Global mining’s new reality: guns, hostages, arrests

Soldiers escort miners from a site in Ethiopia. (Image: Abyssinian Group)

Tue, 07 Jan 2025

By Julie Steinberg in London and Rhiannon Hoyle in AdelaideNeil Warburton was finishing up his breakfast of porridge and local honey when the armed soldiers converged. The Australian veteran mining executive had flown to southern Ethiopia in 2023 to check on progress at his lithium mine. One of the largest undeveloped lithium projects in the world, it was supposed to start production in late 2024, selling spodumene concentrate that would end up in batteries for electric vehicles and other products.That plan has gone seriously – and p...

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