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Iron Ore

ArcelorMittal considers sale of Canadian assets – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – June 22, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, is evaluating the potential sale of its infrastructure assets in Canada, where it has the largest and most profitable iron ore operation, as it seeks to cut debt by divesting non-core businesses.

The facilities the company may put on the chopping block include a 420km-long railway servicing the 24 million tonnes-per-year Mont-Wright iron ore mine in Quebec, FT.com reports.

Selling either the entire ArcelorMittal Infrastructure Canada (AMIC) unit, or a stake in it, would help the Luxembourg-based firm achieve its target of reducing net debt to $7 billion from $9.5 billion currently.

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‘Gushing cash’: iron ore miners a yield favourite – by William McInnes (Australian Financial Review – June 23, 2020)

https://www.afr.com/

A soaring iron ore price has made the major iron ore miners an attractive option for yield-hungry investors, with alternatives scarce in the Australian sharemarket.

The investment case for Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals Group and BHP Group is hard for investors to overlook as dividend cuts and earnings downgrades dominate the rest of the market.

“The major mining companies are in a really strong position,” said Yarra Capital Management’s head of Australian equities, Dion Hershan. “These businesses are literally gushing cash and they have very attractive valuations in a market where it’s really hard to find value.

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COLUMN-Gold and iron ore are doing equally well. Their miners are not – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 15, 2020)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 15 (Reuters) – Gold and iron ore are the standout commodities so far this year, but the performance of their respective miners are far more divergent – and weighted in favour of the precious metal.

Spot gold closed at $1,729.67 an ounce on June 12, up 14% since the end of last year. Meanwhile benchmark 62% iron ore for delivery to China MT-IO-QIN62=ARG, as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, was at $104.45 a tonne, a gain of 14.6%.

If the year-to-date performances are very similar, the underlying drivers of iron ore and gold are quite different.

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Rio Tinto chief says sorry for sacred caves blast; Australia starts inquiry – by Melanie Burton (Reuters U.S. – June 11, 2020)

https://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques on Friday apologised for distress caused by Rio’s destruction last month of two ancient and sacred Aboriginal caves in Western Australia, pledging full cooperation with an Australian government inquiry.

“We are very sorry for the distress we have caused the PKKP in relation to Juukan Gorge and our first priority remains rebuilding trust with the PKKP,” Jacques said in a statement, referring to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.

With state government approval, the world’s biggest iron ore miner destroyed two caves at Juukan Gorge that had previously contained evidence of continual human habitation stretching back 46,000 years as part of its Brockman mine expansion in the iron-rich Pilbara region.

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COLUMN-Iron ore’s rally built on as yet unrealised Brazil supply fears – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 11, 2020)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 11 (Reuters) – Iron ore’s ongoing run above $100 a tonne is begging the question as to how long a price rally can sustain on fear of an event that is yet to present itself in the evidence.

The surge to a 10-month high on June 8 of $105.75 a tonne in spot iron ore for delivery to China MT-IO-QIN62=ARG, as assessed to by commodity price reporting agency Argus, was largely built on market concerns that shipments from number two exporter Brazil would be hit by coronavirus shutdowns at mines.

The price has eased slightly since the high to end at $103.85 a tonne on Wednesday, but it has been above the $100 level on seven of the last nine trading days.

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Iron Ore Blasts Past $100 After Pandemic Forces Brazil Mine Halt – by James Attwood and Krystal Chia (Bloomberg News – June 8, 2020)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) Iron ore futures surged above $100 a ton after Brazil’s Vale SA was ordered to suspend operations that account for about a 10th of its output after workers contracted Covid-19, boosting concerns surging cases will disrupt other mines in the top shipper after Australia.

The ruction is the latest supply shock to hit the global market over the past 18 months, following a dam burst at a Vale mine in 2019 that roiled prices as well as weather-related disruptions this year.

Iron ore could hold above $100 for the next two months, Morgan Stanley said, although it cautioned that a surplus and lower prices were still expected in the final quarter. Higher prices will benefit Australian majors BHP Group, Rio Tinto Group and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.

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COLUMN-The more exposure to China the better for metals post-coronavirus – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 2, 2020)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, June 2 (Reuters) – The contrasting fortunes of the prices of industrial metals inside and outside of China serves to illustrate two trends as the Asian region starts to emerge from coronavirus lockdowns.

The first is that the recovery is uneven and likely to remain so, and the second is that the more exposed to China the commodity is, the greater the likelihood it outperforms those metals that are not.

The best example is iron ore, the steel-making ingredient of which China accounts for two-thirds of the global seaborne trade.

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Latin America virus surge puts world’s biggest mines at risk – by James Attwood, Jackie Davalos and Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – June 2, 2020)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

The decision to keep Chinese factories shut after the Lunar New Year sent shudders through the massive mines of Brazil and Chile that feed them. Now, with China getting back to work and Latin America the new virus hot spot, concern is shifting from demand to supply.

Iron ore shipper Vale SA had a scare last week as it had to fend off an attempt by Brazilian prosecutors to close a complex that accounts for a tenth of its output. A union at copper behemoth Codelco said members are concerned that a still small outbreak of the virus will spread.

Alarm bells are starting to ring again in metal markets as the outbreak explodes in Latin America, with the region’s highly urbanized population of 600 million accounting for about 40% of daily deaths globally.

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COLUMN-Iron ore defies coronavirus gloom with bullish supply, demand narrative – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – May 26, 2020)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 26 (Reuters) – Iron ore is continuing to defy the global economic gloom, with both futures in China and the spot price surging to the highest this year, showing how the steel-making ingredient is benefiting from a cocktail of supply concerns and demand hopes.

The Dalian Commodity Exchange’s most-active contract , for September delivery, ended at 723 yuan ($101.40) a tonne on May 22, up 25.2% since the start of the year in local currency terms.

The spot price for benchmark 62% iron ore delivered to China MT-IO-QIN62=ARG, as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, ended at $97.30 a tonne on May 22, down slightly from the previous day’s close of $97.85, which was the highest price in eight months.

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Column: China targets Australian barley, but what matters is coal, LNG, iron ore – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.K. – May 19, 2020)

https://uk.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia (Reuters) – If China was looking to send a political message to Australia by effectively banning the import of a commodity, then barley fits the bill almost perfectly.

China on Monday imposed what it termed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties totalling 80.5% on Australian barley imports from May 19, a move likely to end trade that has been worth between $980 million and $1.3 billion in recent years.

Australia’s official reaction has so far been muted, with Agriculture Minister David Littleproud saying the government will consider approaching the World Trade Organization for a ruling on China’s action.

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Vale after NYC real estate moguls for Simandou compensation – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – May 19, 2020)

https://www.mining.com/

Brazil’s Vale (NYSE: VALE), the world’s no. 1 iron ore miner, has launched a legal action in New York to determine whether funds paid to BSG Resources within the framework of their former Simandou partnership in Guinea were used for property investments in the United States.

The Rio de Janeiro-based mining giant alleges that BSGR, diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz’s mining arm, fraudulently funneled $500 million into Manhattan real estate’s magnates Aby Rosen and René Benko, Africa Intelligence reported.

The case is the latest in a series of efforts Vale has made to have BSGR pay a $1.2 billion arbitration award. The amount was granted to the Brazilian miner on the grounds of “fraud and breaches of warranty” when included in the Simandou iron ore joint venture.

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How China could stoke iron ore prices – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – May 18, 2020)

https://www.afr.com/

Surging iron ore prices have kick-started the Australian economy’s exit from coronavirus lockdowns amid hopes the Chinese government could further stoke prices by unleashing stimulus spending at its annual congress meeting later this week.

A 13 per cent rally in iron ore prices since April 30 has pushed shares in Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group to record highs. The rally appears to have further to run with futures prices more than 5 per cent higher in Monday’s trading session.

Strong Chinese demand for steel has coincided with weak iron ore supply from rival exporter Brazil, where the rapid spread of the coronavirus has added to the ongoing disruption caused by last year’s catastrophic Brumadinho dam collapse.

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Cliffs CEO optimistic demand for steel will return as automakers restart production – by Jimmy Lovrien (Duluth News Tribune – May 12, 2020)

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/

The “Big Three” automakers are preparing to restart manufacturing next week, and Cleveland Cliffs, a major producer of iron ore pellets on the Iron Range, is hopeful demand for steel will return with it.

Cliffs idled its Northshore Mining iron mine and pellet plant in Babbitt and Silver Bay in April until at least August, laying off 470 of its 570 employees, as steel demand plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and U.S. automakers Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler shuttered plants to help curb the spread of the virus.

With its recent purchase of steelmaker AK Steel, Cliffs is now supplying steel to “virtually all” U.S. automakers, Cliffs President and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said. He said auto plants are reopening sooner than some expected.

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RPT-COLUMN-Iron ore, coking coal divorce over China’s coronavirus recovery – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – May 11, 2020)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 11 (Reuters) – There is an increasing disconnect between the two key ingredients for making steel, with iron ore safely within China’s economic bubble and coking coal more exposed to the rest of the coronavirus-riddled world.

The main difference is that while China imports the bulk of the iron ore with which it feeds its 1 billion-tonne-a-year steel industry, it has a large domestic coking coal industry and imports only about 10% of its needs.

Benchmark spot 62% iron ore for delivery to China MT-IO-QIN62=ARG, as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, ended last week at $88.30 a tonne.

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Iron ore wars: the fall of Vale and the rise of Rio Tinto – by JP Casey (Mining-Technology – May 5, 2020)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

In the wake of the Brumadinho dam tragedy, Vale has lost its position as the world’s top iron ore producer. We consider what contributed to its decline, and how Rio Tinto has taken advantage of its struggles to become the industry’s new iron ore leader.

Vale has finally lost its position as the world’s largest iron miner. The Brazilian mining giant saw its production crater in 2019, as the tragic impacts of a collapsed tailings dam at its Brumadinho operation were felt across the iron ore sector. 300 people were killed or left missing by the disaster, sparking internal investigations and external outrage as Vale’s reputation crumbled.

While the human cost of the disaster is the most significant impact, there have been a number of financial and operational effects for Vale, and few of them positive. The miner’s total iron ore output was 301,972 million tonnes in 2019, 21.5% lower than in 2018, with a decline of 55.2% at its Southern System projects leading the way.

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