Chilean committee to manage lithium contracts
Chile is establishing a committee to supervise the lithium contracts it has through state development agency Corfo with Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA and U.S.-based Albemarle Corp., Reuters reported. The committee will oversee decisions on pricing, quantities and resource allocation, Economy Minister Jose Valente said.
Gina Rinehart's Hancock said to acquire nearly 20% Atlas Iron stake
Hancock Prospecting Pty. Ltd. reportedly secured a 19.6% stake in Atlas Iron Ltd. in multiple trades June 8 and June 12, The Australian wrote. Gina Rinehart's company would not like to see control over Atlas to go to Fortescue Metals, the publication added, citing sources. Separately, Australian analysts were surprised and somewhat baffled by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.'s move to acquire 19.9% of Atlas Iron but agree that it is a smart play to keep low-grade iron ore competitor Mineral Resources Ltd. in check while effectively laying down "working capital" for growth options in lithium and base metals.
Vale greenlights US$1.7B expansion at Voisey's Bay
Vale SA is moving ahead with a US$1.7 billion expansion of its Voisey's Bay nickel-copper-cobalt project in Newfoundland and Labrador as it seeks to capitalize on increasing demand for battery minerals. The planned development of an underground mine at Voisey's Bay would extend its life from 2023 to 2034, with initial production expected by April 2021. The expansion is enabled by Vale's agreement to sell 75% of cobalt production from Voisey's Bay to Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. and Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. for US$690 million beginning in 2021.
DIVERSIFIED
* Rio Tinto appointed Jakob Stausholm as its new CFO to succeed Chris Lynch. Stausholm will join the company as an executive director, effective Sept. 3, and take over the CFO role the same day. Lynch, who was appointed CFO in April 2013, will stand down from the board Sept. 3 and retire from the company Sept. 30.
* Asset manager M&G Investments is partnering with Anglo American PLC in a £265 million deal to revamp the mining company's London headquarters, IPE Real Assets reported.
BASE METALS
* CITIC Metal Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Citic Ltd., agreed to invest C$723 million in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. for a 19.9% interest in the company to become its largest single shareholder. Ivanhoe will use the proceeds to develop its Kamoa-Kakula copper joint venture project, its Platreef platinum group metals project and its Kipushi zinc-copper-silver-germanium project and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
* A new labor contract has been finalized between the workers' union and management of BHP Billiton Group's Spence copper mine in northern Chile, Reuters reported. Under the three-year wage deal, approved by about 87% of the 900 members, the workers will receive a 2% increase over the current base salaries and a US$21,500 one-time bonus.
* Separately, BHP responded to the latest contract proposal from the main union at the company's Escondida copper mine in Chile, triggering a new round of talks that could last a month or more, Reuters reported. The miner said it was now ready to discuss the "different points of interest" at the negotiating table.
* China is looking to bring forward its annual sales program for copper, with Codelco CEO Nelson Pizarro saying negotiations between the copper producer and customers in China could start about two months earlier than the traditional October-November period, Bloomberg News reported.
* Vedanta Resources PLC plans to double finished copper production at Zambia-based Konkola Copper Mines PLC to 200,000 tonnes this year from just under 100,000 tonnes in 2017, Reuters reported, citing Deshnee Naidoo, CEO of the company's Zambian unit.
PRECIOUS METALS
* Resolute Mining Ltd. entered into a strategic framework agreement with Sweden-based Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology to fully automate underground operations at the company's Syama gold mine in Mali. The automated system, including automated trucks and electrical loads, is scheduled for commissioning near the end of the year.
* A fourth body was found at Sibanye Gold Ltd.'s Ikamva mine, part of the Kloof gold operations in South Africa. The gold miners were killed in an unknown accident when they entered an abandoned working place at Kloof Ikamva.
* Randgold Resources Ltd. will make a development decision on the Massawa gold project in Senegal at the end of the year. CEO Mark Bristow on June 11 said at a media briefing in the capital, Dakar, that the feasibility study on the project is nearing finalization.
* Meanwhile, Rioters in Mali ransacked government buildings following a dispute between workers and management at Randgold's Loulo-Gounkoto
* Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. was the world's third-largest gold producer in 2017, with attributable production of 3.75 million ounces of gold. Like many of its peers, AngloGold has generally avoided making major acquisitions since the downturn in 2012, instead leveraging the industry's largest gold exploration expenditure over the past decade to organically replace almost four-fifths of the reserves the company added over the period.
* An ongoing protest blocking entry to Goldcorp Inc.'s Penasquito mine in Mexico could force the company to halt output, Reuters reported. The demonstration is led by local truck drivers who say the company backed out of promises to hire locally.
* An operator for a contractor at Acacia Mining PLC's North Mara gold mine in Tanzania died following an accident involving a reversing vehicle at the Gokona deposit. Investigations are underway, the company said.
* Starcore International Mines Ltd. decided not to proceed with its proposed acquisition of the Santa Fe silver-gold project in Mexico after completing due diligence and a review of the property.
* Stratex International PLC secured an option to earn up to a 90% interest in the Bibemi and Wapouze gold projects in north Cameroon from a local company.
* Beacon Minerals Ltd. secured an electricity supply contract for its Jaurdi gold project in Western Australia from Pacific Energy Ltd. for an initial 3.5-year term.
BULK COMMODITIES
* Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. struck a deal to sell its Asia-Pacific iron ore business to Mineral Resources Ltd. The company said its cost of closing the Australian operations will be reduced by about US$65 million to US$75 million as a result of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the second quarter.
* Danakali Ltd. entered into a 10-year, binding take-or-pay off-take agreement with EuroChem Trading GmbH for up to 100% of module-one sulfate of potash production from its 50%-owned Colluli potash project in Eritrea. The project is a 50/50 joint venture with Eritrean National Mining Corp.
* Stanmore Coal Ltd. is acquiring from Millennium Coal Pty. Ltd. the Wotonga South coking coal deposit in Queensland, Australia, contained within MDL 137, plus an additional exploration area for A$30 million cash and a production-based royalty capped at about A$10 million.
* Quebec will offer C$100 million in loans and guarantees to steel and aluminum companies affected by the recent U.S. import tariffs, Reuters reported, citing Dominique Anglade, the province's economy minister.
* China's Inner Mongolia region will close 22 small coal mines with a combined annual capacity of 11.1 million tonnes this year, Reuters reported, citing local authorities. Inner Mongolia is expecting to reach a 2020 target of slashing 54.1 million tonnes by 2018.
SPECIALTY
* Syrah Resources Ltd. said its operations at the Balama graphite mine in Mozambique are continuing normally, noting media reports of attacks near the district of Palma in the northeast region of Cabo Delgado Province. The company said it has increased its monitoring and interaction with government authorities and security providers "as a precaution."
* LSC Lithium Corp. mandated GHD Ltd. to carry out a preliminary economic assessment and a fast-tracked pre-feasibility study at the Pozuelos-Pastos Grandes project in Argentina's Salta province. The PEA is expected to be complete by year-end and the pre-feasibility study by mid-2019.
* Angola's largest diamond mine, Catoca, lost US$464 million over the past six years due to a government-imposed underpricing policy, due to which the diamonds were sold for 24% below market prices on average over the past six years, Reuters reported. Russia's PJSC Alrosa and Angola's state diamond miner, Endiama EP,
* Ausdrill Ltd.'s shares dived about 20% after the mining services contractor said the value of its contract with Mineral Resources Ltd. unit Process Minerals International Pty. Ltd. for its Wodgina lithium project in Western Australia is expected to be half of the previously announced A$180 million over the initial three years.
* Peninsula Mines Ltd. was granted a key exploration and mining tenement, which covers the bulk of the known strike length of the high-grade graphitic unit at the Gapyeong graphite project in South Korea.
* Australian Mines Ltd. entered into a partnership with U.K.-based technology company Metalysis to research and develop a solid-state process to produce a low-cost yet superior aluminum-scandium alloy for potential use by the automotive and aerospace industries. The company's SCONI project in Queensland, Australia, will produce high-purity scandium oxide alongside the project's cobalt sulfate and nickel sulfate output.
* TNG Ltd. signed a deal to evaluate the use of its TIVAN vanadium extraction process at Todd Corp. Ltd.'s Balla Balla vanadium-titanium-iron project in Western Australia.
* The U.S. House of Representatives approved an amendment to an energy and water act accelerating the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines across the country, Mining.com reported. The measure allocates US$1 million from a Department of Energy program in order to remediate uranium mines.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* Coal royalties in Queensland, Australia, contributed a record A$3.8 billion for 2017/2018 to the state budget, compared to A$3.4 billion in the prior-year period, Australian Mining reported. Royalties from the overall resources sector total A$4.3 billion for the current fiscal year and are forecast to increase to A$4.5 billion in the next fiscal year.
* Chinese investment in Australia dropped 11% year over year to US$10.3 billion in 2017 despite renewed investment in mining, continued investment in commercial real estate and a surge in healthcare investment, according to a report by KPMG and the University of Sydney. Mining was the most significant sector for Chinese investment, drawing 12 deals totaling A$4.6 billion, a rise of 448% from 2016.
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