26 Oct, 2021
Protests hit Glencore-BHP JV Antamina; Sibanye to buy Brazilian mines for US$1B
TOP NEWS IN METALS & MINING
* Protesters blocked a road used by the Antamina copper-zinc mine in Peru, majority-owned by Glencore PLC and BHP Group, as they accused the joint venture of failing to honor its commitments to the community — a claim that Antamina has denied, Reuters reported.
* Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. inked definitive purchase and sale agreements with affiliates of funds advised by Appian Capital Advisory LLP to acquire the Santa Rita nickel mine and Serrote copper mine in Brazil for US$1.0 billion in cash and a 5.0% net smelter return royalty over potential future production at Santa Rita, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
➤ Sibanye remains confident in PGM business as battery metal portfolio grows
"We remain very confident in our very substantial PGM business but we're building a value proposition in getting exposure to battery metals as well," Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said.
➤ Scramble for coal lifts Arch's sales book as it winds down US thermal coal mines
Tight domestic U.S. coal supplies allowed Arch Resources Inc. to pick up additional coal sales, but long-term, the company is focused on winding down its thermal coal assets in favor of selling metallurgical coal into the steel supply chain.
➤ CES 2021 – Gold exploration budget up 43% YOY
Gold exploration budgets are up 43% to US$6.2 billion in 2021 as the gold price found a new base level above US$1,700 per ounce, data gathered by S&P Global Market Intelligence's Metals and Mining Research team showed. This increase builds on gold's resilience during the pandemic in 2020 when most other commodity prices declined.
* First Quantum Minerals Ltd.'s third-quarter attributable net earnings surged 944.8% year over year to US$303 million, or 44 cents per basic and diluted share, from US$29 million, or 4 cents per share. The company narrowed its full-year 2021 copper production guidance to between 800,000 tonnes and 835,000 tonnes, from between 785,000 tonnes and 850,000 tonnes, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
* Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. posted a third-quarter attributable net profit of 2.23 billion Chinese yuan, soaring year over year from an adjusted 421.3 million yuan a year ago, as revenue rose to 74.19 billion yuan from 49.05 billion yuan.
* Norsk Hydro ASA booked an attributable income of 1.01 billion Norwegian kroner in the third quarter, swinging from a loss of 222 million kroner in the same period last year.
* Petra Diamonds Ltd.'s revenue for the first quarter of its fiscal 2022 increased 48% year on year to US$114.9 million from US$77.7 million, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The company expects full fiscal-year production at its Cullinan diamond mine in South Africa to be toward the bottom half of its earlier guidance of 1.7 million carats to 1.9 million carats.
BASE METALS
* Colombian environmental licensing authority ANLA shelved the environmental permitting process for AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.'s Quebradona copper project.
* Chile state miner Codelco offered to supply copper to a South Korean cable maker at a premium of US$100 per tonne in 2022, a 20% increase from US$83/t this year, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
* GR Engineering Services Ltd. secured a A$48 million engineering, procurement and construction contract to upgrade the nickel concentrator at Western Areas Ltd.'s Cosmos nickel operation in Western Australia.
* A maiden resource estimate for the Golden Swan deposit at Poseidon Nickel Ltd.'s Black Swan nickel project in Western Australia defined 6,250 tonnes of nickel contained in 160,000 tonnes grading 3.9% nickel, at a 1.0% cut-off grade.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Polymetal International PLC's third-quarter production totaled 437,000 gold equivalent ounces, dropping 8% year over year from 477,000 ounces. Meanwhile, revenue fell 7% to US$819 million from US$884 million due to lower gold and silver prices, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
* Hochschild Mining PLC posted third-quarter attributable production of 93,630 gold equivalent ounces, increasing from 68,420 gold equivalent ounces in the prior-year period, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
* Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. expects to begin refurbishment works at the Chatree gold mine in Thailand by December. Meanwhile, both Kingsgate and Thailand jointly requested an arbitral tribunal to hold the award over the expropriation of the Chatree mine until Jan. 31, to ratify their formal settlement documentation.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Rio Tinto Group and Carbfix formed a partnership to implement technology for capturing carbon and permanently storing it underground in land surrounding the ISAL aluminum smelter in Iceland.
* Exxaro Resources Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding with Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and Seriti Resources Pty Ltd. to develop solutions in pursuing a low-carbon future for South Africa.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* A new report by the United Nation's Environment Programme found that nations plan to cut emissions 7.5% by 2030, a fraction of what is needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C.
