Short news minerals
April 3, 2014 Category Automotive Metals & Minerals, Short news minerals
- Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources is seeking additional financing to avoid a default on USD250 million in debt, hurt by low prices and weaker-than-expected demand from Chinese buyers. Based on forecasts for this year, SouthGobi will not have enough cash flow to meet obligations including interest payments on debentures held by China Investment Corp (CIC), the Vancouver-based company said. SouthGobi, controlled by a Rio Tinto unit, operates the Ovoot Tolgoi coking-coal mine, which lies about 40 kilometers from Mongolia’s border with China.
- The World Trade Organization (WTO) released a report, saying China’s export restrictions on rare earths, molybdenum and tungsten are incompatible with WTO rules. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said it regretted the ruling. The panel report said China proved that the production of rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum could damage the environment and the health of animals and plants, but that it did not provide proof that the duty served a protective purpose or made a substantive contribution to protection. China can appeal to the appellate body within 60 days of the report’s distribution.
- China’s first rare earth products exchange opened in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region after a three-month trial. The Baotou Rare Earth Products Exchange is expected to regulate the country’s rare earth market, improve the way prices are formed and promote development of the industry, said Jia Yinsong of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The exchange will introduce price bidding, listed trading and real-time trading online, with more than 10 trading items including cerium oxide, praseodymium-neodymium oxide and europium oxide.
- Chinalco Mining has shut down operations at its Toromocho copper mine in Peru after the country’s environmental regulator found that it was contaminating two lakes high in the Andes in the district of Morococha, 150 kilometers east of Lima. A video on the regulator’s web site showed yellowish water running down a hillside into a blue lake. Toromocho began operations in December following an investment of USD4.8 billion in the mine.
Recent News
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world