Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining – Page 131

Before he was a billionaire, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest ran with a colourful crowd – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – October 23, 2013)

October 23, 2013

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

BEFORE he became the nation’s greatest philanthropist, Andrew Forrest was a fast-talking salesman who borrowed millions of dollars from a convicted drug dealer and employed disgraced former West Australian premier Brian Burke to help him smash the BHP Billiton-Rio Tinto duopoly in the Pilbara iron ore industry.

Mr Burke, a lobbyist and former close adviser to Mr Forrest, boasts in a new book to be published next week that he was able to lean on bureaucrats and MPs to have key legislation passed for the entrepreneur in just a few months, despite the process normally taking 18 months.

Twiggy: The High-Stakes Life of Andrew Forrest, by Andrew Burrell, a Perth-based journalist with The Australian, also details how four judges in four separate court cases have questioned the businessman’s ethics and truthfulness during his colourful career. Mr Forrest rejected repeated approaches to co-operate with Burrell and to respond to claims made by others in the book.

The unauthorised biography investigates how Mr Forrest transformed himself, through boundless energy and cunning, from a corporate pariah after being removed as chief executive of Anaconda Nickel in 2001 into one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs and a philanthropist who is feted by the establishment.

BHP raises iron ore target as Australian expansions accelerate – by James Regan (Reuters India – October 22, 2013)

October 22, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – (Reuters) – Global miner BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) upgraded its iron ore production target for fiscal 2014 while petroleum output hit a quarterly record, as it ramps up output to capture more of a slower-growing market for raw materials.

Iron ore benefited from multi-billion-dollar expansion work underway in Australia that will lift fiscal 2014 output to 212 million tonnes, up from a previous target of 207 million, BHP (BLT.L) said in its fiscal first-quarter production report.

In petroleum, liquids output rose 16 percent, helped by a shift in focus at its U.S. shale holdings to focus more on oil production as U.S. gas prices sag.

BHP has warned mining companies face slowing demand growth for raw materials from China and elsewhere requiring greater emphasis on economies of scale to keep costs down.

The world’s biggest mining company has already cut planned spending for 2013/14 by 25 percent to $16 billion, and has earmarked a further decline for the following year.

Mining group Eramet plans more savings as nickel stays weak – by by Gus Trompiz (Reuters India – October 21, 2013)

October 21, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

PARIS – Oct 21, 2013 (Reuters) – Eramet on Monday said it would step up cost saving measures to counter the effects of a depressed nickel market, which contributed to a five percent fall in the mining group’s third quarter sales.

Benchmark prices of nickel, mainly used in stainless steel, sank to a four-year low in July due to poor industrial demand and rising stocks, leaving a swathe of global production operating at a loss.

Eramet reported a 5 percent year-on-year fall in third-quarter sales to 754 million euros ($1.03 billion), which included a 23 percent decrease for its nickel division.

“The Group is stepping up its measures to decrease its costs and capital expenditure, adjust its productions to its markets and reduce its working capital requirements,” Eramet said in a statement, without giving details.

The company reiterated that current operating profit in the second half would be “significantly lower” than in the first half, when Eramet reported a 9 million euro loss.

NEWS RELEASE: $65M largest-ever philanthropic gift launches campaign for UWA

October 16, 2013

Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Business leader Andrew Forrest and his wife Nicola will make history today with what is believed to be the largest single philanthropic donation in Australian history – $65 million to attract the best minds to Western Australia. The gift launches a $400 million fundraising campaign for The University of Western Australia.

Named at the request of the University, a new $50 million Forrest Foundation will fund scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships across all five WA universities. Another $15 million has been provided to build Forrest Hall, a creative living space for rising research stars rivalling the best residential colleges in the world. Forrest Hall will be affiliated with St George’s College at UWA.

Inspired by the global success of the Rhodes Scholarships and the Gates Cambridge Scholarships, the goal of the Foundation is to attract the brightest young minds from around the world as part of a plan to establish Perth and Western Australia as an international knowledge and innovation hub.

Australia’s iron ore miners shrug off glut fears – by James Regan (Mineweb.com – October 15, 2013)

October 15, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

Rio Tinto upped annualised output of the steel-making raw material by 20% in October, while BHP Billiton and Fortescue Mining are in the midst of robust expansion work.

SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Australia’s “big three” iron ore miners are set to unveil a boost in third-quarter production and will mine even more in the fourth quarter, ignoring forecasts of a looming supply glut in favour of capturing greater economies of scale.

Rio Tinto this month upped annualised output of the steel-making raw material by 20 percent to 290 million tonnes, while BHP Billiton and Fortescue Mining are in the midst of robust expansion work.

All three already mine ore at costs well below selling prices — thanks to a combination of rich grades and high volumes — and see any dip in prices as simply weeding out less competitive rivals.

Rio Tinto, which is set to post a 3 percent rise in third-quarter output against the previous quarter to 53 million tonnes on Tuesday, is expected to announce a further mine expansion to 360 million tonnes a year by a Dec. 3 meeting with investors.

Miners retreat from Toronto exchange, one-time portal to riches – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – October 7, 2013)

October 7, 2013

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

THE love affair between Australian miners and the Toronto Stock Exchange appears to be well and truly over, with the bleak conditions in the market driving companies to drop their dual listings and return to their home bourse

Several Australian miners have either left or are preparing to leave Toronto amid complaints about the low levels of investor interest in the resources sector, high levels of compliance, the steep cost of maintaining a listing and the failure of companies to attract the share price re-rating they had expected.

The TSX for years ranked as the largest single exchange for mining ventures and acted as a major gateway for Australian-based companies looking to tap into the North American capital pool. The market also attracted Australian companies that believed they would enjoy better valuations in the eyes of Canadian and American investors.

However, executives told The Australian that investors in North America were increasingly uninterested in resource stocks.

Australia’s Gold Miners Gang Up to Thwart Royalty Hike – by Stephen Bell (Wall Street Journal – October 4, 2013)

October 4, 2013

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

Western Australia’s Government Is Under Increasing Pressure to Lift Revenue

PERTH, Australia—Gold producers in Australia’s most resource-rich state have banded together to resist any increase in royalties on sales of the precious metal, fearing a further blow to an industry already battered by falling prices and rising costs.

The Western Australian government is reviewing royalty payments on a range of minerals produced in the state as it seeks to boost revenue in the face of weaker commodity prices, and to tackle ballooning debt that has knocked down its credit rating.

Gold miners have been concerned ever since the premier of the state, Colin Barnett, told the state legislature last week that the current royalty on sales of the metal—currently 2.5%—was “a little light” compared with those for other minerals.

Western Australia’s Gold Royalties Response Group, which successfully lobbied against a previously mooted royalty increase three years ago, Friday said it had reformed.

Fickle nickel takes its toll on market darling Mirabela – by Sarah-Jane Tasker (The Australian – October 4, 2013)

October 4, 2013

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

MIRABELA Nickel once rode the commodities boom, hitting a share price peak of more than $7 in early 2008, but a perfect storm of low prices, debt, decreasing cash balances and a cancelled contract has seen the company join the ranks of the penny dreadfuls. Some 80 per cent has been wiped off the value of its share price in the last month alone — from an already low base.

This is a company that was valued by the market at about $800 million in 2008. Now? $14m. The price of a decent shack on Sydney’s waterfront.

Perth-based Mirabela this week became the latest high-profile casualty of a commodity that has been struggling more than most others.

Perth-based private equity firm Resource Capital Fund is Mirabela’s largest shareholder and is the hardest hit by the share price fall. The resources-focused fund stepped in to support the company last May, tipping in $20m at a share price of 40c, which at the time was at a 17.6 per cent premium to the junior’s share price. It also underwrote a $100m raising. The miner said at the time that the funds would strengthen its balance sheet.

Rio Replacing Train Drivers Paid Like U.S. Surgeons – by Elisabeth Behrmann (Bloomberg News – October 3, 2013)

October 3, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Train drivers employed by Rio Tinto Group to haul iron ore across Australia’s outback make about the same money as surgeons in the U.S. It’s little wonder the mining company will replace them with robot locomotives.

The 400-plus workers in the remote Pilbara region who earn about A$240,000 ($224,000) a year probably are the highest-paid train drivers in the world, according to U.K.-based transport historian Christian Wolmar. Australia’s decade-long mining boom has sucked up skilled workers, raising wages for engineers to drivers at Rio, the second-largest exporter of the mineral, and its closest competitors, Vale SA (VALE) and BHP Billiton Ltd.

he three companies that control about 59 percent of the $145 billion-a-year global iron ore trade are automating to bolster margins and squeeze out extra capacity as they boost supply to a record to feed steel mills in China, the biggest buyer. The push by Rio (RIO), which aims to move about 290 million metric tons on its rail network by next year, is expected to be the biggest driver for cost cuts in its iron ore unit after currency swings, according to Deutsche Bank AG.

“All producers are chasing better margins and stronger returns,” said Chris Drew, an analyst in Sydney with Royal Bank of Canada.

Australian tycoon Rinehart wants to end family feud to focus on business – by James Regan (Reuters India – October 1, 2013)

October 1, 2013

http://in.reuters.com/

SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart, one of the world’s richest women, wants to relinquish control over a $4 billion family trust, after several years of legal wrangling with her children over who gets what and when.

Lawyers for Rinehart, 59, told a court that the legal battle with two of her four children, which has been played out in public and captivated Australia, had placed huge pressure on their client but was now “effectively over”.

Bruce McClintock, one of Rinehart’s lawyers, said the two-year legal fight between the tycoon and her children, John Hancock and Bianca Hope Rinehart, had created “untenable risk” of damage to Hancock Prospecting Group, the mining company established by her late father and the source of her wealth.

“The increased demands on her time in dealing with the … plaintiff’s issues has taken valuable time away from her responsibilities,” he told the New South Wales Supreme Court.

Hancock Prospecting is in the midst of funding negotiations to develop a $10-billion dollar iron ore project in Australia. Rinehart nor her children attended the hearing.

Sandvik’s Customer Day – From start to Finnish – by Cole Latimer (Mining Australia – September 24, 2013)

September 24, 2013

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

It’s not everyday that a new piece of equipment is launched. But when a company does, it’s unusual, even in these times of a downturn, not to do so without some fanfare. So when a company launches not one, but multiple pieces of equipment it has to make a serious statement.

This is exactly what Sandvik did following the release of not only two new drill rigs, but the world’s largest drifter, new underground drilling equipment, multiple new drilling threads and bits, and the latest developments in its automated and tele-remote mining systems.

It brought together more than 300 people from ten countries to demonstrate its new equipment in the flesh during its massive customer day. The group gathered at its Tampere facility in Finland to see the latest developments.

The facility itself was also on show, asthe visitors tramped across the site which Sandvik claims is the largest mining machinery manufacturing facility in Europe. As we crossed through the gates a little piece of Australiana welcomed the groups, a ‘beware of kangaroos’ sign, greeting visitors. Quickly the group was ushered in, where we were given a first hand demonstration of its AutoMine system.

Copper mine belt to ring Grampians – by Nick Toscano (The Age – September 22, 2013)

September 23, 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/ (Austrialia)

Mining companies have been permitted to drill at the doorstep of the Grampians National Park, and the area could become ”a new copper belt” in Australia, according to one mining executive.

Since December, the Department of State Development, Business and Innovation has pushed through three exploration licences that allow companies to drill on either side of the Grampians, after geological surveys showed the area was ”highly prospective” for copper.

An application was lodged on May 7 by the Queensland miner Diatreme Resources for a government licence to begin exploratory drilling near the Grampians’ southern border. Last month it was approved after what the company said was the ”quickest turnaround” it had ever experienced.

”The speed at which they’ve granted this tenement, which took about four months, is the fastest we’ve ever had,” chief executive Tony Fawdon said. ”They can often take several years.” Mr Fawdon said the recent departmental surveys had identified substantial copper deposits, which are believed to stretch from the Grampians to the state’s north-west.

Use it or lose it, miners warned by Coalition – by David Crowe (The Australian – September 18, 2013)

September 18, 2013

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

RESOURCE giants will be told to step up their spending on mammoth new projects or risk losing their rights to tap the deposits, under an Abbott government plan to accelerate investment and kill off fears of an end to the boom.

The incoming government aims to use its power over the vast gas deposits to bring forward up to $180 billion in new investment, sending a blunt message to companies to develop rather than hoard the nation’s resources.

As Tony Abbott and his ministers prepare to be sworn into office today, the resource plan marks another stage in an economic agenda that promises to lift growth, but will depend on stronger business investment to deliver results.

The policy is also set to reignite debate on the cost burdens – including high salaries – that global companies blame for stalling Australian projects and diverting their investments into cheaper projects in Africa and Asia.

Incoming industry minister Ian Macfarlane told The Australian that companies should extract “every molecule” of gas to boost exports and supply the domestic market.

What’s good for BHP is good for us all – by Terry McCrann (The Australian – August 24, 2013)

September 18, 2013

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

THE world’s biggest resources company is Australia’s BHP Billiton. BHP is also, in a sense, Australia’s General Motors.

That’s the 21st-century Down Under equivalent of GM when it was the world’s biggest company; so that today, Down Under, what’s good for BHP is good for Australia. This means at its simplest that if BHP is doing well, so also will be the country more broadly.

BHP’s profit showed that the company was doing pretty well, if not quite so wonderfully as two years ago. That pretty much captured the broader economic state of play: a glass at least half-full. At a deeper level, the aphorism takes on a darker, more challenging message. That what BHP needs to do well is also precisely mirrored in what the nation overall needs to do well.

The darker emphasis comes in the clear message from BHP that it is not getting what it needs to do well; the logical inference is that the nation is therefore also not getting what it needs to do well.

There is one huge difference between BHP and the nation. If the company is not getting what it needs here, it can go somewhere else. It is doing exactly that. The one big greenfields project it has on its radar is potash. In Canada. BHP will also continue to spend $3 billion to $4bn a year on shale oil and gas. In the US.

COLUMN-Australia’s coal industry enters the final stage of grief – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – August 14, 2013)

September 17, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 14 (Reuters) – Australian coal miners have been in mourning over the rapid loss of profitability and expansion opportunities, but the industry is entering the final stage of the grieving process.

The five stages of grief, as described by Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross on how people face events like terminal illness, are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

While not all of the attendees at the annual Coaltrans Australia conference this week have got past the depression stage, most were looking at how the industry deals with the reality of its myriad of issues.

These include an apparent structural shift to lower prices for the foreseeable future, rising public opposition to mining on the back of a well-funded and organised environmental lobby, lack of capital available for new projects, still high labour costs and an increasing burden of government red and green tape.

The coal miners have limited influence over most of these issues, but they appear to be making concerted efforts to change what they can in a bid to strengthen their position and make sure Australia remains the world’s biggest exporter of coking coal and number two in thermal coal.