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Guangdong Rising mulls IPO of gold-copper miner PanAust

TOP NEWS

Guandong Rising mulls IPO of gold-copper miner PanAust

Guangdong Rising Assets Management is said to be considering a potential IPO of Australian gold-copper miner PanAust Ltd., which the former purchased a few years ago in a A$1.2 billion listed takeover battle, The Australian reported. The potential listing price may be less than the 2015 acquisition price as both the PanAust-held Phu Kham copper-gold mine and Ban Houayxai gold-silver mines are winding down their respective production lives.

Police raid Kobe Steel's Tokyo headquarters

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office and the Metropolitan Police Department raided Kobe Steel Ltd.'s headquarters to collect data related to the data tampering scandal, Reuters reported.

Report: Petropavlovsk asks regulators to decide on alleged shareholder collusion

Petropavlovsk PLC asked regulators to decide if a group of dissident shareholders holding more than 30% of the miner is acting in a concerted effort to seize control of the company, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. If the U.K. Takeover Panel decides the investors are in collusion in seeking the ouster of the entire Petropavlovsk board, the regulator would effectively cap the group's ability to acquire additional shares unless it makes a proposal to take over the miner.

DIVERSIFIED

* Cia. de Minas Buenaventura SAA CEO Victor Gobitz said the company will focus its efforts this year on expanding its El Brocal copper mine and Uchucchacua silver project while it waits for two of its most ambitious projects, the San Gabriel gold and the Trapiche copper projects, to mature. Meanwhile, the company expects to complete the expansion of its Marcapunta mine in the fourth quarter. Gobitz added that Buenaventura is interested in jointly developing Southern Copper Corp.'s US$2 billion Michiquillay copper project in Peru; however, it will be up to Southern Copper to decide on this proposal, daily El Comercio reported.

* BHP Billiton Group's planned exit from its U.S. shale business could take longer than expected, with no deal expected until late this year or early 2019 due to the involvement of a large number of interested parties, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the negotiations.

BASE METALS

* Indonesia's state-owned PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Persero) secured financing commitments for the acquisition of Rio Tinto's stake in the Grasberg copper-gold mine, The Australian Financial Review reported. Rio Tinto is entitled to 40% of Grasberg's copper production above specific levels until 2021 and 40% of all copper production after 2023.

* The No.1 Workers Union of BHP's Escondida copper mine in Chile is ready to begin a new strike if necessary, spokesman Carlos Allendes said after meeting with Chilean Labor Minister Nicolás Monckeberg on June 4. The talks come after a disagreement between the union and the mine led to a 44-day strike in the first quarter of 2017, daily Diario Financiero reported. The new negotiations center around a contract proposal that includes a one-time bonus per worker and a 5% wage increase.

* According to Reuters, copper reached a six-week high of over US$7,000/tonne amid supply concerns as workers at the Escondida mine enter into wage talks with management.

* Hindustan Copper Ltd.'s net income for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 dropped to 219.2 million Indian rupees, compared to 407.1 million rupees a year ago. For the full year, net income increased to 796.0 million rupees, from 619.4 million rupees in the prior year.

* Arc Minerals Ltd. further increased its ownership in Zamsort Ltd. to 55% by acquiring a 6% interest from Terra Metals Ltd. Zamsort is developing a copper-cobalt project in northwest Zambia.

* Euro Sun Mining Inc. amended its portion of the joint proposal with Lundin Mining Corp. for the acquisition of Nevsun Resources Ltd. to 50% cash and 50% stock. The proposed offer now comprises C$5 per share for Nevsun's entire stock and includes C$150 million in cash from Euro Sun and C$600 million in cash from Lundin along with C$150 million of Euro Sun stock and C$600 million in Lundin stock.

* Silver Bull Resources Inc. granted a South32 Ltd. unit the option to acquire a 70% stake in the former's Sierra Mojada zinc project in Mexico for US$100 million and form a 70/30 joint venture over the property. The transaction will see the South32 unit subscribing for 70% of the shares of Silver Bull's Minera Metalin SA de CV, which holds the Sierra Mojada claims.

PRECIOUS METALS

* Lion One Metals Ltd. signed an indicative term sheet with Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Co. Ltd. and Baiyin International Investment Ltd. for a US$40 million financing facility to develop the Tuvatu gold project in Fiji and construct a processing plant for the mine.

* An updated probable ore reserve for Kopy Goldfields AB's Krasny gold project in Russia outlined 257,000 ounces of gold contained in 7.3 million tonnes grading 1.09 g/t gold.

* Millennium Minerals Ltd. secured a A$17.5 million revolving loan facility and a risk management facility for gold hedging of up to 40,000 ounces of gold from Investec Australia Ltd. The facilities will fund the expansion of Millennium's flagship wholly owned Nullagine gold project in Western Australia as the company looks to increase production to more than 100,000 ounces per annum with a mine life of over five years.

* Bonanza Goldfield Corp. signed a deal to acquire Mizpah Mines LLC, which holds an option to acquire the Mizpah Extension gold-silver mine in Nevada.

* Once the undisputed world's largest gold producer, Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. barely managed to hold on to the title in 2017; its attributable output of 5.3 million ounces for the year was a mere 57,000 ounces over that of second-place Newmont Mining Corp. and a far cry from the more than 8 Moz of gold Barrick produced in 2007, the Metals and Mining Research team at S&P Global Market Intelligence reported.

* Citi analysts said Newcrest Mining Ltd. "is a ready-made answer for the first large-cap gold producer, or potential producer, willing to admit that its internal options to sustain reserves are below market expectation," the Australian Financial Review wrote. Analysts noted that buying Newcrest would be a "cheaper and safer" option to replace their gold production in the next 20 years or so as the company is now among the cheapest gold stocks available.

* Pan American Silver Corp. said the security situation on the access roads to its Dolores silver mine in Mexico improved following increased patrol and enforcement by the country's authorities. As a result, road transport of diesel fuel, cement and other supplies to the mine resumed.

* Diatreme Resources Ltd. and Superior Resources Ltd. agreed to vend their respective interests in the Tick Hill gold joint venture in Queensland, Australia, into an upcoming IPO by Carnaby Resources Ltd. on the ASX.

BULK COMMODITIES

* According to The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk, Canada's Montem Resources Corp. is set to talk to institutional investors next week about its planned IPO in a bid to reopen the Tent Mountain coal mine in Alberta. The report said Montem is looking to raise A$20 million later this year for a A$55 million market capitalization.

* Coal exports from the Hampton Roads port facilities in Virginia increased 18.5% year over year to 3.8 million tonnes in May but declined 12% from April's total, according to data from the Virginia Maritime Association.

* Puls Biznesu reported that imports of steel to Poland are growing rapidly and may accelerate as more goods are diverted from America to Poland and Europe.

* Kommersant reported that United Co. Rusal PLC in May sold almost all of its accumulated aluminum in warehouses. According to Russian Railways, Rusal's exports, which collapsed by 70% in April, almost returned to the usual level of 197,000 tonnes in May.

* Aleris Corp. unit Aleris International Inc. launched a private offering of US$400 million senior secured junior priority notes due 2023, subject to market and other conditions.

* Outokumpu Oyj is offering €250 million senior secured notes due 2024 to fund the voluntary redemption of the company's fixed rate notes due 2021.

* Certain debt holders of Murray Energy Corp. agreed to refinance a portion of the company's bonds and loans, cutting Murray's debt and giving it more time for repayments as U.S. President Donald Trump's government moves to support the coal sector. According to Bloomberg News, the U.S. Energy Department is planning to use emergency authority to mandate grid operators to buy electricity from struggling coal and nuclear power plants.

* China plans to cancel the antidumping duties on South Korean steelmaker POSCO's electrical steel after the company agreed to price remedies, Reuters reported.

* Altona Energy PLC signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with GCAT Energy Group Inc., which owns the license to use a patented pyrolysis technology that converts carbon matter into a variety of outputs including syngas, which can be used to generate electricity, carbon black, naptha and diesel. Altona plans to use the technology in other specific projects including its Australian coal project.

* Vedanta Resources PLC unit Vedanta Ltd. executed an approved resolution plan for the acquisition of a 90% stake in debt-laden steelmaker Electrosteel Steels Ltd. The company deposited an upfront 53.20 billion Indian rupees in escrow in connection with the transaction.

* The U.S. Treasury Department further extended the deadline to Oct. 23 for investors to divest stakes in sanctioned Russian company En+ Group and its unit EuroSibEnergo, Reuters reported.

* EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the bloc could move to impose preliminary measures to safeguard its steel and aluminum sectors by July, although a full investigation will take about nine months, Reuters reported.

* Mexico said it would take the U.S. to the World Trade Organization to settle a dispute over steel and aluminum tariffs, joining the EU in seeking the trade body's involvement against the measures, Reuters reported.

SPECIALTY

* Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he hopes the country can use its about 20 million tonnes of rare earth reserves, which he said are the world's third-largest, in building new energy technologies, Reuters reported.

* A former investment banker is planning to list uranium venture Yellow Cake in London and raise between US$150 million and US$200 million from investors to buy 8.1 million pounds of uranium for use in nuclear reactors, the Financial Times wrote, citing people familiar with the matter. The vehicle already has a deal to buy US$170 million of the radioactive material from Russia's National Atomic Co. Kazatomprom JSC.

* Northern Graphite Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with a European commodity trader to sell the entire projected output from the Ontario-based Bissett Creek graphite project in China.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* South Africa's gross domestic product contracted by an annualized 2.2% in the first quarter from the preceding three-month period, weighed down by lower mining and factory output, Bloomberg News wrote, citing a report from Statistics South Africa.

* Data from advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP showed that the top 40 global mining companies booked total net profits of US$61 billion in 2017, rising 126% over the last year, while market capitalization increased 30% to US$926 billion, Mining Weekly wrote. The top miners' net profits are expected to improve further this year to US$76 billion.

* The South African government could release a draft of its revised mining charter June 8, Business Day wrote, citing Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant.

* The Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest Business Indicators data showed that the country's resources sector recorded gross operating profits of A$30.31 billion in the March quarter, up from A$28.65 billion in the previous quarter, and topped a record A$28.92 billion set in March 2017, The Australian reported.

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