Short news minerals
Jan-09-2014 By : agxadmin
- China’s largest aluminum producer Chinalco has dropped out of the race for Glencore Xstrata’s USD5.9 billion Las Bambas copper mine in Peru, leaving Minmetals Group (MMG) as the front-runner. It was expected that China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) wouldn’t allow for two competing bids. Chinalco is already present in Peru with its Toromocho copper mine, but MMG was seen as having more experience of integrating large Western businesses, sources said.
- Chinese companies are on the hunt to buy overseas coal mines as Beijing’s switch to cleaner fuels stokes demand for higher-quality coal produced in countries such as Australia. These include Australian and Mozambique coal operations of Rio Tinto, and Linc Energy, which is selling its New Emerald Coal business. But they are not rushing to buy as they expect coal mine prices to drop further in the coming months. As part of new cleaner-energy policies, China will push the use of better-quality coal. Private Chinese company China Kingho Energy has offered a hefty 110% premium in a AUD66 million bid for Australian coal explorer Carabella Resources.
- Iron ore exports to China from Australia’s Port Hedland, which handles about a fifth of the global seaborne market, rose 38% in November from the same month last year in another sign of solid Chinese demand. Shipments to China amounted to 22.3 million tons, compared with 16.2 million a year earlier.
- An explosion on December 13 killed 21 workers at the Baiyanggou coal mine in Xinjiang. 34 miners were working underground at the time of the explosion, 12 workers managed to escape but 22 were trapped by the blast. Only one of the trapped miners survived the explosion.
- Liang Jingli, Chairman of state-owned Guangxi Liuzhou Iron and Steel (Group), is under investigation for “severe violation of discipline”, by the government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the firm’s Shanghai-listed subsidiary, Liuzhou Iron and Steel, said on December 3.
- Rare earth producers nationwide are being encouraged by the government’s economic authorities to consolidate into six groups: the North Rare Earth Group; China Minmetals Corp; Aluminum Corp of China; Ganzhou Rare Earth Group Co; China National Nonferrous Metals Industry Guangzhou Corp; and Xiamen Tungsten Co. The six groups are mainly based in major manufacturing areas in Baotou in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Ganzhou in Jiangxi province, Guangdong province and Fujian province.
- The number of deaths related to mining in China declined by 24% in 2013, the government said. China has the world’s deadliest coal mines, and authorities have made it a priority to improve safety by enforcing rules. The central government said there were 589 mining accidents last year, leaving 1,049 people dead or missing.
- Minority shareholders of China Resources Power Holdings (CRP) have accused its Directors of lying about the extent of its control over a coal joint venture, which was the center of an alleged breach of fiduciary duties by Directors, the Hong Kong High Court heard.
Short news minerals
Nov-21-2013 By : agxadmin
- Inner Mongolia produced 1.08 billion metric tons of raw coal in 2012, and its total proven coal reserves were more than 808 billion tons by the end of 2011, according to statistics from the regional Bureau of Land and Resources. Four of China’s five biggest open-pit coal mines are located in Inner Mongolia: Jungar in Ordos, Yimin River in Hulunbuir, Yuanbaoshan in Chifeng, and Horin River in Tongliao. The odd man out is located in Pingshuo in Shanxi province.
- China’s iron ore price will continue to drop in the fourth quarter of this year amid a fall in demand. Demand usually shrinks in the fourth quarter, and the corresponding slack season for steel production may bring a short-term recession in demand for iron ore, according to a report in the Shanghai Securities News. The domestic demand for iron ore rose in the first three quarters.
Short news minerals
Oct-24-2013 By : agxadmin
- China has pledged to shut down at least 2,000 small coal mines by the end of 2015 as it tries to improve safety standards. Mines targeted will be those with an annual output of less than 90,000 tons that fail to adhere to safety rules, and those based on substandard coal resources that are prone to accidents. New coal mines with an annual capacity of less than 300,000 tons will no longer be approved. In China, 1,384 people were killed in coal mine accidents last year, and two-thirds of accidents each year are in small mines. Safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years, but regulations are still often ignored. China has about 12,000 coal mines.
Short news minerals
Sep-26-2013 By : agxadmin
- The Philippines in August detained 18 Chinese men on suspicion of illegal magnetite mining in the northern coastal town of Aparri. Investigators raided two mine sites run by Chinese firm Hua Xia Mining and Trading Corp. The company had a permit to dredge magnetite from a nearby river but not from the coast. It is illegal to extract any minerals within 200 meters of a beach under Philippine law.
- Authorities have launched a three-month campaign from August 15 till November 15 to reduce illegal exploration, production and distribution of rare earth metals and regulate rare earth recycling enterprises, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said. During previous crackdowns conducted in 2011 and 2012, respectively, 14 unauthorized mines were closed and 14 smuggling cases were investigated.
- The Baotou Rare Earth Products Exchange, China’s first national trading platform of its kind, is expected to go into use on a trial basis in October. The exchange will handle spot trading for rare earth products and will not engage in any business related to futures at present. The exchange is also expected to introduce a rare earth product price index in the future.
- Steel-to-property conglomerate Citic Pacific has warned of the possibility of further delays in commissioning the second production line of its over-budget iron-ore project in Australia, after posting a lower interim profit, which dropped 18.6% year-on-year to HKD4.46 billion. Turnover dropped 14.3% to HKD41.29 billion. The net loss of its Australian iron-ore project widened to HKD1.05 billion from HKD110 million in the year earlier period because it began to book interest expenses when mine production began. The iron-ore project, delayed three years and over budget at least three times its original estimate, has been hobbled by technical problems since it was commissioned late last year.
- Sinopec Engineering, the plant construction arm oft China Petrochemical, says orders for coal-to-chemical projects – its fastest-growing sales driver – are backed by the government despite carbon emissions and water scarcity concerns. “Our CNY101 billion of outstanding orders are backed by real contracts, and the projects have received various government approvals,” said President Yan Shaochun. The company’s net profit for the first half rose 10.8% to CNY2.21 billion. Sales from the coal-to-chemicals segment jumped 65% to CNY3.7 billion.
- China Coal Energy, the listed unit of China’s second largest coal producer China National Coal Group, posted a 38% drop in interim profit, hurt by lower coal prices. Net profit for the year’s first six months was CNY3.2 billion, down from CNY5.2 billion in the year-earlier period. Turnover fell 11.6% to CNY40.4 billion, on the back of a 12% decline in the self-produced commercial coal selling price to CNY436 per ton despite a 3.3% increase in coal sales to 7.5 million tons during the reported period.
- IRC, a developer of iron-ore mines in Russia’s Far East serving the northeast China market, is in talks with potential financiers to fund two projects involving an investment of USD540 million. The firm led by British entrepreneur Jay Hambro aimed to raise 20% to 30% of the funds by issuing shares and the rest by other means such as bank loans.
- China Shenhua Energy expects coal demand to remain lackluster in the second half of the year and supply to fall. The company’s interim profit fell 7% to CNY24.9 billion. Power demand, the main factor driving coal use, grew 4.4% year-on-year in the first half, compared with 4.8% last year and 11.7% in 2011. Turnover grew 4.7% to CNY127.2 billion, on the back of a 9.3% rise in coal sales to 242.7 million tons and a 3% rise in electricity sales to CNY37.1 billion.
- Mongolia will have a better chance of regaining its position as the top exporter of coal used to smelt steel in China after a railway is completed in late 2015, according to Battsengel Gotov, Chief Executive of Mongolian Mining. Mongolia lost its leading export position to Australia in the first half of the year with its coking coal exports to China falling 36% to 6 million tons. Australia’s exports to China doubled to 13.3 million tons. Despite the shorter distance to China’s steel mills, a lack of efficient transport by rail meant that Mongolian coal trucked to the Chinese border lost market share to seaborne Australian coal.
- Sinoma International Engineering, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed China National Materials (Sinoma), is acquiring a 59.09% majority stake in German mining equipment firm Hazemag & EPR for HKD1.06 billion. Hazemag makes, trades and services components and facilities used in minerals processing and preparation, process technologies, and machines used in drilling, loading and transport in underground coal mines. Hazemag’s post-tax profit for last year was €7.67 million.
- China has become the only nation authorized by the 165-member International Seabed Authority to explore seabeds for as many as three major types of minerals. In 2001 China first secured the rights to explore for polymetallic nodules in the northeast Pacific in 2001, and for polymetallic sulphide deposits in the southwest Indian Ocean two years ago. China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (Comra) clinched the latest contract, along with the earlier contracts in 2001 and 2011. The goal is to mine cobalt crusts, which are rich in iron, and hydroxide deposits containing significant concentrations of cobalt, titanium, nickel, platinum, molybdenum, tellurium, cerium and other metals and rare earth elements.
Short news minerals
Jun-27-2013 By : agxadmin
- China’s state-owned Shenhua Group Corp and India’s Aditya Birla Group are among the companies considering bids for Rio Tinto’s Australian coal assets, which have an estimated value of USD3.2 billion. Rio is offloading the assets as its new Chief Executive, Sam Walsh, seeks to raise funds to help cut the company’s USD26 billion in debt and protect its single-A credit rating. Rio Tinto is selling a 29% stake in its Coal & Allied business and its majority stake in the Clermont mine in Queensland state. Rio Tinto’s Australian coal assets are valued at an estimated USD3.2 billion.
