TOP NEWS
BHPBilliton expected to fall short of iron ore export target
seems to havemissedits iron ore export target from Western Australia, with reports from its rivalssuggesting that shipments from the mining major totaled about 258 milliontonnes during the 2016 financial year, TheAustralian Financial Review reported. Shipments for the year to June 30were expected to total 270 million tonnes, but BHP revised that target to 260million tonnes in April due to railway maintenance and adverse weather.
Twoof China's coal majors, ShenhuaGroup Corp. Ltd. and China National Coal Group Corp., are expected to play amajor role in thecountry's coal sector reforms, by buying up coal mines owned by central government-ownedcompanies that are not focused in the coal industry, according to marketanalysts.
agreedto supply potash to aconsortium of Chinese buyers at US$219 per tonne — almost US$100 per tonne lessthan last year — in a deal that analysts say demonstrates the growing power ofpotash buyers compared with increasingly fragmented producers. BPC Director GeneralElena Kudryavets said the price reflected the current situation in the potashmarket.
BASE METALS
*Fitch Ratings has affirmed FirstQuantum Minerals Ltd.'s long-term issuer default rating and seniorunsecured ratings at B, with a stable outlook. All ratings have also beenremoved from watch negative.
*Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel Sales has until July 20 to voluntarilydeclare itself the operator of the Townsville nickel refinery inQueensland, Australia, or it would be given the status by Workplace Health andSafety Queensland nonetheless, the Australian Associated Press reported.
PRECIOUS METALS
*Barrick Gold Corp. isassessing relaunching its suspended Pascua Lama gold project on the border between Argentinaand Chile, President Kelvin Dushnisky reportedly said. The goal would be todevelop the project in several stages, business magazine AméricaEconomía reported.
*Citizens of Jachal in Argentina's San Juan province are demanding Barrick Goldto closeits Veladerogold-silver mine, arguing that the operation is in breach of the Glacial Lawbecause of its location, Buenos Aires Herald reported. Veladero was the site ofa massive cyanide solution spill in 2015.
*Pantoro Ltd.has completed theacquisition of theremaining 20% of the HallsCreek gold project in Western Australia from Pantoro nowowns a 100% interest in the project via its subsidiary,
*Kirkland Lake GoldInc. produced a total of 68,338 ounces in the second quarterfrom its Macassa mine complex and East Timmins operations in Ontario, comparedto 62,275 ounces in the first quarter.
*Kin Mining NL's boarddecided to reject amerger proposal from MHM MetalsLtd., deeming the proposed transaction as an "opportunisticapproach" that significantly undervalues the company.
*Hunan Gold Corp. 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.
*Goldplat Plc 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 Anumso goldproject in Ghana for US$3 million.
* Quaterra ResourcesInc. isselling its remaining 35% stake in the gold project inAlaska, to joint venture partner Grande Portage Resources Ltd.
*Plata Latina MineralsCorp. signed a letter of intent with a wholly-owned subsidiaryof Fresnillo Plc,giving Fresnillo the option to acquire Plata Latina's silver property inMexico.
*Rapier Gold Inc.entered into a dealto acquire the Pen South gold property in Ontario.
BULK COMMODITIES
*OJSC NovolipetskSteel's crude steel production in the second quarter year over year to4.2 million tonnes. The company achieved higher steel output across alloperations as the steelmaking capacity utilization rates in the quarterincreased by 6 percentage points to 100%, on a yearly basis.
*BHP Billiton Group said the restartof the Samarcoiron ore operations in Brazil is unlikely this calendar year and the workforcewill be reduced.
*Evraz Plc has startedthe construction of anew blast furnace, with the production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of pigiron per year, at the EVRAZNizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant in Russia.
*IronRidge ResourcesLtd. said that it is taking a "" in exploringits iron ore projects in Gabon until prices of the steel ingredient recover tolevels that would underpin a likely project development.
*KPS Capital Partners LP pulledout of a consortium that offered to acquire , Reuters reported.
*Total U.S. coal rail deliveries for the week ended July 9 were year over year to72,998 carloads, according to data from the Association of American Railroads.Year-to-date coal rail deliveries remain down by a third or a 30.2% contractionthis week compared to 2015 levels, which could mark 2016 as having the U.S. coal productiondecline since the beginning of record keeping in 1949.
* Asthe second quarter ground to a close, coal company political action committeesand industry advocates continuedto fund Republican candidates with few exceptions, with two movingsignificant attention to state-level races. According to data compiled by theU.S. Federal Election Commission, a number of these PACs continued thesecontributions even as the companies that sponsored them navigated federalbankruptcy courts.
*BlueScope Steel Ltd.expects itsunderlying earnings before interest and tax for the year ended June 30, to be aboutA$570 million. EBIT in the second half of the year is expected to be aboutA$340 million, compared to the guidance of about A$270 million. Preliminaryunaudited net debt at June 30 is expected to be about A$780 million.
SPECIALTY
*Iluka ResourcesLtd.'s total mineral sands production for the June quarter fell to 265,300 tonnes,from 304,800 tonnes a year ago. Quarterly rutile production declined to 31,400tonnes from 35,900 tonnes a year earlier, synthetic rutile production slumpedto 49,800 tonnes from 55,800 tonnes, and ilmenite production dropped to 82,800tonnes from 115,500 tonnes.
* SkyharbourResources Ltd. secured an option to acquire 's 35,705-hectareMoore Lakeuranium project in Saskatchewan.
*Berkeley EnergiaLtd.'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.
INDUSTRY NEWS
*The Queensland government will introduce tougher dust controls and bettertesting in its bid to eliminatethe incidences of pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease, in thestate's coal industry.
*BHP Billiton MitsubishiAlliance will offer freecheck-ups for all of its coal workers following the "black lung"outbreak in Queensland, The AustralianFinancial Review reported.
*Growing concerns ofincreasing fees prompted the London Metal Exchange maximum rental rates at itsglobal network of warehouses for five years, Reuters reported, citing MatthewChamberlain, the exchange's head of business development.
The Daily Dose is updated asof 7 a.m. Hong Kong time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English,Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Someexternal links may require a subscription.