TOP NEWS
Glencore, Anglo American warned over dust level breaches at coal mines
Glencore Plc and Anglo American Plc have been warned by the Australian state of Queensland over possible breaches of dust levels at four coal mines, the Australian Associated Press reported. The report said monitoring failures occurred at Glencore's Oaky North and Oaky No. 1 mines and Anglo's Moranbah North and Grosvenor mines in the second quarter.
Wheaton Precious ups Q2 dividend by 43%; earnings jump 12% YOY
Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. boosted its second-quarter dividend by 43% quarter over quarter to 10 U.S. cents apiece. The company's second-quarter attributable silver output fell 5% to 7.19 million ounces, while gold output rose 10% to 78,100 ounces of gold. Net earnings climbed 12% year over year to US$67.6 million. The company entered into a nonbinding agreement with Desert Star Resources Ltd. to acquire up to 100% of the payable silver production and up to 100% of the payable gold production from the latter's Kutcho project in British Columbia for US$65 million.
Defying massive Q2, H1 losses, Noble Group share surge 20%
Noble Group Ltd. shares surged by as much as 20% even as the company recorded massive second quarter net losses and on news that it turned down a takeover offer from a London-based fund, according to a report in The Straits Times.
DIVERSIFIED
* Melbourne, Australia-based BHP Billiton Group had the third-largest reserves replacement growth from 2007 to 2016 at 23 million tonnes, leveraging its long-life, "tier 1" operations to maintain overall reserves in a cost-effective manner.
* Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg said the company is always looking for potential acquisition opportunities, The Australian wrote. "If opportunities come, like the Hunter Valley assets came and they were available, then we look to buy them," he added.
* Altus Strategies Plc raised about £1.1 million before expenses in its London IPO. The company's backers included JOGMEC and Sprott Global Resource Investments, which will hold about 16% of the Altus, Reuters wrote.
BASE METALS
* Codelco will renegotiate collective bargaining contracts with 19 workers' unions, comprising of 57% of the company's workforce, in 2018, Pulso reported. This year, the company renegotiated deals with unions comprising of 8.2% of its total employees.
* Trevali Mining Corp.'s second-quarter consolidated zinc production totaled 29.9 million pounds, lead output reached 9.9 million pounds, while silver output totaled 385,505 ounces, up from zinc output of 15.16 million pounds, 5.58 million pounds of lead and 222,121 ounces of silver in the year ago period. Revenue in the period rose 110% year over year to US$47 million.
* Castillo Copper Ltd. completed the acquisition of Total Minerals Pty. Ltd., which owns three cobalt-copper-zinc prospective properties in Australia, namely the Jackaderry South and Total Minerals projects in New South Wales and Hill of Grace project in Queensland.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Cia. de Minas Buenaventura SAA
* Economic shifts and larger mines have led to lower capital intensities for new primary gold mines in recent years — a trend that is expected to continue through this year and in 2018, based on mines currently in development.
* Lingbao Gold Group Co. Ltd. will sell a 60% stake in unit Lingbao Wason, which is engaged in copper foil manufacturing, to Beijing Zhongxing Zehui Investment Co. Ltd., for 637.2 million Chinese yuan.
* State-owned China National Gold Group Corp. is interested in SC Russian Platinum's projects in Russia and Kyrgyzstan, Kommersant reported, citing a source familiar with the situation.
* Oro Verde Ltd. resumed total control of exploration at the Topacio gold project in southeastern Nicaragua as Newcrest Mining Ltd. withdrew from the project.
* Tharisa Plc's acquisition of MCC Contracts Pty Ltd.'s existing mining fleet and transfer of about 900 employees deployed at the Tharisa platinum mine in South Africa was approved by MCC's sole shareholder eXtract Group Ltd.
* Hinterland Metals Inc. staked 102 mineral claim units, covering 5,750 hectares in two blocks, dubbed Skyfall, within the Urban-Barry Greenstone Belt in Quebec.
* Primero Mining Corp. plans to sell its interest in the Black Fox mine and associated assets located near Timmins, Ontario, to McEwen Mining Inc. The companies expect to sign a definitive agreement before the end of this month, with the transaction set to close in the third quarter.
* Primero produced 35,965 gold equivalent ounces in the second quarter, down from 49,499 gold equivalent ounces produced in the same period a year ago. The company's operating performance was impacted by labor disruptions due to a month-long strike action at its Mexico-based San Dimas mine during the quarter.
* Torex Gold Resources Inc. expects to be at the lower end of its annual gold production guidance and at the higher end for the costs per ounce guidance. The company produced 74,487 ounces of gold in the second quarter as ramp-up continues at its El Limon-Guajes mine in Mexico.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Indian state-owned company National Aluminium Co. Ltd.
* Moody's placed Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd.'s B2 corporate family rating and senior unsecured rating under review for potential upgrade as a result of Yanzhou Coal's 78%-owned subsidiary Yancoal Australia Ltd.'s plans to raise US$2.5 billion in equity to fund the acquisition of Coal & Allied Industries Ltd. from Rio Tinto.
* S&P Global Ratings removed the Greater China regional scale longterm issuer credit rating on Aluminium Corporation of China Ltd., Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. and China Hongqiao Group Ltd., from A-, A+ and B+, respectively.
* ThyssenKrupp AG CFO Guido Kerkhoff said the German steelmaker will not be rushed into any deal with Tata Steel Ltd. for a merger of their European steel businesses, Reuters reported. Thyssenkrupp, meanwhile, would not oppose an IPO of a steel joint venture that could emerge from ongoing talks with Tata, Kerkhoff added.
* Mikhail Prokhorov sold 1,063,511,040 shares of United Co. Rusal Plc, representing approximately 7% of the company. Vedomosti reported that the stake was sold for about US$500 million, a premium of about 33%.
* Whitehaven Coal Ltd. awarded a roadway development contract, valued at A$33 million, to Mastermyne Group Ltd. for its Narrabri coal mine in New South Wales, Australia.
* CAP SA reported net earnings for US$50.9 million in the first half, compared with the net loss for US$2.8 million recorded in the same period last year, Diario Financiero reported, citing a company statement.
* Evraz Plc decided to retain one of its Ukrainian assets, the Dniprovsky metallurgical plant, after it was assessed as being stable and effective, Vedomosti reported.
* Adani Enterprises Ltd. hired Grant Samuel to advise on financing for its developing Carmichael coal operation in Queensland, Australia, Reuters reported.
* China Vanadium Titano-Magnetite Mining Co. Ltd. expects to narrow its first-half net loss to not more than 120 million Chinese yuan, compared to a year-ago net loss of around 217.5 million yuan.
* Pacific American Coal Ltd. will focus on the exploration and development of its 100%-owned assets, particularly its Elko coking coal project in British Columbia, following a strategic review of its portfolio.
* Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. expects Chinese steel prices to remain higher through the rest of the year on the back of increased demand from the local construction sector, Reuters wrote.
* OAO Metalloinvest signed a long-term agreement to supply about 1.6 million tonnes of iron ore and pellets to Mechel PAO's Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant by June 30, 2018.
SPECIALTY
* The Washington Companies tapped Patrick Evans to take up CEO role at Dominion Diamond Corp., Bloomberg News reported.
* China's vanadium output is expected to fall 35% in August as producers in Sichuan province have been ordered to curb production over the summer, Metal Bulletin wrote.
* Hong Kong customs officers seized HK$5.5 million worth of diamonds hidden in the glove compartment of a car bound for Shenzhen, China, in an anti-smuggling operation, the South China Morning Post reported.
S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are both owned by S&P Global Inc.
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.