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S&P sees stronger gold, nickel prices; IAMGOLD fails to strike deal

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S&P sees stronger gold, nickel prices; IAMGOLD fails to strike deal

TOP NEWS

S&P bumps up nickel, gold price forecasts while cutting copper, zinc

S&P Global Ratings increased its nickel price forecast for the rest of 2019 to US$17,000 per tonne from US$12,000/t and also upped its price projections for 2020 and 2021, after Indonesia opted to accelerate a ban on ore exports. It cut forecasts for copper and zinc prices due to general demand weakness amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China. With banks cutting interest rates in response to sluggish economic growth, Ratings raised its price assumptions for gold to US$1,450 per ounce for the rest of this year, projecting prices at US$1,400/oz in 2020 and 2021.

Report: IAMGOLD unable to strike M&A deal with Chinese bidders

IAMGOLD Corp. failed to strike a deal with several Chinese bidders over a potential sale of the company, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. In May, the news agency reported that IAMGOLD was exploring a full or partial sale of the company amid a string of consolidations in the gold mining industry.

Protesters lift blockade at Newmont's Peñasquito mine, putting talks in play

Protesters suspended a blockade at Newmont Goldcorp Corp.'s Peñasquito gold mine in Zacatecas, Mexico, paving the way for fresh talks between Newmont and protest leaders, Francisco Quiroga, undersecretary of mines with the country's Ministry of Economy, told S&P Global Market Intelligence. Newmont also confirmed that the blockade, which started Sept. 14, had ended and said the shutdown had cut Peñasquito's third-quarter production by about 11,000 gold ounces, 1.7 million silver ounces, 13.7 million pounds of lead and 22.8 million pounds of zinc.

DIVERSIFIED

* Aberdeen Standard Investments, one of the biggest shareholders of BHP Group, added to pressure for the miner to cut ties with lobby groups that are at odds with the company's pledges on climate leadership, Reuters reported.

BASE METALS

* MMG Ltd. expects mining operations at the Las Bambas mine in Peru to be affected by persistent blockades that have interrupted logistics to the operation since Sept. 22.

* The Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources removed the suspension of DMCI Holdings Inc.'s nickel unit, Zambales Diversified Metals Corp., shortly after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau recommended that operations be allowed to resume, Reuters reported.

* Michael Carl, a senior adviser with M&A specialist Indonesian law firm SSEK, said in an interview on the sidelines of the China Mining Conference and Exhibition that in Tianjin he expects more Chinese companies to go the route of Tsingshan Holding Group Co. Ltd. and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. Ltd. in setting up mines and smelters in Indonesia, the world's largest nickel producer.

* Red River Resources Ltd. said it resumed full production at the Thalanga base metals operation's processing plant in Queensland, Australia, after completing repairs at the secondary crusher.

PRECIOUS METALS

* Venus Metals Corp. Ltd. sued Spectrum Metals Ltd. in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, claiming the latter breached its fiduciary duty, violated confidence and misused information in the acquisition of the Penny West gold project in October 2018. In response, Spectrum said the allegations made were without merit and that it would vigorously defend against the allegations.

* SSR Mining Inc.'s third-quarter gold equivalent production exceeded 100,000 ounces, with its Seabee mine in Saskatchewan producing a record 32,345 ounces.

* Peru-focused Cia. de Minas Buenaventura SAA's third-quarter gold output totaled 236,694 ounces of gold in the September quarter, falling from 290,159 ounces in the same period of 2018. Silver output dropped to about 5.0 million ounces from about 6.8 Moz.

* S&P Global Ratings improved Petropavlovsk PLC's outlook to positive from negative due to stronger operating performance, improved liquidity, stronger governance and a potential to significantly reduce leverage from 2020.

* Caledonia Mining Corp. PLC finished installing and commissioning the new oxygen plant at the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe, which is expected to improve metallurgical recovery to about 94% and reduce cyanide consumption.

* Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.'s third-quarter production surged 38% year over year to a record 248,000 ounces. Output at its Fosterville mine in Victoria, Australia, jumped 75% from a year ago to a record 158,327 ounces, while the output from its Macassa mine in Ontario rose 13% to 62,945 ounces.

* Dundee Precious Metals Inc. produced a total of 65,600 ounces of gold in the third quarter from its Chelopech and Ada Tepe gold mines in Bulgaria. The Ada Tepe mine, which achieved commercial production in June, produced 25,300 ounces in the third quarter, while Chelopech produced 40,300 ounces.

* Nord Gold SE raised US$400 million through a five-year eurobond issue, improving the company's maturity profile as now there are no bank loan repayments due before 2021.

* Victoria Gold Corp. made its first shipment of doré from the Eagle gold mine in Canada's Yukon territory Oct. 8, to be delivered to the Royal Canadian Mint for refining. The shipment contained 2,450 ounces of doré comprising 83.3% gold and 8.7% silver.

* Gran Colombia Gold Corp. completed its acquisition of a 19.9% equity investment in Western Atlas Resources Inc. through the first tranche of a nonbrokered private placement.

* Kingsrose Mining Ltd. extended the life of its Talang Santo to July 2020. Gold production from stockpiled ore at the mine will continue until September 2020, while production from this pit is estimated to be 16,400 ounces of gold for this financial year.

BULK COMMODITIES

* Indian miners are campaigning against a government plan to link a new coal index to international prices, which is aimed at ending Coal India Ltd.'s monopoly on prices and to privatize the sector, Reuters wrote. The government recently invited foreign companies to bid for local coal mining blocks for the first time.

* Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. CEO Elizabeth Gaines warned at a mining club luncheon in Melbourne that China will seek alternative iron ore supplies should Australia neglect its relationship with its major trading partner, The Australian reported.

* After Ferrexpo PLC CEO Kostyantin Zhevago did not show up for questioning in September about his previously owned banking business as a suspect in a case involving money laundering and embezzlement, Ukrainian investigators initiated court proceedings to find him, Bloomberg reported, citing Roman Truba, the head of Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations.

* Shanghai Metals Market estimated that 83 vessels carrying 13.8 million tonnes of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, up by 2.5 million tonnes from the week ended Sept. 21.

SPECIALTY

* Russia's Polymetal International PLC will consider investing in Tomtor, the country's largest rare earth project, Reuters reported, citing CEO Vitaly Nesis. Polymetal said in August that it was considering acquiring minority stakes in domestic rare earth mineral projects, tapping into growing demand for commodities used in electric vehicle production.

* PJSC Alrosa's September diamond sales brought in US$258.7 million, with rough diamonds accounting for US$256.5 million. The revenue was higher over the previous three months partly due to the traditional fall market revival after the holiday period and a slight increase in demand from Indian cutters and polishers leading to the Diwali festival.

* Hexagon Resources Ltd. secured an option to acquire a 49% interest in Innovation Metals Corp.'s proprietary downstream rare earth elements separation technology, RapidSX, which the companies hope will allow rare earth producers outside of China to serve the U.S., European, Japanese and Korean markets along with mitigating the concentration of rare earth supply and separation capability in China.

* An updated resource estimate for Thor Mining PLC's Molyhil project in Australia's Northern Territory outlined 4.7 million tonnes grading 0.28% tungsten trioxide, 0.14% molybdenum, 0.05% copper and 18.0% iron using a cutoff grade of 0.12% tungsten equivalent.

* Aura Energy Ltd. reported an updated resource estimate for its Haggan vanadium project in Sweden. At a 0.20% vanadium pentoxide cutoff, indicated and inferred resources stood at 2 billion tonnes with an average grade of 0.3% vanadium pentoxide for 13.33 billion pounds contained. Most of the resource is in the inferred category.

* Lucapa Diamond Co. Ltd. reported proceeds of US$10.4 million from its latest diamond sales from the Lulo mine in Angola and the Mothae mine in Lesotho.

* Great Atlantic Resources Corp. was given the approval for a funding of C$25,000 by the New Brunswick Department of Energy and Resource Development for the company's 2019 exploration program on the Glenelg Vanadium Property in southwestern New Brunswick.

* Razore Rock Resources Inc. signed an option agreement with True North Gems Inc. to earn up to a 70% working interest in the True Blue rare earths project in Canada's Yukon territory.

* Workers at Fura Gems Inc.'s Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia are working in unsafe conditions, the Financial Post reported, citing former company employees who said management ignored their repeated requests to provide equipment such as masks and safety glasses.

* Stockbroker Shaw and Partners is booking funds to meet Macarthur Minerals Ltd.'s management next week ahead of an IPO aiming to raise as much as A$7.5 million, the Australian Financial Review's Street Talk reported.

* Diatreme Resources Ltd.'s potential off-take partner for the Cyclone zircon project in Western Australia, Hunan Rare Earth Industry Group, identified the presence of hafnium within the rare earth concentrate samples studied, which may boost the project's value.

* Ardiden Ltd. signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with Rock Tech Lithium Inc. to work together to develop a project to potentially supply spodumene concentrate at 6% to 7% lithium oxide from a combination of their respective lithium projects, Seymour Lake and Georgia Lake.

* Sayona Mining Ltd. assembled a team to support its bidding process for the North American Lithium Inc. operation in Quebec, following the start of the formal asset sale process for the lithium mine.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* Brazilian mining regulator Agência Nacional de Mineração suspended 54 tailings dams, saying the operations were not stable, Reuters reported.

* Sierra Leone's abrupt cancellation of an iron ore license this week raised concerns about a resurgence of resource nationalism across the continent, Financial Times reported, citing Eric Humphrey-Smith, an analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.

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