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Zijin expects to miss FY'19 output targets; Coeur's Q3 gold, silver output up

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Zijin expects to miss FY'19 output targets; Coeur's Q3 gold, silver output up

TOP NEWS

Zijin expects to miss FY'19 output targets

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 presentation by the company's executive director George Fang at the China Mining conference. The company revised its expectation to around 38.2 tonnes of gold from the previous target of 40 tonnes, but higher by 4.7% than the 36.5 tonnes of output last year.

Couer Mining's Q3 gold, silver output up YOY

Coeur Mining Inc.'s third-quarter production of gold and silver increased year on year as the company maintained its production guidance for full-year 2019. 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 company also produced 4.2 million pounds of zinc and 4.5 million pounds of lead, both increasing year on year.

US Steel estimates Q3'19 loss of up to US$94M

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.

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.

* The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has given Philex Mining Corp. the approval to employ the underground sublevel cave mining method for its Silangan copper-gold mine in Surigao del Norte, Philippines, BusinessWorld reported, citing a disclosure of the company to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

BASE METALS

* MMG Ltd. said mining operations at its Las Bambas copper project in Peru will start being impacted unless inbound logistics are restored within the next few days.

* 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.

* Red River Resources Ltd. has resumed full production at its Thalanga base metals process plant in Queensland, Australia.

* SolGold PLC said that 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, in order 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.

* 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.

PRECIOUS METALS

* Venus Metals Corporation Limited 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.

* 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.

* New Gold Inc. is positioned to meet its full-year 2019 guidance of 465,000 to 520,000 gold equivalent ounces as it hits production of 128,899 gold equivalent ounces in the third quarter, and a total of 384,719 gold equivalent ounces in the first nine months of the year.

* Western Atlas Resources Inc. signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of Medoro Resources Ltd. from Gran Colombia Gold Corp.

* Gran Colombia Gold produced a total of 19,395 ounces of gold in September, bringing the total for the third quarter to 56,271 ounces, lower than the 57,163 ounces produced in the third quarter of 2018.

* The full-year 2019 production guidance of Avesoro Resources Inc. remains under review due to a number of operational uncertainties. The company’s consolidated gold production for the third quarter totaled 22,678 ounces, down from the 34,338 ounces produced in the previous quarter.

* A new oxygen plant was successfully installed and commissioned at Caledonia Mining Corp. PLC's Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe. The new oxygen plant is expected to improve metallurgical recovery and reduce cyanide consumption at Blanket.

* Westgold Resources Ltd.'s recommencement of ore processing in its Meekatharra gold operations in Western Australia has not yet started due to continued issues with the bearing on the SAG mill at its Bluebird Plant. A completely new bearing is being manufactured and is expected to be available for fitting late next week.

* 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.

* TriMetals Mining Inc. intends to change its name to Gold Springs Resources Corp. and its stock trading symbol on the TSX to GRC, which are expected to take effect in the upcoming weeks. The company, meanwhile, has started its drill program at the Homestake target located on the Nevada side of the Gold Springs project.

* Ero Copper Corp. estimated a 69% increase in measured and indicated mineral resources to about 72 million tonnes containing approximately 894,000 tonnes of copper. Proven and probable mineral reserves, meanwhile, increased 106% to about 38 million tonnes containing 436,000 tonnes of copper.

* Mining production in South Africa, one of the top mining countries in the world, suffered a 3.2% year on year 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

* 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.

* 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.

* Mosaic Co. will temporarily curtail production at its Esterhazy mine, which when combined with a previously announced potash curtailment, brings total curtailments to up to 600,000 tonnes. The curtailment is not expected to impact the pace of development at the Esterhazy mine K3 project. If the full amount of the curtailment is realized in lower fourth-quarter 2019 sales, it would result in a negative impact of approximately US$150 million in adjusted EBITDA.

* The European Commission opened an investigation into whether China and Indonesia are dumping hot-rolled stainless steel in the European Union, Reuters reported.

* 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.

* Total U.S. coal production for the week ended Oct. 5 decreased 13.4% year over year to 13.2 million tons from 15.2 million tons, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. For the 52 weeks ended Oct. 5, production was 726.7 million tons, a year-over-year decrease of 3.8%, while year-to-date coal output fell 7.1% year over year to 547.2 million tons.

* ZK International Group Co. Ltd.'s subsidiary Zhejiang Zhengkang Industrial Co. Ltd. was among the five winning bidders to supply stainless steel pipes and fittings for Phase VI of Shenzhen's Community Pipeline Network Upgrade Program managed by Shenzhen Water Group Co. Ltd. ZK International is expected to supply up to US$5.8 million worth of its high-performance stainless steel pipes and fittings for the program.

SPECIALTY

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

* PJSC Alrosa's September diamond sales totaled US$258.7 million, with rough diamonds accounting for US$256.5 million. Sales fell from US$338.7 million a year ago but grew from August sales of US$181.2 million.

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

* Thor Mining PLC's mineral resource estimate for its flagship Molyhil project in Australia's Northern Territory increased 1.5% for contained tungsten trioxide and 9.3% for contained molybdenum compared to the previous estimate. The project hosts 4.7 million tonnes at 0.28% tungsten trioxide, 0.14% molybdenum, 0.05% copper and 18.0% iron above a cutoff of 0.12% tungsten trioxide.

* Aura Energy Ltd. outlined a new resource at its Haggan vanadium project in central Sweden of 2 billion tonnes at 0.3% vanadium pentoxide, or V2O5, containing 13.33 billion pounds of V2O5 at a 0.2% cutoff. The estimate comprises an indicated resource of 320 million pounds and an inferred resource of 13.01 billion pounds.

* 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.

* 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

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

* 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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