Latin America Mining – Page 80

Uncertainty over Brazil Samarco mine hinders restructuring, firm at risk – by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Stephen Eisenhammer (Reuters U.S. – September 8, 2016)

September 9, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

SAO PAOLO/RIO DE JANEIRO – Almost a year after a deadly dam spill at the Samarco mine, owned by BHP Billiton and Vale, there is still no date for restarting operations, complicating attempts to restructure Samarco’s debt and increasing the possibility the miner may be allowed to run out of money.

Vale and BHP have assured authorities they will cover the cost of Brazil’s worst ever environmental disaster, sources familiar with their thinking say, stopping short of saying they will keep Samarco, for whom the closed mine is the only real revenue stream, afloat.

Samarco’s debt is trading at distressed levels. The price on Samarco’s 4.125 percent dollar-denominated bond due in November 2022, for example, has fallen to 37.50 cents on the dollar to yield 24.17 percent.

Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert – by Scott Patterson, John W. Miller and Chuin-Wei Yap (Wall Street Journal – September 9, 2016)

September 9, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

U.S. aluminum executives claim Liu Zhongtian, founder of Chinese metals conglomerate China Zhongwang, used a factory in Mexico to game the global trade system

Los Angeles, San José Iturbide, Mexico, Liaoning, China – Two years ago, a California aluminum executive commissioned a pilot to fly over the Mexican town of San José Iturbide, at the foot of the Sierra Gorda mountains, and snap aerial photos of a remote desert factory.

He made a startling discovery. Nearly one million metric tons of aluminum sat neatly stacked behind a fortress of barbed-wire fences. The stockpile, worth some $2 billion and representing roughly 6% of the world’s total inventory—enough to churn out 2.2 million Ford F-150s or 77 billion beer cans—quickly became an obsession for the U.S. aluminum industry.

Now it is a new source of tension in U.S.-Chinese trade relations. U.S. executives contend that the mysterious cache was part of a brazen scheme by one of China’s richest men to game the global trade system.

Peru proposes state-owned bank buys gold from artisanal miners – by Mitra Taj (Reuters U.S. – September 8, 2016)

September 8, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

The government of Peru wants a state-owned bank to buy gold from artisanal miners in order to replace a lucrative but shady informal market, Finance Minister Alfredo Thorne said on Wednesday.

Thorne said the miners would receive a better price for their gold and would not have to pay the value added tax rate, giving them incentives to register with the government and comply with environment and labor laws.

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a former investment banker who took office on July 28, had previously proposed establishing a “mining bank” to buy the gold. Kuczynski said the bank could be controlled in part by private shareholders.

Illusions end for Brazil as crooks back in charge – by Gwynne Dyer (London Free Press – September 8, 2016)

September 8, 2016

http://www.lfpress.com/

On Tuesday former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff left the presidential palace in Brasilia and boarded a plane for her adopted home city of Porto Alegre.

She leaves behind a successor who risks indictment for far worse offences than the ones that brought her down, and a country that has lost its right to a place among the BRICS. The BRICS began as a collection of large, fast-growing countries in the poorer parts of the world identified as emerging global powers in 2001: Brazil, Russia, India and China. (South Africa and the capital S were added in 2010.)

Nobody enjoyed their new status more than the Brazilians, but it was always an illusion. Like South Africa, Brazil was an imposter, lacking the critical combination of population, resources and industry that entitles a country to a place in the first rank.

Bolivia announces mining crackdown after murder of gov’t official – by Daniel Ramos and Rosalba O’Brien (Reuters U.S. – September 1, 2016)

September 2, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LA PAZ/SANTIAGO – Bolivia responded to last week’s murder of a government official by announcing a crackdown on mining cooperatives on Thursday, saying it would return contracts signed between them and private companies to state control.

The beaten body of Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes was found by the side of the road last week, hours after he had approached mining protesters to talk over their concerns.

Having seen their income hit by the global commodities slowdown, miners had been demanding increased rights to work with private companies, relaxed environmental restrictions and more subsidies. At least two were killed in clashes with police in the run-up to the murder.

Barrick to take smaller, phased approach to Argentina-based Pascua-Lama project – by Henry Lazenby (Mining Weekly.com – September 1, 2016)

September 2, 2016

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Major miner Barrick Gold has appointed former executive George Bee to lead the development of a smaller, phased operation at its stalled Pascua-Lama project, straddling the Chile/Argentina border, the company said Thursday.

Barrick had halted the project in 2013 after investing $5-billion in it. As well as permitting issues, cost overruns and a sharp drop in bullion prices, it faced the strong and organised opposition of the local indigenous communities.

Pascua-Lama was originally expected to cost no more than $3-billion when construction was approved in 2009. However, the cost of the project has since escalated to $8.5-billion.

Samarco dam failed due to poor drainage and design: investigation – by Marta Nogueira and Stephen Eisenhammer (Reuters U.S. – August 30, 2016)

September 1, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

BELO HORIZONTE/RIO DE JANEIRO – The deadly collapse of a tailings dam last November at the Samarco mine, owned by Vale SA and BHP Billiton, was caused by drainage and design flaws, a report into Brazil’s worst-ever environmental disaster showed on Monday.

The 76-page report commissioned by the companies responsible for the spill, which killed 19 people, attributed the dam burst to a chain of events dating back to 2009, but did not assign blame or highlight specific errors in corporate or regulatory practice.

Norbert Morgenstern, a geotechnical engineering professor who headed the investigation, repeatedly told reporters he could not answer their questions when quizzed on whether there was negligence or malpractice on the part of the companies involved.

Companies’ Report on Brazil Dam Failure Adds Little New on Causes – Paul Kiernan (Wall Street Journal – August 30, 2016)

August 30, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

RIO DE JANEIRO—Nearly 10 months after one of the biggest disasters in the history of mining, the companies responsible for the failure of a massive tailings dam in Brazil presented a long-awaited report Monday on the causes of the incident.

But it added little information to what Brazilian police and prosecutors already had gathered, and it presented no guidance on how to prevent future accidents.

The Fundão dam failure at mining giants Vale SA’s and BHP Billiton Ltd.’s Samarco joint-venture in Brazil is believed to have been the largest such accident.

Its Nov. 5 collapse released enough mine waste to fill the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium at least 11 times.

Cracks seen before dam collapse at BHP, Vale joint venture: report – by Elizabeth Redman and Matt Chambers (The Australian – August 30, 2016)

August 30, 2016

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

Mining giant BHP Billiton says it was not aware that the tailings dam at its Samarco joint venture in Brazil was at risk of collapsing, despite a series of efforts over years to fix its structural defects.

The assertion follows the release of a report into the technical causes of the deadly dam collapse at the Samarco mine in November, 2015, which caused a massive spill of waste material, polluted a major river and killed at least 19 people.

According to a new report by geotechnical specialists, the dam’s collapse was a result of construction defects, a poor redesign and safety criteria not being met, with the failure accelerated by three small earthquakes. Cracks were evident at the tailings dam more than a year before it failed. The investigation was commissioned by BHP Billiton and Vale, along with their Samarco joint venture.

Bolivia says deputy interior minister killed after kidnap by miners – by Daniel Ramos (Reuters U.S. – August 26, 2016)

August 26, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

LA PAZ – Bolivian Deputy Interior Minister Rodolfo Illanes was beaten to death after he was kidnapped by striking mineworkers on Thursday, the government said, and up to 100 people have been arrested as authorities vowed to punish those responsible.

“At this present time, all the indications are that our deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes has been brutally and cowardly murdered,” Minister of Government Carlos Romero said in broadcast comments.

He said Illanes had gone to talk to protesters earlier on Thursday in Panduro, around 160 km (100 miles) from the capital, La Paz, but was intercepted and kidnapped by striking miners. The government was trying to recover his body, Romero said, in a case that has shocked Bolivians.

Iron Miner Vale Says Crown-Jewel Deal Unlikely This Year – by R.T. Watson and Gerson Freitas Jr (Bloomberg News – August 25, 2016)

August 26, 2016

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Vale SA, the top iron-ore miner, is poised to complete coal and fertilizer sales this year, while a deal involving its most prized assets probably will take longer, according to its investor-relations chief.

The Rio de Janeiro-based company, which is grappling to reduce one of the industry’s biggest debt loads, is looking to wrap up a protracted negotiation to sell coal assets in Mozambique. It’s also nearing an accord to sell its fertilizer business, Andre Figueiredo said Thursday at an event in Sao Paulo.

Those two transactions should be completed in 2016, most likely in the fourth quarter, Figueiredo said. While a sale involving a so-called core asset may also happen this year, it would be unlikely, he said. This month, people familiar with the matter said China Investment Corp. was leading a Chinese investor group in talks for a multibillion-dollar iron-ore streaming deal with Vale.

Could A Lithium Shortage De-Rail The Electric Car Boom? – by James Stafford (Oil Price.com – August 24, 2016)

August 25, 2016

http://oilprice.com/

We’ve gone electric, and there’s no going back at this point. Lithium is our new fuel, but like fossil fuels, the reserves we’re currently tapping into are finite—and that’s what investors can take to the bank.

You may think lithium got too popular too fast. You may suspect electric vehicles are too much buzz and not enough real future. You may, in short, be a lithium skeptic, one of many. And yet, despite this skepticism, lithium demand is rising steadily and sharply, and indications that a shortage may be looming are very real.

It won’t be a shortage in terms of ‘peak lithium’; rather, it will be a game of catch-up with the electric car boom, with miners hustling to explore and tap into new reserves.

Exclusive: Goldcorp struggles with leak at Mexican mine – by Allison Martell, Frank Jack Daniel and Noe Torres (Reuters U.S. – August 24, 2016)

August 25, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO/MEXICO CITY – Mexican regulators said they are examining whether mining company Goldcorp Inc (G.TO) broke any regulations in its handling of a long-running leak of contaminated water at Mexico’s biggest gold mine.

The move follows questions from Reuters about the leak, which until now has not been disclosed to the public. Levels of the mineral selenium rose in one groundwater monitoring well near Goldcorp’s Penasquito mine as early as October 2013, Goldcorp data reviewed by Reuters shows.

The Canadian company reported a rise in selenium levels in groundwater to the Mexican government in October 2014, after which the contamination near its mine waste facility intensified, according to internal company documents seen by Reuters, and interviews with government officials. Two weeks ago, the company told Mexican regulators that contaminated water had also been found in other areas of its property.

Rusoro says awarded $1.2 billion over Venezuelan seizure of gold assets – by Jim Finkle (Reuters Canada – August 24, 2016)

August 24, 2016

http://ca.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s Rusoro Mining Ltd RML.V said on Tuesday it has been awarded more than $1.2 billion by a World Bank tribunal that ruled Venezuela had unlawfully seized the company’s gold assets four years ago.

Shares in the Vancouver-based mining firm, which is backed by Russia’s Agapov family, more than doubled on Tuesday, trading for as much as 32 cents – their highest level since Venezuela’s asset seizure.

Rusoro, whose shares had a market value of C$83 million ($64 million) prior to Tuesday’s rally, was one of about 20 Canadian miners and other international firms that filed complaints with the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, over Venezuela’s action.

Vale closer to $9 billion Chinese streaming deal – report – by Frik Els (Mining.com – August 23, 2016)

August 23, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

The world’s top iron ore producer Vale (NYSE:VALE) is getting closer to inking a commodity streaming deal with Chinese companies that could afford the Brazilian giant an up to $9 billion upfront payment.

Bloomberg reported over the weekend a deal with China Investment Corp, the country’s $814 billion sovereign wealth fund, could see Vale sell part of its future iron ore output to the Chinese over 30 years:

According to the report citing people familiar with the matter other Chinese companies and Japanese trading houses have also held discussions with Vale and considered alternative agreements including acquiring a minority stake in the company’s iron ore assets: