TOP NEWS
Kazatomprom prices London, Astana IPO at bottom of range
National Atomic Co. Kazatomprom JSC has set a price of US$11.60 per global depositary receipt for a London and Astana IPO of a 15% stake, valuing the entire company at US$3 billion, even though the target range set earlier this month allowed it to go up to US$4 billion.
Northern Star offers A$150M for East Kundana gold project ownership
Northern Star Resources Ltd. moved to consolidate ownership of the East Kundana gold project in Western Australia, by acquiring the 49% stake held by Tribune Resources Ltd., Rand Mining Ltd. and Rand Exploration NL for A$150 million.
Tianqi Lithium to launch 5B yuan convertible bond offer to fund SQM deal
Tianqi Lithium Corp. intends to launch a convertible debt issue of up to 5 billion Chinese yuan, which will fund its approximately US$4.07 billion acquisition of a 24% stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA from Nutrien Ltd.
* Talon Metals Corp.'s preliminary economic assessment on the Tamarack nickel project in Minnesota defined an after-tax net present value, discounted at 7%, of US$210 million, with a 38.8% internal rate of return and payback period of 2.1 years. Talon has an option to acquire up to a 60% stake in the project, which is owned by Rio Tinto's Kennecott Exploration Company unit.
* Independence Group NL agreed to spend almost A$17 million to join Rio Tinto in exploring a potentially huge copper discovery in Western Australia's Paterson Ranges, The Australian reported.
* Metalicity Ltd. secured exploration license applications for the copper-prospective Desert Queen and Mandora Beach projects, covering a total area of 2,166 square kilometers, in the Paterson Province of Western Australia's Pilbara region.
* Debt-laden Nyrstar NV's shares plummeted to a record low after ABN Amro declared the company virtually worthless, with analyst Philip Ngotho setting a target price of 1 euro cent from €1, Financial Times reported. Ngotho said a debt restructuring process is inevitable, with a debt-for-equity swap along with a private share placement to Trafigura Trading LLC the most likely scenario.
* Mined zinc production rose globally by 0.7% to 3.21 million tonnes in the September quarter from 3.19 Mt a year earlier, according to estimates by the Metals and Mining Research team at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
* Broken Hill Prospecting Ltd. issued a dispute notice to Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd. over drilling at the Thackaringa cobalt joint venture in New South Wales, Australia.
* Twenty Seven Co. Ltd. subsidiary TSC Exploration Pty. Ltd. secured exploration licenses EL31788 and EL31787, dubbed the Pear Tree and Calvert cobalt projects, expanding its landholding in the McArthur Basin area in Australia's Northern Territory to 2,456 square kilometers.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Sierra Metals Inc. swung to an attributable profit of US$1.9 million in the third quarter, from a loss of US$6.5 million a year ago.
* RNC Minerals reported a 60% year-over-year increase in production to 71,957 gold ounces at the Beta Hunt gold project in Western Australia for the first 10 months of 2018.
* South Africa's Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union asked antitrust authorities to stop Sibanye Gold Ltd.'s takeover of Lonmin PLC if it plans to proceed with more than 10,000 job cuts in the next three years, Bloomberg reported.
* Superior Gold Inc. slashed its 2018 production guidance to 92,500 to 97,500 ounces of gold from the previous range of 100,000 to 110,000 ounces as the company has been unable to offset the operational performance of the first quarter.
* Australian Mines Ltd.'s gold and base metals spinoff Norwest Minerals Ltd. closed its initial public offering of 33 million shares on the ASX, which targeted A$6.6 million.
* Westgold Resources Ltd. hit first ore at its Big Bell underground mine, part of its Central Murchison gold property in Western Australia.
* Euro Sun Mining Inc. secured an exploitation permit and a mining license from the Romanian government for the Rovina Valley gold-copper project. The company became the first entity not owned by the state to have a ratified mining license in the country.
* TMAC Resources Inc. received a project certificate from the Nunavut Impact Review Board, marking the end of the environmental assessment process for the company's Madrid and Boston gold project in Canada's Nunavut.
* Oakdale Resources Ltd. signed a term sheet to acquire a gold processing plant in Peru by purchasing the issued share capital of private company Ozinca Australia Pty Ltd.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Hindalco Industries Ltd. unit Novelis Inc. will invest US$175 million to expand its aluminum production and recycling capacity at its flagship Pindamonhangaba plant in Brazil's Paraíba Valley.
* ArcelorMittal unit JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau will take a month to restore output at a steel mill in Kazakhstan after partly suspending operations due to a fire that damaged several gas pipelines, Mining.com reported citing the plant's executive director, Vadim Basin. However, the company will reportedly maintain its target of 3.9 million tonnes of steel this year.
* Noble Group Ltd. will name Ian Potter, a former senior banker at Morgan Stanley, as chairman, replacing Paul Brough for the role, Reuters reported, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. According to one of the sources, Potter has already been working with Noble in an advisory capacity for the past few months.
* The International Energy Agency's annual World Energy Outlook indicated that coal will remain a key fuel to provide heat and light through 2040, however, global demand will fall to 2.28 billion tonnes from 5.36 Bt last year, Bloomberg reported. Separately, Reuters reported citing the International Energy Agency that natural gas is expected to surpass coal as the world's second largest energy source after oil by 2030 due to the global drive to control air pollution and the increased usage of liquefied natural gas.
* Gerdau SA will issue 1.50 billion Brazilian reais in nonconvertible debentures, with a unit face value of 1,000 reais on the issue date. The Brazilian steelmaker will use the proceeds to strengthen its cash position and support general purposes. S&P Global Ratings assigned a AAA Brazil national scale issue-level rating on the notes.
* Incitec Pivot Ltd. CEO Jeanne Johns said a proposed tariff on ammonium nitrate imports from producers in China, Sweden and Thailand into Australia is unlikely to result in an increase to domestic prices for the commodity, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* A preliminary economic assessment for Colonial Coal International Corp.'s Gordon Creek project, part of the larger Flatbed coal project in British Columbia, outlined a posttax net present value, discounted at 7.5%, of US$690.5 million, a 24.4% internal rate of return and a three-year payback period from the start of production.
* Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. launched a debt offering of up to 3 billion yuan as the second phase of its previously announced 10 billion yuan debt offering.
* Afarak Group PLC will not dismiss its board despite a request by a group of shareholders, who represent 11.09% of shares and voting rights, calling for an overhaul. The request came after Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority fined Afarak main shareholder and COO Danko Koncar €40 million and a supplementary amount of €10 million for acting together with Hino Resources, Finaline Business and his spouse to exercise control in Afarak.
* Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques expressed confidence about demand for higher quality iron ore exports from steelmakers despite capacity reductions in China, The Australian wrote.
* Kalium Lakes Ltd. was granted a license to construct and operate a 78-kilometer gas pipeline to the Beyondie sulfate of potash project, which will generate operating cost savings of approximately A$31 per tonne to A$34 per tonne. The construction cost of the pipeline is A$29 million.
SPECIALTY
* Under-performing graphite equities are due for a rerating amid a plethora of Australian battery mineral stocks which have been heavily sold down this year, Argonaut Metals, Mining and Energy Research Director Matthew Keane said.
* LSC Lithium Corp. completed a joint venture with Pluspetrol SA unit Litica Resources to explore and develop tenements on the Salar de Arizaro lithium project in Argentina's Salta province.
* De Beers SA slashed prices by up to 10% for low-quality diamonds at an upcoming sale, signalling turmoil in the bottom end of the market, sources told BloombergQuint.
* Liontown Resources Ltd. expanded its Buldania lithium project in Western Australia by acquiring mining lease M63/647 from Westgold Resources Ltd. unit Avoca Resources Pty Ltd. in exchange for 10 million Liontown shares.
* Tantalex Resources Corp. and International Cobalt Corp. plan to combine businesses, with the resulting issuer listing securities on the CSE as Amalco. Available funds to Amalco will be used to advance production at Tantalex's recently acquired Manono Kitotolo tailings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Rwanda is extracting just less than 50% of its minerals due to poor mining practices, potentially costing the country billions in revenues, The New Times reported. Rwanda earned US$373 million from mineral exports in 2017, but experts say that can be doubled if the country puts in efforts to upgrade from artisanal mining.
Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.
The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. ET. 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.
