MINING CORPORATIONS – AUSTRALIA

Rio Tinto goes off market for share buyback

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 22 : 21-Sep-18

Rio Tinto will repurchase around $US3.2bn worth of its shares, including $US1.9bn ($2.6bn) of its Australian-listed stock. The off-market buyback will be financed via the proceeds from the sale of Rio Tinto’s coking coal assets in Queensland. Don Hamson of Plato Investment Management says an off-market buyback is preferable to a special dividend, given that Labor intends to abolish cash refunds for excess franking credits if it wins the next federal election. Rio Tinto had previously announced $US2.4bn worth of buybacks.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, PLATO INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

Fortescue flags earlier start for higher grade iron ore exports

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 21-Sep-18

Pure-play iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group has advised that it will begin exporting ore with an iron content of 60.1 per cent in December. Fortescue had previously expected to begin shipments of the higher-grade West Pilbara Fines product during the first half of 2019. Fortescue’s new Eliwana mine will be a key source of the new iron ore blend, and the company expects annual shipments of West Pilbara Fines to be around 40 million when production at Eliwana begins. Fortescue has forecast that it will export 5-10 million tonnes of West Pilbara Fines in 2018-19.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Shutdowns to hit China coal hardest

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 19-Sep-18

New Hope Corporation has posted a 2017-18 underlying profit of $253m, which is 96 per cent higher than previously. The result was underpinned by higher commodity prices and increased production. Meanwhile, CEO Shane Stephan forecasts that demand for Australian coal will remain strong over the next six months, despite looming industrial production cutbacks in China. He argues that the traditional winter shutdown in China primarily reduces demand for local rather than imported coal, which tends to be of higher quality.

CORPORATES
NEW HOPE CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX NHC, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Billiton to go as BHP gets back to its roots

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Original article by Matt Chambers, Samantha Bailey
The Australian – Page: 24 : 19-Sep-18

BHP Billiton’s 2018 AGMs in Australia and the UK will include a resolution to formally drop "Billiton" from its name. The resources group has been referring to itself simply as BHP in marketing campaigns for the last 18 months. Many of the assets that BHP gained via the merger with Billiton in 2001 have since been sold or spun off into South32. Meanwhile, BHP chairman Ken MacKenzie has indicated that "social licence" will be taken into consideration when selecting directors in the future.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32, ELLIOTT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION

Europe buyer pulls $438m offer for Rio aluminium assets

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Original article by Darren Gray
The Age – Page: 25 : 18-Sep-18

Rio Tinto has advised that Norway-based Hydro has terminated a deal struck earlier in 2018 to acquire its remaining aluminium assets in Europe for $US345m ($438m). The assets comprise an aluminium smelter in Iceland and Rio’s stakes in an anode plant in the Netherlands and an aluminium fluoride plant in Sweden. Competition concerns in Europe are believed to have prompted Hydro to withdraw from the deal. Rio may seek a new buyer for the assets.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, NORSK HYDRO ASA, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, LIBERTY HOUSE GROUP, UC RUSAL LIMITED

BHP buys Solgold stake as battle with Newcrest heats up

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 6-Sep-18

BHP Billiton has purchased a 6.1 per cent stake in Solgold, which operates a copper-gold project in Ecuador. It had previously sought to acquire a 10 per cent in Solgold in late 2016, but lost out to Newcrest Mining. Newcrest Mining is currently Solgold’s largest shareholder, owning around 14.5 per cent of the Brisbane-based company. BHP and Newcrest both have interests in Ecuador apart from their Solgold investment, while Fortescue Metals Group and Hancock Prospecting also have exploration tenements in Ecuador.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, SOLGOLD PLC, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, GUYANA GOLDFIELDS INCORPORATED

Gold production beats forecasts to hit highest level in 20 years

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: Online : 3-Sep-18

Australia’s gold miners produced 310 tonnes of the precious metal in 2017-18, according to consulting firm Surbiton. This represents the highest output since 1997-98, while production for the June quarter totalled 81 tonnes, nine per cent up on the previous quarter. Newmont’s Boddington mine in Western Australia was the biggest gold producer in 2017-18, with output of 733,000 ounces. The federal Industry Department’s Office of the Chief Economist is forecasting gold production will increase to 322 tonnes by 2019-20.

CORPORATES
SURBITON ASSOCIATES PTY LTD, NEWMONT AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, BARRICK GOLD OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, DACIAN GOLD LIMITED – ASX DCN, GASCOYNE RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX GCY, GOLD ROAD RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX GOR

Woodside blasts Rio’s call on wage rise

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Original article by Peter Ker, Julie-anne Sprague
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 31-Aug-18

Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman contends that recent comments by Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques about rising labour costs in Western Australia’s Pilbara region have alarmed investors. Coleman says he can see no signs that "cost inflation" is rampant in the region, while BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie said that while there were indications of inflation in the Pilbara, he was not "fazed" by it. Coleman says any talk that the new investments in the region can be likened to the previous mining boom are way off the mark.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP

Orocobre rises on record profit

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 22 : 29-Aug-18

Australian-listed Orocobre has posted a 2017-18 underlying profit of $US25.7m, compared with $US13.8m in 2016-17. However, impairment charges and tax law changes saw the lithium miner’s statutory net profit fall from $US4.6m previously to $US1.9m. Orocobre benefited from a 29 per cent rise in the lithium price, and MD Richard Seville expects the price to remain strong in the first half of 2018-19. Orocobre’s shares rose 5.8 per cent to $4.37 on 28 August.

CORPORATES
OROCOBRE LIMITED – ASX ORE, GALAXY RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX GXY, SOCIEDAD QUIMICA Y MINERA SA, POSCO, TOYOTA TSUSHO CORPORATION

Miners warn of graduate crisis

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 19 & 22 : 29-Aug-18

The Minerals Council of Australia has forecast that the number of mining engineering graduates will fall from 171 a year to just 47 between 2017 and 2020 due to a decline in enrolments. However, the MCA’s modelling suggests that at least 200 new graduates will be required each year to offset the number of mining engineers who exit the sector. South32 CEO Graham Kerr and Newcrest Mining CEO Sandeep Biswas are among the industry executives who have expressed concern about the long-term impact of the decline in enrolments for mining-related university courses.

CORPORATES
MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, DIGGERS AND DEALERS FORUM