International Media Resource Articles – Page 631

First Steel, Now Copper: Rio Stays Optimistic on Chinese Growth – by Jasmine Ng (Bloomberg News – September 7, 2015)

September 9, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Rio Tinto Group isn’t just bullish about China’s steel demand, it’s also upbeat about copper use in the world’s biggest consumer.

Signs of improvement in China’s property market are boosting prospects for the metal, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, head of Rio’s copper and coal operations, said in an interview in Singapore. The government will also implement more stimulus measures if the world’s second-largest economy slows too much, he said.

Rio’s optimism stands out amid views from Glencore Plc that mining companies were wrong-footed on a slowdown in China, with demand getting tough to call. The country’s grappling with overcapacity, a downturn in property investment and a volatile stock market that threaten Premier Li Keqiang’s growth target of about 7 percent for this year.

Rio has a direct insight into the Chinese market through its Oyu Tolgoi operations in Mongolia, located north of the Chinese border, Jacques said.

All Eyes on Anglo American After Glencore Cedes to Investors – by Jesse Riseborough and Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – September 8, 2015)

September 9, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc’s billionaire chief executive caved this week to shareholder demands that the commodity-trader bolster its balance sheet. Now attention is turning to whether rival Anglo American Plc will follow.

The two companies have been among the hardest hit by China’s cooling demand for commodities on concern they’ll be unable to withstand raw-material prices at a 16-year low and pay off a combined $43.5 billion in debt. Measures might include cutting its dividend, which is yielding a record 9 percent, higher than the level in 2009, when the company last scrapped the payout.

The collapse in commodity prices is undermining Anglo’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Cutifani’s efforts to turn around the fortunes of a business that mines platinum and diamonds in Africa and iron ore in Brazil.

Glencore shares rallied the most in almost three years on Monday after the company outlined a $10 billion debt-reduction plan, including selling $2.5 billion in shares and suspending its dividend.

Tesla interest could spark new Nevada gold rush for lithium – by Andy Colthorpe (Storage-PV Tech.com – September 07, 2015)

May 13, 2016September 9, 2015

http://storage.pv-tech.org/

A gold exploration and mining company has agreed to purchase a potential site for excavating lithium in Nevada, citing the “great deal of attention” brought onto the state by Tesla’s decision to locate its mammoth manufacturing facility there.

The EV-maker’s decision to go into stationary storage, officially confirmed at the end of April, followed a period in which Tesla was supplying its partner SolarCity with battery-based energy storage in a number of pilot projects for houses and for the installer’s DemandLogic commercial solution.

The confirmation brought high-profile attention onto the energy storage industry, sparking mainstream media interest. By that point, it was already well known that Tesla was building a “Gigafactory” in Nevada and the announcement of the launch of Powerwall, for houses, and PowerPack for the commercial and utility-scale markets merely confirmed the company’s ambitions beyond EVs. The Gigafactory’s planned “500,000 battery packs by 2020” of production would be soaked up by stationary storage too.

In the final week of August this year, Tesla signed a conditional long-term lithium hydroxide supply deal with Canadian company Bacanora and British company Rare Earth Minerals.

Our view: Abandoned mines or future disasters? (Santa Fe New Mexican – September 8, 2015)

September 9, 2015

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/

Outrage over the spill at the Gold King Mine in Colorado — where 3 million gallons of polluted water gushed out — should be put to good use. That water, flowing into the Animas River, and eventually downstream to New Mexico waters, provided a stark reminder of the dangerous legacy of abandoned mines.

Now, rather than rage against an accident, the nation needs to deal with the hundreds of other accidents that are waiting to happen. As Justin Horwarth reported in Sunday’s New Mexican, there are some 500,000 abandoned mines across the country. How many of those are in New Mexico? We just don’t know either the number of mines or what kind of environmental risk they pose. That’s not acceptable.

To date, the Bureau of Land Management has identified some 13,000 abandoned mines in New Mexico, but has not analyzed most of them. Close to 90 percent of the mines that BLM has identified have not been remediated.

After the Gold King Mine spill, Gov. Susana Martinez has said she would put some $750,000 into addressing fallout from that spill. Some of that, say state authorities, could be put to use at other abandoned mine sites.

Coal Companies Are Hurting. But the Coal Industry Is Not Dying. – by Daniel Gross (Slate.com – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.slate.com/

Climate hawks must realize that bankruptcies aren’t the way to a lower-carbon future.

Climate hawks have been gleeful over the trend of big U.S. coal companies filing for bankruptcy. Patriot Coal filed for Chapter 11 in May, Walter Energy sought protection in July, and Alpha Natural Resources succumbed in August. And it makes sense: A financially unviable coal industry could be a big step in the movement toward a lower-carbon future.

A report this month by Taylor Kuykendall and Hira Fawad at SNL Energy found that roughly “10.4% of all the coal produced in the U.S.” in the second quarter of 2015 came from companies that have filed for bankruptcy protection. “In Central Appalachia, 37.5% of the coal mined in the quarter came from mines that were owned or operated by companies that have filed for bankruptcy since 2012,” they write.

But coal haters shouldn’t be too gleeful at this spate of bankruptcies. While some mines are being idled, they’re not being shuttered en masse. The financial failure of many coal companies, by itself, won’t necessarily bring about a low-carbon future—and for particularly Americans reasons.

Glencore, Battered Mining Giant, Retreats – by Scott Patterson and Alex MacDonald (Wall Street Journal – September 7, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/

CEO Ivan Glasenberg scraps dividend, sells assets as commodities caught in price slump

LONDON—Collapsing commodity prices have forced one of the mining world’s most aggressive chief executives into retreat, pushing Glencore PLC’s Ivan Glasenberg on Monday to scrap the company’s dividend, issue more stock and sell assets.

The moves are the most dramatic yet among companies caught in the deepening, fast-ricocheting effects of the world-wide slump in prices for everything from copper to crude oil.

With a massive trading operation built years ago by founder and controversial financier Marc Rich, Glencore was supposed to be less vulnerable to swings in the energy market. Instead, the company has been hit especially hard.

In an interview, Mr. Glasenberg said the moves announced Monday weren’t necessary from his point of view but were made to soothe investor fears of a worst-case scenario in which commodity prices keep falling as demand from China slows further.

Companies Struggle to Comply With Rules on Conflict Minerals – by Lynley Browning (New York Times – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

A pink My Little Pony balloon does not usually evoke images of rifle-toting warlords in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Still, Party City Holdings, the decorations and costumes retailer, recently disclosed a possible link to securities regulators, helping to put it near the bottom of a list ranking companies on their compliance with laws against using minerals mined in war-torn regions across Africa.

Party City is just one of 1,262 companies that filed the required disclosures on their use of so-called conflict minerals. Ninety percent of those companies, including Microsoft, Apple, General Electric and Ford Motor, said they also might be using tainted supplies. Yet Party City landed near the bottom of a list compiled by Tulane University researchers that ranked the companies’ compliance records in this area, while giants like Microsoft achieved perfect scores.

“Anybody with a relative interest in ethical sourcing would be interested in this list,” said Matthew Whitteker, the marketing director for Assent Compliance, a software and services firm in Ottawa that commissioned the Tulane study. “For any company that manages this well, both Wall Street and Main Street will look at their brand favorably.”

The Tulane study is just one example of a growing business opportunity for consultants, auditors, lawyers and software firms looking to cash in on a complex provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that requires companies to disclose their use of conflict minerals “necessary to the functionality or production” of products they make or contract out for manufacturing.

Hubris led to destruction of investors’ money by mining groups – by Kunal Bose (Business Standard – September 7, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.business-standard.com/

The onset of boom led the world’s leading mining groups to be on a capital expenditure binge to dig out new mines

Inspired by one single factor of voracious Chinese appetite ranging from oil to all minerals used in making metals, the now-ended commodity boom began in 2003. The onset of boom led the world’s leading mining groups to be on a capital expenditure binge to dig out new mines.

But the slowdown of the world’s second largest economy, as Beijing turns focus from investment to consumer-led growth, gives the feeling that earlier, long years of high mineral prices supported by growing demand led miners to drink Chinese potion to reach iridescent highs.

Their thought then was Chinese demand would continue to grow at high rates far into the future to justify colossal investments in mines’ capacity building. Chinese growth has now downshifted to a level not seen in a quarter century and that is proving to be a hard awakening for miners from their hallucinatory past.

Not very long ago, mining chief executives thought their investment in dredging more and more iron ore from the earth stood no chance of going wrong, since China was expected to be a one billion tonne (bt) steel producer by 2030.

Australia’s proposed India uranium deal given cautious green light despite ‘risks’ – by Shalailah Medhora (The Guardian – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/

To counteract potential risks of the deal, Australia’s treaties committee recommends nuclear-armed India agree to a number of safeguards

The government-dominated treaties committee has given a cautious green light to a proposed uranium deal with India, but only if the nuclear-armed nation agrees to a number of safeguards.

India is not a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) nor the comprehensive test ban treaty (CTBT), yet the emerging world leader is in dire need of energy.

As such, the committee report notes that: “It would be fair to say that, in this debate, there are no small risks or benefits. Every issue the committee has dealt with in this inquiry bears significant potential benefits and risks.

“The question for the committee is, then, given the benefits for Australia and India from the proposed agreement, can the risks be tolerated and ameliorated,” the report asked.

Franco-Nevada Mulls Credit as `Hokey’ Streaming Goes Mainstream – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/

For Franco-Nevada Corp., the best time to take on debt is at the bottom of a market. The day may be approaching for the Canadian royalty and streaming company as the commodity rout boosts demand for alternative funding.

“There are so many opportunities out there, we might have to dip into our credit lines,” Chief Executive Officer David Harquail said in an interview last week from his Toronto offices. “The ideal is you lever yourself up at the very bottom of the bear market and hopefully, if you’ve called it right, then you really benefit as the market turns around.”

Streaming companies like Franco-Nevada, Silver Wheaton Corp. and Royal Gold Inc. give miners upfront payments in exchange for the right to buy metals at a discount in the future. Franco-Nevada also does royalty agreements, tying portions of production to land titles.

Plunging metal prices, with copper down 24 percent and gold 11 percent in the past year, combined with surging credit costs and volatile stock markets, have made streaming attractive even for majors such as Barrick Gold Corp. and Freeport-McMoRan Inc., giving the business more credibility.

Mining automation: The be all and end all? – by Cole Latimer (Australian Mining – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/

The fully automated mine has long since passed the days of concept and evolved into a reality. If the industry is to survive and grow, on this planet and elsewhere, total automation of many of the processes is the way forward.

According to professor of mining engineering at the University of British Columbia, John Meech, autonomous vehicle operations can help increase productivity by between 15 to 20 per cent, and truck uptimes by up to a fifth, with Rio Tinto automated fleets recording a 12 per cent production increase compared to manned vehicles.

Rio Tinto, BHP, Roy Hill, and Fortescue are making massive strides forward in implementing autonomous haulage systems in the Pilbara, forging a new place for the technology, combining them with manned operations; particularly in terms of Rio’s Mine of the Future program and BHP’s automated operations centre, both located in Perth.

Hitachi is also trialling its autonomous vehicle systems at the Meandu coal mine in Queensland.

Total automation has also taken another angle with Vale, in Brazil, looking to go completely truckless by using mobile conveyor belts.

South Africa: Some of SA’s Top Companies Are Quietly Breaking the Law – by Alide Dasnois (All Africa.com – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://allafrica.com/

Some of the top companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are flouting environmental laws and not telling their shareholders, according to a study by the Centre for Environmental Rights.

The CER assessed 20 companies listed on the JSE and found that between 2008 and 2014 many of them violated their permits and licences or flouted the law. Examples of violations included toxic spills, unauthorised disposal of hazardous waste, contamination of soil or of ground and surface water, and air pollution.

Yet all the companies had regularly been listed on the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index.

This index, launched in 2004, was intended to identify companies which “integrate the principles of the triple bottom line’ – environmental, social and economic sustainability. It was designed as a tool for investors, including retirement funds and asset management companies, looking for “socially responsible” investments.

But the CER research shows that many of these listed companies also feature on another list – the list of companies against whom the Department of Environmental Affairs has had to take action.

Copper advances as Glencore plans mine shutdowns (Sydney Morning Herald – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

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

Copper gained after commodities group Glencore announced plans to shut down loss-making mines to help to reduce a glut of supply that has weighed on prices.

Bearish investors scrambled to close out positions by buying futures, but analysts said it was uncertain whether Glencore’s move to close some African copper operations for 18 months would create a trend.

“It’s probably not enough to see prices go up (substantially), but it certainly supports the market,” said Grant Sporre, head of metals research at Deutsche Bank in London. “It also ensures that copper is probably not going to fall in the same way that iron ore and met (metallurgical) coal have done.”

Sporre had forecast a global copper supply/demand surplus of 350,000 tonnes for next year and said that Glencore’s move would bring the market close to balance, given that it is expected to remove 300,000 tonnes in 2016.

Glencore Investors Force CEO Glasenberg to Prepare for Doomsday – by Javier Blas and Jesse Riseborough (Bloomberg News – September 8, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.bloomberg.com/

After a breakfast meeting with a small group of hedge funds in New York last week, Glencore Plc Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg concluded that investors could no longer stomach his famously bullish outlook.

The meeting capped two weeks of discussions with shareholders from North America to Europe after the Swiss miner and trader reported a 56 percent decline in profit. His plan to trim Glencore’s $30 billion debt by 10 percent by the end of next year wasn’t enough to halt a plunge in the company’s market value, which has more than halved to about 17 billion pounds ($26 billion) this year. On Monday, the company announced a strategy to reduce debt much more quickly.

“This is definitely the first time you get the impression that shareholders are the most important voice in the room versus management,” Ben Davis, a mining analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd., said by phone from London. “Until now, a lot of the market has seen Ivan as the smartest guy in the room.”

The U-turn was unprecedented for the 58-year-old South African billionaire, who has run Glencore almost single-handedly from the sleepy lakeside Swiss city of Zug for a decade and a half.

Canada and Australia feel the squeeze in wake of Chinese economic slowdown – by Heather Stewart, Calla Wahlquist and Jared Lindzon (The Guardian – September 5, 2015)

September 8, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/

Iron and oil producers proved resilient during the crash of 2008-09 but are now struggling as commodities prices decline

In the mining town of Port Hedland, 1,500km north of Perth, modest prefabricated homes called fibro shacks, which were changing hands for more than A$1m four years ago, are now failing to find a buyer at a third of the price. Apartment blocks hurriedly tacked together by developers at the peak of the country’s boom stand empty, because their promised supply of “fly-in-fly-out” mineworkers has dried up, along with the jobs they were brought in to do.

In 2011, the iron ore-rich Pilbara region of north-west Australia was on the frontier of a 21st century gold rush, this time with iron ore as the main prize – driven by China’s formidable appetite for natural resources to build up its infrastructure and modernise its economy.

Pilbara boasted salaries two-thirds higher than the national average and almost 80% of workers were flown into their jobs from Australia’s big cities. Now, mortgaged to the hilt on homes that lost value almost before the paint had dried, the mineworkers that remain are accepting longer hours and lower wages in an effort to keep up with the repayments.