Short news minerals
Jan-10-2013 By : agxadmin
- A Hunan company has invested USD20 million in an open-pit gold mining project in North Korea. The Hunan Weijin Investment Group announced that it had joined in building the country’s first five-star hotel in order to get Pyongyang’s approval to develop the project in Unsan county. It is the first Hunan company to invest in the country.
- China’s Shenhua Group has held talks with Australia’s Whitehaven Coal about a potential corporate or asset deal. Shenhua, China’s biggest coal producer, recently discussed taking an equity stake in Whitehaven in return for Shenhua’s Watermark coal assets in New South Wales. Whitehaven said it routinely has talks with other coal companies about opportunities, including corporate and asset transactions. Whitehaven has been under pressure after its biggest shareholder, Nathan Tinkler, scrapped a USD5.5 billion bid to take Whitehaven private last year.
- China abolished a price ceiling on power-station coal on January 1, 2013 as rates have fallen this year amid increased supplies. Prices will have to be negotiated between miners and power plants, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
- Metallurgical Corp of China said the unit running its Cape Lambert magnetite project in Australia will withdraw most of its Chinese staff as it struggles with rising costs. MCC Australia will close its office in Perth by the end January, leaving no more than five people in a smaller location to maintain its Australian mining license.
- The Ministry of Land and Resources allocated CNY26.8 billion from central government and provincial funds to mineral resources exploration in 4,674 projects between 2006 and 2011. A total of 585 new mineral deposits were found during the period, including the discovery of a uranium mine in Inner Mongolia. In 2011, CNY8.5 billion was invested, with funds in mineral resources exploration taking up 86.3% of the country’s total fiscal investment in exploration that year.
- The Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-earth (Group) Hi-tech Co will continue to suspend rare earth roasting and smelting separation operations, which began on October 23, for another month, the company said in a statement filed in late December to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. “The rare earths market recovered a bit in the past two months but did not improve fundamentally,” the firm said.
- The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced the first round of rare earth export quotas for 2013, which will be 15,501 tons, about half the quota set for all of 2012. Of the total, 13,563 tons are allocated for light rare earths, while 1,938 tons are for medium and heavy rare earth metals. Twenty-four companies will share the quota, including Inner Mongolia’s Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co, the country’s largest rare earth producer. China usually issues the quotas in two batches. China supplies more than 90% of the world’s demand for rare earths, but holds only 23% of the world’s rare earth reserves. China exported 13,014 tons of rare earth ores, metals and compounds in the first 11 months of last year, less than half of the full-year quota.
- The Guizhou provincial government plans to close 2,100 mines by 2016 and cap the number of operating mines at 4,000. Most of the mines slated for closure are small privately owned operations, with outdated equipment and poor safety records. The government expected the restructuring would strengthen large state-owned mines and reduce the frequency of accidents.
Short news minerals
Dec-06-2012 By : agxadmin
- China National Nuclear Corp will speed up overseas uranium mining exploration, focusing on Australia, Africa and Central Asia, to meet growing demand. China imported 16,126 metric tons of uranium in 2011, down 6% from the previous year, according to the General Administration of Customs. Around 95% of China’s uranium imports are from Kazakhstan, Namibia, Australia and Uzbekistan. China is expected to have 40 million kilowatts of installed nuclear capacity by 2015, which would consume at least 7,500 tons of natural uranium annually.
- Global iron ore prices will decline in the long-term due to China’s economic slowdown and its struggling steel industry, insiders said. “Traders expect a declining iron ore market,” said Dong Chaobin, President of the China Beijing International Mining Exchange. Since its launch on May 8, the trading platform has handled 42 transactions involving 5.29 million metric tons of the raw material, with a total value of USD660 million. The exchange has received 191 applications to join the platform, 148 from domestic companies and 43 from abroad.
- Citic Pacific says its much-delayed iron ore mining project in Western Australia has started producing small quantities of iron ore at its first production line. After a fine-tuning of the plant, shipments will start early next year. The second production line is expected to come on stream in May, followed by the third to the sixth production lines in 2014.
Short news minerals
Nov-08-2012 By : agxadmin
- Australian iron ore miner Sundance Resources is optimistic it will be able to conclude a sale of the company to China’s Hanlong Group in a USD1.4 billion deal that has dragged on for a year, Sundance Chairman George Jones said.
- The number of China-led mining merger and acquisition deals nearly doubled in the first half of 2012, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). China accounted for 13% of all the mining M&A deals completed in the first half of the year, against 7% in the same period last year. Globally, the PwC report showed mining M&A volume fell more than 30% to 940 transactions in the first half of 2012, due to the global economic recession and a drop in commodity prices. Among all mining categories, gold dominated M&A transactions in the first half.
- Cnrun Investment Holdings Co has become the largest shareholder of Vatukoula Gold Mines after buying GBP6.6 million worth of Vatukoula’s shares. Cnrun is a fully owned subsidiary of Chinese real estate investor Zhongrun Resource Investment Corp. This is the latest move in Zhongrun’s transformation into a major mining and resources investor, as its real estate investments are hit by China’s property control policies. The investment will be used to improve Vatukoula Gold’s underground mining system. The improvements are expected to boost the company’s annual gold production from 1.7 tons to 3.1 tons.
Short news minerals
Oct-11-2012 By : agxadmin
- China has for the first time published a list of companies that are authorized to explore and produce rare earths as it attempts to crack down on smuggling. Ganzhou Rare Earth Mineral Industry Co, based in Jiangxi province, has mining rights in 43 out of 67 rare earth projects, according to a list released by the Ministry of Land and Resources. Baogang Group, based in Inner Mongolia, owns the mining rights in two projects. Ten companies and institutes have the exploration rights to 10 separate projects.
- Zhongrun Resources Investment has agreed to buy a 42% stake in Noble Mineral Resources for AUD85 million. It is the latest in a string of Chinese investments in gold miners.
- Real Gold Mining, suspended from Hong Kong trading since May last year following a report about accounting irregularities, said 84% of its public shareholders approved an agreement to restructure debt owed to it by Wu Ruilin, who, with associates, controls 41.2% of the gold producer.
- The Anhui provincial government will invest more than CNY15 billion over the next decade on mineral surveys. In the last few years, geologists have discovered several large untapped reserves of important minerals such as zinc, iron and tungsten. Minerals contributed to more than 14% of the province’s GDP last year.
- Chalco has ended an agreement to buy a 29.9% stake in Winsway Coking Coal because it was not able to win approvals from Chinese and overseas authorities by the September 30 deadline. The move comes after Chalco abandoned plans to buy a majority stake in Canada’s Mongolia-focused coal miner South Gobi Resources due to political hurdles.
- China’s dependence on imported iron ore is expected to rise to almost 80% of consumption by 2015, according to Wood Mackenzie. Imports account for about 70% of Chinese supply now, Analyst Paul Gray said at the 7th EU Iron Ore Conference in Vienna.
- North Asia Resources Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed mineral explorer, agreed to buy Lexing Holdings for HKD4.7 billion to acquire its 49% stake in Shanxi Coal. North Asia will pay HKD400 million in cash or promissory notes and HKD3.7 billion in new shares or bonds to City Bloom as part of the deal. The balance of funds will come from asset sales. North Asia, which had HKD73.5 million of revenue last year, said in July it would sell its iron ore mining and coal trading operations in Mongolia in favor of acquiring coal mine assets in Shanxi province.
Short news minerals
Sep-14-2012 By : agxadmin
- Calvin Zhu, former Vice President of Hanlong Mining pleaded guilty in an Australian court to three charges of insider trading. He admitted making AUD1.3 million trading in shares while working for three different employers, including Hanlong, after acquiring inside information about proposed takeovers. They included details related to Australian iron ore explorer Sundance Resources and uranium explorer Bannerman, which were both targets of Hanlong.
- Huaneng Power International, the listed unit of China’s biggest power producer, China Huaneng Group, forecast higher power demand and lower coal prices in the year’s second half, after posting an 87.7% year-on-year jump in net profit in the first six months to CNY2.12 billion. Revenue rose 4.9% to CNY67.18 billion, as a 1.46% year-on-year fall in power output due to the economic slowdown was more than offset by a 6.5% rise in the average power selling price that took effect on December 1.
- Mongolia Energy, the controversial coal miner controlled by tycoons Cheng Yu-tung and Simon Lo, posted a HKD4.83 billion net loss for the financial year, much wider than the HKD310.75 million it lost the previous financial year. The company switched the location of its planned coal processing plant from Mongolia to Xinjiang, where its sole customer, Bayi Iron and Steel, is located. The plant would not be ready for at least a year. In late 2009, then Chief Executive James Schaeffer said the company aimed to start coal production in 2010 with a target of 3 million tons for 2011 and 8 million tons for 2012. It sold 17,350 tons for HKD6.2 million last year.
- China will increase its iron ore imports from foreign independent miners to diversify its supply channels. The ratio of China’s iron ore imports from independent miners will rise to 50% of total imports in the following years, said Wang Xiaoqi, Vice Chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA). In 2011, up to 60% of China’s iron ore imports came from the three giant miners — Rio Tinto , Vale and BHP Billiton.
- CITIC Pacific, the Chinese company building the world’s largest magnetite iron ore mine, said it has delayed production for at least the second time, hindered by Australia’s safety standards and labor shortages. Trial production of the Sino Iron project will now start in November. The mine, being built by China Metallurgical Group Corp, was originally slated to begin output in the first half of 2011. The total cost for the mine will be less than USD10 billion, after costs rose 35% more than expected. Australian mining magnate Clive Palmer sold the rights to the project to CITIC Pacific in 2007 for USD200 million.
- China’s coal industry is facing a severe downturn as the national economic slowdown has led to a slump in coal demand and prices. Inner Mongolia, which benefited from the rapid development of its coal industry in the past few years, reported that the Inner Mongolia Chamber of Commerce launched its energy branch, which is responsible for providing the region’s energy companies with a platform to support their development. Chairman Liu Yuchuan said the platform will include a coal port in Caofeidian, Hebei province, and an integrated coal trading system. Coal inventories in Qinhuangdao port, the world’s largest coal-trading port, have been rising.
- The collapse of China’s steel market has reverberated around the world: benchmark prices for iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient, have dropped to three-year lows of USD89 a ton, down 24% in the past month alone. China accounts for about 60% of global imports of iron ore, a market worth more than USD100 billion annually worldwide. Global mining houses are scaling back investment plans because of slowing Chinese demand.
- Yancoal Australia said it was considering all options to reduce costs in response to lower coal prices. In its 2012 first half-year results presentation, Yancoal said it would review its expansion plans across all mines to ensure that the appropriate capital expenditure discipline is maintained.
- Miners at the Chinese-owned Collum coal mine in Zambia have killed the Chinese mine manager, Wu Shengzai, 50, in a pay dispute. The miners were protesting against what they said was the management’s failure to pay a minimum wage of USD320 a month. Last year, Chinese managers at the Collum mine fired on workers. They were charged with attempted murder, but the charges were dropped.
- China Shenhua Energy’s plans to invest more than CNY10 billion in coal rail projects is a sign the rail sector is being liberalized. The company already invested in the Jitong railway in Inner Mongolia. Shenhua had a plan to increase its coal railway network from 1,600 kilometers at present to 3,170 km by 2015. On August 16, another Hong Kong-listed coal company, China Coal Energy, announced it had formed a joint venture with the Ministry of Railways (MOR) and 14 other investors to invest in and build a 1,837 km coal railway from Inner Mongolia to central China, with an investment of CNY154 billion.
- China Shenhua Energy, the listed flagship of China’s largest coal producer, reported a 17.2% rise in net profit in the first half, thanks to higher sales and production volume. Profit attributable to shareholders was CNY26.74 billion, while revenue rose 20.1% year-on-year to CNY121.47 billion in the first half. The company said it produced 155.8 million tons of commercial coal and sold 222.1 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 11% and 16.2% respectively.
