Rio Tinto cracks scandium extraction from waste www.mining.com

Rio Tinto has developed a way to extract high-purity scandium oxide from waste at its titanium dioxide production facilities in Quebec.

The company has been using the new process, developed by researchers at the company’s Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (RTFT) Research & Development Centre, to produce scandium oxide that meets market specifications since the second half of 2019 as part of a pilot project.

The new process extracts the critical mineral from byproducts generated at its RTFT metallurgical operation in Sorel-Tracy, Que., a facility that produces titanium dioxide from ilmenite mined at the Lac Tio open pit mine near Havre-Saint-Pierre.

Rio Tinto says the process, which is now being tested at a larger scale in a pilot plant, has the potential to enhance the scandium oxide market by delivering a secure supply source from an established operation, creating value from what was previously waste.

“This breakthrough on scandium is a great example of how we are looking at our operations across the world with fresh eyes to see how we can extract value from byproduct streams,” said Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques in a release.

“Finding a way to extract a new product not only delivers more value from our orebodies, it helps to reduce waste. It’s a key part of operating in a more responsible way and providing the essential materials our world needs for a sustainable future.”

Scandium is a rare earth element that is used to improve the performance of solid oxide fuel cells and to produce high-performance aluminum alloys used for aerospace, sporting goods and other applications.

Rio Tinto says its process features low production costs and requires minimal capital investment; there are no direct mining costs and the scandium oxide is recovered directly from byproducts from the existing metallurgical plant.

”This exciting breakthrough in processing technology leverages our existing mining operation to provide what can be a scalable, high-quality and low-cost source of scandium oxide to markets and manufacturers,” Jacques said.

The company, which reports strong interest in the market for its product, is now assessing the potential to progress to industrial scale scandium oxide production.

The company is also trialling the production of small quantities of high-performance aluminium-scandium master alloy using the scandium oxide produced by RTFT with its aluminium business, also based in Quebec.

In January 2020, Canada and the United States finalized a Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals Collaboration in order to secure supply chains for critical minerals – such as scandium.

Scandium is found in most rare earth deposits and in bauxite residues, commonly known as red mud.

However, to date it has been extracted from ores in only a few mines worldwide, mostly in Asia (China, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Philippines) and Russia.

(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)

U.S. business to Trump: Go slowly on Hong Kong response www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Business groups are urging U.S. President Donald Trump to go slowly in responding to Bejing’s planned imposition of new national security laws on Hong Kong, warning revoking the city’s special U.S. privileges will hurt the territory and its people.

That cleared the way for White House steps ranging from imposing sanctions on some senior Chinese officials to fully ending the 22-year U.S. practice of treating Hong Kong separately from China on trade, visas, investments and export controls.

Hong Kong’s special status has helped keep the former British colony of 7.5 million - which hosts operations of 1,300 U.S. companies and some 85,000 American residents - one of the world’s premier financial hubs since reverting to Chinese rule in 1997.

Details of the new Chinese legislation, which could see mainland security agencies to set up operations in Hong Kong, are being deliberted this week by China’s parliament.

“The text of the law in China has not yet been released. Words matter,” said Craig Allen, the president of the U.S.-China Business Council. The group would like to see all sides “de-escalate and maintain the ‘one-country two systems’ model for Hong Kong, which has served everyone so well for so many years,” he said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday stressed here jeopardizing Hong Kong's special status would be a "serious mistake."

Pompeo’s declaration leaves room to move slowly, and acting quickly could inflict pain on Hong Kong and waste U.S. leverage over Beijing, said Scott Kennedy, a senior adviser and China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The U.S. declaration has “opened the door to massive changes but they have not walked through it yet,” Kennedy said. “It may rattle markets and have executive suites examining Plan Bs and Plan Cs but not necessarily immediately moving.”

Pressure in the U.S.-China relationship is mounting over issues including trade, technology restrictions and the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives backed legislation calling on Trump to impose sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for oppression of China’s Uighur Muslim minority.

DRIP BY DRIP
Some international financial firms have halted Hong Kong expansion plans and shifted staff to other Asian centers after protests in the city last year. A major change in Hong Kong’s legal status could accelerate that trend, risk managers and consultants say.

“I do think that the drip-by-drip process of companies leaving had already begun. The promulgation of a national security law really throws fuel on that fire,” said Todd Mariano, director of Eurasia Group’s U.S. practice in Washington.

Dane Chamorro, a partner in Control Risk Group’s Asia Pacific practice, said a larger exodus would depend on whether the security law preserves Hong Kong’s business law framework and the free movement of capital.

“You will have people concerned about it for sure, but they’re not going to leave as long as those two things are there,” Chamorro said, adding many international companies operate in countries with onerous security regimes.

What’s more important is preserving the sanctity of contracts, consistent labor rules and predictable regulation, Chamorro said.

Peter Humphrey, a former corporate fraud investigator who was imprisoned by China for nearly two years, said few companies are prepared for a “sudden event” where Chinese security forces seize control.

“Hong Kong is now under much greater threat of intervention than it has been before, that’s how I see it,” said Humphrey, now an external research associate with Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

Foreign companies in Hong Kong, especially those dealing with confidential information, need plans “to switch off their operations instantly”, he said.

Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Heather Timmons and Lincoln Feast.

Twitter tags Trump tweet with fact-checking warning www.bbc.com

A post by US President Donald Trump has been given a fact-check label by Twitter for the first time.

President Trump tweeted: "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent."

Twitter put a warning label under the post and a subsequent tweet under its new policy on misleading information.

Mr Trump responded by tweeting again, saying the social media giant "is completely stifling free speech".

Twitter's notification displays a blue exclamation mark underneath the tweets, suggesting readers "get the facts about mail-in ballots".

Twitter's link directs users to a page on which Mr Trump's claims about mail-in ballots are described as "unsubstantiated". The social media company cites reporting on the issue by CNN, the Washington Post and others.

This is followed by a "what you need to know" section where Twitter corrects what it says are false claims by the US president.

The social media company had pledged to increase the warning labels under false or misleading information on its site - but it has been slow to take steps against the US president.

Twitter updated its policies on warning labels early this month.

What is President Trump's response?
In his new tweets, Mr Trump accused Twitter of interfering in the US presidential election scheduled for 3 November 2020.

He said that the social media company was "completely stifling free speech, and I, as president, will not allow it to happen".

Mr Trump's presidential campaign manager Brad Parscale also criticised Twitter.

"Partnering with biased fake news 'fact checkers' is a smoke screen to lend Twitter's obvious political tactics false credibility. There are many reasons we pulled all our advertising from Twitter months ago, and clear political bias is one of them," Mr Parscale tweeted.

President Trump has used Twitter as a platform to pick fights with other politicians and celebrities. Now he may be in for a fight with the platform itself.

Following the firm's decision to label his tweets as misleading, he claimed on Twitter that the company was stifling free speech and that he wouldn't allow it. But Twitter as a private company gets to set its own rules for what happens on its platform.

The trouble for many was that up until Tuesday the firm didn't seem to be enforcing its rules when it came to the US president or other global leaders.

This is not the first time President Trump has made claims on Twitter that some say would have gotten less powerful people blocked from the site.

But Mr Trump's bombastic comments are part of what draws some of his more than 80 million followers to the site in the first place. The company doesn't want to lose them.

It sees the new labelling system as a way to balance both the desire to allow Twitter users including the president to say what they like, while also giving readers protection against misleading claims. The strategy mostly worked with tweets about Covid-19.

But with the US election in November, Twitter should expect a lot more posts with potentially misleading information. Meaning this is likely only the first test for its new enforcement plans.

What are mail-in ballots?
They are voting bulletins that are distributed and returned by post.

In a recent opinion survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 66% of Americans said they would not be comfortable going to a polling place to cast their ballot during the current coronavirus outbreak.

Such concerns have increased pressure on states to expand the availability of mail-in ballots for all voters in order to minimise the risk of viral exposure from in-person voting.

While every state provides some form of remote voting, the requirements to qualify vary greatly.

Five states in the western US, including Washington, Oregon and Colorado, conduct their elections entirely via mail-in ballot.

Others, like California, provide a postal ballot to anyone who requests it.

On the other end of the spectrum, 17 states require voters to provide a valid reason why they are unable to vote in-person in order to qualify for an absentee ballot.

Twitter refuses to remove 'horrifying lies'
The move comes on the heels of Twitter's decision not to remove comment President Trump made about the death of Lori Klausutis in 2001.

The president has tweeted several messages promoting a conspiracy theory that Ms Klausutis was murdered by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.

Her widower Timothy Klausutis asked Twitter to remove the post, saying it included "horrifying lies".

The company declined to take down those tweets but told Mr Klausutis it was "deeply sorry" about the pain caused by the president's statements.

The Country with the Best Covid-19 Response? Mongolia www.kottke.org

Several countries have had solid responses to the Covid-19 pandemic: Taiwan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. But Indi Samarajiva thinks we should be paying much more attention to Mongolia, a country of 3.17 million people where no one has died and no locally transmitted cases have been reported. Let’s have that again: 3.17 million people, 0 local cases, 0 deaths. How did they do it? They saw what was happening in Wuhan, coordinated with the WHO, and acted swiftly & decisively in January.

Imagine that you could go back in time to January 23rd with the horse race results and, I dunno, the new iPhone. People believe you. China has just shut down Hubei Province, the largest cordon sanitaire in human history. What would you scream to your leaders? What would you tell them to do?

You’d tell them that this was serious and that it’s coming for sure. You’d tell them to restrict the borders now, to socially distance now, and to get medical supplies ready, also now. You’d tell them to react right now, in January itself. That’s 20/20 hindsight.

That’s exactly what Mongolia did, and they don’t have a time machine. They just saw what was happening in Hubei, they coordinated with China and the WHO, and they got their shit together fast. That’s their secret, not the elevation. They just weren’t dumb.

When you go to World In Data’s Coronavirus Data Explorer and click on “Mongolia” to add their data to the graph, nothing happens because they have zero reported cases and zero deaths. They looked at the paradox of preparation — the idea that “when the best way to save lives is to prevent a disease rather than treat it, success often looks like an overreaction” — and said “sign us up for the overreacting!”

Throughout February, Mongolia was furiously getting ready - procuring face masks, test kits, and PPE; examining hospitals, food markets, and cleaning up the city. Still no reported cases. Still no let-up in readiness. No one was like “it’s not real!” or “burn the 5G towers!”

The country also suspended their New Year celebrations, which are a big deal in Asia. They deployed hundreds of people and restricted intercity travel to make sure, though the public seemed to broadly support the move.

Again — and I’ll keep saying this until March — there were still NO CASES. If you want to know how Mongolia ended up with no local cases, it’s because they reacted when there were no local cases. And they kept acting.

For example, when they heard of a case across the border (ie, not in Mongolia) South Gobi declared an emergency and put everyone in masks. The center also shut down coal exports — a huge economic hit, which they took proactively.

As you can see, at every turn they’re reacting like other countries only did when it was too late. This looked like an over-reaction, but in fact, Mongolia was always on time.

I have to tell you true: I got really upset reading this. Like crying and furious. The United States could have done this. Italy could have done this. Brazil could have done this. Sweden could have done this. England could have done this. Spain could have done this. Mongolia listened to the experts, acted quickly, and kept their people safe. Much of the rest of the world, especially the western world — the so-called first-world countries — failed to act quickly enough and hundreds of thousands of people have needlessly died and countless others have been left with chronic health issues, grief, and economic chaos.

Deputy Representative of UNICEF Mongolia observed a TV lesson recording today www.unicef.org

Dr. Speciose Hakizimana, Deputy Representative of UNICEF Mongolia, observed a TV lesson recording today. “I saw how much enthusiasm and huge preparatory work goes behind one lesson. While teachers are happy to support the efforts of education continuation during COVID 19, they also learn new methodologies. Challenges of teaching on TV without interaction with children are creatively handled in different ways/new methods such as showing illustrations and getting advice from each other e.g. from a retired teacher” said Dr. Hakizimana.

Mongolia receives COVID-19 medical supplies from China www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia on Tuesday received 1 million yuan (about 140,100 U.S. dollars) worth of medical supplies from China's Ministry of National Defense in the fight against COVID-19.

Mongolia reports 4 new recoveries from COVID-19 www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia reported four COVID-19 recoveries, with the total recoveries in the country standing at 37, the country's National Center for Communicable Disease (NCCD) on Tuesday.

Mongolia offers Russia $1 mln in humanitarian aid amid pandemic www.tass.com

ULAN BATOR, May 26./TASS/. The Mongolian government has handed over to Russia a certificate for humanitarian assistance worth 1$ million to fight the coronavirus pandemic, MONTSAME news agency reported on Tuesday.

Mining expenditure may drop as companies cut costs www.zgm.mn

The Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ), an investor of Oyu Tolgoi (OT) reported that the Oyu Tolgoi underground mine project which was planned to cost USD 1.3 billion in 2020, contracted its spending to USD 1.1 billion mainly due to COVID-19 outbreak. It has also deteriorated open-pit cost from USD 120 million to up to USD 80 million. Oyu Tolgoi project made over 94 percent of foreign direct investment of Mongolia in the first quarter of the year. Petromatad, which has discovered an oil field in the Tamsag basin, has cut its employees’ salaries, reducing the earnings of all directors and senior managers by an average of 50 percent and the salaries of professional consultants by up to 45 percent since the second quarter. In the future, it is possible to cut additional costs depending on market conditions. Additionally, Tsairt Mineral LLC, the main exporter of zinc, has postponed construction work at the open pit this year. As a result, the company said, the plant's supply could be disrupted. The company announced that preparations for an underground mine that will create about 200 jobs have been delayed. Coal companies have also cut their export plans this year. For example, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi planned to sell 9.2 million tons of coal this year but reduced it by 30 percent to 6.2 million tons.

Project to train 10,000 software developers launched www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ With a view to increase employment in the information technology sector, train highly skilled human resources, built the capacities for teachers and improve the quality of software training program, the Governor’s Office of the Capital City and Industrial Development Innovation Agency of the capital city today, May 26, jointly launched a project to train 10,000 software developers and launched the training activities.