TOP NEWS
Agrium, PotashCorp complete merger
Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. completed their planned merger of equals, creating a global fertilizer giant worth US$36 billion named Nutrien Ltd. The merger resulted in PotashCorp shareholders receiving 0.40 common shares of Nutrien against each share held, while Agrium shareholders received 2.23 shares of Nutrien for each share of Agrium they owned.
Mosaic secures lower price for Vale fertilizer business
Vale SA is expected to close the sale of its Vale Fertilizantes unit to Mosaic Co. at a reduced price of US$1.15 billion and 34.2 million Mosaic common shares by Jan. 8. The original deal consideration included US$1.25 billion cash and 42.3 million Mosaic shares. As part of the new deal, Vale will retain ownership in the TIPLAM port while Mosaic will maintain its right to use the port facility.
Gerdau selling some US steel assets for US$600M
Gerdau SA agreed to sell certain rebar steel mills and fabrication assets in the U.S. to Commercial Metals Co. for US$600 million in cash, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. The acquisition includes 33 rebar fabrication facilities as well as steel mills in Knoxville, Tenn., Jacksonville, Fla., Sayreville, N.J., and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., with annual mill rolling capacity of 2.5 million tons.
DIVERSIFIED
* The government in India's Odisha state suspended operations of seven mines that failed to pay penalties in 2017 for illegal extraction of iron and manganese ore between 2000 and 2011, The Hindu reported. The state issued notices to the lease owners to pay compensation of about 175.76 billion Indian rupees after the Supreme Court imposed a penalty on about 150 iron and manganese ore lessees in the state over environment clearance breaches.
* EMR Capital Pty. Ltd. CEO Jason Chang expects the next two years to continue to provide acquisition opportunities as resource majors continue to clean up their portfolios and sell noncore assets, The Australian Financial Review reported. The fund, which owns copper, zinc, coking coal and potash projects, intends to seek more deals, the report added.
BASE METALS
* A London court ordered Vedanta Resources Plc's Zambian subsidiary, Konkola Copper Mines Plc, to pay US$139 million to state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings, Reuters reported. The claim is US$36 million higher than the original order and relates to outstanding payments under a 2013 copper price participation settlement agreement between the parties.
* Freeport-McMoRan Inc. unit PT Freeport Indonesia received an extension for its temporary mining permit until June 30, Reuters reported. The company previously received the permit in April 2017 to temporarily resume copper concentrate exports from its Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia and it was set to expire Jan. 10, 2018.
* Cazaly Resources Ltd. said it received disappointing results from ongoing due diligence over the Tsumkwe copper-cobalt prospective project in Namibia as part of the recently agreed option to buy an 85% interest in the project. The company will continue to analyze the database, but it is unlikely that the company will exercise the option to acquire the project.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Goldcorp Inc. unit Porcupine Gold Mines Joint Venture permanently closed its underground Dome gold mine, part of the Porcupine gold mines in Ontario, due to aging infrastructure, low productivity and depleted resources, Mining.com reported. The decision to close the 107-year-old mine was announced in August 2017.
* Golden Star Resources Ltd. reported two fatalities at its Prestea Underground gold mine in Ghana on Dec. 29, 2017, with initial investigations suggesting the employees succumbed to smoke inhalation sickness following exposure to blasting gases.
* Blackham Resources Ltd. was granted an extension by Orion Fund JV Ltd. for the maturity repayment date of a term loan to Jan. 15, 2018, from Dec. 31, 2017, as the company entered into a standstill agreement with its lender, a key mining contractor as well as an off-take partner as part of its recapitalization strategy. Blackham will also undertake an entitlements issue to raise about A$36 million.
* Thailand is ready to deal with the dispute over the closure of Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd.'s Chatree gold mine in the country after the company launched arbitration proceedings against the government, Thailand's Prachachat Turakij reported, citing Pasu Loharjun, secretary for industry.
* Zhaojin Mining Industry Co. Ltd. agreed to extend a lease on the land use rights to 20 land parcels covering a total of 649,689.64 square meters in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, China, from its controlling shareholder Shandong Zhaojin Group Co. Ltd. for a three-year term, starting Jan. 1, for about 28.7 million Chinese yuan.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Glencore Plc and the GFG Alliance reached a deal for the sale of the Tahmoor coking coal mine in New South Wales, Australia, The Australian reported, citing Liberty House Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta. A deal value was not released for sale of the mine, which has an annual production of 2 million tonnes of coking coal. An unnamed source told the Financial Times the final price was under US$100 million.
* Axis Bank Ltd. decided to off-load 20 billion Indian rupees of loans in Bhushan Steel Ltd. and expects to receive 60%, or about 12 billion rupees, from the disposal, The Economic Times of India reported.
* The State Bank of India is launching insolvency proceedings against more than 12 companies, including Bhushan Steel, VISA Steel Ltd., Essar Steel Ltd. and Uttam Steel, after the companies failed to meet the December 2017 deadline to recast their loans, India's Economic Times reported.
* Meanwhile, India's banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India, asked the State Bank of India to start an insolvency resolution process against Anrak Aluminium Ltd., after rejecting an insolvency petition filed by the company a few weeks ago, The Economic Times wrote.
* Cokal Ltd. said Renjian International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. deferred a meeting with the company to finalize the pricing mechanism for coal off-take for 2.5 million tonnes of premium PCI coal from Cokal's BBM project in Indonesia to the week commencing Jan 2.
* The Shanghai government issued a safety warning on metal products from Kobe Steel Ltd. and imposed stricter inspection measures, Reuters reported, citing Xinhua News Agency. The Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau will carry out regular inspections on metal products made in Japan and imported through the Shanghai port.
* Indian state-owned miner Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. expects its coal production to reach 85 million tonnes per annum in the next five years as it plans to open 12 new mines, Mint reported, citing Chairman and Managing Director N. Sridhar.
* Japan's iron and steel export volumes dropped 2.1% year over year to 3.19 million tonnes in November 2017, Metal Bulletin reported, citing statistics from the Japan Iron & Steel Federation.
* A West Virginia coal worker was killed early Dec. 29, 2017, when the bulldozer he was driving went over a highwall. The bulldozer operator was working at Revelation Energy LLC's S-7 surface mine in Fayette County when the incident occurred, according to the state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training.
SPECIALTY
* Premier African Minerals Ltd. decided to seek a separate listing for its Zulu lithium-tantalum property in Zimbabwe.
* Greenpower Energy Ltd. said it expanded the lithium zone at the Turesi Ridge, part of the Morabisi lithium-rare earth elements project in Guyana. The company received assays of up to 2.41% lithium superoxide over about a 10,000-square-meter area. The zone is open in all directions.
* State Atomic Energy Corp. ROSATOM and the government of Uzbekistan signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, paving the way for bilateral cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan in several aspects of civil nuclear energy.
* Four employees at the state-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Co. were found guilty of conniving to steal diamonds worth US$500,000 and replacing them with fake gems, Mining.com reported, citing local media reports.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* China's output of 10 major nonferrous metals in November 2017 fell 6.9% year over year to 4.32 million tonnes, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing data from the National Development and Reform Commission.
* Commodity Capital Global Mining Fund, said to be 2017's best-performing commodity-focused fund, expects more mining companies to engage in M&A activity this year and is seeking junior companies with strong reserves in safe jurisdictions, primarily in the Americas and Australia, Bloomberg News reported.
* The U.S. government will look into a transboundary mining issue involving Alaska residents' concerns over pollution coming from mines in British Columbia, the Associated Press reported. The state department said in a letter that it would work with Canadian officials to protect the salmon-rich, cross-boundary watersheds.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. ET and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.
