Despite President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions of its bright future, coal mining is a dying industry and the secret to a long life in this twilight era is accepting mortality.
A surplus of cobalt chemicals used to make the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles has seen Chinese refiners switch to producing metal, sending prices down 30 percent in recent months.
The Canadian precious metals miner logged a $10.6-million net loss for the first half of the year following a $49-million investment in its Gold Bar, Black Fox and Los Azules projects during the period.
BHP Billiton last week agreed to sell its U.S. shale oil and gas assets for $10.5 billion, while Rio Tinto appears on track to exit its troubled investment in the giant Grasberg copper and gold mine in Indonesia for about $3.5 billion.
The failed plan was to find an operator with a lower cost structure or a different mining approach that would be able to take over and extend Voorspoed’s life.