Новости за 02.04.2024

Argentinean businessman and entrepreneur Eduardo Elsztain has acquired an initial 5% stake in Challenger Gold and has signalled an intention to take a larger stake pending a more detailed due diligence process. Challenger made a placement of 66.38-million shares at 8.5c a share to an affiliate of Elsztain’s group. The placement price represents a 9% premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average price of 7.8c.

The new Salares Norte mine, in Chile, has produced its first gold, Johannesburg- and New York-listed Gold Fields reported on Tuesday. The new mine, which is key to the company achieving its gold production ambitions of 2.8-million ounces by next year, has suffered several delays over the last couple of years.

Copper advanced to the highest level in more than a week as investors weighed upbeat factory data from top consumer China and the potential for output cuts by the country’s leading smelters. Investors are becoming more optimistic about the world’s second-largest economy after the official manufacturing purchasing managers index in March registered the highest reading in a year, the latest green shoot alongside strong exports and rising consumer prices. A factory gauge in the US also unexpectedly halted 16 straight months of decline.

For a global lithium industry still reeling from gluts along the battery supply chain, the greater long-term risk is producing too little of the metal rather than too much, according to the world’s No. 2 producer, Chile. More threatening than oversupply in the coming years is the risk of a renewed shortage, which would send prices soaring and make alternative battery technologies more viable, the South American nation’s finance minister said.

Codelco is turning the corner after a production slump and project overruns eroded the state-owned copper behemoth’s finances, according to a top Chilean government official. “In 2024, the production of Codelco is going to increase for the first time in several years,” Finance Minister Mario Marcel said in a Thursday interview from his Santiago office, hours before the company is due to deliver its annual results and guidance.

ickel miner PT Vale Indonesia is aiming for output this year of about 70 800 metric tons of nickel in matte, an official said on Monday, a similar volume to the 70 728 metric tons produced in 2023. The company, meanwhile, is still awaiting a new special mining permit for its operations beyond 2025, said Bayu Aji, its spokesperson.

Gold rose to a record as the second quarter kicked off, extending a rally that’s been driven the Federal Reserve edging closer to rate cuts and deepening geopolitical tensions. Bullion jumped as much as 0.8% to $2 247.44 an ounce early on Monday, after setting a series of records in recent sessions. Data on Friday — when many markets were closed — showed that the Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation cooled in February. That adds to the case that policymakers may feel comfortable reducing borrowing cost this year... Читать дальше...