TOP NEWS
Turquoise Hill resumes shipments from Oyu Tolgoi
Rio Tinto-backed Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. said concentrate shipments from its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia have resumed. After discussions with Chinese and Mongolian authorities, Oyu Tolgoi will follow a new joint coal and concentrate crossing route at the Chinese-Mongolian border.
AngloGold Ashanti, Independence Group estimate 75% increase in Tropicana gold mine NPV
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Independence Group NL are forecasting improved production outlook for their Tropicana gold mine in Western Australia of between 450,000 and 490,000 ounces per annum from the second half of 2017, and a more than 75% increase in the net present value of the mine. The mine life could also potentially be extended by three years to 2030.
Liberty House to lift UK steel output to 5 million tonnes over 5 years
Liberty House plans to increase its U.K. steel output to 5 million tonnes in five years, with the company weighing up its options to develop new furnaces in Scotland and the Midlands to help meet the target, Reuters reported, citing Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta. Gupta added that due diligence on the £100 million deal for Tata Steel Ltd.'s specialty steel business should be completed by the end of February.
BASE METALS
* Independence Group said it has no plans to split as the company likes being a diversified miner because it cuts exposure to a single commodity, MiningNews reported. "It provides a natural hedge," Managing Director Peter Bradford said.
* LME 3-month copper prices continued on their upward trajectory through November and into December, averaging $5,463 per tonne in November — increases of 15% month on month and 14% year on year. The dramatic step higher in prices led SNL Metals & Mining to raise the price forecasts for both 2016 and 2017 to $4,881 per tonne and $5,327 per tonne, respectively, up from $4,729 per tonne and $4,796 per tonne.
* Hammer Metals Ltd. signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Chinalco Yunnan Copper Resources Ltd.'s tenement interests in the Mount Isa district of Queensland, Australia, prospective for copper and gold, for a total consideration of 1.5 million Hammer shares.
* Yunnan Tin Co. Ltd.'s wholly owned subsidiary Yunnan Tin Trading Shanghai Co. Ltd. will apply for bank loans of 400 million Chinese yuan from four commercial banks.
* Labor unions of Codelco's Chuquicamata division were set to receive the last offer from the state miner Dec. 13, while union workers at Minera Escondida should deliver their proposal to BHP Billiton Group next week, daily Mercurio de Antofagasta reported.
* A district court fined Clive Palmer's former company Queensland Nickel Inc. A$50,000 for overflows of contaminated water from its tailings dam near Townsville, Queensland, in April 2014, ABC reported.
* Copper exports from Indonesia are under threat in light of the government's ban on overseas concentrate shipments as of Jan. 11, 2017, Bloomberg News reported. Ministers are rushing to revise the rules, but there is no guarantee the deadline will be met. Freeport-McMoRan Inc.'s Grasberg mine in Papua province could also be impacted, even though CEO Richard Adkerson said he is confident the issue will be resolved.
* Nyrstar NV signed share purchase agreements to sell its Contonga zinc-lead-copper mine in Peru, along with other mineral claims in Quebec, to units of Glencore Plc for US$26 million.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Production at Hochschild Mining Plc's Pallancata silver-gold mine in Peru has temporarily stopped due to a road blockade by members of a local community demanding the renegotiation of existing agreements for land easements. The company said its production and cost guidance for 2016 will not be affected.
* Petropavlovsk PLC expects 2016 production of between 415,000 and 430,000 ounces of gold at a preliminary total cash cost of about US$700 per ounce mainly as a result of disruptions at the Andreevskaya deposit of its Pioneer mine in Russia.
* Lundin Gold Inc. signed an exploitation agreement for its flagship Fruta del Norte gold project in Ecuador, giving it the right to develop and produce gold from the project for 25 years. The agreement also includes advance royalty payments totaling US$65 million to the government of Ecuador, and a royalty of 5% of net smelter revenues from production.
* Troy Resources Ltd. revised its gold production guidance for 2016 to between 63,000 and 65,000 ounces, and said it expects higher unit costs due to an increase in unstable ground conditions around the southern wall of the Smarts pit at its Karouni gold project in Guyana.
* Kin Mining NL has released the results of a pre-feasibility study that estimates the Leonora gold project in Western Australia will have a net present value of A$71 million before tax. The project is expected to have an initial mine life of 6.5 years, producing 309,000 ounces of gold during that time.
* Gladiator Resources Ltd. is selling all of its interest in its Uruguayan subsidiaries to Metamila Ltd. for a consideration of about A$1.6 million.
* Panoramic Resources Ltd.'s gold spinoff, Horizon Gold Ltd., did not hit the boards of the ASX Dec. 14 as planned.
* CME Group Inc., Intercontinental Exchange Inc. and the London Metal Exchange are planning new contracts to compete with the London Bullion Market Association as it unveils trade reporting for its members and a new trading platform in the first half of next year, Bloomberg News reported.
* Goldcorp Inc. has mandated that Bank of Nova Scotia sell its Camino Rojo gold-silver project in Mexico, which could fetch about US$200 million, Bloomberg News wrote, citing people familiar with the matter. The bank is also working on the sale of the miner's Los Filos gold mine in Mexico, which is said to be in advanced stages and could close for about US$300 million.
* Kingsrose Mining Ltd.'s board appointed Michael Ryan and Ian Francis of FTI Consulting as voluntary administrators as part of the continued efforts to restructure the company.
* Sibanye Gold Ltd. is expected to launch its West Rand Tailings Retreatment project in the next six months, Mining Weekly wrote. The project aims to recover 11 million ounces of gold and 170 million pounds of uranium from 1.3 billion tonnes of tailings and could potentially generate thousands of jobs.
* Precipitate Gold Corp. secured a 100% interest in the Juan de Herrera gold project in the Dominican Republic after making a final option payment totaling C$75,000 and 1.0 million common shares to the vendor, 0945044 BC Ltd.
* An Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. unit agreed to acquire Sonoro Metals Corp.'s Chipriona gold project in Mexico for C$4 million plus a 1% net smelter return royalty.
BULK COMMODITIES
* BHP Billiton Group and Vale SA joint venture Samarco Mineração SA presented a proposal to local authorities suggesting the use of a previous excavation site known as Cava de Alegria Sul to store iron ore mining tailings as part of its efforts to obtain the necessary licenses to resume operations at the Samarco mine in Brazil. The structure is located in the Germano-Alegria industrial complex between the Mariana and Ouro Preto areas in Minas Gerais state. The company will hold a second hearing on the project Dec. 15, daily Valor Econômico reported.
* Meanwhile, BHP Billiton again indicated that Samarco could restart operations in 2017 at a reduced capacity. Applications to resume mining have already been lodged, though Samarco also needs debt restructuring to resume operations.
* L&M Coal Holdings Ltd. has filed a US$40 million claim against Bathurst Resources Ltd. related to a 2010 sale and purchase agreement. Bathurst said that it will defend any legal action brought by L&M Coal.
* Chilean family business group Grupo Errázuriz denied the charges filed by Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA over alleged illegal extraction of water at the Llamara salt flat in northern Chile. According to SQM, this would affect the operations of its Pampa Hermosa project, daily Pulso reported.
* India's Directorate General of Safeguards, which comes under the finance ministry, will not impose safeguards on some aluminum products, based on a lack of evidence that imports are hurting the profitability of domestic producers, Reuters reported.
* Strike Resources Ltd. entered into a deal with a subsidiary of Zhongrong Xinda Group Co. Ltd. to sell its Apurimac and Cusco iron ore projects in Peru for US$10 million.
* The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ordered Venezuela to pay Tenaris SA US$162 million for expropriating its investments in Tubos de Acero de Venezuela SA and Complejo Siderurgico de Guayana, Reuters reported.
* Indonesian coal miner Dian Swastatika Sentosa, a unit of Sinar Mas Group, will spend US$150 million in CapEx in 2017 to expand coal-fired power plants, The Jakarta Globe reported.
* Northern China's Henan province plans to shut down 158 coal mines within next two years, involving a total of 39.63 million tonnes of excessive capacity, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing data from the province's development and reform commission.
SPECIALTY
* Orocobre Ltd. plans to expand the lithium carbonate equivalent production capacity at its Olaroz lithium facility in Argentina to 35,000 tonnes per annum, from 17,500 tonnes per annum currently, at a cost of US$190 million. The commissioning of the additional capacity is targeted for late 2018/early 2019.
* Canada Carbon Inc. reported a 379% increase in the new pit constrained graphite resources at its flagship Miller graphite project in Quebec. The updated resource estimate includes an indicated resource of 2.65 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.8% graphite, and an inferred resource of 7.6 million tonnes with an average grade of 0.77% graphite.
* Bass Metals Ltd. has negotiated a reduction in the total consideration payable for the acquisition of the Graphmada graphite mine in Madagascar from StratMin Global Resources Plc and is now required to pay just A$3.1 million compared to A$13 million previously.
* PJSC ALROSA repaid a US$370 million bank loan to JSC UniCredit Bank received in April 2014, bringing the company's debt down to US$2.3 billion.
* Paladin Energy Ltd. sold its entire shareholding in Deep Yellow Ltd. for A$2.6 million. The company also divested a number of noncore exploration assets, which were bought by Uranium Africa Ltd. for A$2.5 million. The asset package includes the Oobagooma project in Western Australia and the Angela/Pamela and Bigrlyi projects in the Northern Territory.
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The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. London time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.