Archive | Glencore

Ex Glencore bosses try to snatch nickel asset – by Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald (Australian Financial Review – August 19, 2018)

August 20, 2018 in Africa Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Glencore, Junior Exploration Sector, Nickel

https://www.afr.com/

Mining giants Glencore and Barrick could have a prospective nickel and cobalt project taken from under their nose, if plans being hatched by ASX-listed Jervois Mining come to fruition.

As first reported by Street Talk on Sunday, Jervois has been making moves to win control of the Kabanga nickel and cobalt project in Tanzania, after the host government cancelled Glencore and Barrick’s joint hold of it in January.

The January cancellation was part of a broader push by the government to get a bigger share of its mineral wealth, but Glencore and Barrick have been upbeat in recent times about their chances of winning a fresh permit to explore and develop the asset. Continue Reading →

Glencore Keeps Its Powder Dry, But Hints at Bigger Returns – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – August 8, 2018)

August 8, 2018 in Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc investors looking for bigger shareholder returns after the commodities giant’s record first-half profit may yet get their way.

While the company’s failure to increase its dividend or share buyback leaves the door open for more acquisitions, it emphasized that the focus will remain on cutting debt and returning money to shareholders. As far as potential deals go, Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg said there’s little out there.

“There nothing that looks that exciting. We don’t see anything great right now,” Glasenberg said on a call with investors. “But the thing we could do is return cash to shareholders.” Continue Reading →

Glencore looks to buybacks, not dealmaking – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – August 8, 2018)

August 8, 2018 in Commodity Super-Cycle and Decline, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Glencore (GLEN.L) said it would favour share buybacks over deal-making after it reported a 23 percent rise in first-half core earnings on Wednesday, just below analyst forecasts.

The miner and commodities trader said its earnings for January-June were a record – building on 2017 full-year results it said were the best yet – but it also said higher costs and lower prices for cobalt and other byproducts ate into profits.

CEO Ivan Glasenberg said market conditions were likely to remain volatile. Many mining stocks have pared gains this year as metals markets weakened in response to trade tensions and uncertainty about Chinese demand. Continue Reading →

Glencore Sees Big Jump in Cobalt Supply From Congo Mines – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – July 31, 2018)

July 31, 2018 in Africa Mining, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc increased cobalt production by almost a third after restarting output at its Katanga unit in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Swiss commodity giant is seeking to double its production of cobalt in the next two years, tightening its grip on the market for the key battery material in electric vehicles. First-half cobalt output jumped 31 percent to 16,700 tons, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

While Glencore is cashing in on higher cobalt and copper demand, it also must confront serious challenges this year. The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a corruption probe into operations in Congo, Nigeria and Venezuela, and it’s facing higher taxes and tougher regulation in Congo. Continue Reading →

Global storm clouds cast shadow on mining giant – by John Lynch (Irish Independent – July 30, 2018)

July 30, 2018 in Africa Mining, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.independent.ie/

Ethics and compliance with strict disclosure rules is the first thing businesses sign up to when they get a stock market quote.

One thing is certain, however. If accusations of corruption, money laundering and doing dodgy deals with highly questionable regimes in hot countries are being hurled around – as they have been against the huge international mining group Glencore – and the accuser is a powerful institution like the US Department of Justice, you are bound to see it in the share price.

At the beginning of July, Glencore’s stock fell sharply, wiping a staggering £5bn (€5.6bn) off the company’s market value. It also forced the Swiss-based group to set up a board sub-committee to investigate the accusations. In addition, its chairman quickly pledged a shares buyback this year of $1bn (€860m), no doubt to placate investors. Continue Reading →

Glencore shares under cloud after U.S demands Congo documents in probe – by Zandi Shabalala (Reuters U.S. – July 12, 2018)

July 13, 2018 in Africa Mining, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – A U.S. demand for documents related to Glencore’s (GLEN.L) assets in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of a corruption probe has rattled investors and is likely to weigh on the miner’s performance until there is more clarity on the case.

Glencore said it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice dated July 2 requesting documents for its Congo business over compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and rules against money laundering.

The Switzerland-based company, which said documents for Venezuela and Nigeria were also requested, provided few details, although it said it would cooperate with the authorities. Continue Reading →

How Glencore’s risky dealings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo may backfire – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – July 6, 2018)

July 6, 2018 in Africa Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Europe Mining, Glencore

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Glencore took a balanced approach on its way to becoming the world’s biggest commodities trader and one of the top mining houses. It dealt with the sinners as well as the saints.

Sinners are everywhere in the mining industry, of course, and are all but unavoidable if you want to get deals done in regulatory-lite zones, notably Africa, which is blessed with endless resources – cobalt, copper, diamonds, oil – waiting to be tapped.

Glencore took big risks in Africa, one of which appears to have been its association with Dan Gertler, 44, the Israeli billionaire and commodities tycoon who has worked the mining game in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for about 20 years, to great success. Continue Reading →

Glencore subpoenaed by U.S. over compliance with corruption laws – by Scott Patterson (Wall Street Journal/Toronto Star – July 4, 2018)

July 4, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Glencore

https://www.thestar.com/wsj/

LONDON—Glencore PLC said it received a subpoena from U.S. authorities related to compliance with American corruption and money-laundering laws at its operations in Congo, Nigeria and Venezuela — a move that significantly ratchets up government scrutiny of the mining and trading giant.

The early Tuesday disclosure rattled investors. Glencore shares fell more than 12% in early London trading. Glencore said the U.S. Justice Department issued a subpoena demanding it hand over documents and other records related to compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and U.S. money laundering statutes.

FCPA is an antibribery law that forbids the bribing of foreign officials to win, or keep, business. Glencore said it was reviewing the request and would provide further details “as appropriate.” A spokesman declined to comment further. Continue Reading →

Glencore Bets on South Africa as Ramaphosa Promises Revival – by Thomas Wilson and Paul Burkhardt (Bloomberg News – June 26, 2018)

June 26, 2018 in Africa Mining, Coal, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc has set its ambitions on expanding in South Africa, the homeland of its chief Ivan Glasenberg.

As the company’s former business partner and new President Cyril Ramaphosa promises an economic recovery, Glencore is reaping profits from coal and chrome assets as prices rise. The company announced in October a $1 billion deal to buy Chevron Corp.’s oil refining and fuel service stations in South Africa and considered a bid for the Optimum coal mine.

The oil bid “was a pretty strong vote of confidence in the South African environment,” said Martin Kingston, the chief executive officer of N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd. in South Africa, which is advising Chevron on the sale. “Glencore understands the environment very well. They are effective behind the scenes and they have their finger on the pulse.” Continue Reading →

1984 Falconbridge tragedy still echoes for Sudbury residents, mining community – by Benjamin Aubé (CBC News Sudbury – June 20, 2018)

June 21, 2018 in Canadian Media Resource Articles, Glencore, Mining Accidents, Deaths, Cave-Ins and Industrial Disease, Sudbury Basin

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Disaster led to 1986 inquiry into mine ground control and emergency preparedness

June 20, 1984, is a day that still resonates in the minds of many Sudbury residents and throughout the mining community. About 200 workers were on shift at Falconbridge Mine that morning. Four of them never got out.

At 10:12 a.m., a seismic event that registered a 3.5 on the Richter scale struck the mine, causing a major rock fall and trapping many of the miners.

Despite rescue attempts over the next several days, Sulo Korpela, Richard Chenier, Daniel Lavallee and Wayne St. Michel each lost their lives. On Wednesday, an annual service commemorating the 34-year anniversary of the tragedy was held at the Mine Mill 598 Unifor Campground at Lake Richard. Continue Reading →

US risked Chinese battery monopoly had Gertler dispute escalated – by David McKay (MiningMx.com – June 19, 2018)

June 20, 2018 in Africa Mining, Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.miningmx.com/

GLENCORE’S workaround the US sanctions placed on Dan Gertler, the Congo’s mining tycoon, was a remarkable piece of pragmatism on behalf of the Swiss miner and minerals trader, but it may have also been informed by a broader concern.

The concern is that in failing to settle the matter, the assets from which Gertler was demanding the resumption of royalties – the Mutanda and Kamoto Copper mines – would have been expropriated by the Congolese government with whom Gertler is close.

It’s quite likely then, given China’s obvious comfort in operating in the Congo, that its companies may have bought the mines and taken control of a large slug of world cobalt (and copper) supply that is crucial to battery manufacture. Controlling the cobalt market would give the Chinese unprecedented control over the world automotive sector. Continue Reading →

Glencore settles with Gertler over Congo royalties – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters U.S. – June 15, 2018)

June 15, 2018 in Africa Mining, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Copper, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Glencore has settled a mining row in Democratic Republic of Congo with Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler by agreeing to pay royalties in a currency other than U.S. dollars, lowering the risk of disruption to copper and cobalt supplies.

U.S. sanctions on Gertler, Glencore’s former Israeli partner in Congo, had triggered litigation and a legal tangle that investors said might affect supplies of cobalt, needed for electric vehicle batteries, from the world’s biggest producer of the metal.

Glencore earlier this week reached a settlement in another dispute involving its Kamoto copper and cobalt mine in Congo, although it remains at odds with the Congolese government over a mining code that increases taxes and royalties on minerals. Continue Reading →

Congo’s Miners Face Harsh New Reality as Mining Law Finalized – by Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg News – June 13, 2018)

June 13, 2018 in Africa Mining, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Copper, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The options for mining companies battling new legislation in the Democratic Republic of Congo — Africa’s biggest copper producer and the source of two-thirds of the world’s cobalt — have just about run out.

After six months of lobbying, companies including Glencore Plc and Randgold Resources Ltd. have got nowhere in their battle to push back against the mining law, which voids existing agreements and increases their costs. Congo approved the final part of the bill on Friday, and despite earlier indications from President Joseph Kabila that the rules might be eased, the law hasn’t been weakened in any way.

While the constitution bars Kabila from running for a third term, Congo’s embattled leader has refused to rule himself out as a candidate in elections later this year, and his campaign to wring more revenue out of mining companies is proving popular with voters. Continue Reading →

Glencore Faces New Legal Challenge Against Congo Cobalt Mine – by William Clowes and Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg News – June 8, 2018)

June 8, 2018 in Africa Mining, Battery Technology Innovation/Electric Vehicles, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Glencore, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.bloomberg.com/

(Bloomberg) — For Glencore Plc in the Democratic Republic of Congo, problems don’t form an orderly queue: they pile up on top of each other.

In the latest example of the commodity giant’s deteriorating relationships in the country, a convicted fraudster has resurrected a legal claim the company considered dead, launching a billion-dollar bid for compensation for a 19 percent stake he previously held in Mutanda Mining Sarl — the world’s biggest cobalt miner.

The lawsuit, the third court action this year challenging Glencore’s control of its prized Congolese mines, is another headache for the Swiss commodity trader as it faces down the government over a new mining code that hiked taxes. Continue Reading →

Sudbury Accent: Sudbury as the ‘Harvard’ of hardrock mining [Part 4 of 5] – by Stan Sudol (Sudbury Star – June 6, 2018)

June 7, 2018 in Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Glencore, Mining Education and Innovation, Nickel, Nickel Laterites, Ontario Mining, Stan Sudol Columns/Media References and Appearances, Sudbury Basin, Sudbury Laurentian University – Mining Faculties and Research, Vale

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

The Sudbury Basin is Ontario’s metallic equivalent to the Alberta oils sands without the massive open pits as most of the mines historically have been underground. For 135 years, the region’s unique polymetallic ore-bodies have produced nickel, copper and significant quantities of cobalt, gold, silver and platinum group metals (PGMs).

It is the third largest source of PGMs after South Africa and Russia. Many multi-generational families earn good middle-class salaries in the many mines, two mills, two smelters and one refinery. Roughly 30 per cent of provincial mining activity takes place in Sudbury, according to the Ontario Mining Association.

Glencore’s recent C$900 million investment in the development of its Onaping Depth project and Vale’s C$760 million phase one development of its Copper Cliff Deep mine are indications of growing confidence in the future of the region. Continue Reading →