TOP NEWS
South32's FY'19 profit down 71%; in talks with Seriti for South African coal unit
South32 Ltd.'s fiscal 2019 net profit was US$389 million, or 7.6 cents per share, plummeting 71% from US$1.33 billion, or 25.4 cents per share, after a US$578 million impairment charge related to its South Africa Energy Coal operation, which it plans to divest. The company entered exclusive talks with Seriti Resources Pty Ltd. for the sale of the unit, with transaction approvals expected by June 2020. Bloomberg News reported that final offers for the unit ranged from US$300 million to US$350 million.
Glencore granted greenlight to expand McArthur River zinc mine in Australia
Glencore PLC secured approval to start work for the expansion of its McArthur River zinc mine, located in Australia's Northern Territory, which drew controversy in December 2017 due to the absence of a report on an accidental dump of toxic waste, The Guardian reported. The company seeks to extend the operation until 2048, the report said.
Copper miner KGHM posts 143% YOY increase in Q2'19 profit
KGHM Polska Miedź SA reported a profit of 418 million Polish zloty for the second quarter, surging 143% from 172 million zloty in the year-ago period. Revenue increased 11% year over year to 5.74 billion zloty, while adjusted EBITDA dropped 8% to 1.28 billion zloty and net sales slipped 4% to 666 million zloty.
BASE METALS
* MMG Ltd. swung to a first-half loss of US$81.0 million, from a year-ago profit of US$128.7 million, due to lower prices and sales volumes following a blockade at the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru.
* The management of China Molybdenum Co. Ltd.'s 80%-owned Tenke Fungurume copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo vowed to preserve jobs amid low prices and higher production costs, Financial Times reported, citing a company letter to workers. Tenke reportedly said its production is currently unstable due to equipment issues and is unsure if it can make up the output shortfall by year-end.
* Anglo American PLC agreed to spend US$29.6 million on local development projects near its Quellaveco copper project in Peru this year instead of in 2022 after anti-mining protests in the country threatened to halt construction, Reuters reported, citing Eduardo Serpa, Anglo American’s sustainability manager in Peru.
* Codelco shuttered its Ventanas copper smelter in Chile for maintenance, Reuters reported, noting that the company did not give details on the length or impact of the closure. The facility was shut down in September 2018 following a gas leak.
* PJSC Norilsk Nickel Co. CFO Sergey Malyshev said the company's Global Palladium Fund plans to buy between 300,000 and 500,000 troy ounces of palladium by the end of 2019, which it will purchase from other holders' existing stockpiles and sell to industrial consumers, Reuters reported.
* The government of Queensland, Australia, allowed New Century Resources Ltd. to defer royalty payments for three years, and repay them over the following three-year period.
* Kazakhstan's refined copper output rose 13.4% year over year in the first seven months of 2019 to 270,078 tonnes, while refined zinc production climbed 3.3% to 192,258 tonnes and crude steel output dropped 1.2% to about 2.7 million tonnes, Reuters reported, citing Statistics Committee data.
* Botswana's competition authority approved Sandfire Resources NL's proposal to purchase MOD Resources Ltd. for an implied value of 45 Australian cents per share, valuing the target at A$167 million. MOD shareholders will vote on the proposal in an Oct. 1 meeting.
PRECIOUS METALS
* The Earth Resources Department in Victoria, Australia, refused to renew GBM Gold Ltd.'s Bendigo mining licenses, forcing the company to stop work on its gold mining operations. The department was not satisfied that GBM unit Kralcopic Pty. Ltd. would be able to finance the proposed work and rehabilitation requirements.
* St Barbara Ltd. reported a 36% drop in fiscal 2019 net profit to A$144.2 million, from A$227.0 million the year before, amid lower production from the Gwalia mine, part of its Leonora gold operations in Western Australia.
* B2Gold exercised its option to acquire 51% of a 25,000-hectare project area in Finland that includes Aurion Resources Ltd.'s Kutuvuoma and Ahvenjarvi gold projects.
* First Mining Gold Corp. granted Momentum Minerals Ltd. an option acquire the Turquoise Canyon gold project in Nevada for up to C$500,000 in proceeds over four years.
* Administrators have been appointed to Avocet Mining PLC after the company failed to find investment opportunities.
* Generation Mining Ltd. expanded its Marathon palladium project in Ontario to 21,965 hectares after staking 215 new claim blocks.
* After a strategic review, Alba Mineral Resources PLC decided to focus on developing the Clogau gold project in the U.K. for the rest of the year as it intends to fast-track assets that it can quickly bring into production.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd. unit Yancoal Australia Ltd. reported a rise in net profit for the first half to A$564 million, from A$361 million a year ago, as a one-off tax expense adjustment of A$219 million boosted earnings.
* Mineral Resources Ltd.'s fiscal 2019 attributable net profit slumped 39% to A$165 million, or 87 cents per share, from A$272 million, or A$1.45 per share. The decline was driven by a halt in lithium direct shipping ore sales from the Wodgina mine in Western Australia and the suspension of the Carina iron ore mine in the region.
* Mineral Resources signed a binding heads of agreement to purchase Cazaly Resources Ltd.'s Parker Range iron ore project in Western Australia, including the mining information, contracts and authorizations.
* Assore Ltd. anticipates an impairment charge of 507 million South African rand for its fiscal 2019 while projecting increased earnings year over year due to better market conditions and a weaker rand.
* The Tianjin government, the sole shareholder of bankrupt producer Bohai Steel Group Co. Ltd., is urging the company's creditors to execute a bankruptcy restructuring plan by the end of September, Reuters reported, citing two creditor sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The urgency is a result of financial pressures from local banks and concerns about the Chinese city's own debt burden, according to the sources.
* AJ Lucas Group Ltd. secured a three-year, A$70 million contract to provide drilling services at EMR Capital Pty. Ltd. and PT Adaro Energy Tbk.'s Kestrel coal joint venture in Queensland, Australia, Australian Mining wrote.
SPECIALTY
* Noble Group Holdings Ltd., which took over the assets of Noble Group Ltd., is expected to focus on liquefied natural gas and rare earths as it rejigs its portfolio following the completion of a US$3.45 billion restructuring in December 2018, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.
* Technology Metals Australia Ltd.'s definitive feasibility study for its Gabanintha vanadium project in Western Australia outlined a net present value, discounted at 8%, of A$870 million, a 27.3% internal rate of return and a 3.2-year payback period. Total preproduction process plant capital expenditure was estimated at A$454 million. Average vanadium oxide production is expected at 27.9 million pounds per annum, targeted to start in 2022.
* A pre-feasibility study for Infinity Lithium Corp. Ltd.'s San Jose lithium project in Spain estimated a pretax net present value, discounted at 10%, of US$860.5 million and a 42.3% internal rate of return. Capital payback from start of production is pegged at 2.5 years.
* An arbitration tribunal awarded Stans Energy Corp. US$24 million over Kyrgyzstan's seizure of the Kutessay II rare earths mine.
* Ceylon Graphite Corp. received environmental approval for its K1 graphite project in Sri Lanka. Commercial production will commence once the industrial mining license is granted.
* Bolivian state-owned lithium company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos and Chinese conglomerate Xinjiang TBEA Group Co. Ltd. agreed to create a joint venture to build and operate a US$1 billion plant that will produce lithium carbonate from the Pastos Grandes salt flat, news agency EFE reported.
* The Botswanan minister of mineral resources, green technology and energy security approved A-Cap Energy Ltd.'s two-year delay in the mining program for its Letlhakane uranium project, now scheduled to start construction at the end of October 2021.
* Hudson Resources Inc. made its first shipment of anorthosite product from its White Mountain mine in Greenland.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Mali ended VAT exemptions for miners and shortened their grace period during fiscal changes under a new mining code that aims to increase the sector's contribution to the economy, Reuters reported.
* Downer EDI Ltd. may consider the sale of its contract mining business as it plans to tranform into an urban services provider following a strategic review, the Australian Financial Review reported.
* A push from some U.S. lawmakers and presidential candidates to transition the U.S. entirely to renewable or zero-emission electric power poses a bigger challenge for some states than others. But proposals in Congress for utilities to gradually raise sales from renewable or carbon-free sources may offer a more measured path for states to boost clean generation, supporters say.
* Share buybacks by S&P 500 companies slowed significantly in the second quarter after surging to a record in 2018 on the back of strong corporate profits and a trillion-dollar tax cut from the Trump administration.
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