TOP NEWS
Vale greenlights US$1.7B expansion at Voisey's Bay
Vale SA is moving ahead with a US$1.7 billion expansion of its Voisey's Bay nickel-copper-cobalt project in Newfoundland and Labrador as it seeks to capitalize on increasing demand for battery minerals. The planned development of an underground mine at Voisey's Bay would extend its life from 2023 to 2034, with initial production expected by April 2021. The expansion is enabled by Vale's agreement to sell a total of 75% of cobalt production from the Voisey's Bay copper-nickel-cobalt complex to Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. and Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. for a total of US$690 million, beginning in 2021.
Analysts applaud Fortescue's 'astute' move to acquire 19.9% of Atlas Iron
Australian analysts were surprised and somewhat baffled by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.'s move to acquire 19.9% of Atlas Iron Ltd., but agree that it is a smart play to keep low-grade iron ore competitor Mineral Resources Ltd. in check while effectively laying down "working capital" for growth options in lithium and base metals.
Ivanhoe Mines secures C$723M investment from CITIC Metal
CITIC Metal Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Citic Ltd., agreed to invest C$723 million in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. for a 19.9% interest in the company to become its largest single shareholder. Ivanhoe will use the proceeds to develop its Kamoa-Kakula copper joint venture project, its Platreef platinum group metals project and its Kipushi zinc-copper-silver-germanium project, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.
DIVERSIFIED
* Rio Tinto appointed Jakob Stausholm CFO to succeed Chris Lynch. Stausholm will join the company as an executive director, effective Sept. 3, and take over the CFO role the same day. Lynch, who was appointed CFO in April 2013, will stand down from the board Sept. 3 and retire from the company Sept. 30.
* Asset manager M&G Investments is partnering with Anglo American PLC in a £265 million deal to revamp the mining company's London headquarters, IPE Real Assets reported.
BASE METALS
* China is looking to bring forward its annual sales program for copper, with Codelco CEO Nelson Pizarro saying that negotiations between the copper producer and customers in China could start about two months earlier than the traditional October-November period, Bloomberg News reported.
* Vedanta Resources PLC plans to double finished copper production at Zambia-based Konkola Copper Mines PLC to 200,000 tonnes this year, from just under 100,000 tonnes in 2017, Reuters reported, citing Deshnee Naidoo, CEO of the company's Zambian unit.
* Unionized workers at BHP Billiton Group's Spence copper mine in Chile approved a 36-month labor contract, Reuters reported, citing the union president. The deal includes a one-off bonus of nearly US$21,500 per worker and a 2% increase over current base salaries.
* BHP responded to the latest contract proposal from the main union at the company's Escondida copper mine in Chile, triggering a new round of talks that could last a month or more, Reuters reported. The miner said it was now ready to discuss the "different points of interest" at the negotiating table.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. was the world's third-largest gold producer in 2017, with attributable production of 3.75 million ounces of gold. Like many of its peers, AngloGold has generally avoided making major acquisitions since the downturn in 2012, instead leveraging the industry's largest gold exploration expenditure over the past decade to organically replace almost four-fifths of the reserves the company added over the period.
* An ongoing protest blocking entry to Goldcorp Inc.'s Penasquito mine in Mexico could force the company to halt output, Reuters reported. The demonstration is led by local truck-drivers who say the company backed out on promises to hire locally.
* Three gold miners were killed in an unknown incident at Sibanye Gold Ltd.'s Ikamva mine, part of the Kloof gold operations in South Africa, while another two remain missing, Reuters reported. The company said five workers entered an abandoned working place at Kloof Ikamva, but it was not sure what happened afterwards.
* An operator for a contractor at Acacia Mining PLC's North Mara gold mine in Tanzania died following an accident, which involved a reversing vehicle at the Gokona deposit. Investigations into the incident are underway, the company noted.
* Rioters in Mali ransacked government buildings following a dispute between workers and management at Randgold Resources Ltd.'s Loulo-Gounkoto
* Randgold Resources CEO Mark Bristow said that the feasibility study on the Massawa gold project in Senegal is close to finalization, and the company will take a development decision by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a draft environmental and social impact assessment study is scheduled for submission in July.
* Operations at Jaguar Mining Inc.'s Pilar and Turmalina gold mines in Brazil returned to normal following a national 10-day truckers' strike that disrupted production.
* Starcore International Mines Ltd. decided not to proceed with its proposed acquisition of the Santa Fe silver-gold project in Mexico after completing due diligence and a review of the property.
* Resolute Mining Ltd.
* Stratex International PLC secured an option to earn up to a 90% interest in the Bibemi and Wapouze gold projects in north Cameroon from a local company.
* Beacon Minerals Ltd. secured an electricity supply contract for its Jaurdi gold project in Western Australia from Pacific Energy Ltd. for an initial 3.5-year term.
BULK COMMODITIES
* ThyssenKrupp AG shareholder Elliott Management asked the German conglomerate to secure a more favorable European steel joint venture deal with Tata Steel Ltd. The shareholder believes that Tata's recent underperformance has skewed the balance against ThyssenKrupp to the tune of €1.9 billion less for the German group if the deal proceeds in its current form, Bloomberg News reported, citing a letter Elliott sent to company management.
* Meanwhile, Tata Steel's European works council said it remains unconvinced that a planned joint venture with ThyssenKrupp is in the best interest of the company's operations and its employees, Reuters reported.
* Mitsubishi Materials Corp. restructured its top management for the first time after it accepted responsibility for the 2017 data-tampering scandal, Reuters reported. The company also said that it recently uncovered new cases of misconduct at its Naoshima copper smelter and refinery in Japan.
* Danakali Ltd. entered a 10-year binding take-or-pay off-take agreement with EuroChem Trading GmbH for up to 100% of module one sulfate of potash production from its 50%-owned Colluli potash project in Eritrea. The project is a 50/50 joint venture with Eritrean National Mining Corp.
* Stanmore Coal Ltd. is acquiring from Millennium Coal Pty. Ltd. the Wotonga South coking coal deposit in Queensland, Australia, contained within MDL 137, plus an additional exploration area, for A$30 million cash and a production-based royalty capped at about A$10 million.
* Quebec will offer C$100 million in loans and guarantees to steel and aluminum companies affected by the recent U.S. import tariffs, Reuters reported, citing Dominique Anglade, the province's economy minister.
* China's Inner Mongolia region will close 22 small coal mines with a combined annual capacity of 11.1 million tonnes this year, Reuters reported, citing local authorities. Inner Mongolia is expecting to reach a 2020 target of slashing 54.1 million tonnes by 2018.
* Sweden-based steelmaker SSAB is planning the possible closure of its steel tube factory in Lappohja, Finland, which employs 115 people, Reuters reported. Talks about potential workforce cuts will be started, the result of which might be to shut down the site, the company said.
SPECIALTY
* Ausdrill Ltd.'s shares dived about 21% after the mining services contractor said the value of its contract with Mineral Resources Ltd. unit Process Minerals International Pty. Ltd. for its Wodgina lithium project in Western Australia is expected to be half of the previously announced A$180 million over the initial three years.
* Peninsula Mines Ltd. was granted a key exploration and mining tenement, which covers the bulk of the known strike length of the high-grade graphitic unit at the Gapyeong graphite project in South Korea.
* Australian Mines Ltd. entered into a partnership with U.K.-based technology company Metalysis to research and develop a solid-state process to produce a low-cost yet superior aluminum-scandium alloy for potential use by the automotive and aerospace industries. The company's SCONI project in Queensland, Australia, will produce high-purity scandium oxide alongside the project's cobalt sulfate and nickel sulfate output.
* TNG Ltd. signed a deal to evaluate the use of its TIVAN vanadium extraction process at Todd Corp. Ltd.'s Balla Balla vanadium-titanium-iron project in Western Australia.
* Diamonds from the Angola-based Catoca mine, the world's fifth-largest diamond mine, were sold for 24% below the market prices over the last six years up to and including 2017, resulting in estimated losses of US$464 million, due to the current marketing process, Reuters reported. Russia's PJSC Alrosa and Angola's state diamond miner Endiama EP
* Zimbabwe's parliament dropped calls for former President Robert Mugabe to answer questions in connection with diamond mining operations during his regime, Reuters reported.
* The U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to an energy and water act accelerating the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines across the country, Mining.com reported. The measure allocates US$1 million from a Department of Energy program to remediate uranium mines.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Chinese investment in Australia dropped 11% year over year to US$10.3 billion in 2017 in spite of renewed investment in mining, continued investment in commercial real estate, as well as a surge in healthcare investment, according to a report by KPMG and the University of Sydney. Mining was the most significant sector for Chinese investment, and saw 12 deals totaling A$4.6 billion, a rise of 448% from 2016.
The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. London time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
