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Nickel market rebalancing put on hold as divergent Indonesia, Philippines strategies signal standoff – by Henry Lazenby (MiningWeekly.com – February 14, 2017)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – A rebalancing of the nickel market has been cast into doubt as divergent strategies by major producers Indonesia and the Philippines muddle the outlook, a recent report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) has found.

While Indonesia looks to increase nickel exports, the Philippines is shuttering mines, the banking group’s global commodity research team said in its ‘Global Metals Weekly’ publication.

Nickel has seen a significant improvement in fundamentals over the past 12 months. This has been heavily influenced by a decline in nickel pig iron output in China, on the back of Indonesia’s ore export ban.

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Saying mining is ‘raping’ us, Philippines minister continues crackdown (Deutsche Welle – February 14, 2017)

http://www.dw.com/en/

The Philippines’ environment minister on Tuesday ordered the cancellation of 75 mining contracts, two weeks after ordering the closure of half the country’s operating mines for causing environmental damage.

A long-time environmentalist, Regina Lopez ordered the halt of so-called mineral production sharing agreements as part of a stepped-up campaign to stop damage to watersheds and coastal waters and farmlands.

“You kill the watershed, you kill life. You kill the river, you kill agriculture, you kill the drinking water,” Lopez told a media briefing, adding the country did not want projects that are “raping” us.

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Surging Iron Ore Won’t ‘Fall Off a Cliff,’ Says Rio Tinto – by David Stringer and Haidi Lun (Bloomberg News – Februay 13, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Iron ore will defy forecasts for a dramatic price collapse as China’s economy remains strong and the top buyer boosts demand for higher-quality imports, according to Rio Tinto Group, the second-largest exporter.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s going to fall off a cliff,” Chief Financial Officer Chris Lynch said Monday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Daybreak Australia. “I guess the key issue is that we have to be robust in case the price goes up, down or sideways, and that’s what we set out our business to do.”

Global exporters are benefiting as mills in China, the world’s top steelmaker, increasingly prefer higher-quality raw materials to raise efficiency and cut pollution, according to Lynch.

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Old Kolar Gold Fields mines can never be reopened – by Gayatri Chandrashekar (Times of India – February 13, 2017)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

The pioneering gold mining town in India, Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), has a fascinating history. Over two decades bridging the 19th and 20th centuries, a remote corner of the Old Mysore state’s people were transformed by a British company into a close-knit industrial community with special skills in mining at great depths.

By sheer doggedness, professionalism, perseverance and a bit of luck, John Taylor & Sons established a profitable and pioneering industry at KGF and the labour force ran to tens of thousands right up to the 1930s. For the poverty-stricken neighbourhood, jobs in the pits ensured regular meals and a place to stay.

The mines were nationalised in 1956 but closed 15 years ago, after losses due to inept management, wrong pricing policy and lack of investment in new exploration. The mines were allowed to be inundated by water.

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Duterte backs mine closures in southern Philippines – by Karen Lema (Reuters U.S. – February 12, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Sunday he would not stand in the way of his minister’s decision to close several mines in the southern Philippines after he saw the damage they had done to the environment.

Duterte flew by helicopter from Butuan to Surigao City on Sunday to inspect areas hit by Friday’s powerful earthquake that killed six and damaged public infrastructure.

Of the 23 mines ordered shut by environment minister Regina Lopez for good, seven are in nickel-rich Surigao del Norte and another seven in nearby Dinagat Island, nearly all of them producing nickel.

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Uranium market conditions last year were the worst in 30 years, says Cameco Corp CEO – by Sunny Freeman (Financial Post – February 11, 2017)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Uranium market conditions in 2016 were the toughest that Cameco Corp. CEO Tim Gitzel has seen in his 30 years in the business, but he says he remains cautiously optimistic about the long-term picture.

“We’ve been saying for some time that uranium prices are neither rational nor sustainable,” Gitzel told investors during a conference call Friday to discuss its dismal 2016 earnings. “Current prices are failing to incent the investment decisions required to ensure reliable supply is available to meet growing demand out into the future.”

Cameco reported a fourth-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders of $144 million, or 36 cents per share, which was more than 10 times larger than the loss of $10 million, or three cents per share, reported in the year-earlier period. The fourth quarter of 2016 included an impairment charge of $238 million. The company booked a $210 million impairment charge in the 2015 quarter.

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ANALYSIS-As coal shortfall looms, miners enjoy unexpected boom – by Henning Gloystein (Reuters U.K. – February 9, 2017)

http://uk.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE, Feb 10 Many a swan song has been sung for thermal coal markets as renewable power generation and a push towards using more natural gas have gained traction. Yet a coal price spike last year, driven by a Chinese change in regulation that capped local mining operations, has shown how easily markets can swing from oversupply to shortfall.

While many analysts and investors see the long-term outlook for coal as bleak due to policies and technological advances that favour cleaner natural gas and renewable in power generation, the shorter-term outlook for the industry has seen a sharp reversal of fortunes.

This year, strong demand growth in Asia’s emerging markets will create a supply shortfall for the first time in at least half a decade. Consumption could even soon rise past the 2014 peak, according to Asia’s largest commodity trading house, Noble Group.

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Eco-warrior lays waste to Philippines’ mining industry – by Manolo Serapio Jr and John Chalmers (Reuters U.S. – February , 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA – Mining industry chiefs had just assailed her order to shut down more than half of the Philippines’ mines, and Regina Lopez was in a combative mood: but, to keep her cool before an interview, she slipped into a side room and meditated for a few minutes.

There is a spiritual side to Lopez, the daughter of a media mogul who, at 18, left a life of privilege behind in the Philippines, took a vow of celibacy and became a yoga teacher and missionary in Africa, living in slums among the poor.

But Lopez is also a fiery environmental crusader. She has no qualms about attacking the powerful and flouting convention, just like the country’s blunt-spoken president, Rodrigo Duterte, who appointed her as his environment minister last year.

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Barrick Sale of Super Pit Stake to China Buyer Stalls – by Brett Foley, Scott Deveau and Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – February 8, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s plan to sell its stake in the Kalgoorlie Super Pit mine to a Chinese bidder has stalled, as the buyer faces delays securing financing for the $1.3 billion deal, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Minjar Gold Pty, a unit of property developer Shandong Tyan Home Co., is also still seeking Chinese regulatory clearance for the purchase, according to the people. Barrick is awaiting an outcome and remains interested in selling to Minjar, which outbid other suitors by a large margin, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Barrick may still decide to re-enter talks with other buyers or keep its 50 percent stake in the Western Australia asset, which is the country’s largest open-pit gold mine, the people said.

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Choking China Backs Australia in Race for Cleaner Iron Ore – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – February 8, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Chinese engineers who carved a railway through the Tibetan plateau and built the world’s longest sea-bridge across Hangzhou Bay have a new challenge: developing a $3.4 billion project on Australia’s remote Eyre Peninsula to meet increased demand for cleaner iron ore.

China Railway Group Ltd., the world’s second-largest infrastructure builder, is backing the mine, port and rail-road project that aims to supply high-quality, lower-emission ore to Chinese steel mills facing stricter environmental rules.

The project would be a major step toward South Australia’s goal of securing A$10 billion ($7.6 billion) of investments to fund a stable of new iron ore mines by 2021. China Railway’s partner Iron Road Ltd. aims to bring the 24 million ton-a year mine into production in late 2020 after tests showed its product can help customers meet the tougher standards.

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Decaying Kazakh mining town struggles to shift focus – by Chris Rickleton (Asia Nikkei – February 9, 2017)

http://asia.nikkei.com/

ARKALYK, Kazakhstan — Arkalyk, a town of fewer than 30,000 people in the central belt of Kazakhstan, wears its mining heritage proudly. By the municipal museum, a hunk of bauxite stands atop a plinth, close to the excavator bucket that tore it out of the ground in 1964.

After winter storms, brick-red mineral dust still speckles the snow-covered streets. Waste material from the mine, built largely by locally-held prisoners of the former Soviet Union, rises out of the steppe surrounding the town like earthen fortifications.

“First there was a mine, then a town that grew up around it,” said Arystan Aitmagambetov, editor of Torgai, a local newspaper. “They joke that Arkalyk was built by the [Communist youth movement], but it was inmates that did a lot of the work.”

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Mining industry gasps for breath – by Val A. Villanueva (Philippines Business Mirror – February 8, 2017)

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/

With over $1.4 trillion worth of minerals waiting to be excavated from identified mining areas, who could fault those who compare the Philippines to a poor man sitting on a pot of gold?

But that pot of gold is looking more like wishful thinking or an unfulfilled dream with what I believe is a reckless move by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s (DENR) head, Regina Paz L. Lopez, to shut down 23 and suspend five mining operations in what was described in the industry as coming from an emotional, rather than a rational, mind.

Lopez, who has yet to be confirmed as DENR secretary by the Senate’s powerful Commission on Appointments, apparently made the move on her own, ignoring the recommendations of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). Her basis: these mining companies operate in “functional watersheds”.

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Disruptions at top two copper mines threaten global supply – by Wilda Asmarini (Reuters U.S. – February 8, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

JAKARTA – Disruptions at the world’s two biggest copper mines by strikes and other issues this week are threatening to reduce global supplies of the metal, pushing benchmark prices back towards their highest levels for the year so far.

BHP Billiton said it would halt output in Chile at its Escondida mine, the biggest copper producer, during a strike to begin on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc warned it will scale back output at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the second-biggest, amid a smelter strike and issues over renewal of its mining permit.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained more than 2 percent during trading on Wednesday to $5,925 a ton on the supply threat, with analysts noting they had already been expecting tighter supplies this year. [MET/L]

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Rio Tinto gives shelved diamond mine to central Indian state – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – February 7, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO) said Tuesday it’s handing its shelved and massive Bunder diamond deposit in India to the state government of Madhya Pradesh, where the mine is located.

The company, which spent almost $120 million on the asset discovered in 2004, had planned to invest an extra $500 million to develop it. But Rio decided last year to mothball it due to regulatory hurdles, local opposition and weak diamond prices.

The Madhya Pradesh government will take ownership of the assets, including all the land, plant, equipment, and diamond samples recovered during exploration, Rio said in the statement.

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Philippine mining firms urge minister to publish audit – by Enrico Dela Cruz and Manolo Serapio Jr (Reuters U.S. – February 7, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA – Mining firms in the Philippines struggling to accept the government’s decision to shut more than half of the country’s 41 mines want the environment minister to release the results of the audit that led to the closures.

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, which represents the country’s large-scale mining firms, said its members needed all the information related to the audit so they “could act accordingly” and their lawyers would know what to do next.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez said she would grant the group’s request, but reiterated she was standing by her decision, which differed from the recommendation of a team that reviewed the audit results.

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