TOP NEWS
Glencore to buy back up to US$1B in shares
Glencore PLC will begin a share repurchase program of up to US$1 billion. The program, to be implemented in two stages, will be conducted by Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. The first stage is expected to close on Aug. 7.
Asset sales may help ThyssenKrupp, Tata gain EU approval for JV, experts say
Legal experts and analysts believe ThyssenKrupp AG and Tata Steel Ltd. might have to off-load some assets to secure the European Commission's approval for their steel joint venture, Reuters reported. Informal discussions with European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager began a few weeks ago and will likely address the issue of sales in some niche areas, including packaging, according to sources.
India's infrastructure reforms seen as boost to coal demand
BHP Billiton Group, the world's biggest coking coal exporter, is "cautiously optimistic" that India's renewed efforts to make its rail, port and road infrastructure internationally competitive will bear fruit, which an expert from information provider IHS says is good news for Australia's metallurgical coal which India prefers.
DIVERSIFIED
* Nigeria will offer a 12.7 billion Nigerian naira mining contract to eight companies in exploration and consultancy, Reuters reported, citing Abubakar Bawa Bwari, the minister of state for solid minerals. The contract covering gold, industrial minerals, earth metals and iron ore will be awarded to both foreign and local firms.
* Greenpower Energy Ltd. signed an option to acquire private company Ion Minerals Pty Ltd., which has the right to acquire the Lincoln Springs and Ashburton cobalt projects in Queensland and Western Australia, respectively, and an exploration permit application covering the Julia Creek vanadium project in Queensland.
BASE METALS
* Seabed mining group Nautilus Minerals Inc.'s shares closed more than 16% down on the TSX Venture Exchange July 4 after the company announced that the shipyard building its production support vessel rescinded the construction deal with Nautilus' contractor. The company aims to use the vehicle for its Solwara 1 copper-gold-silver project in Papua New Guinea's territorial waters.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Anglo American Platinum Ltd. sold its 33% stake in the Bafokeng-Rasimone platinum mine to joint venture partner Royal Bafokeng Platinum Ltd. for 1.86 billion South African rand. Prior to the sale, Royal Bafokeng held a 67% stake in the project.
* Anaconda Mining Inc. is increasing its hostile takeover offer for Maritime Resources Corp. to 0.50 of an Anaconda share per Maritime share, after the latter rejected the original offer of 0.39 of a share as "inadequate."
* Cradle Arc PLC disposed of its Société Miniére de Kerboulé SARL subsidiary in Burkina Faso, which holds the Arae and Gassel-Manere exploration licenses, together comprising the Kerboule gold project in the country, for US$1. The company decided to offload the project due to the deteriorating security situation in the area.
* Perseus Mining Ltd. achieved record gold production of 83,881 ounces in the June quarter, up 31% quarter-on-quarter. This includes 57,861 ounces of gold produced from the Edikan gold mine in Ghana, which was the second-best output from the mine in over six years.
* Medusa Mining Ltd. signed an option to earn up to a 90% interest in Ellenkay Gold Pty. Ltd.'s Hill 212 and Mount Clark West gold projects in Queensland, Australia.
* Real Gold Mining Ltd. is evaluating the merits of exploring for minable resources in the outer parts of the Shirengou and Nantaizi gold mines in China. Production from both mines has been suspended since 2016.
* Resolute Mining Ltd. claimed it has intersected the highest-grade gold ever at the Syama gold project in Mali, in which a drill hole at the Tabakoroni Main Zone returned an assay of 5 meters grading 493.0 g/t gold from 167 meters.
* Tri Origin Exploration Ltd. added via map staking a total of 238 new mining claim cells covering 5,950 hectares to its land holdings at the Sky Lake gold project in Ontario.
* EU member countries will discuss and likely vote on measures proposed by the European Commission to limit steel imports into the region today, Reuters reported, citing sources.
* S&P Global Ratings said that Tata Steel's deal with ThyssenKrupp to form a joint venture of their European operations is marginally credit positive, but will not have any impact on the Indian company's BB- rating and stable outlook.
* ThyssenKrupp CEO Heinrich Hiesinger said the German group's restructuring will continue following the merger of steel assets with Tata Steel's European business, Reuters reported.
* Emirates Global Aluminium inked a deal to supply bauxite from its US$1.4 billion mining operations in Guinea to Vedanta Ltd., Mining Weekly reported. The company's Guinea Alumina Corp. SA unit is building a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the West African country, which is expected to produce about 12 million tonnes per annum of bauxite following a full ramp up.
* Plant nutrient producer Kropz is seeking a listing on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in addition to a listing on London's AIM, where it intends to raise equity capital to fund the completion of its advanced-stage phosphates project in South Africa and slash its debt, Mining Weekly reported.
* Hindalco Industries Ltd. unit Utkal Alumina International Ltd. will complete a 500,000-tonne expansion, valued at 13 billion Indian rupees, at the Utkal plant over the next 30 months, the Press Trust of India reported.
* China's Hebei province plans to slash steel capacity by 50% in some of its major cities in 2020, as well as shutter coal mines, coking plants and cement factories in a bid to upgrade its industrial economy, Reuters reported.
* Malaysia-listed Lion Industries Corp. Berhad's indirect subsidiary, Oriental Shield Sdn Bhd, plans to acquire flat steel producer Megasteel Sdn Bhd for 537.7 million Malaysian ringgit, as part of its expansion into the sector, DealStreetAsia reported.
* In a latest push to curb air pollution, China's major steelmaking city Tangshan ordered the steel sector to meet ultra-low emissions targets by October, while the coke and coal-fired power sectors will be given until September to achieve the targets, Reuters wrote.
* Evraz PLC will continue to export slab to the U.S. regardless of the 25% tariffs imposed by the American government, said company CFO Nikolay Ivanov in an interview with Interfax. Ivanov went on to say the effects of the tariffs on Evraz have been minimal so far, but the removal of Canada from the exemptions list could cause some problems for the Russian steelmaker.
* Separately, Interfax reported that Evraz could spend more than US$300 million on dividend payments this year.
* A ship transporting coal from the U.S. has changed its destination to Singapore, from the original plan of landing in China, Reuters reported. Amid the ongoing trade dispute, more coal-carrying vessels on their way to China may end up changing their destination.
* Australian financiers say banks are steering clear of debt financing graphite hopefuls, as the opaque nature of the commodity's pricing makes them uncertain about returns, but Syrah Resources Ltd. recently starting production could help alleviate those doubts.
* Tronox Ltd. received conditional approval from the European Commission for its proposed acquisition of a titanium dioxide business from Saudi Arabia-based Cristal.
* Chile's Lower House of Congress set up a special commission to investigate a contract involving Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA and Chilean development agency Corfo in January, to settle a dispute over royalties concerning the development of lithium deposits in northern Chile, El Mercurio reported. The commission will investigate the adoption and implementation of the agreement, and the role and influence that former SQM Chairman Julio Ponce still has in the company.
* PJSC Alrosa raked in a total revenue of US$17 million through the sale of 121 gem-quality diamonds, weighing 2,000 carats, at an auction in June.
* Lucapa Diamond Co. Ltd. produced 5,058 carats of diamonds from the Lulo mine in Angola in the second quarter, registering a 20% year-over-year increase.
* Kingston Resources Ltd. agreed to sell its Bynoe and Arunta lithium tenements in Australia's Northern Territory to Lithium Plus Pty. Ltd. for A$1.8 million.
* Australian Vanadium Ltd. released an initial inferred cobalt-nickel-copper resource estimate at the Gabanintha vanadium project in Western Australia of 12.5 million tonnes grading 206 parts per million of cobalt, 659 ppm of nickel and 222 ppm of copper.
* Renascor Resources Ltd. will seek shareholder approval for the issue of shares to complete the acquisition of Ausmin Development Pty Ltd., which holds the right to the Siviour graphite project in South Australia.
* MCC International Incorporation Ltd., the overseas business platform for Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd., was appointed to provide the engineering, procurement and construction services for Triton Minerals Ltd.’s flagship Ancuabe graphite project in Mozambique.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* China warned that U.S. tariffs on $34 billion of China's exports would not only hurt China but the U.S. and the rest of the world, Bloomberg News reported. Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a press briefing that $20 billion of China's exports are produced by foreign companies, many of which are American.
* Mining-affected communities in South Africa rejected the current draft of the country's mining charter, which was published by Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe in June, following two days of deliberation, Mining Weekly reported.
This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings.
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