TOP NEWS
Sibanye drops 2018 gold production guidance 6% for South African operations
Sibanye Gold Ltd. revised down the 2018 gold production guidance for its South African operations due to disruptions caused by safety-related incidents at Kloof and Driefontein, a power outage at Beatrix earlier in the year and infrastructure damage at the Masakhane mine following a May 3 seismic event. The company has reported 21 fatalities in various accidents at its South African operations since February. Sibanye now expects its South African operations to produce between 1.17 million ounces and 1.21 million ounces of gold, down 6% from its earlier forecast of between 1.24 Moz and 1.29 Moz.
Vedanta Resources shareholder Volcan mulls full takeover
Volcan Investments Ltd., a holding company owned by Vedanta Resources PLC Chairman and founder Anil Agarwal, intends to make an offer to acquire the issued share capital of Vedanta it does not own for £8.56 per share. Volcan holds a 66.53% stake in Vedanta. The deal comprises a cash offer of £8.25 per share, valuing the shares Volcan does not own at £778 million, and shareholders will also receive the previously announced dividend of 41 U.S. cents per share. Vedanta's shares surged almost 27% in late morning trade on the London Stock Exchange.
Coal projected to be Australia's top export in 2018-19
Australia's coal exports are projected to reach A$58.1 billion in 2018-19, usurping iron ore as the country's top export earner for the first time in nearly 10 years, amid high prices and surging demand from Asia, The Australian reported. Resources Minister Matt Canavan told Australian media that the forecast from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science underpins the case for Adani Enterprises Ltd.'s proposed Carmichael coal mine and the development of Queensland's Galilee Basin.
* Vale SA is seeking approval for the early extension of its railway concessions that expire in 2027. The approval will be submitted to the board after the analysis of the compensations required by the Brazilian federal government that will be formalized following public hearings.
* Aurelia Metals Ltd. repaid A$45 million debt to Investec on the back a significant increase in cash flows due to strong operational in the June quarter. This company secured the debt to fund the acquisition of the Peak gold-copper-lead-zinc mine in New South Wales, Australia.
BASE METALS
* The Democratic Republic of the Congo court suspended a hearing over a lawsuit against Glencore PLC filed by a former shareholder and Congolese-American businessman Charles Brown seeking US$1.14 billion in compensation, Bloomberg News reported. The case was placed on hold pending a decision by the country's Court of Appeal to determine whether the High Court has jurisdiction over the case. Brown was aiming to take back a 19% stake in Mutanda Mining Sarl, now a Glencore unit, that he co-founded, after he claimed his shares were fraudulently sold in two transactions to Glencore in 2007 and 2012.
* Starting January, the London Metals Exchange will require all companies that source at least 25% cobalt from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to undergo a professional audit as it intensifies scrutiny amid growing concerns over the use of child labor in the electric car supply chain, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.
PRECIOUS METALS
* China Nonferrous Gold Ltd.'s Pakrut gold mine in Tajikistan resumed normal operations and officially produced gold ingots July 1. Operations at Pakrut were halted after a severe snowstorm in early 2017 damaged the plant and equipment at the site.
* Sibanye appointed mine safety expert Kobus de Jager as its corporate head of safety, as part of the company's 12-point plan to address safety concerns at its South African operations, Mining Weekly reported. The plan was outlined by Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman, who committed to providing a safe working environment and to improve the safety of the company's operations.
BULK COMMODITIES
* A new thermal coal mine being built in the U.S. will benefit from very good timing, said Paringa Resources Ltd. interim CEO Todd Hannigan, who is overseeing the mine's development. "We'll be delivering coal next year into an improving market, and we're fortunate we've got our timing right."
* ThyssenKrupp AG called its European steel joint venture with Tata Steel Ltd. 'fair' after some shareholders voiced disappointment over the revised terms, Reuters wrote. "According to our judgment, the 55-45, which is a valuation including synergies, is a fair representation," said Thyssenkrupp CEO Heinrich Hiesinger. Meanwhile, a source told the news wire that an IPO of the joint venture is expected to take place in 2020 via a capital increase.
* UniSuper and QSuper, with a combined A$147 billion of funds under management, have thrown their support behind the global Climate Action 100+ group, which aims to steer Australian companies away from coal towards cleaner energy and reduced carbon footprints, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* Hwange Colliery Co. Ltd. expects to increase underground coal production five-fold to 50,000 tonnes this month when it restarts operations in Zimbabwe after a two-year pause, Bloomberg News reported, citing Managing Director Shepard Manamike. The operations restart will cost US$5 million in capital equipment, Manamike added.
* Ryerson Holding Corp. completed its acquisition of Central Steel & Wire Co. for about US$150.8 million. Following completion of the transaction, Central Steel & Wire became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ryerson.
* Synalloy Corp.'s Bristol Metals LLC unit closed the acquisition of Marcegaglia USA Inc.'s galvanized tube operations for US$10.0 million.
* Chinese steelmaking city Tangshan will cut the number of steel producers in half by 2020 and get rid of unfit equipment in a bid to improve the city's air, Reuters reported. The city has 64 steelmakers, which together produced 91.2 million tonnes of crude steel in 2017, equal to 11% of China's total steel production.
* Pakistan's International Steels Ltd. almost doubled its cold-rolled coil production capacity to 1 million tonnes per year from 550,000 tpy amid growing domestic demand, Metal Bulletin reported.
* The Australian Government Takeovers Panel denied a request by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. unit NCZ Investments Pty. Ltd. to conduct proceedings into Redstone Corp. Pty. Ltd.'s proposed takeover of Atlas Iron Ltd. The Takeovers Panel said Redstone, a unit of Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting Pty. Ltd. that holds a 19.96% interest in Atlas Iron, agreed to incorporate disclosures from its supplementary bidder's statement in a replacement bidder's statement.
* Riversdale Resources Ltd. is taking another crack at listing on the ASX, after pulling a previous offer in March, through a A$50 million raising brokered by Aitken Murray Capital Partners, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk reported. The proceeds will fund capital equipment and other costs associated with early stage development of its Grassy Mountain hard coking coal project in Alberta.
* Israel Chemicals Ltd. and its Rotem Amfert Negev Ltd. and Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. units are facing a class-action lawsuit over the alleged exploitation of the defendants' monopolistic position in order to charge consumers in Israel excessive and unfair prices for products classified as 'solid phosphate fertilizer' from 2011 to 2018. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of US$15 million.
* Norsk Hydro ASA's Hydro Energi AS unit secured a 25-year wind power off-take deal with Tonstad Vindpark AS that will contribute to supplying Hydro's aluminum plants in Norway.
* Haynes International Inc. reached a tentative five-year wage agreement with the United Steelworkers Local 2958, covering about 482 employees at the company's Kokomo, Indiana plant.
SPECIALTY
* An analyst with mining experience said a "diamond boom" could be taking shape, led by Lucapa Diamond Co. Ltd., after DevEx Resources Ltd. became the latest explorer seeking to emulate its success in Western Australia's Kimberley region, believing that science will unlock new opportunities overlooked by the likes of Rio Tinto.
* Aluminum Corp. of China or Chinalco, ordered a shutdown of its rare earths unit in southern China's Guangxi region after inspectors identified an environmental breach that resulted in water contamination, Reuters reported. Chinalco directed the Guangxi Rare Earth unit to fix the issues and implement disciplinary action and asked more than 600 of its subsidiaries to increase efforts regarding environmental compliance.
* A mob of between 300 and 500 people overrun the operations of exploration firm Web Gemstone Mining, in which Gemfields Plc has a 75% stake and holds an emerald exploration license covering an area of 200 square kilometers in Ethiopia, Mining Weekly reported. The motive behind disruption by the mob remains unclear, but it is believed that they may have been spurred by a faction seeking a portion of Web Gemstone's license.
* Orocobre Ltd. produced 3,596 tonnes of lithium in the June quarter from its Salar de Olaroz lithium project in Argentina, a 28% increase on the March quarter.
* Stornoway Diamond Corp. temporarily suspended operations at its Renard diamond mine in Quebec due to a local forest fire. The mine facilities are in no immediate danger, but the location of the fire has affected access to the site.
* Companies engaged in developing lithium operations are struggling to secure project financings required to increase production of the material to meet the global demand, Bloomberg News wrote. According to Galaxy Resources Ltd., which is seeking to build further operations in Argentina and Canada, lithium producers will need investments of about US$12 billion to boost output five-fold by 2025 in order to cater to the increasing demand for batteries.
* Woomera Mining Ltd.'s shares skyrocketed 46% on the ASX on July 2 after the company said it identified a significant lithium-beryllium anomaly adjacent to and within EL63/1804, which covers the north-eastern portion of the Lake Dundas tenement in Western Australia.
* Archer Exploration Ltd. entered into a binding deal to sell its Leigh Creek magnesia project tenements in South Australia for A$2 million, plus a bonus share payment, to a private Australian company.
* The government of Castilla y León, an autonomous community in northwestern Spain, rejected a resolution from opposition groups asking to halt a €250 million investment from Berkeley Energia Ltd. for its Salamanca uranium mine.
* Bacanora Lithium PLC is in the final stages of talks with financing and off-take partners to fund the construction of the first stage of its Sonora lithium project in Mexico.
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