TOP NEWS
BarrickGold mulls relaunching Pascua Lama project
Barrick GoldCorp. is assessing relaunching its suspended gold project on theborder between Argentina and Chile, President Kelvin Dushnisky reportedly said.The goal would be to develop the project in several stages, business magazine AméricaEconomía reported.
IlukaResources Ltd.'s total mineral sands for the June quarter fell to265,300 tonnes, from 304,800 tonnes a year ago. Quarterly rutile productiondeclined to 31,400 tonnes from 35,900 tonnes a year earlier, synthetic rutileproduction slumped to 49,800 tonnes from 55,800 tonnes, and ilmenite productiondropped to 82,800 tonnes from 115,500 tonnes.
The Queensland government will introduce tougher dustcontrols and better testing in its bid to eliminate the incidences of pneumoconiosis, also knownas black lung disease, in the state's coal industry.
BASE METALS
* VedantaResources Plc has repaidin full and redeemed the US$514.8 million of outstanding amount on its 5.5%2016 convertible bonds due July 13. The company has now repaid all outstandingU.S. dollar bond maturities due in fiscal 2017.
* The private mining sector in Chile is expected tocontribute only US$30 million in taxes this year, a 98.5% year-over-year dropdue to lower production and copper prices, higher costs, and the globalcommodities slowdown, according to estimates by the country's Finance Ministry.Meanwhile, state miner Codelco would provide some US$884 million, its lowestamount since 2013, daily El Mercurio reported.
* AtalayaMining plc said total open pit mineral reserves at its copper project inSpain increasedby 12% to 681,000 tonnes of contained metal, within 153 million tonnes at 0.45%copper.
* The Arizona Court of Appeals overturned a 2015 ruling that blocked the air qualitypermit for HudBay MineralsInc.'s proposed Rosemont copper mine in Arizona, the Arizona DailyStar reported.
* The Philippine government's crackdown on certain mines inthe country is expected to have only a minor impact on nickel ore exports toChina in the short term as some of the largest producers have already compliedwith guidelines, Reuters reported, citing experts.
* China's copper imports in the first half of 2016jumped 22% year overyear to 2.74 million tonnes, MetalBulletin reported.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Hunan GoldCorp. Ltd. expects net profit attributable to shareholders to increase bybetween 150% and 200% in the first half from a net profit of 16.4 millionChinese yuan posted a year ago. Net profit is expected to range between 41.0million yuan and 49.2 million yuan, an increase over the previous guidance ofbetween 16.4 million yuan and 24.6 million yuan.
* Kin MiningNL has rejected the merger offer from saying that theproposal "significantly undervalues the company."
* MetalsExploration Plc resumed milling operations at its Runruno gold project in the Philippines and isfeeding run-of-mine ore into the processing plant.
* PantoroLtd. completed the acquisition of the remaining 20% of the gold project inWestern Australia from BulletinResources Ltd.
* GoldplatPlc has signeda nonbinding letter of intent with Gulf Shore Resources Ltd., allowing thelatter to earn up to a 75% interest in the company's 90%-owned gold project in Ghana forUS$3 million.
* B2GoldCorp. posted record gold production of 135,242 ounces for thesecond quarter, representing an 11% increase on a yearly basis. Gold revenuefor the quarter, meanwhile, totaled US$164.8 million on record gold sales of130,829 ounces at an average price of US$1,260 per ounce.
* Silver Standard Resources Inc. produced 97,790 goldequivalent ounces during the second quarter, which includes at the operation before thecompany's takeover of ClaudeResources Inc.
* Royal BafokengPlatinum Ltd. expects to swing to earnings per share and headline earnings pershare of between 71 South African cents and 81 cents for the first half of 2016.
* BeaconMinerals Ltd. entered into an agreement to 12,199 tonnes of high-graderefractory gold ore to NorthernStar Resources Ltd. for A$611.87 per tonne, net of all costs.
* An AngloAmerican Platinum Ltd. employee died at its Khuseleka shaft at the Thembelani mine, part ofthe Rustenburgoperations in South Africa. The employee was injured during a rock conveyanceincident March 31 and died from an infection while being treated.
* India relaxed its tax policy on gold jewelry sales, exemptingjewelers with turnover of up to US$2.2 million a year from the excise duty,Reuters reported.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Russian fertilizer producer 's total for mineralfertilizers in 2015 slid 1.5% to 5.0 million tonnes compared to the prior year.The company's ammonia production dropped 3.1% year over year to 1.8 milliontonnes, nitrogen fertilizer production remained steady at 3.0 million tonnes,while complex fertilizer production decreased 1.8% to 2.5 million tonnes.
* FortescueMetals Group Ltd. confirmed it exceeded its 165 million-tonne shipping guidance for thefiscal year ended June 30, with shipments totaling 169.4 million tonnes of ironore.
* Challenging potash market conditions prompted to its Saskatchewan-based potash mine forthe rest of 2016. The company will also stop turnaround activities at the mineand has served temporary layoff notices to about 330 employees.
* OJSCMagnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works posted a 5.2%quarter-over-quarter increase in second-quarter production and a 38.2% jumpin realized prices due to increased furnace utilization rates and a seasonalboost in local demand.
* Brazilian prosecutors have a probe into alleged environmental crimes by CEO RobertoCarvalho over the November 2015 dam burst, Reuters reported.
* CompanhiaSiderúrgica Nacional will off-load its interest in only after it minimizes losses on its US$1.2 billion investment, Reuters reported,citing company executives.
* Meanwhile, Usiminas has asked banks to extend the deadlinefor a standstill agreement over 4 billion Brazilian reais by 30 days to 60days, Reuters reported.The 120-day agreement is set to expire next week.
* The dispute between controlling shareholders of Usiminas,Nippon Steel & Sumitomo MetalCorp. and TechintGroup, and the current administration led by CEO Sergio Leite hasundermined the chances of financial recovery for the Brazilian steelmaker,attorneys representing minority shareholder Companhia Siderúrgica Nacionalsaid, daily Exame reported.
* BlueScopeSteel Ltd. expects its underlying before interest and tax for theyear ended June 30, to be about A$570 million. EBIT in the second half of theyear is expected to be about A$340 million, compared to the guidance of aboutA$270 million. Preliminary unaudited net debt at June 30 is expected to beabout A$780 million.
* EvrazPlc has announcedthe start of a new blast furnace construction project with the productioncapacity of 2.5 million tonnes of pig iron per year. The new blast furnace willallow the company to "maintain the production of pig iron at at 5 million tonnes per year."
* Queensland Resources Council CEO Michael Roche said theindustry is appalledat the apparent failure across the spectrum of screening, from lung functiontests, chest x-rays through to questions over the qualifications and expertiseof those carrying out the testing and screening.
* A coal plant in Montana has decided to shut down two ofits units, owned by Puget Sound Energy and Talen Energy, after environmentalgroups took the companies to court over violations of the federal Clean AirAct, Mining.com reported.
* China's coal imports rose 8.2%on a yearly basis to 108 million tonnes in the first six months of 2016 amidthe country's drive to cut domestic overcapacity, Bloomberg News wrote, citingcustoms data.
* ArriumLtd. administrators KordaMentha are set to appoint joint lead managers for the proposed A$1.5billion IPO of the troubled company's Moly-Cop business, The AustralianFinancial Review reported.
* China's Jiangxi province plans to close 205 coal mineswith a combined annual capacity of 12.8 million tonnes this year, which formspart of the local government's five-year plan to close 283 coal mines with 18.7million tonnes of annual capacity, Chinese newspaper Nanchang Daily reported.
SPECIALTY
* BerkeleyEnergia Ltd.'s independent definitive feasibility study that the uranium project inSpain is capable of producing an average of 4.4 million pounds of uranium peryear at a total cash cost of US$15.06 per pound, over a 10-year period.
* PJSCALROSA has recovered a 214.65-carat rough diamond from itsNyurbinskoye placer deposit, which is in the immediate vicinity of theNyurbinskayapipe primary deposit in Russia.
* De BeersSA picked five historically disadvantaged South African-owneddiamond-cutting and polishing companies to take part in its beneficiationproject, Mining Weekly reported. The firms would receive assistance intheir entrepreneurial development and hands-on support from Raizcorp, inaddition to bespoke rough diamonds from De Beers.
* RioTinto is selling a coin made with 1 kilogram of 99.99% fine goldand a 0.54-carat red diamond from its Argyle diamond mine for A$1 million, Australian Miningreported.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Peru's President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski wants tolower the country's air quality standards in a bid to attract investment insmelters, Reuters reported.
* The U.S. challenged China at the World Trade Organization over thelatter's export duties on nine raw materials including antimony, cobalt andcopper, claiming they give an unfair competitive advantage to Chinese firms,Agence France-Presse reported.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. London time, andscans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay,Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links mayrequire a subscription.