Asia Mining – Page 159 – Republic of Mining

Indonesian export ban not a hangup for Vale N.L. – by Ashley Fitzpatrick (St. John’s Telegram – May 30, 2014)

May 30, 2014

http://www.thetelegram.com/

Long Harbour first nickel expected by end of second quarter

A ban by Indonesia on the export of unprocessed ores containing nickel will not affect the startup of Vale’s new hydromet processing facility in Long Harbour.

As previously reported, the plan for the facility in Newfoundland and Labrador is to use nickel matte from Indonesia during startup, before transitioning to ore from the Voisey’s Bay mine in Labrador as a main feed. Workers inspect equipment at Vale’s hydromet nickle processing facility in Long Harbour. — Telegram file photo

The Indonesian nickel matte, at about 78 per cent nickel, is considered less likely to cause difficulties for the Long Harbour commissioning in comparison to the material from Voisey’s Bay, at about 20 per cent nickel, as individual parts of the multibillion-dollar plant are checked and made ready for regular use.

According to Vale’s vice-president of corporate affairs in Toronto, Cory McPhee, the mining giant has been conscious of the potential for the ban on raw exports from Indonesia for years, as the company has multiple processing facilities in that country.

“The Indonesian restrictions on exports of unprocessed ore were first signaled by the Indonesian government years ago with the 2009 Mining Law which included stipulations calling for value-added domestic processing,” McPhee said in an emailed response to questions Thursday.

Mongolia Sees $1 Billion Investment From Doubling Area for Mines – by Michael Kohn (Bloomberg News – May 28, 2014)

May 29, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Mongolia is seeking to expand its area available to mining to a fifth of the country, and by the close of the decade to end its dependence on foreign oil, according to a senior government official.

The outlook hangs on the passage of laws governing mining and energy, Vice Minister for Mining Erdenebulgan Oyun said last week in an interview. Both could be signed off by parliament within a month, he said.

The mining plans alone could unlock $1 billion in developments this year, easing pressure on Mongolia’s mineral-dependent economy. As recently as 2011, its growth was a world-beating 17.5 percent. That moderated to 11.7 percent last year, amid a collapse in foreign investment that has continued into 2014. The government last month embarked on a 100-day race to improve economic performance via dozens of measures to boost investment and cut imports.

Replacing Mongolia’s 1991 Petroleum Law would expand investment opportunities to include different types of contracts between parties, and regulate new energy sources including the nation’s nascent oil shale industry.

“The law is outdated and many industries are unregulated,” said Erdenebulgan, speaking in Ulaanbaatar. The new law is based on the “best international petroleum laws from different countries.”

Nationalist drum-beating a threat to Indonesia’s prospects – by Andy Mukherjee (Globe and Mail – May 27, 2014)

May 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.

SINGAPORE — Reuters – Indonesian politicians are playing with the fire of economic nationalism. If actual policies mimic their pre-election rhetoric, the country’s long-term growth potential will suffer.

Both presidential hopefuls are chanting the mantra of self-sufficiency. Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the Jakarta governor and front-runner in the July 9 poll, is calling for a “mental revolution” to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign investment and technology.

He also wants to restrict the sale of national banks to foreign investors, according to local media reports. His rival, ex-army general Prabowo Subianto, wants more of Indonesia’s mineral riches exploited domestically.

The mining issue has already proved problematic. In January, Indonesia banned exports of unprocessed nickel and bauxite, and imposed steep taxes on overseas shipments of raw copper, zinc and iron ore.

The government wants to nudge mining companies – particularly large multinationals – to put up local smelters and refineries; but the miners don’t seem to be interested. Users may switch to other suppliers if Indonesia prices itself out of the market.

Raise resources for education and healthcare through disinvestment and denationalization of coal – Editorial (Times of India – May 26, 2014)

May 26, 2014

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/international-home

PM-designate Narendra Modi wishes to put the Indian economy on a new footing. A good way to set the ball rolling would be to pick up the threads of two ideas mooted by Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government. Public sector companies should be put up for disinvestment, not through piecemeal sale of shares but rather through big bang transfers of controlling stakes.

Second, coal mining must be denationalized. Both measures will invite determined opposition from vested interests. But failure to do so will mean a far greater number of people are deprived of opportunities to better their lives.

State ownership of a commercial venture such as Air India represents throwing good money after bad. Borrowing more money to do this will increase the size of fiscal deficit and eventually push up inflation. In this situation, how will a BJP government make good its promise to invest in building capabilities of India’s ‘neo-middle class’ through scholarships, better healthcare and extensive public transport?

Disinvestment is the answer as it allows for transfer of resources from areas such as airlines and steel plants — where private companies are competitive and do the job anyway — to activities that improve the productive capabilities of Indians.

Former mining tycoon sentenced to death in China – by Megha Rajagopalan (Mineweb.com – May 23, 2014)

May 23, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

Chinese court gives Liu Han, who led Hanlong Mining, a death sentence on gang charges.

BEIJING (REUTERS) – A former mining magnate with suspected ties to the family ofChina’s retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang was sentenced to death on Friday on charges of leading a gang on a crime spree spanning two decades.

The sentencing of Liu Han, handed down by a court in the central province of Hubei, was the culmination of one of the highest-profile cases against a private businessman since President Xi Jinping took office last year and began a campaign against pervasive graft.

Liu’s younger brother Liu Yong, also known as Liu Wei, was also sentenced to death. Microblog statements from state media outlets China Central Television and the Xinhua news agency said the brothers, along with their 36-member “mafia-style” gang, commmitted intentional homicide.

Xi’s crackdown has zeroed in on Sichuan province, where Liu’s company – privately held Hanlong Mining – is based. Sichuan was a power base for Zhou, the retired chief of China’s vast domestic security apparatus, who stands at the centre of the biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades, sources have told Reuters.

Mining in Myanmar: Kidnapped (The Economist – May 24, 2014)

May 23, 2014

http://www.economist.com/

A Chinese miner tries to be nice

LETPADAUNG, MYANMAR – THE Letpadaung copper-mine project in northern Myanmar has an image problem. The kidnapping by opponents of the mine on May 18th of three men working for a contractor to its Chinese developer, Wanbao, added to the impression of an unpopular project imposed on resentful locals by a greedy foreign firm.

This is unfair. But the episode illustrates the difficulty of implementing large-scale investments in Myanmar, especially if they involve displacing farmers, and if the investor is Chinese.

The kidnappers, who quickly freed their victims unharmed, had demanded the cancellation of a project that was already notorious. In November 2012 the authorities used white phosphorus, a chemical that causes burns and choking, to disperse protests against the mine, on the eve of a visit by Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader.

A few months later the wildly popular Miss Suu Kyi unprecedentedly faced hostile crowds there (see picture), for chairing a parliamentary committee that approved the project.

Can India surpass China as Asia’s fastest growing large economy? – Gwynne Dyer (Straight.com – May 22, 2014)

May 22, 2014

http://www.straight.com/

SOON AFTER WINNING an absolute majority in the Indian parliamentary elections, prime minister-elect Narendra Modi promised “to make the 21st century India’s century”. If he can avoid tripping over his own ideology, he might just succeed.

“India’s century” is a misleading phrase, of course, because no country gets to own a whole century. It wasn’t ever really going to be “China’s century” either, although China is a huge country whose economy has grown amazingly fast over the past three decades. What Modi meant was that India, the other huge Asian country, may soon take China’s place as the fastest growing large economy—and it might even surpass China economically, in the end.

At first glance this seems unlikely. India’s GDP is currently less than a quarter of China’s although the two countries are quite close in population (China 1.36 billion, India 1.29 billion). Moreover, the Chinese economy’s growth rate last year, although well down from its peak years, was still 7.7 percent, while India’s grew at only 4.4 percent.

But China’s growth rate is bound to fall further for purely demographic reasons. Due partly to three decades of the one-child-per-family policy, the size of its workforce is already starting to decline.

COLUMN – Modi the new hope for gold, but may disappoint – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – May 21, 2014)

May 21, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia – (Reuters) – Gold bulls tend to flit from one thing to the next in their search for a reason for the precious metal to rally, with the latest hope being Narendra Modi’s election victory in India.

The reasoning appears solid enough. Modi’s pro-business Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to roll back some of the tough measures taken by the former government to curtail gold imports as part of efforts to lower India’s current account deficit.

Gold is India’s second-biggest import by value behind crude oil and the former government progressively raised the import duty to 10 percent and imposed a rule that 20 percent of gold shipped in must be re-exported as jewellery.

These measures, which gold bulls had largely dismissed as irrelevant to Indian demand, served to crunch imports, which started dropping sharply from the third quarter of last year.

Indian demand fell 26 percent to 190.3 tonnes in the first quarter of 2014 from the same period a year earlier, according to data from the World Gold Council (WGC).

This followed falls of 16 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 and 32 percent in the third quarter of last year, declines which saw India surrender its status as the world’s top gold consumer to China.

Modi exploring breakup of Coal India, opening up sector – sources – by Krishna N. Das (Reuters India – May 21, 2014)

May 21, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI – (Reuters) – Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi is exploring breaking up state behemoth Coal India Ltd(COAL.NS) and opening up the sector to foreign investment to boost output and cut imports, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.

Red tape, strikes, protests against land acquisition and delays in obtaining environmental approvals have kept coal output far below demand, making India the world’s No.3 importer even though it sits on the fifth-largest reserves.

Modi wants to fix the coal sector quickly to ensure unbroken electricity supply across the country, as in his home state of Gujarat where manufacturing has flourished. Coal generates more than half of India’s power and is the cheapest form of energy.

Any reform will begin with Coal India, as it accounts for 80 percent of India’s total coal output, said a source at Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The world’s largest coal mining company has failed to meet its output targets for years.

“The story is about Coal India, whose productivity as we all know has been poor,” said the source, a member of the BJP’s economic policy team.

Iron ore prices teeter – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – May 20, 2014)

May 20, 2014

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

IRON ore prices last night fell below $US100 a tonne for the first time in nearly two years, hit by uncertainty around China’s steel output and stronger than expected Australian supply that earlier sent mining stocks sliding.

The only other time iron ore prices have previously slipped below $US100 this decade, briefly in 2012, spot-market buying of the nation’s biggest export dried up to the extent that prices rapidly fell another 13 per cent.

Benchmark Chinese iron ore prices fell $US2.20 to $US98.50 late last night, their lowest since September 2012 and in line with indications of weak buying demand shown in Chinese and Singaporean futures yesterday.

Benchmark prices had slipped 2 per cent to $US100.70 in China on Friday night. The fall follows Treasury forecasts in last week’s federal budget showing the price would fall below $US90 a tonne within two years.

This is in line with downgraded forecasts as Australian miners unexpectedly ramp up boom-time expansion projects on or ahead of time, and as the outlook for Chinese demand growth looks less certain.

Modi needs to reform electricity to power India recovery – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – May 19, 2014)

May 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON Australia – (Reuters) – Narendra Modi’s crushing election win has given rise to hopes for an economic revival in India, but much will depend on whether he can replicate the electricity success of his home state.

India’s financial markets have been buoyed by Modi’s victory, betting that the Hindu nationalist politician can work the same economic wonders for the whole country that he did while running the western state of Gujarat for 13 years.

The alliance led by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 336 of the 543 seats in India’s lower house of parliament when election results were announced last week, giving India a majority government for the first time in a quarter of a century.

While Modi’s authority will be bolstered by the massive win and his legislative programme will be easier to implement given he doesn’t need to negotiate with coalition partners, the scale of the challenge facing him is enormous.

India is structurally short of electricity, and it’s hard to see how the economy can be ramped up significantly, especially in power-hungry sectors such as manufacturing, without the provision of reliable power at prices high enough to ensure sustainable supply, but not so high as to choke growth.

Jakarta jubilant as nickel soars, China plans smelters – by Melanie Burton and Fergus Jensen (Reuters India – May 19, 2014)

May 20, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/JAKARTA – May 19 (Reuters) – When Indonesia vowed to halt exports of mineral ore to wring more profit from its rich resources, many predicted the policy would be an economic own-goal.

But in the case of nickel, at least, Indonesia is proving its doubters wrong as the price of the metal soars and Chinese producers starved of raw material begin to ship equipment for processing plants to the Southeast Asian nation.

Just four months after a ban on ore exports, one smelter is under construction and equipment for two others has been shipped from China to Indonesia, including a dismantled blast furnace, industry sources told Reuters.

At least two other firms plan to start construction of processing plants by year-end or shortly after, amid fears that China’s nickel-pig iron industry is running out of raw material.

“It’s been a success,” Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik told Reuters. One Chinese firm that told Reuters it expected to start production by year-end at the earliest said the smelter would produce nickel pig iron with 4 percent metal content, which then would be shipped back to China for production of higher value grades with 10-15 percent metal.

Pro-business Modi storms to historic election win – by RAJESH KUMAR SINGH AND ADITI SHAH (Reuters India – May 16, 2014)

May 16, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Narendra Modi thundered to victory on Friday in election, trouncing the ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in a seismic political shift that gives the Hindu nationalist and his party a mandate for sweeping economic reform.

Modi’s landslide, the most resounding election victory India has seen in 30 years, was welcomed with a blistering rally on India’s stock markets and raucous celebrations at offices across the country of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where supporters danced, let off fireworks and handed out sweets.

The BJP looked certain of a parliamentary majority, giving the 63-year-old former tea-seller ample room to advance reforms started 23 years ago by current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but which stalled in recent years.

Speaking to a sea of people dressed in the party’s official orange colours and chanting his name in his home state of Gujarat, Modi thanked the nation, and immediately addressed concerns his pro-Hindu leanings would sideline minorities.

“The age of divisive politics has ended, from today onwards the politics of uniting people will begin,” Modi said. “We want more strength for the wellbeing of the country … I see a glorious and prosperous India.”

What does Modi’s victory mean for gold in India? – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – May 16, 2014)

May 16, 2014

http://www.mineweb.com/

While Narendra Modi may be pro-gold in principle, there are doubts whether there will be any quick major gold policy changes following his BJP party’s Indian election victory.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – As I write it has become apparent that Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party has won the Indian election with what in Indian terms looks like being a landslide victory. The ruling Congress party has conceded defeat. The only unknown as I write is whether the BJP will have won enough seats in India’s parliament to rule on its own without the support of its potential coalition partners or not.

It is widely believed that Modi is favourably inclined towards gold and one suspects the very big Indian gold fabrication and trading sector will have voted en masse for the BJP in the hope that the import restrictions on gold will be eased at the very least.

This will have followed on in particular from Modi’s address at a Bombay Bullion Association meeting last October where he expressed sympathy for the plight of the Indian gold sector and poured scorn on the then government’s gold policies to try and reduce the country’s balance of payments problems. However it should be recognised that Modi is an astute politician and he would have been in full pre-election mode addressing a sector with a potentially significant electoral impact given India’s love affair with gold.

He did say at the beginning of his address that he personally had little connection with gold but did comment: “We have not seen gold just as money, it is related with all aspects of our social life.

Nickel, aluminium show signs of revival – by Peter Ker (Sydney Morning Herald – May 16, 2014)

May 16, 2014

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

They’ve been the dregs at the bottom of the diversified miners’ bottle for years, but nickel and aluminium are starting to show signs of life.

The two commodities have been bywords for poor performance over recent years, having dealt financial losses and multi-billion dollar impairments on their hapless owners at the big end of the mining industry.

But evolving attitudes in the developing world seem to be changing the rules of engagement in both industries, and tempting investors to think again. The nickel resurgence is more advanced and better understood.

Prices for the metal – used to create stainless steel – soared 56 per cent after January 10 when the Indonesian government placed a ban on certain raw metal exports.

The decision was designed to create jobs by forcing exporters to build processing plants on Indonesian soil, rather than exporting their raw ores overseas. As the world’s biggest nickel exporter, Indonesia’s removal from global trade has led to expectations of a shortage and price rises.