Creamer Media’s Chanel de Bruyn talks to Mining Weekly editor Martin Creamer about the ways savvy mining companies can take advantage of established technologies.
Australian thermal coal prices for spot cargoes above $100/t, lifted by reports of strikes and strong Chinese demand, are providing a boost in earnings and share prices for miners like Glencore and Whitehaven Coal.
A crackdown on illegal mining and pollution in China has curbed domestic supplies, just as a heat wave and lower hydro power output have boosted demand for coal for power generation, forcing up prices.
JSE- and NYSE-listed Sibanye expects to report an attributable loss of at least R4.8-billion for the six months to June 30, mainly as a result of R4.4-billion in nonrecurring items, including a R1.1-billion provision for potential silicosis claims. Also part of the nonrecurring items is a R2.8-billion impairment charge relating to the cessation of its lossmaking Cooke and Beatrix West operations and R402-million in costs associated with the acquisition of US firm Stillwater Mining Company. Earnings were also negatively impacted on by the 14% appreciation of the rand against the dollar during the period under review.
BHP has approved capital expenditure of $2.46-billion for the Spence Growth Option (SGO) at the Spence opencut copper mine, in northern Chile, which will extend the mine life by more than 50 years. CEO Andrew Mackenzie on Thursday said the SGO project supports BHP’s strategy to deliver near-term, valuable copper production. “Execution of the SGO will create long-term value for shareholders in one of our preferred commodities. The project significantly extends the life of our Spence operation and unlocks the potential of the large, quality resource.”
Coal India Limited (CIL) is undertaking three critical railway infrastructure projects that will enable the miner to efficiently evacuate 282-million tons a year of production.
According to a directors’ report of the company, the railway infrastructure projects form part of the miner’s ‘Synergy for Energy’ initiative, which aims to grow production and avoid the piling up of stock as a result of infrastructure deficiencies at some of its largest operating wholly owned subsidiaries.
The ramping up to two new openpit copper mines in the Pavlodar and East regions of Kazakhstan has helped KAZ Minerals to more than double its first-half production, revenue and profit.
The London-, Kazakhstan- and Hong Kong-listed miner on Thursday reported production of 118 000 t of copper in the six months ended June 30, comprising 52 000 t from the new Bozshakol mine and 33 t from the new Aktogay mine.
Companies controlled by the Gupta family, whose accounts are being closed down by Bank of Baroda, said they’re taking legal action against the lender to try and stop the termination, which comes after South Africa’s four biggest lenders cut banking services for the family that’s in business with a son of President Jacob Zuma. A number of companies forming part of the Gupta-controlled Oakbay Group “are presently involved in litigation against the Bank of Baroda concerning its unlawful attempts to close the companies’ accounts, and particularly in light of the unreasonable notice period given,” Gary Naidoo, a spokesperson for the family and their companies, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. The deadline for the closure of the accounts has been extended to the end of September, he said. Naidoo didn’t answer a call made to his mobile phone seeking further information.
Mining contractor Decmil has been awarded a A$13-million contract at mining major BHP’s new South Flank project, in the Pilbara.
The scope of the project will include civil and enabling works for the expansion of the Mulla Mulla village, which will be required to support current operations at Mining Area C, and will support the South Flank project, subject to its approval.
ASX-listed gold miner Red 5 has launched a non-renounceable rights issue with the aim of raising some A$12.7-million to fund the initial cash consideration to acquire all of the shares in Darlot Mining company.
The one-for-three non-renounceable rights issue will be priced at 5c a share, with more than 254.8-million shares to be issued to shareholders in Australia and New Zealand.
Diversified miner Exxaro Resources said first-half profit more than doubled, driven by growth in its coal business and higher income from investments. The company, which mainly produces coal and invests in iron ore, said headline earnings rose to R2.79-billion ($211.9-million) in the six months ended June 30, from R1.10-billion a year earlier.
Coal miner Whitehaven Coal has reported a 52% increase in revenue for the year ended June, as coal production and sales during the year increased.
Sales revenue for the full year reached A$1.7-billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization was up by 219% during the same period, to A$714.2-million.
Congo’s finance ministry has provisionally reinstated mining companies’ exemption from a value added tax (VAT) on imports, the Chamber of Mines said on Wednesday, days after miners complained customs authorities were planning to impose VAT on them.
Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa’s top copper producer, agreed to suspend the tax in July 2016 to help companies during a commodity price downturn and to pay down hundreds of millions of dollars in VAT reimbursements owed to the companies.
Improvement in metallurgical coal markets has pushed US-focused coal producer Corsa Coal to a second quarter profit, and marked the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of growth of 20%, or greater, in metallurgical coal sales volumes.
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Corsa reported positive net and comprehensive income of $4.6-million, or 0.03 a share, an increase of 157% from the second quarter of 2016’s loss of $8-million, or $0.10 a share.
An examination of Papua New Guinea’s economic figures shows that the country’s non-mining economy is in recession.
Just seven months since acquiring the El Mochito zinc/lead/silver mine, in west-central Honduras, recent TSX-listee Ascendant Resources has achieved positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the month of July.Analysts use the metric that looks at a company’s ‘top line’ earnings by standardising cash flows and discounting anomalies to provide a useful measure of comparison when evaluating multiple companies.
During July El Mochito milled 57 458 t of ore, averaging 1 853 t/d, an increase from 1 693 t/d in June and the second quarter average of 1 733 t/d. July results reflect the benefit of introducing new mining equipment to operations, the company advised.
SANTIAGO, Chile–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GeoPark Limited (“GeoPark” or the “Company”) (NYSE: GPRK), a leading independent Latin American oil and gas explorer, operator and consolidator with operations and growth platforms in Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru reports its consolidated financial results for the three-month period ended June 30, 2017 (“Second Quarter” or “2Q2017”). A conference call to discuss 2Q2017 Financial Results will be held on August 17, 2017 at 10:00 am Eastern Daylight
The deaths of 34 miners during the Marikana massacre in 2012 will be commemorated by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) on Wednesday at the hillside where the massacre occurred. Police shot and killed the miners on August 16, 2012, in an apparent attempt to disperse striking Lonmin miners. Miners demanded that their salaries be nearly tripled to R12 500 a month.
US shale oil companies are pulling back on the amount of sand they use to hydraulically fracture new wells, responding to rising prices of the material that are driving up costs. Investors worry a slowdown in sand use, combined with new mining capacity coming online, could lead to a glut of the material and bring down prices. The worries have pressured shares of sand companies.
ASX-listed mineral sands miner Iluka said on Wednesday that a bribery scandal at its recently acquired Sierra Rutile operations, in Sierra Leone, was unlikely to have a material impact on the company.
Reports emerged this week that Iluka had uncovered suspected bribe payments made by London-listed Sierra Rutile, prior to Iluka acquiring the company in a A$375-million transaction in December of last year.
The ASX suspended shares of Eastern Goldfields from being traded on Wednesday after the Western Australian Supreme Court ordered that the company be wound up and a liquidator be appointed.
Assay provider Genalysis Laboratory Services lodged the winding up case, which was heard on Tuesday.
Precious metals miner Hochschild Mining’s pretax profit fell 33.8% in the first half of the year, hurt by higher costs. Attributable silver production rose 8.9% to 8.9-million ounces in the six months ended June 30, and the company said it was on track to deliver attributable production of 37-million silver equivalent ounces for 2017.
Underground operations at the Nifty copper mine, in Western Australia, have been temporarily suspended as owner Metals X undertook remedial repairs to the secondary escapeway.
The ASX-listed company said on Wednesday that the repairs would take around seven days to complete, with the mine to return to full operation by the middle of next week.
Oil and gas producer Origin Energy has widened its statutory loss for the 2017 financial year, from A$628-million reported at the end of 2016, to A$2.22-billion.
The company earlier warned of a A$1.2-billion post tax impairment on the second half of the 2017 financial year, driven by a A$815-million impairment on the Australia Pacific liquefied natural gas (APLNG) project, and a A$357-million charge for Lattice Energy.
ASX-listed Woodside Energy has reported a 49% increase in half-year net profit after tax to $507-million, as production reached 42.2-million barrels of oil equivalent.
Production for the first half of 2017 was slightly lower than the 45.9-million barrels of oil equivalent reported in the previous corresponding period, while revenue reached $1.76-billion, down slightly from the $1.9-billion.
Gold miner Resolute Mining has inked two heritage agreements with the Queensland government over its Ravenswood expansion project.
ASX-listed Resolute said on Wednesday that the agreements were an important component of the approvals required to start mining at the Buck Reef West openpit, which is a crucial component to the Ravenswood expansion project.
Graphite developer Triton Minerals has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China’s Sinoma Overseas Development Company providing terms for offtake, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, debt financing and project investment at the Ancuabe project, in Mozambique. Triton MD Peter Canterbury told shareholders on Wednesday that the MoU was a transformational event for Triton.
There is favourable demand for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs), particularly in the utility and offgrid, as well as minigrid markets, with demand to peak in 2025 to 2030. This is according to recently concluded market studies, commissioned by Aim-listed Bushveld Minerals’ energy subsidiary Bushveld Energy, in conjunction with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), in the second half of 2016, to assess African VRFB demand and opportunities and global vanadium electrolyte demand and requirements.
Melbourne-registered Davenport Resources has signed an agreement with a German government agency to buy three potash mining licences in the South Harz region for €1.2-million.
Davenport, which is listed on the ASX, will acquire the licences from Bodenverwertungs-und-verwaltungs – the agency charged with divesting former German Democratic Republic (GDR) assets.
Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco) plans to invest $500 million in a project to produce bauxite, used to make aluminium, in Guinea starting next year, the mines ministry said. The deal comes after a trip by the Guinean mines minister, Abdoulaye Magassouba, to China and follows other major Chinese investments in the resource-rich West African nation.
Increased demand for gold has supported sales of the gold bullion Krugerrands and this year is predicted to yield the highest sales since the 1980s, with an expected 15% to 20% increase on the 1.1-million ounces of the coins sold in 2016. This is according to precious metal smelting and refining complex Rand Refinery marketing executive head Richard Collocott, who was addressing the media during site visit to the company’s facility on the East Rand, on Wednesday, to mark the coins fiftieth anniversary.
DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “China: Rods And Bars – Market Report – Analysis and Forecast to 2025” report has been added to Research and Markets’ offering. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the rod and bar market in China. It presents the latest data of the market size and volume, exports and imports, price dynamics and turnover in the industry. The report shows the sales data, allowing you to identify the key drivers and restraints. You can find here a strategic analysis of key fact
Zinc surged above $3 000 a metric ton amid persistent global deficits, and aluminium climbed as China reined in illegal capacity, adding fresh impetus to the rally even as some investors expressed concerns.
Zinc jumped as much as 2.6% to $3 037/t on the London Metal Exchange, the highest level since 2007, and traded at $3 029 at 1:20 p.m. in London. Aluminium gained as much as 1.3% to $2 075.50/t, the highest since November 2014, while nickel, copper and lead all traded higher.
DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “China: Antimony – Market Report – Analysis and Forecast to 2025” report has been added to Research and Markets’ offering. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the antimony market in China. It presents the latest data of the market size and volume, exports and imports, price dynamics and turnover in the industry. The report shows the sales data, allowing you to identify the key drivers and restraints. You can find here a strategic analysis of key factors infl
ASX-listed Mustang Resources’ ruby inventory at the Montepuez project, in Mozambique, has grown to 147 052 ct, on track for reaching the targeted 200 000 ct to be sold at the company’s inaugural auction in October. The growing inventory is, in part, the result of work to increase water supply to the upgraded bulk sample plant, which previously experienced bottlenecks.
The mining contractor activity at Aim-listed Xtract Resources’ Manica concession area, in Mozambique, is progressing “favourably”, with initial mining of the alluvial gold deposits expected to start at the end of this month, the company reported on Wednesday. Xtract’s Mozambique subsidiary Explorator concluded mining contractor agreements for the project with mining contractors Omnia Mining and Moz Gold in June and with Sino Minerals Investment Company in July for the exploitation of the alluvial deposits.
