Asia Mining – Page 123 – Republic of Mining

China’s huge cement industry latest to face massive cuts – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – May 31, 2016)

May 31, 2016

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

BEIJING — China’s cement industry, the largest on earth, needs to rapidly dismantle large numbers of factories as part of a newly urgent effort to cut overcapacity, the country’s top administrative authority says.

China should slash 500 million tonnes of cement-making capacity in three years, an amount equivalent to more than four times total U.S. production, the State Council said in a policy document on boosting efficiency in the building materials sector.

Cement production is the third major industry to face the threat of major change in China, which began high-profile efforts earlier this year to cut back overcapacity in coal and steel. Dislocations in those industries threaten to displace millions of workers, and are among the most visible of the wrenching problems facing China as it struggles to move beyond the industrial-heavy growth that it relied upon for decades.

Why India could be the oil market’s next big driver of consumption – by Joe Chidley (Financial Post – May 30, 2016)

May 30, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

Oil’s rise to US$50 a barrel earlier this month proved to be short-lived, but at least it suggested that oil prices had established a new and higher range. We might not be looking at a return to US$100-a-barrel WTI anytime soon, but prices seem to have stabilized somewhat, remaining north of US$40 for several weeks now.

Who knows how long this will last, of course. Support for higher prices has come at least in part from supply disruptions — in Nigeria and Libya, as well as Alberta, thanks to the Fort McMurray fires. Recent U.S. Energy Information Administration data suggest that stockpiles of crude are coming down.

Yet things like supply disruptions are difficult to predict, and even harder to count on when it comes to having a lasting impact on the supply glut. The better news might be that the other side of the supply-demand imbalance is starting to do what it’s supposed to do: There are signs that global demand is picking up.

New sanctions could cripple reclusive North Korea’s mining sector – by Ilan Solomons (MiningWeekly.com – May 27, 2016)

May 30, 2016

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – New sanctions on North Korea imposed by the United Nations (UN) and the US in March for allegedly undertaking nuclear and ballistic missile tests earlier this year will affect the country’s mineral resources sector.

North Korea – officially named the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and referred to as such by the UN and particularly by State-run media outlets – denies this allegation, claiming instead that the tests were attempts to launch satellites for “peaceful purposes”.

The sanctions affect the mining sector significantly, as they have banned the sale or transfer of North Korean coal, iron and iron-ore “if profits are deemed to be spent on the country’s nuclear or missile programme”.

China plays long game on cobalt and electric batteries – by Henry Sanderson (Financial Times – May 25, 2016)

May 25, 2016

https://next.ft.com/

Chinese company’s acquisition of Congo cobalt mine has repercussions for car industry

As China Molybdenum announced it was buying one of Africa’s largest copper mines earlier this month one thing was soon clear: the acquisition was about far more than the red metal.

The $2.65bn deal, the biggest private investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s history, is instead designed to secure China’s supplies of cobalt, a once niche raw material that is crucial to developing batteries for electric cars.

The purchase of the Tenke mine, which contains one of the world’s largest known deposits of copper and cobalt, shows how Chinese companies are now moving to take a dominant position in battery materials as the country prepares to shift its economy from heavily polluting industries.

China’s nickel imports still flattering to deceive – by Andy Home (Reuters U.S. – May 25, 2016)

May 25, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON – China is importing more nickel than ever before. Headline imports of refined metal hit a new all-time record high of 49,012 tonnes in April. The cumulative tally of 157,600 tonnes over the first four months of the year represents a 115,000-tonne increase over the same period of last year.

Imports of ferronickel have also surged to 294,700 tonnes so far this year, which is already more than any previous calendar year with the exception of 2015.

Somewhere in this flow of material lies an unfolding bull narrative, one of falling Chinese production and resurgent demand. The problem is that there is too much else going on in the import data to get a good view of the shifting Chinese nickel landscape.

Asian Gold Miners Use Borax to Replace Toxic Mercury – by Ben Barber (Huffington Post – November 27, 2016)

May 24, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Each year tens of thousands of people are poisoned by toxic mercury spewed into the air, land and water by small-scale gold miners in Indonesia and other low income countries where production has soared as gold prices skyrocketed.

Now a U.S.-based NGO is working with a Danish government agency to substitute toxic mercury with safe borax — a chemical used for centuries in soap and other products.

Some 600 tons of mercury are released each year in Indonesia alone — more than the total mercury contamination in Japan’s Minamata Bay outbreak in the 1950s which left 1,700 dead and thousands more with neurological damage from mercury wastes.

These days, small-scale miners mix mercury with gold-laced ore to create an amalgam of gold and mercury.

The Toxic Toll of Indonesia’s Gold Mines – by Richard C. Paddock (National Geographic – May 24, 2016)

May 24, 2016

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

More than a million small-scale miners in this island nation are poisoned, which is leaving children with crippling birth defects.

SEKOTONG, INDONESIA – Ipan is 16 months old and suffering his third seizure of the morning. His head is too large for his body, and his legs are as thin as sticks. He arches his back, and his limbs stiffen. He cries out in pain.

His mother, Fatimah, tries to comfort Ipan, but there’s not much she can do. A dukun, or shaman, says his soul was invaded by the spirits of the monkey, bat, and octopus. On his advice, Fatimah and her husband, Nursah, changed the boy’s name from Iqbal to Ipan and fed him tiny rice balls mixed with octopus.

“The dukun says this is why Ipan’s legs look like a monkey’s legs,” Nursah says. “Actually, I don’t believe that, but I will try anything.” Doctors say the real culprit is more down-to-earth: mercury poisoning. His parents are small-scale miners who used the heavy metal to process gold for years before Ipan was born, including while Fatimah was pregnant.

PHILIPPINES OPINION: Is ‘responsible mining’ possible without strong regulations? – by Cecilia Olivet, Jaybee Garganera, Farah Sevilla and Joseph Purugganan (InterAksyon.com – May 24, 2016)

May 24, 2016

http://interaksyon.com/

In the last decade, the resource-rich country of the Philippines has bet heavily on the mining industry as a strategy for development, but this focus has come under growing scrutiny.

With 47 large-scale mines in operation and growing evidence of their social and environmental costs, all the presidential candidates in the May 2016’s election were forced to explain their position on, and their financial ties, to the extractive industry.

Most candidates, including newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte, argued for “responsible mining” and an end to “exploitative contracts.” Yet few candidates addressed whether a new Philippines administration could effectively enforce new regulations on a largely foreign-controlled mining industry.

China’s May iron ore imports stay robust, majors squeeze rivals – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – May 23, 2016)

May 24, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – China’s imports of iron ore are likely to have maintained their recent strength in May, as top suppliers Australia and Brazil continue to squeeze market share from smaller rivals.

Imports this month are likely to come in around 84.76 million tonnes, according to vessel tracking data compiled by Thomson Reuters Commodity Research and Forecasts.

This would represent a modest increase on April’s official customs figure of 83.92 million tonnes, but be slightly below the 85.77 million tonnes reported for March. Ship-monitoring data doesn’t exactly align with customs figures due to timing issues, but the margin of error over the first four months of 2016 was only 1.5 percent.

Higher-cost China mines seize iron ore market recovery: Rio chief – by Paul Garvey and Matt Chambers (The Australian – May 20, 2016)

May 20, 2016

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

Rio Tinto’s iron ore chief Andrew Harding says the miner has already seen a rise in production from marginal mines in China as a result of the improved iron ore price of recent months.

Speaking to The Australian after a speech at an Austmine function in Perth yesterday, Mr Harding said higher-cost iron ore mines of China had been quick to seize on the recovery in market conditions. “What you will always see as a price moves up is supply moves in. We’ve seen that in recent times, the output from Chinese mines went up,” Mr Harding said.

His comments came as rival BHP Billiton issued a pessimistic diagnosis on iron ore prices. Despite recent upgrades from analysts, BHP’s chief mining analyst declared the price rally in the nation’s biggest export was temporary and that fundamentals looked unconvincing.

CMOC’s investment in Tenke Fungurume and Kokkola is set to further increase China’s hold on global cobalt – by Edward Spencer (CRU Group.com – May 18, 2016)

May 19, 2016

http://www.crugroup.com/

Chinese companies have been seeking to diversify their portfolios for a number of years now, unafraid to invest large amounts in overseas and upstream operations. Last week China Molybdenum Co., Ltd. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary CMOC Limited had entered into a definitive agreement with Freeport-McMoRan to acquire its 56% share of the Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine in the DRC.

The US$2.65B acquisition is China Moly’s second major deal within two weeks, having agreed to buy Anglo American’s niobium and phosphates business on 28th April for US$1.5B.

While many have focused on the phosphate and copper components of these deals, much of the value of these assets lays in their minor metal associations – namely niobium and cobalt. On completion of the acquisitions CRU estimates that China Moly will be the world’s second largest producer of both ferroniobium and cobalt in addition to being the fourth largest producer of molybdenum.

China’s $3.6 Billion PNG Copper Mine Faces 2-Year Approval Wait – by David Stringer(Bloomberg News – May 19, 2016)

May 19, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

China-owned PanAust Ltd. estimates it may take as long as two years to win approvals for its expanded $3.6 billion copper project in Papua New Guinea as bigger rivals forecast a deficit of the metal by the decade’s end.

A revised development plan for the Frieda River project by state-owned Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co.’s Australian unit more than doubled an earlier cost estimate following a better understanding of the earthworks required, PanAust General Manager of Corporate Development Joe Walsh said Thursday in a phone interview.

The new study also raised forecasts for copper output about 40 percent to 175,000 metric tons a year.“Commodity prices are, in our view, going through a cyclical low and we do envisage that in the fullness of time we will see prices recover,” Walsh said.

Kyrgyzstan denounces Centerra directors, withholds votes again – by Peter Koven (Financial Post – May 18, 2016)

May 18, 2016

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO — One of Centerra Gold Inc.’s Kyrgyz directors denounced the company at its annual meeting on Tuesday, saying there is “urgent need” for change at the management and board level.

“There are fundamental breaches of trust between Centerra and the government of the Kyrgyz Republic, which has led to instability of the Kumtor project,” Bektur Sagynov, deputy chairman at Kyrgyzaltyn JSC, told shareholders at the meeting in Toronto.

State-owned Kyrgyzaltyn, which controls 32 per cent of Centerra shares, also withheld votes for all of the gold miner’s non-Kyrgyz directors for the second straight year. It withheld votes on some directors in prior years.

More Chinese resource acquisitions on the way – by Lara Smith (Mineweb.com – May 17, 2016)

May 18, 2016

http://www.mineweb.com/

Lara Smith is the Founder and Managing Director of Core Consultants in June 2009. Core Consultants are committed to supplying high-quality commodity market research, analysis and valuations to global institutions.

China Molybdenum (CMOC) has long earned its reputation as a highly acquisitive company. In 2015, it made its intentions known that it would pump around $2bn into acquiring mining assets outside of China. Traditionally a molybdenum and tungsten producer, CMOC has targeted copper in recent years, paying $820m for Rio Tinto’s Northparkes copper mine in New South Wales in 2013 and bidding for Barrick’s Zadivar mine in 2015.

Earlier this year the company revealed that it had earmarked $4bn to acquire assets following its agreement to purchase Anglo’s Brazilian niobium and phosphate operations, which is regarded as a diversification from the more volatile metals market.