Following a decline in overall lead production worldwide in 2016, a slight rise in prices will drive a short-lived acceleration in global lead mine production growth in 2017. Subdued prices and a weak project pipeline in several major lead-producing countries will bring this rapid rate of growth to a halt from 2018 to 2021, global research firm BMI said on Friday.
Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane on Friday met with Black Business Council (BBC) president Dr Danisa Baloyi, and her executives, to discuss the mining legislative framework and “related issues which have been in the public domain recently”, said the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). The DMR highlighted the BBC as one of the stakeholders that had made written inputs on the draft Charter gazetted for public comment in April 2016.
Lithium developer Novo Litio’s shares remained suspended on the ASX on Friday – nearly a month since the company first halted share trading to confirm the legal status of its rights to the Sepeda project, in Portugal.
Novo Litio is seeking to transfer a granted exploration licence and exploration licence applications, which comprise the Sepeda project, from Portuguese firm Lusorecursos. The company considers its agreement with the vendor to be binding and enforceable.
Dual-listed Atlatsa Resources on Friday announced plans to implement a two-phase restructure plan that will see its joint venture (JV) Bokoni mine idled, with JV partner Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) acquiring the resources specified in the Central Block and Kwanda North prospecting rights. A letter agreement between the JV partners outlined the Phase 1 care and maintenance strategy for the embattled mine, with Amplats funding all costs associated with the process up until December 31, 2019, and suspending the servicing and repayment of the current R4.2-billion and future debt owing by Atlatsa until then.
Tanzania’s ongoing concentrate export ban, implemented in March, has significantly impacted on LSE-listed Acacia Mining’s results for the first six months of the year. Despite delivering its highest-ever first-half production levels during the period to June, Acacia now expects production to stay on the bottom end of its guidance, as concentrate exports from Bulyanhulu and Buzwagi have been prevented.
London-listed Beowulf Mining has appointed Copenhagen Economics to commission an economic study of the benefits of a mining operation at Kallak, in Sweden.
The study would seek to articulate the economic benefits to Jokkmokk and Norrbotten and provide a “big picture” of how a mining operation at Kallak would fit in with the objectives of Swedish policy and decision makers, Beowulf CEO Kurt Budge said on Friday.
CHARLESTON, W. Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cunningham Energy announced a milestone 20,000 barrels of cumulative oil production on two new shallow horizontal oil wells in Clay County, WV.
Australian iron-ore junior Atlas Iron has managed to generate A$100-million in net cash from its operations in the 2017 financial year, while reducing its debt by $79-million to A$103-million, MD Cliff Lawrenson reported on Friday.
The company delivered on its 2017 production and cash cost targets, shipping 14.4-million tonnes of ore in the 12 months and reporting C1 cash costs of A$34.8/wmt free-on-board.
HENDERSON, Nev.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–$IRLD #IRLD–Ireland Inc. (OTCBB: IRLD) provided an update on the technical program of its ongoing precious metals extraction process at the Columbus Project, located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Since its last update in May, 2017, the company has taken multiple steps on its technical program towards its goal of precious metals extraction. Technical Program and Extraction Update Continued pilot plant test runs to produce concentrates containing precious metals. Ongoing labo
The mineral rights moratorium gazette notice of the Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane infers an intention to circumvent the underlying purpose of the agreement reached with the Chamber of Mines, Herbert Smith Freehills’ Africa partner and co-chair Peter Leon said on Friday. In particular, it appeared that the Minister intended using the notice to coerce the chamber into a possible settlement of its injunctive proceedings, Leon added in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online, in which he made the point that one could deduce that the Minister’s intention was to find a way around fulfilling the agreement’s purpose.
PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Due to continuing significant price increases in the cost of titanium dioxide over the past six months, Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE: AXTA) will impose a price surcharge for coating products that contain this critical raw material. The surcharge will be applied to specific products sold in all regions of the world and is independent from any pricing actions due to the long-term rise in the cost of producing resins and other key components of Axalta products. The t
Australia’s Federal Court has ruled in favour of an indigenous Aboriginal group’s claims over land used by Fortescue Metals Group to mine millions of tonnes of iron ore in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The ruling gives the Yindjibarndi people exclusive native title rights over land covering the iron-ore giant’s Solomon mining hub, a vast mineral-rich project capable of yielding up to 70-million tonnes of iron ore a year.
Tungsten developer Tungsten Mining is embarking on a fast-tracked, low capital expenditure (capex) development pathway for its Mt Mulgine project, in Western Australia, with the acquisition of a second-hand processing plant from Pilbara Minerals. Tungsten will pay A$600 000 for the “near-new” processing plant, which was constructed in 2015, but decommissioned in early 2016 after Pilbara suspended the Tabba tantalum project.
PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Calgon Carbon Corporation (NYSE: CCC) today announced that it will host a conference call and live webcast on Friday, August 4, 2017, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, to review the Company’s financial results for the second quarter of 2017. The Company will release its financial results earlier that morning before the U.S. financial markets open. Conference Call Details: To listen in or participate on the conference call, please phone 866-393-4792 shortly before the sched
Australian gold major Newcrest Mining will provide A$500 000 in funding to exploration company Encounter over the next 12 months to look for projects in northern Western Australia.
The companies on Friday announced their project generation alliance, which will use Encounter’s project team to identify new camp scale exploration and potential future production opportunities.
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Hecla Mining Company announced second quarter 2017 financial results to be released before market open on August 3, 2017.
Iron-ore’s strong start to the second half and surge above $70 a metric ton will probably fade through the year-end as demand from top buyer China slows and global mine supplies remain robust, according to Sucden Financial and Bank Julius Baer & Co.
“Any significant uptick in seaborne cargoes toward the tail-end of the year, and a fading demand outlook, will likely see iron ore prices trade lower as we view this recent rally as transitory,” Kash Kamal, an analyst at Sucden Financial, said in an email. Prices will average about $60 this half, he said.
The refurbishment of the first two smelters that Australian company Gulf Manganese plans to use at its manganese alloys hub in Kupong, West Timor, is well under way, with shipment from South Africa to Indonesia expected to occur before the end of this year.
Gulf reported on Friday that it had made the final payment to South Africa’s Transalloys, allowing the refurbishment programme to continue.
Western Australian gold miner Doray Minerals is in the early stages of potentially defining a new ore body at its Deflector mine, MD Leigh Junk said on Friday, as the company reported the results of follow up drilling at Deflector North.
Junk reported that the company had encountered “bonanza grades, visible gold and massive chalcopyrite in the drill core” during a diamond drilling programme at the newly discovered extension to the Deflector ore body.
A senior executive at Acacia Mining Plc was picked up by Tanzanian secret service agents on July 12 at the airport in the southwestern town of Mbeya, interrogated and returned to his house in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam a day later, people familiar with what happened said. Acacia is in the midst of a dispute with Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who has accused the company of failing to pay billions of dollars of taxes. In March, the state banned exports of unprocessed gold and copper, a move Acacia later said has been costing it $1 million a day in lost revenue. Acacia said in a statement on Friday that “employees in Tanzania have been and continue to be interviewed by government agencies.” The company declined to comment further.
Gold miner Silver Lake lifted its June quarter gold production by 37% quarter-on-quarter to 46 393 oz, taking full-year output to 148 244 oz – a 5% improvement on the previous year’s production performance.
The company, which mines gold in the Mount Monger region of Western Australia, sold 37 515 oz in the June quarter and increased its full-year sales from 132 400 oz in 2016 to 137 000 oz in 2017.
Acacia Mining is targeting the lower end of its production guidance for the year after its first-half results were hit by Tanzania’s ban on the export of its concentrates, the gold miner said on Friday. Majority owned by Barrick Gold, Acacia was forced to stop shipments of its ore after a ban was imposed in March.
The rally in zinc prices has the potential to jump this year to levels not seen in a decade as demand continues to outstrip supply amid mine output disruptions, according to Hindustan Zinc, Asia’s biggest producer by market value.
Prices on the London Metal Exchange may rise to about $3 000 a metric ton in the next couple of quarters, Sunil Duggal, CEO of the Vedanta unit, said in a phone interview from Udaipur in Rajasthan. The last time prices touched this level was in October 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
South African bituminous and anthracite coal miner Buffalo Coal is determined to repay all its debt and continue to improve safety standards, while improving overall operating capability to ensure its operations become optimally efficient, says interim CEO Rowan Karstel, who was speaking to Mining Weekly during an exclusive tour of the company’s operations in June. He notes that the company has a R200-million loan with specialist banking and asset management group Investec, which it intends to repay in the coming years. Karstel enthuses that the company made R171.4-million in revenue in the first quarter of this year, compared with R142.5-million during the same period in 2016.
The world refined copper balance for the first four months of 2017 indicates a surplus of about 80 000 t, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) reported on Thursday.
It ascribed the surplus mainly to a decline in Chinese apparent demand, a market that currently accounts for about 48% of the world copper refined usage.
TSX-V-listed Sarama Resources on Thursday announced that the Burkina Faso Ministry of Mines and Quarries has issued an invoice, and Sarama has paid, for the transfer of the Djarkadougou exploration permit, which is host to the Bondi deposit.
A critical part of Sarama’s growth strategy in the prospective Houndé gold belt, billed as the “most prospective gold belt” in the West African country, and has a historical resource estimate of some 300 000 oz of gold in the measured and indicated categories, and 100 000 oz of gold in the inferred.
The materials price index (MPI) from Global Insight by IHS Markit fell 0.7% last week, driven by weakness in the oil and chemicals sectors, the firm announced on Thursday.
It was the MPI’s first decline since the middle of June, as weakness in oil, down 1.5%, and chemicals, down 3.9%, pulled the overall MPI lower. Lumber and pulp prices were rare bright spots for sellers, up 7.1% and 2.1%, respectively, IHS data showed.
Fortescue Metals Group is set to challenge a native title ruling which could force the company to pay millions of dollars in compensation for one of its mines in WA’s Pilbara region.
The union at Antofagasta’s Zaldivar copper mine, in Chile, said on Thursday that workers and the company had failed to reach a wage deal and that they had agreed to extend government-mediated talks into next week.
Last week, the union voted to strike, prompting the mediated talks and a new contract offer.
Exploration junior Northern Superior Resources has initiated engagement protocols under its early exploration benefits agreement with the Neskantaga First Nation in parallel with its plans to restart exploration activities on its 100%-owned Ti-pi-haa-kaa-ning (TPK) project, in north-western Ontario.
Northern Superior plans to initiate a new exploration programme on the TPK property during the current quarter, focusing an exploration programme over the north-west portion of the property.
Brazil’s Vale, the world’s largest iron-ore producer, said on Thursday that iron-ore output would close the year near the bottom of its forecast of 360 million to 380 million tonnes, despite record second-quarter production.
Vale, said iron-ore production reached 91.85-million tonnes in the April to June period, a record for a second quarter, up 5.8% from 86.823 million tonnes in the same period last year. Pellet production rose 21.5% to 12.2-million tonnes last quarter from a year earlier.
As the Chinese aluminium sector comes under greater pressure to moderate its capacity growth, the government is cracking down on so-called ‘illegal’ smelters, analysis by Wood Mackenzie global aluminium markets senior research analyst Ami Shivkar has found.
Shivkar argues that unqualified smelters in Shandong province are likely to be targeted next. Such a move will have knock-on effects, she says, including a tighter market balance and a probable uptick in prices.
LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Centaurus Diamond Technologies, Inc. (the “Company” or “Centaurus”) (OTC PINK: CTDT) is pleased to provide its shareholders with an update on the recent developments at the Company. The Company is pleased to announce that Mr. Chas Radovich has resumed his role as President, and also been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr. Radovich has been a driving force behind the overall vision of the Company and the primary architect of its business and corpora
SCHAUMBURG, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Global Brass and Copper Holdings, Inc. Announces Date and Time for Release of Second Quarter 2017 Financial Results
HERNDON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Continental Building Products, Inc. (NYSE:CBPX), a leading manufacturer of wallboard and gypsum-based products, announced today that the Company will release second quarter 2017 financial results after the market closes on Thursday, August 3, 2017. A conference call will be held that same day at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time to review the Company’s financial results, discuss recent events and conduct a question-and-answer period. Webcast: The conference call will be avai
