Tag - mining

 
 

MINING

Barrels stored at the Energy Fuels White Mesa Mill uranium production facility in Utah
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 11, 2024
Uranium firms revive forgotten mines as price of nuclear fuel soars
Mines were idled in the aftermath of Fukushima, when uranium prices crashed and countries like Germany and Japan initiated plans to phase out reactors.
Vietnam is sitting on around 17% of the world’s known rare-earth reserves, second only to China. 
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2024
Vietnam should seize a 'rare' opportunity to take on China
Vietnamese officials have approved plans to supercharge rare-earths production, aiming to process as much as 62,500 tons of the minerals by 2030.
1949
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Feb 1, 2024
Japan Times 1924: Rescue workers toiling to save eighteen lives
Workers are in the news when, 100 years ago, miners await a rescue and, 50 years later, unified strikes take place.
The Pilbara Minerals Pilgangoora lithium project in Port Hedland, Western Australia
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2024
Lithium’s promised land looks more like the old country
Two decades ago, Australia mined less than a fifth of the world’s lithium. In 2021, it dug more than every other country put together.
The MP Materials rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California, in January 2020. Western startups are focusing their attention on the process of refining rare earths — some of them pivoting from mining — that China has spent the past 30 years mastering.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Western startups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining
The companies are looking for faster, cleaner and cheaper ways to process the minerals that are critical for billions of electronic devices.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo walks with U.S. President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 16, 2022.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2023
U.S. and Indonesia to discuss potential EV mineral deal: sources
Indonesia, which has the world's biggest nickel ore reserves, in September asked the U.S. to begin discussions for a trade deal for critical minerals.
A man herds yaks during in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Beijing has begun to  exploit vast deposits of Lithium on the Tibetan plateau — around 85% of the country's total reserves.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 2, 2023
China lithium boom harming fragile Tibetan plateau: report
The world's biggest EV market largely relied on other countries for the lithium needed in batteries — but that is changing.
Asteroid mining only works in a science-fiction world where metals are thousands of times more expensive than they are today.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 25, 2023
Commercial asteroid mining has a astronomical cost issue
Asteroid mining only works in a science-fiction world where metals are thousands of times more expensive than they are today.
A lithium mine near Itinga, Minas Gerais state, Brazil
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2023
We’re not even close to running out of green minerals
Rising reserves challenge fears of mineral shortages in green transition.
Oil pump jacks in Tatarstan, Russia, on June 4
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 21, 2023
Oil companies cautious about drilling as energy transition looms
Instead of spending big to boost output, oil companies are boosting dividends or buying back shares to reward investors.
Part of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System near Delta Junction, Alaska, on May 5
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2023
Biden to cancel oil field leases in Arctic reserve sold by Trump
Territory in northern Alaska long prized for its oil and gas potential, but also as home to waterfowl, caribou, polar bears and other wildlife.
Load and haul operations at Thungela's thermal coal mining operation, Isibonelo Colliery (formerly Anglo American), in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, in March 2019
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2023
Coal miners forced to insure themselves amid climate concerns
Dozens of insurers have announced restrictions on their cover for the coal industry, particularly for new projects
A coal-fired power plant in Shanghai in October 2021
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2023
More focus on mine safety could help China’s energy security too
China has seen success in improving safety in a coal industry that killed thousands of miners every year during the 2000s, but methane remains a threat.
A camp of informal gold miners in Los Amigos, in the Madre de Dios region, Peru. The Peruvian government estimates that illegal miners dump about 180 metric tons of mercury in Madre de Dios annually.
WORLD
Aug 7, 2023
Gold mining in the Amazon poisoning scores of threatened species
Miners in southeast Peru use mercury to find gold — inadvertently contaminating hundreds of species native to the area.
Excavators in a pit at a nickel mine in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, on July 10
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 24, 2023
Indonesian nickel mine takes green steps as environmental concerns mount
Nickel production in Indonesia is particularly carbon intensive — every ton of the metal-equivalent produced emits an average of 58.6 tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent, data has shown.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 19, 2023
No more plundering: Can Africa take control in green mineral rush?
Governments on the continent have increasingly restricted or banned mineral exports in recent years in a bid to boost processing and retain more of the gains.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 19, 2023
Explorer Victor Vescovo says deep sea mining numbers don’t add up
Vescovo said the technological and financial uncertainties of mining metals far from shore and deep below the ocean surface have been grossly underestimated.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 13, 2023
A showdown in Jamaica is deciding the fate of the deep ocean
Seabed mining has the potential to become a trillion-dollar industry as the transition to electric vehicles spurs demand for metals like cobalt and nickel.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Jul 11, 2023
As demand for rare metals rises, rush to mine seabed prompts calls for moratorium
Governments are racing to obtain a secure supply of critical minerals for low-carbon technologies, but have also made major commitments to protect nature.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2023
Inside the race to remake lithium extraction for EV batteries
The global battle to reshape the lithium industry is sucking in oil producers and tech startups, each jockeying to be the first to reinvent how the key metal is produced.

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A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world