Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining – Page 101

Rare Lizard Thwarts Indian Giant Adani’s Coal Ambition – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Wall Street Journal – August 5, 2015)

August 5, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Australian activists raised concerns about the Carmichael project’s impact on the yakka skink and ornamental snake

SYDNEY—The yakka skink may be little known globally, but the native Australian lizard is causing problems for one of India’s biggest conglomerates.

On Wednesday, a federal court in Sydney overturned approval for Adani Group to build one of the world’s biggest new coal mines on scrubland facing the Great Barrier Reef. Environmental activists have raised concerns about the project’s impact on the yakka skink and another vulnerable species, the ornamental snake.

Adani blamed Wednesday’s decision on red tape. Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved the mining project last year, but it was overturned because of what the environment department termed a “technical, administrative” issue. It said its advice to Mr. Hunt during the approval process may not have been provided in the correct manner.

The department said it would take six to eight weeks to prepare new advice and supporting documents and for Mr. Hunt to reconsider his decision. It added that all parties involved, including Adani, agreed with the federal court’s decision to set aside approval of the project.

Skimpies still a ‘touchy subject’ at Kalgoorlie’s annual Diggers and Dealers conference – by Claire Moodie (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – August 5, 2015)

August 5, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/

Australia’s biggest and most colourful mining conference, Diggers and Dealers, is showcased on the world stage, but there are some images the industry does not want to share.

Television cameras are banned from Kalgoorlie’s busiest bars, where the real colour of the event unfolds after the forum has wrapped up for the day.

It is quite a spectacle – hundreds of mining types packed into bars with names like the Wild West Saloon, where the gold capital’s famous skimpy barmaids hold court to a sea of suits.

The “skimpies” – scantily clad and sometimes topless barmaids – have been entertaining Diggers delegates since the early days of the forum 20 years ago.

Many fly in from the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne, with the promise of big tips during the three-day event. Local hoteliers have special licences that allow the women to go “toppo” – topless. “It’s a very touchy subject,” Palace Hotel owner Ashok Parekh said.

Zinc, nickel add a little lustre to Diggers – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Herald – August 4, 2015)

August 4, 2015

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

As Diggers and Dealers delegates rolled in for day two of the annual mining conference, heavy heads from a late night in Kalgoorlie’s famous watering holes were unlikely to be relieved by an injection of optimism.

Commodity prices are down across the board. Since last year’s conference, base metals are down between 20 and 40 per cent, while gold is down about 15 per cent and iron ore has plummeted nearly 50 per cent during the year.

Australian domiciled gold producers, buoyed by the falling local currency, are a shining centre of attention at the conference but there are some other bright spots.

Despite a recent price slide that has forced some analysts to downgrade their price forecasts, zinc-focused companies at the conference attracted a considerable level of interest from analysts and investors at their marquee booths.

Zinc for delivery in three months has fallen to around $US1893 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange.

COLUMN-Iron ore’s “bull market” shows rise of financial trading – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – August 3, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Aug 3 (Reuters) – One of the more fanciful notions from the recent rally in iron ore prices is that the steel-making ingredient is now back in a bull market.

Asian spot iron ore .IO62-CNI=SI does meet the technical definition of being in a bull market, having gained 25.4 percent between its record low of $44.10 a tonne on July 8 and the close of $55.30 on July 29.

Markets are said to be in a bull phase when the rally exceeds 20 percent, likewise they are in a bear period when the decline is greater than 20 percent.

Traders are more likely to talk about dead cat bounces than bull runs where iron ore is concerned, and the fact remains that despite the price rally, iron ore remains down 25.7 percent so far this year and is barely a quarter of what it was at its all-time high in early 2011.

The recent gain in spot prices is actually the second technical bull market already this year, following the 40 percent jump between the low of $46.70 a tonne on April 2 and the peak of $65.40 on June 11.

Rio wants exploration collaboration to discover next big seam – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Post – August 3, 2015)

August 4, 2015

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

Well-known West Australian explorer Mark Bennett has queried whether a plan by Rio Tinto to reinvigorate exploration in Australia through partnerships with junior mining companies will work as intended.

Rio has used its first presentation at the Diggers and Dealers conference in eight years to call for collaboration in exploration in order to find the next major mineral discovery in Australia.

The country’s miners are relying on deposits discovered at shallow depths more than 30 years ago and are struggling to discover further large, tier-one deposits at depth.

The current cost and risk of deeper exploration has meant many miners have abandoned exploration efforts altogether, opting for more bankable exploration around existing deposits (known as brownfields exploration) or in other countries, where resources remain shallow.

Speaking on the first day of the annual conference in Kalgoorlie, Rio Tinto exploration director Australasia Ian Ledlie extended an invitation to junior companies to use the global major’s mineral analysis technology to help prove up discoveries.

Gold’s M&A Wave to Roll on as Bullion Falls to Five-Year Low – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – August 2, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold’s tumble to the lowest since 2010 promises to prolong a mergers and acquisitions boom that’s seen transactions at a three-year high as weaker prices slash asset valuations.

Deals valued at $9.6 billion were proposed or completed in the six months to June 30, up 7 percent on the previous half, as producers including OceanaGold Corp. agreed acquisitions, according to data complied by Bloomberg. They totaled $22.3 billion last year, the highest since 2011, the data show.

“I’d expect that thematic to continue and the next wave of activity from an M&A point of view might be more mergers,” Reg Spencer, a Sydney-based analyst at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., said by phone. “Unless the smaller guys get together and get bigger quickly, they’ll find they are less able to compete when assets do become available.”

Gold producers in Australia gathering Monday for a three-day annual conference in outback Kalgoorlie, a key center of output since the 1880s, proposed or completed deals worth $4.5 billion in the past 12 months, according to the data. The nation is the largest producer after China.

For Fortescue’s Andrew Forrest, it’s mine, all mine – by Jonathan Barrett (Australian Financial Review – July 31, 2015)

August 4, 2015

http://www.afr.com/

Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest has relied on a series of controversial strategies to climb to the top of the resources pile.

It is not your ordinary after-school job.

It is the year 2000, and Daniel Kerr is under pressure from his mum to get part-time work. The 15-year-old schoolboy wouldn’t mind a few extra dollars given he needs a new set of wheels; he does, after all, have a habit of wearing out skateboards.

Kerr looks in the local paper, the Kalgoorlie Miner, and on the public noticeboard before he finds the perfect job. “Money for jam,” he thinks to himself.

An employer is looking for someone to go down to the local mines department once a week and hand-copy information that is lodged by explorers and miners. The job description might raise eyebrows for those living in major cities, but Kerr lives in the heart of Western Australia’s Goldfields region, where almost every job has a red-earth mineral tinge to it.

War of words between charity and coal lobbies – by Ben Hagemann (Australian Mining – July 30, 2015)

July 30, 2015

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

Charity group Oxfam Australia has taken aim at the coal industry in a new report which suggests renewable energy is quicker and cheaper for bringing energy to the developing world than coal-fired power.

The report ‘Powering up against poverty’ accused Peabody Energy, the Minerals Council of Australia, Adani, and other coal mining interests of aggressively promoting coal as a solution for energy poverty, while going no further than PR campaigns in their own interests.

Oxfam also said that statistics given by the Institute of Public Affairs, that an increase in the supply of Australian coal to India would bring electricity to 82 million people, were rejected by Indian NGO the Vasudha Foundation which said the arguments did not stand up “even the most basic scrutiny”.

Report author Dr Simon Bradshaw said there were many examples of how renewable energy was already helping impoverished people to gain access to energy, bringing job creation and community development.

Mining industry faces job losses as coal and iron ore prices remain depressed (The Guardian – July 29, 2015)

July 29, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/

Almost 80% of Australian mining leaders are reducing capital expenditure, up from 44% last year, a report has found

The Australian mining industry is bracing for more job losses and mine closures next year as coal and iron ore prices remain depressed.

Almost 80% of mining leaders are reducing capital expenditure, up from 44% last year, a report by Newport Consulting has found.

While mining company bosses are still reluctant to spend money or make investments, the latest Newport Mining Business Outlook Report shows 16% of mining leaders are cautiously optimistic about their growth prospects for the next 12 months.

Newport managing director David Hand said more job losses were expected as coal and iron ore miners fight to remain competitive.

“Miners are likely to make decisions in the next 12 months to shut more operations,” Hand said. “There are thousands of jobs hanging in the balance right across New South Wales.”

China air quality crackdown set to hurt iron ore demand – by Michael Roddan (The Australian – July 28, 2015)

July 28, 2015

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

The troubles for the iron ore price are set to continue, with a Beijing crackdown on air pollution in September expected to reduce demand from the region’s steel mills.

Meanwhile, Australian exports of the commodity are set to rebound from a sluggish July, positioning the price of Australia’s biggest export for a renewed plunge, after only recently bouncing from a decade-low.

The Chinese government is likely to limit steel production in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing and major iron ore port Tianjin, in a bid to ensure higher air quality during World War II commemorations in September, Macquarie Wealth Management says in a research note.

The clear-sky days will be similar to the “APEC Blue” of last November, when the government clamped down on emissions during the 26th annual gathering of Asia Pacific leaders in Beijing.

“Steel mills near Beijing, particularly those in Hebei province, will probably be forced to shut down production again,” Macquarie said in a research note. “This clearly spells trouble for iron ore prices.”

Commodities in free fall: miners bracing for $192bn in asset pain – by Barry FitzGerald (The Australian – July 27, 2015)

July 27, 2015

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

Persistent weakness in already clapped out commodity prices is triggering a new round of asset value writedowns on top of the $US140 billion ($192bn) notched up by the global mining industry since 2011.

The new round is not expected to match the $US58bn impairment hit the global industry took in 2013 when it became clear that the decade-long China-led boom in prices and demand was over.

But fears that renewed commodity price weakness as 2015 has unfolded is structural, and will persist for the foreseeable future, has again put asset values under the pump.

Aluminium, coal, nickel and iron ore have retreated sharply from 2014’s already battered levels, prompting a new hard-nosed assessment of whether long-term commodity price assumptions across the industry are still valid.

Aluminium has been hit particularly hard. It is down 30 per cent on its 2014 December half average of $US2378 a tonne at $US1642.

Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest: A bundle of contradictions – by Stephen Long (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – July 27, 2015)

July 27, 2015

http://www.abc.net.au/news/

Andrew Forrest is a bundle of contradictions. He is a man who professes his love for Aboriginal people, but plays tough when they stand in the way of his mines.

He is a free-marketeer who went close to arguing for an industry cartel, and a generous philanthropist, who has shackled his charities to his commercial interests. This year, Mr Forrest has been calling for a Parliamentary Inquiry into the iron ore market.

Twiggy is standing up for the battlers and the national interest against “multinationals” BHP and Rio Tinto, he says, who have deliberately driven down the iron ore price.

He has accused them of talking down the price and of pumping out too much volume. Leave aside the inconvenient fact that no company is more responsible for the expansion of iron ore exports in recent years than his.

There is much to admire about the man they call Twiggy (a moniker, owing to his surname Forrest, he has been stuck with since childhood).

Shelter From Gold Rout: Australian Miners Provide Safe Haven – by David Stringer and Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – July 24, 2015)

July 24, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

As gold prices have sunk to the lowest level since 2010, canny investors are seeking refuge in Australian gold mining stocks.

The key is the plunging Australia currency that’s helping local producers boost margins even as the U.S.-dollar denominated metal slides. While spot gold tumbled 16 percent in the past year, the metal’s price in Australian-dollar terms has risen about 8 percent.

That’s helped the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index of 21 Australian miners gain 12 percent this year as of Thursday, as the benchmark Philadelphia Stock Exchange Gold and Silver Index slumped 31 percent.

Suppliers in Australia, the second-largest producing nation, benefit by selling the metal in U.S. dollars while their costs and profits are mostly denominated in the weaker local currency. The Aussie fell Friday to a six-year low.

“A weak Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar powerfully expands Aussie miner margins,” William Kaye, the Hong Kong-based owner of The Pacific Group Ltd. and chief investment officer of its Greater Asian hedge fund, said in an e-mailed response to questions. This would make Australian miners attractive to investors, he said.

Miners Shed Thousands of Jobs as Commodities Prices Slide – by Scott Patterson (Wall Street Journal – July 24, 2015)

July 24, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

Anglo American to cut 53,000 jobs, while Lonmin will cut 6,000 jobs over the next two years

The world’s biggest miners are hemorrhaging jobs as the price for almost everything they dig up—from gold to aluminum to copper—slides relentlessly downward.

Anglo American PLC, the U.K. mining titan, on Friday announced the most dramatic job-reduction figure yet in the ailing industry, saying it would slash 53,000 jobs over the next several years—including 6,000 in the corporate offices amounting to $500 million in savings. That would amount to a reduction of 35% of its current workforce of 151,000.

“We’re looking at every dollar and pulling everything back,” Anglo-American Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said in a presentation of the miner’s first-half earnings results to investors Friday. “It’s a constant process driving out costs.”

Also on Friday, South Africa’s Lonmin PLC said it would cut 6,000 workers over the next two years. BHP Billiton has recently cut hundreds of jobs linked to its giant copper, gold and uranium mine, Olympic Dam, in South Australia so far this year.

Mining Giants’ Push for Iron Ore Tests Mettle of Smaller Miners – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Wall Street Journal – July 22, 2015)

July 22, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

The four biggest iron-ore suppliers accounted for 71% of all iron-ore shipments in 2014, and they aren’t slowing down

SYDNEY—Big Mining is tightening its grip on the iron-ore market.

As industry giants such as Rio Tinto PLC and BHP Billiton Ltd. dig up ever more of the steelmaking ingredient for export, the resulting supply glut has caused prices to slump. But the majors’ tactics are helping them squeeze out smaller rivals, increasing their oligopoly’s share of global trade in the ore.

The world’s four biggest iron-ore suppliers—Rio and BHP along with Brazil’s Vale SA and Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.—accounted for 71% of the world’s iron-ore shipments in 2014, up from an average of 65% from 2009-13, according to Citi estimates. The bank now reckons that market share for the four could rise to 80% by 2018.

There is no sign the majors are ready to pull back.