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Glencore executives resign from Katanga board amid regulatory probe – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 21, 2017)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Three Glencore PLC executives have resigned from the board of its Toronto-listed subsidiary Katanga Mining Ltd. after an internal review found “material weaknesses” in its financial reporting controls, amid a regulatory probe by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).

On Monday, Switzerland-based Katanga announced it is restating a number of financial documents, including its consolidated financial statements for the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years, and its management discussion and analysis (MD&A) for the quarters ending March 31, 2017 and 2016. The company also said its chief financial officer, Jacques Lubbe, was stepping down.

Katanga owns copper and cobalt operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is majority owned by Glencore, a giant Anglo-Swiss metals and mining conglomerate.

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Mining’s $45 Million Man Eyes an Earth-Shattering Return – by Chris Hughes (Bloomberg News – November 14, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The shortlist for the next chair of Rio Tinto Plc will incense the corporate governance crowd. At the top is Mick Davis, former CEO of Xstrata Plc. His association with high boardroom pay makes him a divisive candidate.

Davis drew criticism at Xstrata for remuneration well above industry norms. The attacks came to a head when he was offered a $45 million retention plan to stay with the company after a proposed merger with Glencore Plc in 2012.

Shareholders later resoundingly vetoed the package, and embarrassed Xstrata’s board by pushing for more generous financial terms. The deal had to be recast as a takeover by Glencore.

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Glencore Is Close to Creating a Mining Royalty Company – by Thomas Wilson, Scott Deveau and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – November 14, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc is close to finalizing a $700 million deal with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to create a new base-metals royalty company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Swiss commodity giant will bring royalty agreements from about 10 mines, while Ontario Teachers’ will contribute about $350 million in capital to allow the company to buy further royalty streams from other projects.

Glencore and Ontario Teachers’ will each have a 50 percent stake in the new vehicle and the deal is expected to close in the next few weeks, the people said, asking not be to identified as the talks are confidential.

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Vehicle offers quicker response for Kidd mine rescue team – by Len Gillis (Timmins Daily Press – November 6, 2017)

http://www.timminspress.com/

TIMMINS – With Glencore’s Kidd Mine in Timmins being the deepest base metal mine in the world, innovation has become a way of life there. The most recent change is the delivery of a tricked-out Toyota truck that can bring mine rescue teams to the most remote areas of the massive mine more quickly than ever before.

The Mine Rescue Emergency Response Vehicle (MRERV) is being put through its paces these days as mine rescuers get training on driving the truck and learning to drive it onto the mine’s huge elevator known as the cage.

Normally the cage is used to transport miners, mining materials, tools and explosives from surface into the depths of the mine. But the cage is also big enough and robust enough to carry a vehicle.

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One Metal Will Be Transformed by the Electric Car Boom – by Mark Burton and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg News – October 31, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Glencore Plc and Trafigura Group Pte are often at loggerheads, but one thing they agree on: the nickel market will be transformed by the rise of electric cars.

Nickel sulphate, a key ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, will see demand increase 50 percent to 3 million metric tons by 2030, Saad Rahim, chief economist at Trafigura, said in an interview. While other battery metals like cobalt and lithium have more than doubled since the start of last year, nickel prices have been subdued because of large inventories.

“When you look structurally, we should start to get bullish now,” Rahim said. “Are you going to be able to meet that demand when the time comes, given underinvestment in the supply side?”

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Xstrata Zinc Brunswick Mine, Bathurst,New Brunswick-“End of an Era” documentary by Glen Ferguson (April 2013)

https://www.fergusonaudioproductions.com “End of an Era” Brunswick Mine. Shot and edited by Glen Ferguson. A historical look at Northern New Brunswick’s, Brunswick Mine. Once the world largest zinc mine, this long time economic staple our the region has recently closed. Over 50 years of unique history that changed the provinces Northern communities for ever and Over …

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Glencore to wield power on zinc – by Stephen Bartholomeusz (The Australian – October 4, 2017)

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

Glencore’s decision to invest up to $US956 million to greatly increase its shareholding in a Peruvian zinc miner may have been motivated by an insight it gained during its dark days in 2015.

Overnight Glencore announced it had reached agreement with shareholders of Volcan Compania Minera, one of the world’s largest producers of zinc, lead and silver, to acquire 27 per cent of the group’s class A shares for $US531 million.

It will make an offer to other Volcan shareholders for up to 48 per cent of the class A shares, which would lift the outlay closer to $US1 billion. Depending on the level of acceptances, Glencore would end up with between 48 per cent and 66 per cent of the class A shares, which have voting rights. It had a pre-existing holding of about 18 per cent of those shares.

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Glencore to spend $956M to increase stake in Peru’s largest zinc producer – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – October 2, 2017)

http://www.mining.com/

Miner and commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) is buying 26.73% of the voting shares in Peru’s largest zinc producer, Volcan Compañía Minera SAA, in a deal worth at least $531 million.

The Swiss company will pay $1.215 per class A common share, which will help it boost its current 7.68% interest in Volcan and which could cost Glencore as much as $956 million, depending on the level of acceptances.

“Volcan’s operations are located in the richest polymetallic production area in Peru, producing some of the highest quality zinc concentrates,” it said in the statement.

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Glencore industrial dispute putting pressure on NSW coal supplies – by Mark Ludlow and Angela Macdonald-Smith (Australian Financial Review – September 20, 2017)

http://www.afr.com/

Protracted industrial action at 10 of Glencore’s NSW coal mines and a congested rail network are contributing to supply issues in Australia’s largest state, with fears it could affect the grid’s ability to keep the lights on this summer.

Amid growing concerns about coal-fired power generators being unable to secure enough coal supplies, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has vowed to maintain the industrial unrest at Glencore mines where negotiations have stalled over 10 separate enterprise agreements.

CFMEU national president Tony Maher said the industrial action organised by the unions at about eight mines across the Hunter Valley had had a “material” impact on Glencore’s operations and was affecting their ability to supply coal to customers.

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Glencore fined $200,000 In Sudbury man’s death – by Staff (Sudbury Star – August 29, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Glencore Canada Corporation has been fined $200,000 for the death of a Sudbury man almost two years ago.

The man, Richard Pigeau, 54, was killed at Nickel Rim South Mine when he was run over by a vehicle. The incident took place on Oct. 20, 2015, at Glencore’s base metal mine near Sudbury, which produces nickel and copper ore, the Minister of Labour said in a release.

“A worker was operating a machine known as a load haul dump (LHD) used in the underground operation to move broken rock or ore,” the ministry said. “While operating the LHD on a ramp, it appeared the bucket of the vehicle made contact with a wall on the right. “The LHD continued to move; the worker was ejected from the operator’s compartment and was run over by one of the vehicle’s tires. The worker died from the injuries.”

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Glencore Zambia Unit May Fire 4,700 Workers Amid Power Spat – by Taonga Clifford Mitimingi and Matthew Hill (Bloomberg News – August 24, 2017)

https://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — Glencore Plc’s copper unit in Zambia said a dispute over electricity fees that has already led to reduced power supply may result in the dismissal of 4,700 workers.

Copperbelt Energy Corp. lowered supplies to Mopani Copper Mines after the company refused to pay new power prices introduced by the government at the start of the year. Mopani said the fee increase wasn’t part of its agreement with Copperbelt. Mopani, which employs about 15,000 people including contractors, has notified the government of the planned job losses, Labor Minister Joyce Nonde-Simukoko said by phone.

“It has become necessary for Mopani Copper Mines to curtail some areas of its operations due to the restriction of power,” the Glencore unit said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “We expect that we shall effectively have to close several areas and our scaled-back operations may affect a total of 4,700 direct employees.”

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It’s Party Time for the Metals No One Knows About – by Thomas Biesheuvel and Mark Burton (Bloomberg News – August 24, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

It’s turning out to be a great year for minor metals. Rechargeable-battery ingredient cobalt has gained 83 percent, while ruthenium, used in the chemical industry and electronics, is up 63 percent.

The latest star is vanadium, an obscure silvery-grey metal thought to have been used to harden steel as far back as the Crusades. The metal, which is also used in energy-storage batteries, has surged 67 percent since mid-July, according to Metal Bulletin data.

Much of vanadium’s rise has been driven by policy changes in Beijing. The China Iron & Steel Research Institute has proposed increasing the amount of vanadium required in construction steel, which would boost consumption, according to VTB Capital and SP Angel research. The new standard is expected to be announced in September.

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Hunt for Next Electric-Car Commodity Quickens as Prices Soar – by Laura Millan Lombrana and Susanne Barton (Bloomberg News – August 23, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Niche metal cobalt is leaving bigger names like copper and lithium in its dust, triggering a hunt for new deposits from Idaho to Chile.

As one of the key components in the new breed of rechargeable batteries and with supply dominated by the Democratic Republic of Congo, prices have surged at four times the pace of major metals in the past year.

That’s caught the attention of governments, explorers and money managers, with annual demand set to increase 34 percent until 2026 as electric cars gain a bigger share of the global auto fleet, according to CRU Group.

Authorities in Chile, the top copper-producing nation, are embarking on a fact-finding mission with a view to restart cobalt production after a more than seven-decade hiatus. First Cobalt Corp. is merging with two other firms to create what it calls the world’s largest explorer of the mineral.

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Africa’s Biggest Copper Mine Hit by Zambian Power Restrictions – by Matthew Hill and Taonga Clifford Mitimingi (Bloomberg News – August 15, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Zambia is cutting power to mines including Africa’s biggest copper site, the Kansanshi pit owned by First Quantum Minerals Ltd., escalating a fight over tariffs.

“They have still got some significant amount of power for them to operate, but obviously their operations will not be at 100 percent because of the power restrictions,” Energy Minister David Mabumba told reporters Tuesday in Lusaka, the capital.

Glencore Plc has said it halted production at the Kitwe and Mufulira operations in Zambia’s Copperbelt province after the main electricity provider restricted supplies.

Copper miners in Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest producer of the metal, have been in a dispute with the country’s energy regulator since it raised tariffs by almost 30 percent in 2014.

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Ivan Glasenberg: Glencore still on acquisition trail – by Paul Garvey (The Australian – August 11, 2017)

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

Glencore chief executive Ivan Glasenberg has talked up the company’s potential for further acquisitions, amid the latest uncertainty over Yancoal Australia’s $US2.69 billion ($3.4bn) purchase of Rio Tinto’s Coal & Allied business.

Glencore has long harboured interest in the Coal & Allied assets, given the potential synergies with its own coalmines in NSW, but was twice outbid for them by the Chinese-backed Yancoal. The two parties subsequently agreed a separate deal under which Glencore would buy 49 per cent of Coal & Allied’s Hunter Valley operations from Yancoal for $US1.14bn plus a share of royalties.

But Hong Kong-based hedge fund Senrigan Capital Group this week lodged an application with the Takeovers Panel, arguing that the proposed deal would be prejudicial to minority shareholders in ASX-listed Yancoal.

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