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Mining giants BHP and Vale faced off in a London court on 12 July. Australia’s BHP demands that Brazil’s Vale be involved in a $44bn (211.6bn reais) lawsuit resulting from the 2015 collapse of the Fundão dam in the east of Brazil.   

Over 700,000 Brazilians, alongside municipalities and indigenous groups, have sued BHP over the collapse of the Fundão dam and the resulting environmental and humanitarian disaster.  

The dam was owned and operated by Samarco, a joint venture between BHP and iron ore producer Vale. In December, BHP applied for Vale to join the case and contribute to damages should they lose.   

In court filings seen by Reuters, Vale’s lawyers stated: “BHP currently has no right to a ‘contribution’ from Vale under Brazilian law. The company can have no such right unless and until… it is found liable to the claimants and makes a payment to them.”

A Norwegian miner has completed the exploration of a phosphate deposit that it claims is large enough to meet phosphorous demand for batteries and solar panels for the next 100 years.  

Norge Mining, which will develop the site, says that it has discovered up to 70 billion tonnes of the mineral.   

Around 90% of mined phosphate is used to produce fertiliser for the agriculture industry. Phosphorous is also used to produce lithium-ion phosphate batteries used in green technologies and batteries. The mineral is in high demand but currently faces significant supply issues.   

According to the US Geological Survey, proven phosphate reserves equal 71 billion tonnes globally, only slightly larger than the total discovered in Norway.   

Prior to this discovery, the largest phosphate deposit was located in the Western Sahara region, equalling around 50 billion tonnes. This is followed by China with 3.2 billion tonnes, Egypt with 2.8 billion tonnes and Algeria with 2.2 billion tonnes.

The Australian Government has approved a license extension at a thermal coal mine despite opposition from climate groups and Australia’s Greens Party.   

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese approved the mine, the third coal mine to be approved by Australian ministers in the past two months.  

Japanese company Idemitsu Kosan will have its licence for the Ensham mine in Queensland extended for another nine years. The 4.5 million tonnes a year of coal it produces will be used in power stations.   

Albanese’s left-wing government came to power last year with promises of stricter emissions targets and greater renewables investment. Despite this, the government has also backed the expansion of coal and natural gas production.   

The Australian Government seeks to reduce CO₂ emissions to 43% of 2005 levels by 2030.  

Coal and gas are Australia’s second and third-largest export earners. The annual production rates at the Ensham mine will equate to 2.5% of Australia’s thermal coal exports in 2022.

The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, has announced that the country plans to begin deep-sea mining despite the practice’s potential environmental impact.   

The mining of polymetallic nodules from the sea floor is the topic of intense debate. Metals found in the nodules, including copper, manganese, nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate, are in high demand due to their use in transition technologies including electric vehicles.  

Brown said that the controversial practice is “the right thing to do for our country”, but that they will “proceed with caution”, in an interview with The Guardian.  

The announcement came ahead of the 9 July deadline by which point the UN-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) must outline regulations governing mining of the seabed. The regulations are unlikely to be ready by next week amid ongoing debate, but a number of companies and governments are expected to apply for permits.

Australian mining company South32 has agreed to pay $2.9m after an investigation revealed one of its coal mines had been draining drinking water to its facility for the past five years.  

A subsidiary of South32, Illawarra Coal Holdings, which was responsible for the work at the Dendrobium coal mine in Mount Kembla, conceded it did not have a licence to take any surface water through its mining activities.   

The company drained five megalitres or two Olympic swimming pools worth of water from the catchment area each day between 2018 and 2023 without a permit. The water laws enforcement body of the area, the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR), first received a complaint about the activity in 2018 and began its investigation.   

Grant Barnes, NRAR chief regulatory officer, said the monetary settlement was an alternative to court action, and the company would be monitored closely in the wake of a breach.