TOP NEWS
Rio Tinto shelves IPO, sale of Canadian iron ore unit stake
Rio Tinto canceled plans for an IPO or sale of 59%-owned subsidiary Iron Ore Co. of Canada Inc., The Australian reported, citing one person familiar with the matter. The company has been unable to agree with potential buyers on a price for the stake. Rio Tinto was reportedly pursuing a dual listing in New York and Toronto and was targeting a valuation of about US$4 billion in the IPO.
BHP to deploy hundreds of robots at Queensland coal operations
BHP Group will deploy hundreds of robots within a few years across its Queensland, Australia, metallurgical coal operations, part of a US$800 million program to introduce up to 500 new autonomous vehicles across the Pilbara and Queensland, The Australian reported. The additional truck fleet will complement the 50 driverless trucks operating at the Jimblebar iron ore mine in Western Australia.
Antofagasta faces strike at flagship Los Pelambres copper mine
A workers' strike looms at Antofagasta PLC's flagship Los Pelambres copper mine in Chile after a union leader urged workers to reject the company's latest wage offer, Mining.com wrote. The company only approved three of the workers' 44 demands and plans to increase wages by half the amount they requested, the report said, citing Union of Supervisors President Waldo Perez. If a strike is approved after voting by 280 workers from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, the union has to wait until Oct. 7 to ask for mandatory mediation, which would extend negotiations until Oct. 14.
BASE METALS
* A court in southwestern China will hold a 24-hour auction Oct. 5 to sell 21 tonnes of cobalt held by the defunct Fanya Metal Exchange to pay creditors, Reuters reported.
* Wu Yuneng, former general manager of Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd., was expelled from the ruling Communist Party and public office after being found to have illegally accepted gifts, used public funds to play golf and used company vehicles for personal travel, Reuters reported, citing a statement from China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
* Peru's Environmental Assessment and Control Agency, OEFA, ordered Minera Las Bambas, a joint venture project of MMG Ltd. and CITIC Metal Co. Ltd., to change how it transports copper concentrate through the Southern Runway to reduce environmental pollution, Mining.com reported.
* Wealth Minerals Ltd. completed the acquisition of TriMetals Mining Inc.'s 100% interest in the Escalones copper project in Chile.
PRECIOUS METALS
* The blockade obstructing access to Newmont Goldcorp Corp.'s Penasquito gold mine in Mexico's Zacatecas region, led by transporters from trucking contractor Cava, continues even though the protesters reached a new agreement with Zacatecas Gov. Alejandro Tello. The protests were renewed a few hours before negotiations resumed with the company, daily El Financiero reported.
* Canadian gold miner Banro Corp. suspended several operations in Congo due to security concerns, Reuters reported, citing CEO Brett Richards. The company declared force majeure Sept. 24 at its Namoya gold operation, where all employees had been evacuated, and at other mines following repeated attacks by armed rebels. Four Banro employees were kidnapped in July and were held for several weeks.
* Polymetal International PLC updated the JORC 2012-compliant mineral resource at its Viksha platinum group metals deposit in Russia to 5.7 million ounces of palladium equivalent at an average grade of 1.1 g/t. The share of measured and indicated resources increased to 65% from 13%. The company plans to finalize a feasibility study and a reserve estimate in the first half of 2021.
* Oriole Resources PLC formed a new 90%-owned subsidiary, Oriole Cameroon SARL, in Cameroon with local partner Bureau d'Etudes et d'Investigations Géologico-minières Géotechniques et Géophysiques SARL. Oriole also submitted applications for eight new gold-prospective licenses covering about 3,500 square kilometers in the center of the country.
* Ore processing started at the El Nino mine within Premier Gold Mines Ltd.'s 40%-owned South Arturo mine in Nevada. Gold production ramp-up is expected in the second half. The first gold bar was poured Sept. 26.
* 12 Exploration Inc. decided not to fulfill the balance of its requirement to spend C$300,000 to earn an initial 50% stake in the Deepwater project in Ontario.
* Sable Resources Ltd. said it received C$5.5 million as the initial closing under its royalty purchase agreement with Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. occurred.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Detectives from Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations claimed that Ferrexpo PLC CEO Kostyantin Zhevago has been involved in money laundering and embezzling funds from Finance & Credit JSC, a bank previously owned by the billionaire, Bloomberg News reported. Zhevago reportedly did not appear for questioning in Kyiv on Sept. 27. In response to the allegations, Ferrexpo said Zhevago denies any wrongdoing and has informed the company's board that he has not received a notice of suspicion in accordance with Ukrainian law.
* John Barilaro, deputy premier of New South Wales, Australia, said revenue from royalties and regional jobs could be at risk after the state's Independent Planning Commission rejected Korea Electric Power Corp.'s Bylong coal project, The Australian reported. Barilaro said the rejection may jeopardize 1,100 jobs and A$1 billion in investment into the state.
* Klöckner & Co SE decided not to merge with thyssenkrupp AG, Economicinform reported, citing information from German Handelsblatt. The report said the decision was due to the dismissal of CEO Guido Kerkhoff.
* Andromeda Metals Ltd.'s scoping study for a proposed open cut mine and dry-processing plant at the Carey's Well deposit, part of its Poochera halloysite-kaolin project in South Australia, outlined a net present value, discounted at 8%, of A$413 million, with a 174% internal rate of return and a 15-month payback period. The initial capital costs were estimated at A$9 million, with a maximum cash requirement of A$25 million before receipt of initial revenues.
* Ironveld PLC plans to advance discussions in the coming weeks with parties interested in purchasing all or part of its assets. The company noted that it has sufficient cash to fund operations until the end of January 2020 and expects to complete its strategic review by that time.
* Cash-strapped Bounty Mining Ltd. defaulted on an upsized A$35 million working capital facility provided by major shareholders Amaroo Blackdown Investments PTE Ltd. and Amaroo Blackdown Investments LLC. Bounty secured the loan, initially worth A$20 million, in December 2018 when it canceled coal shipments due to various conditions. Proceeds were meant to support the Cook colliery operation in Queensland, Australia.
* Canyon Resources Ltd.'s resource at its Minim Martap bauxite project in Cameroon increased 62% to 892 million tonnes at 45.1% aluminum oxide and 2.8% silica, at a cutoff grade of 35% aluminum oxide. The indicated resource component increased 850% to 839 Mt at 45.2% aluminum oxide and 2.8% silica.
* A court decision on legal appeals regarding mining iron ore off the South Taranaki coast in New Zealand is expected by the end of the year, Taranaki Daily News reported. Trans-Tasman Resources Ltd. sought to overturn a 2018 high court decision that canceled the company's permit to mine in the bight.
* Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined officials from local utility Xcel Energy Inc., solar energy developer Lightsource BP Renewable Energy Investments Ltd. and steelmaker EVRAZ North America Inc. to announce the 240-MW Bighorn Solar project at an Evraz steel mill in Pueblo, Colo.
* Adani Enterprises Ltd. established a new division for its infrastructure business after Queensland's Labor government ended a nine-year delay on the last major environmental permit for the company's Carmichael coal mine in June, The Australian reported, citing Adani Mining CEO Lucas Dow.
* Fourth-quarter premiums for aluminum shipments to Japan were locked at US$97 per tonne, dropping 10% from the third quarter amid an abundance of Asian supplies and weak demand from the electronics and auto industries, Reuters reported, citing three sources directly involved in the pricing talks.
* India's Coal Ministry started identifying additional coal blocks that could be put up for auction before December exclusively for commercial coal mining by private domestic miners and international resource majors, Mining Weekly reported.
* The Australian government's global steel production forecast for 2021 declined to 1.80 billion tons from the previous forecast of 1.81 billion tons, Bloomberg reported. The Chinese steel production forecast for 2021 went up to 930 million tons from the previous estimate of 926 million tons.
SPECIALTY
* NextSource Materials Inc. outlined a posttax net present value of US$184.3 million, at an 8% discount rate, and an internal rate of return of 36.2% with a payback period of 3.8 years in its feasibility study for the first and second phase of the Molo graphite project in Madagascar. The project cost was estimated at US$60.1 million.
* Bass Metals Ltd. signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with downstream graphite processor Urbix Resources LLC to establish a joint venture facility in Madagascar for processing the large flake graphite from Bass' Graphmada mine into value-added downstream products using Urbix's proprietary technology.
* Jangada Mines PLC's technical report for its Pitombeiras vanadium project in Brazil indicated that the property could be quickly developed to define JORC-compliant mineral resources, which will support completion of a preliminary economic assessment. The company is planning an exploration and development program to advance Pitombeiras over the coming months.
* Opposition parties opposed ongoing exploration for uranium in Andhra Pradesh, India, and demanded that the government pass a resolution clarifying it will not support mining for the mineral in the state, The Hindu reported.
* De Beers SA is extending its policy of offering almost unprecedented flexibility to diamond buyers as the company fends off a slump in demand for the gems, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.
* BlueRock Diamonds PLC recovered a 20.72-carat, gem-quality diamond from its Kareevlei mine in South Africa.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Zambia dropped its plan to impose a new nonrefundable sales tax that miners in the country have opposed, Reuters reported, citing Finance Minister Bwalya Ng'andu. The debt-ridden country had delayed implementing the 9% across-the-board tax to January 2020 from September 2019 to look into concerns over the new levy that would have replaced the existing value-added tax.
* Australian Resources Minister Matt Canavan said the country's financial sector needs to continue supporting domestic resources and energy projects, including new thermal coal projects, The Australian reported. Export earnings from Australia's resources and energy sector are forecast to hit a record of A$282 billion this year, while coal exports alone are expected to hit A$16 billion over the next two years.
* The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is reinstating rules pertaining to standards for workplace examinations more than 2.5 years after they were first published.
* Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is not likely to lift the ban on open pit mining, BusinessWorld reported, citing presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
* Congo plans to investigate potential conflicts of interest in a U.S.-funded project to certify mines that produce minerals responsibly, Reuters reported, citing Joseph Ikoli, secretary general of the country's mines ministry.
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