trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/69ckfIs0QOtxO6v0Ntwebg2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Investors urge BHP to shun coal lobbyists; KEFI to start Tulu Kapi construction

Blog

Insight Weekly: US stock performance; banks' M&A risk; COVID-19 vaccine makers' earnings

Blog

Insight Weekly: LNG exports surge; investors unfazed by inflation; neobanks drive VC funding

Blog

Essential Metals Mining Insights November 2021

Blog

[Infographic]: 2021 World Exploration Trends


Investors urge BHP to shun coal lobbyists; KEFI to start Tulu Kapi construction

The Daily Dose LIVE returns to the City of London on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Join us for a timely panel discussion on the vulnerabilities facing corporate Europe in a period of deep political, policy and economic uncertainty. Register today to secure your place at this popular breakfast event.

TOP NEWS

Investors urge BHP to sever ties with Australian coal lobby groups

Several BHP Group shareholders urged the mining giant to suspend its membership in Australian coal lobby groups such as the Minerals Council of Australia and Coal21, as they contradict the company's pledges to cut emissions, Reuters reported. Institutional investors collectively holding about A$140 billion under management filed a resolution calling for BHP to act on the matter ahead of this year's annual meetings in London and Sydney.

KEFI Minerals tightens security at Tulu Kapi gold mine as development kicks off

Construction on KEFI Minerals PLC's Tulu Kapi gold project will start in October amid a new report recommending upgraded security, but Executive Chairman Harry Anagnostaras-Adams says the situation in Ethiopia has "settled down," albeit with more petty crime. KEFI decided to start the two-year development phase with the Ethiopian government and ANS Mining Share Company, and according to Anagnostaras-Adams, by the time the project moves into full construction at the end of 2019, there will be "the equivalent of a high-security military compound" protecting the site's people and equipment.

Report: GFG Alliance shelves steel unit's A$1B Australian IPO

Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance Ltd. postponed this year's planned A$1 billion IPO of parts of its Australian Liberty Steel unit on the ASX due to market volatility and the company's tight year-end timeline, Reuters reported, citing two people with knowledge on the matter.

BASE METALS

* Consolidated Zinc Ltd. will take up full ownership of the Plomosas zinc mine in Mexico after signing a binding term sheet to acquire the remaining 10% stake from Retec Guaru SA de CV in exchange for a 1% net smelter returns royalty.

* Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. said a private streaming and royalty company withdrew an offer that would have topped the one lodged by Pala Investments Ltd. The unnamed firm had signed a confidential, non-binding offer to acquire Cobalt 27 for C$4 per share in cash plus 1 share of spinout company Nickel 28 Capital Corp.

* Cobalt QLD Pty Ltd. agreed to sell its 45.6% stake in the Gorge Creek copper project in Queensland, Australia, to joint venture partner Traka Resources Ltd. for 30 million Traka shares.

* The first phase of Metals X Ltd.'s reset plan for its Nifty copper operation in Western Australia remains on schedule, with mining rates expected to reach 2 million tonnes per annum during the March 2020 quarter.

* KAZ Minerals PLC Chairman Oleg Novachuk announced that the development of the 9.5-million-tonne Baimskaya copper project in Russia will use unmanned dump trucks and automated factories, with a control center in Moscow, Vedomosti reported.

PRECIOUS METALS

* Metron Inc., a scientific firm better known for leveraging probability statistics to help find sunken vessels and missing flight recorders, is set to advise Aurania Resources Ltd. about where lost gold mines from the Spanish colonial era may lie in Ecuador's Cutucu mountains on the western edge of the Amazonian basin.

* China is expected to again be the largest producer of mined gold in 2019 while ranking second among the top 10 gold producing countries in terms of total cash cost, according to the Metals and Mining Research team of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

* Acacia Mining PLC shareholders approved Barrick Gold Corp.'s improved offer for the remaining 36.1% stake in the company that Barrick does not already own. Closing is expected Sept. 17.

* Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. said its claim against the government of Thailand under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement, or TAFTA, is more than the US$267 million stated by Thailand's lawyers on their firm's website. The company noted it remains open to a negotiated settlement of the claim.

* Eldorado Gold Corp. received electromechanical installation permits for its Skouries gold project and an installation permit for its Olympias gold mine from the Greek Ministry of Energy and Environment. The company said it is working with the Greek government to enable restart of full construction at Skouries, which was suspended in 2017 due to delays in receiving environmental permits.

* Valor Resources Ltd. signed a binding heads of agreement with Sulphide X Ltd. to acquire its subsidiary Bullfinch One, which holds the contractual rights to earn an interest in the Radio gold project that is owned by Radio Gold Pty Ltd., a subsidiary of Resources & Energy Group Ltd., in Western Australia.

* Ora Gold Ltd. has kicked off a JORC 2012-compliant estimate for the Garden Gully gold deposit in Western Australia to update the JORC 2004-compliant February 2005 estimate of 260,000 tonnes at 3.7 g/t gold containing 31,000 ounces in the indicated and inferred categories.

* Newmont Goldcorp Corp.'s Ahafo gold mill expansion project in Ghana processed its first ore and is on track to achieve commercial production in the fourth quarter.

* Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. recommended Golden Arrow Resources Corp. shareholders to vote in favor of the company's C$44.4 million sale of its 25% stake in the Puna silver mine in Argentina to SSR Mining Inc.

* Gran Colombia Gold Corp. agreed to spin off its Lo Increible 4a and 4b gold assets in Venezuela to Western Atlas Resources Inc. for US$20 million in Western Atlas shares. Gran Colombia also intends to acquire up to 19.9% of Western Atlas through a C$1.4 million subscription into a proposed private placement.

* Rockwealth Resources Corp. entered a binding letter of intent to acquire Realgold Resources Corp. in a reverse takeover, and to sell, transfer, or dispose of Rockwealth's Tayson copper project in the Philippines.

* Landore Resources Ltd.'s drilling program at its BAM gold deposit on the Junior Lake property in Ontario extended the mineralized zone a further 500 meters to a total of 3,600 meters. The mineralization remains open down dip and along strike to the east and the west.

* The value of Venezuela's gold reserves in the first half plunged 18.5% to US$4.62 billion, from US$5.67 billion at the end of 2018, Reuters reported. The drop comes amid accusations that the government is selling the precious metal abroad to raise revenue while under U.S. sanctions.

BULK COMMODITIES

* Experts believe Western Australia's iron ore production could return to higher grades than are currently being mined, which could be facilitated by a new research program being backed by Rio Tinto, BHP Group, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. and Roy Hill Holdings Pty Ltd. S&P Global Market Intelligence has learned that a proposed research between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the iron ore miners and Curtin University will be conducted in Perth over two years.

* Bowen Coking Coal Ltd. amended a purchase agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Pty. Ltd., terminating the latter's right to buy back 51% of the Hillalong coking coal project, which is composed of EPC 2141, 1860, and 1824, in Queensland, Australia.

* The federal court in Australia dismissed an appeal by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission against a federal court judgment over alleged bid rigging conduct involving Cascade Coal Pty Ltd., Paul and Moses Obeid and others. The appeal focused on whether parties associated with Obeid family members and Cascade were "in competition" at the time they withdrew a bid for the Mount Penny and Glendon Brook mining exploration licences.

* Bounty Mining Ltd. said it received two unsolicited, nonbinding proposals from QCoal Bounty Holdings Pty Ltd. to recapitalize the company, as an alternative to the recapitalization and funding proposal previously received from Amaroo Blackdown Investments LLC. The board determined that the original QCoal proposal was not better than Amaroo's, and the directors are reviewing the revised QCoal proposal.

* The city of Tangshan in China's Hebei province has asked over 30 steel mills to cut production in September and early October in a bid to fight pollution and improve air quality, Reuters reported.

* A group of Rio Tinto investors appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit that accused the mining giant of fraud over its acquisition of coal assets in Mozambique, Africa Intelligence wrote.

* Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. declared a special dividend of 4 U.S. cents per share on top of a regular quarterly dividend of 6 U.S. cents per share.

* American Resources Corp. announced an organic metallurgical coal production expansion project expected to increase output from its McCoy Elkhorn coal complex in Kentucky.

* Alliance Resource Partners LP will close the Pennyrile Energy Riveredge coal mine in Kentucky, leading to 169 job losses, 14 News reported.

* GCM Resources PLC entered a consultancy agreement with a Bangladeshi-controlled company, DG Infratech Pte Ltd., to advance its high-grade coal resource of 572 million tonnes at the Phulbari coal and power project in north-west Bangladesh and its proposed 3 x 2,000MW coal-fired mine mouth power plants.

* Morien Resources Corp. received C$935,000 after subsidiary Advanced Primary Minerals USA Corp. completed the sale of its remaining noncore landholding in Hancock County, Ga.

* CAP SA began the second-phase construction of a concentrate transport infrastructure at its Cerro Negro Norte iron ore mine in Chile.

SPECIALTY

* Chile's legislators rejected a bill that would have allowed the state to expropriate private lithium miners operating in the country, including Albemarle Corp. and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, Mining.com reported.

* The Australian and U.S. governments plan to jointly promote 15 rare earth and critical mineral projects as the countries look to reduce their dependence on China for the minerals, Financial Times reported. The projects have been proposed by more than 12 mining companies and will be developed at a cost of A$5.7 billion.

* Ferroglobe PLC completed the €170 million sale of its Grupo FerroAtlántica SAU unit to TPG Sixth Street Partners. Ferroglobe swung to a second-quarter loss of US$40.8 million, from a restated year-ago profit of US$67.4 million.

* Westwater Resources Inc. completed the US$2.8 million sale of four uranium royalties and a promissory note to Uranium Royalty Corp.

* Rogue Resources Inc. said eight buyers have expressed interest in buying about 32,000 tonnes of limestone per year from its Orillia and Bobcaygeon quarries in Ontario.

* North Arrow Minerals Inc. closed the C$266,000 sale of royalty on the Loki diamond project in the Northwest Territories to Umgeni Holdings International Ltd.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* The Queensland Resources Council said mining companies will reconsider and prioritize their engineering and procurement partners based on if they can deliver the whole project over the long term, instead of succumbing to pressure from green activists. "If businesses cave to pressure from anti-coal activists, it' hard to see how resources companies can have confidence in them to work on any other type of resources project," Chief Executive Ian Macfarlane said.

* Zambia's Chamber of Mines wants mineral royalties capped at 7.5% in the 2020 budget to help the mining sector cope with the country's new tax scheme, Reuters reported.

* Macquarie Capital started approaching fund managers as part of mining services provider MLG Oz's planned IPO on the ASX, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk wrote.

The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.