TOP NEWS
Report: Rio Tinto, Indonesia reach deal on sale of Grasberg interest
Rio Tinto reportedly agreed on the terms with Indonesia to sell its participating interest in the Grasberg copper mine in the country's Papua province, The Australian reported. Rio Tinto and Indonesia's state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Persero), or Inalum, have yet to sign the deal, which could fetch the mining major around US$3.5 billion. Signing is subject to Grasberg-operator Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and Inalum finalizing the terms under which Indonesia will take a 51% stake in the mine.
Glencore shares sink on US DOJ subpoena on Nigeria, DRC, Venezuela operations
Glencore PLC's shares closed over 7% down in London, after subsidiary Glencore Ltd. received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice to produce documents over its business dealings in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Venezuela beginning in 2007 to the present. The Swiss commodities trader said it will review the subpoena, which was related to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the country's money laundering statutes.
Agarwal facing shareholder opposition on planned Vedanta Resources takeover
Anil Agarwal is facing shareholder resistance over his proposed US$1 billion offer for Vedanta Resources PLC, which will see Volcan Investments Ltd. acquiring the stake it does not own in the London-listed Indian miner and take it private, Reuters reported. However, a large minority shareholder in the mining group told the newswire that the offer was too low and that his investment firm will raise concerns about the deal with Vedanta's independent directors. "We think that this offer is very opportunistic and massively undervalues Vedanta," said the anonymous shareholder.
DIVERSIFIED
* China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. achieved commercial production July 1 in series two of the second expansion phase at its Jiama copper-molybdenum-gold mine in China. The development brings the entire phase-two expansion project into commercial production ahead of schedule.
* Rox Resources Ltd. exercised its option to purchase two tenements at its Fisher East nickel and Mount Fisher gold projects in Western Australia for A$600,000 in cash.
BASE METALS
* Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal said that his proposal to delist the company from the LSE is not connected with the incident at the Tuticorin copper smelter in India's Tamil Nadu state, and is merely a move to simplify a sprawling business empire, Press Trust of India reported.
* Vedanta Ltd. filed a challenge with the National Green Tribunal, New Delhi, against the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's order to close the company's Tuticorin smelter in the state, The Hindu reported.
* Independence Group NL will secure up to a 95% joint venture interest in the Southern Hills tenements in Western Australia with three entities owned and controlled by Mark Creasy. The group of tenements are contiguous to the Nova nickel-copper-cobalt mining lease and cover about 1,100 square kilometers of Fraser Range geology west and southwest of Nova.
* Alexander Mining PLC unit MetaLeach Ltd. was granted a 20-year patent in Chile for a method for ammoniacal leaching, effective July 11, 2008, the date of the original filing.
* Australian Mines Ltd. will supply 40 kilograms of nickel sulfate and 4 kilograms of cobalt sulfate to South Korea-based off-take partner SK Innovation for the latter's electric vehicle battery manufacturing process.
* Superior Lake Resources Ltd. is proceeding with a restart study for its namesake Superior Lake zinc-copper-gold-silver project in Ontario after outlining a maiden resource estimate for the Winston and Pick Lake mines of about 2.15 million tonnes at 17.7% zinc, 0.9% copper, 0.4 g/t gold and 33.5 g/t silver.
* Metals X Ltd.'s and Greentech Technology International Ltd.'s 50/50 joint venture Bluestone Mines Tasmania started the commissioning of its new crushing and ore sorting facility at the Renison tin mine in Tasmania, Australia.
* Sun Metals Corp. signed an exploration agreement with the Takla First Nation related to its flagship Stardust copper-gold project located within traditional lands in British Columbia.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Newmont Mining Corp. achieved commercial gold production at the Twin Creeks Underground mine, part of its Nevada Operations. The company said July 3 that the expansion project was completed on schedule for US$42 million, below its guidance of between US$45 million and US$55 million.
* The Schall Law Firm and Rosen Law Firm filed separate class action lawsuits against Sibanye Gold Ltd. on behalf of the company's investors, seeking to recover damages under federal securities laws. The legal actions allege that the company made false and misleading statements during April 7, 2017, through June 26, and that it prioritized short-term profits over the safety of its facilities and employees.
* The director general of Western Australia's mines department condemned the posting of racist and offensive signs around an eastern Goldfields station owned by Aboriginal people who have reportedly been in a dispute with Hawthorn Resources Ltd. since 2015. Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety Director General David Smith said police are investigating a series of racist signs around the station near the Trouser Legs gold mine, of which Hawthorn has a controlling interest.
* An updated definitive feasibility study for an underground operation at Resolute Mining Ltd.'s Syama gold mine in Mali extended the mine's life to 16 years at a reduced all-in sustaining cost of US$746/oz of gold.
* Atlantic Gold Corp. signed a commitment letter for a C$150 million senior secured revolving credit facility with National Bank of Canada. The company plans to use the proceeds to repay an existing project loan facility for its Moose River Consolidated gold mine in Nova Scotia and for additional development and growth opportunities.
* Resources & Energy Group Ltd. estimated a maiden JORC 2012-compliant resource for its Radio gold mine in Western Australia of 210,700 tonnes at 4.23 g/t gold for 28,600 contained ounces. The estimate includes an indicated resource of 50,300 tonnes at 4.55 g/t gold for 7,400 contained ounces and an inferred resource of 160,400 tonnes at 4.12 g/t gold for 21,300 contained ounces.
* Musgrave Minerals Ltd. signed a nonbinding term sheet with Westgold Resources Ltd. for the development of existing gold resources at its Break of Day and Lena deposits, part of the Cue gold project in Western Australia.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Ferrexpo PLC's total iron ore pellet production in the second quarter remained stable year over year at 2.5 million tonnes. Pellet output in the first half declined 1.2% year over year to 5.1 million tonnes due to a planned 65-day pellet line refurbishment.
* Exxaro Resources Ltd. started work on its 3.3 billion South African rand Belfast mine in South Africa's Mpumalanga province. The mine is expected to produce 2.7 million tonnes of thermal coal per annum for at least 17 years, starting 2020, under the first phase of development. Depending upon market conditions, there could be a second phase, which would extend the mine life to 30 years.
* China will ramp up efforts to eliminate outdated, excessive steel and coke capacity, and intensify a campaign to control coal consumption in major areas in the next three years as part of an anti-pollution program, Reuters reported, citing the country's state council.
* Anglo American PLC's Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. unit secured an operating license to fly drones at its Sishen iron ore mine in South Africa, after working through two years of complex legal, governance and logistical challenges, Mining Weekly reported. Bongi Ntsoelengoe, Kumba technology manager, said the drones have optimized surveying processes in terms of time and coverage, including being able to gain access to constricted areas.
* Australia's Westpac bank said further major coal investments are likely Down Under after the federal government revealed on July 2 that the commodity would top iron ore as the country's biggest export earner in 2018-19, though that mantle is not expected to last amid lower price forecasts and mining investment having "bottomed out."
* Glencore and Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s failure to agree on a coal supply contract has left some smaller Japanese buyers without a price guide for their own negotiations, Bloomberg News reported, citing Glen Watkins, a commodities analyst with Idemitsu Australia Resources Pty. Ltd.
* In the June quarter, Metro Mining Ltd.'s Bauxite Hills mine in Queensland, Australia, mined 445,000 wet tonnes of bauxite and shipped 399,000 wet tonnes of bauxite. The mine experienced a steady ramp-up in the quarter and is now approaching the budgeted operating rates.
* Kibo Mining PLC signed an agreement with China-based SEPCOIII for the development of its three existing energy projects and future energy projects.
SPECIALTY
* Stornoway Diamond Corp. expects to restart its Renard diamond mine in Quebec on July 4, after a forest fire was contained.
* Nemaska Lithium Inc. inked a five-year off-take deal to supply battery-grade lithium hydroxide to LG Chem Ltd., with deliveries scheduled to start in October 2020. The company's Nemaska Lithium Shawinigan Transformation Inc. unit will supply 7,000 tonnes per year of lithium hydroxide produced at its Shawinigan commercial plant in Quebec on a take-or-pay basis.
* De Beers SA is set to make its foray into synthetic diamond jewelry in the U.S. later in the year, a move that will shake up the global diamond industry, ABC reported.
* Rio Tinto's Australian Diamonds program launched its latest campaign in India aimed at highlighting a new range of affordable jewelry from the company's Argyle Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia.
* Hardey Resources Ltd. secured a 40-day option to acquire 100% of Nelly Vanadium Pty. Ltd., owner of the 53-hectare Nelly vanadium mine in Argentina's San Luis province.
* Argex Titanium Inc. applied for a patent in the U.S. covering the Argex process for producing pigment-grade titanium dioxide. The company plans to use the process in a technology center to be constructed in Quebec with a 5,000-tonne capacity and in a commercial plant with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* A report says a vast portion of Western Australian land remains contaminated with substances including asbestos, cyanide and arsenic, after the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage stopped identifying contaminated sites and reporting about the program to a higher authority, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
* Former Brazilian oil and mining billionaire Eike Batista was sentenced to 30 years in jail after he was found guilty of paying about US$21 million in bribes to former Rio de Janeiro governor Sergio Cabral in exchange for contracts with the state, Mining.com wrote, citing reports from local newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.
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