The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday temporarily blocked federal officials from completing the land swap that was expected today to advance the Resolution Copper project. The temporary injunction will be in place while it considers the merits of lawsuits seeking to stop the transfer of federal land to the joint venture of BHP and Rio Tinto. The transfer had been expected to occur on Tuesday.
BHP Chief Executive Mike Henry said of the injunction in an interview on Tuesday, "As I understand, it's just temporary while the parties look to launch their applications…We'll see how it plays out, but our view of the opportunity inherent in Resolution remains unchanged."
Peabody announced that it has decided to walk away from a $3.8 billion deal to buy Anglo American's steelmaking coal business following a fire at an Australian mine. The two firms have disagreed over the impact of the March fire, but Peabody maintains it constituted a material adverse change that would give it reason to exit the deal, given that there was "no credible timetable" for when operations would resume.
And reporters are digging into the specifics of the MP Materials-Department of Defense megadeal after the company's financial filings included the first public language showing how DOD was able to execute the deal while staying within the bounds of existing procurement and contracting laws. While DOD isn't giving much information, one thing is clear: the U.S. government is going to need to do a lot more similar creative dealmaking, with price support and financing options if we're going to significantly boost the nation's output of a range of rare earths and other minerals to even begin to challenge China's minerals dominance.
That's your mining minute for this morning, highlighting some of the mining-related matters that are on our minds here in Washington and beyond. Follow us on the National Mining Association's channels, as well as on Minerals Make Life and Count on Coal, for more on the latest news and policies impacting mining.
