Ivanhoe Mines chairman says mining companies will have to be “real heroes” and governments will have to accept the industry if the world is to successfully transition to clean energy.

"Nearly $16 trillion would have to go into green-focused infrastructure to achieve decarbonisation targets, compared to $10 trillion in China during last supercycle.”

The system is expected to save 13.1 million liters of heavy fuel oil and help reduce CO2 emissions by 39,000 tonnes per year.

If the newly created Entreprise Générale du Cobalt is able to capture all production from artisanal miners, it will compete with Glencore, ERG and China Moly.

Despite gold's price slump, strong copper and iron ore prices lifted MINING.COM's ranking of the world's 50 most valuable miners to a new record high of $1.35 trillion.