Miners speed up automation as covid-19 impacts linger

Panel of investment banks and research houses forecast declines in copper, zinc, lead and palladium prices in 2018.

On Thursday, Potash Corp CEO Jochen Tilk met with authorities in Chile as the company tries to divest its minority stake in lithium miner SQM.

After a nine-month search, the miner has picked the current leader of the remuneration committee, Simon Thompson, to assume the post in March 2018.

Chinese firms have shown “broad interest” in buying PotashCorp’s stake in the Chilean lithium producer SQM, according to chief executive Jochen Tilk, who declined to name interested parties or the number of bids the company has received.

The five-year cooperation agreement covers the exchange of information and expertise on the exploration and mining of out-of-earth resources.

Brazil’s lower house of Congress removed from the agenda the discussion of a transitory presidential decree, which modified the country’s current mining law.

Decision comes in the wake of a full-scale investor revolt led by the Investor Forum, a London-based body representing some of the world’s biggest money managers.

Sociedad Quimica Y Minera said on Thursday its ongoing legal dispute with Chilean authorities over royalty payments may not be resolved until end of 2018.

They claim it won’t be possible to cut costs enough to offset the higher levies, and warn that some miners may need to pass on this new cost increase to the industrial production chain.