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Incitec Pivot may sell fertilizer unit; Indonesia fast-tracks nickel export ban

TOP NEWS

Incited Pivot cuts FY'19 profit guidance; reviewing fertilizer biz

Incitec Pivot Ltd. slashes its fiscal 2019 EBIT guidance to between A$285 million and A$295 million, from A$370 million to A$415 million guided in May, due to lower than forecast ammonia production at its Waggaman facility in Louisiana and lower fertilizer earnings caused by drought in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. The company also launched a strategic review of its Asia-Pacific fertilizer business, which may lead to a sale.

Indonesia fast-tracks nickel export restrictions

Indonesia will expedite restrictions on nickel ore exports starting at the end of 2019, instead of January 2020, Reuters reported citing Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan. The government also issued new rules outlining penalties for nickel producers that do not build smelters in the country, a key issue for the Indonesia government.

Codelco's H1'19 profit plummets 74% YOY on lower prices, Chuquicamata strike

Codelco's pretax profit for the first half of 2019 plummeted 74% year on year to US$318 million from US$1.24 billion amid lower copper prices and a strike at its flagship Chuquicamata operation in Chile, Reuters reported. Copper production from its own mines dropped 13% to 710,000 tonnes. Codelco will make an investment decision by early 2020 on whether to proceed with its planned Maricunga lithium joint venture with Lithium Power International Ltd.'s 51%-owned Minera Salar Blanco SpA, Reuters reported separately, citing Alejandro Rivera, Codelco's vice-president for administration and finance.

DIVERSIFIED

* BHP Group scrapped a plan to evacuate some workers from its Shenzi and Neptune oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as the risk to the facilities from Hurricane Dorian diminished, Reuters reported.

* Diversified South African miner African Rainbow Minerals Ltd. posted a 9% yearly rise in fiscal 2019 headline earnings to 5.23 billion rand as solid prices from iron ore, palladium and rhodium offset decreases in platinum, nickel and thermal coal prices. The company plans to ramp down and eventually close its loss-making Nkomati nickel mine, a joint venture with PJSC Norilsk Nickel Co.

BASE METALS

* Codelco is aiming to increase output in the second half by 30% compared to the first half as it expects higher ore grades from the Chuquicamata underground mine, Bloomberg News reported.

* Freeport-McMoRan Inc. reassured local villagers that the company will not acquire farmland and other land in order to expand its Cerro Verde copper project in Peru, Mining.com wrote, citing a La República report.

* Anglo Pacific Group PLC struck a deal with a Mantos Copper SA subsidiary to acquire a 1.525% net smelter royalty on the Mantos Blancos copper mine in Chile for some US$50.3 million in cash, with completion expected shortly.

* URU Metals Ltd.'s application for a mining right over three prospecting rights that form the Zebediela project was accepted by the South African Department of Mineral Resources. The application covers the right to mine nickel and platinum group minerals, chromite, cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore and vanadium for 30 years.

* Local residents are demanding more compensation from China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co. Ltd.'s CNMC Nickel Co. Ltd. unit following allegations that waste from the Tagaung Taung nickel plant in Myanmar's Sagaing region polluted land and water resources in the area, Radio Free Asia reported.

PRECIOUS METALS

* Dundee Precious Metals Inc. received the final operating permits for its Ada Tepe gold mine in Bulgaria, which officially opened Aug. 23.

* Lydian International Ltd. rebuffed claims by Earth Link & Advanced Resources Development about the low quality of data it had access to during an environmental audit of the Amulsar gold project in Armenia, with the company saying that it fully cooperated with the body during the entire process.

* Kin Mining NL's pre-feasibility study for its Cardinia gold project, part of the Leonora property in Western Australia, outlined a pretax net present value, discounted at 8%, of A$66.8 million, a 17% internal rate of return, and a 44-month payback period, assuming a gold price of A$2,000 per ounce.

* Northam Platinum Ltd. said it acquired an additional 13.7 million preference shares held by its partner, Zambezi Platinum (RF) Ltd., for for 1.0 billion South African rand from Public Investment Corp. (SOC) Ltd.

* Moreton Resources Ltd. decided to cease the advancement of production at its Granite Belt silver and gold mine in Queensland, Australia, amid legal issues regarding financial assurance matters. The company is still aiming to start mining operations in January 2020.

* Sales of American Eagle gold coins in August were steady on a monthly basis at 6,000 ounces, Reuters reported, citing the U.S. Mint.

BULK COMMODITIES

* Ferrexpo PLC's independent review committee to probe the use of funds donated to the Blooming Land Charity was unable to explain a number of discrepancies outlined in the 2018 annual report. The company said it is possible that some of the funds could have been misappropriated, but added that none of its directors, management or employees were involved in any possible misappropriation.

* Nippon Steel Corp. intends to slash its planned capital expenditures for the three-year period to March 2021 by 10% to 20%, amounting to ¥170 billion to ¥340 billion, due to slower steel demand amid the U.S.-China trade war, Reuters wrote citing the company's head of investor relations Yuichiro Kaneko.

* BlueScope Steel Ltd. Chairman John Bevan said the board is treating allegations put forward by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, or ACCC, "very seriously." The ACCC kicked off civil proceedings in the federal court against BlueScope and its former general manager sales and marketing Jason Ellis for alleged cartel conduct in the supply of flat steel products.

* In the first half, Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd. booked an 8.59% increase in attributable net profit to 3.16 billion Chinese yuan, or 13 fen per share, from 2.91 billion yuan, or 12 fen per share, posted last year. Total output of nickel, cobalt, copper, lead and zinc rose 25% from a year ago

* A global aluminum producer offered Japanese buyers a premium of US$110 per tonne of primary metal shipments for the December quarter, up from US$108/t in the September quarter, which is expected to set the benchmark for the region, Reuters reported, citing five sources involved in the pricing talks.

* The Queensland Government in Australia extinguished native title over 1,385 hectares of indigenous land to give way to Adani Enterprises Ltd.'s Carmichael coal project without any public announcement of the move, The Guardian reported. Representatives from the Wangan and Jagalingou Council said they never gave Adani their greenlight to occupy the land, a claim which an Adani spokesman refuted in the report.

* ArcelorMittal's ArcelorMittal Prijedor d.o.o. unit will suspend the dismissal of 300 workers at its iron ore operations in Bosnia while trying to resolve issues with the country's autonomous Serb Republic, Reuters reported.

* Norsk Hydro ASA filed a joint petition with Brazilian federal prosecutors to lift the embargoes on the new DRS2 bauxite residue deposit area at its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil.

* After starting talks in May, South Korean steel giant POSCO reached a tentative wage and collective bargaining agreement with its labor union, with union members to vote on the matter Sept. 9, Yonhap News Agency reported.

* Alcoa Corp. reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers on a new four-year labor agreement covering about 1,700 active employees at the Warrick operations in Indiana, Massena operations in New York, Gum Springs in Arkansas, Wenatchee works in Washington and Point Comfort in Texas.

* British Steel Corp. Ltd.'s real estate and infrastructure design unit TSP Projects Ltd. has been sold to a U.K. subsidiary of French engineering group Systra, which is expected to save more than 400 jobs, Reuters reported, citing the official receiver. The deal will not impact a proposed sale of the insolvent group to an affiliate of the Turkish military's pension fund.

* The farm-in and joint venture contract between Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. unit FMG Resources Pty Ltd. and Tasman Resources Ltd. over the latter's Vulcan iron oxide-copper-gold-uranium prospect in South Australia received South Australian ministerial approval.

* New Hope Corp. Ltd. threatened to dismiss 150 workers at its New Acland coal mine in Queensland, Australia, on Sept. 2 unless it secures approvals for its planned A$900 million stage-three expansion of the mine, The Australian Financial Review reported.

* Jiuquan Iron & Steel (Group) Co. Ltd. plans to temporarily shut down its Alumina Partners of Jamaica refinery for over a year within two to three months to allow facility upgrades, sources told Fastmarkets MB.

* A worker was killed when a wall collapsed at Consol Energy Inc.'s Enlow Fork coal mine, the Tribune-Review, a Pennsylvania news outlet, reported.

SPECIALTY

* MP Materials wants to break into the rare earth magnet market, on the heels of plans to bring rare earth refining back to the U.S. at its Mountain Pass mine in California, as demand for electric vehicles grows. "We'd like to be leaders in the domestic development of this supply chain," MP Materials Co-Chairman James Litinsky said in an interview with S&P Global Market Intelligence.

* China Minmetals Rare Earth Co. Ltd. paid 780.4 million Chinese yuan as a sole bidder in online auctions to acquire antimony, terbium oxide and dysprosium oxide inventories once held by the now-defunct Fanya Metal Exchange, Reuters reported, noting that the prices paid are below current market value.

* American Battery Metals Corp. is renewing all of its 1,300 claims with the Bureau of Land Management, covering 26,000 acres in Railroad Valley, Nev.

* Orion Metals Ltd. agreed to sell its 65% stake in seven exploration tenements in the Tanami West lanthanides and gold project in Western Australia to PVW Tanami, a subsidiary of PVW Resources NL, for A$250,000.

* Hudson Resources Inc. hosted the leaders from the Qeqqata Kommunia for the opening of the White Mountain anorthosite mine in Greenland.

* Mozambique plans to offer rewards to people who inform authorities about the smuggling of precious stones, Mining Weekly wrote, citing Max Tonela, the country’s mineral resources and energy minister, who said that the reward may take the form of money or a portion of the seized illegal shipment.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* Mining services provide Macmahon Holdings Ltd. expects revenue in fiscal 2020 of US$1.2 billion to US$1.3 billion, and EBIT of US$80 million to US$90 million. Revenue in fiscal 2019 jumped 55% to US$$1.10 billion, as the company increased activity across its contract mining projects in Australia and Indonesia. The company did not recognize a previously expected provision on the Telfer gold project contract with Newcrest Mining Ltd., saying it now expects the net present value of incremental cash flows from the contract to be positive over the project's remaining term.

* Using blockchain technology to track products through a supply line could allow mining and metals companies to not only boost efficiency but also offer assurances to investors concerned about ethical or environmental concerns associated with mined materials, according to an exclusive S&P Global Market Intelligence report.

* Brazilian federal agents exchanged gunfire with illegal miners during a raid in the Amazon state of Para, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed witnesses. No one was injured and no suspects were arrested, the newswire said, adding that the authorities destroyed two backhoes and other mining equipment.

* Saudi Arabia set up a new ministry for industry and mineral resources effective Jan. 1, 2020, headed by Bandar Alkhorayef, separating it from the giant energy ministry, Reuters wrote.

* Chinese trading firm Honors Commodity plans to hire two new metals traders for its Singaporean headquarters as it seeks to expand its global footprint, Reuters reported.

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