TOP NEWS
Vale restarting Onca Puma nickel operations, suspends Brucutu mining front
Vale SA will resume nickel mining and processing operations at Onca Puma in Brazil's Para state after the Supreme Federal Court suspended the injunctions. The processing operations were suspended in June, and mining operations were halted in September 2017 following Brazilian court orders amid allegations of pollution at a nearby river. Meanwhile, the company suspended work in one mining front of the Brucutu iron ore mine in Brazil's Minas Gerais state after a regulatory order, though the move will not impact Brucutu's production.
Carbon tax may cost South African mining sector billions of rand, council warns
South Africa's mining sector faces costs of between 900 million and 1.8 billion South African rand per year due to new carbon tax legislation, but this figure may increase tenfold if electricity costs are transferred to customers and tax concessions are withdrawn when the second phase of the Carbon Tax Act takes effect in 2023, according to the Minerals Council of South Africa.
Paulson's gold investor coalition urges midtier miners to merge, cut costs
The Shareholders Gold Council, an investor coalition led by New York hedge fund Paulson & Co, called for more zero-premium mergers among midtier gold companies to eliminate duplication and slash corporate costs, Reuters and Financial Times reported. The group said Golden Star Resources Ltd., Jaguar Mining Inc., Petropavlovsk PLC, Dundee Precious Metals Inc. and Eldorado Gold Corp. were the highest spenders among the midtier miners. Reducing their number by half would generate between US$2.4 billion and US$3.2 billion of value for shareholders, according to the group.
DIVERSIFIED
* BHP Group made a strategic investment in biotech startup Cemvita Factory, which is developing a technology that may be used to improve the remediation of mine-impacted soils and water, International Mining reported.
* Vale launched a cash tender offer to repurchase up to US$1 billion of debt. The buyback expires Oct. 9, subject to extension.
* Friends of the Earth subsidiary Market Forces indicated that it will revive efforts to make Rio Tinto set targets for the carbon emissions of its customers, which was initially rejected by shareholders during the company's annual meeting in May, The Australian Financial Review wrote.
BASE METALS
* Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry increased Freeport-McMoRan Inc.'s copper concentrate export quota more than threefold to 700,000 wet tonnes from 198,282 wet tonnes due to successful optimization programs at the Grasberg copper-gold mine in the country's Papua province, The Jakarta Post reported, citing the ministry's minerals director, Yunus Saefulhak. The director added that the move would not change Freeport's overall copper production target of 1.3 million wet tonnes for 2019.
* Epiroc AB landed a US$69 million contract to service mining equipment used at Codelco's Andina copper mine in Chile, Kitco News wrote.
* Red River Resources Ltd.'s shares were down almost 12% by ASX trading closing after the company said it expects about a 30% cut in production this quarter at its Thalanga zinc operation in Queensland, Australia, compared to the previous quarter due to ongoing repairs at the processing plant.
* Rockwealth Resources Corp. entered into a binding amalgamation agreement with Realgold Resources Corp. to acquire all the latter's securities in a reverse takeover.
* Western Australia's Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety granted Scorpion Minerals Ltd. an exploration license for the South Limb Pod copper-zinc-cobalt deposit within its Mt Mulcahy project.
PRECIOUS METALS
* The Papua New Guinea government wants to keep 40% of the gold produced at the proposed Wafi-Golpu project, a 50/50 joint venture between Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. and Newcrest Mining Ltd., Reuters reported, citing Commerce Minister Wera Mori. "They get 60% of the production, we get 40%. If they don't like it we'll mine it ourselves — we own the resources," Mori was quoted as saying.
* Arrow Minerals Ltd. decided not to pursue legal action against Dreadnought Resources Ltd. The company had threatened to sue over the alleged misuse of confidential information regarding Dreadnought's acquisition of the Illaara gold project in Western Australia from Newmont Goldcorp Corp.
* Stavely Minerals Ltd. received an exploration license covering the New Golden Gate and Tasmanian Consols gold mines, part of the Mathinna project in Australia, for an initial term of four years from the Tasmanian Department of State Growth.
* Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd. signed a joint venture agreement with Turkish mining and mine construction contractor Ciftay Insaat Taahhut ve Ticaret AS to jointly develop the Tulkubash and Kyzyltash projects in the Kyrgyz Republic. Ciftay will invest up to US$31.5 million to secure a 12.5% equity stake in the two projects.
* Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. started pre-production mining at its Lindero gold project in Argentina ahead of plans for first dore pour in the first quarter of 2020.
* Klondike Gold Corp. leased the rights and permits to a placer mine on the Eldorado Creek property, part of its Klondike gold project in Canada's Yukon territory, to Dulac Mining Ltd. for three years in exchange for a 10% royalty payable in raw gold.
* AbraPlata Resource Corp. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Aethon Minerals Corp. and form a silver-gold-focused explorer that will develop the Diablillos project in Argentina.
* Political unrest in Hong Kong is squeezing the country's gold exports to China, which fell to 8.085 tonnes in July, the lowest level in over eight years, Reuters reported, citing official Hong Kong records.
* Mexus Gold US sold its first gold from the Santa Elena mine in Mexico, where it poured gold in August.
* The CME Group Inc. will launch two gold futures contracts in collaboration with the Shanghai Gold Exchange on Oct. 14, Fastmarkets MB wrote.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. plans to convert 175 trucks to autonomous technology by mid-2020, compared to 137 autonomous trucks in operation now. The company's fleet of autonomous haul trucks have moved more than one billion tonnes of material and delivered a 30% improvement in productivity, CEO Elizabeth Gaines said.
* China's Shandong province produced 10.4 million tonnes of crude coal in August, down 2.4% from July and 14.4% lower than August 2018, sxcoal.com reported, citing data from the provincial government. The province produced 79 million tonnes of crude coal in the first eight months of the year, down 9% year over year.
* Whitehaven Coal Ltd. is eyeing the Olive Downs coal project in Queensland, Australia, owned by Pembroke Resources Pty. Ltd., The Australian reported. A stake of between 25% and 35% is on the market, although it is unclear if Whitehaven is looking to buy a stake or the entire project, believed to be worth more than A$1 billion, the report said.
* Proceeds from the potential sale of thyssenkrupp AG's elevators business must stay with the group and not be distributed as a special dividend to shareholders, Reuters reported, citing Tekin Nasikkol, the works council head of thyssenkrupp Steel Europe AG.
* Coronado Global Resources Inc. awarded a six-year, A$1.3 billion contract to CIMIC Group Ltd.'s Thiess Pty. Ltd. to provide mining services at the Curragh coal operation in Queensland, Australia. Separately, the company amended its secured multicurrency syndicated facility agreement to US$550 million from US$350 million and extended the loan's maturity by a year to February 2023.
* Greece-based industrial conglomerate MYTILINEOS SA's first half net profit fell year over year to €81.6 million from €83.9 million due to the first-time adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, normalization of the effective tax rate, and an increased stake in its METKA EGN subsidiary.
* Exxaro Resources Ltd. kicked off production at its Belfast coal mine in South Africa six months ahead of schedule, Miningmx reported, citing business unit manager Lazarus Ramashilabele, who added that the mine will be able to produce 2.7 million tonnes of thermal coal annually for at least the next 17 years in the first phase of development, starting in 2020.
* The U.S. National Coal Council devoted much of its annual fall meeting to discussing technologies that may provide opportunities for the struggling coal sector. But several coal industry experts and representatives seemed less optimistic that the commercialization of these technologies would occur in time to have a significant impact on coal's current trajectory, according to an exclusive S&P Global Market Intelligence report.
* China's top steelmaking city, Tangshan, ordered steel mills and other industrial companies to cut output or emissions for four days ahead of the mid-autumn public holidays, part of a larger effort to reduce air pollution, Reuters reported, citing two sources and a notice.
* Bounty Mining Ltd.'s board rejected another unsolicited funding proposal from QCoal Bounty Holdings Pty. Ltd, saying it is not a superior alternative to Amaroo Blackdown Investments LLC's proposal.
SPECIALTY
* While global lithium production is increasing, new lithium supply has outstripped demand as new producers step up to claim market share. South American producers, dominated by brine-sourced output, and Australian producers, focused on hard rock mining, are boosting their lithium product supply, according to the Metals and Mining Research team at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
* Sigma Lithium Resources Corp. CEO Calvyn Gardner said the company has had discussions with Tesla Inc. and other car manufacturers over lithium supply contracts, Reuters reported. Gardner said Sigma also had talks with Tesla supplier Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd. on the electric-vehicle maker's request but is holding off on a supply deal due to issues with terms put up by the Chinese company.
* Syrah Resources Ltd.'s net loss in the first half widened to US$81.4 million, from US$8.3 million a year ago, mainly due to a noncash, posttax impairment of property, plant and equipment and mining assets of US$65.9 million and an inventory write-down of US$4.8 million.
* The Federal Court of Australia approved Wesfarmers Ltd.'s A$776 million takeover of Kidman Resources Ltd. The deal is expected to take effect Sept. 23.
* Namdeb Holdings Ltd., a diamond joint venture between Anglo American PLC unit De Beers SA and the Namibian government, sold the mothballed Elizabeth Bay mine and associated marine assets as a going concern to local consortium Lewcor, Reuters reported. The deal is worth 120 million Namibian dollars, or about US$8.2 million.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter revealed plans at Africa Down Under in Perth, Australia, to boost the country's proportion of global exploration spend from 1% in 2017 to 5% and formed eight commodity "leadership leadership forum" groups to develop a national greenfields exploration strategy. Baxter noted that the South African gold industry's production dropped from 1,000 tonnes in 1970, 77% of the world's new mined gold supply, to about 130 tonnes in 2018, and employment dropped from 550,000 to just under 100,000.
* The board of London Stock Exchange Group PLC rejected Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing's proposal to acquire the former for £31.6 billion shortly after HKEX Chairman Laura Cha said she had not anticipated significant regulatory hurdles surrounding the takeover. The company said it had "fundamental concerns about the key aspects of the conditional proposal: strategy, deliverability, form of consideration and value," adding that it "sees no merit in further engagement" over the offer and would continue with its acquisition of Refinitiv.
* The Trump administration formally repealed the Obama-era Clean Water Rule, setting the stage for finalizing a proposal that would significantly curtail federal protections for the nation's wetlands and waterways.
* JPMorgan Chase & Co. metals executives Michael Nowak and Gregg Smith were put on leave following a U.S. criminal investigation into the bank's metals trading practices, Reuters reported.
* The London Metal Exchange plans to allow longer queues for loading out metal, a move that may boost the profits of warehouses but result in higher costs for consumers, Reuters reported, citing metal industry sources.
* South African mining union UASA welcomed a new requirement for strikes to be first supported by workers through a secret ballot, a rule that will end wild strikes without member consultations, Bloomberg News reported.
* South Africa's mining output in July climbed 2.4% from 2018, the first increase in nine months as coal and iron ore production rose, Bloomberg News wrote.
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