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Anglo cancels autonomous trucks for Dawson; Rusal tries to win back customers

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Anglo cancels autonomous trucks for Dawson; Rusal tries to win back customers

TOP NEWS

Anglo American nixes plan to roll out autonomous trucks at Dawson coal mine

Anglo American PLC scrapped its plan to deploy autonomous trucks to its majority-owned Dawson coal mine in Queensland, Australia, The Australian reported. A feasibility study into replacing the mine's 23-strong truck fleet with driverless ones showed that the results of going autonomous were not on par with the mining major's other options for its capital spending budget, the report said, citing a company spokesperson. Anglo American will instead overhaul the existing fleet to extend its life for up to three years.

Rusal starts talks to win back customers lost during US sanctions

United Co. Rusal PLC, the world's largest aluminum producer outside China, started the aluminum industry's so-called mating season, aiming to win back customers lost a year ago when sanctions hit the company and roiled world aluminum markets, Reuters reported. This is the first round of fall negotiations since the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control lifted the sanctions on Rusal in January.

Novelis nets European Commission's conditional approval for Aleris takeover

Hindalco Industries Ltd. unit, aluminum producer Novelis Inc., said the European Commission conditionally approved its proposed US$2.6 billion takeover of aluminum manufacturer Aleris Corp. The approval is subject to the sale of Aleris' aluminum plant in Duffel, Belgium. Novelis said it is now pitching the plant to potential buyers.

DIVERSIFIED

* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Vale SA "took over the federal government's mining rights in Brazil," a "crime" that occurred during the presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Bolsonaro made the statement in a meeting with small-scale miners, who asked the government to reopen the Serra Pelada precious metals mine in Brazil's Pará state, daily Valor Econômico reported.

* Vale said 82 positive stability condition declarations of its operational structures in Brazil were issued. Three structures improved their stability conditions, obtaining positive declarations after a negative evaluation in March.

* Avrupa Minerals Ltd. signed a letter of intent with Minas de Aguas Teñidas SAU to form an earn-in exploration and exploitation joint venture on the former's Alvalade copper-zinc massive sulfide project in Portugal.

BASE METALS

* Buxton Resources Ltd. entered into additional joint venture agreements with Independence Group NL for Buxton's Merlin and NWC nickel-copper projects in Western Australia, while it will vest all of its remaining West Kimberley nickel-copper tenure into a previously agreed joint venture.

* Pala Investments Ltd. increased the cash consideration by C$30 million for its proposed acquisition of shares in Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. that it does not already own. Under its "best and final" offer, Pala agreed that for each Cobalt 27 share, it will pay C$4.00 in cash and C$1.92 in shares of Nickel 28, a planned spinout that will hold some of Cobalt 27's assets.

* PolyMet Mining Corp. said the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis dismissed all lawsuits challenging a land-swap agreement between the U.S. Forest Service and company unit Poly Met Mining Inc. covering the NorthMet copper project in Minnesota. The court ruled that the lawsuits from environmental groups lacked standing to contest the swap.

* Queensland Nickel Pty. Ltd. became insolvent in October 2015 as its chairman, Clive Palmer, did not want to invest more money into the business, according to special purpose liquidator Stephen Parbery, the Australian Financial Review reported.

* Aurubis AG started the scheduled maintenance shutdown at its Hamburg plant for an internal overhaul of the waste heat boiler in the primary smelter, which is legally mandated every three years. A total of 450 projects will be executed with an investment of about €50 million.

PRECIOUS METALS

* Kinross Gold Corp. denied a Reuters report that said the company is putting future deals in Russia on hold, according to The Northern Miner.

* The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union said it has not been able to reach a resolution about wages with major mining companies Sibanye Gold Ltd. and Anglo American Platinum Ltd. and has referred the matter to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, Bloomberg reported.

* Newmont Goldcorp Corp. said its all-electric Borden gold mine in Ontario achieved commercial production safely, on schedule and within budget.

* Artemis Resources Ltd. plans to complete a new mineral resources estimate and an optimization study based on a new geological model at its Carlow Castle gold-copper project in Western Australia by the end of October.

* Nelson Resources Ltd. applied for a 201-square-kilometer tenement, the Morris prospect, which will increase the tenure of the company's Woodline gold project in Western Australia to 858 square kilometers if granted.

* Theta Gold Mines Ltd. agreed to purchase a 2.5-MW ball mill last operated by Glencore PLC for 5.5 million South African rand for its Theta gold project. The mill, which can process up to 820,000 tonnes per annum, is expected to arrive before January 2020.

* Novagold Resources Inc. incurred a net loss of US$8.1 million in its fiscal third quarter for a loss of 2 U.S. cents per share, improving from the net loss of US$88.6 million, or a loss of 27 cents per share, incurred in the same period of 2018.

* Walker Lane Exploration Inc. signed a preliminary agreement to acquire 55% of the outstanding shares of CBD cosmetics company Cosmetic by Design Inc. and will retain administrative control of the combined companies.

* Core Gold Inc. advised shareholders to take no action on Titan Minerals Ltd.'s unsolicited offer to acquire its issued and outstanding common shares. Core Gold's board of directors has yet to make a formal recommendation to shareholders. Titan formally launched its takeover bid of 2.5 shares of Titan for each Core Gold share, representing an equivalent of 42.2 Canadian cents per share of Core Gold.

BULK COMMODITIES

* Coal India Ltd. unit Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. resumed operations at its Talcher coalfields following protests by local villagers over the death of a goat at the site, Reuters and Press Trust of India reported. Protesters were reportedly demanding 60,000 Indian rupees for the dead goat, which was accidentally killed by a coal transportation tipper.

* Coal India will halt production at its Dipka coal mine in India's Chhattisgarh province, which has an annual production capacity of over 30 million tonnes, for at least 30 days due to flooding in the region, Reuters reported, citing a senior company official, who added that this will be a "big setback" to the company's production goals.

* Hundreds of jobs are threatened as bankrupt Bayou Steel Group decided to shutter its plants in Louisiana and Tennessee, Bloomberg News reported. Bayou, which makes long carbon steel products, filed for bankruptcy after defaulting on its senior secured debt due to lack of liquidity, the report said, citing a company statement. Bayou reportedly listed up to US$100 million of liabilities in its bankruptcy filing.

* Anglo American is unlikely to invest in new thermal coal mines in South Africa, as the energy transition tends to make prices more volatile, but will aim to extend the life of its existing assets, Bloomberg wrote, citing CEO Mark Cutifani.

* FYI Resources Ltd. kicked off trial production of high-purity alumina at its recently built and commissioned pilot plant at its Cadoux kaolin-HPA project in Western Australia.

* India is considering easing environmental approvals for mines due for auctions by March, a move that could limit any disruption in iron ore production and potentially turn the country into a net importer of the material, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. India is set to auction leases of 48 independent mines before March 31, according to the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries.

* The Union steel ministry called for deferring the proposed sale of National Mineral Development Corp. Ltd.'s Nagarnar steel plant in Chhattisgarh, India, until it is commissioned, The Economic Times reported.

* Wynnchurch Capital LLC said it made an investment in Eastern Metal Supply Inc., which distributes aluminum extrusions and related products to industrial, commercial, residential and marine end markets. The middle-market private equity firm said it is actively investing from its $1.3 billion Fund IV.

* Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp. completed the sale of its cast roll manufacturing facility in Avonmore, Pa., to WHEMCO Inc. affiliate Akers National Roll.

* Moody's Investors Service said the joint venture U.S. Steel Corp. entered to acquire a 49.9% interest in Big River Steel LLC for US$700 million is credit neutral since the proceeds from the equity sale will be paid to existing shareholders and will not impact the credit profile of Big River Steel.

SPECIALTY

* An independent feasibility study into developing Sigma Lithium Resources Corp.'s Xuxa deposit, part of its Grota do Cirilo project in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, outlined a posttax net present value of US$249 million, discounted at 8%, with a 43.2% internal rate of return and a 3.1-year payback period. Developing a 1.5-million-tonne-per-annum open pit mine and a lithium concentrator at Grota do Cirilo is estimated to cost US$98.4 million.

* Republican lawmakers in the U.S. asked the Trump administration to cut down on regulations against uranium mining on federal lands and speed up environmental reviews for projects in a bid to increase domestic production of nuclear fuel, Reuters reported.

* Hochschild Mining PLC is acquiring 93.8% of its 6.2%-owned BioLantanidos ionic clay rare earth deposit in Chile for US$56.3 million to consolidate ownership of the project and move into the rare earth market. The company said it will maintain its focus on its core precious metal strategy.

* Zimbabwe rejected a claim by U.S. authorities that the African country's Marange fields had been producing rough diamonds via forced labor, saying U.S. authorities had been "misinformed or misled" in their decision to block rough diamond imports, Bloomberg wrote.

* Mineral Resources Ltd. decided to withdraw from its joint venture on the McIntosh graphite project in Western Australia with Hexagon Resources Ltd. The company determined that any future investment in the joint venture will not meet its minimum investment return threshold.

* Talga Resources Ltd. U.K. subsidiary Talga Technologies Ltd. gained funding to develop its graphitic anode for solid-state batteries under the U.K. government's ISCF Faraday Battery Challenge initiative.

* A front-end engineering and design study outlined a capital expenditure estimate of C$2.6 million for GeoMega Resources Inc.'s demonstration plant.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* South Africa's mining industry recorded 35 fatalities in the first nine months of 2019 as of Sept. 23, the lowest rate since the industry began tracking safety performance a century ago, BusinessDay reported. This is an improvement from the 71 deaths recorded in the comparative period in 2018.

* Chile's economic activity increased by 3.7% in August year over year as mining activity surged 5.3% compared with the same month in 2018, Reuters reported, citing data from the country's central bank.

* Ausdrill Ltd. formally changed its name to Perenti Global Ltd.

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