TOP NEWS

Glencore spending millions in search for new water source for CSA mine

Swiss mining and commodities giant Glencore PLC invested in a multimillion-dollar project to secure a new water source for its CSA copper-silver mine in New South Wales, Australia, The Australian Financial Review reported. This month, the company will start extracting groundwater from eight new bores, looking for an alternative water source amid a drought that also hit other miners in the region.

Coal India's 2019 output, shipments drop YOY

State-owned Coal India Ltd. reported a yearly drop in annual shipments during the 2019 calendar year, the first drop in at least six years, Bloomberg News reported, citing its calculations based on company data. Shipments fell 3.8% to 580.8 million tons due to weak demand from power producers, while production ticked 2.2% lower to 582.8 Mt amid heavy rains early in the year, the report said. Shipments in December 2019 rose 1.9% year over year to 53.63 Mt, with output up 7.2% to 58.02 Mt.

Jiangxi province's Ganzhou opens China's 2nd rare earths exchange

The city of Ganzhou in China's Jiangxi province launched a rare earths exchange, Reuters reported, citing a Jiangxi Daily report posted by the Association of China Rare Earth Industry. The Ganzhou Rare Metal Exchange is the country's second rare earths-focused bourse after the Baotou Rare Earth Products Exchange, which launched in Inner Mongolia in 2014.

BASE METALS

* Independence Group NL decided to grant all Panoramic Resources Ltd. shareholders who accepted its takeover offer a right to withdraw their acceptance. The withdrawal will allow Panoramic shareholders to freely deal with their shares before the offer lapses Jan. 17.

* PolarX Ltd. started a process to secure a new farm-in partner for the Stellar copper-gold project in Alaska after being informed that Lundin Mining Corp.'s option to acquire a stake in the project will expire unexercised.

* Rathdowney Resources Ltd.'s corporate focus in 2020 will be exclusively to advance toward securing a mining license for its fully owned Olza zinc-lead-silver underground development project in Poland.

PRECIOUS METALS

* ZCCM Investments Holdings PLC approved a proposal to enter into a joint venture to develop a gold processing and trading operation in Zambia with local gold processor Karma Mining Services and Rural Development Co. The joint venture will initially source most of the gold ore from artisanal and small-scale gold miners.

* Pistol Bay Mining Inc. will not proceed with its 100% option on the gold-prospective Pakwash South property in Ontario and will instead focus on its Pakwash North and Pakwash East properties.

BULK COMMODITIES

* Los Angeles-based Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. closed its purchase of general line and long bar distributor Fry Steel Co. Inc. Deal terms were not disclosed.

* Whitehaven Coal Ltd. completed the acquisition of EDF Trading Australia Pty. Ltd., which owns a 7.5% interest in the Narrabri underground coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, increasing its stake in the mine to 77.5%.

* JSW Steel Ltd. joint Managing Director and CFO Seshagiri Rao said the steel industry will experience a moderate revival in terms of demand in 2020, The Telegraph of India reported. Rao said there will be a definite revival in 60% of the market in India, particularly in the infrastructure, construction and real estate sectors. However, the remaining 40%, covering the automotive, capital goods, machinery and packaging segments, may need some more time. Rao also said JSW Steel is expected to commission its steel plant in Dolvi in 2020.

* Egypt-based Ezz Steel Co. reported a net loss of 3.59 billion Egyptian pounds for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2019, widening from 1.01 billion pounds year over year. Low steel prices, high costs and the impact of safeguard measures on steel weighed on the results.

* India is looking into amending a law to open upcoming auctions for coal mining blocks to all companies based in the country, The Economic Times reported. Currently, only steel, power and coal washing services companies are allowed to participate in the bidding process, the report said. "This will attract investments from Indian and global corporates, besides mining majors," a senior government official told the news outlet.

* Newton Resources Ltd. agreed to sell its subsidiary, an investment-holding company with a principal operating subsidiary that includes Xingye Mining, the owner and operator of the Yanjiazhuang iron ore mine in China, for HK$109 million.

SPECIALTY

* Chinese lithium company Youngy Co. Ltd. signed a deal to build a lithium ore processing plant in Sichuan province, part of an investment in an industrial zone there worth 1.4 billion Chinese yuan, Reuters reported. The deal requires Youngy to process at least 1.1 million tonnes per annum of spodumene from its Jiajika lithium mine in Sichuan, the report said.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* Hebei province's Tangshan, China's top steelmaking city, issued an orange alert for pollution, which forces companies to slash emissions and, in certain cases, reduce output, Reuters reported, citing a local government notice. The orange alert is the second-highest in the three-tier pollution warning system implemented by the province.

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