TOP NEWS
China looks to modernize steel sector with stricter rules for new capacity
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced stricter rules for companies looking to add new steel capacity, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the ministry. Under the new rules, companies looking to add 1 tonne of new capacity will have to close at least 1.25 tonnes of old capacity in environmentally sensitive regions.
Coeur posts record Q4, FY'17 silver-equivalent output
Coeur Mining Inc. posted a record fourth-quarter 2017 silver equivalent production of 11.7 million ounces, a 17% year-over-year increase, comprising 4.5 million ounces of silver and 119,114 ounces of gold. Full-year production came in at 39.4 million ounces of silver equivalent, 9% higher on a yearly basis.
NALCO eyes turnover of more than 181.71B rupees by 2024
National Aluminium Co. Ltd. is targeting achieving a turnover of more than 181.71 billion Indian rupees and net profit of 16.93 billion rupees by 2024, The Economic Times reported. The revenue growth will be driven by an expansion in NALCO's smelting capacity to 1.1 million tonnes and an increase in refining capacity to 3.3 million tonnes. The company expects to achieve a turnover of 81 billion rupees in fiscal 2017-2018.
DIVERSIFIED
* ThreeD Capital Inc. teamed up with St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. to introduce ZeU Crypto Networks Inc. to its global network and blockchain ecosystem.
BASE METALS
* Codelco's Chile-based Ventanas copper smelter achieved record-high copper cathode production of 410,024 tonnes in 2017, despite stricter environmental regulations and a more complex global scenario for smelters, Metal Bulletin reported.
* Since the Chinese government imposed tougher restrictions on metal scrap imports, refiners and even smelters such as Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd. are looking at alternatives, including processing copper scrap in Southeast Asian countries, Reuters reported. Analysts expect this to lead to higher demand for refined copper.
* Asiamet Resources Ltd. subsidiary PT Emas Mineral Murni was granted the key production license needed to advance its Beutong copper-gold project in Indonesia to the development stage.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Torex Gold Resources Inc. poured 241,000 ounces of gold in the first 10 months of 2017 and sold 244,800 ounces of the precious metal as workers continue to blockade its El Limon-Guajes mine in Guerrero, Mexico. Meanwhile, the company regained access to the mine site through a road used during construction, allowing crews to inspect the site, make maintenance plans and plan a restart of operations once the site is secure.
* St Barbara Ltd. produced 197,768 ounces of gold in the first half of fiscal 2018 and lifted its full-year guidance to between 365,000 and 385,000 ounces of gold, compared to the previous forecast of between 350,000 and 375,000 gold ounces.
* Endomines AB produced 98.7 kilograms of gold in the fourth quarter of 2017, down 11.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2016. The company also produced 398.1 kilograms of gold in the full year, up 73.1% on a yearly basis and falling within the 2017 guidance range of 350 kilograms to 400 kilograms of gold.
* An updated preliminary economic assessment for Canamex Gold Corp.'s Bruner gold-silver property in Nevada pegged an after-tax net present value at a 5% discount rate of US$69.6 million, a 31.0% internal rate of return and a 1.65-year payback period.
* Anaconda Mining Inc. shares rose by over 14% in noon trading in Toronto on Jan. 8, after it released an initial resource estimate for the Argyle deposit at its Point Rousse gold project in Newfoundland and Labrador. The estimate included indicated resources of 38,300 ounces contained within 543,363 tonnes at 2.19 g/t of gold, and inferred resources of 30,300 ounces of gold hosted within 517,295 tonnes at 1.82 g/t of gold.
* Maya Gold & Silver Inc. posted a measured and indicated mineral resource at its Zgounder property in Morocco of 10 million ounces of silver. Of the total measured and indicated resource, 7.9 million ounces are pit-constrained at a cutoff grade of 61.89 g/t and 2.1 million ounces are underground at a cutoff grade of 125 g/t.
* Equinox Gold Corp.'s board gave the go-ahead for full-scale construction and development of the Aurizona project in Brazil and approved a total project budget of US$146 million. First production is expected late in 2018, and the company is aiming for annual output of over 135,000 ounces of gold.
* Malbex Resources Inc. entered into a nonbinding letter of intent with Samara Capital Inc. to implement a change of business and become a merchant banking and financial advisory firm focused on the small-cap market, with investments in cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.
BULK COMMODITIES
* The Port Kembla Coal Terminal Ltd. in New South Wales, Australia, locked out about 60 workers as it seeks to cut costs due to a record slump in production, ABC reported. South32 Ltd. manages the terminal on behalf of a consortium of coal producers, which includes Glencore Plc, Peabody Energy Corp. among others. All six coal producers are equal shareholders in the terminal.
* Mosaic Co. completed the previously announced acquisition of Vale SA's fertilizer business, Vale Fertilizantes.
* Jupiter Mines Ltd. is planning a A$150 million IPO on the ASX in a transaction that would value the South African manganese producer at between A$750 million and A$1 billion, The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk wrote. The company is targeting a deal for the first half of this year.
* Arconic Inc. will freeze defined benefit pension plans for all 7,900 of its salaried and nonbargained hourly workers in the U.S., effective April 1, Reuters reported. The specialty metals maker expects its pretax pension-related expense in 2018 to be about US$50 million lower than 2017.
* Aluminium Bahrain BSC's aluminum output reached a record high of 981,016 tonnes in 2017, up 1% year over year, despite operational challenges, Metal Bulletin reported.
* On the back of Chinese state-mandated factory closures and environmental protection policies, the country's steel production growth is expected to slow sharply in 2018, resulting in an expected rise in output of a mere 0.6%, a poll of 15 analysts found in a Financial Times survey.
* The cold snap affecting the eastern U.S. is also causing some delays in coal deliveries on inland waterways. Debra Calhoun, senior vice president of the Waterways Council Inc., told S&P Global Market Intelligence that cold weather always affects the Ohio River at this time of the year, and there are problems on the upper Ohio River, at New Cumberland Lock, and north on the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers.
* RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage on the newly minted Nutrien Ltd. with an outperform rating and a target price of US$60 per share. "We believe Nutrien is an attractive investment offering strong synergy potential, significant capital re-allocation opportunities, robust [free cash flow] generation, and an asymmetric return profile," analyst Andrew Wong said. Nutrien emerged from the merger of Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.
* Freehill Mining Ltd.'s board initiated a strategic review to prioritize the allocation of capital across its portfolio of assets. The review is expected to be completed within the March 2018 quarter.
* GrowMax Resources Corp. subsidiary Americas Potash Peru SA entered into an initial 15-year phosphate rock off-take deal with Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. unit Kisan International Trading FZE. Kisan agreed to purchase at least 50% of the phosphate rock produced from the company's Bayovar concessions in Peru, comprising up to a total of 500,000 tonnes per annum.
* Edenville Energy Plc is in discussions for orders in excess of 10,000 tonnes of coal per month from its Rukwa coal project in Tanzania to clients in the East Africa region. The company expects monthly revenue of over US$300,000 from the contracts.
* China's Hebei province is targeting slashing steel output capacity by as much as 8 million tonnes this year, Reuters reported. Hebei will also close 19 coal mines and phase out 10.6 million tonnes of coal production capacity in 2018.
* The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council announced preliminary anti-dumping duties of between 30.5% and 103% on imports of seamless pipe products from China, Metal Bulletin wrote. The secretariat, however, noted that the duties will not be collected until the investigation is finalized.
SPECIALTY
* Thor Mining PLC extended the open cut life of its Molyhil tungsten-molybdenum mine in Australia's Northern Territory by 17% to seven years following an upgrade to the mine's ore reserves estimate. Open cut probable ore reserves now total 3.5 million tonnes at 0.29% tungsten trioxide and 0.12% molybdenum.
* Gem Diamonds Ltd. recovered high-quality, 117-carat and 110-carat, D color, type IIa diamonds from its Letseng mine in Lesotho.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* The recovery of commodity prices sparked a fresh breath of optimism in the mining industry in 2017. The market capitalization of the top 25 mining firms grew US$195.86 billion in 2017 to reach US$753.59 billion by year-end, a 35% increase from end-2016, according to Metals & Mining Research team at S&P Global Market Intelligence. The top five companies in this analysis represent more than 50% of the overall market capitalizations of the top 25 companies.
* Thousands of industrial workers in Germany staged warning strikes Jan. 8 to support the wage increase demand of the country's largest union IG Metall, which has called for work stoppages at 143 companies Jan. 9, Reuters reported.
* Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. CEO Charles Li said the exchange is considering amending trading rules as it struggles with low trading volumes, Bloomberg News reported. "We are talking about small scale, incremental, early-stage pilot programs, where people can at least begin to think, 'we could have cash incentives, we could have rebates, we could do this, that'," Li was quoted as saying.
* Earnings from Australia's resources and energy export sectors are forecast to hit a record high of A$214 billion in the current 2017-18 financial year, ABC reported, citing a latest estimate by the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.
* Indonesia's PT Ancora Indonesia Resources Tbk is targeting a 5% revenue growth in mining services in 2018, with the expected increase in coal prices, Kontan reported.
S&P Global Market Intelligence is owned by S&P Global Inc.
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.
