Asia Mining – Page 110 – Republic of Mining

Coal Traders See End of Price Rally as China Ramps Up Output – by Ladka Mortkowitz Bauerova (Bloomberg News – December 21, 2016)

December 22, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Coal’s recovery was one of the biggest surprises in commodities this year, but it’s all poised to end as output rises from China, producer of half the world’s supply.

After half a decade of declines, European prices rebounded more than 80 percent as China, also the world’s biggest consumer of the fuel, boosted imports. Benchmark month-ahead contracts will fall by more than 25 percent by the end of next year, according to the median in a Bloomberg survey of six analysts and traders.

Just as Chinese policy limiting mining days kick-started the rally, a gradual boost in domestic output during autumn will accelerate a slide, according to analysts. Once seasonal winter demand in the northern hemisphere is over, China will need less imports at the same time as abundant output by other producers will keep a lid on prices from Australia to Antwerp.

[Indonesia] Smelting industry held hostage by policy uncertainty – by Viriya P. Singgih (Jakarta Post – December 20, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

A plan to allow more exports of raw and partly processed mineral products has irked businesses that have already invested heavily in smelters intended to add value to mineral ores and generate a multiplier effect for the economy.

The businesses argue that such a policy would not only send a chilling message to the international community that Indonesia cannot hold to its commitments, but also harm the downstream industry and put more pressure on the global prices of several mining commodities already experiencing a supply glut.

A draft regulation prepared by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, a copy of which was recently obtained by The Jakarta Post, will allow companies with mining licenses (IUP), or special mining licenses (IUPK), or former holders of contracts of work to have the privilege of getting five-year export licenses.

Japan’s base metal firms tap materials market for growth – by Yuka Obayashi (Reuters U.S. – December 19, 2016)

December 20, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

TOKYO – Stung by years of falling base metals prices, Japanese mining and smelting firms are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in specialized materials used in electric vehicles, smartphones and a host of everyday electronic devices.

Companies such as Sumitomo Metal Mining and JX Nippon Mining & Metals, a unit of JX Holdings, are seeking a steady revenue stream in the face of narrow smelting margins and recent heavy write-offs on base metals mines.

The firms hope to cash in on a push by global automakers into electric vehicles as well as new uses for their metals in the coming era of the Internet of Things when everything from screwdrivers to cars is expected to be linked to the Internet.

Shuttered Gold Mine Shows Investors Risks of Thai Power Grab – by Chris Blake (Bloomberg News – December 18, 2016)

December 20, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/

When Thailand’s junta leader-turned-prime minister used his absolute power to suspend gold mining — prompting an Australian miner’s shares to plummet 19 percent in a single day — he complicated efforts to attract foreign investors already spooked by military rule.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha announced the order last week, saying that gold mining will be suspended from the start of the year in a bid to address health and environmental concerns. By issuing the order under Article 44 of the constitution enacted when his junta toppled the elected government in 2014, Prayuth ensured it was “lawful, constitutional and final.”

The most immediate loser is Australia’s Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd., which through its subsidiary operates Thailand’s largest and only commercially viable gold mine. Its shares dropped as much as 19 percent last Wednesday and are down nearly 40 percent since May 10, when Thailand announced the Chatree mine might close amid complaints of arsenic and manganese contamination in nearby villages.

Indonesia draft rule could ease export ban on nickel, bauxite: paper (Reuters U.S. – December 19, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Indonesia’s government is drafting a regulation that could ease a looming export ban for not only copper concentrates, but also partly processed or raw nickel and bauxite, the Jakarta Post reported, citing a draft regulation.

Under the draft, unprocessed gold, silver, tin and chromium would remain on the export ban list, the paper said. Energy and Mining ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but a spokesman last week said the ministry was in talks with the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs to try to reach a solution on easing the ban.

The ore shipments ban, which requires miners to build smelters to process ore locally and halt mineral exports from next month, was implemented in January 2014, although last minute amendments were made to ease its impact.

First-ever mining tourism project gives a cutting edge to Vidarbha – by Vinita Chaturvedi (Times of India – December 17, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

It all started in November 2015 when Western Coalfields Limited opened its mines for the tourists in Maharashtra, a concept that was visualised in March 2015. And now, a year down the line, it will be taken to the next level as WCL and Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation get ready to sign a memorandum of understanding tomorrow in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal. We track its far-reaching implications…

General manager of MTDC, Swati Kale shares, “Mining tourism that is popular in countries like Chile and Australia, is a novel concept for India. We are sure, along with a lot of Indian tourists, it would also attract several foreign tourists. This tie-up with WCL will put Vidarbha on world tourism map.”

This is the first ever eco-mining project in India, shares the managing director of WCL, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra. He goes on to add, “We have opened two mines for tourists — opencast mine at Gondegaon and underground mine at Saoner.

China gets an all-clear from the Taliban to mine for copper in Afghanistan – by Mariam Amini (CNBC.com – December 16, 2016)

December 19, 2016

http://www.cnbc.com/

The Taliban say they’re giving China the green light to restart a $3 billion mining project, but Afghanistan’s legal government says the militant group is just blowing smoke.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan directs all its Mujahideen to help in the security of all national projects that are in the higher interest of Islam and the country,” the Taliban announced on Nov. 29, adding that a massive copper mine called Mes Aynak is among the sites it is “committed to safeguarding.”

Mes Aynak was signed over to China’s state-owned Metallurgical Group Corporation in 2008.Speaking to CNBC on Friday, the Afghan government dismissed the Taliban’s announcement.

China, South Africa to match mine wits – by Staff (Mining Journal – December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016

http://www.mining-journal.com/

South Africa and China will look to match – or possibly exceed – Australia’s leading position in underground mine communications and geospatial informatics through the extended mining research partnership between the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT).

Wits and CUMT earlier this month established the Joint International Research Laboratory of China-Africa Mining Geospatial Informatics at a ceremony in Xuzhou, China.

The collaboration, underway since January 2013, has directed research funds into underground communication systems, risk measurement through sensors, risk modelling and prediction of harm, but the new initiative will focus on accurately locating workers relative to mine risks, using GPS-like underground positioning.

Philippines’ No. 2 nickel miner to appeal canceled permit for undeveloped mine – by Enrico Dela Cruz (Reuters U.S. – December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA – Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc, the Philippines’ second-largest nickel miner, vowed on Friday to appeal an “unlawful” government decision to cancel the environmental permit for its newly acquired Ipilan mining project.

The company said its Ipilan Nickel Corp (INC) unit has not violated any law or condition under the permit, and chided the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for making a decision “without procedural due process”.

Concerned at the environmental impact of mining, the world’s top nickel ore supplier has already halted the operation of 10 mines and another 20 face suspension, stoking supply concerns and spurring a rally in global nickel prices.

Indonesia mining export rule changes needs law revision (Reuters U.S. – December 15, 2016)

December 15, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Dec 15 Indonesia needs to revise its mining law to ease a ban on mineral ore exports and is unlikely to meet a deadline of early next year for the change, senior politicians warned on Thursday.

A revision could allow miners such as the local unit of Freeport McMorRan Inc to export copper concentrate beyond next year’s Jan. 12 deadline. But there was little scope to change the export regulation until the existing law was changed, Luhut Pandjaitan, who oversees energy and mineral resources, said.

Soviet Uranium Mines Still Have Deadly Impact in Kyrgyzstan – by Ryskeldi Satke (The Diplomat – December 13, 2016)

December 14, 2016

http://thediplomat.com/

MAILUU-SUU, Kyrgyzstan — The remote town of Mailuu Suu in South Kyrgyzstan is known for a Soviet legacy that still haunts the local population of more than 22,000.

Residents of Mailuu Suu commonly say that the very first Soviet atomic bomb was made out of locally extracted uranium in the late 1940s. The township is surrounded by uranium tailings and radioactive dumps that have been of greatest concern to the country’s neighbor, Uzbekistan, for decades.

The gravest dilemma for the Kyrgyz government is related to the frequent landslides in the areas along the river of Mailuu Suu where the Soviet government kept radioactive waste from the uranium mining. The glaciers of the southern Tian Shan feed this river, which flows directly to the neighboring republic of Uzbekistan in the Ferghana Valley.

China the Centre of the Lithium Universe – by Kirill Klip (Renewables International – December 7, 2016)

December 9, 2016

http://www.renewablesinternational.net/

Maybe you missed it, but China is now “The Center of the Lithium Universe”. China is already the world’s largest electric vehicle market, says Kirill Klip, President of International Lithium Corp.

The recent Volkswagen scandal has once again shed light on polluting vehicles and the health hazard they pose to the public and environment. In hopes of ending this tainted legacy governments have began implementing regulations to phase out emission causing vehicles. Respectively, all major automakers have followed suit and pledged to build dozens of electric vehicles in years to come.

BYD, the Chinese company backed by Warren Buffet, is the largest EV manufacturer in the world, thus the Chinese companies are producing the largest amount of lithium chemicals for the batteries required to make them. The market is booming, there are currently 25 companies making 51 models of electric cars in China. Over 500,000 EVs will be sold in China this year alone.

[Child Miners] The dark side of 2016 holiday gift-giving – by Sally Greenberg (Huffington Post – December 8, 2016)

December 9, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Holiday shopping season is already well underway. In fact, if you haven’t started putting your credit cards to use and checking gifts for loved ones off your lists, you might feel behind already. This year, Christmas-gift-purchasing Americans said they expected to spend an average of $831, according to Gallup—no small expense for most of us. And nearly one in three of us expects to spend $1,000 or more on Christmas gifts this year.

But there’s a dark side to the enthusiastic holiday gift-buying and giving that a majority of us doesn’t realize: many of the gifts we purchase to wear, eat, or use on a daily basis are made by the tiny hands of exploited child laborers aged anywhere from four to 17.

China Set to Rescue Australia Economy at Just the Right Time – by Michael Heath (Bloomberg News – December 7, 2016)

December 9, 2016

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The news out of Australia isn’t all gloom. While growth figures stank last quarter, the nation is again being cushioned by its status as the developed world’s most China-dependent economy. Surging coal and iron ore prices have helped ease an erosion of national income Down Under and, together with a slower slide in mining investment, signal better prospects ahead.

Australia can thank its No. 1 trading partner, whose old economy is reviving as fiscal stimulus gets smokestacks billowing again. Traditional Chinese industries seen as proxies for growth, such as electricity and rail cargo, have collectively bounced back to the highest level in three years. The big unknown: the durability of a turnaround that’s ended a more than 50 percent drop in commodity prices between 2011 and 2016.

“This story is a big one for Australia,” said Paul Bloxham, chief Australia economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, who previously worked at the nation’s central bank. “We’ve talked about the commodity price rise as being a game-changer.”

COLUMN-Crunch time coming for Philippines nickel ore exports – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – December 9, 2016)

December 9, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Dec 9 Crunch time is coming for the flow of nickel ore from the Philippines to China. The market is awaiting news of how many more nickel mines might fall foul of a sweeping clamp down on what the Philippine administration terms irresponsible mining.

Eight nickel mines have already been suspended. Another 14 have been put on notice. Between them they account for around half of the country’s production, putting at risk China’s nickel pig iron (NPI) producers who have become increasingly reliant on Philippine supply for their raw material input.

But the truth of the matter is that Philippine ore exports are going to slow dramatically over the coming months whatever the outcome of the current mine audit. They always do at this time of year because of the rainy season.