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Kazakhstan: Privatization Versus Control – by Eimear O’Casey and Alexander Batchilo (Forbes Magazine – July 28, 2016)

http://www.forbes.com/

LONDON — Like oil and gas exporters across the globe, Kazakhstan has been hit hard by the sharp drop in global hydrocarbon prices since late 2014. Exports are down, budget revenues have been squeezed, and the Central Bank was forced to carry out a de-facto devaluation in August 2015 that rendered the Kazakh tenge the world’s most volatile currency last year.

In response, the government has emphatically embarked on an anti-crisis plan. At its center is a major privatization drive, announced in January. In total, 65 state-owned companies and 175 of their subsidiaries are to be transferred partially or entirely to the private sector via a combination of negotiations, auctions and initial public offerings (IPOs) by 2020.

Among the biggest prizes on offer are stakes of up to 25% in the state oil and gas company KazMunaiGaz, national airline Air Astana, state railways Temir Zholy and holdings in the nuclear, mining and electricity sectors. The government is strongly encouraging foreign companies to bid for these.

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China iron ore miners’ call for import protection is ironic, distracting – by Clyde Russell (Daily Mail – July 27, 2017)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Reuters – LAUNCESTON, Australia, July 27 (Reuters) – There is something of a delicious irony in China’s iron ore miners complaining of dumping by foreign producers, but what it really underscores is the multitude of challenges facing the world’s biggest steel industry.

The domestic miners want an anti-dumping investigation into iron ore imported from the world’s top suppliers, complaining that low-cost majors – Brazil’s Vale and the Anglo-Australian pair of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – are flooding the market.

“A huge volume of low-priced imported iron ore has had a severe impact on the domestic mining industry and even posed a big challenge for the security of steel production,” more than 20 Chinese miners said in a statement on the website of the Metallurgical Miners’ Association of China.

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UPDATE 1-Philippines will not allow Tampakan mine to operate as open-pit -minister (Reuters U.K. – July 27, 2016)

http://uk.reuters.com/

The Philippine minister in charge of mining said she will not allow the $5.9 billion Tampakan gold and copper mine in southern Mindanao island to operate as an open-pit site and vowed to shut more operations causing environmental destruction.

The Tampakan project is the biggest stalled mining venture in the Southeast Asian country, failing to take off after the province where it is located banned open-pit mining in 2010. Commodities giant Glencore Plc quit the project last year.

“I will not allow the Tampakan project,” Regina Lopez told reporters, as long as it is planned as an open-pit mine. She said all permits given to the project will be reviewed “but we will observe due process”. Officials at Sagittarius Mines Inc, owned by local investor Alcantara Group, which has control of Tampakan, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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More mining firms to undergo review over alleged violations – by Louise Maureen Simeon (PhilStar.com – July 26, 2016)

http://www.philstar.com/

MANILA, Philippines — Environment Secretary Gina Lopez has bared a new list of mining companies that would undergo extensive review following complaints from the indigenous people of Mindanao.

Lopez had a dialogue with the Lumads of Mindanao Sunday afternoon to hear their sentiments. “I met with them and they wanted to stop large-scale mining in their provinces. And they were very explicit to the names [of the companies],” she said.

In a phone interview with The STAR, Lopez said the Lumads revealed eight mining firms that are allegedly committing environmental and social violations. One of which is Canadian-owned TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. in Zamboanga del Norte which is being reviewed over alleged “human rights violation causing demolition and forced evacuation.”

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Chinese miners call for anti-dumping probe into iron ore imports – by Ruby Lian and David Stanway (Reuters U.S. – Juy 26, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

SHANGHAI – Chinese iron ore miners have called for an anti-dumping investigation into imports of the steelmaking raw material from top suppliers Australia and Brazil.

More than 20 Chinese miners in a statement on the Metallurgical Miners’ Association of China website said “a huge volume of low-priced imported iron ore has had a severe impact on the domestic mining industry and even posed a big challenge for the security of steel production”.

“The capacity of major iron ore miners has continued to grow and requires a massive Chinese market to absorb their great excess,” the statement posted on Tuesday said. Australia’s BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, along with Brazil’s Vale, have embarked on massive expansion programs in recent years to supply the Chinese market.

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Chinese firms back on the hunt for mining treasure as majors offload assets – by Eric Ng (South China Morning Post – July 25, 2016)

http://www.scmp.com/

Study shows domestic firms snap up US$4.49b worth of overseas mining interests in the first six months, an 18.2pc rise

Resurgent Chinese interest in overseas mining acquisitions is expected to remain strong, amid expectations that metal prices may be bottoming out and as international mining majors look to improve their portfolios by selling assets.

Domestic firms snapped up US$4.49 billion worth of overseas mining assets in the first six months of the year, an 18.2 per cent rise on the US$3.8 billion in the same period last year, according to data collated by Mergermarket which has co-published a report on the findings with international law firm Baker & McKenzie.

“In the past, China’s demand [for overseas assets] has been driven by central [government] policy, [but now] we are seeing more opportunistic buying,” said John Mollard, global head of mining at Baker & McKenzie.

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Philippines’ House Speaker wants Congress to license new miners (Reuters U.K. – July 25, 2016)

http://uk.reuters.com/

The Philippines’ newly elected House Speaker said on Monday he wants new mining companies to get a legislative license before they are allowed to operate in the country as part of efforts to protect the environment.

Pantaleon Alvarez, a close ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, also said he will revive a proposed measure that will require miners to process their ores locally before they are shipped overseas to help create jobs domestically.

“Their activities would be subject to legislative oversight and their franchises can be revoked by the oversight body… if they violate the terms and conditions (of the franchise),” Alvarez said in a speech after he was elected speaker on Monday.

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India needs to mine 12 critical minerals to up its manufacturing capabilities says new study – by Aradhna Wal (BNA India.com – July 21, 2016)

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/

For India’s manufacturing sector to grow and for the country to transition to from a low to middle technology manufacturer to a high-tech one, twelve ‘critical, non-fuel minerals’ could play a key a role, said a new government funded report.

Released by the Centre for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), it focused on upping India’s manufacturing capabilities, by 2030, in a “range of industries and modern applications” such as “aerospace, automobiles, cameras, defece, entertainment systems, laptops, medical imaging, nuclear energy, and smartphones.”

Some of the critical minerals are beryllium, germanium, rare earths (heavy and light), rhenium, tantalum.

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UPDATE 1-Philippine minister asks Nickel Asia to halt Manicani ore exports to China – by Enrico dela Cruz and Julian Elona (Reuters U.S. – July 20, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

MANILA, July 20 The Philippine mining minister said on Wednesday she has asked Nickel Asia Corp to stop shipping nickel ore to China, citing environmental concerns at the company’s mine on an island along the country’s eastern central edge.

The move follows a government audit of Nickel Asia’s operations on Manicani island, where the country’s top nickel producer has stockpiled an estimated 1.4 million tonnes of ore from a closed mine.

The audit found that Nickel Asia was taking out too much soil in its Manicani hauling operations and shipping it to China along with the ore, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez told reporters after speaking at a business forum.

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Philippines flips the pig nickel finger at China – by Robert Gottliebsen (The Australian – July 20, 2016)

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/

We are now seeing the first repercussions of the fact that the disputes between China and the Philippines extend beyond the South China Sea — the nickel price is on the rise following nickel mine shutdowns ordered by the Philippine government.

Last night, nickel edged up to a one-year peak of $US4.81 a pound. While last night’s price is a far cry from the heady days when nickel was above $US10 a pound, it still represents a rise of almost 15 per cent from the $US4.20-a-pound level where nickel traded just a month ago.

While the outlook for all the base metals is improving, the shut down of key nickel mines in the Philippines has given a real boost to the nickel market at the expense of China.

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Only India, South Korea have active technology for deep sea mining (The Hans India.com – July 19, 2016)

http://www.thehansindia.com/

New Delhi:The ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague on the South China Sea dispute in favour of the Philippines may have come as a setback for China but it will not stop Beijing from continuing with its quest for maritime hegemony in the region.

“The reaction of China on the court’s ruling was on expected lines,” Prashant Kumar Singh, Associate Fellow in the East Asia Centre of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), told IANS.

“In the immediate term, it might adopt aggressive posturing and show a defiant face to other claimants to the dispute and also to the US which is a security provider for many of the claimants, including the Philippines,” he said.

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China’s Rare-Earths Bust (Wall Street Journal – July 18, 2016)

http://www.wsj.com/

A new Honda engine shows the limits of Beijing’s coercion.

Honda says it has co-produced the world’s first hybrid car engine that doesn’t use heavy rare-earth metals, allowing it to cut reliance on imports from China. This innovation, to debut in Honda minivans this fall, illustrates how far we’ve come since the great rare-earths panic of 2010.

Back then, China produced 95% of global rare earths and thought it could hold markets hostage by restricting exports. So it cut export quotas by 40%, partly to push foreign buyers to move factories onshore, and then temporarily blocked shipments to Japan over a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

Prices shot up tenfold as consumers and officials world-wide feared for supplies of 17 obscure elements they learned are used in high-tech gizmos from missiles to smartphones, wind turbines and electric cars.

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Kazakh-Chinese talks build on cooperation agreements (World Nuclear News – July 18, 2016)

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

The heads of Kazakh uranium producer KazAtomProm and China’s CITIC Group have met to discuss attracting investment to the Central Asian country’s nuclear energy sector. Askar Zhumagaliyev and Chang Zhenming met as part of the working visit to China of Kazakhstan’s first deputy prime minister, Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

CITIC Group, formerly the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, is a state-owned investment company established in 1979.

The talks build on agreements KazAtomProm signed with Chinese companies at the end of last year. These include one for the development of Kazakh uranium mines and the construction of a nuclear fuel plant in Kazakhstan.

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Asia Pacific: Duterte regime’s impact on Canadian miners in the Philippines – Chuck Chiang (Vancouver Sun – July 18, 2016)

http://vancouversun.com/

New Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte may make headlines because of his outspoken (and often controversial) ways, but his approach to mining will have a substantial impact on foreign firms — including several Canadian companies.

Duterte, who is known for his tough stance on crime and disregard for due process, said after winning the country’s presidential election in May that mining companies in the Philippines need to “shape up”. He went on to say he prefers mining assets to be owned by locals, rather than foreign companies.

That was followed by the naming of committed environmentalist Regina Lopez to head the country’s natural resources department, which set off uncertainty for foreign firms operating in the Philippines. One industry official told Reuters the sector is “shell shocked” by Lopez’s appointment.

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Philippines says it suspends a nickel miner in Palawan (Reuters U.S. – July 17, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

The Philippines has suspended a third nickel mine in less than two weeks and again warned miners not to violate environmental laws, the cabinet secretary overseeing mining told a radio station.

Regina Lopez, secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, told the Manila station DZMM on Saturday a suspension order was slapped on Friday on Berong Nickel Corp’s mine on Palawan because of a spill that affected corals.

Palawan, in the southwest Philippines, has become popular with tourists in recent years. Lopez said while the spill was not intentional, company authorities “really need to get their act together”. She described Palawan as “the number one (tourist) island destination in the entire planet”.

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