Новости за 10.01.2019

Last year yielded positive results for Aim-listed diamond miner BlueRock Diamonds, which achieved significant increases in production and recovered grade, and saw its diamond sales increase by 71% to 5 805 ct, compared with the 3 385 ct sold in 2017. Production volume for the miner, which owns and operates the Kareevlei diamond mine, near Kimberley, increased by 24% to 189 999 t, compared with 153 147 t in 2017.

The World Gold Council (WGC) has said it believes gold will become even more relevant this year owing to “its proven record” for delivering returns, its low correlation to major asset classes, its liquidity and its risk-adjusted returns. Looking ahead, the council expects gold demand to benefit from the interplay of market risk and economic growth, with key dynamics, such as financial market instability, monetary policy, the dollar and structural economic reforms, likely to influence the precious metal’s performance in 2019.

In a surprise twist, Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi was declared the winner of last month’s Presidential election, although his victory is being marred by claims by a rival that the poll was rigged. The African country is the world’s main supplier of battery ingredient cobalt and a key source of minerals from copper to tantalum. That means miners, analysts and users of the metals – which range from carmakers to mobile-phone companies – will be keeping a close watch on what happens next.

London-listed Acacia Mining’s North Mara gold mine, in Tanzania, has received an environmental protection order (EPO) requiring the payment of a fine of $130 000, or TSh300-million. The EPO was issued in relation to alleged breaches of environmental regulations.

Miner Anglo American is betting on South America as its main growth area for base metals in the coming years, a top executive told Reuters. Ruben Fernandes, who heads Anglo's operations in Brazil and is slated to become its global head of base metals next March, said he wants to prepare the company for an expected boom in demand related to electric cars that is likely to fuel appetite for nickel as well as copper.

The rebuilding of key strategic relationships across the value chain of the platinum group metals (PGMs) sector is essential for the survival of the industry, Mining Phakisa coordinator Edwin Ritchken states in the book The Future of Mining in South Africa: Sunset or Sunrise, published by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection. His comments arise at a time when the PGM-hosting Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex is at a crossroads owing to diminished demand for platinum, which calls for... Читать дальше...

Americas Silver and Pershing Gold on Wednesday announced that their respective shareholders had given the requisite approvals for the merger of the two companies. Americas Silver shareholders approved a special resolution to amend the company’s articles of incorporation to create a new class of nonvoting preferred shares and an ordinary resolution to authorise the transaction and the issuance of shares thereunder.

Sierra Metals’ expansion plans at the Bolivar mine, in Mexico, are on track, the company reported in a statement on Wednesday. The company last year announced plans to achieve a sustainable and staged increase in mine production and mill throughput from 3 000 t/d to 3 600 t/d by the first quarter of this year, and to 5 000 t/d by mid-2020.

JSE- and NYSE-listed Sibanye-Stillwater on Thursday said its South African platinum group metals (PGMs) operations continue to do well, with the miner expecting its platinum, palladium, gold and rhodium (4E) PGMs production for 2018 to be about 1.17-million ounces. In a statement detailing updates since November 1, 2018, Sibanye explained that robust palladium and rhodium prices, which increased by more than 40% in dollar terms in 2018, together with the weaker rand/dollar exchange rate boosted the... Читать дальше...

Chile's largest copper mines posted mixed results through November of 2018, with a slight drop in output at state miner Codelco offset by a surge in production from BHP's Escondida, the world's largest copper mine. In all, copper production in the world's top producer of the red metal reached 5.33-million tonnes, a 6% increase over the same period the previous year.

Chile's Collahuasi copper mine is talking to Canada's Teck Resources Ltd about resource-sharing as the two companies embark on ambitious expansion projects, its Chief Executive Jorge Gomez said on Wednesday. Collahuasi - owned by Glencore and Anglo American - is seeking "synergies" with companies with operations close to its own mine in the Tarapaca area on the border with Bolivia, Gomez said, principal among them Teck.