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The flow may be signalling a shift in sentiment among foreign investors who have been notably absent while China's markets and economy roared back to life after Beijing abruptly lifted its stringent zero-COVID policy in December. Alibaba's shares (9988.HK) are up more than 14% in the five days since the company's announcement and some 11.7 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in foreign cash has flowed into China's markets. That's already more than the net 9.2 billion yuan in inflows in February and drove March flows to 35.4 billion yuan and the quarter's inflow to a record of 186 billion yuan. Premier Li Qiang assured foreign investors that China would unswervingly adhere to reform and opening up, expanding market access and optimising the business environment. Ernest Yeung, a portfolio manager at U.S. asset manager T. Rowe Price, anticipated "a gradual process of stabilisation" of private enterprises and the internet sector.

☆ UN to start taking deep-sea mining applications this July
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Deep-sea mining would extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese - key battery materials - from potato-sized rocks called "polymetallic nodules" on the ocean's floor at depths of 4 to 6 km (2.5 to 4 miles). They are abundant in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the North Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. The council plans to meet virtually before July to debate further whether approval of such applications could be delayed once received, according to the document. Its executives have repeatedly said they believe deep-sea mining would have less impact than traditional mining for battery metals on land. Reporting by Clara Denina and Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bitcoin is poised to blow up Africa's $86 billion banking system
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

Then there's mobile money, which has been around since the early 2000s. Africa's mobile money transactions rose 39% to more than $700 billion in 2021, according to data from the GSM Association, a non-profit representing mobile network operators worldwide. That cash network was extraordinarily difficult and expensive to build, which is why there aren't a lot of direct competitors. Bitnob is SMS-based and piggybacks on the mobile money system, making it easier for people to send money directly into bank accounts and mobile money wallets in African countries. "We're able to settle into bank accounts or mobile money accounts, without the recipients having to interact with bitcoin themselves," Parah tells CNBC.

☆ Carvana customer says he bought his wife a luxury car for $68K — but it turned out to be stolen
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A North Carolina man unknowingly purchased a stolen Maserati from Carvana, WTVD reported. "When they check the VIN number on the chassis, that's when they saw that it was a stolen vehicle. VIN on the car on the window and the car door was different," Scott told WTVD. Carvana sent Scott a letter saying it didn't know the car was stolen when the company purchased it. Check to see if the vehicle is stolen," Scott told WTVD.

[1/3] Apache Stronghold, a Native American group hoping to protect their sacred land from a Cooper mine in Arizona, gather outside the 9th Circuit Appeal Court in Pasadena, California,U.S., March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Mike BlakeMarch 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Forest Service plans to re-publish an environmental report before July that will set in motion a land swap between the U.S. government and Rio Tinto (RIO.L)(RIO.AX), allowing the mining giant to develop the controversial Resolution Copper project in Arizona. Joan Pepin, an attorney for the Forest Service, told an en banc hearing of the 9th U.S. It doesn't settle any rights to land and it doesn't create any land rights," Pepin told the court. The Apache Stronghold held a ceremony outside the Pasadena, California, courthouse on Tuesday to protest Rio's plans for the copper mine.

☆ Miner BHP potentially faces $44 bln bill in Brazil dam case
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Members of the Krenak indigenous people, Daniel Krenak, Andreia Krenak, Djanira Krenak, Maycon Krenak and Marcelo Krenak, demonstrate outside the High Court in London, Britain December 13, 2022. BHP (BHP.AX) was initially sued by around 200,000 Brazilians over the 2015 collapse of the Fundao dam, owned by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining company Vale (VALE3.SA). BHP, the world's biggest miner by market value, denies liability and in December applied to join Vale to the case. BHP has said the London lawsuit duplicates legal proceedings and reparation and repair programmes in Brazil. BHP has applied to the Supreme Court to overturn that decision and its application is pending.

☆ Trump's lawyers keep getting in trouble with judges. Here are the 17 sanctioned so far.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Lawyers representing Trump keep getting sanctioned by courts. Many of Trump's lawyers, even if they are not sanctioned, end up needing lawyers of their own to ward off the worst consequences. Insider identified 17 lawyers who have been personally sanctioned because of their work for Trump. The least successful, however, was a sprawling lawsuit Trump filed against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, and several other figures linked to Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. He was part of Trump's "Elite Strike Force" of lawyers trying to convince judges to cancel votes and have Trump declared the victor.

HOUSTON, March 8 (Reuters) - Copper mining giants are scrambling to attract and retain workers, especially in the United States, amid rising global demand for the red metal for the green energy transition. While regulatory push back and water supply have been among the mining industry's historical challenges, access to talent has emerged as another worry. Workers are needed with skills to build and run mines producing lithium, nickel, copper and other metals to feed the green energy transition. We're just trying to make our work as attractive to people as we can," said Adkerson, who has run the company since 2003. Freeport peer Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX)(RIO.L) has more than 4,000 employees in Utah, where the company runs the Kennecott copper mine.

But that copper sits below the federally owned Oak Flat Campground, a place some Apache consider home to deities. The mine would create a crater 2 miles (3 km) wide and 1,000 feet (304 m) deep that would destroy that worship site, which the San Carlos Apache tribe strongly opposes. Some other Apache tribes in the area support Rio's project, but the San Carlos Apache have vowed to block it. Rio said it will continue to try to win the San Carlos Apache's approval. Several courts have ruled against the San Carlos Apache and their allies, which have appealed to the full 9th U.S.

☆ CERAWEEK Biden climate law will stumble without permitting reform, industry warns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HOUSTON, March 6 - The Biden administration's climate law, which provides hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy incentives to fight global warming, won't be fully effective without permitting reform, executives told the CERAWeek energy conference on Monday. "If the permitting reform doesn't happen, the IRA may not get its full use and benefit," Bold Baatar, who runs the copper business at mining giant Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.AX)(RIO.L), told the Houston conference. White House Energy Adviser John Podesta told the conference permitting reform was high on the administration's agenda. "The permitting process for clean energy infrastructure, including transmission, is plagued by delays and bottlenecks," Podesta said. "I was a little bit nervous, because when John Podesta kept talking about permitting reform, he only talked about renewables," Sullivan told the conference.

For 100 of those applicants, the Energy Department has hired staff to provide business development advice and "intense mentorship," Jigar Shah, head of the Energy Department's Loan Programs Office, told Reuters on the sidelines of the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. Given the rapidly evolving technologies in the clean energy space, Shah said the department might shorten loan terms. If we think that that's a risk, then we just change the terms of the loan," Shah said. The LPO office would like more applications from electric utilities and oil and gas companies for projects designed to reduce emissions, as well as geothermal companies, Shah said. Commercial debt markets are "less interested in the more innovative approaches that (wind companies) are taking.

☆ The biggest problem with Russia's tanks in Ukraine is the way Moscow tried to use them
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Alex Hollings | Sandboxx News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

By September, the tally of lost and captured Russian tanks reached 1,000 — more than all the tanks in the British, French, German, and Finnish militaries combined. The first time these British tanks found a fight, only 25 of the 49 of them actually moved when ordered to commence the attack. Nonetheless, before the conflict was over, Churchill himself would decide tanks had, once again, run their course, declaring, "we have too much armor — tanks are finished." And that is the real lesson we can glean from the performance of Russian tanks in Ukraine over the past year. Maxim Shemetov/ReutersThis point becomes evident when you look at Russian tank losses recorded by the Oryx Blog between February and April 2022, when Russian tank losses were at their absolute worst.

Feb 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department on Monday said it will lend Li-Cycle Holdings Corp (LICY.N) $375 million as it builds a battery recycling facility in New York set to become one of the country's largest sources of lithium by next year. Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who serves as Senate majority leader, had long advocated for Li-Cycle to receive the funding. Li-Cycle's Rochester, New York, processing facility is slated to open later this year at a cost of roughly $485 million. The Rochester facility will break down that black mass into lithium and other metals. The Energy Department in the past month has agreed to lend $2 billion to Li-Cycle peer Redwood Materials and $700 million to ioneer Ltd's (INR.AX) Rhyolite Ridge lithium mining project.

☆ Analysis: CATL's 'price war' shows its power, and China's EV edge
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

"It's very much a market share game," said Caspar Rawles, chief data officer at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd - more widely known by its initials - is the dominant global supplier with a 37% share of the EV market. For CATL, the discount is a way to head off a bid by Chinese EV makers to seek alternatives. CATL batteries power Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) I.D. "The reductions that CATL is offering would help the Chinese EV industry," said James Frith, a principal at battery-tech focused venture capital group Volta Energy Technologies.

☆ ‘We Have a Ghost’ Review: A Haunted House Hits Social Media
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The first scene in “We Have a Ghost” involves an entire family running out of their house screaming, jumping in their car and tearing away. Still, there’s a scary amount of stuff going on in writer-director Christopher Landon ’s horror movie/murder mystery/domestic drama/deep-state thriller/coming-of-age teenage romance. It may be based on the short story “Ernest” by Geoff Manaugh . A year later, looking for a new start, the family of young Kevin Presley (Jahi Winston) moves in, having been kept in the dark by their broker (Faith Ford) about the house’s blighted history. When Kevin first meets up with Ernest (that’s what it says on his bowling shirt), the boy laughs at the ghost’s boogeyman routine, befriending him instead.

Newcrest, which was spun out of Newmont in the 1990s, rejected the offer last week as too low. But one of Newmont's largest shareholders told Reuters it would not want the company overpaying for its rival. Palmer said that regardless of the outcome of the Newcrest bid, Newmont will develop its 16 billion pounds of copper reserves. Newmont said attributable gold production for the fourth quarter edged up to 1.63 million ounces from 1.62 million ounces in the comparable period a year ago. For 2023, Newmont has given a production guidance between 5.7 million and 6.3 million ounces of gold and guided for an all-in sustaining cost between $1,150 and $1,250 per ounce.

☆ Rio Tinto enters agreement with BMW to provide hydro-produced aluminum
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Stephen Culp | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A BMW car logo is displayed during a media tour at the plant of German automaker BMW in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, February 3, 2023. REUTERS/Toya Sarno Jordan/File PhotoNEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto on Tuesday said it would supply BMW with aluminum it produces in Canada using hydroelectric power, lowering the auto manufacturer's carbon footprint with respect to its procurement of the automotive metal. The UK-based mining company and the German automaker announced in separate statements that they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Rio Tinto's hydro-powered operations in Canada to provide a BMW production plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, with an unspecified amount of aluminum starting in 2024 -- a move that "could generate a reduction of up to 70 percent in CO2 emissions compared to the BMW Group's benchmark for aluminum," according to Rio Tinto. "The agreement to supply low-carbon aluminium" is also aimed at "ramping up our use of aluminium with no direct CO2 emissions from the smelting process," wrote Joachim Post, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, which is responsible for its purchasing and supplier network. Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Lithium miner Sigma jumps on report Tesla considering buyout
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 17 (Reuters) - U.S.-listed shares of Sigma Lithium Corp rose 21% in extended trading on Friday after Bloomberg News reported that Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) was weighing a takeover of the Canada-based battery metals miner. Tesla and Sigma Lithium did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. U.S. stock of Sigma Lithium, which has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, nearly trebled in value last year. Tesla and other automakers routinely talk to mining companies of all sizes about potential supplies of lithium and other EV metals without necessarily signing contracts. Tesla also has supply contracts for nickel, lithium and a range of other EV metals from suppliers across the globe.

☆ Exclusive: First Quantum warns employees that Panama mine may close if dispute is not settled
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Valentine Hilaire | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A long-running contract dispute between the Canadian miner and Panama officials centers on disagreements over tax rates and royalties at the Cobre Panama mine. In the latest twist, Panama's maritime authority last month ordered First Quantum to suspend copper concentrate loading operations at a major port, essentially blocking the company from shipping and selling its copper. The Vancouver-based company said the maritime authority had told it that the suspension was due to the scale it was using not being properly calibrated. "If concentrate is not shipped by next week, these technical frustrations may force Cobre Panama to enter care and maintenance or suspend operations," he said. Panama's maritime authority did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Lithium giant Albemarle Corp (ALB.N) expects China's electric vehicle (EV) market to grow 40% this year, or at least by 3 million vehicles, boosting demand for the battery metal in the world's largest auto market. China's government has been phasing out subsidies for EVs, but Albemarle said so far those steps have had only a "limited impact" on EV demand. Executives attributed weak Chinese auto sales data in January to the Lunar New Year holiday. Chinese lithium customers are not slowing orders and the country's stockpiles of cathodes and battery parts are decreasing, a harbinger of demand for the battery metal, executives said. The company is also in "active discussions" about restructuring its MRBL joint venture in Australia with Mineral Resources Ltd (MIN.AX).

☆ The week that tech became exciting again
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN Business —Let’s be honest: For much of the past decade, tech events have been pretty boring. In each case, the changes were powered by new AI technology that allows for more conversational and complex responses. And there are already rumors of another event next month for Microsoft to demo similar features in its Office products, including Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Baidu also said this week that they would be launching their own ChatGPT-style services. Microsoft employee Alex Buscher demonstrates a search feature integration of Microsoft Bing search engine and Edge browser with OpenAI on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Redmond.

☆ ‘The Ship Beneath the Ice’ Review: Endurance Found
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Michael O Donnell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

One of the best adventure books ever written begins with a failure. “The order to abandon ship was given at 5 p.m.” So opens Alfred Lansing’s “Endurance” (1959), the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to sail to Antarctica and cross it on foot. The eponymous ship was trapped in ice for nine months and eventually sank after being crushed by the pack. But in the Antarctic—here was a burden which challenged every atom of his strength.” His leadership and willpower kept the men’s resolve intact through months of suffering, yet his optimism faltered after the loss of the Endurance. In his diary, Shackleton recorded the ship’s sinking and then the simple line, “I cannot write about it.”

☆ Burt Bacharach, legendary composer of pop songs, dies at 94
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Bacharach was both an innovator and throwback, and his career seemed to run parallel to the rock era. He was an eight-time Grammy winner, a prize-winning Broadway composer for "Promises, Promises" and a three-time Oscar winner. Fellow songwriter Sammy Cahn liked to joke that the smiling, wavy-haired Bacharach was the first composer he ever knew who didn't look like a dentist. Bacharach was essentially a pop composer, but his songs became hits for country artists (Marty Robbins), rhythm and blues performers (Chuck Jackson), soul (Franklin, Luther Vandross) and synth-pop (Naked Eyes). He's everybody's composer ... Burt Bacharach!"

The analysis of power usage data by Reuters at some of the key mines in Peru, the world's no. The South American nation has been gripped by anti-government protests since the Dec. 7 ouster of leftist President Pedro Castillo. The power data from COES, which represents firms in Peru's energy sector, shows that nearly all major mines are drawing normal or near-normal levels of electricity. A combined index of six key mines is near normal. The other firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment about activity at their mines in Peru.

Feb 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ordered regulators to reconsider part of the permit approving Lithium Americas Corp's (LAC.TO) Thacker Pass lithium mine project in Nevada, though the mixed ruling rejected claims that the project would cause unnecessary harm to the environment or wildlife. Chief Judge Miranda Du of the federal court in Reno, Nevada, ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to determine whether the company has the right to dump waste rock at the site, a ruling based on a complex set of case law. Du's ruling can be appealed. Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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