TOP NEWS
Vale's Q3'19 net income improves YOY
Vale SA's attributable net income in the third quarter climbed to US$1.65 billion, or 32 U.S. cents per share, from US$1.41 billion, or 27 cents per share, in the prior-year third quarter as the company looks to dismantle three upstream dams by 2020. Net operating revenue for the Brazilian company rose to US$10.22 billion from US$9.54 billion, while the cost of goods sold slid to US$5.68 billion from US$5.76 billion. Vale said it will de-characterize nine upstream dams, at a budget of US$25 million for 2019, to improve its safety standards in dam management.
Glencore's own-sourced copper output down 4% in Q3'19; cobalt up 11% YOY
Glencore PLC said its own-sourced copper production in the third quarter slipped 4% to 352,800 tonnes, while cobalt production was up 11% to 13,100 tonnes. The Swiss commodity giant's Katanga Mining Ltd. unit produced 59,424 tonnes of copper cathode and 4,763 tonnes of cobalt in hydroxide in the third quarter, rising from the year-ago output of 39,296 tonnes of copper cathode and 3,512 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide. Glencore's third-quarter nickel output grew 18% to 34,000 tonnes, while zinc and lead production declined 5% and 11%, respectively, to 273,300 tonnes and 72,300 tonnes.
BHP shutters Spence copper mine amid Chilean protests, union leaders say
BHP Group was forced to shut down its Spence copper operation in Chile due to a strike by unionized workers, part of ongoing protests across the country, Reuters reported, citing union leaders. Lumina Copper Corp.'s Caserones mine was working with a minimal workforce, while Anglo American PLC adjusted operations at its flagship Los Bronces mine due to the unrest. Workers rejected a strike at the Collahuasi joint venture of Anglo American and Glencore, the report said.
DIVERSIFIED
* Glencore is part of a group of metals and mining companies that teamed up with the World Economic Forum to accelerate the responsible sourcing of raw materials. The Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative will explore the development of a blockchain platform to address transparency. The group also includes founding members Antofagasta PLC, Eurasian Resources Group SARL, Klöckner & Co SE, Minsur SA, Tata Steel Ltd., and Anglo American unit De Beers SA.
* Facing uncertainty in global markets and falling commodities prices in some sectors such as coking coal, Teck Resources Ltd. outlined plans to slash about C$500 million from planned spending in 2019 and 2020 without reducing production volumes.
BASE METALS
* China's nickel ore imports in September jumped 24.6% from August to 7.13 million tonnes, the highest since at least 2016 as stockpiling accelerated ahead of Indonesia's planned export ban starting in January 2020, Reuters reported, citing customs data.
* Jinduicheng Molybdenum Co. Ltd.'s net profit attributable to shareholders for the third quarter jumped 121.9% year over year to 174 million Chinese yuan, or 5.4 fen per share, attributed to higher molybdenum prices.
* Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. raised its offer to Nyrstar NV shareholders to €22.5 million from €22 million for their remaining 2% stake.
* Felizardo Gacad Jr., the new chief of the Philippines' Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Region 12, said in a Mindanews report that the US$5.9 billion Tampakan copper and gold project in South Cotabato is not yet due for commercial production, clarifying a prior report by the Philippine News Agency that quoted Gacad as saying that the Office of the President will lift the order suspending the Environmental Compliance Certificate given to operator Sagittarius Mines Inc. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources recommended lifting the three-year suspension of the environmental permit for Tampakan.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.'s record quarterly gold production during the third quarter of nearly 477,000 ounces was in line with company expectations, CEO Sean Boyd said on an earnings call. Due to more output and decreased capital spending, the company also expected to generate free cash flow, Boyd said.
* Agnico Eagle CEO Sean Boyd expects gold prices to reach a record US$2,000 per ounce in the next two to three years amid global economic uncertainty and deficit spending, Bloomberg News wrote. Boyd plans to be more vocal about urging Canada's federal government to invest in the Canadian Arctic, Financial Post reported.
* Yamana Gold Inc. swung to an attributable net income of US$201.3 million, or 21 U.S. cents per share, in the third quarter, from a year-ago net loss of US$81.3 million, or 9 cents per share. The results included a US$273.1 million gain on the sale of the Chapada copper-gold mine in Brazil in early July to Lundin Mining Corp. Revenue in the quarter dropped to US$357.8 million from US$424.7 million, and the total cost of sales fell to US$276.0 million from US$350.8 million.
* South Africa's state-owned Public Investment Corp. (SOC) Ltd. increased its stake in Sibanye Gold Ltd. to 10.031% from 9.397%.
* Silver Lake Resources Ltd.'s board approved the development of the Santa Underground mine at the Mount Belches mining center in Western Australia. Meanwhile, Silver Lake extended its offer to acquire Egan Street Resources Ltd. in a A$52 million deal to Dec. 13.
* Resolute Mining Ltd. said it expects the sulfide roaster at the Syama gold mine in Mali to be repaired and to return to full operation in about six weeks. Operation of the roaster was temporarily halted earlier this month after a crack was detected in the main external shell. Resolute is not making any changes to its full-year 2019 gold production guidance of 400,000 ounces.
* An independent reoptimization of Middle Island Resources Ltd.'s Sandstone gold project in Western Australia demonstrated that the Sandstone plant can be profitably refurbished, in which it would use feed from the miner's existing mineral resources.
* TMAC Resources Inc. said construction started on the Madrid North underground portal. The portal and underground development are targeting the Naartok West zone, enabling access to first production stopes in late 2020. The Madrid North development is expected to provide near-term operational flexibility and enable medium-term potential growth alternatives at the Hope Bay gold project in Canada.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Vale plans to start testing two autonomous hauling trucks at its Carajás iron ore mine in Brazil by the end of November 2019; testing will run until June 2020. The company said 13 autonomous vehicles are already operating at the Brucutu mine in Minas Gerais.
* United Co. Rusal PLC's aluminum production in the third quarter improved by 0.4% over the second quarter to 942,000 tonnes. Aluminum sales in the three months rose 0.8% to 1.1 million tonnes. However, the average aluminum realized price declined 3.8% to US$1,896 per tonne compared to the second quarter. The Russian company said trade tensions between China and the U.S. as well as a general global slowdown have further deteriorated aluminum demand in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.
* Saudi Arabian Mining Co., or Ma'aden, plummeted to a third-quarter loss of 254.1 million Saudi Arabian riyals from a profit of 518.8 million riyals a year earlier. Sales in the period grew to 4.30 billion riyals from 3.40 billion riyals.
* PJSC PhosAgro signed a memorandum of understanding with Kropz PLC, agreeing to evaluate opportunities to exchange information and technical expertise to increase their projects' capacities. The projects include those in Republic of Congo and Ghana and those in South Africa, such as Kropz' Elandsfontein the country's second-largest phosphate deposit.
* The Parsa East-Kente Basan coal mine in India's Chhattisgarh state is said to be occupying a forest grove deemed sacred by locals, Quartz.com reported. Consent from tribal villagers for the environmental clearance for Parsa was allegedly forged, the report said, citing the village's elected head. Asked for comment, Adani Enterprises Ltd., which serves as project contractor, referred the questions to mine owner Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam, which did not answer the news outlet's requests for comment.
* Rio Tinto started commissioning filter press technology at its Vaudreuil alumina refinery in Quebec six weeks ahead of schedule and under the C$250 million budget, Mining Weekly wrote. With the technology, the refinery is expected to shift to dry stacking of bauxite tailings, which would extend the life of the operation as it will reduce the area needed to store residue, the report added, citing Sebastien Ross, Rio Tinto's managing director for its Quebec operations.
* A U.S. federal appeals court upheld a US$5,000 fine on Consol Pennsylvania Coal Co. LLC for its failure to inform regulators of a 2013 safety incident within 15 minutes, Business Insurance wrote. While Consol brought the injured miner to the hospital immediately, the company reported the incident about two hours after it happened, the report said.
* Magnetite Mines Ltd. entered into an exclusive agreement with NextOre Pty. Ltd. for use of the latter's magnetic resonance technology for preconcentration of magnetite and iron ore projects.
SPECIALTY
* Albemarle Corp. cut its full-year 2019 guidance for adjusted EBITDA to between US$1.02 billion and US$1.06 billion, from between US$1.07 billion and US$1.14 billion, amid price pressure in a weak lithium market. Adjusted earnings per share guidance was also trimmed to between US$6.00 and US$6.20, compared to prior guidance of between US$6.25 and US$6.65.
* Armadale Capital PLC signed a memorandum of understanding to supply China's Datong Resources with 25,000 tonnes per annum of graphite concentrate for five years from the Mahenge Liandu graphite project in Tanzania.
* Lucapa Diamond Co. Ltd. is on track to achieve its 2020 diamond production guidance of 60,000 carats from the Mothae and Lulo mines. The company recovered 14,610 carats in the third quarter, bringing the nine-month total to 35,113 carats. Sales reached US$8.8 million at a price of US$856 per carat.
* Lithium Australia NL is eyeing a public float of Envirostream Australia Pty. Ltd. and potentially its battery division. Envirostream is the Melbourne, Australia-based battery recycling business in which the Australia-listed lithium producer increased its stake to 23.9%. Managing Director Adrian Griffin told S&P Global Market Intelligence that increasing that stake was in preparation for merging Envirostream with the intellectual property that Lithium Australia has been developing to refine battery materials.
* PJSC Alrosa unearthed a 232.4-carat, gem-quality rough diamond from its Udacnhaya kimberlite pipe in Russia, the largest diamond the company has recovered in more than three years.
* Diamond-producing countries in Africa earned about US$8.1 billion, or 9.5%, of US$85.9 billion in sales revenues generated from diamond jewelry sales during 2018, Mining Weekly reported, citing World Diamond Council President Stephane Fischler.
* TNG Ltd. said it was granted a European patent for its proprietary Tivan hydrometallurgical process for extracting and recovering high-purity vanadium.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* The London Metal Exchange outlined its proposed responsible sourcing requirements that will apply to all listed brands, requiring full compliance by 2023. The requirements rest on the four principles of combining transparency and standards, nondiscrimination between large-scale mining and small-scale or artisanal mining, adherence to well-established work in the sector, and a pragmatic and clear process.
* Mining equipment-maker Epiroc AB (publ)'s third-quarter net profit slipped 5% year over year to 1.34 Swedish kronor amid a 6% decline in organic order intakes.
* Central to mining executives' message at the Future of Mining Americas conference in Denver was the notion that technology and innovation, if handled properly, could serve as a catalyst for improvements in the industry, including safety. Bertrand Odinet, chief information officer and chief innovation officer of Freeport-McMoRan Inc., told S&P Global Market Intelligence that technology has helped the company to better understand its systems and make more targeted investments to optimize assets. It subsequently has received a better return on capital for those investments.
* Russia has an opportunity to supply industrial robots, dump trucks, bulldozers and digital technologies to the African mining industry, according to a discussion at the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, Mining Weekly reported.
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