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Nuclear startup Newcleo raises $89 Million from Italian investors
Italian nuclear startup newcleo announced on Wednesday that it had raised 75 million euros ($88.60) in a new funding round with contributions from new investors including Italian iron and steel group Danieli and Cementir Holding. The company has raised more than 105 million euro in the last 12 months. Total funding since the?2021 foundation is 645 million euros. This funding will help strengthen our research and technology infrastructure in Europe and accelerate our expansion into the United States, said newcleo CEO Stefano Buono in a press release. Buono said recently that the developer?of small modular reactors? aimed to capitalize on U.S. policy supporting the nuclear?sector. In May, U.S. president Donald Trump signed a?order to increase domestic nuclear production through reducing?regulations? and accelerating new licenses. Newcleo is a company that specializes in the creation of advanced modular reactors using reprocessed atomic waste. This technology is designed to reduce costs and minimize risks associated with atomic waste management.
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Afreximbank provides $8 billion in financing to South Africa, a new member.
Afreximbank, Africa's largest trade bank, announced on Wednesday that it had lined up an initial $8 billion financing package to support projects in mining, manufacturing and automaking sectors for the new member South Africa. South Africa could not join Afreximbank in 1993 when it was established because the country still had apartheid. However, last year the cabinet of the country approved a plan to increase its shareholding to "Class A". Afreximbank President George?Elombi said at a Johannesburg ceremony: "We've put together an important package worth 8 billion United States Dollars... for South Africa." "We will prioritize mineral processing, expansion of the automotive industry... and the expansion industrial parks and specialized areas." Afreximbank's membership will "give Africa's most developed economy access" to new trade financing products, at a moment when the tariff dispute with the United States is increasing the need for export markets. In August, U.S. president Donald Trump imposed the highest tariff in Sub-Saharan Africa of 30% on South African exports. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that his country's closer ties with Afreximbank demonstrated its commitment to the "African Industrial Development and to deepening?trade, investment and?development across the continent". South Africa joins Afreximbank at a time when the bank has been in dispute about whether or not its loans to African countries should be restructured if they default. Elombi, the president of Afreximbank, said that it was "extremely sound" and that its treasury functions were "more than enough for our objectives". He added, "Investing is our main objective. As long as we are policy relevant with the member state... we do not have to worry about it." Reporting by Colleen Goko and Anathi Madubela, Editing by Alexander Winning & David Goodman
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India announces it will diversify its energy supply following the agreement with US regarding Russian oil
India's trade ministry said Wednesday that the country aims to diversify energy sources in light of changing global circumstances. This comes two days after the U.S. Tariffs were lowered on Indian goods as New Delhi agreed to stop buying Russian oil. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, announced on Monday a deal to reduce tariffs from 50% to 18%. He said India will instead purchase oil from the U.S., and possibly Venezuela. In his first speech to the Parliament on the trade agreement, Trade Minister Piyush Ghoyal did not mention specifically that energy purchases would be shifted away from any particular country. Our priority is to secure the energy requirements of 1.4 billion Indians. Diversifying energy sources is part of this strategy, he said. He said that India has successfully protected sensitive sectors like agriculture and dairy. The Kremlin has said that it sees nothing new about India's plans to diversify oil supplies. Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesperson, told reporters Wednesday that "not only us, but also all experts in the field of international affairs of energy, are aware of the fact that Russia isn't the only source of oil and petroleum to India." Reports state that the Indian government has not told refiners to stop purchasing Russian oil. Instead, it is requiring a period of winding down to complete any purchases already in progress. The Asian market experienced a relief rally Tuesday, as the India-U.S. agreement marked a reconciliation between the two parties after months of tensions. India's equity benchmarks ended slightly higher on Wednesday, as IT stock losses?dampened the optimism over trade deals. Congress, India's main opposition party, has questioned the lack details in the deal and asked for clarification on the extent to which Washington was offered farm access. Has India made any compromises under U.S. Pressure? Has India agreed to zero-tariffs on American imports as claimed by Mr. "Have we agreed to zero tariffs on American imports, as claimed by?Mr. Goyal said on Tuesday that India and the U.S. will issue a statement about the deal once they reach a "final agreement" on it. Reporting by Shivangi Asharya and Sarita Chagaanti Singh, editing by YPrajesh and Christian Schmollinger; Jason Neely.
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Project Vault: Ivanhoe to sell Congo zinc in the US
Ivanhoe Mines is in advanced discussions with Congo's Gecamines state miner and Swiss commodities trader Mercuria about channeling zinc-rich concentrates from its giant Kipushi mining to the United States, under Washington's newly developed strategic stockpiling program Project Vault. The deal is part of a larger agreement between the U.S., and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the area of minerals. Washington is intensifying its battle with China for control of Africa's vast mineral deposits. Project Vault, a $12 billion supply chain security programme launched by the U.S. on Monday and backed by private capital of $1.67 billion and a U.S. export-import bank loan of $10 billion, aims to secure global supplies of strategic metals for long periods. This is an important part of President Donald Trump’s plan to reduce China's reliance by securing Western access?to essential inputs for defence and clean energy, as well as advanced manufacturing. CRITICAL MINERALS for TECH Applications Ivanhoe’s?Kipushi Zinc Mine is expected to produce between 240,000 and 290,000 metric tonnes of concentrate in this year. This includes significant quantities of Germanium and Gallium - minerals that the U.S. considers essential for semiconductors and other clean-tech, defence, and defense applications. Ivanhoe announced on Monday that Mercuria would sell additional volumes from the mine ramp-up expected in late 2025 as part of a deal with Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe stated that Gecamines would be able to handle as much as half of Kipushi’s production, including exports to the United States. Gecamines confirmed this partnership in a separate press release on Tuesday, saying that it is backed by an agreement with Mercuria signed for December 2025. This deal provides funding and logistics to activate the offtake rights. It stated that the agreement is a first step in its plan to expand and process zinc, copper, Germanium?and Gallium with the goal of becoming Kipushi’s sole purchaser. U.S. CONGO - ACCELERATES MINERALS? DEALS Glencore, the U.S. Orion Critical Mineral Consortium and the U.S. government have announced an agreement to bring cobalt and?copper from Congo into the U.S. Supply Chain under the same programme. This is a sign that Western buyers of Congolese minerals are becoming more competitive. Kipushi is the largest polymetallic deposit in Congo. It contains ultra-high-grade zinc, as well as copper, germanium, and gallium. (Reporting and writing by Yassin Kmbi, Maxwell Akalaare Adombila, Editing by Rob Corey-Boulet & David Holmes).
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MORNING BID AMERICAS - AI scatters the tech herd
By Mike Dolan February 4th - What's important in the U.S. and Global Markets Today By Mike Dolan Editor-at-Large of Finance and Markets AI is not a panacea for all. The rout of Tuesday in shares for software, data analytics, and professional services operations demonstrates how AI can have both positive and negative effects. Microsoft and AMD also saw their shares fall sharply, despite beating forecasts on headline earnings. Walmart, a retailer that was an early adopter and user of AI for its processes, became the first retailer to ever surpass $1 trillion in valuation on Tuesday. The move caps off a yearlong rally that has seen Walmart's shares rise by nearly 26%. It now joins the ranks of tech giants. Below, I'll go into more detail. Check out my most recent column about why Australia's rate hike could be a wakeup for global central bankers. And listen to the Morning Bid podcast. Subscribe to the Morning Bid daily podcast and hear journalists discussing the latest news in finance and markets seven days a weeks. AI ATTACKS THE TECH HEAD The news that AI company Anthropic launched a new AI agent to automate work tasks last Friday was the 'trigger' for the ongoing sell-off of global software stocks. It took almost two trading days for the news to reach investors. This shows just how blindsided they were, even though in recent months markets have been more discriminating between winners and losers when it comes to AI. Alphabet results will be released after the bell on Wednesday. This will further test investor sentiment. Nasdaq's futures remain in the red after major Wall Street indexes fell about 1% on Tuesday. The tech herd is also scattered around the globe, with chip and hardware firms in Asia doing well while software firms in India are also affected by the downdraft. The European pharma giant Novo Nordisk fell?almost 20 percent after Wegovy warned about the profit outlook for this year amid fierce competition within the weight loss drugs industry. Investors are analyzing macro-markets to determine if there is an acceleration of economic activity. This can be seen in the dramatic jump in ISM manufacturing index and the rapid growth of business loans in the Fed quarterly loan officers survey. ISM's report on the service sector for last month will be released later. ADP's report on private sector employment is also due. The House of Representatives' vote on Tuesday ended this week's partial shutdown of the government - for at least another 10 days. However, it is too late to guarantee a complete January employment report by this Friday. Overseas?service sector survey results were slightly lower than expected in Europe but picked up in Japan and China. Currency markets were calmer as traders awaited tomorrow's policy meetings of the European Central Bank and Bank of England. The yen dropped again before the weekend Japan elections,?and China's Yuan briefly rose to its highest levels in nearly three years as Lunar New Year approaches. Oil and gold both rose amid renewed tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which saw a U.S. drone shot down on Tuesday. Bitcoin has struggled to stabilise after reaching its lowest level in the past 20 years. Chart of the Day On Wednesday, a deep selloff of global software stocks began?a second session as fears about the impact AI may have on these companies' lives grew. Anthropic’s new agentic AI tool was the trigger for Wednesday's sell-off. Investors have begun to differentiate between AI winners and losers within the tech industry itself over the last six months. OpenAI launched ChatGPT and since then, S&P500 software and service stocks are actually in the negative -?while chip stocks have almost tripled. Watch today's events * U.S. ISM Services PMI for January (10:00 AM EST), S&P Global service PMI (9:45 AM EST), ADP jobs for January (8:15 AM EST). * Fed Governor Lisa Cook speaks, Richmond Fed's Thomas Barkin speaks * U.S. Corporate Earnings: Alphabet (Arm), Eli Lilly, Qualcomm and Uber Sign up for the newsletter to receive Morning Bid every morning in your email. Subscribe to the Morning Bid newsletter Website You can find us on LinkedIn. The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors. These opinions do not represent the views of News. News is committed to the Trust Principles and integrity, independence, as well as freedom from bias.
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Idemitsu, partners build supply chain for natural graphite Anode
Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese oil refiner, announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Australia's Graphinex and Marubeni, a trading house, to create a Japan-Australian supply chain for graphite-based materials. Idemitsu stated that the four companies are aiming to reduce procurement risk for Japan's batteries industry and strengthen supply-chain reliability across Asia. Anode materials are in high demand due to the global increase of electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. Japan is heavily reliant on graphite imports, so ensuring a stable supply of this material is a major challenge. China has the largest graphite deposits in the world and dominates both its mining and its processing. DETAILED TALKS WILL INCLUDE?POSSIBLE MANUFACTURING LOCATIONS The companies will use the high-grade 'graphite' resources of?Graphinex, located in Queensland, to build a supply chain that includes everything from resource development to the production of anode materials and the market. Now they will move on to more detailed discussions. This includes evaluating possible sites for manufacturing plants. Idemitsu's spokesperson said that they hoped to be able to commercialize their business in a few years. The materials would primarily be sold to automakers and battery manufacturers. Idemitsu has invested in Graphinex for 2024 as part of its push to acquire critical minerals. However, the terms have not been disclosed. Separately, on Tuesday, the state-backed Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security announced that it and?Hanwa had signed a nonbinding letter of intention to invest $30 million in NextSource’s graphite high-purity and spheroidization project in UAE. The two companies acquired a 15% stake in the project. The project aims to produce 14 000 metric tons of anode materials per year using graphite extracted from the Molo mine, a Canadian company in Madagascar. Processing will be done in Abu Dhabi. (Reporting and editing by David Holmes; Yuka Obayashi)
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Greenland breaks temperature records, shifting economy away from fishing and towards minerals
Greenland - the 'Arctic Island' coveted by U.S. president Donald Trump - experienced its hottest January ever this year. A rate of warming that is four times faster than global averaging has changed the outlook in sectors from mining to fishing. Trump said that the U.S. should own Greenland - an autonomous part within the Kingdom of Denmark - for security reasons, although he has backtracked on his threats to seize the island with force. The Danish Meteorological Institute's preliminary temperature readings in Nuuk, Greenland's capital city, averaged +0.2° Celsius (32.4° Fahrenheit) during January. This is the highest recorded and above the historical average -7.7° between 1991 and 2020. Jacob Hoyer, director of the National Centre for Climate Research in the Danish Meteorological Institute, said that "Climate changes are already clearly visible on Greenland". "The records show that the temperature is rising four times faster than average for the world." According to Hoyer, the warm weather makes it harder to use sea ice for transportation. It is less thick and extends further south along the coast. Fishing is the backbone of Greenland’s economy. Statistics Greenland says that shrimp, halibut, and cod catches will account for the largest exports and 23% of the gross domestic product by 2023. The industry is also responsible for 15% of the total jobs. "The waters surrounding Greenland also warm up and this can change ecosystems and the fishing business." Hoyer said that it will likely have an effect, but added that it is too early to say exactly how. Greenland's strategic mineral resources could also play a role in the power struggle for the island. While Trump has primarily focused on security, the island is home to a number of minerals that are considered "critical raw materials" by the European Commission. According to a Danish study published in 2023, 25 of the 34 minerals that were deemed by the European Commission as "critical raw materials", could be found on Greenland. Mining has historically been expensive due to the red tape that surrounds mining concessions and harsh conditions. Hoyer stated that the flip side of the warming climate is that these ventures could become more profitable because?extraction? and?shipping become less expensive. Businesses in established sectors still face uncertainty today. Casper Moller is the owner of a tour company that provides tours to tourists. He says there's not enough snow or ice for them to be done on skis or snowmobiles. He said, "So what we're doing right now is crossing our fingers and hoping that more snow will come soon." (Reporting from Nuuk by Fedja Gulovic, with additional reporting from Tom Little in Copenhagen, and Johan Ahlander at Stockholm; editing by Ros Russell).
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Venezuelans who have helped Canada's oil sands industry grow are unlikely to return home
In the mid-2000s, Luis Cabana, a professional engineer, could not walk down downtown Calgary without being accosted by someone he knew in Spanish. The office towers in the heart of Canada's oil & gas industry were crowded with Venezuelans, who fled persecution and economic stagnation back home. Canada, with its vastness and cold climate, is far away from the humidity and heat of Venezuela. The oil sands of northern Alberta and Venezuela's Orinoco Belt both produce thick, tar like heavy crude. This fact has led thousands of Venezuelan engineers, geologists and scientists to relocate to cities such as Calgary, Edmonton, and Fort McMurray over the years. "We were overrepresented." Cabana said, "I knew another professional in every company downtown." Cabana came to Canada in 2006. He spent over a decade working in the energy sector of Canada. They helped Canada become the largest producer of heavy oil in the world, while Venezuela's oil production was declining. Many Venezuelans in Canada who have made careers say that they will not return to Venezuela, despite President Donald Trump's stated goal to revive Venezuelan oil production. They have established lives in other countries. Trump's decision to revive Venezuela's oil industry has caused anxiety in Canada. An increase in heavy crude oil from Venezuela could replace some of the oil refinedrs in the United States purchase from Canada. The increase in Venezuelan oil production is unlikely to be significant for years because U.S. firms are reluctant to invest large-ticket projects that require multi-year planning without signs of political stability in Venezuela and widespread support for a new legal system. Exodus prompted by oil strike against the Chavez regime Four Venezuelans living in Canada were interviewed. Each of them came to Canada during a wave of migration that began in the early 2000s. The most notable occurred between 2001-2010, after the emergence of Hugo Chavez and a massive strike at the state-owned PDVSA. This led to the collapse of Venezuela's oil industry. According to federal statistics, some of the 7,450 Venezuelans that came to Canada in this period held senior positions at PDVSA. After the strike in Venezuela, chemist Pedro Pereira was blacklisted as director of PDVSA’s technology strategy. He took up a job at the University of Calgary, where he directed nanotechnology research on oil sands. He recruited dozens more Venezuelans who were experts in heavy oil. Pereira runs a tech company in Calgary that focuses on renewable energy. Other Venezuelans also migrated to Fort McMurray in northern Alberta, a small city surrounded with boreal forest. "When I arrived, the temperature was minus 35 degrees Celsius, and when I left Caracas it was plus 25 degrees Celsius, so it was quite a shock," said Lino Carrillo. He had previously worked in Venezuela in the heavy oil refining and processing industry before he was recruited by Canada's Suncor Energy. The decline of Venezuela's oil sector coincided with that of Canada, as high oil prices and technological advances drove the oil sands boom in the early part of the century. Carrillo said that "people appreciated the Venezuelan expertise." "I think Canada would have achieved what it did in the development of oil sands without the Venezuelans, but they brought people with 15, 20, years of experience that helped shorten the path." WAVE OF REVERSE MIGRATION UNLIKELY Carrillo maintains close ties with Venezuela, and has even worked on the energy platform of opposition leader Maria Machado. Machado is now competing with Venezuelan government members for Trump's attention. She wants to be a part of the future governance of the country. Even if Venezuela re-builds its oil industry and returns back to democracy, many expats believe that a reverse migration wave from Canada's Oil Sands to the Orinoco Belt will be unlikely. Pereira said that Venezuelan expats often talk about whether they will return to their home country and how they can help it recover. "But two generations have already passed, and those with expertise are mostly older than 55." Reporting by Amanda Stephenson, Calgary; Editing and proofreading by Caroline Stauffer, Nigel Williams
IOC: Olympics-Switzerland bid for 2038 Winter Games could be finalised as early as 2027
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Wednesday that a bid for Switzerland to host 2038 Winter Olympics may be finalised by 2027, if the process of local political consultation is completed by the end this year.
Karl Stoss is the head of the IOC Future Host Commission, which oversees the Olympic Winter Games.
As part of the IOC's privileged dialogue, the Swiss project is the only one currently in discussion with the IOC. The Winter Olympics were last hosted by the Winter Sports Powerhouse in 1948, at St. Moritz.
The IOC only negotiates with Switzerland. This period was "established to allow the Swiss public and politic consultation processes, which are fully respected the IOC",?Stoss said at an IOC meeting two days before starting the 'Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
He said that if the IOC does not complete the project by 2027, it will be forced to make the 2038 Winter Games available to all interested parties.
The IOC headquarters is located in Lausanne in Switzerland. In recent years, the country has rejected Olympic projects in Sion, Graubuenden, and St Moritz/Davos.
In recent years, many other?Olympic bids were also unsuccessful in the German Alps or Austrian Alps. Innsbruck, for example, 2026, was one of them.
Alpine populations worry that the Winter Games with their construction, human activity, and tens or thousands of spectators for the 16-day event, will be a burden on the fragile eco system of the mountains.
Stoss stated that the Swiss parliament is expected to vote in December 2026 on the financial support for the project.
Stoss stated that if all the requirements are met, then IOC may be able to open a targeted dialogue in December 2026 with...a possible host election in April of 2027.
The 2030 Winter Olympics will take place in France's part of the Alps, and the 2034 Games in Salt Lake City will be hosted by the United States. (Reporting and editing by Ken Ferris; Karolos Grohmann)
(source: Reuters)