Turquoise Hill shareholders endorse Rio Tinto’s $3.3bn takeover offer 

Shareholders of Turquoise Hill Resources have accepted a $3.3bn takeover offer by Rio Tinto, which would give the latter more control over the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.

Currently holding a 51% stake in Turquoise Hill, Rio Tinto has been seeking to acquire the remaining 49% of Turquoise Hill’s issued and outstanding common shares. As part of this plan, the Anglo-Australian firm has doubled its cash offer to around $32.6 (C$43) per share.

If completed, the transaction will allow Rio to simplify the management structure of the Oyu Tolgoi mine, which is claimed to host the world’s largest-known copper and gold deposits. Canada-based Turquoise Hill currently owns a 66% stake in the project while the remaining 34% stake is owned by the Mongolian Government.

Rio Tinto’s takeover offer was recommended by Turquoise Hill. However, it has been opposed by activist shareholders SailingStone Capital Partners and Pentwater Capital, citing that the bid considerably undervalues the Canadian firm. SailingStone and Pentwater respectively own 2% and 15% stakes in Turquoise Hill.

Rio Tinto Copper CEO Bold Baatar said: “This transaction will deliver significant benefits for all shareholders, and allow us to progress the Oyu Tolgoi project in partnership with the Government of Mongolia with a simpler and more efficient governance and ownership structure.”

ERG and Gécamines resume Boss Mining operations in Congo 

The Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) and La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) have resumed copper and cobalt operations at Boss Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Located in the Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces of the DRC, Boss Mining was temporarily put into care and maintenance in 2019. The move allowed ERG and its joint venture partner Gécamines to evaluate various investment options and undertake studies to enhance the economics and sustainability of the Boss Mining operations.

Over the next 16 months and as part of the phased restart, the joint venture partners plan to focus on processing historically mined fines to produce copper cathodes and cobalt hydroxide.

By March next year, Boss Mining is expected to produce an average of 1,800t of copper cathode and 300t of cobalt hydroxide per month. ERG CEO Benedikt Sobotka said the current phase of the restart plan is expected to generate nearly 750 jobs.

Sobotka added: “We are not only celebrating the return to production at this time but also our long-standing partnership with Gécamines and its professional team, without whom this restart would not have been possible. ERG believes that collaboration is the key to building a better future.”

Green Shift Commodities to enter lithium sector with LFP acquisition

Green Shift Commodities (GCOM) has agreed to acquire privately owned Canada-based exploration company LFP Resources (LFP).

LFP holds rights to acquire a total of 485,000ha of prospective lithium ground in Argentina. The land package includes areas of known lithium pegmatite occurrences discovered and sampled by the Argentinian Government in the 1960s.

The latest agreement is subject to LFP closing the acquisition of one of the properties in Argentina, among other things. Under the deal, GCOM will acquire all of the outstanding shares of LFP by making a $75,000 upfront payment and issuing 17.5 million GCOM common shares.

Upon completion of the transaction, GCOM is planning to undertake exploration work including extensive sampling of outcropping pegmatite and geological mapping at the property. The acquisition marks GCOM’s entry into the lithium sector, where prices have surged due to increasing global demand for electric vehicle batteries.

GCOM CEO and director Trumbull Fisher said: “The district-scale land package we are acquiring offers the potential to explore known areas of lithium while, at the same time, securing an entire belt that has yet to be methodically explored.

“While the Berlin project, with its uranium, phosphate, nickel and vanadium resources, continues to be of great importance to GCOM, this acquisition demonstrates our team’s plan to continue to expand further into the battery metals space.”

US EPA recommends mining waste disposal ban in Bristol Bay, Alaska

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a formal recommendation to bar mining waste in Bristol Bay, Alaska, citing concerns about its impact on what it claims to be the world’s largest fish harvest.

The recommendation has been made by EPA Region 10 regional administrator Casey Sixkiller to the EPA’s Office of Water assistant administrator Radhika Fox.

Upon finalisation, the move would block Pebble Limited Partnership’s plan to extract gold, copper and molybdenum from southwestern Alaska. For more than two decades, Northern Dynasty Minerals’ subsidiary Pebble has been seeking to undertake mining activities in the area.

Under the recommended determination advanced Thursday, the EPA proposed to ban certain waters in the South Fork Koktuli River and North Fork Koktuli River in Bristol Bay as disposal sites for the discharge of dredged or fill material associated with Pebble’s proposed mine plan and any future mining proposals.

The recommendations will now be reviewed by the EPA’s Office of Water to issue a final determination.

The EPA said in a statement: “After evaluating an extensive record, including scientific and technical information covering nearly two decades, and after considering public comments received on the 2022 proposed determination, EPA Region 10 determined that these discharges would be likely to result in unacceptable adverse effects on salmon fishery areas in the South Fork Koktuli River, North Fork Koktuli River, and Upper Talarik Creek watersheds of Bristol Bay.”

TRU Precious Metals acquires Golden Rose Project in Canada

TRU Precious Metals has bought a 100% stake in Golden Rose Project in the highly prospective Central Newfoundland Gold Belt, Canada, by exercising three option agreements.

The regional-scale 236km² Golden Rose project includes a recently discovered 20km district-scale structure.

In May 2021, TRU signed an option agreement with Altius Minerals’ subsidiary, whereby TRU was granted the exclusive right and option to acquire a 100% stake in a package of mineral claims, known as Altius Claims, in the southwestern portion of the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt.

Altius also assigned a supplementary option agreement to TRU, whereby the latter was granted exclusive right and option from Shawn Rose to acquire a 100% stake in certain surrounding mineral claims, known as the Rose Gold claims.

TRU said it has now issued 1.4 million of its common shares to Altius and paid $37,500 to Shawn Rose, according to the respective option agreements.

TRU co-founder and CEO Joel Freudman said: “Since optioning the project from TSX-listed Altius Minerals Corporation in May 2021, we have worked with determination and prudence as we tactically consolidated the most prospective claims within and surrounding Golden Rose, alongside exploring the project.

“We intend to expand TRU’s pipeline of drill-ready targets across the project through relatively low-cost, but high-upside, exploration methods, to ultimately prepare for what we are hopeful will be an exciting 2023 drill programme.”

Gas explosion at Pakistan coal mine claims nine lives

An explosion at a coal mine in Orakzai tribal region’s Doli area in northwestern Pakistan has killed nine workers and injured four others, reported Reuters, citing a government official.

According to a team investigating the accident, gas sparks at the mine had resulted in the explosion.

Orakzai deputy commissioner Adnan Farid was cited by the news agency as saying that a total of 13 workers were at the site at the time of the explosion, and nine bodies have been recovered. The remaining four miners, who suffered critical injuries, have been rescued from the rubble.

According to the government report seen by Reuters, the explosion was the result of gas build-up and resulted in the collapse of the mine.

According to Reuters, coal deposits in northwestern Orakzai, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, are prone to frequent accidents primarily due to gas build-ups. Labour union officials previously said that the miners faced a lack of safety gear and deprived working conditions at the mines, subsequently causing frequent accidents.

Orakzai district police chief Nazeer Khan told Reuters that a team from the Pakistan Mineral Development Department examined the mine site following the incident and said the explosion was triggered “due to gas sparks inside the mine”.