TOP NEWS
Glencore wins Australian tax dispute over copper concentrate pricing
Glencore PLC won in a case against the Australian Taxation Office, or ATO, over a claim that the mining giant did not pay the required tax for copper concentrate purchased from the CSA mine in New South Wales from 2007 to 2009, Reuters reported. The ATO had claimed Glencore's Swiss office did not pay market rates for the purchases and had consequently increased its assessment of tax owed.
Report: GFG Alliance presses pause on A$1B Australian Liberty Steel unit IPO
Market volatility has forced GFG Alliance Ltd. to pause its planned A$1 billion IPO of parts of its Australian Liberty Steel unit on the ASX until 2020 at least, Reuters reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Investor meetings with Australian fund managers, likely scheduled for September, have been canceled, the people said.
New Hope cuts jobs at New Acland coal mine
New Hope Corp. Ltd. followed through on its threat to slash half of its workforce at the New Acland coal mine in Queensland, Australia after the state government did not respond to the company's ultimatum over the long-delayed stage-three expansion of the site. In a report by The Australian Financial Times, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Resources Minister Anthony Lynham reiterated that the approvals could not be given as they still await a court decision on an appeal against the expansion.
DIVERSIFIED
* Incitec Pivot Ltd. unit Dyno Nobel Ltd. will invest A$25 million over the next five years toward the development of a blast technology that will improve the safety and productivity at BHP Group's Australian operations. The alliance also aims to use environmentally-friendly measures, including the elimination of the use of palm oil in the explosives manufacturing process.
BASE METALS
* Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange surged to a five-year high of US$18,850 per tonne as a result of Indonesia's decision to expedite a ban on nickel ore exports, effective 2019-end instead of January 2022, Reuters reported. Indonesia may be able to make up for the expected shortfall in nickel pig iron supplies caused by the export ban from next year by boosting its own capacity.
* Orion Minerals Ltd. unit Repli Trading No. 27 (Pty) Ltd. was granted a mining right over its portion of the Prieska deposit, part of its Prieska copper-zinc project in South Africa, clearing the way for construction to start. The company also entered a memorandum of agreement with Byrnecut Offshore (Pty) Ltd. for underground mine development and production at Prieska. Meanwhile, it secured an option to acquire up to 73% of the highly prospective Masiqhame prospecting right near the Prieska project.
* Apollo Minerals Ltd. may earn up to 80% interest in the Kroussou zinc-lead project in western Gabon from Trek Metals Ltd. by spending A$4.0 million on the project within five years.
* Panoramic Resources Ltd. revised its fiscal 2020 production guidance due to lower output in July and August and a review of production schedules at the Savannah project and the Savannah North orebody in Western Australia. The company now expects to produce 9,500 to 10,000 tonnes of nickel, 5,800 to 6,000 tonnes of copper, and 600 to 650 tonnes of cobalt. Panoramic also amended the sale agreement for its Thunder Bay North platinum group metals project in Ontario, splitting the C$9 million consideration into four tranches.
* Indonesia will impose big fines on companies that fail to meet targets on the construction of new processing facilities, The Straits Times reported. The fines may be equivalent to 20% of the value of the country's unprocessed mineral exports, such as nickel ore, raw bauxite and copper, in the past six months, the report said.
* Over 650 GW of new onshore and 130 GW of new offshore wind capacity to be installed between 2018 and 2028 is expected to consume over 5.5 million tonnes of copper, according to an analysis by Wood Mackenzie.
PRECIOUS METALS
* South Africa's Department of Employment and Labour said it would not pursue the deregistration of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union over labor compliance. The union, the largest in the platinum sector, is presently engaged in wage negotiations. The department said the decision was made after a meeting with the union.
* Endeavour Mining Corp.'s indicated resources at its Fetekro greenfield gold exploration property in Cote d'Ivoire swelled 141% to 1.2 million ounces, contained in 14.6 million tonnes at 2.54 g/t of gold. Inferred resources at the property stand at 900,000 tonnes at 2.17 g/t of gold containing 60,000 ounces.
* Probe Metals Inc. more than doubled the NI 43-101-compliant gold resource at its Val-d'Or East project in Quebec to 866,300 ounces in the measured and indicated category, and about 2.3 million ounces in the inferred category. The 2018 estimate stood at 682,400 ounces of indicated resources and 722,100 ounces of inferred resources.
* Highland Gold Mining Ltd.'s attributable net profit in the first half jumped to US$45.4 million, or 12.5 U.S. cents per share, from the year-ago profit of US$28.6 million, or 8.8 cents apiece. Revenue rose to US$174.7 million from US$146.9 million as gold sales climbed to 142,609 ounces from 121,174 ounces.
* A landowner group in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea said villagers will forcibly shutter Newcrest Mining Ltd.'s Lihir gold operation if the company does not reinstate Craig Jetson as the mine's executive general manager by Sept. 10, Radio New Zealand reported.
* AuStar Gold Ltd. agreed to acquire the under administration Centennial Mining Ltd., which owns the A1 gold mine and the Maldon cyanide-in-leach processing plant in Victoria, Australia.
* Jervois Mining Ltd.'s A$3.6 million sale of its remaining royalty interests, including the Bullabulling gold project in Western Australia, to Franco-Nevada Corp. lapsed.
* Metalicity Ltd. expanded the Kookynie gold project in Western Australia to over 11,000 hectares after securing options over three exploration tenements.
* Rex Minerals Ltd. reported a maiden inferred resource estimate for the Hog Ranch gold project in Nevada of some 830,000 ounces contained in 44 million tonnes grading 0.6 g/t gold, at a 0.3 g/t gold cutoff grade.
* Breaker Resources NL's indicated resource at the Bombora gold deposit within the company's Lake Roe gold project in Western Australia increased 28.7% to 803,000 ounces within 18.4 million tonnes grading 1.4 g/t gold, at a 0.5 g/t cutoff. The total indicated and inferred resource at the deposit now stands at 23.2 million tonnes grading 1.3 g/t gold for 1.0 million ounces.
* Bardoc Gold Ltd. executed a deal to acquire prospecting license P24/4698 for A$60,000 in cash, plus 3 million share options.
* India's seizures of smuggled gold in the June quarter jumped 23.2% yearly to 1,197.7 kilograms, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed government official. Gold smuggling is expected to rise further in the coming months due to an increase in gold import taxes, the report said.
* Tajiri Resources Corp. exercised its option to acquire Middle Island Resources Ltd.'s Reo gold project in Burkina Faso.
BULK COMMODITIES
* The city of Tangshan in China's Hebei province has asked over 30 steel mills to cut production in September and early October in a bid to fight pollution and improve air quality, Reuters reported. The mills will have to cut sintering operations between 20% and 50%, and blast furnaces by 30%, between Sept. 1 and Sept. 27. From Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, the sintering and blast furnace output will be reduced by 30% to 50%, according to state-backed China Metallurgical News.
* The Tanzanian mining commission ordered Tancoal Energy Ltd. to start asking the customers receiving coal from the company's Tancoal mine to pay royalties covering transportation costs. The agency threatened to stop issuing coal transportation permits after Sept. 15 if the royalty is not implemented.
* Pacific Bauxite Ltd.'s sale of residual interests in milestone payments and royalties from the Mount Richardson, Rogetta and Golden Camel projects is now unconditional. The transaction is expected to complete on or around Sept. 9.
* Minergy Ltd. started mining operations at its Masama coal project in Botswana, with first commercial sales expected this month, Mining Weekly reported.
SPECIALTY
* The Australian and U.S. governments plan to jointly promote 15 rare earth and critical mineral projects as the countries look to reduce their dependence on China for the minerals, Financial Times reported. The projects have been proposed by more than 12 mining companies and will be developed at a cost of A$5.7 billion
* China Minmetals Corp. Ltd. subsidiary Changsha Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy Co. Ltd. has committed to start testing ore from Mali Lithium Ltd.'s Goulamina lithium project in Mali at its laboratory at Changsha, in China's Hunan province.
* Lucapa Diamond Co. Ltd. achieved record monthly diamond production in August at the Lulo mine in Angola and the Mothae mine in Lesotho. Production at Lulo totaled 3,180 carats, while the Mothae mine's output reached 2,911 carats.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
* China filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the U.S. over its import duties, Reuters said, citing the Chinese commerce ministry. The recent round of U.S.-imposed tariffs breached the consensus struck between the U.S. and Chinese leaders in Japan, the commerce ministry reportedly said.
* Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the eastern end of Grand Bahama Island late in the evening of Sept. 1 and continues to threaten the southeastern coast of the U.S. Dorian will move "dangerously close" to the Florida east coast the night of Sept. 2 through the evening of Sept. 4.
* More than 260,000 people are at risk of losing their jobs after the expiration of 329 mining leases in India on March 31, 2020, Business Standard reported.
* Cameroon banned semi-mechanized small-scale mining at riverbeds, and the use of toxic chemicals like mercury or cyanide in ore processing, Business in Cameroon wrote.
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