Short news minerals
Jun-14-2012 By : agxadmin
- Peabody Energy, the largest American coal producer, is in talks with companies including China Chengtong Holdings Group and China Datang about selling an Australian coal mine for more than AUD500 million. Other parties involved in the discussions to buy the Wilkie’s Creek thermal coal mine include Korea’s LG International.
- Mongolian iron ore miner Altain Khuder plans to raise about USD300 million through a Hong Kong IPO. The company owns the Tayan Nuur iron ore mine in southwestern Mongolia. The IPO is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter. Altain Khuder has been exporting iron ore to China from its Tayan Nuur mine since 2009 under a 15-year supply agreement with a unit of China’s Baoshan Iron & Steel (Baosteel).
- Three Chinese companies — Baosteel, Hunan Valin and Minmetals — have subscribed to become founder shareholders of globalORE, a Singapore-based electronic platform for physical iron ore trade. The platform is considered by some as a rival to a similar one just launched by the China Beijing International Mining Exchange. A Baosteel representative said the two platforms could complement each other. It also backs the Beijing platform.
- Commercial deep-sea mining by China of polymetallic nodules that contain copper, nickel and cobalt among other key minerals, can begin as early as 2030, according to the former Director of the State Oceanic Administration Sun Zhihui. Last year, China was among the first group of countries approved by the International Seabed Authority to look for polymetallic sulphide deposits in the Southwest Indian Ridge, and the country is now applying to explore for cobalt in a new area in the Pacific Ocean. China has explored more than 80,000 square kilometers of the floor of the Pacific and Indian oceans.
- Iron ore prices will fall 19% to around USD110 a ton before finding a “long-term, sustainable” level as China’s economy slows, according to Fortescue Metals Group CEO Neville Power. Iron ore in May posted the biggest monthly drop since October on concern that slower growth in China is curbing demand from mills.
- Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) and Baosteel will merge their interests in two magnetite projects into a Hong Kong-based vehicle. FMG will then own 88% of the new venture, FMG Iron Bridge, and Baosteel 12%. The joint venture will include the Glacier Valley and Northstar mining areas in Western Australia, which have a total of 3.2 billion tons of resources. The deal needs approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Board and China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). FMG and Baosteel are already partners in the Glacier Valley project under a 65-35 venture.
- The Association of China Rare Earth Industry is offering whistleblowers a reward of CNY50,000 for verified reports of illegal exploration, smelting, processing and smuggling of rare earths. China has started to curb production and exports of the rare earths to protect the environment and conserve resources after years of rampant exploration.
- “Iron ore inventories at major ports have been building up since the Lunar New Year, which is quite unusual,” said Wei Hongbing, President of Tianjin Harvest International Shipping Co. These ports are almost out of space for storage, Wei added.
Short news minerals
May-18-2012 By : agxadmin
- Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) has agreed to pay HKD2.39 billion for a 29.9% stake in listed Winsway Coking Coal, which distributes coal used for steel smelting from Mongolia to China. The agreement came three weeks after Chalco offered to buy up to 60% of Mongolian coking coal miner SouthGobi Resources for HKD7.2 billion, although the deal has been clouded by the Mongolian government’s suspension of SouthGobi’s key operating licenses a few days after it was announced.
- Hong Kong-listed CST Mining plans to sell 70% of a Peruvian copper deposit, Mina Justa, for USD505 million to Lima-based Cumbres Andinas, controlled by Peru’s Brescia Group. The sale will mark a substantial disposal for CST Mining. The sale is pending shareholders’ approval.
- Yanzhou Coal Mining was not in talks to buy Brazilian mining giant Vale’s stake in the Integra coal mine in the Australian state New South Wales, a Spokesman said.
- Shougang Fushan Resources Group has come under renewed attack from U.S. short-seller Glaucus Research which accused the coking coal miner of buying mines from related parties at above-market prices, and possibly inflating its profit through connected transactions. Glaucus said former major shareholder Xing Libin, who sold three coking coal mines to Fushan for HKD10.5 billion in 2008, had sold them at a valuation of CNY97 a ton of recoverable reserves, compared with between CNY11 and CNY16 for similar mines. Fushan dismissed the allegation, saying the correct valuation should be CNY42 a ton.
- State-owned copper producer China Nonferrous Mining Corp (CNMC) plans to raise up to HKD2.44 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong – less than the original target of HKD3.9 billion. Weak market sentiment prompted the company, which runs copper mines in Zambia, to lower its fund-raising goal.
Short news minerals
Apr-19-2012 By : agxadmin
- The net profit of Yanzhou Coal Mining fell 3.8% to CNY8.93 billion in 2011, while operating revenue rose 38.7% to CNY47.07 billion. The company’s coal sales rose 29.5% to 64.25 million tons last year.
- Maoming Petrochemical Mining Co in Guangdong province has been fined more than CNY725 million for continuing to operate after its license expired. The fine, imposed by the Land and Resources Bureau in Maoming, is the biggest in the city’s history. The fine could rise further to CNY1 billion to punish the company for gaining illegal profits. The company’s license for the Jintang mining area in Maoming expired on June 30, 2009.
- Coking coal producer Shougang Fushan Resources experienced volatile share trading after the company denied allegations by U.S.-based short seller Glaucus Research that it had overpaid a related company for three mines and inflated its profit margins. The Shanxi-based, Hong Kong-listed company is 29.4% owned by Shougang.
- Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal, one of the biggest coal producers in China, plans to raise between USD1 billion and USD1.5 billion from an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong this year, making it the country’s first B-share company to issue H shares. The company received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), but has yet to get clearance from the Hong Kong stock exchange. Yitai Coal already listed B shares, after it was spun off by state-owned Inner Mongolia Yitai Group on the Shanghai stock market to raise CNY520 million. Yitai Coal recorded net profit of CNY5.5 billion for last year, compared with CNY5.1 billion in the previous year. Revenue rose to CNY16.84 billion from CNY14.08 billion.
Short news minerals
Mar-22-2012 By : agxadmin
- Standard & Poor’s has cut Winsway Coking Coal Holdings’ long-term corporate credit rating from BB- to B+, saying Winsway’s business risk profile may weaken after its acquisition of a Canadian coal miner because of the likelihood that its profits will be affected by volatile coal prices. Winsway, which distributes Mongolian coking coal used to smelt steel to Chinese steelmakers, has received shareholders’ approval to form a joint venture with Japanese trading house Marubeni to buy Canadian coking coal miner Grand Cache Coal for almost USD1 billion.
- The Chinese-owned mining company Ecuacorriente has signed a contract to invest USD1.4 billion over five years for extracting copper in Ecuador’s southern Amazon region. Production could begin as early as 2013.
- Chinese rare-earth company Rare Earths Global (REG) has announced its intention to list on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. The company is looking to raise USD50 million. Last year Rare Earths Global was awarded a production quota of 300 tons and an export quota of 137 tons.
- Iron ore prices may rise as much as 7.4% this year on speculation that further easing of curbs on lending in China, the biggest buyer, will boost demand, according to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Prices might average USD155 per ton in the fourth quarter, up from about USD140 this quarter, Analysts Lachlan Shaw and Vivek Dhar said in a report. Imports grew 9.5% to 64.98 million tons last month. Prices might remain volatile in the first half of this year.
- Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) has become a formal member of China’s first iron ore physical trading platform launched by the China Beijing International Mining Exchange. The exchange kicked off the online platform together with the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) and the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters in January to try to strengthen its pricing power. FMG is the first overseas iron ore supplier to join the platform. The big three iron ore suppliers were in talks to join.
Short news minerals
Feb-23-2012 By : agxadmin
- Guangxi surpassed neighboring Guangdong to be the country’s largest importer of coal in 2011. Local customs said ports in Guangxi recorded throughput of over 27 million tons in 2011, up 61.3% over the previous year and accounting for 15% of the total. Guangxi’s coal was mainly imported from Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia last year. The province’s imports from Vietnam jumped by 42.8% to 11.7 million tons, which customs officials attributed to the price advantage of Vietnam’s coal.
- Angola’s government hopes to expand its nearly USD1 billion a year diamond business in partnership with Chinese firms through Angola Diamond Trading (Sodiam), which is 99% owned by Endiama, a state-owned diamond miner. Angola is expected to produce 8.5 million carats worth USD1.15 billion this year. In 2010, Dubai accounted for the largest share of Angolan rough diamond exports by value at 40%, followed by Israel at 34%, and China at 11%.
- China has raised the resource tax on six minerals, including iron and tin ores, in a bid to conserve reserves, but analysts said the hikes won’t have a big or long-lasting impact on costs given already high mineral prices. The benchmark tax ranges from CNY2 to CNY30 per ton depending on ore grade. New rates became effective on February 1. The resource tax on top-grade tin ore was lifted to CNY20 per ton, a 20-fold jump and the biggest increase among the six minerals affected. China also raised the tax on molybdenum, magnesium, talc and borax ores.
