Asia Mining – Page 151 – Republic of Mining

Prem Watsa embraces his roots with launch of Fairfax India – by Jacqueline Nelson (Globe and Mail – November 27, 2014)

November 27, 2014

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.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. founder Prem Watsa has always seen major growth potential in his birthplace of India, and now he is putting money behind that vision with a new investment holding company that has already raised $500-million (U.S.).

Toronto-based Fairfax said Wednesday that it will sponsor and promote Fairfax India Holdings Corp., which will operate as a public company that invests in businesses focused on India’s marketplace.

Fairfax India will be funded in part by a $300-million investment by Fairfax, in exchange for 30 million voting shares, according to an initial public offering prospectus filed Wednesday. Hyderabad-born Mr. Watsa will serve as chair of the new company.

“We’ve been in India for at least 15 years, but we’ve found that the amount of money we could invest given regulatory constraints is limited.

The opportunity in India is greater than our ability to invest alone so we decided to create a separate company to allow other investors to participate,” Mr. Watsa said when reached by phone in Toronto. The company will be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Richest Woman in Asia-Pacific Buys Iron as BHP Calls End to Era – by Jasmine Ng and David Stringer (Bloomberg News – November 21, 2014)

November 21, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Gina Rinehart, the Asia-Pacific’s richest woman, is set to start exports in September from her new A$10 billion ($8.6 billion) iron ore mine undeterred by prices trading near five-year lows and forecast to extend losses.

“We don’t like the ore price going down, but we’re in the lower quartile” of production costs, Rinehart, chairman of Hancock Prospecting Pty, said yesterday in an interview at the Roy Hill mine in Australia’s iron-rich Pilbara region.

She was talking just hours after Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive officer of BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), called an end to the era of “massive expansions of iron ore.” BHP and rivals Rio Tinto Group (RIO) and Vale SA (VALE5) are flooding the global market, spurring a surplus after a $120 billion spending spree to boost the capacity of their mines from Australia to Brazil.

“I don’t think next year would be ideal to be adding new supply,” Daniel Morgan, a Sydney-based analyst at UBS AG, said in a Nov. 17. phone interview. “The market is pretty well supplied for the next few years.”

BHP stock lost 4.7 percent in Sydney this week for the biggest weekly loss since March, while Rio shares fell 6.1 percent. Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) Ltd., the country’s third-biggest shipper, retreated 54 percent this year.

Australia positioned as an Indo-Pacific power with new China, India trade deals – by Matthew Fisher (National Post – November 21, 2014)

November 21, 2014

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

CANBERRA — Australia is on the kind of diplomatic tear Canada can only dream of. Brisbane got lots of global attention by hosting the Group of 20 leaders summit in Brisbane last weekend because so many participants lined up behind Canada’s Stephen Harper to disparage Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Kremlin’s malignant actions in Ukraine.

Less than 24 hours later in Canberra, the Australian capital, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed China’s biggest trade deal ever. Mr. Abbott followed that triumph by announcing a strategic security alliance with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and, perhaps rashly, promised another trade deal could be expected by the end of 2015.

As Australia’s daily Financial Review crowed, “Simultaneous visits by Xi and Modi mark us as no longer an appendix to Asia, but as a core Indo-Pacific power.”

The optics must have looked good to the 2.6 billion people back home in China and India, too. The two leaders were accorded rapturous welcomes when they addressed Australia’s parliament on consecutive days.

Mr. Xi talked about how it was best to achieve peace through trade. Mr. Modi spoke of the bonds that Indians and Australians share. Both countries are democracies, he said, and their citizens love cricket.

INTERVIEW-India to allow foreign firms mine and sell coal – by Krishna N. Das (Reuters India – November 20, 2014)

November 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI, Nov 20 (Reuters) – India will allow locally registered foreign firms to mine and sell coal when commercial mining is permitted as part of the opening up of the nationalised industry after four decades, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told Reuters.

To end a chronic coal shortage that cripples power plants and curb the country’s imports of the fuel, the Narendra Modi government will also spend about $1 billion by 2019 to buy railway wagons and transport coal from remote mines, Swarup said in an interview on Thursday.

The government last month made provisions for private firms to commercially mine coal but did not set any timeline for when actual digging will start.

The decision will open the door to global giants like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton and help ramp up output from India’s huge reserves – the world’s fifth biggest.

“Any company registered in India can bid (when a commercial coalfield auction takes place),” Swarup said. “So a foreign company registered in India can also bid, provided they fulfil other conditions.”

Opening up the industry will increase private coal production to about 400 million tonnes by 2019 from less than 50 million tonnes last year, Swarup said.

Nickel Rises Most in Three Weeks as Indonesia Adheres to Ore Ban – by Debarati Roy and Laura Clarke (Boomberg News – November 19, 2014)

November 19, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Nickel prices rose the most in three weeks after Indonesia said a ban on exports of unprocessed ore remains in place, reinforcing concern that global demand is set to exceed supplies.

Today, Bambang Adi Winarso, senior adviser to the coordinating minister for economic affairs, affirmed the policy by Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of mined nickel ore. Residential-construction permits in the U.S. climbed in October to a six-year high, the government said. Copper, aluminum and lead prices rose.

“Strong U.S. data, combined with supply concerns from Indonesia, is pulling nickel higher,” Tim Evans, the chief market strategist at Long Leaf Trading Group, Inc. in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “We are seeing some buying across base metals.”

Nickel for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange advanced 3.2 percent to $16,149 a metric ton at 4:50 p.m. A close at that price would mark the biggest jump since Oct. 28. Through yesterday, the commodity rose 13 percent this year.

Citigroup Inc. yesterday forecast a global deficit of 62,400 tons in 2015, expanding to 103,600 tons in the following year. “Inventories of nickel in all its various forms have fallen in China, with supply now falling as well in the form of a seasonal decline in Filipino exports,” the bank said. “Optimism remains strong toward nickel prices for 2015.”

Xi’s visit to Tasmania positive, but exposes mining to dining myth – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – November 19, 2014)

November 19, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

HOBART, Australia – Why would arguably the world’s second-most powerful person bother to visit an island at the bottom of the world most famous for a cartoon character that bears little resemblance to the real animal?

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit on Tuesday to Hobart was a series of photo opportunities with real Tasmanian devils, school children and very eager to impress political leaders in Australia’s southern island state.

But while Xi was busy showing his softer side, the real business was happening across town where Australian and Chinese business leaders were attending a forum on investment opportunities in Tasmania.

Tasmania is hoping to leverage its clean, green environment into booming Chinese demand for quality agricultural produce such as beef, lamb, salmon and seafood like rock lobster and abalone.

Tourism was also a key component, with Xi’s visit sparking hopes of increased Chinese interest in the natural beauty of Tasmania, which is roughly the size of Sri Lanka but has a population of only around 500,000 people. The forum also highlighted the mining opportunities in the state, particularly those for copper and nickel as well as minor metals such as tungsten.

Japan’s nuclear restart to boost Australian uranium industry – by Vicky Validakis (Australian Mining – November 18, 2014)

November 18, 2014

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

The Minerals Council of Australia says Australia’s uranium industry is set for a boost as Japan moves to restart nuclear reactors for the first time since the Fukushima meltdown.

Two reactors at Japan’s Sendai nuclear plant in the south west of the country are due to restart next year after receiving approval from local governor Yuichiro Ito.

This is the first time a reactor will restart since an earthquake triggered a tsunami in 2011, causing a meltdown at the Fukushima facility.

All of Japan’s 48 nuclear plants were shut down in response, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been pushing for their reopening as the cost of importing oil and gas hurts the Japanese economy, BBC reported.

Before the meltdown nuclear energy produced around 30 per cent of Japan’s power. “I have decided that it is unavoidable to restart the No. 1 and No. 2 Sendai nuclear reactors,” Ito said. “I have said that assuring safety is a prerequisite and that the government must ensure safety and publicly explain it thoroughly to residents.”

Executive director for uranium at the Minerals Council of Australia Daniel Zavattiero said the move was good news for the local uranium industry and its 4000 workers.

Coal Rush in India Could Tip Balance on Climate Change – by Gardiner Harris (New York Times – November 17, 2014)

November 18, 2014

http://www.nytimes.com/

DHANBAD, India — Decades of strip mining have left this town in the heart of India’s coal fields a fiery moonscape, with mountains of black slag, sulfurous air and sickened residents.

But rather than reclaim these hills or rethink their exploitation, the government is digging deeper in a coal rush that could push the world into irreversible climate change and make India’s cities, already among the world’s most polluted, even more unlivable, scientists say.

“If India goes deeper and deeper into coal, we’re all doomed,” said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, director of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and one of the world’s top climate scientists. “And no place will suffer more than India.”

India’s coal mining plans may represent the biggest obstacle to a global climate pact to be negotiated at a conference in Paris next year. While the United States and China announced a landmark agreement that includes new targets for carbon emissions, and Europe has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent, India, the world’s third-largest emitter, has shown no appetite for such a pledge.

“India’s development imperatives cannot be sacrificed at the altar of potential climate changes many years in the future,” India’s power minister, Piyush Goyal, said at a recent conference in New Delhi in response to a question. “The West will have to recognize we have the needs of the poor.”

What does an RMB trading hub mean for Canada? – by Dana Flavelle (Toronto Star – November 11, 2014)

November 14, 2014

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.

Canada has been designated a trading hub for China’s currency. What does it mean in terms of jobs, the economy and international trade?

Canada has been designated a trading hub for China’s currency, a move aimed at boosting international business between the two countries while also nudging China’s once cloistered “redback” toward global status.

Among other things, it means for the first time, Canadians can open bank accounts in Canada that contain China’s yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB).

Canadian institutional investors, such as pension funds, will also be able to buy up to 50 billion yuan worth of Chinese bonds and stocks directly. That’s roughly $9.2 billion.

The deal will “continue to boost the Toronto region’s status as a global financial centre,” Janet Ecker, president and chief executive officer of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, said in a statement.

Court fight complicates Centerra Gold’s Kyrgyzstan connection – by Jeff Gray (Globe and Mail – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

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 fate of one of the largest gold mines in the world, nestled in the remote mountains of Kyrgyzstan, could rest on the outcome of an obscure Canadian court battle.

Toronto-based Centerra Gold Inc. owns the Kumtor mine, but has faced political pressure and protests over its environmental impact and over whether Kyrgyzstan is getting its fair share of the profits.

Centerra is essentially a legal bystander, however, as a court case in Toronto proceeds over whether another company can seize millions of dollars worth of Centerra shares that are held by a Kyrgyzstani state-owned enterprise. If the shares are seized, Centerra says, a restructuring plan aimed at giving the Kyrgyzstani government a bigger stake in the mine would become impossible.

The Canadian court battle involves another Toronto-based natural resources company, Stans Energy Corp., which alleges that it was unfairly blocked from developing an open-pit rare earth metals mine in Kyrgyzstan.

Stans challenged this decision in international arbitration proceedings in Moscow, alleging that Kyrgyzstan violated the Moscow Convention, a 1997 treaty among post-Soviet countries on foreign investment.

Australia looks to ‘dining boom’ and trade deal with China – by Jane Wardell (Reuters India – November 13, 2014)

November 13, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – Nov 13 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to the remote island state of Tasmania underscores Australia’s push to ramp up agricultural exports, with the two countries on the verge of signing a free trade agreement.

Australia is attempting to transition from a reliance on exports of minerals such as coal and iron ore to expanding its food and agricultural exports to a growing Asian middle class, moving from a “mining boom” to a “dining boom”.

A free trade agreement with China would be a huge boost for that aim and Tasmania, the only Australian state with a ban on genetically modified food crops and animal feed, is at the heart of the country’s high-end production.

China is already Australia’s largest trading partner, with two-way trade of about $150 billion in 2013. But China has been concerned about opening its markets to Australian food and unhappy with strict Australian limits on investment by China’s state-owned enterprises.

In Australia, meanwhile, ownership of farmland by foreign investors is a sensitive issue, but Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made reaching an agreement with China a priority.

Expectations are high that a deal will be announced after Xi’s visit for the Group of 20 summit in Brisbane.

As China demand slows, Indian iron ore imports surge to record – by Manolo Serapio Jr (Reuters India – November 11, 2014)

November 12, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SINGAPORE, Nov 11 (Reuters) – India’s iron ore imports jumped to a record 5 million tonnes in April-October, industry data showed, as a deepening shortage at home forces steelmakers to turn overseas for the raw material.

Gathering momentum in Indian imports should absorb some of the global surplus of iron ore and help stabilise prices that have been hammered by slowing demand from top buyer China.

But analysts warned that shipments to India, a country that holds vast reserves of iron ore and which was once the world’s No. 3 supplier, would not wholly make up for the drop in Chinese appetite or fuel a sharp rebound in global prices from their lowest since 2009.

India imported 5.06 million tonnes of iron ore in the first seven months of the fiscal year ending in October, according to data emailed to Reuters by industry consultancy SteelMint. The firm tracked shipments from 17 major ports.

Data collected separately by consultancy OreTeam puts April-October imports at 4.9 million tonnes. Official government data only covers April-August, with imports totalling 2 million tonnes.

Mining curbs due to court action against illegal mining have constricted iron ore supply in India.

China commodity imports don’t fit soft economic narrative – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – November 10, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia – (Reuters) – It’s becoming increasingly hard to make Chinese commodity import data fit with the prevailing narrative of a softening in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Trade figures released Nov. 8 showed ongoing strength across a broad spectrum of commodity imports, with the only consistent weak spot this year being coal.

October iron ore imports may have slipped 6.3 percent from the previous month’s high to 79.39 million tonnes, but they are still up 16.5 percent in the first 10 months of the year over the same period in 2013, on track for the strongest annual growth since 2009.

Unwrought copper imports gained 2.6 percent from September, and are 9.3 percent up in the first 10 months of 2014, while imports of copper ores and concentrates have jumped 17.2 percent so far this year.

Crude oil showed a 15.5 percent decline on a barrels per day (bpd) basis from September, dropping to 5.67 million bpd in October, but total imports have gained 9.2 percent in the first 10 months of the year over the same period in 2013.

Only coal looks as anemic as many commentators suggest the overall Chinese economy is, with imports dropping 4.9 percent in October from September, taking the year-to-date decline to 7.7 percent.

New tech-dependent nations desperate for non-Chinese REE sources – by Dorothy Kosich (Mineweb.com – November 11, 2014)

November 11, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

In recent years, Chinese production has accounted for about 95% of the REE global market.

RENO (MINEWEB) – The U.S. Geological Survey has released a report, which supports scientific research to determine where undiscovered/undeveloped resources of rare-earth elements may occur, as well as trends in the supply and demand of rare-earth elements domestically and internationally.

Because of the many important uses of REEs, nations dependent on new technologies, such as Japan, the United States and members of the European Union, which now must rely on Chinese REE exports, are encouraging discoveries of economic REE deposits and bringing them into production, says the Geological Survey.

“Most REEs are not as rare as the group’s name suggests,” says the new report, The Rare Earth Elements—Vital to Modern Technologies and Lifestyles. “Cerium is the most abundant REE, and is more common in the Earth’s crust than copper or lead.”

“All of the REEs, except promethium, are more abundant on average in the Earth’s crust than silver, gold, or platinum. However, concentrated and economically minable deposits of REEs are unusual,” according to the Geological Survey.

Russia, North Korea Strike Deal: Improved Railway for Mineral Resources – by Yonho Kim (Voice of America – November 8, 2014)

November 10, 2014

http://www.voanews.com/

WASHINGTON— A senior Russian official said Russia and North Korea are expanding economic ties through a rare joint project that would overhaul the North’s railway system.

Recently, the two countries reached a deal that calls for Russia to improve North Korea’s railway network in return for access to the North’s mineral resources.

According to press reports, Moscow plans to put $25 billion into modernizing more than 3,000 kilometers of the North’s railroads over 20 years.

“The railway modernization project will be funded through the implementing of the product sharing agreement. It’s the result of our discussion with the DPRK’s party. The process of field work and mining will go hand in hand with the process of railway modernization,” said Alexander Galushka, Russia’s minister for the development of the Russian Far East, in an email sent to VOA.

Galushka said a group of Russian firms, including Mostovik, a construction company, is participating in the project. The joint venture is titled Pobeda, which means victory in Russian.