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S&P GLOBAL Market Intelligence latest report on lithium and cobalt paints a revealing picture for the rare earths’ market. Though the fall-out from COVID-19 has seen total sales and growth of EV’s slow in China, S&P are predicting an increase in sales in Europe due to stricter vehicle emissions standards pushing drivers toward electric vehicles. European and Chinese government policies favour of EV’s driving down battery costs. European car-makers including Volkswagen and BMW have made investments in the EV market which should bear fruit over the course of 2020 as EU transitions toward carbon neutrality. The EV sales should lead to an increase in the Lithium Carbonate price which has so far decline 9.5% this year, averaging US$8,121 p/t in…

PLATINUM is shining bright for WA-based Impact Minerals, with promising new discoveries made amid prevailing record prices for the commodity. High grades of the rare platinum group elements (PGE) rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium have been returned from new assays from seven previously drilled diamond drill holes at the Red Hill prospect within Impact’s 100pc-owned Broken Hill Project in NSW. The drill holes had previously only been assayed for palladium and platinum, with a total of 12 out of the 13 drill holes completed returning robust widths and grades of these two PGEs, together with significant gold, copper, nickel, cobalt and silver credits. In the current exploration, the seven holes with high grades of palladium and platinum were selected for…

US electric vehicle maker Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has seen an incredible run-up in its share price over the past few days, sparking interest in the metals used in the production of its cars and vehicles. At the end of Tuesday’s US trading session on the Nasdaq exchange, Tesla’s share price rose 13pc or US$107/share to close at an all-time high of US$887/share, according to exchange data. The rally has lasted for several days, after the Tesla share price suddenly took off from US$650/share on January 31, and brings gains for the stock since then to $237/share or 36.5pc. Tesla had a stock market value of US$160b on Wednesday. In a presentation released last week, Tesla said it generated US$1b of…

HIGH grade drill results have been announced at the Rose Hill, Gunga West and Golden Ridge gold mining projects in WA. The sites, near Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie, were acquired by Horizon Minerals under an asset swap with Northern Star resources in September and December last year. According to Horizon management, Rosehill has produced about 1340 oz of gold at 8.3g/t gold from 5000t since 1898. The drill results came after 12 Reverse Circulation (RC) holes at Rose Hill, which were conducted for the purpose of due diligence. Significant assays of gold, associated with stock work quartz veining and increased pyrite abundance, were found within a steep dipping, porphyry host rock. Confirmation of solid gold mineralisation was discovered beneath the pit…

PANORAMIC Resources, WA, has signed a letter of intent with Barminco, awarding it preferred underground contractor status. Barminco, subsidiary of Perenti Global Ltd, is one of the world’s largest hard rock underground mining service companies. Confidence in the long -term potential of the project is supported by a 32.7m raising in rights issues mid-January. Barminco will provide a newer mining fleet and is expected to employ the majority of the existing Panoramic underground mining and maintenance workforce. Its proven expertise and established operating system is expected to improve operational efficiencies and drive production volumes to reach targeted levels. Barminco CEO Paul Muller said the miner looked forward to working closely with Panoramic Resources in driving the development of the Savannah…

AUSTRALIAN nickel producer Western Areas has completed two offtake deals for its WA high-grade Forrestania Nickel Operation concentrate product which is a feedstock for the electric vehicle battery market. The ASX-listed company said the offtake-deals are with BHP’s Nickel West subsidiary in WA, and Hong Kong-listed Chinese nickel company Jinchuan Group, and both were awarded by Western Areas following a competitive tender process. Western Areas managing director Dan Lougher said the company was pleased with its new contracts that extend its relationship with BHP and reintroduces Jinchuan as an offtake customer. “It is notable that both of our offtake customers are involved in the downstream operation of nickel smelters,” he said. “Western Areas firmly believes that the smelting of concentrates…

CLIVE Palmer’s company Mineralogy has announced the expansion of operations in Western Australia – entering into a long-term lease of a 1100sqm commercial property in Perth. Mr Palmer said Mineralogy has received vast wealth from WA, and it was now looking at expanding operations and reinvesting funds back into the state. The company’s George Palmer Deposit (part of the Balmoral magnetite deposit) hosts the Sino Iron Project, one of the world’s largest magnetite iron ore projects, operated by Citic Pacific Mining. “Nobody expected back in 1985 that this project would be so successful and create so much wealth for this country,” Mr Palmer said. “The Sino operation profits in Australia and China grew by 88pc in the last 12 months…

AN attack on a convoy of five busses carrying employees to the Bongou mine in Burkina Faso has left 37 dead and 60 injured. Workers of African Mine Services, a subsidiary of Australian company Perenti (ASX: PRN), and Canadian mine owner, Semafo, were among the dead. Sefamo said the convoy was escorted by military police and was about 40km from the mine when it was ambushed by gunmen. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks at this stage, however suspicion has fallen on Islamic militants. The country has been plagued for the past five years by Jihadi violence that has spilled over from Mali. The attack is the deadliest in the five years of violence and the death toll,…

PERTH-BASED junior Impact Minerals has set the ball rolling for trial mining at its Blackridge gold project in Queensland. Following an agreement for tribute mining with Nimble Resources (which will carry all costs for mining, processing and rehabilitation), the trial mining program has been capped at 1m loose cubic metres of oxide material (about 1.6mt) over a three-year period. Impact Minerals Limited managing director Dr Mike Jones said the agreement marked a “very positive step forward” for the Blackridge project. “We know that the best way to determine grade in coarse gold deposits such as Blackridge is to simply start mining,” he said. “This is inherently very high risk, and so this agreement gives Impact a very low risk entry…