Новости за 09.01.2020

The World Gold Council’s (WGC’s) latest statistics show that monthly increases of 1 t or greater, in gold reserves, have begun to ease over the past three months. The council on Thursday released its regular statistical update on gold reserves in the official sector, which highlighted that Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia had significantly increased their central bank gold holdings in November last year, adding 17 t, 9.4 t, 4.6 t and 2 t of gold, respectively.

Copper production in Democratic Republic of Congo rose 15.9% year-on-year to 1.308-million tonnes for the period from January to November 2019, according to central bank figures released on Thursday. Cobalt production fell 18.3% to 82 220 t, while gold output slid 6.3% to 31 847 kg.

Indonesia ordered coal miners to slash output after record production and exports from the world’s largest shipper last year weighed on prices and state revenue. The government has set the production target at 550-million metric tons this year, 9.8% below the 610-million tons in 2019. Authorities will ensure that miners stick to the cap as the government “doesn’t want coal production to be too massive and drive prices lower and cause government revenue to drop", Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif said.

Gold miners may increase the cash returned to shareholders as gold prices rise but should exhibit more caution than in past bull cycles, ratings agency Fitch Ratings advises. According to the agency, greater discipline around capital allocation and an emphasis on sustainability of dividends when trends are bearish is anticipated, given an emphasis on maintaining financial and operating flexibility.

Aim-listed Central Asia Metals (CAML) managed to exceed its yearly guidance at the Kounrad copper recovery plant, in Kazakhstan, producing 13 771 t in 2019. This while production at the Sasa mine, in north Macedonia, reached the top end of the guidance range at 23 360 t zinc and 29 201 t lead.

Gold headed for the first back-to-back decline since November as the US and Iran stepped back from a deeper military conflict, blunting the appeal of haven assets as global equities gained ground. Palladium motored to yet another record, extending a meteoric rally. Bullion headed lower after a retaliatory Iranian missile attack on two US bases in Iraq on Wednesday caused no casualties, allowing President Donald Trump an opportunity to stand down from what had looked like an escalation toward a Mideast war. Читать дальше...

LSE-listed Pembridge Resources subsidiary Minto Explorations has achieved 57% month-on-month increase in December copper production and considerable improvement in head grade, following the restart of operations at the Minto mine in Canada in October. Milling operations are currently operating on a two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off schedule as mining operations continue developing underground, preparing the mine for an increased mining rate later in 2020.

North American miner Taseko Mines in 2019 produced 126-million pounds of copper and 2.7-million pounds of molybdenum from its 75%-owned Gibraltar mine, in British Columbia. This had met the production guidance that the company set, despite a CN Rail strike in November, which impacted on the mine’s concentrate shipments for 11 days and forced the company to reduce its production, owing to concentrate storage capacity issues.

Canadian miners Equinox Gold and Leagold, which last month announced their planned at-market merger, have achieved their respective production targets in 2019 and are gearing up for a “transformational year” that will transform Equinox into “one of the world’s top gold producers”. Equinox produced 201 000 oz from the Mesquite mine in the US and Aurizona in Brazil, while Leagold produced 375 445 oz from its four wholly owned gold mines, namely the Los Filos mine complex in Mexico, and the Fazenda, RDM and Pilar mines in Brazil.

ASX-listed Argosy Minerals has been granted approval for the development of the next stage of work at its Rincon lithium project, in Argentina. The government of Salta Province, and its regulatory bodies, have approved Argosy’s environmental impact report (EIR) for the development of a 2 000 t/y lithium process plant and subsequent lithium production operations at Rincon, along with all associated work.

The Gunnison copper project, in southern Arizona, is performing better than planned, with the initial copper recovery grades exceeding feasibility study expectations, TSX- and FSE-listed Excelsior Mining reported on Wednesday. Pregnant leach solution grade is currently measuring 0.15 g/ℓ copper in the primary recovery pond – a milestone that Excelsior achieved ahead of schedule and keeps the project on pace for copper production this quarter.

Metals miner Independence Group will allow its takeover offer of fellow-listed Panoramic Resources to lapse at the close of the takeover offer on January 17. Panoramic had previously rejected the Independence offer, under which Independence was offering one of its own shares for every 13 Panoramic shares held, valuing the takeover target at A$312-million.

NYSE-listed precious metals miner Comstock Mining on Thursday announced the sale of its two properties in Silver Springs and water rights for about $10-million. The sale of the nonmining assets will allow Comstock to eliminate its remaining debt of $4.9-million and fund its planned growth initiatives.

Diversified major Rio Tinto will commit up to A$5-million to develop a new state-of-the-art childcare centre in Tom Price, in Western Australia, in partnership with the Shire of Ashburton. The proposed facility will have capacity for 96 children and is projected to be open in 2021. It will provide both day care and after-school care facilities, a significant boost for local working families.

Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered a 117 ct diamond from its Lulo alluvial mine, in Angola. The ASX-listed company on Thursday said that the gem-quality diamond was the 14th stone of more than 100 ct to be recovered at Lulo to date, and the first for 2020.

A Brazilian state prosecutor expects to bring criminal charges “in the next few days” against miner Vale over a mining waste dam collapse that killed at least 259 people, even as the prosecutor’s federal counterpart continues to investigate the case. Andressa de Oliveira Lanchotti, coordinator for the task force of state prosecutors investigating the disaster, told Reuters they expect to indict 15 to 20 people, including executives from Vale and employees from German inspection firm TÜV SÜD - as well as the companies themselves. Читать дальше...

UK fraud prosecutors sought an Israeli billionaire’s correspondence with the former President of Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila as part of one of their largest bribery investigations, a lawyer for the Serious Fraud Office said at a London trial. SFO attorney Jonathan Hall described the request at the start of the two-day trial against Anna Machkevitch, 37, who’s accused of failing to produce the documents concerning her mining magnate father, Alexander.

India’s Coal Ministry this week amended eligibility rules which in effect will enable any company – foreign and even non-coal dependent – to participate in coal block auctions and commercial mining in the country. Until now, the rules had permitted only power, metals and mining companies to enter commercial coal mining without end-use restrictions and participate in the proposed auction of coal blocks.

Coal miner Peabody on Wednesday named Mark Spurbeck as interim CFO, replacing Amy Schwetz, who will be taking the CFO position at an NYSE-listed industrial company.  Schwetz, who has served as CFO for five years, will continue with Peabody in coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition, the company said in a statement.

The global mining personal protective equipment (PPE) market is likely to garner revenues of more than $3.4-billion by 2023. This represents a compound annual growth rate of 4.1% from 2018, says business consultancy Frost & Sullivan (F&S) in its ‘PPE market forecast to 2023’.