TOP NEWS

Teck Resources posts 38.2% jump in Q1 attributable profit

Teck ResourcesLtd.'s profit attributable to its shareholders for the first quarterjumped 38.2% year overyear to C$94 million. Results included a C$41 million boost from positive pricingadjustments and commodity derivative gains, compared to a C$38 million loss in thefirst quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, revenue for the period fell 16.1% to C$1.70 billionand EBITDA decreased by 5.3% to C$517 million. During the quarter, the company produced6.6 million tonnes of steelmaking coal, 82,000 tonnes of copper, 175,000 tonnesof zinc in concentrate and 79,000 tonnes of refined zinc.

Freeport Q1 loss deepens on oil price rout

Freeport-McMoRanInc. posted a net lossattributable to shareholders of US$4.18 billion for the first quarter of 2016, wideningfrom US$2.47 billion booked a year earlier. The net loss includes net charges totalingUS$4 billion attributed mainly to a reduction in the carrying value of the company'soil and gas properties, idle rig costs and other items. Excluding these, Freeport'snet loss totaled US$197 million, or 16 cents per share. Meanwhile, first-quarteroperating loss increased year over year to US$3.88 billion from US$2.96 billion,while its revenue fell to US$3.53 billion from US$4.15 billion in the same perioda year ago.

US Steel Q1 loss widens YOY

U.S. Steel Corp.posted a first-quarter net loss of US$340 million, widening from a net loss of US$75 million booked a year ago.The loss included supplemental unemployment and severance costs of US$25 million,the company noted. Net sales for the period dropped to US$2.34 billion from US$3.27billion reported a year ago.

DIVERSIFIED

* Teck ResourcesLtd.'s profit attributable to its shareholders for the first quarterjumped 38.2% year overyear to C$94 million. Results included a C$41 million boost from positive pricingadjustments and commodity derivative gains, compared to a C$38 million loss in thefirst quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, revenue for the period fell 16.1% to C$1.70 billionand EBITDA decreased by 5.3% to C$517 million. During the quarter, the company produced6.6 million tonnes of steelmaking coal, 82,000 tonnes of copper, 175,000 tonnesof zinc in concentrate and 79,000 tonnes of refined zinc.

* Glencore Plcended a year's hiatus in the bond markets, opening booksfor a five-year bond at a minimum CHF150 million at 2.25% area, Reuters reported.The offering was upsized three times, finally settling at CHF250 million at parto yield 2.25%.

BASE METALS

* Freeport-McMoRan Inc. posted a net loss attributable to shareholders of US$4.18billion for the first quarter of 2016, widening from US$2.47 billion booked a yearearlier. The net loss includes net charges totaling US$4 billion attributed mainlyto a reduction in the carrying value of the company's oil and gas properties, idlerig costs and other items. Excluding these, Freeport's net loss totaled US$197 million,or 16 cents per share. Meanwhile, first-quarter operating loss increased year overyear to US$3.88 billion from US$2.96 billion, while its revenue fell to US$3.53billion from US$4.15 billion in the same period a year ago.

* Separately, Reuters quoted Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson assaying that the company is in "advanceddiscussions" over the sale of a number of its copper assets, but refusedto name them.

* Meanwhile, the Indonesian government hasput a US$630 million priceon a 10.64% stake in Freeport's PTFreeport Indonesia unit. Freeport had offered to sell the stake forUS$1.7 billion in January, but it was rejected by the government as it was too expensive.The company has now been requested to amend its offer.

* Aditya BirlaMinerals Ltd. is now willingto relinquish control to MetalsX Ltd. after the suitor proposed a higher takeover offer that convincedmajor shareholder Hindalco Industries Ltd. to part with its 51% stake. Followingnegotiations between the two fellow ASX-listed miners and Hindalco, Metals X agreedto up its bid to 1 Metals X share for every 4.5 Aditya Birla shares plus 8 Australiancents per share in cash, which values Aditya Birla shares at 32.9 cents each.

* Yunnan CopperIndustry (Group) Co. Ltd. posteda net loss of 85.4 million Chinese yuan, or 6 fen per share, in thefirst quarter, compared to net profit of 10.3 million yuan, or 1 fen per share,posted a year ago. Operating income dropped 54.45% year over year to 5.60 billionyuan due to a decrease in sales volumes.

* Great WesternExploration Ltd. made an all-scripoffer for unlisted public company Vanguard Exploration Ltd., which owns two projects in WesternAustralia.

PRECIOUS METALS

* Barrick GoldCorp. swung to an US$83million first-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders, comparedto a year-ago profit of US$57 million, primarily due to US$139 million in foreigncurrency losses. The company's gold output and sales both fell during the quarterto 1.28 million ounces and 1.31 million ounces, respectively, but Barrick maintainedits full-year output guidance of 5.0 million ounces to 5.5 million ounces of goldat lower all-in sustaining costs of US$760 to US$810 per ounce.

* Impala PlatinumHoldings Ltd. posted a 17% increase in gross refined platinum productionin the quarter ended March 31, to 353,000 platinum ounces compared to 301,000 platinumounces a year ago. For the nine-month period to March 31, the company's gross refinedplatinum output grewby 12% to 1.05 million platinum ounces from 932,000 platinum ounces in the sameperiod of the preceding fiscal year. The production results remain unaudited; thecompany expects its full-year output to be about 1.42 million refined platinum ouncesat a unit cost of 22,500 South African rand per ounce.

* Eldorado GoldCorp. has struck a deal to sellits 82% stake in the Jinfenggold mine in China to a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corp. for US$300 million in cash.

* Russian precious metals miner Polymetal International Plc decided to of concentrate from itsflagship Kyzyl projectin Kazakhstan to third parties in China and Russia, in a move aimed at reducingthe local environmental impact of the operation and cutting down the project's capitalintensity in the current tough environment for raising mine finance.

* Eric Sprott will purchaseanother 16.2 million commonshares of Newmarket Gold Inc.from Luxor Capital Partners LP and affiliates at US$2.80 per share for a total ofUS$45.4 million. With the latest purchase, Sprott will own approximately 17.9% ofthe company's issued share capital.

* NuLegacy GoldCorp. said New York-based Tocqueville Gold Fund acquired 19.5 million shares of the company. The purchasewas made at 20 Canadian cents per share through an open market transaction.

* Pan AmericanSilver Corp. exercisedits second tranche option to subscribe for additional common shares of in order tomaintain a 10% ownership interest in Kootenay's issued and outstanding shares. Asa result, Pan American intends to subscribe for 6,793,550 additional Kootenay commonshares for an aggregate subscription price of C$1.6 million.

* Tombstone ExplorationCorp. received approvalfor exploration and drilling on its mining claims encompassing 400 acres, includingthe area of the Stardust gold mine in Yuma County, Ariz.

* Transition MetalsCorp. signed a binding letter of intent with Aldershot Resources Ltd. to option the Gowgandagold project in Ontario. Under the terms, Aldershot can earn up to a 75% interestin the project.

BULK COMMODITIES

* U.S. Steel Corp.posted a first-quarter net loss of US$340 million, widening from a net loss of US$75 million booked a year ago.The loss included supplemental unemployment and severance costs of US$25 million,the company noted. Net sales for the period dropped to US$2.34 billion from US$3.27billion reported a year ago.

* Meanwhile, U.S. Steel fileda complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission against major Chinese steelproducers and distributors over alleged illegal unfair methods of competition includingprice fixing, theft of trade secrets and the circumvention of trade duties by falselabeling. The complaint also seeks the exclusion of all unfairly traded Chinesesteel products from the U.S. market.

* AK Steel HoldingCorp. reported a significant improvement in its earnings, posting afirst-quarter net loss of US$13.6 million, or 8 U.S. cents per share, from a US$306.3 million netloss in the same period of 2015, which included a US$256.3 million charge to writeoff the company's investment in Magnetation LLC.

* Tibet MineralDevelopment Co. Ltd. posted net profit attributable to shareholdersof 23.4 million Chinese yuan, or 4.50 fen per share, for the first quarter, comparedto a net loss of 17.9 million yuan, or 3.77 fen per share, recorded a year ago.Operating income increased 34.58%year over year to 192.4 million yuan.

* Japan's JFE HoldingsInc. posted net income attributable to owners of the parent of ¥33.66billion, or ¥58.36 per share, in fiscal 2015, representing a on a yearly basis. The figure,however, beat the company's earlier forecast of ¥25 billion, or ¥43.35 per share.Net sales for the 12-month period amounted to ¥3.431 trillion, down 10.9% from ayear ago.

* Wuhan Iron &Steel Co. Ltd.'s net profit attributable to shareholders year over year to30.3 million Chinese yuan, or 0.3 fen per share, in the first quarter, from 459.1million yuan, or 4.5 fen per share, recorded in the same quarter of 2015. In a separatesame-day release, the company also posted a full-year 2015 net loss of 7.51 billionyuan, or 74.4 fen per share, and said it will not pay a final dividend in 2015.

* Two sources with knowledge of the matter said the sale of 's coal mines inSouth Africa is being hamperedby Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.'s bid to transform the ownership model for coal mines,Bloomberg News wrote. An Eskom executive suggested last week that Anglo Americanshould surrender its mining rights to the state and uncertainty over what type ofoff-take deals the utility would give the new owners will prolong the process. Accordingto sources, Pembani Group, SibanyeGold Ltd. and Royal Bafokeng Holdings Ltd. are among the short-listedbidders for operations that supply Eskom with more than a quarter of its coal.

* Moody's confirmed the Ba1 corporate family ratings and Ba1-PDprobability of default ratings of three Russian steel/mining companies, , and . At the same time,Moody's upgraded OJSC MagnitogorskIron & Steel Works' CFR to Ba1 from Ba2 and PDR to Ba1-PD from Ba2-PD.The outlook on all the ratings is negative.

* The British government, which has already proposed an offerto entice potential bidders for TataSteel Ltd.'s troubled U.K. operations, has urged the company to consideraccepting the government's financial support to keep its Port Talbot operationsrunning, the Financial Times reported.

* JSC Acronexercised a call optionto buy back a 9.1% stake in the Talitskypotash project in Russia from Eurasian Development Bank. Following the transaction,the company's stake in project operator CJSCVerkhnekamsk Potash Co. will amount to 60.1%.

* Fortescue MetalsGroup Ltd. launcheda US$577 million debt repayment by issuing a voluntary redemption notice to holdersof the 8.25% senior unsecured notes due in 2019. The US$577 million of notes outstandingwill be redeemed in full from accumulated cash on hand on June 1, generating additionalinterest savings of US$48 million per annum.

* Severstal launcheda US$200 million offering of senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2021. The bondsare convertible into global depositary receipts of Severstal listed on the LSE,each representing 1 ordinary share of the company.

* Meanwhile, the company set the initial conversion price of the US$200 million convertiblebonds, representing a sum of reference price and a conversion premium of 17.5% tothe reference price, at US$13.8.

* Steel mills in China's Hebei province, which were previouslyordered to be shut down, will be bannedfrom restarting operations. The provincial government plans to penalize steel millsthat reopen and dismiss officials who are found to be involved in allowing companiesto resume production.

* China's 110 large steel mills reported a combined net lossof 8.75 billion Chinese yuan in the first quarter, up 7.6 billion Chinese yuan froma year ago, according to data from the China Iron & Steel Association, The Economic Observer wrote.

* Expressing concern over the rise in speculative trading iniron ore futures in China, Goldman Sachs Group said daily iron ore volumes are nowexceedingannual imports. Volumes trades on the Dalian Commodity Exchange in particular increasedby more than 400% from a year ago, The AustralianFinancial Review reported.

* United Co. RUSALPlc may strike a new agreement with creditors for up to US$ 700 millionas part of the company's debt refinancing efforts, Vedomosti reported.

SPECIALTY

* Petra DiamondsLtd.'s fiscal third-quarter diamond output went up to 995,905 carats from 791,443 carats in the sameperiod in 2015, buoyed by added carats from the Kimberley tailings operations followingthe completion of the Kimberleydiamond mines acquisition in January.

* Meanwhile Petra Diamonds CEO Johan Dippenaar warnedthat it is still too early to tell if the diamond industry's rebound from last yearwill continue, Bloomberg News wrote. "It's a volatile world and we've all learnedthe lesson to be a bit more cautious and not get pulled into exuberant thinking,"the CEO noted.

* Sierra RutileLtd. restarted rutile salesto titanium metal customers, and completed plant construction at the rutile project in SierraLeone. The Gangama project is scheduled to start commercial production during thesecond quarter.

* Golden SaintResources Ltd. said its three Sierra Leone exploration licenses have been renewed. The licenses includeBaja, Moa and Tongo.

* Pioneer ResourcesLtd. entered into an option agreement to acquire a 90% interest in the Donnelly lithium project, locatedin Western Australia's Greenbushes mineral field.

* Benton CapitalCorp. acquireda 100% interest in an additional 30 units in two claims at its Wisa Lake lithiumproject in Ontario, through staking.

* Beaufield ResourcesInc. staked76 additional claims, or 4,142 hectares, for potential lithium on its western boundaryat Troilus, Quebec.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* According to South Africa's Solidarity union, more than 29,000jobs in the country's mining sector, as well as 8,000 in the metal and engineeringindustry, are at risk as companies look to cut costs due to the commodity rout,City A.M. reported.

* Environmentalists criticized Nova Scotia's proposed overhaulof mining rules, arguing that such a move is not enough to prevent mining on privatelyprotected lands, Mining.com reported.The government, however, says the new act will make managing exploration licenseseasier and cost effective. 

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