International Media Resource Articles – Page 532

BHP Billiton’s Iron Ore Production Shows No Signs of Slowing – by Rhiannon Hoyle (Wall Street Journal – July 19, 2016)

July 20, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

Miner produced record amount of iron ore from vast Australian operations this year

SYDNEY— BHP Billiton Ltd. will tip more iron ore into the global market in the year ahead, as miners show few signs of holding back output of the commodity despite a worsening glut.

Iron-ore prices have been dragged to a decade low as large exporters churn out rising volumes of the raw material intended to feed growth in China that is now slowing down. It is leading to mushrooming stockpiles of the raw material, the main ingredient in steel needed for everything from cars to skyscrapers, that could take years to clear.

On Wednesday, BHP forecast its vast network of iron-ore mines in remote northwest Australia, the source of much of the global trade in the commodity, could produce up to 7% more in the year ahead versus the prior 12 months.

BHP, Anglo see only slight setbacks for iron ore production – by James Regan and Barbar Lewis (Reuters U.S. – July 20, 2016)

July 20, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY/LONDON – BHP Billiton and Anglo American have reported setbacks in their iron ore production, but analysts said the contraction was nowhere near enough to dent the massive global supply glut that has driven prices to record lows.

Overnight on Tuesday, BHP Billiton narrowly missed its iron ore output target in the financial year just ended following the Samarco disaster in Brazil, while Anglo American on Wednesday reduced its full-year production forecast in Brazil.

Anglo American’s shares were down 7.1 percent at 755.6 pence by 1149 GMT, when BHP’s shares in London were down 2.6 percent at 924.1 pence, in line with the FTSE-350 mining sector index.

Only India, South Korea have active technology for deep sea mining (The Hans India.com – July 19, 2016)

July 19, 2016

http://www.thehansindia.com/

New Delhi:The ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague on the South China Sea dispute in favour of the Philippines may have come as a setback for China but it will not stop Beijing from continuing with its quest for maritime hegemony in the region.

“The reaction of China on the court’s ruling was on expected lines,” Prashant Kumar Singh, Associate Fellow in the East Asia Centre of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), told IANS.

“In the immediate term, it might adopt aggressive posturing and show a defiant face to other claimants to the dispute and also to the US which is a security provider for many of the claimants, including the Philippines,” he said.

Why Lithium Will See Another Price Spike This Fall – by James Stafford (Oil Price.com – July 18, 2016)

July 19, 2016

http://oilprice.com/

So far, lithium has been the hottest metal of 2016, beating out gold, with exponential demand expected over the coming years. Although the price trajectory of the metal has been subdued in recent months, the fundamentals behind the long-term trajectory suggest strong potential for long-term growth.

Price doubling from 2014/2015 was first seen in China and is now being felt worldwide, with lithium hydroxide prices from $16-20 and carbonate prices from $12-14 thousand USD per ton.

There is no doubt as to the push that Tesla has given the current automotive transition to electric vehicles (EVs). As the company’s mission statement outlines, it hopes “to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport by bringing compelling mass market electric cars to market as soon as possible.”

FISHY BUSINESS: An English mining company is keeping an entire species from extinction in Mexico – by Kata Karáth (Quartz.com – July 19, 2016)

July 19, 2016

http://qz.com/

Conservationists go to great lengths to save a species from extinction, and in the case of a small Mexican fish, to great depths as well.

For the past 12 years, London Zoo has been breeding a rare fish with crucial help from a large commercial manufacturer. British Gypsum supplies the zoo with gypsum, a mineral it mines in Brightling, southeast England. Gypsum is normally used as a fertilizer and in building products, but in this case it’s the only way of keep the mineral balance of the water just right for the peculiar needs of the checkered pupfish.

London Zoo runs conservation programs in more than 50 countries that are crucial to the survival of several thousand species, but the checkered pupfish has been particularly tricky. It only exists in one Mexican state, San Luis Potosí, and mostly in a single lake called Media Luna.

Congo’s small miners fill hole left by downsizing multinationals – by Aaron Ross (Reuters U.K. – July 18, 2016)

July 19, 2016

http://uk.reuters.com/

His toes bursting out of sneakers several sizes too small, a miner hacks with a pick at the copper and cobalt-laced stone in southeastern Congo, slowly filling a sack that could earn him anywhere from a handful to a few hundred dollars.

The 42-year-old father of five, who only gave his first name, Stany, has done this nearly every day for a decade, after he quit his maize fields for the comparatively lucrative mines of Africa’s top copper producer.

But unlike most artisanal mining, this is sanctioned by the Congolese government. As its mining heartland endures mass layoffs at big mines caused by low commodity prices, small-scale mining is helping to fill the deficit.

Mick Davis rethinks mining fund after failing to complete deals – by Neil Hume (Financial Times – July 18, 2016)

July 19, 2016

https://next.ft.com/

Former Xstrata boss is considering removing veto over potential investments

Launched three years ago with $5.6bn of commitments, Mr Davis’s X2 Resources has yet to complete its first acquisition. Relatively high valuations for mining assets and an investor veto on deals have frustrated Mr Davis and his team in their search for bargains in metals and mining.

They came close to buying a group of coal mines from Rio Tinto a year ago, only for the deal to fall apart after it was blocked by key investors on environmental grounds.

Mr Davis also approached BHP Billiton with an offer to buy a collection of its non-core mines but the Anglo-Australian miner decided to stick with to a plan to spin off the non-core assets into a newly listed company.

Iron ore volatility masks positive shift in fundamentals – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – Iron ore’s wild price gyrations this year may be masking a small, but significant, shift in the underlying fundamentals for the steel-making ingredient.

While seaborne iron ore remains a well-supplied market, it appears the level of over-supply has been diminishing faster than many expected, leading to an improvement in the supply-demand balance.

This provides some fundamental justification for the rally in spot prices, with the China benchmark index up almost 35 percent so far this year. Let’s be clear, there is no reason to believe that iron ore is poised for a major, sustained rally. But there is reason to be hopeful that prices are more likely to pivot around the $50 a tonne mark, rather than revisit the December 2015 lows of $37 a tonne.

China’s Rare-Earths Bust (Wall Street Journal – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

A new Honda engine shows the limits of Beijing’s coercion.

Honda says it has co-produced the world’s first hybrid car engine that doesn’t use heavy rare-earth metals, allowing it to cut reliance on imports from China. This innovation, to debut in Honda minivans this fall, illustrates how far we’ve come since the great rare-earths panic of 2010.

Back then, China produced 95% of global rare earths and thought it could hold markets hostage by restricting exports. So it cut export quotas by 40%, partly to push foreign buyers to move factories onshore, and then temporarily blocked shipments to Japan over a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

Prices shot up tenfold as consumers and officials world-wide feared for supplies of 17 obscure elements they learned are used in high-tech gizmos from missiles to smartphones, wind turbines and electric cars.

Mining houses pledge support for fight against HIV/Aids – by David Oliveira (MiningWeekly.com – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

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

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Major miners Anglo American and Harmony Gold have pledged their support for the United Nations’ HIV/Aids organisation UNAids’ global #ProTEST HIV campaign.

The campaign is aimed at positively contributing to the goal of ending HIV/Aids by 2030, by highlighting the importance of voluntary HIV testing, which is a critical intervention to help link care and support for those infected with HIV and other prevention programmes.

On the occasion of the twenty-first International AIDS Conference, being held at the Durban International Convention Centre, in KwaZulu-Natal, Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani on Monday said the company’s partnership with UNAids would assist in achieving the first HIV-free generation by 2030.

‘King Coal’ mining mogul Richard Budge dies aged 69 (Wakefield Express – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.wakefieldexpress.co.uk/

Richard Budge, the businessman who was crowned “King Coal” after successfully spear-heading the purchase of State-owned British Coal’s mining assets when the industry was privatised over 20 years ago, died today (Monday) at the age of 69. Mr Budge was born in 1947, the year the UK coal industry, with almost a thousand deep mines and a million employees, was nationalised and became the National Coal Board.

Almost half a century later when the “ultimate privatisation” was completed, there were just 19 deep mines in production – and Mr Budge’s Doncaster-based RJB Mining company bought all but two of them.

The three English coalfield packages embracing 17 deep mines, 30 surface mines, over 400 million tonnes of reserves and nearly 50,000 acres of land, cost RJB Mining, of which Budge was Chief Executive, £815 million. Some £700 million was paid to the government on completion on December 30, 1994, and the remaining bank acquisition debt was paid off within two years.

Namibia’s Diamond Discoveries Seen Extending Mining by 50 Years – by Felix Njini (Bloomberg News – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Discoveries of diamonds on land bordering the southern Atlantic coastal areas of Namibia, the world’s largest producer of marine gems, may extend ground-based mining operations by another 50 years, Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein said.

Namdeb Diamond Corp., jointly owned by the Namibian government and Anglo American Plc’s De Beers, struck more deposits after pushing back the sea wall at its land-based operations, Schlettwein said an interview Sunday in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, where he was attending the African Union summit.

“An additional resource has been now made available,” he said. “And with that, the life of mine from the land-based operations has been extended by another 50 years.”

Namdeb, as the De Beers unit is known, uses the latest technology to scour the bottom of the Atlantic for gems.

Kazakh-Chinese talks build on cooperation agreements (World Nuclear News – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

The heads of Kazakh uranium producer KazAtomProm and China’s CITIC Group have met to discuss attracting investment to the Central Asian country’s nuclear energy sector. Askar Zhumagaliyev and Chang Zhenming met as part of the working visit to China of Kazakhstan’s first deputy prime minister, Bakytzhan Sagintayev.

CITIC Group, formerly the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, is a state-owned investment company established in 1979.

The talks build on agreements KazAtomProm signed with Chinese companies at the end of last year. These include one for the development of Kazakh uranium mines and the construction of a nuclear fuel plant in Kazakhstan.

Chinese steel mills drive iron ore price surge – by Matt Chambers (The Australian – July 18, 2016)

July 18, 2016

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

The forces driving a recent 20 per cent surge in the iron ore price became clearer in recent days as monthly Chinese data revealed the Asian giant’s steel mills are at their busiest ever, despite expectations of a slowdown.

The official June data, coupled with industry data showing steel inventories had fallen, led to reports that underlying steel demand was healthy, despite general market speculation that a slowdown in demand is looming.

The price of iron ore, Australia’s biggest export and the key ingredient in steel, had risen from $US48 a tonne in early June to nearly $60 a tonne. However, on Friday iron ore fell 1.4 per cent to $US57.80 a tonne . Even so, the ongoing rise has pushed up the shares of Fortescue by 25 per cent and mining giant Rio Tinto by 16 per cent over the period.

BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are in no rush to change iron ore balance – by James Thomson (Australian Financial Review – July 17, 2016)

July 18, 2016

http://www.afr.com/

It’s highly likely that Fortescue Metals Group will be the only one of the Big Three iron ore players to beat its production target this week when BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and the Third Force present their numbers for the June quarter.

We already know that FMG has eclipsed its annual 2015-16 target of 165 million tonnes, with shipments hitting 169.4 million tonnes during the period. We also have a fair idea, from data from the Port Hedland port authority, that BHP missed its shipping target of 260 million tonnes for 2015-16, and is likely to report around 258 million tonnes.

Rio Tinto expects to ship 350 million tonnes out of the Pilbara and its Canadian operation in the 2016 calendar year. It’s on track to meet the target, but Macquarie says it will still need to strong finish to the year.