Asia Mining – Page 168 – Republic of Mining

UPDATE 1-India PM: POSCO to start work on steel plant in coming weeks – by Krishna N Das (Reuters India – January 16, 2014)

January 16, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

NEW DELHI, Jan 16 (Reuters) – South Korea’s POSCO will be able to start work on its planned $12-billion Indian steel plant over the coming weeks, India’s prime minister said on Thursday, ending an eight year delay for environmental and legal clearances.

Manmohan Singh said the firm’s request for an iron ore mining licence – the final regulatory hurdle for the project which would be the biggest foreign direct investment in India – was at an “advanced stage of processing”.

The 12 million-tonnes-per-year plant in the eastern state of Odisha, formerly Orissa, will help world No.4 steel producer India to expand output.

India produced 77.6 million tonnes of crude steel in the past fiscal year, a fraction of top producer China’s nearly 800 million last year. India’s total iron ore reserve was estimated at 28 billion tonnes as of 2010 by the Indian Bureau of Mines.

India’s new Environment and Forest Minister Veerappa Moily last week gave approval to the plant but asked POSCO to spend 5 percent of the total investment on social commitments, which would raise the project’s cost to $12.6 billion.

Afghanistan’s rare earth element bonanza – by Alan Dowd – Fraser Institute (Mining.com – January 15, 2014)

January 16, 2014

http://www.mining.com/

After more than a decade of war and nation building, members of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan are heading for the exits. Although what ISAF will leave behind is better than what was there in 2001, Afghanistan remains a battered land. However, the resources Afghanistan’s land holds — copper, cobalt, iron, barite, sulfur, lead, silver, zinc, niobium, and 1.4 million metric tons of rare-earth elements (REEs) — may be a silver lining.

U.S. agencies estimate Afghanistan’s mineral deposits to be worth upwards of $1 trillion. In fact, a classified Pentagon memo called Afghanistan the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” (Although lithium is technically not a rare earth element, it serves some of the same purposes.)

Of course, the fact that Afghanistan is rich in minerals is not necessarily new information. The Soviets identified mineral deposits in Afghanistan during their decade-long occupation. What is new is the volume and precision of mineral-related information. Afghanistan has been mapped using what is known as “broad-scale hyper-spectral data” — highly precise technologies deployed by aircraft that, in effect, allow U.S. military and geological experts to peer beneath Afghanistan’s skin and paint a picture of its vast mineral wealth. According to Jim Bullion, who heads a Pentagon task force on postwar development, these maps reveal that Afghanistan could “become a world leader in the minerals sector.”

COLUMN-Indonesia bauxite ban slow-burn issue for aluminium – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – January 14, 2014)

January 15, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

Clyde Russell is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Jan 15 (Reuters) – The immediate impact of Indonesia’s ban on exporting unprocessed mineral ores has been felt in nickel markets, but the slow burn, and potentially larger, may be in aluminium.

London Metal Exchange three-month nickel jumped 7.4 percent between the close on Jan. 9 and Jan. 14, when it ended at $14,340 a tonne. In contrast, London aluminium futures barely nudged up 0.6 percent over the same three-day trading period, and the benchmark contract in Shanghai weakened by 0.6 percent.

It may well be that the market is accurately reflecting more immediate concern over the supply of nickel, since Indonesia supplies about 13 percent of the world’s mined nickel.

But the likelihood is that any loss of Indonesian cargoes will act merely to lower the available surplus of nickel, suggesting that the current rally may not be sustained. However, the story with aluminium may be slightly different, at least over the medium to long term.

Shrugging off China risks, Australia miners dig deep for more iron ore – by James Regan (Reuters India – January 15, 2014)

January 15, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Australian miners shoveled record tonnages of iron ore in the December quarter, supported by billions of dollars worth of expansion plans coming on stream and despite signs of weakening demand from top consumer China.

Iron ore continues to generate big returns even as prices fall, and miners in Australia – the world’s biggest supplier – are counting on economies of scale to maintain profits for the steel making material.

Production data from Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group will be released over the next two weeks, but port data already shows record tonnages were shipped in the last quarter even as Chinese demand lost steam.

Chinese iron ore purchases fell 5.6 percent to 73.4 million tonnes in December, down from a record 77.8 million in November and ore prices have dipped to a six-month low.

And weaker steel prices have prompted some mills to reduce production, putting China’s average daily crude steel output at 1.961 million tonnes in late December, the first time the pace fell below 2 million tonnes since last February.

Indonesia to China: Stop Buying Our Stuff – by Bruce Einhorn, Yoga Rusmana, and Eko Listiyorini (Bloomberg News – January 13, 2014)

January 14, 2014

http://www.businessweek.com/

Indonesian mines account for about 20 percent of the world’s nickel supply and a hefty chunk of the bauxite (used to make aluminum). China has been importing ever-larger amounts of these and other minerals from its Asian neighbor. Ironically, the more the Chinese buy, the angrier Indonesians become: Rather than purchasing refined minerals from Indonesia, China imports the raw rocks and does the processing itself, thus depriving Indonesians of jobs and tax revenue.

Miners took more than 250,000 tons of nickel out of Indonesian mines last year but processed only about 16,000 tons in-country, exporting the rest. Meanwhile, China refined more than half a million tons.

To make matters worse, through much of last year, China stockpiled Indonesian ore to hedge against any action the government in Jakarta might take to encourage more of the value-added work to stay home. The stockpiling makes Indonesian officials even more irritated. “I just returned from China, and I saw with my own eyes there are 3 million tons of bauxite and 20 million tons of nickel over there,” Industry Minister M.S. Hidayat told reporters on Jan. 8. “That’s what we want to stop.”

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is taking action do just that.

NEWS RELEASE: Minister Oliver Announces Enhanced Cooperation Between Canada and India

January 14, 2014

DELHI, INDIA–(Marketwired – Jan. 13, 2014) – Natural Resources Canada

Canada’s Natural Resources Minister, the Honourable Joe Oliver, today announced enhanced cooperation between Canada and India in the fields of mining and earth sciences and in the iron and steel industries.

Minister Oliver and India’s Minister of Steel, Beni Prasad Verma, signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on cooperation concerning the iron and steel sector and allied industries. Minister Oliver also witnessed the signing of a Letter of Renewal (LOR) to extend a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation in the Fields of Earth Sciences and Mining between Natural Resources Canada and India’s Ministry of Mines to advance bilateral cooperation and encourage cooperation in earth sciences and mining with the industrial sectors. The MOU was set to expire by June 2014.

This ongoing collaboration between the two countries underlines the Government of Canada’s commitment to expand engagement through long-term commercial investments, joint partnerships, technological cooperation and exchange of best practices in the earth sciences, mining and energy sectors.

Japan nickel users face higher costs, supply hunt after Indonesia ban – by Yuka Obayashi (Reuters U.S. – January 13, 2014)

January 14, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

TOKYO – Jan 13 (Reuters) – Japan, home to some of the world’s biggest stainless steel producers, will face higher costs and a scramble to find new nickel supply after Indonesia enforced an export ban on the raw material.

Global nickel prices and mining shares rallied a day after Indonesia banned unprocessed exports of nickel and bauxite, in a move aimed at getting higher returns for its resources by forcing companies to refine the minerals on Indonesian soil.

The law was first announced in 2009 but only a handful of firms made the downstream investments needed, betting on Indonesia backing down on the policy. Jakarta tweaked its rules on Saturday to allow copper, zinc, lead, manganese and iron ore concentrate shipments to continue.

Japan’s biggest nickel smelter, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd (SCM), said it had enough nickel ore to maintain its current production level of ferro-nickel only till May.

Philippines Sees Nickel Boon on Indonesia’s Ban: Southeast Asia – by Cecilia Yap (Bloomberg News – January 13, 2014)

January 13, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

The ban on mineral-ore exports from Indonesia, the world’s biggest nickel producer, is poised to benefit neighboring miners in the Philippines, which are predicting an increase in sales. Shares of Nickel Asia (NIKL) Corp. advanced to the highest level since July.

The ban is positive as demand and prices for Philippine supplies will increase, according to Emmanuel Samson, chief financial officer at Nickel Asia. The Taguig City-based company accounts for about a third of Philippine output, Samson said in a telephone interview.

While the Indonesian ban is intended to encourage local processing and boost the value of commodity shipments from Southeast’s Asia’s largest economy, the curbs may hand an advantage to rival producers such as Nickel Asia. Buyers in China, the top user, stockpiled ore before the ban and it may take as long as six months to work off that extra inventory, according to Samson. Producers in China also need to adjust to the lower grade of ore that comes from the Philippines, he said.

“If they do that, it would be very easy for us to ramp up production,” Samson said in an interview Jan. 9. “We think the increase is not going to be until such time that the inventory level will come down,” he said, referring to prices.

Refined-nickel futures jumped as much as 2.4 percent to $14,190 a ton today on the London Metal Exchange, the highest level in two weeks, on concern supplies will be reduced.

UPDATE 4-Indonesia export ban leaves mining in turmoil, nickel prices rally – by Wilda Asmarini and Michael Taylor (Reuters India – January 13, 2014)

January 13, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

JAKARTA, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s mining sector was left in turmoil on Monday after the government pushed through a controversial ban on exporting unprocessed mineral exports.

Global nickel prices and mining shares rallied in the first trading day after the ban in the world’s top nickel ore exporter. The ban on a range of mineral ores took effect on Sunday, five years after a law was passed to force miners to build processing plants. The government provided a last-minute reprieve for exporters to keep shipping some minerals, although U.S. miner Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold was waiting for confirmation so that it could continue to ship copper.

The policy aims to reduce reliance on raw material exports, but many firms failed to invest in enough smelter capacity to process all of Indonesia’s mining output — meaning that a total ban would have forced extensive shut downs of output and cost the economy billions of dollars.

Late changes approved by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono — to ease any short-term economic pain — should allow copper exports by Freeport and Newmont Mining Corp.

Jack Lifton refutes WSJ article: ‘How the Great Rare-Earth Metals Crisis Vanished’ – by Jack Lifton (Investor Intel – January 12, 2014)

January 13, 2014

http://investorintel.com/

The WSJ article published on January 8, 2014 How the Great Rare-Earth Metals Crisis Vanished declares that the “rare earth crisis” is over, and as support refers to the conclusions of a “leaked” Pentagon report. It glibly declares, analyses, and dismisses, as a failure, a Chinese plot to maintain control of the production and pricing of the rare earths as having been defeated by the forces of the market and capitalism.

But the real crisis is that western end-users of rare earth enabled components have proved that if you don’t capitalize the security of supply then when the market turns in your favor you are unprepared to take advantage of it. It is in the naked greed of the stock market where the real rare earth crisis was invented, fomented, sucked dry — and forgotten. The stock market flies no national flag and its players care little for apple pie or mom.

Notwithstanding what this author states there is today no nation other than China that has in place a total domestic rare earth supply chain. Thus even if you do produce rare earths outside of China you must send them to China if you want to first refine mining concentrates and then to fabricate rare earth metals and alloys for use, for example, as magnets. In particular none whatsoever today of the “critical” heavy rare earths are produced outside of China.

[Jade miners] Myanmar: Hell hath no fury like Hpakant – by Patrick Winn (Global Post – December 30, 2013)

January 13, 2014

http://www.globalpost.com/

Men seek to escape poverty in the jade mines. Instead, it’s the drug dealers and middlemen who get rich.

KACHIN STATE, Myanmar — An ancient Chinese proverb likens jade to the character of men. As the saying goes, “both are sharpened by bitter tools.” But in the jade mines south of China’s border — a wasteland known as Hpakant in Myanmar — men’s lives are not so much sharpened but shredded to bits.

“Hpakant,” said La Htoi, a 34-year-old jade broker and recovering heroin addict. “That is where Satan slowly called me to hell.”

Even by the standards of Myanmar — infamous for warfare, poverty and oppression — Hpakant is a dark and depraved place. Its once-verdant hills have been ground down into gaping quarries that produce jade of unparalleled quality. By the thousands, men descend into these stadium-sized pits hoping to emerge with an armload of jade, a ticket out of poverty.

But Myanmar’s multi-billion dollar jade industry instead funnels wealth to military-connected elites. Miners’ meager earnings are typically swallowed not only by middlemen but by potent, dirt-cheap heroin, traded with impunity in Hpakant’s bazaars. “You can see heroin sold on the roadside there like vegetables,” La Htoi said.

Indonesia’s ban on raw minerals exports threatens nickel shake-up – by Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – January 10, 2014)

January 10, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – Jan 10 (Reuters) – An Indonesian ban on raw minerals exports is set to hurt Chinese factories making stainless steel – used in everything from kitchenware to cars and buildings – in the biggest potential industry shake-up in more than five years.

The ban, due to come in force on Sunday, may also be a boon for battered nickel miners, dogged by prices that lost 19 percent last year and are sitting stubbornly near four-year lows.

Indonesia looks set to prohibit more than $2 billion worth of annual nickel ore and bauxite shipments as part of a plan to push miners into downstream processing and boost long-term returns from its mineral wealth.

The Southeast Asian country supplies about half the nickel ore used for stainless steel in China, the world’s biggest producer and exporter of the corrosion resistant material.

China mostly produces a lesser quality version, unlike high-end competitors in Japan, Germany and Korea, which is often used in the inside of buildings or internally in cars, where it reinforces framework.

COLUMN-Uncertainty the only certainty with Indonesia mineral export ban – by Clyde Russell (Reuters India – January 9, 2014)

January 9, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

Jan 9 (Reuters) – The key point with any laws or regulations is not that they are on the statute book, it’s whether they are applied and enforced, and this will be the case with Indonesia’s ban on metal ore exports.

As is often the case with Indonesia and government policy, the only certainty is uncertainty and whether the prohibition on exporting unrefined ores goes ahead, and in what form, is far from clear.

In the case that the ban goes ahead as planned from Jan. 12, it seems likely that nickel ore and bauxite, with a value of up to an annual $2 billion will be the hardest hit. Indonesia is the world’s biggest exporter of nickel ore and supplies about two-thirds of top buyer China’s imported bauxite.

But Indonesia’s mining ministry is seeking to pass regulations to ease the ban and phase in the requirements for domestic processing over a longer period of time. The proposal recommends that raw mineral ores can be exported until 2017, after which all would have to undergo domestic processing.

Legal and Regulatory Environment Risk Atlas 2014 – by Maplecroft Global Risk Analytics (January 8, 2014)

January 9, 2014

http://maplecroft.com/

Myanmar has been identified as the country making the greatest improvements to its business environment for 2014. Strides have been made through reforms to address issues such as corruption; rule of law; the regulatory framework; respect for property rights; and corporate governance, reveals Maplecroft’s annual Legal and Regulatory Environment Risk Atlas (LRERA). Senegal, Guatemala, Mozambique and Rwanda, meanwhile, are among the countries with best performance over the last five years.

The fifth annual Legal and Regulatory Environment Risk Atlas includes 21 risk indices developed to enable companies and investors to monitor the ease of undertaking business in 173 countries. Since 2009 some of the biggest increases in legal and regulatory risk have been experienced by foreign investors in Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Egypt. Maplecroft states that the business environment in these countries is being curtailed by factors such as a lack of respect for the rule of law and property rights; weak investor protection; increasing regulatory burdens; and poor governance resulting from instability.

Legal mechanisms and regulatory structures are typically well entrenched features of a country that are not subject to fast change without significant political will and reform. However, over the last five years the LRERA reveals that a number of countries have made steady improvements. Senegal has risen 23 places from 28th to 51st (1st place is considered the highest risk in the LRERA), Guatemala went from 32nd to 61st, Mozambique 40th to 71st, and Rwanda 66th to 101st.

Zinc or Swim: Do Base Metals Have a Future? – by Peter Byrne (The Mining Report – January 7, 2014)

January 8, 2014

http://www.streetwisereports.com/

Joseph Gallucci of Dundee Capital Markets sees a rosy future for zinc investors. As the large zinc mines shut down, the juniors are stepping forward to meet growing demand for the industrial staple. In this interview with The Mining Report, Gallucci delivers smart tips for base metals investors on where to find opportunity when zinc prices start to climb.

The Mining Report: How are the fundamental challenges facing the global base metals markets likely to play out in 2014?

Joseph Gallucci: There are several long-term issues that impacted copper and the other base metal spaces in 2013, and those long-term issues will persist for the foreseeable future. Allow me to explain the basics via a few examples:

Indonesia recently stopped the export of intermediary products, such as pig iron nickel. The country’s leadership is increasingly practicing resource nationalism by restricting mining firms to in-house processing and to shipping only finished products. It is also unsettling that Intrepid Mines Ltd. (IAU:TSX; IAU:ASX) lost control of its project this year to an Indonesian partner!

In terms of supply chain disruptions in 2013, Grasberg and Bingham Canyon were two of the biggest issues, but we are still well below the annual average of a 5% supply disruption.