#Copper: @Codelco retains CEO Pizarro to lead ambitious, 10-year overhaul of sprawling, but aging mines of world's top #copper producer @Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-codelco-ceo/codelco-retains-ceo-nelson-pizarro-at-helm-of-worlds-top-copper-producer-idUSKCN1IW33N

Codelco retains CEO Nelson Pizarro at helm of world's top copper producer

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Codelco, the world's top copper producer, said on Thursday its board of directors asked Chief Executive Nelson Pizarro to stay at the helm and move forward with an ambitious, 10-year overhaul of its sprawling but aging mines.

Nelson Pizarro, Chief Executive Officer of Chile's state copper giant Codelco, attends a news conference in Santiago, Chile March 29, 2018. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

The board made the decision to retain Pizarro in its first meeting since Chile's conservative president, Sebastian Pinera, appointed Juan Benavides, a businessman and former CEO of retailer Falabella, as Codelco's chair.

"The board expressed its confidence in current CEO Nelson Pizarro, and appreciates his willingness to lead the process of transformation the company is facing," the state-owned miner said in a statement.

Pizarro, an industry veteran and ex-mining engineer, was first appointed under center-left President Michelle Bachelet in 2014. He helped spearhead a belt-tightening program at Codelco that allowed it to maintain productivity despite a 9 percent drop in ore grades since 2013.

The company last year delivered $3 billion in profits to Chile's coffers, accounting for 16 percent of the South American nation's exports and more than one-third of its copper production.

Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Peter Cooney

Bit.ly/MasterMetals

#Mining: #Digital solutions are being adopted, but usually as point solutions in the value chain rather than as a holistic approach

EY's latest report: Given that digital has become a key enabler of margin improvement and enhancer of competitiveness in the sector, it is critical that [Mining] organizations develop a clear approach to bridging the disconnect between the potential of and the successful delivery from digital transformation.

https://www.ey.com/gl/en/industries/mining---metals/ey-digital-in-mining-and-metals

Improving digital effectiveness

Digital effectivenessDigital wave approachDigital NavigatorFAQsRelated insightsContacts

Digital effectiveness is the top risk facing the mining and metals sector, with the growing disconnect between the potential of and the successful delivery from digital transformation. Given that digital has become a key enabler of margin improvement and enhancer of competitiveness in the sector, it is critical that organizations develop a clear approach to bridging the disconnect.

Digital solutions are being adopted, but usually as point solutions in the value chain rather than as a holistic approach as discussed in our paper, "How do you prepare for tomorrow's mine today?" Point solutions will not get us to the next level of productivity improvement or enhance end-to-end decision-making.

The collective impact of these challenges can result in a tentative approach to strategy — reflected by small, disconnected initiatives — rather than a strong commitment to a multi-year transformation approach.

Download full report

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Press release

EY's digital wave approach to transformation

We have identified a pragmatic and effective approach to transitioning your business from its current state towards an improved future state. This is to create a clear pathway for transformation, specifically described as "The digital wave transformation approach." It meets the need of having an active, progressive and compelling digital strategy, while also recognizing the issues associated with business risk and maintaining a coherent program of work.

Our approach is like a series of waves moving through the organization, steadily introducing more digital hotspots and interconnections, all within a coherent overarching strategy.

This wave approach to digital transformation contains four main components – Pre-start, Wave 1, Wave 2 and Wave 3.

Click on each component to know more:

The process of launching waves is not necessarily sequential. For example, high-value areas with a close link to productivity may move from Wave 1 to Wave 2 before initial work has commenced in areas with less-compelling business cases.

Market leadership can quickly be lost if dominant players respond slowly or ineffectively to industry disruption and external changes. The pathway through the waves cannot be viewed as static, sequential or "set and forget." We see the end-state vision as constantly changing and businesses will need to be ready to adapt and change course as required."

Paul Mitchell, Global Mining & Metals Advisory Leader

EY's Digital Navigator

Leaders in the sector understand the compelling case for change, but are looking for the right way to go about the transformation without falling into various pitfalls that cause many change initiatives to fail. It is not a question of when to go digital; it is about how to start thinking of a fully integrated business culture shift, and that really needs leadership focus.

We can support your business through the use of the Digital Navigator — an approach and toolkit that supports EY to assess a company's digital maturity and help create an actionable digital road map for our clients based on linking current capability and existing investments with business ambition and strategy.

Our approach and toolkit has three phases:

Using the Digital Navigator together with the Process in Mining Enterprises (PRIME) model — to assess and map digital solutions against the most critical areas of the mining value chain — aids effective prioritization of solutions and alignment for maximum release of value over time. 

See the whole report here: https://www.ey.com/gl/en/industries/mining---metals/ey-digital-in-mining-and-metals

#Lithium Cartel: The emerging oligopoly in key #battery element #EV $ALB $SQM

#Tianqi Lithium Corp. will pay $4.1 billion to buy Nutrien Ltd.'s 24 percent stake in Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, or SQM, in a deal that will entangle the biggest and fourth-biggest producers of the battery metal. The transaction could theoretically give Tianqi half of the board seats

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/view/articles/2018-05-18/time-to-block-the-lithium-cartel?__twitter_impression=true

The Lithium Cartel Should Be Stopped

Why are we so relaxed about an emerging oligopoly in the key battery element?

More stories by David FicklingMay 18, 2018, 5:16 AM EDT

The stuff of lithium dreams in Chile.

Photographer: Michael Smith/Bloomberg

The world doesn't like its essential commodities being controlled by a small group of producers.

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So why is there so little noise about the emerging oligopoly in one of the hottest elements on the periodic table, lithium?

Tianqi Lithium Corp. will pay $4.1 billion to buy Nutrien Ltd.'s 24 percent stake in Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, or SQM, in a deal that will entangle the biggest and fourth-biggest producers of the battery metal. The transaction could theoretically give Tianqi half of the board seatsThe transaction could theoretically give Tianqi half of the board seats, though other major shareholders who've historically guarded their interests have opposed such a path.

Here's how the lithium carbonate market is structured at present: North Carolina-based Albemarle Corp. is the market leader, with an 18 percent share, followed by Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co. on 17 percent; SQM on 14 percent; and Tianqi on 12 percent. Other players have the 39 percent or so that remains — the largest among them being FMC Corp., which is soon to offer its shares to whoever wants them in a planned initial public offering.

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