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Surat firms upbeat as prices of polished diamond recover in Jan – by Melvyn Reggie Thomas (Times of India – January 11, 2016)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Surat: The new year has ushered in a positive note for the diamantaires in Surat. After facing a sharp decline in 2015, the polished diamond prices recovered in the new year giving hope to diamantaires over improved market condtions.

According to US-based Rapaport group, the certified polished diamond prices in various category rose by 0.50% to 4.7%. The increase was recorded for the first time after the polished diamond prices witnessed a continuous decline in 2015. According to Rapaport’s Rapnet Price list, the polished diamond prices in various categories decreased between 5.8% and 14.5% last year.

Market sources said that the polished diamond market sentiment improved in December due to shortages supporting prices and dealers filling last-minute holiday orders.

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EXCLUSIVE: After 40 years, India set to re-open commercial coal mining to private firms – by Krishna N. Das (Reuters India – January 8, 2016)

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI – India is getting ready to open up commercial coal mining to private companies for the first time in four decades, with the aim of shifting the world’s third-biggest coal importer towards energy self-sufficiency.

Anil Swarup, the country’s top coal bureaucrat, told Reuters on Friday the government has identified mines it plans to auction, and is now finalising other terms such as eligibility criteria for companies to take part and whether and how to set up revenue sharing.

He said a plan should be ready in the 2-3 months, setting a clear timeline on a plan that has previously only been vaguely marked out.

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NEWS RELEASE: Political Risk in 2016: Instability for Africa/Lat Am commodity hubs; Saudi/Iran power play; internationalisation of ISIS among top concerns (Verisk Maplecroft – January 8, 2016)

http://maplecroft.com/

The global turbulence of 2015 is set to continue in the coming year, according to the 2016 Political Risk Outlook released by Verisk Maplecroft, which forecasts little respite from the political instability, civil unrest, economic volatility, security crises and geopolitical rivalries that defined the last 12 months.

Verisk Maplecroft highlights low commodity prices as one of the primary drivers of political risk for investors in major producing countries across Africa and Latin America, while the increasing international threat posed by the Islamic State and rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia are flagged among the foremost geopolitical risk multipliers.

Commodity downturn spurs disruption risks for Africa investors

According to Verisk Maplecroft, job losses in the extractive sector of Africa’s resource-rich countries are expected to provoke industrial action, while the impacts of depressed oil, gas and metals prices on domestic government spending and rising living costs across the region are likely to stoke social turmoil.

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World’s biggest blue sapphire found in Sri Lanka – by Sulochana Ramiah Mohan (Ceylon Today – January 3, 2016)

https://www.ceylontoday.lk/

News broke in Sri Lanka on New Year’s Day, of the discovery of the world’s largest known Blue Star Sapphire valued at a stunning US$ 100 million and hitting the scales at an incredible 1404.49 carats.

The news spread like wild fire from Ratnapura, the City of Gems, where the stunning sapphire that has been named…… ‘The Star of Adam’ has dwarfed the next largest Blue Star Sapphire, a 1395 carat beauty on its own merit, once owned by the Guruge Brothers, but with its present ownership yet unknown.

The US$ 100 million cabochon-cut star sapphire flaunts a distinctly unique six-rayed beauty and is believed to have been mined at an undisclosed site, around August last year, between Ratnapura and Hatton, before it was sold to its current owner.

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China Investment Corp. closes Toronto office in wake of commodity rout – by Jeff Lewis and Tim Kilaze (Globe and Mail – December 31, 2015)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

CALGARY and and TORONTO — For the first time in five years, China’s massive sovereign wealth fund is starting the new year without a Canadian head office, a symbolic exit that underscores the fading fortunes of Canada’s battered resources sector.

China Investment Corp. has closed its Toronto headquarters, shuttering its only Canadian outpost – and its first on foreign soil – after nearly five years in the country.

CIC, which manages $747-billion (U.S.), said in December that it would use a new location in New York to scout for potential investments in the United States and the Americas, including opportunities in Canada.

The move comes as Canadian energy and mining firms reel from tumbling oil and metals prices, crimping returns on some of CIC’s holdings.

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Potential Malaysia bauxite ban to chip away at China stockpiles -industry – by Joseph Sipalan and Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – January 4, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

KUALA LUMPUR/MELBOURNE, Jan 4 A potential suspension on bauxite mining in Malaysia, the world’s top exporter of the aluminium-making ingredient, could dent stockpiles in China but is unlikely to curb breakneck output in the aluminium sector there, industry and analysts said on Monday.

The Southeast Asian nation is pushing to suspend bauxite output due to concerns over its impact on the environment, threatening to interrupt supply to No.1 aluminium producer China, a cabinet source said at the weekend.

The councillor in charge of the environment for Malaysia’s main producing state of Pahang, Mohd Soffi Abd Razak, told Reuters on Monday that Pahang’s chief minister and the national resources minister would make a joint statement on the issue “very soon”.

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Rivers, sea run red in Malaysia as bauxite exports boom – by Joseph Sipalan (Reuters U.S. – December 30, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

KUALA LUMPUR – Rivers and the sea ran red in parts of Malaysia this week after two days of heavy rain brought an increase in run-off from the booming and largely unregulated bauxite mining industry.

Demand from China for the aluminum ingredient has fed a rapid rise in bauxite mining in the third-largest state of Pahang, in the east of peninsular Malaysia, and concern is growing about the impact on the environment.

Media on Wednesday showed images of red seas and rivers near the state capital of Kuantan, the center of the industry and the location of a port from which much of the bauxite is shipped.

Reporters said the sea were discolored along a 15 km (9 mile) stretch of coast.

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OPINION: No doubt that Africa needs what China offers – by Xhanti Payi (Business Day Live – December 9, 2015)

http://www.bdlive.co.za/

DESPITE his many political and philosophical detractors, Henry Kissinger is one of the few authoritative voices on China. Having served as a key US diplomat during a time when China was reinventing herself to what she is today, Kissinger has had a perspective few other analysts have today.

His views on China are not inconsistent with the China we see, in the ways in which it responds to global debates and tensions. One need only look at the way China votes at the United Nations Security Council to understand its posture on affairs of other nations.

In his book, On China, Kissinger is seemingly at pains to show that, unlike the US, China is not interested in exporting its values or owning culture and territories outside itself — that even though it may seek to be a leading civilisation, it does so not through an effort to export its values, but to sustain them even in what Kissinger himself calls the “new world order”.

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Mining millions and corrupt politicians in Indonesia scandal – by Jeremy Mulholland ( The Australian – December 22, 2015)

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

Indonesia has been rocked by extraordinary revelations about top-level negotiations with one of the world’s most profitable mining companies, Freeport-McMoRan, which operates in the high mountains of West Papua province.

A leaked recording of an informal meeting has exposed the then chair of Indonesia’s national parliament, Setya Novanto, and oil tycoon Riza Chalid attempting to secure by gift a $US4 billion ($6.1bn), 20 per cent stake in Freeport’s mines, plus a proposed hydro-electric power plant.

The scandal, denounced as the worst to hit Indonesia, has incited demands for a thorough public investigation. At the heart of the row is Freeport’s desire to quickly secure an extension of its contract — which expires in 2021 — for control of one of the biggest gold and copper mines in the world.

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Iron ore slump halts work on Australia’s last big mine project – by James Regan (Reuters U.S. – December 22, 2015)

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – Dec 23 Slumping iron ore prices have brought down the shutters on the last of Australia’s mining boom-era projects still on the drawing board, with partners calling time on the planned $5 billion West Pilbara Iron Ore project.

The proposed mine, a four-way partnership led by two of Asia’s biggest steel companies, would have added 30 million tonnes of iron ore to an already oversupplied market facing slower-than-expected demand from China.

The partners had been due to embark on final feasibility studies for the mine before starting construction, which would have cost around $50 million.

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The Golden Age Of Coal In China Is Over – by Nick Cunningham (Oil Price.com – December 20, 2015)

http://oilprice.com/

China’s coal consumption may have peaked in 2013, and with it, so have the coal industry’s fortunes.

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds that preliminary data suggests that China’s coal consumption in 2015 is lower than 2013 levels. Slower economic growth, lower energy-intensity of growth, and a campaign to reduce air pollution have severely dented the prospects for coal in China, the report finds.

China consumes half of the world’s coal, so what happens in China tends to dictate what happens to coal markets around the world. China tripled its coal consumption since 2000, and it burns about five times as much coal as the United States and India, or about two and a half times as much as those two countries combined.

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COLUMN-China’s steady-as-she-goes economy won’t rock commodity boat -by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – December 17, 2015)

http://uk.reuters.com/

Dec 17 – China is no longer a driver of commodity demand, rather it has become a constant factor that can be relied upon to import relatively steady volumes of major natural resources.

Both China’s central bank and a respected think-tank expect further moderation in the economic growth rate next year, which underscores that the world’s second-largest economy is still undergoing a structural transformation, but is unlikely to fall victim to a hard landing.

The People’s Bank of China said in a paper published on Wednesday that annual growth will slow to 6.8 percent in 2016, from an estimated 6.9 percent this year.

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Nickel Producers Hammered in Indonesia as Metal Price Slumps 40% – by Yoga Rusmana (Bloomberg News – December 17, 2015)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Almost two years after Indonesia, the largest producer of mined nickel, banned ore exports to nurture its metals industry, fledgling smelters are being pummeled by a plunge of more than 40 percent in prices.

The chief executive officer of one of the biggest producers, a Chinese-Indonesian venture called Tsingshan Bintangdelapan Group, says with output costs at $10,000 to $11,000 a metric ton, he’s making a $2,000 loss on every ton he ships. While CEO Alexander Barus thinks prices will recover, he says plans for new smelters will be put on hold if rates stay where they are now.

The principal cause of the slump is the slowdown in China, which consumes about half of the world’s nickel used mostly for corrosion-resistance in stainless steel.

Asia’s largest economy is facing the weakest growth in a generation as the country shifts to consumer demand and services as the main driver of expansion.

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China economist warns major miners may collapse in 2016 – by Sue Lannin (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – December 17, 2015)

http://www.abc.net.au/news

A prominent China economist has predicted more mining companies could go bankrupt globally in the new year, including major second tier firms, as China’s economy slows down and commodity prices keep falling.

China based economist Andy Xie used to run Morgan Stanley’s economics team in Asia.

He has forecast that iron ore prices will trade between $US30-40 a tonne in 2016, and that means more iron ore miners could go under including in China.

“So what I see is that next year Chinese demand is likely to go down a lot more, like 20 million tonnes,” Mr Xie told the ABC in an interview.

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Mass Layoffs in China’s Coal Country Threaten Unrest – by Jane Perlez and Yufan Huang (New York Times – December 16, 2015)

http://www.nytimes.com/

HEGANG, China — In the dank shower room where the miners soak, the coal dust from their bodies staining the water chocolate, a lone worker sat smoking a cigarette, staring at the floor.

He lingered, he explained, because since his pay had been cut in half, he had been eating dinner at his parents’ apartment, and he dreaded the humiliation of going there again.

“If any of the leaders would do their job properly, the situation would not be like this,” said the worker, Mr. Guo, 39. “If they want to sack me, they should just do it. Can it get any worse?” It probably will.

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