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TOP NEWS
Thyssenkrupp starts sale process for elevators unit
Thyssenkrupp AG kicked off the sale process for its prized elevators business, informing potential bidders that it is open to both minority and majority offers, Bloomberg News and Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The company may open a data room for potential suitors this month, and wants to sign a deal by year-end that would allow it to keep a stake of over 25% in the elevators unit, one of the sources said.
US seeks to block Novelis' US$2.6B takeover of Aleris
The U.S. Justice Department filed an injunction against Hindalco Industries Ltd. unit Novelis Inc.'s proposed US$2.6 billion takeover of Aleris Corp. on competition concerns, particularly in aluminum sheet used to make cars. The company countered that the U.S. Justice Department failed to take into account that steel automotive body sheet is used for nearly 90% of the market, while also neglecting the bargaining power of automotive manufacturers and their ability to generate bid processes that ensures competitive automotive body sheet pricing. Novelis said it is confident the legal proceeding will not hinder the deal from closing by Jan. 21, 2020.
Implats postpones job cuts at Rustenburg mine as revenue climbs
Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. is said to have postponed the planned 13,000 job cuts at its Rustenburg operation in South Africa by 2021, Reuters reported, citing two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The company will delay shutting down Rustenburg's shaft 12 by a year and shaft 9 by about six months as a result of operational improvements and an increase in revenue on the back of higher commodity prices.
BASE METALS
* Vale SA's board approved the sale of the Jaguar nickel sulfide project in Brazil to Centaurus Metals Ltd.
* WorleyParsons Ltd., one of the biggest contractors on Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi copper expansion project in Mongolia, claimed that it was responsible for reducing the project's capital expenditures despite Rio Tinto earlier flagging an up to US$1.9 billion cost blowout, the Australian Financial Review reported.
* Indonesia's coordinating minister overseeing mining Luhut Pandjaitan said that the country's ban on exports of nickel ore could boost the country's earnings from the metal five-fold in the next five years, Reuters reported. The nickel-related export earnings in 2024 "may exceed US$30 billion, including exports of lithium batteries," Pandjaitan said.
* Belmont Resources Inc. secured an option to earn up to a 75% interest in Pistol Bay Mining Inc.'s Fredart-Gerry Lake zinc-copper-silver-gold properties in Ontario.
* Toachi Mining Inc. shareholders approved Atico Mining Corp.'s proposed takeover that would form a midtier copper-gold explorer and producer focused on Latin America.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Rio2 Ltd.'s updated pre-feasibility study slashed the posttax net present value, discounted at 5%, of its flagship Fenix gold project in Chile to US$121 million from US$409 million previously outlined in 2014. The latest study envisaged an ore mining rate of 20,000 tonnes per day at initial capital costs of US$111 million and sustaining costs of US$95 million over a 16-year mine life.
* Geopacific Resources Ltd. issued a letter of intent to award the engineering, procurement, and construction contract to GR Engineering Services Ltd. for a 2.4 million-tonne-per-annum process plant and other key infrastructure at its Woodlark gold project in Papua New Guinea.
* African Gold Ltd. agreed to acquire Abra Resources Pty Ltd., which owns the Samanafoulou, Sitikili, Yatia, Golokasso gold projects, and secured the option to purchase a 95% stake in the Walia gold project, all located in Mali.
* The London Metal Exchange's gold and silver futures are in doubt as lender Societe Generale, which helped launch the contracts in 2017, is expected to resign shortly as a market maker, Reuters reported, citing sources. Societe's departure means that there would be only two banks willing to offer tradeable prices, namely Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
* PJSC Polyus remains committed to its goal of raising free float to 25% to 30% in the medium term, Reuters wrote citing CEO Pavel Grachev. The company remains on track for output of 2.8 million troy ounces of gold and capital expenditure of US$725 million in 2019.
* Altus Strategies PLC defined a potentially significant new prospect, Diba SW, at its Diba gold project in Mali. The prospect is defined by a discontinuous 1.2-kilometer long gold in termite soil anomaly, the company said.
* Teranga Gold Corp. has achieved first gold pour in the Wahgnion gold operation in Burkina Faso, which started processing ore in August, two months ahead of the target date. The project is expected to produce 30,000 to 40,000 ounces of gold this year, with average annual gold production estimated at 132,000 ounces for 2020 to 2024.
* Pan American Silver Corp. said its silver reserves doubled while gold reserves tripled following its US$1.07 billion acquisition of Tahoe Resources Inc. in February. The company estimates its proven and probable mineral reserves to contain about 557 million ounces of silver and 5.1 million ounces of gold, as of June 30.
* India's gold imports in August plummeted 73% year on year to 30 tonnes from 111.47 tonnes, driven by subdued buying as a result of higher prices and an increase in import duty, an unnamed government source told Reuters.
* O3 Mining Inc. launched a 50,000-meter drill campaign on its gold properties in Val d'Or, Quebec.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Aluminium Bahrain BSC is raising US$1.5 billion in bank debt to refinance loans it secured in 2016 for the Line 6 expansion project at its Knuff smelter, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. National Bank of Bahrain, Bank ABC and Gulf International Bank will underwrite the facility, which is now being syndicated to the wider bank market, the sources said.
* Ukraine's tax service disputed comments made by one of its officials, Evgen Bambizov, who said a probe found that ArcelorMittal owes authorities 9 billion hryvnia, or roughly US$355 million, Reuters reported. The state tax service said the issue is outside the scope of Bambizov's authority, as he was only the head of the commission reorganizing the tax service's large taxpayers' office. An audit into the company is not yet completed, the office said in the Reuters report.
* Separately, ArcelorMittal confirmed that it will continue operations at its Taranto steel plant in Italy after the Italian government adopted an amended law that restored the company's legal shield over the site.
* U.S. coal exports totaled about 5.9 million tonnes in July, down 18.3% from June and down 31.9% from the year-ago week, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. Through seven months of the year, U.S. exports were down 15.7% from the same point a year ago.
* Railroads could face US$5 billion in lost revenue as utility coal shipments fall over the next decade, according to Moody's Investors Service. Moody's analysts expect utility coal demand in the U.S. to drop by more than half by 2030, falling by about 7% per year on average over the next decade, which would take a toll on coal producers as well as their transportation partners.
* Bounty Mining Ltd. said that the second recapitalization proposal received from QCoal Bounty Holdings Pty Ltd. is also not superior to the proposal received from Amaroo Blackdown Investments LLC. The directors recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the Amaroo proposal in the Sept. 30 meeting.
* BHP Group agreed to buy 41 autonomous trucks from Komatsu for its new South Flank iron ore mine, part of its Area C operation in Western Australia, the Australian Financial Review reported. The deal may be worth up to A$700 million over a decade, including maintenance and support activities.
* Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd. and Wenan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. are leading a group of investors funding a 10-million-tonne-per-annum steel plant in Sarawak, Malaysia, The Star Online reported. Construction is expected to start in mid-2020.
* Andrey Kostin, head of Russian lender VTB, said the bank would discuss a debt restructuring request by coal and steel producer Mechel PAO with the company's other creditors Sberbank and Gazprombank, adding that "no one intends to harass Mechel," according to Reuters.
* Wesfarmers Ltd. mandated Macquarie Capital to arrange the sale of its entire 3.8% stake in mining services provider Ausdrill Ltd., trading as Perenti Global, The Australian Financial Review reported. The company is offering 25.8 million shares at A$2.02 per share for a total of A$52.2 million.
* Coal India Ltd. signed a deal to mine coking coal in Russia's Far East, part of an effort by India and Russia to boost their bilateral trade to US$30 billion annually by 2025, Reuters reported.
* Kibo Energy PLC signed nonbinding term sheets for power purchase and coal supply agreements for its 65%-owned Benga power plant project in Mozambique with Vale SA unit Vale Mozambique SA. The supply agreement covers the total coal requirement for the project over the modeled 25-year life of plant.
* Turkey is facing losses of up to US$3 billion stemming from Britain increasing import tariffs in sectors including steel, automotives and textiles in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Reuters reported, citing Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan.
* The U.S. Commerce Department imposed duties of up to 141% on Chinese structural steel and up to 31% on Mexican structural steel after determining that producers in both countries had dumped the material on the U.S. market at prices below fair market value.
SPECIALTY
* Gem Diamonds Ltd.'s attributable net profit plummeted to US$4.2 million in the half, from US$24.2 million a year ago, as revenue dropped to US$91.3 million from US$167.7 million. The company sold 55,714 carats at an average price of US$1,697 per carat, compared to year-ago sales of 61,696 carats at US$2,742 per carat.
* Almost 95% of Kidman Resources Ltd.'s shareholders voted in favor of the A$776 million acquisition by Wesfarmers.
* Marquee Resources Ltd. completed the acquisition of Centenario Lithium Ltd., owner of a 30% interest in Lithium Power International Ltd. unit Lithium Power International Holdings (Argentina) Pty. Ltd. The company will now focus on starting exploration at Centenario Salar in northern Argentina.
* Toro Energy Ltd. said its processing testwork proved that vanadium could be a viable by-product of processing uranium ore at its Wiluna uranium project in Western Australia. The company will now estimate the vanadium resource within the project.
* Moody's downgraded its corporate family rating on Tianqi Lithium Corp. to Ba3 from Ba2 citing high leverage and weak capital structure outlook until the next year.
* Almonty Industries Inc. completed the construction of a second tailings dam at the Panasqueira tungsten mine in Portugal, allowing the mine to process and store tailings for another 6 years at the rate of 800,000 tonnes per annum.
* Koppar Resources Ltd. closed its acquisition of the Vulcan lithium brine project in Germany.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Senior Mali government figures say the country's new mining code is tailored around sustainable community development, while promoting both small and large-scale mining as the country looks to diversify from gold. The changes include a reduced period for the 25% income tax rate from 15 years to three years, and the creation of a local development fund into which miners pay 0.25% of their turnover, but tax deductible so it will not be an extra cost on companies. Local small-scale artisanal miners without the resources to develop environmental impact studies will also pay into a rehabilitation fund, Lassana Guindo, a technical adviser to the mines ministry, told S&P Global Market Intelligence.
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