TOP NEWS
Major miners quit DRC chamber of commerce ahead of talks on new mining code
Major mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo quit the country's Chamber of Commerce ahead of planned talks with the government on the country's new mining code. Randgold Resources Ltd., Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Glencore Plc, MMG Ltd., China Molybdenum Co. Ltd. and Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. parted ways with the industry group, claiming that the Congolese Chamber of Commerce does not "adequately" represent their interests.
Turquoise Hill books lower YOY net income, revenue in FY'17
Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd.'s attributable net income fell significantly to US$181.2 million in 2017 from US$210.6 million in 2016. Revenue also slipped on a yearly basis to US$939.8 million from US$1.20 billion, reflecting lower sales volumes due to reduced copper and gold grades as a result of mining lower grade ore from the open pit of the Oyu Tolgoi mine.
En+ Q4'17 profit plummets to US$505M due to high base effect
Russian aluminum and power company En+ Group plc reported net profit of US$505 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, down 36.9% on a yearly basis due to a high base effect in the same period of 2016. The company's adjusted EBITDA for the quarter grew to US$907 million, from US$689 million a year earlier, despite significant inflationary pressure on the cost of production.
DIVERSIFIED
* Anglo American PLC's recently announced cash tender offer to repurchase 2019, 2020 and 2021 notes closed undersubscribed. The mining giant said that it received valid acceptances for €590.8 million of the notes, significantly below its €1.67 billion target.
* The Minerals Council of Australia received positive reviews having moved to "close the gaps" in its energy policy identified by BHP Billiton Group which is reviewing its membership with the industry lobbyist. S&P Global Market Intelligence has confirmed that BHP was consulted on the council's policy change, as was another member, Rio Tinto, which faces a shareholder resolution at its April 11 AGM in London requesting it review the climate policies of industry groups to which it belongs.
BASE METALS
* Roman Abramovich's Crispian Investment Ltd. completed the sale of a 2% interest in PJSC Norilsk Nickel Co. to Vladimir Potanin's Whiteleave Holdings Ltd., Reuters reported. The deal valued each share at US$234 as set out in Potanin's initial offer.
* Red River Resources Ltd. acquired the remaining 49% interest in the Mount Windsor copper project, contiguous with its Liontown-Waterloo, Truncheon and Ermine projects in Queensland, Australia, for A$150,000.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Russia-focused gold miner Nord Gold SE will pay out a dividend of US$4.50 per share for the fourth quarter of 2017, representing a total of US$15.3 million, taking the payout for the full year to US$53.6 million, or 15.79 cents per share. The company posted a rise in profit for the fourth quarter to US$52.8 million from US$10.9 million a year earlier.
* Great Dyke Investments Ltd., a joint venture between Russia's JSC Afromet and Zimbabwe's Pen East Ltd., plans to invest US$400 million to build the Darwendale precious metals mine and smelter in the African country, Reuters reported.
* Newcrest Mining Ltd. CEO Sandeep Biswas said the company does not have a clear timeline on the restart of its Cadia operations, and it will miss its fiscal 2018 guidance, The Australian reported. The company suspended operations at the New South Wales, Australia-based mine after a tailings dam breach.
* Mountain Lake Minerals Inc.'s share price jumped more than 150% on March 15 after it announced a letter of intent to acquire 1151024 B.C. Ltd. and plans to spin out its mining assets to existing shareholders.
* Kingsrose Mining Ltd.'s 85%-owned PT Natarang Mining unit completed an amendment to its work contract with the Indonesian government, which will see the company's corporate income tax reducing to 25% from 35%, effective Jan. 1, while net smelter returns royalty will increase to 3.75% for gold and 3.25% for silver.
* Aruma Resources Ltd. entered into a binding agreement with Westgold Resources Ltd. subsidiary HBJ Minerals Pty. Ltd. to acquire the past-producing Trojan gold property in Western Australia for 6 million shares.
* Alianza Minerals Ltd. secured TSX Venture Exchange approval to acquire the Haldane silver property in Canada's Yukon Territory from Equity Exploration Consultants Ltd.
* Scotgold Resources Ltd. agreed to sell its French unit SGZ France SAS to Ikigai Ltd. SGZ France holds the Vendrennes exploration license and has current applications for the Penlan and Olivet licenses in France.
* Pacifico Minerals Ltd. signed an option to acquire the Violin gold-copper project in Mexico by acquiring the all issued share capital of project owner Minera GS SA de CV.
* About 200 bars of gold-silver alloy fell out of a plane while it was taking off in Russia after a loading hatch broke off, BBC reported. The bars have been recovered and a probe was launched into the incident, according to the report.
BULK COMMODITIES
* K+S AG proposed a higher dividend of 35 euro cents per share for 2017, compared to 30 cents per share paid a year ago, after reporting an 11.1% yearly rise in adjusted group earnings to €145 million. EBITDA increased to €576.7 million on a yearly basis from €519.1 million, while revenues grew 4.9% to €3.63 billion.
* En+ Group expects to complete its share conversion transaction with Glencore by the end of April. Following the conversion, En+ will increase its shareholding in United Co. Rusal Plc from 48.13% to 56.88% and Glencore will be issued new global depositary receipts representing 10.55% of the group's ordinary shares.
* Norsk Hydro ASA
* ArcelorMittal offered to dispose of its plants across Europe to address EU antitrust concerns about the company's proposed €1.8 billion acquisition of Italian steel producer Ilva International SpA, Reuters wrote.
* Zimbabwe's coal sector attracted around US$300 million, which will see the country's coal output reaching more than 8 million tonnes in 2019 compared with around 2 million in 2017, Reuters reported, citing Minister of Mines and Mining Development Winston Chitando.
* The U.S. International Trade Commission, or ITC, made a final finding that aluminum foil imports from China harm the domestic industry, affirming anti-dumping and countervailing duties set to be imposed by the Commerce Department.
* Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. struck a deal to acquire Swedish specialty steelmaker Ovako AB, without disclosing the terms.
* Iron ore mining in the Indian state of Goa was halted March 15 in line with an order issued by the Supreme Court, Mining Weekly reported.
SPECIALTY
* PJSC Alrosa's 2017 net profit fell 41% year over year to 78.62 billion Russian rubles, driven by lower EBITDA, foreign exchange effects and the revaluation of the group's gas assets. Revenue, likewise, declined 13% to 275.38 billion rubles as a result of the ruble appreciation against the US dollar and a 9% decrease in the average price of gem-quality diamonds sold.
* Neometals Ltd. is acquiring 100% of the lithium rights over the Mount Edwards lithium project in Western Australia for an initial A$2.5 million in cash and a royalty. The company will also acquire some neighboring tenements and the nickel rights on an adjoining nickel rights package.
* Mustang Resources Ltd. outlined a two-stage development plan for the Caula graphite project, part of its Balama property in Mozambique, and said it is on track for first production in mid-2109. The stage-one development strategy comprises a mining operation of about 100,000 tonnes per annum of ore for 10,000 to 15,000 tpa of high-grade graphite concentrate.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Australia's explorers and Western Australia's state government are pressing the federal government to open up about what the state needs to do to win its bid for a cooperative research center and become a downstream processing hub for battery minerals, an industry some believe could be worth A$2 trillion by 2025.
* The U.S. Treasury Department hit five entities and 19 Russian individuals with sanctions as the government seeks to address Russia's "ongoing nefarious attacks," including alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Three of the five entities and 13 of the 19 Russian individuals slapped with sanctions were indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in February.
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.
