Germany Chancellor plans lithium deal with Serbia after Rio ruling
Olaf Scholz plans to visit Serbia this week to secure supplies of lithium that are critical for the nation’s energy transition and auto industry.
The miners said the decision was purely “a cost issue.”
In a blow for the World Gold Council, the industry’s market-development organization, South African miners AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) and Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) have decided not to renew their membership citing fees issues.
As members pay per ounce of metal produced, both companies said they had to look at the cost-benefits of staying in the organization, amid their efforts to adjust to a gold price that has dropped 21% since the beginning of 2013.
The WGC counts among its members most producers of the precious metal, including Barrick Gold Corp. (TSE:ABX) and Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM), the world’s largest gold miners.
South Africa produced more than two-thirds of the world’s gold at its peak in the 1970s, but the sector has been in decline for years as shafts have matured. However, it remains a key global producer of platinum, with the country home to about 80% of the proven reserves.
Image: XiXinXing
2 Comments
frankinca
Good job South Africa. My opinion is the God Council doesn’t have the miners at heart. What have they done for the industry but publish data and not much else. The gold mining industry needs an activist reprsentative who makes sure that the miners are getting a fair deal for their output, and not what the CME says the value is. Transparency is lacking in the Gold Council and who it represents is gold buyers and CB’s efforts to control the price.
AuricGoldfinger
“Price is what you pay, value is what you get” (Warren Buffett) – the WGC has not delivered value to their members, nor to the industry, since the previous excellent management team was ousted around 2009.