30 September
Australia’s Queensland state government has given the final approval to a large coking coal project in the Bowen Basin, south-east of Moranbah. The latest move comes as part of an attempt to create jobs in the resources industry following Covid-19 induced disruptions. The project, known as Olive Downs, is expected to create 1,000 mining jobs and yield coking coal used for steelmaking. The A$1bn ($710m) mine is proposed by Pembroke Resources. Queensland Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Anthony Lynham said that the preparation work for construction at the Olive Downs mine could begin immediately.
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Critical Metals is reportedly set to list on London Stock Exchange (LSE). The company is the latest to join a pipeline of mining initial public offerings (IPO) previously delayed by the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reported. According to the news agency, the IPO is a year late, having been delayed due to the political uncertainty in the UK and then by the pandemic. Once listed on the main market of the LSE, Critical Metals said it would seek to acquire some African mines producing copper, cobalt, niobium, vanadium, tin, tantalum, rare earths as well as beryllium. Critical Metals CEO Russell Fryer said: “Covid-19 worked in our favour, because Covid-19 showed how dependent the world is on Chinese supply lines. We need to rethink our economies.”
Despite global uncertainty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, AfriTin Mining has steadily increased production from its Uis tin mine in Namibia which resulted in an increase in revenue for the six-month period that ended 31 August. The company reported a revenue of $1.38m for the six months under review, with the plant having achieved record production of 37.5 tonnes (t) of tin concentrate last month.
