TOP NEWS
Report: Rio Tinto withdraws bid to acquire Nutrien's 32% stake in SQM
Rio Tinto
BHP accelerates Nickel West revamp, targets global battery market
BHP Billiton Group is accelerating plans to revamp its Nickel West operations in Western Australia to target the global battery market, Bloomberg News reported. In recent weeks, the mining giant started construction of a US$43 million plant at Nickel West to double the nickel sulfate output and is also looking at options to add cobalt sulfate production. The company is also mulling over further expansions to make the site a hub for other battery ingredients.
Rio Tinto confirms Liberty House's US$500M offer for Dunkerque aluminum smelter
Rio Tinto confirmed that it received a binding US$500 million offer from Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty House for its Dunkerque aluminum smelter in France, one day after the Financial Times revealed that the mining giant had accepted an offer. The company said Liberty House's proposal includes plans to modernize the site. Meanwhile, Gupta told the Financial Times that the Dunkirk smelter buy was part of the firm's €2 billion plan to establish a business in northern France to produce components for the automotive industry.
BASE METALS
* The Democratic Republic of the Congo Senate is set to approve a revised mining code expected to more than double the royalty miners pay on cobalt exports to 5% from 2% if the metal is categorized as a "strategic substance." Various mining companies have urged the government to reconsider the new legislation, which could cause a lasting dispute between the sector and the government. If approved, the revised mining code will increase the tax on base metals to 3.5% from 2% and allow the government to pick strategic metals such as cobalt and tantalum and tax them at a higher 5% rate, Bloomberg News reported.
* Chile's mining dependency leaves it vulnerable to copper price fluctuations and external factors, which hampers future progress, La Tercera reported, citing a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The report said that the country's mining productivity has declined, partially due to deteriorating copper ore grades that has forced companies to shift to underground mining and increase energy usage.
* Regency Mines Plc intends to accelerate operational activities at its 50%-owned Mambare nickel-cobalt project in Papua New Guinea in the near term due to appreciating cobalt and nickel prices brought about by the increased use of the commodities in electric vehicle batteries.
* Nevsun Resources Ltd. produced 207.8 million pounds of zinc in zinc concentrate at the Bisha mine in Eritrea for 2017, meeting the top end of its full-year guidance of 190 million pounds to 210 million pounds. The company, however, only produced 18.0 million pounds of copper in copper concentrate, falling short of its full-year 2017 guidance of between 20 million and 30 million pounds.
* Trek Metals Ltd. entered into a binding term sheet with Battery Minerals Ltd. to acquire the Kroussou zinc-lead joint venture in Gabon. Under the deal, Trek will pay US$400,000 in cash and shares to acquire 100% of the issued capital of Battery Minerals subsidiary Select Exploration Ltd., which holds the project interest.
* Pancontinental Gold Corp. entered into an option agreement to acquire the Montcalm West nickel-copper-cobalt project in Timmins, Ontario.
* Inca de Oro SA, a joint venture between a PanAust Ltd. subsidiary and Codelco, is mulling the sale of the Inca de Oro copper-gold project in Chile's Atacama Desert. Another PanAust unit is also considering the sale of the nearby Carmen deposit.
* Northern Cobalt Ltd. began a scoping study on the Stanton cobalt deposit, part of the Wollogorang project in Australia's Northern Territory. The study is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter.
* Arizona Mining Inc. received key permits from Arizona to build a lined tailings storage facility, an active water treatment plant and an underdrain collection pond for the Taylor zinc-lead-silver project, which forms part of the company's Hermosa property in the state.
PRECIOUS METALS
* The class action brought by South African miners who contracted lung diseases against gold mining companies has been suspended as the parties near a settlement agreement, Reuters reported, citing lawyers for the mining companies.
* Barrick Gold Corp. secured an option to earn a 60% interest in the exploration portion of Premier Gold Mines Ltd.'s McCoy-Cove gold property in Nevada by spending US$22.5 million in exploration before June 30, 2022. Premier will retain full ownership of the Cove deposit portion of the property. Additionally, Premier holds an option to acquire Barrick's Rye Vein gold property by spending at least US$3 million on exploration before Dec. 31, 2019.
* Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. began expanding the mill at the Vetagrande silver project in Mexico pursuant to an amended deal to acquire the property. The mill will be expanded to 750 tonnes per day, with completion slated early in the second quarter.
* The construction of the 2.5 million-tonne-per-annum processing plant at Dacian Gold Ltd.'s Mount Morgans gold project in Western Australia is over 90% complete, on schedule and on budget, while first production from the project is set for March.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Production at the Cerrejon coal joint venture in Colombia fell 0.3% year over year to 31.9 million tonnes in 2017, as heavy rainfall affected operations, Reuters reported. Exports from the mine, meanwhile, declined by 2.4% to 31.7 million tonnes in the period. The operation is jointly owned by BHP, Glencore Plc and Anglo American Plc.
* UBS estimates that Rio Tinto shipped a record 90.2 million tonnes of iron ore in the last quarter of 2017, ensuring that the company will hit its 2017 target shipments of 330 million tonnes of iron ore from Western Australia, The Australian Financial Review reported, citing a UBS note.
* Steel producer Metinvest BV has fallen under an asset freeze order issued by a Dutch court against Systems Capital Management, which is owned by Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. The court order applies to SCM's companies based in the Netherlands.
* K+S AG said that a one-off tax expense will burden its net income for the fourth quarter of 2017, resulting in an extraordinarily high tax rate for the full year. This will be driven by the U.S. tax reform bill that went into effect Jan. 1.
* The State Bank of India reached a deal with insolvent Anrak Aluminum, a joint venture between India's Penna group and UAE's Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority, to reduce a debt of 40 billion Indian rupees to 13 billion rupees.
* Kommersant reported that the former president of Rosneft, Eduard Khudainatov, is seriously interested in the coal business. Upon a request from Khudainatov's Coalstar, the authorities of Russia's Khakassia initiated the bidding on three sites within the large Beyskoye energy coal deposit. Serious players such as SUEK JSC and En+ Group Ltd. are already working in the region, but according to Kommersant's sources, it has been agreed that their interests will not intersect with Coalstar's.
* About 80% of the unionized workers at Alcoa Corp.'s Becancour aluminum smelter in Quebec rejected the company's latest contract offer, Reuters reported. The union's president, however, urged the company to continue talks.
* West African Minerals Corp. said it will change its name to OKYO Pharma Corp. amid a planned business shift, after its shareholders approved the move during a general meeting held the same day, along with a proposed asset disposal. The company announced in November 2017 that it was halting the development of its Sanaga iron ore project in Cameroon and did not plan any further spending on its iron ore assets other than maintaining licenses in good standing to preserve value pending any sale.
* Australia's Port Hedland started clearing vessels from the port Jan. 11 as it anticipates that the tropical low will become a cyclone off the Western Australia coastline.
* The U.S. Department of Commerce determined the final anti-dumping duties for imports of Ukrainian carbon and alloy steel wire rod at 44.03% for ArcelorMittal's Kryviy Rih operations and Yenakiyeve Iron and Steel Works, and at 34.98% for other Ukrainian producers, Interfax reported.
SPECIALTY
* Russian oil and gas giant Rosneft will not be participating in the auction to acquire diamond producer PJSC Alrosa's gas assets, alleging that the conditions are unacceptable and do not reflect market practice. "There are obvious signs of deal-rigging here. The whole market is aware of this. This is a rigged deal where the buyer has made an agreement under undisclosed terms," Rosneft's press secretary, Mikhail Leontyev, told S&P Global Market Intelligence.
* Kenmare Resources Plc achieved record annual production for ilmenite, rutile, and zircon for 2017. Ilmenite production increased 11% to 998,200 tonnes, rutile production increased 17% to 9,100 tonnes, and zircon production increased 9% to 74,000 tonnes. However, heavy mineral concentrate production for the year decreased 6% to 1.3 million tonnes.
* Lithium Exploration Group Inc. engaged bitcoin and blockchain pioneer Ben Kraus to evaluate its entry into the bitcoin mining space. The company is evaluating establishing mining operations in Arizona.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* China's environmental crackdown is expected to result in more closures and higher operating costs for the country's mining sector this year, according to analysts. This follows a series of policies and measures implemented by the government to address environmental concerns in 2017, including a nature reserve protection campaign targeting the closure of illegal mines in the country's national parks, administrative orders to temporarily suspend production for environmental checks and upgrading as well as the winter production cuts for producers in northern China.
* The IG Metall union threatened all-out strikes across the industrial sector in Germany, if the scheduled talks between workers and the companies over wages and flexible hours fail to make progress, Reuters reported.
* Angela Maria del Rosario Grossheim Barrientos was sworn in as Peru's new energy and mining minister, replacing Cayetana Aljovin, as part of a recent cabinet reshuffle by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Latinominería reported.
The Daily Dose is updated as of 7 a.m. London time, and scans news sources published in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Ukrainian. Some external links may require a subscription.
