International Media Resource Articles – Page 582

COLUMN-Bulls may win gold tug-of-war in China, India – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – February 3, 2016)

February 3, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

Feb 3 – Gold’s rally this year has been driven mainly by what may be termed Western factors, namely buying on the back of worries over the state of the global economy and the subsequent desire for safe haven assets.

Spot gold has jumped 6.3 percent to around $1,127 an ounce since the start of year, bringing out bullish views that the yellow metal’s dark years since the peak near $2,000 in September 2011 are finally over.

Falling equity markets, both in developed and developing markets, credit and currency worries in China and monetary easing from major central banks other than the U.S. Federal Reserve have made gold look more attractive.

India’s new mineral policy likely to offer incentives for explorers – by Ajoy K Das (MiningWeekly.com – February 3, 2016)

February 3, 2016

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

KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – India’s proposed New Mineral Policy (NMP) is expected to offer a slew of monetary incentives to private domestic and foreign companies to undertake mineral exploration activities across at least 100 mineral blocks across the country.

The NMP, the details of which were not yet in the public domain, was slated to be unveiled within the next few months, and was expected to offer investors in mineral exploration projects an assured revenue stream even if they decided not to undertake mining operations post discovery of resources.

To further sweeten deals for exploratory investments, in the case that no significant or economically viable discovery post exploration was made, investors would be entitled to reimbursement of exploration expenses based on pre-determined parameters.

Appalachian Miners Are Learning to Code – by Tim Loh (Bloomberg News – February 3, 2016)

February 3, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Jim Ratliff worked for 14 years in the mines of eastern Kentucky, drilling holes and blasting dynamite to expose the coal that has powered Appalachian life for more than a century.

Today, he rolls into an office at 8 a.m., settles into a small metal desk and does something that, until last year, was completely foreign to him: computer coding.

“A lot of people look at us coal miners as uneducated,” said Ratliff, a 38-year-old with a thin goatee and thick arms. “It’s backbreaking work, but there’s engineers and very sophisticated equipment. You work hard and efficiently and that translates right into coding.”

He works for Bit Source now, a Pikeville, Kentucky, startup that’s out to prove there’s life after coal for the thousands of industry veterans who’ve lost their jobs in an unprecedented rout that has already forced five major producers into bankruptcy.

[Iron Range] Our view: We will survive this mining downturn, too (Duluth News Tribune – February 3, 2016)

February 3, 2016

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

We’ve lived through this before. Survived it. And the challenges to Northeastern Minnesota now are similar to the challenges in 2001, the last time “we wondered if we were going to have an iron ore industry in the state of Minnesota,” as Frank Ongaro said at a chamber forum Tuesday in Duluth.

Then he was president of the Iron Mining Association. Now he’s executive director of Mining Minnesota, which advocates for the environmentally responsible mining of copper, nickel and other precious metals. He knows more than a thing or two about the industry, its incredible highs and its devastating lows.

“We’ve been interdependent — Duluth, Northeastern Minnesota and the Iron Range — for 100 years. (The mining industry) has had its ups and downs. It’ll continue to have its ups and downs. … (Right now) we’re at a bottom,” Ongaro said. “But be assured, we have had these cycles, and we will come out of this cycle at some point, at some level.”

Commodities Crash Washes Up In Korea – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – February 2, 2016)

February 3, 2016

http://www.forbes.com/

Two of Korea’s biggest companies, Samsung and Posco , are feeling the pain of the commodities-price crash which has devastated the mining and oil industries.

Samsung, a broadly diversified industrial business, has been hit by a loss associated with building an iron ore mine in Australia. Posco, a steel maker, from being an investor in the same mine.

The project causing problems for the Korean corporate giants is Roy Hill, a mine controlled by one of Australia’s richest people, Gina Rinehart.

Canadians see appeal in [Australian] Beta Hunt – by Jarrod Lucas (The West Australian – February 3, 2016)

February 3, 2016

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/

Toronto stock exchange-listed Royal Nickel Corporation will take a controlling interest in the privately owned Beta Hunt mine near Kambalda in a $C7.5 million ($7.56 million) cash-and-scrip deal.

Royal Nickel will emerge with 67 per cent of Derek Fisher’s Salt Lake Mining, which acquired Beta Hunt for $10 million in 2013. Beta Hunt first operated in the 1970s and has the rare feature of nickel and gold resources in adjacent mineralised zones.

Nickel ore is delivered to BHP Billiton’s Kambalda concentrator, while gold is treated at St Ives, owned by South Africa’s Gold Fields, which holds the mining tenements at Beta Hunt.

Iran Looking To Ramp Up More Than Just Oil Production – by Andrew Topf (Oil Price.com – February 2, 2016)

February 3, 2016

http://oilprice.com/

As the oil markets remain focused on the re-emergence of Iran as a major oil producer following the recent lifting of sanctions, another oversupply storm is brewing as the Islamic Republic appears keen to start mining its substantial metals reserves.

On January 17 Iran emerged from years of economic isolation as world powers lifted sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear weapons ambitions. The controversial deal, stickhandled by U.S. President Obama, will free up tens of billions of assets and allow foreign firms to do business with a country once (and still by its enemies) considered an international pariah.

The addition of 500,000 barrels of oil a day could further depress the price of crude oil which is struggling to break through a resistance level in the low-$30s, although there have been rumblings lately that Iran may increase output more gradually than initially thought, in order to prevent adding downward pressure on prices.

Miners Digging Deeper Hole for Platinum – by Ese Erheriene and Alexandra Wexler (Wall Street Journal – February 1, 2016)

February 2, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

Precious metal hit by rising output, weak growth in China and Volkswagen scandal

RUSTENBURG, South Africa—Miners at Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd.’s three-decade-old mine drill into a thin strip of sparkling platinum about 2,600 feet underground.

The sweat-soaked miners are producing large amounts of this precious metal, helping to dig a hole for a market in which prices are near a seven-year low.

During the commodities boom, platinum became more expensive than gold, buoyed by demand from Chinese jewelry buyers and the auto industry.

Now, those factors have turned against it, with China’s fraying economic growth and fallout from the Volkswagen AG emissions scandal threatening to curb demand at a time when supply remains strong.

China’s Top Leadership Driving Steel Output Cuts, Cliffs Says – by Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – February 2, 2016)

February 2, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Steel production in China will extend declines this year as the country’s top leadership has endorsed a concerted push to cut back on overcapacity in the country that accounts for half of global supply, according to the head of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.

“If the central government has said they want 100 to 150 million tons of steel capacity shut down, they may not get that much but I’m sure they’ll get some,” Lourenco Goncalves, chief executive officer of the largest U.S. iron ore producer, said in an interview. “It’s a decision and it’s a task force led by the Premier Li Keqiang, who’s the number-two guy.”

China’s leaders have vowed to reduce excess capacity in state enterprises including steel even as they battle the slowest growth in a quarter century, announcing targets last month to shutter more factories and help workers cope with layoffs.

China to boost crackdown on illegal rare earth mining – by Sonali Paul and David Stanway (Reuters U.S. – February 2, 2016)

February 2, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE/BEIJING, Feb 2 China plans to boost its crackdown on illegal mining of rare earths by setting up a system to certify the origin of supplies of the materials, used in everything from fighter jets to mobile phones.

Illegal Chinese output and smuggling have helped drag global rare earth prices to their lowest in around six years, hitting legitimate producers hard inside and outside China, which churns out 90 percent of the world’s supply.

“There’s a reasonable level of agitation in every part of the supply chain which is saying (the industry situation) is not good,” said Amanda Lacaze, chief executive of Australia’s Lynas Corp, the only remaining rare earths miner outside China.

Roosen: Osisko’s Drinking from a “Fire Hydrant” (Global Mining Observer – December 2015)

February 1, 2016

http://www.globalminingobserver.com/

A smelter, a town, these are the obstacles that Osisko hits reviving old gold camps in Canada.

The Horne gold project in Quebec, which sits 2.5km below an industrial park in the town of Rouyn-Noranda, is overlooked, misunderstood and one of the best gold properties in Canada, Osisko Gold’s chairman Sean Roosen told Global Mining Observer in an interview on Wednesday.

Horne is owned by Falco Resources, one of a rising number of companies backed by Osisko and its Quebec-based mine-building team. It has a 2.8m gold resource and is targeting 5m ounces, after drilling that ended last month, including 109m grading 3.1 grams per tonne.

BHP Billiton’s credit rating cut one notch by S&P, Rio Tinto may be next – by Jesse Riseborough (Australian Financial Review/Bloomberg – February 2, 2016)

February 1, 2016

http://www.afr.com/

BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, had its credit rating cut at Standard & Poor’s.

The rating was lowered to A from A+ to reflect changes in commodity forecasts and “very challenging market conditions and increased demand uncertainty over the coming years”, S&P said in a statement on Monday. Ratings for the Melbourne-based miner may be lowered one notch further after it releases earnings on February 23, S&P said.

“Metal prices have come under pressure because of fears of lower demand from China, and excess supply remains an issue,” the rating company said in a statement. “Moreover, particularly relevant for BHP Billiton, the oversupply of crude oil in the market results in very weak oil and Henry Hub gas prices, which we now believe will last over the foreseeable future, putting further pressure on its balance sheet.”

Goldman: Here’s Why Miners Have It Worse Than Oil Producers – by Tracy Alloway (Bloomberg News – February 1, 2016)

February 1, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

“Things’ll go your way, if you hold on for one more day,” vocal group Wilson Phillips once crooned.

Mining companies seem to have taken those lyrics to heart, opting to maintain production as long as their cash reserves allow and in effect delay a long-awaited resolution in the supply-and-demand balance of dry commodities, according to a new note from Goldman Sachs & Co.

The nature of the metals and mining business—legal considerations combined with an ability to store excess supply for the long haul—means the industry faces a longer shakeout than in the energy sector.

Is the long-awaited ‘Bolivian lithium boom’ about to happen? – by John Bartlett (Latin Correspondent – February 1, 2016)

February 1, 2016

http://latincorrespondent.com/

Bolivia’s lithium dream is nothing new. Generations of politicians have long made hollow declarations about the country’s lithium potential; but is demand finally catching up with the nation’s bountiful supply?

Practically, the compound lithium carbonate is used in small quantities in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries – common in smart phones and electric cars. As the automotive industry turns increasingly towards electric-powered and hybrid cars, the price of lithium has again been predicted to rise 20 percent by 2017.

It is thought that Bolivia harbors about half of the world’s lithium. However, it is far from certain exactly how much lies below the vast, bleached expanse of the Salar de Uyuni salt flats in the southwest of Bolivia – the largest of their kind in the world.

Is the party over for Clive Palmer? – by Jamie Smyth (Financial Times – February 1, 2016)

February 1, 2016

http://www.ft.com/

Sydney – In November 2010, Clive Palmer donned a Santa hat and posed in front of photographers as he gave A$10m of Christmas bonuses, including 55 Mercedes cars, to staff at Townsville’s Yabula nickel refinery.

It was the height of the commodities boom and the Australian mining magnate, who later turned his hand to politics, was celebrating the success of his acquisition of Queensland Nickel from BHP Billiton in 2009.

“It [Queensland Nickel] provides me with about US$250m of beer money a year. That’s why I’ve got larger and fatter, thanks to BHP,” he later joked to mining executives.

But the subsequent collapse in nickel prices has put paid to celebrations at Queensland Nickel, which was placed in administration last month with debts of A$100m.