TOP NEWS
Tianqi Lithium snapping up most of Nutrien's SQM stake for US$4.07B
Tianqi Lithium Corp. signed an agreement to acquire Nutrien Ltd.'s 62,556,568 A shares in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, or SQM, for US$65 apiece in cash, totaling about US$4.07 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.
Anglo taps 2 investment banks for Quellaveco stake sale
Anglo American PLC tapped Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to help in the sale of up to a 30% stake in its Quellaveco copper mine in Peru, and a transaction is expected to be announced within the next two months, Reuters reported, citing sources. Several Japanese firms including Mitsubishi Corp., which owns an 18.1% interest in the project, are interested to grab a minority interest in the asset.
Centerra's AuRico unit lands US$200M in deals on royalty sales, silver stream
Centerra Gold Inc.'s AuRico Metals Inc. unit signed agreements for a silver stream on the Kemess project in British Columbia and to sell its royalty portfolio to Triple Flag Mining Finance Bermuda Ltd. for a total of US$200 million.
DIVERSIFIED
* Three of the world's largest oil traders, including Glencore PLC, are vying to acquire Petrobras unit Petrobras Oil & Gas BV, or Petrobras Africa, Reuters reported, citing industry and banking sources with knowledge of the matter.
BASE METALS
* Lundin Mining Corp.'s decision to bring in Euro Sun Mining Inc. as its partner for the proposed acquisition of Nevsun Resources Ltd. was motivated by a refusal from Lundin's board to invest in Eritrea due to the country's weak human rights record, Reuters reported, citing sources. While Lundin would own Nevsun's Timok project in Serbia, Euro Sun would have to pick up the Bisha mine in Eritrea.
* Development at First Quantum Minerals Ltd.'s Cobre Panama copper project in Panama is 72% complete, with first concentrate production due early in 2019, Mining Weekly reported, citing project manager Gavin Ashley. Ashley said First Quantum will assess the debottlenecking and optimization of Cobre Panama during the ramp-up and operations, to delineate whether further capital investment was required to boost output, should the market demand for the product grow.
* Jinchuan Group International Resources Co. Ltd. CEO Gao Tianpeng said the company will double its African copper and cobalt output capacity over the next two to three years, Reuters reported. Its current annual capacity is at some 50,000 tonnes of copper and 5,000 tonnes of cobalt.
* Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co. Ltd. plans to produce over 30,000 tonnes of cobalt metal equivalent this year amid an expansion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Reuters reported, citing Vice President Frank Chen. The company produced about 20,000 tonnes of cobalt equivalent in 2017.
* KGHM Polska Miedz SA's majority-owned Sierra Gorda copper mine in Chile resumed normal operations following a temporary shutdown. Operations were suspended earlier in the week after a contractor died in an accident during routine maintenance activity.
* Vedanta Resources PLC 's Tuticorin copper smelter in India's Tamil Nadu state will remain closed until at least June 6. The state environmental officials adjourned a hearing for the renewal of Vedanta's license to operate the smelter until that date, said V Ramasubbu, a lawyer petitioning against the plant's reopening.
* Canadian Zinc Corp. is in talks to raise up to C$195.3 million in debt funding for its Prairie Creek zinc-silver-lead project in Canada's Northwest Territories, equating to 70% of the estimated C$279 million in CapEx required to complete the mine, Mining Weekly reported.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Fund managers at the ResourceStocks conference in Sydney believe that the time is right for Australia's cashed-up midtier gold producers to diversify their portfolio base by looking abroad. The consensus among the keynote panel is that they should look at cross-border transactions, partly because there appear to be so few left in Australia.
* After achieving record production in the fourth quarter of 2017, most producers saw gold production falling in the first quarter of 2018, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence's Metals and Mining Research. Among 61 gold producers reporting in the March quarter, each producing at least 50,000 ounces in the period, production was down by more than 1.3 million ounces compared with the fourth quarter of 2017 but was up more than 200,000 ounces compared with the year-ago period.
* Hong Kong's securities regulator slapped Citigroup's Asian business with a HK$57 million fine for failing to discharge its duties as sponsor of the 2009 IPO of Real Gold Mining Ltd., Reuters reported.
* An independent preliminary economic assessment on Marathon Gold Corp.'s Valentine Lake gold property defined an after-tax net present value of US$367 million, using a 5% discount, with a 25% internal rate of return. The proposed open pit operation, located on the island portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, is expected to produce 188,500 ounces of gold per year for the initial 10 years of operations. Initial production is targeted for 2022.
* A miner died from injuries sustained in a shaft ore pass accident at Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd.'s Moab Khotsong gold mine in South Africa. An investigation is underway.
* Monarques Gold Corp. will restart the mill at its Beacon gold property in Quebec and allocated C$1.5 million to upgrade the facility. The mill remained in a good condition over its shutdown period, with valid operating permits. The plant, once commissioned, is expected to have a capacity of 750 tonnes per day.
* Semafo Inc. expects first gold pour from the Boungou mine in Burkina Faso to occur in June, slightly earlier than the previous forecast of the third quarter.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Tata Steel Ltd. is looking to secure a loan of 115 billion Indian rupees to help fund its acquisition of a controlling stake in debt-laden Bhushan Steel Ltd., Bloomberg News reported, citing anonymous sources. The group is said to be in talks with banks for a six-month bridge facility, which it aims to refinance with a loan that would mature in about 15 years.
* The Republic of the Congo-based SAPRO SA is negotiating with a consortium of French banks to fund the 450-kilometer railway track that will link its Mayoko iron ore project to a port at Pointe Noire, Bloomberg News reported. The company has invested about US$550 million in Mayoko, while railway construction is expected to start next year and be completed by 2022.
* S&P Global Market Intelligence expects the global production of iron ore to increase 2.2% year over year in 2018 to almost 2,200 million tonnes. First-quarter results showed the top 20 producers have increased output 1.5% compared with the same quarter in 2017 and produced a collective 329 Mt. We assess that the dominant drivers of this first-quarter increase are robust iron ore prices, that some industry projects that continue to ramp up, and environmental conservation in China that continues to incentivize higher-grade products.
* Afarak Group PLC bought Serbian magnesite group Magnohrom d.o.o. for €1 million, including various magnesite mines and production facilities in the city of Kraljevo.
* PAC Partners launched Bounty Mining Ltd.'s IPO on the ASX, with the coal miner seeking to raise between A$14 million to A$18 million at 35 cents apiece, The Australian Financial Review reported. The offering, set to close May 23, will value the company at between A$118.5 million and A$122.5 million. The IPO is offering up to 14.7% of the company's issued equity.
* Australia's Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator accredited Rio Tinto's autonomous operation of trains at its iron ore business in Western Australia. The AutoHaul project is on track to be completed by the year-end.
* Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. agreed to invest about US$163.8 million for the construction of the Boffa bauxite project in Guinea. The total development cost is estimated at around US$706 million.
* India's National Company Law Appellate Tribunal admitted the appeal by Renaissance Steel India Pvt. Ltd. against Vedanta Ltd.'s 53.20 billion Indian rupee resolution plan for Electrosteel Steels Ltd., Mint reported. The tribunal approved Vedanta's acquisition of Electrosteel in April.
* An ongoing strike at ArcelorMittal's steel mill in Ukraine could result in a complete stoppage of output, Reuters reported, citing the company. Steelmaking and rolling operations are at a halt due to a labor action by the workers of its railway division, with only 14 out of 92 locomotives in operation.
* U.S.-listed aluminum products developer Constellium NV is expanding its operations in Decin, Czech Republic, to accommodate growing demand from its customers. The project, which is expected to be completed by October 2019, includes the construction of a new casthouse and extrusion press as well as a boost to the plant's recycling capacity.
* Arch Coal Inc. CEO John Eaves said supply and demand fundamentals in the seaborne metallurgical coal markets now seem to be roughly in balance. The company has focused on building a platform that can withstand the price swings likely to come into play in such a market, Eaves added.
* Jastrzebska Spólka Weglowa SA's attributable net profit amounted to 753.9 million Polish zloty in the first quarter, falling from 864.5 million zloty in the year-ago quarter, Puls Biznesu reported.
* The European Union is ready to negotiate with the U.S. and open its markets further to U.S. imports in a bid to prevent a potential trade war between the parties amid U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Reuters wrote, citing EU leaders.
* Meanwhile, the Japanese government is considering tariffs on US$409 million of U.S. exports in retaliation against the U.S. duties on its products, Reuters reported, citing Japanese media reports.
* The U.S. based units of ThyssenKrupp AG and Voestalpine AG applied for exemptions from steel and aluminum import tariffs imposed by the U.S. government, Reuters reported.
* Atlas Iron Ltd. flagged a possible noncash impairment charge of A$75 million to A$100 million in 2018 relating to lower grades and increasing costs and said it is on track to hit the lower end of its guidance for the year's shipments, which ranges from 9 million to 10 million tonnes.
* A feasibility study for Verdant Minerals Ltd's Ammaroo phosphate project in Australia's Northern Territory estimated a posttax net present value, discounted at 10%, of A$344 million and an internal rate of return of 18.1%. The two-stage project is estimated to produce 1 million tonnes per annum of phosphate rock concentrate from the first stage, covering year one to five of the initial 20-year mine life.
* About half of China's steelmaking capacity will have to comply with tougher emissions standards by 2020, Reuters reported. The plan will require 480 million tonnes of annual capacity to meet ultra-low emissions standards, and the target will rise to 900 million tonnes of annual capacity by 2025.
SPECIALTY
* Diamond PJSC Alrosa may purchase Russian state-owned diamond polisher Kristall this year, Reuters reported, citing Russian deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev. The government is reviewing Kristall's value and will make a final decision on its privatization after this process, Moiseev said.
* The U.S. government will declare the entire planned product suite of superalloy metals that will be mined and processed at NioCorp Developments Ltd.'s Elk Creek project in Nebraska as critical minerals.
* De Beers SA hiked prices for the third time at its latest invitation-only diamond sale due to record demand, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources. The diamond producer increased prices by nearly 1%. While the latest sight is ongoing, total sales are expected to range between US$530 million and US$550 million.
* TanzaniteOne Mining Ltd. agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of compensation and overdue taxes to the Tanzanian government after admitting to unspecified violations of regulations that led to public revenue losses, Reuters reported.
* Kidman Resources Ltd. signed a binding agreement to supply lithium produced by Western Australia Lithium to Tesla Inc. for an initial three years, though terms of the deal were not disclosed. Western Australia Lithium is a 50/50 joint venture between Kidman and Chile's SQM.
* Singapore-based veteran investment banker Alberto Migliucci has called surging valuations for lithium miners and assets in anticipation of growing demand for electric car batteries a "bubble that's about to burst." Addressing the ResourceStocks conference in Sydney, Migliucci, the CEO and founder of boutique corporate advisory Petra Commodities, said lithium was passing through a "silly season," not unlike the period from 2009 to 2011 when the thermal coal price went from about US$30/tonne to $150/tonne.
* Six Sigma Metals Ltd., formerly Botswana Metals Ltd., executed an option to acquire the Chuatsa vanadium-titanium and Shamva lithium projects in Zimbabwe by acquiring up to an 80% interest in Mirrorplex Pty. Ltd.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Environmental groups suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its 2017 decision to drop rulemaking that would have slapped more financial requirements on U.S. mining operations for cleanups are facing an uphill battle in court in trying to reverse the decision, a legal expert said. "These kinds of lawsuits are difficult for challengers," said Jeffrey Lubbers, a professor in administrative law at the Washington College of Law. "There have been one or two cases where courts have demanded reasons for abandoning a rulemaking that has already occasioned a lot of comments, but those cases are rare."
* Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.'s plan to develop the London Metal Exchange business in China remained a key theme at the LME Asia Week this year in Hong Kong. Li Gang, the bourse's co-head of market development, and other panelists warned that it was challenging to develop the LME business in China due to concerns from regulators as well as competition from local Chinese exchanges, but CEO Charles Li said the exchange will continue to collaborate and discuss with Chinese regulators on the initiative.
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