September 28 International Fertilizer and Agriculture News

U.S. Issues Warning to Shipping Vessels over Houthi Red Sea Threat

The U.S. Maritime Administration urged U.S.-flagged merchant vessels to turn off their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) when transiting high-risk waters around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as Houthi attacks on commercial shipping continue. The guidance took effect on September 23. It also recommends that vessels change routes and speeds, limit electronic signal transmissions and stay as far from the Yemeni coast as safety permits, making ships harder to track and target. The guidance was issued after the Iran-backed Houthis resumed attacks on commercial shipping. The coastal tanker Daisy and the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Amzan were hit by Houthi missile attacks near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, on August 5 and August 24, respectively. On July 20, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen announced a ban on Saudi "maritime shipping activities," threatening that vessels associated with Saudi Arabia would not be allowed to transit the Bab el-Mandeb. The group subsequently captured the Red Sea coastal port city of Mocha on September 11, strengthening its ability to disrupt vessel transit and giving Iran another means of applying pressure to international shipping. The warning document said vessels linked to Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom or Saudi Arabia face higher risks when sailing in the southern Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden. The threat is also elevated for vessels whose companies or fleets have previously called at Saudi ports. The U.S. Maritime Administration warned that potential attack methods could include missiles, aerial or surface drones, small-arms fire, explosive boats, unauthorized boarding and vessel seizure. Attacks would also create navigational hazards for other merchant vessels sailing nearby. The United States recommends that U.S.-flagged vessels transiting the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Somali Basin turn off AIS. However, they are not required to do so if the master believes turning off the system would threaten navigational safety. The United States said vessels have previously been attacked whether AIS was on or off, but disabling AIS can still make it harder for vessels to be tracked and precisely targeted. Vessels should also avoid repeating the routes, waypoints and speeds used on previous voyages as much as possible; minor changes in course and speed can likewise make it harder for adversaries to lock onto targets. Shipping operators were reminded that onboard commercial systems, Wi-Fi and other electronic signal transmissions could also reveal information about a vessel. The warning said that if a vessel receives instructions from the Houthis or from a group describing itself as a Yemeni official body demanding that the vessel divert, turn on AIS or submit voyage information, it should ignore the instructions and continue sailing if the environment is safe. The document also recommends that U.S.-flagged vessels coordinate voyage plans with U.S. Navy authorities and report immediately if they are attacked, observe suspicious activity or experience another security incident. In addition, data from Windward showed that vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz remained at 12 on September 23, unchanged from September 22. About 10 vessels were inbound and two were outbound. Among the inbound vessels, three used the southern corridor supported by the United States and six used the northern corridor controlled by Iran; both outbound vessels used the southern corridor.

Expert Panel: Australia Must Support Joint Critical Minerals Hubs

At the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) Critical Minerals Conference held in Brisbane this week, participants said Australia must invest in critical minerals common-user facilities to reduce costs for early-stage developers, accelerate product qualification testing for overseas customers and advance the industry. The Queensland Resources Common User Facility (QRCUF), a vanadium-focused facility built by Queensland at a cost of AUD 115 million (USD 81 million), will become fully operational in November. Paul Holden, the head of the government project, said on September 22 that the facility would significantly accelerate related project development over the following 18-24 months. The site is equipped with an ore crusher, a flotation circuit, a concentrate roaster, atmospheric leaching equipment and a thermal purification unit. It was designed primarily for vanadium processing, but some equipment can also be used to process rare earths, cobalt and graphite. Holden said the QRCUF can provide companies with a shared platform for producing large pilot- and demonstration-scale bulk samples, helping small mineral developers bridge the gap between bench-scale processing and commercial production. This can prevent the government from duplicating investments in multiple private support facilities and lower barriers to entry in downstream mineral processing. Australian graphite and anode materials developer Graphinex began using the QRCUF's ore crusher and flotation circuit this month to produce bulk samples of graphite products for qualification by customers in South Korea and Japan. The company told Argus that although Graphinex has its own demonstration plant in Townsville with capacity for 300 tonnes per year of active anode material, the crusher at the common-user facility has ten times the processing capacity of its own equipment, allowing the preparation time for bulk samples to be shortened from months to weeks. Australian developer Vecco has also signed up to use the facility for demonstration production of high-purity vanadium pentoxide and vanadium electrolyte products. The company is preparing to make a final investment decision (FID) on a planned 300 MWh electrolyte plant in Townsville.

Planned Facility in Western Australia

Western Australia is currently conducting a feasibility study for a Critical Minerals Advanced Processing (CMAP) common-user facility near Perth. Nicole Roocke, chief executive of the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA), said the new facility should focus on a narrow product mix during initial operations to ensure high equipment utilization and avoid becoming a "white elephant," or a costly but ineffective project. MRIWA has not yet determined the scope of the CMAP project, and the project will not duplicate functions already provided by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the Queensland Resources Common User Facility (QRCUF) and commercial laboratories. Roocke said MRIWA plans to use a modular pod design that allows tenant companies to bring some of their own processing equipment. The site can also be used by technical service providers to validate the efficiency of processes at scale. Wayne Ditchinowski, country manager at Australian Strategic Materials, a mining company, said neither CMAP nor QRCUF should prioritize rare-earth operations during their initial phases. Rare-earth processing is complex and capital-intensive, and prices for sulfuric acid, a key reagent, continue to rise. Argus assessed China sulfuric acid FOB at USD 290/tonne on September 17, up 314% year on year (see chart). Sam Taylor, head of critical minerals at engineering consultancy GHD, suggested that fully recovering valuable metals from Western Australia's enormous stock of mine tailings could be one development direction for the new common-user facility. Data from the Western Australian government show that the state has more than 1,000 tailings storage facilities, and more than two-thirds of the projects associated with them are idle or closed.