Новости за 16.01.2019

Poland's copper producer KGHM expects an average copper price this year at $6 100/t to $6 300/t, the company's CEO, Marcin Chludzinski, said on Wednesday. "We refer to lower end of copper price range forecast by analysts and we assume an average copper price at $6,100-$6,300 per tonne. I think this is realistic, today the price has neared $6,000," Chludzinski told Reuters.

Legal adviser Bouwer van Niekerk expects to have a preliminary business rescue plan for Optimum Coal Mine and Koornfontein Mine submitted for creditor approval by the end of next week, he confirmed to Mining Weekly Online on Wednesday. The mines’ business rescue practitioners (BRPs) have been in continuous discussions with all stakeholders and creditors to vote on the proposed business rescue plans for the mines.

TSX-listed copper miner First Quantum has announced record production and sales for 2018, with copper output rising by 6% and sales by 3%. Total copper production amounted to 605 853 t, compared with 573 963 t in 2017. The company sold 596 513 t in 2018, compared with 580 130 t the year prior.

ASX- and JSE-listed Orion Minerals’ analytical results for the Ayoba prospect, which is 5.3 km from its flagship Prieska project, have confirmed the discovery of a new volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) zinc/copper-bearing body. The new mineralisation find validated Orion’s expectation that there is potential to discover a cluster of VMS deposits around the Prieska project.

TSX-listed Lundin Mining has achieved, or exceeded, its yearly guidance at all of its operations, the diversified miner announced on Tuesday, releasing production results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2018. The company produced 48 206 t of copper in the fourth quarter, taking full-year output to 199 630 t, which is at the upper-end of its guidance of 193 750 t to 201 250 t.

Coal developer Aspire Mining on Wednesday told shareholders that its Ovoot project, in Mongolia, could assist in addressing a projected 16-million- to 22-million-tonne shortage of fat coking coal in China, out to 2025. China’s ‘fat’ coal category encapsulates high fluidity coals with good plastic and excess caking properties that are used to blend lower quality coking coals.

Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company produces 3 089 ct of diamonds from its Mothae operation, in Lesotho, during the December quarter. The 1.1-million tonne treatment plant was commissioned during the December quarter, delivering Lucapa its second operational mine.

Midtier miner Centerra Gold produced 729 556 oz of gold in 2018, a 7% decrease from that of 2017, but above the company’s guidance of 665 000 oz to 705 000 oz for the year. Centerra, which operates the water-constrained Mt Milligan mine, in British Columbia, and the Kumtor mine, in Kyrgyzstan, produced 288 367 oz of gold in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Coal developer Pacific American Coal has reported an 18% increase in the Joint Ore Reserves Committee compliant resource of its Elko coking coal project, in British Columbia. The project is now estimated to host some 303-million tonnes of coal, with 117-million tonnes of the resource classified within the measured category.

Suitor Golden Investments has told the shareholders of ASX-listed Stanmore Coal that it will not be increasing its offer price of 95c a share, and that it will not extend its offer date past January 22. Stanmore in December urged shareholders to reject the offer, saying the price was “materially inadequate” and did not provide an appropriate control premium.

The Senate advanced a resolution to block the Treasury Department from lifting sanctions on three Russian companies linked to oligarch Oleg Deripaska, with 11 Republicans aiding Democrats in a rare split with President Donald Trump. The 57-42 vote to take up the measure Tuesday came shortly after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin lobbied GOP senators at the Capitol and indicated he’s not backing down from his plan to lift sanctions against three companies Deripaska controls: United Co. Rusal, En+ Group and EuroSibEnergo.

Iron-ore miner Vale SA has won approval from Brazil's antitrust regulator to buy three wind farms in the northeast of the country from investment fund Salus, according to an announcement in the official gazette on Tuesday. In announcing its decision, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) did not disclose the price of the acquisition.

Norwegian aluminium-maker Norsk Hydro said on Tuesday that Brazil's northern state of Para has lifted a production embargo on its Alunorte alumina refinery, but noted that full production will not resume until a federal court follows suit. The plant is operating at half capacity after admitting early last year to making unlicensed emissions of untreated water during severe rains.

Mexican mining-union leader and newly installed Senator Napoleon Gomez Urrutia is ready to take on companies that he says don’t pay enough taxes, pollute the environment and enjoy concessions he deems are too long. Mining shares tumbled. An old foe of Grupo Mexico, Gomez Urrutia is reviewing mining concessions in the country and thinks companies in the industry should contribute more to the government income, he said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Mexico City.