TOP NEWS
Trump orders aluminum, steel tariffs on national security grounds
President Donald Trump signed orders enacting tariffs of 25% on global steel imports and 10% on aluminum, pledging to boost American production and security. The move by Trump was hailed by some U.S. steel producers but also left some industries and Republican lawmakers concerned about adverse effects on U.S. companies that rely on imported steel and aluminum that could lead to job losses. However, the tariffs initially will not apply to imports of steel and aluminum from Mexico and Canada. The official said this exclusion would give the two neighboring countries a chance to rework the NAFTA to Trump's liking. The tariff will take effect March 23.
JFE Holdings, Nippon Steel to spend billions in upgrades to fend off rivals
Japan's JFE Holdings Inc. will spend over US$6 billion and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. earmarked about ¥1.7 billion for plant upgrades and operational expansions in the next three years to fend off rivals such as ArcelorMittal and POSCO and in preparation for increased demand from energy vehicles and the 2020 Olympics, Bloomberg News reported.
Norilsk Nickel shareholders reach provisional deal on stake sale
Roman Abramovich's Crispian Investment Ltd. conditionally agreed to sell a 4% interest in PJSC Norilsk Nickel Co. to Vladimir Potanin's Whiteleave Holdings Ltd. and United Co. Rusal PLC, Reuters reported, citing a lawyer for Rusal. The share transfer, however, will be reversed if Rusal wins the court ruling in the dispute. Potanin is expected to complete the purchase of a 2% stake in Norilsk from Abramovich in the week of March 12.
DIVERSIFIED
* Anglo American PLC unit Anglo American Capital PLC put up US$1.20 billion to purchase €1.67 billion of outstanding notes.
* Royal Dutch Shell PLC and private equity firm Blackstone Group LP agreed on working together for a joint US$10 billion bid for BHP Billiton Group's U.S. shale assets, Sky News reported. If successful, the bid would mark the largest takeover Shell has been involved in since its purchase of BG Group in 2016.
BASE METALS
* Despite sharply higher mined copper production in the final quarter of 2017, S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates that the annual total slipped to 19.85 million tonnes, down 1.9% from 2016 levels. The Metals and Mining Research team expects the recent improvement in mined production to continue and are forecasting global mined copper production to reach 20.41 million tonnes this year.
* Glencore Plc unit Glencore Canada Corp. inked a deal to supply Noranda Income Fund with all of its zinc concentrate requirements and purchase the fund's zinc metal for a four-year period ending April 30, 2022.
* A Swedish court rejected charges brought against Boliden over the export of industrial waste to Chile in the 1980s, Reuters reported. The company had been sued for around 100 million Swedish kronor.
* Puma Exploration Inc. signed an option agreement to allow Rio Tinto unit Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc. to acquire its Red Brook zinc project in New Brunswick for C$1 million.
* Freeport-McMoRan Inc. unit PT Freeport Indonesia is still open to developing a smelter in Sumbawa in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara province even though it has officially submitted a US$2.2 billion proposal to develop a smelter inside the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate in Gresik by 2022, The Jakarta Post reported.
* Cameo Resources Corp. agreed to acquire the 3,759-hectare Gochager Lake nickel-copper-cobalt project in Saskatchewan from U.S. Lithium Corp.
* Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd. completed an underwritten A$150 million share placement to fund early works and long-lead items to accelerate development at the Clean TeQ Sunrise nickel project in New South Wales, Australia.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Several of the top 10 gold miners had lower production in the December 2017 quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2016, ranging from a decline of 1% by Newcrest Mining Ltd. to a 15% drop by Goldcorp Inc. However, both companies had higher production in the fourth quarter of 2017 than in the third quarter, which suggests that their lower 2017 production was the result of factors present earlier in the year.
* Detour Gold Corp. swung to net earnings of US$16.7 million and US$88.2 million in the fourth quarter and full-year 2017, respectively, from year-ago net losses of US$13.5 million and US$6.9 million.
* Santa Fe Gold Corp.
* Coeur Mining Inc. kicked off production at its Silvertip silver-zinc-lead mine in British Columbia following the successful commissioning of mill operations.
* Victoria Gold Corp. secured a financing package of around C$505 million to fund developing its Eagle gold deposit, part of its Dublin Gulch property in Canada's Yukon Territory, through to commercial production.
* The price of gold will benefit no matter what Trump decides to do about tariffs on steel and aluminum, Jeffrey Christian, CPM managing partner, said on the sidelines of the Prospectors & Developers Association Conference in Toronto.
* The London Precious Metals Clearing Ltd., a consortium responsible for clearing transactions in London's gold market, is opening up to accepting new member banks, which may help the market become more competitive, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* The United Steelworkers Union Local 5114 rejected a proposal to end the yearlong strike at Hecla Mining Co.'s Lucky Friday silver mine in Idaho by submitting the outstanding issues to binding interest arbitration.
BULK COMMODITIES
* The U.S. government invited all the countries that will be affected by the proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum to negotiate exclusions from the measures, the Associated Press reported.
* EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom will meet her U.S. and Japanese counterparts March 10 to continue "trilateral steel overcapacity talks." According to Reuters, Malmstrom sees this as "the big opportunity" to discuss looming tariffs from the U.S. and to reiterate what the counter-measures from the EU would be.
* Jupiter Mines Ltd. is planning to raise A$200 million with its return to the ASX, with shareholders to sell about 25% of the company, The West Australian reported. The offering is expected to value the company, which has nearly 2 billion shares on issue, at about A$780 million.
* Adani Enterprises Ltd. is considering other options to refinance debt for its Adani Abbot Point Terminal Pty. Ltd. unit amid difficulties in attracting lenders due to its controversial Carmichael coal project in Queensland, Australia, Reuters wrote. According to data from Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp., Adani Abbot Point launched a loan of up to A$500 million in August 2017 to partially refinance debt due in October, but sources say the arranger has yet to receive any firm commitments.
* Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. accepted for purchase US$446.9 million aggregate principal amount of notes in connection with the offer to purchase for cash up to US$1.40 billion in aggregate principal of its 9.750% senior secured notes due 2022.
* Kobe Steel Ltd. plans to appoint Mitsugu Yamaguchi, the head of its machinery business, as president to replace Hiroya Kawasaki, who announced his resignation in connection with a data fabrication scandal, the Nikkei Business Daily reported.
* The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility claimed that Rio Tinto is denying its U.K. investors an opportunity to vote on a motion that would force the company to review its membership of industry associations that support fossil fuels, the Financial Times reported.
* Administrators for BSG Resources Ltd. said they would work to return the miner to solvency and pay creditors in full after it entered into voluntary administration to guard itself from legal disputes associated with the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, Reuters reported.
* China's Hebei province is aiming to cut iron and steel making capacity by over 10 million tonnes each this year under its three-year plan, which also aims to ban any future increase in the region's steel capacity, Reuters wrote, citing a provincial government official.
* Rio Tinto is expecting that its US$2 billion in annual aluminum sales from its Quebec and British Columbia smelters to the U.S. will be spared from the proposed tariffs, The Australian Financial Review reported.
* Corsa Coal Corp. decided to sell Central Appalachia, its thermal and industrial coal division in Tennessee, to a buyer group led by the division's current management team.
* Exxaro Resources Ltd. profit attributable to shareholders in 2017 rose to 5.98 billion South African rand from 5.68 billion rand a year earlier. Exxaro also expressed interest in acquiring the coal assets of Tegeta Resources, owned by the Gupta family, against other bidders, including former CEO Sipho Nkosi, Miningmx reported, citing CEO Mxolisi Ngojo on a conference call for its full-year 2017 results.
* Universal Coal Plc agreed to acquire the North Block Complex, an open cast coal operation in South Africa, from Exxaro Resources for 170 million South African rand.
SPECIALTY
* AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group NV's attributable net income hit a record US$57 million in 2017, a 40% rise from 2016, after fourth-quarter net income surged 44% on an annual basis to US$14.3 million.
* Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the country is looking at opportunities in Zimbabwe's diamond sector and the full implementation of a US$3 billion joint platinum project near Zimbabwe's capital, Reuters reported.
* Largo Resources Ltd. and its Vanadio de Maracás SA unit signed a binding term sheet for the restructuring and conversion of Vanádio's existing debt facilities with Banco Pine SA, amounting to about 97.8 million Brazilian reais including accrued interest.
* Apollo Minerals Ltd. will acquire Variscan Mines Ltd.'s Variscan Mines SAS unit, which holds the remaining 20% stake in the Couflens tungsten-copper-gold project in southern France.
* Canada Carbon Inc. is filing a C$96 million lawsuit against the municipality of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge in Quebec and members of its council, alleging that the council acted in bad faith regarding the development of the company's Miller graphite mine and marble quarry.
* MGX Minerals Inc. is partnering with Light Metals International Inc. and Orion Laboratories LLC to develop and commercialize a new process for extracting hard-rock lithium from spodumene concentrate.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Trump is set to impose a 25% tariff on U.S. imports of select foreign-made steel. As a first impression, the move is alarming — on a net imports basis, the U.S. imported approximately 29% of the steel that it consumed in 2017, according to the World Steel Association and S&P Global Market Intelligence. However, these measures are just the latest in a raft of tools that the U.S. has employed to deal with perceived issues of dumping and over-capacity in global steel production.
* Canada's largest provincial economy faces the "threat of a zombie NAFTA," and uncertain growth given the Trump administration's push for protectionist trade policies, said Ontario's Minister of Finance, Charles Sousa.
S&P Global Market Intelligence is owned by S&P Global Inc.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.
