Asia Mining – Page 141 – Republic of Mining

Journalist burnt to death by mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh (India Today – June 21, 2015)

June 22, 2015

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/

A 40-year-old local journalist was burnt to death allegedly by three persons, suspected to be closely linked to sand mafia, who set him ablaze apparently over his refusal to withdraw a court case, police said on Sunday.

The burnt body of Sandeep Kothari, who was abducted from Katangi tehsil in Balaghat district two days back, was found lying near railway tracks at Sindi town in Wardha district of east Maharashtra on Saturday night, police said.

Additional Superintendent of Police Neeraj Soni said that Kothari was out of bail for the last two months in a rape case. “His (Kothari’s) body was identified by his brother,” it said.

BSP demanded a CBI probe into the murder, saying the scribe’s family was being “tormented” by the sand mafia in the past as he had “exposed” their activities. Former MLA from Balaghat, Kishore Samrite said Kothari was falsely implicated in more than 12 criminal cases.

“He was externed as he wrote against and also lodged complaints against manganese and sand mafias and other high and mighty people involved in organised crimes. His family too was tormented by mafias,” said Samrite.

Commentary: Govt needs to maximize benefits from Freeport – by Riyadi Suparno (Jakarta Post – June 22, 2015)

June 22, 2015

http://www.thejakartapost.com/

Timika, Papua – History is often forgotten when people discuss the fate of US-based Freeport McMoran’s copper, gold and silver mining operation in Papua. People tend to use the current situation to judge what happened in the late 1960s.

People critical of Freeport are quick to point out that the company has plundered Indonesia’s mining wealth in Papua since 1967 (or 1973, when its mines began production). They forget, however, to mention the situation at the time when Freeport entered Papua.

We need to consider at least three things about the situation when Freeport was given its mining contract of work (CoW) from the government of then newly-installed president Soeharto.

The first thing is that Indonesia was in a dire economic situation following the fall of strongman Sukarno, who brought Indonesia to its knees at the end of his two-decade-long rule.

In that context, Soeharto drafted a foreign-direct-investment law to attract badly needed investment. Freeport was the first foreign player to commit to large-scale investment in Indonesia, and the CoW it signed was the first of its kind.

Canadian mining industry feeling the sting from China’s steel surplus – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – June 22, 2015)

June 22, 2015June 22, 2015

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The steel industry is about to go from bad to worse. China, the world’s biggest consumer of steel, needs less metal. The Chinese housing market, responsible for using the bulk of steel, is bulging with empty properties.

As a result, the country, also the largest steel producer, is swimming in the metal and exporting more to get rid of it. “Things are getting worse and I don’t see any possibility of a rebound in under three years,” said Tim Murray, managing partner with investment adviser J Capital Research Ltd.

“What I have seen actually is a deepening of the crisis.” Although the country is aiming for economic growth of 7.5 per cent – a healthy clip that miners hope will help turn the commodities market around – there are alarming signs China is struggling with the overcapacity in its steel industry.

Last year, China’s steel exports jumped 50 per cent. The surge came in the same year that steel consumption eased 3 per cent, according to the World Steel Association.

Coal is not dead, says Adani – by Mark Ludlow (Australian Financial Review – June 16, 2015)

June 16, 2015

http://www.afr.com/

Indian energy giant Adani, which plans to make a final decision on its $16.5 billion Carmichael Mine this year, believes coal will remain the cheapest source of energy for decades.

As Adani signed agreements with indigenous groups which could deliver benefits worth $250 million over the next 30 years, Adani Australia chief operating officer Samir Vora said talk about the end of fossil fuels was exaggerated.

“Coal is definitely the main source of energy – you can’t deny it. It’s growing every year no matter what anyone says,” he said in an interview.

“India is investing in new generation technology to make coal more efficient to bring down the carbon footprint. There is a balance for everything [like renewables] but coal will undoubtedly remain the main source of fuel for decades.”

Amid speculation Adani would not be able to finance the mega-mine in Central Queensland, Mr Vora said he was confident it would have the funds once final mining and dredging approval was granted by the state and federal governments.

Shouldn’t India, like China, consider buying Australian iron ore assets? – by Kunal Bose (Business Standard – June 15, 2015)

June 16, 2015

http://www.business-standard.com/

Chinese iron ore production this year is likely to fall below 200 mt from 240 mt in 2014

The world is aware that Chinese steelmakers and investment groups are circling around distressed iron ore assets in Australia with a view to gaining control. Nothing surprising about the recent Chinese moves since these are part of by-now-long-established strategy of the world’s largest producer and consumer of steel to secure future supply of iron ore.

But shouldn’t some of our large producers of steel, which were forced to import rising quantities of iron ore in the past three years due to court-imposed curbs aimed at ending illegal mining, also consider buying assets in Australia and elsewhere when their valuations are so low? India, which not very long ago was the world’s third largest exporter of ore, had to import 15.5 million tonnes in 2014-15 to supplement reduced domestic supplies. Our steelmakers would often complain about domestic ore suppliers charging premiums over world prices.

What will also be a justification for them to seek a presence in Australian iron ore landscape is the difficulty in securing iron ore deposits here and then long gestation in opening mines. This is despite the country sitting on the world’s sixth largest iron ore resources estimated at well over 25 billion tonnes (bt). Business wanderlust led Indian groups in the past to acquire mines in more than one continent, though not all proved to be prized catches.

Billionaire Seeks BHP-Style Conglomerate in Vedanta Deal – by Debjit Chakraborty (Bloomberg News – June 14, 2015)

June 16, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s move to merge his two Indian units will create a national natural resources group to compete with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA. Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd. is planning to absorb Cairn India Ltd., combining India’s biggest producer of aluminum and copper with its largest onshore oil producer. The merger will create an entity with a market capitalization of about $11 billion, based on the last traded price of Vedanta Ltd.

“It’s a dream to create a singular yet powerful natural resources conglomerate of Indian origin to mirror the likes of BHP or Vale,” Tom Albanese, chief executive officer of parent Vedanta Resources Plc, said Sunday at the media briefing in Mumbai. “This conglomerate will be globally recognized.”

The merger will also help the group, weighed down by $12 billion of total debt, reorganize the finances of Vedanta Ltd., India’s second-most indebted metals company. The increased size will allow Albanese, the former CEO of Rio Tinto Group, to be more competitive against global resources giants.

“The consolidated entity will have the distinct advantage of size and strength because of the cash on Cairn India’s balance sheet,” Deven Choksey, managing director of K.R. Choksey Shares & Securities Ltd., said in a phone interview.

China Creates $16-Billion Silk Road Gold Fund – by Tim Maverick (Wall Street Daily – June 14, 2015)

June 15, 2015

http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/

Little by little, it’s becoming clear how far-reaching China’s Silk Road economic initiative really is.

Proposed in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the Belt and Road Initiative involves massive infrastructure spending, growing trade along the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Case in point is the promised massive $46-billion spending spree in neighboring Pakistan. Now, new information reveals that part of the initiative revolves around gold.

On May 23, the Xinhua news agency reported that China planned to launch a $16.1-billion (100 billion yuan) gold fund involving the Silk Road.

The fund, led by the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), “will facilitate gold purchases for the central banks of member states to increase their holdings of the precious metal,” reported Xinhua.

The member states include about 60 countries that lie on the Silk Road, including the world’s two biggest consumers of gold – China and India. Together, these 60 countries currently account for more than half of the world’s gold production and 80% of the total global gold consumption.

Coal India now sixth-largest mining company in world: PwC (Financial Express – June 15, 2015)

June 15, 2015

http://www.financialexpress.com/

Coal India (CIL) has become the sixth-largest mining company in the world in terms of market capital, says a recent PwC report.

Country’s top dry-fuel miner Coal India (CIL) has become the sixth-largest mining company in the world in terms of market capital, says a recent PwC report.

Earlier, the company was at the eighth spot among top 40 global mining firms, according to the report.
Another state-run company, NMDC, the country’s top iron ore miner which also figures in the list, has improved its position by coming to the 21st slot from 24th earlier.

The report “Mine 2015″, which analyses the financial performance of the top 40 mining companies by market capitalisation, says though there have been improvements in most financial statement metrics across the top 40 companies, market values continued to decline.

“The top 40 miners lost $156 billion, or about 16 per cent of their combined market value, in 2014,” the report said, adding that the good news is that it is only half of last year’s slide.

CHARTS: China’s steel, iron, coal industry growth collapsing – by Frik Els (Mining.com – June 12, 2015)

June 15, 2015

http://www.mining.com/

A new report shows China’s move away from industrialization and construction to consumption and services is happening much quicker than previously thought

China’s economic growth is expected to slow to 7% in 2015 and may even slip below that – the slowest pace since 1990.

While slower overall growth has long been expected, the transformation of China from an investment-led to a consumption driven economy appears to be happening much quicker that previously thought.

After the years of breakneck infrastructure investment, urbanization and industrialization that created the supercycle in commodity demand, Beijing is now shifting focus of policy to the services-orientated sectors of the economy.

A chart from oil giant BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2014 report shows how the energy intensive sectors of the Chinese economy “virtually collapsed”.

This strategy of curbing the once red-hot property sector and placing restrictions on heavy industry also ties in with the government’s fight against pollution after years of devastating environmental damage.

From Loathed to Loved: Iron Rallies as Quality Ore Is Gobbled Up – by Phoebe Sedgman (Bloomberg News – June 11, 2015)

June 15, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Iron ore’s gone from loathed to loved. The commodity capped a third weekly gain that lifted prices to the highest in almost five months on lower port stockpiles in China and speculation local production is contracting.

Ore of benchmark-grade 62 percent content delivered to Qingdao climbed 1.1 percent this week for the longest weekly run since April, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd. The commodity retreated 0.7 percent to $65.13 a dry metric ton on Friday after reaching $65.61 on June 11, the highest since Jan. 23.

Iron ore’s roller-coaster ride this year saw prices sink to a decade-low in early April on rising low-cost supply from the top producers and concern demand in China may falter as growth slowed. Tumbling stockpiles in the biggest buyer, as imports missed expectations, helped to spur back-to-back gains in April and May, and prices extended the rally into June. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is among banks predicting the factors that hurt prices in the first quarter will soon reassert themselves.

“There’s been a significant destocking gone on and that would be why we’ve seen the iron ore price rising, seasonal factors and the fact that they are destocking,” said David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney. “There’s a lack of inventory in China.”

Ferrochrome makers demand reopening of shut chromite mines – by Jayajit Dash (Business Standard – June 10, 2015)

June 11, 2015

http://www.business-standard.com/

The closure of some key chromite mines has triggered acute shortfall of chrome ore and ore concentrates for these units

Bhubaneswar – Faced with serious jeopardy in running their units due to inadequate chrome ore supplies, ferrochrome makers in the state have called for reopening of chromite mines that have remained shut since a Supreme Court order on illegal mining in May 2014.

The closure of some key chromite mines has triggered acute shortfall of chrome ore and ore concentrates for these units. The shortage for non-captive ferrochrome units stands at over one million tonne against their annual requirement of 1.4 million tonne.

“Chrome ore production has dropped drastically due to shutdown of mines. As a result, ferrochrome makers are suffering. We have urged the state government to extend the validity of closed chromite mines like they did for iron ore mines, which were also shut on the apex court’s order.

Now that the government has issued orders for reopening of some iron ore mines, we believe that it will do the same in case of the closed chrome ore mines,” said Vishal Agarwal, vice chairman and managing director, Visa Steel and chairman, Odisha expert committee of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Brace for surging BRICs, BHP chief Mackenzie warns – by Scott Murdoch (The Australian – June 11, 2015)

June 11, 2015

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

BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has warned Australian miners to expect a surge of competition from rival countries selling to China, as the Asian giant strengthens business and diplomatic ties with a number of mineral-producing nations.

In Beijing, Mr Mackenzie told The Australian China’s growing relationship with Latin America, especially Brazil, could be a risk to Australia’s export levels in future.

Mr Mackenzie said Australian producers needed to ensure their Chinese customers were confident that security of supply would not be affected over the next few years.

Mr Mackenzie chaired a high-level meeting with Premier Li Keqiang and 14 top global chief executives at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday to examine China’s economic transformation. The Chinese government has put in place an official target for the economy to grow by 7 per cent this year.

The Muslim Miners of Mongolia – by Saleem Ali (National Geographic – June 9, 2015)

June 10, 2015

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

Five years ago I wrote a book called Treasures of the Earth, in which I developed an argument around how redefining our relationship with primary geological resources is the most elemental means of charting a pathway for environmental and social sustainability.

Extracting resources can bring much pain and promise to the people who are involved or impacted by the process. Nevertheless, the advent of extraction has been an essential part of the development of modern society.

The allure of mineral wealth is a common human impulse shared by most global cultures and creeds. Mining rushes are moments of convergence and nowhere is this more apparent these days than Mongolia – that vast land-locked country which once sent hordes of gallant warriors to conquer more than half of Asia.

The country is booming with mining professionals from all over the world as one of the world’s largest forecasted copper mines got approval to move forward with expansion in mid-May.

The history of mining in Mongolia, and the resulting migration of multiple cultures, is certainly not new.

COLUMN-Can Indonesia save the seaborne coal market? – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – June 10, 2015)

June 10, 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, June 10 (Reuters) – The coal industry always seems to be looking for a white knight to rescue it from some crisis, and it is perhaps ironic that Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter, is the next great hope that is to save global miners from the current supply glut.

The theory is that as Indonesia ramps up domestic coal-fired power generation, it will rotate its exports to meet local demand, thereby removing millions of tonnes from the seaborne market and bringing it back into balance.

This sounds fantastic to coal producers, particularly those in Australia, South Africa and Russia, who are looking to boost exports into Asian markets.

But white knights have had a somewhat chequered recent history for coal producers and traders. China was once supposed to be the huge market that would suck up every tonne of coal that could be mined, and for a brief few years it looked like it might just work.

Chinese imports rose steadily from 2009 onwards, and by 2011, some forecasters were saying the world’s biggest producer and consumer of coal would import a billion tonnes a year.

China Commodity Appetite Weakens as Growth Seen at Risk (Bloomberg News – June 8, 2015)

June 9, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

China’s imports of oil, copper and iron ore slid last month amid a broader slowdown in trade that highlights the country’s weakening economy and threatens growth targets.

Inbound shipments of oil dropped to the lowest in 15 months, overseas copper purchases retreated from the highest in a year and iron ore cargoes slid for a second month, data from the country’s General Administration of Customs showed Monday.

Weakening imports of raw materials will add to speculation that domestic demand in the world’s biggest consumer of energy, metals and grains is faltering. The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 23 commodities is extending its biggest slide since the 2008 global financial crisis amid concern the nation will fail to contain a slowdown.

“The macro economy is still weak,” Li Li, an analyst with Shanghai-based commodities researcher ICIS-China, said by phone. “Demand from the downstream heavy industrial sector, including transportation and property, have shown no signs of recovery.”

The country’s total imports shrank by the most since February while exports fell for a third month. That coincides with a slump in investment growth that’s putting Premier Li Keqiang’s 2015 expansion target of about 7 percent at risk.