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Week 14 (10/04/2020-16/04/2020)

Company news 

Americas 

• Barrick Gold announces donations to support Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Mali in its campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Newmont announces the establishment of a US$20 million fund to help host communities, governments and employees combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Vale's first batch of 286,000 N95 masks arrive in Brazil; the company is bringing more than 600 tons of equipment in 14 planes.
• Newmont announces the establishment of a US$20 million fund to help host communities, governments and employees combat the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Cameco extends Cigar Lake suspension and withdraws FY20 guidance.
• Agnico Eagle is taking steps to resume its operations in the Abitibi region of Quebec - the LaRonde Complex, the Goldex mine and the Canadian Malartic mine.
• Yamana Gold announces that the Canadian Malartic mine in the Abitibi region of Quebec, a 50-50 joint venture between Yamana and Agnico Eagle Mines, will resume operations.
• Eastern Platinum's Barplats announces operations have resumed at Crocodile River.
• Eldorado Gold announces the restart of operations at Lamaque as a result of the Quebec government's confirmation that mines in the Province are allowed to resume operations.
• Gran Colombia Gold's first quarter production came in "slightly lower than expected" due to the impact of the national quarantine in Colombia at its Segovia operation.
• New Gold withdraws FY20 operational guidance.
• Triple Flag Precious Metals says that despite the near-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on its producing and development assets, it remains on track to top 100,000oz of gold-equivalent sales by 2023.
• Hecla Mining announces the resumption of operations at Casa Beradi, following the decision by the Quebec government to allow mining operations to resume.
• IAMGOLD announces the restart of its Westwood gold mine in Preissac, Quebec.
• Stornoway Diamonds announces it will extend the care and maintenance period of its Renard operations due to market conditions, despite the Quebec government announcement.
• Teck Resources suspends operations for at least two weeks at Antamina; the company announces $20 million COVID-19 response fund.      
• B2Gold announces that one employee has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Fekola exploration camp.
• Cleveland-Cliffs temporarily idles its Northshore mine in Minnesota and Tilden operation in Michigan.
• Consol Energy announces their workforce at the Bailey Mine has returned to a normal production schedule; the company is temporarily idling operations at Enlow Fork Mine.

EMEA 

• Petra Diamonds will continue to monitor the market before making decisions on the continuation of the tender scheduled in May. 
• BHP says it has had a "small number" of confirmed cases of COVID-19 among its global workforce of 72,000 people.
• Rio Tinto relocates 700 employees with "specialist skills" to Western Australia to beat the state's border shutdown.
• Sibanye-Stillwater receives approval for limited mining and processing at its South Africa operations; the board and executive team will contribute a third of their remuneration for the next three months to the national Solidarity fund.
• Horizonte Minerals commits to donating 300 food parcels to those identified as extremely vulnerable in local communities.
• Hochschild Mining withdraws proposal to pay final dividend due to COVID-19 uncertainty.
• Mopani Copper has placed its mining operations on care and maintenance and put its projects on hold in Zambia amid the spread of COVID-19.
• RUSAL receives its first coronavirus patient at its Guinean hospital.
• Glencore is analysing options to restart the Raglan and Matagami operations in Quebec.

Australasia

• Northern Star Resources announces an employee at its Pogo mine in Alaska had tested positive for COVID-19.
• Gekko Systems receives a Victorian government grant to co-fund the development of its ventilator prototype the Geventor.
• Medusa Mining places its Co-O gold mine on care and maintenance.
• Nova Minerals announces intentions to re-commence drilling at the Estelle Gold Camp.
• MMG withdraws Las Bambas copper guidance as Peru extends its state of national emergency. 
• Mineral Commodities announces mining and processing operations have resumed at the Tormin Mineral Sands Operation.
• Panoramic Resources suspends operations at the Savannah Nickel Mine; company withdraws production and cost guidance. 

Commodities & market outlook

• Jefferies says the shift from a demand shock to a more substantial supply shock just as demand is recovering could lead to higher than expected iron ore and copper prices in the weeks/months ahead. 
• GlobalData says China's iron ore production is forecast to decline by 3% to 78.2 Mt in 2020 and Iron ore exports from India to decline by 25% in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19; Global coal production growth is expected to slow in 2020 to only 0.5%, from 8.13 billion tonnes in 2019 to 8.17 billion tonnes
• Roskill says COVID-19 could wipe out US$1 billion of lithium supply in 20‌20; Spanish tungsten producers hit by COVID-19 lockdowns; Roskill cancels the event "On the road… Santiago 20‌20"
• Wood Mackenzie expects South Korean hot metal production will decline by 4.2 Mt in 2020, almost 10%.
• S&P Global identifies at-risk production for a wide range of commodities. Platinum's at-risk production represents 2.85% of their original 2020 production forecast; copper's at-risk production has increased to 1.9% from approximately 1.1%; gold's at-risk output has risen slightly to about 0.9% from 0.7%; silver's at-risk production has climbed to 2.0% from 1.6%. 

Industry bodies, government departments & regulators

• Mining Association of Canada (MAC) initiates a campaign donating $36,000 to the Ottawa Food Bank in partnership with Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC) and Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC).
• The Quebec government has permitted mines to restart operations on April 15, as mining has now been designated a "priority manufacturing activity" in the province.
• The South African government has allowed mining companies to resume operations at 50% capacity, although     it said the industry may only be fully operational by next month.