TOP NEWS
Anglo AmericanPlatinum Ltd. expects its first half basic earnings and EPS tofall by as much as74% from figures in the same period of 2015 due to a lower inventory gain and adecrease in metal prices.
Baosteelto cut 9.2 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2 years
China's Baosteel Group Corp. will cut9.2 million tonnes of crude steel capacity between 2016 and 2018, withshutdowns to include facilities in its flagship plant in Shanghai and branchesoutside of the city, in a bid to curb overcapacity, Reuters reported.
Eramet'snickel unit approves €200M loan
The board of Eramet's nickel unit SLN has approved a €200million loan from the French government, which forms part of a two-yearrescue plan for the subsidiary, Reuters reported.
BASE METALS
* Yunnan TinCo. Ltd. expects to swing to a net profit of between 5 million Chinese yuanand 10 million yuan in the first half, compared to a net loss of 392.9 millionyuan, or 26.69 fen per share a year ago, due to a price rebound in nonferrousmetals.
* TrevaliMining Corp.'s Santander mine in Peru achieved of about 15.2 millionpayable pounds of zinc in the second quarter. The company also increased themine's output guidance for the year to 57 million pounds to 60 million poundsof payable zinc in concentrate grading about 50% zinc.
* WanguoInternational Mining Group Ltd. expects to record a year-over-yeardecrease in netprofit for the six months ended June 30, as its turnover and profits wereaffected by the global economic instability and slump in metal prices in thefirst half.
* The critical situation facing Codelco will require amendmentsto its national agreement, which was inked 45 years ago leading to Codelco'snationalization, to maintain the state miner's leadership in the global coppermarkets, CEO Nelson Pizarro said, daily DiarioFinanciero reported.
* Separately, Chile's Mining Minister Aurora Williamsacknowledged that Codelco is facinglower copper prices than initially expected. However, conditions for thecapitalization of the state miner remain the same as those approved two yearsago through which the Chilean government will provide up to US$4 billion forinvestments in the next five years, daily ElMercurio reported.
* Kommersantreported that the cost of Tominskoye copper project of rose to US$1.5 billion because ofenvironmental reasons.
* As the companies, administrators, and a debtor fight tohave their cases heard first regarding Clive Palmer's nickel refinery,Glencore Plc'slawyers motionedin Queensland's Supreme Court that they would pursue the forced wind up ofQueensland NickelInc., The Australianreported. The Swiss mining giant is also seeking to ensure that the A$3.8million debt to the refinery is advanced to its administrators and not to othercompanies.
PRECIOUS METALS
* FirstMajestic Silver Corp.'s second-quarter output to 4.7 million silverequivalent ounces from 3.8 million silver equivalent ounces in the same periodof 2015.
* KlondexMines Ltd. produced a record 41,436 gold equivalent ounces in the secondquarter, primarily driven by an increase in tonnes mined and milled during theperiod.
* Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is reportedly suingZimplats HoldingsLtd. for objecting to the government's seizure of 28,000 hectaresof underused mining land, Fin24 wrote citing a report from The Herald.
* According to Reuters, Tanaka Holdings willacquire privately held precious metals refiner Metalor TechnologiesInternational SA to boost its business and expand into precious metals recoveryand refining in Europe, North America and Asia.
* Compañía deMinas Buenaventura SAA in the second quarter saw gold productionfall 18.3% year overyear, but witnessed improved silver, zinc and copper production. Gold outputfell to 275,467 ounces during the quarter, from 337,238 ounces a year earlier.Silver production amounted to 5.7 million ounces, increasing from 4.3 millionounces in the same quarter of 2015.
* A worker at Endeavour Mining Corp.'s Tabakoto gold mine in Mali after falling into a slot raisewhile working in the underground mine.
* Separately, Endeavour closed its previously announcedbought-deal financing with a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO CapitalMarkets, raising a totalof about C$143.8 million including the full exercise of the underwriters'overallotment option.
* MiddleIsland Resources Ltd. said that it has the A$2.5 million acquisitionof the Sandstone gold project in Western Australia fromBlack Oak Minerals Ltd.
* MedgoldResources Corp. secured into an option with a private Portuguesecompany, Lusorecursos, to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Marrancos goldproject in northern Portugal.
BULK COMMODITIES
* PAOSeverstal's hot metal output in the second quarter quarter overquarter to 2.2 million tonnes, and crude steel production declined 3% quarterover quarter to 2.8 million tonnes. Consolidated sales of steel productsincreased 14% quarter over quarter to 2.8 million tonnes.
* Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau SA is mullingthe sale of noncore assets in India, Central America, and South America tocut down its 23.7 billion Brazilian reais debt, SteelOrbis reported.
* After defaulting on other bonds earlier this year, DongbeiSpecial Steel Group Co. Ltd. has again defaultedon a 300 million Chinese yuan three-year private placement note that matured onJuly 11, Reuters wrote.
* A civil court-led attempt to end the dispute between thecontrolling shareholders of Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais SA, and TechintGroup, failedafter representatives abandoned a hearing without reaching an agreement. The courtmust issue a ruling, although the date has not been set, daily Valor Econômico reported.
* The Federal Public Ministry of Amazonas state on July 11recommended environmental regulator Ipaam to cancelthe license granted to Potássio do Brasil, a subsidiary of , for operations inthe Autazes region because the permit lacked prior consultation process withlocal indigenous communities, online daily Acríticareported.
* Glencore's A$1 billion Hunter Valley coal train networkhas reportedly receivedbids from Aurizon, Asciano's Pacific National, and U.S.-listedGenesee & Wyoming, as well as infrastructure players, The Australian Financial Review wrote.
* Aguia ResourcesLtd. said that an optimized preliminary economic assessment on itsTres Estradasphosphate project in Brazil indicated a post-tax net present value of US$400.0million, using a 7.5% discount rate, and an internal rate of return of 43%.
* AlcoaInc.'s second quarter net income totaled US$135 million or 9 centsper share, down froma year-ago net profit of US$140 million or 10 cents per share, with thecompany's revenue for the period sliding down 10% year over year to US$5.3billion. Alcoa expects to generate total cash proceeds of US$1.2 billion thisyear from sales of non-essential assets, of which US$815 million has beenreceived.
* Separately, Alcoa said it a further US$400 millionworth of nonessential assets in the second half, including the Yadkinhydroelectric project in North Carolina, the property at the former smelter site inAdamstown, Md., and the Intalco smelter wharf in Ferndale, Wash.
* AluminumCorp. of China, or Chinalco, the parent of , orChalco, reported an operating profit of 330 million Chinese yuan for the firsthalf of the year, registering the best first-half performance in the past five years,according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
* In a positive profit alert, expects tobook a net profit ofbetween 350 million Chinese yuan and 520 million yuan for the first half,attributable to the company's optimized product portfolio, cost-cuttingstrategy and reduction in excessive production capacity.
* Hebei Province, China's major steel production base, haslaunched a campaign to cutexcessive steel production capacity. The government has arranged for thedemolition of 35 production facilities across 35 steel-related companies. Amongthe steel mills affected, a total of six blast furnaces with 3.12 milliontonnes of iron production capacity and eight converters with 4.86 milliontonnes of capacity have been removed.
* In a bid to protect local production, Mexico extended a tariffon the imports of steel carbon pipes from the U.S. as well as enforced aseparate tariff on ferromanganese, a steel deoxidizer, imported from SouthKorea, Reuters reported.
* S&P Global Ratings affirmed Norwegian aluminumproducer Norsk Hydro ASA'scredit rating at BBB/A-2 with a stable outlook, as the company continues tomaintain a "prudent financial policy and a very comfortable liquidityposition." The liquidity of Norsk Hydro has been revised to exceptionalfrom strong.
* The Singapore branch of BNP Paribas has applied forwinding up and forthe appointment of joint official liquidators to the miner.
* India has asked the regulators to haltapprovals for maintenance and repair of the plants which are older than 25years as the country seeks to modernize its thermal coal plants, Bloomberg Newsreported, citing the coal and power minister, Piyush Goyal.
SPECIALTY
* RioTinto's EnergyResources of Australia Ltd. produced 489 tonnes of U3O8 in thesecond quarter, a 25% increase from output in the same period of 2015, despitebeing unable to carry out exploration, the Australian Associated Press wrote.All the ores milled during the period were from existing stockpiles, which areexpected to last until late 2020.
* Russia raised52.2 billion Russian rubles, or US$813 million, from the sale of its 10.9%stake in diamond miner PJSCALROSA, Reuters reported. According to Economy Minister AlexeiUlyukayev, foreign investors picked up about 60% of the shares offered.
* GeneralMining Corp. Ltd. signed a second off-take agreement with another Chinese customerand Mitsubishi Corp.to supply 15,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate for the current calendar yearand 60,000 tonnes for 2017.
* StornowayDiamond Corp. raised total proceeds of C$82.7 million from theexercise of 91,912,732 warrants. The proceeds will be used to complete theconstruction of the Renard project in Quebec.
* PremierAfrican Minerals Ltd. has completedthe modifications to a plant at its 49%-owned RHA tungsten project in Zimbabwe, with the plantexpected to start operations later during the week.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Brazil's Environment Ministry is working on a proposal to betterregulate environmental licensing in Brazil, according to documents accessedby Valor Econômico. The proposal setsnew deadlines and states that regulator Ibama will have the final word in theprocess, among other changes.
* According to Rappler, Philippine Environment SecretaryGina Lopez called forthe revision of the Philippine Mining Act, saying the law is"unfair" as it is "skewed towards the mining sector" andnot towards the people.
S&P Global Ratingsand SNL Metals & Mining are owned by S&P Global Inc.
The Daily Dose isupdated as of 7 a.m. New York time, and scans news sources published inChinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai andUkrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.