Asia Mining – Page 141 – Republic of Mining

Indian Prime Minister Prods Coal Monopoly – by Raymond Zhong and Niharika Mandhana (Wall Street Journal – May 13, 2015)

May 15, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/news/world

Narendra Modi seeks to boost output by cutting red tape and sparking competition

BEJDIH, India—Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to end decades of crippling electricity shortages and turn this country into a manufacturing dynamo. Coal India Ltd. is standing in his way.

At the state-run behemoth’s mine here, men still move coal in baskets on their shoulders. At another project, electricity is so unreliable miners descend in a steam-powered elevator. One giant mine that opened last year runs at a fraction of capacity because a rail line to haul its coal is mired in bureaucracy.

Committees and economists have long studied how to whip Coal India, the world’s largest producer of the fuel, into shape. Labor unions and their allies oppose ideas such as breaking the company into smaller units or privatizing it.

Mr. Modi is taking a gradual approach, centered on what officials call the Billion-Ton Plan: an attempt to double the company’s output in five years by stepping up investment and untangling administrative obstacles.

Chinese iron ore mines face ‘annihilation’ as BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale boost output – by Jasmine Ng, Feiwen Rong and Jesse Riseborough (Sydney Morning Herald – May 13, 2015)

May 13, 2015

http://www.smh.com.au/

Iron ore production in China is poised to shrink further as cheaper imports and faltering demand threaten to close mines supplying mills in the top steelmaker. Most private mines in China have costs that are too high and produce ore of too low a quality to survive, according to Sanford C Bernstein & Co. Output that fell 20 per cent to 311 million metric tons last year would drop to 271 million tons this year and shrink further next year, Goldman Sachs said.

Iron ore retreated 39 per cent over the past 12 months as Australia’s Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton as well as Brazil’s Vale SA boosted low-cost production to cut costs and protect market share, spurring a glut as China slowed. The outlook for supply, and consequences for miners in China, will be in focus on Thursday as executives from the biggest producers address a conference in Singapore. BHP chief executive officer Andrew Mackenzie warned on Tuesday that lower prices were here to stay.

Georgi Slavov, head of basic resources research at Marex Spectron Group, said in an email: “Mines not part of larger cash or credit line-rich steel groups are facing annihilation. Utilization in China keeps dropping, which means more and more mines are struggling to meet the ends and produce.”

Mining Companies in Philippines Face Many Travails – by Trefor Moss (Wall Street Journal – May 12, 2015)

May 13, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Red tape, opposition from indigenous people mar efforts to fulfill country’s mining potential

MINDORO, The Philippines—The island’s name means “gold mine” in Spanish, but it was nickel that was ultimately found in the mountains of Mindoro two decades ago.

Since then, like so many Philippine mining ventures, the proposed Mindoro Nickel project roughly 100 miles south of Manila has struggled to break ground because of onerous red tape and opposition from the indigenous people who inhabit these remote highlands.

Intex Resources ASA, the Norwegian company licensed to mine the nickel, secured a key environmental permit last month, clearing one of many regulatory hurdles, but still faces the uphill task of persuading the local Mangyan tribe to endorse the project.

“We want things to stay as they are,” said Lonito Dasa, a community leader. “We don’t want mining to threaten our way of life.” Indigenous peoples like the Mangyan have special rights under Philippine law that would make it hard for a project like Mindoro to go ahead without their approval.

It’s Rothschild vs. Widjaja: Superrich Battle Over Indonesia Coal Mine – by Dominique Fong (Wall Street Journal – May 12, 2015)

May 12, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Wealthy families from opposite sides of the world offer competing plans to restructure debt of Indonesian coal miner

HONG KONG—A battle between members of wealthy families from opposite sides of the world over an Indonesian coal miner on the verge of default will come to a head this week, the latest act in the drama surrounding London-listed Asia Resource Minerals PLC.

Leading the cast list of the superrich involved in the increasingly bitter struggle is 43-year old British financier Nat Rothschild, scion of the famous banking family, who is hoping to win back control of the company he first brought to the London market five years ago.

Asia Resource’s shareholders will vote Thursday on Mr. Rothschild’s proposal to inject $100 million into the company by underwriting a share issue that could take his stake in the company to around 60% from 17.5% now. Mr. Rothschild plans to pay off some of the company’s debt and restructure the rest by extending maturities and modifying the bonds’ interest rates.

Mr. Rothschild’s opponents are the billionaire Widjaja family, which doesn’t own a stake in Asia Resource but is hoping to keep its mines in Indonesian hands at a time of rising resource nationalism there, even as a plunge in coal prices in recent years that has prompted a nosedive in the value of the unprofitable company.

COLUMN-China stimulus, jobs worry may boost some commodity exports – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – May 11, 2015)

May 11, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 11 (Reuters) – China’s efforts to re-energise its economy through interest rate cuts are probably not enough to give much of a boost to commodity import demand, but oddly enough may act to boost some commodity exports.

The People’s Bank of China cut interest rates for the third time in six months on May 10 in the wake of weaker-than-expected trade and inflation numbers.

Analysts are divided on whether the rate cut will have much of an impact, with a seeming consensus that at best it will act to halt the slowing of economic growth, rather than increasing the pace.

For natural resource producers, already pressured by prices close to multi-year lows for several major commodities such as iron ore and coal, even a stabilisation of economic growth around Beijing’s 7 percent annual target would be good news.

However, for China’s commodity demand to rise in any meaningful way, it’s likely that fiscal stimulus in the form of increased spending on infrastructure and social housing will have to be put in place.

Shanghai Exchange Seeks Foreign Nickel to Help Ease Shortage (Bloomberg News – May 8, 2015)

May 8, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The Shanghai Futures Exchange plans to allow delivery of foreign-made nickel into its futures contracts as it seeks relief from a shortage of domestic supply to the bourse.

Russia’s OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer, is among suppliers the exchange plans to authorize, SHFE said Friday in an e-mailed response to questions. Six brands made by six domestic companies are currently deliverable into the SHFE futures, which started trading in March. That compares with 59 brands for its copper contract and 23 for the London Metal Exchange.

“Shanghai Futures Exchange has been actively seeking to proceed with registration of foreign nickel supply,” the exchange said. Prices below the cost of production for some companies are “the reason they are reluctant to sell, therefore reducing market supply.”

Rules limiting the origin of nickel allowed for delivery in China’s new futures prompted speculation prices may extend gains as sellers seek sufficient supplies to meet the requirements. The metal on the SHFE is up 11 percent since trading started March 27, outpacing the 7.5 percent advance on the LME.

Don’t count out India for Asia’s top economy – by Gwynne Dyer (Sudbury Star – May 7, 2015)

May 7, 2015

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The picture of the two Asian giants that most people carry around in their heads shows China racing ahead economically while India bumbles along, falling ever further behind.

People even talk about the 21st century as “China’s century”, just as they called the 20th century the “American century”. But it may turn out to be only China’s quarter-century.

The headline economic news this year is that India’s economy is growing faster than China’s. Not much faster yet, according to the official figures — a 7.5% annual rate for India vs. 7.4% for China — but there is good reason to suspect that the real Chinese growth rate is considerably lower than that.

Anybody who goes to both countries will see that India has a huge amount of catching up to do. The contrast in infrastructure is especially striking: China has 100,000 kilometres of expressways (freeways, motorways); India has only 1,000 km.

The differences in income and productivity are also very big: Gross domestic product per capita in China is between three and five times higher than in India, depending on how you calculate it.

BHP Wins as Modi Fails to Get India Coal Trains Running on Time – by Rajesh Kumar SinghDebjit Chakraborty (Bloomberg News – May 3, 2015)

May 5, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s plans to shift India’s economy toward manufacturing and away from agriculture and services are being held up by a coal shortage.

Actually, there’s plenty of coal, just not enough trains to get it to the power plants. While about 200 railway convoys arrive every day at Coal India Ltd.’s depots, Technical Director Nagendra Kumar said the company needs 230 of them. The state-run company supplies more than 80 percent of the nation’s coal.

India will need to upgrade its railway network for Coal India to open more mines and deliver its product, said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Shares & Securities Pvt., a Mumbai-based brokerage.

“The infrastructure bottlenecks are stopping Coal India from rising to its full potential,” Choksey said. Coal generates about 60 percent of India’s electricity.

With output climbing at Coal India, the fuel is piling up at the mines. At the same time, slumping global prices mean customers are turning to imports from the likes of Glencore Plc, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Indonesia’s PT Bumi Resources.

India a year after Modi’s election: The bullish case – by Vaishali Gauba (CNBC.com – May 5, 2015)

May 5, 2015

http://www.cnbc.com/

Almost a year after the world’s biggest democracy sent a reform-minded, pro-business candidate to its top political office, the bulls still have a case to make in favor of India—at least in the longer term.

Narendra Modi’s election whipped up an optimism that soon played out in India’s markets. The BSE Sensex, India’s chief stock index, shot up roughly 40 percent after his election last year. But things have cooled a lot in 2015, with the Sensex lower by 1.8 percent year-to-date.

But in the longer term, the bulls are still making a case for India. The nation is likely to become an increasingly important source of labor for global corporations. It has the best demographics among the big emerging-market countries, said Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman who famously coined the term “BRIC”—a catch-all for Brazil, Russia, India and China. A strong domestic market and a credible legal system are factors that make India slightly more balanced than China, he said.

“India has fantastic demographics. With urbanization in its early stages, size of the working population and productivity, India has great growth potential,” said O’Neill, now a visiting research fellow at leading European think tank Bruegel.

COLUMN-Iron ore reality check shows small, but significant change – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – May 4, 2015)

May 4, 2015

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 4 (Reuters) – It’s time for a reality check all round in the iron ore market.

In recent weeks there has been a strong rally in prices, tentative signs that the headlong expansion of capacity will be reined in, calls for a producer cartel of some sorts and a small miner scrappily hanging on in the face of seemingly overwhelming adversity.

All of this makes for great drama and news headlines, but also should lead to questions and analysis as to whether anything has actually changed in the iron ore market.

The first reality check is that despite the near 27 percent rally in the spot Asian iron ore price between April 6 and April 27, the price remains extremely weak.

Iron ore ended last week at $56.20 a tonne, having retreated from the $59.20 reached on April 27, leaving the steel-making ingredient down 21 percent so far this year. It’s also roughly half of what it was this time last year and not much better than a quarter of the record $191.90 a tonne in February 2011.

Rio Tinto CEO says iron ore demand still strong in Asia – by Vicky Validakis (Australian Mining – May 4, 2015)

May 4, 2015

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/home

Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh says commodity markets must remain open as debate continues to rage over his company’s iron ore strategy.

Speaking in Seoul, Walsh said when the commodity cycle became tough, there was a temptation to turn inward. “But we must keep our minds and our markets open,” Walsh said.

“There is a temptation to be parochial, to believe that artificial and temporary barriers will alleviate the pain of awkward transition — when to the contrary, being parochial may delay necessary change or amplify the response required.

“We can see such requests and pleas for new barriers, from some in government and some in business.”

While Walsh did not tie his comments directly to iron ore or the company’s Pilbara mines, they came at the same time FMG’s chairman Andrew Forrest had another go at Rio for its plans to ramp up production.

With iron ore prices down to around $US57 a tonne, major miners BHP and Vale announced revised plans to limit some production.

Iron ore streak extends to nine days – by Daniel Palmer (The Australian – April 29, 2015)

April 29, 2015

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

Iron ore has continued its march back toward $US60 a tonne in offshore trade amid rising hopes for more stimulus out of Beijing.

At the end of the latest session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US59.20 a tonne, up 0.9 per cent from its prior close of $US58.70 a tonne.

The gains extend a withering run for the commodity that has come as a surprise to many, with a surge of over 25 per cent from its 10-year low of $US46.70 a tonne earlier this month. Much of this recovery has come in the past nine trading days, with iron ore last seeing a red session on April 15.

The developments have allowed for a strong bounce in stock prices within the iron ore sector, with BC Iron and Fortescue Metals leading the way.

The two WA-based miners endured a rare negative session yesterday during the current iron ore streak, with stock in both firms sinking around 5 per cent by the close as the broader market moved lower. Another lift in the commodity’s price overnight, however, leaves them primed to recover much of those losses during today’s trade.

Mongolia signals it will not pay US$100 million to Canadian uranium miner Khan Resources – by Terrence Edwards (Reuters/National Post – April 28, 2015)

April 28, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

The government of Mongolia signaled on Monday it will not abide by an international tribunal’s order to pay more than US$100 million to Canadian uranium explorer Khan Resources Inc., whose chairman died suddenly while in the country meeting with officials over repayment plans last week.

“The Mongolian government, in order to protect its own interests, will work for the invalidation of the arbitration award,” a statement by the justice minister, dated Monday, said.

The move comes just days after Jim Doak, Khan’s chairman and a well-known figure in Canada’s financial industry, died in Ulan Bator from reasons deemed to be natural causes on April 23, a day after talks between the two sides ended.

Grant Edey, Khan’s CEO, said in an e-mail that the meeting was short because the two sides “remained apart in their respective positions” and the company is confident the award will be upheld.

China plans new commodity superhighway, altering energy trade flow – by Ilan Solomons (MiningWeekly.com – April 24, 2015)

April 27, 2015

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – China’s Go West strategy of encouraging coastal to inland flow of capital and people will result in the formation of a new commodity superhighway, says advisory firm Wood Mackenzie (Woodmac).

This new superhighway will impact the energy trade flows within China and externally, through the new Silk Road routes, and will link the country from east to west, onwards to Central Asia and beyond.

“This represents a significant business and investment opportunity for China’s western region,” states Woodmac. Woodmac principal Asia economist Cynthia Lim explains China’s Go West policy is already under way and is often touted as the country’s “silver bullet” to ensure long-term gross domestic product (GDP) growth, as China’s economically dominant coastal regions approach maturity.

“The coastal provinces will have to upgrade their industries to higher value-add sectors, such as services, while industries will relocate inland, westwards. This is shifting the regional distribution of demand centres and power generation; and the impact will become more apparent over the next two decades.

China is burning through its natural resources – by Vladimir Basov (Mining.com – April 26, 2015)

April 27, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

China is the world’s top mining country, but lack of local reserves of main mineral commodities forces local companies to hunt for mining deals globally.

Since nearly all essential production data has became available to the public, this is a good time to determine the biggest mining countries throughout the world in terms of their domestic mines output.

Due to lack of a common methodology, a simple principle of appreciated mining points credited to countries comprising the top 10 was used in this preliminary estimation.

For example, the leader in copper production was awarded 10 points, whereas a country sitting on tenth place earned one point. If a country placed out of the top 10 producers for a particular commodity, it earned zero mining points.

To simplify calculations, no weights reflecting the importance of each commodity, and other modifying factors, were taken into account. Only those most important for the world economy and most popular among investable mineral commodities, have been considered.