CM – Rio Tinto invests $ 2.4 billion in Serbian lithium mine

Metal and mining giant Rio Tinto is pledging $ 2.4 billion to build a lithium mine in Serbia.

The lithium from the mine will allow Europe to access a strategic resource that is fueling the electric vehicle revolution, the Financial Times reported.

However, the confrontation against the mine was over fear of damage to villages in the surrounding region triggered.

“There is no chance that this mine will be able to produce lithium in an ecologically sustainable manner. It’s not like the west’s green passion. For us it’s about survival, ”the report said, citing one of the group’s activists against the planned mine.

Serbia’s President – Aleksander Vunic – said that the mine plan would not move forward if not together with the support of the country, strict environmental standards would be met.

In order to promote the development of the mine and to ensure safety, Rio claimed: « The mine will be one of the most modern mines in the world, built to the highest environmental standards », reported the Financial Times, citing Rio’s geologists.

RIAD: The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman instructed the city planners of Riyadh to continue implementing his strategy for 2030 to make it one of the best global cities, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

According to Bloomberg, India’s rush for renewable energies is set to more than quadruple trade on the spot energy market in two years.

Buyers are expected to drift away from traditional long-term contracts and move to low-cost renewable energy.

A quarter of the country’s electricity could be bought through spot deals, Bloomberg said, citing Rohit Bajaj, director of business development at Indian Energy Exchange Ltd.

Although coal is the dominant form of electricity generation in India, the share of renewable energies was over 80 percent in the previous year.

« Utilities recognize the value of flexibility and competitive pricing on the exchanges, so why enter into long-term contracts? » Said Bajaj.

Accordingly, the share of electricity in long-term contracts is expected to decrease by 50 to 60 percent over the next few years.

The ailing Chinese company Evergrande will deliver almost four times as many residential units to buyers in December as it did in the previous three months, its chairman said, as the real estate giant struggles with massive debt.

Evergrande – drowning in $ 300 billion in debt – is struggling to repay bondholders and investors after embroiled in Beijing’s deleveraging crackdown on the bloated real estate sector.

But the group – which officially defaulted on a major bond payment this month – has insisted that it will be able to complete tens of thousands of units and pay off some debts.

« Since the company’s troubles began, we’ve shipped fewer than 10,000 units in September, October and November, » said Chairman Hui Ka Yan – known as Xu Jiayin in Mandarin – according to a post on Evergrande’s official WeChat account at a corporate meeting on Sunday evening .

« This month there are only five days left, we have to give full throttle in advance to guarantee the delivery of 39,000 units this month. »

“Absolutely no one at Evergrande is allowed to ‘lie flat’,” added Hui, referring to an Internet slang term for “slack off” that is popular with young people.

Over the past few months, the company has repeatedly announced that it will complete its unfinished projects and ship to buyers to bail out its debt, despite missing out on a payment of more than $ 1.2 billion earlier this month. p>

Previous payment difficulties with suppliers and contractors due to the debt crisis led to ongoing protests by homebuyers and investors at the Group’s headquarters in Shenzhen.

Since then, the bloated company has tried to sell its assets and reduce its stake in other companies, with Hui paying off part of the debt with his own sizeable private fortune.

The provincial government of Guangdong – where the company is headquartered – is currently overseeing Evergrande’s debt rescheduling process, but Beijing has not yet lifted any of the restrictions that led to the housing crisis.

After the Chinese central bank had already blamed “bad management and blind expansion” for the company’s problems, it vowed on Saturday to protect the rights of homebuyers and promote the healthy development of the real estate market.

RIYADH: The Saudi exchange pulled back slightly at 10:40 am Saudi time as traders were concerned about the spread of Omicron.

The main index TASI fell by 0.57% to 11,104 points, while the parallel market Nomu remained unchanged at 26,554 points.

Anaam International Holding Group shares rose 2.5 percent after previously announcing a potential acquisition agreement with ARW Industry for an initial purchase of SR23.5 million.

The kingdom’s banking leader, Al Rajhi Bank, fell 0.43 percent to SR 139 ($ 37), followed by further declines at SABIC and Saudi Aramco, which fell to SR 178 and 34.5, respectively.

This followed the developer’s decision to increase its share offering to the manager of the Alinma Makkah Real Estate Fund to meet payment obligations.

Almunajem Foods fell to its lowest level since debuting on December 20, hitting SR59. In the morning, shares worth over SR31.5 million were traded.

Dar Al Arkan’s shares rose to SR 9.9, with 2.8 million shares changing hands in previous trading.

The property developer has clarified its joint investment of $ 2 billion with Omani Co. for Development and Tourism, which will be carried out over a period of 7 to 10 years with no financial impact.

Saudi Industrial Export Co. led the early trading winners, rising 5 percent to SR105.

This was due to the adjustment of the proposed capital reduction by the company, which is to be followed by a capital increase through a rights issue.

RIYADH: After last week’s episode of IPOs and dividends concluded, the Saudi stock market soared to end the trading week higher, offset by a decline in the previous trading session in line with the golf indices.

A string of IPOs, dividend announcements, and coronavirus cases have been the main driving forces behind the UK’s stock exchange as the year approaches the end of the year.

The main stock index TASI closed the previous session at 11,168 points, compared to the previous week’s closing price of 11,271 points.

This was in line with the GCC exchanges as the stock indices of Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait all fell from 1 to 4 percent.

In a press conference on Sunday, Saudi Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly said countries around the world are seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases, including Saudi Arabia.

Data from the Saudi Ministry of Health showed that infections more than doubled in a week. On December 26th, up to 389 new coronavirus cases were confirmed along with one coronavirus-related death.

The dominant variant has made Saudi Arabia’s financial market vulnerable to volatility since its interruption in November this year.

In addition, at the end of the year, many companies set their dividends for 2021 higher than in the previous year, which fueled investor optimism, which was also reinforced by a numerous wave of IPOs.

54 IPO applications are pending with the capital markets regulator, 31 of which are direct listings, said chairman Mohammed El Kuwaiz in November, adding that the Saudi stock exchange is now larger than the entire economy of the kingdom.

Early in the morning, Brent crude rose $ 0.10, or 0.13 percent, to $ 76.24 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude rose 0.96 percent to $ 73.08 a barrel Barrel declined.