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How Yancoal and Glencore Can Bury the Hatchet – by David Fickling (Bloomberg News – June 27, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The world’s biggest coal consumer and the largest commodity trader are fighting over a rich seam of the black stuff. They’d be better off working together.

Shareholders of Rio Tinto Group’s U.K. listing were voting Tuesday on whether to accept a $2.69 billion offer to buy Coal & Allied Industries Ltd. from Yancoal Australia Ltd., which is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government.

Rio Tinto’s management has declared the proposal superior to a bid from Glencore Plc, which has adjacent mines in Australia’s Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, and has coveted Rio Tinto’s deposit for the best part of a decade.

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Canada’s Mkango aims for rare earths production from 2020 – by Barbara Lewis (Reuters Canada – June 26, 2017)

http://ca.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Canada’s Mkango Resources (MKA.V: Quote) MKA.L, one of a handful of rare earth miners outside China, aims to start production in Malawi in 2020 to catch an expected leap in demand for the metals that are used in electric vehicles and other new technologies.

Demand for rare earths, which range from neodymium used in electric motors to lanthanum used to make batteries, is increasing with the emergence of new, greener technology.

While production of coal, iron ore and other bulk commodities is dominated by major mining firms such as BHP (BHP.AX: Quote) (BLT.L: Quote) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote) (RIO.AX: Quote), rare earths are mostly produced by China and small mining firms such as Mkango.

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Examining Barrick Gold’s Regulatory Risk In Developing Countries – by Trefis Team (Forbes Magazine – June 26, 2017)

https://www.forbes.com/

Barrick Gold’s African operations are mired in uncertainty amid the Tanzanian government’s ban on the export of unprocessed mineral ores from the country. In addition, the Tanzanian government has alleged that Acacia Mining plc, the Barrick Gold subsidiary which operates the company’s mining interests in the country, has been evading taxes by understating the amount of gold concentrate that it exports.

While Barrick has not altered its production guidance for its African mining operations yet, per Acacia plc (in which Barrick holds a 63.9% stake) the mineral export ban is reportedly costing the company nearly $1 million per day in lost sales, as there isn’t enough gold smelting capacity within the country.

Barrick’s woes in Tanzania are the latest in a series of developments for mining companies in developing markets that have adversely affected the viability of their operations in these jurisdictions.

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NEWS RELEASE: Governments of Canada and Quebec support the Centre d’innovation minière de la MRC des Sources

Innovation for the economic diversification of an entire region

ASBESTOS, QC, June 27, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ – Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

Communities need to build on innovation to diversify themselves strategically and develop lasting regional competitive advantages.

The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie and Member of Parliament for Compton–Stanstead, acting on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED), and Karine Vallières, Member for Richmond and Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier (youth), acting on behalf of Lise Thériault, Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for SMEs, Regulatory Streamlining and Regional Economic Development, announced that financial support has been granted to the Centre d’innovation minière de la MRC des Sources (website in French only).

CED has granted $2,500,000 in the form of a non-repayable financial contribution to start up a centre specializing in pilot-plant processes supporting business innovation projects in mining and industry. The funding was awarded through CED’s Canadian Initiative for the Economic Diversification of Communities Reliant on Chrysotile.

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Gold Plunges After 1.8 Million Ounces Were Traded in One Minute – by Susanne Barton and Eddie Van Der Walt (Bloomberg News – June 27, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Gold traders shaken awake by Monday’s rapid price plunge said the move probably won’t mean an end to the sleepy pace that’s characterized the market in recent months.

Bullion sank at 9 a.m. in London on Monday after a huge spike in volume in New York futures that traders said may have been the result of a “fat finger,” or erroneous order. Trading jumped to 1.8 million ounces of gold in just a minute, an amount that’s bigger than the gold reserves of Finland.

The episode is unlikely to upend the broader trend in gold, where volatility has languished, analysts including George Gero at RBC Wealth Management said. A measure of price swings in the metal fell in April to the lowest in records going back to 2007. It’s since held near that level, even amid political discord in Europe, rising U.S. interest rates and mounting tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.

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Brazil’s Vale shareholders approve corporate reorganization (Reuters U.S. – June 27, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

Minority holders backed the extension for up to three and a half years of an agreement by controlling shareholders grouped under holding company Valepar SA to maintain control. The assembly also approved Vale’s takeover of Valepar and a subsequent merger of Vale’s two types of stock into a single common one.

Under terms of the share conversion, holders of Vale’s Class A preferred shares who join the share conversion voluntarily will receive 0.9342 of common stock.

To ensure completion of the plan, Vale would pay owners of Valepar a 10 percent premium for their shares, implying a 3 percent dilution for all shareholders. The former Valepar owners can sell the equivalent of up to 22 percent of Vale’s common shares after a six-month lockup period starting in August expires, provided they keep a 20 percent stake by November 2020.

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Cambrian College receives $2.1M research grant: A collaboration with mine business partners for the next five years – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – June 26, 2017)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The future is looking more secure for several innovation projects at Cambrian College in Sudbury with a large grant coming their way.

Cambrian Innovates, the applied research division at the college, and three mining industry partners will benefit from a $2.1-million grant aimed at supporting a five-year Mine Environmental Stewardship Initiative.

The grant is coming from the federal government’s National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) College and Community Innovation (CCI) program. The funds were secured through an Innovation Enhancement grant that will support a five-year Mine Environmental Stewardship Initiative.

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Why coal mining is resurgent in the U.S., China and India (CBS News – June 26, 2017)

http://www.cbsnews.com/

Associated Press: BEIJING — The U.S., China and India are going back to the coal mines. These three countries, the world’s biggest coal users, have boosted coal mining in 2017, in an abrupt departure from last year’s record global decline for the heavily polluting fuel and a setback to efforts to rein in climate change emissions.

Mining data reviewed by The Associated Press show that production through May is up by at least 121 million tons, or 6 percent, for the three countries compared to the same period last year. The change is most dramatic in the U.S., where coal mining rose 19 percent in the first five months of the year, according to U.S. Department of Energy data.

Coal’s fortunes had appeared to hit a new low less than two weeks ago, when British energy company BP reported that tonnage mined worldwide fell 6.5 percent in 2016, the largest drop on record. China and the U.S. accounted for almost all the decline, while India showed a slight increase.

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Banks Balk at Risk of Funding South Africa Mining Charter Deals – by Renee Bonorchis (Bloomberg News – June 26, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

South Africa’s plan to force mining companies to give the black majority a bigger stake in the nation’s mineral wealth faces a major obstacle: convincing banks to back billions of dollars of fresh deals in an industry in decline.

Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said on June 15 that local mines should be at least 30 percent owned by black people, up from the previous requirement of 26 percent. The mining companies need banks to help fund transactions that transfer the stakes to black investors who often don’t have the capital to invest due to their marginalization during white rule.

Companies often use dividends or divert cash flows to pay off the debt on behalf on the black empowerment partners, which means full ownership only vests years later. “The charter will have an effect on our ability to finance the mining industry in South Africa,” said Ursula Nobrega, a spokeswoman for Investec Plc, one of South Africa’s five biggest banks. “We already exercise caution as to who and what projects we finance.”

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Future of diamond mining in the sea – by Magreth Nunuhe (The Southern Times – June 26, 2017)

https://southernafrican.news/

WALVIS BAY – Having the richest marine diamond deposits in the world, Namibia has set its sights on the ocean as the output of marine diamond production continue to enormously outstrip production of the precious stones on land.

Last year, marine diamond production yielded 1.17 million carats, while land operations generated 403,000 carats, contributing over billions of dollars in revenue. Namibian diamond mining takes place at around 120 to 140 metres below sea level.

In the next 15 years, it is estimated that diamond production on land in Namibia will run out and that 95 percent of diamond production will come from the sea. With approximations that the 3,700 miles squared concession area at sea on the south-west coast of Southern Africa will provide plenty of gemstones for the next 50 years, De Beers Group and Debmarine Namibia inaugurated the world’s most advanced exploration vessel, dubbed the mv SS Nujoma at the coastal town of Walvis Bay on 15 June 2017.

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The Future of Coal Country – by Eliza Griswold (The New Yorker Magazine – July 3, 2017)

http://www.newyorker.com/

A local environmental activist fights to prepare her community for life beyond mining.

One Sunday morning, just after deer-hunting season ended, Veronica Coptis, a community organizer in rural Greene County, Pennsylvania, climbed onto her father’s four-wheeler. She set off for a ridge a quarter of a mile from her parents’ small farmhouse, where she was brought up with her brother and two sisters. “Those are coyote tracks,” she called over the engine noise, pointing down at a set of fresh paw prints.

At the crest of the ridge, she stopped along a dirt track and scanned in both directions for security guards. Around her stretched a three-mile wasteland of valleys. Once an untouched landscape of white oak and shagbark hickory, it now belonged to Consol Energy and served as the refuse area for the Bailey Mine Complex, the largest underground coal mine in the United States.

Five hundred feet below the ridgeline lay a slate-colored expanse of sludge: sixty acres of coal waste, which filled the valley floor to a depth of more than a hundred feet. Coptis stared; it was twice as deep as it had been when she’d visited a year before. “How can it be that after two hundred years no one has come up with a better way of getting rid of coal waste?” she asked.

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As 777 winds down, Hudbay looks to Lalor – by D’Arcy Jenish (Canadian Mining Journal – June 2017)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

For nearly a century – 90 years in December, to be precise – Hudbay Minerals has been the cornerstone and lifeblood of the northern Manitoba community of Flin Flon. But change is coming to this quintessential one-industry, resource-based Canadian town.

In 2020, Hudbay is scheduled to close the 777 mine – its only remaining mining operation in the immediate vicinity of Flin Flon. Meantime, the company is continuing to develop and expand its base and precious metal Lalor mine, which began producing in late 2014 and is located in Snow Lake, 215 km east of Flin Flon.

“We have undertaken a program of re-evaluating exploration opportunities with the Flin Flon area,” says Cashel Meagher, Hudbay’s senior vice-president and chief operating officer. “The obvious future in northern Manitoba will divert from Flin Flon to Lalor. We want to perpetuate the life of the Lalor mine.”

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COLUMN-Fight over Rio’s mines means coal isn’t dead; Adani woes show it’s dying – by Clyde Russell (Reuters U.S. – June 26, 2017)

https://www.reuters.com/

Here’s a question for the anti-coal lobby. If coal is dying, how come there is an increasingly heated bidding war going on for Rio Tinto’s coal mines in Australia? Here’s another question, this time for the pro-coal lobby. If coal still has a viable long-term future as an energy source, how come the world’s biggest planned new mine is now hostage to whether the Australian government decides to loan it money?

Reconciling these two questions may seem like a challenge but both the battle for Rio Tinto’s existing mines and the struggles of India’s Adani to build its Carmichael project neatly show where coal currently finds itself.

Rio’s mines in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney are attractive to both Glencore and China’s Yancoal because they are likely to be profitable for the remaining life of the pits, which is expected to be around 20 years.

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Canada’s Boutique-Broker Bust May Be Over But Lessons Remain – by Kristine Owram (Bloomberg News – June 26, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The crisis that wiped out a quarter of Canada’s independent brokers seems to have halted. Four new firms signed up with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada in the first five months of 2017 and only two deregistered. That compares with net dropouts over the last four years as plunging commodity prices and higher compliance costs favored big banks.

Boutique dealers were also battered by Canadian investors’ post-crisis aversion to risk capital, which prompted them to avoid the kind of companies that typically work with smaller brokerages. Such firms funnel research and capital into small and mid-cap companies, which account for more than a quarter of volume traded in Canada’s equity markets.

“Life for independents has gotten better over the last six months,” Dan Daviau, chief executive officer of Toronto-based independent broker Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., said by phone. “Investors are all of a sudden saying, ‘Hey, I don’t mind taking a little more risk, I don’t mind investing in an early-stage tech company or a mining company that’s just discovering stuff.’”

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Bidding war intensifies for Rio Tinto’s Hunter Valley coal mines – by David Chau (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – June 26, 2017)

http://www.abc.net.au/

Rio Tinto is currently in a dilemma on who it should sell its Hunter Valley mines to – the Swiss or the Chinese. Late on Friday, Swiss-based company Glencore upped its bid to more than $3.5 billion (US$2.685 billion) for the purchase of Rio’s subsidiary, Coal & Allied Industries Limited.

The assets on the block are Rio’s Hunter Valley operations – the Warkworth/Mount Thorley thermal and semi-soft coking coal mines and a major stake in the Port Waratah coal loading facility in Newcastle.

Glencore said its latest offer is around $297 million ($US225 million) greater than Yancoal’s proposal. “We believe the Glencore offer satisfies the criteria for a ‘superior proposal’: it delivers substantially greater value to Rio Tinto shareholders and low deal completion risk,” Glencore said in a statement.

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