TOP NEWS
Yancoal's US$2.45B purchase of Rio Tinto coal assets faces hurdles
Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd. unit Yancoal Australia Ltd. is facing several hurdles in its planned US$2.45 billion acquisition of Rio Tinto's Australian coal operation, as the company has now sought local investor support to fund the purchase, The Australian wrote.
Newcrest books higher H1 gold, copper output on Lihir improvement
Newcrest Mining Ltd. improved its gold and copper output in the first half of the 2017 financial year following increased throughput at the Lihir Island mine in Papua New Guinea and the Cadia East mine in New South Wales, Australia. Copper output climbed to 48,899 tonnes in the first half of the fiscal year, from 38,918 tonnes a year earlier, while gold production slightly increased from 1.20 million ounces to 1.23 million ounces.
RUSAL prices debut eurobonds for US$600M
United Co. RUSAL Plc successfully priced five-year eurobonds for US$600 million. The notes will have an annual coupon of 5.125% per annum and proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt.
DIVERSIFIED
* Doray Minerals Ltd. anticipates production in the range of 100,000 ounces to 110,000 ounces of gold and 4,200 tonnes to 4,600 tonnes of copper from its Deflector gold-copper mine and its Andy Well gold mine in Western Australia for the fiscal year ending June 30.
* Northern Shield Resources Inc. staked a new property, containing 88 claims, in Labrador Trough, Quebec, which will be primarily explored for copper-nickel-platinum group elements mineralization.
BASE METALS
* OZ Minerals Ltd. said it achieved its full-year copper output guidance by producing 29,758 tonnes of copper in the fourth quarter of 2016, bringing full-year 2016 production to 116,882 copper tonnes and hitting the lower end of the 115,000 tonnes to 125,000 tonnes forecast.
* PT Antam (Persero) Tbk saw its shares increase by 6% amid the Indonesian government's decision to allow exports of low-grade nickel ore, The Nikkei reported.
* According to BMI Research, tin prices will likely gradually surge to US$22,500 per tonne by 2021, amid a sustained market deficit starting 2018 and depleting inventories, MiningWeekly reported.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Aldridge Minerals Inc. has acquired or has the right to access 91.1% of the Yenipazar polymetallic project area in Turkey.
* Alliance Mining Corp. secured an option to acquire property in Manitoba's Bissett gold camp from Tiberius Gold Corp. Alliance can earn a 100% stake in the property by paying C$1.3 million in cash or shares over a four-year period.
* Pan African Resources Plc expects its EPS to jump by 45% to 65% to between 0.87 pence and 0.99 pence for the six months that ended Dec. 31, 2016.
* ECR Minerals Plc has decided to restart on-the-ground activities to advance the Sierra de las Minas gold project in Argentina.
* GTI Resources Ltd. optioned the Windarra tailings dams and three gold mining exploration leases from Poseidon Nickel Ltd. in Western Australia. The company plans to build a gold tailings treatment plant to recover gold and other minerals in the three dams.
* An Ontario court imposed a C$55,000 fine on Goldcorp Inc. and C$40,000 on contractor Miller Paving over a worker injury in September 2014, Mining Weekly reported, citing a court bulletin. The contract worker was injured when a hopper containing sand toppled over at the Porcupine mine near Timmins.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Prophecy Development Corp. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Randsburg International Gold Corp.'s 20% interest in the Titan vanadium-titanium-iron project in Ontario. Prophecy currently holds an 80% stake in Titan.
* Russian fertilizer-maker PJSC PhosAgro plans to gradually increase production to 8.5 million tonnes by 2020, as CEO Andrey Guryev expects the global fertilizer market to rebalance itself after falling Chinese exports, which have dropped by 30% since 2015, Reuters reported. "We expect China's inefficient plants to close. And because it will lead to certain shortages, their big enterprises will divert their deliveries towards the domestic market," Guryev said.
* Leris Braga, mayor of Brazil's Santa Barbara city, declined to approve a plan for BHP Billiton Group and Vale SA joint venture Samarco Mineração SA to use water from a nearby river to complete an ongoing environmental study that is required by Minas Gerais state regulators to restart the Samarco mine operations, Bloomberg News reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. Braga is asking for a separate study to test possible disruptions to the river's water flow.
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* Also, Peabody Energy won court approval for several of its reorganization initiatives, paving the way for the company to take the next steps to emerge from its bankruptcy.
* Delo.ua reported that Wigmore Street Investments No. 3 plans to sell the remainder of its shares of Ferrexpo Plc, the U.K. iron ore company with major assets in Ukraine, and completely go out of this business. It will sell 78 million shares, or 13% of Ferrexpo capital, with the securities to be placed with institutional investors.
* ThyssenKrupp AG CEO Heinrich Hiesinger said he is seeking "more time to turn around" the group from its shareholders, Reuters reported. Hiesinger said the company will "not bow to external pressure" to accelerate developments.
* According to analysts, ArcelorMittal's EBITDA will surge by 17.86% year on year, Metal Bulletin reported. The company's EBITDA is expected to clock in at US$6.16 billion for 2016, compared with US$5.23 billion in 2015.
* The European Union has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties of 30.7% and 64.9% on Chinese imports of stainless steel tubes for five years. China's Commerce Ministry said it had "serious doubts" about the decision, which had severely damaged the interests of Chinese exporters and violated World Trade Organization rules.
SPECIALTY
* Voltaic Minerals Corp. entered a 50/50 joint venture deal with Equitorial Exploration Corp. over the early stage Green Energy lithium project in Utah.
* Lucapa Diamond Co. Ltd. suspended trading of all stocks amid an announcement about the acquisition of a diamond mining project, The West Australian reported. The trading halt will likely be lifted before the Jan. 31 market open, the company said.
* AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group NV said there were no injuries to any employees or contractors due to a fire at its Mibra tantalum mine. The fire occurred at the gravimetric concentration section in one of AMG's two tantalum production lines.
* Australia's minister for mines, Sean L'Estrange, is seeking a new operator to reopen the Ellendale diamond mine, formerly owned by Kimberley Diamonds Ltd., which will allow taxpayers to avoid up to A$40 million of potential environmental expenditures, ABC reported.
INDUSTRY
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* India's Ministry of Mines looks to auction mineral blocks overseas, MiningWeekly reported, citing an official from the ministry. The government will begin redrafting legislation to auction the mineral resources in the next two months, the source noted.
* Macmahon Holdings effectively rejected a A$174 million offer from mining contractor CIMIC Group, advising the former's shareholders to take no action on the former's unconditional cash bid worth 14.5 Australian cents, The Australian reported.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.