Asia Mining – Page 145 – Republic of Mining

China expands potash holdings (The Australian – April 21, 2015)

April 21, 2015

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

Dow Jones – China’s sovereign-wealth fund took command of a 12.5 per cent stake in embattled Russian potash producer Uralkali Tuesday by exercising an option on a convertible bond it bought late last year.

The step represents a big move by China–the world’s largest consumer of the fertiliser additive–to secure steady supply in a market where governments have zealously protected against foreign ownership in the past. The deal comes amid a bruising trade battle between Uralkali and Belarus over the collapse of a sales partnership that rocked global potash markets and landed the Russian company’s chief executive in a Belarusian prison.

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has said the trade fight could only be defused if new owners for the Russian potash miner were found. The bond was issued by a special purpose vehicle owned by Uralkali’s primary shareholder Suleiman Kerimov and his two partners. By converting it to shares, the China Investment Corp.–through its Chengdong Investment Corp. subsidiary–transfers ownership of a sizeable stake of the company out of the Russian partners’ hands.

In addition, Mr. Kerimov is in talks to sell the 21.75 per cent stake he owns through his foundation, and his partners are eager to sell their smaller stakes as well, people close to them say. Together the three men control just over a third of the company. People familiar with the situation say potential buyers include several Russian tycoons, but that there is also interest from investment groups in other Asian countries.

Short seller activities come to light in B.C. regulator’s probe of Silvercorp Metals Inc affair – by Peter Koven (National Post – April 18, 2015)

April 20, 2015

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

On Sept. 13, 2011, Silvercorp Metals Inc. was set to present at an investor conference in New York. And Jon Carnes and Carson Block wanted to disrupt it.

Both men were shorting Silvercorp shares, betting the stock would slide. And Carnes, who runs a hedge fund called Eos Funds, was preparing to publish a negative report on the company using the name “Alfred Little,” one of multiple pseudonyms he used. In a series of emails, the men agreed the best time to publish it would be shortly before Silvercorp’s presentation at the annual Rodman and Renshaw Global Investment conference — forcing the company to respond to questions about the report, with little time to prepare.

“Would be fantastic to start passing around paper versions of the report during the preso (presentation). Ballsy, but would be hilarious,” Block wrote in an email unearthed by regulators.

A couple of days later, Carnes emailed back and said their plan was a success. “Great idea publishing before their Rodman presentation. It was a disaster for them,” he said.

Nickel miner TVI may delay Philippine IPO due to weak metal prices – by Erik dela Cruz (Reuters U.S. – April 17, 2015)

April 17, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

Manila – (Reuters) – TVI Resources Development Phils. Inc (TVIRD), a Philippine nickel miner partly owned by Canada’s TVI Pacific Inc, may push back a planned initial public offering to next year if metal prices remain depressed, its chairman said on Friday.

After a sterling performance in 2014, shares in Philippine nickel miners have fallen this year because of a slump in metal prices and an economic slowdown in China. Shares in top producer and exporter Nickel Asia Corp have lost nearly 39 percent.

“The target is to list in the fourth quarter. But right now I would not be recommending to the board that we do it,” TVIRD Chairman Clifford James told reporters after speaking at an industry forum. “When market conditions are good, that’s when we’ll list.”

In October, TVIRD began nickel ore exports from its newly developed Agata mine in Surigao province in southern Philippines, a major nickel-producing region supplying ore to processing plants in Australia, China, South Korea and Japan.

Last year the Southeast Asian country became the biggest ore supplier to China’s producers of nickel pig iron, which is used in stainless steel production, after Indonesia banned exports of unprocessed metallic minerals.

Why coal looms large in India’s future – by Peter Foster (National Post – April 17, 2015)

April 17, 2015

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

Narendra Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Canada since Indira Ghandi. For much of the intervening period, relations were sticky because of that unfortunate business of India using Canadian technology to manufacture nuclear weapons. At the same time, India’s growth was held back by poor economic policies and widespread corruption, much of it soaked in socialist cant.

Those lousy policies also go back to Mrs. Ghandi. Mr. Modi is rightly seen as a breath of fresh air, even if he inevitably has to play the hypocritical game of global realpolitik.

The alleged landmark deal of Mr. Modi’s visit is India’s $350 million purchase of Saskatchewan uranium. This both symbolically buries the bomb issue, and enables Mr. Modi to trumpet his country’s commitment to “sustainable development,” even as SD is increasingly exposed for the unworkable non-concept that it is.

The notion first emerged at the 1972 UN conference on the environment in Stockholm. Conceived by British intellectual Barbara Ward, who thought the Industrial Revolution had been a mistake, SD’s conceit was that poor nations had to grow while avoiding free markets and fossil fuels.

RPT-COLUMN-China aluminium surplus to eat away global deficit – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – April 16, 2015)

April 17, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, April 16 (Reuters) – China’s exports of aluminium products have continued to surge, a trend that if continued may push the rest of the world toward a surplus.

China’s exports of primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium grew by around 43 percent in the first quarter over the same period last year, according to preliminary customs data released on Monday.

While the initial data release doesn’t provide the detailed breakdown, figures for January and February show that the overwhelming share is semi-finished products, such as bars, rods, wire, plates, sheet and foil.

In the first two months of the year, exports in this category, commonly known as semis, surged 91 percent to 770,000 tonnes, a trend that will almost certainly be continued when the detailed March figures are released later this month. Exports of semis have surged because they get a 13 percent value-added tax rebate, that largely offsets the 15 percent export tax on aluminium.

The tax rebate doesn’t apply to exports of primary aluminium, but it’s a common view in the market that much of China’s exports of semis is melted down and re-fabricated by importers.

Modi’s coal turnaround to ease chronic power cuts – by Krishna N. Das (Reuters India – April 16, 2015)

April 17, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI – (Reuters) – Fewer power cuts are likely in India this summer after a surge in output at Coal India (COAL.NS) helped generators amass record stocks, a turnaround for Narendra Modi who had to battle a power crisis within months of becoming prime minister last May.

Fast-track mine approvals, tighter production oversight and more flexibility in coal sales have helped power station stocks recover from a six-year low hit in October, vindicating Modi’s pitch to voters as the state leader who brought round-the-clock power to industrial Gujarat.

As Modi prepares to mark his first year in office and seeks to fulfil a poll promise to provide power to all of India’s 1.2 billion people by 2019, power stations hold 28 million tonnes of coal, a 38 percent jump from a year ago, government data shows.

“The situation is improving,” said K. Raja Gopal, head of the thermal power business at construction, power and real estate conglomerate Lanco Infratech (LAIN.NS), pointing to recent growth in Coal India output. “More needs to be done but 8 to 9 percent didn’t happen before.”

India, the world’s third-largest coal buyer, is expected to cut imports by a fifth in the fiscal year to March 31 from an estimated 200 million tonnes in the previous year. Power companies have relied on imports for 15 percent of their coal needs.

Uranium deal with India signals new era, Modi tells Harper – by Les Whittington (Toronto Star – April 16, 2015)

April 16, 2015

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Trade, energy, the environment, security, and culture are expected to be among the issues Harper and Modi will discuss during the visit.

OTTAWA—Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his visit to Canada by signing a uranium supply deal with Ottawa he says signals a new era in cooperation between the two nations.

At a joint press conference on Parliament Hill with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Modi said the agreement that will see hundreds of millions of dollars worth of uranium exported to India from Saskatchewan annually “is a mark (of Canada’s) trust and confidence” in his country.

“And this is going to take forward our relations,” Modi told the media, adding that uranium for India’s civilian nuclear program will help his country address global warming through “clean energy” and thus allows India “to give something to the world.”

Harper, who will accompany Modi to Toronto and Vancouver during the Indian leader’s three-day visit, agreed the uranium sales deal will end the lingering tension arising from India’s use of Canadian equipment to develop a nuclear bomb in the 1970s — which Harper said created “an unnecessarily frosty relationship for far too long.”

NEWS RELEASE: Sale of Canadian Uranium to India Denounced by International Experts at the World Uranium Symposium

April 16, 2015

QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC–(Marketwired – April 15, 2015) – About 200 international experts and delegates of the World Uranium Symposium this morning denounced the sale of Canadian uranium to India, a country that maintains an arsenal of nuclear weapons and has never signed the United Nations’ Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). By signing such a deal on the eve of the NPT review conference to be held in New York City in two weeks’ time, Canada is undermining and discrediting the key international treaty prohibiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

“Canada’s attitude sends a terrible message to the international community regarding the necessity for all countries to respect and to reinforce the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” said Arielle Denis, Director of the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“India’s nuclear weapons program is very active, as demonstrated by a series of nuclear test explosions. Moreover tensions between India and Pakistan, a country with its own nuclear arsenal, are running very high. The attitude of Canada is irresponsible and alarming,” according to Shri Prakash, one of several participants from India at the World Uranium Symposium.

“Despite rules specifying no military use of Canadian materials, some uranium from Canada could well end up in Indian bombs,” said Dr. Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. “At the very least, Canadian uranium will free up more Indian uranium for weapons production purposes.”

Cameco’s first deal with India gives it access to the world’s second-fastest-growing consumer of uranium – by Jonathan Ratner (National Post – April 16, 2015)

April 16, 2015

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

The numbers certainly aren’t mind-blowing on Cameco Corp.’s five-year agreement to provide 7.1 million pounds of uranium to India through 2020.

The deal is only estimated to be worth $350 million and it’s small when you consider that the Saskatchewan-based miner sells about 33 million pounds of uranium annually.

But it’s not the size of the deal that prompted investors to push the stock up 7.56 per cent on Wednesday. What excites them and Tim Gitzel, Cameco’s chief executive, is the opportunity that has now opened up.

“This was more than a uranium buy-sell agreement,” Gitzel said in a telephone interview. “It was really a marking of a new relationship between Canada and India via Cameco. The pounds here aren’t enormous, it’s really the importance of being able now to deal with the Indians and bid into their market.”

Canada banned uranium exports to India in the 1970s after the country used Canadian technology to build nuclear weapons. But the countries put what Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an “unnecessarily frosty relationship” behind them on Wednesday, building on a nuclear cooperation agreement established in 2013.

Cameco signs major uranium supply deal with India (Business Network News – April 15, 2015)

April 15, 2015

http://www.bnn.ca/

BNN.ca staff

Canada’s largest uranium producer has signed a sales agreement with India. Cameco will provide the Department of Atomic Energy of India with 7.1 million pounds of uranium concentrate under a long-term contract through 2020.

“This contract opens the door to a dynamic and expanding uranium market,” Cameco president and CEO Tom Gitzel said in a statement. “Much of the long-term growth we see coming in our industry will happen in India and this emerging market is key to our strategy.”

The agreement, worth $350-million to Cameco, was announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada Wednesday. Cameco shares (CCO.TO 5.69%) surged almost five percent Wednesday to $19.80 on the TSX after the news was announced.

Looming India Uranium Deal Huge for Saskatchewan, Premier Says – by Josh Wingrove (Bloomberg News – April 10, 2015)

April 13, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Cameco Corp., Canada’s biggest uranium producer, would reap a revenue windfall once a sales agreement is finalized with India, while boosting employment in its home province, Saskatchewan’s premier said.

A deal would be “huge,” yielding hundreds of millions in revenue and supporting jobs in the mining sector, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday. He was asked to comment on a possible agreement by Saskatchewan-based Cameco to provide uranium for nuclear power.

“It’ll mean tax revenue, it’ll mean job retention, it’ll mean new jobs, if in fact there is an agreement here with India,” Wall said by telephone. “Depending on all the specifics, you’re going to be talking about hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sales over some period of time.”

A long-term deal by Cameco to sell uranium to India could be announced as soon as next week when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Canada, said a person familiar with negotiations, who asked not to be identified because the agreement isn’t yet final. The Globe and Mail had reported the possibility of a deal earlier Friday. Modi is scheduled to make a three-day trip to Canada from April 14-16, with stops in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.

Can Indonesia’s 50 Cent-an-Hour Workers Mimic China’s Success? – by Chris Brummitt (Bloomberg News – April 9, 2015)

April 13, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

As the sun lowers into the Java Sea, Asep Saefullah and his friends sit by a pond among the rice fields near his village in Indonesia, chatting, smoking clove cigarettes and fishing.

Not for much longer. Work has begun on an industrial park with a power station and water treatment plant that will create as many as 190,000 jobs. It’s part of a grander plan to turn this stretch of coastline on the island of Java into an export city, with a container port and a highway to the capital, Jakarta.

This is Indonesia’s shot at recreating the success of Shenzhen, the marshy village in southern China that became the heart of that nation’s industrial expansion in the late 1990s. Now China is too expensive for many factories, and industries that poured money into cities from Shenzhen to Shanghai for two decades are looking for somewhere with lower costs and lots of cheap workers.

“The great China boom was really bad for the Southeast Asia economies,” said Tim Condon, the Singapore-based head of Asia research at ING Groep NV. “With the China slowdown, all that moves in reverse. Southeast Asia’s manufacturing sector is the big winner, as it was in the early 90s.”

Japan Bets on Nuclear, and Coal, for Future Power – by Keith Johnson (Foreign Policy – April 8, 2015)

April 13, 2015

https://foreignpolicy.com/

Four years after Fukushima, Tokyo is angling to get nuclear reactors back online. But dirty old coal will be doing the real heavy lifting.

Japan has a new blueprint for its energy future, one that opens the door for a controversial return of nuclear power four years after the Fukushima accident took the country’s reactors offline. But even more noteworthy is that Japan now appears set to embrace a dominant role for dirty coal in the country’s energy mix for decades to come.

The plan, presented Tuesday, April 7, to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and expected to be finalized this spring, highlights the difficult choices that developing and even developed countries must make — just months before a landmark climate conference in Paris — between cheap but dirty energy and more expensive, if cleaner alternatives. Japan’s struggles are complicated further by the political fallout of Fukushima, which forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and has left a residue of radioactive soil and water.

Abe’s blueprint envisions stable, round-the-clock power sources such as nuclear, coal, and hydroelectric growing from about 40 percent of the electricity mix today to 60 percent in 2030. The rest of Japan’s electricity would come from natural gas and renewable energy like wind and solar power, complemented by increasingly aggressive efforts to boost energy efficiency.

While there are no hard-and-fast targets yet for nuclear power in the new plan, officials say it would represent about 20 percent of the total — slightly more than the 15 percent that Abe had sought, but much less than the 30 percent of Japan’s electricity in the years before Fukushima.

Indian PM Modi eyes uranium supply deal with Canada – by Steven Chase and Kim MacKrael (Globe and Mail – April 10, 2015)

April 10, 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.

OTTAWA — Canada’s biggest uranium producer is in advanced talks with India on a deal to supply the country of 1.2 billion with fuel for nuclear power plants as Ottawa prepares to welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week, sources say.

Mr. Modi has made it clear that obtaining a commercial supply of uranium from Canada’s Cameco Corp. is a major goal for him as he gets ready to visit Canada on April 14-16.

“We look forward to resuming our civil nuclear energy cooperation with Canada, especially for sourcing uranium fuel for our nuclear power plants,” the Indian leader posted on his Facebook page late last week.

Nuclear power is at the heart of a rapprochement between India and Canada in recent years. Canada banned exports of uranium and nuclear hardware to India in the 1970s after New Delhi used Canadian technology to develop a nuclear bomb.

The two countries turned the page with a deal that took effect in 2013. The highly symbolic Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement demonstrates that Canada no longer considers India a pariah for what it did in the 1970s.

Iron ore in fresh crisis as forward prices crumble – by Henning Gloystein and Manolo Serapio Jr. (Reuters India – April 10, 2015)

April 9, 2015

http://in.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE – (Reuters) – Iron ore is veering to a new crisis as prices for future delivery of the commodity slide 30 percent in the space of a month, and its outlook is now more bearish than oil and more dire than ever for miners struggling to just stay in business.

Prices of the steel-making ingredient for immediate delivery have slumped 60 percent over the past year as demand particularly from China slowed rapidly.

Despite the crumbling cash market, miners had been able to hedge future production at prices well above spot levels. Indeed, a month ago, miners could still sell 2017 output at close to $70 a tonne even as April 2015 prices fell below $60 for the first time in more than five years.

Forward iron ore prices have since tumbled below $47 for deliveries all the way until the end of 2017, depriving nearly all miners of any chance of establishing hedges at or above breakeven levels during that period.

A combination of factors brought about the recent capitulation in forward prices, most notably news that China plans to subsidise its iron ore sector to protect its flagging steel industry. Subsidies would help keep mines open and keep supplies flowing.