International Media Resource Articles – Page 558

Barrick Gold Turns to New Finance Chief – by Tatyana Shumsky (Wall Street Journal – April 25, 2016)

April 26, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

Catherine Raw will be the company’s fourth CFO in five years

Investors will get their first chance to size up a new finance chief at the world’s largest gold producer this week, when Barrick Gold Corp. reports first-quarter earnings.

The Canadian miner is betting that Catherine Raw, who previously co-managed funds focused on the industry for BlackRock Inc., can streamline the company and place more emphasis on shareholder returns. She starts her new job following Tuesday’s results and conference call.

Barrick Gold—and the broader gold mining industry—has lacked such a strategy, according to analysts and investors. The company and its peers have historically prized output over profitability, which contributed to ballooning costs, excessive gold production and disappointing returns.

Downtrodden mining explorers turn to super-charged lithium – by Tess Ingram (Sydney Morning Herald – April 26, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.smh.com.au/

A host of downtrodden mineral exploration companies have switched their focus to lithium from out-of-favour metals, such as nickel, which have been battered by a downturn in commodity prices.

A flood of junior explorers have joined the hunt for lithium, picking up prospective ground and knocking on the doors of other miners in an attempt to join the exuberant market. As many as 35 ASX-listed companies have lithium exploration or development plans, with at least a third moving into lithium in the past five months.

“Lithium companies have been keenly sought after by investors in recent times, driven by the rise in demand for rechargeable batteries… and leading to a number of ASX-listed companies turning into lithium-focused companies,” Petra Capital analyst David Cotterell said.

Iron ore prices fall after surge as BHP lifts supply – by Matt Chambers (Matt Chambers – April 25, 2016)

April 25, 2016

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

This year’s budget-boosting run in iron ore prices has hit a snag, with prices falling after mining giant BHP Billiton poured cold water on talk it would slow supply and China moved to curb speculation in steel and iron ore markets.

But even after a 6 per cent drop on Friday night, prices of the nation’s biggest export remain higher than anyone had previously expected before the end of last week, as Scott Morrison prepares to hand down the federal budget next week.

Benchmark iron ore prices tracked by Metal Bulletin fell $US4.13 to $US66.33 a tonne overnight on Friday, taking some gloss off a stunning run in prices last week that saw them hit a 15-month high of $US70.46 the previous day.

Mining in the United Kingdom – by Paul Boughton (Engineer Live – April 22, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.engineerlive.com/

Jon Lawson reports on the latest from an historically significant location for mining: the UK

Mining has had a long history in Britain, and greatly influenced its economic development. One of the earliest known mines is at Grime’s Graves in Norfolk, Eastern England, where Neolithic people excavated high quality flint over 5,000 years ago. They dug some 400 pits using tools made from deer antler.

In more modern times, the abundance of coal underpinned the industrial revolution, and at one time before WW1, one million men were employed underground and there were 200 pits in Wales alone. However the industry has declined, with many unprofitable pits closing during the Thatcher administration in the 1980s.

The last deep pit, Kellingley colliery in North Yorkshire, closed at the end of 2015. With the closure was the loss of over 400 jobs. The remaining mines produce around 12 million tonnes per year.

Goldman Says Iron Ore’s Going `Back to $35′ as Glut Returns – by Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2016)

April 25, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has one piece of advice after this year’s dramatic iron ore rally: go short.

“We think this market will go back to $35 during the fourth quarter,” analyst Christian Lelong said in an interview. That’s 50 percent below Thursday’s close of $70.46 a dry metric ton, the highest level since January 2015. “Our expectation is the oversupply in the iron ore market will return.”

Iron ore has surged in 2016, in contrast to the previous three years when a slowing Chinese economy hurt steel demand and supplies increased. This year, policy makers in China have added stimulus, presiding over a revival in the property market that’s boosted the outlook for steel consumption and prices. Still, burgeoning output and stalling demand growth may drag prices down once again, according to Lelong.

“Going into the second half of the year, what are you going to need to absorb all that iron ore supply?”

China risks global ‘steel war’ as tempers flare – by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (The Telegraph – April 21, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

China is on a collision course with the world’s leading powers over excess steel output after it refused to sign up to an emergency global plan to cut capacity and eliminate subsidies.

The clash comes as fresh data confirms fears that China is still cranking up production and even reopening shuttered plants supposedly due for closure, despite the massive glut on the world market. Chinese mills produced a record 70.65m tonnes in March, 51pc of global output and five times as much as the whole EU.

“Just words from China are no longer good enough. It is now clear to everybody that the Chinese have no intention at all of changing the structure of their steel industry,” said Axel Eggert, head of the European steel federation Eurofer. “They refused even to accept basic principles. They don’t recognise the problem, and they are not looking for a compromise,” he said.

Newmont Hoping to Sell Entire Indonesia Stake to Private Group – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – April 22, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

A potential sale of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Indonesian assets to a group of private investors could include a stake that the government has so far snubbed, according to the biggest U.S. gold miner.

Newmont is working with partner Sumitomo Corp. to sell both companies’ entire stakes in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, Chief Executive Officer Gary Goldberg said in a telephone interview on Thursday. The unit owns Batu Hijau, the second biggest copper and gold mine in Indonesia.

Through a holding company, Newmont and Sumitomo together own 56 percent of the unit. The remaining 44 percent is owned by local entities. The government has had the right to buy 7 percent of Newmont and Sumitomo’s share since 2010, Goldberg said. “They’ve shown no interest in acquiring it and haven’t figured out even when they could acquire it,” he said.

Conga Mine in Peru Halted By Water Concerns, Civic Opposition – by Brett Walton (Circle of Blue – April 21, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.circleofblue.org/

Newmont Mining, the world’s second-largest gold producer, announced in a U.S. financial filing that it is abandoning a $US 4.8 billion copper and gold mine in Peru “for the foreseeable future.”

“Newmont will not proceed with the full development of Conga without social acceptance, solid project economics and potentially another partner to help defray costs and risk; it is currently difficult to predict when or whether such events may occur,” the company wrote in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on February 17. “Under the current social and political environment, the company does not anticipate being able to develop Conga for the foreseeable future.”

While Newmont’s decision is partly in response to souring market conditions — the price of copper is down more than 50 percent since a 2011 peak — the withdrawal from Conga is also a recognition that environmental concerns pose a serious financial risk to business. The mine was strongly opposed by Andes farmers because four natural lakes would have been drained and replaced by manmade reservoirs.

For Miners, Increasing Risk on a Mountain at the Heart of Bolivia’s Identity – by William Neuman (New York Times – September 16, 2014)

April 22, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/

POTOSÍ, Bolivia — The silver in this mountain helped finance the Spanish empire. It created vast fortunes for some and misery for many more. It fueled the early growth of European capitalism, setting the stage for the modern era.

But now, after centuries of hauling out its riches, miners working near the peak have clawed away so much of the interior of the mountain that it is caving in from the top down.

At the peak of this historic mountain — known as Cerro Rico, or Rich Hill, standing at more than 15,600 feet — a giant sinkhole has opened, a jagged mouth in the blood-red rock. In June, Unesco warned that the mountain, depicted at the center of Bolivia’s flag, faced a critical risk of collapse at its summit.

UPDATE 2-South Africa could extend talks on proposed empowerment rules – by Zandi Shabalala (Reuters U.S. – April 22, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, April 22 South Africa could extend consultations on a draft law opposed by mining companies that say the move to redress imbalances of the nation’s past apartheid rule would impose unfair conditions over black ownership.

Mining minister Mosebenzi Zwane announced the potential extension at a business briefing on Friday and later said that talks with the industry over the proposed changes to the Mining Charter would take place next Monday and Tuesday.

The new draft of the charter says that companies must be at least 26 percent black-owned at all times, even if some of the black shareholders choose to sell out. Mining companies argue that after they have complied with the 26 percent black empowerment rule it shouldn’t be their responsibility to monitor the ownership balance continually.

Japan’s sole gold mine owner readies for overseas acquisitions (Bloomberg/Business Times – April 22, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/

[TOKYO] Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, the copper and nickel producer that also owns Japan’s only gold mine, is scouring the world for bullion deals as assets become more affordable.

The Tokyo-based company signaled its appetite for overseas expansion in February with the US$1 billion purchase of an additional stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s Morenci copper mine in Arizona. Now, gold is the priority, President Yoshiaki Nakazato said in an interview.

Projects under consideration include a venture with Gold Road Resources Ltd to develop the Perth-based explorer’s Gruyere assets in Western Australia, Mr Nakazato said at the company’s headquarters this week. The Japanese company is among several considering a stake in the A$455 million (S$476 million) Gruyere project, people with knowledge of the matter said last month.

Story of cities #6: how silver turned Potosí into ‘the first city of capitalism’ – by Patrick Greenfield (The Guardian – March 21, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.theguardian.com/

The discovery of a mountain of silver (and a new way to extract it) transformed this remote Incan hamlet into the economic centre of Spain’s empire – larger than London, Milan or Seville. But then the silver ran out …

“For the powerful emperor, for the wise king, this lofty mountain of silver could conquer the world.” So read the engraving on an ornate shield sent by Spain’s King Felipe II in 1561 as a gift to the city of Potosí, in what is now southern Bolivia.

Felipe was all too aware of the vast riches hidden beneath this remote Andean settlement. The conquistadors may never have found El Dorado, but they did find a mound of silver so large it would turn an isolated Incan hamlet into the fourth largest city in the Christian world in just 70 years, fund the creation of the most advanced industrial complex of its era, and define economic fortunes from China to western Europe.

Iron ore price spike not sustainable: BHP’s Mike Henry – by Matt Chambers and Barry Fitzgerald (The Australian – April 22, 2016)

April 22, 2016

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

BHP Billiton’s new boss of its Australian mining operations, Mike Henry, says the rebound in iron ore prices to 10-month highs cannot last and the forces underpinning the surge will last a few months at best.

Mr Henry also had a message for Canberra: get moving on workplace reform. Claiming the call for reform was “election-cycle agnostic”, Mr Henry said reform was needed “to allow us to continue to grow, not just the industry, but the economy’’.

Iron ore has soared $US25 a tonne, or 63 per cent, from a low of $US39.30 a tonne on January 13 to $US64.77, fuelling massive share price recoveries and prompting thoughts of a tax boost for Canberra. But Mr Henry said that as much as he would like to see the higher prices sustained (they are now comfortably up on last year’s average of $US56 a tonne), the current level is not baked on.

BNP Sees Risk of Central Bank `Overreach’ With $1,400 Gold – by Lilian Karunungan and Ranjeetha Pakiam (Bloomberg News – April 21, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold may advance to as much as $1,400 an ounce over the next 12 months, according to BNP Paribas SA, which cited rising investor concern about the efficacy of central banks’ policies to sustain growth.

“There has clearly been an uptick in general investor concern about the eroding effectiveness and potential overreach of global central bank policies,” BNP’s wealth-management arm said in a briefing paper at a conference in Singapore on Thursday. “We expect this concern to remain an important component of the investment landscape in coming quarters.”

Bullion has rallied 20 percent in 2016 amid financial market volatility and investor concern about the outlook for global growth. Central bankers in Europe and Japan have intensified their drive to spur their economies, embracing negative interest rates, and while the Federal Reserve raised borrowing costs late last year, it’s yet to boost them further.

Mining group latest to sue government over sage-grouse land use plans (Elko Daily – April 20, 2016)

April 22, 2016

http://elkodaily.com/

ELKO – The American Exploration & Mining Association has joined in the fight over federal land use plans and sage-grouse.

The group filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to overturn the Sage-Grouse Great Basin and Rocky Mountain Records of Decision and underlying land use plan amendments in seven western states. The lawsuit is against the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service and several federal employees.

AEMA becomes the latest to challenge the plans following lawsuits lodged by the states of Idaho, Utah, nine Nevada counties, the Wyoming Coalition of Local Governments, ranchers, miners and various industry groups. Elko and Eureka counties, a few mining companies, and the Nevada Attorney General were among the first groups to file.