TOP NEWS
Glencore to net US$2.5B in unit stake sale
will in its agriculture businessto Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, or CPPIB, for US$2.5 billion in cash. Glencoreintends to use the proceeds to reduce indebtedness, as part of its previously announcedplan to cut its net debt to close to US$20 billion by the end of 2016.
Minersunwilling to part with copper assets
The anticipateddeficit in the supply of copper by 2020 has made mining giants such as and Glencore reluctantto sell their best copper assets while they continue disposing of iron ore and coalmines as well as agricultural assets to pay down debt amid a commodity downturn,Bloomberg News reported."Copper is the most desirable commodity … [and] we are looking very hard atglobal copper projects," commented Michael Scherb, founder of Appian CapitalAdvisory LLP.
Ex-Masseychief Blankenship to be sentenced today
Former Massey EnergyCo. CEO Donald Blankenship will be sentenced in a U.S. federal courttoday after being been convicted of flouting mine-safety rules that resulted indeath of 29 miners in a West Virginia coal dust explosion, Bloomberg News reported.
DIVERSIFIED
* will in its agriculture businessto Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, or CPPIB, for US$2.5 billion in cash. Glencoreintends to use the proceeds to reduce indebtedness, as part of its previously announcedplan to cut its net debt to close to US$20 billion by the end of 2016.
* Proceedingsof Rio Tinto's case againstthe Forge Group have started in the Supreme Court, The West Australian reported.The diversified miner has claimed losses of about A$185 million on two power stationprojects left incomplete by the engineering company after its collapse in 2014.The receiver for Forge, KordaMentha, has filed counter claims against Rio Tintoand is looking to secure return of bonds worth about A$100 million in total.
* , the SOHAR Port and Freezone,and Oman National Investments Development Company (TANMIA) agreed to develop a logisticscorridor to allow exporting minerals extracted and processed in Oman, Notícias de Mineração reported.
BASE METALS
* Theanticipated deficit in the supply of copper by 2020 has made mining giants suchas Anglo American Plcand Glencore reluctant to sell their best copper assets while they continue disposingof iron ore and coal mines as well as agricultural assets to pay down debt amida commodity downturn, Bloomberg News reported."Copper is the most desirable commodity … [and] we are looking very hard atglobal copper projects," commented Michael Scherb, founder of Appian CapitalAdvisory LLP.
* Despiteuncertainty in commodity prices and fewer opportunities, China Minmetals Corp. Vice President Jerry Jiao said thecountry will continueacquiring copper projects abroad in order to secure future supplies, the Financial Times reported. "China isvery short of copper resources … [and] the only way to make stable supply of copperresources?…?going overseas is the only solution," Jiao told attendees at theWorld Copper Conference in Chile.
* Cordoba MineralsCorp. entered a jointventure agreement with High Power Exploration Inc., or HPX on the SanMatias copper-gold project in Colombia. Under the deal, HPX will earn up to a 65%interest in the project by carrying it to feasibility stage.
* 's 50%-ownedunit Huckleberry Mines Ltd. recalled44 of the 85 employees that were laid off at the Huckleberry mine in British Columbia in Januarydue to weak copper prices. However, the mine is expected to be placed on care andmaintenance if copper prices do not increase by the third quarter, the company added.
* unit expects its production 22% in2016 to 930,000 tonnes of copper, Reuters reported, citing CEO Oscar Gonzalez.
* Indonesian conglomerate Medco Group is setto acquire a controlling stake in U.S. mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. unit PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, as partof its move to diversify from oil and gas, the Jakarta Globe reported, citing Medcoowner Arifin Panigoro.
* unit Mineracao Caraiba SA, which filed for bankruptcy protectionin February this year, is preparing to submit a recovery plan to creditors, Notícias de Mineração reported.
* Dueto the losses caused by low copper prices, Samsung is reportedly planning to conducta capital raise to allow the entry of a new partner to take control of the copper projectin Chile, while the Korean company adopts a more passive role, sources familiarwith the process said, daily Diario Financieroreported.
* MantosCopper SA, operator of the MantosBlancos copper mine, is seeking to develop into a much larger and profitablecopper business, said CEO John MacKenzie. According to MacKenzie, the current slowdownfavors the acquisition of assets, mining magazine Minería Chilena reported.
* entered into aconditional binding heads of agreement toacquire 100% of the issued capital in Milestone Sport Ltd., a U.S. sportstechnology company. If the acquisition is successful, the company intends to disposeof its exploration and mining assets.
* CEO Donald Lindsaystrongly criticized the legal reforms currently under review in Chile, claimingthe company would find it difficult to seek financing amid the fall in copper prices,daily Diario Financiero reported,citing a transcript by Bloomberg.
* Chile'smining industry must maintain a long-term perspective amid the current uncertaintyin the copper market and should provide the conditions to attract investors oncethe appetite for investment improves, AntofagastaPlc CEO Diego Hernández said, daily Diario Financiero reported.
* 's mine in South Australiacould ramp up copper outputto 280,000 tonnes annually at CapEx anticipated to be below US$500 million, The Australian Financial Review reported.The mining giant previously projected to raise production at the operation to 255,000tonnes within five years, and without significant CapEx.
* Chileancopper producer Codelcowill reduce CapEx by US$6 billion over the next five years as it copes with weakprices for the red metal. As a result, about 13%, or 4 million tonnes, of Codelco'splanned production of 44 million tonnes over the next 25 years would be .
* announced amajor change to the organizational structure for Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas,resulting in its executive team being laidoff. Under the restructuring move, Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas willbecome an operating division of the larger company and the financial and administrativeroles at Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas will be merged with Freeport-McMoRan's corporatefunctions. According to the company, the move is expected to cut costs, streamlinefunctions and enhance capital allocation across the company's global business.
* has no plans tooff-load its flagship copper projects amid its asset sale campaign, Bloomberg Newsreported,citing the company's copper chief, Hennie Faul. "We don't need to sell them.Anglo is not in that position," he added.
* TheChile-based Collahuasicopper mine's output is expected to increaseslightly in the current year from 455,300 tonnes in 2015, Reuters reported,citing CEO Jorge Gomez. Collahuasi is a joint venture between Anglo American andGlencore.
* 's profitattributable to company owners for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015, plunged to 387million Brazilian reais from net profit of 1.59 billion reais reported a year ago.
PRECIOUS METALS
* TheInternational Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes awarded to inrelation to claims against Venezuela for expropriating the company's investmentin the Las Cristinasgold mining project. The tribunal upheld Crystallex's claims that Venezuela violateda treaty between the country and Canada on by failing to accord fair and equitabletreatment of the company's investment in the country and by unlawfully expropriatingthose investments.
* declared at phase oneof the Asanko goldmine in Ghana as of April 1, a quarter ahead of schedule. Gold production will continueto ramp-up to a steady-state by end of this quarter, the company said. During March,the mine processed 276,146 tonnes of ore, which is 111% of design capacity. As ofMarch end, the mine has produced 15,337 ounces of gold and 2,860 ounces of silver.The company is looking to produce between 35,000 ounces and 40,000 ounces of goldin the second quarter, eyeing an increase in production during the second half of2016 to between 90,000 ounces and 100,000 ounces.
* A Tanzanian tribunal ruled that a Barrick Gold Corp. unit failed to pay over US$40 millionin corporate taxes between 2010 and 2013 owed to the government while it paid morethan US$400 million in dividends on profits from its gold-mining operations in thecountry, The Globe and Mail reported.However, the Barrick subsidiary has denied any wrongdoing.
* Silver StandardResources Inc.'s takeover target Claude Resources Inc. produced 20,672 ounces of gold duringthe first quarter of 2016. While gold production was consistent from the comparable2015 production of 21,067 ounces of gold, saleswere up 21% on a yearly basis to 21,008 ounces.
* Shareholders of AvalaResources Ltd. approved thecompany's planned takeover by DundeePrecious Metals Inc.
* Backed by South African mining entrepreneur Peter Skeat, twoNew York University graduates plan to revive the ransacked Blyvooruitzicht gold mine in South Africa's North-West,which they say contains an estimated 9 million ounces of gold, worth almost US$11billion at current prices, Bloomberg News reported.The mine was closed in 2013.
* Saracen MineralHoldings Ltd. raisedits gold production guidance for fiscal 2016 to 175,000 ounces to 195,000 ouncesfrom previously announced target of 150,000 ounces to 160,000 ounces of gold. Thehigher number was due to an increase in the production outlook for the gold project inWestern Australia to 25,000 ounces to 35,000 ounces, from 20,000 ounces previously.The company said it is ontrack to achieve its objective of doublinggold production to about 300,000 ounces of gold per annum while remainingdebt-free.
* said its ÖksütMadencilik Sanayi Ve Tkaret AS unit signed a project financing term loan facility of up to US$150.0 millionfor the Öksüt goldproject in Turkey. Funds will be used for a substantial portion of the construction,development and operation of the Öksüt gold mine and its related infrastructurein the Kayseri region of central Turkey.
* increased the size ofits previously announced bought-deal offering to C$100.0 million from C$75.0 million,now offering 23 millionshares at C$4.35 apiece, due to strong demand.
* Endomines ABproduced 1,881 ounces of gold in the first quarter of 2016, down from4,221 ounces of gold produced a year earlier as it implements selective mining plans.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Former MasseyEnergy Co. CEO Donald Blankenship will be sentenced in a U.S. federalcourt today after being been convicted of flouting mine-safety rules that resultedin death of 29 miners in a West Virginia coal dust explosion, Bloomberg News reported.
* IRC Ltd.said hot commissioning has finished at the crushing and screening facilities atits mainstay Kimkanskoye andSutarskoye project in the Russian Far East, allowing the group 40%-content "pre-concentrate"ahead of the expected completion of the rest of the plant later this year. Accordingto IRC Chairman Jay Hambro, the product from the crushing plant will not be sold.Instead, the 40% iron content product would be stockpiled for processing into 65.8%iron concentrate once the main processing plant is operational, he confirmed toSNL Metals & Mining.
* went into a trading halton the ASX as it negotiates with its lender banks to restructure A$2 billion indebt in order to avoid being placed in administration, London's Financial Times reported,citing a company statement. Recently, company creditors rejected a US$927 million recapitalization proposal fromU.S.-based GSO Capital Partners LP.
* signed a with a unitof China Railway Group Ltd.and Shandong Iron & Steel GroupCo. Ltd. to evaluate commercial and technical merits to advance theUS$4 billion Central Eyreiron ore project, or CEIP, in South Australia, to a final investment decision.
* 49 North ResourcesInc. soldits 50% interest in North Rim ExplorationLtd. to a third party geo-consultancy and engineering firm for C$950,000in cash, subject to certain post-closing adjustments. The sale represents a successfulexit from a private portfolio company.
* CEO NevPower said the sale of its blend of iron ore from its partnership with Vale is by the secondhalf, speaking at the Mines and Money Asia 2016 conference in Hong Kong.
* After signing a memorandum of understanding in February, ASX-listedFYI Resources Ltd. andChina's Yuntianhua Group Co. Ltd.have agreed to advance project development talksto more formal joint venture discussions for the Sino-Lao potash project in Laos. The negotiationswill be focused on collaboration for resource development and potential productionat the project, which has a processing facility with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes per annum.
* Stanmore CoalLtd. said the first coalproduct has been processed by the coal handling and preparation plantat its recently acquired IsaacPlains coking coal mine in Queensland, Australia.
* said thereis no need for an initial public offering given Eike Batista's transference of sharesto Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, the company said in reply to an inquiryby Brazilian Securities Commission, CVM, Notíciasde Mineração reported.
* TheDirectorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties of India served noticesto China, Japan and South Korea proposing to kick off an investigation on the dumpingof hot-rolled coils of alloy and non-alloy steel into the country, Reuters reported,citing a source.
* AngangIron & Steel Group reported a loss of 7.7 billion Chinese yuan in 2015, narrowing from a loss of 10.4billion yuan reported a year ago.
SPECIALTY
* The final order approving the reorganization of bankrupt is being as major creditor OaktreeManagement may have too many partners in the deal, Bloomberg News reported. Followingreorganization, Oaktree will own 92.5% of the rare earths miner. Junior creditors,which number around 3,000, will own the remainder of the firm, which may force thenew Molycorp to register as a public company, the report cited Oaktree attorneyAndrew Leblanc as saying.
* De Beers SAsold a very rare 10.10-carat blue gem for almost US$32million at an auction in Hong Kong as part of a high profile gem sale, Mining.comwrote.
* Firestone DiamondsPlc agreed to an extensionfor the US$8 million sale of its Botswana operations to allow buyer to finalize a proposedUS$30 million loan financing. Tango Mining has until July 29, to finalize the commitmentwith California-based financial lender Vanderbilt Commercial to finance the of the operations andprovide the capital to restart the idled BK11 kimberlite diamond operations.
* Lincoln MineralsLtd. signed a memorandum of understanding with the District Councilof Tumby Bay South Australia, over the proposed Kookaburra Gully graphite project on the Eyre Peninsula.The memorandum provides a frameworkfor both parties to work together on the road, power and water infrastructure requiredto bring the project into production.
* updated its feasibility study for the Kvanefjeldrare earth elements-uranium project in Greenland, increasing the net present value from US$1.40 billion toUS$1.59 billion, while also increasing internal rate of return from 21.8% to 43.4%.Capital costs for the project decreased from US$1.36 billion to US$832 million,while payback period reduced from six years to five years.
* and local communitiesliving close to its operations in Chile's Atacama saltflat reached an agreement,under which they will participate in the company's sales, equivalent to 3% of revenues,according to a document accessed by dailyPulso.
* said wet commissioningof its second phase pilot scale test facility in Germany has , which involves processing shapedraw graphite ore from the company's Swedish deposits in slabs of up to 50 kilogramseach, up from 10 kilograms in the first phase. Additional modified cells have beeninstalled to increase total capacity of the facility to 365 kilograms of ore feedat a time.
* Vedomosti reportedthat this year Russia's Federal Property Management Agency will sell 10.9% of , valued at an estimated56.2 billion Russian rubles.
* 's wholly ownedsubsidiary, Dajin Resources (US) Corp., has acquired by staking a 100% interest in an additional 37 placerclaims covering 710 acres of ground on the Teels Marsh in Mineral County, Nev.,which is known to contain lithium and boron values.
* , through pegging, a 100%interest in the Phillips River lithium project in Western Australia. The projectcomprises three exploration license applications covering about 340 square kilometers.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Beijinghas banned the importof gold and rare earth metals from North Korea, Reuters reported. China has alsobanned the export of jet fuel and other products used to produce rocket fuel, toreflect new sanctions on North Korea imposed by the United Nations. Coal from Pyongyangwill also be banned, with exceptions in line with sanctions for "the people'swell-being."
The Daily Dose is updatedas of 7 a.m. New York time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English,Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some externallinks may require a subscription.