Short news minerals
May-30-2013 By : agxadmin
- China and ASEAN countries signed seven mining cooperation agreements valued at about CNY16.3 billion during the China-ASEAN Mining Cooperation Forum and Exhibition in Nanning, capital of Guangxi. The event attracted more than 800 representatives from China and ASEAN countries. The China-ASEAN Mining Talent Exchange and Training Center was founded and is expected to play an important role in training mining talents for ASEAN countries.
- Caterpillar and China-based Mining Machinery said they have settled outstanding issues related to Caterpillar’s acquisition of mining equipment firm ERA and its Siwei unit through a reduction in the purchase price. As part of the deal announced, Caterpillar’s outstanding payment obligations to Mining Machinery were reduced by USD135 million to USD29.5 million. Caterpillar reported in January that it had found “deliberate, multi-year, coordinated accounting misconduct” at Siwei. The world’s largest maker of construction equipment had acquired ERA for USD653.4 million from Mining Machinery last June.
- China’s coal imports will continue from a more diversified number of sources over the long-term, exerting a major influence on international coal prices, according to James O’Connell, Editor-in-Chief of Platts’ Coal Trader International. The U.S., Indonesia, Australia and Russia are all expected to export more coal to China. In the past year, 40% of China’s coal imports were from Australia and 34% were from Indonesia. China imported 290 million tons of coal in 2012, a 59% rise year-on-year, ranking it as the world’s biggest coal importer.
- Chinese steelmakers are questioning the reliability of the main industry price index for ore provided by Platts, expressing concerns about transparency and trading volume. “We are skeptical because we don’t know the size of the deal samples and how they work out the indexed prices,” said Wang Liqun, Deputy General Secretary of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA).” Shen Wenming, Vice President of Jiangsu Shagang, said: “We found the indices often dropped slower when the spot market falls, while it always rises quicker when the spot rates move up. Indexed pricing dominates the market. Steelmakers don’t have a say but to follow.”
Short news minerals
May-02-2013 By : agxadmin
- Anonymous Analytics has accused Chinese coal-mining equipment maker International Mining Machinery (IMM) of committing fraud by claiming a customer base Anonymous Analytics describes as bogus. IMM was delisted in Hong Kong in June last year after it was acquired for USD1.4 billion by Joy Global. Most of IMM’s biggest customers appear to be shell entities set up to transact with it on paper, or related parties owned by IMM employees, Anonymous Analytics alleged.
- En+ Group is to start a feasibility study for a project in Siberia it is jointly developing with Shenhua Group to produce millions of tons of coal for delivery to China. The two companies will invest USD2 billion on coal mining, build basic transport infrastructure, develop or improve port facilities in the Far East region and handle the transport and sale of coal. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer and a subsidiary of En+, also signed a memorandum with Aluminum Corp of China to jointly work on technology innovation, mining resources development and investment.
- Chinese companies attempted USD107 billion worth of mining takeovers over the past five years, with about USD45 billion, or 42% by value, of deals ending in failure.
- African Minerals, the Sierra Leone iron ore producer that got a USD1.5 billion investment from a Chinese steel mill last year, may seek debt funding from China for a mine expansion scheduled for 2016. African Minerals began shipments from the Tonkolili mine in November 2011 and said it expects to reach its targeted production rate of 20 million metric tons annually this quarter.
- A Puda Coal investor sued a unit of Citic Group Corp, claiming it conspired with Puda’s Chairman to transfer control of the company’s most important asset to insiders, leaving Puda an empty shell company without operations or revenue. After transferring the company, Shanxi Puda Coal Group Co, Puda sold shares to investors who lost hundreds of millions of dollars when this became public, the investor, Thomas Tarsavage, said in a complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
Short news minerals
Apr-04-2013 By : agxadmin
- Greenland may award one of its biggest mining exploitation licenses this summer, a USD2.3 billion project by UK-based London Mining that will supply China with around 15 million tons of iron ore a year. But while Greenland has approved about 140 exploration licenses, not one mining project has secured financing. About 2,000 Chinese workers may be flown in for the construction of the London Mining project if it goes ahead.
- Mongolia-focused coal miner SouthGobi Resources posted a loss for last year of USD103 million as Ulan Bator forced it to suspend its only producing mine in response to a takeover bid from China’s state-owned Chalco. But SouthGobi, which is now controlled by Rio Tinto, has resumed operation at its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi mine and aims to produce 3.2 million tons of semi-soft coking coal this year.
- A landslide at a Tibetan mine in the vicinity of Lhasa buried 83 miners. Copper, some gold and silver are mined at the facility, the largest investment project of the Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co, a subsidiary of the China National Gold Group. The corporation was the first state enterprise to develop a mine in the Tibetan region. Production began in 2010. China Gold International Resources is under pressure as the mine may be temporarily closed. 66 bodies have been recovered so far.
- Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group of China and the Democratic Republic of Congo created a joint venture to mine diamonds in Eastern Kasai province and plan to take the company public. The 50-50 venture between Anhui and the central African country may produce 6 million carats a year by 2016. Anhui Group, based in Hefei, will pay USD4.2 million for its half, plus a signing bonus of as much as USD61 million, and invest an estimated USD100 million in infrastructure.
- Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) has written off CNY3 billion on its much-delayed Sino Iron project in Western Australia, which recently went over budget for the fourth time. MCC is obliged to compensate Citic Pacific USD5.1 million per day for the delay in construction, which would translate to USD530 million in total. The construction contractor veered to a CNY6.95 billion loss last year from a CNY4.24 billion profit in 2011, mainly due to write-offs on its Cape Lambert iron ore project in Australia, Huludao nonferrous project in Liaoning province and Sino Iron.
- All coal mines in Jilin province were ordered to halt production after two gas blasts in four days killed 36 people. An explosion at Babao Coal Mine in Baishan’s Jiangyuan district killed 29 miners and rescue workers and left 13 injured. A second blast occurred a few days later when rescuers entered the mine to extinguish a fire. That blast killed seven more rescuers and left another eight injured. Ten remain missing. Jilin authorities decided to suspend operations at all coal mines for safety checks.
Short news minerals
Mar-07-2013 By : agxadmin
- Zijin Mining, China’s largest listed gold miner by output, says its unaudited net profit for last year was CNY5.2 billion, down 9% from 2011. Operating revenue rose 21.9% to CNY48.5 billion. Zijin attributed its first profit decline as a listed firm to lower prices of metal products except gold, losses in some smelting units, lower grades of ores processed and higher production and management costs.
Short news minerals
Feb-07-2013 By : agxadmin
- Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi, Mongolia’s largest state-owned coal company, halted deliveries to China after failing to pay a company that provides logistical support, its CEO said. Exports to customers, including Aluminum Corp of China, stopped on January 11 as Erdenes couldn’t pay Altangovi, said Yaichil Batsuuri, who has led the company since October. Altangovi provides warehousing services at the border with China, the biggest buyer of Mongolia’s steelmaking coal. The halt comes as Erdenes seeks a government loan for as much as USD500 million to repay debts and fund infrastructure construction.
- China discovered more than 1.4 billion tons of new proven oil reserves last year, its third-highest annual haul ever, while its proven reserves of natural gas rose by a record of nearly 900 billion cubic meters over the year, the Ministry of Land and Resources said. The country also added more than 7 million tons of copper reserves and nearly 400 million tons of bauxite over the year. Coal resources increased by 132 billion tons, gold resources by 604 tons, and iron ore resources by 5.4 billion tons.
- China exported 16,265 tons of rare-earth ore, metals and compounds last year, falling below the annual export quota of 30,966 tons, and down 3.5% on 2011. In December, China exported 3,252 tons of rare-earth ore, metals and compounds. In December, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) set the first batch of rare earth export quotas for 2013 at 15,501 tons, which will be shared by 24 companies. The value of China’s exports of rare earths tumbled 66.1% to USD906 million last year.
- China’s output of iron ore fell to 119.48 million tons in December, down 4.1% from November, with freezing weather in northern regions hitting production. Full-year production jumped 14.5% from the previous year to 1.31 billion tons last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. China has long sought to increase its domestic iron ore supply to cut its reliance on imports, which hit a record level of 70.94 million tons in December. China typically produced 120-130 million tons of low-grade iron ore per month last year, and imported around 60 million tons.
- The price of coal is likely to remain bearish this year because of surplus production and the probable further decline of power production, Zhang Guobiao, former Director of the National Energy Administration (NEA) said. The coal price has declined by CNY200 per metric ton since May, and the price at Qinhuangdao Harbor remained in a trough at around CNY645 per ton even during the peak demand period in winter. China’s coal production grew by 4% in 2012, down 4.7 percentage points from the previous year.
