TOP NEWS
Noble Group shoring up creditor support for US$3.45B debt restructuring
Noble Group Ltd. reached a binding restructuring agreement with a group of creditors holding about 46% of its existing senior claims. All of the existing senior claims, totaling about US$3.45 billion, will be exchanged for a combination of new debt and equity in the company. In order to secure approval for the proposed restructuring, the troubled commodities trader revised terms for existing shareholders that may have derailed the process by offering a 15% equity stake in the company, up from 10% proposed in January, while management's share will now fall to 15% from 20% previously. Meanwhile, the perpetual bondholders will receive up to US$25 million of new bonds, compared to the US$15 million in cash offered in the January in-principal agreement.
Vale eyes US$2.25B debt cut with redemption, buyback
Vale SA plans to redeem 4.625% guaranteed notes due 2020 and launched a buyback offer for up to US$1.75 billion of its 2021 and 2022 guaranteed notes. The 2020 notes, of which US$498.8 million remains outstanding, will be redeemed April 17.
Tailings dam breach forces Newcrest to declare force majeure on Cadia contracts
Newcrest Mining Ltd. declared force majeure on the supply of copper concentrates from the Cadia gold-copper mine in New South Wales, Australia, Metal Bulletin reported, citing two sources. The miner was forced to halt operations at the site following a tailings dam breach March 9.
DIVERSIFIED
* Anglo American PLC CEO Mark Cutifani expects the company's sustainability drive to earn it an additional US$9 billion through 2030 by improving mining methods and relations with governments as well as the communities where it operates, Bloomberg News reported.
BASE METALS
* Glencore PLC agreed to sell about 52,800 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide over the next three years to China-based battery recycler GEM Co. Ltd., Reuters reported.
* First Quantum Minerals Ltd. said a small number of workers at its preproduction-stage Cobre Panama copper property in Panama are on strike. The industrial action began March 9 and does not involve the dominant union that represents the majority of Cobre Panama workers. Work levels at the project have decreased as a result, with development continuing in two of four main construction areas.
* The BHP Billiton Group-majority owned Escondida copper mine in Chile invited a workers' union for early wage talks, Reuters reported.
* KGHM Polska Miedz SA narrowed its net loss to 134 million polish zloty in the fourth quarter of 2017, from a net loss of 5.08 billion zloty in the year-ago period. Sales revenue declined 2.4% year over year to 5.87 billion zloty.
* German carmaker Volkswagen AG secured €20 billion of battery supplies to support its aggressive plans to equip 16 factories to produce as many as 3 million electric vehicles by 2025. All in all, Volkswagen plans to purchase batteries worth €50 billion, including for the North American market.
* First Cobalt Corp. agreed to acquire US Cobalt Inc. in an all-share deal valuing the explorer at about C$149.9 million.
* Kapuskasing Gold Corp. terminated an option deal with Minfocus Exploration Corp. over the Daniel's Harbour zinc project in Newfoundland and Labrador.
* Global Energy Metals Corp. signed a letter of intent to acquire the Mount Dorothy and Cobalt Ridge cobalt projects in Queensland, Australia, collectively known as the Mount Isa cobalt projects, from Hammer Metals Ltd.
* Ardea Resources Ltd. posted an updated resource estimate for the KNP zone at its Kalgoorlie property in Western Australia defining 108,400 tonnes of cobalt and 856,900 tonnes of nickel in terms of contained metal. KNP hosts resources totaling 108.3 million tonnes at 0.10% cobalt and 0.79% nickel using a cutoff grade of 0.08% cobalt or 0.5% nickel.
* Galena Mining Ltd. released updated lead-silver resources for its Abra property in Western Australia. Abra hosts high-grade indicated and inferred resources totaling 11.2 million tonnes grading 10.1% lead and 28 g/t of silver using a cutoff of 7.5% lead.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Polymetal International Plc entered into a binding agreement to sell its 50% stake in the Dolinnoye gold property to JSC AK Altynalmas. The company acquired the Dolinnoye stake through a series of deals in 2015 and 2016 to use it as a source of ore for the Varvara processing hub in Kazakhstan. Dolfinflip Co. Ltd., which owns the remaining 50% interest, will also sell its stake to Altynalmas.
* Rusoro Mining Ltd. said the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the company and upheld a US$1.3 billion arbitration award against the Venezuelan government. A World Bank tribunal granted the award to Rusoro in August 2016 after a ruling found that Venezuela had unlawfully expropriated Rusoro's mining operations in the country.
* Lingbao Gold Group Co. Ltd. expects a net profit attributable to shareholders of about 70.0 million Chinese yuan for 2017, swinging from the year-ago net loss of 77.5 million yuan, thanks to efficiency gains and higher copper sales volumes.
* Production resumed at St Barbara Ltd.'s Simberi gold mine in Papua New Guinea after an illegal work stoppage was resolved.
* Duketon Mining Ltd. estimated the maiden JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource for the Lancefield North deposit, part of its Duketon gold project in Western Australia. The deposit hosts 1.9 million tonnes at 1.55 g/t gold for 95,679 contained gold ounces in the inferred category at a 0.5 g/t gold cutoff.
* Ghana's minister of lands and natural resources, John Peter Amewu, will enter into a memorandum of understanding with the protesting workers at Gold Fields Ltd.'s Tarkwa gold project, Mining.com reported. The agreement calls for re-engagement of workers affected by the company's plan to operate the mine via a third-party contractor for its remaining life.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Chinese steel mills produced 5.9% more steel in January and February from a year ago as steelmakers sought to take advantage of rising prices, Reuters reported. Mills in the country produced 136.82 million tonnes of crude steel in the first two months of the year.
* A Tata Steel UK Ltd.-backed pension fund will be created after meeting minimum size and funding criteria, clearing the way for the company's planned merger with Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG, Reuters reported.
* Rio Tinto will remain a member of the Minerals Council of Australia despite an activist shareholder's push to exit the lobby group, The Australian reported. Meanwhile, the Minerals Council of Australia released a new energy policy, saying "sustained global action" is needed to cut the effects of human activity on the climate, The Australian reported. BHP Billiton Group had threatened to leave the council if it did not stop promoting cleaner coal-fired power over other energy sources.
* Confirming market speculation, Altura Mining Ltd. said it is in discussions with Shaanxi J&R Optimum Energy Co. Ltd. about a potential control transaction.
* Bauxite shipments resumed after rioting subsided in the Guinean mining towns of Boke and Kamsar, Reuters wrote. Meanwhile, two people were killed in violent clashes in the country.
* Brazilian President Michel Temer said that his government and other countries are considering filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the steel and aluminum tariffs announced by the U.S., Metal Bulletin reported.
SPECIALTY
* Lithium Power International Ltd. secured a key regulatory export license from the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission to produce, market and export lithium products from its 50%-owned Maricunga lithium brine project in Chile for a 30-year period.
* Kenmare Resources Plc achieved record annual production for ilmenite, rutile and zircon. Total shipments of finished products increased 2% for a record of 1.04 million tonnes, while revenues increased 47% year over year to US$208.3 million.
* Gem Diamonds Ltd. swung to a profit of US$5.5 million in 2017 from a year-ago loss of US$158.8 million. However, the company decided to hold off a dividend for the year. Meanwhile, the company recovered a 169-carat, top white color, type IIa diamond from the Letseng mine in Lesotho, the seventh diamond of over 100 carats recovered this year.
* Renascor Resources Ltd. is considering either a large-scale or staged development over a 30-year mine life as part of its pre-feasibility study for the Siviour deposit, part of the Arno graphite project in South Australia. Under the immediate large-scale production option, the company estimated a posttax net present value, discounted at 10%, of US$500 million.
* Afarak Group Plc expects mining at its Vlakpoort mine in South Africa to ramp up to a steady state of about 20,000 tonnes in the third quarter after it was granted a new mining right. The mine hosts minimum proven resource of about 6.7 million tonnes of chrome and 330,314 ounces of platinum group metals.
* Lithium concentrate production started at Tawana Resources NL's Bald Hill lithium-tantalum joint venture in Western Australia.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* The Democratic Republic of the Congo's new mining code will declare cobalt and coltan as strategic minerals, which will result in higher royalties for the government, Reuters reported, citing an adviser to the prime minister.
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.
