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BHP, Vale joint venture boss in Brazil ‘environmental crime’ probe – by Daniel Palmer (The Australian – July 14, 2016)

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

BHP Billiton has confirmed operations at its troubled Samarco iron ore joint venture will likely not restart this year.

The miner, which controls Samarco with Brazil’s Vale, said the process of receiving regulatory approval for a restart of operations would take an extended period in the wake of last November’s tragic tailings dam collapse. “Samarco has confirmed it is unlikely to have in place the necessary approvals to restart its operations in this calendar year,” BHP said in a statement.

“Samarco makes an important contribution to the national economy and the livelihoods of thousands of people but Samarco’s operations will restart only when it is safe to do so, and when all regulatory approvals are granted and accepted by the relevant authorities and communities.”

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Brazil prosecutors open criminal probe into Samarco CEO (Reuters U.S. – July 13, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

Brazilian federal prosecutors said on Wednesday they opened an investigation into alleged environmental crimes by Roberto Carvalho, chief executive of iron-ore mining company Samarco Mineração SA, over a deadly damburst last year.

According to a statement released by prosecutors, Samarco, a 50-50 joint venture between Brazil’s Vale SA and Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd, has failed to fully implement emergency precautionary measures ordered by Brazil’s environmental protection agency Ibama in the wake of the October 2015 tailings dam burst.

In what has been billed the worst environmental disaster in Brazil’s history, the flood of iron-rich mud killed 19 people, wiped out several towns and polluted hundreds of kilometers (miles) of rivers in Brazil’s Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo states.

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Brazil’s Doce River still foul eight months after dam collapse – by Zoe Sullivan (Deutsche Welle – July 5, 2016)

http://www.dw.com/

Regencia, Brazil – “I was making ice cream, and didn’t hear the noise,” recalls Neuza da Silva Santos. “My sister arrived, yelling that the dam had broken, and I went outside. The river was already full of sludge. I went back inside and closed the window because I thought I would be coming back. We ran.”

Da Silva Santos didn’t come back. Her decision to drive away ended up being fateful, as she survived the collapse of the dam by getting in a car; 19 other people were not so lucky. Reports show that although Brazilian mining company Samarco, the dam’s owner, knew about a leak at the impoundment 10 hours earlier, there had been no warning siren.

According to the United Nations, 50 million tons of iron ore and toxic waste were dumped into the river that day.

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BHP Billiton digs deep at Escondida copper mine in Chile – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – July 5, 2016)

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

BHP Billiton has approved an ­effective plant expansion at the giant Escondida mine in Chile that will provide an extra 150,000 tonnes of annual copper production for a development spend of just under $US200 million ($266m), in a prime example of chief Andrew Mackenzie’s push to unleash low-cost latent capacity.

The approval, which reverses a previous decision to demolish the Los Colorados concentrator at ­Escondida to gain access to high-grade ore, was revealed by BHP’s new head of American mining operations, Daniel Malchuk, in an interview with The Australian.

The Santiago-based Mr Malchuk said BHP remained keen on copper from a market perspective and would still be prepared to make acquisitions in the metal if the right assets came to market during the current downturn.

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BHP said to be after Potash Corp again – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – July 2, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

Shares in Potash Corp. (TSX, NYSE:POT), the world’s second-largest producer of the fertilizer, soared as much as 6.6% in Toronto on Thursday to $22.18, closing at $21, on fresh rumours that BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) had made an unsolicited takeover offer for the Canadian miner.

According to The Fly website, the word among traders was that the Saskatchewan-based miner had hired an investment bank to analyze the proposal.

In 2010 the Canadian government’s rejected BHP’s $40 billion hostile takeover bid for Potash Corp. saying the offer failed to meet the criteria of providing a net benefit to the country. Analysts believed at the time the move would deter any potential suitors from approaching the company in the future.

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BHP Billiton says Jansen project still alive despite comments from MLA – by D.C. Fraser and Alex MacPherson (Regina Leader-Post/Saskatoon StarPhoenix – June 28, 2016)

http://leaderpost.com/

A government backbench MLA hinted earlier this month that BHP Billiton Canada Inc. would abandon its multi-billion-dollar Jansen potash mine if it doesn’t get further approval to proceed with construction. However, the global mining giant and the government minister responsible for the file said that isn’t case.

Glen Hart, MLA for Last Mountain-Touchwood, told a group of citizens fighting a separate proposed potash mine that BHP employees in Saskatoon told the government that the massive Jansen mine was “at a stage now where if the board of directors doesn’t authorize any more expenditure on this project, they’re going to walk way.”

Hart’s comments were recorded, though it’s unclear if the MLA knew he was being taped. The MLA claims the quote was taken out of context and he was trying to describe his understanding of the process for how potash mine is built. According to a spokeswoman for the premier’s office, Hart in no way meant to sound as if the mine would not proceed.

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BHP Boosts Exploration Budget in Hunt for Copper to Petroleum – by David Stringer (Bloomberg News – June 26, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest miner, will raise its annual exploration budget by more than a quarter to $900 million as it targets discoveries in copper and conventional petroleum.

The Melbourne-based producer is allocating more capital to hunt for potential discoveries in the two materials, it said Monday in a presentation. That’s even as it cuts overall capital expenditure to $5 billion in the year beginning next month, compared to a peak of $25 billion in fiscal 2013.

BHP in February estimated exploration spending in the current fiscal year would account for $700 million of its forecast $7 billion capital expenditure.

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BHP: Fukushima set uranium industry back for years – by Michael Owen (The Australian – June 27, 2016)

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

A key reason for BHP Billiton’s decision four years ago to indefinitely mothball a $30 billion plan to turn Olympic Dam into the world’s biggest uranium mine was the Fukushima nuclear plant explosion rather than cost concerns, it has been revealed.

Senior BHP executives told The Australian that although lingering effects from the global financial crisis in 2008 were used to publicly justify the 2012 decision by BHP’s board not to proceed with the original expansion plan, the real concern was the effect of the Fukushima disaster on demand for uranium and its price.

“You have to consider the events that occurred around that time … Fukushima changed everything and probably set the nuclear energy and uranium industry back years, if not decades,” one senior BHP executive said.

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Lenders turn away BHP port debt plan, wary of coal – by James Regan (Reuters U.S. – June 23, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY – Australian mining giant BHP Billiton pulled a $500 million debt refinancing plan at one of Australia’s biggest coal export terminals after banks were reluctant to lend to the sector, said three sources with knowledge of the process.

The decision earlier this month sets back efforts to simplify complex debt arrangements at the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG) project and stalls BHP’s plan to release cash tied up in the terminal as it looks to strengthen its balance sheet amid a global commodities slump.

It also underscores the plight of the industry in trying to attract financing from lenders wary of coal’s commercial outlook and contribution to climate change.

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Chinese stake in Vale could help or hinder BHP Billiton – by John Kehoe (Australian Financial Review – June 22, 2016)

http://www.afr.com/

The prospect of a cashed-up Asian investor taking a minority equity stake in the iron ore assets of indebted Brazilian mining giant Vale would not have gone unnoticed by BHP Billiton and its shareholders.

The key question for those with an interest in BHP is what are the possible ramifications for Australia’s mining juggernaut from a potential partnership between competitor Vale and China Inc?

In a world where the economic and strategic motivations of China’s state-owned investors can overlap, the answer seems to be a double-edged sword for BHP. On the potential positive side, a more robust Vale balance sheet topped up with Asian – most likely Chinese – cash would probably be welcomed by the Big Australian.

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A Desperate Search for Gold After Brazil’s Worst Mining Disaster Ever – by R.T. Watson (Bloomberg News – June 21, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

In the red-dirt hills of Minas Gerais, a part of Brazil named for the mines that provided livelihoods for generations, the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster has unearthed a new opportunity for locals stung by recession and job losses — panning for gold.

Wildcat mining is on the rise in communities devastated by the collapse of a dam that in November unleashed a deadly avalanche of sludge from the giant Samarco iron-ore mine, killing residents and destroying homes. Thousands were left jobless amid a deep national recession. But the landslide also churned up riverbeds enough to expose flecks of precious metal like those that sparked Brazil’s first gold rush three centuries ago.

While no one knows how many people are digging illegally to make ends meet, the number of complaints to the environmental military police in the city of Mariana jumped about 30 percent since the disaster, said Sgt. Valdecir Nascimento, a 24-year veteran of the unit.

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Creating the World’s Biggest Robots Proves Challenging for Miners – by David Stringer and Rebecca Keenan (Bloomberg News – June 17, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Creating the world’s largest moving robots to transport iron-ore across the vast Australian Outback is proving more complex and time-consuming than expected for Rio Tinto Group, fueling doubts the technology can deliver promised returns as major rivals defer similar investments.

Rio, which gets more profit from iron-ore than anything else, is already two years behind schedule with a $518 million effort to deploy automated trains on its 1,700-kilometers (1,056 miles) of track. While the system was designed to save money by expanding capacity and reducing labor costs, instead the delays mean the producer has cut output forecasts, and raised questions about whether the project is viable, according to Deutsche Bank AG.

“There was an underestimation of the mechanical work we had to actually do versus the reality,” Andrew Harding, the chief executive officer of Rio’s iron-ore unit, said in a June 3 interview in Perth.

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Samarco iron ore won’t restart this year – by Frik Els (Mining.com – June 16, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

The Samarco iron ore mine in Brazil – a joint venture Vale (NYSE:VALE) and BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) – is unlikely to resume operations before the end of the year.

Samarco Mineracao ceased operations in November following a deadly tailings dam burst. Benedito Waldson, the company’s head of human resources told Reuters the uncertain timing of a new licence from the South American nation’s environment authorities to restart operations “had forced the company to move to lay off over 1,000 workers.”

At 30 million tonnes per year before the disaster Samarco’s pelletizing operations supplied roughly one-fifth of the seaborne trade in the steelmaking raw material that attracts a premium price over iron ore fines and lump ore. Earlier Samarco said that should the mine reopen output would likely be capped at 19 million tonnes per year.

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Brazil judge dismisses $5.7 billion civil suit against Samarco: Vale (Reuters U.S. – June 13, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA said on Monday that a 20 billion reais ($5.7 billion) civil lawsuit seeking environmental and property damages for last year’s deadly Samarco mine disaster has been dismissed.

The mine is operated by Samarco Mineração SA, a joint venture between Vale and the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton Ltd. Vale said the judge did not rule on the merits of the case.

A tailings dam burst at the mine in November and unleashed 60 million cubic meters of mud and mine waste that devastated a village, killed at least 13 people and polluted a major river valley.

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BHP, Glencore Said to Bid for Anglo’s Australian Coal Mines – by Brett Foley and Dinesh Nair (Bloomberg News – June 7, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

BHP Billiton Ltd. and Glencore Plc are among final bidders for Anglo American Plc’s Australian metallurgical coal assets that may fetch about $1.5 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Anemka Resources, the mining investor backed by Warburg Pincus, has also made a bid, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. China’s Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. and a pairing of Apollo Global Management LLC and Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC, submitted final bids for the Moranbah and Grosvenor mines by a June 6 deadline, as well, the people said.

Anglo American could reach an agreement for the mines as soon as this month, though no final decision has been made and talks could still fall apart, they said. Glencore may be bidding with a partner, one of the people said.

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