Nickel anxieties & Battery frontiers | News Round-up #51
African leaders urge equitable extraction. Volkswagen allegedly involved with forced labor. London Metal Exchange trades 'criminal property'?
Climate technologies require enormous amounts of metal. I’m Ian Morse, and this is Green Rocks, a newsletter that doesn’t want dirty mining to ruin clean energy.
I’m grateful for all your appreciation for these news round-ups. They take a lot of work and a nose in the dirt, tracking stories as they develop and discerning how they can impact climate action and communities.
But I also like to write features! Substack tells me the longer dives into particular places, people and concepts are the most popular. I have a long list of potential editions that dig deeper with original reporting, but I want to hear what interests you. So feel free to drop a note about a topic that needs exploring. For example: Indonesia has surprised markets with the speed at which firms expanded nickel production, and now executives elsewhere are struggling to keep up with a plunge in prices. How do commodity finances impact the adoption of climate policies? And how are they impacting people who live next to excoriated earth that is more commercial asset than benevolent climate tool?
In the meantime, below are some previous editions that provide background for some of the stories below.
Nuclear power on the up, but uranium mining is still 'invisible'
Cobalt miners call out 'neocolonialism' as firms avoid accountability
Climate goes Metal News
A landslide near a gold mine in the Philippines killed at least 68 people, and the search for dozens more who are missing has been called off. Local campaigners have called for a halt to mining operations and a probe into the cause of the landslide.
Hundreds of people from communities affected by mining in South Africa protested outside ministry offices to urge the end of a mining act, which they say has facilitated land dispossession and violence.
Several African leaders have supported a resolution for structural change to avoid the “injustices of extractivism” in the rush to produce metals for renewable energy.
29 investor groups managing a total $1.2 trillion have urged car and battery companies to demonstrate that they will source nickel responsibly.
Several Alaska Indigenous groups applied to have their rights recognized across the border in British Columbia, where they worry a proposed gold mine would threaten water resources.
More than 100 organizations published an open letter in support of farmers, activists and researchers who have been sued by a Canadian gold mining company facing protests.
After journalists revealed that a Volkswagen joint venture in China may be involved in forced labor in Xinjiang, US ports have stopped VW cars, and the car maker said it’s reviewing the partnership.
A lawsuit against the London Metal Exchange alleges that products from Indonesia’s Grasberg copper-gold mine amount to “criminal property”, as they are produced in conditions that would be illegal in the UK.
Türkiye’s biggest opposition party has accused the ruling party of removing records of a geologic fault at a gold mine where a cyanide-laden landslide disappeared nine workers.
Mexico’s president has proposed a constitutional reform that would ban open-pit mining, and industry representatives have occupied news platforms to denounce it.
Canada’s energy minister said the government plans to reduce permitting times in an effort to boost domestic critical mineral production.
A zinc company in Peru has suspended operations, saying that a local community that long protested the mine has blocked road access.
Portuguese prosecutors are seeking to get a judge to cancel the environmental permit for what would be Europe’s flagship lithium project.
Zambia’s government is looking to trade its own copper, which a government adviser has said will illuminate how much profit is leaving the country in the hands of Europe-based companies.
Guinea’s legislators have approved the joint development of the Simandou iron ore project led by the junta government, Rio Tinto and Chinese-Singaporean Winning Consortium Simandou.
The Swedish government has announced an inquiry into overturning the ban on uranium mining, aiming to conclude in May this year.
Ghana’s president announced that the government would create a legislative instrument to prohibit the export of bauxite ore.
The Montana Supreme Court sided with a copper project, overturning a previous court decision and paving the way for construction to begin. The lawsuit had alleged that the state’s review of the mine had not properly considered impacts, particularly from waste.
A Canadian company is taking Panama to court, accusing it of breaching a free trade agreement after the country shut down its copper mine.
The Indigenous Xinka parliament announced the progress of consultations with Pan American Silver’s mine in Guatemala, which has been closed for seven years, awaiting court-ordered consultations to achieve the free, prior and informed consent of Xinka people.
Scientists who study animals that migrate urged member states of the UN Convention on the topic to avoid engaging with deep-sea mining until there is greater scientific evidence of potential impacts.
Zijin Mining Group received approval from the Chinese government to build its second phase of expansion in Tibet. If the third phase of expansion is approved, the mine would become the world’s largest copper mine.
Florida based “activist” investor group Elliott Management is seeking to wield $1 billion to take advantage of the recent fall in metals prices, particularly for battery materials.
Peru’s largest copper-zinc mine has received the green light for expansion and extension.
Research & Reports
Benchmark Minerals Intelligence estimates that battery recycling could by 2040 replace the lithium output of 30 mines.
A report from the Oakland Institute suggests that despite US sanctions on gold from Nicaragua, the sector has shipped almost half a billion dollars worth of gold to the US and expanded gold mining concessions.
China Labor Watch continues to find “egregious labor malpractices” among Chinese companies in Indonesia’s nickel hotspots.
The loss of livelihoods and damages to public and ecological health as a result of Indonesia’s nickel expansion will outweigh the economic benefits, according to new research from The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
A civil society coalition published guidance for implementation of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act, emphasizing demand reduction and industry schemes.
Reads
≠ endorsement
Fixing Media Is a Climate Solution (Drilled News)
The new car batteries that could power the electric vehicle revolution (Nature)
Pulled from the Deep: Scientists found a ‘lost’ deep-sea mining site off the SC coast. What secrets does it hold? (Post and Courier)
A fight over a bauxite mine may launch a new era for land rights (AFR)
EV battery recycling: EU's chance to cut China reliance (DW)
Documentaries
How a Canadian Copper Mine Triggered an Uprising in Panama Documentary (CTV News W5)
The Nickel Tailspin
Climate Home News series on Renewable Energy Supply Chains: