TOP NEWS
7 missing after tailings dam collapse at Cieneguita mine in Mexico
Seven people are missing after a tailings dam collapse at the Cieneguita gold-silver complex in Chihuahua, Mexico, the Associated Press reported, citing Mexican authorities. Workers were swept away in the incident, according to local media reports. Two others who got hurt are currently hospitalized.
Europe considers quotas on world steel in response to US tariffs
The European Commission is under pressure from domestic steel producers to quickly impose an import quota on the metal from the rest of the world in a potential response to U.S. tariffs, which would heighten fears of a global trade war. The possibility of a steel quota will be considered by the commission's college June 6, a commission spokesperson said. "According to WTO rules, we could trigger our measures at the soonest 30 days following our notification of measures to the WTO."
Japanese authorities search Kobe Steel headquarters
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office and the Metropolitan Police Department raided Kobe Steel Ltd.'s headquarters to collect data related to the data tampering scandal, Reuters reported.
DIVERSIFIED
* First-round bids for BHP Billiton Group's U.S. shale business from oil majors including BP PLC and Chevron Corp. valued the unit at between US$7 billion and US$9 billion, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The mining major prefers to sell the unit to a single party and expects to invite second-round bids as early as July. However, it could net as much as US$13 billion if it sells the assets piecemeal, the sources said.
BASE METALS
* Automakers spending fortunes on a bet that electric vehicles are the industry's future are virtually silent on the mining risks tied to cobalt, a key metal for the batteries on which their plans depend. Car companies expect evolving technology will eventually reduce or even eliminate their need for the blue metal ore, but, in the meantime, they could face pressure from investors who are asking questions about the new "blood diamond" and wondering why companies are not disclosing more information about their involvement with it.
* Indian state-owned miner Hindustan Copper Ltd. is targeting ramping up its smelting capacity to 100,000 tonnes per annum from the existing 70,000 tonnes, and reaching a turnover of 20 billion Indian rupees by the end of this fiscal year, Mint reported, citing Santosh Sharma, the group's chairman-cum-managing director. Hindustan Copper is also looking to restart its redundant smelter in Rajasthan.
* Copper Mines of Tasmania Pty. Ltd., operator of shuttered Mount Lyell copper mine in Tasmania, Australia, believes there is "absolutely no reason" to think restart prospects for the mine are affected by the forced closure of its parent company Vedanta Ltd.'s Tuticorin copper smelter in India's Tamil Nadu state, ABC reported.
* Trilogy Metals Inc. billed a new cobalt resource at the Bornite copper project in Alaska as "one of the largest cobalt resources in North America." But its projected economic value is still up in the air and will depend in part on how much of the metal is recoverable, which is uncertain at this point. "It's still very early days," Cormark Securities analyst Stefan Ioannou told S&P Global Market Intelligence, pointing to the unknown revenue potential of the cobalt.
* A feasibility study on the first phase of Trigon Metals Inc.'s restart program for its past-producing Kombat copper project in Namibia defined an after-tax net present value of US$4.6 million, discounted at 7.6%, with a 103.4% internal rate of return.
* Arc Minerals Ltd. further increased its ownership in Zamsort Ltd. to 55% by acquiring a 6% interest from Terra Metals Ltd. Zamsort is developing a copper-cobalt project in northwest Zambia.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Petropavlovsk PLC is investigating the mystery shareholders behind a proposal to replace all members of the current board at the next annual general meeting.
* Endomines AB decided to postpone investment to continue production at the Pampalo gold mine in Finland beyond September. As a result, the output will be temporarily suspended. The company concluded negotiations with its employees concerning a reduction in workforce at Pampalo, and estimated that 26 employees will be laid off for more than 90 days and four will be terminated.
* Wishbone Gold Plc said that while its processing plant in Honduras is fully operational and undertaking batch processing, full production is delayed pending certain permits to process large amounts of gold ore. Full production was originally expected to be achieved in May.
* Targeting known resources, Pure Gold Mining Inc. said it hit high-grade gold that could boost the resource grade at the Madsen project in Ontario. The junior explorer outlined a series of intercepts largely in the 1 meter to 5 meter range, with grades between about 10 g/t and 90 g/t of gold. Most of the intercept's grade was accounted for by a narrow 1-meter interval grading 1,175 g/t of gold.
* Citi analysts said Newcrest Mining Ltd. "is a ready-made answer for the first large-cap gold producer, or potential producer, willing to admit that its internal options to sustain reserves are below market expectation," The Australian Financial Review wrote. Analysts noted that buying Newcrest would be a "cheaper and safer" option to replace their gold production in the next 20 years or so as the company is now among the cheapest gold stocks available.
BULK COMMODITIES
* The London Metal Exchange said it was working "all the parties involved" to see if it could expand access to United Co. Rusal PLC's aluminum, but the exchange needs to be cautious, Reuters reported, citing CEO Matthew Chamberlain. The company's metal is under suspension on the LME due to the U.S. sanctions.
* Rusal's aluminum exports totaled 197,000 tonnes in May, up almost threefold from April, Reuters reported, citing Interfax news agency. The company's January-May aluminum exports fell 16% on a yearly basis to 972,000 tonnes.
* U.S. Steel Corp. will restart the second of two blast furnaces at its Granite City Works property in Illinois by Oct. 1. The restart will support increased demand for locally made steel, while allowing the company to continue to support customers during planned asset revitalization efforts. The company will hire around 300 new employees for the restart of its blast furnace.
* Analysts believe Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. will have to export iron ore from Port Hedland in Western Australia at a record rate this month to meet its annual guidance of 170 million tonnes, The West Australian wrote. The company shipped 38.7 million tonnes in the March quarter, its poorest export quarter since June 2014.
* The Queensland government is still considering funding an estimated A$100 million upfront cost of road access for Adani Enterprises Ltd.'s Carmichael coal project in the state, despite announcing that it would not commit any taxpayer funds for the project, ABC reported. The government is reportedly negotiating a takeover of dirt roads that must be upgraded if the company is to gain access to the mine site.
* According to The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk, Canada's Montem Resources Corp. is set to talk to institutional investors next week about its planned IPO in a bid to reopen the Tent Mountain coal mine in Alberta. The report said Montem is looking to raise A$20 million later this year for a A$55 million market capitalization.
* Foster Stockbroking initiated coverage on Jupiter Mines Ltd. with a buy recommendation and a 12-month price target of 64 Australian cents per share, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* China plans to cancel the antidumping duties on South Korean steelmaker POSCO's electrical steel after the company agreed to price remedies, Reuters reported.
* An explosion at the Huamei Group Co.-owned iron ore project in China's Liaoning province left 11 dead and injured nine others, Reuters reported, citing state media. Another 25 people remain trapped following the blast.
* Altitude Resources Inc. initiated a strategic review of its assets and also plans to spin out its Altitude Resources Ltd. unit to existing shareholders.
* Altona Energy Plc signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with GCAT Energy Group Inc., which owns the license to use a patented pyrolysis technology that converts carbon matter into a variety of outputs including syngas, which can be used to generate electricity, carbon black, naptha and diesel. Altona plans to use the technology in other specific projects including its Australian coal project.
SPECIALTY
* Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. plans to stop mining and processing at its Ranger uranium project in Northern Territory, Australia, by January 2021, and final rehabilitation will be completed by January 2026. The company said it will continue to supply its customers with uranium oxide processed from existing stockpiles until late 2020.
* A former investment banker is planning to list uranium venture Yellow Cake in London and raise between US$150 million and US$200 million from investors to buy 8.1 million pounds of uranium for use in nuclear reactors, the Financial Times wrote, citing people familiar with the matter. The vehicle already has a deal to buy US$170 million of the radioactive material from Russia's National Atomic Co. Kazatomprom JSC.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Data from advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP showed that the top 40 global mining companies booked total net profits of US$61 billion in 2017, rising 126% over the last year, while market capitalization increased 30% to US$926 billion, Mining Weekly wrote. The top miners' net profits are expected to improve further this year to US$76 billion.
* The Mexican peso tumbled as the country unveiled a detailed list of tariffs on U.S. food and steel products in retaliation for U.S. levies on aluminum and steel.
* Australia's mineral exploration expenditure increased by 11% to A$516.7 million in the March quarter, with Western Australia contributing the largest growth of about A$23.7 million, Mining Weekly reported, citing new data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
* The South African government is partnering with state-owned Industrial Development Corp. to establish a junior miners' fund, which will provide investment capital to black-owned emerging miners, Mining Weekly reported, citing Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant. The government is also investing 20 billion South African rand in the Council for Geoscience as part of a 10-year program to boost exploration.
* Rwanda's mineral export earnings more than doubled year over year to US$373 million in 2017 on the back of a rebound in prices of global commodities, Mining Weekly reported, citing Francis Gatare, CEO at Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board.
* The South African government could release a draft of its revised mining charter June 8, Business Day wrote, citing Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant.
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