiday plans for millions of Americans during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
The American Automobile Association had estimated that 112.7 million people planned to venture 50 miles (80 km) or more from home between Friday and Jan. 2. But stormy weather heading into the weekend likely ended up keeping many of them at home.
At least 3,741 U.S. flights were canceled on Saturday, with total delays tallying 10,297, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. More than 5,000 flights were cancelled on Friday, the flight tracking said.
The city of Buffalo and its surrounding county on the edge of Lake Erie in western New York imposed a driving ban, and all three Buffalo-area border crossing bridges were closed to inbound traffic from Canada due to the weather.
The severe weather prompted authorities across the country to open warming centers in libraries and police stations while scrambling to expand temporary shelter for the homeless. The challenge was compounded by the influx of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border by the thousands in recent weeks.
Bitter cold intensified by high winds extended through the Deep South to the U.S.-Mexico border, plunging wind chill factors to single digits Fahrenheit (minus 18 to minus 13 Celsius) in El Paso, Texas. Exposure to such conditions can cause frostbite within minutes.
Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Joel Schectman, Gabriella Borter, Tim Reid, Lisa Baertlein, Erwin Seba, Susan Heavey, Laila Kearney, Alyson McClaren, Aleksandra Michalska, and Scott DiSavino; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Aurora Ellis, William Mallard and Diane Craft
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KYIV, Dec 10 (Reuters) – All non-critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian port of Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, leaving 1.5 million people without power, officials said on Saturday.
“The situation in the Odesa region is very difficult,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
“Unfortunately, the hits were critical, so it takes more than just time to restore electricity… It doesn’t take hours, but a few days, unfortunately.”
Since October, Moscow has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with large waves of missile and drone strikes.
Norway was sending $100 million to help restore Ukraine’s energy system, Zelenskiy said.
Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for Odesa’s regional administration, said electricity for the city’s population will be restored “in the coming days,” while complete restoration of the networks may take two to three months.
Bratchuk said an earlier Facebook post by the region’s administration, advising some people to consider evacuating, was being investigated by Ukraine’s security services as “an element of the hybrid war” by Russia.
That post has since been deleted.
“Not a single representative of the authorities in the region made any calls for the evacuation of the inhabitants of Odesa and the region,” Bratchuk said.
Odesa had more than 1 million residents before the Feb. 24 invasion that Russia calls a “special military operation” to “denazify” its smaller neighbour.
Kyiv says Russia has launched hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones at targets in Ukraine, describing the attacks as war crimes due to their devastating effect on civilian life. Moscow says its attacks are militarily legitimate and that it does not target civilians.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said two power facilities in Odesa region were hit by Shahed-136 drones.
Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook that 15 drones had been launched against targets in the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, and 10 had been shot down.
Tehran denies supplying the drones to Moscow. Kyiv and its Western allies say that is a lie.
Britain’s defence ministry said on Saturday that it believed Iran’s military support for Russia was likely to increase in the coming months, including possible deliveries of ballistic missiles.
Reporting by Max Hunder and David Ljunggren; Editing by Ros Russell, Daniel Wallis and William Mallard
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OAKLAND, Calif., Nov 11 (Reuters) – Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) told employees on Friday that it would stop developing smart displays and smartwatches and that nearly half of the 11,000 jobs it eliminated this week in an unprecedented cost-cutting move were technology roles.
Speaking during an employee townhall meeting heard by Reuters, Meta executives also said they were reorganizing parts of the company, combining a voice and video calling unit with other messaging teams and setting up a new division, Family Foundations, focused on tough engineering problems.
The executives said that the first mass layoff in the social media company’s 18-year history affected staffers at every level and on every team, including individuals with high performance ratings.
Overall, 54% of those laid off were in business positions and the rest were in technology roles, Meta human resources chief Lori Goler said. Meta’s recruiting team was cut nearly in half, she said.
The executives said further rounds of job cuts were not expected. But other expenses would have to be cut, they said, noting reviews underway about contractors, real estate, computing infrastructure and various products.
SMART DEVICES CUT
Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who runs the metaverse-oriented Reality Labs division, told staffers Meta would end its work on Portal smart display devices and on its smartwatches.
Meta had decided earlier this year to stop marketing Portal devices, known for their video calling capabilities, to consumers and focus instead on business sales, Bosworth said.
As the economy declined, executives decided more recently to make “bigger changes,” he said.
“It was just going to take so long, and take so much investment to get into the enterprise segment, it felt like the wrong way to invest your time and money,” said Bosworth.
Portal had not been a major revenue generator and drew privacy concerns from potential users. Meta had yet to unveil any smartwatches.
Bosworth said the smartwatch unit would focus instead on augmented reality glasses. More than half of the total investment in Reality Labs was going to augmented reality, he added.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg on Friday reiterated his apology from Wednesday about having to cut 13% of the workforce, telling employees he had failed to forecast Meta’s first dropoff in revenue.
Meta aggressively hired during the pandemic amid a surge in social media usage by stuck-at-home consumers. But business suffered this year as advertisers and consumers pulled the plug on spending in the face of soaring costs and rapidly rising interest rates.
The company also faced increased competition from TikTok and lost access to valuable user data that powered its ad targeting systems after Apple made privacy-oriented changes to its operating system.
“Revenue trends are just a lot lower than what I predicted. Again, I got this wrong. It was a big mistake in planning for the company. I take responsibility for it,” Zuckerberg said.
Going forward, he added, he was not planning to “massively” grow headcount of the Reality Labs unit.
Meta shares closed up 1% at $113.02.
Reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland, California, Katie Paul in Palo Alto, California, Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis
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Paresh Dave
Thomson Reuters
San Francisco Bay Area-based tech reporter covering Google and the rest of Alphabet Inc. Joined Reuters in 2017 after four years at the Los Angeles Times focused on the local tech industry.
Companies say do not expect major impact on performance
OTTAWA/BEIJING, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Canada ordered three Chinese companies on Wednesday to divest their investments in Canadian critical minerals, citing national security.
China in response accused Ottawa of using national security as a pretext and said the divestment order broke international commerce and market rules.
As countries compete to shore up reserves of materials needed for a transition to a cleaner economy, the news pushed down the Chinese companies’ shares on Thursday, although they said in stock exchange filings they did not expect a major impact on their performance.
The three ordered to divest their investments are Sinomine (Hong Kong) Rare Metals Resources Co Ltd, Chengze Lithium International Ltd, also based in Hong Kong, and Zangge Mining Investment (Chengdu) Co Ltd.
The Canadian government ordered the divestiture after “rigorous scrutiny” of foreign firms by Canada’s national security and intelligence community, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement.
“While Canada continues to welcome foreign direct investment, we will act decisively when investments threaten our national security and our critical minerals supply chains, both at home and abroad,” Champagne said.
Sinomine was asked to sell its investment in Power Metals Corp (PWM.V), Chengze Lithium was asked to divest its investment in Lithium Chile Inc (LITH.V) and Zangge Mining required to exit Ultra Lithium Inc (ULT.V).
‘UNREASONABLE’
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said the Canadian government was using national security as a pretext to block normal cooperation between Chinese and Canadian companies and was damaging global supply chains.
“China urges Canada to stop the unreasonably targeting Chinese companies (in Canada) and provide (them) with a fair, impartial and non-discriminatory business environment,” Zhao told a regular news briefing, adding that Beijing would resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies
Spot lithium prices have risen by more than 200% in the last year, driven by supply constraints that are expected to endure.
Rystad Energy forcast primary lithium minerals supply to be 8.5% short of the total lithium demand 2025, compared with about 10% short of demand this year.
“The latest attitude from Ottawa underscores the global competition of critical battery minerals in light of projected EV battery demand boom,” Susan Zou, a senior analyst at Rystad Energy, said of Canada’s decision.
The share price of Sinomine Resources fell 7.8% to 86.74 yuan ($11.86) on Thursday, while Chengxin’s share price fell by as much as 4% but closed at 0.7% higher at 45.65 yuan. Zangge Mining’s share price slid 3.7% during the day before edging 1.1% up to close at 28.96 yuan.
Last week, Ottawa said it must build a resilient critical minerals supply chain with like-minded partners, as it outlined rules meant to protect the country’s critical minerals sectors from foreign state-owned companies.
“The federal government is determined to work with Canadian businesses to attract foreign direct investments from partners that share our interests and values,” Champagne said.
Canada has large deposits of critical minerals such as nickel and cobalt essential for cleaner energy and other technologies. Demand for the minerals is projected to expand in the coming decades.
Earlier this year, countries including Britain, Canada and the United States established a partnership aimed at securing the supply of critical minerals as global demand for them rises.
($1 = 7.3163 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa and Siyi Liu in Beijing, additional reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Beijing
Editing by Chris Reese, Sandra Maler and Barbara Lewis
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WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) – The Biden administration said on Wednesday it is awarding $2.8 billion in grants to boost U.S. production of electric vehicle batteries and the minerals used to build them, part of a bid to wean the country off supplies from China.
Albemarle Corp (ALB.N) is among the 20 manufacturing and processing companies receiving U.S. Energy Department grants to domestically mine lithium, graphite and nickel, build the first large-scale U.S. lithium processing facility, construct facilities to build cathodes and other battery parts, and expand battery recycling.
The grants, which are going to projects across at least 12 states, mark the latest push by the Biden administration to help reduce the country’s dependence on China and other nations for the building blocks of the green energy revolution.
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“As the world transitions from a fossil fuel to a clean energy powered economy, we cannot trade dependence on oil from autocrats like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to dependence on critical minerals from China,” said a senior administration official briefing reporters on the program.
The funding recipients, first reported by Reuters, were chosen by a White House steering committee and coordinated by the Department of Energy with support from the Interior Department.
The funds are being doled out to a range of companies, some of which could self-fund projects and others that will see the grants as a financial lifeline to further expand their U.S. plans. The funding, though, does nothing to alleviate permitting challenges faced by some in the mining industry.
Albemarle is set to receive $149.7 million to build a facility in North Carolina to lightly process rock containing lithium from a mine it is trying to reopen. That facility would then feed a separate plant somewhere in the U.S. Southeast that the company said in June would produce as much lithium for EV batteries as the entire company produces today.
Albemarle, which also produces lithium in Australia and Chile, said the grant “increases the speed of lithium processing and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from long-distance transportation of raw minerals.”
Piedmont Lithium Inc (PLL.O) is receiving $141.7 million to build its own lithium processing facility in Tennessee, where the company will initially process the metal sourced from Quebec and Ghana. Piedmont’s plans to build a lithium mine in North Carolina have faced strong opposition.
Shares of Piedmont rose 7.5% after Reuters broke the news of its funding award earlier on Wednesday. Piedmont did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Talon Metals Corp (TLO.TO) will receive $114.8 million to build a processing plant in North Dakota in a strategy shift for the company, which has a nickel supply deal with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O). Talon now aims to extract rock from its planned underground mine in Minnesota and ship it to a North Dakota processing facility that will be funded in part by the grant.
Talon said the grants are “a clear recognition that production of domestic nickel and other battery minerals is a national priority.”
Other grants include $316.2 million to privately-held Ascend Elements to build a battery parts plant, $50 million to privately-held Lilac Solutions Inc for a demonstration plant for so-called direct lithium extraction technologies, $75 million to privately-held Cirba Solutions to expand an Ohio battery recycling plant, and $219.8 million to Syrah Technologies LLC, a subsidiary of Syrah Resources Ltd (SYR.AX), to expand a graphite processing plant in Louisiana.
BIDEN’S GOAL
By 2030, President Joe Biden wants 50% of all new vehicles sold in the United States to be electric or plug-in hybrid electric models along with 500,000 new EV charging stations. He has not endorsed the phasing-out of new gasoline-powered vehicle sales by 2030.
Legislation Biden signed in August sets new strict battery component and sourcing requirements for $7,500 consumer EV tax credits. A separate $1 trillion infrastructure law signed in November 2021 allocates $7 billion to ensure U.S. manufacturers can access critical minerals and other necessary components to manufacture the batteries. The announcement on Wednesday was linked to that 2021 legislation.
The White House said in a fact sheet that the United States and allies do not produce enough of the critical minerals and materials used in EV batteries.
“China currently controls much of the critical mineral supply chain and the lack of mining, processing, and recycling capacity in the U.S. could hinder electric vehicle development and adoption, leaving the U.S. dependent on unreliable foreign supply chains,” the White House said.
In March, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to support the production and processing of minerals and materials used for EV batteries.
The White House is also launching an effort, dubbed the American Battery Material Initiative, to strengthen critical mineral supply chains as automakers race to expand U.S. electric vehicle and battery production.
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Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Matthew Lewis and Paul Simao
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Ernest Scheyder
Thomson Reuters
Covers the future of energy and transportation including electric vehicle and battery technology, with a focus on lithium, copper, cobalt, rare earths and other minerals, politics, policy, etc. Previously covered the oil and natural gas, including a stint living in North Dakota’s Bakken shale oil patch.
SANTIAGO, Aug 8 – Chile will seek to apply harsh sanctions to those responsible for a huge sinkhole near a copper mine in the country’s north, the mining minister said on Monday.
The mysterious hole of 36.5 meters in diameter that emerged in late July has provoked the mobilization of local authorities and led the mining regulator to suspend operations of a nearby mine owned by Canada’s Lundin (LUN.TO) in the northern district of Candelaria.
“We are going to go all the way with consequences, to sanction, not just fine,” Mining Minister Marcela Hernando said in a press release, adding that fines tend to be insignificant and the ruling must be “exemplary” to mining companies.
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Chilean authorities have not provided details of the investigation into causes of the sinkhole.
Local and foreign media showed various aerial images of the huge hole in a field near the Lundin Mining operation, about 665 kilometers north of the Chilean capital. Initially, the hole, near the town of Tierra Amarilla, measured about 25 meters (82 feet) across, with water visible at the bottom. read more
The Canadian firm owns 80% of the property, while the remaining 20% is in the hands of Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd (5713.T) and Sumitomo Corp (8053.T).
The minister added that although the country’s mining regulator had carried out an inspection in the area in July, it was not able to detect this “overexploitation.”
“That also makes us think that we have to reformulate what our inspection processes are,” she said.
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Reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero; Writing by Carolina Pulice;
Editing by Leslie Adler
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Ford CEO Jim Farley attends the official launch of the all-new Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
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DETROIT, July 21 (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) on Thursday announced a series of deals to accelerate its shift to electric vehicles, including sourcing battery capacity and raw materials from such companies as Chinese battery maker CATL (300750.SZ) and Australian mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO.AX).
The deals are part of Ford’s push to have its annual EV production rate globally reach 600,000 vehicles by late 2023 and more than 2 million by the end of 2026. Ford said it expects a compound annual growth rate for EVs to top 90% through 2026, more than doubling the forecast industry growth rate.
“We are putting the industrial system in place to scale quickly,” Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said in a statement.
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In March, Ford boosted its planned spending on EVs through 2026 to $50 billion from its prior target of $30 billion, and reorganized its operations into separate units focused on EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles with Ford Model e and Ford Blue, respectively. read more
The Dearborn, Michigan-based company also said at the time that its EV business would not be profitable until the next-generation models begin production in 2025.
As part of its push to boost capacity, Ford said it is adding lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell chemistry for EV batteries to its portfolio, alongside nickel cobalt manganese (NCM). Ford said it has secured all of the 60 gigawatt hours (GWh) of cell capacity needed to support the 600,000 run rate.
The U.S. automaker said CATL will provide full LFP battery packs for the Mustang Mach-E crossovers for North America starting next year as well as the F-150 Lightning pickups in early 2024.
The company is also working with LG Energy Solution and its long-time battery partner SK Innovation.(096770.KS)
Ford said it has now sourced about 70% of the battery cell capacity it needs to achieve its annual production rate of more than 2 million by late 2026.
To support the battery cell deals, Ford said it is direct sourcing battery cell raw materials as well, announcing deals to acquire most of the nickel needed through 2026 and beyond through agreements with Vale SA’s units in Canada and Indonesia, China’s Huayou Cobalt (603799.SS) and BHP .
It has also locked in lithium contracts through agreements with Rio Tinto, exploring a “significant” lithium off-take agreement from the mining company’s Rincon project in Argentina, Ford said. That is part of a multi-metal agreement that leverages Rio Tinto’s aluminum business and includes a potential opportunity on copper.
Ford announced other battery material deals. It signed a letter of intent with EcoPro BM and SK On to establish a cathode production plant in North America, an offtake agreement for ioneer Ltd (INR.AX) to supply lithium carbonate from Nevada beyond 2025, an agreement with Compass Minerals for lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate from Utah, and an agreement for Syrah Resources(SYR.AX) and SK On for natural graphite from Louisiana.
The drive to the 600,000 EV run rate by late 2023 includes 270,000 Mustang Mach-E crossovers, 150,000 F-150 Lightning pickups, 150,000 Transit vans and 30,000 units of a new SUV for Europe whose production will significantly increase in 2024.
(This story corrects mention to Rio Tinto’s aluminum business, not Ford’s in paragraph 11)
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Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Bernadette Baum
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