Indigenous communities living around Chile’s Atacama salt flat last year asked authorities to suspend SQM’s operating permits or reduce its operations until it submits an environmental compliance plan acceptable to regulators.

Mining international waters is in the spotlight as companies and countries are looking at minerals concentrated on the ocean floor that can be used in batteries for smart phones and electric vehicles.

But the global cobalt supply chain is set to remain highly geographically concentrated in the coming years, Fitch says.

Barrick took control of the mine in 2019, when the country’s National Environment Management Council had closed down the TSF, then holding significantly more water than it should.

Analysts, including those at TD Securities remain optimistic about a potential gold rally in H1 2022.

Boris Slutskiy joins the company developing the Udokan copper deposit in the Zabaikalye Territory in Russia’s Far East.

A host of new players are developing new extraction techniques, which could upend primary supply of lithium, says Fitch.

Bank of America expects demand to hold firm next year and only sees a surplus in 2023.

BHP and Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals had been engaged in a tug of war with competing offers for Noront since July.