Europe Mining – Page 65 – Republic of Mining

K+S shares surge after Potash Corp takeover approach – by Arno Schuetze and Ludwig Burger (Reuters Canada – June 26, 2015)

June 26, 2015

http://ca.reuters.com/

RANKFURT (Reuters) – Shares in German potash miner K+S SDFGn.DE leapt almost 40 percent on Friday after a takeover proposal from Canada’s Potash Corp POT.TO which sources close to the matter said was worth more than 7 billion euros ($7.8 billion).

K+S, which would become the first German blue-chip firm in a decade to be bought by a foreign company, said it was assessing its options after announcing the approach late Thursday. Two sources close to the matter said K+S would likely reject the proposal as too low.

K+S believes Potash Corp wants to take capacity out of an over-supplied market to boost its profitability, the sources said, adding the Canadian firm might also look to close some of K+S’s high cost German mines and sell its salt business.

Potash Corp is currently operating well below full capacity because of weak potash prices.

The sources said Potash Corp proposed to pay just over 40 euros a share, a 38 percent premium to K+S’s closing price on Thursday and 44 percent above the six-month moving average price, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Canada’s Potash approaches German rival – by James Wilson (Financial Times – June 25, 2015)

June 25, 2015

http://www.ft.com/intl/companies/mining

London – The world’s largest potash producer has approached a rival about a possible takeover worth at least $7bn, a step that would be one of the largest transactions in the mining industry during the commodity price downturn of recent years.

PotashCorp of Saskatchewan, the Canadian miner of the fertiliser ingredient, said it had made a friendly “private proposal” to K+S, a German producer of the same commodity.

K+S was currently assessing its options after being told by PotashCorp of a possible takeover offer, the German company said in a statement. A PotashCorp statement said: “There is no certainty that any offer will ultimately be made or as to the terms on which such an offer might be made.”

Shares in K+S rose more than 30 per cent to €37.38. Shares in PotashCorp rose 4.3 per cent in Toronto to C$39.33. News of the approach was first reported by Handelsblatt.

Potash is a key ingredient in fertilisers and the market has been in a state of flux since 2013, when a Russian and a Byelorussian producer broke a longstanding partnership agreement that was aimed at supporting prices rather than a specific level of output.

Phosphate Producers Set to Become New ‘Blue Chips,’ VTB Says – by Yuliya Fedorinova (Bloomberg News – June 24, 2015)

June 24, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Phosphate fertilizer makers are set to gain as a supply surplus in the $35 billion market narrows, reducing the premium investors pay for potash producers, according to VTB Capital.

“The phosphate fertilizer producers are set to become the blue chips of the agrochemicals market, the role which potash miners once held,” said Elena Sakhnova, an analyst at VTB Capital in Moscow.

While the two groups of fertilizers don’t directly compete as farmers require both, Sakhnova said the pendulum is swinging in favor of phosphates, with demand set to increase 3 percent this year. The $20 billion potash market hasn’t recovered from the 2013 demise of the trading venture between PAO Uralkali, the biggest producer, and its Belarusian partner, which depressed crop nutrient prices and shares.

The gap in the enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ratio between potash producers and phosphate-focused fertilizer makers, which indicates the size of the premium investors are ready to pay for the shares, has narrowed to the lowest since at least 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Polish Opt-Out From EU Climate Pact? Lets Talk, Says Naimski – by Maiej Martewicz (Bloomberg News – June 21, 2015)

June 22, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Poland’s leading opposition party is seeking to negotiate exemptions from the European Union’s rules on reducing carbon emissions because the nation’s energy security and economic development depends on coal.

Law & Justice, which opinion polls show winning October’s general election, has vowed to toughen Poland’s stance on climate issues to protect the $526 billion economy, which relies on coal for about 90 percent of its electricity. While the government has been critical of EU emissions goals, it didn’t veto last year’s move toward stricter curbs on discharging heat-trapping carbon dioxide.

“The strategy that we’re planning for the economy rejects the dogma of de-carbonization,” Piotr Naimski, in charge of preparing energy policy at Law & Justice, said in an interview last week. “The role of coal in Poland’s economy fully deserves to receive special treatment.”

Poland will negotiate hard to win “respect” from EU partners for its stance on coal, which Naimski said mirrors the special exceptions, or “opt-outs,” from the bloc’s rules won by a number of other member nations. The country treats development of its coal deposits as a keystone of its energy security in a region dependent on Russian oil and gas imports.

Belgium’s ‘mining Monaco’ looks fondly on anarchic past after Waterloo – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – June 11, 2015)

June 11, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

KELMIS, BELGIUM – As the field of Waterloo is dressed in battle colors to mark next week’s 200th anniversary, another corner of Belgium is preparing for a less warlike bicentenary.

In one of the more arcane consequences of the new European borders that followed Napoleon’s defeat outside Brussels, a tiny statelet was born. For a century after Waterloo, the square mile that diplomats named Neutral Moresnet, on the present-day Belgian-German border, thrived in a state of virtual anarchy.

Today’s inhabitants of what is now part of the Belgian town of Kelmis fondly recount a largely lawless but prosperous history of freewheeling independence and are gearing up for their own bicentenary celebrations next year.

“We are very proud of the town’s past, particularly its ability to manage its own economy,” said alderman Erik Janssen. “The history of Kelmis is a fundamental part of the history of Belgium.”

Qatar could turn off tap on mining funding after investment review – by Silvia Antonioli and Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – June 9, 2015)

June 9, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON/VANCOUVER, June 9 (Reuters) – An investment review at Qatar’s wealth fund could lead to a cut in money allocated to the mining sector, potentially hitting ventures such QKR Corp, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

Such a move would be the latest in a string of rethinks by sovereign funds and investment firms that have been badly burnt by bets in the natural resources sector, largely due to the recent pullback in oil, gas and metal prices.

Late last year, Qatar named ruling family member Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani as the new head of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), one of the top investors globally.

Under the new management, the QIA has started to review its strategy, and the mining sector — under pressure from weaker metals prices and shrinking margins — is now seen as less attractive, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they are not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

“Various changes happened at the fund in that part of the world and have created a situation where it seems there is no further support for mining,” a London-based banking source said.

Heroic and tragic truth behind Poldark: Cornishmen shaped mining in Britain and pushed boundaries the world over – by Boyd Tonkin (The Indepnedent – April 10, 2015)

June 9, 2015

http://www.independent.co.uk/

If you look beyond the bodice-ripping and family feuds, the BBC’s ‘Poldark’ delves into a fascinating period of Cornwall’s mining past. Boyd Tonkin looks at the real quarrying dynasties in a region that was once at the cutting edge of capitalism

Anyone who watches Poldark for a treatise on Cornish industrial history is clearly barking up the wrong tree – or, maybe, peering down the wrong shaft. The second BBC adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels has already secured a sweating, straining place in prime-time costume-drama folklore that promises to eclipse even the spiky courtship of Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice – almost 20 years ago.

Ask fans to divert their gaze from the unfastened gowns and naked torsos to those fascinating examples of Cornish beam engines in the background and you risk sounding like the country-pursuits writer who reviewed Lady Chatterley’s Lover for Field and Stream magazine.

UPDATE 2-Rescued Areva faces uncertain future as nuclear fuel group – by Geert De Clercq(Reuters U.K. – June 4, 2015)

June 5, 2015

http://uk.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – France’s Areva faces an uncertain future as a specialised nuclear fuel supplier, as a state rescue moves its core nuclear reactor activities to its utility customer EDF.

Shares in the state-owned firm briefly rose almost 6 percent on Thursday after the government said late on Wednesday it would recapitalise Areva and approved EDF’s plan to take over Areva’s reactor unit.

The government plan unwinds Areva’s much-vaunted model of an integrated nuclear group that mines and enriches uranium, produces nuclear fuel, builds reactors and recycles spent fuel.

Created fifteen years ago from the nuclear fuel group Cogema and reactor builder Framatome, Areva had ambitions to sell as many as 16 of its massive EPR reactors to energy-hungry developing countries.

But it has not sold a reactor since 2007 and the four it did sell have been plagued by delays and cost overruns. More than two decades after it was designed, not a single EPR is in operation today.

Worth its salt: Poland’s Wieliczka Mine is no substitute for Doritos, but it is pretty cool – by Ron Csillag (National Post – June 1, 2015)

June 5, 2015

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

There aren’t many tourist attractions where you are encouraged to lick the walls. But a salt mine isn’t your typical visitor stop.

If you’re like me and are nearly overcome by a salt craving each afternoon that can only be satisfied with a Costco-sized bag of Doritos, the offer to sample the structure is tempting — until you consider that the reason the dark grey rock salt walls have been polished to a high gloss is decades of touching and rubbing.

Breathing deeply, on the other hand, can only be beneficial. A couple of hours in the air here are supposed to equal a week at the seaside.

And next time you make a dreary crack after lunch about having “to get back to the salt mines,” keep in mind what actual miners accomplished at the Wieliczka Salt Mine, 20 minutes outside the Polish city of Krakow, a thoroughly charming place that went unscathed in the Second World War and today blends Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture with swank shops, an unmistakably Roman Catholic sensibility and some really great food.

The world’s only salt mine designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Wieliczka draws upward of one million tourists a year, and for good reason. Poland’s history is not exactly light fare, so this place is a welcome respite (despite being a place where, you know, workers toiled in dank, brutal conditions).

Anger and Grief Simmer in Turkey a Year After Soma Mine Disaster – by Ceylan Yeginsujune (New York Times – June 2, 2015)

June 2, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

ELMADERE, Turkey — Through the lace curtains of her window, Beyhan Yilmaz cannot help but see the raw gash of the new coal mine carved through the green hills near her village. She is stung by the sight.

“I used to run away to that hill and have picnics with my husband under the pine trees,” Ms. Yilmaz recalled, with tears trickling down her cheeks. “As if the fact that they destroyed that beauty wasn’t painful enough, now every time I look out the window, I am reminded of the hell where my husband burned to death.”

Ms. Yilmaz, 26, is one of 10 women from Elmadere, in western Turkey, who were widowed by the deadliest industrial disaster in modern Turkish history, the explosion and fire that tore through a coal mine in the nearby town of Soma in May 2014, leaving 301 men dead.

The disaster led to protests in Soma and across Turkey that were broken up by the riot police using rubber bullets and water cannons. The anger here toward the government had barely receded a year later as the widows observed the grim anniversary. Families of victims say that no one has been held accountable and that they have been left to face the future on their own.

Wealth Fund Ban Betrays Norway’s Awkward Fossil Fuel Goals – by Saleha Mohsin and Mikael Holter (Bloomberg News – May 31, 2015)

June 1, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Western Europe’s biggest oil producer has decided coal is too dirty to invest in.

Norway’s $890 billion sovereign wealth fund, built on more than four decades of extracting crude from the North Sea, was ordered by lawmakers on Wednesday to limit holdings of companies that produce or burn coal. That could trigger at least $4.5 billion in divestments of stocks such as RWE AG and Duke Energy Corp.

“There’s this incredible logic that coal is the climate problem, and Norway is helping solve the world climate problem by producing gas that can replace coal in Europe and reduce emissions,” Rasmus Hansson, a lawmaker for the Green Party, said in a phone interview.

“That logic has unbelievably been accepted by the Norwegian majority as credible — which it isn’t.”

The cognitive dissonance is on display in Stavanger, Norway’s oil capital. The local Scandic hotel, which charges around $200 a night, tells guests it runs on wind and hydropower. The view is of the North Sea, where Norway — a country that boasts the highest per capita income in Europe after Luxembourg — spends billions extracting its oil.

The Cornish Mines – by Graham Jaehnig (The Daily Mining Gazette – May 30, 2015)

June 1, 2015

http://www.mininggazette.com/

From the very beginning of the mineral rush in 1843, miners from other countries worked Copper Country lodes. John Hays, in working the area around Copper Harbor, worked teams of German coal miners he had retained from Pennsylvania. Colonel Charles Gratiot, working for the Lake Superior Copper Company, had brought with him a crew of some fourteen Cornish miners from the lead district of Wisconsin.

Cornwall is a small peninsula on the southwest portion of England that juts into the Atlantic Ocean, and enjoys a remarkable mining history. Mining in Cornwall had begun as early as the Bronze Age (2100-1500 BCE) and by the beginning of the 17th century CE, the Cornish had earned the reputation as experts and world leaders in mining and mineral dressing.

At the time when Cornish mines were becoming too deep to be profitably mined, large copper deposits were discovered in England’s North Wales. To compete with these new, shallow mines, Cornish engineers made great advancements in mining technology, such as pumping engines and mineral processing.

By the mid-1840s, as the Cornish copper industry was in major decline, the mineral lands of Lake Superior were just beginning to make world news for their finds of huge masses of pure copper.

Norway oil fund plans to withdraw from coal-burning utilities – by David Crouch and Pilita Clark (Financial Times – May 27, 2015)

May 29, 2015

http://www.ft.com/intl/world/europe

Gothenburg and London – Norway’s $916bn oil fund will consider pulling billions of dollars of investments out of coal in a move that threatens European utilities using the fossil fuel to generate power.

Members of the finance committee of Norway’s parliament confirmed on Wednesday night that opposition and governing parties had reached agreement that the fund should withdraw investments from companies whose business relies more than 30 per cent on coal, measured either by revenue from fossil fuel or by the percentage of power they generate from it.

The proposal will be put to parliament on Thursday for a vote on June 5 but cross-party agreement means it is very likely that it will be passed.

Norway’s move is one of the most significant responses yet to a global divestment campaign that aims to ‎stigmatise the use of coal and other fossil fuels because of their input to climate change.

“This will make a huge difference, it will have influence on ordinary miners and energy companies,” said Terje Breivik, a Liberal party member of the finance committee. “The main explanation is that the oil fund itself is aware of the financial risk due to climate problems.”

Sweden to relocate entire city to meet China’s energy needs – by Dominic Hinde (Washington Times – May 24, 2015)

May 26, 2015

http://www.washingtontimes.com/

KIRUNA, Sweden — To feed China’s growing appetite for raw materials, this venerable mining town 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle is poised to become a cutting-edge Tomorrowland as it prepares to move buildings, residents and even a century-old wooden church to a new location a few miles away.

“These will be the first to go,” said Kjell Torma, editor of KirunaTidningen, the local newspaper, pointing to a row of red brick apartment blocks surrounded by construction fences. “If you want a cheap kitchen fan or some radiators, get in there.”

Over the next 10 years, Kiruna officials plan to demolish the apartments and most other buildings in this town of 18,000 residents and then rebuild them as far as three miles away — all part of an ambitious $375 million project to make way for the expansion of a giant iron mine as demand from China has suddenly made extraction here worth the investment.

But officials aren’t constructing an exact duplicate of Kiruna, founded in 1900 as the most northerly town in Sweden. With funding from Sweden’s state-owned mining company — Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB, or LKAB — officials in Kiruna aim to create one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Europe.

European mining seemingly regaining lost lustre as at least one mine opens each year since 2008 – by Ilan Solomons (MiningWeekly.com – May 22, 2015)

May 25, 2015

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

HANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Europe is remarkable in that its mining industry predates the Roman Empire, yet large portions of unexplored territories with highly prospective resources remain, says European metals and minerals mining representative body Euromines president Mark Rachovides.

Mattia Pellegrini, head of the raw materials, metals, minerals and forest-based industries unit of the European Commission* Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, tells Mining Weekly that the body recently commissioned a study to assess the competitiveness of the European mining industry.

The results highlighted that the 28 member countries of the European Union (EU) have an active nonenergy extractive industry that produces a wide range of commodities.

He adds, however, that the results also showed the EU’s “modest” contribution to the global production of mineral resources. “Nevertheless, when one considers investment in exploration in some of the EU member States during the past five years, there is an encouragingly increasing trend,” states Pellegrini.