TOP NEWS
En+ Group eyes US$1.5B IPO in London
En+ Group Ltd. intends to raise about US$1.5 billion from a possible IPO in London, Reuters reported, citing Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska's interview with Rossiya 24 TV on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. En+ Group, which owns a 48% stake in Russian aluminum producer United Co. Rusal Plc, will make the decision over the next 18 months.
JSW Steel consortium raises Ilva offer to compete with winning ArcelorMittal, Marcegaglia bid
A JSW Steel Ltd.-led consortium raised its bid for Italy's troubled Ilva International SpA to challenge the offer of ArcelorMittal and Marcegaglia, which was declared the winner last month but faces opposition from labor unions, Reuters reported. The new bid offers €1.85 billion, broadly in line with the winning bid, and the immediate hiring of 9,800 employees.
Acacia Mining hopeful to reach settlement with Tanzania over mineral export ban
Acacia Mining plc remains hopeful that it will reach a settlement with Tanzania over the export ban on gold and copper concentrates as a second Presidential Committee nears completion on its investigation into the economic and legal issues associated with the matter. The CEO of the Barrick Gold Corp. unit, Brad Gordon, said it would cost US$30 million to shut down the Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania and between US$2 million to US$3 million per month for care and maintenance charges, Reuters reported.
DIVERSIFIED
* Teck Resources Ltd. is planning to redeem all of its about US$84 million of 3% notes due 2019 and about US$130 million of 8% notes due 2021. The diversified miner will fund the redemption from cash on hand and is expected to save interest expenses of about US$10 million per annum.
* The U.S.-based grain trader Bunge has appointed JPMorgan Chase and law firm Shearman & Sterling as its advisors to fend off takeover interest from Glencore Plc, the Financial Times reported.
BASE METALS
* Anglo American Plc has ruled out further asset sales in Brazil as it finalizes the integration of its nickel and iron ore assets in the country, Metal Bulletin reported, citing Ruben Fernandes, president of the company's Brazilian operations.
* Atalaya Mining plc will conduct a study over the next three months to evaluate the feasibility of increasing the mining and processing capacity at its Proyecto de Rio Tinto copper project in Spain to 15 million tonnes per annum, from the current capacity of 9.5 million tonnes per annum.
* Henan Yuguang Gold & Lead Co. is implementing stricter safety requirements across its production units after an explosion at its anode slime pretreatment plant in China's Henan province killed three people in March, according to CFO Miao Hongqiang.
* India Resources Ltd. subsidiary IRL Copper Mining Pvt. Ltd. terminated the operations contract with Hindustan Copper Ltd. for the Surda copper mine in India, effective immediately, citing slow progress in the mine's expansion.
* Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. signed a nonbinding letter of intent with Advanced Mineral Technology Inc. to acquire the latter's BGP Resources Inc. subsidiary, which owns the Lone Star copper-gold property.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Cerro Grande Mining Corp. said that following the closure of its Pimenton gold-copper mine earlier in the month, the company decided to place its Chilean operating subsidiary, Compañia Minera Pimenton, into voluntary bankruptcy.
* First Majestic Silver Corp. reached a tentative agreement with a group of rogue union workers to restart operations at the company's La Encantada silver mine in Mexico.
* India will tax gold at a rate of 3% under a new nationwide sales tax that takes effect July 1, Reuters reported, citing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The goods and services tax that will be placed upon gold is lower than industry expectations of about 5%, and is a nearly negligible increase compared to the current tax of 2% to 2.5%.
* The merger between Vantage Goldfields Ltd. and Galane Gold Ltd. will restart operations at the former's Lily and Barbrook gold mines in South Africa, 15 months after they were forced to shut down due to financial distress, City Press reported. Lily employed 900 workers and Barbrook employed 100 workers before operations were suspended.
* Great Bear Resources Ltd. granted Mountain Boy Minerals Ltd. an exclusive option to earn its 50% joint venture stake in the polymetallic BA and Surprise Creek properties in British Columbia.
* Silver Lake Resources Ltd. plans to restart its Cock-Eyed Bob underground gold mine, part of the Mount Monger gold property in Western Australia, in July. The mine is set to produce about 10,000 gold ounces in fiscal 2018 and 24,000 gold ounces in fiscal 2019.
* Kalamazoo Resources Ltd. updated the mineral resources estimate for the A-Zone deposit, part of its Snake Well gold project in Western Australia, to 932,000 tonnes at 2.10 g/t of gold for 63,000 ounces of gold, at a 0.5 g/t of gold cutoff.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Operations have resumed at BHP Billiton Group's Mt Whaleback iron ore mine, part of its Newman mining hub in Western Australia's Pilbara region, following disruption due to a fire.
* United Co. Rusal Plc is looking for a number of refinancing deals this year as it plans to secure financing terms for its Taishet aluminum smelter in Siberia, Reuters reported, citing the company's Deputy CEO Oleg Mukhamedshin. The smelter project requires between US$700 million and US$800 million to bring the first aluminum production line to the full capacity of 430,000 tonnes per annum by 2020.
* Sanjeev Gupta, the executive chairman of Liberty House, a British firm which emerged as one of the two final bidders for the troubled steelmaker Arrium Ltd., says that his proposed "power fix" for the business is crucial to keep it operating, as the rising electricity and gas costs are a big handicap for the Whyalla steelworks, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* Wollongong Coal Ltd. was forced to suspend operations at its Wongawilli coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, after its mining contractor, SBD Services Pty. Ltd., was placed in administration.
* EuroChem Mineral Chemical Co. OJSC plans to produce up to 900,000 tonnes of potash at its Usolskiy and VolgaKaliy projects in Russia in 2018, Interfax reported, citing CEO Dmitry Strezhnev. The company expects to start initial production at Usolskiy in the fourth quarter and at VolgaKaliy in the first quarter of 2018.
* Pakistan plans to open its resource-rich Baluchistan province to Chinese firms to kickstart a boom in its mining industry by including the sector in Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, Reuters reported, citing a senior provincial official. Chinese companies will partner with local firms and provide technical support in order to mine marble, chromite, limestone, coal and other minerals, as well as build steel mills and other plants.
* Adani Enterprises Ltd. awarded an A$82 million contract to Austrak for the supply of concrete sleepers for the rail project of the giant Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, Australia, Mining Weekly reported, citing Adani Australia CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj.
* According to a United Nations report, North Korean coal exports dropped to zero in April, amid pressure from the international community on the country's regime to give up its nuclear and long-range missile programs, The Korea Herald wrote.
SPECIALTY
* Ormonde Mining Plc expects its under-construction Barruecopardo tungsten project in Spain to start mine commissioning in the third quarter of 2018, after the project entered into an accelerated construction and implementation phase.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to step up the fight against terrorism after the June 3 attack that left seven people dead and 48 injured, and said the general election scheduled for June 8 will go on as planned.
* The EU-China summit ended with the parties failing to agree on a formal climate statement due to differences over trade and steel production. However, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the President of European Council Donald Tusk reiterated their commitment to continue efforts to reduce carbon emissions without the U.S., which backed out of the historic Paris climate accord a day earlier.
* BHP Billiton said it was disappointed with the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, but it did not affect the miner's support for the deal, Reuters reported.
* The United Nations Security Council expanded the existing sanctions on North Korea to include 14 individuals and four entities following a unanimous vote. The 15-member council strongly condemned the country's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development program.
* Uncertainty looms over resource policy in British Columbia amid a post-election power struggle. The incumbent Liberals look set to lose power after the provincial New Democratic and Green parties agreed May 30 to try to form government with a slim majority and pursue policies that promise greater scrutiny of the resource sector.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.