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Productivity drive boosts Rio Tinto's Q4'17 iron ore output, shipments

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Productivity drive boosts Rio Tinto's Q4'17 iron ore output, shipments

TOP NEWS

Productivity programs boost Rio Tinto's Q4'17 iron ore output, shipments

Rio Tinto's iron ore shipments and production from Australia's Pilbara region in the fourth quarter of 2017 rose 3% year over year to 90 million tonnes and 87.9 million tonnes, driven by the implementation of productivity projects across sites. Bauxite production rose 14% to about 13.8 million tonnes on a yearly basis, reflecting strong performances at the Gove and Weipa projects, while aluminum output slipped 3% to 887,000 tonnes. Mined copper production during the period rose 11% year over year to 148,600 tonnes.

Nutrien to sell Israel Chemicals stake for US$700M

Nutrien Ltd. subsidiary Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan is planning to sell 176,088,630 ordinary shares of Israel Chemicals Ltd. in a private secondary offering. The offering is expected to close Jan. 23, and Nutrien expects to receive about US$700 million in net proceeds from the sale.

Goldcorp hits Q4, FY'17 output, cost guidance

Goldcorp Inc.'s fourth-quarter and full-year 2017 gold production came in at 646,000 ounces and 2.57 million ounces, respectively, according to preliminary figures. All-in sustaining costs for 2017 are expected to be in line with the improved midpoint guidance of US$825/oz. Goldcorp expects to produce 2.5 million ounces of gold in 2018 with all-in sustaining costs seen declining further to about US$800/oz as it continues to realize savings from its program targeting US$250 million of annual sustainable efficiencies.

BASE METALS

* In a push to reduce spending and boost safety at its underground operations, PJSC Norilsk Nickel Co. is investing 2.1 billion Russian rubles in new ground support technology. According to the company's calculations, mechanizing ground support will increase labor efficiency across the board by an average of 14% at the company's underground operations.

* Freeport-McMoRan Inc. unit PT Freeport Indonesia paid a dividend of about US$112 million to the Indonesian government in 2017, the first payout in three years, The Jakarta Globe reported, citing a finance ministry official. The U.S. mining giant suspended annual dividends in 2015 to strengthen its balance sheet amid a prolonged slump in metal prices.

* Rio Tinto's share of copper production from the Freeport-operated Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia was 5,700 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2017. This would be the company's first share of output from the operation since 2014, Bloomberg News wrote.

* Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd.'s Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia met its full-year 2017 production guidance despite grade challenges. The mine produced 157,400 tonnes of copper in concentrates and 114,000 ounces of gold in concentrates during the year, well within 2017 guidance of 130,000 to 160,000 tonnes of copper in concentrates and 100,000 to 140,000 ounces of gold in concentrates.

* Meanwhile, the company's 66%-owned Oyu Tolgoi LLC received, and is evaluating, a tax assessment of approximately US$155 million from the Mongolian Tax Authority relating to an audit on taxes imposed and paid by Oyu Tolgoi between 2013 and 2015.

* Entree Resources Ltd.'s preliminary economic assessment for the Entree/Oyu Tolgoi joint venture property, which comprises a portion of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia, showed an after-tax US$278 million net present value attributable to Entree, assuming an 8% discount rate.

* The construction progress at the US$1.4 billion Mirador copper project in Ecuador is at 60% since work began in February 2015, project engineers told the country's mining minister, Javier Córdova, Área Minera reported, citing a government press release. Mirador is a joint venture between Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co. Ltd. and China Railway Construction Corp. Ltd.

* Neither Freeport-McMoRan's Cerro Verde copper project nor Cia. de Minas Buenaventura SAA reported damages to their operations as a result of the earthquake that struck the Arequipa region of Peru on Jan. 14, according to Bloomberg News, citing emailed statements from both companies, daily Diario Gestión reported.

* Avanco Resources Ltd. entered into an option deal to acquire Vale's Pantera copper project in Brazil for an estimated cost of between US$20 million and US$35 million.

* Trevali Mining Corp. reported a surge in payable zinc output for the fourth quarter of 2017 to a record high. On a yearly basis, payable zinc output rose to 104.8 million pounds from 36.8 million pounds, lead rose to 13.5 million pounds from 11.3 million pounds and silver output fell to 396,900 ounces from 409,700 ounces.

* RNC Minerals shares were up more than 47% at market close Jan. 15 after the company announced that it continues to be approached by a number of potential strategic investors, off-take partners and financiers to fund the capital required to begin the construction of its shovel-ready Dumont nickel-cobalt project in Quebec. President and CEO Mark Selby said the company is "well-positioned to significantly advance Dumont in 2018."

PRECIOUS METALS

* Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. is on track to meet its annual production target of 1.1 million ounces of gold after producing more than 550,000 ounces of gold in the six months to December 2017. The miner expects its total gold production in the six-month period to increase by between 3% and 5% compared to the previous half.

* PJSC Polyus increased its production guidance for 2018 after recording a 10% increase in full-year 2017 gold production to 2.16 million ounces, beating the year's guidance by 3%. The company expects to produce 2.375 million to 2.425 million ounces of gold in 2018, from guidance of 2.35 million to 2.40 million ounces previously. Output in the fourth quarter of 2017, meanwhile, declined 10% quarter over quarter to 580,000 ounces.

* First Majestic Silver Corp.'s 2017 silver equivalent production fell 13% year over year to 16.2 million ounces, in line with the company's guidance of 15.7 million silver equivalent ounces to 16.6 million silver equivalent ounces. The company anticipates 2018 silver equivalent production to range between 15.7 million and 17.5 million ounces, a slight increase from 2017, primarily due to higher silver production at the La Encantada mine offset by less gold byproduct credits at Santa Elena mine.

* SSR Mining Inc. booked record production at the Seabee mine in Saskatchewan in 2017. The mine produced 83,998 ounces of gold in the full year, registering an 8.2% year-over-year growth. Gold sales rose 12.6% on a yearly basis to 86,087 ounces in 2017.

* A preliminary economic assessment for Orefinders Resources Inc.'s proposed South Zone open pit, part of its past-producing Mirado gold property in Ontario, outlined an after-tax net present value of C$20.5 million, discounted at 5%, with a 158% internal rate of return.

* Goldplat Plc extended the option period allowing Ashanti Gold Corp. to acquire the former's 75% interest in the Anumso gold project in Ghana. Ashanti now has until Oct. 31 to earn an initial 51% of Goldplat's interest by spending US$1.5 million and a total 75% by spending an additional US$1.5 million in a further 12 months.

* Perseus Mining Ltd. is on track to produce first gold at the Sissingue mine in Ivory Coast before the end of January, with a full-scale ramp-up scheduled by March-end.

* Latitude Consolidated Ltd. signed a binding heads of agreement with Alt Resources Ltd. to sell its Mount Ida gold tenements in Western Australia's Kalgoorlie region in a cash and share transaction worth A$2 million.

* Tahoe Resources Inc. laid off 250 workers at the Escobal silver mine in Guatemala, as it has been unable to resume mining operations since the license was suspended in July 2017. The company said more layoffs may be avoided if the Constitutional Court ratifies the reinstatement of the mining license in the next several weeks.

* Roxgold Inc. produced 126,990 ounces of gold in 2017, exceeding the upper limit of the increased guidance range of 115,000 to 125,000 ounces. The company is aiming to produce between 110,000 and 120,000 ounces of gold in 2018.

* Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. executed an option deal with private company CRC Minerals Inc., pursuant to which the latter may earn up to a 75% interest in the Acacia gold-silver-copper project in central British Columbia.

* Rupert Resources Ltd. announced an all-share deal to take over a portfolio of Finnish gold properties by buying privately owned Canadian group Northern Aspect Resources Ltd.

BULK COMMODITIES

* China's central government-owned companies are targeting coal capacity cuts of 12.65 million tonnes in 2018, Xinhua News Agency reported. China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission provided an 80 million-tonne target for coal capacity consolidation for central government-owned companies. Meanwhile, total profit at central government-owned enterprises jumped 15% year over year to 1.4 trillion Chinese yuan as revenue surged 13.3% to 26.4 trillion yuan.

* Noble Group Ltd. completed the sale of its oil liquids business to rival Vitol US Holding Co., but the US$400 million in estimated proceeds is lower than the illustrative US$575 million determined when the sale was announced in October 2017. This is mainly due to operating losses booked by the business from Oct. 1, 2017, to the closing date.

* China Hongqiao Group Ltd. intends to raise HK$6.2 billion through a placement of 650 million shares, reflecting 8.07% of the company's issued share capital, at HK$9.60 each. Proceeds from the placement will be used to reduce its outstanding liabilities, currently at 106.67 billion Chinese yuan, and for general working capital.

* BHP Billiton Group and Vale's iron ore joint venture in Brazil, Samarco Mineração SA, is facing over 24,000 individual lawsuits and about 70 public civil lawsuits in several courts, Valor International reported.

* Cokal Ltd. shares closed more than 20% lower on the ASX on Jan. 16 after the company said it discontinued negotiations for off-take financing totaling about A$400 million with Renjian International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. for pulverized coal injection coal produced at the BBM project in Indonesia.

* Montezuma Mining Co. Ltd. decided to start a scoping study to assess development options for its Butcherbird manganese project in Western Australia. The company may undertake a preliminary feasibility study if the scoping study returns positive results.

* EnergyAustralia Yallourn Pty. Ltd. agreed to supply its fly ash to Latrobe Magnesium Ltd.'s proposed 3,000-tonne-per-annum magnesium plant in Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia. The memorandum of understanding will allow the plant to expand to 40,000 tonnes per annum.

* Pelican Resources Ltd. completed the sale of its interest in the Cockatoo Island iron ore joint venture in Western Australia to Cockatoo Iron NL and its subsidiary Pearl Gull Pty. Ltd.

* A Brazilian court ordered Vale to repair environmental damages its operations caused in the Moju "quilombola" territory of the country's Para state, Reuters reported. The court also directed Vale to set up a project to generate income for the 788 families affected by the operations and compensate them with cash until it is implemented.

SPECIALTY

* Orocobre Ltd. is raising A$361 million to fund an accelerated phase-two expansion at the Olaroz lithium facility in Argentina. The raising comprises a A$282 million placement to Toyota Tsusho Corp. and a A$79 million 1-for-20 accelerated renounceable entitlement offer with retail rights trading on the ASX. Meanwhile, the company posted record production of 3,937 tonnes of lithium carbonate in the December 2017 quarter, up 84% on a quarterly basis, at a freight on board cash cost of US$3,946/tonne.

* Savannah Resources Plc submitted three applications covering 417.32 square kilometers to the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy in Mozambique for mining leases for the Mutamba heavy mineral sands projects, over which it has an existing 20% interest in a consortium with Rio Tinto.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* In 2017, the exploration sector exhibited a mixture of recovery and consolidation. Nonferrous exploration budgets increased 14% year over year to US$7.95 billion, but the number of companies with budgets slid by 3% to 1,535. Coincident with the decline in the number of active explorers, the number of companies without budgets in 2017 also fell, albeit by a slimmer margin of 1%, to 1,167, according to the Metals and Mining Research team at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. ET and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.