Новости за 27.03.2019

A Kazakh mining company sued the UK’s anti-fraud authority for $93-million – the amount it has racked up in legal costs – as the agency moves closer to a decision on whether to charge one of its billionaire owners. Eurasian Natural Resources Corp claims the SFO colluded with the company’s own lawyer to manufacture grounds for a probe, forcing the company to pay millions on legal fees for internal investigations and defense, according to the lawsuit filed in London Tuesday.

For more than 15 years, the diamond industry has been telling the world about a looming shortage of gems. Instead, demand has been stubbornly underwhelming, and the miners have done a wonderful job of digging more and more stones. But the pain may soon be over for an industry that’s being squeezed by oversupply. In two separate reports this week, analysts set out forecasts of a tightening market in the next few years, with diamond supply falling into deficit in or around 2021.

TSX-listed Roxgold increase its production to 132 656 oz in the year ended December 31, 2018, from 126 990 oz 2017, exceeding the upper limit of its guidance range, which was capped at 130 000 oz. The company sold 133 303 oz of gold, generating $169-million in sales, compared with the 126 555 oz it sold for $159-million in 2017. Production was generated from the company’s key asset, the Yaramoko gold mine, located in Burkina Faso.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday said it was “deeply concerned” that its members and contractors at the Koornfontein mine, in Mpumalanga, have not received their salaries since November 2018. According to NUM Highveld regional secretary Tshilidzi Mathavha, the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for the mine had paid Optimum employees after selling a dragline machine to Glencore for R80-million, following which the union had been informed that the Optimum and Koornfontein operations were detached from one another.

Phase 2 of ASX-, Aim- and JSE-listed MC Mining’s Makhado hard coking and thermal coal project will be developed according to the 2017 Makhado ‘Lite’ project plan, the emerging coal miner confirmed on Wednesday. The announcement follows after MC Mining’s board earlier this month approved the phased development of the company’s flagship project, which will result in the start of mining operations in the west pit.

Dual-listed Thor Mining has acquired two Australian private companies, adding gold and uranium to its portfolio in that country, which already includes the Molyhill tungsten/molybdenum and Kapunda copper projects. Thor will acquire Pilbara Goldfields (PGL) and Hamersley Metals (HML), which together hold interests in two granted licences and seven licence applications at various stages of advancement in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

After having revitalised the company, TSX-listed platinum miner Eastern Platinum (Eastplats) plans to continue creating shareholder value this year, CEO Diana Hu said in a statement on Wednesday. “Eastplats made tremendous strides during 2018 to start the retreatment project operations, generate revenue and, overall, to revitalise the company. The Eastplats team is driven to achieve further successes in 2019,” she said in a statement announcing the company’s results for the financial year ended December 31, 2018.

Mining major BHP and its joint venture partner Mitsubishi have completed the A$100-million sale of the Gregory Crinum coal mine, in Queensland, to Sojitz Corporation. BHP in May last year announced the sale of the six-million-tonne-a-year coking coal asset, which was placed on care and maintenance at the start of 2016.

Coal miner Peabody on Wednesday said that longwall production at the North Goonyella operation would not resume until a number of modifications have been made at the operation, in order to avoid another fire at the operation. The US major last year reported a fire at the North Goonyella operation.

Norsk Hydro has agreed with Brazil's federal prosecutor to have a third-party technical assessment that, if positive, could lead to it resuming full production at the half-shut Alunorte alumina refinery, the company said on Tuesday. The refinery, the world's biggest, has been operating at half capacity since early 2018, when Hydro admitted it had made unlicensed emissions of untreated water.

Brazilian miner Vale said on Tuesday that total iron ore output rose 8.2% in annual terms to 100.988-million tonnes in the fourth quarter, which closed about a month before the collapse of its tailings dam at Brumadinho killed hundreds of people. For all of 2018, Vale's output was 384.639-million tonnes, slightly below its previously divulged outlook of 390-million tonnes.

Vladimir Potanin is determined to start talks on cutting dividends at MMC Norilsk Nickel, even though management upheaval at the miner’s other key shareholder United Co. Rusal makes the outcome uncertain. “The company has big plans,” Potanin, Nornickel’s biggest shareholder and CEO, said in an interview in Moscow. “Given the need for investment, the dividend should be revised downward.”

India’s Coal Ministry has eased rules for thermal power companies allowing them to source coal even without power purchase agreements (PPAs) with electricity distribution companies in place. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the revised rules for sourcing of coal by such power generation companies early this month.

MMC Norilsk Nickel and its billionaire chief Vladimir Potanin are planning several digital platforms, including using crypto tokens for trading palladium. The world’s top palladium producer is in talks with Swiss authorities about issuing tokens by its Switzerland-based palladium fund, and may eventually expand the concept to other metals, Potanin said in an interview in Moscow.