The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Mines Ministry said it’s completing work on new regulations, as a draft document showed the government has so far ignored companies’ key concerns about the reforms. Miners including Glencore and Randgold Resources have demanded the government dial back aspects of the legislation approved by President Joseph Kabila in March. The ministry makes no mention of any of the major changes the companies seek, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg that was verified by a member of a commission charged with revising the mining code and by a mining-company manager.
Investment company African Rainbow Capital on Wednesday announced delays to its 25%-owned Elandsfontein phosphate mine.
Indian mining billionaire Anil Agarwal is encouraging Anglo American – in which he now holds more than 21% – to accentuate its link with South Africa, where the Vedanta Resources company he founded and chairs is successfully turning to highly positive account the zinc assets that Anglo walked away from eight years ago. Anglo’s South Africa connection receives high praise from Agarwal, who is pleased with the decision of the London-listed, South Africa-rooted company to retain South African assets previously earmarked for potential disposal.
The TSX-listed equity of Midas Gold jumped nearly 19% following an announcement by Barrick Gold that it will increase its position in the company to 19.9%.
Barrick sees the investment as a strategic move to gain access to the Stibnite gold project, in Idaho, which Barrick president Kelvin Dushnisky said offers a “compelling investment proposition”, with low geopolitical risk, potential for production of more than 300 000 oz of gold a year at competitive operating costs, and with added exploration upside.
Canada can expect to lose up to C$15.8-billion in lost revenues this year because of pipeline capacity bottlenecks in the country, and fervent opposition to building new pipelines that can open new markets for the domestic industry.
A new report by Canadian independent policy think tank, the Fraser Institute, pointed out that that as oil production ramped up in Canada in recent years, pipeline construction has not kept pace. And despite approvals from review agencies, the status of several major pipeline projects remains uncertain.
TSX-listed gold producer New Gold has appointed the former CEO or Rainy River Resources – which New Gold bought out in 2013 – Raymond Threlkeld as its CEO, replacing Hannes Portmann, who has left the company to pursue other opportunities, the company announced on Wednesday.
Threlkeld will also join the board, the company advised.
The gold market is greeting geopolitical turmoil with a yawn.
The metal, which has dropped for three straight weeks, extended losses Wednesday as Treasury yields and crude oil jumped on the US plan to reinstate sanctions on Iran. The metal is trading at the cheapest relative to crude since late 2014.
Kinross Gold is the latest miner to be hit by changing policies in Africa as governments seem increasingly willing to upend historic deals with foreign companies in their quest for more mining revenue.
Mauritania’s rejection of a key permit to expand a Kinross project, and a proposed mining code review in Ghana, dealt a double blow to the Toronto-based miner, sending its shares down the most intraday since 2014.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has outlined its investments in innovations in mining, with R186-million over the next three years being earmarked for targeted research and development to modernise South Africa’s mining industry.
Science and Technology Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane told Parliament the DST would invest R63-million this year on the project. She said she applauded industry for committing a co-investment of R33-million in the initiative.
Brazil’s antitrust regulator Cade on Wednesday approved the sale of a Vale fertiliser unit to Yara International, sanctioning a deal that will allow the Norwegian giant to produce nitrogen-based fertilisers in Brazil.
Six of Cade’s seven board members voted to approve the $255-million transaction without demanding any asset sales or behavioural restrictions. One board member, Paula Farani, withheld from voting.
African gold miner Randgold has ended a joint venture agreement in Mali with junior explorer Cradle Arc, Cradle Arc said on Wednesday, adding it would seek a new partner.
Under the agreement begun in February 2016, Randgold held a 65% stake in the Kossanto West Gold Project licences, which will revert to Cradle Arc, now the 100% owner.
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) has called for economic reforms to boost investment in the resources sector, after the federal Budget revealed that the industry is accounting for a significant portion of revenue.
The MCA’s interim CEO, David Byers, said on Wednesday that the record resources exports of A$207-billion in 2017 underscored the importance of the minerals industry to economic prosperity.
Lower revenues, higher depletion and amortisation costs and higher administrative and other expenses contributed to a widening in Lucara Diamonds’ net loss to $7-million for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a loss of $1.5-million in the first quarter of 2017. The Vancouver-based miner, which operates the Karowe mine, in Botswana, achieved earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $1.4-million for the quarter under review, compared with an Ebitda of $4.9-million reported for the prior comparable period.
ASX-listed Jupiter Mines has appointed chairperson Brian Gilbertson as acting CEO, after Priyank Thapliyal was hospitalized for an unforeseen medical condition relating to gallstone induced acute pancreatitis.
Jupiter told shareholders that while Thapliyal was expected to make a full recovery, his recovery period could be extensive, and he was unlikely to be able to resume his heavy work and travel schedule in the near term.
ASX-listed Metalicity has appointed Ton Panoulias as president and CEO of subsidiary Kimberley Mining, to lead the company through its initial public offering (IPO) on the TSX-V in the September quarter of this year.
Metalicity in March announced plans to list its Admiral Bay zinc project, in Western Australia, on the TSX-V through a Vancouver-based subsidiary.
One of the world’s biggest copper miners, KGHM Polska Miedz SA, expects this year’s consolidated net profit to match or exceed last year’s result despite lower capacity, acting CEO Rafal Pawelczak said on Tuesday.
Last year group’s net profit amounted to 1.57-billion zloty, but this year the company had to close one of its production outlets – copper smelter Glogow II – for three months for renovation.
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has submitted wage hike demands in the gold sector of up to 37% over a two year period, according to a document submitted to the Chamber of Mines seen by Reuters. The demands far exceed the current inflation rate of 3.8% and suggest potentially tough negotiations with companies that have been battling to contain soaring costs in the world’s deepest mines.
Canadian multinational gold producer Kinross Gold has reported a 435% jump in headline profit for the three months ended March 31, as 30% higher year-on-year margins and a decrease in depreciation, depletion and amortisation boosted the bottom line. Adjusted net earnings increased to $125.2-million, or $0.10 a share, double the average Wall Street analyst forecast calling for earnings of $0.05 a share, on revenue of $827.71-million, according to data provided by Thomson Reuters.
British–Dutch multinational oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its entire stake in Calgary, Alberta-based company Canadian Natural Resources in a deal valued at about C$4.3-billion. Shell has reached agreement with underwriters Goldman Sachs & Co, RBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank and TD Securities, to sell its 97.56-million shares in Canadian Natural, representing about 7.9% of Canadian Natural’s outstanding shares.
Dubai-based precious gem producer Fura Gems has recovered a 25.97 ct rough emerald at its Coscuez Colombian emerald mine. Fura said in a statement on Tuesday that it believes the emerald to be rare and exceptional owing to its size, colour saturation and clarity.
A 400% rise in vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) prices over the last 24 months has prompted US-based uranium producer Energy Fuels to resume vanadium recovery operations at its flagship White Mesa mill, in Utah, this year. The lithium-ion battery-making ingredient has reached new ten-year highs of more than $15/lb, making the “significant” identified concentrations of dissolved vanadium in pond solutions at the mill profitable, the company advised.
Junior Encounter Resources has acquired the Nazare gold project, in Western Australia, and is aiming to start exploration work in July this year.
The company said on Wednesday that initial exploration work on the granted exploration licence wouldfocus on a priority structural intersection identified in the regional magnetic surveys.
Suitor Aurora Funds Management has raised concerns with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian Securities Exchange over recent actions from takeover target Molopo Energy.
Molopo this week informed shareholders that the company had taken full ownership of the Orient oil and gas project, in the US, after redeeming its joint venture partner’s shares in Orient, and committing to funding the project in full to the tune of some $21-million.
ASX-listed Talga Resources has launched an internal restructure of its assets, which will see the establishment of a separate Swedish domiciled cobalt company.
The restructure will result in Talga’s Swedish cobalt assets, which are close to key emerging European battery markets, being separately sourced as the company focused on its primary advanced graphite/graphene projects for global energy and industrial applications.
Divers were being sent on Wednesday to try to rescue three Polish miners trapped almost a kilometre underground since an earthquake caused a tunnel to collapse four days ago.
“We hope that they are there, waiting for our help,” Tomasz Sledz, deputy head of the coal company JSW, told a news conference.
An explosion on Wednesday at a small coal mine in China’s Hunan province that killed two workers while another three are missing, the Hunan coal mine safety regulation bureau said.
The incident occurred at Hunan Baodian Qunli Coal Mining Co, which produces 120 000 tonnes of coal annually.
ASX-listed Kin Mining will suspend plant construction activities at its Leonora gold project, in Western Australia, to allow the company to undertake further work after a preliminary review confirmed cost blow-outs at the processing plant.
Kin in April announced the curtailment of construction at the Leonora project, warning shareholders of an expected increase in the existing pre-production capital cost estimate of A$35.4-million, after a review found that the capital cost estimate in the 2017 definitive feasibility study would have to be adjusted.
Graphite developer Triton Minerals has signed a second binding offtake agreement over its Ancuabe project, in Mozambique.
The offtake agreement with China’s Qingdao Chengyang Graphite covers up to 16 000 t/y of graphite concentrate, for at least five years, with a seller option for a further five years.
A foreign-backed miner has sued Chile to block State-run Codelco from exploiting a lithium deposit where both have claims, according to a lawsuit filed in March that will be carefully watched by potential investors being courted by the country’s new government. The little-known and remote Maricunga salt flat is far smaller than the expansive Salar de Atacama, where top lithium producers Albemarle and Chile’s SQM rule supreme.
Chile’s copper production increased 18.9% in the first quarter of 2018 from the same period a year earlier, Chilean copper commission Cochilco said on Tuesday. Production this year was boosted by a low basis for comparison following an historic strike last year at BHP’s Escondida copper mine, the world’s largest. Escondida tripled its production in the first quarter of 2018 to 322 700 t, Cochilco said.
London-listed Petropavlovsk is facing a potential shareholder revolt with two groups moving to have all the company’s directors removed and for the reinstatement of former CEO Pavel Maslovskiy to the board.
The gold miner, which operates in Russia, said on Wednesday that it had received a letter from CABS Platform and Slevin, holding a combined 9.11% of the company’s issued share capital, requesting a resolution at the forthcoming annual general meeting (AGM) for the removal of all existing directors.
TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – May 7, 2018) – Banro Corporation Ltd. (the “Company” or “Banro”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Brett A. Richards as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Banro, with immediate effect.
Mr. Richards is a senior mining and metals executive with over 32 years of sector experience in mine development, senior level operations, mine financing and mergers and acquisitions. He brings both private and publicly listed CEO experience, as well global operational experience – with a geographic focus in Africa in the past 15 years.
Brett has worked exclusively for private equity clients for the past 6 years, leading greenfield/brownfield start-ups; operational and financial turnarounds and exit strategies. He has also led several exploration fund raisings, mine financings, re-financings, and successfully conducted multiple operational rehabilitations in order to maximize asset value potential.
Brett has previously held senior positions of a number of listed companies and for private equity shareholders in the past including: CEO, African Thunder Platinum; CEO Renew Resources; and CEO, Octéa Limited. His listed company roles have included: CEO, Midnight Sun Mining Corp. (current), former CEO of Roxgold (TSX:ROG) through a successful shareholder proxy battle; former CEO of Avocet Mining plc (LSE & AIM), and was part of the five (5) person start-up team of Katanga Mining Limited (TSX:KAT) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”). Brett’s other publicly listed senior executive positions were with Kinross Gold (TSX:K) and Co-Steel Inc. (TSX:CEI).
Brett has significant public and private Board and Board Committee experience both in Canada, United Kingdom, Norway, and Johannesburg. Brett is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors in London; a member of Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technologists (O.A.C.E.T.T. – Mechanical Engineering); and is a member of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (P.D.A.C).
Banro Corporation is a privately held Canadian gold mining company focused on production from its two operating mines in the DRC: the Twangiza mine and the Namoya mine; with aggregate name plate capacity totaling 200,000 ounces of annual gold production. The Company also has two highly prospective advanced exploration projects with its wholly-owned gold projects, Lugushwa and Kamituga. The four combined projects (all four projects hold a mining license), are located along the 210 kilometer long Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the DRC, where Banro hold an additional 17 prospecting right (“PR”) exploration permits. The Company has a total Mineral Reserves and Resources inventory of 8M oz., with the exploration potential to grow to well over 10M oz. in the near term.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
India’s Coal Ministry has requested thermal power generation companies to increase plant level coal stocks to about 30-million tons, from 16.5-million tons at present, ahead of the monsoon season starting in June. Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar has said that a production and supply plan is being prepared to avoid a repeat of last year’s situation, when thermal power stations grappled with coal shortages during the rainy season.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining has been given approval to use the first 200m of the old Cadia Hill openpit operation, in New South Wales, as a tailings storage facility.
The Cadia Hill openpit would be used in lieu of the Northern tailings facility, where a breakthrough of tailings material was reported in March, which resulted in Newcrest suspending operations at the Cadia project.
The Hawsons iron project, in New South Wales, has been granted Major Project status by the federal government.
ASX-listed project developer Carpentaria Exploration told shareholders that the elevation to this select status was expected to provide a smoother and potentially faster approvals process for the project.
