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| | | | Fortune Minerals News | | | | Unknown - March 28, 2018 LONDON, ON, March 27, 2018 /CNW/ - Fortune Minerals Limited (TSX: FT) (OTCQX: FTMDF) ("Fortune" or the "Company") (www.fortuneminerals.com) is pleased to provide an update on the progress of its 100% owned NICO Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada. The NICO Project is a development stage primary cobalt asset consisting of a planned mine, mill and concentrator in the Northwest Territories and hydrometallurgical refinery in Saskatchewan to process concentrates from the mine to cobalt sulphate, gold, bismuth ingot and oxide, and a copper precipitate…Fortune's NICO Project is one of few new cobalt assets globally with the potential to be in production by the early 2020's and help meet the demand growth from transformation of the automotive industry. | | | | | EVs | | | | Electrek - March 26, 2018 FedEx is adding itself to the increasingly long list of companies ordering 20 Tesla Semi electric trucks in order to replace their diesel trucks in their ‘FedEx Freight’ fleet. Home Solar Power Mike Ducker, CEO and President of FedEx Freight, made the announcement today: “FedEx has a long FedEx is adding itself to the increasingly long list of companies ordering Tesla Semi electric trucks in order to replace their diesel trucks in their ‘FedEx Freight’ fleet…Mike Ducker, CEO and President of FedEx Freight, made the announcement today: FedEx has a long history of innovation and incorporating sustainability efforts throughout its global network. Our investment in these trucks is part of our commitment to improving road safety while also reducing our environmental impact…Last year, UPS ordered 125 electric trucks from Tesla. It was the biggest order publicly confirmed for Tesla Semi. | | JEC Composites - March 28, 2018 Beijing forecasts that China will be able to produce two million electric and hybrid vehicles annually by 2020. To reach this goal and... Province. Tesla, the first foreign brand of electric cars in China with 13,700 electricvehicles sold between January and September 2017, i To achieve in the electric car market the global leadership that they missed in the conventional car market, China’s policymakers targeted electric cars for special support in the “Made in China 2025” industrial plan, which aims to foster upgraded, technologically advanced manufacturing. By 2020, Beijing expects its automakers to be able to churn out two million electric and hybrid vehicles annually – six times the number produced in 2015…Starting from 2019, all car manufacturers in China will be subject to ambitious sales quotas of “clean vehicles”, calculated according to a complex system of credits. Stirred by the perspective of quotas, Western car manufacturers have rushed to forge new partnerships with Chinese groups – a regulatory obligation – to boost their production of electric vehicles in the country…Volkswagen, the first foreign manufacturer in China with 3.98 million units sold last year, up 12%, has announced its strategy to deliver 1.5 million new-energy vehicles by 2025 and launch 15 locally-produced new-energy vehicles in the next 2-3 years…In July 2017, Daimler and its Chinese joint venture partner BAIC Group agreed to jointly invest CNY 5 billion (US$ 735 million) in battery electric vehicle production in China by 2020 and to provide the infrastructure needed…In August 2017, Renault-Nissan and long-time partner Dongfeng established a joint venture to develop an electric model based on a small SUV platform developed by the French-Japanese alliance…In November 2017, Ford Motor Company and Zotye reached a final agreement to establish Zotye Ford Automobile Co., Ltd., a joint venture that plans to offer a range of all-electric vehicles for consumers in China under a new indigenous brand…Being owned by Chinese car manufacturer Geely, Volvo can produce and sell vehicles in China without having to follow the rules applicable to foreign companies. | | | | | Congo | | | | Bloomberg - March 28, 2018 The man was digging a toilet in his backyard when his shovel struck a shimmering blue vein of cobalt. Once a few locals discovered the metal underfoot five years ago, everyone grabbed hand shovels and pickaxes; they tunneled beneath homes, schools and churches. And that’s how a working-class neighborhood, located on the edges of a densely populated city of half a million, became a hive of pits and tunnels…All told, he made $12,000 selling the metal to local middlemen—a fortune in Congo where most people live on less than $1.90 a day. He built a five-room house in a new part of town. Others weren’t so lucky. Dozens were dying in the mines each week until officials banned the digging last April, according to local government estimates…In Kolwezi, the capital of Lualaba province, the government is trying something new: regulating the informal activity to show that it can be done safely. If successful, the initiative will protect thousands of livelihoods. It could also keep more of the revenue from cobalt production—currently dominated by foreign firms who repatriate profits—inside the country. | | Mining Technology - March 28, 2018 “Will the money [created by the mining code] go substantially to the people affected by mining, who often live in rural areas, or spent in...... Today, despite abundant reserves of cobalt – a core component in batteries – and copper, and record level of production reached last year, The Democratic Republic of Congo has overhauled its mining code to try to benefit more from its natural resources, which includes the world’s largest cobalt reserves. The new terms, however, have shocked foreign investors…To remove any doubt about his intentions, Yuma Mulimbi added: “Let it be clear, the moans of our partners who fear to displease their shareholder boards do not concern us.”…For many years, the Congolese have felt the original terms of the mining code were too generous in favour of foreign mining firms. At the time, they were designed to attract investors back after a long and heinous civil war…In fact, the DRC still ranks among the poorest nations in the world, at 176 out of 187 countries, according the World Bank…The royalty demands, he adds, effectively accelerate the government’s cashflow ahead of the companies’. Whereas, with a profit tax, the government doesn’t get any money until the company has recouped all the cost of investment and any losses it has made at the beginning…“If royalties go up to 10% because a mineral is considered strategic, that is 10% of a company’s earnings paid to the government regardless of whether it has made a profit or recovered its capital costs,” says Ferguson…“This act will significantly reduce investments in the country as the investor won’t be able to make a return as most of the profits will go to government.”…Given the corruption-entrenched culture of Kabila’s Government and that the bill permits government officials to own mining companies, it seems there are few guarantees that millions more in resource money won’t be lost to corruption…Furthermore, upcoming elections later this year and growing unrest and ambiguity around whether President Kabila, who was supposed to step down in 2016, will stand yet again are increasing tensions and creating even more uncertainty. | | | | | | |