Twitter

Glencore

Last hurrah for the zinc price – by Frik Els (Mining.com – April 12, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

Zinc hit a four month low of $3,135 a tonne on Thursday, down more than 12% from its decade high achieved mid-February.

Rising fears about trade protectionism have taken the shine off most base metals but zinc’s bearish outlook has more to do with new supply; and lots of it.

The metal, mainly used to galvanize steel, has more than doubled since hitting multi-year lows in January 2016 after the shutdown of major mines including Australia’s Century, the Lisheen mine in Ireland and top producer Glencore’s depleted Brunswick and Perseverance mines in Canada.

Read more

Rusal bonds slump, customers review contracts as U.S. sanctions bite – by Polina Ivanova (Reuters U.S. – April 10, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Rusal’s (0486.HK) dollar bonds slumped to record lows, two major customers said they were reviewing their contracts, and the London Metal Exchange distanced itself from the aluminum giant on Tuesday, in the latest aftershocks from U.S. sanctions.

The sanctions imposed on Rusal and its boss, metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, mark the first time a major international company has been targeted by Washington in its moves to punish Russia for alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

While Russian markets, including the rouble, fell across the board on Monday, Rusal assets were hardest hit, with its Hong Kong-listed shares halving in value and the company warning it risked tipping into technical default.

Read more

‘Deep will be the new norm’ — Glencore spends $1B to find new ore beneath Sudbury – by Erik White (CBC News Sudbury – April 5, 2018)

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

First ore expected in about 4 years, with full production by 2025

Glencore is spending nearly $1 billion to mine new ore underneath Sudbury. The Onaping Depth project was announced at the same time as Vale revealed plans to go ahead with its multi-million dollar expansion of Copper Cliff Mine, also known as “Copper Cliff Deep.”

“I think deep will be the new norm and certainly in Sudbury, that’s where the future lies,” said Peter Xavier, Glencore vice-president of Sudbury operations.

The deposit is located 2,500 metres beneath the mothballed Craig Mine in Onaping and was found in the 1990s. Xavier says it’s taken years of planning to figure out how to mine safely and economically at that low level.

Read more

[Ontario] Province sets new pollution targets, but Sudbury smelters not expected to hit them – by Erik White (CBC News Sudbury – March 25, 2018)

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

The amount of sulphur dioxide that industries can pump into Ontario’s atmosphere will be dramatically reduced under new regulations set to take effect in 2023, but the environment minister says companies won’t be required to hit those targets.

The province announced last week that it will slash the annual emissions limit from 250 parts per billion to 40 parts per billion. But Environment and Climate Change Minister Chris Ballard says polluting industries, like the mining sector in Sudbury, won’t be punished if it doesn’t follow the new rules.

“We understand there are technological limits in some industries and smelting certainly is one of those where even if they were to double or triple their pollution control investments today, our experts tell us it wouldn’t perceptibly drop the sulphur dioxide emissions,” says Ballard.

Read more

Glencore Faces Off Against Labor Group on Congo Mine Conditions – by Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg News – March 23, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Commodity giant Glencore Plc defended working conditions at its mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo after an international labor federation said its employees are poorly treated and underpaid.

The spat with Geneva-based IndustriALL, a global union federation that says it represents more than 50 million workers in 140 countries, comes as some of the world’s biggest companies, from Apple Inc. to Volkswagen AG, pursue multi-million-dollar deals for Glencore’s prized Congolese cobalt.

Working conditions at Glencore’s Katanga Mining Ltd. and Mutanda operations violate workers’ rights and need to be improved, IndustriALL said March 22 in an emailed statement after representatives visited Congo in February.

Read more

Glencore snaps up Rio Tinto’s Hail Creek coal mine, project for $1.7 billion – by Tom Westbrook (Reuters U.S. – March 20, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Glencore is buying Rio Tinto’s Hail Creek coal mine and the Valeria coal project in Australia for $1.7 billion, tightening the Swiss trading and mining giant’s grip on coal as its rivals exit the industry.

The acquisition, announced by both companies on Tuesday, follows Glencore’s purchase of half of Rio Tinto’s Hunter Valley coal operations, also in Australia, for $1.1 billion last year in a deal with China’s Yancoal Australia Ltd.

Glencore is already the world’s biggest exporter of thermal coal used for power stations, and Hail Creek will give it a bigger stake in metallurgical coal used for steelmaking.

Read more

How Congo faced down some of the world’s biggest mining firms – by Aaron Ross (Reuters U.K. – March 15, 2018)

https://uk.reuters.com/

DAKAR (Reuters) – In an ornate room in Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential palace last week, some of global mining’s most powerful men faced off against government officials over proposed changes to the country’s mining code.

Facing the officials, including President Joseph Kabila, the executives at times threatened to pursue arbitration or close mines if the government went ahead with changes including royalty increases, according to one of the president’s top advisers, Barnabe Kikaya bin Karubi, who attended the meeting.

But there was no mistaking the sense of defeat as executives from Glencore, Randgold, Ivanhoe and other firms descended the red carpeted stairs after six hours to accept before the media a mining code that hikes taxes and removes exemptions for cobalt and other minerals.

Read more

Vale, Glencore approve Sudbury projects – by Jim Moodie (Sudbury Star – March 13, 2018)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Vale and Glencore are digging deep to dig deep. Each company is committing about $700 million to develop new mines and will be using cutting-edge, automated machines to reach the ore located more than two kilometres below the surface.

Vale is going ahead with its Copper Cliff Deep project, which includes refurbishing the south shaft at the Copper Cliff complex and eventual access to an ore body beneath Kelly Lake. The first phase is pegged at $760 million.

Glencore has freed up about $900 million for Onaping Depth, a new project near Craig Mine that will burrow 2.6 km into the earth. Jean-Charles Cachon, a professor in marketing and management at Laurentian University, said the price tags for these projects are typical of the industry.

Read more

Vale says no new jobs to come with $760M Copper Cliff mine expansion (CBC News Sudbury – March 08, 2018)

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

$760 million to expand Copper Cliff Mine over next 4 years

Vale announced this week that it’s making a big investment in Sudbury, while at the same looking to trim millions from its global nickel operations. The company is spending $760 million dollars over the next four years to expand Copper Cliff Mine.

The project, which some have called Copper Cliff Deep, will see the area between the north and south shafts mined, while at the same time giving the company future access to an ore body beneath Kelly Lake.

But Vale’s vice-president of corporate affairs and communications Cory McPhee says not to expect a round of new hiring. “It’s not necessarily creating new jobs as much as it is sustaining jobs that are existing today.

Read more

The Sudbury recipe: How the city came to be a global centre of mining innovation (Canadian Mining Journal – February 2018)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Sudbury has a long history as an important mining centre in Canada, with the first of many nickel-copper mines, Murray, built in the late 1880s.

But over the past 15 years, the city has become known as a mining innovation hub, with a dense and extensive network of service and supply companies and research institutions whose influence stretches well beyond northern Ontario.

The feat is all the more impressive considering the price of nickel – the commodity that was most responsible for Sudbury’s rise as a mining centre – is far from booming. (It was US$6.21 per lb. at press time.) Ian Wood, director of economic development at the city of Greater Sudbury, says that the reason for the strength of the city’s mining service and supply sector stems from the needs of thetwo dominant nickel giants in the area – Glencore (formerly Falconbridge) and Vale (formerly Inco).

Read more

Glencore, Vale approve C1.8 billion in mine development spending for Sudbury – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – March 1, 2018)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Copper Cliff and Onaping Depth projects underway

Vale and Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations have received board approval for major mine development projects in the Sudbury Basin.

Following several delays attributable to low commodity prices, Vale is proceeding with a C$760 million phase one development of its Copper Cliff Deep project, while Glencore is moving ahead with a C$900 million development of Onaping Depth.

Both projects are being undertaken to replace declining production from established mines.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that most of our mines are facing declining production profiles,” said Vale’s Dave Stefanuto, vice-president, capital projects for the North Atlantic. “We need to find replacement volumes of ore, so we’re starting to focus more on what we can do to start supplementing these declining orebodies. In the last few years, we spent a lot of time focusing on our surface plants, including the $1 billion Clean AER project. We’ve invested enough in our surface facilities. Now we have to feed them because they’re no good if they’re running empty.”

Read more

Rusal quest for value to dent Glencore’s aluminum clout – by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Polina Devitt (Reuters U.S. – February 27, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Mining giant Glencore’s deal to buy aluminum from Rusal will be renewed from 2019, but the tonnage is likely to be much lower as the Russian producer taps into growing demand for value-added products, two sources close to the matter said.

Unless it sources from additional suppliers, the reduction in volume will weaken the leading position held for years by Swiss-based Glencore in the global aluminum market.

Rusal, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska and co-owned by Glencore, is expected to cut the volume in any new deal by 25-50 percent from the 14.5 million tonnes that covers the seven years from 2012 to 2018.

Read more

COLUMN-For coal miners, it’s time to exit or get rich – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – February 25, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Feb 26 – It seems coal miners are adopting one of two disparate strategies, either exit the business in a highly visible way to buff up your climate credentials, or sit tight, keep as quiet as possible and rake in the cash.

An example of the public exit from the business is South32 , the Perth-based miner spun out of BHP Billiton which is in the process of selling out of its thermal coal assets in South Africa.

Mike Fraser, South32’s president and chief operating office for South Africa, told Reuters earlier this month that the company was aiming to sell its coal assets because it “did not believe in the commodity.” It would also be better if the coal mines were majority-owned by black investors, Fraser said.

Read more

Glencore records $14.76 billion profit (Bloomberg News/Sudbury Star wire service – February 22, 2018)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Glencore Plc surprised investors with a bigger dividend on the back of surging profit and commodity prices, but is still stockpiling cash as dry powder for future deals.

“We’re generating $10 billion of free cash flow on current commodity prices,” said Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg. “There is room if and when we want to do any acquisitions.”

Glencore nearly tripled its dividend payout to $2.9 billion and reported full-year results largely in line with expectations. The results leave Glasenberg well positioned to continue doing what he knows best — deals. While competitors such as Rio Tinto Group shied away from dealmaking last year, Glencore announced acquisitions worth more than $4 billion in copper, oil, zinc and coal.

Read more

MARVEL TO BEHOLD: Black Panther’s Lesson for Cobalt – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – February 21, 2018)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The battery material used in electric cars is no vibranium.

An isolated African nation possesses unique deposits of a rare and valuable metal. Its leaders aim to nationalize mineral wealth, while a white South African trader seeks a more vigorous export market. Inevitably, resources bring tragedy as well as triumph. With great power comes great responsibility.

If that sounds like the plot of the current box-office smash Black Panther, it has a real-world echo. The Democratic Republic of Congo has an endowment of cobalt scarcely less outsized than the fictional Wakanda’s reserves of vibranium.

With the rise of electric vehicles forecast to increase demand for the battery material more than fourfold and cobalt prices tripling over the past two years, the paralysed, election-dodging government in Kinshasa is weighing a 150 percent increase in mining royalties.

Read more