Twitter

Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining

Rio Tinto buying Arcadium in US$6.7-billion bet on lithium – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Rio Tinto PLC is buying lithium producer Arcadium Lithium PLC in a big bet on the electric-vehicle battery metal in the midst of a vicious bear market.

The Anglo-Australian major is paying US$5.85 a share for U.S.-based Arcadium, a premium of 90 per cent to Friday’s close, in an all-cash transaction worth US$6.7-billion. The boards of both companies are in favour of the deal. Lithium prices have crashed in recent years owing to China flooding the market and a slowdown in electric-vehicle sales.

Read more

Canada reviewing Paladin’s Fission Uranium takeover on national security grounds – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 2, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Paladin Energy’s (ASX: PDN) proposed takeover of Canadian explorer Fission Uranium (TSX: FCU) has hit a roadblock after receiving a notice from the Canadian government informing the company the deal is now the subject of a national security review.

The Australian miner entered in June into an agreement with Fission Uranium to acquire it for C$1.14 billion ($846m), as strong prices for the fuel used in nuclear reactors has lit fire under market consolidations and deals.

Read more

South African company Sibaneye-Stillwater eyes New Caledonia nickel mining plant – by Patrick Decloitre (Radio New Zealand – September 17, 2024)

https://www.rnz.co.nz/

A South African company is reported to be the most probable bidder for shares in New Caledonia’s Prony Resources. As part of an already advanced takeover of the ailing southern plant of Prony Resources, the most probable bidder is reported to be South African group Sibaneye-Stillwater, local media reported on Monday.

Just like the other two major mining plants and smelters in New Caledonia, Prony Resources is facing acute hardships due to the emergence of Indonesia as a major player on the world market, compounded with New Caledonia’s violent unrest that broke out in May.

Read more

Chinese investor steps in to block Paladin’s Fission buy – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – September 16, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Australia’s Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) has hit a roadblock in its proposed acquisition of Canada’s Fission Uranium (TSX: FCU) after a Chinese investor in the takeover target opposed the tie-up.

The Western Australia-based miner revealed on Monday that CGN Mining Company, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power with a 11.26% stake in Fission, is opposing the tie-up. Paladin moved in June to buy the Canadian miner for C$1.14 billion ($845 million), contingent on at least two-thirds of Fission shareholders voting in favour of the transaction by Aug. 26.

Read more

[Australia] Mirarr Traditional Owners criticise uranium miner ahead of final fight over Jabiluka – by David Prestipino (National Indigenous Times – September 16, 2024)

https://nit.com.au/

Mirarr Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory are disappointed at comments from Energy Resources Australia bosses they say undermine their cultural authority.

Criticism of the “disrespectful” comments in legal documents by ERA chief executive Brad Welsh and independent director Ken Wyatt comes as the company appeals the NT Government’s rejection in July of a 10-year-extension to its minerals licence over the uranium-rich land surrounded by Kakadu National Park.

Read more

Stop taking our mining good fortune for granted – by Editorial (Australian Financail Review – September 12, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

There is a danger of not only bashing the mining industry, but in treating new minerals as the “next big thing”, while overlooking legacy conventional mining.

Mining has made all Australians prosperous, not just miners. Real wages have been considerably higher during the past 20 years than if there had been no resources export bonanza or mining investment boom.

Each surge of national income from mining booms has underpinned our housing and super wealth, and kept Australians near the top of global rankings of GDP per head, behind mostly rich European tax havens and Middle East oil sheikhdoms.

Read more

Lithium prices have crashed this year, squeezing margins at Australian miners – by Clint Jasper (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – September 2, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

It is an essential element of the green energy transition and just a few years ago Australia was in the front seat of a lithium boom, but a new wave of supplies has put their competitive edge under pressure.

Consumers are increasingly opting to drive EVs, and governments continue to invest in solar and wind projects, yet lithium miners have spent the last year watching the price of their ore sinking. Last week, the financial pain inflicted by a year of declining lithium prices was revealed as Australia’s major producers opened their balance sheets up for investors.

Read more

BHP has nothing good to say about nickel prices – by Frik Els (Mining.com – August 27, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

BHP’s relationship with its Western Australian nickel operations has been something of an on-and-off affair. In 2014, Melbourne-based BHP excluded Nickel West from its South32 spin-off, created to house the company’s non-core assets. Today South32 is worth $9.5 billion, 50% more than on its debut, and senior management in Perth may well feel that in the end that was a blessing.

Later that year the world’s top mining company, more than $30 billion clear of its nearest rival, also waved away bidders for Nickel West, said to be Glencore and Chinese nickel group Jinchuan, in a sale put as high as $1 billion.

Read more

Lithium mine closures just ‘tip of the iceberg’ – by Alex Gluyas (Australian Financial Review – August 26, 2024)

https://www.afr.com/

The lithium sector is facing a wave of mine closures as prices for the battery material continue to decline despite some companies already delaying future projects.

UBS slashed its lithium price forecasts for the 2025 and 2026 calendar year by up to 23 per cent on Monday as it cautioned that not enough supply was being deferred, and global demand for electric vehicles was softening.

Read more

Paladin excited to enter the ‘Pilbara of uranium’ – by Mariaan Webb (MiningWeekly – August 7, 2024)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Australia-headquartered uranium miner Paladin Energy is set on transforming itself from a single-asset entity into a “serious global producer with scale and upside potential”, said COO Paul Hemburrow.

Speaking at the Diggers and Dealers forum, in Kalgoorlie, this week, he expressed enthusiasm about the proposed acquisition of Fission Uranium, a deal valued at C$1.14-billion.

Read more

Soaring Prices Have Australian Gold Bugs Expecting M&A Splurge – by Sybilla Gross (Bloomberg News – Ausgust 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Australia’s gold industry — buoyed by the precious metal’s record—setting run this year — is anticipating a wave of deal-making, with smaller miners being targeted as exploration lags.

The potential for a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the world’s biggest gold producer after China and Russia has been one of the major talking points at the three-day Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in the dusty Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie.

Read more

Nickel sulfide shortage amid ESG evolution in market pricing – Wyloo CEO – by Anthony Barich (SP Global – July 2024)

https://www.spglobal.com/

Wyloo Pty. Ltd. is a wholly owned portfolio company of Australian private investment group Tattarang Pty. Ltd. Tattarang is owned by Andrew and Nicola Forrest, serving as a holding company for the Forrest family’s private business interests. Tattarang also has a 35.15% interest in iron ore major Fortescue Ltd.

At the end of May, Wyloo put its Cassini and North Kambalda operations on care and maintenance in a bid to weather market oversupply caused by Indonesia flooding the market with cheap nickel.

Read more

High Returns Lure Wealthy Investors to Fund Coal as Banks Exit – by Sharon Klyne (Bloomberg News – July 21, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Wealthy Australians, in search of attractive investment returns, are emerging as an important pool of capital for financing coal projects shunned by banks due to environmental, social and governance concerns.

Income Asset Management Group Ltd. is one fund manager targeting the well-off in Australia to provide private loans to coal and other mining companies, offering investment returns of about of 12% to 13% per year.

Read more

Paladin CEO bullish on clearing national security test on Fission deal, as Ottawa inquires about state-owned China shareholder – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 18, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd.is confident its proposed acquisition of Canada’s Fission Uranium Corp. will clear a national security probe, as Ottawa makes enquiries about CGN Mining Co. Ltd., a China-based state-owned deal stakeholder.

Perth-based Paladin last month said it had reached a friendly agreement to buy Kelowna, B.C.-based Fission in an all-stock transaction worth $1.14-billion. Fission is developing the Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium project in the Athabasca Basin region of Saskatchewan and hopes it will be in production by the end of the decade.

Read more

BHP joins the lengthening list of nickel price casualties – by Andy Home (Reuters – July 16, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s nickel production surge is crushing competitors and challenging the West’s ambitions of diversifying its critical metals supply chains. Australia’s BHP Group is the latest victim of a two-year price slump, which has seen London Metal Exchange three-month nickel tumble from an all-time high of $55,000 per metric ton in March 2022 to $16,650.

The world’s largest listed miner has announced it is suspending its Western Australia nickel operations from October. The decision was well flagged and probably made easier by the loss of feed from Wyloo Metals’ Kambalda mines, which were placed on care and maintenance in May, also due to low prices.

Read more