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Zijin to miss FY'19 production targets; Severstal Q3 hot metal output up 7% QOQ

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Zijin to miss FY'19 production targets; Severstal Q3 hot metal output up 7% QOQ

TOP NEWS

Zijin Mining to miss FY'19 output targets for gold, copper, zinc

Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. expects to miss its production targets for gold, copper and zinc this year, despite increasing output for the three metals, Reuters reported, citing a company presentation by executive director George Fang at the China Mining conference in Tianjin province. Gold output is estimated to increase 4.7% yearly to around 38.2 tonnes, but below the guidance of 40 tonnes. Copper output is projected to rise 37.3% to 342,000 tonnes, but missing the target of 350,000 tonnes. Zinc output is expected to climb 34.2% to 373,000 tonnes, also below the guidance of 380,000 tonnes.

Severstal's Q3 output of hot metal up 7%, crude steel down 1% QOQ

PAO Severstal's third-quarter crude steel production inched down 1% from the second quarter to 3.0 million tonnes, while hot metal output grew 7% to 2.5 Mt. Total consolidated steel sales remained unchanged quarter over quarter at 2.8 Mt.

Coeur maintains FY'19 production guidance as Q3 gold, silver output up YOY

Coeur Mining Inc.'s third-quarter gold output climbed to 99,782 ounces from 88,833 ounces last year, while silver output slightly rose to 3.0 million ounces from 2.9 Moz. The miner reaffirmed its full-year production guidance of between 334,000 ounces to 372,000 ounces of gold, 12.2 Moz to 14.7 Moz of silver, 25 Mlbs to 40 Mlbs of zinc, and 20 Mlbs to 35 Mlbs of lead.

DIVERSIFIED

* CEO Ivan Glasenberg disclosed having a 9.00% stake in Glencore PLC as of Oct. 9, an increase from his previous stake of 8.31% in the company, Reuters reported.

BASE METALS

* Vedanta Ltd. plans to shut down its Skorpion zinc operation in Namibia from early November until the end of February 2020 due to technical problems that resulted in reduced ore production, Reuters reported.

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

* Grupo México SAB de CV's ASARCO LLC unit is facing a strike at its copper operations in Arizona and Texas after unions rejected the company's final contract offer, the Arizona Daily Star and Fastmarkets MB reported. The unions, led by United Steelworkers, have slammed ASARCO's offer, which reportedly did not include wage increases while making cuts to the workers' health insurance and other benefits. A strike vote is scheduled Oct. 11.

* SolGold PLC said its operations remain unaffected amid protests in Ecuador, following the announcement of President Lenín Moreno of an economic package, which included the removal of fuel subsidies, to meet International Monetary Fund commitments. The company is on track to deliver a third mineral resource estimate of the Alpala deposit in the fourth quarter and a pre-feasibility study in the first quarter of 2020.

* Ero Copper Corp. said proven and probable mineral reserves at its 99.6%-owned Vale do Curaçá property within the Curaçá Valley copper mine in Brazil increased 106% to about 38 million tonnes containing 436,000 tonnes of copper at a US$2.75 per pound price assumption, from 18.4 million tonnes containing 342,800 tonnes of copper in September 2018.

* Talisman Mining Ltd. closed the sale of its Sinclair nickel project in Western Australia to Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd.

* Panoramic Resources Ltd.'s September quarter nickel production fell 12% quarterly to 1,342 tonnes, while copper production was up 5% to 855 tonnes.

* Power has been restored in First Cobalt Corp.'s First Cobalt refinery in Ontario, and a team of engineers and technicians has been deployed to commence a field program.

* The queue to remove metal from London Metal Exchange-sanctioned warehouses operated by H&M Metal in South Korea lengthened to 30 days from 10 days, resulting from cancellations of over 30,000 tonnes of copper from the exchange-approved warehouse in Busan, Fastmarkets MB reported.

PRECIOUS METALS

* S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Petropavlovsk PLC to positive from negative, citing a strengthening operating performance, improved liquidity, stronger governance and the potential to significantly reduce leverage from 2020.

* Canada Cobalt Works Inc. signed a binding letter of intent to acquire the assets of Polymet Resources Inc., owner of PolyMet Labs and the Northern Ontario silver-cobalt camp's only permitted and operating mineral and precious metal processing facility.

* Krakatoa Resources Ltd. exercised its option to acquire the Belgravia project within the Molong Volcanic Belt in Australia, from Locksley Holdings Pty Ltd.

* An updated resource estimate for Mexican Gold Corp.'s Las Minas gold-copper-silver project in Mexico, at a gold equivalent cut-off grade of 1.5 g/t, outlined an indicated resource of 645,000 gold equivalent ounces at 3.67 g/t contained in 5.5 million tonnes of ore, and an inferred resource of 217,000 gold equivalent ounces at 2.68 g/t contained in 2.5 Mt of ore.

* Petratherm Ltd. was granted a 683-square-kilometer license area, dubbed as the Yuengroon gold project, in Victoria, Australia.

* TriMetals Mining Inc. plans to change its name to Gold Springs Resource Corp. to reflect its focus on the Gold Springs project that straddles the borders of Nevada and Utah.

* Mining production in South Africa, one of the top mining countries in the world, suffered a 3.2% yearly decline in August due to lower production in platinum group metals which accounts for 24% of the nation's mineral group basket, BusinessDay and Mining Weekly reported. PGM output declined 12.5% year on year during the period.

BULK COMMODITIES

* U.S. Steel Corp. expects a third-quarter loss of between US$84 million to US$94 million, or 49 cents to 55 cents per share, swinging from last year's profit of US$291 million, or US$1.62 per share. Adjusted EBITDA is projected in the range of US$134 million and US$144 million, plummeting from US$526 million in the same period in 2018.

* Teck Resources Ltd. has yet to nail down plans for possible cost controls such as job cuts amid "challenging conditions," a company spokesperson told S&P Global Market Intelligence in response to inquiries over a media report that it plans to cut jobs at Canadian metallurgical coal operations.

* Mosaic Co. will temporarily halt production at its Esterhazy potash mine in Saskatchewan amid increasing inventories caused by a global market slowdown and increased risks of a delay in settling contracts with Chinese clients. The latest move will bring Mosaic's total 2019 output cuts to about 600,000 tonnes.

* A bankable feasibility study for Salt Lake Potash Ltd.'s Lake Way sulfate of potash project in Western Australia outlined a posttax net present value, discounted at 8%, of A$479 million, a 28% internal rate of return, and a 3.5-year payback period.

* Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. extended its on-market share buyback program of up to A$500 million by a further 12 months to Oct. 10, 2020.

* The European Commission imposed provisional antidumping duties on steel road wheels from China while opening a separate anti-subsidy investigation into certain steel imports from the East Asian country and Indonesia.

* 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 reported.

* Altech Chemicals Ltd.'s minority-owned Youbisheng Green Paper AG has changed its name to Altech Advanced Materials AG and plans to raise US$100 million. Altech Advanced Materials is looking to raise about US$100 million to exercise its recently secured right to acquire a 10% to 49% stake in Altech's high purity alumina plant in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, for US$20.4 million to US$100 million.

SPECIALTY

* Australia and the U.S. will finalize a joint strategy on rare earths and critical minerals within weeks, The Australian reported.

* Western Australia amended the royalty arrangement for lithium producers, resulting in 5% feedstock royalty rate for lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate that aims to encourage downstream processing and manufacturing. The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies lauded the move, saying the royalty rate allows the state's miners to compete internationally and secure its place in the global lithium value chain.

* Core Lithium Corp. entered into tenement sale agreements with Todd River Resources Ltd. to acquire two new lithium pegmatite projects, namely the Soldiers Creek project and the Walabanba project, in northern Australia for US$50,000 in shares for each project.

* E3 Metals Corp. and Livent Corp. kicked off their joint development project through which they aim to advance E3's ion-exchange direct lithium extraction process on a lithium project in Alberta, Canada, Mining Weekly reported.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* Ling Yueming, vice minister of China's Ministry of Natural Resources, told delegates at the China Mining Conference and Exhibition in Tianjin that the ministry will introduce more measures to the industry later this year after completing the revisions on the Mineral Resources Law to better protect the rights and interests of miners, both from China or abroad.

* Zambia owed major mining companies 2.8 billion kwacha in tax refunds as of June 30, according to Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu, Reuters reported.

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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