TOP NEWS
Challengingpotash market conditions prompted Mosaic Co. to idle its Saskatchewan-based potash mine for therest of 2016. The company will also stop turnaround activities at the mine andhas served temporary layoff notices to about 330 employees.
B2Gold hits record gold output in Q2
record gold production of 135,242ounces for the second quarter, representing an 11% increase on a yearly basis.Gold revenue for the quarter, meanwhile, totaled US$164.8 million on recordgold sales of 130,829 ounces at an average price of US$1,260 per ounce.
confirmed it exceededits 165-million-tonne shipping guidance for the fiscal year ended June 30, withshipments totaling 169.4 million tonnes.
BASE METALS
*The Arizona Court of Appeals overturneda 2015 ruling that blocked the air quality permit for 's proposedRosemont coppermine in Arizona, the Arizona Daily Starreported.
*The Philippine government's crackdown on certain mines in the country is expectedto have only a minor impact on nickel ore exports to China in the short term assome of the largest producers have already complied with guidelines, Reuters reported,citing experts.
*China's copper imports in the first half of 2016 year over year to 2.74million tonnes, Metal Bulletin reported.
*Votorantim Metais SAunit Compañía Minera MilpoSAA's CEO Victor Gobitz told daily El Comercio that Peru's Cajamarca region couldproduce up to 1 million tonnes of copper annually if four planned miningprojects come into effect during the government of President-elect Pedro PabloKuczynski. The projects are RioTinto's LaGranja project, Newmont Mining Corp.'s Conga mine, China Minmetals Corp.'s Galeno project and Milpo's Michiquillay mine.
PRECIOUS METALS
*Silver Standard ResourcesInc. produced 97,790 gold equivalent ounces during the secondquarter, which includes output at the Seabee operation before the company's takeover of ClaudeResources Inc.
*Royal Bafokeng PlatinumLtd. expects to swingto EPS and headline EPS of between 71 South African cents and 81cents for the first half of 2016.
*Beacon Minerals Ltd.entered into anagreement to sell 12,199 tonnes of high-grade refractory gold ore to forA$611.87, net of all costs.
* AnAnglo American PlatinumLtd. employee diedat its Khuseleka shaft at the Thembelani mine, part of the operations in SouthAfrica. The employee was injured during a rock conveyance incident March 31 anddied from an infection while being treated.
*India relaxedits tax policy on gold jewelry sales, exempting jewelers with turnover of up toUS$2.2 million a year from the excise duty, Reuters reported.
BULK COMMODITIES
*OJSC Magnitogorsk Iron &Steel Works posted a 5.2% quarter-over-quarter in second-quarter crude steelproduction and a 38.2% jump in realized prices due to increased furnaceutilization rates and a seasonal boost in local demand.
*Companhia SiderúrgicaNacional will off-load its interest in only after it minimizes losses on its US$1.2 billion investment, Reuters reported,citing company executives.
*Brazilian prosecutors have kicked off a probeinto alleged environmental crimes by Samarco Mineração SA CEO Roberto Carvalho over theNovember 2015 dam burst, Reuters reported.
*African Potash Ltd. a cooperation and exclusivityagreement in May with Nutri-Aid Trust supply fertilizer to Nutri-Aid's supplynetwork, which includes more than 2,500 agro-outlets serving on average 300farmers each.
*China's coal imports rose8.2% on a yearly basis to 108 million tonnes in the first sixmonths of 2016 amid the country's drive to cut domestic overcapacity, BloombergNews wrote, citing customs data.
*Changes to the federal coal-leasing program remain a sticking point in the U.S.Department of Interior spending bill as U.S. House lawmakers and the White Housethreatens a veto. The agency appropriations bill includes a section that wouldeliminate the review of the federal coal leasing program and disallow anyspending towards making possible royalty rate , according to the bill.
* A6.7% increase in iron ore price to US$59.38 sent BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto andFortescue Metals shares in Australia up 3.3%, 2.8% and 5.5%, respectively toA$20.58, A$50.78 and A$4.40 per share on July 13, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.Meanwhile, Macquarie Group Ltd. said the recent increase in iron ore prices maybe disproportionate to market fundamentals given rising supplies frommines, a buildup in Chinese port inventories and declining output from steelmills, Bloomberg wrote.
*Arrium Ltd.administrators KordaMentha are set toappoint joint lead managers for the proposed A$1.5 billion IPO of thetroubled company's Moly-Cop business, TheAustralian Financial Review reported.
*China's Jiangxi province plans to close 205 coal mines with a combined annualcapacity of 12.8 million tonnes this year, which forms part of the localgovernment's five-year plan to close 283 coal mines with 18.7 million tonnes ofannual capacity, Chinese newspaper NanchangDaily reported.
SPECIALTY
*De Beers SA pickedfive historically disadvantaged South African-owned diamond cutting andpolishing companies to take part in its beneficiation project, Mining Weekly reported. The firms wouldreceive assistance in their entrepreneurial development and hands-on supportfrom Raizcorp., in addition to bespoke rough diamonds from De Beers.
*PJSC ALROSA recovereda 214.65-carat rough diamond from its Nyurbinskoye placer deposit in Russia.
*Sociedad Quimica y Minera deChile SA denied earlier reports that it has filed a secondary claimbefore the Chilean Office of the Comptroller General after its invalidationsuit against permits granted to Rockwood Holdings Inc. to increase lithium production innorthern Chile was rejected by the environmental regulator SMA, daily Diario Financiero reported.
*Rio Tinto isselling a coin made with 1 kilogram of 99.99% fine gold and a 0.54-caratred diamond from its Argyle diamond mine for A$1 million, Australian Miningreported.
*Ardiden Ltd.secured a thirdlithium project in Ontario after staking and securing the Root Bay lithiumproject.
*NioCorp DevelopmentsLtd. has produced the first sample of scandium material from itsElk Creekproject in Nebraska.
INDUSTRY NEWS
*The US challengedChina at the World Trade Organization over the latter's export duties on nineraw materials including antimony, cobalt and copper, claiming they give anunfair competitive advantage to Chinese firms, Agence France-Presse reported.
*Peru's President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is planningto name Gonzalo Tamayo as the energy and mines minister in his cabinet,Reuters reported. Kuczynski is an economist for local consulting firmMacroconsult.
* Anew report by the Monash University into the black lung disease for there-emergence of the disease in Australia, TheAustralian Financial Review wrote. According to the publication, the totalnumber of cases could be in the hundreds in Queensland and New South Wales,which could make the Queensland government and resource companies liable formillions of dollars in compensation.
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