TOP NEWS
Newmont expects up to US$1.2B impairment in Q4 for Yanacocha gold mine closure
Newmont Mining Corp. expects to record a noncash impairment charge of between US$1.0 billion and US$1.2 billion during the fourth quarter of 2016 due to an increase in the estimated future closure costs for its Yanacocha gold mine in Peru.
Stillwater board probed for fiduciary duty breaches in sale to Sibanye
Maryland-based law firm Brower Piven has initiated an investigation into possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law by the board of Stillwater Mining Co. over the US$2.2 billion sale of the company to Sibanye Gold Ltd. The law firm is investigating whether Stillwater's board failed to satisfy their duties to shareholders, including if the board adequately pursued alternatives to the acquisition and sought the best price possible.
South African government ready to compensate Marikana massacre victims
South African President Jacob Zuma outlined the progress of the implementation of recommendations made in response to the August 2012 incident at Lonmin Plc's Marikana operations, which left 44 people dead. Zuma said the government is ready to pay compensation for the victims of the incident and had charged a number of police officers for the violent turn of events at the mine.
DIVERSIFIED
* Guinea's former mining minister, Mahmoud Thiam, who claimed that Rio Tinto offered him bribes, has been charged in the U.S. with laundering bribes from an unnamed Chinese company, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* Codelco announced it would invest an additional US$633 million between 2016 and 2020 to make its refineries and foundries more profitable, daily Pulso reported.
* ASX-listed Royalco Resources Ltd. has finally accepted a hostile takeover bid by Fitzroy River Corp. Ltd. after the latter raised the price of its off-market offer to 20 Australian cents per share, which values Royalco at about A$10.5 million, from the previous offer of 18 cents per share.
* Moody's Investors Service affirmed Minsur SA's Ba3 corporate family rating and the rating assigned to its US$450 million senior unsecured notes due in 2024. The outlook was changed to positive, from negative.
* A preliminary economic assessment for the development of the Kakula Phase 1 mine at Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.'s Kamoa-Kakula copper deposit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo generated a posttax net present value of US$3.7 billion using an 8% discount rate and an internal rate of return of 38%, with a payback period of 2.3 years. Initial CapEx is estimated at US$1.0 billion.
* On the back of strengthening copper prices, Capstone Mining Corp. is seeking the Yukon Territory government's approval for an amendment to its mining plan for the Minto copper mine and to start a new open pit on the property, which will allow the company to hire back most of the staff it laid off in October, Yukon News reported.
* The operator of the Mount Lyell mine, Copper Mines of Tasmania Pty. Ltd., was fined A$225,000 by a magistrate court for workplace safety failures associated with a December 2013 platform collapse incident at the site that killed two workers, ABC News reported.
* Employees at Codelco's Chuquicamata copper mine in Chile will vote this week on a collective contract proposal the company is expected to table by Dec. 14, Reuters reported, citing a union leader.
* Separately, Codelco CEO Nelson Pizarro said he conservatively expects the price of copper to average US$2.40 per pound in 2017, adding that analysts seeing copper averaging US$2.80 per pound next year are "too optimistic," Business News Americas reported.
* Altius Minerals Corp., together with select strategic investors, is co-founding a new publicly traded company, Adventus Zinc Corp., which will focus on the acquisition and advancement of zinc exploration and development projects. Altius intends to fund a portion of Adventus Zinc's pre-IPO seed capital funding.
* Morgan Stanley has chosen base over bulk metals as its preferred pick for next year amid the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to bolster infrastructure spending, which may support demand from China, Bloomberg News reported.
PRECIOUS METALS
* A preliminary economic assessment on the US Grant mine within Transatlantic Mining Corp.'s Alder Mountain gold property in Montana generated an after-tax net present value of US$6.9 million and an internal rate of return of 278%, with a payback period of 1.4 years.
* Kerr Mines Inc. will sell 8.0 million common shares of Bonterra Resources Inc. for total gross proceeds of C$2.0 million. Kerr Mines intends to use the proceeds to restart production at its Copperstone gold mine in Arizona.
* Capital Mining Ltd. submitted a new exploration license application for an area surrounding its Mayfield project in southeastern New South Wales, Australia, which will expand the project by about 178 square kilometers. The new area hosts numerous gold and base metal prospects, according to the statement.
* Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. expects to produce between 500,000 and 525,000 ounces of gold in 2017 at all-in sustaining costs per ounce sold of between US$950 and US$1,000. Additionally, the company will cease underground mining at its Stawell gold mine in Victoria, Australia, and put the operation on care and maintenance due to declining profitability. According to ABC News, the move will leave up to 150 mine employees jobless, as only 15 to 20 people will be retained to maintain the site. Kirkland is also placing its Holloway mine in northeastern Ontario on care and maintenance due to limited economic viability.
* An independent feasibility study for Dalradian Resources Inc.'s Curraghinalt gold project in Northern Ireland pegged the project with a net present value of US$301 million using a 5% discount rate and a 24.4% internal rate of return after tax at an assumed gold price of US$1,250 per ounce.
* The results of a scoping study on Egan Street Resources Ltd.'s Rothsay gold project in Western Australia indicate it will be a technically and financially viable operation and is expected to produce 101,000 ounces of gold over an initial 3.75 years for a capital outlay of about A$20.4 million.
* Goldman Sachs has revised its previous outlook on copper and now expects to see prices rising to US$6,200 per tonne over the next six months, significantly up from its previous six-month call of US$4,800, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* Atlatsa Resources Corp. said an employee died in a water-related incident Dec. 9 at the Brakfontein shaft of its Bokoni mine in South Africa.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG has resumed production at its Galmed hot dip galvanizing line in Sagunto, Spain, Metal Bulletin reported. The site was shuttered in 2013 due to a low capacity utilization rate as a result of the economic crisis in southern Europe.
* Billionaire Vladimir Lisin's Fletcher Group Holdings sold 90 million ordinary shares in OJSC Novolipetsk Steel, representing a 1.5% stake in the company, for US$153.1 million, Reuters reported.
* According to market sources, the European Commission's anti-dumping probe into hot dipped galvanized coil imported from China will lead to a shortage in the European market, Metal Bulletin reported.
* The U.K. government said publicly funded infrastructure projects will require about 3 million tonnes of steel over the next three years, Metal Bulletin wrote.
* Chinese coal miners ramped up output in November, but production still fell 5.1% year over year to 308.1 million tonnes, while power consumption rose 9% in the same month, its fastest pace since February 2014. According to Reuters, mining executives said increasing coal production capacity or reopening idled mines has been slow, as companies need to rehire workers and refurbish equipment.
* Meanwhile, China's steel output in November increased 5% year over year to 66.29 million tonnes, the fastest since June 2014, Reuters reported, citing data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics.
* Argentina's foreign trade commission initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imports of Chinese welded and seamless pipes, Metal Bulletin reported.
SPECIALTY
* Core Exploration Ltd. has acquired a 574-square-kilometer, lithium-prospective, granted exploration license in the Barrow Creek pegmatite field in Australia's Northern Territory.
* Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA filed a claim against the Chilean family business group, Grupo Errázuriz, before the environmental regulator SMA, over the alleged illegal extraction of water in the Llamara salt flat in Chile, daily Pulso reported.
* The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued the final mine area permit for Uranium Energy Corp.'s Burke Hollow in-situ recovery project in South Texas, authorizing over 11,000 acres for mining multiple production sands within two large confirmed production areas.
* The value of rough diamond sales for De Beers SA's 10th sales cycle for the year fell to US$418 million from US$476 million in the preceding cycle as a result of the demonetization program in India.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Given that Congress in Argentina is discussing a bill that would potentially reinstate tariffs on exports of minerals, the government of Mauricio Macri announced it might decide not to employ the presidential veto if the Senate finally approves it. Meanwhile, governors of mining regions will have to support the financial cost of the project, which would add up to approximately 140,000 pesos, daily Cronista reported.
* Nathan Tinkler's offer to settle the A$553.8 million owed to a total of 14 creditors for A$700,000 is up for vote by the creditors on Dec. 21, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The biggest creditors include AET Ltd./Credit Suisse AG with a A$424.4 million claim, and the tax office with a A$106 million claim.
* President-elect Donald Trump offered the interior secretary position to coal industry proponent U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, according to a report from Politico. The Trump transition team did not immediately confirm whether it offered the job to Zinke.
* The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union blasted South African President Jacob Zuma for not consulting affected families and Lonmin workers, noting that the government failed to hold Lonmin accountable for the August 2012 incident and find the real perpetrators of the Marikana killings.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. London time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.